Participants: Dwight Hall
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000873
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01:00 Good evening and welcome
01:02 to the special weekend of Rally for... 01:05 with Remnant Publications. 01:08 We are so glad that you have decided 01:09 to come and join us here 01:11 at the Dearth Community Center in Coldwater, Michigan 01:14 for a set of meetings that will inspire and bless you. 01:17 We have three goals for you this weekend. 01:19 We want you to be blessed and we know that you will be 01:21 for all that has been planned for this weekend. 01:24 We want you to take back with you as our second goal, 01:27 practical ideas that you can use to share 01:29 the love of Jesus with your friends, 01:31 neighbors and family. 01:33 And the third and probably the most important, 01:35 we know that Coldwater, the Coldwater community 01:38 is a caring community but we really want you 01:41 to be able to take what we have available 01:44 and to take advantage of this opportunity to share 01:47 the love of God and bring your Bibles, 01:49 so that we can make a difference around the world. 01:52 And you've heard in our prayer that with the Bibles 01:56 that we have that we can touch each life in Africa 02:00 with the Bible, the Bibles for Africa project. 02:06 And we at this time we'd like to just share a video 02:09 that give you a little bit more information 02:11 about this project. 02:12 So you'll understand the scope and the magnitude 02:15 of what God has given Remnant Publications to do. 02:50 In Southern Africa, the average worker makes 02:53 just $35 a month. 02:55 That's less than 25 cents an hour. 02:57 But in America, the average churchgoer 02:59 will spend more than twice that on coffee or soda 03:02 in just one month. 03:04 I'm Dwight Hall, president of Remnant Publications, 03:08 what if I told you there were Christians in Southern Africa 03:11 that would use one week of their paycheck 03:13 just to buy a Bible, not only that they would go 03:17 without food, only water so they can get it. 03:21 But then, what if I told you just for the cost of bottle 03:25 of soda or a cup of gourmet coffee, 03:28 you could purchase that Bible for that Christian 03:30 that is absolutely committed to reach more souls for Christ 03:35 through Bible study. 03:36 Would you sacrifice that cup of coffee 03:39 or a bottle of soda that you might reach 03:42 another soul for Jesus? 03:44 Would you make that small sacrifice 03:47 to make a great big difference for those people in Africa? 03:52 In Africa there are over 360 million Christians 03:57 spread amongst hundreds of thousands of congregations. 04:02 With a population of nearly one billion people 04:05 on the continent, this means that only one-third, 04:09 one out of three are Christians. 04:12 I know for a fact that Christians in Africa 04:15 don't want to be mere spectators sitting in churches, 04:19 they want to be active soul winners. 04:21 Many have adopted the motto, one member, one soul. 04:27 One member brings one soul to Christ every year, 04:31 but they need help. 04:34 Right now, Southern African Christians 04:36 are begging you, brothers and sisters, 04:38 here in America to provide Bibles to their members, 04:41 so that one member, one soul becomes a reality. 04:47 And Remnant Publications is responding to that cry, 04:50 organizing a team of people all throughout America 04:54 to collect, print and ship four million Bibles 04:57 to go to Southern Africa to spread the gospel 05:00 throughout a land that is in desperate need. 05:03 In Africa more than 35% of the population 05:06 is infected with HIV virus. 05:08 I know because I have personally been there 05:11 and have seen the need. 05:12 Every day thousands upon thousands are dying 05:15 and many more are going to their graves 05:17 without the hope found in Jesus Christ. 05:20 That's why our brethren in Africa need our help today. 05:24 They need Bibles to strengthen the faith of the members. 05:27 And they need Bibles to share the faith with a lost 05:30 and hopeless before it's too late. 05:33 Unfortunate the churches in Southern Africa are too poor. 05:36 They simply cannot afford the cost in meeting this need. 05:40 But that's okay because you and me are friends, families, 05:44 church members and communities can make this dream come true. 05:53 In Southern Africa, the churches' motto there 05:55 is one member, one soul every year. 06:00 This is a people that's committed to growing 06:02 the kingdom of God. 06:03 They absolutely cherish their Bibles 06:06 and will use them to teach others about Jesus. 06:09 These Bibles will not be sold for cash, 06:12 they will be not misused but they will be used 06:15 in sharing Jesus to win souls. 06:20 I want you to join myself and Remnant 06:22 with our own evangelism motto, one Bible, one donation. 06:27 God has worked out a tremendous plan 06:29 that we might buy Bibles for approximately $2 each. 06:32 Just think of it, for every $2 that is sent, 06:35 we can get another Bible into the hands of someone 06:38 that really needs it. 06:40 So a $10 gift, five Bibles, a $100, 50 Bibles, 06:44 a $1000, 500 Bibles. 06:47 And it doesn't stop there, for every Bible that we get, 06:51 21 people will get this Bible either through sharing 06:55 or Bible studies. 06:56 Just think a thousand Bibles, 20,000 will be shared. 07:05 There's just one more thing we like you to help us, 07:08 along with your gift I'd like you to go to your homes 07:11 and find those Bibles that you aren't using. 07:13 You know the ones that are on your shelves collecting dust 07:15 or maybe in your closets, we're asking you 07:17 to get those shipped to us, Remnant will gladly 07:20 pay the cost from our place to Africa, 07:23 we just need you to get them into our hands. 07:27 You might be thinking four million Bibles, 07:30 what in the world can I do to make a difference? 07:32 Well, do you know that in 2004 it was estimated 07:35 that there were over 200 million Americans 07:38 that consider themselves as Christians. 07:40 Now think of it, if just 10% of those heard this message 07:43 and then only 10% of those would give a donation of $10, 07:47 we would easily make our goal of four million Bibles. 07:50 But those statistics don't mean anything 07:53 unless you respond because each one of you individually 07:56 make an important difference. 07:59 So today ask God how much He would have you give 08:03 to make one member, one soul 08:05 a reality for those people in Africa. 08:08 And remember to go through your homes 08:10 and check your shelf for Bibles you aren't using, 08:13 gather them together, get down on your knees 08:15 and pray that God will use it for His glory. 08:18 In fact, many of those sending Bibles right now 08:20 are writing a special note of encouragement 08:23 on the inside cover for whoever receives it. 08:25 I think that's a great idea. 08:27 But whether you have a Bible or not, 08:29 take a moment to write a check whether it's a $10, or $100, 08:33 or $1000 gift or whatever God is placing on your heart, 08:37 it will make an eternal difference. 