Open Your Eyes And Look | Bishop Tony Miller

if you will draw your attention please open your Bibles your your iPhones your iPad your eyelids to John chapter four John chapter four I'm going to very very very familiar passage of Scripture today for most people that have been around church any length of time but I want to hopefully draw some things from there that maybe maybe you've not seen or realized I am gonna ask you to do this how many of you today will be bold enough to say I'll open my heart to hear what God says to me will you do that this this is really one of those family kind of messages I want to speak to us as a house because what I'm sharing with you I believe is so instrumental to who God is making the gate Church to be for those of you that I know are sensitive prayer people my wife and I along with a lot of people have been sending me emails sensing that God is doing some things very deep in Oklahoma City and that we are on the precipice of a major moment actually some international and nationally known prophets contacted me in the last two weeks and just said we believe Oklahoma City has been targeted and that the gate church has a significant part to play in what God's wanting to do in this next season so how many of you know when you're not looking for that you're not expecting that you just know God's saying okay you're on my radar how many of you recognize that you're on his radar and so when those things happen I just said Lord I want you to I want you to speak to us today I open my heart to hear and to receive what it is that you may be saying to us and help us to not only not only understand the moment but to engage it listen to me closely if you don't anything else today every big moment in your life demands greater focus every big moment in your life always demands greater focus if God presents to you a big moment a big door an opportunity it's always gonna require greater focus I want to say something just before I preach tonight this morning to about one other thing Friday night many of us had an opportunity to be with Ashley Neely at his live recording come on somebody just give it up for Ashley [Applause] and I know his mom is here I know some of his family's here and I know people that were on the recording are here mama actually stand up with your mama we everybody needs to know your mama she's in church today from the Bahamas we're glad that she's here I love you bless you thank you we're so thrilled that you're here unless she has to rush it back to the Bahamas so we just wanted to make sure we did that so as we open our hearts today in this passage of Scripture listen to me closely I want to share not only what is said I want to share some things that were not said because some of the things that were not said give us insight into what was that I mean even though the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit this was not written by men that was written by the Holy Spirit men used the pen to remove the words but the Holy Spirit inspired the words to be written so the book of John was written several decades after this story took place this is not like a live on the moment this is not seeing in recording a transcript at the moment this is John coming back and telling us the story that happened in a part of the time he was with Jesus and as he tells that story he remembers some things that didn't happen and he can't figure out why they didn't happen so he puts in the story these are things that should have happened right here but we didn't but I don't know why we didn't but we understand it was important to the life of the story so we get to that part I'm gonna talk to you and show you about it let me setup because I'm not gonna read the whole chapter the stories about Jesus come into a place he's on his way back up apparently to Galilee they've been down in Judea it's in the southern part of Israel so they're headed back to Galilee which is in the north which is where the first two and a half years of his ministry took place and on his way back to Galilee from Judea where he was the Bible says he looks at his disciples his students and he says to them we have needs to go through Samaria that's a funny statement but he said in other words he's basically saying this it's not normal for us to go through Samaria even though some areas closer if that was the most direct route but Jews in those days would walk all the way down to the Jordan Valley and then walk up the valley back to Galilee to keep from going through Samaria it's like being in a certain part of the city and you go I'll go ten miles out of the way to keep from riding through that neighborhood and Jesus looks at his disciples who were very Jewish and he says to them we're gonna we have a need to go through Samaria and it's like they're looking at him like you must have lost your mind there's nothing in Samaria because there's a couple of things you need to know first of all the tension between Samaritans and Jews was intense there was incredible dislike disdain for each other most of the Jews would have would have seen the Samaritans as being half breeds most theologians believe that the Samaritans were a part of the northern tribes that had been lost in the Old Testament if you remember there was there was twelve tribes originally but ten of the northern tribes went to