June 14, 2026

Join us for a beautiful service.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Well, we're thankful to be in the house of God, aren't we? I'll stand on my feet and take us to the Lord of Prayer. We want what God wants us to have today, don't we? And so in this trying world, just being in church service, one service out of the week, I'd like to ring out everything that God puts in the sponge for us here today. And so I've had a lot of phone calls. It's been a very busy few days with mom's passing. And I think sometimes people will call me and wonder why I'm not real sorrowful. It's because my mother knew the Lord. If she wouldn't have known the Lord, uh then I'd be very sorrowful. Because the one thing that God cannot forgive is for you not to accept Christ. Do you get that? Only one sin that no one will get away with, and that's not accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Not accepting Christ and the precious gift that God gave to us several thousand years ago, we'll put your name not in the book of life at all, but you'll go six foot under without any hope.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

That's Bible.

SPEAKER_05 1:22

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

And if it isn't, we ought to all go home and get drink and eat and be merry. But thank God we have a measure of truth. And uh we don't say we have it all, but I have more than I can live up to. So why put any more on my plate?

unknown 1:41

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

But I thank God that the circumstances that came around my mother and her passing is just so magnificent that unless you're just uh so natural-minded and carnal-minded that you can't receive it, there's no doubt in her son's heart that God came and got my mother. Something that I never experienced in such a way is how God orchestrated that. I don't know if God wants me to speak on that a little bit today, but for right now I'd like to go to the Lord in prayer. I'd like to really thank Justin and his wife Amy and Paula and the children for making that trip all the way up from Carolina You know, without uh something in your heart, you don't even want to drive six blocks to go to church. They drove six hundred miles.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

What in the world's going on? What's happening?

SPEAKER_05 2:49

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Not tell you what's happening. God's building a church.

SPEAKER_05 2:53

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

God's building a church. And if there ain't enough stones in the Akron area, he'll bring them from the north, south, east, and west.

unknown 3:02

That's right. True.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Praise God. And God knows what stones is needing in the foundation of a church. Not everyone will become a foundation in the church. Everything in our growth with God it's determined upon what you apply yourself to. And in a nutshell, uh James put it real simple. When he said it's not to hear the word, but what did he say?

unknown 3:32

The doer. The doer.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

A doer of the word. Hearing the word of God brings no cross. No cross in that. When you begin to do the word of God is where the cross begins.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

And Jesus said, Except you pick up your cross and follow me, you'll have no part of me. Then he made another statement that he said, Broad is the gate that leads to destruction. And many will take that path. What is a broad gate? It's a gate that teaches nothing but the finer things of everything wants everybody. Everybody wants everything. My mind's a little foggy today. Had so much on it. So I hope God will touch my mind. But I thank God that I don't want no part of the broad gate.

SPEAKER_05 4:23

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

The broad gate is filling up by the thousands. Entertainment, smoke, all kinds of polished preachers, preaching a whole lot of vomit, and the pews is packing out to the point they have to have three services and one Sunday. You'll get lucky to get 50 in the true house of God, because once men begin to preach the true, unadulterated word of God, the flesh don't like it. Amen.

unknown 4:51

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

It just despises it. But I know one thing, Jesus said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, there's no life in you. Hallelujah. And here's a measure of God's blood, and here's a measure of God's truth that's in this assembly.

SPEAKER_05 5:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

And God's getting ready to make us take a leap in faith and give us some growth in God by through the word of God, we're going to begin to grow in this assembly.

unknown 5:19

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

We're in no way, shape, or form to tell our brother that's traveled all this way, his family and his mom, we are not a perfect church. No sense in pretending and faking it. You know what a hypocrite is? One that fakes it all the time. And Jesus was very disturbed with the Sadducees and the Pharisees when he constantly told them, you're nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. You're just whited sepulchres. You think you have life, but you're full of dead man's bones and a broad gate. And Jesus said in his sermon, he said, Who do you say that I am, Peter? He asked Peter, and some said, Well, you're Elijah, some said this, some said that. And Jesus looked dead bright at Peter. And he said, Who do you say that I am, Peter? And he said, Thou art the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him and said, Flesh and bone is not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. It takes a revelation to find the body of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. It takes a revelation to find out where the truth is being preached. And so God don't just um, He just doesn't go eeny meeny miny moe. If you're here today, you're blessed beyond anything you can imagine. And the more you learn and the more maturity comes into your life, the more you'll realize you are really blessed.

