Spiritual Impact #10

I'm gonna plow my field, because I'm looking for a harvest for my God, He's real. Blessings everyone. I'm excited to welcome you to today's program, Spiritual Impact. I'm Senior Pastor Tim Parton of Abundant Life Worship Center, and no, this is not Pastor Steve here, but this is Gregory Jordan Stewart, and he's a young man from our church, but Gregory, welcome to the program today.

Thank you for having me Pastor, it's great to be here. Hey, man, we're going to be discussing Gregory's got a fantastic testimony, and he's going to be sharing some of that with you here in just a little bit, but we're excited about the things that are going on in your mom and dad. Your dad plays a mean piano, doesn't he? Yep.

And your mom sings. Are you involved in music? I was saying a couple times in church, but not as much as my parents. Just sing from the pews, huh?

Yeah, a lot of the time, yup. We're so glad to have y'all with us, and we'll let you tell people a little bit about yourself before we get into your testimony here in just a moment. But I would like to read you a verse of scripture, and we find this, this is one of our favorite verses of the church, and it's Jeremiah 2911, and it says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. That's so comforting to know that the God of glory thinks about each one of us individually, which tells me that we're very special to God, the Creator, and he has a plan for your life.

All of us in life have had some struggles that we've gone through. Some have gone through maybe not so difficult times, while other people maybe had some pretty severe hardships that have come their way. And maybe you're one of them that's watching today that life's not really been very easy for you. Well, we're going to talk about a God that cares, a God that has a plan, a God that has always been there, and if you'll just look unto him, your story's not finished yet.

And I will say that Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith. So that's what we're going to concentrate on. And just if you had a rough time, you're going through a rough time, life's not been so easy, God's not done yet. And if you'll just look unto him, I promise you, you're going to see things change for your betterment, because that's what his word says.

And we've said on previous programs, God's word cannot lie. It means exactly what it says. Gregory, tell the folks a little bit about yourself before we get into your testimony. Well, I'm originally from around Cincinnati, Ohio, but I've been coming to the Severeville area with my parents.

At least once a year since I was a baby, my parents got married down here, so we always like to travel. And I'm actually moving to the area late this summer. Yep, I'm very excited about that. Love the area and the people in it.

And like I said, his mom and dad are part of the phrase team at the Bundell High Force Center. We're so glad to have them. And you have been having a lot of speaking engagements locally here since you've got settled in, haven't you? Yup.

God, he's opened up a lot of doors for you. Yup. And see, that's one thing that we all can share is a testimony, because that's something that we all have. And your testimony, God has woven throughout your life in so many miraculous ways that I'm just going to let you begin, and we'll take it from there.

How about that? All right, sounds good. God's been working in my life ever since I came into this world. I didn't have the smoothest birth.

My mom had some troubles with having me. And by the time I was born, some extreme measures had to be taken to deliver me. And I was black and blue and without oxygen. By the time I was fully delivered.

And they began CPR on me. And they continued with that. And after about six minutes, they gave up the CPR. They didn't think they were going to be able to get me back.

And in the room with me were my parents and my aunt. And my mom asked, how's my baby? And they said, we've done all we can do. And it's amazing because the Holy Ghost descended into that room.

And my aunt began praying in tongues for me. And it was at that minute that one of the members of the medical staff said we have a heartbeat, and God had brought me back to life at that point. Amen. So, you know, that has to be one of the most devastating things that any parent could hear a doctor say that we've done all that we can do when it's the child.

But isn't it great that we have that assurance that we know that when we pray and seek God's face and your aunt immediately went to what she knew. And that was to get a hold of God. And when things are going rough in our life, that's the best thing that we can do. It's get a hold of God.

Okay, now the Holy Ghost has filled the room. Let's take a place here. Well, at that point, God had already brought me back to life and worked a miracle when I was only a few minutes old at this point. And I was then transferred to another hospital, and I was put on life support, and my dad had to go back and forth to visit my mom and I in different hospitals.

And the medical staff at this point still wasn't very optimistic about me. They asked my dad to sit down. They didn't have the best news for him. They told him that I probably wouldn't live through the night because of my physical conditions and mentally.

And they told him that if by some miracle I did survive, I would have severe brain damage to where I wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone. And I would be able to comprehend anything. And at that point, I had been having some pretty severe seizures, and they said that would never stop. And my dad said that he didn't think too much on that.

