Salvation

The speaker shares their excitement for the new year and their plans to release more podcast episodes. They also mention their health issues and express gratitude for the support they received during their illness. They inform listeners about their Facebook page and upcoming YouTube channel. The speaker expresses a burden for the lost and encourages listeners to share the podcast with those who need to hear the message of salvation. They emphasize the importance of accepting Christ and urge listeners not to leave their loved ones behind. The speaker then introduces a story or parable that they will share in the podcast. They reflect on the significance of the new year and the need for people to turn to Christ. They conclude by urging listeners to give the opportunity of salvation to their loved ones. Some of these days I'm going home, where no sorrows ever come, will soon be done with troubles and trials. Safe from heartache, pain, and care, we shall all that glory share. Then I'm gonna sit down beside my Jesus, I'm gonna sit down and rest a little while. Will soon be done with troubles and trials in that home on the other side. I'm gonna shake that hand with the elders, Lord, and tell my kin to good morning. Then I'm gonna sit down beside my Jesus, I'm gonna sit down and rest a little while. What a wonderful start, and welcome to Testimonies of the Goodness of God. Oh, what a time it's gonna be for him when we can sit down with our Jesus and rest for just a little while. How wonderful is that gonna be? Let's give credit to Mountain Blue, singing Will Soon Be Done. One of the great old hymns that we've probably all heard at some point in our walk with Christ. And then church. I know our choir at our church does this very well. Will soon be done with troubles and trials in that home on the other side. Thanks again, friends, for being with us here at Testimony of the Goodness of God. I know it's been a little bit since we've had a podcast published, but I'm gonna blame a little bit of it on my health. I had bronchitis and difficulties with breathing for over two and a half months. By the grace of God and some good old-fashioned steroids and antibiotics, they finally got me rid of this thing. I can breathe again and function and talk normally without coughing and just not being able to talk real plain all the time. Praise God that's behind us. I sincerely do appreciate those folks that's been sending me emails and texts. When they see me in person, ask me, when's the next podcast? Well, it's today, friends. And I do apologize again for not putting them out like I had been, you know, every week to every week and a half or so. I plan on after this new year turns over and after this podcast to try to put one out about every week to two weeks, depending on the topic and what else I have going on. We got a few other projects we're gonna try to incorporate with this. As most of you know, we do have a Facebook page, Testimony of the Goodness of God. If you don't know about it and you're on Facebook, just type that in and it should bring you right to it. Go in there and like it and follow. And you'll get daily devotional sent to you and posted and other great information about the gospel of Jesus Christ and also some local notification on revivals and other things in our community of Waynesville, Springboro, Warren County area. But we're also starting up a YouTube channel. It's not been published yet. I'm still working on it, trying to figure out a few bugs that I need to work out on my end to be able to put it on YouTube and audio.com, what we have it on now. And we'll be adding some video with it. And no, you won't be looking at my pretty face on those videos most of the time. I plan on having video just of different varieties of maybe the ocean, just other scenes and other photographs and things that I give, scriptures. So you can watch it on YouTube. I think a lot of the listeners, a lot of people that want to listen to it have told me that they can access YouTube a lot easier and they can access what I currently use, which is Audacity. And we're still looking to do a live interview. With my sickness, I was unable to contact my friend. He actually contacted me and said he had forgotten about it. So hopefully we can work that first interview up and get that out and about to the people because I think you would thoroughly enjoy that for sure. Also, you can send us emails at tgoodnessofgod at gmail.com, tgoodnessofgod at gmail.com. Feel free to send me an email any time and I will return it promptly. Today's testimony, friends, well, it's not really a testimony. It's more of a story or a parable, if you will. But there is a gentleman that's testifying about it. He's on a mission trip, I think it was to Alaska. It was when he had this happen and he retold the story. I don't know whether it really happened or not. It sounds as if it did. I can't confirm it. But I think you'll enjoy it. And one reason I wanted to do it today, today, if you're hearing it for the first time, this is December 30th, 2023 is when this is being recorded and will be published just in time for the new year. All that's old, all that's past, this past year, 2023, and all before that is gone. It's old. It waxes away. Oh, we'll have many, many memories. Some will be good. Some will not be so good. We'll have trials and tribulations throughout that year. And many of us have lost loved ones. Many of us have lost jobs, changed jobs, made major moves across the country. All that will be behind us. And as the new year comes in, as we usher the new year, it's as if we're reborn. Saints of God, where have you ever heard that, right? To be saved, we've got to be born again. And I was thinking as we go through and, you know, we see on the news and we read in different articles and posts online about the world today, the evil in the world today, where many see things that were once evil as good and things that were thought of as good are now evil. The Bible warns us of that. We should know that it's saints of God. And I'm thinking