Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
A weekly podcast especially for our Prayer Time community
**Prayer Time Heir Waves episodes are edited for clarity and conciseness. Transcripts are generated using Machine Learning. They may contain typos, misspellings, omissions, and misheard words. Accuracy is not guaranteed. Please use for reference only.**
[00:00:00] George La Du: I had a interesting episode happened to me last Monday night. I got a phone call from one of the businessmen that I am a spiritual father to. And he called me and asked if he could fly me to Colorado Springs last Tuesday because he wanted me to share the revelation that we've had regarding the Father's love, which I want to get around to some of that today with a friend of His that he's been working with.
He's a pastor. He's a high profile Christian speaker and he lives in Colorado Springs, and he and His wife, they, he's been working with this couple for seven years and felt like they're really ready to receive this kind of revelatory insight on the Father's love. And so he asked if I would come out and share with them this.
And so I got there on Tuesday and was, got to spend the day at this beautiful, Ranch in the hot tub and stuff, and we weren't going to end up meeting till the next morning. We met at 10 o'clock and only met for an hour and a half. And then this young guy and I after we met with this couple, had a wonderful, Beautiful experience with them then we drove to the airport at Colorado Springs and got on a private jet and flew home.
[00:01:38] Angela Nicolson: Wow!
[00:01:39] Carl Nicolson: How exciting!
[00:01:40] George La Du: It just reminded me of some kind of NSA meeting or some kind of A special ops that we had to go out and do, but it was a lot of fun. But one of the things that I was left with was it, he spent thousands and thousands of dollars on God bless you brother.
This couple, because he was in California himself when he got a call from Atlanta where this couple was doing this speaking and the young man felt he was having some spiritual difficulties. So my friend Ken flew to Atlanta just to be with him and then flew them back to Colorado Springs. And so it was set up and the conversation was already along this line of imparting the Father's love.
There was divine timing, but what I came home with was the notion of the expense that he paid to do all of this and what the Father, our Heavenly Father would do for us. To get us to where He wants us. To get the understanding that He wants for us. And What I wanted to talk about in I want to talk about this because it's, I see it, I see that the challenges of it all the time, but I'm wondering if in the last hundred years of Christianity that there hasn't been a certain methodology that's been developed regarding sharing the Lord with people and people coming to the knowledge of salvation.
Hey, Ken. Welcome. So I'm going to start with me, and then I'm going to ask you for your experience.
[00:03:43] Carl Nicolson: George, I'm sorry. My mind wandered. Experience with?
[00:03:46] George La Du: What?
[00:03:47] Carl Nicolson: I'm sorry, my mind wandered. Experience with what?
[00:03:50] George La Du: The experience with salvation. How did you come to the Lord? Okay, that's what I want you to be thinking about as I share with you my quick little story.
So I was raised Catholic. When I graduated from Jesuit high school, I went off to Southern Oregon College. I left the Catholic Church because they couldn't give me an assurance of salvation, which I was desperately seeking. I'm thinking to myself as a Catholic, they're, am I going to go to heaven when I die?
And so I'm talking to my priest and these things and they really couldn't give me a direct answer. And the best they could come up with was if you do these things, spiritual things, then we hope you're going to heaven. And I go there's just a couple things that I don't want to hope about when I come to that point, okay?
And this is one of them. And when I went to Southern Oregon College as an 18 year old freshman, I ran into a group called Campus Crusade for Christ. And they shared with me the Four Spiritual Laws, a little booklet, that I was so excited about, and I just received that information. I prayed, I asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life.
And then when those two guys left my dorm room, I was just I was ecstatic because this is exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for fire insurance. Right? This, where do I sign? Okay I like everything you shared with me and I'll sign right here. I did. And as a good Catholic, I immediately went out and got drunk, because I was so happy.
I found out later from Campus Crusade, they don't really recommend that as a practice,
[00:05:40] Jared Roth: because you were 18.
[00:05:43] Ken Eagon: Yeah, he was three years underage, after that it was okay.
[00:05:47] George La Du: Yeah, had I been 21? Was pretty much on high. So here's the thing. I came to Jesus at that point, and I invited him to become the Lord of my life.
And in doing so in reflection now, all these years later, Um, I enlisted in the army of God, because Jesus was everything for me. It was the Jesus only gospel. And later I found out about the Holy Spirit and the gifts and things like that. So that was secondary. But, and I really never got to the Father because I didn't have a good earthly father example of love and intimacy.
And I wasn't even expecting it in my theology. Why, I didn't know anybody else that was getting anything that way and back then, I was, Randy and I were at the end of the hippie movement, okay? So when I was in college, I had long hair and played the guitar and played the guitar at the Catholic Folk Mass on Saturday night, and then got involved with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, And started meditating, Transcendental Meditation.
And would take a group of college kids out Sunday afternoon to the lake with a lot of wine. And do my Rocky Mountain High John Denver style. And
[00:07:27] Carl Nicolson: Syncretism are us.
[00:07:28] George La Du: What's that?
