#dcnsunday 10/1/23 with Pastor Terra Gorrell

Join us as Pastor Terra leads us in week 2 of our sermon series "This is My Story."
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Very thankful for our worship team thatshows up every week early to rehearse right
in the middle. Thankful for thisman that shows up every week to help
me. God is good. Christis our firm foundation. He's the rock
in which we stand when everything aroundme is shaken. Has anybody ever been

(00:21):
there? Are you there? Today? Pastor Lisa and Pastor mad officially moved
everything out of the house yesterday.They are praise Jesus and they are barely
alive, but they are here onChrist, the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.Do you know that today? Do you

(00:42):
live by that? Do you standon the word of God. We began
a series last week called This isMy Story Pastor Scott, who is in
Hawaii today with Dawn. Hello,Helloha. We should say right hello and
goodbye, and we pray that theyget read and relaxation. But he beautifully

(01:02):
led us last week telling us hisstory, and we finally found out where
Reagan and Connor get their musical gifts. It was a quandary. Scott's dad
used to lead worship, so thatwas something new that we got to hear.
And as we're going on in thestory today, I know that because
I've been here twenty one years andI'm up front. A lot you hear

(01:26):
bits and pieces, but we wantto take this time. You're going to
be hearing different testimonies from different peoplethroughout this series, but to tell a
little more of our story. So, of course, in all of my
years of living, there were lotsof Bible stories that I could have went
to for different times in my life, but I really felt like God was

(01:46):
leading me to stick right in Timothy. So First Timothy chapter four. If
you're following along, First Timothy,chapter four, verse twelve, it says,
this, don't let anyone look downon you because you are young.
Let's pray God, we thank youfor this day. We thank you for
the foundation and who you are.God, bless this moment, have your

(02:09):
way, get me a side,Lord, and God, may you reign
in this place now and always inJesus' name. Amen. Well, today
I am very excited. One ofour kids is growing up, Miss Mimi.
She has agreed to share her testimonywith us. Would you come up

(02:30):
here If any of you do notknow Mimi, and actually Mimi is not
your given name, correct, youknow, I'll bet these people don't even
know your given name. Please,you don't want them to know. Okay,
we're gonna leave. We're gonna leavethat a secret as she shares her
testimony today, So it's just kindof hard to be upfront. So I

(02:52):
am so proud of her for sharingwith you today about Jesus. My name
is Me. I am eight yearsold in third grade. I have been
a part of this church since Iwas a baby. My favorite thing about
church is seeing my friends. Mygrandma usually he brings me, but sometimes

(03:16):
my dad. I pray before Igo to bed, and and ye Jesus
helps me with a b be abetter her writer and reader, and he
helps me he with my map.I have never been baptized before, but

(03:37):
I would like to try you.I'm sweet. You know we have baptism
coming two weeks from today, Soif you have not been baptized yet and
are ready to take the next step, please see me today. And we

(03:59):
are excited about Mimi. You didso wonderful. Thank you again for sharing.
What a blessing it is to seeour young people rising up in their
faith, isn't it. We areworking on next steps as your pastoral staff
and will be They'll be placing themat each department all over the building.

(04:19):
They will be faith building steps,helping us to continue on in our faith,
to continue to grow deeper in theLord, because guess what, none
of us have arrived until we arrivein His presence, and I want to
be growing closer to Him until thatday. So we're gonna take those steps.

(04:41):
And what do those look like?Well, they're gonna be rolling out.
But if any of you have notheard, we're gonna be celebrating what
the Lord has done on October fifteenth. But Jessica Davis has become our director
of the nurseries. I'm gonna doa shout. That is an area we've
been praying over and looking for,and she has filled that position. And
as her and I meet in thereand we begin to pray together, we're

(05:01):
even going to have next steps inthe nursery. Now, do newborns and
toddlers understand salvation, sanctification, baptismand service in ministry? Probably not yet,
but we are going to hang thosewords in there, and we are
going to pray for every child thatthey will walk with Jesus all of their

(05:23):
days, that they will continue onin their steps of ministry. That is
why it's so wonderful to hear fromone of our kids who has come in
here. How old, Donna didyou start bringing hert infancy? Infancy?
And even before that? Did anyof you hear that we're going to have
a granddaughter? Before that? Andso is Brian and Melissa another one the

