Special Guest Speaker | Former U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy

I first met our guest when he was a freshman at Baylor University he became a friend of my son Ben and they were cohorts there for four years and then they've maintained that friendship through the years Trey was graduating from Baylor he went to law school University of South Carolina he's a native of Spartanburg he's married to a great great gal for 32 years I think now and they have two children Wilson and Abigail tragically they didn't turn out too well they're both attorneys and so that there's always a risk there Trey was a federal prosecutor in South Carolina and he never lost a case interesting and then he ran for Congress and he for eight years he served in the House of Representatives and that's when really all of America all the world got to know him trey is a gifted modest communicator as you'll see he loves the Lord Jesus Christ and he has a passion for truth that interesting Trey has the unusual gift of getting to the bottom line of any question in a hurry few men have that gift and no females don't send your letters please females have a wonderful way of expressing himself that most men do not tree is a bottom-line guy get everything real complex over there in Washington trail come out and say bang bang bang with a clear question when the answer is confusing he'll ask another clear question use the same one because he is interested in truth and so I am so thankful that he's made time to be with us I will tell you a little personal thing that I think is interesting while he was in the house he was on the ethics committee and the ethics committee examines all the extra funds that the members of the house representing involved they go out to speak they get on the Rams they get expenses they get all kinds of kickbacks and undercutting things when Trey was trevor assets committee by the way when he was in the house he lived in his office he couldn't afford to have anything he lived in his office those eight years so that'll tell you his economic status but when he's chairman as the committee he's spoken for us you know four or five times in our church right he's he flies in here and he'll speak usually we'll pay expenses someone who come to give them a my honorarium he never accepted one penny for must when he's come and spoke at all these times and and the only thing he accepted I had two old suits that I gave him because he looked so shabby on television and I made him take these suits and he got mad at I didn't do that that we did have that kickback I forgot that we're gonna be clear and honest and transparent but why did he not accept honor you can do that he said when he was looking through as chairman ethics committee all the ways the congressman made money and had funding and all the stuff they were going on on his report there was zero zero he lived on the sour that they gave him in Washington that's virtually a tough thing to do it was zero because he didn't want anybody to question his transparency and his ethics while he served in the House of Representatives we're pleased to have a man here today share with us who first of all loves of Jesus Christ who loves his wife and his family loves our nation and a man who is man of integrity and a man who advocates truth welcome trey Gowdy thank you very much thank you all here's what he didn't tell you thank very much I sold those two suits he gave me and paid off our mortgage because those were some really really nice suits no if you look at dr. young and look at me he's got that beautiful frame like a male model so those suits did not fit me I tell you what does fit me and that's being back in the great state of Texas which other than other than South Carolina I just have a connection to the state of Texas not just having gone to school here but a lot of my friends in the house John Radcliffe wound up being my best friend in the house and he is from Texas although this not not this part of it now I was thinking on the drive over just how much of life has changed since I first met Ben Young all that lonely Street in Waco Texas it's been closing in on 40 years 40 years of life since I first met Ben in Waco Texas and Houston has changed and this church has changed I love coming to this campus but this campus didn't exist when I first met the young family everything has changed except dr. young he is still the most energetic charismatic person with the possible exception of Bono the lead singer of u2 that I've ever met in my life so thank you for welcoming me essentially back home our country is going through some challenges health challenges economic challenges racial justice challenges it is easy to be overwhelmed and it is tempting to lose hope do not our country has been through challenging times in the past and as we seek this perpetual effort to perfect this union and that's what it is it is an effort to perfect this union and we're not there yet we may never get there but we should contain you to take steps and along the way do not lose hope we've had challenges before even in my lifetime we've had challenges just got to remain unified we've got to keep the lines of communication open between all of the constituencies within this American family I do feel like I'm home and when you're home you can say things that you can't say when you're somewhere else and one of the things I want to confess to you is is I've not missed being in DC I miss the people but I haven't missed that job since I left but there was one night y'all may remember it we seemed like we were on the verge of war with a Denmark or Norway or Iceland or something y'all remember that over Greenland and it was just talk about conflict and I was nervous I was mainly nervous that someone was gonna ask me to identify Denmark Iceland or Norway on a map which I could not do but I was also kind of nervous because you used to be up there helping make the decisions and all of a sudden you're not you're thinking about your colleagues that are still up there and the Lord has a sense of humor of course so that fitful night when I thought we were on the precipice of war with Norway or Denmark or Iceland Lord