Episode 25: Through A Car Accident And An Earthquake – Bro. Steve Rivas’ Testimony – Pt.2

EPISODE SUMMARY:

On this episode of the podcast we continue with part 2 of our talk with bro. Steve Rivas from Washington state and a believer of the Message of the Hour. Bro. Steve currently attends Cloverdale Bibleway in Canada where bro. Ed Byskal is the pastor.

Bro. Steve shares with us his testimony how he met his wife and how he came to the Lord even though he had been disillusioned with God during his teenage years.

Bro. Steve also shares with us how God through a tragic traffic accident that he and his wife were involved in got his attention to get serious about serving God with all of his heart.

One of the most incredible parts of his testimony is how God used the Northridge Earthquake that took place in in the San Fernando Valley region of the County of Los Angeles in 1994, to convince him to move to Washington state to serve the Lord there.

Acts 5:40-42

40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Luis Urrego: [00:00:00] Welcome To The Ten Thousand Worlds Podcast my name is Luis Urrego. It’s a privilege and an honor to have you here listening today on this episode number 25 of the podcast. We thank you once again for tuning in. We appreciate the Lord for allowing us to have another opportunity to serve you in this way. And I thank God and I hope that everyone and each and every one of you are, Continuing listeners have been doing well in the past few months.

[00:00:27] I know we, we’ve been going through a lot of different changes and a lot of different things have been happening, but you know what, saints? All things work together for good to them that are in Christ Jesus to them that are the called of God.

[00:00:41] And I trust that you are one of those, the called of God. Well, on this episode, saints, we want to get right to it. We want to continue with brother Steve Rivas’  testimony. This is part two of his testimony and on this testimony he’s going to share. One of the impactful things that I, when he was telling me the testimony as I was talking to him a couple of weeks ago, is this part right here and I’m, I’m not going to get into it.

[00:01:11] I’ll just let you listen to it and see what God did in order to fully get brother Steve’s attention. For him to be in the perfect will that, in His perfect will and we always want to be in His perfect will. I don’t think any Christian, anybody that wants to serve the Lord doesn’t want to be in his perfect will.

[00:01:32] But I think for brother Steve, God needed it to happen this way because. It was for his perfect will to be, to be done. And, and so there’s some amazing things that took place in brother Steve’s life. I hope that you get a chance to listen through it and glean from it. But before we continue, we had a listener from Nigeria, leave us a voicemail requesting prayer.

[00:01:59] His name is brother Gabriel Enoch. At least that’s the name that was given, when I received the recording. But. Here is what brother Gabriel had to say,

[00:02:10] Gabriel Enoch: [00:02:10] Hello, believers. I’m from Nigeria. I need your prayer, I need you to pray for me? I’m very sick. I need your prayer. Can you help me in prayer? I need you to pray for me that God should touch me and heal me from fever.

[00:02:27] Yeah, thank you so much.

[00:02:30] Luis Urrego: [00:02:30] Bro. Gabriel, if you are listening, we will certainly be in prayer for you, and I’m sure our listeners will be. I know that you didn’t, spell out exactly what it is that you, that you are sick with. I heard, we heard possibly something maybe with a fever, but we trust that God will touch you if he hasn’t already.

[00:02:50] And we believe it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we, expect hopefully that you would be able to come back, give us a report on how you’re doing my brother may God bless you. So after this part is over, I’m going to come back with my final thoughts and I trust that you receive a blessing as you listen to part two of brother Steve’s testimony.

[00:03:15] May God richly bless you as you listen.

[00:03:19] Steve Rivas: [00:03:19] So, so, you know, we had a religious merry-go-round with my wife because then I had a friend from my work who he was Pentecostal. And now I had, I was really spent cost, so I had a lot of respect for people. If they said, you know, I’m Pentecostal, I had a lot of respect for them because they were very spiritual people.

[00:03:40] So these friend of mine, his name was Guillermo. He said, Hey, you know, he kept. Asking me to go to church with a man. And so finally, one day I agreed, and I told my wife, I said, why don’t we go to church with a Jamar? So he’s been asking me to, and I say, he’s been at Costco and they have these little church down the, in, in a couple cities down the road from us.

[00:04:00] And I said, I feel we should go. And my wife says. If you want to go, I’ll go with you. So we went to, we went to one of their meetings, eh, well, actually we went through either one or two. But anyway, the first meeting we went to, I remember we got into the church, they started to sing. And before you knew it, except for me and my wife, everybody in the congregation started to speak in tongues.

[00:04:31] And it was, it was something else. I even growing up, I had never seen that. I had seen people speak in tongues, but I had never seen an entire congregation speak in tongues. And that’s just about what happened in these meetings. And me and my wife, we felt very out of place in that place because we were like, we were actually, we were literally, we were like, what the scripture sift for us.

[00:04:56] It was confusion, you know? Sure. so then they, I mean, it was, the spirit fell and they were just speaking in tongues, speaking in tongues. Finally, it was over. Minister came over, he spoke and they dismissed. So then my friend, and you’re more asked me after the service, well, what did you think? And I said, well, I said, it was, it was very interesting.

[00:05:18] I said, it was very interesting. I said, so he invited me back again and we went to another service and it was basically the same thing again. It was everybody would speak in tongues and that this went on for a long time. And I mean, they’re just all over. And then there was a lot of music and then that would go away.

[00:05:38] And then of course minister would come and preach. So then me and my wife said, we don’t fit in there. We, we’re not going, we’re not going back. We both agree that we didn’t want to go there. So then we all of a sudden, you know, we were like, well, where are we going to go? We need to find a church. And you know, we didn’t, we didn’t want to go to the Lutheran church and we didn’t want to go to the 70 Adventist church cause we already been to those.

[00:06:00] Right. about five minutes from our house was a church, an answering church. And so I told my wife, I said, I seen this little church. I said, down the road, I said, Nassar your church. I said, it looks like a beautiful building, and I have seen some really nice clean people go in there. I said, why don’t we give it a try?

[00:06:21] And my wife says, let’s go. So that’s what we did. We got dressed. And by then our daughter, my wife was big and pregnant and she was going to give, give birth in a couple months. So we got, we got through that church and let me tell you, these people were amazing. And we, they, they, these people treat us like, like they knew us of a lifetime.

[00:06:49] They loved them, that they welcomed us. They had a beautiful sanctuary. Everything was proper in that place. We, we fell out of place, not because they were disorganized by how organized they were. And so we, we, we love this church. And I told my wife, I say, you know, I said, this is the kind of church I want to, I want to, I want to raise my family.

[00:07:12] Going to, and my wife said, I agree. They had a beautiful choir. The pastor was just a wonderful person. His wife, just wonderful people. I mean, the congregation, when, when he spoke, I mean, you could hear a pin drop, everybody paid attention. It was just wonderful in there. And we were like, okay, you know, we, this is it.

[00:07:31] We found it. So we belong here. So we started going. The church, through the Nassar church. And we went there, in 1988 our daughter was born. They do a celebration for us. In 1989 we continue to go to that church. And then 1990 came around. And now this is where, this is where, my testimony really takes off because up until now, I know God came into my life, but I haven’t shared that part with, with our audience in you. But what happened in 1990 was, was the hand of God, in our lives because we were going to the national in church. We were, you know, we were happy there. And then of course, me and my wife are married. We have a daughter.

