Participants:
Series Code: HC
Program Code: HC180011A
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00:48 Hello and welcome to the divine service -
00:51 church service - here at the 3ABN Fall Homecoming 00:54 2018. Our theme is Covenant Identity. 00:58 What an incredible blessing! 01:00 My own heart has been convicted and stirred and challenged 01:03 as I've heard the messages and read from the Word of God 01:07 and shared with our brothers and sisters. 01:09 Haven't we been having a wonderful Camp Meeting? 01:11 Amen! 01:13 What a blessing! 01:14 Yeah, it's a blessing to worship together, isn't it? 01:17 In Spirit and in truth. 01:19 You know, sometimes... I don't know how it is for you 01:21 but in my own life sometimes for a week or two 01:23 I get something that's kind of stuck in my head. 01:25 And what's been going in my head this week 01:27 is singleness of mind. 01:29 And that is being focused on Jesus Christ. 01:31 Right? The Author and Finisher of our faith. 01:34 It's easy to get distracted. 01:36 When Jill and I came home last night it was rather late 01:39 and our little cat was already in the garage. 01:42 So when the garage door opened up where do you think she went? 01:44 Outside. Well, I said: "Here kitty, kitty, kitty. " 01:47 She wasn't going to... No, she wasn't listening to me. 01:50 Her singleness of mind was outside. 01:52 So I got her little bag of treats 01:55 and I rattled them around. 01:56 She sat in the yard and just looked at me. 02:00 I said: "Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty. " 02:03 It wasn't until I opened the bag and started dumping them 02:06 on the sidewalk last night that she got singleness of mind 02:08 for her treats, and right for the treats she went. 02:12 Singleness of mind: that's what we want on the Word of God. 02:15 And what a blessing Camp Meeting is! 02:17 And what would Camp Meeting? Camp Meeting wouldn't be right 02:20 without music, right? And song service. 02:22 So Tim, we're going to sing a powerful song this morning. 02:24 Yeah! All right! Let's do it, Tim. 04:18 Amen! Praise the Lord! 04:20 Don't you want to sing when Tim plays? Amen! 04:22 And I can't even sing... 04:24 But I love to make a joyful noise when Tim plays the piano! 04:28 Praise the Lord! And in heaven, Pastor Murray, 04:30 Amen! I'm going to sing. 04:32 Praise the Lord. And I'm going to sing better than I do now! 04:34 So thank you Jesus. We are so delighted 04:36 that you have joined us at home 04:39 as well as our 3ABN family here. 04:41 One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 43. 04:44 God speaking... He says: "Behold, I will do 04:48 a new thing. Shall you not know it? 04:52 Now it shall spring forth. 04:54 I will make a road in the wilderness 04:57 and rivers in the desert. " 05:00 So no matter where you come this morning 05:03 in your own heart and experience and walk with God 05:06 He wants to do a new thing. 05:08 He wants to do a new thing in your walk, in your experience. 05:12 In your home; in your marriage. 05:15 In your family; in your witness. 05:19 And I know God's going to do that today. 05:21 Mr. Bruce Fjarli is the chairman of 3ABN's board. 05:25 Good morning brothers and sisters. 05:27 Good morning! It's nice to have a day off, isn't it? 05:32 I don't know why anyone would want to not enjoy Sabbath. 05:37 What a blessing the Lord gave us! 05:39 His commandments are such a blessing to keep. 05:42 Amen. Why wouldn't you want to keep the commandments? 05:45 There's nothing good about breaking them. 05:48 I'd like to ask you to bow your heads with me 05:50 as we seek the Lord in prayer. 05:54 Father, we need Your Spirit. 05:58 We are sinful 06:00 and You wash our sins away. 06:04 Lord, give us singleness of mind. Yes. 06:09 May we come to You every day 06:13 and submit and commit ourselves to You 06:16 anew every morning 06:19 and go through the day mindful of our actions and our thoughts. 06:25 May we stay in tune with You. 06:29 May we be filled with Your Holy Spirit. 06:31 May we be changed by You 06:33 that we will be vessels that will shine to other people 06:36 and they will be attracted to You 06:41 and Your gracious love. 06:43 Father, I want to lift up Brother Danny. 06:46 Yes... thank you. Lord, I want to say thank you 06:49 for the successful surgery, 06:53 for the successful recovery. 06:56 Thank you. Thank you that he's able to stand before us 06:59 this morning and before You 07:01 and give his testimony about Your undying love 07:05 and Your unwavering faith 07:09 that's brought this ministry to where it is, 07:12 that's brought him to where he is. 07:15 Bless our hearts; bless him with Your Word, Lord. 07:19 And I ask that You would forgive all of our sins 07:22 at this moment if we so desire. 07:25 Bless us now as we finish out this Sabbath day. 07:28 We love You and we praise Your name 07:31 and we look forward to spending eternity with You. 07:34 In Jesus' holy name, Amen. Amen. 07:37 Thank you all so much. 07:39 I want to invite out right now Brother David 07:43 and Sister Beverly Ortiz. 07:45 We had the privilege... I'm not sure... 07:48 have you even met them yet, Sweetheart? 07:49 I said "Hello" to them. OK. 07:51 So he has met them. I had the privilege 07:53 and then I shared the story with Greg of meeting them 07:56 here at the 3ABN Camp Meeting. 07:58 They have an amazing testimony 08:01 and we want to share just a bit with you right now. 08:04 This is Beverly and David Ortiz. 08:07 And we don't have a lot of time 08:09 but tell us, David... You had a diagnosis 08:13 um, first part of this year. And what was that diagnosis? 08:17 Good morning. Yeah, on January 19th of this year 08:21 I woke up and I had a lump on the side of my neck. 08:24 Out of the blue. I didn't have it the night before. 08:26 I didn't notice it the evening before. 08:28 Four weeks later that lump was tested. I was positive 08:32 for squamous cell carcinoma 08:35 involving my tongue and my lymph nodes in my neck. 08:40 That's a scary thing. 08:41 Now we won't take time to get into all of that 08:44 but you were not raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home. 08:49 And you kind of had a thing against the Sabbath. 08:52 Could we say that? Absolutely. 08:56 Beverly, you were raised a SDA, is that right? 09:00 Yes I was. 09:02 OK. But when you married David you kind of walked away 09:04 from it? Before that I was telling Shelley 09:08 that it was kind of like Pastor Lomacang yesterday 09:12 when he talked about the clouds. 09:14 And I forgot who was on the other side of those clouds 09:17 to get me through. 09:19 So you went through some hard times 09:21 and kind of walked away from God at that moment. Yes, yes. 09:24 OK... so you're diagnosed with cancer. 09:26 Yes. And then you went... There was a certain moment 09:29 a few months later when God kind of got through to you 09:33 and you gave your heart to Him. 09:35 Actually, it was not long after that I just kind of... 09:38 I knew Jesus spoke to me and the Holy Spirit spoke with me 09:41 that I rededicated my life to Christ. 09:44 And I was sitting on the edge of the bed, again, not long after 09:47 that and 3ABN was on and John Lomacang was preaching. 09:49 I asked my wife, I said: "Have you seen this channel 09:52 before? " And she says: "Yeah, that's an Adventist channel 09:54 3ABN. " And I said: "Uh-oh, she's going to make me 09:57 go to church on Saturday. " 10:01 So again, a few weeks later, 10:03 I was watching a program. It was April 6th 10:07 9:30 in the evening. I was in my lounge chair 10:09 and Beverly was sitting next to me. It was Pr. Stephen Bohr 10:13 was with Pr. Shelton and Yvonne. 10:16 It was Hidden Sabbath Truth. I think that was the name of it. 10:21 And I knew Beverly was thinking we should change the channel 10:24 because I'm going to start something. 10:25 But anyway, I just really kept quiet 10:28 and I was watching it and watching it. 10:30 About 9:30 I went like this: I slapped my hands together, 10:33 I looked at Beverly, and I said: "I got it! " 10:36 And she says: "You got what? " 10:38 And I said: "The Sabbath; 10:40 it makes perfect sense to me. " 10:43 And for the next two hours the Holy Spirit anointed me 10:46 with words and thought that I never thought 10:49 and wouldn't shut up for two hours. 10:54 So that was a Friday night, Sabbath, and then the next 10:57 morning we had contacted a church for an anointing 11:01 the day of my birthday. So it was my birthday, 11:03 it was the first Sabbath I observed, 11:05 into a new church. It was the Ellicott City Church 11:08 in Ellicott City, Maryland. 11:09 And we... I was anointed that morning. 11:13 And so Beverly, how did you even find this church then? 11:17 He found it on the Internet. 11:20 The Internet. Television, yeah: 11:23 it's a wonderful thing. And once all that came down 11:26 during last Camp Meeting, again we were sitting there watching 11:30 and I don't remember who it was. Maybe it was the music 11:33 or maybe I don't remember. But I just looked at Beverly 11:36 and I said: "I want to go to Camp Meeting. 11:39 Would you like to go? " She said: "Great! " 11:41 I said: "I just want to go and meet everyone: 11:44 Danny Shelton, John Lomacang, all the pastors here, 11:47 yourself, and just look at you and say thank you. 11:50 I was a life that was changed. " 11:58 I praise God. All the glory to God. 12:00 Amen! This is a testimony to you all, too. 12:04 You think about this: this is what 3ABN is all about, 12:06 isn't it? Amen! You think about the prayers 12:09 that you all have put for this ministry for so many years. 12:11 The donations. It's souls for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 12:15 This is inspiring! 12:16 So we get what we call "good letters" into the office 12:18 but when you can meet people face to face 12:20 we just want to go over there and give them a big bear hug. 12:22 I don't know if I can do that on TV. 12:25 But tell us about then your diagnosis still... 12:27 where you are with your cancer. So, yeah, I'm about 12:29 four months post treatment. My PET scan that I had 12:33 after treatment there was no evidence of disease found. 12:39 Really fast... Along with that, too, 12:43 just for those others out there listening 12:46 I was an individual prior to my diagnosis 12:49 who was drinking an enormous amount of alcohol. 12:52 And once I got diagnosis and rededicated my life 12:55 God anointed me, healed me, took that away from me. 12:59 I do not have one desire to pick that up again. 13:04 There has been no depression; there has been no nothing 13:08 after that... no side effects at all. 13:11 Thank Jesus! 13:14 We want to have a prayer for David and Beverly. 13:17 How many of you will covenant to pray for them at home? 13:22 You're part of the family of God. 13:23 This is all your family here, too. That's right. 13:25 Holy Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus. 13:28 Thank you for David; thank you for Beverly. 13:30 Thank you for their testimony; thank you for their story... 13:33 Your story. Thank you that You still lead us 13:36 out of darkness into this marvelous light. 13:40 We give You praise for Your Word. 13:42 We give You praise for Your healing power! 13:44 We give You praise for deliverance from addiction. 13:47 We give You praise for the truth in Your Word 13:50 and for the Ortiz's willingness to step forward 13:55 in the truth they have learned. 13:56 We thank you in the precious and holy name of Jesus, Amen. Amen! 14:01 Thank you so much. 14:03 I'd like to invite Brian and Diane Hamilton out. 14:07 This is a powerful couple for the Lord Jesus Christ. 14:10 Brian has been our CFO for how many years, Brian? 14:15 Over ten years. Over ten years! 14:17 And his wife works in Planned Giving and Trust Services. 