How many were lost in the worship?
Amen.
How many in the room?
First of all, let me, before I ask this question,
and I, you know, I don't know all of what God wants to do.
God's going to do what He wants to do.
But I have some idea of what God wants to do.
And God is extremely intentional.
And God knows everything.
And He's always ahead of us, even when we don't know.
Amen.
We might be spontaneous to us, but it's very intentional
and very purposeful to God.
God is extremely deliberate.
God is never confused about anything and about what He's doing.
Hallelujah.
How many are glad about that?
I want to be intentional to again and give a proper thank you
to Pastor Vern and Pastor Mary, specifically Pastor Igor.
Welcome.
I don't know you as well, but I will tell you that
we've done this meeting God numerous times.
And yeah, I've been with Apostle Calvin Woods and, you know,
it was a little strange.
I told Pastor Vern, I said, it's a little strange
I'm not going to be here with Apostle Calvin.
But the Lord knows what He's doing.
And that's neither here nor there.
And I say that only to say that, you know,
God wants to do something tonight.
And I am just past a lot of church routine.
But I want to give proper honor and due
because these are great pastors, great men and women of God.
And I'm thankful for them.
I'm thankful to know them.
Amen. That's right. Come on.
My goodness, come on.
You can stand if you want to stand and honor them.
Thank you.
We honor you both. My goodness.
Honor your labor.
And, you know, the Lord takes account of all of our labor
in heaven.
And the Lord records it and he has memory of it.
And I love that.
And the Lord has rewards for us
based on how we fulfill the labor that he's called us to.
And it's a lot. It takes a lot
because you're responsible for a lot.
In God.
Now, the beauty about God is that God actually gives us the power,
the strength, the ability to fulfill what he wants us to do,
to walk in his calling,
but understand that we have a part to play
to decide to be responsible for it.
And so they're not only responsible for the work,
but they're responsible for you all.
Amen.
And for those that have been a part of this ministry,
and, you know, I've been talking about leadership a lot.
I do leadership development for a living
and part of one of the things I do.
And I've been talking about leadership a lot,
and there's just an awesome responsibility to leadership.
And, you know, when I got the text from Pastor Vern
and he said to me, you know,
what is some of the things or something
that the church in America needs in the end times?
And the first thing I heard in my spirit was leadership.
Now, I'm not going to minister much about leadership,
but I'm going to be obedient to the Lord.
Somebody say, Brian is an obedient prophet.
So I'm going to be obedient
and talk about leadership for a minute.
And the reason I'm going to talk about it for a minute
is because I am convinced that most of us in the world today
and people that aren't even saved that don't know Jesus
don't fully understand what leadership really is.
And leadership is a double-edged sword.
Leadership has two sides of it
in order for it to be effective.
We always see leadership from the position
and from the place of people leading us,
somebody being in position and in charge
and they're leading us.
But we never take into account our responsibility
to follow the leader.
Somebody say, follow the leader.
Now, you know, when I was young we played this game.
How many of y'all played that game called follow the leader?
The awesome thing is that we know that Jesus is the leader.
Holy Spirit is the leader, right?
But Holy Spirit places undershepherds
in his body to help lead flocks,
to lead communities of people.
He takes and he puts something on somebody's heart.
He burns it within them and he stirs them up.
Most of the time they don't even want to do it.
Can I just be real in here for a moment?
I'm five minutes in. Can I be real?
Most of the time they don't want to do it
but they give in to the Lord because they love him.
My goodness.
And you can't really love him
and hate the work.
It's impossible.
But the problem is that us and the body of Christ,
if we're not the ones that are appointed
in the leadership position,
only want the leader to love the work
and we can just be indifferent about it.
Amen?
And God is trying to shift something in our understanding
because there's an element of our intimacy
that is revealed in our commitment to the work.
Amen?
Here's the beauty of it.
Leadership needs both.
If we were to look at the centurion
when the centurion came to Jesus,
the centurion says,
I got somebody back at home who's sick.
I need you to heal this man.
Jesus is like, I'm gonna go heal this dude
because Jesus is a healer, amen?
As Jesus gets up, the centurion says,
no, you don't have to come to my house.
You don't have to come.
He said, I'm a man under authority.
Somebody say a man under authority.
And then he starts to tell him
what that authority looks like in its function.
