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March 21, 2025 - Jim Bakker Show
58:28
The Jim Bakker Show with Mark Rutland
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Altar Call with Aliens 00:13:38
Hello and welcome to the Jim Baker Family Show coming to you from the village of Horningside, USA, nestled in the beautiful Ozark Mountains.
Today, our special guest is author and executive director of the National Institute of Christian Leadership, Mark Rutland.
Our co-host today is Reverend Mondo de la Vega.
And now, live from Graysky at Morningside USA, here's your host, Pastor Ricky Baker.
Hello, friends.
You're watching the PTL Television Network.
It's an honor you have tuned in with us today.
You're not going to want to miss today's broadcast.
We have Pastor Mark Rutland with us.
He's the executive director of the National Institute of Christian Leadership and the owner of the Rutland Consultancy.
An incredible man of God.
We have some other insight from him.
I know my father-in-law attended a church that he pastored in Georgia for a long time.
My wife went to Oral Roberts University where he helped them through a season of their college, you know, starting up and going through what normal ministries go through.
So amazing man of God.
We love this man.
I'm glad that he could be on the Jim Baker family show.
When you talk about Oral Roberts University, it makes me think about several years ago.
I spoke at their main Tuesday morning.
Oh, yeah, I've seen a picture of you.
Yeah, but it was funny because they allowed me to stay a few more days.
Then they realized, thank God, this kid doesn't go to this school.
That's right.
You were holding revivals in the halls.
They had water gun fights.
It was the last week of school.
Oh, and they did this amazing.
I don't want to say amazing, but all the seniors got together, got water guns.
And I want to tell you something.
Let's just say this.
Thank God I didn't go to that school because I would have been expelled immediately.
I went to Oral Roberts University one time, the campus, and I said, hey, my brother Mondo has spoken here.
And they kicked me off the campus.
No, I'm just kidding.
That didn't happen.
What a great school, though.
What an amazing school.
My wife attended that school.
I looked at attending there before I went to Christ for the Nations Bible Institute in Dallas.
And honestly, either one of them would have been an excellent school to go to.
So friends, parents, if you are a grandparent as well and you're looking for a place to send your grandchildren, if you're a parent looking for a place to send your child, or if you're of college age right now and you're saying, man, I want to get in a good Bible-believing school.
I always promote Christ for the Nation's Bible Institute in Dallas, Texas, but Oral Roberts University is also on that list of yes approved from the PTL television.
Listen, one of the things, it was an amazing morning to speak at the main chapel.
Yes.
But the greatest joy of my life when I was there was ministering to the basketball team.
Because a lot of those guys, they're very talented, but they come from trouble homes.
And I was able to connect with them.
And we started holding Bible studies in that portion of section of the school.
And my dear friend, I love this guy.
He's 6'11.
Can you believe 6'11?
Jay Henderson was part of the basketball team and brought me in.
And we ministered.
We started Bible studies there.
And I got to tell you something.
Something happens when you begin to open up the Bible and read it to people and the word comes alive.
I always believe in the word.
There's power in the word.
No matter what your background is, no matter what you've gone through, no matter what you're facing, when you open up the word, it has the power to convict you, to make you look at your own sin.
And at the end of the day, the question I was thinking about this morning that I asked that day to those basketball players was, why don't you hate sin?
And I want to tell you something.
One of the reasons why people don't hate sin is because sin becomes part of their identity.
That's right.
It becomes part of the culture, becomes a part of who they are exactly.
You know, before the show, Mondo and I don't discuss the Bible reading we're going to be doing.
I like to keep him on his toes.
But we're going to be talking just about that today.
Friends, I want to continue to tell you about our special guest, Mark Redland and his wife Allison, are also the co-founders of Global Servants, an international ministry with Girls Homes, House of Grace, in Thailand and Ghana, as well as churches and ministries in five West African countries.
And friends, we're going to be talking about his new book today.
Keep on keeping on how to die young as old as possible.
We're going to be talking about that as well with him.
But, friends, if you have your Bible, open it up right now to the book of Acts, New Testament.
Like I said, the other day, I was preaching at a youth revival, a younger area, and I said, Hey, we're going to be reading out of the book of Colossians.
And they were opening up at the Old Testament.
I could realize.
And I said, Hey, it's the New Testament.
I realize, hey, I'm just going to say it.
New Testament right there, Acts chapter 2, right here in verse 37.
Mono, you didn't realize I was going to read this, but it says right here, when they heard this, they were pierced to their hearts and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what should we do?
A good question in that moment.
And Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What a great gift that is too.
For the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.
With many other words, he testified and strongly urged them, saying, Be saved from this corrupt generation.
Wow.
This is Acts chapter 2, thousands of years ago, and it feels like that message should be preached right now in 2025 from every pulpit.
Be saved from this corrupt generation.
Friends, there may be trial and tribulation on the outside world.
There may be corruption, but friends, the church is the perfect bride of Jesus Christ, and we need to ensure it stays that way.
Well, Mondo, people may be asking, well, how does the church stay the perfect bride?
We love repentance.
That's it.
Friends, we love purity.
We love honesty.
We hate gossip.
That is how we continuously make sure.
Mondo, the most beautiful thing when I go into a church, we minister here, even in our own church body, is they love the altar.
When I see that, Christ for the Nations, the Bible school I attended, loved the altar.
They taught the love of the altar, not the lights, not the stage.
These are all just tools to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If all of this went away, you would still find us at the altar.
But finding a culture that falls in love with the altar, Mondo, that's where we get away from a corrupt generation.
During the preaching service, during worship service, I would spend hours at the altar just seeking the Lord, asking God to use me, asking God to give me a change of heart to teach me.
And it was at the altar that I still find myself and now leading my son and my daughter that we find hope at the altar.
That's right.
Listen, make an altar at home.
Make an altar at your work.
Make an altar wherever you find yourself in your car, maybe even walking, whatever you find yourself in the place in your life, find an altar and lay it all out for the Lord and spend hours.
Listen, one thing I learned is that many people want to change the world, but they don't want to spend time at the altar.
