Youth: Dwayne Lemon Testimony 8/16/19

there you go alright how's everyone doing they're doing good good and very grateful to be here with you all and you know it was a little chilly I might get warm in a minute and have to take this off but before I so I had to put this on but um you know I wanted to get a chance to talk with you from my heart and just share a little bit with you about my testimony as it relates to where I was in the world and how God brought me into this wonderful movement that is truly preparing a people to meet their God and so I got some things to share that I think speaks to us as adults but also definitely speaks to us as young people and I'm gonna be very very real with you so I hope you don't mind that because that's the only way I know how to be at such a time in Earth's history and at this stage in my life so I'm gonna go ahead and have a word of Prayer before we begin and I'm gonna kneel to do that because we're around a bunch of grass I'm gonna invite you to kneel with me if you're okay with that if you're not okay with that just bow your heads where you are but if you are okay with that let's kneel together and let's ask the Lord to prepare our hearts to receive what he wants to give us our Father in Heaven we are very grateful for the opportunity to hear you speak to our hearts and the opportunity to share testimonies of how your spirit has truly had success in reaching people and today is just my opportunity to share in what so many have given in times past and more than likely in the very near future we'll share their testimonies of your delivering power and so we just ask for your grace to keep us and abide with us and we ask all these precious mercies in the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus amen all right so it sounds like the machine is having some hiccups see how that goes just need some gas okay I know they want to get someone did they already get gas for it really think so I mean I could definitely have plugged my computer if that's a problem I think I have enough juice all right so yeah we'll go ahead and see how it goes thank you so I want to get get an opportunity to introduce myself you know with the older individuals they kind of have idea an idea of who I am but with a lot of yourselves of the younger generation you may not know who I am so my name is Dwayne lemon all right some of you know my name is Dwayne lemon and I am your brother okay I'm your brother in Christ and I truly was not in Christ all my life I grew up in Queens New York I'm from New York and I grew up in the city in New York how many of you live in the country right now how many of you live in country places well a little bit Oh bless your heart you're very blessed I want you to know that because country living is a gift from God I wish that I had the privilege of experiencing country living when I was a youth I probably would have been saved from a thousand perils but nevertheless I grew up very much in the city I grew up City lifestyle and I'll talk about that a little bit and the bottom line is is that Christianity the love of God prayer studying the Bible was completely foreign I always like to tell young people this if you grow up in a home where you have a mother and a father or mom or dad that believes in prayer believes in the study of Scripture believes in morning and evening worship believes in going to church on a weekly basis especially observing God's holy Sabbath day of rest you have no idea how blessed you are I mean you are incredibly blessed to have parents like because that's not the kind of household I grew up in I grew up with three needs and the three needs you'll find are the same three needs that we all had I don't even know all of you I don't know most of you but there's something that I do know about you because you are created person you are created by an intelligent God and there are three at least three needs that every human being has and the best time for these needs to be fulfilled is in your youth and I'm gonna show you this and if there's any young people under the sound of my voice when you see these things come up on the screen if you have not found in Christ your complete fulfillment for those needs that's your first work to all the homeschooling mothers and homeschooling father's or if you are parents that are you know training your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord this is the first thing that we need to make sure our children understand and as we help them understand this it just gets better and it gets a lot easier one of the three needs that I had growing up that were not fulfilled until way down into my adult age but should have been fulfilled in my youth number one we we have all been created with at least three god-given inner needs what is the first one love everyone needs it there's no such thing as I don't need love I don't need to be loved if anybody says that to you they are being dishonest their heart is deceiving them all of us need love number two not only love we also need significance everybody wants to know that they're significant I don't care if it's a 90 year old or a nine year old every single human being on planet earth has a need of knowing their life has significance number three security security you haven't been afraid and when you're afraid sometimes especially in our youth I remember that when I used to be afraid as a young person you know 5 years old 6 7 8 9 years old when I got afraid I ran to my mom and I ran into my dad you know and when I was around mom and dad I felt very secure no matter what dangers existed it didn't matter I was around the ones that would protect me and that would keep every single young person every single adult has these free inner needs love significance and security now to help explain it a little bit better number one when we think of love we're talking about to know that someone is unconditionally committed to our best interests that is a need that we all had does anybody know what I mean when I say unconditional aim I know what I mean when I say that unconditional what do I mean when I say that you don't mind sharing okay so it doesn't matter what happens in life or what have you it doesn't change how that person is going to love you okay that is what every single one of us need in other words a lot of us live in homes sometimes where you know if you're doing good you get a lot of love but if you're not doing that good all of a sudden something can change in that love this is definitely the kind of household I grew up in so this is the kind of stuff that God says he does not want to be our reality God wants our reality to be that when we have love that it is the kind of love to know that someone is unconditionally meaning if I succeed or if I fail the love of the individual does not change number two significance of significance we're talking about knowing that our lives have meaning and purpose every single young person needs to know that I need to know that my life has meaning and purpose we're talking about the needs every person grows up with these needs and the best time for these needs to be fulfilled is when it's in your youth that's the best time to these needs to be fulfilled and I'm gonna tell you the reason why in just a second finally security to feel accepted and have a sense of belonging this is a big one with young people growing up as a youth not having these I would start looking to other people to supply it for me and this is why we live in a generation now how many of the young people in here are home-schooled if you're homeschooled can I see your hands go up wow that's a lot of you you know I have no script so I'm just kind of going with it you know one of the greatest dangers of our youth today one of the greatest dangers the one of the greatest dangers of young people and especially young home school children what do you think is one of the greatest dangers of not just young people but especially young home school children what do you think is one of the greatest dangers out there you can talk it's okay really uh this is a dialogue I'm not preaching so what do you think yes friendship what about friendship okay the longing so like having a group of friends that you belong to here okay all right sounds good anything else and I and I say this from experience cool children today they're adults all right so I'm really speaking from experience and I've been around everything from restoration international I've been to the yuichi Pines Farm days when all the homeschool families come together I've been to Heartland college where they would have the little family gatherings I've been to tons and tons of family based meetings where there's a lot of homeschool children and I've seen a problem across the board and when I say this I'm referring even to my own children that dad that I saw this happening even with them so I'm there's one thing I'm very clear on are not just the solutions but also some problems so again I'm asking the question what do you think is one of the greatest problems young people have but especially home school children what do you think it is any other thoughts I heard one yes a lack of social interaction that that is a problem for some family some children I've met that a home school and you say hi and they go and you know they kind of walk away and you know they you know you kind of do that so some of them are like really scared of people all right so that's true there are some home school children that do not understand what it is to be social and that's very important because when God created us he created us not to just mental physical spiritual he also created us to be social all right God is a social being and so it is that he created us in His image therefore we should be sociable people all right but there's something deeper yes they saw that they were different and I'm gonna use a term that we used to use I won't say in the street but I'm gonna use a term that that was using very common vernacular in the days of my youth there was something called wannabe wannabe wannabe wannabe was a bad English way of saying what to be okay what to be or one of these now what does that mean that means that a young person what typically you find young people battle with and then especially homeschooled young people is they battle with beat with a contentment in being who they are so therefore they want to be like somebody else they try to act like somebody else they try to talk like somebody else if they could they try to dress like somebody else they they try as hard as possible in the name of friendship and socialization they will try to act like something they're not and I see this across the board I mean across the board and it's a sad thing