I’m speaking to you here today from Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, and I get the unique privilege to be standing next to a man of God I’ve heard a lot about over the years and have had the privilege for the first time of hearing preach this week. Mike Pelletier is here for our opening meetings for the school year, and he’s been preaching, and God has been using him, and I thought, well, I’ve got him here. I want him to be a blessing to you, young people, and so Brother Pelletier has been in the ministry for many years now. He’s been preaching revival meetings and preaching the gospel and seen many people saved and lives impacted in his ministry. And I know he’s going to be a blessing to you here today. So Brother Pelletier, take it away.

In Mark 8, 34, Jesus said, if we come after him, we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. And to follow him, it means we must deny ourself of some things that we might normally want to do, to do what he wants us to do, to take up our cross. Sounds like we’re sacrificing. I think about what I would have missed, though, if I hadn’t done that. And I think about the great life I’ve had because I have done that. And I think about when I was a boy, I grew up in the country in Illinois, and everywhere you look, there were cornfields. Now, I like corn. I like cornfields fine, but my life was cornfields. There was about a 13-mile drive from my house to my church, Christian school, which was wonderful. I loved my childhood. I loved growing up there. And it was just outstanding. But my life was 13 miles here and then back 13 miles home, 13 miles there, maybe a basketball tournament or something. Because I was so awesome. And we would go out of the state. We’d even go to the next state. Wow. And so I loved all that and everything. I’m not belittling that. I was so blessed with my childhood. But I think of what I would have missed out on if I had not fully surrendered to Jesus and fully surrendered to serving him. I think of the adventures. I think people think that we endure this thing. I’m not enduring it. I’m enjoying it. I get to go places I would have never gone, see things I would have never seen if I hadn’t decided to fully surrender to the Lord. You don’t do it for this, but it’s kind of cool. I have been in Brazil on the Amazon River. I have had a nine-foot anaconda snake around my neck just for fun. And it was fun. And we got to go through a jungle with a machete and chop my way through. When I was a little kid, I always dreamed of going through a jungle with a machete. Well, I got to do it. I’ve done that. I fed monkeys in the jungle. I have gone swimming in the Amazon River and then gotten out because it was feeding time for the piranhas. And then we went fishing and we ate piranha for supper. So instead of getting eaten by the piranhas, we ate the piranhas. And just adventures that have been wonderful. I have so many adventures. We don’t do it for this, but it’s been wonderful. In Mexico, I bought some trinkets for my kids. My wife, I bought puppets for my kids, and I bought this big long sword with cool engraving on it for me. And I’m enjoying what I’m doing, I’m not enduring it. But that’s not really what it’s about. This surrender for the Lord, I can remember when I surrendered to be an evangelist, a lady that I really respected my church, a good lady and was a good lady, told me she was so disappointed in my decision. And she told me that I could have been a manager at a department store in a men’s department and that she was disappointed and I’m not belittling what anyone else is doing but I love what I am doing and I’m not enduring it I’m enjoying it the things that I’ve gotten to see I’ve gotten to see the power of God I would have never seen the power of God like I I’ve seen when I was in Haiti just an interesting story that really demonstrated God’s power to me an experience that I’ve had I went to a voodoo temple at a voodoo temple I got to witness to a voodoo priest and as I went in there there was a stake in the ground they call it Lucifer that’s the name they give it and as lucifer was uh there right by the temple i asked the voodoo doctor what they do with it and he said we pray to lucifer and i said well what does lucifer do for you and he said he’ll give you money he’ll give you a girlfriend he’ll cast out a demon and i said to him that that’s strange because the devil put the demon in the person in the first place. And I said, you don’t need Satan, you need Jesus. And so I got to turn to John 10, 10, the thief cometh to kill, to steal, to destroy, but Jesus has come to give life and that more abundantly. And I said, you don’t need Satan, you need Jesus. And we talked for a couple hours, about at that time, it was about an hour. And a crowd was gathering around. I got to tell them all they need Jesus. What an adventure. I told him I’d go back to see him. I went back to see him again the next time I was there, but he was gone, but five of his men were there, and I said, men, can I talk to you? And we were standing there right next to Lucifer. One was the voodoo doctor’s dad, and I talked to them for an hour through an interpreter about Jesus, and all five of those men got down on their knees, and they asked Jesus to be their savior, and Lucifer couldn’t do one thing about it. And so it’s just been a wonderful demonstration to me of the power of God. I’ve seen a lot of people saved. I was in Liberia just a little while ago. I saw from my count, 200 plus people saved in Northeast India earlier this year too. I saw 100 