1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,320 Good morning. Happy Sabbath. Is this a happy Sabbath for you today? It is? Is this a happy 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:16,680 Sabbath for you? Everybody say amen. Remember the song, if you're happy and you know it, 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:26,700 say amen. Amen, amen. My wife and I, we counted our privilege to receive invitations to come 4 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:38,160 and to share the word of God with you. We thank you for, we thank Sarah. Oh, that's 5 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:45,360 right. The Bible name, Sarah. Thank you, Sarah, for inviting us to be here today with you. 6 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:56,360 I've come to give you a word from the Lord. Not anything that I have concocted, but a 7 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:04,640 word from the Lord. I come to testify in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 8 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:11,960 and to celebrate with you, my brothers and sisters. When Christ comes back again, he's 9 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:21,000 not coming to look for what title you wear. There will be no titles. He's coming back 10 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:28,760 for his children. When we get to heaven, he won't be calling us this, that, and the other. 11 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:35,760 It'll be his children. Welcome my children when we get home. The Bible says to as many 12 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:44,220 as received him, to them he gave the power to become sons and daughters of God. So we 13 00:01:44,220 --> 00:01:50,200 are family. Doesn't matter where you came from, doesn't matter what color you are, if 14 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:57,040 you have received Christ into your life, you are a brother or a sister in the kingdom of 15 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:05,280 God. Amen? Amen. And so I've come to give a message to you, my brothers and my sisters, 16 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:19,080 if that's all right. Let us pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, let the word I express 17 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:26,240 be life to everyone that hear them. Let my heart be cleaned, my mind, dear Lord, be free 18 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:33,120 from any selfishness. But let the love of God move in this place now. In the name of 19 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:46,000 Jesus we pray. Amen and amen. Amen. Reading from my favorite Bible translation is the 20 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:54,400 Living, the New Living translation. And so I'm reading our scripture from that today. 21 00:02:54,400 --> 00:03:05,480 The title of my sermon is called I Found Life. I Found Life. And the text is, as was read 22 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:11,400 before, but this time it's going to be from the New Living translation, John 1, verses 23 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:22,720 1 through 5. It says, in the beginning the word already existed. The word was with God 24 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:33,000 and the word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him 25 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:41,040 and nothing was created except through him. The word gave life to everything that was 26 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:51,040 created and his life brought light to everyone. That the light shines in the darkness and 27 00:03:51,040 --> 00:04:00,040 the darkness can never extinguish it. Hallelujah for the light. The word of God, I don't know 28 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:05,120 if you noticed this in the Bible, but I have to learn this in my own life, how the word 29 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:12,440 of God has come to us on this earth. The word of God has actually came in three forms on 30 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:22,760 this earth. At first it was a spoken word. Am I right? The Bible says, by the word of 31 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:30,760 the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. 32 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:38,520 So the word, when this earth was created, the spirit of God moved on the face of the 33 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:46,480 deep and the Bible said God spoke and said let there be light. And then God spoke and 34 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:52,960 brought creation into the world and then God kept speaking. We call it the oral tradition. 35 00:04:52,960 --> 00:05:01,400 God kept speaking. He spoke to Adam, he spoke to Eve, he spoke to their children, he spoke 36 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:11,640 to Abraham, he spoke to Isaac, he spoke all the way up until Moses. God had what we call 37 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:19,240 the oral tradition that the word of God was passed on by from word of mouth. But then 38 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:26,960 God changed the word to a different form. He changed it to the written form. And on 39 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:33,880 the day when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and God wrote his law with the finger of his 40 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:42,560 hand, when God wrote that law, that law was the beginning of the written word. You hear 41 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:48,520 me now? You understand where I'm going, right? It's oral then it was written. And the written 42 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:55,600 word was what we call the Mosaic law, you know, and the Ten Commandments in which God 43 00:05:55,600 --> 00:06:03,040 had written it. All these laws were written and then from the time of Moses until the 44 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:14,040 time of Jesus, they followed the written law. But then when Jesus came, it became the living 45 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:22,920 law, the living word of God. We are living in a time now where we're not controlled by 46 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:30,880 the written word of God, it's the living word of God. Ellen White called it a dispensation 47 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:40,080 of the Holy Spirit. So now it's the living word of God. I had to find this for myself. 