Participants: Pr. Marquis Johns (Host), William Bumphus
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000023
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00:09 Welcome to the New Journey, a program about real life people,
00:12 with real life testimonies, doing real life ministry for 00:16 Jesus Christ. I'm your host Pastor Marquis Johns. Join us 00:19 on The New Journey. 00:21 ¤ ¤ 00:51 The Apostle Paul tells us that in Christ, we are new creatures. 00:55 But what exactly does a new creature look like? You'd only 00:59 be able to tell that someone is new if you know a little bit 01:02 about who they were when they were the old creature. 01:05 On today's program, we have William who's going to tell us 01:07 about the old creature but emphasize more the new creature 01:12 in Christ. William how you doing today? 01:14 Doing real well, real well. 01:15 Fantastic, fantastic. So why don't you tell us your name and 01:17 where you're from. 01:18 My name is William Bumphus. I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana. 01:21 Come on now. Yeah. OK, so William, we want to start 01:24 off with just a little bit of your background. I mean, we 01:27 understand the city and the state that you're from. Now tell 01:30 us where you're coming from. 01:34 I was raised in the inner city of Indianapolis. My mother was 01:38 an alcoholic. My father, I didn't know him until I met him 01:42 in prison when I was 12 years old. 01:43 Whoa, whoa, whoa. You met your father for the first time when 01:46 you were in prison. When he was in prison. 01:48 OK, when he was in prison. I had that wrong. 01:50 When he was in prison. I vaguely remember them taking me to see 01:55 him, but I didn't really know who he was until around 12 years 01:59 old when he came out. Then the neighborhood I was in, so I just 02:04 got involved in crime at a very early age. 02:08 OK, now crime is general. We want to get specific today. 02:10 Right. So 12 years of age, you just met 02:14 your dad for the first time and he was just coming out of doing 02:16 a prison stint. How long was he in jail, do you remember? 02:20 Well he did some like eight years for robbery. He was a 02:24 criminal. And when I met him he took me around to his friends 02:27 and introduced me as his son. All right? I seen the way that 02:30 they were living, found out that they were doing criminal 02:34 activities and so I got involved with crime, stealing was my 02:38 major crime at first. 02:40 OK, so 12 years old, I mean, you're introduced to your 02:44 father's friends. You're basically following in your 02:47 dad's footsteps. Let me ask a question? Because this is what 02:52 he was used to, did he ever discipline or reprimand you for 02:56 your behavior? Sure. I mean his attitude was 02:59 that I don't want you to be like me. I want you to go to school, 03:02 get your education and all that, but I'm seeing the life style 03:06 that he's living and I'm seeing the life style that everybody 03:08 else is living and he got some stuff and everybody else ain't 03:12 got nothing. So I wanted the stuff. So he didn't know I was 03:16 doing what I was doing. He didn't know that I was doing 03:19 what I was doing until I began to get arrested like at 17 years 03:24 old. OK so he didn't condone your 03:25 behavior. No, he didn't condone it at all. 03:26 He was go to school, don't be like me but like most kids we do 03:29 what we see not what we hear. That's correct. 03:31 So now you have your first run in with the law at 17? 03:35 Yes. I mean I was doing some crime in through there but 03:39 didn't really get caught for anything. I went to jail once 03:42 at an early age. But when they found I was a minor they called 03:44 my parents. But my first arrest was 17 years old and they 03:51 arrested me for car theft. I had been stealing cars since the age 03:57 of around 15 years old. So they finally caught me at 17 years 04:03 old and sent me to prison, not as a juvenile, but to an adult 04:08 facility at 17. How long was that prison stay? 04:11 That was only six months. 04:13 Six months. Because that was obviously before the days of my 04:16 time because when I was a kid we used to get up every morning. 04:20 We'd go steal a car and by this time early 1990s grand theft 04:25 auto is carries a hefty penalty. Because now people are shooting 04:29 people, so now you wasn't hit with a joy-riding 04:35 misdemeanor. No, this was in the 1960s. 04:38 Yeah that's kind of joy ride. So when did you get your first 04:44 felony? Well my first felony after I 04:47 came out of prison there. Once I got there I just learned how to 04:50 do crime better 'cause that's the only thing I wanted to do. 04:53 and I came out and got more heavily involved in the street 04:56 life and I picked up my first robbery charge a year later. 