and I'm grateful to God for him and his friendship there's a word I want to lift in your hearing found in 2 Corinthians at Chapter 4 verses 16 through Verse 18 2 Corinthians at chapter 4 vers 16 through Verse 18 for which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a form more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory while we look not at the things which are seen But at the things which
are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal thank you you may have your seats the grass withers and the flower Fades where the word Word of Our God shall stand forever I want to talk a minute about living From the Inside Out yes sir living From the Inside Out the writer of these words the saged and venerable Apostle Paul as all of us know was a Jew by birth and a Roman by citizenship a Tent Maker by trade and a lawyer by profession he
was a Pharisee by religious training and a Christian because of what happened to him on the Damascus Road Paul preached in Berea and cesal nikah he preached at the areopagus on Mars Hill he preached in Corinth Paul brought with him everywhere he went the labels of the Empire on his luggage he was run out of town by strangers Shipwrecked Lost at Sea beaten by his own kin folk receive 40 Lashes minus one he knew nakedness and Peril and the sword and in spite of all that Paul went through all of his sufferings for the Gospel
of Jesus Christ Paul still came to the end of his years giving God praise Paul came towards the end of his life knowing that he had given his all for the kingdom of God not looking for any approval not looking for any Applause not looking for any pat on the back and I think I need to tell those of us who preach if that's what you're preaching for you're going to be disappointed yeah yeah yeah if you're looking for approval if you're looking for Applause if it's about your reputation if you're trying to be popular
if you want your name out there if you are trying to be big if you want if you want popularity I need to say to you that those things will fade I was I was somewhere preaching Frank and some young preachers who admired my preaching for some reason that still escapes me I remember reading that Paul tick said if he turned out at last to be a footnote in theology he would be flattered and these young preachers younger than myself admired my preaching and I was on my way into the sanctuary Sister Bailey and they
grabbed me by the hand and said pastor we're glad to meet you we want to we want to get your anointing we we want to be able to shut that thing down like you shut it down we want to be able to choke that thing like you do at the end of the ceremony you know that's that's preacher talk you know they want to they want to be able to get after that thing and shut that house down I and I said all right Brethren I put my Bible down I said let's let's let's hold
hands I want to I want to pray for you to get my anointing so you can shut this thing down I said bow your heads and they put their heads down I said close your eyes let me pray for you to be able to shut that thing down with my anointing I said Lord let them lose their car because they can't afford to pay the [Music] notes I said let their deacons vote to put them out because they're trying to do ministry I said let their so-called friends laugh at them behind their back because they
can't afford to put money in the offering when they get through preaching and they took their hands out of mine they said pastor we don't want that we want your anointing I said never pray for another man's blessings until you've stood up under that same Man's Burden you don't know what it has taken for me to get to where I am and to do what I do God has brought me through and because God has brought me through the burdens and the trials and the stresses of ministry I preach with power because I've had to
stand up under so much stop worrying about being popular ask God to make you powerful yes sir Paul Paul gives us a word after being Shipwrecked after being let down a wall in the basket I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me I've learned in whatsoever State I find myself in to be content I know how to act when I'm up and when I'm down I know how to preach when I'm broke and when I have money in my pocket I know how to preach to five and 5,000 let me just throw this
in here parenthetically if you too big to preach the five you too small to preach the 5,000 it's not about your academic Excellence it's not about your rhetoric or your power or your being able to shut it down the power is in the name of Jesus and when you preach Christ and tell people what thus sayith the Lord God will give you the staying power that he's given Frank Ray all these 50 some odd years walk with me around the text um for for for for these things for this cause we faint not scripture says
if you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small if you run with the footmen and they've wearied you how shall you contend with horses if you can't make it in the land where peace and prosperity abide what do you going to do at the swelling of the Jordan for this cause we faint not we we we who preach the gospel have some present problems I was talking with Pastor Carter about it in back about how is church going and how is it coming after covid and all of us who passor churches uh
uh have this testimony of preco church and postco church and if your members or anything like mine they are slow kind of coming back to church because we've been convinced and and made to believe that we have to take care of ourselves and you have to be careful because covid is still out there you you you can't be too careful you got to watch yourself you can't be in the crowd because it's still covid out there and I say to our church that that your vaccine seems to work everywhere but at church [Applause] your vaccine
