Let's start in prayer Heavenly Father, we just thank you.
We praise you, we magnify your name.
We thank you, father, for each and every person that's in this
room. And Father God, we thank you
tonight as we go to study your word.
We thank you that you where we're not returned void.
But Father God, that word will penetrate the hearts and lives
of each and every one of us and help us to be a a doer of the
word, not just a hero only, but we thank you that most of all,
we'll take forth the word word that we hear the spring forth
life on on the inside of us and we'll go out to the highways and
the byways and we'll share the love of Jesus Christ with the
lost and dying and hurting world.
Father God, we thank you for Bible to this nation.
We thank you Father for revival to this generation.
We thank you for signs, wonders, miracles and healing taking
place in our midst. And we thank you that we come
not in their own strengths, but we come not in their own power
or own ability. We come in your strengths and
your power and your ability that you be lifted up.
Father God, we thank you for the Holy Spirit lives big on the
inside of us that leads us and guides us and shows us the way
and give this utterance to speak with all boldness the
uncompromising gospel of Jesus Christ.
But most of all, Father, we thank you for the anointing of
God that's present tonight. And if anyone is here tonight
going to any kind of situation, whether it be physical,
financial, spiritual, emotional, mental, whatever it might be, we
think that the anointing of God will minister to their minds,
minister to their hearts, ministers to their bodies,
ministers to their souls, will set them free.
By the God, we thank you for everything you have done and
everything you are doing while tearing around the world.
And we give you the praise, the honor, the glory.
In Jesus Christ name we pray, Amen, Amen.
Praise God. So tonight's going to be a
little bit different. I am going to minister to the
sick. That's one thing that the Lord
really laid on my heart a number of years ago because God has
given me a supernatural healing anointing.
And if you're around when my grandfather was around, he
actually told everyone to have three times his healing
anointing. In fact, in his latter years,
most of the time there was sometimes he would actually
preach, he would line people up and then he would say, don't you
want the person who's most anointed to, to pray for the
sick And everyone say yes. And then he said, Craig, come up
here and, and pray for the sick. And, and it's interesting
because the other day actually, I happened to be, I was on
victory TVI was doing their victory thong they have, and
there was another minister that was there and we went out to eat
afterwards, a very healthy place called In-n-out Burger.
I'm really healthy. I love In-n-out Burger.
We don't, we don't have them in, in Oklahoma and they do have
them in Texas. And so I went to the healthy
place. And so this guy proceeds to tell
me, says now 30 years ago, you didn't priest, but you, you
prayed for the sick and I had debilitating, you know, back
issues that they didn't know if I'd be able to walk again.
And God instantly healed me. I said, it took you 30 years to
give you A to give me a testimony and like, well, Craig,
I never really have a that's the first time we probably ever had
eaten together. I said, you had two daughters
that went to rainbow. Your one daughter actually went
through the youth group. I taught the youth group.
She sat on the front row and every one of my classes.
Couldn't your daughter actually give you me your testimony that
you have to weigh 30? You know, here's something else.
You know, when you have a testimony, tell us.
It actually helps us understand, you know what God does use us
sometimes, you know, you know, sometimes.
But also, you know, testimonies are important when people hear
and maybe someone else is going through a similar situation.
Well, if God can heal them, then he can heal me.
Amen. But tonight I'm going to
actually, you know, tonight's Wednesday night.
I know for us Wednesday night, it's almost more like a Bible
study. And I was because they lost, but
they didn't really lose my luggage.
I barely got. So I flew into Orlando because I
wanted to go find someplace between Plant City and here.
So I had a 10 minute layover. All right, I don't know if you
know a 10 minute layover. It's not enough time for them to
make the the bag connection. So my bags were stuck in
Orlando. They said, well, yeah, we can
mail them to Saint Augustine. It'll take two days.
I'm like, well, I have two days. And so, so I spent the night
last night and in Orlando, really, really super nice cheap
hotel. It's, it's a hotel room.
It doesn't matter. A bed's a bed.
And so then I went to pick up my, my luggage, But I'll, I'll
give you a testimony. So, so last night they actually
told me. I said I was, you know, no, I
wasn't complaining. I was just, is there any way you
can deliver? Because I tell you what, if
you'll pick it up tomorrow, I'll give you $150.00 travel voucher,
you know, for Southwest Airlines.
I'm like, OK, so I show up today.
They gave me a $250 travel voucher.
So, you know, so now I can fly somewhere free because they lost
my luggage. So hopefully on the way home,
they'll lose my luggage again, you know, and but anyway, I was
driving up from from Orlando today and I just really felt,
you know, I knew I always minister.
I always pray for the sick, but I just really felt LED to to
minister. I always at our church, I always
the last Sunday in, in the old year or maybe the 1st Sunday in
the new year happened to be last Sunday in the old year.
See my, my, my parents, their anniversary is the, is the 30th
of December. So they're always out on their
anniversary. So sometimes it, the way it
works or whatever. I always have the word for the
year and the word for this year of 2025.