05:00 Went back to prison. Only did a year. 05:03 Got smarter, got better at crime 05:06 Got better at crime, came back out and picked up my second. 05:11 My third time I went to a federal prison for having a 05:17 check ring, forging checks and all that. I did two years there. 05:19 By then I was a career criminal. 05:20 OK, how old are you now? 05:22 Sixty-five. Just coming out of the fed. 05:24 Oh you mean then. I was 23 years old in the fed. I was the 05:29 youngest guy there in the whole federal prison. 05:31 OK, so now you come out of the feds. 05:32 Twenty-five years old when I got out. 05:34 Now listen. This is what a lot of people don't know. A lot of 05:37 guys don't know that you meet better criminals the higher you 05:40 climb. Without a doubt. 05:41 So when you go to the county jail you meet some guys who 05:43 really don't know what they're doing but you get some better 05:46 connect. You come out, you go to state, little bit better 05:48 connect. By the time you hit the feds you come out, you know the 05:52 big boys. Right. 05:53 So at 23 you hit the streets, you know the big boys so is this 05:56 the transition into the drug game? 05:57 Well, no. The drug game came prior to that. It was my second 06:03 time in prison at 19. I was introduced to shooting drugs 06:09 in my arm by inmates and I became a drug addict in the 06:13 prison and didn't know it because I could readily get it 06:16 because of the crowd that I hung around with. And when I came 06:22 outside I began to use heroin and cocaine and I shot them 06:27 in my veins. Started 06:29 at 19 years old and I did it for 13 years. 06:32 So 19 years old, strung out on heroin and cocaine. 06:35 Yeah, right. Tell me about the life style of 06:37 a 19-year-old heroin addict what is this, 40 years ago. Tell me 06:43 about the life style of a 19- year-old heroin addict with 06:46 three priors, some serious jail time on his jacket at this point 06:51 You've got a serious jacket at this point. Tell us about that 06:55 life style, 19 years, heroin addict, I mean a serious jacket. 07:00 man. Tell us about that. 07:02 Well it's all according to the individual. Myself, I enjoyed 07:04 it. 'Cause I wanted to be a hustler. I enjoyed shooting 07:10 drugs. I didn't have no problem getting it, so there wasn't no 07:13 crime off limits. You know what I mean. So I did all kinds of 07:17 crimes. I pimped girls, you know what I mean, robbed people and 07:21 stole stuff. I mean, that's just what I did. 07:24 OK so you're living the life. 07:25 I'm living the life that I thought... the only thing that 07:27 I didn't like about it was getting locked up. 07:29 Right, right. So you're getting in the other neighborhood, 07:31 everybody likes you, looks up to you. 07:34 Right, except for the police. (laughs) 07:36 The police don't look up to you, they look out for you. 07:41 Right, right. So you're the envy of the 07:42 neighborhood, the talk of the town. Everybody knows you, your 07:44 name is ringing. Girls are attracted to you because you've 07:47 got probably a nice stable at this time. Sure, sure. 07:51 So the sky seems to be the limit Correct. 07:55 When do you hit bottom? 07:59 Well I hit bottom when I go to the federal prison 'cause that 08:03 was after that, 23 years old when I get in there. That's my 08:07 third time now. So I begin to think. I got introduced to Islam 08:13 at 19 years old in jail so I professed Islam as my official 08:18 religion. I became a Muslim under Mohammad and so I 08:22 professed Islam as my religion. Now of course drug abuse and all 08:27 that is taboo but when I got on the street I just backslid. But 08:31 every time I'd go back to prison I'd get back into their movement 08:35 so when I wound up going to the federal system at 23 years old, 08:39 I said I'm 23, this is my third time in prison, I ain't got a 08:43 whole lot of time yet so my thoughts were let me get myself 08:47 together so I won't do no more time. So I decided to take a 08:51 little education and not use no drugs while I'm locked up. 08:55 My plan was to get out, get me a good job. 08:58 Wait, wait, wait, hold on. You kind of don't make a decision 09:02 and I want you to walk our viewers through this because 09:05 when you're dealing with heroin you don't just make a decision 09:09 to kick the monkey. Right. I mean this is tough. 09:10 Well it's done for you. Heroin's different than crack. I mean, 09:15 the physical addiction of heroin is gone after seven days. It's 09:19 called cold turkey. So any time you go to jail and you ain't 09:23 got no drugs for those seven days you're going cold turkey. 09:28 It's really painful, you're going to throw up, your 09:31 stomach's hurting, you know after seven days 09:34 the physical desire for the drug is gone. Then it becomes a 09:38 mental thing. And you know while you're locked up you put your 09:42 mind in different stuff, you don't even think about it. 09:44 Just once you get outside even though the physical thing is 09:48 gone you get to thinking about it, smelling sulfur from matches 09:51 and stuff like that makes you think of shooting dope again. 