Finish Strong With Fearless Faith

Your Calling with Chris Mikkelson #80

January 16, 2023 Fearless Faith / Chris Mikkelson Season 3 Episode 80
Finish Strong With Fearless Faith
Your Calling with Chris Mikkelson #80
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Show Notes Transcript

This podcast is sure to inspire YOU!  International Evangelist, TV host and Podcaster Chris Mikkelson joins us.  He preaches to over a million people every year in some of the most unreached and dangerous places of the world and has seen many powerful miracles,  Yet, he never could have imagined that this would happen to him.

Chris discovered his calling in his twenties when God spoke to him through several people.  They all told him he was going to be an evangelist and preach to millions.  It is obvious when you meet him that he is humble and kind and focused on his mission to lead people to Jesus.

Don’t miss this powerful edition of “Finish Strong.”  It may help you discover your unique calling in life!

Chris Mikkelson's Website
https://chrismikkelson.com/

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Dan Wheeler:

Welcome to What is sure to be an exciting and powerful episode of finished strong. Today you're gonna meet a man who preaches in some of the most unreached and dangerous places in the world. Yet God is using him to do amazing things. And in fact, his ministry has seen over 1 million people give their lives to Jesus Christ over the past two years alone. Think about that. We'll introduce him in a moment. But I'm your host, Dan Wheeler, I'm joined by Brian Rowland and Terry Steen Guys, can you imagine that kind of impact preaching to millions around the globe?

Brian Roland:

You think about it, it's it's overwhelming when you think about because I I picture about like a football stadium about, well, you know, about over 100,000 at the at the big house, but about 80,000. And you got to fill that up 10 times to reach that. It's just, it's just amazing to me.

Terry Steen:

You know, I think that's part of why I was so intrigued and excited with if you'll remember, I was reading a charisma magazine article about Chris, in reading what was going on. And I mentioned it to you guys when we were doing a podcast on persecution. And I said, Wouldn't it be great if we could get someone like Chris on our podcast? Lo and behold, John goes to church with the man. And I feel like God's putting this podcast together. So I'm excited as to what's what we're going to hear.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, John is John Matarazzo, our producer, he hosts his own podcast called along the way. He interviewed today's guests. He highly recommended that we have him on and we're going to introduce him now joining us as international evangelists TV show hat show host and podcaster Chris Michaelson. So Chris, welcome to finish strong. It's great to have Hey, thanks for

Chris Mikkelson:

having me, guys. It's great. And it's an honor to be on your program today.

Dan Wheeler:

You know, I said before the show you're you're certainly a young man, what you just turned 40. And yet God is using you. We're in our late 60s, early 70s. And our idea with fearless Faith Ministries was that we wanted to finish strong and do something in our later years for the kingdom. But we wish we had done more earlier. But you are fortunate that you realized your calling early in life. Could you tell us a little bit about you went from Chris Michelson, who I understand wasn't exactly living for the Lord to Chris Michaelson preaching to millions. Yeah,

Chris Mikkelson:

