Participants: Kevin Sears
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000989
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01:01 Good morning ASI. Good morning ASI.
01:06 I know its morning. What a privilege it is 01:09 for me to be here, you know, I am over the last 01:12 few years I've been up on the ASI platform, 01:17 usually on Friday nights and I am very much 01:19 looking forward to this Friday night seeing the 01:22 youth for Jesus program and the testimonies. 01:27 I want to thank Lisa for that introduction, 01:29 boy I almost starting crying back there, 01:32 it's a little early for that. Before we begin 01:36 I like to have a quick word of pray with you again 01:39 and then we'll get right into the talk for this 01:42 morning. Father in heaven, what an 01:45 incredible privilege it is to be here to speak to 01:47 your people, to speak to such a powerful 01:52 organization working for you. Lord, you know the 01:58 desires of my heart through this talk this morning. 02:02 Father, I pray that not one person here would 02:05 see me in this testimony but they would see 02:09 how incredible you are. Father, bless us, 02:13 send your Holy Spirit in Jesus name, Amen. 02:16 Turn with me in your Bibles if you have them 02:19 to Acts chapter 26, I gonna try and move quickly 02:22 this morning through this, I just wanna share so much 02:26 with you but I know I only have approximately 02:29 50 minutes or so. Acts chapter 26, beginning in 02:36 verse 16, But rise, and stand on your feet, 02:39 for I have appeared to you for this purpose, 02:41 to make you a minister and a witness both of 02:44 the things which you have seen, and of the things 02:48 which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you 02:52 from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles, 02:54 to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, 02:58 in order to turn them from darkness to light 03:01 and from the power of Satan to God that they 03:05 may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance 03:10 among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. 03:15 As I read this later on after I was converted, 03:20 I saw that this is what happened to me. 03:26 At some point in our lives, God is going to 03:31 orchestrate. He is going to allow circumstances 03:35 in you life to take place so that you can come 03:39 face to face with him. This is exactly what happened 03:43 with me and I am going to begin from the beginning 03:46 and I am going to try and move quickly. 03:47 When I was born now as Lisa told you I'm from the 03:52 Boston area, I lived all around Boston, 03:55 I figured it out I was, had lived in 13 cities around 03:59 Boston before I was in the 6th grade. 04:01 We moved a lot. I was born to two parents that 04:05 married very young, I was the middle child of three. 04:09 I have an older sister and a younger brother. 04:11 And my parents married very young. 04:14 My mom was 16 and my dad I think was 18, 04:19 I can't remember exactly. When they got married 04:23 they were, they lived a lifestyle that would 04:28 work with go along with what he did for work. 04:32 He was a rock n roll musician, my father. 04:35 He played a bass guitar and he was a singer 04:38 and he played the harmonica for a group 04:40 called J. Geils. Now, some of you older folks may 04:44 have heard of J. Geils they made it big. 04:47 They began in the 60s and made it big in the, 04:50 really big in the 80s with a couple albums. 04:52 My father was not a part of that group at the time 04:55 they made it big. And so with the rock n roll comes 05:00 the lifestyle of rock n roll and so the drugs and the 05:05 alcohol were a big part of my parent's marriage 05:10 and with that it's the recipe for a broken home. 05:14 And so my, both my parents were addicted to heroin. 05:18 They would shoot heroin into their veins. 05:21 They were alcoholics, they smoked, they did 05:24 whatever, as matter of fact they led a life of 05:27 crime for a little while as well. I remember some 05:32 years when I was older before I was converted 05:34 I had found some old newspaper clippings 05:38 that my mother had and in it, was the headline 05:43 news for that day. From a newspaper from Lexington, 05:47 Massachusetts, the largest heroin bust in the country 05:52 and my father was in the list of names that were 05:57 arrested for that, that very large heroin bust. 06:01 So, as life went on my parents, obviously in 06:07 that type of lifestyle. My parents eventually 06:10 split up. My mother was very beautiful 06:13 and there was a lot of men coming around 06:15 a lot of times and I'm not sure why they split off, 06:19 they never divorced, they were separated 06:21 throughout my entire life from very young. 06:26 And I was probably, I'm guessing about 06:28 4 years old when they, 4 or 5 when they split up 06:31 and of course this is always very difficult 06:34 for children when parents split up and I remember 06:37 an argument they were having in the kitchen one 06:39 time and they were literally pulling me, 06:42 you know, Kevin's gonna come with me, 06:44 no he is gonna come with me. No, let's ask Kevin 06:46 who do you wanna go with? I mean how do you 06:49 ask your child that? And that so this began another 06:53 portion of our lives as children. My father had 06:57 left and I believe it was because mom was 07:02 unfaithful, because there was always men around 07:05 and my father loved her very much, and there were 07:09 still addicted to heroin. When my father left he 07:12 decided he wanted to clean his act up and get 07:16 rid of the drugs and alcohol in this life and so 07:18 he began that process. My mother on the other hand 07:21 who had custody of us, was still doing drugs and 07:25 I remember at one point she decided she wanted 07:29 to try and kick the habit of heroin. 07:31 So, back in those days this is the early 70s 07:33 you would go to these clinics that they had set 07:36 up for heroin abuse and you would go to this clinic 07:39 and they would give you another drug called 07:41 Methadone. It was a red liquid and you would drink 07:44 it and it was supposed to help you with the addiction 07:46 of heroin. Now, they understand today 07:48 that it helps you with the addiction of heroin 07:50 because you become addicted to the Methadone 07:52 instead. And so I remember we would drive in to this 07:55 clinic often, sometimes with my father, 07:57 sometimes with my mother. And one evening we were 08:02 driving with my mother and she was driving, 08:05 my little brother was an infant on the front seat. 08:07 I was sitting behind my mother on the back seat. 08:11 My sister to the right of me and I kept sitting 08:13 up on the seat, and she kept saying Kevin sit back, 08:15 sit back, sit back and finally I sat back and as 08:18 soon as I did I fell asleep. The next thing 08:21 I remember was the police pulling us out of the car, 08:25 out of a river, out of the Charles River. 