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[BLANK_AUDIO] (plane engine roaring) (dramatic music) (engines roaring)

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(plane engine roaring) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) (dramatic music) [Music] Now those that are standing, I ask that you would just shake the person's hands next to you and just fellowship a little while.

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As you continue to sing, [Music] (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(engine revving) (engine roaring) (engine revving) (engine revving)

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[MOTORCYCLE ENGINE] (dramatic music) (tires screeching) - I'm afraid we have a breach.

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[Music] (engines roaring) [Music] [Music]

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[Music] (dramatic music) ♪ God save the Queen ♪ ♪ Save the Queen ♪

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♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, thank you, Jesus ♪ [ Music ]

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>> Amen. >> Amen. >> Our greetings will come from the Reverend Wallace Hartsfield I.

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- Dr. Maxon and to the officers of the Youth Convention of the National Convention of America Incorporated. Dr. David Jones is our president of our convention. Is not able to be here this evening because of the fact

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of Dr. Benjamin Hooks who is the president of the executive, I should say, executive secretary of the NAACP is in the city, and he's addressing the Congress over there at the other, at the Expo Hall.

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So he could not be here. And so he asked me, since he knew I was going to be here, to hear the address of the president. He asked if I would please bring greetings.

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I cannot stand in his stead, but I can certainly say that one of the foremost things, the heart and mind of President Diego Jones is the young people of our nation. He is a lover of young people,

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and if you knew anything about him, if you knew anything about his church and the work that he does here in this city, in our Gallaudet church,

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and in the state convention that he held, you would know that he is one who certainly loves young people. And it was his vision that you would have an opportunity to meet during this season of the year,

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rather than in September, when all of you are in school, and only a skeleton crew present. It was that president, and this president, Ian McGeown, who made it possible that the meeting would be changed until this time so

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that you would have an opportunity to come together from around the nation and get to know each other. We hope that you will use this opportunity to meet young people of your age and older and younger and learn to love each other.

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It is our prayer, it is our prayer that young people, you will learn to love each other. When we find ourselves in a society that would relegate us and leave us alone, we need to make sure that we love each other. And let us not follow the pattern that we see in so many of our urban communities where

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have black-on-black crime. You love each other and love the elderly. One of the marks of our calling as a people has been our respect for our elderly and love for one another. So on behalf of President E. Edward Jones, President of the National that's Convention of America Incorporated. May I say to you, welcome and thank God for you, and our prayer is that the Youth Convention will grow and grow and grow and grow.

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And each year, it goes beyond our expectation. God bless you and God keep you, is our prayer. [applause] At this time in absent of Dr. Jones, President Hartsfield, and I, to all of the officers and my sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus.

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We, the officers and President Ousmane and myself, feel that it is an honor to present to some and to bring again to others the president of the National Baptist Convention of America, a new convention.

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He is the last of the old school, Charles Sermon, and the beginning of the new school. It is evidence that God has aligned and filled his heart with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. To me, this National Baptist Convention for America, your convention,

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who has endured physical pain through experience, yet nevertheless, been able to minister to God's chosen people by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

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There has been some good times, I swear by some bad times, many achievements and accomplishments God has allowed our president. And through it all, we are delighted this evening to listen. And I pray that God would open our hearts and our minds

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to receive a healing message from this human vessel who has been empowered by the Holy Spirit. To speak to our hearts tonight

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that we may be better Christians and servants not for the national convention, but for the kingdom of God. So much that we can say about our president,

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we are happy, we are proud, and you are to be too. Not to prolong the program, but at this hour, if we can stand and sing our names in praise,

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the next voice you shall hear is the president of the National Baptist convention of America, Reverend Wallace Stovall, Hartsboro the Second.

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Let us start in singing, "Amazing Grace." (organ music) (engine roaring) (dramatic music)

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(engine roaring) (engine revving) (engine revving) (engine revving)

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[MUSIC] # Sorrow away, tears free # # I'll sing to the sun # # I'll sing to the wind #

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(engine roaring) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) [Music]

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Everybody say, "Matthew." [AUDIENCE RESPONDS] Before I began, I was just in Houston, Texas, not too long ago. And I was speaking at the Greater St. Matthew's Baptist Church.

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And I was thoroughly impressed by a group there, a death ministry. And they were able to do some songs, "Paramount" is a song, I'm not exactly sure what you call it. But I want them to come now and render one selection at this time.

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And later on in the program I would have them come back again. This, as they come here, I want you to know that it's amazing how they say nothing, but one is able to still feel the presence of the Lord. Not only feel the presence of the Lord physically, but experience the Lord.

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And I want them to come on this way, make it this way. And I want y'all to do that song y'all did down in Houston first, at-- thank you.