SPEAKER_05 7:03

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Praise God. So there's no sadness in my heart today. My mother uh took her last breath uh Friday morning, about four o'clock in the morning. And uh Sister Connell uh fulfilled her promise to my mother, uh her promise to my mother when we had to talk with mom that we couldn't do it any longer, and that's about the hardest thing I think I've ever done, is you know, there's something special about a mother. You can lose a father, and that's hard enough, but to lose a mother, because a mother has got such a temperament about her that dad can get a little upset, and he should because he's authoritarian in the home, but a mother you can do no wrong. You can do no wrong, but that has to be balanced. Uh but, anyways, about four o'clock in the morning, uh she took her last breath. And if you're spiritual enough and you don't have anything in your ears that would keep you from hearing this, like bitterness, strife, jealousy, envy. Yes, uh, Sister Connell got up to use a restroom there in that little room, and uh she turned around and heard a choir. For a brief second, she heard a choir. That oath that she gave unto my mother years ago when we set her down and had a long talk with her, and mom and all of us begin to cry, but yet she said, I know that it's too hard and it's getting too hard for me to climb the steps. And she said, I understand, Ken, but would you make me a promise that I won't pass alone? And Sister Connell began to cry at the table, and she said, I promise you not that you won't die alone. For six days she fulfilled that promise. She um took that oath that she promised and fulfilled it. You know it's very dangerous to make oaths unto God and then just step away from them. That's why the psalmist said, He that will make it will swear unto his own hurt.

unknown 9:36

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

You know, and a little revelation in that to swear unto your own hurt. When God begins to deal with you about a habit or a bad spirit or envy, strife, bitterness, all these things that can hinder our growth, and you make an oath unto God, most people, when you make that oath and then you get up on the cross and begin to suffer, they back off of their oath. But those that keep their oath, even though the suffering gets great, are the ones that will go forward in God. They'll go forward in God. So that wonderful choir, just for a moment, I heard it one time when God called me back into the ministry, way up in the wilderness of Canada. I heard a choir and Sister Connell was asleep. I mean, we was up in the up in the wilderness. And I heard that choir and I woke her up and I said, Did you hear that? And she didn't hear it. It wasn't meant for her, it was meant for me. And that same night, Brother James Sodters appeared to me with two angels, one on his left and one on his right. He corrected me a little bit for 40 years ago, and then he said, Get up, and when I open the door, when God opens the door, you go through it. And uh he said, at first of all, he made a very wonderful statement to me that I'll never forget. He came to me in a very kind, loving spirit with these with an angel on the left and an angel. How do you know they were angels? Because Brother Sodter died many years ago. But I personally believe he's an overcomer when he passed and he moved out a live soul. And so to me, he came from wherever this third heaven's at. I don't know. But uh God knows. And when he spoke to me, the first thing he said to me is he said, Brother Connell, I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to get around to visiting you. But there's such a great preparation going on for God's coming again.

unknown 11:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

You know, in these last days, and we're gonna go to the Lord in prayer, we're we're going to need spiritual ears or we're going to fade away.

unknown 12:01

That's right, right, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

And the only way to get spiritual ears is to circumcise this old natural mind of ours from carnality into spiritual. You can't think on nothing but everything but God all week long and then hope to come into the house of God and be spiritual. It just don't work. And the reason being is because wherever your heart's at, there's where your treasure's at. And the more you serve God, the more you love God, your treasure becomes more about God than natural and carnal things.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

That's it. Very good.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

So we're thankful for Sister Becky.

