and so I’m hoping that I can unpack

three things for you first of all I want

to talk to you about the reality of our

God second I’m going to talk about the

reality of our day and third I’m going

to talk about the reality of us so I’m

going to open up and because I’m

Sicilian I’m going to go to the Book of

Romans because those are my people

Romans 1 verse 19 I’m going to read it

out of the message paraphrase go ahead

and grab it in any other version and

follow along but this one kind of just

brings it home Romans 1:19 says but the

basic reality of God is plain enough

open your eyes and there it is by taking

a long and thoughtful look at what God

has created people have always been able

to see what their eyes as such can’t see

eternal power for instance and the

Mystery of his Divine being so nobody

has a good

excuse everything in creation declares

the existence of our

creator people especially in California

have no excuse because you got the

mountains you’ve got the ocean you’ve

got a an environment where can I just

say everything

grows perhaps not everything should grow

here the way it flourishes here but

everything that surrounds us says there

is a God who created us so that nobody

has a good excuse I fly a lot I have 4

million miles just on United Airlines

and I never walk in and say I’m a

preacher because the people next to you

will change seats and so they will

usually ask me like what do you do and

I’m like oh I’m an author and then we

start talking because everybody thinks

they should write a book they’re like

I’m going to write a book I’m like

Hallelujah every single person in the

entire universe feels like they should

write a book because the truth is you

have been written about in a book book I

don’t know if you know there is a book

in heaven that’s actually keeping

records of everything so anyway so uh

they they will usually like shut me down

as soon as they hear a preacher like

what about people in China what about a

people on a deserted island God’s going

to send them to hell oh I’m sorry it

says by taking a long and thoughtful

look at creation we can all have a

revelation that there is a

Creator so John and I are of the of the

older persuasion John doesn’t like me to

use the word older let’s say mature okay

mature we are more mature and when we

used to host guests we hosted uh a very

frightening older man uh named Lester

summeral we were terrified of him he was

always casting out demons talking about

demons I was pretty sure when he invited

John and I to go to breakfast that maybe

I had a demon that was going to get cast

out at the breakfast I mean I was like

casting everything possible out of

myself before we met with him for

breakfast and and he began to tell John

and I some stuff that was kind of

scary we were 24 and

25 the year was

1984 and Lester told John and I that he

saw a a day where people’s lives would

be controlled by a box they hold in

their

hands y’all looked at an iPhone

recently they are actually saying

people’s posture are changing because we

don’t lift our eyes and look at

creation we lower our heads and bow to

our

phones so we’re kind of missing some

stuff that God wants to

[Music]

highlight so that is the reality of our

God all creation no excuses he reveals

himself and all you have to do is ask I

remember asking I remember asking and

saying God I I know you are but I don’t

know how to find you and it wasn’t long

before my life crossed passed with this

one and I heard the gospel come Romans

1:21 goes on to say okay it says what

happened was this cuz how many of you

are like what is happening yeah anybody

else feel like that is that just

something I’m feeling he’s like what

happened was this people knew God

perfectly well but they when they didn’t

treat him like God refusing to worship

him they trivialized themselves into

silliness and confusion so that there

was neither sense nor Direction left in

their life they pretended to know it all

but they were illiterate regarding life

see it’s one thing to acknowledge God

it’s quite another thing to worship Him

and when you worship Him you acknowledge

Him as Supreme and the truth is the more

I pursue God the more he reveals me the

more I become human the more I become

more of a reflection of who he is as I

see him I actually become more like him

but when we’re stupid which is kind of

where we’re kind of celebrating stupid

right now in our culture we trivialize

ourselves what does that mean it means

to make less of than we really are we

are Sons and Daughters of the most high

God and we cannot tralize ourselves into

silliness and

confusion and become illiterate

regarding life oh have a a lot of

knowledge but no

wisdom it says they traded the glory of

God who holds the whole world in his

hands for cheap figurines you can buy at

any

roadside so God said in effect if that’s

what you want that’s what you get it

wasn’t long before they were living in a

pig pin smeared with filth filthy inside

and out and all this because they traded

the true God for a fake God and worship

the god they made instead of the God who

made them the God we Bless The God Who

blesses us oh yes whenever we worship a

God Made In My Own image made in my own

image it’s a Lesser God I love that we

were singing a song about make us holy

to guard your glory but you know we have

a culture that’s like you’re a God y’all

if I’m if I’m a God y’all are in trouble

like at any given moment I mean I am

through menopause but at any given

moment there’s going to be dead bodies I

mean you do not want me to be a god you

want me to be Godly you you don’t want

me to be a god

[Applause]

