Jesse_Romero_2007

Jesse Romero is a deputy sheriff, former boxing champion, and Catholic lay speaker. He talks about the need for Catholic men to be spiritually strong and active in the battle against evil. He emphasizes the importance of knowing the enemy, defending ourselves with the Word of God, and being proactive in spreading the faith. He also discusses the influence of secularism and the need for Catholics to be passionate and committed in their beliefs. Deputy Sheriff, he is a devoted husband and father of three. Jesse was a three-time world boxing champion and a two-time USA kickboxing champion. Jesse is a cradle Catholic who experienced a conversion through the reading of the Gospels. His conversion has launched him into a preaching ministry where he's lighting fire in the hearts of Catholics across the country. Jesse is a much sought-out lay speaker. He speaks with a sense of urgency on Christ-centered Catholicism at conferences and in the media such as EWTN. He has preached in well over a thousand Catholic venues in the last several years. Indeed, Jesse spoke at our conference three years ago. As a speaker, Jesse has the ability to make understandable the sometimes complex teachings of the faith with his straight talk approach. His messages are simple, orthodox, and delivered with energy and conviction that has become a Jesse Romero trademark. He's a five-alarm wake-up call. Jesse's exciting style is guaranteed to strengthen, edify, and fortify each of you with a deeper love for God. Gentlemen, let's give a warm return welcome to Jesse Romero. Thank you, Father, and thank you for inviting me once again. It's been a couple of years since I've been here, but we're at it again. My name is Jesse Romero. I'm a Catholic lay evangelist. I'm a Bible-believing, born-again evangelical, spirit-filled, sacramentalized, confirmed Roman Catholic Christian, washed, sustained, and empowered by the blood of Jesus. Amen. And this morning, I'm going to be your spiritual fitness trainer for the next 60 minutes. And we're going to talk about all things Catholic. This morning, I want to share with you something I think that is symptomatic of the problem around the country with men in general. Catholic men, Protestant men in this country. It's a topic that we don't talk too much about, and I'm going to try to develop it. And I'm going to call this Truth Versus Lies. But before I do, I want to invoke the name of the Lord. O Lord, open up my lips so that my mouth may proclaim Your praises. Lord, give me the facility to speak the truth in love. Lord, give me the tongue of an angel that I may glorify and praise Your name. In the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Commander-in-Chief, and all of us, when we were confirmed, we became soldiers of Jesus Christ. Life is a battle. That's what the church tells us. But many Catholic men don't realize that they're involved in an insidious battle. Many Catholic men are asleep at the wheel, and therefore our families and our marriages are being ravaged. Now we know that God is love. That's the overarching theme of Sacred Scripture. Pope Benedict XVI, in fact, the first encyclical that he wrote, he reminds us of the great biblical truth that God is love, verse John chapter 4, verse 16. However, I want to talk about another aspect of God that oftentimes we don't talk about. God is also a warrior. Yes, God is love, but God is justice. And God is rallying us, rallying men to battle, spiritual battle, for the soul of our family, for the soul of this country, and for the soul of our marriages. Let me share with you a couple of Bible passages, lest you think that I'm just pulling rabbits out of a hat. Exodus chapter 14, verse 14, the Lord will fight for you. How about another one? Exodus chapter 15, verse 3, the Lord is a man of war. How about another one? Psalm 144, verse 1 and 2. This is when I used to pray before I used to step into the ring. Check this one out. Psalm 144, verse 1 and 2. Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. I rock in my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. Wisdom, chapter 8, verse 15. I shall show myself capable and courageous in war. Brothers and sisters in Christ... Oh, there's no sisters in Christ. Maybe they're hiding around here somewhere, right? The fact of the matter is that we have an enemy called the devil, arch-enemy number one of the Catholic Church. And the fact of the matter is, he works 24-7. He doesn't take vacation time, he doesn't take days off. He's always on the prowl. The first pope of the Catholic Church warns us. Check this out. First Peter, chapter 5, verse 8. You've got to know your enemies. I remember when I was competitive in the ring, I knew everything about my opponent. How good his offense was, how good his defense was. Did he slip? Did he have a good jab? Did he have a good left hook? You've got to know your opponent. The first pope tells us about our opponent. First Peter, chapter 5, verse 8. The Bible says, be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Now, I don't know about you, but that's a pretty ominous picture. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion. Now, how do we defend ourselves of Catholic men? St. Paul tells us how we defend ourselves. Let me flip on over to Ephesians, chapter 6, starting in verse 10. How do we defend ourselves? We defend ourselves with the Word of God. And in fact, St. Paul gives us a metaphor of the Word of God in Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10 and following. He says that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. I'm going to repeat that again. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wilies of the devil. I know it's not popular to hear about the devil because many parishes want to be user-friendly and they don't want to offend the people. But we've got to speak Bible truth, amen? This conference ain't about balloons, butterflies, and banners. It's about the Bible, blessings, and believing, amen? Give it up for Jesus. Give it up for Jesus. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities. By the way, these are fallen angels that are now demons, what I'm describing now. Fighting against principalities, against the powers. Those are fallen angels, they're demons. Against the world rulers of this present darkness. And the spiritual host of the wickedness in heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day. The days are evil, St. Paul says in Ephesians 5.15. He says, brothers, the days are evil. He wrote that 2,000 years ago. What would St. Paul say today? I'll give you some statistics right now to prove my point. St. Paul goes on to say, stand therefore, having girded your loins with the truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, verse 14. I love that metaphor. I got two boys at home, they're both wrestlers. Very competitive wrestlers, very accomplished wrestlers over back in California. In fact, one of my boys won fifth in the state of California, which is quite an accomplishment being in California. It's the size of most countries. And everybody flies over to the big wrestling tournaments over in California. My son was asking me the other day, he goes, hey Dad, when we go to Mass and Jesus is always saying in the Gospels, gird your loins, gird your loins, what does that mean, Dad? My 11-year-old asked me. I said, you know what gird your loins means in English? It's what I tell you right before you wrestle. Remember when Dad's in the corner? And I say, grab your you-know-what and get in there. Sack up, Joshua! Sack up, Paul, and get in there and fight like a man! So next time you hear in the Gospels the word gird your loins, that's a call to battle. That's a Hebrew idiomatic expression that says grab you-know-what and get in there and fight. And the Bible says, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith with which you can quench the flaming darts of the evil one. See, you've got no power. You've got no defense against the devil if you're a faithless man, because faith is our shield. And the Bible says that the devil's throwing fiery darts at us, constant bombardment of temptation. And the Bible goes on to say, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, that's an offensive weapon. We're supposed to go and evangelize. That's offensive. That's not defensive. Too many Catholics, we've become cafeteria Catholics. We pick and choose what we want to believe. Or worse than that, we're afraid in our own houses. On Saturday morning, when the Jehovah's Witness knock at our door, what do we do? We close the shades. We become a generation of shade-drawers and door-lockers, because our sword is not polished. How can you fight the devil if your sword, your knowledge, and your love for the Word of God is about the size of nail clippers? Here comes a line, and you take out these nail clippers. Well, some people, you know, the Easter, Ash Wednesday funeral wedding Catholics, maybe their sword is a little bit bigger, and maybe it looks like, eh, maybe a two-inch or three-inch buck knife. Here comes a big line, and here you come out with a buck knife. Not too good. But I'll tell you what. You want to have power against the devil and the evil one? You need a sword, because you know what you can tell the devil when you've got God's sword? You say, hey, devil, bring it on. Bring it! But the root problem in this country, secularism, secular humanism, and I believe that secular humanism is inspired, it is the tool that's being used by the devil to desensitize many Catholic men. In fact, Jesus Christ talks about this type of secularism already in His day to the seven churches in Asia Minor in Revelation chapter 3, verse 15. Jesus Christ says to a once fired-up parish over in Laodicea, He says, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot, whether you are cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of My mouth. You know what Jesus Christ is saying? You're with Me or you're against Me. You've got to make a decision. See, this is what happened to me about 20 years ago. I'm 45. At about the age of 25, I finally asked myself, as I woke up from this coma that I'd been in for so long, I finally asked myself, what is truth? The question of Pontius Pilate, that most Catholics are infected with, they walk around and they say, what is truth? What is truth? Your truth is your truth. My truth is my truth. There's no such thing as truth. There's no such thing as objective reality. Well, see, I bought into that