SPEAKER_05 12:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Isn't that marvelous how God, the saint of God, got lost on the way. But her daughter came and found her. You know we're gonna have to have that spirit when God brings his people in. They might not even know they're lost, but we've got to go find them.

unknown 13:02

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

And we've got to work with them where they're at. Praise God. And so uh we're thankful that God's already put a piece on Sister Becky. Yeah, touch your mind. She's a child of God. She's a child of God filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And so the next event that took place with my mother, uh, help me, Sister Connell, but the next event was the next day on that Friday that she passed, I got a phone call first from Brother Ashworth. I haven't talked to him for a year. Out of nowhere, he said, uh, Brother Connell, you know some of you that's met him, he's got that English accent, that mild temperament to him. And he said, uh, I had you on my mind so strong. And I said, uh, Brother Ashworth, my mother passed this morning. Oh, Brother Connell, now I know why I had to stop everything that I was doing and call you. We got a God in heaven that sees all things, hears all things, knows all things. Moves upon anybody he wishes to move upon, if they're move upon, if they're movable to be moved upon. Praise God. And so with that understanding that Brother Ashworth called me, and then he was uh trying to lift me up, and but he knows that the vision that I have, he has. So he knew that my heart wasn't very sorrowful, because my mother is in a much better place. She's a peace. And so it wasn't very long after Brother Ashworth called that Brother Jason Gaynor called. He's never called me uh uh on a day at work. Never once, have you, Brother Gainer? And um he might say something about it during the service or whatever, but I don't want to get it wrong, but he said he had such a burden. Is that right? And who was the burden for? Sister Connell. Man, hallelujah! Yeah, so he had a burden for Sister Connell, because Sister Connell was in that room with her.

SPEAKER_05 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

And I was a little bit burdened, and I said, Lord, can you just confirm my mother's passing? And it wasn't but a few minutes after that that Sister Connell had just first told me that she passed. Then we got back on the phone because there's so much activity, and she said, You're not gonna believe I heard a choir. God just making confirmation after confirmation. Then after that, on a Saturday, my mother worked with a woman named Katrinka, a black lady, that she spent many years in the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company with. And they had a group of women that worked in the office together, and her and mom got very close. Those of you that was at my father's funeral met her. She's um a minister. We'll not will not uh say too much, but at the same time, she's a Holy Ghost-filled woman, and she called out of nowhere Pat's phone. The same the same uh the Saturday after her passing, and she said, uh, how is my sister Dot? And uh Pat told her she's passed. Oh, she got excited. She said, I knew, I knew something, and so she began to talk to Sister Connell, and she said, You know, it's a funny thing how that after all those women that we worked in them offices for all those years together, it was only her and I that stayed in contact with one another, and nothing became of all the rest. And God spoke to my heart, and I said, Could I speak to you? Could I have the phone for a moment? And I said, Katrinka, the reason why you're on the phone, and the reason why you made that statement that you and mom stuck together when the rest fell apart is that you're united in Christ.

unknown 17:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

You've both got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you're both born again. And I said the reason why the other women never stuck together is they have nothing to stick together with.

SPEAKER_05 18:04

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Just flesh. Flesh and only flesh. Praise God. What a revelation if you can grab a hold of that.

unknown 18:15

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Praise God, praise God.

unknown 18:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

So I wanted to share them things with you. And then my brother will be, I'm sure, that uh we're going to go to the funeral director tomorrow. Pray for us that we can get this accomplished before the end of next week. We don't want it to have to go into the next week.

unknown 18:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

But whatever, whatever happens, happens. But we want to thank every saint of God in this church for praying for our family.

