3ABN On the Road

By Many Or By Few - Friday Evening

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C.A. Murray

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000826


00:59 I'm gonna ask the pastor to come out,
01:02 because we share the same name.
01:05 I'm C.A. Murray.
01:07 Pastor Murray, good to see you.
01:08 Good to see you, Pastor Murray.
01:10 Good to be in your church, Pastor Murray.
01:11 Good to have you, Pastor Murray.
01:13 You're looking good, Pastor Murray.
01:15 Well, so are you, Pastor Murray.
01:16 I appreciate that, Pastor Murray.
01:18 Thank you, Pastor Murray.
01:19 You're wonderful fellow, Pastor Murray.
01:20 So are you, Pastor Murray.
01:22 I appreciate that.
01:23 Now I'm just Pastor Murray.
01:27 This is famous Murray.
01:31 So, I need to ask you.
01:32 I know what it feels like to be a Murray.
01:35 How does it feel to be famous?
01:38 Pastor Murray, it feels wonderful to be famous.
01:44 I don't know how long we've known each other,
01:46 it's been little, a good little while.
01:47 Yeah, quite a few years.
01:49 Yeah, quite a few years.
01:50 Both Oakwood college grads.
01:51 Yes, yes, we are.
01:53 Yeah, I dare say, I think
01:54 I got there a year or two before you.
01:55 Well probably about four or five years.
01:58 Yeah, no a year or two.
02:01 But I must say, I got there very, very young.
02:03 Praise the Lord.
02:04 Pastor, how long have you been here?
02:06 I've been here about two years now.
02:07 Uh-huh, so you're still on the honeymoon.
02:09 Praise the Lord. Oh, yes, yes.
02:11 That honeymoon will continue...
02:13 Amen. Are folks treating you good?
02:14 Oh, they're so wonderful congregation here.
02:17 Praise the Lord. Wonderful.
02:18 Tell us a little bit about the church,
02:19 some of the community needs.
02:21 What are you doing to meet the needs of the community?
02:22 Just tell us a little bit about that?
02:24 I'm grateful that
02:26 this church is very much involved in the community.
02:29 When I came here this church has a feeding program,
02:33 we spend thousands of dollars every year
02:35 to make sure that children and underprivileged families
02:40 have food on their tables.
02:42 We spend money also in helping individuals
02:46 with various needs rent, utility,
02:50 you name it, we are involved.
02:52 And of course,
02:53 our community service department
02:55 feeds over thousands of individuals every year.
03:01 So we are very much involved.
03:02 Amen, that's what I like here about urban churches
03:05 that are meeting the needs of the communities
03:07 that surround their church,
03:08 that means you are fulfilling the mission.
03:10 Yes, yes we are.
03:12 And in addition to that,
03:13 we have very strong health and temperance department,
03:16 who is involved in addressing
03:19 the physical need of the individual
03:22 do a lot of scanning, testing and what have you.
03:25 So that we can address some of the problems
03:28 that we are facing in the urban area
03:31 and especially with the black community
03:34 some of those medical issues that we are noted for.
03:37 Now, I'm gonna ask you the truth,
03:39 I want you to be honest to me,
03:40 just me and you, nobody is gonna know.
03:41 Okay.
03:43 'Cause you're not, you're not a native of Chicago, are you?
03:44 No, I'm not a native of Chicago,
03:47 however, I did live in Gary quite a few years.
03:51 As a matter of fact, that's where the Lord
03:53 led me to this truth in Gary, Indiana.
03:55 All right, so then this, the cold of Chicago
03:58 is not a great shock to you.
04:00 Well, let's put it in this way.
04:02 I've been out of this whether about 30 years.
04:05 So to come back into it, I had to make some adjustments
04:09 but nevertheless, the Lord is able.
04:11 Amen. Praise the Lord.
04:12 You got a wonderful church
04:14 and we gonna have a wonderful time this evening.
04:16 Pastor, God bless you. Thank you.
04:17 We'll talk a little bit more.
04:18 Okay, Pastor Murray. All right. God bless.
04:22 We were in the back just a little ago
04:24 and someone said, hey Pastor Murray.
04:25 We both whipped around
04:27 and I suspect we gonna have that problem
04:28 through out the course of the weekend,
04:30 I thank Pastor Murray.
04:32 My Famous name sake for allowing us
04:34 to be here in the Shiloh Church,
04:37 it's a wonderful church.
04:38 Next up is the youth director of the conference,
04:40 we are calling him out, this is Pastor Leon George,
04:44 the director of Youth
04:45 for the Great Lake Region Conference.
04:47 Pastor, good to have you here!
04:49 Thank you.
04:52 Have you brought your fans with you?
04:56 Praise the Lord.
04:57 Couple of things,
04:58 how long have you been serving as youth director?
05:00 I have been serving as a youth director
05:01 for three month now.
05:03 Oh, still a baby in the office.
05:05 That's right.
05:06 Let me ask this.
05:07 As you look at the challenge of youth
05:10 in this large metropolitan areas,
05:11 Chicago in particular.
05:13 What do you see as a number one problem
05:14 facing youth in our church today?
05:18 Well, the number one problem will be
05:22 drugs, alcohol and gangs.
05:26 Drugs, alcohol and gangs, I think we can say those are
05:29 pretty much universal on all of our large cities.
05:31 Indeed.
05:33 You just got in.
05:34 You're just getting your feet wet,
05:36 but what kinds of programs are you visioning
05:38 and envisioning to try to meet those challenges?
05:42 Well, some of the programs
05:44 that we are thinking about is support groups,
05:48 where young people face a lot of stress for moments.
