June 20, 2025 • 34 mins
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to pray dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Ben Peterson, the CEO and founder of Engage Your Destiny.
Please follow this profile from more engaging content that we
have crafted specifically for military veterans and the warriors at heart.
Also head to our website to see how you can
support ministry to our active duty military. Now I charge
you to take today's message and use it to engage
(00:25):
your destiny. I went to Iraq in two thousand and eight,
and when I first got there, First, before you go
(00:48):
into Iraq, you have to go into Kuwait.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is anyone in here? Ben? To Kuwait? What's quite like? Friends? Hot?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It was one hundred and forty five degrees when we
got there, and I actually got like little blisters on
my feet from walking to this Dude's not as said,
from walking from our tents to the chow hall.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It was so hot.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now, when we first got there, we were given, you know,
a safety brief and an in briefing by a crusty
old you know, starting first class. And and you know,
we got the in briefing. They basically told us, okay,
you are you are not in a combat zone.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You know this is a safe zone.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You're not gonna eat any ammunition, but you're still gonna
have your weapons. And we do what are called control detonations,
and no one really told us what that was, but basically,
you have, you know, convoys that are running all throughout
Iraq and they're running into IDs, right and you know,
they run into them and they if they don't blow up,
then they have to call bomb specialists EOD guys to
(01:45):
come in and diffuse them. And they can't just leave
the bomb there because then the Taliban will just come
and take that bomb and reuse it. Right, So that's
why either they'll destroy the bomb there or they'll bring
the bomb back to the base, and that's where the
way that they dispose of these ordinance of these bombs
is to have a controlled debtonation, which is a small explosion.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Everyone tracking.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So they communicate all this to us and say, so
there's going to be some controlled detonations, so don't freak out.
But we also test our security alarms from time to
time to make sure they're working. So this was all
great information they gave to us. It would have been very
helpful if we would have listened. Okay, so you know
the next day it was getting into the it was
after chow in the evening, and my buddies and I
(02:25):
would go to the gym and we get into the
gym and we all throw our earbuds in and we
start working out.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And we were the only ones in the gym at
the time.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
They were about four of us, and they made an
announcement over the loudspeakers that they were going to have
a controlled detonation, but then they were also going to
test the security alarms on the base.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Okay, all communication.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That would have been very helpful if it not were
for the metallica blaring in my ears. So I'm on
the treadmill and I'm running and doing my thing, and
I feel what can only be understood is the wave
from an explosion fly through my body, and I kind
of freak out a little bit, and I turned to
my buddy next to me and I'm like, was that
what I think it was? And he goes, it has
(03:05):
to be, and so we turn around, we get off
the treadmill. My other buddies right there and were like, well,
you know, was that a real explosion, Like what's going on?
And I said, guys, if that was a real explosion,
they're going to sound a security alarm. I swear to god,
it's a true story.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
The words are leaving my mouth and we hear.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Incoming, incoming, and everything in me from being like twelve
years old and seeing saving Private Ryan like rose up
and I just said, oh my gosh. And so I
run over and I bust open these double doors and
I'm like, come on, we got to get.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
To a bunker.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You got to realize there's people outside who know what's
going on.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And so these four to twenty one year old testosterone
filled jocks come tearing out of the gym running and
we dive into these tea barrier bunkers and so we're
in there and we're I mean, we're terrified. You know,
we don't have any hammo, we got nothing. And so
then like the alarm shot off and everything calms down.
We look out and nothing's going on, and so like, okay,
(04:06):
so we run back to our ao and we get
back there and just then Top is coming out to
use the tree and we run up. We're like, first, Sarten,
do you know what's going on with the explosions the alarms,
and and he goes, yeah, guys, it was a controlled detonation.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
They were testing the alarms on the base, right.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
We wanted you to know what was going on, so
no one thought it was a real danger.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
He said, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now I love that story because were we or were
we not briefed.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That this was going to happen?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yes, but then something took place and our bodies reacted.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And what did we feel? Fear? And when fear comes in,
logic goes out the door. The power of.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Fear in our lives. I want to read the scripture
one Psalm one eleven. Can we just stand to read
this together and on God's word? And let's all say
this together?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Ready.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put
their hope in His unfailing love.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Awesome, you can take a seat. Felt like a Catholic service.
We just got up and sat back down.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
The Lord delights in those who fear him. We are
called men and women of God to fear God nothing else.
When the Bible says fear not, it means fear not.
(05:42):
But too often fear is robbing us of the destiny
that God has for our lives.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now, what is the exact opposite of fear faith?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
The exact opposite of fear is faith. Let's go to
Romans chapter five. Life therefore having been justified by we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we also have access by into grace, which we
stand and rejoice in.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Come on, y'all of the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And not only that, but we also glory and tribulations,
knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character and character.
Now I gotcha that one now does not disappoint because
the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
Do you see the connection fear the opposite of faith.
(06:43):
Faith is the foundation and the progression goes to hope.
Faith produces hope. And we are living in a tough
time in our country and our world where we need
an injection of hope. And fear has to be defeated
in order for us to have faith, because fear will steal, kill,
(07:07):
and destroy our hope. And that's where I want to
say to you today, you cannot underestimate.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
The power of hope in a dark hour.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm going to talk to you today about some of
the times that fear has gotten the best of me.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
And I've lost my hope.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And so that's why the title of my message as
I ask you, if you're a millennial, to pull out
your phone and take notes. And if you're not a millennial,
please use the pen and paper in your hand. Come on,
you'll ply your notes. I see you don't see anyone moving.
Let's go notes. If you ain't writing it down, you
ain't retaining it. The title of my message today that
(07:45):
you will put at the title what you just pulled
out is resurrected hope. Resurrected hope from death to life hope.
