Participants: Pr. Marquis Johns (Host), David Butler
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000014
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:09 Welcome to "The New Journey." 00:10 The program where we meet real life people 00:13 with real life testimonies, 00:15 doing real life ministry for Jesus Christ. 00:18 I'm your host Pastor Marquis Johns, 00:20 come join us on "The New Journey." 00:54 In the gospels Jesus calls us to be disciples. 00:58 Many are called few are chosen. 01:00 But in between the call and the answering of the call, 01:03 the devil puts in a call as well. 01:05 On our program today we have David Butler, 01:09 someone who heard the call but unfortunately 01:12 for a time answered the wrong call to discipleship 01:15 and became a gangster disciple. 01:17 David, how are you doing today? I'm doing all right. 01:19 How are you doing? Good. Good. Good. 01:20 Now, we've already kind of talked about the fact 01:22 that we just need to know a few things. 01:25 Have you actually been to jail? Oh, no. 01:27 No, I'm joking. 01:29 You know, the reality is our audience today 01:33 needs to be aware of the fact that there are 01:35 and is the possibility of having lived a life 01:39 answering the call to Jesus 01:41 and living a completely different life. 01:42 Tell us where you are from? 01:44 I'm from Kankakee, Illinois, 01:46 but I live in Maryville, Illinois now. 01:48 Okay. Okay. 01:49 So at some point again you heard the call, 01:52 a call from somewhere and it took a turn. 01:56 Tell us about the turn? 01:57 Tell us a little bit about your story? 01:58 Where you are from? Tell us a little bit, come on? 02:00 Okay, well, happened when I was 15-years-old. 02:06 I might have start selling dope at a-- 02:08 I guess that's a young age, you know. 02:10 When I was 15-years-old I have my license 02:12 so my dad-- I had a Cadillac Brougham. 02:17 Well, well, hold on. 02:18 Cadillac Brougham at 15? Yeah. Yeah. 02:20 Oh, my goodness. 02:22 This had to have-- this led to a whole host of trouble. 02:24 Yes, it did. 02:25 That's why you shouldn't let no kid 02:26 drive or nothing like that around me 02:28 but I did but, like I start selling dope, 02:33 you know, got start hanging around 02:37 with the wrong people, start drinking, 02:38 start doing lot of stuff that actually shouldn't been doing. 02:41 Now did you start doing these things 02:43 because you felt like you have something to prove to somebody? 02:45 I mean, was your family underprivileged? 02:47 Where you in the ghetto? 02:49 Why did you start selling drugs? 02:51 Like I said, my dad worked, he did drywall. 02:54 So that's my trade but I always been this rebellion, 03:01 you know, what I mean. 03:02 I have to do it, I just did it. Okay. 03:04 And the good thing about I have my own money 03:06 so I don't have to front from nobody. 03:07 Okay. Okay. You know what I mean? 03:09 So it's like I was raised a certain way 03:11 but I didn't want to listen to this. 03:13 I just went to the bad and I've always been, 03:15 I've never been the no follower, 03:17 always been the leader 'cause even though 03:18 I was in a gang and, you know, you get calls 03:23 instead of you got to live by I still, 03:25 I'll be a renegade in a minute, 03:26 you know, because I'm a man before anything. 03:28 Right. Right. So let me ask a question. 03:30 So you get into this lifestyle, you start selling the drugs, 03:34 you know, and you just kind of walk through 03:35 without any incident. 03:37 Everything is okay. 03:38 You sell drugs, you stop selling drugs 03:39 and you are here today. 03:41 Where there anything, anything that happened in life, 03:42 in your life that you could tell us about, 03:44 I mean like I'm looking at you, bro, 03:45 and you got, you got a hole right here 03:47 and a hole right here. 03:49 What happened? How did you get those? 03:51 Well, round the time I was like 22, 23 03:54 a gang shootout with some Latin Kings. 