14:20 And we'll let you do the offering appeal. 14:25 Seems kind of fitting, doesn't it? The CFO! 14:29 Yeah it is. Maybe it's just a coincidence we're both involved 14:33 in the financing... financial area of 3ABN. 14:37 And I'm glad that Greg 14:42 sort of announced why we're here. 14:44 We don't want you to have any confusion. 14:47 This is an offering appeal. 14:50 This is what this is about. 14:52 Now I'm going to ask that you multitask. 14:56 Now you ladies... you multitask all the time 14:58 so that's no problem for you. 15:00 But for you guys I know this will be a challenge. 15:02 But I'm going to ask you to multitask. 15:04 I want you to reach into your wallets. 15:07 You ladies, I want you to dig into those bottomless purses 15:12 of yours. I know all about them. 15:14 My wife has one. 15:16 Whenever I need something all I have to do is ask 15:19 and she'll find it in there, OK? 15:22 So while you're digging for your cash or your checkbook 15:26 I want you to listen at the same time. 15:29 That's the multitask that I'm asking for. 15:32 Those of you who are on air watching by television, 15:36 listening by radio, you are not exempt from this appeal. 15:41 We want you to feel a part of this appeal 15:44 today for 3ABN. OK? 15:48 So don't feel like you're exempt or excluded. 15:51 We want you to feel included. 15:56 Diane and I first want to say a thank you. 16:01 From the bottom of our hearts we say thank you 16:05 for the 34 years of consistent and faithful 16:11 financial support of 3ABN. 16:15 We covet your prayers; we love to have you pray for us. 16:21 But I want to be perfectly honest with you. 16:24 Straightforward with you. 16:26 You can pray till the cows come home 16:29 but if you don't mix some works with your faith - 16:33 in other words, get the checkbook out and write 16:36 as you pray - 3ABN would never have existed 16:40 or would cease to exist 16:44 without the mixture of both prayer and the works. 16:49 So from the bottom of our heart we say thank you, 16:52 thank you, thank you. Thank you for what you have done, 16:56 thank you for what you are doing, 16:59 thank you for what you will do. 17:02 Diane and I want to share with you today 17:09 the reasons why - at least three of them. 17:13 Danny didn't give me the whole service, so 17:16 just three reasons why Diane and I 17:20 count it a privilege, not just a privilege of blessing 17:25 to not only give our life in service here at 3ABN 17:30 but also financially 17:33 systematically support 3ABN. 17:37 So Diane, what's the first reason 17:40 that we have for why we financially support 3ABN? 17:46 Would you share that? 17:47 Well, it is a privilege to work in a ministry 17:51 that spreads the gospel around the world. 17:55 Every nook and cranny, on the mountaintop, 17:59 in the valleys, behind the bars, 18:04 and the secret places, 18:10 the open places, on the road 18:16 as people are driving down the road to work or wherever, 18:20 in the kitchen while people are working 18:25 preparing meals, it's just a privilege 18:29 and then all of you are family. 18:31 And all of these places... And we've never met 18:34 but we'll get to meet in heaven. So it's just a real privilege 18:37 to work in a ministry that is so around the world. 18:44 So it is a blessing to be a part of a ministry 18:48 that is involved in sharing the everlasting gospel 18:52 in all of its beauty and wonder. 18:56 Second reason why Diane and I count it a privilege 19:00 to not only give of our life forces... 19:04 You know we all have sort of like a lithium battery 19:06 that God has given us, 19:08 and every day we take a little bit of the charge out of that 19:11 battery and we share it in service. 19:14 But in addition to that 19:16 every pay period Diane and I take out our checkbook 19:20 and we share a financial gift with 3ABN. 19:25 Systematically every pay period. 19:28 Two hundred and sixty-some pay periods so far. 19:32 And why do we do that? 19:35 3ABN - the leadership of 3ABN - 19:39 understands the hour in which we live. Amen! 19:45 We live in a very solemn and awesome time 19:49 in earth's history. 19:51 And it has been the practice of the leadership of 3ABN 19:57 to design the programming and structure the programming 20:01 where we keep before the world the hour in which we live. 20:07 What other peoples on the face of the earth 20:10 understand "And the hour of His judgment HAS COME? " 20:17 Only Seventh-day Adventists are the only 20:19 people group in all the world that know that. 20:22 Who understands who the dragon is? 20:25 The beast? The false prophet? 20:28 The image of the beast? 666? 20:30 And all the solemn warnings of the three angels' messages 20:34 other than Seventh-day Adventists? 20:36 And this ministry lovingly, tactfully, 20:42 but consistently and unabashedly shares 20:47 the three angels' messages of Revelation chapter 14 20:51 around the world. And we count it a privilege 20:54 to support such a ministry. 20:57 The last reason, the third rea- son, that we'll share with you 21:00 this morning as to why Diane and I 21:03 count it a privilege to be able to be a part 21:07 of this ministry both in our service 21:10 and in our giving is because this ministry 21:14 is not ashamed to hold up before the world 21:18 God's Ten Commandment law. 21:23 It is maligned by the world. 21:26 Even the Christian world today feels it's been nailed to some 21:30 tree and is no longer binding or important 21:33 and they have set it aside. 21:36 But this ministry holds it proudly before the world. 21:42 The Psalmist says: 21:44 "Oh, how I love Thy law; it is my meditation 21:49 all the day long. " And so 3ABN 21:52 shares the beauty of God's holy law with the world. 21:59 I have here a book: Ten Commandments Twice Removed. 22:04 3ABN puts its money where its mouth is. 22:09 One million... one million of these books 22:14 are being printed and within weeks 22:17 will be sent to the good people of Alabama 22:21 who are deciding in a public vote 22:26 whether to embrace God's law and display it 22:30 within their state or reject God's law 22:33 and not display it. 22:36 Now, I realize that Seventh- day Adventists and 3ABN 22:41 understand the importance of separation of church and state. 22:45 We stand fast with this idea of separation of church and state 22:49 that has given us the freedom to share the gospel. 22:52 All other places where those two have been brought together 22:56 persecution follows. We understand that. 22:59 But I don't see anything wrong 23:02 with displaying God's law anywhere 23:06 within the country. Amen! 23:09 Is that a bad thing? No! That's a good thing. 23:11 In case you were wondering if we should be afraid to share 23:17 God's law or embarrassed to share God's law 23:19 I would have you get out your Great Controversy book. 23:24 Dust it off. 23:26 Turn to page 639 in the Great Controversy 23:29 and let me just share a few words from that page. 23:34 "The clouds sweep back, 23:37 the starry heavens are seen. 23:39 Unspeakable glory is contrast with the black and angry 23:43 firmament on either side. 23:46 The glory of the celestial city streams from the gates ajar. 23:52 Then there appears against the sky 23:56 a hand holding two tables folded together. 24:02 Says the prophet: 'The heavens shall declare 24:06 His righteousness. ' 24:10 The holy law, God's righteousness that was 24:16 proclaimed on Mt. Sinai 24:19 now revealed to men as the rule of justice 24:24 and judgment. The hand opens the tables 24:28 and there are seen the precepts of the Decalogue 24:32 traced with pen of fire. 24:36 The words are so plain that all can read them. 24:40 Memory is aroused. 24:42 The darkness of superstition and heresy is swept 24:46 from every mind. God's ten words, comprehensive, 24:51 authoritative, are presented to the view 24:56 of all the inhabitants of the world. " 25:00 Should we be ashamed to uphold God's law? 25:02 Absolutely not. 25:05 So Diane and I are privileged to partner with 3ABN 25:10 both in service and in finance 25:14 because 3ABN shares the everlasting gospel, 25:18 3ABN proclaims the three angels' messages, 25:22 3ABN upholds the law of God. 25:26 And we invite you to join us for those very reasons. 25:31 Let's pray. 25:33 Father in heaven, again we thank you 25:35 for the opportunity to be living at this time in earth's history 25:40 and in giving the Great Commission and the final warning 25:45 to earth's inhabitants before You come, Jesus. 25:49 Help us to be faithful. 25:51 Be faithful in not only how we live our lives: 25:54 faithful in proclamation and faithful in our finances. 25:59 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. 28:30 Sing that chorus with me: I Cast My Care Upon You. 28:33 I cast my care upon You; 28:41 I lay all of my burdens 28:46 down at Your feet. 28:50 And any time I don't know 28:54 what to do 28:58 I will cast 29:01 all my cares upon You. 29:26 Amen! We just want to say thank you so much Bro. Tim. 29:30 Every time he plays it's a worship experience, isn't it? 29:33 We just want to say thank you, too, for your gifts 29:36 to the ministry of 3ABN. 29:38 It's making a difference in the world! 29:40 Encouraging like I said earlier to hear the testimonies 29:43 that David and Beverly were able to share with us this morning 29:46 and they're happening all over the world. 29:49 We're privileged today to have the sermon... 29:52 the sermon brought to us by Danny Shelton. 29:54 He doesn't need an introduction, does he? 29:56 You know, it's a blessing I have to say for Jill and myself 29:59 to work under him, to work with him in the ministry 30:02 of 3ABN. How you see him on the stage 30:06 is how he is behind the stage. He is just a genuine person 30:09 that loves the Lord Jesus Christ. 30:11 And in his heart has been the vision for over 30 years 30:16 to spread the three angels' messages around the world. 30:19 Isn't that a privilege and a blessing to be participating 30:21 together - isn't that? with that mission and that goal? 30:25 I appreciate Danny because he is a person that gives also. 30:30 To Jill and myself we consider him a mentor. 30:32 Great wisdom! And you know, in television 30:35 it's kind of interesting because you can get praise 30:37 and you can also get criticism. 30:41 And Danny has just told Jill and myself and many others 30:44 "Just stay like this; don't go up and don't go down. 30:48 Just stay even-keeled. Look to Jesus 30:51 as your Author and Finisher of your faith. " 30:53 Fantastic focus for each one of us 30:56 to remember, isn't it? It's Jesus who should be our 30:59 goal and our focal point. 31:01 Before he brings us the message today on faithfulness 31:04 I think it's very fitting that his daughter, 31:06 Melody Shelton Firestone, will be bringing a beautiful 31:10 song to us with Tim at the piano. 31:12 My Redeemer is Faithful and True. 31:16 Thank you, Melody. 31:30 As I look back 31:33 on the road that I traveled 31:38 I see so many times 31:41 He carried me through. 31:46 And if there's one thing 31:49 that I've learned in my life: 31:53 my Redeemer 31:55 is faithful and true... 32:00 my Redeemer 32:04 is faithful and true. 32:08 My Redeemer 32:11 is faithful and true! 32:16 Everything He has said 32:19 He will do. 32:23 Every morning 32:26 His mercies are new! 32:32 My Redeemer 32:34 is faithful and true. 32:44 My heart rejoices 32:48 when I read the promise 32:51 "There is a place 32:54 I'm preparing for you. " 32:58 And I know someday I will see my Lord 33:03 face to face 33:05 'cause my Redeemer 33:08 is faithful and true... 33:12 my Redeemer 33:15 is faithful and true. 33:20 My Redeemer 33:23 is faithful and true! 33:27 Everything He has said 33:31 He will do! 33:35 Every morning 33:37 His mercies are new... 33:42 my Redeemer 33:45 is faithful and true. 33:50 And in every situation 33:55 He has proved His love for me; 33:59 when I lack the understanding 34:04 He gives more grace to me. 34:10 My Redeemer 34:14 is faithful and true. 34:18 Everything He has said 34:22 He will do. 34:26 Every morning 34:28 His mercies are new! 34:34 My Redeemer 34:38 is faithful and true... 34:44 my Redeemer 34:48 is faithful and 34:53 true. 35:05 Amen! Thank you, Melody. 