Welcome to The New Journey, a program about real life people 00:00:09.10\00:00:12.91 with real life testimonies doing real life ministry for Jesus 00:00:12.94\00:00:16.75 Christ. I'm your host Pastor Marquis Johns. Join us on 00:00:16.78\00:00:20.05 The New Journey. 00:00:20.08\00:00:22.38 ¤ ¤ 00:00:22.42\00:00:52.45 On the way over to a place called the Gadara Jesus 00:00:52.48\00:00:58.29 encounters the man who for his life has been riddled with 00:00:58.32\00:01:02.12 demons and no one could do anything with him. From time to 00:01:02.16\00:01:05.89 time he's been bound with fetters and chains and he's 00:01:05.93\00:01:08.80 broken those asunder. As I've read that story I've always 00:01:08.83\00:01:12.13 wondered could that happen today where Jesus just steps into 00:01:12.17\00:01:15.64 someone's reality, someone who is professedly demon possessed 00:01:15.67\00:01:19.47 even, and free them from demons. On today's show we have one such 00:01:19.51\00:01:23.24 a person. Cody, how are you doing today? 00:01:23.28\00:01:24.61 Doing good. How are you doing? 00:01:25.28\00:01:26.61 Fantastic, fantastic. First of all tell us your name and where 00:01:26.65\00:01:29.85 you're from. Cody Stewart from Indianapolis. 00:01:29.88\00:01:32.75 OK, so now you heard my introduction. That might sound 00:01:32.79\00:01:38.26 to our viewers like a little bit much. Tell us about your 00:01:38.29\00:01:43.77 upbringing and start to lead us on your journey. 00:01:43.80\00:01:47.34 Well thinking back on where everything started out from a 00:01:47.37\00:01:52.37 young kid I watched a lot of drinking and craziness going on 00:01:52.41\00:01:59.01 in my household. You know, I was thinking back I used to go to 00:01:59.05\00:02:05.32 18 at Fountain Square and I'd walk home. You could walk to 00:02:05.35\00:02:10.49 school and when I'd walk home my mom would be there passed out 00:02:10.53\00:02:15.63 and pill bottles on the floor and alcohol. My dad wasn't 00:02:15.66\00:02:21.37 around a whole lot. I made straight F's in school even in 00:02:21.40\00:02:27.38 grade school. I was never there. I remember one time my wife 00:02:27.41\00:02:33.48 later on in life she found one of my report cards, like in 00:02:33.52\00:02:39.72 fourth grade, and I made straight F's and I missed more 00:02:39.75\00:02:45.89 days than I was there. 00:02:45.93\00:02:47.26 I had similar experiences where you look at your report 00:02:47.30\00:02:50.30 card and you wonder how is this possible, having just as many 00:02:50.33\00:02:55.54 absences or tardies as you do actual attendance. Remarkable. 00:02:55.57\00:03:00.38 I don't know how I was able to do that. But needless to say 00:03:00.41\00:03:04.61 so school is just not your bag. You're just not there. So, what 00:03:04.65\00:03:08.55 type of activities do you engage in to supplement you supposedly 00:03:08.58\00:03:12.45 being in school? 00:03:12.49\00:03:13.82 From a young age I started drinking. 00:03:13.86\00:03:17.16 OK, you say young. Tell us now. 00:03:17.19\00:03:21.50 Probably 14, 15. Drinking, doing drugs. Everybody was smoking 00:03:21.53\00:03:26.50 pot. I didn't like it. I wanted something harder, heavier. 00:03:26.53\00:03:31.47 That wasn't my thing. So, mine was LSD and whiskey. 00:03:31.51\00:03:37.68 So, let's frame this correctly. So at 14 you're dropping acid, 00:03:37.71\00:03:44.29 and drinking whiskey. 00:03:44.32\00:03:48.36 Yeah. You know it just seemed normal and it became every day. 00:03:48.39\00:03:52.63 You know at a young age I can recall back when I was 15, 16 00:03:52.66\00:03:56.83 years old it was nothing to get a... And my mom, she just didn't 00:03:56.87\00:04:02.00 know no better. Many time she got me liquor and we'd get 00:04:02.04\00:04:06.84 a bottle with a handle on it, half gallons of Jim Beam, and 00:04:06.88\00:04:11.01 I mean she'd say well don't leave the house. She just didn't 00:04:11.05\00:04:15.18 no better. But what happens, I started pulling a hate over 00:04:15.22\00:04:19.35 everything. Now most of our viewers may not 00:04:19.39\00:04:26.93 