professions of faith and I’m loving it. I was in the country of St. Kitts, the island of St. Kitts in the West Indies and my daughter and I looked out the window of the hotel and we saw smoke going up and we thought there was like a fire maybe in the rice field so we went to see what was going on and it was a squatter. It was somebody who took over land that wasn’t really theirs and the landlord let him stay there. And so this was a charcoal maker, a charcoal maker. He makes charcoal and sells it to the rich people. His hut was really small, but we became friends with him. And we went back to see him. And at the end of that week, this man, Manny, got saved. And here he was, just a charcoal maker in the middle of a field. And I think when he got saved, God smiled. And I love it. I love it. I absolutely love it. And there’s nothing like making an impact on people across the world for Christ. The power of God, the adventures that I would have missed if I hadn’t surrendered. If you serve God, he’s going to ruin your life. No, my life would have not been this exciting. And that’s what I’m telling you from my experience but more importantly my wife my life feels like it’s doing something it’s accomplishing something and you know what not just feeling it it is because these souls are going to heaven instead of hell and I would sure rather have this than have a good paycheck as a department manager I love what I’m doing I’m not enduring what I’m doing not too many people want of sacrifice. I personally don’t think I’m sacrificing. I think I’m being blessed. But for those of you that are considering what God’s will is for you and doing God’s will, it’s wonderful. It’s exciting. There are ventures ahead of you. But the greatest thing is you will see the power of God and you will see people saved. And even if you don’t see a lot of people saved, it’s worth one. And it’s just been a wonderful thing. I’ve been to Haiti seven times. There have been easy trips, hard trips. Been to Liberia, been to several different countries, easy trips, hard trips, fun trips, difficult trips. But there’s never been a time I’ve served God that I haven’t absolutely loved my trip and loved the opportunity. Just to give you an idea about, hey, thinking straight, I remember the first time I was going to go to Haiti, I can being so excited. I told one of my friends I was going to Haiti, a preacher friend. He said, what? You’re going to Haiti? I said, yes. He said, you don’t want to go to Haiti. It’s nasty. He said, you’re not bringing your family. I said, yeah. He says, you can’t bring your family there. It’s dangerous. They’re kidnapping people. And so I called up the contact in Haiti and I said, I’m sorry, I’m not going to be able to go. It’s just too dangerous. And the lady that had asked to come said, you’ve got to come. You’ve got to trust God. You’ve got to come. And so I said, well, we just can’t. Our government says it’s not safe for Americans to go. And you know how people are always concerned about their safety. Well, I was too, just to be honest, and be a little scared sometimes to do what God wants us to do. I was a little scared, especially putting my family in a situation like that, I was a little scared. Would that be responsible? And I don’t want to lose my wife or my kids. So all those thoughts go through my mind and all of that. So I told her, look, our government said they’re kidnapping people. And this Haitian dear godly lady said, ha, all my friends been kidnapped. You got to come. You got to trust God. And so what was I supposed to do. So I didn’t want to look like a girl to a girl. So I went. The first time I went, honestly, I took my brother Paul because I can run faster than him. But anyway, I did go, just my brother, and we had a good time and we saw God work. So I did take my family. We had a wonderful time. And then I went again. We had another wonderful time. I went again, had another wonderful time. Each time, yes, there were times of danger. And yes, it did go through my mind. And it was a reality. We could have had problems. But I remember one time calling her up and I said to her, hey, I’m coming to Haiti. And she actually said to me, you can’t come right now. And I said, well, why, Rosie? And she said, it’s too dangerous. I said, Rosie, you got to trust God. I said, we’re coming. And we went and we’re still alive. But honestly, we think too much of ourselves sometimes and we get too wrapped up in ourselves too much. You know what? Everybody who was alive 200 years ago is now dead. And 200 years from now, I know I’m going to be dead. Now, I hope that I don’t die in a mission field, but the fact is I’m starting to realize, well, what if I did? I’m going to die somehow and I’d rather live my life and even die if necessary for something bigger than me because, hey, what a way to live our lives

for something bigger than me. Amen. Praise the Lord. You know, young people, it is going to be an adventure as you follow Jesus, as you surrender to his will, where God takes you, he’ll keep you, he’ll protect you, he’ll help you, and you have nothing to fear. And, you know, I’m excited, young people. I’m excited about hearing what God has done through Brother Pelletier, and you know what I’m even more excited about? I’m excited about hearing what God is going to do through you. And so young people, you know our banner cry here at The Generation. It’s what he’s been talking about. It’s total surrender to the will of God and total dependence on his power to turn the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ.