January 25, 2025 • 28 mins
Revival Radio TV brings you an inspiring episode with Vep Ellis Jr. as he shares personal stories about his family's ministry, music, and generational impact. Vep Ellis Jr. recounts his father’s journey of writing powerful songs that became anthems for Oral Roberts’ ministry. Discover the legacy of faith and music that shaped generations.
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(00:02):
In everygeneration there have been revivals,
massive moves of the spirit
that changed the course of history.
In every revival,there were believers like you
who chose to answer the call
to become the one in their generation.
Discover your call to be the one
(00:23):
in your generation.
Welcome back again to Revival Radio TV.
We're following the journey of VepEllis Jr again with me this week.
Let's go back to your dad,who was, of course,
with with Oral part of his part of his,ministry life.
(00:45):
Talk about the fact how he would writesongs for his messages, for Oral messages.
Well, you know, BrotherRoberts was a powerful preacher.
Absolutely.
And he was, I can remember the message.
The fourth man.
Oh, yeah.
You know that one. And, of course, dad
(01:06):
would be inspired by that.
I mean, inspiration.
So dad wrote a number of songsto go along with Oral sermons,
and when he was going to preach a sermon,then dad would have the song
that went with us with the sermon.
I'll just mention some of the titles.
Now I'll tell you a story or two.
Okay. Cause expect a miracle.
(01:28):
Yeah, I've heard that.
You expect a miracle.
And that was, one of the mantrasof Oral Roberts he had on his desk.
That's right.
A plaque (01:37):
Expect a miracle. He.
I mean, he had big faith, big vision,as we all know.
That man.
He didn't have small vision. No.
It was, as they have heard, he told.
And then, so I expect a miracle.
Then I can't go under for going
(01:58):
over was a great sermon of his.
And where Jesus and the disciplesgot into the boat
and they were goingacross the Sea of Galilee.
And of course, as soon as they gotin the boat, those boats had to be
pretty bigto get at least 13 people in it.
And of course, it was always a few peoplegoing along with him too.
(02:20):
But a big stormarose and Jesus is sleeping.
Yeah.
And theboat and the disciples were afraid.
And so they woke Jesus up and said,
yes, they did not care if we should die.
And Jesus said, where is your faith?
Right.
(02:40):
And he stood up,and he spoke to the winds and the waves.
Peace. Be still.
And immediately the storm subsided.
And dad wrote that song.
I can't go under for going over, thoughthe winds dashed higher in storm.
You know, it it just a great song.
And it goes with that sermonand then move with God.
(03:04):
If God is moving, get into the water.
Unless you I mean, if God is moving,just believe God for a miracle.
This is the day of miracles.
Move with God. Yeah.
And so that's a great song.
A prisoner of the Lord that he wrote, an Oral’s sermon about when
Paul said, I'm going to praise him,but he said, I'm not a prisoner of Rome.
(03:27):
I'm a prisoner of the Lord,
and I bear the scars in my body.
And so they wrote the song A prisonerof the Lord, oh, blessed Holy Spirit.
Yeah.
Which one of the best songs on the HolySpirit has ever been written?
And, you know, Oral Roberts reallyemphasizes the baptism, the Holy Spirit.
Yes he did.
(03:47):
And every student that went to OralRoberts University, I assume they
I have to do this.
Had to take Roberts class on
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
And it's a great thingand it's a great song.
And then, ORU fight song which
pretty well tells the mission statement.
(04:09):
Yes. Of all of the OralRoberts University.
Right.
And as it was on the foundingboard of Regents, and he wrote that song
for the student, but he also wrote the, another song for them.
But then he wrote wilt Thou Be madewhole based on the four lepers?
There were,
that that, needed healing.
(04:32):
And then when he came to the pool
of Bethesda that day and there was a manlying on the couch, right.
And and he was waiting for the watersto be stirred.
And I can hear Doctor Robertsspeak preaching in that sermon.
Waiting for the waters to be stirred.
But before he could get into the water,somebody got in before him,
(04:52):
and he had been there for 38 years,I guess.
And Jesus said, do you want to be healed?
Wilt thou be made whole?
He said, Will that be made whole?
And has he explained why?
But then the Lord said, well, stand up.
Pick up your mat and walk.
And men walked away healed.
So wilt thou be made whole?
(05:13):
And then why is it we're hereuntil we die?
I cannot assure hereOral Roberts preaching that sermon
that's about the four lepersat the gate of Samaria.
There was a famine in the land.
Remember that?
Yes. And, the king of Syria had that.
They had builttheir armies were surrounding Samaria.
They were going to starve them out.
(05:34):
And there was a famine.
And and those four lepers were at the gateand, and, they said to one another,
you know, we can go inside the walls,
say they're going to kill usand eat us will go in there
because they kind of cannibalisn't going going on inside of Samaria.
Or they said, we can we can sit here.
We're going to diebecause we're starving to death.
(05:56):
Or we can go overto the camp of the Syrians.
Who knows?
They may spare us and let us see,and we may live.
We don't know,but we'll take our chances that way.
So we say we're here until we die.
Let's make a move.
Let's do something.
And they went overto the camp of the Syrians.
And there wasn't a single soldier inthe camp.
(06:19):
God had called the Assyrians to here.
The host of heaven
and the chariots of fireand the hoofs of horses.
And they said to themselves,I believe the king of Samaria
has hired the Egyptians.
And Hittites to come and kill us.
(06:39):
And they took off in flight.
And when these four lepers got over there,there was anybody there.
But the food was still there.