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I believe that's what it was. (footsteps) [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

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♪ You don't know ♪ ♪ You'll stay right by my side ♪ ♪ Through the storms of life ♪ ♪ You won't let me down ♪

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♪ You don't ever have to hide ♪ ♪ Just keep trusting and believing ♪ ♪ Things will work out alright ♪ ♪ So choose to be strong ♪

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♪ Who am I to bring me pain ♪ ♪ More than he's ever made ♪ ♪ I do it 'cause I love you, baby ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't take it no more ♪

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♪ Broken person, I just want you to hold me ♪ ♪ I don't wanna change, no more ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ [MUSIC]

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[MUSIC] (singing in foreign language) [MUSIC] [Music]

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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

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[Music] [Music] ♪ So now I'm waiting for you ♪ ♪ And you are my heart ♪

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♪ And I'm a-fighting hard ♪ ♪ To get back on the road again ♪ [applause] (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) ♪ I'm a new king ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ We are free ♪

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♪ I'm a new king ♪ ♪ We're free, oh ♪ ♪ New king ♪ ♪ We are free ♪

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

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(crowd cheering) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ Four, five, six, seven, eight ♪

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(audience applauding) (crowd cheering) [MUSIC] (crowd cheering)

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(crowd cheering) [MUSIC] (singing) [applause]

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[music] Amen. That really, that really intrigues me. I want to thank you all for that.

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I would ask that we bow our heads just for one minute. Amen. Father in heaven, we bless our name for all of your blessings that you have bestowed upon us.

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Now I would ask that as we approach this moment, though we would ask that she would be present, but I would ask that she would speak through me, convict where conviction need be made,

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Fill us up where we're drawn down. Tear us down where we're filled up. [INAUDIBLE] Lord, no word can go forth unless you speak.

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[INAUDIBLE] The Lord has me close his grant. [INAUDIBLE] We would ask this question.

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Do you love us? To President Jones, to his official cabinet, to Director Maxam and his staff, to the offices of the youth convention, to the supervisors, advisors,

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and coordinators, to the youth, to those that are citizens of the kingdom, and to those that are not far away, I greet you in the name of our God,

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who is able to present us faultless. before his presence with exceeding glad joy. And I also greet you in the name of God's son, the Christ, who in spite of the fact

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looking God face to face, took upon himself the form of a servant. and became an obedient, obedient even unto death, but also rose again on the third day, in that we might have an opportunity to pursue holiness under the auspices of the Holy Spirit,

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who has sealed us into the day of redemption, when the kingdom of God shall be fully made known to every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl. I stand before you on this evening with somewhat mixed emotions.

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From the one hand, I am elated in the fact that we could have this many youth, We travel this far to come together to worship the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. However, on the other hand, I am somewhat saddened in that I look outside the walls of the church and our numbers are triple who are lost.

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On the one hand, I am happy that this is my year of going out because it allows another young person to stand and display an expression of God. However, on the other hand, I'm somewhat saddened in that when I look at the youth convention, you don't know what you have meant

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for me. For it has been through the youth convention that I have come to know God like I never knew God before. For I could remember in the days when just 35

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would show up at the convention and I could see God working in spite of small numbers. Then when the numbers grew,

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I watched and experienced and experienced God through the hermeneutic of the people, through the interpretation of the youth, talking with the various youth on different occasions.

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You could hear and feel God, even in the immaturity of the voices. I could possibly recommend several things for the Youth Convention, but I don't really believe that recommendations are what is needed right now.

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I would just possibly like to leave a few charges or challenges with a few people. I would ask Reverend Maxim to stand, please. Maxim I've known you or knew of you much longer than I've actually known you. I've seen you around at the conventions.

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I've known you mostly for your singing. But I've come to know you over the past two and a half years. Sorry that we did not get a chance to hang out together more often.

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We had some differences of opinions on some things, but I'm glad for that. But Reverend Maxim, I would charge you, as you continue to work with the youth convention,

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that as you prepare for the future, that you would look back in the memory of the youth convention. See what the youth convention has come through, the different expressions over the year.

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Or as one scholar said, Walter Brueggemann, he says, "Memory allows possibility." And if we can look back, see the different moods, the different shades that the youth convention has come

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through, we have possibility for the future. Amen. [INAUDIBLE] to Mrs. Jean Belt and Pearlene Perkins, if they are present.

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I want to say to you that you have been like mothers to me, for you have allowed me to grow, but at the same time, you have strategically dropped words of wisdom,

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which shaped me, and for that, I'll be eternally grateful. But I charge you to take the youth convention upon your shoulder as a cross. Not as a burden, but as a cross, that which you choose to pick up. And even though sometimes the cross will get heavy, and even though times when you're hanging

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there on the cross. You recognize that you could change your situation, but it's better to hang in there. Just wait around for the day of resurrection, for you will see a day when young folks will come to this youth convention and they won't leave the same way they came. God bless you.

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To my mother, she would say, "What can I say to you? Words can't express what I feel for you. All I know is that you have been a mother to me. in times when I just had to be right.

