Sunday Evening Worship Service

praise the lord god bless you and you may be seated we greet you tonight in that wonderful matchless name of jesus you know uh we have sound checks i'm gonna have a light check it just occurred to me that the folks way over here can't see my treasure and the folks way over here can't see my treasure so we're going to do a little little backing up here so that when i unveil this can you folks over here see can everybody see uh i might block uh i have a sign on this came over today when i brought this and i had a sign that says thou shalt not peak and i've had two different people to come to me and tell me that one said you know if you don't want anybody to push a button don't tell them not to push the button but he said i felt like if i peaked i might drop dead and i had another person that i've had two different people to tell me that they saw that sign and was tempted to peak but said they once said i felt like i'd fall right down here i might fall dead well i do appreciate the respect for that little sign i put up there but having said that let me say that we're glad to see every one of you here in this earth i was going to have a light check uh we're mighty good with the lights uh can you can you shine the light on my project and dim the lights and we're gonna just this is just a sound a light check am i am i i didn't tell you it's gonna do this can is there a way you can oh that's almost there is that on it all right you can see that all right but thank you you can go back to the normal of magnificence that you always demonstrate and may i say that i'm so delighted to have my wife here tonight and her brother mac mac and sister mccool sister mccool turned to 85 this last tuesday and the song i wrote several years ago she's a beautiful lady today she turned to 80. well that was five years ago and she still is like 20 to me and i want to say to her happy birthday and happy anniversary and uh happy living with the man that loves you more than life itself and i am so glad to have you in this service tonight we don't get to be here both of us together and then i want to give honor to our pastoral staff i cannot help but continue to repeat this at the risk of sounding monotonous and repetitious i think we have the greatest pastoral staff that you can find anywhere on planet earth go ahead give them a big hand pastor mark mccool and i've already corrected him and said it publicly once and i finally i've heard him say it so many times i just i just had to step in and take my authority as bishop he's said several times from this pulpit and other places that he's uh reaping from vineyards that he didn't plant fields that he didn't plant and giving credit to to sister mccool and myself but i must correct that if there's anybody that's got something invested in this vineyard it's pastor mark mccool he's he stood on a chair when he was four years old and sang with us waited in hospital rooms waited in funeral homes waited in prisons and jail houses and when it came time to work when uh there was a uh a pipe too small for me to go through or anybody else he was he he crawled through the conduit and did he he's done it all and i don't want to hear him say that anymore that he's reaping from a vineyard that he did he helped plant it the day he was born i was working on the church and had to excuse myself from brother robert perry and went to the hospital and then the first place he ever went outside the hospital was the church and i think pastor mark mccool and and one of the great things he did is uh in one of the camp meetings i was preaching he brought a little girl up to the window said dad i want you to meet somebody and there was a little teenage girl came up with that beautiful girl but he said this is a young girl i met and you could tell he had stars in his eyes and her name was jamie sellers and little did we know that she was going to become the second first lady of this church and i think they deserve a great big hand and then of course uh pastor whitley and uh sister uh whitley they are they're just the very best and i'm sure watching online tonight is uh pastor anthony and sister kelly and that precious little girl that these and i gotta say this easton and eleanor and now soon to be callaway and anyway i want to give the the honor to all who is uh their honor is is due and i'm going to ask you to stand to your feet with me and we're going to pray because i feel very strongly about this message tonight and it's it's it's not frivolous i don't mean it to be frivolous uh i feel very serious about it but um i was given a gift a few weeks ago and uh it was i i said this that it was perhaps the most unique gift i ever received and i told you about some of the most unusual gifts that i had received but this started me to thinking about something and you'll understand as we go along tonight and to our technicians lighting people the sound system and uh brother derek who is an absolute genius that at what he does uh you all will all have to stay on your toes tonight because i might move pretty fast i have several things to show father we thank you tonight for the privilege of being in the house of god thou art great and greatly to be praised i thank you lord for the message you've laid on my heart and i pray that you will give this speaker the ability to convey to this audience what's in my heart and what i feel that you have given me for this congregation i pray for the anointing of the holy ghost for without it we can do nothing i thank you lord for the soul that's going to be baptized tonight now father we put this service in your hands in jesus name we pray amen you may be seated i would like to call your attention to the book of isaiah where i will find my topic but it's far from the total subject i want to be speaking on tonight isaiah 35 and 8 in and of itself is a very familiar scripture pre many preachers has preached from this as well as myself it says and i want you to notice carefully the wording and and this wording is rather is rather unusual and i i i started to entitle