08:27 As soon as I had fallen asleep my mother passed 08:30 out behind the wheel. She veered off the side of 08:33 the road in a section of the Charles River where 08:35 they don't have railings or anything, we hit a tree, 08:39 Praise the Lord and we rolled into the river. 08:42 And I'm skipping a lot there was a lot of 08:45 spiritualism in my family. My parents were very 08:48 intrigued by spiritualism and earlier that day, 08:52 my mother and I broke into somebody's house. 08:56 These people next to us who were hippies. 08:59 They were, you know, those kind of the, they 09:01 had still the hippie era, kind of coming out of that, 09:04 and they were hippies, they were a rock band 09:07 and I was very intrigued by them, and they were 09:10 devil worshipers and I remember I snuck into their 09:14 basement one time with my friend and they had 09:16 coffins down there and of course little kids we're 09:18 freaked out, would ran upstairs, I ran out to my 09:21 house and tell my mother and so she was intrigued. 09:24 Well, that morning I was out playing on my big wheel. 09:29 Do they still big wheels today? I still love my big 09:32 wheel and so I was playing on my big wheel 09:35 and all of a sudden these hippies coming running 09:38 out of their house like they just saw a ghost. 09:40 They jumped in their van and they screeched off. 09:43 I ran and I told my mother and so she said come on, 09:46 so we, we she took me in the house and sure enough 09:49 they left everything and we went into the living room. 09:52 And they had a podium in the living room and on it, 09:57 I am not sure I believe it was the satanic Bible, 09:59 it looks like a Bible it was black leather, but it was 10:02 not a Bible and they had chairs set up in their living 10:06 room where they would have these services 10:09 worshiping the devil. I remember going up stairs 10:12 and we went in a room and they had a little table 10:15 set up with a black cloth over it and they had 10:17 candles light and there was all kinds of demon stuff 10:20 around and witchcraft books and so something 10:24 happened in their service and they got frightened 10:27 and ran off. Well, that evening is when we got 10:29 into the car wreck and its very interesting, 10:33 the tree that we hit as we found out later and still 10:38 to this day has a satanic symbol on it, one that my 10:42 mother and father had seen in a book. 10:44 My mother told me recently when I was 10:46 talking to her about this last year. She said, Kevin 10:48 not only that but when I was in the hospital the 10:51 engine ended up on my mother's lap, 10:54 she broke her legs, her back, her neck. 10:56 She was out of service for a while. She said while 11:00 I was in the hospital, your father came to see me 11:02 and he was looking at the marks on my leg 11:06 and there was a satanic symbol on my knee, 11:10 a scar that we had just seen in a book in Harvard 11:14 square that intrigued us. And so this went on, 11:17 so now this car accident happens, my mom has 11:21 custody of us. Now, back then the department 11:26 of youth services they were, a lot of things got 11:28 swept under the carpet and they didn't give 11:31 a lot of rights to the father usually in a 11:34 situation like this. So, my mom still had custody 11:37 of us while she was in the hospital for a few months. 11:40 And we had caretakers come, the state provided 11:43 to kind of raise us for a few months and that 11:48 went well I guess we survived through it 11:50 and then it was time for my mom to come home, 11:54 but she was still laid up in bed. She was bedridden, 11:57 and they were still giving her drugs. 11:59 They had her pumped up on morphine, 12:01 and whenever she would come around, 12:04 she would wake up and she would take more drugs 12:07 for the pain and she would call the taxi company 12:11 and have them deliver her a bottle of vodka. 12:13 She was still drinking. And so the taxi company 12:17 would come by and drop off the bottle of vodka. 12:19 Well, while this was taking place there was one taxi 12:22 driver that took a liking to her. And one thing led 12:25 to another and they began I guess you would say 12:28 dating and when my mother was well enough 12:32 to get out of bed and walk around then they decided 12:36 it would be best for us to move in with her boyfriend. 12:39 Now, that's something normal these days and 12:43 it wasn't so normal back then but the abnormal part 12:47 was we moved in with, it was my mother, 12:49 myself and my brother and sister. 12:51 We moved in with her boyfriend, 12:53 her boyfriend's wife and his kids. 12:56 And so we're living in a place called Charlestown. 13:00 If you know the Boston area, Charlestown is 13:03 a kind of historic, the Charlestown monument 13:07 through the battles there. Well, Charlestown was 13:11 more notorious for Bostonians for being 13:14 a place riddled with crime, organized crime from 13:18 the Irish mafia and drugs and these types of things. 13:23 So we move into these projects. The Bunker Hill 13:26 projects named after the Bunker Hill monument 13:29 and these were rough, rough projects. 13:32 Now, we were kids that had never been exposed 13:35 to these types of things. We had always 13:37 lived in decent areas up until this point. 13:40 My mother's father always provided funds 13:44 for us to live in a decent place even though they 13:47 were wasting a lot of money on drugs. 13:49 At this point we moved into these projects 13:51 and I remember the very first day we were there, 13:53 a gang of ladies or I should say women jumped 13:57 my sister, they was about 10 of them and they beat 14:00 her really bad and that was kind of the initiation 14:02 into this new neighborhood, 14:04 and so we, this began a chapter in our lives that 14:07 was, that was very dark. Her boyfriend, 14:10 my mom's boyfriend was an alcoholic and he was a 14:12 violent alcoholic and he would get drunk and then 14:16 he would get violent and turn that on us kids, 14:20 my bother and sister and myself. 14:22 And mainly on my brother, and on myself 14:26 as well but the brunt of the abuse was on my little 14:30 brother. My little brother was the cutest little 14:32 kid ever, blonde, blond hair, big blue eyes and 14:37 he didn't like that apparently. So, as 14:40 we were living with them for this period, 14:42 I remember we would go hungry. We literally would 14:46 be starving, they would spend all their money on 14:49 alcohol and they would eat, of course, 14:52 they would eat like kings and but they would never 14:54 feed us. And so I remember being starving 14:59 and my mother's boyfriend had a daughter that was 15:03 my age, and we used to hang around. So we went 15:06 out one day and we decided we were gonna try 15:09 and find a way to eat and so this began my career 15:14 as I walked into a supermarket chain 15:17 that I don't know, yeah, I guess they're still around, 15:20 Stop and Shop, I walked in there and I decided 15:23 I was gonna steal some food to eat and you know, 15:27 I was a little kid and what would you steal if your 15:31 a little kid hungry you went into a supermarket, 15:33 may be candy bars or something right, no, no, 15:36 no that stuff is bad for you. The very first thing 15:38 I stole was a coconut. Could you imagine? 