Participants: C. A. Murray (Host), Dee Casper, Eric & Marilyn Durant, Lynette Jaque
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW017005A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:07 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Family Worship. 01:10 My name is CA Murray, 01:12 and we welcome you to our worship time together, 01:15 whether this is being shown on a Friday evening 01:19 and you are just entering into the precincts of the Sabbath, 01:23 or on Saturday evening and you are getting ready 01:26 for the vicissitudes of a brand new week. 01:29 We welcome you to this worship experience 01:32 and of rejoice that are tending 01:35 to worshipping God on the Sabbath day 01:37 and what the Sabbath does to prepare us 01:40 for what the week has for us. 01:42 So we welcome you, 01:43 and we thank you for being with us. 01:45 I want to introduce you to our 3ABN family. 01:48 My wife is not here today, 01:50 she is producing and could not be here. 01:54 And I have to say the same for Lynette Jaque's husband Jorge, 01:58 who I think is running to and fro on the earth 01:59 or preparing to do so. 02:01 Indeed, once more. 02:04 So we are flying solo as it were, 02:06 so I put her next to me on today's program. 02:09 But Jorge is really with us and we miss him too, is it not? 02:13 We do very much, so... And do, we do. 02:14 Okay, we'll go to my far left and say hello to Dee Casper. 02:18 Dee, good to have you here, man. 02:20 Pleasure to be here, thank you. Yeah, yeah. 02:21 Dee is a face we're seeing a little bit more on 3ABN. 02:24 We liked Dee a lot, Dee is a cool guy. 02:25 Yeah. 02:27 And spiritual young man 02:28 and full of the fire and love of the Lord 02:30 and has a lot to say for the Lord. 02:32 And we are glad to have him here. 02:34 Then we have Mr. and Mrs. Eric and Marilyn Durant. 02:39 Hello. Hello. 02:40 Yeah, Eric of the engineering department. 02:43 Broadcast Engineer. 02:44 Broadcast Engineer Department, doing a fine job. 02:47 Eric's a cool guy, we like Eric. 02:49 Yeah, and Marilyn from the call center... 02:51 That's right. I guess Assistant Manager. 02:52 Assistant Manager. Yeah, Amen. 02:54 Yeah. Thank you. 02:56 And a very sweet person, 02:57 and you guys were married how long? 02:59 It'll be 11 years in March. 03:01 In March? Yeah. 03:03 And we've been at 3ABN for three years... 03:05 Three years. This month. 03:06 Amen, amen, amen. Isn't that longer? 03:09 It's been a... That's a good thing. 03:10 Yeah. 03:12 It's been a blessing. 03:14 Every week, Marilyn comes over 03:15 'cause we have to do some things 03:17 as we produce our Thursday night program. 03:19 Well, not as much as before. Right. 03:21 But still because she is in charge of the people 03:24 who are there along with Jonathan Babb who stay 03:26 and answer the phones and do all that kind of stuff 03:28 and send messages through, and we thank you for your work. 03:31 Oh, you are welcome. 03:32 Yeah, and we thank the broadcast guys 03:33 'cause we couldn't do this without them. 03:35 And it's sad because whenever we call you, 03:37 you know, we have a problem. 03:39 We don't call just to say, "Hi." 03:41 We don't call to see how you're doing. 03:44 When your phone rings, 03:45 there's gonna be a problem on the other end, 03:47 so he's a problem solver, and we thank you. 03:50 And we thank you, Lynette, 03:51 because your husband has to travel awful lot. 03:53 Awful lot, especially this calendar year... 03:56 It's just coming and coming, 03:58 and that's a blessing though from the Lord. 03:59 I mean, there is the ability to travel like that 04:02 and to serve the Lord as he does. 04:05 He's my soldier and I keep the home lights burning. 04:07 Amen, indeed you do. 04:09 And a faithful job you do with two fairly young ones, 04:13 Sebastian is how old? 04:14 Sebastian will be nine this year. 04:16 Wow. 04:17 Water has passed under the bridge. 04:19 Indeed. Noah, will be 12. 04:20 And Noah will be 12. 04:21 Yeah, they are sneaking off on us actually. 04:23 We won't talk about the other two. 04:25 Yeah, they are two others, who are in the room, 04:29 you know, as we speak. 04:30 Yes. But we're happy for that. 04:32 And, Dee, fairly new, I say fairly new to Adventism... 04:37 Yeah. 04:38 But has come a long way really, really fast. 04:40 Praise the Lord, yeah, 04:41 I was baptized in 2010, December 2010. 04:46 But an Arise Graduate. 04:47 Yes. Yeah. 04:49 Yes. Yeah. 04:50 And yeah, been in ministry ever since. 04:52 Yeah, praise the Lord. It's been a privilege. 04:53 And it's been the thing that's kept me honest I think. 04:56 You know, the ministry right when they baptized... 04:59 Well, that's the thing, get baptized, 05:01 out of the shallow in, tossed them into deep in 05:03 and then watch them swim. 05:04 I think that's the way to do it. 05:06 Amen. 05:07 Today, we're gonna talk about tracing. 05:09 Ellen White makes a lot of statements 05:11 about tracing the hand of God. 05:15 She says that, "When we look back over our lives, 05:18 we ought to see particularly 05:20 if we've been walking with the Lord, 05:24 a pattern of divine interposition 05:29 where God has inserted Himself in your life 05:31 and you want to see the tracing 05:33 of the hand of God in your life." 05:35 And she says that does a number of things. 05:38 One, when you see that God has been with you 05:41 through the years, it makes you thankful. 05:43 Amen. Amen, yes. 05:44 You know, unless you are very thankful. 05:46 Two, it makes you grateful. 05:51 Three, it makes you bold. 05:53 You know that God has been with you, 05:55 and He is gonna be with you like He has been with you. 05:57 So it makes you bold. 05:59 So you step out and you do some stuff, you know, 06:01 and maybe you wouldn't do if you didn't have that assurance 06:03 that God is going to be with you, 06:04 'cause sometimes God calls us 06:06 to do something with and you're just like, 06:08 "You really want me to do that?" 06:10 Yes. God bless us, yeah. 06:12 Yeah. And I'll be with you. 06:14 Particularly, I had a, we moved into a house several years ago, 06:17 and the Lord told me, go over and talk to that neighbor. 06:20 And I said, "I don't want to talk to the neighbor," 06:23 'cause he, first of all, he had a Confederate flag 06:26 which kind of gave me the willies. 06:29 And look it son, you did go out and talk 06:31 and he was a nicest guy 06:32 once I got off the nerve, you know. 06:34 So knowing that God is with you makes you bold. 06:36 You know, it makes you bold, it increases your faith, amen. 06:40 Amen. 06:42 And it makes you content with what you have and who you are. 06:47 Yeah. Amen. 06:48 So I don't have to be jealous of Eric or Dee or Lynette 06:52 because, okay, you have Jesus but I got Jesus too. 06:56 Amen. You know, amen. 06:57 He says, "I would never leave you nor forsake you." 06:59 So he never leaves Dee, He never leaves Lynette, 07:01 He never leaves Eric and never leaves Marilyn, 07:04 and He also never leaves me. 07:05 So I don't have to be jealous of 07:08 what you're going through, 07:09 well, he's got everything, and I don't have anything. 07:12 Hold down, you got Jesus. 07:13 Yeah. So you have all you need. 07:15 Everything. 07:16 And you never know that Jesus is all you need 07:18 until Jesus is all you got. 07:19 So you don't have to be jealous of anybody. 07:23 So contemplating, going back 07:27 and tracing the outline of the hand of Jesus 07:31 gives us some peace and some encouragement. 07:33 So we're gonna talk about that, 07:35 we're gonna look at Christ in our lives. 07:36 We're gonna recount some of these things, 07:38 and I'm gonna go move forward and look at something that 07:40 we have in the Word of God. 07:42 Let's go to our song, 07:43 now we're going to sing A Cappella today. 