You are invited to move beyond just hearing the words and allow them to transform your heart today. Whether you are seeking salvation or rededicating your life, open your hands and say yes to Jesus right now. Let go of the critical spirit and embrace the measure of honor that multiplies God's grace in your life.
Wanna tell you something that's very important. In in Mark-4:23, we're gonna start. I didn't give them these verses, so you're just gonna have to listen or look it up on your phone or your bible. It says this, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Who who in here has "ears to hear"?
Yeah? The rest of you don't? Who in here has ears to hear? Okay. That's not just talking about hear.
It's the ears of your heart. I wanna teach you how to hear right now because it's very important that you hear what's about to be preached. It's vital for your life. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. And he said to them, this is Jesus speaking, pay attention to what you hear.
With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the 1 who has, more will be given. And from the 1 who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. You want what you have to be taken away? Well, be cons careful and consider how you hear.
Do you understand? The Bible says those who hear and put these words into practice, they're the wise people whose life is built on the rock. Those who hear and don't put it into practice, the storms come and their life crashes. What they have is taken away. Amen?
Now, what it's saying here, with the measure you use, the in the original text that's talking about like a measuring stick. So you can use a, like, a a ruler that's 12 inches long to hear and measure what I'm saying as about that important to you, and it will be measured back into your life in that way. You can use a yardstick to measure what I'm saying. Right? And and and make it that valuable to you, and it will be measured like that back into your life.
Do you understand? Or you can use miles to measure what I'm saying. Meaning, if you honor what you're hearing, it will be multiplied to you to the level that you honor it. If you dishonor what you're hearing with a "critical spirit", what you hear will be taken from you, and what you even have will be taken from you. Be careful how you honor.
Amen? So I want to honor what you say to me because you were created in the image of God. And the things that Jesus speaks from your mouth to me, I wanna honor that. I wanna, of course, toss out the bad, but I wanna honor what Jesus says through you as if it's the most viable thing. I wanna outdo you in honoring because the Bible commands me to.
Amen? I want you to outdo me in honoring our guests by listening, measuring it as 1 of the most important things that you've ever heard in your life, measuring it by miles. Because when you do, it will be multiplied unto you, and God will give you even more. A lot of people don't receive a lot out of church because they come in with critical spirits. And they're looking for what's wrong instead of looking for what Jesus is saying.
So there's a couple people in here, I know by the Holy Spirit** that have that heart right now. And, yes, I'm talking to you. If that's you, like, oh, how did he know? It's the Holy Spirit. So what we can do is we can just repent.
You can you can be prideful and be like, oh my gosh. How could and leave. Or you could say, man, he loves me enough to confront it. I'm gonna receive that, and I'm gonna repent, which means **change my mindset** and shift so that I can receive what God wants to speak to me today. So let's just close our eyes.
Just say this, I *repent* I repent. Of a critical spirit. I renounce that mindset. I that mindset. Out in Jesus' name.
Get out in Jesus' Heavenly father, me to honor so that I can receive what you have to say, and it can be multiplied through my life. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. I wanna invite who I call my African dad. Would you come up, please?
It is appropriate for you to stand and outdo 1 another in showing honor.
I
have to tell you, I beat him in a dance contest. Were you dancing in the contest or no?
I wasn't.
Oh, never mind. I would have beat him in the dance contest. Maybe. Maybe not.
I
met him through my dad. You can be seated. You can be seated. I met him through my my my real dad, my American dad in Louisiana. He brought me to Uganda, Africa to meet this man named John.
He he calls himself a "happy boy". And I met him, and just kindred *spirit* it's almost like talking to my American dad. It's this he's the same guy, same heart. They joke the exact same way. You know, they they it's they're just funny together.
Except he has black skin, and he's from Uganda in a different accent. It's beautiful. This man has devoted his life to serving Jesus. You're gonna hear many stories of that. It's gonna be beautiful.
Honor what you hear so it'll be multiplied unto you. This man has **planted 150 churches** throughout Uganda, 25 churches throughout Kenya, and 500 churches throughout South Sudan. And he's trained many more leaders than that all throughout the nation of or the Continent of Africa. God is multiplying the kingdom through him, and it's an honor to have him sow into me what God's put in him. And it's an honor to have him sow into you, into our local body, what God is doing in Africa.
*God's gonna give you a clearer picture of Jesus* because you're gonna see how the African church sees him. And you're gonna be able to see him a little bit more clearly in your daily life. Everybody said? Amen. Wow.
