Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Host Pastor Lee Day.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
God Used A Knee Infection To Bring Me Home
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A funeral could be the end of a story, but for Doug Caldwell it became the moment God started writing a new one. Doug joins me to share a raw, relatable testimony about growing up in church, drifting away for decades, and still telling himself he believed even while he avoided real discipleship and regular church attendance. Then one day, at a funeral service, the Word of God lands differently and he can’t shake it. He goes home, looks up CFOCHURCH online, and realizes God has been closer than he thought.
Things get even more urgent when his knee replacement takes a dangerous turn. Doug explains how an infection, the lead-up to a dream Alaska cruise, and the shock of learning it could be deadly forced him to face mortality head-on. We talk about fear, repentance, and why “tomorrow is not promised” is not a slogan, it is reality. If you’ve ever lived on the edge of “I’ll get serious later,” you’ll feel the weight of this conversation.
From there, the story turns hopeful and practical. Doug describes walking into Christ Family Outreach Church with a walker, feeling out of place, and then being met with unexpected kindness and community. We dig into what changes when you come back consistently: peace replacing road rage, prayer becoming daily, hobbies getting reordered, and faith moving from a private idea to a lived reality. Doug also shares how men’s ministry, Thursday Recharge, and even a simple Bible app helped him trade scrolling for Scripture, and why baptism now feels like a meaningful next step.
If you’re on the fence about going back to church, let Doug’s story give you the nudge you’ve been waiting for. Subscribe to Beyond Sunday, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find these testimonies.
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_02What's going on everybody? Thank you for tuning in to yet another episode of Beyond Sunday. I'm your host, Pastor Lee Day, and I pastor Christ Family Outreach Church, located in Amelia Courthouse, Virginia. And if you've not yet made your way in to visit us at one of our services, I would love to personally be able to meet and greet and see you this Sunday at 10 a.m. On this episode, I have invited a brother in the Lord. He's been coming to CFO Church for about a year now. It is his very first time on the podcast. His name is Doug Caldwell. Brother Doug, how are you doing today, my brother? I'm doing good. Glad to be here. Amen. And I thank you for coming in, man. It was kind of last, last, last minute notice. Yes, sir. Matter of fact, it was just yesterday. I reached out to you and I'd read your testimony and I was like, Brother Doug, you got it, you got to share this. So thank you for making time, uh, for maneuvering work a little bit and getting in here early. I'm I'm grateful for it. And I know God's gonna bless the people that that listened to it. So thank you. Thank you. Um, brother Doug, let's let's talk about something for a moment. Uh, the reason I had you on this episode is because I was I was just so intrigued. I was I was I was blessed to hear that the reason you started attending CFO, or I guess the reason you kind of noticed uh CFO and found out about us is because God got your attention at a funeral service. Correct. Right. And and and it was really to get you going back to church. And we're gonna get we're gonna get more into that funeral service in just a moment. But I want to bring up the fact, Brother Doug, that when you were a child, you you used to go to church on a regular basis, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I went for seven years straight. They gave us a pen every year that uh, you know, you could attach to the pens, and I had seven years straight that I never missed like an attendance pen. Attendance pen. Yeah, never never missed church Sunday. And it's kind of like what I had, you know, my parents went, so you went. So you went with them.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Now, in your testimony, you said that you were about 14 years old when you stopped faithfully attending church,
Growing Up In Church Then Drifting
SPEAKER_02and at that point, you guys would only go um on holidays and some special events. In your opinion, brother, what what led your family to stop faithfully attending church at that time?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think they changed pastors at the church that I was at, and my mom at that time, she was the one that really was behind the church, and she didn't care for that pastor as much as she did the previous ones and kind of just fell out of it. Yeah. You know, still believed and you know, still prayed when needed to, those kind of things. But just it was just following her lead, basically. I gotcha.
SPEAKER_02I gotcha. Now, as you got older, you still had faith in God, and you just believed that you didn't need to go to church according to your testimony in order to prove that you believed in God, right? Yes, sir. But you still would pray when you felt led to.
SPEAKER_01Uh when I felt led to. It wasn't something that was I did every night, but it's like when those instances came up when you needed to. Yeah, I prayed. I still believed, you know. Yeah. I believed I would go to heaven one day. I didn't need to go to church at that time.