works at Walmart talk back to me if you can your your vaccine works at the casino your vaccine works at Ross and Marshals it works in the mall but when it come to church you got to take care of yourself you didn't make it through Co cuz you wore a mask you know how many people wore a mask and are dead today you didn't come through Co because you wash your hands you know how many folk disinfected their hands who are in the grave today it is of the Lord's Mercy that you are not consumed
and those mercies are new every morning great is the Lord's faith if God can keep us through Jim Crow segregation if God could keep us through Donald Trump God could keep us through Co and bring us to his house to give his name let everything that has breath yeah yeah yeah praise the Lord praise the lord we we we faint not yes sir because while we are in this body this this this tent that we are dwelling in our outward man is perishing but our inward man is being renewed day by day the outward man
is flimsy but the inward man is growing the outward man is decaying but the inward man is being renewed Pastor West and I turned 65 10 days apart and uh we got a testimony we want to share with you you don't mind if I share do you Pastor when you when you when you cross 60 never pass up a restroom come on Brethren help me preach uh because you you have to stand there a [Applause] while and and and and hope and and hope you finish because the outward man I wish I had a one
two more witnesses here well maybe you'll get this you go in a room and forget what you went in there for you're looking for your eyeglasses and you got them on you looking for your car keys and the in your hand that was a time I could remember whatever I wanted to remember I just put it in my mind and I could remember it now I got to write it down and then I got to remember what I wrote it on and then I got to try to remember where I put it and then when
I find it remember why in the hell I wrote it in the first [Applause] place because the outward man yeah somebody ought to help me preach it we used to say it like this down in Louisiana there's a leak in this old building and my soul has got to move Paul says this Earthly House of this Tabernacle is dissolving the outward man is perishing exercise all you want take OIC all you want diet all you want sooner or later this outward man is perishing but Hallelujah the inward man is being renewed day by day God
put something on the inside of us that no matter how old and sick and TI TI and feeble we get all we got to do is hear Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a Wretch like Me I once was lost but now I'm found that that rejuvenates that revives that re-energizes the child of God my friend Dr t Williams talks often about his his his parents his mother and father and when his mother came to the end of her life she was diseased and ravaged with Alzheimer's she did not know him from me
T is her youngest child she did not know trar from Terry Anderson he would go to the nursing home to VIs visit with her because she was in the end of her life and tiar said he'd get in her room and sit down with her visit for her a while and she said you such a nice little boy who is your mama and tiar was say mama you my mama she said oh oh really oh you're such a pretty little boy then Tiara said before he left he'd start singing her favorite song but but Alzheimer's
had had had had ravaged her that she did not know who he was then he said he'd start singing Blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of Glory Divine heir of Salvation precious of God born of his Spirit washed in his blood then TI said Mama I forgot the second verse how does that second verse go she said perfect [Music] submission perfect Delight visions of rapture the outward man is decaying but there's something God puts on the inside of you that even Alzheimer's can't take away the outward man perishing yes sir but the
inward man is being renewed day by day but as I hurry this this present problem in the text ought not cause us to faint today because in that same passage of scripture is a promised prize it's right here in verse number 17 a promised prize for our light Affliction our light Affliction which is but for a moment works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory our light Affliction Paul was Shipwrecked let down a wall in a basket whipped with 40 Stripes minus one run out of town by his own kin folk
new nakedness and Peril and sword Paul at this almost very moment is listening to Nero's chopping block being tuned to Perfection and he calls it a light affliction I'm sick of these little 90 PB preachers these little anemic pastors who can't stand nothing you can't stand nobody talking about you you can't stand nobody lying on you you can't stand nobody criticizing you you can't stand no deacons messing with you you can't stand no trustees against you if God be us who can be against us frat not yourself because of evildoers come on you can help
me say it neither be envious against the workers of iniquity they shall soon be cut off like grass and they shall wither like the green her the Lord is my light and my salvation Whom Shall I Fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked even my enemies and my foes Came Upon me to eat up my flesh yes sir just before they got to me they stumbled and they fell though a hoost should encamp against me in this will I be confident one thing yes sir
one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all my day here it is for in the time of trouble hey he shall hide me I will keep him in perfect peace if you keep your mind stayed on him if you st in that Bible and stand in that pull pit and preach the gospel that's where God promised to protect you I will never leave you nor forsake you yeah you can't you can't stand being criticized you got to go take
a sabatica you got to go rest you just got the church they ain't kicking your tail yet I almost said a bad word right you you you ain't seen no trouble yeah stand up like a man come on Square your shoulders back and say to your church I'mma run it if I got to run it in the ground God gave it to me it's my assignment and I'm going to work and work and work and work because God did not send you to your church for them to love you he sent you there for you
