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Experience the life-changing messages from the Church of God’s annual Winterfest youth gathering. These are the sermons, moments, and voices that have shaped generations of young believers — now available anytime, anywhere.
Winterfest, Northeast Winterfest, what's up?
Now let me tell you, this is super special for me because I grew up coming to Northeast Winterfest.
I'm a product of Northeast Winterfest.
I encountered God in the altars of Northeast Winterfest.
And here's the truth, friends.
There's somebody sitting out there tonight who's going to stand on this stage in a few years because they experienced the call of God at Northeast Winifax.
So grateful.
My home church is here tonight, part of Southern New England, Rehoboth, my pastors, and they're here.
I'm grateful, grateful.
And I think my mama is in the house too.
She hardly ever gets to see me and be here, and I'm just eternally grateful.
Here's what I want to do tonight.
and the worship leader, Pastor, I'm calling him, Pastor Nate,
kind of talked through.
Sometimes we come to these conferences
and we're looking for an emotional high.
We're looking for something to tickle our fancy.
And here's what I want to do tonight.
I'm Pentecostal, so I'm probably going to be passionate
because that's just the way I'm wired.
But here's what I'm going to ask you to do.
I want you to consider the claims of Scripture tonight.
And I want you to get off the fence and pick a side.
I want you to consider the claims of the Word of God
and get off the fence and pick a side.
One verse of Scripture in your hearing tonight, friends.
or two verses rather, is Galatians 1, verse 3 through 5.
It says, may God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
give you grace and peace.
Jesus gave his life for our sins
just as God our Father planned
in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.
All glory to God forever and ever.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus,
your presence is already in the room.
I pray for your anointing and your power tonight.
I pray for the anointing that breaks the yoke.
And I pray for clarity.
And I pray, God, that you would give us ears to hear
and hearts to receive what you would say.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Northeast, I'm really excited to be here with y'all, but I'm a little torn right now because
today is Valentine's Day and I am not with my Valentine.
I'm a little nervous because, you know, this is the first Valentine we have not been together
and she's watching. Baby, please forgive me. I'm coming right home after this.
But I was reflecting on the plane ride up here about another time I kind of got in trouble with my wife.
If I could zoom back, when we first had our first son, she was like a mama bear.
She was so consumed with protecting him.
And one day we were going out to lunch with a couple friend of ours,
and she hadn't really since having the baby gone out and hung out with friends.
And I said, babe, just let me take care of the baby.
Let me take care of the baby.
She looked at me.
She said, okay, I'm going to trust you.
And so me and my friend, we took my baby boy and we started driving down the road and a new movie had come out.
And so I said, well, let me just stop and check and see what time is playing.
I parked the car.
I get out of the car.
I get into the stanchions and I'm walking through the stanchions and I buy a ticket to the movie.
And I'm about to walk into the theater.
And my friend says, what about your baby?
Y'all, I was flooded with fear like I had never felt before.
I turned into an Olympic hurdle runner.
I jumped over the stanchions.
I ran outside.
my son was sleeping like nothing ever happened.
And so in that moment, I had a decision to make.
Looked at my friend and I said,
please don't tell nobody this.
And he looked at me and he said, I won't tell nobody.
And in that moment, I knew when he said
he's not going to tell nobody, he was going to tell his wife
and his wife was going to tell my wife.
So I just went home and told on myself.
But I never forgot that feeling of being flooded with fear.
You see, what a flood does, it literally consumes and takes over everything it encounters.
It erases everything else, and it becomes the standard of what is being done.
If you don't hear anything else tonight, here's what I want you to know, friends.
God wants to flood your life with his truth so you will be changed forever.
I know we live in a world and a society that's trying to give you everything else.
They're trying to tell you one thing or another, but I came all the way back to the northeast to declare to some students,
whatever the enemy is saying, you need to silence his voice in your life and be flooded with the truth of God that changes you from the inside out.
Our biblical passage is a story, or rather a letter from Paul written to the church at Galatia,
who was dealing with some of the same things that you guys are dealing with today.
