I've told you guys this time and time again, and I'll just say it again. Something about getting up here, it scares me. I struggle. I really do. There are certain things that I can do. God's given me the ability to do. And I believe He gives you the ability and He gives you the strength to get up and preach or give out His Word or testify or talk. But I prayed all week, every day, at least twice a day in the mornings and the evenings for the filling of the Holy Spirit. And I spent, you can ask Nicole, I spent almost all day yesterday upstairs praying and reading God's Word for something to give out. I had heard a testimony, and that's why I mention testimonies, I heard a testimony this week that really, really that spoke very, very deeply to me of a lady. And I want to tell this testimony, not all of it, it was a very, very long ordeal that I listened to. But speaking of testimonies that speak to you or was an encouragement or just hearing what God has, I'm going to say God has allowed others to go through some of the life, life, life altering events and some of the life situations that men and women have gone through have been an encouragement to myself. And this lady, some of you may know of, may have heard, but her name was Catherine, and she was from a young age, her family was Roman Catholic. Uh, she was, I'm going to say the word groomed. She was groomed to be given to a convent when she was of age, when she was of time and, and through the process of time, her, her father, her mother, you know, they come in, they, they promised this young lady, the world that if she'd give her life to, to God's service is how they worded it. And she gave everything. Now she'd have to live a life of poverty. She'd have to live a life of nothing. She would be separated from family, friends with no communication ever again. It wasn't permitted in this situation. Now, I don't know a lot about that system. I won't sit here firsthand and tell you what I know or the ins and outs of it that I know, but I just wanted to give A bunch of her testimony, but this young lady and she was early teens. I think she was actually preteen when she had more or less. It reminded me of a military situation where she had depth in and was was getting ready to go into the program and before her 13th birthday. She had signed off the paperwork. Her parents had basically signed her away to this great godly gift that she could be given to in this nun. And I'd never heard this word. I'd heard of convents before, but they called it a cloister convent. And I don't still honestly fully understand what that is except for The descriptions through this testimony, this lady's testimony, reminds me exactly of a prison camp that I've read about, Auschwitz, and some of those of the times past when Adolf Hitler had begun to take the Jews and they were putting them in prison camps and basically torturing them to within either inches of their lives or torturing them to death. They were running all these ugly, nasty things and doing all these things to these people. And this young lady, she was given to this from a young age. And I did not know anything about these kinds of things. I don't know, like I said, I don't know a whole lot about Catholicism nor what they teach. I know a little bit. The little bit that I know just fortifies my belief in God's word that I can trust Him and not man. Not him at all, not man at all. As much as I love each one in here, you would love me. I'm able and capable of failing, of making the wrong steps. And through this deal, this young lady through her early teens, they had taken her, and I think it was her 13th birthday, or right around the age of 13, they had taken her overseas. They basically, they took her from her family. She signs her life away to this nunnery, this cloister convent. They take her overseas, it never says where, and basically they bury her underground in these situations. And at first I'm thinking, man, a church, a religion doing this? How do we even get there? How do folks get there? And I see a lot of what's going on around us. And I think, how in the world do we get there? And it's a deception. Obviously, we well know here in this church, it comes from the devil. But anyways, this lady, this woman had spent 22 years, and I'm telling you, some of the stuff in there is the grossest stuff I've heard that would come from, I'm gonna put quotations around it, a religion through an organization that claims God. And I've heard terminology. I've heard the word cult. I've heard so much more. And I'll just tell you right now that the grace of God truly is sufficient through time. This lady, like I said, had been in this convent for 22 years. They had raped. They had beaten. She had mentioned when she has finally escaped, she was 89 pounds. How, I don't know, but I mean, malnourished beyond malnourished. They said it took months and months to get her back up to where she could really even to eat. You know, she could have a little bit here and there, but that's what she had been conditioned to. Slowly, slowly, it was a slow conditioning to get her to basically become a puppet, a robot. And as I was listening through this, I could think nothing but the pits of hell. And what the devil does to humankind right now, slowly but surely, men and women are becoming conditioned to accept the evil, conditioned to accept false doctrines, lies, deception upon deception, and they don't even know it. We don't even know it. And this young lady, they had beat it into her, basically beat it into her, not only her, apparently thousands. Still, I don't understand how we get to that point, but they had had thousands and thousands of young people, young women, because the nunnery system is females, I guess, but thousands of them