(05:46):
girls are coming along Melissa. Isit even doubt yet? Yeah? Wow,
Well that's a shout. Melissa's hasn'tas many girls as boys in the
family. She teaches history and government. Yeah, almost almost. Well I
would too, I would too.They're pretty special. Well, as I

(06:10):
began to think about my story,there were several directions, as I said,
but I want to show you apicture of my great grandpa. This
was my mom's grandpa, and hewas a preacher. And my great grandpa,
I am told, had a lifechanging, transformational moment where his life

(06:32):
collided with the grace of Jesus Christ. And he was going this way,
and then he did a full circleand he was going this way, and
then God called him into ministry.And let me tell you, if ever
there was a time where there wasn'ta lot of money in ministry, I
think he might have got paid inchickens and eggs and casserole dishes. My

(06:54):
mom tells me that they were aboutthe poorest people that she knew and visited
in her life, but they livedthe real deal holiness life every day of
the week before her, and shesaid they were the richest people that she
knew who led her. Now,there was this church that my great grandpa.

(07:14):
He traveled and he preached revivals,and this church was in Canton,
Ohio. They were from Delphus,but he went where he was called and
he went there to preach. Andthis young man of the age of twenty.
Now, let me tell you alittle bit about his background. So
he grew up picking guitars, andhis dad made sure he got lessons because
there was a lot of musical giftednessin that family. So the sister took

(07:39):
piano lessons, and their dad wouldtake him and his sister around from church
to church to church to play guitarand piano. So one day my great
grandpa from Delphus goes to Canton tothat church. You see, there a
twenty year old young man from innercity Canton walks in who plays the guitar,
and I don't know if he wasmore with the holiness message preached or

(08:03):
the pastor's daughter because she was verypretty. But somehow, someway he found
his way, making the trip everyweekend, three and a half four hour
drive to Dulfus, Ohio to visitthis family he met at this revival.
So you can imagine, as thestory goes, there were no engagement sessions
Reagan, nobody on call to cometake pictures. There were no year or

(08:26):
two long wedding planning. One nightafter revival, my mom's mom and dad
got married. And this is them. This was my grandma and grandpa.
This was the boy with the guitarand the pretty little preacher's daughter. And
this is the moment that I saymy grandma's holiness. My grandma sought the

(08:48):
Lord since she was four years old. My great grandma would tell the story
and this was the moment that herholiness collided with my grandfather's fear musical talent.
His family. They could turn anythinginto instruments. They picked guitars,
they beat on different things. Hisbrother even built violins, and they had

(09:11):
impeccable harmony. And then I justbrought this to show you as part of
the journey there's another picture of mygrandma and grandpa as I was going through.
This was the day my grandpa enteredheaven, and this is my grandma
telling him goodbye after sixty nine yearsof marriage. Life is a journey.

(09:31):
God is good and He's in everypiece and part of it. I do
not believe it was by chance thatmy grandpa, at the age of twenty
stumbled into that church and canon wheremy great grandpa was preaching a message.
So after this they got married.And in the early years, I was

(09:52):
told my grandpa would lead singing atthe church, and then he and my
grandmother would travel from church to churchfor revivals and sing. My grandma would
sing, my grandpa would play guitarand sing harmony, and then I was
told this was something I just learnedyesterday. They had an alto travel along
with them while my mom, whenshe was little, she'd hide behind the
couch and when they practiced, she'dsing alto as loud as she can,

(10:13):
like, showing them she could sing. And one day the alto singer got
sick, so my grandma said,well, maybe Carol Lamb can sing with
us tonight. Well, if youknew my grandpa, you had to be
good, and you had to beon key. So he said, well,
Carol'll get over here and let's seewhat you can do. But you

(10:33):
got to do it right. Soshe got to start singing alto with them.
My grandma and grandpa went on tohave four kids, and their third
son, Bob, he entered theservice in the Navy. Now, my
grandma got worried. I've heard thestory. She was worried that being exposed
to so much worldliness wouldn't be goodfor little Bob's walk with the Lord.