That's right.
They want to change their environment, yet they can't spend enough time at the altar.
Busyness doesn't mean godliness.
Uh-oh, I'm going to mess you up right now.
Busyness doesn't mean anything other than just being busy.
But when you're at the altar, you're searching your heart, you're looking for repentance.
God reveals to you the areas that you need to work with.
Amen.
And I want to tell you something: this scripture that you're reading today ought to be highlighted in your Bible because it should be a reminder that we must deal with sin and it comes through the window or the door called repentance.
That's right.
You know, last year, New Year's Eve service, it was actually 2023 going into 2024.
I don't know if you remember almost two minutes right before, you know, everyone's hooraying.
I said, hey, the Lord has spoken to me a word I need to speak over this year.
And the word of the Lord for 2024 was that he was purifying the pulpit.
And I said, okay, Lord, what does that mean?
He goes, so in 2025, I can purify the pew.
And I was asking the Lord, what does that look like?
I didn't get an answer for what it looked like in that moment, but I saw what it looked like over the course of 2024.
And so I'm asking the Lord, what does purifying the pew look like in 2025?
And he showed me a vision of the Holy Spirit fire touching churches.
And whenever you walk into the fire of the Holy Spirit, only what burns is what binds you.
You see in Daniel chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
I can't pronounce their Hebrew names.
So that's just all I'm going to call them.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are bound.
They're thrown into the fire.
And the only thing that is burned is what bound them.
The king was amazed.
He said, did we not throw three men into the fire burned?
But look, there are four men standing walking around unbound.
Friends, I want to encourage you today.
There is a fourth man in your fire.
You may be going through a fire season in your life, but whenever you have the Holy Spirit, when you have a relationship with Jesus, you can walk into the fire, but you will walk out of that fire unscathed.
You will walk out of that fire not smelling like smoke.
And the only thing that will be burned, friends, I want you to get this, is what binds you.
The devil has tried to bind you for many years.
The devil has tried to tell you something that you are not.
The devil has tried to get you to believe a reality that is not true about who you are in Christ.
But friends, I'm here to tell you, when you are in Christ, you are a new creation.
The same way in which Jesus defeated the devil when he was being tempted during the 40-day fast in the wilderness is the same way we can defeat the devil, friends.
Right here with the word of God, I want you to speak to your situation, whatever it is, whether it is a marital situation, whether it is a financial situation, whether it's an emotional, whether it's a mental health situation.
Speak the word of God over your life, friend, and say, is it not written?
And I promise you, your situation will begin to change.
You know, Mondo, there's a lot of circumstances in the world we live in right now.
There's a lot of questions that are being asked.
And the church, I believe, should have the question for every answer.
The Lord has given us that ability because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us.
Mondo, the big questions right now, we are going to be covering in an expo, in a conference we're having here at Morningside Church in person.
April 10, 11, and 12, we're having our Ready Now Expo again here in person where we're going to be covering three very hot topics, but we're going to be bringing experts from those fields to talk about these questions from a biblical perspective.
Could you imagine that?
The church coming from a biblical perspective.
We don't want the worldview of the world, friends.
We want a biblical worldview.
So we're going to be covering topics like aliens.
We're going to be covering topics like AI and what the role plays in Christianity.
And we're going to be covering the topic of the Antichrist.
Is this person here?
Is he alive?
Is he active?
Is it something that we have to worry about in our lifetime?
Friends, we have people like L.A. Marzulli, Bishop Alan DeDio, Joe Horn, Dave Robbins, Vicki Joe Anderson, Carl Gallups.
But enough of me.
I want to show you what you're in for whenever you come here.
Completely free event here at Morningside Church.
Or you can watch online.
Go to readynowexpo.com and sign up today.
But watch this, the Ready Now Expo, 2025.
Is the Antichrist alive right now?
Because when he comes, he's coming, it will have all been prepared.
The hearts are ready, all prepared for his revelation.
Will artificial intelligence control our lives?
With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.
Are aliens real?
And have they already visited our planet?
We're entering a period of great uncertainty where we're dealing with things we've never dealt with before.
The one that controls AI has enormous power over everyone else.
The world is changing at a rapid pace.
And the biggest questions of our time demand answers.
Why the secrecy if it's really no big deal and there's nothing there?
Why hide it?
Join us for Ready Now Expo 2025.
Aliens, AI, and the Antichrist, April 10th, 11th, and 12th.
Where faith, preparedness, and revelation collide.
What are preachers going to do when they stand before the throne of God?
Don't miss this powerful event featuring event speakers, prophetic insights, and groundbreaking discussions that could reshape the way you see the future.
Are we entering the final frontier of humanity?
Very soon, we will be beyond the God of the Bible.
Register today for our Ready Now Expo, Aliens, AI, and the Antichrist at www.readynowexpo.com.
Friends, again, that's readynowexpo.com.
We want to see you here in person.
We have a special banquet as well where we're going to be doing a ribbon cutting.
Friends, we want you to sign up for that.
Be here in person.
If you can't, it's okay.
We have pastors from around the United States of America right now that are saying we are signing up so our church can watch this three-day event in our church house.
Friends, we want you to do that as well.
Readynowexpo.com.
Well, it's my honor to introduce to you a mighty man of God.
We have Pastor Mark Rutland with us here today.
Pastor, I want to say thank you to see you.
God bless you so much.
You see.
I want to jump right into this if we can.
Why We Stay Grumpy 00:03:48
Keep on keeping on how to die young as old as possible.
Tell me why you titled the book that, and what is this audience?
Well, it is for older people, but it's wherever you define that.
You know, somebody says, what age.
I always say, if you don't know what a hula hoop is, the book is not going to mean anything to you.
If you've never played with a slinky, you're not going to be able to pay pickup sticks.
But I just came to the place, I'm in my 70s, and I just came to the decision.
I don't want to be that mean old guy that spends my last years chasing kids out of my yard.
Get away from my family.
Yeah, stay off my grass.
So then I decided I didn't want anybody to be that person.
Amen.
So this book is saying, is talking about, you know, the Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength.