07:46 All of our pianists are doing other things 07:49 and that's okay because in the average home 07:51 you don't have a pianist. 07:52 And this is true. 07:53 Some homes don't have a piano, 07:55 so you just sing for the Lord you make a joyful noise. 07:57 So if you hear a little something 07:59 that assaults your year, 08:01 chalk it up to a joyful noise 08:04 because we are making a joyful noise to the Lord. 08:06 We are singing, Hymn 286 08:10 in the Adventist hymnal 08:11 Wonderful Words of Life, 08:13 and we're going to ask Justin hit the note D, I'm sorry G. 08:18 There you go, and then we'll press on. 08:20 Sing them over again to me Wonderful Words of Life, 08:23 let's go. 08:24 Sing them over again to me, 08:28 Wonderful words of life 08:33 Let me more of their beauty see, 08:37 Wonderful words of life. 08:41 Words of life and beauty 08:45 Teach me faith and duty Beautiful words, 08:51 wonderful words, Wonderful words of life, 08:57 Beautiful words, wonderful words, 09:01 Wonderful words of life. 09:05 Christ, the blessed One, 09:07 gives to all Wonderful words of life. 09:13 Sinner, list to the loving call, 09:17 Wonderful words of life. 09:21 All so freely given, 09:25 Wooing us to heaven 09:29 Beautiful words, wonderful words, 09:33 Wonderful words of life, Beautiful words, 09:39 wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. 09:44 And the last stanza. 09:45 Sweetly echo the Gospel call, 09:49 Wonderful words of life 09:53 Offer pardon and peace to all, 09:57 Wonderful words of life. 10:01 Jesus, only Savior, 10:05 Sanctify forever. 10:09 Beautiful words, wonderful words, 10:13 Wonderful words of life, 10:17 Beautiful words, wonderful words, 10:21 Wonderful words of life. 10:25 Amen and amen. 10:27 Amen. 10:28 In looking up the word trace on last evening, 10:32 I found that there are no less than 10:38 29 definitions for the word trace. 10:44 And I'll run through some of them quickly, 10:46 but while I'm doing this, 10:48 I want each of you to take out your sheet of paper, 10:51 we each have some paper here, 10:52 and we're going to do a little exercise. 10:55 We should need to have a pencil. 10:57 We're going to trace our hand. 10:58 Okay. We're gonna trace a hand. 11:00 And while you're tracing, 11:02 I'm going to read these definitions. 11:04 And if while you're tracing, 11:06 you hear anyone that sort of jumps out at you, 11:10 just stop and make a comment on it 11:12 because some of these really parallel 11:15 what we are doing with the Lord and others are, 11:19 but there are 29 different definitions, 11:20 so let me read and while you guys are tracing. 11:26 The first definition for trace, 11:29 trace, trace, here we go. 11:35 Not now, trace, "A surviving mark 11:38 or sign or evidence of the former existence influence 11:42 or action of some agent or event." 11:46 A surviving mark or sign and... 11:49 There's a sort of a spiritual application to that too 11:51 that there is this mark or sign or evidence 11:56 of the existence of God in our lives. 11:58 Two, "A barely-designable indicator 12:02 or evidence of some quantity, 12:04 or quality, or characteristic, or expression, 12:07 etcetera such as a trace of anger in his tone." 12:11 You know, you can you can see it. 12:12 And when we look at what you've traced, 12:17 the thing about your hand is 12:19 you don't see all of the veins 12:23 and all of the other things, you just see the outline. 12:28 And it occurs to me that, you know, 12:32 when God is leading us through things, 12:34 He doesn't always fill in all the blanks. 12:37 You just see the trace, you know, 12:40 and I think if you filled in all the blanks, 12:42 it wouldn't call for any faith. 12:43 If He told you everything that was going to happen... 12:45 Right. 12:46 You wouldn't have to exercise any faith. 12:49 But in the outline you know that God is there 12:54 and you know that God is working. 12:56 Three, "An extremely small amount 12:58 of some chemical component..." 13:00 Like a trace of copper. 13:02 Four, "Footprints left by an animal." 13:06 Five, "A track left by a person or an animal, 13:11 like the trace of her skates on the ice." 13:13 And that's a little closer to the spiritual application, 13:15 you know, we can see 13:16 the footprints of God in our lives. 13:20 In meteorology, or in whether, 13:22 it's precipitation less than 0.005 inches, 13:27 a trace of rain. 13:29 That's right. 13:30 Seven, "A trail or path especially, 13:33 through some wild-open territory 13:35 made by the passage of people, animals, or vehicles." 13:40 That's, I like that one right there 13:42 because life is, life is a wilderness. 13:47 Life has trials, struggles. 13:50 I mean, Marilyn, we've been through our trials 13:51 and our struggles. 13:53 And when you follow the Lord, He lays out that path. 13:57 And when you deviate from that path 13:59 is when you end up wandering off into that wilderness 14:02 where you don't wanna be. 14:04 So I've learned through my life 14:06 and with Marilyn that stay on the path, 14:10 the word is the path, the word is the truth. 14:12 And as long as you don't deviate from that path, 14:14 it doesn't matter what wilderness you're in, 14:17 you're on God's path, and you'll be just fine. 14:19 Yeah, yeah, like Abraham looking for a city. 14:21 Lord does not always tell you where the end is going to be. 14:24 He says just launch out. 14:27 I mean, when I was coming to 3ABN, 14:29 I came for the visit, 14:30 and I was convicted 14:32 that I needed to leave New York after 30 years. 14:34 You know, you get comfortable with the place for 30 years, 14:37 and I didn't really, I met Danny, 14:40 and we had done a couple things together 14:42 but I started knowing him at Southern Illinois, 14:45 and it's like, "Lord, do you really want me to come here?" 14:49 And I set out seven fleeces, seven. 14:53 And I figured if the Lord to answer all seven, I said, 14:55 "Lord, I need all seven 14:56 in order just like I asked them." 15:00 And well, the Lord gave me all seven. 15:05 All seven and at last one was that I said, 15:07 "Lord, I don't have to convince Irma." 15:09 When I talk to her about it, 15:11 I don't want have to massage her into it, 15:13 she's got to be open to it. 15:15 So when I went back to New York, 15:16 she said, "Did they offer you a job?" 15:18 I said, "Yeah". "Are you going?" 15:20 "I think I want to." "Okay." 15:23 Check, you know, 15:25 that kind of thing, and all seven. 15:29 I wanted to like the people, 15:32 I knew there was going to be a cut in pay 15:33 because of the, it wasn't denominational scale 15:38 but I wanted to, I didn't want to come and say, 15:40 "Well, can we need a couple dollars more." 15:41 I didn't want to have to dicker over pay. 15:43 So I said, when they get the figure, 15:45 I don't want to figure to assault me. 15:47 You know, so they gave me a figure, 15:50 and it didn't assault me, you know, 15:52 so the Lord has really taken care of, 15:54 and I had to like the head guy 15:56 and Dan and I clicked right away. 15:57 C.A., we didn't have seven we had three. 15:59 Right. 16:02 We were headed to Texas, we were headed the Texas, 16:05 and I prayed to the Lord 16:07 because we went through some trials previously, 16:08 and we were heading to Texas. 16:10 I prayed the Lord, I said, "Lord, if there is something 16:12 You want us to do, 16:15 let it be known and make it direct." 16:17 So I, you know, I won't get confused 16:19 by make it known. 16:21 The next morning I saw email from Moses Primo. 16:24 He said, "We'd like for you to come work at 3ABN," 16:27 and we came out here we took a look around 16:29 and we were still headed to Texas. 16:31 And I said, "Lord, is this really 16:34 what you want us to do?" 16:36 And 45 minutes later, 16:39 Moses Primo called on the phone, 16:41 and I still resisted, Marilyn, me, we resisted. 16:45 And about a week later I prayed another prayer. 