lie because I was trained in the colleges and universities of this country, where secular humanism is the religion, where they take a young impression of the mind and in four or five years, they dismantle your faith. And you're sitting there in front of a professor for four and five years, and you don't have the mental firepower to fight back. And so that's why, as Dr. Deal Hudson says in an article that he wrote in 2002, seven out of ten Catholic teenagers stop practicing their faith once they get their B.A. Because for four and five years, they've heard the propaganda from the secular humanists who attack Christ, who attack the resurrection, who attack the Bible, who attack faith, who attack God. And all they hear about is evolution. And all they hear about is the human potential. And all they hear about is humanism. And that's what happened to me. I was never an evil person. I was born and raised Catholic. I was born in a Catholic barrio, nothing but Catholics over where I come from, in the suburb of Los Angeles, in the city of San Fernando. But what's happened to most of them? Just like what's happened to most Polish Catholics, Italian Catholics, German Catholics, Irish Catholics? What's happened? We've become secular. We love the world more than we love Christ. And that's a poison. And for 25 years, I can tell you, I loved the world more than I loved Christ, because I didn't know Christ. I knew about Him, I'd heard of Him, but I didn't know Him. And in fact, in case you're wondering who calls the shots here on planet Earth, an incredible passage the Bible gives us in 1 John 3, verse 8, 1 John 5, check this out, verse 16. It says, we know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the devil. What? The whole world is in the power of the devil. I believe that the devil is the CEO of Hollywood. I really do. Check this out. Here's another one. And by the way, we've got to pray for Hollywood. There's a lot of good Catholics and Protestants that are coming up and trying to do good work out there. So the Lord definitely has a beachhead over in Hollywood. So as much as I criticize the enemies, the truth, we're also called to pray for them. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4, the Bible says, it says, in their case, talking about the unbelievers, the God, lowercase g, of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God. The Bible calls the devil, the God, lowercase g, of this world. And so the battle that we find ourselves in is the battle between lies and the battle between the truth of Christ. In fact, many people wonder why our society is in a state of flux, marriages and families are under attack by secular forces. And what's the solution? Pope Pius XI wrote about the solution 75 years ago. One of those beautiful documents called a papal encyclical. You know what he said is a problem with our country? I'm going to give it to you right here. He says, the manifold evils in the world are due to the fact that the majority of men have thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives, that these Jesus and his holy laws have no place either in private affairs or in politics. And we said further that as long as individuals and states refuse to submit to the rule of our Savior Jesus Christ, there will be no hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations. Everyone must look for the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ. And this promise, and this we promise to do as far as lay in our power. A credible document where he says the problem with our country is that Christ is no longer king. Christ is in the sidelines instead of in the center. Let me tell you right now, you know who are the two largest religions on planet earth? Islam and Roman Catholic Christianity. And the Catholic Church. Both of us, as of 2003, we are about 1.2 billion members strong. The largest religions in the world. In the third millennium, I'm telling you right now, the third millennium will be swallowed up by one of three religions. A, Islam, B, the Catholic Church, or C, secular humanism. Those are, those are the options that we have in the third millennium. And I'll tell you one thing, the secular humanists, they are very well organized. Muslims are very well organized. We as Catholics, we represent the truth. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, John chapter 14 verse 6. Now that's the difference between Christ and Mohammed. Christ is the son of God. Mohammed is a human being just like you and me. In fact, last week, a couple of weeks ago, I was at a men's conference, and I had a chance to witness to a Muslim, once the men's conference was done, the people that invited me there, they procured a taxi to take me back to the airport. So the taxi pulled up and I threw my luggage in there, and as I was driving back to the airport, we started, I started exchanging pleasantries with the cab driver. And he started saying, so where are you from? I said, I'm from Los Angeles. And so I asked him, how far is the airport from here? He goes, it's about 40 minutes. I said, oh great. I got two and a half hours, get there in 40 minutes, gives me 90 minutes to check in my stuff and I'll have enough time to get there. So he started saying, so what