(10:56):
And so my grandma prayed and prayedand prayed and prayed. Because that's what
my grandma did. She prayed andshe prayed, and she prayed some more.
And my uncle Bob came home fromthe Navy, and he told her
that he had been called to preach. Did I say, she prayed,
Moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. Don't think that God does not hear

(11:20):
your prayers over your children and grandchildren. He is faithful, And so she
prayed. So Bob, in hisearly ministry, he was holding a revival
Injunction, the huge town of Junction, maybe one hundred people. I don't
know. I mean not at revivalin the town, maybe not even in

(11:43):
the town. And he had askedmy uncle Jim and my uncle Eddie to
come sing along to be the opener, because you know, it's hard to
do a whole service by yourself.So my uncle Jim was a teenager who
had begun to play the piano byear from a very young age. But
my uncle Eddie, now this isfunny. There is not a quiet Fry
except my uncle Eddie. And soone aunt said, I didn't even know

(12:05):
Eddie could talk, let alone sing. So they got up and sang,
and then the second night, mygrandpa joined them on tenor, my mom
joined in on alto, and littleJimmy began singing bass. The next week
they got called to go to anotherchurch, and the next week to another
church, and the next week toanother church, and the next week to
another church. And they decided togive themselves a name. And it was

(12:30):
so original. I didn't get thestory of how long it took to come
up with this name, the SingingFry Family. We were glad our name
was Fry and not something else,because that could have been really ugly.
But we were the Singing Fry Family. Soon they were booking seventy five concerts
a year, maybe up to onehundred. I would say the slimmest years

(12:50):
in those seventeen years of traveling wouldhave been sixty to sixty five. Because
they all, our dads all workedfull time jobs, our moms kept took
care of the home, and wereraised babies, and they all served in
their local church on Sunday mornings.So they began to traveling, and they
would go for free will offerings,and this was so important to my grandpa.

(13:11):
He wanted to make sure people knewthat the money that was raised,
some churches could only give a fewdollars, some churches made up for that.
It went to cover the gas andthe costs because they end up buying
a few microphones going on the road. And then someone wanted them to cut
an album. So here is theirfirst album. There is their second album

(13:31):
that is in my grandmother's living room. That would be my mom standing there
if you don't know. And thenhere was their third album. I think
that's my favorite cover. They allmatched. Did you notice these were the
matching suit days? Thank goodness,Mom, So you always wanted a sister,
but it might have been good thatright then that you didn't have one
because you'd be in matching dresses.So eventually my mom found herself with three

(13:54):
little girls, traveling on the roadand having some trouble juggling it all.
She walked over to my uncle Eddie'sone night. I got to stop right
here. When I say walked overus kids and cousins. We laughed.
Today. We thought it was wegrew up on a compound. I mean

(14:16):
really, I mean it wasn't acult. It was a compound. We
were like family. And so you'dpull into the drive and it would blanch
this way to Uncle Jim's house,this way to our house. Then you'd
walk through the yard to Uncle Eddie'shouse. Now, my grandma and Grandpa
they moved out by the river,one whole mile away. You had a
jog or ride your bike to getthere and go over the railroad tracks,

(14:37):
which scared my mom to death.So she walked over one night, overwhelmed,
and she said to my uncle Eddie, the quiet one, and tears,
what are we gonna do with ourkids while we're on the road.
She had two little girls and thena bit had just had a baby girl.
Eddie had three as well. Hesimply looked at her and said,

(15:03):
do you think they can sing?And she said. I looked at him,
like what, and he said,let's buy them some microphones and see
what they can do. That linechanged my entire life. And I want
you to know that great Grandpa thatI started with, I never got to
meet him. He passed away twoweeks before Tanya was born. But him

(15:26):
saying yes to Jesus is the reasonI am standing here today. As Pastor
Scott preached about the faithfulness of Loisand Timothy's family of drawing him, don't
forget the impact you're having on thegenerations that follow. Even when I can't
see it, he's working. Evenwhen I don't feel it, he's working.