He's saying, when I say go to my servants, they go.
When I say come, they come.
So he was saying to them,
and you can actually read this.
Matter of fact, I want you to go to Matthew 8.
I'm gonna just show you this.
I'm gonna spend my time doing this
and then I'm gonna get into more of what the Lord says
if he says so.
Because God is doing something in the earth right now
that is a major shift.
The body of Christ has been prepared for this moment.
If you're in the body of Christ,
you need to understand that you are here
because you've been prepared for this moment.
And we have spent too much time
devaluing ourselves,
not being in tune with his voice,
very hesitant to respond to his leading.
And God's like, I created you
and I equipped you to do something significant
in the earth on my behalf.
I need people to respond with a yes to me
to do something great in the earth.
But we're too in tune with our own shortcomings
and we're too in tune with all of the distractions
of the world in order for us to respond with a yes.
Amen?
Let me show you this.
My God, hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord.
Matthew 8, I'm gonna read it in the New Living Translation.
Verse 9 says,
I know this because I'm under the authority
of my superior officers.
And then he says, and I have authority over my soldiers.
So you can see here that he's saying,
I understand leadership because I'm under a leader.
But he was also a leader, my goodness.
So he was showing what leadership looks like in totality.
And when we understand what leadership entails,
then we know how to respond better to a leader.
Why is that important?
Because God speaks to the leaders of the house
and God wants to speak to us on how we can help
support the leader in the work.
So the leader will get certain information from God
about what's necessary for the house.
And as he gets this information or she gets this information
or they get this information,
God will also speak to us about information regarding the house.
Because he needs somebody to do the work, my goodness.
Amen?
So the Lord said to me that 2026 was gonna be a year of the worker.
Jesus said that pray for the workers.
Amen?
He said the laborers are few.
We all want revival and we want to see this great harvest,
but we don't have a lot of people that are willing to do the work.
We don't have a lot of people that want to labor in the Lord's vineyard.
Amen?
And what we do is we set up atmospheres
where we get really charged in the presence of God.
And then we say, how many want to do the work of God?
How many want to say yes to the Lord?
And then we get a bunch of people that raise their hand.
Watch, how many want to do the work of God?
You guys are all scared now.
Don't be scared.
God is watching.
God is listening.
Don't be scared.
So you'll raise your hand and hear the faithful few.
You guys must have been a part of Gideon's army.
Come on, somebody.
But then when you get home and the Lord starts giving you dreams
and the Lord starts giving you visions
and the Lord starts giving you instructions on how to get involved in the work,
there's not that same response that you had when you were in that meeting
charged with the presence and the glory of God.
Well, Brian, I'm just too old.
Well, Moses was 80 years old when God went and called him.
And Moses made a bunch of excuses.
And how many understand Moses could not outnegotiate God?
He tried.
How many understand Joshua and Caleb were old men?
They were around 70, 80 years old
when they led the 21-year-olds into the Promised Land?
I feel the Holy Ghost in here right now.
How many understand David was anointed as king as around a 13-year-old?
How many understand that Esther was a young woman
when she was made queen of Persia?
She wasn't just made queen so she could be adorned with nice, pretty dresses
and be loved on by the king.
She was put in position because God was setting her up
to be the one who was going to bring a rescue to the nation of Israel.
Come on, somebody, amen?
How many understand King Josiah was seven years old
when he was made king?
And he tore down the altars in the high places of idolatry?
Seven years old he was put into position.
There is no excuse for any of us in the body of Christ
to doing the work of the Lord.
When God made you, he made you with an intention
to fulfill something on the earth for his behalf.
And what the devil tries to do is derail us and destroy us
because if he can derail and destroy us
then he'll also derail and destroy the work. Amen?
So everybody in here has been called to do something great.
Amen?
Look at the person next to you and say,
I've been called to do something great.
Come on, stick your nose up a little bit.
It's okay this time.
Say, I've been called to do something great.
But Brian, this one hurt me and that one hurt me.
Jesus said they would be suffering.
Joseph had his brothers throw him in a pit.
Joseph was falsely accused.
Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him
and he was falsely accused throwing it to a prison.
There's no excuse.
Well, Brian, I don't know enough.
The apostles were called unlearned men.
Matter of fact, it says that they had a testimony
that they knew they had been with Jesus
being unlearned men because of the way they would speak.
