In this sermon, the speaker encourages listeners to promote and support a book by sharing a link on social media and writing reviews on Amazon. He believes that God will bless their efforts and bring about something impossible. The speaker shares a story about a preacher in Africa who had a dream of a blood-washed Africa and heard the words, "Africa shall be saved." This story serves as a reminder that God can bring about miraculous transformations even in the face of discouragement. The speaker also references biblical examples of angelic visitations and Paul's declaration of faith in the midst of a storm to emphasize the power of believing in God's promises.

Thank You, Lord. Father, I pray that You would enliven these words. I pray, God, that our hearts and minds would be open, that faith would be built, that we would be strengthened in You today to take hold of Your purposes. In Jesus' name, Amen. If you're here, you can say, Amen. Thank You. All things are possible to him who believes. All things are possible to the man or to the woman who believes. The power is not in our faith. The power is in God. The power of our faith is that we believe God. I want to stir your faith and build your faith and challenge your faith today. I'll be speaking about some specific things, but however this works its way out in your own life, the truth is the same. Whether you are praying for healing of cancer, whether other areas in your life are under severe attack or are falling apart, whether it's some larger issue in the society God has you praying for or in the church or in the community, whether everything is crumbling financially and the only hope seems to be no hope, you can apply this where it fits in your own life. But I want to declare to you the truth of God, as surely as God is God, and as surely as this is His Word, all things are possible to him who believes. Let's just listen to a few Scriptures. Starting in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 17, after Jesus drives a demon out of a boy who's having all types of fits and seizures, when the disciples ask in Matthew 17.19, why couldn't we drive it out? Why couldn't we drive this demon out, this destructive spirit? He replies, verse 20, because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Sometimes a message of faith in God can be negative in our minds because of carnal extremes, because of people misusing a biblical truth to try to attain wealth or prosperity for their own carnal purposes, as if faith is some way that we can manipulate things to get what we desire. But the fact of the matter is, a foundational message of all foundational messages is that all things are possible to him who believes. And that as it's written in Hebrews 11.6, without faith, it's impossible to please God. As it's written in Genesis 15.6, that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Somehow on a very fundamental level, what God wants is that we'll believe Him. That we'll trust Him. And if you follow Him long enough and walk with Him long enough, you will hit certain walls, and you will go through certain things that will challenge your faith. And where it will seem that things are not working out according to what He has promised, and where in the natural, you would have reason not to believe. Jesus reminds us that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. The nothing is not in terms of everything that we would like or we desire. The nothing is in terms of the purposes of God. If you'll get in harmony with God and believe Him, nothing is impossible. There's no qualification on that. If God has a purpose, if God has a plan, if God's given a promise, and you get in harmony with Him and believe Him, nothing's impossible. Well, you mean it. Yeah, nothing's impossible. Matthew 21, after Jesus curses a fig tree as a prophetic sign and the disciples are shocked to see that it's withered in a day, Jesus says in Matthew 21, 21, I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but you can also say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. He's illustrating a point with something monumental. A mountain. What could be bigger in terms of this world than a mountain? What could be a bigger obstacle that can't be overcome but a mountain? Let me be as clear as I can. I do not need supernatural faith to get up on this little platform and to get off it. That does not require supernatural faith. To pick up a book, a little book does not require supernatural faith. To move a mountain with words requires supernatural faith. If you say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea, it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Rather than constantly trying to qualify it because of someone's bizarre extremes where they preach this for the purpose of carnality, rather than constantly trying to qualify it because of personal disappointments, we need to understand that Jesus spoke carefully and he meant what he said. Now go to Mark's Gospel. The same account, the boy with the seizures. Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration with his disciples. They're encountering God in an extraordinary way. He's being glorified. They come down, there's a large crowd. People are running towards him. What's going on? It's a chaotic scene. Father, you know, I brought my son to your disciples. They couldn't set him free. Verse 19 of Mark 9, Jesus says, Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I pull up with you? Bring the boy to me. He's struck by the lack of faith because his disciples should have been able to drive this demon out. He's amazed when he encounters unbelief in his hometown of Nazareth in Mark chapter six. In fact, if you read the Gospels, you'll see it's recorded that two things amazed him. Great faith among the pagans in Matthew eight and great unbelief among his own people in Mark six. He was amazed at the great faith. He was amazed at the unbelief. And when you think of it, unbelief is absolutely perverse. I mean, if we know who God is and his promises are true and we've truly been saved and we read his word and we know this is his word, it's perverse that we don't believe. It makes no sense. That's the battle we have in this natural world. All of us on one level or another. So they bring the boy to Jesus. He immediately is thrown into a convulsion. He