Bill Johnson - The Prescription of Joy
How many believe this is true? All right, all right, so this is what it says: «Shout for joy, for you cannot have children. Face the thing in which you have the least breakthrough, the most barren area. It may be the salvation of your family members, it may be a health condition, it may be losing job after job after job. It could be any number of things, but there it is right in front of you, and the instruction in Scripture is to shout with extreme celebration before the answer comes!» Right? Yeah, nice to see you! I was looking at a video clip this morning of our Global Response Relief Team in Trinity County, helping with the homes that were burned down. They are sifting through the ash to find any valuables that might be left for the homeowners. We don’t talk a lot about it, but we have great teams that have helped with hurricanes and relief efforts, and in the fires. Just how many of our Global Response Team members are in the room right now? Let’s put a hand up to see. Why don’t you stand up so we can see who you are? Yeah, stand up! Bless them! Good! Thanks, thanks for serving. Yeah, thank you! Beautiful, beautiful! Yeah, it’s just fun! It’s fun to know that a lot of folks are out there just trying to find who to blame, and the people of faith become part of the answer. You just become people of hope, vision, and serve in practical ways to help people. I appreciate all of you who help with that.
This is a sign and headlines: «Toilet out of order; please use floor below.» I’m pretty sure I know what they meant, but «Automatic washing machines, please remove all your clothes when the light goes out.» In a London department store, «Bargain basement upstairs outside a second-hand shop: We exchange anything—bicycles, washing machines, etc. Why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?» That’s just a bad notice on a farmer’s field that says, «The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges.» On a repair shop: «We can repair anything; please knock hard on the door; the bell doesn’t work.» Headlines in newspapers: «Something went wrong in jet crash—probably!» «Miners refuse to work after death.» «Sluggards!» «Cold wave linked to temperatures.» «Man struck by lightning faces battery charge.» «Hospitals are sued by seven-foot doctors.» Very tall doctors! And the winner is: «Typhoon rips through cemetery, hundreds dead.»
Let’s open your Bibles to Isaiah 54, Isaiah 54. Last week, I talked about joy, and I’m going to do the same this week. I just figured, let’s just do joy again! How many of you were here last week? How many of you weren’t here last week? How many of you don’t know where you were last week? Last week, we took a look at a great passage of Scripture in Nehemiah 8, which actually gives reasons for joy, biblical reasons to rejoice before everything is fixed in our internal world. It’s like God’s standard was here and our standard is here, but once we understand what He wants, that’s the beginning place for rejoicing. It’s a fascinating concept, and that’s the chapter where we see that the joy of the Lord is our strength. So our personal strength, our lot in life, is actually equal to our joy. We will not be any stronger than our joy. We won’t be any stronger than our joy. That’s actually true; that’s our place of strength.
Today, we’re going to look at a chapter that, believe it or not, actually follows chapter 53 in Isaiah. I want to make sure everybody’s awake. Chapter 53 is the great chapter that talks about how we are healed. For example, it says that He bore our pain and our sickness—our sorrows, our griefs—but the Hebrew words for our pain and sickness mean He actually bore them to the cross and redemptively purchased our right to be healed—divine health—not just in the natural, but in the spiritual realm, the forgiveness of sin. So it’s that chapter that sets up this chapter. So beginning with verse 1 of Isaiah 54, we’re going to read several verses, so please just follow along.
Verse 1: «Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman.» Enlarge the place of your tent; let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare; lengthen your cords; strengthen your stakes, for you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited.
Verse 4: «Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame, for you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.» For your Maker is your Husband; now remember we’re talking about bearing children in the first verse. Your Maker is your Husband; the Lord of hosts is His name. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
Jump all the way down to verse 13: «All your children will be taught by the Lord. Great shall be the peace—» that word peace is shalom, meaning well-being in spirit, soul, and body; great shall be the well-being of your children! «In righteousness, you will be established; you will be far from oppression, for you shall not fear.» And from terror, it shall not come near you.