Assyria and got lost we don't know where they are to this day really and two of the tribes lived on and the the ten that got lost intermarried with the Assyrians and most of the Jews believed that's what made up a lot of the Samaritans they were people that came from mixed backgrounds were half-breeds they were lowlifes they were trailer-trash I'm trying to think of all the terms we'd use and Jesus said boys we need to go through there but you don't understand Jesus they have drive-by shootings in Samaria he said we have needs to go through there see there's two times in the Bible of Samaritans to talked about ones right here and the other one is the parable of the Good Samaritan you remember the parable of the Good Samaritan he's telling them that there was a Samaritan that took care of somebody now he's telling the Jewish audience that so it blows their mind that they even believe there is such a thing as a Good Samaritan they didn't believe that existed so Jesus is already outside of their mind and so he said we have need somebody said we have need we have need to go through Samaria and his need to go through Samaria was twofold don't miss this his need to go through Samaria was first of all there was a woman there whose life was messed up chaotic and had to learn and find meaning for why she existed he was trying to help a woman try to find meaning for her own life that was not the greatest reason for why they went through Samaria he didn't go through Samaria just for the woman he primarily went through Samaria Samaria what's this for his disciples he was not trying to help the woman as much as he's trying to help his own people because when he watch this when he encountered the woman he confronted a mindset in them that needed to be changed because he understood his mission was the gospel to the ends of the earth and as long as the people that call themselves the disciples of Christ Christ followers or you could say it this way as long as his church had a certain mindset Jesus knew his mission was never accomplished so in order to accomplish that mission I got to confront your mindset by taking you through a place you wouldn't normally go so all of a sudden Jesus they go into Samaria the Bible says it's about noontime so they're there in a half a day's journey so far second place the disciples for whatever reason we don't know they run an errand on into the village and Jesus goes out and sets down by well it's Jacob's Well it still exists today it's in the West Bank of Israel he goes out and sits down on that well and apparently he's thirsty because the Bible says at noontime there's a woman that comes to draw water now I've been at that well if you drop a rock in that well it takes it a little bit of time before it ever splashes because the Bible says and it is geographically correct that well is very deep in fact it's about 75 or 80 foot to the water in that well so Jesus is sitting there and a woman comes at noon let me tell you how out of characteristic that is first of all if you've never been in the Middle East and never watched women who had to carry water from a public well system or in Africa you've never been there women come in the morning early in the morning to get their water for the whole day so in fact it's actually a social event ladies come in groups men you ought to help me it's so like going to the bathroom I've never understood it but I don't need to they came to get water in groups it was a social event they all talked they drew water into their water parts they would then put the water pots on their heads and they'd walk back ever how far it was into the village or into their home and they'd have their water for their day the very fact that this woman comes at noon is an indication that she's already an outcast she can't come with the other ladies they not having sweet fellowship I need some sisters to help me I mean she was the gal that you didn't want your husband around so nobody had to say anything to her the ladies had already given her the cold shoulder she knew so she comes in the middle of the day so here's Jesus get the picture Jesus sitting on the well she comes up with her water pots and he says to her hey while you drawn out some water if you're drawn up some water would you get me some too and she says to him what are you as a Jew doing talking to me a Samaritan first of all you've already crossed one taboo you've crossed the racial barrier the ethnic barrier you're outside of your limits Jesus this saying our kind of people ain't got no help in here but I'm gonna keep preaching you're talking to folks that ain't our account of people second of all how is it that you as a man are talking to me as a woman so her first idea was she may have even thought him to become a non Durr so he continues this conversation with her she said how are you gonna drink something you don't even have anything to drink with he said well I'm believing that you gonna help me but he said I'll tell you what he said I got water that if you drank it you'd never thirst again now that's probably in her mind come on let's get in her mind to begin with that's a pick-up line but in reality what's this in reality he's saying to her the issues of your life are not something as tangible as thirst you have a natural thirst that has to be satisfied but you've got an internal