48 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:44,720 And the reason why I'm bringing it out is because it has been good. God has shown me 49 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:51,360 this in his life. First he spoke it, then he wrote it, and then Jesus came down and 50 00:06:51,360 --> 00:07:05,360 he lived it. The Bible says that, the Bible says, so the word became human and made his 51 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:13,760 home among us. He was full of unfailing, unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his 52 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:20,760 glory, the glory of his father, of the father's one and only son. Now watch this, the law 53 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:27,000 of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. That's 54 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,120 the written word. So God did what the law could not do. What did he do? He changed it 55 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:40,680 to a living word. He sent his own son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And 56 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:51,000 in that body, God declared on an end to sins control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice 57 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:57,720 for our sins. He did this so that the just requirements of the law will be fully satisfied 58 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:05,800 for us who no longer follow after sinful, our sinful nature, but instead follow the 59 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:15,160 spirit. It changed from oral to written and now it's living. And the spirit of God, the 60 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:22,000 Bible said the word became fresh and it lived among us. And God told Nicodemus, you must 61 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:29,440 be born again because without that spirit, you cannot have the life of God's word. I 62 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,360 hope I'm not trying to get too deep on you this morning as I bring this out, but I'm 63 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:41,920 telling you how I found God. It's the same thing. My mother raised me to love the Lord 64 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:49,640 and that woman saved my life many times through prayer. But she taught me, she took us to 65 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:56,920 church. I raised in the Baptist church and we sang in the choir and my mother taught 66 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:06,040 me and she prayed for me and she asked, always asked God to help me. So I remembered what 67 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:12,080 my mother's prayers were for me and then I start trying to find the God that my mother 68 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:21,120 was serving. And the first thing I did was I tried to follow him through the oral presentation. 69 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,920 I said, love to hear preachers preach. I said, always want to go in here with the word of 70 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,640 God. Somebody's preaching the word of God. And I was raised with preachers who could 71 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:35,760 just preach the paint off the walls, you know? And I said, always want to come and listen 72 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:43,120 to him. That preacher preach. I was looking for the word of God through the spoken word 73 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:49,200 of God. And I was trying to find life, but I kept listening, kept going, but it wasn't 74 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:55,680 changing me. It was not, I go to church boy, we shout and have a good time, everything, 75 00:09:55,680 --> 00:10:03,800 but I still left, I still wasn't changed. So the word of God, I couldn't understand 76 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:09,800 what was happening. Then I decided to change, to change after the written word of God. That 77 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:16,040 means I decided to start going to different churches and following their doctrine, what 78 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:21,360 their teachings were, their written word of God. And I did that for every church you can 79 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:29,960 think of Catholics, Pentecostals, Baptists, every church you can think of. I went because 80 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:36,600 I was looking for God in the written word, in the doctrinal teaching. I didn't know, 81 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:42,080 I didn't know exactly what I was doing at the time, but I was looking. And I can remember 82 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:47,960 tearing for the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal church all night long to try to receive the 83 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,720 Holy Spirit. And I remember I sat there and they kept telling me, they said, Jesus, Jesus, 84 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:58,760 Jesus. And I kept saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And then I was hoping I would get it. I would 85 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:04,720 get God's Spirit. Well, about five o'clock in the morning, they ended the session and 86 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:10,560 I felt like I had the Holy Spirit. And so I went home and I told my mother, I said, 87 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:19,080 Mom, I have the Holy Spirit. She said, boy, you don't have anything. And I said, you're 88 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:27,480 right. And I went to bed. But I kept searching. And then out of the blue, I was raised in 89 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:37,040 South Bend, Indiana. A little short Caucasian man came into the neighborhood. He was giving 90 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:46,240 Bible studies to my sister, her family, and I think a couple of my aunts. I met this guy 91 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:56,600 on a Sunday morning and he was there representing the Dorcas Society. You ever heard of the 92 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:05,080 Dorcas Society? He had brought my sister a dryer, clothes dryer from the Dorcas Society. 93 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:11,120 I thought that was amazing. What made it so amazing, he was in a black neighborhood where 94 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:18,160 the police were afraid to come in. And I wonder, how could this guy come into our neighborhood 95 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:26,360 and how could this guy have the courage to do that? That marveled me at the first place. 