(15:50):
I was a toddler when my uncleEddie said this to my mom,
so they bought microphones. I wasthree years old when I sang my first
solo. So Connie and Dick remindme they didn't even know I was going
to talk about this. They werethere and Dick said, one time I
cried and threw the microphone down,and I said, sometimes I want to
do that on Sunday mornings, butthey don't let me anymore. Tammy was

(16:15):
an early teenager, My sister Tanyawas about eight. My cousins were fifteen,
fourteen, and eight, and UncleJim's four came along as the group
progressed. So as I was goingthrough this of how best to tell you
my story, my story is music. So if you'll just give me a
few minutes, I'm going to tellyou my story through music. So the

(16:41):
first song that they let me sing, they gave me a real microphone.
I know some of my cousins gota fake one because I threw the real
one a few times. Sorry aboutthat. I am Geeu solitum be all
day long. Huh him, hewill keep me safe from Hume, for

(17:10):
Ii'm his little lamb. Brittany smilingat me, Brindley, I was your
age. Give everybody a wave.She's got that big smile. And that's
what I would sing. And Ithink I have a picture my mom would
stand behind me. I think inthis picture I'm five, and she would
stand behind me, and they wouldgive me those little songs to sing.
So the family grew and the generationskept coming. My dad and uncle repurposed

(17:34):
an old carpet van. They putgold velvet seats in it. My uncle
painted a dove on the side ofit, and of course the name the
Singing Fry Family, because every childand teenager wants to ride around in a
van that looks like that with yourname on the side. We got all
kinds of funny looks, funny gestures, but it was our life. It

(17:56):
was what we did. We wereon the van a lot, and we
had whole work school. We wentto regular school. We played sports on
regular teams, ball games. Weneeded to sleep. We would take coolers
and sandwiches, and it was ourlife. Either my dad or my grandpa
would drive the van every weekend.The big van with our name would swing
through the compound and pick us allup in matching dresses, and off we'd

(18:22):
go to the next church. Wecut more albums. This was the next
album, and then after that,let's see if we can find the next
album. They stopped listening to meup there, and after that one we
got real good. They switched tocassettes. We went from the LP to

(18:42):
the cassette. Do any of youyoung people know what you're looking at me?
Like? Mind blown? What isa cassette? Oh? You know?
Good? Good good? Did youfind that picture. Well, we'll
get to it later. So wewere in the van and the group traveled
for seventeen years total. We wentthrough many changes. Cousins got married,

(19:06):
moved away, went to college,moved back, a few sadly left the
faith. Tammy and I were theonly two grandkids to sing with the group
from the beginning to the end,till they stopped singing. I think that's
pretty precious that we're still together uphere. But as strange as it sounds,

(19:26):
it was one of the greatest adventuresof my life. I got to
go from church to church, denominationto denomination. I saw Grandpa, who
became one of the greatest evangelists Ihave ever known in my lifetime, give
alter call after alter call. Isaw hurting people surrender to Christ on a
weekly basis. I saw people eachweek come to an altar and ask Jesus

(19:51):
to become their Lord and Savior.And one day, when I was nine
years old, probably on the seventhverse of Just As I Am, Grandpa
said, We're going to sing itone more time. Is there anyone else
who needs to come and give theirheart to the Lord? I was nine.

(20:11):
I felt this tug and I myselfwent to the alder that night and
took a trip. I had askedJesus into my heart in Sunday school when
I was four years old, butthat night the Holy Spirit moved. You
know, the Holy Spirit still movestoday, and I knew I needed to

(20:32):
make sure everything was right with theLord. If you remember this song,
sing it with me, just weeplease Blood, then the blood? What

(20:55):
sit for bell? It's me Cometo the love God, Come Come.

(21:22):
How many of you today have atestimony from that song being sung and you
felt the Holy Spirit of God move? Well. My voice improved a little
from when I was three and gota little stronger, and I couldn't wait
till the day until they let mejust sing like my cousins did so Griffin,
this one is for you. Griffinhas went back and listened to all

(21:45):
the old albums and this was hisfavorite. It's been a long, long
battle, It's been a wicked fight, sending up for Jesus and quick one.
He is right old sing nay.He's a loupser and he knows he's
going fall with the smoke of thebattle clears away with a home we stand

(22:07):
and torn. So that was fun. But I began to truly worship God.
I began to understand what it meantfar to easy to the boy was

(22:57):
God working. We attended First Churchof God on Carter Road. There were
near six hundred people there when weattended there. They hired a pastor and
by the name of Rick Ruffenok.He was the first worship pastor that I
knew of. You know, wedidn't have a lot of those around here,
and he just was so good.I mean he could take you right

