Anchors of Truth

Remembered

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Frank Gonzales

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000117


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:21 Well we welcome you and we're so happy that you can join us.
00:25 And there are some of you that are watching
00:28 from different parts of the world right now.
00:32 And I just was talking a few minutes ago to someone
00:36 from Florida who is tuning in.
00:38 And we know that there are a lot of people from Florida
00:41 watching tonight, because their pastor,
00:44 those that live in Avon Park, their pastor,
00:47 Pastor Frank Gonzalez, is presenting the Anchors Of Truth.
00:52 And we really have enjoyed and been blessed
00:57 by these meetings so far.
00:59 The title of the series is, The Seven Words of Hope.
01:04 Last night we heard, Forgiven.
01:07 And what a message that was.
01:10 We have an afterglow here that's not taped,
01:13 but we just talk, those that are here,
01:17 with the speaker.
01:18 There were so many questions about forgiving
01:22 and being forgiven.
01:24 And it was really one of the most effective afterglows
01:28 that we've had for participation.
01:31 And I felt like that as Pastor Frank Gonzalez
01:35 shared from his heart, that each individual
01:39 was able to get some answers to their questions
01:43 that they had last night.
01:45 As you know, Pastor Frank was the speaker for 17 years
01:51 for La Voz, which is the Latino Voice of Prophecy.
01:57 For 5 of those 17 years, I had the privilege of
02:01 serving as chairman of the board of La Voz.
02:05 I want to tell you that I've chaired a few boards.
02:07 In fact, at one time I was either chairman or on
02:13 over 65 different boards at one time.
02:17 So I was on a lot of boards.
02:19 And some of those met more than once a year.
02:21 And I was chair of so many.
02:25 But there was not any board that I looked forward
02:29 to the meetings as much as I did the La Voz board.
02:35 One reason, of course, is because of the leader.
02:38 Frank Gonzalez had wonderful ideas, he had exciting plans.
02:44 And the enthusiasm of the leader of the pack...
02:49 You see, there's a saying that the leader of the pack
02:52 determines the rate of the group.
02:57 And so this was a man who was always ready
03:01 to reach out and do something special for the Lord.
03:05 There were some other very interesting
03:07 people on that board.
03:09 One of which was our good friend, Jamie Jorge.
03:14 And Jamie always sat at one particular place
03:18 in those board meetings.
03:19 And Jamie was my friend before those days,
03:24 but we became even closer during the time when
03:27 he was serving on the board of La Voz.
03:32 And I appreciate the ministry of Jamie Jorge.
03:37 Tonight, a second word will be taught and will be examined.
03:46 And that word is, Remembered.
03:49 Remembered.
03:51 And this will be the title of the subject by
03:55 Pastor Frank Gonzalez.
03:57 Pastor Frank is now pastor of one of the largest churches
04:02 in Florida, the Avon Park Seventh-day Adventist Church.
04:06 It's a wonderful church.
04:10 We feel that way because they are so supportive of 3ABN.
04:15 And we often hear from the folks down there.
04:18 It's been our privilege to be there many times
04:22 and to minister in that church.
04:25 And we look forward to coming back again.
04:29 Before Pastor Frank speaks tonight, our pastor here
04:34 of the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church,
04:37 Pastor John Lomacang, is going to come
04:41 and he's going to sing, Your Grace Still Amazes Me.
05:30 My faithful Father,
05:37 enduring Friend,
05:42 Your tender mercy's like a river with no end;
05:53 it overwhelms me,
06:00 covers my sin.
06:05 Each time I come into Your presence
06:12 I stand in wonder once again.
06:20 Your grace still amazes me;
06:28 Your love is still a mystery.
06:35 Each day I fall on my knees;
06:45 Your grace still amazes me.
06:52 Your grace still amazes me.
07:13 Oh, patient Savior,
07:21 You make me whole.
07:26 You are the Author and the Healer of my soul.
07:36 What can I give You?
07:43 Lord, what can I say?
07:48 I know there's no way to repay You;
07:56 only to offer You my praise.
08:04 Your grace still amazes me;
08:11 Your love is still a mystery.
08:19 Each day I fall on my knees;
08:28 Your grace still amazes me.
08:35 Your grace still amazes me.
08:41 It's deeper, it's wider,
08:49 it's stronger, it's higher.
08:56 It's deeper, it's wider,
09:03 it's stronger, and it's higher
09:09 than anything my eyes can see.
09:16 Your grace still amazes me;
09:24 Your love is still a mystery.
09:31 Each day I fall on my knees;
09:40 Your grace still amazes me.
09:47 Your grace still amazes me.
10:26 Good evening.
10:27 I'm so glad you're here.