I see an engage your destiny T shirt. Look at you,
God bless you. That's from like five years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Fun. That's fun. Oh I signed it. Wow, I bet
I thought that was so cool five years ago.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I'm gonna give you, guys, three ways to overcome fear
and restore the hope in your life.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Number one, this is number one. Write this down.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Recognize fear begins as a thought. Fear begins as a thought,
and where your focus goes, your energy flows. The Bible
says to set your mind on the things that are above,
not on the things that are below. And that's where
(08:46):
I'm calling to you today to tell you something very
unpopular and uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Get off social media. Get off it.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
And I'm talking about getting off it in a way
where it is you are consuming it for hours at
a time, where it is your form of entertainment, where
it is your go to when you are at the
stop sign, where it is what you are sitting and
scrolling on when you're on the toilet. I'm talking about
the type of social media use where it is filling
(09:17):
the gaps of your day and it's consuming you instead
of you consuming it. I remember I was in this
transition and I've removed all social media, all any type
of video stuff like that off of my phone completely.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You will not find it.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And I was wrestling with because I was seeing myself
and you know, all these different types of videos were coming,
and I remember I was feeling comparison and jealousy and
struggling and then you know, feeling temptation, struggling with pornography
things like that, because it is pornography that we're seeing
on TikTok, right, guys, it's pornography.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And I remember seeing all these things.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I remember that God spoke to me and he took
me to James chapter three, where it says, where there's
envy and self seeking, every evil thing will be there.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm gonna say that again.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Where there's envy and self seeking, everything will be there.
They've been researching what takes place when young people are
watching social media, specifically not reading posts, but all of
social media has moved completely towards video and using algorithms
to choose for you what they're gonna put in front.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Of your mind.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You don't go to the bookstore anymore and choose what
you're gonna look at. They're choosing for you what you're
gonna look at. They're in control of your mind. And
so now with all of this video, they are setting
up exactly through the algorithm how they can keep you
going and keep you scrolling and keep you moving through it.
(10:50):
And as they've been studying what's been going on in
people's minds, they have found that when people consume social media,
what are they doing with their bodies?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Nothing? They're doing nothing. You're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Nothing? And what are you watching? You're watching people doing things? Okay,
watching them build big things, drive nice cars, hot bodies.
Millions of likes, millions of shares? Is success? Success? Success?
And what's happening in the mind and in the body
is you are watching all of the success while your
(11:26):
body is doing nothing, creating a form of comparison in
your subconscious and it is creating the lie into your
mind that I am not enough. Where there's envy and
self seeking, every evil thing will be there. And I'm
here to tell you today that almost all of social
(11:47):
media is self seeking.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
It's seeking self.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
The Bible says that in the last days, men will
become lovers of themselves. Watching young people take thousands of
selfies in a day, self self, self, self, self, self, self,
Men will become lovers of self, not lovers of God.
This is a very unpopular message, but at the end
(12:12):
of the day, this is what is getting at the
root of what's robbing us of our faith because it's
putting fear in our lives through comparison.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Think about this.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Last year, the Foundation of Mental Health said that forty
seven percent of Americans struggle with anxiety. I'm gonna tell
you why your brain is broken up between the conscious
and the subconscious. Say conscious, the conscious part of your
brain makes up ten percent of the power of your brain.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Say ten percent.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
The subconscious part of your brain makes up ninety percent
of the power of your brain.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Say ninety percent. What does this mean?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It means that when you go to work and you work, work, work,
or you go to school and you study, study, study,
and then in between the gaps you pull this out
and you start engaging, you are never giving your brain
the break to access the most powerful part of your brain,
and you're burning out the weakest part of your brain.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
What would happen if you.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Go into the gym bro got some muscles. What would
happen if you did triceeps and burn them out every
single day?
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Would your triceeps ever grow?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
They would not, because it's the weakest part of the
muscle and you're doing it every day and burning it out.
That's what you're doing to your brain when you don't
let it think. And that is why our brains we
are so fragile, we're so sensitive because we have such
little capacity. Overwhelming us with fear, which takes away faith
(13:36):
and kills our hope. I'm calling you, guys, to be
the created ones of God and do not be conformed
to this world. Don't let this conform you, but be
(13:57):
renewed in your mind. Fear begins as a thought, take
back the power of your mind. And I would say
the majority of the battle of this is recognition. You
will never look at your cell phone ever again.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
After hearing me talk about this, You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And my last point on this, do you have any
idea what you're capable of? Do you have any idea
of how much good things you can consume? Read through
the Bible in a year. Guys, make a commitment that
you're going to read a book a week and do
an audiobook a week. You will find the time if
you make the commitment. I plow through a book a week,
(14:41):
pushing my mind, growing my mind because I don't want
to stand before God someday and have him say, man,
I had so much more for you, but I wasted
my time. I wasted my life consuming watching other people
live theirs. Don't be that person. Okay, I think they're convicted.
(15:03):
I'm gonna go to the second point. Give them a
little break now, number two. Number two, write this down.
Believe for a personal resurrection. Believe for a personal resurrection.
I grew up in a military family, and in that family,
the greatest and the greatest thing you could do with
(15:24):
your life is serve this nation in combat.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So when I was twenty.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
One years old and I got the call from my
staff sergeant that we were deploying to Iraq, it was like, Man,
I'm about to do the greatest thing that my grandfathers did,
that my uncles did, the service in our family. Wow,
I get to be a part of this and I
get to go take it to the people who attacked us.
(15:49):
On nine to eleven, I went to Iraq with a
combat aviation brigade, flying metavacs, gunships and rides bases, and
on the sixth day of my tour, one of our
Schnook helicopters went down and seven of my guys were killed.