(23:17):
to the feet of Jesus lifting upthe name of God. Maranatha worship was
really big back then. They didnot have kids or teens on their worship
team, but for some reason,that worship pastor, when I was eleven,
asked me to join the team onkeyboard. You wonder why that we
make sure our young people are involvedin ministry around here. I'm telling you

(23:40):
my story because I'm telling you Iwouldn't be up here leading you because I
was terrified to speak in public withoutGod, even when I don't see it
working in my life. So thiswas a song we used to sing back
then. Many of you remember itat first Church. Sing it with me?
Fun We need help you we wereshould ban to glororif me and a

(24:26):
woorif line glorifiorified. Maybe some ofyou remember this one as the tigg pant

(24:56):
is for the lot are so muchso long after you directly from the Psalms
from scripture you ah my hearts designand long too shipping. So that kept

(25:25):
going, and the family kept traveling. And one thing I watched my grandma,
my grandpa, my mom, myuncle's. There was sickness through those
years. There were cancer scares.There were the loss of loved ones.
Through those years. There was brokennessweek after week, there was hurt over

(25:47):
their children. But every weekend thevan came around. I watched them load
up, I watched them unload.I watched them take the stage, and
I watched them present the gospel despiteanything that they were going through at the
time. And Grandpa switched from closingour services from just as I am,

(26:11):
no matter what we thought, wewere going to close with. What ad
that will be when sache and lookupon stace, the one say we byrace

(26:37):
Wueny takes me by the hands,sting it out and leads me through the
promised land. What a d gloryhast that will be well. I was

(27:03):
a teenager in high school and inchemistry class this boy with really dark eyes
and a fancy red car. Hewas really smart too, and he did
love the Lord. That was important. I might have been a little more
shallow when I was sixteen. Hecaught my eye and I told a friend
in English class, if Brian Girrelasked me out, I would say yes.

(27:25):
Two seconds after the bell rang,Brian Girrel asked me out, and
the rest we could say is history. So here is the soundtrack to every
love story in that era and everywedding I ever sang out for fifteen years.
Some say, sorry, there thetenders you can laugh. I think

(27:56):
we can have fun in church.Some say, eraser, I can't believe
you didn't ask me to sing thisat your wedding, Reagan, I lost
my place. Well, some saylove is a fun and the saying me,

(28:29):
I say, love is a flaand it's a I'm telling you.
I was back between that one andanother one, but I just couldn't do

(28:52):
it again because I said, I'mnever singing again you line of my I
have sang that at every wedding fora good twenty years. Pat's laughing you've
probably done that one multitude of times. I just couldn't get past the girls
sitting in the window waiting for him. But anyways, God is good.
He takes good care of us.We ended up married. We ended up

(29:15):
serving in a church in Toledo together. Newlyweds, met wonderful friends Matt and
Elisa Kek who got married two monthsbefore us. We didn't know that,
and we just got really involved inministry. So then when I was twenty
two years old, the pastor therethat happened to be my uncle Bobby that
went into the navy, that's calledin to preach. He decided his church

(29:36):
needed worship teams. He always gotthese big ideas for growth, and I
was in on that. He calledme in his office, tera you've been
on worship teams and been on aplatform your whole life. I want you
to begin worship teams and ensembles,and I want you to grow them and
create them, and let's start doingworship. So I just took off with
it. And this was a differentgroup of people than I was used to
back home. They were city folk, you know, I mean, they

(30:00):
were refined. You've met Matt andElisa, right, So there was this
song, and I thought, youknow, it's probably just not gonna go
over very well here, but let'sjust see what happens. Look what the
Lord has done it. The Lordhas done it by please say I praise

(30:26):
he's nick jay, he's just thesame thing. Come on and praise him.
Look what the Lord has gone Loand behold. They loved it.
They wanted to sing it every week. I thought, please, not again,

(30:47):
because I didn't like it that well. I mean, I was excited
about what the Lord had done.But every week somebody would say, can
we sing it again? It wasgood times. God was growing Brian and
I. At twenty three, Ihad been asked to fill the pulpit.
Oh my mom said, you don'tsay no to pastors. But oh,

