(audience applauds) - So good to be back at Saddleback. Beautiful church, beautiful people. We love you, we love your pastors. I love being outside, we
hold open-air campaigns. And in one particular year when
we were living in Costa Rica we had a campaign that was
very close to our house, about 10 miles away. And my wife, who leads
the evangelistic outreach of our campaigns for children, she would take our daughters
and head to the campaign and she says that she always
works with the important people and then I get to work
with all the old people, which means youth and adults. (audience laughs) I said, "Babe, you take the car, "because it's so close, I'll go in a cab, "'cause I will follow-up. "I'll be there for your program at 5:30." We started at 7:00. So at five o'clock, I leave the house, I flag down a taxi, I get in the car. We'd been on radio and television, and the taxi driver says
to me, "Where ya goin'?" I hand him the directions,
he looks at the directions, he goes, "Oh hey, you're
goin' to that campaign!" I said, "Yes I am." He said, "You know, my favorite preacher "is preachin' that campaign." (audience laughs) I said, "You don't say." He said, "Yes," he said,
"I've heard him on radio, "I watched him on television. "One day, one day I'm gonna meet him." (audience laughs) I said, "Really?" He said, "Yes," he says,
"his name is Jason Frenn." I said, I said, "That's interesting." I said, "Well I think
today is your lucky day." (audience laughs)
He says, "What do you mean?" I said, "I'm Jason Frenn." He looks in the rearview
mirror and he says, "You're a liar."
(audience laughs) I said, "I'm Jason Frenn." He says, "No you're not." I said, "Yes I am." He said, "Show me your license." So I pull out my driver's license, I give it to him, he looks at the license, then looks at me in the rearview mirror. Looks at me in the rearview mirror, and looks at the license, and he says, "You are Jason Frenn." I said, "Yes, I have been for some time." (audience laughs) Now why is it that his concept and his perception of me was so off? Well, I'll tell you why. Because before we actually
put a photograph on Facebook we have to take 50 pictures in order to make sure that we have the right one. I mean, no one takes 50 pictures and says, "Let's pick the ugliest
one and put that up there." (audience laughs) And when you meet someone
for the very first time, you know it's true, and all you've seen are
their pictures on Facebook, you think to me, "There is no way "that can be the same person. (audience laughs)
"They look like they "just been rose, raised from the dead." (audience laughs) And yet, we allow these
concepts and perceptions to really influence the
way we see the world. Unfortunately, many of
us have been influenced through either poor teaching
or things in the media or things in society that has shaped and has formed a poor concept
of who God is in our minds. There's this notion that
God is ready to condemn you, that He's the great accountant in the sky, that if you have too many
debts, spiritually speaking, He's just gonna zap you. Well the truth is, when
you look at the Bible, that He's a merciful
God, He's a loving God. And that is why I think
Saddleback is a great place because it's a place that concentrates on the true concept of who God is, giving you a picture of
His loving character. He is not fast to anger,
He is slow to anger, He is merciful, He binds
up the broken-hearted, and He gives hope to the hopeless. He always has compassion
on those who are suffering. So we turn to the Word so that we can have an accurate picture and concept of who God is. Now each of you have
received in your bulletin a handout that we call the Wheel of Life. I want you to take that out, and I want you to begin
to grade or check mark a number between one and 10 on each of the seven spokes
of the Wheel of Life. You will see that there are seven spokes, and begin with the spiritual spoke. I want you to rate yourself on a scale of one to 10 spiritually, if you are perfect in every one of these, then you're gonna give yourself
a 10 in every category. But you rate yourself the
way you would rate yourself in any particular category. Do not allow your spouse to rate you (audience laughs) in these categories. No elbows allowed here. Now I interviewed someone,
we're gonna call him Juan. And being a Hispanic, he has
different cultural values and see things slightly different than those of us who were born and raised in the United States. He's a first generation Hispanic. And he rated himself in this particular category, spiritually. He had not developed his
relationship with God, but being very honest,
he gave himself a four. Then as we move along to the mental spoke that also embraces our emotional and our psychological development, how well we take care of
ourselves mentally, our education, he gave himself a two, because after graduating from high school, he never cracked another book
and he wasn't interested. Moving on to his family,
now being Hispanic, of course, Hispanics love family, and so he gave himself an eight. (speaking in foreign language) (audience cheers) Thank you very much. I just said there's a $10 cover charge to get in here today
(audience laughs) for those of you who don't speak Spanish. Terms of the career, he wasn't where he wanted to be. Many of us are not. He gave himself a five in his career. Now personal stands for me-time, how well you take care of yourself and the things that you do just for you. We're not very good at me-time. Maybe that might be spa day. Maybe that might be a
manicure or a pedicure, or going to an Angel game. Whatever you do to just
treat yourself well, you go ahead and rate
yourself in that category. In his case, he gave himself an eight. Financially, well, he wasn't
