Ken Davis - Liberty University Convocation

good morning there's a reason for joy do you believe that oh wow that was overwhelming folks about bloom you reason for joy 8,000 people in here going yeah there's a reason for joy there's a reason do you believe me or not yeah I was in Denver Colorado when we won our first Superbowl I'll never forget that I was living in Denver there's about 55 60 thousand people in the stands this dude in tights dives across the chalk line carrying a dead pig and a thousands and thousands of people came to their feet because someone had crossed a chalk line with a dead pig hey this is the end of the semester it's almost over you can breathe today is a great day God is alive there's a reason for joy folks I grew up believing that if it was fun it was wrong my whole whole idea of God was that he stood up in heaven somewhere and he would go behold Ken Davis haveth fun nope I think people ought to be breaking down the doors to our churches in our homes if we call ourselves believer of believers of Christ to find out what the celebration is all about I take myself way too seriously i sat back there and went eight thousand kids Wow eight thousand kids and my friend leaned over and said they gotta come here they have to be here I take myself too seriously before I get started any further let me help you understand who I am aware I'm a 65 years old I've never been right I never will be right there's a screw loose my favorite thing on a Saturday morning is to drive my motorcycle down to the highway near our home and sit on the edge of the highway with my wife's hair dryer and point at it cars as they go why I love the smell of burning rubber don't you love a smell of burning rubber I am Telling You if you sit on the edge of a highway with the hair dryer and pointed at cars people slam on the brakes you can sit there as long as you want and sniff of the rubber sometimes I chase those people which really confuses them because I Drive a little pink moped see the the the definition of confusion at least for a man is to be chased by what he thinks as a policeman driving a moped a man can't handle that his brain cannot wrap itself around that information what should I do you think I should stop Grisi you think it's a what should I do you women are so gifted you have no problem with this kind of stuff you just go he's on a moped stupid step on it also by way of introduction I want to tell you that I can't stand stuff that doesn't make sense I go crazy over stuff that and make sense i watch people argue arguing a point of view arguing something that makes no sense at all and I insist on the truth I insist on honesty I've been married for 43 years I stood thank you thank you that's very nice I said that in front of a group of 4,000 preachers the other day and they stood in a standing ovation I just let them clap and then I said to seven different women that makes preachers stop clapping by the way that is a wrong answer I've been married for 43 years to the same woman and this guy comes up afterwards and he goes I've been married 43 years and he was doing this he said my wife and I have never had our argument I wanted to say that's because she don't want to watch you do that then he said we have never even raised our voices to one another I can't keep my mouth shut he said we've never even had a bad thought for toward one another that was enough for me I said you're married to a carrot you're not married to a human being maybe there's one thought I can leave you today that might be helpful to you how many of you are unmarried students may I see your hands please I can't with the spirit of celebration yeah yeah that's gonna end unmarried students listen to me this is you have been lied to good marriage is not the absence of conflict good marriage is two people who have committed to live with one another and love one another who learn to work through conflict together if it's confession time I will confess to you my wife and I have conflict ooh can I keep speaking we have arguments we had an argument just when I was coming here she woke me up an hour early 5:00 a.m. to catch my flight I said I can sleep for another hour she said no you can't we need to clean the house now watch the faces of these married people back here cuz they know this is true I said why do we need to clean the house she said cuz the cleaning ladies are coming today I love this woman she makes me laugh harder than anybody on the face of the earth she doesn't how are you what is your name in the red what is your name Matt are you married Matt you ever wonder what it's going to be like every thought you've ever had is wrong did you say your name was Brad not Matt Brad all right you like to sleep yeah forget that sleep is over look at me look at me when I'm talking to you Brad Brad you're gonna remember this day for the rest of your life someday you're gonna be married God is going to give you a wonderful woman and you're going to be almost sound asleep and and you will hear this that nights over Brad I'm here to tell you Brad that God made the Sun the rule over today and God made these women to tell you what went wrong while a son was supposed to be doing its job only do it at night forty-three years my wife woke me up just the other day I'm sound asleep by the way I don't tell jokes I talk about reality and I do see some of you sitting out there with your hands crossed like this uncross those hands put your feet on the floor it's okay it is okay God is okay with this when