Seize The Moment Part 2 | 3Jan2024

Pastor West: [00:00:00] Uh, good evening and welcome everyone to Gracelife Church and all those who joins us. Glad to have each one here tonight. This is our New Year service, and I get it right. They just kind of run into. Yeah. 31st was on the end. Yeah. Here we are. So we we made it. Y'all made it. Yeah. I mean how many. Glad last year's over. Yes. How many enjoy last year. Now let's don't do that. Let's don't do that. Uh it was great. And it's going to be better than it was now Sunday we, we we got into a few things. We want to take time because, uh, every service is made available, uh, in so many different formats. I won't go through all that. So, you know, all that's available. Um, what I like is from, uh, what I like is the fact that we got a PDF that we can go and. Uh, if you want to, you know, because sometimes, you know, sometimes something will be said and you can't write it down and all that, and and, uh, my style has changed, as you know, for the last few months, because I'm, I'm giving you the scriptures. But if I take time to turn to every one of them, then, then we're not going to get as much done. And it's not that that's not important. It is important. That's why I give you the scriptures that we are going to look at some tonight. We actually turn to it.

 

Pastor West: [00:01:21] But just trying to cover so much more time. And now if we meet three times a week, we'd just slow down and just cover a lot of. So y'all just let me know when y'all. If y'all want to start doing that, we'll do that. Uh, I can meet five, but I don't think that's going to work with everybody. So, um, but we're talking about we're talking about seeds in the moment. And tonight we're going to be talking about the same thing, but we're going to go a little different direction. And we talked about the Kingdom of God Sunday. And but the kingdom of God has a language. How do you remember that? And that language, of course, is words. And we know things like this. And we call the language timeless talk in other words, we talked about what time is it? Do we understand the time? Uh, do we understand? Then we talked about God is the God of eternal according to all the scriptures. He said, I am the God of eternal. He created all of our time, but he doesn't live in it. That's right. He certainly would understand it, but he doesn't. He doesn't work, uh, on the 24 hour schedule. So, uh, you know, if you were. If you was. Jewish. You wouldn't even think about January 1st being New Year's. You would have thought September was so. Sometimes because of where we live, we think, you know that.

 

Pastor West: [00:02:31] We think that God keeps up with, you know, 6% of the population of the world. And he bases everything off that. And we are what are we, about 6% of the population of the world? Yeah, I think so. The USS so, you know, different countries do things different ways. But if you go on the Hebrew calendar, um, it does not start on January the 1st. And so time the way God looks at it is just forever. God only has one time just now, but he certainly understands time because once again, he created it. And there are things that God, if you are, I'm going to use this word I kind of want to kind of don't want to. There are things that God releases in certain times that fit with your time schedule, but they were already predetermined way before you came to that time, or even before you was even born. So it wasn't like, you know, because you hear a lot of things. And we used to have things like in every year, there had to be something come out about this year and had to rhyme with this and all that. And I'm not saying it wasn't, it wasn't scriptural or whatever, but sometimes it might have just been something that rhymed and and that's certainly good. I had a prophetic word that I gave you Sunday, uh, at the end of the service, and I wanted to get it printed out myself and did.

 

Pastor West: [00:03:49] And they worked all that out for us. I appreciate that, um, because I knew when it came to me, I knew what I, I knew how it came to me. I knew where I was at when it came to me. I knew how I felt when it came to me and for for him to bring it up to me. Then I had to go find it, which took me, uh, since I was going through the office and throw away, throw away, keep, throw away threw because I thought, there it is, there it is. And so, uh, it was just as relevant to me, if not more relevant than when I first got it, which I think was the first of, uh, 2023. Not really sure the date on it. Usually I date it, but I didn't have a date on it. And so those words are timeless. And I really do really, really, really, really, really, really do feel, uh, that this particular if I what we're going to talk about tonight or Sunday and going forward is something that's really on the heart of God. And I know it's just not just for us. I know it's everywhere, but not everyone has the ears to hear. They never have. And sadly, not everyone in the same congregation always has the ears to hear. I mean, there's been times in my life that I was I let myself be preoccupied with things. Your life is busy because this was happening and that's happening.

 

Pastor West: [00:05:06] You're taking care of your stuff, their stuff, everybody's stuff. And sometimes you say, man, I'm just doing good to be here. Uh, and I get all that, but I don't want you to lose the big part of things. Uh, so we have to almost just make ourselves say, look, this is this is what has to be in value. This has to be in the most important thing. Everything has to work. But this has to be the most important thing at the, uh, you've been with people when they leave the world. I've been with. I've been with quite a few people when they leave the world. No one ever that I know of, that I was with when I left the world. Ever cared about to talk about anything about. Wished I could have, you know, I wished I could have had a better golf game. I wished I had got more fishing in. There was nothing about that. And, uh, they were just had the recognition that they were about to meet the holiest person in the entire universe. And people who weren't really, really, really, really sure about their salvation was a little bit called apprehensive. And the other was who knew? The moment was excited and they were going to get to see God. And and they were going to get to see the family if they had there. So there's a lot for us to look forward to it.

 

Pastor West: [00:06:19] To me, it almost it's like we had 8 or 9 lessons on end times and it's almost, uh, I see things now almost like he's putting these two things together, which it looks like two different subjects. But something happened on October the 7th. Even though Israel's been at war many times, something happened on the calendar and the clock. God. Timing. That won't go back. If this thing is settled tomorrow, which it won't be, it'll never go back. So things are accelerating. So he's just trying to bring us to a place that, you know, us, the church, to a place to say, do you know what time it is? And do you know how much time that you really have? And so what would be the most important things if we understood how much time that we have? Um, you know, we would we, you know, we wouldn't weed the garden or we, we wouldn't paint the back room if we knew that the rapture was going to take place Tuesday, I wouldn't, I wouldn't paint. Of course, I'm not going to paint it either way, but, uh, here we go. Y'all ready? So we talked about, you know, uh, God's the God of all eternity. So time starts with him. It ends with him. And, uh, we said last year God never was because he's I am. Uh, he's no older today than he was 10 million years ago. He's the same age. If there is ever even an age, don't.

 

Pastor West: [00:07:48] We don't even know how to say that. How old are you? He said I'm. I am everyone who asked him. He said I am. We read a funny verse in John chapter eight. To me was funny. But when, uh, Jesus said to the Jews, he said, he said, your father Abraham was very happy when he could see the day when I came, and he saw that day, and he was very happy. And they said to Jesus, what question mark? How can you say you've seen Abraham? You're not even 50 years old. Jesus answered, he's with the fact he is before Abraham was born, I am. And, uh. They thought he needed psychiatric help, and he didn't make any more friends that day with the with the with the with the with the Pharisees. And so we talked about different people, like the Syrophoenician woman who didn't have a covenant. She just didn't have a covenant that time Jesus was there. But he hadn't lived. He hadn't died. He wasn't raised from the dead. Jesus came as an Old Testament prophet during the Old Covenant. He came to bring a new covenant and to end the covenant. So all these people who received miracles, like the syrophoenician woman who they would call a dog. And she said, I know, I know. The disciples said, you need to go away because he's he's only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. And he was.