sent me a dream I'm gonna share that dream with you because I feel like I'm home and that's what you can do when you're around family three of my colleagues were in my dream John Boehner Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham we're all taking a hot yoga class at a strip mall in Georgia a good luck getting that image out of your mind but that's that's the dream trust me I'm a lawyer that's the dream that they sent me and so lightning strikes a strip mall and tragically all three of them are killed and go to heaven which could happen two of them for sure but in my dream all three of them made it in st. Peter greeted them said that we have rules in heaven you're gonna follow the rules are there gonna be consequences you may have been big shots on earth but this is heaven and we've got rules and you'll follow the rules or there will be consequences well John Boehner is the first person to violate the rules in heaven breaks into a CVS steal some cigarettes and some self-tanning lotion and in my dream he is in this tiny prison cell forced to watch uninterrupted with no commercial breaks the Hallmark Channel for all of eternity and in a voice as loud as thunder I hear John Boehner you have violated the rules of heaven and this is your punishment for all of eternity then I see Marco Rubio and Marco had broken into Mary Magdalene's apartment and stole some high-heeled boots like he wore when he was trying to look taller when he was running for president meant all the way out of her apartment he steals the case of San Pellegrino sparkling water in case he's ever asked to give the response to the State of the Union again so you only want to think about y'all may have forgotten that he stole a sip of water on national television but I promise you I have not and God has not so he steals out water and in my dream and a voice as loud as thunder I see him chained the Roseanne Barr with a three-foot long chain and this voice says Marco Rubio you violated the rules of heaven and this is your punishment for all of eternity and this I get emotional because Lindsey no Lizzie for 25 years ever since I was a district attorney I've known Lindsay Lindsay will still come over on Sunday afternoons and play golf with my son in me after church for my son in me I have no idea whether it's after church for Lindsay or not I think Lindsay is a lifetime member a bedside Baptist Church with the Reverend easy pillow but I'm not judging him I've known him a long time I like him but in my dream he has chained to the former supermodel Crawford with a two-foot long chain and in a voice as loud as thunder i hear cindy crawford you have violated the rules of heaven so for those of you who have asked do i want to be a federal judge Lindsay is the chairman of the committee that decides whether or not you become a federal judge so I think based on this tape the answer to that question will be no we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that is perhaps the most famous paragraph in our Declaration of Independence in less than a week we will celebrate our country's day of Independence our day of freedom the day that we declared we are going to begin our own experiment and self-governance and I want you to have a wonderful fourth of July as you think back on July the 4th 1776 and we strive to perfect this union I want you to have a great 4th of July Independence Day but that is not the Independence Day I want you to focus on this morning I want you to focus on your own Independence Day and whether you've had one then whether you want one and what you will do with your freedom so the Independence Day I want us to think about is your own life liberty and the pursuit of happiness life comes first of course it does life is that thing from which all else Springs it is fundamentally this primary how would you define the word when you reflect on that phrase life liberty and the pursuit of happiness what do you think about how do you define life dr. young mentioned that I was a prosecutor for almost two decades the courtroom prosecuting homicide cases is a very life-affirming place to be sometimes you have to be surrounded by the alternative to appreciate the fundament ality and primacy of life sometimes it takes death to put life and proper focus and what I mean by that is there is no retreat from death there is no bargaining with death there is no compromising with death whatever the last thing you say to the person you love the most we'll just have to suffice for all of time and whatever you wanted to do and hope to do and plan to do but never got around to doing will never be done life what does it mean to you this gift of life for you to have your own Independence Day you have been gifted life the most life-affirming case I ever prosecuted was the murder of a ten-year-old she couldn't walk she couldn't talk she couldn't feed herself she was confined for the entirety of her life to a wheelchair if you ever set foot in my office in DC you would see a picture of my wife and our two children who are healthy as they could be and then right beside that picture of my family you would see the picture of this beautiful ten-year-old girl in their wheelchair with the most radiant smile you have ever seen that is not in existence that any of us would choose for ourselves it is not in existence that we would choose for anyone we cared about but that was her existence that was how she was made that was the gift of life she was given and I had her picture there to remind me of the primacy of life the value of her life and also to serve as a word of accountability to me what have I done with mine she had a decade that's it she couldn't walk couldn't talks couldn't feed herself she could just smile and yet she did enough with this gift of life to be pictured right by my family and this award of accountability what have we done with this gift of life and it's more than just an esoteric or theoretical concept yes if you're a fan of political documents like our Constitution due process no one may be deprived of life without due process if you're a fan of theology of Scripture I am the way the truth and the life if you're a fan of literature dust of yeskey