Look at that verse again: «You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear.» It doesn’t say, «You will be far from oppression; therefore, you won’t be afraid.» It’s saying, «You are not afraid; therefore, you will be far from oppression.» It’s important to see that because fear is the access point. «What I have feared has come upon me.» That statement in Scripture indicates fear is the entrance point for the thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy; he frequently enters through the open door—fear. Fear is an agreement with the accuser, the intimidator, the one who mocks. He manipulates with words; he accuses, he mocks, he intimidates, he tries to cause fear through any of these tools. Whenever I make an agreement with him, I empower him. Whenever you believe a lie, you empower the liar. When you listen to and receive the words of the accuser, you actually come under the shame of sin as though you had actually sinned, because you’re making an agreement. He has no authority; you have the authority. So when I agree with him, I have lent him my authority. He has power but no authority. So when he accuses, when he brings up your past, anytime you revisit the events of the past apart from the blood of Jesus, you subject yourself to a spirit of deception because you’re visiting something that no longer exists in the condition you remember it. It’s only legal to perceive our past through the blood of Jesus; otherwise, we visit a deception. And when you believe a lie, you empower the liar. So that’s the whole deal.
He says, «You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear,» because you don’t fear; oppression can’t attach itself to you. Now, when you read through this whole chapter, he goes on and he says, «Listen, if you’re under attack, if anyone assails you, the Lord says, 'It’s not me.'» I just love that statement. In other words, he’s not saying you’ll never come under fire, he’s not saying you’ll never have a conflict; he’s just saying, «Listen, it’s not me.» That should be good news! And then he says, «No weapon formed against you shall prosper; every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.» This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; your inheritance is the authority to condemn the voices of darkness that accuse you. That’s part of your inheritance.
See if you can follow this train of thought: It talks about those who can’t have children, referring to the nation of Israel or the body of Christ. But anytime they use a natural principle or natural condition to illustrate a spiritual truth, it has to work in the natural too. Anytime Jesus uses a natural illustration, it has to be true in the natural before it can represent a spiritual reality. Sometimes we want to get to the spiritual truth before we’ve learned the natural impact, and our hunger for spiritual things is appropriate and right; we should want the breakthrough there! But sometimes, I remember one specific situation here years ago; the Lord would not allow me to spiritualize a particular truth for a season. I had to walk it through in the natural and fully realize the implications in the natural before I was allowed, if you will, to take it to where God intended. I had to be fully convinced that this was authentic and genuine in the natural. It’s a weird one, but it was the whole «I want my knife back» story, which I shared as a testimony a few weeks ago. It was just this unusual Sunday where we prayed into God restoring things that had been broken, lost, or stolen. It was just a strange day, but it was the more miracles from that one awkward message than from maybe any ten I’ve spoken at any time in my life. It was strange!
I just shared this with you a couple weeks ago, but realizing we have so much rotation. Just a couple weeks ago, I was in New Zealand, and a pastor friend came to me and said, «Billy, let me tell you a story. There’s a young lady in our church; her house was broken into. Somebody stole her computer, her iPod, and a bunch of stuff. When it was gone, she remembered your message 'I want my knife back, ' and she just cried out, 'God, I want my computer back! I want my iPod! I want my dog! ' and anything that was taken, and said, 'I want my stuff back! ' You know? I think it was two weeks later she gets a phone call, and the guy on the other end of the phone says, 'Hi, I’m the guy that stole your stuff. I stole your computer, your iPod, and everything, and I would like to set up an appointment to return it to you.' So she makes an appointment with the guy to meet at a coffee shop. They sit down at the coffee shop, and the guy gives her this story. He said, 'On your iPod is a sermon called 'I want my knife back.' I listened to it and realized I need to give your stuff back.' Is that bizarre or what? She then led him to Christ; he got saved in the coffee shop! Such a bizarre story. But in that season, he wouldn’t allow me to spiritualize it too quickly because sometimes you have to experience things in the natural that convinces you of what He is like so that when you start seeing the real application, the harvest of souls, the transformation of cities, when you start seeing that stuff that gets opposed, you have confidence because you’ve seen His nature displayed in natural things.