it goes on it says worse followed in

verse

26 refusing to know God they soon didn’t

know how to be human

either women didn’t know how to be women

and men didn’t know how to be

men guys I didn’t write this I didn’t

write the book of Romans okay do you

actually know that right now children

are

identifying as f

oh yeah yeah there’s litter

boxes and pea pads at schools and they

have

leashes and they are to be

acknowledged as the animal of their

choice and even let around

unleashes you guys I’m not making this

up I wish I was I wish I was what one

case no this is

happening in our schools

women didn’t know how to be women and

men didn’t know how to be

men I am just going to speak very

transparently with

you when John asked me to marry him it

re it made me realize oh my gosh I am a

woman like I am going to play the role

of wife mother woman and I started to

panic and I said you know you’re getting

a really good deal and John was like

okay I’m I’m excited about what you have

to say I said I have a woman’s body but

I have a man’s brain oh y’all I was way

ahead of my time oh yeah

1980

to woman’s body man’s brain why why was

I saying that because I had been wounded

by women and so when you are wounded by

a particular gender you will

disassociate from that and think that I

would find strength in

pretense

but women acting like men is not a

position of strength any more than men

acting like women is a position of

strength we need women to be women and

men to be

men because male and female

captures the image of

God but our culture our culture has said

oh no it’s an issue of wounding let’s

blend the genders to bring healing no

that will not bring healing we need to

remember what it means to be a daughter

of God we need to remember what it means

to be a son of the most high instead of

getting confused by our

culture we need to lean in to the

territory that we have left and

Dishonored we need to say what is the

value of being a woman and what is the

value of being a

man you got to do

that you know I the first time I ever

preached this is back in 2015 and people

were like nobody’s self-identifying

their gender oh but see johnar from

Colorado Colorado wants to be California

really really badat and Boulder is the

seed of California in Colorado so in

Colorado Junior High kids were shown

videos of boys kissing boys they did

that for the boys girls kissing girls

they did that for the girls and then

they said all right if you had a sexual

response to that you’re a lesbian or

you’re gay but the truth is if you see

something sexually charged and you

respond to it it just means you are

sexually wired it doesn’t mean you’re

going to jump out and do something how

many of you have ever flipped through a

channel and all of a sudden you see

something that you weren’t expecting to

see and you physically respond because

you are sexually wired and sometimes not

supposed to be seeing the things that

you happen to see how many of you know

they’re SE sneaking a lot of stuff

in seriously I love the crown I love the

crown until Season Two Season Two I’m

brushing my teeth I’m like what in the

world is going on there I shut my iPad

open it back up still going on I was

like goodbye Queen Elizabeth

I’m sorry I’m going to have to say

goodbye to the

crown because you will never have

authority over the things that you

choose to be entertained

by we cannot be

entertained by the things that would

undermine how God wo us God wo US male

and female and it is not kind to affirm

that somebody is a

mistake we have got to stop saying

people are mistakes because you know

what we’re actually saying God made a

mistake when he made you so ultimately

who we’re blaming is not the people

we’re blaming our creator so we don’t

want to do that then it goes a little

deeper in verse 27 it says sexually

confused they abused defiled one another

women with women men with men all lust

no love and then they paid for it oh how

they paid for it emptied of God and love

Godless Loveless wretches since they

didn’t bother to acknowledge God God

quit bothering them and let them run

loose and it goes on and then all hell

broke loose rampant evil grabbing and

grasping vicious backstabbing they made

life hell this is all people people are

like are you only no all people who

refuse to worship God as God they made

life hell on Earth with their Envy

wanton killing bickering and cheating

look at them mean spirited venomous Fork

tongue God Bashers bullies swaggers

insufferable windbags they keep

inventing new ways of wrecking lives

they ditch their parents when they get

in the way stupid slimy cruel cold

blooded I didn’t write these words okay

and then it goes on to say and it is not

as if they don’t know better they know

perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s

face and they don’t care worse they hand

out prizes to those who do the worst

things

best I don’t know if you recently saw

the awards in a church service for the

drag queen in New

York prizes for those those who do the

worst things best femininity is a

god-given

gift it is not one that should be

sexualized nobody’s asking for a womb or

to give birth

right okay I’m just there we go okay all

right so that is the reality of our day

okay you guys now get happy you were

chosen for this moment and

time now I know I know that sometimes

the church preaches truth without love

and truth without love is

