November 6, 2023 • 25 mins
Ever been in a situation where you felt trapped without any way out? Today, we share the inspiring story of my mission with Bill Glass, where despite time constraints, miracles happened. Ventures like these truly reflect the teachings of Matthew 25-31-46, the separation of sheep from goats, and the divine realization that serving the less fortunate equates to serving Jesus himself. So, why not think outside the box and believe in the miracles that God can create?
Transitioning from a life inside the prison walls to the outside world can be a daunting task. Listen to the amazing story of a man who, with the help of the first lady of Missouri, was able to make this challenging transition. We also touch on how addictions can feel like prisons without bars and how a relationship with Jesus can be a beacon of freedom. Additionally, we'll discuss the transformative power of ministering to inmates, and the importance of a dedicated service team. But the quest doesn't end there - as we explore the teachings of Jesus to Nicodemus about being born again, we're reminded of the consequences of sin and the life and peace that come through Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. Remember, God loves us and so do I.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning and welcome to Faith Walk with
William Carroll.
On this podcast I talk abouthow God I've seen Him move in
the lives of others, moved in mylife, standing on the Word,
learning the Word, speaking theWord.
And God does things, with signsand wonders and miracles
following.
You know there's miracles andsigns all around us.
(00:22):
You know, my main key point islet's take God out of the box.
Quit thinking that we serve agreat, big God that's able to do
all kinds of things and whathe's done for others and what
he's done in the past, that hewill do it for us.
So listen.
This morning I wanted to startin Matthew 2531.
(00:43):
Matthew 2531 it says but whenthe Son of man comes in His
glory, with all His angels withHim, then he will sit upon His
glorious throne and all thenations will be gathered in His
presence and he will separatethe people as the shepherd
separates the sheep from thegoats.
He will place the sheep at Hisright hand and the goats at His
(01:05):
left hand.
Then the King will say to thoseon His right hand come, you who
are blessed by my Father,inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the creation of theworld.
Matthew 2535 says for I washungry and you fed me.
I was thirsty and you gave medrink.
I was a stranger and youinvited me into your home.
(01:26):
I was naked and you gave meclothing.
I was sick and you cared for me.
I was in prison and you visitedme.
Then the righteous ones willreply Lord, when did we ever see
you hungry and feed you, orthirsty and give you something
to drink, or a stranger and showyou hospitality?
Or naked and give you clothing?
(01:48):
When did we ever see you sickor in prison and visit you?
And the King will say I tellyou the truth.
When you did it to one of theleast of these, my brothers and
sisters, you were doing it to me.
Then the King will turn tothose on the left and say away
with you, you cursed ones intoeternal fire, prepared for the
(02:09):
devil in his demons.
Matthew 2542 says for I washungry and you didn't feed me.
I was thirsty, you didn't giveme to drink.
I was a stranger and you didn'tinvite me into your home.
I was naked and you didn't giveme clothing.
I was sick and in prison andyou didn't visit me.
Then they will reply Lord, whendid we ever see you hungry,
(02:31):
thirsty or a stranger and naked,sick in prison, and I'll help
you.
And he will answer.
I'll tell you the truth.
When you refused to help theleast of these, my brothers and
sisters, you were refusing tohelp me, and they will go away
into eternal punishment, but therighteous will go into eternal
(02:52):
life.
This morning I just wanted I hadthe opportunity this weekend I
signed up for a behind the wallwith Bill Glass to go into the
prison and I signed up.
It came up on my phone.
It came up an email.
I've gone before and sinceCOVID God, it's kind of gotten
crazy.
You know, we're just they'rejust now getting back, getting
(03:14):
streamlined and everything andit came up southeast Arkansas
and so I tried to sign up and Itried to sign up and my Wi-Fi at
home is pretty bad so I nevercould sign up and I didn't get
signed up.
By the last day it was on aSunday night and I tried and I
tried and I tried and I thoughtit went.
The next morning, you know, Ididn't see anything where I had
(03:37):
got a confirmation email.
So I called and I said, hey,listen, I tried and I tried and
I tried to sign up, but Icouldn't sign up and I'm
wondering, you know, if y'all,if y'all, got my application to
go and they said no, we didn'tget it, but we're gonna extend
(04:01):
the sign-up period because wedidn't have enough people to
sign up and so they were lookingfor 15 bikers and they were
looking for 50 team members togo in the.
It was in Gald, arkansas, andit's the Cummings unit and it
(04:23):
has over 2,000 men in that unit.
Now they have three chaplainsin that one.
That's the first one I've beento that had more than one
chaplain, but they had threechaplains in there.
So I signed up.
I got to go.
I tried to talk some peopleinto going with me.
I tried to call some of mymotorcycle buddies said hey,
(04:45):
look, but you know, it was thefall festivals, everybody who
had fall festivals going on attheir church or at their school,
or they had their grandchildrenand all this.
And so I just I said I felt ledto go in my heart.
So I told my wife.
I said hey, I feel led to go inmy heart.
(05:07):
I said you don't have to go,you can stay, because they have
a fall festival at their schooland she usually has something
apart in that and she said no, Iwant to go with you.
And I said well, it's going tobe a quick trip because I want
to be back for praise andworship at church Sunday morning
.