I was welcome by my chaplin at three o'clock in
the morning and we went to the talk the S
(16:11):
three shop and began to process what was going on,
putting all the pieces together, and then we had to
plan a memorial service for seven dead soldiers.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
On the sixth day of our tour.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
To say we were devastated as an understatement, and twenty
four hours after the incident we held a memorial service,
which was the saddest thing I've ever.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Been a part of.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
And we did the memorial service, and then the next
day it was like it never.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Even happened, because those of you who have been to.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
War, you know, when people die, there's not time for it,
and the war does not stop just.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Because people pass away.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And so the next day birds had to get in
the air, missions had to be flown, birds had to
be fixed.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
All the things had to happen, and we had to
keep going.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Several months later, as after having like all of the
shame and all this guilt that had just been shoved down,
and you just keep working, we had a suicide bomber
that walked into a school outside of our base and
he blew himself up, killed dozens of kids, wounded several more.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Had nothing to do with us.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It was a she I'd see anything between their sects
of religion, and some of our base QRFs went and
rescued a bunch of the kids because the local town
did not have the capacity to handle a mass casualty
of that size.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
And I was in the.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Base hospital with my chaplain after they'd brought those kids in,
and I know there's children here right now, so I
won't say much more, but what I saw on that er,
I was not prepared for as a twenty one year
old man, and it was it was horrifying, and it
scarred my soul. So then after coming home, you know,
(17:51):
when you're in a combat zone, everything is one thousand
miles an hour, and America is the most fast paced country.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And I came back here to Minnesota, which people move
even faster because it's cold, and I felt like the
United States moved like molasses.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I felt out of place. I felt alone.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And about a month after I came home, I started
having nightmares and tremors that I was that I was
hurting children, and I'd wake up in the middle of
my sleep pouring sweat and just panicking.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And I really started to fall apart.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And that was the time where I just I loved
Jesus and I was a passionate I had led so
many people the Lord.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I'd be out before this tour.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I was out on the streets of Minneapolis, praying for people,
praying for.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
People to get healed, like I was a Jesus freak,
you know.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And in all this shame and everything was going on
with me, I ran to what I knew, and that
was alcohol and women and life.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
It's like if my life was a gas tank.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It was slowly going to empty, because when you cut
yourself off from the Father and the spirit of God,
that starts running out, it runs out fast.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And I remember I was.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Out till bar Clos one night and I got home
at three o'clock in the morning, and I had reached
the end of whatever life I had left in me,
and I had a handgun, and I was contemplating taking
my life. And if I look back on it now,
I can honestly say that I didn't want to die,
but I didn't know how to get out of the
spiral of pain.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I was in.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And I know that the devil wanted to kill me
because God had a plan for my life, and the enemy.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Knew all the souls he was going to lose by
me living.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And so I was in that moment contemplating and thinking
through all the things that would take place if I
made that decision, and I was really scared, and so
I called a mentor of mine and he picked up
the phone, and I remember I was just crying, and
I was just saying, why, why is this happening, What's
the purpose in all this? And how often in pain
do we just need some purpose to get through it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And he began to speak to me about the Disciples,
which I remember really annoyed me because I didn't want
a Bible less than at three o'clock in the morning
after a night in the bar when I'm suicidal. And
he starts talking to me about disciples and about these
men and what they went through. And he was talking
about how these guys had jobs, they were working, they
(20:18):
were making a living, and how, in the context of
that time, the greatest thing that you could do in
that Jewish tradition was to study under a rabbi.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And if these.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Men at the age of sixteen to eighteen were not
studying under a rabbi, it means they weren't good enough.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, they had been disqualified.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So when Jesus, a known rabbi came along and said
come follow me, it was like, are you serious? We
get to go do that? And they leapt at the opportunity.
Little did they know the journey they were about to
get on. And so now they're studying and they're learning.
But then Jesus starts healing people, and he starts loving
(20:57):
people in a way they'd never been loved. He starts
driving demons out of people, he starts feeding the multitudes,
and they realize, oh my gosh, we are in.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
With the Savior, the Messiah.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
They're in with the dude, right, tell me that wouldn't
pickle some of our egos?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
What mine?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
And they're walking with this guy and they're in like Flynn.
And then they get to the point where these soldiers
come along and they take Jesus and in their eyes,
like a coward, he just gets led away and they're like, dude,
you're the all powerful Messiah.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And they murder him and he's gone. And Scott said,
they were devastated and they were hopeless. And that's where
you are. You're in a place where you don't understand
why you're going through what you're going through. But beneath
all that you're struggling is a victory greater than you
could possibly imagine, because beneath the death of Christ was
(21:58):
the greatest victory of the world ever known, in him
defeating sin. But the disciples couldn't see that. But then
when Jesus rose from the dead, they understood why they
went through what they went through, and they went and
they changed the world.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And that's what God did for me.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
He took all of my pain and he's taken my
story in my testimony, and thousands of soldiers have come.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
To Christ because of it.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And that's the power of a testimony, is that Satan
is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the
word of what we share. And that's where I am
saying to you to believe for the power of a
personal resurrection, because what He does for one man, he
does for another. And I know that there's people in
here who are struggling with things, and you're in the
middle where you can't see any further than six inches
in front.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Of your face.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I'm here to say, brother and sister, God is going
to take that and he's going to do greater things
than you could imagine, and He is going to resurrect
hope in your life. Number three, believe for a multiplying resurrection.
Write that down, but leave for a multiplying resurrection. We're
(23:09):
in a tough time.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
In our nation and in our world.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
When America doesn't lead, you can see internationally what happens.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I think one of the things that most Americans don't
understand is the rest of the world governs by power.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
We think we can be nice. Sorry. I remember when
when we were in Iraq.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And we'd be out and we'd be in the towns
and some of the kids would come around and things
like that. And I remember we were giving out candy
and these kids came and they would slap our m
sixteens away to get to the candy. But if we
pulled out a pistol, they'd run. And you want to
know why, because the police beat people with pistols.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Guys tracking, they rule with power.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
That's why when Saddam Musan left and the power was gone,
and then we leave power or takes over. That's how
That's what created isis ye all tracking, That's how the
majority of the world works power and when America doesn't
lead with power and with strength, everything you've witnessed.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Over the last couple of years is what takes place.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
That has nothing to do with my message, but I
felt it needed to be said. But this impacts our hope,
right because what are we being constantly fed with how
the world's falling apart? And so that's why I want
to ask you today, have you lost your hope? Have
you struggled with your hope.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I have.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Hope in yourself, hoping God, hoping your leaders, hope in
your nation. When I started engaging your destiny in twenty sixteen,
my dad was passing away of cancer, and I remember
I was taking him in for a treatment and I
came home and I was walking through our living room and.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I had an encounter with God and I had a vision.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Is the only time in my life for I've had
an encounter with God and I've actually seen something. And
I saw this massive stadium and it was filled with
tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans, specifically Vietnam vets. And
then the vision zoomed in on this one Vietnam vet
and I saw his face and tears were streaming down
his face because.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
He was healing and being welcomed home. And that was
all I saw.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
And then the vision cleared, and I was overwhelmed with
god presence and I just wept. I knew in that
moment that God was giving me a very specific vision
for a plan of something he wanted me to do.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
On Memorial they have.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Twenty twenty two, my organization held the largest Jesus centered
outreach to veterans in American history, thirty five thousand in attendance.
We honored Vietnam veterans after fifty years of being shamed
and forgotten by this nation, and they were nationally welcomed home.
We did it with Toby Keith. It was his last concert.
