April 14, 2024

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Anybody’s got any prayer requests this morning? Rita? Yes, I think I got that right here. Pray for Rita’s friend. She had a family member pass away and working out some details with the family. You pray for that family.

00:22
Yeah, I pray for Paulette. She has a blood clot in the lung. That’s a friend of my mother-in-law, Quinda’s mom. Hey, listen, I gotta ask for some help from y’all. Y’all remember to pray for those people? In a little while, we’re gonna have some baptisms, and if you’re here to be baptized today, when I get ready to close the service, if you’ll go and change and then come back up here, we’ll be ready to baptize you.

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Right after the service today at two o’clock, we have a memorial service for Dennis Lee. Some of y’all may know Mike Lee.

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PBR World Champion bull rider. I’ve known Dennis pretty much my whole life and Dennis passed away several months ago and today would I think be his 78th or 79th birthday. And so we’re gonna have his memorial service here at two o’clock. So I’m gonna ask for your help and I’ll try to mention this again in a little bit. And any of you that are here that can stay and help for the service, I’d sure appreciate it. But at the end of the service, if you don’t mind, pick up any trash or anything you got.

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nearby and take it with you to the garbage can because we we’re going to have a lot of people in here today and then I’ve got to clear off that back table back in the back I think and

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So if anybody wants to help me, you can just make that stuff disappear temporarily. I don’t care where it goes. Just hide it. They’re going to set up some pictures there. So right at the end of the service, if you’ll help me with that. And then we are bucking bulls today at 4 o’clock. 4 o’clock, we just, we’re moving it from our normal time, 2.30 to 4 because of that service, but it’s still going to be a great day to buck some bulls, right? All right.

02:12
Well, it’s good to see y’all. I’m waiting on Bill to get back up here. Y’all think my preaching’s bad, y’all oughta hear my singing.

02:22
We got Bill Baker with us this morning y’all give him a hand welcome him. Let’s stand together I’m gonna start us in prayer and then we’ll get we’ll get started Lord. We thank you for your goodness to us Thank you for this day that we have to come and worship you. Thank you Lord for a beautiful day We pray for those that we mentioned this morning and Lord. I know there’s many other requests that

02:44
Weren’t even said, but God, you are God and you know it. The Holy Spirit, I just pray that you feel welcome here today, Lord. We don’t ask you to come into this service. We ask you to take over this service. And we’re here to worship you, Jesus. We love you, we thank you for who you are, what you’ve done for us. Thank you that we worship a risen Savior today. Lord, I lift up Israel to you right now. Lord, I pray that you confound.

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their enemy, Iran. Lord, I know in your word that you said this was gonna happen.

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And Lord, we just look forward to you, Jesus, coming because you said all these things are gonna happen just before you come. So Lord, we’re looking up today, knowing our redemption’s drawing nigh, but I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I pray for the protection of your people and your nation, Israel. And I pray for the destruction of all of her enemies. In Jesus’ name we pray today, amen. Amen.

03:51
I wondered so aimless, I feel we sinned. I wouldn’t let my dear savior end. But Jesus came like a stranger in that. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. I saw the light, I saw the light. No more in darkness, no more in night.

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I’m so happy no sorrow in sight Praise the Lord I saw the light Well I was a fool to wander and stray Straight is the gate and narrow the way Oh now I’ve traded wrongly for the right Praise the Lord I saw the light

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I saw the light, I saw the light No more in darkness, no more in doubt Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light

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I saw the light, I saw the light No more in darkness, no more in night I’m so happy, no sorrow inside Praise the Lord, I saw the light

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If you saw the light, give the light a hand, clap, and praise. Come on. Amen. Well, son, glad morning when this life is over.

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I’ll fly away.

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I

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Just a few more happy days in the…

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I’ll never end.

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said now when I die, hallelujah by and by.

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BAM

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Now I’m gonna do this.

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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, a savior rich like me.

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I was lost but now I was blind but now I see

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Through many dangers, tolls and stairs, I have already come.

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His grace that brought me safe this fall And grace will lead me on My chains are gone, I’ve been set free My God

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my Savior, He ransomed me. And like a flood, His mercy reigns, I’m in meek love.

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Amazing

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His word is secure. He will my shield and portion be. As long as life.

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And my chains are gone, I’ve been set free. My God, my Savior, He ransomed me. And like a blood, His mercy reigns unending love.

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Amazing

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Some day the sun will be all black snow, The sun for bear to shine, And then God who called me here below Shall be for ever.

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Some of y’all might have heard me tell this story before, but it’s been a long time since I told it. But for a long time, I went in and out of Love County Jail in Oklahoma and did ministry for seven years or so. I met a man in there, he was the real deal thug. He had done time in the joint and he had all the tattoos and the stories to prove it.

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I’d have people cause a little ruckus sometime while I was preaching, get to making a little noise. Old Merrick, he could turn around and look at them and they’d be quiet like mommy, you know. He asked me, he said, preacher, he said, where’s your church at? I told him, he said, when I get out of jail, he said, me and my wife and my daughter are going to come to your church. I said, okay. I’d only heard that from a thousand other people.

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One Wednesday night I looked up at Bible Studies, front door open and in walked. Mary could marry in her precious little girl. And the guy who’d been an inmate in the county jail where I preached became a good friend of mine.

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Go play golf together and hang out.

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He was involved in a motorcycle accident. Left him quadriplegic in a wheelchair. I stood next to his bed at Baylor Medical Center. Tubes running out of him.

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This guy who once was so powerful that he could turn around and look at people in the county jail and they’d be quiet. Now didn’t even have the power to control his own body.

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He called me one day from his wheelchair when he got home and he said, Billy said I want to go to high schools and he said I want to tell kids that the thug life ain’t a good life and he said I want them to know that they deserve Jesus above everything else.

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We hashed out a plan.

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A week later, I was sitting in the same recliner in my living room. My phone went off and it was Mary. She was bawling on the other end. And she said, Bill, Mary was eating. And she said, he got choked. And she said, I couldn’t get it out. And she said, he died right here in our living room, if it wasn’t for being our little girl.

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hung up the phone.

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Tears running down my face.

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And I remembered all the times I’d sang this song at county jail. I thought about my friend being in that wheelchair in such a state.

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And this is what I thought. My chains are gone.

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been set free. My God, my Savior, He ransomed me.

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Like a flood is mercy

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ending love

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Amazing grace

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You know, so many of us, we’re bound to things. No control over our lives. Tell Amazing Grace come along. Would you give Jesus a hand clap of praise for his grace this morning, amen. Amen.

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He might be saying…

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On a highway head south

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Tail.

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She missed a curve. Everybody

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I’m

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You’re so young

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No, it just ain’t fair

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She got her angel wings In the middle of nowhere

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your wings come where they will.

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name

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When the good Lord calls us Oh-o

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I’m calling you.

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I ain’t your wings, I ain’t your wings for a big ass year

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you

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two years old.

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in a nursing home.

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It is so strong

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He says listen to your dad.

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He was gone just like that.

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your wings come.

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You’re more

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Oh

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Bye.

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Oh

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For me and…

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I was listening the other day to some old songs. I grew up loving this song. There’s a light in the window. A table spread in splendor. Someone standing by the open door.