The silver and the gold was there.
All the clothes were there,and they took it and hid it.
And they finally said, you know,this is a good day.
This is a great day.
We need to tell people inside the gate
(06:59):
said, if we don't,they're going to find out anyway.
Then they'll eat us.
Yeah.
So anyway, whyI said we're here until we die.
You know, Oral was a man of action.
He was.
I'm telling you,he had great vision and he acted on it.
So why is it we're here until we die?
What did James say?
Show me your faith without works.
I'll show you my faith with my works.
(07:21):
Get up and do something.Yeah! Come on, man.
But anyway, these are the songs that dadwrote to go along with his sermons,
and they're on that albumthat we're talking.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's this one right herethat, know his crusade favorite
Vep Ellis sings Oral Robertscrusade favorites and dad wrote.
I think every one of those, but maybe two.
(07:42):
Well, you know, one thing that we kind ofskipped over, I want to go back to.
Let's talk about the connectionwith, with Demos Shakarian and, and and
how did that happen?
Well, the story started
when we moved from Clevelandto Atlanta, Georgia.
Dad. And the church there,which became known
as Mount Perrin,it was called Hemphill Church of God.
(08:05):
Our whole lives changed.
What we moved to Atlanta.
Was in high school.
It was in the middle of my sophomore yearin Atlanta.
David.
My older brothers had made ResurrectionSchool, but, dad, we were living there,
and that was evangelizing here,these tents and stuff like that.
But I started working at the church.
(08:28):
We had a lot of businessmenright at Hemphill
Church, which it was called Mount Parent.
And, dad started speaking
with the Full Gospel businessmenand went to their fellowship.
He went to Miami and went to thereinternational meeting in Miami.
And it changed his life.
(08:49):
He said he the power of God had fallento that meeting and was so powerful.
He said, I was sitting under the pianoat the convention center
where this convention was being held,and he said,
I suddenly realized the kingdom of Godis so much bigger than one denomination.
Man, this.
And it changed his life.
His vision just explodedand we never changed.
(09:12):
I mean, it it changed our lives.
Sure.
And and so he started workingwith the full gospel businessmen speaking.
And that, of course, made dementia care.
And we eventually ended upmoving to California
and startedspeaking in those international meetings.
I think the first meetingthat I personally went to, not chapter,
(09:32):
but the first meeting that I attendedwas the Denver International Committee,
convention and for the full gospelbusiness meeting meeting.
And dad was one of the speakers,and he also would sing
and my brother
and I, we were making records with dad,we were staying with my dad
and back him up.
We were just the hangers on, but we werewe made his point.
He was, you know, right.
(09:53):
We were just supporting him. But we were.
It was just a one.Those meetings were powerful.
Then we went to
the one in Seattle at the rememberwhen the World's Fair was held in Seattle?
I think that's what we saw.
I mean, powerful move.
God, BillyGraham came and spoke at the international
convention there in Seattle.
(10:14):
The full Gospel businessmenwere a great influence, starting
well, Robert's university, andthey were great supporters of the world.
Sure.
So let's talk about,you know, you mentioned Sheridan back
then, Sheridan Assembly.
But, let's talk about how that, now,this is your life,
how did that all transition, with you?
(10:35):
Let's talk about your connectionwith Brother Hagin.
Well, thank you.
When Doctor Hagin came to Tulsa,two year,
probably probably about two yearsafter he had,
had been has spoke at the to the
the eight month revivaland not a eight week revival.
(10:58):
He moved to Tulsa and boughtthe old TL Osborne
building and,
and are exactly sure on the dateit might have been six,
nine, six, eight, six and nine,
but but it, hehe would hold the seminars
there at the old Osborne building
and and Brother Miller, whothe founder of the church would have him
(11:20):
to come and speak on Sunday morningand Sunday night at the church.
And of course,
I had a music program there.
I was the minister of musicand associate pastor,
and I would lead the musicfor those meetings.
And then they begin to develop for,you know, it
developed in to a camp meeting.
(11:41):
I can remember when Doctor Haginannounced on a Sunday, well,
next year we're going to have an indoorcamp meeting.
Well, I thought that was interesting.
I'd been in camp meetings, raised in campmeetings, met my wife and
and camp meeting and Oklahoma.
And they had preached the camp meetingand my grandfather was a Bible state
(12:01):
teacher in the morning.I was he used to camp me.
Well, let's be real.
You they had had to meet youin a camp meeting.
That's where you were 90% of the time.
That's exactly right.
And so I'm in camp meetings.
That's great. Okay, but indoorcamp meeting.
Okay. Yeah.
Air condition.That first thing went in my mind
because I had been in the Florida campmeet
(12:23):
Oh, man. You sweltered.
Oh, man.
So enjoy this and find me,but I can't these they were exciting.
Yeah. All right, so we announced the camp.
He announced that campmeetings were starting.
I can remember sitting on the platformwhen it announced it.
So the next year,the camp meeting started,
and, not in 70,
(12:45):
not 1972.
I think that was the first camp meeting.
And, oh my goodness gracious,people started coming in every year
they get bigger.
And I can remember sitting on the platform
when Fred Price came and stoodright down there.
I don't know if it's the first camp,be the second one,
(13:05):
but he was standingright off the platform.
He had a tumor in his chest and BrotherHagin prayed for him.
And you sealed.
Yeah. Yeah that's good.
That's saw people heal.
People say people deliveredand it was a move of God.
People would comeand be parked in the parking lot
and out or before the services.
We couldn't let them in earlyor they'd just be saved and etc..