09:55 OK, let's paint the picture here Young man, broken home, 09:58 dysfunctional family, mother's an alcoholic, daddy's in jail 10:02 on a 8-year prison stay. You don't meet him until you're 12. 10:05 He comes out of jail, begins to show you around the 10:08 neighborhood to his friends, you adopt and are attracted to and 10:12 enticed by a life of crime. You start in with the crime. By the 10:15 time you're 17 you have a stable You have a string of prostitutes 10:21 Sure. You're dealing with heroin you're dealing with cocaine. 10:26 Boom one prison stay, next prison stay, then you go and 10:29 when you're 23 you hit the feds and you make a decision, hey 10:32 this is it. Right. I'm done. Right. Walk us through what 10:36 happens when you get out. 10:37 But it don't work right because I didn't have Christ. 10:39 Some on now. And so when I get out, of course 10:42 I get me a job for the first time in my life and I worked 10:45 that job the man bus. I met me a nice girl who wasn't involved 10:48 with that life style. But then one day I get a knock on my door 10:52 some old friends wanting me to take them to get some dope after 10:55 nine months. They wound up robbing the dope man and then 10:59 they give me my cut which is a whole bunch of heroin and 11:03 cocaine. So now I got all this dope. So next things I know I'm 11:07 I'm back using the 11:08 drugs again. So then I just hit the street and finally I wind 11:12 up... I was on the run for four years after that and finally I 11:15 wind up in jail on the last charge of burglary and they 11:21 charged me with 33 burglaries and felonies. 11:23 My lord. Now you had accepted of embraced Islam as a young 11:29 man. I mean, this is an honest question. I remember in my day 11:35 and age, when I was about eighth grade, there was a resurgence 11:40 under Farrakhan of the nation of Islam, young black men, 11:43 disenchanted, disenfranchised, in droves joined the nation of 11:49 Islam, but I saw just as many go back to it because of the 11:53 nature of it. I don't want to get into details. It's organized 11:57 it's kind of like what you're used to when you're on the 11:59 street, a gang almost. Right. Where is Islam at in this period 12:02 of your life. I mean, you've embraced Islam. Where's Muslim? 12:07 Well when I got to the federal prison at 23 years I had this 12:12 thought when I first went in. This thought was that there 12:17 ain't no God. Allah ain't God. You know, you see what I'm 12:21 saying. Because my thoughts were here I am 23 years old and I say 12:25 now if God was who he say he is then he would know I'm not as 12:30 bad as everybody say I am and I would have got a break. So I 12:33 I made my mind up when I got there that I wasn't serving 12:37 Islam or nothing like that. Now you see what I'm saying? 12:39 That's still my religion, I still ain't going to eat no pork 12:41 OK, but then I joined the Panthers then. So my mind got 12:50 even more messed up. 12:51 Yeah, yeah, so you go from being a Muslim to being part 12:54 of a Black Panther communist movement. So now boom you get a 13:02 cut. Your cut is heroin, cocaine you're back in the streets again 13:07 looking at 33 burglaries. 13:09 Right, they catch me and my partner backing out of a man's 13:12 driveway with all this merchandise in the car. 13:14 And then when we get down to the jail he tells about all the 13:19 other crimes we did. Your codefendant? 13:21 My codefendant did. My, my. So they charged us with 33 13:24 burglaries and larceny and put it on the front page of the 13:28 Indianapolis news. Wow. And I wasn't ready then so I went 13:32 on the run for four years. Ended up in Indiana I was trying 13:37 to get out of town but couldn't make it. So at the end of four 13:41 years, the girl that I was with I married her. We was over to 13:45 her sister's house and I was talking about her sister so her 13:50 sister shot me. I couldn't go to the hospital 'cause they were 13:55 looking for gunshot wound, she shot me in the knee. So then I 13:59 was thinking about because of my criminal activity and who I 14:03 was, my thoughts were I had to kill the girl. So I was plotting 14:08 on how could I kill her and get away with it. My ex-wife which 14:12 was her sister knew who I was so she wound up, her and the 14:17 other girl calling the police on me and they arrested me for the 14:20 four-year-old burglary charge and I wind up in jail facing the 33 14:23 burglaries. So walk us through what happened 14:26 And while there you understand on Friday night they got me and 14:29 my alias name. I'm laying up there. I know it's over. I know 14:32 I'm going to prison and staying for a long time. And I wake up 14:36 and here's a preacher outside the cell bars talking about 14:41 Jesus. Since I'm in prison, everybody know me as a militant. 