[00:07:28] Carl Nicolson: Syncretism are us.
[00:07:30] George La Du: I'm sorry.
[00:07:31] Ken Eagon: Syncretism are us.
Yeah.
[00:07:33] George La Du: So You know, I thought, and then I find out about not going to hell, and I go, I'm living the life, you know.
That probably lasted about two years. And then I went through a bout of depression. And it was right after we got married, and that's not why I went into depression, but I was thinking about driving off bridges, that Randy would be better off without me, with my life insurance, and all that kind of stuff.
And that's when I had a encounter with God, where I
I went over to my mother's house. My mom was a mother of nine children, seven boys and two girls. And so when I wasn't feeling well, I wanted to talk to her and but she wasn't home. So I'm sitting in her living room and I'm going, okay, God, I'm done. I've had it. Tell me what the deal is. Tell me what this God thing is all about, because I feel like I've done everything, I've been with Maharishi, I went through the Mormon teachings, I've done the Catholic thing, and now the Camps Crusade for Christ and now I'm going to this Spirit filled Baptist Church out in Aloha.
I go, what? And Just give me the download on what to do. I'll do whatever you say. I just don't know what going, and I sat there on her couch, and I literally thought, That the roof was gonna open and God would say, George, go down to the corner and turn right. He was gonna give me direction.
I sat there for 45 minutes and nothing happened. Went and talked to a guy that was a Bible teacher for me and he said that's a good thing is to see God, you Just sitting, he sits to seek first the kingdom of God, not sit first, but what I took away from that was that God I was tired of being fake in the worship service because everybody was like raising their hands there and Catholic, you don't raise your hands, it's Try to fit in and I was just faking it.
And so I just had to come to Jesus meeting, so to speak, where I'm just going to be myself no matter what. I don't care. I'm not going to raise my hands anymore. Unless God. So that was a change of what I felt, where my relationship with God was now on the uphill. We're going, we're experiencing stuff. I went too far with all that information, but can you share with me, how did you make Jesus the Lord of your life?
Or what that experience was. Was there anything similar to what I did?
[00:10:25] Ken Eagon: Mine wasn't dissimilar from that, because I grew up in the Episcopal Church, which is, not like the Catholic Church exactly. But it follows a lot of the same thing with the liturgy. And I still really like the liturgy. Yeah. I still really like it.
Periodically I end up back at an Episcopal Church or a Catholic Church for some reason or another. And it always just rings with me, because It's just it's just so spiritual. It just means so much. But the the similarity is the same thing. I some crusade guys were in Oregon State.
Okay. And having a big meeting there in the huge living room in the fraternity house. And I was in on this. And at first I was what on earth is this, yeah, because I grew up in church. I thought I don't need to do anything different what I was doing.
Yeah. But something with these guys really resonated with me, just like what you were saying. And or three years before I really started to jump in with both feet and, One night I, my situation was the opposite of yours. You went and got drunk. I was already drunk. And I I was up at the camp.
I was working out in San Juan Islands. And I just had this revelation. And I went up behind this rock by myself and dropped down on my knees and said to God, I said, if you're really real, just reveal yourself to me. Just reveal yourself to me. And that's, that, I swear, that's the moment that things really started to change.
But I think I am the, we all are, but I'm the poster child for progressive sanctification. Somebody once described it as, think of your sanctification as being that thing like when you're looking through binoculars, and there's two images, and then they start to come together.
I started off out here. By now, I'm probably maybe to about here. But at some point, maybe on the day that I die and go to heaven, I'll be in complete focus.
[00:12:16] George La Du: Good.
[00:12:16] Ken Eagon: I don't know that's not a dissimilar thing.
[00:12:19] George La Du: But, did, was there a time when you ever asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life?
[00:12:25] Ken Eagon: Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think that actually occurred before that so called come to Jesus meeting like you were talking about when I was up there in the aisles and I just dropped my knees and said reveal yourself to me. I had already done that.
[00:12:37] George La Du: Okay. Okay.
[00:12:37] Ken Eagon: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:38] George La Du: How about you, Jared? When you know that you, or you feel like you got born again.
[00:12:44] Jared Roth: I was five years old.
[00:12:45] George La Du: Oh my God.
[00:12:47] Jared Roth: And had A significant, real, profound, moving sticking experience with Jesus. I grew up in a home that fostered that. My mother led literally thousands of children and kids to Christ through Release Time and Good News Bible Clubs. My brother who is five years older than me, however, we're a Mennonite family, but my parents were interested in The Life of the Spirit.
And we would go for special meetings at the Assembly of God Church in town. As conservative as our Mennonite church was, they were crazy. Yeah.
[00:13:23] George La Du: Chandelier. Yeah.
[00:13:25] Jared Roth: We, the Roth family of six of us would come sit on the back row, relative safety. And my, my, my brother walked the aisle.
responded to an invitation. So one day my kids my siblings were all at school. My dad was at work. I was at home. My mother found me crying in the living room and she talked to me about why I was crying and discerned that I was experiencing a Holy Spirit conviction. And so she asked me if I wanted to pray.
