Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everybody praise the lord everybody we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved now this is not a ploy i'm not getting ready to do an illustrated sermon because i'm sitting down i'm sitting down because i have got a bad leg that's not a bad that's a good leg but it's just hurt right now and um so they they made it a little more comfortable for me rather than have to stand up the story about this when i was putting in that detention pond up then i just we put that in i forgot about it i just didn't pay any more attention to it until the city got after us and it had grown up with the willow trees and cattails and i just thought you left it alone and they said we had we had to get that thing cleaned out and so i bought us a trash pump and i pumped that pawn out and and then well the the long story being short i wound up tearing the meniscus in my knee here and then in the meantime and trying to do that i scratched my wrist that just a little scratch and you've heard the story but anyway i wound up spending five or six days in the hospital thinking i don't know how many units of intravenous suffering a very rare uh diseases you catch it from snakes and frogs so i don't handle snakes and i'm scared of frogs here but anyway uh after we got the pond all fixed up and the city man came by and he said my goodness so that looks like um looks like a golf course it was so pretty we we fixed it up brother carl perry senior brother carl perry uh junior edward uh they jumped in there with me and i've still got a video brother edward putting in the sandbags and all that but um i told the men's fellowship breakfast uh about it now what the city was proud of what the city said that uh it was like looked like a golf course it was brand new and grass come up we had it excited and my my grandson anthony said yeah it might look like a golf course but i said it cost my papa arm and a leg but that was the mccool coming out in him but anyway i have to have a shot ever so often but this last week silly like i rushed through the house on a big hurry the phone was getting my attention and i ran into a table with a sharp uh corner on it about six inches above that above that knee and uh if the other all the other ailments wasn't bad enough i had to go ahead and wound myself uh but it'll be all right i don't i don't mean to give you a sad story to just get sympathy but the explanation so you you won't i kind of like this this is just right i might um i might get better but i might get used to this but we're going to get back into our our lesson as we study the word of the lord paul said study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth and we we hear some of the greatest evangelistic and pastoral preaching from this pulpit you hear me say that sometimes go ahead and give give the lord a hand clap we're not we're not exalting man but um oh my every time i hear uh pastor anthony pastor mark mccoon and pastor whitley i said well that's the best i've ever heard and then the next time as johnny james said the best sermon here was the last one but anyway we are blessed with the ministry of the word of god with great men of god but um i started this bible lesson a couple of weeks ago and i entitled it by the truth and sell it not by the truth by the truth and sell it not that's taken from proverbs 23 23 by the truth and sell it not also wisdom and instruction and understanding father we pray that you will anoint the lips of clay with the spirit of god give what you would have spoken in this service tonight uh open my mind and my mouth and my ability to convey to this congregation what you would have spoken open the ears and hearts of your people to hear understand and accept in jesus name we pray amen i started out with this lesson because something that happened i read in the paper that got my attention and in as much as i i am one of the the greatest um lover of the writings of the apostle paul uh i i just i just thought that he's the the the greatest um down to earth and and he he covers the whole gamut if i can say that word writer of christianity and the apostle paul uh he he was so so important i got to got to studying this and uh i thought of all the things the apostle paul referred to uh as in in the uh grecian games in the ancient time it was like our present day olympics and paul referred to them quite liberally in his writings and so i this this uh thing in the paper by mike wilson on february the 11th it said leadership was an unsettled part of the roster after the vaults were humiliated in a 107-79 loss at kentucky and i think it goes on to say that the attitude receivingly forged evolves against whatever comes they have won six straight in the sec and and went on this is no doubt right now we have a group of guys that have bought into this team and each other this is what coach barnes said about after they had this big loss to a notable almost annually a national contender kentucky and basketball barn said after that humiliating loss it seemed to solidify and bring them together as a as a team and they started coaching one another and he used this term barnes did it said there's no doubt right now that we have a group of guys that have bought into this team and each other he said i think they're pl they're playing hard for each other they're coaching each other and when i when i thought of the writings of the apostle paul in the grecian games if in sports they are dedicated to each other uh then we in the household of god we we need to be solidified as one body helping one another a scripture i just put in my notes just a few minutes ago that it reminded me of and and let me read it to you in galatians 6 and 10 paul said as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith think about what he just said we're supposed to to do good to everybody