E-Witness - Jeff Arnold

good evening and welcome to our Monday night IRRI vive alai am so glad that you have joined us tonight we're gonna have a great time we're so excited about the opportunity to talk with our good friend brother Jeff Arnold who has pastored in Gainesville for many years one of our our leading theologians and camp conference speakers and has been a blessing to so many people in so many ways but brother Arnold I remember years ago when I was just a boy and I was a little nine-year-old on the campground I remembered that you used to have a little puppet that you called Freddy the Frog and they didn't give you the platform back then you just sort of walked around on the on the ground and you had this puppet but you were like the Pied Piper we all just followed you around because this little puppet had its own personality and we didn't have TVs and Sesame Street but we had brother Arnold with a little Freddy the Frog tell me how you first came to the Lord brother Arnold well I mean I married sister Arnold just few few months before I got out of the Air Force during the end of Vietnam 1966 and we moved to Florida we weren't in the church I was a drunk I drank all the time since the Arnold never drank she never smoked she never curse nothing you know and the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night three nights in a row it was it was mind-boggling I was sound asleep I woke up I thought I heard a door open or a window I got up and checked everything I said won the world am i doing up went back to bed next day two or three o'clock and one I wake up the same thing boom what's going on I'm scared to death man I'm thinking well I went out in the kitchen I opened a can of beer I lit up a cigarette I just sat there thinking and I'm losing it I must be getting the DTS because I'm drinking all the time third night I go to bed I wake up again and my wife is sound asleep I'm thinking I'm walking around the house thinking man this is weird well I feel like a sense of voice or words in the top of my head by coming down a long hallway says you're almost out of time it's time to get your life turned around it's scared to fire matter because I went into bed my wife soundlessly is so funny I wake her up I said patty patty you know she looks up well I said patty if God would call me to be a missionary to China would you go with me and so she thinks I'm here bag and she's going missionary we don't even own a Bible missionary China stopped drinking Geoffrey go back to bed I said I'm a sober as a judge on Sunday I said I think God's talking to me and she looked at me and she said who's talking to you I said I think God's talking to me we need to go to church but we were planning to go to Miami to a divorce court when we just married almost one year I was just stupid and so we ended up going to Northwest Baptist Church Northwest 15 4 3 where Anita Bryant used to go the orange juice Lane oh yeah we went there and the place was packed I mean to get down to the altar you almost had to take a bus because the thing was thousands of people if my wife was over here and I was over here and so I they did this what I call the lewd Billy Graham special believe on the Lord and you're saying well I had done that since I was a kid I if there's anybody saved by signing cards I'm saved because I got enough cards I have a deck of cards I got saved you roll the rings like I saved in high school I could say everywhere just accept the Lord but it never helped me it never stopped me well I got my head bowed and they told mother's guy he got hit by a train and just lay there on the ground he accepted the Lord and Savior and and he got saying well I'm saying in my mind a bunch of jock what a bunch of junk this is my wife looks up and stabs me she's crying her eyes out she says let's go to the altar and I'm gone are you kidding me you need a telescope to see where that altar is okay and so we go down there we're the only two people in the whole building that kneel at the altar everybody else lined up behind us shaking hands with the preacher and they're talking about this one except then the Lord is save you got to get an amen well we're praying so this little guy comes over and tells me to sign his car and accept the Lord as my savior and I'm saved so I sign the card well they go and tell sister Arnold if those things subsist Arnall was a total introvert in those days and I mean she was shy as could be well this guy comes over and says you need to sign this card accept the Lord you understand this this shows going on in front of the whole church right if I was watching this show everybody else is doing fine and shaking hands getting saved is he's too young kids crying and praying I'm slobbering and so my wife was like she drops up a grenade in a small bathroom okay everything hit the fan cuz she turns around and she says saved well haven't even got the Holy Ghost yet haven't you started talking in tongues what do you mean saved well when she said that to that elder guy he flips out he goes away from the Alton there you go say this everybody the church is watching this show down here and they come back with four or five big guns and they start talking to her and you know I don't know what's going on I'm saved I don't know what's the problem with that lady I'm saved you know it's hope now