15:43 Now, I'm starving half to death and I steal a 15:47 coconut. What on the world are you gonna 15:49 do with a coconut? It took me like hours to 15:51 get this thing open. Finally I am like 15:53 smashed it on a brick and like after about a 15:55 100 times I think smashed and we lost all the coconut 15:58 milk and then it's tough to eat anyway and so 16:03 I learned very quickly, you know to get a little 16:05 wiser in my selection of food and so I began 16:08 stealing every single day. I was in the supermarket 16:11 it was only the hand of God that was winking 16:15 at my ignorance that protected me because 16:17 I was in that supermarket 2 to 3 times a day. 16:20 I just walk in, pick stuff out and walk out. 16:22 And no one even looked at me twice, and so 16:26 I began eating like this and this was a pretty 16:29 good career for me if I wanted to eat. 16:31 Until one day my partner in crime got caught, 16:36 and she had gone alone, I didn't know she went 16:39 and I came home and her father was in the window 16:42 waiting for me and I knew I was in trouble. 16:43 He said, Kevin come on up here, we need to talk 16:47 and right then I knew exactly what happened 16:49 she had got caught and told on me and so 16:52 I went up there and I took the beating and so 16:57 this ended my career as a thief and so I had to 17:00 find another way of finding food and so one afternoon 17:05 I was walking down the street and I saw some 17:08 food in an open trash can and I thought well 17:11 that looks pretty good and so I took it and I ate it 17:15 and I thought wow! This is pretty good in these 17:18 trash cans, there's plenty of food and so every day 17:21 I would go out and I would dig through the people's 17:23 trash like a homeless person would, and that's 17:27 how I would eat and I didn't think anything of it. 17:29 I thought this was normal until one day, 17:33 I was across the street from my house and 17:36 I was sitting inside of a dumpster and I had found 17:40 this big aluminum foil and opened it up and there 17:43 was a big piece of steak. Now, I wasn't an Adventist 17:47 at that point and it was a big piece of medium rare 17:51 steak and a big potato, and man it was good, 17:54 it wasn't bad. And so I began eating it and as 17:58 I am sitting in this dumpster eating, 18:00 a young adult came in and he went to throw a bag 18:04 at trash in that dumpster and he saw me in there, 18:06 and he was horrified and the look that I saw in his 18:11 face made me realize that this is not normal, 18:14 not normal and so I stopped stealing food, 18:19 growing up we never, I was the child that parents 18:25 would tell their kids do not hang around with him. 18:28 You can't because we were out of control. 18:31 I didn't have to go to school if I didn't want to. 18:33 I very rarely remember ever bathing as a child 18:39 and so I was that child, I'm sure I probably smelled 18:42 horrendous, I was always dirty. I was that one that 18:46 your parents would tell you, you don't hang around 18:49 with that person, with that child. So, this went 18:53 on for a while, the abuse got worse and worse, 18:56 at one point my little brother got caught 19:00 stealing a little box of Kellogg's cereal, 19:03 you know those eight packs of the Kellogg's cereal. 19:06 Well, he stole it out of the kitchen we had to steal 19:10 in our own house to eat and he got caught and so 19:13 my mother's boyfriend beat him severely. 19:17 So bad that he almost killed him. And so they decided, 19:21 they couldn't take him to the hospital because then 19:24 it would come to be known what happened. 19:27 So, they just locked him in the bedroom for weeks, 19:31 and during this time my grandmother, 19:33 my father's mother was meeting up with us 19:35 secretly and she would give us some encouragement. 19:39 She would take us like to McDonald's and we loved 19:42 that and she would let us know that my father was 19:46 had cleaned up his act and he's trying to custody 19:48 of us and to hang on because they're working 19:52 on this. And I remember one day during this two 19:54 week period my brother had been almost killed. 19:57 He had been locked in a room at this point for 20:00 two weeks and we met with my grandmother 20:02 and she said Kevin, when you go home today get 20:05 your stuff ready we're coming to get you. 20:09 And I remember I went back to the house and this was, 20:14 I had mixed feeling, mixed emotions, 20:18 we were so happy to get out of there, but we were 20:20 so sad we had to leave my mother and I remember 20:24 I was in the living room and the police came 20:27 and when the police came and knocked on your door 20:29 in the projects you knew it was the police. 20:31 They just had a special way they knocked. 20:33 They knocked on the door and all the adults threw 20:36 the vodka underneath the coach and tried to 20:38 straighten up and they answered the door and 20:40 sure enough it was the department of youth 20:43 with the police officer, two police officers, 20:46 with the paper work and said, we're taking these 20:49 children out of here and it was one of the happiest 20:51 days in my life. Although, it was sad. 20:54 So, we began living with my father and my father 20:58 had kicked the habit of heroin and alcohol 21:00 but he was very sick always, since I can remember, 21:06 he had contacted hepatitis through using a dirty 21:10 needle, using heroin and the hepatitis led to 21:15 different elements as well eventually to cirrhosis of 21:19 the liver and so he's always in and out the 21:22 hospital. Now, my father and I got very close. 21:24 I was the oldest boy and we did a lot of things 21:27 together when he felt up to it, and in the city 21:32 where we were living was Summerville, Massachusetts. 21:34 Now, that whole area of Boston is basically run by 21:37 Mafia either Italian Mafia or Irish Mafia just to give 21:41 you an example, a lot of the bar rooms, lot of the 21:45 liquid stores are Irish mob owned, 21:48 the Italian restaurants and night clubs are Italian 21:51 mob owned, and so it's all over the place, 21:54 so you grow up with that. Now, I had become a boxer. 21:59 My father loved the sport of boxing and I wanted 22:03 to make him proud and we were pretty close. 22:05 So I began boxing, and right away I took to it 22:10 I became a natural at it and over a few years, 22:14 a couple of years of training and fighting, 22:16 my trainer had mentioned that I had the potential 22:22 of being an Olympic fighter. Now, this man 22:25 had trained a lot of famous fighters in the area 22:29 and so my dream in life became becoming an 22:34 Olympic fighter. I wanted to win the gold medal 22:37 for the United States in my weight division 22:39 and then I wanted to eventually become the 22:42 world champion Welterweight champion 22:45 of the world is what my dream was, 22:46 it became my life. Everything I did 22:49 revolved around that. So, life was good so to 22:54 speak and my father had been sick off and on, 22:58 always in and out of the hospital and I remember 23:02 the day he went into the hospital for another 23:05 operation, the Thursday night and I came home 23:08 from the school Friday afternoon December 5th, 23:10 1980. 