35:07 Thank you, Tim. 35:09 Wow! Havin' Tim Parton here and 35:12 Melody and the rest of them is such a blessing. 35:15 Isn't it a blessing? Amen! And praise the Lord. 35:18 Excuse me while I get my... I've gone... For an old man 35:22 I'm using new technology. 35:24 So I'm learning to use the 35:28 technology. I figure we do it on television 35:32 why not learn it. So I've actually got me an iPad 35:34 which is sometimes better. I just don't want it to fall 35:36 out of here. I think we're OK now. 35:38 How's everybody doin' this morning? 35:40 Amen. All right... we feel blessed? Amen! 35:44 All right. Everybody love Jesus? Amen! 35:46 All right. One of our pastors used to say: 35:49 "You all love Jesus? " They'd say yes. 35:51 He'd say: "Well why don't you let your face know it? " 35:54 Didn't look like it. But that's not the case 35:56 at 3ABN Camp Meeting. 35:58 You all look happy... you really do. 36:00 And you came here. It's not like you HAD to be here. 36:03 Many of you came... Anybody come from more than 36:06 300 miles? Look at the hands going up out here, folks. 36:10 Anybody more than 500? 36:12 Look at this! All right. 36:14 Anybody come a thousand miles? 36:17 There's some. All right, we've got more than 1,000 miles. 36:20 I'm not going to go any farther than that. 36:21 But what a blessing. Thank you so much 36:24 for your love, your prayers, your financial support of 3ABN. 36:28 I'm especially thankful to be here today. 36:30 Some of you know about nine weeks or so ago 36:33 I had a quadruple-bypass surgery. 36:36 And so it's only been the last few weeks 36:39 that you really consider yourself gettin' up and able 36:42 to do things. But God has blessed abundantly. 36:45 And you know what? Had I not made it through 36:48 I still would have been happy in the Lord, right? 36:51 'Cause you can die happy, too... right? 36:53 So it's not important how long we live here. 36:55 It's important that when we die that we're ready to meet Jesus. 36:58 Amen! I've thought about it for years. 37:01 "I wonder what will happen... " 'Cause all of us 37:05 if we have a chance to know it will we worry about it. 37:08 Will we? So of course I prayed and ready to go under the knife 37:12 but I was amazed at the peace that I had 37:15 and I said: "Thank you, Lord. " 37:17 Not in myself and my character... 37:20 my peace was in God that He loves me. 37:23 I confess my sins; "He is faithful and just 37:26 to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me 37:29 from some of the un- righteousness. " ALL! All of it. 37:31 You're awake and you're ready to go. 37:33 One of the things that I don't enjoy doing... 37:36 I'll tell you things I love to do... 37:38 but one of the things I don't enjoy doing 37:40 is I don't enjoy... Well, I shouldn't say it like that. 37:45 But it's true: every Camp Meeting 37:47 I do the church service. 37:50 But for some reason... Now I travel around the world 37:53 and I've spoken to crowds from 10 people 37:56 to 40 or 50 thousand. 37:58 And I don't get nervous... that doesn't bother me. 38:00 But when I come to Camp Meeting 38:03 and I feel like I have to make notes 38:05 and read my notes I'm not a preacher like that. 38:08 I'm a talker. I'm not a preacher, I'm a talker. 38:11 So I can usually go up... 38:13 I've met some of you; I've been to your churches. 38:14 I can talk an hour... I can talk two hours without a note. 38:18 Now I do that because of the experience. 38:20 When you get old and you've been traveling 34 years 38:23 and you see miracle after miracle 38:25 now it's what do I not get to say... 38:28 what do I have to leave out not what am I going to say. 38:31 But the other day I was in West Frankfort. 38:34 I was driving back and I said, 38:35 thought about: "OK, I need to have my sermon 38:39 ready for Camp Meeting. " 38:42 And I said: "Lord, You know I don't like to preach sermons; 38:47 I'm not a preacher. " And it's just like this thought 38:50 came in... I hope it wasn't me just helped Him... 38:52 but this thought came into my mind: 38:55 "Well don't preach a sermon. Just tell them about 38:59 how faithful I am. " Amen! 39:03 "Just tell them about My faithfulness. " 39:05 And I said: "Now THAT I can get into; 39:08 THAT I like... that I have seen. " 39:11 Because I have found out that God is faithful. 39:14 He's always there on time when I need Him 39:19 and He never fails. 39:20 Now before this talk is over... 39:23 I'll intimidate myself if I say sermon 39:26 so I'll say this talk... 39:27 so by the time this talk is over I want you all to be able to say 39:32 that with me. They're going to put it up on the screen 39:34 from time to time that God is faithful. 39:38 He's? What's it say? He's on time, 39:42 when we need Him, and He never fails! 39:45 Now: God is always there. 39:48 Why did I put on time, when we need Him? 39:50 'Cause it always seems like God is always there 39:53 when we need Him on time. 39:55 But I thought about it: "No, 'cause we don't know when we 39:58 need Him. " So... God is always there on time. 40:03 It may not look like it to me or you, 40:05 but He's there on time, when we need Him. 40:07 Amen! AND He never fails! Isn't that wonderful? 40:11 Amen! I can tell you that after thirty-four years 40:14 and this next month - here in November actually - 40:17 will be 34 years since the Lord impressed me to build 40:20 a television station that will reach the world 40:23 with an undiluted three angels' messages... 40:25 one that would counteract the counterfeit. 40:28 Now, I had no idea what that meant at the time. 40:31 I really didn't. I'm from this little area. 40:34 Those of you that are here: it's a little country area 40:36 as you noticed. T-ville doesn't even have a stoplight, right? 40:39 They've just got one little stop sign 40:41 depending which way you come in 40:43 on the main highway. It's a small country area, 40:45 coal-mining community. 40:47 So I don't have a background in television. 40:49 Kenny doesn't have a background in television. 40:52 But the Lord impressed to build a television station 40:54 to reach the world. And I knew it was God! 40:59 Because you get certain things that come to you 41:02 that's not you. I had never thought about 41:04 undiluted three angels' messages, one that would 41:07 counteract the counterfeit. 41:09 I wasn't concerned about that. I could argue with you 41:11 about the Sabbath and the state of the dead 41:13 and all those things, but I wasn't constant. 41:16 I had to study the three... I thought: "I need to really 41:18 study the three angels' messages 41:20 to see what it is I'm gettin' ready to do. " 41:22 Right? So I knew this was God and it wasn't me. 41:27 And so to build a television network 41:30 that would reach the world with an undiluted 3 angels' messages. 41:33 But you know what? I was so sure it was God 41:36 I can tell you to this day I've never doubted it. 41:40 And I can tell you that no matter what I've gone through 41:43 up and down... A lot of it I bring on myself, 41:45 a lot of it the devil's mad... 41:47 I've never once doubted that God's in charge 41:51 and He's going to supply every need. Amen! 41:53 So I said the other day - this may sound silly - 41:56 I said: "I need to do a self-examination. " 41:59 "Why is it that I've never been discouraged 42:04 in thirty-four years? " 42:06 'Cause we've not always had everything we felt we needed. 42:10 Everything's not always gone good for me. 42:13 2004 I went through a lot of things. 42:16 I even said: "You know what? I'm going to resign 42:19 because it looks bad; it's not good for the ministry... 42:22 I need to resign. " I was set on it. 42:24 Went to a board meeting to resign. 42:26 I said: "I'm not... This just doesn't look good 42:31 whether it's my fault or not. " 42:33 Of course I didn't think it was mine, but maybe 42:35 a certain amount is I'm sure. 42:38 "But I'm going to resign. " But you know what? 42:40 It's like the Lord impressed me not to. It's like He said to me: 42:45 "You keep your eyes focused on the mission. 42:50 The mission is to take an undiluted three angels'... 42:52 If you do that, I'll always be there 42:56 on time, when you need Me, and I'll never fail you. 43:00 So never give up. " So I want to tell you today 43:03 never give up. No matter how discouraged you get, 43:06 no matter what people say about you... 43:08 Greg mentioned in the opening and I've told him this a lot. 43:12 I said: "When you're in a fishbowl... " 43:13 and quite a few of us here are in fishbowls... 43:16 "the people really... they're gonna be after you. " 43:21 Or as Wintley Phipps says "If you're a bird... 43:24 you know, an eagle up there people are shooting at you. " 43:27 So when you're in a fishbowl that's part of it. 43:29 Public life... So there are people who will write 43:32 or I'll meet and they'll say: "Oh, you are so wonderful; 43:36 you're so filled with the Holy Spirit. " 43:37 "You're my favorite this and that and you... 43:39 oh, you're so wonderful. " 43:41 And I can't take any of that to heart. 43:44 We give God the credit for anything that goes 43:47 but then I also go places and they write and they hate me. 43:50 I've had people come here to 3ABN with the express purpose 43:54 of killing me. And they've ended up in jail for a while. 43:58 And then they get out and they leave and 44:00 then they come back later because "the Lord 44:03 told them to kill me. " 44:04 That's the truth... that's the truth. 44:07 People come here... so they either love you or hate you. 44:10 That's basically, if you're doing the Lord's work, 44:13 people are either going to love you or hate you. 44:15 But what I tell Greg and Jill is: "Don't pay any attention 44:18 to any of that. The devil will flatter you. " 44:21 The devil will flatter you, and people used to say, 44:24 one lady said: "I just can see a halo 44:27 when you're sitting there over your head. " 44:28 I said: "You need a new TV! " 44:30 There's no halo there. 44:34 And so people want to... they really want 44:38 to look at somebody and say: "Boy, this... " 44:41 But you know what? You can't take any of that seriously 44:43 because if you do you're going to get caught up 44:46 in the devil's field. You're going to lose track 44:48 of your mission. The mission is to take an undiluted 44:52 three angels' messages, one that would counteract 44:54 the counterfeit into all the world. 44:56 And I want to tell you some- thing: I can say as far as 3ABN 45:00 and our board we've run a good race. 45:02 We've fought a good fight. I don't say that in myself 45:05 but we have stuck true to the mission 45:07 of an undiluted three angels' messages 45:10 and taken it to the world and God has honored that. 45:13 Amen! God has always been there. 45:15 He's been faithful. He's on time when we need Him 45:18 and He's never failed. 45:20 He will do that in your life. 45:21 I promise you He will do that in your life. 45:24 We just had a board meeting the other day. 45:27 After thirty-four years totally dependent on faith... 45:31 We don't get money from the church and we shouldn't. 45:34 We're a separate 501C3, an inde- pendent or supporting ministry 45:38 of the church. Everything we have is paid for. 45:41 We have zero long-term debt. Amen! 45:44 Now we rarely have any money in the bank 45:45 unless it's set aside for some- thing that's going to be used. 45:49 But can you imagine after thirty-four years 45:51 this is not a little operation. 