but it comes from not understanding your identity and having those needs fulfilled that's where it comes from when you don't know who you are and when you don't understand that the needs that you have are legitimate that those needs are completely okay you're supposed to have that need you're supposed to cry out and longed to be loved and to know that you are significant and to have security you are supposed to want that you were created to want that but the problem is if you're not given that well that's okay when you're one that might be okay when you - and we're bordering on three and four once that child gets to five six seven on where it starts getting dangerous if they don't understand their identity and they do not know how to have those needs fulfilled then what happens is they start to gravitate towards other people so today I see young people that say things like what's up man and I'm just saying where'd you get that from who taught you how to talk like that I know where I got it from when I grew up and I was in the city and I grew up around a whole bunch of city kids that was the only language we knew how to speak so that was the way everybody talked I mean I come home to my dad my dad would say what's up man and I'll say what's up man and you know who just give it back to each other because that's how we grew up but there's a lot of young people especially Christian kids homeschool that you didn't grow up talking like that you grew up understanding proper language you grew up understanding good articulation you understood how to give appropriate greetings but because of the desire to want to fit in because we do not have or know our source for love significance and security we begin saying things and doing things and acting in ways that has nothing to do with y'all bringing and so I cannot stress to you the importance of understanding that these three needs is what you and I should seek for diligently so the parents in the room this is your job beyond any other job help your child to understand I'm not even a black man that's not my identity you understand that that's not even my identity so your identity is not even in a culture yeah I did these not in any of those things you see if we were to study the Bible the Bible makes it very clear and Isaiah 43 and verse 7 this is what the Word of God says as a matter of fact anybody want to help me with reading the almighty helped me with that Cruiser readers in the room you got to have a good you got to have good lungs you got to be able to speak nice and loud who could do that for solutely hand up all right sister can you read that please even everyone that is called by my name for I have created him from my glory I have formed him so when God made us because it starts in verse 1 where God is talking to the children of Israel but as God is talking to the children of Israel and making it known how your God and you are a mine etc God eventually gets down to verse 7 where he says even how many people he says everyone everyone that is called by my name and he says for I have created them for my glory you are created to glorify God I was created to glorify God if you're gonna be a lawyer at the end of the day you're gonna be a lawyer that glorifies God if you're gonna be a doctor you're going to be a doctor that glorifies God if you're gonna be an inventor you're going to be an inventor that glorifies God that is your purpose in life yours and my identity is found in Christ my identity is that I am a child of God and I am created to give Him glory and all that I say in all that I do in all that I eat and all that I drink in every area of my life I am called to give glory to God my identity is found in Christ I am a Christian that's what I am that's my identity I have a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and my mission in life is that I might glorify him through the specific work of lawyer dr. garbage collector inventor preacher or whatever it is God calls you to do now me growing up that's my old home 104 19 to 14th Street Hollis Queens New York and you could tell that my home was not the safest place because right there you see that right there what's that on my window those are bars that was not to keep people in that was the key people out you understand that I lived in a neighborhood that we had to put bars in our window today I live in the country where I could leave my doors unlocked and I could be gone for three weeks four weeks my family and I were gone for four months and came back home and everything was right where we left it you could do those type of things when you live in some good country places when you live in a city you dare not leave your home with the doors unlocked if you leave your home's in the door unlock you will come home and see an extreme makeover in your house you're gonna see a whole different house when you come back and so it is that we had to put extra protection my point is very simple I live and I grew up in a home where we were living in some dangerous areas drug dealers people who did all sorts of wicked crimes and bad things gangs that is the society that I grew up around and that is the kind of people that live very close to me and so it is that growing up in my home I grew up in a home on the youngest of eight children okay youngest of eight four brothers three sisters all of them came from my dad and another woman she died my father met my mother and then when they got married I came into the world so therefore I'm number eight and you know my mother used to be the my mother was the daughter of a Methodist pastor my dad was a gangster he was a straight-up gangster he was a bad guy he was what you would call a bad guy and here it is that a preacher's daughter and a gangster are together please don't do that all you young people in the room please do not go around messing around with gangsters you want to make sure that whatever man that you eventually decide to allow to be your husband that he is not just a man he must be a man of God that's gonna be an absolute imperative and so it is that my mother she was kind of like growing up now this is another thing that unfortunately happens in homeschooling sometimes we over shelter our children okay sometimes we begin to over shelter our children to the point that they have no idea how even reach people in the world and so it is that we we should know as parents how to as Jesus said in John 17 when he was making that prayer on behalf of the disciples and he said I pray that you take them not out of the world but that you keep them from the sin you understand that keep them from worldliness so we have to do the same thing with our children as we are bringing them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord parents we must help them to understand you must be in this world but you must not partake of its sins and therefore that structures are recreation time and all of these other things that we do or our recreation time well so it is that you know growing up mom and dad you know they were they were worldly people and so I grew up in the world very much so didn't know about Jesus we only went to church once a year that was on Easter and so no religion none of that and that's why I'm telling you if you're growing up in a home where you got like parents who pray with you well you have a father or a mother that they mate when you got problems they actually say okay let's pick up our Bible and let's go ahead let's see how God can help us solve that through his work if you got a parent like that you have no idea how blessed you are I'm serious you are so blessed I mean take it from a guy like right now you look at me and you see you know clean-cut fairly decent dress look like life's good but you have no idea how many scars I have from this world I mean this world can put scars on you that quite honestly they never heal you just kind of learn to live with it you just kind of learn how to say all right that's my past and you move on but but there's a memory that's always there and it's only until this earth is made new and God recreates us that finally that memory will be wiped away forever but sometimes in this earth there are things that I remember I you know brother Eric you know he was talking about his experiences and in martial arts and I sent martial arts as well not to the depth that you did but I did study it and I loved every bit of it and to date you know if I walk through a mall or something and I I see one of those you know stores and it has all the different martial art weaponry and all those things it's like that all I got to do is look at it and it triggers a memory and it'll just bring me back to yeah I remember when I used to do this I remember when I used to do that the world what the world can put certain imprints and scars upon us that it time and time again is easy to remember it but in your youth is where you have some great opportunities before you and that's why I'm just telling you when you got a mother in the father who loves to pray and sing songs of Zion oh man you're blessed you are so blessed and I pray that you stay in that blessing and so it is that you know growing up in this lifestyle here I grew up didn't have the kind of love that God wanted me to have did not know my significance and definitely did not have security so I tried to create this stuff on my own and so I started to look at things when you don't have that which you need you start seeking it out but the problem is you'll seek it out according to self now here's the issue go to probably have your Bibles go to progress 14 if you got your Bibles let's take a look at a verse here and I just want you to see this because it's really important to understand that you know God gives us allows us to go through experiences so that he can protect us he can keep us from falling and I want you to see this in promise 14 take this testimony very very seriously because the purpose of me giving you this testimony is to impart something to you that's going to help you to not make the same mistakes your brother made all right proverbs 14 I'll be there who would be so kind to read for us nice and loud verse 12 far verse 14 and verse 12 who's gonna do that for all right go ahead my friends [Music] so notice that there's a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death what does that tell us what do you think that that verse is saying to us there's a way that seems right it feels right but in the end it leads to death what do you think that verse is saying to us anybody what do you think the verse is saying you know go ahead and give an answer there's no such thing as a dumb answer so just go ahead and just give an answer that you think is talking about here's