GOD JUST DID THE IMPOSSIBLE IN SANTA BARBARA
God just did the impossible in Santa Barbara.
We had an overflow crowd. Many souls were saved. Jesus healed the sick. These words often describe our crusades. But today those words mean something totally different. Why? Because we are talking about Santa Barbara.
To use those words for a tent crusade in Santa Barbara simply means God did the impossible. The ungodly skeptics may try to explain away the results of some of our crusades but not this one. There is no denying God did this.
Consider this: Barna listed the top ten American cities abandoning Christianity. Santa Barbara made the list but Los Angeles, Seattle, and even San Francisco did not.
Why then did we come here? For three big reasons. Mario Murillo Ministries began in Santa Barbara. That’s right. Our first evangelistic crusade was in the Lobero Theater just 2 miles away from where the Tent sits.
Even so, planning and promoting this crusade was total war.
Also, you will remember God told us to go to the impossible cities.
And finally, God gave us an infallible sign. There is only one place that can host a tent crusade here: The Earl Warren Showgrounds. We only had 4 days left open this whole year. Those 4 days were the only days they had left. This could not be a coincidence.
Even so, planning and promoting this crusade was total war. We have never faced this kind of resistance. It felt as if I were in direct contact with hell. But we soldiered on. And here we are, the first night of the crusade.
I drove to the tent with a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I had no idea what to expect. Questions raced through my mind. Would we have a crowd? How would they receive the worship with Catherine Mullins? Would they reject my message?
It was undeniable – God did the impossible.
Then I saw a sea of cars. I could hear the roar of worship rising to God. The crowd kept growing. The expectancy kept intensifying. It was undeniable – God did the impossible.
My message was entitled, If you knew the gift. The key verse was John 4:10, “Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the Gift of God, and Who it is Who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
I began by saying that Jesus amazingly predicted what she would do if she could get past the issues of race, religion, and gender and see the gift—the real gift. She would ask and receive living water!
Santa Barbara’s beauty hides a tragedy of bad beliefs and ideas.
Many do not know why they have rejected Jesus, and even those that claim to know would be shocked at their reaction to the actual gift. This is especially true here.
Then I told them that Santa Barbara’s beauty hides a tragedy of bad beliefs and ideas. She is like the woman in Proverbs 11:22. It says, “A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.”
After that I directed them to Luke 14, verses 16 through 21, “Then (Jesus) said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord, began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
What made him angry is what they thought was better and more important than this feast.
“And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’
It must have been a great feast if Jesus said so! What made him angry is what they thought was better and more important than this feast. To know Jesus is a greater feast than you know!
Ironically, what made them skip the feast are three things that are big here. Real estate: “I bought a piece of ground.” Relationships: “I married a wife.” Entrepreneurship: “I have bought five yoke of oxen.”
Nature is mad at you for not recognizing the creator and because we are a fallen race.
Then I told the environmentalists something: “And did you know that nature does not even like you?” Romans 8:20, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
Nature is mad at you for not recognizing the creator and because we are a fallen race.
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…”
And verse 25 adds, “…who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
The elephant in the room in Santa Barbara is the emptiness and hardness of heart that hides behind the beauty and abundance. Then the message became something else.
I waited for the conviction to intensify. What happened next will haunt me for the rest of my life.
It was now one of the most direct attacks I have ever spoken against occult, new age and mystical religions. I thought for sure it would cause a backlash. Instead, it culminated in a forceful appeal for souls.
I waited for the conviction to intensify. What happened next will haunt me for the rest of my life. It looked like half the audience came forward to be saved. They had never seen such a harvest anything close to this here. It stunned the crowd. All ages, races and backgrounds stood together at the front to be saved.
They filled the front and all the aisles. But it was after they prayed and were marching out of the tent that the magnitude of what had happened became clear.
After the new converts were back in, the miracles began. And did they begin! Before that night was over scores of people saw their sicknesses healed.
The most amazing part is that tomorrow night is the miracle service. Tonight was focused on souls. If that is the case then what will tomorrow night be like?
Yes, the tent crowd overflowed. The salvations were beyond what we expected. And the miracles were abundant. Only God could do this in Santa Barbara.
We have only two nights left. If you live within driving distance please come and bring someone who needs a miracle. We have gotten extra chairs! Don’t miss these next two nights.
P.S. The meetings continue two more nights. We were supposed to go until Wednesday night. The showgrounds needed our spot back by Thursday morning July 10th. Meeting this deadline would require our team to work through the night. We tried to work something out but could not. After 4 weeks of long grueling hours, I didn’t feel right asking our team to work through the night. I made the call to finish on Tuesday night.
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