uh uh love them that despitefully use you and love your enemy but he said especially unto them who are of the household of faith now if in sports the the coaches love to build up that mystique and that that idea of we're like like brothers and and we're a family and they support one another uh how much more should we who are of the house especially do good to everybody but especially to them who are of the household of faith i want to make sure that i support my brothers and sisters and and love them and hold them up in prayer and ask god to to to make us jesus prayed that great prayer father make them one as we are one that means one in unity one in doctrine one in goal one in faith one in friendliness and we often say around here uh our goal is so our goal is sold so we need to we need to keep that in mind now as we start just we're going to do a quite a bit of review and i'm going to try i'm going to try to go as fast as i can and so i don't get bogged down because i have a a sub topic tonight i don't know if brother derek has put it on the screen yet or not but i i've given this lesson tonight another another topic and uh i'll just tell you what it is now if he was to put that on the screen both almost and all together both almost and all together and we like to throw out something a little catchy but it must have meaning and this has meaning and we'll get to that in just a little bit but having said what i've just said about us uh supporting one another i quoted the legendary ladies basketball coach the late pat summit she had a term to describe the togetherness with her team she said we're not a team we're a cult we'd like to we're afraid of that we don't want to be called a cult because that has a bad connotation but she stressed that so strongly um one time i remember they lost the game they should have won and she locked them out of their uh out of their dressing room made them go either dress in the hall or she she like she was kicking them out of their quarters to to make them realize to make them realize that hey we're a family and to deserve these nice facilities you're going to have to give it your all and so if you if you follow me now we need to give it our all we need to be a family we need to be a team i read something um this this last week three preachers were talking about and they all three had the same problem one spoke up he said my my church is infested with mice he said i've put out rat killer i've bought cats and and so i i've been unable to get rid of him and other ones said he had another solution and he said it hadn't worked and the third fella he said well i had the same problem and i said what did you do he said i baptized every one of them made of members of the church and said i hadn't seen him since uh i think that was probably a joke and a little play on a situation but that some folks are not very loyal to their church and we need to be here first of all i we need to be here because uh we love the work of god and we the bible said forsake not the assembling of yourselves together uh we need to be here because it's uh a burden for souls but also we need to be at the house of god to support one another the sad thing is to have somebody come to church they who have been invited by someone and come to find out the one that invited them don't show up that same night and that's a little bit embarrassing well let's go on the pulse that i pressed toward the mark for the prize of high calling of god i pressed over tomorrow that's in reference to that white line you you can you can beat everybody else to the other end but if you cross that line you don't stay within the bounds then you are disqualified uh first corinthians 9 every man the striver for the for the master is tempered and all things uh if you're going to be the best at what you are you're going to have to be willing to sacrifice and give up something for something else you you've got to you've got to watch your diet you can't be a couch potato you got to eat the right things and and then you get up early you you do whatever it takes to do uh to strain that body now the reason you're real you're i've told you there's no and pastors told me many times dad quit saying that quit saying i've told you this uh and i violated okay every little bit but uh i've told you this about um when uh brother gina wanted to put uh a weight lifting uh bodybuilding stuff up in the gymnasium i didn't realize the need of it uh to be a basketball player but uh anyway the next thing i knew they had some stuff there and and there was one particular apparatus you sit down on hang your legs over and the band of your leg you hang your toes up and then you lay all the way back and then you raise up and why there's nothing to it i sat down on that thing and i hung my toes under that and i did about 10 of them i said you tell that well there's nothing to do that until the next morning the next morning i could hardly get out of bed if my stomach was so so it was so sharp of the pain that and i come to find out what they do uh and even in lifting weights they lift all the max out they called it max out you you lift every weight every pound you can lift and then the next day you're going to be sore and what you're actually doing you are you're actually tearing tissue in your in your muscles now i guess that's what i've done to the muscle in this leg but i'll be glad when that gets over but anyway it tears the the the tissue and then when that that heals it's stronger than it was before now the illustration and the lesson learned is if we're going to really be superior workers in in god we're going to have to max out do everything we can and to lift off this is what pastor whitley really stole my heart stabbed me right in the heart when he preached that message the other day about tears of clown and the funny thing i thought he preached a fantastic