So we're going to have to leaveFriday.
And she got off at noon.
I said we're going to have toleave, we're going to have to
(05:27):
get up there.
They have a tailgate meetingwhere they just encourage the
team members, they feed them,they tell them the do's and the
don'ts and the pros and the consand all that stuff.
And it was from 5.30 to 8.
And let's see, pine Bluff,arkansas, from my house is about
four and a half hours andthat's straight through.
(05:49):
You know, they don't accountfor any time stopping and
getting gas or stopping andeating.
So we didn't get off like wewanted to.
We had some things come up andwe didn't get off by one.
We got off about 3.30.
And man, I mean the time limitwas saying that we was going to
be there right at 8 o'clock.
(06:09):
So it said 7.30, we stopped forgas and then at 8 o'clock and I
said man, we're going to haveto.
I didn't have a contact numberfor them.
I said we're going to have tofly, we're going to have to get
up there.
We're going to have to getthere and see if I can get my
name badge and my packet to goin.
So we took off and we, you know, we went through some rain in
Texarkana and we had a littlebit of rain here, a little bit
(06:31):
of rain there.
And we pulled up at Pine Bluffat 8 o'clock and they were
locking the doors and I said,hey, is there anybody still in
there, in the lady that wassweeping outside?
She said, oh, yeah.
She said they're wrappingeverything up in there and
they're packing it all up.
And I said, well, can I get in?
(06:51):
I said I need to get in and Ineed to ask them for my packet.
She said, well, sure, I'll letyou in.
So I went in and I said, hey,y'all got well.
They couldn't find my packet.
They said, no, somebody elsehas it, but it'll be there
tomorrow.
And they said the note says forus to be there at 7.45 in the
morning, but it's wrong, youneed to be there at 7.
(07:12):
I said, okay, I'll be there at7.
So I got there, I left at 7,you know it's a 30 mile.
It's a 30 miles to Gow.
There's no hotel or nothing inGow, that's why you have to stay
at Pineburn.
So it's 30 miles.
So I jumped on the scooter leftout and went down there that and
(07:32):
got to the prison and they werethere and picked up my packet.
It took us a while to check in.
You know you have to go throughall kinds of security
clearances and they've alreadyrun your driver's license and
all that.
But we went in and we finallygot in and we were outside the
(07:53):
yard so we took our motorcyclesin it.
There was four motorcycles.
There was actually only nineteam members and remember I said
that they wanted 15 bikes and50 team members.
So when we got in we had fourbikes and we had one NASCAR that
won the Indian.
I think it was the Daytona 500in 1993.
(08:16):
It was a Joe Gibbs car and ifI'm not wrong, the driver was a
griff or Joe griff maybe, but itcame in there with us.
It beat Dell Earnhardt Sr inthat race and when it crossed
the finish line it was doing 207miles.
Hey, when we got in and the menwere out there and he was
(08:40):
revving that thing up, you knowit sounded really good, you know
, and he killed it.
And the guy says, oh, thatsounds good, that don't sound
like nothing.
Listen to this.
I cranked up my scooter and Irevved it up and I mean it was
just, it was pretty much near asloud as that car was.
And they just go dang, thatthing is loud.
(09:00):
I said, yeah, but it won't run207 miles an hour because I've
tried it.
But anyway, listen, we trainedsome of the people that helped
in chapel, that sang andworshiped in chapel with them
and was going through a Biblestudy there at the prison.
(09:21):
So we had a little trainingperiod for them to show what we
did, because we all want to beon the same page.
We went out in the yard.
We had 28 members then, so wewere up.
Pretty good.
We had two groups that came outand they probably split them
basically in half.
We had 700 men on the yard attwo different times, not 700,
(09:45):
two different times, 700 total,so we had 350 and 350 on the
yard.
Well, we had our speaker speaks,one lady.
She was one of the first prowomen's basketball players and
she was a little short thing butfeisty.
Oh my gosh, she was so goodwith those basketballs.
(10:06):
She could juggle threebasketballs and an apple and
then take that apple and giveone of the inmates to bite it
while she was juggling.
Just real quick, boop bite andkeep going, keep going.
It was amazing.
She did an amazing job and shewas talking about in her message
that everybody kept telling herTonya, you cannot play
(10:27):
basketball, you're too short,you're too short, you're too
short, you're too short.
Everybody else was not allowedto do that.
We had to get to college.
In the household when she was atcollege and then when she went
pro and she said she was tellingeverybody.
She said, if you put your heartto it and you have God in your
life, you can do anything.
First off, you have to put yourheart to what you want to do
and you have to do it for theright reason and God will bless
(10:51):
you and you will be able to doit because that's your love,
that's your desire, where's yourheart, where's your heart at?
And the guys, the men justloved him, you know.
They just loved what was goingon.
And there was another guy thatspoke and he spoke about his
time in prison and how that hechose to do the right step every
(11:12):
time Once he got there, once hefigured out and once that God
had showed him that he wasleaving his life for himself and
he turned and he asked God intohis life.
He started walking and doingwhat God would tell him to do
and he said every step that helistened to the Holy Spirit
(11:33):
leading God, and he did what hewanted to do.