beat into submission that they were doing the will of God. And one part of this story, this lady, they put her in a room, They called it doing penance, and they lay her down on the floor in a cross pattern. And men, priests, and what they call the mother superior, they come in and they walk up and down this lady for hours. They walk all over. They basically want you to take the pain of what Christ had done. You're basically putting in your life. You're becoming what would sound like an atonement for the sins. And they would spend hours and hours and hours praying for the sins of mankind. And as I got to reading this story, I was crying. I felt like a little baby. It hurt my heart to know this. And I thought of my little girl. I thought of the girls that are in our church, the girls that we know, the family members that we know. and the duping of the devil. The false lies are great in the hour that you and I live in. And folks have no desire. I don't know why. I had mentioned my dad earlier to Stephen. We were talking about prayer and God had opened the door here a few days ago to speak with my dad. And I just simply plainly asked dad, I said, are you saved? And at first he got a little irritated, he said, I've heard about that stuff, I've heard about Jesus all my life, that he's gonna come back, he's gonna this, and there isn't, nothing happened. And that's exactly where the devil wants us, in this day and in this hour, to turn our eyes away from, turn our hearts on, because we've heard it. And a lot of folks are gospel that we're no longer sensitive to the gospel. We're flooded with the gospel and it means nothing like it ought to mean. And as they had gone through this story, and it wasn't the woman's voice telling the story, it was an audio deal. It was someone reading this lady's biography. But she got to a point where she escaped from this convent. And I'm thinking, how in the world? How? It could only have been God. And she gets away. Long story short, she spends almost two years recuperating. She had a family helping her. She had a doctor helping her. She had moved into the doctor's home. And lo and behold, they got a hold of her family back in the States. Now, mind you, this has been 22 years. It'd be crazy to me to think of 22 years not seeing someone, and then all of a sudden they show back up. Well, anyways, she gets shipped back overseas, and is given, or ships to her father's, her parents' house. Her mother's not doing good. Her dad is elderly. Obviously, they were a wealthy family, but she goes out, she goes through a lot of stuff, as one would think. I mean, I could only imagine the PTSD that someone would face in these situations. Mind you, I'm trying to get at the fact of the importance of serving our God, the importance of knowing God's truth. I know that I didn't give a title, I've not read a scripture yet, but this woman had been battered for years. Had been tormented, had been tortured. Much of what humanity faces today, living in our sins. I know that I've never been in a dark area like she has, but it had me, not reminiscing, but it had me looking back on some of the places that I had been in life seeing where God had moved me from one area to another, even though I had no idea what was going on. I had had a slight idea of what God would have had me to do at a young age, but I ran from that. And this woman, she just had no hope. She had no hope. And she had spoke about that time and time through this deal, how there was absolutely no hope. There was no compassion. There was no love. There was no grace. There was absolutely no mercy. And I kept thinking as she was speaking through the things that she was facing, of the pits of hell. Folks, we're surrounded by people that are going to a devil's hell and have no idea. Going back to my dad, he said, I've heard that stuff. I've heard it all my life. I don't want to talk about it right now. Basically, he said, I don't care. And something about that, at first, I got a little angry. I did. I got in my flesh for a moment. I got angry. And I said, Dad, whether you care or not, either heaven or hell is coming. That is the end of your life. When this is said and done, whether you've heard it all your life, the problem with hearing it all your life, and not believing it, and not doing anything about it, is your fate is sealed. Your fate is sealed, and we talked on a little bit more, and I just told him, I said, it is not between you, and it is not between me. It's not our deal. I said, but you need to find you a spot, and get with Christ. Through the process of all this going on in this woman's life, she had spent, I think it was like 28 months, having escaped from this system. And they somehow found her. She had been moved to her uncle's house, wherever it was. It didn't give any directions, but it was back in the States. And they found her. And I believe it was three or four priests had come and grabbed her. They kidnapped her and brought her back under this bondage for what was another two years. And I got to thinking as I was reading through that in my own life, the Bible tells me that if a man has tasted of the good things of God, and he turns back, and they turn back from that, and I know this isn't the exact situation, but just what came to my mind is if he's tasted of those good things, and he turns back, the Bible says it's impossible. It is impossible for a man or a woman to return again. And then I got to thinking as she was going through that, that scripture came to my mind, and I'm thinking, This lady's doomed. For one, they knew she had escaped. The devil knows if you're in this building, he knows you've escaped the pits of hell. But he's not going to quit. He's not going to give up. He's going to continue on with the thrills. He's