They were unlearned.
They were regarded as ignorant men.
Towards the scriptures.
If God was putting all of it upon our ability
then none of us would get the work done.
So I want to start out tonight
saying I'm not going to live like this anymore.
I'm not going to look at myself in the mirror
and not see what God sees.
Amen?
I think that we need to all make the decision right now
before we continue in this meeting.
Because how you hear and how you receive
everything else that happens,
not just tonight, but for the rest of the week
and for the rest of the month and for the rest of the year
because we are too complacent in the body of Christ
with just having events like this
and just having nice meetings
and forgetting that we got a walk that lasts a lifetime
and God wants us to pick this thing up
and take it wholeheartedly.
So I want us to make the decision right now.
Amen?
As we continue.
I will see myself as Jesus does. Amen?
Hallelujah. Come on, say I will see myself
as Jesus does.
Make the decision to not devalue who God made you to be.
Make the decision to not devalue
the God that's living on the inside of you.
Amen?
Glory to Jesus.
Somebody give the Lord a mighty hand of praise.
Revelation 22.
So we appreciate the leadership
because they're pioneers
and they make a way for us to come into
because a real leader prepares a way
like Abraham was concerned about the wife
that was going to be chosen for Isaac.
Amen?
They want you to come into your calling.
I was all prepared not to even talk about this.
I actually heard something different in worship.
But as soon as I got up here,
the Lord said, talk about it.
Because we do God's work like
can I get somebody to move the table?
And only one, maybe two people moved.
And how many people are in the room?
Brian, it's too early for a conviction.
Well, you take it up with the Holy Ghost.
Revelation 22.
Verses 6 and 7.
Then he said to me, these words are faithful and true.
And the Lord God of the Holy Prophet
sent his angel to show his servants the things
which must shortly take place.
Behold, I am coming quickly.
Somebody said the Lord is coming quickly.
Revelation 22 and 12.
And behold, I am coming quickly.
Somebody said the Lord is coming quickly.
Revelation 22 and 20.
He who testifies to these things says,
surely I am coming quickly.
Somebody say, surely the Lord is coming quickly.
But the Lord said to me, Brian,
I will not come until the work is done.
Amen?
Go to Luke chapter 19.
Verse 13.
My goodness.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them,
ten minors, and said to them,
do business till I come.
Or occupy till I come.
So there is a work that God wants us to do.
And he will not come until the work is done.
We have been crying out for years and years and years.
What struck me when reading Revelation 22
is that he said, I am coming quickly three times.
How many understand that the reason he said it three times
is because he meant it?
It's a sure thing.
We should not be in question that Jesus is going to return.
There will be a second coming of Jesus.
All eyes will see Jesus when he comes when he returns.
He is surely going to come.
That needs to be settled in our spirit and our soul
and our understanding.
Jesus is coming back, but he will not come
until the work gets done.
We can pray, we can cry out, we can fast,
we can worship, we can do all of that,
but he will not come until the work is done.
Amen?
The work has to be completed
because the work being completed
or souls coming into the kingdom
is predicated on the work being completed.
Amen?
Amen.
How many understand that the Bible says
that his purpose will stand?
Amen?
So that means his purpose inside of each
and every one of you.
Each and every one of us will stand.
Amen?
This is why the devil sets up things.
You know, I didn't get to talk about it
the last time I was here,
but we were coming from Iowa in 2024,
November of 2024,
and coming down 35.
I describe some in detail.
We were coming down 35.
We were 30 minutes north of Des Moines.
And a guy who was driving southbound,
he crossed over the median.
He hydroplane crossed over the median,
started coming southbound in the northbound lane.
I was following Apostle Calvin Woods.
He moved to the right.
And when I saw it,
I'm like something is wrong.
Immediately I thought something is wrong.
When I saw him veer to the right,
all of a sudden there was the car.
And I didn't have enough time
to get completely out of the way.
And all I could say was, oh no.
And the night before,
I had made some repentance.
I had some time of repentance to the Lord
and started to repent about certain things
that were going on in my heart.
Because that time of repentance
was aligning me more with the fulfillment
of the purpose of God inside of me.
And the devil was like,
I didn't want Brian to get there.
But guess what?
I had my 16-year-old daughter,
Nevea, in the truck with me.
And it wasn't just my purpose
the devil was after.