I don't know what did, at least for me, might not for you.
It was change changes, all right, and so the Lord gave me a
sermon. You know, we all deal with
changes now. We just changed our calendar.
All right, Some of you are changing your lifestyle and you
know, some of you probably what it was today.
Today's the 8th about three more probably after Friday.
You probably quit going to the gym.
But anyway, you know, you know, it is amazing, you know, if
people go to the gym quite a bit, you know, if you show up,
you know, the day after New Year's or whatever at the gym
and it's, it's super packed. If, if you'll hang on for three
weeks, you're going to find out it's just like it was in 2024.
You know, because people, you know, most changes don't don't
stick or whatever, you know, we have to make change.
But you know what? Change is always something that
that needs to take place and, and it's, it's healthy.
Change is a is a constant in life, but it's not always easy.
As humans, we often resist change because it disrupts our
comfort zones and challenges our routines.
However, the Bible is filled with stories and teachings that
remind us that change, while difficult, is both necessary and
good when it aligns with God's will.
Today we'll explore the difficulty of change, the
necessity of change, and how God equips us to embrace
transformation. You know, it's always good to
evolve. Now, you know, we say, people
say, well the word never changes and it doesn't.
But the way we distribute the word changes.
Do you realize that my grandfather has almost 250,000
followers on YouTube? Do you know, YouTube wasn't
around when he passed away? You don't know what a YouTube
was. I, I just got a, a thing the
other day that we had like 4 million downloads on YouTube.
You know, we have some, some things over 1,000,000 downloads.
And I'm thinking, you know, no one knew what YouTube was a few
years ago. You know, and, and you realize
that if you, for whatever reason, have the opportunity to
have some kind of viral cat video or something like that on
your social media, that now you have a new opportunity to speak
the word to these people that, that, that actually tune to
your, your, your social media site because you've put a cat
video. I don't know why you want to put
a cat video, but you know, people, stupid things, you know,
I will say this at any time that I perform a wedding, you know,
cuz weddings now are some, some of them are streamed live and
some of them are always video. I always tell everybody that I
own the video rights in case something crazy happens to the
wedding. I want to win the $100,000 or
whatever from America's funding some videos.
So, you know, so, so it's always a, a deal.
I make you sign a contract. No, I'm just kidding.
You know, I own the video rights thing.
But but change is, is evident. You know, there are some
companies that didn't that didn't, you know, promote with
the change and they're no longer everyone heard heard of Eastman
Kodak company company who founded in 1888.
And you know, the reason that they didn't they didn't really
get to the digital industry because they didn't want to
compete with their film. Now they're no longer in
existence. Remember the Polaroid cameras?
Speaking of cameras, I mean Polaroid remember of Blockbuster
video. I probably went to Blockbuster
video every Friday night. But you know what change
basically on that situation, change made, made video stores
not not even relevant anymore, you know, and if we don't keep
up with changes, you know, like I said, the word never changes,
but how we, what we do and how we do does change.
I mean, you know, just like, you know, I mean, at one time
churches didn't have big screens, right?
You know, one time churches didn't have this that didn't
have that, you know, but but we, we, we were evolving.
And, you know, nowadays if you go into a church without a, a
screen with that puts the scriptures up, you're like, man,
where are these guys at? What are they doing?
I mean, you know, are we here in the 80s or something?
I mean, you know, I mean, do you realize that one time we didn't
carry smartphones, we didn't carry phones at all, right?
You know, but the world changes. And you know, the thing about
it, not everybody likes to change.
But you know what? There's 125 year old company
named Stanley. One of the hottest products
right now is a pink Stanley Cup. I mean, we're talking about used
to, they would sell to construction workers and, and
people that take their lunch to, you know, to, to work or to
school or, or whatever. And, and now they, they, they
reinvented themselves. And so sometimes we have to
reinvent, not reinvent ourselves, but reinvent the way
we do things. So we're talking about change.
Say a little bit, you know, point #1 change is difficult but
possible. The scripture reminds us that
change is often uncomfortable and requires effort.
Ecclesiastes 31 New Living Translation says this for every
I think there is a season and a time for every activity under
heaven, there was a time in the season for everything you know
there is. I know a number of years ago we
actually had a meeting with my grandfather and from that
meeting spurned a book and it's a great book.
It's called The Midas Touch and it was the book was about
revelation, you know, and people being overabundance on on the
financial side, you know, and you know, and every time.
So what? My grandfather actually asked,
well, well, what are some of the teachings going on?
And it's funny because we said, well, this is a new teaching.
My grandfather said, no, you know, that one on the 40s, that
one on the 50s, that one. I mean, I mean, you know, he
goes, there is really nothing new.
It's just kind of comes around in waves or whatever.
But you know, sometimes we have to have changes.
There was a time in the season for everything.
Sometimes we go through certain seasons and sometimes we go
through certain times. Anyway, this first reminds us
that life is filled with season. Some seasons are joyful, others
are challenging, but each one requires us to adapt and grow.
