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[ Music ] (dramatic music) (dramatic music) ♪♪

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC] ♪♪ ♪♪

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[MUSIC] (audience cheering) [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

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>> Is he all right? [MUSIC] Is he all right? (crowd cheering)

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(applause) (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering)

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[crowd noise] (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering)

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[crowd noise] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [inaudible]

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[INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [laughter]

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You want to play soft, but there's not a lot of that. And they're a hundred dollar holiday crowd, but you're afraid to call them. They're a little bit underdog, like these young men around here. They may not be as talented, but they're a bit evil.

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The history of black people in this country, as a matter of fact, the history of religious thought in the 20th century, and how it can be written without including the name of the man who comes to speak now. [INAUDIBLE] a great friend, a great leader. He is, to a true saint, one of the two great religious minds

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of our generation. He is a constant doing something of what God has laid on him for us. He's a great pastor, a great leader in this community, And a great friend to those who know him, a great pastor, great judge, mentor, and leader.

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I'd like to present Dr. LeWitt, Pastor of the Lebanese Affairs of the Spirit of Austin, Texas. Dr. Marvin D. Griffin, he will present this holly in his own way. Dr. Griffin. [Applause] Thank you very much, Dr. Rowe, Dr. Boyd, officers, members of the Sunday School and VPU, Congress.

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It's a delightful privilege to come again to present you in the Congress here in Fort Worth. The first time I had the privilege of addressing the Congress, Dr. Boyd was in Fort Worth. I'll never forget that. He was in a church then at the church that Reverend Honeyday pastors here. And the lights went out in that symposium.

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And I marvel at the progress that has been made and the privilege that I've been given in this Congress during the years. I have requested that our church band be present with us to share with you something of what we have at Ebenezer, and I'm going to sacrifice some of my time that you might hear them. For they praise the Lord with their instruments and keep Him with what the Bible says, praise Him with musical instruments.

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And these are Christian people. I say people because we have them all ages. We have them from the early teens to the seventies in this band serving the Lord. They're going to play first just a closer walk with me.

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Then we're going to ask that you join with us in another number that will be announced at that time. [ Pause ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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(upbeat music) (dramatic music) (upbeat music) ♪♪

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♪♪ (dramatic music) (music) [applause]

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The director of the band is Brother Roy L. Patterson, who is in the music department of the public school of Austin, as well as a member of our church. We're privileged to have a great musical tradition at Ebenezer, and Mr. Winnie is with us. And this band is just a few months old, since September, and it's come a long way under your leadership. [applause]

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We would like for you to join with us after the band has played it through once, one of the favorite selections of this band, and of all of us, I believe, Amazing Grace. [laughter] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[Music] (music) (slow music) (slow, dramatic music)

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[Music] (slow, dramatic music) ♪♪ ♪♪

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[MUSIC PLAYING] (music) ♪ I'm gonna be there for you tonight ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be there for you tonight ♪

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♪ I'm gonna be there for you tonight ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be there for you tonight ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be there for you tonight ♪ ♪♪

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(soft music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) [MUSIC]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] [APPLAUSE] [applause] [APPLAUSE]

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[INAUDIBLE] And the doctoral audience, ladies and gentlemen, for the first chapter, the first expression of these words. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this life showed himself.

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There were together Simon Peter and Thomas Calvinus, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter said unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing.

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And when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, "Children, have you any meat?" They answered him, "No." He said unto them, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find."

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They cast their vote, and now they were not able to draw it from the multitude of people. Turning failure into success. Turning failure into success. vivid in my memory is a journey which I took under the cover of darkness from across Ghana in West Africa

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to Cape Coast, Ghana, in West Africa. The air was cool and crisp. There was a strange quietness as we traveled over a narrow winding road which went over hills and through valleys, as we traveled for hours.

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Then suddenly there were rings of light that began to pierce the darkness as the new day dawned. We saw fishermen returning from their expedition on the Atlantic Ocean. They had spent the night fishing. Now that the night was over and dawn had come, they brought their boats to shore. And we watched them as they washed their necks and placed them in the sun to dry.