He was trying to kill her purpose as well.
See, the devil understands how important
the purpose of God is on the inside of us.
The devil understands how important the work is
that God has called us to on the inside of us.
And we go about life
just kind of, you know,
just going with the flow.
It's not that big of a deal.
But see, I almost lost my life in that moment.
My daughter almost lost her life in that moment.
Head on collision at 70, 80, 90 miles an hour.
Because the devil was not just trying to kill us,
but he was trying to kill the work
that God had called us to, amen?
I feel the Holy Ghost in this room right now.
Shabbat carrasandababbakashandababbasaya.
Jesus will not come till the work gets done.
And so there's a grace and an anointing
on each one of us to accomplish the work of God.
Amen?
We got to start saying, God,
I want to value this work.
I'm going to give myself to the work.
This isn't about a work with getting saved.
The work of salvation was completed
and could only be completed by Jesus.
But this is a continuing of the work that Jesus began.
A continuing of the ministry that Jesus began
in the earth, amen?
And each one of us is called to it.
Some of us may not have to do what I'm doing right now,
standing up preaching in a pulpit.
But God wants to send you to people.
And that could be on your workplace.
That could be in your school.
That could be at the grocery store.
It could be anywhere.
God wants to make you available.
He wants you to be available anywhere and everywhere
to send you to someone to complete the work,
to finish the work, to present Jesus to a world
that needs to see Jesus, amen?
My goodness.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Hallelujah.
Philippians 2 and 13 says,
It is God who works in you both to will
and to do for his good pleasure.
How many understand?
God is doing the work in us, amen?
He's doing the work in us,
but He's doing the work in us to do the work.
God did not call any one of us to be lazy Christians, amen?
I know this is hard because most of us
have become comfortable with being lazy Christians.
Isn't that what Pastor was talking about?
Right?
The luxuries of America has ruined us.
Well, what do we become after we're ruined?
Somebody say lazy.
Oh, you guys didn't want to say that with me.
Help me preach this message.
Come on, somebody say lazy.
Most of us are lazy Christians.
We don't pray.
We don't read our Bible.
We don't witness.
It's been years since we led somebody to the Lord.
Most of us are lazy Christians.
We don't pray for somebody to be healed.
We don't even want a fellowship most of the time.
So then when we come to services like this,
we expect people to join in and respond,
but they don't have a lifestyle of responding to the Lord.
Right?
Listen, I'm a fan of social media.
I like social media.
But social media will make you lazy.
Netflix will make you lazy.
Netflix has killed more people's prayer life
than the devil ever could.
Oh, I'm preaching good right now.
I'm preaching good right now.
Brian, why are you being so hard on us?
Because I see the value in you.
As I'm walking back and forth across the room,
I'm seeing the value.
I'm seeing what God sees.
I'm seeing what God sees.
He's scanning the room.
Like he's scanning the earth.
Looking for those who want to serve him wholeheartedly.
The question is, what else has our heart, amen?
And what we don't understand, right,
is that there's always going to be some type of an iteration
of the local church or a gathering or assembling
of the body of Christ in the earth at all times.
The church is God's answer to the issues
that are happening in the earth, amen?
Because the church is the representation
of the body of Christ in the earth, amen?
Collectively, we become Jesus in the earth, amen?
That means we're supposed to be a group of people
that look like Jesus, that resemble Jesus,
that talk like Jesus.
The world will hold us to loving like Jesus, right?
That means we got to accept their sin.
They want a Jesus that just accepts their sin, right?
But that's not the Jesus that's on the inside of us.
But most of us don't want to ruffle anybody's feathers.
And so we just get caught up in the rat race
and we start to take on a resemblance of the world
more than we look like Jesus, amen?
How many understand?
The local church is important.
A gathering of a body of believers is important.
Some people have para churches where they meet in houses
or they meet at other venues
and it's a smaller group of people.
There's always some type of iteration
where there's a gathering. God wants you to be in community.
God wants a healthy body.
And if you're not a part of a community, a local body,
then you are unhealthy in God.
God doesn't want us to be isolated and renegade.
He doesn't have us as vigilantes out here just casting out devils,
but we have no community and fellowship with his body.
And because we have so many of these people that openly bash the church
that say they love Jesus, it's creating confusion
and it's making it difficult for the world to recognize
when there is somebody that truly is sold out for God
and looks like Jesus, amen?
