Free Indeed

Plainfield Correctional Facility - Indiana

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C.A. Murray (Host), Lemuel Vega (Host), Shelly Quinn (Host), J.D. Quinn (Host), Brian Collier, Steven Todd, Sylvester Yarbough, William Bumphus, Steve Bewley

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Series Code: FIN

Program Code: FIN000010


00:01 Hi, I'm C.A. Murray. And this is Free Indeed.
00:05 A different kind of ministry.
00:07 The men and women that
00:08 you'll meet in this particular program
00:10 have found Jesus in very trying circumstances.
00:15 They're gonna tell you their story.
00:16 Their own personal journey of their walk of faith.
00:20 We haven't changed their music
00:21 and we haven't changed their words
00:23 because it's their personal testimony.
00:26 It's their walk of faith with Jesus Christ.
00:29 So you're gonna meet some people,
00:30 some men and women, who've made
00:31 some mistakes in their lives,
00:33 but they're trying to change that
00:35 through the power of Jesus Christ.
00:37 You'll meet men and women who have found
00:40 as we have found that freedom is not really--
00:43 doesn't have much to do with way you are.
00:46 It is more what you are.
00:48 You'll find as they have found,
00:50 that in Jesus you can indeed be free indeed.
01:10 We're calling today's program
01:12 "Amazing Grace and Redemption."
01:14 In fact, that's the first song
01:15 you'll hear the prisoner sing.
01:17 Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
01:19 that saved a wretch like me.
01:21 I once was lost, but now am found.
01:24 Was blind, but now, I see.
01:27 Those words written centuries ago by
01:29 a slave-ship captain have freed so many individuals
01:32 over the eons of time.
01:34 They've become a rallying cry for those
01:36 who believe in the second chance, given to us by God.
01:40 You're gonna meet Brian today and Steven,
01:43 Sylvester, Steve, and a wonderful sermon
01:47 by William Bumphus, a former offender,
01:50 who is now free in his heart and in his life
01:54 and is trying to free his fellow offenders,
01:57 from the life of crime and a life of prison.
02:00 You're gonna hear how he was trapped
02:02 and how God has set him free.
02:04 Then we're gonna hear message from Shelley Quinn
02:06 and an appeal by J. D. Quinn all in an effort
02:10 to say to those who are trapped,
02:12 you can be free in Christ Jesus.
02:18 Amazing Grace. I think about Amazing Grace,
02:22 I think about Jesus Christ.
02:24 I wonder how if it was for God to send His only Son.
02:28 God, and He died for our sins.
02:30 And we'll talk about amazing.
02:32 Let's just think about how amazing God was in--
02:34 in showing His love for us to Jesus Christ.
02:40 Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
02:52 That saved a wretch like me
03:04 I once was lost but now am found
03:16 Was blind, but now I see
03:28 When--when I heard about Free Indeed
03:30 coming to the facility, I--I had no idea what it was.
03:33 I knew that Mr. Bagger was a part of it
03:35 and I knew that 3ABN was a part of it,
03:39 which I read a little bit about them.
03:42 It was--it was an exciting time.
03:44 A lot of people were really looking forward to it.
03:48 They were--they were looking for--
03:50 for more blessings from this--from this chapel.
03:53 How precious did that grace appear
04:06 The hour I first believed
04:10 My chains are gone I've been set free
04:16 It was--it was-- it was an amazing
04:18 outpouring of unconditional giving.
04:22 I--I--I was--I was blessed here at the facility
04:26 to be able to experience prison ministry
04:30 and I think that's what really set me on my walk.
04:33 My Savior has ransomed me
04:39 And like a flood, His mercy rains
04:50 Unending love, Amazing grace
05:02 I was able to join the praise team a little over a year ago
05:05 and--and made such an impact in my personal walk with God,
05:10 to be able to use the gift that
05:12 He gave me, to encourage and to lead others to worship.
05:19 That's what I feel my job is as a music minister.
05:23 If I spent an hour I'll be a music minister
05:25 or maybe worship person and to--
05:28 to be up here on this platform
05:31 and then watch the congregation
05:33 worshipping God in this place,
05:36 where there is just a lot of people think
05:40 there is not much reason to worship anything,
05:43 is really uplifting.