Amen.
Why should we let that hemorrhage as we get older?
I don't want to be less joyful.
I want to be more joyful.
Amen.
And this book is funny.
It's my 20th book.
The other 19 have all been serious and important.
This is fun.
This is double your money back.
Guarantee.
If you don't laugh even once, you get your money back.
You get your money back.
I got to ask you this before you go.
There was a movie years ago called Grumpy Old Man.
Yes.
How do people get to the part in their lives where they were joyful in their youth, but once an age comes, they get grumpy?
I saw my grandfather, my grandmother.
There were beautiful people earlier on in their life, but they got to a certain age that they became different.
They got grumpy and they couldn't stand the noise.
The joy left.
Yeah, that's it.
I mean, things happen.
I mean, I live in the real world.
Stuff that didn't hurt now hurts.
Things that used to work don't work.
And that's the real world.
But if I let that suck the joy out of my life, then I make the vicissitudes of life stronger than the power of God in my life.
And they get afraid.
Getting older makes you afraid, can make one afraid.
You wind up living in a world that you don't even understand.
You know, I'm not preaching against tats.
I saw your arms up there.
I got to cover them.
No, no, but you know, when I was a kid, the only people that were tats, you know, were old sailors and pirates.
So now you go to a wedding and the bride, as she comes down the aisle, she's got a death's head tattooed between her shoulder blades.
And you just say, is she a pirate?
You know?
So you go through the checkout line and all of the magazines have these famous people and you don't know who any of them are.
That's true.
You don't know why they're famous and you don't know why I should care about the tragedy in their lives.
And suddenly you realize, OMG, Clark Gable's dead.
And you just realize the world has changed.
Yes.
Wow.
And it can make you afraid.
That's true.
And I'm just, I'm refused to do that.
I've lived by faith for 70 years.
I'm not going to now live by fear.
I'm just not going to do that and let it steal my happiness.
Amen.
I'm going to read the opening flap of this book right here.
If you get this, which we have available on our website, jimbakershow.com, and it is through our Charisma House affiliate, or you can call our number.
It's 1-888-988-1588 or scan that QR code on your screen.
We've had a lot of scans on it.
So friends, keep doing that.
Scan that QR code on your screen.
Dreams Unveiled 00:03:51
I'm going to read this opening flap.
It says, for mature audiences only.
Come on.
To those who have bravely stepped out from behind the veil of comforting delusion into a new reality, Mark Rutland's witty narrative unfolds as a mirror to their experiences.
Throughout this timeless journey, you will embark on a grand adventure to magical locations.
And there's some magical locations listed here, such as the grocery store, the doctor's office, and then the diner down the street.
It says right here, this is Rutland's 20th and funniest book.
20 books.
That's an incredible journey you have been on through your ministerial career.
So how long have you been a pastor?
Pastor Mark.
Well, I've been in the ministry for 57 years.
So I started with that as a pastor.
I was the president of two different universities.
I was a pastor of a megachurch in Florida.
And I was the pastor of small churches.
And I was a youth pastor.
I think it was in Lincoln's first term, I believe.
Amen.
You know, you're also the co-founder of Global Servants.
Can you share with us the story behind that organization's foundations, their founding?
In 1977, 1975, my wife and I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
At that time, I was a Methodist pastor.
A couple of years later, I was not a Methodist pastor.
And so we launched out on our own and we started Global Servants.
We began work around the world.
And God just really opened it.
It was beyond.
People say, your dreams have come true.
I say, we left my dreams behind long ago.
In 1986, however, Global Servants took a major shift.
And I was confronted in a most disconcerting way with the issue of child sex trafficking when I was doing a crusade in Thailand.
And I talked to the Thai pastor about it at breakfast, and he was a little bit blasé about it.
He said, well, we have a problem, you know, and child.
And my American self-righteousness, I said, well, don't just talk about it.
Somebody ought to do something.
Somebody ought to act.
And he took it for a little while, and then he looked across the breakfast table at me and changed my world.
He said, somebody should.
Aren't you somebody?
And I went back to the United States.
My wife and I cried.
We dealt with it, struggled.
And we went back to Thailand, started House of Grace.
It's just exploded.
We now have 14 buildings on two campuses.
Hundreds and hundreds of girls have come through.
Our son has started House of Grace in Africa.
And so it's really been an amazing story.
Amen.
So you're in West Africa as well as Southeast Asia right now.
That's right.
Incredible.
Is there more goals for this house of grace to continue to expand?
Yes.
In fact, our son is looking at a possible location now in Latin America.
So that would be our third continent.
Amen.
You know, Mondo, we deal with a lot of ministries as well that deal with child sex trafficking.
It's heartbreaking.
You've actually been on mission yourself to see these impoverished nations being taken advantage of.
A multi-billion dollar people say, I would really say it's probably at this point a trillion-dollar industry.
Truly, it's a horrible industry.
But, Mondo, how important is it to have homes of grace around this country?
I mean, you've seen it yourself.
Listen, if you can't start one, finance it and support this one.
You need to support this one because when you look at your grandkids, when you look at your own kids, they could be one of them.
Faith Makes Us Doers 00:07:59
And I had to see it through that lens that that could be my mila.
That can be my mateo.
And I want to tell you something when it hits home, you want to do something about it, Pastor.
You know what?
I love you because the fact that you don't just talk about it, you're a doer.
Yes.
And this is why I believe you've been able to be so successful because you do it.
You have a strategy that God gives you on how to bring people together.
And again, if you don't know how to start one, support it.
That's the number one thing you can do.
Number two, get involved.
Do something about it.
If you are traveling the nation with your RV and you're just having fun and you want to do something about it, call us.
We'll put you in contact with Pastor.
And I want to tell you something.
We need grandmothers.
And I always tell people this: don't, if you're older and if you mature, we need you.
You're so valuable.
You're important.
Your experience, everything that you have learned in your life, and you find yourself in your 60s, 70s, and 80s, don't give up.
We need your advice.
We need you more than ever.
We need you to hold those babies.