[00:08:22] And, and then, we. We also have, we also had a son, and so we were going there, we feel happy in, in 1990, my brother in law now, my brother in law, he lived in Paso Robles where that’s w if you remember, that’s where I met my wife. Right? She comes from a very large family, but you know, she had a brother, she had two brothers who lived in that town, a few sisters.

[00:08:50] So anyway, my brother, he, he used to work as a prison guard in right there in the town, and they had a prison for juveniles, juveniles. And so he used to work there. Well, in 19, in the year of 1990, he was witnessed to. He would, someone witnessed to him about the message. And my brother in law, he, when someone witnessed to him, he, God dealt with his heart and he became a believer.

[00:09:21] And so what happened though in the process is he started witnessing to his entire family. And he, you know, he had a lot of brothers and a lot of sisters. Well, my brother, my brother in law, his name is Tom. Now, Tom had never, he really had never been the religious type. You know, he was just, he was steeped in the world.

[00:09:43] Well, when this message came to him, it just changed his life and all of a sudden he couldn’t stop talking about it. He was reading his Bible and all of that. Well. We were part of his family. So one time, you know, he, he called me up while I live in Southern California and he said, Hey, Steve, you said I’ve got something to share with you.

[00:10:03] And I was like, well, I said, what is it? And he said, well, so he started sharing with me a little bit of what he had heard and he was telling me, this is, this is a great thing, you know, I, this, I really believe this is God. And so one of the things I noticed though at that time was, well. Me and my wife, you know, we both said, well, Tom is really acting as trench because we knew Tom pretty good.

[00:10:27] And he had been, I mean, he had been a worldly guy to the core and all of a sudden it’s like he had done like a 180 degree turn. Wow. And he was, he was this religious person, you know, who just, he wanted to save the world and he wanted to save his family. So what happened in the process was his entire family, except for my wife.

[00:10:51] Rejected him and they said no. They said, you’re gun fanatical. This thing is going to wear out and you’re going to be the same old Tom. You used to be just like your father, you know your father has been, because his father was religious, you know, all his life. And he would go on these roller coasters with religion, but always was the same, you know, so then his family said, we don’t want to hear about it.

[00:11:15] And he was like, fine. But when he witnessed to me and. Sister Tracy, we were like, well, we need to hear what he’s got because he’s sure acting strange and he’s not acting like Tom. So then he, he came down to visit us all the way from pastoralists to Southern California, and he came to visit us, but I was not home.

[00:11:39] I was actually at work and he came to the house. And by the time I got home, he had come and gone. But he had witnessed to sister Tracy, his sister. So then, so then I got home and I said, well, I said, how’s you know, how’s your brother doing? And then she said, he’s doing good. And then she proceeded to tell me, she said, well, I got something to tell you.

[00:12:02] And I said, okay. I said, well, what is it? You know, is it a Baton? And she said, no. She said he, she said, we sat down, we talked for a few hours. She said, and she said, he told me about the serpent’s seed. Now, that was the first time I’ve heard about the serpent’s seed, because even even Tom himself had never told me about the serpent’s seed and the times we’ve thought.

[00:12:28] And so I said, no. I said, the serpent seat. I said, what? What is that? So my wife told me. Everything about the serpents. She just heard it and she believed it. So, so when she told me that, you know, this is 1990. we live in California, and I said, Whoa. I said, Whoa. I said, this is just like, this is too much. I said, what is, what is going on?

[00:12:52] I said, I, I, I don’t, I don’t see it. And she’s like, this is the truth, Steve. She says, this is what we need. And yes, sir.

[00:13:02] Luis Urrego: [00:13:02] Who told who told your wife about it?

[00:13:05] Steve Rivas: [00:13:05] It was my brother-in-law. Okay.

[00:13:08] Luis Urrego: [00:13:08] Okay. So your brother-in-law was already talking to your wife about these things. Yeah.

[00:13:13] Steve Rivas: [00:13:13] Because, yeah, that’s what, that’s why he came down to visit us, to do, expound on these things, you know?

[00:13:20] Luis Urrego: [00:13:20] Gotcha.

[00:13:21] Steve Rivas: [00:13:21] Okay. So, so, yeah. Anyway, so, my wife, she says, well, Steve, she goes, this is it. And from the end, so anyway, what happened is my brother-in-law used to live in pestle roadless. And the people who witnessed to him, they had a connection with Cloverdale appear up here in, in, in Canada, in what was kind of strange was those people had a connection with Cloverdale and they wanted to move up here.

[00:13:51] The people who witnessed, but they never would make the move. So then Tom, you know, they said that to my brother Tom. They said, he was asking, well, where do you guys go to church? And they said, well, we just have this little group where we gather. So he started going through their little group. But then he said, where can I go?

[00:14:10] Was there a big group where I can go? Is there a church? And that’s where they told him, well, there is throughout the United States, but we’re connected to a church up in Canada and his Cloverdale Bible way. So my brother in law did a little research and he decided I’m moving to, I’m moving to Washington state, and that’s what my brother-in-law did in 1990 he moved from California to Washington state.

[00:14:35] And. he landed here and started going to, he started going to the church. So, so what happened though was this because he had witnessed to us and we didn’t reject it. I didn’t understand it. My wife believed it. He started sending us material from, from. From Washington state to California, he started sending a sermons, you know, books.

[00:15:03] He started sending those brother Brian and material and all of that. And so, so during all these time, you know. I am thinking, well, you know, cause my wife is putting the pressure on me and she’s saying, well this is it. We’re going to church, we’re going to an Estring church. But my wife is saying we need to get out of here because things are real to her now.

[00:15:26] She doesn’t believe what they’re preaching at the church. And now she’s putting the pressure on me and she saying, we got to get out of California. Because California is going to sink and we need to leave this place and we need to go where there is a church where we can have fellowship. Wow. Almost all of these things for work to me were not real at that time.

[00:15:47] But I was listening to, I was listening to brother Branam, I was listening to the ministry from our church cause we come within the States and I was reading. So then 1990 1990 went away. 1991 came around and something, something happened in 1991 that I share with you. so, Thanksgiving day came around in 1991.

[00:16:14] And what we live down in Southern California, we made a trip to, to a city called Antica, which is a few hours North from Los Angeles. So we met up with family members there and. We met up with them, we had Thanksgiving day with them, and the next day, that would have been November 29 of 1991 we decided to go back.

[00:16:40] You know, we were done having Thanksgiving. So we went back. So, we got in our car, we said our goodbyes, we got an I five and we started going South and the children were hungry. And now here’s the thing, they had wanted to send some food with us, but I said, no. I said, we got to go. We’ll just stop somewhere and have a bite to eat.

[00:17:03] And they were like, okay, goodbye. And off we went. So before we got on, actually we were on the freeway already and the children were hungry. So my wife said, we have two children then. So she said, why don’t we get them a bite to eat real quick and then we’ll get going. So it was like, okay. So we stopped, we bought a bite to eat and back on the freeway we went, okay.

[00:17:23] So then. We got back on the freeway and the, what happened here was was something that was very tragic and moving, and yet the hand of God was was on me because God has been dealing with me now since 1990 this is 1991 too. To give my life to him and I haven’t done it because, I was very attached to California.

[00:17:52] I had a really good paying job. I had a lot of friends in California. I wanted to retire in California. I had a lot of plans, you know, so the enemy always worked on me whenever my wife said, let’s move out to California. Enemy always worked on me. Well, you know, what are you going to do in Washington state?