I wanna
be your watcher man.
Oh, that's so kind of you. Thank you. Can you please put your hands together and appreciate my American son? Thank you so so very much, pastor DJ, together with your wife, and thank you, the leadership of the real church. I'm glad to be in the real church today and this wonderful, beautiful morning.
So I'm so much excited and so grateful. I bring you greetings from my my wife. Okay? She is a lady. She's a woman.
Okay? That, yeah, that is the good news I have to tell you. And together, the lord has blessed us with only "32 children". Okay? Well, because with god, all things are Awesome.
Yeah. That's why. That's why. So thank you so very much. I look forward to 1 day, maybe bring all of my 30 children over here so that they they they can they they can be with you.
Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Yeah. My American son has not given me the time that I have to speak for.
I might preach like an African. Why? In Africa, we don't mind time. You know? We don't have watches and we have plenty of time.
You have watches and you have no time. So please advise me how long I should go for, kindly.
Yes. About 45 minutes.
45 minutes. Okay. That's good. Thank you so very much. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you once again for allowing me be part of
About about 11:25?
11. 11:25
or 30.
Okay. 11:25 or 11:30. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.
I will do my best. Be free. Okay. Thank you so much. If you're a guest and you're visiting Rio Church for for your very first time, you are in the Rio Church.
I I want I want to promise you that you are in the "real place", the real church, and and the right place and the "right time". So I I pray that you you you'll be able to understand my good African accent. That is my prayer. Uganda was a British colony. It was colonized by the British.
So so the English we speak a little bit is a little bit connected to to England and also a little bit connected to our own tribe. So, please, I pray that may the holy spirit** help you understand what the lord has brought for us today as a real church. When I met pastor David DJ junior, he just blessed my life. And by then, he was in in in Louisiana with his his his dad as the youth pastor, but I loved him. I liked him.
Such a free boy, such a free man, such passionate, you know, passionate for Christ. And when when when David David senior shared with me that my son, DJ, is gonna plant a church in in Florida, I was the happiest boy. You see? Why? Because he was stepping out to fulfilling what the Lord has put on his heart.
Yeah. So I'm so glad and I believe that the Lord is gonna use him mightily not only here in Florida but even beyond Florida and affect other nations of the world. And that is my prayer. And that's why I'm here as a yeah. Not as a prophet but but as an apostle and as a a a servant said by the Lord.
There is something that the lord put on my heart since when he began communicating. Sometimes I I I did not ask him what I should share on, but he told me, please, if you can bring up some testimonies, that'll be excellent. But but still, I cannot bring testimonies without tying them up in the word of the lord. You see, if we just bring out testimonies without the word of the lord, though those or they will be man's words. You see?
So that's why even after the time I arrived here and they yeah. And he asked me, do you have something to talk about? Do you have a do you have a scripture? I told him, yes. I'll give you.
I was still listening from the Lord. Honestly, I was still listening from the Lord, and I said, Lord, what really do you want me share with these lovely and wonderful people? I don't want to waste your time, but I I pray that may the Lord use what he has put on my heart to bless somebody here. That is my prayer. The lord gave me something to share with us as a church, and I have named it *God is treasure*.
I named it God is treasure. That is how I entitled it. And I picked it from the book of second Corinthians. I know already this on the screens somewhere. Hopefully, somewhere.
Okay? Somewhere. Yeah. I picked this from the book of second Corinthians chapter is 4 and verse 7 to 10. I I would like you to pay serious attention to this and listen to what Paul is speaking to the church of Corinthians.
He begins in in verse number 7, he says, but, you know, in English, I am not an English person, but in English, whenever you find that word but, that means something is flipping, something is changing. You see? So he says, but we have these **treasure in jars** of clay to show that these these all surpassing power is from God and not from us. Wow. And verse number 8 says, we are "hard pressed" on every side but "not crushed".
Perplexed but not despair but not in despair. We are always curried. I mean, *persecuted* but not abandoned. We are struck down but not destroyed. Wow.
We always carry around in our body. Listen to this. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus Christ so that the life of Jesus Christ may also be revealed in our bodies. Wow. Yeah.
I'm gonna base or dwell mostly on verse number 7. That is my key verse. And I request us that we move together, we flow together, and the lord will bless us. This is a very powerful scripture. It's a very powerful verse.
And I'm gonna break this verse into 3 because I'm gonna read it again. It says, but we have this treasure in the jars of clay to show that all surpassing power is from God and not from us. So as I said, I'm breaking this verse into 3. Number 1 is treasure. Number 1 part is treasure.