are you getting to the gospel joy is the essence of the gospel the someone defined humor this way that someone said humour is a gentle way to acknowledge human frailty some guy on the radio talked to me the other day and he said how how does this humor and laughter fit with Christianity I said how can't it how can't it if joy is a gentle way to acknowledge human frailty the beginning of faith is coming to God and saying hey God I've got it together now I am everything I am supposed to be give me a break the beginning of coming to Christ is saying I am a sinner Lord I have failed and then experiencing the wonderful grace of his love and that's a foundation of joy now you got me preacher I forgot where I was see look at Brad going what's wrong with him you go ahead laugh Brad just go ahead and laugh how old are you 21 whoopee someday you're going to be 50 you're going to walk into a room make a little circle like a dog looking for a place to lay down because you're trying to remember why you came into the stupid room Brad just the other night just the other night I am sound asleep what did I say something wrong I am sound asleep my wife wakes me up this is what I hear I heard a noise I heard a noise listen women look at me don't do that that scares us to death you don't know it cuz it's dark but our eyeballs are bugging out of our head we're waiting for the axe to split our coal skull right into waiting for the gun to go off she said that said in the garage this is a true story it's in the garage what if he's escaped from somewhere she said what if he has a chainsaw then she shoved me out of bed and said go see this is one of those things that doesn't make sense how effective can I be ejecting some guy with a chainsaw out of my garage when I'm wearing a pair of tighty whities how effective can I be hey hey hey you in a chainsaw get out of here snap one of the reasons we've been married 43 years is in those moments we end up laughing together I have sat beside the road in I remember a time in Florida sat beside the road laughing till I couldn't even see straight my wife had wanted me to share more the night before she woke me up are you asleep not now I need to know more about your feelings another defining moment write it down ladies we don't have feelings we have a remote now I knew what she meant and so I love her so much I'm gonna give it a shot we were Jacksonville Florida headed to speak at Jacksonville I was supposed to speak at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville sitting at this huge intersection and I looked across the street and there was a place that I don't eat anymore I lost 40 pounds over the last year and a half I've started to take care of my body it's a nice place you may have a place like this in your community go ahead but I can't eat there I get in that place I'm like an alcoholic I cannot eat just one or what they sell I eat everything they got and I looked across there and I thought man that's sad that I can't eat there anymore and then it hit me whoa sad is a feeling so I shared it but I shared it like a man shares his feelings I just said it and I said the name of the place with emotion this is a true story I said Dunkin donut and my wife Diane said what now that ticked me off here I had just poured my heart out to this woman and she's going wide I said Dunkin Donuts she said what I said Duncan done it and I will confess to you that within seconds we're at each other like a couple of cats trapped in a garbage bag and finally I turned to her and I said baby what part I don't condone it don't you understand and she whipped around on me and said Ken don't condone what I said I didn't say don't condone it I said don't condone it there's a difference someone in the introduction talked about the fact that we take ourselves too seriously it is so true folks I don't care whether exams are staring in your face or whether you're looking at a tragedy that is impending the truth is this that unless our joy is based on the fact that God is taking care of it all it ain't really joy and if our joy is based on the fact that God has taken care of it all then we are free to laugh we are free to laugh I go nuts over stuff think of this I insist on honesty can't stand what it don'ts if it doesn't make sense and can't keep my mouth shut you ought to see the trouble I'm in in airports I'm serious I've been I have been so close to being in jail and it isn't because I'm some kind of rebel it's just that I can't stand what doesn't make sense I watched the other day they had a 90 year old woman in a wheelchair chosen for secondary screening now there's a professor in this building can come up with a better plan than this for saving airplanes when's the last time a 90 year old woman in a wheelchair brought down an airplane but I got my mouth shut I ain't saying nothing cuz I've been in big trouble they were going over me once and the beeper went off on my arm beep like that and the man said pull up your sleeve nasty attitude I pull up my sleeve and he said what is that I said in Tennessee we call out a watch now I should have stopped there but my lips were already moving I said this one's got a lifetime guarantee when it quits a little razor blade comes out and slits your wrist you think I'm joking that's the wrong answer by the way I now know what a full body search is no one in here wants a full body search when they first started doing this I went nuts the most threatening weapon on the face of the earth at that time was a pair of