Bringing Joy to the Gypsies: A Missionary’s Perspective

It is good to have Walter, Brother Walter Stevens with us tonight. Our missionary to the gypsies and phenomenal missionary out of again, a very well known church, Brother Kevin Folger.

If you remember, Brother Kevin Folger preached several of our missions conferences. In fact, he'll preach our missions conference next year.

A longtime pastor there, Brother Roy Thompson, longtime pastor, now brother, Brother Folger's son, pastors that church there in Cleveland. And so excited to have brother Walter Stevens with us tonight. You come on Brother Stevens. Thank you, pastor. Appreciate you all get that.

All right, that's scriptural tongues and I'm going to interpret for you. May be blessed of God, my brothers and sisters, and of his dear son, the Lord Jesus.

And recommendation of my pastor Kevin Folger, who's dear friends with your pastor and of course has affinity with the church. How many have never heard my conversion testimony? Raise your hand if you know. Oh my preacher. Several of them. I think I better take a moment.

I am a fourth generation gypsy raised here in the United States. My great grandparents came from different parts of Eastern Europe. No specific country as they were the wanderers of Eastern Europe.

I was raised in a traditional gypsy home in Ohio. Now I know the term gypsy is not politically correct. They're the Roma people, but I'm not a politically correct type of guy.

And you call me anything you want, just don't call me late for supper, okay? But married within the gypsy culture, My late wife was chosen for me by my parents. I chosen for her by her parents.

I always say that her mom and dad, my mom and dad did a great job. But I'm not sure about her folks. And we were total strangers prior to our wedding day.

We were not allowed to carry a conversation one with another until after the wedding reception. We weren't allowed to be in the same room together. It was taboo.

And you say, how does a marriage survive 46 years when you didn't know each other prior to your wedding day? Well, the answer is more simple than you realize. Love is a choice. You choose to fall in love and you choose to stay in love.

God reached down to the muck and mire this wretched planet saved my wicked soul Established my feet upon the rock the Lord Jesus. And I've never been the same since. And I love saying that I believe in a gospel that saves a man. I believe in a gospel that keeps a man saved.

And I believe in a gospel that changes the way a man lives. And God began. And Pastor, we're missing that third aspect of the gospel in our churches. God began to make dramatic changes in our life.

I want to make a longer story shorter for the sake of time.

We took a chainsaw to the fortune telling sign, parked the carnival equipment, got involved in a good, independent, fundamental KJV Baptist Church in southwest Ohio. It was there that we were scripturally baptized. It was there, but we got discipled. It was there that we got plugged into the church.

From rooftops to mountaintops if necessary. I didn't know all that God wanted from me, but I knew he wanted me to serve him.

Bible says if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing. And the Bible also says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, he'll give us the desires of our heart.

And I went forward in that service and knelt at the altar, that little church and told God if he was calling me, that I was giving him my phone number. I was making myself available. I was ready to go off to Bible college.

We were western Ohio, not far from Indiana, major college there, and I only have a sixth grade formal education. I'm kind of like Jethro the Beverly Hillbillies for those of you who can remember the Beverly Hill.

And so I went back and got my GED and was ready to go off to Bible College. And my local church pastor made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. He said that he would be my Paul if I would be his Timothy.

And I learned this book at the feet of Dr. Larry M. Spencer and became his assistant and associate. Was content to be the second man of the Crossroad Baptist Church of New Carlisle, Ohio, the rest of my life. I had told God so. And.

But there was a problem. 40 million gypsies scattered all over the world.

According to National Geographics, 1 million gypsies in The United States, according to the United States government. I believe those estimates are extremely low, but it's the only documented numbers that I have to go by.

And so nightly my wife and my late wife and I would pray for the gypsy people that God would send someone. We knew someone had to be sent to them. And it wasn't long, while I was praying that prayer, that the Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart.

And he said, what about you? And I said, oh no, not me, Holy Spirit, I'm second man at the Crossroad Baptist Church. Youth department is growing. Souls are being saved.

And the Spirit whispered back and said, no, I have made you. I have molded you to reach your own people. I am bilingual. Most gypsies are bilingual all over the world.