you have to stay safe forever I've been I've been kicked out of bars I've been thrown out of houses I've been thrown out of hotels I have been a bad boy I used to pack a gun robbed places I was a bad boy this is the first time in my life I ever got thrown out of a church Wow and it was the mercy of God that Pastor you know very kind man but he turned around he said would you please escort this couple out of my sanctuary they are disturbing my service Wow and there's all these thousands of people watching us I got my head bowed I'm so embarrassed they these five guys take us out of the building if I had been with my wife on a jumpsuit and play class winter went and got drunk that's what I would have done but I would my wife and they take us in this little room in the back and they start telling us all this stuff but yeah this thing said brother Meyers my wife we talk about the Bible we don't notifiable with nothing she's shy all of a sudden she sits up and she said Jeffrey these people are lying to you they're lying to you and I'm sitting there oh you were sitting in the back of a church here though oh call these people a bunch of liars right all of a sudden in five minutes she turns into a Strong's exhaustive concordance she starts quoting scriptures acts 2:38 acts 8x 10:44 acts 19 one through five and my mouth drops open I'm gone and they can all smile and they said no mrs. Arles that Holy Ghost talking in tongues that was only for the first century Church that doesn't happen anymore now use accept that the Lord is just Savior me and I'm so frustrated I want to get out of there I'm embarrassed so I said thank you and sorry cause any trouble we went outside my wife says I ain't going back here no more nor to go back here finest these people believe in three gods I said they do I said my God ain't Indians only believe in one great spirit these guys believe in three gods I didn't know that she said you take me to an apostolic Pentecostal Jesus name Church I said oh who so what could this have been the Presbyterian I've been in Foursquare I've been Nazarene I'm jack-of-all-trades I'm Heinz 57 I get safe everywhere else you know and says he goes you take me to church baptized in Jesus name gets the Holy Ghost talking in tongues I said what's the Holy Ghost Spirit of God what's talking in tongues well supernatural do you speak well we went home we looked at a phonebook it wasn't any Apostolic Church I didn't realize then she had been raised as a little girl at an orphanage her mother died a father put in her orphanage her aunt adopted her out of the orphanage and they went to brother Fred Kinzie's Church in Toledo Ohio Toledo he was baptized in Jesus name as a little girl I've never received the Holy Ghost well this to me is so mind-boggling of you Sunday School teachers to listen don't get frustrated when it looks like the kids are not listening my wife was impregnated with divine truth from you wonderful people and stayed there dormant for years and years and years and now when she's 21 22 years old and somebody tries to give her false doctrine that truth just regurgitated out of her and says I know how to get saved I know what the Bible says about acts 2:38 I know and I didn't know anything so we couldn't find an Apostolic Church because that was Fred Kinsey first Apostolic Church of Toledo but she finds a UPC Church brother/sister Swynford pastored in Hollywood so we live in Florida yeah we Hollywood far so we own this little church and it was it's funny typical Pentecostal Church got a lady pastor got a lot of noise and the church is right next to the railroad track well I walk into Church and I'm sitting out digging man these people that rejects from Barnum and Bailey Circus man people up banging tambourines and is shaking and carrying all over the place and that lady jumps off the platform slaps people with that oil and they start talking crazy I'm thinking I need to get out of here means people have flipped out well I felt something in there yeah he came back a couple of weeks and then we stayed away I got still have the cards sister Swynford sent a little postcard with puppies said counted noses last Sunday guests who came up missing and it so touched me I said you know I like those people let's let's go back so I went back we started going you know regular you know I got used to the noise and the hallelujahs and all that stuff and so then you know we finally ended up repenting and we went to the altar and got baptized and they baptize us in the lake and God filled both of us with the Holy Ghost and but you go to let me tell you something it's important why I really believe in the supernatural I was sitting in a service one Sunday morning while they were doing all their head clapping and carrying on and all of a sudden I felt this come over my head come all the way down my body to my feet back up again and it was just like a warm milk shake and I turn to sister darling I said what is this I'm going like I worked for the Florida pound light right down the street and when you went into a substation there was a force field and energy that came out made the hairs on your arms stand up you always had to win her heart I had to be real careful with those transformers and those regulators because it was high energy buzzing out of those things well that was the same thing I was