where he wanted to be. I'm not sure how you would rate yourself, but you go ahead and put an X on the check mark that best describes you. He gave himself, I believe, a four, because he wasn't where he wanted to be. And physically, Juan was overweight. He played soccer once a week, and I believe he gave himself a five. Now you rate yourself in that
particular category as well. Then I had Juan connect all the dots. And as he began to connect all the dots, we begin to see a wheel emerge. I want you to do the same thing. I want you to begin to
connect all your dots. And you too, like Juan, will
begin to see a wheel emerge. As we move on, we will
see the contrast now between his wheel and the perfect wheel as the numbers disappear. And you can visualize that
as well on your wheel. Now judging the perfect wheel, which is perfectly round, with his wheel, let me ask you a question. How smooth do you think
his ride is in life? (audience laughs) And I'll ask you, how
smooth is your ride in life? A lady came up to me two weeks ago after doing this exercise, and she said, "I gotta call AAA." (audience laughs) You may need to call AAA, but
I've got good news for you. Doesn't matter how bumpy your ride is, with God's help, He will
help you inflate those spokes so that your ride can be much more smooth. How many of you would like to have a much smoother ride in life,
can I see a show of hands? All right, well you're in
the perfect place in life as you hear this message
and apply these things. As we now turn to the Word of God, I'm gonna read a passage that is found both in Matthew and Mark, they're virtually identical, that sets up Peter's life. This is our first encounter with Peter in the book of Mark and in Matthew this is what it says. "As Jesus was walking
beside the Sea of Galilee, "He saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter, "and his brother Andrew. "They were casting a net into the lake "for they were fishermen." "Come, follow me, Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Now I have to ask you the question. Is there anyone here in this place that would say that Peter
did not give up his nets, did not give up fishing, change his career to be a disciple of Christ? I mean, it is clear as
day that in these verses, he walked away from his
fishing job, his career, and he became a full-time disciple. Can we all agree on that? Well, it says a little later
on in the book of Matthew, that there was an episode when Peter's mother-in-law
was sick and she had a fever, and Jesus walked into his house, laid His hands on this mother-in-law, and she was healed, and then
she got up and fed Him food. Now we don't know if He healed
her because He was hungry, (audience laughs) or because He had compassion on her, but the bottom line is that
the mother-in-law was healed. Then something happens a chapter later. Something rather peculiar happens, that kinda throws confusion into the mix. The Bible says that in Luke chapter five, just a chapter after Peter's
mother-in-law is healed, he's seen miracles, he's
left his fishing job, that Jesus is walking
along the Sea of Galilee and this huge crowd gathers around, they begin to press in on Him. And as the crowd presses in on Him, He needs a boat so He can go out a little further from the
shore to have enough room so He can preach and
speak to this multitude. And He turns to this
fisherman who has a boat, he's cleaning up his nets,
he'd been all-night fishing, and when the fisherman turns around, it's Peter. Now wait a minute, wait,
wait just a moment. I thought that Peter gave
it up to follow Jesus, and now we discover that
Peter has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. (audience laughs) He said, "Yes, I will follow you." And yet, he went back to fishing. Now notice that Jesus doesn't
say anything to Peter, He just gets in the boat
and He begins to speak. Hours go by, and you know
that Peter's feeling guilty. He know he's has to
have that conversation, and finally, Jesus, after
speaking to the multitude, walks up to Peter and says,
"Hey, let's go fishin'." And Peter has to cough it up. "Well, we've been out all night, "and we didn't catch anything. "But because it's You, we'll go fishin'." They cast out and they threw out the nets, and the Bible says that there was such an overwhelming quantity of fish that the boat literally began to sink. So they called out to their friends in the adjacent boat and said, "Hey, you need to come over and help!" And that boat began to sink. And when Peter sees this
miraculous catch of fish, he literally falls to
his knees before Jesus and he says, "Lord, depart from me, "for I am a sinful man." And now we realize why. Because he had turned his back and walked away from the calling, because it became very evident that he could not trust
God with his finances. And yet, in one second,
Jesus displays His power to provide two years of salary with one miraculous catch of fish. Also, notice that Jesus
does not condemn him. Peter was confronted with the fact that he did not know what he
was going to do with his life. And I know that many of
us who hear this message do not know what we want
to do with our lives. Many of us give our finances over to God, and then we pull them back. And we give our family over to God, and we pull that back. And we give our careers over to God, and we pull that back. And we give our bodies and
our minds and our thoughts, and we wind up taking it back. Because we go back to default mode. And every time we look at
Peter when things get tough, guess what he does, he
goes back to default mode. And I will say that Peter was
not a very good fisherman. Because anytime you see him,
he never catches anything. I mean, nothing!
