Crossroads Live at 8:45 a.m.

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello and welcome to crossroads we are so thankful that you have chosen to join us for today's experience and in just a moment our band will come out and lead us through a time of worship and then we will hear a powerful message rooted in god's word all together we'll be in this experience for just about an hour and if this is your first time with us we would love the opportunity to connect with you if you're online all you have to do is text new to 55757 and if you're here with us in person you can scan that qr code on the seat back in front of you all just to say thank you for worshipping with us today we would like to buy you a cup of coffee but once again from all of us here at crossroads thank you for joining us let's get ready to worship [Music] well good morning and we invite you to stand and help us worship the lord on today are you excited about being here amen on put your hands together you know this song [Music] i give you glory for all you've brought me through [Music] and yes i'm ready for whatever you wanna do i'm moving forward to follow after you and now i'm ready for whatever you wanna do [Music] your presence [Music] in every season your grace has been enough [Music] and i'm believing that the is [Music] the best [Music] [Music] so come down [Applause] [Music] so i know that you're excited and you want the lord to come like never before hey man so come on sing with us right here breakthrough is [Music] i know breakthrough is coming by i see a miracle my god it won't stop now [Music] my god made me a promise [Music] breakthrough [Music] has made is a promise [Music] [Music] come on we want you to lift your bosses and sing to him your presence is [Music] your presence is [Music] [Music] jesus is faithful amen whether you're on the mountaintop or you're in the valley right now let him find us praise in his name no matter what comes let's sing this out [Music] you showed up [Music] come on [Music] [Music] [Music] tell me is he god he's god he is [Music] [Music] [Music] i know you're gonna be there every world on day [Music] come on [Music] in the morning praise them in the noon time freezing when the sun goes down love them in the morning loving when the sun goes down good god oh my god i hope you'll find me praising your name [Applause] [Music] god [Music] [Music] jesus when the sun goes i'm glad to have jesus all day long anybody else in here want him all day long amen and i'm so glad that his mercies are new every morning let's continue to worship the king of our hearts he understands us amen and let the king of my heart be the mountain where i run the fountain i dream from always my song sing and let the king of my heart be the shadow [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] be [Music] is [Music] [Music] one more the time inside my sails [Music] [Music] you are good you're good [Music] [Music] you're never gonna [Music] you're never you're never [Music] you go you are good [Music] you are good [Music] oh [Music] oh you believe it he is [Music] lord we thank you for your goodness and we thank you for your mercy [Music] good morning crossroads will you pray with me heavenly father we love you because you first loved us thank you for the privilege of worshiping you today and help us as we approach this time of communion to do this in reverence it has been all about jesus and father we are so thankful for what you have done it's jesus precious blood on the cross that saves us and we are forever in your dead help us at this time to keep a narrow focus on you as we remember jesus sacrifice for us on the cross may this honor you as we take the bread that represents jesus blood body the juice that represents his blood that was poured out for us you've loved us through jesus and may we love you back with everything we've got father for those watching online and here on campus who haven't accepted jesus as their lord and savior [Music] may they make that decision that will change their lives forever father i pray that they take that first step of faith today thank you for your promises and the hope that we have all because of your great love for us we thank you in your son's name jesus amen [Music] you know many times when i think of god's blessing i associate it with receiving something from god yet jesus was the one who said it is more blessed to give than to receive and right now we have the opportunity to experience the blessing of giving back to the lord i hope you'll join me in that if you're online you can give at crossroadschristian.org give any of us in the room you can scan the seat back in front of you scroll down to the give button or you can give in any of the offering boxes in the back of the room no matter how you give i hope that you will experience the blessing of giving today let's pray together for today's offering father we thank you for an opportunity to give back to you god we thank you for giving us a place to come and to worship you and with singing to hear an incredible message of your redemption and your grace and god right now i pray that we would worship you in the way we give god that we would experience the blessing of giving back to you god we pray that you would use today's offering to to go out before us to reach so many more lost people god be with our pastor today god be with michael today god use today's service use today's message to bring more people to you well we love you it's in jesus name we pray amen [Music] [Music] i was [Music] and hopeless were my only songs i needed someone to come rescue me and mercy you gave me a real [Music] set me free and that's what your mercy did for me you gave so excuse me if i can't contain my praise cause i know [Music] that i've been safe [Music] [Music] set me [Music] [Applause] marcy will restore me i will proclaim [Music] world may deeper before me [Music] [Applause] you heal me thank you [Music] set me free [Music] for me [Music] you gave me for mercy [Music] [Applause] [Music] she did for me for me [Music] well we are so glad you're here today how many of you were here yesterday for the men's and women's breakfast yeah what a great uh experience that was in fact uh i think ladies breakfasts are probably a new thing that's going to uh happening uh it was amazing we were so honored to have yeah we were honored to have uh michael and camille francis with us and i want to encourage you before we get going too far you can still get one of their books in the grand hall this book you won't be able to put down if you love the true stories about the mob and if you want to know the real story behind the story camille's book this thing of ours there are a few of those left there are a lot but there's a few of them and so when this service is over if you will go in the grand hall you can get one of those books and uh they'll sign them for you and i want to encourage you to do that it's been such a joy to get to know michael francis and now his wife his daughter julia's been here this weekend and uh these people are the real the real deal they're genuine lovers of christ in fact i told michael three years ago when he was here i was sitting on the front row and for 40 some minutes all he did was talk about jesus and i and i told everybody that we're bringing a mob boss and all that now i'm down there going you got to tell a mob story but he's just so obsessed about jesus and that's the way it should be i think he's one of the greatest evangelists that uh the church has today on the planet we are so honored to have him he's going to be coming in just a moment and when he does i want you to give him a great crossroads welcome it's great to have him back at crossroads but before he comes watch the screens and then there was pete the killer who was sally balls's brother and you had nikki eyes what's up guys and mikey franchisee michael franzis was not just a soldier but a capo in the notorious colombo crime family he spent the better part of a decade in federal prison on charges including tax fraud racketeering and parole violation i grew up in new york where there are five organized crime families my dad sonny francis was the underboss of the columbo family back in the 1960s i went to see my dad in leavenworth in the visiting room and i said dad i'm not going to school anymore and he said okay son but if you're going to be on the street then i want you on the street the right way in his mind the right way was to become a member of his life he said go home somebody be in touch with you do whatever you're told that's how it started for me he was a made member of organized crime his main forte was making money for the mob in a very short period of time he made over one billion dollars for the colombo organized crime family you're by far the most lucrative business i got involved in was the wholesale gasoline business and in a nutshell we devised a way to collect the taxes not pay the government the taxes and i was there to be in business and to make money real money life magazine called him the mob's young genius the government calls him one of the biggest money earners in the history of organized crime handsome and high living young man as rich as royalty and royal he is a prince of the mafia made millions live the flashy life and came to be known as the yuppie dawn did you fix any games in college absolutely he says he doesn't have 14 million dollars he doesn't he has about 50 million how do you know that because i personally delivered it to him i was notorious infamous maybe sophisticated at times but i was a criminal eventually you realize it's a life built on treachery and that money and power are the driving forces and i began to question the life and my commitment to the life at that time making the most money for the mob since al capone michael was the youngest person listed on fortune magazine's 50 most wealthy and powerful mob bosses now as one of the only guys from that list still alive michael has transitioned from powerful mob boss to now speaking in front of thousands of people each week a lot has changed these past 20 years but it's safe to say that michael franzise is a man on a mission [Music] thank you very much thank you all very much i got to say it's really a pleasure and an honor to be back here at crossroads i was here i think in 2018 and since then uh pastor barry and i have become uh very close friends brothers in christ and it's uh it's really great we had a good time yesterday at the uh uh men's breakfast and i understand my wife did a good job she out drew me there was more people there than me uh but she was kind to me last night she didn't rub it in too much but i was really happy for her but really again it is great to be here and you know i have a very tough job here this morning and i really mean that i have 30 minutes 30 minutes to really let you understand what the lord has done in my life and you know people i take ministry very seriously god has blessed me in so many ways and uh i take it very seriously so i'm gonna do the best i can to do this in 30 minutes and i always tell people look i can give my testimony in six minutes six hours or six days you just give me you know the time and i'm ready to go on it but you know every time i come out and speak my prayer is always the same realizing that i'm just a messenger here this morning and you know anybody that comes up on this stage it's not about us it's about what the lord has done in our life and we're fulfilling god's great commission jesus great commission mark 16 15 go out and preach or share the good word with all of creation and that's what we do when we're up here and realizing i'm only a messenger i know that my job here this