It's Time to Preach
by David K. Bernard
2015 · UPCI General Conference 2015 (city not stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Ezekiel 3:10-11, Acts 2:38, Ezekiel 3, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Romans 1:16, Acts 2, Acts 3, Acts 4, Acts 4:29-30, Ezekiel 3:8-9, John 3:17, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Ephesians 4:15, Mark 16:20, 1 Corinthians 2:4, Hebrews 2:4, Acts 5

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--its-time-to-preach
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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beautiful tribute i appreciate that remain standing a moment it's good family is so important and i've tried to tell my family just serve god and whatever you see them do it's not because i've asked them to do it because they've made that consecration and because people have asked them to be involved the only thing i ask them to do is sing before i preach and they've done that but aside from that whatever they're doing they're they're having to earn it for themselves and and press forward for themselves but i'm glad to have not only my immediate family but a number of extended family here tonight but i want to go to the word of the lord to the book of ezekiel and i believe that i have a word for this conference we've had tremendous preaching throughout this conference it's truly been amazing and we're not in a competition of who can preach the best that's not the point but each message has been meaningful and important and exceptional and i appreciate brother ryan allman because the most difficult thing to do is preach a short sermon and and then get out of the way

and know that you don't have the main message but he introduced the themes that i want to talk about tonight so thank you brother allman thank you so much but i do feel our sense of responsibility i'm reading from ezekiel chapter 3 and you're going to see the king james on the screen for the sake of time i'm not going to read that but i'm going to read the new king james so you can see the wording but i feel a burden as the general superintendent i do appreciate the fact that you've elected me i don't take it lightly or for granted or take it as something that should necessarily happen but i feel a burden to hear from god and so the sermon may not be the most profound or the most eloquent that's beside the point i do believe because of my role i need to get a word from god for direction for the united pentecostal church international for this year and i believe i do have a word from the lord ezekiel 3 the call of ezekiel moreover this is ezekiel 3 10-11 moreover he said to me son of man

receive into your heart all my words that i speak to you and hear with your ears and go get to the captives to the children of your people and speak to them and tell them thus says the lord god whether they hear or whether they refuse now i'm preaching to preachers but saints if you're not a preacher you have a witness and a testimony and so i'm preaching you translate it into your own situation but here's my message it's time to preach united pentecostal church international it's time to preach let's praise the lord right now hallelujah speak to us lord tonight speak to us lord in jesus name we pray you may be seated last year i preached that god wanted to give us a transformational revival i don't say these things lightly but i felt like god wanted to bring us into a new dimension i felt like god wanted to give us a transformational year and all year long we've heard reports and god is indeed doing exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think i won't go through the details except to hit the highlights a record offering last year of

sending 26 missionaries back and then last night 3.2 million we sent another great group back and you know what i think we only have eight missionaries left on deputation in the next few weeks we'll probably be sending some more back that's unheard of unprecedented in the history of our church to have all the missionaries able to go back maybe just a few two or three or five traveling and maybe some new ones just appointed something is happening transformationally in our global missions we're now reaching 212 nations and territories around the world six new nations added this year that's a record something is happening north american missions more churches than ever before more preachers than ever before a greater offering than ever before something is happening to transform us you've heard about the national youth congress 19 000 people plus a record and now we're going to a football stadium in two years because we had 22 000 registered but they couldn't get in something is happening in every category record offering record giving record attendance you may heard me say but at the general board meeting when we were discussing these things the lord just

moved spontaneously for an hour the board was in prayer and worship and tongues and interpretation and prophecy and exhortation and elders got up and said in 40 years on the board i haven't seen what i'm seeing now and then the message went forth you have seen unprecedented giving you have seen unprecedented participation but now you will see an unprecedented move of my spirit something is indeed happening we are seeing it come to pass i'm claiming that promise my wife and i were in the philippines in february for their national conference our largest mission field 350 000 or more and in that conference standing room only 18 000 people it was simply amazing just recently we returned from the national conference in venezuela it's very difficult to get visas there in fact we were the only ones going uh our regional director was not able to get a visa but somehow we were able to get in and at the airport we were detained uh and interviewed because we're american citizens but somehow we got through that too and we were in a soccer stadium with 20 000 people there's over 200 000 almost 300 000

