Hello, my name is Stephen Liam, the founder of Sermon Audio, and this past week, one of my heroes of the faith, Dr. Clarence Sexton, passed away December 12th, 2023. Dr. Sexton held a very special place in my heart because of the tremendous encouragement that he was to me personally. When I heard the news of his passing, my mind went to Psalm 116, verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Now that's a very special verse, but what caught my attention was the beginning of the psalm in verse 3, where it says, The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gathered hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow, then called I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. Here the psalmist is crying out for deliverance from this death. And yet it says there in verse 15, that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of a saint. So how do you reconcile these verses? For a Christian, there is actually something worse than physical death. And that is when something dies on the inside. It's the death of hope. It's the death of faith. It's the death of joy. It's when our trust in God diminishes and dies. It's when our expectation dies. It's when our vision dies. And that can happen to a Christian. Where something dies on the inside, he becomes so discouraged that he has to cry out in prayer, I beseech thee, deliver my soul from this kind of death. And I just have to say that Dr. Clarence Sexton was anything but a hopeless, faithless, visionless individual. When you were around him, He encouraged. He gave you fresh courage and fresh hope and fresh vision. The sky was the limit with Him. I find it amazing that It was during our 2023 Foundations Conference in New York City that I heard the news that Dr. Sexton passed away. I was so grieved that the very next morning I made that announcement and I read from this psalm, Psalm 116. These types of individuals are rare, but you will see glimpses of the specialness of a Dr. Sexton by listening to his sermons. And so I want to play a compilation of sermons, just little clips. May God bless the memory of Dr. Clarence Sexton to another generation. Several people have said to me just recently, today, during the day, our country will never be the same. How many of you thought that? Our country will never be the same. Two evil people elected to the United States Senate, now in the control of the Senate in the hands of people who have opposing positions to most of our convictions. The Chinese Communist government doing everything imaginable, I might say while we sleep, undermining every principle that's true to our national heritage, with the sworn objective of overthrowing this country. Communism has committed to take over America without ever firing a shot, and it seems that they're on goal, doesn't it? But if someone says to you, our country will never be the same, I want you to tell them, no, it won't, but it probably is gonna be a whole lot better. A whole lot better. Because there is a breaking point that God's people have to reach. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. We need divine healing. We don't need a political revolution. We need divine healing. And we still have a window of opportunity because the rapture has not taken place yet. And we have that moment, that moment. And this moment we have is not a moment for the faint hearted. I'm really tired of hearing people talk about how bad things are and not recognizing that God is speaking to us. What happened today in Washington, D.C. is no accident. You can have your opinion about it. Blame the news media. Blame anybody you want to blame. These things are revealing. They're revealing. But the problem is lots of people are not listening. God gives us windows of opportunity and we must seize those moments of opportunity, no doubt about it. Another reason I believe that God is dealing in a mighty way is because of what he's doing in my life. He must prepare the vessel that he's going to use and bring that vessel to a point of desperation. I want you to get a hold of that because the devil runs around lying. Everything he says is a lie. Everything he says is a lie. Don't entertain his ideas. Don't promote his lies. Everything he says is a lie. And when things happen to you that are not pleasant, things happen in our country that are not pleasant, remember that God is speaking. He wants our eyes turned upon him. There is something we must have, and that's a spiritual awakening. And God always uses a remnant for that to happen. Now I'm going to try to say some things to you that will help you and encourage you, because I'm very hopeful, very, very hopeful. Many people who have lived not as long as I've lived have gone through much more than I've gone through. refusing to feel sorry for myself, because I know that God is with me. His mercy endureth forever. He's given me a wonderful companion to walk through life with me. And we've had some of the most precious moments in our married life of recent, and it's always been good. But God has a way of opening our hearts, touching our bodies, so that we can minister to one another. Sometimes you can show more love to a child when a child is ill. You can give more attention and loving care to a life's mate when that person is in need, not just health need, but some psychological or spiritual need. But God is working in all of that because he wants us to see his hand in it. He's preparing me to be stronger because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. That's an easy verse to read. I'll read a little later. But it's most difficult to live. And His strength made perfect in our weakness. What happened in Washington DC today moves my heart, but it doesn't caused me to take my eyes off the Lord. Our country is not about our president. I pray for our president because we're commended to do that, commanded in scripture. And I pray for him. As you know, I've had the opportunity to meet him personally, meet his family, to pray for him, pray with him, let him know I'm praying for him. And I have stayed in communication with some of his family. And he's just a man. And his term will expire. Things will move on. I could make lots of comments about the election. Does no good. Serves