a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death go ahead that's it you see how simple that is we cannot rely on our feelings do not trust how you feel you can really feel it's right but in the end you can discover it's wrong the problem is if you don't live by the Word of God I can guarantee you you're gonna live by feelings you're gonna do pretty much what you think or what you feel is right and so it is that that's how I grew up so I grew up in a home where we live by what we thought was right we live by what felt right we live by what seemed right and that's how we live well here it is that you know growing up in this kind of lifestyle I found myself at a place looking for the love looking for the significance and like I told you if you don't get it from home you start merging your character into other people now even though you know I'm noticing that there's things from my old culture and my old lifestyle that I see it happening in a lot of youth black white asian I mean various cultures I grew up in what was called hip-hop culture okay is there anybody in here that does not know what hip-hop music is I figured all right so you know what hip-hop music is is that right okay you know what it is you should know what it is but nevertheless you know what it is well here's the thing I grew up in hip-hop culture okay hip-hop is more than just music hip-hop is a complete is a complete lifestyle it's the way you walk us away you talk like when I grew up I I knew that if you're into hip-hop you don't walk like this walking like this is what we call normal so normal people do if you grow up in hip-hop culture you understood you walk like this you have this little dip inside of your walk it's something in your leg it's like you got a leg problems like something's going wrong with your knee you know what I mean but there's really nothing wrong with your knee you're purposely doing that so you know you start walking a certain way and you know you start talking a certain way it's a hip I'm trying to tell you hip-hop is not just music it's an entire culture and so hip-hop is going to introduce a lot of things to us that a lot of us to date still do and I see home school kids doing it all the time and I look at them like what are you doing like where did you learn that from I'm sure your parents didn't teach you that so again that curse of the wannabe is still happening we're not satisfied with what God how God has created us we're not satisfied what God has given to us and therefore we want to merge our identity into someone and something else that's not worthy of it well this is what has happened to me growing up in the world and so I grew up in hip-hop culture and I loved hip-hop music I did love the music and so do my family and so one of the things I found out was this in my family everybody was very musical very musical and so you know a lot of times my brother Leslie he would play the bass my Michael my brother Michael he would sing my dad was a drummer he was a jazz musician and so there was a lot of musical talent that was in my home but I had none of those but one of the things I knew how to do really good is dance I mean I could dance dance dance it was like as soon as music would play it was as if the music would literally take over and the music would control me now the reason why I bring this point up is because we need to understand that music is not neutral you know when you think of something neutral you think of it's neither good nor bad it's neither weak nor strong it just kind of exists it pretty much does nothing well that's what a lot of people think about music I didn't say lyrics I said music a lot of people treat music like it's neutral one of the clearest Bible verses that eliminates that thought is first samuel 16 go to 1st Samuel 16 notice what the Bible says in other words is music neutral does it have neither negative or positive effects is it just something that just kind of exists and stays somewhere in the middle well the Bible answers that question very clearly in 1st Samuel 16 now we need a reader again first time you'll 16 we read for us just need a reader I put your hand up let me know that too there and then that way we can go ahead and have you read who would be so kind to help your brother out by reading thank you my sister in the back and it will come to you for the next reading now we're going to look at 1st Samuel 16 let me give you the story and then we're gonna read the verse so King Saul is constantly disobeying God constantly and as a result of this it gets to a point that God is making known his displeasure so my time you get the 1st Samuel 16 it says that the Spirit of the Lord was departing from Saul and then it says an evil spirit was now coming upon Saul so when the evil spirit came upon Saul Saul does really wrestling he's agitated you know he's bothered has no peace we're hearing is that he really wants it bad so he gets to a point that he says listen call David you know the son of Jesse let him come by and let him play music for me and comfort me David comes by and plays music and I want you to watch the effect of the music verse 23 so first time you're 16 what does it say in verse 23 now what happened when David a child of God a son of God when David played music what what happened in the experience of King Saul from what you just read what happened to it literally says the evil spirit left it went away so what that clearly tell us if music can make a demon go away then that means music can obviously make a demon come in you understand that so music is not neutral so I'm growing up listening to hip-hop music okay as well as the lyrics and I'm going through this stuff and I can assure you it was definitely creating a problem by the way if any of you have 3abn I would encourage you to watch a program that myself and another brother named Lance whoo but we did 56 episodes of a program called T key S stands for true knowledge of self the foundation of hip-hop if anybody's studies care is one Afrika Bambaataa you know if you study any of the thought leaders of hip-hop music or hip-hop culture they're all going to tell you the same thing the foundation of hip-hop is knowledge of self they call it knowledge of self so what my brother lance and I did is we took the Word of God and we discovered true knowledge of self and so that is how the name tks was birthed that we put on on 3abn and so there's a program on 3abn dare to dream Network you can go on youtube and watch it and it goes through TK sq knowledge of self and what we do is we answer all the questions can a Christian really indulge in hip-hop culture can't a Christian can't you be a hip-hop gospel rapper you know we go through all of those different steps all right and we let the Bible answer the question not just our feelings and perceptions we let the Word of God answer the question so if any of you ever need that or if you know people who are getting into hip-hop gospel or maybe they're in the church but they're also messing around with hip-hop culture that can be something that you share with them okay continuing growing up in my home I'm a young guy looking for attention just like a lot of again young people including home schoolers looking for that attention looking for that love and all these things and dancing became my outlet dancing was the way that I was able to get some attention so in doing that by time I get to high school this is my high school Springfield Gardens in Springfield Gardens High School that was a school where literally this is where the losers went I mean these were the people that just failed every other school every other school said no so here it is that this is where they sent us now I don't believe that personally but that's what people would say they literally said Springfield Gardens High School is the school where the losers go they couldn't get accepted by any other school so therefore Springfield says we'll take you in and sure enough I grew up a lifestyle where I did not like studying I did not like reading I did not like writing I hated math and I couldn't stand social studies of science or any of those things and so I just lived a lifestyle of just going to school partying having fun and cutting out early and doing whatever I wanted to do that was my lifestyle unfortunately I wasted a lot of time that I couldn't receive some degree of education I mean public school education is really not great it really isn't but at least there's some elements of some good I could have learned but even the little bit that I could have learned I neglected it and so school for me was totally a place of fun and so what happened is I discovered at school that there was an opportunity to participate in talent shows you know you can dance you can perform people could sing they can rap they could do all sorts of stuff and they could obviously you know get Mike a trophy and they kind of recognized your name in school a little bit and so that's what I did so I I found these guys right here that this is an accurate picture from 1989 and you know that's me right here this is this this guy is me right here so you know I taught these brothers how to do some dance moves and I said hey why don't you help me win and become the homecoming king and so we perform and I won all right i won and when I won I really felt like amazed by myself because I never felt like a accomplished er of anything so notice again the year 1989 I know you guys weren't even a twinkle in your parents eyes but nevertheless that's me and you can look and see the arrogance on my face you can see that in my mind I'm like I'm the man you know I I didn't I mean you know that's that's the kind of attitude that I'm clearly showing in this picture and that's what happens is you know God wants us to understand the life of humility but I was living a life of self exaltation I was living a life where I said look I'm gonna earn people's love I'm gonna get you to love me I'm gonna do something spectacular and I'm gonna get you to say you want to be with me and so it is that that's how I live my life unfortunately I got into some trouble I found myself getting into fights and going through some bad stuff in school and as a result of that I ended up becoming a high school dropout people were threatening my life they were threatening to kill me I had gangs that would call my home and they would say that would you know they would tell my parents we're gonna we're gonna gun down your child we're gonna kill him and it I had to live my life for a little while in seclusion I couldn't go back to school anymore because people were looking unfortunately to take my life they were called the decepticons there's a program called the Transformers and they would have these good guys called