10:29 I'm glad you tuned in.
10:32 We are looking at the seven words of hope.
10:39 They are the seven short sermons that Jesus preached
10:46 while He was on the cross.
10:48 And tonight we're looking at the second one.
10:51 Before I pray and begin with the second message,
10:55 I want to touch on a couple of things, if you don't mind.
10:59 I want to give a holler and a shout and a word of thanks
11:04 to my congregation at the Avon Park SDA
11:08 for their forbearance, for their generosity of spirit,
11:12 for sharing me.
11:15 And I want to tell you that I love you and I'll get back
11:19 with you as soon as I can.
11:21 And I want to tell you that if you are thinking of
11:24 moving to Florida, it gets a little cold where you're at,
11:29 and you start thinking of maybe Florida would be a good place,
11:35 if that's in your heart and your mind at all, check us out.
11:40 Because Avon Park is really one of the nicest places.
11:45 And not just because I'm there, but there are reasons
11:47 I could give you.
11:49 It's in the heartland.
11:50 It's called the heartland of Florida for a reason.
11:56 It's very central.
11:59 We are an hour and a half to two hours from
12:01 everywhere in Florida.
12:03 And it's also called, the highlands; the county.
12:09 So it's nice and elevated.
12:12 No flooding.
12:14 No issues of that kind.
12:17 We're not in the coast, so hurricanes are not
12:23 usually an issue.
12:25 Florida, you have to watch that.
12:27 And in terms of our community, we've got a
12:31 Florida hospital close by.
12:33 We have an academy with about 250 students.
12:38 And our church is about 960 members, we have three pastors.
12:45 But the main thing is we've got lovely wonderful
12:50 warm friendly people that will be delighted to have you.
12:57 So if you are thinking about this, or if you want go
13:04 get in touch with me about anything that I have or will
13:08 talk about in my presentations, there is a website
13:13 that you can visit us.
13:15 It's called, discoverjesus.org.
13:20 Now you can remember that.
13:21 discoverjesus.org
13:26 I don't know how we got that, but it's wonderful, isn't it.
13:30 discoverjesus.org
13:33 We have every message of mine, Sabbath, is web streamed.
13:37 You can get it live there.
13:39 We have some of the old messages that are there.
13:44 And I'll tell you, I'm putting together, by the grace of God,
13:49 my first book in English.
13:54 I've been able by the grace of God; God have given me 11 books.
14:01 The Pacific Press has published, I think, six or seven of them.
14:05 But this is my first attempt in the language of Shakespeare.
14:12 Which I sometimes butcher.
14:15 So this book will be ready soon, maybe in a month or so.
14:21 But if you want to get in touch with me about anything at all,
14:25 it's got all the information, my personal information there,
14:28 how you can reach me and so forth; my email and the like.
14:32 So what is it?
14:34 discoverjesus.org
14:39 And before I pray, I also want to touch on something
14:42 related to last night.
14:44 We talked about forgiveness.
14:47 And in the afterglow we had a very good question.
14:51 Someone asked, "What is the best way to forgive somebody?"
14:57 The short answer to that is, the best way to forgive someone
15:03 is to ask for forgiveness yourself.
15:09 Now, there's something that sometimes doesn't sound right
15:16 about that, but on a practical matter it is the easiest way
15:20 to do it because of the other approach of saying,
15:26 "You know, you're wrong, You hurt me.
15:31 But I'm going to be magnanimous of spirit,
15:35 and I'm going to forgive you."
15:38 Well try it, see how it goes.
15:41 But I don't think that works as well as if you say,
15:46 "You know, I didn't mean to wrong you, but it's clear
15:51 that I did, and I want to beg for your forgiveness."
15:56 That's the best approach.
16:00 And if you say, "Well, but I'm clearly
16:04 the innocent party here."
16:10 You know, I can tell you as someone who's engaged in
16:13 counseling a little bit, sometimes guilt is in the
16:17 eyes of the beholder.
16:18 And there are degrees of guilt.
16:20 But at any rate, who was the most innocent of all people
16:30 that have ever walked on the face of the planet earth?
16:35 Who was he?
16:36 His name was Jesus.
16:38 And what did He do?
16:40 He took the guilt. Right?
16:44 He assumed the guilt, the condemnation.
16:47 He owned it.
16:49 He owned up to it even though it wasn't His.
16:53 "He who knew no sin became sin for us
16:58 that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,"
17:02 2 Corinthians 5:20.
17:04 So when you enter into the spirit,
17:13 the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the cross of Christ,
17:20 you are able to extend forgiveness to people.
17:23 Even if you know for a fact that you are the innocent person.
17:27 I said in most cases because I think there are some exceptions.