falls to the ground, rolling around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, verse 21, how long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered. It's often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Picture growing up with a child like this. Some of you have lived through very difficult situations. Maybe not exactly like this, but similar. The anguish, the pain, if you could do anything. I mean, I heard there was hope. If you could do anything, help my son. In some translations, as I first read it in King James as a new believer, the way it would be translated, Jesus replies after the father says, if you can, help us. You can do anything, help. That Jesus says, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Most translations instead would read like this. If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Jesus says, if you can, if I can. What do you mean, if I can? Do you understand who I am? Do you understand who you're talking to? If you can, sir, all things are possible to him who believes. Whether it's moving a mountain, whether it's healing a demonized boy, everything is possible for him who believes. And of course, he's set free. Go to Mark chapter 11. When the disciples see the fig tree withered, verse 21, they say to him, reverend. Oh, sorry, wrong translation. They say, rabbi? Yeah, rabbi. Rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered. Rabbi Yeshua, the fig tree you cursed has withered. He says, have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. But you don't understand. Have faith in God. But they've already left me and the marriage is destroyed. Have faith in God. But the doctors say there's no hope. Have faith in God. But everything, have faith in God. But in the natural, it's too late. Have faith in God. We are not talking about the great power of our faith. Oh, I believe, I believe, I believe. I believe, I'm a believer, I believe. Believe, believe, faith, faith, faith, faith. We're talking about the power of God that we latch onto through faith. I mean, here, just a little illustration for you. Let's say you can get in some kind of harness that can support your body. You get in this harness and it's got this big, thick belt on it and this chain with this massive hook. And you put this hook in the bottom of a plane and that plane takes off and you go flying through the air, not because of your power ability but because you're hooked onto a plane. You could be some skateboarder on a skateboard and hook that same thing onto the back of a truck and that truck's racing down the road and you're going 80, 90 miles an hour holding on for dear life. It's the power of the truck that's pulling you. I mean, theoretically, if you put on some space suit or something and latch onto a rocket ship and survive the explosive launch, you're going to outer space. Woo, look at my power, no, no, it's the power of the thing that's carrying you. We're talking about the power of the one who promises. Listen, it's an embarrassing thing to recognize the level of unbelief we struggle with when we recognize who God is. I mean, listen, if someone had just died and we brought the corpse in here, they collapsed in a heart attack on the road, we bring the corpse in here, for most of us, that would be a challenging thing. For some, devastatingly challenging to believe that person could rise, which is so silly and ridiculous when you think we're talking about God. I mean, God could create a trillion human beings in a split second if he wanted to. Or recreate every organ and every human body throughout the entire world just like that. Have faith in God. These are Jesus' words. I tell the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Those other important teaching about forgiveness, certainly our lives need to be in harmony with God, otherwise our own conscience condemns us. Whatever you ask in prayer. Let me just read you some comments from Andrew Murray about that very verse. Listen to what he says here. What a promise. It is so large, so divine, that our little hearts cannot comprehend it. In every possible way, we seek to limit it to what we think is safe or probable. We don't allow it to come in just as he gave it to us with its quickening power and energy. If we would allow it, that promise would enlarge our hearts to receive all of what His love and power are really ready to do for us. All things whatsoever, in the King James. From the first word, Andrew Murray says, our human wisdom begins to doubt and say, this can't possibly be literally true. But if it isn't, why did the Master say it? He used the very strongest expression he could find. All things whatsoever. Go to Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. When Gabriel, the mighty angel, comes to declare to Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth are gonna have a child in their own age, the natural response is, that's not possible, we're too old to have kids. Again, as we preached some months ago about the nature of the Gospel, it's impossible, that's the Gospel. Remember that God chose, God chose to cause the forerunner of the Messiah to be born to a couple that was too old to have kids, and the Messiah himself to be born of a virgin. There's something about this where God is reminding us from the very first step, it's His power, not ours. It's through our weakness that His power is made manifest. It's the impossibility of the Gospel. It's the impossibility of the situation that brings glory to God. We're not talking about us creating a problem through our own foolishness so as to make God great. We're talking about God coming into the midst of our weakness, coming into the midst of impossibility to demonstrate His power. So Luke chapter one, when the angel declares this to Zechariah, this wonderful word, Zechariah asking an unbelief, as we see from what transpires. Verse 18, Zechariah asked the angel, how can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years. Miriam, Mary, the Messiah's mother, asked a similar question. Hers seems to be asked in faith for clarification. Zechariah seemed to be asked in unbelief. The angel answered, I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. Do you understand who's telling you this, man? I'm Gabriel. I mean, he's having a vision. It's not like just some guy chatting with him. You