Ron DeSantis jet flyover, his Navy seals parachuted in and
(25:59):
it was at the Daytona Speedway. Nationally streamed by Fox News.
It was deemed the biggest, baddest, most patriotic celebration. This
is one of the greatest days of my life, aside
from getting married and having kids.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Love you, honey.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
But I had this vision that we could create something
so beautiful and so powerful that Vietnam veterans and veterans
and their families would come to it, and we could.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Make it free.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
If we created such a great party that civilians would
want to come too, and then they would pay and
buy tickets. So we're like, okay. The cost of this
event was six million dollars. Go bigger at a home.
And you know, I went to people. I told my vision,
how I want to do it. They told me what
it was, and I said, all right, let's go do it.
(26:49):
We raised four million dollars and we needed two million
dollars in ticket sales to clear our budget. Okay, so
the event takes place. It was amazing, it was it
was un believable. We had to wipe the wonder from
our faces, from the thousands of veterans that would come
to us and grab us.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And say thank you. This changed my life.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And the next day I wake up and I got
the sales reports and we only sold five hundred thousand tickets,
one point five million short. So again, one day, I'm
witnessing the most successful outreach I've ever been a part of,
and now I'm staring in a mountain of debt with
no cash in the bank, and I had to let
(27:33):
my team of twenty five members go.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You never laid out for your whole staff, And one.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Day I was devastated. I was burned out, I was
angry at God, and I completely lost hope. And now
I have to bring an organization back to life from
a hopeless state and begin raising money for something that's
already been done, with no vision of what I'm going
to do next anyone want That job wasn't fun, but
(28:06):
God always has the last say. I was in the
middle of searching and seeking what we were going to
do next. And I was helping a friend of mine
who runs the Music City Grand Prix. It's a race
they do through the streets in Nashville, and we're working
together and I was just helping him out and he
needed someone who had event experience to come.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
And just kind of assist him.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And I met the event and we're in this area
and in walks a guy by the name of Brian
head Welch.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And he was the lead.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Guitarist of Korn, a very popular band and heavy metal band,
and he was a methaddict on the virgi of suicide
and he got radically saved healed by Jesus, and he's
been traveling the world telling his story and being used
by God. So he walks in and I read his
book when I was in Iraq, so I was super
excited to talk to him. And I went over and
I introduced myself and I was like, hey, man, you.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Know, I read your book and I just loved it.
He was like, you read my book.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, yeah, you know, and you shouldn't be that excited
about that. But so we started to connect and we
met each other for lunch and as we're having lunch,
a friend of his walks in late to the meeting,
and it was this interesting looking guy.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
He had a bow tie on.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
I just thought he was weird, but he sits down
and we start talking, and I find out that he
was a black Hawk helicopter pilot and he was finding
black House when I was in Iraq, and we just connected,
and I start talking about my organization and the festival
and where we're at, and you know, I was just
lost and just seeking. And I'm like, I know I
want to work with the military again, but I don't
know what to do. And he said, well, why don't
(29:31):
I just introduce you to the garrison commander at Fort Campbell,
the home of the hundred first Airborne, and you can
test some stuff there. Great, so that door blows open,
and now we are doing full time ministry. Over twelve
hundred soldiers have taken a next step to start following Jesus.
(29:51):
At Fort Campbell, we've trained thirty was it thirty six
hundred soldiers in emotional intelligence and now we're getting ready
to launched two bases in Alaska and we're going to
train twelve thousand soldiers in August we've paid off eighty
four percent of our debt. That's eighty four percent if
anyone in here wants to at a check. And our
(30:17):
organization has been resurrected from the dead, because that's what
my God does. You see, the first time that I
was hopeless, I needed a personal resurrection.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I couldn't see anything but six inches in front of
my face.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
The second time that I was hopeless, I needed my organization,
something greater than me, to be resurrected.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
And that's what God does. You See, when Jesus died.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
He had to go through a personal resurrection so that
we could all have it.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Jesus had to die.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Then he went down to Hell and he defeated death.
He took the keys of Hades, and then he went
and he resurrected from the dead, and he went to
Heaven and he was personally resurrected. That personal resurrection then
spread to the twelve Disciples, and those twelve Disciples then
went and have impacted two points sixt zero eight seven
three one four billion people today to follow Christ. That's
(31:10):
the power of the resurrection. And that's what God does.
He takes our brokenness, he takes our hurt, He takes
our pain, He takes everything we're dealing with it, he
brings it to life, and then he multiplies us to
change cities, to change businesses, and to change nations.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
That's what he does. And that's the power of hope
and the hope that we have to have.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
And that's where I want to say to you that
no matter where you're at, there's a destiny for your
life beyond what you can imagine. And so that's where
I believe that there's two types of people in this room.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
The first is you need a personal resurrection.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
There's a situation in your life, maybe in your kids,
maybe in your business, maybe in your family, or in
your heart where you can't see any further than this,
and you need God to come in and bring life
to the death you've experienced.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
And he's going to do that today.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
The second type of person in this room is you
have had a personal resurrection, You've experienced the power of
a new life.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
But you haven't multiplied it. You haven't taken it to
the next step.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
And dare I say, you've gotten comfortable and you've gotten complacent,
which I think too much of the American Church is
sitting there.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I go to church, pay my tithes, go to Bible study.
That's it not enough? Do you know.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Timothy in his nineties was murdered in the streets because
he was rebuking a demonic ceremony that they were having
worshiping Goddess, and he died preaching the gospel in his nineties. Church,
You're never done and no matter where you're at, are
(33:09):
you making disciples?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Are you walking with people?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Are you getting into the programs that Shilah was offering,
are you being a leader? Are you taking the things
that God has put into you and are you multiplying
it to others? If not, you are not living a
Christ centered life. You're living a youth centered life. And
this is the message the church needs to hear. Get
off social media, stop living for yourself, and live for Him.
(33:43):
So this is where I want to have an invitation
for anyone where this message is speaking to you, where
you're one of those two people and you need a
personal resurrection in your life, You need something to be
brought from death to life. I want you to come
to the altar and if you're feeling the conviction of
God that there's a dream He's put on your heard
out of business, you need to start, something you need
to do, someone you need to mentor that you need
(34:04):
to open your life to. I want you to come
to the altar. So everyone on your feet, and if.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
This is speaking to you in any way, I want
you to come and join me up here. Let's go.