morning is to plant seeds to let you understand what the lord has done in my life and what in turn he can do in your life because i don't know any of you in here this morning but i'm sure some of you come in here with a heavy heart you're struggling in some way some shape or form and if you didn't go through a struggle you know right now you did yesterday or god forbid maybe tomorrow that's just life we have to go through things in life and i can tell you this i've been through many challenges many struggles but i know since i've turned to the lord he has had my back and you know for me that's a big uh when you hear somebody has your back when i was in the old life you know to know that somebody had my back was a great feeling to know that the lord has my back it's a tremendous feeling and i want you to understand the lord has made a big big big transformation in my life i don't claim credit for it because i didn't want it i resisted it i ran for it but he wasn't going to let me go and i want all of you to understand if he can do what he's done in my life then he certainly can do what what uh what he did for me for all of you and that's really the message here this morning and i know that god is going to change your heart in here this morning no doubt about it my prayer is that you walk out of here a little bit differently than when you walked in so whenever i pray i said lord let me be passionate enough let me be effective in delivering this message so that you can go out and touch the heart that you want to touch in here this morning and that's my prayer every single time i take the stage or address any kind of group in any way shape or form and hopefully the lord honors that now i don't know how many people he's going to work for this morning maybe one maybe 10 maybe everybody in the room i don't know i don't worry about that that's god's deal i just want to be effective and i want you to understand something some of you that are struggling with what happened in your past i've come up with guys that have been involved in drugs just cleaned up their act they say michael how is god going to have a plan and a purpose for me i couldn't get out of my own way for so many years i'm you know i've been a bust out that's the word i hear so often and i say my friend listen to me okay who is better than you to go out and minister to people that are going through the same problem that you've had you have credibility credibility is ninety percent of everything when you speak to somebody when i talk to gang bangers that i do all the time i go into prisons i have a huge prison ministry i speak to these young kids and i tell them straight out what's what's what and they listen to me why because i have the experience i tell them hey don't tell me you can't walk away from that life i walked away from the biggest gang in the world if i can do it you can do it and it means something because i have credibility so don't ever let your past be a deterrent for what god will use it for in the future and people i will tell you this and this is so uh so prominent in my life story with the enemy meant for bad god will turn around and use for his glory every experience that we've had in our life god will turn it around and use it for his glory if we allow him to so i'm going to tell you a little story it is a mob story but please don't focus on that if you want to see me with mob stuff i'm all over youtube you can watch documentaries go see the godfather watch goodfellas ladies not you a little bit offensive okay but the guys can handle that but don't focus on that what you need to understand is what god used a very dark time in my life to turn it around give me a platform to reach out to people and that's what i use it for now and you know pastor barry said this he said you know mike everybody was coming here expecting to hear a mob story well you're going to hear a little bit of that but i want you to hear a jesus story because that's what matters to me so my dad was the underboss sonny francis the underboss of the colombo family back in the 1960s very powerful position in that life you have a boss and under boss copper regime or captain and a soldier sure many of you have seen the godfather there is a position called conciliary robert duvall played that role he played it brilliantly i might add but in the godfather it was fictional because in order to be a sworn made member of that life and take the oath and you do take an oath your father must be italian mom can be of another descent but dad must be italian and my dad in terms of law enforcement investigation media attention very high profile always under investigation always a major target of law enforcement kind of like the john gotti of his day i'm sure many of you have heard of john and i grew up i'm sure a lot differently than just about everybody in this room i grew up hating the police i hated them i hated the government i hated all forms of law enforcement and not because my dad taught me that way he was smart he taught me to respect the law but it was really because of what i witnessed as a kid growing up law enforcement tactics techniques against organized crime very different back then than they are today today everything is very covert a lot of undercover informants high-tech surveillance equipment today it can be under investigation not really know about it until it's too late but back in my day when you were under investigation they wanted you to know about it and for a period of about 10 years when i was a kid growing up my dad was under investigation from seven or eight different law enforcement agencies fbi irs queen detective brooklyn d.a you name it they were on him and every one of these agencies had a car parked around my house 24 hours a day seven days a week they had us cornered on all sides i was one of seven kids whenever we as a family would