yeah. It's been a wild and amazing journey. You know, to be honest, I thought I was getting started late as well. I was 23 years old, live living as a total heathen, selling drugs, living wild drinking drugs, everything that goes along with that worldly lifestyle. And to cut it very short, I had gotten invited to go to a church service. One Sunday morning, and I didn't get saved. But the pastor said something he said, Come back to church on Wednesday. And that's all I heard. But what he actually said was come back on Wednesday night, for our midweek service, where we're gonna have a special teaching for parents, whose teenage children are dealing with drugs and alcohol. Come back to church on Wednesday, all I heard was come back to church on Wednesday. So I think, I don't know if maybe there was an angel covering my ears or something. But that Wednesday night, lo and behold, I haven't been to church and you know, yours. And my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, we go to church that Wednesday night, and God, so raptured our hearts and I just felt just the loving conviction of the Holy Spirit. I knew I needed to get right with God, I'd been running from God, I grew up in a Christian home, but had been running from God. My wife had never been in a in a Christian upbringing at all. And that night, we made a decision to start following Jesus. And for the first couple of months, I like to say we were halfway Christians. We were, you know, halfway in the world. And halfway in the church, I wasn't getting as high as I used to get because I was a Christian. Now, I thought I probably shouldn't get so high anymore. Because I'm a Christian. I probably shouldn't get as drunk as I used to get because I'm a Christian. And, of course, you know that that's not the Lord's desire at all. And over the course of a couple of months of just my soul being pulled in two different directions. There came a moment where I had this epiphany moment, where I realized that I'd been living my entire life, which at 23 years old isn't a very long life. But when you're 23, you think you've lived a really long life. And, and I thought I've been living this whole time for me. I don't know how much longer I have left to live, but I want to live the rest of my life 100% For Jesus, and, and I said, I'm done with everything. I'm done with the drugs, the alcohol, pornography, I'm done with it all I'm gonna live for the Lord, I want to give everything to him the rest of my life, whatever that looks like, I didn't think I would be in ministry. All I knew was I wanted to live the rest of my days, doing whatever Jesus wanted me to do. And that was when everything really began to change. God set me free put us on a new course. I started devouring the scriptures, reading as much as I could. I felt like I had to catch up, you know? And so I started reading and devouring the Word of God. And God divinely connected us into some Holy Ghost ministries. And and I started really getting passionate for the things of the Spirit, learning more and more about his spirit, and eventually ended up going to Bible school not too long after that.

Brian Roland:

Chris, how did you get started into the evangelism?

Chris Mikkelson:

Yeah. So when I went to Bible school, I really didn't think that I was called into ministry, I had gotten a prophetic word from a leader in my life, that I was called to the ministry. I thought he was crazy. I thought, you know, I'm a farm boy from Minnesota. You know, I'm not a preacher. But I joined the evangelism team, merely just to learn how to tell people about Jesus. And I got out onto the streets of Dallas in Bible school. In my first semester, I met a guy, I started talking to this guy on the streets. The Lord gave me a prophetic word for him, I released this word, he starts crying, the Holy Spirit starts touching him. And and I, and I asked him, I said, Brother, God's calling you to come back to him. He was backslidden. And I led him to the Lord that day, with tears coming down his face, he received Jesus as Lord and Savior. And I said, this is all I want to do. I want to spend the rest of my life telling people about Jesus. Well, I thought I would be on the streets the rest of my life doing that. The Lord had other plans to cut a very long story short, over the course of those three years in Bible school, I must have gotten 100 prophetic words from friends of mine, dreams, prophetic words, getting called out, you know, I would be in a large crowd, a preacher would be on stage and they'd call me out and start prophesying about crusades, mass evangelism, signs and wonders, you know, all of these things that that God was going to do through my ministry. And so that was really the beginning of it. And then right before I graduated Bible school, the Lord divinely connected me with the ministry of Christ for all nations, which was the ministry of Angeles ran her bunkie founded and I became the executive assistant to his successor, evangelists, Daniel Kolenda. And while I was there, evangelist Kolenda really poured into me and Evangelist Bonnke then also, later on in my time, there really started pouring into me and then eventually I launched out started doing my own crusades in 2015. And, and they continued and still to this day, continue to mentor me in the in the things of mass crusade evangelism.

Terry Steen:

That's, that's an incredible progression for you, isn't it? How that is, I have met and have Reinhardt and I have good friends with a pastor in Vero Beach where Reinhardt considered his home church for a while. And we know a little bit about his ministry and how incredible it was. And now, same with Daniel Kolenda as he is growing in that ministry as well. And so for you to have like giants of the faith, come along beside you. What was that? Like? What kind of lessons could you share with us that you've walked away from to this point, that propelled you to where you are now?