He had life plus 30, they callit dirty 30, life plus 30, 30.
Well, that means he was goingto die in prison, right?
Well, he didn't die in prison.
He got paroled and it was thestate of Missouri, and he ended
(11:56):
up working at the governor'smansion, serving, you know, as a
server, as an inmate, and hewent into the.
He helped the first lady with acomputer problem, so she took
him and put him in her office asone of her computer guys in the
office.
Next thing, you know, he gotparoled.
(12:16):
I'm doing a real short versionof this.
He got paroled, they gave himparole and she said well, you
know what he's paroled he needsa new life, he's got to have a
car.
So she went and bought him acar and now he's on the outside
living.
He should have never been out.
And now he's outside living,he's trusting God, he's going
(12:37):
back, he's ministering to God.
Now the scripture we read aminute ago.
It said when did you feed me?
He says you know, blessed areyou that feed me when I was
hungry, blessed that you cameand saw me when I was sick or
when I was in prison.
They said when did we see youin prison?
When did we see you naked andclothed you?
(12:59):
When did we see you, lord?
And he said if you did it forthe least of one of my brothers
and sisters, you did it for me.
And see us as Christians.
That's what we have to do.
You know, I went to that prisonand I went over there and the
thing was that it ended up thatthere was a, a behind the walls
(13:20):
30 miles from my house, 30 milesfrom my house, which I've been
to twice before, but I didn'tget to go because it never
showed up.
I never got the email on it orI'd signed up to been closer.
Okay, well, why did that happen?
And I told them.
I said, they said theymentioned it.
They said hey, in Henderson.
Uh boy, we had a good turnouttoday.
(13:43):
They just sent us the, thetotals of how many people were
there.
Well, they had 78 team members.
Well, for Henderson, um, theorganizer told me.
He said man, he said it's, theysigned up right before, I mean
as soon as we got it online,because people in these texts is
signed up, you know, they wantto be a part of the ministry,
they want to do something forGod.
(14:04):
And he says in Arkansas, we'rejust starting out in Arkansas
again and see, and we just haveto build our team, we have to
reach out to people who have aheart to go in and and to get
them stirred up.
And I said man, henderson 30,it's 30 miles from my house.
I said I never saw it.
He said you didn't get thenewsletter.
(14:25):
I said no, I never saw thenewsletter on Henderson.
And he said well, he said I'mjust gonna tell you this.
He said that's cause God wantedyou here.
Well, listen, we got out in thatyard.
It was supposed to be 90%chance of rain, then 90% chance
of rain.
My wife looked before I left atsix in the morning to head that
(14:45):
way and she said oh, it's gonnarain.
You gonna put your rain gear.
I said no, I'm not gonna do it.
I said it's not gonna rain.
I said I believe God can giveus a window.
So we prayed for a window thatGod would give us a window to
minister to the men's hearts andthe men's life.
And when we got there, you know, it looked like rain.
A lot of the people were sayingwell, it looks like rain, I
(15:07):
wonder if we're gonna have tohave it in the gym or we're
gonna have it outside.
I said, no, we're not gonnahave it outside, we're gonna
have it outside.
We're not going to the gymbecause God is gonna give us a
window.
I said, man, I believe that Godcan do it and God can give us a
window.
The chaplain heard and chaplainsaid you know, guys, listen,
this morning, he said, when Iwoke up, it says 90% chance of
(15:29):
rain.
He said so I started prayingand I started asking me and my
wife said Lord, give us a window.
I said, man, that's aconfirmation from the word of
God, chap.
I said, because that's the samething.
I pray.
I said, and I believe God'sgonna do it.
He said I do too.
He said you know, god's able toturn the rain away and send it
to the north or send it to thesouth, and give us time to
(15:51):
minister to these people.
Then it can rain all at once.
Afterwards I said right on chap, and everybody agreed in us and
we even prayed again for awindow to get it done while we
was in the chapel before we wentoutside.
When we went out on the yard andwe started ministering to the
men, it didn't rain and let metell you, the men came up and
(16:12):
they just were so their faces,they were so sad, they were so
depressed.
You know, and some of that,some of that is a can be
depressing when you're locked upbehind bars and your life as
you know it has changed.
You know, it's just.
It can be depressing and you'relooking at however many years
(16:37):
you're looking at and listenwhen you go in, it's almost like
dying because when they lockthose doors behind you, I'm
gonna tell you, your life haschanged, your life as you know.
It has changed and it hasstopped, because life in there
is nothing like life on theoutside.
But a lot of times the life onthe outside that we had was not
(17:00):
a life at all and that's whatled us.
Those steps led us to where weare.
When we end up incarcerated, youknow, addiction is the same way
.
You know, if we are inaddiction and we're not freed in
our addiction on the inside andwe don't become a new creature
(17:21):
created in Christ Jesus, then weare in a prison even though
we're outside the jail.
So we just we had a great time.
We had two different sets ofmen that come out and listen.
Just to tell you what happened,we had the 700 men that came
out on the yard thank God,because they didn't have to come
(17:44):
.
There was 2000 men at this unitaltogether and 700 come out and
we had 200.
And if I got the number right,it's either 283 or 263 inmates
that made commitments to theLord.