know, I think you and your wife can have a kid. Yeah, yeah. This is, an angel appears to him, stunned. You know, it would be as if, you know, the richest man in the world sent someone to you that you knew was the representative for the richest man in the world who had tens of billions of dollars, who could give away a million dollars a day for years and years and years and years and years and not even miss it. And you're $100,000 in debt. And he says, hey, I was sent to tell you that debt will be cleared up by tomorrow and there'll be an extra 100,000 in your bank. How's that gonna happen? Realistically, how is that gonna happen? You understand who's talking to you? I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. And then this same Gabriel comes to Miriam and gives her the same message of how she's gonna give birth to the Son of God and she's a virgin on top of it. How will this be? Verse 34, Miriam asked the angel, since I'm a virgin, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is gonna have a child in her old age and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month for nothing is impossible with God. I wanna build your faith. I wanna challenge your faith. I wanna encourage your faith. This Tuesday, this past Tuesday, I had on my radio program Reinhard Bonnke, man whom I believe has preached to more human beings than anyone else has ever lived in terms of face-to-face, brought the gospel. It's an extraordinary interview. If you've never heard his story, go to my website, askdrbrown.org, click on the line of fire. It was the first hour. We're now at two hours a day. It was the first hour from two to three. Interview with Reinhard Bonnke, askdrbrown.org, click on the line of fire. I asked him about this extraordinary word that God gave him. Africa shall be saved. Africa shall be saved. You have to remember, he's been in single meetings where a very careful count of the crowd, physically present, has been 1.6 million people. The government claimed it was over four million. They had 200,000 counselors in the meeting. One of my friends, a medical doctor, was over there as one of a number of doctors verifying miracle reports as people were coming to tell their stories. And he said there were thousands. And he said families jumping up and down and screaming, you know, this one was blind, this one was deaf, this one was crippled, they're healed. They recorded over a million people in one single service saying that they had turned to the Lord in repentance and faith and received Jesus. So I said, when did you get that word, Africa shall be saved? And he said, you have to understand, he said I was preaching in the country of Lesotho, small African country. His father was a pastor, Bonnke's father was a pastor. He came to faith at the age of nine himself. And soon after that, the Lord spoke to him that you'll preach in Africa. You'll be a missionary in Africa. He ran and wrapped his arms around his dad as a little boy and said, when I grow up, I'm gonna go to Africa as a missionary and preach. He said from that point on in his life, his whole focus and attention was for that one task. Little clue also if you wanna see something happen. He's preaching in a hut in this little African country with five people present. Five, count them. And he preaches his heart out and he gives an altar call and nobody responds. I've been on short trips sometimes overseas or even a trip up to a month, but it's still short compared to being out there all the time. And sometimes you're in these very discouraging meetings. You're just like you're knocking your head against a wall. The missionaries are working hard. The residents are working hard for the gospel. There's no fruit. You come in and minister and nothing happens. Five people, nobody responds. That night, Funky has a dream and he sees Africa washed with the blood of Jesus. From Cape Town in the south to Cairo in the north, a blood-washed Africa. And he hears these words which he said have been in his heart and mind every day since. Africa shall be saved. Africa shall be saved. Overwhelmed by it. Next day, he begins to think rationally, logically, realistically, soberly, maturely. It's not God. He ate something funny last night. Just his own mind. Preaching to five people in your last meeting. None of them gets it. Africa shall be saved. Come on, again, again. One person out of five. A little meeting here. Africa shall be saved. Can't shake it. Seems impossible. He said God graciously then gave him the dream four straight nights. He was so overwhelmed by it that after that, he'd just go up to people. Have you heard? Have you heard? Africa shall be saved. This is before he's preaching to 50 or 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 or a million. It's before his tent of 34,000, the largest tent ever built. It's before his tent that seats 34,000 is way too small for their meetings. It's before the day when they would see in some countries a third of the population of the entire country come to the meetings and get saved. It was before as his motorcade would come into the city, kings and governors and leaders would greet him. It was before they had seen countless tens of thousands of Muslims saved and healed and delivered. It has nothing to do with what you see and feel. We've got two separate categories, being responsible, working hard, being disciplined, walking in godly character. That never changes. That doesn't vary. But that's not gonna cause you to fly. And that's why some people who are sometimes flaky in their character seem to be able to believe God for anything because they know how to trust God and believe him. If the other things aren't in order, they'll crash and burn at a certain point. But hear me, you can have the godliest character in this building and still not be a strong person of faith. You can be the hardest working, most disciplined person in the world and still not have a good attitude of faith. Faith has to do with I trust God. He said it and I believe it and that settles it. I mean, as primitive as we make that sound, as unsophisticated as we make it sound, that's what it comes down to. Faith gets out of a boat and walks on water like it's dry land. Faith proclaims in the midst of ridiculous impossibility, Africa shall be saved. Faith believes that an old man and an old woman