WORDZ with MIKE ROGERS

well hi everybody this is tacos Thursday on uh July the 11th 2024 and I have my friend Mike Rogers my longtime friend Mike Rogers uh a man who's been among other things very responsible for me uh being involved in P in in Zoom calls uh and that he's the uh moderator and Pastor I would call him of of uh of the upper Zoom which is a virtual extension of Brian Z's Word of Life Church uh brother Mike is uh deeply educated and deeply experienced and and I've seen the church go through through a lot of evolutions and I'm interested in us hearing where he's been where he is now and uh and where he things were going how you doing tonight Mike well I'm doing well thanks glad you invited me to have to be here good uh let's kick it right off uh on the upper Zoom we discuss a lot of things we do a lot of things and I want to talk about that but first first I'd kind of like to hear your history I I've heard some of it but it's always been little splices here and there with a whole lot of other people around and I'd really like to hear you kind of lay out your history where you've been and what you've what you've experienced and what you've learned from it that's interesting just the other day I looked uh looked at a calendar to see what day of the week I was born on I was born on a Thursday and I'll guarantee you that if I was not in church the following Sunday it was the following Sunday after that I was born and raised in church and uh uh uh wesan Church Nazarene Church uh graduated from high school and next next couple of months I went right into a Nazarene College in OA Kansas and uh graduated from there uh went on to Seminary for a year or two uh but uh while I was in seminary I I also discovered that there was a lot of now realize this was in the 70s and Christian contemporary Christian music was at its peak yeah well there was a church in Kansas City that was bringing in a lot of the good folks you know Bernie gr's Church Full Faith Church of love oh yeah and I started going there because two things number one good music and number two it was free you know just just just an offering all you needed back in the good old days before they had tickets for everything uh I went there I heard uh Keith Green uh Phil kegi uh Paul Clark uh the whole bunch plus then there was a pretty good uh pretty good group just coming to the city itself like Municipal Auditorium heard Larry Norman and love Sal we had Nancy Honey Tree and Randy Stonehill at our College uh doing special events so anyway I I got really involved with Full Faith Church of love and uh on Palm Sunday 9 19 I think it was 78 1978 um I experienced a baptism in the Holy Spirit and they invited it they they said anybody who wants more of God and would like to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit uh we invite you to just come and visit with us so I went to the back room and we were sitting in a circle and they explained what the baptism of the Holy Spirit was was and what may or may not happen and they said we're going to lay hands on you and you you know you you may speak in tongues you may not and I was the last one in the circle I thought I was gonna bust before they got to me I was really I thought I was going to explode and one one of the olders there laid hands on me and I just broke forth I was just speaking in tongues and crying and laughing doing it all at the same time that was a life-changing experience for me but the Seminary I was going to didn't care for so they they uh they gave me the left foot of fellowship and uh I didn't I didn't get to go back there anymore uh since then I've done some correspondence courses and picked up what I what I lost there and then uh well let me let me uh let me give you my life verse of Proverbs trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not to your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will guide your paths most people misquote that and they say he will guide your path singular but the word is plural he will guide your P I've been down many paths since then looking for a fuller experiential relational ship with God uh as I said I started out as a as a Wesleyan and I appreciate John Wesley I appreciate so much his Social Gospel uh from there I was involved in the uh charismatic mov uh from there I got involved with the word of faith mve while I was involved with the word of faith movement I was studying a uh uh for for my Master's Degree and got involved with the latter rain movement in a school down in Florida the latter rain movement was a great healing prophetic uh Ministry and move of the spirit back in the 50s out of which well probably the most famous would have been Oral Roberts but a Allen Jack Cole different ones like that all came out of there so I got involved with that uh and then I got involved with a the Revival movement and uh you know Brownville and Toronto and all that well there was a there was a church in little town called Smithton Missouri had an outbreak of the Holy Spirit and uh I heard about that and another guy whose brother was actually going to that invited me to go down with him we got involved with that so I've been down many many many paths of uh just just trying to follow the spirit you know follow the fire wherever it goes sounds to me like uh you're a little bit like uh like Moses out to out out with the Sheep walking down a path and there was a burning bush yeah yeah and uh both Moses and Mike Rogers say would say I must turn aside and see what this is yeah oh yeah it's at Ernie grin's church I never attended there I went to the first Christian concert I ever heard there and