The Kingdom Heirs

uh this one right here now these two is something good volume one and two these are all uh the kingdom here singing these songs but these are songs originally recorded by other groups groups like gold city the statesman the kingsmen the cathedrals the happy goodman family we didn't like the way they'd done them so we re-recorded them and they're pretty good actually no they're great songs and we love the way they've done them we just re-recorded them and stayed real true to the arrangements uh we got a bunch more cds i will tell you see these are 15 for one two for 25 or three for 30. now we do have an exception to that we have a series called songs from the red book how many of you guys like the old hymns you like the old songs yep old people like old songs i know people are sensitive wow uh but listen we have a series of four cds over 40 of the old hymns uh you'll know every one of these songs and we're gonna be singing some of them only thirty dollars for those four cds that's a pretty good deal so stop by and let us take advantage of you some of you are listening all right and we also have most of our music available on these little flash drives so this is a great way to keep up with your music this one particular one right here has all four red book cds on it and it is only 35 you just plug that in your car uh that's our new cd on that flash drive right there and there are different prices we also have uh a dvd out there now normally we have more of them but you've heard of the national quartet convention right the biggest event southern gospel music takes place actually right there in our back door pigeon forge tennessee we have it on dvd this right here features about well about 20 of southern gospel's top groups performing live on the stage at the convention there's also some bonus bonus footage in here of the hall of fame induction ceremony and these i believe are 20 bucks and you not only get the dvd but you get the cd with it okay one more thing i hope this uh fashion statement goes out of style real quick but until it does we have our kingdom air mask okay now i don't know if there's such thing as a comfortable mask and but if there is this is pretty good and these are ten dollars and listen i know times are tough if you're on a budget you don't want to spend ten bucks we have used mass for two dollars okay [Laughter] all right hey listen anything you buy you can write a check use cash or use your credit card guys thanks so much for your time once again i'm not i'm not going to try it again it's good to be in north carolina if you're glad the kingdom mayors are in town put those hands together guys jim are you ready can i turn it over are you ready [Applause] all right we're going to hear a lot of great singing but we're going to start out the night singing ourselves would you stand with me we're going to sing one song blessed be the name of the lord sing with me be the name of the lord the glory is [Music] blessed be the [Music] it be the name of the lord [Music] me blessed be now to our people thank you for coming and being here if you are not a part of hilltop church my name is jeff jones i'm the pastor here and we're thrilled that you're here uh as well i want to say just a couple of things to you and i'm going to turn it over to jim mccomas um the first thing i want to say before we'll pray and you can be seated won't we do that now and let you see let's pray father thank you for the opportunity that we have to have the kingdom heirs here with us tonight and father i know that it's been an unusual day because it's an unusual time i think about the snow this morning i'm thinking about the coveted restrictions and all that we have been going through this past year and father in my heart and in my mind it was just good for us to have a night like this and so father i thank you for the opportunity and i pray that you be glorified by everything that's accomplished tonight in the name of jesus we do ask it and amen and you may be seated and i do again thank you for coming and uh we got several calls are we still going to have the kingdom heirs today when there was some snow and in my mind's eye what i said is so true i did not want uh to not have i'm tired of cancelling things everybody like that anybody like that and so i've just wanted us to go forward and so here's what i'm going to say if you're here and you'd like to help us with with an offering we do not receive offerings like we used to that has really changed but uh we have uh we have a box out back and it says right in front of the welcome center uh if you'll put everything you put in there we'll actually go to for this expense and go to them uh we also have offering plates there uh to our hilltop people a lot of you have hilltop apps and you know you can give what you give we'll go to this calls as well as www.hilltopchurch.com and so there are four ways that you can give and i want to encourage you to help us with that it's not about the giving but i certainly want you to have that opportunity we're excited about having them here now uh jim mccomas is one of my closest friends and uh he's just excellent i call him jokingly an adjunct pastor tonight for us because i'm just going to turn it over to him he just does an excellent job as an emcee and so i want you to put your hands together and give jim a hand as he comes to speak for us good evening i'm very glad to be in church tonight i might rather be in church than in jail look to the person to your left not your right your look to the person to your left and say you look marvelous tonight now look to the person to your right and say pray for me i just lied to the person on my left it is so good to be here so it's always good to be at hilltop and and beth and i are thrilled to be here uh usually here singing or preaching and we'll do a little bit of that tonight but it is uh it is great tonight quite honestly to be here as a fan i this is without a doubt not even close my favorite group and i can tell you a lot of things about him i could tell you about down through these past years that we've lived in east tennessee we have season passes to dollywood the only reason we have two reasons that i have season passes dollywood one is footlong corn dogs and the other is the group you're about to hear i can tell you about in that theater and what dennis said a little while ago is very true they do not water down the gospel what you will hear and experience tonight is what every fan that goes through dollywood hears thousands and thousands of people every every year for these last 35 years but i can't tell you the times through very very dark and difficult moments in my life my ministry that i have sat in that darken