And that's why we can't just be lazy.
Because if we're lazy, we're half-hearted.
My goodness.
If we're lazy, we're not all the way in it.
How many know that everybody's a Christian?
Here in America, right?
Everybody's a Christian.
If you ask anybody you go to school with, or you work with,
they'll say, what's your religion?
They'll say, well, I'm a Christian.
I'm not religious, though.
I don't go to church, though.
Or they'll just go to church in Easter.
Or they'll just go to church, you know, on Christmas.
But they're a Christian.
And the word Christian means Christ-like, amen?
And they live every other day
like a heathen, but they're a Christian.
Well, Brian, why are you saying that?
Because most of us in the world,
I mean, in the body of Christ,
tend to live like those in the world.
So I believe that God wants us to shift something today.
There's a challenge going on
because there's an opportunity before us today.
The Lord is doing a new thing in the earth today, amen?
Isaiah 43 and 19 says that,
behold, I'm doing a new thing.
I heard that in worship.
The Lord says he's doing a new thing.
Now, when we say that, right,
we take that and we hear that
and we say, God's doing a new thing in me right now.
We get excited.
That scripture in context,
he was talking to them about
delivering them out of captivity.
What he was really doing was releasing
something that was in the future
when Jesus was going to come.
He was saying the way that,
because they were like, you know,
you delivered us with these ten plagues
out of Egypt and, you know,
where's your power to deliver us now?
And God was saying, I'm going to do a new thing
because his plan wasn't just to deliver
the nation of Israel,
but was to create an environment
to bring in Jews and Gentiles
as one people in his body.
Amen. Hallelujah.
That should get you excited
because most of us are Gentiles in this room.
And God is doing a new thing,
but we got to be people that are not
given to the creature comforts
that America affords us
in order for us to really experience
this new thing.
I don't want to just experience it,
but I want to be a carrier of it.
I don't want to just experience it.
I want to get involved in the work of it.
Amen.
Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
God told me that this year
order was coming to the house of God.
How many understand that order
is coming to the house of God?
He said he was going to
increase an eternal focus
to us. Amen.
And we were going to have eternal understanding.
In Colossians 3, go to Colossians 3.
Verses 1 and 2 says,
if then you were raised with Christ,
seek those things which are above
where Christ is,
sitting at the right hand of God.
Verse 2 says,
set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth.
How many have heard that phrase,
the mind justifies what the heart is chosen.
The mind justifies what the heart is chosen.
What does that mean? It's a concept
that means that whatever the heart loves,
the will chooses and the mind justifies.
So if your heart wants it bad enough,
if you want it bad enough,
your mind will justify
a way for you to have it.
Your mind will justify
a reason for you to get it.
Even if it's sin.
If you want the sin bad enough,
your mind will convince you
that you need that sin.
Amen?
If you want,
if you want money bad enough,
you're going to find a way to go get it.
Your mind will justify
regardless of what it is.
That's why there's people
that go and commit crime to get money.
They rob banks and they do other things
in order to get money
because their mind has justified
that this is the only way that they can get it.
Amen?
So we gotta shift our mindset.
We gotta let the Holy Spirit
come and shift our mindset
to stop focusing on the things
of this earth. In America
we have such an earthly focus.
And we are in the end times.
We are closer today
to the return of Jesus
than we've ever been before.
And that's for each one of us.
I don't care if you're 8 years old
or 80. We are closer
to the return of Jesus than we've ever been before.
But our mind is so focused
and so attached to this earth.
Our mind is so
focused and attached to this world
and to the things of this world
and Jesus wants there to be a shift
in the mindset on things eternal
because his dwelling
and the place that he's prepared for us
is in eternity. And the eternal
things have far greater value.
They're far more important
than the things on this earth. Amen.
Hallelujah.
We got to have a mindset shift.
Because the things of this earth
are making us lazy.
Amen.
If we start to behold Jesus
I love it in some other translations
it says, set your affections.
I like that word because
affection means it's something
that's endearing to you.
Something that you are emotionally
attracted to. With all
of your being and with all of your heart.
You really desire this thing.
And we don't have enough of that
in church. We don't have enough
of that in the body of Christ.
Amen.
Because we got to have people
that come up and act as a cheer
leader just to get us to praise and worship
the Lord.
