Josh Brake: Hey everybody,
welcome back to another episode.

Um, I'm excited to give you guys a
few updates, just really testimonies

on this, this round of things.

Um, a quick note, uh, I'm recording
this on Sunday, March 23rd, just for

reference, you know where I'm at, but
also that's our due date for our baby

girl Eleanor, and she has not arrived yet.

I could get a text any moment from my wife
and I've had to shut this podcast down.

Uh, and, uh, and to rush to the hospital.

So we're, we're waiting on, uh, Eleanor.

And um, I just prayed a couple
days ago, maybe even yesterday.

I prayed.

I said, Lord, would you surround the
birth of our baby girl with supernatural

activity that would speak to her destiny,
that would speak to her identity and.

He's already answering that today in
church, uh, literally a few minutes ago.

Um, at the very end of our sermon,
uh, the sermon, Chris Seedman, uh,

was preaching, and, and he gets to the
end and he's talking about evangelism.

He's talking about being a
Philip, uh, leading people to

Jesus, the suffering servant.

And he gets to the end and he
says, um, he looks at my wife Abby,

and, and just on a whim says, this
isn't in my notes, but Abby break.

You're due today, aren't you?

And, uh, she goes, yeah.

And she leans over to me and she's
like, oh my gosh, so embarrassing.

Um, but Chris goes on to say, I feel like
Abby is a prophetic picture of the new

birth, a new life that will result from
people in this room as you go and you try

to share the love of Jesus with people.

And then later Chris came up to
me and said, I don't think that's

just for people in this room.

I felt like that was for breakthrough.

Um, and I thought.

I told him, yeah, I've been
asking the Lord to speak to us

about Eleanor and surround her
birth with supernatural activity.

And, and this is an answer to that prayer.

And you know, it's really sweet.

You know, our baby girl
Eleanor means light.

And, um, there's so, there's
so many prophecies about Jesus.

Uh, the light will dawn and
he is the light of the world.

And, um, ultimately is the one
who, by which we are born again.

And, um.

I just think that that's just really
sweet of the Lord to give us that.

But I, I have a couple of testimonies
of, of other examples of this,

like new birth, this new life.

So this last week, um.

I went to UTD again, and, uh,
it was spring break on campus.

So, uh, for those of you, if maybe
you're tuning in for the first time, we

fill our church plant, uh, our church
plant's named Breakthrough Church, and we

really wanna see chains fall off people.

We think that people are
stuck in an bondage and.

The presence and power of Jesus
can free them, wants to free them.

And, uh, we wanna partner with the spirit
to do that, to help facilitate that

breakthrough and that chain's breaking.

Um, and part of the, we, we feel
called to Richardson, Texas and

specifically UTD is one of our
mission fields we feel called to.

So I'm spending every Monday morning there
a couple Monday mornings ago I shared,

uh, already this story, but I prayed for.

Uh, Wasif and just shared the gospel
with him and he was very open.

I gave him a Bible.

He said he was gonna read it.

We've been texting very sporadically
back and forth, and he said he's

read a little bit of it and thanks
for checking up on me and all that.

So the saga continues with him.

Uh, I keep praying for him, but this
last week I went again and, uh, it was

spring break on campus, so I didn't,
there wasn't a lot of students, but there

were workers on campus that were students
and, uh, getting their masters and stuff.

So they were playing pool and I
walked up to all four of them,

tried to share, tried to pray.

Just, it just didn't work.

It felt really clumsy and weird and.

And I don't know how to
approach four people.

And, um, you know, one of I, one
of 'em was kind of sit, sitting

out and I, I, I tried to pray for
him and he was very closed off.

So I said, all right, you
guys have a great day.

And walked away, um, wasn't discouraged,
you know, I gave it a try, gave it a rep,

and, uh, trusting the Lord with the rest.

Um, and then I.

Uh, on Friday, I, I, I had a
couple of instances where I

got to share Jesus with people.

One was at an Ace Hardware with the
high schooler at Arnold Turner in Diego.