leave to go anywhere we had a parade of law enforcement vehicles following us everybody knew when we were coming into town and i witnessed some things that were kind of unpleasant rough uh detail sometimes the agents got out of hand a couple of run-ins i had with them you know one time we as a family were going into a restaurant sit down have a bite to eat they would follow us in sit in the table behind us and watch us eat right uh this one particular night nassau county detective i'll never forget he got a little bit out of hand walked by my table makes a nasty remark to my dad he didn't like that you don't disrespect my father especially in front of his family dad jumped up one right after the the aging agent got scared my dad was a tough guy he pulls out his gun right in the middle of the restaurant i remember my dad saying go ahead i'll drop you before you get off your first shot right everybody started screaming me and my brother jump in between them separate and pull them apart you know normal stuff you do when you were a kid and so i didn't like them very much back then and i had a number of run-ins with them but i want to make this very clear right now especially for any young people here in the uh the church this morning i do not feel that way anymore i finally realized in my life that they were the good guys we were the bad guys at least most of the time look any walk of life anybody can get out of hand but you know people it's amazing how god can transform not only transform a heart and i think you know he can do that but how he can transform a mind how this whole distorted view i had grown up where good was bad and bad was good god's been able to fix that and today some of my dearest friends were in law enforcement all over this country and not because i share information i don't do that never did that really because we're just friends many of us brothers and sisters in christ and i've learned through this experience we really are all one in the kingdom of god and i can tell you this right now i don't have time to get into it but i give a very very strong message to our young people all over this country i visit juvenile halls i go into detention centers i have a heart for kids i got seven kids of my own six grandchildren i love children and i tell them straight out you do not get away with criminal conduct in this country anymore law enforcement is too sophisticated too many weapons you go that route you're going down and one of the strongest messages i can give them it applies to all of us but especially to our young people is this lung young people listen up in today's world we are who we hang out with you hang with the wrong crowd you're going to be known to be the wrong type of person and of course they will influence you you know people when i left that life and came to the lord i didn't get a lobotomy i don't forget the things that i did on the street but i've been so blessed to surround myself with the right people to get nourished the right way in the lord every single day so i don't make those mistakes like i did before and i don't let my mind wander because i constantly stay around the people that care about me and want me to see do see me do good and that's what we need to do surround ourselves with the right people and i love my dad i didn't care what people said about him what i read in a newspaper great father great husband to my mother he didn't want this life for me he wanted me to go to school to be a doctor and i was on that road until my dad got in some very severe trouble he was indicted three times in the state of new york in the 1960s went to trial on each one of those cases he was acquitted found not guilty then in 1966 my dad is indicted in federal court for masterminding a nationwide string of bank robberies after a lengthy trial he was convicted in 1967 dad was sentenced to 50 5-0 years in prison longest sentence for a bank robbery conspiracy case ever given to that point in time 1970 my dad loses all his appeals they ship him off to lebanon penitentiary in kansas to do his time i was a pre-med student hofstra university my dad wanted me to be a doctor i was an athlete in school that's the route i was on but when dad got that sentence i was devastated my whole family was he was 50 when he went in figure had 50 on top of that he'd never come out of prison alive just as an aside my dad did 40 years in prison on that 50. he was in and out five times each time on a parole violation and each time for associating with another felon can't do that when you're on uh federal parole when i was on parole i had 526 people on my separation list feds actually give you a list with people you can't associate with some of them on a list i never heard of some of them were dead they don't even let you go to a cemetery and meet with anybody the feds are tough my dad had a problem with that he'd come out he'd visit with people they'd lock him up he thought he was being covert five times you know when my dad got out of prison on the last violation in 2017 he was 100 years old he was the oldest inmate in the federal system at that point in time my dad passed away unfortunately last year at the age of 103 he was the oldest living mob guy in america quite possibly in the world i don't think anybody lasted that long but um when dad went in uh joe colombo the boss of my family he kind of takes me under his wing i start to meet a lot of my dad's friends i lose interest in school i see dad in leavenworth dad if i don't help you out you're going to die in here he was upset didn't want that life for me he said no son you got to stay in school i said dad it's too late i can't let you die in here he looked at me and he said okay he knew my mind was made up i was a pretty headstrong kid but he said if you're going to be on the street i want you to be on the street the right way in his mind