Sid Roth - You'll MISS Your Destiny IF You Don't Do This
My guest says if a believer's life isn't supernatural, it's irrelevant. It's out of your comfort your zone or just miss your destiny. You choose.
Sid Roth: For a young man that told his parents he would never preach, now at 25, his evangelistic videos have reached 60 million people in less than 1 year. Matt, you're a pastor's son. Did you ever, ever think you would be on international television with me in your wildest imaginations, when you were younger?
Matt Cruz: Sid, it would have never crossed my mind. It never crossed my mind. I grew up watching your show as a kid. And if you would have told me, the young Matt, that you'd be interviewing me, I would have looked at you and laughed. I was so timid, so shy. I would have never imagined.
Sid Roth: Well, something happened to him. He was just a normal, for lack of a better word, churchgoer, but something happened. We'll get to that in a minute. But just kind of a little bit of a preview, I've heard of people with ministries at Walmarts, which you do, but I haven't heard of too many people that have ministries with Uber drivers. Tell me about one taxi ride with an Uber.
Matt Cruz: Yeah, I remember coming home one day from preaching out of town, and normally, my cousin will pick me up, or I have a friend or family member that would scoop me up from the airport. And at that time, nobody was available, and so I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to Uber home". And so I went on my app. I ordered the Uber, and I went outside, and I was waiting for my ride, and as I went into the car, and it's so funny because God always sends me Uber drivers who are Muslim, and so as I hopped in, I just wanted to break the ice. And so I asked the lady, kind-hearted lady, I said "How long you been driving Uber? Are you from Chicago"? And so we started having a good conversation, and on the ride home, Sid, I asked her, I had a word of knowledge about pain in her back. And I asked her if I could pray for her. I said, "Keep your eyes on the road. I want to pray for you from back here".
Sid Roth: I know why you did that.
Matt Cruz: And I said, "I need to get home, praise God". So I remember praying for her, and at this time, she's pulling up to my house, and she feels the fire of God go in her body, says the pain completely shot out. She looks to me in the back seat...
Sid Roth: Excuse me, for those that don't have this paradigm, what do you mean she felt the fire of God go into her body?
Matt Cruz: She felt what she described as heat. And as we know as believers, that's the fire of Heaven burning out everything that's not of God. He's the one who purifies. It's the same fire that burned up every trace of sin. It's a holy fire, and she experienced that. And she parked up right out in front of my driveway, and she looks at me in the back seat. Her eyes get really big. She says, "Jesus is big. Jesus is big". She kept repeating herself, a Muslim woman...
Sid Roth: A Muslim?
Matt Cruz: ...believes and follows the teachings of Islam, said "Jesus is big. I said, "He sure is big, so big that every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord to the Glory of God, the Father. That Name is the Name above every name". I began ministering the heart of God to her, the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, and she stood there in that car and gave her whole life to Jesus.
Sid Roth: I'll tell you, Matt. Take a look at this 25-year-old man, who, the last thing in the world, he thought, would be talking about Jesus publicly, let alone on my program, just maybe even at a church. If God can do that to him, God can do it to your son. Tell me about, you met a fella, and this guy said to you, he was I guess new in town or something, "I want to work out with you". That's when the change started, actually working out. Explain.
Matt Cruz: Yeah. His name was Adam. He was new to our church. He became real tight with my brother, Dylan and another girl at our church named Aleena, and they invited me out to a bowling alley one night, and so I went. Me and Adam started talking, and we connected really well. And he looked at me and said, "Do you work out"? I said, "Yeah, we have a gym in our basement". I said, "You should come on by. We can work out together sometime". He came on by that Monday, and I remember we were working out together. He looks at me. He says, "Matt, I'm not really looking for a workout partner. I'm looking for a prayer partner," and it threw me off. And I thought about it. I was like, "I don't have a strong prayer life," yet I grew up in church my whole life. I loved God, but I never nurtured my daily devotion with Christ, and it challenged my faith. So I said, "All right. Let's do it". And so we met up every day in that same basement, and we played some worship music, and we began to pray for like 9 hours. It would feel like an hour, Sid, and I would experience angels walking past me. I would feel the presence of the Lord...
Sid Roth: Did you before that, had you ever experienced that?