are gonna give birth to a child through whom blessing is gonna come to the entire world. That's happened with Abraham and Sarah. Paul on the boat, in Acts the 27th chapter, he tells them, look, this is wrong time to make this trip. They don't listen. He's a prisoner on his way to Rome. But in the midst of horrific storm going on and on for days when it looks like it's all over, I can't imagine what it'd be like to be on the boat day and night, horrific storm. No way you're gonna live through this. There's not even sun you're seeing for days because of the terrible storm. And an angel appears to Paul and speaks to him and he gets up and declares, I believe God. Nobody's gonna die. I believe God. It's gonna be just as the Lord told me. I believe God. I've often shared John Wesley's letter to William Wilberforce. Wilberforce, a young member of Parliament, wants to see slavery and the slave trade eradicated from England. Looking at that in his day, it was a much more massive mountain than us believing that legalized abortion will be overturned in America. Much bigger mountain than believing that gay and lesbian activism is gonna be turned in America. Much bigger obstacle than believing that human trafficking would end. Wesley writes to him. He's 88 years old, three days before he dies. Dear sir, to Wilberforce, who has this ridiculous vision that the slave trade and slavery are gonna be abolished. This was a way of life. This was foundational to the economy. Dear sir, unless the divine power has raised you up to be as Athanasius Contramundum, Athanasius against the world, an early church leader taking on great opposition, unless the divine power has raised you up to be like him, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy, that cursed villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish away before it. I wanna testify today. I wanna build your faith and encourage your faith, because the things God has called us to do as a community can only happen through faith. If I had the choice of having a billionaire backing what we were doing right now, and it's awesome if God does that, but if I had the choice of that, or having a group of people of faith trusting God, oh, there's no question. Money can only do so much. Money can't change people's hearts. Money cannot produce a true moral or spiritual reformation. God can do anything. There's a story told about a famous healing evangelist. People went to the meetings and said, you've got some gimmick, you've got some trick. What's going on here, how do you do it? She said, oh, yes, we do have a secret. She brings them down into the basement, and they're just praying grandmothers in the basement, crying out to God. The less you have in this world, perhaps the more ability you have to just take hold of God. The more strikes you've had against you in this world, perhaps the more ability you have just to lean on God and look to him. When I share my story, it's to encourage you. It's about God and his faithfulness, and I'm testifying, as we're encouraged to do. And I encourage everyone here, if you have a testimony of faith, share it with a friend. Encourage someone with an old story, with a new story, so our faith can be built. Are you serious? Really, wow, and it buoys something in us. Something rises in us. Many of you know my own story, saved in 71. On fire, radically committed to Jesus. By the late 70s, early 80s, as I was pursuing my PhD at New York University, some intellectual theological pride was coming in. Even though I was committed to the Lord, the fire and passion I had had earlier was gradually decreasing. In 82, God brought me through a deep season of repentance, spoke to me about an outpouring that he would bring to our church. I got dramatically changed. I preached, the Spirit fell in our church. We had a wonderful move of God that lasted for some months, transformed me to this day, transformed others to this day. We moved on from there, and God began to stir me. God began to move in my heart with a promise of revival. That yeah, we saw an outpouring in our church, but I would be part of a revival that would literally touch people around the world. And during this same season, I would often feel called to write, but I couldn't write. Oh, I could write technical stuff. You could read my doctoral dissertation, I Am the Lord Your Healer, a Philological Study of the Root Rafa in the Hebrew Bible in the Ancient Near East. Oh, you can read that. You can read other technical scholarly articles I wrote at that time, but when I went to write the way I would preach, simple, clear, to the point, I didn't have a release to write, and it was frustrating. And I felt this calling to write, and yet I could not write more than a page with passion and clarity before things just started to get technical and seem more like academic writing that was not inspirational. And this promising revival still burning in my heart. Now it's 1989. I go away to pray for a few days. Bring a computer with me. It was an old, early laptop. Be funny to actually look at this thing today. Brought this thing with me. I'm gonna seek the Lord, I'm gonna pray, and if the Lord moves on me, just to write some things down, to journal some things, I'm gonna have my computer there. And he starts moving on me to write a book on repentance and revival, and now the thing is flowing, something's happening. I'm able to write stuff that's been pent up in me for years. I mean, for years and years, I'd felt the calling to write, and the release wasn't there. God's saying, do it, and you're trying, and it doesn't happen, so you call to God. You fall on God, you lean on God, and you question it, you're even called to do this, but you can't shake it, so you go to him. So I start writing. That book is now the end of the American Gospel Enterprise. In a three-week period, the book is written. It's a short book, but trust me, I was moved on with intensity, day and night, to write that in three weeks. And as I'm writing the book, as I'm starting it at that prayer retreat, I ask myself a question. Who could write the forward to this book? If there's any one person in the world that I would want to write the forward to this book that carries the message of repentance and the burden of revival, who would it be? And I said, it'd be Leonard Ravenhill. His name is