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Many of their families had gathered there at the seashore, shared with them their experience. We saw nearby the arrangements that were made for the fish to be dried and preserved. It was a most meaningful experience for me because it reminded me of an event which occurred some 2,000 years ago almost, Around the beautiful blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, a group of disappointed and defeated disciples, seven in number, had gathered there.

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For three years they had been enrolled in the teaching training class of the master teacher. But things had not turned out according to their expectations. There was a haunting emptiness which pervaded the atmosphere. It was Peter, the president of the class, who breaks the silence, said he, "I'm going fishing. I'm going to go back to what I was doing before I enrolled in the master's class."

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It seems that Peter is somewhat tempted to become a rabbi. The other six disciples said, "We're going with you." And they did. They returned to the old routine.

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They went back to the works of which they had been engaged when they first heard the call of fall rain. You see them as they enter the boat, it's launched out to sea, and they spend the night fishing. When morning comes, there is one standing on the seashore. His voice comes with the morning light as day breaks on tired, hungry, and disappointed disciples.

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He says to them, "Have you caught anything?" And the answer is that we have toiled all night, but we haven't caught anything. We are empty. We have engaged in a fruitless search. We have caught nothing. Our energies and efforts have been expended without reward.

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And this is often the plight of church school teachers. Sometimes teachers do their best and it seems that nothing happens. We suffer, we sacrifice, yet nothing happens. And our bruised spirits cry out at the edge of the darkness.

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We have taught nothing. It seems that much of what we do is programmed for failure. There are times when we have the best material resources and exercise all the skills we possess, And our efforts pay off.

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They're experienced fishermen. They've engaged in this challenging occupation of catching fish for many years. And the strange thing about it is that there are fish out there in the sea waiting to be caught. And they toil all night. And they catch nothing.

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Now consider with me for a moment the situation of the disciples. From all outward appearances they are well equipped. They have a good boat. They have a good net.

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They have a good desire. They have expert knowledge and skills. But with all these they toil through the night. and their efforts are in vain.

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Now there are some reasons why people fail. They often fail because of the fact that they lack confidence in themselves. When we look at the situation that we struggle with in the black community, we have pointed up for us in one of the recent books, Schools Without Failure, by Dr. Glasser, The fact that we are well aware of that there are many deprived and disinherited children of the evening situated in the black ghettos of this country,

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[laughter] who in the secular world failed to get the kind of education which they have every reason to expect. They finish elementary school, so to speak, two years behind and then go on to high school and finish high school with a 12th grade but only a 7th grade education.

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[laughter] And Dr. Glasser looked at it and he tried to diagnose it and he talked with some of the boys and girls of the black community and he came up with what he considered a number of recommendations. He said that these boys and girls in our communities fail because they lack confidence and they don't believe in themselves. That they believe that they have little chance of success in the world as they see it and so they resign themselves to failure.

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Well, that does contain some truth that we need to reckon with as Christian teachers. There are many in our churches and our communities who are programmed for failure. They don't believe that they can succeed. And you have to believe that you can succeed in order to succeed.

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[laughter] People who despair, who give up, are those who are caught in the clutches of defeat. Those who fail are those who lack warm, constructive relationships with their families and with their teachers,

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and they fail to relate well with others. They often come from broken homes. And they permit this brokenness to permeate every dimension of their existence. And at home sometimes they hear the words, "You ain't gonna be nothing."

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[Laughter] They're programmed for failure. Many of them are programmed for failure because of economic deprivation. Because they do not have certain material things, they are told that they cannot learn, and some of them believe it.

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Some fail because teachers do not believe that they can succeed, and if the teacher doesn't believe that the pupil can succeed, this has a way of affecting the pupil. There is what is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dr. Glasser says further that I believe that a successful education can do much to overcome the problem of failure, no matter what the social patterns. Well, we know that in the church.