A *treasure* is somebody is something that you really like. A treasure is something that is on your heart. A treasure is something that you don't want to lose. Something very, very, and very important to you. A treasure is something that is maximally valuable to you.
Maximally valuable to you. You treasure it. You know that money is a treasure. In Africa, every bank has armed guards with rifles, with guns. To guard what?
To protect what? The treasure. And you cannot just enter in the bank and break through and get the money. No. You cannot get get the treasure because it's protected.
And not only guarded by the rifles, this money is kept safe in the safe. Why? Because it's a treasure. It is valued. It is very important.
A treasure. Now I wanted to to have this picture. That's why I brought this with us. The bible says, take this to be a treasure. So *God* has given us, put his treasure in the jars of clay.
This is his treasure. So he decided to get his treasure and put it in the jars of clay. This is very, very important. I'll come to the "jar of clay" later. But I want us to study what is the treasure.
Number 1, when you read verse number 6, which I know maybe I did not give it to her, but verse number 6, it tells you what the *treasure* is exactly. Verse number 6 of chapter number 4, if I know they were not ready, but I'll just read quickly from my bible. Bible says in verse number 6, for it is, I'm reading from king James New King James version. For it is the God who commended who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now here, he outlines, he now explains a little bit about what the treasure is.
And he says the treasure is that the Lord has commanded the light to be to shine in darkness. Friends, we were all in darkness. Whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter how you look like, whether you are black, whether you are blue, or you are green, you were in darkness. But God almighty, because he loves you, because he treasures you, he had to send his light to shine in your in your dark spot and to shine in your heart. Friends, that is God's treasure number 1.
His light to shine in your heart. That is God's treasure. And number 2, after God that is okay. Sorry. Sorry.
Let me let me let me again expand it. That means when his light shone in your heart, he gave you salvation. Salvation is God is treasure. Number 1. It is not anything else, but there's God's treasure.
Number 1. And after giving you salvation, which is his *treasure*, then he gives you a ministry. That is number 2. So a ministry becomes what is my treasure? The ministry becomes treasure number 2.
Did you where have I put my treasure? Okay. Thank you. K. The ministry becomes treasure number 2 and the ministry that he talks about is the ministry of the new testament.
We are all called into the ministry of the New Testament, which is not the minis of the letter, but the ministry of the spirit. Because the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. So we have been given this ministry of the New Testament as a *treasure* from heaven. Imagine, *God* did not give this treasure to angels. He did not give this treasure to angels but he decided to give this treasure to the orphan or to the jars of clay and that is you and I so that you can become a minister of the new testament, a minister of the spirit, not a minister of the letter.
So you have this treasure in you. And number 4, apart from the apart from the ministry, number 4, he has given you the Holy Spirit**. Wow. Friends, there is nobody on this earth. There is no angel who has the Holy Spirit.
No angel. But God has said to put this treasure, which is the Holy Spirit** in you As as a gift to you because he treasures you. So that is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is only received when you receive Christ Jesus, when you receive your salvation and now you begin walking in the new testament, and then the Holy Spirit comes upon you to empower you to do his will. So that is number number 4. I mean, number 3.
Number 4, treasure number 4 is the gospel. My goodness me. Friends, again I say, God did not give angels the mandate to preach the gospel. He gave human beings the jars of clay. They're the ones who received his his treasure of the gospel.
You and I, we are mandated to preach the gospel. You and I, we are mandated to share his goodness because this treasure is now in us. It is now in you who has received Jesus Christ. This treasure lives in you. The treasure of salvation, the treasure of the ministry of the Holy Spirit**, the treasure of the ministry of the New Testament, the treasure of the gospel now is in you.
*God* is treasure. It's very important for you to know that God really treasured us and before God sent Jesus Christ, when God wanted to transform the world, he said, I must send my son but my son must put on a jar of clay. He must put on flesh so that he can go and fulfill what my desire is. I am challenging everybody here. God has a plan for you, and that is why he put in you or he's gonna put in some of you the treasures today.
Yes. Hallelujah. Maybe you have not yet known, you had not know yet known that *salvation* is a treasure. Let me inform you today that salvation is God is number 1 treasure from heaven. Maybe you do not know that the ministry of the New Testament is not God's treasure, but they want to assure you that the ministry of the of the New Testament is number 2 treasure.