SPEAKER_02So at that time, would you say you were a believer, just not a uh a daily follower? Correct, yes, sir. Not not picking up your cross and and following Christ daily as he calls us to, right? Yes, sir. Uh let's let's fast forward in your life. You you end up getting married, you you have two children. Correct. Let's go all the way to August 1st of 2024. You have a total knee replacement, and everything is going along in life fine, everything's going well. And then you attend a funeral on February 25th. Yes, sir. Right. And and this is where it gets very interesting. This is why I had you on the podcast, just because God, God will use it just about anything to get someone in to get someone's attention, right? So you you you show up to this funeral because um there was a lady who just kind of backstory here for the listeners. There was a lady who attended CFO, she still does to this day, praise the Lord, and her dad passed, and this lady asked me to do the funeral. Okay. Now you knew the gentleman, you had met him at several uh family events and things, and you wanted to attend his funeral to pay respects. The interesting piece here is that your wife is cousins with the lady whose dad had passed. So there's a connection to CFO, only you you're unaware of it at this point. Um, but that was the first time at that funeral, at that gentleman's funeral, that was the first time that you had heard me share the word of God, correct? Yes. Because uh up to that point, you'd not been to CFO church.
SPEAKER_01No, sir, never been, didn't know who Lee Day was.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you're you're walking into that funeral just to pay respects. You don't know who's speaking, you don't know who's who's who's gonna be leading the service or or or anything. And in your testimony, you write that while I was speaking the word of God and that message, and I quote, I quote you on this, something clicked inside of me that had me intrigued and my intention captivated, end quote. What was happening in your heart and in your mind while you were listening to the message that day at the funeral?
SPEAKER_01I I really don't know other than just hearing you and how you presented the word, just it just it just captured your your voice, your I guess your mannerisms, you know, how you speak with your hands and everything really just caught my attention where I wasn't just wanting to, you know, oh boy, when's this gonna be over? Type deal. Dose off doze
Funeral Message That Sparked Curiosity
SPEAKER_01off and fall asleep. Yeah, exactly. It was just you had my 100% attention the whole time. Praise God. But you honored Bill well, and it just was it got me, had my attention. Amen. And I don't know, it just did.
SPEAKER_02You you end up going home after that funeral, Doug, and you said in your testimony that you googled up to church and you realize not only does your wife's cousin attend CFO, but your wife's best friend has a daughter who also attends the church. Yes, sir. And so you make a phone call and the friend's daughter invites you out to church, right? Just come on, come on out anytime. Um we'd love to have you come anytime, and you know. But you end up kicking the can down the road a little bit, right? Because you didn't you didn't attend right away. Um, you were you were thinking about going off and on for a while. Uh, why was that? What was the reason do you think for the delay of hey, he captivated me, God had my attention, but I'm not ready to go yet.
SPEAKER_01It was the to me, it was the same old me, just AI believed, but hey, that guy was I liked what he had to say. Did not realize that I was probably my right foot forward, not realizing the thing that was gonna come down the road from there. But yeah, you know, yeah, it'll help me one day. I got other things to do on Sundays, you know. Yeah, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I think that's a dangerous thing that a lot of us play is we we we assume that we have time. Right. You know what I mean? And and and I'm guilty, I've been guilty of that. We're all guilty of that of thinking that that we have time. But when we think that we've got time, it's it's like we think that we're in control of the time and we're not. You know, we're we're not guaranteed not only are we not guaranteed tomorrow, we're not guaranteed this evening. You know what I'm saying? Like 100%. You know, it's a gift. If it gets here, we get to experience it, right? Right. But you you end up kicking that can down the road for a while. Now let's fast forward to June of 2025. Right. Okay. You begin having trouble with your knee replacement. Yes, sir. Right. And you had also, here's the interesting part of that, you scheduled a dream vacation to Alaska. I did. Right? And you did not want to cancel this vacation.
SPEAKER_01Right. And being stubborn, me and did not buy insurance for the trip. Hey, nothing's gonna happen to me.
SPEAKER_0299% of us, man.
SPEAKER_01Everything's gonna be good. I spent all this money on this trip, not gonna spend any more money. Yeah, it was now it was a 10-day Alaskan cruise altogether, it'd be 10 days. Yeah, the cruise wasn't all 10, but 10 days away and out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the the Alaskan cruise is something that I've I for many years have personally wanted to go on. Um, and so when I when I read that in your testimony, I was like, man, he's one of the ones that are.
SPEAKER_01And I had a memento from him that I wanted to take with me. And that's the only reason I got my wife to go because she didn't want to fly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I took this memento with me, paying honor to my grandfather, who was my best friend, and that's what led her to go with me. But I'm too tight to buy insurance. I'm good, everything's fine. Everything's gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_02At least the time that you purchase the tickets. Correct. But you start having problems with your knee. Right. So you go to the doctor. Now, this is all leading up to the cruise. Correct. You you go to the doctor, they give you some bad news. Right. What was the bad news?