writes about a man confined to a cast-iron chair with nothing around him remember this I mean think about being surrounded on all four corners by voidness and nothingness just a cast-iron chair nothing to your east or west nothing to your north or south and Dostoyevsky argues it is better to live a thousand years like that than to not have life Albert Camus been dr. Ben young and I enjoy discussing Albert Camus he was not known for his appreciation of life he was a philosopher who mused about whether life was even worth living or not he struggled with it he struggled with making sense out of life but even caman that noted absurdist said even when I am in the midst of winter I find within myself an invincible summer life there's a reason it's first there's a reason you should focus on it first if you're contemplating a day you can look back upon and said that's my my day of freedom you have been given life what have you done with it what have you done with this gift you have been given what remains to be done that you should do what will your legacy be and I can hear some of you amusing to yourselves legacy is not a word you should associate with me I'm not famous I'm not rich every single one of you will leave a legacy whether you want to or not every one of you the question is will it at all outlast your last breath the way I view life is I was given a blank canvas that was the gift a blank canvas and we don't always get to pick the colors of the palette I'd love to be able to sing I'd love to be able to play a musical instrument those aren't the paints that God gave me but you've been given some colors too and what will you paint on that canvas called life before you run out of space or run out of time and the paint dries life what have you done with yours liberty that's another word we think we know what it means I think I could define it maybe probably what does it mean to you Liberty the freedom to do what we all say we want to be free you want to be free to do what well freedom of speech the freedom to assemble freedom of worship freedom of association that's what freedom means yes those are affirmative definitions of freedom the freedom to do something about the freedom from something it's helpful to me when I try to figure out what something is to think about what it is not what is the antithesis the Antonella freedom to you for me it would be physical restraint it would be confinement it would be the inability to make decisions on a day-to-day basis for myself it would be a restriction and as soon as I say that I think of POWs that I used to serve with that yet found freedom even while they were prisoners of war the Bible is littered with instances of people who were imprisoned and yet found freedom Daniel and Joseph and Peter and Paul and Jeremiah so you can actually be physically restricted and still be free I wonder if the converse is true I wonder if I could be physically free but still restricted anyone who tells you prisons not that bad or that prisons a Country Club has never been it's the coldest starkest place I've ever been I had to go from time to time as a prosecutor to either interview a witness or do a sentencing hearing it's the coldest starkest place I have ever been it's prison those are prisons made out of concrete steel and razor wire and some of them have names you have heard Florence also known as Supermax Leavenworth Rikers and then history and literature give us prisons like the Chateau d'If and The Count of Monte Cristo or Shawshank from the Shawshank Redemption those are our concrete steel and razor wire prisms what is the name of your prison what have either you named your prison or you allowed someone else to name it for you prison is not just concrete steel and razor wire pride can be a prison it was the first sin it'll probably be the last sin and it'll be the sin committed most in between pride is a prison guilt is a prison substance abuse is a prison it is a maximum-security prison it is hard to get out racism is a prison racism is a prison you may think that the hatred of other people based on immutable god-given qualities damages that other group or person it really just kills you and I think about how great it would have been for this country that has wrestled with race from its inception if we had taken that phrase and the Declaration of Independence all men and women are created equal endowed by their creator how wonderful will it have been if we had taken that phrase that aspirational phrase and actually included it in our constitution how much pain could we have saved ourselves racism and sexism or prisoners guilt as a prison pain is a prison anger is a prison I know because I served a sentence there when I was a teenager I went to see our pastoral counselor I'm pretty sure all was made to go see our pastoral counselor now that out reflect upon it and I had this image that when you go see a pastoral counselor he or she's gonna say well tell me how you feel and tell me what you're thinking and how was your day and what are your problems and that's kind of what I had in my mind did he would ask but that's not what he asks the first question out of his mouth which I will remember until the day I die is why are you so angry I had nothing to be angry about my parents love me I mean I had three sisters you could be a little bit miffed about that but not like full fledged anger I didn't know I don't know but anger is a prison and I can still see it on the horizon sometimes and like the sirens singing for Odysseus you got to make sure you don't walk back toward it and I'd love to tell you I wish my fee on theology were perfect and I could argue to you that it was God that gave me the keys to escape the prison of anger I'd love to tell you that God gave the keys to a 5 foot 4 inch bruna with the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen in my life and the most radiant smile I have ever seen in my life that I have lived with for more than 31 years that's how I escaped the prison of ankor doubt is a prison I'm so grateful that Ben Jung wrote a book about doubt because it takes a lot of faith to write a book about doubt cynicism is a prison skepticism is a prison