[00:18:11] You’ve got nothing over there. You’re going to leave it all for. For a place where you never been in, that kind of thing. So the enemy worked on me over time, whenever my wife said, let’s get out of here. So anyway, we got on the freeway, we’re going down the freeway, brother, and I never forget it. My wife says to me, my wife turned, we got a bite to eat for the kids got on the freeway within five minutes.

[00:18:36] My wife, my wife looks at me and she said. As we’re driving. She’s a passenger. I’m the driver, and she looks at me and she says, I feel, she said, like a strange feeling. She says, and I looked at my wife and I said, well, I said, maybe we’re going to get in a wreck. I don’t even know where those words came from, brother.

[00:18:58] I really don’t do these days. Wow. I just threw her. She told me that, and I said that to her. So within five minutes of she’s, she’s saying that. we found ourselves in a horrific, horrific collision. And what happened was there was a dust storm that had engulfed the hallway, a dust storm, the head in golf, the hallway.

[00:19:22] And when I was driving, you know. I noticed these fog over the freeway and I was thinking it was a nice, beautiful day. I was thinking, you know, maybe there’s just a little bit of fog here. So when I went in, it was completely, I became com. You couldn’t see a thing. It was blindness everywhere. And all of a sudden I hit my brakes, I couldn’t see anything.

[00:19:46] And the next thing I know is I completely smashed into into this pile of cars that had already. Been in a wreck. So I smashed. I imagined through the those cars and I mean everything just changed right there. And by the grace of God, we had our seatbelts on and everything, and we were the last people to hit the pile.

[00:20:09] And it was about a mile and a half long, and it will make a long story short regarding that accident. 17 people lost their lives in 150 people were injured. It was over a hundred cars. And it was a few semis. My

[00:20:24] Luis Urrego: [00:20:24] goodness. This was in California,

[00:20:27] Steve Rivas: [00:20:27] my brother Steve. Yeah. That was in California. Yes. 1991. Wow. the day after Thanksgiving.

[00:20:35] And so anyway, what happened brother was this, God had been dealing with my heart big time through that time. And I had not made a commitment to move from California because like I was saying earlier, I was so attached to California. So we escaped the wreck with a getting hurt. Went back through a couple of days later after we were stuck in a shelter, we lost our car because it got totaled and, but we walked away with our lives and a lot of people didn’t.

[00:21:07] So. What happened during that time is I became very aware of the fact that, you know, had I die in the crash, I was not ready to go. Right. And that brought me to a point of like, I just kinda soft and meet more than what I been. And I started to think along the lines of, you know, I just need to. I need to obey.

[00:21:34] I need to get out of this place. Well, I wanted to, a deepest set of want to do, but you know, there were things that held me back. So then that was 91 that went away. 92 came around, and then. 1993 came around and by now brother, my wife was in complete desperation to leave California with a little family and myself, and she came to a point where she said, either we leave or I leave you, but I’m not staying in California.

[00:22:08] I want to go North. I want to go. Where there’s a church. So she formed her brother and she said, I want to leave him because he’s, he’s not going to go and you need to talk to your pastor and ask him if that’s okay. If I just leave him and go. So my brother-in-law had an audience with our pastor, and. He said, absolutely not.

[00:22:31] He said, that’s not good. She used to stay with him in the family, and if they’re going to move, they gotta move together. But you know, there’s no, that, that, that’s not a good situation if she just leaves her husband because he won’t leave. So then she’s, so then you’re on. My wife said, okay, I’m not going to leave you, but we got to get out if you’re, I mean, the pressure was on.

[00:22:53] So I tell you this. So I was listening to messages from brother Brandon and things. Things were becoming real, but I found myself in this battle. The greatest battle ever fought was taking place in my life because I wanted to leave California. But something just helped me, you know? Right. So what happened was this, I was listening to the message, a choosing of a bright.

[00:23:23] And that was, I’d been listening to the message in the month of January and how I started listening to it, I’m not sure, but I started listening to the message and I have been listening to it for awhile. Well, that’s the message where brother Burnham prophesies about California going under, you know, LA.

[00:23:42] Okay. So I’ve been listening to choosing of a bride. And I was like, wow, that’s something else. And then imagine, you know, as a believer, you’ve been listening or, well, not as a believer yet, but as somebody who got is dealing with, which it was, that was me. So God is dealing with me. I’m listening to the message.

[00:24:06] And then on January 17, 1994, 4:30 AM. Everybody’s asleep. Ourselves included. Our two children are in one bedroom. Me and my wife were in our master bedroom, and on January 17, 1994, the Northridge earthquake hit Los Angeles, California, and we lived, we live in an apartment on the second floor, 4:30 AM these earthquake, massive earthquake hit California.

[00:24:37] Now. I’ve been listening to choosing a Fulbright, and I get woken up by these massive earthquakes. So you can imagine going through my mind right

[00:24:47] Luis Urrego: [00:24:47] there. Wow.

[00:24:49] Steve Rivas: [00:24:49] And what’s going through my mind right there is California sinking and it’s all over you spurn mercy.

[00:24:56] Luis Urrego: [00:24:56] Yeah.

[00:24:57] Steve Rivas: [00:24:57] They’re not really, and I’m really believing that because when, when I’m in, is running from, from, from God, from the presence of God.

[00:25:06] He’s a coward. And that’s what that was me. And so they’re running for the children to save them. Like my wife did and she was there with him. I ran for the front door because I wanted to escape the apartment cause I knew that apartment was going to come down. Well brother, I can tell you. I took off from our master bedroom to the front door.

[00:25:29] I could actually not make it to that front door. I never did because the building, the apartment complex, it was a 50 unit apartment complex, was swinging sideways so fast that every time I try to get to that door, I just, I just kept falling on falling on the floor. So this, so this is what happened in that very moment.

[00:25:54] In that very moment, everything came to me right there. And just like the brother, I said, I, you know, I cried out to the Lord in, in, in that, in that moment on desperation, I cried out to God and I said, I said, God, if you spare lives, I said, any few. Stop this earthquake, you spare our lives. I said, I promise to move my family out to California and brother, let me tell you, I said those words.

[00:26:32] And immediately, immediately brother, that earthquake started receding earthquake and the earthquake came to a stop. And of course I went to see my wife, the children, and we, we went outside and the place was a mess because I mean this, this earthquake was very devastating. It’s one of the largest ones, California.

[00:26:58] It’s had in recent history and no, they call it Northridge, Cal, the North Ridge, California quick, because North Ridge was a city and they just completely leveled as cities.

[00:27:08] Luis Urrego: [00:27:08] I remember, I remember seeing videos and images during that time of bridges collapsed and things like that.

[00:27:18] Steve Rivas: [00:27:18] Yeah, yeah. We went to visit Northridge after everything was over.

[00:27:23] A couple of weeks later. The w what happened there was terrible, but, so, anyway, so like I was saying before, I had had all these, I had had the enemy on my case telling me, you’re not moving, you’re not moving. And, now during this time, my wife, she was a dental assistant and she was working for a dentist.

[00:27:48] And of course, you know, she, She had a maid there. She was, had good income and everything, and she had told the dentist, you know, one day she said, we’re going to move away from California and take our family away. And the dentist, you know, he was a devil’s advocate because he told my wife, it’ll never happen.

[00:28:07] Your husband will never leave this area. And one time we, he invited us over to go to a. To go to a party. And we went, and when we were there, this doctor, her boss took me aside and he said, he said to me, so she, he said, I hear that you want to move your family away to California. And I said, well, I said, that’s, that’s what my wife wants.