the Autobots and the bad guys called the Decepticons and there was a game in Brooklyn New York that called themselves the Decepticons and they would literally go after people and they would you know if you got a mad enough they would literally kill you and so a lot of murder a lot of bloodshed this is what was going on during this time in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s a lot of bad stuff and unfortunately I was a little bit caught up in the middle of it well here it is that after a while I told my mom and dad I said look if I can't go back to school I want to be a celebrity and they said really you want to be a celebrity I say yep I want to be famous they said well what are you gonna do to be famous I said I'm gonna dance I'm gonna become a famous dancer I'm gonna become a famous choreographer and there's one thing about my mind that God gave to me I was just using it for evil now I use it for righteousness God gave me the kind of mind that maybe some of you have this kind of mind if you do I just want you to know you can do some pretty powerful things for the if you let your mind stay focus on doing that which is holy and right in God's sight you will be amazing where God can take you I had a mind that once I fix my mind to do something only death will stop me and so it is that at that stage of my life being in the world I said you know what I want to become a dancer I'm gonna become famous and nothing is gonna stop me and so my parents said you think you can make it in the industry I said I know I can they said then go for it so they gave me the release and they said do it that was bad counsel like I told you one of the greatest problems is when children grow up in homes without Bible study without prayer without being guided by the word you know today of my children they did this when they were five six seven eight and they did it at 15 16 17 and 18 when my children were getting to disagreements they come home with a problem they would come home and I wish I grew up in a home like this my children would come home and say dad dad this is happening if that's happening and I don't know what to do I'm so upset right now and my children would really be bothered and I'll say okay Oh what are you gonna do about it I don't know and I'll say all right go get your Bible and they would get their Bible and I would have the privilege of saying all right let's turn to Jeremiah let's turn to Isaiah let's turn to Daniel let's turn to first Peter nice turn to Matthew and I would literally let them see how the Word of God can solve their problem even in my home parents I don't just say what I feel like saying to my children I only give them what the Word of God says and I have seen the fruit of it I've seen the fruit of it with my own eyes that if we literally instruct our children how to solve their problems by the Word of God because parents we're not promised to be around you could die tomorrow and that's real talk you can die tomorrow as much as you plan on being around tomorrow next year and the reality is is that if you were gone what did you leave your children so that they can know how to live their lives going forward if you're not there anymore James tells us our lives are but in favor and so the best thing we can do is as much as possible feed the mind of our youth these wonderful precious words well here it is that I told my mom and dad I want to become an entertainer and they did not tell me that blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners they didn't give me any counsel like that they said go for it you could do it so you know what I did I found a team we ended up calling ourselves Quiet Storm we called ourselves Quiet Storm because we said we walk soft but we hit hard and this became the dancing group that we started going to club at the club at the club the guy up top on the fence his name was shadowed the guy on the right you're right his name was dagger the guy in the middle his name was Excel and then me right there to your left I called myself des des and it was an acronym des stood for dark cuz that's obvious he stood for ecclesiastical because I always felt that was a spiritual guy even though I didn't ascribe to any religion I felt I was a spiritual guy falling for the traps ecclesiastical and then the S stood for skillful because I felt I was very skilled at what I did and we made up this group called Quiet Storm we would go and we would just start doing all these shows you know we go to colleges we go different places and dance I was determined to become famous because I'm a high school dropout I'm not gonna get anywhere in a regular career so I had no choice but to make myself successful and so as I started to do that things started happening in my life I mean this is literally the picture of me and and you know you could clearly see here it you know I'm trying to reflect the image of the street in the image of the street you don't smile everything is about you got to look rough you got to look tough you got to look at people like look you mess with me I'm gonna hurt you and that that's kind of like communication that you want to get and this is something that totally comes from street lifestyle you know you got your hands together you look like you want to fight somebody this is not the image that God wants any of us to carry we are to have an image of invitation to people amen when young people saw Jesus when adults are Jesus they did not see someone they were afraid of they saw someone they were attracted to they wanted to come to him they wanted to talk to him Jesus does not endorse you and I in our photos and all these other things when we take pictures of this and the reason why I say this is because there's some seven day Adventists then sometimes when they take photos and upload it on Facebook they don't smile they think that the more straight your faces is showing that you're you're John the Baptist present truth and you know in my mind I'm just like look we are not web present truth believers we are not present truth gangsters you understand that difference that's why if you search me on Facebook you type of Dwayne Lenin I don't think there's a single picture in existence that you can find maybe one maybe one maybe one I probably messed up on but literally there's not a picture you can find on the internet where I'm intentionally standing before a camera and you don't see me smiling I'm intentional I mean I want people to understand you can be a hundred percent John the Baptist victory over sin present truth and serious as a heart attack for God and still smile isn't that beautiful that's wonderful to be serious about God doesn't mean that your eyebrows gotta be bent so here it is that in the world this this is the image this is the the picture that the devil was working through the system of hip-hop culture to try to get me to join it now I'd like to encourage you don't join that I would like to encourage you don't join that and I really mean it when I say that because there's much danger inside of it well what did it have happened I was determined to be successful I was determined to be famous I was determined to succeed in hip-hop culture and quite honestly I did I started working with a lot of people these were some of the artists that I started to work with and hip hop and R&B at that time you know in your day today it's all about jay-z and drink and you know some of these other folks out there Nicki Minaj and the list goes on these are the the big-time popular hip-hop artists of today Kanye West and so on but you know in my day they were not the stars yet jay-z was just coming up and the rest were pretty much non-existent but you know at this time Queen Latifah she was huge she was an absolute celebrity brandy the R&B artist she was an absolute celebrity she ended up having a show on television Heavy D major artist these were these were really known people I went to London and I started to work with brandy and you know it was like I couldn't believe it it felt almost like a dream come true you know I used to watch these people on TV and now I'm dancing with them now doing choreography for their videos and the list goes on there was a group these guys you know these we were all friends hey by the way this guy right here um him buster Ron he used to be seven day Adventists this guy right here a fight of the Tribe Called Quest he used to be seven day Adventists you know these guys used to know our message and they walked away from it you know five unfortunately he died he just died like a year or so ago through complications of diabetes but here it is that you know unfortunately this is this is the world that I was coming from and to date these guys are big names in hip-hop culture and hip-hop music hip-hop lifestyle cannot you know there's a group called wu-tang clan again these were all guys and again look at the faces pay attention to those faces it was taught in the culture don't smile do not do that keep the face mean-looking let them know that I represent Street and this is something like if you come near me I'll hurt you and Dada this is what they do and that's why I hurts my heart when I see young brothers today especially in the world but doubly in the church well you try to act like you're coming out of a rap video it's like why are you doing that why are you walking the way you walk why do you talk the way you talk that's not even used more than likely that's not how you grew up there anybody ever hear of a rap artist by the name of to do you know Tupac Shakur he I remember that when he came out he was just a rapper he was just a guy that just wanted to take lyrics put it together and put it to a beat and probably be famous but you know Tupac started to buy into this thing that he eventually tattooed across his stomach he started to buy into something called thug life and he would tattoo that across the stomach thug life and he began to imitate the life of thugs of gang gangsters Tupac ended up getting shot one day now when Tupac got shot you got shot pretty bad got hit in his face and some other areas here to die do you know when he got shot people started to pour in letters to him why are you doing this you know you did not grow up like this there were people that knew him before his fame and they literally told him you didn't grow up like this why are you doing this why are you acting this way why don't you just be who you were as you were growing up and what ended up happening is he didn't listen to any of those counsels and then finally he got shot again at that time he died and so it is that this this hurts me now I must be honest with you and I'm just gonna say this and please understand I'm not saying this from a bigoted standpoint but I say