theater and these guys have ministered to my heart as a pastor i told the pastor here's what you can tell this is the best thing i can say about these guys they don't just sing it they live it and and here's proof in that just last week at our home church i go to church with the baritone singer in this group and two weeks ago i was up i had the service two two sunday mornings ago and lauren harris was in the 8 45 service how many know it's you got to be spiritual to go to church at 8 45 in the morning there's many things we could say uh 11 number one songs 35 years at dollywood coming back in march for their 36 years award after award after award these guys here this band has won band of the year so many times they're talking about retiring the award because they they win it so many times year after year after year and vocally what you're about to hear in my humble opinion and you know i'm a quartet guy what you're going to hear tonight is the greatest modern time male quartet voice for voice and you're in for a treat would you make welcome all the way from pigeon forge tennessee the kingdom heir [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this world is not my home there's a better time and place just another mile and i could see his [Music] i face on a journey all the day god saved my soul i've traveled far and heaven's now in view [Applause] [Music] the struggles i have suffered made me stronger on the road [Music] [Music] this world is not my home there's a better time harder now there are just a few who walk this narrow way our enemies are strong on either side but faith has grown within me and i hear my father say we're almost [Music] [Applause] [Music] just another mile and i see [Music] mile and i could see [Music] sky it must be so honestly fair never see my mortal life but we know soon it's coming again rum is heavily thronged we shall leave the stripping all night when it comes [Music] [Music] give your heart to jesus today [Music] he's the only one to choose but do not wait until it's too late let him [Music] if you want to ride on the glory clouds [Music] get ready to go [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i used to think lord what will i do if you don't hear [Applause] i took it to the altar and even when i tried [Music] then in your words i saw so many times [Music] and now there's something i just like to say [Music] today [Music] i know [Music] and your ways your grace has never failed me [Music] [Music] [Music] today [Music] is [Music] time and time again your grace has never [Applause] [Music] [Music] about [Music] oh [Music] today [Music] thank you so much [Music] he said you seem so different what called his awesome change well i told him about jesus and how he had set me free and now i'm not the only broken man i used to be [Music] he gave me [Music] [Applause] [Music] and that's how i know that god is real thank you for saving my soul thank [Music] that's you i know that my god is [Music] suppose if really not busy man i'd love to tell you more but we sat and talked for hours about the mercies of the lord but he said i have been searching and this [Music] makes all things you new all this for me i found something i can't feel that's how i know that my god is really [Music] all right everybody do this right here come on everybody [Music] is [Music] well that's how i know you like it all right [Music] [Music] that's how i know [Music] [Applause] well good evening how are you that was terrible y'all can do better than that how y'all doing much better welcome thank you listen we are so grateful that you are here thank you so so much for coming out on a thursday night and are you glad to see all the kingdom heirs yeah wow it is so good to be where are we yes it's good to be here [Laughter] we are glad that you're here this is uh uh this is our second weekend out and i think dennis told you earlier uh this is uh this is our just our really just our third date out this winter and uh normally we've already been out to a few dates and and um but man i told the guys last week you know it's just such a different time uh first time in my life uh that that you know you just don't know if anybody's gonna show up and i told the guys i said i you know we've got some dates booked and the lord willing people will come and and boy we are just so grateful to see you thank you so much for coming and it is great pastor thank you so much for coming i was talking to jim it was normally uh you know i start booking dates usually in in october and november and and uh like nobody would return my calls i couldn't get anybody to commit to anything and i didn't know if we'd be able to sing at all and jim and i were talking and and and he said you got any open dates and i said i've got a lot of open dates and he so he was so gracious to to hook us up and and pastor thank you so much for having what a beautiful building y'all have here and thank you so much we just felt so so welcomed since we walked in the door and we just prayed how many are seeing us for your first time never seen the kingdom marriage before wow man where have you all been you've been here right and uh now how many all from how many all are from this church how many from this church wow that's amazing awesome dude it is most time you go into churches you say how many from that ain't nobody there and we might as well have had it somewhere else because that church didn't show up but man y'all did thank you for coming wow that's a great pastor wow that's impressive and uh man y'all look good y'all must ate suffered rusty teeth too because y'all smiling and uh i tell you we've been singing all year last year with everybody's face is covered it is so good to see your teeth [Laughter] and uh but it's great to be here now for those of you who have seen us before uh most of you won't know the difference but most of you who have seen this before you'll notice that one of our guys is new this year and come up here dusty we had a tenor that staying with us for about 10 years his name was jerry martin and he decided he retired uh this past december and first of the year and uh so we were going to have to need a tenor singer and so this young man right here was the first guy that come to our mind and we gave dusty a call dusty is no stranger to gospel music he has been uh he's sang with several groups in the past and most recently a group called sold out he was there with them singing tenor for about 13 years and i have known dusty for about 20 years now and i say just a fine young man fine christian young man and i tell you it's just been a joy to be with him now normally we would have time to to kind of uh practice and rehearse some songs and that sort of thing well when we