this message a highway shall be there but that's not they don't get the best the the best meaning and my text and my topic is found in this verse and this is verbatim and and highway and and highway shall be there and away and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those the wayfaring men though fools shall not error therein now the fact that it says and and is a conjunction you don't start a subject with and so it's a scripture that is dropped in the middle the 35th chapter of isaiah contains 10 verses and this is almost the middle of it and it's as though god had isaiah to drop this one verse right in the middle to take care of what went before and what's going to come afterwards now you'll have to study the 34th chapter of isaiah to find out the the the dreadful horrible despicable uh things that god had threatened disobedient people with but this is another story altogether because it says and an highway shall be there a highway a highway on june 29 1956 president dwight d eisenhower signed the federal aid highway act of 1956. the bill created a 41 000 mile national system of interstate and defense highways now this has been in my lifetime i remember well when this was passed it seemed like it would be an impossibility because at that time 56 was the year sister mccool and i were married and we were traversing this this uh united states on little two-lane roads i remember going from here to nashville going through rockwood and up rockwood mountain was an adventure in itself you'd get behind a a big truck and just they was going as fast as they could go about 20 miles an hour but that's what it was excuse me then and the national system of interstate and defense highways that would according to eisenhower eliminate unsafe roads inefficient roofs traffic jams and all the other things that got in the way of speedy safe transcontinental travel excuse me eisenhower had been stationed in germany where he had been impressed by the network of high-speed roads known as the reich's audubon now the audubon highway is is world famous it has no speed limit and yet it's considered one of the safest highways in the world you will not get a speeding ticket if you're going 110 miles an hour or faster i saw a video of a car in the the camera inside and it was a porsche and it was going it started from zero and went to 212 miles an hour without any fear of being stopped the thing that you would get stopped for is if you pass a car on the right hand side if you're driving slower than the rest you get on the right side but the other lanes is and the highway is so safe the the pavement the required thickness of the concrete is 27 inches deep that's over two feet deep that's how deep the the concrete is and it was made for high speed travel at the same time highway advocates argue in case of atomic attack on our key cities the road network permits quick evacuation of target areas for all these reasons the 1956 law declared that the construction of an elaborate expressway system was essential to the national interest today now listen to this today there are more than 250 million cars and trucks in the united states are almost one per person at the end of the 19th century by contrast there was just one motorized vehicle on the road for every 18 000 americans now i'm talking about a highway and the need for a highway and how important the highway is at the same time most of those roads were made not of asphalt and concrete but of packed dirt on good days mud on bad days i can well remember myself riding in the car when my father was driving ruts were so deep with mud that you didn't have to hold on to the steering wheel it was you just it was just nothing but mud and if you were lucky you made it through that's that's i'm talking about in my lifetime driving a motor car was not simply a way to get from one place to another it was an adventure outside cities and towns there was almost no gas stations or even street signs and rest stops were unheard of in 1908 henry ford introduced the model t a dependable affordable car that soon found its way in many american garages now do we have that there would you look at that there is henry ford's model t uh it found its way into many americans garages by 1927 the year that ford stopped making his 10 10 lizzie the company had sold nearly 15 million of them at the same time ford's competitors had followed its lead and begun building cars for everyday people automobiling was no longer an adventure or a luxury it was a necessity i can remember and so can most of you or a lot of you uh when the interstate was being built around knoxville we'd be a little ways on two lane and then you'd get on the interstate for a little and then you'd get off and and we were so anxious to see interstate 40 finished and interstate 75. the interstate highways have controlled access expressways with no at-grade crossing that is they have overpasses and underpasses instead of intersections we used to call them clover leafs but no red lights and no no on-grade crossing of that highway they are at least four lanes wide and are designed for high-speed driving they're intended to serve several purposes eliminate traffic congestion replace what one highway advocate called undesirable slum areas with pristine ribbons of concrete made coast-to-coast transportation more efficient and made it easy to get out of big cities in case of an atomic attack and you notice in the last few years it's used efficiently in case of uh hurricanes that sweep the southern states uh sometimes they turn uh the the coming and going lanes into one way to get people away from the coast when there was a hurricane bearing down people began to fight back though the first victory for the entire road force took place in san francisco where in 1959 the board of supervisors stopped the construction of a double-decker freeway along the waterfront during the 1960s activists in new york city baltimore washington dc new orleans and other cities managed to prevent road builders from disturbing their neighborhoods as a result numerous urban interstates