this from being very realistic to some things happening in society I have a burden permit for all people but there are specific things that I see happening in the quote-unquote black community that I have a special burden for and what you'll find is that you will see these guys on this wire to me these guys represent some of the worst sellouts to their own people because some of these guys will represent alcohol and certain type of things that you can smoke and they will go on a billboard and that billboard will say hey why don't you advertise our alcohol that advertise our smoking and they'll go on those billboards and they will go ahead and make it look like hey I drink this you should drink this but do you know those billboards only exist in low-income black and Hispanic communities you cannot go into white communities and find those billboards you're not going to see billboards for Hennessy and Guinness Stout you're not gonna see billboards like that there and somebody planned that somebody put that wicked devilish plan together and so there are times that you know as God helps us to rise up out of certain things keep in mind he may want to use you to go back into those very societies and try to help week some other folks up now I say that from the community I come from but you keep that in mind from the community you come from or from the community that you have some affiliation to and so it is that when I look at this stuff this this is what's being represented this is what you should be like and how it hurts my heart when I see the young brothers today in the church walking talking to each other yo what up son yo what's going on there and we talk totally ignorant like we have no training and we actually think it's funny it's like ignorance has become funny I don't know anything funny about ignorance there's nothing funny about being ignorant you understand that there's nothing funny talking like you don't know what in the world you're talking about and you don't even know how to actually communicate with people anymore because you've adopted a new language and so I want to encourage you that you really keep in mind that if you're getting good training at home where you understand the voice in speech and song you understand how to speak like an intelligent person cherish that gift it will help you get for in life but don't try to imitate the things of the world that literally is Satan's design to erase the image of God and to imprint his image upon your mind that eventually is going to come out of your mouth and through your character these are the things that God wants us to understand now let's continue with this so you know this is all the stuff that I was doing on I got into commercials for sprite coca-cola Nike and all these things I did television programs like New York Undercover I became an actor on there so I mean I'm like in entertainment I'm literally in entertainment I'm making money I'm making more money than a lot of working-class folks I'm doing all sorts of stuff and I'm at the height of my career there was only two other people in my day that I did not get to do choreography for and that was Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson those were like the two last stars that I wanted to work with that I never worked with and do you know something happened my nephew Charlie one day said uncle Dwayne I want to be famous like you because now it's famous that limousines that would pick me up in front of my house I mean I was living a pretty large lifestyle as pretty much a young teenager here it is my nephew Charlie said uncle Dwayne I want to live like you're living I want to I want to do what you're doing which means since I understood that he grew up in the hood he grew up in the ghetto so I understood he wanted to get out of that so I tried to help but unfortunately he didn't make it into entertainment and before you know it one night my nephew decided to sell drugs to try to make some quick money and the night he sold drugs was the night he was gunned down and killed sometimes you only get one chance you know that's why I go back to that statement in James chapter 4 our lives are but a vapor we could be here today and gone tomorrow and some people get to choose sin and allow it to mess up their lives and others and come back out of it and say oh praise the Lord God delivered me but you know what I learned is the greatest testimony I'll tell you a little story real quick there's a story of a prayer meeting and at the prayer meeting they were giving testimonies so the sermon was given and after the sermon they said all right who would like to testify what person got up and they said you know what I want to praise God everybody the church said tell us why and they said because I used to be a gangster and the Lord saved me from being a gangster and he delivered me from being a gangster and I want to thank God the whole church said hey Ben praise the Lord another person got up the other person said I would have praise the Lord they said tell us what that person said because I used to be a prostitute I used to give my body to people but now God has delivered me that now I am going to live a pure life everybody said Amen again and one after another people were just praising God and praising God for how God delivered them from some of the worst forms of lifestyle and there was this one person that just was sitting down and kind of looking at the ground everybody was praising God for all this delivering power that the Lord gave to them so finally everybody started to notice this one person who didn't say anything and so they came to that one person they said hey you know you know is there anything that you want to praise God for they was expecting them to tell their deliverance story and the person thought about it and the person got up and said this and this this is my heart's desire for you in this room that person got up and said you know what I do have something I want to thank God for and they said go ahead and tell us the person said I want to praise God that he kept me from being a gangster I want to praise God that he kept me from being a prostitute I want to praise God that he kept me from being the person just started to go down the list what everybody was praising God or what God delivered them from this one person's testimony was I praise God that he kept me from it that I never required deliverance from it amen one of the great privileges of growing up under the banner of God's truth for this time is it is designed to keep you from falling you don't always have to tell the story about how you fell and how God delivered you from it's an awesome testimony though very rare when a young person can say I thank God he kept me from falling into the same traps that a lot of other people are falling into that's an awesome testimony and so what I'm telling you is that when I think about all of the stuff that I've gone through just to get here where I am today a lot of you can get exactly where I am today without going through any of the stuff that I had to go through I began to see the darkness of hip-hop you know there's a lot of stuff they put up on the screen on the cameras that you don't see when those cameras turn off I saw the murders I've watched people get killed I literally have images in my in my memories Hall I have images of people who were once alive and then died I've watched people get shot I've watched them get beaten and battered and bruised through the use of bottles being smashed over their heads I've watched all of that terrible terrible display of sin I have watched how they stole my money how they made promises to me and would not fulfill their promises I tell this to you because a lot of times we think the world is so attractive and that's the one lesson you could get us from those of us who are from the world when we come out of it and we tell you our story go to Romans 15 let me show you something what I'm doing right now is the same thing that you'll see in Romans the fifteenth chapter now I've heard a good amount from this side is there anybody on this side who is willing to read for us Romans 15 I want you to look at what it says in Romans the fifteenth chapter and we've got to consider the fourth verse is there anybody who'd be willing to read that for me on this side anyone it would be so kind no what all right well thank you kind go ahead and read that Rome is 15 in verse 4 watch what the Bible says here you got it I'm trying to open the Bible the app is having a problem nope Romans Romans 15 and verse 4 for everything that was written the past is written to teaches that amen so I want you to notice that Romans 15:4 teaches us the things that happen in times past they were written for our learning you see there's two ways you can learn by experience or by someone else's experience and what God teaches us in Romans 15:4 is he says I wrote these things that you might learn from other people's experiences you don't always have to try sin to know that it's bad amen understand the testimony of those who have lived in sin and God has delivered us with a mighty hand and now you know how testimony to say please don't do it my nephew Charley he unfortunately was killed it was at his funeral that this was the first time the voice of God spoke to my heart it was right here that I remembered this verse it is better to go where it's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting that is the end of all men and the living who lay it to his heart that's exactly what happened at the funeral it was at the funeral that for the first time in my life I heard the voice of God speak to my heart and you know what God simply said to me will you accept me now will you accept me now that was the first time it's like it's like a literal audible voice that I heard will you accept me no it was like I saw I'm you know I remember times when people would come to me say young men turned your heart to God and I was like whatever and I saw all the people young man you need to come to Jesus and turn your heart over them and I would say whatever I'm busy I'm making money right now I'm having fun you follow Jesus no fun not interested and so it is that that's what I believed but here it is now coming into this feet I have found that the greatest joys of my life have an are being experienced amen and I remember ties that you know I used to work a job where I was making over two hundred thousand dollars a year that's good money and the Lord called me away from that to go into full-time ministry and one day I was on the airplane flying and going to a location to go ahead and preach the gospel and I sat next to a gentleman and he said you know he saw me reading my Bible says all you're religious man