message about love us looking out for one another caring for one another well we're not a perfect church we don't claim to be i'm not a perfect person don't claim to be but we pray one for another and there's a scripture that said that uh god forbid that i should sin by failing to pray for you it's a sin not to pray for one another and uh having having said that i i i max out and then i'm going to be stronger the next time to lift more weights and do more for god but if i never and and when brother whitley got through preaching that message the great message was so uplifting and and loving one another and caring for one another and not not criticizing one another but to hold each other up in prayer and then told that story about uh the funeral that the pastor went to and this fellow was bent over the casket just weeping and this guy was a was a bull rider and he got the bull had killed him and you that were not here and then he said the pastor went to the brothers is this a relative of yours why you're so broken up he said no i'm the clown that was supposed to distract the bull and i didn't do my job good enough and when he said that dear god help me have i done all that i could do how many caskets have i looked down into the last 65 years i 73 years in the ministry am i doing all i can and we as a as a church buy the truth and sell it now we've got a treasure well let me get on because i'm i'm i i i'm going to be reviewing from now on for another careful i'm going to go on past the shadow boxing and matthew 13 14 through 52 again the kingdom of heaven is likened to treasure hid in a field the which when a man had found he hideth for joy thereof go up and self all that he hath and buy that field now what i've added from the last time this little note right here what have you got to sell what have you got to sell now he found treasure hid in the field and he needed he needed some cash so he went and sold all that he had and bought the field and i i asked myself a question what have you got to sell is it my pride is it my selfishness am i a covetousness am i coaches what have i got that i need to that i can get rid of am i selling is it a is it a yard sale a garage sale to get rid of junk is it a favorite pastime for some to uh you where the weather gets a little warmer you'll see folks circling the the block it's a favorite pastime for some to tour neighborhoods looking through others casts off and that perhaps is what some are trying to trade for the pearl of great price they're not going to find the pearl of great price in a yard sale you're not going to find the pearl of great price in a yard sale you're not going to find a good ham sandwich in a garbage can you're not going to find a good hot dog in the garbage can you better find the right place to look so what have i got to sell again the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man seeking good to pearls who when he had bought one pearl who who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had have you got what have you got to sell if you find the pearl of great price we used to evangelize many years ago and we didn't have motels like we do now and didn't have nice evangelistic quarters but uh especially when you travel with the family of father and mother and uh six others uh you sometimes lived in sunday school rooms and sometimes it'd be a vacant building and then they'd get up and anybody got something you can donate you got an old table you got a bed and then bring their their cast off furniture stuff that and and just just just you be sure it wasn't the best they had it was something they wanted to get rid of anyway are we trying to give god something that we're just wanting to get rid of anyway no something that you love something that's dear to you and i i hesitate to try to call any name it could be a fishing rod it could be a golf club it could be a nice garden it could be a flower or bed it could be a pretty hairdo it could be i'm just making up things now anything that stands between you and god is closer to god than you are anything that stands between you and god is closer to god than you are ii corinthians 12 notice what paul said behold the third time i am ready to come to you and i will not be burdensome to you colon never stop what have i got that's the dearest thing to my heart you know what the devil had enough smart about him to tell god that uh job does he fear god for not and and when when god let him take his uh the house to blow away and his children got killed in the storm and uh boys on that the devil said all a man hath will he give for himself you know the most important thing i got sister mccool's husband you know who we're who we're the most proud of the one we look out for it's number one yeah what's the old saying old number what what oh number one what have i got to give god what can i give him for all he's given what can i offer the lord for the earth is his pursuit in heaven's his throne the cattle on a thousand hills he already owns so what can i give him he owns the hills he owns all the gold and the hills well listen what paul said behold the third time i'm ready to come to you i will not be a burden some of you for i seek not yours but you i don't want what you got i want you if god gets you he's got everything you own because you're willing to get what do you have what do you treasure the devil said all that a man hath will he give for himself now then just let me get to well the one thing i've got to give the lord is is me oh how rich i am how wealthy i am sharecropper's son in southeast missouri got 25 every two weeks for a family of six or eight and we made it through the the winter till the next uh falls or next crop season and and that but let me tell you something that little old bear-headed barefooted son of a sharecropper that's what god wanted god didn't want a a a big automobile