05:48 Sylvester Yarbrough, would you please
05:50 come up here, Sylvester?
05:51 This is your first time-- this is your--
05:54 the first time he was imprisoned
05:55 was for robbery and attempted murder.
05:56 Yes sir. Okay.
05:57 This is your second time down.
05:59 So the first time you didn't like--
06:01 it didn't like go real good.
06:02 So now you got a ten to five.
06:04 But you have a message for the believer
06:05 and the non-believer.
06:07 Would you please share that with us what that is?
06:09 Yes, sir. I first give it out to God,
06:11 who's the leader and inherit my life.
06:14 You know, once I heard a song that says,
06:15 "I don't believe He brings me this far to leave me."
06:18 I believe that God, He closes one door,
06:20 and He opens another.
06:22 About two and a half years ago,
06:24 I was lost in sin and I was catch in a case,
06:27 drug dealing case.
06:28 They put me in Marin County,
06:30 and Marin County is a rough place,
06:32 very rough jail, one of the roughest jails we got.
06:35 We got two of them.
06:36 But anyway, God was with me
06:38 and He end up putting me in a one of the--
06:40 a nicer dorm in the jail.
06:43 In this dorm, they were having prayer circles every night.
06:47 First I didn't want to go,
06:48 but I had a friend who coerced me into going.
06:51 I was going because my friend wanted me to go.
06:53 But one night, I decided to go because I wanted to go.
06:56 You know, I mean, now this particular night that
06:58 I wanted to go, God stepped and He blessed me.
07:01 Stepped into my heart. My hands raised up.
07:03 I started crying. I gave it over to God.
07:05 He started blessing me.
07:07 I'm proud to tell you guys to this day
07:08 I'm still doing a prayer circle over my dorm.
07:11 I'm running a prayer circle every night.
07:12 God is still working miracles in me.
07:14 You know, I mean, He's a good God. You know, I mean.
07:17 When God stepped into my life, I started working miracles.
07:20 I started doing things, you know, what I mean, that
07:21 I never thought I would do.
07:22 I made up with my baby mama.
07:24 You know, so many of us have problems with our baby mama.
07:27 I wrote her a letter, and I told,
07:28 "Look, I'm sorry for what I've done.
07:29 You know, what I mean. Please, forgive me.
07:31 She started writing me back.
07:32 Now we have a beautiful relationship.
07:34 God is a good God all the time,
07:35 you know, what I mean. I'm here to caress.
07:37 I'm talking to the believer and a non-believer.
07:39 Sylvester, what would you share with the person
07:42 suffering with drug addiction or alcoholism
07:44 in the world today, that maybe doesn't believe in God.
07:46 Can you share a moment of hope with them in closing? Yes, sir.
07:51 To those particular people, I like to say,
07:52 God died on cross especially for you.
07:55 You know, I mean. That's what He came.
07:56 He came to serve not to be served, you know, I mean.
07:59 So God is a good God. He came to die.
08:01 He died on cross, just for you,
08:03 for your drug addiction.
08:04 He can do all things-- we can do all things
08:05 and Christ would strengthen us. Amen.
08:08 If a--if a person is willing to submit to the Lord,
08:13 He opens so many doors.
08:16 I never in my wildest dreams ever thought
08:18 I'd be on television to begin with.
08:21 I never thought I would be singing worship songs.
08:25 That's going to go around the world. That's just amazing.
08:29 I just still can't really,
08:31 I guess, 'cause I haven't seen it.
08:34 Other than, you know,what we do it and I haven't it.
08:36 I just haven't really. It still boggles my mind.
08:40 That I, an inmate, in Indiana, would in some small way--that
08:45 that I could in some small way make an impact
08:48 on someone in a foreign country.
08:50 It's just amazing. Just amazing.
08:54 So I first went to prison when I was 17.
08:57 They didn't send me to the juvenile facility.
08:59 They sent me to a men's facility Putnamville.
09:03 A 17 years old. Amen.
09:04 And when I got there, I found that is
09:06 where my friends were. Amen.