Now we talked to 700 and weshared the gospel with 700.
(18:07):
We even shared one on one ingroups with them and and so they
had the opportunity to hearabout God, to hear about the
Word of God.
They had the opportunity topray and ask God to be, to come
into the heart to forgive themof their sins.
And out of those that werethere the 700, we had 263 or 283
(18:32):
that made commitments, and 107of those commitments were first
time commitments.
They had never trusted Jesus intheir life, they'd never asked
Him up.
You ought to see the men'sfaces, you know, we even had
some that came out that were ofthe religion of Islam, and you
(18:53):
could see them at the back.
But as they were listening andas they were hearing the
messages that was being spoke,their whole continents changed.
And you said, oh yeah, butthey're not believers.
They didn't pray the prayer,they didn't ask Jesus in their
heart and change no, they didn't.
But guess what?
Their whole continents changed.
(19:14):
They knew something wasdifferent, something, there was
a newness of life.
And they began smiling.
And he said the chaplain said Iknow those guys because I have
to minister to them as being achaplain.
And he says I'm gonna tell youwhat he said.
Their faces were changed and heand I was talking about it and
(19:35):
I said I said chaap, that'sbecause seed was planted in
their heart.
We planted the seed in theheart because Jesus said the
seed is the word of God and whenthe word of God is planted in
the heart, it's gonna produce aharvest.
Now, it may not be a bigharvest.
It may fall on good ground andthe birds might pluck it up.
It may fall on stony ground andcome up and then fade out, but
(19:59):
it's gonna come up.
And so I said you know, that'sthe first start.
The first start is them makinga step, coming out, listening to
the word of God, hearing theword of God and that seed
planted in their heart.
So I just praise God for that.
I know God is gonna dosomething with that.
(20:19):
And the three chaplains that wasthere, I'm gonna tell you they
are men of God, to visit withthem, to talk to them.
The warden was out on the yardthe whole time.
We were there and I got to meetthe warden and got to talk to
him.
Listen, that warden is a man ofGod.
He wanna see those men come toChrist.
(20:41):
He wanna see those men changetheir life, you know, because
some of them may not ever getout, some of them may never get
out, they may be there forever.
But Jesus said I came to giveyou life, and life more
abundantly.
So whether they're locked up orthey're outside, they need to
(21:01):
be free inside, inside whatInside their heart.
Whether you're locked up in jailor whether you're outside and
you're a prisoner of youraddictions, you're a prisoner of
what you've done, the crimesyou committed outside the jail
or inside the jail.
You need to be set free andthere is a freedom and a liberty
(21:23):
in Christ.
You know that's what he camefor.
But listen, jesus also wants us.
He wants us to be his hands,his feet, his eyes, his ears and
his heart most of all his heart.
He wants us to share and toserve and to go into jails to
those that are sick.
If we hear a friend sick, let'sgo see him, let's go visit him,
(21:47):
let's lay hands on the sick andpray for him.
That's what it says in Mark 16,lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover.
You know and we had an episodeabout that, so I'm not gonna go
into that right now but I justwanna ask you listen to this
podcast.
You know, have you trustedChrist?
Have you trusted him as yourLord and Savior?
(22:08):
Have you asked him into hisheart?
Romans, chapter nine, says thathe that believes, if you believe
with your heart that JesusChrist is the Son of God and you
confess him with your mouth,you shall be saved.
Now I know people say there'sno sinner's prayer in the Bible.
Okay, well, what's that?
That's where the sinner'sprayer Romans 10 and nine is
(22:31):
where the sinner's prayer thatwe take comes from.
It says if you believe in yourheart that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God and he paid the pricefor your sins and you confess
Him with your mouth.
You shall be saved.
So listen, if that's you rightnow and you want to, you say
listen because I know.
(22:52):
When I first heard that man, myheart started leaping.
I said, oh, I need to do that.
So I just fell on my livingroom floor on my knees and I
said this I said a prayer.
Pray this prayer after me.
Lord Jesus, come into my heart,be the Lord of my life.
I believe that you, that youpaid the price for my sins.
(23:12):
I believe, lord, that you arethe Son of God and I confess you
with my mouth right now.
And I know that.
I know I shall be saved.
Now, listen, confession is partof it.
That was one confession.
Now, listen, you go and youconfess and you tell others,
because I know that if youprayed that prayer and I know
(23:34):
your heart's just leaping youcan feel.
I mean, it feels like alightning bolt going through you
.
There's an excitement.
Well, that's not emotion.
That's not emotion.
That's been born again.
Jesus said you must be bornagain.
That's what he told Nicodemus.
Nicodemus said do I crawl up inmy mother's room again.
I'm an old man.
Jesus said now don't be foolish.
(23:55):
You know you can't go back inyour mother's room, but you got
to be born of the blood and ofthe spirit.
You got to be born again,knowing that we in our sins, the
wages for our sin is death.
You know, the wages of our sinis death, but life and peace
through Jesus Christ and throughthe work that he did upon the
(24:18):
cross.
Now I'm gonna jump on off ofhere and I'll come back again
and and listen, I love you and Ijust pray that that God is
stirring you up to take him outof the box, because that's, he's
tired of being in there, he'stired of living in the box, he's
tired of us going to church andthinking God's in the church,
(24:38):
no, god's, god's wherever youtake him.