Chris Mikkelson:

You know, being with evangelist Bonnke it it just it really inspired me and as well with with evangelist Daniel Kolenda. It really just to be able to be behind the scenes and see their life, their walk with the Lord. You know, there were so many times where evangelist bunkies assistant would be on vacation, and they would call me then come assist evangelist Bonnke while his assistant was sick, or on vacation, or whatever, and many times I was with evangelists, Bonnke, driving him places. And all he wanted to talk about was souls. And Jesus. That's all he talked about. It's all he thought about. And, you know, it was really powerful effect the ministry, because he was getting older, he was about ready to retire, his family was wanting him to retire, they moved him out to Vero Beach, the headquarters is in Orlando, Vero Beach is about an hour away from Orlando. And his family wanted him to move out there to kind of stop doing evangelism. But the more he got away from the ministry, the more he began to dream, dreams of God, and, and then all of a sudden, the next thing you know, he says, America shall be saved. Let's do crusades all over America. And, you know, and it was just like, he just so loved the Lord, and so loved evangelism. And that really inspired me to just really continue to go after the Lord, and then the humility of evangelists Bonnke as well, and Kolenda. But, you know, just seeing that that long life of evangelist Bonnke had been doing this for so many years, decades, successfully, without any moral failures, and to just be underneath his ministry, and to and to see the humility of this man of God was was really awe inspiring.

Dan Wheeler:

You know, Chris, we've been reading in the news the last couple of months, that people are walking away from Christianity in many ways, and that the percentage of Christians is dropping, yet we believe that God's going to pour out his Spirit in the final days, what are you seeing because you have a unique vantage point, seeing what's going on around the world?

Chris Mikkelson:

Yeah, I've read some of those same statistics. And it's true in America and in the Western world, we are seeing decline in the churches, church attendance, and that sort of thing. But what we're seeing overseas is absolutely amazing. There is such an openness, and such a hunger for Jesus, that that's really, really amazing. What we're seeing in our crusades in Pakistan, is that the people of Pakistan are so open to the Gospel. And I really believe that you know, what the enemy meant for evil, God has a good way of turning it around for the good. And, and God is taking a lot of the the things that these other religions have done in in an evil way, let me say it like that, I have to be a little careful what I say. But what they've done in an evil way, God is taking it and turning it around. So the average Pakistani, who's not a Christian, has seen this evil preaching, and this evil lifestyle lived out in these other religions. And it's caused them to really say, I'm not sure if I believe in my original religion that I was brought up. And, and what we're doing is when we bring the Gospel to these places, people are coming to Christ, literally by the hundreds of 1000s. We've now just crossed in our Last Crusade just a couple of months ago. 1.9 million people who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, just in the nation of Pakistan. So what God's doing there is absolutely amazing. And we're seeing it in America. You know, people always say to me, Chris, why do more miracles happen? overseas? Why do miracles happen in India and Africa and Pakistan and all of these things? And the same is true with the same question about revival. You know, why are we seeing revival in these big moves of God and other nations, but not in our own? The answer is the same. The same Holy Spirit that's in Pakistan is right here in America. Hey, man, just got to start preaching the gospel again. We've got to get back to preaching about healing and the gospel and, and going after these things. And I really believe that, that it's starting in America. Listen, I've just I was just doing some math. We were looking over the last year of our ministry, and I preached I think, 60 times 60 different services just last year, and most of those were in America. And the power of God is moving in America. One day, my assistant said to me, she said, Chris, I've been with you for over a year. Now. I don't think there's been one service in America, where someone hasn't either gotten saved or healed in one of you Your meetings, every service, we're seeing the power of God move. But what I really believe it's not about me, it's not about a minister or a ministry. The Lord wants this. And if we will, if we will preach, you know evangelists, Spelunky used to say that if you preach Jesus as a savior, he'll save. If you preach him as a healer, he'll he'll, if you preach him as the baptizer of the Holy Spirit, he'll baptize people in the Holy Spirit. We've got to start start preaching the full gospel in America once again. And I really believe if will preach the same message the apostles preached in the Bible will get the same results the apostles got in the Bible.