[00:28:32] I said, eventually, I think that’s what we’re doing. These guys told me, he said, that’ll never happen. He goes, you’re never leaving California. You will stay here. And don’t even never talk like that. And I was like, where’s this guy coming from? You know? so anyway, first quick is over. and then of course, life gets back to normal.

[00:28:56] And there was a time when, in, I don’t have the date when this was, but I remember, I remember the after New York war was over. We were having dinner one time, you know, me, the wife and the children. One evening we were having dinner. Some happened to me that evening that it was, to me it was supernatural.

[00:29:19] And what it was is, I had had a problem with my father, in, I had needed to forgive my father for the way that he was when I was a child. You know, the way that he disciplined us. Right? And he didn’t do it. He didn’t do it according to the scriptures. He did it according to, he disciplined us. he was angry when he did it.

[00:29:43] And because of that I had, I was bitter against my father. And so that was something that I was holding in my chest all the time when God is, you know, dealing with me, I kind of hated my father, you know, for what had happened when I was a kid and the discipline thing. So. What happened is we’re having dinner one time, me and the children, the wife, and as we’re having dinner, their brother, this, this thing came upon me.

[00:30:13] It was all I can say it was God, but it hit me like it just hit me like, like like a lining and all of a sudden I broke down and I started weeping like a baby in front of my family, which I had never done that before. That was not me. Okay. And I just just started weeping like a baby, like just totally broken.

[00:30:36] And I was telling what was, what I was saying to my wife at that time was, you know, I’ve been a terrible man because God has been dealing with me for so long and I just keep refusing. And then I said, Oh, I’m also, I have this thing in my heart against my father and I don’t know how to get rid of it. And all of that.

[00:30:58] So. I, I told my wife that, you know, I told my wife then I said, well, I said, I got to tell you some. I said, that you don’t know. I said, I promise God that we would move out to California. And I said, I also. You know, I feel that I need to call my father. I need to talk to him and I need to forgive him. My father was not asking for forgiveness.

[00:31:23] I said, I need to call my dad. I need to make things right with him, and I need to forgiven, and then we need to go on with life. Well, my wife, she was, you know, she was a very spiritual person. And she told me, well, she said, I actually already rented the truck. She actually rented a moving truck before she knew I had made that promise, something she could see that there was something something different about me that even myself had a hard time seeing, you know?

[00:31:55] So then I, and I told her, okay, I said, we’re out of here and see in, in, this is where God comes in the picture. Big time for us because. The things that I had such a hard time, obeying, which was basically go to your employer to give him a notice, tell your friends you’re moving till her boss, you’re moving and all of that.

[00:32:20] Those are things that would have never happened, but. After I made a promise to the Lord, it became so easy for me to walk to my employer and say, you have my two weeks notice. I’m leaving. And I had a, I had a maiden. That job I made, I made really good money. All my friends, a lot of my friends worked at that job.

[00:32:43] So I, you know, I never forget when I did that. My boss looked at me with this belief and he’s like, what? And I said, yeah. I said, you got my two weeks notice. I’m moving out of state. I’m going to Washington state. And he looked at me like, you are crazy, but whatever, you know, it’s your life. So I give my two weeks notice, and I was done working with him there.

[00:33:07] My wife already had rent, made a reservation for the moving truck. We went to get it. We went to get it. We packed our apartment and that was March, about March 16th of 1994 and then when we packed and everything, my wife said to me now, she said, I want to drive this truck and I want to go see my boss.

[00:33:33] He says, because my boss, she said, he’s been so. Against me as far as he told me, this will never happen. Steve is never going to move from here because I convinced them not to. So we took our moving truck full of stuff and we came through the back door. we, we came in, knocked on the back door of his dental practice, and when he came out, her boss.

[00:34:02] He looked at us and my wife says, well, doctor, I told you we were going to move. You didn’t believe it, but it’s happening. So we’re gone. And she just had to do that, you know? And off we went, brother. And so we arrived in Washington state the year of 1994 it was March 22nd. 1994 we arrived here and let me tell you, I had no idea what I was going to, literally, I came up here, God put it in our hearts to move up here.

[00:34:43] But you know, I didn’t, I never, I had never even seen a picture of my pastor. the picture that I had in my mind now, the church was so wrong when we, when we went to church for the first time. our pastor was not even in town when we went to church the first time. We didn’t get to meet him until like a week later or so.

[00:35:01] So, anyway, so 1994 came up here, and it’s been, our testimony is that it’s, it’s been the best thing that ever happened in our lives and has been, You know, if, if God never did anything from me, anything for me ever again, but he brought me to to this, to the revelation, this glorious message that would be enough for me, for, for the rest of my life.

[00:35:36] But you know, God in his mercy, you know, he, he gives us so many blessings, and my, my children, they’re all serving the Lord. we’re serving the Lord and the capacity he given us. And it’s been, it’s been a wonderful thing. It’s been a wonderful thing. And, you know, when I was, when I look back for the Lewis, one of the things, you know, it’s when you get to the end of the road, a lot of times it’s easy to look back and connect the dots.

[00:36:05] And when I look back, rather I see the hand of God in our lives because what I see is. I met my wife in the laundry mat that night and then it was lower foresight. I never intended to go to that town. I went to that town because of circumstance, and then years later her very brother gets witnessed too and he witnesses to us.

[00:36:31] And then we accept the message. And that’s how I come into the message is through that connection. But not the connection I made with her that evening, but the connection to her family, because God brought the message to her brother who witnessed to us. And so when I look back, I’m like, there’s absolutely no way I could have put this thing together.

[00:36:50] It was the hand of God. Absolutely. But the thing is, and this is, I think you know where is sometimes it’s hard because. There’s supernatural events taking place in our lives. When we are going about our daily lives, we’re doing our laundry, we’re washing our dishes, we’re brushing our teeth, we’re putting on our socks, we’re going to work.

[00:37:15] You know, we’re packing our lunch and we do not realize many times that that is supernatural events that are taking place in our lives. But because we live in these Nashville, well, everything seems natural, but God is. He’s leading us. Like he was leading me to the laundry mat. You know why? Why did the guy.

[00:37:36] That evening, that Sunday evening when I’ve asked my wife, why did he change his mind just so abruptly with no reason. And I believe the reason was because that evening I have to meet my wife. Amen. And yet, I didn’t know. I was just, I was just out to do my laundry. But behind the curtain, you know, someone was leading.

[00:37:58] And I think God, that, you know, we, we serve a supernatural God and. Since we moved up here in 1994, one thing I can testify to is, you know, we never look back. And what I mean by that is we’ve never said, we wonder if this is where we belong as far as going to church here and all of that. No, we feel like this is, this is where God wants us.

[00:38:26] This is home. And. And so it was 1994 in in may, 22nd of 1994 me and my wife got there with us and it was May 22nd, 1919 94 when we were both baptized by our pastor at our church. God, yeah, God put in our hearts to give baptized. He gave us his spirit and. You know, it’s, it’s the best thing that ever happened to us.

[00:38:55] And that is, that’s our little, that’s my little testimony, brother, how God came into my life. And one thing I always say was this, when I give my testimony, I tried to remember this at the end. And I tell you this, when God came into my life, I was not looking for God. I was not looking for this message.

[00:39:21] I was just going about doing my thing. I was, I was not a good person. When I used to go to that church, I still was a worldly person, but I felt very welcome there, but I was, if there was a level of holiness, they had an idea. But the point I make is that I was not looking for this message at all, and then God came and interrupt their lives with it, and I thank God for it because.