thirst you've never been able to satisfy see there are people that wandered in here today you've got all your life together but internally there are things that are empty that you've never been able to get an answer for you've thought if I got this certain job I'd fill that void if I met these certain people I'd feel this void if I got married I'd feel this void if I if I earned a certain amount of money I'd fill this void and you've got all this stuff you've been drinking and you're still thirsty and he's saying to her the chaos of your life is an internal indicator that you're looking for something beyond where you are and he says to her I tell you what why don't you call your husband and let's have a conversation she said I don't have a husband and then he said you answered correctly you told truth shark a Samaritan told truth that's like talking to a drug addict whoa you told the truth somebody said to me one time how do you how can you tell if a drug addict lying to you if their lips are moving because how many of you know most people that are dealing with all kinds of issues in their life are constantly trying to deceive you to make you believe they're not there so he says go get your husband tell him to come she said I don't have a husband Jesus I love this passage just several funny things you know I don't have time to go down I would a beer all day but Jesus just goes you're right you don't have a husband in fact you've had five and the man you're living with now is not your husband see how the she just goes I perceive that order profit how did you figure that out only God could have told you that I perceive hell out of profit and how many of you know at that moment she shifts she don't want to talk about her husband she want to talk about water she wants to get in a theological argument in that amazing people that are in the most desperate places in their lives seem to constantly want to argue over religion Jesus is offering her something to satisfy and she wants to have a debate as to whether or not church you started nine or eleven should we sing songs that out of a hymnal or should we sing them off a screen see it's amazing that when you really begin to touch the issues of people's lives they want to take you down the road it has nothing to do with how to satisfy the issue of their life and so that moment Jesus is seeking to let her understand that what the father's after is not people who have perfection he's after people that have a right direction he said you're you want to worship in this mountain do you say we ought to worship Jerusalem but the truth is father's just looking for people that'll worship Him in spirit and in truth they'll just recognize I can't do this and I got to get honest about where I'm at that's where we're gonna pick up my text so we'll begin to read right there first number 27 it says then the disciples returned and was surprised to find him talking with a woman but no one asks if you're writing your Bible you oughta underline that part right there no one asked what do you want and why are you talking to her then leaving her water pot still moving back into town and said to the people come see a man who told me everything I did could this be the Messiah they came out of town and made their way towards him meanwhile the disciples Argentine rabbi eat something and he said to them I have food to eat you know nothing about then the disciples said to each other could someone have brought him food my foots that Jesus is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work do you have it you have a saying it's four months until harvest but I tell you here it is open your eyes and look at the fields they're ripe farva's what's this now several years later John is writing this passage he now as a part of the group please please please please don't miss this he's a part of the group that walks up and finds Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman in the middle of the day and he can tell they're in a conversation and when the disciples arrives she leaves her water pot the very thing she was most interested in getting their water pots for she left the things she thought she needed most goes back into town now don't don't that's not like she went from here to El Reno it's really like she went from here to North where expressway the village would have been just down the road she went down the road went into the city watch this this woman that nobody had any regard for who had this questionable reputation she goes into the city and sis to them hey you guys know that knowing a man is not my issue wait on y'all she came into town and said hey guys listen you know knowing about a man that ain't been my problem but I met a man I met a man who spoke to something in me that made something come alive that no other man I ever met has ever made come alive and I want you to come meet this man that I met could it be that he's the Messiah and the Bible says the whole town is coming every man's coming because they know what she's been like every woman's coming to try to figure out what kind of man could it be [Applause] Hank I know help in here today y'all just sort of sanitized the Bible I'm just trying to read it like it is now here's the deal here's the deal he had needs to go through why because of his disciples here comes a woman who nobody