We need you to be grandmothers to kids that most likely don't have parents anymore.
Yeah, I mean, that's the whole point of the new book is keep on keeping on.
Keep doing, keep going.
Here's what I learned: the hyperactivity that can make you miserable in the fifth grade can actually make you successful in adulthood.
So you were talking about, you know, being a doer.
I just never felt comfortable in my life just sitting around.
And I'm not going to do that now.
As long as you can move, move.
As long as you can work, work.
And one of the whole chapters in Keep On Keeping On is keep on giving.
People tend to allow, as they get older, their lives to occlude, not just their veins.
They just tend to clamp down everything.
And we're looking at one of the largest transfers of wealth in the history of the world.
Yes.
It's from the boomers onto the next.
I say give, give generously, keep giving.
Don't live.
Faith makes you clamp down.
Faith makes you say, hold on, don't give.
Keep giving.
And not just money.
I'm talking about a generosity of life.
Yes.
Our son pastor is a wonderful church in Georgia.
We attend there when I'm not on the road, which is almost never.
And I like to hang around the lobby of the church and I talk with people.
I love to joke with the teenagers.
Yes.
Tell them how good looking they are and that kind of thing.
So his youth pastor moved to a new job.
And the teenagers asked him to make me the youth pastor.
Oh, man.
So I didn't take it.
I mean, one lock-in, I'd be a dead man.
But I was honored.
They wanted the old dude.
That's because I want to be a giving person, giving compliments, giving praise, giving, you know, in worship.
Instead of griping and complaining about the music, put some stoppers in your ear and put your hands up and worship the Lord.
I don't want to be that guy.
It's too cold in here.
The music's too loud.
God, have a good time.
Let's rejoice right to the end.
Amen.
You know, in a society, everlasting youth is the goal.
So why is it more important for people to focus on internal youth rather than external youth?
That's a very good question.
Because external youth is fading.
I mean, you're so young and handsome right now, but look at me.
I know he's lying.
No, I know he's lying.
No, look at me.
I'm your future.
As you are, so once was I. As I am, you soon will be.
So that external beauty, external, even external health to a certain extent fades.
But if you can cultivate internal beauty, if you can internal youth, the youthful view of life, youthful view of the world, of your own usefulness.
I have a good friend who had a massive heart attack and passed away.
Oh, wow.
The nurse at the funeral, the nurse who was the last person with him, told me that he told her, he grabbed her hand and he said, I'm going.
I'm not going to make it to surgery.
He said, what about you?
What would happen if you died right now?
And she said, she came to us at the funeral.
I didn't know her.
She said she went in the nurse's station and gave her life to Christ.
Amen.
Calling his deathbed.
Wow.
Amen.
That's what I'm saying.
Keep on keeping on right to the end.
Amen.
Mono, this is an incredible book.
I think, friends, if you are there where you're saying, you know what, I have reached an age where God is no longer going to continue to use me.
I've just lived my life and now I'm just waiting to pass on to heaven.
Friends, it is not true.
If you have breath in your lungs, that means you have a purpose.
You have a calling.
You know, Mono, you quote Jeremiah 29, 11, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.
He doesn't say, for I know the plans I have for you until you turn 65.
And then I've lost the plans for you.
No, no.
It is an eternal thing that he has given you.
If you have breath in your lungs, friend, you have a purpose.
You have a calling.
We still need your wisdom.
You know, the word of God says, depending on your translation, it says, don't reject the hoary-headed.
Friends, that is those with white hair.
And friends, we here at the PTL Television Network, we need you.
We need you to continue to stand strong.
We need you to continue to pour into your children, into your grandchildren, into the next generation, because that next generation is going to be who's teaching your great-grandchildren and your great-great-grandchildren.
And, you know, the Bible says, train a child in the way they're supposed to go.
When they're old, they won't depart from it.
Friends, we need to ensure that you are training your grandchildren, training your children, training yourself, training those youth in your area.
Like you said, they wanted you to be the youth pastor.
They wanted you.
Why?
Because you had a spark about you.
You know, you weren't the youngest at the time when they asked you to do this.
No.
But you were the most fit because you had that life inside of you.
When you have the Holy Spirit burning inside of you, friends, I promise you, your external age will not matter.
People will flock to you.
They'll want to be around you.
They'll want to cultivate that atmosphere that you're creating.
And that's because of the fire of the Holy Spirit.
We need to keep on keeping on.
Are you sure this is just for old people?
This is fire and me.
This is for everybody.
This is fire and me.
I'm going to tell you right now.
You need to read it.
Amen.
I want to ask you, what have you learned about aging that most people don't talk about?
Yeah.
One of the critical things that, you know, you have to do introspection on your own self.
What about my life?
What have I learned?
What's going on in my life?
And one of the main things I've learned is that the changes in the world around you are what make it, you tend to retreat.
You tend to pull back.
That's the reason that the front of the book says, you know, magical places like the grocery store, it begins to be a journey, a deal.
I put my clothes on, go out to the car, drive.
It's raining.
I don't want to get in the rain.
And you give into that stuff.
And what I'm learning is you have to fight rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And don't give into that stuff.
And don't give into the crustiness.
I went to the grocery store the other day and the girl.
That's a funny way to put it.
The girl was kind of, well, I thought she was rude to me.
And I was rude back.
I gave it to her.
You know, you guys are never carnal.
I've never seen Mondo like that a day in my life.
I just gave it back to her.
And I drove away.
Grave Vengeance and Laughter 00:03:52
And you know how the Lord, he's so unreasonable.
And it just kept working on me, working on me.
So I turned around and went back.
And I went to her.
She was still there.
And I said, hey, young lady, I think I was rude to you.
And I apologize.
And she says, whatever.
So it made me laugh.
It made me laugh.
So then I started laughing.
Then I started laughing.
I thought, you know, it's funny.
Life is funny.
If you can just.
And what's funny about us?
A sense of humor is not knowing what's funny.
A sense of humor is knowing what's funny about you.
Wow.
And if you can be the first one to laugh, when you bang your head, everybody else is going to laugh.