Brian Roland:

I love what you said there about what he says if you preach salvation, you preach the Holy Spirit. I was at the fire conference in Africa years ago with a with Ryan Hall. And I saw him he was preaching the Holy Spirit. And he would wave his arm over these people. And the rows just went spill over. And he's speaking in tongues. It's like, oh, my gosh, I could not believe it. Do you think that could happen in America?

Chris Mikkelson:

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm praying that it does. You know, Americans have a lot of walls up and very hard to hearts, you know, when it comes to the things of the Lord, but we're seeing that, you know, I'm a part of evangelist Daniel Kolenda has a program where he's raising up evangelists. And I'm one of the one of the teachers at his boot camp at his school of evangelism. And I'll tell you, we're training up young people are sending them out to the streets of America, preaching the gospel, and I'll tell you, God is up to something on the streets of America, I really believe that we are in a post Christian Era in America. And I really believe that's a good thing. Because we, you know, 30 years ago, everyone in America would claim that they're a Christian. Today, most people would say, I'm not sure. You know, you go and ask somebody about Jesus on the street. Hey, what do you know about Jesus? That's my first question. Whenever I talk to somebody, and most people would say, I don't know anything. That's a good thing to me in many ways, because it gives us a clean slate to bring the gospel once again, back into America. So I'm, I'm very excited about what God's doing in America. I have faith and hope that as long as we're on the earth, and as long as we're filled with the Holy Spirit, there's always hope for America in Jesus name.

Dan Wheeler:

Chris, let me ask you. A lot of people say, Well, I'm not an evangelist, I don't preach to millions. What can individual Christians be doing to bring about this revival?

Chris Mikkelson:

Oh, praise the Lord. You know, we're, we're not all called to be evangelists. But we are all called to evangelize. The Great Commission is not just for the office of the evangelist, it's for all Christians. We're all commissioned to share our faith with people. And as a matter of fact, just this morning, on my Facebook and YouTube page, I did a teaching on how to share how to lead someone to Jesus. So I want to encourage you to go there, evangelists, Chris Michaelson, on Facebook, and YouTube, and Instagram. And, and I did it. So, you know, it's, it's not complicated. Any one of us as long as you're saved, and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you can share the gospel with people, and you can pray with people and see people get healed and, and touched by the Lord. And so it's very simple. I want to encourage you, what I do is I asked three simple questions to anyone I'm evangelizing. Number one, what do you know about Jesus? Now, I don't really care how they answer the question. They could say Jesus is a Martian from outer space. Doesn't matter to me. Because really, what I want to do is I want to ask the second question. The second question is, can I tell you what I know about Jesus? Because you see the power, the power is in the Gospel, the apostle Paul said in Romans 116, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation, for them that believe. And so we've got to preach the gospel. So ask them, What do you know about Jesus? I don't really care how they respond unnecessarily I do. But what I want to get to is I want to share the gospel. Then I asked him, Can I tell you what I know about Jesus? Nine times out of 10, they'll say yes. And then I'll present the gospel that we've all sin, fallen short of the glory of God, that Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. I believed them in the Romans road, and then I'll make the last question. The third question is, do you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior and so this is what the Lord has given me. And and it's just, it's been absolutely amazing seeing people, everyday people who aren't evangelists take these three questions with a little bit of knowledge about what the gospel is, which is simply, we're all sinners in need of a Savior, and share that message with people around the world and people are getting saved on the street corners, just by asking those three questions.

Terry Steen:

Wow, you know that you're, you're a great example of fulfilling the Great Commission. And it's one thing to do it to the amount of people that you are, and the average Joe or the person listening to our podcast could not imagine that. But we all know that we're called to fulfill that great commission. And I think it seems quite obvious that your success is come through anointing and through a calling that you're being obedient. But can you get real practical and applicable for our listeners? Now? How do you walk through your life? What do you do that you feel gives you that anointing gives you that power? And can they have it as well? What are the steps?