in venezuela of the united pentecostal church bishop khalid from pakistan is here tonight it's a muslim country i was able to go two years ago we didn't advertise it i slipped in and i slipped out because of extensive violence at that time but i viewed the beautiful bible college complex i viewed the compound where 25 000 people can sit on the ground behind the walls and in that country where it's difficult to have a public service extolling the name of jesus the united pentecostal church has 160 000 believers and we can have conferences with 25 000 people coming inside the compound and worshiping jesus christ something is happening in a tremendous way there are countries represented here tonight that i can't even name they're missionaries represented tonight that i can't even name but in the largest countries of the world where we're facing some intense opposition we have thousands and multiplied thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of believers i wish i could tell you the stories in the middle east i talked to one of our missionaries whom we don't name as a missionary and he was talking about in recent months a

thousand people baptized in jesus name in muslim countries in the middle east where in many places we cannot even have an official presence but something is happening in our world god is opening doors that we cannot open god is doing things that we cannot do and here at home we've seen the greatest rate of growth of new churches since 1984. we see new areas opened up quebec city is opening up new york state is having revival new jersey metro is having revival places where it's been difficult to plant churches are planting more churches than ever before and i could go on and on and give you statistics southern california several of our pastors have been elected to denominational churches that are dwindling but they have and dying but they have facilities and our home missions pastors are being elected into a church and acquiring a two million dollar property so that we can have service god is opening doors that we could not open god is giving revival that we could not generate god is doing miracles that we're not capable of performing and so what i'm saying it's time to preach god you heard

brother arleman say it he already has the plan we think we're praying for god to do something god's already done something he's wanting us it's time to preach united pentecostal church it's time to preach it's time to witness it's time to get out in the streets it's time to get into schools it's time to get into hospitals it's time to get in churches it's time to preach the gospel god will confirm the word with signs following you say what if they won't listen don't worry about it ezekiel it's time to preach whether they believe you or don't believe you it doesn't matter hallelujah brother ryan the bumper sticker jesus said it i believe it that settles it no that's not the bumper sticker jesus said it that settles it whether i believe it or not it's time to preach it's time to preach in new york city it's time to preach in baton rouge louisiana it's time to preach in texas it's time to time to preach in ontario pastor it's time to preach saint of god it's time to witness teenager it's time to share the good news god will confirm his word it's

time to preach we chose the theme of sin this year we can't call people to preach we can't give them the ability to preach but we can create an atmosphere we can expose them to a burden we can expose them to the miraculous we can expose them to the work of god and i'm believing that god is indeed sending forth we can call people to consecration and god will take it from there i'm saying we need more workers in the harvest the revival is limited only by our willingness and ability to preach our willingness and ability to go if you go god will confirm it some of you may be wondering should i teach that bible study should i start that p7 club in my high school should i start the daughter work can i start the preaching point is god really telling me to go to another city or a country and i'm here to tell you god already has the plan god already has the purpose god already has the results in line it's time to preach it's time to go it's time to get out there and try you say what if

i fail that's okay get back up and preach again what if they won't listen that's okay preach it again go somewhere else if one door shuts go through the next door keep knocking on the door preacher it's time to preach it's time to preach brother mooney you preached last night one statement god wants to unlock the book of acts somebody heard that a baptist preacher heard that and say i've been taught that ax is a closed book and so he stayed behind and prayed and studied and he received the holy ghost last night what if brother mooney had never made that statement when he made that statement that changed somebody's destiny preacher it's time to preach brother mooney it's time to preach brother gleason it's time to preach brother jones it's time to preach hallelujah saint of god it's time to share your testimony it's time to teach a bible study it's time to memorize acts 2 38 and quote it it's time to preach hallelujah ezekiel was a preacher in exile he faced a rebellious people notice god first told him to listen and then to preach first get it in your heart sometimes