feeling I just felt this source of energy was like it was like being at a substation and I turned to her I said what is this don't you feel this she said why I said this something like an energy field well she says to me you're feeling the Holy Ghost I said well what's the Holy Ghost she's at the speed of the Lord that comes to live in us when we're born again and I turned to her no servant no Bible study and I said this is where we need to stay and she looked at me she said why I said because this is the same stuff that won't be up those three nights in a row that told me to get ready and get my life turned around so I came into this thing with the supernatural experience that I didn't understand and and the rest is history Wow list is history Wow you know you mentioned about how you had tried other ways to come to the Lord even as a boy you'd sign cards and all those different things what would you say to people we're kind of sharing this week what we're calling a witness about how we're sharing our testimonies of how we came to the Lord what would you say to a person that may be watching brother Arnold and they say how do we know the right church to go to there's so many churches we've tried so many things before what would you say to them to give them a confidence of finding the absolute truth that's a great question because it's very confusing but if you're honest if you're really honest and hungry and you want to know God then let me back up for a minute brother Myers this is one of the things that used to frustrate me like I told you I gots a Baptist Church Presbyterian Church I got baptized so many times I'm like a sponge I got baptized fine I would get so disappointed when they would tell me I was saved because I'd walk out of there and I'm going you mean I just met the creator of the universe all-knowing all-wise all-powerful and it tastes like a mouthful of styrofoam that that's that this is God I was more excited in bars I was more thrilled in ball games I was more I was all thrilled and all kinds of stuff I don't say and if you really met God not oh I do it would be so monumental it would be so overwhelming to meet so emotional so you know to say to these very precious and sweet people that are searching for things if any person honestly sincerely says Lord talk to me show me which way to go make me to know the truth God who doesn't want anybody lost and everybody's saying it's not gonna lie to anybody and say oh just try to 47 different ways no no all you gotta do is be honest lord I need to know what to do I need to know which way to go lead me into the right thing and let the witness of the Holy Ghost tell me it's right that's what I tell people all the time Wow how many years ago was that when you first came on the Lord oh my see I command the Air Force in 66 1968 60 out loud years ago 52 50 plus years and have you found that God has been that faithful friend all of those years always in fact I just tell you something I I'm not putting a premium on failure and mistake as a believer but I can tell you wanted not as a virgin voice one of many mistakes I've made times I've said things I wish I had said done things that wish I had done God has been so merciful to convict me I tell people all the time don't get frustrated and angry when you feel conviction conviction is simply the voice of love of God saying you're better than this come on you can do more than this convicting is not condemnation conviction ISM is an effort by God to convince us that we can do better and change and so all the years I've tried to live for God I have found God so faithful that what I have a bad thought when I have a bad feeling when I get hurt about something when I get embittered about something it doesn't take very long on the spear the Lord said hey hey hey what are you doing what are you doing that stuff's gonna kill you get loose' dies and so I have made up when I like I told you before when I first started I'm gonna do everything I can to be honest and transparent before God now I'm on this whatever you got fine being honest and transparent for me one has helped me to be saved but offended a lot of my fellow believers because a lot of believers they feel like I'm too honest I've had people say you know if you really embarrass a lot of us preachers with with your confessions and stuff that you say I said really I said I I preached the National Conference once and one of our guys who came up through your big dog big dog he won't talk to me at the service and he said you know brother Arnold you're something else man I said is that good or bad well you preached tonight the three or four thousand people and you said to this whole movement stuff that every one of us passes and preachers which we could say what we're afraid to say it and I said let me help you with that here's why you're so stinking image-conscious all you're worrying about is your image you want to make sure that everybody likes you and everybody doesn't get offended I said let me ask you something what about God being affected yeah trying to do all this stuff about make everything people friendly nothing wrong with that that's great well but why aren't we gonna build churches that's God friendly don't we want to have a church that gods you know I really enjoy meeting with my kids even though they make mistakes and