96 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:31,040 And he was, and I asked him, could you give me Bible studies? And he said, yeah, I could 97 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:36,520 come. So I told him to come in two weeks. I have my house and he could come to the Bible 98 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:45,440 studies. And in two weeks he came. When he came to the house, he had with him a tall, 99 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:55,800 slender black man. And I called him Salt and Pepper. They had been preaching the Word of 100 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:06,280 God as late evangelists in South Bend, Indiana. And most of the people that was in the Missha 101 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:10,360 Walker Church, I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but the Missha Walker Church 102 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:16,880 was a Caucasian church and the South Bend church, Baren church, was the African American 103 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:22,960 church. But these two guys were in the neighborhood preaching and teaching. And when they came 104 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:29,960 to give me Bible studies, the little white guy, and I'm going to call him Arnold from 105 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:36,840 now on. Okay, you know who I'm talking about. Arnold, he would ask me questions and he would 106 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:44,400 lead me and they would answer my questions about the Bible. And the black man, Arnold 107 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:49,560 asked a question, the black man always had the answers because he could quote the entire 108 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:56,720 Bible. I mean to tell you every word for word he could quote it. It didn't do anything for 109 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:06,680 me. You know, I could hear the quoting, but I looked at Arnold and the way Arnold treated 110 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:20,000 me, I saw the life of the word of God in him. I was attracted to that life and that's where 111 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:27,400 I found life. He was giving me Bible studies and of course, ladies and gentlemen, the Adventist 112 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:33,240 church does have the truth. I'm not the authority to say that, but it does have the truth and 113 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:39,760 I've searched them everywhere, but it does have the truth. This man would invite me to 114 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:45,560 his house and I'll be honest with you, it was a rough time during that time. It was 115 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:51,240 back when Martin Luther King had gotten killed and Detroit, Burn, Baby Burn was going through 116 00:14:51,240 --> 00:15:03,840 all those things. He invited me to his house for dinner every Sabbath and my wife and I 117 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:10,640 would go. This is the one who had my first six children. It's another whole story. We 118 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:17,640 would go to his house every Sabbath. His wife, they were vegetarians, so his wife, she could 119 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:27,720 make some of the best dishes. She could cook better than my sister-in-law. I'm just saying 120 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:36,200 that, it'd be funny. That's my sister-in-law over there. Every Sabbath, I look forward 121 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:42,120 to going to church with them. That's how he got me to church. We would come to their house 122 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:48,080 and I would ask him questions about the spirit of prophecy and he would answer questions 123 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:54,600 about the Bible and he would answer all these hard questions I knew nothing about and would 124 00:15:54,600 --> 00:16:05,800 find the answers. I enjoyed doing that, but what I was doing was I was finding life. I 125 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:14,960 was opposed to just good preaching, life in studying the Word, no, life in the living 126 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:27,640 reality of God being in me. It started a friendship because I was estranged from my dad at the 127 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:38,000 time. We did not talk. In fact, early part of my life, I did not like him at all because 128 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:44,000 of what I've seen him do to my mom. I did not like my father. Arnold would invite me 129 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:54,160 to his house every week. Pretty soon, after a year of going to the house, he knows good 130 00:16:54,160 --> 00:17:04,200 vegetarian meals, I joined the church. When I joined the church, it was the church in 131 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:15,040 Michigan, it was an all Caucasian church. There wasn't but a few of us in there. Arnold, he 132 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:20,040 wasn't afraid to invite me to his church. A lot of prejudice was going on in the world 133 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:25,480 then during that time, but he invited me to his church. After a while, I would go on Bible 134 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:33,560 studies with him and he taught me how to give Bible studies before I was baptized. Then 135 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:43,400 I would go with some of the church members out every Sabbath to spread the good news. 136 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:54,080 You see, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says life is found in God. It's not in the academics 137 00:17:54,080 --> 00:18:03,880 of the word, it's the life of the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we 138 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:12,260 saw his glory, the glory of the Father full of grace and truth. That glory is his presence. 