And that’s what we have right here: „Shout for joy, barren one.“ Picture a woman. Let’s say she’s been having children every year for ten years, and then you have one right next to her who has been married just as long and has had no children. What this verse is saying—the New American Standard translates it a little better than this—is, „Shout for joy, barren one, you who have borne no child! Cry aloud, you who have not travailed.“ And here’s the statement: „For the sons of the desolate woman will become more numerous than the one who has been having a child every year for ten years,“ and then it says, „You will inhabit desolate cities and obtain nations.“
So obviously, the Lord is talking about more than natural childbirth, although it has to include that for it to work in this prophetic message that He’s releasing. So here’s the deal: we’ve got a woman who chooses to celebrate before she’s pregnant. Everybody in this room has areas of fruitfulness, and every one of us has areas of barrenness. Every one of us has things that have just not worked like we’ve prayed, like we’ve planned, like we’ve anticipated. We have great testimonies; we have extraordinary things that God has done. But we all have experiences of barrenness as well. And here He is saying, „Shout for joy.“ And then He says, „Cry aloud.“ That word „cry“ is actually the word „scream.“ So we’re talking about deliberate, extreme expressions of joy. It’s not a scream of pain or fear or terror; it’s a scream of anticipation!
Now, how many believe this is true? All right, all right, so this is what it says. It says, „Shout for joy while you can’t have kids. Face the thing that you have the least breakthrough in, the most barren area. It may be the salvation of your family members, it may be a health condition, it may be losing job after job after job. It could be any number of things, but there it is right in front of you and the instruction in Scripture is to shout with extreme celebration before the answer comes!“ Now, some would say, „Well, that’s not reasonable.“ It isn’t reasonable from a human perspective; it’s totally logical and intellectual from God’s perspective. It’s the intelligent response when you see the promise through the eyes of the promised giver—the one who has never lied, the one who has no respecter of persons, the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you see that, then it’s the perfectly intelligent thing to do because for the one who gave you the promise, He lives in eternity, and in His sight it is already completed. So when He gives us a promise, He goes into our future and brings back the word that is necessary to get us where He saw us. He brings us the word that actually enables us to enter the very realm that He intends for us. So it’s the intelligent thing to do—to get happy before you need to!
You know, it’s my head! That’s all right; I like it, I like it! So He says, „All right, don’t just give emotional expression.“ I believe emotional expression is vital; in fact, in this case, the emotional expression is the clearest evidence of faith. In this chapter, to try to do the Christian life without emotion—emotional involvement—voids the nature of the Gospel, because the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy; two of those are felt realities. Now it’s true that throughout history there have been those who have embraced personal experience above Scripture and have ended up denying Scripture; that is obviously a danger. It’s equally dangerous to approach Scripture on an intellectual basis and have no personal emotional involvement or relationship.
When I got married to my wonderful wife, I did not get married so that I could have a marriage license. Believe it or not, I didn’t get married so that the state of California would consider me a married individual. I got married because I was partnering with someone for a lifelong journey together relationally before God—that was my purpose. When we came to Christ, it was not to have fire insurance to escape hell; it was an ongoing relationship with our Maker, who, according to this Scripture, becomes our husband. That makes fruitfulness in our area of greatest barrenness even possible. You may not like the illustration, but He’s trying to show you, „Listen, this is how near I am to you! I become one with you so that you become fruitful in your area of greatest barrenness. And because of that, you have reason to joy!“
So He says, „Not only should there be an emotional response before you see the answer,“ He says, „Lengthen your cords; strengthen your pegs.“ What He’s saying is, „Listen, if you want a child and you have a one-bedroom home, before you’re pregnant, you need to create the room for God to fill it.“ There’s a great story of Jack Coe. I tried to find it this morning; I couldn’t, but it goes something like this: He was going to pray for, I think it was five people in wheelchairs, so he had set up this appointment to meet with them. When he walked into the room, he noticed that none of them brought shoes, so he said, „Come back tomorrow, and I’ll pray for you, but bring shoes.“ The next day he prayed for them, and all five got out of the wheelchairs, and they had shoes to walk with. The point was you have to anticipate what’s about to happen and be ready.
What would it look like? See, a lot of people don’t have time for revival because we’ve filled our lives without God. What does it look like to create the room for God to do whatever He wants before He does whatever He wants? So He says, „Stretch out the curtains of your dwelling.“ They lived in tents, so He’s just describing what it is to add the room before the child comes. Do everything you can to anticipate, „What does it look like if God were to bring the increase you’ve asked for?“ Some of you have received unusual promises from the Lord about prosperity, about increase. Don’t wait until it comes to figure out what to do; get your values intact now!