Chris Mikkelson:

Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad you asked. You know, the anointing is just the Holy Spirit. It's the power of the Holy Spirit x one eight says that Jesus told his disciples that they would receive power dunamis power, miracle working power, when the Holy Spirit came upon them. And so the anointing, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, His is power, anointing in our life. So number one, you've just got to get filled with the Holy Spirit. And I've got a lot of teachings on YouTube and that sort of thing on, you know, the receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, all of that stuff. But as soon as you get baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have the anointing, you have the power of God, that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, amen. And so you, we have that same resurrection power on the inside of us. And the Bible tells us in Mark chapter 16, that these signs will follow them that believe, it doesn't say that it will follow them that have prayed enough, it doesn't say that it will follow those with a theological degree. It doesn't say that though these signs will follow them that have, you know, a fivefold ministry. All it says is these miracle signs will follow them that believe. And I remember being in Bible school and saying, wait a minute, I'm a believer, I've been in dude, with the power of the Holy Spirit, I've received that power in my life. I speak in other tongues. And I said, Wait a minute, if these signs will follow them that believe. And those signs are laying hands on the sick, casting out demons speaking in new tongues, I said, Wait a minute, I qualify. And so I began to just pray for people that were sick on the streets, expecting miracles. And so here's the thing. You've got to, to keep it simple. A lot of times when we pray for people that are sick, we pray, or sometimes we don't even pray, we just say, well, I'll be praying for you. We don't actually pray.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah.

Chris Mikkelson:

But then even if we do pray, a lot of times, I know with me before this, before I had this revelation, I would pray for somebody to be healed. And then I'd say, Okay, God bless you. Bye, bye. I didn't want to wait and see if something had happened to them if they had gotten healed or not. Because I was afraid of them saying, no, nothing has happened. And so I began to just wait. And I would pray for somebody. And then I would wait and expect the miracle. If the Bible says that. We shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, then that's a promise from God. And so I determined in my in my heart, that I'm going to pray for the sick, and I started praying that way, and I would pray for the sick, somebody that was in pain, I pray for the pain to go away. I'd get done praying, and I'd say how do you feel? And they'd say, Well, I feel the same. Well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to keep praying because I know what the word says. If I lay hands on the sick, they shall recover it. So I keep praying. And I keep standing and believing that they're going to be healed. I remember the first time I ever did this, it was a friend of mine had a headache. And you know, the simple request. He said, Man, I've got this headache and I said, Can I pray for you? He said, Sure, I laid hands on him. I said, headache go away. Be healed right now in Jesus name. Amen. So how do you feel? And he goes, Hey, wait a minute, that really gone. And you know, that seems like such a small miracle. But it was a big deal for me because that was the first miracle that I've ever seen. Now we see tumors vanishing, we see, we see a cripple start walking. We've seen demonized, I mean, I don't even know how many people who were possessed, who got set free. We've seen God do so many things. But it starts with that simple seed faith that mustard seed faith and just saying, You know what, I've got what I need, you know, a lot of people think they need more faith. But the reality is, you already have faith. Even the smallest amount of faith, Jesus said, is enough to move mountains. Even if you have mustard seed faith, you can move while mountains. And so we have everything we need. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, we already have enough faith to move mountains. Right now we've just got to release it and expect the miraculous,

Dan Wheeler:

you know, our time has gone by way too quickly. I'm gonna mention to John, our producer, we're gonna go a little bit longer. Brian, why don't you hit Chris, with your last question. And then we'll wrap things up. And, guys, we have to do another episode with Chris. Next week. He's just got so many great stories.

Brian Roland:

Chris, I'm gonna ask you how people know what their calling is. I know, they're always wondering this. I have a calling. But they don't know what it is. I mean, I've said before, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing at times. And I and I fight with that. And I pray, Lord, my in the right lane. What would you say to that?

