Hungry for the Gospel

Welcome back to Ignite, you just heard them a niffsant voice of Steve Amerson, Americans Teddard. I only say Steve Amerson because he's sitting beside me because he's the only one that pronounces a name that way. The rest of the world. We all say Steve Amerson, we think nothing about it, and then we get to get corrected with it. Yes. I've never figured out what that's all about, but Steve Amerson is nice to have you a lot. It's just the way we pronounce the name, so I'm glad you finally got it right. Yeah, well, I work at it. You know, Karen, I fight ourselves, correct each other. It's Amerson. Don't say Amerson. That's right. So Karen, I remember it, but anyway, we have more fun together to do that. We have laughed a lot of cities around the nation. So we're all Steve's singing today. He's a guy singing to huge stadiums, and I mean, the place, I mean, even the rodeo, the national rodeo, uh, finals rodeo, we go in Vegas, and there's our buddy Steve Donner's singing to the stadium. Exactly. But people see there's a lot of bull at the rodeo, and there I am singing at the rodeo. So, but you do these great patriotic venues as well, but you always get a good message in there, but then you did the stadiums and the ministries you talked to, and it's just breaks hearts, and even to our own home at Christmas, when you've come, and we've had revival at our own home, but you're singing into a hundred people at our home, and the Holy Spirit has moved, and we've changed lives at our home. Well, Barry, I believe that singing in your home, singing at the rodeo, wherever I might be, those are divine appointments. Yeah. Yeah. It's not by accident. And so God has placed me there, and I don't know, the issue is for me to keep my eyes open, keep my ears open. Yeah. Is there someone here that I'm supposed to say something to, and occasionally, I'll see someone, in fact, that happened this past week. I thought, Lord, am I supposed to talk to that person? And sometimes I get a very distinct impression, yes. And sometimes I get, no, but pray for them right now, and they don't even, they don't even know that I'm praying. Yeah, that folks here, that folks here. They don't know that I'm praying for them, and they don't have to. But see, I'm trusting that God is speaking into their lives. He's brought them onto your radar screen. Exactly. And so you start praying for them, and oftentimes there's another opportunity down the road where the timing to talk to them happens. You know what? I think that I don't always have to close the deal. No. No. I just need to open the door. Absolutely. I just need to open the door. You know, it makes me think, years ago I was checking in at LAX, and there was this gal that would check that it was at the top of the line who worked for G2, there at the airport. And she would always check your boarding pass, make sure you're in the right line. And I soon learned that her name was Pam, because I was there virtually every week. You looked for those opportunities. Exactly. And I get up to the head of the line, and she checks my boarding pass, and I said, God bless you. And she said to me, he has. Hmm. Hmm. Good. So I go ahead. I'm back there in the next week or so I see Pam again. God bless you. He has. So I go ahead and get on my flight. I'm back another couple weeks, and I see her again. And in fact, I'm at the back of the line. There's a long line, and she looks at me and she goes, so she brings me up to the head of the line, you know, in front of everybody. And I said, God bless you, she goes, he has, I said, Pam, what do you need God to do for you today? Oh, man. Cheers. Oh, man. And so just right there at LAX in front of the check and counter, just to ask her, what do you need God to do for you today? And that's a question I use a lot. And when I ask it, a lot of times people just say, what? Yeah. Because they're unacousted to anyone saying, what do you need God to do for you today? And it's, oh, God, very sometimes I have people say, oh, I don't need anything. And I'll go, Heavenly Father, I thank you that you have provided everything that they need. And they don't need any prayer today. And they're, no, they have a need. No, they have a need. But they're trying to get off, but actually they probably have the deeper need, but they're just embarrassing to want to tell you where to go. Exactly. Years ago, I heard the statement, I don't know, we're really where it originated from. But the statement is that everyone we know has a battle we know nothing about. Yeah, everybody, everybody. And people are desperate. People are desperate. They're desperate. So we're living at a time where everybody around just needs Jesus. I mean, only about 10% of us really know him, you know, so you fear, at the