09:08 So you know, I didn't--I didn't learn.
09:10 And they wanted to know.
09:11 But they didn't want to learn anything.
09:12 You know, a man can only do what a man want to do.
09:14 God can't violate your will.
09:16 It's up to us, amen,
09:17 to be persuaded by the Spirit of God
09:20 and whatever persuaded by us, what we always become.
09:23 So I wanted to live a life of crime.
09:25 I don't want to do nothing else. You understand.
09:27 And so I studied with those youngsters,
09:30 and who is open to that life of crime.
09:31 And of course, I got out.
09:32 You understand, I came back at age 19,
09:35 on a broken down robbery charge
09:37 and didn't know nothing about Jesus.
09:39 Nobody in my family ever was born again.
09:41 Nobody was sane. Everybody was crooks.
09:44 And so when I came back at 19 years old,
09:46 you understand, you know,
09:47 I got hooked up with a organization,
09:49 called the Nation of Islam.
09:50 I'm talking about myself. Amen.
09:51 And so I got into that.
09:53 And that was my religion if you will.
09:54 But then I got hung up also, you understand,
09:57 first time I ever put drugs in my arm,
09:59 heroin was in Putnamville on at--at 19 years old
10:03 and they used to have a dorm-- there used to be dorms there.
10:05 Dorm 4 and they hit me on my arm with some--
10:08 heroin, you understand,
10:09 and that began 13 years of heroin addiction.
10:12 And so when I got out of there,
10:13 you understand what I'm saying,
10:14 I just, you know, got back in to that lifestyle.
10:17 Doing all my crime and everything,
10:18 you understand and not looking for
10:21 Gees or anything-- Jesus or anything like.
10:22 I guess, just trying to get all the money I can get.
10:23 You know, what I mean, straying as high as I could get.
10:26 And then I wound up, you understand,
10:28 going to the federal joint.
10:29 I went to Terre Haute Federal Penitentiary you understand.
10:32 By this time I was the youngest guy there.
10:33 I was 23 years old. It was my third time down.
10:37 And they had stated, you understand,
10:39 that any hope of me ever been anything else, was very dismal.
10:44 Anti-social behaviors what they said,
10:45 you know, and that's because
10:47 every prisoner had certain time.
10:48 I mean they had a time in a whole, in the dungeon
10:50 and they're placed so that they can hide out at, amen.
10:53 And so when I got there, you understand,
10:54 I mean, I just looked around
10:55 and I seen that all the religion
10:57 and all I had learned and all that,
10:59 still got me in penitentiary
11:00 so I made up my mind then that there was no God.
11:04 And so I say if he's a God, I'll meet him when I die.
11:07 And I say I know my problem is
11:09 and probably you've been there too.
11:10 I say my problem is I'm a doffing, I'm uneducated.
11:13 Always get a wrong girl and live in wrong neighborhood.
11:17 So I feel--so I would know only about two years.
11:19 I said now give me some education
11:20 so it'll give me a good job. Right?
11:21 That's what you say get your education.
11:23 So I said give me education so can
11:24 I give me a good job, when I get out.
11:26 And my family wanted nice square girls. Amen.
11:29 And then we go move way out,
11:30 we bowl them, people down on a corner
11:32 'cause I come back to penitentiary.
11:34 Well, I did and I got my GED. Amen.
11:37 Didn't want it, but I got it anyway.
11:39 But I lost that shield while I was in there.
11:42 I took all the weed I could get.
11:43 You know, what I mean.
11:44 Took so much acid in it that I literally tripped out.
11:48 And thought that I was gonna be discovered--be discovered
11:51 as the first black Picasso. Amen.
11:53 But anyway, you understand,
11:54 so finally, one day they let me out.
11:57 Which was a shock to me when they let me out
11:58 'cause I was locked up in block down
12:02 when they let me-- when they let me out.
12:04 And before I got home, they'll say that was already had.
12:08 And then of course out there what I say,
12:10 they're going to find me, find me a nice girl
12:12 that would put a life, we moved way up.
12:14 But the problem is not anybody else.
12:16 The problem is us. And so even that did good.