about those that don't know that or those that may have heard it and may be deep down in their conscience or their heart they do know it and choose to walk away from it or turn from it. You know, I've been there. When I was walking in sin, I was one of the very ones, yeah, I heard that. We've got plenty of time, nothing to worry about. Just do what you've got to do. Do what you want to do. And what I'm asking the people that listen to this podcast today or whenever it is you're listening to it, I don't care if it's 2028 or a week from now or 10 years from now, think of someone that you know that's lost, that doesn't know the Lord, has never known the Lord, and needs to build that relationship with his Savior, Jesus Christ. After all, Jesus, as we all know, went to the cross and died for our sins. A perfect sacrifice. A spotless Lamb of God. A man that came down from heaven and put on the flesh that we wear and did not sin, ever. Had no lustful thoughts. Never stole anything, never hurt anybody. And yet, he went to the cross to bear our sins. The iniquities of the world. To put them on his shoulders. To suffer everything that we, the sinners, are supposed to suffer. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for doing that for us. Thank you so much. I love him so much. I can't love him as much as he loves me, but boy, do I want to. But yes, friends, I'm coming for the lost. I have a burden on my heart for the lost. If the Lord tarries until tomorrow, and he comes tomorrow, that eastern sky breaks open, and he calls his saints home, it will be a joyous occasion. A wonderful occasion. Something that most of us should be looking forward to also. And think about all the lost ones. Think about those that don't know Christ. Think about those that are living for themselves. That's living for self-gratification. That's living for self. Selfish reasons. Do things they want to do because it's their will and not God's will. They're not willing to release things of the world that they don't need. Things of the world that corrupts them, that brings evil into their family and into their lives. That kills them. That destroys them. That's what Satan intends to do to all of us. He seeks to kill, steal, and destroy us. And I know a lot of the lost. Well, I've heard that before. What are you trying to say? Well, here's what I'm trying to say, friends. Show this podcast. Let them listen to it. Please. I urge you. Send it to them. If you know someone, send it to them. Send it to them. Ask them to just take 15, 20 minutes, however long the podcast is going to be, to listen to it. Because we love them. We don't want to see them left behind. And I certainly don't want to turn around and see someone I know that's lost that's screaming my name and yelling and crying at the top of their aft. Where are you going? Why didn't you tell me about this? Why didn't I know if I had just known about it? I, too, could have been saved. I don't want that. I don't want to turn around and see my friends I've grown up with, my schoolmates that I still know and hang out with sometimes, some of our own relatives, our cousins, our daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, even our parents. We don't want to leave them behind. We want to give them the opportunity that we've had, the opportunity to turn to Christ, to repent of our sins, to ask for the forgiveness, to be washed by the blood of the Lamb, to turn towards Christ and be saved and to be guaranteed eternal life with the King of kings, the Lord of lords, in heaven for eternity. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Imagine that. We can't imagine that, friends, but the lost can't or don't want to. But I encourage you, please, let them listen to this. Well, they won't like the music you started out with. Well, I'm sorry. Some may and some may not. I try to change that up a little bit. Well, they say they just can't sit and listen to it. It's boring. It's hogwash. I don't want to hear this. I don't want to hear that. We still need to give them the opportunity, opportunity, or the old saying, The old saying, when opportunity arises, answer the door. When the opportunity to know your Savior, to know who died for you, to know who loves you more than anything and desires a relationship with you, that's the opportunity that we want to make sure that the lost loved ones, the lost friends, they get that opportunity. So today, friends, as I play this for you, think about those that you would love to have hear this. It's a simple story, but it's a great parable, and it goes a long way in your heart. It's easy to remember for one that's lost. Friends, if you're lost out there, let me say this before I start the testimony. I've been saved going on four years. I've known the Lord for a long, long time. Went to church with my grandparents on both sides of the family, aunts and uncles. Praise God, I go to church with a lot of the family now that went to church when they were kids. And I walked away from the Lord. I turned my back on him. And I lived on this earth for over 50 years doing it my way, doing it the way I want to do it, acting the way I wanted to act. I wasn't necessarily rebellious towards God, but I certainly wasn't willing to follow him or build a relationship with him or talk to him in prayer or go to him in prayer when I had times of need or even to be that giving person as much as I could have given when that opportunity arose to help someone that was down. I didn't have any of that. I was a drunkard, a brawler, an instigator, a liar, a thief. That was a lot of things, friends. The one thing I wasn't was saved. I deserved nothing but hellfire and torment for the rest of my internal life, as we all do as sinners. But the day I gave my heart and my life and I allowed Jesus to come into my heart and be my Savior, he sought me and bought me with his blood. Praise God. Thank you, Lord. Well, friends, if I can come out of all that and with all those negative things, with all those things that I was into, you can too. You can come to Jesus and you can be