16:49 "Lord, it's West Frankfort, there's nothing out there. 16:52 If this is what you really want let me know." 16:55 And within the hour, Moses Primo called again. 16:58 Lord said, let me make a plan. Yeah, yeah. 17:01 That was three times and three times is enough. 17:04 So he came out here it's been a blessing ever since. 17:06 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. 17:08 I think, you know, 17:09 I don't think God is in any way disturbed or upset 17:12 when you said, "Lord, I need it, 17:14 I'm not that bright, I need a plan." 17:16 Right. 17:17 You know, don't suggest, I mean, 17:19 I need it handwriting on the wall, "Go", you know. 17:24 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 17:25 That pretty though sometimes is not a matter of 17:27 that we don't know, 17:28 it's that we don't want to know. 17:30 And my situation of coming back to Illinois 17:32 is somewhat like that 17:34 because where I was in Tennessee, 17:35 I was a Bible worker, I was an elder 17:37 and was teaching at a local academy. 17:39 So I had everything I could want 17:40 as far as the involvements. 17:42 And I absolutely loved it, I was having access, 17:44 people were being baptized, 17:45 it was the best year I had with my students. 17:47 I really didn't want to leave what I was doing 17:49 but God made it clear to go home, 17:51 but I didn't know what that looked like 17:53 cause I'm from here, I'm one of the few 17:55 local Yorkers around here. 17:56 Yeah. 17:57 That was in a transplant, and I just wasn't so sure. 18:00 Unseen Media Group who are people that I knew, 18:02 a good friend of mine started that ministry, 18:04 the other person, not Ryan but the other one, has been. 18:07 And so I thought, "Well, they're going back to Illinois, 18:09 they are going to go establish their ministry in Illinois." 18:12 And I just kind of had this sense 18:13 that God maybe leading 18:15 but I just, I wasn't quite ready for that. 18:17 And I just kept getting this conviction of sense that 18:19 God is asking me to move in that direction. 18:21 And I went to my cousin's funeral, 18:25 my cousin committed suicide two years ago in the spring. 18:28 And while I was in Atlanta, 18:30 I had never seen so many 18:31 Illinois license plates in my life, 18:34 they were everywhere, 18:35 they were just swarming me for every island, 18:37 I just kept thinking, Illinois, Illinois, Illinois, I was like, 18:39 "Oh, Jeez." 18:40 And so I finally committed on that drive home, 18:42 fine, I'll go, 18:44 but I have no idea what it's going to look like. 18:46 And so I called a local pastor Tom Ferguson and said, 18:49 "Hey, I'm coming back into the area 18:51 and not really sure what I'm going to doing 18:53 but I just want to let you know 18:54 what needs to the church have, I've done Bible work 18:56 and it's kind of put some things out there. 18:59 And by the end of the conversation, I said, 19:00 "So let me get this straight, 19:02 you're moving to Illinois but you don't have a job, 19:05 like you don't have any way to provide for yourself, 19:07 you have no idea what are you going to be doing?" 19:08 And I said, "Yes, that's correct." 19:10 And he said, "Well, I'll be praying for you." 19:14 But then I talked to Tom Mann 19:16 who was working at 3ABN at that time. 19:17 I said, "Tom, what do you think? 19:19 You know the area pretty well, 19:20 you preach at a lot of the churches, 19:22 what do you think?" 19:23 He said, "Why don't you to make a resume for me?" 19:24 I hadn't updated my resume in a while, 19:26 I made a resume Thursday night. 19:27 Friday morning I talked to Ben, and I asked Ben, 19:29 "What are your biggest needs, man?" 19:30 Like he called me out of the blue 19:31 and I don't get to hear from Ben a lot, 19:33 so it was really good to hear from, I said, 19:34 "What are your biggest need for the ministry 19:36 and what can I be praying for?" 19:37 And one of the things he asked me was 19:39 would I be willing to be a consultant for the ministry? 19:40 I Said, "Yeah, no problem." 19:42 And I will be near, if you need, 19:43 you know, things whatever no problem. 19:44 And I said, "Well, let me talk to you and Ryan, 19:47 like I want to know what your needs are 19:49 and better understand 19:50 'cause I had never worked with a lot of people, 19:52 where working get some stuff together. 19:53 And coming Sunday I talk to Ryan and Ben, 19:56 and Ryan had mentioned the fact that one of the biggest needs 20:00 is someone to teach their Bible classes 20:02 and to do preaching the stuff for the ministry. 20:04 I thought, "Well, that's kind of what I do." 20:07 So in my mind, I'm not even thinking of working there, 20:09 and I'm thinking, "Well, I'll live 20:10 somewhere in Southern Illinois 20:11 and I can help you out in every once in a while." 20:13 And so I said, well, you know he said, 20:15 "Let me send you a job description." 20:16 Okay. 20:17 He sends me a job description Monday morning 20:19 and it's literally the exact same thing as the resume 20:22 I just made for Tom Mann on Thursday. 20:24 To a T like everything, 20:26 you might as well just taking a picture of me 20:29 and put that on the job description. 20:31 And I thought, you got to be kidding. 20:32 And then well, I think my friend Jesus 20:35 is up to something. 20:36 And from there it just all kind of fell into place. 20:39 And yeah, so sometimes God works in ways 20:42 that it's not so much that you 20:44 want confirmation but it just drops 20:46 and you have to make it abundantly clear 20:47 that this is where you're going. 20:50 And I'm very glad that God did what he did 20:52 but at the time I was a little more concerned 20:54 but I am glad He did what he did. 20:57 And I think, I think that the Lord 21:00 does not have a problem with you saying, 21:03 "Lord, I want to do your will. 21:06 I'm committed, I'm on board. 21:07 Just show me, show me plainly." 21:09 I think that is the prayer that he wanted. 21:11 Now since Eric and you gave those testimonies, 21:15 tell me what that has done 21:18 in being able to trace God's moving in your life 21:21 for your faith and your confidence in him. 21:24 It wasn't because 21:26 I'd had previous experiences of faithfulness with God, 21:28 I knew it was foully to play games 21:31 with Him with this decision. 21:32 I knew better and that's why I gave him, and I said, 21:35 "Lord, I know you better than that. 21:36 Everywhere that you've led me in the past 21:38 you have faithfully provided for me. 21:40 You've done things I never could have asked for, 21:42 it was far beyond what I would have asked for myself. 21:44 I know better. And I'm sorry." 21:46 That was what really brought me to my knees to come back. 21:49 So I actually leading into this that I already knew 21:51 from previous experiences that would be the case. 21:53 And when we've gone through 21:55 financial difficulties as a ministry here, 21:57 I've always known that this is what God wanted me, 22:01 and I'm not changing my mind because I knew. 22:04 So I think on the before and on the after side 22:06 that was something I always knew 22:07 that God was so clear that this is what he wanted 22:10 and he hasn't said anything else 22:12 that I'm committed to being fully here 22:14 until he says something else. 22:16 I'm not looking for anything else. 22:17 I'm just here and that's kind of the way this works for me 22:20 but it's been very, very good 22:21 to have the previous instances of God 22:23 faithfulness that gave me that boldness 22:24 that you're talking about 22:26 and that humility to know better. 22:27 I know him better than that, 22:29 and I shouldn't be running from him, 22:30 and I'm sorry. 22:31 Amen. And I'm going. 22:33 That's exactly right. 22:34 So many times in my life the words come through, 22:36 time and time again. 