Dave Reover | OpenDoor Church

church will you join me in welcoming the whole planet earth to big time burleson texas y'all this is the open door experience boom [Applause] that's welcome my friends friends that are joining us from all over the planet earth welcome to texas we call you blessed and everybody that came in from far away to be here thank you guys for fighting through that and thank you guys for still having a value for joining together in the presence of the lord it's a big deal today i have something really special and i'm just like that's how i am right now um i got saved back in 1986 in may of 86 and joined a christian rock band and took off and started doing all kinds of cool stuff and i had a couple of immediate heroes in faith now a television ministry and media ministry was brand new in the 1980s and one of the people that god almighty moved all the way to the front of all of that is the brother that i'm about to introduce and tell you that it was so miraculous and i used to follow him around wherever he was at i would follow him around and i would go to this convention and that convention and this conference on that conference because he was there uh i knew all of his cheesy jokes before he would even get up there and see him and i would be waiting i hope he sells that joke oh i hope he says that oh i hope he does that and we just love him and he was one of those people that if i was in the room when he was in the room i would leave there with more jesus on me amen and now all these years later decades and decades later to be able to call him a friend and to actually have him here on stage is a wonder to me it is truly a wonder to me he is a veteran he's a warrior he's a warrior for america he's a warrior for king and king jesus amen for king jesus and his kingdom and he is a true warrior to me friends i'd like to ask you to give my brother a great big open door church welcome to brother dave reaver boom my goodness thank you thank you sir come on man i salute you generally i love you i love you pastor thank you so much thank you what a joy to have you here i'm honored to be here pastor really and surely it's a it's a dream come true for me that you and i are starting to do ministry together i mean i never even actually dreamed that to tell you the truth i i didn't dream that high and i mean that and the lord has has sent me around a lot of generals within the past couple years um but out of everybody that i'm connecting with now i'm just so grateful for you and i love you so much and you have made such a tremendous impact in my life through through the decades thank you sir thank you pastor i'm honored to be with you and with this great congregation hi y'all now we just got to do something about this if we can get you guys lit up and be a little more enthusiastic you know it's sad isn't it it's sad i know it's really sad that's why but we do give away free coffee and this is the fruit of it thank you pastor thank you well hi everybody and it's great to be with you and i'm thrilled to be back at open door and i'm going to sit down uh for i'll make a quick explanation so you get it um i'm a contractor with the department of defense and i travel throughout the middle east and work with our troops worldwide especially in war zones and in 2010 i jumped out of a helicopter and my feet hit the sand wrong and they went out and i hit the ground so hard i broke instantly shattered six vertebrae and was paralyzed in my left leg for several years i remember the day by faith i took that brace off and took my first step and fell right on my face so i put i put the brace back on in the name of jesus and try it again later and same effects and about the third time i guess it was it's not a charm faith paid off god blessed me and i was able to walk and i'm able to walk out here but i also want you to know i can't stand very long and i can't walk very far but the department of defense still sends me all over the world to reach our troops with hope in faith in christ and i'm glad to tell you i literally get to do what many chaplains don't get to do i get to share my faith as a contractor and what are they going to do fire me i've had worse so i it's it's hard to threaten a guy that can't be threatened you know by the way sitting standing to my left is my beautiful daughter kim come up here baby would you welcome kim chapin and to my right is my spiritual son john arroyo i think you know john [Music] i i paid him to shout like that john i tell john everywhere i take him i and we just came back from a tour of the schools in ohio and the kids just love him but i'll tell him all the time take a tape measure john take a tape measure and first time he didn't understand then after a while i explained that's to measure your head so it doesn't swell in you aren't you glad to have a hero like this that you send out of your church god bless you john thanks buddy kim i'm going to ask you to sing a song for me but i want to tell you guys something uh we lost somebody very dear to our heart uh her mama and my precious wife since i last saw you several months ago we said bye to our uh i'm not emotional i'm allergic to the carpet and it's killing me this morning but i want to tell you we have found an amazing strength in christ and the lord told me the other day suck it up buttercup you're not the only one that ever lost someone they loved so quit your crying and feeling sorry for yourself get back out there and do what i called you to do in ministry before i ever called you to marriage so i went to the first love and that is my ministry time and i heal more in the pulpit or in the podiums doing what i'm doing than any other time in my life but this girl has stood by me so sweetly and i've asked her to come this morning and to sing a song for you and for me would you welcome kim chapin [Applause] okay that's good baby that's far enough right there [Music] why should i feel discouraged [Music] why should the shells come and why should my heart feel lonely and long for heaven and home when jesus is my portion my constant friendly [Music] and i know he watches me his eyes [Music] and i know he watches me if you know it sing it with me i see [Applause] i'm happy [Music] and i sing because