SPEAKER_01Uh, that my knee was infected, and I said it could be gout or it could be infection. He said, but I'm gonna draw the fluid. He said, you know, it looks like infection, but we'll send it off. Well, it came back and it was truly infection.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I said, Well, what's that mean? He said, We have to re do your knee again. Total revision. I said, Well, I've got one problem. And
Putting Off Church And Assuming Time
SPEAKER_01I said, I've got a cruise scheduled for July 21st to go to Alaska. And he says, Oh, and I said, Is there anything you can do to get me through? He said, Well, I can't guarantee the time, but we need to replace this soon. He said, Here's some antibiotic pills. He said, Hope and pray. And that was his words, hope and pray. Yeah. So leaving the that's the time that I need to start praying again. That's right. And I did often. Yeah, when you needed God, right? You're going back and go. I said, please, I know I haven't been the best, but can you can you help me out on this this right here?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And it's really, it's really neat because throughout this thread of from you being a child to a young man to now where you are in life today, how old are you, if you don't mind? I'm 55. 55. So you've you've kind of always, because of how your parents raised you in church at a young age, you've always known that God was a safe place to go to for help. Yes, sir. You know, you you you've always known that you can land there with your prayers, you know, and that God hears you, that that God is alive and well, that, you know, he's he's not just always been taught that that he hears you, you know. Yeah. You might not be the best of person, but you believe. That's right. He's he's not just some storybook figure that that people talk about at church. He he he is who he is, he is the creator of heaven and earth, right? And he is alive and well. So you end up going on a cruise with a cane and a walker, right? But you have to be prepared. Yes, sir. Yeah, but you made it. Okay, you made it. What was the most breathtaking thing you saw or did on that Alaskan cruise?
SPEAKER_01Uh probably the train ride up into the Northwest Territory. That's just I just can't. I I tell everybody I can show you a thousand pictures that we took, but you can't describe it until you see it with your own eyes. Yeah. And that's where I took the the item that I let go of my grandfather's. Yeah. So that to me was the best, the highlight of the trip for me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's really cool, man. Yes, sir. That that's really cool. So you end up going on a cruise, okay. Um, but you come home and you go back to the doctor. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's well, the 10th day of the cruise. I was on a wheel to get off the boat. I had to be in a wheelchair and I couldn't walk. The knee totally gave out on the ninth day. It was I was hobbling around with the with the with a cane. Didn't go to walk as far as I wanted to in all the places, but I made it, did the best I could the 10th day wheelchair, which is really nice in an airport, by the way. Yeah, I'm sure you keep wheeled around. And my wife hated every minute of that. I was in a wheelchair and they were pushing me. I had people waiting for me. But yeah, but I get back to the doctor and I because before I left, I said, Can you do one more culture? I want a second opinion. I don't believe you. You know, that kind of thing. It's gout, that kind of thing. Went back and he said, No, it's bad.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And you realized how serious it was when you went back because you end up having that IV pushline for six weeks after the surgery.
Knee Infection Before Alaska Cruise
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I didn't realize leading up to all that, I had been feeling some things, the uh tired, lethargic, uh, memory loss, brain fog. Didn't realize it, but that's all part of the infection that was deteriorating my body at the time. And I didn't know that until the infectious disease doctor told me. Yeah. I said, Hey, I've been brain fog, memory loss. I can't make it home from work. I'm pulling over to Wawa and sleeping 15 minutes. And she said, Wow, that's how bad your infection is, and your body's been working to fight it off the whole time.
SPEAKER_02At what point did kind of like you have that two by four across the head moment to get your attention when someone says, Hey, this actually could be deadly.
SPEAKER_01When a real doctor told me that I didn't realize it was deadly, I didn't know what you know, septic was and all that kind of stuff. And I was whoa.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So so now God's definitely got your attention.
SPEAKER_02Deep breath got my attention. Yeah. And and leading up to the surgery, you felt like, hey, there's there's a possibility I could die.
SPEAKER_01Right. I I did a lot of crying. I driving and being on the road, was looking in the fields, looking in the woods, going, hey, this might be the last time I see this. I really thought I was going really going to die. Yeah. I really did. I thought it was it. I even told my kids, hey, you know the song I want played at my funeral. This is what I want done. They're like, why are you? I said, I just and I was scared. I was petrified scared. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but fat infection is no joke. Correct. Right. It's absolutely no joke. So, so you had your you had your knee revision in August of last year, right? And and you told everyone, hey, before this happens, I'm going to church.