Welcome to pray dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Ben Peterson, the CEO and founder of Engage Your Destiny.
Please follow this profile from more engaging content that we
have crafted specifically for military veterans and the warriors at heart.
Also head to our website to see how you can
support ministry to our active duty military. Now I charge
you to take today's message and use it to engage
(00:25):
your destiny. I went to Iraq in two thousand and eight,
and when I first got there, First, before you go
(00:48):
into Iraq, you have to go into Kuwait.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is anyone in here? Ben? To Kuwait? What's quite like? Friends? Hot?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It was one hundred and forty five degrees when we
got there, and I actually got like little blisters on
my feet from walking to this Dude's not as said,
from walking from our tents to the chow hall.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It was so hot.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now, when we first got there, we were given, you know,
a safety brief and an in briefing by a crusty
old you know, starting first class. And and you know,
we got the in briefing. They basically told us, okay,
you are you are not in a combat zone.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You know this is a safe zone.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You're not gonna eat any ammunition, but you're still gonna
have your weapons. And we do what are called control detonations,
and no one really told us what that was, but basically,
you have, you know, convoys that are running all throughout
Iraq and they're running into IDs, right and you know,
they run into them and they if they don't blow up,
then they have to call bomb specialists EOD guys to
(01:45):
come in and diffuse them. And they can't just leave
the bomb there because then the Taliban will just come
and take that bomb and reuse it. Right, So that's
why either they'll destroy the bomb there or they'll bring
the bomb back to the base, and that's where the
way that they dispose of these ordinance of these bombs
is to have a controlled debtonation, which is a small explosion.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Everyone tracking.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So they communicate all this to us and say, so
there's going to be some controlled detonations, so don't freak out.
But we also test our security alarms from time to
time to make sure they're working. So this was all
great information they gave to us. It would have been very
helpful if we would have listened. Okay, so you know
the next day it was getting into the it was
after chow in the evening, and my buddies and I
(02:25):
would go to the gym and we get into the
gym and we all throw our earbuds in and we
start working out.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And we were the only ones in the gym at
the time.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
They were about four of us, and they made an
announcement over the loudspeakers that they were going to have
a controlled detonation, but then they were also going to
test the security alarms on the base.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Okay, all communication.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That would have been very helpful if it not were
for the metallica blaring in my ears. So I'm on
the treadmill and I'm running and doing my thing, and
I feel what can only be understood is the wave
from an explosion fly through my body, and I kind
of freak out a little bit, and I turned to
my buddy next to me and I'm like, was that
what I think it was? And he goes, it has
(03:05):
to be, and so we turn around, we get off
the treadmill. My other buddies right there and were like, well,
you know, was that a real explosion, Like what's going on?
And I said, guys, if that was a real explosion,
they're going to sound a security alarm. I swear to god,
it's a true story.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
The words are leaving my mouth and we hear.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Incoming, incoming, and everything in me from being like twelve
years old and seeing saving Private Ryan like rose up
and I just said, oh my gosh. And so I
run over and I bust open these double doors and
I'm like, come on, we got to get.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
To a bunker.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You got to realize there's people outside who know what's
going on.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And so these four to twenty one year old testosterone
filled jocks come tearing out of the gym running and
we dive into these tea barrier bunkers and so we're
in there and we're I mean, we're terrified. You know,
we don't have any hammo, we got nothing. And so
then like the alarm shot off and everything calms down.
We look out and nothing's going on, and so like, okay,
(04:06):
so we run back to our ao and we get
back there and just then Top is coming out to
use the tree and we run up. We're like, first, Sarten,
do you know what's going on with the explosions the alarms,
and and he goes, yeah, guys, it was a controlled detonation.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
They were testing the alarms on the base, right.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
We wanted you to know what was going on, so
no one thought it was a real danger.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
He said, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now I love that story because were we or were
we not briefed.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That this was going to happen?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yes, but then something took place and our bodies reacted.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And what did we feel? Fear? And when fear comes in,
logic goes out the door. The power of.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Fear in our lives. I want to read the scripture
one Psalm one eleven. Can we just stand to read
this together and on God's word? And let's all say
this together?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Ready.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put
their hope in His unfailing love.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Awesome, you can take a seat. Felt like a Catholic service.
We just got up and sat back down.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
The Lord delights in those who fear him. We are
called men and women of God to fear God nothing else.
When the Bible says fear not, it means fear not.
(05:42):
But too often fear is robbing us of the destiny
that God has for our lives.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now, what is the exact opposite of fear faith?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
The exact opposite of fear is faith. Let's go to
Romans chapter five. Life therefore having been justified by we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we also have access by into grace, which we
stand and rejoice in.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Come on, y'all of the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And not only that, but we also glory and tribulations,
knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character and character.
Now I gotcha that one now does not disappoint because
the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
Do you see the connection fear the opposite of faith.
(06:43):
Faith is the foundation and the progression goes to hope.
Faith produces hope. And we are living in a tough
time in our country and our world where we need
an injection of hope. And fear has to be defeated
in order for us to have faith, because fear will steal, kill,
(07:07):
and destroy our hope. And that's where I want to
say to you today, you cannot underestimate.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
The power of hope in a dark hour.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm going to talk to you today about some of
the times that fear has gotten the best of me.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
And I've lost my hope.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And so that's why the title of my message as
I ask you, if you're a millennial, to pull out
your phone and take notes. And if you're not a millennial,
please use the pen and paper in your hand. Come on,
you'll ply your notes. I see you don't see anyone moving.
Let's go notes. If you ain't writing it down, you
ain't retaining it. The title of my message today that
(07:45):
you will put at the title what you just pulled
out is resurrected hope. Resurrected hope from death to life hope.