unknown 18:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

We thank you. Your prayers mean a whole lot to God because I have felt your prayers, and I'm sure the rest of the family has felt your prayers. But um, I just had to share that with you. But you'll have to have ears to hear that. And there can't be no bitterness in your heart. You know, I guess I might as well tell the church what we're in store for in the next few months. Because God's gonna get this church rid of all the filthy bitterness that's in it. It's been going on for 40 years. Got quiet. God's had me study on the on David for months and months and months. Man, do I see a similarity? Do I see a similarity? God's gonna build on a foundation that's got a lot of love in it. Because you can't build a church of God once on anything but love. They built the Tower of Babel on slime, and that's what Babylon's building on today is slime. The cunning craftiness of man, the trickery of man. But here in the body of Jesus Christ, which we're a part of, the only thing that will hold us together is the unadultered rated word of God and pure charity running like a river in the midst of the gospel truth assembly. Praise God. Let's stand to our feet. I think our brother Justin, uh, he's telling me that he's not very, he says he's uh, what should I say? Uh how should I say it? That he's uh like a lot of us, he's a little shy when it gets to coming to the to the speaker. And but uh nevertheless, got something on his heart, God's put something on his heart, and so we want him to feel free to come up and say what's on his heart. You know, you can get something on your heart to where you're you're just ready to bust. We don't want him to bust, do we? But uh so we want him to feel free. But let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask God to cover the services whenever they are for mom. Let's ask God to touch every heart to hear today.

SPEAKER_05 21:25

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

How many of you would like to get some nuggets of gold today? Whether it's from a testimony, how many of you like to get a good drink of water when the music starts up?

SPEAKER_05 21:35

Oh God, oh God.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Praise God. It takes two elements to uh feed the children of God. It takes the word of God and the spirit of God, one without the other is no good. And me, when the word of God comes forth, it's like a fuller soap. I don't like to get dry cleaned, I like to get washed. And it takes water to wash. Amen. If you want to get washed, get plugged in. Because a washing machine don't work unless it's plugged in. And our nature doesn't want us to get plugged in. It despises the Spirit of God. But okay, okay. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and take your requests. Who's got a request today? If God can raise the dead, he can certainly heal Gaul. God could heal Brother Michael today. God could heal Tim today. God could give Sister Becky before she walks out of this church service a sharp mind like she was 50 years old again. See, we we put too much doubt in our prayers. It takes a positive thinker and a positive mind with God to get anything done. And as long as there's doubt, the doubt stops God from moving.

SPEAKER_05 23:46

Oh God.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

It stops God from moving. But I thank God that uh after all these years, there's enough things written on my heart that I don't have to wonder if God exists. I'm on his planet spinning around, enjoying every bit of his creation and the Holy Ghost in my life, and so many outstanding experiences that I don't serve God on faith alone. I serve God as reality. Praise God. Who else has got a request here today? Brother Timor. Let's pray that somebody can touch the hemoglobin for that family. Oh God. Let's pray for our young people. What a bombardment of this world, but let's pray that God can touch each and every one of them. Anyone else?

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Anybody else?

SPEAKER_02 25:53

I'm glad to see our brother Lou. He's getting better all the time. Yes, I forgot about that. Jason and Amy. And then Jessica and the girls. They're in a play that only takes place on one Sunday every year. So we're thankful for that. But let's pray that God will bless and touch them. Anyone else here? Let's pray for all of us to get a greater vision. Let's pray for all of us to come up higher. And God will remove all the skills from our eyes. We pray in this church a little peculiar. In most churches, you get real quiet when you pray. And one does the praying. Now, how God does this, I have I'll never figure it out. He'll have to tell me one day over yonder. But somehow God hears every prayer when we all pray at the same time. Isn't that amazing? And then to think as we're praying in this little schoolhouse, there's probably several million people praying at the same time across this world. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