i'm free is [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] his word says let not your heart be troubled his tender words [Music] are he [Music] and resting on his goodness i lose all my doubts and my fears [Music] the path here leads me only one step at a time [Music] [Music] and i know yes i know he watches me so i see oh i see [Music] cause i know he watches me i see [Music] i'm happy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he watches me [Music] and i know he watches [Music] me [Applause] okay my mama well my heart is lit up with that what a beautiful song kimmy thank you baby i'm getting her to help me out just second let you know that we have a few items this is only a minute of business but without this opportunity you would know it's there we have several things to offer you one is she has a beautiful worship album you're welcome to it their limited number first come first serve when they're gone they're gone it's a gorgeous album i love it personally and it's my daughter yes i know also available on video is it's called scars and stripes this was produced at gateway church here in the metroplex with a church i frequently go to and minister at with a great congregation they have a wonderful television system that they can produce amazing videos they did this for me in my last ministry time there you'll love it and i think it's something you'll want to share with your friends it's my whole story put together in a powerful package of about 45 minutes also a book called scarred autobiography it begins with the spirit of the lord touching a little boy and takes him all the way through to sitting on this platform today what god has done for me he will do for you it is no secret what god can do and i'm telling you when you read that book you'll say he's as normal as we are and if you've ever thought that you couldn't do something read that book it's an autobiography it'll take you throughout the middle east it'll show you amazing pictures of the places and the men and women i work with in the special operations community throughout the world it's a great another book called war and recovery this book is short stories you can read almost like a devotional and every story is kept with a powerful scripture that will apply the truth of that story into your life proving you do not have to go to war to get hurt i went to war got hurt i came home with a purple heart you go to divorce court and get hurt come on with a broken heart and a broken washer and the ex got the dryer and it worked and that book is about life not being fair and how god can take a tragedy and turn it into a triumph and then finally an amazing shirt that we have representing operation warrior reconnect we have it in girl sizes and shapes and color we also have it for the men and it is a billboard announcing what we do for our warriors you'll see the warrior his wife and his babies we bring them back home to family friends and faith thanks for letting me mention all that i hope it doesn't offend you if it does get over it [Applause] here's what you need to know not one penny comes today i get none of it it all goes to our warriors to pay for their transportation round trip to our program we invest two thousand dollars per warrior with over six thousand in training why do we do this because they've already given an arm and a leg i will never ask them to pay to come to our program we do not charge them one penny and for those that are involved with post-traumatic stress there's a study done by george washington university it's written on the back of a card and we call it catch-22 there's a bracelet in it with 22 beads now this isn't prayer beads we're not muslim or catholic what it is these little beads are 22 of them 22 veterans today will commit suicide tomorrow 22 more every 65 minutes a veteran who gave of themselves to let us sit in this room and be free and worship jesus will take their life because of the images that are imprinted on the retina of their mind that they cannot erase but we can we can help the study done by george washington university shows that the essence of orange oil women love these oils it works to help calm ptsd the beads are made of lava and it's amazing how that soaking in there will give a little fragrance it's not snake oil it's a good study you can look at it yourself those are available out there in the back thanks for letting me mention that you use your credit card or your neighbor's card if you found it in your driveway that's a joke do not do that now can i pick up after that song i hate to do business like that but if i don't tell you you don't know none of it none of it no royalties no percentages of sales comes to me i don't even take my salary most of the time we give it back i'm retired i have my own social security for a little bit longer i hope they don't take it away from us and i'm retired from the navy so i do well and the ministry is doing well because people like you buy these products and help us get our warriors to our programs i want to thank american airlines who sponsors me i want to thank hobby lobby and banker insurance al banker the largest donor to our ministry in history our banker insurance one of the finest men i've ever known i want you to take a minute and look at scripture if you have your phone turn with me i'd like you to look at in the book of psalms 84. i'm going to make this a short scripture and then i want to get straight into what i want to share with you because it's a perfect time to share this after listening to your pastor and his wife and the vision of this church i did not realize that what i had chosen to speak on this morning would fit so perfectly with the idea of what you see a dangerous idea you see a need and you answer it you answer the call that's dangerous because when you give your heart away you never ever get it back completely you've given your heart to feed the hungry clothe the neck and visit them in prison and to get babies out of septic tanks did you hear what he said earlier let me tell you something folks you may be the last hope for many many people in this world god bless open door for what you're doing under leadership of your pastor i love you pastor [Applause] verse 5 of the 84 psalm blessed