Matt Cruz: No, my spiritual life was dry. I was halfway in and halfway out. I always tell people I had enough of God in my life to not enjoy the world, but I also had enough of the world in my life not to enjoy God. I was going through the motions of Christianity. I was just a churchgoer, not a disciple. I claimed to be saved, but Jesus was never Lord of my life. And so I said, "I need to start doing something with what I've been given," and so I started praying with Adam. And one of those nights, I had a radical encounter with the person of Jesus. I remember I was praying, and Adam is on the other side praying in tongues. I have no clue what he's saying. Never experienced that in my life. And all of a sudden, I hear the voice of the Lord speak to me. He says, "Go to Adam. Open up your mouth and pray in tongues". And I was like, "Oh, no. This is definitely not God because I don't know how to do that". And so, "Lord, why would You tell me something I don't know how to do"? And He kept telling me over and over again, "Adam has no idea what's going on". He doesn't know I'm having this conversation with God in my head, and he opens up his eyes and he says, "Matt, I hear the Lord saying, 'Listen.'" And I got freaked out. I walked by him. I was so nervous. I couldn't do it. He says, "I'll be right back. I'll go to the bathroom". He goes upstairs to the bathroom. I went in the hallway because I felt the fear of the Lord. I didn't want to be down there by myself, so I was in the hallway, and in that moment, Sid, the power of God came upon me so strong, from the top of my head down to the soles of my feet, this holy fire, this holy boldness. This courage was ignited in my heart. This confidence was infused within me to preach the Gospel with power and with authority. Mind you, before this moment, I told my parents, "You'll never see me preach. You'll never- It's out of my comfort zone". I was so shy. I was timid. I felt inadequate, but when I got empowered, I had this passion to witness. I had this passion to preach.
Sid Roth: Did you feel the fire of God?
Matt Cruz: I felt it all over me.
Sid Roth: Describe that to me.
Matt Cruz: It was like my spirit was filled with joy. I was burning for the things of God. In fact, when I was praying in the language of the spirit in that hallway, my hands were going like this. I didn't know what I was saying, but I was, it was like authority was coming out of my mouth, and I just felt like my spirit was in unity with the purposes of God. I was magnifying the Lord with whatever I was saying, and I realized I was praying what he wants to do on the Earth. And after that moment when I went out, and I was telling everybody I knew, everybody I came across about this man named Jesus.
Sid Roth: You experienced so many supernatural things, but you hadn't until this power came upon you. And it's a- That's the same power that any believer is entitled to. Here's a question I have for you. You operate in miracles. You operate in signs and wonders. There are millions of Christians across the world that have even prayed in tongues, been filled with the Holy Spirit, and they don't. What's the difference between you and them? Why?
Matt Cruz: Well, you have to have a life of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. When you pray, you generate power. When you begin to host His presence in private, you can then carry His power in public. We see this pattern in Jesus' life. When He went away to be with the Father and then when you go out to minister, the power of God fell every time. You know, Sid, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an empowering experience. It equips the believer to be the hands and feet of Jesus. But I think we have to cultivate the fire. We have to be in the place of prayer. We have to- Prayer is valuable to God, and that's what opens up the door for His power to move. So I think that our ministries should be measured by our prayer life and our worship life. How much are we praying? How much are we spending time with God? Because if we're in that place, when we go out to minister, it's going to flow through us. We're going to be a carry...
Sid Roth: You're going to teach a lot of people with this exclusive series of your teaching that we're making available to you.
Matt Cruz: Yeah.
Sid Roth: But, Matt, tell me just briefly about what happens to you when you go in a Walmart. You become a different... This is such a good story. I wish we had the time fully, but tell me the first time you went in a Walmart and prayed for someone.
Matt Cruz: Yeah. Well, this pastor, he's over the evangelism ministry at our church, called Salvation of Souls, and the Lord highlighted me to him, and he saw the evangelistic anointing on my life that I didn't see at the time, and he took me under his wing. And I remember he told me to meet him up at his house. We go to Walmart, and as I was in the store with him, he was laying hands on people casting out demons, praying for the sick, prophesying. My heart was racing. I said, "What on earth is this man doing"? and he looked at me and says, "You're next. You're going to talk to the next person," and I was like, "No, I'm not". And he pushed me out of my comfort zone, and he said, "This is where you need to be. You need to witness to people". And the next lady that came up, I would just... I didn't know what to say, and all the sudden the words of knowledge started flowing, and I would know about the pain in her body. Some people, the Lord would reveal to me so many different things about their childhood, the season that they're in, and I would just release it. And the next thing you know, people are crying. This lady's deaf ear opened. I remember one time going to Walmart after hosting a conference back home, our yearly RiseUp Revival we do every year. And I remember before I took the guests to their hotel, we stopped at Walmart so they can get a few things. I laid my hands on their shoulders when we walked in the store. I said, "Father, I thank You for divine appointments. I thank You that You would lead us to the right people that need You, that need a right-now word, that need breakthrough". We walked in the store. I run into this Muslim man, and he was with his two daughters. And we were there, and I started ministering to him. And, Sid, he looks at me, rejects Jesus as the Son of God, which is that's what they...