And I said, no, I want to get saved like Jim did. So the next assembly got a revival in town. We were there in a Roth family, safe row in the back. And I knew the routine, the manipulation of the whole process. Look and I'll protect your anonymity, and then come down the aisle. I knew the whole thing.
And I was the first one to buy into this evangelist. Happened to be Dave Wilkerson, which was interesting.
[00:14:10] George La Du: Oh, wow!
[00:14:11] Jared Roth: Before he was famous, right? I remember the sermon.
[00:14:14] Ken Eagon: Is this, was this out at the assembly?
[00:14:16] Jared Roth: This was Sweet Home. Sweet Home, Oregon. This is big time.
So I was the first one down the aisle. And so I was five year old at the altar. And my mother came down and actually assisted me. But it was profound. But to the issue of lordship, for me I had an encounter. And it was I had a full ride four year scholarship from General Motors for the University of Oregon in business.
And when full ride, money going to school. After everything was paid, I had cash. It was a ridiculous deal.
[00:14:52] Ken Eagon: So that's what you qualified for out of high school?
[00:14:54] Jared Roth: Yeah.
[00:14:54] Ken Eagon: Wow. I'll hear more about that later.
[00:14:57] George La Du: So now you're 18 years old.
[00:14:58] Jared Roth: I'm 18. I end up at Eugene Faith Center, which was a life change for me. I ended up in Foursquare there.
[00:15:05] Various Speakers: Okay.
[00:15:06] Jared Roth: Introduced to the life of the Spirit and toward the end of my freshman year, the Lord called me to, at the end of my sophomore year, to leave school, to drop the scholarship, to go to an unaccredited institute and become a pastor, plant a church.
[00:15:21] George La Du: Wow.
[00:15:22] Jared Roth: And so the Lordship was leaving the scholarship, leaving accredited higher education.
These are very important for me. I'm a poor kid. I knew the route out. I wanted money. I wanted to be an exec business executive. I was on my path and and so the lordship actually was not a verbal statement. It was an act of obedience. To drop out of school and to go to an administrative institute and as a college drop out to return home and start a church.
[00:15:54] Ken Eagon: What was the non accredited institute?
[00:15:56] Jared Roth: Pardon?
[00:15:56] Ken Eagon: What was the non accredited institute? Where did you get that information?
[00:15:59] Jared Roth: Eugene Faith Center. It was at the church.
[00:16:01] Ken Eagon: Oh, it was out there at the church?
[00:16:02] Jared Roth: Yeah, at the church. And in it was a kind of interesting apostolic movement. 60 of us planted, went out as teams. It could be a person, a couple, or a team.
60 of us units went out and started churches at 12 years.
[00:16:16] Chad Williams: Wow.
[00:16:18] George La Du: Amazing.
[00:16:19] Chad Williams: Awesome.
[00:16:19] Jared Roth: And most of those churches are still thriving today.
[00:16:21] Various Speakers: Wow.
[00:16:23] Jared Roth: Many of the marriages did not survive. Which, as I worked for 20 years with pastors, was very impacted for me to give attention to family because I saw successful ministry developed and the family not surviving the cost, but that's why. I digress.
[00:16:44] George La Du: And the leader of the Eugene Faith Center?
[00:16:47] Jared Roth: Roy Hicks, Jr.
[00:16:50] Ken Eagon: Were you there with Jeff Wells?
[00:16:52] Jared Roth: Yeah.
[00:16:52] Ken Eagon: Okay, we'll talk about that later.
[00:16:54] Jared Roth: That's interesting that you know him.
[00:16:56] Ken Eagon: It's because of the running connection, all the track and field stuff.
[00:16:59] Jared Roth: Because he and I connected three years ago in the Woodlands. Yeah.
[00:17:03] Ken Eagon: We'll talk about that later.
[00:17:05] George La Du: Angela, how about your experience of salvation?
[00:17:08] Angela Nicolson: Oh, yeah. I grew up in a very huge family. One that many of the people were lovers of Jesus and many of them were not. And so I got to have a very broad
[00:17:21] George La Du: Experience?
[00:17:21] Angela Nicolson: Experience and front row seat to the impact of life with, a purpose and life without.
And so my experience of salvation was, I think, it's almost I think of it like a child who is born to parents who already love them. Or, versus a child who is born and needs to be adopted into a family that loves them. So I don't remember like a moment where I came to Christ, but I remember feeling very clearly that the Lord loved me and that He had chosen me from a very young age.
And so I feel that He, just the progressive sanctification that you talked about, where there have been moments throughout my life where. I know that the Lord called me into deeper, into a deeper walk with Him and then also into certain steps of obedience to, to Him and to understanding more what it means to have a loving Heavenly Father.
And yeah, there's a rich story I'm sure for all of us that we don't really have time to go into, but.
[00:18:28] Carl Nicolson: Can you tell about working through assurance of faith?
[00:18:31] Angela Nicolson: Assurance of faith?. I think as many children I felt that I needed to, anytime I needed to ask for forgiveness, I needed to also invite Jesus back into my heart. So I probably did that thousands of times.