SPEAKER_01You're going to go get right with God. The week leading up to it, it was August 24th was my first day in your church. And I told everybody all week long I was going going to CFO, I'm going to church. Yeah. What? You know, nobody believed me. You don't go to church. I'm going to church. Yeah. And uh at at that time, my wife, she knew I needed help. Yeah. And reached out to the lady that goes to our church, her mom, who is her best friend. Yeah. And I walked into church that morning by myself with my walker. Matter of fact, your dad was the first one to see me because I had a long beard at the time. He said, Hey man, nice beard. Didn't know it was your dad at the time, but yeah, cool. I liked his beard too. And yeah. Hobbled over to the corner, the far right corner, and sat by myself and just embarrassed to be there, I guess you could say, because maybe I should have been there earlier. But I'm there for a reason. Something brought me. At that point, do you know how long it had been since you had been in a church? Maybe a Christmas holiday or something or a funeral. So nothing, nothing regular. Nothing regular at all.
SPEAKER_02At all. So you you attended CFO church that Sunday. You you come into sanctuary as you just mentioned. You go and you sat down in the in the far back right corner. And in your testimony, you say that you were feeling out of place and lonely. Correct. But then, and I love this, but then, right? But then. But then someone's hand touched your shoulder. Who was that?
SPEAKER_01And it was it was uh the lady who I reached out to church that that goes there. Yeah. It was her mom. And her mom is best friends with my wife, then best friends since they were five years old. Yeah. Um, and I looked up and I said, you know, what are you doing here? He said, Somebody told me you need me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You you need didn't need to be by yourself today. And I just I lost it. Praise God. I just I started crying. I'm kind of mumbling right now. But it was a feeling that that was another, another sign that I was in the right place. Yeah. And I spilled the beans there. I haven't been a good person. You know, I've taken the world for granted. I've taken my wife for granted, taking my kids for granted.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I needed to, I told everybody I was coming to church because I needed to get on the good side of the Lord at least once. Yeah. I needed to show up in a house, and you were the thought of the leader was already there. I knew where church I needed to go to and who I needed to hear. Praise God. Amen. And I do remember that sermon and six sermons after that. You were talking to me. Yeah. Everything you said correlated to me, and you didn't know me. Right. That's right.
SPEAKER_02You had no clue who I was. That's just the Holy Spirit working, brother. It's like, praise God. Why is he talking to me? Yeah. And you still do. Amen. That's God speaking to you. That's that's God working. Amen. Praise the Lord. So, so you you go there with the intent, I'm gonna go get right with God. Yes. Because I may not make it out of this surgery. Right. You know, and and the next day, you have your knee procedure. So you go from church on Sunday, get that knee fixed on Monday, and then something happens. You didn't just leave it there like you would have in your past. This time you go back to church again, didn't you? I did. Right? So the following Sunday, you find yourself back in church. And I just think, uh, Brother Doug, how so many times people could use something like that as an excuse not to go and then they come back. Then they fall back in old habits, they fall back into the old way of living.
Facing Mortality And Returning Sunday
SPEAKER_02But at this point in your life, you're thinking, no, I'm I'm staying on this road. I've I've been off of it long enough. Long enough.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm getting back on this journey of faith. And I knew I needed to become a better person. I had been just a ho-hum person, taking, like I said, everything for granted. Yeah. My wife included. And I just when I left there, I felt good. And then finally Sunday said, You can't drive. And I asked my daughter, she brought me. I got her to come a couple times, trying to get her to come some more.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_01Amen. But I got her to bring me and then just kind of stuck. And it's like every time I went, you were talking to me.
SPEAKER_02Praise God. You know, you you mentioned how you feel better coming out of it. I I view church oftentimes as a spiritual car wash. You know, we go out there, we we we we kind of get dirty throughout the week, and yes, we do ask the Lord to forgive us during the week, and he does in that moment, right? But but it's it's like a spiritual car wash in the house of God, and and we get recharged by connections that we make with other brothers and sisters. And so much is happening within the house of God that is edifying the body of Christ, the family of God, that that this is why we should not forsake the assembly of ourselves. As scripture, you know, and it lets us know that we should not forsake the assembly of ourselves. And and it just it just blesses me to see people coming the way that they do and and truly leaving change. If they accept the word that is given, if they accept what what what the Holy Spirit is doing and ministering to them through word and and through praise and worship, through prayer, uh we can leave changed every time we come to the house. But in your testimony, brother Doug, you said, and I quote, I went back to church with another knee and a walker and a new outlook on life. So here's my question to you, because maybe there's someone out there right now, Doug, who's on the edge of uh going to church or not going to church, and and I want them to be encouraged by this episode. So here's my question share with the people how God has used attending church again to change your outlook on life. What's different in the mindset of Doug since he's been going to church? How's it changed?
