#dcnsunday 9/24 with Pastor Scott Williams

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, today has been a processof getting to as Pastor Tara said,
that we are beginning a new seriesof this is my story. This is
my story, and so today's gonnabe a little different for me. It's
not not my typical sermon that Itypically put together. A little bit different.
This is going to be my story, and so it was a little

(00:24):
tough. I've been on the phonewith my mom all week and last couple
of weeks actually, and digging intomy past, finding out history that I
had no idea of digging into Howdid I How in the world did I
end up before you today? Becauseit's my story, and so I've been
trying to dig into that and figurethat out. And so so scripture starts

(00:47):
out like this, The Bible startsout in the beginning, God created Genesis
one one starts right there and thengoes through the process of the creation,
goes through all of all of thecreation of the earth and everything in the
earth, and then it says inGod created mankind, made humankind, and

(01:07):
he made them in his image,and it was good, and it was
very good, he says. Butthen somewhere around chapter two of Genesis,
chapter three, actually chapter three allof a sudden, man decided that,
you know, I realized God isGod, but I want to be and
do what I want to do.And I got and they got selfish,
and they got to a place andthey disobeyed God. And at that point

(01:32):
Sin entered the world. And fromthat moment on, the story of God
and the story that we live isthe story of God pursuing us. So
the story of all the Old Testamenttalks about how God did this, and
the people went this way, andthe people went that way, and then
God did this to try to redeemhis people. And then the people they

(01:55):
kind of followed him for a while, and then they went away, and
then God continued he chased them downto try to redeem his people. Then
we get to this guy who showsup, Jesus. He claims to be
the son of God. He complains, he he says, he claims that

(02:15):
he's the Messiah, He's the oneto come to save the world. Then
he then he has these stories ofof walking around, doing miracles, doing
all kinds of great things. Thenhe then he goes and it says that
he he he goes and dies ona cross. And then and then this

(02:38):
story about him raising again, andhow God raised him from the dead,
and how he overcame death and howhe redeemed us. And there was generation
from from Adam and Eve and generationafter generation after generation after generation, and
then Jesus shows up, and thenthere's and then Jesus it goes away,

(02:59):
he ascends back to heaven, andthen we have this story of Paul.
Jesus chases down Paul basically and grabsa hold of him, and Paul begins
to talk to this young man namedTimothy. And that's where we start our
verse today. And we're pulling upfirst Timothy, our tewod Timothy one five.

(03:21):
If you can bring that up forme, Brian, I remember your
genuine faith, for you share thefaith that first filled your grandmother Lois and
your mother Eunice, and I knowthat same faith continues strong in you.
And so Paul is writing this letterto Timothy. He's encouraging him, and

(03:44):
he's remembering the faith that that Timothyhad learned from his mother and grandmother.
And now it's been generation and generationand generation and after generation after generation,
and I don't even know how manygenerations, and all of a sudden and
drew Mississippi. My parents are bornlittle bitty town out in the in the

(04:10):
in the in the Delta of Mississippi, out in the hot sun. My
mom the daughter of a cotton farmerwho grew up picking cotton herself out in
the fields during the summer and theheat. When she was little, she
didn't do much of it, butshe did a little more as she got
older. My dad grew up andhis parents had been cotton farmers as well.

(04:36):
Eventually they they owned and ran asmall dairy farm. My dad grew
up doing the chores that you dowith the dairy farm every morning at three
am, and then you know,milking the cows three times a day and
just doing all the things that goon with that. So let's bring up
some pictures. Let's bring up thefirst picture there, Brian, let's see

(05:00):
which one this was. I forgotto add some. So this is my
dad's house growing up. We tookthis a few years ago, and so
that front section was not there whendad grew up. It was just that
back part that you can see thatbrown at the porch there. Take off
that front section. It was justa normal little and that's how it looked

(05:20):
back when my dad was born,which he was born in the house.
He was premature, and he wasso small that they kept him in the
upper drawer of their dresser and putdoll clothes on him. He was way
early. The miracle of the factthat he survived. And this is my

(05:40):
mom's grandparents, or I'm sorry,my mom's parents, not my grandparents.
They're my grandparents. And they werearound there. He was from Arkansas,
originally she was from Mississippi. Andthen I think I've got a well,
well we'll hold there. Let's justkeep it on grandparents there. So mom
and dad grew up. You knowwhen people say they're poor, Well,

(06:02):
mom and dad were poor. Lotsof kids grew up in this little bitty
town about seventeen hundred. That's alittle bit smaller than town I grew up
in, but not much. Therewas a time when they grew up that,

(06:23):
you know, horrible things were happening, and with racism and in the
South, bad things happening there.In fact, the Drew, Mississippi is
actually called is in. Sunflower Plantationis the name of the area they live
in the county. Lots of cottonplantations around there, and lots of tough

(06:47):
situations down there, a lot ofpoor people. In fact, I was
reading as I was trying to figureout a little bit of my history that
even currently today, Drew, Mississippi, is the number seventieth poorest community in
the United States. When you thinkof all the communities in the United States,
that's pretty poor. So they grewup in this little poor town.

