WEBVTT 00:02:04.364 --> 00:02:10.694 What I'd like to share with you tonight I've had the privilege of walking with the Lord for a long time. 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:15.493 I came to know the Lord on May 24th 1952. 00:02:15.493 --> 00:02:24.680 I was a call-in to the ministry and came into the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1953. 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:29.560 And came into the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1953. 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:35.472 I want to share with you two fundamental principles that have sustained me through my life. 00:02:35.472 --> 00:02:43.533 And, like I used to tell the boys and I don't know if Ronnie remembers this or not, pay attention because I'm only going to say it once. 00:02:43.533 --> 00:03:09.008 Ronnie remembers this or not, pay attention because I'm only going to say it once I was born in 1932, born again in 1952, and, as I mentioned, baptized with the Holy Spirit in 1953, called into the ministry, married my wife, who was from Lexington because I was a student in Asbury. 00:03:09.008 --> 00:03:19.352 We got married in 1954 and have three tremendous boys and I'm very proud of them and I'm very proud of Ronnie and Jerry. 00:03:21.282 --> 00:03:56.467 I had my first pastorate appointment in 1953, retired from full-time ministry in 2022, and I two things have carried me not only through the mountaintop but through the valleys and we've gone through a number of valleys and any pastor will know, as Chris will say, you go through tremendous valleys. 00:03:56.467 --> 00:03:59.748 I heard about they shared about Luther's depression. 00:03:59.748 --> 00:04:03.307 There's times that pastors go through tremendous depression. 00:04:03.307 --> 00:04:07.449 Being a pastor in the Methodist Church, I didn't have a board of elders. 00:04:07.449 --> 00:04:15.788 I had to walk through that pretty much with the strength of my wife and a few people that I knew praying for me. 00:04:15.788 --> 00:04:19.370 But we had tremendous victories. 00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:34.889 One of them, of course, was being married, graduating from college and seminary, appointed to pastor a church, then having the opportunity of getting an advanced degree. 00:04:34.889 --> 00:04:55.470 We also went through the process of an 18-year-old grandson being hit by a train and killed, a son at his 48th birthday dying of a terminal disease and then, of course, my wife going to be with the Lord after 68 years of life together. 00:04:55.470 --> 00:05:07.264 So I've known both the tremendous valleys and tremendous mountaintops, but I want to share the two things, two things that have carried me through that. 00:05:07.264 --> 00:05:26.321 One of them is found in Matthew and you'll recognize this from the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus said I tell you, do not resist the evil person. 00:05:26.321 --> 00:05:32.437 If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 00:05:32.437 --> 00:05:37.406 This sounds like a tremendous passive response. 00:05:37.406 --> 00:05:40.934 They were just a lay down and let the world run over us. 00:05:40.934 --> 00:05:42.644 They were just a lay dead. 00:05:42.644 --> 00:05:52.423 But I've discovered that that is the most proactive, one of the most proactive verses in the whole Bible. 00:05:57.473 --> 00:06:00.925 Let me begin with an illustration and then elaborate on it. 00:06:00.925 --> 00:06:14.163 There were two guys that worked in New York City and they lived in New Jersey, and so they rode the same train, they worked in the same office building and so they rode the same train every morning. 00:06:14.163 --> 00:06:24.930 And every morning they got off the train and walked to the office and on the way to the office they stopped at a newsstand the same newsstand, same person every morning. 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:29.785 And that guy at the newsstand was absolutely grumpy. 00:06:29.785 --> 00:06:31.449 I mean, he's just miserable. 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:37.247 And one of the guys would always say good morning, have a good day, and would give him a tip. 00:06:37.247 --> 00:06:42.672 And he did that morning after morning, after morning, and the other guy said I don't get it. 00:06:42.672 --> 00:06:43.213 He said what? 00:06:43.213 --> 00:06:43.714 Morning after morning? 