SPEAKER_01I've taken a step back and kind of calmed down. I used to I'd I'd be that road rage guy, you know. I'd give him hand signals and get in front of you, slam the brakes, and I've kind of stepped back. I mean, it's not worth it. And just taking a big deep breath and say, you know, just and to me, that's all about living in the peace of the Lord now. One 100%, yes, sir. I just feel and like you said, this the car wash analogy is a perfect analogy. And I've always made excuses, hey, I can cut the grass, I can go hunting, I can do other things on that Sunday morning because that's a big chunk of time. Yeah, it's not a big chunk of time, but it is a chunk of time. You know, you work all week long, you got Saturday and Sunday, Saturday's my hobby, Sunday. I gotta do the work, but yeah, I leave refreshed every Sunday like I've reset.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I I just like how you put that because many, many of us can fall into that trap, especially here in America. On Saturday, we do our hobby, and on Sunday we do the work around the house that we didn't get to do on Saturday because we put our hobby in front of what needs to be done. Yes, sir. And then when we when we live that lifestyle, it then puts everything in the way of what God wants us to do on Sunday as coming into his house as believers. And at that point, now we can call that an idol. Scripture calls that an idol, right? Anything that we put in front of God. So, so baseball, softball, basketball, hunting, fishing, none of none of that's bad. But if we put it in front of our reason on why not to go to church, then all of a sudden that has become our idol now, and we're serving and worshiping these things rather than the creator of those things. You know, so so I tell people a lot like good things can be good things until good things become bad things. And the way a good thing becomes a bad thing is when we put it in front of God. Right. So you attend service on Sundays regularly now, praise the Lord. Um, you've you've made it out to some Thursday recharge services as well. And you recently attended our ground zero meeting. How how how do you like ground zero?
SPEAKER_01I do a lot. I made my second one this this past week. Um and that was another a sign that God uh put in front of me, in my opinion. Um, I have alpha gout allergy. Um, I came near death in 2015 with it. Um, saw some things you're not supposed to see in the emergency room, realized how serious it was. Doctor told me I should have been downstairs in the morgue. Wow, I had to give myself an epi shot. So that's how serious my alpha gal is. Um heard a podcast. I think Frankie was on here that day and he was talking about the recharge, just had to recharge, had it, and he said, Hey, y'all, you guys, we have a free meal. And I've always heard the free meal. I'm like, well, no, I'm not going. I've got alpha gal. Nobody, nobody worries about the alpha. I don't want to sit there by myself and not eat and just be a bump. Frankie mentioned, hey, we have alpha gal friendly meals. Well, to me, that was another word message from God. You know, you know, and then really, God said, I don't have to sit there and not eat. And I said, Okay, this is cool. And yeah, and I mentioned to you the first time I was there, thank you so much for that. Yeah, I remember that. I remember that. And that to me was another message that hey, it's okay to go do that. Yeah. And uh I've come in with another gentleman who attends the church, and we've really both of us are kind of quiet. I'm trying to, my new goal is to try to just walk up and say, hi, my name is Doug, shake your hand, that kind of thing. And I'm kind of quiet. I sit to myself till somebody comes to me, but I'm that's the thing I'm working on. But on stepping out, but being with a bunch of guys, it's it's been good. And this this past recharge, you talked to me again because my thing is to go to bed at 8:30, get on my phone, scroll through Facebook, look at all the train wrecks that are on Facebook. Yeah. I replaced it with the Bible app this week.
SPEAKER_02Come on, man, congratulations.