Chris Mikkelson:

Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, there's books and libraries full of books that try to answer that question. And yet, there seems to be sometimes this feeling of, well, I, you know, I'm still maybe not sure. And I want to encourage people that if you're not sure, don't get frustrated with that. Just keep doing what the Lord has called us to do, you know, just keep running in your lane. And I didn't know at first that I was called to be an evangelist. It came in over some time while I was in Bible school. But I just kept pursuing the things of the Lord. And one thing that I that I have noticed is that oftentimes when somebody is called to something, it's like, they don't want to do anything else. That's all they want to do. You know, and if there's a passion inside of you, and it's a it's a godly passion, not a worldly passion, if there's a godly passion inside of someone, to evangelize, or to be the, you know, to host a Christian TV show, or if there's a godly desire to, to just love on people and shepherd people, then you can probably determine that, hey, wait a minute, there's probably a calling there. But I always encourage people, if you feel called into a fivefold ministry, Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, if you feel called into one of those five offices, to really pray, and ask God, to confirm it, you know, God is not some distant being that that we don't have connection with. He loves us. He longs for us to know what we should do. And, and I really believe that if if we as Christians will just take those moments and say, Lord, show me confirm to me, I really, I'm really believing that you're going to show me what to do. I really believe he will show us what we're called to do. And and sometimes, that calling doesn't come immediately. I remember when I first got saved, I was praying God, show me what am I called to what am I called to what am I called to? And it didn't come for a few years. And it wasn't until I got into bible school and continued pursuing the things of the Lord, that all of a sudden, I started getting prophetic words like just nonstop about what I was called to do. And so I would just encourage people do what do the things that you're passionate about in the Lord, continue to do those things. Be faithful to the Lord, continue to study, seek Jesus, pray, seek the word of god worshipped Jesus. And I really believe that if you'll do that, he'll begin to show you what you're called to do.

Dan Wheeler:

Okay, at the beginning of this podcast, Chris, I said, this was sure to be an exciting and powerful episode. And it certainly was. And thank you so much, brother, for joining us. It is great to meet you. And we're gonna have you on next week. Sounds great.

Chris Mikkelson:

I look forward to Thanks, guys.

Dan Wheeler:

All right, thank you. Well, guys, boy, there's a lot to chew on there. When we talk about finishing strong. What were some of the things that that Chris said that kind of inspired you to continue in our ministry? And to go even further?

Terry Steen:

Well, for me, I know it's always I'm always wondering, anointing wanting anointing any, any made it so practical, that that's being filled with the Spirit? And how do you get filled with the Spirit you ask, and you believe, he told us the reading, reading God's Word into worshiping, and then ask him and then the key is to believe, if you don't believe it, then you won't have the anointing, which then won't be able to translate to the people you're talking to. So it's pretty simple. But yet at the same time, we've got to really focus in on those areas.

Brian Roland:

I think what he said, something that you feel passionate about, and that you just, you don't want to dive into it, and you want to stick with. And that's what fearless faith is, to me. It's like I finally finding something I just want to dive head into. And just in workout. Coming out of the broadcasting field is like, this is great, but I never felt complete in doing that, or that's what this is doing. So I know, I know, I'm in the right lane this time. And when I'm doing that I'm following what God wants me to do. And it's interesting, because he's always had a plan for my life. I didn't know that I people told me years ago that I was going to be in ministry. And I'm going no, not no, not. And same thing, like Chris was saying. And here we are. I mean, God had a plan for me. He was prepared for me the whole way.

Dan Wheeler:

Absolutely. Yeah. I was impressed with the way Chris loves to evangelize with people even on the street. And the questions of what do you know about Jesus? Can I tell you what I know about Jesus? And do you want to receive Jesus? I mean, those are three questions that can lead to a salvation. So just really good, practical advice. And it was it was powerful. We now see why God is using this man to preach to millions of people. He's humble, he's available, and he just wants to follow the Lord with everything he's got. And that's what we want to do here on Finish strong. Thanks for joining us. God bless everybody. And make sure you listen to next week's episode, when we're going to have Chris back on and here's some really amazing stories about some of the miracles and the healings that he's seen. We'll catch you next time.

John Matarazzo:

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out their website, F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong