1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 I am a doer and not just a hearer. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000 I am humble before the Lord. 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000 I am obedient to the Lord. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 I am mature in the Lord. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 I am enthusiastic about the Lord. 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:29,000 I know that hearing and hearing by the Word of God. 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000 Amen. 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Let's give them another hand clap of praise. 9 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Amen. 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,000 We thank God for sisters on Tellin' Everyone 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,000 who worked with our youth to allow them to come 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,000 and stand before you at a disappointed time. 13 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Our scripture texts from Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 through 16. 14 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,000 The Bible says, you are the salt of the earth. 15 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 But what good is salt if it loses its flavor? 16 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Can you be made salty again? 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:10,000 It will be thrown out and trampled under feet as worthless. 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Somebody say worthless. 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:21,000 You don't want to be considered worthless in the kingdom of God. 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,000 You don't want to be trampled under feet. 21 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 It's all because you don't lose your flavor. 22 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Salt is supposed to influence things. 23 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 When you put it in something, it changes the dynamics. 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:41,000 You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop 25 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 that cannot be here. 26 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 You just can't hide light. 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 You just can't hide. 28 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 When light shows up, darkness has to... 29 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,000 So God didn't give you light to hide you. 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000 He gave you light, young people, for you to shine. 31 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,000 As you go to the next level, God expects you to shine even brighter 32 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,000 at the next level. 33 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000 And then, you know, as being that light, 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 then you ought to draw others to the light. 35 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Amen. 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,000 He says, no one light a lamp and put it on a basket. 37 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,000 Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand 38 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 where it gives light to everyone in the house. 39 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:28,000 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see 40 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,000 so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. 41 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Amen. You may be seated. You may be seated. 42 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Well, this is going to be our second sermon in the series that we've entitled 43 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 Be a Good Influencer. 44 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,000 And I said that we're living in a time where the magnitude of social media platforms 45 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,000 and the ability of people to flood their ways with various content. 46 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000 And because that is so readily available and so easy to do, 47 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,000 some people are skillfully positioning themselves to be influencers. 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 And we know for us as Christians, God expects us to be good influencers. 49 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Amen. 50 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,000 I showed you on last week that as followers of Christ, 51 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,000 you know, we should be influencing our families, 52 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,000 among our friends, on our jobs, in our social circles. 53 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000 And in a space that we occupy, we ought to connect with people 54 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,000 with the intent that we're going to have some influence. 55 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Amen. 56 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,000 And we said this about an influencer. 57 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:30,000 An influencer is the capacity to have an effect on the character, 58 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,000 the development, and the behavior of someone or something. 59 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,000 So God expects us to impact people in their moral qualities, 60 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 in their growth, their maturity, and success, and also in how they act. 61 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:49,000 You know when you got influenced, people don't just act in a counter way around. 62 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Amen. 63 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,000 They know who you are and they respect you for who you are. 64 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000 And because of that, they act a certain way. 65 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000 And when they do that, that's in them. 66 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000 As followers of Christ, He gave us authority and the means through the gospel 67 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,000 to share and spread influence around the world. 68 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,000 In Jesus' last words, He charged His disciple and gave them the command 69 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,000 to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, 70 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,000 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 71 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Then He said, teaching them. 72 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,000 Somebody say teaching. 73 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000 I told you last week, teachers are influencers. 74 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:26,000 Amen. 75 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,000 So God expects us to teach them to observe all things that are commanded to you 76 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,000 and lo, I'm with you always to the end of the age. 77 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Amen. 78 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Now last week, we established that there are definitely evil influences in the world. 79 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,000 And we revealed that God, you know, and because that evil in the world, 80 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,000 we're not focusing on the evil, but we're just letting you know that just like we're to be good influencers, 81 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,000 there are people out there who are evil influencers. 82 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,000 And we showed you how evil came in the world back in the garden. 83 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:01,000 And we also saw last week that God expects us to be influencers over our children. 84 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:06,000 You know, we should be bringing them up in a certain way and acting a certain way around them 85 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,000 and teaching them and presenting certain things to them on a daily basis 86 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 so that they will know who God is in your life. 87 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,000 And as they know who He is in your life, it will spread to their life. 88 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,000 But you can't do that if you're not trying to influence them. 89 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:25,000 And I gave you examples from scripture last week, places and times when you can influence your children. 90 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:33,000 And last week, we closed with looking at how one church has such a good influence 91 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,000 when they was, you know, believed the gospel that that influence spread all over the world. 92 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:44,000 Other people heard about them because of how they responded to the gospel message. 93 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Now today, we're going to see something of the continuation of that in John chapter 12. 94 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:54,000 John chapter 12, I'm just going to read verse 9 and 3, 11. 95 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,000 And what I want you to see here is that Jesus was arriving from, 96 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000 people, Jews were arriving from all over the world for the Passover celebration. 97 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And many of them had heard about what Jesus had done for Lazarus. 98 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:15,000 Most of you know the story, Lazarus was there, Jesus come to town and raised Lazarus from the dead. 99 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000 And took him from that place. 