are you doing over here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? I said, well I'm here speaking at a Catholic men's conference. I'm trying to empower men with the truth of Jesus Christ, with the truth of the Catholic faith. And he said, oh very interesting, tell me more. So I said, hmm cool, this guy is either a Protestant or a Catholic and he wants to hear more about Jesus. Cool, I'm going to give him some more soul food, because I'm part of the CIA, Catholics in action. And so I started sharing with him about what the church is doing, the way the Holy Spirit is bringing Catholic men together to empower us, to live as faithful soldiers of Christ and to realize that this life is short and that we're called to live life with intensity. And so I'm sharing with him all the beautiful things that were happening at the men's conference and then I asked him, because he seemed very curious, I said, are you Catholic by the way? And then all of a sudden the tone of his voice changed. He goes, no, I'm not Catholic, he goes, I'm Muslim. And he said it, he said it very proud. He goes, I used to be Catholic, but now I'm a Muslim. And so I looked at my cell phone and I said, cool, I got 40 minutes man. I said, baby, it is on. And so I just jumped in with, I figured I'm never going to see this guy for the rest of my life, so I'm going to give it to him and we're going to exchange ideas and stuff and hopefully he's open-minded, because I'm open-minded, and so we're going to talk about it. And so I started, I know the weakness in Islam, in terms of evangelism, and so I went right for the Achilles heel. You go right to Jesus and you compare Jesus with Mohammed, and there's no comparison. So I started saying, well, what do you think about Jesus? He goes, oh, he's a nice man, he's a good prophet, he's a good teacher, he's one of our prophets. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, Jesus doesn't say that. What you're saying is something that Jesus doesn't say. Jesus Christ says, I am the Son of God. Jesus Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man goes to the Father but through me. I said, Jesus Christ says, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, though he die, he shall live. Christ makes some claims that either he's a divine person or he's a whack job. Make your pick, tabby. And he's saying, no, no, no, no, I think he was just a nice guy, a good philosopher, a good teacher. I'm saying, time out! Foul! Foul! Christ doesn't say he's a good philosopher or a good teacher. He says he's the Son of God. He says he's the way to heaven. He says he died for our sins. You either believe that or you don't. Either he's the Lord or he's a liar. Take your pick. He goes, I'm not willing to say he's a liar. No, no, no, I won't go there. Because he's one of our prophets. I said, the Bible's very clear that there is no other prophet after Jesus Christ, amen? And I told him, he goes, where does it say that in the Bible? Hebrews chapter 1, baby, right here. And many in various ways, God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by a Son, whom He, the Father, appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world through Jesus. He goes, I never saw that Bible passage. So then I went for the second Achilles' heel. I said, if you die tonight, I said, how do you know you're going to go to heaven? See, because one of the weaknesses in Islam is they doubt their salvation because it's based on a system of trying to work your way to heaven. Where Christianity, as Pope John Paul II says, it's quite the opposite. See, these other religions, they're building a scaffold to heaven. So they never know whether they've attained salvation. Where Christianity, guess what? God does the heavy lifting, amen? God did the heavy lifting on the cross, so God is the one from heaven who throws down the lifesaver, and the lifesaver is Jesus. As Pope John Paul II said, rest in peace, in his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, on his section on Islam, he said, Islam is a religion without redemption, which means they reject the Redeemer. They reject Christ. So they don't have a religion with a Savior. I said, so how do you know you're going to go to heaven? I said, how many pilgrimages do you have to do? He goes, I'm not sure. I said, how many times a day do you have to pray, and for how many years? How many times do you have to fast and give alms? How many things do you have to do according to the five tenets of Islam, and how long do you have to do it? Ten years? Five years? Twenty-five years? Thirty years? Four years? Three months? I said, you know what? I've got a Savior. Jesus Christ, when I die, and I spoke to him in his language, when I die and I stand face to face before Allah, guess what? I got me a lawyer. Give it up for Jesus. I said, that's what the Bible says, 1 John chapter 2, verse 1, my little children, I am writing this to you so that you may know. You may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate. The Greek word for that is parakletos, which in English can be translated lawyer. Jesus Christ is the dream team, amen? We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I told him, you got a lawyer when you die? I said, you going to call