be familiar with the effects of LSD. I shared with one of our 00:04:26.96\00:04:31.33 previous guests, the LSD became my drug of choice. LSD, you have 00:04:31.37\00:04:35.74 this blackout 8 hours, 8 hours you got a blackout and 00:04:35.77\00:04:39.34 when you get skilled at it you realize you need to put in some 00:04:39.37\00:04:44.15 Vitamin C so that the hallucinogenic properties 00:04:44.18\00:04:46.25 really take root and feed on that Vitamin C. Now are you 00:04:46.28\00:04:51.22 doing LDS every day? 00:04:51.25\00:04:52.59 I was doing LSD a lot. I was on some form of a drug whether 00:04:52.62\00:04:57.36 anybody around me would even know, I was always on something. 00:04:57.43\00:05:04.23 But, LSD, yeah, me and it we grew to be together, a love/hate 00:05:04.27\00:05:10.04 relationship. LSD, it got to the point where I'd have to take 10 00:05:10.07\00:05:15.78 hits of acid just to even get me off because I was so immune to 00:05:15.81\00:05:20.65 it. Yikes! Like I said, as a young kid I could drink a half 00:05:20.68\00:05:24.55 gallon of whiskey and I'd have people... I remember one time I 00:05:24.59\00:05:29.29 got arrested. Some things went down, a police force showed up 00:05:29.32\00:05:34.86 on us. We was young, we was about 16 years old. We ended up 00:05:34.90\00:05:39.17 getting arrested by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. 00:05:39.20\00:05:43.04 Let's put it that way. I could have went away for a long time 00:05:43.07\00:05:46.94 right then. But I remember the cops kept saying you guys are 00:05:46.98\00:05:50.18 awful young to drink that many bottles of whiskey. There was 00:05:50.21\00:05:53.38 all kinds of half gallons bottle we'd drank there that night. 00:05:53.42\00:05:58.09 Wow! So, 15, 16-year-old kid has made a decision a long time ago 00:05:58.12\00:06:02.82 that school just wasn't for him. So he's given over to a life of 00:06:02.86\00:06:08.66 alcohol, drugs and violence. Walk us from about 15 let's say 00:06:08.70\00:06:13.03 to about 20 years of age. Walk us through that period of time 00:06:13.07\00:06:17.41 in your life. 00:06:17.44\00:06:18.77 Fifteen to about 20? Around 16 I found my dad dead and I 00:06:18.81\00:06:24.75 remember the last thing I'd done was cuss him out. I was playing 00:06:24.78\00:06:31.75 loud music up in my room, getting a tattoo, and I remember 00:06:31.79\00:06:37.89 he told me to turn it down and I cussed him out and he just left 00:06:37.93\00:06:42.70 me alone. Then my mom left and I either went with her or I 00:06:42.73\00:06:48.20 stayed home. I wasn't going with her, no way. We didn't have a 00:06:48.24\00:06:53.38 good relationship at all. So I stayed and just pretty much 00:06:53.41\00:07:00.12 lived and fended for myself. I ended up getting with my wife 00:07:00.15\00:07:06.86 at a young age. We'd been together since we was kids. 00:07:06.89\00:07:10.89 By the time we was 21, we had three kids. I wanted to do right 00:07:10.93\00:07:16.06 I worked a job. I wanted to do right. Everything in my wanted 00:07:16.10\00:07:20.30 to do right, but I still done drugs. When nobody knew it, I'd 00:07:20.34\00:07:25.77 be doing drugs. Drinking, I drank a lot. I drank and drove 00:07:25.81\00:07:31.15 a lot. I'd go out to the clubs. Just craziness. Packing pistols. 00:07:31.21\00:07:35.52 Running around, just in a mess. Not knowing how to get out of 00:07:35.55\00:07:39.85 it. In all of this, the truth of the 00:07:39.89\00:07:44.16 matter is, you saw very little jail time, very little prison 00:07:44.23\00:07:47.10 time. No prison at all but just a little jail time. 00:07:47.13\00:07:49.03 By the grace of God. 00:07:49.06\00:07:50.80 Come on now. That's all I can say, by the grace of God I never 00:07:50.83\00:07:56.37 seen prison until I started doing the prison ministry. 00:07:56.40\00:07:58.01 Some county, you know, county paper, house arrest, years, you 00:07:58.04\00:08:03.28 know, all that mess that comes with it. But by the grace of God 00:08:03.31\00:08:08.48 never went to prison. 