 

Pastor West: [00:09:11] And he told the woman that, and he's just not right for me to cast bread among the dogs. Even Jesus called her a dog. And she said, I know my dog. She said, but I do not. I do know this, and you know this, that even dogs get crumbs. And that got Jesus attention. So he said, your faith is going to change the situation for your daughter. But she doesn't have any right to it. She doesn't have any covenant to it, but because she was in faith about it, and faith is right now, faith took her out of the old covenant into a new covenant. That hasn't even happened yet. Yeah. So we can we can go back and things you say, well, man, if I could go back in time. Well, we can't go back in one sense, but God can work on both sides of what did happen to what will happen. I mean, I've seen so many miracles of what had already happened. And then God restores sometimes. You know, some of these miracles were always they were immediate where they were within just a few minutes. And uh uh, sometimes it was then within a few hours or a day or two. I don't even know why I was, uh, my phone on Facebook, it popped up and and it said, uh, and she's in heaven. Said, uh, uh, you've been friends with Jill White for so many years, and I hadn't saw a picture of Jill in quite a while.

 

Pastor West: [00:10:34] And I was sitting there looking at it because I was thinking about, man, how could I ever forget that miracle? And, uh, you know, it was just she she was. She could see me, but she couldn't see me. She said. And I said, well, can you can you make out anything? She said, I just she was, you know, she was just I was here and she was right there. And she said, I just see a frame. I can't there's, I can't, I don't if I don't know what color your eyes are, I don't know what color your, your clothes are. She said, I couldn't tell you how many fingers you got up if you put them right in front of my eyes. And she thinks. And she said, the doctor thinks. And she says, in 4 or 5 days my whole world will be black for the rest of my life. And you can imagine how she felt. So I mean, it was just a it was a different type of miracle. I mean, I wouldn't suggest anyone do what I did. I tried to get out of it and maybe I maybe I didn't even hear it right, but I just heard and, you know, and she had her glasses and she could see. She could just see a little light and she could see that there was a person there, but she couldn't tell you who the person was.

 

Pastor West: [00:11:34] I don't care how close you were with you. That foot. She couldn't tell you who she was unless she spoke. So she said. She said if I didn't have this, she said I'd be completely blind. And she was holding this like it was, you know, all the gold in the world. And when she did that, I saw exactly me doing something. And I said, uh, uh, no way to myself. I said, no way. And I saw me destroying her glasses, and I said, uh, uh, no. And then I was just left there with like, well, what are you going to do about it? Oh, God. I mean, I was like, Jesus in the night in the garden. Is there any other way? Let this pass for me. And, uh, so I, I just I said, well, Miss Jill, I said, do you, do you trust me? She says, well, yeah. I said, do you really trust me? She said, yeah. And I said, so if you didn't have these glasses you couldn't see anything. She says nothing. And I said, can I see your glasses? And she handed it to me, and I took them, and I twisted them to pieces. Then I jumped up and down on them. And I thought that was many years ago, many years ago. So I thought when I did that, she would see immediately. And the only thing that happened was I tore her glasses up.

 

Pastor West: [00:12:52] I tore them up immediately. And we had Sunday night. So a friend took her home with her and brought her back. And and then I had all afternoon thinking about that. It was a it was a long afternoon. And if I could have got in my car and went away somewhere and never came back, I would have done it. But but she came back. Her car was still there and, uh. But she rode with Miss Tadlock, I think. But the sticker to her house. So I asked her how she was doing, and she says, well, the only thing different is I don't feel as much pressure behind my eyes as I did, she says. I don't have the migraine that I had this morning. And she said, but I can't see anything. I said, it's okay. And, you know, and I was man, I was, I was into the life of God, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Still, Im more excited now than I was then. But when I laid hands on her, you know, in John G. Lake's book they saw in Smith Wigglesworth book they saw right there in my book. It didn't happen. And I thought, that ain't what I read in John Gleick's book. And, you know, and I think what happened with Smith Wigglesworth and so she, she, uh, I laid hands on her 2 or 3 times that night and, uh, she asked where her glasses was, and they found them, and they, she they were they were pitiful mess.

 

Pastor West: [00:14:19] But they they found some tape at the church and they taped them to her head, um, taped them to her head and got her home. She got home and she had a doctor's appointment, you know, the next morning. And her son was supposed to take her, but I stayed. Uh, I didn't even go home. I felt so sorry for myself, which was pitiful. And I thought. Uh, she's going to get home and she's going to fall. She lives by herself. She's going to get hurt. She's going. She's going to get killed. I mean, I mean, I thought Eric was. You were right. You're a you're an absolute idiot. And, uh. And I stayed home. I didn't want to be around nobody. I stayed in my office at the other church, and I just sometimes I sat in my office desk, and sometimes I just sat on the floor. And then I went home. About 1 or 2:00 in the morning, I went back up the church. Never heard from her. In about 2:00, I was still sitting by myself moping around, and the phone rang and and I and I said, you know, live where Bible Church. And it was just Jewel. She says, pastor, I said, miss Jewel. She says she I said, how are you? She says. She's. I'm amazing. I said you are. He said, yeah. She says you won't ever believe what's happened to me.

 

Pastor West: [00:15:48] And I said, are you okay? I mean, I mean, are you. I mean, you haven't had a wreck or anything. She says, no, I ain't had a wreck. She says, when I got home, because, you know, I laid hands on her twice Sunday morning, 2 or 3 times, and I. And I rebuked them eyes and I, you know, and I her retinas had deteriorated and the nerves were destroyed and there was nothing they could do. And so I laid hands on her 3 or 4 times and then, you know, had few hours between services that night, then laid hands on 3 or 4 times, and they got her home. And then it's 2:00 the next day. So we're talking and she says, well, she says, when I, when I got home and I got in the house, she said, I have a place, you know, where I keep, you know, just old glasses that's been around for years. And I said, yeah. And she says, so I was fumbling around, you know, just trying to feel. And she said, I put on some glasses and she says, and all of a sudden she said, I, I could see, uh, almost 50% better. I said 50% when you got home. She said, yeah. She said in the next morning she said the glasses were seven years old. And she said the next morning she said, uh, Barry couldn't drive me to the doctor. He said, you'll just have to cancel.