They hold on to their native tongue, the Roma language, wherever you go in the world, the language is international with a variance in dialects. And so I didn't have to learn a new language and surrendered to the mission field.

Did about 13 months of deputation, moved from southwest Ohio to northeast Ohio, as pastor always mentioned, to the Cleveland Baptist Church, which isn't the largest population of gypsies in America, but it was home, it was Ohio. And I wanted to reach the gypsies in the largest city that populated them around me.

And that ministry now will celebrate 35 years as a ministry of the Cleveland Baptist Church under its fourth generation gypsy preacher. And we thank the Lord for that.

And I tried my best to be a widower, I really did. But there's a verse in the Bible where God says, it's not good that the man is alone. And I began to pray for God to bring a godly woman into my life.

But I was a 60 plus year old independent fundament KJV preacher living out of the trunk of my car. And so the field was very narrow and so it was kind of like a conflict of interest for me to preach.

I'm going to these churches to preach, but I'm also looking for the widows without a wedding band on their left hand. And remember, I never dated, so I didn't know what I was doing and I did everything wrong. But there's a wedding band on my left hand.

And it was so difficult that I literally gave up. I like the gypsy system better. You go to bed single, you wake up married. But I mean, we all do it our own way. But I gave up. I really did.

I was on the west coast of Florida where we started our organization to work with marginalized peoples all over the world. And then when my late wife passed, I moved to the east coast of Florida where my son is an assistant pastor. And I have three grandchildren there.

And I was moved in with them.

I was getting some grandkid therapy and all the grandparents said, and matter of fact, if I knew grandkids were so much fun, I would have had them first anyways. And I have three supporting churches in the Melbourne, Florida area, and my son's an assistant at one.

But I wouldn't just attend the services where he was on staff. I would visit our other supporting churches or my other supporting churches.

And one night I was at the Heritage Baptist Church in Melbourne, Florida with Dr. Rylan Millett. This pastor, a dear friend of mine, and a gorgeous redhead sang a special that night. And the title of her song was hello.

And the song is about when you get to heaven, you greet your family that went before you and you say hello. You greet the characters of the Bible that you read about all your life and you say hello and you greet Jesus.

And I noticed that there wasn't a wedding band on her left hand. And after the service, I walked up to her and said hello, and God put us together. And my precious wife.

Simone and I just celebrated six years of marriage this past August. I apologize that she can't travel with me. She's caretaker to her 88 year old mother with dementia. Please pray for Simone. It's very difficult.

Her mother has become violent in her dementia and sometimes will curse Simone and accuse her of stealing things. So please pray for her. And we, we work together in ministry, of course, and we have ministries in Florida, in Kissimmee, Florida and West Palm Beach.

We're turning those over to other men right now. But my wife is a gospel singer and someday preacher. I'd love to bring her here for her to sing to you all.

And she has been working in the prison system of Florida, singing not as an inmate, she comes from the outside, but. And she's been doing that for 30 years. And she lost the preacher and his wife that she was going in with.

And so I volunteered for the volunteer chaplaincy of the Florida Corrections System. And now we go into the prisons the first Friday of every month. I love preaching to the prisoners because it's a captivated audience.

And we held, they call it a retreat back in January. We had, they called, I call it a revival. We, we had a four hour service. The division of the prison that we work in, there's only 120 inmates.

We had 80 show up. Now, mind you, I took 200 pieces of fried chicken, so I'm sure that was an invitation for them to come.

But I told them, I said, you came for the chicken, but you're going to go home with more than that or go to your cell with more than that. And we had 14 saved in that service. Praise the Lord. And then we're doing that again, pray about it in November.

Matter of fact, next month, the 29th, we're doing it again. So pray about that service. We've been averaging in our chapel service about 20, which is up about 20%.

I mean, like I said, we're a small part of the prison. And so we're running almost 20% of the entire prison population of our division. How would you like to reach 20% of Haslam?

But you pray for that service.

And I'm here tonight not only to give a report but to give a challenge because you have been praying for our ministry and you have been investing financially in our ministry.