And, uh, really just got to talk
to him about the joy of the Lord.

I asked if, you know, I'm gonna
share a little specifically of what

I did and I say this, not to say,
look how good I am at this, but to

inspire faith and also to equip you
that it's actually not that hard.

So he's helping me get some
mulch 'cause I'm mulching at the

house on sat on Friday morning.

Uh, afternoon actually.

And so I, I, he's, he's
helping me with the mulch.

He's being super sweet, really
helping, serving me well.

And uh, and so I said, man, you've
been serving me, blessing me.

I'd love to bless you in return.

So can I pray for you anything
you need prayer for today?

And he said, you know, yeah,
just kind of general stuff.

And I said, okay, well, anything causing
you stress, anything, um, overwhelming

you or, or causing you fear or doubt?

And he was like, well, my
grandma might have cancer.

That's really tough on my mom.

I said, okay, yeah, let's pray for that.

So I prayed for that situation and
prayed that he would just know the

love of and joy of Jesus specifically.

Joy was coming to mind and I said, have
you ever, you know Jesus, when he comes

He, he, he promises, well, lemme pause.

Hold on.

First off, I asked if I could
pray for him to bless him.

I said, can I bless you with prayer?

It's a great question to ask people.

Nobody will turn that down.

And if they do.

All right.

There's no harm, no foul, right?

But rarely people turn me down on that.

How can I bless you with prayer today?

He says, my family, right?

I, I leaned in a little bit.

He said, oh, just general stuff.

I didn't really keep that, you
know, take that as an answer.

I said, no, no specifically
is there anything causing you

stress or anxiety or fear?

And he said, then, then that led
him to tell me about his grandma.

So he is opening up, I'm asking
questions, and he's opening up,

which is, this is what Jesus did, he.

Ask questions and open people up.

And I said, okay, let's pray for that.

As I'm praying, joy comes to mind, and
I talked to him about the joy of the

Lord is available to us through Jesus.

And I asked, have you ever experienced
this bubbling up joy that never goes away?

And he goes, no.

And I said, would you
like to experience that?

And he said, yeah.

It was almost like, duh.

Of course I would love to experience that.

And I said, well, Jesus says in John
seven, all we have to do is come to him

and he will fill us with a river of life.

Which is the Holy Spirit,
so let's pray for that.

He was like, okay.

So I prayed and he told me after
that he really felt peace and joy.

He really did feel it, and
he was like kind of giddy.

He was like, whoa.

It like kind of worked.

And I was like, dude, that's Jesus.

That's the Lord.

He loves you and he's chasing after you.

And I made sure to make a point.

This is important to do.

When somebody opens up and you begin a
spiritual conversation, they seem open.

I say, this was not an accident
that I came here at this time

and you were the one to help me.

I walked back to the back of the store,
I pointed out all the details that were

coordinated by the sovereignty of the
Lord to put us in that place at that time.

And I told him, Diego, the Lord loves you.

He sees you and he wants
a relationship with you.

And I walk him through the
gospel message, death I.

The sacrifice or, uh, you know,
death, the punishment of death,

the wages of sin is death.

I talked to him about Jesus takes
your punishment and your guilt on

the cross, and He, he, he's, he,
he kills it and he gives you his

righteousness, his joy, his peace.

All we have to do is confess with our
mouth and believe in our heart that

Jesus is Lord, and we will be saved,
and we respond by repenting, turning

from our way of life and towards him
and following him the rest of our lives.

And I said, have you heard that?

And do you believe Jesus is Lord?

He said, yeah, I do believe
I've made that decision.

I, I do believe Jesus is Lord.

And I said, alright, awesome.

Well, what he's telling you today is
he wants a daily relationship with you.

He wants to talk with you daily,
and he's giving you the Holy Spirit

who should be your best friend.

He never leaves you to over
forsake you, you'll never be alone.

And he's kinda getting a little teary eyed
as I'm sharing this 'cause it's good news.

And I even asked him, and this can be
a good question to ask people, I said,

does this sound like good news to you?