05:52 And if they have people that they could turn to,
05:56 it will be an alternative to turn into gangs,
05:59 turn into drugs and alcohol.
06:01 So that's one of the major things we're looking at.
06:04 Do you have good youth leaders
06:06 around the conference people to support your program?
06:08 Oh, yes, most definitely and though we have Gordon,
06:12 we still have ongoing training program
06:16 through the master guide program.
06:18 And that continuously train leaders every year.
06:21 We invest master guides.
06:23 Praise God. Praise God.
06:25 So you got a great deal of work ahead of you.
06:29 But our God is able, doesn't He?
06:30 Definitely. Definitely. Praise the Lord.
06:33 Let's get the meeting started right with prayer.
06:36 Pastor, would you pray for us please?
06:37 Sure.
06:39 Almighty Father, we thank You this evening
06:43 for bringing us here amidst the rain
06:46 to the Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church.
06:50 We thank You for Your presence.
06:52 We pray that Your Holy Spirit
06:54 will now move among this people present.
06:58 And those who will be looking
07:00 at this program around the world,
07:03 we pray a special blessing this evening
07:06 upon Your word as it is delivered.
07:09 Father we pray that hearts will be moved and touched
07:13 and decisions will be made for time and for eternity.
07:18 Continues to bless and guide into proceeding this evening,
07:23 we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
07:26 Amen. Praise the Lord.
07:28 Pastor, thank you so much.
07:29 It's a pleasure. God bless you.
07:33 We have some music now,
07:35 coming from Sister Shawna Campbell
07:39 and she is going to be singing.
07:40 "He Touched Me."
07:56 He touched me Oh,
08:02 He touched me
08:06 And oh the joy
08:11 That floods my soul
08:18 Something happened
08:22 And now I know
08:29 He touched me
08:32 And made
08:37 Me whole
08:45 Shackled by
08:48 A heavy burden
08:56 'Neath a load of guilt
09:01 And shame
09:05 Then the hand of Jesus
09:12 Touched me
09:15 And now I am no longer
09:22 The same
09:25 He touched me
09:29 Oh Jesus touched me
09:36 And oh the joy
09:41 That floods my soul
09:48 Something happened
09:52 And now I know
09:57 Jesus touched me
10:03 And made
10:06 Me whole
10:13 Since I met this
10:16 Blessed Savior
10:22 Since He cleansed
10:24 And made me whole
10:32 I will never cease
10:36 To praise Him
10:40 I'll shout it
10:43 While eternity
10:47 Rolls
10:52 He touched me
10:55 Oh Jesus touched me
11:02 And oh the joy
11:07 That floods my soul
11:15 Something happened
11:19 And now
11:22 I know
11:29 Jesus touched me
11:36 And made
11:42 Me
11:48 Whole
12:03 Very well done.
12:05 The pastor said that
12:07 he had a wealth of talent in this church,
12:09 and I believe that is true.
12:13 We've got some more music coming right now.
12:14 And we got testimonies,
12:15 you're going to hear this stuff all night long,
12:17 you got to forgive me
12:18 'Cause we're just full of this stuff
12:19 of what God is doing and God's goodness.
12:22 Let's see we got "His Messengers"
12:24 they gonna be singing wonderful words of life,
12:27 and I'm told this is a fine sounding quartet.
12:31 Good looking bunch of brethren.
12:34 Gentlemen, good to have you here.
12:35 We gonna have you do one song then I got to interview,
12:37 then we'll bring you back, all right.
12:39 Very good, sing for Jesus.
12:45 Sing them over again to me Wonderful words of life
12:52 Let me more of their beauty see Wonderful words of life
12:59 Words of life and beauty Teach me faith and duty
13:07 Beautiful words, wonderful words
13:10 Wonderful words of life
13:14 Beautiful words, wonderful words
13:17 Wonderful words of life
13:23 Sweetly echo the Gospel call Wonderful words of life
13:30 Offer pardon and peace to all Wonderful words of life
13:37 Jesus, only Savior Sanctify us forever
13:45 Beautiful words, wonderful words
13:48 Wonderful words of life
13:52 Beautiful words, wonderful words
13:56 Wonderful words of life
14:32 Beautiful words, wonderful words
14:36 Wonderful words
14:38 Of life
14:51 Our subject for this evening
14:54 is by many or by few
14:59 subtitled any person,
15:04 any weapon, any situation.
15:08 I ask you to turn with me in the word of God
15:12 to 1 Samuel Chapter 13.
15:16 1 Samuel Chapter 13
15:21 and we'll read just couple of verses there
15:23 and move to 1 Samuel Chapter 14...
15:30 and finish this story.
15:35 1 Samuel 13:22 and 23,
15:42 then the first several verses of the ensuing chapter.
15:48 The word of God says, "And so it came about
15:52 on the day of battle
15:56 that there was neither sword nor spear
15:59 found in the hand of any of the people
16:02 who were with Saul and Jonathan.
16:05 But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.
16:12 And the garrison of the Philistines
16:14 went out to the pass out at Michmash."
16:18 Chapter 14:1, "Now it happened one day
16:21 that Jonathan the son of Saul
16:23 said to the young man who bore his armor,
16:25 "Come, let us go over to the Philistines' garrison
16:29 that is on the other side."
16:32 But he did not tell his father."
16:35 I'm reading from 1 Samuel 14:2,
16:39 "And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah
16:42 under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron.
16:45 The people who were with him were about six hundred men.
16:51 Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother,
16:53 the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli,
16:56 the priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod.
16:58 But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
17:02 Between the passes,
17:04 by which Jonathan sought to go over
17:05 to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock..."