45:53 Well it might be to some of you but most of you here 45:56 you've taken some tours around: it's a pretty good-sized 45:59 facility. You see a lot of people around here. 46:02 We're on a lot of satellites; we're on a lot of cable sta... 46:05 We're on literally around the world. 46:08 It's not... It takes millions and millions 46:10 and millions of dollars. Somehow we never get too much. 46:13 That'd be a nice feeling to say: "Oh, wow! 46:16 We can just put millions in the bank 46:17 and not worry about it. " But we always have enough. 46:21 There've been times in the last several years 46:23 that we get down... that we did go in debt. 46:26 But you know what? We refocused and God brought us back out. 46:30 Amen! He's always there. 46:32 He's faithful! He's always there on time 46:35 when we need Him and He will never fail. 46:37 That's exactly... When we believe that... 46:40 When you actually believe that 46:43 you will be amazed... you will be a giant 46:47 in the work of the Lord. 46:49 Not to give you the credit 46:51 but to give God the credit. 46:52 When you believe what you're teaching... 46:56 We tell people all this stuff all the time, 46:58 but when you believe it and you don't get discouraged 47:01 and you don't "Oh, well, woe is me! 47:03 If I didn't have any bad luck I'd have no luck at all. " 47:06 You know: "Oh, this is terrible. People don't treat me right 47:09 and I don't... " When you can say that "God is faithful, 47:15 He's always there, on time, when I need Him 47:18 and He'll never fail" your whole life will change. 47:21 So I've asked them to put it up on the screen several times. 47:24 I don't care when they do it. 47:25 I want you to think about that. 47:27 You can change it however you want to, to fit you. 47:30 But I have seen God time and time and time again... 47:33 And I wanted to recount... I don't have time to go through. 47:36 I mean, we have miracle after miracle. 47:38 But I want to read a few scriptures just right in a row 47:42 and you write them down 47:43 'cause we're not going to just stay on them too long. 47:46 But I want to put some scriptures 47:47 just in the beginning 47:49 and I'm going to read them to you. 47:50 The first one is I Corinthians. If you have your Bibles 47:53 or your iPads like I've got or your phone, 47:56 go to I Corinthians 10:13. 47:59 I Corinthians 10:13. 48:03 This is gonna be fun, folks. This is fun because 48:06 it is such a... so great to know 48:09 God loves you; He cares about you. 48:11 He's always there; He's made a plan of salvation 48:15 and no one will miss out on heaven that really wants to go. 48:20 Nobody! It's such a great message 48:24 and I praise the Lord for it. All right. 48:47 I mean, that's some great news. 48:50 That we will never be tempted more than we can... 48:53 Some of you are old enough. Do you remember the 48:55 comedian Flip Wilson? 48:57 Everything that happened he said "The devil made me do it. " 49:00 Right? Well... we found out that's a lie. 49:03 This says the devil can't make you do anything! 49:06 Right? Because you'll never be tempted more than you can 49:09 endure. And so to me what a great promise. 49:13 The Lord says: "I'll make a way of escape. " 49:16 So if we really want to we don't have to be overtaken 49:19 by the devil. It's a great great scripture. 49:22 I want you to go to Philippians now... 1:6. 49:25 Philippians 1:6. Give you just a second to turn to it. 49:30 Philippians 1:6: 49:41 That's more good news: what God starts He finishes! 49:44 Isn't that great? Think about it. 49:46 Be confident; be confident. We don't have to go around like 49:50 "Oh boy, I don't know. Things just aren't going right. " 49:54 This says: "Be confident of this very thing: 49:58 that which God's begun He will finish. " 50:00 In our case, He raised 3ABN so we have no reason to doubt. 50:05 We don't have to say: "Oh boy, if you guys don't send 50:07 the money we're going to turn the lights out 50:08 and we're going to shut down. " 50:10 No, we're going to do whatever we have to do. 50:12 But I have found out if we're faithful 50:14 to God and we're faithful to the mission 50:17 that He's given us as Seventh-day Adventist Christians 50:20 and you, too... whatever Christian you are, 50:23 whatever denomination you are. 50:24 I think God has people in all churches, don't you? Amen! 50:27 But I think God has always had present truth 50:29 and today Seventh-day Adventists have present truth 50:32 that needs to get to a lost and dying world. 50:35 To whom much is given much is required, and 50:37 if we fail to do it the blood is on our hands. 50:40 Amen! God could save everybody on His own. 50:42 He doesn't need us, but He allows us to be in His work 50:45 so we don't get too selfish. 50:47 'Cause if I don't love my neighbor enough to witness 50:51 to him I'm not fit for heaven. Right? 50:53 So God says: "I'm going to entrust you 50:56 with being a witness to your neighbors. 50:59 Then I'm going to supply all of your every need. " 51:02 He says... I John 1:9. You can say this from memory. 51:16 Now folks, this is some great stuff! 51:19 This is some great stuff. 51:20 We ought to be tremendously excited about it. 51:24 So what it says... This is what it did to me: 51:26 it tells me that God hears and understands a repentant heart. 51:31 There's no sin too big and none too small 51:34 that He doesn't hear us. 51:36 I mean, God is amazing. 51:38 He knows when we're looking for truth before we do. 51:42 Think about that if that's not deep. 51:45 God knows when we're looking for truth 51:48 long before we know it 51:50 so He's going to provide a way... but He does it 51:53 through His people, and that's why we want to do. 51:56 One more scripture or two. 51:57 II Timothy 2:13. 52:00 II Timothy 2:13. 52:12 Now this is a great scripture but a lot of people 52:15 say: "Wow, that sounds like I don't even have to have 52:18 a lot of faith. " No it doesn't. It doesn't say 52:20 God's going to bless us in our sin. 52:22 He doesn't bless us in our sins, 52:24 but He's going to be faithful even when we're not. 52:27 And how do I mean? Because when we're away from Him 52:31 doing our own way 52:33 and all of a sudden we finally... the Holy Spirit, 52:35 we listen to It, we repent, 52:38 we already read it... what's He going to do? 52:40 He's going to be faithful and just to forgive us 52:43 from our sins - Amen! when we come to Him. 52:45 Folks, we have so much... so much to be thankful for. 52:48 Deuteronomy 31:6. 52:51 Deuteronomy 31:6. 53:10 Now is that a great promise? 53:12 Amen! He will not leave you nor forsake you. 53:15 Folks, this ought to change our whole lives 53:18 and our attitude about being Christians in the closing 53:22 moments of earth's history 53:23 that "He will never leave us nor forsake us. " 53:27 Then the last one we're going to do is Romans 8:38-39. 53:31 Romans 8... Somebody said: "I love that one! " 53:34 Thank you... so do I. 54:01 Isn't that an incredible scripture? 54:03 I mean, to me this is absolutely amazing 54:06 and I praise God for that. 54:07 What I wanted to do is I wanted to quickly 54:10 recount some of the things where I have seen 54:14 here at 3ABN... and thanks to you... 54:17 because without you... without your love and your prayers 54:19 and financial support 3ABN would not be on the air today. 54:25 Every year is a struggle. 54:27 Every year is a struggle. 54:29 Financially it's a struggle. 54:31 All kinds of other struggles. 54:33 People either love the truth or they hate it. 54:36 So we see tremendous opposition. 54:39 Sometimes it's from within. 54:42 Sometimes it's from within. Do I need to say that again? 54:45 It's not always on the outside. 54:47 Sometimes the greatest opposition is from within. 54:51 So I'll let you think about that in your own life. 54:54 But as I started thinking back 54:56 "Tell the folks about My faith- fulness; that I am faithful. " 54:59 And I thought about when Kenny and I first went out. 55:02 We got the property from Mrs. Summers. 55:04 It's a mile or two north of here. 55:05 If you didn't visit the uplink, I hope you can before you leave. 55:08 We still see that 9 or 10 meter dish about 30' in diameter... 55:13 the first one out there. 55:15 But we needed to build a road. 55:17 And it was about 1,400 feet if I remember right. 55:20 And so Kenny rented a road grader 55:24 from one of the local folk around here, and we started 55:27 building the road. Now, we bought diesel fuel... 55:30 Kenny, where are you? Raise your hand. 55:32 Raise your hand if I'm telling the truth. 55:35 If I'm telling the truth. If I'm not, don't. 55:38 But I am telling the truth. 55:39 We bought diesel fuel 5 gallons at a time. 55:43 Five gallons at a time because that's really all the money 55:46 we had. We didn't have any money. 55:47 So we bought diesel fuel and so he graded the road 55:51 all the way down. But we didn't have any money for 55:54 the driveway. What are we going to do? 55:56 So we prayed about it. "Well Lord, we've done our part. 55:58 That's all we know how to do. " 56:00 I go to the mail about two days later: 56:03 there's only two checks in the mail. Now we're not a ministry 56:06 that's on the air. We don't have a building. 56:08 We have nothing but a donated little 2 acres of property. 56:11 And we rented a road grader 56:16 and so now we've messed up dirt. 56:19 You know, now we have dirt. Got rid of the grass. 56:22 Just have dirt sitting there. Now this is in the Fall 56:24 of the year so it's gonna rain and it's gonna be a mud pile 56:28 if we don't get a road in there. 56:30 But we needed a road. But I go... We get a bid 56:33 from Ralph Sprague who... his house is 100 feet 56:36 probably on this end of the building 56:38 that used to have the gravel company. 56:40 And so we call Ralph. He said: "Well, it's going to cost you 56:43 $6,000. We prayed about it. 56:45 "Lord, we've done our part. We don't have any more money. " 56:48 Two days later I go to West Frankfort post office. 56:51 P.O. Box 582 I think is what it used to be. 56:54 Opened and saw there were two letters in it. 56:58 Now we were telling people mouth to mouth what we 57:00 were going to be doing. Word to word, you know, 57:03 telling everybody we knew. 57:05 I even got a little Commodore 64 computer 57:07 and started typing out a little newsletter. 57:10 We didn't really have a mailing list, but we handed it 57:14 to everybody we'd meet. 57:15 There were 2 letters in the mail. One of them 57:18 I opened up was $2,000 57:21 from a lady in Wisconsin or northern, by Chicago 57:25 Wisconsin border. The second letter 57:28 was from San Diego, California, for $4,000. 57:31 Six thousand dollars! 57:32 God is always there, on time, when you need Him, 57:35 right? And He never fails you. 57:38 Then we needed... So we built the road 57:41 and now we started the building. 57:42 So we rented a... worked out a deal - Kenny did - 57:45 with a contractor in the area here, a construction guy. 57:49 So now we got a backhoe and we started digging the footings. 57:52 So we're digging all the footings. 57:53 Some people call and they say: "We're from Tennessee; 57:56 we're headed to Wisconsin. We heard two guys 57:59 are building an Adventist television station. " 58:01 We said: "Yes. " "Can we come? " 58:03 We said: "Sure! " They came up to visit us 58:05 and they sat for 3 or 4 days on the tailgate of their car. 58:09 They had a station wagon and let it down 58:11 and would watch us and say: 58:13 "Well, you're digging the footings but do you have money 58:15 to finish... to put the building up? " 58:17 "No. " "Well what if it rains? " 58:19 "What if the rains come and you? " I said: "Well I guess 58:22 we'll have a flood and we'll have a little river. " 58:25 "But how're you gonna do it? What's it going to cost? " 58:28 We figured it up. The shell of the building's $50,000. 