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Exodus 6:6-7  //  Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. The Cup of Sanctification — Weekend Services The Cup of Deliverance — Access Groups The Cup of Redemption — Next Steps Class The Cup of Praise — Team Access OUR GOALS FOR YOU: Know God. Find Freedom. Discover Purpose. Make a Difference. John 10:10 (TLB)  //  The thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. We let our past paralyze us. Psalm 38:4, 6  //  My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear… I am bowed down and brought low. We let culture define us. Galatians 1:10  //  Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. We try to do it all alone. Ecclesiastes 4:8  //  There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. The Cup of Praise Exodus 6:7  //  I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Deficiency Needs: Physical Needs Safety Needs Love Needs Esteem Needs Fulfillment Needs: Cognitive Needs Aesthetic Needs Self-Actualization Needs Transcendence Needs Ultimate fulfillment comes when you're a part of a family and making a difference for eternity! It begins with a calling. 2 Timothy 1:9 (MSG)  //  (God) saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. I want to make a difference. I am called to make a difference! It stands on a cause. Acts 20:24 (NLT)  //  But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Doing something that makes a difference. People & Heaven It spreads from me to we. Ecclesiastes 4:9  //  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. With people who want to make a difference. John 15:8  //  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:11  //  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. I am called to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference, with people who want to make a difference!

Talk 39 Mark 13:1-23 Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple Welcome to Talk 39 in our series on Mark's gospel. Today we're looking at chapter 13:1-23 where Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple. We'll deal with verses 24-37 next time. This is a difficult chapter, not least because of the strong convictions some Christians hold about it, but my intention is not to make dogmatic assertions about how it should be interpreted, but to point out some of the problems of interpreting it and to see what key lessons we can learn from it for ourselves today.   As we shall see, despite the NIV heading, Signs of the End of the Age, much of this chapter is not about the second coming of Christ, but about what Christians should do leading up to the destruction of the temple in AD70. That is not to say that none of the chapter relates to the second coming, but I want to confess at the outset my own personal scepticism about using passages like this to try to predict when the Lord may return. This is based on three things:   Firstly, the Lord himself said in verse 32:   No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.   Secondly, he also said in Acts 1:7, just before he ascended into Heaven:   It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. Jesus told his disciples not to be concerned with such things but to get on with the task of world evangelisation.   And thirdly, my scepticism is based on the fact that so many attempts to calculate the timing of his coming have proved wrong. It's not only the Jehovah's Witnesses who have made predictions which they have been compelled to recalculate, but sincere Christians like William Miller, a Baptist farmer, who, based on his understanding of Daniel's prophecy, was convinced that Jesus would return on a particular day in 1842 and then readjusted his calculations to the same day in 1843. He later admitted that he was wrong but said that, if he had his time all over again, he would still have arrived at the same conclusion!   And even in my own lifetime I have seen Christians making radical changes to their lifestyle,  based on events taking place in and around Israel, as those of you who may remember the Six Day War may remember. But, having expressed my scepticism, let me now make it clear that I certainly do believe in the return of the Lord Jesus! In Acts 1, immediately after Jesus had told the disciples that it was not for them to know the timing of his coming, we read in verses 9-11:   After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."   His return will be personal, physical, and visible. Of this we can be certain. But it's not for us to know when. So, with all this in mind let's now make a start on our passage in Mark 13. We'll begin by considering two difficulties that make this chapter particularly hard to interpret, before looking at the historical context in which it is set.   Interpreting the passage The first problem arises from the two questions the disciples ask Jesus in the opening verses.     1 As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" 2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"   So, in verse 1, one of them draws Jesus' attention to the size and beauty of the temple, to which Jesus replies in verse 2:   Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."   Then Peter, James, John and Andrew ask him privately,   When will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled? (v4).   So, Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple and the disciples ask him when it's going to happen and what sign there will be. Notice that here there is no reference to the second coming of Jesus. However, it's clear from Matthew's account that his disciples clearly connected very closely the destruction of the temple with the return of the Lord, because they ask him they ask him: When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? (Matthew 24:3).   So, in his reply, Jesus is answering two questions, which in the disciples' minds are closely related, one about the destruction of the temple and the other about the second coming. But when we try to interpret the passage, it's not always clear which parts of Jesus' answer relate to which of these two questions. What does seem clear is that much of Jesus' answer related to the destruction of the temple and not to the second coming. How much, if any, refers to the second coming is a matter of debate. But more of that later.   The second difficulty that arises when we seek to interpret the chapter is deciding which parts are to be taken literally and which are to be taken symbolically. Although much of the passage is, in my view, clearly to be understood literally – for example it's hard to see how let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (v14) can be interpreted symbolically – some verses must surely be intended to be understood symbolically or metaphorically.   For example, as we shall see next time, the stars will fall from the sky (v25) can hardly be taken literally any more than the moon will be turned into blood in Acts 2:20. Such expressions need to be understood as symbolizing cataclysmic events the like of which have never been seen before. But how can we decide which way to understand any given verse? Literally or symbolically? Part of the answer at least lies in the historical context in which the passage is set.   We began by saying that what Jesus says in this chapter is in answer to questions about the destruction of the temple, which the disciples associated with the return of the Lord. To me much, if not all, of Jesus' answer relates to the destruction of the temple, indeed, of Jerusalem itself. So what do we know from history about this?   The historical context It all began in a single year when in AD 69 four Roman emperors succeeded one another, each time with violence, murder and civil war. In AD 70 Titus, the adopted son of Vespasian, the last of these emperors, entered Jerusalem, burnt the temple, destroyed the city and crucified thousands of Jews. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us how, during the siege of Jerusalem, people were starving and ate their own babies to stay alive, how they fought each other for scraps of dirty food, and how more Jews were killed by other Jews than by the invading Romans. If you want to learn more about this, just google AD70 Siege of Jerusalem.   Examining verses 5-23 Bearing in mind, then, the horrific events that would take place in AD 70, let's now attempt to solve the riddle of which verses refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and which, if any, refer to the second coming. We'll begin with verses 5-23 which, it seems to me, refer mainly  to the years  leading up to and shortly after the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, although some may possibly have a wider significance. I say this because of the immediate context. Jesus has predicted the destruction of the temple and is now replying to the disciples' question in verse 4: When will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled? (i.e. the destruction of the temple).   Jesus' answer in verses 5-23 contains warnings about what was shortly to happen and instructions on what they should do which can be summarised as follows: ·      Watch out for deceivers (vv. 5-6, 21-22) ·      Don't be surprised by international turmoil and natural disasters (vv. 7-8) ·      Expect to be persecuted (vv. 9-14) ·      Take appropriate action when the time comes near (vv. 16-23). Watch out for deceivers (vv. 5-6, 21-22) 5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many.   21 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible.   Of course, the verses could refer to any time in church history including the period leading up to the Lord's return, but, bearing in mind the context in which they are set, it seems that Jesus' primary intention was to warn his disciples about what would happen in their own lifetime.   Don't be surprised by international turmoil and natural disasters (vv. 7-8) 7 When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.   It's easy to assume, as many have, that these things are to be taken as signs of Jesus' near return, but again the context suggests otherwise. In fact all these things have been happening throughout church history, and are certainly very evident right now, but Jesus does not say the end is near. He says the end is still to come. And as we shall see next time, at the end of the chapter Jesus says you do not know. We won't know when he is coming, and that's precisely why we need to be ready!   Expect to be persecuted (vv. 9-14) 9 "You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 "When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.   Again, all these things could be said of almost any period in church history. They were certainly relevant during the lifetime of the disciples and no doubt will be right up until the time of the Lord's return, so there is no need to see them as exclusively relevant to the second coming. But there are two things in this passage I feel I need to make special comment on, as in people's thinking they are usually associated with and seen as signs of the second coming.   The first is in verse 10, where Jesus says, The gospel must first be preached to all nations. The Greek word for first is proton. This can mean either first in time or first in importance, or both. The immediate context in Mark, where Jesus is talking about his disciples being persecuted as they witness for him, suggests to me that he is stressing the importance of preaching the gospel whatever happens.   And, of course, this is applicable throughout the church age and is something Jesus emphasises in Acts 1:6-8. This is so important that the end will not come until the gospel is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations (Matthew 24:14). So this verse does have a very real application to the second coming, but Jesus is stressing the importance of worldwide evangelisation rather than seeing it as a sign of his coming!   The second is in verse 14 where Jesus says: When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.   So what is this abomination that causes desolation? It was first prophesied in Daniel 9:27 and is believed by some to have been fulfilled in 168 BC when Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificed a pig to Zeus on the temple altar. However, since this took place before the coming of Jesus, it cannot be what he was referring to which was yet future.   Bearing in mind the context it's far more likely that Jesus was referring to what happened in AD70 when the Roman general Titus placed an idol on the site of the burnt-out temple just a few years after the destruction of Jerusalem. That, of course, does not rule out the possibility of another fulfilment in the future, but in my view the Bible is by no means clear about this, and it would be unwise to be dogmatic.   Take appropriate action when the time comes near (vv. 15-23). 15 Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now – and never to be equaled again. 20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.   At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem the danger was imminent. Jesus' instructions are specifically related to that situation. The basic message is, Get out quick! Don't let anything delay you! You will never have seen anything like it! Things are going to be terrible! Don't let anyone deceive you or distract you! But now it's time for me to summarise my understanding of how these verses apply to us today: 1)     Because these verses apply initially to the period before AD70, they contain some specific instructions (e.g. vv. 15-18) that relate only to that period. 2)     However, since what the disciples were about to experience then were only the beginning of birth pains (v. 8), it follows that similar things would continue to happen throughout the whole church age and that, with the exception of the specific instructions I have just referred to, the broad principles of what Jesus was teaching continue to be relevant to us today. 3)     Because what Jesus is teaching here has been relevant throughout church history, there is no need to see the whole passage as relating directly to the second coming. 4)     The parts that do appear to have a bearing on it must not be interpreted as signs, something which Jesus makes clear in the closing verses of the chapter, as we shall see next time.