22:38 You wonder you look around you say, 22:39 "Where are you, God? 22:41 Why am I going through this?" 22:42 The Lord comes through 22:43 happens again and again and again. 22:45 Eventually when the Lord calls upon you directly 22:47 to do something totally out of the ordinary, 22:50 something that you absolutely would not do, 22:53 you have faith that he's not going to drop you now. 22:55 You've been faithful up to this point. 22:57 So you step out in faith, 22:59 and He blesses to this day, I'm shocked. 23:02 I'm saying, "How do we survive on the money 23:05 that we make now compared to what we used to make?" 23:08 We don't know how we do it but we live better, 23:10 we're happy, we're comfortable 23:12 the Lord had supplied our every need, 23:14 we're not struggling, and we stepped out on faith. 23:18 So if something were to happen in the future 23:20 where the Lord said, "I want you to go to Tasmania", 23:24 we would just go. 23:26 "Okay, Lord, if that's what you want, 23:28 that's what we do." 23:29 Marilyn might be a bit of a challenge 23:31 to convince her to go with me to Tasmania 23:33 but we would go and we would do it 23:35 and I'm sure the Lord would bless. 23:37 Well, I have to say, honestly, 23:38 when we came to Illinois, 23:41 I thought it was Eric being called 23:45 and little did I know when Molly called and said, 23:49 "Do you want to work?" 23:51 I thought, "Okay, yeah, I'll come and work for 3ABN." 23:55 But now I realize that 23:58 we weren't coming here just for Eric 24:00 but we were coming here for me. 24:01 And what a blessing it has been. 24:04 I feel honored and privileged that 24:06 God has chosen me to work for ministry to spread his word. 24:12 And so I see Him every day, 24:17 and I see how He works in my life 24:19 and the changes that have been made in my life 24:22 as a faithful servant, 24:25 and I am just grateful for that. 24:27 Like you said, C.A., 24:29 the Lord provides you for want of nothing. 24:32 We have everything that we need right now, 24:35 and it's all because of the Lord. 24:36 Praise the Lord. 24:38 It occurs to me there are two things that really work 24:41 and test your faith. 24:42 One is sickness, and the other is finances. 24:47 I mean the rubber meets the road 24:49 at health or lack thereof 24:52 and cash that's 'cause you know what, 24:54 you were an engineer for a large company, 24:56 you are a pilot, I mean you got an impressive resume. 24:59 So you had to decide 25:01 'cause they're not going to pay me what I was making. 25:05 So we've got to step down. So that's cash. 25:08 You're still young enough and everybody is in good health 25:11 and healthy enough, you know, 25:13 so the thing is that it's money, 25:14 it's about money. 25:16 Can we live on 25:17 what we're going to make at 3ABN, 25:19 which is nowhere near 25:21 what I could pull down in my... 25:22 You are an engineer, I mean, that's, 25:24 you can pocket some decent cash. 25:26 And what's amazing is I defaulted back to the Bible. 25:28 Yeah. 25:29 I said, the children of Israel stepped out into the desert 25:34 and they're saying, "Where is my food gonna come from, 25:36 it's the desert." 25:37 And the Lord supplied the manna, 25:40 He supplied the water, He protected them. 25:43 And because I was studious in studying the Bible 25:46 prior to being called out, 25:48 I knew that the Lord provided to them, 25:51 and throughout the Bible 25:53 the Lord had provided to the patriarchs 25:54 and the prophets. 25:55 He has provided to me and my wife 25:57 when we went through trials, we're going to step out 26:00 and we're gonna go to West Frankfurt, 26:01 and He's blessed. 26:03 Amen, Amen, and the clothes didn't wear out, you know. 26:06 Yeah. Clothes and the shoes. 26:07 Yeah. 26:08 And there's your blessing, you know. 26:10 We have to go to Walmart every day 26:11 or dealers or wherever we shop... 26:13 Because Lord is taking care of our clothes. 26:15 So this tracing of the hand of God in your life 26:20 does fortify you, you know, it gives you strength and all. 26:23 Now let's hold of our pictures, 26:24 I don't know because I should have 26:26 given you magic markers to look at our hands. 26:28 I don't know, can you see this? 26:29 I think that the tracing may be too light 26:32 and it probably should be given you something a little heavy. 26:34 But again, you see the outline of the hand of God 26:38 of your own hand without the everything being filled in, 26:42 so you trust that this is your hand 26:44 because you know the outline of it 26:46 without all the filling in. 26:49 Ellen White says and I've got a couple readings 26:50 that I want you guys to respond to. 26:53 This is something we hear at 3ABN a lot 26:55 but I wanted to put down the exact reference. 26:58 Where she says, "We have nothing to fear 27:00 for the future except 27:01 as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us 27:05 and His teaching in our passage." 27:07 We leave out that teaching sometimes 27:09 because He doesn't just lead you blind, 27:11 if you talk about the leap of faith. 27:12 Well, it's not a blind leap. 27:15 When you leave, the Lord actually tells you 27:17 where you're gonna land, you know. 27:18 He mandated that spot 27:20 but He tells you that the landing 27:21 will be a safe one. 27:23 You know, you are not going to break your kneecaps 27:24 or your ankles, you will land safely. 27:27 So we have nothing to fear for the future except 27:30 we forget where He's let us 27:32 and His teaching in the past history, 27:35 which presupposes, like you said, Eric, 27:37 that we have studied the teaching, 27:40 so we know the teaching. 27:41 And that's why Bible study is so important 27:43 because you don't even know the promises you have, 27:46 it's like having money in a bank 27:48 and don't have the pin, you know. 27:50 You got to have a pin to access, 27:52 you know, your money. 27:53 There are promises there that you can claim 27:55 but you've got to study to know those promises. 27:58 So that when you get in a jam, you know the promise is 28:00 as you know the Lord is with you, okay. 28:02 In Acts 7, it tells the story of Abraham 28:06 and Stephen is recounting the history of Israel. 28:09 And he mentions in verse 3, how, 28:13 I just want to start in verse 1 that says, 28:15 "Then the High Priests said these things so and he said, 28:18 'Brethren and fathers, listen, 28:19 The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham 28:21 when he was in Mesopotamia, 28:23 before he dwelt in Haran, and he said to him, 28:25 "Get out of your country and from your relatives, 28:28 and come to a land that I will show you." 28:31 '" But the idea of come kind of implies 28:33 that God is already there, right? 28:36 If I asked you to come over to my house for lunch, 28:39 that would imply that I know where it is 28:40 and I'm going to be there. 28:42 And I appreciate that about the call 28:44 that God gave to Abraham 28:45 because it's a land that I will show you. 28:47 You don't know where but you know that I am there, 28:49 and that's enough. 28:51 And when you talk about the teachings of the passage, 28:54 that was one that was really helpful for me too, 28:58 when walking through some of those decisions 28:59 I've had to make. 29:00 Praise the Lord, I think before the Lord asked us to go, 29:04 He always asked us to come. 29:07 "Come to me and then go, come and learn and then go, 29:10 sit at my feet and then go." 29:12 So there's always this "Come and go". 29:14 They tend to go hand in hand. 29:18 Got something else I want you to respond to it. 29:20 Ellen White says this, "What lessons of humility 29:24 and faith may we not learn 29:27 as we trace the dealings of God with these creatures? 29:30 The Lord can do but little for the children of men 29:34 because they are so full of pride and vainglory." 