17:34 I believe that if you are the victim of rape, or incest,
17:40 or maybe child molestation, something like that,
17:43 I don't believe it is appropriate to say,
17:46 "You know, I was wrong.
17:49 Forgive me." You know.
17:51 In those cases, I think it would be appropriate
17:57 to say something like this...
17:58 And I would put it in writing and send it to the person.
18:02 I would say, "You know, what you did cost me
18:08 a lot of harm; physical, emotional,
18:13 spiritual, and mental.
18:18 But Jesus has healed me.
18:22 And in the name of Christ, and in the spirit of Christ,
18:27 I can forgive you."
18:29 And leave it at that and send that letter.
18:32 And see if a weight equivalent to a ton of bricks is not lifted
18:40 from your shoulders and your heart.
18:43 And you'll have peace.
18:47 And that person will no longer have any power over you,
18:50 any control over you, because you will no longer be linked
18:54 emotionally to that person.
18:56 You have released that toxin out of your system.
19:00 So I wanted to touch that before we get started here.
19:05 But I'm ready for the message tonight.
19:09 The title is, Remembered.
19:12 And I need the help of God.
19:15 If you don't mind, I'm going to pray.
19:18 Heavenly Father, may the meditation of Your servant's
19:23 heart and the words of his mouth be acceptable
19:28 unto You and of help to somebody.
19:32 And we'll give You the honor and the glory and the praise.
19:37 And we'll do it in Jesus' name, amen and amen.
19:44 Some time ago, I read a fascinating article about
19:48 Japan's kodokushi.
19:51 And I know I'm not saying that right.
19:53 But kodokushi.
19:56 It's the name that they give to people who,
19:59 having lived their lives in perfect anonymity,
20:03 also died alone.
20:07 No one to celebrate their presence
20:10 or lament their absence.
20:12 No record of them anywhere.
20:16 They came and they went without a trace.
20:20 Vanished, sayonara.
20:24 Estimates put Japan's kodokushi at over 1000.
20:32 I suspect that Japan is not the only country with kodokushi;
20:39 people who have fallen through the cracks
20:42 of societies care grid.
20:47 The list of the forsaken and forgotten is larger
20:51 and closer to home than we care to admit.
20:55 It is as sad as it is unnecessary.
21:01 Let me ask you this.
21:03 Does God have kodokushi?
21:08 The man dying on the cross next to Christ
21:11 thought he was one of them, to be sure.
21:14 He even had biblical proof to support it.
21:19 Didn't the Bible say that anyone dying on a cross
21:22 was "accursed of God?"
21:26 Or another translation says, "the cursed of God."
21:30 That meant, forsaken, forgotten forever
21:34 by men and by God Himself.
21:39 When Jesus was crucified on His cross, He was
21:43 put between two thieves.
21:47 One ridiculed Him and rejected Him to the bitter end.
21:54 He could have been forgiven.
21:57 He was so close, and yet so far.
22:01 Don't do that today, my friend.
22:03 You're close.
22:05 The kingdom of heaven is here.
22:07 Jesus is right at the hand. And He's here.
22:11 And you're watching for a reason.
22:14 Don't do like this man.
22:16 He decided to ridicule and engage in jest
22:24 to the bitter end.
22:26 He died in a hopeless state.
22:30 The other thief at first joined in
22:34 the ridicule and the reviling so that they took turns
22:39 at making Jesus feel bad.
22:44 But he began watching and listening.
22:49 You say, "Well, I'm too emotionally drained.
22:51 There's nothing I can do, Pastor Frank.
22:53 What can I do?"
22:54 Just watch.
22:56 Just listen.
22:58 That's why 3ABN and things like this are so powerful.
23:03 Because all people have to do is watch and listen
23:07 and behold the Lamb of God that takes away
23:11 the sin of the world.
23:15 That prayer of Jesus that we considered last night
23:21 had touched this man's heart.
23:25 He was amazed to hear Jesus pray for those who murdered Him.
23:30 Who can do that?
23:32 He had never imagined that anyone could do such a thing.
23:38 So he was astonished to hear the words,
23:41 "Father, forgive them.
23:43 For they know not what they do."
23:48 That motivated this thief to begin thinking.
23:52 And new ideas came to him, like this;
23:56 "This man being crucified with us is somebody really special.
24:04 The kind of love He shows is totally out of this world.
24:10 He is different than any man I have ever heard of.
24:14 Could it be that the stories I've heard about Him are true?
24:21 Could He be the long awaited Messiah?"
24:26 The crucified thief heard the priests and the rabbis
24:31 laughing at Jesus when they said, "If You're the Son of God,
24:36 come down from the cross.