You know, sometimes, you know, a challenging season, although was
a challenging time, you know, we turned out that that the things
that we learned during that challenging season can help us
for the rest of our lives. In fact, my, my dad always talks
about if you know, his story, he was going to Bible college and
because of, because of some things happening, this is during
Vietnam that, that he actually ended up dropping below.
He wasn't a full time student anymore and it ended up was
going to be drafted. So he decided to join the Army,
you know, so now he's, you know, he spent three years in Uncle
Sam's Army, but he says the things that he learned in the
Army, he uses them today. One thing because he has a top
secret crypto clearance or whatever.
I'm not sure all of the stuff here.
Well, let's just put it this way.
The Secretary of State came to Taipei, Taiwan, where he
stationed and he carried the briefcase.
All right, so, so that's to tell you.
I mean, I mean, he actually had a higher clearance than some of
his superior officers. He couldn't even share.
So so he basically, he won't tell you this, but at one point
in time he was spying on China. But anyway, so that's the whole
a whole another thing. But if he says, you know, he
learned that the things that happened in the Comm center, he
couldn't share it with everybody.
In fact, there is some stuff he goes that's probably
declassified today, but I still won't share it with anyone
because I don't know if it is or not.
And you know, and it's such a big deal.
And so it says that has helped him sometimes to keep things at
work, at work and not bring them home with us.
Because you know, one of the things a lot of times people
have a bad day at work when they come home and they have a bad
day at home. But anyway, Hebrews 12/11 says
no discipline is enjoyable. While it's happening, it's
painful, but afterwards there will be a peaceful harvest of
right living. For those who are trained in
this way, change often feels like discipline.
Sometimes it stretches us and pushes us beyond our limits.
But God uses these moments of discomfort to shape our
character and to prepare us for greater things.
You know, sometimes it seems like it's not a, you know, it,
it's a tough season. But man, at the end of that
season, everything's going to be OK.
I mean, you know, in my own opinion, the last four years
have been a tough season. Praise God.
The change is on the way. But that's the whole another
thing. You know, think about the
Israelites in the wilderness. I mean, you know, they escaped
bondage from Egypt. But, you know, but while they're
doing that, they long for the comforts that they had, you
know, because see, even though they were going to experience a
great change, it's tough because everybody, everybody likes what
they're used to, whether it's good or whether it's not.
You know, they long for the comfort of Eve, even though it
represented slavery. God was leading them to the
promised land, but their journey required them to trust Him and
let go of their old ways. And sometimes we don't want to
let go of our old ways. Sometimes we're comfortable, but
it might not be the best way. You know, one of the things that
we often like in our ministry. I, I don't want to, to do
something because that's the way we've always done it.
And in life, we shouldn't do things.
That's the way, because that's the way we've always done it.
We should do something because it's the best way to do it.
Or, or, or it reaches the most amount of people or, or some the
most, you know, the, the, the best way.
So, you know, I'm all for change, of course.
I guess that's probably, you know, even though I'm, I'm
probably not one of the young adults, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm,
I mean, so for many, many years, actually, I, I, I did youth and
then young adults or, or whatever.
So one time I'm, I'm doing young adults and I put myself, I said,
you know, I said we instead of them.
And they're all like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not in our
class. I'm like, I'm not that old.
So anyway, but, but, but I used the word we kind of putting me
in there and, and they got offended.
I'm like, so you know, here's the thing.
What's funny, because I remember when I was a kid, my dad played
over 30 basketball and I thought, man, these people are
old, over 30. Well, my, my oldest son just
turned, he turned 30 last year. So I'm like, man, he can play
over 30 basketball. So he's getting old too.
Of course, he's getting old makes me older.
So it is what it is. All right, you know, anyway,
transformation requires us to renew our minds daily, seeking
God's truth and aligning our lives with his will.
Find out what God's will is. You know, it doesn't matter.
It's the way you used to do it. You know, it's, you know, like I
said, the word never changes what the methods do, the the way
we teach. Do you, you realize that we live
in a society that's more visual? I mean, you know, they're used
to, to, to visualization that they want to see things that
they, they, they learn visually. In fact, I mean, that's one
thing that that has struggled with, with teachers struggling
to, to be able to, to teach these young, these kids, you
know, you know, using the old methods.
Of course, I still haven't figured out new math.
I don't know if anyone wants to explain new math to me.
You know, it's just, it's, I get mad.
I help my granddaughter. She's 11 and I'm really good at
math. I mean, very good at math.
And I'm like, well, I don't understand.
She's like, but Pennsylvania, that's not the way the teacher
does it. I'm like, but then I talked to
the teacher, she goes, I don't really like new math either.
So it's just the way they want us to teach.
And I'm like, in fact, one of the things, one of one of the,
the ways to actually do this new math was to not actually get the
number. And you know, you round it up.
I'm like, why you want to, I want to know I can find the
right, the right number, but they wanted me just to round it.