they do stupid things at least they're honest and they plant me and they cry and they clap and they worship me and it's like we wait all the time to go to church my position is God's waited all week to be there right I don't even for years the world has stolen the thought away from God for their partying you know beer drinking and honky tonking and hard or out partying gaudy God was the first partier he's the one that gave Israel seven festivals to come together and worship Him and even when the prodigal came over the dead threw the party the thing that always bothers me is that damnable dirty vile spirit of the elder brother right he's part of the family but he's an idiot and he won't go into the party the father's got to go out and talk to him let me tell you though if I've ever felt the Lord deal with me he dealt with me after I made a very bad mistake at a meeting I said some things I shouldn't have said what I said was right I just should have said it fine no problem but when I got to praying and asking God you know forgive me and it helped me in what I can do the Lord spoke to me and you can say I'm an idiot fine the Lord spoke to me he said son I will never define you by your worst moment and your worst mistake I leave that to your brethren they specialize in that Wow oh it blew my socks off man I said oh my god so it's like I'm not gonna define you by your mistakes and your failure that's the spirit of the elder brother you know the father has restored and reconciled the boy the elder brother says I don't care how much the father loves you and the party they're gonna have I'll always remember you for the decision and the mistakes you may God deliver us Pentecostals from that elder brother spirit I mean if anything I can tell you guys I'm an old guy now okay you ain't gonna be afraid of me I'm an old guy fine but I've I have prayed sincerely and earnestly God if I want to be more christ-like then teach me to forgive quickly teach me not to hold on to injuries and hurts because that stuff can poison you and I know because I'm the president of the club being hurt I totally got their day I you know what I've been thrown under the bus so long by this movement I've developed the Midas touch everything I touch turns to a muffler you know this is this is really a bishop this is really a very unique time that we're in with this pandemic and all this that's going on kid and one of the things that's really been very interesting is to see how people in their homes with their families have had to dig deep and to see really what their relationship with God is they don't have you know sports and they don't have all these other distractions they don't even have churches per se to go to and go through the motions as you were talking about they've got to dig deep hold a mirror up to their own life and say do I have a relationship with God or not do you think that's part of why we're in this season as gods want to say just be honest definitely I believe that this is a means by which God is going to give to people self revelation and God discovery you know crisis has got a great way of making you look in the mirror and say you know I wasn't as strong as I thought I was and I wasn't as pleasing and godly as I thought I was I really believed God who loves to talk to people through the whirlwind and talk to people through the storms I've said this for years across our movement don't dam and condemned the storm that you're in the storm is always pregnant with doors of discovery and portals of possibility you learn stuff about God and about yourself that you will learn in any other place so this crisis to me has laid us Loes we we can no longer count on our economy we were the greatest economy in the world till a few months ago fine now we don't know whether we're coming to going that's okay I've said this before I'm saying it again you can edit it if you want to fine God has never been an American and you people who worship John Wayne you need to get your head either saying God has never been an American he will never be an American and he doesn't owe America any thing we owe God everything he is a Lord and a God unto himself and it's like well how could God do this I had someone ask me today brother David why is God letting this happen all this wait a minute let's flip the coin what makes you think that you deserve all the good things that God gives to you who in the world are you why should you have health why should you have a nice home why should you have a nice wife and children why well you deserve that how how did you deserve that you don't deserve that and when God turns around and rains on your parade or like you said subtracts things from us I think I think parents cuz most families today has husband and wife working and the daycare raises the kids fine well now we've gone back 40 years and now a sudden mom is there with the kids like it used to be and I think a lot of times people are discovering you know what I could do better than I've been doing and and I I can enjoy my family and I can learn how to relate to my husband or my wife and I really think it's a giant learning experience I really do because you know we've been intoxicated we're all on nickels and dimes and I read that scripture today trying to find a will of God when that Nebuchadnezzar you know he said is not this