fingernail clippers you could go to jail for having a pair of fingernail clippers I remember when I got confronted they said put your luggage on the table I put my luggage on the table guy said you stand over there I stood over there I'd already been in trouble I just keep my mouth shut I had both hands over my mouth dude starts going through my luggage my shoulders were even no cuz I laughing I'd been gone for 47 days I was bad luggage he's digging through all of that luggage came up with a pair of ringing the Clippers I never saw a guy get so excited in my entire life what are these tell me what are these in Tennessee we call those fingernail clippers he said what do you plan and do with them he asked I said I thought maybe after the airplane took off I could work my way through the fuselage with him and that's the wrong answer I saw the look on his face I just found a little room and got naked by myself I knew that they would send somebody in there so here's this little so here's this little old lady and she is trembling she cannot stand up by herself she is trembling shaking like a leaf and they're going over her with the thing you can hear people going this is ridiculous this is just ridiculous and I'm trying to encourage people do not say anything they got halfway done doing that little old gal and bless her heart she said I'm going to tell you something if I miss my flight I'm gonna kill some people she missed her flight I want before I leave today not only to bring you part of the gift that God has given me and allowing you to laugh at some of the weaknesses that we have at some of our the dumb stuff we do but also to encourage you as I wish someone had encouraged me my life at the age of 65 is being transformed I am learning to live probably like I have never lived before I read a passage in Philippians the other day that just blew me away it's in Philippians chapter 3 and it says this Paul is speaking I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of sharing in his sufferings becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead then he says not that I have already obtained this how different that is from my wife and I have never had an argument we never have had a bad thought toward one another you know what that says to a majority of people desperately seeking the Lord only perfect people can come to him Paul says I haven't got this yet it isn't in my grasp yet I have not yet been made perfect but he said I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and as I studied that and looked at it in its content I had to ask myself the question what is it that he presses forward to take hold of what is it that he is looking for to know the power of God's resurrection this life is not a waiting room for eternal life this power isn't just something we get when suddenly we find ourself heaven-bound this is something to enjoy now I think one of the biggest tricks that that Satan can do to us is to keep us preparing for something that he wants for us now if in our mind it's just I'm just preparing I'm not ready yet I'm not there yet the fact of the matter is for every student in here who has trusted Christ as a personal living Savior he wants the power of his resurrection to be demonstrated in your life today took me 65 years to learn that part of it started with a physical thing I had someone take a picture of me at the beach I weighed 241 pounds I was at I was it was horrible I had I was undisciplined I was not living I was just shuffling I was holding the hand of a little girl who was my granddaughter people on the beach you're yelling move we want to see the ocean little kids coming out I didn't dare lay down I knew that little kids would come and go Free Willy and push me into the water that picture made me realize it was a it was a look from the outside that made me realize that this is not what God intended for my life and so I began to prepare I signed up for a triathlon not not the Ironman any of you done the Ironman oh you got to try that sometime but be prayed up first you want to make sure you know the Lord before you do the iron Iron Man cuz you can die I didn't do the I man I did more like a Styrofoam person Triathlon thick you get up run to the bathroom fill the tub pulled the plug fight the current that kind of thing run down to the basement pump up a bike tire and go back to bed it's a smaller triathlon I stand up for that and I began to train for that triathlon and I got the first time I ran I couldn't run more than a mile I was totally exhausted physically I couldn't have lived the life that God wanted me to live and as I began to mature physically I began to realize not only had I become undisciplined in my physical life but I had become undisciplined in my spiritual life somewhere along the way I had put the thing in to coast st. Irenaeus said the glory of God is man fully alive Benjamin Franklin said many men and for that matter women diet 25 and aren't buried until they're 75 and I'm going to be honest with you I've met high school students college students young adults executives powerful wealthy people who are walking dead have not yet tasted of the life the power of the Resurrection that Paul was talking about and I had I had kind of fallen into that group how horrible to be a child of God and be living way far away from the edge I was training for the triathlon I was on a 21 mile bike ride I'd gotten so that I could ride pretty fast biking is my that's the best part of the triathlon for me and I was coming up a