the right way was to become a member of his life go home somebody will be in touch with you do what you're told that was it he didn't give me any preparation he didn't tell me this is what's involved in this life that's a secret life you're not supposed to talk about that life with anybody outside of the life if my dad was anything he was a good soldier one of those old-time guys stuck by his oath he wouldn't even violate that even with me his own son he just knew i had it in me go home and do what you're told and you know what people i love my dad so much i didn't question him i didn't say wait dad you know i mean i grew up with you i know what this is about but you never really sat down and explained anything to me i had blind faith in what my dad wanted me to do you know people when you finally get into this relationship with jesus and if i had time i can talk to you all morning about a relationship with jesus because when you cut to the chase in this life get to the bottom line it's all about a relationship with jesus not rules regulation it's a relationship people when you get into that relationship you start to look back in your life and you start to say you know what now i get it now i know why uh i was put into this situation now i know why god put this person in my life why he gave me this great joy why he allowed me not cause me god does not cause us to go through pain we live in a fallen world that's it god doesn't cause these things in our life this is the life we live but you're using all of these experiences good bad and different to prepare me for what your purpose is in my life and i believe everything we go through is a preparation for what god's purpose is in our lives good bad or indifferent and this was a very significant meeting obviously my dad was proposing me into a criminal lifestyle but more than this because of that when i came to christ i challenged god i said wait a second god i trusted my father more than anything i followed him blindly into this life and look where it got me and it got me in a very bad place i'll get to that take it a step further in my life i took a blood oath i surrendered my life to close an oyster people when you get into that life you got to give it all up body mind and soul it takes it over it's all consuming and if you don't do that you don't survive i said god i did this twice in my life i can't do this again if you really are god if this bible is written by men but inspired by you the blueprint for our life that's how i look at the bible it's god's word in our lives it's the blueprint for our life well you know what god you got to prove it to me i can't do this a third time you got to show me the evidence and people i know a little bit about evidence i've been to trial five times i've been arrested 18 times in my life i've been to more grand juries and there are people in this section of the room more parole hearings and there are people in this section of room i've been up to the supreme court on constitutional issues in my dad's case i know the law evidence has played a major part in my life i think in terms of evidence i always tell people you're not selling me the brooklyn bridge when i'm paying attention i want to see the facts and i want to tell you this and i'm speaking specifically to the guys now when i finally opened up my heart my stubborn mind god didn't get mad at me he said okay my f my son if you're ready i'm ready to show you because i am god and i do have the evidence i can tell you this there is more evidence to prove that the bible is god's word and that jesus is our risen savior because i don't know about any of you i don't put my faith in anybody that's dead and buried in a tomb i learned long ago dead people don't help us there's more evidence to prove that than there is anything else that exists in the world and if you do nothing if you're on the edge if you're not sure if you're wondering if there really is a god then you need to do the work paul tells us test everything and hold on to the good that's our job you can't love somebody that you don't know people but you need to do the work like i did it now i had a little bit of benefit the way i did the work i'll get to that but you need to do the work because the bible is very clear people i'm here to scare anybody but i like you know people say you want the good news or the bad news i want to hear the bad news first there is a heaven and there is a hell there is an eternity we got to decide we've got a free will we got to decide which way we're going to go and i know i made my decision i'm sure most of you have too but if you're on the edge it's time to get off that edge and do the work about two and a half years later my dad had proposed me a captain in a family rather picked me up took me to see the boss the boss said to me this michael i hear you want to become a member of our life is that true i said yes here's the deal from now on 24 hours a day seven days a week you're on call to serve this family the columbo family that means if your mother is sick and dying and you're at her bedside and we call you to service you leave your mother you come and serve us from now on we're number one in your life before anything and everything when and if we feel you deserve this privilege this honor to become a member we'll let you know the mob's not a business people it's a way of life it's a whole subculture from everything else that exists we have our own rules our own policies we affect everybody around us family friends people we do business with it's a way of life after about two and a half years i had to do a number of things to prove myself worthy and people i want you to know something i'll make a confession to all of you here right now there was a number of menial things there's a lot of discipline in that life a lot of structure a lot of you know alleged uh uh respect