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I can see the crystal river So I must be near there forever Lord, I’ve never been this Honset before

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See the bright light shine It’s just about home

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can’t see the father standing by the door.

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This world’s been a wilderness, amen. I’m ready for deliverance. And I ain’t ever been this home safe before.

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can’t see the family gather sweet places all familiar and no one’s older feeble anymore

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and the hearts are crying. Think I spread my wings for flying. Say I’ve never been this homesick before. And see the bright light.

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It’s just about home town I can’t see the father standing at the door

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This world, it’s a wilderness. I’m ready for the end.

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Never been this home safe before

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Hey, baby, fall.

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I like it all so.

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That’s an old Dottie Rambo song. If there’s any songwriters in the room and you wanna go find out how you need to write a gospel song, just look up Dottie Rambo. She published over 2,500 songs. She was a little woman, about the size of Micah. She wasn’t very big. And we seen her about, I don’t know, about a year, year and a half before she died. She died tragically in a bus accident. And…

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in Missouri I believe. Anyway, we’d seen her about a year, year and a half before that. She was, I don’t know, she was in her 70s. And she’d come out there and she said, if my holes look like they’re a funny color, it’s because I put the wrong color on first and I put the right ones on over them. Ha ha ha.

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She sat up there on a stool on that stage with a guitar just singing all these hit after hit. Somebody would holler something out and she’d say, well how does that start? I mean she wrote all of them, she said, but you gotta understand I published 2500 songs. So she was cool though, I really liked listening to her sing.

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I don’t know who might be going through something.

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Here’s an old song goes Many times I questioned Certain circumstances Things I could not understand

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Sometimes in trial, weakness blurs my vision. My frustration gets so out of hand.

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Since then I have remained dead I’ve never been forsaken Never had to stand one test alone

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Look at all the victories. It’s when the power of the Lord begins to rise up in me and it’s through the fire my weakness is made strong. Listen here.

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He never promised that the cross would not get heavy and the hill would not be hard.

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Ain’t never a-

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I’m gonna put a

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Just remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision And the adversary says give in You’ll just hold on Our Lord will show up He will take you through the fire of…

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I know that in myself that I would surely perish. Oh, but if I trust the hand of God, He will shield the flames again.

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He never promised that the cross would not get heavy and that he would not

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He never offered you those victories without fighting. He said, help will always come.

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Just remember when you’re standing In the valley of decision And the adversary says give in If you’ll just hold on Then our Lord will show up And He will take you through the fire again Child just

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our Lord will show up and He will take you through the fire again.

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Hey man.

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He never promised that the cross would not get heavy and that the hill would not be hard to climb. Amen. And he never offered you those victories without fighting, but he said help would always come in time.

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something to shout about. Just remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision and the adversary says give in. Just hold on. Our Lord will show up and he will take you through the fire again. Child, just hold on.

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Because our God, He always shows up time and time and time again. He’ll take you through the fire again.

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and take you through the fire again. He’s taking you through the fire, give him some praise. Come on, amen. Amen. Because he never promised that the cross would not get heavy. Oh, and that the hill would not be hard to climb. Listen here.

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And he never offered you that victory without fighting But he said, help, he said, I’ll always show up right on time So just remember when your standing devil hid In the valley of decision And you whispered I should just give in I’ll just hold on

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my Lord, my Jesus, my Savior, my devil killer. He’ll show up and take me through the fire again.

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Take us to the fire!

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Amen, amen, amen, and amen. Glory be to Jesus. I don’t know how many of y’all, listen, I don’t know how many of you been never been through a fire. You may not know what I’m talking about. Listen, they have, we have fires and they burn up pasture on pasture on pasture land just as far as you can see.

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We cut fences to let cattle out and all sorts of things. And still yet homes and farms are lost and all those things. But I’m gonna tell you something, there’s a real adversary out there that wants to start a fire in your life and wants to see your life burned down. I didn’t write that song, I didn’t plan on singing that song this morning. I don’t know who needs to hear this. But listen, he wants to burn your life down. That’s what he wants to do.

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Understand that before you can get growing, before you can become anything for God, He wants to destroy you. But listen to me, the God that we serve in times like that is the God that you can hold close to, you can hold firm to, and He will take you through those fires time after time after time after time. The devil will get in your head, don’t ask me how I know. He will get in your head.

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But our Lord, He’ll show up and He’ll take you through the fire. Is anybody in here? I don’t know, but Jeff, I’m just going to do this. Anybody in here need prayer this morning for anything? Anybody? Raise your hand. Step out and come on up here, sister. Anybody else?

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Here comes another one. Anybody else? Yep. Yep.

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Anybody else?

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Here comes another.

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Here comes another.

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Anybody else? Listen, you ain’t gotta be first. There ain’t no reason not to come as other people already, anybody else need prayer?

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I’m gonna play this song again while they pray. And here’s what I want you to do. Listen, if you don’t need prayer, you’re in a good spot. If you don’t need it, you’re in a good spot. That’s what I want you to do. I want you to stick your hand out toward these people. And if you know somebody’s name, I want you to lift their name up, say God, whatever their need is, touch them. Listen, I want you to, you know what that’s called? That’s called being interceders. And I want you to intercede on their behalf.

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I want somebody to call out my wife’s name. I want somebody to call out my name. I want somebody to call out brother Jeff’s name. I want somebody to call out sister Quinta’s name. I want you to make sure you do it. But listen, I’m gonna play, but I want you people to pray, amen. God’s gonna do something this morning in this place. He never.

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heavy, the hill would not be hard to climb.

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He never offered victory without fighting. He said, hell, we’re coming down.

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Remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision and the adversary says give in. So.

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Our Lord shows us, takes us to the fire.

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Well, always come in time.

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In the valley of decision And the adversary says give in Just hold on Our Lord will show us

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Yeah, too.

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Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the king. For the mountains bow down and the sea will roll.

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At the sound of your name I sing for joy at the word of your hand Forever I love you, forever I stand And nothing compares to the promise I have in you

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Jesus

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my Savior. Lord, there is none like You. All of my days are

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See you.

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Should do

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Refuge and strength Let every breath All that I have Never cease to show

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Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing.

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Majesty, praise to the king For the mountains bow down And the seas they roll at the sound

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I sing for joy at the word of the Lord. Forever I love you, forever I’ll stand. And nothing compares to the promise I have in you.

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to the promise I have. Nothing compares to the promise I have. And shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing.

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Praise to the king Cause the mountains bow down And the seas they roll At the sound of your name I sing for joy At the word of your name Forever I love you Forever I stand

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I have nothing compared to the promise I had in you

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in.

41:00
Y’all can be seated. And it got good. You know, Bill, I called Bill this morning, Dennis and I were getting worried about him because he was not here at the normal time. We was afraid he broke down. Or we was afraid to got him at the Texas line when he come from Oklahoma into Texas. We wasn’t sure. But…

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We were worried about it. And he said, man, I was, we was Dairy Queen and it was 15 minutes to get a biscuit. Well, it took 20 at McDonald’s, brother, so I went to just say it. He had no idea. I don’t think he had any idea completely what he was gonna sing.