left dollywood december this uh january the second uh then we were off for a couple of weeks and and we were trying to decide if dusty could could travel with us or not and so he was able to but we couldn't get together so i sent him about 18 songs and i said learn these songs and so we got to the first date last week and i thought we'll get there early we'll be able to run through some songs and just see how it sounds and well we had all kinds of sound problems but but we finished it five minutes before the the concert was supposed to we haven't sung the first song that day and so this is the third time we have sung with this young man isn't he doing a great job i mean wow now dusty is from ohio he's up close to columbus there in a little town called greenfield columbus and the yankee part don't bother me it's that ohio buckeye thing that just drives me crazy but uh but that's okay but i i tell you what i want him i want to feature him on a song and let him show off for you just a little bit and i know that you're going to love his singing here's an oldest song called high thou me i can't think of a better song for right now at this time would you welcome dusty barrett would you then i cry to the rocks [Music] sometimes i feel [Music] in vain [Music] i [Music] then i think and all he's done for me [Music] then i cry to the rock [Applause] [Music] of [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] you can't see [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] dusty bear all right here's a brand new song i need y'all to help us right here just like this there you go my words are insufficient when i'm trying to describe how amazing god our father is how he knows us yet he loves us and he gave to us his life what a great eternal gift is this he [Music] he is an everlasting source of living water a redeeming savior he will always be [Music] he hears my desperation [Music] if you ask me who he is [Music] [Applause] [Music] be a moment jesus will not be enough even when my heart fails to believe as he leads me he just wants me to reach out and simply trust that who he was is who he'll always be he is a cousin faithful friend [Music] living water redeeming savior he will always be [Music] let me i [Music] he's a constant faithful [Music] he will always be who is if you need him you can call the ever [Music] president [Music] well i don't know about you but i'm glad we serve a god that's the same yesterday today and forevermore amen he's an ever-present ever constant never failing god amen amen amen wow boy great song lauren thank you so much for singing that i i love that song that is a brand new song that is on a a new album that is actually kind of coming out slowly it's a little different you know our music as far as the way that you uh buy music anymore is different you know used to uh we would the groups would go into the studios and record all the song the whole album the album would come out and then the songs would be released off the album well now because of all the streaming services with apple music and amazon and and spotify and and all those how many how many y'all listen to that see just about everybody in here does and so what they have decided to do is uh we are actually recording these songs we're releasing a brand new song every month for the next 10 or 11 months and then the album will come out so it's a little bit different you get to hear all the songs before the album ever comes out so if you follow us on social media or we have our own channel on spotify you can look us up kingdom airs you can hear all of our music but every month you'll get to hear a brand new song that one was released in december we had a new one that just came out last week and we're going to try to do that for you next uh on the second half if i can remember the words but uh i love that song um i you know what boys i'll tell you what after doing that one right there i love how many all like the old songs everybody like the old songs yeah you know i like the old song not because they're old it's because they're good amen and i'll tell you what let's do let's do let's do that old song the love of god i i love this song this is one of my favorite old hymns you know the apostle paul said that there's absolutely nothing nothing that can ever separate us the love of god [Music] through christ the savior of all men there's hope [Music] insane grace [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] we will be [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] just yes tell you i tell you what [Laughter] this equipment you spend all this money on all this great equipment and it was all built at a sweatshop in taiwan i know i know i'm sorry i mean just that out loud now mine's going out my goodness who's this guy i don't know i tell you what while he's doing that let me let me introduce everybody to you uh very quickly and uh get that out of the way y'all met dusty didn't didn't dusty doing a great job over there on the tenor as far as we know he's doing great playing the bass over there 39 actually just started his 40th year with our quartet that's a long time make him welcome for mascot chris branch you want to see if yours is working is yours working whose is that one where's here here try that one yeah how you doing i'm doing good glad to be away from the house for a little while i'll tell you this i'll tell you the devil is in all this technology and stuff you know he's the prince of the air so it you know you know yeah something to do with it no you know ever since all this started back in what was it march last year yes march last year yeah we were all for how many weeks there it was about 14 14 weeks well during that 14 weeks my wife who works for the state they decided that's going to let them work from home ruined your vacation my 14 weeks right there so i had to come back on the road for a vacation you know i understand no yeah well i mean we had some uh you were doing something something i had a honey dude right right yeah you were you were doing something and she wanted to do some remodeling right right and which is fine but you know there's going to be arguments well they say if you're going to test your marriage you need to build a house or remodel one well that's the truth i mean that's really true and but you know we had arguments and stuff but no more than normal i thought but then a couple weeks ago we were sitting at the breakfast table she looked at me she said you know she said seems like all we ever do anymore just fuss and fight she says matter of fact i think we just need to pray the good lord take one of us and she said but listen don't worry about me i can stay with my sister i think i know which way she's leaning so i'm