08:39 But don't stop there, get your whole church 08:41 and community involved, ask someone to coordinate 08:45 a donation in Bible drop off point 08:47 in your churches and local businesses. 08:50 Spread the word with ads and flyers. 08:52 Remember, the sky is the limit. 08:54 In fact, Remnant has lots of ideas 08:58 on our own project website, 09:00 just go to wwwyourbiblesaves.com 09:03 and sign up as a Bibles for Africa donation 09:06 and Bible collection point. 09:07 Or you can give us a call and we'll help you get started. 09:12 I have an urgent message 09:14 from our dear brother in Africa, 09:16 please don't delay, don't put it off, 09:19 let us be the body of Christ 09:22 to all those dear souls in Africa. 09:24 I am an African, 09:26 I was born and raised in Africa. 09:29 I became a Christian because people in this country 09:33 used their resources. 09:35 Some of them sent their sons and daughters 09:37 as missionaries to Africa. 09:40 Today I'm serving in this country as a missionary 09:44 from Africa. 09:45 You sent your help and I'm a living testimony 09:49 that your contributions are awaking. 09:52 Your church might be taking a collection after this meal 09:55 for this very important cause, whatever you can give will make 09:58 an eternal difference, a gift of $10, five Bibles 10:02 touching at least 100 souls for Jesus. 10:05 Four million Bibles, one Bible, one donation, 10:09 together in Christ we will make Bibles for Africa a reality. 11:00 Well, you know I want you to meet the man on the picture. 11:04 I want to ask Dwight Hall to come out. 11:06 He's president of Remnant Publications. 11:08 And I'd like you to get to know him 11:10 as well as I've been able to get to know him 11:12 in the last hour. 11:13 You see I went to the website and I read a little bit about 11:15 Dwight and I'm like, "No way, I can't believe this, 11:18 I can't believe this." 11:19 So, Dwight, first of all I want you to tell me 11:21 how is it that it started this passion 11:24 for the publication work and Bibles for Africa? 11:27 Well, Debbie, I tell you that it's a long story, 11:30 probably don't have a long time but God called me personally. 11:33 And I was in a lot of trouble and I was younger but I decided 11:37 that I was gonna give my heart to Jesus. 11:40 And the Lord just worked on me and I just have a burden 11:44 to get the word out that people would find Jesus 11:46 and then make it practical in their lives. 11:48 Now tell me, I understand that you're actually from here 11:51 in Coldwater. 11:52 I'm a Coldwater boy. 11:53 Now have you grown up, and stayed, and lived, 11:55 and you're here in Coldwater 11:57 or have you been in other places? 11:58 I've been in other places, been in Oklahoma, 11:59 been in Montana, I was in the service. 12:02 But I was born here and I'm back here now, 12:03 they always say that, usually when you leave, 12:06 you always come back and so I'm back. 12:08 So you're back here to make a difference in your community? 12:11 Amen. Amen. All right. 12:12 Now I understand that you actually 12:13 had another kind of business some time ago 12:16 before you got involved in Remnant. 12:17 That's right. 12:19 Tell us a little bit about that? 12:20 And that happened here in Coldwater, we had... 12:21 Well, I grew up with a hammer in my hand, 12:23 my father and uncle had a construction company. 12:24 And I pounded nails and I liked it. 12:27 But I wanted to do something else. 12:28 And so I started four wheel drive shop. 12:32 So we sold suspension systems, big tires, wheels, robots, 12:35 all the things that young guys like. 12:37 And that became quite a good sized business 12:40 and sold all over the world. 12:41 And then we sold that 12:43 and that's what I'm doing now here. 12:44 So, then you met Jesus? 12:46 I met Jesus. That's right. 12:47 And He wanted you to peddle something 12:49 a little bit more important. 12:50 That's right. Absolutely. 12:52 So now you're sending books all over the place, Bibles, 12:54 and Bibles for Africa. 12:56 I'd like you to share with us... 12:58 Now, you mentioned that you were, you know, 12:59 you had a hammer in your hand. 13:00 So then you have experience in the publication work 13:03 when you started Remnant, 13:04 so the Lord led you to this one. 13:06 Yeah, I was sharing that it's really amazing 13:08 when God calls you, He doesn't ask anyone of us 13:11 to be professional at that because I certainly wasn't, 13:15 I don't know if I ever really been in a print shop, 13:17 at least a big one. 13:19 And I kind of thought, you know, 13:20 when you made something like this 13:21 that you kind of stuck a real Bible 13:24 or a book inside a copy machine closed it, 13:26 you hit the button and then out would come another book. 13:29 It didn't work that way. 13:30 No, and we're so glad that you've been educated. 13:33 So we can have real Bibles to send to Africa. 13:35 That's right. All right. That's wonderful. 13:37 Well, you know I understand that God as you said, 13:39 He will work miracles in your life if you give Him 13:42 opportunity. 13:43 And you've got lots of miracles to share with us tonight. 13:46 Amen. So I'm gonna let you do that. 13:47 Thank you, Debbie. Thank you. 13:52 How you doing this evening? Good. 13:54 Doing well? Amen. 13:57 Me too. 13:59 You know, I was just thinking as Debbie was saying 14:02 a lot of miracles happening in my life. 14:05 I don't know I was just trying to think I'm gonna be 52. 14:10 So probably around, I would say 47 years ago, 14:17 right here on this grounds at the Fairgrounds 14:20 we had a construct... 14:21 My father and uncle had the construction company. 14:23 And we rented some of the buildings 14:25 here at the Fairgrounds, in fact we built 14:26 a number of these buildings that are here today. 14:29 And I was just a little 4, 5 year old. 14:32 And the crew was building one of these buildings 14:36 and they just got the rafters up. 14:37 No, I was young and so you get bored real easy. 14:40 And, you know, I was messing around 14:43 and my dad didn't want me to get behind a tractor 14:45 or something like that. 14:47 So I remember this very vividly but he said, 14:49 "Son, go on in the barn." 14:52 And he said, "I want you to go ahead 14:53 and just stay inside there." 14:55 Now, they had just got these rafters up, 14:57 it was one of the big buildings here. 14:59 And I said, "What am I going to do?" 15:02 And he said, "Well, I want you to learn, 15:03 if you want to really be a good a carpenter, 15:06 you've got to learn how to pound nails." 15:08 And, you know, so he gave me a bunch of eight penny nails, 15:11 nails about this long. 15:13 And he gave me a couple little 2x4 blocks. 15:16 And so, I started pounding those nails across the board, 15:18 and I was trying to pound them, and I was probably missing. 15:21 In fact some of the men used to come up to me 15:22 as I got older and they'd say, "You know, Dwight, 15:24 it's really something about you. 15:26 You keep pounding the board around the nail. 15:28 I guess you're softening up so nail goes in easier." 15:31 And so I was trying to get those nails in 15:34 and about that time dad called 15:36 or Uncle Rudy called for dinner. 