minimum, 80% of people around us are lost and they're hurting. They're hurting and they're in fear and they're looking for somebody to tell them there's a God. They're waiting for us. The harvest is white for harvest. You know, I'm checking out of Vaughn, says about three weeks ago, I'm checking out. And of course, you want to be considered of the clerk, not take up too much of their time. But you know, she's checking my stuff. And then as she's finishing up, I just said, what do you need God to do for you today? She just looks at me. And it's just also an interesting way to say it. Exactly. Because some people are bothered about prayer or whatever, what would you like God to do for you today? That's an open-ended question. Exactly. Well, if I could have God do something for me today, what would that be? But many times, many times people will say he's already done it. He woke me up this morning. But when you're my age, yes, every day. But just understanding that there are hurting people all around us. And I do not want to miss one of the divine appointments that God has for me. And that's what they are. The divine appointments. And incidentally, people often say to me, God bless you, okay? And you know, I don't like trite responses, I don't think we just face sharing is about the individual and let the Holy Spirit tell us. And maybe it's this approach or this approach. Once we get into a recitation of the same thing over and over, it's a recitation and not to move in the Holy Spirit. But I do have this in response. And they all go, wow, they say, God bless you today. What I say to them is, thank you, he already does more than I deserve. Well, and I will say God bless you a lot, but they can tell I see it with intent. Yeah. Look in the eye. Exactly. Not just God bless you. No. God bless you. You look in the eye. And when you say that more than half the time when you do that, knowing the Holy Spirit is doing that, that you can see in their eyes. And oftentimes with tears. Oh, they know. Just for that simple phrase, they know. They know. Exactly. Yeah. People are hungry and hurting. At the very minimum, we can do that. That's how we move everybody every day closer to Jesus. If you just have a moment at first, have a good day and God bless you. Wow. You can do that with the operator on the phone. In a moment. Oh, bear. I've done, I tell you. I can't tell you. I fly one particular airline a lot. And I'm wondering, I'm really certain I have a reputation with all of the reservations for you because typically after I've made my reservation, I will say, what do you need God to do for you today? And even last week when I made this reservation, the gal's name was Vaughn. And I prayed for her. And then there was silence on the end of the phone. And she said, no one has ever done that for me before in their life. Oh, God. And Barry, that is so exciting. That is so fun. I mean, you see, I mean, praying for people, sometimes it'll freak them out. I love doing that. It's just so much fun. Okay. Have you ever had anybody turn you down? Yes. You have? Yes. I've never had one person. I've had two people. You know that I spend a lot of time in Washington, D.C. and I had two people in the halls of Congress. Yes. Well, yeah. You'd expect them to understand that. You can't count that. I had one. Watch how I go in the general public. I had one member. I just started praying. What are you doing? You don't know me, but I went ahead and prayed anyway. And I said, in Jesus' name, amen. What are the general public? Where are audience lives? People are hungry. People don't turn us down. It's just crazy. You feel they're going to think I'm a fool in their religious fedatical order. They want prayer. They want God. People are dying. Oh, they're dying. They're dying to know Jesus. So when you say that to Him, it's not that that should be triton, it should be that you do it every time as you always follow the neds of the Holy Spirit. But when it happens, and you see the most amazing responses to people, wow. Are you amazed how fast people can turn from laughing to tears? Oh, absolutely. Because there's a hurt that's just under the skin, just right there, and any kind of act of kindness. Yeah. First of all, we understand that the ultimate act of kindness was Jesus on the cross. And so if we can, in our words and our actions, show this, we get to do that. People are so thankful. Man, oh man, oh man. Can you do another episode with me? We're out of time. I'll twist my heart right now. I told you it might happen, I suspect it might, but if you could come back and join us. Because we're just getting started. Absolutely. You see amazing? I mean, this is what sharing your faith looks like real life, okay? Thank you. Thank you, thank you. We'll get you next time.