And you can yell at your spouse and kick the cat or you can laugh.
Life without laughter is joyless and horrible.
That's right.
You know, you actually talk about this on page 24 of your book.
You say laughing is the best way to resist getting old.
And some of the best things to laugh about are what happens in church.
Have you ever had any funny moments in church?
Listen, guys, the funniest stuff in the world happens in church.
If you can just get, it's not irreverence.
It's just that funny stuff happens.
And God showed me that my first funeral, I was 22.
A 22-year-old boy should not be given a driver's license, let alone a church.
And I was pastoring church.
My first funeral, I went to it, and I was the co-preacher at this funeral with an elderly Baptist preacher that I never met.
And he was furious that I was there.
And he was angry at me.
And when we got up to preach, he derided me in front of the congregation.
And it was humiliating.
I was 22.
I didn't know what to do.
So we left the church to walk.
It was just a little church to walk out to the cemetery.
The paw bearers were carrying the coffin.
And I said to him, you want me to have anything at the graveside?
And he says, no.
He said, you've done enough.
I said, fine, Pastor, fine.
But he didn't believe me.
He thought I was going to try to insinuate myself into that graveside service.
So when they set the coffin up on there, he stepped out real fast to keep me from getting up there.
And when he did, he stepped out on the felt and he shot down into the grave.
It was, you know, I'm saying this.
Vengeance is mine, so the Lord.
And they couldn't get him out.
So the coffin gave and then it swung back in and pinned him.
He was like an insect on a buck collection.
Oh, no.
They couldn't get him out.
So they had to call the gravediggers from the truck to come and crank the coffin up, you know, and lift it up.
And they're dragging him out.
It had rained the night before.
And he was wet Georgia clay.
Oh, man.
He was soaked.
And he's hitting at the grave dares.
And I thought, what did they do?
They're trying to help you.
And I learned in that graveyard that day, God spoke to me two things that changed my life.
First is he said, when you do a funeral, stand back from the grave.
The second thing he said is, if you fall in, laugh first.
Everybody's going to laugh.
Get in on the joke.
Important.
I bet he preached about eight weeks' worth of sermons on coming out of the grave right after that one.
I like that.
Friends, I really want to encourage you right now.
Go to the websites, jimbakershow.com.
This is an incredible book, Mondo.
You know, it's good as believers to be lighthearted sometimes.
In a world of trial, in a world of tribulation, in a world where external circumstances are going to try to chip at your faith, we can laugh.
Let Go of Past Memories 00:14:05
Yes.
We can enjoy what the Lord has given us.
He's given us life.
Friends, if you woke up this morning, it's because God woke you up.
We can find something to laugh about.
We can find something to be joyful about.
You know, a lot of people say, well, why do I feel weak in my faith?
But what is the word of God said, like you said earlier, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
Friends, if you're feeling weak spiritually, find that joy again.
Return to your first love.
You know, when you first got married, whenever you were in your honeymoon phase, people say, hopefully it never leaves for people, but you would laugh about everything.
You'd enjoy everything.
Friends, we're never supposed to leave that place with Jesus.
We're never supposed to leave that place with the Holy Spirit.
He always wants to be in that quote-unquote honeymoon phase.
Now, friends, he might drag you through the valley.
He might take you up to a mountaintop, but we'll always be in that honeymoon phase with Jesus because he is continuously, everlasting for eternity, falling in love with us, willing to do anything he can to bring the prodigal son home, to bring you back in as a son or daughter, heir to the throne of Jesus Christ.
Friends, he loves you so much.
We can laugh a little bit with him.
Amen.
Amen.
You knew you were talking about marriage.
So marriage changes as you age.
And so, especially if you both have been working and you both retire, okay, time apart was imposed on you because of jobs.
Yes.
Now, suddenly, you make three decisions all at one time.
You downsize, so you're in a smaller area.
You both retire.
And now, all of a sudden, all that friction is going on.
And you have to get a sense of humor about that.
So I always tell the women: the major mistake women make in marriage is they keep thinking they're married to an adult.
Why are you guys all laughing?
If you could just get that out of your mind, men don't grow up, they just get big.
They just get bigger.
They just get bigger.
Yeah.
So you tell.
So the wife says, Would you fold these socks and put them away?
All right.
And you come back in a little while later and he's shooting jump shots with the socks.
Okay.
You got to laugh.
He thinks he's Larry Bird.
And you got to let him pretend.
You got to let him do that.
The husbands always say the same thing.
Suddenly, you're in a terrain.
You used to be the CEO of some hardware company.
Now, all of a sudden, you're in your wife's domain.
That's right.
And it should have occurred to you by this time that she may know stuff you don't.
So sometimes you have to humble yourself.
Then the third thing is, you need time apart.
Your jobs did that.
Now, go fishing, play golf, volunteer at the local garden club, something, but you need time apart.
Very smart.
Wow.
And you can still honeymoon at this age.
It's just different.
You need the time apart though.
What advice would you give to men and women that are entering?
Maybe I should rephrase this question.
When do we get old?
You get old when you let yourself get old.
So you guys don't understand this yet, but it will come.
You're walking down a shopping mall and you look into the window, the plate glasses you go by, and you see this old person and you say, oh my God, that's me.
Who's that person staring at me?
You sound like dad.
Every time we go get glasses, he's ready for the show.
He looks in the mirror.
Who is that old man?
He does say that as crazy.
Because you don't feel like you look.
I was speaking at Jensen Franklin's church the other day.
Amazing man.
And oh, yes, he is.
He's my hero.
So somebody came up to the stage after the service to talk to me.
And I just started to hop down and talk to him.
And I looked at it and said, no, that's a broken hip.
I'll reach you at the stairs.
Amen.
So you have to kind of get in touch with who you are and that kind of thing.
But you don't have to think of yourself.
If you think of yourself as old and all that, you allow the old person in.
Don't let the old person in.
Amen.
And life is different.
Things are different.
But it doesn't have to make you old and angry.
That's right.
You know, I want to talk about that.
One of the things that we have had, we have an older congregation with our church.
It's more older than it is younger.