no purpose. God is in control. I don't feel like somebody cheated me because I believe God is in control. But this nation has to get desperate. Desperate. This could be the beginning of a great awakening because churches need to be awakened. Churches have gotten into a mode of operation. As a matter of fact, you could take the Holy Spirit out, remove God from the whole picture. They wouldn't even know he's gone in most places. So may God speak to us and help us. But I want you to keep in mind what God is doing in your life personally. means that God isn't finished with you. What God is doing in the life of this church means that God isn't finished with us. And God isn't finished with our nation. I was attending a big evangelism meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. And there were two speakers speaking at the Bellevue Baptist Church in Nashville. One was Dr. Jerry Glisson, who was the pastor of the Leawood Heights Baptist Church in Memphis. And they introduced him and he came from his chair weeping, sobbing, not just weeping, but sobbing. And in his sobs, he said, I want you to pray for me. Please pray for me. Because I don't know how I'm gonna have the strength to preach. Just the other evening, I followed my son through the streets of Memphis till I found him. He's a drug addict. And when I found him, I said to him, why don't you run a knife through my heart, kill me quickly. And then go home and do the same thing to your mother. This is the pastor saying this. Because you're killing us by degrees, by the way you're living. And then Dr. W.A. Crystal, the famous pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas came as the second speaker. And he said, I'm gonna preach on broken things because God will never use you like he wants to use you until you're broken. And he told lots of stories. He told the story about John Wesley. Wesley was just under five feet tall, but a mighty preacher and a mighty man of God. He said, someone came to visit Wesley one day in his home and Wesley's wife was dragging him through the house by the hair of his head. Finally, she left him and Wesley said, she's gone and I'm not going after her. And then he told his story. He said, beloved, I only have one daughter, just one daughter, Annie. And my little Annie came in and said, daddy, I'm expecting a baby and I don't have a husband. Dr. Crystal raised that baby as his own. And I thought, I want God to use me, but I don't want to have to go through those kinds of things. I want to be the exception. I want to be the preacher that's not been broken. that hasn't suffered, and God still uses it. But I'm giving a testimony now, and I want to tell you something. If I had a thousand lives, so help me God, I'd give every one of them to be a preacher of the gospel. But I can affirm to you, after 54 years in the ministry, that the Lord is not going to use anyone like he wants to use them until they're broken. And I don't know what it will take to accomplish that in your life, but it will be accomplished. The idea is that Satan wants to destroy you, but God's not going to let that happen. God's going to take the very thing that Satan uses to destroy you and turn it around and make you the man or the woman God wants you to be. But in this most personal of all Paul's epistles, in this book of 2 Corinthians, it's not about constructing the church. It's about the suffering of God's man and how God puts his man together in a way that brings glory to the Lord. Most of us are so consumed with having the right message, but God's desire is for us to be the right messengers. And when we're the right messengers, God will give us the right message. And the vessel that he shapes in that way will be one that he gets great glory from. Notice carefully, it may be that the Lord God will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. The people of God understand that God can do his mighty work with the many or with the few. There's been a terrible emphasis on mega churches in the last 20 years in America. It's been to our detriment. We ought to reach everybody we can, get the gospel to all people. We ought to reach them and teach them the word of God. There's no doubt about that. But what about the church where there's a small crowd in a country village? Does it have no importance? Does it mean nothing to the Lord? Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, was preaching in London, England, and in one of his sermons, he just burst out with this expression, there's a man in Washington, Georgia that has prayed a hole in heaven. That's recorded in the Metropolitan Pulpit, published and sent around the world on Spurgeon's sermons. And the story that he spoke out about is the story of E.M. Bounds. in Washington, Georgia, in a relatively small area, in a relatively small church. But he began to pray and believe God and publish things about prayer. And it touched the life of Charles Spurgeon and Spurgeon's church, the mighty church, the largest church in the English speaking world. But is there no value? Is there no importance? To Washington, Georgia, what if you lived there? Is there no meaning for a pastor with a handful of people who's faithfully serving the Lord? You see, God doesn't have to have the mighty things of the world. He may use one person or one small group. Somebody came out with something this week and I thought, do these people not know who God's people are? I have the news article here in New York City. Mayor elect has calmly responded after self described black rights activists threatened to unleash riots and bloodshed upon New York City. And he said, if they think they're going to go back to the old ways of policing, then we're going to take to the streets again, says activist Hawk Newsome. This is one of the co founders of Black Lives Matter, which Marxist communist group. We're for all people, and especially all black people and black children. I've been working with them for years, but these are devil people. And he said after a meeting with the mayor-elect, Eric Adams, there will be riots, there'll be fire, and there'll be bloodshed if you try to enforce the laws in New York City. I mean, who do these people think God's people are? Do they think we just roll over and