So get him out of the box, dusthim off and let's go.
Let's go visit those in prison.
If you've never been go, it'snot a scary thing, it's not a
fearful thing.
It may be at first, but onceyou get in there, you'll see.
Those men came to hear what wehad to say.
(24:59):
It was amazing what happened.
Listen, god loves you and so doI until next time.
This is William signing off.
Good morning and welcome to Faith Walk with
William Carroll.
On this podcast I talk abouthow God I've seen Him move in
the lives of others, moved in mylife, standing on the Word,
learning the Word, speaking theWord.
And God does things, with signsand wonders and miracles
following.
You know there's miracles andsigns all around us.
(00:22):
You know, my main key point islet's take God out of the box.
Quit thinking that we serve agreat, big God that's able to do
all kinds of things and whathe's done for others and what
he's done in the past, that hewill do it for us.
So listen.
This morning I wanted to startin Matthew 2531.
(00:43):
Matthew 2531 it says but whenthe Son of man comes in His
glory, with all His angels withHim, then he will sit upon His
glorious throne and all thenations will be gathered in His
presence and he will separatethe people as the shepherd
separates the sheep from thegoats.
He will place the sheep at Hisright hand and the goats at His
(01:05):
left hand.
Then the King will say to thoseon His right hand come, you who
are blessed by my Father,inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the creation of theworld.
Matthew 2535 says for I washungry and you fed me.
I was thirsty and you gave medrink.
I was a stranger and youinvited me into your home.
(01:26):
I was naked and you gave meclothing.
I was sick and you cared for me.
I was in prison and you visitedme.
Then the righteous ones willreply Lord, when did we ever see
you hungry and feed you, orthirsty and give you something
to drink, or a stranger and showyou hospitality?
Or naked and give you clothing?
(01:48):
When did we ever see you sickor in prison and visit you?
And the King will say I tellyou the truth.
When you did it to one of theleast of these, my brothers and
sisters, you were doing it to me.
Then the King will turn tothose on the left and say away
with you, you cursed ones intoeternal fire, prepared for the
(02:09):
devil in his demons.
Matthew 2542 says for I washungry and you didn't feed me.
I was thirsty, you didn't giveme to drink.
I was a stranger and you didn'tinvite me into your home.
I was naked and you didn't giveme clothing.
I was sick and in prison andyou didn't visit me.
Then they will reply Lord, whendid we ever see you hungry,
(02:31):
thirsty or a stranger and naked,sick in prison, and I'll help
you.
And he will answer.
I'll tell you the truth.
When you refused to help theleast of these, my brothers and
sisters, you were refusing tohelp me, and they will go away
into eternal punishment, but therighteous will go into eternal
(02:52):
life.
This morning I just wanted I hadthe opportunity this weekend I
signed up for a behind the wallwith Bill Glass to go into the
prison and I signed up.
It came up on my phone.
It came up an email.
I've gone before and sinceCOVID God, it's kind of gotten
crazy.
You know, we're just they'rejust now getting back, getting
(03:14):
streamlined and everything andit came up southeast Arkansas
and so I tried to sign up and Itried to sign up and my Wi-Fi at
home is pretty bad so I nevercould sign up and I didn't get
signed up.
By the last day it was on aSunday night and I tried and I
tried and I tried and I thoughtit went.
The next morning, you know, Ididn't see anything where I had
(03:37):
got a confirmation email.
So I called and I said, hey,listen, I tried and I tried and
I tried to sign up, but Icouldn't sign up and I'm
wondering, you know, if y'all,if y'all, got my application to
go and they said no, we didn'tget it, but we're gonna extend
(04:01):
the sign-up period because wedidn't have enough people to
sign up and so they were lookingfor 15 bikers and they were
looking for 50 team members togo in the.
It was in Gald, arkansas, andit's the Cummings unit and it
(04:23):
has over 2,000 men in that unit.
Now they have three chaplainsin that one.
That's the first one I've beento that had more than one
chaplain, but they had threechaplains in there.
So I signed up.
I got to go.
I tried to talk some peopleinto going with me.
I tried to call some of mymotorcycle buddies said hey,
(04:45):
look, but you know, it was thefall festivals, everybody who
had fall festivals going on attheir church or at their school,
or they had their grandchildrenand all this.
And so I just I said I felt ledto go in my heart.
So I told my wife.
I said hey, I feel led to go inmy heart.
(05:07):
I said you don't have to go,you can stay, because they have
a fall festival at their schooland she usually has something
apart in that and she said no, Iwant to go with you.
And I said well, it's going tobe a quick trip because I want
to be back for praise andworship at church Sunday morning
.
So we're going to have to leaveFriday.
And she got off at noon.
I said we're going to have toleave, we're going to have to
(05:27):
get up there.
They have a tailgate meetingwhere they just encourage the
team members, they feed them,they tell them the do's and the
don'ts and the pros and the consand all that stuff.
And it was from 5.30 to 8.
And let's see, pine Bluff,arkansas, from my house is about
four and a half hours andthat's straight through.