And that's an amazing thing.
But I've had the conversations with some people one-on-one where they said, you know, I've had a lot of things happen in my life, Ricky.
A lot of traumas, a lot of difficulties.
And I'm having problems letting them go.
I want to be joyful.
I want to have a smile on my face all the time.
But when I do, the enemy reminds me of things that happened to me when I was 12, things that happened to me when I was 22, things that happened to me in my first marriage, or things that happened to my children that shouldn't have happened to my children.
And they're dealing with these deep-seated traumas.
So I want to ask you, how important is it to learn to let the Holy Spirit heal those things, but also to let go of the people who have hurt them?
That's another very good question.
So memories are one of the most precious commodities of life.
And one of the reasons is because you don't have more or less memories depending on how wealthy you are.
You earn memories simply by staying alive.
And so what has to happen is you have to take those memories and put them before God.
You have to let go of things.
Paul said, knowing which things, I put things behind me.
I declare them as that's over with.
And you have to move into the healing grace of God for memories.
But cherish other memories.
Cherish other people's memories.
My mother died when she was 99.
Great, great woman of God.
And my wife and I sat down with her and just took a whole day.
And instead of having random memories, like she said this at one dinner party or that, we took a whole day and mined her memories out.
We just dug them out.
What happened next?
What happened next?
When you went there, what about that?
And it was wonderful.
And I say, share your memories, talk to your memories, sanctify your memories and get healed.
Let those memories go that you need to let go of.
And cling to those memories that are redemptive and valuable and powerful and share them.
Amen.
I say inflict your memories on your grandchildren.
They deserve it.
But you know what?
That's a great valuable lesson because my wife's grandmother of 93 years old just passed away a few months ago.
And before that time, I took my kids to Los Angeles to go spend time with, you know, their great-grandmother.
And I said, I just want you guys to sit around her and ask her questions about her family, about how she came to America, what was her life like.
And my kids learned a valuable lesson that week.
Not one day.
We spent a whole week.
I didn't go to Universal Studios.
I didn't go to Disneyland.
No, no, no.
We went to great grandma's house and we just sat by her bedside and heard the stories and the legacy.
And I want to tell you something.
Grandmas, grandpas that are watching right now, you hold a valuable treasure of memories that our kids need to learn from.
And I need you to share that with them.
Why?
Because it is so important for them to understand where they come from, why they do certain things.
I saw my daughter do mannerisms that great grandma had.
And I was wondering where did my daughter grab that from.
And as I looked at Grandma Macias, I saw that it was the DNA passed down without us even knowing.
That's how valuable you are.
How do we, as young people, I'm not that young anymore, but you see my hair is getting in my, oh, it's unbelievable.
I'm waking up every morning looking at myself.
What happened to me?
You're not that young anymore?
You're just not young anymore, brother.
It's okay.
You just got to accept it.
But as young as far, I'm just kidding.
How do we connect?
How do we invite the older generation into worship?
The number one thing is to honor age.
If there is a difference between Western culture and Eastern culture and African culture, I've spent a lot of time in both.
So it is that in Asian culture, age is not disrespected.
It's honored.
They listen to you not in spite of the fact that you're old, but because you're old.
Of course, I just said that 100,000 people said, I'm moving to China.
But it is an honor.
And I would say you want to do something wonderful for seniors.
Honor them.
Listen to their opinions.
Listen to their ideas.
Listen to their memories.
Help them.
Assist them.
To old people, I say, don't resist being helped.
If somebody offers you a hand, take it.
Don't resist the honor.
Don't resist the honor.
Praise God.
The first time it happened to me, I preached for one of my former students, a little church in Alabama.
And he said, I'm going out the front.
And he said to his wife, take Dr. Oatland out the back to the car.
And we started down the backstairs.
And she reached over and took my arm like that.
And I realized, wow, she's keeping the old guy from falling down the stairs.
It was shocking.
But you can jerk your arm away and say, don't do that.
Or you can say, she's honoring me.
You accept the honor.
Amen.
You know, a couple of months ago, I was praying to the Lord.
It was during a fasting time at the beginning of this year.
And I said, Lord, how do we move to the next level of our ministry?
How do we get to the point where we're debt-free and we can move forward?
How do we do all of these things?
I was asking the Lord all these questions.
And the Lord told me, honor gives access.
And I said, okay, you know, access to what?
I'm asking God questions.
He says, access to financial freedom, access to spiritual growth, access to revival fire.
And I said, who is it that I'm honoring?
And he goes, everyone who's gone before you.
And it's just like that.
Honor gives access.
So I believe that.
But yes, you have to also be willing to accept the honor.
That's right.
You know, our father, he's a great man at that.
He accepts the honor because we say, hey, dad, we got to get you up.
We got to pick you up.
We help you get dressed.
We help him brush this.
We help him do all the things to get here so he can do this broadcast with us occasionally.
And we love every single time he can be here.
But he allows us to do that.
He could sit in bed and say, nope, you guys aren't going to help me with anything, but he wouldn't get here.
So he allows us to do that honor.
So grandparent, or if you're a senior or if you're a pastor who's getting up there in age, allow the younger people to come with you and honor you.
Allow those people to come around you, gather around you, lift up your arms.
You know, there's a point in the Bible where Moses had his arms lifted and he needed that Aaron.
He needed that her to come and continue to keep his arms lifted up.
It wasn't a disrespectful thing they were trying to do.
No, they realized there is a battle in front of us that must be won.
And it only can be won if we continue to honor the man of God by helping him.
So we want to continue to do that for you.
If you're somebody who's saying, man, I need help in this time in my life or I need help in this season.
I promise you, if you reach out and ask, there will be so many people that you never expected to come around you and say, I want to help that individual.
I want to read a portion of your book, if that's okay.
Can I read?
I'm going to give a snippet.
So when you order this book, you can go to page 113, and this is going to be on it.
Here are some rules.
Here are some good rules for giving to grandchildren for giving to grandkids.
The tithe is the Lord's.
Never withhold your tithe to help grandkids.
I want to talk about each of these things.