24:38 He saved others, Himself He cannot save.
24:44 He trusted in God.
24:46 He said that He was the Son of God.
24:49 Let God deliver Him now if that's true."
24:54 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him
24:57 reviled Him with the same thing.
25:00 You find this in Matthew 27 verses 40 through 44.
25:08 You know, there's a French writer.
25:11 I forget the name now.
25:13 But he said that the worse thing you can do to a man
25:18 is ridicule him.
25:21 Yeah.
25:23 A man that falls out of respect of people,
25:29 when you become the object of derision
25:34 and of jest, it is the worst thing that can
25:41 ever be done to a person.
25:45 People can withstand everything but that.
25:50 The thief of our story listened intently to this ridicule.
25:57 He watched how Jesus took it all in stride,
26:00 in silence, in perfect peace, with the nobility of a king.
26:08 There was something inexpressibly noble
26:12 about it all.
26:14 Jesus, in this hour of His deepest humiliation...
26:17 Satan had hoped, you see, that by disgracing Him so terribly
26:21 on a cross that no one forever after could believe in Him.
26:28 How could you trust a Messiah who ended up in such a
26:32 hopelessly condemned situation?
26:38 But do you know what the believing thief did?
26:41 He walked right in by faith past all of Satan's road blocks
26:46 to keep him out.
26:48 It's what you need to do.
26:50 There is a power in the cross.
26:53 There's a power in Jesus dying for you.
26:56 We need to meditate, we need to behold it,
26:58 we need to see it.
26:59 And if you do, your heart will be pulled, it will be tugged.
27:05 You don't have to do anything.
27:07 It will draw you.
27:09 It will draw you all the way in to the kingdom of God.
27:16 Finally, bursting with joy, crucified though he was,
27:22 he decided, "This man is the Messiah.
27:27 He is what the Samaritans said of Him.
27:30 He is the Savior of the world.
27:34 While even His enemies are confessing the truth,
27:37 though they don't believe it, He is the Son of God."
27:44 From his lips, the dying man sends up the prayer
27:49 of his believing heart.
27:52 It's found in Luke chapter 23 verse 42.
27:58 He says, "Lord, remember me when You come
28:05 into Your kingdom."
28:10 There is no one...
28:12 Hear me now, dear one, you're watching.
28:15 There is no one who prays that prayer
28:21 that Jesus will not hear him,
28:24 that Jesus will not turn His full attention to.
28:31 And the dying man gets this better than the jackpot answer
28:37 from the lips of Jesus Himself.
28:39 It's found in the next verse, verse 43.
28:43 "Assuredly I say to you today, you will be with Me
28:50 in paradise."
28:52 Wow.
28:55 This is the second of the seven words of hope
28:58 that Jesus uttered in His last hour.
29:01 We're studying them this week.
29:05 Can you imagine the load that rose from this
29:10 dying man's heart?
29:13 It's as if Jesus signed a check then and there
29:16 giving him a place in the first resurrection
29:19 and eternal life in His kingdom.
29:23 One word from Jesus can heal your heart.
29:28 Whatever problem ails you, whatever situation
29:32 you find yourself in, all you need is a word from Jesus.
29:38 And it's always an encouraging word.
29:42 It's always a word of spirit and of life.
29:50 This man didn't get just a little life,
29:53 he got eternal life.
29:56 Right then and there.
29:59 Right where you are, if you listen to this,
30:02 He's saying it to you too.
30:05 If you say it with a conviction and with a believing heart,
30:12 you will hear the same response.
30:17 And I'll tell you what.
30:19 When you and I get to that place, the peace that
30:24 the thief had will be worth more than all the gold
30:29 you could gain in an entire lifetime.
30:33 Nothing will be more precious to you than that assurance.
30:39 "Assuredly I say to you, thou shall be with Me
30:45 in paradise."
30:47 Do you say amen to that?
30:49 Oh my.
30:52 Now the believing thief can spend his last hours
30:56 in an experience that the Bible calls, repentance.
31:02 The Bible says Christ came to give repentance to Israel.
31:07 Paul says that the agape of God leads us to repentance.
31:13 This man repented.
31:15 Don't think that he didn't.
31:17 He repented.
31:19 And he started thinking, and he started remembering his life.
31:26 And to his surprise, he learns that God has always loved Him
31:31 ever since he was a baby.
31:34 Really before that.
31:36 Now he's actually praising God for the terrific honor
31:40 of sharing crucifixion with the Son of God.
31:46 He could say before Paul could, "I am crucified
31:49 together with Christ.
31:52 And I liveth no longer, but Christ liveth in me."
31:58 You can say that too, you know.
32:00 We'll see how in a minute.