Sunday Morning, July 16, 2023Getting an "A+" from Heaven: It's Weeping Time ... Matthew 5:4A message delivered by Pastor, Richard Fleming

We discuss different ideas of heaven and the afterlife. Will we have bodies? Do we go to heaven? Will it be largely standing around on bits of gemstone singing? And, most importantly, will there be a buffet? Meanwhile, Nick is thinking of blogging and Joe looks in fridges. Support the podcast Contact the podcast through your email machine Mentioned in this episode: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Clive Anderson: Me, Macbeth and I Race Across the World 1 Corinthians 13:12 Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth Dave Allen - Teeth will be provided Eschatology 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope N.T. Wright, New Heavens, New Earth: The Biblical Picture of Christian Hope David Lawrence, Heaven: It's Not the End of the World C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce Philip Larkin: An Arundel Tomb

We had the pleasure of interviewing The Lacs Zoom video!Gold-certified country rap duo The Lacs, composed of rapper Clay Sharpe and singer/guitarist Brian King recently released their new single/music video, “Hellraisers in Heaven” It is a collaboration with Alabama-born singer and songwriter, Murphy Elmore. The song expresses sentiments of good-hearted young rebellion and the hope that there will be forgiveness in Heaven for the trouble caused in youth.More Details:Fusing the unlikely combination of Southern rap and Southern rock, the Lacs created their own brand of hip-hop. They have a sound that incorporates Southern guitar riffs with booming beats and rhymes about life in the Dirty South.They have remained the top dogs when it comes to streams with over 1 billion streams on Pandora, 535 million YouTube views, and over 400 million streams on Spotify. Recently, their single “Dirt Road Dollars” featuring Nate Keynon received an official Gold certification from RIAA, making it their second career gold single after their 2010 single “Kickin' Up Mud”.They made their mark in the music world in 2012 when their album 190 Proof became their first album to break into the album charts. In 2015, their eighth album Outlaw In Me climbed to No. 3 on both the country and rap album charts. In early 2017, The Lacs launched their own independent record label, Dirt Rock Empire. Their first album released on the newly founded label was Dirt Rock which contained the smashing singles "Redneck Rockstar", "Willie Nelson", and many other LACs classics landing the album in the Top 25 of the Billboard Country Albums chart.We want to hear from you! Please email Hello@BringinitBackwards.com. www.BringinitBackwards.com#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #TheLacs #KickinUpMud #HellraisersInHeaven #NewMusic #ZoomListen & Subscribe to BiBhttps://www.bringinitbackwards.com/follow/ Follow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! https://www.facebook.com/groups/bringinbackpod

Have you ever wondered if Heaven is real? Tina Hines will tell you, “Heaven is real. I've been there.” On February 12, 2018, Tina dropped dead in her driveway. Medical records confirm that she was clinically dead without oxygen to the brain and no heartbeat for twenty-seven minutes. Her husband Brian, their friend Jeff, firefighters, paramedics, and doctors all tried to revive her.  During that time, Tina was in Heaven. She saw Jesus, the gates of Heaven, and the heavenly atmosphere with brilliant yellow color like the sun all around her. Her death is medically documented, and her complete recovery is a true miracle. She died and lived to tell about it. In this episode, Brian and Tina Hines share their two completely different experiences, all the emotions, and unique perspectives of that incredible day and the life-changing aftermath.   Brian and Tina have been married for 32 beautiful years and have four God-given children. Brian, Tina, and their family have been diligently reading God's Word, spending time in prayer, and seeking wise counsel regarding the purposes and plans of God for the experience given to them. They believe the experience of death and Heaven comes with tremendous responsibility to fulfill the call of Jesus that accompanies the experience. Brian and Tina also founded, It's Real – Heaven, a non-profit organization with the mission to provide comfort and encouragement in a troubled world by sharing the reality of Jesus and the existence of Heaven. Listen in for their incredible story of hope!   To connect with Brian and Tina Hines: https://itsrealheaven.com/ Instagram: @itisreal.heaven   “Heaven... It's Real - How Dying Changes Living” is a biblical resource for personal Christian growth, Bible study, small group, women's ministry, and more. Video testimonials of the authenticity of Tina's death and return to life are available at www.itsrealheaven.org.   To get your copy of  "Heaven - It's Real... How Dying Changes Living" Devotional: https://itsrealheaven.com/store/ or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NRFJJM3    Brian and Tina Hines are available for media interviews, public speaking engagements, and conferences. Contact Vickie Isaac at Elevate Marketing for scheduling at elevate@elevatemarketing.biz   Connect with Us: Follow on Instagram -  @throughthefireshow   To schedule a free life & fulfillment coaching consult, email: jeff@yourstorytoglory.com or DM @jeffshirrell  To schedule a free Mentally Strong coaching consult, email: tierney.shirrell@gmail.com or DM @tierneyshirrell

On this week's episode, Jayar sat down with one of the station's favorite artists, Phil Wickham! FOLLOW: The JAYAR Show Phil Wickham SONGS: Hymn of Heaven It's Always Been You House of the Lord Battle Belongs Great Things Hymn of Heaven (FULL Album)       View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Jayar Show (@thejayarshow)

It is Wednesday morning, 24th November, the year 2021, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan with a thought for today!If we go to Luke 17:5, the disciples said to Jesus, “Increase our faith.”Now, we might ask ourselves the question, “What is faith?”Well, Hebrews 11:1 says:“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I love what Augustine said... He said: “Faith is to believe what you cannot see, but the reward of that faith is to see what you believe.” You see, "And without faith we cannot please Him, for he who believes must believe that He is and that He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.Jesus wants us to trust Him today. He doesn't want our good works or our efforts. He wants us to walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. If the disciples asked the Lord to increase their faith, how much more should we want our faith increased? You see, Jesus says that our righteousness, our good works, are like filthy rags to him. He doesn't want that - He wants us to trust Him. You will find that in Isaiah 64:6.We cannot earn our way to Heaven, we cannot even work our way to Heaven - It is only by faith in God. Remember, I have told you before, one of the easiest scripture verses to memorize is found in Mark 11:22, which simply says:"Have faith in God."You know, George Whitefield is one of my heroes. He was a great English evangelist that lived in the 1700s and he said: “What, get to heaven on your own strength? You might as well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand.” That is a beautiful illustration... It is impossible! But I can hear someone saying to me now, “But Angus, how do we get that faith?” Well, we come back to the Bible. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God.”Romans 10:17By spending time reading your Bible every morning, by praying and speaking to Jesus, by fellowshipping with men and women of faith. Remember eagles don't fly around with turkeys...Today let us get aside and Jesus will increase our faith.Have a wonderful day.God bless you and goodbye.

“In the aspirations of Heaven, timing is everything. The Father has appointed moments for divine destiny to be fulfilled. Times, seasons, and epochs are a vital component in God's redemptive plan. At the precisely ordained mark, our Redeemer came to earth and, at the assigned hour, the Holy Spirit fell upon the early apostles. This eternal truth has amplified implications as we approach a pivotal crossroads in Heaven's orchestration of earthly events: God is going to fulfill His grand design.  Our Father is determined to find vessels to use in profound and historic ways to glorify His Son. These vessels will be children of destiny who perform the prophetic mandates of a chosen generation.  The question remains: Who from among the "called-out ones" will surrender to heavenly objectives and fully submit to God's plans, purposes, and intent? Throughout the Bible, the Father established specific kairos moments and historical periods to accomplish the blueprint of Heaven: It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. —Acts 1:7”

“In the aspirations of Heaven, timing is everything. The Father has appointed moments for divine destiny to be fulfilled. Times, seasons, and epochs are a vital component in God's redemptive plan. At the precisely ordained mark, our Redeemer came to earth and, at the assigned hour, the Holy Spirit fell upon the early apostles. This eternal truth has amplified implications as we approach a pivotal crossroads in Heaven's orchestration of earthly events: God is going to fulfill His grand design.  Our Father is determined to find vessels to use in profound and historic ways to glorify His Son. These vessels will be children of destiny who perform the prophetic mandates of a chosen generation.  The question remains: Who from among the "called-out ones" will surrender to heavenly objectives and fully submit to God's plans, purposes, and intent? Throughout the Bible, the Father established specific kairos moments and historical periods to accomplish the blueprint of Heaven: It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. —Acts 1:7”

“In the aspirations of Heaven, timing is everything. The Father has appointed moments for divine destiny to be fulfilled. Times, seasons, and epochs are a vital component in God's redemptive plan. At the precisely ordained mark, our Redeemer came to earth and, at the assigned hour, the Holy Spirit fell upon the early apostles. This eternal truth has amplified implications as we approach a pivotal crossroads in Heaven's orchestration of earthly events: God is going to fulfill His grand design.  Our Father is determined to find vessels to use in profound and historic ways to glorify His Son. These vessels will be children of destiny who perform the prophetic mandates of a chosen generation.  The question remains: Who from among the "called-out ones" will surrender to heavenly objectives and fully submit to God's plans, purposes, and intent? Throughout the Bible, the Father established specific kairos moments and historical periods to accomplish the blueprint of Heaven: It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. —Acts 1:7”

“Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Matthew 15:11You see, the Pharisees were criticizing Jesus and they said:“Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” Matthew 15:2And that is when Jesus said it is not what goes into the mouth, it is what comes out of the mouth that counts. Today, we need to make sure that our words are sweet because we might have to eat them one day. Count to ten before you say something you may regret later on in life. It is not what goes into the mouth remember, that causes harm, but rather what comes out of the mouth which can break or make a person.The power of life and death in the tongue!You know, every morning when I wake up the first thing I say, I turn over and I say to my wife Jill: “Jill, I love you!” I have been saying that for close to fifty years and she loves it because I mean it. The power of praise.Thank God for the new day, thank Him that the sun came up today. The first thing we do when we wake up - that's right! I have a friend and I love phoning him, do you know why? Because every time I phone him I say to him: “How are you today, Tommy?”And he says, “Angus, I am just so well.”And I don't think he is always well but that is what he says - such a positive person to speak to. Remember, it doesn't matter what happens. God is in control! I remember reading an article about a mountain climber from Australasia. He had been told by the doctors that he only had months to live so he thought to himself, “What do I have to lose?” - So he got on a ship and he came to South Arica, he climbed some of the most dangerous peaks in the mighty Drakensberg mountains and he conquered them. And do you know that that man had nothing to fear because he thought if he fell off the mountain he was going to die anyway... but that man lived to over 80 years old I believe.Look at that honey badger - I saw a beautiful documentary of the little African honey badger, what a brave little animal! He took on a rinkhals, a cobra. The cobra bit him and he killed the cobra, then he lay down next to the cobra and he cuddled himself up and he went to sleep. When he woke up the next morning he was 100 percent - The venom had not penetrated him because he was totally relaxed and at peace... and do you know what he did then? He ate the cobra, from the head right down to the tail.Today, be careful what you say because you can really hurt a person or you can really make their day.Tell your son you love him and you are proud of him.Tell your wife that she is the most beautiful woman in the world.Tell your husband that you feel so secure when you are with him.Tell people that Jesus Christ is coming back very soon and we have nothing whatsoever to fear - Be like Paul who said:“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is but gain.”Philippians 1:21How can you frighten a Christian with Heaven - It's impossible!Have a wonderful day.God bless you and goodbye.

Download Amos 1-2 We are in the Exile Stream starting the book of Amos. Yes, he's famous! We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Lord of Heaven: It is numbing to see how bad and profane and sinful and willful people can be. May we be agents who operate against such darkness and call sinners to you.  Amen. Amos' prophecy is right around 750 B.C.  Isaiah is beginning his writings right on the heels of Amos. Amos was young as Jonah was in his twilight years - Amos could well have heard first hand of Jonah's revival in Nineveh that shook the known world.   Amos was among the earlier of the 17 OT prophets. He was a contemporary of Elisha, but young to have met Elijah.  Hosea was younger than Amos and would have continued upon Amos' departure.  Micah was also younger than Amos and would have some right after (as with Isaiah). For some historical perspective, the very first stones are being laid in a new area that would be called "Rome" following Romulus' celebration of their first military victory. [ There is about 30 years until the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be terrorized and cleaned OUT by Assyria, ] The Ionian Greeks founded the city of Naples on the Gulf of Naples about as Amos starts writing. Uzziah was king in Judah and Jeroboam II was king of Israel. For what it's worth, II Chronicles 26 is a contemporary chapter with Amos. It is of the years when King Uzziah was 'going askew". Amos 1 - 2: The word commences two years before "the BIG earthquake". It was terribly traumatizing for all in the land as it was talked about still, 200 years later, by the Prophet Zechariah as he compared the Amos 1:1 earthquake to the earth's final judgment which became mentioned by John in Revelation 16:18. Amos is reading 'the dirty lowdown' about and to the whole region: Syria, Gaza, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel.  Amos uses the same literative tactic employed in Proverbs 30: "there are three things, actually four..."   This adds intrigue as Amos drops the gavel on the rabble-rousing attitude of the leaders and people in the whole region east of the Mediterranean Sea that scholars call "The Levant" [luh-VAUNT] Damascus in Syria will be burned and busted, Gaza of the Philistines will be burned, devoured, cut off and killed.  Tyre will be burned flat as will Edom with her cities, along with the Ammonites as the Ammonite King and princes get exiled. Fire will consume Moab as God sees to it that the entire Royal family dies. Judah and Israel are none the less guilty.  They were given a covenant before God. They knew better and disobeyed with robust disgust!  So guess what... you guessed right --> Judah will be burned to the ground (much later than Israel, however) The judgment against Israel in much more "at hand" so it is detailed and stinging. Israel is oppressing its own people, prostitution is rampant, along with drunkenness, the Prophets are shunned.  Israel is slapping God in the face and doubly-arrogant about it.  So God is on the verge of crushing them. It will be a bludgeoning like they've never known - and they will not recover from it.

Never underestimate the power and influence of the Kingdom of Heaven—ever! In the parable of the seed, Jesus provides an illustration of something small becoming something big. In this message, we see three things about the Kingdom of Heaven: It might start small, but it will end big, its blessing is extensive, and although underrated, it is undeniable. So apply this Kingdom principle to your life, to your family, to your church and to your faith today and witness God’s power for change!

Never underestimate the power and influence of the Kingdom of Heaven—ever! In the parable of the seed, Jesus provides an illustration of something small becoming something big. In this message, we see three things about the Kingdom of Heaven: It might start small, but it will end big, its blessing is extensive, and although underrated, it is undeniable. So apply this Kingdom principle to your life, to your family, to your church and to your faith today and witness God’s power for change!

Jenn and I have more in common than expected. With our initial fear of sleepovers, being in the high school drum line, and having rewarding experiences with therapy. She also mentions a book, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” It is nice to know that there are many different ways in which we as a species can get our lives in order. First we need to realize that re-order is something that needs our attention in the first place. Once you have established the want, whether from fear, anger, confusion, or distraction. Once you begin that first step, the possibilities are endless.