(31:07):
I didn't like to talk in frontof people. I wasn't any good at
it. I would sing and playthe piano, but I said, Lord,
please don't make me talk in frontof people. I filled the pulpit
that day. A man left bythe name of Jack Smith put his finger
in my face and said, younglady, you're a preacher. And I
gave the church smile that I wastaught to give since I was a little
bit inside. I said, absolutelyno way on this earth. But we

(31:33):
began to sing wonderful songs like this, Shout to the Lord, lets sae
power and man just stay praise tothe mountains be down and the sea at

(32:00):
the cellmun Do you remember that one? So then we had the sweet little
girl. We prayed for. Brianand I had suffered loss, and then
this little miracle baby girl came intoour lives. And then Brian graduated law
school and it was time to makesome big decisions. We prayed and we

(32:22):
prayed and we prayed, and wereally believed that God was leading us back
home. And so we moved homeand things were not as expected. Tragedy
had struck my extended family in adevastating way. We were looking for a
church home that was new to us. We always had a church home.

(32:45):
So we had went to a fewdifferent churches and my sister Tammy called and
said, will you go to thisDefiance Church of the Nazarene with me tomorrow?
And I said, well, whydo you want to go there?
She said, well, they're buildingthis building, so something must be going
on. And she said when theyplay softball, they act like Christians,
and Tara hardly anyone does. Sowe slipped in, very broken, to

(33:08):
what is now the Children's Center,into the back pew, trying to hide,
and this man got up to pray, Reverend Donald Pierre Leonard. Oops,
did I say your middle name?Donald p? Leonard? And he
prayed and he prayed and he prayed, and my nephew snickered because the prayer
was so long, and I criedtill my tears at the floor because I

(33:31):
knew that you knew the Lord,and I knew how desperately we needed to
hear the message. It didn't takelong till I learned their worship leader had
just left a couple weeks before Islipped in the back row. So Pastor
Don hired me very quickly. Neverheard me sing or play, So that

(33:52):
first Sunday he said, why don'tyou sing something? This was the song
when everything falls spot, praise hisname, And when you have a broken

(34:12):
hart, just raise your hands andsay, Lord, you are me,
you're everything too, and he'll takethe pay with And when it seems you

(34:36):
roll a lone, praise his name. And when you feel you can't go
home, just raise your hands andsay Great is he that is within me,

(34:58):
and you can praise. He's thehood way if you just praise n

(35:20):
You see, I had told theLord in that time, I knew I
was called, but I was justtoo hurt to take the stage again.
And I had felt like nothing inthat time in my life, and I
was searching and good mentors and peoplethat walk with God, they follow the

(35:42):
Holy Spirit. Pastor Non picked meup and I was on a stage quicker
than I could blink. Again,he said, assemble your teen. So
that Wednesday, after I sang thatsong, I had a meeting for anybody
that wants to be in the worshipteam. Several of you were there,
and we opened up the following servicelike this for the Lord. Got a

(36:22):
mine read, we sang, andwe worshiped together. That year, Pastor
Non recognized my calling. In twothousand and three, I got my local

(36:45):
minister's license. In two thousand andfour, I got my district license.
He just was throwing classes at mequicker than I could blink. And then
I had to tell him we're havinganother baby. These classes have to slow
down because many you prayed for Zachto come along, but he just kept
throwing classes at me, and thenAlisa's like yes, she was just there.

(37:10):
And then in two thousand and eightI was ordained in the Church of
the Nazarene. Oh, I gottaget the drink. This is a hard
one. Hold onto holiness church,Oh my God, Urches of Geie's the
streeteen by his love call from theworld, and its as to call from

(37:37):
the pond bite of sin to befree. How many of you remember that
song Holiness unto the Lord. He'sa watchword and song holiness son to the
Lord. As were marching along singing, it chouted loud and longe, Holiness

(37:59):
sonto the Lord. Good, no, and for it. I don't hear
that song without a tear in myeye. It is our heritage, it
is who we are. I'm gonnaswitch mics here real quick. Mine has
been a story of being placed inpositions far too young. That scripture in

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Timothy says, don't let anyone lookdown on you because you are young.
Paul gave these words to Timothy,and I think of all of the people
that who have been a paull tome in my life and part of my
story. So many of you havebeen Jesus to so many multitudes. Reagan
shot a quick video for me lastweek. I asked some of the young
adults and teens to tell me whoin this place has been Jesus to you.