100 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 And then by doing that, he gave Lazarus a testimony. 101 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:27,000 He became a living witness to the power of God. 102 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,000 And because he was such a powerful witness for the power of God, 103 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,000 there were people who started to believe in Jesus because of, 104 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,000 and because Lazarus became such an influencer, 105 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:46,000 those people who were coming out of one set of religion over and to follow in Jesus, 106 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,000 the leaders in that group said, hey, we don't only need to kill Jesus, 107 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,000 we got to kill Lazarus too. 108 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,000 Because Lazarus is an influencer. 109 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,000 And every now and then when you are influencing, you change the dynamics in a situation, 110 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,000 somebody may not think you ought to be there. 111 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000 Somebody may want to get rid of you, but that shouldn't stop you from being a... 112 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 It is your job to diligently do what you can to bring people to the Lord. 113 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,000 And so look at this, we said this in verse 9, 114 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:19,000 he says, when all the people heard Jesus' arrival, they flocked to see him, 115 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:24,000 and also to see Lazarus, the man who Jesus had raised from the dead. 116 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,000 Then the leading priests, religious folk. 117 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,000 Sometimes it is religious folk that is going to try to hinder you 118 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,000 from being the influencer that God has called you to be. 119 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 It is not going to always be people from the world, 120 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:46,000 it's going to be folks in religious circles that can't handle God using you to be an influencer. 121 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 And all because they won't do what they're supposed to do, 122 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,000 then now they're going to try to stop you. 123 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,000 But you got to know if you're operating under the power of God and the Holy Spirit, 124 00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,000 you got to continue to be an influencer in spite of the opposite. 125 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,000 Somebody may be trying to take you out just because of what you believe 126 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,000 and how you live out your life every day. 127 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:10,000 He said, now look, the leading priests, not just anybody, 128 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000 the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus too. 129 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,000 They already had Jesus on the hit list, we might as well add. 130 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,000 But it was because of him, Lazarus, that many people who had deserted them 131 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:31,000 and believed on God Almighty. 132 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:36,000 We got to make some coming people alive and believe that they can desert some something. 133 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,000 You know, they got to walk away from something, they got to turn for something, 134 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,000 and they can do that all because of your... 135 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,000 You got some people that may be in your life that you know that's drinking just too much. 136 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:54,000 You know they're going over the limit, but it's your job to be that... 137 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,000 You know, you got some people that's doing some things around you and you know them, 138 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,000 and God has put you in that life so that you can turn them from something 139 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,000 that they're doing that's hurting them to something that's good. 140 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:11,000 But what good are you in their life if you have no soul? 141 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,000 What good are you in their life if you turn your light off when you get around them? 142 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:21,000 You got to continue to influence everywhere you go on your job, at home, in the church, 143 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:29,000 everywhere you go, you got to be influenced, especially in the world. 144 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,000 It's time out for the church to be silent in the world. 145 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,000 Now I'm not telling you you got to go out there and protest every time someone come up and look here, 146 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 you got to have a voice when people ask you something about a situation, 147 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,000 you got to have a voice toward that situation, 148 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,000 and your voice ought to be in the corner of what the words say, 149 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:51,000 because it is the word and the power of God's word that can influence people, 150 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:57,000 but he needs us to be the influencers. 151 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,000 So the significant question would be, you know many of us have been saved for a long time, 152 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:06,000 but how many people have you? 153 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,000 How many people can you look back in your life and say, 154 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,000 because I came in contact with that person and I shared the gospel with them, 155 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,000 I can see fruits from that labor. 156 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:23,000 You know it's kind of an indictment against us if we've been saved for 20 years 157 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:32,000 and we can't show proof of influence over anybody. 158 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,000 Somebody say influencer. 159 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,000 You know that's rolling right now, I was looking the other day, 160 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,000 everybody want to be influenced, they're young people, 161 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:45,000 they don't want no serious job, they just want to be connected to a computer and the internet 162 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,000 and then figure out how to influence for them. 163 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,000 Don't even have to know them, all they got to do is put the right content out there 164 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,000 and get enough people listening to them, 165 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,000 once they get their following up to a couple thousand, three or four thousand, 166 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000 then now they can take that influence and take it to somebody else and say, 167 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:04,000 look I can turn you on to a thousand, a three thousand, a four thousand, a five thousand people 168 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:12,000 just by clicking on this and now when you click on that, you owe me two thousand dollars. 169 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,000 Influence. 170 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:19,000 People are paying for influence. 171 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Well let me get away from being a little serious, let's get to a situation with Paul. 172 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Go to the book of Acts chapter 27 verse 30 through 44 when I get there. 173 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000 I got to set this up because this is a pretty long chapter 174 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,000 but I'm not going to deal with the whole chapter, just paraphrase it to get us there. 175 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,000 Here we find the apostle Paul, he was a prisoner on a ship 176 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000 along with a large contingent of other prisoners 177 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 so he was a prisoner among prisoners 178 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,000 and they were headed to Rome so they could stand trial before Caesar. 179 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,000 Now while at sea they started hitting some bad weather. 180 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,000 They was heading toward a severe storm, life-threatening storm, 181 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,000 something that we were equivalent to a hurricane or cyclone cliff. 182 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And so Paul, you know, spoke to the ship's officer 183 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:06,000 and said, you know, I don't believe that we should continue going. 184 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Maybe we ought to take port for the winter 185 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,000 because I believe as we go the Lord them told me that we're going to suffer shipwreck. 