And he was like, yes.

Yes, this is so good.

And I was like, awesome.

So, uh, I prayed one more time.

I gave him my card, told him to text
me, gave him a couple of to-dos, not to

dos, but go forwards if he really wants
to pursue this daily walk with Jesus.

And it was really sweet,
really meaningful.

Um, and so that was one story.

And then, then a few minutes later,
I, I get home and I, I take the boys

to the trampoline park like we do
most, you know, a lot of Fridays

we do this and while we're there,
we're jumping around being silly.

It's spring breaks, there's
tons of people there, and I.

There was this family there,
it looked like an old, like a,

like a dad with his two sons.

And the two sons were pretty far in age.

One of them probably I'd,
if I had to guess, was 14.

Um, and the other one,
maybe five, um, five or six.

And so, uh, at one point I,
I overhear like, I kind of

see the 15, the 14-year-old.

Okay.

I'll just tell you, he
turned, his name is Jayden.

I, I saw Jayden like laying down
and he looked like he was in pain.

And then I overheard him talking about
his back and holding his back and.

And I was like, all right, here we go.

The Lord's teeing this up.

Which number one, you know, if you
see somebody who is sick, that's

a cue from the Lord to lean in.

'cause Jesus and his kingdom comes
that to heal the sick, right?

So I see his pain and I walk into,
I lean in and I say, Hey man, uh,

I, I couldn't help it over here,
but I heard you hurt yourself.

Are you okay?

And he goes, no, man, I hurt my back.

I landed on the, the, the
little padding in between.

I tried to do a flip and I landed
in between trampolines on my back.

And I was like, oh man,
I'm sorry to hear that.

Well, do you guys know Jesus?

Which is a very blunt way of going
into it, but it can be effective.

Uh, it's kind of my default right
now in this season, I guess.

I'm like, do you know Jesus?

And they're like, yeah, we do.

I was like, well, okay, good.

Well then, you know, Jesus can heal.

And I have seen, I've prayed for a
lot of people and there's a lot of

people that I hang around with that
have prayed for people and we've seen

them healed and I would love to pray
for your back that God would heal it.

And uh, he goes, okay.

And I said, on a scale of one to 10,
where are you at right now in pain?

And he said, nine.

I was like, dang, okay, let's go for it.

So I, uh, put my hand on his back and I
start praying and pretty much immediately

I feel something shift underneath my hand.

It's like a muscle moved into place.

Um.

I it was, it was pretty noticeable.

And shortly after he started giggling,
'cause I told the pain to go away

and he starts giggling and kinda
laughing and I said, how you feeling?

He's like, dude, it's
a four out of 10 now.

Like I, it like barely hurts.

I.

And I was like, amen.

Let's go again.

Well, let's keep praying.

So I prayed just a few, few more like
a, I don't know, a couple more seconds.

I was like, thank you Lord
for what you're doing.

Um, thank you for healing him.

Thank you for taking the pain.

Do more Lord in Jesus' name.

And, um, he stands up and starts
moving and contorting his body

and bending over and twisting.

And I'm, and I looked at his dad and I'm
like, he couldn't do that before, right?

And he's like, no.

And his dad makes a joke.

He's like, I've been telling
him he needs to go to church.

I was like, well, he definitely
should go this Sunday.

'cause the Lord just healed him and
they're laughing really hard and, and,

um, and his, his son was just looked at
me and shook my hand and said, thank you.

And I was like, I didn't do that Jayden.

Jesus did.

Jesus just healed your back and he's
here and he wants to let you know that

there's more where that came from.

And Jayden looks at me.

He is like, yeah, like
mental and emotional.

I'm like, yes.

Mental, emotional, spiritual
healing is found in Jesus.

He's your healer and he loves you, and
he wants a daily relationship with you.

And he goes, yeah, okay, okay.

And I was like, man, I'll be around for a
few more minutes if you wanna pray again.

But, um, the Lord just
healed you rejoice in that.

And he was like, okay, yeah, thanks man.