Harsh it’s not empowering it’s

legalistic so our culture has responded

by preaching love without truth but love

without truth is a lie and lies don’t

set us free it is the truth that sets us

free so here’s the challenge before you

and I we’re going to have to live the

truth in love not just preach the

truth we’ve got to live the truth in

love and that starts with how we love

one another I love that your church is

like hey let’s target people to bless

let’s intentionally love other churches

instead of discounting or discrediting

or saying we’re

better I see what is happening in our

culture we have tons of people calling

people

out but Jesus didn’t call people out he

called them up he called them to a

higher standard he spoke to the destiny

he said okay I see what’s going on here

let me tell you the one thing that

releases you to live higher to live how

you were created the book of Isaiah in

chapter 41 says God will show us the way

he works so that you and I can live the

way we are made God’s kindness is what

leads people to repentance he pours out

blessing on the just and the unjust he

makes it rain on the just and the unjust

so we cannot be those who curse the very

ones that God wants to bless to get them

to turn back to him so a lot of people

stop there Romans

1 but I’m going to go on to Romans 2 and

talk about the reality of us those

people are on a dark spiral downward but

if you think that leaves you on The High

Ground where you can point your fingers

at others thank again every every time

you criticize someone you condemn

yourself it takes one to No One

judgmental criticism of others is a

well-known way of escaping detection in

your own crimes and misdemeanors but God

isn’t so easily diverted he sees right

through all such smoke screens and holds

you to what you’ve done you didn’t think

did you that just by pointing your

fingers at others you would distract God

from seeing all your doings and from

coming down on you hard or did you think

that because he is such a nice God he’d

let you off the hook this is old this is

not Old Testament it’s New Testament

better thank this one through from the

beginning God is kind but he is not soft

in kindness he takes us firmly by the

hand and leads us into a radical life

change so

that’s what I want to talk about come on

I can’t control what’s going on out

there but I am responsible for my

response so I’ve got to let God take me

firmly by the hand and lead me into a

radical life change not just yeah yeah

you know what we we all are immoral

horrible people and you know just but

the thing is I you know Christians are

just

forgiven they’re not perfect oh the

scripture says be thou

perfect so we have to be perfected as we

pursue him we are transformed so I was

an amazing exceptional Heathen I did not

get saved till I was 21 years of age I

was driving home from the University

Arizona I I did too long of a drive I

was high on viin you know it was like

noo viin kind of thing and I am

screaming at the top of my lungs I’m on

the highway to help and I realized in

the middle of

acdc’s promise that I possibly was on

the highway to help and I remember

thinking wait I have become

everything I never wanted to

be I have compromised every single

moral I have compromised every single

standard I remember just feeling so

aware of my lost condition and when that

happens you go out to party and it’s not

fun anymore you’re like I wish this was

fun still and I remember I turned to one

of the college dorm guys and I said

don’t you ever wonder if there’s more

don’t you ever wonder if there’s

something more and he was like you seem

like you’re living in the more I’m like

I’m living in the less I’m living in the

less but I don’t know how to get to the

more and he told me about this crazy

tennis player leading an all campus

bible study on produ campus and he’s

like well if you have any Christian

questions you should ask this guy and I

was like no not him he is the one that

every time I see him he’s like wow you

look tired he like he’s looking into my

soul why and I was like I’m fine I’m

fine I’m not tired why no no not him

he’s the Christian guy I do not want to

talk to Mr oh you look tired I’m like no

no but you know there’s that thing that

happens when you got a Praying

mama and all I remember is looking at

John he’s entering a building and I

thought to myself if I slow down he

won’t see me and he won’t

say the truth that I can’t get to sleep

at night unless I have drank a large

amount of

alcohol I ground my teeth at night I

used to put my bottom teeth into the ru

of my mouth and I would wake up with

blood in my mouth so I’m like he’s he’s

almost in the building and all of a

sudden I don’t know how this happened I

said

hey why did I just yell at the tired man

and he he turns around and I’m like

somebody had already told me you know

you’ve been cussing a lot in front of

the Bible study guy like you know you’ve

said a lot of things you probably

shouldn’t say in front of Bible study

guy and I was like I don’t want him to

think I’m a bad person even though I am

so I he turns around I said

so um I have a mom who thinks she’s been

healed of cancer what do you think of

that I think she’s crazy she also thinks

she’s like speaking in tongues like an

apostle I’m like so what you you know I

have some questions I made it made it

sound like I was trying to protect my

mom you know I have some questions I