Episode eighty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Three Steps to Heaven" by Eddie Cochran, and at the British tour which changed music and ended his life. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode, on "Quarter to Three" by Gary US Bonds. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/  ----more---- Resources   As usual, I have put together a Mixcloud mix with every song excerpted in this podcast. Much of the information here comes from Spencer Leigh's book Things Do Go Wrong, which looks specifically at the 1960 tour. I also used Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran: Rock and Roll Revolutionaries by John Collis.  While there are dozens of compilations of Cochran's music available, many of them are flawed in one way or another (including the Real Gone Music four-CD set, which is what I would normally recommend). This one is probably the best you can get for Cochran novices. This CD contains the Saturday Club recordings by Vincent and Cochran, which are well worth listening to.   Pete Frame's The Restless Generation is the best book available looking at British 50s rock and roll from a historical perspective. Be warned, though -- his jokey and irreverent style can, when dealing with people like Larry Parnes (who was gay and Jewish) very occasionally tip over into reinforcing homophobic and anti-semitic stereotypes for an easy laugh. And a fair chunk of the background information here also comes from the extended edition of Mark Lewisohn's Tune In, which is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Beatles, British post-war culture, and British post-war music.   Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript There's been a sad running theme in the episodes in recent months of rock stars dying in accidents. Sadly, in the 1950s and sixties, travelling long distances was even more dangerous than it is today, and rock musicians, who had to travel a lot more than most people, and did much of that travelling at night, were more likely to be in accidents than most. Today, we're going to look at yet another of these tragic deaths, of someone who is thought of in the US as being something of a one-hit wonder, but who had a much bigger effect on British music. We're going to look at what would be Eddie Cochran's final tour, and at his UK number one single "Three Steps to Heaven": [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Three Steps to Heaven"] When we left Eddie Cochran, he had just appeared in the film "The Girl Can't Help It", singing "Twenty Flight Rock", and he had also had a hit with "Sittin' in the Balcony". But he hadn't yet managed to establish himself as the star he knew he could be -- he was the whole package, singer, songwriter, and especially guitarist, and he hadn't yet made a record that showed him to his best advantage as an artist. "Twenty Flight Rock" had come close, but it wasn't a song he'd written himself, and the record hadn't yet been released in the US. Meanwhile, Liberty Records seemed to not understand what they had in him -- they were trying to push him to be another Pat Boone, and become a bland pop singer with no rock and roll in his sound. His first album, Singin' to My Baby, had little to do with the music that he was interested in playing. So Cochran needed to find something that would really put him on the map -- a song that would mean he wasn't just one of dozens of Fabians and Frankie Avalons and interchangeable Bobbies who were starting to take over shows like American Bandstand. "Twenty Flight Rock" hadn't ended up being a hit at all, despite its placement in a popular film -- they'd left it too long between the film coming out and releasing the record, and he'd lost that momentum. At the end of 1957 he'd gone on the Australian tour with Little Richard and Gene Vincent which had led to Richard retiring from rock and roll, and he'd become much closer with Vincent, with whom he'd already struck up a friendship when making The Girl Can't Help It. The two men bonded, particularly, over their love of guns, although they expressed that love in very different ways. Cochran had grown up in rural Minnesota, and had the same love of hunting and fishing that most men of his background did at that time (and that many still do). He was, by all accounts, an affable person, and basically well adjusted. Vincent, on the other hand, was a polite and friendly person when not drinking. Unfortunately, he was in constant pain from his leg wounds, and that meant he was drinking a lot, and when he was drunk he was an incredibly unpleasant, aggressive, person. His love of guns was mostly for threatening people with, and he seems to have latched on to Cochran as someone who could look after him when he got himself into awkward situations -- Cochran was so personally charming that he could defuse the situation when Vincent had behaved appallingly towards someone. At the time, Vincent seemed like a has-been and Cochran a never-would-be. This was late 1957, and it seemed like rock and roll records with guitars on were a fad that had already passed their sell-by date. The only white guitarist/vocalist other than Elvis who'd been having hits on a regular basis was Buddy Holly, and his records were doing worse and worse with each release. Vincent hadn't had a real hit since his first single, "Be Bop A Lula", while Cochran had made the top twenty with "Sittin' in the Balcony", but the highest he'd got after that was number eighty-two. He'd recently recorded a song co-written by George Mottola, who'd written "Goodnight My Love", but "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie" stalled at number ninety-four when it was released in early 1958: [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie"] So neither man was in a good place at the start of 1958, but they had very different attitudes -- Vincent was depressed and angry, but Cochran knew that something would come along. He was only nineteen, he was astonishingly good looking, he was a great guitarist -- if rock and roll didn't work out, something would. In early 1958, Cochran was still hunting for that elusive big hit, as he joined the Blue Caps in the studio, to provide bass, arrangements, and backing vocals on several tracks for Vincent's latest album. It's Cochran singing the bass vocals at the start of "Git It", one of Vincent's greatest tracks: [Excerpt: Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, "Git It"] But shortly after that recording, a major turn in Cochran's fortunes came from an unexpected place. Liberty Records had been in financial difficulties, and part of the reason that Cochran's records were unsuccessful was that they just didn't have the money to promote them as much as they'd like. But then at the beginning of April a man called Ross Bagdasarian, under the name David Seville, released a novelty song called "The Witch Doctor", featuring some mildly racist comedy and a sped-up voice. That record became a massive hit, selling over a million copies, going to number one, and becoming the fourth most successful record of 1958. Suddenly, Liberty Records was saved from bankruptcy. That made all the difference to the success of a track that Cochran had recorded on March the 28th, the same week he recorded those Gene Vincent sessions, and which came out at the tail-end of summer. Cochran had come up with a guitar riff that he liked, but he didn't have any lyrics for it, and his friend and co-writer Jerry Capehart said "there's never been a blues about the summer". The two of them came up with some comedy lyrics in the style of the Coasters, who had just started to have big hits, and the result became Cochran's only top ten hit in the US, reaching number eight, and becoming one of the best-remembered tracks of the fifties: [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Summertime Blues"] That track was recorded with a minimal number of musicians -- Cochran played all the guitars and sang both vocal parts, his bass player Guybo Smith played the bass part, and the great session drummer Earl Palmer played drums. There was also a fourth person on the record -- Sharon Sheeley, who added handclaps, and who had written the B-side. Sheeley was a talented songwriter who also had a propensity for dating musicians. She'd dated one of the Everly Brothers for a while -- different reports name different brothers, but the consensus seems to be that it was Don -- and then when they'd split up, she'd written a song called "Poor Little Fool". She'd then faked having her car break down outside Ricky Nelson's house, and collared him when he came out to help. That sort of thing seemed to happen to Nelson a lot with songwriters -- Johnny and Dorsey Burnette had sold Nelson songs by sitting on his doorstep and refusing to move until he listened to them -- but it seemed to work out very well for him. The Burnettes wrote several hits for him, while Sheeley's "Poor Little Fool" became Nelson's first number one, as well as being the first number one ever on Billboard's newly-renamed Hot One Hundred, and the first number one single on any chart to be written by a woman without a male cowriter: [Excerpt: Ricky Nelson, "Poor Little Fool"] Sheeley gets unfairly pigeonholed as a groupie (not that there's anything wrong with being a groupie) because she had relationships with musicians, and at this point she was starting a relationship with Cochran. But it's important to remember that when they got together, even though he was eighteen months older than her, she was the one who had written a number one single, and he was the one whose last record had gone to number ninety-four -- and that after her relationship with Cochran, she went on to form a writing partnership with Jackie DeShannon that produced a long string of hits for people like Brenda Lee and the Fleetwoods, as well as songs that weren't hits but probably deserved to be, like Ral Donner's "Don't Put Your Heart in His Hands": [Excerpt: Ral Donner, "Don't Put Your Heart in His Hands"] Sheeley was more invested in her relationship with Cochran than he was, but this has led rock writers to completely dismiss her as "just Eddie Cochran's girlfriend", when in terms of their relative statuses in the music industry, it would be more fair to define Cochran as "just Sharon Sheeley's boyfriend". I have to emphasise this point, because in the limited number of books about Cochran, you will see a lot of descriptions of her as "a groupie", "a fantasist", and worse, and very few mentions of the fact that she had a life outside her partner. "Summertime Blues" looked like it was going to be the start of Eddie Cochran's career as a rock and roll star, but in fact it was the peak of it, at least in the US. While the song was a big hit, the follow-up, "C'mon Everybody", which was written by Cochran and Capehart to much the same formula, but without the humour that characterised "Summertime Blues", didn't do so well: [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "C'mon Everybody"] That made only number thirty-five on the US charts, and would be Cochran's last top forty record there -- but in the UK, it was a bigger hit than "Summertime Blues", reaching number six. "C'mon Everybody" was, though, big enough for Cochran to make some TV appearances. He'd agreed to go on tour with his friends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on a tour called the Winter Dance Party tour, but had bowed out when he got some offers of TV work. He definitely appeared on a show called Town Hall Party broadcast from California on February the second 1959, and according to Sheeley he was booked to appear in New York on the Ed Sullivan Show, which was the reason he'd decided not to do the tour, a few days later. As it turned out, Cochran never made that Ed Sullivan Show appearance, as in the early hours of February the third, his friends died in a plane crash. He refused to get on the plane to New York for the show, and instead drove out to the desert in his station wagon to grieve, and from that point on he developed a fear of flying. The follow-up to "C'mon Everybody", "Teenage Heaven", only went to number ninety-nine on the charts, and his next two singles didn't do much better. "Somethin' Else", a song that Sheeley had written for him, made number fifty-eight, while his cover version of Ray Charles' "Hallelujah I Love Her So" didn't chart at all. 1959 was a depressing year for Cochran personally and professionally. But while "Somethin' Else" and "Hallelujah I Love Her So" were flops in the US, they both made the top thirty in the UK. In the US, guitar-based white rock and roll was now firmly out of fashion, with the audience split between black vocal groups singing R&B and white male solo singers called Bobby singing mid-tempo pop. But in the UK, the image of rock and roll in people's minds was still that of the rockabillies from a couple of years earlier -- while British musical trends would start to move faster than the US by the sixties, in the fifties they lagged a long way behind. And in particular, Cochran's friend Gene Vincent was doing much better in Britain than in the US. Very few US performers had toured the UK, and with the exception of Buddy Holly, most of those who had were not particularly impressive. Because of an agreement between the two countries' musicians' unions, it was difficult for musicians to perform in one country if they were from the other. It wasn't quite so difficult for solo performers, who could be backed by local musicians and were covered under a different agreement, but Lew and Leslie Grade, who had a virtual monopoly on the UK entertainment business, had had a very bad experience with Jerry Lee Lewis when his marriage to his teenage cousin had caused his UK tour to be cancelled, and anyway, Britain was an unimportant market a long way away from America, so why would Americans come all that way? For most of 1959, the closest thing to American rock and roll stars touring the UK were Connie Francis and Paul Anka, neither of whom screamed rock and roll rebellion. American rockers just didn't come to the UK. Unless they had nowhere else to go, that is -- and Gene Vincent had nowhere else to go. In the US, he was a washed-up has been who'd burned every single bridge, but in the UK he was an American Rock Star. In late 1959 he released a not-great single, "Wildcat": [Excerpt: Gene Vincent, "Wildcat"] That single wasn't doing particularly well, but then Larry Parnes and Jack Good hatched a plan. Good had a new TV show, "Boy Meets Girls", based around one of Parnes' artists, Marty Wilde, and also had a column in Disc magazine. They'd get an American rock star over to the UK, Parnes would stick him on a bill with a bunch of Parnes' acts, Good would put him on the TV show and promote him in Disc magazine, and the tour and TV show would split the costs. Wilde was, at the time, about to go into a career slump. He'd just got married, and he and his wife were trying for their first kid -- they'd decided that if it was a girl, they were going to call her Kim. It seemed likely they were going to lose his audience of teenage girls, as he was no longer available, and so Larry Parnes was trying to move him from rock and roll into musical styles that would be more suitable for adults, so his latest single was a ballad, "Bad Boy": [Excerpt: Marty Wilde, "Bad Boy"] That meant that Wilde's band, the Wildcats, made up at this point of Tony Belcher, Big Jim Sullivan, Licorice Locking and Brian Bennett, were no longer going to be suitable to back Wilde, as they were all rock and rollers, so they'd be fine for whichever rock star they could persuade over to the UK. Vincent was the only rock star available, and his latest single was even called "Wildcat". That made him perfect for Parnes' purposes, though Vincent was slightly nervous about using British musicians -- he simply didn't think that British musicians would be any good. As it turned out, Vincent had nothing to worry about on that score at least. When he got to the studios in Didsbury, in Manchester, where Boy Meets Girls was filmed, he met some of the best session musicians Britain had to offer. The house band for the show, the Flying Squad, was a smaller version of the bands that had appeared on Good's earlier shows, a nine-piece group that included organist Cherry Wainer and session drummer Andy White, and was led by Joe Brown. Brown was a Larry Parnes artist, who at this point had released one rather uninspired single, the country-flavoured "People Gotta Talk": [Excerpt: Joe Brown, "People Gotta Talk"] But Brown had an independent streak, which could be seen just from his name -- Larry Parnes had tried to change it, as he did with all his acts, but Brown had flat-out refused to be called Elmer Twitch, the name Parnes had chosen for him. He insisted on keeping his own name, and it was under that name that he became one of Britain's most respected guitarists. Vincent, amazingly, found these British musicians to be every bit as good as any musicians he'd worked with in the USA. But that was about all that he liked about the UK -- you couldn't get a hamburger or a pizza anywhere in the whole country, and the TV was only in black and white, and it finished at 11PM. For someone like Vincent, who liked to stay up all night watching old monster movies on TV, that was completely unacceptable. Luckily for him, at least he had his gun and knife to keep him occupied -- he'd strapped them both to the leg iron he used for his damaged leg, so they wouldn't set off the metal detectors coming into the country. But whatever his thoughts about the country as a whole, he couldn't help loving the audience reaction. Jack Good knew how to present a rock and roll star to an audience, and he'd moved Vincent out of the slacks and sweater vests and blue caps into the kind of leather that he'd already had Vince Taylor wear. He got Vincent to emphasise his limp, and to look pained at all times. He was imagining Vincent as something along the lines of Richard III, and wanted him to appear as dangerous as possible. He used all the tricks of stagecraft that he'd used on Taylor, but with the added advantage that Vincent had a remarkable voice, unlike Taylor. Sadly, as is the case with almost all of the British TV of the period, the videotapes of the performances have long since been wiped, but we have poor-quality audio that demonstrates both how good Vincent was sounding and how well the British musicians were able to adapt to backing him: [Excerpt: Gene Vincent, "Summertime", live on Boy Meets Girls] After making three appearances on Boy Meets Girls, Vincent was put on tour backed by the Wildcats, on a bill with acts like Wee Willie Harris and the Bachelors (the ones who recorded for Parlophone, not the later act of the same name), and "Wildcat" started going up the charts. Even though Gene Vincent hadn't had a hit in three years, he was a massive success with the British audiences, and as a result Parnes and Good decided that it might be an idea if they got another American star over here, and the obvious choice was Eddie Cochran. Cochran had the same agent as Vincent, and so there was a working relationship there; they both knew each other and so Vincent could help persuade Cochran over; and Cochran had had a string of top thirty hits in the UK, but was commercially dead in the US. It was tempting for Cochran, too -- as well as the obvious advantage of playing to people who were actually buying his record, the geography of Britain appealed. He'd been terrified of flying since Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens had died, but the British tour would only involve the transatlantic flight -- all the travel once he was in the UK would be by road or rail. Before he came over, he had to record his next single, to be released while he was over in the UK. So on January the 8th, 1960, Eddie Cochran went into Gold Star Studios with his normal bass player, Guybo, and with his friends Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison, the guitarist and drummer of the Crickets, and they cut what turned out to be his last single, "Three Steps to Heaven": [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Three Steps to Heaven"] Two days later, he was in Britain, for the start of what was the biggest rock and roll tour in British history to that point -- a hundred and eight live appearances, plus several TV and radio appearances, in a little over three months, playing two shows a night most nights. Parnes felt he had to work them hard to justify their fees -- Vincent was getting $2500 a week, and Cochran $1000, while for example Billy Fury, at that point the biggest of Parnes' acts, was on a salary of twenty pounds a week. While Vincent had made a great impression largely despite himself, Cochran was a different matter. Everyone seemed to love him. Unlike Vincent, he was a musician's musician, and he formed close friendships with the players on the tour. Joe Brown, for example, remembers Cochran explaining to him that if you swap the G string on your guitar for a second B string, tuned down to G, you could bend a note a full tone -- Brown used that trick to make himself one of the most sought-after session players in the UK before his own pop career started to take off. It was also apparent that while Jack Good had had to create a stage act for Gene Vincent, he didn't have to do anything to make Cochran look good in front of the cameras. Marty Wilde said of him "The first thing I noticed about Eddie was his complexion. We British lads had acne and all the usual problems, and Eddie walked in with the most beautiful hair and the most beautiful skin - his skin was a light brown, beautiful colour, all that California sunshine, and I thought 'you lucky devil'. We had Manchester white all over us. And he had the most beautiful face -- the photographs never did the guy justice". From the moment Cochran started his set in Ipswich, by saying "It's great to be here in Hipswich" and wiggling his hips, he was utterly in command of the British audiences. Thankfully, because they did so many TV and radio sessions while they were over here, we have some idea of what these shows sounded like -- and from the recordings, even when they were in the antiseptic environment of a BBC recording studio, without an audience, they still sounded fantastic. On some shows, Cochran would start with his back to the audience, the band would start playing "Somethin' Else", the song that Sharon Sheeley had written for him that had been a minor hit, and he'd whirl round and face the audience on the opening line, "Well look-a there!" [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, "Somethin' Else [Eddie Cochran vocals]", Saturday Club version] The shows all had a number of acts on, all of them other than the stars Larry Parnes acts, and because there were so many shows, acts would get rotated in and out as the tour went on. But some of those who played on many dates were Vince Eager, who had named himself after Gene Vincent but quickly grew more attached to Eddie Cochran, who he started to regard as his best friend as the tour went on, Tony Sheridan, who was building a solo career after leaving the Oh Boy! band, Georgie Fame, who was already more interested in being a jazz and R&B pianist in the mould of Mose Allison than he was in being a pop star, Johnny Gentle, a Liverpudlian performer who never rose to massive success, and Billy Fury, by far the most talented of Parnes' acts. Fury was another Liverpudlian, who looked enough like Cochran that they could be brothers, and who had a top ten hit at the time with "Collette", one of many hits he wrote for himself: [Excerpt: Billy Fury, "Collette"]  Fury was something of a sex symbol, aided by the fact that he would stuff his pants with the cardboard tube from a toilet roll before going on stage. This would lead the girls to scream at him -- but would also lead their violent boyfriends to try to bottle him off stage, which meant he had more reason than most to have stagefright. Cochran would joke with Fury, and try to put him at ease -- one story has him telling a nervous Fury, about to go on stage, to just say to himself "I am the greatest performer in the world". Fury repeated back "I am the greatest performer in the world", and Cochran replied, "No you're not -- I am!" This kind of joking led to Cochran becoming immensely popular among all the musicians on the tour, and to him once again falling into his old role of protecting Gene Vincent from the consequences of his own actions, when Vincent would do things like cut up a suit belonging to one of the road managers, while the road manager was inside it. While Vincent was the headliner, Cochran was clearly the one who impressed the British audiences the most. We have some stories from people who saw the tour, and they all focus on Eddie. Particularly notable is the tour's residency in Liverpool, during which time Cochran was opening his set with his version of "What'd I Say": [Excerpt: Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, "What'd I Say [Eddie Cochran vocals]", Saturday Club version] We have this report of Cochran's performance in Liverpool: "Eddie blew me away. He had his unwound 3rd string, looked good and sang good and he was really getting to be a good guitarist… One moment will always represent Eddie to me. He finished a tune, the crowd stopped screaming and clapping, and he stepped up to the mike and before he said something he put both his hands back, pushed his hair back, and some girl, a single voice in the audience, she went ‘Eddie!’ and he said ‘Hi honey!’… I thought, ‘Yes! That’s it – rock ’n’ roll!’" That's a quote from George Harrison in the early 1990s. He'd gone to see the show with a friend, John Lennon -- it was Lennon's first ever rock and roll gig as an audience member, and one of a very small number he ever attended. Lennon never particularly enjoyed seeing live shows -- he preferred records -- but even he couldn't resist seeing Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent on the same bill. The Liverpool shows were massive successes, despite both American rockers being increasingly bored and turning more and more to drink as a result. Apparently the two would drink a bottle of bourbon between them before going on stage, and at one Liverpool show Cochran had to hold on to a mic stand to keep himself upright for the first two songs, before he sobered up enough to let go. The shows were successful enough that a local promoter, Allan Williams, asked if he could book Cochran and Vincent for another show, and Larry Parnes said yes -- after Liverpool, they had to play Newcastle, Manchester, London, and Bristol, taking up another month, and then Eddie Cochran was going to be going back to the US for a couple of weeks, but he could pencil them in for six weeks' time, when Cochran was going to come back. It's quite surprising that Cochran agreed to come back, because he was getting thoroughly sick of the UK. He'd asked Sharon Sheeley to fly over and join him, but other than her and Vincent he had nothing of home with him, and he liked sunshine, fast food, cold beer, and all-night TV, and hated everything about the British winter, which was far darker and wetter than anything he'd experienced. But on the other hand, he was enjoying making music with these British people. There's a great recording of Cochran, Vincent, Billy Fury, and Joe Brown jamming on the Willie Dixon blues song "My Babe" on "Boy Meets Girls": [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Billy Fury, Joe Brown, “My Babe”] But by the time the tour ended in Bristol, Eddie was very keen to get back. He was going to be bringing Vince Eager over to America to record, and arranged to meet him in London in the early hours of Easter Sunday. They were going to be taking the lunchtime plane from what was then London Airport but is now Heathrow. But there was a problem with getting there on time. There were very few trains between Bristol and London, and they'd have to get a car from the train station to the airport. But that Easter Sunday was the day of the annual Aldermaston March against nuclear weapons. These were massive marches which were big enough that they spawned compilation albums of songs to sing on the march, like Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's "Brother Won't You Join the Line": [Excerpt: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Brother Won't You Join the Line?"] But the main effect the march was having on Cochran and Vincent was that it meant that to be sure of catching their plane, they would have to travel overnight by car. At first, they asked one of the other artists on the tour, Johnny Gentle, if they could go in his car, but he already had a carful, so they ended up getting a local driver, named George Martin (not the one at Parlophone Records) to drive them overnight. They got into the back seat of the car -- Cochran sitting between Vincent and Sheeley, as Sheeley couldn't stand Vincent. Vincent took a sleeping pill and went to sleep almost immediately, but Sheeley and Cochran were in a good mood, singing "California Here We Come" together, when Martin took a turn too fast and hit a lamppost. Vincent and Sheeley suffered major injuries and had to spend time in hospital. Cochran died. A short while later, Johnny Gentle's car made its way onward towards London, and ran out of fuel. As all-night garages weren't a thing in Britain then, they flagged down a policeman who told them there'd been a crash, and they could see if the breakdown vehicle would let them siphon petrol from the wrecked car. They did, and it was only the next day they realised which car it was they'd taken the fuel from. One of the police at the scene – maybe even that one – was a cadet who would later change his name to Dave Dee, and become the lead singer in Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch. As soon as the news got out about Cochran's death, "Three Steps to Heaven", which had come out in the US, but not yet in the UK, was rush-released: [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Three Steps to Heaven"] It went to number one, and became Cochran's biggest hit. Larry Parnes didn't see why Cochran's death should put a crimp in his plans, and so he immediately started promoting the shows for which Vincent and Cochran had been booked, calling them Eddie Cochran Tribute Shows, and talking to the press about how ironic it was that Cochran's last song was "Three Steps to Heaven". Vince Eager was so disgusted with Parnes that he never worked with him again. But those shows turned out to have a much bigger impact than anyone could have imagined. Allan Williams was worried that without Cochran, the show he'd got booked in Liverpool wouldn't get enough of a crowd, so he booked in a number of local bands -- Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Cass and the Cassanovas, Nero and the Gladiators, and Gerry and the Pacemakers -- to fill out the bill. This led to all the bands and musicians in Liverpool realising, for the first time, how much talent there was in the city and how many bands there were. That one show changed Liverpool from a town where there were a few bands to a town with a music scene, and May the third 1960 can be pointed to as the day that Merseybeat started. Parnes was impressed enough by the local groups that he decided that Liverpool might be a good place to look for musicians to back his singers on the road. And we'll pick up on what happened then in a few months. Sharon Sheeley, once she'd recovered from her injuries, went on to write hits for Brenda Lee, Jackie DeShannon, the Fleetwoods, and Irma Thomas, and when Jack Good moved back to the US, she renewed her acquaintance with him, and together with Sheeley's husband they created Shindig, the most important American music show of the sixties. But by the time she died in 2002, all her obituaries talked about was that she'd been Eddie Cochran's girlfriend. And as for Gene Vincent, he was already in chronic pain, suffering mood swings, and drinking too much before the accident hospitalised him. After that, all those things intensified. He became increasingly unreliable, and the hits dried up even in Britain by mid-1961. He made some good music in the sixties, but almost nobody was listening any more, and an attempted comeback was cut short when he died, aged thirty-six, in 1971, from illnesses caused by his alcoholism. Despite their tragic deaths, Vincent and Cochran, on that 1960 UK tour, almost accidentally catalysed a revolution in British music, and the changes from that will reverberate throughout the rest of this story.