139 00:18:12,260 --> 00:18:19,080 When God told Nicodemus, you must be born again, that's no joke. In order to get out 140 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,960 of this world, in order to overcome sin, in order to be saved, in order to be born again, 141 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:30,520 you have to be born again. That's what the Holy Spirit has done for us in these last 142 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:40,560 days. It becomes living. It's not enough just to know about God. God, you must accept God 143 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:47,080 and have God living in you. It's called a born again experience. Everybody who's going 144 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:53,080 to heaven, everybody who will leave this earth will have that born again experience with 145 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:58,720 God where the Spirit of God has now changed their lives. Even if it's in a moment and 146 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:06,640 a twinkling of an eye, it's God's Spirit will change their lives. This man kept giving 147 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:12,160 me Bible studies and I began to go around and saw being with him and I went back to 148 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:19,960 my friend, guys I grew up with, started giving Bible studies to them, guys I used to do things 149 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:31,000 with and smoking and drinking and all those things. I went back to them and after a while, 150 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:44,400 in Bible studies, five of those guys found the Lord and six of us went to Oakwood College 151 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:55,040 at the time to become ministers of God. One guy was about to cut a record to go to Motown, 152 00:19:55,040 --> 00:20:00,800 gave his life to the Lord. Another guy was Muslim and believed and did not believe in 153 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:08,600 the white man and everything and all these guys, it wasn't me, it was a living word that 154 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:15,280 was in me. You can't just convince people about God, you have to have some power within 155 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:24,320 you. That power must change the lives of someone. God came into my life, he came to these men's 156 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:33,320 life. To this day, I'm retired, went to Oakwood, graduated, went into ministry, stayed in ministry 157 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:43,000 for 31 years in the Pacific Union Conference the whole time and worked in the Union Office, 158 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,120 worked in the Conference Office, moved up the rank, but it was because of the life that 159 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:54,840 was in me. Ladies and gentlemen, my father could not read or write. I came from a very, 160 00:20:54,840 --> 00:21:00,360 very astute background. It was very, very hard on me to go through life. Even when I 161 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:07,160 went to Oakwood College, I had never seen someone think they were teaching me before, 162 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:14,520 but I went on anyway because I was led by the Spirit of God and those that are led by 163 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:20,080 the Spirit of God are the sons and daughters of God. When I went to Oakwood College, I 164 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:27,080 was married, I had five kids at the time, and while I was there, my wife had another 165 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:37,400 child and it was six kids that my wife at that time left me with six kids while going 166 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:45,280 to school at Oakwood College. I had to have something supernatural in me to handle that 167 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:58,120 situation. That's how I met my darling over here at Oakwood. God gave her to me. She didn't 168 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:02,680 have the background I had. She was raised Adventist. Her father was an Adventist minister. 169 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:10,560 She didn't have a, but God did for me what he did for Adam. Amen. He touched my life 170 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:19,200 and brought her to my side. We've been married now 40 years. She met me. I was raising six 171 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:30,960 children by myself and God. I better say God and myself. I was raising those children. 172 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:37,560 All those children are grown now. My wife Melden today has given me two more. We've 173 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:44,600 raised eight children. We have 30 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. I guess she told 174 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:52,600 you all this. She corrects me all the time. Why do men forget those things? I don't know 175 00:22:52,600 --> 00:23:02,600 why. 17 great-grands. It was all because of the life that was in me, the life that God 176 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:12,520 had given me, the life that I can't explain to you how it was and what happened. I can't 177 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:21,560 tell you that God made a difference. This is what the Bible says. It says, all who believe, 178 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:29,400 and I'm reading from first John five, 10 through 12, all who believe in the son of God know 179 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:37,120 in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don't believe this are actually 180 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:46,440 calling God a liar because they don't believe what God has testified about his son. This 181 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:53,440 is what God has testified. He has given us eternal life. This is God's testimony. He 182 00:23:53,440 --> 00:24:01,960 has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Whosoever has the son has life 183 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:09,160 and whosoever does not have God's son does not have life. God, when Christ comes into 184 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:15,120 you, you have life, life eternal. I don't care how broken down or messed up you are. 185 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:20,160 When he starts working in you, he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until 186 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:25,000 the day of Jesus Christ. He will never stop. That's why a lot of people die. A lot of my 187 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:30,200 friends who gave themselves to the Lord still had habits and they died with those habits 188 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:35,840 and everything. I knew they were saved. You know why? Because when God comes in and starts 189 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:44,440 working in you, God does not leave you. Do you believe that? That gave me great comfort. 