No wonder he's got 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands upon thousands of angels. I just wonder if one isn't designated to us today to hear our prayers, to take back to the Father. Praise God. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord, dear God, as we come to you with all these needs, Lord, we know that you're an all-hearing ear, you're an all-seeing eye. I know, dear God, that you've heard every prayer request here, Lord. Every unspoken request, dear God, every physical need, dear God, of your children, not only with our little flock here, but the great flock of God everywhere, Lord. We're thankful, dear God, for the sacrifice that Justin and his family and his mother has made to be here with us this weekend, dear God. We pray that they'll go home with something in their basket, something, dear God, that you'll give them and a good clear drink of water, dear God. We love and thank you, Lord. Appreciate, dear God, the way you took my mother at peace, dear God. I'm thankful for all the circumstances around it. There was such a confirmation, dear God. That's wonderful. It brings peace to every soul that loved her. Knowing, dear God, that she went peacefully at the sound of a choir. Dear God, in your sweet name, Lord, we just pray that your will be done here today. Take charge of this service today. Let the Holy Spirit rule everything that goes on today, dear God. We thank you for everything. We pray, dear God, for Brother Gainer, this little operation, his knee surgery that's coming up. We thank you for the healing that we see taking place in our brother Luke. And Lord, we want to be bone of each other's bone, flesh of each other's flesh, and have an unbreakable love in the midst of the gospel truth assembly. We thank you, Lord, in your sweet name, and we appreciate and praise you. Amen, amen, amen.

SPEAKER_05 29:26

Thank God, praise God.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Praise God. Praise God. Come on, Jason.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

Justin.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

I mean, Justin. We got all kinds of Jasons. I'm sorry, Justin. No, you alright.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

I just want to start by thanking Brother Connell for all the groundwork he's done. Uh thank the Mathesists for opening their house up to us. I was listening to the podcast all the time. It's been a lifeline, so thank y'all for that. Uh but I was listening to Mike's and uh it didn't take long to put two and two together that Brother Connell's finances ain't there. And uh, I'm just gonna be honest, I got disappointed in the church. That was the first thing that came over me. Disappointment. Just my mind goes to how can 30 not carry one? And especially the one that's setting all this groundwork for us. He's doing all the work. So I couldn't quite fathom that, and I thought that a little bit, but uh I think the message today is uh we gotta put on our spiritual boots. The church has gotta wake up. It's the time. I mean, recess is over. We can't keep playing around.

SPEAKER_05 30:43

Praise God.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

We can't keep doing it. And to hear him say, you know, just talking about an extra pizza or whatever a week, and like I told Tim, that man will get his extra pizza before my family gets theirs. That's for sure. And we're talking about spiritual wives, open them up, because this ain't about pizza and money. This is about obedience and being held accountable. This group is elite. We're held to an elite standard.

SPEAKER_05 31:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

We have to be there. We're held up here, higher than all these churches out here. We're up here. We have I just want to tell the church that I think we need to step up. There's more we can do. Y'all do a great job. Great job, but I think there's more to be done. Praise God. I think it's time to suit up and really step up. Really start getting serious. Everybody. So I just want to share that.

SPEAKER_05 31:42

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Thank y'all. Praise the Lord. God sent that message from 600 miles away.

SPEAKER_05 31:50

That's right, brother.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Isn't that powerful? Yes. Powerful, powerful, powerful. Yes. Praise God. Praise the Lord. This church is going to start to receive the Holy Ghost much easier because of the time period that we're in. And uh, women of Israel, when Pharaoh pronounced that every newborn male was going to die, uh, and he had midwives that would come in and help the women so they could keep count of the male Hebrew boys that was born, those women would go into travail, and just in a matter of however long they was delivering their children to save the lives of those Hebrew boys. And it's always, it's even like the natural. Some women go in and their water breaks and they have that child within a couple hours. Other women are in there for several days. But our brother Justin and our sister Amy back there was so very close that it's evident that God's got his hand on them too, and that they're gonna be born again real soon.

SPEAKER_05 33:05

Amen. Hallelujah.