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You can go ahead and run that. So the people that have shown
me who Jesus is is My wonderfulin law is Brian Tarregarell, my parents
Brian and was Harder and Carol Rutcher, who I get to call Graham and
Jay Richer, who I get tocall pop, Amy Finningen and Marge Rhodes,
Carol Ritcher, Scott Williams, DonWilliams, Jim Rowe, Annabel Koontz,

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Alice Jesse, Elaine Leathers, DonLeonard, and Chris Baldwin Jim.
So the people who have shown whoJesus is to me, it's definitely my
wife Fraagan and her family, Don, Scott and Connor. Just their light
and love shows through and everything theydo, and I'm very thankful for who

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they are to me and to otherbelievers. Pastors Scott, Annabelle Kotes and
Don. People that come to mindare my mom and my grandma, Jim
and Denise and mostly all my familymembers, Carol Richer, Amy finagain Don

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and Scott Williams, Jim Rue andTara Grell, my parents, my husband,
my Grandma Lane, my aunt Deonyse, my pastors Tara and Don and
Carol, and the young adults Tara, Scott and Don. I think one
person that stands out is Pastor Donover the last many years, the way

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he's led this church. I thinkit's really meaningful, really stands out to
me. Jim Williams. Three peoplecame to mind, one being Amy just
because for one, having her asmy Sunday school teacher, but also just
knowing her past and kind of everythingshe's been through, she's always put and

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taught to trust and just have faithin God, and so I really take
taken that away from her. PastorTara being another one, just because she's
led me through worship. She's alwaysso loving and encouraging and she just really
shows the true image of what agodly woman looks like. And then lastly

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Dead Cooper. She passed away awhile ago, but she was my Wednesday
Night SuperKids teacher at one time,and she always had so much patience and
she's always so kind to the kidsand I and she just had a calling
for teaching, so I really lovethat about her. What you do and

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how you live, and who youinvest in matters Paul urgently and just with
everything. He had invested in Timothy. He saw him as a one young
in the faith, He saw himas a son. But he didn't just
tell him. He lived it beforehim. He instructed him, he led

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him, He invested in him.He charged Timothy, listen to me Timothy's
today. He charged to endure,to stay, to remain, to stand
in the spirit and the power thatcomes from God that starts as little as

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Brinley, and we heard from Mimi, and it works its way all the
way up. One Timothy four twelvegoes on to say this, don't let
anyone look down on you because youare young, but set an example for
the believers. In speech, Oh, that's important. That could be a
whole sermon, scripture after scripture,on the language we use, how we

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talk to each other, on howimmoral things do not belong in a vessel
that belongs to Christ, and conduct, how we act, who we are,
our integrity in love? Do welove with the sacrificial love that Jesus
Christ loves us with? Do welove the Lord with all our heart?

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Mind, soul and strength, anddo we remember that other part? To
love those around me? And faith? Oh? Hebrews talks a lot about
faith, doesn't it. Faith isimportant. Purity. I got to teach
the kids on the Sermon on theMount on Wednesday. I put my beard
back on and I was Peter purityof heart. God knows our heart.

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We were not born with pure hearts. We need a cleansing from the Father.
We need him to come in andto transform us into who he has
called and created us to be.I want to point out something from that
video. I understand a lot ofthe people named, and there were those
that directly worked and taught and preachedthe kids. I want to talk for

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just a second about my dad inthe singing ministry. My dad, to
my knowledge, has never taken thestage. Have you. My dad would
never dream of holding a microphone.He can do everything else. Someone says,
is there anything your dad can't fixor do? Sing? My dad,

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working seven days a week at GeneralMotors, put time, effort,
finances, skills into fixing everything tokeep us on the road. And we
were so thankful when he drove andGrandpa did it. Something always happened when

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Grandpa drove the van caught on fire, we lost a tire. A guy
was getting ready to jump off thebridge. I kid you not. We're
coming home from Cincinnati. We hadschool the next morning. How long were
we stopped? I think they talkedto me about like five hours sitting there
and Dad. It was always whenDad wasn't with us. To keep us
calm and steady. Those of youwho hold the ministry, keep this building