3 O'clock in the afternoon the phone rang, 23:14 it was my grandmother, my father's mother. 23:16 She said and I answered it. She said, Kevin, 23:18 said you know your father went in for the operation 23:21 today, I said, yes, how did he do? She said, 23:23 he didn't make it. And I went into shock like how 23:30 could this be. It was just another operation, 23:34 how could this be, and I couldn't speak, 23:37 I couldn't cry, just handed the phone to my sister, 23:41 went into the other room. Later on that Friday night 23:44 we went to my grandmother's, to make some plans 23:48 and talk about what we were gonna do, 23:49 who was gonna take care of us. 23:51 I was just turning 15 at the time. 23:55 It was a few weeks before Christmas and during 24:00 this time I had hooked up with some wrong 24:04 influences in school because of my fighting background 24:08 I started to gain a reputation with the wrong people 24:12 and so that Friday afternoon we were at 24:15 my grandmother's I went into her medicine cabinet 24:18 and stole a bottle of Valiums from her. 24:20 Now, those of you that don't know what Valiums are, 24:22 they relax you and they're very strong. 24:27 These were called Roche they're 10 milligrams each 24:30 and I remember I stole 18 of them. 24:32 And I still hadn't told anybody what had happened, 24:35 I couldn't talk about it. I literally was in shock. 24:38 So, I went out with some friends that night, 24:41 two friends and we bought a case and half 24:45 of beer. We bought a quart of hard liquor 24:48 and a pint of hard liquor, we bought some marijuana 24:51 and I had the pills between three of us. 24:55 And apparently I had started drinking very fast 24:59 and we started smoking the pot and we're 25:03 drinking the hard liquor and I'm drinking very, 25:05 very fast, my friends realized. I didn't realize 25:08 it. Then I pulled out some of the pills. 25:11 I lied to my friends I said I stole six of these 25:13 pills. I gave two to each of them and I took 25:16 the other 14. Now, this is a miracle that should 25:21 have killed a horse, especially just the pills 25:23 alone. To let alone the hard liquor 25:26 and the marijuana and the beer. 25:27 Well, the next thing I remember I woke up, 25:30 I had blacked out, I had got an alcohol poisoning 25:34 as well as overdosed on the pills and didn't know 25:39 what happened 'cause I had blacked out, 25:41 apparently I blacked out and started crying 25:43 and trying to beat people up and just a mess, 25:46 and so this began another chapter of my life. 25:50 I never felt so alone in my life, 14 years old 25:54 just turning 15. Now, I have to become a 25:56 man and had no one there for me, no one 26:00 in my family, no males in my family stepped up 26:03 to plate. My family was kind of the black sheep 26:06 in the family because of the drugs. 26:08 So this began a downward spin of drugs and alcohol. 26:13 I was in so much pain, I had such an empty feeling 26:17 inside that I was trying to fill and I didn't know 26:21 how to fill it, and so I turned to drugs and 26:24 alcohol, I would wake up, now my mother moved 26:26 back in with us to take care of us. I despised her 26:30 at this point. It's already tough enough with your 26:33 teen years and parents and I despised her, 26:37 and she was still drinking, so I would steal her vodka 26:39 in the morning. I would drink a quart of vodka 26:42 with orange juice before I go to school, junior 26:45 high school, and I would go in drunk and I would 26:48 pick somebody out and I would beat them up 26:50 and I was always in the office for months at hand. 26:55 Now Praise the Lord the principal found out 26:58 what happened, I never told anybody but he read it 27:00 in the newspaper, so he tried to get help for me 27:03 with the guidance counselor. It didn't 27:05 work out, we didn't connect and eventually 27:07 I started getting suspended and suspended 27:09 and suspended, when I was old enough to quit, 27:12 then I quit school and I started working in 27:17 the restaurant business and I got burnt out 27:20 in the restaurant business over a few years. 27:22 My addiction was drugs and alcohol which blended 27:26 in very nicely with the restaurant business in 27:29 the area because that was the kind of clientele 27:33 that you had and the people you worked around, 27:35 they party a lot. And so I worked in the restaurant 27:39 business for a while and I had a child with my high 27:47 school girlfriend, my son Kevin Jr. and it was the 27:50 best thing that ever happened to my life 27:52 because of my child I decided I have to give up 27:55 this lifestyle. I remember thinking one day what 27:59 would happen if there was ever a fire in my house, 28:03 and I couldn't wake up because I was too drunk. 28:05 At this point, I was drinking every single day, 28:08 morning, every night I would drink two 6 packs 28:11 of 16 ounce Budweisers before I go to bed, 28:15 and I thought what if I couldn't wake up and 28:17 there was a fire and something happened to 28:19 my son I would never be able to live with myself. 28:21 So, as I was looking at myself in the mirror 28:24 one day I decided to give up smoking and 28:26 drinking and the whole nine yards. 28:29 So, now work became my addiction and I would 28:34 work over a hundred hours a week in the restaurant 28:36 business and it's a very, it's a business that you 28:41 get burnt out and quickly, and especially 28:43 if you're working those kinds of hours. 28:45 I got burnt out after a few years of this 28:47 and continued in the restaurant business even 28:50 though I despised it at this point but I had 28:52 no education to fall back on, always struggled 28:55 in school because when I was little I never had 28:58 to go to school. So when my father took custody 29:00 of us I was always behind and always struggled, 29:02 couldn't understand things and so I always 29:05 struggled in school. So, I had no background, 29:07 I mean I had no educational background 29:10 and the only thing I know how to do was cook 29:12 and fight. And I hated cooking at this point, 29:16 didn't want to get back into fighting and so 29:20 I decided I was going to begin a career in gambling, 29:24 brilliant and you know the devil puts these 29:28 beautiful ideas in your head and they just seem 29:31 so good at the time. I thought yeah, you know, 29:33 I know football, I will start, you know, 29:36 I know all the bookies in the area. 29:37 I'll start gambling and betting on football games, 29:40 and so that's what I did. The very first Sunday 29:42 now should Christians gamble? No. 29:46 No, not play lottery any of that. We should not 29:48 be involved in that incidentally. No Christian 29:50 should be involved in boxing. We shouldn't be 29:52 watching it. We shouldn't be involved in it at any 29:56 level because it's all mafia run, not only is it, 30:00 you shouldn't be involved any ways, but the mafia 30:02 owns the boxing world. And so now I start gambling, 30:09 the very first Sunday I bet on the games, 30:11 I bet on every game on the board, 30:12 Sunday I don't know it was 11 or 13 games. 