is the man whose strength is in thee everybody figured that one out you know that as well as i do anybody's got their strength and god is a stronger person they're a better person for it in whose heart are the ways of them now there are several ways to look at that ways is you could say in the heart of those people have strength in god their way is the way of the lord we all get that but that word really translates to highways say highways that is like and let's call it the interstate blessed is the man whose strength is in god in whose heart is an inner state to heaven let's go a step farther let's call it an autobahn how many of you know the difference in the autobahn of the interstate yeah you do the autobahn has no speed limit put the pedal to the middle and go for it son just as fast as you and no red lights and blue lights to tell you no but it goes to a place in verse 6 passing through a valley of baca baca i wonder what that was i looked it up you know what that means weeping tears sorrow all right let's read it again blessed is the man who strengthens in god in whose heart are the highways and autobahns to heaven but they pass through a valley of weeping and sorrow look at the rest of verse six but they make it a well the rain fills the pools you see we're all geared up and ready to go put the window up during the air conditioner so we don't catch the smell of going through the bad part of town but the bible is showing us on our way to heaven stop and feed the hungry stop and give water to the thirsty do something for this world and our mad dash to get to heaven slow down long enough not to smell the roses but to smell the pain and the fear and the hurt this world is going through this world not just america this world is going through more pain and fear than they've known in this generation and the church of jesus christ is still the answer in every generation we got the goods folks we've got the good we got the water we got the food we got the clothes in fact i joined with your pastor and a vision for the lost this coming this week on wednesday i'll be speaking to hundreds of highway patrolmen troopers for the great state of oklahoma i have the joy of doing that this week on wednesday last week john and i went through the schools in ohio thousands upon thousands of students heard a message of hope from two guys a green brand a brown water black beret from the united states military and boy did we have fun with those kids you know why because they were thirsty and we brought water we brought him water [Applause] next week i go to the are you ready for this i go to the border patrol in the state of texas in the border with mexico and we got some heroes down there been falsely accused by a stupid leader i'm not going to call him by name but his initials are biden who is accusing those men and women of abusing those people now let me tell you something folks if ever we needed a border patrol we need it now and i get the joy of ministering to them this coming week [Applause] and that's just getting started why does this church exist why do i exist first of all pastor and i will agree on this in an instant we exist to please the lord read it in hebrews and for thy pleasure they are and were created we were made to please god and to please god he gave us assignments and when we do those assignments we please the lord he has the assignment of feeding the hungry clothing the naked saving kids out of prostitution stopping human trafficking on and on and on millions of pounds of food to feed the hungry that's jesus stuff folks that's jesus stuff people say to me how do you know the will of god how do you not know the will of god the will of god is that none should perish but off should come to repentance and do the jesus thing he fed the hungry he clothed the naked he visited those in prison that's exactly what open door church is doing keep up the good work now before you get the fat head get a tape measure just keep doing what god's called you to do and do it more vehemently and more totally committed to it than ever before because his eye is on the sparrow he cares about the little guy he cares about those that nobody else care a sparrow heard the story of a guy that accidentally hit a bird and with his car and he saw in the mirror that the bird landed in the street behind him he slammed on the brakes went running back and sat down on top of the bird and a guy pulled him said what are you doing he said i'm sitting on this bird he said why are you sitting on the bird because if jesus sees a sparrow fall i know he's looking at me right now how much more does he love us how much more does he love the lost than a sparrow and so today we are passing through a valley of weeping on our highway to heaven i grew up hearing straight is the way narrow is the gate and few there'll be that are in and probably you won't make it dave that's really what i thought that's too straight it's too narrow dave reaver doesn't have a chance i don't have a prayer making heaven you see to the world we are straight and narrow they used to make fun of me in in the military because i wouldn't sleep around the girls i wouldn't do drugs i wouldn't get drunk with them they said what do you do for fun now they have hiv dvds std if it's got initials like aoc it's probably not good [Applause] so when the world's making fun of us for not doing their stuff i'm saying you're so narrow-minded you can look down a soda straw with both eyes no sir man in the heart it's not straight now in the heart it's an autobahn to heaven but on our way to heaven let's make a difference in the world we live in and that's exactly what i came to tell you in a personal sense and may i may i reach out and ask you to forgive me if i use myself as an illustration i can't speak without talking about me but today i choose to use me as an illustration of my own message because it would have been easy oh you have no idea how easy it would have been to give up on the bank of a river called the van cote on the border with cambodia deep in the jungle of vietnam on july the 26th 1969. i remember kissing her goodbye at the airport when i said to my little junior high school sweetheart had just become my wife in fact i was 16 when after mary