to love them and when you love them God will make your enemies your foot stool have I got a witness here God will get rid of the folk who are giving you trouble and then God might let them stay there to grow you spiritually I'm trying to get through here but [Music] but this this exceeding weight of Glory I need to talk about that a minute this exceeding weight of Glory in the coronation of King Charles upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey at the coronation placed the crown
of St Edward upon the head of King Charles that's saying heavy is the head that wears the crown the crown of England also known as St Edward's Crown dates back to the days of king Edward the Confessor the Saxon King who died in 1066 This Magnificent Crown was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell but it was made over in 1611 from 80 ounces of pure gold encrusted with 440 precious and semiprecious Stones inside that Crown is the cap of estate made of a rare purple velvet the crown weighs 5bs and the King cannot wear it on his
head for a long time because weighty is that crime they turn the lights off in Westminster Abbey when the king is crowned and that Crown shines with with with 400 and 40 precious and semi-precious stones and 80 ounces of pure gold that weighty Crown sits on the head of the Sovereign of the British crown but King Charles in his sovereignty wearing St Edward's Crown weighing 5 pounds 440 precious stones 80 ounces of pure gold Charles has on that weighty Crown but it ceremonial because although Great Britain is called a monarchy it has a parliamentary form
of government Charles wears the crown but the Prime Minister runs the country it's weighty but it's ceremonial but we who preach the gospel do not wear a ceremonial weighty Crown our Crown is eternal it fades not away it's not made of gold it's not made of 400 40 precious stones it comes because we have borne our burden In the Heat of the day we've preached the gospel in season out of season preach when they couldn't pay us preach when people didn't like us preach when they wanted to hear us and when they did not want
to hear us because the crown that Charles wears is weighty but is ceremonial the crown we will wear is eternal let me see if I can make that make sense the most beautiful site to me Ralph flying into Houston at night is the skyline of the city of Houston the city of Houston is beautiful at night the skyline flying in either into InterContinental or flying into Hobby Airport there's no sight more glorious than the skyline of downtown Houston every time I see it I Marvel when I fly at night at the at the skyline of
Houston it's beautiful to behold from 30,000 feet up or from 20,000 or however High the plane is flying and it always reminds me when we get ready to land that one day not one stone will will be standing on top of another cuz every one of those buildings are going to come down every installation of supposed power is going to come to an end the monarchy of King Charles the reign of Vladimir Putin the presidency of the United States that clown in the wheelchair here in Texas every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that
Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the father and so as long as I live I'm going to Herald and Proclaim and preach and Shout that name because my crown will not be waiting it'll be eternal because when you look at this matter of following Jesus and doing what it is that God has called you to do that's a promised prize I I looked at the names of the preachers who have been celebrated as Living Legends and one of the names that popped out from that from that board was uh the late Dr CBT
Smith CBT Smith all of us who have heard him preach still remember having heard him preach Dr Clarence Booker tellio pharoh Smith came to Lily Grove to preach uh for our golden age uh banquet we had we honor our senior citizens in September around Grandparents Day and he preached for the Golden Age hour uh that noon day because you know old folk like me and Ralph uh we go to we go to bed early and so so we have our banquet in the middle of the day 12:00 because old folk watch Wheel of Fortune and
go to bed and uh Dr Smith preached and uh the following day Sunday he preached at uh 11:00 worship and I could tell on the faces of the people who were in the congregation as he was following me into the pull pit they were saying to themselves I could look at their expression and they were saying where is he going with this old man CBT Smith at that time was 90 years old when Dr Smith got through preaching the only people who were not shouting were the people who were trying to catch the ones who
were he mopped the floor with every one of us in that church that day and I was taking him to the airport because he was on his way Ray he was on his way to preach Citywide Revival in Cleveland Ohio at 90 years old and on the way to the airport uh Misha I just couldn't take it no more I said Doc How is it that you have that much power to preach at 90 years old he said Reverend if you stay in the scripture the Holy Ghost got to show up you missed that if
you stay in the scripture the Holy Ghost got to show up because it's his function he said to honor his own word and to those of us who are trying to keep up with the latest trends in church growth magazines and trying to do what we heard Reverend so and so do or Bishop so and so do if you stay in the scripture and preach Jesus and him crucified somebody ought to help me close here if you talk about Jesus every time you stand up if you open that Bible and get in that text and