(audience laughs) Unless Jesus is with him, which is an entirely different story, an entirely different point or a message, unless Jesus is in the boat with him, he never catches anything. And maybe you have not seen the fruit in your life that you've wanted to see because you've not allowed
Jesus to be in your boat. Maybe He has not been a part of your life. If you really wanna reach
your greatest potential, you gotta have Him in your boat. So as Peter constantly
goes back to default mode, and by the way, I love Peter. He's a real person that
I can identify with because so many times, I've wanted to take it all back myself. I go back to default mode. But if you wanna break out of the destructive patterns in your life, the first thing that you have to do is you have to break free
from your default setting, and we all have 'em. Siblings know how to press
each other's buttons, and children know how to
press their parent's buttons. And whatever buttons are pushed, or whenever the heat gets turned up, we go back to default setting. You gotta break free from
your default setting. It may be lack of forgiveness, it may be the ripping off
of that emotional scab that gets you going every
time something happens, some sort of trigger, but
you gotta somehow avoid that default setting. Which means that you don't revert to your old ways of thinking
when times are tough. You gotta break out of
those old ways of thinking when times are tough. Now as a missionary for many years, my default mode was food. I am a foodie. More specifically, I'm a chocoholic. If they had Chocoholics Anonymous, I wouldn't even attend. That's how messed up I am
(audience laughs) when it comes to chocolate. Now some of you coffee drinkers out there, you don't really identify, you only identify for the other
coffee drinkers out there. But the chocoholics who hear me are sayin' to themselves, "I
know exactly what he means." (audience laughs)
Because they're packin' chocolate right now.
(audience laughs) They got it on 'em right now. Chocoholics understand. When I get up in the morning, my wife, who is here this day, she is my witness, before
I even hit the bathroom, I have two squares of Lindt
dark chocolate with sea salt. (audience murmurs) Before I even hit the can in the morning.
(audience laughs) They would say I have a problem. I always fly with my Lindt bar. Even when I go to Cuba,
and I do not share. (audience laughs) I would turn to chocolate,
I would turn to food, I could eat a huge Pyrex
portion of brownies, one of my favorite things was downing Betty Crocker frosting, a whole tub of Betty Froster frosting. Some of you are going,
"Oh, that's disgusting!" And a couple of you are
beginning to salivate. (audience laughs) So I wanna show you a picture
the way I used to look. (audience murmurs)
This is me at 245 pounds. Blood pressure, 170 over 100. At 27 years of age. And cholesterol at 300. You could imagine the pain when the doctor looks at me, and I'm praying that God would heal me. "God, please restore my body. "Please do something." And the Lord's like, "You're
like treating your body "like a trash can!" (audience murmurs) And the doctor says to me, "If you don't get your act together, "you're gonna be dead by 40. "You won't see your kids
graduate from high school." "So then what do I gotta do? "I gotta do somethin'! "I guess what I gotta do
is I gotta look at broccoli "and imagine that it's chocolate." (audience laughs) "That's what I gotta do." And I began to do that, I
began to look at broccoli and began to look at cauliflower as it was something that I
really craved, like pizza. And looked at the other stuff, and looked at it like I detested it, and then I began to ran, and I began, first day, I ran a block, and the second day, I ran
a block and a mailbox. (audience laughs)
And then I ran a block and two mailboxes. And finally, it built up to two miles and I would run for 90 seconds
and walk for 90 seconds. And I would do that for
approximately 25 minutes until I hit the two mile mark. But as I began to lose weight, family, which is great, and
friends, which are great, if they're struggling with their health, they don't want you. (audience laughs) They don't want you to
look great or feel great, because then they feel worse (audience murmurs) for eating like a pig. (audience laughs)
They don't like that. So they say, "Why are you doing this? "You look fine." (audience laughs) "You don't wanna go overboard. "Why would you eat so much broccoli? "You need to balance it
out with some pizza." (audience laughs)
"And some Captain Crunch." (audience laughs) Well, all the weight began to come off and I dropped down to about 180 pounds. (audience murmurs)
I was eating well, and I was running well,
and about five years ago, I began to entertain
these voices in my head. People at my age began to say, "You know, "you really gotta cut back on your running "because you know, you're
gonna develop back problems, "and you're gonna develop knee problems." And you start listening