great Babylon which I built for my glory and the angel answered said all right now I'm paraphrasing okay stupid you're it's all with you you're gonna take gonna lose your whole kingdom you're gonna lose your mind you're gonna be out there like a wild animal watch this until you understand and the inhabitants of the earth understand that the heavens do rule in the kingdoms of men and set it over them the basest of men heaven wanted him and us to understand you ain't in charge of nothing I don't care how many CDs you've got in 401 for kids but I'm so great God is saying I could bring your whole world down with a bug I can send you a virus I can just release a bacteria on you and you ain't nothing I mean when you leave will you read that story brothers Myers when that angel came down for Hezekiah and he killed one hundred and eighty five thousand people in that one night right now we realize you slowed him but that doesn't mean he's got a sword out there he could have let a virus loose he could have let a pestilence go through that whole place in 24 hours everything was dead yeah that's why when when when Jehoshaphat is praying you know chronicles 20 and he's as we don't know what to do if you read that he says and you told us that if we are attacked by sword or famine watch this or pestilence pestilence pestilence is literally an infectious disease that is extremely contagious and totally deadly and so he included that pestilence that's what this virus thing is it's a pestilence right and if we turn around and if we seek your face it says thou will hear and help us Shh so do you think that I know you've been a student of the Word of God for more than 50 years and I know that you're very familiar with Scripture and how it applies to where we are today when you look at this that we're surrounded with right now do you see this as something that that God did or God allowed or just simply something that's a part of our humanity and and God can use the situation to bring about a positive experience in all of our lives spiritually like I said before I've been praying everyday I'll be praying today lord give me a word of knowledge wisdom is this a chastisement on us is this the judgment of God is this a trick of the devil what is going on here because you because when I did that message about the end of the Lord what does God got in mind I really think God will and is using this whether he orchestrated this or permitted it I don't know when we're dealing with it and it's almost like he's he's showing us come on you need to get honest with your your prayer life needs to get better your sincerity your morality and your godliness needs to get better I think as we've always do that 828 enrollments all things work together for the good for them gonna call the cons of the purpose of God I think God can and will and is using this thing as a wake-up call right because it's very easy presence you know we've had the greatest economy so the news media says for over the last 50 years he's been my concern I noticed our churches aren't over plac elated I noticed that all these people are making big money and making all kinds of profits it didn't turn them towards God it didn't we just had all this money and we're having all this prosperity and it's almost like God said to Kohler in Hosea - I'm gonna take my stuff back I'm gonna take my wine I'm gonna take your garments I'm a thing but what's so neat about that is that I'll tell you what I'll do and I'll give you the valley of a car or a door of hope the place of your greatest failure where they stoned akin stoned his family they lost all kinds of Israel lives yet God said I can take your worst moment if you respond correctly and I can turn into a door a hope and you know a lot of our churches right now or are not being able to gather together in buildings and some are doing live-streaming some are trying to do drive-in services and you know people are trying to connect through small groups and you know but eventually we're gonna all come back together in our sanctuaries do you think when that happens do you think the church comes back stronger or do we come back weaker I've been saying that to people I talk to all the time and I say when I pray to the Lord daily Lord let there be created in me and your people a greater appreciation a grade of thankfulness I'm looking forward to seeing all the saints of God I'm looking for us to clap our hands and and and I know some people don't like it but I like these things I'm old Pentecostal songs welcome Banda I mean it's like almost like David I was thirsty I was hungry like like the beer that paints a after the water Brooks oh my soul thirsteth for they had come before the Living God I mean if I enjoyed church before but I just have this pent up expectation this old 75 year old guys probably gonna cut a rug when I get either I'm gonna do little goosey or something I'm on dance and jump and say man it's so good to be home it's so great to see you people you know also I think sometimes something like this Reverend helps us get rid of holding on to hurts yeah and holding disappointments and holding on to offended spirits I mean I've dealt with that all my life okay I'm not the champion I'm not the poster child for victories but I've had a deal with that and and I just feel like you don't want maybe God in His