See, people had come in with all these different winds of doctrine. People had come in telling them
about what they should do and what they shouldn't do. People were trying to twist them. And in fact,
the scripture tells us that they had gone astray. Paul later on in Galatians says,
How have you so quickly gone astray?
I need you to know, friends, the enemy only lies when it's almost true.
He is trying to come and literally, James talks about those who crept in unaware,
turning the minds and the hearts of people away from God towards everything else.
And here is the church at Galatia, and Paul is writing like he's running out of time to try to
rescue them. And because Paul knows that sometimes people don't read the whole email,
nestled here in the first part of Galatians is the entirety of the gospel.
And maybe you grew up in church and you've heard the gospel your whole life.
Maybe you just came to Winterfest kind of like me.
You came because they told you there were girls and then you end up meeting Jesus on the way.
However you got here.
I just want to show you four truths that I believe will transform your life and change you forever.
And here's my ask.
I want to ask you, not just with your emotions, but with your mind to consider the claims of
Scripture and make a decision. Here's the first thing that you need to be aware of, friends.
It is God's desire for you to receive salvation. I know, you know, you may have heard a whole bunch
other things. Can I tell you that the lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, and it
was God's design for you to be saved. God didn't want anybody to be lost. In fact, here's what John
3 and 17 says, that God didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that through
him the world might be saved. I don't know where you came from. I don't care how far you are. There
the way in the back, all the way to the front, and his desire is to save all of humanity.
It's the heart of God. And maybe you kind of grew up like me, and you thought God was
just waiting for you to mess up, and then boom-da-da-dum, trumpet sound, and he'd take everybody
and leave you. Okay, maybe because they do for y'all a little bit different. They talk about grace and
goodness of God now, when I was coming up, it was hellfire and brimstone. And if you don't turn,
you're going to burn. That's what I grew up on. And so there was nothing scarier than coming home
when people were supposed to be home and it was closed on the ground.
Okay. See, y'all, y'all that new age. Let me tell you, there's this thing called the rapture.
when Jesus comes back? There was nothing scarier. And then you start dialing people's phone number
because you just need to know somebody holy is still here. So you didn't get left. And you know,
you couldn't call some of your friends because they was on the line. They might have get left too.
Here's what I want you to know, friends. 1 Peter 3 and 9 tells us that God is not slow in his
promises. In fact, he delays so that everyone has a chance to come to repentance. That's what's
holding him back is because he loves this world so much. He desires to see you saved, delivered,
set free, on fire, filled with the Holy Ghost, and changing this world. It's the heart of God.
Here's the challenge.
We spend so much time trying to earn what you can only receive.
This is the difference between Christianity and every other religion.
Every other worldview wants you to earn and work towards what you can achieve or enlightenment.
And here's what Scripture says about your works.
They are like filthy rags.
It is never, you will never be good enough to earn salvation.
But can I tell you, God has a way of taking broken vessels and giving him, them, his salvation and using them for his glory and for his honor.
Some of you, you think you're too far gone.
And God is looking at you saying you're just the right one.
You see, salvation is a free gift that you get to receive, not something that you earn.
And here's what salvation does.
Here's what the Scripture says.
Salvation gives you peace.
Do you know your generation, number one struggle is that they do not have peace in their mind.
Some of you are sitting here and you put on the fake plastic church smile and you've got the best Instagram reels and TikTok, whatever they call those because I'm not on TikTok or talkity tick, whatever it's called.
But behind the mask, it's empty.
It's anxiety riddled.
It's full of worry.
And here's what God desires to give you, friends.
Grace and peace.
Here's what grace is.
It is goodness that you didn't deserve.
And peace is right standing with God.
And I don't care what you do in this life.
Until you are made right with God, you will never have peace.
You can put it in your accomplishments.
You can put it in people, but it will always fail you.
What you need for peace is to be in right standing with God.
requires us to be fully committed and submitted to him.
Some of you are like, okay, I hear you.
But how is that possible?