190 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:50,240 They met him. They accepted him. The Bible said to as many as received him, to them he 191 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:57,680 gave the power to become the sons and daughters of God. I watched a lot of guys. I grew up 192 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:02,480 in the streets of South Bend smoking weed and what have you and doing those things. 193 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:10,240 I watched a lot of those guys die, but I also watched God save them before they die. I know 194 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:22,600 somebody else. Amen. It is God himself that does these things in our lives. Then he says, 195 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:31,360 one day, let me finish you with Arnold. When I decided to go to Oakwood, I went away for 196 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:39,920 a weekend with the Lord. During that weekend, I had a vision and the Lord told me to go 197 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:48,960 to Oakwood College. I had no high school diploma. I had quit school to join into the black movement 198 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:59,120 and cause the white man to die. I had quit school, but then when I decided to go back 199 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:11,160 to school, I had no diploma, no education. I said, Lord, give me the strength. Help me 200 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:18,040 to make it through school. I went away for the weekend and he showed me. I have so many 201 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:24,920 stories I can tell you. I can get all these stories in, but in that weekend, I saw God 202 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:34,880 come to me and touch me that I was going to be a pastor. It encouraged me to go to Oakwood 203 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:47,800 College. I loaded up my family, come and listen to a story about a man named Jeb. Poor mountain 204 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:57,000 here. He barely kept his family fed. Then one day, he was shooting. God told me to pack 205 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:07,720 up and we moved not to Hills, but to Oakwood. We moved to the woods. I had three girls, 206 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:16,960 three boys. We had two girls and three boys. Three girls and two boys. We got to Oakwood 207 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:22,240 and I didn't know what to do after I got there, but I followed him. I can tell you so many 208 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:27,440 stories. When you have these experiences with God, I remember we got there. I didn't have 209 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:34,600 any money to get in school. I didn't have any diploma, but guess what? That August before 210 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:44,720 I went to Oakwood, I decided to go take my GED. I went to take the GED. It took me five 211 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,800 days to get five different tests. I don't know if anybody knows what I'm talking about. 212 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:55,640 Five different days, you would take tests. I took those tests Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 213 00:27:55,640 --> 00:28:06,680 Thursday, and Friday. When I got to Friday, it was time for math. I was pitiful in math. 214 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:13,840 Because I quit school, I really didn't get into algebra. When I took that test, it had 215 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:20,920 things that I had never seen before on there. How you can get an answer to a question by 216 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:28,480 using a negative. I had never seen that before. You call that? I had never seen that before. 217 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:37,880 I sat there and looked at that paper and I said, Lord, I don't know what this is. The 218 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:45,400 Lord spoke to me. I'll lead you. You see, ladies and gentlemen, once Christ is in you, 219 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:52,360 he leads you. He don't expect you to do things without him. He don't try to pay you back 220 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:58,720 for the things you have not done. He leads you. He guides you. I sat there. I looked 221 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:07,120 at that paper. He told me, write. I began to write. Ladies and gentlemen, when the test 222 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:15,640 came back, I passed the GED. I was in the upper 10% of the nation. My score was in the 223 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:23,040 upper 10% of the nation on the GED. I don't know how I made it through the math. I really 224 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:28,320 don't know, but God brought me through. When I went to Overwood after being there a month 225 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:34,080 or two, I got my GED and I went on through school. Let me tell you one other quick story 226 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:53,240 on this. I was in a math class trying to take, again, algebra. This time was in college. 227 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:58,200 I didn't know what to do with that stuff. I really didn't know what to do with it. I 228 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:07,920 remember going to the complex at Overwood there and talking to the Lord. I said, Lord, 229 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:14,280 I don't know how I'm going to do this. I ended up, it was time for the finals. I had a D 230 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:24,360 minus in math. I sat there in that room that day and said, Lord, what am I going to do? 231 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:30,320 That guy walked in. He said, hey, Mon. He was from Africa, but he sounded like he was 232 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:36,920 from Jamaica. He said, hey, Mon. How you doing? He said, got some problems? Yeah, I have problems, 233 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:46,360 sir. What are the problems? I said, I can't understand this math. He said, all you need 234 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:53,080 to know is the principles. Once you get the principles, you can do anything. That's what 235 00:30:53,080 --> 00:31:00,040 the word of God is. You can do anything. I sat there. He showed me what the principles 236 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:12,480 were. I came back the next day. I got a 96 on that test, the final. I see my way through. 