32:03 Not only does the Father treat him as though he had
32:05 never sinned, but he sees that all through his past life
32:10 God has always been treating him with that same grace
32:14 in spite of his sins.
32:16 Do you know what his only regret is?
32:20 He wishes that he had known this good news decades before.
32:28 Now the words of Jesus have lifted from his soul
32:33 that awful sense of being cursed by God
32:36 for hanging on a cross.
32:38 You see, backward from what the world believes,
32:42 the best place for any person is to be crucified together
32:45 with the Son of God.
32:49 Let us note that when Jesus makes this all important
32:51 promise to this sinner, He emphasizes to him
32:56 that it is today, Jesus says, "Today, I'm saving your soul.
33:02 Today when I seem to be an utter failure,
33:05 today when the world despises Me,
33:09 today when even My Father appears to have forsaken Me,
33:13 today when My hands and your hands are nailed to wooden beams
33:19 and we can't shake hands on the promise,
33:23 today I give you the assurance of eternal salvation
33:27 with Me in paradise."
33:31 Now we need to understand something here
33:34 a little bit more clearly.
33:37 The dying thief had no way to enter paradise that day.
33:41 Because we know that Jesus Himself did not enter
33:47 paradise that day, that Friday.
33:51 You know how we know that?
33:53 Because when He rose from the dead
33:55 on the first day of the week, Sunday, He told Mary...
34:01 Mary was the first one to see Him.
34:03 He said to her, this is in John 20 verse 17,
34:08 "Do not cling to Me, Mary.
34:10 For I have not yet ascended to My Father."
34:15 That's clear, right?
34:17 That's clear as water.
34:19 Friday Jesus didn't go up.
34:22 He went up, well, Sunday.
34:26 Sunday He today Mary, "I haven't gone up yet.
34:30 I haven't ascended yet."
34:32 He had rested in the tomb all of that time.
34:36 So here's a question, if neither the repentant thief nor Jesus
34:41 ascended to paradise on Friday, how then are we to understand
34:46 the words in our English Bible, and really Spanish Bible too,
34:49 that says, "I say to you," comma "today you will be with Me
34:56 in paradise."
34:59 You know, the answer to that question is more simple
35:02 than you imagine.
35:06 Punctuation is an invention, a modern invention,
35:11 that was not around in the days of the New Testament writers.
35:16 They didn't put a comma anywhere.
35:19 And so the original Greek, all the words run all together.
35:25 You see?
35:27 So it is up to us to put the comma where it's suppose to go.
35:36 And we need to put it where it makes sense,
35:39 it makes sense with the narrative.
35:42 So we find that if we instead of putting the comma after, "you,"
35:52 "I say to you," comma "today you will be with me in paradise,"
35:56 if we put the comma after, "today,"
36:00 "I say to you today," comma "you will be with me in paradise,"
36:06 it makes perfect sense.
36:07 Not only does it make perfect sense with the narrative
36:10 and what happened there, but it makes perfect sense
36:13 also with everything that the Bible has to say
36:17 about death, dying, resurrection, and so forth.
36:22 The Bible truth about what happens when
36:24 people die is comforting.
36:27 It's encouraging.
36:29 When Jesus' friend Lazarus died, He told His disciples,
36:34 "Our friend Lazarus sleeps.
36:35 But I go that I may wake Him up."
36:39 The disciples assumed that his fever had gotten better.
36:43 You know, he was just taking a nap.
36:46 A siesta, like we say.
36:48 And Jesus said, "No, no, no. Lazarus is dead."
36:54 You know Paul tells us in that wonderful chapter in
36:57 Thessalonians chapter 4...
36:59 I'm not going to read it all, but you can look it up.
37:01 He says that God's people sleep until Jesus returns
37:05 when He will resurrect them, never to die.
37:08 And Paul adds at the end, he says that this blessed truth
37:12 is a comfort to know and to believe.
37:16 The prophet Daniel, in chapter 12 of the book
37:20 that bears his name, verses 2 and 3,
37:24 he says, "Many of them that sleep in the dust
37:27 of the earth shall awake...
37:29 And they that be wise shall shine in the brightness
37:34 of the firmament."
37:36 So according to the truth of the Bible, the dead
37:39 are not suffering now in either hell or purgatory.
37:43 They are asleep.
37:46 They do not go to heaven when they die, you know.
37:52 And thank God for that, because they would be watching all the
37:55 mess down here.
37:58 Oh, you can't have heaven if you're watching this
38:02 in your heaven channel and you're seeing all of the
38:08 bad things happening here.
38:09 How could heaven be heaven?
38:13 No, the Savior tells us what's going to happen.
38:16 Jesus Himself said in John chapter 5 verses 29 and 30...
