Wai Ola

I’m done with personalities. I’m done with seeker friendly churches. I want a church that is going to operate the way that I originally founded them, to operate, okay? And from the get go. And most of you know the story, some of you know the story about Colleen and I coming in here.

But even when I came in, I was always happy just being second chair. I said, look, you know, I told Alex and Pastor Leon and Pastor Hans, I said, look, I’ll help you, I’ll help you find somebody. We’ll help you get somebody, somebody in. And all along God was, you know, they bring one person in and go, nope. God says, no, that’s not it.

They bring another person in. God said, nope, that’s not it. And after a while I started getting irritated because I’m like, I’m like, good. I’m like, you know, God, this is. You’ve got your hands on this church.

Most churches, and I will say this, I’ve been in ministry almost. My wife and I have been in ministry almost 40 years. Most churches that have gone through what this church has gone to would have folded and closed their doors, packed their things and sold everything and said, we’re done. But Salt church hasn’t. Salt church hasn’t.

I will even tell you this, the church that I belong to, that when we, God called us down here to Chesapeake and I said, you know, when we were originally asked, I said, hey, would you come down and help us start a church with a good friend of mine? And I said, yeah. I said, only on one condition. I said, God has to call me to Chesapeake because I’m not going for you and I’m not going for the church. I will go if God tells me to go.

So what happened was in a little bit over a month time, I was actually laid up for about eight weeks. I had neck surgery. I blew two discs in my neck. God decided that, hey, this is a good time, I need to sit you down. So he sat me down and he began to show me things.

And the short and sweet of it was, God says, I’m calling you out, I’m moving you. I we sat in the kitchen, our kids were off to their grandparents house and I sat, I remember sitting in the kitchen at 1010 Cindy Lane in Westminster, Maryland, and my wife and I were kind of muddling around in the kitchen and I looked at her and I go, so what do you think? And immediately she started crying and she says, I don’t want to, but I know God’s saying it’s time for us to move. And I said, yep, that’s where I’m at. And I said, but now what we’re going to do is we’re going to ask God to confirm it.

And I remember going to church the following day, that was a Saturday. The following Sunday, we had an evangelist come in, and at the end of the service, he said, I’m going to pray for you guys. And we had a bunch of people come up to the altar. And I remember my wife and I are holding hands. And he came up to us, and he looked at us directly.

First time I’ve ever met the guy. And he said, God’s calling you out and saying, it’s time to move. I don’t know how much more clear God could make that. And so we wound up. We told our family when we moved, but I remember we got in.

I became the executive, the assistant pastor, and we did all that. And eight years later, God was blessing the church, doing some things in the church. But God began to change me. Amen. God began to change me.

And I remember during a fasting night one night, way back in 2014, 2015, I think it was, God began to deal with me, and he says, I’m not happy with the way that my church is right now. And he began to give me a vision. He began to pour into me, and he says, this isn’t working for me. And it got to a point that it was so bad that we tried, because we love the church. We did.

We truly loved the church. But it got so bad that one night during a worship night, at the end of the worship night, I felt the wind blow from left to right. And if you knew the circumstances in the sanctuary, the way that it’s set up, I ran sound at the time. So the sound booth was in the back. That’s the stage.

Our exit doors were to the right. And the wind blew. And I physically felt the wind. And when my wife came up, I said, hey, did you feel something? She said, no.

She said, what’s going on? And I remember sitting there right after that, I go, God, what was that? And God said, I have officially left the building. I’m not welcome here. And I knew that we were done.

And I struggled. And we struggled with it, and we fought with it. And I remember a friend of ours called us a short time afterwards, and he says, I need you to come to New York. And I said, okay. We sat down, we drove six hours, went to New York, and we sat down at Bay Cafe.

And he said, the Holy Spirit told me that it’s time for you to go, and he’s moving you out. That was 10 years ago. For 10 years, our wife and I sat and sat and sat and we watched a church that we grew to love and care about, and we watched it go away. It had all the processes, it had all the procedures. It had everything that a physical man could do to set up for a church to activate correctly.