people preach when they don't really have in their heart sometimes people are handed down a ministry or even handed down a church i love my family i'm not a big fan of just inheriting a ministry you can't really do that we got to be careful church there have been some great successful transfer stories there have also been some great failures why it can't be a matter of inheritance it can't be a family business it can't be that's just what you do you've got to get it in your heart if you get it in your heart then you might be the right one but if you don't get that love for the truth in your heart if you don't get that word in your heart if you don't do your own studying you can't depend on your father studying or your father-in-law's studying you've got to get that word in your own heart you've got to learn it for yourself you've got to believe it for yourself you've got to love it for yourself preacher before you preach listen and get it in your heart then you can preach so our message is the truth our

way of life is the right way to live and i'm not going to spend a lot of time on that but i'm just saying you got to get it in your heart you got to listen get in your mind get in your heart and then you can preach first receive then preach and preach whether people receive it or not some won't receive it but some will you get what you preach do you know why pentecostal churches are full of people receiving the holy ghost it's because that's what we preach do you know why other churches who are called spirit-filled charismatic pentecostal only a small minority receive the holy ghost because they're not preaching it why do not why don't we see more miracle signs and wonders because we're not preaching enough why do people fall away from holiness i know everyone has a choice but to a great extent we're going to get what we preach we're going to get what we teach if we preach it there's going to be a faithful people that rises to the challenge preacher it's time to preach don't be intimidated don't be worried that people will leave don't

be worried that people won't accept some will some won't but if you want a church you got to preach it into existence you got to preach it preach the word if you read the rest of that third chapter of ezekiel i'm not gonna take the time but two points stick out one is the responsibility of the preacher god said you are a watchman if you don't warn someone and they go astray and they sin and they die in their sins you will be accountable for them their blood will be on your hands if there's a righteous person he says i think this is interesting and that righteous person goes astray into sin and you never tell them that's the wrong direction their blood is on your hands it's not just the lost so to speak but the people in the church preachers and teachers and parents if we don't if we see the church going astray and we just say well that's their choice they're going to do what they're going to do and who am i to judge and god's grace covers everything god forgives we know that god's grace is there but if

we don't warn the righteous that goes a different direction they will not be saved and we will be accountable but he says if you warn if you warn if they don't receive it you're still okay but in many cases if you warn they will receive it and you'll save a soul you'll save a church that's one thing the responsibility the other thing i noticed in ezekiel he lived under the old covenant before the fullness of the spirit that we enjoy but if you'll read that chapter repeatedly it talks about the spirit moved upon him the spirit lifted him the glory of god came upon him i don't care what covenant you're in i don't care what your designation if you're a preacher or you're just a faithful member when you start sharing the good news you can expect the spirit of god to accompany and to anoint you're not just speaking human words but you're being anointed by the spirit oh we need great anointed preaching but we also need that saint of god that goes one-on-one and when they talk to their neighbor it might be in a calm voice it may not be

with the same exuberance that that i might be displaying tonight but it can still be with the anointing of the holy ghost that god can touch you as you share what god did for you with your neighbor with your family there can be the anointing of the holy ghost that can be the glory of god have you ever had the experience i've had many my family can tell of their own experiences my wife people come up to her people come into the home and they say there's such peace here there's something different about you what's different about you it's not because we're any better than anybody else but there's the glory we take it for granted we take it for granted but someone who's never been in the presence of god like that even if they don't enter into the sanctuary if they enter into that home or into that bible study or into that conversation they're drawn by something what is it it's the glory of god accompanying you it's the presence of god we're so intimidated sometimes perhaps but we don't realize if we'll just speak god's glory will go with us if

we'll just speak the anointing will touch the heart far beyond our feeble words it's time to preach now i know we're living in the last days and we've got some challenging times perhaps things we've never faced before if you read second timothy chapter three verse one through five it says some perilous or dangerous or troublesome times will come it lists a whole lot of characteristics three of them leaped out at me one because i think it describes our society so well one thing of the end times love of self now it's interesting everywhere i go people want a selfie with the general super dinner and i don't really mind that's fine some places i go to a conference especially the philippines venezuela i could stay there the rest of the night 18 000 people want a selfie i'm not against selfies but isn't that interesting that one of the defining icons of pop culture is about self now there's good ways and bad ways so if you want to take a selfie after church well brother gleason will be happy to do it with you i'm sure i might if you catch me in a