00:08:08.52\00:08:10.49 OK, so, let's back up a little bit. Let's talk about finding 00:08:10.52\00:08:15.82 your dad dead. How old were you when this happened? 00:08:15.86\00:08:20.26 Sixteen. We already know the answer to this, but I want you 00:08:20.30\00:08:24.87 to take us into your mindset, into your emotions at this 00:08:24.90\00:08:28.77 moment where, you're 16 years old. Talk to us about what 00:08:28.80\00:08:31.84 happens. You walk in the room, he's lying on the floor. What 00:08:31.87\00:08:35.11 happened when you found your dad dead and then how you behaved 00:08:35.14\00:08:38.51 subsequently thereafter? Take us through that period of time. 00:08:38.58\00:08:41.95 I partied all night. I was getting a tattoo. Me and a 00:08:41.98\00:08:44.65 friend of mine was up in my room hanging out all night. The next 00:08:44.69\00:08:50.79 morning, still in bed, I'd hear a scream that I just never heard 00:08:50.83\00:08:56.93 before. And I take off running towards it and it was my mom 00:08:56.97\00:09:01.60 and she was standing over my dad and he was dead. I just went 00:09:01.64\00:09:05.71 into a fit of rage. The first thing I did, went and got a half 00:09:05.74\00:09:10.81 gallon of whiskey and went off. Then I just started drinking the 00:09:10.85\00:09:14.72 whiskey and just kind of roamed off. I didn't want to be around 00:09:14.78\00:09:18.99 nobody. Like I said, it wasn't' like we was the Griswold's. I 00:09:19.02\00:09:22.56 wasn't consoling my mom. Not holding hands and hugging around 00:09:22.59\00:09:26.13 him. No we was dysfunctional. 00:09:26.16\00:09:28.13 So, your dad died of natural causes. 00:09:28.16\00:09:30.30 He just had a heart attack in his sleep. 00:09:30.33\00:09:32.40 OK, OK, so dad died of a heart attack. Boom, you take off like 00:09:32.43\00:09:37.67 light. Get whiskey. Get tripped. 00:09:37.71\00:09:39.04 Well it got so bad shortly after my dad died, my mom said I'm 00:09:40.44\00:09:44.28 not going to hang with you. There was me and my brother. 00:09:44.31\00:09:47.25 He's older than me. I'm not staying here with you two. You 00:09:47.28\00:09:51.02 guys are off the hood. We partied every night just a mad 00:09:51.05\00:09:54.72 house, all the time. So she said I'm leaving. And like I said, I 00:09:54.79\00:10:02.56 didn't have a good relationship with her so I said, good 00:10:02.60\00:10:05.13 riddance, we'll see you. 00:10:05.17\00:10:06.50 Right. So you meet this young lady. You guys have been 00:10:06.53\00:10:08.60 together since you were kids. How does she cope with this 00:10:08.64\00:10:11.54 life style of yours? 00:10:11.57\00:10:15.14 (Sighs) You know, I don't understand that myself. 00:10:15.21\00:10:16.78 You know, and there toward the end we've had our bouts, we've 00:10:16.85\00:10:20.98 been on and off, and on and off and there toward the end I was 00:10:21.02\00:10:27.86 just running wild, just off the chains. But God's restoring it 00:10:27.89\00:10:33.36 today. The Lord's restoring it. Nothing else would be able to 00:10:33.40\00:10:38.87 restore that. The Lord's restoring my relationship with 00:10:38.90\00:10:42.57 my kids. I love my family today they mean everything to me. 00:10:42.60\00:10:47.31 I see that, I see that. So, OK, again let's frame this correctly 00:10:47.38\00:10:53.25 Fifteen year old kid, dysfunctional family, mom on 00:10:53.28\00:10:59.09 drugs and alcohol herself. Dad just found him dead sixteen. 00:10:59.12\00:11:03.09 Partying hard, you and your brother, police are coming out 00:11:03.12\00:11:07.03 wondering how you guys are knocking back this many 00:11:07.06\00:11:10.03 bottles of 00:11:10.07\00:11:11.40 whiskey with handles on them. Somehow you're making it 00:11:11.43\00:11:16.81 through life with little to no education, an alcohol habit, 00:11:16.87\00:11:23.01 and a drug habit. Cody, come on That sounds too fanciful. You 00:11:23.04\00:11:27.72 got to walk me through this. I don't understand that. I mean 00:11:27.75\00:11:32.22 our viewers may not understand and hindsight being 20/20 we can 00:11:32.25\00:11:36.19 say it was the grace of God. But come on man. From that time 00:11:36.22\00:11:40.13 until now. How were you surviving? 