No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. Failure is all about you while you seek for goals that cannot be achieved. You look for permanence in the impermanent, for love where there is none, for safety in the midst of danger; immortality within the darkness of the dream of death. Who could succeed where contradiction is the setting of his searching, and the place to which he comes to find stability? Goals that are meaningless are not attained. There is no way to reach them, for the means by which you strive for them are meaningless as they are. Who can use such senseless means, and hope through them to gain in anything? Where can they lead? And what could they achieve that offers any hope of being real? Pursuit of the imagined leads to death because it is the search for nothingness, and while you seek for life you ask for death. You look for safety and security, while in your heart you pray for danger and protection for the little dream you made. Yet searching is inevitable here. For this you came, and you will surely do the thing you came for. But the world can not dictate the goal for which you search, unless you give it power to do so. Otherwise, you still are free to choose a goal that lies beyond the world and every worldly thought, and one that comes to you from an idea relinquished yet remembered, old yet new; an echo of a heritage forgot, yet holding everything you really want. Be glad that search you must. Be glad as well to learn you search for Heaven, and must find the goal you really want. No one can fail to want this goal and reach it in the end. God's Son can not seek vainly, though he try to force delay, deceive himself and think that it is hell he seeks. When he is wrong, he finds correction. When he wanders off, he is led back to his appointed task. No one remains in hell, for no one can abandon his Creator, nor affect His perfect, timeless and unchanging Love. You will find Heaven. Everything you seek but this will fall away. Yet not because it has been taken from you. It will go because you do not want it. You will reach the goal you really want as certainly as God created you in sinlessness. Why wait for Heaven? It is here today. Time is the great illusion it is past or in the future. Yet this cannot be, if it is where God wills His Son to be. How could the Will of God be in the past, or yet to happen? What He wills is now, without a past and wholly futureless. It is as far removed from time as is a tiny candle from a distant star, or what you chose from what you really want. Heaven remains your one alternative to this strange world you made and all its ways; its shifting patterns and uncertain goals, its painful pleasures and its tragic joys. God made no contradictions. What denies its own existence and attacks itself is not of Him. He did not make two minds, with Heaven as the glad effect of one, and earth the other's sorry outcome which is Heaven's opposite in every way. God does not suffer conflict. Nor is His creation split in two. How could it be His Son could be in hell, when God Himself established him in Heaven? Could he lose what the Eternal Will has given him to be his home forever? Let us not try longer to impose an alien will upon God's single purpose. He is here because He wills to be, and what He wills is present now, beyond the reach of time. Today we will not choose a paradox in place of truth. How could the Son of God make time to take away the Will of God? He thus denies himself, and contradicts what has no opposite. He thinks he made a hell opposing Heaven, and believes that he abides in what does not exist, while Heaven is the place he cannot find. Leave foolish thoughts like these behind today, and turn your mind to true ideas instead. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth, and it is truth we seek to reach today. We will devote ten minutes to this goal three times today, and we will ask to see the rising of the real world to replace the foolish images that we hold dear, with true ideas arising in the place of thoughts that have no meaning, no effect, and neither source nor substance in the truth. This we acknowledge as we start upon our practice periods. Begin with this: I ask to see a different world, and think a different kind of thought from those I made. The world I seek I did not make alone, the thoughts I want to think are not my own. For several minutes watch your mind and see, although your eyes are closed, the senseless world you think is real. Review the thoughts as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think are true. Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not. There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond. Seek for that door and find it. But before you try to open it, remind yourself no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. And it is this request you make today. Nothing but this has any meaning now; no other goal is valued now nor sought, nothing before this door you really want, and only what lies past it do you seek. Put out your hand, and see how easily the door swings open with your one intent to go beyond it. Angels light the way, so that all darkness vanishes, and you are standing in a light so bright and clear that you can understand all things you see. A tiny moment of surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not quite forget in wandering away in dreams. You cannot fail today. There walks with you the Spirit Heaven sent you, that you might approach this door some day, and through His aid slip effortlessly past it, to the light. Today that day has come. Today God keeps His ancient promise to His holy Son, as does His Son remember his to Him. This is a day of gladness, for we come to the appointed time and place where you will find the goal of all your searching here, and all the seeking of the world, which end together as you pass beyond the door. Remember often that today should be a time of special gladness, and refrain from dismal thoughts and meaningless laments. Salvation's time has come. Today is set by Heaven itself to be a time of grace for you and for the world. If you forget this happy fact, remind yourself with this: Today I seek and find all that I want. My single purpose offers it to me. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.- Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles, Lesson 131