saved. Because unlike the flesh down here on this earth, when Jesus forgives you of your sins, as far as the East is from the West, he's never going to remember them again, friends. It's not like you have a criminal record that he has to go back and check. Oh, let's see how good you've been or how bad you've been. That's not it, no. He just desires that relationship with you, that loving relationship. And for those that think, well, I can't have any fun if I try to live that Christian life, well, that's just another lie of the devil. That's just another lie of Satan in this world. You have an absolute glorious time. The joy that's put into your heart, the love that you feel for one another, the giving, the sharing, the caring, being there for someone, praying for someone, and witnessing the miracle of God's work as they heal someone, as their infirmities go away. I've seen it in my short time of being saved. I've seen it. It happened to me and my feet. Praise God. They laid hands on me. We prayed at the altar, and through the grace of God and His tender mercies, hallelujah, I haven't had one problem with them since. Friends, that can be you if you're lost. I pray that one of the saints that listen to this podcast regularly have given this and given you, a lost soul, an opportunity to hear me. I'm nobody special at all. I just got a burden for the lost today, and I'm going to put it on my podcast, and I pray to God that someone listening to this turns and repents. To repent means to turn away, to turn away from what you're doing that you know is wrong, turn away from the alcoholism, the abuse, and anything else that you may be doing that's morally wrong, that you know there is help for you. I'm here. Your friends and family is here. There's so many pastors and peoples and churches that want to help. We all want to see nothing but you saved, and what a gathering and reunion that's going to be in heaven when the saved get home. I pray that for everyone. The audio today comes from Cindy Prescrive. She posted this, and again, this story has been polled several times. Many of you may have heard it. I don't know if it happened. I can't confirm it, but I believe that it could have happened and most likely did through the power of God. So take the time to listen to this and just think about it, and if you're lost and you're listening to it, listen to the voice. I was in Alaska doing a lawsuit. We're way out in the Aleutian Islands getting ready to leave and go back to Anchorage and then home, and I had a ticket in my pocket to get on an airplane. A pastor came up, and he said, Listen, I can save you money. I said, How's that? He said, I flew a small airplane up here, and I fly a small airplane. I can take you in my little airplane, and you can save your ticket. And this did not sound right. I said, Chief, thank you so very, very much, but I've got this ticket. Can we just make our way on home, me and this other lawyer with me? He said, No, no, no, you've got to do it. You've got to do it. And against every better judgment I had, I said, Okay. Well, we went out to the airport, took a spice little plane, and I looked at it, and I thought, Well, one good thing, it's shiny. Then he walked around it. We got in. He's on the left front. I'm on the right front. The other lawyer's sitting right behind me. And he started it up, and it started up just fine. Well, we taxied out. I said, Should we pray? He said, Yeah, that's a good idea. We normally don't. I said, Well, this time we're going to. And I'm telling you, I prayed five, eight minutes. I prayed a long time. We went and got on the runway. He starts down the runway. The plane lifted off ever so gently, and we start climbing. And it's wonderful. Not a problem in the world. We're climbing, and we flew probably three, four minutes. And something happened that will never leave my mind. The pilot turned to me, and he said, We're going in the clouds, and I can't fly in clouds. They make me pass out. I said, Clouds make you do what? Now, it's been cloudy all day. And we go right up into the clouds, and you can't see anything. And he looks at me, and his eyes roll back in his head. And he starts mumbling, and he passes out. Passed out cold. Now, I grabbed him, and I shook him, and I said, Come on, you've got to wake up so I can kill you. Now, we're in the clouds flying along with no pilot. And my friend in the back seat said, We're dead, aren't we? I said, There's a very good chance of that, yes. He said, What are we going to do? I said, I don't know. But there was a radio right there, and I handed him the microphone, and I said, Start asking for help. So he's in the back seat reaching up, and he said, Hello, hello. We didn't know any proper radio etiquette. All we were saying was hello. And somebody answered back, Hello, hello. Don't you guys know proper radio etiquette? And I said, Give it to me. I said, We don't know nothing. Tell them we're in an airplane with a passed out pilot, and we don't know how to fly this plane. The guy said, I'm a freighter flying out of Anchorage on the way to Tokyo. And he said, You're telling me you have nobody who can fly that plane with you? I said, Tell him that's correct. Now, you've got to understand, I am sweating bullets. He said, The first thing I'm going to do is start circling so I don't lose you, because I'll fly out of range of your radio, and you won't have me anymore. And he said, I'm going to get Anchorage Emergency for you, and Anchorage Emergency will be the people that can maybe help you try to save your life. After about five minutes, Anchorage came on and said, We understand you have a passed out pilot, and those of you do not know how to fly that plane. We said, That's right. They said, Well, the first thing we've got to do is find you. I'll never forget what this man at Anchorage said. He said, My job is to get you home safe. He said, That's my job. But he said, Here's the deal. If you want me to get you home safe, you've got to promise me you'll obey my voice. He said, You can't see me, but I can see you. And