186 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:19,000 There going to be some loss of all the cargo, then there may be even a loss of life. 187 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,000 At that point Paul didn't have no influence 188 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,000 because it got hurting but he continued on. 189 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,000 But at some point in time they hit a severe storm, the storm got worse. 190 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,000 In fact they said that it ranged for many days, 191 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,000 blotting out the sun and the stars. 192 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:41,000 Now you know a sailor at sea, you need the sun and the stars 193 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:46,000 because when you don't have access to the sun and the star, you're operating in darkness. 194 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,000 And when you're operating in darkness for so long, 195 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,000 your attitude changed, your disposition changed, you started to change. 196 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,000 That's why it's important for you, when you see people operating in darkness for too long, 197 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,000 they started to get depressed, they started to feel down. 198 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,000 They don't want to eat, they don't want to do certain things. 199 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,000 But what you got to do is influence them when they're in darkness. 200 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:12,000 Sometime your best influence is to somebody that you know that's sitting there in darkness. 201 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,000 No sun, no moon, nothing for navigation. 202 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,000 I don't know if I'm going north or east or south 203 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,000 because the winds have been pushing the boat and carrying the boat. 204 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,000 And right now we're sitting out here in this storm. 205 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,000 But the Lord come back to Paul and tell him, hey, you'll talk to him. 206 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:35,000 And in this time you tell him this, he said that to tell him to be encouraged. 207 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:41,000 Even though you're in the storm, even though you're going through right now, be encouraged. 208 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,000 Because everybody's going to go through storms in life. 209 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,000 You're not unique, your storm is not unique. 210 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,000 Somebody else can been through it and got through it, you're going to get through it too. 211 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,000 I just dropped by to encourage you today. 212 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:55,000 They say, look, when you're in the midst of your storm, don't lose heart, don't lose faith. 213 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:02,000 Continue to believe that God is with you even in the midst of your storm. 214 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:07,000 And if you've come through a storm and you're all right now, you ought to be able to go back and help somebody 215 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,000 get through the storm they're going through. 216 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,000 Because somebody that you know is going through something right now. 217 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:18,000 And what you need to do is say, hey, when they're going through, it is not time for me to desert them. 218 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,000 Not time for me to leave them, not time for me to turn my back. 219 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,000 Because we're going to see that this is what the sailors wanted to do. 220 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,000 Why everybody else was in the midst of the storm. 221 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:36,000 Paul said this, he says last night, an angel of God whom I serve and who I belong. 222 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,000 He said, now who I belong and whom I serve. 223 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,000 The question, who do you belong to? 224 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,000 Who do you serve? 225 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,000 Now look at this. 226 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:52,000 He said the angel stood beside me and he said, do not be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand before Caesar. 227 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:59,000 What's more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone selling with you. 228 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,000 So take courage. 229 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:08,000 And Paul says, for I believe God and it would be just as he said. 230 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,000 You know, sometimes God needs to visit you in the midst of your storm. 231 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:20,000 And when he visits you in the midst of your storm and gives you instruction on what you need to do to get out of your storm, you need to take courage and do it. 232 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,000 In the storm, it's not time for you to start doubting God. 233 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000 Sometimes I'm not sure if God said that. 234 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Well, you ought to know his voice. 235 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:33,000 In the storm, you definitely need to be able to hear his voice so that you would know how to navigate your way out of the storm. 236 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:37,000 And when you navigate out of the storm, other than in that storm with you, then guess what? 237 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:41,000 You can influence others on how to get out of the storm. 238 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,000 We're going to see that here in a minute. 239 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:51,000 So then some of the sailors were getting ready to abandon the ship. 240 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:59,000 And we're going to see Paul's influence kick in, resulting in lives being saved in the midst of the storm. 241 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:05,000 And we're going to see how his influence, you know, changed the heart of the commanders of the ship. 242 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:06,000 Now what you've got to see is this. 243 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000 There's about three different sets of people on the ship. 244 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,000 You've got sailors. 245 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,000 It's their job to take care of the ship. 246 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,000 They got to navigate the ship. 247 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000 They know the shipping business. 248 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:18,000 They are marinas. 249 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:23,000 They understand high tide and low tide and rough seas and the depth of water. 250 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000 When to put the sail down, when to put the rudder down. 251 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,000 They are the sailors. 252 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Then on the ship, you've got the soldiers. 253 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:38,000 The soldiers' only job on the ship was to hold on to the prisoners, which Paul was a prisoner. 254 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:44,000 Then you've got the commanding officer of the ship and the commanding officer of the soldiers. 255 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,000 Because he was a centurion, so that means he had at least 100 soldiers under him. 256 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:55,000 And so what you've got to see here is now, if one part of the ship cut the food, it's going to impact the other part of the ship. 257 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:03,000 So now we see the guys, who are the experts, decided, hey, we know weather and we haven't been in the storm, 258 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,000 but this is the worst one we've never been in. 259 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,000 So we need to go ahead and jet. 260 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,000 We need to just come on and get out of here because chances are, because we didn't believe what Paul said. 261 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000 He didn't tell us we were going to make it, but we didn't believe in that. 262 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,000 We don't know his God like that. 263 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,000 He's just a man trying to tell us something we didn't receive it. 264 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,000 So guess what these guys decided to do, Cliff? 265 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:27,000 They decided to desert us in the midst of the storm. 266 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,000 They decided they were just going to leave us to die. 267 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,000 You know, sometimes folks just don't care about you. 268 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,000 They just care about themselves. 269 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,000 They ain't going through what you're going through. 