And I believe if we follow the pattern of the ministry of the Apostle Paul, who I think was the greatest evangelist missionary in the world, he reported back to his sending church in Antioch. And so you're not my sending church, but you're my supporting church. And so I want to be a blessing to you all.

Some of you have already approached me saying how excited you am that I am here. That's great that you're excited. They're not always excited when I show up, preacher, but I'm glad that you are. And so I have a display.

Please stop by, pick up a prayer card. We covet the prayers of God's people. We are working with the devil's own.

If there's a race of people that you can say that have been held in the clutches of Satan for centuries, if not millennium, it's my people, the gypsy people. And so please pray for them. You say, preacher, every time a missionary comes, he's always soliciting prayer.

Is he looking for a lot of people to pray for him? Is God impressed when a lot of people pray? No, God is impressed when the right people pray. And you know who that is, The Wednesday night crowd.

And so please pray for us. We know the second closest thing to a Baptist heart and that's why we put a recipe on the backside. Amen.

And this is Simone's recipe for gypsy cabbage rolls. They're absolutely awesome. I could go for some right now, preacher, but the only thing is they can be a little spicy.

So should you decide to prepare them, don't bother calling us for tums of roll age. You're on your own. Amen. I've been challenged.

I've been in ministry a long time now, almost 40 years, and I've been challenged by my peers and my mentors to write my life story. Now with a sixth grade education, I'm a field man, I'm not an administrator. I don't need an office, I don't need a desk. I need a car.

That's all I need. And a Bible. But matter of fact, four years ago when I was here, I stayed in an apartment in Fort Worth, a missions apartment.

And I sat down at a computer and in two weeks wrote the first 10 chapters of this little book. And it's a 12 chapter book and it's my life story.

It's about the gypsy people, where they came from, trying to answer the question why they are the way they are. I present the gospel in chapter two. It's a great soul winning tool. And this book is not for sale, it's for donations only.

And I don't have a whole lot of copies. And if we run out and you need still want a copy, see brother Stone, I'm sure he'll get a list together so that I can get some.

But any donation of any amount and this, the funds we use, we receive from this will go to missionary projects.

This book partially paid for 42 trips into Southern Ukraine where we take humanitarian aid, John enrollments, gospel tracts and hold services to the gypsy people. Now there isn't combat in southern Ukraine, but the supply of food has been hindered because of the war in major cities of Ukraine.

And so, you know, a loaf, a gospel track goes a lot further when it's attached to a loaf of bread. Most people are not concerned about the things of the spirit, they're concerned of the things, the flesh.

And in John chapter six, you know what Jesus did? He fed them and then he gave them the gospel and Said labor not for the meat that perishes.

So if you'd like a copy, there's a little receptacle on our table. I know a lot of people don't carry cash anymore, so we accept Zelle and Paypal as well.

So pick up a copy if the Lord leads you to Would you go with me in your Bibles please to the Book of Acts, chapter 8? Acts chapter 8. I'm preaching a message tonight entitled Getting great joy to the gypsies of the world. Getting great joy to the gypsies of the world.

Acts chapter 8. If you have the strength and ability to stand for the reading of God's Word with would you please do so.

It may not be your custom in your church to stand for the reading of God's Word and that's okay. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that we have to stand.

But I work with primitive people who don't understand the importance of this book and I try to teach them reverence and it makes me feel at home when you're all standing. We're just going to read a few verses in Acts chapter 8 beginning at the fifth verse and I'll read aloud as you follow in silence this evening.

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed. And of course the theme of the message comes from the eighth verse and there was great joy in that city.

Let's pray and ask God to bless the reading and the preaching of His Word. Our gracious Heavenly Father, it's such a privilege to be here tonight.

Father, I have asked many times today already that you would use me to be a blessing to your people. I want to help, encourage and if necessary bring conviction by the Holy Spirit.

Challenge your people, Lord, but most of all to encourage them that they can see what their giving and their prayers accomplishes in their missions program of the church. I don't know the needs in this place, but you do. Your Word says that man looks on the outward appearance, but you look upon the heart.