he said, If you're not going to obey my voice, you're going to die. When you can't see anything, you have no idea how disorientated you become. Finally, he said, Okay, I found you. Now, hear me clear. He said, You're four minutes from a mountain. He said, You're going to crash in that mountain and die. Follow my voice. I never said, I have to follow your voice. Is that reasonable? You see, I understood without his voice, I had nothing. And do you understand, without God's voice, you have nothing. Nothing. Finally, he got his turn. And he said, I'm freezing all the traffic in the area. He said, It's going to take me an hour and a half to get you to Anchorage, and there's a lot of weather between you and Anchorage. You're in for a rough ride. And he said, I want you to hear me. I don't want you to look at what's going on outside. I don't want you to pay attention to the storm, just my voice. He said, If you start watching the storm, you will die. But I'll take you through it. Because they cleared all the traffic, several pilots, those nighttime freighters, those 747s started talking to us. They said, We're praying for you, men. You're going to make it. But listen to the voice. That's the key. They said, Trust the voice. You realize your head is full of voices, and everybody in this world wants to talk to you, and everybody wants to be the controlling voice. And God says, I want you to be a living sacrifice. I want you to put yourself on the altar and let my voice be your voice. Finally, we went through the worst of the weather, but there was still more. And then the voice came back and it said, Now, I'm going to line you up. He said, I'm going to bring you in right down the runway. And at the foot of the runway are some lights, and they're in the form of a cross. He said, Don't you forget this. The cross is the way home. Finally, he's bringing us down. We still can't see anything. And all he kept saying is, Stay with me. My sheep, the Bible says, hear my voice and they follow me. Finally, just a couple hundred feet off the ground, we saw the cross. I landed the plane. In fact, I landed it seven times. Finally, it all came to a stop, and the minute we stopped, the pilot woke up. The voice said, Thanks for listening. I watch them crash and burn all the time because they won't follow my voice. They don't understand I'm the one who can see them even when they can't see me. But they get the voices in their head and they kill themselves. They self-destruct. Thanks for listening to the voice. Then they put us in a motel room at about four in the morning, knock at my door. I opened the door, and a man was standing there. He said, Hello, David. He said, You're the voice. You're the one who got me home. He said, I am. I understand one day you're going to stand before him and say you were the voice. You're the voice that brought me home. If you're not on that altar as a living sacrifice, your head's full of voices. And then we wonder why kids crash and burn. We wonder why marriages are shattered. And the Lord's saying, I'm the one who has the voice. All I can remember is that voice saying, Stay with me. Stay with me. Don't listen to what's going on in your head and don't watch the storm. Stay with me. And I'll take you through. Tonight you have a God who has promised to take you through. A living sacrifice, holy. Friends, if you're ready, God's ready. He's always ready. He's always going to be there for you. Times of trouble, times are good. He's there for you. If you need help, friends, turn to your pastor. Turn to one of your friends that are saved. Drop me an email. I'll pray with you. I can't save you. Your pastor can't save you. Your mom and dad can't save you. Only you can turn to Jesus and accept him into your heart. And he can save you. And you can build that relationship with Jesus Christ. Guarantee yourself eternal life. When our time's done here on earth, it tells us in the Bible that to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. Oh, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. And, friends, if you're lost and you want to find the light, turn to Jesus in prayer. Accept him as your Savior. Confess your sins to him. Start praying every day, talking to him every day. Build that relationship. Read your Bibles. Join a Bible study if you can't understand it. Get an expositor's Bible. There's several out there that are very good that will explain verses, will explain scriptures. The Bible study's a great way to do it. And the best way to do it, find you a church. Find you a church that you can go to. Just make sure that church preaches the Bible, preaches heaven, preaches eternal life through Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ, and preaches about hell and the fear of the Lord and what can happen to one that's not saved, to be permanently and forever separated from God and never know joy, never know happiness, never know nothing but sorrow, pain, and torture. That's what hell is. And friends, when we die, we're going to one of two places. Jesus wants you today, friends. If you're lost, turn to him. Turn to us who can help you. We've got that light in us. Let us turn that light on for you. We can pray with you, turn you towards Christ, and help you through your walk in building your relationship with Jesus. I hope you guys have enjoyed this today. I know I certainly have enjoyed bringing it to you. It's been in my heart. The Lord's really refreshed me and woke me up and said, this is what I told you I wanted you to do, young man, do it. So I'm back. I hope you enjoyed it. And again, I urge you, I urge you to please share this. Share it with people that don't want to hear it. Share it with people that may not listen to it for six months. Then one day they may hit the play button. But let's get a burden, friends, in 2024. Let's get a burden on our hearts for the lost. Let's look for that one sheep from the 99. Let's go find them. We can't save them, but we can certainly help them hear that voice. Thanks again, friends. Have a wonderful 2024. And as always, stay blessed.