[00:39:50] You know, he’ll lose, you’ll lose none of his, and it doesn’t matter where you are. It could be a laundromat, it could be a car garage. I heard of people who, who have heard about the message in this trenches of places, you know, God is when God is looking for you. Eventually he’ll catch up with you and it won’t be a minute late.

[00:40:17] So. So I pray that this, my little testimony has blessed somebody and I, you know, I’m, I have to tell you I’m a happy man, not because the, what the world can give me, but I am a happy man because I always remember that account brother Brem spoke about that brother who had passed away. I forget his name, but brother Brian speaks about his brother who passed away, who didn’t have very much, but he said that brother, he said, no, I’m just paraphrasing.

[00:40:54] He spoke about that brother who he said, as far as the prophet knew, his entire family was serving the Lord, and he said he did the very best he could. He said his entire family serving the Lord and brother Branham said, that’s a rare thing these days. And I feel very privileged because my children, they’re serving the Lord, but they’re not serving the Lord because I’m cracking a whip over them.

[00:41:18] They’re serving the Lord because they have a desire to serve God and they’ve been through their storms, but they’re standing today and you know, brother, if I died penniless, it doesn’t matter to me because the greatest treasure I have is my family and my family loves the Lord. And what else can a man ask for in this life?

[00:41:41] You know, you gave me all the, you gave me all the riches of the world by you, but my family was not serving God. I would feel like, like a pupper, you know? But I think God for my family, and I think God, you know, I can’t fail to give our ministry. Where God has placed us under here credit because, you know, we, we are, we become what we eat.

[00:42:09] Since, since we been here, we, we, you know, the storehouse has always been full. The ministry has always been faithful and they have led us thus far, and I believe that, you know, God will continue to lead us the rest of the way. And, I want to thank you brother Louis for this opportunity to share my testimony with you and your audience.

[00:42:32]it’s been, it’s been a wonderful time doing this. And like I said, I preach, I pray, excuse me, that it’ll reach, you know, far and wide, somebody you know, who may need the encouragement, need to hear that. Cause I do believe that when you, when you tell your testimony. You can create faith in people’s hearts because they, you know, you never know what somebody might be going through.

[00:42:59] And when they hear your testimony, it can rekindle that fire of God in their lives, you know?

[00:43:04] Luis Urrego: [00:43:04] Absolutely. No brother Steve, you know, I, it was, it was a privilege to be able to hear your testimony. It’s just interesting how you, how you keep saying you weren’t looking for a God. But by the brand, I’m always told us that you, we never ever looked for God.

[00:43:20] It was always God looking for us. And because whatever we do as far as, for religion, religion is what man tries to do to get closer to God. But Christianity is what God does to get closer to man. And, and so I believe that that’s, that’s what he’s done for you. He was, he always knew you. And he knew, like you said, at the right moment, at the right time.

[00:43:44] No mom, no second more, no second, less when it needed to happen to get your attention. And I think the, the part about, how God had to use this, this tragic, accident car accident. And then after that earthquake. To put things together, he protected you and your family in both of those instances to get you to the place where you are.

[00:44:09] And if I’m not mistaken, you said your all of your family, they serve the Lord. All of your children serve the Lord. And and if you weren’t in there where you are at at this, at this moment, maybe that might not have happened. So, God knew exactly where you needed to be in order for, to get all of your family to the point where, Hey, everybody’s grown in the Lord and serving God.

[00:44:33] Do you, do you agree with that brother Steve?

[00:44:36] Steve Rivas: [00:44:36] I do, brother. I, I do believe that with all my heart. And you know, the, the thing that’s always there that always touches my heart is, you know, I have been asked before. You know, by different believers and they say, what did you do? They said, because your, your children are serving the Lord.

[00:45:00] And you know, I say this every time, and I say it today and there’s the conviction in my heart. I said I had nothing to do with it. I was just standing by is I give all the credit and all the glory to God because. I, I just, that’s, that’s just the way it is as far as I’m concerned. It’s not like I don’t want credit to go to me and I don’t want any credit for this message coming to me to go to me because all the credit goes to the Lord Jesus Christ and all the glory and all the power and all the honor because he’s the serving of it.

[00:45:39] And that’s where I leave it. You know?

[00:45:42] Luis Urrego: [00:45:42] Yeah, no, that, that’s wonderful that you bring that up because, I won. I did. There is, it’s so important, that we, as parents, we just give our children over to the Lord. Obviously we do that when they’re young and you know, we dedicate them to the Lord.

[00:45:59] They’re dedicated. But, and sometimes as parents we kind of get exasperated because we don’t see our children at a point where we would like for them to be. But honestly, if it’s not God doing the work in their lives, we can only do it up to a certain point. It has to be God to do a genuine work. And, they had that.

[00:46:19] Did you get to those points in your, in your, in your life, brother Steve, with, with raising your children.

[00:46:27] Steve Rivas: [00:46:27] Absolutely, absolutely. And one thing you know that we always, me and my wife, one of the things that we always try to remember when when our children were growing up and when we, when they got to be teenagers, is that we, we realized that you can not, you can not expect, you’re young, you’re young children, your teenagers to live.

[00:46:54] A Holy ghost filled life without the Holy ghost. Amen. And you can not force your children. To read message books and you cannot become legalistic with your children and, and you know, say you got to do this and you got to do this. For that to happen, you, you have to realize that outside of the moving of God and their own lives and their own private lives, because a lot of what the young people do, especially these days with media is so private.

[00:47:26] You have no clue what they’re doing behind your back. And so. Do you have to give it to the Lord. And at the meantime, you can not expect your children to live Holy lives without the Holy spirit. That’s not to say that you don’t have rules for your home and expectations. You do, but there’s going to be times when you’re, when you’re raising your family, that you’re going to have to use a lot of wisdom because if you don’t, you’re gonna lose your children.

[00:47:57] And I have seen that happen in, it becomes a struggle and eventually God brings them around again. But then you know, there’s this cars because you know, sometimes you go about without advice. And that’s why I give credit to the minister, because there were many times when I went to the ministry and I said, look, this has taken place, but I don’t know what to do.

[00:48:19] I don’t want to blow it. What do you do? What can I do in, in, in? The advice they gave me was, was tremendous because if I went about it my way, I would have totally blown it. And I probably wouldn’t have my kids today, but because they gave me a word of wisdom and that time when I needed it, I implemented it.

[00:48:40] And God, you know, that his part. And so that’s why, you know, I do believe is so important. To have a ministry in, rely on the ministry, have trust in the ministry that God has ordained so that they can lead you along the way. Because, you know, we can’t do this on our own because we never walked this way

[00:49:02] Luis Urrego: [00:49:02] before.

[00:49:03] That’s right. So what would you say, brother Steve to the parent who is a, just. It doesn’t see, doesn’t seem to see their child in the place where they would like for them to see it as, as, and, you know, walking with the Lord, maybe in the same position that him or her as the parent are. what would you say that it’s the best thing for them to do at this moment?

[00:49:32] Steve Rivas: [00:49:32] Well, I tell you what. This is this. If I was in that, if I was in that condition, this is the very thing I would do, brother. Now I will, in order to check, I’m going to tell you a situation that I had in my home with one of my sons and my son was living in my home and he was, he had one foot in and one foot out.