to all these people who make excuses instead of focusing on what needs to be done. You have to do what works for you and stop listening to what
other people say works for them. You need to start
listening to your doctors instead of the people who don't know what they're talking about. And I started to entertain these voices and I'm thinkin', "I gotta
slow down, I gotta slow down." And then I had a meeting with
my friend Claudio Freidzon, who pastors a church in
Buenos Aires of 30,000 people. He and I have been friends for 20 years, and he flew in to preach at a conference, and I had him as a guest on my radio show. And sitting on my couch in
my office, he says to me, "I ran the New York
Marathon a few months ago." I said, "You're kidding me!" I said, "How old are you?" He says, "I'm 60." "You ran the New York," and
then I start talkin' to myself. "Now Frenn, you have no excuse." That's what I say to
myself when I really wanna, I call myself, not by my
first name, but by last name. "Frenn, you better get your act together." (audience murmurs) "Talkin' about gettin' old, "you're not gettin' old! "You get out there and start get, "get back with it again." And so I started to run further, I ran three miles, four miles, five miles, six, 10 miles, and
finally in October 2015, I ran my first marathon, it
was a Long Beach Marathon. (audience cheers and applauds) Now don't get too excited, I did not win the Long Beach Marathon. (audience laughs) I survived the Long Beach Marathon. (audience laughs) I didn't die (chuckles) during the Long Beach Marathon. (audience laughs) When I crossed the finish
line, it was 91 degrees. (audience murmurs) We had a heat wave. The guy who actually won the
Long Beach Marathon that year, by the time I crossed the finish line, he'd already been back to his hotel, he had showered, shave,
he was at 35,000 feet on his way back to Africa
before I even got close (audience laughs)
to the finish line! It's amazing the amount of temptations that are thrown at you in a marathon. It's just like your walk with the Lord. It's identical. The amount of temptation
that comes your way, mile eight, there's a group of people handing out donut holes! (audience laughs) (laughs) And they're there every year. They're there every year. And at first I was
thinkin', "Oh, you guys are "a bunch of temptation, bunch
of just a bunch of tempters." And finally last year I said, "Give me one of those donut holes!" (audience laughs) (laughs) Mile 18, I don't know who
thought this was a wise idea, but they ran the course
right by a Starbucks, with the most sensuous
poster in the window. It was a huge, chocolate Frappuccino (audience laughs)
that was just drizzling (laughs) with chocolate sauce, and I saw five runners leave the race! (audience laughs) (laughs) Walk right into Starbucks. Done, at mile 18. (audience laughs) They're done. At mile 19 to 22, that's usually the space,
they call it hitting the wall. That's the time when the
body runs out of glucose. That's when your body says, "We're done. "We're done, shut it down." And the only way you finish
that race is mentally. You tell your body you do
have energy when you don't, and you just press through it. Finally, at mile 22, the body shifts gears and
begins to turn fat into energy, and it's about a 10 minute time where you think you're just done. And you just keep pressing until the body makes that transition. And it's interesting at that point, I'm watching many people sit down along the side of the pathway, in many ways, just like
our walk with the Lord, people because of pain,
because of tragedy, because of deception or
maybe disillusionment, they just simply walk away
from the things of God because of the pain, and they sit down, and they say, "You know what, I'm not sure "if this is right for me. "I'm not sure that I wanna continue "in this thing we call
this Christian walk." And they sit there in disillusionment and that's exactly the
time when you can see the Lord's compassion
wanting to reach them, and He would say, "You don't
have to be the fastest runner. "You just have to get up. "And if you're willing to walk, "I will finish the race with you, "and we'll walk together." And no matter what you're
going through friend, you may feel like you're
ready to throw in the towel, I'm here to tell you that
the Lord will walk with you. He loves you and has
great compassion on you, understands you. Understands your need
and even if you think, even if you say, "It's not worth it, "He doesn't love me, He doesn't see me," He will very patiently
wait to walk with you. Well I finally crossed the finish line. And when I crossed the finish line, my wife says, "Jason, Jason!" And I'm like. (audience laughs) (laughs) I didn't even know who I was. (audience laughs) Most painful part of the marathon was the walk back to the car. (audience laughs) They hang this medallion around my neck, and I look at it, this
metal, and I realize that I didn't earn it when I
crossed the finish line. I earned it every day I got up and trained for the marathon. And when we get to Heaven, the Bible says we will be given a crown. And we don't earn that