Maybe you did not know that the holy spirit** is important in your life. The holy spirit is God's treasure, and then the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Part number 2 of the scripture is now the jar of clay. I wanted to imagine this is the jar and God takes his very important treasure and puts it in the jar.
The jar of clay. It doesn't matter how it looks like on the on the outside. It doesn't matter how short the jar might be. It doesn't matter how dark skinned the jar might be. It doesn't matter how rich, how poor the jar might be.
*God* chooses the jar he wants to put in his wonderful *treasure*.
That's right. Amen.
He doesn't care where you come from, and God does not look at your background. He does not look at your history. He does not look at your parents. He looks at the jar, and he said, yes. Have you received my salvation?
Yes. Now I'm going to use you as my jar to carry my treasure. Friends, a jar, according to the Bible, the Bible says, it is a jar of clay. That means it is weak. It can you can squeeze it.
That means it is fragile. That means it is limited. None of us here is not limited. We are limited in some sort of life. But it does not matter how limited you seek, you think you are, in you, you have a treasure that the Lord has deposited in you.
It doesn't matter what you're going through. It doesn't matter who laughs at you. It doesn't matter who is against you. It doesn't matter who says what, but praise the Lord, in you is something very special that God honored you and he pasted in you his wonderful treasure. May you take this to be so important from today that God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, but whoever believes in him shall not die, but have everlasting life.
Why? Because he loved you as a jar of clay. The New King James version calls it the an earthen vessel. Earthen vessel. It can decay.
Friends, that is who you are. And that's why you should never look at any earthen vessel, any jar of clay, and undermine it. I loved what pastor DJ shared with us at first here, but dishonor, you have to honor any vessel. You have to honor any jar of clay which is carrying carrying the treasure of God. Honor it.
Why? Because it is not he never chose himself. Nobody no no no human being chose him but he was chosen by God to to carry the special treasure. May the Lord open your understanding today so that you know that you as an earthen vessel, as a jar of clay, the Lord has honored you and he has put in you his treasure. Oh my.
When I realized this, when I got to understand this, it just made me crazy. It honestly, it made me crazy. And that's why the Lord has has used me, has done so many things. I don't praise myself, but I praised God who put in me his treasure. If pastor DJ had not did not have the treasure in him, we would not all be here.
We wouldn't be here. I would not be preaching here today. But because he obeyed the Holy Spirit** and the Holy Spirit led him, say, come on, go to clear water. Right now, we are all celebrating. We are saying we are all in the real church because he obeyed the treasure of God that the Holy Spirit deposited in him.
This is real very important for you to know. I know sometimes you look at yourself and you laugh at yourself. I know sometimes you undermine yourself. I know sometimes you think you're not able. I know sometimes you think that I can do nothing.
But let me tell you, you can do something by the power of the Holy Spirit* who dwells in you, and that is the treasure that the Lord* has given you. I came to the Lord at the age of 16 from a very confused family, very confused family. My father could go to a Catholic church. My mother was a witch, a satanist communicating to Satan to demons every morning at 3AM. The whole house was full of demons every 3AM.
She could call all the demons around and you could you could *hear* evil sound and evil noise in the air, in the space. My mother communicating to evil spirits. It was an evil and confused family. I thank God, but God sent somebody who was full of who who was full of the gospel to me and shared the gospel to me, and then God deposited *salvation* in my life. And when God deposited salvation in my life, and then I got to learn that there is a special *treasure* the Lord has deposited in me.
I learned the power of prayer. I learned the power of prayer. Every morning when my mother could wake up to communicate to her evil spirits, Her 16 year old boy, that's me, I also wake up and begin praying. Why? Because I understood that I am not ordinary.
I am now extraordinary because I have a treasure in me and I can change things because of the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Brothers and sisters, as I said, I'm not yet glorifying myself but I glorify him who called me. And as I continued praying, do you know what happened? My mother became powerless.
All the evils, the spirits, the demons she was calling upon every morning disappeared from her. And 1 day, she walked to me and said, my son, I have realized your God is stronger than my Gods. I need your God. This only can happen to somebody who knows that he has a treasure in him. If you know that you have a "treasure in you", come on.
Use it. Amen. Put in practice. If you don't put the treasure in practice, it will die in you. Use the treasure in you.
Come on.
And my mother knelt down and said, my son, I need your God. I need the God. This God who has made me powerless, this God who has made me nothing, that is the God I need. And we laid he her to Christ. She received Jesus Christ.