I look around, everybody looks okay to me. But what do you see?

Lord, work tonight, blessed Holy Spirit, and we'll be very careful to give you, Lord Jesus, all the praise and glory and honor, for we ask these things in your name. Amen. You may be seated. How do we get great joy to the peoples of the world? How do I get great joy to my Gypsy people?

Being in ministry for almost four decades now, how does great joy come to the Roma people? I started establishing churches in Romania.

Tinka is a town of 2,500 people. And under communism, they were given parcels of land, always on the outskirts of town or usually by the dumps or the railroad tracks.

And when I entered the town, I didn't know where that parcel of land was, but by the sovereignty of God, there was a little Gypsy boy there on the outskirts of town. I didn't speak any Romanian, so I couldn't ask a national.

But of course, still being able to speak my own language, I said to him in the Gypsy language, kale Roma, or Where are the gypsies? And he led us clear across town to a small one room house, maybe 14 foot by 14 foot. He didn't knock on the door.

He pushed the door open and stepped tiptoed very quietly. We followed him in the same way. I was with another missionary. And right away we saw why he was entering quietly. Nobody lived in this house.

This was a house that was designated as a house of prayer, where gypsies would assemble to pray. And when I walked in, there were 10 or 12 gypsies on their knees in a circle, praying. They did not know we had entered.

One Gypsy man was praying out loud in the Gypsy language. Now remember, Gypsies are bilingual all over the world. Had he prayed out loud in Romanian, I never would have understood a word of his prayer.

But the Sovereign Father, Brother Stone, had him pray in the Gypsy language so that I could understand that prayer. And this was his prayer. He prayed, lord, send us someone, send us someone to tell us the truth of the gospel.

And in those six years every cult and his brother was coming from the west, confusing these primitive people, telling them if they ate pork, they Couldn't go to heaven. That would be a real problem in Texas, wouldn't it?

Telling them that if they didn't speak in tongues or if they didn't worship on Saturday, they couldn't go to heaven. His prayer was genuine. He said his amen. He stood to his feet. He's opened his eyes. I was 18 inches in front of him. He didn't know we were there.

When he opened his eyes, I boldly said to him, watch now in the gypsy language. I'm four generations away from Eastern Europe, 5,000 miles separated by a little pond called the Atlantic Ocean. And our dialect was exactly the same.

Tell me that's not the sovereignty of God. And I said to him in the Gypsy language, we are the answer to that prayer. How would you like to get your prayers answered that fast?

I presented the gospel to him. Several in that room fell to their knees and received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Gypsies are very emotional people.

They laugh hard, they cry hard, they fight hard, and they celebrate hard. And he was a professional accordion player and he had his accordion at his side. He would play Christian songs before they prayed.

And in his excitement, he grabbed his accordion, stepped out of the house playing and singing. And before you know it, Gypsies were coming from all over the community. It was like the Pied piper, I think they thought there was a party going on.

And there on the dirt roads of Cinco Romania, I preached the gospel again. Many were saved. We had our first baptism in August of that year, and the nucleus of the Manna Baptist Church at Thinker Romania had been established.

The man that I heard pray out loud is a man by the name of Giza Feketa. He is now the national pastor of several of our churches. And so we celebrated 30 years of ministry since that one church was established.

There are now 18 churches. Out of that one church, we rented an old communist meeting hall for the anniversary celebration.

We stopped counting at 450 gypsies who came from all over several counties to come to celebrate this great accomplishment. We had the local mayor there, we had law enforcement there, which is a big deal. And we thank God for all that.

We, we also have the Eastern European Gypsy Baptist Institute. I don't call it a Bible institute because we have a problem with what is a real Baptist in Eastern Europe. And we have had several graduations.

We also have feeding centers where we feed about 300 very hungry little gypsy kids one meal a day, five days a week. You say, brother Stevens, why don't you feed him seven days a week? Well, you do the math.

It's a lot of meals, but we're not there to feed every hungry gypsy kid. I don't think you can do it. Jesus said, you have the poor with you always.