going to continue on with the grabs. He's going to continue on with the temptations. And I believe that's going to happen. And I've heard it from elderly folks that have been just close to death. It never, ever goes away. For one, his fate is sealed. He gave up a long time ago. But anyways, as I was listening to the story, I'm thinking, this lady is doomed. They're going to kill her because of what she's come out. What if she's told? Because from what I had read and I had heard, that once you're in, you're in. And that marriage, they even do ceremonies. That marriage there is a till death do us part. And they'll make sure of that. Well, lo and behold, God opened up another door, and after, I think it was another two years of being in this system, this bondage, this torment and turmoil, this lady escapes again. God had given her the grace through being emaciated, and probably all hope, I would venture to say all hope being lost, all was gone, to escape again. Long story short, this lady goes to a meeting. In the process of time, God orchestrates things in her life. She goes to a meeting not knowing anything of mercy, grace, the love of Christ, the good things of God, and she's gloriously saved. And at first, you can tell through the story, she's apprehensive because all she knows is deceit. All she knows is lies. All she knows is wickedness, much like people that you and I know. If we're stuck on the internet, if we're stuck on CBS and CNN and the things of it, that's all we know is lies and deceit. deception, cheating, stealing, all the things that God says will not be in the Kingdom of God. We're so inundated by that, and that's just a ploy of the devil. And through all this, she had made contact with family members, brothers and sisters, apparently had a large family. Her father is the one who had put these priests told these priests where she was the first time. Her father had done this. They had come in and lied that her mother, because her mother was in bad health, she would never escape purgatory. No, sorry, she would never go to purgatory. She would go straight to hell if your daughter isn't returned. And her father gave her up. Gave up her location. Her dad did that to her. And this thing is going on as this story is going on. I could not help but to think of the Bible telling us in the last days that fathers will be giving up on the children. The children will be turning against each other. And I know this story is based in the 40's I believe from the early 1900's to the 60's I think is where her life was, the whole story of her life. I got to thinking of those things and God's Word just kept coming back to mind. These people giving up. This man gave up his daughter, basically gave up his daughter for a lie. And that's all the devil does. The Bible tells us that. He's a liar. He's the father of it. And as this all went on, I could not get away from this one Scripture. I know it's simple. It may not be deep. It may not be profound. But we know folks that are going to hell. We know folks that are hurting. I don't know what to do physically for most of these folks except pray. We were talking earlier. I just know to pray. You have family situations that need God to intervene. And as we mentioned before, I mentioned I think Wednesday night, Ryan and I have talked about each one of us, we know this, but do we know it in our hearts? We are going to have to have the power of God in 2025 for anything to change. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of meetings transpiring in the country and in the world at large. But are men and women, are we repenting? Because Jesus told the men of His day, the church of His day, the Pharisees, the scribes, the hypocrites, that generation of vipers, He said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. I see so much going on where folks are getting into a tub and having a plunge party. Or being baptized, having never repented, having never recanted those worldly things, and we're being baptized into what? We're not being baptized into the family of God. That requires a repentance and a turning from. And I have felt so guilty in my life. There's been times where I've been up on the mountaintop and I've been down in the valley and you make a mistake. Has the devil or has your flesh ever beat you? Basically beat you into submission, beat you within what feels like an inch of you because you're worthless. You're worthless. God never said that. He never said we were worthless. There's one story basically in this Bible. And it is a story of redemption. Now there's a lot of other stories in it. There's a lot of other things that go on. But the main weaving in this book is a redemptive plan. And I know you guys know this, and I don't know why it was so heavy on my heart except for this lady's story of how much she had been through. She had been, if you will, through hell. She had literally been through hell. And it's said time and time again, she had begged for death. She had begged for death. But could you imagine having gone through all of that, basically a lifetime in the physical body of hell, and perish without Christ? Because she would have been without Christ, and it'd never get any better. It'd only get worse and worse and worse. And that's the fate of many of the folks that you and I know in our town, in our families, in our friendships, men and women that are dying and perishing. And I have felt guilty as guilty because I have learned over the years, I had learned so much to not care, to just get on, get on with life, do my own thing. I was trained from a young age not to trust people. I've told most of the church that. And just to do me, just do you, Brother Jeff. Don't worry about nobody else, because nobody's going to worry about