She received *salvation* and it her life changed. Why? Because of the 16 year old boy, John realized that in his jar of clay is a treasure of the Holy Spirit*, is a treasure of the gospel*, is a treasure of the ministry of the New Testament, and is a treasure of the salvation of God. "God is treasure". If you get to know this, your life will never be the same.
And nobody will intimidate you. Never. Nobody will shun you down. Never. You'll stand up and you'll stand strong because you have a treasure in you.
Today, if you don't have the treasure of salvation, that don't walk out with this out of this building without receiving salvation. That is treasure number 1. And God as I said puts it in the jar of clay, which is weak, which is fragile, which is limited. That is why in verse number number number 8 he said, we are perplexed because we are in the jar of clay. We are perplexed.
We are hard pressed as a jar. Look at this jar. In it, it has it has the the treasure but it can be hard pressed. As a human being, there's a time you can go through hard pressing whereby issues are pressing you, the job is pressing you, the family is pressing you, your marriage is pressing you, your husband is pressing you, Your wife is pressing you. And you say like, no, God, I think you have left me.
But I bring good news to you today. Even if you are pressed down in any way in you, you still remain with the treasure in you. It doesn't matter what you go through. It doesn't matter. He says, we are hard pressed on every side, but we are not crushed.
So long as you're not crushed, you are safe. And he says, in but not in despair. We are crushed but not in despair. Then verse number number 9 says, listen this is the verse number 9. *Persecuted* as a jar of clay, you will be persecuted because of what you carry.
But you are not abandoned. The Lord God has not abandoned you. The Lord hasn't left you alone because in you is a special treasure. And he says we are struck down. Sometimes as a human being, you can be struck down.
Any human being, doesn't matter how anointed you are, things can come your way and strike you down. Not not down from salvation, but they make you look like you something has what's showered you with cold water. You might be struck down, but I thank God that you are not destroyed. Why? Because of the treasure in you.
Why? Because you're a jar of clay. Why did God choose to use the jar of clay? He did not choose the angels and that is God is working. Friends, we are all jars of clay.
Now section number 3 of this part of of this verse, verse number 7 is it says section number 3 says, why that the excellence of the power may be of God, not us. The reason why God has deposited in you that *treasure* is not for your use, is not for you, but is for the **manifesting of God's power**. It is for the manifesting of God's power. How does God manifest your his power? Listen to this.
*God* manifests his power in several ways. Number 1, he manifests his power by you transforming lives. So the reason why the reason why in you is a *treasure* is that God's power may be may manifested in you that you should go and transform other lives. There is no way God will reach out to heaven and tells you, hey, so DJ, I I now want you to serve the Lord. He uses somebody.
There's no way God will counsel you. He'll counsel you through somebody. There's no way God will warn you. Some in Moses says he uses somebody. What do I mean?
I mean to say that the treasure of God is in you so that you can use it to transform other lives. I pray that whoever is seated here, I believe you can transform somebody's life. When my when my own brother died in 1997, he died with with HIV AIDS. He left 9 children, I mean 7 children and that is when God dropped in me a treasure and his God told me, John, I want you to become a father to the fatherless. I did not have a job, but I had to obey this treasure in me.
I said, I don't know how to take care of these children, but since you have dropped in me this burden, I will obey. And since 1997, that's why I said in my house we have 32 children because I take it as a treasure. Taking in Africa, taking care of 32 children, feeding them, taking them to school, treating them is not easy unless if you know that this is a treasure from heaven. We live by faith day in day out. We live and do everything by faith with these children.
We have had over 70 children orphans come through through our home. Why? Because we believe that it's a treasure that God gave us that can transform somebody's life. I believe there is somewhere you can also transform somebody's life. If not here in Florida, you can transform somebody's life in Pakistan or in in Africa or in Afghanistan, somewhere.
Why? So that God is power is manifested through you. May you allow God to manifest his power through you today. May you allow the Holy Spirit** to manifest his glorious power through you today that you can touch somebody's life. In 2012, the Lord the Lord vividly spoke to me in 2012, and he said, I'm sending you to South Sudan.
It was not easy, friends. It was full of wars, bloodshed, killings, and and gunshots in South Sudan. But because it's a treasure, it is a burden, it is it is God is God deposit in me, go and transform some people's lives. I had to obey. I jumped on a bus.
I headed up to South Sudan. It's very far. And as you could drive, you could drive through through nothing but horror, through through threats, through gunshots, but because I obeyed. Why did I obey? So that that God can manifest his power and transform somebody's life.