I see an engage your destiny T shirt. Look at you,
God bless you. That's from like five years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Fun. That's fun. Oh I signed it. Wow, I bet
I thought that was so cool five years ago.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I'm gonna give you, guys, three ways to overcome fear
and restore the hope in your life.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Number one, this is number one. Write this down.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Recognize fear begins as a thought. Fear begins as a thought,
and where your focus goes, your energy flows. The Bible
says to set your mind on the things that are above,
not on the things that are below. And that's where
(08:46):
I'm calling to you today to tell you something very
unpopular and uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Get off social media. Get off it.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
And I'm talking about getting off it in a way
where it is you are consuming it for hours at
a time, where it is your form of entertainment, where
it is your go to when you are at the
stop sign, where it is what you are sitting and
scrolling on when you're on the toilet. I'm talking about
the type of social media use where it is filling
(09:17):
the gaps of your day and it's consuming you instead
of you consuming it. I remember I was in this
transition and I've removed all social media, all any type
of video stuff like that off of my phone completely.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You will not find it.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And I was wrestling with because I was seeing myself
and you know, all these different types of videos were coming,
and I remember I was feeling comparison and jealousy and
struggling and then you know, feeling temptation, struggling with pornography
things like that, because it is pornography that we're seeing
on TikTok, right, guys, it's pornography.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And I remember seeing all these things.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I remember that God spoke to me and he took
me to James chapter three, where it says, where there's
envy and self seeking, every evil thing will be there.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm gonna say that again.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Where there's envy and self seeking, everything will be there.
They've been researching what takes place when young people are
watching social media, specifically not reading posts, but all of
social media has moved completely towards video and using algorithms
to choose for you what they're gonna put in front.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Of your mind.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You don't go to the bookstore anymore and choose what
you're gonna look at. They're choosing for you what you're
gonna look at. They're in control of your mind. And
so now with all of this video, they are setting
up exactly through the algorithm how they can keep you
going and keep you scrolling and keep you moving through it.
(10:50):
And as they've been studying what's been going on in
people's minds, they have found that when people consume social media,
what are they doing with their bodies?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Nothing? They're doing nothing. You're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Nothing? And what are you watching? You're watching people doing things? Okay,
watching them build big things, drive nice cars, hot bodies.
Millions of likes, millions of shares? Is success? Success? Success?
And what's happening in the mind and in the body
is you are watching all of the success while your
(11:26):
body is doing nothing, creating a form of comparison in
your subconscious and it is creating the lie into your
mind that I am not enough. Where there's envy and
self seeking, every evil thing will be there. And I'm
here to tell you today that almost all of social
(11:47):
media is self seeking.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
It's seeking self.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
The Bible says that in the last days, men will
become lovers of themselves. Watching young people take thousands of
selfies in a day, self self, self, self, self, self, self,
Men will become lovers of self, not lovers of God.
This is a very unpopular message, but at the end
(12:12):
of the day, this is what is getting at the
root of what's robbing us of our faith because it's
putting fear in our lives through comparison.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Think about this.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Last year, the Foundation of Mental Health said that forty
seven percent of Americans struggle with anxiety. I'm gonna tell
you why your brain is broken up between the conscious
and the subconscious. Say conscious, the conscious part of your
brain makes up ten percent of the power of your brain.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Say ten percent.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
The subconscious part of your brain makes up ninety percent
of the power of your brain.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Say ninety percent. What does this mean?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It means that when you go to work and you work, work, work,
or you go to school and you study, study, study,
and then in between the gaps you pull this out
and you start engaging, you are never giving your brain
the break to access the most powerful part of your brain,
and you're burning out the weakest part of your brain.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
What would happen if you.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Go into the gym bro got some muscles. What would
happen if you did triceeps and burn them out every
single day?
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Would your triceeps ever grow?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
They would not, because it's the weakest part of the
muscle and you're doing it every day and burning it out.
That's what you're doing to your brain when you don't
let it think. And that is why our brains we
are so fragile, we're so sensitive because we have such
little capacity. Overwhelming us with fear, which takes away faith
(13:36):
and kills our hope. I'm calling you, guys, to be
the created ones of God and do not be conformed
to this world. Don't let this conform you, but be
(13:57):
renewed in your mind. Fear begins as a thought, take
back the power of your mind. And I would say
the majority of the battle of this is recognition. You
will never look at your cell phone ever again.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
After hearing me talk about this, You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And my last point on this, do you have any
idea what you're capable of? Do you have any idea
of how much good things you can consume? Read through
the Bible in a year. Guys, make a commitment that
you're going to read a book a week and do
an audiobook a week. You will find the time if
you make the commitment. I plow through a book a week,
(14:41):
pushing my mind, growing my mind because I don't want
to stand before God someday and have him say, man,
I had so much more for you, but I wasted
my time. I wasted my life consuming watching other people
live theirs. Don't be that person. Okay, I think they're convicted.
(15:03):
I'm gonna go to the second point. Give them a
little break now, number two. Number two, write this down.
Believe for a personal resurrection. Believe for a personal resurrection.
I grew up in a military family, and in that family,
the greatest and the greatest thing you could do with
(15:24):
your life is serve this nation in combat.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So when I was twenty.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
One years old and I got the call from my
staff sergeant that we were deploying to Iraq, it was like, Man,
I'm about to do the greatest thing that my grandfathers did,
that my uncles did, the service in our family. Wow,
I get to be a part of this and I
get to go take it to the people who attacked us.
(15:49):
On nine to eleven, I went to Iraq with a
combat aviation brigade, flying metavacs, gunships and rides bases, and
on the sixth day of my tour, one of our
Schnook helicopters went down and seven of my guys were killed.