you. And that's how I learned. But when I come to this book, that's not at all. That's not what it teaches. That's not what it showed me. And I've got a couple verses from Matthew. And you all know this. Every one of us know this. But I want to encourage us in this today. Because I was encouraged by this lady's testimony. How much she'd been through, yet God had saved her soul, and after all that, the woman forgave her dad. And before his deathbed, he lived to like 92 or 93 years old, he apologized to her with tears, with agony, and she was able to lead her, I believe it was her, she was able to lead her dad to be saved before he took his last breath. And the same with some of her brothers and her sisters. And that was given. We never know. We never know. Brother Teddy lived a life. He lived a life. We never know what our life may say to other people. It may not be a word. I think of my father-in-law. And I like him. We like him. He's a little rough cut. Is he not? He's jagged on the edges. But he needs Jesus. And I'll tell you right now, at the moment, unless God has done something miraculous today, there is no concern inside of him of eternity. And if what my dad said here a few weeks ago, there's no concern of eternity. The Bible tells you and I, we're not promised tomorrow. This life is but a vapor. And I'm learning that day in and day out, especially working for myself now where I don't have to punch a time clock, that they're fleeting quickly. The days are fleeting by quickly. Matthew 11. I don't know where you're at. I couldn't know your heart. You couldn't know my heart. But this is what came to my mind, my heart. I felt like the Lord spoke this to me. Matthew 11. Very, very well-known Scriptures. We know folks that need this right now. In our families, in our homes, possibly in your homes, in our country, in our county, and in our very town. Even neighbors. Jesus said, come unto me. not anywhere else. He didn't say go to drugs. He didn't say turn to alcohol. He didn't say turn to sexual immorality. He didn't say turn to gambling or cigarettes or none of the above. He said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. I think of Paul, that scripture and Paul's scripture from Philippians 13. Excuse me, Philippians doesn't have 13 chapters, it has four or five, but chapter three, sorry, chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Paul was given a chance, was he not? a great chance like many women and many men of our time have been given a chance. And I'm not sure, I don't understand. Well, I do know because we have pride. We have ignorance within us. We have so many dreams. We have so many desires because I was one of them who had been given chance upon chance upon chance, whom God had given opportunities to come out from among them and be separate, but I chose not to. It was a choice. You guys know that. I'll preach that. Even though it may sound cliche, it is a personal choice between each of us. Anyone out there, that's the greatest gift that God could ever give us, is the gift of choice, that we would choose Him. The gift of eternal life is our greatest gift. Please don't take that wrong. But He gave you an opportunity and He doesn't make it difficult. It's not conditional on any man-made situation, nothing. It's based on Him and Him alone. But Philippians chapter 3, verse 12, forgive me. Paul had been given so many opportunities, I believe, and Paul, as he gives in some of his accounts, and I don't have these memorized verbatim, but Paul was a zealot for his religion. Much like this young lady was a zealot for what she'd been duped into, for what she knew. That's all that she knew. She didn't know a bit of truth. And she had mentioned through this that they weren't, especially women, I suppose in this, they weren't allowed to read the Bible. They weren't allowed to touch the Bible. They weren't allowed to hear with their ears the true gospel of Jesus. It wasn't permitted. Just as the devil would have it for anyone, he would not permit you to hear the truth. Why? Because the truth does what? The truth sets men free. Absolutely free. And if we're free in Christ, you and I, we're free indeed. And it tells us where the Spirit of the Lord is. There's liberty. That is a freedom. There is a liberty. I pray that we have a liberty here in our midst, not just now, but always. We have liberty in our homes to worship our God, to serve our God. I pray that we have liberty in our nation. We have children here. We have young men like myself that have never seen a great awakening. I've never seen a real revival of God opening up the hearts of men and women, and them crying out to God, crying, seeking the face. Paul had had opportunity after opportunity, and he went through tons and tons and he went through all kinds of things, thinking he was doing the right thing. Yet he wasn't. But God gave him a chance, did He not? And Paul was changed just much like this young lady was changed. We need a change. I need a change. You need a change. We need a change of thought. We need a change of heart. We're so programmed. to react worldly, and we don't react godly in the time that we live in. We're so prone to be vengeful. We're so prone to lie and to cheat and to steal and to do all the wrong things. But Paul says here in Philippians 3, chapter, verse 12, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ." He followed. It wasn't something he just heard. He took the necessary steps to go after. Are we going after? This is something that was just a conviction in my life. It is for me. I can't point it at you, but I can ask you the same. Maybe God will use it for you. Am I following after? I've heard. I've heard the good things of God. I've experienced the good things of God. But are we following