(07:13):
And I had mom write me outa whole bunch of stuff. But here's
where she started. March fourth,nineteen fifty seven, during a youth revival
with Reverend Mickey Smith, I acceptedJesus as my savior. Nineteen fifty seven,
March fourth, my mom came toJesus and then she goes on to

(07:36):
tell the story of how that allcame to be. I said, well,
what about your parents? Were theyyou know, my grandparents, these
two, I said, were theyfollowers of Christ? Where did they come
into faith? How did you evenget to a Nazarene church? And she
goes, I don't really know mydad was when I far as I know,
he was always a Nazarene, butI don't know where from he was

(07:58):
a Christian. And I knew that. I'm not so sure about my mom,
there were some things in her lifethat just didn't add up of knowing
Christ. My dad, like Isaid, he grew up on this mix
between a cotton farm and dairy farm. And I asked about his parents,

(08:26):
and Mom said they had always beenBaptist, but they didn't really go.
She said that they started going tochurch him and his sister because his aunt
and uncle decided to bring them tochurch with there and Drew, Mississippi,

(08:48):
dad got saved. The mom figuredout somewhere, well, with the help
of my aunt, they figured outthe dad got saved somewhere around when he
was nine or ten in that littleBaptist church. Let's bring up these churches.
I've got to pick of the churches. That's the Nazarene church there in
Drew, Mississippi. A couple ofyears ago, it didn't quite look like
that. And then we got theactual yard sign is still up. And

(09:13):
that's the Baptist church that my dadgrew up in. And I found out
that when dad was a teenager.I had a hard time believing this,
that he actually was leading the musicat that Baptist church as a teenager.
Now, I don't remember my dadever singing let alone any good. But

(09:37):
somewhere along the line he got savedand the church said, well, we
need somebody who leads, and Dadstepped up and he led, and he
as a teenager, he led themusic. He knew who Jesus was.
They got baptized soon after they weresaved. It says she described Dad like

(10:05):
this. Dad was very quiet,but when he said something, it was
truth. He read his Bible faithfullyevery day. He was kind and helped
anyone that needed help, even thoughwe had nothing. Since he was a
farmer, he had faith that Godwould take care of us even if the

(10:26):
crops failed. He loved his kidswithout any doubt. I think that was
about my mom's dad. Actually,I got it a little mixed up here
again. I've got all these thingsgoing on in my head. I've been
trying to swim in all these details. Mom said that they grew up in

(10:46):
the you can't do era, youcan't wear jewelry, not even a wedding
ring. Grew up in the youdon't wear makeup, you don't wear jeans,
you don't wear, you don't do, you don't do. And Mom
said, well, I was justrebel enough. I was gonna do.

(11:09):
I had to clarify that. Isaid, what do you mean. She
goes, well, it was allfine and dan and you couldn't do until
the preacher's daughter decided to do it, and then everything was fine. So
I always just wore what I wantedto wear. So Mom was a little
bit of a rebel as a teenagerwhen she was younger. So Mom and

(11:31):
Dad they grew up together. Theyliterally grew up around the corner. They've
known each other their entire lives.And they grew up in these churches.
And it says that they would goto the different youth groups depending on what
was going on each and every weekthey go to the Baptist church, or
they'd go to the Nazarene church.They go to Nazarene church, or they
go to the Baptist church. Butthey were always involved in church. They

(11:54):
ended up, my dad's family endedup. They there's no money, poor,
poor area. So the jobs backin the day were up north.
So they my dad's parents, theydecided to move up to Indiana where the
jobs were, and Mom and Dadsaid, well, we're following you.
We're not married, but we're going. So Mom headed up there, Dad

(12:18):
headed up there and they said,well, we probably ought to get married.
So let's here's a picture of themnot too long after they got married,
from when that early times they weren'tsure if they were going to be
Nazarene or Baptists. They weren't sure. Mom was like, I was really
hoping we could be a Nazarene,but you know, I wasn't going to