29:37 So she says to me 29:40 that in tracing the outline of the hand of God, 29:44 there are many, many lessons to be learned 29:46 if we get ourselves out of the way. 29:48 You know, the thing that's holding us back, 29:50 the thing that is stifling our growth 29:54 and our experience is itself, 29:56 and we can learn so much if we open our eyes 30:01 to see what God has to do for us 30:05 and do through us, you agree? 30:07 Well, the Bible said that Satan had an I problem. 30:11 "I this" and "I that," and I always think about 30:14 that when I start thinking about myself 30:16 before I think about others 30:18 because I know just from the past, 30:22 when you get in the way of God's will 30:24 is when the problems come. 30:26 Yeah. 30:27 And you're not happy, it doesn't matter 30:29 what else you're provided with to your own efforts, 30:32 you're not happy 30:34 until you're doing the Lord's will. 30:35 But you're not doing the Lord's will 30:36 if you're serving yourself before you serve Him. 30:40 You know, the happiest I have ever been is been 30:42 when I have been fully invested in the people around me. 30:45 You know, as a Bible worker or doing other work, 30:47 that was the happiest I could ever be because I was, 30:49 my whole day was based around being of service 30:51 to other people, 30:53 and it's, that's, yeah, 100%. 30:56 You know, I think the Lord is willing to fill us 30:59 to capacity and we determine by our response 31:04 to what that capacity is. 31:08 You know, you're in control of how close to God 31:11 you can get. 31:13 He wants to be very, very close. 31:16 And if you really want to be very, very close, 31:19 that's precisely what He wants. 31:20 He wants to direct your steps, 31:22 He wants to give you good things, 31:23 He wants to give you food for your labor, 31:25 He wants you to have joy in your life, 31:27 and that to a great extent is in your control, you know. 31:31 If you put in the time, and listen, and obey, and walk, 31:35 and pray, and surrender, and submit, and commit, 31:38 there's no limit. 31:40 She says to the usefulness of one, 31:42 who laying self-aside, 31:44 you know, makes room for the working the Holy Spirit 31:45 upon his heart. 31:47 You can have as much Jesus as you can hold, 31:51 and you can expand your capacity by spending time 31:54 with him and talking about him. 31:56 The word is surrender. The word indeed is surrender. 31:59 Yeah, the secret is always been surrender. 32:06 Here's the one, "The thorny path of duty 32:11 becomes easier to follow 32:14 when we trace His divine footsteps before us." 32:22 That goes back to something we talked about 32:23 just a little bit ago. 32:25 The path that Christ calls us to walk is not always easy. 32:30 In fact, it really is never easy. 32:34 If not, it's possible. 32:37 And if it were easy, I always tell Irma say, 32:40 you know, if it's easy, you could buy at Walmart. 32:43 You know, if it's cheap, you can get it at Walmart. 32:44 So it's not easy 'cause you can't get it at Walmart. 32:47 And we have to put up with a lot of, 32:49 what was the word you used, Lynette? 32:51 Detritus. Detritus or detritus. 32:54 Potato, potato. 32:55 We have to put up with a lot of stuff in this life. 32:59 Sometimes, it means dealing with people 33:03 who you'd rather not deal with or, 33:07 you know, because the truth is everybody 33:08 is not gonna like you. 33:10 I'll tell you a quick story. 33:11 When I was pastoring in New York, 33:12 in my third church, 33:15 I had a woman who came to me and she said, 33:18 "Pastor, I need to talk with you". 33:19 I said, "Okay". 33:21 We went to the office and she said, 33:23 "Pastor, for some reason, I don't like you." 33:25 Oh. 33:27 She said, "I just, I just don't like you. 33:29 I just got nothing about you I like." 33:31 And in fact, she said, "Well, even when I think of you, 33:34 I just, I just, 33:40 I'm sorry, I just, 33:41 I'm trying to like you but I just, 33:43 I just don't like you. 33:44 I just, you haven't done anything to me, 33:46 I just, ooh..." 33:47 She went, "Ooh, I just don't like you. 33:49 I just don't like you." 33:51 Now, praise the Lord, I only had that happen once. 33:56 Once is enough, I only had that happen for once 33:58 but it did happen. 34:00 So now I got to determine 34:01 what my response to this woman is going to be? 34:03 You know, because it'd be easy to say, 34:06 "Well, I don't like you either." 34:08 Yeah. Right. 34:10 You know, so what, "I don't like you, 34:12 you don't like me, so what?" 34:14 And yet, I said, "Lord, 34:16 you're gonna have to help me 34:18 get a break through with this woman." 34:22 Because she could not articulate anything, 34:25 I hadn't done anything, and she just, 34:26 "I don't like you." 34:28 And sometimes, you're put in situations 34:29 where you're dealing with people whose ways 34:32 or whose approach to life is 34:35 just kind of antithetical to yours. 34:37 And yet, the Lord says, "You got to love them too." 34:40 And you have to, you have to love them 34:43 so well that they don't know whether you like them or not. 34:47 They assume you do because the way you love them. 34:50 And so before I left that church, 34:53 we became pretty good friends. 34:55 You know, we became decent friends, yeah. 34:59 I like the word stuff. 35:01 Yeah. 35:02 Stuff, any time stuff starts happening, 35:05 I look at it like it's a chisel. 35:07 Uh-huh. 35:08 And I'm granite, some people are wax, 35:11 some people are sandstone. 35:15 Yeah. 35:16 I'm granite and the chisel hurts. 35:18 Yeah. 35:20 But God has hidden that chisel and it's shaping you, 35:22 it's shaping your character. 35:24 And you can look back on who you were in the beginning, 35:26 you were just a rock and now you have a form 35:30 and God is just chiseling the way at you. 35:31 So any time stuff happens, I say, here comes a chisel. 35:34 Yeah, yeah. 35:35 Here it comes, it's going to hurt 35:37 but it's shaping me to who God wants me to be. 35:39 I had a similar story when I was working 35:41 at Heritage Academy, 35:43 and I lived on campus at that stage. 35:44 And my doorbell rang, it was in the afternoon 35:46 I was doing some studies I think, and opened the door, 35:48 and it's one of the students, and their response 35:51 when I opened the door was, 35:53 "I just have to tell you I can't do this anymore, 35:54 I hate you. 35:57 I hate you, I just can't stand you." 35:59 And I said, "Come inside." 36:03 So we went on in my back porch, 36:04 and I just let her go, just tell me everything, 36:06 like everything that's on your heart 36:08 just let it all out there. 36:09 And when she laid it out there, 36:11 I could see pretty quickly 36:12 that there was a big misunderstanding. 36:13 And so we just kind of walked through it together, 36:16 and by the end of it, she felt a lot better, 36:19 and I certainly felt a lot better 36:20 because it was no longer "I hate you". 36:22 But about an hour or so after we'd gone through that, 36:25 kind of work through it, things are fine, 36:27 there was misunderstand on her end. 36:28 I was misunderstood, and we worked through it all. 36:30 And by the end of the school year, 36:32 she came up to me, 36:33 and she has this sixth love language, 36:35 it's called physical force, so when she showed a boy 36:37 that she liked him, she start shoving him 36:38 and punching him and doing things like that. 36:40 That's how she, tough country girl, you know, 36:42 how she showed her love to people, 36:44 and she kind of gave me a bit of a shove and then said, 36:45 "You know what, you're my favorite." 36:48 And we sat together at GYC and we're at the seminars, 36:50 and she still happens to like me 36:52 but yeah, sometimes stuff comes against you, 36:54 you just don't know what to do with it. 36:56 Precisely. 