15:38 It was about lunchtime and I just walked out 15:41 from underneath that building, the wind had changed, 15:44 they just got all these trusses up. 15:46 And the trusses, the whole trusses caved in 15:49 and crashed. 15:50 I had just walked out. 15:52 And I really shouldn't be here, that's a miracle. 15:55 And I'm glad I can be here. 15:56 So when I come to, every time I come to the Fairgrounds, 15:59 I think about that story. 16:01 God is in the business of miracles. 16:02 And sometimes when we're young, we don't even realize 16:06 the miracles that are taking place in our lives. 16:09 You know, miracles. 16:11 How many of you believe in miracles? 16:13 Can I see your hand. Amen. 16:14 I hope all of you do. 16:15 How many of you have ever wished 16:17 that a good miracle would happen to you? 16:18 Can I see your hands? Good, I'm glad you're honest. 16:22 When I was younger I used to think how come miracles 16:24 happen to everybody else but they don't happen to me. 16:26 Now if I would ask you a question, 16:29 what the definition of a miracle is? 16:33 Probably you'd all get it right. 16:35 But I went to the dictionary, I looked it up and it says, 16:38 it's an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world 16:43 that surpasses all known human or natural powers 16:46 and it's ascribed to a supernatural cause. 16:50 Then they had another description of miracle, 16:52 it says, such an effect or invent manifesting 16:55 or considered as a work of God. 16:58 Now I believe that when those rafters came down 17:00 that day and I just walked out of there, 17:03 I believe that was an act of God. 17:05 I believe that my guardian angels 17:06 were watching over me. 17:08 Amen? Amen. 17:09 You know, I've always been a big dreamer. 17:12 And as I probably was old, 12, 13, 14 years old, 17:17 I remember buying some books, these books 17:20 were inspirational books and they were, 17:22 they were all visualization books, you know. 17:27 And so I wanted a miracle to happen 17:29 'cause I'd heard about all these miracles. 17:31 And I don't know about you but when, at least, 17:34 when you're young, you always have great aspirations. 17:36 When I was young, you know, teachers would ask 17:39 the young kids what they want to be. 17:40 And sometimes I want to be a fireman, 17:42 I want to be a policeman, 17:43 I want to be an astronaut or whatever. 17:45 But it was something that they want to aspire 17:47 to when they were young. 17:48 And so I wanted to be a lot of things, 17:50 and so I needed money to do that. 17:53 And so I'll never forget, I've read these books 17:56 and then I read this text, John 14:14, 17:59 you know what that text is. 18:00 You might open in your Bibles right now to John 14:14. 18:06 I'll give you a second, 18:07 when you get it you can say amen. 18:11 See how fast you get there. Okay. 18:13 I like that. 18:15 John 14:14. 18:21 And here's what it says, "If you ask," what? 18:25 "Anything" what? 18:28 "In my name I will do it." 18:31 And so I thought, okay, I'm gonna believe that. 18:34 If I ask anything in God's name, I'm gonna do it. 18:37 And so then I read, like I said these other books, 18:40 these visualization books. 18:41 So, you know, I was in my bedroom. 18:43 One day it was kind of messy, so I went to clean 18:45 everything up and made my bed. 18:47 And, you know, 'cause I really had to concentrate, 18:49 I couldn't concentrate as the bed wasn't made 18:51 and the things, I really wanted to make this thing work. 18:53 So I sat on the edge of my bed and I started visualizing 18:57 that when I would open my eyes, on the top of the dresser, 19:01 I'd have a million dollars. 19:03 It would be in stacks of thousand dollar bills. 19:05 And I was honest about this, you know, I'd read these books. 19:08 And the Bible says in John 14:14, it says, 19:11 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." 19:14 So I got on my knees to begin with and I said, "Lord," 19:17 I said, "I need this money and I'll give a bunch to You." 19:23 You know, we kind of do that, we kind of selfishly say, 19:25 "Well, Lord, if You give me what I want, 19:26 I'll give a little to You." 19:28 So I said, "Lord, I need this money 19:30 because I need to do this and this and this." 19:32 And then after I got done with that prayer and I quoted 19:34 that text, I sat on that bed and I closed my eyes 19:38 and I started picturing those thousand dollar bills. 19:43 I've never seen them before but I was picturing them. 19:45 And I pictured stacks of them. 19:48 And you know what? 19:50 I squeezed my eyes and I'd opened them 19:52 and there was nothing on the dresser. 19:54 I couldn't understand so I thought, 19:55 well, maybe I'm not concentrating. 19:56 So I closed my eyes again and I, and I thought, okay, 20:01 when I open my eyes I just know they're gonna be there. 20:03 What do you think when I open my eyes, 20:05 you think that was there? 20:06 Why? 20:08 I prayed for a miracle. 20:09 I said, "Lord, I mean, you say in John 14:14, 20:12 if you ask anything in My name, I'll give it to you." 20:15 But now I want you to hopefully if you're, 20:17 if you close the Bible, go back in there John 14:14 again. 20:21 Okay. John 14:14. 20:24 But let's read the text before that. 20:26 Okay. 20:29 Because sometimes you and I, I know I do, 20:32 sometimes we take certain parts of the Bible 20:36 and we read that and we make our whole belief on that. 20:39 That's what I was doing, I took that one text 20:42 and that's what I said. 20:43 So if you go to 13, it says, "And whatever you ask 20:46 in My name that I will do." 20:49 But this is the kicker right here. 20:51 It says, 20:55 "That the father," what? 20:58 "The father may be glorified." 21:00 In other words, if we ask something 21:02 in Jesus' name, we need to believe it number one, 21:05 but we need to know God's will, don't we? 21:08 We can't just ask selfishly for self. 21:10 And sometimes we don't even know 21:11 if it's selfish. 21:12 But God is in the business of doing miracles. 21:15 You know, we prayed this morning, 21:17 this is a miracle that just happened today. 21:19 We have around 20 to 25 in our staff. 21:22 And this morning it was raining and it weren't solid raining, 21:25 you know, I mean, it's raining, wasn't it? 21:27 And I was thinking, Lord. 21:29 I mean, I don't want, you know, to rain all day 21:33 and people get discouraged and they don't show up. 21:35 And then it discouraged everyone 21:36 so instead of having our normal little staff worship 21:39 that we normally read, we got in there 21:41 and we said, let's pray. 21:43 We need to pray for this rally, we need to pray for 3ABN 21:47 that if they have come such a long distance 21:48 and set everything up. 21:50 We want to pray for the people 21:52 and the safety of everyone that's gonna come here. 21:55 But we also need to pray about this rain. 21:58 Now when I was on the internet this morning it says 22:01 that there was 80% chance of rain all day off and on. 22:06 Okay, thunderstorms, 80%. 22:09 I was saying, Lord, you know what, 22:11 I know that You can push those clouds away. 22:15 Amen? Amen. 22:16 Can God do that? Amen. 22:18 I know He can because I started reading the miracles 22:21 that He did in the Bible. 