(12:41):
force it on Dad. But somequestions had to be answered. So in
Indiana at that pat they went andthey talked to the pastor there, and
I don't even really know what thequestions are. I think it had the
dot to do with the legalism ofthe church. And he answered them right,
I guess, because they became Nazarenes, and they faithfully served in the
nazaren Church the entire rest of theirlives. I found out that they were

(13:05):
youth leaders, So that surprised you. That I've been a youth pastor for
thirty years before taking this position.That everywhere they went they were involved with
the youth ministry and involved, andthey were like, even though we were
just barely older than them ourselves,it says ultimately we became Nazarenes. We

(13:30):
became very active as youth leaders.We were not much older than the teens.
God was good to us, andwe grew together in Christ. I
thought this was interesting. It saysmany times we do not know where we
would get our next meal. Onour first anniversary, we had no money
and no food. A couple inthe church who had become our best friends

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knew it was our anniversary. Theyhad fixed a meal and came to get
us. God took care of us. It reminds me of a story of
Dawn and I. We got marriedin Illinois and we were in college at
the time. We were between ourjunior and senior year, and we got
married that summer and we were inour senior year and we had nothing.

(14:20):
We were in school, we hadnothing. We got to we went to
got up that morning and it's like, well, nothing here to eat this
morning. What are we gonna do? I don't know what we're gonna eat
for lunch. I don't know.We might be able to scrap together some
crackers or something, I don't know, And we show up the church.

(14:41):
Then, for some odd reason,the church had decided to offer a food
pounding for all the young couples inthe church. And then we go to
church that Sunday morning, and withouta doubt, we know that God was
good and God was real because wewent to church not knowing where our next
meal was going to be that day, and came home with bag fulls of

(15:03):
groceries, just the big old paperbags of groceries, and filled up our
car. It's a good story thatmy parents went through that I can relate
to. So let's take a picture. Let's take a look at the family.

(15:24):
Oh, isn't that adorable. Ithought about putting a baby picture of
me in there, but I didn'tknow a lot to steal and have you
guys like overwhelmed with the adorableness andcuteness, and then I would lose you
for the rest of the service,and you'd be like, oh, did
you see that picture of Scott whenhe was a baby. But instead we

(15:45):
have moms who bring these cute,adorable babies, and all you can think
of now are those cute adorable babies. Now. I thought I would take
the snaggle tooth kid with the bowlcut and put that picture in there.
That was a lot more impressive forme when I was like nine eight somewhere
in there. So Mom decided soour life. It was a good life.

(16:11):
Once mom and Dad went up northand got good jobs, finances at
leveled out. We were your middleclass family and things were good, and
we talked. I didn't know someof this. I knew Mom had had
struggles having kids and she was toldat one point she would never have children,
but I didn't realize what had happened. She told me in this that

(16:33):
she had had a miscarriage. Inever knew that. And then the doctor
just said, you know, you'renot going to have kids. So they
began the process of trying to adoptand going through that process. And as
they started that process, they foundout she was pregnant with my oldest sister.

(16:55):
She was born right before Christmas nineteensixty six. She's old. Then
they thought that was just miracle numberone, the fact that she had a
baby. And then the real miraclehappened a couple of years later. I
showed up, and then life wasgood. Life got better for everybody on

(17:18):
this planet. And then somewhere alongthe line, seven years later, the
redhead shows up. I don't knowwhat God was thinking, but my youngest
sister was born, and MoMA effectuallycalls her well, Teresa, my older

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sister, and I call her theaccident Mom and Dad affectually called her the
chosen one. So she was bornand those were three miracles. According to
Mom, I think there was one, but the three of us were born

(18:02):
when we shouldn't have even been born, shouldn't even have been around. She
put on the on here that anothermiracle. We attended the Nazarene Church in
Joliet, Illinois, which is wherewe were all born, and became youth
leaders. Their surprise, surprise andbeing the God he is gave us.
Oh, this is about the miracleof number two. I was just reading

(18:26):
about myself. That's great. Thenmiracle three. But then my dad.
I think I had a lot todo with him, being a PREMI Dad
had medical problems all his life,always had issues, always had big things.