36:57 You just think when it's that strong 36:58 and that hard, you think, "Oh, man. 37:00 Lord, what are you up to?" 37:01 But I learned a lot about communication, 37:03 and I learned also a lot about how first impressions matter 37:07 and the impressions that she was getting from the way 37:10 which I presented myself when I first got there, 37:11 which isn't the way I would do it now, 37:14 I realize I need to be more wise in how I begin, 37:18 you know, intriguing the situations. 37:20 So God always has ways of taking these difficulties 37:23 and using them as a learning opportunity. 37:25 When he says, you are in this teachings, 37:27 it's not just the inspired writings. 37:28 I think that the lessons that God wanted to teach us 37:31 through the things that we went through, 37:32 I think that we gain terrific benefit from it too. 37:37 Well said, and I think, you know, 37:39 Ellen White says that, "Every..." 37:41 Oh, I can't remember the exact wording 37:43 but I'll sort of paraphrase. 37:45 Every challenge in our life is the chance for, 37:48 it's a demand for, a call for self-examination. 37:52 If you are at odds with the person, 37:54 since you cannot change them, the best thing to do is to say, 37:58 "Lord, okay, what can I do for me 38:02 to try to make the situation better?" 38:04 And many times, the Lord will leave you 38:05 in that situation 38:07 because He wants you to self-examine. 38:08 You know, it's like, "Okay, Lord, I want out." 38:10 And He says, "No, stick in there 38:12 because you can see something about yourself." 38:14 And there's, and you know, when you get married, 38:17 all of us who've been married know that 38:20 if you've been married more than one day, 38:25 you know, that marriage offers you 38:28 many opportunities for self-examination. 38:31 Indeed. Amen. 38:34 It does, and it's supposed to be that way. 38:38 You can, it's fairly easy to see the flaws 38:42 in your partner 38:44 but it takes a little more introspection 38:46 to see the flaws in you and the same with your partner. 38:50 So marriage does offer you the opportunity and, Dee, 38:53 you will find this out 38:54 one day that you've got to look at yourself. 38:57 And if you're gonna stay happy with another person, 38:59 you realize the sun does not rise and set on you. 39:02 And that this person is trying to make their way to heaven 39:05 like you're trying to make your way to heaven. 39:07 And hopefully, you're going together hand in hand. 39:09 Yes. 39:10 That's the part of the growth process. 39:12 I was at a wedding, in a wedding 39:13 with some friends of mine and Dr. Alan Parker was the one 39:15 who was giving the ceremony, and he said, 39:18 "When two become one, that one isn't you." 39:20 And... Yeah. 39:22 I realized, I'll need to remember that. 39:24 That's very good. 39:26 That's fair. 39:27 Yeah, that one is not you. Yeah. 39:29 I like that, I may have to write that down, 39:32 "The two becoming one." 39:36 Let me just go through this one here from Advent Home. 39:40 She's talking about parents and children, Lynette, 39:44 she says that, "We need to point out 39:45 the beautiful flowers and the lofty trees 39:48 in whose leaves we can trace the work 39:52 and love of God." 39:53 That even in nature we see outline, 39:57 the tracings of the love of God 39:59 and the work we had in our lives, so it's there. 40:02 And I know, you spend time in nature with your kids 40:04 and you guys get out and do stuff. 40:06 Toss them out the door and follow them, yeah, 40:09 keeping busy and active. 40:12 Yeah, I think we came over one day 40:13 and they had just come in from the walk or someplace. 40:15 Everybody's laughing and puffing, 40:16 it was embarrassing, but you guys kind of power walk 40:19 kind of thing, 40:20 but you can see the hand of God in nature and... 40:24 There's a science called fractals, 40:27 and fractals are no matter how much you reduce it down, 40:29 it's just as beautiful as when it started out. 40:33 Yes. 40:34 And there's a lot that... 40:36 Scientists have found out there's a lot of fractals 40:38 in nature 40:40 when you look at a leaf and you reduce it down, 40:41 you reduce it down, it's just as beautiful 40:43 no matter how much you reduce it down 40:45 as when you begin. 40:46 And God is a wonderful God, He's a creator, 40:50 and I don't know it's one of the things, 40:52 nature is one of the things that converted me over 40:54 how you can have engineering 40:57 which is what nature is without an engineer. 41:00 It doesn't make sense. Yeah, yeah. 41:02 If you have a design, 41:04 there must be a master designer. 41:06 Amen. 41:07 What's the, there's a word for that, 41:08 oh, teleology, that has to be sufficiency 41:11 to get that done. 41:12 If you have a car, a car didn't get there by itself, 41:15 somebody had to put that car together. 41:16 You know, there has to be a reason 41:18 for the existence of that car. 41:19 So you've got a world that is complex and intricate, 41:23 somebody even more complex and more intricate 41:25 had to design that kind of thing. 41:28 And again in looking at the world and tracing that, 41:31 it does fortify you in your belief 41:36 and you are gonna understand that God is with you. 41:38 Now I want you to take a moment and think in your minds 41:40 because I'm gonna ask you to give me a testimony, 41:42 and we've done this a little before. 41:44 But other than coming here, a time in your life 41:46 when you saw the hand of God working 41:48 and you know it was God. 41:50 You've given some testimonies that we've heard in worship 41:54 in your flying experience that, you know, 41:56 it was the hand of God. 41:57 But, Dee, think back. 41:58 Lynette, think back, maybe even before 42:00 you came to Southern Illinois, and you've been here, 42:03 how long, you and Jorge? 42:04 Nine years. Nine years? 42:05 Oh, time gets away. It has been nine years? 42:08 It's gonna be nine years in the month of June. 42:09 Praise the Lord. And you guys have? 42:11 Three. Three years. 42:12 Three years, and we're in our 12. 42:14 We came in 2005. 42:17 Dee, you've been on campus, two years? 42:20 August, 2015, so about an year and a half. 42:22 A year and a half, okay, okay, but prior to that, 42:26 a time in your life when you trace, 42:28 you saw the outline of the hand of God. 42:31 I'm gonna bring up the flying story 42:34 because it's really the pivotal moment in my life 42:37 that changed me. 42:39 Prior to this moment, I don't wanna say 42:42 that religion was a fairy tale or mythology 42:46 but it almost was, you know. 42:48 I didn't really... 42:50 It wasn't a firm commitment in any way shape 42:52 or form with me. 42:54 And my father gave me some money to go to school, 42:58 two years worth of money to go to college, 43:00 and I ran off to California with that money 43:04 because I wanted to fly airplanes. 43:06 And part of becoming a pilot is that 43:09 they have a requirement 43:11 that you're going along cross-country flight, 43:13 and I just decided that my flight was gonna be 43:15 from Venice to Laughlin in Nevada. 43:19 And you fly out over the Mojave Desert, 43:20 it's about 4.5-hour flight in the Cessna 172. 43:25 And I took off that morning bright 43:26 and clear beautiful. 43:28 We checked the weather, everything was fine, 43:29 me and the instructor, I got to Laughlin, Nevada, 43:34 walked around the terminal a little bit, 43:35 pop back on the airplane and headed back home. 43:38 Got a little bit lost. 43:40 And I didn't know the reason why I got lost is 43:43 because there was a storm, a thunderstorm building up 43:46 over San Fernando Valley 43:47 which is where Venice airport's located. 43:50 So I figured out where I was, you know, 43:52 you turn a little dials, navigational aids, 43:54 figure out where I was, took up a heading for home 43:56 and I ran right into the thunderstorm. 