What does the Bible say about Heaven? It says God is there and where God is, God's will is done.

No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. Failure is all about you while you seek for goals that cannot be achieved. You look for permanence in the impermanent, for love where there is none, for safety in the midst of danger; immortality within the darkness of the dream of death. Who could succeed where contradiction is the setting of his searching, and the place to which he comes to find stability? Goals that are meaningless are not attained. There is no way to reach them, for the means by which you strive for them are meaningless as they are. Who can use such senseless means, and hope through them to gain in anything? Where can they lead? And what could they achieve that offers any hope of being real? Pursuit of the imagined leads to death because it is the search for nothingness, and while you seek for life you ask for death. You look for safety and security, while in your heart you pray for danger and protection for the little dream you made. Yet searching is inevitable here. For this you came, and you will surely do the thing you came for. But the world can not dictate the goal for which you search, unless you give it power to do so. Otherwise, you still are free to choose a goal that lies beyond the world and every worldly thought, and one that comes to you from an idea relinquished yet remembered, old yet new; an echo of a heritage forgot, yet holding everything you really want. Be glad that search you must. Be glad as well to learn you search for Heaven, and must find the goal you really want. No one can fail to want this goal and reach it in the end. God's Son can not seek vainly, though he try to force delay, deceive himself and think that it is hell he seeks. When he is wrong, he finds correction. When he wanders off, he is led back to his appointed task. No one remains in hell, for no one can abandon his Creator, nor affect His perfect, timeless and unchanging Love. You will find Heaven. Everything you seek but this will fall away. Yet not because it has been taken from you. It will go because you do not want it. You will reach the goal you really want as certainly as God created you in sinlessness. Why wait for Heaven? It is here today. Time is the great illusion it is past or in the future. Yet this cannot be, if it is where God wills His Son to be. How could the Will of God be in the past, or yet to happen? What He wills is now, without a past and wholly futureless. It is as far removed from time as is a tiny candle from a distant star, or what you chose from what you really want. Heaven remains your one alternative to this strange world you made and all its ways; its shifting patterns and uncertain goals, its painful pleasures and its tragic joys. God made no contradictions. What denies its own existence and attacks itself is not of Him. He did not make two minds, with Heaven as the glad effect of one, and earth the other's sorry outcome which is Heaven's opposite in every way. God does not suffer conflict. Nor is His creation split in two. How could it be His Son could be in hell, when God Himself established him in Heaven? Could he lose what the Eternal Will has given him to be his home forever? Let us not try longer to impose an alien will upon God's single purpose. He is here because He wills to be, and what He wills is present now, beyond the reach of time. Today we will not choose a paradox in place of truth. How could the Son of God make time to take away the Will of God? He thus denies himself, and contradicts what has no opposite. He thinks he made a hell opposing Heaven, and believes that he abides in what does not exist, while Heaven is the place he cannot find. Leave foolish thoughts like these behind today, and turn your mind to true ideas instead. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth, and it is truth we seek to reach today. We will devote ten minutes to this goal three times today, and we will ask to see the rising of the real world to replace the foolish images that we hold dear, with true ideas arising in the place of thoughts that have no meaning, no effect, and neither source nor substance in the truth. This we acknowledge as we start upon our practice periods. Begin with this: I ask to see a different world, and think a different kind of thought from those I made. The world I seek I did not make alone, the thoughts I want to think are not my own. For several minutes watch your mind and see, although your eyes are closed, the senseless world you think is real. Review the thoughts as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think are true. Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not. There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond. Seek for that door and find it. But before you try to open it, remind yourself no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. And it is this request you make today. Nothing but this has any meaning now; no other goal is valued now nor sought, nothing before this door you really want, and only what lies past it do you seek. Put out your hand, and see how easily the door swings open with your one intent to go beyond it. Angels light the way, so that all darkness vanishes, and you are standing in a light so bright and clear that you can understand all things you see. A tiny moment of surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not quite forget in wandering away in dreams. You cannot fail today. There walks with you the Spirit Heaven sent you, that you might approach this door some day, and through His aid slip effortlessly past it, to the light. Today that day has come. Today God keeps His ancient promise to His holy Son, as does His Son remember his to Him. This is a day of gladness, for we come to the appointed time and place where you will find the goal of all your searching here, and all the seeking of the world, which end together as you pass beyond the door. Remember often that today should be a time of special gladness, and refrain from dismal thoughts and meaningless laments. Salvation's time has come. Today is set by Heaven itself to be a time of grace for you and for the world. If you forget this happy fact, remind yourself with this: Today I seek and find all that I want. My single purpose offers it to me. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.- Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles, Lesson 131