[00:18:46] Kenneth (Bishop): Thank you, Jesus.
[00:18:46] Angela Nicolson: So I was very saved.
[00:18:48] Kenneth (Bishop): Hallelujah.
[00:18:49] Angela Nicolson: I'm very forgiven. But I, it was
[00:18:52] Ken Eagon: Back in, you didn't feel like He was always there even though?
[00:18:55] Angela Nicolson: Yeah, when I was a kid, I guess I didn't. I just
[00:18:58] Ken Eagon: Sounds Catholic.
[00:18:58] Various Speakers: And
[00:18:59] Angela Nicolson: I grew up in the French school system in Canada, which is very Catholic.
[00:19:03] Ken Eagon: Oh, true.
[00:19:04] Angela Nicolson: And I had a lot of Catholics around, but I also have a Mennonite connection. Jared and I, our families were Mennonite way back. But not the old order Mennonite. We didn't have nobody was wearing a head covering and all black and all that kind of thing. It was just more of a, an Anabaptist faith from, From Germany and from Russia,
[00:19:22] George La Du: good. Carl?
[00:19:25] Carl Nicolson: Pastor's kid, so I got more immersed into a culture of Christianity. But like Jared, a little chap I had this experience one night, I was blessed that my parents would tuck us in each night, and one of them or both of them would pray with us, and sing a little praise chorus with us, and that was our night time, after story time.
Parenthetically, I look back and I'm like, how blessed was I that my parents took the time to do that every night? Night, all the way through we would at least have the praying and singing time Even if it wasn't story time until I left to go to college. It was always pray and sing before midnight. So Thank you Lord for that gift.
But one of those times I'm in my little bedroom five and I had this very clear sense that there's something separating me from God and my dad explained to me that In language a five year old would understand, sin nature and Jesus dying for my sins and wanting me to be fully His and to respond fully to His love and ask for Him to go into my heart.
And so my own dad led me to the Lord, one of those praying and singing nights. It would have been like, Four or five years old, I can't exactly remember the date. I wish I'd put it down, but it was an amazing experience. And I did as much again, as a five year old could understand these things. I remember having a sense of concern about the separation before my dad walked me through that prayer and a sense of understanding and peace that I had never experienced before in my Long five years of life, but still enough of a difference that I could tell there was something different about what God has done in me.
And it wasn't just the emotional experience I also had, which is if you spent time around me, God gave me a gift of being able to express. Joy or sorrow through tears. And I remember being very tearful about the experience, but also very sure that something significant had happened.
It wasn't until high school that I began to see faith more as my own thing and not just a cultural familial experience.
And that began to grow strength through my desire to be athletically excellent in basketball. And at that same time, my mom and dad encouraged me, you really need to be serious about your own faith. And my dad recommended to me. Just dig into the word and read the whole Bible through. Many Christians don't.
And I got out a paper calendar and I mapped out from, that was my, beginning of my grade 10 year, I mapped out how many chapters in the Bible I have to read every day, so that I could time it to read the last. chapter of Revelation on the day I was going to graduate.
[00:21:57] Various Speakers: Wow that's wild.
[00:21:59] Carl Nicolson: I had this little chapter thing all set up. I read through it. It was amazing. Genesis to Revelation.
[00:22:04] Various Speakers: Wow,
[00:22:04] Ken Eagon: That's awesome.
[00:22:05] Carl Nicolson: And, in the proces, God drew me to Himself. And I don't know if this was accidental or just God blessing me anyway, but immediately upon being more focused about intentionality with discovering who is God and what does His Word say about Him, I started to do great in basketball.
It was like this parallel experience. I'm like, Oh my gosh, the Lord is blessing me as I seek His face.
And it was a language that I could understand at the time of, not that I think it's works based, but there is a sense of receiving God's blessings as you focus upon Him that really captured my understanding of His nature in a way that I think it wouldn't have if I had just been listening to Him, deeply focusing on Him, but everything else in my life just puttered along the same way. It was a marked difference that God used to reinforce His nature to me.
[00:22:52] Ken Eagon: As you were growing up, did that increase your jump reach too?
[00:22:55] Carl Nicolson: It did! It really did. It was weird.
[00:22:58] George La Du: And how long did you play basketball?
[00:22:59] Carl Nicolson: All through high school, so I was in JV and then varsity. Small school, but a dynasty of basketball. These small Montana towns that girls were like, In a different league than we were, we would scrimmage against them. And it was literally like, A one organism existing in five separate places at the same time with a girls team and five Neanderthal adolescent guys walking around trying to Me want ball! Me shoot ball now! We were so bad, they would just mop us up. They won state 9 years too, so there was
[00:23:32] Ken Eagon: The girls did?
[00:23:33] Carl Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:23:34] Ken Eagon: What was the name of the town?
[00:23:34] Carl Nicolson: Big Sandy Pioneers.
[00:23:36] Ken Eagon: Wow!