He just kept praying, and others began to pray as well. And my grandmother, my dad's mother, had felt something when I was born. She felt God speak to her and tell her to get down and pray. And so she was praying for me as well.

And after about a week of being in the hospital, I was able to come home and came off of the life support. And parents told me that not only did I survive to that point and was able to live off of the life support, but once I came home from the hospital, I never had another seizure again. Hey, man. So when it was seemed like it was just constantly troubling news that they were getting from the doctor, your parents, even though, you know, parents' heart, they're concerned and there's a natural part of worry there, still their faith did not waver.

They prayed the prayer of faith. And see, that's the thing. We can pray prayers. But it's when we pray the prayer of faith.

Faith activates God's hand in our life. And listening to your story, I just can't imagine what your parents must have been going through. And I'm sure that there's maybe people out there that are watching that they can relate. Maybe they were born like you were or maybe a mom or dad has a child like that.

There again, what we said, God has not finished your story yet. And Gregory, his story just keeps getting better and better and better. And I'm excited for him to get to share some more of that with you. So we'll go right back to you then.

Now, you're home. No more seizures. And at this point, things are starting to go in a better direction for me. My parents are becoming more and more hopeful.

They're still praying and believing. Of course, being so small, they kind of had to wait and see mentally how I would turn out. But things were already a lot better than were previously predicted. And another issue that my parents had to deal with at this point is I was having some physical issues.

We found out that I had suffered some nerve damage in my neck and that limited my mobility and my right arm. I have never been able to use this hand due to the paralysis and I have some limited feeling in it. So I had a surgery at just seven months old to give me some more movement in that. Originally, I couldn't move my arm at all.

Just anything below the shoulder. I couldn't use it. And that surgery gave me some movement. I can now raise my arms and bend my elbow to a certain degree.

So I thank God for that. And at this point along with the physical problems, my parents continued to see how I would develop. And they said that things continued to look like they were going in a good direction. I would respond to noises around me and I would open my eyes.

And it was clear that I was able to comprehend and react to things. But when I was about a year old, my parents said they really started to notice how much comprehension I actually did have. When I would begin to speak, I would repeat things that I would hear from people around me and that I would see on TV. And when I was a year old, I was in this high chair in the kitchen.

And my dad said that he would put on a cartoon for me or would put on movies. And he would do some other things in the kitchen. And I don't even believe I was quite old enough to walk yet. And he said he was doing something and all of a sudden he heard me this little one year old say feature presentation.

And he was like, what? You know, he couldn't believe that a child so small was able to speak like that. Wow. You might have been getting ready back then for TV or something, feature presentation.

But it isn't wonderful to have parents that not only know God, but they know how to trust God. They know how to pray to God and believe God for miracles in their children's lives. And, you know, we read in Scripture a lot that fathers have the power to bless their children, to lay hands on their children and pray blessings over them. And I think sometimes maybe we felt to do that a lot of times.

So we need to start gathering our children around and pray and God's blessings upon them, and we're gathering our grandchildren around and just praying. You know, we pray for our kids and grandkids, but you know, it's good that we can let them know how much Jesus loves them simply by our actions with them. And knowing your parents, I can imagine by now they're starting to get excited because they can see that God is starting to work in your life where all they had was that bad news. It's got a rough start.

But now all of a sudden they can see, you know what? God's hands upon this child. And it goes back to our Jeremiah 2911. God has a purpose for you being here.

And you may not understand what that purpose is, but if you'll continue to seek God, seek His face, study His Word. He will reveal your purpose and what He's called you to do because He didn't leave anybody out. We all have a reason for being here, and we are all valuable to the kingdom of God. Now you're talking at one year old and you're getting your TV voice ready here.

Let's go from there then. Well, like you mentioned, my parents' faith definitely helped me out a lot. I can't imagine where I would be had my parents not believe that God could do it, or had they just heard that news and thought, well, there's no point in being hopeful anymore. But I thank God that He gave me parents that prayed for me and held on with faith.

And my parents that raised me in church. And when I was seven years old, I decided to give my life to God. I had talked to my grandmother about salvation. And of course, my parents had taught me a lot about the Lord and His Word.