I was welcome by my chaplin at three o'clock in
the morning and we went to the talk the S
(16:11):
three shop and began to process what was going on,
putting all the pieces together, and then we had to
plan a memorial service for seven dead soldiers.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
On the sixth day of our tour.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
To say we were devastated as an understatement, and twenty
four hours after the incident we held a memorial service,
which was the saddest thing I've ever.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Been a part of.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
And we did the memorial service, and then the next
day it was like it never.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Even happened, because those of you who have been to.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
War, you know, when people die, there's not time for it,
and the war does not stop just.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Because people pass away.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And so the next day birds had to get in
the air, missions had to be flown, birds had to
be fixed.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
All the things had to happen, and we had to
keep going.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Several months later, as after having like all of the
shame and all this guilt that had just been shoved down,
and you just keep working, we had a suicide bomber
that walked into a school outside of our base and
he blew himself up, killed dozens of kids, wounded several more.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Had nothing to do with us.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It was a she I'd see anything between their sects
of religion, and some of our base QRFs went and
rescued a bunch of the kids because the local town
did not have the capacity to handle a mass casualty
of that size.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
And I was in the.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Base hospital with my chaplain after they'd brought those kids in,
and I know there's children here right now, so I
won't say much more, but what I saw on that er,
I was not prepared for as a twenty one year
old man, and it was it was horrifying, and it
scarred my soul. So then after coming home, you know,
(17:51):
when you're in a combat zone, everything is one thousand
miles an hour, and America is the most fast paced country.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And I came back here to Minnesota, which people move
even faster because it's cold, and I felt like the
United States moved like molasses.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I felt out of place. I felt alone.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And about a month after I came home, I started
having nightmares and tremors that I was that I was
hurting children, and I'd wake up in the middle of
my sleep pouring sweat and just panicking.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And I really started to fall apart.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And that was the time where I just I loved
Jesus and I was a passionate I had led so
many people the Lord.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I'd be out before this tour.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I was out on the streets of Minneapolis, praying for people,
praying for.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
People to get healed, like I was a Jesus freak,
you know.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And in all this shame and everything was going on
with me, I ran to what I knew, and that
was alcohol and women and life.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
It's like if my life was a gas tank.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It was slowly going to empty, because when you cut
yourself off from the Father and the spirit of God,
that starts running out, it runs out fast.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And I remember I was.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Out till bar Clos one night and I got home
at three o'clock in the morning, and I had reached
the end of whatever life I had left in me,
and I had a handgun, and I was contemplating taking
my life. And if I look back on it now,
I can honestly say that I didn't want to die,
but I didn't know how to get out of the
spiral of pain.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I was in.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And I know that the devil wanted to kill me
because God had a plan for my life, and the enemy.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Knew all the souls he was going to lose by
me living.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And so I was in that moment contemplating and thinking
through all the things that would take place if I
made that decision, and I was really scared, and so
I called a mentor of mine and he picked up
the phone, and I remember I was just crying, and
I was just saying, why, why is this happening, What's
the purpose in all this? And how often in pain
do we just need some purpose to get through it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And he began to speak to me about the Disciples,
which I remember really annoyed me because I didn't want
a Bible less than at three o'clock in the morning
after a night in the bar when I'm suicidal. And
he starts talking to me about disciples and about these
men and what they went through. And he was talking
about how these guys had jobs, they were working, they
(20:18):
were making a living, and how, in the context of
that time, the greatest thing that you could do in
that Jewish tradition was to study under a rabbi.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And if these.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Men at the age of sixteen to eighteen were not
studying under a rabbi, it means they weren't good enough.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, they had been disqualified.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So when Jesus, a known rabbi came along and said
come follow me, it was like, are you serious? We
get to go do that? And they leapt at the opportunity.
Little did they know the journey they were about to
get on. And so now they're studying and they're learning.
But then Jesus starts healing people, and he starts loving
(20:57):
people in a way they'd never been loved. He starts
driving demons out of people, he starts feeding the multitudes,
and they realize, oh my gosh, we are in.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
With the Savior, the Messiah.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
They're in with the dude, right, tell me that wouldn't
pickle some of our egos?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
What mine?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
And they're walking with this guy and they're in like Flynn.
And then they get to the point where these soldiers
come along and they take Jesus and in their eyes,
like a coward, he just gets led away and they're like, dude,
you're the all powerful Messiah.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And they murder him and he's gone. And Scott said,
they were devastated and they were hopeless. And that's where
you are. You're in a place where you don't understand
why you're going through what you're going through. But beneath
all that you're struggling is a victory greater than you
could possibly imagine, because beneath the death of Christ was
(21:58):
the greatest victory of the world ever known, in him
defeating sin. But the disciples couldn't see that. But then
when Jesus rose from the dead, they understood why they
went through what they went through, and they went and
they changed the world.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And that's what God did for me.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
He took all of my pain and he's taken my
story in my testimony, and thousands of soldiers have come.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
To Christ because of it.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And that's the power of a testimony, is that Satan
is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the
word of what we share. And that's where I am
saying to you to believe for the power of a
personal resurrection, because what He does for one man, he
does for another. And I know that there's people in
here who are struggling with things, and you're in the
middle where you can't see any further than six inches
in front.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Of your face.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I'm here to say, brother and sister, God is going
to take that and he's going to do greater things
than you could imagine, and He is going to resurrect
hope in your life. Number three, believe for a multiplying resurrection.
Write that down, but leave for a multiplying resurrection. We're
(23:09):
in a tough time.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
In our nation and in our world.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
When America doesn't lead, you can see internationally what happens.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I think one of the things that most Americans don't
understand is the rest of the world governs by power.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
We think we can be nice. Sorry. I remember when
when we were in Iraq.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And we'd be out and we'd be in the towns
and some of the kids would come around and things
like that. And I remember we were giving out candy
and these kids came and they would slap our m
sixteens away to get to the candy. But if we
pulled out a pistol, they'd run. And you want to
know why, because the police beat people with pistols.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Guys tracking, they rule with power.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
That's why when Saddam Musan left and the power was gone,
and then we leave power or takes over. That's how
That's what created isis ye all tracking, That's how the
majority of the world works power and when America doesn't
lead with power and with strength, everything you've witnessed.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Over the last couple of years is what takes place.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
That has nothing to do with my message, but I
felt it needed to be said. But this impacts our hope,
right because what are we being constantly fed with how
the world's falling apart? And so that's why I want
to ask you today, have you lost your hope? Have
you struggled with your hope.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I have.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Hope in yourself, hoping God, hoping your leaders, hope in
your nation. When I started engaging your destiny in twenty sixteen,
my dad was passing away of cancer, and I remember
I was taking him in for a treatment and I
came home and I was walking through our living room and.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I had an encounter with God and I had a vision.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Is the only time in my life for I've had
an encounter with God and I've actually seen something. And
I saw this massive stadium and it was filled with
tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans, specifically Vietnam vets. And
then the vision zoomed in on this one Vietnam vet
and I saw his face and tears were streaming down
his face because.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
He was healing and being welcomed home. And that was
all I saw.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
And then the vision cleared, and I was overwhelmed with
god presence and I just wept. I knew in that
moment that God was giving me a very specific vision
for a plan of something he wanted me to do.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
On Memorial they have.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Twenty twenty two, my organization held the largest Jesus centered
outreach to veterans in American history, thirty five thousand in attendance.
We honored Vietnam veterans after fifty years of being shamed
and forgotten by this nation, and they were nationally welcomed home.
We did it with Toby Keith. It was his last concert.