It was missing one thing, the spirit of God. It’s missing the spirit of God. And I believe that when I look at Salt Church, and I truly mean this at the bottom of my heart, the Enemy has tried so hard to beat this church down, to kick this church down, to push this church down. God’s got his fingerprint on this church and he’s saying, enemy, Salt Church ain’t yours. It’s not yours.

I believe in divine appointments. I prayed for last all last year. I kept asking God, God, give us a divine appointment. Give us a divine appointment. And I believe that the chance meeting, the divine appointment of meeting Pastor Leon and Miranda that day in August, we didn’t know each other, never met him, never talked to him.

And God began to do something there. I believe that the gentleman that sits up here now, T.J. lentz. And I apologize, I don’t mean to go long, but I’m gonna.

When the glory of God, when God does something, I’m gonna proclaim what God does. The meeting between me and my wife and TJ Lentz was absolutely a divine appointment. It was a friend, through a friend that we didn’t know. And they said, you need to talk to TJ Lentz. We sat down with TJ Lentz at a coffee shop in Norfolk.

And he even told me, he says, I had no desire. I had no, did not want to. And before the meeting was even over, he says, I’m on board. I went, what? He’s like, I’m on board.

He says, you don’t have to say anymore. I’m on board. And I was flabbergasted. So we talked a little bit more. And I remember walking out and we got out into the middle of the street.

My wife looks at me, she goes, should we scream now or wait until we get into the car? I says, no, we’ll wait until we get into the car. We got into the car, and I guarantee you the gates of hell could not stand because we sat there and praised God for what God did. That is a divine. And you want to know how bad.

I’m not done. Trust me. The very next, what, three, four days later, it was three, four days later, I get a call, and I’m like, hey, he was supposed to come on that Sunday. And he’s like, dude. He goes, I got a problem.

I go, what’s that? He goes, yeah, I’m not feeling good. Come to find out he had some. He had to have emergency surgery. And it was all these things.

And I’m like. And here we are, we’re getting up to Christmas. And I’m like, dude, what do you want to do? Do you want to just kind of, you know, what do you want about? He goes, nope.

And. And TJ himself would look at me. And he goes, it’s time to get tactical. He goes, I’m not letting the enemy win. And I was like, glory be to God.

Glory be to God. Even up to Christmas Eve service, we were like, I think, what? Two days before Christmas Eve service, my wife’s going, hey, what’s going on with tj? Should we get somebody else in or. You know, he’s not really feeling good.

I says, I’ll let TJ know. I said, hey, man, we. What do you want to do? I’m not, you know, whatever you want to do. And he says.

He goes, I’m going to be there. I’ll be there. I’m like, okay. So for those of you don’t know, this man of God, T.J.

lentz, who just led worship, is our new worship pastor. So don’t tell me that God’s fingerprint isn’t on salt. Don’t tell me that salt’s done, because it ain’t done. God’s not done with this church. God’s not done with what he’s gonna do right here.

He said, 2025. That’s in the past. That was your Friday. Sunday’s coming. Because 2026, God’s ready to roll.

He’s ready to roll. He’s done cleaned house. He said, the remnant that I have here is the remnant that I’m gonna use to build on that church. The church that the foundation that was started by the Dunnings is going to continue on. The church that now is our senior pastor, Hans Hest.

Trust me, we’re going to set the bar. Virginia beach isn’t going to know what hit it because we’re going to make a move. So in preparation for this, now I’ll get to preaching. I just. I sat down and I was going over this, and I was like, okay, God.

And God came up with this thing of healing waters, healing waters, healing waters. And then. And then immediately he says, There’s a Hawaiian phrase to it. And I was like, okay, well, you know me. I ain’t Hawaiian, but thank God I got a brother who is.

So I sat there and I was like, dude, this is what I’m thinking. And he’s like. He’s like, virgin. Hola, healing waters. And I was like, wow.

So God began to build. And God began to build. And I remember walking in this morning, Matt, our media guy, said, hey, what’s the sermon about? And I told him a little bit, just, you know. And I walk in this morning, and that’s what he puts up.