43:59 Now this is the new pilot, maybe 80 hours, 44:01 80, 90 hours of flight experience flying by myself, 44:05 flying into a thunderstorm, approaching the airport, 44:08 I remember ducking down, I kept reducing altitude 44:11 'cause I had to stay below the cloud tops 44:13 and the cloud tops just kept coming down. 44:14 So I'm flying between two mountains in the cloud top, 44:17 into the valley. 44:19 And the wind shear was horrible, 44:21 updrafts, downdrafts, 44:23 wind shear trying to flip my airplane up and down. 44:25 For about 15 minutes, 44:27 I'm just fighting with this airplane. 44:28 I'm not praying yet because I'm not really 44:30 that much of a believer at this point. 44:33 And I call up the airport, tell them where I am at, 44:37 they basically said, "Are you sure 44:38 you want to land here, 44:39 we have airplanes trying to land, big jets, 44:41 they can't land, are you sure?" 44:42 I look at my fuel gauge, my fuel gauge is in the red 44:44 because I was lost for a while 44:46 which means I had about 20 to 25 minutes worth of fuel 44:49 and Venice is in the mountains, there's mountains all around. 44:52 Got to land at this airport. 44:54 I turned base the final, wind shear was just the worst 44:58 I've ever been, I flew 4.5 years 44:59 after that commercially, 45:01 never been in such horrible turbulence 45:03 before in my life, 45:04 probably because I was flying a really small airplane. 45:06 That was probably part of the factor. 45:09 I turned final trial line up with the runway, 45:12 not lining up very well, going up and down and way up. 45:16 I said, "Lord, 45:18 please help me land this airplane." 45:20 And as soon as the last syllable 45:21 came out of my mouth, 45:23 the air went completely and totally quiet. 45:27 It was like a dead calm, an unusual, 45:30 shouldn't be this calm, it just happened. 45:34 Landed the airplane, 45:35 could have landed there with two fingers 45:37 on the yoke. 45:38 That's a good end of the story. 45:40 My whole flight school came out, 45:41 the whole flight school came out, and they said, 45:42 "We heard you on the radio coming in 45:44 and now we want to see you land." 45:46 I figured they want to see me crash. 45:47 Crash. 45:50 My instructor was very unhappy said, 45:52 "You should have divert to another airport." 45:54 And like I said in my testimony, 45:56 I never told anybody 45:57 who landed that airplane for me. 46:00 And it was the Lord. Amen. 46:01 And then after that point, I knew that there was a God, 46:04 I just had to get to know Him. 46:06 And this was '89, 1990. 46:09 So it was a long time ago, 46:11 and it took me a while to find the Lord 46:12 in the Sabbath troop 46:14 but once I found it, I found it, got baptized, 46:16 and it's been a blessing ever since, 46:18 God is real. 46:20 Yeah. 46:23 You know, if someone were to ask me, 46:24 "How do you know God is real?" 46:26 My response would be two words, "Sit down." 46:29 'Cause I'm going to start talking, 46:30 I'm just gonna start telling stories like, 46:32 there's this deal like my experience 46:34 is not just an academic venture, 46:37 mine is primarily an experiential venture 46:39 of the faithfulness of God 46:41 from stem to stern in my experience. 46:42 I moved to Tennessee and didn't have a vehicle. 46:46 And this little girl, 46:49 I'll try to make this as brief as I can, 46:50 but there's a little girl 46:52 who was a staff kid at Heritage Academy. 46:54 And I rode my bike 46:55 over to the other side of the gorge 46:57 where they were located. 46:58 And she said, "Mr. Dee, how come you don't have a car?" 46:59 I said, "Well, sweetie, I don't have enough money. 47:01 Cars cost money, I just don't have enough." 47:03 She's like 6 at this stage 47:05 and this story is on 47:06 the 100 Days of Prayer website, the full story. 47:08 But so she, "I have something for you." 47:12 She goes to a room and she comes back 47:13 with a couple of markers and a piece of paper like this. 47:16 And she starts drawing some mysterious object 47:19 and she folds it handed to me says, 47:20 "I want to give this to you". 47:22 "So, well thank you, Anna". 47:23 And I go home, and I open it and inside is 26 cents. 47:28 This girl is fully convinced of the fact 47:30 that Mr. Dee needs money for a car, 47:32 and I have money, 47:33 and she thought that would be enough to buy a car. 47:34 Yeah. 47:36 And so I post that story on Facebook, 47:37 that's what she supposed to do when kids do cute things. 47:40 And a school teacher for a local church school, 47:43 that I wasn't attending that church 47:44 but I preached there a couple times, 47:46 saw it and wanted to do something 47:47 but then forgot. 47:49 And some time goes by, during a week prayer 47:51 at this particular grade school 47:53 and she wasn't there the first part of the week 47:54 because she, 47:56 one of her children had just had a baby, 47:57 so she had a new grand kid, she was gonna go see the kid. 48:00 So she comes on Friday and she came to say, 48:02 "You don't have a car?" 48:03 I Said, "No, ma'am, I don't". 48:05 And she said, "Well, look, someone gave me this car, 48:07 and my son-in-law gave me his car, 48:10 and so I don't know what's wrong with it, 48:13 it won't start, I took it to Dollar General, 48:14 it just wouldn't start. 48:15 I don't know if it needs a alternator 48:17 or whatever but you can just have it, 48:18 if you want to sell it, if you want to fix it 48:20 and drive it, do it whatever you want." 48:21 I said, "Really?" 48:22 And she said, "Yeah, you can just have it 48:24 'cause someone gave it to me, 48:25 and I just want to give it to you." 48:26 I thought wow. 48:28 A friend of mine, so I go to the Atlanta area 48:29 where my mom is for the weekend 48:30 around Thanksgiving time. 48:32 And while I'm there, 48:33 the mechanic for the school calls and says, "Hey, Dee." 48:35 I said, "Yeah". 48:36 He says, "God has really blessed you". 48:37 I said, "Why's that, J?" 48:39 And he said, 48:40 "There's absolutely nothing wrong with this car." 48:42 He said, "All of it is that, 48:43 there's two cables that come together 48:45 and go over the positive terminal 48:46 on the battery, 48:47 they just seem to be flux and soldered, 48:49 that'll costs you like $6." 48:51 And he says, "It has a new alternator in it, 48:54 the tires are new, the brakes are in great shape, 48:56 there's nothing wrong with this car." 48:58 And I used that car for two, for two years, 49:01 I think for the times I had it. 49:03 And whenever where I wanted to go it went, 49:05 it never had an issue, it was fuel efficient, 49:06 got to see family, did ministry with it. 49:08 And because I had I was able to do Bible work in Tennessee. 49:11 And I was able to give that car away twice 49:14 since then, and God's providing me 49:16 something far better than I could ever deserve. 49:18 But just the kindness and the girl prayed, 49:21 she didn't just give a car, she prayed. 49:23 And when that little girl pray, she gets answers. 49:25 She's 10 now and she cried when she saw the new car 49:27 that was afforded in answer to her prayer but... 49:29 Praise God. 49:30 Stories like that of the faithfulness of God 49:32 to provide the needs, 49:33 I'd even know I had yet 49:35 'cause I didn't know I would be a Bible worker then 49:36 but that car was the reason why I could be a Bible worker 49:39 and it's because of her benevolence. 49:40 Praise the God. 49:41 But I've seen tens of thousands of dollars 49:43 with the financial miracles. 49:44 And so when I get into financial straits, 49:47 I've come to realize, you know what, 49:49 I know Him well enough, 49:51 He's gonna provide somehow, and He always does. 49:53 He does. Amen. 49:54 Praise the God. Praise the God. 49:55 It's amazing. 