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We know that no matter how poor you may be, that God still dwells with the poor. [audience laughter] And that poverty is not necessarily a deterrent to keep one from learning. We know that there may be many broken families, but in spite of all of the brokenness that may exist,

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we also know that though families are broken and though there are substandard houses, no matter how poor people are, that there is a way to succeed. But when I look at the schools, the secular schools, the educational sphere, and I see how disturbed they are about failure, failure, then I take a look within our churches and I notice that much of what's happening there needs to be examined rather closely.

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Many of us have low enrollments in our Sunday schools because we are satisfied with that enrollment as it is. We've just accepted it and we are content to live with it as it is. And so it will remain. Teachers and officers meetings are poorly attended and lack organization and direction because we've just programmed it that way. We have attributed failures to the social situation.

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We say, well, it's because of the homes that the people come from. It's because of the community. It's because of the cultural background. It's because of the race. It's because of poverty. When we do this, we eliminate personal responsibility for failure. We count failure when we fail to recognize the fact that success is open to all.

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But I've come to say that success is possible. Winston Churchill challenged young soldiers during the dark night of England's history with these words, You have not an hour to lose. You must take your places in life's fighting line.

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Don't be content with things as they are. The earth is yours, and the fullness thereof. Enter upon your inheritance. Accept your responsibilities.

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Don't take no for an answer. Never submit to fate. Do not be bogged off with mere personal success or acceptance. You will make all kinds of mistakes,

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but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. She was wound to be wound. There are fish in the sea

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waiting to be caught. But you see, failure becomes dangerous and detrimental when we give it a note of finality. The trouble here is that the disciples have given up. They're still on the scene, but they have lost their zeal for fishing.

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That reminds me of some of the situations among teachers in our church schools. They're still on the scene. They're still meeting with the classes, but they have lost their zeal for fishing. [laughter]

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And their spirits somehow have become crushed. Their hopes have been shattered by failure. They have brought their boats to the seashore and lost their nets. And they're saying that it's over.

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We failed. We're tired. We're discouraged. They worked hard and yet there is nothing to show for the efforts that have been exerted. You see, discouragement is an ally of favor. They work together. There's an old story about how the devil once thought of going out of business,

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and he held a big auction sale to dispose of his tools. And he put them all up for sale. Malice, hatred, envy, greed, jealousy, sensuality, pride, conceit, they were all put up for sale and not bound to the highest bidder. But off by itself, his satanic majesty placed one tool on which he put a high price tag, and he was reluctant to let it go. It was the tool called discouragement.

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And when asked why he valued it so highly, the devil replied that this is the most useful tool I have. He said, "With that tool I can pry open and get inside a man when I can't get near him with any of the others. And when I get inside, I can use him in whatever way suits me best. Look at it, he says, it shows the signs of heavy use because I apply it to everybody and few people know that it belongs to me.

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The experience of the disciples by the Sea of Galilee is like the experience that we have in our church school organization. As Christian leaders today, we have many good buildings. We have staff. We have teaching materials and equipment.

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We have budgetary allocations for the task. We toil in the night, we're at the right place. Sea of Galilee is a good fishing place. The church belongs in the world.

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It is in the world to redeem the world. It's our job to catch fish. It's the task of the Sunday school teachers, the church school organization,

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to be concerned about catching fish. And you know, nighttime is a good time to fish. Christian disciples in the 20th century are calling in the night. Those whom we seek are children of the darkness, victimized by social trappings, prisoners of dark ghettos.

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They are fish waiting to be caught. Many are lonely. Many of them are isolated from the main traffic of human relations, Disinherited for over 350 years, they've been forced to live outside the mainstream of American life.

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The fish are there. Many have grave deficiencies and serious handicaps, socially deprived and educationally disadvantaged. The fish are there, waiting to be caught. Many suffer from grinding poverty and humiliating neglect.

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They feel unloved, unwanted. They long for a place to be somebody. The fish are there waiting to be caught. But oh, how sad it is to toil all night and catch nothing.