 

Pastor West: [00:17:13] He was a truck driver, so I can't, I can't go, I've just been called out. You'll have to cancel, she says. So I didn't tell him and I didn't even tell him I could see. But she said I could see, and I hadn't saw this good in years. So she said, I drove myself downtown Birmingham. I thought what she said, but I can see. I can see perfectly. And I was like, you can see where I am. And, uh, uh, you know, every book I had, they did it. And it happened immediately. Mine was mine was, uh, about 12 hours delayed. And so they got to the doctor and, and he said, well, where's Barry? She said he couldn't come. He got called out. He said he brought you. She said, I did. He says, oh, Jill. He said, I mean, who brought you? She said, I did. He said, well, there's no way, Jill, I mean, seriously, I mean times who brought you, they can come back here with you. And she says, I've had a miracle, I drove myself. He said you're you're not kidding, are you? She says no. So he went back and examined her eyes and and saw the glasses. He said he said, that's he said according you know, he she was there for 2 or 3 hours. He said, your eyes are he says, see you here Friday. And I told you what I told you.

 

Pastor West: [00:18:38] You had about a week. And she said, that's right. And he says, and this is Monday, and your eyes are where they were seven years ago. He said, that's why you can see all those glasses. He said, what did they do to you? She said, well, she said, I went to church, I go to the pastor believes in miracles. And she said he took my glasses off and he twisted them up and jumped up and down on 2 or 3, 4 or 5 times and commanded me see what I couldn't see, she said. But I can today. And I said, you didn't give him my name, did you? She says, no. She says, you want me to give me your name? I said, no, no, no, let's just leave it. Let's just leave it. You know, I mean, a lot of these things, you know, you're you're just learning as you go. I mean, there was no notes that rang me, telling me, you know, if it don't work out. I mean, you here to do this by the Holy Ghost? So what are you going to do? You're sitting there like, okay, you're here. Like, I don't want to do that. But then you go do it and it don't look like it's working. And you're like, oh gosh. So. So the rest of her life, she could see. She could see. I mean, she just wore glasses, but but she the retinas put on new layers.

 

Pastor West: [00:19:42] The nerves was in her eyes. The blood pressure was normal. Everything was fine. So? So time. Took away her sight. And then time got reversed and took her back to where in less than 24 hours, where she was seven years before that. What did that? Faith in God, faith in his word. Overrode time and destruction. So it's like that old book, I guess. Jerry's got a book called You Can Go from Devastation to Restoration. She was devastated, but she went to restoration in less than 24 hours. So that's what that's what faith does. And that woman Syrophoenician woman, her, her daughter. So she really received something that wasn't even in her covenant. So tonight I want you to go to Ephesians chapter five. And or you can listen. I'm gonna read from the New Living Translation. Um. Ephesians 515 through 17. And it says so. Be careful how you live. Don't live like fools. That concludes our service for tonight. Okay. I mean, that's good instruction, right? Okay. That'll get you through partly through 2024, just like, you know, just go with that. No. So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Verse 16. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. The passion translation of verse 15 says, be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom.

 

Pastor West: [00:21:32] For we are living in evil times. You might know that. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes, and don't live foolishly, for then you'll have discernment to fully understand God's will. Uh, those words in verse 16 it says, make the most of every opportunity. For the days are evil. Um, there's a there's a it has to do with time. But it's not the chronos time where we talk about there's, like, a certain season of time or are certain times like 7:00 at night or something like this. But this is more of a season time, and this has to do with the opportunity. In other words, you're in a season of opportunity, so you need to see the opportunity. You can't seize it if you don't see it. You know? And, um, I don't really want to say that, but. Well, baa baa baa baa baa. Uh. Because I. Well, this is going to sound jewel wouldn't have got that miracle sit in several churches. She would have been blind the rest of her life. But I just happened to run into a few people affected my life in such a way. You know, some of it was here and some of it was there. Some of that was Bible school. Some of it was when I met, like Pastor Buzzy, which was a that was a godsend to me, kind of a mentor for me for the rest of my life.

 

Pastor West: [00:23:08] God has some teaching on it. It rained, but not that wasn't their emphasis. And it just when he taught it, he could say it the way I could hear it. And uh, and then the way he said it and the way I heard it and it got all in me, and I had so much confidence in it, and I still do. I had so much confidence in who we are. And then it just made so much sense to me. Well, this is in me and this is his will. And and if it's life and it's his life, then it's not me. Because it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be me because it's not my faith. It's not my life. It's his life. And if he lives in me, he doesn't need faith and he doesn't know. And no one needs a seminar. And so. I can transmit it. If I can transmit it, then it'd be like the gate. Beautiful. You have a big need. You're blind. But such as I have, I can give. It's mine. He gave it to me so I can give it. And if I give it to you, it's going to help you. It's going to bless you. And that's just how I saw it. It was just. It was just that simple. And so, uh. But she would have been blind the rest of her life sitting in most churches. And I don't mean because of me.

 

Pastor West: [00:24:17] I hope you don't think that. I'm just saying I saw something that I didn't see at one time, but now I saw it, and I can't unsee it. I can't unknow it, and it thrilled me. And that's one reason why he kept coming, because, you know, he let anyone know if he the last five years of his life, he'd let you know. If you're not going to preach this, just let me know. I'm not I'm not upset if you don't want to preach it, but just don't. I don't have time to come to your church, he said. I don't need a meeting. I'm a pastor, I don't need a meeting, and I don't need any money. He says. So if if you're not going to preach this, he says, do both of us a favor and don't waste my time, because I'm looking to impart this into some young men who will preach at the rest of their life, because he says, I got one more good run on me and I'm going home. He says, I'm ready to go home. I had no idea he really meant he was ready to go home, but he almost was. And then he said, so. So don't waste my time. Well, that makes more sense to me at this age than it did back then. About not wasting the time. And but every time he got around me and he looked at me, he says, he says, you want some more of this? I said.

 

Pastor West: [00:25:23] Uh huh. He said, well, come on up here. And I go to I go to meetings, you know, all over Alabama, Mississippi, wherever he's at. If I could get there, I would go there because I didn't have to pastor me with my meeting. I didn't have to host it. I could just go there and just do what other people do when they come to your meetings. They just, you know, they come and they give. And I could just absorb it because every time I went somewhere, he'd call me up and he'd want me to be the usher. I never figured out why he wanted me. He was the wildest, weirdest individual. I mean, you he had no protocol of anyone who travels. I mean, you know, like, you have a guest minister, and we start. Aren't y'all used to them come sitting either on the front row here. Right here. Buzzy might be in the parking lot. He might be digging in his trunk somewhere. He might be in children's church. He'd be out there in the four years. Book table. And then you get through singing every song. I mean, we had a full praise team up there and they sang. Barbara was like, it almost had no voice left. And I'm like, they're kind of like through Take Over. He's like, I ain't got nothing. You better have something. I mean, he said, he said, you're not waiting on me.