58:31 So we said: "Well, about $50,000. " 58:34 Now these folks... by looking at them, by listening to them, 58:37 watching the way they ate and what they ate 58:39 and how they dressed we didn't think they had any money 58:43 to give. The day they left, a few days later, 58:46 they said: "We've been thinking about this and praying about it. 58:48 We want to give you $50,000. " 58:50 Just what we needed. 58:52 Now we found out later they didn't have the money. 58:54 At the time they went home and literally mortgaged their home. 58:59 But within six months they came back and said 59:03 "Well we invested in some real estate 59:05 and sold it, and we made that $50,000 back. " 59:08 God gave it back to them. 59:10 I think about... then we needed a big satellite dish. 59:13 So... a ten meter dish, nearly $400,000. 59:17 We didn't have the money for that. 59:18 But we're saying: "God, we're going to go forward 59:21 no matter what. " We didn't have the money 59:23 so we talked to a satellite company. And we talked them 59:26 into saying: "Well as you do it a little at a time 59:30 we'll pay you a little at a time but it'll be paid by the end. " 59:33 And the guy finally said to us... 59:35 You know, for the satellite company, Scientific Atlanta, 59:39 Georgia's like: "Well, I don't know. We don't normally do this 59:43 but we're going to trust you on this one. " 59:45 And every step of the way the money was there. 59:49 We'd go to the mailbox... People we didn't know 59:51 or had never seen sent just the right amount of money 59:54 to build that $400,000 satellite dish. 59:57 So we get this dish up. 59:59 We finally... The money continues to come in. 01:00:01 We go on the air 01:00:02 and we see miracle after miracle after miracle. 01:00:05 How can you doubt that God is there? 01:00:09 Right? How could we ever doubt that God is there? 01:00:13 That He's faithful? He's always there! 01:00:15 He's there for you in your life. You may not know it, 01:00:18 you may not recognize it, 01:00:20 but I want you to after today, 01:00:22 Read that up there for me please: 01:00:31 Now that should give us some consolation, right? 01:00:34 That should give us some great consolation. 01:00:36 God is part-time there? He's ALWAYS there, 01:00:41 sometimes He's on time, He's ALWAYS on time, 01:00:44 when we need Him, and He never fails! 01:00:47 So God commissioned us to build a television station 01:00:51 to reach the world. Dr. Walt Thompson, 01:00:53 who is now resting in Jesus, 01:00:55 said to me one time: "Don't you think 01:00:57 when Jesus said to 'Go ye into all the world' 01:01:01 and to build a television station to reach the world 01:01:04 that He counted His resources in advance and found that He was 01:01:07 not wanting? " So we go forward. 01:01:10 Now 1991 comes around. 01:01:13 Communism falls in Romania, 01:01:17 Ceausescu had been overthrown, 01:01:19 and so we had an opportunity to go to Romania 01:01:22 literally weeks, maybe a month or two after this big coup, 01:01:26 and the country was in a mess. 01:01:28 We went over there, three of us, and went to Romania. 01:01:33 When we got there we saw the condition. 01:01:35 We saw the tent church where people were meeting 01:01:39 out in a tent because the government had destroyed 01:01:42 their building and killed a number of the pastors. 01:01:44 So they built a big tent and went to church in cold weather 01:01:47 in the snow in a tent - literally - that was freezing. 01:01:51 They'd do it every Sabbath their commitment for them. 01:01:53 I said: "We need to build a production studio here 01:01:56 so we are going to put in... $250,000 is what we needed. 01:02:01 And we didn't really have the money, but I said: "By faith 01:02:04 we're going to do it; God will supply the need. " 01:02:06 We come to November and what are we going to be short? 01:02:10 I find out we're going to be short $250,000. 01:02:14 My first thought was: "Wow! If we hadn't put that 01:02:17 $250,000... " 'Cause we've been in the black every year. 01:02:21 "If we hadn't put it in Romania, 01:02:22 we would have the money that we need. " 01:02:24 But then I said: "No, we did what God told us to do. 01:02:28 He's faithful, we were faithful to the mission. 01:02:31 He said: 'Go ye into all the world with the undiluted 01:02:34 three angels' messages' so... we did it. " 01:02:36 I get a phone call. I don't think he'd mind me 01:02:39 giving his name now: Dr. Bob Ford. 01:02:41 I didn't know Bob Ford... he's on the East coast. 01:02:43 Never heard of him, but we were already on the air 01:02:47 and I had my Uncle Olin. Anybody old enough to remember 01:02:49 Uncle Olin singing on 3ABN? 01:02:52 Just a few songs. "Life is like a mountain railroad... " 01:02:56 That's Uncle Olin. And so he played the guitar. 01:02:59 And he would play a little bit, come in off time. 01:03:03 He never came in... Tim, I'd love to see Tim 01:03:05 try to play with him 'cause he just came on whenever 01:03:07 he wanted to. Hold a note for a while and then jump in. 01:03:11 And he would have a harmonica around his neck. 01:03:14 Who who who... who who who. And then 01:03:16 he'd play a little bit more and sing a little bit more. 01:03:18 So I get a phone call. Then we had... You know, it was our 01:03:21 beginning days and we had our lattice strips in the back 01:03:24 behind us and anything we could try to put. 01:03:27 We didn't have money for very good sets. 01:03:28 So here we are... I get a call from Bob Ford. 01:03:32 They said: "He wants to talk to you. " 01:03:34 So I talked to Bob and he said: 01:03:36 "You know, I was listening the other night. I turned on 01:03:39 3ABN out in Washington state and I heard your Uncle Olin. " 01:03:43 My heart went "woops" like, you know. 01:03:46 Uncle Olin's a great guy and he loved the Lord 01:03:49 and he did it but OK, here's a surgeon. 01:03:52 This man's a surgeon. He's like: "And I saw your Uncle Olin" 01:03:55 and he said: "I was so blessed by that. 01:03:58 I was so impressed and I thought of the Spirit of Prophecy... 01:04:01 I'm watching some of the people on there... " 01:04:04 which probably included me and some of the others - 01:04:06 "basically are just people that come from the plow. " 01:04:09 He said: "Ellen White makes a statement 01:04:11 you know: 'In the last days people come from the plow. ' " 01:04:14 Not everybody will have gone to the cemetery... 01:04:16 seminary. And so God will use people who's willing 01:04:20 to be used and laymen be willing to do it. 01:04:24 So he said: "I was so impressed with that 01:04:26 the Lord impressed me to help you. " 01:04:29 And so I said: "Great! That's wonderful! " 01:04:31 And here's what he said: "Do you have any special needs 01:04:35 right now? How much money do you need? " 01:04:36 Now I know that I'm going to be at least $250,000 short 01:04:41 because we put that money into Romania. 01:04:43 And my temptation was to say: 01:04:46 "We really need $250,000. " The other side of me said: 01:04:49 "You'll run the guy off telling that much money. " 01:04:52 So I heard myself say to him: "Well, Dr. Ford, 01:04:55 why don't you pray about it. The Lord impressed you 01:04:58 to give. Why don't you pray about it 01:04:59 and then you give whatever He impresses you to. " 01:05:02 And he said: "Well, that's different! 01:05:03 I support ministries; I never had anybody do that. " 01:05:06 Monday he called me back: 01:05:08 "Danny, I prayed about it and the Lord gave me a figure. " 01:05:11 I said: "Really? Great; that's wonderful. " 01:05:14 "I sent you a check this morning. " 01:05:16 I said: "Well praise the Lord. " He said: "Don't you want to know 01:05:18 how much it is? " I said: "Yeah, I just didn't want to ask. " 01:05:21 You know? So he said: "The Lord impressed me 01:05:24 to send you $250,000. " 01:05:27 God is faithful... put it up on the screen for us. 01:05:30 Put it up... I want you all to read it. 01:05:39 God is faithful! Time and time again! 01:05:41 Now as we grow our needs are getting bigger. 01:05:45 So a few years later... every year we end up in the black. 01:05:49 A few years later we've invested; now we're going to 01:05:52 Russia and we're putting money into Russia. 01:05:55 And so towards the end of the year we're $750,000 01:05:59 we're going to be short. 01:06:01 And so we're down in Forest Lake Academy 01:06:04 where my youngest baby just graduated from. 01:06:07 Trinity's back here somewhere. 01:06:09 And so she came home. She's in Southern right now. 01:06:12 Surprised me by the way. Told me she wasn't coming 01:06:15 this weekend and then came in last night 01:06:17 and we were very happy that she came 01:06:19 here... to have her here. 01:06:21 But we were in Forest Lake Academy doing a live program 01:06:25 and I said to the folks... We were talking about 01:06:28 God's goodness and how faithful He is 01:06:30 and I said to them: "You know what? For instance 01:06:32 right now we are $750,000 short. If we don't get 01:06:36 an extra - above and beyond our regular means - 01:06:40 by the end of this year we'll be in debt $750,000. 01:06:44 But I'm going to stand here and tell you that by January 01:06:48 I'm going to get on and give you a story 01:06:50 and tell you how God raised that money for us. " 01:06:53 Amen! You have to step out in faith sometimes, folks. 01:06:55 It's not you... it's God. 01:06:57 He says: "Go ye into all the world. " 01:07:00 We got home. About a week later - 01:07:01 make these as short as I can - a woman... 01:07:04 I get a phone call. Mollie says: "There's a lady 01:07:07 out in Redding, California, area 01:07:10 that called and she says she's got some money 01:07:12 but you have to come out and get it. " 01:07:13 She won't send it... it's cash money. 01:07:16 She says you've got to come out and get it. 01:07:18 So I said: "OK. " I'm home eating lunch. 01:07:21 Three, four, five minutes later she called. She said: "There's 01:07:24 another just called and she's in Grand Junction, Colorado. 01:07:28 She says: "She's got some money but she wants you 01:07:31 to meet her husband. He's not a Christian but 01:07:33 he watches you on TV and thinks you might be for real. 01:07:36 And if he could meet you and talk to you - 01:07:39 he deals in gold and silver - that he would be willing to give 01:07:42 you thirty or forty thousand dollars in gold coins. " 01:07:45 So the lady in Redding, I said: "Well how much? " 01:07:48 I said: "Well, you know, to fly out there. " And she said: 01:07:52 "Well, you'll have to bring a private plane. " 01:07:55 And I said: "Now that'd be expensive 01:07:56 to fly out there. " And she said: "Well, it's going to be 01:07:58 worth it. " I said: "Well, do you mind me asking 01:08:00 how much money it is? " 01:08:02 "Well, " she said, "it's 6 CMs. " 01:08:06 And I said: "What? " She said: 01:08:07 "Six CMs. " I said: "CMs? " 01:08:09 She said: "Well didn't you take Roman numerals in school? " 01:08:11 I said: "Yeah, I did. " 01:08:14 I remember C's a hundred and M's a thousand. 01:08:17 So she's telling me she's either got $60,000 01:08:21 or $600,000. 01:08:23 So she said: "Well, you think about it 01:08:25 and call me when you figure out how much it is. " 01:08:29 So the next day I call her back 01:08:31 and I say: "I can't tell you. I think I figured out 01:08:35 how much it is, but if I tell you I'll defeat your purpose. " 01:08:38 'Cause she said: "I don't want to say it on the phone 01:08:41 'cause I'm a widow; I live by myself. 