hurry so i'm not saying you're wrong to do that but but there is that fixation on self as part of our culture i mean scripture nailed our culture 2 000 years in advance the second thing it says covetous or in modern english love of money isn't that our culture materialism and then the third thing i noted there's a whole list but love of pleasure instead of love for god isn't that exactly our society love of self love of money and love of pleasure instead of love of god and then to cap it off oh we're not irreligious we're quite religious having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof there's religion all over the world and all over our country some of it's good and better and worse but too much of it is a form of godliness but not the power the people of our world are hungry for the power of god but the facade does not impress them that's why many churches are declining and other churches having seeming commercial success but they're not changing people's lives why they have a form of godliness but they don't have the power and

i will say a big part of that comes with consecration when you're serious about the word then god confirms the word when you're not serious about the the word you can have great music you can have great singing you can have clapping of hands you can have choreographed dancing you can have all the forms but for someone who's been in the presence it's lacking something it might be sincere it might be nice it might lift up the human spirit but there's a form but not the power of god and one way you know it when somebody starts speaking in tongues no we don't want to offend anybody when somebody wants to come the altar to pray no we only have 15 minutes till the next service no uh this but where is the intercessory prayer where is the moaning and groaning in the spirit where is the prayer room where is the altar call where's the one-hour altar service that might be longer than the preaching service as we're stirred by the power of god we need not only the form we need the power and there's no substitute romans 1 16 preached earlier this

week the apostle paul said for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ brother zuniga preached that unashamed i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone who believes do you notice they had the message and they had the power the gospel is the message but you need the power that comes with it what this world needs here's what will overcome the love of self and the love of money and the love of pleasure you got to have the right message but that's not enough the fundamentalists can tell you the right message as far as morality and all of that and so i thank god for any fundamentalist that tells the truth but that's not enough to have the right message or the right word or the right moral teaching you must have the power to back it up the apostolic church did not have just a message they had a message and they had power they preached the word united pentecostal church it's time to preach the word in the power of the holy ghost i am not ashamed of the gospel

of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone who believes look at the early church i'll be very brief on this acts 2 we see the original experience we see the original message that message included jesus is lord jesus is the lord of the old testament manifest in the flesh whosoever shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved you saw you see the gospel of the death burial and resurrection you see the response to the gospel repentance water baptism in jesus name the baptism of the holy ghost the new birth experience you see the life of holiness save yourselves from this untoward or perverse generation you've got the whole gospel and the whole application in a nutshell right in the birth of the church acts 2. if you read the rest of the chapter you see worship you see prayer you see unity you see sacrificial giving you see miraculous gifts of the spirit you see church growth if you read chapter three you see the healing of the lame man the first dramatic miracle of note and then you read acts 4 the apostles were arrested for

preaching the name of jesus and here's what i want to get to they had all the ingredients but what happens when you face opposition now right now we're not being forbidden to preach we're not being thrown in jail to preach but don't get me wrong our culture is coming against us at this point it might be social it might be ridicule and ostracism and peer pressure we're facing the same situation just different details what did the early church do when they were commanded not to preach in the name of jesus what did the early church do when they told you can do all kind of things but just leave the name out of it you can have your own personal morality but don't tell us what to do what did the early church do they had a prayer meeting now i'm not against social and political action when appropriate but i will tell you our solution is not going to be legislation it's not going to be a supreme court decision it's not that's not the answer i'm glad we live in a democracy and we should avail ourselves of the rights that we have

to influence our government our society don't misread me there but i'm just saying as a church it's time to preach as a church it's time to preach it's time to pray and preach and preach and pray it's time to stand for truth it's time to live the truth it's time for the power of god to be manifested that's what the church needs to do you as an individual may have many options in your community but as a church i can tell you what we need to do in this day it's time to preach and so in acts if you read what happened in chapter 4 of book of the book of acts they had a prayer meeting so they faced opposition they faced imprisonment they commanded not to preach or teach anymore in the name of jesus so what did they do they had a prayer meeting and here is the bottom line prayer acts 24 29-30 now lord look on their threats whatever threats your society may be giving you take it to the lord now lord look at what they're trying to do look at their threats and grant to your servants that