he didn't want some great big credential he wanted me and paul said i seek not yours but you oh let me tell you something the children of god when god was dividing up you heard me quote this here we go again when god was dividing up the the the nations he he divided this group to this crowd and to this uh tribe that and to this tribe he told them all all they what they was what was theirs but then the bible said that as for god his portion was what his people that's what he said as for god he didn't he didn't need gold he didn't need the oil in the ground he didn't need fossil fuel he didn't need light he made the sun the thing he wanted was uh he divided he his portion was his people if he wanted light he just created a son if he wanted a lesser light at night give me the moon and but the one thing he wanted he wanted a living breathing human being that had a mind of his own that could love or hate that could that that could do what he want give him a will of his own and god try to be the person your dog thinks you are i believe um i believe this pastor heard saying this that if you want to know who the best friend is so you lock your wife in the trunk and let her out and see what she does i said put your dog in the trunk let him out he'll lick your hand he'll be particular to see you he won't hold it against you he's just he just forget he well we are god's pets we are god as for he called us the apple of his eye mama i'm not getting anywhere not i see that right now and i was uh i will very gladly spend i seek not yours but you for the children ought to not ought not to lay up for the parents but the parents for the children pastor mark you and anthony don't listen to that children don't layer for the parents of parents we're supposed to lay up for our children and i will very gladly spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly i love the less i be loved okay and then we went into this uh little segment i called it am i the fisherman of the fish again the kingdom of heaven is like a tornette that was cast into the sea and gathered of every tree gathered of every kind beg your pardon which when it was full they drew the to shore and set down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bat away so shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just now my point on that was am i the fisher of my other fisherman uh because it's an analogy it's a parable it's a story that's the fisherman has got to be willing to give up a lot of fish that's not edible you're not going to keep everything that you you catch john said of jesus the one coming after me is mightier than i i'm not worthy to tie his shoes and said he's got a fan in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor gather the wheat in the garners and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire now what what we're saying right right now is that am i the fisherman if i'm the fisherman i need to know what to keep and what to throw away and i told you the last time about certain kinds of fish that's and that's not fit to eat and you need to know you need to know the difference and then i need to know what kind of fish am i and my other one's been caught in the net and am am i a keeper or am i throw away and my one of those is a you know i told you about the carp there was a mud sucker they go on the floor on the bottom of the the river and suck up the trash if i'm not careful that's the kind of fish i'll be in john 20 and now behold i go bound spirit to jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there say the holy ghost witness and every city is saying that bonds are flipped now we we went way deep into the the book of acts and i couldn't stop reading what i've gone back and read it several times and and to see what the apostle paul went through and he was he got in trouble uh when he started getting in their pocketbook and he wouldn't get taken up an offering but uh when they cast out the devils out of a young lady that was given their master gained because she was a soothsayer and they believed that she under the spirit of uh of divination could tell the fortune and they made money off of her and when she was delivered from that they lost their game and and then there was the the the copper smith he um they they made the the they made little idol gods to the goddess diana and when paul started saying that uh when i came so yeah you're i perceive you're too superstitious you're too superstitious and he said this god you i saw this they said in printing to the unknown god he said to the unknown god whom you worship ignorantly i'm going to declare them to you and that's jesus but when they begin to they quit making these idol gods it got into their livelihood and then they started making up lies and everything then they wound up accusing him taking him before the authorities and paul now every time he went before the authorities accused of of of being let's say we said they were they wasn't worthy to live catholic city in an uproar he said taking people uh away from the worship of the goddess diana and after all then now then paul is having to fight for his life he's having to but every time he he was brought before a group i believe it was about three different times he very carefully went back into his life and told the story of his conversion every every new crowd and when he went before felix when he went before festus and when he went before king agrippa every one of them uh when he went before felix and festus uh he just he they listened and directly just jumped up and yelled and said paul you're beside yourself much learning has made you mad and he said i'm i'm not mad on over festus he said but i'm not i've been i've been true to that heavenly vision and then when they was changing from one governor to the other uh the the king agrippa wanted to show his honor to the new governor