00:11:40.16\00:11:42.63 You know, I got locked up in juvenile when I was young, done 00:11:42.66\00:11:48.30 a little time in juvenile and then at 18 I caught my first 00:11:48.34\00:11:54.38 DUl. It just stayed steady, like I said, and then it would go 00:11:54.41\00:11:58.71 a while. So the charges wouldn't be much and stay in county. I 00:11:58.75\00:12:03.39 didn't even know how I was living myself. And on top of all 00:12:03.42\00:12:08.12 of this, there was so many demons on me that I couldn't 00:12:08.16\00:12:12.83 shake them. There's times that I've been wasted by myself with 00:12:12.86\00:12:16.67 tears coming down my eyes and I took my own 9 mm out of my 00:12:16.70\00:12:20.44 pocket and I put it to my own head and I thought man I can't 00:12:20.47\00:12:24.21 take this no more. But I didn't know no God. I didn't know where 00:12:24.24\00:12:27.08 to turn to. I didn't know there was anything that could help me. 00:12:27.11\00:12:29.94 'Cause I've been in front of psychiatrists, I've been to 00:12:29.98\00:12:33.18 places, I've seen things, I've heard people say things but 00:12:33.21\00:12:36.99 nothing was helping. There was nothing fixing it. I've had 00:12:37.02\00:12:39.55 psychiatrists tell me that I need to be put on meds. Well 00:12:39.59\00:12:42.19 meds wouldn't help me. I told them I was already medicated. 00:12:42.22\00:12:46.63 I've been medicated my whole life. No Jesus. But there's 00:12:46.66\00:12:50.90 people in my way that I see back now. I've had people try 00:12:50.93\00:12:55.44 to pray for me before. I came in one time to work and I was 00:12:55.47\00:12:59.87 methed out, I was methed out, still smelt like whiskey and I 00:12:59.91\00:13:04.18 come strolling into work and I remember a guy come up to me 00:13:04.21\00:13:07.38 wanting to pray for me. I said you don't need to pray for me 00:13:07.42\00:13:10.69 man, I'm going to hell. I don't know what you're talking about. 00:13:10.72\00:13:13.89 But this man continued to pray for me, he tells me later, for 00:13:13.92\00:13:17.46 two years solid as he looked over because he seen the bondage 00:13:17.49\00:13:21.00 that I was in and I don't understand myself how I 00:13:21.03\00:13:25.07 survived. I was on my way to this show and a good friend I've 00:13:25.10\00:13:29.24 known, he's been in and out of prison his whole life and we've 00:13:29.27\00:13:33.58 known each other a long time and I said did you ever think that 00:13:33.61\00:13:37.48 God will pull us out of what we've been in that no one else 00:13:37.51\00:13:41.12 could help us out of. Your mama wouldn't help you out, your dad 00:13:41.15\00:13:44.59 couldn't help you out. Your family can't get you out of the 00:13:44.62\00:13:48.06 mess that God can pull you out of. 00:13:48.09\00:13:51.33 So, LSD is the drug of choice. Tell us about when you get 00:13:51.36\00:13:54.30 introduced to crystal meth. Tell us about that. How do you... 00:13:54.33\00:13:57.97 Well, I've dabbled with cocaine my whole life too. I'd do 00:13:58.00\00:14:01.64 anything. My biggest thing was drinking. As soon as I drank it 00:14:01.67\00:14:07.54 was on. It didn't matter what you put in my face. But dabbled 00:14:07.58\00:14:13.21 in coke and coke just didn't give you what... That's what I 00:14:13.25\00:14:17.92 wanted for the money. It didn't give you the bang for the buck. 00:14:17.95\00:14:22.59 So, here comes meth. Well I liked it way too much. Another 00:14:22.62\00:14:27.66 one of them deals where... And what it done, I noticed when I 00:14:27.70\00:14:32.07 would do it, the demons would be on me even harder. I was trying 00:14:32.10\00:14:36.37 to escape. I wanted to escape. I couldn't get away from them. 00:14:36.40\00:14:40.61 I wanted to escape and I couldn't get away from myself. 