[00:49:59] Now. I came to a place with my wife where we wanted to kick my son out of the house because it just, it, there was just so much friction, you know? So somehow I felt that I needed to go talk to my pastor. And I said, I went to talk to my pastor and I said, this is the situation. I said, I need to kick my, my boy out, but I want to know what you think this is and I’m going to share with you what my pastor said because I believe that what he told me will work for him, for, for everybody, if we just implement it, if we just implement it.

[00:50:39] So my pastor said to me, he asked me, he asked me one question and he said, well, he said, okay. He said, he told me this first. He said, I do not. He said, want to see that? He said, I don’t want to see my, my, my, my, my young people. He said, kicked out of the house. He said, I don’t, I don’t want to see that and I don’t like to see that.

[00:51:04] Then he said to me, is, is your young person or in this case, my son? He said, is he coming against what you believe. And I have to tell him, you know, no, he’s not. He’s not coming against, against what, you know, this message. You know, he’s actually, we’re just having a difficulty with him, you know, but he’s not coming against it.

[00:51:28] My pastor said to me, the only time he said I would kick him out, he said, what? I would approve it. He said, if he was coming against your God and what you believe, Hmm. If he was, if he was pro, you know, being profane with what you believe. He said, that would give you grounds to boot him out. Outside of that, he said no.

[00:51:51] And then he said to me this, he said, what you want to do, and this is the advice I would give somebody, you know, regarding your question, he said to me. You need to do your very best. You said to keep him coming back to church, to keep him in churches because he said that is where God is going to move on his life.

[00:52:16] And he told me, you know, if you kick him out, he said he’s going to go out in the world. You’re never going to see him come to church again. So what do you think is going to happen? Well, it’s a no brainer. What would happen? I knew. So you know, I learned from there. I spoke with my son and I told him, son, I said, I’m sorry.

[00:52:35] I said that I threatened to kick you out of the house. I said, but you’re not going anywhere. I said, this is where you believe we are your parents. I said, we’re going to see you through this. I said, but I do expect you. I said to be in church and he, he wanted to be in church and he was, and this son has turned out to be just a wonderful son to me.

[00:52:54] I mean, he loves the law and everything. But I think God, you know, for that wisdom, because I, if I went about it my way, brother, I would have said kick him out. I wouldn’t say, you know, get rid of him. But my pastor said to me, the best place for him, he said is in church. Even though he’s struggling, even though he’s not had a birth.

[00:53:17] But that’s the place where they belong, because that is where God will meet them.

[00:53:23] Luis Urrego: [00:53:23] Amen. Amen.

[00:53:26] Steve Rivas: [00:53:26] And that’s happened to my son. I kept them, I kept bringing him to church and all of that. And you know what? God got ahold of him. And once God got ahold of him, he was never the same. And it’s been, it’s been wonderful.

[00:53:40] Amen

[00:53:41] Luis Urrego: [00:53:41] is it’s so wonderful that I think that that’s such a, that’s really good, wise wisdom that, that your pastor had said. because you know, there can’t be a new birth to take place in the wrong atmospheres. And so if you, if you put, if you put, keep your child in church, that’s a right atmosphere.

[00:54:05] For a birth to take place, you know, under the word, under the, the anointing of the Holy spirit. And so that’s wonderful brother Steve, that you did that and you heat it to that, to that, that counsel from your pastor. And that’s brother ed Bisco. if I’m

[00:54:22] Steve Rivas: [00:54:22] correct. Yes, yes. That’s, that’s, that’s my pastor.

[00:54:26] Yeah. Yeah. Thank God he’s been, he’s been a faithful man of God who, you know, has led us this far, and I believe. God will continue to lead us with him.

[00:54:38] Luis Urrego: [00:54:38] Man. I know that brother ed, he’s, he’s up. He’s getting up there in, in a, in years now. I heard him here just recently, in North Carolina a couple of months ago, and you could tell that.

[00:54:51] They just has crept up on him a bit. But, he’s still, he still has shares his testimonies and, and those things won’t, won’t leave his mind of what he experienced with the profits. So that’s wonderful. That’s wonderful to have been on the and to continue to be under a ministry like that. Brother Steve, I certainly, certainly commend you for making that decision for you and your family.

[00:55:16]Well, where are you going to say something else?

[00:55:19]Steve Rivas: [00:55:19] yeah, yeah. I was just quickly going to say that, you know, we happened to be talking, we do, we’ve been talking a lot with my wife because nowadays, you know, you can, we have a lot of time in your hands where you didn’t used to be for, right.

[00:55:32] Because there was going on in our country. So a couple of days ago, me and my wife were talking about the fact that I said, you know, I said I had. I had no clue. I say who brother Bisco was when I moved up here. I didn’t know that this, that these men had entertained the prophet had, you know, had been with the profit and all of that.

[00:55:55] I S and I, I told my wife, I said, you know, humbly, I said, I feel very privileged. I said to, to have a pastor like that, and it’s not because I asked for it and it’s not because I thought, well, I’m going to go to church in Florida because my, you know, my pastor is who it is. I didn’t even know him when I got up here.

[00:56:12] I met him when I got up here and I didn’t realize. What gift, what God was given to me. You know? And I think, God, I thank God for him because it’s what I needed, and God knew what I needed. So he gave me exactly what I needed and when my family needed it. And so he is so mindful, so mindful of us, you know?

[00:56:34] Luis Urrego: [00:56:34] Amen. Amen. God has has. God puts us into places exactly that we need, that we are going to be able to respond properly to, to the word, and to be

[00:56:47] Steve Rivas: [00:56:47] able to grow.

[00:56:49] Luis Urrego: [00:56:49] So as, as many, as many. one of the things that my pastor says, you know, you can be here at, for example, at the church where I attend, you can, he says, you can be here at this church.

[00:56:59] It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m this ministry, here is what is going to feed feed you. You probably need maybe another type of ministry or something like that. God knows exactly what you need, so absolutely. So, and so God will stir you or steer you to the right places where you need to be, where you can grow in Christ.

[00:57:21] Because this thing is about coming to that perfection. and to that, to that to the same, knowledge and faith of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and having that same, that same, body that he had when he resurrected. From the, from the dead and come into that body change. And so, I, my encouragement to the listeners is stay with the word.

[00:57:45] Well, wherever God leads you to be, God’s never going to lead you anything to be outside of the word. If you’re his child yet, he’s never going to lead you outside of his word. He’ll always steer you to where you can grow closer to him. And if that’s not the place where you need to be, God will let you know.

[00:58:03] Just like you let brother Steve know, even through an earthquake. So.

[00:58:09]

[00:58:09] I think that part of the, your testimony is so powerful. Brothers, Steve, brother, Steve. I have here about 18 more minutes left, before, because this thing will cut off, after two hours. and then we can, we can continue if we, if we want, after this, but I wanted to ask you real quick what, what, what do you think, is, what, what could you say to the person, because I know you were the lane, your time, you know, to really dedicate yourself to the Lord according to your testimony. And you were just kinda, I guess maybe just kind of playing the church game for a little while was from what I hear.

[00:58:47] But from what I heard, but what do you, what would you tell the person that right now is maybe in that same boat that you were in back in the early nineties,

[00:58:57] Steve Rivas: [00:58:57] you know, that’s a very, that’s, that’s, that’s a very good, very good question there. You know, I recall brother Branam say, and you know, he came to the Lord at a certain age.

[00:59:11] And he said, and he said, I wish. He said, I wish I’d given my life to the lore when I was younger.

[00:59:20] Luis Urrego: [00:59:20] Right.