and so he came and when he got there he and his uh his sister bernice and the history tells us they they were living an incest but it was a terrible situation but he he he heard about paul and he said i'd like to hear i want to hear something about i want you and the governor said well we'll let you hear him for yourself and and they they brought paul before uh king agrippa and uh when he began to speak before the king agrippa let me just read some things here now behold i know that y'all were among you that ye all among you i have gone preaching the kingdom of god and said you'll see my face no more they were trying to keep you from going he said i'm not only willing to go to jerusalem and be bound but i'm willing to die i'm not shunned to declare in you that counts the whole all the counsel of god take heed therefore unto yourselves to which the holy ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of god which he hath purchased with his own blood now you you talk about a price you talk about the pearl of great price and the price that was paid for this church of which you and i are members it cost him something he purchased this church with his own blood how can i fail how can i fail to give him my very best and this is for i know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter among you and not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them chapter 21 and as we teared there many days there came down from judea a certain prophet named agamus and the prophet he took paul's girdle and tied his own hands and said this is what's going to happen to the man that owns this girdle if he goes to jerusalem paul said where do you break my heart he said i'm not only willing to go to jerusalem and be bound now by the truth and settle it up what are you willing to pay for it what are we willing to give for this great glorious truth he said i'm not only willing to go and be bound i am willing to die i'm willing to die at jerusalem paul answered what meaning to weep and break my heart for i'm not ready i am ready not to be bound on it but also to die at jerusalem for the name of jesus and when he when he would not be persuaded we see saying the will of the lord be done chapter 24 after certain days when felix came with his wife drusilla which was a jewish he sent for paul and heard him concerning the faith okay here he is every time he's brought before a tribunal he uses that to give his testimony you know every one of us should should stay on our guard at any time we can witness about our experience and and your greatest your greatest tool for women and souls is your personal testimony of what god has done for you now if you don't have that you need to have it you need to have your own you need to have your own experience and and paul heard him concerning the faith jerusalem which was jewish he sent for paul and heard him concerning his faith in christ and as he reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come felix trembling and answered go thy way this time when i have a convenient season i will call for thee now this was a political governor here was a man of authority and yet paul's testimony made him tremble and he said go go when when there's a more convenient season i'll call for you and this is one of the saddest things to me is the person that says when there's a convenient season when there's a convenient season we never read where he ever called for paul again and but he was right at the door you stop and think about it jesus said i am the door to the sheepfold judas the son he had to show [Music] the the chief priests and the religious leaders who jesus was he went and planted a kiss he said they agreed on a price 30 pieces of silver and then he said the man that i kiss that's the man can you stop with me a moment this is really it's makes me shudder down through the years judas literally kissed the door to heaven and went to hell judas jesus said i am the door judas kissed the door to heaven and went to hell now what felix was hoping for he hoped also that money should be that money should have been given him a paul that he might loose him wherefore he sent him the more oftener and communed with him he wanted to bribe he wanted an ex he wanted an excuse to turn him loose because he knew he was he knew he was innocent but after two years porsche's festus came to unto felix room and felix willing to show the jews a pleasure left paul bound at this point porsche's porsche festus had succeeded felix as governor and joined by king of grip and his sister bernice with great pomp and fanfare king agrippa wanted to hear paul for himself chapter 26 verse 1 then agrippa said unto paul thou art permitted to speak for thy sound then paul stretched forth his hand and answered him i think myself happy king agrippa because i shall answer for myself this day before the thee touching all the things foreof i am accused of the jews ah yes sir you're giving me another chance to give my testimony i've given it several times already but now then i'm i'm going to get a chance to give my testimony again my manner of life for my youth which was at the first among my own nation at jerusalem known all the jews which knew me from the beginning they would testify that after the most straight straightest sect of our religion i lived the pharisee and now i stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of god unto our fathers under which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving god day and night hope to come for which hope's sake king agrippa i am accused of the jews why shouldn't he thought a thing incredible with you that god should raise the dead i barely thought with myself though i ought to do many things contrary to the name of jesus of nazareth which here we go again he's giving his testament repeating it again which thing i also did in jerusalem and many of the saints