00:14:40.64\00:14:45.45 Now tell me about this. You reference the demons that 00:14:45.48\00:14:50.22 attack you, the demons that you're being assailed by. Tell 00:14:50.25\00:14:51.95 us about when you started realizing, OK, wait a minute, 00:14:51.99\00:14:53.66 this is something... Because early on in this interview, you 00:14:53.69\00:14:57.69 said you know I didn't know nothing about any God. You know. 00:14:57.73\00:15:02.06 What was that? You had a keen awareness, it seems, of demons. 00:15:02.10\00:15:06.40 Where did this awareness come from? How did these demons 00:15:06.43\00:15:08.97 manifest themselves. When did they begin and how did they 00:15:09.00\00:15:11.51 manifest themselves over time? 00:15:11.54\00:15:13.11 It started as a young kid and it just got worse and got worse and 00:15:13.14\00:15:16.95 worse. The more baggage that was picked up and the more things 00:15:16.98\00:15:20.75 that was picked up, the more chains it seemed like was on me. 00:15:20.78\00:15:24.42 The more addiction. The more that I tried to feel something, 00:15:24.45\00:15:28.22 it seemed like the harder they were on me. And like I said, I 00:15:28.26\00:15:31.76 didn't know what the Bible said. I didn't know nothing about it. 00:15:31.79\00:15:35.06 So I remember when I picked up afterwards. I read in Mark 5. It 00:15:35.13\00:15:39.30 talked about a man that roamed around in the wilderness. He's 00:15:39.33\00:15:42.80 roaming around and chains can't hold him or nothing. And when 00:15:42.84\00:15:47.41 Jesus comes upon him he says, whew, what's your name. He said 00:15:47.44\00:15:52.08 my name is legion for many live in me. Well when I read that I 00:15:52.11\00:15:56.75 knew it was real. 00:15:56.79\00:15:58.12 You know, interestingly enough, the reason why the Bible uses 00:15:58.15\00:16:03.66 the word legion is because a legion was 1000 Roman soldiers 00:16:03.69\00:16:08.46 in the army. An army of Romans that numbered 1000 were called a 00:16:08.50\00:16:13.23 legion so this man was completely and fully possessed. 00:16:13.27\00:16:16.17 He had been picking these demons up over time. You know the way 00:16:16.20\00:16:20.34 you get fully demon possessed is one demon at a time. But then 00:16:20.38\00:16:24.45 when you look at Matthew, Matthew talks about how if you 00:16:24.48\00:16:27.62 expel a demon, it comes back with seven more demons and so, 00:16:27.65\00:16:30.89 that tells us that the demons, that you get rid of one, they 00:16:30.92\00:16:33.49 don't multiply by one. After a while they begin to multiply 00:16:33.52\00:16:37.76 by seven and seven leave, 49 come back and you can keep 00:16:37.79\00:16:41.96 multiplying by sevens and you can reach a thousand demons in 00:16:42.00\00:16:44.97 one person and so what you're telling me is you had gotten to 00:16:45.00\00:16:48.90 the point you resonated with a legion of demons who were now 00:16:48.94\00:16:52.84 controlling you. That's what I felt like at all 00:16:52.87\00:16:56.41 times. You know and I thank God that he sees inside of us. 00:16:56.44\00:17:00.02 Because nobody sees what we're going through, the pain, the 00:17:00.05\00:17:03.28 anger, the hurt. Nobody sees your insides. I don't care if 00:17:03.32\00:17:06.49 they know you your whole life. I don't care if it was your mama 00:17:06.55\00:17:11.29 that gave birth to you, they don't know what's going on 00:17:11.33\00:17:14.66 inside you. Only God knows that. 00:17:14.70\00:17:16.36 So, let's paint the picture here. Kid, again, grows up, 00:17:16.43\00:17:21.74 dysfunctional family. Gets exposed to alcohol very early. 00:17:21.80\00:17:26.64 Gets exposed to LSD. Finds dad dead. Mom says hey listen I 00:17:26.68\00:17:31.41 think that you guys are too wild for me; the same lady who would 00:17:31.48\00:17:34.08 pass out sometimes with pill bottles in her hand, tells her 00:17:34.12\00:17:37.22 16-year-old son and his older brother, you guys are too wild 00:17:37.25\00:17:40.62 for me. I'm out of here. You say good riddance. School is 00:17:40.66\00:17:43.96 nonexistent, who needs school. But all the while you're feeling 00:17:44.03\00:17:48.33 these demons and you transition from LSD to coke, from coke to 00:17:48.36\00:17:51.87 crystal meth. And you're just out of control. You're