I was like, oh, dude, dude, you have no idea. He goes, I don’t. And I didn’t tell him what my sermon was. I told him it was from Ezekiel, and that’s what’s going to be. But I didn’t really go over a whole lot.

Trust me, by the end of the sermon, you’re going to look at that and go, divine appointments, Salt Church. And if you’re listening online, I love you guys online. I really do. But this is where you need to be. You need to be in the house of the Lord.

This is where God can show up in your living room. And if physical ailments, I get it. I don’t have a problem with that. Trust me. We’re going to pray for you.

Give us comments online. We read them, say, praise God. Pastor Carl, I need healing. Pastor Alex, I need prayer. I need this.

I need that. Please tell us. But the fellowship of God, the fellowship of the saints, of iron sharpens iron. We hold each other accountable. If you’re looking for a perfect pastor, I ain’t it.

I’m just gonna be honest with you. I ain’t it. I’ve got more problems. I’ve got more issues. But you know what?

I’m covered in the blood, and I love the Lord. And the thing about a fivefold ministry is I’m gonna surround myself with people that are gonna hold me up, and I’m gonna hold them up. This ain’t about a personality. This ain’t about an ego. Salt Church is going to be different.

We’re going to build on what was set in front of us. So I want to start off with Ezekiel’s vision in chapter 471 through 12. Little bit of a backstory. Israel right now is, at that point in time is going through their darkest points in history. Jerusalem had been left in ruins.

The temple had been destroyed. The children of Israel had been exiled to Babylon. The land was literally left desolate. It was so Bad the Israelites, as it states in 37, in chapter 37 11, they said, our bones are dried up and all our hope is gone. Ezekiel, the prophet comes in.

He was. He was duly apt as just. He was also. He’s a priest as well as a prophet. See, Ezekiel, as a priest, he understood the temple, he understood the layout, he understood the purpose, he understood the holiness that was required for the temple.

But as a prophet, he was able to speak of God’s words while they were in exile far from the temple. So God was beginning to utilize. And if you read through Ezekiel, you’ll see how God is just beginning to pour into him. Chapter 47 is a culmination of everything that God has been doing. And now he begins to pour into him about things that he’s going to do.

And it says in chapter 47 and verse one, it says, in my vision, the man. Now this man is. Sometimes I’ve heard, some say, scholars say it was Jesus in the Old Testament. Some say it was an angel. But in any way it.

In Ezekiel, it talks about a man. The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gate and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see water flowing out through the south side of the east gate, measuring as he went.

He took me along the stream for 1750ft. 1750ft, and then led me across. The water at that point was up to his ankles. He measured off another 1750ft and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees.

This is ezekiel. After another 1750ft, it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1750ft. And the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim, but too deep to walk through.

He asked me, have you been watching, O Son of Man? We need to keep our eyes open and our spiritual eyes open. Have you been watching? Then he led me back along the riverbank. When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river.

Then he said to me, this river flows east through the deserts into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of its rivers flow. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for it is waters will become fresh. Life will flourish Wherever this water flows, fishermen will stand along its shores of the Dead Sea all the way from En Gedi to En Eglam.

The shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea just as they fill the Mediterranean. But the marshes and swamps will not be purified. They will still be salty. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river.

The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall. There will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month. Now, that’s odd, because if you know fruit trees, they only grow in seasons. Word of God says is that there will be new fruit every month.

Hold on to that. For they are watered by the rivers flowing from the temple. The fruit will be for food, and the leaves will be for healing. As we Continue In Ezekiel 47, it appears at the tail end of this extended vision that God was showing Ezekiel. Now, understand, this begins.

This goes back. We were in 47. It goes to chapter 40. He’s showing Ezekiel a vision of a restored temple, a renewed worship, reordered land and people, and God’s glory returning to dwell with Israel. What is truly highlighted in these verses is very much applicable to the church today as well as the individual lives.

See, much like this church and our individual lives, we reach a point where we become so distraught, so despondent, and so disappointed that we want to just give up. God feels a million miles away, and. And the enemy is literally taking a victory lap at our expense. How many of you felt that way? Okay.

