When I began global ministry I had two part-time jobs and attended Bible school full-time in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, but the key was my passion to begin ministry. One day the school had a guest come with a list of all the opportunities available in the world. I looked at the list, then looked at the $50 in my bank account, and decided I could make it as far as the Nevada desert where the Paiute Indians were considered a mission field.

The school said I needed to have $500 and a car in three weeks, and I told them I would have them. A few nights later I was watching Christian TV with my mother. I thought I heard a voice say to give the $50 I had to the preacher on TV. I said, “NO! I need the $50 more than he does!”

 I thought about it the next day and decided that if it was God Who said to give, then there would be a blessing in obeying. If it was just emotion saying to give, then if I gave my $50 in faith with joy, there would still be a blessing. So I gave.

What happened next? Nothing. Nothing happened the next day, the next week, or the next 10 days. But after two weeks I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, standing there was a divorced, single mother who worked at the school.  She handed me an envelope with $500 in it, saying she needed to sleep. For two weeks God had been waking her up every night and telling her to give $500 to Kevin McNulty. I asked her if it was a Wednesday that He first spoke and she said yes…the Wednesday I gave the $50! Well, that got me on my way to the desert and around the world, and I haven’t stopped since!

Rome did not fall because of war, but from boredom and avarice. Alexander the Great did not die in battle, but from boredom in a drunken stupor. We are not designed to live in the safe harbor, but on the high seas. The pastors and leaders of society that fall today do not do so in the effort and struggle to succeed, but in the boredom of their success. Do not allow the hardships you may face today to reveal a crybaby within you, but rise to the task at hand and discover the way to overcome.

The great businessmen of yesterday were not those who waited for retirement and watched a clock.  We don’t remember the great spiritual institutions of a different era, but we do remember and are inspired by the men and women who pioneered them in the heat of battle. There is no life marked solely by success, but by failures which rose to success.

Friends, do not dream of a safety net, but of a net that can catch fish. Your safety is in your courageous heart to pioneer new projects and new dreams. Some of you will be the tip of spear in the battle, and others will be the force behind the spear that gives it power to thrust forward. All the positions are important when you go to war.

Jesus did not pay a price for you to be weak.

Jesus did not become your substitute so you would fear.

Jesus did not fill you with His spirit for you to run from the battle.

This is your greatest hour. This is our time! Do not let the winds of adversity howl in your ears driving you to hide behind safe doors. The world is waiting to hear your voice speaking peace to the storm!

We were having a meeting in Simferopol a number of years ago and didn’t have enough ushers. We had told the pastor we would have thousands of people, but he had never been able to get more than a couple hundred people together. So here we had thousands of people showing up on the opening night of the meeting, and this group of drunks wandered in and sat in the back.  As it turned out, they were drunks that had been committed to a type of insane asylum where they are medicated with as much alcohol as they would like, because that way they could at least keep them under control.

So these men wandered into our meeting, and then wandered to the altar and prayed a prayer. What happened then? When they woke up the next morning they had no desire for alcohol, they were in their right minds…they were healed! So they came back to the next meeting, and after that meeting they went back to the hospital, and then back to the tent the next night. These 6 men ended up being picked to be ushers, and they were so committed that they became our best Ushers, organizing other Ushers and security.

Alcohol had had such power over them, but after a prayer, in an instant their lives were transformed! When the doctors finally saw that these drunks were no longer taking any alcohol, even though they were offered as much as they wanted, they said, “What happened to you?” The men replied, “We got healed over there in that tent!” The doctor said, “I don’t believe you, I want to check your bodies.” So he began checking their bodies for microchips that were causing them not to want to drink! They wouldn’t believe that it had anything to do with a supernatural God who can heal, instead they said, ‘this has got to be some new computer chip technology that is controlling your urge to drink.”

Of course the doctors found no chips, and then realized that these men had been healed. They became the greatest testimony to the people coming into that tent as they stood there welcoming and seating people. The community knew those drunks, and they also saw that those drunks were in their right mind now.

What does Jesus say to us today? He says, I’ve loosed you from your bonds, I’ve loosed you from your captivity, I’ve loosed you from your sickness and disease.  I set you free 2,000 years ago from the influence of the devil, and now I release you to fulfill your destiny!

One of my most important life-experiences came as I was helping Jean, a woman who attended our weekly feeding program. Our local city had issued a notice that she was to clean up her property or they would haul off all her possessions. What was so tragic is that although she owned a beautiful home, she lived on the front porch!  You could not even find a pathway through her home. Though she was a gentle soul with a love for nature and a concern for suffering people, she had a serious mental struggle.

Our local outreach group organized a team to clear her property—not an easy job since to her, everything seemed valuable. I remember sitting on the street curb, dirty from head to foot, picking up seeds that had just spilled from her pouch. At that moment a car load of young people sped by, shouting, “Look at the street people!” Then I realized—they were talking about me! But as my eyes caught Jean’s, I saw joy—because someone cared enough to help her pick up her little seeds.

I have carried that experience with me to over 60 nations! Why? A well-lived life is a life engaged with serving others! If you are sad or depressed, remember there is always someone else who is sadder and more depressed than you. So go out and get busy interacting with others! Then, as Jesus said, you will discover there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another (John 15:13).