mercy I don't know is draining some of that junk out of us so we get more serious about what which I'm working on for the next message pleasing God pleasing though let me ask you something folks how long has it been since you asked yourself am i pleasing god am i an asset or a maya liability well I bring him pleasure or am i a pain in the neck what's the issue cuz if we don't please God it don't matter how many caught like Myers he's got six eight fifteen cars he's got fast boats he's got investments in Argentina and all that stuff you know I know I'm only kid this is like I want to please God why cuz I've gotta go see God someday I came face to face you know ah yeah anyway I'm I'm on a roll here oh that's so rich it's so rich you know I bishop I was thinking as you were talking and over fifty years of walking with the Lord and not only have you been a friend of God but you've also been a proclaimer of the gospel and when you were talking about how you first got saved did you first feel your call to the ministry shortly after that or how did that work no III I went to church you know finally got rid of all my sick let me tell you buddy start I get out of the church and I go sister brother swimmers Church they go sit my cars and I light up a cigarette I used to smoke all the time to three packs a day and I light up a cigarette and when I light up a cigarette I said to my wife because I've been to churches I'm the most Church guy there is I mean I I went every kind of church there was I went Catholic Church Presbyterian Church all the time and I like I light up this cigarette I go you know Patti do something funny about these people he said what I said well the churches I went to the preacher lights up the people in the foyer they get out of the porch they all light up cigars pipes cigarettes I've never seen by light up a cigarette butt and to his good my wife looks at me it says oh they're against smoking and when she said that I went and I said I said they're against smoking and I never heard that in my life and she said smoking is stinky it's bad it makes your clothes smell makes your breath smell it gives you an for Zima gives you a lung cancer and that's all she said to me and I had this cigarette in my hand and then I looked at that now and you know what that makes good sense and I put the cigarette out in the ashtray that was smoked again for the rest of my life never huh well then I found out that they did they found on you drinking I always drank beer I drank a bottle of rum every week you know so I had this big six-pack of all the way walking half quarts tastes good like Old Milwaukee should so I I got the six-pack so I go across the street at a 7-eleven and I take the sticks back back to the guy no I am got the Holy Ghost I'm not baptized in Jesus name I'm just a Shrove from Kokomo just going to the building so I give the thing back and the guy says to me is there something wrong with the beer I said no it tastes great it just tastes great existence why are you bringing it back I said well my wife and I started going to this church down here by Dixie Highway and and they kind of frown on you drinking alcohol and stuff to which the man responded he said whoa man you're going to one of them old-time religion churches and I haven't I haven't had a booze drops instead nobody preached to me nobody just was like okay fine you know and I really think I think the Lord gave me a propensity although I was a criminal and I was a jerk and a fool he gave me a propensity inside me that I really wanted to know God I wanted to please God what my mom and dad weren't Christians like there was nobody mom I felt we didn't own a Bible we my dad went to church on Easter and Christmas well he needed it or not and they never taught us how to pray or anything like that and even when I started to this day now all my family's dead but I'm the only guy that ever got in Pentecost my brother's my father before he died told my brothers we got to do something for Geoffrey he's got into a cult he's in one of them Jimmy Jones cults in Guyana selling kool-aid he said he's lost his mind because I used to steal and get drunk and get trouble with the cops enix and then like in 24 hours wow I was just okay and it wasn't like I was kind of great I had a learned but it was like no and so he thought I was an accomplice it always struck me funny over all these years that I'd listen to people testify and talk to me about all the hell and the chaos that their families and friend cause them because they started Church which I always responded they never gave me no hell or anything or arguments when I was whoremongering when I was drunk when I was robbing places when I was in and out of jail it was like oh well the bigger the boy the bigger the toy you know boys will be boys but the anyway I started giving my money to church and started going to church two or three times a week and changing the way I lived all of a sudden they were worried about me going to jail but what I tried to be an honest moral godly man they got all freaked out of me I needed help why do people do you think people do that because they're under conviction and they feel uncomfortable I convinced what you just said yeah when person tries to change their life you know the person feels in insulted by it they feel intimidated by a date it's like