 

Pastor West: [00:26:30] I said. Kind of am. Remember, this was the meeting your name's out there and the three day meeting, and he said, no, I think it's yours right now. I said. I don't think I have anything he says. Well, I'm not getting up there. And I thought, well, so he was different. And if you didn't like different, you wouldn't want him. But buzzy got miracles everywhere. He got everywhere he went. He transferred the life of God and he got miracles. He was, uh. He's what Donald G. Who wrote the book Spiritual Gifts? Anyone who teaches on gifts, they always refer to Donald G. Donald G was called, uh, because we was talking to Mark Hankins one day about it, and he knew Pastor Buzzy really well. And matter of fact, he came to Pastor Buzzy Church and he would be part of his in Christ camp meeting. And Mark, he said, told us one day he said he said, now, buzzy, he's he's what Donald G. Called an extremist. And I said, well, what's that? He said, well, he said, you can he says, look up Donald G. And put extremist. And he said, you can pull it off the internet and he'll tell you, you know what? Donald G will tell you what an extremist was. And he said, in other words, if the waters are stagnant and they're not moving and the body's just sitting there and it's almost lifeless, God's going to send in someone wild.

 

Pastor West: [00:27:56] Who's carrying something and he's going to get the waters moving. He said, now it depends on who it is and you got to be cautious with it, he said. Because every church needs someone like that at one time, he said. But and, and the church needs that from time to time, he says. But he said, in other words, like if your car is in the ditch. He said, Buzzy Sutherland, his name was actually Philip. He said he is going to get it out of the ditch when you call him. That car is no longer be on the it ain't going to be right here on the ditch now. It might be on the other side of the road in this ditch, but it ain't going to be on that side of the road in the ditch because he is going to move it. He is that extreme. And because everyone in his family who died of, uh, diabetes on both sides, he hated it. Um, you could tell him if he heard that word. I don't care if you needed for other things in your body. Worse than that, he couldn't hear nothing past when you said diabetes, man, he jumped on that. I mean, like, it was a rattlesnake. And, uh, you know, and y'all know this was a true story. He did get bit by a rattlesnake, I mean, and he said, you know, no one should ever do what I did.

 

Pastor West: [00:29:04] And I said, well, why didn't you go to the to the to the emergency room? It's a rattlesnake. He said, yeah, that's good sense would go do that. He said, I should have, I should have, he said, I know the doctors out there really well. I said, boys, you better get out here. You're going to die. He says, I'll be all right. And I said, well, why didn't you go? He says, well, he says, I've seen so many miracles. He says. He says, he says, you know, Paul said, no deadly thing will hurt you. I said, he said, this thing ain't gonna hurt me. And I said, what if you die? He said, I'd be in heaven. He said, who cares? I said, he said, you know, I wasn't. I wasn't talking about somebody else's life. It was mine. And that's just so never bothered you? No, it bothered me a whole lot. I said it did. He said, oh yeah, he said, he said within 3 or 4 hours. He said, I mean like, you know, 1:00 in the morning. He says, I was so bad I had to get out of bed and go in the other bedroom. He said, my foot swollen, got bit on the foot. Wasn't it mad or something like foot delay? He said it swelled up so bad. He said it was purple. It was black, it was blue. He said, I mean, it looked like it was going to rot off.

 

Pastor West: [00:30:08] He said it hurt so bad. He said I couldn't stay in the same room with it. I said, really? He said, yeah. So I shoved the bed over near the window, opened the window and hung my foot out the window. I said, why? He said, because I couldn't stay in the room with that leg. Now? Yeah, same. Same room in that leg. So I don't know if he was just joking with me or what, but I could see him doing all that. Uh, but he had a lot of fun. But he was real serious. But, see, that's someone. That's someone who doesn't come teach a lesson. They do, but they bring an impartation. He was an importer, and you can tell that affected me and you could tell it affected. I mean, Matt talks about him all the time, anyone who knows him or got around him. And so he just, uh, and, uh, he asked me one time about Jill. He says, he says, what's that woman's name out there? And I said, her name is Jill. And, uh, he said, the devil hates her. And I says, does he? He says, oh, yeah. He says, I don't even. I said, have you talked to her? She said, no, I ain't never said a word to her. He said, I just heard the Holy Spirit said, the devil hates her. He said, when she prays, he says she can stir up every devil, every devil in hell.

 

Pastor West: [00:31:21] He said, when you get her married in the spirit, he says, he says, the devil goes to running. I said, really? He said, yeah. And he said, but always watched people like that. And he didn't say she was. He said, because people like that. He says they have highs and they have lows. He says like a roller coaster. He said, you better to have someone with an even keel. I don't know how I'm talking about this, but he said, but, but, you know, in other words, people can never see. People can go real high and and they're like, whoa, a moment. But two days later, I mean, you can't get them to believe God for a napkin. And I'm not saying Jewel was, but. But you want someone who just. Steady. Steady. So, uh, it's okay if we got some extremists in here. There's at least one in here other than me. But I'm not going to tell you his name. Dennis. So I'm not. I'm not, because it'd be wrong if I said that. So praise the Lord. Amen. But he. But he affected my life in such a big way. He just did. And so, uh, I have a lot of his material, and he just send me all this stuff, and it's just like I called him one time, and I said, pastor Bud said, I think they made a mistake at the office. He said, well, what kind of mistake? I said, I got a ton of material.

 

Pastor West: [00:32:43] I said, you sent me. You sent me all kind of series. You sent me all these translations. You've sent me probably $2,000 of material. And I said, he said, you don't like my material, says, oh, I love it. I just ain't been able to get it all right now, he says. I said there was some mistake. He said, no, there ain't no mistake. He said, you're going to preach this, right? I said, oh yes, sir, I'm going to preach this stuff. He said, well, then you're going to need the material. And I said, well, there wasn't no Bill in there. He says. I know, he said, uh, did I send you a bill? And I said, well, no, sir. He said, then I'm not worried about it if you ain't. What do you do with that? And so I'd watch tumors just come off people's hands. I mean, we had a woman come one time. She had like 8 or 9 tumors in the Clanton church, and, uh, he he'd minister and then he he cursed him. Tumors. He said, go check it and come right back. It was it wasn't like this. I can go preach this. Then we're going to go home and hope it works out for you know, we're going to know why I'm here. We're going to know why I'm here. So he tells, he said, A couple of you ladies go with her and, uh, check them tumors and come back and they'd reduce.

 

Pastor West: [00:33:58] Well, he wasn't okay with reducing. He told them to die, not reduce. So he would talk mean and mad to a tumor, like, uh, I mean, I mean, you need wasn't talking to the person. But he was having a conversation with him. Tumors or their eyes or whatever the problem was, you know, and he says, I'm dealing with the devils, what I'm dealing with. And so he had a woman one time she could barely see and kind of like Jewel was. And he prayed and she says, reading the Bible, she says, well, I can't see it. He said, but I told you to see. I told them eyes to see eyes. I'm talking to you. Didn't I tell you to see? And and she didn't know what to answer. And he said, I'm talking not to you, but he said, I'm talking to your eyes. He said, I told your eyes to see. I didn't ask him to see. I didn't say, get around to it. I said, I said, see. And he laid hands on her again and she'd fall down. He said, now read the Bible. She said, well, I can't see it. I mean the honest God's truth. He says, Bless God, I told them, eyes to see. And if it took him three times to 15 when he got through, you know what happened they might be seeing. And when we watched someone walk out of the church whose leg grew like six inches and just seconds, and he'd been that way for a long time, he had built up a few huge, just a huge built up shoe, but in his mind he forgot about it.