after? Are we true disciples? Am I a true disciple called to be a disciple of God? Are we following after? Paul was willing to follow after. And you guys know Paul. We've heard, we've read, we have great accounts of Paul's life. But he says, brethren, and this was I feel like what spoke to me. So much yesterday, aside from the scripture in Matthew, as I was listening to this lady's testimony, I was pondering on my testimony, I was pondering on the testimony of others that I know, people that I know that have been through a lot more than I have, that have lived a lot longer lives, and all they've done is given God the glory for the ups and the downs. Paul said, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing, I told you this Bible has one basic message. Redemption. This one thing. I do. He forgetting. Forgetting those things which are behind. And reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press. I've said this before and I disbelieve it with all of my heart. There will never be a man, woman, boy or girl that will stumble into the Kingdom of God. Into the heaven of heavens at the end of their day. We must press. We must endure, we must fight, and we must run. I press toward the mark for the prize. There is a prize coming. There's a prize beyond any monetary value that you would ever know. Any happiness or joy that you could ever face here, there's a prize coming. A prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. God's got something far greater for everyone. There is one basic, as I mentioned, you know this, you've heard this, you believe this, I truly believe, one basic story. A story of redemption, a plan of salvation. There is one God, there is but one God. There is only, really, you understand this, do we know this, there is only one enemy. The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. It isn't me or you that I'm fighting. It's not anybody out there. It's the devil. Yet there's one hero. And that's Jesus. Jesus is our hero. He's the one that paid the cost. And I know this is something you've heard forever, but I needed it. I needed it yesterday. There is only one hero. And there's one verse of Scripture that you can stand on, you can count on, you can stand on them all. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. It's not His will that anybody perishes. Don't choose that. but that all should come to repentance. I don't know if anybody in here would be unsaved. That's not my place, but it is my place to tell you where to go and who to go to. If you would stand with me today. I fully understand and believe that each one of us in this building, because I know you and I've gone to church with you for a number of years, some of you a number of months now, praise God for the way God moves people across the country, across the world. I've seen God move folks across the world to put us together. I'd have never known you if you'd have never come here. I've been to Missoula, Montana a bunch, lived there and never ran into you there. But God places folks in our paths for a reason. He places folks on our paths for a testimony, that you might give your testimony, that I might give my testimony. And I guarantee you, there's millions of testimonies out there that could encourage someone. The testimony of this book has come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, that may not be a physical burden, but I tell you what, I've had some spiritual and some mental burdens that have been way, way, way greater than a physical burden. Whatever the need you may have, and it may not be salvation, Come to Christ. Come to Him. Give it to Jesus. Only trust Him. Because the vein is the help of men. Lord, we thank You so much today for being in our midst. Lord, I praise You, Father, as I struggled all week for something to say. But Lord, I know that in my life, it's the Word of God that has set me free. And I just pray that if there's anybody in this place who's never been set free with the pardon of salvation, the gift of God, Lord, that today would be their day. There's so much out there going on outside of these walls, Lord, that I don't know anything about. But you do. You see the tears. You see the hurt. And Lord, I've learned in my own life that all it took for me was coming unto you. And I pray that be the choice for those in this place. I just want to ask, Lord, that you'd have mercy on Oak Lane. Would you have mercy from our pastor and his family on down through each one. There is no one person in this place greater than anybody else. One man holds the office of pastor. but many of us hold the office of servant and Christian and witness. Lord, may our lives be a shining light, that's what you've called us to be, that others might see the good things of God, that they might see the wonderful works of God and not praise us, but they'd glorify you. Lord, forgive us, Father, forgive us in this nation. I read a statistic the other day that was astounding at the amount of innocent life that has been taken since it was quote, unquote, and I don't even like to use the word legalized. Lord, God, how could that be a legal thing to take someone else's life? Father, would you have mercy? Would you send an awakening in our nation? Lord, it doesn't have to start here. Would it be awesome? Absolutely, it'd be awesome to start here. But would you send an awakening in our nation that men and women, the blinded eyes, the scales would be lifted. If it's in this place, lift the scales from our eyes. And may we be honorable vessels for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Have your way, we pray, God. Have your way in the lives of those that are in this place. May we give ourselves to you as you gave yourself for us. In the precious name of our Savior, Jesus. Amen.