It may seem like a strange illustration to you, but Judas hung himself. There were eleven apostles; there were supposed to be twelve. So they appointed a twelfth one at the end of chapter one of Acts. At the beginning of chapter two in Acts, the outpouring of the Spirit came. In other words, they got the wineskin ready, and then the wine came. Get the context prepared for what God’s about to do! Make deliberate choices to demonstrate this genuine faith there. Make deliberate choices to get ready!
Two things are mentioned as our inheritance in this chapter. The first one that I’ll mention is verse 17: the ability to condemn the voices of darkness that oppose us—that’s part of our inheritance. But the other part of our inheritance is in verse 3. It says, „You’ll expand to the right and to the left; your descendants will inherit nations and make desolate cities inhabited.“ Has anyone ever looked online to see some of the pictures in China? They’ve anticipated great growth in certain areas of their nation, and they’ve built entire cities—skyscrapers, everything—and there’s hardly anyone living in them. It’s a weird thing to see! I mean, their brand-new houses are built, the high-rises are built, and there’s hardly anybody there. The Lord is saying, „That’s what I’m going to fill!“ But I’m going to give it to the people who are joyful. I’m going to give it to those who know how to express faith through their emotion. They anticipate before they see any sign of breakthrough. They are the people I’m going to give the nations to, and I’m going to let them fill the desolate cities.
There’s an interesting story back in David’s day. He was so hungry for the presence of God to rest in Jerusalem. The presence of God was represented actually by what’s called the Ark of the Covenant—the box where certain things were inside the box. They couldn’t touch it. It’s actually where the glory, the presence of the Lord rested. David wanted so much for the glory of God to be in his city in Jerusalem that he set the stage for them to carry the ark. The first time they tried, they did it through human reasoning, and somebody died. David is depressed, and they parked the Ark of the Covenant in a guy’s house named Obedidum, and everything he touched turned to gold. You know? They started rethinking, „Perhaps when in doubt, open the owner’s manual; find out how we’re supposed to do this.“ And then they found out God doesn’t put His presence on the creation of man; He only puts His presence on what He created, which is man—the shoulders of priests—not on the machines we make, not the organizations. I don’t care if it’s Bethel Church or if it’s Wyoming; that’s not where the presence is. The presence is on people, always, always, always!
Some people can have good people in an inferior setting and they’ll carry the presence there. It’s not the context that makes it powerful. So here David says, „I want the presence!“ So he is, I think it was like a seven-mile trek between Obedidum’s house and Jerusalem. What David does is he takes off his kingly robes and strips down to kind of like an undergarment for priests—a tunic—and begins to dance wildly down the street, and everywhere he danced, the ark of the covenant followed.
So if you could just picture: here’s a king who is just besides himself with joy—fearful joy because the last guy that tried this died—sober-minded joy. He is giving this offering, celebrating before the Lord, dancing wildly before God, leaping in the air, and he does this for miles. His wife is in the palace watching him out the window, and this is weird because the Bible says all of Israel was there but Michal, his wife, was in the palace. It’s strange how weird worship looks to those who are not in it. Some things just don’t make good TV, you know what I mean? There are some things that just don’t make good TV. It’s like you’ve got to be in it for it to make sense.
I equate a revival to those geodes. Those rocks are so ugly on the outside, but on the inside, they are spectacular and beautiful. That’s revival right there! On the outside it’s offensive; on the inside it’s gorgeous! And so David is dancing wildly before the Lord. Michal, the daughter of Saul, despises him in her heart. And he comes home after this, and the presence has settled in Jerusalem, the glory is present, and he’s besides himself with joy. He comes home, and his wife has issues! David returned to bless his household, and Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, „How glorious was the King of Israel today!“ This is sarcasm on steroids; she’s trying to undermine her husband big time. „How glorious was the king today, uncovering himself in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!“
So David responds, „It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his household!“ Man, I do not suggest this; I do not suggest this; I’m just reading the facts! He says, „Therefore I will play music before the Lord! I will be even more undignified than this, and I’ll be humble in my own eyes.“ And then the Scripture says, „Therefore, Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death.“
„Shout for joy, barren one, and you’ll be moved into a fruit-bearing cycle that will surpass those who are years ahead of you! It will actually become a supernatural fruit-bearing cycle where you surpass everyone"—versus Michal, the daughter of Saul, who has the capacity to bear children her entire life. She loses it by despising joy! She loses it by despising expressive worship. Worship is not something that should be contained in tidy, civil packages. I don’t mean that we need to try to be offensive or something; it’s just a non-point! The point is it’s honest! The point is as we see Him for who He is, we realize who He is, and we give offerings of joy and celebration before the circumstances around us have changed.