17:09 It simply means that there were two cliffs,
17:11 Philistines were on one mountain
17:13 sharp cliff valley in the middle,
17:15 Israeli forces on the other mountain.
17:20 "The name of one was Bozez, the other was Seneh.
17:24 The front of one face northward opposite Michmash,
17:28 the other southward opposite Gibeah."
17:30 So, you've got one mountain facing north,
17:32 one mountain facing south,
17:34 two armies are posing on each mountain,
17:36 nobody in the middle.
17:38 "Then Jonathan said to the young man
17:40 who bore his armor,
17:41 "Come, let us go over
17:42 to the garrison of these uncircumcised,
17:44 term of disrespect,
17:47 it may be that the Lord will work for us.
17:50 For nothing restrains the Lord
17:53 from saving by many or by few."
18:00 Father God,
18:02 speak to our hearts even this night.
18:05 Give us a word from the Lord
18:08 and we thank You in Jesus' name, amen.
18:14 In the year 1995 I've paid my second visit
18:18 to the city of London, England to preach there.
18:22 And it was a very memorable visit for number of reasons.
18:27 One, I embarrassed myself by trying to preach
18:30 on the same day that I flew, forgot all about jetlag.
18:34 Sat on the pulpit even as they were announcing
18:36 that I was getting up to speak and promptly felt asleep.
18:42 But I also remember the visit because as we were driving
18:47 through the city of London on the bus,
18:51 I noticed something that I had never seen before
18:54 or at least I hadn't noticed it before when I was in London
18:56 and that was all over the city of London,
19:00 I saw the word courage all over London,
19:05 on billboards, on placards, on walls, on storefronts,
19:09 everywhere I looked, I saw courage,
19:10 courage, courage, courage.
19:12 And, you know, as I'm thinking about the word courage,
19:14 I need to encourage you
19:15 may be looking for Danny Shelton,
19:16 he will be here all day tomorrow.
19:19 He has worked quite a lot this week
19:21 and when I think about courage,
19:23 I've got to think about our boss Danny Shelton
19:25 who is the man of courage.
19:27 So he will be with us all day on tomorrow
19:29 and ask me to tender to him to you for him
19:33 his love and he will be here,
19:36 his heart is here even this night.
19:38 But everywhere I looked,
19:39 I saw courage, courage, courage,
19:41 in red and white and red and gold
19:43 and blue and gold
19:44 all over there was this word courage.
19:46 And I thought to myself, you know,
19:48 what a nice motto to put up
19:50 before the people this word courage.
19:53 It seems so very nice as I thought about
19:55 the history of that rather small island England
19:58 and the long history of courageous acts
20:01 that have been done by the British people.
20:04 I said what a nice motto to put up all over the country.
20:08 I thought about the history of England,
20:09 Winston Churchill during the height of World War II,
20:11 when the Germans were bombing
20:13 the city of London every single day.
20:15 Winston Churchill got on the radio
20:17 to try to rally his people and he said,
20:21 "We will fight in the land, we will fight on the sea,
20:23 we will fight in the streets, we will never give up,
20:25 he said, this is indeed our finest hour."
20:29 Further back, I thought about the Spanish Armada.
20:32 You heard when Spain sent all of those ships
20:35 up to England to try of capture it
20:37 and this small British fleet
20:39 defeated this large Spanish fleet,
20:41 there was and there is this long
20:44 and courageous list of acts done by the British people
20:49 that prove that they are courageous.
20:52 Back in the mid of '90s,
20:55 things were not going that well in England.
21:01 Diana was still alive, Charles was alive
21:04 but rumors had got now that the marriage was dying.
21:10 We began to hear the name Camilla Parker Bowles
21:13 in the headlines.
21:15 Then Fergie was having some problems
21:17 and Margaret Thatcher was slipping from power
21:20 and it occurred to me that this putting up of the word
21:23 courage all over town was a way of the British people saying
21:27 that even though we are having problems
21:30 with Diana and Charles and Fergie
21:32 and things are not as glorious as they once were.
21:35 Let's keeps our heads up, let's keep our chins up
21:38 you know, pip pip, cheerio and all that sort of stuff.
21:43 And I thought about that, I said, you know,
21:44 that's something we ought to do in United States.
21:46 We ought to put up signs like that all over.
21:48 Churches ought to do that,
21:50 put up signs like courage and faith and hope.
21:53 In fact, we did a little of that
21:54 in the Northeastern Conference there in New York City.
21:57 You know, but truth is a terrible thing.
22:01 Because I got off of the bus and I got little closer
22:04 to some of those signs and as I got closer,
22:08 I found out that courage was a not a synonym
22:11 for a stout heart and a stiff upper lip.
22:15 No, no, no, no, courage was the synonym for Coors.
22:22 You all know what Coors is?
22:25 If you don't know what Coors is,
22:26 then think of it this way, Bud-wei-ser.
22:33 Courage was the thick brown foamy liquid
22:35 that the British down by the court every night
22:37 before they stumbled home from work.
22:40 The reason the word courage pastors
22:42 on so many billboards and so many walls is because
22:45 if you've been to the city of London,
22:46 you can attest that for a city of its size,
22:50 I don't think there is any city that has more beer halls
22:53 or taverns or bars or liquor establishments
22:56 or place to buy alcohol than the city of London.
23:00 Everywhere you turn, there's the place to get drunk
23:03 and on every other corner
23:04 there seems to be a bakery or sweetshop.
23:06 I don't think I've ever seen the town
23:08 with more beer halls and bakeries
23:11 than the city of London.