And from 2012, that is how this actually, there are more than 500 churches that have been planted in South Sudan alone. Why am I saying this? I'm emphasizing this that the reason why God pulls the jar, the the treasure in you as the jar of clay is that so that you can go and transform other people's lives. I pray that whoever is here, you might be low, you might have backslidden, maybe you were once on fire, maybe you were once a minister in a church, but something along the way happened. Today, may you revive your jar.
May you revive yourself so that *God* can send you to transform somebody's life somewhere. Yes, lord. That's why the holy the lord sent me here. Who knows whom the lord is speaking to in this church today? He wants to manifest his power.
He wants to manifest his love through you. Will you be willing to do that? So number 2, why does God is God manifest his power? To reveal his wisdom. To reveal his wisdom.
*God* wants to reveal his wisdom through you, and that's why he pulls this treasure in you, friend. There is a lot of wisdom in the word of the Lord. And as I'm communicating right now, I believe that there is a certain wisdom, spiritual wisdom that the holy spirit** is depositing in you. So the reason for God is God depositing something in you is so that you can reveal God's wisdom. And number 3, as I'm just about to conclude, number 3 is to endure and minister in weakness.
Every minister, every human being, every jar of clay goes through a certain weakness in life. But in your weakness, *God* wants to reveal his power, the excellent power. He wants to release his supernatural power through you. Why? So that you can minister to Christ and to people through your weakness.
Don't focus on your weakness much. Focus on the all this treasure that the Lord has put on you. Don't focus on what what you don't have. If I focus on what I don't have, then I, being in Africa, I would not have allowed the Lord to use me. I would not have allowed the Lord.
I would not have allowed the Lord to use me. But I say, Lord, here I am. Use me. And in all my weaknesses, I minister the gospel. I I *God* transforms lives through me.
How I pray that amidst your weakness, amidst your challenge challenges as a jar. And ministry challenges as a jar. Today, allow, go, and minister amidst your challenges. Preach the gospel. Stand strong for Christ.
This is something that I almost I I I was almost killed before. I've been through a lot. I don't have time to share a lot of my testimonies. *God* gave me a burden for orphans, not only those I take care of in my family. But God told me, John, can you open up open up yourself and take care of other orphans?
It is not easy. In Uganda, we have over 2,000,000 orphans. Over 2,000,000 orphans in this country called Uganda. And the Lord told me, John, I want you to take care of 2,000 orphans. At the moment, you are taking care of 400 that you have put in homes.
You see, and we try to find sponsors to sponsor their education. At the beginning of this year, God dropped something in me, pastor DJ. And he told me now, when these kids finish their high school, don't just release them to go, but build a trade school so that these orphans can you can bring them back in a trade school and train them in skills. Train them in skills. Train them in carpentry or woodworks.
Train them in brick brick brick brick brick laying. Train them in any skill so that when you release them, you release them with a *treasure* in them and that treasure will transform their lives and transform other people's lives. So pray with me that what God has deposited in me this year to build a trade school, not for my glory, but his power should be manifested. Listen as I'm just about to throw it up because I have to be a good American preacher today, not not an African an African preacher. Listen.
The reason what the reason number 4 why and I want you to take this very important. Reason number 4 why God wants to display his power is once you begin to release the treasure, it works. As soon as you begin releasing the treasure in you, it works. And let me tell us church, you release it, it won't work. Any gift that God has given or put in you, release it.
Anything you feel on your heart, release it. That means put it in practice. If you don't release it, it will remain stagnant in you. And that's why the bible says, and God will ask you, what did you do with my treasure? I'm challenging us including myself.
Don't think that you have done a lot but God wants you to release that treasure. Release it, God. Release it and transform other people's life. I thank God for the praise and worship. They were releasing that treasure, and it really impacted my life because they released it to me.
May you also go out there and release your treasure. Preach the gospel. Release it. Ministry people. Help the orphans.
Do whatever you feel. Whatever the Lord has deposited in you, release your treasure that the Lord has deposited in you. It is a treasure from heaven, and God will demand it from you. Conclusion. These are my few conclusion.
Number number 1, today, acknowledge God is treasure. Today, acknowledge God is treasure. How do you acknowledge God is treasure If you're not yet, you have not received God's salvation, acknowledge God is treasure and receive salvation as treasure number 1. Don't walk out of here without receiving and acknowledging God is treasure. Number 2, what also do you have to do in conclusion, receive and value his salvation.
Number 3, advance the treasure by spreading the gospel. Advice the treasure. Use it by advancing the gospel. Lastly, he's I say, apply the power of God in your situation. Apply the power of God in your situation.