you're right they were they were free and they were beautiful uhhuh and the first guy to ever sit down with a Bible and really talk to me about my cry out to God in in in the summer but July of 1977 was a guy named John hessen who was who went to church there and one one other little nugget um on Palm Sunday 1978 we were attending a church we were back in church I'd been away for years Flo had never really been a regular attender and uh and an old retired Pastor there Disciples of Christ Church that we were attending cuz some friends that invited us and an old retired Pastor who was just filling in I don't remember what he preached I don't remember his uh I don't remember what the invitation song was We did an obligatory one verse right but at the end of that one verse he said we're not done here yet and started the second verse and Flo grabbed me by the arm and dragged me down in front you got filled with the whole Spirit on the same day Flo gave her heart to the Lord that that's wild I didn't I certainly didn't know that about you man I uh go ahead no I was something popped up on the screen I was just getting rid of it there uh well and then that Revival Church turned out to be pretty much very cultish though while I was there I did work on my doctorate and I I got my I I got a in college I got a Bachelor's in religion uh Masters in biblical studies and a doctor in theology but I had to leave there it was just it was too it was a personality cult and we we just had to get out of there uh the the good thing that came about that was it got us to Kansas City from Southwest Iowa got us down in this area and we uh we were tending House Church we visited several other churches in town and different ones and uh then we I heard one one of the the uh I guess I'd say professors that I'd been studying was a guy by the named Walter bramman and uh I saw that he was going to be at a a conference called Water to Wine in St Joe missa at uh a particular church I start think of check this out I like waler I'd like to meet him and hear what he you know hear him in person and everything well come to find out it was it was uh Brian's Church Brian Z's Church were life and the conference was great uh Brian was great Walder was great and I say you know I like these people the This Is My Tribe I want to be a part of this tribe so we started going there and um you know it was it's about an hour 15minute drives and we'd go whenever we could but we also appreciated that uh they started doing U what do you call it they would stream they were streaming their surfaces so we we could uh watch them here at home as well and that was a blessing especially during covid when nobody was going and I remember Brian streaming sitting on a just a chair and in the on the platform with nobody nobody in there but the camera people doing having church and it was it was quite a quite a strain but out of that came the idea I mean so many people were watching and streaming out of that came the idea of streaming uh full-time and having two congregations an online congregation and an in-person congregation now Joyce and I my wife we're blessed to be able to participate in both of those we're close enough we can go and participate in person and yet if if we need to or if we you know circumstances Merit then we we can stay home and watch it as well um we were then asked would you like to be online members I said yeah that'd be great so Joyce and I were the first two online members that were life and uh we were asked uh well what would you like to do would you like to do a book study we have we have a book we'd like everybody to get into and I said you know what I just don't like book studies I don't know why I love to read I've got hundreds of books and I I read constantly but I don't like book studies he said well what would you like to do and I said well I'll tell you what I'd really like to do I'd like to just do a discussion I said Pastor Brian sermons you know they're worth hearing twice and uh there's there's plenty of stuff in there to discuss I said if you don't mind I'd just like to do a a a zoom sermon discussion and uh they said yeah that's fine well we started that it'll be three week three years in January we've been going strong so uh that has really and by the way that's an international the upper Zoom I didn't come up with that one of our members down in Louisiana came up yeah absolutely yeah Todd he he did great on that the upper Zoom I loved it and anyway we we came up with or he came up with that we stuck with it so uh yeah we have we have people all over the world you know besides the US in Canada we've got a brother down in Brazil we've got a sister in Croatia we got a couple couple from Wales a couple from Germany uh we got a sister from Scotland uh we got well Pam and let's see they're in Canada uh we got a young couple from Greece who are Americans but they're ministering in Greece I mean it's just it's just a phenomenal group it really is and uh we have people check in and check out different things and you know we don't take attendance or anything but we have really really really grown to be a you know we do an interesting thing on that call and and you have uh you have have have driven this and fostered this and and I it's very valuable to all of us on that call I've I've been an attender of that call I don't know close to three years probably I need to go back and look but it's been a while you um among other things hold communion oh yeah which is very unusual for Zoom calls this the only Zoom call I've ever participated in where there's communion but uh you know who you know who asked