the Yellow Pages when you die and you stand before Allah? I said, I got me a lawyer, his name is Jesus. And that's his son. And Jesus Christ did the heavy lifting, and he's given me his spirit through the sacraments, the sacraments that you received. And now you reject. Oh, he didn't like that. So now he started getting a little bit nasty with me. He was saying some things that I don't want to repeat here. He started insulting Jesus and insulting the faith. And then he said, now the reason I joined Islam, because it's a religion of power. He says, and we're going to take over the world. He says, all the other religions, he says, you guys represent weakness. He told me that. And so I told him, I said, so you believe in jihad against the infidel. What do you consider me? He goes, you're an infidel. I don't even know who this guy is. I'm going through these winding roads, and, you know, there's a 120-foot cliff on the other side, and it's snowing all around me for miles and miles, and I'm in Wisconsin with a Muslim who doesn't like me that much. And he didn't like a couple of things that I had to say either, because I don't bite my lip. I'm not... And I don't have my tongue, not when it comes to Jesus, amen? And so I told him, I said, so you believe that if you kill an infidel that you're going to go to paradise and enjoy 73 virgins for the rest of your life? I said, that's what's taught by Muhammad in the Hadith, right? He goes, I believe that. And he goes, in fact, then he changed up a little bit. He says, in fact, he says, so you're a Catholic evangelist. I said, yes. He goes, that means you're kind of like a leader in the Catholic Church? I said, some people may say that. Some people may agree with you. He goes, so I got a leader in the Catholic Church in my back seat. I said, yeah. He goes, you know what I feel like doing right now? And he goes, I feel like throwing this car off this road 120 feet down and kill you. And you know what I said? I'm like... At that moment, you know, the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7, it says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of courage and self-control. And the Bible says in Mark chapter 5 verse 36, do not be afraid, only believe. And so when he said that, I licked my chops. I said, shoot. I just went to the sacrament of confession two hours ago. I'm saying to my wife, this guy throws a car off the cliff and kills me. I said, man, I'm going to fly like an eagle. I'm in a state of grace. You know, I may spend some time in purgatory, but I'm on my way to heaven, baby. So I told him with boldness, I said, you know what? I said, don't you threaten me. I said, you know what? Throw the car off the cliff right now. I said, I'm ready to go. I got a Savior. I got Jesus. I got a lawyer. I got an advocate before the Father. I said, do me a favor. I've been ready for 20 years. I licked my chops. I said, man, you throw that car off the cliff. I'm ready to go. I got a Savior. I got Jesus. I got a lawyer. I got an advocate before the Father. I said, do me a favor. I've been ready for 20 years. I said, do me a favor. I licked my chops. I said, man, you throw that car off the cliff, and I'm going to talk about the Catholic sensibilities that I know that are deep in your soul. I said, I just went to confession, my friend, two hours ago. I'm in a state of grace. I just went to Mass. I received the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in John chapter 6, verse 53 to 56, Jesus Christ says, unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my body and drinks my blood, I, Jesus, will raise him up on the last day for my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. I'm like, I said, don't you threaten me. You throw this car off the cliff right now, because I'm going to tell you. I said, as soon as my body dashes upon the rocks, I said, my soul is going to fly like an eagle into the hands of Christ. I've got a Savior. My Redeemer lives, and I will see him upon my death, and I'm going to tell you, my friend, I said, you have been sold a bill of goods. You have been sold a package of lies. You ain't going to see 73 versions, baby. I said, what you're going to see, I said, on your way to hell, because you reject Christ. You reject the faith. You have completely rejected your Savior. I said, you ain't see no versions where you're going, buddy. I said, where I'm going, I'm going to see a virgin. Her name is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen Mother. Hallelujah. Praise God. He got quiet, because some people say that I speak with confidence. I stand upon the Word of God, and I know that he's rejected Christ. And he said, and I reject Christ openly, and I reject Christ after prayer and study. I said, you know what, my friend? I said, throw this car off the cliff, you're going right to hell as soon as you die, immediately. I said, he goes, are you sure about that? I said, I have no doubt. There's not an ounce of doubt in my body. I said, man, dude, you are in for a surprise. He got quiet. I looked at my cell phone, I had about 10 minutes before the airport. I said, man, I'm going to hit this guy, left, right, left, right, left, right, I'm on, I'm on now, man. Man. I said, I'll just, I'll go on the