crown when we get there, we earn it every day that we
faithfully serve the Lord. Every day that we get
up and we walk with Him. We don't have to be record breakers, we just have to be faithful. Just have to be faithful,
and genuine, and sincere in our walk with the Lord. The key of change is having a
big enough reason to change. People change when their status
quo becomes unacceptable, or when the pain of staying
the same becomes unbearable. It's understanding when that
status quo becomes unacceptable when you say to yourself, "You know, I am thoroughly disgusted," or, "The pain is too much," or, "I'm just ready to change." I personally think that
females are better than males when it comes to change. That's my personal opinion,
I'm a biased opinion. I think they're better at it than men are. Men don't like to change as
much as females like to change. I think that, I mean, I have
the authority to say that. I was raised by a single mother, my grandmother raised me on the weekends, I live with four ladies, my
wife and three daughters, and our female dog, even the dog (audience laughs)
does not like to, she's much better at change. But in order to change, you have to discover your why. This is our second point. You have to tap into your why. Now Peter's why for following
Jesus initially, was fleeting. Because his why was power and fame. He thought he was signin' up to be in the Messiah's shadow, he was gonna be right next to the Ruler and he was thinking a political kingdom. That was his why. And when it didn't pay well, (laughs) he went back to default mode. So you have to discover that why. Now whenever I talk about my testimony of how I lost the weight and so forth, I always tell people the why. The why was never to look good, the why was to be a healthier person. And if you aim to be a healthier person, then you get the benefits
of being a healthier person. You do not pay the price to be healthy, you pay the price for not being healthy. You don't pay the price
for a good marriage, you pay the price for a bad marriage. You don't pay the price for
a family that is functional, I mean, for a healthy family, you pay the price for a
family that is dysfunctional. Now my dad, who had
been married four times, he had been divorced three times, always said to me,
"Son, marriage is grand. "Divorce is 400 grand." (audience laughs) So you do pay the price. There are lots of books
out there on how to. People always wanna know how to, that's not the question. There are books on how to, but knowing your why
for change is essential. You have to tap into that reason why you want to change. So how do we change? Well, Paul talks about it in this series we're in the midst of,
rethinking your life, Paul talks about, "Do
not conform any longer "to the pattern of this world "but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind." And when our minds are renewed, then we don't have so
many competing ideas. With no competing ideas, then we can hear and understand and prove what God's good will is. That means you gotta watch your heart, you gotta watch your attitudes, and you gotta watch your thoughts. Don't just entertain anything
that comes into your mind, you need to be the very
guard of the thoughts and the attitudes in
your heart and your mind. That inevitably requires us
to change the tape in our head and stop listening to the critics. Change the tape in your
head, change the thoughts. Do you know what I do? I recorded a message to myself. "These are God's thoughts for you." And I put music in the bed of that, and I would play that to myself. It was a five minute message every day that should be, it was God's
way of the way He saw me instead of the way other people saw me, and I would listen to that as I ran so I would renew my mind
according to God's Word, and I would listen to that. Changing the cassette in my head. Because the greatest
transformations take place when people can visualize the breakthrough before it happens. It is so important to see that
place where you want to go, that accomplishment, that
breakthrough, that healing, whatever area that you're
have a particular need in, you need to see reaching that potential or that need being met. So visualize reaching
your life, your new life and your breakthrough. Visualize reaching your
new life and breakthrough. Now psychologically, this
is very, very important. And I'll tell you why, because the woman with the issue of blood,
she said to herself, "If I could just reach out and
touch the hem of his garment, "I will be healed." Blind Bartimaeus, who
was incapable of seeing, but could visualize the
Messiah calling out to him. The two blind men following
Jesus the whole way, calling out to Him, "Jesus, Son of David!" Recognizing Him as the Messiah, even though they couldn't see. Also the woman who's
daughter was demon possessed, in Matthew chapter 15,
she knows that if she can get audience with Jesus,