(13:26):
Well, we had just control it, you know,but it just doubled every year.
And I think it might have beenin the second camp meeting,
can't remember for sure,but I can remember when Doctor Hagin, Papa
Hagin, as we all call him, announced,well, we're going to start a Bible college
and we're going to start next year.
Well,of course he needed someone to run it.
(13:47):
So he called his son Ken juniorto come from Garland.
Right.
And so he came up in officethere at the church.
And so the teachers for the Bible schoolor Ken Junior,
Doctor Hagin and I would teach.
So I started teaching there at the
at the first and second year, third yearthat already outgrown us.
(14:09):
And they grewthey bought property in Broken Arrow.
Right.
So there was about two years therethat I had, I didn't work with him,
but the third year, they that happenedand of course, had been at the Sheridan,
assistant pastor and musicdirector beam primary portfolio.
But I'd been there for at that time,
(14:33):
about 14 years,and I knew that God was stirring my heart.
It was. I needed a change.
I need I needed,I was going to be moving somewhere.
I was going to do something.I told the Lord, okay.
Lord, I said, you
know, I've been waiting for the rightplace,
and two weeks I'm resigning in the churchand I'm going to be out on the street.
(14:56):
And if you don't provide a place, I'm
going to tell everybodythat you didn't provide it.
Yeah, I, I said, I'm just throwing myselfon the way out on the wind.
And I said, so that's it. I'm I'm it.
I had resolve it. Right.
Sometimes you had to make a resolution.This is it.
So I said, I'm leaving.
I'm turning in my resignationin two weeks.
(15:18):
Wednesday of the second weekI get a call, my wife calls me.
She says, Doctor Hagin's been tryingto get Ahold of you all day long.
I've been playing golf.
So I get home and I call him.
He said, what's up, doc?
That's one of the way he start things.
I said, well,I hear you trying to get in touch with me.
He said, I have.
(15:38):
He said, well,how would you like to go to work for me?
I said, what time you want me to start?
Yeah.
He said, in the morning, see in my office.
Yeah. Wednesday of the second week.
How about that? It's God faithful.
He is faithful.
He's faithful.
But you gotta gotta make a move.
You gotta throw your bread on the what?
Got to him? Something to work. Well,I say we're here until we die.
(15:59):
It's time to make a move.
Yeah. And God comes through praise Jesus.
Hallelujah.
So I worked therefull time leading music.
Led the music in the school
taught the studentssomething about praise and worship.
Led it for the Crusades.
Traveled with Dr. Haginacross the United States and Canada.
Help train arriving singers and band.
(16:19):
It was it was.
It was one of the most delightful timesof my life.
And then I went back to pastorshared in Christian Center
as senior pastor and for all of 84. Wow.
So talk about that.
Going back to sharedand what was that like?
I had had the opportunity to go over theretwice before.
In fact, the pastor that I was
(16:42):
the church where I was going regularly was
would like assembly there in Tulsawhere my wife and I were attending.
And once when the church needed a pastor,my pastor brother knew and said, way up
and I'm
still working on music for Brother Hagin.
He said, well,you need to go pastor that church.
(17:03):
I hadn't, I was still the Hagin.
He said, you need to go over there.
You're the only one that can do that.You need to go back over there.
And you understand.
Sheridan Church was a historic church.
It was pastor many,I mean, founded many churches here, here
in Tulsa, there in Tulsa,and many churches on the mission field.
Victory Christian Center came out a sharedsure church.
(17:27):
Of course,Rhema Church came out of that Grace
fellowship, behindand came out of that church class.
Billy in Victory came out of that church.
Several others came out of that church.
And now I'm going back as senior pastor.
It was justback, this is where you're supposed to be.
Wow. But it was a learning experience.
(17:48):
It was not all easy.
And, you know, but I was there
as senior pastor for 30, 34 years.
I was on the staff total of 47 years.
Well, your father had said before
he died, don't let my music be forgotten.
And you've mentioned that you guyshave gotten together from time to time.
(18:10):
What are what is the family doing
to keep the music legacy alive?
Well, back in 1999, my dad died.
1988,
and then it was 19.
It was
(18:31):
it was 1989, I think.
Yeah.
When we we decided we better do something
and, we made an album
called It's Not Over Till It's Over.
There was my dad's last song. Right.
We made that album.
Two years later, we made another one.
(18:51):
Get on a Happy Side of Life.
Yeah.
And, and everywherewe toured for several years.
Right. And, and the last,
you know, it's been quite a few yearsthat we've, we've toured.
But as my neighbor told me once, we,I was walking through the neighborhood
and my neighbor saw one of my neighbor,
(19:11):
she said,when are you boys getting back together?
I said, well,you know, we're getting older now.
I don't know if that's going to happen.
They're living in four cornersof United States as we're all separated.
She said, well,you better do it before you get to old,
she said, I haven't missedone of your concerts yet as well.
(19:33):
I don't knowif it's going to happen again,
but I said, we have done,we have done that.
So we made our concert.
We sold out,we sold out of the record albums.
We had to reproduce them. And
Tim Hill,the general overseer of the church,
we are, he's given as a giftto all the senior ministers.
He's given a copy of of Ellis Brothers
(19:56):
records to all of them,which we have all the dead songs on that.
Not all of his songs, but
a lot of the songs that are onthere are written by my dad.
So that's what we have done to keepkeep it alive.
But I'll tell you,I must thank Bill Gaither for what
he's donefor Christian music and gospel music.