Why wait for Heaven? It is here today. Time is the great illusion it is past or in the future. Yet this cannot be, if it is where God wills His Son to be. How could the Will of God be in the past, or yet to happen? What He wills is now, without a past and wholly futureless. It is as far removed from time as is a tiny candle from a distant star, or what you chose from what you really want.- Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles, Chapter 13-xi-11., and part of the Lessons 131 - 128 - 129

What is the Dew of Heaven? It is a reference to well watered land that has sufficient moisture to produce heavy dew fall and good fruits, which is FRUITFULNESS. Let me remind you that when God created everything, the Bible recorded it in Genesis 2:5 – 6 that; “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” Meaning, mist will travel from the earth and have a meeting with the heavens for the release of dew to water the whole face of the ground for the plants to produce. #GreatnesswithGod #Kallatage

Want to know more about leading your church in evangelism? Join co-hosts Johnny Hunt and Kevin Ezell as they discuss the North American Mission Board’s interactive workshop, Engage 24, designed for pastors! Engage24 exists to help pastors lead their church in evangelism. Discover what to expect when you attend Engage24 and learn more about the importance of modeling evangelism every day. Discover other evangelism resources at https://www.namb.net/. Missed the first two episodes? Tune in here and here. Transcript: Kevin Ezell: Thanks for joining us today on this episode of Evangelism with Johnny Hunt. I’m Kevin Ezell, and with me is the one and only Johnny Hunt. Everything we do here at NAMB is about sending the hope of the Gospel. It’s our goal to see every church on mission, and we are here to provide tools and resources that can help equip pastors and churches in their efforts to live on mission. Today, we want to talk to you about an interactive evangelism workshop that we have available to help pastors lead their church in evangelism. It’s called the Engage 24 workshop. Brother Johnny, you’ve actually spoken at many of these Engage 24 workshops. Tell us what these workshops are all about and what pastors can expect when they attend. Johnny Hunt: First of all, they should be very encouraged to know that every person that speaks is doing evangelism, and they’re mobilizing more of their church members. The good news is, they’re not just going to share with you what they’re doing. They’re going to tell you how they started doing it that way, how they involved their people. It’ll be very, very practical. They’re really in hopes that what they share will help you lead your church to be on mission in evangelism as well. You have a opportunity after every person speaks, we stop right there and say, “What’s your questions,” to make sure there’s great clarity, make sure you walk away with some real helpful things in your own ministry when you get home. Kevin Ezell: Exactly. We have several incredible practitioners. Every person that speaks, as you just said, every person that speaks is a practitioner. They’re actually doing it where they are in all different size of churches. Why don’t you just share some of the speakers that we’ve had and will have in these workshops? Johnny Hunt: Let me do that, Kevin, and let me say this too even before I give those names. Every one of them take a little different approach, which makes it a very exciting, fast-moving time, and we’ll even share with you in a few minutes about what some people are saying that have been with us. Jimmy Scroggins, I sat on the plane the other day, and just simply Googled Three Circles and just sat there and listened to it over and over again, just to continue to keep a handle on those great truths. Last night, my wife and I at dinner shared with a couple about how everyone’s broken and how that is the whole issue of sin, but how the Gospel and forgiveness addresses it. Jimmy will help them. Gosh, he’s practical. He’ll show you literally a video of him teaching the Three Circles. Johnny Hunt: James Merritt, James Merritt undoubtedly is one of the greatest personal soul winners in the pulpit in the Southern Baptist convention. If you follow him on social network, he has constantly got his arm around a gentleman that he shared the Gospel with on the golf course or where he’s out to eat or the hotel he’s staying in. Kevin Ezell: You know Brother Johnny, I’ve kind of got a problem, though, with some of Brother James. He only witnesses to Georgia fans. Johnny Hunt: I know you were going to say something that would resemble red and black. Kevin Ezell: Yeah. Johnny Hunt: He’s very bulldog-matic about sharing the Gospel there. Kevin Ezell: It’s so funny, I was messing with him the other day. I was like, “Hey, every time you tweet about sharing your faith, there’s a guy that’s got a Georgia hat on. Do you only witness in Georgia?” Johnny Hunt: Well, if he does win someone to Christ, he at least asks them to wear something from Georgia when they take their picture. Kevin Ezell: What’s interesting about him, though, is he never turns it off. People often ask if they’re not around a guy like, or you, it’s just constant. I remember you and I, we’ve been to Waffle House, I guess I was buying that day, and I mean, the waitress comes up and thanked you for praying for her and you had shared with her the last time you were in there. I mean, the guys who do it the best, it’s not something they put on at certain times or pretend. It’s who they are, and so not only James, but another like Tim Dowdy and some others you mentioned. Johnny Hunt: Yeah, it should be our second nature. Tim Dowdy, gosh, done such a great job at Eagle’s Landing. Again, he’s got a passion for sharing the Gospel, and I mean everywhere. He’s got a heart for the nations and he’s got a heart for his community. Ted Traylor, he’s been doing it so long at Olive Baptist. He has a great way of presenting and he’s a great teacher of God’s word, but the major reason these men are there is because they’re modeling what we want everyone to walk away with. Ken Whitten at Idlewild Ken has been such a great witness for Christ. Kevin Ezell: He’s one of the meanest guys in the SBC. Johnny Hunt: He’s mean, but he can sure share the Gospel. Kevin Ezell: Yeah, yeah. Johnny Hunt: Ken, I have the material that he passed out that he uses at his own church, that he passes out to his people to place into the hands of the ones there witnessing to. Same thing with John [Metta 00:05:10]. John, everyone, you’ll walk away from and you’ll say, “Gosh, he was so much different, but yet spot on for exactly what we needed to hear.” Johnny Hunt: We’re going to actually take topics that will help you to lead on mission by creating a vision and a strategy and a culture of evangelism. It’s a process, but we’re going to show you what you need to do, or what we’ve done that we found really works where we are or even other churches. How you’re gathering, even on Sunday morning, can be an experience that’s always, not every now and then, but always evangelistic in nature. Teaching your people to live on mission, and then hopefully it will become second nature for them at work as well. Kevin Ezell: Wouldn’t you say evangelism and how you do evangelism kind of evolves in your own spiritual journey? I don’t know about you, but when I was a teenager, I went on Saturday morning visitation. I had a bus route when I was 15 and carried around a bag of Double Bubble looking for Big Wheels out in the yard. You know? Then I remember, I would use tracks, like those chick tracks I had. Johnny Hunt: I remember those. Kevin Ezell: I was a distributor of those throughout my high school. Then at the college and my first years of seminary, you know, I would use CWT and EE and then, I now use Three Circles is my favorite because I got the app and it’s just an easy thing to walk people through. Don’t you think sometimes it evolves? It’s about somebody understanding, you’ve got to have some tools, but there’s so many different circumstances and situations that call for different ways to connect with people. Johnny Hunt: Yeah, and again, when you’re just natural and it’s second nature, you sort of begin to have a feel for what you ought to share, how far you ought to go on the first visit, whether you have the opportunity to share the Gospel and ask for a decision right there. Absolutely, I loved Four Spiritual Laws. Someone may say it didn’t have enough emphasis on repentance. Well, put that emphasis there, but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Johnny Hunt: Then I went through Faith, I went through CWT, I’ve learned the questions for Evangelism Explosion. There’s just been times that someone would say, “Well, what is it you’re trying to share anyway?” I’d just say, “Well, for instance, let me just ask you. Suppose you were to die today. What do you think you would say before God as to why He should let you into Heaven?” It just depends on where you may be that you can press in on the conversation. Most of all, you want to do your best to have a Gospel conversation. Kevin Ezell: You know, the thing is, I wish there was some type of database where every pastor at least told us, “Okay, what is your preferred method?” I tell folks, “Look, if you don’t like Three Circles, do four squares, do five pentagons. It doesn’t matter. Find something and do it.” It’s the fact that you just use a tool. Your own personal testimony is the best tool, but whatever it is, just use something and do something. Johnny Hunt: Exactly, and it becomes a whole process. I think why I’m trying to teach our people about witnessing, I mean, like it or not, there’s somewhere I need to remind them that people are going to spend eternity either with Christ or separated from Him. We got where the word almost frightens us, but people literally go to Hell. If you can think about your mother spending eternity from Christ or your dad, it’ll make you get in your car, it’ll cause you to get trained, and then to drive five hours to where they are to plead with them to give their life to Jesus, and leave the results to God. Try to share the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. Kevin Ezell: To me, I think the problem’s not with the lost, the problem’s with the found. The found have forgotten what it’s like to be lost. Johnny Hunt: Exactly. Kevin Ezell: Tell me Brother Johnny, going to these workshops, what are three reasons why you think any pastor should attend the workshop other than the cool NAMB sway that we will give them? Johnny Hunt: Number one, I really do believe everyone will be encouraged by the information, by what they hear, and they will be informed and instructed. I think there’s another ingredient that’s very important, and that is inspiration. They will be very inspired. I mean, it’ll warm your heart. You’ll hear some stories of how God has used them in recent days, maybe even in their travels to the conference. Johnny Hunt: One thing I would say, whatever you do, don’t attend alone. Find that lady, that gentleman in your church that’s got a passion. Any staff that you may have, any board members, and plead with them, let them know in advance, that the cool thing about what we’re doing, it all takes place over 24 hours. Give one day out of the year and let us be part of, not only training you but some of your key lay leaders, so it can even start more exponentially when you get back. Kevin Ezell: Exactly. That’s why I think one of the best things about Faith, if you remember the Faith, F-A-I-T-H, was so good, they just demanded that you bring at least 10 people from your church so you could multiply much faster. That was one of our favorite ones that I had use when I was a pastor and went over best with our people. Some of the pastors who have gone to some of these workshops have sent in just some notes, and I wanted to share a few things some of those guys said. Kevin Ezell: One guy said, “My passion for evangelism was rekindled as a result of this workshop. I needed this. This workshop re-sparked my enthusiasm to reach the lost and engage our city.” I think the fact that, not only they hear great content with fantastic, practical, and practitional speakers, but that they’re around guys who are all after the same thing. We’re all wanting to push back losses and reach people. It’s just encouraging to hear guys share what works, and honestly for me, when I attended these as a pastor, it helped me and encouraged me to hear some things that didn’t work. Johnny Hunt: Yeah, I am confident, and I wrote it down a long time ago, that encouragement fuels enthusiasm. Here’s what I believe. I believe every pastor that will attend, there was a time in their life they were enthusiastic about evangelism. They were confident their church would grow. They were confident they would reach people. They were confident that others in their congregation would join them. But, they’ve lost their enthusiasm. Johnny Hunt: Now, if we can help re-spark it, and I heard it said once by a great theologian, he said, “Johnny, never forget, you do not have the capacity to light a man’s fire. Only Jesus can. You can fan the flame of that fire.” That’s where the encouragement comes in. That, a young man, an older man, a middle aged man or lady can become very enthusiastic again, sort of returning to your first love, of what you embraced when you first got started. That can happen at our Engage 24. Kevin Ezell: Well, we’re hosting three Engage 24 workshops in the spring, so visit www.namb.net/engage24 for more information. We would love to see you there. As always, if you have any questions on evangelism, send them to us at evangelism@nam.net and we will try to answer them on a future podcast. Brother Johnny, thank you so much for your insight today, and just grateful to partner with you. Johnny Hunt: Thank you Kevin, and I’m hoping that many of our listeners will join us at our next Engage 24.