her daughter will be healed. Athletes, prior to a game, they're sitting in the locker room and they're visualizing the game. Inventors are visualizing their invention. Writers are doing the same
thing with their manuscript. Teachers are not only
seeing these little monsters of four and five years of age, but they're viewing them
and their great potential as they move on down the road. Even lawyers are visualizing
the jury, the close, and bringing this to the conclusion that needs to be brought. And many times this
comes through a process. I believe in the God of miracles, and I believe in the God of miracles does miracles immediately, but I also know that He does
miracles through a process. And I, like many, are guilty
of not giving Him credit for the miracles that
He does in a process. If I'd only written down my prayer request and kept track over the
days, months, and years, I would have given Him much more credit than I had given Him in my lifetime. Because I simply was not aware of the things that He
was doing along the way. I wanna encourage you to
keep a prayer journal, begin to write down and track how God, over time, responds to you. Now back in 1999, we needed a miracle. We needed a $5,000 miracle. I am currently getting my MBA from USC. Now if you're a Bruin fan,
you're gonna have to forgive me, we are in a church, so you're
just gonna have to forgive me. (audience laughs) And I'm doing that to amplify, or strengthen my mental spoke. So we do different things at
different times of our life to strengthen the spokes in our life. But back in the day, I worked in business before I ever got involved in ministry. I was a sales representative
here in Orange County, and I was making close to $70,000 a year, and we left all that, moved to Costa Rica to be missionaries, and in 1999, our salary was $16,000. You talk about a shock to the system. Well, we needed a miracle of $5,000. And this is what that miracle was for, it was to buy airline tickets to move all five of us back, my wife, myself, and our three daughters, eight, six, and four, and upon arriving here, get a used car, and an apartment in Costa Mesa. And if there was any money left over, clothes for our three daughters. Now you all know that I'm
not askin' for the moon. I'm not saying, "You
know, God, I need $100,000 "so we could all go back first-class, "and when I land, I gotta have my," no, I'm askin' for the bare bones, $5,000 to get our family back
here and start minimally. Well, finally a week before we left, it was literally two months had passed, a week before we left, our
home church calls and says, "Hey, we'd like to have
you come and preach." This was in Costa Rica,
and for the very first time after I preached, the pastor got up and received an offering,
and they received $1,000. Now those of you who are
really good with math, how much more do I need? (audience murmurs) Who said $6,000? (audience laughs) I'm just kiddin' ya. $4,000 is what we need. We had enough to get the airline tickets, and so upon arrival, I'm sorry, as we packed our bags and so forth, my father-in-law calls and he says, "Hey, Claudio Freidzon
is having a campaign "and we know that you
know him in your friends, "he's doin' a campaign in San Diego "on the military base, the Marine base "across from Coronado Island. "Would you be willing
to translate for him?" I said, "That'd be great!" He says, "It starts the
next day after you land." "Fabulous!" So upon landing, we literally
drove straight to San Diego. Well, I translated two nights for Claudio, and finally, the third day
when everything was done, we have a breakfast and
all the people are there, all the people who were
involved in the campaign, the worship team, everything, and the host pastor begins
to hand out envelopes, and they give one to Pastor Claudio, they give one to the worship leader, and they give one to me. Now I'm not presumptuous, but I'm just assuming
that there's something of monetary value inside that envelope. (audience laughs) And so I walk up to the
host pastor and I said, "Do I have your permission
to apply whatever I have "inside this envelope to
whatever need I may have?" He says, "You can do
whatever you want with it." I said, "Fantastic." I put it in my jacket pocket, and about a half hour later, I take the three daughters,
my wife was asleep, with some peace and
quiet in the hotel room, and after this breakfast,
I take my three daughters down the road, we find a park,
they're on the monkey bars, we're about a half a mile away, and I pull out this envelope and I begin to sort of play
the game that we've all played, don't pretend that you
don't play the game, 'cause I know you've played the game, (audience laughs)
which is I wonder how much money is in this envelope. (audience laughs) And I'm thinkin' $250 a
night for translation, not that I think that I'm
only worth $250 a night, (audience laughs)
but I'm thinkin' I know what the going rate is, maybe there's a check in here for $500. So I open the envelope, indeed
there is a check inside. I pull out the check,
and I look, and it says four, comma, zero, zero, zero, dot, zero, zero.