03:56 You got into a shootout? Yeah. 03:58 With some Latin Kings so-- Okay. Wait. Wait. 04:00 So wait, we need-- let's just do some 04:03 a little disambiguation if you will. 04:05 You were a gang member, what gang were you a member of? 04:07 Gangster Disciples. 04:09 Gangster Disciples and so you said, 04:10 you had a shootout with? 04:11 Latin Kings. 04:13 So you guys obviously didn't like each other a lot? 04:14 No, we don't like each other. Okay. Okay. 04:16 So you are 22, you are 23, there's the shootout, 04:19 the Gangster Disciples on one side, 04:20 Latin Kings on the other, pick it up from there? 04:22 So, let's say, we got in the shootout 04:24 so when the shootout was over with on the Saturday, 04:28 Saturday came up, 04:30 I went to a gun archive to buy more guns. 04:34 Bought a AK, bought in a-- bought a and put beams. 04:39 You know, how you got the beams so I was going home. 04:43 I left there and I was going home 04:45 to get these other guns that I want to put these beams on. 04:48 So I have, you know, I got this-- 04:50 I had a-- Wait. 04:52 Again, so you said beams, just the infrared beams like 04:55 the Marines the stuff had? 04:56 So you are strapping up for war? 04:58 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. 04:59 So I left there and I went to go get the other guns. 05:03 So I'm in my Chevy Caprice 05:05 and my other home boys they are behind me. 05:09 So I'm driving, I'm doing like 90. 05:11 You know, we got to 05:12 and it's kind of raining that day 05:15 and I kind of lost control and I hit a curve 05:18 and went into air doing 90. 05:20 I hit two cross, I hit the front portion of a house, 05:22 knock the whole front portion of a house. 05:24 So my car leaning against the door of the house. 05:28 Okay. So I jumped out. 05:30 A friend of mine was here first 05:33 and on the floor I put him out he kept going in and out. 05:35 I jumped out like this. 05:37 So I just thought I had whiplash. 05:39 So come to find out I have no license 05:42 so I know I'm going to go to jail. 05:43 So police come, they asked me do I want to go to hospital? 05:47 I'm like, no, I'm all right, so I'm going down to the car 05:50 and they arrest me but the grace of God, 05:54 God kept having the police asking me, 05:57 "You sure you don't want to go to hospital?" 05:58 So I'm like, "Okay, I'll go." 06:00 God figured if I don't go right now 06:01 I get arrested right now. 06:03 So I pull over, ambulance get me, get to the hospital. 06:06 They x-rayed me, I broke my C2 back here. 06:08 Oh, wow. 06:11 So I'm in a hospital and he is telling my friend, 06:13 "When you talk over make sure you lean over him and talk." 06:16 Because they said I ain't gonna make it through the night. 06:18 But they say, if I do make it through the night, 06:20 I'll be paralyzed from my neck down. 06:21 Mercy. But God was merciful for me. 06:24 So, so, so, so, let me just paint the picture here. 06:27 So again mortal enemies, 06:29 Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples, 06:31 you guys are getting ready to get into a shootout. 06:33 You are on your way 06:34 with the intent to take someone's life. 06:37 You get into an accident, go into the hospital 06:40 and by the grace of God, you are able to weather 06:42 that storm and here you are 06:44 because you walked in here today. 06:45 Right. Right. Right. 06:46 You know, so you walked in here today 06:48 so is that when, is that when God began to kind of work 06:50 on you or did you have to learn another lesson or two? 06:53 He started but being a hard headed person I am, 06:58 I still had to learn another lesson. 07:01 Okay, so tell us about that lesson? 07:02 So this three, four years, this-- 07:06 I'm probably, I'm in my 30s. 07:09 For the first time in my life, I don't have no job, 07:13 even when I tried to hustle that didn't even go good. 07:16 Now, let me ask you a question. 