But I heard a Haitian missionary say it's very difficult to preach the gospel to growling stomachs. Those kids are not concerned about the things of the spirit. They're concerned about the things of the flesh.

And we give them physical food and spiritual food. Our feeding centers are 20 years old, and now some of those children are adults who are serving in the ministry. That's part of your ministry.

Paul said to the church of Philippi, he said, not that I desire a gift, he said, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. Now, there are gypsies in Texas. There's a lot of them, matter of fact.

But as a result of Hitler killing 600,000 of them in the Holocaust, not to forget the 6 million Jews and the hundreds of thousands of military allied personnel that died in that war. But more than likely, gypsies will not attend this service because they're not antisocial, they're asocial.

They don't blend in any community anywhere in the world. And so, more than likely, pastor, they won't sit in these chairs. They won't listen to your preaching.

They won't answer the invitation to these altars to be saved.

But I'm here to proclaim to you, because if your prayers are because of your giving, gypsies are going to tap you on the shoulder in heaven and say thank you for giving to the work of the Lord. Because of you, we are here. I began working with the gypsies of Pakistan, oh, probably 10, 12 years ago. We were able to get their own building.

I raised $68,000, I think, in just a few weeks. Got them their own building, got their own national pastor.

I still meet with them every Friday morning via the Internet with the Grace Bible Institute. We just had a graduation last Friday. We had 52 graduates, four of them going into evangelism, two of them going into the pastorate.

We bought motor scooters for the pastors so they can get to their churches. That's part of your ministry.

My executive director of our mission agency, Roma Outreach Mission Association, Dr. Tim Clark, works with the gypsies of India. He has had boots on the ground. They have their own building, they have their own national pastors and he still works with them via the Internet.

That's your ministry, working with the gypsies in Ukraine and watching God do a great work there. We are in a position right now to establish churches amongst the Roma people in southern Ukraine.

But it's going to be determined by the outcome of the war. So you pray that there'll be a peaceable outcome of that war.

As we read about the Samaritan's people in our story here, they remind me a lot of my gypsy people. If you know anything about the Samaritans, they were the outcast of that world at that time.

Matter of fact, In John chapter 4, the Bible says that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. They were the offscouring of the community. But in John chapter four, it also says Jesus must needs go through Samaria.

Now if you know anything about your geography at the time of Christ, from where he was to where he was going, he didn't have to go through Samaria. And most of the time Jews would avoid that geographical part to avoid the Samaritans.

But he had to go there because there was a woman at a well who needed to hear the wonderful truth of salvation. And the Samaritan people get good religion. Matter of fact, we've never coined the phrase good Jew and we've never coined the phrase good Roman.

But we have coined the phrase the good Samaritan, have we not? And the Gypsy people, my Gypsy people remind me of the Samaritans. The Gypsy people have been the offscoring of the world.

In Germany they're called the Zigoina. In Romania they're called the Tsigan. In Greece they're called the Giftos.

If any Spanish speaking people are here, you know that they're called the Gitanos. And that word means all those words mean all the same. The outcast, the undesirable, the unwanted, the disposable people.

And as a result of it, they have not been reached. Can you imagine? I'm all for reaching the countries of the world. And praise the Lord for all the countries that are represented here.

But the gospel has just began to reach my people within the last years. Few, 40, 50 years. Think about that. And we think we're getting the job done, preacher.

But with churches like yours who invest in worldwide evangelism, we can accomplish the job. The Gypsy language is a limited vocabulary language. It's not updated.

We lack in spiritual terms and two words that are missing from the gypsy language. That really, really discourages me. We don't have a word for hope. What do you call people who don't have a word for hope? Hopeless.

We don't have a word for future. No hope. No future. What do you do, Brother Stevens? I borrow words of the indigenous host nation in which I'm preaching in Romania.

I'll use the word esperanza for hope. I'll use the word vitor for future. And I give my people hope and future in the person of Jesus Christ. God loves the Samaritan peoples of the world.

But I want you to see how do we get joy to the cities of the world? I believe in our verses tonight is. You could call it a natural outline, but I'd rather call it a supernatural outline.