(audience murmurs) (audience applauds) And the skeptical part in me however, (audience laughs)
which I know exists in you as well,
(audience laughs) says, "Dude, you gotta make sure "that what it is written
out matches the numbers." (audience laughs)
"Because if it doesn't, "the bank ain't gonna accept it." (audience laughs) So I scan down and it says $4,000. Next thing I know, my
daughters are standing over me saying, "Daddy, daddy, you okay?" I had fainted.
(audience laughs) I couldn't believe it! I got up and I said, "The Lord provides!" And I shook my booty. I'm not sure if you can do that, but I did it anyway, I don't care. (audience laughs)
I shook my booty, and I said, "The God of
the Universe provides "in our time of need." Well, we were, I don't know, six months, I'm sorry, six weeks later, we'd gotten our used car,
we got the apartment, we got the clothes for the girls, and we were on itineration trail. And my cell phone rings and the
voice on the other end says, "Is this Jason Frenn?" I said, "Yes." He said, "My name is John." I said, "How can I help you?" He says, "I'm in charge of accounting "for the Claudio Freidzon crusade." I said, "Well how can I help you?" He said, "By chance, did I
write you a check for $400?" (audience murmurs) (audience laughs) The world froze. (audience laughs) I said, "No." He said, "Well how much was it?" I said, "It was for $4,000." He said, "$4,000!" (audience laughs) "$4,000, thank God I found you! "That's where the error is. "There's been a $3,600 error. "You're gonna have to
return the difference. "How in the world did this happen?" I said, "Well let me
tell ya how it happened, "I was in Costa Rica and I needed $5,000 "in order to move our
family all the way back "to Southern California."
(audience laughs) "And I needed a miracle, "and our home church gave us a offering "for $1,000, and in order to get us "a used car, an apartment,
and clothes for our girls, "and it is exactly what we needed. "But if you're tellin' me
that that was a mistake, "you gotta give me some time, "'cause all that dough is gone." (audience laughs) He says, "Are you telling me that the Lord "took me by the hand and made
me write a check for you, "for $4,000?"
(audience laughs) I said, "Man, whatever's
between you and God "is none of my business."