01:08:43 Somebody will rob me so that's why I can't tell you. " 01:08:46 So I say to her: "So how can? I figured it out 01:08:49 but how can I tell you on the phone 'cause I'll defeat 01:08:52 your purpose of hiding it, right? " 01:08:54 So I said: "But I think I know how much it is. 01:08:57 I think it's worth getting a plane to do it. " 01:08:59 So she says: "Well great. If you do... " 01:09:02 I said: "It'd be pretty costly. " 01:09:04 She said: "Well I'll give you... I'll make it 7CM. " 01:09:07 So I said: "OK... I'm coming! " 01:09:09 So I get David Everett, E.T.'s husband. 01:09:13 He's about 6'5" or 6'6". Big guy. 01:09:15 Get my brother-in-law Bruce. I say: 01:09:17 "You guys need to go with me. " So now 01:09:19 we've got a call... I've called a pilot there in Marion 01:09:23 and I say: "We're going to Redding, California. " 01:09:25 And he said: "Well, it's not... We don't have... Smaller planes. 01:09:29 We can't go... we have to make a stop. " 01:09:31 And I said: "Well, that's fine. " 01:09:33 He said: "Well, it's your choice. 01:09:34 We either have to stop in Denver or Grand Junction, Colorado. " 01:09:38 I said: "Now wait a minute. " 01:09:39 A lady calls from Grand Junction and one from Redding 01:09:43 and the stop that we have to do. So I called the lady 01:09:47 and I say, from Colorado: "We'll be there. " 01:09:50 So we fly out to California, meet the woman. 01:09:54 She's talking about how much she loves 3ABN 01:09:57 and all this stuff and I'm getting nervous 01:09:59 'cause I'm there. And I finally said: "Now you said 01:10:01 you had 7CM. " 'Cause I'm thinking: what if I 01:10:04 flew all the way out here and she didn't... " 01:10:06 She took us in the closet, raised up a box - 01:10:09 it looked like a big box - raised it up. 01:10:11 There was like gunny sacks. We opened those 01:10:14 and there was aluminum foil. Money in aluminum foil. 01:10:17 $50,000 cash in each one of them. 01:10:19 There was $700,000 cash money. 01:10:24 She said: "Bring the biggest suitcase that you can find. " 01:10:27 Now, we needed $750,000, right? 01:10:31 By the end of the year. So she said: "Here's 700. " 01:10:34 So she had a little safe. Just a small thing. 01:10:36 She said: "Why don't you just take that with you? " 01:10:38 And I'm thinking about the weight and the small plane 01:10:41 and I said: "Oh, that's OK... we don't need it. " 01:10:43 She said: "Why don't you open it up 01:10:44 'cause I think you'll want it. " 01:10:45 So I said: "OK. " I opened it up, and there was 01:10:48 $40,000 of gold coins. 01:10:50 I said: "I'll take it! " 01:10:52 So we took that. We get on the plane... 01:10:55 start to go on the plane. The pilots have no idea 01:10:58 what we've got now: $740,000. 01:11:01 And we're going back to Grand Junction 01:11:03 hopefully to get some more. 01:11:05 And so we get on the plane and he says... 01:11:08 he says: "Here, just put this in the back. " 01:11:11 And he opens a little lid and says: "Put it in the back. " 01:11:14 I said: "No, it's coming up here with me. " 01:11:16 He said... It's a big case... it was this big. 01:11:19 He said: "Well, there's not enough room. " 01:11:20 And I said: "Yeah, there is. " 01:11:21 And I don't like tight spaces but I said: "This 01:11:24 is going to be tight. This money is flying with me 01:11:27 right here. " So he said: "Well I can put it right here 01:11:31 in the back. " And I said: "No... I'm not going to. " 01:11:33 So I got on the plane and I told my buddies 01:11:35 I said: "The reason I didn't do that: a friend of mine 01:11:37 sang at a funeral not too long ago 01:11:40 and he told me that grandpa had died, Henry. 01:11:43 He was in the casket, and grandma was a big woman. 01:11:46 While he was singing Amazing Grace 01:11:48 she went over to the casket and leaned over 01:11:50 and it had a bad hinge and it fell on her. 01:11:53 The casket lid fell. 01:11:54 And then she did it again. By the end of the night 01:11:56 I said: "I was thinking about that hinge on that back carrier 01:12:00 that what if it broke and we lost $740,000 01:12:05 somewhere between California and West Frankfort? " 01:12:08 So I said: "We're either all going to make it or we're all 01:12:10 gonna die. We're going to do this together. 01:12:13 We are not separating ourselves. " 01:12:15 So we go back into Colorado. 01:12:19 So now we're in Grand Junction. They're refueling, 01:12:22 so the lady comes to pick me up. 01:12:24 I tell the guys: "You have to eat breakfast 01:12:26 one at a time. " Now here's the interesting thing: 01:12:29 when I finally got the money... 01:12:31 We got this lady, and she wanted us to count it all. 01:12:33 We did $50,000. I said: "You know, " 01:12:35 and I gave her name, I said: 01:12:37 "Listen, this would take hours and hours. " 01:12:40 And she said: "Well I don't want to cheat you. " 01:12:41 I said: "Well if you're short I'll call you and let you know. 01:12:44 There's no use counting all of this. " 01:12:47 I mean, that's just a lot of money to do. 01:12:50 So now... So we go ahead 01:12:52 and we're in Grand Junction so I tell them: "Look, 01:12:55 just one at a time go eat. Stay in the room with the money. " 01:12:58 So I go meet the husband. 01:13:00 Very good man... his health was bad. 01:13:02 Prayed with him, and he did give his heart to the Lord 01:13:04 and also gave about $40,000. 01:13:07 But when we left her house, loaded all that money, 01:13:10 she said to me: "Whew! I have never been so glad 01:13:14 to get rid of anything in my life! " 01:13:17 And I'm like: "How can anybody say something like that? " 01:13:21 We're taking close to a million dollars home in cash 01:13:24 and she's like: "I'm so glad... never been so glad 01:13:27 to get rid of it. " So now we fly home. 01:13:29 So I bring Bruce and David Everett. I let them out 01:13:33 and we bank over in Galatia about 10 miles from here. 01:13:35 So I'm in the car and I've got all this money 01:13:38 and as I head down the little highway here 01:13:40 I say: "What if I had a wreck 01:13:43 and all the money flew out and I was unconscious 01:13:45 and people stole the money? " 01:13:48 So I got so paranoid the car was doing like this down the road 01:13:52 and I was afraid I was going to cause my own demise. 01:13:55 And so I get to the bank 01:13:57 and that little bank I'm sure had never been robbed. 01:13:59 So I lock the doors over here and I walk over to the bank 01:14:02 and I'm looking in the window. For what? To make sure 01:14:05 everything's OK. And I called Neal, the bank president, 01:14:10 Neal Patterson, and I said: "Neal, you're going to need 01:14:12 to leave the bank open for a while. " 01:14:13 I said: "We've gotta leave it open 01:14:15 because I brought a lot of money. " I said: "I've got 01:14:18 a lot and it's cash. I'll need people there counting it. " 01:14:21 He said: "You've got that much? " 01:14:23 I said: "Yes! " He said: "How much is it? " 01:14:25 And I heard myself say "7CMs. " 01:14:29 And he said: "7CM? " 01:14:32 I said: "Didn't you take Roman numerals in school? " 01:14:36 He said: "Yes, but what's that got to do with it? " 01:14:39 I said: "I don't want to tell you; I'm afraid somebody will 01:14:42 hear what I'm doing. " So we get to the bank. 01:14:45 We finally go in and we count all of that money. 01:14:47 It takes about five hours to get it all. 01:14:50 He hands me a deposit slip and I, with my hand up, 01:14:53 I heard myself go: "Whew! I have never been so glad 01:14:57 to get rid of something in my life. " 01:15:01 That's exactly the way I felt about it. 01:15:04 Because of that... 01:15:05 All of that story, I meant to make it shorter, 01:15:07 but God is faithful. He's always there! 01:15:11 Somebody put it on the screen for me. 01:15:17 He never fails! So we ended up in the black again. 01:15:20 I can remember time and time again 01:15:22 places we would go. We needed money... 01:15:25 I went to another... It was close to Redding, CA. 01:15:28 It was in a church and we were praying: "Oh Lord, 01:15:32 we need some money. We need about $100,000. " 01:15:34 We went to a church, and after the church service was over 01:15:38 a lady said: "Can I talk to you privately? " 01:15:40 I said: "Yes. " She said: "I'm from Oregon. 01:15:43 I was going to southern California. I'm driving 01:15:46 and I had to stop somewhere to go to church so I just 01:15:49 happened to be here today. And after hearing you speak 01:15:53 the Lord impressed me to write you a check. " 01:15:55 She handed me a check for $100,000. " 01:15:57 Now is that coincidence or divine providence? 01:16:00 Over and over and over again. 01:16:02 We go to Russia; we see the need. Baptized in 1992 01:16:06 2,532 people. The church only holds 250 people. 01:16:12 So the conference says: "We've gotta meet with you. 01:16:14 We need help; we have a huge problem. 01:16:16 How're we gonna house 2,500 people more 01:16:19 when our church is already full? What can we do? " 01:16:22 I said: "Well we'll meet with you, see if we can build 01:16:24 something. " The gas over there at the time 01:16:27 was 7 cents a gallon; the dollar was worth about 7,000 ruble 01:16:31 so you could buy a lot for very little. 01:16:34 So we're going to meet with the conference. 01:16:37 So right before I meet with the conference leaders 01:16:39 in the Rossiya Hotel an American man 01:16:42 named Manny Trebs came from the West coast 01:16:46 came up. And I hadn't met him; he'd been there a while. 01:16:48 He'd been to the John Carter meetings 01:16:50 and he had volunteered. Flown over. 01:16:53 Saw we were going there on television. 74 years old. 01:16:57 Said: "Well I think I want to go help them do something. " 01:17:00 So every night he was helping seat people 01:17:03 and taking care of people. And they were coming in 01:17:05 by the thousands. Building holds 6,000. 01:17:08 They'd let 7,000 in. 01:17:10 Let them out, 7,000 more were outside waiting. 01:17:13 They would come in. Let them out; 7,000 more! 01:17:16 Elder Carter was doing three sermons a night 01:17:19 to 20-some thousand people 01:17:21 coming in this former Communist country that had 01:17:25 never heard about God, never been allowed to have a Bible. 01:17:29 So we're getting ready to meet with the conference leaders 01:17:31 and so this man comes up to me and he says: 01:17:34 "Hi, my name's Manny Trebs. I've watched you a lot on 3ABN 01:17:38 and I just volunteered. I wanted to do something. " 01:17:40 He had a little tape recorder. "Can you do a little interview? 01:17:44 I'd like to take it home and play it to my church. " 01:17:46 And I said: "Well Manny, I'm sorry. 01:17:48 The conference leaders... " I saw them. "The church leaders 01:17:50 are coming in. I've gotta meet with them right now. " 01:17:54 And he said: "Oh, well, OK. " Very humble. 01:17:56 "Well OK... I understand you're busy. " 01:17:58 And I said: "Well come and sit with me. " 01:18:00 "What? " I said: "Well come and sit with me. " 01:18:02 "Oh, I don't need to... " I said: "Well, come on. Let's... 01:18:05 come sit; let's hear what they have to say. " 01:18:08 As we're talking I say: "What would it cost to build 01:18:10 or buy a facility big enough to hold 01:18:13 2,500 people or 3,000 people? " 01:18:17 "Oh, it'd cost way too much money! 01:18:19 More than you could afford. " 01:18:21 I said: "Well let us decide. How much would it be? " 01:18:24 "Oh, it would be a tremendous amount of money. " 01:18:27 "How much? " So they said: "Well probably $100,000. " 01:18:31 Now, they were making $15 a month 01:18:34 so you can imagine that's a tremendous amount of money 01:18:36 when the average wage in Russia is $15 a month. 01:18:39 So he says: "$100,000. " 01:18:45 So me, by now, I've been in the work for a while. 01:18:48 You kind of think you've got God figured out. 01:18:50 So I said: "Well don't worry about it. 01:18:52 I will guarantee you: I'll go home; 01:18:54 I'll tell our viewers and our 3ABN people 01:18:57 will come up with that $100,000. " 01:18:59 The man sitting right next to me 01:19:02 I look over at Manny and he smiles. 