unknown 33:08

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Well, I appreciate the Lord today, and I appreciate what God's doing in the land. You know, uh Brother Connell went back there to fade out of this song, and he said, I don't think we're gonna top this, son. And I said, Well, you're the leader. You you tell me if I if I can, I'll dismiss us. But if you don't think we're gonna top this, I'm gonna dismiss us today. And he said, Go ahead. And so uh I just wanted to give God all the glory for today's service. I don't know if we've ever got out of here at a quarter till three, but uh it's all good. God can do things in a real short time. Some things for the Lord take years, some things take years, and then on the other hand, God can do things in a we call it a New York minute. He can work in many manifestations, he you can't outdo him, you can't outsmart him, you can't outthink him, and you can't outmanage him, if that makes sense. He knows what he's doing. And some things, and you know, a lot of things in the in the in the spirit world and in my experience of serving God, a lot of things has to do with what we're going through and what's down in our core. What's down in my nature, Lord, because whatever's down in my nature and whatever trees I've allowed to grow up in the land is how God is gonna deal with me. You know, it's just like in the natural, and I'm gonna I'm gonna dismiss this. But if you let a tree grow in the natural and you let it grow for many, many years, that tree's gonna be a harder tree to hew down or pull up, so to speak, rather than just a little sapling.

unknown 34:35

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

And so God has showed me that where did some of these trees in my land start? And God showed me, me, as a as a person in the Lord, that uh some of the trees I got grown in my land started when I was uh first coming of age. You know, when a child, we we call it reaching the age of accountability. Ezra and these newborn babes, and even uh Justin and Sister Amy's children, uh, they're not there yet. They know right from wrong in some form, fashion, or way, and they know the word no. My grandson, I love to use the babies in the church. I'm teaching, and Brother Jay, his father's teaching Ezra the word no. Sometimes that's as simple as that. If the Lord can just teach me no and not question him, not turn around and question him, he says I said no, and that's the end of it. I'm not mature enough to hear that at times. I want to question him and say, why? Why can't I touch that? Why can't I put my hand to that? Why can't I do that? Why can't I think upon that thought? But the word no means a whole lot, and even in the child world, and that when you're growing up and you start to grow up. So for me, God showed me that I had trees I started when I was a nine and ten-year-old boy. Could be rebellion, it could be anything that's contrary to God, any works of the flesh. I started them at a young age. And it starts when you're young. Little Ezra will go to touch something and turn around and look at his dad. In other words, you're watching me, Dad? Are you gonna stop me from knocking over the dog bowl water?

unknown 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

And Jay will look at him and says, I said no. And now he's starting to turn around and not sass him because I was dying. Jay got on him last week and he went over to pull Fifi's water bowl over. He's got himself into a habit. You know, the flesh forms habits.

unknown 36:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

The flesh forms habits, and it's hard to get away from these habits without the Spirit of God helping you and assisting. As a matter of fact, you won't get away from the flesh without the Spirit of God and not without his word. And so Ezra's got himself into a habit to go over and knock the water bowl over. Amber would call, Mom, every day he walks over and looks at me and bam, pulls the water bowl over, and I'm cleaning water up off the floor. Well, Jay's been teaching him. And Jay said he got on him last week and he looked at him and he went to grab the water bowl, and he and Jay said no. Well, he turned around and looked at his dad, Tim, and Jay said, I said no, Ezra. And he went to touch it again, and Jay lowered his voice. Sometimes God's got to lower our his voice. Sometimes he's got to get a little bit more stern with us. He said, I said no, Ezra. And Ezra turned around at him and went, Yeah. Well, Jay said he had to turn his head and look at the wall. He started laughing so hard. That was Ezra's way of saying, okay, I hear you, but maybe I'll listen and maybe I won't. Yeah. Yeah, he puts his hand, yeah. So, you know, in other words, we got some trees that God's trying to hew out of our life, and I do, and they're big old oak trees. I wish God would have taught me at a young age when it was just a little sapling or a little seedling to reach down and don't let that get started. But unfortunately, I've let things grow up in my life, and now God's teaching me, He wants me to grow up. And you can't truly mature and get the fruit of God on your life unless you get rid of the flesh. You can't you can't have a healthy garden if you don't never keep it weeded. If you have a garden out in the natural and you're trying to grow tomato plants and all the weeds choke it out, well, that's your fault. You're not a good gardener. You need to go out there and pull the weeds and pull the suckers off the plants so that fruit can produce more abundantly. And so that's what God's doing in our life. And that's what our brother Justin got up and said today. In so many words, he told the church, God's wanting us to grow up.

unknown 38:15

Exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

In so many words, our brother said that. Grow up. The Lord spoke to me today down in my basement, and he says, I want more maturity out of you. I want more maturity and growth out of you. And so that's what God's getting ready to do. He's getting ready to ask us to grow up.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

Be more mature. If somebody offends you, pray for them. Don't backbite them. Don't talk about it. Don't talk to the wrong source about it. Keep it to be between you and the Lord. If you got to go to anybody, go to your pastor. I'm speaking to me. God's wanting us to grow up, and I really feel like we had a good service today. I appreciate the people willing to drive.