asked her to remember she was 13 when she slapped me she said i'm only 13 years old i said but she had the body of a 14 year old i did she slapped me again she said but if you love me you'll wait for me and i did i waited and i was typical boy don't be offended i was typical boy possessed with the urge to merge she was not she cooled my jets and we were both virgin when we married you can clap our way you know what's really cool i tell that in public schools i get standing ovations from the students well at least from the girls the boys they salute in a peculiar way we won't go down that road and when i kissed a goodbye at the airport and i went to vietnam serving with u.s navy special warfare command as a brown water black beret i drove the fastest boats in the world for the united states navy seals and we went to war together and i'm going to tell you something when i kissed her goodbye i knew the stats here's the statistics our organization not the steel team but the brown water black beret were touted to have the highest kia killed in action in the entire world in the entire war you know why you can't prove it because if you don't get a body even though they know you're dead if they don't retrieve your body you're not killed in action you're missing in action our boats were made of fiberglass and when they went down the bodies went down with them never to be retrieved so we're listed as missing in action not killed in action but on july the 26th 1969 i remembered the words i said eight months earlier when i kissed her goodbye at the airport she said to me davey are you coming back i said i'll be back without a scar where'd that come from i could have just said i'll be bach then i could be governor of california and if you didn't get that pastor i'll explain it next sunday i kissed her goodbye with a chill up my spine knowing i just made a promise i could not keep i got on the plane and went to war eight months later not one scratch from that war not one injury of any kind whatsoever of me or anybody on my boat with three other men four of us per boat two boats per team eight per team eight people on two boats on july 26 1969 i picked up a white phosphorus hand grenade and drew back to throw it it was six inches or less from my right ear i was in this position i didn't know i was in the crosshairs of a sniper there's so much of our lives we do not know what's taking place on the other side of the veil just an inch away two inches away seconds away we've missed that moment that could have taken us into his presence or into the pit of hell we do not know unless you have a right relationship with christ you don't know what's going to hold what who holds tomorrow but when you know jesus it doesn't matter what's on the other side of the veil jesus is there it doesn't matter when you're ready to go amen well i was living for christ in the middle of a war my enemy my biggest enemy was not in the bushes he was in the barracks ridiculing me because i wouldn't sleep around do the drugs or do the alcohol and they call me dudley do right another one called me doctor doo little another one called me preacher man i thought that was a compliment i'll call them pervert number one pervert number two imperfect number three they thought that was a compliment i'm going to tell you something ladies and gentlemen i can say this today in the absence of my wife but in the presence i believe of her spirit i think there's a great kind of witnesses there's nothing to witness why is there a great cloud of them i believe that we are witnessed by clouds of witnesses and they're not jehovah's witness maybe so in a different way here's the point i can tell now as i said it before she died i never touched another woman i never broke that promise these lips never kissed another girl she's the only one i ever loved and i can say this to you that in the middle of the biggest battle of my life not in b40 rockets and machine gun fire but in the darks fired at my soul i came out without a scratch in that war i was uninjured but on july the 26 1969 my body took what my soul has never known my body took a hit beyond measure the white foster's grenade exploded when a sniper put a bullet through the back of my hand detonated the grenade right here and in one second i was lit up the doctor said within seconds 60 pounds of my flesh was blown and burned off my body i went from 190 pounds that morning to 130 pounds that evening they weighed me and i was 60 pounds lighter and i kept both arms and both legs and contrary to popular opinion there was no dang bramage but somebody over here got it i looked down my face was on my boots i jumped in the river and found out phosphorus burns in water i burned in the water my skin was everywhere around me i was beside myself i needed to pull myself together i'm intentionally making fun of the devil's best effort to kill me that day no weapon formed against me can prompt greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world you me we're more than conquerors through christ jesus who strengthens us it's not about me it's about jesus would i stand here and drag on a plastic bottle full of water who cares if it's plastic it's the delivery system i'm just the delivery system there's no glory in me it's the water of life that's in us that is the hope of the world we are look at the rest of verse six we are passing through the valley of weeping get a shovel and don't leave home without it because the bible says they go from strength to strength in verse seven they are well diggers that dig wells in verse six and in verse seven they never run out of water those that dig whales will always have a will those who give water will always have water those who give love will always be loved those that stand in the gap for others will have someone stand in the gap for you and i'm going to give you an illustration of that whenever i was delivered from the war into the hands of good doctors in japan i asked for a mirror and they brought it i saw what was left and i remembered the promise i'll be back without a scar and i knew that she would never be married to her hampshire and my own prince again and i lost my hope and i tried to kill myself i tried to take my life i had no gun had no knife