23:14 Now, Praise God as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor,
23:16 I had no time, taste, talent or inclination
23:18 to visit any of those beer halls,
23:20 but I did tried to hit as many of those bakeries
23:22 as I thought I could.
23:25 It is amazing to me that the people from England
23:28 don't have cirrhosis of the liver and or diabetes.
23:33 So now, when I hear about
23:35 being fortified with British courage,
23:37 I'm not as impressed I used to be.
23:43 For truly the jolly old Englanders
23:47 are full of courage.
23:51 But you will forgive my pejorative English,
23:53 it ain't nothing to be particularly proud of.
23:57 And if the truth been known
23:59 what passes itself of as courage in our world today
24:03 is also nothing to be particularly proud of.
24:09 Let me say something obiter dictum,
24:11 it's not in my notes,
24:12 it's just a passage occurs to me.
24:15 You know, we Seventh-day Adventists
24:16 have nothing to be ashamed off.
24:17 Do you know that?
24:19 We have nothing to be ashamed of.
24:20 We live in a world where everybody is out of a closet.
24:26 Nobody is ashamed of nothing.
24:32 God's people?
24:34 Nothing to be ashamed of, ladies and gentlemen.
24:37 Nothing to be ashamed of.
24:39 And what passes itself off as courage in our world today,
24:42 nothing to be ashamed of.
24:43 If a congressmen vote a tax hike
24:45 in an elections year, we call him courageous.
24:48 If a football or basketball player,
24:50 some making 10, 20, 30 million dollars a year,
24:53 sprains his ankle and plays in a big game,
24:55 we want to call him courageous.
24:56 Well, you are making a million dollars.
25:01 Some 45 years ago,
25:03 a famous Hollywood actress
25:04 did the very first nude scene in a movie
25:07 and she was universally praised
25:10 for having the courage
25:11 to take off her clothes in public.
25:19 Several years ago
25:20 I was at the Phil Donahue show in New York,
25:22 and it was the show about men who beat their wives.
25:26 And at the end of the show,
25:27 they were applauded for having the courage
25:29 to stand up in public and tell the world
25:32 that they beat their wives.
25:35 In fact, one courageous fellow said
25:37 "You know I give my wife a beating every year,
25:39 I don't care how good a woman is.
25:40 Every woman needs a beating once a year."
25:45 And they were those who applauded him.
25:50 My mother told me early on,
25:52 any man who hits a woman is a coward.
25:58 And I know enough about Spanish women
26:01 that any man hits a Spanish woman
26:04 ought never go to sleep.
26:11 But anything passes off itself for courage today.
26:17 We are so hero starved, we are so role model starved,
26:20 we are so hungry for somebody to imitate,
26:23 to emulate that anything passes itself off for courage.
26:27 If anybody does anything, we want to deify them
26:30 and make them a hero.
26:32 You got a fellow now down in Florida,
26:33 calls himself Jesus Christ.
26:36 He's got a following.
26:38 People are listening to him.
26:40 We are so starved for people to look up to
26:43 that anybody stands up for anything
26:44 no matter how twisted or banal,
26:46 or sick or degraded, they will get hailed
26:49 for having the courage of their convictions.
26:54 And if the truth be known,
26:55 there is precious little courage
26:56 in our world today.
26:58 Most people don't want to stand out.
26:59 Even some Adventists are ashamed of their faith.
27:05 Thank God,
27:06 it wasn't that way in this scripture lesson.
27:07 They realize that courage is something that exists
27:10 and after doing a conversation doesn't come in a bottle.
27:14 No, no, courage in 1 Samuel is shown in sweat, tears,
27:18 blood, toil, risk taking and maybe even death.
27:21 You see if you want to know about courage,
27:24 you don't ask somebody like Michael Jordan,
27:26 you ask Nelson Mandela.
27:29 Ask somebody that has to sacrifice something
27:31 for their belief.
27:33 As great as he is,
27:34 you don't ask Tiger Woods about courage,
27:36 you ask Lech Walesa or a Martin Luther King,
27:39 ask somebody who shed some blood
27:42 for what they believe.
27:45 I've heard people say,
27:47 well, I don't, you know, I go to work,
27:48 and I don't tell anybody about my faith,
27:50 I just try to live for Jesus,
27:51 I don't say anything, you are chicken.
27:56 The word of God says
27:57 let the redeemed of a Lord say so.
28:05 It was evident,
28:06 that there was very little courage
28:08 in Israel during the days of 1 Samuel Chapter 13 and 14.
28:14 Now Israel had recently elected a young, handsome king
28:20 who had won a minor battle with the Amalekites.
28:25 His name was Saul.
28:27 In fact Saul was bigger and stronger
28:31 and better looking than everybody else.
28:35 The election of Saul was ostensibly a beauty contest.
28:41 It's pretty promptly tells us,
28:42 when the men and the women saw this tall, gorgeous man
28:46 who is head and shoulders above everybody else,
28:49 it was the women who told their husbands
28:51 anybody who looks that good has got to be the king.
29:00 Now what was true,
29:01 Saul did have this kind of Arnold Schwarzenegger,
29:05 Steven Seagal, Denzel Washington,
29:08 Wesley Snipes kind of thing going
29:10 but the problem was with Saul,
29:13 it was all patina, it was all veneer,
29:16 it was all facade, inside Saul had no heart.
29:22 Now the Philistines are coming,
29:25 and the Philistines are not the Amalekites.
29:28 Amalekites were a militia, the Philistines were an army.
29:33 The Philistines could walk the walk,
29:35 and talk the talk.