with all boldness they may speak your word with all boldness if you go back to ezekiel and you read chapter three the two verses before my text 8-9 he says in essence ezekiel i made your face like a rock i made your forehead like flint like the hardest rock you're facing a stubborn people i'm making your face just as stubborn i'm making your forehead just as stubborn not to fight them but to preach it doesn't matter what the circumstances are god give us gold boldness to preach if the circumstances are hard the culture is hard give us the strength and the determination and the boldness to preach what we need to preach now i will say we must use wisdom of course look at jesus jesus wasn't a compromiser jesus told the truth he was very blunt when the occasion called for which was mostly with religious people by the way he was very gentle with open sinners but he was pretty harsh with professing saints but he was wise would you grant me that in all circumstances and so we need boldness but i'll just put a ps just for the sake of covering

all the bases that we must speak with wisdom now what is our message let me just give you some scripture and i don't know where they're all on this but let me give you some scripture john 3 17 god did not send his son into a world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved now notice the world is condemned in their sense this is not a compromising statement it's simply saying would we preach we're not trying to put people into hell we're not trying to condemn them why because we're trying to save them we're trying to deliver them second corinthians 5 18-20 says we've been given a ministry of reconciliation to wit that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself that's a great oneness message the almighty god came in flesh as the lord jesus christ not to reconcile somebody to somebody else but to reconcile sinners to himself if we're oneness in our doctrine we need to have a spirit of reconciliation we need to be oneness in our approach what that we're supposed to preach verse 20 says be reconciled to god we plead with

people we're not going looking for ways to send people to hell we're not going looking for ways to condemn people we're looking for ways to say be reconciled to god you can have a relationship with god you can be forgiven of your sins you can be transformed by the power of the spirit you can you can be one with god god came in christ so that you could be joined with christ when you're joined with christ you're back in relationship with god be reconciled to god we're not haters where are messages be reconciled to god find god's plan for your life god already has a plan for you he's not trying to destroy you he's got he's got a plan for you he's got a vision for you he's got a better plan than what the world is telling you the world is telling you you're like this and you're like that and you can't help yourself and this is the way it is but god says no i have a plan that's bigger than you could ever imagine and the church says be reconciled to god listen to what god has to say and

so jesus said be wise as serpents harmless as doves a snake is wise in that it knows how to get out of the way rarely do you see the snake because it anticipates the human presence and gets out of the way of course occasionally snakes can be aggressive and poisonous so that's why i said be wise as a serpent but harmless is doves so when we preach we've got to be wise in how we deal with a situation but not wise to the part of harshness or contention or hate wise but yet harmless and then paul said speaking the truth ephesians 4 15 in love we've always got to speak the truth but always in love it doesn't mean compromise it means we love people and if you're going to preach against sin at some point they've got to feel your love for them as people if you're going to preach the judgment of god you probably ought to have tears running down your cheek you probably ought to have a cry in your voice if you're going to preach strong against conforming to the world there ought to be an equal strength of compassion

and love that say we love you god loves you we want you i don't care where you've come from or what your background or what your sin you belong in this church where we allow certain classes of sinners in the church we allow all sinners in the church everybody's welcome to come everybody's welcome to feel the presence of god everybody's welcome to worship everybody's welcome to repent everybody is welcome to be baptized in jesus name everybody is welcome to receive the holy ghost of course now once you start preaching and teaching and being an example and a leader you better have the word in your heart and you better display the fruits of that word so number one is boldness number two if you go back to acts chapter 4 verse 29 through 30. and this is going to be my my concluding thought i'm going to take a little time on it but their first request in response to the secular culture and the opposition of society god give us boldness to preach the message but second in verse 30 by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be

done through the name of your holy servant jesus we must have the message but we must also have the power if you're going to preach it's not enough to have the message you better have the power they said god give us boldness some just interpret bones as standing on the street corner with a placard saying you're all going to hell that might be bold in a sense but that's probably not wisdom and it probably doesn't communicate love but i'll tell you what will the power of the spirit miracles signs and wonders in the name of jesus the early church was a church of miracles all throughout the bible it shocks me when i think about it brother mooney that any church could say we can be a christian church without miracle signs and wonders the whole new testament gives you examples of a miraculous church if it's really true that miracles have ceased and their church is not supposed to have tongues or healing and all that then there is no example in the entire new testament of such a church the corinthian church was a miraculous church the ephesus church was a miraculous church