30:15 At the end of the day, Sunday I had won every 30:18 single game and I remember Tuesday you would, 30:22 whether you won or lost Tuesday you would go 30:25 into the bar room and met in the back room 30:27 with the bookie and either pay or get paid. 30:29 I remember that Tuesday I went in and sat down 30:32 with the bookie who was actually, he was a boss 30:35 of a small family and he said Kevin sit down, 30:39 he said all the years of my career as bookie 30:43 I've never seen somebody do this. 30:45 You hit every single game, well, of course, 30:48 I left there with a bundle of money and 30:50 I thought this is it. I'm gonna make my millions. 30:53 Gambling with the bookies and you never come 30:58 out on top when you gamble. That was the 31:00 last weekend I won a game. Week after week 31:04 I just lost of course I lost all the money 31:06 I won then I lost all the money that I had then 31:10 I lost money I didn't have. I started betting, 31:13 trying to win back to break even and the bookies 31:16 liked me, they had previously because 31:20 I built a name for myself not only in the ring 31:23 but outside the ring I had gained a reputation in 31:26 my city, and so the bookies or the people in the 31:30 mob used to more than I can't tell you how many 31:34 times they were trying to recruit me to work for them, 31:37 to help them collect debts and I would not do that. 31:41 You know I had morals and so now I find myself 31:47 in this situation where I owe the bookies a lot of 31:52 money, thousands of dollars. Finally I called 31:54 in a bet and they said, Kevin we can't do it 31:56 As a matter of fact you need to come in and 31:58 we need to talk. So I went in, we had our meeting 32:01 and they said, Kevin you owe us thousands of 32:04 dollars we've been lenient with you, we like you, 32:07 we're trying to help you to win your money back 32:09 but you couldn't win if you gave you winners to 32:11 pick and so now we have a situation. 32:14 You owe a lot of money and we're going to get 32:18 that money from you, one way or another. 32:21 And you're gonna decide that way either 32:23 we're gonna get it from you or we're gonna get 32:26 it from me. And so here's your option you work for 32:30 us and work your bill off or we'll go to plan B 32:34 and I knew what plan B what. So I thought about 32:37 it for about 8 seconds and decided my best 32:41 career move at this point in my life would be to 32:43 work for this mob family. So, I began selling drugs, 32:50 began selling cocaine and then I went to heroin 32:54 and marijuana and pills and steroids and it 32:57 just snowballed. And so I became very busy 33:03 immediately in my city and surrounding cities. 33:07 And so much so that within a couple of weeks 33:10 I was able to pay off my bill with the bookies 33:12 and I decided, I am gonna break off from them. 33:15 I am not gonna sell drugs for this mafia family 33:18 anymore. I'm gonna do it on my own. 33:19 This was gonna be my new career. 33:21 Now, but I had moral mind you, so I wasn't 33:24 gonna sell to any kids because I had a heart 33:27 for kids always and I wasn't gonna sell to pregnant 33:30 people or anything like that, and I told myself 33:33 I'm not gonna turn anybody on to drugs. 33:35 If they come to me then if I don't sell it to them 33:38 somebody else will. So I might as well benefit 33:39 from it. My God became money. 33:43 First Timothy 6:10 says, the love of money is what? 33:48 The root of all evil. And so my God, my love was 33:52 money, I never had that we were so poor growing 33:54 up. I remember on one day I asked my father 33:57 for 10 cents to get on a bus and he couldn't 34:00 give me 10 cents. We were so poor. 34:02 Now, my father was sick for years and welfare 34:05 thought he was lying and so they would never 34:08 give us any support from welfare. 34:11 So, we were very poor. Now, I have this opportunity 34:15 that I've seen, can bring a lot of money very quickly. 34:19 So I began selling drugs on my own. 34:22 One thing led to another, it went from drug dealing 34:25 to dealing in guns and ammunition, to steroids 34:29 to stolen car rings to breaking and entering rings 34:32 and before I knew that I had 7, 8, 9 people working 34:35 for me and I was making a lot of money. 34:41 Now, of course when you get involved in drugs 34:43 you never ever win at any level. You get involved 34:46 with drugs you will not win. The foundation 34:50 began to crumble under me. One of the guys 34:53 I had working for me got arrested and he gave 34:56 the police my name, then another man a few months 34:59 later got arrested, gave the police my name, 35:02 2 or 3 or 4 of guys got arrested and gave my name. 35:05 So, the police obviously knew about me, 35:06 and I knew that they knew about me and they 35:09 knew that I knew, they knew about me. 35:11 And so I began a cat and mouse thing where 35:14 I get into almost get arrested sometimes 35:17 and get out of it and I was addicted to the lifestyle. 35:21 I hadn't, didn't do drugs at this time because 35:25 I saw the foolishness of that. If you're gonna sell 35:27 drugs you can't do drugs, because you're not 35:29 going to make money. So, I was selling drugs and 35:34 I thought I would never get caught because everyone 35:37 thinks that and eventually lo and behold I got caught. 35:41 I got caught I had just picked up some drugs and 35:45 I never did this but I dropped it at my house 35:48 to go make a sale with somebody else then 35:51 I was gonna come back and hide it and take care 35:53 of it. When I went to make the sale the police 35:55 were following me in unmarked vehicles they, 35:57 I got into a small chase but it was 3 O'clock in the 36:02 afternoon I had a very fast car. It was 3 O'clock 36:05 in the afternoon and there was a lot of children 36:08 coming out of schools and so I always had a heart 36:12 for children and I thought what if and so 36:15 I pulled over and they caught me with a small 36:17 amount of drugs and I got arrested. 36:20 Now, I remember I'm sitting in jail and I know 36:22 what I just did, I just picked up enough drugs 36:24 to put me away for a long time. So you know what 36:27 I did, I prayed. I didn't even know if God existed. 36:32 I'm in that jail cell and I said, God if you're real, 36:35 get me out of this and I'll never do this again. 36:39 Do you ever pray a prayer like that before? 36:41 So God held to his end of the bargain. 36:45 The bail was very high on me and I had an 36:49 attorney already because I knew just in case 36:53 and so my attorney had gotten the bail down 36:55 to a low amount and I bailed out and what do 36:59 you think I did? Right back into it, right back 37:03 into it, started selling drugs again. 37:05 While I'm going to court for this case and after 37:08 about a year or so, a second time I got caught. 