38:21 It's clear, people.
38:23 He said, "The hour is coming.."
38:24 The hour is coming.
38:27 It isn't here yet. The hours is coming.
38:30 "...in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice,
38:36 and come forth.
38:38 Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life.
38:41 And those who have done evil,
38:43 to the resurrection of condemnation."
38:49 And my friend, today, today, today, right now,
38:54 you can choose in which resurrection you want to be in.
39:02 Let me suggest the first one.
39:07 That's the good one.
39:09 You have to do what the repentant thief did.
39:17 Behold your Savior.
39:20 Look at Him.
39:21 He will melt your heart if you do.
39:24 He will draw you.
39:26 He will forgive you.
39:28 He will change you.
39:30 And one day He'll take you to heaven.
39:36 You need to listen to that.
39:39 Listen to the words.
39:42 You need to hear these words.
39:44 These words are not just for that man.
39:46 They are for every man.
39:49 Because Jesus is the Savior of the world.
39:52 "He is the light which enlighteneth every man
39:56 that cometh into the world," John 1:9.
39:59 God was in Christ reconciling the world,
40:03 not imputing onto men their trespasses.
40:07 2 Corinthians 5:19
40:09 This is for you, buddy.
40:11 This is for you.
40:12 If you're in the world, if you're part of this here,
40:16 this is for you.
40:17 And these words are words that Jesus is saying
40:21 to you right now.
40:23 "You shall be with Me in paradise."
40:29 Oh, isn't that good news?
40:34 Do you know that Jesus always comes through with His promises?
40:38 His promises are always true.
40:41 Do you know that He can do what He says?
40:44 If He says He can take you to heaven,
40:46 He can take you to heaven.
40:48 You need to trust Him.
40:50 You need to let Him do it.
40:52 Let Him do it.
40:58 You know, I decided tonight, the Lord put in my heart
41:02 to tell you my personal testimony.
41:06 Is that okay?
41:08 I don't know that I have ever in all my years
41:14 told it in English on television.
41:20 So this is a first, Jim.
41:24 You know, I wondered as a young man
41:31 if I was one of those kodokushi.
41:33 Now I didn't know the word and I didn't know anything about
41:37 Japan at that time.
41:39 But does God really care for me?
41:42 Does he remember me?
41:45 And frankly, I had come to the point, and I'll explain it
41:48 to you, where I almost knew for a certainty that He didn't.
41:57 That's the way I felt.
42:00 It wasn't true, but that's the way I felt.
42:04 The reason was, I had prayed to God for the release
42:10 of my father from political prison in Cuba for 13 years
42:18 from the time I was four when it happened.
42:21 And I prayed every night.
42:23 Can you imagine a little boy getting down on his knees
42:26 and begging the Lord and crying, sometimes hours into the night,
42:32 for 13 years.
42:39 Ah, there was a moment I stopped praying.
42:43 There was a time when I said, "No, He doesn't care
42:46 for Frank Gonzalez."
42:49 And I started drifting away from God.
42:53 And it wasn't just a drift.
42:56 It was more than that, unfortunately.
43:01 I began to harbor bitterness against God.
43:06 Oh, it pains me to say it now.
43:09 Ah, but I have to be honest with you.
43:12 I began to have hatred in my heart for God.
43:18 I can hardly say it now.
43:20 Oh God, thank You for forgiving me.
43:23 But that was the feeling that was in my heart.
43:27 Maybe there's somebody today that has gone through something,
43:30 and maybe that's what you are feeling.
43:33 And because you have that feeling and that sensation,
43:37 there is a sense in you that says, you know,
43:40 "God cannot possibly want anything to do with me.
43:43 Because in the depth of my heart..."
43:46 You know, Martin Luther felt that way at some point.
43:49 "...in the depth of my heart I really, really hate God.
43:53 How can He love me if I hate Him?"
44:01 The situation came to a crisis when I found myself
44:07 in a street of Orlando, Florida surrounded
44:12 by a bunch of young men, misguided young men.
44:18 Young men that were filled with the attitude of the times.
44:25 They weren't bad men, you know.
44:30 They weren't especially wicked, or anything like that.
44:33 In fact, after I tell you the story, I became friends with
44:37 most of them afterwards.
44:40 But in that moment they weren't my friends.
44:44 And they had sticks in their hands, and chains.
44:48 And there were so many of them.
44:50 I didn't stop to count, to put it that way.
44:54 But there were cars and motorcycles and bicycles.
44:59 And there I was surrounded by them.
45:03 They did a circle, they encircled me.
45:08 But they were not holding hands and singing,
45:11 "We shall overcome."
45:12 You know, they weren't doing that.