what is the name of your prison what keeps you from experiencing the liberation the freedom that you want that you need so you can fully paint this canvas the way it was intended to be painted and are you tired of serving the sentence are you tired and yes I know there's a familiarity there's a scene from Shawshank Redemption where one of the characters has served the sentence and he's been paroled he's been he's been let out and he can't function he cannot function outside of prison there's a familiarity with pain there's a familiarity with guilt your sentence has been served it's been served by someone else so either on lock to prison yourself or give the keys like I had to do to someone you love and care about and let them help you out but you will never fully experience your independence day if you remain housed in a prison life liberty and the pursuit of happiness happiness laughter joy contentment I think we can probably define that I don't know what Thomas Jefferson meant by perceived of happiness other people have suggested but it is more than simply being successful or famous or having possessions we all know that money will not make you happy fame will not make you happy success will not make you happy it may mitigate your unhappiness but it will not make you happy so what will I would encourage you to substitute in your own personal day of independent another word for happiness I hope you find it along the way I hope it finds you but I would encourage you to substitute significance life liberty and a pursuit of significance a life that matters a life that registers how do you do that you find something or someone bigger than your self my experience in over half a century on this earth is the happiest people the most content the most joy filled people that I am around are the ones who spend the least amount of time thinking about themselves and the most amount of time pursuing either helping others or their version of serving God those are the happiest most content ergo most significant people and I start with my wife I had never genuinely seen someone that is happiest doing things for other people which works out great in our marriage cuz I'm also happy when she's doing things for me so it's been a wonderful marriage it's gotten the short end and sick of it but she still seems happy she literally derives joy she's a first grade school teacher speaking of prisons May that would put me in a prison having to be around other people's children all day long she's content I have two co-workers two that I have worked with for closing in on a decade they are happiest doing things for other people they have found something bigger than themselves they found significance we're flying out of Washington on a Friday afternoon this line of thunderstorms is coming I'm about to go check myself back in this prison called anchor because I'm not gonna make it home and I'm sitting there watching flights delayed and canceled now I need to get back home I need to get back South Carolina and so I'll look out at corner of my eye and I see two nuns and they're staring up at the board I mean when I say staring at it I mean like memorizing it not like glancing at it they are full-fledged memorizing it like as a multiplication table and I hear my wife's voice and you should go over there and see if you can help them and then I respond honey that's just gonna scare I can help almost by sitting right where I'm sitting and hope that somebody else helps them but I get up and I go over there and one doesn't speak English at all and the other does speak English but her native tongue is Spanish and then I see Joey Kennedy who's a colleague of mine from Massachusetts and he's walking into the airport and I know that Joey has done a stint in the Peace Corps in a spanish-speaking country and I say Joey can you come help me figure out what's going on so you know I can help them so we can help well they're trying to get to Argentina by way of Houston and that ain't happening not that day and I think well there's no frustration this is most radiant joy filled smile these two women that have owned the same thing they wore yesterday will wear again tomorrow they don't appear to have a lot of money there's uncertainty about their travel plans and yet there is joy there's other than go okay okay what am I gonna do rent a car and drive them to Charlotte to get past these thunderstorms can you imagine that me in the car with two nuns my wife listens to contemporary Christian music that's great that it reflects the New Testament I listen to country and hip-hop because that reflects the Old Testament so we we both listen to religious music it's just different but I can't listen to country or hip-hop with two nuns in the car so what am I gonna do how am I gonna survive ten hours doctor yo was just getting on me the other night about words that sometimes come out of my mouth on television and my defense is those word during the Bible and he said yeah but not the way you use them they're not so how am I gonna be perfect for 10 hours I can't do that well we make it to shuttle them and then I get them on a plane to Houston and I think okay I survived then I'm just struck by the joy they never lost the joy and yeah I get an email from them about a month later will you please come to our convent and Northern Virginia and visit how did that happen a lot of give them the right email first of all that was a rookie mistake so I go and I walk into convent first thing I notice is there's no television how can there be joy if there are no sports so I said what do y'all do for fun they said we pray what else do you do for fun well we go to church every day and I'm reminded of how angry I still am but my father for making me go to church just on Sunday nights I can't imagine going every single day y'all watch movies yes we saw this wonderful movie we recommend it to you Trey we recommend you see this movie okay great what's the title of it I've never heard of this movie before in my life imagine the Hallmark Channel but worse that was the movie they described it was perfect people you know the Hallmark Channel is perfect people overcoming a very small obstacle and