I said yes I am and he said okay and I said well what do you do for a living he said oh I do such as such and when I asked that he asked me back what do you do for a living and I said oh I'm in the insurance business and then he was just like insurance you do insurance I said no I said up surance a mess that I'm in the assurance their business he said what kind of business is that I said brother it's blessed assurance and they decided to tell us so I said him up he didn't he didn't see this a blessed assurance man I said listen God has blessings that he wants to assure you in a world that's so unpredictable and so it is that I started to share with him and he said well he says you look pretty excited about this I said I'm bubbling over with excitement and then he was just like really and I was like yeah and then he was just like have you been doing this like all your life I said no way I used to work in corporate I used to wear suits every day come to work had to spit shine my shoes and I made a lot of money and did all these things and I walked away from it to do this and he said you walked away from making a six-figure income to do ministry and I said oh yeah and he was like well how's that working for you and I said man I said this is the best chapter in the book of my life amen I'm telling you right now you and I can get to a precious place that Jesus literally becomes the full and complete joy of your heart and so it is that that's what eventually happened to me I decided to follow Christ from that day forward I made a decision all right Lord I am yours I started to go from church to church I would go to the Roman Catholic Church I go to the Pentecostal church I was going from church to church I mean I am looking for Jesus and at every church there was always these points of confusion things that didn't make sense things I didn't understand and things that were in consist with the Word of God and so I found myself just not not at peace I eventually started to study Islam and I said well let me go ahead and become a Muslim so I started studying that a little bit I like the discipline they taught us to be very very disciplined but the reality was is that even in the midst of teaching us to be very disciplined it did not bring a fulfillment in the heart well here it is that after a period of time I gave God an ultimatum an ultimatum simply means I told God you got one more chance if you don't get me this time I'm gonna become the greatest enemy of Christianity altogether you know the Lord did I told God if you don't let me know by tomorrow who you are I'm gonna leave this thing called Christianity altogether and I'm gonna become something called a new hobby and that was like a offshoot Islamic group I said I'm gonna become a new Abhiyan well here's what happened the next day the clouds didn't shake and the earth didn't quake but there was a friend of mine who came to my house and they found a flyer on the street and the flyer on the street had all the subjects that I had questions about amen and I look at that fly and I was like wow and the next thing you know they went and it was a tent meeting happening 15 minutes from my house and I said man I gotta go to this and so I decided to go and again at that stage in my life not understanding my significance not understanding who I was I literally was an angry young black man and so I was taught through the offshoot Islamic groups I was taught that you know white people were bad people that's what they taught me and so I believe that they would use the Bible to prove it they would say notice even the Bible's bigoted and I said is that right and they would say yeah they said the angels are white the patriarchs are white the prophets are white Jesus is why they said the only black guy in the Bible was Simon of Cyrene and ironically he's carrying Jesus's cross and so they literally the Bible around like that so you know what got my attention about that flyer that I found the flyer was teaching about the Afrocentricity of the Bible I said Africa in the Bible and they was like a river Euphrates do you think that's in Europe and I was like yeah and so here it is that this Minister he may know I tell you this story because of this I was a bigot didn't even say was you heard that right was I really felt that I bought into this thing that white people were not very nice people and all these other things so when I saw a black man talking about the Afrocentricity of the Bible and how you can identify Africa and African people and people of African descent in Scripture that blew my mind I was like you I've never heard a minister even talk about that but you know why I tell you this story I'm trying to help you see God really meets you where you're at amen and so that's what happened God knew there's no other way I can get Duane's attention so that the study that I came to that night was called the african-american and the pig that was the title of the sermon that I came to that night the african-american and the pig and I was like all right cuz I'm you know Muslim so I knew that the pig was an unclean animal but I see Christians eatin bacon all the time so I felt like Christians are so inconsistent that's what I used to always think if you're an inconsistent people so here's this man going on the pig is a filthy beast the picture is unclean should never be look at what it says in Leviticus 11 look at what it says in Deuteronomy 14 and I'm thinking of myself and I'm reading it and I'm like the body people says it so I was just and Christians that are teaching that pigs are unclean this is interesting so I mean I'm bold I mean this man has my 100% attention so I'm listening to him and after a while I got excited and I thought again Christians were a bunch of ignorant people so I'm happy so I got a little loud I was like that's right preacher so now I'm talking to that's right I said tell these ignorant Christmas that was another thing about very unreserved very much like I don't care so I was like tell these ignorant Christians but God had a humbling lesson for me in that sermon I studied the pig and I knew the pig was bad but every March 22nd that was my birthday every March 22nd I would treat myself to a shrimp platter I grew up in a home where we were sea food lovers so he's going on and he's like the pig this the pig that and he's just turned to pick up and I'm like that's right I feel good but then he said and the shrimp and the lobster and the crab and I was like what no way and then he said right there and I looked in Leviticus 11 I'll say I can't believe it and so now he really has my attention when the sermon was over I mean when he made his appeal how many of you are willing to follow that and then I popped up like popcorn I mean I got up I was like yes I accepted it I walked up to him and I was like listen who are you people I think without I mean I searched but I never found this group I said who are you people he said what seventh-day adventists I said well what's that never heard of a seventh-day adventists I'm 20 years old at this time never heard of a sv8 sounds like what's that he said it sounds to me like you want to study I was like oh yeah I want to study and he says alright we'll send somebody to your house so he decided to send somebody to my house and I studied with that man and that little man little Jamaican man elder Murphy Morgan to never forget he came to my house and elder Morgan would just he would just teach the Bible from memory remember I'm a high school dropout I'm surrounded by ignorant people my father only went up to the third grade so at that time it's kind of like you know the male figures in my Michael very ignorant so here goes this man and he's sitting down and he's teaching me I mean I'm hitting him with questions I'm like if the Bible is true why this if the Bible is true why that and he was just Holly just sit there sit you know that's a good question you know you study a lot alright well turn here and he would just give book chapter and verse from memory and he kept doing that so by time he did it like the fifth time and I was like stop I just stopped the study I said listen how do you do that and he said do what I said you know where everything is in the Bible from memory how do you do that and he said people who love God spend time in his word amen and I was like okay that's deep and I was like can I learn how to do that he says well you can learn anything I mean you're talking to a brother who did not know what the book of Genesis was I am very serious it's like you know I did not know where where things were in the Bible you know today you all are privileged to know where things are in the Bible is that right I mean you have that privilege right how do you think about it go to revelation 23 let me show you something revelation the 2030 young man stand up and say that a gift it so everybody because some people were turning to say that again to them please good good go ahead say it was great go ahead say it tell everybody what you just told me how quick he caught that you understand a lot of people returned the revelation 23 and there is no revelation I mean I can remember a time I did not know where the book of Genesis was here it is that I heard the message he taught me and he said Dwayne would you like to be baptized I said yes I would and I got baptized 1990 to 20 years old and I accepted this Advent message when I accepted this message I mean I was on fire the seventh-day Adventist Church literally got me interested in reading I hated reading couldn't stand reading this church this movement got me interested in reading before you know what I started studying the Bible and I started discovering all sorts of things and here it is I'm discovering that my mind has the ability to learn I didn't even know my mind had the ability to learn and lo and behold I'm no I'm watching this text come to pass therefore if any man be in Christ he's a new creature and then it says old things are passed away behold all things are become new and I'm starting to experience this new life now I accept Jesus and before you know it I called my buddy Damien because I started going through Bible prophecy never studied it before now I'm going through the books of Daniel and I'm going through the books of Revelation I'm starting to understand it was funny it was really amazing Alexander the Great I remember the first time I learned about Alexander the Great there was a candy that was lemon flavored and it was called Alexander the Great and that's the first time I remember that name I was like a dress I used to eat those candies and the next thing that I was like they said something about him in my history class and that was the first time that I started to appreciate