scared to death to go home you might want to sleep on that bus right now check the brake lines on that thing our drummer over there you met him before the program he's in his uh 30th year uh is that is that right next week it'll start his 30th year with our group that's wow from oceana west virginia dennis murphy making welcome and how you doing good good i don't know i this young man right here uh has been with our group now for about 14 years and uh just a tremendous talent not only a great piano player but he's my designated singer and when i point at him he sings for me and and boy he just does a great job just whatever whatever it needs to be done and we couldn't do it without him would you make him from harriman tennessee andy stringfield right there you hear me can y'all hear me okay this is our sound man right here and what are you shaking for are you nervous i have been running around for the past two hours yeah yeah normally you're not up here or usually back there this young kid right how old are you 23 23 years old and uh he's from uh uh lives in sevierville is that right and uh mary yes how many kids no he's a pk and he's preacher's kid and i asked him where he where he was from he said i'm from all over we moved all over the place i'm a preacher's kid so we've moved all over the country and uh but i tell you what this young man right here um they uh he started working at dollywood which year for last yes and uh he was doing some shows around and i'd seen him around i didn't really know anything about him this summer when we started all the texts didn't come back to work and so uh uh michael they put michael on our show and i thought well here's a 23 year old kid that don't know nothing and i want you to know he has just done a phenomenal job he is just i think the lord just sent him our way and he has been just a blessing to us and uh i want you to make welcome michael brister right here now go fix my microphone [Laughter] where where are we at lauren or jeff come up here lauren uh has been with us now for about five years now and it's your fifth year and uh doing a great job on the baritone a lot of you may recognize lauren he's saying with many groups through the years but we're just loved to have him he's from elizabethton tennessee lauren oh now singing okay good good thank you singing the bass from brunswick georgia it doesn't get any better from uh um george you lived in bladenburg for or uh goldsboro for for a long time yes uh some same with a group called the anchorman and uh so he's kind of a transplant local boy he's a pk too and uh so uh he's lived around everywhere but you make him welcome jeff chapman right there on the base my name is arthur rice i'm from asheville north carolina and that makes up all the kingdom heirs are you glad to see them let them know it okay are we are we good to go yet okay yeah i tell you are y'all working right y'all stuff working okay yeah jim told you a while ago about these guys and how uh great they were and they are 12 time band of the year right there make them [Applause] [Music] welcome [Music] [Applause] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] today was the day his fight's finally over it's hard to let go of the hand you've been holding the same one that picked you right up every time you fell down i remember he said son i know where i'm going and because of his faith there's comfort in knowing that through all the heartaches and tears you're crying right now heaven just got sweeter for you [Music] no more suffering or pain now he's in that place where all things are new even though you're hurting like this he knows you know where he is and someday he'll come running when you get there too heaven just got sweeter for you [Music] it's natural to grieve to feel your heart breaking but for those who believe that loved ones will wait hold on to god's promise that death is never the end so when you say goodbye to that old cemetery for the saint that you've lost the grave is only temporary they're already home and they're long to see you again heaven's just love jesus too no more suffering or pain now he's in that place where all things are new even more you're hurting like this [Music] heaven just got sweeter [Music] and someday they'll come running when we get there too [Music] heaven just got sweeter for you [Applause] we uh we first recorded that song a few years ago when jeff had just lost his dad to bone cancer and i just lost my sister to cancer and at the time you know that that was really the worst thing that could happen to most people you know and it touched everybody but boy i tell you with this covet thing it's just if it hadn't touched you personally it's touched somebody that you know amen and i tell you we've lost a lot of good folks and that song right there has taken on a whole nother meaning for a lot of people but i'm glad as david said i can go to where they are amen i was thinking of an old song that was written in 1943 it was a pastor's wife and studied in the book of second timothy in the end times and she was paralleling that with the headlines of the newspaper and at that time we were in world war ii and times looked troubled she sat down to write a song not to become famous but just to encourage her church and many of you know this song but it fits just right now just as good as anything it's and it goes like this in times like these you need to save your in times like these you need an anchor be very sure [Music] be very sure your anchor holds and grips the solid rock in times like these you need the bible in times like these oh be not idol [Music] be very sure [Music] be very sure your anchor holds and grips the solid rock this rock is jesus yes he's the one this rock is jesus the only one so be very sure be very sure your anchor holds and it grips the solid [Applause] wrong have you enjoyed the kingdom heirs so far let's give them a round of applause i do appreciate them and their ministry they're gonna come back and they will close out tonight here in a few minutes i also appreciate this church and its ministry i appreciate them having this night but i also appreciate and i hope you appreciate the fact that jeff asked me not just to m.c but he asked me to share for just a few minutes whatever was on my heart from god's word because he said and i quote we never want to do anything at hilltop where the word of god is not proclaimed and i tell you what i think that is a great testimony to uh to this church and we we are so thankful we beth and i do consider this uh our home away from home and uh it's just it's great to be here tonight to be with our friends here and to introduce some of you to our friends uh the kingdom mayors but i just want to read you