me to do that no brother Eric really Eric asked if we could do that and I said I I would love to let me check in with the staff at you know Word of Life this this is part of their they said absolutely take communion together so they they were all behind that as well and we really enjoy that it's it's meaningful uh the Sunday mornings online you know Pastor Brian gets up and says uh the the body of Christ broken for you the blood of Christ shed for you and that's it for the online people but if you're there in person then you get to go up and take it so it it goes by really quickly uh on on the uh broadcast but we take the time to do it together internationally in our group and it is very meaningful you're right it's the Lord It's the Lord's table virtually yeah which um each each one of those paths you've walked on you and I've talked about uh I'm not done either I know you aren't I got more paths I want to talk about what's gotten you here because I want to talk about where we are now and I want to talk about where you're going where you see us going because I think you're a I think you're you're a man who's uh not afraid to to look across the river and see what's over there and pursue it uh you know B bz has affected both you and me and individually we've never been members of the church but uh he and I go back to uh to the late 70s first people to ever lay hands on me and pray for me in tongues with Brian and Perry on and they did that by the way in a in a choir room of Baptist Church in Mobberly Missouri and I went on stage and did a Keith Green tune I mean the tie is just uh amazing the influences that I've had but along those paths each one of those has brought you an ingredient uh you know bz got up in uh when he got up in in 20072 2008 announced uh to Midwest Min ministers Fellowship I uh I'm packing my bags and leaving the Evangelical movement he said I'm packing my bags because there because there are things there that I value and I want to take them with me and I'm interested in uh some of the things that you've uh brought with you when you packed your bags and moved on probably kept more things than I've released um because I I I have a heart to integrate them into into truth now I may I may view things differently now than I did back then but uh as much as possible I really try to keep hold of much as possible I mean you know um or for example I still pray in tongues uh I'm not I'm not a prophet I don't have the gift of interpretation I don't have the gift of tongues that requires an interpretation but I pray in tongues and uh it when it helps me to pray what I considered to be the perfect will of God because it's not me praying it's the spirit of God praying through me and uh he's not going to pray anything against God so so you know that that's just one example um biblical uh you know I have a high regard for for scripture I do but I also see a lot of inconsistencies in it uh one thing I I failed to mention was when I was involved at this revival church I was also teaching there and and I I was teaching the all the Pauline Epistles uh I was teaching New Testament Greek and I was co-teaching with another man uh another doctor there uh Hebrew Biblical Hebrew and you know when when you start getting into scripture that deep and you begin to see both in the old New Testament hey there there's some things that just don't drive here there's some real inconsistencies here and what do you do with that well finally you just have to come to the to the uh conclusion that the Bible is certainly inspired but it's it's not verbatim you know yeah it the scripture almost dares us to tangle with it get out and say no wait a minute wait a minute why why does why does Peter say this here and Paul says this over here or or the classic example example of course would be what Peter and J or Paul and James Works versus Faith you you you got to get into that kind of stuff I really appreciate the scripture so um I think probably the thing I've learned most that I want to hang on to from where I am right now being part of Word of Life Church is the prayer liturgy uh praying the prayers of the ages praying prayers that the church has prayed for centuries uh that that's a big part of my life and then of course involved in that liturgy is the opportunity and the time to pray your own prayers and to pray for other people by name and things like that yeah those are just some of the things that I've plung to I would a coule go ahead again from my wesleying background uh John Wesley was so socially involved I I caught that at an early age I mean while I was still in high school i' I've read uh I've read the radical wesleyian the radical Wesley that's a good book but just just just read some of his sermons man he's he's all about helping the poor and and uh not hoarding riches and you know all this kind of stuff housing then Fair wages and he he's all about that stuff so I really appre appreciated that too I I'd submit a couple things to you number one uh a prophet's not a Prophet by what he says he's he's he's a Prophet by what he does and you've uh you've seen the future you've seen the possibilities I believe a prophet tells us who we can be and you've seen who we can be and and and become it many times I think you do have a prophetic gift I think you walk it out every day and given the things that we bring with us Buck Mr fer the great futurist said we don't have we don't have pollution we just have resources we haven't figured out how to use yet and and what I hear you saying correct me if I'm wrong but things that a great many things you've made it a point to say you've you