not as familiar to this generation. An extraordinary new biography about him just came out. I've never met a man in my life like Leonard Ravenhill. David Wilkerson once said to me, he's an Elijah kind of prophet. When he's gone, we don't have anybody else like him. Never met a man that broken for God and prayer. And he could get up and speak. And when I knew him, he was a frail old man. He could get up and speak. And as he's speaking, the conviction would get so deep in the building, he couldn't finish his message. And the whole place would be swarmed, the altars and the aisles filled with people weeping and wailing and getting right with God. Extraordinary. I say to myself, if there's anyone in the world to write the foreword to this book, it'd be Leonard Ravenhill. And I have this sense. He's gonna write the foreword to the book. And then of course, I get hit with this thought. Is he even alive? How do you know he's even alive? I mean, I heard him preach in 83. And he was in his mid 70s or late 70s and frail then. And it was an extraordinary message. And the altar filled with people weeping and wailing and crying out. And the intensity of conviction in the air and amazing. But I have this assurance. He's gonna write the foreword to your book. I tell a friend of mine with the National Radio Ministry, I've written this book and Leonard Ravenhill's gonna write the foreword to this book. Says, well, Mike, I wanna help get the book published. Let's do radio interviews. I'll pre-order a thousand copies. I find a publisher that's interested in the book, instantly interested, wants to talk to me about it. I tell him Leonard Ravenhill's gonna write the foreword to the book. Nancy says to me, did God tell you he's gonna write the foreword to the book? I said, he doesn't have to tell me, it's all over me. She said, well, how about if you just keep your mouth shut about it? Okay, that's wisdom since the man doesn't even know I exist and I haven't even talked to him about it yet. Here I am declaring he's gonna do all this. I meet his son, David, unexpectedly in Kansas City. I said, hey, your dad, what's he doing? He said, actually, he's been kind of physically strengthening. He's out preaching a little bit again. I said, hey, can I have his address? I write him a letter. I send him a copy of the manuscript. I call him some days later. I know I shouldn't call. I said, but I bet this guy's got a phone number listed. He's not some hardy, I bet he's got a listed phone number. Sure enough, he does. I call him on the phone. I say, hey, did you get this manuscript? And he said, I got a letter from you with a package that was opened. It was cut open when I received it. There was a letter, but there was no manuscript. He said, if you send it, I'll read it, bye, and he hung up. I thought, you gotta be kidding me, no manuscript in there. So I overnight it, send it to him next day. I come into the office early the next morning, dropped our kids off at school, went into my office. Secretary says, there's a collect call from a Ravenhill on the phone. This is a humble old man. His wife was the humble old man's old secretary. As I got to know him, he had on his desk always stacks and stacks of unopened letters, unopened manuscripts, stack. I'm talking about stacks. I spent days in his home, stacks of stuff. He says, I got your manuscript. He said, I never do this. He said, but I got it. I read it in one sitting. And then he proceeds to tell me the book needs to be published and put out track form and send it out like that. He says something to me which ends up being on the back cover of the book. I recommend that this book be read publicly, two chapters at a time without comment in the midweek service of every evangelical church in the nation. If they will do that in each church, it could shake the whole country. I'm listening to him today thinking, you gotta be kidding me. And then he says, I'll write the introduction to your book. Now you have to understand, when I wrote him, I didn't ask him to do any of that. I just said, because I was so sure it was God, I just said I would be honored to receive your comments and criticisms. That's all I asked. I said, can I come down and spend the day with you? And he laughed. He said, listen, he said, I've got visitors coming from around the world. He said, I give them a half hour each. He said, I'll give you an hour if you come down. I said, great. The thing that was exciting, you gotta understand, was not the book and not the connection with Leonard Ravenhill, but that it all had to do with the promise of revival God had given. You understand? That's what got me so excited. It wasn't that another human being, although a highly esteemed one, was giving me an endorsement. It was that God, when I wrote this book, I knew he was saying this is a seed of what's gonna happen in terms of revival and the promise that I'd be in the midst of a revival that would touch the world. And then his forward to it was the confirmation. He calls me a few days later, all broken up in heart, pained in heart over a number of things going on. And he said, listen, I'd like you to come down and spend a few days with me. He said, I don't know how much time I have left. He said, but I wanna pour everything I have into you. And we became very close, dear friends, the last five years of his life. In fact, before I would go overseas on a trip, the last phone call I would make, I would call him on the phone to say, I'm about to leave for India, pray for me. So I remember the times he'd just be on the phone, break down crying, said, Mike, if I don't see revival, I'm gonna die. And of course, there was someone else very close to him in those years that he gave some of my books to. And this person and I became friends, this person being Steve Hill, whom God used to ignite the revival in Pensacola that I then became part of. And we literally saw people gloriously touched from around the world. And as you hear the stories of what actually happened, it sounds like we're making it up. And yet we were there, many people here, eyewitnesses in the midst of it for years. I give you a few other stories along the way. Fast forward to 1993. I'm telling you this to build your faith for what God's calling us to do. I'm telling you this to build your own faith for the promises God's given