(05:49):
You know, they don't accountfor any time stopping and
getting gas or stopping andeating.
So we didn't get off like wewanted to.
We had some things come up andwe didn't get off by one.
We got off about 3.30.
And man, I mean the time limitwas saying that we was going to
be there right at 8 o'clock.
(06:09):
So it said 7.30, we stopped forgas and then at 8 o'clock and I
said man, we're going to haveto.
I didn't have a contact numberfor them.
I said we're going to have tofly, we're going to have to get
up there.
We're going to have to getthere and see if I can get my
name badge and my packet to goin.
So we took off and we, you know, we went through some rain in
Texarkana and we had a littlebit of rain here, a little bit
(06:31):
of rain there.
And we pulled up at Pine Bluffat 8 o'clock and they were
locking the doors and I said,hey, is there anybody still in
there, in the lady that wassweeping outside?
She said, oh, yeah.
She said they're wrappingeverything up in there and
they're packing it all up.
And I said, well, can I get in?
(06:51):
I said I need to get in and Ineed to ask them for my packet.
She said, well, sure, I'll letyou in.
So I went in and I said, hey,y'all got well.
They couldn't find my packet.
They said, no, somebody elsehas it, but it'll be there
tomorrow.
And they said the note says forus to be there at 7.45 in the
morning, but it's wrong, youneed to be there at 7.
(07:12):
I said, okay, I'll be there at7.
So I got there, I left at 7,you know it's a 30 mile.
It's a 30 miles to Gow.
There's no hotel or nothing inGow, that's why you have to stay
at Pineburn.
So it's 30 miles.
So I jumped on the scooter leftout and went down there that and
(07:32):
got to the prison and they werethere and picked up my packet.
It took us a while to check in.
You know you have to go throughall kinds of security
clearances and they've alreadyrun your driver's license and
all that.
But we went in and we finallygot in and we were outside the
(07:53):
yard so we took our motorcyclesin it.
There was four motorcycles.
There was actually only nineteam members and remember I said
that they wanted 15 bikes and50 team members.
So when we got in we had fourbikes and we had one NASCAR that
won the Indian.
I think it was the Daytona 500in 1993.
(08:16):
It was a Joe Gibbs car and ifI'm not wrong, the driver was a
griff or Joe griff maybe, but itcame in there with us.
It beat Dell Earnhardt Sr inthat race and when it crossed
the finish line it was doing 207miles.
Hey, when we got in and the menwere out there and he was
(08:40):
revving that thing up, you knowit sounded really good, you know
, and he killed it.
And the guy says, oh, thatsounds good, that don't sound
like nothing.
Listen to this.
I cranked up my scooter and Irevved it up and I mean it was
just, it was pretty much near asloud as that car was.
And they just go dang, thatthing is loud.
(09:00):
I said, yeah, but it won't run207 miles an hour because I've
tried it.
But anyway, listen, we trainedsome of the people that helped
in chapel, that sang andworshiped in chapel with them
and was going through a Biblestudy there at the prison.
(09:21):
So we had a little trainingperiod for them to show what we
did, because we all want to beon the same page.
We went out in the yard.
We had 28 members then, so wewere up.
Pretty good.
We had two groups that came outand they probably split them
basically in half.
We had 700 men on the yard attwo different times, not 700,
(09:45):
two different times, 700 total,so we had 350 and 350 on the
yard.
Well, we had our speaker speaks,one lady.
She was one of the first prowomen's basketball players and
she was a little short thing butfeisty.
Oh my gosh, she was so goodwith those basketballs.
(10:06):
She could juggle threebasketballs and an apple and
then take that apple and giveone of the inmates to bite it
while she was juggling.
Just real quick, boop bite andkeep going, keep going.
It was amazing.
She did an amazing job and shewas talking about in her message
that everybody kept telling herTonya, you cannot play
(10:27):
basketball, you're too short,you're too short, you're too
short, you're too short.
Everybody else was not allowedto do that.
We had to get to college.
In the household when she was atcollege and then when she went
pro and she said she was tellingeverybody.
She said, if you put your heartto it and you have God in your
life, you can do anything.
First off, you have to put yourheart to what you want to do
and you have to do it for theright reason and God will bless
(10:51):
you and you will be able to doit because that's your love,
that's your desire, where's yourheart, where's your heart at?
And the guys, the men justloved him, you know.
They just loved what was goingon.
And there was another guy thatspoke and he spoke about his
time in prison and how that hechose to do the right step every
(11:12):
time Once he got there, once hefigured out and once that God
had showed him that he wasleaving his life for himself and
he turned and he asked God intohis life.
He started walking and doingwhat God would tell him to do
and he said every step that helistened to the Holy Spirit
(11:33):
leading God, and he did what hewanted to do.
He had life plus 30, they callit dirty 30, life plus 30, 30.
Well, that means he was goingto die in prison, right?
Well, he didn't die in prison.
He got paroled and it was thestate of Missouri, and he ended
(11:56):
up working at the governor'smansion, serving, you know, as a
server, as an inmate, and hewent into the.
He helped the first lady with acomputer problem, so she took
him and put him in her office asone of her computer guys in the
office.
Next thing, you know, he gotparoled.
(12:16):
I'm doing a real short versionof this.