270 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000 They ain't going to feel what you feel. 271 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 And then when they can get away out, they may not even be thinking about you 272 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 because you may not even fit in that escape plan. 273 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:50,000 That's why when you're in the storm, you need to make sure you got Jesus on your side. 274 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Look at it when he said, verse 30, he said, 275 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000 then the sailors tried to abandon the ship. 276 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:01,000 They lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. 277 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,000 In other words, they were trying to see for. 278 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,000 But you know, when you're a man or woman of God, God can let you discern something. 279 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:11,000 You know, Paul wasn't even a sailor, but he can say, look here, this just don't look right. 280 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,000 This look kind of fishy. These guys are all over there. 281 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000 They're the ones that's probably telling us what to do, keeping us calm. 282 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000 And these boys letting out the lifeboat. 283 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,000 And all of us can't fit in that thing. 284 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000 Some just don't look right. 285 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,000 You know, that's why you got to ask God to give you a discerned spirit every now and then. 286 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,000 So when folks around you start cutting the food and acting up, you got to say, that just don't. 287 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:38,000 You ought to be able to sense and see something in your spirit because God has revealed to you. 288 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,000 So Paul says this is verse 31, but Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldier, 289 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:51,000 he says, look here guys, them sailors going to put you in a position where you're going to die. 290 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:57,000 You know, when they start thinking about preservation, they know, hey, we got the weapons. 291 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,000 We can keep them around school on board. 292 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,000 We are going to die because they leave. 293 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,000 They critical to my life. 294 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,000 Then guess what? 295 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,000 They're going to stay right on this boat with me. 296 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,000 So Paul said to the commanding officer, you will all die. 297 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,000 All, not something, all die unless the sailors stay on. 298 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:23,000 Guess what? 299 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Them soldiers say, look, I don't need, you know, five lessons in that. 300 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,000 I got that the first time. 301 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,000 We're going to die if we don't stop them guys. 302 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:34,000 So look what the soldiers did. 303 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:40,000 So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let them drift away. 304 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,000 They're just telling them, say, we in this thing together. 305 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,000 If we go down, you go down. 306 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,000 You ain't going to do that. 307 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:55,000 You know, it's like if you flying and you hit some bad weather, you expect the stewardess to be still on the job telling you what to do. 308 00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:00,000 You don't expect them to be life-vessing up and all that and don't tell you nothing. 309 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,000 And all of a sudden they ready to go and you sitting there and say, what's going on? 310 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,000 They're going to tell you, hey, we're going to hit some terrible air. 311 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,000 You need to buckle your seat belt, hold on tight, you know, put your drinks away, whatever you got doing. 312 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,000 We're going to hit some tough air. 313 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,000 You don't expect that when you hit tough air, they ain't telling you nothing. 314 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,000 And all of a sudden they got life-vessing on it. 315 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,000 You ain't even throwing nothing. 316 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000 You know, some ain't right about this picture here. 317 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,000 So what I'm trying to tell you, you know, and I was thinking about that. 318 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,000 Sometimes delays ain't bad. 319 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,000 You know, I know we hate delays. 320 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,000 When you go to the airport and you travel, you want your flight to be on time right now, right now. 321 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,000 But sometimes delays ain't bad. 322 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:42,000 If these guys had a delay just a little bit, they wouldn't have ran it to the weather. 323 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:48,000 But because they didn't want no delay, you got to understand sometimes when God delays some things in your life, 324 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,000 it may be for your good. 325 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,000 But you get impatient during that time of delay. 326 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000 You don't want to lay over in Atlanta for two hours. 327 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,000 You want to fly on and don't know that there's a storm waiting. 328 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:05,000 So look at the soldiers. 329 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,000 Soldiers cut the ropes of the lifeboat and let them drift away. 330 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,000 Now look at this. 331 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,000 Just as Dave was donning, Paul urged everyone to eat. 332 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000 He says, you have been so worried, somebody said worried, 333 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,000 that you haven't touched food for two weeks, he said. 334 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:28,000 So please eat something for your own good. 335 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:34,000 You know, influences, if you're a good one, you ought to be telling people things that is for their own. 336 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:39,000 When you talk to people, you're not trying to tell them, you're trying to tell them something to hurt them. 337 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000 You're trying to tell them something for their own good. 338 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,000 Paul knew that they need nourishment to have their strength back after not eating for about 14 days. 339 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,000 You know, not like they should have been eating. 340 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,000 He knew that they needed their strength for what was coming. 341 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:56,000 So now he is trying to urge them to eat for their own. 342 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,000 You know, when you're talking to your children, parents, 343 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,000 they get ready to go off to college and whatever you're telling them, 344 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,000 you got to let them know, I'm telling you this for your own. 345 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,000 When you get to the campus, don't lose your mind down there. 346 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,000 Because if you lose your mind on that campus, I'm not there with you. 347 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,000 So I'm going to tell you something for your own. 348 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,000 If you don't know about campus life, parents, 349 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,000 before you send your child on there, I encourage you right now, 350 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,000 investigate the school that your child is going to. 351 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:27,000 Understand what goes on down there because some schools are known for more partying than academics. 352 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,000 And you don't want your child to get down there and lose her mind or his mind 353 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,000 and forget everything you don't talk to them. 354 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:39,000 So I tell you now, encourage them and tell them before they leave something for their own. 355 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,000 If y'all let me pastor tell you what it's like when they get on a college campus, 356 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000 they ain't never been exposed. 357 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,000 Because everybody on the college campus, like everybody on this boat, don't know Jesus. 358 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,000 It ain't going to like, they're going to run up on Christians in every class they go to. 359 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,000 They're going to run up on some people that came right off the street, still got the street in them 360 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,000 and operated thinking wise as the street. 