I'm like, that makes no, I mean, it makes sense.
I'm trying to guess it, you know, if I'm trying to guess,
well, well, you know, is that 12 feet or is that 11 1/2?
You know, I, I, you know, but when it comes down to doing math
on paper, why would I round up anyway?
So I actually, I skipped, I skipped ahead.
Sorry. Anyway, change necessary for
growth. All right.
God's plan for our lives includes transformation.
Without change, we cannot fully step into the purpose He has for
us. 2nd Corinthians 517 This means that anyone who belongs to
Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone and a new
life has begun. You know what I you know in
Christ we are called to leave behind our old ways and embrace
the new life he offers. There's not just a one time
event, but a continual process of renewal.
I mean we continually to renew our mind.
The Bible talks about renewing our mind daily.
You just didn't change one time and it was over.
Now we continue to renew our minds and then sometimes that we
even follow it back into bad habits or old habits or, or
sometimes they're not bad, they're just habits.
We should mean, you know, you know, so you realize that that
sometimes the habit itself isn't bad, but, but the fact that I'm
taking too much time out of my, I mean, I should be spending
time doing other things, right? It's not bad to watch TV, not
bad to, to search the Internet or, or, or anything, like I just
can search some bad things on the Internet.
But anyway, but, but that's a whole another whole another
thing. But, but you know what,
sometimes things are time consuming and they, they take
away from our time with our family, from our time with God,
from our time from our prayer life, from our, from, you know,
all kinds of things. Even though it's not bad, you
know, it's not bad to go to the lake every once in a while.
But if you go to the lake every weekend, you're never going to
church. That's not good, you know, you
know, of course, I guess why go to the lake?
You guys live close to the ocean.
So I mean, that's, you know, we don't live close to the ocean.
We, we go to the lake. I mean, you know, Oklahoma.
I, I know you guys have lakes as well.
So if you have alligators in your lakes, I'm not really, I'm
not, I'm not really cool with the alligator thing.
You know, you know, I, I, I don't really want to because
I've had people said, so you can go swimming in there, except for
there is alligators there. I'm like, OK, forget I'm not
going swimming in there. I had a friend that lived in
lives still does live in Lakeland, FL was not too far
away and there's a they have this big, you know, I, I it's
more like a big pond. It's not really a lake.
It's only like a big pond and it's all seaman and around where
you can do you can walk your dog.
Well, one time they're walking their little dog and that dog
gets eaten by some alligator. What I mean, you know, I'm like,
I'm not walking my dog by the lake.
So actually I'm, I'm not even going to go there anyway.
I'm Romans 12/2. Let's go on says don't copy the
behavior. I'm reading from new living, by
the way. Don't copy the behavior and
customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new
person by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is
good and pleasing and perfect. And like I said, transformation
requires us to renew our minds daily.
You know, think about this. A seed.
I mean, you know, seed doesn't say it's seed forever.
You know, basically a seed must change.
It must break open and grow before it can become a tree.
The same is true for US. Growth requires change even when
it feels like it's breaking apart.
Sometimes it, it feels like everything's, you know, falling
apart. But sometimes what we're doing
is we're going into something new that God has for us.
You know, God is with us during the process of change.
You know, you, you know, he's always with you no matter what
you do. The Bible says he'll never leave
you nor forsake you. You're never by yourself with
Jesus Christ. He's always there.
Now we might not can't see him, but he's always there.
You know, I, I always think about Bible stories.
Remember Zacchaeus, the wee little man, the wee little man
was he, you know, and so climb up Sycamore tree to see, to see
Jesus and, and Jesus says Zacchaeus, I want to come to
your house. He can't.
You're going to come to my house, Jesus, I don't want you
to come to my house. Here's the deal.
Whether you want Jesus to come to your house or not, he's there
because he's on the inside of you.
Wherever you go, you bring Jesus with you.
Whether you act like you do or not, he's still there.
All right, so this, this word warned all right, But God is
with us during the process of change.
One of the most comforting truths about change is that we
do not face it alone. God is with us every step of the
way, guiding and empowering. This Isaiah 4110 says don't be
afraid for I am with you. Don't be discouraged for I am
your God. I will strengthen you and help
you. I will hold you up with my
victorious right hand. You know what, God will help us
and when we have difficulties in life, God's going to help us.
He's always there, you know, 24/7, 365 it doesn't matter.
I mean, he's not a phone call away.
He all we have to do is call upon his name.
He's always there to help you during your situations.
And I know, you know, for us, it's we're visual.
We can't see God, but God is there.
You know, I, I know sometimes we, we want to feel like a Bible
character. You know, God, why are you
forsaken us? He hasn't forsaken us.
He's always there and he's always on his time.
Not always our, our time is not always his time.
