(light music)

- Heat and pressure.

Nobody likes their feetbeing held to the fire,

but guess what?

That can be a good thing, take a look.

- [Reporter] New YorkTimes bestselling author

and pastor, Jentezen Franklin,

says that it's time to open your eyes

and see what's right in front of you.

- I'm telling you

that you shouldn't run from your trials.

You shouldn't run from them for in them

you will learn more, you will become more.

You will do more.

Stay right there where you're under heat

and you're under pressure

because only then can diamonds be born.

- [Reporter] In his newbook, Acres of Diamonds,

Pastor Franklin shares how to dig deep,

uncovering your hidden potential,

and discovering God'sbest right where you are.

- Jentezen Franklin is here with us now

and we welcome you back to The 700 Club.

- Thank you.- I love Acres of Diamonds

because whether we like it or not,

the pressure, the tension, the heat

is coming to all of us.- Yes.

- Start, if you will,by telling us the story

of Russell Conwell.

- Yeah, he was an amazing man.

He went to the Middle East,to tour the Middle East

in the 1800s, and he had an Arab guide

who told stories by the fire at night,

and one of the stories that he told,

he took it back, putit in a little booklet,

and it sold seven million copies.

He gave the speech 6000 times,

and took the resources andfounded Temple University,

where there's 40,000 students.

This all came from one story,

and it's the storyabout acres of diamonds,

and quickly I'll sum it up,

but what happened was there was a farmer

by the name of Ali Hafed, true story,

in South Africa, and he had a farm

and he worked and he worked and he worked,

and one day a strangercame through and said

it's a shame you have to work so hard.

If you just go to India,they're discovering diamonds,

and you can become fabulously rich.

So he left the farm andthe plow, and the family,

said when I come backyou'll sit on thrones,

you'll be so wealthy.

He never found the diamonds,

but the man who bought the farm

took the same plow, took the same fields,

took the same ox and he beganto dig up these black rocks,

and sure enough, they werediamonds in the rough.

It became the world's largestdiamond find to this day,

the famous Golconda diamond mines,

where the Queen of England getsthe diamonds for her crown.

They came from that diamond field,

and the point is this, thatman who ended his life,

he actually took his life in Spain

because he couldn't find any diamonds,

never realized that he wasliving in acres of diamonds.

And I think a lot of peopleare always looking out there

for where the grass is greener.

If I had that marriage,if I had that husband

or that wife, or thatjob, or that opportunity,

I could really have a happy life,

and they fail to realize thatright where God has them,

there's acres of diamonds,but it does include

heat and pressure.- Yeah, so Jentezen,

how do we develop a spirit of contentment?

Because you know, withcontentment comes peace of heart

and peace of mind, joy in the moment.

I mean, so that we can live in the moment

and not always once I get thereit's all gonna be wonderful.

- Yeah, and part of it,I think, is learning

to appreciate where you are right now.

You know, Jesus died on the middle cross,

and there were two thieves on both sides,

and I think Jesus representslife's greatest treasure,

but for you and I besides Jesus,

the greatest treasurewe have is right now.

And if we're not careful, we'lllet the thief of yesterday

steal the joy of right now,

or the thief of somedaysteal the joy of right now.

I'm blessed right now.

We're not in the hospital right now.

- Amen, brother.- We have health,

we have all that we need,

and why probate yourpraise when you get this

or you get that, then I'll be happy,

when right now is one ofour greatest treasures?

- But one of the things youtalk about a lot in the book,

and I think it's the questionthat everybody has is

that's wonderful for you and I right now.

We got up, we're healthy, we're here,

we're doing something we enjoy,

but what about when you'rein the midst of crisis?

Because it's coming to everybody.

- Absolutely, and I think that's where

the diamonds are born.- Yeah.

- You cannot have a diamond,all a diamond is is carbon

deep in the earth, and thething that makes it a diamond

is the atoms bond when intenseheat and pressure come.

So it takes the trials,it takes the loneliness,

it takes the pain, it takes the suffering,

to bring the diamonds,and I know in the ministry

that God gave us, youknow, if I had walked away,

there were times whenit was so much easier,

and I had an invitationone time to leave my church

and go to a church that was a megachurch,

that the pastor was ready to retire,

and I was in that struggle season.

We were just a few hundredpeople, and I wanted to leave.

You know, we were havingall kinds of pressure.

- Please, God.- Yeah, the pressure,

the heat of building a ministry

versus there's a building,it's ready, it's paid for.

Go get it, but the Lordwouldn't release me.

Sometimes success is afour-letter word, stay.

- Yeah, yeah.- Stay.

- Well, that's true, you talkabout it in marriage too,

that there are times,

for all of us in marriage over the years,

where you think I'm outta here.

(laughs)- Yeah, exactly.

- But stay is what brings the goodness.

- It really is, and youknow, my wife and I,

when we first got marriedI remember thinking

if she would just be more like me.

(laughing)If she would just

be more like--- I think we all

think that.- We wouldn't have

any problems, what is her problem?

And you learn that throughthe heat and the pressure,

the ups and the downs, the times when you

love each other always, but you can't

stand each other sometimes,

that now 32 years later, five children,

and four grandchildren, when I hold--

I was with my granddaughter yesterday,

that's my acres of diamonds.

I'm so glad I didn't walk away.

- Yes.- I didn't say

the grass is greener on the other side.

Sometimes it's because it's abusted septic tank over there.

(laughing)You better dig

in your own backyard.- Yes.

- Dig in your own yard.

- And you know, the easy wayis hardly ever God's way.

- That's right, so true.- You talk about Joseph

in the book, and one ofthe things that always

strikes me about his story,I just think it's such

an amazing story of someone who endured

through unfair thingshappening over and over again,

and you never hear it saidthat he ever complained

about anything.- So true.

- So you talk about having the vision

for where God's taking you.

- Yeah, one of the stories that I tell,

the true stories in the book,

is an amazing story about aguy by the name of Steve Wynn.

You mentioned Joseph and he had a dream.

Well, Steve Wynn, of course,is a famous developer

in Las Vegas, he's builtall of these famous hotels,

the Bellagio, and we could go on and on,

but he loved art, and hebought a Picasso piece of art

and put it in the lobbies,

and it was called Le Reve, whichmeans in French, the dream,

and here's what happened.

A man came along, hepaid 50 million for it,

and a man came along and six years later,

wanted to buy it for 139 million.

- Wow.- So he decided to sell it

and he said I'm gonnahave this huge celebration

and say goodbye to the dream,

so he invited all ofthe wealthy people in.

They come to Vegas, he has an eye problem,

and he had the paintingon an easel, true story,

and when he turned to say something,

his arm, he stumbled, hisarm went through the painting

and he tore it, and ofcourse, the investor said

it's not worth anything,the dream is torn.

The dream is destroyed.

But he went and found an art surgeon,

took him a year to repair it,

and the amazing partof this story is this,

that when he put it back up for sale,

the same man who saidit wasn't worth anything

bought it for 155 million,

18 million dollars more.

- Wow.- And the point is

when your dreams are tattered and torn,

there's still acres of diamonds, really,

you'll be more valuable after you

go through what you've been through.

- Well, the book is richwith wonderful advice,

information, scripture,you want to get it.

It's called Acres of Diamonds,

Discovering God's BestRight Where You Are,

and you can get this in stores nationwide,

highly recommend it.

Thank you, it's always wonderful

to have you.- Thank you, wonderful--