07:17 Were you trying to get jobs? Yeah. 07:20 Okay, did the tattoos because probably at home 07:23 you can see but you have tattoos up to your neck. 07:26 Did the tattoos kind of prevent you from getting jobs maybe? 07:30 I don't know. Okay. 07:32 I don't know. 07:34 I mean, when I look at it, when I look back at it now. 07:36 No, tattoo didn't stop. 07:38 I know now God was like, no, 07:42 because I believed the Lord just had to break me. 07:45 You know what I mean? I had to be really broken. 07:47 So like I say I don't have no job, 07:52 trying to hustle, even that wasn't working. 07:54 Okay. So all of a sudden-- 07:56 I'm in Phoenix, Arizona at the time. 07:58 All of a sudden, you know, a friend of mine called me 08:01 to come to Maryville, Illinois. 08:03 So he is like, I got a house you come 08:04 and meet at his house. 08:06 I said, okay. 08:08 I leave, I leave Phoenix, come to Maryville, Illinois 08:11 and I did the house may like 1600. 08:14 Bought me a truck after that no more jobs. 08:18 Okay. No, nothing this time. 08:20 But now I'm, now even thought all the while 08:23 the stuff that I did and I knew 08:25 that I had to someway, one day get right with God. 08:29 So that kept on bothering me. You know what I mean? 08:31 So I'm standing with his parents. 08:35 So like I say, I wake up seven in the morning, 08:38 I'm drinking, playing DMX, you know, 08:40 I got the rap music going, I got no food. 08:44 So I just can't find no job, 08:47 running out of little money I got to live. 08:49 So I'm thinking, I say, "You know what, 08:51 I'm just going to start collecting cans." 08:53 I say, "I'll figure, I go late at night 08:55 to Wal-Mart whatever looked 08:56 through the garbage collect cans. 08:58 You know what I mean, I was, I was really that point 09:02 but I didn't want to go back selling dope. 09:03 I could make a phone call 09:05 and I could have been back on like I ever left. 09:07 I want to pause just for a moment. 09:09 You said, you could make a phone call 09:10 and probably pick up right where you left. 09:11 Where, where-- do you have any brothers, 09:13 any siblings, anything like that? 09:15 Yes. Yes. It's 11 of us. 09:16 I got six sisters, I got four other brothers. 09:19 Where your brothers at during this time and even today? 09:23 Right now, I got one that been in prison ever since he was 18. 09:27 He like 48, 49-years-old, he's in Texas. 09:30 I got another brother that is in prison right now 09:33 and he imprisoned in wheelchair with prostate cancer. 09:37 And he was in his 50s. 09:39 You know, I mean like to say, all my brothers, 09:41 they have been in and out all their life. 09:43 So that's another thing I looked up, 09:45 even though I've tasted, I was just trying to be 09:48 smarter, like I didn't got time to be going to jail. 09:50 You know what I mean? Right. 09:51 So, you know, you go through this terrible accident, 09:54 all your brothers, you know, you got brothers 09:56 that you look up to, they're in jail 09:58 and now here you are, down on your luck if you will, 10:02 jobless and you are out collecting cans 10:04 at the local Wal-Mart. 10:06 Pick up from there? Right. So, okay. 10:08 I ain't start collecting cans yet. 10:09 Okay. Okay. So I've been drinking. 10:11 So I know outside of 'cause I'm living in this trailer 10:17 and my homeboy there in the house 10:20 but outside the trailer is a garbage can. 10:22 So I said, okay, I'm gonna collect cans. 10:25 I'm gonna start in the morning 10:26 and get all of these cans since I've been drinking. 10:28 But some was urging me to go and check the garbage can now. 10:31 I said, "Man, I can't do it. I'll do it in the morning." 10:34 But it was "Do it now." 10:35 I like, "No, I'll do it in the morning." 10:36 So morning came, like I said I woke up 10:38 7 o'clock drinking, get my rap music 10:41 going over to the garbage can. 10:42 And when I opened up garbage can, 10:44 I found these two CDs. 10:46 So, well DVDs. Okay. 10:49 And the beers on top of it. Okay. 10:50 So it say, Mafia 1, Mafia 2, so I'm thinking like 10:53 "Oh, man, I'm gonna watch some gangster movies." 10:55 Right. Right. You know what I mean? 10:56 So I'm really hyped now. Right. 10:57 So I put Mafia 2 in 11:01 and it wasn't a DVD it was a CD 11:06 but that plays in a disk player. 11:09 You know, what I mean? Okay. Okay. 11:10 So as it start opening it up it was the-- 11:13 it was a man from New York City that was in the mob. 11:19 He was telling, he was giving his testimony 11:21 how he met Jesus Christ. 11:22 My Lord. 11:23 And he was going through everything, 11:25 his life was like mines. 11:27 And everything he was going through is just see how-- 11:31 even though he was so messed up and lost, 11:33 God still love him and pulled him 11:35 and may this test my spirit so hard that man, 11:38 I just crying like a little baby. 11:39 I go on my knees and repented to the Lord 11:42 about everything. 11:43 You know what I mean? Wow. 11:45 So right then and there, I know I was saved. 11:49 Mercy. Okay. So I start going to Sunday-- 11:54 Well, before we go, there let's kind of, 11:57 so I want to paint the picture here. 11:58 So we have this young man 15-years-old doing drywall, 12:02 so you have a trade if you will. 12:04 You are doing drywall, you know, 12:05 you don't want to front for nobody, 12:07 you ain't try to put on for nobody. 12:09 You decide just to have some extra money 12:11 and so, you know, be fly you start selling drugs. 12:13 As you start selling drugs, you get into a gang, 12:15 Gangster Disciples, mortal enemies, Latin Kings. 12:19 You guys are getting into these skirmishes, 12:21 and these fights and one day you decide, 12:22 you want to kill some of them. 12:24 Boom, you get into a car accident, 12:25 you end up on your back for a little while, 12:27 you get up and now you're trying to figure out 12:29 how you can live your life better 12:30 and you start saying to yourself, hey, I need a job. 12:33 No jobs are coming. Right. 12:34 Decides you are gonna look for cans. 12:36 Now all throughout this, are you seeing again 12:39 because I just want to-- I want us to begin, 12:41 it's a transition now, are you seeing God's hands? 12:45 Are you seeing, like before you even got the CDs, 12:47 were you able to see God's hands? 12:49 Are you able to now look back 12:50 and see that the accident may have even been God's hand? 12:55 Well, I'm getting now. 12:57 While I was going through it now, 12:58 you can't-- I don't know, 12:59 when you're in darkness you don't see none. 13:01 You can't see none. Okay. 13:02 You know, but when I look at it now, 13:03 yeah, I see how God had His hand 13:07 in everything that I did. 13:09 Because had you gone and killed some people, 13:10 you may not have been here today. 13:11 You be doing prison sentences like your brothers. 13:14 Right. Or I could have died in my sin. 13:15 There you go. Even worse. 13:17 And so now, so we are on our knees, 13:18 you are repented. 13:19 You say, "Lord, I feel the Holy Spirit. 13:22 I'm saved." 13:23 Tell us now about your journey to Christ 13:26 and what brings you here today? 13:28 Okay. 13:29 Like I'd say I was start going to church 13:33 and started reading, started reading my Bible. 13:36 So I really get in a relationship with God, 13:39 I really start reading my Bible 13:41 and for the first time in my life, 13:42 I read my Bible before 13:44 but for the first time in my life, 13:45 I saw Jesus in new light. 13:47 Okay. So I'm like, okay. 13:50 So by this time I'm married now. 13:51 You know what I mean, so I go to my wife 13:55 'cause I'm going to her uncle's church. 13:56 So I'm like why ain't we doing what Jesus doing. 13:59 Why ain't we, you know, keeping the Sabbath 14:01 on the wrong day because that would popped 14:02 in my head because that what the Lord show me. 14:05 And doing more studies He start-- 14:08 He showed me about the Sabbath, about the dead is dead 14:11 and about when Jesus come back, how He gonna come back. 14:15 So wait a minute. 14:16 So you started going through your Bible 14:19 and by yourself, I mean, 14:21 we know by the power of the Holy Spirit 14:23 but by yourself, you were able to come to these conclusions 14:26 that the Sabbath was still binding 14:27 that the dead know not anything 14:29 and that there will be a visible 14:31 and audible return of Jesus Christ. 14:34 I start asking people that been saved for 30, 40 years 14:38 and they couldn't give me no answer about none, 14:40 about nothing so, sort of ray of light went on, 14:43 you know what I mean, I'm more like served me right. 14:45 And I continue praying and showing, 14:48 praying and reading and God has truly shown me. 14:50 So one day I get in my car to play, go on the radio. 14:56 Now this one station I used to listen to, 14:58 they play nothing but cuss rap music. 15:00 So I don't want to hear that no more, 15:01 so I'm just going through it. 15:03 As I go I stop at a station, 15:05 could they tell about Jesus, so I listen to it. 15:07 And the stuff that I just learned 15:10 they start talking about it. 15:12 You know what I mean, about the Sabbath day 15:14 and, you know, rapture, you know, how it gonna come. 15:17 And that's the first time I heard about 15:18 Seventh-day Adventist, so I'm more like, 15:21 I never heard of them. 15:22 I never know what that was about, nothing. 15:25 So I'm more like, "Yeah, that's, 15:27 that's where I need to go." 15:29 So now my-- where can I find one? 15:32 Then one day I'm as there's a street out here called 013, 15:35 I'm driving down 013 and I'm going east 15:41 and my friend Dey who I used to stay with, he going west. 15:46 And as we passed he got a truck, 15:48 he got all these boxes in the back of his truck 15:50 and they flipped over. 15:52 So he pulled into this church. 15:53 So I pulled back around to help him get out. 15:56 As I'm helping, I look up and the church say 15:58 Mary SDA, Seventh-day Adventist church. 16:01 So I say, "Oh, okay, I'm coming here." 16:04 So I come to like three weeks later 16:06 but I came and it was different 16:08 because I had been in a Sunday all my life 16:11 so it's different that to see how they pray first 16:15 and really ask God to show them-- 16:16 even when the whole congregation get together 16:19 and how they pray and got on their knees, 16:20 so I was scared at first, 16:21 I'm like, "I don't know who they are praying to. 16:24 Hallelujah, I'm praying to You, 16:25 I don't know what they are doing 16:27 but I'm praying to You." 16:28 But ever since then, man, 16:30 God really been sharing knowledge with me 16:33 and showing me things, so. 16:36 So again I just got to-- I would like to picture 16:40 so we put-- you know, God puts to death 16:42 the old life and you began this new journey. 16:45 In this new journey, you are reading your Bible 16:47 and as you are reading your Bible, 16:48 you are coming into some conclusions about the Sabbath 16:51 and the state of the dead and the second coming 16:53 and sanctification and you tune into a radio station 16:57 that is telling you about Jesus. 16:59 Now here's now-- this is where I can be honest 17:01 about my own story because the thing 17:04 that resonates about your story is similar to mine. 17:07 That's why it resonates with me 17:08 is that here I had been reading the Bible, 17:10 you know, reading the Bible 17:12 and I come to some conclusions about, 17:13 "Hey the Sabbath is still binding." 17:16 But here is something that really that troubled me 17:21 and troubles me even now as a pastor 17:23 is that typically no one is going into the neighborhoods 17:28 that we sold drugs in and where we gangbang 17:31 to tell us about Jesus. 17:32 How do you... 17:34 Right, not knowing that 17:35 they don't want to talk to people like us. 17:37 You know what I mean? Know what I mean? 17:39 I ain't judge nobody but I'm just saying 17:40 I can understand because it's wild over there. 17:43 It is. You know what I mean? 17:44 So but that's our field like now, 17:50 I want to go back to where I come from 17:53 and share like, you know what I mean, 17:55 give glory to Jesus 17:56 and just let them know the truth. 17:58 And let the whole plant the seeds 18:00 so the Holy Spirit could grow and bring them out 18:02 because they're still God's children over there. 18:04 So that there is the possibility 18:06 and the potential for the Holy Spirit to do his job. 18:07 The Holy Spirit can reveal truth to us 18:09 without any human instrument 18:11 but then there should be the human instrument 18:14 being used by God as well, right, 18:15 so that once you get that knowledge 18:17 and you are looking for Seventh-day Adventist church, 18:19 the mandate that we have been given by Jesus 18:22 is to go teach, baptize, teach. 18:24 And if somebody was going or coming to us, 18:27 there is the possibility that you wouldn't have had 18:29 to by-- well, it wasn't by happenstance 18:32 but you could have known that the people of God 18:34 with the light that you now cherish 18:36 were right around the corner. 18:38 Right? Right. 18:39 So, okay, so now you have this light, 18:41 you go to this church, you are at this church, 18:43 so we know who you are, we know where you've been, 18:47 we know how you got here. 18:49 Tell us a little bit about where you see yourself going? 18:52 Man, I got the passion, I just-- like I say 18:57 I just want to preach the word of God. 18:59 I just want to let people hear 19:01 the truth especially to the people like me. 19:04 You know what I me? 19:06 In the ghetto, in the projects, 19:07 you know, the down and out folks. 19:09 You know what I mean? 19:10 To know the truth because nobody else doing it. 19:11 You know, I like to go to-- 19:14 man, I like to go to Oakwood University. 19:17 You know what I mean? 19:19 I like to do whatever the Lord want me to do 19:21 because like I said I had been in the darkness 19:23 and I don't want to go back there. 19:25 So now, I mean, Jesus said, we had to serve. 19:29 So it's time for us to get the understanding, 19:32 get the knowledge and go back out there. 19:34 Right. You know what I mean? 19:35 I just want the Lord to equip me 19:36 so I could go back out there 19:38 and pull more before probation close. 19:39 Right. Right. 19:40 So you are saying, you want to go 19:42 and be equipped to be a minister 19:43 so that you can go back 19:45 to the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans. 19:46 You can go back into Memphis, 19:47 you can go to South Central, you can go to Queens, 19:50 you can go to those places where no one is going 19:53 or people who have the knowledge 19:55 may just be and rightfully so sometimes, 19:57 may be a little afraid to go into those areas 19:59 because they don't know what those areas are about 20:01 but you having been there know what they are about 20:05 and you are now saying, "Lord, equip me." 20:07 "Equip me so that I can go and a young man 20:10 doesn't have to start selling drugs at 15. 20:12 He doesn't have to get into a car accident 20:14 while going to kill some Latin Kings. 20:16 He doesn't have to come to a point in his life 20:18 where he says I'm gonna go into trash cans 20:20 in order to make a living so that I don't sell dope." 20:22 You are saying now, "Lord, equip me 20:25 with the knowledge and the necessary 20:27 know how that I can go and reach back." 20:31 And Jesus says in the Book of Peters, 20:32 He says, "And called out of darkness 20:36 into marvelous light." 20:38 And so now you are at church 20:39 and here you are today telling us your story. 20:43 I mean, it's a remarkable story. 20:45 It's a remarkable story. 20:46 If you could, if there was a young man right now, 20:50 a young man like you that was right now 20:52 somewhere listening to this program 20:54 watching this program. 20:56 David, if you could say anything in the world to them, 20:59 I want you right now to just look into the-- 21:01 I want you to, I want you to speak to David. 21:04 David Butler, 15-year-old David Butler. 