He got paroled, they gave himparole and she said well, you
know what he's paroled he needsa new life, he's got to have a
car.
So she went and bought him acar and now he's on the outside
living.
He should have never been out.
And now he's outside living,he's trusting God, he's going
(12:37):
back, he's ministering to God.
Now the scripture we read aminute ago.
It said when did you feed me?
He says you know, blessed areyou that feed me when I was
hungry, blessed that you cameand saw me when I was sick or
when I was in prison.
They said when did we see youin prison?
When did we see you naked andclothed you?
(12:59):
When did we see you, lord?
And he said if you did it forthe least of one of my brothers
and sisters, you did it for me.
And see us as Christians.
That's what we have to do.
You know, I went to that prisonand I went over there and the
thing was that it ended up thatthere was a, a behind the walls
(13:20):
30 miles from my house, 30 milesfrom my house, which I've been
to twice before, but I didn'tget to go because it never
showed up.
I never got the email on it orI'd signed up to been closer.
Okay, well, why did that happen?
And I told them.
I said, they said theymentioned it.
They said hey, in Henderson.
Uh boy, we had a good turnouttoday.
(13:43):
They just sent us the, thetotals of how many people were
there.
Well, they had 78 team members.
Well, for Henderson, um, theorganizer told me.
He said man, he said it's, theysigned up right before, I mean
as soon as we got it online,because people in these texts is
signed up, you know, they wantto be a part of the ministry,
they want to do something forGod.
(14:04):
And he says in Arkansas, we'rejust starting out in Arkansas
again and see, and we just haveto build our team, we have to
reach out to people who have aheart to go in and and to get
them stirred up.
And I said man, henderson 30,it's 30 miles from my house.
I said I never saw it.
He said you didn't get thenewsletter.
(14:25):
I said no, I never saw thenewsletter on Henderson.
And he said well, he said I'mjust gonna tell you this.
He said that's cause God wantedyou here.
Well, listen, we got out in thatyard.
It was supposed to be 90%chance of rain, then 90% chance
of rain.
My wife looked before I left atsix in the morning to head that
(14:45):
way and she said oh, it's gonnarain.
You gonna put your rain gear.
I said no, I'm not gonna do it.
I said it's not gonna rain.
I said I believe God can giveus a window.
So we prayed for a window thatGod would give us a window to
minister to the men's hearts andthe men's life.
And when we got there, you know, it looked like rain.
A lot of the people were sayingwell, it looks like rain, I
(15:07):
wonder if we're gonna have tohave it in the gym or we're
gonna have it outside.
I said, no, we're not gonnahave it outside, we're gonna
have it outside.
We're not going to the gymbecause God is gonna give us a
window.
I said, man, I believe that Godcan do it and God can give us a
window.
The chaplain heard and chaplainsaid you know, guys, listen,
this morning, he said, when Iwoke up, it says 90% chance of
(15:29):
rain.
He said so I started prayingand I started asking me and my
wife said Lord, give us a window.
I said, man, that's aconfirmation from the word of
God, chap.
I said, because that's the samething.
I pray.
I said, and I believe God'sgonna do it.
He said I do too.
He said you know, god's able toturn the rain away and send it
to the north or send it to thesouth, and give us time to
(15:51):
minister to these people.
Then it can rain all at once.
Afterwards I said right on chap, and everybody agreed in us and
we even prayed again for awindow to get it done while we
was in the chapel before we wentoutside.
When we went out on the yard andwe started ministering to the
men, it didn't rain and let metell you, the men came up and
(16:12):
they just were so their faces,they were so sad, they were so
depressed.
You know, and some of that,some of that is a can be
depressing when you're locked upbehind bars and your life as
you know it has changed.
You know, it's just.
It can be depressing and you'relooking at however many years
(16:37):
you're looking at and listenwhen you go in, it's almost like
dying because when they lockthose doors behind you, I'm
gonna tell you, your life haschanged, your life as you know.
It has changed and it hasstopped, because life in there
is nothing like life on theoutside.
But a lot of times the life onthe outside that we had was not
(17:00):
a life at all and that's whatled us.
Those steps led us to where weare.
When we end up incarcerated, youknow, addiction is the same way
.
You know, if we are inaddiction and we're not freed in
our addiction on the inside andwe don't become a new creature
(17:21):
created in Christ Jesus, then weare in a prison even though
we're outside the jail.
So we just we had a great time.
We had two different sets ofmen that come out and listen.
Just to tell you what happened,we had the 700 men that came
out on the yard thank God,because they didn't have to come
(17:44):
.
There was 2000 men at this unitaltogether and 700 come out and
we had 200.
And if I got the number right,it's either 283 or 263 inmates
that made commitments to theLord.
Now we talked to 700 and weshared the gospel with 700.
(18:07):
We even shared one on one ingroups with them and and so they
had the opportunity to hearabout God, to hear about the
Word of God.
They had the opportunity topray and ask God to be, to come
into the heart to forgive themof their sins.
And out of those that werethere the 700, we had 263 or 283
(18:32):
that made commitments, and 107of those commitments were first
time commitments.
They had never trusted Jesus intheir life, they'd never asked
Him up.