01:19:07 And I just look at him; he just smiles. 01:19:09 I said: "Manny? " and he goes... 01:19:12 And I said: "You want to say something? " 01:19:15 He said: And I said... he said: "Yeah. " 01:19:20 I said: "You got the $100,000? " 01:19:22 He said: "I'll give the $100,000. " 01:19:24 Now, think about that: I'm in Russia; never met this guy 01:19:28 in America. We're Americans; we're there. 01:19:31 The first time we meet in two weeks 01:19:34 we're meeting right before the meeting, he comes 01:19:36 to the meeting, sits down, and exactly - God was there - 01:19:41 when I need Him, on time, right? When we need Him, 01:19:44 and He never fails! 01:19:49 God is always there, on time, when we need Him, 01:19:52 and He never fails! 01:19:53 That took care of that, 01:19:55 and then God began to put the rest of the money in. 01:19:57 We've seen it over and over and over. 01:19:59 Now we talk about financial miracles. 01:20:01 I'm going to switch with you for a few minutes 01:20:03 about all the "stuck" dishes; about people. 01:20:07 As I said while ago, God knows when people are 01:20:10 ready long before they do to hear the truth. 01:20:12 Amen! So in His divine providence 01:20:14 and because He loves us so much 01:20:16 He makes a way 01:20:18 for people to hear truth when they don't want to. 01:20:20 The one man... C.A. tells the story... the one man 01:20:24 that he called me. He was watching the Super Bowl. 01:20:26 I'll make these quick. Watching the Super Bowl. 01:20:29 He loved sports; that's what he lived for. 01:20:31 Had a big satellite dish to watch. Half-way through 01:20:34 the Super Bowl the dish breaks down. 01:20:38 It sticks, and he can't get anything to come back on. 01:20:43 He shuts it off; turns it back on... 01:20:45 it comes on to 3ABN. 01:20:48 He is really angry now because this is Super Bowl. 01:20:51 He's waited the whole year. So finally he goes and 01:20:55 listens to it on the radio. 01:20:57 Tells his wife: "Get... " They live out in the country. 01:20:59 "Get somebody out here and fix this! " 01:21:01 So six weeks later he writes me a letter 01:21:04 then I end up talking to him. And he says: 01:21:06 "So I come home every night and I'm a couch potato. 01:21:09 I have a six-pack of beer; I have my cigarettes 01:21:11 and I just go from one... That's why I got satellite. 01:21:14 one sports channel to the other. 01:21:16 Now I come home... My wife... " I said: 01:21:18 'Is the guy coming? ' She said: 'It's going to be 01:21:20 at least two weeks. ' " We had bad weather 01:21:22 and they'd had a lightning strike 01:21:23 and so "he's gonna have to order a part. 01:21:26 It's gonna be a couple more weeks. " 01:21:28 So several weeks went by 01:21:32 and he said: "I'd sit back 01:21:34 and just turn it on 'cause I'm a creature of habit. 01:21:37 And I made fun of everybody on there. " 01:21:40 "I'd look at their hair... " So I started acting sheepish... 01:21:43 "I'd look at their hair and I'd look at this about them 01:21:46 and I'd look at this and I'd make fun of them. " 01:21:48 But by the end of six weeks 01:21:51 he had written us and said: "Praise God that my satellite 01:21:54 dish stuck on 3ABN 01:21:56 'cause I'm going to an Adventist church for the first time. " 01:21:58 I've seen it over and over. The guy in Kentucky 01:22:01 who had... he has a cul-de-sac. He lives out 01:22:04 in the country and he has people driving in 01:22:09 his driveway and he has flowers, everything all around it. 01:22:12 He's so happy about that but he gets upset when people 01:22:16 drive in so he puts in his driveway a sign: 01:22:19 Do not enter; no trespassing. 01:22:22 You know... four different signs he had: Do Not Enter. 01:22:25 So he said... Watching 3ABN 01:22:27 he finally decided to give his heart to Jesus 01:22:30 but he looked in the phone book for an Adventist church. 01:22:33 Couldn't find one. 01:22:34 So he said: "The first time ever I kneeled down to pray 01:22:37 and I said: 'Lord, I don't know how to contact 01:22:41 an Adventist church or Adventists. If You want me to be 01:22:46 a Seventh-day Adventist You'll have to send somebody to me. ' " 01:22:48 He said: "I'm praying and then I hear the roar 01:22:51 of like a big truck. It makes me immediately angry 01:22:54 and I quit my prayer because I say 01:22:56 'There is not room for any big truck, and why would 01:22:59 a truck drive in here when I've got all the Keep Out 01:23:03 posted signs? ' " So basically he said: 01:23:06 "I didn't know, I hadn't talked to the Lord that much. 01:23:08 I said: 'Excuse me; I'll be back. ' " 01:23:11 So he says: "I go to the window; 01:23:13 I pull the curtains open. 01:23:15 When I pull it open there is, sure enough, a big truck 01:23:18 but on the side it says SDA Community Services. " 01:23:23 Now he said: "Lord, You'll have to send somebody to me. " 01:23:25 Put it on the screen. 01:23:28 Put it on the screen and I want you to say it. 01:23:29 Let me hear you. 01:23:36 It happens over and over. 01:23:38 A lady called in from Washington state. 01:23:40 She was so excited. She said: "I have been praying, 01:23:43 praying for how to study Revelation 01:23:47 and today I turned on 3ABN, a channel I'd never seen before. 01:23:52 And they advertised I can get free Revelation seminars. " 01:23:57 So my cousin answered the phone and he said 01:24:01 to her: "Oh, where do you live? " 01:24:02 And she told him where she lived 01:24:05 and he said: "Oh, how did? Do you have a satellite dish? " 01:24:07 She said: No! I just turned on my TV 01:24:10 and it was there. I've never seen the channel before 01:24:13 today but it's there. " And so he looked 01:24:15 at our downlinks and he said: "Ma'am, you couldn't be getting 01:24:18 3ABN. You're not within 100 miles of any of our stations. 01:24:23 It couldn't just come... " She said: "Sir, 01:24:24 how do you think I got the number to call you? " 01:24:26 She said... which doesn't make us feel too smart. 01:24:30 But what happened is... So I went on the air 01:24:33 that night and I said: "Please call in 01:24:35 if there are any... " She gave the town where she lived. 01:24:38 I said: "Any Adventist women out here that you want to go 01:24:41 meet somebody and give them Bible studies. " 01:24:43 She never got the channel again. 01:24:45 She got it that day. Four women called in 01:24:48 and went to visit her, and she ended up being baptized 01:24:50 into the Seventh-day Adventist church. 01:24:52 We see it over and over. People listening on radio. 01:24:55 Years ago a guy in Denver. I almost did the same thing. 01:24:58 We have no radio station. He said: "Oh I love 3ABN! 01:25:00 I listen to it every day on my way to work. " 01:25:03 I'm like: "Where do you live? " "Denver. " 01:25:05 I'm like: "We don't have any radio stations out there. " 01:25:07 He said: "Apparently you do. " 01:25:09 So, you know, you feel about this big. 01:25:12 So over and over and over. 01:25:14 Then I can tell you about lives being changed. 01:25:17 We were out in Medford, Oregon. 01:25:21 I believe it was Medford. Out, Bruce, your church. 01:25:23 We were there, and E.T. Everett was with us, 01:25:26 and we did a service that evening. There were two people 01:25:29 came in. They sat on the front row. 01:25:31 And so both of them... I noticed the man and wife 01:25:35 cried nearly the whole service. 01:25:37 As we talked about the Lord they were crying. 01:25:39 So afterwards I had to shake hands with people 01:25:41 so I said to E.T. Everett, I said: "E.T., why don't you go 01:25:44 talk to those people, see what's the deal? " 01:25:46 She spend about an hour with them and afterwards 01:25:49 she said they went into a side room 01:25:51 and the lady said: "I was raised in a family of witches 01:25:55 and I'm a witch. " She said: 01:25:57 "My health got really bad; I'm way overweight. 01:25:59 I've got diabetes; my heart is bad 01:26:02 and they told me I probably wouldn't live that much 01:26:04 longer. " So she said: "I was going to the doctor... " 01:26:08 and she said: "I was sitting in the doctor's office 01:26:10 and some people were there. And one of them said: 01:26:13 "Well I've been watching 3ABN; 01:26:15 they've got good health programs. " 01:26:16 She said: "What's 3ABN? " 01:26:17 "Oh it's a TV station. " So she said: "Oh. " 01:26:20 So she said: "I didn't watch it. " 01:26:22 Next week or two I go back to the doctor 01:26:24 sitting in there. Different people. 01:26:26 And someone said: "Boy, if you watch 3ABN 01:26:29 they've got some good... " So she said: "I'm going to go 01:26:31 home and watch it. " Now she said: "I had already 01:26:34 made up my mind that I was going to kill my husband 01:26:37 and my daughter before I died. I didn't want them 01:26:40 to become Christians so I wanted to make sure they... 01:26:44 they are with me. " She said: "We went to church; 01:26:47 we had our own little church. 01:26:48 We sang out of hymnals but we sang to the devil. " 01:26:51 So she said: "Here I'm ready to do this 01:26:54 and I turn on 3ABN. Someone was reading the Bible. 01:26:58 You know how we have different people - 01:27:00 Kelly Mowrer, others - 01:27:01 will just read. She said: "They were reading the Bible" 01:27:03 and she said: "Within seconds, it seemed like less 01:27:07 than a minute, I found myself prostrate 01:27:09 before the Lord on my face and asked Jesus 01:27:12 into my heart. " And she and her husband 01:27:16 she said were converted. The first time 01:27:19 they'd ever been in a SDA church was when we were there 01:27:22 that night. We've seen that over and over. 01:27:24 I went to Green Bay, Wisconsin. 01:27:26 People came up to me afterwards and they said: 01:27:28 "We wanted to talk to you. It's the first time 01:27:30 we've been to an Adventist church. " 01:27:32 He said: "I run a porn magazine 01:27:35 and my wife is a madam and has a lot of prostitutes. " 01:27:39 And he said: "We went on vacation 01:27:41 and we were gone for several weeks. 01:27:44 I came home, and my cable bill hadn't been paid 01:27:46 so they shut my cable off. " 01:27:48 So in Green Bay, " he said, "I'm a creature of habit. " 01:27:51 Like the other folk. "About midnight I turn on the TV 01:27:54 and I can't get my cable... it's gone. " 01:27:57 So he said: "The only thing I have is rabbit ears. 01:27:59 The only channel I could get... " I think it's channel 57 01:28:03 "was 3ABN. " 01:28:06 So he said: "I started watching it. 01:28:07 I was hating every minute of it 01:28:09 then Elder John Carter came on. " 01:28:12 And he said: 01:28:17 "Jesus loves you... He died for you, 01:28:21 He made a plan of salvation for you. 01:28:24 He's coming back for you very soon. 01:28:27 It's no coincidence you're watching this channel 01:28:30 right now. God is speaking to you. " 01:28:34 He said: "I immediately fell on my face before God. 01:28:37 I asked God to come into my heart. 01:28:39 I confessed my sins. I was so excited! 01:28:42 I felt a peace I'd never felt in years. 01:28:45 I was so excited that I woke my wife up. " 01:28:50 Now she's a Satanist and a madam. 01:28:54 "So I wake my wife up and she said: 'Why are you 01:28:56 waking me up at 2 in the morning? ' He said: 01:28:59 "I'm so excited I've gotta talk to you. " 01:29:01 "What's going on? " He said: 01:29:02 "I just gave my heart to the Lord. " 01:29:05 She said: "What? " 01:29:06 He said: "I just gave my heart to the Lord 01:29:08 and I want you to. " 01:29:10 He told me... she was sitting there... 