you were told to do something you had to do it you didn't question it and i want to be perfectly honest with you because you need to understand where god has brought me in my life in case you're struggling with something in your life that life at times is very violent and if you're part of the life you're part of the violence and there's no escape and if anybody tells you differently they're either not being honest with you or they weren't a made man in that life and i think you understand what i mean and i said this for you it's not easy for me to say this i'll be honest with you after about two and a half years i proved myself worthy halloween night 1975 i was called into a room with five other gentlemen that night we all took an oath and became sworn made members of the colombo family i took that all very seriously back then i take it seriously today even though i don't consider myself a member of the life anymore you come into the life you don't sign a contract there's no retirement age you can't say hey i'm done you know what they say they say when you leave that life either leaving a coffin or you join the government and enter a witness protection program obviously i've done neither very solemn ceremony dimly lit room late at night they wanted you to understand the seriousness of what you were getting involved in we walked into the room individually the boss was seated at the head of a horseshoe configuration under boss console area to his left and right and all of the captains are alongside of them walked down the aisle stood in front of my the boss held out my hand he took a knife right here cut my finger some blood dropped on the floor this is a blood oath cupped my hands he took a picture of a saint the catholic altercard put it in my hands lit it a flame it didn't hurt it burned quickly it was merely symbolic and he said something to me that night i don't recall every hearing in my life before i grew up as a catholic went to catholic school from kindergarten right through high school i was an altar boy the whole bit but for me for some reason catholicism was like a subject in school i didn't understand that this whole life was about a relationship with jesus i'm not knocking catholics just didn't work for me when he said this it was the first time i heard it he said tonight michael francis you are born again into a new life and to cause an australia violate what you know about this life betray your brothers and you will die and burn in hell like the saint is burning in your hands do you accept i said yes i do that's how it started for me the other five guys went in the room they all took an oath you come into the life you come in as a soldier i was motivated to do two things one get my dad out of prison i did get him out after 10 years on parole told you what happened after that two i wanted to make money my dad said in this life you make money translates to power not unlike the real world don't have to go into it you saw the dvd i was fortunate i knew how to use that life to benefit me in business i was very aggressive on the street i worked hard i brought some new things into the family they hadn't done before went on to make a very significant amount of money 1980 the boss of my family carmine persico recently died in prison he was given a hundred years on a mob commission case uh and and died in prison just two years ago he said to me michael you're doing a good job i'm gonna make you a cop regime a captain and that's it boss says you're a captain that's it and from 1980 until about 95 when i consider myself formally removed from that life i operated in that capacity i want to tell you where it was in 1984 when i believe god started to make this transition in my life 1984 i'm a captain in the family quite honestly uh between my dad and they were grooming me to be the boss of the underboss whatever position i filled at that point i became a major target of law enforcement indicted five times went to trial five times i beat every case i beat rudy giuliani i was the first major mob guy he indicted under the racketeering statute back in 1984 went to trial after several months i was acquit in that case i was a lead defendant some of my co-defendants were convicted they got 30 years if i lose that case i would have got at least 50 i wouldn't be here today i uh i had uh devised a scheme to uh defraud the government out of tax on every gallon of gasoline ran it for about eight years height of my operation i'm bringing in 8 to ten million dollars a week i got my own jet plane my own helicopter house in florida house in marina del rey california a house in new york got 300 guys under me ready to do anything i tell them to do top of the world ma 32 years old i had it going on gonna be the boss of a major family beat all of these cases got all the money i ever need top of the world and then something happened among many things i was doing back then i was making movies smokey robinson was a friend he comes to me with a screenplay for a breakdance movie smokey i'll make the movie let's film it in florida i got a house down there love the warm weather great so we're making this film in florida i bring cast and crew from la to work in the film we had just finished uh development and pre-production we're gonna start filming on monday sunday i throw a party for everybody in the back of the hotel for all you ladies you might have heard it yesterday i don't know if my wife went into this but i see this beautiful woman during this party coming out of the pool i looked at her everything went in slow motion was like a pepsi commercial okay and uh wow who is this girl i could tell you this without getting into a great detail she didn't want to have anything to do with me in the beginning man she just resisted me i was trying to get to her finally she started talking to me to make a very long story