SPEAKER_05 38:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

You've heard it over and over again, but I must I might as well reiterate it. How many churches, Brother Connell's asked the people that drive and stuff from the South? You don't even have to come from Carolina. I must have passed a hundred churches coming here. A 10-minute drive from Firestone Park to here. I bet you roughly there was probably maybe 500. If you could count them all up in the areas I traveled through today, there was probably roughly 100 to 500 churches. And God's brought us here. God's brought us to a clean church, a church that's trying to get clean. A gate. A gate. It's so narrow that you got to shed some fat to get through it. You get that?

unknown 39:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

God likes us to shed some fat, not this natural fat.

unknown 39:44

No.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

It's the inward man. It's the inward man. When they put those sacrifices on the altar and would burn them up for their sins, that smell would go up before the God of heaven and it became a sweet smelling savor. Savior. He loved that. It's like when you put a good piece of meat on the grill and you season it just right. Isn't that appealing to your nostrils?

SPEAKER_05 40:04

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Tim cooked something in his garage office smoker a while back, and the smoke permeated everything in his whole entire garage. Even the TV that he used to bring in here. You could walk by it and smell barbecue. And finally I said, What am I smelling, Tim? He's like, Smell that television. We're silly people in here. And I reached down and went. And the TV smelt like smoke. Tim says, Yeah, I left it in my garage and cooked about three hams in there one day and smoked them all day long, or whatever it is he.

SPEAKER_05 40:36

Multiple times in a row.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

Multiple times in a row. So in other words, that sweet smell that you get, brother Williams, the grill you bought me, when I put a nice piece of chicken on there or a nice piece of meat and you season it just right, doesn't that go up your nast uh natural nostrils and you smell that? And if you're a man and like meat, you're like, mmm, I'm ready to sink my teeth into that. Well, God's so spiritual. Yes. He's so holy that when he looked down, and not only did he see the sacrifices being burnt up, but that flesh being burnt up went up in his glory. And he smelled it. He knew there was some people making sacrifices for the wrong they was doing. And it pleased him. It pleased him. Just like we're pleased in the natural, smell certain smells. Oh, yeah. It pleased God that they was willing to offer up a sacrifice. Nobody in the day and age we live in, be careful. I want to be careful I don't fall into this. Nobody wants to offer up anything for their sins.

SPEAKER_05 41:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

They just want to blame it all on grace. I don't have to do nothing. I'm forgiven. For today, tomorrow, and for the future. Uh-uh. Today's grace is sufficient. Today is the day of salvation. I don't know what tomorrow brings, so I better not do anything, try to do anything towards that until tomorrow gets here. Because just because I'm saved today and I feel good, and we all went up on cloud nine, and sister uh Amy and Brother Justin got a spiritual boy, they went up on a mountain. I still don't know what tomorrow brings. I'm still capable of waking up on the wrong side of the bed tomorrow and going to work and losing my spirit. But I want to grow up out of that. And it takes today to get to tomorrow, if that makes sense. If I can't grow up today, how can I grow up tomorrow? Today is the day of salvation. I'll burn tomorrow's bridge when we get there. I can't do nothing with the past. All I can do is repent over the man I used to be, and repent and walk forward over the things that I sowed in my life and possibly sowed in other people's life. So I appreciate God being with us today. I want to grow up. I want to listen to Brother Justin and what God spoke to him today to say, and I want to grow up. I want to mature. I don't want to let too many weeds choke out my garden. I want to go out there once in a while and hew them down and give it some water and maybe a little bit of miracle grow. We have an outstanding abundance of miracle grow in this church.