49:57 Yeah, well, anything pop up in your mind? 50:01 Kind of. 50:03 I was praying on the way here 50:06 and was thinking, "Oh, Lord. 50:09 I'm not a mover and a shaker, 50:11 I'm not a powerhouse that people know, 50:15 nobody knows my name. 50:17 I'm just behind the scenes. 50:20 Can I trace your hand in my life?" 50:23 Which is a really dumb question to ask God 50:27 but I guess what I want to 50:29 put out there is that even if you're doing 50:32 what I'm doing and I'm doing it for the second time in my life. 50:35 I had two younger kids one of whom is behind 50:38 one of these cameras, the other one's in the booth, 50:41 went to work for a brief while and had a career 50:44 and then I had my second set of kids... 50:45 Yeah. 50:47 And I'm home with them again, I'm a dinosaur again, 50:49 I'm a stay home mom. 50:52 And it's sometimes hard for young mothers especially 50:57 when they're sitting, they're surrounded by 50:58 the detritus of childhood as it were 51:03 to realize that God's hand is still on your life. 51:06 And I know I can look back and see 51:08 who I was when I first became a Christian 51:10 as a young 15-year-old bubblehead 51:13 to see where I am now, 51:14 it's like I am not the same person. 51:16 And God has brought me through many things, 51:20 even if it's just subtle, it's like a quiet storm almost, 51:23 just going through these things 51:24 and realizing that God is slowly molding me. 51:27 It's okay, I haven't left you, 51:29 you know, you're doing a very traditional role 51:33 which is frowned upon in today's society, 51:35 and it's easy to discount myself. 51:38 But God is very much evident in my life. 51:40 Amen. 51:42 From start to finish at this point. 51:43 Praise the lord, praise the lord. 51:44 It's just amazing. 51:46 Yeah, and this is the second stage, 51:47 you are doing a great job with that, too. 51:49 Praise God, it's all the Lord, that's ain't me. 51:53 Well, quickly and just a couple things 51:56 that when I had that the six bypass surgery 51:58 a couple years ago, 51:59 but years ago, 52:01 I was pastoring 52:02 and I was teaching about faith and trust in God. 52:06 And one of my members called me to the house Sabbath afternoon, 52:09 and she said, "Pastor, 52:10 why don't you pray for my daughter?" 52:13 So I said, "Okay, fine." 52:14 Till I went in and saw the girl 52:15 and, I mean, she looked one step away from death. 52:19 And I said I think you need to take her to the hospital. 52:21 She said, "No, no, you pray, and she'll be fine." 52:26 And I'm like, 52:30 "I'll pray but then let's get in a car 52:33 and take this girl to the hospital." 52:34 Because her breathing was very shallow, 52:36 no color in the skin, and just lying just, just out. 52:41 And so I said, "Let's pray and then go to..." 52:45 She said, "No, Pastor, you just pray 52:47 and she'll be fine." 52:49 That's a lot of pressure on me and well, 52:51 it's not on God 52:52 but she's filtering this through me. 52:55 And I'm saying, "Okay, I'm gonna pray 52:56 but we need to go." 52:58 And she said, "No, no, you pray, she'll be fine." 53:01 So you talk about praying, I was like, "Lord, please." 53:07 Because she's not gonna take it, 53:08 you got to work something out here. 53:10 And so I prayed, 53:13 I don't know how long we prayed, 53:14 and then I encouraged her, 53:17 I'm going to church 53:19 and I'm just going to stay in the church in the afternoon, 53:21 it's walking distance, 53:22 she was right around the corner from the church. 53:25 "You let me know if anything happens, 53:27 and I'm ready to go to the hospital right away." 53:30 Father's out of home, she's a single mother, 53:32 older son, this younger daughter, 53:34 I guess about 14. 53:36 She didn't have transportation, 53:37 so I said, "I'll be right there. 53:39 Call the church," you know, I'm right there. 53:41 And at church praying and just hour, 53:44 hour and a half goes by, 53:46 it's between worship service and what we call 53:48 "A wide Meeting" at the time, MV meeting, 53:50 you know, afternoon service. 53:52 So I'm just sitting, I don't want to go home, 53:54 I'm just kind of sitting and rocking, 53:55 this was before I was even married. 53:57 Lord, I don't know what's going to happen 53:58 'cause the girl looks so bad. 53:59 About two hours later, 54:03 the mother burst into door with her daughter in tow, 54:07 and she says, "You'll never guess, 54:09 once you left, everything changed." 54:12 And she had this plastic bag with her, 54:15 and she says, "My daughter threw this up." 54:19 And she'd opened this bag 54:20 and the stuff ran all over my desk. 54:23 And in it was this black thing, like a black rope, 54:26 like a thick black rope, 54:28 it looks like a snake about maybe that long, 54:31 and she says, "She brought this up." 54:33 And it smelled awful, 54:35 and I was like, "Praise the Lord." 54:40 And she was so happy, so excited, 54:43 and I said, I just, I thank the Lord all that, 54:45 you know, I said, because I really thought 54:47 that girl was gonna die that night 54:49 because she looked like it. 54:50 And I saw the hand of God, 54:51 it strengthened the mother's faith, 54:54 it strengthened the older son's faith, 54:57 and she had a sister who was not attending church 55:00 who began attending church. 55:02 So this was not just for me, though a lot of layers to this, 55:07 you know, a lot of nuance to the story. 55:09 And a lot of people were impressed 55:11 to come to the Lord through that experience. 55:15 But, man, it really, 55:17 it kind of stretched me a little bit 55:19 because I really thought 55:20 we were gonna have some problems 55:21 but she believed 55:23 and, you know, sometimes the Lord 55:24 will strengthen your faith through somebody else's faith. 55:26 Yeah. That's right. 55:28 And it wonderful, C.A., with each experience, 55:30 you love the Lord even more. 55:31 Yes. 55:33 It just works out that way. With each experience, you glow. 55:36 Yeah. 55:37 You know with love, so... Yeah, yeah. 55:39 We don't want to pray for trials and tribulations 55:41 but you come out better on the other side, 55:43 if you keep your eyes on Him. 55:44 Well said, well said, 55:46 and so I go back to our initial list 55:49 that when you trace the hand of God in your life, 55:51 it makes you thankful. 55:53 True? That's true. 55:54 Yeah, it makes you grateful. 55:56 Yeah, it does, it makes you bolder in Him, 56:00 you know, He got me this far, I know he can get me home. 56:03 As you all said, I know that Cessna 142, 56:06 there are the smallest Cessna 150 with the two... 56:08 It was the 172... Yeah. 56:10 It's an aluminum kite. Right, yeah. 56:12 That's a cliche, yeah. 56:14 oh, I know that plane. 56:16 Yeah, that smashes off real good, Lord bless you. 56:21 It increases your faith, it makes you content, 56:25 you know, all of your experiences, 56:28 your experience, Dee, 56:29 your experience, your experience, 56:32 they are personal affirmations of God's love for you. 56:36 So that when you are called to go forward in future 56:38 as you well said, 56:40 "If I got to go to Tasmania or Tanzania 56:42 or East Cucamonga, I'll go 56:45 because God got me to West Frankfurt." 56:48 Yeah. 56:50 So He can get me through, 56:51 He can find me in East Cucamonga 56:52 just like He found me in West Frankfurt. 56:54 Praise the Lord. Amen. 56:56 So it makes you bold for the Lord. 56:58 And as she well said, 57:00 "It makes the thorny path of duty easier to follow," 57:04 because you know you've got things to do 57:06 but you can do so 57:07 because you have the assurance that the same God 57:10 who has gotten you this far will get you all the way home. 57:14 So when you're in doubt, 57:16 trace the hand of God in your life, 57:19 it will give you strength and confidence 57:21 that God will see you through. 57:22 Bye, bye, and God bless. |
Revised 2017-02-21