29:37 You remember when Saul was rejected,
29:39 and the Lord went to find David,
29:41 he said "Man looketh on the outward appearance,
29:43 but God looketh on the heart.
29:48 The Philistines knew how to fight.
29:51 And in Chapter 13:5 of the same Book of 1 Samuel,
29:54 the Bible says the Philistines had 3,000 chariots, 3000.
30:00 The Philistine war chariot carried two men,
30:02 a driver and a archer.
30:06 So that's 6,000 men.
30:09 Then there are another 6,000 horsemen,
30:13 so that's 12,000 men.
30:16 Then they had 30,000 foot soldiers.
30:20 And then the Bible says
30:22 they had men as the sand of the sea.
30:24 Now that's a interesting little hormoneative thing that we do
30:26 when time is of essence and we got to move fast.
30:28 When you have a known number followed by an unknown number,
30:31 you simply double the known number
30:33 and it gives you general idea of what the unknown is.
30:35 So, if you got 6,000 chariot persons,
30:39 you got 6,000 horsemen that's 12,000,
30:42 then you got 30,000 footmen that's 42,000.
30:48 Now you got a number unknown as the sands of the sea,
30:51 so you just double a number,
30:52 you got 42,000 times two is 84,000.
30:56 So you got at least 84,000 Philistines,
30:59 I want you to get this, you got 84,000 Philistines,
31:02 who knew how to walk the walk, and talk the talk.
31:07 And to appose this massive mechanized army,
31:10 you read in your Bible, 2 Samuel 14:2,
31:14 Saul had had an army of 600 men.
31:19 Now wrap your brain around that.
31:22 You got 84,000 men minimum
31:28 and we got 600.
31:33 And the Bible says even though 600 followed him trembling
31:37 with good reason
31:39 because nobody had anything to fight with.
31:45 They got 84,000 guys with chariots, horses, swords,
31:51 spears, daggers, javelins, bows, arrows,
31:56 we got 600 guys with nothing.
32:05 So what are you supposed to do?
32:08 Throw stones at the Philistines,
32:11 spit on them, bite them?
32:14 You see, there is no equal in the English language
32:16 for what that is?
32:19 If I come to battle you,
32:22 and you've got a baseball bat,
32:26 and I've got a stick,
32:30 that's an unfair fight, it's unfair.
32:34 You got a club, I got a stick,
32:36 but if I'm brave, and I move pretty good,
32:40 I may stand a shot.
32:43 But if you got 84,000 guys
32:50 and I got 600,
32:52 there is no name, there is no word
32:55 in English language for what that is.
32:58 We don't have a word for that
33:00 except may be suicide.
33:07 Did you know that an army of 600 people
33:11 can hide inside an army of 84,000 people?
33:15 Those 600 people can run inside that army
33:17 and they never find them.
33:21 Logistically pastor,
33:24 physically 84,000 people cannot fight 600.
33:30 The numbers are too small.
33:32 If 84,000 guys drew their swords
33:37 and attack 600 people,
33:40 they would kill 10,000 of their own men.
33:46 That's like trying to killing a roach with hand granite,
33:50 you may get him, and you probably kill yourself.
33:58 I mean let's think about this.
34:04 Even God doesn't want us to be stupid.
34:09 I mean tender your apologetic to me,
34:11 where in a holy rite do you get punch
34:14 of the almighty for being a fool.
34:17 They got 84,000, we got 600.
34:23 Maybe serving Jesus
34:24 is not what it's cracked up to be.
34:28 Maybe when God says go, He doesn't mean go now.
34:32 Maybe following the Lord only gets us in the trouble,
34:36 so let's not be so hasty.
34:39 Maybe when God says go, He means wait a minute
34:42 or wait an hour or wait a couple of days
34:44 or maybe a week or a month or a couple of years.
34:46 Maybe the Philippines will just get tired.
34:48 Maybe they will forget we are here.
34:49 Maybe they will go away.
34:51 We just can't do it now.
34:53 How many times you have heard that excuse?
34:58 All the excuses in the world why we cannot serve the Lord
35:03 and the truth is when it comes to serving the Lord,
35:07 there is no excuse.
35:09 Well, I can't get the Sabbath off,
35:11 I lose my job and I got to eat.
35:15 Well, God knows you got to eat.
35:19 It's not about eating, it's about courage.
35:22 It's about having the courage of your convictions.
35:29 You know it's funny,
35:31 and I see my time's gonna run away from me.
35:33 When I came to 3ABN, they told me 3ABN was broke,
35:37 I thought it was denominationally broke.
35:39 Ray, pastor, you know denomination,
35:41 we never spend all the money.
35:43 You always save 5 percent.
35:44 Even in church,
35:46 you don't budget at 100 percent,
35:47 you save some.
35:48 So when you get to 95 you say, we broke.
35:50 You got 5 percent which you don't spend it.
35:53 Not at 3ABN.
35:55 When Danny say broke, he mean broke.
35:59 Went to a meeting my very first day,
36:01 Danny got up and said, we broke.
36:02 Somebody said, Praise the Lord.
36:07 I looked, you know,
36:10 he doesn't have any money, give glory to God.
36:15 Every dime we get we spend.
36:18 Save nothing and trust God to supply more.
36:22 After 22 years see this equipment,
36:26 big truck outside paid for,
36:28 owe nobody, nothing.
36:33 So either, he is insane
36:39 or he knows Jesus.
36:42 According to your faith, so be it on to you.
36:48 All the excuses in the world why we can't trust God
36:51 and yet the truth is
36:52 there is no excuse for not trusting God.