SPEAKER_05 43:06

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Spiritually. We really do. And so I appreciate the Lord today. I'm thankful God give us something today. Brother Connell, you know he can give a sermon in 20 minutes?

unknown 43:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

If you're spiritual minded, we're all long-winded in this church, including me. I can be very long-winded at times, and if God's unctioning you, so be it. But I'll speak for myself. But I've heard Brother Connell, he gave us a sermon today. If you listen and you had spiritual ears, he was only up here for about 20 minutes, but I got something. And then the river, then the water started flowing, and water and the seeds that he possibly put out there. So God's got us right where he wants us. Absolutely. I appreciate everybody making the uh the drives to come and be here, and I appreciate God adding to the church. God's adding to the church. And don't get discouraged today because you didn't vividly speak in tongues.

unknown 44:00

No.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

I asked him when he stood up. I was like, it's real simple, brother. I could say you got it. Couldn't we? Couldn't we go around telling her, you got it? They do it out there. You don't want to do that. They do it out there. All you got to do is ask the Lord to come into your life. You've been born again. There's no other. You got it. No. There's an evidence. And so when Brother Jason went to get up, I just gently reached in. I said, Do you think you got it? Nope. I was like, well, then you know best. You know best. I that's all I needed to hear. You was right there at the threshold. Sister Amy, you was right there. You had stammering lips beyond stammering lips I've seen in years. And so maybe the next service, maybe down at home. Maybe you'll be doing something on one of your backhoes or whatever it is you do, brother, and God will give you the Holy Ghost. I really want Brother Jason to stand up one service and tell us how he received it. God can give you the Holy Ghost anywhere at any time. But just hold on to God and be encouraged today. It blessed my soul to see uh Brother Justin's mom.

SPEAKER_05 45:06

Yep. Kelt down there.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

Knelt down there behind him. And I took a second look and I was like, wow, I had to tell him. I was like, your mother's behind you, encouraging you.

SPEAKER_05 45:14

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

We need encouragement. I want to get behind my brothers and my sisters. I can't do this without you, Brother Tim. Brother Alex, I need you. You brothers and sisters, I'll look at every one of you. I need you. Your flesh will say, Well, I don't know if I need that. We need one another. Absolutely. This is the church that God's putting together. This is the stones that He's placing in peace and putting fitly framing them together. And I appreciate the Lord. And let's leave here today encouraged.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

Praise God. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

I tell the church before I dismiss us, if there's some huge burning testimony, by all means. I don't want to hinder that. I don't want to hinder that. This ain't my service. This is the Lord's service. But I really felt like we've reached a pinnacle today. You know, you go up the mountain and you start and you peek at the top. What's next? If you keep walking, you start going down. You start going down the other side of the mountain. And we've reached a pinnacle today, and I think we're on a high cloud today. I think we can leave with some good things on our plate.

SPEAKER_05 46:14

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

We got a drink of the Spirit. We got some things. I've cast some seeds out that you're hearing today. So praise God. Praise the Lord. And I appreciate the gospel truth assembly. Keep praying about our church. Keep praying about our building, rather. And uh I noticed every time they put that sign back there that it's growing. The church fund is growing. And I really feel it down in my bones along with the other brethren that we're right on the brink. I feel like we're on the brink of getting a church building. And I have this envisionment along with Brother Alex and Brother Connell and Brother Tim. I got this, and my and my son-in-laws and all of us, I got this strong vision on what I feel like God's going to do. And I feel like he's going to bust the gang planks down. He's going to tear the walls down, brother. And God's going to begin to bring people and give them a chance to hear the gospel and to feel the rain. They got a glimpse of it out there and they got a small measure of light, but they don't have a great bright light. We got the light, we got the truth, we got the spirit. And so praise God until we meet again. Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_05 47:21

Praise the Lord. Yeah, that's exactly what they're waiting for.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

Good night, everybody.