12:19 Got me a job for the first time in my life. Amen.
12:22 I worked a job nine months,
12:23 didn't shoot no dope except on the weekends, amen.
12:27 And I thought everything was going fine.
12:29 Everything was going fine you understand and then,
12:32 one day I get a knock on a door, amen.
12:34 And the guy wanted me to take him to get some dope.
12:37 And, you understand what I'm saying
12:38 I couldn't stand to see people sick.
12:39 You understand what I'm saying.
12:40 But I don't want nobody know what I was doing,
12:42 so I told him, "No, man.
12:43 I'm not taking you get no dope.
12:44 I stopped, get a black folk, you know.
12:46 But he kept on begging, you understand,
12:48 so I went on and took him to get some dope.
12:50 Well, and next thing I know to come
12:52 running out of dope man's house.
12:54 They would end in stuck up the dope man in my car.
12:57 Now well, my car, how many do of us
12:59 got to have my car now, right.
13:01 So we have a man which is a half of it.
13:02 All I got was some cocaine and some heroin.
13:05 Anyway I go down on the street to sell that
13:07 and come to fan, and they got a contract on me.
13:09 I ain't ready to deal with that.
13:11 So make a long story short, you understand,
13:13 I locked myself up in my house, me and the girl,
13:14 you understand, with all this dope.
13:16 Now you know, what happened?
13:18 Three weeks later, we had to break the apartment
13:19 ourselves, amen, 'cause I had shot all the dope.
13:22 So then I hit the street, you all understand,
13:24 and finally after two years, they catch me and my partner
13:28 back at the man's driveway
13:30 with all his merchandise in our car.
13:32 Well, I go on the road, I was on the road for four years,
13:34 amen, married this girl, you understand,
13:36 'cause a wife can't tell on her husband.
13:38 And then over to her sister's house,
13:41 we get a little argument,
13:43 'cause I'm talking about everybody
13:44 and her sister winded up shooting me.
13:46 But when she shoot me, and now-- now I can't go to the hospital,
13:49 'cause I'm on the run. Right?
13:50 But now I got this stuck on my mind.
13:52 I got to kill the girl.
13:53 I mean, you don't shoot no player in legal. Right?
13:57 And so I'm planning on that, you understand.
13:59 In the meantime they know it, so they set me up.
14:01 And I moved to my mother's house, you understand.
14:04 I stole the girl's car and I'm planning on
14:06 sticking up this bank in the morning.
14:08 And if I get away with it, I may leave town.
14:09 If I don't, you understand, then they go,
14:11 I'm just going have a shoot out,
14:12 'cause I'm not going back to penitentiary.
14:14 The girls called the police on me.
14:15 Next thing, I know police
14:16 come in there, bust the whole house.
14:18 I'm down to jail. It's over.
14:21 My partner already got two 20s out of it.
14:23 I've been on the run for four years.
14:24 So you know, I ain't going nowhere
14:25 and here I am in a state like that.
14:28 And I hear the gospel.
14:31 I'm in a jail and so a preacher comes down in here
14:33 and he gets to talking about how give your life to Jesus Christ
14:36 and everything will be all right.
14:37 Well, I wanted everything to be all right,
14:39 but I didn't believe in Jesus.
14:40 I didn't believe in the Bible.
14:41 But I wanted a prayer so I got to pray anyway.
14:44 He didn't lead us in those sentences of prayer anything.
14:46 Anyway I get to the jail.
14:47 I found out they've decided to give me 60 years.
14:50 They'll give me 20 for the theft, 10 for--I mean,
14:53 10 for a theft, 20 for the burglary,
14:56 and 30 years for being habitual criminal,
14:58 and they're going run it, wow.
15:00 It means, I may had do to 10,
15:01 then do to 20, and then do to 30.
15:04 And I'm lying up in there like that, but here's the key.
15:06 There was a Bible study going on in a sale block.
15:09 And End Brothers reached out to me, saying,
15:11 Shane that was unsay to heathen
15:14 and began to share the gospel with me
15:15 and in about a week, you understand,
15:17 I'm arguing with them, I wanted what they had.