14:45 And this guy is a white guy. And he's talking about come on down 14:50 here, let me pray for you so you can meet Jesus. I want the 14:54 prayer 'cause I'm looking for anything that will help. 14:55 But I've got this reputation. 14:57 Yeah, and we don't want to white Jesus. Yeah. 14:59 So two black guys went down and this gave me courage to go down. 15:04 And the preacher didn't tell us how to get saved. He just simply 15:08 said Lord Jesus help these men find you, which I wasn't 15:12 interested in that, and then he said, help these men with their 15:16 case. Now your case is your charge. That made sense. So I 15:20 went and I laid down in my bunk and I said, OK, Jesus if you're 15:23 real when I go to court in the morning don't let them find out 15:27 my real name. Well of course I go to court the next morning 15:32 and they found out my real name so then I prayed again, OK, 15:36 Jesus, if you're real put me in a good cell block. But they 15:41 wound up putting me in the worst cell block of the jail. So now I 15:44 don't want to hear nothing else about Jesus. And I'm in this 15:48 cell block and I didn't know that this cell block had a 15:52 Bible study going on with four inmates and one of those inmates 15:56 came down and asked me did I know Jesus. I told him what I 16:01 thought about Jesus and that Bible. No, it was not nice. 16:06 But the thing was he was my peer One of the guys that was going 16:09 to the Bible study had more dope than I did on the street, he had 16:13 more girls and I know he had killed several folks and he had 16:15 Bibles all over his cell so I went in there to challenge him. 16:19 How do you know this is real? And he shared his testimony how 16:23 God had worked miracles in his life and after I guess maybe 16:26 about a week listening to them I decided I wanted what they had. 16:30 So I asked the men, how do I get to be like y'all. And I'm 16:33 thinking they're going to tell me something real deep. And they 16:35 said man all you got to do is ask Jesus Christ to come into 16:38 your heart. My question was, how do you know Jesus is real? 16:42 So they gave me the scripture, Romans 10:9, that if you will 16:46 confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in your heart 16:48 that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. 16:51 I couldn't pray that prayer. I didn't believe that 'cause I 16:54 still was a Muslim and Muslims don't believe God raised Jesus 16:58 from the dead. So I said, OK, break that down for me. So they 17:01 broke it down like this. OK man here's what that means. If you 17:04 ask Jesus Christ to come in your heart and you're serious about 17:07 it and he don't come, then it means he's not alive and the 17:10 Bible's a lie. They said, but if you ask Jesus Christ to come in 17:13 your heart and you're serious about it and he does come then 17:16 it means Jesus is alive and the Bible's the only word of God. 17:19 So I prayed that prayer in that jail cell floor and instantly I 17:23 knew that Jesus was alive and I knew that the Bible was true. 17:27 My lord, my lord, and so you actually met Christ in jail. 17:32 Yeah. Jesus stepped into your jail 17:37 cell and saved you. And saved me in the jail. 17:41 My lord, my lord. So was this in the beginning, the middle or 17:44 the end of this last prison sentence? 17:45 This was the last prison sentence. I went and told my 17:54 lawyer that I'd got born again and that I'm willing to accept 17:57 whatever they offer 'cause I'm guilty. He said, well they ain't 18:01 offering anything. He said they're going to prosecute you 18:04 to the full extent of the law which means they're going to 18:07 give you 60 years which means I would have to do 30 straight 18:10 years in order to get out in Indiana. So I told him to 18:14 continue the case. I went back upstairs, told the brothers, we 18:17 prayed. This happened three times. The third time we go down 18:20 yeah, the third time we go down my lawyer said man maybe there 18:24 is a God. He said they called and said drop that 60 and give 18:28 you five years. Come on. 18:29 So I told him don't stand here, hurry up and go get the papers 18:31 before they change their mind. I wind up with four years 18:35 instead of five in Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. 18:40 Got there, serving God, reading the Bible, studying. Wrote my 18:45 judge a letter the first month after I was there. Ten months 18:49 later I was supernaturally set free. They gave me probation on 18:52 the street, four years' probation That was 34 years ago and I 18:56 ain't been back since. 18:59 So praise the Lord, can we say praise the Lord. 19:01 Amen, praise the Lord Amen. No drugs or alcohol or anything 19:03 like that for 34 years. 