brought a lot of things things with you a great many things that You' picked up along the path are resources that have value once we understand them in the perspective of the of the word the true perspective is that an accurate statement yeah I think so I really do I do as far as the future of the church um boy we're living in some unstable times right now yeah I mean here in the US I mean around the world it's just it's just crazy uh governments are falling and governments are raising up and you know it's it's it's how this is going to affect the church I don't really know but I know it will I know the the church is in for a change um I I anticipate there's going to be persecution for the real church and that's not going to not going to slow the church down I think uh persecution for those who hold true to the word of God uh it will cause the church to grow I really do uh I look for the church to possibly go underground I look for the mega churches to fall apart and I look for small churches to raise up uh whether in in rented buildings or in homes I look for bivocational pastors who are not uh too concerned about uh how big their congregations are but how healthy their congregations are um th those are some of the things that I that's that's what I foresee as a future of the church here uh we're we're going to we're going to grow small if you could understand that oxy Bon we're going to grow small and that smallness is going to be The Key to Greatness the uh of course Jesus grew his church to three people you know his mom and and John maybe another person or two uh his his ultimate service was was was three people uh you know I um two or three analogies here and I think maybe the most appropriate one is the uh the trees with the best root structure in a forest are the ones on the edge uh because they're the trees that have taken the the harsh wind and and and all of the elements have come against them and they've shaded the trees in the middle of the wood they've protected them but they are the trees with the with the greatest Roots it's it's almost analogous to a hedge I once had a a a very articul Constructor of buildings tell me you never buy used brick that's like on the south side of the building he said or under the eaves of the roof he said by the brick that's on the north and west that's been out in the sun and had the rain and the snow and the Sleep come against it because it it can it will withstand anything it's already been put to the test do I hear you do I hear you talking that way about the future of the church much of it part I I I think there's many people going to walk away from the faith once a little bit of persecution or Trouble Comes I think they're going to compromise I think they're going to follow the follow the crowd they're going to take the easy way but those who are really really seeking God really really seeking the kingdom of God are the ones that you're describing there and they don't care what comes come what may you know were Jesus people what does a kingdom look like to you Mike the kingdom of God to me looks like Matthew 56 and 7 when I can see the Beatitudes being lived out in any form I say that is the kingdom of God well that Kingdom blesses people who are feeling the pain there it it it blesses people who are extending the compassion it blesses people who uh who would see amassing wealth as a crime scene who would who would distribute what they had uh it it describes people who love their neighbor as they love themselves to me what it what it does it describes radical living in a people who are living under oppression I mean take the take the Lord's prayer that is a prayer of crying out for help and Jesus taught it to a people who were living under the oppression of the Roman Empire our father who's in heaven holy is your name your kingdom come get us out of this mess your will be done on Earth right now you know that Earth that the meek are going to inherit let your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us today enough to eat give us today our daily bread our daily needs because we don't have enough we're relying on you I mean it just goes on and on and on and when when you begin to realize that that prayer is a prayer for survival a prayer for total dependency upon God to meet your every need it it it becomes so much more than just wrote it becomes so much more than just uh the Sunday School prayer it becomes so much more than just the Liturgy that churches say every week but when you when you understand the social and the historical context of that verse they are they're crying out to God that's one thing I've noticed about and again this is in Matthew 56 and7 this is the kingdom of God but also know there is no I me or my in that prayer it's a communal prayer it's us we in our Our Father who is in the heavens holy is your name your kingdom come your will be done on Earth give us today and so many people pray it selfishly maybe not selfishly but they pray it personally rather than corporately and that's the key to the Lord's Prayer is to realize this is a communal prayer that when you pray that prayer you're not just praying for yourself you're praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ actually you're praying for all people who are under oppression around the world pray it almost as in an intercessory prayer under under oppression and that takes a lot of forms oh yeah overwhelming unhappiness uh greed is a form of Oppression because it's insatiable you can't make it happy right It's never enough never enough uh huh that not being able to feel fellowship with your man with mankind with your