The mind justifies
what the heart has chosen.
So what is your heart
chosen?
Amen.
What is your heart chosen?
And the thing about it is
is that whatever our heart
chooses
we go after it
passionately.
We go after it enthusiastically.
There's nothing
that's going to get in the way.
There's nothing
that's going to hold us back.
Whatever
our heart chooses
we're going after it
hardcore.
Amen.
There were some young people
in here years ago. I don't know if they remember.
I don't see them in here.
I would tell them when I would pray for them
say I'm going to go hard
for Jesus. Amen.
This is what God
wants to come out of America.
The Lord said that there was
going to be a resurgence
of the church in America this year.
God is not
done with the American church.
And many in the body of Christ
has written off America.
And they've written off the American
church. And you know, you guys
I think we lose sight of it.
The influence that America has had
on the world. In every
area. America has
the number one influence
and impact on the world
of any nation that's ever been.
Even
Israel.
America has
impacted this world more than
any other nation.
And we have a church that's sleeping
and God wants the church
in America to wake up.
God wants to start something
in the earth through the church in America.
But you guys look around
this room. Look
around this room. Look at each other.
Look at us all. Because we
are the church in America.
And because there's
people and denominations
that are sleeping, it doesn't
mean that we got to be a part of those
people. We can be
a part of the remnant. Like
he told Elijah when Elijah said
I'm the only one that hasn't
bowed to Baal.
And God had to correct him
and tell him that there were 7,000
that didn't bow to Baal and
that didn't kiss the mouth of Baal
that were still devoted to him
that refused to worship any other God
that was so heart and willing
to love him and pursue him
and press in wholeheartedly
that we're going to serve him wholeheartedly.
I am trying to implore us
to become that church in America.
I'm trying to implore us
to become that remnant church
in America. Let it be beyond
having a good meeting, good
open heaven meetings that we
have every year. We do this once
a year and you know that it's
going to happen and you're prepared
and when you have prophets coming
you're prepared to receive a prophetic word
but it's got to be greater than that.
It's got to be more than that.
This is what Jesus wants from his church
in America.
And there's an invitation
coming out to each one of us
for us to become that remnant church.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
Glory to Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Hebrews chapter 4
and verse 12 says
the Word of God is living
and powerful and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even
to the division of soul and spirit
and of joints and marrow
and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
And so a lot of times words like
this is they're coming to examine
the intents and the
thoughts of our heart.
It's putting a magnifying glass
on the things that we desire in our heart
and it's a discerner
or it judges it and it
identifies the source
and it also identifies
whether or not that
desire is something that is
from him or not
and whether or not we should
pursue it.
And we've got to allow this to come in
and judge these desires
that are causing us to fall asleep.
Some of these desires
and the things that we're going after in the world
is working like melatonin
and God wants to wake
us up and he's sending a
word to say, wake up church!
Let me judge that
desire because
the devil has many of us set up
and he's trying to lead us
to destruction because we're
sleeping that desire that we won't
allow God to come and judge in our heart.
Amen?
My goodness.
It's to bring a distinction
and the distinction
is not only to
identify the source of the desire
but also to identify
those that belong to God. Amen?
Hallelujah.
And if we belong to him, we should have
a desire for him. We shouldn't need
a cheerleader. We shouldn't need
to be exhorted to join into the worship.
It should already be something
that is just second nature
because we love him
because we want him because he's
our greatest desire. When he's
your greatest desire, you don't need
anybody to egg you on to praise
and to worship God. When he's
your greatest desire, you don't need
anybody to come and to tell you
to pray and to pray for an hour.
Amen? Hallelujah.
Glory to God.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
The desire should be passionate.
We should be passionate
about Jesus.
How is the world going to be
passionate about Jesus if we're not?
We're the born again believers.
We're the ones that are a partaker
of his nature.
If we've got his nature,
if we have this intimate relationship
with him, it's like
some of you have met my wife in here.
I know Pastor Mary has met my wife.
Pastor Vern, I believe, has met my wife.
You guys, listen, when I first
saw my wife, I saw her
at a football game. I was
coaching and I just saw her smile.
Somebody say she had him with a smile.
She had me with a smile.
We had mutual friends.
I got her phone number.
I got her phone number from our mutual friends.
I carried her phone number in my wallet
for two years.