now you're better than I am not better than anybody nobody better than anybody we're just blessed of God you know the Bible says in the favor of the king there is life in the favor of the king there is life and why would anybody want anything any greater than the favor of God you got the finger of God you're a winner you know hey you said read with all these years I've tried to live for God I've fallen down lots of times that's fine no problem I'm president of that Club I've failed I fall now first I failed but I'm not a failure I've fallen down but down is not my destiny when you read the book of Job job says when men are cast down then shalt thou say unto them there is lifting up and so the wonderful thing about living for the Lord is even when I've made mistakes and done things I shouldn't have done I never had God there we go oh my I didn't know you do that I never thought you'd thought that I didn't think you'd sit and watch that I didn't think it come on there's there's no such folk a believer God as surprised from the beginning that things are not as though they were he's like I just think it's so wonderful the fact that with my shortcomings my failures my mistakes my hurts my God is for me God is for God is for me doesn't matter who or what's against me as beautiful Wow you when did you first preach your first sermon after you were saved oh my goodness I don't know I just see I get a check to see my Geritol is working here let me see 1966 68 probably about 1973 something like that in fact well this is what would come up to me one time see I got into church and said I'd I had an avid and love for studying I would read the Bible hours a day when I got my first Bible man I'd read study and God would just shortly start I became a bus driver Sunday school teacher youth pastor I was my wife and I were the church cleaners we were the jack of all trades master of none the good think about being involved with the work of God it's not crowded you don't have to anybody it's okay and so we just cleaned the church we did I did everything I could whatever my hands could find the dudes I never tried to be up in front I never thought I was gonna I just anything I could do to help fine and then one time sisters river came to me she said son I want you to speak at the Andria youth rally we don't have them anymore but we did those days and I said me well she recognized the hand of the Lord that was mighty on me and strong and I prayed and studying the Lord gave me a message and I preached it for that whole area no power came down people got the weird tungsten turbit Asians and the rest is history that's this history it's like wow and I say this is kinda me as I can Reb yeah and I don't mean to be rude or crude and have anybody to encourage me I've never had anybody in my family to pay my bills I've never had anybody just rubbed my fur the right I blow my nose and all that foolishness not that that's not good but you know what make up in your mind with the help of the grace of God I'm going to the city where the lamb is alive I'm finished to me I'm better than Dorothy you know Dorothy said she's going in the animals Suman to see the Wizard of Oz you know the yellow brick road when I got saved I made up my mind come hell or high water hurts disappointments misjudgments one I'll be at the city when this is over I'm going to the city I don't how many wounds I gotta have I don't care how many times I gotta be reviewed to chastise or whatever you I found out that God is such a wonderful friend he loves me he loves me the love that's unconditional and unending and he cares about me and when he when he saved me you know all about my shortcomings of my propensity xand all that craziness for wrong stuff but His grace has been sufficient he's been merciful and and I guess Here I am you have been so kind brother Arnold so gracious I said my mother said when I was a boy you're so kind and I said yeah you're the rotten type you've always inspired me even as a young person and I'll never forget years ago when I was in high school and thinking about going to Bible School didn't know if I want to go to Bible school or go be a pilot or go to law school and I went to a Youth Congress and you preached a message about David oh yeah at the Youth Congress and I think it was somewhere Oklahoma City or Arkansas or somewhere out there and it was called obstacles where was it Louisiana Shreveport Louisiana you're right and I remember the title was obstacles on the way to a crown that's it and it changed my life as a young person and I I thank you so much I just I just want to wrap up with one more question and then I know our time is gone but just looking back over your life and being a friend of God and all that God has done to to bless you and your life your church your family people you've ministered to if you could do it all over again over the last 50 years what would you do different I really think what I would probably do different is I would be much quicker and and more total in not being offended and not not forgiving people quickly because I know held on to hurts I've had because you know I'm I'm the poster child the guy that decreed sighs and damn and round all fine but sometimes you know people say things it's like a knife in your heart and you let it stay there and just if I had to do over again I