ended abruptly activists call these the roads to nowhere now you notice some of those roads were designed to eliminate slum areas but some folks don't want their lives disturbed by anything if they're living in slums they want to stay in the slums they they rather stay where they are than to see a ribbon of highway come through and uh increase the the the the glory and the joy and the pleasure of living so you see this the picture this is the actual picture of an interstate highway that was blocked and it went to nowhere they eventually tore it down interstate highway system is more than 46 000 miles long now america's main street also affectionately nicknamed mother road route 66 was actually removed from the united states highway system in 1985 when it was replaced by the interstate system nevertheless the sections that remain in illinois missouri new mexico and arizona now form historic route 66 and still stands as a shrine to all things americana when the construction originally began in 1926 route 66 was considered a super highway that would offer a new kind of driving freedom the depression postponed this completion until 1938 when it became the first road to connect chicago to los angeles via rural communities today the primary two-lane highway rarely appears on traditional maps but drivers can still peek into its past and catch a nostalgic glimpse with well-preserved ticky-tacky tour stops at tourist shops attracts attractions and motels found alongside the road now i have a sample of some more highways that are of interest that i wanted to share with you even before i get into the rest of my scripture there is the pacific coast highway california route 1 or the pacific coast highway runs from the sunny southern part of the state to the forested greenery of the north then the overseas highway though it may not be possible to walk on water the overseas highways us-1 gives us the next best thing as the only road connecting the florida keys the 107 mile stretch of highway travels in between islands floating above the gulf of mexico and the atlantic ocean the route starts in key largo and ends in key west then there is the lincoln highway the lincoln highway began in 1912 with seedling miles of short mild-sized pieces to prove that paved roads were worthy investment the small section made an impression at the united states first paved transport transcontinental highway was created now i'm doing all of this to show you the importance of highways and how they came to be and how it was a difficult thing and it was us an experiment and many of you now you young folks don't remember this but there are others in this audience tonight that remember when the roads were gravel at at best and we've seen the highways develop and what a great thing it is and then there is the blue ridge parkway spanning more than 450 miles connecting the shenandoah national park in virginia to the great smoky mountain national park in north carolina the blue ridge parkway snakes its way through many different landscapes including metals rural farmlands and mountain vistas and then there is another highway that's interesting i found it interesting it's called the extraterrestrial highway covering nearly a hundred miles along a desolate stretch of road the extraterrestrial highway highway 375 actually gets quite a few visitors it's close proximity to area 51 you know about that makes it an ideal spot for other worldly experiences and many fans flock there to hopefully witness a phenomenon such as a ufo sighting first hand though we can't guarantee that you'll encounter an alien along the roof you're certain to see warning signs of such that it occurs the speed limit is warp seven and the road passes through a small town of rachel where you will find a restaurant that isn't afraid to advertise earthlings are welcome and then there's the historic columbia river highway as the oldest sink route in the u.s the historic columbia river highway was a technical marvel when it was completed in 1922 because of its modern construction and then there's the road to hannah with six now listen 600 curves more than 50 bridges a slew of hairpin turns the road to hannah highway 360 is a feat in itself covering 52 miles the hallway takes about two to four hours to complete but boasts unparalleled tropical views of the sea and lush uh reforest and cascading waterfalls now many uh the road is also jokingly referred to as the divorce highway because navigating the narrow lanes and difficult terrain was caught has caused many an argument and lastly the beartooth highway passing through the beartooth corridor one of the highest areas in the lower 48 states the beartooth highway us-212 reaches close to 11 000 feet in elevation making it the highest elevation highway in the northern rockies now i've told you and showed you pictures of all these highways i found it so interesting and as much as my age has allowed me to witness a lot of these highways developing and gave me an appreciation for our ability to travel as we do now pastor anthony and sister kelly left here uh this last wednesday and 11 hours later they were down in new orleans at their destination probably would have taken two or three days in a former day when we had the little two lane roads the following highway is to this speaker the most interesting and thrilling highway of all and is the inspiration for what may be the most unique gift i have ever received and it was given to me recently by andrew and lauren bounds and when i show you this gift it also gives me the opportunity to impose upon you the following presentation are you ready for this the most unique gift i believe i have ever received now i didn't say the most expensive but to me it is most unusual has anybody in this house got a beautiful picture to hang on your wall that just gives the name of a highway 64 anniversaries and 84 birthdays leaves me searching for words to say with a lady so lovely and growing sweeter each day to say how much i love and adore her i'm still trying to find a way memories so precious when i close my eyes