wild. 00:17:51.90\00:17:56.07 In and out of jail. That's who you were, that's where you've 00:17:56.10\00:18:00.28 been. So one day you find yourself in a jail cell. 00:18:00.31\00:18:04.55 That's right. Walk us through that Cody. 00:18:04.58\00:18:05.91 What happened? I catch a case. 00:18:05.95\00:18:07.82 What kind of case? I catch a case. I'm driving 00:18:07.85\00:18:12.59 drunk. It's four in the morning. I'm wasted. About hit a sheriff 00:18:12.65\00:18:17.89 car and I get pulled over. I get released. I catch another case. 00:18:17.93\00:18:23.13 Back to back. I'm sitting in a jail cell. You know, sitting 00:18:23.16\00:18:29.54 there full of hate, anger, pain. I've got murder on my mind. 00:18:29.60\00:18:35.94 I'm out of my head and the demons are getting worse and 00:18:35.98\00:18:39.88 worse. I don't know to cry out to nothing. There is nothing. 00:18:39.91\00:18:43.69 In my mind, there is nothing. There is no God, that ain't real 00:18:43.72\00:18:47.72 That's all a joke. That's phony I don't know what's in that 00:18:47.76\00:18:51.53 Bible but that ain't what I need You know. I'm thinking that. 00:18:51.56\00:18:55.36 I'm not thinking nothing about God at this time, but that's the 00:18:55.40\00:18:59.83 way I thought about God and the Bible. Didn't know who Jesus 00:18:59.87\00:19:04.57 Christ was. Have I heard his name? Yeah, of course. But it 00:19:04.61\00:19:08.21 says in II Corinthians 4:4, the devil's the God of this world 00:19:08.24\00:19:11.68 who blinds those who don't believe. I didn't believe a lick 00:19:11.71\00:19:15.12 of it. So, I was blind. 00:19:15.15\00:19:16.48 So, you were blinded to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ 00:19:16.52\00:19:19.85 by that time. So you're sitting in that jail cell. What happens? 00:19:19.89\00:19:24.16 I'm sitting in the jail cell and I'm hearing voices, crazy voices 00:19:24.19\00:19:29.33 Their all over me. I'm feeling a lot of chains on me. I'm bound 00:19:29.36\00:19:34.40 up. And then all of a sudden from nowhere it was almost like 00:19:34.44\00:19:39.07 something grabbed ahold of me and I felt chills from the top 00:19:39.11\00:19:42.84 of my head to the bottom of my toes. Something I've never felt 00:19:42.88\00:19:46.72 in my life. I went from hate, anger and pain; it was almost 00:19:46.75\00:19:51.15 like my heart done a flip and then the next thing I know I 00:19:51.19\00:19:55.52 feel at peace. I feel a love in my soul that I ain't never felt 00:19:55.56\00:20:01.00 before. I've never talked to God So at this time I remember 00:20:01.03\00:20:05.93 saying is this, is this you God. I started to talk to him. 00:20:05.97\00:20:10.37 I'd never prayed, nothing. And he said I'm going to take you 00:20:10.41\00:20:14.98 out of darkness and you're going to walk in the light. I didn't 00:20:15.01\00:20:19.58 understand it, I didn't know what the Bible said. I wasn't 00:20:19.61\00:20:24.22 sitting in a church service. So what happened is I started to 00:20:24.25\00:20:27.92 seek him. I didn't have a bunch of friends that was guiding me 00:20:27.96\00:20:31.96 in the right place when I come out trying to do what I needed 00:20:31.99\00:20:36.33 to do. But I knew what I knew. As I opened that Bible it said 00:20:36.36\00:20:40.97 the sheep know the shepherd's voice. I read things like that. 00:20:41.00\00:20:44.91 It said even though your mother and father will forsake you I 00:20:44.94\00:20:50.25 will take you in as my own. From then on I felt the Lord. He 00:20:50.28\00:20:54.98 said he'd never leave me nor forsake me. I felt him walk with 00:20:55.02\00:20:59.95 me and carry me through things I could've never got through. 