(20:19):
He calls my dada legend of the 20th century,
and he's on an on a recording
that he didthe legends of the 20th century.
And it has such an influence over all thecomposers and the singers of that period.
Right.
And, he has done a lothe has recorded dad’s songs on those home
(20:41):
coming videos,and I'm very grateful for him doing that.
It keeps the music aliveand it blesses so many people.
It does.
Well, let's talk about today.
You know, there's
today's a it's a different world.
You know, one of the programswe were talking about,
JB telling,
(21:01):
your grandfather, your father about it,it's a different world.
You're going to deal with a lot ofdifferent, a lot of different things.
Now, who would have ever thoughtwe would be dealing with in society
and in our culture,what we're dealing with now, it's it's
mind boggling.
But with all of that said about how do we
(21:23):
what's what's the one messagethat you would give to the people today?
Not, not I'm not looking for JB
Ellis or Vep senior.
I'm looking for for your message.
What is it you would tell the people todaythat we need to.
We need to concentrateon the Christian world.
We're already believers.
What is it we need to spend our time on?
(21:44):
We need to rememberwhat's written in the book of Hebrews.
He's the same.
God is the same yesterday,today and forever.
And remember what Jesus saidthe gates of hell
shall not prevail against the church.
Amen.
(22:04):
Amen. It may look dark.
What's it?
What's going on in society?
I look back at what JB Ellis went through.
They were putting him in jailfor preaching the gospel.
Preaching, preaching the truth. Yeah.
That's right.Now we have sports, spiritual warfare.
Today, just like you referred to.
It's comes in a different form.
It's the ideology,but it's is just as devilish as it can be.
(22:28):
Yeah. Demonic.
Who would have thought thatin this country
that, people would be continually beingimprisoned even today for the gospel?
Yeah.
And look at the across the world,
Christians are being killed everywhere,not just persecuted,
but they're being killed for thethe cause of Christianity.
(22:51):
And we must remember,no matter how dark it is,
God has always had a peopleand the enemy will not win.
I know we say this a lot.
We've read the end of the book and we win.
But I don't believe Jesus is coming backfor a week and anemic and anemic church.
Amen. Well, I agree with you.
(23:12):
He's not coming back for defeated church.
And I know we're in spiritual warfare,and I have
one wordI would say to the church, get involved.
You're a believer.
This is the day to speak out.
You've got to speak your faith.
We talked about speaking faith.
My wife is healed todaybecause she spoke her faith.
She believed she was going to liveand not die.
(23:33):
We believe the Word of God has the answerfor every problem.
We've got to speak our faith.
We've got to testify.
We've got to witness.
We cannot hold backand we've got to get engaged.
The enemy is tryingto destroy this country.
And it was.
It was founded on a compact,on a contract, on on God's word.
Amen. And we need to stay there.
(23:55):
And we need to be bold about itbecause God won't let us down.
That's right, that's right, that's good.
Let me ask you one more question.
Why? Why has
music always been a part of Pentecost?
Well, let's go back to Deuteronomy.
(24:16):
What God tell Moses?
God said, Moses,I want you to write a song
and put it in the mouths of my people.
Israel said on the day that they willturn their backs on me
there you be a witness against themand bring them back.
Yeah, that was God's idea.
That's true.
(24:37):
That's good.
You come over to the New Testament,Galatians, Ephesians
saying Psalms and hymnsand spiritual songs giving praise to God.
You put the song in their hearts,and it is, Deuteronomy says,
and it will just in the time,how many times
in the time of need to the songcome from inside of you?
(25:00):
It burst out.
And I have one other word that I wouldlike to say most musicians in churches,
because Matthew 13:52 Jesus said,A good teacher takes out of his treasure.
Both things are old
and new.
Sure, sing new songs, new courses.
But don't forget, a teacher,Jesus said, takes out of his treasure
(25:24):
things both old and new.
Some of these old hymnshave a lot of doctrine in them.
Oh yeah, you can mix and merge them rightalong with the new courses
and things that are being written.
But don't neglect.
A good teacher takes out of his treasureboth things old and new,
for the glory of God. Hallelujah!
(25:45):
As you look at,
look at this camera right hereand pray for the people before we go.
Father God,I thank you for Your Holy Spirit.
I thank you for Your word,which is alive and powerful,
and we cannot take the word into our beingand then not bring forth life.
May everyone,under the sound of our voices today
(26:06):
be saturated with a desire to knowyour word,
to get saturated with the wordand not hide it in their heart,
but to speak it outwith the words of their mouth.
Because it is.
Proverbs 18:20-21 says, the power of lifeand death is in the tongue.
Choose life.
Father, I pray for
everyone under the sound of my voicethat their heart might be open
(26:29):
and their mind might be openin their spiritual eyes.
To be openthat you might see that he who is with
us is greater than he who is against us.
Father, we pray for themthat their faith will rise.
They will be stronger than ever before.
And Lord, if there's anyone underthe sound of my voices who's in
need of the healing, may the healing powerof God be released into their life.
(26:52):
May the Word of God it says,whosoever says to this mountain, be
thou would be removed, and be cast intothe sea, and believes in what he says.
It will be done for him.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen, Amen.
But thank you.
Thanks for coming.
Thank you, brother Gene.
It has been an honor
(27:13):
to the Lord.
To the glory of God.
Amen.
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(27:34):
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(28:15):
Let's be the partners that we need to be.
And let's see God do something amazing.
In everygeneration there have been revivals,
massive moves of the spirit
that changed the course of history.