read the word of God and ask God to give you some insight and stop trying to sound like somebody else or preach like somebody else just ask God to give you your own voice just get in that word and pray and ask God to anoint your preaching God will stand up in you and hear me in verse 18 you'll have a proper perspective yes sir yes sir there some present problems you have a promised prize but if you stay with it there is a proper perspective while we look not at the things which are seen
But at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal for the things which are not seen are etern I got about seven minutes in 19 seconds 17 seconds 16 seconds left 15 seconds left um some of you here know my story I I was diagnosed some years ago with a pituitary macro adenoma don't don't ask me what that is it was a tumor larged at the base of my brain the size of a golf ball I was on my knees asking God to give me Vision to lead our church
into this building effort that we were going into and to strengthen me and to help me to to lead ly Grove into building this new $25 million sanctuary and I was stricken with a brain tumor I I didn't ask God for that I I was I was asking for strength to lead the church in this building effort and God struck me with this tumor I I could not pick my head up off the pillow I I got the strength to call my sister to bring me to the hospital I wasn't married at the time I
called my sister to bring me to the hospital and they did a pet scan and found out that I had a tumor in my brain that lodged at the base of my skull that eroded the bone in the back of my brain and it affects even now my adrenal system I have to take medication for the rest of my life one of the side effects of the medication is hot flashes I'm having one right now sisters I know what you're going through I'm praying with you I I got $1,000 for anybody who can give me
a cure for hot flashes right now but the medication they gave me to shrink the tumor made me deathly ill I wound up on the ventilator at MD Anderson Hospital and the ventilator breathed for me 100% for all intents and purposes I was dead the doctors called my family in members of my church friends Pastor West others were there and the doctors said to my family uh this man is a sickest man in this hospital he only has two hours to live whatever you want to say to him go and say to him right now
you have our permission to stay in the room as long as you want he's not going to be here in two hours Critical Care at MD Anderson is where we place patients for their families to decide what funeral home to call take all the time you need with him he's not going to be here in two hours that was 2012 here it is 2024 and I'm standing in the pull pit of the Concord Baptist Church to testify that can't nobody yeah Do Me Like Jesus and then the doctor says if he lives you going to
have to put him in a nursing home because he will be a vegetable for the rest of his life here I am today yeah standing up in the EK Bailey preaching conference in the language of my old Deacon's clothed and in my right mind with a reasonable portion of health and strength testifying that if you trust God he'll make a way out of nowhere I'm trying to go to my seat here now I'm just saying if you talk about Jesus every time you stand up if you just open that Bible and start talking about Jesus
God will stand up with you go God will give you power in your preaching God will give you anointing in your pastoral Ministry God will help you be all that God wants you to be but all you've got to do is talk about Jesus you don't mind if I talk about him do you I know that's kind of oldfashioned I know that's kind of traditional for some of you young pastors I've been called old school because all I do is talk about Jesus on Sunday morning well who else am I supposed to talk about on
Sunday morning Jesus in the morning Jesus at noon day you don't mind if I talk about him do you he's a rock in a weary land he's a shelter in a time of storm he's a friend when you're friendless he's bread when you're hungry you don't mind if I talk about him do you he's Adam's Redeemer he's Abel's Vindicator he's Abraham's sacrifice he's Noah's Ark he's MOS his Bush on fire he's Joshua's battle ax he's Gideon's fleece he's Samson's power he's David's music he's Solomon's wisdom he's Jeremiah's bom he's ezekiel's wheel in the middle of
a wheel he's God's only son he's Mar is baby boy he's James and Jude's older brother he's Matthew's King he's Mark suffering servant he's Luke's great physician he's John's word made flesh he's acts coming of the Holy Ghost he's the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth y'all don't mind if I talk about him do you he's a bridge over troubled water he's a friend when you're friendless he's bred when you're hungry distinctive in Supernatural capacity superlative in Sovereign Majesty exclusive in spiritual Beauty radiant in Eternal Splendor matchless in superal deity he's
the god of gods he's a prince of princes he's a FIS of 10,000 he's the king of kings he's a rose of shon y'all know him don't you Jesus I'd love to call that name there's power in the name of Jesus I'm a witness today there's healing in the name of Jesus if you know him and you're not ashamed to testify if he kept you and you don't care who's looking at you if he made a way for you and you don't mind testifying Shake somebody's hand tell them can't nobody hey Can't Nobody Do Me
Like Jesus Can't Nobody Do Me Like the Lord he walks with me he talks with me he tells me I am his own and the joy the joy we share as we car there none other has ever known won't he Rock You won't he keep you won't he make a way for you I wish I had a witness here if God has been good to you and you don't mind testifying why don't you wave your hand he brought me he kept me he never left me I know he's all right come [Music] on I think
I got to tell you one more thing Frank thank you for your word thank you for your strength thank you for your power power to preach thank you for being a friend to preachers let's celebrate God right now for the gift that is Frank R Hallelujah to the lamb for the gift that is Frank R thank you Jesus for the gift that his Frank R [Music]