But when given the opportunity, we make ourselves available to God to begin a new work in us, in our situation. And he shows up in force. See, availability plus obedience are force multipliers when God is in control. Availability and obedience. So what do we learn about this river?

No river ever flowed from the temple. See, in this vision, water flowed out from the temple. The temple represents the dwelling place of God’s presence, and the river is the life that flows from his presence. This shows that life originates with God’s presence and not in our own efforts. It does not flow from rituals or religions.

You can jump to every church that you want to try to find what you’re looking for. And I’m sure there’s a lot of church. I look at a lot of churches. They’re like going to the movies. What’s it look like?

Are the seats comfortable? Do they lay back? Do they serve coffee? I like. Do they serve the snacks?

I like. I’ve asked people, certain people around the Church. My wife and I, before we came here and started going to Fountain of Life, we went to several different churches. Very nice. Messages were nice, but for something.

There was something in here. It was just missing. Coffee was good. The cafe was good. The pastor even spoke very eloquently.

But at some point in time, what happens is, as a Christian, the Bible talks about milk to meat. At some point in time, you know, as a baby, my newest grandson, he’s gonna drink. He drinks milk. He’s his mother’s milk, you know. But you know what, at some point in time, as they get older, they’re gonna want something a little bit more substantial, you know, they’re gonna want to know, hey, hey, papaw, what’s North Carolina barbecue like?

Hey, paw paw, what’s fish like? Hey, papaw, you know, and trust me, I’m not gonna be sitting there going, well, you gotta go see mom and dad because they only got milk for you. Our walk with the Lord is the same way. It stretches us, it moves us. We’ve got to go from the milk to the meat.

As we submit ourselves to the presence of God, we become more filled with his spirit. There’s no room for anger or bitterness or depression or anxiety. There’s no room for it. It flows into the deep areas of our heart and mind where fear, confusion and darkness like to dwell. See, only after God’s presence returned does the river begin to flow.

Restoration starts with God’s presence, not with us fixing ourselves. There ain’t any amount of psychology, not that I’m against psychologists. I know we have one in our congregation. I’m not, I love you guys, but there isn’t any amount of psychology or self help books that’s not going to replace what the Holy Spirit can do. When you give him the opportunity, he will literally take everything that’s wrong in your life and turn it upside down and go, now we’ve got something to work with.

See, it flows from the temple into the world. It shows us that God’s purpose is not containment, but it’s release. What is born in his presence is meant to be transforming life into bearing places. The very nature of God’s presence is to be shared, not stored by our nature. As believers, we are meant to be salt unto the world.

You cannot, as salt, keep it to yourself. When you sit at a dinner table and somebody says, hey, can you pass the salt? You don’t go, I’m going to hold this to myself. No, it’s meant to be shared. Why?

Because salt adds flavor. It’s Savoriness to it, Fish to me without salt. Let me back up. I like Old Bay, okay? I’m from Maryland.

I’m an obey kind of guy. Okay? I love Old Bay, but it’s what it adds to it. You as the church, as Salt Church, and you, even those who are online, are meant to go out into the world. That presence is not to stay contained here.

I believe that a lot of churches, what they do is they make things that look so good and so inviting here, but what they forget is that their congregation, the people that they’re serving have to go out there. I know I’m not. We’re not Fountain of Life and Salt Church together, not creating a church that merely exists here in this place. But it’s to equip the saints to go out. Because as the presence fills you up and you have less room for anger, bitterness and all these things, it gives you more, more room for peace, joy, grace and mercy.

And as you go out, you begin to. That begins to come out of you. Smith Wigglesworth, many of you don’t know back in, I believe the 1920s or ish, but Smith Wigglesworth was so anointed by God, he could get on a train and he didn’t have to say anything and people would come up to him and go, I want you to pray for me. Miracles would happen. Let me explain something to you.

You don’t need a five step program. You don’t need to go to 20 doctors. I’m not against doctors. Let me make that caveat. Okay, but you don’t need to sit there and go through a five step cleansing program through a church.