01:29:13 he said: "She became so angry it's like the devil was just 01:29:18 in her and so angry" that he said: "I was a brand new 01:29:21 Christian but I started casting the demon out of her. " 01:29:24 He said: "I've got to get rid of this devil 01:29:27 in her 'cause I'm afraid it'll do me a lot of harm. " 01:29:30 She was upset but after a number of weeks 01:29:32 we interviewed them. Some of you may have seen the interview 01:29:35 several years ago. Both of them gave their heart 01:29:37 to the Lord. Now, is that coincidence 01:29:39 or divine providence? See, God knows 01:29:43 those who are looking for truth long before they do. 01:29:45 Amen! So that's no accident. 01:29:47 Put it up on the screen one more time. Read it for me: 01:29:57 I mean, is this incredible or what? 01:29:59 Amen! Is this incredible? 01:30:01 That's why I can never be discouraged 01:30:04 at 3ABN... I can never be discouraged. 01:30:06 I could literally sit here for hours - stand here 01:30:09 for hours - tell you stories that many of you probably 01:30:12 have never heard, miracle stories, 01:30:14 that God's in the business of saving souls. 01:30:17 Amen! And that He allows us the privilege 01:30:20 of working in His vineyard with Him. 01:30:23 All we have to do is be faithful to the mission 01:30:26 that He's given us. And the trouble is is that we're not. 01:30:30 But I want to read, and we're going to close here 01:30:32 in just a few minutes. Revelation 14:12, 01:30:34 you know it by heart many of you. 01:30:36 "Here is the patience of the saints... " Say it with me: 01:30:40 "Here are they that keep the commandments of God 01:30:42 and the faith of Jesus. " 01:30:47 I want to tell you something: the devil is working hard 01:30:51 to distract Seventh-day Adventist Christians 01:30:54 from the mission to take the three angels' messages 01:30:58 to the world. Amen. He's never worked harder. 01:31:01 And I can tell you that with calm assurance 01:31:04 because we've never been closer to the second coming. 01:31:07 Amen! 01:31:08 Right? We've never been closer to the second coming. 01:31:11 So the devil is doing more now, fighting harder than ever before 01:31:16 to distract us, to get our minds on anything except the mission 01:31:21 that God has given us as a people and as a church. 01:31:24 That's why there's so many problems. 01:31:28 And I don't... I didn't want to do this. 01:31:31 I asked God while ago. I was in the back room 01:31:33 getting ready and I said: "Deliver me from this. 01:31:36 I don't want to say this. " And I wasn't going to say it 01:31:39 but I'm going to go ahead and say it. 01:31:40 All right? We're about over so if you walk out 01:31:43 you've heard most of it anyway. 01:31:45 But the devil is doing 01:31:48 things that he should never be getting away... 01:31:51 If we were focused on Jesus, on our mission, 01:31:54 he could never divide us. 01:31:56 We're seeing a divided church. 01:31:58 We see a divided country. And I have seen - 01:32:00 and this is what I didn't want to talk about - 01:32:02 'cause I'll tell you right now I'm independent. 01:32:04 I'm not a Democrat or Republican. 01:32:06 But I have seen politics divide our church and church members. 01:32:11 Politics do it, literally. 01:32:14 And you go on Facebook and like all of these SDA's 01:32:18 are saying all this stuff that the public can hear 01:32:21 around the world. 01:32:23 And I see it on both sides of the aisle 01:32:25 so I can sit here and say it. 01:32:27 But to me I don't know how any of us 01:32:29 can align ourselves with earthy politics. 01:32:34 You can't do it. 01:32:35 Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't vote 01:32:37 from time to time. 01:32:38 But I'm saying you can't be a card-carrying 01:32:40 or one of these supporters that no matter what 01:32:43 somebody does it's all OK. 01:32:45 We have to be separate! 01:32:47 We have people right now in our church 01:32:49 that are card-carrying Democrats for instance 01:32:52 when their policy is same-sex marriage - 01:32:55 they made it law of the land - and abortion. 01:32:58 And yet we're Seventh-day Adventists 01:33:00 and we tell everybody: "Well, you've got to keep 01:33:02 all of the commandments of God" 01:33:03 but yet we support these others. 01:33:05 And you know how we do it? "Well I hate President Trump 01:33:09 so bad that... I hate him so bad that I've joined 01:33:15 the Democratic party 'cause I hate what he does. " 01:33:17 That would be like me saying: "Boy, I'll tell you what: 01:33:20 I've got a black neighbor next door and I just can't stand him 01:33:23 so much I'm going to join the KKK. " 01:33:25 Right? 'Cause I have a black neighbor. 01:33:27 Makes no sense. Two wrongs don't make a right. 01:33:30 Then on the other hand you've got the Republicans. 01:33:32 On the Republican side we have to be aware 01:33:37 as Seventh-day Adventist Christians 01:33:39 that though they're not out openly condemning 01:33:42 or breaking... telling same-sex marriage, 01:33:46 the seventh commandment, abortion "Thou shalt not kill, " 01:33:51 not doing that they are more likely... 01:33:54 this party is more likely to bring in a national Sunday law. 01:33:57 Because now we're all convinced and the president, 01:34:00 they have such influence over the president, 01:34:03 and there's a big thing going on right now 01:34:05 with some of the major speakers. I mentioned it the other night 01:34:09 out in Arizona. A thirty-three member church 01:34:11 and a pastor is teaching you all the commandments are 01:34:14 done away with. Then other Sunday pastors 01:34:17 in big churches and networks are saying: 01:34:19 "That's not true. " Well, look at Matthew. 01:34:21 It says: "I come not to destroy the law nor the prophets 01:34:24 but to fulfill them. " And I'm like: 01:34:26 "These are Sunday folk arguing over the Ten Commandments. " 01:34:29 Right now, folks, we have to be focused 01:34:32 on loving Jesus and loving people. Amen! 01:34:35 We cannot align ourselves with earthly politics. 01:34:39 To have our favorites or say "I support this 01:34:42 more than that. " We live in an evil world 01:34:44 and nobody's going to be perfect. But let's be careful 01:34:47 and not put so much time into politics 01:34:50 and put more time into Jesus and spreading the gospel 01:34:53 to the world. Because whichever side you're on 01:34:56 is not going to be right. 01:34:57 It's not going to hold up; it's not going to stand the test 01:35:00 of what it means to be a true Christian. 01:35:02 So enough said about that. I didn't want to say that 01:35:05 but I did... it's there. 01:35:07 So it's there. Somebody said: "I'm glad you did" 01:35:10 and 400 others didn't say anything. 01:35:12 So it's all right... I'm with you; I'm with you. 01:35:15 That's all right. That one's OK. That's all I needed. 01:35:17 That's all I needed. 01:35:19 But I want to tell you in closing 01:35:24 that God is faithful - Amen - 01:35:37 If you can understand that 01:35:39 and get that in your mind and you believe it, 01:35:44 I promise you you'll be a giant for the Lord - 01:35:47 Amen - in these closing moments of earth's history. 01:35:50 You will not be sidetracked from the mission 01:35:53 and the message that God has given us. 01:35:56 The last thing you want to be 01:35:59 and not do it right in the clos- ing moments of earth's history 01:36:03 is to be a SDA Christian that doesn't make it 01:36:07 to the kingdom of heaven. 01:36:09 As I mentioned earlier: "To much is given 01:36:11 much is required. " Folks, we can't just sit by 01:36:14 and do nothing. That's why these projects like 01:36:16 sending the Ten Commandments to Alabama... 01:36:19 We're living in an incredible time. 01:36:21 Think about that: an incredible time 01:36:23 where they're voting on putting the Ten Commandments back 01:36:26 in Alabama into the state house, into the government. 01:36:29 Five million people... all eyes on the law of God. 01:36:32 We can't sit back and do nothing. 01:36:33 That's why we're sending over half a million books 01:36:36 already getting ready to be mailed there. 01:36:39 Another half million are being printed 01:36:41 because we want everybody in Alabama to decide 01:36:44 for themselves - Amen - what day they should keep 01:36:46 and if they should keep the law of God. 01:36:48 And we're asking you to support us and to join us in that. 01:36:51 What I'm going to do: I'm going to ask Yvonne to come out 01:36:54 and Tim's here at the piano. 01:36:56 And I want her to sing for us 01:36:59 and then we want to have a closing prayer. 01:37:00 I want you to think about your life 01:37:02 and your relationship with Jesus Christ 01:37:05 and your commitment to Him. 01:37:08 Are you willing to give up 01:37:12 things of this earth? 01:37:15 Will they grow strangely dim 01:37:17 in the light of Christ's glory and grace? 01:37:19 Are you willing to allow that to happen? 01:37:21 Are the things of earth that you once loved 01:37:23 are you now beginning to hate? 01:37:26 God has a plan, and He's called each and every one of us 01:37:30 to do a great and mighty, marvelous work. 01:37:33 And that's simply to rightly represent Him 01:37:35 and His character before a lost and dying world. 01:37:38 And we can always know that God is faithful, 01:37:41 He's always there, He's on time, 01:37:43 and He will never fail. 01:37:55 How can I say thanks 01:38:02 for the things 01:38:06 You've done for me? 01:38:10 Things so undeserved 01:38:16 yet You gave 01:38:18 to prove Your love for me. 01:38:23 The voices 01:38:26 of a million angels 01:38:30 could not express 01:38:33 my gratitude. 01:38:37 All that I am 01:38:41 or ever hope to be... 01:38:47 I owe it all to Thee. 01:38:55 To God 01:38:57 be the glory! 01:39:02 To God 01:39:04 be the glory! 01:39:09 To God 01:39:11 be the glory 01:39:15 for the things He has done! 01:39:22 With His blood 01:39:25 He has saved me; 01:39:29 With His power 01:39:32 He has raised me; 01:39:36 To God 01:39:39 be the glory 01:39:43 for the things He has done! 01:39:49 With His blood 01:39:52 Jesus saved me; 01:39:56 With His power 01:39:58 He has raised me; 01:40:03 To God 01:40:06 be the glory 01:40:10 for the things 01:40:13 for the things He has done! 01:40:18 Great 01:40:20 is Thy faithfulness! 01:40:25 Great is 01:40:28 Thy faithfulness! 01:40:32 Morning by morning 01:40:37 new mercies I see! 01:40:45 All I have needed 01:40:50 Thy hands have provided... 01:40:55 Great is Thy faithfulness... 01:41:04 Great is Thy 01:41:07 faithfulness 01:41:12 Lord 01:41:15 unto 01:41:19 me! 01:41:31 Amen! Come over here... that's too much! 01:41:34 We only have just a minute left 01:41:38 and I'm going to ask you, Yvonne, to say a closing prayer. 01:41:41 It's my prayer that each and every one of us... 01:41:43 You take this time... we're here at Camp Meeting. 01:41:46 And if you need somebody to pray with you, 01:41:48 you're here in the valley of decision, 01:41:50 come and talk to some of us. You know those who are here 01:41:52 that are willing to pray with you. 01:41:54 We care about you; we love you. 01:41:55 Stay focused to the mission and remember that God is faithful. 01:41:59 Right? He's always there on time! 01:42:03 He'll never leave us... He'll never forsake us 01:42:07 and He never fails! 01:42:11 Lord, we just thank You. 01:42:13 We just praise You for Your faithfulness. 01:42:16 Help us never to forget how faithful You are. 01:42:19 Keep it in the forefront of our minds, Lord God. 01:42:23 Help us to always be grateful 01:42:26 for what You do because You're always on time. 01:42:29 You're always there for us and You will never, ever fail us. 01:42:34 So help us to continue to stay strong in You 01:42:37 and, Lord, continue to guide and direct us 01:42:41 as we prepare for You second coming. 01:42:44 Help us to be ready and help us to all be there. 01:42:47 Everyone that's in this room, Lord. Help us to be together - 01:42:51 Amen - on the sea of glass to worship You forever. 01:42:55 In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen! |
Revised 2019-01-29