And when I was seven years old, I was riding in the car with my mom. And I just felt like the time was right to pray and ask God to come into my life. And so I repented of my sins and I asked God to come into my heart. And I remember when I did that, no one had told me how I would feel or that I would feel anything.

But when I did that and believed with faith that God was going to save me, I felt this sensation. It was like a wind. It blew straight down from the top of my head all the way down to my feet. And I just felt new as the way I could describe it refreshed.

And later as I grew more in God, I read in Acts chapter 2 verse 2 that the Holy Ghost was described as a wind on the day of Pentecost. And I thought that was such an amazing connection. And that was so accurate to what I had felt when I gave my life to God. Hey man, my mother always told, and I have three brothers, always told us, she said, boys, when the biggest thing is God, lose into your heart, you're going to know it.

And you just know there's a change that takes place. And just God just brought something to my mind. And Gregory and myself also, I was raised in a Christian home. So all I've ever known was parents that love God, taught us about God.

And you're the same. But maybe you're watching right now and you say, you know what, I didn't grow up in a home like that. We never were taught the Word of God. We never knew anything.

We were never taken to church. And we don't know what it's like for that to be part of our life. You know what, Jesus wants right now to let you know that he wants to come into your heart and life. It doesn't matter how you started.

It's how we finish that matters, how we finish is what counts. We all have situations that have weighed us down. But if we look unto Jesus, he will help us in the areas where we're weak. And we may not have a lot of understanding, but we can understand this for God so loved the world that he gave.

He's only the God and Son that who's so ever. And that's all of us. We were all who's so ever. Believe it in him, she's not perish but have everlasting life.

Now growing up as a teenager, how was your life as a teenager? I would say despite all of the negative diagnoses and just the things that the devil tried to do to destroy my life, I would say at that point my life was pretty good. I had very good examples as parents and God had continued to bless me and I was growing more and God and continued to develop in other ways. As I continued to grow older after I got saved, I did pretty well in school and I learned a lot about how to do things one handed.

And I actually taught myself how to tie my own shoes and with one hand and did pretty well in school. Writing and drawing were hobbies of mine and I won several writing contests and actually by the age of 14 I had published research. I was pretty proud of that and did well in school and got on the honor roll several times and I actually started college at the age of 16 and got my first degree at 18. Well now you just recently graduated college correct and there was an honor that was bestowed upon you.

Tell us about that. I graduated college a total of three times. Once when I was 18 as I mentioned I graduated college with a second undergraduate degree at the age of 20 and then this past December I graduated college. I got a master's degree at the age of 21 and I was the youngest person to ever graduate from that master's program.

Wow, you know God's incredible isn't he? You go from almost not surviving birth to for the most part having a fairly normal childhood even though there were difficulties there to graduating not once but three times from colleges with degrees and being the youngest person to ever graduate in that master's program. God has been good to you Greg. What are some of the things that you feel like maybe God wants you to as your ministry goes forward?

What are some of the things you feel that he is calling you to do? Well one of the big things is to continue to share my testimony. I've traveled to different churches and shared my testimonies in front of congregations into youth and young adult groups. I also have my own YouTube channel called Gregory Jordan Stewart and it started off largely by showing how I do things with one hand and sharing my testimony of what God has done for me.

I've been here for a while recently this past January. God laid it on my heart to start this Bible study series on my channel called Gospel with Greg and so about once a month or so I will talk about a topic in the Bible and examine what the scripture says we should do about it. And I've seen those things really take off and God's given me a lot of platforms to be able to do those things. So you've not allowed some problems in life to hold you back but you have sprung forward and that is wonderful and I know God has a lot of wonderful things in store for you.

I have a testimony at our church and I know you're moving here to Tennessee now and have you found things to be a little bit more challenging trying to get started because I know you're looking. You've got to find a job. We all have to work and pay bills. So how's that going for you?

I would say for the most part, most things are going pretty well. Put in some applications for different jobs and I'm praying and believing that I'll get the one that's exactly right for me. That's what I believe that God has anointing on people's lives and if you're a business out there and Gregory's putting an application into your place, God will bless your business by hiring this young man because God has his hand upon him and I believe that we're going to hear a lot of good things coming out of the ministry that God is going to use you for. Like Gregory has stated, we all have some difficulties.