(audience laughs) Then the Lord spoke to me. Not in an audible voice, but you know the impression that you get. Two words, He spoke to me. "Shut up." (audience laughs) (laughs) Some of the times we
exercise the most wisdom is not when our mouth is goin', but when we're silent. One, 1,000, two, 1,000, three, silence. Four, 1,000, five, 1,000,
six, 1,000, silence. Seven, eight, nine seconds of silence, I thought he dropped
dead of a heart attack. (audience laughs) After 10 seconds of silence, he says, "You know, it really
sounds like God is in this. "I'll tell you what, I,
we've got some extra funds, "you go ahead and keep the $4,000 "and I'll figure out what
I gotta do on my end." And he hung up. That was in 1999 and he has
not called me back since. (audience laughs and applauds) Nor have they ever asked me to translate again for Claudio Freidzon. (audience laughs) (laughs) Two and a half months, this process, had I not written it down
in my prayer journal, I woulda just thought that
everything just worked out. But in a universe where
there's a sovereign God, and people look to Him,
things just don't work out. Because He's involved in
the details of our lives if we can entrust Him. So many times, Peter,
if you look at his life, trusted, then failed to trust. Trusted, and failed to trust. Yet when you look at his life after the time when he finally got it, you're looking at a
veteran who literally had a dynamic impact on this world. And that potential exists in the lives of each and every one of us. That your life, your wheel, you might have perfect ones
going around the wheel, your life is smooth, it's perfect ones, you're going at one mile an hour. (audience murmurs) But I have come to tell you that God will inflate that
tire and make it smooth, if you will entrust Him with
the seven areas of your life. Some of us here need to turn
our lives over to Christ. We need to be born again. We need to begin a
relationship with Christ. That spiritual spoke
is the most important, that's why it's at 12 o'clock. Because through that,
all of our values come. Our understanding of God is, and it feeds all the other spokes. Some of us need a miracle or
a breakthrough in our family, our relationships, our friendships, in our mind, in our
bodies, in our finances. You can trust God with the seven areas. He will lead you, and He will
walk with you to the very end. What I wanna do is I wanna pray for you. I wanna pray for your seven areas. I wanna pray for your life. So I want you to take out that Wheel of Life card. I want you to hold it in your hand. And at this moment, I'm
gonna ask, as we close if you would do the following. Now I don't preach long because I believe in that age-old Proverb, I say it every time I come to speak here, that blessed are the short-winded for they will be invited back. (audience laughs) I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna ask you to take that card in your hand, and I'm gonna ask you to stand
to your feet at this moment, and we're gonna pray, we're gonna pray over those seven areas. That the Lord would orchestrate His power, His goodness in your life. I believe that the
testimonies will come in in the coming days and the weeks and the months and the years, of the great things that
God will do in your life, so keep track of them. Be watchful and mindful, because I believe the best is yet to come. Lord, I thank You for
Your wonderful spirit. I thank You for Your presence, and I ask at this moment, for those of us who need to be born again, need to turn our lives over to You, we realize that there is a vacancy, there's an emptiness in our hearts. I ask, Lord, that You
would give them comfort, lead them through this
process of being born again and understanding who You are, and crown You as King of our lives, and be sitted upon our
thrones in our hearts. We pray, Lord, for that spiritual spoke. We pray for that mental spoke as well. That You would strengthen their emotions, strengthen their minds, their ability to learn, and that You would expand their ability to have a mental and an emotional impact that is for You upon their
family and loved ones. Lord, we pray that You would
touch their families as well, touch their relationships, touch their personal relationships. We ask, Lord, that You would strengthen that family spoke, continue Lord, to touch their profession
and their careers as they seek to work in a world that may or may not recognize who You are, but they would be Your
representatives in those areas. Bless their profession and
give them unprecedented favor. We ask, Lord, that You would
touch their personal lives, their dreams, their aspirations. Allow those things to come to fruition. We ask that You would also
touch their physical bodies. Wherever they are sick,
wherever there is pain. We pray that You would guide the doctors, divine intervention, Lord, that You would give them divine healing, and You would guide those
who are giving them counsel. You would work on every front, Lord. Work on every front to bring
healing to their lives, psychologically, and also physically. And for those of us who have loved ones who are not with us, who are suffering, who need some sort of breakthrough, Lord, we ask that You would divinely
intervene in their lives. And we would note the hour
that we hear this message, and we would take note
that it was at this time, this day that You divinely
intervened in their life. For we know that You are sovereign, and we thank You Lord. I thank You for Saddleback. I thank You for this pastoral staff. I thank You for their leadership. I speak the blessings
of God upon this church, all who attend, all who
watch, all who serve here. I thank You for their lives, and I thank You in Jesus' mighty name, and everyone said, amen.
- Amen. - God bless you. (upbeat music) - Thanks for checkin' out
this message on YouTube. My name is Jay and I'm
Saddleback's online pastor. I wanna invite you to take your next step by checkin' out our online community or help get you connected to
a local Saddleback campus. Three things we have
to offer you right now, first, learn more about belonging to our church family by taking Class 101. Second, don't live life alone, and get into community with others by joining an online small group, or a local home group in your area. Third, join our Facebook
group to be more engaged with our online community
throughout the week. Take your next step, and
learn where a local campus is near you by visiting Saddleback.com/online or email online@saddleback.com. Hope to hear from you soon.