would have listened to yesterday now everybody's listening to and she's bringing the whole city to come meet Jesus and at that point the disciples having just returned John realized something he goes you know what we returned they were having this conversation she goes to the city and brings back the whole town but I realize now when I'm writing this story nobody asked him Lord do you need anything what do you want do you know what I've been here since I don't know I ate something this morning 45 I've been I've been asked 20 times already this morning Bishop can I get you anything you need water somebody brought me juice earlier can I get you anything he stole a chair people can't I one thing about this church is they constantly serve they asked me what do you need anything can I get you anything somebody asked me do I need a drink I said no I'm fine so they said do you need tea I'm like that's a drink no I don't need anything I'm good good thank you and John said we walked up on Jesus and nobody asked him do you need anything do you want anything he was amazed that they never asked that question and he said the second thing was amazed that is they never asked him why are you talking to this lady it was as if they were not paying attention because for him as a Jewish man to be talking to a Samaritan woman in the middle of the day was so outside of the context you talk about get out of the box he was way out of the box and John said but none of us asked him why are you talking to her listen to me loved ones if your teacher is ever doing something you don't understand the first thing you ought to be doing is asking questions because the enemy loves to keep people in ignorance and most the time we stay in ignorance because we have no pursuit of knowledge and John said I come to realize we didn't ask him if he needed anything nor did we ask him why are you doing what you're doing I wonder how much of the church world today spends its life in prayer asking Jesus do you need anything what do you need or better yet I wonder how many people look at a nation like ours that's in a disruptive moment and believes that there really is a God in heaven that's greater than Washington DC and maybe asked Jesus why are you doing what you're doing why are you stirring the waters of our culture like you are why is a man that a year ago everybody would have kept their teenagers from now holding Sunday night church services with a choir and every major news work in America interviewing him then Kanye West and him talking about Jesus as king why are you doing what you're doing why it's Justin Bieber leading worship for Judah Smith in Seattle in saying I felt on a stage something when I led worship but never felt when I was an entertainer [Applause] but nobody asks questions we just make judgments do you believe Kanye he's a Christian hook Who am I to decide that [Applause] so here's my point Jones says we walked up he's having a conversation a whole city is showing up here's the church what's the church Jesus did this for the disciples ladies and gentlemen he didn't do it for the woman he put them in the middle of an illustrated sermon somebody with a questionable reputation now has a whole city turn up and watch this when they show up the disciples are looking at a whole town come and they look at Jesus and say we'll go long horn you got to be kidding me you've got to be kidding me yeah PF Changs I mean what we gotta eat Jesus it's lunchtime who cares if a whole city's getting saved it's lunchtime who cares if I want to radically change your life on a Monday night it's lunchtime the Twelve Apostles can we use something Jesus is like guys this is why I had to bring you here because you don't get it you don't get it he said I got food that you don't know not of so funny this is a sitcom he said I got food you don't know about and I can't figure out which one it is it doesn't say but one of them says did somebody bring him lunch where we were going I mean that's what they said who brought him lunch right we're going and didn't ask us I can't believe it Jesus got somebody to go to chick-fil-a and didn't even tell us that we're going now they're ticked oh the whole world's getting saved questionable people with reputation to come in to Jesus people to finding answers for the emptiness of their life but the church world is it's not my day to serve and it's really not convenient because right now it's lunchtime and somebody got invited somewhere I didn't get invited to and I'm missing the moment I've actually had people say to us you know if you do that we'll have too many people really what point do we cross the line that's too many because whatever that line is if you've reached it then you're going to be very uncomfortable from here out because we haven't reached it did somebody give him food and Jesus goes guys you are missing the point he said let me tell you what my food is my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish the work this is what got their attention he said boys we got work to do and the work we've got to do is not pontificating spiritual depths and mysteries in other words you guys would love to be in an argument with this lady over which mountain we're supposed to worship in because you'd like to reveal to her the depths of your incredible revelation in the auspiciousness of your