21:06 I want you to look, I want you to look right now 21:08 and I want you to speak to 15-year-old David Butler 21:10 and I want you to tell him 21:13 what you wish someone had told you. 21:17 Basically no matter where you are at right now, 21:21 no matter what you are doing in your life, 21:23 God love you, Jesus love you. 21:26 He didn't die for no reason. 21:29 You just got to, you got a hold on, 21:32 stop what you are doing, stop following the world, 21:34 stop following the trends. 21:35 You don't have to gangbang, you don't have to drink, 21:38 you don't have to make babies 21:40 and leave in your kids to be without a folk. 21:44 You got to do none of that. You know what I mean? 21:46 But the Lord is here for us all. 21:49 All we got to do is be brave enough to accept 21:52 and acknowledge Him and walk into it. 21:55 But no matter what you've done there, 21:56 I don't care what you've done there, 21:58 Jesus love you, He will forgive you. 22:00 You know what I mean, but we just got to be careful 22:03 not to fall for the tricks of Satan. 22:05 You know, and a lot of us don't even know 22:06 is the Satan out there. 22:08 You know what I mean? 22:09 So a lot of us just deceive about everything about life, 22:13 thinking that, we just here to have a job, 22:15 make money, this and that. 22:16 We ain't here for nothing of that. 22:18 We're just here-- this is the sin stage, 22:19 we're just here to get all allegiance of Jesus 22:22 and that's it and go home. 22:23 You know what I mean, but like I said, 22:25 lot of folks don't even know that. 22:26 You know, they just think go to work, 22:28 come home, pay the bills and that's it. 22:30 It's way more in life than that. 22:31 That's not even life. You know what I mean? 22:34 You dead already, you just walking dead, 22:35 don't even know it. 22:37 You know, so... 22:39 Well, David, your story, your story is, 22:41 is the story of many, many African-American males 22:47 who grow up in the inner cities, 22:49 who grow up in the urban areas of life 22:52 and who are afraid to dream. 22:55 And today you've shown them that you can dare to dream. 22:58 You can dream. 23:00 Not only can you dream because today 23:01 what I hear is, I hear a change man saying, 23:03 "Lord, now take me and use me." 23:04 Almost as though like Isaiah, "Here am I, Lord, send me." 23:08 And you are saying, listen, send me from the gutter most-- 23:11 send me wherever You have to send me 23:13 because there is someone out there 23:15 who needs to hear what I've been through. 23:18 You know, David, that's my story 23:21 and that's a many people story. 23:23 I grew up in South Central Los Angeles, 23:25 California and I had to come to that knowledge. 23:28 I had-- I grew up, my mom was a gang member. 23:31 You know, jail seemed to be the only thing 23:33 that I could look forward to. 23:35 And somewhere in between then and that, that reality 23:40 and now God intervene 23:42 and there is what I like to call the but God moment. 23:45 You know, I was on my way to do such-- 23:47 I was on my way to kill some Latin Kings 23:48 but God, you know. 23:50 I was laying on my back in the hospital but God. 23:53 You know, I was gonna listen to some rap music one day 23:55 on the radio but God. 23:56 And the but God moment happened for me 24:00 and that was my mission, that's what I wanted to do. 24:02 I wanted to go back. 24:03 You know, it took-- it was a long road, 24:05 it was a long road but I wanted to go back 24:07 and I wanted an opportunity to share with people 24:11 that you can come out of darkness 24:14 and walk in marvelous light. 24:16 Right. Yes, you can. 24:17 And not only that you can aspire, 24:19 you can dare to dream if you will to be a pastor. 24:21 I never would have thought growing up 24:23 that I was gonna be a pastor. 24:24 Never would have thought. 24:26 And so, I'm sure that God 24:27 has some great things in store for you. 24:29 You know, we operated number of institutions, 24:31 you expressed some desire to go to Oakwood. 