SPEAKER_01In the recharge service, you said, hey guys, if you don't have a Bible, and I don't have a Bible, and I've always been scared to raise my hand and say, Yes, I'd like one of you by, I can go buy a Bible. That's fine. But I downloaded on my phone instead of doing Facebook, I've been reading the Bible. And you said in the recharge service, gentlemen, go get it on your phone, get it anywhere, but read the Bible. And I was like, he's and you looked right at me when you said that. I said, How does he know that
New Habits Peace Community And Prayer
SPEAKER_01I just downloaded the Bible app? And that's what I've been replacing to my bedtime screen. Scrolling, reading the Bible. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The recharge midweek is powerful what the Lord does there. Um, because at at recharge on Thursdays, people aren't checking the box. You know, like if you come to a Thursday night service, you really want it. You know, there's no box checking. I feel that way about the ground zero men's meeting too. Because again, you're not box checking. If you come in on a Tuesday night, it's because you want to be there. How do you feel, Brother Doug? How do you feel your life changing due to being involved now with the family of God in the Father's house? How do you feel like life is changing for Doug Caldwell?
SPEAKER_01Uh I'm thinking other people are seeing it around me that I'm more not uptight. I'm just relaxed, you know. Um, hoping my wife sees it, you know, because like I said, I've just been a ho-hum, just go along with it type guy. Um I'm hoping she sees that and I'm trying. Yeah. It's still hard at times. I still have that attitude.
SPEAKER_03It can hit all of us.
SPEAKER_01It's not smart electric to me, but it is to somebody else when they hear it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I'm trying to do better with that. I just have a better, better outlook on it. Yeah. And I do pray a lot more. I've come pulling the parking lot to work in the mornings. That's the first thing I do, is I sit there and pray. Yeah. I have a new granddaughter, a grandson on the way. Okay. My daughter, and I pray for that, you know, every day. And the ones that I do have now. So Amen. Amen. There's a lot more things I'm praying for. Yeah. Yeah. Not taking things for granted anymore.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Amen. Life is a gift.
SPEAKER_01But I feel now if something happened tomorrow, yeah, I'm I'm right. Amen. And baptism is my next thing. I you always say, hey, it's time, it's time, sign up. Yeah. That's gonna be my next step. And I have been baptized. I was at a younger age when I was told that, hey, this is what you do. You know, go stand up there and the preacher dunks you, that kind of thing. Yeah, but now it's just a lot of people. Didn't really know what it was before. Yeah. Knew of something you're supposed to do, but now I know what I need to a complete reset. Yeah, I think that would complete my reset. So you'll probably see my name showing up. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Yeah, that's awesome, man. That's awesome. Praise the Lord. And I want I want to read a couple passages here. In Isaiah 43.19, God says, and this this reminds me of of your testimony. God says in Isaiah 43.19, Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. And that really is what God has done in your life. He's made a way. He's gotten your attention probably many times throughout your life. But it just blows my mind that at a funeral, you know what I mean? Like at a funeral, God opens your eyes up and plants a seed about where you need to start attending church. Even though you didn't do it right away, you kind of kicked the can. And then in 2 Corinthians 5 17, Paul writes this Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new is come. And to me, that's really your life. The new man has showed up as you choose to follow Christ. And that's the beauty in being a follower. God comes in, he kind of does that spiritual car wash thing that we talked about earlier, begins to clean up your way of thinking, clean up speech, clean up actions, clean up behavior, and and and really we're doing as scripture says to pick up that cross of Christ and and and and follow, follow him daily. And that's what we're doing. We're not perfect, but we serve a perfect God. And he calls us to be in line with his will for our lives. So, man, I want to thank you for coming in. Thank you. I want to thank you for sharing your testimony. I'm looking forward to your baptism. That's gonna be a special, special time in the Lord. But let's pray. Father, I'm so grateful for my brother Doug. I'm I'm thankful, Father, for his attendance at CFO. I'm thankful, Father, for his desire to want to get up and meet new people, Lord. And God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit would move in him and minister to him and use him to reach out to other people at his job, in his family, at his church, in the in the community. God, I pray that this episode has been a blessing to all who've listened, uh, who've all who've heard it, Father God, that they would have a desire to get inside church. Maybe they've been kind of
Baptism Next Steps And Closing Prayer
SPEAKER_02walking that line. They've been wavering back and forth on the fence of whether they need to go to church or not. And I just pray, Father, that this would be the episode that gives people that extra push that they need. Father, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for opportunities like funerals to serve you and to give to give your word, Father. And I'm thankful that Doug had an ear to hear that day. Lord, I pray that you would open all of our ears, all of our eyes, that we would see clearly what you have for us today. And we remember, we would remember that tomorrow, tomorrow's not promised to us. So we need to take everything, everything seriously that we go through today and be grateful and not take it for granted. In the name and the blood of Jesus, all God's people said. Amen. Amen and amen. Brother Doug, thank you so much for coming, brother. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's been a blessing. And to everyone listening, until next time on Beyond Sunday, stay in the word of God.