22:22 You know, one of the greatest miracles 22:24 that I think that God did and that is that it says 22:27 He made the sun stand still. 22:30 Now really what happened was the earth quit rotating, 22:33 I don't know how He did it, He's God. 22:35 Can you imagine making the sun stance? 22:37 In other words, the sun didn't move across the sky. 22:40 If He could do that, He certainly could not 22:43 have it rain, couldn't He? 22:45 And I believe it was God's will that He would do that. 22:47 And so our staff, we got on her knees and we prayed, 22:49 our separate prayers 22:51 how the Holy Spirit was impressing. 22:52 And many of us prayed that Lord, 22:54 please allow the sun to come out. 22:56 And when we got through about an hour later, 22:58 I got back on the internet, you know what, 23:00 from 80% it went down to 40%. 23:04 And the sun started coming out and a couple of us 23:07 that remnant there, was in the hall, we said, 23:09 look at the sun's coming out. 23:10 Praise the Lord. 23:12 Well, another hour or so later, looked back up on the internet, 23:15 it went down to 30%. 23:16 Now from 80 to 30 is 50% difference. 23:20 And then just a little later another hour or so after that 23:22 I looked on the internet, I couldn't believe my eyes, 23:25 I shouldn't say I couldn't believe 23:26 but I have to be honest. 23:27 Thought this is neat, it says 20% chance of rain 23:31 starting at 7 pm. 23:34 Not isolated thundershowers but just partly cloudy. 23:38 A miracle today. Amen? 23:41 God is in the business of miracles. 23:45 But sometimes we ask for miracles 23:48 and we're persistent about asking for things 23:51 to maybe God doesn't want us to have. 23:53 I'll never forget about a time that, I was back, 23:55 I was in Montana. 23:56 I lived there for about seven years 23:58 and we were building my home. 24:00 I had a friend, his name is Darrell. 24:02 And he was helping me, 24:03 we put logs siding on the house. 24:05 And I'll never forget this, he came that day, 24:07 I remember he came in and he was kind of discouraged 24:11 but he didn't want to share with me what the problem was 24:13 and I didn't want to dig into his business. 24:15 And so, you know, he had a tractor with the forks 24:18 on it and he had a big bunch of siding on the forks. 24:21 And we were foot siding on the front of the house 24:24 and it's where we're gonna put a deck so I was, 24:26 I was sitting there at the patio 24:28 and it's probably about an eight foot drop 24:29 to the ground. 24:31 So we had these forks up at all the siding 24:32 and we were standing on that, putting the siding up. 24:35 Well, I happen to step into the house. 24:37 And here's the patio and I was on my knees, 24:39 I was measuring something and Darrell was supposed 24:41 to move this tractor. 24:43 Well, right where the patio was, 24:46 from there was a steep hill and it went down to a big pond 24:49 and it just, it was pretty deep. 24:52 And so he started backing this tractor up. 24:55 And he didn't have any brakes. 24:57 And I was at the patio, I mean, all I could do is look, 25:00 I was on my knees looking and I could see him 25:02 he was trying to and he was going backwards 25:03 with a tractor which is zipping down this hill. 25:06 And I thought, oh, Lord, save him. 25:08 And so, there was, there happen to be a tree 25:10 and one of his tires on the inside caught the tree, 25:12 it flipped the tractor around, it never flipped over, 25:15 all the logs siding flew into the pond but it caught him 25:18 just before the tractor went to the pond. 25:21 Now he sat there until I got down and down, 25:23 he was kind of shook up to say the least. 25:27 We pulled those logs siding out of the pond, 25:30 gathered it back up, went back there 25:32 and we were just talking and thanking the Lord. 25:34 He said, "Do you know, Dwight." 25:35 He said, "I've got to share this with you, 25:38 I was pretty discouraged this morning." 25:40 And he said, "So I was praying all the way up here, 25:43 taking about 30 minutes to get here." 25:45 He said, "I was praying all the way up. 25:46 Lord, you know I need to know that you still care for me. 25:51 Lord, I need to see a miracle today." 25:56 And he said, "You know, Dwight." 25:57 He said, "I've learned one thing, 25:59 I don't think I'm gonna pray for a miracle for a while." 26:02 You see sometimes we pray for things 26:06 because we're discouraged and that's not wrong, 26:08 God loves us no matter what. 26:10 But sometimes we pray for miracles 26:13 when we really don't know what we're praying for. 26:15 Amen? 26:20 If you turn in your Bibles, I like this text, 26:22 it reminds me of what we all need to be. 26:25 If you turn in your Bibles to 26:29 1 Kings 3. 26:33 1 Kings 3, that's in the Old Testament. 26:37 1 Kings, there's the 1 Kings and there's the 2 Kings. 26:40 Go to 1 Kings 3. 26:44 And we'll read verse 7-12. 26:48 Now this is what I've asked for years. 26:52 And this was something that Solomon prayed for. 26:58 Okay. 1 Kings 3, are you there? 27:01 Verse 7-12. 27:05 It says, "Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king 27:09 instead of my father David, but I am a little child, 27:13 I do not know how to come in or go out. 27:16 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people 27:19 whom You have chosen, a great people, 27:21 too numerous to be numbered or counted. 27:23 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart 27:26 to judge Your people, that I may discern 27:28 between good and evil. 27:29 For who is able to judge this great people of Yours? 27:33 And the speech pleased the Lord, 27:35 that Solomon had asked this thing. 27:37 Then God said to him, 27:39 "Because you have asked this thing, 27:41 and have not asked for long life for yourself, 27:44 nor have you asked riches for yourself, 27:46 nor have you asked the life of your enemies, 27:50 but you have asked for yourself understanding 27:53 to discern justice, behold, 27:58 I have done according to your words, 28:00 see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, 28:03 so that there has not been anyone like you before you, 28:06 nor shall there will be anyone like this after you.'" 28:10 That's the prayer that you and I should be praying 28:13 when we ask for miracles. 28:15 Do you think God wants to give us miracles? 28:19 Do you think miracles are for you? 28:23 What are miracles really for? 28:24 Why do you think God blesses us with miracles? 28:31 Because we know it's God. 28:33 You know if I said like I was that little child, 28:36 a teenager when I said, "Lord, I'm visualizing 28:39 this million dollars." 28:41 Who do you think I would have used that for? 28:44 Me. 28:45 Oh, I would have given some to God. 28:47 And you know isn't it strange that when we do this 28:50 kind of thing that we're kidding ourselves 28:52 because by the way who owns everything? 28:55 God. God does. 28:56 We don't own any of it says, it says in Psalms that says, 29:01 "I own the cattle upon a thousand hill." 29:02 I even own the hills, I own everything, 29:05 I don't need anything that you have 29:06 because everything you have is mine. 29:09 But so often, I know in my own experience I pray for miracles 29:14 because I want it for my glory, that's not for my glory. 