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When he got here or on his way, I’m sure the Holy Spirit was talking to because I got up this morning I had something else on my mind, you know all week and then last night into this morning The Lord just changed it. So I want you to take your Bible and go to the book of Job Job if you’re redneck, that’s job. Okay, J. O. B. But the book of Job and I’m gonna I’m gonna try to

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preach as fast as I can this morning and share something with you.

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I’ve read through the book of Job many times and I saw a verse last night that I just have never paid attention to and I’m going to take you there in just a moment. But Job chapter number one, I want to introduce Job to you if some of you, and I’m sure there’s a number of you, have never heard of Job. You don’t know who Job is.

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Job was a man in the Bible who the scriptures tell us was a perfect and upright man, meaning he was completely in love with God.

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and he was faithful to God, so faithful that the Bible tells us he made sacrifices daily for his children and he did so just in case one of them sinned. He had such a heart and a passion just to be right with God. And the Bible tells us that one day Satan comes before God and

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you say, well, is that possible? Absolutely. Satan would come before God along with the others. When he came, it was God who said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job?

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In other words, have you been paying attention to Job? Now I gotta tell you something, of all the people on earth, when God in heaven mentions your name before Satan and says, I’ve got one person down there on earth that trusts me, that follows me, that’s faithful to me, that really means business with me. Let me just stop right there and say this so I can get out of the way, because if I don’t, I’m gonna explode, all right? I don’t know how many of you heard me start this morning in prayer and said, pray for Jerusalem, pray for Israel.

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that Iran attacked Jerusalem and Israel last night. And rockets and bombs were falling down. I need you to listen to me. If you don’t hear anything else I say, listen to me carefully. And I don’t care what you hear on the internet. I don’t care what you hear in TikTok and YouTube and all the other dipsticks out there. Listen to what I’m about to tell you. But what you’re seeing happen in the news today is biblically prophetic. I mean, like you may have heard preachers say, we’re just about to the end times.

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We are there we are almost to the end of the end times you understand what I’m telling you and whenever you see Iran And you’re gonna hear China and Russia’s name throw it out there pretty quick in the next few days And you may not know this and if you were here a few weeks ago You may have heard me mention this what the whole conflict over there right now in Israel is all about you know Why Hamas attacked Israel to begin with back in October? It’s because of what happened here about two years ago some red cattle from Texas

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getting on a plane and flew them over there. They’re called red heifers and they’re necessary, necessary for them to sacrifice, burn, and put the ashes to cleanse the priest in order for them to begin sacrificing in the temple again. You say, what prophetic influence or purpose does that have? In 70 AD, almost 2000 years ago, Titus, a Roman emperor, he marches through Jerusalem,

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Jerusalem and Israel to waste. Okay, and the temple was destroyed, but it’s prophesied by Jesus, by Daniel, and then again in Revelation by John, that the day is coming where when the Antichrist arrives, he will stand on the Temple Mount, which is in Jerusalem. Currently, there sits the Dome of the Rock, one of the most sacred holy places of Islam, and the Antichrist will walk into the temple. Now, what significance does that have?

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yet but they have all the plans all the priest all the preparation made and for do you realize it has been two thousand plus years now since they sacrificed the last red heifer there’s only been ten since the time or nine since the time of Moses and the Jewish people believe that when the tenth heifer is a sacrifice that will usher in the messianic age the problem with that is

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the first time he came but we as Christians believe that whenever they began to sacrifice again that’s going to welcome in the Antichrist who the Bible says and it uses this term Jesus used it the abomination of desolation where the Antichrist walks into the temple and professes to be God and wants the whole world to worship him

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Now you say, why are you telling us that? What’s it got to do with job? Ain’t got nothing to do a job except for me to tell you this. I’m telling you, I promise you, and you remember some of y’all were here six months ago. You remember me telling you, if you think things are crazy now, get ready. It’s about to get on. It’s about to get real crazy. Let me tell you something. If we make it to 2024 November elections, I’m gonna be baffled.

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I really am. And by the way, while I’ve got a chance to say it, I would not vote for a clown in the White House that would make Easter transition day. That’s a bunch of junk. Somebody’s nuts. We oughta throw him out come November, put a real man back in office, and he’ll lead this country. Well, I don’t think a preacher should talk politics. Well, I don’t care what you think. I’m an American citizen. I can talk what I want to, amen.

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It’s about time somebody stand up and tell our nation and call our nation to repentance. And by the way, separation of church and state. Well, that’s not in your constitution. If you went to school and learned that, you went to the wrong school because it’s not, by the way, it hasn’t got anything to do with our constitution. The church has always stood up to the government and spoke truth to a corrupt government. And it’s time as Christians, we be like a man of Job that God looks down and says, you know what, that’s a true believer. You know what?

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woman, that’s my son, that’s my daughter. I know they’ll stand in the face of adversity, they’ll stand in the face of corruption, they’ll stand in the face of the lies that this culture promotes and propagates, and they will speak the truth, what God’s word says. And you mark this down. You mark what I’m about to tell you down. God said in Ezekiel 38 that he would

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their jaw and draw them in and when he does he’s going to destroy them. You mark my words every nation that’s ever come against Israel has found themselves in the eyesheep of history. I want to say to the Iranian government, not doubt they listen to me, but just in case get ready God’s about to bring you down.

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You mark that down. Israel is and always has been God’s chosen people, and they always will be. God isn’t done with the nation of Israel. Oh no, he’s just about to get started. You ain’t seen nothing yet. So I want you to realize, when you see those idiots on Harvard campuses and Ivy League campuses, and now in Washington, D.C., in New York, marching and protesting Israel, you look at them people and say,

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You’re a nut you’re crazy and the reason I’m telling you that is because when you raise your hand against God you will lose

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I’ve already read the back of the book and there’s coming a day real soon. The Antichrist, he’s going to stand in that temple. You mark that down. That day is being prepared already. But I’m not looking for the Antichrist to come. I’m looking for Jesus, the Christ to come. And when he comes, he’s going to set this world in order. He’s going to reestablish his kingdom and it will be a kingdom that lasts forever.

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So I hope Iran makes their best move because I promise you they’re about to meet their defeat now that has to do with job except You and I in this day and hour need to be people that god can look from heaven and say you know what? I trust them. I know them. They’ve been tested Job was that kind of man? And god looks at the satan in job chapter one and he says hey

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Have you considered my servant Job? Matter of fact, if you got your Bible, Job chapter one, and I’m just gonna kind of give you an overview of Job’s life and look at verse number eight, chapter one, verse eight, and notice what it says. It says, and the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless? Oh, here’s something in our name. Here’s something that’s an anomaly in our culture today, an upright man. He’s a blameless.

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and an upright man.

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You know, we need some upright people in our world today. I don’t know about you, but to me, it looks like our whole world’s been turned upside down. We call right wrong and wrong right. We need some men and women of God, sons and daughters of God that’ll stand up and say, I’m an upright person, I’m gonna listen to the Bible, I’m gonna read the Bible, I’m gonna obey the Bible, I’m gonna live the Bible, I’m gonna let the Holy Spirit live Jesus out in me so that it makes a difference in this world. I want you to listen to me.