would not hold on to hurts I would shake loose of them I just let it rub off and just say well and and nothing wrong when people have said things or they criticized me that's nothing wrong with that that has helped me to reevaluate my life and say you know these people might be right my attitude might be bad or way of handle these things so you can learn from that as well and so I always took it to heart because I'd never one doc I never wanted to be a fake I didn't want to be a plastic Pentecostal I never wanted to be a shallow person if I would be allowed to walk with God and know God and I wanted to please God and I just said no Lord and so I prayed I prayed every day Lord created me a clean heart renewing me a right spirit help me hell I don't know I don't want to be someone that's a liability I just don't want that and so I just you know I just try and say okay Lord I want to please get the best land kid sometimes pleasing God doesn't make you popular Sippi pleasing God's I'm done really upsets people especially if they're in a political realm it really upsets them but it's like no I I said I am so convinced by the grace and help of God can't nobody and nothing take me out until God's finished with me that's it and and if God has to use people or situations to put me on my face and they say what you said the beginning okay Lord what are you doing with this coronavirus thing what what are you trying to get our attention for what what's going on here help me know to know and that's one of the reasons why I've started doing these messages that I preach every week on the internet because I'm praying as the Lord I don't have the billions dollars that Gates has and I don't have all this stuff that these these ball players have I can't give all this money away what could I do how can I help the body what can I do and I felt like the Lord quickened to me said well you can do your little trick things for the kids and and you could speak every week and put a message on that would go around the world anybody help people so I'm just trying the best I can you know what abyssion it's so powerful I want to ask you a favor do you mind just as we're closing here do you mind just praying over us I think it would be honored I'd be happy to lord I thank you so much for what brother Myers and his wonderful crews doing and I know that you're all wise and all-knowing and all-powerful and you're absolutely good and in our darkest moment you're still good and our greatest hurt you're still good and I know we have a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of perplexity and a lot of pressure that people are under but lord have mercy on us and help us and draw us near to you help us to be honest and transparent lord I pray that you'd encourage those that are discouraged and folks that are under the financial gun that you'd make away didn't David say I've never seen the righteous forsaken where seed begging for bread Lord you will not forsake your people you will not turn your back on us even when we fail forgive us for our trespasses forgive us for wrong attitudes and wrong outlooks and help us to walk with you because we really want to be an asset and not a liability now let your blessings be upon your people and upon this sweet man brother Myers and all that he's doing with his technology stuff bless him and use it for the kingdom sake in Jesus name I pray amen and amen thank you brother Arnold we sure do love you you've been listening to a bishop Jeff Arnold we're so glad that you have joined us tonight I just pray that as we close this out tonight that God's hand will be upon you and your family and that you will grow in the Grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ may God bless you now in Jesus name praise the Lord everyone want to thank you for joining us here at east wind Pentecostal church and we want you to know that if you'd like to be baptized in Jesus name we can do that for you today we can do it here at the church we have a baptismal here at the church will even come to your home if you have a swimming pool we can baptize you and your swimming pool it's that important for us to help you to be baptized in Jesus name we also want you to know that if you'd like to learn more about the Word of God more about the Bible that we have experienced teachers that can come to your home teach you a home Bible study we can even do a video chat whatever works for you we want you to know that we're here for you also very important if you need prayer we have prayer teams that can come to your house pray for you at your home or you can even send in your prayer requests here to the church we just want you to know that we're here for you and that we want to do anything that we can to help you and these trying times with your walk with the Lord you can visit us at WWE swing Church and our phone number is three two one seven two three twenty thirty [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Eastwind Pentecostal Church of Palm Bay, Florida

Views: 11,598

Rating: 4.9489794 out of 5

Keywords: first, pentecostal, apostolic, sermon, pastor, david, myers, palm bay, melbourne, brevard, county, florida, upci, upc, bishop, j., e., jackson, ellis, Eastwind, Eastwind church

Id: dNpXMVsP_S0

Length: 53min 15sec (3195 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 27 2020