[00:23:37] Kenneth (Bishop): What was the name of the town?
[00:23:38] Carl Nicolson: Big Sandy.
[00:23:39] Kenneth (Bishop): Big Sandy.
[00:23:39] Carl Nicolson: Yep. Packed to punch. Little town, but
[00:23:42] Kenneth (Bishop): Oh, yeah.
[00:23:42] Ken Eagon: Love it. Wow.
[00:23:45] George La Du: And, Chad, your situation with salvation?
[00:23:47] Chad Williams: Do you mind coming back to me, Pastor? Yeah. I'm sorry. Ethan just texted me something.
[00:23:50] George La Du: Yeah. Addy?
[00:23:51] Chad Williams: I'm happy to share it If you'll come back.
[00:23:54] Pastor Addy: I went to church. I was going to church, I grew up in the home where everybody just get ready for Sunday. You all go to church.
[00:24:00] Angela Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:24:00] Pastor Addy: And you all you got to go to church because when they cook the food, And then we come to church where we eat. If you don't go to church....
[00:24:08] Angela Nicolson: You're not an idiot!
[00:24:10] Pastor Addy: So there was all these different things. But I didn't actually, I heard a sermon.
[00:24:16] Ken Eagon: Non denominational church?
[00:24:18] Pastor Addy: Yeah, at that time my father was in a non denominational church. We went to church and then, one of my brothers who is now in Holland, he and I, got baptized I don't really know what I knew of what I was really doing.
But then when the war came, which was in 1990, I had an encounter. And that's when I knew the whole thing about Jesus being my Lord. That's where it started from during the Civil War in my country.
[00:24:49] George La Du: You asked Jesus to come into your life and be the Lord of your life?
[00:24:52] Pastor Addy: Yes. This guy was preaching because all the missiles are flying, people dying, no food, and all of that stuff, and this guy was in the community preaching.
And for the first time, something he said gripped my heart. But, because we were in the group, so I didn't want to accept Jesus there. So when he left, he was going, I'll follow him. I said, that thing you said, come say that to me again. So he told me, Jesus is doing this, so I knelt down and I accepted Jesus.
So when the war quieted down, there was this conviction, I wanted to know more about this Jesus. So I ended up going to Bible school. Everything I came up with me, but before I was religious, going to church and then by the ending of that.
[00:25:36] George La Du: Okay, good. How about you brother? When did you know...
[00:25:40] Kenneth (Bishop): I was late coming in...
[00:25:41] George La Du: So what we're talking about is When I made a commitment to Jesus Christ to make Him the Lord of my life. Did you ever have an experience like that?
[00:25:51] Kenneth (Bishop): Oh, yeah when I was a child I was called in a sense I was, I could discern, I could see things. I could tell you it before the time even I could just see. And so what it was, I had this thing though that came on me at night and it would throw me off the bed and it would do, they would take me up and they would drop me, this witch would just drop me, literally just drop me.
So I would fall off the bed. I had this expected. I went to my mother and my father. I talked to them and. And they're praying and things, and we're just trying to get that thing off of me, whatever that was. And I'm sitting there, actually, finding that I couldn't do anything, really. I'm just in a trance. It kept doing this to me.
So finally, the Lord told me something, how to resolve it. I finally got a chance to talk to the Lord. And so as she kept doing this thing to me, I, and I went through this experience, I went by people gambling things, and you can discern and see things and do things. You could actually do things.
So anyway, I'm sitting there walking by, always go by people. They're gambling, go through the streets and stuff. I was just going through this path, which I could see plainly. And I knew lots about that path, but the thing is, the Lord was now showing me how to get with Him. So I had to finally the Lord came to me.
He told me, He said, as long as you don't marry a woman, It's born on Halloween. Sorry. You'll be okay. I'm like, okay. Even then I knew that the Lord was messing with me. I'm called in. He's now pre designating me. He's putting me in a spot. I knew this already. I just didn't tell you. But I couldn't. I'm like, I'm just confused as I could be.
But I'm like, how is it possible? Then if I find how would I even find a woman that's born on Halloween and go? Okay, I'm gonna marry. It's I said, Okay, if I'm if I meet a woman and she's born on Halloween, I'll just say, Hey, I can't marry you because the Lord told me not to marry no woman on Halloween.
So that was it. And so I said, I don't even understand this. But I'm like, that's just crazy. How am I gonna find this? So it just went on. And I and finally, believe it or not, I married ended up marrying a woman. And you know how it happens. And I brought a message on that. You know how it happened. I forgot.
My mother forgot. They knew about the story 'cause I kept telling them what happened to me, but somehow it was a, it was just that I had competition in the street. And this guy, I don't know, he bugged me. And I don't know, I'm always a very courteous person. I, I'm a person. I could do things, of course.
I'm a discerner. I can do natural things, . And so there's something that he thought that he wanted to be. He was a younger guy, but he thought he was smarter than I was, and I was just helping him out, but he was like, he says, I know more than you, and I was like, I couldn't even believe he said that to me.