00:06:43.714 --> 00:06:44.819 And the other guy said I don't get it. 00:06:44.819 --> 00:06:47.668 I said what he said he's the most grumpy person. 00:06:48.182 --> 00:06:50.687 Every single morning you say have a good day. 00:06:50.687 --> 00:06:53.084 Every single morning you give him a tip. 00:06:53.084 --> 00:06:54.329 Why do you do that? 00:06:54.329 --> 00:07:00.324 Are you ready for this? 00:07:00.324 --> 00:07:08.050 He said why should I let him control my life? 00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:19.379 He said Jesus never wants us to be a victim. 00:07:19.379 --> 00:07:22.290 He never wants us to be a victim of circumstances. 00:07:22.290 --> 00:07:25.339 He never wants us to be a victim of circumstances. 00:07:25.339 --> 00:07:29.660 He never wants us to be a victim of what we experience. 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:34.391 He never wants us to be a victim when life slaps us on the cheek. 00:07:34.391 --> 00:07:43.273 See, the minute you respond, you become a victim. 00:07:43.273 --> 00:07:45.504 I don't care if it's someone who cuts you off in traffic. 00:07:45.504 --> 00:07:46.470 The minute you respond, you become a victim. 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:46.927 I don't care if it's someone who cuts you off in traffic. 00:07:46.927 --> 00:07:49.692 The minute you respond, you become a victim. 00:07:49.692 --> 00:07:56.127 The minute you respond, it controls your attitude. 00:07:56.127 --> 00:07:59.649 It controls the joy of your life. 00:07:59.649 --> 00:08:03.410 It will control the agenda of your life. 00:08:03.410 --> 00:08:05.673 It will control the agenda of your life. 00:08:05.673 --> 00:08:06.519 It will control the purpose of your life. 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:13.468 The minute we respond to any circumstance, we have become a victim. 00:08:13.468 --> 00:08:17.749 It will control who we are. 00:08:17.749 --> 00:08:19.927 It will control how we feel. 00:08:19.927 --> 00:08:26.029 It may even control the purpose of our life if it's to get even or have a revenge. 00:08:30.482 --> 00:08:31.848 We see examples of this. 00:08:31.848 --> 00:08:36.284 Think about it. 00:08:36.284 --> 00:08:39.365 Black lives matter. 00:08:39.365 --> 00:08:45.995 You think they're not victims. 00:08:45.995 --> 00:08:47.236 Have you ever seen one happy? 00:08:47.236 --> 00:08:48.916 Have you ever seen one smile? 00:08:48.916 --> 00:08:54.678 They're angry, they're frustrated, they're mean, and it controls their life. 00:08:54.678 --> 00:08:59.538 It controls the agenda of their life and it controls who they are. 00:09:03.269 --> 00:09:05.953 I'm going to get in trouble with a couple of other examples. 00:09:05.953 --> 00:09:19.710 I saw a clip on television the other night with Michelle Obama. 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:21.032 She said I'm angry. 00:09:21.032 --> 00:09:23.033 She was born angry. 00:09:23.033 --> 00:09:27.356 I had never seen her, even when she was the first lady not be angry. 00:09:27.356 --> 00:09:31.660 She's a victim. 00:09:31.660 --> 00:09:48.486 It controls who she is, it controls her attitude, it controls her countenance, it controls the agenda of her life. 00:09:48.929 --> 00:09:51.437 Let's look at some examples of those who have turned the other cheek. 00:09:51.437 --> 00:10:15.340 Martin Luther King Jr you remember when Bull Connor no, you kids don't remember that when Bull Connor was hosing and turned the dogs on to those that were protesting in Alabama and they did not respond at all. 00:10:15.340 --> 00:10:16.576 They did not react. 00:10:16.576 --> 00:10:18.417 They did not let them control them. 00:10:18.417 --> 00:10:34.155 They just remained who they were and because of that, that led to the country having sympathy for the civil rights movement and it became the foundation of the, the civil rights movement, and it became the foundation of the whole civil rights legislation. 00:10:34.155 --> 00:10:53.787 Gandhi Gandhi never turned the other cheek, but he brought the whole English Empire to its knees and led to the independence of India. 00:10:55.208 --> 00:10:59.062 Jesus never wants you and I to ever be a victim. 00:10:59.062 --> 00:11:01.831 He wants us to always be in control. 