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Approaching I think the day is here that lukewarm no more lukewarm no more in other words There’s no God not gonna be in your room for lukewarm Christians anymore You either better be hot or you better be cold Jesus said so he says have you considered my servant? Job he’s an upright man one who what fears God and shuns evil

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What does that mean? It means he don’t like the things that God doesn’t like. He doesn’t go with the culture who just says tolerate and accept. By the way, let me tell you something, you’ll never read that word in the Bible. You’ll never read that word in the Bible. Tolerate, tolerate sin? No. Tolerate what the world calls good and God calls evil? No. He’s a man who fears God.

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And shuns evil. Now, let me tell you about fearing God. It doesn’t mean that he’s afraid of God, that God’s out to get him. It means he had a great reverence and respect of who God was. Let me give you a difference. I know I’m crazy. I’m certified crazy. I have a daughter. I have a daughter who is

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She’s becoming a psychologist. I think she’s almost there. And she told me the other day, she said, Dad, I’m about to get a promotion. Things are turning around. I got accepted into this program. I’m gonna get my masters. And she goes, one day I’ll be able to help you, Dad. Got the text right here. So I know, I got a psychologist that told me, I’m nuts. My mama told me that a long time ago. I knew that. My daddy said I was born that way.

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But look at verse nine, so Satan answered the Lord and said, I want you to get this next part, read this with me. Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for nothing? No, no, no, there’s a reason behind it’s what he’s saying. He says, verse 10, have you not made a hedge around him? You’ve heard a Christian pray for the hedge of protection around something. God, have you not built a wall of protection around Job? I mean.

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Here’s the part I want you to get notice that Satan recognizes the power of God. I wonder why we don’t

54:07
Satan recognizes the protection of God. Sometimes I think we don’t. He says, have you not made a hedge around him and around his household and around all that he has on every side and you have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will surely curse you to your face.

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In other words, Satan says, you know what, God? The Job guy, the one you’re so, you’re bragging about, the one you’re so proud of, the one you love so much, I’ll tell you why he serves you, because you’ve blessed him. You’ve put a protection around, you’ve got this hand of protection and everything his hand touches, you bless it.

54:59
Can I just, no, I’m gonna get real, because Bill was talking about, has anybody ever gone through a problem? Anybody ever gone through a fire? I’m gonna tell you something. You see that hair, the hair I got left? That’s gray hair. I earned it, all right? So I got some experience behind this. So when I preach to you today that I know what being broken means, and when I preach to you, my family’s sitting here, when I preach to you that I know what losing everything materially I’ve ever had means, they know I’m telling the truth.

55:29
from experience here and here’s what I want you to get. It is easy to serve God and it is easy to praise him when you’re walking in the blessing. And by the way I’m gonna tell you whether you know it or not you’re always walking in blessing but here’s what I want you when it looks like on the outside you’re really blessed. Now the problem is our definition of blessing.

55:58
See, we bought the lie that if I’ve got a really nice car or a really nice pickup with really nice wheels and I got a lot of money in my bank account and I got a really nice home and I got a really fine wife and I really, and I can do, and we got all this stuff. I’m bailing myself out right here. We got all this stuff, then we are blessed.

56:19
Can I just tell you how many funerals I have done in my life for people that had everything this world had to offer and when they died, they died spiritually bankrupt. Yeah. I’m going to tell you, I’ve lived long enough in life to know that what the world calls a blessing, what Satan calls a blessing, and what God calls a blessing are two different things. And he says, um…

56:47
Lord, God, you’ve blessed everything this guy’s done. You’ve blessed everything. His hands have touched. Stretch out your hand, God, against him. He’ll curse you to your face. And notice what the Lord says next. Verse 12, and the Lord said to Satan, and this is very important, behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person. In other words, don’t take his life.

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and Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

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Now I’ll stop right there and I can just go on in the chapter and tell you what happened next was that in one day, Job lost all of his camels, donkeys, sheep, goats. I mean, and that was wealth. That was like, you and I, they’d be like, you losing your bank account, your savings, your retirement. It would be like in one day, you are utterly bankrupt, lost his job, lost everything. And then the next day, someone comes along the same day and says, man, there was a great wind and it’s just, it tore up the house. It was a tornado. I don’t know.

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And all your kids are dead. Your kids are dead.

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Can you imagine going financially bankrupt in one day and then losing your whole family in one day? And then they come to him and Job is mourning and by that evening he’s sitting on a porch patio, his wife sits down beside him, he’s covered in boils, he’s gotten so sick by the end of that day

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Him. His precious wife says, Job just curse God and die. I’ve never seen anybody go through so much so quick lose everything so fast. You’ve been faithful to God. And now, now you’re look at you, you’re setting here. And I want you to read the next verses. Go over in chapter one just a little bit further over to verse number.

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Verse number 20, then Job arose it says, this is after his his wife has said, you ought to curse God and die, I mean everything in your life is going wrong. Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell on the ground and worshiped and said, naked I came from my mother’s womb and then naked shall I return. The Lord gave, the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away and blessed be the name of

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God with wrong. Then when you come to verse 2, Job’s health has utterly failed. He’s as sick as sick can get. He’s at the point of death. And his friends come along and and they don’t even know what to say. They just look at him.

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How many of y’all got some friends that when they say something to you, it’s even worse than not saying anything to you? Have you had any of that happen to you? Yeah. They mean well. It’s like you’ve lost something and then they come along and give you something like this. Well, the Lord has a purpose in everything. Well, I know that, but it’s not what I want to hear right now.

01:00:00
I’m not ready for that. Let’s just be real. I’m not a fake preacher to you, okay? I’m gonna be real, real, real with you this morning. And so there’s moments like that. And then when you come to chapter 3, verse number 3, this is what Job says. He says, May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, a male child is conceived. May it be erased from history that my mom and dad ever got together, and I was conceived and born.

01:00:30
cursed be the day that I ever Breathe my first breath of life. That’s how low this guy is He wants to die He is in misery. He has lost everything for what? What did he do wrong? Bible doesn’t say did anything wrong?

01:00:51
The Bible says that Satan came before God, accused God, didn’t even accuse Job. Job wasn’t the one getting accused here. Listen to me, listen to me carefully. Do you know what the devil’s name really means? Accuser. And if you think he’s accusing you, you need to understand he accuses God.

01:01:12
Matter of fact, I’ll prove to you I think he accuses God more than he does you because he’ll come along to us and he’ll say God doesn’t care God cares. He doesn’t care about anything you’re going through. He’ll say god doesn’t care matter of fact god doesn’t love you God doesn’t care about you. Do I he doesn’t give a flip about your problems He got god has actually forgotten you Really?

01:01:39
God said, don’t reason that guy’s faithful to you, God. You put all this hedge of protection about him. So why did Job go through what he was going through? Why is it that you and I may go through some of the things we go through? See, I’m passionate about this because when I first surrendered to preach, I thought I’m a Christian, I’m serving God.

01:02:08
And therefore, God’s always gonna make my life easy. I mean, shouldn’t he always make a preacher’s life easy? I mean, I’m doing something for him, right? That was my religious mentality. And I had bought a lie.

01:02:24
from Satan that ended up disappointing me because what I forgot was Jesus said, if you want to take up your cross, how many of you know that a cross is not just jewelry you wear on your neck or your ears? Your cross was a place of death.