and think of the erwin highway this is the little road between johnson city and irwin that you take if you're going to go to rock creek north carolina you leave the irwin highway and back then when i left irwin highway you hit a little narrow road that snaked its way up iron mountain over iron mountain and down the other side uh through uh uh beans station and through uh loafers glory and some other and frog level and there was a few other famous places that it the highway went through but this road between johnson city and irwin we call it the irwin highway and it was the first time i was with systema cool and uh i bought a brand new oldsmobile that day and as we drove between johnson city and irwin getting ready to go up iron mountain there was a certain spot she still remembers it there's great big rocks overhanging by the little road there and i put my arm around her and when i did i didn't know what was going to happen i didn't know if she was gonna slap me or move to the other side of the car she didn't fall all over me but she just gently leaned toward me and that was enough for me because on the urban highway there was very little traffic so i found a lovely spot to make a momentary stop and get my very first kiss trying to find a way to say i love you i've tried flowers shoes and lingerie but nothing comes close when trying to repay for the joy and excitement i found on the urban highway it was our first ride together romantic perfume filled the air with such a wonderful heavenly feeling it was certain god had made us a pair now that i'm old and anxious what hair i have left has turned great nothing can erase the feeling we had on the irwin highway route 66 is world famous as well as old broadway songs have been written movies made but these can't compare with a little two-lane road in east tennessee i'll call it my lover's lane the irwin highway but let me get back to my subject because this would not be complete without me reading you the card that came with this gift to the best of my recollection it wasn't pastor's appreciation it wasn't any but it says bishop and sister mccool thank you so much for being the most amazing example of a marriage founded upon the love of god we're so blessed to have the beautiful example of love that you have set before us we hope this present fondly reminds you of that first trial you took together and it does with love andrew and lauren bound who would you give andrew and lord back to my scripture isaiah 35 and 1 says now this is the first verse in my text where text my text is taken from verse 8 and i said it looked like it was just dropped in the middle of something that you've got to bring up before you can understand that verse the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them now let me stop there those of you in this church because i've been here for over 65 years you know that i have a personal uh belief that marriage between a a man and a woman a godly that's called holy matrimony it's the pattern of the church paul said i speak a mystery he talked about marriage of a husband and wife he said i speak a mystery but i speak concerning christ in the church and i want each one of you to understand that your marriage is the most sacred the most valuable thing you will ever possess in this life there's nothing more precious than a happy marriage and and you you need to understand this is why we're talking about this highway the wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose now you've heard of statements having a double meaning this chapter actually has a triple meaning this is talking about israel being delivered from syria and babylon and what god was going to do for them in their deliverance chapter 34 tells all the horrible things that had taken place now chapter 35 this is telling what god number one meaning is israel's actual physical deliverance from syria and babylon and the the the second meaning i want to talk about is uh uh the the meaning of my walk with god it tells about what i was and what you were before you found the lord and what happens after you get to know him all the bad things before and then the third meaning it is absolutely referring to the messiah coming and one day he is going to make his appearing if you and i can find ourselves on this holderness highway give them a little handclap the previously mentioned scripture describes the life of sin as a wilderness solitary and a dry desert place doesn't that explain the life of people that don't know the lord they're they're looking for happiness they're looking for joy and in my ministry i've seen lives so wrecked and ruined i've seen people so depressed and down and out and as though they were living in a desert but he said that's what it was before you found the highway of holiness proverbs 13 and 15 says good understanding giveth favor but the way of a transgressor is hard now we just read the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad the it was a wilderness land i was living in but now then it's a land of gladness and the desert shall rejoice that land of sadness and sorrow and depression has now turned into a place of joy and happiness and it said it shall blossom as the rose oh dear me you know when i look around and i see all these beautiful faces and and i shall catch with david and sister caroline tonight and now i say hey if we're giving our prizes for the most handsome couple the most beautifully dressed and looking so y'all would sure win the prize how beautiful they are and then i look around at these other young folks and i see these newly married folks and i see these folks that's been married for many years and i see with the joy of the lord i see those that once knew the lord they didn't know the lord and now they've found him what they're blossoming like a rose they've got a new look on their face they've got a new spring in their step oh they come to church and they can't wait to get up here to the software and sing and shout or just take a look at brother dominica when he's up here he starts off singing it it's like a jumping jack you