And sometimes when you look at passages of scripture, they speak for themselves. They just need a voice. And God gives us a formula. He gives us a process. He gives us a pathway to get the verse 8.

Now as we get into this message, I want you to remember our goal is to get the verse 8. But how do we get there? I want you to see the first component in verse five. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria. Number one.

There needs to be a preacher. Isn't that what missions is about?

Don't you have missions conference and bringing a keynote speaker and bring in the missionaries and set up the displays and show the videos. I don't. Maybe you have an international banquet and I think your faith promise are you not pastor and take up the cards and make the commitments. Why?

Because there needs to be a preacher. Someone has to go. Someone has to tell them.

Romans chapter 10, verses 14 and 15 says how then shall they call on him in whom they have not heard, not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be said?

Listen, if we're going to get great joy to the cities of the world and if we're going to give joy to the gypsy people of the world, if we're going to give joy to the Samaritan type peoples of the world, there needs to be preachers. And Philip was the preacher in our story. Story is told about the time of the Titanic disaster.

There was an evangelist on board by the name of John Harper. He was a 39 year old widower and with him was his daughter and his sister. His little daughter's name was Annie.

Brother Harper got his sister and his daughter on a lifeboat. But brother Harper stayed in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, floating on whatever he could float on.

Pronouncing the gospel One survivor says this. I am a survivor of the Titanic. I was one of only six people out of 1,517 to be pulled from the icy waters on that dreadful night.

Like hundreds around me, I found myself struggling in the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic. The wail of the perishing was ringing in my ears. And when there floated by me, a man who called to me and said, sir, is your soul saved?

Then I heard him call out to others as he and everyone around me sank beneath the waters and drowned. Watch what this survivor says. There, alone in the night with two miles of water under me, I cried to Christ to save me. Watch what he says.

I am John Harper's convert. There needs to be a preacher. That's the first component, But I want you to see the second component. You'll find it in verse five.

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria. Watch now. And preached Christ unto them. Number one, there needs to be a preacher. Number two, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ.

And you'd say, preacher. What else is a preacher going to preach but Jesus? Really? I hear him all the time. They preach everything but Jesus.

There's this one guy who packs out a stadium. His haircut's got to be about $200. His dental work's got to be about 20 grand. His suit's got to be about $2,000. And you know what, preacher?

He tells me I'm good. I have a problem with that because I have to look at this mug in the mirror every morning. He doesn't preach Christ.

You could Google him in an interview with Larry King Live. Well, he will not nail down the gospel in and say how it is that you need to be saved. You say, are you going to tell us his name?

I won't tell you his name, but his initials are Joel Osteen. They all don't preach Jesus. Watch now. We preach Christ. Virgin born. We preach him with a sinless life.

We preach him making the blind see, the deaf hear the mute speaking. We preach him raising the dead to life. Watch now. We preach him crucified. We preach him buried. And we preach him coming back again. We lift up Christ.

You know what, preacher? We got the easiest job in the world. We get to stand up here and talk about Jesus.

It's all that other stuff that goes with it makes it a little harder. And Jesus said, if I be lifted up. Watch now. Want to take the Pressure off of ministry. I'm going to take the pressure off of ministry for you.

Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself. Preach Jesus. Cover to cover. Genesis to Revelation. It's all about Jesus.

Shame on the preacher who can't find Jesus in every book, every chapter and every verse. We preach Christ. You know, Philip was always faithful to preach Jesus. Look at verse five. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached.

What? Help me church Christ unto them. Watch. Go down to verse oh, verse 34. This is the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch.

And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself or some other man? Watch verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at that same scripture and preached unto him. Who? Jesus.

Every time Philip opened his mouth, Jesus came on. Number one, there needs to be a preacher. Number two, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ. I want you to see the third component.

You'll find it in verse six. And give me the Word. And the people with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

There needs to be a people he unite with the preacher in the proclamation. You see, preacher can't do it alone. But these people united with the man of God and his message. And what happened?

And there was great joy in that city. You see, when the people of God unite with the man of God and the message of God, they become a power. They become an entity.