need to ask you and John is like you

know what um I’m going away for the 4th

of July and you can you can call me when

I get back if you’re you’re

serious and I thought in your dreams I

am not calling you I am not calling you

skinny tennis player heck no so I didn’t

call him I did not call him but he

called me he called me he did all right

babe and he said hey we’re we’re hosting

a Bible study picnic and all I heard was

free food that’s really all I heard and

I thought okay I could do that from 5:00

to 7:00 and then I will like go out and

I will go out partying and so I was like

sure that sounds awesome and I didn’t

know it was a date I thought it was like

like hey you know 80 people are coming

and if you want to come and so I always

like held my options Loosely and then he

calls me a little later in the week he’s

like so what do you want hot dogs or

hamburger I’m like wait a minute wait

how many people would you ask and he

said just you I’m like oh my gosh I’m

oneon-one with the Christian I was like

uh okay I I I probably want hamburgers

so we go to this we we go to this picnic

and you know you got to love those

Christian girls they’re all coming up to

me like I’m praying for you I’m like I

it feels angry that feels like Angry

prayers I don’t know if I want you

praying for me what what exactly are you

praying and why is everybody praying for

me angry prayers why well I didn’t know

that I had in trapped the Bible study

leader and the Bible study leader people

had eyes on him but you know then this

girl that’s showing up at breakfast in a

bikini top and cut off shorts she’s come

to the Bible study and so I just

remember I was getting really awkward so

I tried to be nice I thought Christians

are nice so I like cleared the table and

did things like that trying to fool

everybody see I’m a Christian I clear I

clear my own plates and we all got in a

circle you guys you have powerful

worship no no no in 1981 we had to see

sing things like I got the joy joy joy

joy down in my heart where down in my

heart yeah yeah okay so angry angry

Heathen in a circle with Christians

singing I got the joy joy I wanted to

tackle

all of them and I’m like this is the

most a I didn’t know where to look

people are like lifting their hands I’m

like do you have a question I mean when

you’re in college and people lift their

hands they have a question and they’re

making me nervous I’m like put your hand

on put and so I have the song sheet I’m

like shaking the song sheet like for the

love of God look at your song sheet put

your hand down these people are stupid

and so I just was like I need to get out

of here I need to get out of here and go

get a drink but but then I looked down

and there was a song called Robes of

righteousness and it said in the lyrics

that when God would look at me he would

no longer see me and I don’t know what

you’ve come from but I came from shame I

came from compromise Darkness I remember

hearing the Holy Spirit say you need a

covering you are covered in sin and I

elow John and I said is this true and he

said is what true that God could look at

me and not see

me and that night we went walking on the

campus and John preached from Genesis to

the Book of Revelations I began to panic

panic cuz I had seen the end of the

movie thief in the night and I knew that

people that weren’t saved got their head

cut off and I began to get nervous that

this guy was going to disappear in the

Rapture thing and I was going to be left

on the Park Bench with my head cut off

so I finally just said I I need to do

this what do I need to do I need to do

this Christian thing do we need like

candles what what needs to happen like

and he just said you need to confess

your sins I’m like I don’t remember them

all I don’t remember them all he was

like you can say I’m a sinner I said I

can totally say that I can say I’m a

sinner and so John led me through a

Salvation

prayer and he said now you’re whole

again Spirit soul and body and I said so

you’re saying I can eat cheese now he’s

like what I said you just said that I

was whole Spirit soul and body and I

have lactose intolerance I want to eat

cheese so now that I’m a Christian

Christians eat cheese is that what

you’re saying to me and John was like oh

my gosh so he was like all right let’s

let’s pray again so

we he holds my hand he’s like say Jesus

I was like Jesus thank you thank you for

healing me up lactose intolerance he had

me say it cuz he was so nervous he

couldn’t even remember what I had and

all of the sudden

I felt this warmth come into my stomach

and untie all the knots that had been in

my stomach since I was 15 I knew I was

healed I went back to my dorm room and I

was like Jesus I need you to wait in the

hall wait in the hall wait in the hall

there’s there’s some stuff in here now I

need you to wait and then I go in I dump

all the beer I dump why did I have

pornography I don’t know I don’t know I

dump all the

pornography you know when you’re a

heathen you just do crazy stuff and then

I was like Jesus you can come in then I

spent about an hour and a half looking

for the book of Paul because John had

said Paul said this and Paul said that

and I was like where is the book of Paul

where is the book of Paul I can’t find

the book of Paul okay guys no zero

biblical frame of reference I finally

stand my way Bible that was in the dorm

I didn’t have a Bible are you kidding me

stand my way Bible it’s like please open