01:02:39
It was like it’d be like you and I putting you know a hangman’s news around their neck No, the cross was a symbol of death. Jesus said die to yourself Take up your cross daily. Follow me never promised that was going to be easy go to philippians chapter 3 10 I mentioned that verse to you last week. He said paul said that I may know him In other words, you want to know christ? He said and the fellowship of his suffering and the power of his resurrection. How do you get to the power of resurrection?

01:03:09
Without suffering so any preacher that’ll tell you that is lying and ain’t reading their Bible They may have some fancy preaching that brings in nickels and noses But they’re not preaching the truth because let me tell you something being a Christian may mean you got to suffer some But I promise you it is for you God’s glory and your glory God will always give you victory So I was at a point. I remember thinking I want to quit

01:03:37
Hey, how many of you, how many of you have ever seen Andy Griffin? I know we got a lot of young people here, but I know some of the older people, Andy Griffin shows. I love the Andy Griffin show. And I love every time Barney gets, you know, Barney Fife, he gets discouraged. What’s he do? He writes a resignation letter.

01:03:56
And there’s one episode where he goes and he gives Andy his resignation letter. He’s going to quit. He’s going to do this and finally decides he’s not going to. And it shows Andy going over and put in a file cabinet. He goes, what are you doing? He goes, well, I’m filing your resignation letter here with the rest of them. And he’s got a whole drawer of resignation letters. I think God probably has one of those on me too, because I got to be honest with you, there’d been a lot of Monday mornings. As a matter of fact, most of the Monday mornings of preaching for 30 years that I’m like, God, I quit.

01:04:25
I, I, I, this is too hard. In other words, forgive me, what am I saying? I was just wussing out. I should get some of you. I was.

01:04:36
I bought the religious lie that if I serve Jesus, I’ll never have a problem, I’ll never have a fight, I’ll never have an issue. I bought that lie and whenever I faced it, Satan began to accuse God before me and accuse me. God doesn’t love me, God doesn’t care about me, God doesn’t give a flip about me, God’s word isn’t true, God’s lying to me, God’s trying to keep me from something.

01:05:06
I would have to sign up. How lie? The devil’s a lie and he would do would bring into my life and to the point and quit. but that was never for. God made me a promise. He promise we wouldn’t go through

01:05:35
but he did promise we’d have victory through all of that. The problem is we quit too close to victory. We don’t quite get there. We throw in the towel, we believe the devil’s lie. We think, man, God’s so mean. I want you to notice who it was who raised the hand against Job. It wasn’t God. See, our religious mindset tells us.

01:06:00
And some of you may have believed this in your life, and I’m sorry if you did. I’m sorry some preacher preached it wrong, but I wanna from the scriptures correct it for you and right now in this moment, God is not this man in heaven who is angry and looking to get even with you.

01:06:21
I watch a lot of believers walk around and they mistake the fear of God as being, oh, if I stumble just a little bit, God’s gonna get me. Lightning bolt, car wreck. I’m gonna lose my job. I mean, all this God, God, God’s doing all this to me. Can I just tell you something? Isn’t God doing that to you? I have, one of my daughters is sitting right there.

01:06:48
There is no scenario in which I would ever deprive her of anything good. Period. As a father. And I am an imperfect father, and he’s a perfect father.

01:07:01
There is no scenario at which I would ever disown that child. No scenario of anything she could do. She could do bad things, but it would never change the fact she is my beloved daughter and I love her and my love for her would never waver.

01:07:20
and I’m an imperfect father but he’s a perfect father. Do you understand that God’s love for you never wavers? Well how much does God love me? I mean do I gotta perform? Do you not know that Romans chapter five verse eight says that while we were still sinning, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Do you realize when you were as sorry as you could be, God loved you and loves you just as much and his love for you has never wavered. He loved you so much

01:07:50
you ever breathed your first breath or committed your first sin to the which he knew every sin you would ever commit He gave his son for you So was it was it jope was just jope’s fault? No, but jope finds himself in the middle of this mess and jope is wanting to die jope is defeated and it looks like Matter of fact if you go on and read it you’ll read for 24 chapters Job never curses god

01:08:19
but he questions God. Let me say something about that real quick. Is it wrong to question God?

01:08:29
No. Job did. As a matter of fact, Jesus did. Say what? You remember when he’s in the garden? He said, Father, if this cup of what suffering could pass from me, if there’s any other way, Lord, Father, let it. Did Jesus sin? No. But just because we question God doesn’t mean God has to answer us in that moment.

01:08:55
By the way, he loves you enough. He’ll always give you an answer. It may not be the answer you want, it may not be the time you want it, but it’ll be perfect. It will be the perfect answer, and it will be in the perfect time. So here’s what he does. For 24 chapters, Job is like, man, I can’t die, I wanna die. I’ve lost everything. I have no purpose, no reason for living. Why? Because he can’t see God, and he’s questioning, where is God?

01:09:22
I love Job 23 10, one of my favorite verses of the Bible. Job says, for when he has tried, he knows that the way that I take and when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. What does that mean? It means you’re gonna walk through some trials in your life and it means God has a purpose for that trial and for that test. Hey, let me tell you something. God isn’t looking to put a bunch of pansies on the battlefield. How many of you know that the life of a Christian is battle? It is warfare. If you haven’t read your Bible, read it

01:09:52
When you sign up to be a Christian, you sign up in war. But the good part is, I read the back of the book and we win. That’s pretty good. Right, Cody? I don’t know the outcome to this deal. It’s how many of you guys, I know I got some ladies here too. I know we got some ladies that can scrap. I mean some of y’all I wouldn’t even mess with. You fight. How many of y’all ever been in a fight and you’re wondering when you go in to fight, I wonder if I can whoop him or her.

01:10:21
I’m not going to lie to you. you like going into a fight before we ever start? That’s Christian. I already know before we ever get started in fear. I don’t have to doubt. already know. I read the back

01:10:51
Man, he’s getting hammered. By the way, can I tell you this?

01:10:57
We live our lives sometimes thinking because we fail or we make a mistake that God is going to zap us.

01:11:09
Have you ever been around somebody that, you know, really crazy, really does some bad stuff and you’re thinking, I don’t want to stand next to them in an electrical storm. If there’s lightning outside, you stand over there, buddy. You’ve been around new kind of people? I’ve actually been that person before, but nobody wanted to stand around me. But see, our flawed religious mindset is wrong. God’s not looking to do that.

01:11:36
Let me tell you something that will happen though. God does love you enough and I don’t want to discount this. God loves you enough The number one you got to realize the devil has to have permission to do something bad to you. You get that In which he he can’t just barge in and have you know, I I meet people because I believe in deliverance. I believe in the demonic Okay

01:11:57
I understand that stuff a whole lot more than I used to and I believe in it and I meet people all the time like, oh, we gotta be afraid. I’m afraid. I ain’t afraid of no demon. I ain’t afraid of no devil. I’m Holy Ghost field, dude. I am sealed into the day of redemption. I got blood in me, royal blood flowing through my veins now, the blood of Jesus and that overcame all darkness. I understand that. But here’s the part we think, oh, Satan.

01:12:27
God’s been so mean to me. Sometimes things happen in our life because it’s life. Let me explain. Do you know that Christians and non-Christians shop at Walmart? They do. Did you know that I know places tornadoes hit this year, and they hit some Christians’ homes, and they hit some unbelievers’ homes?