you, especially the ones that seem to be dormant or dead or past the point of possibility. Yeah, maybe a loved one died years ago. That person will not be physically raised in this world. We understand that, but there's something redemptive God can still do. Even promises to that person that weren't fulfilled, God can fulfill through someone else. 10 of us, 1993 Jewish believers gathered for three days of prayer and fasting at the invitation of one of our friends. Miraculously, we all had the same time available in our schedule to do it. It was crazy. They just coordinated it instantly with the one date that was suggested. And during the time we prayed one for another and ministered one to another and then sought the Lord. And the prophetic brother prayed over me and said there's a seed of a book inside of you for the secular world, for the national audience, not for the church, or not first, or primarily for the church. He said there's a seed of a book in you that you're gonna write that will have an impact on the nation like an Uncle Tom's cabin. The book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that was credited with helping fuel the fires of an abolitionist movement that helped overturn slavery in our nation. And whether it's true or not, the famous story is that when Abraham Lincoln met her after the war years, he said to her, so you're the little lady that wrote this book that started this great war. I felt when he spoke those words, it resonated with something in me even though everything I was writing at that time was really for the church more than for the world. I felt that that was gonna happen. So back in 2004, when God started moving on me to start working on a queer thing happened to America. A book we've talked about in past weeks. From the first day I started to write it, that's what's been in my consciousness. Yeah, it's impossible, it's ridiculous. The more you look at the situation as we've talked about where things have gone with homosexual activism in our country to the degree of things just being normalized to the degree that our own president says that he will no longer stand for the constitutionally upheld Defense of Marriage Act, that the military has now approved the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. That a recent ABC News poll said that the majority of Americans now favor, quote, same-sex marriage. And on and on and on. Someone calls my radio program the other day. A young lady who teaches middle school, younger middle schoolers, taking a grad class at a local university here in North Carolina. Children's literature class and the professor brings up this book, this pro gay book and Tango makes three about these allegedly gay penguins, this whole story and saying, you know, a few years ago this couldn't be used in the classrooms and the whole class is laughing and they can't believe it. She said not a single person had any issue with this. They all thought it was stupid that kids couldn't be taught this. And she was afraid to say anything, didn't know what to do. They're the only one in her class. In the natural, 100 books or 1,000 books, they're not gonna turn the tide. Let alone one book being used as a catalyst. But from the day I started writing, that's what's been in my heart and mind, that God's gonna do that. What's impossible with man is possible with God. All things are possible if a human believes God. This has nothing to do with some personal ego or ambition. If you don't have that burned out of your life, then don't think God's ever gonna do much through you because there'll be too much flesh wanting the glory and the credit or thinking that somehow you deserve it. Thank God for the purging of our flesh and the pruning, as painful as it is. Thank God for it. But it's just like the thing with that first book in Leonard Ravenhill. It's the promise. For years, when I pray and seek God, when I'm having some of my most intimate times, I'll get overwhelmed with a burden that shakes me to the core of my being. I mean to the point of shaking and groaning and sometimes pounding the floor in agony of spirit. He's saying to me, you will help lead a moral and cultural revolution in America. It's crazy. The idea that there's gonna be a moral and cultural revolution at this point in our nation's history is preposterous. I'm not talking about a political movement. I'm talking about a spiritually born movement. Look at the state of the church. How could it happen? It's impossible with man. It's possible only with God. So I work on this book and you know the story. No publisher's willing to touch it. And I still remember this one specific letter I got. I'd never used an agent. I was connected with one of the top agents in America, literary agent. They farmed the book out to top secular publishers, Christian publishers, and I really wanted a secular publisher. And they write back. They said, we're really sorry, but we're unable to market your book to anybody. Nobody's interested in it. This is as I was working on it, maybe a third of the way through it. And I said, could you tell me what the reasons were? And she writes back, representing the agent. Most thought the material was too controversial. All felt that the title would need to be changed. I remember getting that email, as I've shared with you, sitting in a hotel room getting ready to preach. I got that email and I punched the air and I said, yes! We are right on target. The more impossible it became. Finally, it turns out, we're gonna have to self-publish. Nobody's willing to touch this. We launched our own publishing house called Equal Time Books. And the front of this thing goes, it's like, you've got to be crazy. You've gotta be kidding. Not only is it absurd to think that your book's gonna have any impact or be part of anything. And remember, we each just have our role. Okay, it may be that someone's chopped that tree a thousand times and you come with a little children's toy ax and hit it and the tree falls over. It's not our power. It could be people have prayed and fasted for 100 years and that's why Bonky's doing what he's doing today. It's not a matter of who's doing this or who gets credit. It's God that does the work. Paul lays that out plainly. Neither he who waters, neither he who plants, is anything, it's God who gives the increase. Amy Carmichael's