361 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:02,000 And if you're only exposed in the how the street thing, they'll get on the college campus 362 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,000 and end up in a storm. 363 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,000 So I'm trying to tell you, you need to get them a weather report before they leave home. 364 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,000 Amen. 365 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,000 And if you don't know how to give them a weather report and you're a parent, come see me. 366 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,000 I'll tell you how the game is played. 367 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,000 Amen. 368 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,000 Your children stand a better chance of surviving in college 369 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:31,000 and they know how the game is played when they're not in the classroom. 370 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:36,000 The truth be known, some of your children may be just itching to get away from you. 371 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,000 They don't want no further delay. 372 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:45,000 They, they itching. 373 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:50,000 They just, and you better scratch. 374 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,000 That's right. 375 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,000 I wasn't supposed to say that, but since I said it's done now, I can't take it back. 376 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,000 I'll just tell you, some of our kids, they're highly educated, they're smart, 377 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:07,000 but sometimes intellectual wisdom don't equal the street wisdom. 378 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,000 Some of your parents ain't been in the streets in a long time, 379 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:18,000 and I'll tell you, you need to give them a little street education. 380 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,000 He said, now look, please eat something now for your own good. 381 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:27,000 Then he tell them Paul had confidence in God for not a hair on your head will pair. 382 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,000 In other words, you're going to be all right. 383 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000 Stop worrying. 384 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,000 Because you stay worrying too long, you're going to be, you know, sitting in darkness too long, 385 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,000 then you're going to get dismayed, depressed, and you ain't going to want to live. 386 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:41,000 Not enough, it's true. Doc, you may tell me this afterward, or you can correct me now. 387 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:46,000 But I deal and see a lot of sick people, when they get to a certain point in their illness, 388 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,000 they want to stop eating. 389 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,000 They stop eating. When they stop eating for a long period of time, that is a bad sign. 390 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:58,000 So now we need to encourage them, hey, look, you got to eat because you need your nourishment, you need food. 391 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,000 And so therefore, when you find people that's depressed, they say, man, I don't feel like eating. 392 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,000 That ought to be a sign that something is going wrong in that person's life. 393 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,000 God created us to eat something. 394 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,000 Amen. 395 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,000 Now look at this. 396 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000 He says, verse 35, 397 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:22,000 then he took some bread, and when y'all get real spiritual right here, y'all can see something in this. 398 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:28,000 And he gave thanks to God before all, them all. 399 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,000 And he broke a piece off and ate it. 400 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,000 You know, Paul on a ship with a majority of them heathens. 401 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:41,000 But in the midst of the storm, he looked like he's serving a little communion there with him. 402 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,000 In the midst of the storm, they probably don't even understand what's going on now, 403 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,000 but in the spirit, Paul knows I'm working something right here. 404 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,000 He said, look here, we're going to sit down and we're going to break bread together. 405 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,000 So when you get your mind off of the storm for a few minutes, and then look at while I'm with you, 406 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,000 I ain't going to forget that I still belong to God. 407 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,000 I'm not going to forget that. I'm going to bless this before we eat it. 408 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:06,000 I'm not going to get here and act like I'm afraid to mention Jesus' name all because I'm sitting in the midst of a bunch of... 409 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:11,000 When you go out to eat and you at the banquet everybody, bless your food. 410 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,000 And if you can bless it, bless it for the whole table, don't just... 411 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:19,000 No, hey, look at it. We're about here for a moment. We've been to pray for this food. 412 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,000 Don't forget to... 413 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,000 Don't forget to do what you're supposed to do all because you're in the storm with some people that don't know God. 414 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,000 That is an opportunity for you to bring God to the forefront because you got their attention. 415 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,000 You got a captive audience. They can't go nowhere. 416 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Can't go nowhere. 417 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:47,000 So I got an opportunity to break some bread to give God thanks in the midst of the storm. 418 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000 Some of the guys probably say, man, you thank God. 419 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,000 Don't you see this? This storm is still going. This boat is still rocking. 420 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:59,000 You talking about thanking in all things. Give thanks. 421 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,000 Not for all things, but in all things. 422 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,000 So in the midst of your storm you still give Him... 423 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,000 Why are you giving Him thanks? Don't stop eating in the midst of your... 424 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,000 Break off something and start eating again. 425 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,000 Amen. Don't let it get so worried that you stop eating. 426 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:20,000 You eat it. If you can't even think you can keep it down, you still try to eat it. 427 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,000 If you can't chew, get yourself in that stuff you got to drink. 428 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,000 Drink you four or five cans a day. 429 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:34,000 Amen. Because you got to get nourishment so you can get your strength. 430 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,000 So He gave thanks before them all. 431 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:41,000 Young people, when you leave here and you get to college, you get to your next phase in life, 432 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:46,000 and everybody around you is not going to be saved, but they ought to know you're saved. 433 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,000 Don't leave here and leave striving like you don't know Jesus. 434 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:57,000 When you get to FSU or FU or AU or Northwestern or Alabama, when you get there you take Jesus. 435 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,000 Amen. 436 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,000 We didn't hurt your testimony. We know how great you are. 437 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000 Now we got to make sure you get to those campuses with some wisdom. 438 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,000 Amen. 439 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,000 Lord, have mercy. 440 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,000 You know, I wish we could have a session one day for all... 441 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,000 See, I didn't go to college. I just learned by observing. 442 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,000 I observed how college folk acted. 443 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,000 Observed. And I had three daughters that went to college. 444 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:33,000 So I know where they came from, but I know how they acted when they got there. 445 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,000 I... 446 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:42,000 And by me observing, I'm like, okay, okay, y'all, y'all, you got to stop that. 447 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,000 Nope, that don't work. They know how we play this game. 448 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Uh-uh, uh-uh. You know, you getting in our bin now? 449 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,000 No, no. 450 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,000 I'm observing. 