 

Pastor West: [00:35:24] So he got ready to leave and put on his shoes, and they went, and it wasn't gonna work that way. And so Pastor Buddy said, some of y'all ushers just he says he ain't got nothing he can wear barefooted. He says, no, y'all got a parking lot out there paved and all that, but I want y'all to just carry him to his car so he don't get some kind of trash in his feet. And then, uh, he called me the next morning, and, uh, he's at the hotel, and I felt like Gilligan. I always told you I felt like Gilligan because all the times he called me little buddy, I don't know why. And, uh. But it was fine with me. I didn't care. I'd rather be buddy than, you know, snot nosed or something. And so he, uh, he said, uh, what do you think about that guy last night? And I said, that was awesome. He said, yeah, but no, that's not what I'm talking about. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, he said he had that accident and they had to put them steel in his leg. I said, oh yeah. He said, so what happened? I said, what do you mean? He said, well, did God remove it or did God stretch it six inches in a few seconds? I said, well, I don't know.

 

Pastor West: [00:36:24] He said, well, I don't either, but I'd like to know. Well, we never did, you know, get around to find out about it. But I said I hadn't even thought about it. He said, be kind of cool. He said it'd be fine either way. He said, be kind of cool with God. Just stretch the steel. And he's like, you know, he's a man of steel. I can remove it or I can just stretch it. So, so people, people like that when you you may run into one or none or 2 or 3 your whole life. And, uh. And that will affect you forever. And it won't just affect you, but that affected this ministry forever. I think it got into a lot of you and a lot of people who come through the doors and out. There's been a lot of miracles. There's been a lot of signs. And that's why I asked you one time I says, I said, I don't even know why I want to go. I mean, why would I want to preach on faith anymore? He says, because, oh, because you're getting a lot of miracles. I said, yeah, I mean, and they're almost like instantaneous. I said, this is fun. Why would I want to sit down here and talk to someone 15 weeks about faith? He says, because that's the just live by faith.

 

Pastor West: [00:37:37] I said, that's right. He said, you know, you don't need to be transmitting to someone who's 70 years in the Lord. They need to be believing God. He said, you need to do both. And so. So. But you can see what I'm saying. I mean, would you want to teach 15 lessons on faith or just go boom and and the miracles happen? Well, that was a whole lot of fun. But the boom was used. The people who was who was they was on the street or they didn't have they weren't saved or they didn't know it was the will of God to heal. Uh, you had less of it when you had people who knew the word, but they were just too lazy to read it. You almost like you couldn't get it to work the same way because they should have known better. But anyway. So let's go on. So, uh, we're going to seize the moment. And we talked about make the most of every opportunity. Uh, that's the word if I pronounce it right is, uh, uh, carpe diem, which just really just means a carpe diem, which means seize the moment or seize the opportunity. But you got to be able to see the opportunity. People have all, Roberts said. The opportunity comes to everybody every day. He says most people don't know that. He says miracles are coming to you almost every day of your life and passing you by.

 

Pastor West: [00:38:57] He said the question is not is there miracles? The question is, do you have the eyes to see and to know? Do you have the discernment to know that every day you have the opportunity almost every day of your life, you have the opportunity to do something amazing? I mean, Wigglesworth always said the first time I read it, I was like, man, I felt backslid. And because he said you was actually he said, Smith. You know, because they recorded most of his sermons simply as God did a lot of them back years and years ago. But they recorded one of his in one of his books, it said. Smith said, if you're in the same place with God that you were two days before, and in other words, like he would say, you remember where you and God was on Monday, we say we mean spiritually. Well, yeah, he says, This is Wednesday. You the same place? Well, yeah. He said, well you back, you backslid and they like sir he says, he said you going to tell me you have this right here and you're going to tell me? And he would say, who's the author of it? And they said, well, the Holy Spirit. He says, do you have him? They said, oh, yeah. How you filled with the spirit. Oh, yeah. He says, so you're going to tell me that you got this book, and the author lived on the side of you, and you ain't advanced nowhere since Monday.

 

Pastor West: [00:40:18] You can see why. No one wanted to be around him. They all wanted him in their church to preach, but they didn't want to be around him because he was too hard to live with. But they wanted him for the miracles. But what are you going to do with someone like that who thinks, man, I can't even believe you're in the same place. You're in the same place with God. On Wednesday that she was on Monday. What's wrong with you? Huh? I mean, the church just gets up 3 or 4 messages just to change the year. Try to stretch the church out for three weeks. Then most of them just go right back or lose the ground. I mean, what if we just started holding? We just take attendance every every service and say you same place you are. You need to go back to a class over there. Well, I need to lose everybody in just about a week or two. It'd be all over, or else we'd grow up and we'd find out really quick and we'd find out really quick, and, uh. Amen. I'm trying to get to where we're going. Uh, Charles Spurgeon said this. He said, uh, he said, uh, Charles, y'all knew he knew who Spurgeon was. He said with great perseverance. And that's what it takes. It takes perseverance. If you're going to seize the moment, you're going to have to persevere.

 

Pastor West: [00:41:34] Y'all know that, right? Yeah. But he said even the snail with perseverance made the ark. You know, it doesn't happen overnight. Matter of fact, usually none of this. I mean, to seize the moment, to seize the opportunity to to to to do what you're here for. He's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take Monday nights. They tell brother, uh, brother Copeland said years ago, someone told him, they said, uh, this is like my first time. I heard him say it was in the 90s, but I don't know when when it actually happened. But I remember hearing Brother Copeland in the 90s. He said there was a man who told him at the early 90s, he says he said, now, Brother Copeland, he says, man, you you just became an overnight success. Your names are known all over the world, he says. You're just an overnight success. He says, oh, really? He said, well, yeah, just like overnight. God, just I mean, you're just an overnight success. He said, well, if it is, it's the longest night of my life because he was driving that station wagon. You know, uh, anyone would ever have one or your family had a stationary. It had that lamp that looked like wood on the side of it. Ugly as sin. Especially when it all faded out. And, uh, Brother Copeland had one of those. And Jerry, after he became full time, and he'd go with him and he'd, he'd keep the tape table and introduced Brother Hagan, and then they'd have to run the cassettes.