history I developed an appreciation of history when I began to study it through the prophetic lens and here it is that now studying history and I'm going through all these lessons and I'm like man now I'm starting to understand things like I never understood it before the sanctuary I never paid attention to a sanctuary message or anything like that now I'm studying the sanctuary and I'm starting to connect dots I'm starting to see things about Jesus in the courtyard holy place most holy place and then I started to see things about myself in the courtyard in the holy place in the most holy place before you know what I'm starting to read these little red books these little red books kind of reminds me of the red letters in Scripture the testimony of Jesus and as I started to read these little red books in this kind of inspiration I started to say one thing is for sure whoever this woman whoever this woman was she was not common she did not have a common understanding of Scripture this woman writes like she knew God herself no wonder it's called the testimony of Jesus not the testimony about Christ the testimony of Christ as I began to read these books I got soul on fire I said you know what that's it I called my friend Damien my format Dan somebody remember the guy dagger on the right side I called dagger up the name is Damien I said Damien I said I found something man you need to hear about this he said what are you talking about because at this time now I'm making decisions to come out of the entertainment industry because I realized that the world and Christ cannot mix and so it is that I've made a decision I said I'm gonna walk away from this and I'm gonna go ahead and do something else and I started sharing with Damien I said Damien you got to hear this man he heard the message Damien said I'm in I'm gonna get baptized Damien got baptized he was the Makah better turns he was my first convert and then me and Damien got into the message we're studying together and next thing Damien I would call each other I mean we were just ministers with each other and we would call each other and I would be like Damien hey guess what man and he would say what I'll say I found out some bad news he said what's that I said I found out Jesus is not God after all and he would say what I said yeah man Jesus is not guy he's just another prophet and then he would say how do you figure that and I'll say well the Bible calls him the son of man I said he's a man he's not God and he was saying really he would say well what do you think about John chapter 8 and verse 58 what do you think about Isaiah 6 and verse 9 what do you think about and he would just start walking me through the text this is what we used to do this is what we started doing for fun I mean when I thought about I would call Damien and I would just challenge him I already knew the answer but I would challenge him to see if he knew the answer so when he would do John 8:58 I'll be like he got that then Isaiah said oh you got that one too and we would do that and then he called me some days hey Dre what's going on I'll say what's up he would say hey man listen found out Sabbath days not true and I'll be like what and we had this way of talking about we could really convince each other through our tongue it was a Sabbath day it's not true man I'm going back to Sunday so why would you go back to Sunday you think because it says John says I was in the spirit on the today revelation 1:10 he's like The Lord's Day is Sunday and I'll say well my brother I said what you need to understand is that if you go to mark chapter 2 you see what Jesus says that he is Lord of the Sabbath and then if you go to Isaiah 58 God says that the Sabbath was his holy day so that Lord's day that John was talking about was not the first day of the week cuz I know you haven't a reference for that but that Sabbath day was none other than the one whom God created on the seventh day we would just do this for fun and just call each other and challenge each other and so that baby and I would start doing this we started to hit the streets we would start going and take we would take signs that would say free literature and we would go to subways and we would just put that sign there free literature take a whole bunch of amazing facts booklets and we'll lay it on a table and then we would tell people who either leave in the subway or coming to it we would say to them come and hear a message and people would come to the table and they'll say hey what you guys got and I would say hey do you know what the mark of the beast is and they were saying no I said how you know you don't have it and then say I don't know I'll say here this book well and that's really how we started that's literally how we started do you know we saw people get baptized from that man that little humble ministry ignorant kids we didn't know much at all but we were excited we were so excited we believed what we were studying and so before you know we're doing all these things and I started holding a Bible study at my house every Friday and Damien now keep in mind I've never gone to a gospel training school all I did was I took the five points that I knew and I've taught it like I knew 50 points and here it is that one day Damien called me up he says hey man I met somebody I'm gonna bring them to the study tonight I said no problem I'm waiting at the study ding dong the door rates I open up the door and I see this angel this beautiful person standing at the door and she says hi I'm I was invited by Damien to come to the study and I'm thinking to myself welcome I mean wow please have a seat right here so we started doing Bible study together that young lady ended up becoming my wife of 22 years I met my bride from a Bible study and here it is that I study with my wife she got baptized we studied with her sisters she got that time so he studied with her brother he got baptized I mean we just was sharing and sharing and sharing and we didn't even know a whole lot we just took the little that we knew and we would just share amen If any man be in Christ he's a new creature old things have passed away and behold all things become new God literally turned my whole life around I mean I never thought that the Bible would actually be exciting to me that walking in nature and talking out loud to God would be my favorite activity if somebody would have told me Dewayne one day you're gonna be a seventh-day Adventist Christian I would have said you crazy but here it is that Here I am and then on top of all of this I would go to church and share my testimony and I would share what God has done and as I would share what God has done somebody said hey brother lemon I like that could you share that at my church and I said sure and I would go ahead and go to their church and then I'd share a little bit more about what God has done somebody else would hear that and say can you come to my church and I say sure and I'll do the same thing and then one day I came to a church and they put up a recorder on me and they recorded me speaking and then they made a CD after I was speaking and then they gave it out to people next thing you know somebody took one of my CDs and uploaded it on their website the website was called the final generation o-r-g the next thing you know I started to notice that people were calling my friend saying how did he get in touch with Dwayne lemon we want to have him come to our church and he said brother lemon people are asking me how did you know how we can get they could get you to come can you give me a number give me something and so one day I got a call from Florida from a young group organization called fYI Florida youth initiatives they invited me to come to Florida to speak I'm going to other state speaking now and next thing you know I went to Florida and I did a whole series on the sanctuary and the guy put a microphone on me and he said this is an organization called audio verse it's in 2009 and I said audio verse what's that never heard of it he saw has a website where people going to listen to lots of different messages we're gonna record your messages and put it on audio person they ended up putting it up on audio verse and the next thing you know they put it up on audio verse in I started getting phone calls with people that sounded strange I mean they didn't have regular English accents they would be like Hello is dua lemon there and I'm like who's this we're calling from London London like New London New Hampshire no like United Kingdom wait a minute people from other countries and before you know it I'm finding myself flying overseas sharing the gospel it got to a point that doing my job and sharing the gospel we're no longer compatible it had to become one or the other I began to pray and I began to ask God Lord what do you want me to do and God made it crystal clear I have called you you are mine it's time for you to walk away from your job Lord I'm making six figures when I started my marriage we were poor and we were broke now I'm making six figures I'm able to bless my wife and my children and you want me to walk away from this and God made it very clear I am calling you Lord what's gonna be my income Matthew chapter 20 and verse 4 whatsoever is right is what I will give you a men do you know it's been 10 years that I've been in full-time self-supporting gospel ministry and the Lord has been giving whatever is right and he has sustained me I look back at all of that the days of hip-hop the days of hip-hop culture the days of living in the world and doing the things of the world and now that I'm in Christ one of my old buddies from the world called me the other day Dwayne come on man be real with me they said are you gonna tell me you don't miss being back in the world I love questions like that I told that brother I said listen to me I said you listen carefully to what I'm telling you I said I wish God delivered me sooner I said this is the best phase of my life and they were like you really mean it and I said I'm serious and do you know from that they now want to have Bible studies they just want to know is my boy from back in the days is he real about this and I'm just like guys I'm real I'm telling you this is from my heart I'm being real with you and that's the thing I'm saying to all the viewers presses you I'm being real with you because I found the pearl I found the pearl of great price and you know what I found that pearl can provide all three of those inner needs you see all along the Lord plan to meet our deepest needs for remember love God says I have loved you with an everlasting love you remember that thing called significance God says I know the plans I have for you plans to give you hope and a future that thing called