237 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:22,280 Amen? Because of the moving of God. That's life. This God came and gave me life. Not 238 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:30,240 just eternal life, but how to live. I got to quit. I know I'm getting late here. I have 239 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:36,960 to live. He taught me how to live. Every aspect of life, through a divorce, through my wife 240 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:42,620 leaving me, through raising the children by myself. He was giving me life. He led me through 241 00:31:42,620 --> 00:31:48,960 everything. When the Son of God begins a work in you, he will perform it until the day of 242 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:54,840 Jesus Christ. He will not let you go. He will not turn you down. I had some terrible times. 243 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,400 What am I going to do when this woman left me with six kids at Overwood? How am I going 244 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:05,200 to handle this? God gave me an Eve. She came along. We've been married now 40 years in 245 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:14,200 October. I tell you, every morning is the same. I wake up and say, is this really real? 246 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:21,920 It's really real. It's because God gave me life. Every one of you, God gives you life. 247 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:30,840 You don't have to be like HMS Richards or Ellen White. You have your own life. God will 248 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:38,320 take you through that life. You have a testimony of what God has done, of what God is doing 249 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:47,920 in your life. Now, I'm a testifying preacher, so I'm going to close with this. This is what 250 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:58,160 it says in 1 Corinthians 15. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical 251 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:04,880 bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will 252 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:13,120 last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we all will 253 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:19,840 be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet 254 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:27,640 is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. 255 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:34,200 And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into 256 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:41,320 bodies that will never die. Our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 257 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:49,360 Then when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, the scripture 258 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:57,600 will be fulfilled. Death is swallowed up in victory. Ladies and gentlemen, I will see 259 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:07,720 my father in honor when I go to heaven. I will see my mother when I go to heaven. I 260 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:14,800 will see my father, who had a rough life, but before he died, he gave his life to Christ. 261 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:21,680 I will see him in heaven. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that would 262 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:33,200 be. When we all see Jesus, we all shout the victory. Arnold died while I was at Oakwood. 263 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:43,960 He sent me $50 a month while I was in school for 10 years. When he died, his wife asked 264 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:52,440 me to do his funeral. And I must say this before I finish. He said, one time I came 265 00:34:52,440 --> 00:35:00,560 home from school from Oakwood, he said, Bobby, he says, I never had a son. You're my son. 266 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:05,960 He says, Bobby, I won't get a chance to stand before thousands of people and speak the word 267 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:12,240 of God. I'm just, I'm local, local around here in the area. He said, but one day you 268 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:18,040 will stand before thousands of people. Ladies and gentlemen, all over the world, I have 269 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:25,800 stood before thousands of people. And Arnold told me, he said, Bobby, he says, and he kissed 270 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:37,200 me on my cheek. Only God could have done that. And he said, Bobby, I hope to see you. You 271 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:43,800 know, when Christ comes, you know, you'll have one of the stars in my crown will be 272 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:51,320 yours. You know, your star will be in my crown one day. And I'm looking forward to seeing 273 00:35:51,320 --> 00:36:00,760 him again. I did his funeral and at his funeral, he had been an elder there for 50 years. 274 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:06,680 And at his funeral, a lot of the young people who had left the church came back for the 275 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:11,040 funeral because they knew him when they were young growing up in the church. They came 276 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:19,840 back and at that funeral, at that funeral, I made an appeal. And those kids came down 277 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:27,400 in groves and we dedicated their lives to the Lord and came back to the church. That 278 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:37,600 was because of the work Arnold did, because of the work God did in me and Arnold. Ladies 279 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:45,280 and gentlemen, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing there will be. We 280 00:36:45,280 --> 00:37:01,280 all see Jesus. We will sing in what? To victory. Amen. Thank you.