 

Pastor West: [00:43:02] Uh, we got people here that used to run cassettes, and then you'd sell a cassette for. Back then it was like 4 or $5, and it was $10 worth of labor to get out of $5 cassette, and then you'd wait forever. Man, I got so excited. One time we got up enough money that we could we could run three cassettes at one time. I'm like, man, you look at we went back in the 90s, you go to Raymond when they're still cassettes and they said no or the services. And if you wait 30 minutes, you can take them home with you because they had enough of these machines that they could run 500 every few, every, every few, like 5 or 10 minutes, which means they had a series of those things, you know? And so, uh, Jerry Saville's job was to, you know, to, to get the tile, he got to lick the thing, stick it on the cassette. He says, you know, sometimes I wouldn't get them on there straight. It'd be a little bit sideways and all that kind of stuff. And that's what his job was to drive that old station wagon, set up the tech table, introduce Brother Copeland, get him to the meetings, do whatever he needed him to do, and that's where they started.

 

Pastor West: [00:44:03] So Brother Copeland said, if we became an overnight success, he says, boy, that was a long, long, long night. So it's not going to happen just in one moment. So you got to be prepared to persevere, to lay hold of by faith. And it's not going to come without a fight. Or I'm telling you that already. I'm telling you that is because it's true. Because if you just tell people, just believe God and it all works out just fine. It does work out fine, but it's going to be a fight with it. I mean, I know the devil is defeated, but you don't think he's just going to lay down and say just, you know, just use my back for a bridge. Just, just just ride over me. It doesn't really matter. I don't care. No. So, uh. And you need ambition. But ambition is not going to be enough. It's not. Ambition is not going to get the job done. It's going to take determination. Someone say determination. Tell your neighbor determination. Tell your neighbor. Say get you some determination or get out of here right now. No. Just kidding, just kidding. You know, probably a good definition for faith could just be this becoming steadfast. Being fully persuaded and then being steadfast. Just. Just, just just do it again and just do it again and just just do it again. You say, well I don't I don't feel no better. Well, it didn't say you was healed because you felt better.

 

Pastor West: [00:45:26] That's right. It didn't say my feelings. A good definition. Yes. Being steadfast like Abraham and Sarah. You have to be willing to. You have to be willing to take risk. And there's not a whole lot of risk takers out there, but you have to be willing to take a risk if you're going to have the moment, if you're going to succeed, if you're going to do, if you're if you're going, if you're going to succeed in what God calls you to do somewhere in your lifetime, there's going to be a risk involved. It could be a career change or business. Go back to school. Dah dah dah. Family, whatever it is, change your whole business model, change the whole ministry, how it's being done and it'll look like. And it will be. It will be, naturally speaking, it will be as if it is a risk that you might could just lose it. And so that's the reason why a lot of people won't do it. They said we'd rather have, you know, the bird in the bush than two over here that maybe we think we might grab hold of. And I get it. But this country wasn't built on people holding on to one bird in the bush. Uh, the fruit is out on the limb. You don't pull it. You don't. You don't pick, you know, peaches, off the off the off the trunk of the tree.

 

Pastor West: [00:46:47] They're out on the limbs. When you read Hebrews chapter 11, what we call the heroes fall. The heroes. Uh, Fame, Hall of Faith, fame, whatever you want to call it. I mean, these are. These are women and men who live by faith, who made advancements by faith, who lived in the spirit of faith. And they did incredible things that really, uh, and some of them, some of them actually, the Bible says some of them live by faith, and some of them lived and died by faith. Now it's okay to talk about living by faith, right? But no one really wants to hear about it. Said. And they died in faith. See, no one wants talk about that. I mean, they were believing God all the way to the moment, even sometimes they didn't see the fullness of all of it in their day. Not the fullness of it, but they died in faith. But I'd rather be in heaven. And not have gotten all of it, but been in faith about as much as I could be and should have been. Then, then, then got there and played it safe. I mean, I think it's the difference between well done when he sees you or. Well. There you are. Huh? I mean, you ought to go through heaven with a with a shout, not a sigh. Yeah. And when you get to heaven, I'll be. Hey. Instead of. I'm glad y'all still open. Does it change when I walk across that line? Yeah, but. I look like you coming in?

 

Speaker2: [00:48:40] No.

 

Pastor West: [00:48:40] No, I'm being a little horsey, I know. Uh, so these people seized opportunities because they trusted God. They took risks. Some of them died in faith, but they influenced their. They influenced the entire nations. And if you think about it, anyone ever been influenced by reading the book of Hebrews chapter 11? I mean the Bible, but I'm talking about Hebrews chapter 11. The heroes, you know, by faith it says, by faith or through faith and in faith, by faith, through faith and in faith. They did this, they did this, they did this, do this. So and it changed their home, their families, nations, in a lot of what they did is still changing lives today, thousands of years later, because someone took a risk and they lived by faith. Huh?

 

Pastor West: [00:49:30] I mean, whatever, whatever you're doing, whether it's a job for someone else or whether when you leave this planet, it all take 3 or 4 people just to take your place.

 

Pastor West: [00:49:45] You ought to create a vacuum that just sucks up 3 or 4 people just to be just take your place. And I'm not talking about, you know, you know, doing something in your flesh. I'm just talking about, you know, how many have the how many have the Holy Ghost? What does he. Well, here's the other thing. But does he have you say everyone said, oh, yeah, I got the Holy Grail. Yeah, but does he have you. Oh, yeah. Well does he. Well, that means you're casting out devils, right? And you're getting people set free and delivered and healed. Oh, well, then he may not have as much of us as we think he has. I'm talking to me too. Right. See, it's one thing to have him. But. But does he really have you? Can he say, go do this, go do this. Quit your job. Move to San Francisco, huh? I don't know whether. I mean, we gave me a word one day that I wrote down years ago. He don't even know what I even told him about what would happen one day and would I go? And he said, and he says in the nations will call and they'll and and he said, and people from nations will call you for the miracles. You know, when I wrote that word down, I never even told him about this. I wrote that down in 2005.

 

Pastor West: [00:50:56] I prayed more in 2005. I ever prayed in my life before. After. I got that written down on a rock at Lake Nicole in Tuscaloosa. Nations will call. Well, I ain't never left the nation. I mean, on a mission trip. I mean, I've been on a few mission trips, but, you know, per per cruise ship. I left the nation, but it's usually on a cruise ship. I've helped a lot of people get where they're going, but I haven't been the guy that always went, so, you know, so I'm not really looking to. I wasn't really looking to get to the nations, you understand? I almost went with Nick white. Remember that time? Nick wanted to go. He said, we'll just take an easy trip with me, he said. He said, let's go to Panama. I said, okay, I'll do that. He said, well, good, that'd be a good, simple trip. He said, I said, when are you going to go? He said, well, you know, you need to get your passport and all that says, I don't need no passport to go to Panama City. He said, Panama City, I ain't my Panama City. Panama. I said, oh no, no, no, no, no, no. I thought you wanted to go to Panama City Beach. I said, well, people need Jesus there too. When they do. He said, no, we're not going to Panama City Beach.