01:12:53
In other words, life just happens. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. But sometimes things happen because of our own decisions, our own choices, things we do. My mama used to tell me, that’s good, you can do stupid, but you’re gonna do it all by yourself. Some of y’all get that to me. And here’s the deal.

01:13:16
When we think it’s God doing it to us, we may not even realize this, there is that protecting hand in favor of God to the which he loves us, he will bless us, but you understand the concept of free will. God will never force you to do his will, but he can sure make you willing to do his will. You follow me? Give you an example. I read the story of the prodigal son.

01:13:45
And he didn’t want to follow dad’s rules. Dad was too much of a square. Dad wanted him to work what an awful thing. What a horrible thing. And he wanted him to be responsible. This dude had to be a teenager, right? Love you guys back here in the back, teenagers. Dad didn’t know anything.

01:14:08
So he says hey dad, I won’t mind heritage. Give it to me. I’m gonna go do something and he heads off to the far country He goes and parties lives it up blows all of his money his daddy’s money By the way, and and then the Bible says he finds himself broke There was an economic crash in the land and you know what he’s doing He’s eating the leftover husk from corn that the pigs would not eat And he says one day he came to himself. Uh-huh

01:14:36
He had that aha moment. My dad wasn’t so bad. Even in my father’s house, his servants have enough to eat. He says, I will arise and go into my father and say, father, I have sinned against you and I’ve sinned against heaven. Let me come back as one of your hired servants. And you know what? When he got back, the father wasn’t gonna let him be a servant. He was a son. Now, did dad make all that happen to him? Absolutely not.

01:14:59
How did that happen? It happened because of his own dumb choice. He chose to leave. See, our Father in heaven, He doesn’t want us to mess up. He doesn’t want us to go through some of the things we go through, but God loves us enough. He says, if you want to, okay, you’ve got a free will. I love you and you can go do it. You can go do stupid all by yourself, but you also have to endure the consequences of stupid sometimes. And those hurt.

01:15:25
Favorite country song going now is if you’re gonna be tough you better be dumb. If you’re gonna be dumb, you better be tough. I don’t know. Yeah, I get it backwards. You’re gonna be dumb. You better be tough. Well, that’s true. I got the scars to prove that one.

01:15:41
Sometimes, God just removes his protective hand. He didn’t have to zap you. He didn’t have to get you. He’s gonna let you go and do, but here’s the part I want you to get. The love of God, the care of God, and the provision of God is always there.

01:16:04
He said, I’ll never leave you forsake you. And I love what Romans chapter eight tells me. It says that nothing will ever separate me or you if we’re in Christ Jesus from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. What about my friend who committed suicide? Are they in hell? Did you hear what I said? Paul said this, he said, neither death nor life.

01:16:33
can separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. There’ll never be anything you can do that will make God love you less. But here’s the part I wanna get to, and I’m closing. Flip over to Job chapter 42. Job for chapter after chapter, he questions God, and there’s nothing wrong with that, except you have to be ready for God’s answer.

01:17:03
Lord, why is this happening to me? God, okay. And you know what God said? He says, Job, you wanna talk to me? I heard you’ve been looking for me. Job chapter 41. Job, Job’s been, I don’t know where God is in all this. I trust him. Job never cursed God, but he says, I don’t know where you are, God. And then God shows up to speak to Job. And Job says, Lord, God, I got some questions for you.

01:17:33
And God says, first, I got some questions for you, Job. Number one, where were you when I hung the stars? Where were you when I took a rib from Adam’s side and made Eve? Where were you when I told the waters to only come this far? Where were you when I created everything?

01:18:01
Job begins to realize, you’re the creator, I’m the creation, okay. And then Job 42, this is what I want you to get. Look at this, we’re gonna look at five verses and I’m done. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything.

01:18:24
Job has lost his family. He’s lost his health. He’s lost his wealth. Job has lost everything meaningful in his life except for the most meaningful thing and that was his relationship with God. And look what he says, Job answered the Lord and said, I know

01:18:49
that you can do everything. Let me stop right there before I go any further. And that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. Would you agree at this point if a man or a woman had lost everything, the calamity that Job went through, would you agree that Job’s prayer would probably be one, Lord, I need deliverance. I need help.

01:19:18
have lost everything.

01:19:22
Job wanted to question God, but then when he began to get God’s questioning him, Job’s response here is not one of, I’m angry with God. See, can I just tell you something as a Christian, listen to me, and I’m not picking on anybody here but I want you to listen to me. Every Sunday somebody goes, did my wife call you? Did my husband tell you what I was going through? No, no, no, no, no.

01:19:48
You can’t bless God in the good times and then put God down when things go wrong in your life. Oh, the Lord’s blessing me, but then when things go bad, you can’t get mad at God because things are going rough in your life. That’s not fair, that’s not right, and it’s a religious mindset that you’ve been taught that’s wrong. God is good in the good times and the bad times.

01:20:15
Okay, he’s still God no matter what you’re going through. And so here’s the part I want you to get. Job does something I think we could all gain something from this morning is Job begins to praise God while expecting his deliverance by God. How’s he do it?

01:20:37
He says, Lord, I know that you can do everything. I know that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. In other words, you’re sovereign. You know all things. You can do all things. And he says, you asked, who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand. In other words, Lord, I was saying things about you. I was questioning you and your love

01:21:07
vision and where you were. I did all that because I was suffering. I didn’t understand. They were things too wonderful for me which I did not know. But then in verse four he says, listen please and let me speak Lord. You said I will question you and you shall answer me. And look at verse number five. This is what I want you to get. And Job says this he says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear.

01:21:36
I’ve heard others talk about you. I’ve read about you. I heard others share their faith in you. But notice what he says, but now my eyes see you.

01:21:53
Question did did he see God the father I read about Moses in the old times when God passed by him God had to hide him behind a rock because the glory of God was so much that even looking at the back side of God passing by it changed

01:22:12
Moses countenance, I also read that no man in his flesh can look upon the father in the present because his glory is too much The bible tells me in first corinthians 15 that the corruptible must put on in corruption before we get you say Why do I got to die to go to heaven because in your own flesh you could never stand in that kind of glory or presence of god in other words

01:22:34
To say someone has seen the Father Jesus did say if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father But what’s he talking about right here? He says I’ve heard of you my ears heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you What is he talking about? He’s talking about God. I’ve seen your hand at work

01:22:54
I’ve seen you provide when I had nothing. You’re the one who gave me breath and I kept breathing. You’re the one that gave me comfort when my friends couldn’t give me comfort. You’re the ones who sustained me from day to day to day. You’re the one God who has done everything for me and I still trust you.” And you know what happened? He’s beginning to praise God before he gets his deliverance. Job is in this mess at this moment.

01:23:24
there with sores, he’s still sitting there with loss, but I want you to notice, go to verse 12, and so what does God do for him? It says, now the Lord, bless the latter days of Job. Oh y’all need to help me right here, some of you older people live through this?

01:23:43
Hey, I’m talking to some of you older people here like me. You have gone through some stuff in your life and you can say now in your latter years, God has blessed you with more than he did in the beginning.