a couple verses of scripture and i promise you if you listen fast i'll talk fast and and uh we'll get to some more singing but in the in the book of acts chapter one uh as as the book opens just the the first few verses there in chapter one says the former treatise have i made otheophilus of all that jesus began to do both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after that he through the holy ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion jesus by many infallible proofs most of you know that uh god has led me in these last couple of years of ministry to uh to be the executive director of free will baptist family ministries we take care of broken and abused hurting children about 125 over two states and on our campus there in east tennessee we have we just have boys uh on our campus and uh we've gotten to a a routine uh that each week that i share we i share a meal with our young men uh and we have devotions and before i left to come on this trip we uh i knew i'd be gone out the rest of the week and so we had that time and uh they like but believe it or not i always thought kids like mcdonald's but our boys like taco bell like nobody's business i've just never seen anything like that i do not understand what the excitement is about taco bell after having it several times but if you work for taco bell i apologize i just uh but um we get together and you know a lot of again our our boys have come from very bad situations they're they're they're very sad situations and a lot of them come to us really they they are self-proclaimed some of them still proclaim agnostics or atheists and so we it is our goal in the short time that we have some of them to share the love of christ in various different ways so the other day i just had a yellow legal pad and and i said let's talk about reasons not to believe there is a god well that kind of got their attention so we we made two lists the first list was reasons that there is that we would be easy to believe that there is not a god and i had them shout them out and i was writing them down some of them and and they were all very good of course the big one was was science you know they bought into this idea that the bible is not scientific and uh evolution and things like that and of course couldn't cover all of this in one day but i was just writing them down listening uh obviously for them it's circumstances if there is a god how many times have you ever talked to somebody and they said if there is a god why why is the world in the mess that it's in why am i in the mess that i'm in one of our young men said you know how do you believe there's a god when you pray and pray and pray and nothing seems to happen your prayers don't get answered that's a those are good questions but after we made that list we we made another list and that is reasons to believe that there is a god in acts chapter 1 here the word of god which is always true and never lies says that jesus when he rose from the dead showed himself a life now listen to these words think about this he showed himself alive by proofs proofs are evidence that it's true but the bible did not stop by saying just proofs it says that he showed himself alive the resurrected savior by many proofs there wasn't just one or two there were many but it didn't stop there it put that word in there infallible infallible means impossible incapable of being wrong the word of god says that jesus when he came out of the grave showed himself alive by many infallible proofs so we made a list and i gave them my list many years ago one night i made a list of reasons why i know that there's a god and really when it comes down to it it's not just questioning the existence of god it's questioning how do i know that god loves me let me give you abbreviated my list and then i'm done number one reason that i know there is a god creation tells me that there is a god it doesn't take paul says that creation itself preaches a message let me give you the translation of that any dummy can look out the window and see the beauty how many looked out the window today and saw something that you don't often see in north carolina i know that you all were excited about it because every single one of you on my facebook post snow in north carolina how many are glad that it's gone tonight amen that's the way i like snow here today in the morning and gone by afternoon man you look at the beauty of creation where we're at there in east tennessee i'm telling you beauty you're going to tell me do you know you ever realize you got to think when you come to church i mean think with me it takes a lot more faith to believe in evolution than it does in creation i mean you know what you know what the evolutionists would have you believe i mean think about the evolutionists would have your kids believe once i was a tadpole when i began to begin then i was a frog with my tail tucked in then i was a monkey flying through a tree and now i'm a professor with a phd i mean come on if i was to tell you tonight this watch on my hand you know how that watch came to being i was out in revival a couple years ago in wichita kansas which kansas is a windy place that's where you know dorothy you know toto you know from the slippers and all that there was a big one of those tornadoes funnel clouds came up and some pieces of dust and dirt and sand and glass got cut up in one of those funnel clouds and 10 minutes later poop out dropped this watch is there anybody in north carolina tonight that would believe listen if you believe that no offense but you've been laying on your side too long your brain's done rolled out here nobody would believe that it takes a whole lot more faith to believe that it takes a whole lot more well i believe in a big bank well you know a billion years ago there was a pond and out of the pond there came a blob and a million years later the blob rolled around until it sprouted arms and legs and here we are come on it takes a whole lot you like that one did you i think creation tells me that there is a god do you know your body i mean think about your body the psalmist said we are fearfully and wonderfully made you think about when you have a cut let me give you this example do you know that there are in an in an onion there are acids that when you cut an onion there are acids that are released from an onion that would do permanent damage to your eyesight but do you know what your body does when you cut an onion anybody know what happens your eyes begin to tear up do you know that that lubrication is a protection from the poisons in the onion that when you cut yourself do you realize your body has a built-in emergency station that your body begins to heal yourself and cover that up and you're