And I walked off and I saw him
10 minutes later and I, I was

like, Hey, how's your back?

And he was like, it's still good.

And he wasn't jumping.

And he told me, he is like, I'm
trying, I just don't wanna get

hurt again, so I'm not jumping.

I was like, all right.

Um, and then I walked out of, you
know, the trampoline park with my

kids and got back to the car and.

You know, there was a, there was a piece
of me that almost didn't even think

twice about what had just happened.

It, I was like, you know
that that stuff is normal.

And I'm not saying it happens
all the time for me, I'm not.

But it's, it's frequent and it's not
'cause I'm special, it's because.

I'm available.

I just, I'm like, I don't care.

I mean, it's altitude.

There's people running around
jumping and going crazy.

And here's the coolest thing.

There was another guy there, another
family from the branch church,

and he and I were talking a little
bit right after this happened.

And I testified.

I said, dude, that guy, Jesus
just healed that guy's back.

And I briefly told him, and this
guy was like, dude, it's amazing.

Amen.

So I was able to testify and to build
faith in somebody else who's a Christian.

Like only good comes from this.

And it, it is just the Lord saying
who want, who's willing and available.

That's it.

And if you say, I'm willing and
I'm available, he will equip you.

Your job is to what?

I'm talking with our launch team.

We're using this language,
cross the chicken line.

Just cross the chicken line.

Just get over yourself.

Get over fear and, and do it.

Go lay hands.

Go, pray.

Go ask If somebody knows Jesus, go ask
if you can bless somebody by praying

for them right then, right there and
then pray for them in the moment.

The kingdom of God is here
today, not tomorrow, not later.

And yes, it will come in fullness
in time later, but it's here now.

Jesus initiated it and has given us the
Holy Spirit to pray for people to see.

Uh, supernatural things happen
so that people's eyes would

be opened to who Jesus is.

That's the work of the spirit,
um, for the sake of the kingdom.

So the, I, I share those two stories.

Not to say I'm great at this
because if I'm honest, if I

don't, I don't always do this.

And even just the last couple weeks, I've
really ramped it up and just been all

right, Lord, just like a reckless abandon.

I'll do whatever you tell me to do.

And I'm not thinking too much.

I'm not overthinking about stuff,
but up until, and even still now,

I'm, I'm not that great at it.

It's, it's still work in progress.

Anybody can do this stuff.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you're
filled with his spirit and equipped to go

do supernatural ministry and supernatural
ministry sounds maybe too complicated.

It might sound like, wow, I can't perform
miracles and I'm, I'm just here to say

that Jesus said go and baptize them.

In the name of the Father, son, and
and Holy Spirit, and teach them to

do all that I've commanded you to do.

What did Jesus command the apostles to do?

Proclaim the kingdom, heal
the sick, cast out demons.

This is base level Christian stuff.

This isn't for varsity Christians.

This is for the baby in Christ
and for the mature in Christ.

You have been given the Holy Spirit to go
and do marvelous things, greater things

Jesus said you will do than he did.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus without limit.

He is the same as Jesus, but
he is not limited to one body.

That's why Jesus said you'll do greater
things, because there's a greater

amount of us doing what Jesus did.

So let's go, man.

There's nothing to lose.

Let's get after it.

Cross the chicken line, take risks.

Don't think twice.

Just go for it.

And if you make a mistake, which you will,
the Lord is gracious and will overcome.

Right.

So, uh, I hope your faith is built and
by the time you're listening to this, I

bet baby Eleanor will be in the world.

So you guys can be praying for me and
Abby, and Bo and Ezra as we welcome

our new, uh, addition to our family.

We're so excited and, uh, the
light is coming into the world

in some ways with Eleanor.

Her name is Light.

Um, but we also know, uh, she is
not the Messiah, but we do worship.

Uh, Jesus, who is the Messiah, the
the coming anointed one who will

make all things new and he is making
all things new and he's using you.

And so let's get after it, guys.

All right, love y'all.

Bye.