You ought to see the men'sfaces, you know, we even had
some that came out that were ofthe religion of Islam, and you
(18:53):
could see them at the back.
But as they were listening andas they were hearing the
messages that was being spoke,their whole continents changed.
And you said, oh yeah, butthey're not believers.
They didn't pray the prayer,they didn't ask Jesus in their
heart and change no, they didn't.
But guess what?
Their whole continents changed.
(19:14):
They knew something wasdifferent, something, there was
a newness of life.
And they began smiling.
And he said the chaplain said Iknow those guys because I have
to minister to them as being achaplain.
And he says I'm gonna tell youwhat he said.
Their faces were changed and heand I was talking about it and
(19:35):
I said I said chaap, that'sbecause seed was planted in
their heart.
We planted the seed in theheart because Jesus said the
seed is the word of God and whenthe word of God is planted in
the heart, it's gonna produce aharvest.
Now, it may not be a bigharvest.
It may fall on good ground andthe birds might pluck it up.
It may fall on stony ground andcome up and then fade out, but
(19:59):
it's gonna come up.
And so I said you know, that'sthe first start.
The first start is them makinga step, coming out, listening to
the word of God, hearing theword of God and that seed
planted in their heart.
So I just praise God for that.
I know God is gonna dosomething with that.
(20:19):
And the three chaplains that wasthere, I'm gonna tell you they
are men of God, to visit withthem, to talk to them.
The warden was out on the yardthe whole time.
We were there and I got to meetthe warden and got to talk to
him.
Listen, that warden is a man ofGod.
He wanna see those men come toChrist.
(20:41):
He wanna see those men changetheir life, you know, because
some of them may not ever getout, some of them may never get
out, they may be there forever.
But Jesus said I came to giveyou life, and life more
abundantly.
So whether they're locked up orthey're outside, they need to
(21:01):
be free inside, inside whatInside their heart.
Whether you're locked up in jailor whether you're outside and
you're a prisoner of youraddictions, you're a prisoner of
what you've done, the crimesyou committed outside the jail
or inside the jail.
You need to be set free andthere is a freedom and a liberty
(21:23):
in Christ.
You know that's what he camefor.
But listen, jesus also wants us.
He wants us to be his hands,his feet, his eyes, his ears and
his heart most of all his heart.
He wants us to share and toserve and to go into jails to
those that are sick.
If we hear a friend sick, let'sgo see him, let's go visit him,
(21:47):
let's lay hands on the sick andpray for him.
That's what it says in Mark 16,lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover.
You know and we had an episodeabout that, so I'm not gonna go
into that right now but I justwanna ask you listen to this
podcast.
You know, have you trustedChrist?
Have you trusted him as yourLord and Savior?
(22:08):
Have you asked him into hisheart?
Romans, chapter nine, says thathe that believes, if you believe
with your heart that JesusChrist is the Son of God and you
confess him with your mouth,you shall be saved.
Now I know people say there'sno sinner's prayer in the Bible.
Okay, well, what's that?
That's where the sinner'sprayer Romans 10 and nine is
(22:31):
where the sinner's prayer thatwe take comes from.
It says if you believe in yourheart that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God and he paid the pricefor your sins and you confess
Him with your mouth.
You shall be saved.
So listen, if that's you rightnow and you want to, you say
listen because I know.
(22:52):
When I first heard that man, myheart started leaping.
I said, oh, I need to do that.
So I just fell on my livingroom floor on my knees and I
said this I said a prayer.
Pray this prayer after me.
Lord Jesus, come into my heart,be the Lord of my life.
I believe that you, that youpaid the price for my sins.
(23:12):
I believe, lord, that you arethe Son of God and I confess you
with my mouth right now.
And I know that.
I know I shall be saved.
Now, listen, confession is partof it.
That was one confession.
Now, listen, you go and youconfess and you tell others,
because I know that if youprayed that prayer and I know
(23:34):
your heart's just leaping youcan feel.
I mean, it feels like alightning bolt going through you
.
There's an excitement.
Well, that's not emotion.
That's not emotion.
That's been born again.
Jesus said you must be bornagain.
That's what he told Nicodemus.
Nicodemus said do I crawl up inmy mother's room again.
I'm an old man.
Jesus said now don't be foolish.
(23:55):
You know you can't go back inyour mother's room, but you got
to be born of the blood and ofthe spirit.
You got to be born again,knowing that we in our sins, the
wages for our sin is death.
You know, the wages of our sinis death, but life and peace
through Jesus Christ and throughthe work that he did upon the
(24:18):
cross.
Now I'm gonna jump on off ofhere and I'll come back again
and and listen, I love you and Ijust pray that that God is
stirring you up to take him outof the box, because that's, he's
tired of being in there, he'stired of living in the box, he's
tired of us going to church andthinking God's in the church,
(24:38):
no, god's, god's wherever youtake him.
So get him out of the box, dusthim off and let's go.
Let's go visit those in prison.
If you've never been go, it'snot a scary thing, it's not a
fearful thing.
It may be at first, but onceyou get in there, you'll see.
Those men came to hear what wehad to say.
(24:59):
It was amazing what happened.
Listen, god loves you and so doI until next time.
This is William signing off.
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