I said, more than I do. So that day, that's when the competition started. And that's how I ended up with this woman. And it was like, it was just stupid. It was like something that I don't even do. But it's just that he just, I'm like a little child. You're just hanging in the street.
You don't even know what's going on. But I'm just sitting here now. I just went off into a whole new world. And I was like, wow. And sure enough, that spent my whole world. And the Lord told me, He said, if you don't. Do what I said, then He would cut me off. So I had to come to a lot of the Lord talked to me through the way which He brought me back and I had just, I was going another whole direction, but He was keeping me within that and building the house. So
[00:29:26] George La Du: Let me interrupt you. I want to just zoom it down to this one point. Was there a time when you asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life?
[00:29:37] Kenneth (Bishop): Yeah. He came into me and As a young age, because that's what my mother and father
[00:29:42] George La Du: How old were you when you asked Him to be the Lord?
[00:29:45] Kenneth (Bishop): I was a kid, let's see, I'm sure I was just so young. I can't even remember, 11 less than that, maybe in that area, somewhere like that.
[00:29:53] George La Du: Five years old?
[00:29:53] Kenneth (Bishop): Oh, I was really young, but I did go all the way through this experience. But the thing, what I'm saying to you, my mother was a evangelist. My father was a pastor. He was a preaching deacon. So there's, we, every morning we get up and we have devotions.
So we're in the word all the, always. And so I had already. Believed in Jesus Christ with all my heart, soul, and mind. So it's just one of those distractions. That's all.
[00:30:14] George La Du: Okay. Hey, Khang, good to have you with us today. What we're talking about is the day if we're asking if you ever made a commitment asking Jesus to be the Lord of your life? Yeah. And do you, had you ever done that? Had, has that ever been something in your experience?
[00:30:40] Khang Tran: It's good to see you guys. Good to be here and I love listening to you guys, and I can't follow you guys , but no, not not, I guess not explicitly, right? Not, I guess I'm a slow learner and work in progress, so I think I'm soaking it.
No, not yet.
[00:30:58] George La Du: Okay, good. Thank you. And the reason that, oh, Chad, go ahead
[00:31:03] Chad Williams: I'm willing now. Thank you for your patience. Yeah, so I think with me, I grew up in a very southern, church oriented culture. Church is, or is, was a part of my life when I was really young. So I think when I was younger, I had, some moving experiences, but I think it was probably when I was about 13 that I really had the more overwhelming, significant, Surrender to the Lord kind of moment and I was in 13 It was when my family was doing a lot of brokenness and we were southern church oriented family But I wasn't there weren't pastors or ministers anything like that And then there was a brokenness that came into our home that started when I was about 10 And it was legally settled when I was about 13.
So there was a lot of just brokenness, division, selfishness within the family unit, absence of parents now because they're dealing with their own brokenness. And so just a lot of loneliness, a lot of loss, a lot of question, a lot of pain. And I think in that season is when I really began to learn How real Jesus Christ was and how real His touch is on our life And how He could be everything that I needed and so it was in that season that I think I really personally had that powerful moment and I said, okay lord I'm yielding you can be my lord.
I was born again Had all of that and then from then on it started I would I was very involved in sports as well but in the, I had a key to the church and so a lot of times on Friday nights, our activity and entertainment was from 7 to midnight, we'd play basketball. And we were in organizational leagues, but Friday night was free ball, and we just played five hours.
People coming from all over the place. And afterwards, a lot of kids were going back to these family units and I didn't have that to go back to. So a lot of times I would go and park at the side of the church and go through the side door And I would just sit in the sanctuary until two o'clock in the morning With the lord and I would argue and frustrated and expressing my frustrations and my pain working out some things with the lord as I began to feeling to call me into ministry and trying to reconcile that because You My family dynamics did match a lot of the family dynamics of ministry.
I was used to seeing so there's a lot just going on inside of me plus all the pain and Frustration and the feeling the absence of parents, And God began to really, you know speak to me about that And I remember I would be so frustrated. I was like, I don't you know, I don't have a father I don't have this I don't have that I remember just feeling this deep like verb You Vibrating impression in my spirit that says you do.
[00:33:52] George La Du: You do what?
[00:33:53] Chad Williams: Have a father.
[00:33:54] George La Du: Okay.
[00:33:55] Chad Williams: Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, okay. And then I just felt very real in my spirit. It wasn't a voice that said, that's what I'm trying to be for you.
If you'll just let me be that, I can fill in that gap. And I remember Him strongly telling me, That I could have a mother and I'm like, okay, what does that look like?
My grandparents were taking care of me, but He was like, let this church be your mom. And there were a handful of families that God really used to just pull me into their world and be that nurturing You know motherly type presence for me And then I began to yield to Him, to let Him be the everlasting Father that Scripture says He would be.
And began to really know that love, and walk in that, and it really helped me. And so I would say from probably 13 forward was when it was personal it was mine It was deep It was transformative and I think I came out of my adolescent years without bitterness and without a lot of unforgiveness Because of all those nights in that sanctuary for a couple of hours Just processing my pain and letting Him be my savior And my Heavenly Father and then allowing those other members of the family of God to have a presence too So that's where I'm at.