Watch now that the satanic world cannot take. You cannot get the verse eight until you take care of verse seven. And, and by the design of God, not just because it's numerical, 7 comes before 8.

What does it say? First we have a preacher who's proclaiming Christ. That's verse five, verse six. There's a people who's uniting with the man of God and his message.

Watch now, verse seven. Here's what happens. For unclean spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with him.

And many taken with palsies in that relay were healed. And there was great joy in that city. Number one, we need a preacher. Number two, we need a preacher who proclaims Christ.

Number three, we need a people who unite with the man and the message. And watch now together they pull down the strongholds of Satan. I've worked with gypsies in Vadim, Bulgaria. We took over the street.

We were on one side with our team, Pastor Gitze Feketa, the man who got saved in that One little room. And we had our team there and musicians across the street where all the gypsies lined up. 80,000 gypsies in this one town in Bulgaria.

We established a church there. And this was evangelistic work. This was groundbreaking work. Lost people deep rooted in all different kinds of Satan worship and demonism.

And as I was preaching, right in front of me was a woman, probably in her early 20s. I gave the invitation for salvation. She got up from her chair, walked halfway into the street, and I watched her eyes roll back into her head.

She fell to the ground with her arms to her side and began rolling. You couldn't duplicate the way she was rolling. Pastor Gitzer went to deal with her later.

He told me that when he approached her, there was a masculine voice coming from within her. And no matter how much a woman tries to talk like a man, she still sounds like a woman. We prayed on our side of the street.

Pastor Gitzer says she came to her senses. He presented the gospel to her. She jumped up and got saved. Got saved, jumped up, threw her arms up in the air and said, I'm free. I'm finally free.

She was known as a demon, possession, possessed woman in that town. I preached in Timisoar, Romania, with my dear friend Pete Heise.

It was a small church, and in the back of the auditorium, there was a woman all dressed in black. Now, if you know anything about Europe, many times widows will wear black the rest of their lives in mourning of their husbands.

And so there was this woman all dressed in black. I thought she was mourning her husband. I thought she was a widow. I preached the gospel. I was so close to her, I could see what she was doing.

She was shaking. The chair in front of her at the invitation, she came forward, to my left. Someone went to deal with her.

That person who dealt with her later told me that when she. When they approached her, she was just shivering, just shaking. They presented the gospel to her and she got saved. Maria Bogdan was the first person.

It was a week to revival. She was the first person at the church door every night and became a faithful member. She was dressed in black, or she was known as the local witch.

You say preacher, that's because you work with gypsies. We don't have problems with demons in America. Really? One of these don't make you civilized.

And you don't have to have a bone in your nose to be the mission field. But watch now. God has given the church power and authority. Did he not say that he gave us the keys to the kingdom, huh?

Didn't he not say, what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What we set free on earth will be set free in heaven.

Did he not say, did he not give us authority to bind the strong man that we could spoil his house? I was raised as a thief since I was a small boy. My dad was a thief, my grandpa was a thief.

All the way down the line they trained me how to be a thief. If I performed the Khan, my parents would reward me. If I didn't perform the con, my parents would reprimand me. That'll confuse a 10 year old boy.

But you know what? You don't forget how to steal. And I'm still stealing.

I'm stealing gypsy souls out of the clutches of the devil because he has given me the power and authority through the local church to bind the strong man that I could spoil his house. You say, preacher, who do you go to? The hostage or the hostage taker? I go to the hostage. And what do I tell the hostage?

If the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And I'm watching my gypsy people being set free from the clutches of that.

I wish I could just tell you testimony after. Let me just give one. Pastor Giza Feketa. Now, this is unheard of. Pastor Giza Feketa now sits on city council in Tinko, Romania.

Now that may not sound like a big deal to you, but I'm talking about the tzigan, the outcast. There was one dentist in Tinka who thought it was an honor to run over gypsy kids with his Mercedes. Hello. And the police wouldn't do nothing to him.

That's all changed now. Because watch now. The Gospel doesn't just save your soul. That's the most important part. It changes your social status. I got a. That's right.