(18:47):
I just remember that there was timeand time and time and time again
that something would be going on andthe ambulance would be our house and they
would be coming and getting him becausehe couldn't move, he couldn't breathe,
he couldn't hit whatever. It wasjust constant. It says, through the
many, many illnesses that get Dadhad, we kept the faith that God

(19:10):
would see us through each one.And I heard about some of these miracles,
but I didn't realize how many therewere. It says, God miraculously
healed my dad of MS. Hehad been diagnosed with MS. He got
healed of a bleeding ulcer, liverfailure, and others that we could not

(19:30):
explain except God. And she said. In one time particular, I was
told that I was going to bethe breadwinner in the family because Dad could
not work anymore. I just rememberthese, It says. God answered a
very specific prayer in regard to agood job that would provide for the way

(19:53):
for the family while for the family. While I was going to college to
prepare for the job, God wasmore than real. On the way home
one night from class, I wasbeyond hysterical. A bright light appeared and
sat in the down in the carwith me. A very audible voice spoke

(20:15):
to me. It said to me, Jimmy will be healed. But he
asked to believe. There was acalmness that I had never known before.
I told Dad what had happened,and he was healed. And the Mayo
Clinic could not explain it because Dadhad been going up there trying to figure

(20:37):
out what in the world's going on, and they couldn't figure it out.
And I remember that. I rememberthose days. In nineteen eighty four,
we quote unquote adopted an exchange student. We had a young lady that came
in to our home. She wasfrom the Netherlands, and it was just

(21:00):
they never interviewed, they didn't haveany details. They just said, God,
if this is what you want,we'll do it. And so she
entered our home. I was afreshman and in high school at the time.
She would have been a senior.She soon got there and she got
saved. She met Jesus while shewas in her home and in our church.

(21:22):
She soon went back and went toher home and she became a missionary
with the group Youth with a Mission, and she went all over the country.
And she's still a missionary today becauseof what God did in that home
with an exchange student. So Momcalls her the miracle, and I would
agree. Then we have this otherstory, and I'll wrap all this up

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until you don't just hear my story, but I want you to hear my
story. This is how God protectedour family. At one point on June
thirtieth, nineteen ninety eight, theday my dad retired from work. My
mom was working and she was driving, and she was I can't remember whether

(22:12):
it was going or coming from work, and she was driving down the highway
at you know, going The jobshe had was closer to Chicago. So
she's on the Interstate and she's drivingalong doing whatever speed you do in Chicago
Interstate sixty seventy not sixty seventy eightymiles an hour, whatever they are at
the time, and she's going underan overpass. There's a semi that's next

(22:34):
to her. It has one ofthese shipping crates that is on the top
of the trailer, and she's drivingalong the shipping tainer for some reason,
hits the top of the bridge ofthe overpass. It immediately kicks that over
on top of my mom's car,takes the top of her car completely off,

(23:02):
smashes the car. This is goingat full speed. There's no time
to think. We hear later thatwhen when the story ends, that Mom
has been kicked out of the car, hanging by her seat belt, with
no glass on her side of thecar at all, and she's on the

(23:25):
side of the road, unconscious butunhurt. I've seen pictures of the car.
The car was that tall now withno top, and it completely wiped
it out. And I remember storiesabout it then that at the time that

(23:45):
somebody came up and started taking careof her during the accident. We heard
stories about it later that somebody nobodyknows who was there and started caring for
her. Found a dead dove,white dove on the highway, and it

(24:07):
was almost like a sign from Godthat I put my hand upon you,
and I have sacrificed this dove onyour behalf. She had been praying for
a bubble of protection, she says, and well, that's true. It

(24:30):
says. There were many things thathappened in my younger years and certainly during
my adult years, that there isno doubt of mine or Dad's mind that
there is a mighty God and heloves and cares for us. Excuse me,

(24:51):
spiritually, Dad was ready to go, but he loved his family without
any doubts. I'm so thankful thatwe made the right choice to serve a
risen savior. He gave us morethan we ever expected to deserve. This
is just a small portion of themiracles in our lives. So let's bring
up the picture of my mom anddad a couple of years before my dad
passed away. Oh that's not it. That's them somewhere married, And that's

(25:15):
them right before, not too longbefore my dad passed away. Wonderful people
and the herriage they gave me.Now, I tell you all this because
now we get to my story andwhere it comes, what comes of that.
So we had this wonderful story ofmy grandparents, and we had this

(25:37):
wonderful story of my aunts and mygreat aunts and uncles who were bringing my
dad to church, and my grandpawho gave brought my mom to church,
and the way they got saved,and all the stories and all the things.
And I got to watch this.I got to live this. I
got to experience the love of Christwithin my home. I got to experience

(26:03):
the love of God within my home, and I got to see that on
a daily basis. But the truthis I had the right to do whatever
I wanted to do when it cameto my spiritual life, and I followed
God some when I was growing upand I was a good kid, didn't
I don't have that complete rebellion storywhere I went and did all these incredible,

