| Time | Text |
|---|---|
|
Facing the Judge
00:03:07
|
|
| Lewis, how did God use Teen Challenge to change your life? | |
| Was it a help in those early years? | |
| Well, it was one of the associates for Wilkerson, from the Brank Center in Philadelphia, that came into the jail and told me about the Lord. | |
| And shortly after that, I went to court facing 15 to 35 years in the penitentiary. | |
| And they took all my seven indictments against me and they put them together because the judge was tired of me coming into the court. | |
| I had no money. | |
| I had nobody. | |
| My family wasn't showing up. | |
| And I had no lawyer. | |
| So they put a public defender. | |
| So the day that I went to court, they woke me up at five in the morning in the city jail in Philadelphia, put the chains on my wrists, around my waist, on my ankles, put me in the paddy wagon, took me to the courthouse. | |
| I walked into the courtroom. | |
| The judge looked at me. | |
| And now the preacher had already come to visit me. | |
| And they were already praying for me at the teen challenge. | |
| So I'm in the courtroom, and the judge hits the gavel. | |
| He says, who's representing Taurus? | |
| And he gives the case number. | |
| And nobody stands up. | |
| The prosecutor did not show up. | |
| The public defender did not show up. | |
| The arresting officers did not show up. | |
| The people victimized for my crimes did not show up. | |
| And so the judge is mad. | |
| You could tell. | |
| I'm looking at him. | |
| I'm standing there, man. | |
| My knees were having a fellowship meeting. | |
| They were just shaking, you know. | |
| And all of a sudden he said, who's representing Taurus? | |
| And somebody from behind, I'm facing a judge. | |
| I am, I am. | |
| When I turn around, who's back there? | |
| That tall, skinny preacher giraffe. | |
| J. Cole comes galloping down the aisle of that courtroom with them two big, skinny giraffe legs. | |
| He says, I'm J. Cole from Teen Challenge. | |
| What is Teen Challenge? | |
| So he begins to explain to him what Teen Challenge is. | |
| We've helped boys like Nikki Cruz, like Israel, and we can help Louis Torres. | |
| And he said, don't you understand that Louis Torres is incorrigible looking at my record. | |
| And the judge says, I know. | |
| Do you have any psychiatrists in your program called Teen Challenge? | |
| And the preachers, by that time, he's next to me. | |
| He scratches, says, yeah, we have three of the best. | |
| God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. | |
| And the judge is kind of like, this is crazy. | |
| But he released me to go to Teen Challenge. | |
| And I went to Teen Challenge, got my life straightened out, went back, and he dropped all the charges against me. | |
| And I became the associate director of that teen challenge in Philadelphia for several years. | |
| And then they sent me to Bible College. | |
| And I graduated from Bible College right here in Missouri. | |
| So, Grandma, mom, don't give up on your kids. | |
| Yeah, never give up. | |
| Wow. | |
| Let me say this. | |
| I just feel like the Lord told me to tell you pastors and you preachers and you people in leadership, you're going to have to, you and I are going to have to get on our knees and look the devil straight in the face and say, devil, you've made me cry for the last time. | |
|
Drop the Confetti
00:00:15
|
|
| You've made me a pushover for the last time. | |
| And devil, you need to not pop your champagne bottle just yet and drop your confetti. | |
| The church is coming back. | |
| Amen. | |
| Strain with anointing. | |
| And when the prisons open, we're going to go there. | |