How is salvation possible?
Hear me, friends.
Here's the second truth that this passage teaches us.
Jesus makes it possible for us to receive salvation.
you. Here's what he did. Jesus died so that you could have eternal life. And I know you heard that
before. But I need you to understand, friends, that this life is not your only life. And the
thing that determines where you spend your next life is what you do with Jesus in this life.
I know because you haven't seen it, it's hard to believe it. But I want you to know,
Heaven is not the only option for eternity.
That there are two options for eternity, and one is eternity with God, and one is apart from God.
And the only thing that makes it is what you do with Jesus.
See, he died so that we could have eternal life.
That's John 3 and 16.
That's the message of the gospel.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And we live in such a pluralistic society.
You know, we got vague, ambiguous terms.
I'm manifesting from the universe.
I'm positive vibing.
I've got my sign and my rocks and my stone.
Listen, I'm not hating on all of that.
Here's what I do know.
There's only one name that has power.
There's only one name that has authority.
There's only one name that in his name, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
to the glory of God the Father.
Acts 4 and 12 says there's no name given unto heaven that men might be saved other than the
name of Jesus.
Miss me with all of that other stuff.
It's Jesus' name that has the ability to save.
It's his name that saves.
it's his name that transforms
it's his name that delivers
and Paul is pleading with the Galatians
to remember
the truth of the gospel
because we try to do a whole bunch of other ways
I remember last Thanksgiving
I made the treacherous trip
You know how sometimes you have an idea, and it sounds good when it's an idea, and then you start doing it, and it's just terrible?
So I had this idea that we were going to drive all the way from Atlanta to Connecticut.
I know, y'all laughing at me already.
So the first hour, I'm like, yeah, this is a good idea.
I didn't tell you we took all three of the children.
We got a seven-year-old, a four-year-old, and a two-year-old.
That's why you need to pray for me.
And we're getting close to the finish.
I'm getting near New York.
And y'all, I done paid enough in gas.
And I'm trying to reroute the GPS because I don't want to go over George Washington Bridge and pay that.
What is it now?
$99?
to go over the bridge. I tried every avenue that I could to get around it. I tried every avenue
that I could to escape it, but there was nothing that I could do to get around going over that
bridge. Here's what I'm trying to tell you, friends. You could try to find salvation in a
whole lot of other places. You can try to find salvation in a whole lot of other things, but
Every road that is a real road to salvation is ultimately going to put you in front of the cross of Jesus Christ.
And you've got to make a decision whether to bow to the cross or to reject him.
And here's what I've learned.
It's not so much that we don't like what Jesus offers.
We just don't want it today.
I still want to do what I want to do.
see here's the challenge with that we we don't realize what salvation actually does for us
we don't recognize the magnitude of what it does here's the third thing that the truth about
salvation that you really you got to understand you got to get this is that Jesus died to set us
free. See, here's why you need salvation. Romans 5 and 12 tells us through one man, sin entered the
world. This man named Adam. You know, if he got saved, when I get to heaven, I got some words for him.
See, here's what I need you to understand, friends, is that sin separates us from God.
And it's not just a separation, you go my way and you go, I'll go my way.
There is a penalty for sin.
Here's what Romans 6 and 23 says, that the wages of sin is death.
And it's a multi-layered death, friends.
It's not just a physical death.
It's a spiritual death.
It's emotional death.
It is every aspect of your life begins to decay and deform.
See, sin overpromises and underdelivers.
Sin keeps you longer than you want to be kept.
Sin does not bless your life.
It corrupts your life.
Sin tears down every place of integrity, every place that God has built up in your life.
Sin comes to destroy it.
And the scripture tells us in Romans chapter 3 and 23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
I know your grandmama told you you were perfect and you didn't do nothing wrong.
But she lied to you and she with us all have sinned.
and fallen short of the glory of God.
Everybody.
And see, there is the original sin.
Scripture says that we were born into sin
and shaped in iniquity.
But being the overachievers that we are,
we added to the original.