Wow. That's beautiful. Thank
[00:35:18] George La Du: you. Carl, would you read to us John 14.
[00:35:23] Various Speakers: 6.
[00:35:24] George La Du: Now, so I'm, we went through all this because after pastoring for 48 years now, I've noticed a pattern of Christians That are that have great challenges. And so this started for me when years ago I was looking around at the church and I was looking for somebody I, that could mentor me in this area because I'm wondering who is living the abundant life that Jesus promised?
So He promised that I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. But now I've been a pastor a long time and I'm looking around and I'm not finding anybody that I want to emulate. What?
[00:36:21] Various Speakers: Yeah,
[00:36:22] George La Du: I didn't have anybody that I could look to and go, man, I want to be like Him. His marriage, they're on fire, His, the work he does, he's on fire.
He just can't wait to wake up in the morning and he's living the abundant life that Jesus promised. At least what my definition of abundant life was. The flesh. And, but I was seeing all around me all the opposite in the church. And I'm going, these really aren't very happy people. Unless we're having a potluck.
But, um, this 20 years ago, began the quest that I'm talking about today and the, my views that God has been shaping in me to come to this very revelation that I want us to talk about. So Carl, if you'll read that scripture, John chapter
[00:37:23] Carl Nicolson: 14, verse six, this is from the King Jesus saith unto him. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
[00:37:37] George La Du: And Chad, your story was, I think, exceptional. In that, He came to you and wanted to communicate that fathering. Dallas Willard said through His underling guy Jim Wilder in Renovated, the book, that in the last year of my life, I'm experiencing more of the Father's love than I ever have.
And he goes on to say that when we got born again, we should have experienced what he calls attachment love. Now, Carl, when you're sharing about your dad leading to the Lord and that familial that sounds to me more like there was some attachment love. And what Chad, He was trying to do with you in communicating His Fatherhood to you and His motherhood.
Sounds like that kind of attachment love. But when I came and made my commitment to Jesus, it was like I enlisted in the army. The word Lord means boss. And that's what He was to me. Just tell me what to do, I'm ready to obey. I don't know much, but as soon as you let me know, I'll try my best to do it.
To be obedient, so it was all about obedience, right? To the best of my ability. And, so here's Jesus, let's pretend. I came to Jesus, and so He was my everything. I didn't go through Jesus in the Scripture you just read. He said He's the way to the Father. So the Father is the destination. Jesus is the way.
And I never made it to the Father up until, About two years ago. Now, I have to say that I have experienced a measure of His love, but not with the impact and intensity that's happened in these last 24 months. And so in these last 24 months, the Lord is taking me back to the Garden of Eden to find out what really happened in the Garden.
And I'm going to give you the George La Du version here. But basically there was Adam and Eve and the Father. And I think we have to answer the first question is why did God create a human being?
Why did He create Adam and then Eve? And I'm going to give you my short version, but I think it's simply because He's the God of love and wanted to share His love. And I think that's one of the major ways that we are made in His image with the capacity to receive and to give love. That's why a horse doesn't necessarily work for Him in the intimate way.
Okay, so I am a spirit and I have a soul and I live in this earth suit. In our spirit and soul, I believe that they were in a glory cloud with the Father. But when sin came, they were literally ripped away from that relationship. And now Adam and Eve begin to live life as orphans. Now, the Father, I believe, was brokenhearted, but He made a promise, and He said, I'll send a Redeemer.
And in the fullness of time, our Redeemer came. What the first Adam lost, the second Adam purchased back for us. And what Jesus did wasn't to save me from going to hell. which is what I purchased at 18 years old. It wasn't to be in heaven forever. What Jesus did for me is made the way for me to have that intimate experience with my Heavenly Father that was lost in the garden.
And oh, by the way, I'm not going to hell. I'm going to be forever with the Father in heaven. But this is what had been missing. But because I didn't have an earthly example like you did, and with the Father that was pouring out His love, I wasn't even looking for the Father all these years. Yeah. And. I did a little study on after Russia opened up in the early 90s, if you, anybody remembers that?
[00:42:45] Various Speakers: Yeah.
[00:42:45] George La Du: And Romania opened up. Yeah. And they had all these orphanages in Romania that we went into and found all these babies that were swaddled up in cribs that had never been touched.
[00:43:00] Various Speakers: Oh, hmm. Yeah.
[00:43:02] George La Du: And there are at least 10 different psychosocial deformities that they grew up with from not being bonded.
Or again, Dallas Willard's word is knowing that attachment love. of the Father. And the United States actually adopted many of those children and brought them back here. But, so I'm using the Romania analogy as maybe something that's what we experience spiritually by not knowing that attachment love of our Heavenly Father when we got born again.
A little example. Our time is up. Maybe we can talk more about this next week. Andy is going to be sharing next week. Because I'm on schedule.
[00:43:56] Pastor Addy: Next week is the 27th?