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How distrustful it is to fail. There is a great deal of discussion that's going on about failure, but the way to deal with failure is not to be disinvolved, it's not to give up, it's not to despair. When we do not succeed at first, as the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, try,

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try again. Don't resign, stay involved, stay on the job, keep on keeping on. Be involved. Then another thing to do is to be relevant, be rightly related to reality.

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Peter and the other disciples were trusting in themselves. See, Peter said, "I am going fishing." And the others said, "Well, we'll go with you." It was a rather selfish motivation.

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And so they went out there and they toiled all night and they caught nothing. But even though we have all of these things, buildings and budgets and materials and skills, if we are trusting in ourselves, We can be out there on the sea and talk all night and catch nothing.

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One must be responsible in order to be successful. And that is that one must, as a teacher, respond according to his or her ability. And in being responsible as a teacher, it means also leading pupils to respond

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according to their ability. Children, do you have anything? Have you caught anything? That's the main question.

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This is the main question to ask yourself as the teacher takes the test, as the teacher takes the examination. Have you caught anything?

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Because you see, in our teaching, our teaching is tested for results. And one of the things we have to do in testing for results, we need to consider how we use clarity in our teaching.

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Not only how well we know what we know, but how we are able to make it understood by others. In college, I thought that to show my knowledge that it would be nice for me to use a lot of big words.

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And I went over to seminary thinking that a mark of education was to use a lot of big words that most people couldn't understand. And I was up in the class delivering a sermon and I had spent many, many hours laboring in the dictionary, getting a lot of words together.

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And when I sat down, I thought I had done rather well. And the dean said, now, young man, he said, now, education is not as huge as a lot of big words. And he said, in fact, some of those words you don't even

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exist. [LAUGHTER] So he said, now, you may think that that's It's not just a sign of being beef, but it's a sign of being shallow.

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He said, "Now you go now and look at the Sermon on the Mount. Go back and read it and see how many big words you find in it." He said Jesus was profound, but he expressed it in simplicity. And if you really want to show your education, it's being able to express the deepest thoughts in the simplest words. [applause]

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So one has to practice clarity. And when it comes to what you said, can they remember what you said? Children, have you caught anything? Can they look back over the years and say that I had sister so and so, a brother so and so in the church school and I remember that in that class they said to me this and

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that. That's clarity and that's communicating. Children have your point. Well, to be a good teacher and be able to succeed you've got to have some patience

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and it takes patience to teach. You know, many husbands and wives can't teach each other because they don't have patience with each other. And many parents can't teach their children because they don't have patience. So, one has to have patience.

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And then the teacher has to somehow recognize that in carrying out this commission, that we are left here in difficult situations with great opportunities, And even after exerting our best when we're on our own, we don't succeed. But here, the one who asked them, "Have they caught anything?" And they said, "No."

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Here they are, tired, disgusted, hungry, been up all night. And as they come in, he asked them whether they caught anything, and they said, "No." He said, "Well, cast your net on the right side." You see, that was a shoal of fish

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that were right there on the right side. But you see, the one who gave the command had the eye to see. They were right there around him,

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but they just were blind to what was there. And the one who gave the command is the one who made the fish. [laughter] And the one who really made the fish knows how to catch the fish.

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[laughter] And he said, "Don't just cast your net on the right side." [laughter] Russell Conwell tells the story in Acres of Diamonds how a man wanted diamonds.

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And he sold his field. Went all over the world looking for diamonds. And he died a penniless broken hearted without any diamonds. But the man who purchased that seed was down watering his cattle,

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and he saw something around the stream that was glittering, and he picked it up and took it and put it on his mallet. And someone came by and saw that something glistening, and they had it investigated,

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and they discovered that there were diamonds there. Right there where the man had given up his seal and gone and died penniless, looking for diamonds, there were diamonds right there,

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acres of diamonds. And the master, self-deceived, discouraged, and dejected disciples, right back, so to speak, to the place where they were,

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where they were and had failed on the same scene, he had them to succeed. But the difference is, they are responding now to the master's word. The difference is that right now they are related to the eternal reality. And because they are related to the eternal reality, they are able to have their efforts crowned with success.