did shut did i shut up in prison having received authority from the chief priests and when they were put to death i gave my voice against them now you talk about somebody having a bad pass he's admitting what he did he said and i punished them off in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them i persecuted them even unto strange cities whereupon here we go whereupon as i went to damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests at midday o king i saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining around about me and them was journeyed with me paul i know and jesus said but who are you pastor arthur who are you have you got your own testimony paul is saying what happened to him about midday there was a light shine brighter than the midday sun and and as i adjourned it and when we were all falling to the earth i heard a voice have i have i heard my own voice have i had the light to shine have i got a tesla what a i know paul but who are who are you billy mccool have you got a testimony have you seen the bright light somebody say amen and when we were all falling into the earth i heard a voice speaking to me saying in the hebrew tongue saul saul why persecutors thou me it's hard for me to kick against the pricks the other day my twin brother called me and i guess i guess we was on the phone an hour and a half um but we got to talking about the night we got the holy ghost and if you read bobby's book uh he wrote a book entitled double trouble for the devil and it's very entertaining very very interesting and he makes himself out to be mischievous and a little honorary makes me out to be a little angel and neither one is totally right but he said this is the way i remember it anyway but he was pretty good at trying to get me to say bad words when they get me out by myself that him and the other boys in the neighborhood they tried to uh increase my vocabulary with words that i didn't want to say and when i wouldn't say them they'd call me a and i really showed myself to be a sister start crying take off home to mama um but the night i went to the altar uh i repented when i was seven years old and from the from seven years old till i was 11 i do not recall a time i was ever in a service when they would give an altar call i didn't go to that altar and seek the holy ghost and the little trinity pentecost the church was going to we had everybody kind of had a uh their their testimony and they they believed in three definite works of grace saved sanctified and filled the holy ghost and they would say i want to praise the lord save him sanctify me and fill me with the holy ghost well i heard that and so i adopted it i said i want to pray the lord for saving sanctify me and pray for him and i'll get a good holy ghost and there was an old lady sitting back in the back and she must have had long hair but she pulled her back real tight and did it up in a biscuit right in the back of her head there and she was really a she's a sweet woman but the rich she really was homely yeah but i said i want to praise the lord i was sitting down front she was back in the audience i said i want to praise the lord for saving sanctify me and pray for me i'll get the good holy ghost. and she said yes come in tonight. i don't remember what that preacher preached that night but that's been 73 years ago and i still hear that dear old precious mother saying yes honey and tonight yes honey and and that began to pound over tonight can i get it tonight i've been seeking the holy ghost since i was seven years old tonight tonight tonight and when they gave the article i went to that altar brother chuck gray that's a brother michael maupin said uh great uncle in law or something that can't he be married whatever can folks anyway but uh he was a big man and he got down over many and i thought he was going to smother me death i he he was praying for me and i couldn't get my arms loose and and i for a little bit it got my mind off of the lord and and then i thought you're going to have to get your mind of the lord and get the holy ghost he going to smother your death one so i really and i heard somebody say say jesus jesus somebody else says say hallelujah and everything i did say hallelujah hallelujah i'd go say tea jesus jesus i said jesus jesus and everything that's when i was and then i heard somebody you know they it was like they just turned their volume down on a radio it was very loud and uh somebody said he's got the stammering lips and that's the last thing i remember he's got the stammering lips because when i came to myself i was on my feet dancing like like i was a a country dancer and was talking in tongues with every breath i had just didn't know what i was saying my tongue felt like it was tied in the middle and loose on both ends i was talking in tongues and the first thing i thought dear god i wish that mean brother of mine i wish bobby had this holy host and when i opened my eyes he was about six or eight steps for me and he was wishing i had it now here i'd sought the holy ghost for four years and i was a good little boy or so he said but here he the first time he went to the altar he got the holy ghost and we shouted all the way we walked the church and the dogs bark and scare us but that that night going home we scared the dogs i mean we would shout talk and turn kick gravel and and all and we got we got got got home and went in the eye and we was talking in tongues and shouting and dad dad come and listen and we went dad we want dad to hear it dad dad do we at the holy ghost she said boy get out of here and go i've got to work tomorrow get out of here be quiet well this was this was this was my experience and while i wanted i've got to finish telling this of course when i opened my eyes i saw that dear sister she was the prettiest thing i ever saw she it was it wasn't her that was ugly it