00:11:01.831 --> 00:11:30.065 And if I turn the other cheek or you turn the other cheek, no matter what life and how it slaps us, it does not control how we feel, it does not control our attitude, it does not steal our joy, it does not define who we are and when I forget that and begin to respond, I talk to myself. 00:11:30.065 --> 00:11:33.072 Well, speak, good grief. 00:11:33.072 --> 00:11:34.735 You know better than that. 00:11:34.735 --> 00:11:38.501 Turning the other cheek is very proactive. 00:11:38.501 --> 00:11:49.929 It means that we will always be who we are. 00:11:50.870 --> 00:12:15.240 Now, if I put these glasses on, I can go to the second point, the second principle I take from Ephesians 5.20 always giving thanks to God, the Father, for everything, in the name of our Lord, jesus Christ. 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:28.913 I first had this principle kind of unpacked to me, revealed to me, when I read Merrill Carruthers' book on prison. 00:12:28.913 --> 00:12:37.070 To praise Anyone here ever heard of it. 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:50.470 He shares in that book that he was seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit and People were praying for him and he began to thank the Lord that Jesus died for him on the cross, ever thanked him for that. 00:12:50.470 --> 00:12:52.690 He began to thank the Lord and praise God that Jesus died for him on the cross. 00:12:52.690 --> 00:12:54.533 And all of a sudden they forget him. 00:12:55.976 --> 00:12:58.523 That's sick, I mean. 00:12:58.523 --> 00:12:59.071 Think about it. 00:12:59.071 --> 00:13:03.894 Jesus is hanging on the cross right, Giving nails in his hands, in his feet. 00:13:03.894 --> 00:13:09.453 He's bleeding to death, he's suffering, he's in agony and we're around the base of the cross. 00:13:09.453 --> 00:13:18.875 Yay, that's sick, he said. 00:13:18.875 --> 00:13:22.080 I felt like a little boy who gave the wrong answer in school. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.846 He said, and I even felt worse than that, how could I be happy for that? 00:13:25.846 --> 00:13:35.143 And then he said the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said I want you to thank me for that. 00:13:43.172 --> 00:13:44.918 This verse doesn't say thank him. 00:13:44.918 --> 00:13:48.179 This says thank him for everything. 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:52.197 You see, that's the basis. 00:13:52.197 --> 00:14:06.722 Nothing that we experience, no circumstance, no loss, no problem, no situation is ever worse than Jesus dying on the cross. 00:14:06.722 --> 00:14:32.801 And you see, when we get that perspective, so that, no matter what comes to us, if we can thank God that Jesus died on the cross, we can thank God for everything, not in spite of, we can thank him for everything, him for everything. 00:14:32.801 --> 00:15:01.398 When that happens, nothing, nothing can take away our victory, always giving thanks to God, the Father, for everything in our Lord Jesus Christ, not in spite of or not to get me out of it, but, lord, I thank you for this. 00:15:01.398 --> 00:15:03.999 Do we really believe Romans 8, 28? 00:15:03.999 --> 00:15:08.936 For everything works together for good to those who love God. 00:15:08.936 --> 00:15:15.070 Where everything works together for good to those who love God. 00:15:17.573 --> 00:15:21.648 I was amazed at the hymn Blessed Assurance, the second verse. 00:15:21.648 --> 00:15:38.024 The second verse says Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. 00:15:38.024 --> 00:15:39.668 Fanny Crosby was totally blind. 00:15:39.668 --> 00:15:48.457 Think about it Every time I sing that I think of this blind lady who had perfect vision. 00:15:48.457 --> 00:15:52.578 Oh Lord, I wish I could see. 00:15:52.578 --> 00:15:54.674 If I could just see once. 00:15:54.674 --> 00:15:56.922 Why have I been? 00:15:56.922 --> 00:15:59.357 Why do I have to go through life blind? 00:15:59.357 --> 00:16:02.899 No visions of rapture now burst on my sight. 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:37.299 These two principles turning the other cheek, praising God in every situation of life has carried me these 72 years through mountaintop and grief, and I submit to you for your life. 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:54.022 Thank you, applause, applause, applause, applause, applause, applause. 00:16:54.022 --> 00:16:55.083 Thank you brother. 00:16:55.083 --> 00:16:55.645 Thank you brother.