 

Pastor West: [00:52:00] I said, no, I'll send you a check. So when, when, when, when when was giving me that word, it that word was given to me in 2005, the summer of 2005. And some time went by, didn't it? Wow. But time, God's time was just right now. So God exalts persistence and he promotes. He promotes, he. God promotes persistence and he promotes existence. What do I mean by that? Proverbs 22 nine says, seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings. If you're diligent in what you're called to do in your business, he said, I'll make sure that you stand before kings. In Luke 962, Jesus said, no man, having put his hand to the plow, looks back is fit for the kingdom of God because God always looks forward, always looks forward. Why? Because the more you look back, the more that you'll think back. And God can't do anything with a man who looks back, thinks back, or acts back. Smith Wigglesworth Ecclesiastes 11 four and the Living Bible says, don't wait for perfect conditions because you'll never get anything done. Don't ever. You know, it would have been nice to stay home tonight. It was kind of cold, they say, about snowing this morning. I was like, man, I know snow. It's like it's cold. It's rainy. You know, we could just have some soup.

 

Pastor West: [00:53:34] Got no more hallmark. We was like, watch. Oh, not so much. But anyway. But if you if you just wait for everything to be perfect before you get started. I read a thing years ago that did you? Did you know that most small business people started their business because they got fired or let go? True story. They were thinking about doing that one day, but they weren't. They weren't going to do it that day. But all of a sudden it's like, we don't need you anymore. Oh, I mean, when would this start? Right now. Oh. Happens all the time. Not because they did anything wrong. Downsizing, you know, whatever. Different reasons. And a lot of people started the business out of that. And it wasn't easy. It wasn't because they had a pile of money sitting around. It wasn't like the whole world was calling for them, you know, come be the guy. They were like, whoa, well, what are we going to do? And they had to trade, and they knew a few people, and that's how it started. And they they go build a business. And I have a tremendous lot of respect for people like that. I mean, just like I mean, that's that's a pioneer spirit. That's a, that's not a that's not a what they call the museum keepers. That's just like, that's a pioneering spirit where someone just takes something from nothing.

 

Pastor West: [00:54:53] I mean, and there ought to be a lot of pride that you took, that you built this company, this corporation from absolutely nothing when it was just you and and it could last a day or a week and it'd be all over. I mean, how can you not admire someone who's willing to take a risk like that? When I walked off my job in 1995. With the company that I could still be at. Which is doing pretty well. Not, not they're not doing what what I was doing. And when they're doing that and more stuff that I wouldn't be doing. But I'm just saying. But there wasn't no guarantee for me and to walk off of it, there was no way to walk off of it and go into ministry and go back to it. It was just going to be, you know, blow the bridge up and leave. There was no guarantee to it. But I knew what the Holy Ghost said to me. I knew when he said to go do it. And actually, I was six months late doing it because I was looking at the checkbook and I said, there ain't no way. But I knew what he said to me. And so now you know, 20. I'm June. June will be the 29th year or start the 30th year or whatever it is. But anyway, uh, God's always right.

 

Pastor West: [00:56:14] Now, Henry Ford, you ever heard of him? Yeah. He, uh, he built a car one day, but he had a mother. Anybody here had a mother? How many? Y'all had a mother. Most of y'all okay. All right. He said when he was a very young boy, his mother taught him that life would present many opportunities. He said it will, mother. She said yes, she says, but it will take self discipline, son, courage and perseverance to make those opportunities a reality. And she said, and she said, now write this down. Second principle, this is Henry Ford in his autobiography. He says, so mom told me that I'm going to have a lot of opportunities in my lifetime, she said. But it's going to take self discipline, courage, perseverance to make these opportunities. It's going to come your way, a reality. She says, now write this down. She told him, uh, that, uh. She says. A person who says I can't or I don't want to will never get anywhere in life. She says, so don't ever. And he said, my house was never allowed to say I can't or I don't want to. He said you'd be in major trouble. The apostle Paul said this in first Corinthians 16. Don't go there. Eight nine he said, I will remain in Ephesus until the feast of Pentecost. He said, but there's an amazing door of opportunity standing wide open for me to minister here, even though there are many who oppose and stand against me.

 

Pastor West: [00:57:42] In other words, there's a great King, James said, there's a great and effectual door open to me, but when I go through it, there's going to be many adversaries. Look how they go together. A lot of opportunity, but a lot of a lot of adversaries. If you look at the word seize, it means to take possession of suddenly and by force or attack or strike. So it's something that you have to see it in the moment. Some things have a longer time frame. Some have a very short time frame. Uh, Leonard Rayburn or you probably some of you have probably heard of Leonard Ravenhill. He was a revivalist, a very well known. He said the opportunity of a lifetime must be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity. In other words, if it's truly a 50% off sale, it won't be that way next year. I mean, if they're selling you something because it's a dent, like an appliance. I mean, if you wait four days, it may not be there if they mark it off 60%. And unless you're going to go kick another one or whatever, I don't I don't know how you do all that, but but I mean, it's just it has a shelf life to it. The opportunity does.

 

Pastor West: [00:58:57] Um, I.

 

Pastor West: [00:58:58] Don't have time to get to this because our time is gone, so I'll finish with this. Um, y'all ever heard of Abraham Lincoln? Who is he? He was a he was one of our presidents. Some people feel like he was probably the greatest president this nation has ever had, that everyone has different opinions, but a lot of people, even on both sides of the aisle, feel like Abraham Lincoln was one of this nation's greatest presidents. And but he didn't have an easy road. He had a very hard life. Both of his parents were alcoholics. So. But he didn't know that he couldn't succeed. But you you probably read some of these things before, but, uh, this little thing I printed out, this article said he was born into poverty. I mean, abject poverty. He was faced with defeat throughout his entire life. Uh, politically, he lost eight elections. Twice he failed in business. One of his partners died in business. But he. And so, uh, Lincoln didn't have the money to float it. And so he had to close it after his partner died. But he made good on the debts. And for years and years and years he paid the debts that he and his partner died, you know, that died until he paid it off. But it closed up almost as soon as his partner died. He could have quit many times, but he didn't. And because he didn't quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country. Lincoln was a champion. He never gave up. Here's a sketchy a sketch of Lincoln's road to the white House in 1816.

 

Pastor West: [01:00:33] His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support his family. That's 18, 16. Two years after that. His mother died, 1818 and 1831. He failed in business when his partner died the next year. He ran for the state legislator. Who? He's got ambition. Oh. He lost. Uh, same year, 1832, after he lost the legislature, he also lost his job. And he wanted to go to law school, but he couldn't get in. They said he wouldn't. He wouldn't, you know, good material to be a politics or or an attorney. And so he just didn't have it. So the next year, he borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business. And by the end of the year, he was bankrupt. He spent 17 years of his life paying off the debt to his friend. The next year he ran for the legislature again. He won. He won. That was 1834. Y'all remember that? That was a good year, 1835. He got engaged to be married. Um, uh, he had a sweetheart, and so he asked to marry him. She said she did. And before they could get married, she died. And he said his heart was broken. The next year, he had a total nervous breakdown. And he was bedridden for half a year. Six months. Abraham Lincoln, he waited two more years, and then he sought to become the speaker of the state legislature. He was defeated. She waited two more years and he sought to become the elector, and he was defeated.