451 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,000 When you send your children off to college, don't just sit around and wait for the next text. 452 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,000 You engage them. They're going... 453 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,000 Whatever they do with them, they'll ask you what you call that. 454 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,000 They don't respond to you. They ain't going to let you know they... 455 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,000 But they get in your text. They're reading it. They just going to hit on red again. 456 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,000 You don't think they got it, but they got it. 457 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,000 Stay engaged with your children once they leave. 458 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,000 Because when they leave, you... 459 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,000 Other influence is going to come in their lives. 460 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:27,000 And all of them are not going to be... 461 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,000 It blew my mind when I first took Candace down to the University of Florida. 462 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,000 And you know, we come from a little old Northwest Florida. 463 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,000 You know, da-da-da here. 464 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:42,000 And they go down there and they say they got 50,000 students on that campus. 465 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:48,000 That's more folks than we got here before walking the beach and nights we all put together. 466 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:54,000 All of them folk on one campus. 467 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,000 And all of them don't know Jesus. 468 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:04,000 So it's a good possibility that all kind of influences is on that campus. 469 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,000 So stay engaged, parents. 470 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000 You see, I don't look. 471 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,000 So everyone was encouraged to begin to eat. 472 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:19,000 All 276 of us who were on board. 473 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,000 Let us let me know, Luke must have been writing this, because he must have been on board. 474 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:24,000 Two. 475 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,000 Two. 476 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,000 All 70, 207 to say. 477 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,000 Now this is a dude who didn't have nobody's ear a few verses back. 478 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:37,000 But now he breaking bread with everybody. 479 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,000 The sailors, the army troops, and the prisoners. 480 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:45,000 All listening to this dude because he got... 481 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,000 That's what influences want. 482 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,000 They want everybody listening to. 483 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:57,000 Can you imagine the death you left here and you just had 276 people like your little blurb that you put out about this message? 484 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:58,000 Bam, just like that. 485 00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,000 277. 486 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,000 Whoa, good point. 487 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:06,000 Yeah, I need to get... I need to tie my grip up on my kids and then get ready to go to college. 488 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,000 Good point. 489 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000 Past the sale. 490 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,000 Past the sale. 491 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:20,000 If your daughter go into college, make sure she got her own food account. 492 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:27,000 101, don't let nobody buy your meals at college. 493 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:32,000 He may be nice and smiley, but the meal come at a price. 494 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:43,000 He broke two and he ain't about to give you his money just to feed you. 495 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,000 That's a free nugget right there, young ladies. 496 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:52,000 You miss a meal before you take a meal from some dude that you done met in two weeks, three weeks. 497 00:31:52,000 --> 00:32:03,000 Because the upper class will think you're going to come there and get hungry. 498 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,000 Let me move on. I ain't supposed to met her. 499 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,000 I'm just talking about from experience. 500 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,000 I'm trying to help some of y'all because I'd rather you know up front. 501 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:19,000 So you don't have to come back to me with a sad face later saying, I wish you had a told us this past, but I'm telling you. 502 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:26,000 Being on a college campus before there's some time in the student is no joke. 503 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Ah, Lord, let me move on. 504 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,000 Somebody say 276 people. 505 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:37,000 Can you imagine we walked out of here and just each one of us has influenced one person? 506 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,000 We ain't got to influence 276, just one. 507 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:45,000 That we can speak to their lives while they're going through something and can change their lives. 508 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:55,000 Look at this. After eating, the crew, somebody say the crew, the crew lighten the ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard. 509 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:59,000 I need the same guys that will finish the dessert. 510 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,000 But now they're on board with Paul because of his influence. 511 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:09,000 So they understood that if we're going to ship wreck, the lighter the ship is, the higher it rides in the water. 512 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:16,000 So that means we can get closer to land before we run aground. But if we keep all this wheat on and all this other stuff and lower the ship, 513 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:23,000 then instead of hitting the rocks, you know, maybe at 100 yards from the shore, we may hit at 300 yards from the shore. 514 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:31,000 And some of y'all may not be able to swim 300, but you stand a chance that you can swim in life. 515 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:37,000 Sometimes when you're going through something, you just got to lighten. 516 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:42,000 When you weigh it down with everything that's happening in your life, you got to take a look at all that stuff and say, 517 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:48,000 looky, you got to go. I'm riding too low with you on board. You got to go. 518 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:53,000 I need to elevate a little bit, but you, and you got to, I love you, but look at you got to. 519 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:59,000 My life is on the line right now, baby girl. I ain't got time to play with you, but you got to. 520 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,000 Anything that's going to hinder me from rising to the occasion, you got to go. 521 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,000 Because my life is at stake. And sometimes your children life is at stake. 522 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,000 And you're going to have to tell them, baby girl son, you got to let somethings. 523 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:19,000 You got to lighten your load. 524 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,000 So they start further than that by throwing the cargo overboard. 525 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:27,000 Then look here in verse 39, they was disoriented. 526 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:32,000 He says, when morning dawn, they didn't recognize the coastline, 527 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:39,000 but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get to shore by running the ship abroad. 528 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,000 Neither the sailor's thinking now. And we don't know where we at. 529 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,000 Because we've been in the dark all this time. We're disoriented. 530 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:51,000 And we don't know north from south, east to west. We can't recognize the landmath to give us a pinpoint. 531 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,000 See, when you lost, man, it's terrible. It's one thing to be lost in the daytime. 532 00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:00,000 You got a different attitude. But when you lost that night, man, it's a deal that you could spend on. 533 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,000 I'm lost at night in some place out on the whole country. 534 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,000 It's different than when I'm lost in the daytime. I got a different attitude. 