36:57 Fellow, and I don't have the statistics to show now,
36:59 but the fellow in Texas is still in courts,
37:02 been in courts since 1995, own three Texaco stations.
37:06 Three, doing well and the Texaco said listen,
37:10 you need to close those things down
37:12 because your contract says seven days a week.
37:14 He took out his figures,
37:15 he said, I'm a Seventh Adventist,
37:17 I'm making more in six days
37:19 than every other Texaco station is making in seven days.
37:23 And Texaco said we don't care.
37:27 Your agreement says seven days a week,
37:30 and if you don't open up we're gonna close you down.
37:32 He didn't open up and they did and they took it to court.
37:36 He went from being very, very wealthy
37:38 and doing really well
37:40 to spending all his moneys on lawyers.
37:43 But you know what?
37:45 He doesn't have the wealth he had,
37:47 but he got Jesus.
37:49 He's got piece at night, he's got a good paying job,
37:53 and he's got bank in heaven.
37:56 Amen. Amen.
37:57 See it's about courage, ladies and gentlemen,
37:59 it's about courage,
38:00 it's about standing up for Jesus
38:02 and Jesus says, if you'll stand up for me,
38:05 I will stand up for you.
38:08 But no, no Saul is a pragmatist you see.
38:10 Saul is sitting under a pomegranate tree in Migron,
38:13 Saul wasn't gonna be anybody's kamikaze pilot,
38:17 didn't plan on running any suicide mission.
38:19 No, no Saul like life too much.
38:22 You see the object of war as Saul saw was for you
38:25 not to die for your country.
38:27 The object of war in Saul's mind
38:29 was to get the other guy to die for his country.
38:32 And when you got odds of 84,000 to 600,
38:36 there is a distinct possibility that,
38:38 that is not gonna happen.
38:40 And so the Bible says,
38:41 Saul sat under a pomegranate tree to think things out.
38:44 I need to hustle along.
38:45 Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you this evening
38:47 that there are times
38:49 when you get a clear thus saith the Lord.
38:53 You listening to me?
38:54 When you got a clear thus saith the Lord
38:56 that hesitation, vacillation,
38:59 equivocation, any amount of stumbling,
39:02 stammering, backing up,
39:03 turning your back, bowing your knee,
39:05 bending your neck is not only cowardly,
39:08 it's not only disloyal, it's sin.
39:10 When God says get up and go, you got to get up and go!
39:17 Over and over and over and over, over,
39:18 if there is one theme in a Bible,
39:20 one thing in a word of God is the theme to decide.
39:23 Choose you this day whom you'll serve.
39:25 Choose you this day,
39:27 why halt you between two opinions,
39:28 you cannot serve to masters.
39:29 I would that you're hot and cold.
39:31 Over and over and over
39:32 and over and over God says decide.
39:36 Write this down
39:37 third volume of the Testimonies,
39:38 page 497 Ellen White says,
39:40 "Even a wrong decision
39:45 is better than no decision at all."
39:48 Did you hear me?
39:50 Even a wrong decision, listen,
39:53 we are miller made several wrong decisions
39:56 but the Lord forgave him
39:58 because he didn't sit back on his good intentions,
40:00 he got up and he acted.
40:02 Even a wrong decision is better
40:05 than sitting by the dock of the bay
40:08 watching the tide roll away and wasting time.
40:16 Praise God, Saul had a son name Jonathan,
40:19 but Jonathan didn't know any of this
40:21 like father like son nonsense.
40:24 And praise God, you know,
40:25 our salvation is not held hostage to anybody or anything.
40:28 You're not to be what your parents were
40:30 or your cousins or your aunty or your siblings
40:32 or the neighborhood you grow up in,
40:34 all you got to do is be like Jesus.
40:41 Saul always played the odds,
40:45 Jonathan trusted the Lord.
40:48 The only person you got to imitate to emulate is Jesus
40:51 and day after day Jonathan would hear
40:53 this barrage of curses
40:55 coming from the Philistine mountain.
40:57 He'd hear this, just listening, he'd listen to this tones
41:01 and these jeers and these Philistine curses
41:03 coming against his God and his people
41:05 and something began to swell in his heart.
41:07 To put it in modern parlance,
41:09 Jonathan got tired of hearing the Philistine's talk trash.
41:14 Unlike Saul, Jonathan believed God.
41:17 Where Saul always wanted
41:19 to play the odds and the percentages,
41:21 Jonathan put the whole weight of his trust on his God.
41:25 You see Jonathan believe that the God of Abraham,
41:29 Isaac and Jacob was all too willing to be his God.
41:35 You see the God in here is not gonna do you any good
41:40 until the God in here gets in here
41:44 and is acted out in your life.
41:48 Courage and faith come
41:51 when you'll take God at His word
41:53 and step out on the faith that you got assure
41:59 that God's gonna give you more of what you need,
42:03 when you need it as long as you need it
42:06 every place, every time and everywhere you need it.
42:09 Odds don't mean anything to God.
42:11 Never have, never will.
42:13 In fact God many times, you know this yourself,
42:16 will set up the odds against you.
42:18 So that when you get over on the other side,
42:21 you have no doubt in your mind
42:23 that it was God who got you there.
42:26 You don't take any credit for yourself
42:28 because from your eyes it was impossible.
42:32 But all things are possible with God.
42:35 Victory is not in us, it is in God.
42:38 Jonathan remembered a theme
42:39 throughout that of Jewish history,
42:41 a theme not of fighting ability,
42:42 a theme not of faith or strategy or tactics
42:46 but rather a theme of pure child like faith,
42:49 faith in the God who could use any person,
42:52 any weapon, any situation
42:55 to bring about victory to His cause,
42:57 salvation to His people and glory to His name,
43:00 ladies and gentleman.