In every revival,there were believers like you
who chose to answer the call
to become the one in their generation.
Discover your call to be the one
(00:23):
in your generation.
Welcome back again to Revival Radio TV.
We're following the journey of VepEllis Jr again with me this week.
Let's go back to your dad,who was, of course,
with with Oral part of his part of his,ministry life.
(00:45):
Talk about the fact how he would writesongs for his messages, for Oral messages.
Well, you know, BrotherRoberts was a powerful preacher.
Absolutely.
And he was, I can remember the message.
The fourth man.
Oh, yeah.
You know that one. And, of course, dad
(01:06):
would be inspired by that.
I mean, inspiration.
So dad wrote a number of songsto go along with Oral sermons,
and when he was going to preach a sermon,then dad would have the song
that went with us with the sermon.
I'll just mention some of the titles.
Now I'll tell you a story or two.
Okay. Cause expect a miracle.
(01:28):
Yeah, I've heard that.
You expect a miracle.
And that was, one of the mantrasof Oral Roberts he had on his desk.
That's right.
A plaque (01:37):
Expect a miracle. He.
I mean, he had big faith, big vision,as we all know.
That man.
He didn't have small vision. No.
It was, as they have heard, he told.
And then, so I expect a miracle.
Then I can't go under for going
(01:58):
over was a great sermon of his.
And where Jesus and the disciplesgot into the boat
and they were goingacross the Sea of Galilee.
And of course, as soon as they gotin the boat, those boats had to be
pretty bigto get at least 13 people in it.
And of course, it was always a few peoplegoing along with him too.
(02:20):
But a big stormarose and Jesus is sleeping.
Yeah.
And theboat and the disciples were afraid.
And so they woke Jesus up and said,
yes, they did not care if we should die.
And Jesus said, where is your faith?
Right.
(02:40):
And he stood up,and he spoke to the winds and the waves.
Peace. Be still.
And immediately the storm subsided.
And dad wrote that song.
I can't go under for going over, thoughthe winds dashed higher in storm.
You know, it it just a great song.
And it goes with that sermonand then move with God.
(03:04):
If God is moving, get into the water.
Unless you I mean, if God is moving,just believe God for a miracle.
This is the day of miracles.
Move with God. Yeah.
And so that's a great song.
A prisoner of the Lord that he wrote, an Oral’s sermon about when
Paul said, I'm going to praise him,but he said, I'm not a prisoner of Rome.
(03:27):
I'm a prisoner of the Lord,
and I bear the scars in my body.
And so they wrote the song A prisonerof the Lord, oh, blessed Holy Spirit.
Yeah.
Which one of the best songs on the HolySpirit has ever been written?
And, you know, Oral Roberts reallyemphasizes the baptism, the Holy Spirit.
Yes he did.
(03:47):
And every student that went to OralRoberts University, I assume they
I have to do this.
Had to take Roberts class on
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
And it's a great thingand it's a great song.
And then, ORU fight song which
pretty well tells the mission statement.
(04:09):
Yes. Of all of the OralRoberts University.
Right.
And as it was on the foundingboard of Regents, and he wrote that song
for the student, but he also wrote the, another song for them.
But then he wrote wilt Thou Be madewhole based on the four lepers?
There were,
that that, needed healing.
(04:32):
And then when he came to the pool
of Bethesda that day and there was a manlying on the couch, right.
And and he was waiting for the watersto be stirred.
And I can hear Doctor Robertsspeak preaching in that sermon.
Waiting for the waters to be stirred.
But before he could get into the water,somebody got in before him,
(04:52):
and he had been there for 38 years,I guess.
And Jesus said, do you want to be healed?
Wilt thou be made whole?
He said, Will that be made whole?
And has he explained why?
But then the Lord said, well, stand up.
Pick up your mat and walk.
And men walked away healed.
So wilt thou be made whole?
(05:13):
And then why is it we're hereuntil we die?
I cannot assure hereOral Roberts preaching that sermon
that's about the four lepersat the gate of Samaria.
There was a famine in the land.
Remember that?
Yes. And, the king of Syria had that.
They had builttheir armies were surrounding Samaria.
They were going to starve them out.
(05:34):
And there was a famine.
And and those four lepers were at the gateand, and, they said to one another,
you know, we can go inside the walls,
say they're going to kill usand eat us will go in there
because they kind of cannibalisn't going going on inside of Samaria.
Or they said, we can we can sit here.
We're going to diebecause we're starving to death.
(05:56):
Or we can go overto the camp of the Syrians.
Who knows?
They may spare us and let us see,and we may live.
We don't know,but we'll take our chances that way.
So we say we're here until we die.
Let's make a move.
Let's do something.
And they went overto the camp of the Syrians.
And there wasn't a single soldier inthe camp.
(06:19):
God had called the Assyrians to here.
The host of heaven
and the chariots of fireand the hoofs of horses.
And they said to themselves,I believe the king of Samaria
has hired the Egyptians.
And Hittites to come and kill us.
(06:39):
And they took off in flight.
And when these four lepers got over there,there was anybody there.
But the food was still there.
The silver and the gold was there.
All the clothes were there,and they took it and hid it.
And they finally said, you know,this is a good day.
This is a great day.
We need to tell people inside the gate
(06:59):
said, if we don't,they're going to find out anyway.
Then they'll eat us.
Yeah.
So anyway, whyI said we're here until we die.
You know, Oral was a man of action.
He was.
I'm telling you,he had great vision and he acted on it.
So why is it we're here until we die?
What did James say?
Show me your faith without works.