True human value is not found in serving yourself, but in serving others!

Did you know there are cars that actually increase in value over time? Some of them doubled in value from the moment they left the factory, like the Ferrari Enzo. Of course we might look at cars and say it does not happen very often.

What about people? Are people doomed to lose value over time?  I don’t think so. Like cars, people can lose value and rust, wear out, fade or stop functioning; but it doesn’t have to be that way. When we were in Cuba, I was delighted to drive around in many cars from the 1940’s. There was a pride of ownership and a special attention given to each car. At a car show in Florida, I saw that it was the old cars that had the most appeal and attention.

Friends, your best years are ahead of you if you will just keep yourself up! You are gathering valuable information. You have time tested experiences. You have evaluated mistakes and gathered information so you will not make those mistakes again. You are time tested and trusted. Rise up in expectation, you are ready for your greatest challenges today!

Have you ever had the question arise in your heart of why something happened to you that you did not want or expect? Does God want our hearts to be broken or our energy diminished?  No, He does not. He said that in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, He has overcome this world. It is clear that the world with all its circumstances and people can throw unexpected curve balls at you, but be of good cheer!

All that you are is not based on all that you have. Your value is based on the image God has of you as His righteous, holy, empowered son or daughter. The great apostle Paul went through shipwreck, near drowning, and two weeks of being tossed like a ball on the ocean before he was finally delivered and made it to land. You would think angels would have started a chorus of praise as Paul arrived safely on the shore, but instead he gets a snake bite! What does he do? Should he get mad at God for adding insult to injury? No, he just shook it off! He had places to go and people to meet!

Whatever happens to you, SHAKE IT OFF!

“We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose” (Rom 8:28 AMP).

WOW! I get excited when I read this passage. God is a partner in our labor working things together for us! What a pleasure it is to trust in HIM knowing that he is working behind the scenes on our behalf. Today in prayer, I heard myself saying, “God, YOU are my partner and I have total confidence that you are bringing in the resources, people and establishing the plans in your time frame!”

Each one of are continually surrounded by change due to difficulties in this natural world; however, in this time of transition we use our faith and our passion to latch on to God’s will and the wealth that is available for transfer into the hands of those in the kingdom of God! We are not down, defeated without hope or alternatives BUT WE ARE UP, EXPECTANT AND DREAMING OF NEW POSSIBILITES IN CHANGING TIMES!

Thank you Lord for bringing in the people and resources and blessing all of our partners!

As a minister, when I walk up to the pulpit I think and believe that I am going to change the world. I know that what is real to me will be real to you.  The reality is that what stimulates you will stimulate others. What awakens your creative impulse will awaken and enlighten the spirit of mankind.

Who wants another dead preacher?  The truth is that pulpits are putting people to sleep. What excites you? What makes you happy? What puts a spark under you and a briskness in your step? This is what the world is hungering for.  They want a purpose greater than themselves that they can throw themselves into, and come alive in the pursuit of something greater than themselves. Jesus is offering it!

People are designed by God to be happy. Even those who carry the burden of leadership are called to do it with joy. Anybody can see the problems of life, it takes people of faith to see and rejoice in the answers!

The apostle Paul took on the mantle of leading the early church with all of its weaknesses and miscalculations, yet he said he planned to keep everything in a perspective that would cause him to finish his course with joy.

Acts 20:24
“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

 Don’t let life make you bitter, but better!

As I travel it is interesting to see the number of people who have a sense of destiny in their heart, but a lack of clear direction to make that destiny a reality.

Jesus told us to pray “Our Father…..Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  I am not looking for the best that the government can give on earth or the best that Wall Street can give on earth. I want heaven’s standard for my earth! Heaven is abundantly blessed and healthy, as well as full of wonderful trusting and loving people. That’s a good destiny for earth.

Scripture tells us that we are “ambassadors of heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:20). It’s interesting to note that an ambassador does not live by the standard of the country he is in, but the country that sent him. An ambassador is under the law of the country that sent him and is also financed from the country that sent him.

Those who have called on Jesus and received His life are sent from God’s country to not only inhabit this earth, but to occupy it until He returns. I like what General Patton said in World War II: “I don’t like to pay for the same real estate twice.”

We can see in many parts of the world where the church has done a poor job of occupying the land, they are now attempting to re-establish the kingdom of God where there was once a great reality of God’s presence and power. We are sending teams and tents to Europe to again evangelize in regions that once were a great voice for redemption and new life. Time and money must be spent to do what a failed church should have done.

We are given the destiny and opportunity to influence every sphere of society and be the salt of the earth. Bring truth to your world so those you influence can rest in assurance that heaven is their home on earth as well as the life to come!

Love is a much greater motivator for men and women than any dollar or any discipline.

Love inspires every creature to be more than just a creation.

Love believes—when all evidence says it should not.

Love sees a bright future, even when dark clouds suggest storms on the horizon.

Love is the power of God.

Love lays down its life for the unloved.

Love pays the price others will not pay.

Love—the weapon of God—has conquered armies, won nations and made disciples of the vilest of men.