45:15 They had something else in mind.
45:17 They had something different in mind.
45:19 You see, my uncle...
45:23 We told him not to do it.
45:24 My uncle, the pediatrician, he moved into sort of a little more
45:29 upper middle class neighborhood, and they had never seen
45:33 people like us, you know.
45:35 And it seemed like we were almost like from another
45:39 planet the way they reacted.
45:41 But it was the times, you know.
45:43 Aren't you happy that's kind of behind us, in a way?
45:48 You know, at least for the most part.
45:50 That we have changed so much.
45:53 Aren't you happy for that?
45:55 I mean, I am.
45:56 But there I was surrounded by these people.
46:01 Now I've got to tell you,
46:06 as a boy in Cuba I had taken boxing and judo.
46:14 How that came to be was because my uncles were always
46:19 concerned about me because my mother, you know,
46:21 she was very refined, and she loved classical music,
46:25 and she loved opera, and she loved the ballet.
46:30 Oh I hate to say it, but I took ballet classes as a boy.
46:37 But thankfully, Jim, my uncle would rescue me from ballet
46:42 and take me from ballet to boxing and to judo.
46:46 And my mother would say, "What in the world?"
46:50 Because I'd come back with a black eye, and she'd say,
46:53 "How did you get a black eye in ballet?"
46:58 I had to come up with some cockamamie story, you know.
47:02 "Well, you know, a kick. Somebody kicked me.
47:05 It was an accident mom, you know.
47:06 Somebody kicked me in the eye."
47:12 But my uncles were, you know, they were worried about me.
47:16 They were worried about this mama's boy.
47:19 So anyway, I knew how to defend myself.
47:25 But when you know how to defend yourself,
47:26 you also know when you are over matched.
47:30 And I was over matched.
47:36 And there was a problem, because I knew
47:42 that only One could help me.
47:46 "One," with a capital "O." God.
47:51 But He and I were not on speaking terms.
47:55 It had been a long time.
47:57 I talked to Him for a long time, but He didn't seem to talk back.
48:01 And so I stopped talking.
48:05 And now, what was I going to do?
48:10 You know, there was a first elder of the Adventist
48:15 Spanish church in Orlando that would come to give Bible studies
48:18 to my uncle, the pediatrician, and his children.
48:24 And I was there to greet him every Sabbath afternoon
48:30 to take delight, sadistic delight,
48:34 in telling the man, "No."
48:38 "Oh, you represent God? Oh yeah, you do?
48:41 Okay, well, you know.
48:44 No.
48:46 No."
48:47 And I was there punctually to receive that man
48:52 and to have the pleasure of telling him no.
48:59 But you know what?
49:00 He always invited me with the same smile
49:04 and the same kindness.
49:06 Never gave up, Never ever gave up.
49:09 Now they say curiosity killed the cat.
49:13 Have you heard that?
49:14 I don't know what that means, but you know,
49:16 it's a nice expression.
49:18 And so, I didn't go in to the room where they were
49:25 having the Bible study, but I would sit in the sofa chair
49:29 that was right next to it.
49:31 Because I wanted to hear.
49:33 I wanted hear what this man was telling my uncle
49:36 and my cousins.
49:40 And so I would listen.
49:42 I was really taking the Bible studies.
49:45 I was. I was just not in the room.
49:47 But I was listening to everything.
49:50 And judging by what happened at the end,
49:52 I probably was listening more intently
49:54 than some of my cousins.
49:57 And I remember the day before this incident.
50:03 This happened, this circle of, situation, this scary situation
50:10 happened on a Sunday.
50:12 So the last thing I had heard from this gentleman...
50:17 And I want to give him credit, by the way.
50:19 I had the pleasure of really dedicating my
50:26 whole ministry to him, in a sense.
50:30 You know, they use to tell him, "Why don't you
50:32 move to another family?"
50:33 Because we were hard, we were difficult.
50:35 We didn't respond right away.
50:38 And he would come and it took years.
50:42 And he was a busy man.
50:44 He would go to the bakery, he worked in a bakery.
50:47 And then after the bakery, he went to a laundry.
50:49 And he worked hours and hours to put his three daughters
50:55 through Adventist education.
50:58 You know how hard that is.
50:59 And they would tell him, "Why don't you just move on?
51:04 Move on.
51:05 Those people are too... They're not..."
51:09 So...
51:11 But he didn't.
51:13 He didn't.
51:14 And every time that I made a call and somebody came forward,
51:20 all these thousands and thousands and thousands
51:23 and thousands of people that the Lord used me to bring to Him,
51:29 every time, Jim, one of those people came up,
51:33 I remembered this man.
51:35 And thank God for him.