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You took the low road. But then there were times when you stepped in and disciplined. You'll never know now. There are times when I've come to the fork

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in the middle of the road, and I've had to choose between the narrow way and the way of destruction. and I could hear your words come back to me, that I love you and I love you.

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As my father, just saying. You're the man of my life. I can remember sitting down on the front sometime when my father used to take me.

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[ Pause ] My father used to take me to revivals with him. I can remember watching him preach. I used to think this was God.

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Everything I heard my father preach about, he was an expression of it. Not one time has my father used profanity in front of me. Not one time has my father hit me out of anger.

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I love you. Thank you, Jesus. [APPLAUSE] I love you, too, Jesus.

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You're the best. [ Applause ] For the youth convention, I charge you to know that you are somebody, no matter how much America may say

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that you are ignorant, nobody caught off on drugs, no hope for you. You ought to know that you are somebody, that you should never allow American standards to define

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what reality is for you. Don't ever get so caught up in the clothes that you wear. Or if we were to go piece by piece

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of what you have on tonight, you would probably find out that they're all made by white folks. Even in your schools, the history that you taught is about white folks.

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They don't teach black history. But you need to know that you are part of a people that has been transplanted. You need to know there were times when they looked at you as lower than an animal. of them still do. I warn you, as 2nd Isaiah did in 40th chapters through the 55th chapters,

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But you need to realize that you're in exile. The folks of the Jews have been in Babylon now for two generations and they had started feeling like Babylon was home. They had some good jobs over there.

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could get an education over there. They could go into some places and wouldn't be discriminated against. But Isaiah warned them to never forget that Babylon is not your home. And the God of Babylon is not your God, but your home is in Jerusalem, and your God is Yahweh. Let me say to you, even though you can get an education here in America, you can wear

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some of the finest clothes, may even be able to get a nice job. But let me remind you, this isn't your home. You need to know that this isn't your home. You need to know that the Jesus that many times that America speaks about is not our

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Jesus. Sometimes I often wonder what does America have in common with Jesus. Jesus is not America's style. For Jesus was a root out of dry ground.

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Jesus had no place to stay. Jesus was bruised. Jesus didn't wear the finest clothes. What does America have in common with Jesus?

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But let me tell you, you as black youth have something in common with the Jesus I know. We weren't born in the finest houses. We've been talked about.

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We've been abused. I challenge you to know who you believe in. As I close, I would like to share a word with you out of the 73rd number of Psalms. This particular scripture I just can't seem to let go.

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I'd like to read the first three verses and the 16th and the 17th verse. That scripture reads as truly God is good to Israel,

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even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped.

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For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Sixteenth verse says, "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, Until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I, there he is.

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I shared before that, I'm attending a seminary there in Atlanta, Georgia, and there is a professor there by the name of Randall Bailey, my Old Testament teacher. And I can remember on the first day of class

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when we walked into the classroom, The first words that were uttered from Dr. Bailey were that many of you will quit this class. Many of you won't be able to endure until the end.

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That is because I'm not here to discuss Bible stories. But I'm here to challenge your faith stance. I want to know, do you know what you believe? He said, "For starters, let me say that there were never any walls in Jericho.

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Therefore, there were none that could have failed." Said more than that, the water that the Israelites walked through, it wasn't as momentous as we talk about, but it was more like knee-high water. And I guess you could imagine with a class full of preachers,

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black preachers who've been taught to tell the story that didn't sit very well. They began to challenge Dr. Bailey but to their dismay he knocked down every one of their arguments.

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And I can remember day after day after day Folks would come in and constantly challenge dr. Bailey Till finally said what gives you the audacity? To speak

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Concerning God's inspired word like that Dr. Bailey put down his book And he said you know, that's what's wrong with you are Here you are you're so caught up

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In the story That you don't even have a faith of your own Said so what if walls never fell in Jericho So what

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What matters is that you have seen some walls fall in your life What makes The difference whether or not the water that the Israelites walked through was knee-high water or not What makes the difference is is that you have seen God open some seas in your life

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Is your faith real One of the young men there who was taking New Testament at the time came to me said Wallace You know They done took Matthew from Matthew and they done took Mark from Mark and they done took Luke

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From Luke and they done took John from John now, you know, they just getting too close to Jesus Whilst I just can't handle it I'm getting ready to leave I ask him is your faith real So Wallace don't start talking about that these professors in here have the facts

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And all we have is the faith Well, I can't change that but I still ask is your faith real I can remember being in the office with my father. A young lady called, said, "Rev. Hartsfield, take my name off the roll.

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Just strike it from the roll. God don't love me no more." Here was a woman who had not only been raped once, but had been raped twice. She said, "Rev. Hartsfield, I come to church.

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I don't hurt nobody. I try to love my neighbor. But it seems like the more I do it seems like the more that God steps on me.

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God don't love me. I wonder... (yells) [BLANK_AUDIO]