[00:43:58] George La Du: Huh?
[00:43:58] Pastor Addy: Next week is the 27th?
[00:43:59] George La Du: Yeah.
[00:44:00] Pastor Addy: Oh my goodness. I came back with it. Time flies!
[00:44:06] Carl Nicolson: Time is fun when you're having flies.
[00:44:08] George La Du: What's that?
[00:44:09] Carl Nicolson: Time is fun when you're having flies.
[00:44:11] George La Du: Yeah.
[00:44:11] Ken Eagon: Suspended for a week.
[00:44:22] George La Du: Perhaps can leave us with for today is the way I see most Christians. Now, many of you have had different familial attachment experiences, maybe with the father. But I see many Christians like me that were like this close. Here's me and here's the Father. I'm like so close, but it's not this. And the Father has been yearning for this with me.
That I would know because He built me with a love tank. And that love tank requires His love to have me run right. I've been putting other things in that love tank over the years that cause malfunction. And I've had a number of Christians that have been Christian 10, 20, 30, 40 years wondering, why am I still doing these bad habits?
Why do I do this sometimes, which I know is not right, or whatever. And I would say that, That the answer to our issues is recognizing that I was supposed to have this attachment love when I was born again, I didn't, but now I want to set my heart and Father, give me your love. I want you, I want to let you love me.
I shared this story once before, but I'll close it, I'll close it today with this, and that is an article I read not too long ago about a couple that had gone to visit the in laws. He was driving home and got in a car wreck. He, when he woke up, His wife and one child were dead, the baby was fine, and he eventually got His leg amputated.
But on the way to the hospital, he said he saw a green light. And the only hurt thing he heard was, how well have you loved?
And I can just imagine the Father saying that to me at the end. Your time on earth is over. How well have you loved? And the first thing that came to my mind was how well have I let my Heavenly Father love me? Because His love is really all I have to offer you. That's of great value. How well have I let my Father love me?
And I look back on my life and say, I've not let Him love me very well. Now I purpose, Father, I purpose for you to love me. To let you love me. That I might groan your love. That I might be a vessel of your love. And two years ago, after this encounter, I was coming home from Hawaii on the plane, and I felt like the Lord just squished all the 66 books of the Bible down into this one little phrase, and that is, that I'm designed to receive my Father's love and to pour it out back on Him in our mysphere of influence.
And, now that I know my purpose in life, to be loved by my Father and to pour out His love through this vessel, That He created me with of all the giftings and talents and strengths and weaknesses that I'm made with. This is my great pleasure, is to pour out my Father's love while it's yet day, while there's still time.
To let the love of my Father be known, and then the scriptures will be fulfilled, arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Yes, darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness is on the people, but the Lord will arise upon you, and peoples will come to your brightness, and kings to the brightness of your eyes.
Amen. Hallelujah. Amen.
[00:48:55] Kenneth (Bishop): 42. Thank you. Thanks, George. Thank You Father
[00:49:02] Pastor Addy: Jesus. Thank You. Awesome. Awesome. God, Jesus, thank You for loving us so much. We give You praise. We exalt your name. We magnify You. There is no God like You.
You are amazing. We honor ourselves. Honor your mighty hands. Thank You for loving us so much. Thank You for giving it all for us. Who is around except You Lord. Hallelujah. Thank You for pouring us from the Mary clay. Thank You. Thank You for your love. Thank You for your love. Thank You for your love. Thank You for your love.
We celebrate You. We celebrate You. We celebrate You. You are awesome. You are faithful. You are kind.
[00:49:48] Various Speakers: Amen.
[00:49:48] Pastor Addy: You are good. There is no Father like You Lord. Thank You Lord. Thank You. Thank You, Lord. Your name is a strong tower, right? Just run into India. Saved. Saved. Thank You. Thank You Lord. Love Brother and love will sustain us.
And love will take us home. We are another ship. He that loveth not kneweth not God. For God is
[00:50:16] George La Du: love. Oh, what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we might be called the children of God. Father, You say that You've written our names, engraved them on your palms, and how great your love is for us.
Father, may we receive that. May we make it, Real, and where we are feeling your love every day, that by it, Lord God, that we can run the race that You've set before each one of us, that we can pour out your love in this dark world, Lord God, that they might see a great light, and His name is Jesus, as everybody said.
[00:50:59] Various Speakers: Amen. Amen. Amen. Jesus. Amen. Hosanna.
[00:51:05] Kenneth (Bishop): Thank God for you.
[00:51:06] George La Du: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Khang.
[00:51:10] Khang Tran: Good to see you guys.
[00:51:13] Angela Nicolson: Hey, Khang. Hey.
[00:51:16] Khang Tran: Air hugs.
[00:51:18] Kenneth (Bishop): The old Khang Tran. We all remember him. Yes.
[00:51:23] Various Speakers: Hugs.
[00:51:26] Pastor Addy: Oh, thou that missed the mark!. How did you not bring me my hot cup of coffee?!
___________
Produced with love by Carl + Angela Nicolson of klaario.