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Dr. J.B. Chitwo, who was a professor of Bible at Baylor University back in the '30s, was recognized as an outstanding Baptist Bible teacher. And the students were much impressed with him. Something very critical occurred in his life. Back in the early '30s, one of the banks failed in Waco,

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as banks were failing all over the country, and Dr. Pickle had all of his life savings in that bank. But his students said that the next morning, when he came to class,

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that he came just as he'd always come. He was just as calm and peaceful as he had always been. But even though there was sail all around him, he still was rightly related to reality.

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So I say to you, go back. Arise from the ruins that are around you of castles you've builded in vain. Tomorrow the skies will look brighter

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if you dream of beginning again, go back. No matter how oft you have fallen or how you have labored in vain, who knows that the portal will open

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to a song of beginning again, go back. Hold on to the dreams you have cherished, though nothing but fragments remain. Someday you can wail them together with the song of beginning again.

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Go back! Then never lose sight for a moment of heights you long to attain. Fate soars on the wings of the morning with the song of beginning again. Go back.

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Well, there's a difference in fishing, just fishing, and fishing in Jesus' name. There's a difference in teaching, just teaching, and teaching in Jesus' name. There are many hills, but there's only one Calvary. And the one who sends us back, even though we have been discouraged with failure,

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the one who sends us back knows all about it. All about the difficulties and the failures that surround us. He knows about it. Why, when he started out, he was misunderstood by his family. They said, "This boy is getting all mixed up. He seems to be mad."

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And his mother and his brothers came on one occasion to take him home. His friends misunderstood him. And then the ruling leaders of the nation were against him. When we read that Jesus began again to teach, he kept on teaching.

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And because he kept on teaching, because he went on to Calvary, he becomes our example and he sends us back to the field. And the one who sends us back is the one who stands there when we have labored all through the night and when we are tempted to give up. That one sends us back. He's standing there at the seashore. He says, "If you go back in my name, if you just trust in me, if you go back out there, there are fish waiting to be caught.

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Let out your neck. Go back and you'll see the bread multitude of fish. Well, they got so many fish that it was a day that they could never forget. It was a happy day in their lives.

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They counted them. They divided them here and there. Oh, it was a happy day because the night that a failure had been pushed back, And they got up in a newness of success because they trusted in Jesus.

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Oh, sometimes we may be ridiculed. Oh, we may be persecuted. But go back and cast your net on the right side of the ship. We may be cast down, but we are never destroyed.

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Go back. We may be bruised. We may be wounded. wounded, go back, and go back, and there is one standing there who crowns our efforts

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with success. Go back, I tell you. Well, they never could forget that morning. Oh, it was a morning in their lives. It was a happy day that they could never forget. And you know, if you really have met the Lord, you've got something you can share. It's something that that you can never forget.

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Oh, you have your mountaintop experiences when you come down in the valley, but you can remember most of all that happy day. I'm so glad I met God one morning.

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I met him in the morning, when my day was at its best and his presence came like sun, like a glory in my breast.

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And somehow if you meet him in the morning, You can fish all through the day. You can fish during the night. Every season is fishing season.

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Go back. Go back. And be sure that as you go back, you have the spirit burning in your pool, the spirit of love,

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spirit of hope, spirit of endurance. Go back. Though you speak with the tongues of men and of angels, If you have not that spirit of prophetess nothing, go back and

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share that happy day of being a child of the king. And having failure turn into success. It's a happy day. No matter what may happen, the moon and the sun may not be shining, but

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with him it's a happy day. Wherever Jesus is, you can go back trusting in him. And when you trust in him, there's no failure. He never fails.

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For he shall not fail, nor be discouraged. Go back and keep trusting in his word. Go back. (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC]

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♪♪ ♪♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) ♪♪ ♪♪

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (marching music) (audience applauding)

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>> Let us all say amen. >> Amen. >> Dr. Griffin, Dr. Griffin, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]