(26:29):
horrible things where I murdered people andall that right, Praise God.
But I lived a life of rebellion, specifically in my high school years.
I lived a life that was mychoice. And I've told you parts of
my story in the past to whereI knew who God was. I knew

(26:56):
that God was real. I hadwitnessed it in my family life. I
had experienced all of the God whocould possibly give me. I had heard
his call to the ministry when Iwas twelve. I rebelled against that until
I was into college, and Iwent against all of that, even though

(27:18):
I knew it all. And thenmy story goes that my parents have been
praying. I had a football scholarshipoffer to me to go to Mid America
Nazarene College out in Kansas, andI went and I visited, and it
just didn't feel right. Mom andDad said they'd been praying it wasn't right.

(27:41):
I would agree. Somehow, agentleman from the church or from the
college at Olivett and Nazarene came toour church and did a presentation, you
know, just like hey, thanksfor doing. He sang some songs,
and I just felt like the Holyspirit was talking to me that maybe you
should go there. Now. Igrew up just by there, and I

(28:03):
thought, there's no way I'm evergoing to that school. Well, we
ended up talking and I was like, yeah, maybe I should go to
that school. And we talked,and next thing I know, I'm getting
a call from the football department andthey offered me a scholarship. And I
was like, well, I don'tcare where I go. I just want
to play football. Now I knewthat I was supposed to be at all

(28:26):
of that, and you know thestory. I met this beautiful woman here,
and I met her at school.We got married, as I said,
between our junior and senior year atschool. And God has been faithful
and good. Now we skipped over. I started talking too soon. You

(28:48):
guys, realize I do that alot. There's supposed to be a video.
Is that video available, Brian?Can you play that for me?
Jesus? Most of my life Iwas brought up in a loving Christian home
and grew up in the church.I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior
at a young age, and Icannot remember a time in my life when
God wasn't real to me. I'mthankful to constantly witness both of my parents

(29:14):
and their parents before them serve theLord. I think of my mom and
her deep love for the Word ofGod, which she eagerly reads in her
heart for the broken and hurting.I think of her mom my grandma,
who will often offer profound wisdom orlend a listening ear, in whom I
know to be an incredible prayer warrior. I've watched my dad time and again
go off in a quiet place sothat he might humbly seek out the will

(29:37):
of the Father and at the sametime lead not only our family but also
the church as co lead pastor.I've watched his mom my other grandmother exhibit
incredible hospitality, loyalty, and afierce love of the Church. I would
not have the faith that I dotoday if it wasn't for my parents,
my grandparents, other family members,and other adults who filled my life with

(30:00):
the goodness of God. That includesSunday school teachers, adults in our church,
our pastors, my husband, mybest friend, and many more.
There's a song we often sing inchurch called the Goodness of God, and
each time we sing it, Ihave to fight back tears because it's true
all my life. He has beenfaithful and so so good, and I'm

(30:21):
reminded of that in every moment.He is worthy of our praise. My
testimony is a comeback story. It'sa witness to the constant faithfulness of God,
who has clearly had a hand onthe different generations surrounding my life.
The evidence is plain as day.And those before me have carried the torch,
bearing the light and exhibiting the goodnews that they might pass on to

(30:42):
us. So I'll end with this. Exodus thirty four six through eight says
this The Lord passed before him andproclaimed the Lord, the Lord a god,
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding, and steadfast love
and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love forthe thought, forgiving iniquity and transgression and

(31:03):
sin. But who will by nomeans clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers on the children andthe children's children to the third and fourth
generation. And Moses quickly bowed hishead toward the earth and worshiped. It's
here in Exodus on Mount Sinai thatGod reveals his character to Moses in such
an intimate and personal way. Andit's through my family those in the church

(31:25):
and others before me that I've experiencedthe character of God firsthand. And God
is good. God is good becausemy parents grew up in the church and
knowing Jesus, because their parents andfamily knew Jesus, because Dawn's family knew

(31:49):
and followed Jesus. We got married, we met, and we've come to
this church. And my kids knowand follow Jesus, and many of you
have poured yourselves into them. Andyou're part of the story. You are
part of my story, and youfeed me and I feed you, and

(32:12):
we are together in this story.And it's a beautiful story of God's redeeming
grace and how God has pursued usover the years. And so let me
give you a few points. Youcan't be a good preacher if you don't
have a few points that you wantto point out before it's all done.
Number one, it doesn't matter whereyou started. It matters where you're going.