 

Pastor West: [01:02:17] So he waited three more years and he ran for Congress. And this time. Oh, no, he lost. So he waited, uh, in 1843 to 1846, and he ran for Congress again, and this time he won. He went to Washington and did a good job in 1846. So then he wanted to re-up. 19. 1848. He ran for election to Congress again, but he lost. The next year he sought the job of land officer in his home state. He was. He was rejected. So he sought the job of the land officer in his home state, and he was rejected. After he'd been in the Congress and lost but been there in 1954, he ran for Senate of the United States, and Abraham Lincoln lost. Two years later, in 1856, he sought to be the vice president, nominated person of his party there, the Republican National Convention, and he got less than 100 votes. That was kind of a down day for him. You want to be the vice president at the committee, and 100 less than 100 people said no. So he waited two more years and he ran for the US Senate again, and he lost. He waited two more years. 1960. And he ran for president, United States. And he became the president of United States of America. Uh, and here's just a few things that he said. And then we'll quit here. He said, uh, I have determined in my life that a man or a woman is just about as happy as they make up their mind to be.

 

Pastor West: [01:04:07] He said, in the government of the people and by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. He said, you cannot help me, and permanently by doing for them what they could be doing for themselves. Someone needs to hear that. I gave a girl this morning. How was it, Jackson? I went and got a few things because I was busy and I ordered three biscuits, whatever. And it was like 10 or 11 or something. I gave her 20 and I went around, she says, is that all you want? Yeah, that's all I want. She said that'd be whatever she said. Thank you. And I said, this is at the drive through. And I got there. She was real pleasant. And she, she said, I'll be whatever. And then she was getting my stuff together. She said, how are you today? And I said, I'm really good. How are you doing? She said, I'm doing great. And she hand me my stuff and I said, no, you keep the change. She says, to do what with us, just keep it. It's a tip. She says, a tip. And she said, why? I said, because it does me. Makes me feel good that someone your age knows how to say thank you and even ask me how I'm doing. And a fast paced business like you're doing, she says, thank you, thank you, thank you. I said, that's the only 20 I have right now, but I might be back tomorrow. Thank you, thank.

 

Pastor West: [01:05:28] You, thank you.

 

Pastor West: [01:05:31] He said, uh, I'm not bound to win, but I'm bound to be true. I'm not always bound to succeed, but I'm bound to live by the light that I have. He said I must stand. He said I must stand with anybody that stands for right. And stand with him while he is right. But I may have to part with him if he goes wrong. In other words, I won't be a party to wrong. And then he said, if I were. This is just some of his most famous quotes. He said, if I were to try to read, much less answer all the attacks made on me, I'll listen good. If I were to try to read, much less answer all the texts made on me, he said, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how, the very best that I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said about me won't amount to anything anyway. And if the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right wouldn't make no difference either. Then he said he should leave nothing for tomorrow, which you can do today.

 

Pastor West: [01:06:38] And then these.

 

Pastor West: [01:06:38] Are just different quotes at different times. He said, give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I'll spend the first four hours sharpening the axe before I begin.

 

Pastor West: [01:06:51] Two more. Uh.

 

Pastor West: [01:06:53] He said whatever you. Whatever you are. Abraham Lincoln, he said the people, he said, whatever you are.

 

Pastor West: [01:07:01] Be a good one. Be a good one.

 

Pastor West: [01:07:05] Last one. He says you cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You can't strengthen the weak.

 

Pastor West: [01:07:15] By weakening the.

 

Pastor West: [01:07:16] Strong. You can't help the poor man by destroying the rich. You can't further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You can't build character and courage by taking a man's initiative and independence. He says you can't help small men by tearing down big men. And you can't lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot establish security on borrowed money, and you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves. Boy, ain't that good advice. Wow. So we're going to seize the moment. And, uh, I'll have your little copy of this someday. I mean, what time is it? Well, it's 715, 720. Now, this is 2005, and I just want to give you this, uh, because it maybe it'll keep you up tonight. I don't really never really. I mean, I'm aware. I think I got a couple of his books. Uh, Rick Warren, you know him to my. He's he's retired now, but he wrote the purpose driven book, uh, and other stuff. And, you know, pastor for a number of years and, uh, but they had a, I think it was the Easter and they were doing this big campaign, and they were doing it at a stadium. And I read this probably 15 years ago at least, and I came across it going through all these things of, you know, straighten up the office and, uh, and uh, it's called the you can actually Google it.

 

Pastor West: [01:08:52] It's called the Angel Stadium Declaration, April 17th, 2005. And this is what Rick Warren said with about 70 or 80,000 people in the stadium. He said, today I'm stepping across the line. I'm tired of I'm tired of waffling, and I'm finished with wavering. I've made my choice. The verdict is in. My decision is irrevocable. I'm going God's way. There's no turning back now. I live the rest of my life serving God's purposes with God's people on God's planet for God's glory. I'm going to use my life to celebrate his presence, cultivate his character, participate in his family, demonstrate his love, and communicate his word. Since my past has been forgiven, he said, I have a purpose for living in a home awaiting in heaven, so I refuse to waste any more time or energy or shallow living, petty thinking, trivial talking, thoughtless doing, useless regretting, hurtful, resenting or faithless worrying. Instead, I'm going to magnify God, grow to maturity, serve in ministry, and fulfill my mission in the membership of his family. Because this life is preparation for the next life. I'm going to value worship over wealth. We over me character over comfort, service over status, and people over possessions, position and pleasures. I will know what matters most and I'll give it all I got. I'll do the best I can with what I have for Jesus today. I won't be captivated by culture. I won't be manipulated by critics.

 

Pastor West: [01:10:16] I won't be motivated by praise, frustrated by problems, deliberated by temptation, or intimidated by the devil. I'm going to keep running my race with my eyes on the goal, not the sidelines of those running by me. When times get tough and I get tired, I won't back up, back down, back off, back out, or backslide. I'll just keep moving forward by God's grace. I'm spirit led, purpose driven, mission focused so I can't be bought. I will not be compromised. I will not quit until I finish the race, because I am a trophy of God's amazing grace. So I will be gracious to everyone. I'll be grateful for today and generous with everything that God has entrusted to me, to my Lord him, to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I would say, however, whenever, wherever, and whatever you ask me to do, my answer in advance to you, sir, is yes. Whatever you lead and whatever the cost, I'm ready anytime, anywhere, any way, whatever it takes, Lord, whatever it takes. I want to be used by you in such a way that on the final day I'll hear you say, well done, thou good and faithful one. Come on in. Let's get the eternal party going. Amen. I thought you might enjoy that. That's called the Angel Stadium declaration. You can type that in Google PDF and type it off if you want to. It's pretty good in it. We praise the Lord. We're through. Amen. Over and out. Roger.