Bless your grandchildren without competing or embarrassing their parents, who are, in case you have forgotten, your own real actual kids.
Slipping the grandkids a little pocket money when they visit, that's a good one.
Buying one of them, especially a nine-year-old, a new car without the parents' permission or not with the parents' permission, not so much.
And it says, Bless your spouse first and best.
Never give the grandkids or your kids or anyone else what ought to bless your spouse.
I want to talk about the first right there: the tithe of the Lord's.
Never withhold your tithe to help grandchildren.
Yeah, the tithe is the Lord's.
It doesn't say the tithe is your kids.
So you honor the Lord with your tithes, and God will bless you to be able to bless other people, to bless ministries, other ministries, other people, your children, your grandchildren.
Yes.
But people in our age tend to change their giving pattern.
You don't have to give the same amount.
This is the wonderful thing about tithing.
If you tithe on Elon Musk's salary, would to God, but if you tithe on Elon Musk's salary or you tithe on your social security check, you give the same thing.
In God's eyes, that's the same thing, not the same amount because the tithe is the tithe.
So keep tithing, keep giving as you can, give as more generously as you can, but don't take that money and give it to family members.
Amen.
And then the spouse, you said, bless your spouse first.
So this doesn't have an age bracket where, you know, at 60, 55, whatever, you stop blessing your spouse first when you become a grandparent.
You say, bless your spouse first.
Yeah, not only just with regular things.
Why do we have to let go of romance?
Send your wife a dozen roses.
Not because it's the anniversary or whatever.
I'm helping you, son.
Come on.
I'm taking these right to the show.
Just, you know, give, give generously.
When your wife buys a new dress at the mall, don't gripe and complain about it.
Tell her how gorgeous she looks.
And be generous with your spouse.
Then it's fine to be generous with the grandkids.
That's okay.
Yes.
But you cannot set up a dynamic where they think their parents won't give it to them.
So I'll go to grandma.
My dad won't buy me a car.
Grandpa will.
Never buy your grandkids anything that you think your children wouldn't approve of or couldn't afford.
Show Up With Compassion 00:12:41
You don't ever want to show them up.
Wow.
Now, there's always Cracker Barrel.
The problem is Cracker Barrel is a tourist trap for grandparents.
That's what it is.
That's right.
You have to go through the gift shop.
The food has nothing to do with it.
It's the gift shop outfit.
And who it's after is grandparents.
So you go through there and buy this darling little dress.
You just have to buy it.
You get out to the car and realize, oh MG, I don't have a granddaughter.
You couldn't resist a dress.
That's right.
That's right.
That's funny you say that because our Brooks grandma, our children's great-grandmother, she goes to, you know, went to Cracker Barrel and bought a whole bunch of stuff.
It's cowboy outfits, this, that, horses to ride on.
I thought, praise God for her.
I knew the Cracker Barrel got her, though.
I knew right where it came from.
That's right.
And they do a good job of what they do.
You know, I want to ask you, is something in your life that you can kind of share with us, something you have learned about aging that maybe people don't realize?
I think the number one thing about aging is this: that you are, if you will allow it to happen, you're closer to what you say you've always believed.
What we say we believe is it is appointed and a man wants to die and then the judgment.
Yes.
But as you get closer, you realize the veil, the barrier between me and the eternity that I've been talking about, claiming, preaching all these years.
That's that's shrinking.
And I'm closer and closer to it.
Then it must be more meaningful to me, more joyful to me, and more delightful.
I think that sometimes people say, I don't enjoy my faith as I used to because when I was younger, I could do stuff for God.
But doing stuff for God is not the same as enjoying God.
And as you get older, maybe you can't do the stuff, but you can know God better, sweeter.
There was an old song.
I think it may have been a Bill Gaither song.
I can't remember who wrote it.
Sweeter gets the journey every day.
Yes.
And the longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.
It's beautiful.
And that should be true.
That's the one thing about this aging that I underestimated is that God doesn't go away when you get old.
He draws closer.
He knows you.
He loves you.
He's with you.
And I want to be joyful in that.
Part of it is self-preservation.
I always say to elderly people: when that nurse is coming toward you with a hypodermic in her hand, don't be mean.
That's not a moment to be mean.
Be nice to the girl with you.
Be nice to the girl with the hypodermic.
Oh, man.
You know, one of the things that I've learned throughout the years, I started ministering at convalescent homes.
I know they're not called that anymore.
Nursing homes.
Nursing homes or assistant living.
But one of my first places to go and preach was every Sunday after church.
I would spend hours at the assistant living home.
The first hour was visiting all of them and talking to them, inviting them to the main room, not knowing if they were going to come out or not.
But they all supported me.
I think they felt sorry for me.
And they all came and they listened to this guy that didn't know how to preach, but I just wanted to preach.
And they would give me hugs.
But it was a preparation to today.
Because your friend Jim Baker, your pastor, you've been with him for years.
One of the things I've learned was to be compassionate.
And I've noticed that a lot of young people, and when I say young, I'm talking about even baby boomers, are not nice to older people.
They get mean towards them.
Yes.
Because I can only understand from what I watch the frustration of feeling young, but your body being old, not being able to move, not being able to drive.
So instead of being frustrated with the older person in your life, show up with compassion and a smile.
That's how I show up with your friend Jim.
Is with compassion and with a smile.
Is he frustrating sometimes?
The only reason why is because he's hard-headed at moments.
But I take compassion because I can only imagine what it is to feel young, Pastor, but your body doesn't answer the same anymore.
I say that to say this.
What lessons can you give us young people on how to approach a person that has lived a full life, yet they're feeling trapped in this old body?
Well, you said it wonderfully.
The first thing is patience.
We now live in such a fast world.
It's so fast.
Everything.
The speed is astonishing of everything.
Communication, everything.
But our age, we're not used to that level of speed.
So it can be very frustrating to young people.
Yes.
So slow down, wait on them, be patient, and listen to them.
You may feel that older people tend to overexplain things.
Part of it is we just want somebody to talk to.
And so it's not overexplaining it.