With our own lies,
with our own deceit,
with our own idols,
with our own rejection of God.
And this death curse has been hanging over humanity.
And here's what the scripture says.
At just the right time, God sent his son Jesus to die for us,
that while we were yet sinners, when we weren't thinking about him,
he was thinking about us.
While you were trying to do your own thing.
while your messages and your Snapchat
was filled with debauchery,
God was still thinking about you.
So what does that mean, that the wages of sin is death?
It means, friends, that we owed a debt that we needed to pay.
We owed a debt that needed to be paid.
And what God said is that they aren't able to pay it.
All throughout Scripture, we're reminded of people who tried and failed.
He gave Abraham a covenant, and Abraham tried, but he lied, and he had a child with Hagar, and he failed.
He gets to Moses, and they make a covenant, and not even 30 days after deliverance, they failed.
He gets to David and surely David is going to get this right, but David becomes a murderer and he fails.
Over and over, you see in the Gospels, multiple times people failing.
But in the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a woman who lived a sinless life.
And when he saw our sins, he chose a cross and he died.
Don't miss this.
You see, it was a tree that was the site of the first sin, but it was on a tree that Jesus hung
on a cross to defeat sin. You see, it was thorns that was the sign of the first curse of sin,
but it was with the crown of thorns that he broke every curse of sin on your life.
Here's what I'm trying to tell you. Jesus died to free you from the penalty of sin.
Here's what Romans 8 and 1 says, "For there is now no condemnation for them that are in
Christ Jesus."
You don't have the penalty anymore.
You did it, but Jesus paid for it.
And that would be good news if that was the end.
But here's the challenge.
He paid for it, but we have a propensity and a proclivity to go back and put ourselves
in the same debt that he already paid for.
You know, we don't have pets in my house because we're selfish.
The Lord is still working on us and we don't want to spend money on pets.
Don't judge me.
But when I was in college, I tried it.
And one day we had a little husky, the dog was beautiful, but she was sick.
Took her to the vet and got her the medicine.
When she came home, she ended up throwing up and she felt better.
But before we had a chance to clean it up, the same stuff that made her sick that she
spit out, she went right back to and licked it up. And some of you are saying ill right
now but it's the same thing you do in your own life. The vomit of sin that Jesus has
literally Heimlich maneuvered out of your life, you go back to it and lick it back up.
And here's the challenge for this generation. You are free from the penalty of sin but you
you are still shackled by the power of sin.
I'm free from the eternal penalty of sin,
but I still keep doing the same thing
over and over and over and over again.
Here's the thing, friends.
I didn't tell you the rest of the story
because he died on a Friday.
He was put in a borrowed tomb on a Friday.
And all day Friday night, he was in the tomb.
And all day Saturday, he was in the tomb.
But early on a Sunday morning, he got up with all power in his hands.
And here's the good news.
The death of Jesus frees you from the penalty of sin.
But the resurrection of Jesus frees you from the power of sin.
And sin has no more authority and power over your life.
The curse is broken.
And here's what he's come to do.
to flood your life with his power so that you can walk in authority.
It's not enough for you to be free from the penalty of sin
because whom the Son set free is truly free indeed.
There's not the time to walk in bondage.
In fact, this is a time to walk in freedom.
He's called you to live in freedom and to be set free.
But preacher, you don't know what I struggled with.
here's what I know the blood is enough you don't know what I'm I'm wrestling with here's what I do
know Jesus said that I've got the keys to death hell and the grave and because he got up you can
get up and because he got up whatever you're struggling with is defeated you don't try to
get to victory you walk from a place of victory and until you realize that you won't experience
the freedom that God has for you.
But I'm looking at a generation that's about to break off every shackle
under the power of the anointing of God
that you will no longer be bound,
but you will be free and declare the goodness of God
in the land of the living.
He wants to free you from not just the penalty of sin,
but the power of sin.
Here's what the Scripture says in Hebrews.
So now let us lay aside every weight and sin that easily besets us.
And here's where we're getting it wrong, friends.