The Bible says, and you know, a day with the Lord's like 1000
years. So you know, so if the Lord's
coming, if Jesus coming back in a day, that's 1000 years from
now. Now note to self, if you want to
predict when Jesus Christ is coming back, I, I, I would say
that chronologically you should do that when you probably will
be passed away by that time. If not, it destroys your
ministry. You know, like the guy that
wrote 88 reasons why the Lord's coming back in 1988 after 88 to
his ministry was kind of done. So, but then there's some people
who's a prophetic people and they prophecy all this stuff and
then somehow, some way they make it to the next year.
I don't know how, I don't know how people support them.
But anyway, whatever, that's just something's always kind of
when change feels overwhelming. God promises his presence and
strength. Of course, my mom's favorite
scripture, Philippians 413 for I can do everything through Christ
who gives me strength. You know, there's nothing you
can't do. In fact.
Now see, here's the thing working in our ministry, I can't
tell my mom we can't do it because he'll tell us what the
Bible says. You can do it because the Bible,
you know, I don't know how many you've ever been to our campus
or seen it online or whatever. On our stage, we have a globe
that comes down from the from the ceiling on a telescopical
thing, has lights on there around the world and spins
around or anyone seen that globe?
You know, when we dropped the globe, we all, everyone takes
pictures and things like that. Do you realize in 1992, I don't
know about today, 1992, my dad came up with the idea because
because in our old auditorium, we had maps of the countries on
the wall and we had lights in there where we had Ramos or
whatever. And so they weren't, I wasn't a
globe, but it was like, so we moved to the news thing.
My dad goes, let's have a globe. So we called around.
We actually called people at Disney, Universal, Six Flags,
different companies and says cuz surely someone has a globe that
comes down the ceiling. We couldn't find anybody.
I remember sitting in mom's office and telling my mom, man,
we can't find anyone that's that's ever done that.
And my mom's like, well, surely. Well, actually dad came around.
Well, I mean, how hard is, I mean, we can sings, telescope
and things spin around and put lights.
I mean how, how hard it can do so.
So then next time I sent my mom's office, I said, here's
what I said. We can do it.
You know, like the movie, you know, you can do it.
You know, we can do it. I don't know what it's going to
cost, but we can do it. That globe cost 6 figures and
who knows what would cost today to do it So anyway, But it's
there. So because we can do all things
through Christ, that strengthens us.
That's also how I ended up writing some of the Rainbow's
alma mater because I don't write songs and anyone sings, unlike
Barry Manilow, the right songs that everyone sings.
But that was my mom came up with the idea because we had a song
that that David Ingalls had written that we've taken it for
our alma mater. And my, my mom came up with the
idea of, hey, we need to arrange an alma mater for our school,
everyone. So, so I had a guy who works for
me. That's what he does.
He writes, he writes music. I had him write the song for me.
He gave it to me. I played it for mom.
Mom's like that. That's a good start.
And, and it is part of the song he goes, but we need to add some
to it. And so I told Joel, I said, we
need to add some too. I'll give you a month to
rewrite. And he goes a month came and
went, Craig, I don't have anything.
So go sit at my mom's office once again and says, we, we
don't have anything for, you know, And so my mom goes, well,
we're going to write this alma mater.
And then she, she proceeds to tell me exactly what she I'm,
I'm looking at her. You know, at first I'm not
writing anything down, looking at her like, well, what, you
want me to write it? Because I don't care who writes
it. Someone's going to write this.
I'm a monitor. I'm like, so I mean, it's pretty
easy. My mom says if you know, random
graduation, he says, I want you to imagine this.
This song is written for random graduation.
They're standing there, you know, at graduation, their
graduation night. So I wrote the first line
standing here today. Next line is and you're real
divine. And then then she was talking
about, you know, thinking about their two years I spent there.
So I came up with a reflecting back to a precious time.
So to the world. I was trained to go remember
top. We wanted to need it.
So anyway, we wrote the song. So, I mean, I don't write songs,
but you know, figured it out somehow, some way, because you
can't tell my mom. No, you know what you know, so
she can't tell no is God you, you, you realize some of the
people God has called to do things, if you look at, at their
strengths and weaknesses and things like that, there, there's
no way they could have done that.
Now, one thing God does do is he doesn't give us the whole plan.
You know, he doesn't give you the 25 year plan in year 1
because if he did, it would scare the fire out of you.
You know, just take it step by step.
Some people ask me, you know, all the time said, whoa, whoa,
where's Raymond going to be in the next 25 years?
I got no clue. I'm just, I'm just here, I'm
just catching up. All right, You know what we're
going to do? We're going to have more
schools. We have 300 schools right now.
I mean, eventually we're going to have 1000 schools.
When is it going to happen? I don't know, you know, but you
know, I mean, you know, I always, I, I use the Back to the
future thing. We're going to do the same thing
over and over again because that's what that's what, you
know, that's what we do anyway. No matter how difficult to
change, we can endure and overcome through Christ's power.
He's always with us. You know, Remember when Peter
stepped out of the boat? I mean, how tough is it a step
out of a boat on water? I mean, think about that.
I mean, you know, and I always, you know, a lot of times when we
hear the story about Peter stepping out in the in the boat
and you know, eventually Peter does fall and people laugh about
that. But you know what?