37:12 I was sitting there watching the world series game, 37:15 my partner had just left the house and about 37:19 10 minutes later my door came caving in and 37:22 I found myself on the floor with a houseful of police, 37:27 state police and ATF and all others and I got arrested 37:31 a second time and what do you think I did? 37:35 Worked the first time. So I prayed a second time. 37:38 Lord, I didn't say Lord, I said, God, I know what 37:42 I said the last time, but this time I really mean it. 37:46 If you get me out of it I'll never do this again. 37:50 So, sure enough it was a higher bail and it 37:52 got a little lower and I bailed out and what do 37:56 you think I did. Right back into it, and then 38:00 a third time I got arrested not for drugs this time 38:02 as a matter of fact the second time it wasn't for 38:04 drugs. They didn't find drugs in my house 38:06 they found guns and ammunition. This third 38:08 time I get arrested with stolen property, and so 38:13 I bailed out a third time. So, now it comes time, 38:18 my cases are building up and I'm going to court 38:23 every month I'm going to court now and it comes 38:27 time for the trail, and a district attorney cut a 38:32 deal with me because both my big cases they 38:36 made a lot of mistakes. At this point, I had 38:37 two very high paid attorneys in the Boston 38:39 area and there was a lot of mistakes made 38:43 and so I had an option either I could take it to 38:47 trail and possible win, but if I don't I'm looking 38:53 at least 25 years, 22 years in jail. My son was 38:57 8 years old at the time and so they offered me 39:00 a deal. They would give me 22 years in prison 39:04 in a sentence but it would be wrapped up in 39:07 5 years mandatory. So, I would have 5 years for 39:11 distribution of cocaine, 5 years for conspiracy, 39:15 2 years for this gun, 2 years for that gun, 39:18 years and years and its adds up to 22 years but 39:20 I only serve 5. So I decided to take that deal 39:24 and my partner had already been arrested 39:27 and gone to prison and so he was, we were 39:30 communicating on the phone. And he said, 39:32 Kevin you're gonna have problems when you come 39:33 in here. Now, I had been to prison when I was 17, 39:36 I skipped through that but at 17, I was first time 39:40 in an adult prison. And so he said, Kevin you're 39:43 gonna have problems when you come in. 39:45 Now, there are some people saying some bad things 39:47 about you, saying that you set them up and you told 39:50 on them. Now, I didn't think anything of it 39:52 because I knew a lot of people in prisons. 39:54 So, I thought, they knew me, I knew them 39:56 and it wouldn't be a problem. It wasn't until 39:59 I got into prison I realized what a serious problem 40:02 I had on my hands. Now I was a fighter, 40:04 I would fight anybody and at this point 40:07 I was taking steroids. I was into weight lifting 40:10 and so I thought I was invincible. Now, I found 40:13 myself in this prison and some friends that I had, 40:17 my best friend was in prison. He wouldn't 40:19 even look at me or talk to me, no one would talk 40:22 to me, no one would give me a bar of soap, 40:24 nothing. And then I realized I had some 40:28 serious problems So, when I get in some top 40:32 guys in the prison had a meeting with me, 40:35 wanted to know how my trial went and how much 40:38 time I got and these types of things. 40:41 They were trying to determine what did 40:42 he really tell on people. And so I had a friend 40:46 that I used to box with him. His father used to 40:48 train me and he said, Kevin, you don't understand 40:50 you've been labeled, you don't understand 40:53 what it's like in a state prison. Once you're 40:55 labeled you're always labeled, I can't help you. 40:57 Now, this man had become a Christian in prison. 41:00 He said, Kevin there's nothing I can do to help 41:02 you because if I help you then I'm in trouble. 41:04 So, I knew I was in trouble. I knew I was going to be 41:08 put in a position at some point where I was gonna 41:12 either have to kill somebody or be killed 41:15 and I wasn't a killer. I would fight anybody 41:18 but I wasn't a killer. These guys are killers. 41:20 And so I went back to my cell that day and 41:23 my first cellmate was a backslidden Christian. 41:26 He had seen some things that were going on. 41:28 He gives me a Bible, he says Kevin check this out. 41:30 You ever read the Bible before? I said, of course, 41:32 not. He said, well take a look at it. 41:34 Every single verse I opened to, God was speaking 41:38 to me, telling me do not be afraid, every single one, 41:43 though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 41:45 death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; 41:48 Thy rod and thy staff will comfort me. Psalm 50:15, 41:51 call upon me in your time of trouble, 41:53 I will deliver you and you will glorify me. 41:56 Fear not those that can kill the body and not the 41:59 soul on and on and on. And as I am reading this, 42:02 this incredible peace came over me and I couldn't 42:06 explain it but I could feel the presence of God 42:09 in that cell, and I didn't even know it was the 42:12 presense of God yet. And so I felt at peace. 42:16 I went out to go to the yard that day, just coming 42:19 from reading, must have been 12 verses and 42:23 I knew it was God but I didn't know God. 42:26 And I'm walking by my best friend and 42:28 he didn't want see people talking to me, 42:30 he said, Kevin don't go to the yard, and 42:32 I stopped him and said why not? He said, 42:33 because Johnny Arms, this man was called 42:35 Johnny Arms because he had biceps like this big. 42:39 He said, he's gonna stab you today in the yard. 42:42 And I just come from reading this, I said, Richie, 42:45 he's not gonna stab me. I just knew, fear not and 42:49 he said, please Kevin, don't go out there. 42:51 I went out there, Johnny never came out for the 42:54 45 minutes of yard time. Later that night 42:57 I found out that Johnny was on this way out 43:00 to stab me. Somebody bumped into him. 43:03 He got into a big fight with him, stabbed him 43:06 and one got taken to the hospital and Johnny Arms 43:09 got removed to a higher security. And right then 43:13 I knew that this was God and he was gonna protect 43:18 me, and so this began my search for God in this 43:22 prison. One thing led to another I would go to 43:24 every service that came in, Protestant service, 43:26 Catholic service on Tuesday night I'm doing the rosary 43:29 beads and let me tell you, I grew up Catholic, 43:32 the rosary beads are the most boring thing you 43:35 will ever do in your life. I mean really, 43:38 hence but I would do it because I thought 43:40 that's what he did. You know, that's how you got 43:41 closer. Then on Monday nights I go to the 43:44 Protestant service and during the Protestant 43:46 service one evening the preacher made an altar call, 43:50 I accepted Christ into my life and I'll never 43:53 forget it. Now a lot of guys do this in prison, 43:57 a lot of times its not sincere and whatever, 43:59 a lot of times it is. For me the moment 44:03 I accepted Christ into my life. It was like a ton 44:09 was taken off my chest and I could first time in 44:12 my life breath and I remember leaving 44:15 and I just felt, if the world was different, 44:18 I left there that night, it was the middle of the 44:20 winter, we're walking back to our unit and the stars 44:23 are brighter, the air was thinner, it was the most 44:28 amazing thing, and this began something incredible. 