uncle's spiritual mentor was on a horse and buggy with her once before she left as a missionary. Years before that, and there's these guys with their hammers, they're smashing rocks and a rock breaks open and he asked the question, which blow broke the rock? Well, it would be the last one. No, every blow. The first hundred that seemed to have no impact and that last one that split the thing open. Let all of our names be forgotten. That's not the issue. The only issue is that Jesus is glorified and that he does the work in the earth. So nobody's gonna touch this book. Okay, we're gonna self-publish. Only problem with self-publishing, you have to self-pay. Now we get further on. I had made an error in some of my calculation and it's like, oh no, this book is bigger. I thought we'd get it a little under 500 pages. It's gonna be over, oh no, it's gonna be over 600. Oh no, it's gonna be 700 pages. Yeah, you're gonna write a book called The Queer Thing Happened to America, 700 pages, self-publish it, write. Three people will read it if you're lucky. And the more I'm looking at this, the more absurd it's becoming. And we're in that, listen, we have announced the publication date and paid up front for the initial charges of a printer, distributor that we're gonna be working with and we don't have money to print the thing. We have no money and I have no strategy as to where it's gonna come from. One of my friends says, write to so-and-so, he will surely get behind the project. I write to so-and-so and they say, no thanks. I'm in Israel in November, preaching in Israel, bringing a message to a leading congregation there in Haifa, a faith message that was especially relevant for them. I mentioned in passing this book and just the impossibility of the vision. I didn't mention anything about Uncle Tom's cabin, I didn't say anything beyond, nothing like that, just about this book and how even a publisher was gonna be a miracle. The message is ended, the leader there, a man in his 70s, highly respected leader, he gets up, wants to confirm this was absolutely a word from the Lord for their congregation. He said, and now I have a word for you. It was about this book. He said, there was a little lady named Harriet Beecher Stowe, he proceeds to tell the whole story of her meeting with Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln saying to her, so you're the little lady that wrote the book that started this great war. He said, God's gonna use this book like an Uncle Tom's cabin in America. I thought, what do you know? I come back home, I'm talking to a friend of mine whose whole interest is Jewish ministry and the power of God, that's his whole interest. We've been friends and coworkers for 25 plus years. He asked me, what am I doing these days? I happen to mention the book in passing and lo and behold, he has been praying about featuring a book like that on his TV and radio show, which is now massive around the world. And he'd like to pre-order 5,000 copies. And even giving him the book at an extraordinary discount with that and then the help of folks like you a few weeks ago that pre-ordered some copies, we're able to pay for 10,000 copies to be printed. In fact, we overpaid by a couple thousand that's actually sitting in the account, praise God. And this 700 page book comes out. We encourage folks, go to amazon.com and order there. Why? It's a secular company, it's a worldly company, but go there because it's the number one place people go for books online. And if the book does well there, so we're just encouraging people to buy there. Nothing dishonest, in fact, totally honest. Just buy from that source. As it goes up on the ratings there and more and more people hear about it, that it's own advertising to the secular world that we want to read the book. To those that wouldn't normally see it, to the non-church crowd. So we do an e-blast about it and here's what happens. This past Monday, our 35th wedding anniversary, this past Monday, a day early, the shipment of books arrives on our anniversary suite, which is the same day, coincidentally, after months and months and months, actually some years of discussion, that my radio broadcast launches on some of the biggest stations in America. I mean, 14 major stations launched on Monday. I mean, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars of airtime and God will provide for that as well. But I'm talking about New York City and Washington DC and Boston and Philadelphia and Miami and Tampa and San Diego and Phoenix, all over America. All the same day, I mean, you could, it's like lightning hitting three times in the same person in the same week in three different locations. Come on. We tell folks on the radio, get a copy of the book. We do an e-blast. Lou Angle sends out an e-blast encouraging folks to get the book on Amazon and talking about the controversy that'll surround it. I'm almost done. Well, suddenly, somehow, the way it's listed, the categories, it's not in religious studies or contemporary issues, it's listed in gay and lesbian studies on Amazon. So I get this note from Marcus, our Voice of Revolution editor, and he says, check it out. It's number one in gay and lesbian nonfiction books on Amazon. It was a few days after it came out. Amazon doesn't have a discount yet. It still says ships in one to three weeks. It made it up on all gay and lesbian titles over the weekend. It made it up to number three so far. I passed Welcome Home, Cowboy. I mean, I look at it. It's like, oh, I can't even look at the page. And I'm in, you know, this book is out past all these sex guides and this novel. And somebody wrote to me and said, God spoke to you right for the world, not for the church. Yeah, I think so. It's about to be blasted now on major Christian TV this week with my friend Sid Roth and radio broadcasts. And we're trusting God will open major secular doors. Listen, what excites me is not the potential national radio audience and not the potential of a bestselling book. What excites me is that this is part of what God said that will be part of a moral, cultural, spiritual revolution. That's what excites me. It's impossible. It's ridiculous. But I believe God. I believe God. There's a house of prayer that has been raised up now here in Concord led by Brett and Amy Richter that focuses just on this. If you