brothers and sisters yeah there's a because it's oppression of your soul that's not who you really are is that a valid statement I think it is well remember Jesus said if if you're required to walk a mile walk two miles what's he talking about the Roman soldier could pick anybody out of the crowd and say here carry my bundle for for a mile that was the law and there were mile markers along the highways there really were and Jesus says hey don't let them control you you control them you take that and go an extra mile that's what that puts you in control but it also demonstr the kingdom of God which huh huh never thought about it from that perspective what you've done is what you've done is is gain the power of credibility with them well you're gon to shock them yeah you're absolutely going to shock him and what's what's the obvious question you're going to ask why are you doing this this yeah because I love you yeah because I serve a God who is love and I I can love you because he first loved me where are areas that you now see that uh there may be oppression of of of the the true church we're talking about now we're not talking about the building we're talking about the body uh uh where where where where are some areas that you see that already taking place Christian nationalism would be one a lot of churches are not preaching the gospel they're they're not preaching the kingdom of God they're preaching Christian nationalism and they're you know they these are not conversational churches where the people can talk back and ask questions and say really what about this or it's just shoved down their throats uh I I see that as a form of Oppression um you mentioned greed I believe consumerism is a form of Oppression uh of course poverty again there's a good section good portion of the church that is genuinely poor uh it just blesses my heart when I hear you you tell about uh folks like Jimmy bratcher who go out and and minister to the poor uh for years I was part of a group called free soup Kansas City and we would bring we would take uh meals hot meals to the people out on the street and deliver those a year round summer winter spring fall made no difference and you know what they came didn't matter the weather they came and they got blessed and they got encouraged and they knew that somebody really cared about uh though things like that I mean just just the basic needs of Life uh there there's a lack of love in the church you know I I I often think of Jesus words to the church in revelation return to your first love and my my concern is that the first love of many churches is finances I mean is is it any accident that our money says in God we trust but to me money is the god that they trust it says right on just it just plastered right on the front of the money this is our God and we trust you there's almost a direct ratio in the interest in money and the decline the presentation of the gospel and you and I have both seen that repeatedly it's it's and it's so predictable and it's and it's it's subtle uh you mentioned Jimmy brater a little while ago uh Jimmy was on staff at Word of Life and and uh when he pulled out went into his ministry he asked me to be on his board so I was very much in touch with what was going on there and one of the things that Brian told him uh when he pulled away he said The Crucible of ministry is is is money you have to have some but it can't be about that you uh you and and and it's it's intriguing you were talking earlier about uh about your proverb and lean not to thine own understanding I I remember when the Lord pointed out to me that very scripture and said you know that's not clinical clinically rational you know to lean not to your own you're if if you're sitting down in a in a psychiatrist's office and you're saying by the way doctor I've decided not to uh not to not to lean to my own understanding anymore he's probably going to prescribe Prozac for you right I mean yeah uh and yet he said to the disciples uh listen go be witnesses to me in Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world by the way don't take an extra shirt because my burden is light and well-fitting you've got everything you need but you don't have to carry any baggage m i i that goes back to what you said a minute ago about about You' brought a lot with you from each of these movements from each of these these these deep dives into the into the the move of God that you've taken but I don't hear any baggage on you I hear probably because I don't consider it baggage yeah how can I say this I can I say that I've redeemed it yes I've Sanctified it I've I've seen how it can be advantageous through God's eyes some maybe something along those lines and that that don't consider a baggage they what some might consider uh pollution but you've you've been shown how to recognize that they were just unused energy and and and and so but the ups and the Downs both have great value and you found a way to you found a way to to to mine value out of all you found a way to be a good brick not because you were sheltered but because you weren't sheltered yeah yeah that's powerful stuff now that's not to say I haven't loed off a lot of stuff but you know my hobby you know this my hobby is organic gardening yeah and I do a lot of pruning to get the best results and I'm I've had to have some things pruned out of my life as well those things I willingly give up those things I find irredeemable um they're just they're just there's no value to them so there's no use hanging on to them probably the the the path that I've that I've uh dropped the most stuff off of would be the word of