(http://brandingforbelievers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Joc2.png) Imagine quitting your job with the hope and excitement of an advance on your new book deal, a string of new brand partnerships, and all of your personal relationships intact. Now, imagine all of it falling apart just days before your final day of safety and security at your full time job with benefits. That’s what happened to author/blogger Jocelyn Delk Adams, creator of Grandbaby Cakes. Listen to how she bounced back when the bottom nearly fell out of her dream.   In this episode learn about trusting the timing of your life, the cure for despair, and finding inspiration in your personal triumphs.   After listening to this episode, I invite you to tweet your feedback @DrShanteSays (twitter.com:drshantesays) or leave a review on iTunes.   About the Host, Dr. Shante Bishop Dr. Shante is a nationally recognized brand strategist with a client portfolio that includes talent from HGTV, NBC Network, and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Her work has been featured in Forbes, JET Magazine, Fox Network, and WCIU Chicago. She is also the CEO of Design Her Label where she equips entrepreneurs and influencers with the tools to build and believe BIGGER. Episode Resources Grandbaby Cakes Cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Grandbaby-Cakes-Recipes-Vintage-Memories/dp/1572841737/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437535883&sr=1-1&keywords=grandbaby+cakes&pebp=1437535894393&perid=052PF2ARQZTM2XEJE9MK) Marketing: A Love Story (http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Love-Story-Matter-Customers/dp/1500619213/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437535939&sr=1-1&keywords=marketing+a+love+story%27+by+bernadette+jiwa&pebp=1437535949832&perid=0E7T6FHA64WN2FVEM015) Boomerang Email Support (http://www.boomeranggmail.com/) Freshbooks (http://www.freshbooks.com/)   Episode Action Steps: Build Your Brand through Content Consistently Guest Post for Other Brands Hard work is the only option when things fall apart Keep Going until you have Success Top Quotes: Success requires: “Trust the Timing of Your Life” “Being broke forced me to hustle in a way that I wouldn’t have, had things worked out as I hoped” “Don’t look at others as a point of comparison, Your journey is your journey. “ Key Timestamps: [04:26] Money Doesn’t Rain from Heaven…It doesn’t even Sprinkle [05:41] No Guarantees 10:4- Making financial sacrifices [12:37] Life After Quitting [14:25] I Didn’t Get Confirmation Right Away [19:58] Don’t Throw in the Towel [23:48] Comparison is not the way you Grow   Be sure to add your comments and feedback below or via Twitter @DrShanteSays

Consciousness, Energy Healing and your Heart Chakra     Hi, I’m Sherry Anshara, your consciousness expert, and it’s your time for consciousness. This is your Wake Up Call.     The Heart Chakra – He-Art as in Heaven – It is within you, in your Heart Chakra. Your body is the physical. We sing HYMs and we have Heal, He-Al, this is not about gender, but consciousness. The highest vibrational field, when you are in your heart and it is activated, you are expansive! The 4 chambers are working, getting nutrition, alive and well. From the heart you begin to create that physical matter. Listen in for more!     Join us everyday at www.QuantumPathic.com/YourWakeUpCall and be motivated, be surprised about yourself everyday, get excited and remember, keep your head out of your “B.S. Belief Systems!”     I am Sherry Anshara, your consciousness expert and its time for you to be fully conscious, fully aware, and fully active as an evolved, conscious evolutionary.     Wake Up to Consciousness!  Your Host Sherry Anshara covers subjects like Energy Healing, Belief Systems, Clearing Blocks, Removing Lack, Financial Abundance, Chakras, Getting Unstuck, Holisitc Healing, and more.   We discuss symptoms that can be relieved and eliminated such as Depression, PTSD, Cancer, Stress, Anxiety, ADHD/Autism, Parkinsons, Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Addictions, Migraines, Sexual Abuse, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Trauma Release and more.   Do You Ever… Wonder…… Even though you know you know better…       Why I keep getting stuck?       Why I repeat relationships?       Why I can’t find my answers?       Why I find it difficult to move forward every day?       Why I have done so much therapy and it didn’t work?   If you answered YES to any of these, QuantumPathic may be the answer you have been searching for your whole life!   The QuantumPathic Energy Method Heals the Body and Emotions, and Supports you Emotionally, Mentally, Physically, Spiritually and Financially!   Your Wake Up Call is similar to other podcasts and speakers, authors and experts like Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, Brian Weiss, Deepak Chopra , Esther Hicks , Mike Dooley, Joe Vitale , Fred Alan Wolf , Masaru Emoto , C. Norman Shealy , Carolyn Myss , Candace Pert, Joseph Dispenza, William Tiller, Gregg Braden, David Wilcock, Eckhart Tolle, Michio Kaku, Miguel Ruiz, Thomas Campbell, Dr. Gary Schwartz, Dr. Mark Hyman, Gary Zukav. Byron Katie, Debbie Ford, Shakti Gawain, Ram Dass, Jean Houston, Marianne Williamson, James Redfield, Donna Eden, Judith Orloff, Mona Lisa Schultz, Anthony Robbins, Susan Jeffers, Stuart Wilde, Zecharia Sitchin, Edgar Cayce, Bruce H. Lipton, Larry Dossey, Sondra Barrett, Mehmet Oz, Carol Look, Gary Craig, Guy Finley, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Bernie Siegel, Cheryl Richardson, Dale Carnegie, Scott Peck, John Gray, Joan Borysenko, Debbie Ford, Christiane Northrup, Lissa Rankin, Doreen Virtue, Nick Ortner, Amit Goswami, Joyce Hawkes, Anup Kanodia, Neale Donald Walsch, Sonia Choquette, Carol Ritberger, Deborah King, Mira Kelley, Richard Gordon, Phil McGraw, Doc Childre, Karen Drucker, Colin Tipping, Cynthia James, Deborah Rozman, Clifford Kuhn, Brendon Burchard, Pattie Ptak, and Lisa Sasevich.   Join Sherry Anshara every day for Your Wake Up Call!  

What does the Bible say about Heaven? It is a literal, prepared, personal, and big place! Listen and be encouraged as you explore the depths of this awesome subject.