[00:59:21] Steve Rivas: [00:59:21] And I have to say that, you know what I would say to, to, to the person, whoever they might be, you know, if God is dealing with ya. And you know, it doesn’t have to be thunder and lightning. It doesn’t have to be earthquakes.

[00:59:39] But if you’re feeling the pool, even if it’s the smallest thing, just surrender to the Lord, you know, cry out to God like I did during the earthquake. For me, it took an earthquake, but it doesn’t happen that way. You know, it doesn’t have to take an earthquake. It doesn’t have to take a wreck. You know where people die because you know, if God is, if God is dealing with your heart and you know it, I knew it.

[01:00:11] But if, if you know it, surrender your life to God, cry out to God. And you know. God is faithful. He is there and he will show you what to do in your own individual, your own individual way. You know, he doesn’t have to show the group. He doesn’t have to show the church, the entire church. He’ll show you what to do in, in the, the, the thing that is wonderful about God, and I find this so and I can testify to, is that when God does something.

[01:00:43] He will confirm it to your own heart, and then you will know that is God moving because he will confirm it. And he has ways to do that, that are beyond our, our grasp. But he will.

[01:00:59] Luis Urrego: [01:00:59] Amen. Amen. it’s, it’s, it’s that deep column to the deep, and if there’s something other, otherwise he wouldn’t be calling.

[01:01:08] There was nothing there for him to call

[01:01:11] Steve Rivas: [01:01:11] too. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[01:01:17] Luis Urrego: [01:01:17] The best thing you can do is just heat to it because, I’ve, I’ve been there, brother Steve, and then of course you’ve been there and you’re miserable when you know that you’re a child of God, but yet you are not completely sold out to him the way you, the way you should be.

[01:01:34] Your friends will not, will not, excite you in life, will not, will not fill that void in your life. Your family won’t, your, your job won’t, no sort of entertainment won’t. The only thing that will fulfill that is your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. A new birth. And that is what gave me, that’s what gave brother Steve, a, a complete, vindication to us that, Hey, this is what I’ve been looking for.

[01:02:04] This is what my soul has been desiring all this time. But because we put other things, and like you said earlier, brother Steve, we put, we allow other things, entertainment, technology, and in to get in our way. Then we miss what God is trying to do in our lives because the only thing that matters in our lives is what we do for others, and definitely what we do for God.

[01:02:29] And there’s nothing more important in this life, in what you do for your soul, because your soul is worth as, as the, as the app, as the podcast is called, it’s worth 10,000 worlds. That doesn’t mean that that’s just a, that means it has unlimited Valley. So those are very good words that brother Steve just just told us here.

[01:02:48]just hate to it. He to it as the best thing that you can do.

[01:02:54] Steve Rivas: [01:02:54] Yeah, I totally, I agree with you with what you said. And you know, if I may add a little something here or somebody that you know, might be, you know, might be, you know, struggling maybe, you know, maybe one foot in, one foot out. You know, the enemy when he comes to you, and I can say this because I find myself now on the side of the Lord.

[01:03:21] But you know, when the enemy comes, are you the enemy? The only thing he has to offer you is lies. And the one thing that the enemy tells you is the enemy will never tell you. He will never tell you the blessing that you will have serving the Lord. The enemy always tells you what it is you’re going to be missing out.

[01:03:50] On if you live his waist. But when you take the step and you surrender your life to the Lord, you will look back and you will say, boy, that devil was a liar because these things that I found, the, or this thing, the found me, this thing that I surrender to, which has God is so severe slime. It is literally.

[01:04:16] When you look back, you’ll be able to see what a pig pen really though was and where the devil wanted to keep you. And he did not want you to come to this because the devil knows that. The minute you come into this and you surrender, that is it. You’ll never look back because this indeed is paradise.

[01:04:35] This is, this is the glorious gospel is the best thing that can happen to any human being on this planet. And the devil will do everything in his clutches to keep you away from it because he knows, you know, he, he knows what it is because he was there once. And he got booted out because of his inequity.

[01:04:58] So of course he doesn’t want anybody to go to it because, because he’s a devil. And so it’s something to think about when, if you, if you’re deciding, should I, should I not like we do in our hearts when God is dealing with us, I said, just go. Just go to the Lord. Side and you will see what a, what a blessing this is is beyond a blessing.

[01:05:24] There’s no word to describe it. Really.

[01:05:26] Luis Urrego: [01:05:26] Amen. That’s good words there, brother Steve. Cause the devil won’t show you the blessings that will come out of serving God. You get more blessings out of serving the Lord than you ever would when you were out in, when if you have one foot in the world and one foot in church or if you’re completely out in the world.

[01:05:45] So. But as Steve, just changing gears here real quick, was just the last question here. I’m going to ask you what are, what are you most excited about as a believer right now in this present moment, in this present time that we live in, even though things look bleak, things look like they’re dark and, in a way we don’t know what’s going on, but yet the believer knows what’s going on.

[01:06:07] As far as, because we already know the end of the book and that’s the word of God. We know what happens. So, but what are you most excited about as a believer in this house?

[01:06:20] Steve Rivas: [01:06:20] Well, brother, I tell you from, from from the bottom of my heart and as sincere as I can be, I tell you something right now. This.

[01:06:35] It’s a glorious moment for the bride of Jesus Christ. And for me personally, for me personally, brother, the rapture to me is, is right at hand that I, I see. I might, you know, I can’t tell you why these things came about, you know, because. because I, I don’t know. But one thing I do know is that, you know, brother Branham said that if something brings you closer to God, he said, then that’s God doing it right.

[01:07:13] And I got to tell you this thing that is grit the world. I have seen these things bring me so close to God. Like I never been. And that’s my personal testimony. Also see that with my wife, my wife, prior to this, she was feeling a little bit, you know, a little bit cold with her experience with God. And I have seen that right now going on in my wife’s life, and I have, I haven’t seen in a long time.

[01:07:46]you know, and so for me, I say. I see this as the prelude to us going home, brother. That’s, that’s what I see.

[01:07:55] Luis Urrego: [01:07:55] Amen. Amen. No, I, I, I agree brother Steve. as a matter of fact, Lord willing, I have to minister at my church, at our church this Sunday, and I have a message pre, regarding that. And, it how God is using this, this time that we’re living in, with this, pandemic and this virus and these things.

[01:08:19]It, and, and how really the shut-in and, and staying in and doors and things like that. I believe that his God given his, his people an opportunity to get closer to to him. There are no more distractions. You have no excuse to be distracted. Now, if you have to stay in doors, this is your opportunity to be shut in with God.

[01:08:44] And I think about when brother Brandon saw that vision where he said that, that he, that that vision where the people were going in, inside that little room, and when they were coming out, they were coming out healed. They were going in sick, but then they were coming out healed. And the angel told, told brother Ben when he said, I’ll meet you in there.

[01:09:06] And, and to me, you know, that’s six significance for us because when we. Walk into into that presence. When we get in serious with God and really get down to prayer and studying his word, meditating on God, we’re going to come out healed spiritually. Just like you said, like your wife. maybe her experience just as she was maybe little getting a little cold, as we all do, as we all do, we get a little crusty.

[01:09:35] Sometimes our beats as Eagles gets a little crusty, but if we get back and bang it on that rock. Which is the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ. We’re going to come out stronger than ever before, no matter what’s happening outside. And so I feel that this is an opportunity for us. The do you feel that way, brother?

[01:09:54] But Steve.