What He’s actually saying is the people that choose to live that way—they become those who change the circumstances. See, when you and I were born again, the Holy Spirit took up residence inside of us and began to change us from the inside out. After we’re saved, our relationships begin to improve. After we’re saved, our work ethic improves. The way we love our neighbor, care for people around us, the way we give ourselves in practical service, how we move in generosity—all that stuff increases once the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. In other words, we live from the inside out.
Jesus put it this way: «The Kingdom of God is within you,» which means all Kingdom issues are heart issues. All issues of the Kingdom are our internal heart issues. For the believer, it’s monitoring our inner world and watching how it reshapes our outer world. Now, that’s why in 3 John 2 it says, «May you prosper"—that’s money—and be in good health—which is your physical condition. «May you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.» So he’s announcing there that your internal world will actually affect your money; your income will affect your health. When the Bible says, «Laughter is good medicine,» it actually means if you look it up in the original language, it means «Laughter is good medicine.»
I want it to be real! Well, I mean, if it’s not complicated, it’s so funny! People don’t want the counterfeit so much they’ll embrace depression! I just want to be real! What you’re in isn’t real! That hole you’re in—you dug that one! That’s not real!
So here we’ve got Michal, who loses the ability to be fruitful, and put her next to the barren woman who surpasses those who have been able to have children their entire lifetime. You’ve got bookends; you’ve got this amazing story of what fruitfulness looks like in the Kingdom! Yeah, but joy isn’t laughter, you know? It’s close; they are related! I think Randy Clark says it best: «Tears are to repentance what laughter is to salvation.» The point isn’t to have a meeting where everybody laughs; the point is to have a lifestyle of joy, of taking time to celebrate with joy the kindness and goodness of the Lord. It’s that rich expression of faith that just says, «You know?» Steve Backlund tells us all the time, «Let’s just laugh at that! Let’s just laugh at that! Let’s just take the biggest obstacle; let’s just laugh at it!» Really? It’s that!
That’s the concept that’s presented in this chapter, but it’s not just saying, «If you choose joy, I’ll fix this problem.» He’s saying, «If you choose joy, I will actually prepare you to inherit the nations you’ve asked for!» It’s just a lot bigger; it’s a lot bigger than the physical issue you have that you want healed. Yeah, it includes that, but it’s bigger than that! It’s actually about our destiny! Our destiny is to do what? Disciple nations! Our destiny is to do what? See cities transformed that represent what it looks like to be under the lordship of Jesus, living the beauty and bounty of His world! That’s our destiny! How do you get there? Joy’s a pretty integral part!
It’s actually celebrating with joy before the answer comes! It’s what makes it—can I put it this way? —it’s what proves to the Lord we are ready to disciple nations so that He gives us to you. You don’t take nations for Him—He already has the nations! «Well, we’re just going to take possession of the nation.» No, you don’t want to do that, because they belong to Him. That’s why He says, «Ask of Him for the nations.» He already has them! He’s looking to entrust the influence, culture, values, atmosphere of entire cities and nations to a group of people; He’s just waiting for His people to be happy enough to entrust it to them!