hermeneutic so that you somehow could be the funnel of the world with all the knowledge that you have that's the reason some of the people you work with don't want to talk to you about God no more because you tried to take him so deep you tried to correct them before you ever connected with them nobody cares about your great revelation I'm just thirsty I got something on the inside of me that cannot satisfy me he said boys you missed the point listen he said my food my nourishment what sustains me is to do the will so there's been a big push in our culture in the last 30 years to discover the will of God people saying I wish I knew the will I don't wanna discover the will of God I want to pray y'all pray I know the will of God no the Bible doesn't even really talk about that the Bible talks about doing the will of God if you just do what you already know it'd be amazing what you discover somebody in here I wish I could get just a good Amen somewhere in this sermon [Applause] [Music] amen you say well I don't know I don't know a lot to do well let me tell you couple of things in there and everything give thanks for this is the will of God to love people to forgive people you don't need three prophecies for that he said you'd be amazed how much you get nurtured if you just do the will of God and finish the work that he gave you today that's a curse word most Christians lives finish the it's a four-letter word you can say it it's okay you won't go to hell work work Jesus is using this wound as illustration reaching a city is work we believe like feast for six days show up here on Sunday and lift the 30 second hallelujah and somehow the whole world's going to be turned upside down ladies and gentlemen that is not going to happen if Oklahoma City is going to be reached if lost people are going to come to Christ if families are gonna be transformed somebody's got to realize that's the work of the kingdom and I've got to get involved in the work of God don't pray for something you're not willing to work for shut up stop being crazy because you're a hypocrite in the courts of heaven if I keep praying and prophesying things I'm not willing to put my hand to I went to Fiji to preach they talked about my singing I'm a very very famous singer in Fiji fairly d-flat I could even sing now no I'm just kidding listen I went to Fiji and I gave a prophetic word that a mountain was gonna have a major Church on it I prophesied to the mountain I said on this mountain hundreds and thousands allows to be transformed thousands of people be sent to the world and people will be known all over the world will be known from this mountain today pastor silly was here last year and he told a little bit of the story this Sunday while they worshiped 120 thousand people gathered there on that mountain that church has 120,000 attendance not only that they just planted their 1,000th Church in 30 years in a hundred and fifty nations of the world with Fijian money now prophesied and I got a text from him I've got an email in those days it was a fax fax machine I got a fax from him he said I want you to come back next year we're gonna break ground on that mountain they sold us the mountain the guy wasn't setting the mountain I gave a word God's he's gonna give you the mountain and they sold it and I said okay I'll check my calendar so I came and I got there and I'll never forget these words I'll never forget these words as long as I live I got there and I'm looking at surpassed you silly of if you got everything you need to build the world Harvest Center he said I mean they had just brought in all this heavy equipment sitting everywhere I mean heavy equipment they had to float in from New Zealand because there was nothing in the nation big enough to build this building I said you have everything you need financially to be this building he said uh we don't have anything I said well you just told the people you starting on Monday he said we are I said hold on a minute I said what what what what am I supposed to do I don't know what I'm supposed to do he looked at me and I'll never figure what he said to me he said you prophesied it so you're gonna be a part of helping build it I said I'm just prophet he said gods don't let you come to our nation prophesy something you're unwilling to be a part of he didn't have to rebuke me I said yes sir I'm gonna be a part and that Friday morning and a Friday morning session I was preaching I told him I said pastor I'm not a fundraiser but I do know God I preached that Friday morning when I got done the Lord said take the offering today for the beginning of the world Harvest Center I took the offer in that morning people brought money the average income 600 hours a month per family people brought money for two and a half hours they stood in line to bring money they packed bank bags with cash so hide piled up on both sides of chair of sitting in 786 thousand US dollars came that morning in the morning offering and over the next 12 for the next fourteen months six and a half million dollars came cash but God taught me a lesson you can't pray for something and you can't prophesy something that you're not willing to be a part of matter okay I'm almost finished listen I went to I went to that doctor not long ago I'm not wearing glass so some of you know years ago used to wear glasses I