535 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,000 But when you lost and dawn is coming out of dogs in the dawn, 536 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,000 and you're looking around, you've been in dogs for 14 days and all this time. 537 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,000 Now, where are we? 538 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,000 We see some land over there, but we don't recognize what's there. 539 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:23,000 But look here, we believe that we can make it to the land. 540 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,000 They didn't recognize where they were. So they saw this bay, 541 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:30,000 and they wondered if they could run the ship, run the ship of ground by going there. 542 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,000 Look at this, we're 40. So they cut off the anchor, landing that load again. 543 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,000 They don't want that holding the back. The anchor was down to keep us too far out. 544 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,000 We got to get closer. And they left them in the sea. 545 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:46,000 Then they lowered the rudders so they could start directing the ship where they want to go. 546 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Your children need direction. Even though they're leaving you, they still need some direction. 547 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,000 You need to stay in contact with them so that you can get out. 548 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:59,000 And children, when you get to college, don't turn your parents off and think you can figure this all out by yourself. 549 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,000 You cannot do it. You ain't there yet. Amen. 550 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:08,000 You're still learning. And as long as your parents are willing to pour into you, 551 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,000 you got to be willing to receive because they're doing it for your... 552 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,000 They wondered if they could run the ship of ground. Verse 40. 553 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:26,000 They cut off the anchors and left them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward the shore. 554 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:32,000 But they hit a shore, that's a sandbar, and ran the ship of ground too soon. 555 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:37,000 The boat broke the bow of the ship. That's the front part of the ship. 556 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,000 I had to look all this up for navigation. Bow. I'm reading that. Bow. What's a bow? 557 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,000 I got a series. What is a bow? Okay. 558 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:47,000 Navy don't just talk. I don't know why they couldn't just say the front of the ship. 559 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:52,000 But a navy talk, that's why they're the navy. If I knew it was, everybody would understand it when they talk. 560 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:59,000 So when they say the bow, I got a bow. Okay. The front of the ship stuck back. I mean, they hit something. 561 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,000 Then the stern. Then that must mean the back of the ship. 562 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:06,000 I don't know why they couldn't just use plain language. Go to the back of the ship. 563 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:12,000 You got to go to the stern. I'm listening to that. I don't know where to go. I'm going to the side. That's the F. 564 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:18,000 I'm going to the side. What I'm going to be going to the... That's why we ain't sailors. 565 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:23,000 We ain't required to know that we trust them to tell us which direction to go. 566 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:30,000 He said, as it was repeated, it smacked by the force of the waves and began to break apart. 567 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:37,000 Paul Prophets is coming through. They were going to be shipwrecked, shipwrecked, and now the ship is breaking apart. 568 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:43,000 When the ship started breaking apart, the soldiers started acting like the sailors. 569 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,000 See, at first it was the sailors who was cutting the food. 570 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:55,000 Now the soldiers started looking out for their own self-interest and say, hey, you know, we're accountable for Paul and Luke and all these other prisoners. 571 00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:03,000 We're accountable. If them boys are swimmers and get to the shore, they may get free. 572 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:11,000 So the soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure that they were swimming shore and in Rome, 573 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:15,000 that Roman soldier was accountable for the prisoners that was under him. 574 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,000 And sometimes if you let the guy loose and let him get away, then it meant your life. 575 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:25,000 So these guys said, look here, rather than taking a chance with these guys out swimming us, they're just going to kill them now. 576 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:29,000 They're prisoners anyway. They ain't worth nothing. They're going to stand trial. They ain't worth... 577 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000 But she said, when people see you as being worth nothing, God already got a value on you. 578 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:38,000 And you can't let people to turn with you. Some people just want to see you dead, just out of the picture. Just go. 579 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,000 But look here, God still see you as... 580 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:48,000 They wanted to kill the prisoners, but look at this influence again of Paul. 581 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:51,000 I told you, sometimes influence is better than power. 582 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:59,000 If you can influence the person with the power, they can get done what you need to get done to save your... 583 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:06,000 So the soldiers, Brother Wilson, they ready to just cut them up into pieces and throw them on the floor for shock bait. 584 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:19,000 But the commanding officer, the head man in charge, the big guy, the hefe, the one who called the shots, the big guy. 585 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:25,000 Sometimes you got to stop dealing with the little guy. You got to go straight to the big guy. 586 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:31,000 Sometimes the little guy can't tell you what you need. Every now and you need to go to the... 587 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:36,000 You don't talk to the intermediate supervisor enough. Now you need to get in the point with the... 588 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:40,000 Because the big guy may have some understanding that everybody else don't have. 589 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:47,000 And he got to know that, hey, there's a clause in the law that if this happened at sea, then we waived that. 590 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:51,000 You don't know that. You're just a soldier. You just want to kill him. 591 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:56,000 So every now and then, the big guy who got the big picture may know more than you know about something. 592 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,000 So every now and then, if you on a job, don't be afraid to go talk to the big. 593 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:06,000 If he got an open door policy and say you can come in and see him, go see the big. 594 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:14,000 When you get to college young people, if you know who the dean of your college is, and he got an open door policy, go introduce yourself to him. 595 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:18,000 Don't just go to the class with your professor and walk out. 596 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,000 At the end of the class, go and learn something about that, bro. 597 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:27,000 What is interest? What is like? See, it's dislike. Her likes, dislike. Learn something. 598 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:35,000 Get them to know you so that when it's time to weigh some grades and they got a choice, they can just change them because of who they are. 599 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:39,000 They make us that C to B. 600 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:46,000 Influence. 601 00:40:46,000 --> 00:41:04,000 I was failed now, Debra, in college, but the professor, like me, influenced, gave me his test. 602 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:10,000 He told me he caveat it. He said, I know you ain't going to be no math teacher. 603 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:16,000 Math is not in your thing. So I know what you said. You here to play football. 604 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,000 So I ain't going to let math keep you from doing that. 605 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:29,000 I ain't got to worry about you discrediting my career because there's no way you're going to ever be a math professor. 606 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:38,000 So here's this. So you can maintain your grades, go out there and play football to get you a PE degree, whatever you're going to get. 607 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:47,000 Had influence. 608 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,000 Because I knew him. I talked to him long before it was time to get to grade. 609 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:56,000 Every day after class, because I was military, I let him know I don't work the 12 hour shift to get here. 610 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:03,000 I got a baby at home and a wife. I got to go and work another midnight shift to come to sit in your class at 9 o'clock in the morning. 