29:18 And everything that we do in life 29:21 should be for the glory of God. 29:22 Amen. Amen. 29:26 Well, if you can have a prayer of Solomon, 29:30 I believe that you'll start getting somewhere. 29:33 I want to talk a little bit about the miracles 29:35 that are just taking place here about these Bibles. 29:39 You know, I have a burden and I have it 29:41 since I've given my heart to the Lord 29:43 about 22 years ago. 29:44 I've had a burden to get truth filled books 29:47 and get this Word of God out to people, 29:50 not just get a Bible to them, but I want to see the Bible 29:53 change people's lives. 29:55 Amen? 29:56 You know when I was younger, when I was reading the Bible, 29:58 there were some good stories, David and Goliath, 30:00 I like that story, I know I like Moses. 30:03 By the way, you know, if you read in Genesis 30:06 and Exodus, there's a lot of miracles in those books. 30:08 Amen? 30:10 I just have to make a side note, 30:12 how the Lord will do these miracles, 30:14 but Moses led the children out of Egypt. 30:21 Where did he lead them to? 30:22 What was the first place he led them to? 30:26 He led them into a trap, didn't he? 30:29 Someone set a trap. 30:30 Really, ultimately he led them there in this canyon 30:33 and the only way to get out is either to go back 30:35 where the Egyptian were coming with all their armies, 30:37 sure to be slaughtered 30:39 or taken back as prisoners and slaves again 30:41 or the Red Sea. 30:42 Now they knew they couldn't go through the Red Sea. 30:45 I mean, anyone with common sense knows 30:47 that they're not gonna march through the Red Sea. 30:51 And they're sitting there, of course, they're complaining. 30:54 And Moses praised the Lord and the Lord says, 30:56 "What really, what's wrong with you? 30:57 I mean, if you've forgotten that I'm God." 31:00 And so what did Moses do? He parted that Red Sea. 31:03 You know, a person told me one time that 31:07 and I don't know if this is a story 31:08 or it's true, I don't know. 31:10 I remember a guy telling me, I don't know if it was him 31:12 or somebody else but he said, he was in... 31:15 This guy was in college with another college roommate 31:18 and his college roommate was an atheist. 31:20 And he said as he was studying his Bible at night, 31:23 he'd open up his Bible and he'd study it. 31:25 And the atheist would come and say, 31:26 "Well, what are you read now there, 31:28 Mr. preacher man?" 31:29 And he'd share what he was reading. 31:31 And then this atheist would constantly just get on his case 31:37 and heckle him and say, "Oh, that's just hogwash. 31:40 That's, I mean, and he would try 31:42 to always come up with reasons why that it really wasn't true 31:45 or it had nothing to do with a God. 31:48 And this young man was very quiet 31:51 and he would just keep reading. 31:52 Well, one night this man was reading about Moses, 31:56 parting the Red Sea and this atheist came in 32:00 and he says, "Yeah, you know what, 32:02 you say he parted the Red Sea 32:03 but I just want you to know something." 32:05 He says, "They have did some studies 32:07 and where that Red Sea was at where they crossed, 32:09 it was only about two inches deep." 32:13 And that young man just smile and he says, 32:17 "Oh, I can't believe it. 32:19 What a miracle." 32:20 And the guy says what are you talking about. 32:22 He said, well he said, it's just amazing to me. 32:24 He said that's a greater miracle 32:26 than God parting the Red Sea, 32:28 even if it was only two inches 'cause he says, 32:29 how in the world could all those Egyptian armies 32:32 die in two inches of water. 32:37 If you read your Bible, God has miracles 32:41 and He will do those miracles for you. 32:43 And so this Bible project that we came about. 32:48 I went over to Africa and we have some books, 32:53 first off this man came to me, he said, 32:55 "Dwight, you print good books, good quality books, 32:58 you have good prices." 32:59 He said, "Would you please help us with some books?" 33:02 And he said and he said, I know that you help us with some 33:05 but I would like you to come over to Africa. 33:08 Have you ever been there? 33:09 And I said, "No, I've been almost everywhere else 33:10 in the world but I haven't been there." 33:12 He said, "I invite you personally over there. 33:14 I want you to see what's going on." 33:17 And so when I went over there, 33:19 we went into the country of Zimbabwe. 33:22 And it was Harare, a big city. 33:24 And they were having a meeting that weekend 33:26 and they rented this stadium, 33:28 it held 65,000 people, big stadium. 33:31 And so they invited me there, invited me there to speak. 33:34 And so when I went there that morning I'll never forget, 33:37 as they picked me up, it was about 33:40 quarter after seven in the morning their time. 33:42 Now as they pick me up, they were driving, 33:44 it was probably 5, 6, 7, 8 miles. 33:46 And as we got on the freeway, I could see the coliseum out 33:51 in the distance, a long way off in the distance. 33:53 And as we got about two miles from there, 33:55 I saw some police lights, you know, the sirens. 33:59 And they were flipping their lights 34:01 and there was one on one side of the freeway 34:02 and one on the other. 34:04 And they had two lanes blocked off. 34:06 And as we got closer maybe about a mile and a half away, 34:10 all of a sudden here's a row of people 34:13 probably five deep and mile long. 34:17 And they were walking to that stadium. 34:19 Now I want you to know that I talked to 34:21 some of those folks and some of them 34:23 had been walking for 15 miles. 34:27 They must have got up at 4:30 34:28 or 5:00 in the morning and it was 7:30. 34:30 And the meeting by the way didn't start 34:32 till 9:30 in the morning. 34:34 And they were walking at least five deep, 34:36 a mile long and they were singing. 34:38 I couldn't believe it. 34:40 I could not believe it and so we were driving 34:41 on the left lane. 34:43 And as we were going and they had smiles, 34:44 they were all dressed up, they had their children, 34:46 they were walking together, it was utterly amazing to me 34:51 because here in America many times, 34:53 we can't even get there to a church 34:56 or to a gathering 15 minutes late with a car. 35:00 And they were walking. 35:02 And they were happy and they were singing. 35:05 And they, and the people there, 35:07 this is how much they need the Word. 35:10 The person that was putting us on is pastor, he said, 35:14 "I don't want the church members to show up." 35:17 Because he said, "We filled the stadium." 35:19 He said, "We just want the people that have been 35:22 taking Bible studies, 25,000 people walk 35:26 to that stadium that had been taking Bible studies." 35:29 And the Bible studies were given by lay people. 35:31 Amen. 35:32 By just people like you and I, 35:34 and they were giving Bible studies. 35:35 And these people had been taking them 35:37 for probably five or six weeks 35:38 in the homes of these lay people. 35:40 And they were learning about Jesus, 35:42 they were learning that you could trust 35:43 this right here, this Word of God. 35:45 And they were starting to make a track on there 35:47 and they were so excited. 