Sid Roth: Of course.
Matt Cruz: ...follow. And in the middle of me speaking, we can feel this breeze come right past us, like this wind. And the guy's eyes got so big, you didn't have to say anything further. He looked at me and gave his whole life to Jesus right there. I mean, "I feel heat all over my body. What am I feeling"? And he took out his hands. I said, "Well, I want to pray with you right now. You want to accept Jesus in your heart"? And he went from rejecting Jesus as the Son of God to accepting Jesus as the Son of God.
Sid Roth: Okay. The presence of God is so strong in this studio right now. I don't know what you're supposed to pray, but would you look in the camera and pray whatever comes out of your mouth?
Matt Cruz: Absolutely. Those watching right now, in fact, Acts 10:44 comes in my mind, where it says, "As Peter was preaching to the people, as he was still speaking, the power of God fell upon all those who heard the Word". Just as I was ministering to that Muslim man in that aisle of Walmart, the power of God fell upon him. And those watching right now, I just release this fire over you right now. I release a fresh hunger for the things of God, and I say that you will be used for the glory of God. I pray right now, Holy Spirit, that You would infuse them with the same confidence, You would give them this courage to rise above apathy, to move beyond their boundaries and their comfort zone, and they would open their mouth, and speak with power and with authority. In the Name of Jesus, I say ears to hear, eyes to see, that you will walk in the anointing and the power of Almighty God.
Sid Roth: I'll tell you, the presence of God is getting higher and higher. I can't wait to see what he's going to do when we come back. But a few weeks ago, Matt had a life-changing experience with the fire of God, and he wants to release the fire all over you. Be right back.
Sid Roth: This is amazing, Matt. It must have really stretched you. What was that amazing supernatural thing that happened to you recently?
Matt Cruz: Yeah. A few weeks ago, I was in L.A. with a few friends of mine, and I actually was with a friend. We were going to see Aimee Semple McPherson's home in the Evangelist Temple, where she ministered and preached, and it was closed that day. We didn't get to go inside, so we left. And as we were driving back to where my hotel is, my buddy, Paul, he came across Bonnie Brae Street, and he looked at me. He says, "Matt, I've been trying to look for this place. I've been meaning to go here. I want to pray". I had no clue what it was, what he was talking about. I said, "What is the Bonnie Brae House"? that he was talking about, and so he pulled up. He said, "This is where William Seymour prayed, Azusa Street Revival".
Sid Roth: Whoa.
Matt Cruz: I said, "Absolutely, I know about that". He said, "This is where"...
Sid Roth: The guy with the box on his head.
Matt Cruz: Yeah. That's where he prayed. And he said, "They had prayer meetings here, and out of this house is where the movement, the Azusa Street Revival, took place". And I was like, "Well, let's go inside". They were closed, so I ended up switching my flight for a different reason.
Sid Roth: Mm-hmm.
Matt Cruz: And while I was out there, my friend, Paul, got ahold of somebody who has the keys of the house, and he got us in a time slot to pray there from 8 p.m. to midnight. And I remember, we went with a few friends. We go in there. All I wanted to know, Sid, was about revival history. I love revival history. I want to know about all, about the things William Seymour did in that house, prayed, just the things that happened. I didn't go in expecting anything crazy. I walked in the house, and I felt this fiery sweet presence of the Lord there. And as we walked in, I felt it right away. And the lady that was giving us a tour, she told us about just the past history of the house, William Seymour, revival history. And she let us have our time to pray. While we prayed, we went in the room where Kathyrn Kuhlman's pulpit is.
Sid Roth: Mm-hmm.
Matt Cruz: I sat in there, and all of us were weeping just spending time with God, and we had a few hours in that house. And I remember leaving out of that room, going into the living room, and I was just praying, and my friend, Josh, comes out of the same room, and he's shaking under the power of God. And I looked at him, and I saw the glory of the Lord all over him. So I go over by him. I lay my hands on his chest to pray with him, and what was on him came on me, and I start shaking. I can't even control my knees. They're buckling. I'm like, "What is going on"? All of a sudden, we start smelling burning oil. It's a manifestation of the presence of the Lord. I've never experienced this in my life. And so many things started happening. The guy who comes around to pray with me, he lays hands on me. What's on me comes onto him. He falls over to the ground, and we're just encountering the power of God. I remember, after that moment, I kind of was trying to get ahold of myself because this stuff doesn't normally happen to me. And I remember the lady who was giving us a tour, she said, "The piano there is the original piano that people would play on during that time," and the wife of William Seymour, she would play that piano. And the lady who was giving us a tour said the Holy Spirit taught her how to play three instruments. And she said, "Some people come here. They have no idea how to play the piano, and they would play under the unction"...