short i felt very much in love with this young christian girl she's now my wife of 37 years and there's no question thank you there's no question that she was the catalyst that god used to to bring me to christ and the reason i say catalyst nobody somebody can lead you to the lord nobody can make you accept him that's very personal that's between you and god i go home after we wrap the movie to meet her mom her mom irma was the most godly woman i ever met in my life you meet irma for two minutes your name goes in her prayer book she had a prayer book like a telephone book i'm not kidding that woman prayed for me every day fervently i believe that that woman prayed me to where i am today i believe in the power of prayer because of my mother-in-law i mean that amen so what happens now i'm falling in love with this woman and i got to tell you this all of a sudden my love for her is becoming more important more more important to me than this admiration this lifelong love i had for my dad became more important for me than this blood oath that i took to closer nostra how do you explain that she wasn't the first beautiful woman i met in my life but there was something about her and now 38 years later there's no doubt that something was god god put her in my life because he had a plan and a purpose for me and i asked you all at this point who did god put in your life who dragged you into this church this morning you know god doesn't take a day off he doesn't go to the next town next city next village next church he's always trying to get our attention maybe through the people we meet maybe through a great joy in our life maybe through something that's unpleasant he's always trying to get our attention the question is are we paying attention so now i realize that if i want to be with this girl i got to make some changes my life is a direct contradiction to everything that they believe in everything they didn't know anything about the mob they live out in california there's no mob out there we called it the mickey mouse mob my wife saw the godfather once that was the total uh uh you know knowledge of that life and i want to tell you this for all you ladies that hurt her i'm not the story here my wife is a story that girl didn't have a clue she was 21 years old she didn't know what she was signing up for but she will tell you i love my husband but if god wasn't in the foundation of our marriage i wouldn't have made it through too tough contract on my life people trying to kill me eight hard years in prison but here's what happened i took a plea to another big case they were bringing down on me 10-year prison sentence 15 million restitution i married camille in july i go off to prison in december we're only married four months this girl i was away from her for eight years she hung in there long story short i do five tough years i'm out on parole the worst 13 months of my life big shot mob guy made all this money on the street i couldn't get anything going in la i was like a fish out of water like a fool a fool i fall into a trap violate my parole the government was mad at me because i wouldn't cooperate they throw me back in prison told me i'll never see the street again i almost lost my wife at that point she had a breakdown on me because she thought i was never coming home they told her get another husband your husband will never see the street again that first night in the hole people i want to tell you this worst night of my life worst night in my life it was a night that i thought i was losing everything i have felt every emotion you can feel in life from ecstasy to grief and everything in between the worst emotion you could ever experience hopelessness when you think it's over everything that's dear to you is gone you're in this deep dark hole nothing you can do to get yourself out it is the worst feeling in the world i'll tell you this i used to demean people that were suicidal call them weak how do you not face up to your troubles i don't do that anymore not after that experience i wasn't suicidal i wasn't that brave but honestly i want to lay my head on that cot and not wake up again it was too painful for me to think of my future i'm i'm 40 years old i'm going to spend the rest of my life in a six by eight cell 24 7. count me out i'm ready to go i'm lying on that cot prison guard walks by myself francis you don't look good i said get away from me man i want to see you guys tonight that man comes back about a minute later drops a bible through the slot on the door i look at the bible i got mad i don't want to buy it i wanted a bottle of prozac or something i jumped off that cot i was feeling sorry for myself so angry with god and everything else picked up that bible slammed it against the cinder block wall as hard as i could everything came out of me then i said you know what i got nothing but enemies only me and god in this center in this cell i believed in god i said i don't need another enemy i picked up the book i look up that ceiling i said god if you're really out there give me something to make me feel better i can't deal with this i need help i picked up the book i started to read it it falls open to the book of proverbs i don't know where to go it just falls open to the book of proverbs coincidence i don't think so analytical guys show me the proof solomon was brilliant now if you haven't read that read that book brilliant with the exception of jesus who had a little advantage he was god nobody was as brilliant as solomon i'm reading the book and i come to a verse that just stopped me cold proverbs 16 7. when a man's ways are pleasing to the lord even his enemies are at peace with him the enemies got me and then it kind of brought me back it was almost if the holy spirit was standing there and said have you always been pleasing to the lord of course not i was honest with myself at that point