44:33 Those five, so I spent 5 years in prison, it was the 44:36 best 5 years of my life. I had peace every day 44:39 in prison. God blessed me, we don't have time. 44:42 I could tell you story after story in prison. 44:45 He blessed me, he always provided for me and 44:49 I always went to the best, best prisons if you will, 44:52 never even asking to, and there was a line of people 44:55 trying to get into these prisons. One thing led 44:58 to another. In every prison I was in. 45:00 I always ran into, there are some prisons that are 45:04 better than others. And like some prisons have 45:07 better food and that's huge. So, anyways I like 45:11 to eat and so in every prison there was a 45:14 man Milton, Puerto Rican man, backslidden Adventist. 45:18 A man he was weird like always had his shirts 45:20 all the way up and always had his Bible. 45:22 And I had become a Christian, didn't know 45:23 how to be a Christian. So I would stay away from 45:26 him because he was a little too freaky for me 45:28 at that time. But he would always say, hi 45:30 and I had respect for him. One thing led to another 45:33 I'm in the last prison, a minimum security 45:34 I had made my way down about a half way 45:36 through my sentence and I had the best job 45:38 in the prison. I would leave the prison, didn't even 45:41 know the job existed until I got it, there was a 45:44 line of people waiting, some people waiting 45:47 for a year and half to be next on this job. 45:50 I didn't even know it existed and they called 45:53 me down and said, Kevin we're giving you a new job. 45:55 You're gonna work at the fire department. 45:56 So I would leave everyday at 8 O'clock in the morning 45:59 and work with the firefighters all day 46:01 and then come back at 3 O'clock in the afternoon. 46:03 I'm leaving prison. It was incredible. 46:06 Well, what happened was I got a little too 46:08 comfortable. The firefighters were a little wild and 46:11 we hit it off and so I started getting away 46:15 from the Bible, not studying as much when 46:17 I came back, not praying as much and I started 46:20 getting I guess you would say Laodicean before 46:23 I was even a Laodicean Adventist. I was Laodicean 46:28 before I was Laodicean Adventist, and so 46:32 I started smuggling things back to the prison. 46:34 Now not anything bad but there was a sub-shop 46:37 across the street and food is huge in prison. 46:39 And so for my buddies back I would load up with 46:42 sub-sandwiches and I got along good with the guards, 46:46 so half the time they didn't search me and I remember 46:48 one time I was sitting in the back of that car 46:50 when they come to pick me up and I'm like loaded 46:52 down with these subs and they were like all steak n' 46:55 cheese and so they were all hot and they smelled 46:58 and I'm sitting there and I am thinking man, 47:01 I never thought of this. All I can smell is steak n' 47:04 cheese subs, I am gonna get caught and so praise 47:07 the Lord I got back. They never searched me, 47:09 I just went right up to my cell and one day somebody 47:14 however they told that I was doing this and 47:18 I got caught. They came and got me. I lost the 47:20 job and right away I knew this was God's hand was 47:25 over me. I knew what I was doing. I was getting 47:27 away from studying the Bible and that day I lost 47:30 my job. I was depressed, I am sitting on my cell 47:33 Milton, comes in. He gives me an amazing facts 47:36 Bible study guide, you've seen the amazing facts. 47:38 He said hey check this out, is there anything left 47:40 you can trust. Tell me how you liked it? I read it 47:43 wow! This is unbelievable stuff I never knew this 47:45 stuff. I want back to his cell I said you have any 47:48 more of these. He said yeah, he gave me the next one. 47:49 On the Great Controversy, first time reading the 47:52 Great Controversy theme, it just blew me away. 47:55 Third one, I said man so I kept going back, 47:57 in two days I read 27, the entire 27 lessons. 48:01 I couldn't get enough, from that point on we began 48:05 studying the Bible together, Milton and I and this man 48:07 knew this Bible and I got in good with the guards, 48:11 so they would let me use the phone, the prison phone. 48:13 I hope they don't see this if it ever gets to the 48:15 Framingham area. This is a huge security breach. 48:18 So I would call the ABC in the South Lancaster 48:21 and I would order these books. So in my, and then 48:24 the property officer was, he kind of liked me 48:27 he would bring them up cause they were contraband. 48:29 He would bring them up to my cell for me in the 48:31 backstairs. So in my cell I have these complete 48:35 Seventh-day Adventist commentary set, 48:37 I had the Conflict of the Ages series. 48:39 I have all these books and we would everyday for 48:43 12 hours a day we would pour through those and 48:47 it was the most, we study together, 48:49 The Desire of Ages we studied the Great Controversy. 48:51 We studied the Bible 12 hours a day I could not 48:55 get enough. Never heard this stuff before, 48:57 New England where this message was born, 49:00 never heard it before in my life, like most in the 49:03 New England mind you. So I couldn't wait to get out, 49:06 couldn't wait to meet some Adventist people like wow! 49:11 Adventist people, like from 1844, couldn't wait 49:14 to meet Ellen White by the way. Didn't know she had 49:18 passed I am like, I wonder what Church she goes to? 49:20 And like, and I'm thinking you know I especially 49:24 could meet the youth. I'm thinking man these 49:27 are going to be like halos, white robes like covering 49:31 and I really thought that they would know every 49:35 word that Ellen White ever wrote, the young people. 49:38 Couldn't wait to meet them, a Pastor forget it, 49:40 an Adventist Pastor like wow! And so I got out 49:45 and kind of went through a culture shock for a little 49:47 while especially in New England it's difficult to 49:50 find a Church in the Boston area and one thing led 49:54 to another I found a Church eventually got baptized, 49:57 Pastor Eric Doran, he's a Pastor here in Florida 50:00 in this area. He is Mark Finley's brother-in-law. 50:05 He told me that at that time he said, you know 50:07 I'm Mark Finley's brother-in-law. 50:08 I said oh really! Is he a Church member? 