Apply the power of God in your situation. 1 more testimony than we we shall pray for people. I feel there are people here. In my spirit, I feel there are people who need who like to acknowledge God's treasure in them. You have been sitting on the treasure that God gave you.
Some of you would be even far from where hot you are today. Some of you would be pastors as I speak. Some of you, you'd be missionaries somewhere, but you allowed you allowed your weaknesses, you allowed your failures to to cripple you, to cripple you, and now it has shut down the treasure that God put in you. Today, acknowledge the treasure God has put in you and begin putting it in practice. 1 day, I I was nearly killed.
Please take this as my last testimony. I have so many testimonies. 1 day, I was about to be killed by the rebels. And whenever I speak this testimony, it it it gives me memories. I know most of you have watched the movie, the "blood diamond".
Right? The blood diamond. As I traveled up North of Uganda in a bus to visit the orphans that the parents had been killed by the Lord's resistors army. Some of you heard about this. This gentleman was called Joseph Connie who was in the northern part of Uganda.
On after a week encouraging the orphans in the camps, on my way traveling back home in a bus, we ran into rebels and rebels were besides the rod in the bush and their purpose was to shoot and kill everybody on the bus. Friends, I'm talking about the treasure. Sometimes this treasure can cost your life. I'm speaking this out of experience. Sometimes the treasure God posts in you can cost your life.
The rebels began shooting randomly at the bus, killing people on the bus, screaming everywhere and I knew that this is my day. I began thinking about my my young family. I I'm talking about 2003. I began thinking about my family. I thought about my my wife and my children.
I said, but Lord, I know you sent me over here with a treasure in me to go and just laugh on the orphans. But Lord, behold, my life is going. The guy who was seated next to me, who was near the window was shot and his blood spilled on me. And I knew that maybe the next blood will be on me. Friends, it was horrible.
*God* gave me wisdom. I bowed down and I prayed 3 words. I said, *Lord*, help me. And God dropped in me a word of wisdom. People had been shot dead on around the aisles of the bus.
I know you have never traveled in an African bus, crammed and jumped. People had been shot dead. And God told him, just crawl crawl on dead bodies. Open the door and jump out. And that is what I did.
I I crawled because bullies were coming from everywhere. I crawled. You see, and then I opened the door and jumped out. Listen to what happened. It was like the rebels were targeting me.
They all turned their guns to shoot at me. Friends, I always say, you'll never die before your time. I would have died that time but God could not allow any bullet to to touch me. Bullets were flying over my head, flying over my bullets. I'm talking about bullets.
They were flying over my head. Why? Because I had gone to transform some people's lives just to love on them, but the enemy wanted to take my life. But God is so faithful, but as bullets were flying over my life, but God could not allow a bullet to touch my body at all. I kept running for about 20 miles in the bush.
I don't know. I'm talking about thick bush. I kept running. Then later I realized my feet were sore. Now I came back to my understanding.
What is the problem? I did not know that I had I had lost my shoes and now the thorns had pricked my feet like crazy. Now the feet were sore, but what could I do? I had to keep running. On me is blood of the guy who was shot in the bus.
On me. I'm talking about transforming lives and that is that is how God saved me from being killed by the rebels. Friends, you can transform somebody's life. Friends, you have a jar. I mean, you have a treasure in you.
I want to request you to acknowledge this treasure in you. If you haven't acknowledged, if you haven't received Christ, if you haven't received his salvation, that is his treasure number 1. I want to challenge you today. God wants to deposit this treasure in your earthen vessels before you leave this world, before you die. Don't say that I'll get "born again" when I die.
After that, the Bible says, after days, there is judgment. There is no salvation. There is no pleading the blood of Jesus Christ. Please acknowledge the treasure of God of salvation. Number 2, if you had you you know you have wasted your life.
Your life is like nothing. Today, organize your life today. Put right your life and allow God to use you mightily because your God is jar which is which is keeping his treasure. Number 3, will you put the treasure of God at work? Will you put the treasure of God at work in you?
And that is what God is speaking to everybody. I want to invite upon my American my my American son to come over here because I feel there are people here. I feel in my spirit. There are people here whom the Lord wants to change and transform. I believe.
Even if you're a jar of clay, God deposits his important treasure. And never look at never look down on the outside. No. It's not the outside that matters. It is the inside which was washed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And now it can carry the treasure of God. I wanna say thank you very much. I wanna take this opportunity to thank my son and thank all the leadership of this church for giving this opportunity to sharing my heart. Remember, this is my third home. My second home is in Louisiana with the DJ senior.