We feel we've got you captive.
Amen.
So the longer we talk, the more you listen.
It is so true.
And show them love and respect.
Amen.
Absolutely.
You know, our number one demographic for this show that they watch, because we have all the analytics, is 65 plus, and I love that.
Our second most watched demographic that watches our program is 25 to 35.
And we've gotten some letters, some emails from these who say, hey, I watched the show.
I'm saved.
I love Jesus, but my grandfather isn't saved.
Or my mother or father isn't saved.
If there's somebody watching right now, they have a mother or father, grandfather, or grandmother who they're worried, you know, they might die and not go to heaven.
How would you tell them to, you know, address this with their mother or father and make sure they can get pulled into the kingdom of heaven?
Well, I'm not trying to sell books, but the epilogue to that book knows actually the whole thing.
I'm leaning to that.
Yes.
The whole thing is now what?
Are you sure if you were to die right now, would you be in heaven?
So first thing, I would get them to read that book.
They'll laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh.
Pow.
That's the whole way I designed the book.
Amen.
The second thing is, I led my grandmother to the Lord.
And you just ask them, Granny, let me ask you something.
If you died right now, would you go to heaven?
Well, I don't know.
I'm a pretty good person.
Whatever.
Pray with me.
Pray with me right now.
I was 16, 17.
My grandmother was in her 80s, and she prayed with me to receive the Lord.
You can do that.
You can.
That's incredible.
Do older people learn new lessons?
You got to learn new lessons.
You got to learn.
Look, every time somebody updates your phone, you learn a whole new lesson.
I feel who are these people that are updating stuff.
Stop that.
Stop doing that.
We don't want any more updates.
Everything's okay.
That's right.
But what you have to do is learn it.
That's right.
You learn it.
You know, one of the things we do is we constantly teach our dad new things about technology.
He loves what's happening.
This is one of the key things to get your older people involved in your life: bring them in.
Invite them in.
Let them ask all the questions.
This is one thing about Jim Baker is that he asks questions and he keeps asking, well, how does it work?
Well, show me.
And I enjoy it because I'm looking at it through their eyes, their experience.
Don't give up on older people.
We need them.
We need their wisdom.
Can I do this?
You know why?
Pentecostal preacher?
Because we have a generation that wants to throw away the old generation, yet they were not called the greatest generation of all time for no reason.
And I really believe all you young pastors, you better get around older pastors that have some wisdom on how to deal with some of the challenges that you're going to face today.
I want to tell you something.
I listened to a sermon yesterday.
David Workerson, one of his last sermons that he gave at the assemblies of God, warning every young preacher about getting around older preachers to learn some lessons that will keep them from falling into sin, into temptation.
And I want to tell you something.
If you don't have older people around you, you better go look for them.
Invite them.
I love the fact that you were invited to be a youth pastor.
Isn't that funny?
Oh my goodness.
I would have showed up.
That'd been the best thing that ever happened to that youth.
Just to see what happens.
That's right.
Friends, I want to encourage you, go to jimbakershow.com or call a number.
It's 1-888-988-1588.
Keep on keeping on.
How to die young, as old as possible.
Get this as a gift for your grandparent or your mother or your father.
Get this as a gift for your pastor, a person in your church that you love.
Friends, I promise you this is going to touch their life.
It's going to keep them laughing, but it's also going to give them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The most important thing that matters in this entire world.
Friends, with just a few minutes left, I want you to open up your Bibles at home or if you have it on an iPhone, a tablet, an Android, swipe up and open up your Bible app.
Friends, I'm going to be reading out of James chapter 5 right here.
We were talking about patience and it led me to this right here.
It says, Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord's coming.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
You must also be patient.
Strengthen your hearts because the Lord's coming is near.
How important is it, Pastor, that people continuously strengthen their heart in this season we're living in?
Yes, I believe that patience, waiting, learning to wait on life, God, and others is one of the most strenuous of all Christian disciplines.
To wait, we always want to rush everything.
Wait, I say, wait on the Lord and wait on each other and wait on yourself.
You're also maturing.
You're growing.
You're changing.
Wait.
God's going to get there all right on time and he's going to get you there right on time.
God's an on-time God.
Come on.
Amen.
Do you have an encouraging word for someone with just a minute left on the broadcast?
If somebody's watching and they're saying, you know what, I've been feeling like I'm getting up there in years.
Everything's popping and creaking when I wake up.
I don't feel like God's using me like he used to use me.
What would you say to them today as we exit?
What I would say is he may not be using you in exactly the same way.
Find a new thing.
Find a way to let God use you where you are, as you are.
There are things you know that you didn't know.
There may be things you can't remember that you used to remember, but God is not through with you.
This is a wonderful time of life.
Learn to laugh, let other people laugh, have joy, and tell people, young people, how good God is, not how angry God is.
And they see that when they look in your face, and despite the lines and the wrinkles, they see joy unspeakable and full of glory.
You can do this.
Being older doesn't give you an excuse from sharing the joy and the love of God.
Amen.
Friends, keep on keeping on.
It's available once again through Charisma House, our affiliate.
Our number is 1-888-988-1588.
Or you can go to jimbakershow.com and click that button that says shop our affiliates.
It's where we have our Charisma House affiliate program.
You can get this book by Pastor Mark Rutland.
Keep on keeping on.
Friends, one more verse as we exit out today.
Matthew chapter 24.
You've heard Pastor Jim Baker preach it many times.
Your friend, chapter 24, verse 14 says this right here.
This good news, which is this right here, the word of God of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations.
And then the end shall come.
Friends, a lot of us are praying for the end to come.
And trust me, I wouldn't mind if it was tomorrow or maybe later this afternoon.
But we have a mandate to preach this good news as a testament to all nations, friends.
Let's continue to do that.
Pastor Mark, I want to thank you for being on the broadcast with us today.
God bless you so much.
Friends, remember this.
If you're going to sleep, if you're going to work, if this is midday for you, never forget that God loves you.
He really does.
Bye-bye for today.
God bless you.
Thank you.
What a great show, Pastor.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
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