43:01 Sure the task is big, but Matthew 9:29 says to me,
43:06 "According to your faith, so be it unto you."
43:12 We serve a God who can use any person, any weapon,
43:16 any situation to bring about victory to His cause,
43:20 glory to His name and salvation to His people.
43:24 God used Moses to bring down pharaoh, didn't he?
43:27 He surely did, God used Esther to bring down Haman, didn't he?
43:30 God used David to bring down Goliath, didn't he?
43:33 God used Lincoln and Douglas to bring down slavery
43:36 in this country along with Martin Luther King
43:38 who brought down legalized prejudice.
43:42 He used Lech Walesa to bring down Polish communism.
43:46 Perestroika and Glasnost almost forgotten man
43:49 by the name of Gorbachev
43:51 to bring down communism in a Soviet Union.
43:53 And they don't always have to be willing participants.
43:57 God used Nebuchadnezzar.
43:59 God used Darius the Mede, God used Ram in a Thicket,
44:03 God used two she bears, God used a talking donkey,
44:06 God used the herd of swine,
44:08 God used the piece of sheep's wool, didn't he?
44:11 God used a bag of flower and a cruse of oil.
44:14 God used dry bones in a valley.
44:16 God used two she bears. God used five smooth stones.
44:19 God used crazy glue on a lion's jaw.
44:22 God used a scarlet coat. God used a city with no walls.
44:26 God used the deep Samaritan well.
44:28 God used the woman with seven husbands.
44:30 God used the mouth of a fish.
44:31 God used the hem of His own garment.
44:33 God used the cattle toller and Noah quadrahedron.
44:35 God used a rich young ruler,
44:37 God used a poor old widow with two mice.
44:39 God used the tricks to name Laban.
44:40 God used the broader name Esau.
44:42 God used the deceiver name Jacob.
44:44 God used the dreamer name Joseph.
44:45 God used the murderer name Joab.
44:47 God used an adulterer name David.
44:49 God used a an arrogant Herod,
44:51 God used the humble John the Baptist.
44:53 God used the fickle punches Pilate.
44:54 God used the timid Nicodemus. God used the dead Lazarus.
44:57 God used a leper Simon. God used the hotheaded James.
45:00 God used the cursing Peter. God used the Doubting Thomas.
45:03 God used the busy Martha. God used a lonely Cornelius.
45:06 God used the too young Timothy. God used the too old John.
45:09 God used a Christian killing Saul.
45:11 God used an ex-prostitute name Mary.
45:13 God used an assassin name Barabbas.
45:15 God used a thief on a cross.
45:16 God used a tax-collector name Zacchaeus.
45:18 God can use any person,
45:21 any weapon or any situation
45:26 to bring about victory to His cause,
45:28 glory to His name, and salvation to His people.
45:31 And I submit to you tonight that God can use
45:35 and is willing to use anybody in this room.
45:40 All you got to do is be willing.
45:46 Don't have to be black, don't have to be white,
45:49 don't have to be rich, don't have to be poor,
45:53 don't have to be fat, don't have to be thin,
45:56 don't have to be gorgeous,
46:00 all you got to be is willing.
46:05 God will use any person, any weapon, any situation
46:09 to bring about victory to His cause,
46:11 salvation to His people, glory to His name.
46:15 God can use whoever He chooses.
46:18 In fact, let it be known,
46:20 God can use people we don't even like.
46:26 It is just because you have no use for him,
46:28 it doesn't mean God can't use him.
46:30 Just because you don't love him,
46:33 doesn't mean they're not loved in heaven.
46:37 God can use a Louis Farrakhan,
46:43 He can.
46:45 If He can use Darius, He can use Louis.
46:50 God can use a Colin Powell.
46:55 You think God can use O.J. Simpson,
47:00 Bill Clinton,
47:02 dare I say Hillary,
47:08 Barack.
47:15 All God needs is one, doesn't need a multitude,
47:20 doesn't need a church board,
47:27 doesn't need a pastor, elder or deacon, needs one.
47:34 1645, Oliver Cromwell,
47:37 won control of the British parliament,
47:40 know his margin of victory.
47:42 One vote.
47:44 King Charles was beheaded
47:47 by a vote of the judges in England
47:49 several years later 68 to 67,
47:55 one vote lost his head over one vote.
48:00 France changed from a monarchy to a republic in 1875
48:05 by a vote of the deputies 353 to 352.
48:10 Fate of a nation hung on one vote.
48:15 During the American Revolution,
48:18 a bill actually went to the floor of congress
48:21 to have the official language of United States
48:24 changed to German.
48:27 Sprechen sie Deutsch.
48:30 It lost, one vote.
48:35 In 1845, the Senate voted to admit Texas to the union,
48:39 Texas, the great city of Texas got in, one vote.
48:44 President Andrew Johnson escaped impeachment in 1868,
48:49 one vote.
48:51 Rutherford Hayes was elected president 1876,
48:54 one electoral vote.
48:57 On November 8th 1923,
48:59 the Nazi party gathered in a Munich tavern.
49:03 They elected Adolf Hitler chairman
49:06 of the Nazi party,
49:08 his margin of victory,
49:12 one vote.
49:15 There is a statement so powerful
49:17 that it appears eight separate places
49:20 in the writings of Ellen G. White.
49:22 Eight times she writes this statement.
49:25 She says, "There is no limit
49:29 to the usefulness of one
49:35 who putting self aside makes room for the working
49:38 of the Holy Spirit upon his heart
49:39 and lives a life holy consecrated to God."