Yeah, that is a good word! All right, I heard of a guy who went into his doctor and got a report. He had some sort of a terminal disease; I forget all the details. He asked the doctor what he should do, and he said, «You know, if I were you, I’d just go home and watch every funny movie you could find. You know, rent every funny movie and just watch them.» And he did! I don’t remember the length of time now, but it was quite a few weeks, as I recall, and by the time he was through, he didn’t have that terminal disease anymore! For some reason, people can embrace laughing at a funny movie but not just choosing to laugh or to be joyful. Yet the Lord would not command me to do something of that nature if it were not within the reach of my will. He wouldn’t say, as He does in Philippians, «Rejoice always; again, I say rejoice,» unless it was actually within the reach of my will to obtain it. You would never tell your child, who has a five-dollar-a-week allowance, to buy you a new car! I mean, that’d be cruel! You’d never expect that unless you’re going to take them down and supply them with the resources to buy the car!
The point is you would never command someone to do something of themselves that they were not capable of doing! So when the Lord tells us to rejoice and to celebrate before the answer comes, it means it’s actually within the reach of our will! This is something I can actually choose to do! So joy is within reach always! Joy is the kingdom; it’s at hand! It’s always within reach! It’s always within reach; it’s always a reasonable solution for what I’m facing!
So just take the most barren area of your life, whatever comes to you first; hold it in front of you. I know it’s hard for some of you to actually hold something you can’t see. When Brian was just a little guy, we were driving from Weaverville to Redding. He wanted a drink of water; we didn’t have any water. He said, «I want water!» I said, «Son, we’re between Weaverville and Redding; we have to wait until we get to Redding, and then I’ll get you some water.» «Well, I want water now!» So I took the cigarette lighter, pushed the button in, and held a pretend cup under the cigarette lighter. When it popped out, I handed him a fake cup filled with water. He took it and threw it on the floor!
So if my son can throw my fake cup of water on the floor, you can hold your biggest problem in front of you! All right? So, Father, I’m asking this week that this company of people, this family, would find joy in the most unusual places, and that together we would see the obstacles to fruitfulness cower in the face of the joy of the saints. I ask this in Jesus' name! Amen.
Okay, you can throw the empty cup down now. He got water all over the car when he did! I just did it, you know? It would be sad for me to end this meeting and not give the opportunity for people to give their life to Jesus. Jesus is the only access to the Father. The Bible says that the name of Jesus is the only name given by which a person must be saved. There are not many roads; Jesus is the only way! If He’s not the only way, then God was cruel for requiring him to suffer on the cross when you could get there so many other ways.
And always, when there’s a crowd this size, there’s a high probability that we have people in the room who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus! You don’t know what it is to be born again—that means change from the inside out because the Holy Spirit has come, you’ve been forgiven of sin, brought into the family of God, and you’re changed from the inside out! God is offering that gift to everybody in the room! Anyone who would be here saying, «Bill, I don’t want to leave until I know I’m right with God,» if that’s you, then I want you to just put a hand up real fast right where you are, and I want us to be able to pray for you!
Hold your hand up high because I want to see you. Right back over here! Anyone else? Just hold your hand up real high! Right over here’s another one. Right there! Anyone else? Just wave right over here! Another one! Beautiful! I want everyone to stand, if you would. I saw three; there may be a fourth one over here. I want everyone to stand. Here’s what I want to ask: I want to ask the three of you that raised your hands—listen carefully. It’s vital that you give us just a moment; we have zero interest in getting anything from you! All we want to do is serve you!
I have people that I know and trust to be able to talk with you and pray with you right over here to my right. Why don’t you wave your hands so that people can see? Right over here to my right are people that we know and trust that I want to talk with you and to pray with you.
So this is what I’m going to ask: I want to ask the ministry team to come to the front right now and I want the three who raised their hands to come quickly right down here to these folks right in front of this banner. Come down here real quickly! If you brought them, maybe walk with them down here right over here to my right. Beautiful! Yeah, come on! Celebrate; this is wonderful news! Here, right over here! Oh, I love this so much; it’s just incredible!
Yes, right down over here! Just help him—yeah. Help him come so he knows where to go! Thank you! Beautiful! And if there are any others, you just say, «You know, I don’t want to leave until I know I’m right with God, until I know that He’s my Father, that He’s forgiven me, brought me into His family.» They’ll pray with you and talk with you, and this just changes everything! From this point on, everything’s different. Let me pray for you and then I’m going to turn it over to Leslie. Leslie, why don’t you come on up here?
Let me just pray for everyone real quickly that I want to get to the back door. I want you to repeat this prayer after me: «Father God, let my joy be contagious.»