to the book of Paul and it opens up to

Corinthians where it says if any man be

in Christ there a new

creation and I look and it’s Paul I’m

like I thought he’d written two letters

I thought that was it my chance were so

good on that

opening I remember John discipled me he

poured into me he knew I was a piece of

work so he gave me an entire suitcase of

cassette tapes yeah yeah yeah we’re that

old cassette tapes and I drove back to

the University of Arizona listening to

cassette tapes but that wasn’t enough

praying in tongues because I knew I

needed to renew my mind and then when I

got back to the University of Arizona I

began to walk the halls of my sority and

I had my hands on the walls and I called

my sorty sisters out by name out of a

kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of

light

I used to pray and tongues in the shower

they’re like what’s what’s going on in

there guys when you ask God to take you

firmly by the hand and lead you into a

radical life change not a

marginal okay you know maybe we’re just

not going to celebrate Halloween the way

we used to I’m sorry that is not going

to cut it

anymore we are in a battle between dark

and Light life truth and lies and we

have to be radical radical in love

radical in faith radical in our own

lives

radical so I just want to know who is

here that wants to get

[Music]

radical all

right I need to warn you about a couple

things

if you ask God to take you firmly by the

hand and lead you into a radical life

change the first thing that changes is

he puts your his finger on your

heart we all have unique giftings and

anointings and God wants to do something

where he separates the pure from the

impure he wants to per prophetic people

that we can speak and God will watch

over our words to perform them and not

allow one of them to fall to the ground

unfulfilled he’s going to do heart

surgery on you first I’m just warning

you I remember what happened when I

asked God to excavate my life wow two

weeks later I’m like landscape it

landscape my life I did not mean to say

excavate

accessorize my life make it pretty on

the

outside but when we ask God to give us

truth in our inner parts he begins with

us so we don’t point to the

culture we point to us so that we can

rescue the culture because we are not

wrestling with flesh and blood but with

principalities and powers and rulers of

wickedness and high places

that exalt themselves against people we

love knowing god so if you are ready to

do heart

surgery that was a word that Dr Mike had

for me do you remember he said I I saw

you robing up and I saw you doing heart

surgery the word of God is a two-edged

sword with one side it

cuts and at the same time it heals

and so the two edges of cutting away and

healing so that we can be his

mouthpieces is something he wants to do

so this book out there if any of this

spoke to you if any of it you’re like

hey I don’t know if I really believe

what she’s saying I get that this book

was a shock for me when I wrote it but

we need to live truth in a universe of

opinions so if you’re still after all

that warning willing to ask God to take

you firmly by the hand and lead you into

a radical life change I want you to

stand to your feet because we can have

comfortable

Christianity I just want you to close

your eyes and lift your hand

up and say I don’t want to search my

life say say I don’t want to search my

life I don’t want to search My Life by

the light of human understanding by the

light of human understanding I’m going

to search my life I search my life by

the Light Of Your Word By the Light of

your word your word your word is a light

is a light unto my path myth it is a

lamp a lamp unto my feet my feet I thank

you Father I thank you that you have

chosen me you have chosen for this

moment in time moment in time so take me

so take me firmly by The Hand firm by

and Lead Me And Lead me into a radical a

radical life change life change God God

merg Truth and Love merge truth and love

I want to be that person I want to be

that person who lives truth who lives

truth and loves well and loves well

anoint me anoint me to be Fearless to be

Fearless in a day in a day where so many

where so many are captive to the fear of

man to the fear of man begin it with me

begin it with me in Jes Jesus name Jesus

name amen and

amen I’m going to say one more

thing the Bible is so clear it says

those that are

planted planted in the house of God not

transplanted every two weeks oh let’s go

here and then let’s go there I didn’t

like the worship or we don’t believe in

women preaching I don’t I don’t know

what causes

transplanting but when you transplant

all the time you end up stunting your

growth plants go in shocks when you

transplant them they’re like what just

happened okay so if God has called you

here

plant and flourish plant and flourish in

the house of God in the courts of our

King plant and flourish because I

believe that Pastor Mar and Pastor

Michelle have chosen to plant and

flourish in a land where others found it

hard to stay oh it’s beautiful to come

but sometimes it’s difficult to stay so

they are woven for this time am it’s an

honor for John and I to minister to this

house to bless this great work of God I

can’t wait to see what God is going to

do on year five year 6 year seven year

eight you’re nine you’re 10 we got to go

to 44 is my understanding

44 so God bless yall