there's no example of a non-miraculous church in the whole new testament the whole new testament would be an exception list all the churches in the new testament and they don't match if you look at the gospels mark 16 20 these signs you'll follow them believe they went and preached everywhere the lord working with him confirming the word was signs following that's the gospels the whole book of acts talks about establishing the church of miracles signs and wonders if you read the pauline epistles paul repeatedly says i did not come with human wisdom first corinthians 2 4 with enticing words of man wisdom but in the demonstration of the spirit and of power he quotes that he says repeatedly the same thing in various books if you go to hebrews the non-pauline epistles hebrews 2 4 it says how can we escape if we neglect such a great salvation which was confirmed when we first heard it by miracles signs and wonders even the book of revelation says hear what the spirit is saying to the church every part of the new testament says you need the holy ghost you need the work of the spirit

you need miracles you need signs you need wonders now here's what i'm coming down to it's time to preach but we need to expect the confirmation of the spirit we are a pentecostal church we are an apostolic church god delivers god heals that's how churches get started that's how revivals are sparked that's how mission fields are open it's through miracles signs and wonders that accompany the preaching of the word it may take six months or a year but sooner or later there will be a miracle that will lead to a breakthrough that is what we need i could tell you story after story but i'm going to be brief if you go in if you go after acts 4 acts 5 the first notable sin in the church which god judged the sin of ananias and safari and the bible says fear came on everyone and a reverence for the leadership and miracles signs and wonders isn't that amazing when there was external opposition what was the solution miracle signs and wonders when there was internal discord what was the solution miracle signs and wonders so much so that when the apostle peter passed even

if his shadow fell on someone people be healed now that sounds spooky but i'll tell you something that really caused a leap out to me i was in the philippines in february here's this auditorium pact of apostolic people everybody's standing worshiping the sound was tremendous there was no way you could call everybody to the front there was no front everybody was sitting they were sitting right where the altar area would be and so when they stood they were standing right up to the preacher and all the way out the back door and looking on on the image magnification video outside so there was no place to have an altar call you couldn't go among the crowd lay hands on people there's no room there's no way you get mobbed so you know what we did we preachers on the platform we would go over here and we'd raise our hands and we'd say lord pour out your spirit and i started noticing that when i would go and lay raise my hands it wasn't because of me i would raise my head it seemed like there's a wave and i thought could that be what

happened we think of something spooky where oh there's peter let's run find his shadow could it be the crowds are there and here's the apostle peter preaching like on the day of pentecost god wants to pray out his spirit and he goes here and the people follow and as they follow as they open their heart in faith his shadow falls to them they receive the holy ghost not because of the shadow not because of the preacher but because they're honoring spiritual leadership they're hungry for the word of god and wherever the preacher goes miracles happen preacher it's time to preach when you preach miracles will happen when you pray miracles will happen when you raise your hand across the congregation somebody's gonna receive the holy ghost when you lay hands on someone somebody's gonna be healed that's happening in our day the shadow of the leaders falling across the crowd and people are healed it's happening in our day i preached in quebec in 2010.

they brought a preteen girl from alberta she was crippled the doctor said she would never walk again we prayed for her nothing notable happened but two weeks later i got an email brother bernard remember the girl we prayed for well the next day she started walking a little bit the next day a little bit and now two weeks later she's walking completely normally completely healed confounding the doctors 2015 a few months ago i was preaching in toronto a man came up to me says brother bernard remember that girl you prayed for in montreal in 2010 i said yeah he said that was my niece i said well i have one question is she still healed he said yes she's still healed she's still walking i just thought i'd give you that update i was preaching in argentina last year in november it was a doctrinal conference there were several of us preaching we were emphasizing doctrine but at the end we had a evangelistic preaching brother klein dents was there by the mendezzaba i don't remember who all 117 people received the holy ghost in three nights one of those nights as people came forward