01:23:58
I’m talking to some people in here who have lost. I’m talking to some people in here who have been divorced. I’ve been there. I’m talking about somebody who’s walked through addiction and depression and loss in your life and thought I’m in chains, I’ll never be set free. I’m talking to somebody here who thinks my marriage is about to come unraveled and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m talking to somebody in here who got a report this week from the doctor and it’s not a good report.

01:24:28
sound good. I want you to listen to me. If you won’t give up and let your eyes see God and see his wonderful and mighty works in your life, then I promise you what the Bible says, that your latter days will be better than the former days or your beginning days. I’m telling you the best is yet to come. I’m walking, talking, living, breathing proof of that. I’m telling you if you’ll trust God,

01:24:58
your test then I promise you there’s breakthrough coming in your life there’s blessing coming in your life just hold on don’t give up don’t curse God don’t blame God and don’t for goodness sake believe the devil’s lie the Bible says now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning for he had 14 000 sheep

01:25:22
He had 7,000 to start. In other words, we’re talking money now. He says, and he’s given 6,000 camels. I don’t know why you’d want that many camels. But it was a lot of money in that day, OK? 1,000 yoke of oxen. That’s cattle. I could go there. And 1,000 female donkeys. That’s female jackasses. I don’t know why anybody wants that many jackasses. That’s a bad deal. But he also had seven sons and three daughters. Remember, we said he lost them. And he called the name of the first Jemiah.

01:25:52
And the name of the second was Keziah, and the name of the third was Karen. In the land where found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. Now after this Job lived 140 years and saw his children and his grandchildren for four generations. So Job died old.

01:26:21
full of days. Do you understand that? I think the Lord brought me here today and you here today for me to tell you don’t give up. Don’t give in.

01:26:34
Don’t believe the devil’s lie he got. God loves you. He’s still got something good for you. Your best is just ahead if you won’t let go. Let your eyes see him. See the goodness of God. Let your lips taste the goodness of God. Recognize that every day you wake up, he’s still God. He’s still God. And he loves you. And he’s got a purpose for you. I love what Job said. You always accomplish your purpose.

01:27:04
See, you may walk through a season of your life that you’re going, I don’t know my purpose. That’s all right, God does. He does. I don’t know the reason for this. It’s okay, He does. And when you can’t trust anything else, just keep trusting Him. Keep trusting Him. He’s got a plan for your life. And I love what Paul said.

01:27:31
that he who begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of redemption. I got that promise. That means, hey, redemption, you know what the word redemption means? It doesn’t mean just till I get saved and it doesn’t mean till I get died. It means God’s going to complete his purpose in my life until my resurrection. That’s what that means.

01:27:56
Even long after I’ve left this world, God will use your life and my life to His glory and His honor. And it ain’t over till God says it’s over. Let’s bow our heads and pray. Bill would you come back for a moment?

01:28:21
I might ask Bill just to play something here in a minute. You can go ahead and start Bill when you’re ready. I wonder how many of you here today would say, Pastor.

01:28:34
I don’t know if I’ve ever been through something quite as bad as Joe, but it’s, I’ve gone through a lot of loss and a sheer thought, even as I walked in today.

01:28:48
that maybe have angered God.

01:28:53
Maybe I’m getting what I deserve from God.

01:28:58
Maybe God’s forgotten me. And now you realize that all you’ve believed is a lie. The devil’s a liar.

01:29:10
I feel overwhelming in my spirit right now. The Lord just wants me to tell you, He loves you. Mistakes and all. Mistakes and all, He loves you. You’ve not done anything.

01:29:26
could never do to cause him to love you more or cause him to love you less.

01:29:36
You weren’t created by accident. Don’t care what anybody said to you. You weren’t a mistake. I don’t care what anybody said to you. You’re not a mess up. You’re not an oops.

01:29:51
Somebody you love dearly may have put you away. Might have been a parent. Might have been a spouse.

01:30:02
might have been a friend.

01:30:06
But all that’s a lie.

01:30:10
Because God loves you. He loves you.

01:30:19
And I don’t know what you’ve been going through, but I can just sense by the spirit I feel in here, some of you have walked through some really, really sad things.

01:30:30
and it’s left you hurt. Really, really hurt.

01:30:36
I’m sorry for that. But I came to tell you today, you may have heard of Him.

01:30:47
Years might have heard others testify of him, and that’s good. But now let your eyes see him.

01:30:57
See him as a savior. Hanging on a cross. With a crown of thorns. Shame and rejection. Hateful.

01:31:13
Everything that has ever hurt you hung on Him.

01:31:23
and then I want you to see him resurrected.

01:31:28
Glory.

01:31:32
As he reaches out now, Pierce tends to you and says, welcome, my child.

01:31:39
He paid for every lie.

01:31:46
every hurt.

01:31:50
Every sorrow, every rejection.

01:31:57
every broken promise that you’ve ever experienced so that he could stand here today and speak to a preacher, to his word, to the Holy Spirit, to your heart and say, I love you, I love you, I have a purpose for you, trust me.

01:32:27
I’m gonna ask you to stand on your feet for a moment. Come on back. You and your wife come Dennis come on up. I Really feel overwhelmed. Melissa Melissa, would you come up? I want y’all to be here to pray. I really feel like there’s some people We had a bit of an awesome time a while ago People came forward and get with him, but I think there’s some others right now in here You need to come and the reason I ask these people because I know them well, I trust them with my life I really do

01:32:56
They love Jesus and they love you. And so I think right now in this moment, there’s some people that still need to come. There’s some people need prayer. And I want you just to step out right where you’re at. Come on, come on. You know who you are. God’s speaking to your heart right now. I already sensed that, but my spirit is already showing me that coming.

01:33:14
Whatever that brokenness is, why don’t you leave it here today? Whatever that hurt is, that disappointment, whatever that thing that Satan has lied to you about, let your eyes see the truth. My ears have heard of him, but now my eyes have seen it. See, I can stand here and tell you that. I know what it feels like to be rejected by someone in love.

01:33:38
I know what it is to walk through the brokenness of this world. I know what it is to find myself in addiction and need deliverance and need God to set me free, to set myself free, and nobody else could either.

01:33:53
So I’m not just telling you something I read about today. I’m talking about something I’ve lived and someone I’ve seen. I’ve seen his power, I’ve seen his deliverance, I’ve seen his love. Come on, God’s speaking to you today. We’re not in a hurry, we’re gonna let God work with you. God’s speaking to you. Come on, I’ve got some great people here that pray with you, they love you. You find freedom today. Don’t leave here, don’t leave here broken.

01:34:23
as your savior, that’s the first place to start. He wants a relationship with you.

01:34:34
and willingness to render your life to Him. What’s that mean? It simply means that you recognize that you, like me, like every other human on this earth, have sinned against God. But God so loved you and gave His Son Jesus to die for you. If you believe that, you believe that He died on the cross, was buried and rose again the third day?

01:35:02
And you’ll just humble your heart and say, God forgive me, save me, come into my life, I will repent, I turn from my sin. If you’ll do that this morning, then he’ll begin a relationship with you that’ll last for a time.