Ron DeSantis jet flyover, his Navy seals parachuted in and
(25:59):
it was at the Daytona Speedway. Nationally streamed by Fox News.
It was deemed the biggest, baddest, most patriotic celebration. This
is one of the greatest days of my life, aside
from getting married and having kids.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Love you, honey.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
But I had this vision that we could create something
so beautiful and so powerful that Vietnam veterans and veterans
and their families would come to it, and we could.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Make it free.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
If we created such a great party that civilians would
want to come too, and then they would pay and
buy tickets. So we're like, okay. The cost of this
event was six million dollars. Go bigger at a home.
And you know, I went to people. I told my vision,
how I want to do it. They told me what
it was, and I said, all right, let's go do it.
(26:49):
We raised four million dollars and we needed two million
dollars in ticket sales to clear our budget. Okay, so
the event takes place. It was amazing, it was it
was un believable. We had to wipe the wonder from
our faces, from the thousands of veterans that would come
to us and grab us.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And say thank you. This changed my life.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And the next day I wake up and I got
the sales reports and we only sold five hundred thousand tickets,
one point five million short. So again, one day, I'm
witnessing the most successful outreach I've ever been a part of,
and now I'm staring in a mountain of debt with
no cash in the bank, and I had to let
(27:33):
my team of twenty five members go.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You never laid out for your whole staff, And one.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Day I was devastated. I was burned out, I was
angry at God, and I completely lost hope. And now
I have to bring an organization back to life from
a hopeless state and begin raising money for something that's
already been done, with no vision of what I'm going
to do next anyone want That job wasn't fun, but
(28:06):
God always has the last say. I was in the
middle of searching and seeking what we were going to
do next. And I was helping a friend of mine
who runs the Music City Grand Prix. It's a race
they do through the streets in Nashville, and we're working
together and I was just helping him out and he
needed someone who had event experience to come.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
And just kind of assist him.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And I met the event and we're in this area
and in walks a guy by the name of Brian
head Welch.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And he was the lead.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Guitarist of Korn, a very popular band and heavy metal band,
and he was a methaddict on the virgi of suicide
and he got radically saved healed by Jesus, and he's
been traveling the world telling his story and being used
by God. So he walks in and I read his
book when I was in Iraq, so I was super
excited to talk to him. And I went over and
I introduced myself and I was like, hey, man, you.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Know, I read your book and I just loved it.
He was like, you read my book.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, yeah, you know, and you shouldn't be that excited
about that. But so we started to connect and we
met each other for lunch and as we're having lunch,
a friend of his walks in late to the meeting,
and it was this interesting looking guy.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
He had a bow tie on.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
I just thought he was weird, but he sits down
and we start talking, and I find out that he
was a black Hawk helicopter pilot and he was finding
black House when I was in Iraq, and we just connected,
and I start talking about my organization and the festival
and where we're at, and you know, I was just
lost and just seeking. And I'm like, I know I
want to work with the military again, but I don't
know what to do. And he said, well, why don't
(29:31):
I just introduce you to the garrison commander at Fort Campbell,
the home of the hundred first Airborne, and you can
test some stuff there. Great, so that door blows open,
and now we are doing full time ministry. Over twelve
hundred soldiers have taken a next step to start following Jesus.
(29:51):
At Fort Campbell, we've trained thirty was it thirty six
hundred soldiers in emotional intelligence and now we're getting ready
to launched two bases in Alaska and we're going to
train twelve thousand soldiers in August we've paid off eighty
four percent of our debt. That's eighty four percent if
anyone in here wants to at a check. And our
(30:17):
organization has been resurrected from the dead, because that's what
my God does. You see, the first time that I
was hopeless, I needed a personal resurrection.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I couldn't see anything but six inches in front of
my face.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
The second time that I was hopeless, I needed my organization,
something greater than me, to be resurrected.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
And that's what God does. You See, when Jesus died.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
He had to go through a personal resurrection so that
we could all have it.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Jesus had to die.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Then he went down to Hell and he defeated death.
He took the keys of Hades, and then he went
and he resurrected from the dead, and he went to
Heaven and he was personally resurrected. That personal resurrection then
spread to the twelve Disciples, and those twelve Disciples then
went and have impacted two points sixt zero eight seven
three one four billion people today to follow Christ. That's
(31:10):
the power of the resurrection. And that's what God does.
He takes our brokenness, he takes our hurt, He takes
our pain, He takes everything we're dealing with it, he
brings it to life, and then he multiplies us to
change cities, to change businesses, and to change nations.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
That's what he does. And that's the power of hope
and the hope that we have to have.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
And that's where I want to say to you that
no matter where you're at, there's a destiny for your
life beyond what you can imagine. And so that's where
I believe that there's two types of people in this room.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
The first is you need a personal resurrection.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
There's a situation in your life, maybe in your kids,
maybe in your business, maybe in your family, or in
your heart where you can't see any further than this,
and you need God to come in and bring life
to the death you've experienced.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
And he's going to do that today.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
The second type of person in this room is you
have had a personal resurrection, You've experienced the power of
a new life.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
But you haven't multiplied it. You haven't taken it to
the next step.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
And dare I say, you've gotten comfortable and you've gotten complacent,
which I think too much of the American Church is
sitting there.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I go to church, pay my tithes, go to Bible study.
That's it not enough? Do you know.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Timothy in his nineties was murdered in the streets because
he was rebuking a demonic ceremony that they were having
worshiping Goddess, and he died preaching the gospel in his nineties. Church,
You're never done and no matter where you're at, are
(33:09):
you making disciples?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Are you walking with people?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Are you getting into the programs that Shilah was offering,
are you being a leader? Are you taking the things
that God has put into you and are you multiplying
it to others? If not, you are not living a
Christ centered life. You're living a youth centered life. And
this is the message the church needs to hear. Get
off social media, stop living for yourself, and live for Him.
(33:43):
So this is where I want to have an invitation
for anyone where this message is speaking to you, where
you're one of those two people and you need a
personal resurrection in your life, You need something to be
brought from death to life. I want you to come
to the altar and if you're feeling the conviction of
God that there's a dream He's put on your heard
out of business, you need to start, something you need
to do, someone you need to mentor that you need
(34:04):
to open your life to. I want you to come
to the altar. So everyone on your feet, and if.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
This is speaking to you in any way, I want
you to come and join me up here. Let's go.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!