35:48 And so they were walking there, they went there 25,000. 35:53 Now those folks invited another 20,000. 35:58 Amen. 35:59 Forty five thousand people at this stadium, 36:02 no church members, the only church members 36:04 that were there, they had a choir there 36:06 by the way and I've got video of it. 36:08 A choir of a thousand people. 36:10 If you can imagine, no loudspeakers, 36:13 no microphones and there's outdoor stadium, 36:16 a thousand people, they all had white robes on 36:19 and they were singing. 36:20 And it just echoed through that stadium. 36:22 It was just, I'll never forget that time. 36:25 But other than that and other than leaders, 36:28 these people were just people that had got 36:30 into the Word of God, 45,000. 36:33 And when they asked for an altar call, 36:35 those people come up to give their hearts to the Lord, 36:37 they had already made their studies. 36:39 And after it was over with, we had a meeting that afternoon 36:43 and he said, "Now, Dwight, do you know 36:46 and do you see the need?" 36:48 And I said, "Yes." 36:49 And he said, "We need some of your books." 36:52 And he said, also if you could print some Bible studies. 36:55 And so he gave me the set of Bible studies, 36:58 there's one Bible study and I was looking 37:00 at the Bible study and I was, 37:02 I was looking at some of the questions. 37:03 And when I was in school but I didn't really like school 37:08 that well, didn't do all that well. 37:09 And I hated tests. 37:12 But as I looked at that, any time when I went to school 37:16 and took a test they never gave me the answers. 37:19 But on this Bible, on these Bible studies 37:21 they had the question and then they gave the Bible text 37:24 but they gave the answer. 37:26 And I said, "Well, I don't understand 37:28 what if you're asking the question, 37:30 they need to look it up in the Bible 37:32 and they need to write it down themselves." 37:34 It just makes common sense to me, how about you? 37:37 And here was the answer that he gave me. 37:39 He said, "Dwight, these people cannot afford Bibles. 37:46 They don't have any money." 37:47 I said, "You got to be kidding me. 37:49 Bible is not that expensive." 37:51 He said and then he started explaining that 35% to 40% 37:56 of the people over there in that area 38:00 are not unemployed, they have no work. 38:03 Now over there they don't have unemployment, 38:05 here we have unemployment. 38:07 Even if you get fired, 38:08 many times you can get on employment. 38:10 You can quit and you can still get on employment. 38:11 Over there, if they don't have a job, they have no money. 38:16 And the average wage you heard it on the video, 38:18 the average wage if you have a job 38:20 is between $30 and $40 a month. 38:24 I don't know about you but I know I could go out here 38:27 probably in the evenings, go up and down the road 38:29 and probably collect pot plant cans and beer cans 38:32 and all kinds of cans or bottles 38:35 and probably get close to that in a month. 38:37 Do you think you could do that if you really tried? 38:38 They can't do that over there. They can't, they have no money. 38:44 And so I said, "Where do you get these folks Bibles?" 38:51 And the other thing that he told me that really 38:53 just hit home with me was that he said, 38:55 "Do you know, Dwight that 35% of these people 38:58 over here have HIV virus, AIDS?" 39:01 And they have it from the age of 15 to age 30. 39:05 That's so young. 39:06 I mean, the devil is killing the young people. 39:09 And these people need to know the truth. 39:11 Amen. 39:13 And it just broke my heart because it's easy to watch 39:16 something here, it's easy to see it on the television 39:19 but sometimes we get hardened to what people need 39:23 'cause even you and I, when I'm over there, 39:26 it doesn't matter how poor, 39:27 if I took the poorest person here 39:29 that even didn't have a car, didn't live in a house. 39:34 If you went over there, you would be rich. 39:37 I'm not just saying that's true. 39:44 I said, "By God's grace we will get you Bibles." 39:51 He said, "How are you gonna do it?" 39:52 I said, I don't know but when I go back to America, 39:54 I'll start traveling, I'll start traveling 39:56 around the world, I'll ask people, 39:59 people have money. 40:00 Besides is it their money? No, it's God's. 40:03 And I'm gonna ask 'cause I'm not afraid to ask, 40:05 it's not for me, it's not for my glory. 40:07 And I know this is God's will, He needs people 40:10 that know Him before they die. 40:13 I want to see the most people saved 40:15 in the heavenly kingdom that can be saved. 40:17 Do you? Can you say amen to that? 40:18 Amen. 40:20 And you and I even though we might not have you, 40:22 maybe some of you or none of you 40:23 will ever go over to Africa or India or other countries 40:27 that desperately need the Word of God. 40:29 By faith we can help people. 40:33 You know that we've probably received, I don't even know, 40:37 we've got a count, I don't keep up all the time 40:39 but probably over 15,000 used Bibles have come 40:43 into Remnant Publications. 40:45 Now that might not sound like a lot but 15,000 40:49 used good Bibles that have come in 40:52 from individuals, that means thousands of people 40:57 that will never see those people over there said, 41:00 "I can certainly give a Bible that I don't even use. 41:03 I got three of them in my house, 41:04 I'm not even using them. 41:05 And they've been giving him, we've printed 41:07 over 300,000 new bibles. 41:09 We're gonna be getting ready to print another 41:11 300 new bibles, thousand, 600,000. 41:15 Amen? Amen. 41:17 And you know here's the neat thing about that, 41:19 like that Dee said, "One Bible on an average 41:25 will get to 20 individuals. 41:27 I was just at a show a few weeks ago 41:30 and an African came up to me and said, 41:36 well, he actually didn't come up to me, 41:38 he came up to, I think Deborah. 41:39 Deborah told me and I met him. 41:41 But he said, you know something. 41:42 He said, I'm from Zambia, he said, 41:44 I've been giving Bible studies and he says we got one Bible 41:47 in our home for 60 people. 41:51 One Bible for 60 people. 41:54 And I don't know when I ask, so I'm gonna ask you right now, 41:56 how many of you have 41:58 at least one Bible in your home, 41:59 can I see your hands? 42:01 How many of you have at least two? 42:02 Can I see your hands. How about three? 42:04 Isn't that something? 42:06 And there they don't even have one Bible for 60 people. 42:11 And so you and I can give 42:13 and we can share with our friends. 42:15 And that was my commitment then. 42:18 We can all be a part of God's plan. 42:22 It doesn't take money. 42:24 God owns everything, doesn't He? 42:28 You know, we moved out to Montana. 42:33 And we sold our business here in Coldwater. 42:36 And I am going to be sharing some of these things later, 42:40 some miracles have taken place in our family's life, 42:42 some practical things. 42:44 But when we were out there we had about enough money 42:46 for three years to live frugally. 42:51 And so after we built our house, 42:53 we want to be out of debt so we had enough money 42:54 for a house, we had enough money 42:56 for about three years. 