Some of y'all look at me like,
Brian, you don't seem like you're that scared.
I mean,
I wasn't. But I knew that
she was the one
from a smile.
It was one moment.
I didn't even talk to her. But I knew
she was the one from a smile.
And I needed God
to do some things in my life.
And watch this. I started telling everybody.
When I, when I get
with her,
it's over. I'm going to marry her.
I'm going to marry her.
I started telling everybody like a test
like I was testifying.
I wasn't ashamed to say
it.
She had me with a smile.
When I finally ended up
calling her. And we finally
connected.
Even though she had me
with a smile.
The deal was sealed one night.
When she,
when I just was talking to her about
something. And the next day
she had it done.
And I said, oh my God.
She's a keeper.
Not only is she gorgeous.
And she's got this beautiful smile.
But I didn't even ask her to do it.
And she just did it anyway.
And I so appreciated what she did.
I
so appreciated because it revealed
her heart to me.
To me it said
by what she did. This is a woman I can trust.
This is a woman I can trust
my life with.
That we can build together.
And the deal was sealed. And I told her
I said we're getting married.
I'm going to marry her.
And she didn't want to get married right away.
I said no we're getting married.
I said you don't have a say so.
We're going to get married.
She's watching right now.
She's probably laughing at home.
My daughter too.
Amen.
The point I'm making is that
what does God have to do?
The first time I encountered God
I knew that this was a love
that I was looking for my whole life.
When Jesus made himself known to me
it was enough in that one moment.
Come on somebody, amen.
And then when he started doing
things for me it made me want to love him
even more, amen.
How much more does he have to do
for us to passionately love him?
I
passionately love my wife.
We've been married almost 19 years.
I'm passionately in love with her.
Or together almost 19 years.
Married almost 18.
She had to correct me the other day.
I was adding years.
I was adding years on without realizing it.
So I was just trying to figure out
the math when I was telling you guys.
I was all messed up. She had to correct me.
But I'm passionately in love with her today
just like when I saw her smile for the first time.
And I'm
passionately in love with Jesus
just like the first time he made himself
known to me in a hotel room
in Milwaukee when I was committing
egregious sin. And I'm talking
right in the middle of the sin.
Right in the midst of the sin.
God came and revealed himself to me.
And I passionately love him today
just like I did when he revealed himself
for the first time. Amen?
Come on. Where is the
passion for Jesus in the church?
Where is the passion for Jesus
in this church?
Where is the passion for Jesus
in this meeting?
I know I'm a loud tall black man.
but
every
focus, every desire
every longing of the heart
needs to be for Jesus in this room.
See, I think Jesus wants to do miracles
in here tonight.
But see, what good is it
to do a miracle
if it doesn't cause us to fall in love with him?
Where is the passion for Jesus
in this place?
The Laodicean church
was called lukewarm.
The word lukewarm
is neither cold or hot
tepid. That word tepid
is interesting because it also means
without enthusiasm.
There's no passion in it.
We have become
the Laodicean church
not just in America
but in our local services.
We've become just
comfortable
complacent.
Where is the passion for Jesus?
Where is the burning?
I'm burning right now for Jesus.
I'm not just trying to preach
and yell at you.
I'm passionate for Jesus.
I'm burning right now
in this moment for Jesus.
Where is the passion?
We can't do the work without the passion.
We won't do the work without the passion.
We can't do the work without the passion.
Did we ever stop to see it from his point of view?
He's passionate for us.
This passion
gives us a distinction.
You know what the word distinction means?
The word distinction
means a difference or contrast between
similar things or people.
Excellence that sets someone
or something apart from others.
So when God is saying
be holy
he's actually saying
I want a people that are...
there's a distinction.
See the thing that makes us
familiar
with everyone in the world is our humanity.
But the fact that we have
his nature
gives us a distinction.
Because we are in relationship with him
it gives us a distinction
from the rest of the world.
But the laodicean church
and this lukewarm
mentality
this mentality that is rich
in its own comfort
this mentality that's unable
to recognize its own sickness
and nakedness
and need for God
starts to look
like the world and environments
of people
that are in relationship
with Jesus.
They lose the distinction.
He said I want you to be hot or cold.
There's a distinction.
Did you know laodicea
actually had lukewarm
water in it? It actually had they had
aqueducts. They had to have water
come in because their water was lukewarm.