telling me that that being listen creation tells me that there is a god and that he cares about me hey his care tells me that he loves me how many would say that god has been good to you how many would know that the devil would have you destroyed you wouldn't even be here but here you are singing god's praises is it always perfect no but god has been good and gracious to us and allowed us to breathe there and to get up and to move and live and have our being his care tells me that he loves me hey his comforter tells me that he loves me how many are thankful for the precious holy spirit hey he walks with me he talks with me he guides me and listen this really came to me in a very powerful way several years ago when i was pastoring there in ohio we had a couple in our church in fact i sang with the fellow john and jessica tony and they had a they had a child she was put on bed rest very early in her first pregnancy but the baby came very premature several months premature i would never forget that morning at the worcester community hospital the baby was born just under two pounds and it was very touch and go it was very serious and she had a lot of issues and there was a i i they i the akron children's hospital nick unit was there to rush the baby to akron to a bigger children's hospital and i asked if i could go in and pray and they said yes make it quick and everybody's scurrying around the room they're trying to and of course here's a little grace that the baby in an incubator and you know every mother wants to hold her baby and the babies hooked up to everything and i i mean i tried to choke out a prayer i mean it was just a very emotional time and then i kind of had a few words of prayer and then i went over the rocking chair in the corner watched them work and as they were wheeling the baby out to the akron children's hospital to the to the intensive care unit by wheels by ambulance i noticed the nurse came over to jessica there the mother in the bed and she had a she was unwrapping something well i was nosy because i want to know what was going on and i overheard the conversation and she said jessica every mother wants to bond with her baby and and we're having to take your baby away you're going to have to stay here in the hospital she has a c-section she said you're not going to have that bonding time that closeness time but she said what i'm holding here is called a snoodle i said what in the world's a snoodle looked like a blanket to me the nurse said what we do in times of separation in these early hours with a mother and her child there is a way even though you cannot be with your baby there is a way that you can still bond with that little girl what we're going to do is we're going to put this blanket right underneath underneath your hospital gown right up next to your skin for the next several hours and your scent is going to just permeate that blanket praise the lord i know where this is going i praise god he she said you just let that that scent and we're going to come back in a few hours and we're going to get that blanket and we're going to take that up to the akron children's hospital and we're going to put that blanket in with your baby and so your baby even though you can't be there in body your scent your presence is just going to permeate that get better and i'm sitting there rocking in the corner i'm about to have a baptista spell i said bless god i thought about the night that jesus said boys i'm fixing to go away but let not your heart be troubled i'm not gonna leave you alone i'm gonna leave you a comforter i finally jumped up i said nurse praise the lord i've got my own snoodle bless god she said okay hey how many are thankful for the precious holy spirit in the midnight hour he'll be with you notice i said he it's a he not an it he is the third person of the godhead and thank god he is god's gift to his people it's supposed to be a devotion but i feel like preaching right now i feel like i could jump out over hell on an empty uh on a wet noodle with an empty squirt gun and yell boo at the devil i'm feeling pretty good hey his cross tells me that he loves me somebody said how much do you love me jesus he said i love you this much and he laid down notice i said he laid down he said no man taketh my life i lay it down willingly and he died on the cross for you and for me stories told of a father and son had words angry words the son left home as a teenager never to be seen again years past the family separated never came back years passed they'd never heard from the boy one day it was found that his mother had a terminal illness she was not going to live her husband said honey is there anything i can do for you in your dying moments with the life you have like she said yes i'd like somebody to find our boy i'd like to see him one time before i die and so some emails went out calls texts searches went out and the boy was discovered he was found one day a knock came at the door she was back in the bedroom on her deathbed the father went to the door and there was that boy when he opened the door hadn't seen for years but still that stubbornness between father and son wouldn't hug him wouldn't say anything the father just pointed back to the bedroom whereas the boy's mother lay father on one side of the bed the boy on the other they said that mother was looking she had the hands of her husband and the hands of her boy she'd look at one and look at the other she just wanted them to make it right before she died but then they said finally she took both hands and clutched them to her chest laid back on the pillow breathed her last breath and finally it was more than the boy and the father could take without saying a word they looked across at each other tears in their eyes broken they made a beeline and ran to the foot of the bed and they embraced the father and the son were reconciled but it took the death of one that they love i hear that story i say that's a good story but i can tell you one better than that i was estranged from my heavenly father he who was perfect and holy he who knew no sin could not have fellowship with me because i was down in the depths of my sin but jesus came and shed his blood on the cross of calvary and when he said it is finished it's almost as if he took one hand off the cross got the hand of a holy god reached down in the depths of the pit that i was in got my hand i have been reconciled with the heavenly father but it took the death of the precious son of god and my friend if you are here or watching tonight by live stream and you doubt whether god loves you go back to the foot of the cross his cross tells me that he loves me and then finally tonight how do i know he loves me because his covenant