00:20:59.99\00:21:04.79 I've been to psychiatrists. They've tried to put me on meds. 00:21:04.83\00:21:08.70 Jesus was the answer. Nobody said Jesus was the answer and I 00:21:08.73\00:21:11.90 don't know if I would have heard it if they would have said 00:21:11.93\00:21:15.37 it but I'm here to tell you that Jesus Christ is the way, the 00:21:15.40\00:21:18.84 truth and the life. There's no other way. I didn't hear that. 00:21:18.87\00:21:23.81 I know that. It's not maybe to me, its' a fact. Because from 00:21:23.85\00:21:28.68 what was going on I figured that I'd be dead or in the 00:21:28.72\00:21:32.82 penitentiary for life. Something would go down. That's just the 00:21:32.85\00:21:36.36 way I figured. Instead Jesus chose to come take me out of the 00:21:36.42\00:21:42.00 pit and put me in the palace. And today, oh hallelujah, he's a 00:21:42.03\00:21:47.60 restorer. That's right. Not only that he's given me life. 00:21:47.64\00:21:50.27 I didn't have no life. I was walking around as a dead man 00:21:50.31\00:21:53.98 for 30 something years and Jesus Christ cared enough about me to 00:21:54.01\00:21:58.51 come love me in a jail cell. He didn't say this is what you've 00:21:58.55\00:22:03.05 done bad, I'm going to go ahead and condemn you. He just 00:22:03.08\00:22:05.02 straight come and loved me. And he said I got you now son and he 00:22:05.05\00:22:10.93 protected me from the demonic forces that's been on me my 00:22:10.96\00:22:13.06 whole life, built up over time. 00:22:13.09\00:22:17.83 So, Cody, God overwhelms you with love and light and brings 00:22:17.87\00:22:24.01 you joy. I can't even imagine the person you were before now, 00:22:24.04\00:22:29.31 but when you walked in I said you just have the gentle giant. 00:22:29.34\00:22:35.28 Your soft-spoken demeanor. From what you're telling me now about 00:22:35.32\00:22:41.19 your upbringing, only Christ could have done that, only 00:22:41.22\00:22:44.26 Christ could have done that. But here's what I need you to 00:22:44.29\00:22:46.56 to. I'm going to be taking the next couple of minutes. Now you 00:22:46.59\00:22:48.60 did a little bit of that as you we're talking, but right over my 00:22:48.66\00:22:52.03 shoulder there's a camera. There are some people out there, 00:22:52.10\00:22:55.04 they're drinking, feel forsaken by their parents, they feel 00:22:55.07\00:22:58.24 bound, they feel in chains, they feel like there's no way out, 00:22:58.27\00:23:01.34 no way out of the jail cell, no way out of the alcohol addiction 00:23:01.38\00:23:05.81 no way out of the meth addiction There is no mother to gather 00:23:05.85\00:23:09.68 them. There's no father to lead them. I want you to look into 00:23:09.72\00:23:13.72 this camera right now. I want you to speak, speak to their 00:23:13.76\00:23:17.69 spirits, speak to their hearts, speak to their minds, 00:23:17.73\00:23:21.13 speak from your experience having been where somebody 00:23:21.16\00:23:24.47 out there is. Just take the next few moments and speak into this 00:23:24.50\00:23:28.24 camera. Today the Lord has placed me 00:23:28.27\00:23:30.74 where I am for a reason. I could have never called this 00:23:30.77\00:23:34.51 journey out but today he wants me to speak to a lost and dying 00:23:34.54\00:23:38.35 world. There's somebody bound in chains. There's somebody 00:23:38.38\00:23:40.88 right now that's got a pistol up to their head. There's somebody 00:23:40.92\00:23:44.95 right now that's suicidal, depressed, angry, aggravated, 00:23:44.99\00:23:49.06 frustrated and they got no hope. There's somebody right now 00:23:49.09\00:23:52.13 sitting in a jail cell think I'm sitting here in orange or I'm 00:23:52.16\00:23:56.36 sitting here in stripes. Can the Lord set me free? The Lord will 00:23:56.43\00:24:01.04 set you free right where you're at. It's not a destination, it's 00:24:01.07\00:24:05.67 God's revelation that sets us free and puts us up on a rock 00:24:05.71\00:24:09.34 and gives us solid foundation that we ain't ever going to get 00:24:09.38\00:24:13.82 from anything else in this world I didn't even know how to pray 00:24:13.88\00:24:18.29 before the Lord stepped in. Today I know that my prayers 00:24:18.32\00:24:22.36 are just speaking with the Lord. Today I have a relationship with 00:24:22.39\00:24:26.80 Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Today I do ministry in jails and 00:24:26.83\00:24:32.37 prisons and I would have never called that out. Today, whew, 