They also
were a people that wore black a lot
because they had a commodity.
That's why they were wealthy. They had this black
wool that came from black sheeps
and they sold this.
The city was positioned on major
trade routes. And so that's how they
made a lot of their money.
And so they got comfortable in the money.
They got comfortable in the wealth
and they started to lose
their need and their dependency
upon God.
And they not only became
lazy, but they
lost the passion. They lost
the zeal.
We're talking about
what America needs in the end times.
America needs
the passion for Jesus again.
When
I was
320 pounds in the hospital
with my heart
functioning at 22 percent
and the doctor said to me
you need
to lose weight.
I said, I'm going to lose the weight.
And they're like, we're going to set you
up with nutritionist
and dietitians
and do you want any medication?
I said, I don't need any medication.
I'm going to lose this weight.
And I became so passionate
and so dedicated and so
disciplined to lose this
weight.
And I depended upon the Lord
to give me instruction
on how to lose the weight.
But once my mind was
made up, once my heart
had chosen to lose that weight
there was going to be nothing that stopped me.
And I changed my diet
but now my diet has become a way of life.
And so these
meetings and these
experiences in God
need to become more than just a meeting we
do at the beginning of the year
and need to become a way of life.
And when you're passionate for Jesus
they will become a way
of life. Amen?
Now I'm a plow. So I'm plowing
the way for everybody else that's coming
after me.
And I don't have any problem with
doing it.
Remember, I'm an obedient prophet.
But this is not just
a plow for them so they can
come in and minister
and see signs and wonders in the
meeting. This is a plow
so you can have a breakthrough.
This is a plow so you guys
can experience the fullness
of what Jesus wants you to have
because these meetings will change
your life. And I'm
prophesying that you will not be the same
after these meetings if you receive
this and if you allow God
to awaken the passion in you again.
Allow God to awaken the
fire in you again.
You will not be the same.
Your whole life is going to change.
I had one more...
whole life...
I turned this off. I might
have turned the microphone off.
I didn't need it anyway.
It's probably
for you guys is...
Listen, Revelation 3
Verse 19 says,
As many as I love, I rebuke
and chasing. See that?
Why Lord, are you coming
with this rebuke because he loves
you?
Because he chasens you.
He loves you.
Come on, somebody say
he loves me.
Oh my goodness.
He's saying therefore
be zealous.
The word zealous there.
The word zealous means
to be
passionate
either for or against.
That's hot or cold.
You're going to either be
passionately for Jesus
or passionately against Jesus.
You can't have it both ways.
There is no middle of the road.
We got to get out of the middle of the road.
Or we're going to become
the Laodicean church.
And we'll be
spewed out of the mouth of God.
And I don't care if you're hooked on drugs.
I don't care if you're watching
pornography. I don't care
if you're going through a divorce.
I don't care if you're broke and you're
homeless. You can still
passionately be in love
and on fire for Jesus.
And Jesus will heal
your marriage. Jesus will
set you free from the pornography.
Jesus will break the addiction
of the drugs and the alcohol
and the cigarettes
and the vaping.
I don't want anything to get in the way.
Well, Brian, it doesn't say in the Bible
you can't smoke.
Yeah, but I don't want to love anything
more than I love him. Because it's
passionate as I am for my wife.
I don't love her more than Jesus.
It's passionate as I
am for my children. I don't love her
more than Jesus.
These
meetings are going to change your
life.
You won't be the lay of the
seeing church. You'll be the
remnant church.
Here in America.
And listen.
Come on say, I want revival.
Come on say it again.
I want revival.
I want revival.
Listen, everybody wants revival. But if revival is coming that means stuff is dead, stuff is
sleeping. And revival is just the beginning. We preach it like it's the conclusion. But
it's not the conclusion, it's just the beginning. That's why revivals don't last. Historically
they last like three to five years. The reason why is because it's not the conclusion, it's
just the beginning. The conclusion is to bring us into this relationship with God that sustains
us for a lifetime. That's far greater than revival than meetings that last for three and four
and five years. I want something greater than that. I keep turning this microphone off. Let
me hold it down here. He gave up everything and I'm going to give up everything. But what
I have in him, come on somebody, hallelujah, I've gained everything by what I have in
him. Come on, we gained everything by what we have in him. We just got to be passionate
enough to receive it and to want it. Amen?