50:13 And he said, you never heard of Mark Finley, no, 50:17 and so don't tell if Mark's here, don't tell him 50:20 I said that. So this began, I got baptized 50:24 and right away they put me in the youth ministry 50:27 and I was leading out the youth and one thing 50:29 led to another, and at this time Pastor Doran 50:33 had left, we were about a year and half without a 50:35 Pastor. And the head elder Paul Maxwell, a friend 50:39 of mine said, he gave me a pamphlet he said, 50:44 Kevin I want you to check this out, tell me 50:45 what you think of it. It was a flyer on the 50:48 AFCO program and I looked through it and 50:50 I see Pastor Doug on the front, you know, 50:52 that's how I came into the Church and I looked 50:54 through it wow! So, I was praying about it 50:56 and on my knees praying about it, my phone rings. 50:59 I answer my phone its Paul he said, Kevin what 51:03 did you think of that flyer. Have you got a chance 51:05 to read it? I said, Yeah, I would love to go, 51:07 but I can't afford to it. He said, don't worry 51:09 about it. I've already brought it to the board 51:11 and we're gonna pay for you to go. 51:12 Every week we're gonna raise money for you. 51:14 They raised enough money for me to go, 51:16 they raised enough money for me to pay my bills 51:19 while I was gone. So, I went to AFCO, didn't know 51:22 what to expect, didn't what a Bible worker was, 51:24 didn't know what evangelist was, although 51:25 there was one stipulation. He said, Kevin there's 51:28 one stipulation if we sent you, you have to come 51:30 back and do a series and use the new beginning 51:33 I said sure, whatever, I'll do it, I wanna go. 51:36 I had no idea what he was talking about, 51:38 do a series, like new beginnings, what in the 51:41 world is that. But I knew I would do it 'cause 51:43 I wanted to go then I was in AFCO I realized what 51:46 I had said yes to. Now I had a public speaking 51:49 phobia my whole life. I had ran restaurants and 51:52 could never have a meeting because I was 51:55 so afraid to speak and I thought Oh! Lord, 51:57 what did I get myself into, like I'm gonna preach 52:00 a series, are you kidding me. And one thing led to 52:03 another, AFCO was a mixed blessing and struggle. 52:08 I did good in the academics, in the class 52:11 and did terrible on the outreach and couldn't 52:13 get a Bible study if my life depended on it, 52:15 got two Bible studies in 4 months and losted them 52:18 both and praise the Lord what did I become 52:22 when I got out of there, a Bible worker. 52:24 Couldn't get a Bible study if I had to, and the Lord 52:27 blessed and I just wanted to work for God. 52:30 All I wanted to do was work for God with this message. 52:34 There is power in this message that we have 52:38 and I know that if I had become a baptized 52:40 or another denomination in prison I wouldn't be 52:44 here today. There is power in this message, 52:47 I just wanted to work for God, he opened one door 52:50 after another, he right away opened a door when 52:52 I got out of prison to go into a department of 52:55 youth services one of the worst in the country 52:57 in the Boston area, to begin studying the Bible 53:01 with youth that are locked up, some of 53:03 them will never get out of prison. They'll 53:05 go right from the youth to an adult facility, 53:08 and the Lord blessed me in that and then one 53:11 thing led to another through Bible work, 53:12 I end up working with ASI youth for Jesus program, 53:16 amen, and had never, Amen, and here are some 53:20 from youth, so I just love coming here especially, 53:22 this is my first year and I had done this for 5 years, 53:24 last 5 years in-charge of the youth for the 53:28 Jesus program and it's the greatest program in 53:31 the world for youth today, the best in the world 53:35 hands down, and I never thought I'd be working 53:38 with Adventist youth always thought it would 53:40 be you know others and what a blessing 53:44 it was for me. Now, let me tell you this, 53:46 this short story, I am running out of time. 53:48 I'm in AFCO and I understand that if 53:51 I wanna be involved in evangelism that 53:53 I'm gonna need a computer, now I didn't 53:55 grow up in a computer age. We had type writers 53:57 when I went to school and been in prison while 54:00 the computers were getting big. So, I understand 54:02 I'm gonna need a computer if I am gonna be 54:04 involved in evangelism, so I prayed. Lord, I have 54:06 some money, I don't know if you want me spent 54:08 it on a computer but if you do then you've got 54:12 to make it so plain to me that I cannot make a 54:14 mistake, because I don't want to spend this 54:16 money foolishly. About a week later, now my Church 54:20 was such a wonderful Church, 54:22 the Stone Memorial Church, they would send me 54:24 money every week, make sure I had enough money 54:27 to eat and whatever. And, so all of a sudden 54:30 a week after this prayer the door bell rings, 54:34 I answered it, it's a UPS guy, big box, I said Oh! 54:39 Look at this one of roommates got something 54:40 good he said, Kevin Sears? I said yes. 54:43 He said, I have a package for you. I said, for me! 54:46 And so I sign right away, took it in, I opened it up, 54:49 it's a laptop computer. Someone in my Church 54:54 before I was praying decided they wanted to get me 54:58 something while I was in AFCO. They knew the 55:01 Church was sending me money, they don't 55:03 wanna give me money they prayed about it 55:04 and they were impressed to buy me a computer. 55:06 At that point I knew where my life was going to be 55:10 leading, I would be involved in evangelism, 55:13 no question about it, and so that is what happened, 55:18 I got out of prison, one thing led to another led 55:21 me to ASI youth for Jesus. ASI has been my life 55:25 for the past 5 years. It hasn't been a summer 55:29 program it's been my life for last 5 years. 55:32 It's been the greatest 5 years of my life working 55:35 with these young people, seeing their lives 55:38 transformed for evangelism and seeing 55:41 the incredible miracles through that program 55:44 and I myself have grown so much over this time. 55:49 I want to share a scripture with you in closing. 55:53 We're gonna to Second Corinthians, 55:55 you're very familiar with this verse. 55:58 Chapter 5, verse 17, Therefore if anyone is 56:07 in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have 56:10 passed away; behold all things have become new. 56:14 My friends, at some point in every person's life 56:18 we're gonna run face to face into Jesus Christ. 56:23 And how we react to that will determine the direction 56:27 the rest of our life will go. No matter how bad 56:30 things are in your life I want you to understand this, 56:33 no matter what's going on in your life you're 56:35 not too far for God to reach you and when 56:38 you look at others, no matter how bad some 56:43 kid seems or some adult seems, he is not out of 56:47 the reach of the power of God. I hope that you've 56:50 seen the power of Christ working in my life. 56:53 You haven't seen me but how incredible our God is. 56:57 matter what's going on in your life you're 56:58 not too far for God to reach you and when 56:59 you look at others, no matter how bad some 57:00 kid seems or some adult seems, he is not out of 57:01 the reach of the power of God. I hope that you've |
Revised 2014-12-17