19:05 My lord. So now you're out on the streets. You know he's real. 19:09 Correct. He's in your heart. 19:10 Right. What are the steps you take when 19:12 you hit the streets? 19:13 Well when I hit the streets it was rough the first week because 19:17 you know Mama said I could stay at home for a week. Even though 19:21 I was born again, she didn't believe me. Didn't believe I had 19:26 really changed. But that one scripture was Matthew 16:33 19:30 which I learned which I learned. Seek first the kingdom of God 19:32 and other things will be added. Well on the fifth day, this was 19:36 a Friday, my mother put me out. And I was walking the streets of 19:39 Indianapolis with nothing. And I ran across one of the guys that 19:43 was in jail with me and he went to his uncle's church. He took 19:47 me to his church that Saturday, Baptized me in water, I joined 19:51 that church and the rest is history. 19:53 So now I got it, I got the story That's who you were, that's 19:58 where you been, that's how you got here. What are you doing now 20:02 Now, you understand, I'm in prison ministry. I travel all 20:06 over the country, been doing it now for like 25 years. Preaching 20:09 in over 450 prisons so far. Also got a ministry in Lagos, Nigeria 20:13 been there six time where we have prison ministries there. 20:16 Also run a reentry program called Jesus House where men 20:19 who give their life to Christ can be paroled to. Right now we 20:22 can house 46 men. Are you at capacity right now? 20:26 No. Yeah, we usually run around 30-35 men but we've got two 20:31 other facilities. What's the address for that? 20:32 It's at 34th and Schofield. It's called the Miracle on 34th 20:38 Street. Come on now. So you go from 20:42 again, broken home, crime heroin, cocaine, in and out of 20:51 prison. Muslim. Meet Jesus in prison. Get out. Fifth day out 20:58 of prison mom puts you out. You run into a guy. Next thing 21:04 you know you're baptized. So now you're taking prison ministries 21:10 all over the world. 21:11 Without a doubt. Pastor a church and all that. 21:13 Pastor a church? That's impossible. 21:20 Well, the Bible says with God nothing is impossible. 21:22 That's what I wanted to hear. This is not realistic, this just 21:27 doesn't happen, or does it? 21:29 It happens every day. 21:30 And you're living proof that it does. 21:32 I'm a living proof that it does. 21:33 Did you mother ever see... I'm assuming she's now asleep in 21:39 Christ... did your mother ever get a chance to see you? 21:44 Right, she became a Christian because of me. So did my 11 21:49 brothers and sisters. All of them saved. 21:51 Come on now. So this is not only Christ's ability to convince, 21:55 not only to convict but also to convert. 21:59 Without a doubt. 22:00 Convert you, convert mom, convert 11 brothers and sisters. 22:04 My lord, my lord. Here's what I want you to do. About a minute 22:08 or so here I want you to take a couple moments and you're a 22:11 preacher, over my shoulder, I want you to look into this 22:15 camera and I want you to talk to... And here's the beauty, 22:19 here's the beauty William of your story. You're in your 60s. 22:23 But believe it or not there are some people still needing a 22:27 fresh start in their 60s who don't realize that their 22:31 yesterdays don't matter because Christ has promised us a bright 22:37 tomorrow. So I want you to speak to people who are experiencing 22:42 any of the number of things you've experienced over the 22:45 course or your 60 some-odd years. Go ahead. 22:48 Well if you've heard testimony what I'd like to say to you is 22:53 don't wait. It took me a long time. I was almost 31 years old 22:57 when I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart. I believe 23:00 that was because that was the first time I heard it. The first 23:03 time I heard it and really understood it. So maybe this 23:05 right here is your time hearing the gospel and it's making sense 23:09 to you. So it don't make no difference what station of life 23:11 you're in; maybe you're incarcerated, maybe you're not. 23:13 Maybe you're homeless you understand. Maybe you're just 23:15 right there in your kitchen you understand, going through some 23:18 problems, you understand, financially or whatever it is. 23:20 Jesus is still the answer. So I would just want to encourage you 23:23 you understand. Don't wait. Just ask Jesus Christ to come in your 23:27 heart. Turn your whole life over on him. The Bible says cast all 23:30 your care upon him because he cares for you. I guarantee if 23:33 you do that, ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, he'll 23:36 change you right now and life will begin to look a whole lot 23:39 better. Now pastor that sounded good. 23:44 To someone that may have sounded just like a bunch of 23:47 theory. Sure. Can you walk us through a practical experience 23:50 that you had. Have you had an opportunity on a one-on-one 23:53 basis to see someone who you have ministered to in prisons 23:56 come out and become a productive member of society? 