can tell it's filled with joy give the lord i was i was homebound listening online and and the praise singers were singing and there was a voice i heard it was so beautiful a lady's voice and and i and i i you really get good reception uh online especially like i am i put those earbuds in my ear and i that beautiful voice and i began to look up here and there were several of them and then i saw it was my granddaughter and she sounded like a studio singer oh giving praise to the lord this is what happens when you get on the holiness [Applause] well i'm going to have to hurry now what happens to those that are not on it good understanding giveth favor but the way of a transgressor is hard don't you let the devil tell you he's got anything of value to offer you no no proverbs 13 and 12 says hope deferred how much you listen to this scripture that's the first time i've really looked at this scripture and got out of it what i have this week hope deferred maketh the heart sick deferred is something that's put off it's you know when you as a child you it seemed like christmas took a lifetime to get there birthday took a lifetime but but hope deferred makes the heart sick now the devil tells you that just just a puff or two on that cigarette you're going to feel big like daddy is you're going to feel big it's going to be graceful but it do the hope deferred it always you may walk a mile for a camel but when you get there you're not going to like what you see and what you have that that first little nip of liquor that you start to take a take a drink of them it may they may call it a nightcap they may call it happy hour they may call it whatever they want to it's going you think it's but it's going to be deferred you're never going to reap the joy it's going to be all downhill from there give the lord another hand clap the scripture below describes the difference after you get on the highway and the bible says that a highway shall be there say that in your mind a highway is over there i wish i'll be there you remember what it was like when we traveled the little two lane roads you remember from when it was i remember in the country where we lived when it rained it was a money it was hard for horses to pull a wagon through the the mud that but a highway shall be there it's going to be replaced with a highway and all those sad deplorable depressing things are going to be in the past because i found a better way it shall the scripture of the lord describes the difference after you get on the highway it shall be there it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing the glory of lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of carmel and sharon they shall see the glory of the lord and the excellency of our god oh yes aha i shall be there hallelujah what what about a highway for a little barefooted sharecropper's son uh there was a far backward we didn't have electricity we didn't have running water we didn't have indoor facilities we were living so primitive and but yet god looked down from the throne of glory from ivory pearl protege and streets of gold and your soul i needed a savior i needed a way out i needed the lord and thank god he came to my rescue oh i found a better way better pass for my feet the joy is so sweet i've found a better way well let me go on strength strengthening ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees now listen to that strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the people in these weak hands and people knees describes the sad state of the center though he may boast long and loud of his mightiness he's very afraid proverbs 28 1 says the wicked flee when no man pursueth when you don't know the lord you're afraid of things as you know what you are afraid of let me read that scripture again proverbs 28 and 1 the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion psalms 53 and 5 says there were they in great fear where no fear was i had an uncle who was a severe alcoholic and he was a wonderful man i loved him dearly my father's brother and great great man i loved him dearly but he was an alcoholic and he had to have the the alcohol but when he had the alcohol he then he had what they called dts that that means delirium tremens that's the technical term for dts and that's that's when you get delirious you see things that aren't there you hear things that it's not really going and you go into a delirious state and and and you you're afraid when there's nothing to be afraid of i saw my uncle he would cry and then maybe turn around and get mad imagine that somebody had done something to him he was so erratic when he was under the influence and he was under the input much of the time uh with with his drinking and then his dt's i want to tell you something the devil may tell you that that night cap or or that little they call it a high ball they they like to hit the little glasses together and they like to drink there was a a a famous couple here in this city a few years ago they owned a very thriving business uh a musical business she was a very good musician herself and he was a good businessman but they were both alcoholics and we got to know them through another friend of ours a police friend of ours that brother you've heard me refer to jc odom through him got to know these folks and they took a liking to us but they were in so well with the police the police had called me would call me in the middle of the night and said preacher and call their name i knew who they were said could you go get them and take them home they're in both bad shape and i'd go i've got taken them home sister mccool and i've gone to the home in the middle of the night when both of them are so inebriated they couldn't get up off of the floor we literally helped them get up off of the floor and get up get up on the couch in in their right mind before they were under the influence they were good business people they were good musicians but this is what that low road takes you to and yet it promises you all kind of prom of promotions it promise it gives you many things gives you