living happily ever after that wasn't even an obstacle in this movie it's just perfect people living happily ever after and I'm sitting there thinking I mean if you have y'all seen like Rambo where have you seen I mean Silence of the Lambs I mean something they were content they found something bigger than themselves that they devoted their entire lives to that is my dominant recollection of my interactions with these two sisters is joy contentment by our standards they had no possessions but they found something bigger than themselves and that's what they devoted their energies to so you've been given the gift of life you've been given this blank canvas and whatever paints God gave you he expects you to use and no matter where you are in life there are people from young - about my age in the audience today and if you're young that canvas is virtually clear and if you're my age there may be less room but whatever room you have what will you paint and freedom Liberty how long will you stay in the name of whatever prison currently has you and aren't you tired of it aren't you tired of it and then when you get out what do you pursue and how do you do it the three most content joy-filled therefore significant people I know live out a verse but seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things all these things shall be added unto you and if you're looking for a road map if you say that's great what does it mean where do I start I need more practicality you'll read the Beatitudes blessed are I was reading them a week ago and was just embarrassed at how few of them I could check off blessed are the meek the ones that love justice and mercy the ones that emphasize and empathize with others blessed are our country has a day that we look back on July the fourth hope you have a great holiday do everything you want to do do you have a day that you can either look back on as the day of your own independence and if you don't if you want to be free the Sun can set you free and if the son sets you free you are free indeed and if you want to live a life that matters significant legacy impacts others following his teachings will be tough will be a challenge but you will lead the most significant life that you possibly can and it will not come from Fame and it will not come from success and it will not come from political office none of the happiest people I know have ever had any of those and yet there is joy what is your Independence Day my prayer for you is that if you have one and you can't recall it that that recollection be refreshed at that recollection of what you want strove for be renewed within you and if you've never had one that you will embrace the reality that you've been given a gift and you need to either free yourself or go to someone else who can help you be free and then you begin to pursue what some call happiness and I would tell you it's significance that is my prayer for you and if you do not know the person who can set you free indeed dr. ed young who is coming now will help you meet that person thank you and God bless you [Applause] would you bow your head without anyone moving please just bow your head close your eyes everybody here can identify with being in a prison and how whatever is limiting lives here whatever that is it puts you in a prison [Music] Jesus Christ is the key and that's the invitation today here is Jesus he gives you the key to put in your life and that's him and receive him as Lord and Savior and you'll be free or you can go around all of your life and say well someday how and as trace said right early in his message to us today we can just stay where we are and same old Seminole or we can decide this is my Independence Day for some here this could be urine but to impotence day you can be independent Jesus Christ is the key and he says come unto me and I'll set you free I'll give you life very simple but totally revolutionary this could be your Independence Day few minutes we going to sing of course with our heads bowed and our eyes closed and that's an opportunity an opportunity for you to stand with boulders if not now when you take your last breath that's it as he said all we wanted to do should do ought to have done it's past but today is a day in which anybody here Jesus Christ will set you for it so as we sing if you never invited him to come and run your life instead of you running your own life or somebody else running your old life or being captive in some kind of addiction this is the moment you'd be set free Jesus Christ doesn't come into life and you get better no no he comes in you become a brand new person so that's what you need today the Holy Spirit is whispering in your mind and heart saying come [Music] Jesus is the key he's coming saying come unto me I'll set you free others here Christians did be a part of a body of Christ solo Christians just about don't exist you got to be in a family the only thing we'll have in heaven is the church the body you've got all other institutions all on entities will not be there it'll be the church so we come now to be a part of his body in this world something to do that say I'm a Christian I did be a part of this church that's you you come as well as we sing Jesus is the key can give you a new life and set you free are you coming to life or the church as the Christians say I'm gonna join hands with these and beginning you walk with Christ where I am as a Christian as he leads no one moves except those who are standing and coming and standing right in front of me Sam coming home God to let you know well that's what you need to do a couple of single adult a family a teenager didn't matter as he spoken your heart you said you free you'll bring you into a body of Christ and you can become that individual he designed you to become when you were given life as he speaks you come forward to stand in front of me as we sing this wonderful chorus together

Channel: Second Baptist Church, Houston

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Keywords: second baptist church houston, trey gowdy, congressman trey gowdy, west

Id: I54vTNjgXT0

Length: 47min 50sec (2870 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 29 2020