for prayer there was a pastor's wife blind in one eye she was instantly healed and began to see one of our ministers our guest ministers brother jorge mendez pastor in houston texas had surgery four years ago couldn't raise his arm above his shoulder but i watched him as god healed him he raised both hands high in the sky behind in the presence of the lord a young woman came up for prayer she started jumping and leaping it was quite noticeable we asked what happened they said well she received the holy ghost well that's understandable but she just kept jumping and we said what's going on we should have had more faith to know when you receive the holy ghost that's normal but you know we weren't quite as spiritual as we should be why is she still praising god what a crazy question for preachers but we were carnal enough to ask that question and we did get an answer god honored us and she her parents came forward and said when we brought this young woman our daughter into church her feet were twisted she's crippled she could not walk but when god filled

her with the holy ghost her feet straightened out she began walking that's why she's jumping that's why she's leaping she just got healed now if that sounds far-fetched and here's what i feel from the lord there are times when god heals or god answers prayer we know it but we can't prove it we pray for god to help us financially and god does a miracle we get a raise we know it we testify but if we tell our boss it was a miracle you know he might take away the raise you know he doesn't think it's a miracle you know god heals us of a migraine we know it's a miracle but if we tell your neighbor god heal me well you just got better maybe most of our prayer requests are like that because this is a matter of faith but every once in a while god wants to give a certified miracle i want you to listen to me carefully and if you're online i believe this year god wants to give some certified miracles not to glorify the united pentecostal church but to confirm the message that we preach in a way

that a secular world will take notice i want you to listen to me and god can do it tonight steve hamilton maybe they have his victories a pastor in albuquerque new mexico his son david got an award as youth president they were a family in our church he was our full-time outreach director he had he had been a chaplain at state jail we saw hundreds of inmates baptized before the holy ghost we baptized the the chief of security of the jail of a thousand inmates and he received the holy ghost became a member of the church and a minister so god used brother hamilton a great mighty way he was very effective he he could pray with people it was the gift of faith where he would pray with people almost instantly they received the holy ghost you know i'd go pray with them for five or ten minutes and they're struggling i would say brother hamilton come over here in a minute or two they were speaking in tongues he just had that gift of faith that people would be healed he was full-time with the church suddenly he started having seizures and blackouts

he couldn't work he couldn't drive he was having these many blackouts they diagnosed an enlarged heart they diagnosed a faulty heart valve and they said this valve was acting up so that the blood flow was impeded and then his brain would shut off and it's very dangerous obviously he couldn't work he couldn't do anything because he'd have these these blackouts repeatedly during the day and he couldn't sleep and the time he was awake he couldn't concentrate couldn't focus and so we just kept paying him but he couldn't even come to the office he's at home miserable we prayed for him time after time this is over months and nothing happened and finally i felt in the holy ghost and i told brother hamilton i said you're a great man of faith you pray for people and they're healed you pray for people they receive the holy ghost i said i believe god wants to give you a certified miracle so that in the future of your ministry you will have boldness to say i know what god did for me and i have documentation i said i believe that's the extra dimension that will add

to your ministry of faith where you can say i have the documentation now i didn't know when or how i was just saying that so i hope it was the lord i think in retrospect it was one sunday night we're having those great blowout services power of god falling and i felt it i said brother hamilton we're going to pray for you right now i gathered several people we laid hands on him he told me later when you laid hands on me when we all prayed i felt the warmth shot should go through me and i felt my heart was healed he went to the doctor now they were giving them some medication to try to control but they said there's no cure they said your only cure is a heart transplant they couldn't fix the valve it was something to do with it was no way they could fix it with surgery or whatever it had to be everything replaced when he went to the doctor who was a muslim the doctor said this can't happen but your heart has shrunk to its normal size it looks like you have a new heart it's

not the same heart the valve there's nothing wrong with the valve we can't explain it it's a different valve needless to say the seizures never stop deborah came back he resumed work he went and started church in albuquerque new mexico he's pastor of that church today and so he brought me the documentation i don't remember the medical terminology it's stored somewhere where i couldn't get it but when you read the documentation read the medical terms and go to the medical dictionary and find out what it means the official explanation is a spontaneous recovery no known explanation he has the piece of paper that in medical language says spontaneous recovery of an enlarged heart and a faulty valve no known explanation a certified miracle he asked his muslim doctor who he's still in contact with and still witnesses to he said doctor what does this mean in regular english he says to be honest with you it means your god healed you when the preacher tells the doctor it's a miracle that's one thing when the doctor tells a preacher it's a miracle that's what i call a certified miracle michael easter that's a certified miracle