offense, go on the offense, evangelize, evangelize. He got quiet. And then, man, I just started unloading with the faith, with the truth about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but through me. John chapter 14, verse 6. Jesus Christ says in John chapter 17, verse 17, he says, sanctify them in the truth, thy Word is truth. Jesus Christ says in John chapter 8, verse 32, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. What's the difference between Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, and any other religious founder? What's the difference? The difference is this, my friends, is that all the other ones are dead, and Jesus Christ is alive. That's why people keep coming into the Catholic Church every single year in the RCIA program. Not because we've got the greatest choirs, or the greatest acoustics, or the greatest parking lot. People come in for one reason, and one reason alone, because Jesus Christ is alive, and that makes life worth living, and that makes death conquerable, amen? Give it up for Jesus, give it up for Jesus. And so, we pull up to the airport, and I'm hitting them, man, left and right, left and right, Catholic truth, Bible truth. And I'm praying at the same time, I'm laying down cover fire. See, when you pray for somebody, it's like laying down cover fire. So I'm laying down cover fire, I'm praying for them, and I'm witnessing. And we get to the airport, he didn't say nothing for ten minutes. Got right to the airport, I opened the door, jumped out, he jumped out, got my bags, and he looked at me, and he says, do you really think I'm going to hell? It bugged him, it bugged him! He said, because you really think I'm going to hell? And I told him, I said, man, I'd be a lying fool if I wasn't giving it to you straight. You are baptized in the Catholic Church, you openly reject Jesus Christ, you just told me, you cannot be saved, you cannot be saved knowingly, with full intellect, with the full consent of the will, with your full knowledge, you cannot enter heaven, into the Father's house by rejecting His Son, you're sealing your fate. And he looked at me, and he didn't say nothing, and then I told him, you know what, I know you spent ten minutes in the car insulting Jesus Christ, I said, but that Jesus Christ who you insulted, He loves you, He's Allah's Son, He died for your sin, and He's your Savior. And you know what, the Catholic Church is the religion of peace, and that's what this is all about, to bring the religion of peace, the civilization of love, into this world, to sanctify this world with the truth of Jesus Christ. And I told him, Jesus Christ loves you, and I'm going to pray for you, I'm going to pray that you come back home, I want to see you in heaven, I want to see you saved. And he looked at me and he goes, he got, his voice quivered, and he had a tear in his eye, and he said, thank you. And I told him, in the car, in the taxi cab, I went to the airport, I'll probably never see him again, but the fact of the matter is, God is giving us the opportunity every single day to share our faith. And we've got to, we can't squander the moment. As Catholic Christian men, today is a day of salvation, today is a day of conversion. When I discovered, through reading the Gospels, who Jesus Christ was, I fell in love with Jesus. And for 25 years, I've been searching for love and for power in all the wrong places, and love, perfect love and perfect power, lies in the person of Christ. Jesus Christ is an equal opportunity lover, an equal opportunity Savior, and what I tell people is that, when it's all said and done, 100 years from now, none of us are going to be here. None of us are going to be here. It doesn't matter what you've done with your life, what schools you went to, what colleges, what degrees you have, what investments you have, what property you have, what houses, what money, what is going to matter when it's all said and done, when you breathe your last breath, and when you stand butt naked before the throne of God, that you accept the Son Jesus Christ. All of life synthesizes to that point. You got Jesus or you don't. And for us as Catholic men, it's time to go back to basics. Everything we do as Catholic men, remember this and I'm done, I'm done. Everything we do as Catholic men, A-B-C, always be Christ-centered. You go to Holy Mass, A-B-C, always be Christ-centered. When you go to the Sacrament of Confession, A-B-C, always be Christ-centered. When you pray the Rosary, A-B-C, always be Christ-centered. When you do the Stations of the Cross, A-B-C, always be Christ-centered. When you read the Bible, what do you got to do? Always be what? When you pray the chapter of Divine Mercy, what do you do? When you do your morning prayers, what do you do? When you say grace before meals, what do you do? Amen, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you, Lord, thank you. We praise you. Give it up for Jesus! Thank you, Jesse, that was a powerful presentation, thank you. One thing I would like to do is point out what we call the Jesus Chair here, and it's a recognition of Christ's promise that where two or more are gathered in his name, he also will be present. Now Bobby Fisher and his group will lead us in music and singing.