security God makes it clear always remember never will I leave you never will I forsake you and I'm so thankful that God blessed me to not only be in this movement when he gave me a team years ago that was the team my bride Alexandra my son this is a Jared this is Caleb this is Kayla and this is Jada literally today 21 20 19 18 they look a little bit more like this today and this is my family and it's such a privilege to work with your family and so god you know and my children today they're doing all sorts of things and listen my children are in the struggle the world wants my children and I see the tugs that the world tries to pull on them at times and their time with this some redirection that has to be given there are times that their struggles no question that exists we dare not present ourselves as a perfect family but thus far we are still a family in Christ thus far in the midst of the battles in the midst of the trials and I'm eternally grateful to God for that and I solicit your prayers but I want you to know that I'm praying for you there's some of you in this room that like I told you you've been kind of doing that wannabe thing you trying to reflect something you're not you try to act like something you're not there's no satisfaction in it and there never will be what God wants you to understand is that you need to accept who you are you are in individual that was created for the very purpose of glorifying God making him known in a world that does not know it we have been given the most sacred and powerful message you know I think when I first joined the church I didn't fully understand it but today I get it clear that I've never understood it before we have been given the message that can literally uh sure in the second coming of Christ it's a powerful message that blessed Herald of the first the second and the third angel's message message has been given to us first to be received in the heart and then effectively shared with those that you come in contact with and if ever there was a time that there's a generation of youth that needs to know that first second and third angels message it is now that precious little book great controversy in page 366 talks about the child preachers and it says when they were children they were just little children but it says when the Spirit of God came upon them it says that the tone of voice and their manner would change and at that time all they had was the first angel and they would preach that first angels message with Holy Ghost power we're living in the time of the third angel and I firmly believe that that which have been is that which shall be and God wants to raise up a generation of youth then I'm gonna be willing to say we're not gonna let the world mold us we're not gonna seek to follow the pattern in the path of the world we are willing to be molded and shaped by God's Spirit that we might reflect that lovely image of Jesus and that we will disassociate ourselves not associate but disassociate ourselves from all the callings of the world and to follow through and do the things of God and the question is I'm wondering if there's youth like that that's in the midst with me right now if there's young people in this room that says look maybe you've been battling with the water be maybe you've been the person that says yeah I've been I've been trying to act like something some something or someone that I'm not I got caught up in that foolishness but by the grace of God I'm gonna let Jesus deliver me from that and I'm gonna accept that he created me to reflect his so it shall be in my life I will not reflect the images of the world but by His grace I will reflect that lovely image of Jesus if there's a young person under the sound of my voice that maybe you have some strongholds maybe the world is pulling after you whether it be hip-hop culture rock-and-roll culture or pop culture or some other culture if you know that you have been affected by that you've been trying to manifest some of that in the way you walk and talk and act around your friends but today what does it say by God's grace I won't reflect that anymore I want to submit my life to Jesus I want to follow him fully I want to be part of that team that he's raising up to give the final loud cry in these very last moments if there's such a young person like that in this room I'm just asking you would you be bold enough to take a stand right now is a young person that won't praise God brother amen praise God sister is there anybody else who says yeah I wanted to do that that's why you're standing and I'm telling you right now you you're gonna be the minority I'm gonna let you know that right now you're gonna be the minority there's gonna be people that's gonna mock you they're gonna try to call you pull you back say no no come back over here but this is where you have a call to stand now you got to let the leader in you that Christ wants to put in you you got to let him live out his life through you and you will find that as you stand Jesus is standing with you he has already stood up for you and in the last days of verse history he's gonna stand up one last time and I'm just thankful for every single one of you that made the decision to take the stand because this is a very real appeal some of us have allowed ourselves to be molded by this world and we're trying to follow after it and I'm just a guy that's letting you know I have been there I have participated in it and it is not worth it I'm telling you that from experience not from a theory and I'm telling you agreed as Joyce all right here right now and to be more deeply experienced in the very near future and so I want to pray for you and you know what I appreciate I appreciate how there's a few of you that standard but I want you to understand there may be some who are next to you now there may be someone says no I never had that battle or whatever but if there are some who says look I'm not ready yet behold your first ministry behold the first people that you need to be alight to and that you need to help and that you need to strengthen and so I want to pray for you right now and I want to encourage you to stick to the path pay attention to the things that God is here and my hope and prayer is that we can have a question in answer tomorrow I meant to ask brother Wayne for both the youth and adults I I believe a meeting is most effective when we could take time for question and answer because sometimes people got questions on their minds and they need some answers and so if there's anybody here that you know can help and assist with that please help it assist with that but I'm hoping that we can take some of the speakers and leaders that have come here and that we can take some time and let you ask all the questions you need to ask to make sure that when you leave this campground that you have the artillery that can help keep you strong when the Devils gonna try to tear down what you stood up for today for everyone else I would like to also encourage you to please continue to strive in the Lord continue to follow him and if there's some of you in this room that says listen I wanna be issue has never been my issue I am thankful that I'm a child of God and I'm grateful and I plan on remaining a child of death if that's you I want to invite you to stand up some of you if you've never had that want to be issue and youth you've always been in Christ and you're thankful for that and you're just simply saying by God's grace on the stay in Christ well then that's why you're standing but there are some of us here that maybe that thing of the want to be is still within our hearts and maybe you feel for some reason that you're not convinced yet that's you're not ready to let it go please know that you're in my prayers and I pray that God will wake you up before calamity or crisis would come I don't I my nephew had to die for me to wake up I hope that God doesn't have to allow I didn't say ordain but I hope that God does not have to allow something tragic to happen in your life just to get you to wake up so at this time we're going to go ahead and close with the word of Prayer and I want to thank God for all of you who took your step may God richly bless you and tomorrow if we get some time together even if you want to pull me aside and we can talk a little bit please know as your brother it would be my pleasure to do that okay why don't we all stand together to have our closing prayer for the evening if you'd be so kind it's all fair together for closing prayer and then we'll consider ourselves business let us pray our loving father we are so thankful for another Sabbath day that has begun we thank you Lord that in the midst of sharing this testimony that by your grace there are some hearts that have responded and are willing to allow the mold that the world was trying to impress upon them to be broken I lift these precious Souls up to you in a very special way I pray that angels that excel in strength will surround them and hover over them and keep them in the moments especially of temptation to go back into the compromising principles of the world Lord I ask that you will help mother and father's to pay attention Guardians brothers and sisters elders that they will pay attention to the youth that have responded and that we all will play our part for it truly takes a village to raise up a child and lord I pray that as we also avail ourselves to be instruments of strength and encouragement those whom you have plucked up out of the fire even tonight I pray again keep them from falling into the hands of the enemy finally Lord their son hear that for whatever the reason may be the attraction of the world is still so magnetic that they're finding themselves not able to make themselves free I pray that you will give them an experience that will help them to see their desperate need for Jesus as we are living ever so close to the final scenes in Earth's history and I pray ultimately may we be a people at last that when Jesus comes we will say lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us is our prayer that we asked in Jesus name Amen god bless you all happy Sabbath the Lord bless you as you go ahead and return to your place of rest we look forward to seeing you tomorrow in the morning

Channel: Caribou Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship

Views: 4,691

Rating: 4.8823528 out of 5

Keywords: Dwayne Lemon, Testimony, Love, Significance, Belonging, Africa, Diet, Pig, Islam, Shrimp, funeral, Tragedy, Gangster, Parents, Godly, Scripture, Memory, Bible Study, Share, On fire, AudioVerse, Preaching, Ministry, Friends, Converts, Subway, Sharing, Call

Id: KfA1IPT9bHo

Length: 94min 35sec (5675 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 06 2019