faith movement you know confessing God's word out of context to get God to do your will it's basically what it comes down to uh using God as a slot machine you know if I confess this enough times I'm going to come up with a winner across the screen there or something but no that that I just i' I've kept very very very little out of the word of faith mod pretty hard to make that work with the desperation of the Lord's prayer that you pointed out earlier this conversation absolutely and I've never heard it explained anywhere close to that way by the way that's an absolute revelation of that prayer to me and will be to a lot of people that hear it uh well it's not just the prayer it's the entire Beatitudes exactly exactly that's just that's just the introduction to what Jesus is really after yeah yeah yeah what uh what would you recommend I you know me all into conversation with what can I do for you today what what can we do today Mike what can we do for the bride today what can we do for the people what can we how could we best how can we best lend lend all our resources to where you see us going be available um be spirit-led I think probably of all the nine gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 I think in this day and age the gift of discerning of spirits is probably a priority there are so many spirits out there saying so many different things and we've got to be able to discern and distinguish and differentiate between our spirit the Holy Spirit and Unholy spirits that are constantly feeding into our minds and our hearts and our souls but once we can once we learn what the voice of the holy spirit is and learn to follow that I think that's that's probably the best thing we can do as the bride sometimes the holy spirit's going to say sit down and shut up other times he's goingon to say I want you to go across the street and I want you to take a a loaf of hot bread to your neighbor because they're feeling really down I don't know what's going on in my neighbor's house but if the spirit of God says to do that that's what I'm GNA do you see that to me that's Bridal preparation is simply knowing the voice of the Holy Spirit following the Holy Spirit obeying the Holy Spirit and by doing that uh that I I I think we're gonna go miles ahead and it doesn't have to be huge things you know I don't have to rent an auditorium I can just do I can just follow the Holy Spirit as he leads me across the street to my neighbor's house my mother used to speak often in the still small voice Elijah hurt it's not grandiose it's not a big operation it's not a show right we had the storm we had all the he had all the grandiose stuff happening but then he heard the still Small Voice yeah I've told you uh and I'm hearing something in what you're saying right here I've told you about when I was in the hospital back in December and I was on a zoom call one afternoon and I love this a nurse walked in and I said guys I've got to get off for a minute one of my congregation just walked in and uh what I hear from you is everyone around us is maybe only for a moment we're not trying to build a group we're not trying to to to bring them into a a confine and and and and and take them some direction beyond what the holy spirit says to say to them then and for that moment it may be the checkout clerk at the at the grocery store or the person at the other end of the phone on a customer service call or but for that moment they're your congregation yeah yeah as as far as what we can do find a need and meet it I mean it that's that's really about that simple I was reading today where in in the gospel of Matthew where G it says Jesus was teaching and all of a sudden the ruler of the synagogue came rushing in and said Jesus my daughter's dead come and rescue her raise her from the dead and Jesus immediately got up and followed him and that just hit me so hard Jesus said you know what what that told me was people are more important than teaching Jesus was I mean who interrupts Jesus teaching but Jesus is whoa you know I I can teach this later this gal needs help she she's dead and I need to raise her up find a need and meet it and you will be you will be building for the kingdom of God what a an amazing story that is and by the way on the way yeah on the way he picked up and walked out and started there and on the way of course he was a popular Rabbi people were around him and all of a sudden he said somebody touched me yeah and he stopped because he knew not only what was going to go on where he was headed what the spirit was going to do but there was an immediate need an instantaneous need it was the woman with the issue of blood and also in that same story he walks into the chief priest's house in capernium he raises his daughter from the dead and says don't tell anybody fix sandwich instead yeah yeah fix your sandwich don't tell anybody just just keep this cool okay well there's no show there yeah exactly there's no show there there's no don't bother me I'm busy going going about to do something great somebody touched me I'm going to be sensitive to that but then I'm going to go do this great thing I'm going to raise a child from the dead but uh don't tell anybody something else has struck me about that is the number 12 yeah the woman with the issue of blood she'd been bleeding menstrually for 12 years yes this little girl was 12 years old and has died and around the age of 12 is usually when mensis begins so the the the sick lady suddenly she's cured of her mineral bleeding and the young girl is now raised to life so that she can begin menstrating to to uh reproduce and to have a family