42:57 And we were trying to live on between 42:59 $13,000, $15,000 a year. 43:00 Now you might say, how can you do that? 43:02 Well, you can't go buy a new car with that, 43:05 but when you chop your own wood. 43:08 And we live 50 miles from the nearest town, 43:12 we lived right next to Glacier National Park, 43:14 we boarded it, you'd looked out and saw the 10,000 foot peak, 43:17 it was beautiful. 43:19 We had grizzly bear, we had moose, 43:21 we'd have up to three bears sometimes in our yard. 43:24 It was quite a place to be to raise your children, 43:28 home school our kids. 43:29 And we had enough money because we were out of debt 43:33 for those three years. 43:34 Now I told my wife, my wife is, we've been married 43:37 almost 30 years now. 43:39 And she says, Dwight, no matter what you need to do, 43:44 you need to take care of the kids." 43:48 So I said, "Honey, you know me, I will dig ditches by hand 43:53 with a shovel if I have to, I will never let you down 43:56 or kids down." 43:58 And, of course, I had Remnant Publications 44:00 at the time and working there. 44:02 And so two years came by and she came up to me one day 44:04 and she said, "Dwight." 44:08 She said, "You know something." 44:09 She says, "We've got just about enough money for you 44:13 to go in town this week and buy yourself a shovel." 44:16 Because she was taking care of the checkbook. 44:19 And so I said, "Are you telling us 44:20 we don't have much money left. 44:22 And she said, "No." 44:23 And we got onto our knees right then and we prayed 44:25 and I said, "Lord, I know what You've called me to do, 44:28 You have called me to be an ambassador, 44:30 You have called me to get this truth out. 44:33 And money is not your problem. 44:35 And so we got up off our knees. 44:37 As I got up I was impressed about, there was a person, 44:43 a very nice Christian man, and he had a logging company. 44:47 And so, he had been doing it for years, 44:49 had quite a crew and I called him up 44:51 and asked if any of the trees on our property 44:53 might be worth anything. 44:54 So he drove out there and he looked around 44:57 and we had a bunch of dead trees, 44:59 we only had 35 acres. 45:00 In that 35 acres, much of it was swamp ground 45:03 but there was a lot of trees but he went around 45:05 and looked there and he said, "Well, Dwight." 45:07 He said, "I'll tell you what." 45:08 He said, "I will give you $3500 right now 45:13 for your dead trees. 45:16 I said, "$3500?" 45:18 He said, "That is $700 per load 45:23 for five loads." 45:25 'Cause I am optimist, I'm a dreamer 45:28 and I've been told I'm an optimist, 45:30 I'm softmist, I have fault there. 45:32 And so I said, "Wow." 45:34 I said, "Well, what if there's more trees. 45:37 I mean, if there's more trees would you continue 45:39 to pay $700 a load?" 45:41 He said, "Well Dwight, if there's, 45:43 if there's six loads, seven loads, eight loads, 45:44 it doesn't matter, whatever it is, 45:46 I'll give you $700 a load. 45:48 He said, "By the way, Dwight, 45:49 how many loads do you think there is?" 45:51 And I said, well, I'm not a logger. 45:52 But I said, I'm hoping they get like eight or nine. 45:57 And I'll never forget it, we were walking in the woods 46:00 and he's looking, he said, "Dwight, you know, 46:02 there's a dead tree over there and you know 46:04 there's one over here and there's one over there." 46:06 Now we're in the thick woods. 46:07 He says, "You're thinking at the sparsely dead trees 46:11 that you're gonna get seven loads?" 46:14 He said, "Well, I like your attitude, 46:17 if there is I'll give it to you, no problem." 46:20 And he was like I said a good Christian man, he said, 46:23 "Will be there next week, it won't take a week 46:25 to harvest these trees." 46:29 So they came back with a crew, with the loggers 46:32 and everything. 46:33 And they worked all week long. 46:34 And that Friday went outdoors, went down. 46:38 And we could look from our house, we went down, 46:40 it was that pond and across the pond, 46:42 they had what they call a loading deck. 46:44 And that's where they were dragging all these dead trees 46:47 and they were putting in his big pile 46:48 'cause we're praying Lord you know multiply that pile. 46:51 You know multiply it, we want more trees, 46:53 more dead trees. 46:55 Now I went out Friday, and I said, 46:56 "Well, are you about finished?" 46:58 He said take about a week. 46:59 And they looked at me and they said, 47:00 "Well, we thought we had it all finished 47:03 but when we were coming back this afternoon, 47:06 there was a little stand 47:08 a few more dead trees over there, 47:09 so Monday will come in, we'll finish the job off 47:11 and we will be through." 47:13 And so we prayed that weekend. 47:14 We pray God to multiply those trees, 47:17 they came back Monday, I went out Monday afternoon. 47:19 I said, "Well, did you get?" 47:22 And they said you know what, as we were coming, 47:24 as we cut that stand, as we was walking back over here 47:27 there was a stand over here. 47:28 Now are you gonna remember, this isn't 150 acres 47:31 where they could miss something, 47:32 this is 35 acres and some of it was swamp, 47:35 these were just dead trees, they'd been all over the place. 47:39 So they said, but we know, we'll have it through 47:43 by tomorrow Tuesday. 47:45 So I said, great. 47:46 Boy, I was gonna need this, I had a little bounce 47:48 going back up that hill, going into the house. 47:51 Come on, let's pray. 47:52 So the next day was Wednesday, went back out on Wednesday. 47:56 Went down to him and I said, well are you done. 47:59 And they shook their head and they said, 48:01 we don't understand. 48:04 I wanted to tell him that I know but I understand, 48:08 I have a God that can make dead trees. 48:10 Amen. 48:12 And so that Wednesday he said, 48:14 well there was another stand over here 48:15 but we don't know how these, I mean, we've been all over it. 48:18 I mean, it's not like 48:19 they're hiding around the corner. 48:21 And so they cut it down Wednesday, 48:23 the next went out and there was another dead stand. 48:26 And they said it's like the widow's mite. 48:29 Or the widow's, excuse me not the widow's mite, 48:30 the widow's oil. 48:31 It's like every time we go out there's more dead trees. 48:34 They said you know we're not gonna tell you 48:35 when we'll get done. 48:38 They were there for three weeks, 48:39 brothers and sisters, three weeks. 48:42 They hauled off 18 loads. Amen. 48:46 Not 5, 18 loads of dead trees. 48:51 And we ended up with $13,000. 48:54 Exactly what we needed to live for another year. 48:57 Is God in the business of miracles? 48:59 Amen. Amen. 49:01 And I'm nothing special. 49:03 You know, I was mentioning to Debbie when we were talking. 49:07 We've known each other for a while 49:08 but not in a personal way. 49:09 I've met her at different shows and stuff. 49:12 And she said, I read a little bit about you 49:13 and, man, it's kind of surprising and I mean, 49:18 I was at four high schools in one semester, my junior, 49:22 kicked out of two church academies. 49:25 I left God all together, went into the Airborne Rangers. 