I'd rather be a wet water Walker than a dry boat center.
There's eleven other disciples that sat in the boat and watched
Peter walk on the water. And you realize, besides Jesus,
Peter's the only man on record that walked on the water.
All right? But it was a step of faith.
It wasn't a natural thing. It wasn't a normal thing.
But when Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on the water,
he had to embrace change. I mean, this probably felt
pretty weird to step out walking on water, leaving the safety of
the boat and trusting Jesus completely.
You know what, as long as he focused on Jesus, there was no
problem. But Peter began to look at the
winds and the waves and all the things around about him, and he
faltered. But when he faltered, Jesus was
there to catch him and help him continue on his journey.
I'm here to tell you, when we have changes in life, we have to
focus in on Jesus. You know, and sometimes the
reason we're have to change because of winds and waves and
different things like that, but we have to not look at the
winds, not look at the waves, because even though winds and
waves do come, it doesn't matter because we got Jesus.
Why worry about winds and waves when Jesus is with you?
Because as long as he focusing on Jesus, he was able to walk on
the water. But when you begin to look at
the outside and look at the thing, you know, there's
sometimes people are going on doing things for God or or
whatever. Then they begin to to you know,
people say, well, you can't do that.
I mean, like, you know, who has started church in the day,
today's climate or all these kind of things.
You know what, it doesn't matter whether it it's naturally sound,
sound or not, as long as it's God's plan.
That's something else. God's plan is not man's plan.
See, sometimes that we as men were like, well, they're doing
it, so we should do it too. Well, you know what?
That's the same mentality. If everybody else comes up, jump
off the Cliff, you're gonna jump off after him.
I mean, you know, just because somebody else is doing, because
some, you know, there used to be people, well, they're not doing
that in Tulsa anymore. Well, who cares what we do in
Tulsa? It's cold in Tulsa anyway right
now. So you know, I know you guys
think it's cold, but OK, the other day that it was 15° in
Tulsa with the windshield effector, it says it feels like
1 and I was out walking dogs. It's cold.
So, you know, we'll, I'll take your 48° or 50° weather or
whatever. I know you might be bundled up
in a coat and I'm wearing shorts.
OK, You know, maybe not wearing shorts because it was kind of
cold, especially when I landed in Orlando.
It was like 40 something. It was 41 last night, felt like
30-4. And Craig put his coat in his
luggage. That didn't show up in Orlando.
So so Walmart hadn't actually I had trouble finding a sweatshirt
at Walmart by the way, because you know, you guys don't
normally I mean that if I wanted a swimsuit or shorts, no
problem. You guys have you know, and you
have lots of short sleeved shirts that just came out, you
know, brand new. I haven't seen them are Walmart.
We don't got that yet. You know, you guys have the you
know, swimsuits out. Your Walmarts are all ready for
the summertime. That was cold.
So I did find a Florida sweatshirt and I got a Florida
Gators T-shirt too as well. So, you know, so I actually have
most of the SEC T-shirts starting with Alabama.
You know, I'm a huge, I'm not really a huge Alabama fan, but I
went to an Alabama game which and I posted it on social media,
which became I was a huge Alabama thing.
So every time Alabama gets beat, I get yelled.
I mean, it's like, ha ha, Craig, Alabama got beat.
I'm like, I don't care. I'm an Oklahoma State fan, but
that's even worse. But you know what I mean?
That's it's just terrible. I mean, we did terrible in
football. Maybe we'll do better
basketball. I don't know.
But So what happened? And so I had Alabama gear.
So when I had Alabama gear, other people from the SCC.
So so then I showed up, someone showed up with an Auburn shirt
and then I had a Kentucky shirt. Then I got a Tennessee shirt.
So I'm working on the whole SCC. So, you know, actually Oklahoma
now is an SEC. I still have an Oklahoma serve
for whatever I've had them over the years, but I'll have one
right now, all right? So embracing change can bring
blessings, all right. When we submit to God's leading
and embrace change, He brings about blessings and growth we
could never achieve on our own. Jeremiah 2911 says, for I know
the plans I have for you, says, O Lord, they are plans for good
and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.
I'm here to tell you, sometimes when you're following that plan,
you're like, God, is this really your plan?
Is this really the plan that you have for my life?
Because it doesn't seem like it's, it's a plan for a future
and a hope. But you know what, stay in the
boat, maybe get out of the boat. I don't know what you need to
do, but but just, you know, stay with Jesus because sometimes
he'll navigate us through a a tough season, but at the end of
the tough season, you know, things are going to be a lot
better. You you never know.
And then sometimes, I mean, you know, if you hear my dad's, you
know, story when he came to work for Kenneth take in ministries,
he didn't preach. He wasn't a preacher, even
though he became a so he was an associate pastor and preached
every Sunday night. He came to work for the ministry
and he was the announcement guy. That's all he did make
announcements and book meetings, you know, and so he says it
seemed like that that it wasn't it wasn't going to be promotion.