15:20 I couldn't understand the gospel,
15:21 didn't understand the Bible, didn't understand, none of it.
15:23 But I see they had some peace in their life.
15:25 They was facing electric chair. They had capital crimes.
15:29 And he was talking about Jesus Christ
15:31 that made a difference in their life.
15:32 If I give my life to Jesus Christ,
15:33 and hear what they told me, I won't get no 60 years.
15:36 I mean that sounds good. Amen.
15:39 That's what the Bible calls good news. Amen.
15:41 And so after about a week, arguing with them,
15:43 I finally asked a guy, man how will I get to be like you?
15:46 And I thought, thought he is going
15:47 to teach me some real deep.
15:48 He said, man, all you got to do is ask
15:50 Jesus Christ to come in to your heart.
15:53 I said, okay, well, how do you know Jesus is alive?
15:55 And how do you know that the Bible is the only word to God?
15:59 Well, being good Christians, they quoted Romans 10 and 9.
16:02 They said, man, the Bible said,
16:03 that if you will confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus,
16:05 believe me, in your heart that God has raised
16:07 him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
16:09 Then that sounded good, but in the religion
16:11 that I was in, I didn't believe that God
16:12 will raise you from the dead, amen.
16:14 'Cause I, you know, I just didn't believe that.
16:16 But I knew they still had something.
16:18 So I was okay, man, break that down for me.
16:21 And he broke it down like that.
16:22 He said man, here's what that means.
16:23 That means if you ask Jesus Christ
16:25 to come in your heart and He don't come,
16:28 then it means, He's not alive and the Bible's alive.
16:31 He said but if you're serious about it,
16:32 you ask Jesus Christ come to your heart and He does come.
16:36 Then it means, Jesus is alive
16:37 and the Bible is the only word of God.
16:40 Right then, at JIC I made my mind above the fan
16:42 and I found myself is Jesus who we say He is.
16:46 And I prayed and as Jesus Christ come to my heart,
16:48 what everything that's in me and when I prayed that prayer
16:50 I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew
16:52 that I knew that Jesus is alive
16:55 and that the Bible is only word of God.
16:59 As I stayed in that word, I told my attorney man,
17:02 tell him, you know, I mean, I plead guilty,
17:05 I'm looking for a deal, 'cause I'm guilty
17:06 I'm believing God for a miracle.
17:08 He said well you need a miracle.
17:09 He said they're gonna prosecute you
17:10 to the fullest extent of the law.
17:12 We had three pre-trails, you know, what I'm saying,
17:14 go down, come back until you following the third one.
17:17 My attorney said, man, may even there is God?
17:20 He's called they said, they'll drop that 60
17:22 and give you five years.
17:24 I screamed at him, "Hurry up go get them papers,
17:26 you know, before they change their mind."
17:28 But then I remembered the girl.
17:29 You know, the girl sneezed on me, right?
17:31 She was on the second floor.
17:32 Before I got born again,
17:33 I'll try to have something done to her.
17:35 But now that I'm saying I love everybody, amen.
17:37 So I say, no, tell them, I'll take that five,
17:39 if they cut the girl loose, amen.
17:41 But if they don't cut the girl loose,
17:43 tell them, I'll still take that five.
17:44 How am I doing, I'm talking? Amen.
17:46 And they wind up giving me four years.
17:49 I went to Michigan City, rubbed my Judge
17:51 a lot after I got there.
17:53 Ten months later, you understand,
17:54 I went to court and they released me
17:56 on short probation, on the grounds they believe
17:58 that I was a born again Christian.
18:00 Now that has been 33 years ago.
18:02 I had no dope in 33 years, no alcohol in 33 years.
18:06 Met my wife, when I got outside,
18:08 been married 33 years, amen.
18:10 I traveled all over the world,
18:11 talking about Jesus and nobody pays me a dime.
18:14 I'm here to let you know today,
18:15 and encourage you that Jesus is alive
18:19 and if you want a change in your life
18:20 that's all the way going to go.
18:22 The only way He's going come is by you having
18:24 a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
18:26 And so I pray, you understand,
18:28 as they close this program that the law being spoke to you
18:31 in some way, may be in music,
18:33 you understand sub mile say it,
18:34 that make you a quality decision for Jesus Christ today.