I'll show you my faith with my works.
(07:21):
Get up and do something.Yeah! Come on, man.
But anyway, these are the songs that dadwrote to go along with his sermons,
and they're on that albumthat we're talking.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's this one right herethat, know his crusade favorite
Vep Ellis sings Oral Robertscrusade favorites and dad wrote.
I think every one of those, but maybe two.
(07:42):
Well, you know, one thing that we kind ofskipped over, I want to go back to.
Let's talk about the connectionwith, with Demos Shakarian and, and and
how did that happen?
Well, the story started
when we moved from Clevelandto Atlanta, Georgia.
Dad. And the church there,which became known
as Mount Perrin,it was called Hemphill Church of God.
(08:05):
Our whole lives changed.
What we moved to Atlanta.
Was in high school.
It was in the middle of my sophomore yearin Atlanta.
David.
My older brothers had made ResurrectionSchool, but, dad, we were living there,
and that was evangelizing here,these tents and stuff like that.
But I started working at the church.
(08:28):
We had a lot of businessmenright at Hemphill
Church, which it was called Mount Parent.
And, dad started speaking
with the Full Gospel businessmenand went to their fellowship.
He went to Miami and went to thereinternational meeting in Miami.
And it changed his life.
(08:49):
He said he the power of God had fallento that meeting and was so powerful.
He said, I was sitting under the pianoat the convention center
where this convention was being held,and he said,
I suddenly realized the kingdom of Godis so much bigger than one denomination.
Man, this.
And it changed his life.
His vision just explodedand we never changed.
(09:12):
I mean, it it changed our lives.
Sure.
And and so he started workingwith the full gospel businessmen speaking.
And that, of course, made dementia care.
And we eventually ended upmoving to California
and startedspeaking in those international meetings.
I think the first meetingthat I personally went to, not chapter,
(09:32):
but the first meeting that I attendedwas the Denver International Committee,
convention and for the full gospelbusiness meeting meeting.
And dad was one of the speakers,and he also would sing
and my brother
and I, we were making records with dad,we were staying with my dad
and back him up.
We were just the hangers on, but we werewe made his point.
He was, you know, right.
(09:53):
We were just supporting him. But we were.
It was just a one.Those meetings were powerful.
Then we went to
the one in Seattle at the rememberwhen the World's Fair was held in Seattle?
I think that's what we saw.
I mean, powerful move.
God, BillyGraham came and spoke at the international
convention there in Seattle.
(10:14):
The full Gospel businessmenwere a great influence, starting
well, Robert's university, andthey were great supporters of the world.
Sure.
So let's talk about,you know, you mentioned Sheridan back
then, Sheridan Assembly.
But, let's talk about how that, now,this is your life,
how did that all transition, with you?
(10:35):
Let's talk about your connectionwith Brother Hagin.
Well, thank you.
When Doctor Hagin came to Tulsa,two year,
probably probably about two yearsafter he had,
had been has spoke at the to the
the eight month revivaland not a eight week revival.
(10:58):
He moved to Tulsa and boughtthe old TL Osborne
building and,
and are exactly sure on the dateit might have been six,
nine, six, eight, six and nine,
but but it, hehe would hold the seminars
there at the old Osborne building
and and Brother Miller, whothe founder of the church would have him
(11:20):
to come and speak on Sunday morningand Sunday night at the church.
And of course,
I had a music program there.
I was the minister of musicand associate pastor,
and I would lead the musicfor those meetings.
And then they begin to develop for,you know, it
developed in to a camp meeting.
(11:41):
I can remember when Doctor Haginannounced on a Sunday, well,
next year we're going to have an indoorcamp meeting.
Well, I thought that was interesting.
I'd been in camp meetings, raised in campmeetings, met my wife and
and camp meeting and Oklahoma.
And they had preached the camp meetingand my grandfather was a Bible state
(12:01):
teacher in the morning.I was he used to camp me.
Well, let's be real.
You they had had to meet youin a camp meeting.
That's where you were 90% of the time.
That's exactly right.
And so I'm in camp meetings.
That's great. Okay, but indoorcamp meeting.
Okay. Yeah.
Air condition.That first thing went in my mind
because I had been in the Florida campmeet
(12:23):
Oh, man. You sweltered.
Oh, man.
So enjoy this and find me,but I can't these they were exciting.
Yeah. All right, so we announced the camp.
He announced that campmeetings were starting.
I can remember sitting on the platformwhen it announced it.
So the next year,the camp meeting started,
and, not in 70,
(12:45):
not 1972.
I think that was the first camp meeting.
And, oh my goodness gracious,people started coming in every year
they get bigger.
And I can remember sitting on the platform
when Fred Price came and stoodright down there.
I don't know if it's the first camp,be the second one,
(13:05):
but he was standingright off the platform.
He had a tumor in his chest and BrotherHagin prayed for him.
And you sealed.
Yeah. Yeah that's good.
That's saw people heal.
People say people deliveredand it was a move of God.
People would comeand be parked in the parking lot
and out or before the services.
We couldn't let them in earlyor they'd just be saved and etc..
(13:26):
Well, we had just control it, you know,but it just doubled every year.
And I think it might have beenin the second camp meeting,
can't remember for sure,but I can remember when Doctor Hagin, Papa
Hagin, as we all call him, announced,well, we're going to start a Bible college
and we're going to start next year.
Well,of course he needed someone to run it.
(13:47):
So he called his son Ken juniorto come from Garland.
Right.
And so he came up in officethere at the church.