promise of many things but let me tell you something the devil is a liar and he's trying to lie to you leave it alone don't take the first drink don't take the first puff of a cigarette don't take the first bit of dope this is what we who are on the highway of holding a sight to those who are on the road of sin say to them that are of a fearful heart what are you going to say to them be strong fear not behold your god will come with vengeance on your enemy even god with a recompense he will come and save you oh i've got news for you friend if you're hooked on whatever you may be hooked on my god will come and save you if you listen to the words of this preacher tonight oh yes that that urban highway that holds us dear and precious memories to me you can have a highway for you that you'll always remember and it'll be called the highway of holiness now look what happens when you get on the holiness highway then the eyes of the blind shall be opened now you may not be physically blind but you and i were blind to so many of the good things of god until we come to know him there is a blindness that's worse than physical blindness when you can't see the goodness of god and see what god's got for you the eyes of the blind shall be open the ears of the death shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing for it is wilderness in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert i'm describing to you a highway and an highway shall be there and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land spring of water and the habitation of dragons dragons is an imaginary there's no such thing as a dragon but in your mind there's many things that the devil will torment your mind with if you don't know the lord if you're under the influence of any kind of chemical anything that's unnatural you you can be afraid you can be frightened you can be delirious and but and and place in place of those dragons he said there shall be grass with reeds and rushes look what a beautiful lush happy glorious place that we have to offer and here is my scripture and and highway now all these things that we've talked about and and highway shall be there and away and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those the waythering men those fools now i did a lot of research on this because there's some in my opinion some misunderstanding and misinterpretation it said uh the pool can't find that road that highway a fool can't walk that's not what it's meaning is meaning that a person of of a little understanding you don't have to have a doctor's degree you don't have to have a a a a doctor of divinities you don't have to be smart notice how it reads but it shall be for those colon the way third men come are the fools shall not air the that's some being unkind but you don't have to be educated to be holiness you remember my little article on what's wrong with holiness if you're less than the smartest person in town it is so plain they said what shall we do well you go to school you get this degree you you learn geometry you learn trigonometry you learn philosophy you learn no he didn't give a long list of things you had to you've got to be wealthy you've got to have a pedigree no what shall we do repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost oh how how how much more simple can it be well i'm getting close to my clothes the musician can start getting ready no lion shall be there nor any ravenous beast shall go their own it shall not be found there but the redeemed but the redeem let it sink in i'm pausing for a reason but the redeemed you know what a redeemed is if you're getting tough and and and you need money quick you knew you can go to the pawn shop or some of these quick uh uh automobile build uh they get a loan your money on your title or your car and they'll own your money and then the day comes that you redeem it you you pay it off but you see i owed a debt i could not pay and it was growing every day but jesus paid it all for me he gave his life on calvary to save a person like you and me oh what a savior let me tell you something tonight he is here tonight to offer you eternal think about that eternal life listen to it the fools though uneducated not the smartest person all you got to do just what do you do repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ that's all i said no lion shall be there nor any ravenous peace shall go their own but the redeemed the redeemed shall walk there and the ransom of the lord shall re turn and come to zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness sorrow and sign shall flee away would you stand your feet with me please you see i found the thrill and joy of my life that night on the urban highway when i found the love of my life what a joy what a thrill and she's sitting there tonight been together over 65 years tonight you can find your lover the lord of your life on this homeless highway if there's a person in this building tonight that needs the lord everyone bow your heads with me please this is for two reasons one i want you to be asking god to touch somebody's heart and then if there's someone here tonight that don't know him and need to repent of their sins i don't want you to be embarrassed but come forward at this time stand here at this altar i'm waiting for you if you need something if you need something from the lord we're just getting ready shortly to obey this scripture to baptize someone in jesus name what a beautiful sight it will be to see this great loving crowd of people start moving out into the aisle and coming to this altar to stand around and thank god for the holiness highway while those that are going to participate in the baptism start preparing would you come forward right now come as your testimony of what you found that you found the highway those that are participating in the baptismal service you'll go ahead and take care of what you're doing but i want us to come now i want us to thank him for his goodness it wasn't the erwin highway for you it made it interstate 75 or interstate 40. you found the way to the house of god