49:28 I mean, I was bitter, nothing at all, I'm just dirt, 49:33 I'm just dust. 49:35 But with God, when you give your heart to Jesus 49:38 and you will surrender all that you have, 49:40 He wants to do big miracles. 49:42 He wants to make dead trees in your life. 49:46 Don't you want them? 49:48 Don't you want to surrender your hearts 49:49 so that He can do... 49:51 Don't you think that He's tired more than even you? 49:53 Are you tired of this world? 49:55 Are you tired of seeing on the news more rapes 49:58 and more people being killed in the war over in Iraq 50:01 and our young men being killed? 50:02 Are you tired of that? 50:04 And you know what we want to blame man. 50:07 Well, it's the Republicans. 50:08 Well, no, it's the Democrats. 50:10 Well, no, it's just everybody, but it's not my fault. 50:12 No, I have to put the blame on to me. 50:17 I'm the one who's crucified my savior. 50:19 What about you? 50:21 We've got to quit putting the blame on everybody else. 50:25 If you want to see miracles happen, 50:27 start getting on your knees and surrendering all that 50:30 you have to Christ, because He wants to do 50:33 great things. 50:35 And He is God, He is God 50:38 and He will do those miracles in your life. 50:42 I'll leave you with one, one more story and I'll close. 50:48 I don't know about you but the one thing I like 50:51 about the Bible, I like the stories. 51:06 Before I gave my heart to the Lord, 51:11 I remember 51:17 going to a set of meetings 51:19 and it was talking about really giving their hearts to the Lord 51:21 and I had went away but I knew that I needed something. 51:25 And I bought this Bible, that was 22 years ago. 51:27 I've had it rebound, recovered, it's all marked up. 51:33 And I hung, I put it up in the air and I said, 51:36 "Lord, I will study this book 51:40 even if it's the most boringest book 51:41 I've ever read. 51:43 Because I don't know about you but there's a lot in here 51:45 I just don't understand. 51:47 I understand about David and Goliath 51:49 that wasn't all that hard. 51:51 And Samson and Moses. 51:52 But some of these things in here I just, you know, 51:56 I don't know about you but probably none of you 51:58 have gotten kicked out of two high schools 52:00 and been all over the country. 52:02 And one semester just to try to finish. 52:05 So it was hard for me but I said, 52:07 "Lord, I'm not playing church. 52:12 I'm not playing church anymore. 52:17 I'm going to read this 52:19 and I'm gonna put it in my heart. 52:23 Because I know there's a God. 52:26 And I'm not gonna go just to go to church." 52:29 There are people I travel around the world 52:31 and I speak and I see people that have 52:33 maybe been in the church for 50 years 52:35 or 40 years or 30 years. 52:40 And I ask them what's happened to you in the last 20 years? 52:44 And they don't know. 52:46 Most of the time, they tell me that they're discouraged. 52:50 And they wished, sometimes even they started, 52:52 just wished I was never born. 52:57 And I didn't want to be there. 52:59 And none of you have to be there. 53:03 And so when I picked that Bible up and I said, 53:06 "I will study this and I will make it practical." 53:10 And then Lord by Your grace, I will live Your Word. 53:14 Can we do that? Can't we? 53:16 Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 53:19 If you love Me, obey more and it even says taste 53:21 and see that I'm good." 53:23 And I said, you know what? 53:25 I'm going to and to be honest with you, 53:26 when I first started reading, it wasn't very good, 53:29 it was kind of blah. 53:30 You know, when you get some kind of like 53:33 if you ever ate a potato, a baked potato 53:34 with nothing on it at all, nothing, 53:38 it's a kind of dry and you have a hard time swallowing it. 53:42 That's how the Word of God was to me when I first started. 53:45 I didn't understand it all but I kept at it. 53:50 And I knew by God's grace if He would teach me, 53:52 if I would surrender and if I would learn. 53:58 And as I kept at it and as I kept reading, 54:01 I fell in love with God's Word. 54:03 And I fell in love with my savior 54:06 not that He just was my savior but He's my Lord and my life. 54:10 And that's how I got started in Remnant 54:12 because as I was praying and had this other company 54:14 that was successful with my brothers, 54:17 my father and uncle. 54:19 I was exercised, the Lord and you know, it's strange, 54:22 I would pull out of my wallet and write a check. 54:26 And I would give it and the Lord kept saying, 54:28 "Dwight, I own the money, the money is not my problem." 54:32 And by the way you know God uses you 54:34 to give your funds as a blessing. 54:37 But he says, "Dwight, I've given you a talent 54:39 and I want you to work for Me the rest of your life. 54:42 Will you do it?" 54:43 And I made my decision to do it. 54:45 And one person came to my house, 54:47 a minister one day back here in Coldwater. 54:50 And he challenged me. 54:51 He said, "Dwight, with your business 54:53 and your marketing ability, 54:54 you are to get books of truth out 54:56 and the Bible to the people can understand it. 54:58 And the minute he said that, I had an audible voice 55:02 in my head, I've never had it since, 55:03 I know what the still small voice 55:05 is like the Holy Spirit. 55:06 But that voice said, "Dwight, this is what I want you to do." 55:11 And I looked back at me and I mean, 55:13 I was sure somebody is yelling at me in back of me. 55:17 But there was no one there 55:18 and then when I look back around 55:19 and I must have been white as a sheep 55:21 because this minister said, "You okay?" 55:22 I was white. And I never told him. 55:25 Right then I said, "You know what, Pastor." 55:27 I said, "I'll pray about it. I'll pray." 55:30 And for two weeks I prayed. The Lord kept impressing me. 55:34 And I've never looked back. 55:36 I didn't know what a printing press was, 55:38 I didn't know anything. 55:40 You don't have to know anything today, 55:42 all you have to do is surrender 55:43 and God will work miracles in your life. 55:47 Amen. Amen. 55:48 If possible would you kneel with me for my closing prayer? 55:58 Father in heaven, oh, Father, I know that 56:02 You are the God of the universe. 56:05 And Father, You've allowed us to kneel before You, 56:10 before the throne of grace and in the name of Jesus 56:12 and come boldly to that throne. 56:14 And we do that by faith today. 56:16 And Father, I pray for each one 56:17 of Your precious dear souls here. 56:19 Father, touch their hearts. 56:22 Please Father, if there's any discouragements here 56:24 I pray that You will encourage them 56:26 and let them know how much You love them, 56:28 no matter what they think. 56:29 That no matter who they are and what they've done, 56:31 You can work mighty works in them. 56:35 Because You will take the unworthy 56:38 and make them worthy. 56:39 Oh, Father, be with them, guide them, 56:43 help them to make that decision. 56:46 And Father, this is my prayer 'cause I prayed in faith 56:49 and in the name of Jesus. 56:50 Amen. Amen. 56:55 The last words to you this evening 56:57 before you go home, I hope that you come back. 57:01 You won't want to miss anything, 57:03 the bottom line is don't put it off. |
Revised 2018-05-02