want to be part of something, join the prayer team. We've got a few different sessions praying on Thursday night but that they'll be praying at different times through the week. And then Lou Engle sending a team to be with us 21 days of prayer and fasting arriving on March 27th. How are you gonna have the prayer time with them before they arrive? You are a man of faith. I mean, people are going after God for this. This has nothing to do about me or a book. It has to do with something bigger. So here's what I want to tell you. We're gonna watch impossible things unfold together as we trust God. I'm not being presumptuous. All I'm telling you is what God's spoken to me and what I'm asking him for. And when I hear some of the plans of some of our other brothers and sisters here in the city and some of the vision God's put in their heart for here and in other hearts for the nations and in others for America. When I hear it, I realize it's the same spirit of faith. We're not looking at our numbers. Look, one book could sell and God could use it to turn the world. No books could sell. We're talking about God. We're talking about God at work. So I want to challenge you to believe God with me for this, for this to be national number one bestseller that'll have an effect like an Uncle Tom's cabin that'll be part of a massive moral, cultural, spiritual revolution. And then each of us has our part because as I look around here, I realize unless you have your part, you have your part, you have your part, we're never gonna see it happen. We each have our part. I'm asking you to believe God with me. If you already purchased a copy of the book a couple of weeks ago on the way out, those should all be out on the tables, guys. I don't know if they are, but those should all be out there waiting. Good. If you already purchased a copy, get one on the way out. If you haven't, get a copy today. But here's what I'm asking you to do, all right? How many of you have either a Facebook or a Twitter account? All right, raise your hands. Get the cameras out, guys, right now. No, I'm kidding. All right, here's what we gotta do. Every one of you, I'm asking you to do this. As soon as the service is over, all right, as soon as you remember, everyone with a Facebook or a Twitter account, get online, get a link to the Amazon, queer thing happened to America, okay? Get a link to that and put it on your wall and tell folks, if you haven't gotten this book, get it. Trust me, it's gonna be an intense read for everyone. If you haven't gotten this book, get it. Encourage them to do so. How many will do that? Look, I don't have time to tell you, but I've got a cousin who's now legally changed his name from a man to a woman and found out about the book because of the gay and lesbian sales and he's already posted on his Facebook page an attack on his dear cousin with a picture of the book. I marvel at how bigots and haters such as the good Dr. Michael Lewis Brown can spew such venom and call it Christian love. I posted and said, hey, man, there's no venom in the book, not a word of it, and how could you attack something you haven't read? Isn't that intolerant? Of course I wanna reach out to him, but hear me. So wave at me if you'll do that. You go to Amazon, okay, put up a link, just do a clip of it, put up a link on your wall, on your Facebook homepage, and say, if you haven't gotten this book, go here and get it. Encourage folks to do that. Do that today. And if you have the book, as soon as you can get into it, write a review on Amazon, even if it's two lines. Read the book, fantastic, if you feel that way about it, because it's gonna get a lot of attack from people who haven't read it and people will be moved by the review. So do it honestly, ethically, but I'm telling you, to see what's happened already as we've just gotten started, there's a token from God that he's gonna do the rest. And as you hear reports about this, look at the larger picture that you're hearing in advance and let's believe God for something impossible, starting right here. Guys have massive plans with Democratic National Convention coming in here. Folks are praying about a counter witness for the gospel. Who knows what God can do? So let's stand to our feet together. Sorry, I've got you out of here a little late. But Scott, why don't you come up here as you wanted to pray. Let's do this. We're just gonna release about five minutes late today. I would like, please don't go yet. I'd like for anybody that has a burden to see this book, Touch America, just to come on up front here really quickly. Let's lay hands on this book and then the people who are around it. And if you're not coming up, just at least stretch your hand this way. Lay your hands on Dr. Brown. Let's do this. Thank you, Lord. You guys can just extend your hands this way. Father, we love you and we bless you. Lord, as a community of believers, we're so thankful, Father, for the men and women that you've called to labor together with us. We lay our hands on Dr. Brown and thank you for this vessel, great God, who have you positioned for this time and this season. Lord, thank you for this book that came out in the fullness of time. Lord, and we pray that in the same way, Lord, that Haman hung by his gallows, great God, that you would thrust this book forth and that you would totally and completely obliterate every agenda against you and your people. In Jesus' name, and that you would be glorified and that there would be days of remembrance, Lord, when your people can look back and see how God moved through a man, through a book, through believers who took their stand on the righteousness and holiness of God. We pray your protection, we pray your favor, we pray your goodness, great God. In Jesus' name. David said he would have despaired if he did not believe that he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Father, we believe you. Nothing is impossible with God. So we wipe away despair in Jesus' name and I pray that faith and hope would rise for the goodness of God, for the goodness of God in this country and around the world. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Hey, you're dismissed. We love you. Be blessed in Jesus' name. Stop by the back table, pick up a book. If you're visiting with us, stop by the guest reception. Go in the peace of the Lord.