tells me that he loves me you do realize what this book is this is god's love letter to his people every page says i love you i've loved thee with an everlasting love god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life but god commanded his love toward us in that why we were yet sinners christ died for us what can separate us from the love of god neither height nor death nor principality nor any other power can separate us from his love god loves you and his covenant when you can't see the way when you doubt the way you go back to his precious and holy book which is always true you may wonder why what happened why i made that list that night i told you i made that list that's my list i just gave you but i didn't tell you the rest of the story what happened was years ago our youngest son aaron we were trying to put him to bed i mean he was little at that time he's six foot five now if that tells you anything it was a long time ago i don't know how kids are in north carolina but in ohio kids don't want to sometimes go to bed when they're told so we were having negotiations anybody ever went through negotiation i said i'll fluff your pillow to the cool side i'll read you a story i'll make you up a story i'll sing you a song and i'm doing all these things he said well thanks a lot dad but i still don't want to go to bed so i'm getting ready to turn out the lights i'm getting ready to go we used to play a little game i said okay i'm leaving he said well you're going to tell me good night you love me i said nope you done made me mad and i turned over we were both laying there i had tucked him in i turned over he said dad you got to tell me you love me i said no i'm not doing it you hurt my feelings i'm not going to he said dad you're going to columbus tomorrow you're going to go see me all day you got to tell me you love me i said i'm not doing it and we were going back and forth and i was just about ready to give in turn around kissing tonight and head to the door it got real quiet there in the darkness all of a sudden i felt his hand on my back and this is what my son said in the darkness he said well dad i know that you love me because you've told me too many times i know that you love me because you've told me too many times i know that life is tough life is tough these days more than any other time perhaps in in modern history and there are a lot of things on that list you might have some things on your list while you might doubt that god exists or that he cares about you but i challenge you to go back to his word page after page after page how do i know that he loves me because he has told me too many times he wants to help you whatever your situation is tonight i would challenge you if you'll draw an eye to him he'll draw nigh to you it's just as simple as abc we've got to admit that we're sinners romans 3 23 all have sinned and come short of the glory of god we've got to believe that jesus christ died on the cross the wages of sins romans 6 23 says it is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord and then we've just got to turn it over to him and make him the lord of our life first john 1 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness that's the message that's the reason why this church is here that's the reason why this group is singing the gospel all of these years is to let you know that there is a god and that he loves you if you don't know him you can know him right now and i'm going to pray to that end right now if you're here as a christian or watching as a christian and you're discouraged i pray that these songs and i pray that maybe a word of this devotion will encourage you to be reminded you go back to his word it's always true and i know he loves you because he's told you too many times let's pray lord we love you and we thank you tonight for your word lord i thank you for a church that stands on your word that values your word and god we we just it's so good to be a part of the family of god i thank you for this singing group i thank you for so many friends we see across this building tonight god i pray for that one that may be watching tonight we know that there are hundreds watching there are hundreds here tonight and god i i would have to believe somewhere along the lines somebody is listening to me right now maybe is not a hundred percent sure that if they died tonight they'd make heaven their home and i pray that right now if that is the case that they just simply pray something like this dear jesus i believe that you died on the cross for my sins i ask you to come into my life and make i make you the lord of my life i promise to live for you to the best of my ability for the rest of my life and i thank you for what you've done lord i pray that they'd let somebody know that they prayed that prayer and let one of the the ministers or or the men or ladies here in the church or or or email and send message online and if there's anything i know about this church they will disciple them somebody can get them a bible some materials and and help disciple them to be all that they should be i pray for that discouraged believer tonight they've tuned in tonight they've come here tonight to be encouraged and god i pray you'd lift them up i pray that my list the list that you comforted with me so many years ago maybe be a little encouragement to them to be reminded how much you that you are very real and that you do care and love us we pray you do your will and work in each life and bless the rest of this service tonight we pray and ask it all in jesus name and all god's people said amen all right well are you ready to hear a little bit more singing tonight now listen now a male quartet you do realize it is a very very intricate thing uh how many how many been i've been watching this young man right here uh you i bet i i bet if i'd ask you i don't wanna put you on the spot but i bet if i asked you i know which part's your favorite you like the bass singer don't you oh yeah he's been watching every note everything but let's be honest i mean i that bass singer in a co in a male quartet it's just nothing more than glorified burping into the microphone right i mean isn't that true i mean whoa and this now the lead singer and there is no other greater lead singer on the face of the earth than this one a lead singer he he's out front a lot gets a lot of the glory in a male quartet but let's be honest anybody in i don't mean to hurt your feelings but anybody in this building that can carry a tune in a bucket can do leap singing right am i right or am i wrong now listen this young man has the hardest job in a male quartet the tenor singer it's hard to look like a man and sing like a woman i mean that's hard but let me tell you what holds it all together it is the baritone singer in a male quartet that holds it all together am i right or am i wrong would anybody like to guess what part i sang in a male quartet for 25 years we love these guys i know you do it's been a great night they're going to close it out with you yes sir wait a minute know why you're up here oh my we got to let you sing one oh brother okay see anyone now how many of y'all know this man right here is corn dog anybody know anybody know him as corn dog nobody that's it's east tennessee well he comes to dollywood and he goes straight to get a corn dog and then he comes in straight and eats it right in front of us so how many how many of y'all would like to hear him sing with that's us great message great message right there uh that's good preaching right there wasn't it amen amen i want you to do can can you do um master the sea you try it okay can you do you know that one do you know tenor on it you don't know it here i'll think all right all right hey good now one night upon the sea a ship was tossing to and from [Music] [Music] is [Music] control [Music] wings and waves away [Music] what man is this they all did say that the winds and sea so big he's the one who sails with me he's the master of the sea how though the storms of light may rain the angry billows round you roll well he can calm life's troubled seas as he did in days of old as upon life's seasons well just trust in him who never fails and i'm so glad he walks with me he's the master of the [Music] winds and waves when he says to them be still what man is this they all did say that the winds and seems so [Music] yes he's the one who sails with me he's the master great great one more time how about it for corn dog oh that's good buddy that's good that's good preaching right there too i appreciate that amen amen for watching glad for god's word amen amen well y'all in a pretty good mood uh this might be a good time to just can we practice on you would you mind you sure okay all right this song this is a brand new song and um we ran over it just a little bit in the bus coming over here and it may sound like we run over with the bus time we get done with it but i'm gonna see if i can remember the words and i love this song i want you to listen to the words in this song right here right here see if you like god knows how much mercy i read when i was out in sin god showed mercy even then he gave me one more chance to make it right now when heartache comes my way i can't hear the father say we'll walk together through the dark until we see life god knows [Music] i [Music] supply i know he'll be passing by god knows how much mercy [Music] is that mercy follows i can never go so far god can't reach me with his heart and keep me sheltered [Music] passes by god knows how much mercy [Music] or the trouble is [Music] god knows [Music] supply i know [Music] [Music] [Music] you like that amen amen i like that song i'm glad god knows exactly how much grace and mercy i need amen i want you to listen to the words in this song lauren comes this is one of my favorite songs that he's ever seen satan just cowers to think of the power he lost when the cross had its day gone are the mornings when fear without warning would win and again have its way now when satan reminds me of things i regret i bring up calvary [Music] [Applause] of sorrow and shame grace i my partner as christ took the blame when i called to answer [Music] [Applause] [Music] for me i am now under that beautiful wonder of grace that erased all my past [Music] i feel the heart of mercy [Music] i live in freedom that change cannot bind and i won't look back on what i have left [Music] my [Music] his glory satan reminds me of things i regret i bring a calvary [Music] [Applause] [Music] shine my pardon [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me oh this caliber answer for you tonight lift it up to him [Music] amen [Music] [Music] of this great hungary jesus john and paulie are declared the world can't receive it but one day they'll believe it all of god's redeem [Music] is [Music] well i see [Music] there will be no night there [Music] eternity our loved ones will gather beside that crystal river [Music] oh is [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] uh we are [Music] [Applause] have you enjoyed all the kingdom hears tonight really let them know it one more time would you thank you so much thank you so much you all have just been great to sing to thank you so much again for coming out and thank you for making us feel at home and pastor thank you for having us again and and i hope that you have enjoyed it i hope you'll let will you let us come back and sing again for you sometime we would love that wow well we appreciate that and and uh if you come to dollywood we'd love to see you um come by and uh and speak to us and and we may only see this much of you but come on by okay [Laughter] well man y'all been great to see do do you have anything else you want okay yeah yeah thank you bless you if you if you enjoyed the kingdom era say amen i have thoroughly enjoyed it myself thank you so much for coming let's all stand and be dismissed together father it has been good to be in your house tonight i thank you for everything we've been able to see and to hear these men that are extremely gifted playing and singing and then of course our friend by the gem coming and challenging us from your word it's been good to be in church and i want to praise your name for that and father jim did mention if someone's here that doesn't know you as our savior father it is so important that they not leave this church campus without allowing us the opportunity to take the bible and show you not hilltop's way not even a baptistic way but the bible way to know you as their savior then father there could be somebody that's watching at home and they've caught it because of a facebook stream or a friend that connected them father they heard the gospel tonight father it's important that they reach out they can they can send us an email here at the church pastorate hilltopchurch.com where i can speak to them and talk to them about how they could know you as well father we we live and breathe to see people come to a saving knowledge of you and i thank you for this night thank you for uh the singing for the the experience of being together father wouldn't it be wonderful because of this night for somebody to come to a saving knowledge of you thank you again in the name of jesus we ask it and beg it all and amen god bless you

Channel: Hilltop Church

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Id: 8RGGG46Wv4k

Length: 104min 55sec (6295 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 29 2021