51:42 If you're working with somebody that is being difficult,
51:45 keep at it, keep at it.
51:47 Don't give up.
51:49 Don't give up with your children.
51:51 Don't give up with your grandchildren.
51:53 Now probably the best thing, frankly, that you can do
51:59 for some family member is to pray for them, to love them.
52:02 Just love them.
52:04 Love them.
52:06 Because sometimes the more you try to...
52:10 ...they're not, they just...
52:11 It's just noise to them.
52:14 It irritates them.
52:16 But be nice to them.
52:18 This man was always nice to me.
52:20 He was always friendly.
52:23 Well anyway, there I was.
52:26 My mother...
52:29 If you remember the Sound of Music,
52:33 that woman, Maria; my mother, it reminded me of my mother.
52:40 Just like her.
52:41 My mother studied in a convent.
52:44 My mother had the same story.
52:46 If it hadn't been for my father, she would have been a nun.
52:54 And it was an interesting thing because, you know,
52:57 my mother's side of the family, Jim, my grandfather
53:01 was like one of these cattle barons, you know.
53:04 Bu my father was a city boy.
53:07 You know, business man.
53:09 But didn't want anything to do with cows, horses, or anything.
53:13 You couldn't get him on a ranch.
53:16 So it was striking; and my father was an agnostic,
53:20 and my mother was pious, devout, and meek.
53:24 You know, she had God oozing from every pore.
53:28 And so the difference.
53:32 The priest did not want to marry my mother to my father.
53:37 Trust me.
53:39 It took a significant donation of money
53:43 to make that happen.
53:45 Oh, you could see it in the cathedral.
53:46 The cathedral, the renovations in the cathedral,
53:49 because my father had to do something.
53:53 Anyway, there I was in the middle of that street.
53:58 And this man had talked about, the day before, angels.
54:05 He said, "You know, angels are ministering servants
54:09 of the Most High.
54:10 God sends them to defend us and protect us."
54:15 I was thinking of that, "I wonder."
54:18 He said, "You know, it's likely that each of us has
54:21 a guardian angel looking out for us."
54:24 I said, "Whoa, I wonder if all of that was true."
54:29 It had all of a sudden become a matter of
54:31 life and death for me.
54:33 And my mother had said to me, "You know, Frankus..."
54:37 She was concerned.
54:39 And in her little knowledge of the Bible that she had...
54:42 So she had other ideas.
54:44 ...she said, "You know, it's like when we go to the
54:45 barber shop, Frankus.
54:48 That's why God hasn't answered your prayer.
54:51 Because it takes a while.
54:53 You know, you take your number and you wait.
54:56 Well, imagine all the people making petitions to God.
55:01 You've got to take your number.
55:02 You've got to wait, dear. Just wait, be patient."
55:04 Well I had no time now, I had no time.
55:07 I had seconds here.
55:08 You know, I was there.
55:10 And I had a prayer.
55:12 It was the most irreverent prayer ever prayed.
55:17 I said to God, "I don't know where my number is,
55:24 but if You have and ever are going to do something
55:27 with Frank Gonzalez, let me suggest to You
55:32 that this is a good time to show it.
55:36 Because You may not get another chance.
55:40 But do whatever You please."
55:43 That was my prayer.
55:49 If God only answered good prayers,
55:52 that prayer would not have been answered.
55:56 And so I got ready, I got ready.
56:00 And I threw a few punches.
56:02 And I hit a few of them.
56:04 But I started noticing that even those that I did not hit
56:09 were being thrown back.
56:13 They were being repelled.
56:14 They launched at me, and it was as if there was a shield.
56:17 They were bouncing from this thing and going back.
56:21 It wouldn't hurt them.
56:22 They would shake the dust and come right back and,
56:24 boom, they were out.
56:25 Shot like a canon.
56:27 And pretty soon, they got on their cars and they got on their
56:32 bicycles and they got on their motorcycles and left me there
56:38 thinking to myself, "What in the world happened here?
56:43 What in the heavens happened here?"
56:46 And when the man came the next Sabbath, and he said,
56:50 "Do you want to join us?"
56:51 I said, "I'm going to have to join you.
56:53 Because you have to explain something to me."
56:56 And he said, "Frank, God has a plan for your life."
56:59 You see, God has a plan for your life, my friend.
57:02 He cares for you.
57:04 He didn't care for me because I'm special.
57:07 He cared for me because He is special.
57:11 His love is special.
57:14 And if you open your heart today, I don't know what
57:16 your condition is and where your heart is,
57:20 turn to God and you will hear Him say,
57:25 "You shall be with Me in paradise."
57:29 God bless you.


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Revised 2014-12-17