[01:09:57] Steve Rivas: [01:09:57] I actually do. I totally agree with you. You know, I was talking to my wife just recently about, I said, have you noticed, I said to her, because something that the, that I noticed, I said, prior to this pandemic, I said, everybody, the bride included. I said was just, we were just running like, like, like a semi with no breaks in.

[01:10:20] It’s not that we were doing, it’s not that we were doing sinful things, but we were just, we couldn’t find a stop in place. I said an overnight overnight. I said, it seems like. God just put the brakes on. The whole thing in is, is it’s like we needed this reprieve. We needed this break because how else were we going to bring it?

[01:10:42] And you know, the scripture says that God would cut the time short and perhaps where there, you know, where time has been cut short and this for a purpose and this so that we can take the step that perhaps if we’re just running, running, running, we can’t do it. And now. We have this time where we can, we’ve, you know, it’s incredible to me is incredible what’s happening because we have these time afforded to us that, how else.

[01:11:15] Would this come? I told my wife, I said, who else has the power in this world to put the brakes on the world? I said, nobody that I know of. Only God could do something like this. And you know, there’s all these conspiracy theories out there and everything, and it doesn’t matter to me because you know, God used never can Nesser.

[01:11:35] God used Pharaoh. God has used personalities before who were doing, they meant it for evil, and maybe that’s what it is, but God would turn around and use it for his own glory. And I see that happening, you know?

[01:11:48] Luis Urrego: [01:11:48] Oh no, I totally agree with you on that, brother Steve, because everything that God does is he’s only worried about two things.

[01:11:57] He’s, he’s doesn’t worry, but he’s only preoccupied by two things to have his word fulfilled. And for his brother to get ready. And that’s the only two things that matter to him. So whatever needs to happen, whether it’s the government involved or whether it’s whatever it is, whoever, if it’s manmade or not manmade or whatever, but it doesn’t matter what needs to be fulfilled for the believer, what matters is that this word is fulfilled and that it’s fulfilled in our lives.

[01:12:27] Because the broad. Is God is going to have a broad in this hour without spot or wrinkle, whether there’s a pandemic or no pandemic. And so if that’s, if that’s not you and I, brother Steve, I don’t know who it is.

[01:12:42] Steve Rivas: [01:12:42] That’s exactly right. I agree with you. It’s, It’s, it’s, it’s so amazing. You know, when you think about, the, the God we serve is a supernatural God, and, and it’s a, God is a God of simplicity.

[01:12:55] You know, it’s a goddess, simplicity. And sometimes we miss God because we’re looking to him and the big picture, but, you know, what did it take? You know, sometimes, you know, people are in the world, they make fun of things, but they said it took a little biramous. They said. To put the brakes on the entire world and in, in, in, in some way.

[01:13:16] You know, it’s comical in, in, I, I, I don’t make fun of it. I know a lot of people are suffering and I know people who have suffered from it. But when you think of it, this is like the first time in history that this has happened. So this has got to have a spiritual meaning, a spiritual purpose for us, right?

[01:13:36] Of Jesus Christ.

[01:13:38] Luis Urrego: [01:13:38] Absolutely. Brother Steve. Well, brother Steve, listen, I appreciate you, spending some time with us and sharing your testimony and, and, I know that the people, Oh, I have been blessed to hear. I know I was blessed and definitely gleaned a lot from it. And, I was certainly just appreciate your time and, this, this, I think we have just about a minute, a minute or so, a little bit over a minute before I think it cuts off.

[01:14:03] But, you want, you have last words to say to the, to the listeners before he cuts off.

[01:14:10]Steve Rivas: [01:14:10] well, what I like to say is, you know, to God be the glory. Great things he had done. And the reason why we find ourselves speaking about these things is because God came and interrupted our lives. You know, if God did not do to you, if God did not come to me, if God did not come to your audience.

[01:14:33] Who knows where would where we would be. I know I’d be lost if he didn’t come to me. So to God, be the glory. Great things he has done, brother.

[01:14:42] Luis Urrego: [01:14:42] Amen when God bless you, brother Steve, thank you so much once again for being with us.

[01:14:49] Steve Rivas: [01:14:49] Okay. It’s been my pleasure in Lord bless you, brother Lewis.

[01:14:54] Luis Urrego: [01:14:54] And there you have part two of the Steve Reva’s testimony through an earthquake through car accident.

[01:15:01] God still had his way. And today, as you heard there to they brother Steve is happily married as well as serving God in the place where he needed to be. And by God’s grace, his children are serving the Lord. And so the lesson, that big takeaway here is that sometimes, yeah, things may be difficult. Unknowns, but a lot of unknowns that we have in our lives, and sometimes if we, we don’t know whether to move forward with, with things that we are questioning as far as, should I move forward?

[01:15:45] Is this your will Lord? Should I do this, that or the other? But you know, sometimes in order for you to get in the perfect will of God. You’ve got to take that risk. Sometimes you don’t know if something is the will of God if you don’t move forward forward by faith, and it’s, it’s almost as if God wants us is kind of standing in the corner and say, all right, I want to see what my child does.

[01:16:15] Because saints, one of the things about the will of God is that if it’s scriptural. We know that the will of God is his word. So if it’s in the word, let’s just take for example, mission work. Mission work is in the word. Christ said, go ye into all the world. Preach the gospel. And so if one is asking, should I be in the mission field?

[01:16:38] Well, that’s part of the will of God. So the only way for you to fully know if

[01:16:43] Steve Rivas: [01:16:43] it’s

[01:16:45] Luis Urrego: [01:16:45] the will of God, specifically for your life. Sometimes you wouldn’t know any other way, but to just try it and see, then at that point you will definitely know because we are re no, that part is scriptural. it’s a scriptural thing for you to do mission work to testify as far as did let others know about, about, about, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[01:17:12] So in brother Steve’s life. He had, he had to be, he had to leave California because God was already showing them too many signs that that’s where he needed to hit. That’s why he needed to do and move to Washington where he’s at now and now I know that he knows for a fact that that was exactly what he needed to do, no matter how good he had it back in California.

[01:17:41] He had something better waiting for him there in, in Washington state. So I trust that you really receive the blessing from that testimony as well as, some of the, Admonitions that brother Steve gives regarding a child raising and some of the personal things that he experienced when he was raising his children and that you would glean from it if you’re a parent that you would glean from that.

[01:18:08] Take it to heart, take it, prayerfully and, and, and say, Lord, I want to do. Like this how I want to my children to be this way, and the only way they can be that way is only a few take control of them. Not me trying to do the work, but you all Lord, because he does the perfect work. We do mediocre work even as parents.

[01:18:35] We think that sometimes we’re doing a good work and then sometimes we, we might be hurting your, our child more than what we’re helping them. So I trust it. You hurt that you received something from that and learn something. And I know I did because as a parent, I want my best for my children and as I know that you do.

[01:18:57] So with that, so without, so with that st, I’m going to go ahead and, leave, leave you with, with this. I trust that you received the blessing today and, until the next step episode. I trust that you continue to feed your soul that 10,000 worlds that brother bran talked about, feed it with everything that you can feed it with spiritually.

[01:19:22] The only thing that you’re going to do, the only way that you’re going to grow in Christ is to read your Bible. And pray every day. His brother, Brandon told us, it’s as simple as that. Yet it is one of the toughest things to do. I believe that you, with the Holy spirit inside moving in, that Holy ghost calling it calls me drawing, drawing me to his word.

[01:19:44] I believe that you will do the right thing, make the right decisions upon his word. So may God richly bless you until the next episode. Take care, and God bless.