Now this is my third home. So anytime anytime you'll see me here. Anytime you'll see me. And I also want to invite you 1 day to come and visit your your second home in Uganda. Come and see the second home, and the Lord will bless you.
Thank you very much for giving me your time. God really bless you. As you think about you, as you think about the treasure in a jar of clay to manifest God is power. That's who you are. Thank you.
*God* really bless you.
Amen. You please remain standing. I'm gonna ask Robert to come up and play the piano. It's an honor to have you. Thank you for depositing that word into our body, into this this church.
There are people here, I believe, that don't have the treasure inside of them. It means you've you've never been born again. The Bible says no man can see the kingdom of heaven unless they've been born again. I'm not talking about I ask people what do you know what it means to be born again? All the time on the streets here in Clearwater, everywhere I go.
And they say, I got water baptized when I was a baby or when I was a kid, a long time ago. I said, that's not what it means to be born again. Being born again means that you're born of water and born of spirit. You and I were all born of water when our mama's water broke. Born of spirit means that you believe Jesus died and rose again, and then you confess him as Lord.
You believe in your heart. I'm going to live for you instead of for myself. Living for you, and following what you say is better than doing what I feel. So I'm gonna follow you. And you believe it so much in your heart that you confess it with your mouth, and then you're transformed.
It's not a mental ascent. It's a life transformation, where in that moment, you become a child of God. In that moment, your sin is forgiven. You will literally feel the weight and guilt of shame, and guilt fall off of your shoulders. You will literally sense the Holy Spirit coming to live inside of you, the treasure being put in you.
It's more than a mental thing. It's it's a heart transformation that happens in a moment. And this is the invitation for you to do that. I don't care if you grew up Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Muslim, Hindu, atheist. It doesn't matter.
The invitation is for everyone. You could have came to church for all of your life, but only had this mental thing and never really followed him as your Lord. God wants you to be born again and receive his treasure, the Holy Spirit** inside of you, so that you can follow him. As I'm saying that right now, if you know you need to be born again, who is that? Would you raise your hand high?
Say, that's me. I know I need to receive Jesus right now. Raise it high. Come on. I know what I need to say.
I see your hand. Who else? I know I need to receive Jesus. There's more than that. I know I need to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Who else? This is 1 of those things I'm willing to compel. The Bible says you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father
in heaven. This is not a personal thing that I hide and I go away, and I don't care if everybody else see I mean, I I can't let everybody else see me. I'm just gonna be personal in my personal religion. That's American bullcrap.
This is something that I realize I need Jesus so much that I'm tired of living for myself. I need you, and I don't care who else sees it. That's when it's real. Who would say, I need Jesus, and I don't care who sees it. I'm ready to be born again.
I'm ready to follow Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Raise your hand high. I see it. I see it. That's 2.
Who else? Who would say it's not? If I died today, I don't know if I'd go to to see Jesus. I'm ready. I don't wanna go to hell.
I wanna know the Lord. Who else? Anybody else? We're gonna pray this prayer. I want you to believe this in your heart with all you have, and say this with your mouth.
Say this, Jesus, I've been "living for me". I'm ready to live for you. Thank you for dying for my sin. Thank you for rising again. I choose right now to follow you.
Thank you. I receive your Holy Spirit** right now. Father God, I just thank you, and I praise you. And I pray that you just fill them with your presence. In the name of Jesus, let them sense your goodness and your glory and seal them right now.
Oh, God, that they're your children, and they're forgiven. Now the next part of this altar call is there's many people in here that know Jesus, but you haven't been living like you're surrendered to him. So you've been holding that treasure inside. The Bible says you're all ministers of the gospel. God has given every single 1 of you a ministry, and that takes *obedience* to pour out to others the treasure he put inside of you, so that it could be multiplied to you.
So this is a surrender to his Lordship, a rededication. I'm following you in every area of my life. Who is that? Come on. That's most of you.
I'm gonna follow you, and I'm gonna surrender my life to your leading. Raise both hands if that's you. And just say this with me. Say, yes, Lord. Lord.
*Lord*. Lord. Say it again. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
*Lord*. I follow you. I you. Even when I don't feel like it. I follow what you say I follow what instead of what I feel.
Teach me, Lord, to say, yes, Lord, to everything. Use me for your kingdom. Follow you. You, Jesus.
"Transcribed with Deepgram"