three-mile hill the first time I tried that hill I had to walk it the second time I tried it I had to walk it now I'm just cranking up that hill and I heard a noise I turned around and here comes this old man on a bicycle and this dude is gaining on me I cannot handle this I need to beat this person so I start pumping on my bicycle I tell my lungs are heaving and I her head and the man pulls up beside me and he smiles and for a moment I'm thinking kick his back over I can't let this happen and he goes past me and he disappears over this little hill and corner and I'm just devastated how can I call myself an athlete when I'm being beaten by this fossil I came around the corner and saw him he was slowing down and he slowed down until he was right beside me and he looked over with that same amazing smile I wish I had met him I wish I'd gotten his name I'm wondering today if he isn't a believer and he turned to me and he said never stop doing this he said I do this to live not to stay alive he said I do this to live he said they asked for forgiveness for interrupting my ride and then he said today is the seventh anniversary of my stroke he said I have regained almost all of my speech but I still do not have full control of my left hand and my left leg I just had to tell you and then he took off I was being beat by a disabled Dinah Sauer then he did something that is like those moments that God puts into your life that you never forget as he disappeared over the hill he turned over his shoulder turned back toward me and yelled live live and see that's my message to you today I'm going to tell you that every day that you get up the deceiver wants to bury your head in whatever struggle whatever problem whatever tests you're facing so deeply that you cannot see the power of Christ's resurrection available to you today in little ways in the ability to laugh and the ability to enjoy I woke up this morning you know I told this beautiful lady who should give me a tour of dr. Falwell old office ah know what the first thought in my mind was oh I wish I was dr. Falwell I I wish I was more like Billy Graham there's a thousand students waiting for me and I'm just this second cousin in the Attic kind of comedy guy that's not living that's not living I tell a story about driving to church and how on the way to church Satan tries to tear the joy from our life there's any parents in here you know this you found yourself on Sunday God's Day with your hands around the throat of a child you love very much am i right and you're saying something like you get ready for church you get ready now so we can get there on time to learn about the love of Jesus I was talking about how you grab the rearview mirror the kids are in the backseat fighting over stuff that makes no sense she's looking at me that's ha there's no way to respond to that she's looking at me I remember I said well why don't you poke her eyes out then that's the wrong answer by the way I look back there and eyes were already out there rolling on the floor and the other kids gone they're still looking at me I was talking about how you grabbed that rearview mirror and you swing at your kid you plated that becomes your Amy walk when the kids are back they're going strike two I told that story once and I remember these are the kind of people I love to be around little old guy came from the back of the auditorium could barely move reaching for stuff to grab ahold of he's coming up to the front and he's got his finger going like this some of you are gonna be pastors and you're gonna come in two times when someone moves toward you with their finger going like this the end result of that is never good and sure enough the guy came up to me and he said I'm gonna tell you something when you were talking about swinging your arm at those little children he said God taught me a lesson about that a long time ago I just braced myself I said what did God teach you this whole guy goes God showed me that a touch on the brakes rings him right into play so you will never know what a joy it is for me to come and know the kind of tension you've been under in the last couple of weeks and look down and see your smiling faces you'll never know what a joy it is for me this morning to be reminded by God that when he created me with the ability to make people kind of relaxed and laugh and think of the truth from a different direction that I get a chance to do that right here with you but I want you to know something folks I'm going to keep what I'm doing until the day I die I want to know the joy of God's resurrection and the power of his resurrection right till the end physically mentally socially and spiritually I want to live for him until the day he takes me home and I want to leave you with exactly that same challenge what brings me joy is not a punchline what brings me joy is the fact that I stand here knowing everything I know of myself and know that God the creator of the universe offers to me the power that allowed him to be raised from the dead thank you for allowing me to be here live live

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 174,761

Rating: 4.8213196 out of 5

Keywords: Convocation, Liberty University, College, Student, School, Campus, Education, Community, Students, Liberty, LU, convo, Ken Davis, Christian, comedian, humor, laughter, relationships, inspirational, motivational, speaker, Funny, Comedy, Humour, Sketch

Id: N2ei_Wz8dNU

Length: 33min 46sec (2026 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2012