never seen thaten another bz says you just can't make this stuff up and you can't the icies are just they never stop I mean I've I've heard that story a million times and and that never struck me by the way that that 12 is the number of tribes of Israel yeah that's that number goes into history yeah a multiple of it was the 120 in the upper room oh yeah 12 disciples I mean good grief I never thought about that but you're exactly right 12 gates of the city yep yeah I mean TW it just goes on and on 144,000 is divisible by 12 so I mean you know matter of fact it's 122s yeah 144 is 12 12s right there's always a thousand times we go back to Elijah man who just thought he'd had it and he heard the still Small Voice and finally the angel said you're not out here by yourself brother there's 7,000 that you know not of Seven's the number of completion there's a thousand times completion people that b d but 12 man I had never seen that before and I suspect most of our most of our listeners have it what would you say to uh to people who've been down many paths earnestly seeking and are at various stages now of maybe not being sure what that next PATH might be don't quit keep seeking ask God to reveal where he wants you to be if you're not content if you know you're not where you belong right now uh the old saying is don't get off a slow horse till the faster one comes along maybe maybe stay where you are but wait for the faster horse now if you're being in in some sort of a church or a community or a house group or something that's abusive get out now I'm not saying stay and be abused but if if what you're hearing is kind of a watered down gospel and you know there's got to be more and you're not hearing much about Jesus but you're hearing about this or that or they're they're trying to interpret Jesus Through Paul Paul rather than interpret Paul through Jesus if if they're doing things like that uh you're going to be okay for a while but pray to God earnestly God where do you really want me to be where where do I belong where do I fit in what part of the body am I you know am I a hand am I a foot am I an ear am I a mouthpiece what am I see seek God for that and God's faithful don't be afraid to argue with God God I've been here six years and I can't stand it anymore get me out of here you're not GNA offend him by saying that he knows your heart he's just been waiting on you to say so James 1 15 any man lack wisdom let him ask of God let ask of God yep who will give it to him unconditionally he'll give it to him he or she if any person like wisdom let him ask of God Mike what a great hour we've had uh anything else you'd add well just uh thanks for the opportunity to share with you it's always good to be with you and uh hey if anybody wants to join our uh Tuesday Zoom group feel free uh you can reach me at Rogers dmike it's r o g RS no d d is for dummies oop sorry about that for people who spell it Rogers with the D R OG [Music] g-mik hotmail.com and I'll get you hooked up we meet at Tuesday afternoons at one o'clock the reason being it's an International Group and one o00 here in the Midwest is like six or 7 o'clock at night in Europe so but we do have a number of of uh Americans and Canadians also so we we'd love to have you hey we take communion together online that's that's absolutely great and and it's open communion by the way it's uh you don't have to you don't have to sign anything you you you just we just want you with us we want to we and we do prayer too we do prayer requests and we're seeing some Mighty answers to prayer really really and you know there's just something about when you got people around the world praying for you that's that's pretty special and we pray about local issues we pray about family issues we pray about world events you know we pray about oh you name it if somebody brings it up we pray about it a good brother Chris he he puts it in a form and emails it out to everybody so we can use it every day in our prayer life so it's it's a good little Ministry and I thank uh I thank Word of Life Church for allowing us to do it if you're if you're people that run across this on the taco page or if you're friends of mine on Facebook uh you can also reach out to me I'll be glad to hook you up and uh and send you the link and interact with you answer any questions you might have I uh I don't miss it uh and I wouldn't miss it for anything it's uh it's a powerful powerful Gathering and it's a great impact on my life Mike would you pray for the people that hear this for me please I will father we know that we live in a really really messed up world but our confidence is this you're still on the throne and that's we just we H how can we lose heart how can we lose faith knowing that you almighty God we're still on the throne and as we see no matter what happens no matter who wins an election no matter who loses an election no matter what country invades what country no matter what happens Lord you're still on the throne and that is our confidence that's our security that's our safety and I just pray that that the peace that passes all understanding will dwell in the hearts and the minds of of those who who listen listen and watch uh this this podcast Lord bless them each one those who need wisdom give them wisdom those who need healing give them healing those who need Insight give them Insight those who need guidance give them guidance Lord father whatever there need I just ask that in the mighty name of Jesus that you would meet each one of those needs according to your perfect will amen amen thanks Mike all right been good we'll see you Tuesday yeah I uh