24:00 Well, there's hundreds of them. I'm thinking of one, A.J., 24:05 Anthony Jackson, came to our Jesus House. He was supposed to 24:09 be from Christians. He was there you understand, he was a violent 24:12 criminal, robbery and all that kind of stuff, hurting people. 24:15 He was violent inside of prison. He came to the Jesus House and 24:18 after about three months we knows that he really wasn't 24:21 born again, didn't even care nothing about the gospel. 24:23 I overheard him. So I brought him over and told him man you're 24:28 going to have to leave because this place ain't for you. And at 24:31 that moment a tear came out his eyes and he says where can I go? 24:33 I ain't got no place to go. I said, well OK you can stay here 24:36 but you're going to act like a Christian. And what I meant by 24:38 that you're going to have to read your Bible and pray and 24:41 participate. Well he began to participate. Long story short, 24:44 he wound up getting the arrested for something that he didn't do. 24:47 Go back to jail. And while he was in there he prayed. He said 24:51 Lord you worked miracles in Pastor Bumphus life. I need a 24:54 miracle. This is the first time I ever been locked up for 24:58 something I didn't do. If you're really real, work this out. 25:01 So, I'm sorry. So A.J. got locked up for something he 25:04 didn't do. That he didn't do. 25:06 Yeah, but he had to hear the gospel first. 25:08 Right, come on. So he asked Jesus Christ to come 25:10 into his heart in that jail cell God worked a miracle in his 25:13 life. Released him. The people dropped the charges 'cause he 25:15 was innocent. He came back to the Jesus House, stayed there 25:19 a year, became my resident director. Now he works for a 25:22 large mission in Indiana, called Willow Mission. He's the head 25:26 supervisor of the kitchen, Amen, and the hired several guys from 25:29 the Jesus House. He's married, just bought his own home and now 25:32 he goes inside prison for us. So that's just of the success 25:36 stories. Amen, Amen, Amen. So this isn't 25:38 theory and this is not just it worked for me. 25:41 No, no. It works for whosoever will. 25:43 You've seen it work. This is not a story you heard. This is not 25:46 something you overheard, it's not something you read. This is 25:49 something that you have experienced countless times. 25:52 Over and over again, yes. 25:53 And so what does that do to your walk, I mean, for you? 25:57 Because the beauty of that is that God rewards those who 26:01 diligently seek him. Is this the reward? I mean are we looking 26:05 for bright mansions alone or are you experiencing Jesus right 26:09 now. Is this joy. Living for Jesus and seeing results like 26:13 that is joy nonstop. I would have joy anyway even if I didn't 26:17 see no results. But just to see the results on top of it, ah you 26:22 can't get past that. 26:23 That's what I'm talking about. This is incredible, this is 26:26 incredible. And the reason why is what I'm hearing is God 26:31 taking people who were once offenders and taking them to 26:36 people who are offenders now and using them and their stories 26:42 and their testimonies to set captives free. 26:44 Without a doubt. Bringing truth to Revelation 12 26:48 and they overcame by the blood of the lamb and by the word of 26:51 their testimony. The testimony is powerful. And I think about 26:55 Paul, I think about Paul. Whenever Paul got into a 26:57 straight. Periodically throughout the book of 27:00 Acts we find Paul getting into situations. Situations sometimes 27:04 of his own doing but because he's spreading the gospel and 27:08 every single time Paul would just start telling his testimony 27:12 He came before Festus; he'd tell his testimony, he'd get before 27:16 Agrippa, he'd give his testimony He's on the chopping block, he's 27:19 giving his testimony. They put him before Sadducees and 27:23 Pharisees and he gives his testimony. And his testimony 27:26 boils down almost to one thing and it's the same thing that we 27:31 heard from you, it's what you said about A.J. and we hear it 27:34 countless times on this show New Journey. We hear this on the 27:38 New Journey and that story is basically, no matter what I was 27:43 it's about what I am now. I am indeed a new creature in Christ. 27:48 Brothers and sisters, if you're not encouraged then I don't know 27:53 what to do or what to say. God is taking lives like Pastor 27:58 William Bumphus and he is turning them around to reach the 28:02 A.J.'s of the world and take them, and even you possibly 28:06 on a New Journey. Dare to Dream. |
Revised 2017-03-30