And so the teachers for the Bible schoolor Ken Junior,
Doctor Hagin and I would teach.
So I started teaching there at the
at the first and second year, third yearthat already outgrown us.
(14:09):
And they grewthey bought property in Broken Arrow.
Right.
So there was about two years therethat I had, I didn't work with him,
but the third year, they that happenedand of course, had been at the Sheridan,
assistant pastor and musicdirector beam primary portfolio.
But I'd been there for at that time,
(14:33):
about 14 years,and I knew that God was stirring my heart.
It was. I needed a change.
I need I needed,I was going to be moving somewhere.
I was going to do something.I told the Lord, okay.
Lord, I said, you
know, I've been waiting for the rightplace,
and two weeks I'm resigning in the churchand I'm going to be out on the street.
(14:56):
And if you don't provide a place, I'm
going to tell everybodythat you didn't provide it.
Yeah, I, I said, I'm just throwing myselfon the way out on the wind.
And I said, so that's it. I'm I'm it.
I had resolve it. Right.
Sometimes you had to make a resolution.This is it.
So I said, I'm leaving.
I'm turning in my resignationin two weeks.
(15:18):
Wednesday of the second weekI get a call, my wife calls me.
She says, Doctor Hagin's been tryingto get Ahold of you all day long.
I've been playing golf.
So I get home and I call him.
He said, what's up, doc?
That's one of the way he start things.
I said, well,I hear you trying to get in touch with me.
He said, I have.
(15:38):
He said, well,how would you like to go to work for me?
I said, what time you want me to start?
Yeah.
He said, in the morning, see in my office.
Yeah. Wednesday of the second week.
How about that? It's God faithful.
He is faithful.
He's faithful.
But you gotta gotta make a move.
You gotta throw your bread on the what?
Got to him? Something to work. Well,I say we're here until we die.
(15:59):
It's time to make a move.
Yeah. And God comes through praise Jesus.
Hallelujah.
So I worked therefull time leading music.
Led the music in the school
taught the studentssomething about praise and worship.
Led it for the Crusades.
Traveled with Dr. Haginacross the United States and Canada.
Help train arriving singers and band.
(16:19):
It was it was.
It was one of the most delightful timesof my life.
And then I went back to pastorshared in Christian Center
as senior pastor and for all of 84. Wow.
So talk about that.
Going back to sharedand what was that like?
I had had the opportunity to go over theretwice before.
In fact, the pastor that I was
(16:42):
the church where I was going regularly was
would like assembly there in Tulsawhere my wife and I were attending.
And once when the church needed a pastor,my pastor brother knew and said, way up
and I'm
still working on music for Brother Hagin.
He said, well,you need to go pastor that church.
(17:03):
I hadn't, I was still the Hagin.
He said, you need to go over there.
You're the only one that can do that.You need to go back over there.
And you understand.
Sheridan Church was a historic church.
It was pastor many,I mean, founded many churches here, here
in Tulsa, there in Tulsa,and many churches on the mission field.
Victory Christian Center came out a sharedsure church.
(17:27):
Of course,Rhema Church came out of that Grace
fellowship, behindand came out of that church class.
Billy in Victory came out of that church.
Several others came out of that church.
And now I'm going back as senior pastor.
It was justback, this is where you're supposed to be.
Wow. But it was a learning experience.
(17:48):
It was not all easy.
And, you know, but I was there
as senior pastor for 30, 34 years.
I was on the staff total of 47 years.
Well, your father had said before
he died, don't let my music be forgotten.
And you've mentioned that you guyshave gotten together from time to time.
(18:10):
What are what is the family doing
to keep the music legacy alive?
Well, back in 1999, my dad died.
1988,
and then it was 19.
It was
(18:31):
it was 1989, I think.
Yeah.
When we we decided we better do something
and, we made an album
called It's Not Over Till It's Over.
There was my dad's last song. Right.
We made that album.
Two years later, we made another one.
(18:51):
Get on a Happy Side of Life.
Yeah.
And, and everywherewe toured for several years.
Right. And, and the last,
you know, it's been quite a few yearsthat we've, we've toured.
But as my neighbor told me once, we,I was walking through the neighborhood
and my neighbor saw one of my neighbor,
(19:11):
she said,when are you boys getting back together?
I said, well,you know, we're getting older now.
I don't know if that's going to happen.
They're living in four cornersof United States as we're all separated.
She said, well,you better do it before you get to old,
she said, I haven't missedone of your concerts yet as well.
(19:33):
I don't knowif it's going to happen again,
but I said, we have done,we have done that.
So we made our concert.
We sold out,we sold out of the record albums.
We had to reproduce them. And
Tim Hill,the general overseer of the church,
we are, he's given as a giftto all the senior ministers.
He's given a copy of of Ellis Brothers
(19:56):
records to all of them,which we have all the dead songs on that.
Not all of his songs, but
a lot of the songs that are onthere are written by my dad.
So that's what we have done to keepkeep it alive.
But I'll tell you,I must thank Bill Gaither for what
he's donefor Christian music and gospel music.
(20:19):
He calls my dada legend of the 20th century,
and he's on an on a recording
that he didthe legends of the 20th century.
And it has such an influence over all thecomposers and the singers of that period.
Right.
And, he has done a lothe has recorded dad’s songs on those home
(20:41):
coming videos,and I'm very grateful for him doing that.
It keeps the music aliveand it blesses so many people.
It does.
Well, let's talk about today.
You know, there's
today's a it's a different world.