It seems like it it was a demotion, but God had other
plans, you know, that that was just a stepping stone for what
God really had. I don't care.
I still like making announcements.
I still make announcements all the time is one of my favorite
things to do. And you know, I like making
announcements. So, you know, in fact, one time
when, when I had a person that says Craig, you know, I always
when you make announcements or whatever, I never took you
seriously. I actually heard you preach one
time. He goes, you know, you should
have quit and making announcements.
I'm like, why? I like making announcements.
You know, I like having fun. Sometimes it doesn't matter.
But you know what, God knows the plans.
And sometimes we're like, man, God, is this really the plan?
I mean, stick with the plan, but make sure it's God's plan, not
your plan. It's not man's plan.
It's God's plan. Gleason, 69, says this.
So let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right
time. We will reap a harvest of
blessings if we don't give up. You know what?
Don't give up. The only way you lose is you
give up. As long as you keep fighting,
you are victorious in crises. The Bible already says we win.
We're winners and not losers. We're head and not tails.
We're above and not beneath. But there are sometimes when it
seems like the score is 49 to 0 and you're in the fourth quarter
and you're backed up to fix the score, another touchdown and
you're thinking, you know, whatever.
And and that's when I bring in Tom Brady.
I think about the, remember the Super Bowl, Atlanta Falcons, you
know, and it was Atlanta, you know, it seemed like the game
was over at half time. And the New England Patriots,
not one of my favorite teams, but but they came back and they
won the game. Why?
Because they decided just to keep playing.
They couldn't. You know, a lot of teams give up
at halftime. A lot of people give up, you
know, It's just too tough. It's too hard, you know, How can
these things be too tough or too hard when you have Jesus Christ
with us at all times? It can't be too tough and too
hard. You know what?
Persevering through change allows us to experience the
harvest God has promised. If you just keep at it, you
know, you don't reap the harvest overnight, you know?
I know my grandfather tells the story that when him and my
grandmother got married, he said he had, he had a dime in his
pocket. That's all the money he had.
He says at that time a candy bar was $0.05.
So he went and purchased 2 candy bars and said, you know, the
only place that God can take us now is up because we, we can't
go any further. I mean, we, we can't go any
further. I mean we're, we're already at
0. So he said I started my marriage
with nothing, but God blessed him.
And I know God can bless you when you sneeze, but that's a
whole other thing. But, you know, I don't know what
some of you guys said. Whenever you see these people
used to say God bless you, even though they don't care whether
you're blessed or not. But anyway, they say that, all
right, Well, you know, consider Paul's transformation.
You know, he once was a persecutor of Christians, and
then he embraced a radical change after encountering Jesus.
Through that change, Paul became one of the greatest apostles,
spreading the gospel to countless people.
And Paul pinned things that I quote on a daily basis.
I mean, think about that. What if Paul would have never
changed Our Bible look a lot different, you know, and, and
the thing about it is, is that, you know, sometimes too, it's
hard, you know, to think about what Paul's former life, you
know, you know, I mean, do you realize that there were probably
times where he encountered the families of some Christians that
he put to death, you know, and something, you know, I don't
know what Paul thorn, but that might have been for me.
That would have been kind of a thorn, you know, feeling bad or
whatever. But you know what, God had a
plan for him. He had a plan for him.
And it was a radical change, though some changes aren't that
that radical, you know, like that.
But you know, you know, God can help us through every season.
You know, how do we embrace change?
Well, number one, we pray for guidance.
We, we should seek God's wisdom and direction through prayer.
Now, most of you probably know the Scripture, James 15 says, if
you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give
you, give it to you. He will not rebuke you for
asking. You know, if you need anything,
all you have to do is ask our generous God.
Not just wisdom, but you know what, sometimes we need wisdom
in life and some of the last. It is interesting because our
human nature, a lot of times the last thing we do is pray.
The first thing we do is like, well, how, how am I going to do
it? Well, first of all, you got to
get rid of the eye mentality and think about the weed mentality.
How are we going to do it? Because everything you do should
should be with God on your side anyway.
Number two, trust God's timing. Remember that God worked in his
perfect timing. All right, Proverbs 3 five and
six says trust the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on
your own understanding. Seek his will and all you do and
he will show you which path to take.
I like the point where it it says do not depend on your own
understanding. Sometimes whenever you're
embracing change, you don't understand why it doesn't seem
like like this is what God wants me to do.
But you know what, quit trying to figure it out in your own
head because there's so many times we can't figure out in our
own head. And you know, you just quit
asking and seek his will. Trust Him with all your complete
heart 110% Give us, say God, you're in control.
You're, you're, you're going to have to help me through this.
I, I don't know how to do it myself.
You know, sometimes I have a saying, let go and let God just
let you know, let God work. Because if you could have done
it on your own, you would have already done it on your own.
But you can't, you're not able to.