611 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:08,000 I'm going to be pretty tired. So he knew if I dozed off, don't hold it against him. 612 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:12,000 This boy been out there protecting this nation. 613 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:18,000 And he's sitting up here in my class. Influence. 614 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:23,000 I got to be out there class. 615 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:27,000 I ain't shy, mother. I got to be out there class. 616 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,000 Amen. 617 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,000 So young people, I'm telling you, if I can do it, you're a lot smarter than me. 618 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,000 You don't need as much help as I need it. 619 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:42,000 So what I'm trying to tell you, get to know the people that's in charge. 620 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:46,000 Stop hanging around with all your friends who don't want to know nobody in charge. 621 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:52,000 The people in charge is not the enemy. They can be your friend. 622 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:57,000 Look at this. When they just heard what Paul was going to do to Paul, they said, 623 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:04,000 but verse 43, the commandant officer wanted to spare Paul. 624 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,000 So he didn't let them carry out their plan. 625 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:14,000 Then he ordered all who could swim to jump over the board first and make it to land. 626 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:17,000 So now the commandant officer spoke, hey, you can swim? 627 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,000 Don't worry about these guys. They ain't nobody going to kill you. 628 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,000 You go ahead and go to freedom if you can swim. 629 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:30,000 But if you like bolder and you can't swim, then when the ship break up, you need to just find your plank. 630 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:36,000 You just need to find your plank. 631 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:40,000 See, I tell you all the time, I don't need to know the whole Bible. 632 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,000 I just need to find me a... 633 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:46,000 I don't need to know Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 634 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,000 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1st, 2nd Corinthians. 635 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:52,000 I don't need to know 1st, 2nd, 3rd, John. 636 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,000 I just need to know about a plank. 637 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,000 A plank can save my life. 638 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:01,000 Some of y'all are trying to learn the whole Bible, but you don't know the plank. 639 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:04,000 All you need to know is to know who Jesus is. 640 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,000 Jesus is your plank. 641 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:11,000 And even when you think the ship is going down in your life, hold on to the... 642 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,000 Hold on to the plank. 643 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:17,000 Hold on to him. You can learn about him in one hour class. 644 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:21,000 You don't need 36 hours to learn about... 645 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:24,000 I wish all of you could be theologian, but I know you can't. 646 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:28,000 But I'm going to tell you enough to save your life when life gets tough. 647 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,000 Hold on to them. 648 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,000 The ship don't break up all around you. 649 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:37,000 Folks don't leave you, but hold on to them. 650 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,000 And if you hold on to him, and just remember one scripture, 651 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:47,000 for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that I could live. 652 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,000 I'm going to hold on to them. 653 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:58,000 He told me, hey, whatever the father has put into my head, no man can snatch it out. 654 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,000 I'm going to hold on to them. 655 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,000 Some of y'all are trying to hold on to something that's gone. 656 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,000 The ship is gone. 657 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:10,000 No matter where, stop trying to bring the ship back. The ship is... 658 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:17,000 You hold it on to something that can't do nothing for you, when there's a plank. 659 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,000 Some of you ladies, look here. 660 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:27,000 The next man that come in your life, maybe nothing but a... 661 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:33,000 Some of you brothers, the next woman that you don't got left at the altar, 662 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:37,000 you thought you had the ship, but she gone. 663 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:46,000 And now the plank just drifting by, and you too proud to hold on to your plank. 664 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:49,000 Your ship has sailed. 665 00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:53,000 She is... 666 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:57,000 I know some of y'all say, why are you going there? 667 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:05,000 Because I know that there's some people trying to hold on to some things that's gone, that's destroyed. 668 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:08,000 You ain't going to bring it back like it was. 669 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:19,000 So you got to hold on to something that was good about it, to let you go to the next phase in your life. 670 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:26,000 That'll get you out of that depressed state of mind when you see hope in a plank. 671 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:33,000 Don't miss the opportunity when God is trying to speak to your heart, man, 672 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:36,000 with matters that pertain to your life. 673 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,000 And you miss it because you're looking for the grand. 674 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:42,000 And all he's trying to get you is a little simple message. 675 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:46,000 Hold on to the plank. 676 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,000 It's enough to get you to the shore. 677 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:54,000 Because right now all you trying to do is get out of water, because you can't swim. 678 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:57,000 Amen. 679 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:02,000 So I just dropped by to tell you today, Jesus is enough. 680 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,000 Your life is going to have some storms, young people. 681 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,000 Everybody has storms. 682 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:14,000 College is going to be a great success for all of you if you stay focused and do what you're supposed to do while you're there. 683 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:18,000 The pastor's not telling you don't have some fun, don't go out and have fun, do what you got to do. 684 00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:27,000 But understand if you take an 18 to 20 or some hours, you know, they used to tell me to take you about three hours for every one hour or something that you're taking 685 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,000 that you got to put in effort to study. 686 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:38,000 So now you can't be partying for six, seven hours on the weekend when you ain't got but one hour. 687 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:45,000 I ain't saying don't go to the party because for me to think all y'all are going to just skip the party, you're going. 688 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:46,000 You're going. 689 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:47,000 I don't care who y'all. 690 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,000 You're just going to go check it out out of curiosity. 691 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:51,000 You're just going to take you to the party. 692 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,000 But when you get there, hit your watch. 693 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:54,000 Click. 694 00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:56,000 I got one hour. 695 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:59,000 Because when I get back, I got to go and study. 696 00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:05,000 I got to put three hours in and this is math because if I don't, I ain't going to pass this test. 697 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:12,000 Don't let the party or other people distract you from doing what you go into college to do. 698 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:13,000 Amen. 699 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:14,000 Amen. 700 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,000 Get a lot of hands up and praise if you will. I'm done.