You know, one of the programswe were talking about,
JB telling,
(21:01):
your grandfather, your father about it,it's a different world.
You're going to deal with a lot ofdifferent, a lot of different things.
Now, who would have ever thoughtwe would be dealing with in society
and in our culture,what we're dealing with now, it's it's
mind boggling.
But with all of that said about how do we
(21:23):
what's what's the one messagethat you would give to the people today?
Not, not I'm not looking for JB
Ellis or Vep senior.
I'm looking for for your message.
What is it you would tell the people todaythat we need to.
We need to concentrateon the Christian world.
We're already believers.
What is it we need to spend our time on?
(21:44):
We need to rememberwhat's written in the book of Hebrews.
He's the same.
God is the same yesterday,today and forever.
And remember what Jesus saidthe gates of hell
shall not prevail against the church.
Amen.
(22:04):
Amen. It may look dark.
What's it?
What's going on in society?
I look back at what JB Ellis went through.
They were putting him in jailfor preaching the gospel.
Preaching, preaching the truth. Yeah.
That's right.Now we have sports, spiritual warfare.
Today, just like you referred to.
It's comes in a different form.
It's the ideology,but it's is just as devilish as it can be.
(22:28):
Yeah. Demonic.
Who would have thought thatin this country
that, people would be continually beingimprisoned even today for the gospel?
Yeah.
And look at the across the world,
Christians are being killed everywhere,not just persecuted,
but they're being killed for thethe cause of Christianity.
(22:51):
And we must remember,no matter how dark it is,
God has always had a peopleand the enemy will not win.
I know we say this a lot.
We've read the end of the book and we win.
But I don't believe Jesus is coming backfor a week and anemic and anemic church.
Amen. Well, I agree with you.
(23:12):
He's not coming back for defeated church.
And I know we're in spiritual warfare,and I have
one wordI would say to the church, get involved.
You're a believer.
This is the day to speak out.
You've got to speak your faith.
We talked about speaking faith.
My wife is healed todaybecause she spoke her faith.
She believed she was going to liveand not die.
(23:33):
We believe the Word of God has the answerfor every problem.
We've got to speak our faith.
We've got to testify.
We've got to witness.
We cannot hold backand we've got to get engaged.
The enemy is tryingto destroy this country.
And it was.
It was founded on a compact,on a contract, on on God's word.
Amen. And we need to stay there.
(23:55):
And we need to be bold about itbecause God won't let us down.
That's right, that's right, that's good.
Let me ask you one more question.
Why? Why has
music always been a part of Pentecost?
Well, let's go back to Deuteronomy.
(24:16):
What God tell Moses?
God said, Moses,I want you to write a song
and put it in the mouths of my people.
Israel said on the day that they willturn their backs on me
there you be a witness against themand bring them back.
Yeah, that was God's idea.
That's true.
(24:37):
That's good.
You come over to the New Testament,Galatians, Ephesians
saying Psalms and hymnsand spiritual songs giving praise to God.
You put the song in their hearts,and it is, Deuteronomy says,
and it will just in the time,how many times
in the time of need to the songcome from inside of you?
(25:00):
It burst out.
And I have one other word that I wouldlike to say most musicians in churches,
because Matthew 13:52 Jesus said,A good teacher takes out of his treasure.
Both things are old
and new.
Sure, sing new songs, new courses.
But don't forget, a teacher,Jesus said, takes out of his treasure
(25:24):
things both old and new.
Some of these old hymnshave a lot of doctrine in them.
Oh yeah, you can mix and merge them rightalong with the new courses
and things that are being written.
But don't neglect.
A good teacher takes out of his treasureboth things old and new,
for the glory of God. Hallelujah!
(25:45):
As you look at,
look at this camera right hereand pray for the people before we go.
Father God,I thank you for Your Holy Spirit.
I thank you for Your word,which is alive and powerful,
and we cannot take the word into our beingand then not bring forth life.
May everyone,under the sound of our voices today
(26:06):
be saturated with a desire to knowyour word,
to get saturated with the wordand not hide it in their heart,
but to speak it outwith the words of their mouth.
Because it is.
Proverbs 18:20-21 says, the power of lifeand death is in the tongue.
Choose life.
Father, I pray for
everyone under the sound of my voicethat their heart might be open
(26:29):
and their mind might be openin their spiritual eyes.
To be openthat you might see that he who is with
us is greater than he who is against us.
Father, we pray for themthat their faith will rise.
They will be stronger than ever before.
And Lord, if there's anyone underthe sound of my voices who's in
need of the healing, may the healing powerof God be released into their life.
(26:52):
May the Word of God it says,whosoever says to this mountain, be
thou would be removed, and be cast intothe sea, and believes in what he says.
It will be done for him.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen, Amen.
But thank you.
Thanks for coming.
Thank you, brother Gene.
It has been an honor
(27:13):
to the Lord.
To the glory of God.
Amen.
You would like to, to be a part.
And with your financial donation.
It's very, very simple.
If you want to mail a check,just simply make it out to revival Radio.
(27:34):
Fort worth, Texas 76192.
That's all the address you need.
If you want to text your gift,just text it to 36609
with the code RRTV in the dollar amountand we'll get it.
And of course, if you'd liketo pick up the phone and call
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(27:54):
and tell them I want to make a donationto help Revival Radio
TV, stay on the air and be a part,not just stay on the air,
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And of course, you can always go onlineif you want to use the website,
go to go victory.com/RRTV.
It's right there on your screen.
(28:15):
Let's be the partners that we need to be.
And let's see God do something amazing.
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