You know, sometimes we have to take small steps of faith, you
know, embrace one change, one step at a time, trusting God is
leading you forward. You know, sometimes, and I, I
think it's better when God only gives us one step, because I
think when he gives us too many steps, you know, it, it, your,
your brain's like, I can't do that.
I mean, one time I was there was one of one of my employees and,
and actually she had a, a, a young gentleman ask her to, to
marry him. And at the time she, she was a
Raymond graduate. He was not he, he sang on his,
on his local, you know, church. And that's why they, they met
because she was a singer, singer was a Raymond singer in a band.
And they, they met. He, she went to go do a worship
thing at, at their church. They ended up meeting, they
ended up starting dating and all, all these kind of things.
And so she's like, so the guy asked her to marry him and he
goes, well, let me talk to Craig.
I mean, that was actually what she said, but that was so she
came talk to me. She says, I don't know what to
do because, you know, I said, well, what do you feel that God
has for you? She goes, I don't want to tell
you. I'm like, I'm like, well, why?
Because if I tell you, then you're going to think I can't do
it. I said I would never think you
can't do it, you know, but because my, my whole point was
if you marry this guy, he's not in the ministry.
And if he never gets in the ministry, you knew that whenever
you married him. So if that's something, you
know, now I know. I mean, you know, Joyce Meyer,
her husband's not really in the ministry your per SE.
They've gone pretty well. But you know, not everybody
wants to to be Joyce Meyer's type husband, you know, you
know, or whatever. I mean, he was a businessman,
did very well financially as well as stuff.
And, you know, so they end up they end up did get married, you
know, because we talked, we talked it out.
I mean, you know, I mean, I said, I can't tell you what to
do. I'm not here to, to, to, to be.
I mean, I'm here to give you, give you things to think about,
to pray about or whatever. And they end up getting married
or whatever. Lo and behold, three years
later, he end up coming to Raymond.
Now he's a pastor, all right. And so God still worked
everything out. But at the time she didn't, you
know, she didn't know that, you know, and he didn't know that.
I mean, he was, and actually because of his job, he was
actually able to transfer his job into work from home.
And I think he actually still works for that same company
because able to do it wherever he is.
And God has blessed him, you know, and you know, but you
know, it was, it was a radical change and she didn't know if
that's what she wanted to do. And I didn't know if that's what
she wanted to do. And it wasn't my, my decision
to, to help her or to not. But thank God, she just took it
one step at a time and God worked it out, you know, God
worked it out. And some, you know, just one
step at a time. You know, that's the thing with
Peter. He's had to take one step at a
time. If you take one step at a time
and focus in on Jesus, you're going to make it, you know.
So also we should stay in the community.
Surround yourself with others who encourage and support you in
your journey of transformation. Everybody needs 4 good friends,
you know. Think about there in Luke
chapter 5, whenever there was a paralytic man and they'll let
him down before Jesus. It says the place was filled and
it says the power of God was present to heal them all.
Only one person that got healed. That's the guy that came from
the roof. But you know what these four
friends without any kind of ropes or any kind of what
whatever, they figured out a way to get this guy to the house up,
tear off the people's roof and let him down before Jesus.
Thank God, you know, if it wasn't for those four friends,
this guy could have never gotten in the in the place.
Thank God he surrounded himself with four guys that weren't they
weren't going to leave that place until that man got healed.
I preached a sermon one time is who would drive your white
Bronco. Now when I said that most of you
and if you Google white Bronco, you are going to see the OJ
Simpson chase. Does anyone know who drove the
OJ Simpson white Bronco? His name is Al Callings.
Al Callings risk his life. Maybe, you know, I mean, when Al
Callings went on to who knows what's going to happen to Al
Callings? Anybody went to prison for for
harboring a fugitive. But you know what?
This guy cared enough about his friend that he was willing to
drive a white Bronco being chased by police, being chased
by helicopters, being chased by all kinds of things.
You know, and actually, I actually freaked the sermon to
young adults who would do you have someone that that loves you
that much that'd be willing to risk everything to drive your
white Bronco, because those are the kind of people you go to
surround yourself with someone who's willing to to go to bat
for you because they care about you enough.
Now, hopefully you're not obeying the law.
That wouldn't probably be a good thing.
But but you got my point. All right, You know, somebody
who's there and thick or thin, they're, they're there to back
you, to stand with you, to pray with you, to encourage you to to
be your strength whenever, whenever you're weak and and to
be there for you. We we all need those kind of
people and then, you know, and a lot of times people try to do
things alone. All right.
In conclusion, change is never easy, but it's necessary for
growth and transformation. Through His Word, God reminds us
that He is with us in every season of change, equipping us
with His strength and guiding us toward His purpose.
As we face change, let us hold on to His promises, trust His
plans, and embrace the new life He is creating within us.
Remember the words of Philippians 16.
I didn't give them the scripture, being confident of
this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Let us move forward with faith, knowing that God is making all
things new. You know God will help you
through the changes of seasons, through the changes of life,
through whatever you, whatever you, but I want you to focus in
on God. Amen.