went to a doctor and if you hadn't been to the eye doctor for a while let me prepare you for that because that can really be traumatic I mean you first get in there they blinds you put stuff in your eyes so you can't see and then they put you on machines and they blow air into it I said whoa what was that you should have let me know anyway they're checking for stuff and and then they put you on this machine how many good you don't talk about they put you on this on this machine they go is one better than - what about - better than three is three better than one and I'm like oh we playing bingo what are we doing and finally they come back in they say ok we got you figured out got you figured out I said ok I'm glad what is it he said you're near-sighted I said no no no no no no you you've been through all that and you got it all wrong I don't have a problem I can I can see I can see the dust on my iPad how do i problem see no clothes I can't see them he goes no that's what we call it I said there I said you guys amaze me you know the medical profession you are the only guys that name your condition about what you do good it's like oh you broke your arm what your legs work yeah that's wonderful so if you can only see here but can't see there it's called nearsighted well Peter because he was in this account Peter picked up on that in his epistle second Peter chapter one he said this if you come to a place in your life where you don't add to your faith perseverance and endurance and love and humility he said here's what's gonna happen you gonna end up being a Christian who's nearsighted nearsighted you'll see everything up close but you won't see anything out there and here's the problem you never become responsible for anything you can't see I'm this past week Kathy's having to served on jury duty so I take her downtown and I'm riding through our city I do that deliberately various times throughout the year I ride almost all the time and pray over our city so because I was downtown I rode in different parts of our city I hadn't rode in a while and I was riding through our city I parked on the side of the street and wrote notes of the sermon this somebody called me and said where you had I said I'm in my downtown office they said I didn't know you had a downtown office I said yeah it's on Hudson access the only place you can stay for two hours rather having to pay the park so I got this sermon on the cheap listen anyway here listen I'm sitting on the side of the street writing notes I got a computer out typing notes I felt somebody rides by they think I work for the CIA they have tried one what is the guy in the pickup doing typing on a computer with everybody walking around streets but I'm sitting there I've been riding around the streets and my eyes are filled with tears because what I recognized is the Lord said to me he said that's the condition of my church they're nearsighted they become blinded by their own crises they're blinded by it's lunchtime they're blinded by what appears to be an inconvenience and I have never had this before I told Cathy I said the Lord said to me that you use this as an illustration the way you know you are nearsighted if you want to know if you're a nearsighted Christian or not here's the first way you judge it if God answered all of your prayers would your life change or would the world change [Applause] because if the only thing that changed was your life then you can tell where you're focused and he was saying to his disciples boys I've got a mission here and it ain't about you getting lunch time and the Lord said to me sitting on the side of Hudson downtown this past week he said my church has to waken to the fact that I put them in the world to be an answer to the world God didn't fix me just to fix me he fixed me to make me functional he loved me so I could love other people He healed me so I can help heal other people he blessed us to make us a blessing but how many of you know it is very easy to get isolated come on just start playing for me the church doesn't exist for us can I get very really really bold this meeting this morning is not for us to come in here and get our weekly fix this is a place to empower people so that you can do the work that he called you to do that means this week somebody ought to know about your faith you say all we got we got time we have four months Jesus said no no no no don't no don't use your adage of I can put ministry time off because it's the holidays and I'm busy right now this is a busy season he said no no no don't say four months then I'll focus he said open your eyes and see this okay listen I don't want you to get these four things and I'm done if we're gonna open our eyes and see we don't have to learn first of all we have to learn to take personal responsibility personal responsibility the church is God's plan a Ephesians 3:10 he said that through the church he wants to make known the manifold wisdom of God the powers and principalities all over the world there is no plan B I'm gonna blow somebody's mind Christian television will never substitute for people learning to take personal responsibility I've been on Christian television multiple times for me throughout many years 90% or more of the people that are watching are Christians we've been told well Christian television win the world of Christ he