01:35:29
He never promised Costs not get heavy He would not be hard

01:35:42
never all victory without fighting he said you can be seated while these are still praying we’re not in the street we have all decision the adversary says just hold on

01:36:09
Sure

01:36:27
Hey, I want y’all to listen to this testimony. And while these are still praying and we got time, they’re still getting ready for baptism. You sure? Forgive me, I didn’t prepare anything today. I am but a humble servant saying here am I.

01:36:49
I keep receiving confirmation after confirmation. His message last weekend, his message today, even walking up here on the pulpit, I read, tell them about Jesus. See, I have been through so much at such a young age, seen a lot of things that a little girl should never see.

01:37:14
And the lie that I had believed most all my life started when I was probably two or three, when my in-home babysitter locked me in a closet with other little kids.

01:37:27
God used me even in that moment in the very beginning, and I could barely talk, but I had those kids sit down in the dark, and we were in there for hours. I can’t tell you all the details. I don’t remember everything, but I held their hands, and God spoke through me to those little kids and just said that everything’s gonna be okay, but that’s where the door opened for me and where I started to believe alive that I was worthless and that I was not loved. And from there, my parents got a divorce.

01:37:57
They were going through some hard times and my mom started using drugs. She was trying to escape the reality. And her second marriage was to a drug addict who abused us.

01:38:11
who shot at us multiple times. I’ve had to run from my home to the neighbor seeking help. And he would pick me up in his arms and my mom would get behind him and he would tell the man, go, leave these girls alone. It took cops for us to get our stuff out of our house when she finally decided to leave him. The second marriage, my mom married a verbally abusive man.

01:38:39
who manipulated us, who called me stupid, who called me a whore, just beat me down and throughout those circumstances I continued to believe that life and the stuff that I had seen and heard as I grew up.

01:38:57
And it was during that younger years that my dad, when he divorced, he actually started going to church. And when I would go and see him on the weekends, he would walk down the aisle and kneel and pray for me and my mom and our safety.

01:39:15
I did get baptized at 13, but as I grew up, I walked away from God myself and went through my own struggles and my own divorce. And it wasn’t until years later that He called me again and He reminded me of who I was and where I needed to be. And I’m so thankful for that seed that was sown as a little girl.

01:39:37
because that’s why I’m here today. And I’m actually completing my masters to be a Christian counselor myself. And they warned us when we began the program that we would fight a lot of battles as we prepared as Christian counselors. And I can tell you the last three years has been nothing short of hard. And the devil has come at me and he’s tried to remind me of that lie that I was worthless, that I was nothing, that I didn’t have anything to share. I was no one. And I fought that spiritual battle

01:40:07
I am redeemed. I am justified. I am set apart. I am called by name and my name is written in the book of life.

01:40:19
And he came at me mentally, and he even came at me physically. I’ve been fighting an autoimmune disease that has just broken my body down. And he’s trying all these different ways.

01:40:32
But I’m almost done and I am fighting and I’m winning that victory. And it because it’s his the glory is his it’s for him because I love his people. And I want to help his people heal and find their way. And my point for you today is I’m wrapping up my license to be able to counsel. I found my purpose, but I’ve had to fight through that battle.

01:40:59
We each have a testimony. You’re a literal standing testimony. You have a message to share. And I pray and hope that whatever lie that the devil has put in your heart and your mind that you can recognize it. I pray that you recognize it. I pray that you stand on the message that God has shared because he has told me believe and you shall receive. His word of truth is gonna hold you up.

01:41:29
that’s gonna push you through so that you can serve a greater purpose because there’s so many out there that need you. God needs to shine through you.

01:42:17
You’ll be patient, just let these finish in prayer. We’re not in a hurry. We got a few to baptize. Hadn’t God been good today. Amen.

01:42:35
us.

01:42:41
Listen, stay by, okay? All right. Wait, don’t code.

01:42:52
You’re both of those getting baptized on both sides of you.

01:43:02
Did it?

01:43:11
I was asking Dennis, I don’t know how many so far, he’s in the mid-20s, how many people we had baptized so far this year, this is April, fourth month, right? Wow, God’s really good, we’re grateful for every one of them. We got three more today. By the way, if you got baptized Easter Sunday and I didn’t get a certificate to you and a Bible, I have those in my office. And if you’ll come to get a…

01:43:41
I want to be sure to get your certificate in your Bible to you. By the way, if you’re here today and you’ve been saved, you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, but you’ve never been baptized, we’ll baptize you right now. You can come talk to me afterwards and we’ll set it up for next week, okay?

01:44:01
Zach is, I saw him here a little bit ago. He used to come up and pray. He used to Sunday, he would baptize everybody and got ready to leave and he said, wait a minute, wait a minute. We talked about salvation and he come up and he’s like, I want to get baptized. Boy, he stripped off right down to his shorts and we baptize. It’s Cowboy Church, y’all. We don’t care. We baptize him.

01:44:53
Is it hot?

01:45:08
and I’ll see you next time.

01:45:31
Alright y’all, this is Kinsley and she talked to me a couple weeks ago about being baptized and um, however this is your niece, right? And you’re 12. 11. Okay, well we’re close. I just asked her that and she told me.

01:45:51
have you asked Jesus to come into your heart to be your savior and you have committed your life to follow him? Yes sir. Okay, and upon your profession of faith we baptize you our sister in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death, and raised to walk in the name of the Son.

01:46:39
This is Dakota and he’s 14. Dakota, have you asked Jesus to come into your heart, be your savior, and have you committed your life to follow him? Are you related to this guy right here? Yes.

01:46:56
We love you, buddy, and it’s my honor to baptize you, our brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death, and raised to walk in the newness of life.

01:47:27
This is my wife.

01:47:36
20 bubbles. She’ll go 40. Let’s have an auction here. Who do 60? Now 70, 80. All right, I’m going to let her talk and share with y’all.

01:47:49
Okay y’all, I’ve been baptized. I gave my life to God when I was 13. I got baptized then. And I said last week, I ran from God for a long time and I’m back, I’ve been back for many, many years. I rededicated my life to Jesus many years ago. But here lately, I’ve just had this…

01:48:11
strong tugging on me to get baptized again, not as a recommitment but as a sealing, I’m sealing myself in God because He’s got something for me to do. He’s got a lot of something for me to do I’m gonna do it. I’m here. This is my my saying God I’m 100% committed lukewarm no more.

01:48:48
I’m going to walk for a moment. But she already said she believed in Jesus. Quented it as my honor to baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of His death, and raised to walk. Let me bless you all. Whoo!

01:49:11
I’ll tell ya, she did ask if there was bleach in that water.

01:49:23
I had to kill the funk in it, okay? It was there for a couple weeks, but it worked. Is that all the baptisms this morning?

01:49:33
Melissa. Melissa, you share with them and dismiss us in prayer. Hey, before, Melissa’s gonna share something with you real quick and then dismiss us in prayer. And before she does, if I have any that can help me at the end of the service, stay for a moment. I’ve gotta clear off.

01:49:54
maybe that back, very back table back there. And if you don’t mind, if you’ll look around, if there’s any trash or something laying around, we’re doing a memorial service here at two o’clock, okay? We’re riding to be at four. But if there’s anybody that can stay and help me during the service, I know some of you are planning to be here. We don’t know how many is gonna come, but we do have…