it got me to to think a little bit i started to read more and i came to a verse it's become the verse of my life i think it should be the verse of every one of your lives i think it all starts here now i don't want to tell you what to do but i am a former mob guy i have a tendency to do that proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6 trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding why because sometimes we don't have the answers i didn't have him in that hole that night in all your ways acknowledge him because he's god and he deserves that and catch this verse because i looked up the translation he will not he can or not he might he will make your path straight when you cut to the chase people that's my story out of desperation i gave it up to the lord and he made my path a lot straighter than they were before so here's what happened that's the night i challenged god no god trusted my dad took the oath you got to show it to me the big case they were throwing against me it fell apart i spent 29 months and seven days in that hole six by eight cell 24 7 me and god i got i got four years on the parole violation i got out after when i was had six months left to go but during that sick that that 29 months and seven days if you see my prison bible more my notes on there than there is scripture i studied it inside out and upside down my wife sent me in over 400 books on every faith i studied every faith and i came to the conclusion without a doubt beyond any doubt not a reasonable doubt which is our standard of proof in our criminal justice system beyond any doubt that the bible is god's word and jesus is my risen savior and people when i got out of prison he's only taken it from there now i want to tell you how effective this is and how you understand i got i'm going to go over a minute sorry pastor one minute but i got to bring this home you read my book blood covenant guys you want to read a mob story it's a mob story i don't sugarcoat anything ladies it's a love story story about me and my wife how we got together but really it's a story about how god can transform a heart from the inside out we don't take credit when god transforms it's not us it's jesus doing it from the inside out remember that but you read the inside cover of my book everybody and i mean everybody predicted my death when i walked out of prison in 1995. quote life magazine if he holds to what he has promised hallmark the first time a high-ranking member of the mafia will publicly walk away from his past and live ed mcdonald head of the organized crime strike force he got on national tv when i walked out of prison and said quote i wouldn't want to be in michael franzis's shoes i don't think his life expectancy is very substantial very diplomatic predicting my death bernie welch the fbi agent followed him to the podium he wasn't diplomatic he said straight out michael francis will get whacked and i think you know what that means in street terms that was in 95 1975 when i walked into that room with five other gentlemen today i'm the only one alive not one of those men died of natural causes every one of them were murdered tough life i came from fortune magazine 1986 50 biggest and most powerful mob bosses huge article half the magazine featured six of us i was one of the six they had a chart 50 from one to 50. you know an order of rank and wealth and power i was number 18. youngest guy on the list five behind john gotti don't ask me how they make a list like that they didn't ask for our tax returns it was silly but you know what's not silly about it out of that list of 50 today some 30 odd years later 48 of them are dead number 49 is doing life in prison and number 50 is here for one reason and one reason only and that's to give praise and honor and glory to my lord and savior and my hero in life jesus christ and what does this tell you it tells you that when god has got a plan and a purpose for us and he does for every single one of us no mafia no causing austria no gang no sickness no addiction not even death will stop us or stop god from fulfilling his purpose in our life there's only one thing that will do that you know what that is that's every one of us because remember this people our god is never an intruder on our life he's always what an invited guest so i want to end this in prayer right now for all of you dear lord we thank you for bringing us all together thank you for allowing me to deliver this message it's an honor and a privilege thank you for bringing these people into this room lord if anyone is struggling if anyone is on the edge if anyone needs you like we all need you right now we ask that they turn towards you lord and ask for your mercy and grace and we know that you're there with open arms to give it and we do this all in jesus name god bless you all thank you very much okay appreciate it before we move into a time of prayer with our church online family i want to encourage you that if god is working in your life today and you would like to make a decision you can either text the word next to 55757 or you can go ahead and connect with one of our hosts in the chat right now would you pray with me father we thank you for today's message we thank you for a church that believes in church online and a church that stands upon your word and father i pray that god if you've worked in our lives today and that you're convicting and encouraging us to step forward in our faith whether it's to accept jesus for the first time that father right now we will do just that father maybe we've ran off maybe we've tried to run away from you or run away from the calling you place upon our lives and father today we need to turn back

Channel: Crossroads Christian Church

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Length: 72min 2sec (4322 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021