so how do you kill yourself you pull the tube out i pulled the tube out i laid my head back and i waited to die i was in the valley of weeping in the valley of sorrow and there was no welding my hope was shattered i didn't want her to see me i knew if they opened that casket i knew if i killed myself they would never open the casket and if i went home there'd be no casket to open if i lived and she would see me so i tried to kill my i'll pull the wrong tube i got hungry i'll pull lunch some guys can't do anything right they got me to america put me at brook army medical center 60 surgeries ago i'm still a patient there i remember that day they put me in the intensive care unit where they give you a rope that doesn't come together the icu is the icu they have visitors come in a woman went to her husband in the bed next to mine he was 100 30 degree no skin he died first when she walked up she took off her ring and threw it on his bed she said you're embarrassing i couldn't walk down the street with you next woman in ripe old age of 19. she stood at the foot of my bed at the head of my bed then and looked into my eye and saw something she recognized she said doc this is dave then she bit down and kiss what was left of my face i looked at her and i said baby i'm sorry she said why i said because i broke that promise i could never look good for you again she said baby you never were good looking anyway y'all are cold i want to close by telling you that day she gave me hope for the future she dug a well in that little icu she dug it well and gave me a future and 54 years later i buried my sweetest heart i'll ever have in my lifetime and i'm here today to tell you it's okay i'm drinking from the wells i've been digging for others all these years and i'd like to close by showing a little video of what i do so you can pray for me when you think of me it's a video that shows the things the places downrange in the middle east that i go in saudi arabia kuwait oman qatar uae afghanistan iraq bosnia kosovo syria north africa south korea japan okinawa wherever troops are they send me not because i'm good looking but i'm getting better not because of my mighty military strength they have to sit down to talk not because of my academic achievements i was in the top 10 percent of the lower one-third of my class five out of four people don't even understand fractions and if you didn't catch that you were in my class why do they send me because i got a shovel and i dig wells i give water that's why this church will continue to grow and expand worldwide because you're digging wells do what god called you to do and do it for those that you do it best at don't go to somebody you can't reach go to those that god gave you contact with and i do with the military and this video will show the places i've gone and show you the ranches we've built and we bring the warriors to that you're you're buying those materials will help us continue to pay scholarships and the honorarium today will go exactly to that cause and i want to tell you the last thing the most difficult thing i've ever been asked to do for my country isn't to survive vietnam it's to bring them home from the field of battle in what we call caskets the military calls transfer cases never knowing the full cost of freedom grinding away the knight in a c-130 over those countries of the middle east looking at those flag-draped caskets wondering was the next billy graham in that casket was the next mother teresa that nurse killed in balad is she in one of those caskets the ultimate answer to that will only be known in eternity but dave reaver is a well digger with our troops i want you to watch this of a short video thank you thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] carson tower good afternoon angel flight bravo zero three here now five miles we have a hero on board tonight flight bravo 0-2 you are number one for landing welcome home [Music] there's another angel flight coming ladies and gentlemen and that angel flight has to have a ticket and if you don't have one there's not a better time than this morning to get that ticket and the day it's punched there'll be a hero's welcome for you in a place we still believe in called heaven and as we pass through this valley of sorrow verse 7 says they go from strength to strength till every one of them appears before god in zion are you ready for that flight if you're not can i invite you to pray a prayer with me in fact let's do it this way i'm going to give us a chance to renew our vows we do this every year multiple times at the ranch in colorado for our troops that are going through divorce and separation restoring and healing their broken marriages let's let's renew our vows to jesus and if you've never made those vows pray the same words with us and make your vows let's make this day a landmark day and our trek toward glory are you ready let's pray it out loud lord jesus thank you you loved me so much you gave yourself for me then you gave yourself to me you died on the cross for me you rose from the dead and by your spirit you live in me today i acknowledge i've sinned many times and i'm truly sorry forgive me of all my sins and make me what i ought to be and by faith i receive your death for mine your life is mine and from this day forward i will serve you for the rest of my life so help me god amen give the lord a clap offering rejoice in the lord folks [Music] isn't god good to us this morning [Applause] so here's how we'll close pastor is going to give you a chance between services some of you need to have a prayer prayed over you by people that this church has appointed and god is called to make those prayers vital in your life today he's going to invite you to come forward i invite you please if you prayed that prayer and you made that decision don't wait a minute beat feet up here and make that decision for christ it's been my joy to be with you i'm dave reaver and i approve to this message god bless you

Channel: OpenDoor Experience

Views: 118

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: OpenDoor Church, Burleson Texas, OpenDoor, Texas Church, Burleson Church

Id: 2VD2jByv2CI

Length: 44min 49sec (2689 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 04 2021