Sid Roth: Really?
Matt Cruz: ...and the anointing of the Holy Spirit". I remember her telling me that. I just opened up the piano, and I know like one chord on there, so I was just playing, and all of a sudden my fingers start moving, and I'm playing the most beautiful melody I've ever heard on a piano. I got so freaked out, I moved my hands.
Sid Roth: I think I would have been freaked out over that, too.
Matt Cruz: Yeah. I'm telling you, the fire of prayer, the fire of intersession is in that house, the glory of God. And we don't worship the manifestations. We worship the maker. We worship Jesus, and He was in that house encountering us, and I'll never forget it. We all were on the ground worshiping God and just praying, even for the nation, for God to pour out His spirit upon all flesh, for people to encounter the same power. And those watching right now, I want to pray for you to experience this same power that we experienced. And I pray right now against every bondage of the enemy. That power, Lord, that came upon me, to break the Devil's yoke in peoples' lives, that is what the anointing is, to set the captives free. Luke says that the Spirit of the Lord is on me because He's anointing me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. I release this encounter over you today, that you would rise up and that you would live for Jesus all the days of your life. I command every demonic spirit of addiction that's been keeping you bound to loose its grip off of you in Jesus' Name. I say worry is not your master. Depression is not your master. Suicide, anxiety is not your master. Jesus is your Master. You are a son and a daughter of the most high God. You are a citizen of Heaven, and I just pray right now, Holy Spirit, You would go and encounter them in a special unique way.
Sid Roth: There's a scripture that's coming to me. "Without holiness, you will not see God". The only way you can be holy is God's gift to you. You can't work it up, not through Judaism, Islam, any religion, you can't work it up. You can only get righteous through the Holy Spirit coming on you, convicting you of sin, repenting of your sin and getting the grace to overcome that sin. Pray this prayer first, out loud with me. Dear God... Allow it. Dear God, I'm a sinner. I'm so sorry. I believe the blood of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus paid the price for every sin I've ever committed. And because of You, I'm clean, and now that I'm clean, Jesus, come inside of me. I make you my Lord, not just my Savior, my Savior and Lord. Right now, very quickly, pray for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking in tongues and walking in power.
Matt Cruz: Father, right now, I ask that You would baptize your people in the Holy Ghost in fire. God, those who feel like they're not good enough to preach, they feel like timid like I did at a young age. I pray, Lord, that You would empower them for Your service, that, God, they would receive this fire and begin to preach with power, with fire, with accuracy, with clarity. I just pray right now, fill them, Holy Spirit. Let rivers of living water flow up from out of their belly, God. Let them pray in their own personal prayer language, the language of this Spirit. I thank You now in Jesus' Name. Some of you are watching, and you are crying. I see you right in your bedroom. Some of you are watching this even on YouTube, in your car. You are receiving. That's the Holy Spirit you're feeling. Ain't it awesome? Receive it in Jesus' Name right now, the fire of God, the fire of the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name, we thank You, Lord. We thank You, Lord. Pour out this mighty Holy Spirit baptism upon them in Jesus' Mighty Name. Hallelujah.
Sid Roth: Those that haven't spoken in tongues, you just haven't spoken. You can. Just speak. You can't speak in English unless you speak out loud. You can't speak in tongues unless you speak out loud. Do that right now in Jesus' name. And, by the way, Matt, when I laugh in the Spirit, while I'm praying in tongues, it means that God accomplished great and mighty things.
Matt Cruz: Amen.
Sid Roth: Whatever I was praying about, whatever they're praying about. You start, and you know what? I don't know what God wants to do, but I do know that many of you have not spoken in your prayer language. Do it now. Matt, pray. Look, if an 81-year-old man can do it, you can do it. Give me a break.
Matt Cruz: Hallelujah.
Sid Roth: Loose them in Jesus' Name. Fingers are being healed. Backs are being healed. All pain is going, all pains. Watch it. Watch it. Watch it go. Watch it go. God is good. God is good. He's in your room right now. This is your time to really dedicate yourself to God now. Do it.