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going, Pray, send cards,all of the things that take place behind
the scenes. You are just asmuch palls. Find the ones that aren't
on the stage and bring up withyou. Brian and I learned early,
and we were so busy when wewere here at church. Remember when we

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used to pass the offering plate.We were never sitting there to get the
offering plate. So I would takemy tithe into the office and put it
in the drawer and take my tithein the office. And one day our
kids were about eight and four,and we realized they've never seen us give
to the church, and we said, what are we going to do because
we're not sitting there when the offeringplate passes. So we began to write

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the checks and fill out the envelopeand set it on the counter two days
before Sunday so they could just geta glimpse and know how important it was.
How we believed that our tithes shouldcome into the store, and that
was something that we just didn't knowwe weren't doing. We didn't know they
weren't seeing us. Give oh Paul'sLet me tell you today, I am

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a life who has been changed bythe Pauls. Do you know Paul's background?
Do you think why don't have thatbackground? Paul persecuted the church.
He was there at the stoning ofStephen. He was transformed by the grace
of God, my great grandpa.He wasn't living for the Lord. He
was transformed by the grace of God. And I never met him, and

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he changed my life. Timothy,Timothy came from a forbidden marriage, mixed
religion with a grandma and mom whogot a hold of a faith and would
it let it go in the middleof Listra, an immoral society that worshiped
many gods. And they raised Timothyin the faith and brought him up.

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May I tell you today to continuelives, we say what is wrong with
this generation? I said something toZach yesterday and he said something like,
Mom, you are old, andthat makes you sound old. Aren't teenagers
a blessing? And it probably did, But we get to this what is

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wrong with the world today? Andwhat is wrong with the world. My
mom used to teach us how tohave a face up front because nobody wants
a up front. My mom hasgotten to an age she has a tell
face when something happens that just strikesher is off. These days, Tanya
and I were talking about some off. Oh, we don't know what we're
gonna do in another ten years,whether it's something goofy or something deep.

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Her face just and when she makesthat face, I just say, this
world is not my home. You'rejust a passing through. Can I get
an amen? But let me tellyou, the same God who pursued generation
from generation to generation to generation,it's still the same God who wants a

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covenant relationship with you and me fromgenerations back to my great grandpa. May
have been a simpler time, butpeople were just as going their own way
as we are today and our kidsare. And it is a God that
pursues and draws us. I'm alittle late on time. I don't do
that very often, but I justwant to end with this. I ask

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for different glasses from different age groups, of generations. This one my mom
brought. When is this from nineteenten? It was Grandma Judes. It
might have actually been it was mysweet Grandma Juice. I asked, Tammy
was of the era. Do youremember the duck glasses with the blue trim?

(48:52):
So I called her and I said, do you still have your dug
glasses? Because I was pretty sureshe did just a few years ago.
She sent me a picture of these. I just had to bring them.
I said, I meant drinking glasses. So once we got Sometimes text get
misconstrued. Remember that young Timothy's andthen this was one. I have the
drinking glass. And then you knowour kids, they get real fancy.

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Brianna's working today, but she hasthe pink version. Griffin gets to drink
out of a pink, beautiful glasslike this his water with his dinner.
And then, of course the generationI gotta get with it. I had
to ask Melissa for a sippy cup. I don't have one yet, so
she's the grandma with that. Buthere's what we need to know today.

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The same living water that was pouredinto my Grandma Jude and poured out.
It spills when we really long forit and want it, it just spills.
And then she poured in to meand my cousins, same living water,
different glass. We look different asthe generations change. And then my

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sister Tammy poured into me because she'smuch much older than me. That's why
she had duck glasses. And thenI poured into my Brianna, and now
Griffin and now their child that's coming. And then we get to pour in

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hear me, Timothy's hear me palls. The same living water gets to pour
into the next generation. And aswe pour and we pour, that reaches
the multitudes of people. Stay steady, hold firm, stand on the solid

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rock because it may be just oneof these that goes to the ends of
the earth and shares the living waterof Jesus Christ. And it goes to
the ends of the earth as Godcalled us to the great commission of Christ.
On Christ the solid rock, Istand. Don't get upset that the

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generations look different. Just be surethat we're still sharing the living water of
Jesus Christ. Let's stand