You get in a church that believes the presence of God will work and will move. You stand at the altar and you say, I believe. I confess it with my mouth and believe in my heart that God’s going to heal me. He’s going to do it. God’s not saying, well, you didn’t check the boxes or you know what, you’re just, you’re not clean.

When he healed the leper, he said, the leper just said, I want to be healed. Jesus said, okay, they dropped the man through the roof. They tore the roof apart. They dropped the cripple in the roof. He didn’t sit there and go, you belong to a church.

Do you tithe? Oh, you don’t really tithe. I can’t really do anything with you. He said, get up, take your bed, walk. He said, walk.

We need churches like that. St. Augustine is said to speak about salt in two ways. It’s a metaphor for believers preserving the world’s goodness. Salt of the earth as a spiritual seasoning to enhance spiritual thirst.

Famously saying, you have put salt in our mouths that we may thirst for you. Urging a deeper longing for God. He explained that the savorless salt, unfaithful Christians become useless. But the faithful speech with seasoned salt make their words wise, preserving truth against corruption. The more you get God into you, the more that you stay in his presence, the more the glory comes onto you and the more you begin to walk in the way that he walks.

Number two. It gets deeper, the farther it goes. So it says, as he measures, as he went. It took me along the stream about 1750ft and led me across. The water was up to my ankles.

He measured off another 1750ft, led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. And another 1700 and it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1750ft and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through the depth of the river.

If we obviously look at this, it goes from his ankle to too deep to cross. This revelation is meant to show us that life with God grows by divine power, not by human intervention. It cannot be controlled. Once a life that is completely submitted to God reached fullness. Hear me when I say this.

When you completely submit yourself to the Holy Spirit and to what God wants to do with you, you are unstoppable. There is not a thing the enemy can do. Because, trust me, when you spend time in the Word and you spend time in his presence, the enemy, he’s going to try to fight you. He’s going to try to come against you. But you know what?

The more you seek him, he’s going to leave with a few more bruises. He’s going to leave with a few more broken bones. It said that our exposure to the presence of God, being fully integrated into the Holy Spirit, does the following. It moves us from participation. We have a lot of participating Christians.

I go to church on Sunday. I check the box. I’m doing good. Okay? Hey, knock your socks off.

Moves to commitment. I’m going to be committed. I’m going to work forward. Goes up to our waist. And now we’re dependents.

I’m depending on God to meet my needs. I’m depending on God to eventually, it’s total surrender. God is asking us to go deeper with Him. We are not merely. Merely to experience his presence, but to encounter his presence.

There’s a big Difference. If you go back to what I said a couple weeks or a couple days ago, we talked about the difference between experience and encounter. Okay, I’m going to embarrass my wife. The first kiss that I had with my wife was an experience. But my life, over 35 years with her is an absolute encounter with my wife.

Because I’ve grown with her. Okay? The more time we spend, we become more like him. We begin to take on his attributes and his character. We begin to narrow the gap of who we perceive ourselves to be versus who we actually are spiritually.

See, the famed Swiss psychologist Carl Jung had a unique insight and believed that psychological help health is narrowing the gap between my perceived self and my actual self as much as possible. See, there are a lot of people in the world that go, I’m special. I’m special. I’m talented. I’m good at everything that I do, and I know it.

That’s how they perceive themselves. But then if you ask their friends and they go, they’re annoying. They give me a headache, and I really don’t like being around them, okay? We’ve got two extremes, but as we begin to narrow that gap, we begin to see the person that we’re really meant to be. Okay.

See, Tyler Stanton, in his book Familiar Stranger, states that spiritual health is closing the gap between biblical rumor and actual life as narrowly as possible. Spiritual maturity is narrowing the gap between kingdom promise and daily grind, between what I believe in my head and what I know in my heart, my emotions and my bones, between the core belief I recite in creeds and singing and worship anthems, and the core belief I live day in and day out, this is why that TJ is so important to this church. Trust me, if you were relying on me and my wife to lead this church, yeah, we’ll do our best. But when you begin to tack on a worship person, such as a TJ that is in tune with God, that walks with God, that listens to God’s heart, okay, it adds that other level. And then when you add somebody like a Pastor Alex Rubio, whose heart is just for the unbeliever and wants to go out and reach people, wants to outreach people, you add another level.