49:44 God doesn't need the both, He only needs one,
49:51 for nothing hinders the Lord from saving
49:54 by many or by few,
49:59 or by one.
50:01 You know, I find myself respecting
50:03 that armor-bearer as much as anybody,
50:06 because remember and I need to run this fast,
50:08 remember only Jonathan had a sword.
50:11 Jonathan says,
50:13 "Come let us go over to the philistine garrison."
50:15 He is talking about him and the armor-bearer.
50:17 Now, you got 84,000 people,
50:19 if 600 are afraid to go,
50:21 what is one gonna do?
50:27 And the armor-bearer doesn't have anything
50:29 and the armor-bearer says,
50:30 "Okay man, you want to go,
50:32 I got your back, I'm going with you."
50:35 Now, that's strange to me, that's strange,
50:37 because as much as Famous and I share the same name,
50:42 if he would have stepped out of his mind
50:44 and call me when I'll say,
50:45 "Hey Murray, come on up to Chicago,
50:47 God has called me to go over to Iraq
50:53 and find Sheik Abu, Sabu, Gabu
50:58 whoever and take him out."
51:02 Now, the whole American army is looking for this guy
51:06 and they can't find him
51:08 and a couple of Adventist preachers
51:09 don't go over there and find him.
51:14 See, as much as he is the brother in Christ,
51:19 my response is click,
51:26 because here is my reasoning.
51:28 My reasoning is if God told you to go,
51:34 what you calling me for
51:38 'cause while you're up talking to God,
51:40 I was sleep, I didn't hear any voice of God.
51:44 So here is what we're going to do.
51:47 I will drive you to the airport,
51:50 I'm gonna put you on a plane,
51:52 and I'm gonna pray for you,
51:54 and then I will come home
51:56 and talk to the congress president
51:58 and make sure your wife is taken care of,
52:01 'cause when you go, you ain't coming back.
52:05 You know, think it yourself.
52:06 If you read a newspaper and say and they woke up and said,
52:09 "Two Adventist preachers
52:10 got shot as they step off the plane."
52:13 You would cry then you'll say,
52:15 "You know, serves his right." Wouldn't you?
52:19 What are you all going to do?
52:21 The army can't do it, the navy can't do it,
52:23 the Murrays can't do it,
52:25 you got two Adventist preachers
52:26 never in their life ever held a gun.
52:29 I'm from New York City, I've never shot a gun.
52:31 Can I tell you a secret?
52:33 Since I got to 3ABN
52:34 that somebody had to go and give me a gun.
52:37 They said, you know Pastor Murray,
52:39 I love your preaching, I want to give you a gun.
52:44 Then I said,
52:46 "What about money?"
52:53 You know or a present.
52:55 I love your preaching, I want to give you a Bible.
52:59 No, I want to give you a gun.
53:02 Shot a gun first time this year,
53:04 shotski during Memorial Day, it's okay,
53:06 but I'm not like a big gun guy.
53:10 So the armor-bearer is saying,
53:11 "Jonathan you go and I'll go with you."
53:15 That's faith.
53:17 You see, obviously the armor-bearer
53:20 saw something in Jonathan that he could trust.
53:23 Ladies and gentlemen, there are people
53:24 who will never step foot in this church.
53:26 The only Jesus they will see is the Jesus they see in you
53:29 and if they don't see Jesus in you,
53:30 they ain't gonna see Jesus at all.
53:34 Everyday people are looking to see Jesus in us.
53:36 What are we showing them?
53:39 Obviously, Jonathan believed in God
53:42 that armor-bearer believed Jonathan believed in God,
53:45 so he believed in Jonathan and so they went down.
53:49 Now, listen to me,
53:50 you got two guys fighting 84,000 now.
53:54 You see, to my mind it would've been better
53:55 and more intelligent for Jonathan
53:57 just to jump off the mountain and kill himself
53:58 rather than climb down a mountain, cross a valley,
54:00 climb up the other side of mount
54:01 and have 84,000 men throw him off the mount.
54:08 But according to your faith, so be it unto you.
54:15 Now, I got two minutes on that clock.
54:17 Jonathan climbed down a mountain.
54:19 Read this when you get home.
54:22 Jonathan waded into that army
54:26 by himself.
54:28 The Bible says he slew 20.
54:32 Now 20 out of 84,000
54:33 is like moving a deck sheet on a Titanic,
54:34 that ain't a whole lot of people.
54:36 He slew 20 and then his armor-bearer slew some,
54:40 I don't know how, but he slew some,
54:44 and then God send an earthquake.
54:47 Did you hear me?
54:48 God sent an earthquake,
54:50 but let's look at the time lapse.
54:53 Earthquake didn't come
54:55 until Jonathan exercised his faith.
54:59 Had Jonathan not gone across that mountain,
55:02 the earthquake would have not come.
55:04 We got a church full of people waiting for God to move.
55:08 God is waiting for you to move.
55:11 God is waiting for us to exercise our faith.
55:14 According to your faith so it be done to you.
55:18 And when you move, He'll move,
55:22 and when you need, He'll supply,
55:25 and when you call, He will answer,
55:28 because nothing, nothing,
55:32 nothing, hinders our Lord
55:36 from saving by many or by few,
55:42 and our God will use any weapon, any person,
55:48 any situation to bring about victory to His cause,
55:54 glory to His name, and salvation to His people.
56:00 Shall we pray, Heavenly Father,
56:03 help us not to be timid anymore,
56:08 for we serve a great God, truly greater is he
56:13 that is in us than he that is in the world.


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Revised 2016-06-23