(32:39):
Doesn't matter if you were poor,rich in a home that was loving
or not. Doesn't matter if youhad issues when you were young or or
issues today. It doesn't matter whereyou've been. It matters where you're going
and who you're serving. I learnedthat from my parents. You can be

(32:59):
a picker or a dairy farmer andhave kids and grandkids and great grandkids and
people who are serving the Lord faithfullyin all their situations because you served the
Lord faithfully in all your situations.Point number two is that children's and youth

(33:21):
ministries are very, very important.That's why we fawn over babies. That's
why we love babies. We lovechildren. Jesus loved the children. And
I read this story of my parentsand from the time my parents, my
dad was brought to church, notbecause his parents brought him, because somebody

(33:44):
else said, why don't you goto church with me? And I'm standing
here in front of you today becauseof it. Children's and youth ministers important.
Their vital invitations changed lives. Evenin the most perfect situation, you

(34:06):
can still choose poorly. I wasin the most perfect situation, and I
chose poorly. It is always upto us to make the choice on who
we're going to serve and how we'regoing to live our lives. I cannot
live on my faith based on myparents' faith. My faith is built on
the solid rock. Is the choiceI've made in my life to follow Jesus

(34:30):
prayer matters, faithful prayer warriors.My grandpa I knew my mom talked about
his prayers my mom. There's timeone time I specifically asked my mom,
have you stopped praying for me?Because things were kind of going sideways a

(34:51):
little bit? And she goes,oh, absolutely not, because I knew
that she held me up. Themiracles wouldn't have never happened without the prayers,
the protections. They prayed specifically thatI would not go to Mid America,
but I would go to all ofthat. Dawn's an answer to that

(35:14):
prayer. I wrote down that constantgrowth is important throughout the story without throughout
all the history they gave me,is they consistently grew. They never stopped
growing. I can tell you todayto the day that my dad died,
I've got I looked at his Bible. He was going to church until until

(35:37):
he couldn't go anymore. And everySunday the preacher would be preaching, and
he'd be underlying passages in his Bible, and he would be reading the passages
in his Bible. Even though hecouldn't hardly think anymore. Dad was still
trying to grow and hang on toJesus. My mom is faithfully serving today
in her situation, and she hasmoved back to Mississippi years ago. They

(36:02):
never stopped growing. A faithful exampleis vital. Being able as a child
to watch my parents, to seewhat my parents offered, to see all
everything that they lived their lives ofJesus, how they served shaped and completely
put me into where I'm at today. I had to have something to look

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at to know what what I neededto do, and their example is extremely
vital. Mom specifically said, they'rejust something wasn't right about my mom.
We can talk all we want aboutJesus, but if we don't walk the
walk about Jesus, people notice.People notice. I specifically remember, I

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know I'm getting close to time here. Specifically, remember one time my dad
was he had picked up some badhabits and I'll just put it that way.
And I don't remember how old Iwas, but I was probably a
junior higher and I said, Dad, are you a Christian? He was
taken aback, He goes why AndI mentioned these things I had been watching.

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I knew that these things were notthings. I don't know if they
were deep down sins, but therewere things that made me doubt, made
me doubt my faith in the faithof my father. He never did those
things again. I never saw itagain. Our example matters next when I

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put his church is important. Wetend to think that being at church is
an option. It is not anoption. I remember one specific time when
I was a teenager on a Wednesdaynight, we had church, and we
always had church for the teens andeverything, and I said, I don't
want to go tonight, and said, Okay, get in the car.

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That's what we do. Being atchurch is who we are and the reason
why is you're our family. AndI learned from church. I learned from
the people I experience God together withmy family. Church is not an option.
If you make church an option,it will always be an option.

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My mom knew that. And becauseshe knew that, I know that because
she lived it. Sincere faith.The scripture says that when in Timothy there
sincere faith, not insincere, it'snot dis honest striving to know and to
serve Jesus. We need to havea sincere faith that is following and seeking

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out Jesus. Two more miracles dohappen, and Jesus still speaks to people.
Miracles still happen people, and Jesusstill speaks to us, if we
will listen, if we will seekand find. And then I put Jesus

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as real. And if he's real, then what he said is true.
And if that's true, then weneed to be doing what he said.
I tell you today with all certainin my heart that Jesus is real.

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I've heard him speak to my life, and I'm hearing the stories of my
ancestors who are before me, andI know he spoke to them. Jesus
is real. This is my story, and now you are part of my story.