realized that two and a half billion people don't even have electricity much less the television [Music] so what we got is salt salt in the salt and the world keeps losing its flavor that's why a growing church is not an option as long as being lost is a reality I put it on my social media this week people always like Scott watching me is God sighs something you know what I know God's watching me God's eyes are on me but I don't really believe that's what God fixed zegs on I know God watches me his eyes are on me but you know what I think he really watches I think he really watches lost things you ever lost something of value you ever lost something that you paid a lot for it was almost as if for the next several days every time you walk through your house you look for it everywhere you went why because when something's lost it creates destruction your attention goes to what's lost if it's a value if you lost a hotel pen that somebody gave you then you didn't pay attention to it but if it's a value it consumes you I believe with all of my heart God's teaching us we have to learn take personal responsibility second of all that means I have to build personal relationships the sad thing about Christianity and in our culture is that the longer you're a Christian the less people you know who aren't so you get further removed from the world you've been called a reach so our influence becomes less I want to say something to every every Christian that works in the in in the marketplace listen to me every person you pass every day is a woman at the will they may not have had a questionable reputation in their morals but they got an emptiness they're trying to satisfy and they're looking for somebody who will have a conversation with them that'll lead him to water that they'll never thirst again remembers that kids Jesus told Zacchaeus come to another tree I'm coming to your house today for lunch you know as that kiss was he was a tax collector he was a fraud he was a cheat he was a thief nobody wanted to be around him because nobody trusted him and Jesus said I've got lunch with you some of you're looking for way too many clean people say well I get uncomfortable around those people I understand but here's what Paul said this is what Paul said 30-plus years after the cross after the resurrection see we know 2nd Corinthians 5:17 where he said if any man be in Christ new creation has come we just don't know what 1st 2nd Corinthians 5:16 says that leads us to that here's what 1st Corinthians 5:16 says I will therefore not regard any man after the flesh I'm not gonna know you after your skin colour I refuse to know you after your reputation I refuse to know you after your addiction your habits your language because if any man can be in Christ new creation has come to him I stood on the basketball court Noren scourge in you one day with a boy they couldn't believe I came to play he denied as a pastor until the second game after I warned he asked me what do you do I said I'm the preacher to church up on the hill he said my name is Denny I'm 22 years old 23 years old the time he'd actually went to the penitentiary with grown men at 15 duly addicted cocaine and alcohol and in a fit of rage one night under addiction start offense he raped an 87 year old woman not knowing what he was doing [Music] / technicality got out of prison and I said to him I said well then he wants to come to church Sunday with me he said why would you even want a relationship with me nobody in town he wants play basketball with me and you invite me to church I said yeah we got a seat left come on he said I'll tell you what I ain't I ain't going to church with a bunch of hypocrites I said well think about this I'd rather go to church with him go to hell with him you will hang out with in one place or another he said I never thought about that I mean look at I end up building a personal relationship with Dean's wife next thing I know a few Sundays later he come after worship it started gym shorts flip-flops halter t-shirt tattooed up bought his girlfriend halter top no bra hot pants they walked all the way to the second row and I could see the Saints throwing up their hand parts are drawn up and Holy Spirit said to me he's trying you and I'm sitting on the platform and God said to me people are always more valuable than property he hadn't desecrated your building sins broken his life that's what I died for what I got couple weeks later I gave an altar call and didn't his wife came to Christ a few months later then he's out of the city in California an old group finally found him from some drug deals that went bad in a detective from San Francisco calls me in the middle of night and says we have a John Doe who's been stabbed multiple times on the street we searched his pocket there's only one piece of paper in his pocket in his pocket it says if anything ever happens to my life will you call this number and speak to this man he said what do you want me to do with this body I sent it back

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Keywords: The Gate Church, Bishop Tony Miller, Pastor Tony Miller, OKC, Oklahoma City, Tony Miller Messages, Tony Miller Sermons, Church, Ministry, Christian, Preaching, The Gate OKC

Id: 94j8F-pR8eI

Length: 55min 42sec (3342 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 26 2019