When you add people like a George and Lydia Bauman who love to serve and serve the youth, and then you add somebody like a Michaela Parks who teaches your kids, who quite frankly, doesn’t get paid enough, but the fact of the matter is, you add another level. What it does. It’s just like I told Alex today, I said, it’s like a pie. Somebody hands me a nice whole apple pie, that’s a really good apple pie. If I take a slice away, it’s not a whole apple pie.

But the fact is, is that us together, we operate in the five fold ministry of the church. That’s what the church is meant to be. We act as one. It’s not about my ego, it’s not about my personality. Because what it is is we begin to sing those creeds and sing those worship anthems, and we believe that day in and day out that God’s going to do something.

I walk into church not with the expectation of being bored, but with the expectation that God’s going to show up and he’s going to do something. That’s what I believe. Number three. This is not water for cleansing, but for living. As living water flows from the temple, dead things come alive.

We see this in sea, in regards to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea in its placement is the lowest and saltiest place on earth. The lakes. The actual lake surface sits about 1,443ft below the sea level, making its shores the lowest land based part on Earth. It contains extremely high salt content, containing a salinity of about 34.

2%. They tell me that I’ve had friends that have gone to Israel and they said they’ve actually gone in it. And they said, you can’t stay in it for very long, number one. But they also told me, they said, you don’t sink. Water from the Jordan flows into this body of water, but it has no outlet and it only evaporates.

So in Ezekiel, what is the Dead Sea symbolizing? It symbolizes death, judgment, barrenness and irreversible loss. Yet in 47 God says and tells Zikrio, in 47, 8, 9, it says, the water will be healed and everything will live. Where the river goes, it represents a move beyond merely removing sin, impurity and past failures. Instead, it speaks to the imparting of life, vitality and restoration.

This water does not focus on what must be cleansed. It focuses on what is brought to life. It focuses only. It doesn’t focus only on guilt or defilement, but it brings renewal, growth, healing, resurrection to what is burying and dead. This hope, it gives us a hope and a promise.

See, God is not intimidated by how dead something you think may be. See, as life once flows again from his presence. All that was lost, it says, it will be restored. The cross makes you clean, the Holy Spirit makes you alive. You go to the cross and Say, God, cleanse me of my sins.

Cleanse me of my sins. But inevitably, when you walk away from the cross, there’s a desire in you as a believer that says, I want something more. And that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. And you begin to ask God, God, I want to be baptized in your Holy Spirit. I want your Spirit in me.

And see, a lot of people have a tendency. They start freaking out about that. Well, he’s talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and then he’s talking about speaking in other tongues. I love you, but get over it. Because let me tell you something.

I don’t want to go halfway with God. I want it all the way. The Holy Spirit says, the Bible tells us that when the Holy Spirit, we get before the Holy Spirit and we begin to pray and we begin to seek God, there are times when we get on our knees and we’re crying and we’re weeping and we don’t have time for the words. But it says, the Holy Spirit does it in groanings and utterances. And there are words that come into our heart that we don’t understand.

That’s okay, because what it is, is that’s your spiritual language. And that’s meant to be that way. Because as you spend time in his presence, God begins to do something. He shows up in ways outside of your expectations. See, here’s the thing.

Some may have given up on this church. God didn’t. Some may give up on a broken marriage or relationship. God doesn’t. Some may give up on ever receiving a healing.

God won’t. Some may give up on ever receiving a breakthrough. God can’t. Why? Because that’s not who God is.

Because he’s the waymaker. He’s the miracle worker. He’s the promise keeper. He’s the light in darkness. He brings clarity where there’s confusion.

He brings peace in the midst of chaos. And he brings life where there is death. You thought it was dead. God said, not by a long shot. He’s working in your situation even when you are completely unaware.