that's what the lord wants to do in your church in your ministry and i just feel led to close with this one testimony i shared it a few times because i felt led and for some reason i feel like to do it again 2007 i was sitting at home with my wife eating dinner getting ready to go back to church just come home from missions trip and that may be what triggered what happened but i was just going back to teach that night and suddenly my left-hand mood of its own accord and i looked up because something was wrong and i told my wife something's wrong except when i try to say that the right side of my face sagged and my words wouldn't come out there's all the symptoms of stroke she ran to call 9-1-1 and i'm sitting there alone in my home the next week we're launching capital campaign which would result in a 10 million dollar building you know 100 000 square feet 12 acres of land we're going to start that process that next sunday and i'm thinking i'm having a stroke everything i'm living for is getting ready to

go up in smoke i didn't know what to do my wife is frantically on the phone i'm just sitting there what can you do what is there to do you're waiting for the emergency personnel as a missionary kid i i knew what to do i've seen my mom and dad do it and i've had the experience of do it but never for myself i laid my hands on my own head and i said in the name of jesus and when i said that i begin to speak as clearly as i'm speaking now i won't tell the whole story i'll just cut to the chase after an hour of those symptoms of not being like i could speak but i couldn't choose the proper word i could i knew the word but i couldn't couldn't say it i could write it but i couldn't say it it's a very strange part of your brain that that picks the right word and i couldn't find that word it's very disconcerting for a preacher the next day the doctor came said you've had a stroke she began to explain all the reasons and she said you know you're

going to be very you've had a stroke you need to take time off you need to do this you do that here's a booklet you need to you're going to have emotional surges you're going to be irritable you're angry you're going to be upset you need to manage this carefully she's telling my wife in my presence what you need to do to take care of your husband uh believe it or not i do have a sense of humor especially when everything's going wrong i learned in korea when everything is a disaster you tell a joke and it's all right so i told my wife i said look i've just had a stroke i'm irritable i'm upset i'm angry i'll be this way for the next month i want you to make a list of the people in our church and i'll give you the names of the people that need to i need to make an appointment with certain people and you're going to bring them in the room i'm going to talk to them i'm going to tell them what i've always wanted to tell them and then when they walk out the door

you're going to pull them aside now say honey you know he just had a stroke he's not in charge of his emotions don't worry about it you know was it obama that said never waste a good crisis okay but here's the interesting part the neurologist the specialist came in and he asked about my symptoms and he he had me repeat the story several times and i said what's wrong doctor he says very puzzling this doesn't make sense he said you have not had a stroke i don't care what the other doctor said there's nothing your brain's fine we've done the test of your heart your arteries there's no stroke and there's no sign there's no hardening of the arteries there's nothing that would cause a stroke there's no reason why you should have a stroke you're perfectly normal and whole there's nothing there i said well what happened doctor he said well you know we could say we call it a tia when it's a temporary thing that goes away so that's the only thing we would say when there's no symptoms that's what we say i said okay he says he kept shaking his

head what's wrong he said well the problem is when the left side of your arm is messed up that's the right side of your brain when the right side of your face goes down that's that's the left side of your brain and when you can't find the right words very specifically like that that's the left side of your brain the speech center so he says a ti is only a small microscopic thing that hits one little place like a blood vessel and temporarily restricts it but you've had your whole brain has been affected so he says a tia isn't the explanation i said what is the explanation he says well one way to explain it would be you had a massive stroke that hit both sides of the brain and then suddenly it reversed itself and that's when i remembered i know when it spontaneously versed itself when i laid my hands on my head when i said in the name of jesus i just want to brag a little bit i have a certified miracle it's not due to me but it's due to the lord jesus christ in the name of jesus i

don't wish a trial on you but i do wish that you would encounter somebody