was me but uh it was so beautiful and bobby had the holy ghost but we were talking this last week and we talked about uh we had a little red barn out behind our house and and they had a ladder on that wasn't a real ladder they had a makeshift ladder put two by fours on then then crossway vertical then and that made a ladder to go up in the in the halo and we we on our own nobody told us to do this but we would go up in that halo off and we got down beside a bella hay and we would pray until we got to stalking in tongues and then here we would go dancing and shouting all over that barn loft and hey hey builder and uh the lord had to be merciful to us because i we we didn't fall through that scuttle hole but we got to talking about this last week and took the hour and a half about what a wonderful experience it was well paul's explaining his experience i'm getting i'm going to get to the end here and uh and so i was telling this and it said pour out the lord and the lord said i'm jesus whom thou persecuted but arise and stand up on my feet for i have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make me a minister now he's talking to a king now he's he's given his personal testimony to king agrippa and god said jesus said arise and stand up on my feet for i have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make them minister and i witness both of these things which thou has seen and of those things in which i will appear unto you deliver thee from the people delivering thee from the people and from the gentiles unto whom now i send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of satan and to god that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by the faith that is in me whereupon king agrippa o king agrippa i was not disobedient unto this heavenly vision but showed forth first unto them of damascus and in jerusalem throughout all the coast of judea and then to the gentiles that they should repent and turn to god and do the works for repentance for this cause the jews called me in the temple and went about to kill me having therefore obtained help from god i continued unto this day witnessing unto smalling great saying in other things than those which the prophet moses said should come that christ should suffer he should be the first to should rise from the dead and should show light unto the gentiles and to the people and unto the gentiles and as he thus spake for himself that's festus said with a loud voice paul thou art beside thyself much learning has made me mad but he said i am not mad most noble festus but speak forth the words of truth and soberness for the king i turn to king agrippa for the king knoweth of these things before whom also i speak freely for i am persuaded that none of these things were hidden from him for the things which was done was not done in a corner king agrippa believeth thou the prophets i i know you believe then agrippa said unto paul almost thou persuades me to be a christian and paul said and put my topic on the screen if you would and paul said i would to god that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both almost and all together such as i am except these bonds would just stand your feet with us please almost we used to sing an old in the old country revivals we had a a we had what they call ultrasonics of course y'all still do the choir does such a great job that it's just newer songs but we had a song so almost persuaded to receive almost persuaded christ to receive see now some soul to save go spirit go by way some more convenient day on the alco how sad it is how sad it is he almost made it he almost made it now saints what i'm trying to impress upon us tonight i'm not trying to point a finger of condemnation or accusation to any of you i'm saying me we have i done all i can do i i want to do everything i can your son and your daughter your husband your wife whoever it is i want to see him say listen folks the lord's getting ready to come back right right now we've got the superpowers that got that's got stockpiles of hydrogen atomic weapons now premier putin said this he said nobody can win a nuclear war it must not be fought and it cannot be won and yet the next week he turns around and gives a veiled threat of of hydrogen and atomic warfare we're living on the brink right now we've got mad men we've got men that that's they're concerned about their own power and what they can do and one threat and one one thread another and one threat and another right now right now right now we've got missionaries that we're praying for that's coming home because of the danger that the weather being ordered out we could we could wake up in the middle of an atomic warfare any day and and once it starts it's uncontrollable because there's too many nations it's got the weapons and there's we do know the lord has already told us that it would not the earth will not be destroyed by water but it's going to be by fire look at your news look what's going on folks we need to pray we need to be ready and not only we need to pray for ourselves we need to do everything we can to see our family say pastor did you need it father we thank you for this service tonight we thank you for the blessed word of god lord i pray that you'll let the word sink deep into our hearts that we may be more determined than we've ever been for last day revival that we'll see our loved ones saved before it's too late and as we leave this place tonight may we not leave in a spirit of gloom but may we leave in the spirit of glee and the spirit of glory knowing that we've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb and that we're ready to go and we're believing you that our families are going to be saved dismiss us from this place but not from your presence in jesus name we pray amen shake hands and be friendly whatever your protocol is you're dismissed in jesus name