24:33 I mean, what do you think you could get-- 24:34 what you think you can get at Oakwood 24:35 that you don't already have now 24:37 that you can go and tell somebody about? 24:42 Well, I... 24:44 Okay, so I'll just, I just knew, 24:48 I just want more knowledge. 24:49 You know what I mean? More knowledge. 24:51 I just want more knowledge. You know what I mean? 24:52 Just like when I gang, when I live for Satan 24:55 I did it to the fullest. 24:57 So now as I'm on Christ side, I got to do to the fullest. 24:59 Now I can't be phony so I want to know, 25:02 I want to be equipped to know what I'm talking about. 25:05 Had you already tried to reach out to some people? 25:07 Oh, yes. Okay. 25:08 Tell us a little bit about 25:10 some people you tried to reach out to? 25:11 I mean like my wife for instance. 25:12 You know, she, she was raised Sunday all her life 25:16 but due to Holy Ghost and the grace of God, 25:18 she came on over to the truth. 25:20 She accepted the truth. 25:22 So me and wife and my four daughters, 25:24 we all got baptized. 25:25 My Lord. You know, so-- 25:27 And it's funny because I didn't realized that but I was like, 25:30 "Okay, Lord, I got one for You already. 25:32 I got one." That's a start. You know what I mean? 25:35 So, and I still got family members and friends 25:38 that I discuss and talk with but it's not over. 25:42 As long I got breath, I'm gonna keep on attacking. 25:45 Even my uncle, you know what I mean? 25:46 Tried to get him to come over but we had talks 25:49 but I can say but plus I realized 25:51 it's the Holy Spirit to convict and to change. 25:55 Okay, first I'll try to do in David's fashion. 25:58 That's you can't do it. So I'm learning. 26:01 So I'm just looking forward 26:03 to whatever God got for me, you know. 26:05 So I'm just gonna stay humble 26:07 and do what the Lord want me to do. 26:09 You know, so that's what I want. 26:10 Already bringing souls to Jesus. 26:12 You know, David, your testimony is a powerful testimony 26:17 and again it is the testimony of so many 26:20 who have lived that lifestyle and who want to come out 26:25 but don't know that there is something better. 26:28 We try our hand at sports, 26:29 we try our hand at entertainment 26:31 and when the bottom falls out of that, 26:33 we are left seemingly with nothing. 26:35 But God sometimes uses those rock bottom moments to say, 26:39 "Here I am." 26:40 And when we give Him our hand, He leads us to higher heights. 26:45 You know, David, I believe that God is going to do 26:48 something incredible in your life. 26:49 I believe He has already something 26:51 but I can see you going to-- going off to college 26:55 and then potentially pastoring. 26:58 Just continue to dream. Just continue to trust Jesus. 27:03 Your testimony is an incredible testimony 27:05 and I think that what we have to have in our minds today 27:09 is that there are many other David Butlers out there 27:12 and we as a Christian people have to set ourselves up 27:16 in such a way that we can go and win 27:18 and witness to the David Butlers. 27:20 Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:31 onward. 27:23 He talks about separating the sheep 27:25 from the goat and what He does 27:28 and what He uses to determine the difference between the two 27:30 is very important, very poignant point. 27:34 He says, I was in prison and you didn't visit me. 27:38 And in saying that He's saying, 27:40 "I was in the downtrodden places that you didn't come. 27:42 And so, David, be encouraged that God has seen you 27:46 and now He wants to commission and to send you 27:50 and that is an awesome responsibility 27:52 and an awesome opportunity. 27:54 It's a privilege. 27:56 I say this as we bring this to a close, dare to dream. 28:00 Today we've seen and heard the testimony of a person 28:04 who was a gangster disciple 28:06 and is now a disciple of Jesus. 28:10 God bless you. |
Revised 2016-02-04