You think you need more human effort to overcome it.
You don't need more human effort.
You need divine intervention.
Paul has this epiphany in 2 Corinthians.
He's praying to God and asking for his help.
And God finally says to Paul, my grace is sufficient.
My power works best in your weakness.
And Paul says this, he has an epiphany.
He says, now I will boast all the more in my weakness so that the power of Christ may be manifest in me.
Here's what I'm trying to say.
It's every place you've got a weakness and a temptation is an opportunity for you to pull on the power of God to be at work in you.
Now is the moment.
Now is the time.
Here's what Romans says.
In Romans chapter 8, verse 2, he says,
And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
Here's the truth, friends.
God desires for you to experience salvation.
He sent his son to make it possible for you.
and salvation is not just
for you to have fire insurance
he died so you can be free from the penalty
but he rose so that you can live
in authority
and how do we do this
what what okay how do I get saved
Do I have to jump three times and turn around?
Do I have to say a Hail Mary or something like that?
No, no, no.
Here's what the Scripture tells us.
Romans 10 and 9, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead,
You will be saved.
I know you're saying to me, preacher, that's too easy.
It doesn't work like that.
It was never about your ability to save yourself.
It was about you trusting in the God who is able to save you.
here's what the scripture says
I read the first part of Romans chapter 6 for you
that the wages of sin is death
here's the next clause
is this word called but
and it's one of my favorite words in scripture
whenever you're reading it you need to circle it
because here's what but means
it's a negating word
what comes after but
cancels out what came before but.
Okay, let me give you an example.
I don't mean to get involved but.
That means they're going to put their nose
in something they were never meant to be in.
Okay, that one didn't work.
Let me give you another one.
I don't mean to be rude but.
That means whatever they're about to say
is going to be rude.
Some of you can't laugh because that was you.
Can I tell you what the Scripture says, friends?
That the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ.
And here's what I asked you to do.
I asked you to consider the claims.
Jesus says you need salvation, that He is the only way to salvation,
and that if you put your faith in him, you will receive salvation.
So one of the ways to hear and consider claims
is to hear the same message in a different way.
And here's what I want you to do.
In a moment, they're going to sing a song.
I want you to hear the simplicity of the song.
In the Old Testament, Scripture says that he will sing over you.
I want you to hear the simplicity of the words of the song that says, call on Jesus.
Say his name.
If you believe in your heart, you will be saved.
Listen to this song.
Come as you are
Just as you are
It's time to come home
Out of the dark
Just as you are, he already sees you
Don't be afraid to show him your face
He won't turn you away
He'll never turn you away
Everybody needs, everybody needs
Everybody needs saving
Everybody breaks, everybody bleeds
You don't have to be ashamed
Call on Jesus, say his name
Just receive him in your heart and you will be saved
God has raised him from the grave
Just believe it in your heart and you will be saved
Call on Jesus, say his name
Just receive it in your
heart and you will
be saved
God has raised him from the grave
Just believe it in your heart and you will be saved
just believe in your heart
and you will be saved
here's the final thing I want you to know friends
maybe you might be asking
why would God do this
why would God do this
why would he allow this to happen
here's why
for the glory of his name
I know
you thought salvation was about you.
It benefits you.
But
your
salvation is not about you.
It's about the glory of his name.
Here's why we get saved, friends.
Here's the benefit of salvation.
We spend eternity with him, but he gets glory to his name.
Notice what the text says.
All glory to God, forever and ever.
All over scripture we're reminded
that it's our deliverance, but it's His glory.
It's our freedom, but it's His glory.
It's our breakthrough, but it's His glory.
It's our promotion, but it's His glory.
It's
when people get saved.
Heaven begins to praise and celebrate
when one person comes home to Jesus Christ.
Heaven throws a party.
And sometimes we get distracted with everything else.
What's my purpose?
What's my calling?
Can I tell you?
The number one thing God wants to do
is get glory out of your life
from you committing your life to Jesus Christ.
There's a passage in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 15.