00:24:32.40\00:24:37.64 I'm drug and alcohol free. Only by God's grace can that go down. 00:24:37.67\00:24:42.84 I'm here to tell you right now God ain't coming to look for 00:24:42.88\00:24:45.65 you to judge you. He's coming to look for you to love you. 00:24:45.68\00:24:49.35 He's coming to give the hopeless a hope. He coming to get the 00:24:49.38\00:24:54.76 unsavable saved. He's coming to give the weary rest. You know 00:24:54.79\00:24:59.46 one of my favorite scriptures is Matthew 11:28: Come to me all 00:24:59.49\00:25:03.47 who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke 00:25:03.50\00:25:07.64 upon you for my yoke is easy and my burdens is light. You're not 00:25:07.67\00:25:10.84 going to get that from nowhere in the world. You're not going 00:25:10.91\00:25:13.81 to get it from another drug addiction. You're not going to 00:25:13.84\00:25:16.85 get it from another person or a soul mate you're looking for. 00:25:16.88\00:25:21.78 Christ and Christ alone came and died on the cross for our sins 00:25:21.82\00:25:26.65 so that we may be made whole and so we can. Freedom. Today 00:25:26.69\00:25:30.93 I walk around, it feels like a house come up off me. Today I 00:25:30.96\00:25:34.70 got love in my heart. I may not be where I need to be but I'm 00:25:34.73\00:25:40.67 way better than I used to be and today my worst day today is 00:25:40.70\00:25:46.44 better than my best day before I knew Jesus Christ. This is for 00:25:46.47\00:25:50.45 real or I wouldn't be sitting here saying it. I wouldn't have 00:25:50.51\00:25:54.45 just drove all this way to tell you that Jesus Christ is the 00:25:54.48\00:25:59.25 way and the truth and the life. All's I ask you today is just 00:25:59.29\00:26:03.39 grab a hold of him. Start to talk to him. Tell him what's 00:26:03.43\00:26:07.43 going on with you. Just ask him to comfort you in a storm. Just 00:26:07.50\00:26:10.97 test him and he'll be there. That's all you need to do is 00:26:11.00\00:26:15.64 just test him 'cause Jesus Christ came and died so we could 00:26:15.67\00:26:19.77 live. And I thank him for that and I give him all glory and 00:26:19.81\00:26:24.28 honor. This ain't nothing to do with me. The Lord is a demon 00:26:24.31\00:26:28.78 slaying, chain breaking, way making Lord and he is the 00:26:28.82\00:26:32.62 King of kings and I give him glory and honor today. 00:26:32.65\00:26:36.42 Cody, so this is the message that you're taking to the prison 00:26:36.46\00:26:42.26 Yes. This is the joy you're 00:26:42.30\00:26:44.33 to us. This is what you walk into prisons and you're able to 00:26:44.37\00:26:47.67 interact with people who are hopeless, not just via the 00:26:47.70\00:26:51.87 television screen but you're doing this on a one-on-one basis 00:26:51.91\00:26:56.14 now in the prisons. Yes. 00:26:56.18\00:26:57.51 Praise the Lord man. I mean that is an exceptional story, that is 00:26:57.55\00:27:01.42 an exceptional testimony. The thing I wanted to key in on is 00:27:01.45\00:27:07.56 that you made it very, very clear that you were bound, that 00:27:07.59\00:27:12.93 you were in chains, that you were trying not necessarily to 00:27:12.96\00:27:17.13 cut yourself, you tried putting guns to your head, you put 00:27:17.17\00:27:22.27 alcohol in your body. You put LSD, cocaine, crystal meth, 00:27:22.30\00:27:27.11 felt abandoned. All of these things and yet Jesus still 00:27:27.14\00:27:31.15 stepped into your reality, altered it and brought you to 00:27:31.18\00:27:35.52 where you are now and has now commissioned you to go to the 00:27:35.55\00:27:38.79 prisons and preach liberty to the captives. Brothers and 00:27:38.85\00:27:42.02 sisters, here is the reality of what Cody just said to us. There 00:27:42.06\00:27:47.86 once was a man roaming around Gadara, out of his mind and then 00:27:47.90\00:27:54.04 in stepped Jesus and when Jesus stepped in, the Bible records 00:27:54.07\00:28:00.11 that he left that man clothed and in his right mind. Jesus 00:28:00.14\00:28:06.18 can do it for you. Dare to Dream 00:28:06.21\00:28:11.22