We may have some disabilities but you know what? That should never stop us. God doesn't put any limitations upon us and we should not put any limitations upon ourselves. God, like, we keep going back.

That's why I want to read Jeremiah 29 and 11. I know the thoughts I think toward you, which means God is thinking about you all the time. All the time God is thinking about you thinking in ways to use you. He has specific purpose for you to be called in but God can use this in so many different areas.

I have people a lot of times say, you know, pray that I don't know what God's will is in my life. God's will in all of our life is to be used in what he's doing right now around where you're at. He doesn't have to create a bunch of new things for us. He wants to use you right now in the atmosphere that you are surrounded by, whatever that may be.

And there's people out there that have different kinds of stories. Your story, your testimony is to be an encouragement and an uplift to somebody that needs to hear that. And I'm glad, Gregory, that you're going about and sharing that testimony and telling people we serve a good God. And sure, life has some difficulties.

Life has some struggles. And sometimes life can be a little vicious. You know what? Greater is our God.

Greater is the one who lives within us than he who lives within the world. And you know what? We're going to go to the Lord in prayer. And we're going to ask God, if you're watching this program and there's something you say, well, God can't use me because I can't do this or I have this issue or I have that problem.

I want you to know God can use you because he created you for the purpose that he has planned. Nobody can be you but you. And if you trust God, he has a good thing in store for your life. Heavenly Father, we come before you.

We're praying God that people would not be discouraged, but God that they would be encouraged. And God, even those that don't have that relationship with you yet, God, I believe that the plan is that they're going to make that connection, that you're going to speak to their heart, that that door of opportunity is going to be open for them to know who that you are as Lord and Savior. And God, I pray that they would not let any handicaps or anything like that hinder them. God, and we all struggle with things that we feel ineffective in.

Moses thought, I stutters, so I can't speak for God. But you know what? You said, Aaron, you always have help for us, God. And we're praying God that everybody would just trust you to do the work in their life that you want to do.

And we'll give you praise and glory for its in Christ, how we name we pray. Amen. I hope and pray that if you watch the program that you've enjoyed, Gregory's testimony, then it's been an encouragement to you. How a young child from the doctor saying, we've done all that we can do.

Tonight, I'm going to tell you, I see him walking. I used to walk some, but I don't think I could keep up with you, Gregory. He's got those ear things going on, and he's just bopping down the road. And how far you walk?

I'll walk like a mile or two. I've seen where you're at. I think it's farther than that, but you're doing a great job. Also, his mother wanted me to tell all you young ladies out there that he is single and that he is available.

No, she didn't tell me that, but I just thought I threw that in there. But I'm glad that you stopped by enjoying this today. And it's been a lot of fun. And we'll try to have you back again sometime, Gregory, because I know there's other aspects of your life.

God is a, it's a continual process. And I'm sure the next time that we have you on the program, you're going to have a lot more that you can share with the people. But, you know, if you've got a youth program out there in your church and you'd like to have Greg come and speak to your young people, I know that they would enjoy him. They would be an encouragement to them.

And we're just excited that God has opened the door for all of us and glad that you're part of a Bundell Life Warship Center. And I say your dad plays a mean piano and your mom can sing. And we're just excited about what God is doing. We're excited that you're joining us each week on this program here.

You continue to pray for us. If you would like to support us, you can, we have all the information on the program in a way that you can do that. The biggest thing is that we encourage you just to be all that you can be in God. Allow God to truly be God in your life because that's what he wants.

He wants to fulfill every promise and every purpose and every good thing that he's promising his word to fulfill your life and make it much better. Pastor Steve will be back with us next week. And, but until then, this is Pastor Tim, Mr. Gregory saying, God bless you.

We love you. Walk with God. And we'll see you the next time right here on Spiritual Impact. Ain't God Good.

Hello everybody. This is Pastor Tim Parton of a Bundell Life Warship Center. For those of you that live in the Subribival area, or maybe you just visit from time to time, we'd like to take a moment and invite you to come visit. We're located at 923, Dolly Parton Parkway, right here in Subribival.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Wednesday evening at 6.30. We just love sharing the word of God. We're just a family church.

So we invite you to come, grow with us. God bless. We can overcome just a little faith. We are never alone.

So this battle I won't fear. Cause I can hear the sound of hell.