And a head shaking over here. Now let me say it again. The Gospel doesn't just save your soul. That's the most important part. It changes your social status.

Chapter and verse, preacher. The woman with the issue of blood, she couldn't be in public until she touched the hem of his garment. And then he forced her into public.

Did he not change their social status? That's what the Gospel does. That's the power of the Gospel. If we'll only be faithful to preach it. Let me close with these with a couple of questions.

Are you a threat to the devil? Are you rattling the devil's cage? That's what God's called me to do. Now it's a Wednesday night crowd. I know who's here.

And the faith promise givers are here and the prayers are here. You'll all run and grab a prayer card because that's the Wednesday night crowd. And you'll pray for us. Maybe you're here tonight and you don't.

You're not a threat to the devil. You're not rattling the devil's cage. I read a bookmarker that said this.

Live your life in such a way that when you get up in the morning and your feet hits the ground, Satan shudders and says, oh no, he's awake. What To God, that would describe my life. In Acts, chapter 19, the sons of Sceva decide they're going to cast out demons without authority.

How many know the story? And so the sons of Sceva go to the demon possessed. Now, watch now. And they say, let's get into the brain of a demon.

You want to get into the mind of a demon? I think you're all scared to. And watch now. The sons of Sceva, Satan, the demon possessed. In the name of Jesus, who Paul preaches, we cast you out.

Now watch what the demon said. Jesus, we know. Well, of course they know. Jesus, he made them. He didn't make them fallen, he didn't make them demons, but he made them.

They knew who he was. But watch what the demons say now. Jesus, we know. Ready, Paul, we know. Well, wasn't Paul made of the same stuff that you and I are made of?

But yet to the demonic world, they were both threats. Here's the question. Does the demonic world know your name? Because if they know your name, you're rattling their cage.

You're a threat to Satan and his world. Let me give you a verse to go with. The Last point is Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 4 and 5. It says this.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.

To the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That's what God has called us to do.

When we have preachers who proclaim Christ and a people who unite with the man and the message, we become a power and an entity that pulled down the strongholds of Satan, even right here in Hazlitt. And then what happens? Verse eight happens. That's the formula. I told you, it's a supernatural outline. Just needs a voice. What happens? Verse 8.

And there was great joy in that city. Thank you. For helping me to bring great joy to the cities of my precious people, the Roma.

Heads about and eyes are closed and no one's looking around. Who tonight by an uplifted hand, would say, brother Stevens, I'm saved. I'm on my way to heaven and I thank God for it.

As a testimony, would you put your hand way up high? Way up high. It's your testimony. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he's redeemed out of the hand of the enemy. Yes. God bless you.

Many, many hands. As far as I could scan the auditorium, it looked like most hands were raised. You may put your hands down. I never underestimate the audience.

I never know who's here. But maybe you couldn't join these and say that you're saved and on your way to heaven. The gospel's been preached.

We talked about Christ, his death, burial and resurrection. He's been lifted up. And tonight you recognize your need of a savior. You say, preacher, I'm lost. I need Jesus. Would you put your hand up? Is there one?

Preacher, I'm lost. I need Jesus. Is there one? How about a church? Want to be a threat to the devil? Want to rattle the devil's cage?

Want to be recognized by the demonic world like Paul was recognized? And preachers. You say preacher, I want to be a threat to the devil. Would you put your hand up tonight? I want to be a threat to the devil. Yes.

Many, many hands raised. You may put your hands down. Let's stand with our heads bowed and eyes closed. I'll pray and the pastor will come.

Father, in heaven, your word makes it so clear. We get in trouble when we don't preach the word, when we talk about philosophy and opinion.

But it's all right here in these few verses you've outlined for us. How to get great joy to the cities of the world. It's what you had called me to do. To bring great joy to my precious Roma.

Many preachers who proclaim Christ. People who unite with the man and the message.

And together, together, Lord, we become a power and an entity that Satan and his demonic world just can't take. We pull down the strongholds and there's great joy in the cities of the world. Bless this invitation. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Preacher, you come.