It says this,
And as God's grace is spread to more and more people,
there is a great thanksgiving,
and God receives more and more glory.
that as God's grace spreads to more and more people,
there is a great thanksgiving
and God gets more and more glory.
What if this weekend
you thought you were going to come and get some merch,
you thought you were going to come and hang out with friends,
what if God's primary purpose for this weekend
is for you to hear the claims of Christ
and make a decision.
Am I going to stay on the fence?
Or am I going to let God flood me with his truth
and change me forever?
And some of you, you're saying,
Preacher, I hear all that,
but I'm too messed up.
I like to come down here and jump during worship and I like the way it makes me feel.
I'm too messed up for God to break me back.
Struggling too much.
Here's what you don't realize, friends.
You live in a glass house.
God already sees and he says, I love you anyway.
Here's the difference.
you think you need to get perfect for God to love you
and God is saying would you just surrender what is imperfect
and let me make you into the person that I want you to be
Ephesians 2 and 10 says you are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that he planned for you long ago
here's what I want you to do
would you stand with me tonight
with every head bowed
every eye closed
if you would say to me preacher
I'm not where I'm supposed to be with God
I'm not where I'm supposed to be with God
I need salvation
I need peace in my life
I'm not sure if I would die
I would go to heaven
I'm not sure if I'm saved
I need to know for sure
with every head bowed
every eye closed
if you would say to me tonight
preacher I'm not where I need to be
would you just raise your hand
I need to be saved
I need to be saved
I need to be saved
I need to be saved
I see those hands
I see those hands, I see those hands
I need to be saved, I need to be saved
I see those hands, don't be afraid
I see those hands
now here's what I want you to do
put your hands down
in a moment I'm going to pray
if you raise your hand
here's what I want you to do
I want you to make your way
when I say amen, come right here to this altar
here's why
your step out of your seat
is a step of faith
and here's what God says
that if you draw nigh to me
I'll draw nigh to you
and you're not walking on your own
he says I'll never leave you or forsake you
goodness and mercy is following you
all the days of your life
and maybe you've been in church
maybe you're a preacher's kid
maybe you're worried about what people will say
let me give you some news
they're going to talk about you anyway
you better let them talk about
how you've been delivered, set free, set on fire for God, on your way to heaven and disrupting
hell while you go. Tonight is the night. Maybe you didn't raise your hand because you're unsure,
but you know in your heart tonight is the night for you to be saved. Let me tell you, God sent
his word for you to be saved tonight. Don't miss this moment. Here's what I said earlier.
it's not that we don't want Jesus
we just don't want him right now
here's what the scripture says
today is the day of salvation
and here's the sneaky part of pride
pride tricks you into thinking
that God will give you another chance to do tomorrow
what he gave you a chance to do today
now is the time of your visitation
now is your moment of decision
get off the fence
choose Jesus
call on him
I'm going to pray as soon as I say amen
if you raise your hand
if you know tonight is your night
meet me at this altar
here's the second group of people
if you are struggling with habitual sin
hear me
bondage. Today, you can be set free. Meet me at this altar. Here's what I believe.
Not because I believe it. It's because what scripture says, where two or three are gathered,
there he is. And what we ask for, it shall be done. Tonight, you're going to receive your freedom
and you will never walk back into that bondage in Jesus' name. When I say amen, if that's you,
Salvation and deliverance.
Meet me here.
Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus,
your word has been declared.
And Isaiah 55 tells us that your word
will not return unto you void,
but it will accomplish that
what you have set it out to do.
Hey, God, and you spoke into my spirit like a flood.
And salvation will come like a flood tonight, God.
Hundreds will come to faith in Jesus Christ tonight.
and I believe that you're going to do a good work.
Deliverance is going to happen.
Breakthrough is going to happen
because we called on the name of Jesus.
We believed in our heart
and we are saved.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If that's you, meet me right here.
Come, get out of your seat
and come to this altar.
Like a flood.
Salvation
like a flood.
Salvation
like a
flood.
It's going to change everything in your life.