18:37 God bless you all. Thank you.
18:43 Steven, this program is called Free Indeed.
18:46 And you're getting ready to be free indeed
18:47 'cause you fixing to go home. Yes, sir.
18:49 What would you like to share to that
18:51 alcoholic that's still suffering in society today?
18:53 Well, I would like to share our hope that,
18:57 by something I may say or something that's
19:00 happened in my life, keep you from having say 30 years,
19:03 to realize that, there's hope.
19:06 There's promise and maybe if you come out of the bottle,
19:11 come out of the streets, and you can be a ray of hope
19:13 for somebody else and somebody else's life.
19:16 Steve, is that hope for you through Jesus Christ--
19:18 Yes, sir. As your personal savior?
19:20 But Steve, I know--I know that you're fixing to go home soon
19:24 and the Lord has opportunity for each and everyone of us
19:26 starting in here and He'll transfer
19:28 that out to the free world.
19:29 God bless you and thank you very much.
19:31 Thank you.
19:35 You know, I watched you, as you filed in here.
19:38 And I'm glad I did because right now the light is
19:41 blinding me where I can hardly see your faces.
19:44 But I'll tell you something as I watched you
19:46 walk in here, you know, what I saw?
19:49 I saw somebody's brother. Many of you are my brother.
19:54 I saw somebody's husband. I saw somebody's son.
20:00 And I know I saw God's sons walking through here.
20:06 John 3:16, The Bible said, "For God so loved the world
20:12 he gave his only begotten son."
20:17 When we think of grace, Jesus Christ
20:21 is the greatest gift of grace
20:24 that God has ever given to human kind.
20:28 And He gave him why? So that none--
20:33 Whoever would believe in Him, should not perish.
20:38 He's not just talking about perishing here now.
20:41 He's talking about perishing for eternity.
20:44 But He says, whoever believes in Him should not perish.
20:48 But would have everlasting life
20:51 for God did not send His son into the world
20:54 to condemn the world, to say you're guilty.
20:58 He sent him into the world, that through Him,
21:02 we might be saved and rescued from this darkness.
21:07 It says, "He who believes in Him is not condemned."
21:13 If you believe in Jesus, society may have
21:15 condemned you for what you've--
21:18 wrong choices you made, but if you accept Jesus,
21:22 God accounts His righteousness to you.
21:25 And God does not condemn you.
21:27 He finds you innocent, because Christ
21:30 perfect record of obedience is accredited to your account.
21:34 He took his sins, our sins and put them on Jesus
21:39 at the cross and gave Jesus perfect record
21:42 of righteousness to us. Hallelujah.
21:46 The Bible says in James 4, 7 and 10.
21:50 "Submit yourself to God.
21:53 Resist the devil, and He will flee from you.
21:59 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
22:03 Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
22:04 purify your hearts, you double-minded.
22:07 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord.
22:10 And he will lift you up."
22:12 There's a scripture that says,
22:14 "God gives grace to the humble."
22:18 Maybe that's why, it's so hard for us to accept grace.
22:23 It's because it's hard for us to humble ourselves.
22:27 I want to share one of my favorite scriptures
22:29 in the short time that I have left.
22:32 It's from the Prophet Micah and is Micah 7:7 through 9.
22:36 He says, "Therefore I will look to the Lord,
22:38 I will wait for the God of my salvation,
22:41 my God will hear me.
22:43 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, when I fall,
22:47 I will arise, when I sit in darkness,
22:49 the Lord will be a light to me.
22:51 I will hear the indignation of the Lord,
22:53 because I have sinned against Him,
22:56 until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.
23:01 He will bring me forth into the light,
23:04 and I will see his righteousness."
23:07 There's one other quick scripture I want to read.
23:13 A lot of you have received that light.
23:15 Some of you will be getting out to go
23:18 and share that light or to share the light here.
23:21 I want to read to you from
23:23 Philippians 2, I begin with verse 13.
23:27 It says, "It is God who works in you
23:30 to will and to do His good pleasure."
23:32 You can't change yourself.
23:34 You've got to have God working in you.
23:38 And he says, "Do all things
23:40 without complaining and disputing."
23:42 That's a little difficult, isn't it?
23:44 But then He says, "That you may become
23:47 blameless and harmless children of God
23:50 without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse world.
23:55 You shine as lights in the world,
23:59 holding fast the word of God."
24:02 As we, you know, the moon doesn't have a light of its own.
24:07 The moon only reflects the light of the sun.
24:09 But as we turn our eyes to the sun of God, His light,
24:16 His glory would be in us and we can reflect that
24:20 and I want to challenge you today
24:23 to share the light, that God has shared in your life
24:27 and we find that light in His word.
24:31 This word is a light to our feet,
24:33 and a lamp to our path.
24:35 And I thank you so much for being here today.
24:40 One of the lessons that I missed growing up,
24:44 it says, "Draw near to God and then He will draw near to you."
24:51 The way that I understood it somewhere or the other,
24:54 God you prove yourself to me.
24:57 And once you prove yourself to me,
24:59 then I'll grab--I'll jump on the train and ride with you.
25:03 Boy, I was deceived. Don't be deceived.
25:07 Draw near to God, which takes that step of action.
25:11 And if you don't know what I'm talking about it's very simple.
25:14 Father, I just give myself to you.
25:16 If your will just let me know.
25:20 I love this particular phrase here,
25:21 and I use it all the time, every moment.
25:23 I give you permission to work in my life.
25:28 I give you permission and then--
25:31 then just step back and see what He does.
25:36 Give Him permission, I love you my brothers
25:40 and there's something special we're all brothers.
25:43 We're all broken inside someway or the other.
25:46 Our responsibility is just to merely
25:49 be there to encourage, no more no less.
25:54 And then hold on, because the Lord's gonna tell you.
25:57 He's gonna use you, then you're gonna
25:59 find yourself sobbing sometime.
26:03 They were right. You did have a plan for my life.
26:07 Thank you, Jesus, that I took that step of action
26:11 and gave you permission to work inside of me.
26:16 Some of you may know my name is Lemuel Vega.
26:18 And I work with Christmas Behind Bars Outreach Ministry,
26:21 which carries the gospel message
26:23 literally around the world, 365 days a year.
26:26 We've come to a really critical point.
26:29 We need Bibles at this point and we are asking for your help.
26:33 Do you have any idea as how we can get 700 Bibles
26:36 every month, to put into these people's hands?
26:39 We have a warehouse, it's been donated.
26:41 And we have skids of material in that warehouse.
26:45 Bibles, the skid is empty.
26:47 700 every month and we need your help.
26:49 A new Bible costs $3, 3 simple dollars.
26:53 To put a brand new Bible into these people's hands.
26:56 Is there anybody here
26:58 that would like a Bible, but don't have one?
27:08 We're trying to get more Bibles, brothers.
27:10 Little children brought in dollars.
27:13 One girl gave a $100, a young girl
27:17 that these Bibles could be purchased.
27:20 So if you don't have one,
27:21 please pray that we can get more Bibles.
27:25 You can contact us at ChristmasBehindBars.org or
27:30 Facebook.com/ ChristmasBehind Bars.
27:36 At this point, we're asking for your help
27:39 combined with God's grace I know that the word of God
27:42 in these inmates many of them,
27:44 will be in the kingdom of heaven,
27:45 because you were willing to serve in this capacity.
27:47 Thank you very much.
27:56 Put down 37 years. 37 years now. 37 Years.
28:00 And you say, you've seen
28:01 a lot of church groups through here, but what?
28:03 First time I've ever seen
28:04 anything like this, especially the testimony.
28:07 It's the first time you ever seen anything like this.
28:10 So, you know what, it's not me though, man, I'm just--
28:13 Oh, I could tell it by your testimony--
28:15 Yeah, I mean, it's a Lord working on our life
28:18 and He'll do for you, what He's done for me.
28:21 He'll do for me, what he did for Noah.
28:24 He'll do for you what He did for day and night.
28:26 So there's no limitations on God.


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Revised 2014-12-17