See, in Luke 1:37, in the New King James Version, it says this. It says, for God, nothing is impossible. But I love what the NLT says. It said, for the Word of God will never fail. This doesn’t fail when we stand on it and believe.

Moves. When you understand, see the river flows. Death loses its authority and life begins to take over. When you understand this, life now flows from you as a believer and not a building. Ezekiel 47, as we read through this chapter, signifies that God’s presence produces life that increases, overflows and resurrects dead places without first demanding cleansing.

Because, see, a full and complete submitted life to Christ cures all that. And if you don’t think that God’s doing something, let me drop some knowledge on you. Revival is not coming. It’s here. Are you happy being a participant?

And you’re just going to wade in with your ankles, you’re going to step in a little bit further, let it go up to your knees, But I can guarantee you’re not going to be happy with that because then what’s going to happen is you’re going to go in a little bit further and it’s going to go up to your waist and pretty soon you’re going to be swimming in it because you want complete submission. One of the major cable news things, I came across this yesterday and I just found it astounding. And it said, christian revival across the U.S. annual U.

S. bible sales up 41.6%. Religion and spiritual apps downloaded to your phone up 79.5%.

To my music friends, contemporary Christian music up 50%. Revival isn’t coming, folks. It’s here. Where do you stand? If you’re happy just being a participant and just kind of weighing ankle deep, that’s great.

I’m just letting you know that’s not what God has for you. God wants to see healing in your life. He wants to see bodies healed. He wants to see marriages healed. He wants to see finances restored.

He wants to see things happen in your life. I believe that God in my heart of hearts is what God has. Fingerprint has got his hand on Salt Church because he knows that Salt Church again, and this has nothing for me. Okay, so let’s just be absolutely clear that what we want as a leadership team is we want and desire and are begging for God’s presence. We don’t want to be ankle deep.

We don’t want to be just waist deep. We want to be completely submitted to him, that when people walk through that door, they become healed. They’re delivered, they’re set free. And when they walk out, they preach the good news. We don’t want to be like every church in the area.

We’re called to be different. Stand with me. Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and you’re tired of standing on the fringes and you want to know him, even those online, if you want to know him as your personal Lord, and Savior, then I invite you to say this with me. Heavenly Father, I believe in my heart and confess you with my mouth that you are my personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I ask today that you would come into my heart, forgive me of my sins, get me back on that path. Lord Jesus, I desire to be a child loved by you, to serve you, and to be moving in your direction and your plan. Today is the day I confess you as my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you’re here today and. And you’re saying, pastor Carl, I don’t want a mediocre walk with the Lord.

I don’t want a mediocre Christianity. I want to start getting into the meat. Then if that’s the case and that’s what you truly mean, then here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. I’m going to ask that you hold up your hands to God as a declaration and say, God, today. Today is a new day in my walk with you.

Join me right now. Heavenly Father, I lift my hand to you right now. Today’s a new day. Today is a day that I confess everything. My lackadaisical attitude, my apathetic attitude.

I confessed and asked for your forgiveness. And today I asked right now, Lord Jesus Christ, that you would help me to go deeper into you, that you would help me to, Lord God, just understand fully and submit to you what your plan is for my life. Father, I love you and I praise you and I thank you, God, right now as we begin to end this service. Father, I ask that you would go forth with every person here and those that are listening online, and I ask, Father God, that you would touch their lives. I pray that they would have a radical encounter with you.

I pray, Father God, that you would shake up the norms in their life, Lord God. I pray, Father God, that what they thought they understood as their relationship with you, that, Lord God, it would be completely changed and flip on its end. Touch them, Father God, touch them. I praise you and I thank you right now in the name of Jesus and everybody says amen and amen. I love you guys.

It’s an absolute privilege to stand up here for you guys. I love you. I want you to have. Hey, Happy New Year. We look forward to 2026.

I look forward to seeing what God’s going to do in each and every of your life. Sundays is the time that we come and we share what God’s doing. Tell your friends, tell your family. This is where you need to be.