play dead? I mean, this is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. All these criminals taking over cities and things like that. Now they're sitting on edge wondering what's going to happen when the jury rules one way or the other in this case with this young man. And I hope you don't get all stirred up because there's still a God in heaven. And God's people are still active and everlastingly at it. We have weapons that they know nothing about, which means spiritual weapons and prayer and that type of thing. I'm not talking about guns and knives and that type of thing. We don't have to resort to that at this moment. We can get ahold of God. But I don't, you know, somebody tried to try this junk in Knoxville, Tennessee, and every one of us ought to rise up and say, you go back to your mama or somebody and cut this nonsense out. We're not putting up with it. And there ought to be some red-blooded, flag-waving Americans who are not going to put up with some of this stuff. You know, I can't help it. I try to help it, but I can't help it. I'm stirred up. You know, the world needs to get back to fearing God's people who can pray and get a hold of God. And they wouldn't talk like these crazy people talking, we're gonna ruin your city and we're gonna set things on fire. And the police, let's support the police force to arrest them and throw them through the jail, underneath the jail and keep them in jail. That's the Christian thing to do, by the way. We're gonna sing another hymn. Hymn number 72. You know, when you stir it up, I don't like to be threatened. I don't like people think they can take over our country. Don't sit idly by and let people do that. These people are not gonna take over our country. There are enough God-fearing people who love the Lord and can pray. And these people are going to take over our country and support our police, support our mayor, support our people who are elected officials, and let them know we're standing with them, standing behind them. Amen? I'm standing here now, the recipient of a reconstructed spine with 25 years of spine surgeries and titanium rods from top to bottom and a metal neck and a foot that won't work. and part of a leg that won't work. And God has brought me to the point where I recognize it's a gift from Him. It's a gift. And He's done that. And I'm happy in Jesus. I truly am. And I thank God for it. God's trying to bring us to the place where we can be perfect in weakness. God's trying to bring us to the place where we can have His power to rest upon us. And notice the use of this word at the closing part of verse 10. For when I am weak, then, when I'm weak, then am I strong. We fight everything we can fight to keep from being weak. But God says when he brings us to this particular kind of weakness, at that moment of weakness, when we cry out to him and recognize how desperately we need him, that's when we can find his strength is made perfect in our weakness. I didn't know what to expect, really, because there are people we normally are with, I'm familiar with most people at Bob Jones University who are in leadership and work and admire what they're doing. I've gotten acquainted with Stephen through the years and have a deep appreciation for his love for the Lord and what he's doing. I thought one of the most perceptive things I've heard in a long time was what he had to say this morning about the future of sermon audio and really the future of this medium of getting things done. It's pretty amazing. I thought how out of place I would have been years ago in this. My mother raised four children serving as a waitress. And every night she would come home from where she worked. We were never in the eating meetings, but she would have the tips that she made in her apron. My brother and two sisters would get to bed, and my mother and I would sit at the kitchen table and put all the coins on the table, sort them all, quarters together, nickels together, dimes together. We'd finally count. And this is how she made a living and supported four children. We were never on this side of it. You know, we were on the side that where people are running in and out of here and taking care of things. I think all of us have a tendency to forget how blessed we are. This is a wonderful meal, Stephen. Wonderful. Even the time it took to get it, we enjoyed talking, honestly. We really did. No problem at all. And I think the most impressive thing for me about this meeting is the Christ-like spirit of all the people I've met. The most standoffish person I knew anything about was Dr. Beeky. But as they would say where I come from, he just seems like one of us. I've enjoyed it all. It's been such a pleasure. Such a pleasure. I've been so impressed with these young people who have worked as volunteers. And I imagine, without exaggerating, Half a dozen of them have said personal things to me. Things that, you know, may seem incidental, but very important. Like, I'm praying for you. I know you're speaking this afternoon. I'm praying for you. I look forward to hearing you. Those kinds of things. Those things don't just happen. It's contagious, but you want to know, as you trace the source back, where it all comes from. and there's somebody doing the right thing. It's so good to be somewhere where somebody's doing the right thing, isn't it? I've always had a great admiration for Bob Jones University and still do. Pray for them. I pray for Steve that God will bless him, give him wisdom, help him with all the decision making that he needs. And I've also been praying for this meeting. I think there's more going on here than just having this Foundations Conference. There's a launching of like-minded people about the work of the Lord. I feel privileged to just be near it, not necessarily in it, but near it. And I want to thank you again. I want to thank you again, Stephen Lee. I appreciate you and your wife, your family. What do you say? You've had the greatest meal you could possibly have with the nicest people you know. You've enjoyed two fabulous days of spiritual food. But what shall it all accomplish when we leave here? I hope we develop some of these friendships. Hope our eyes have been opened up to the fact that God's family is bigger than we estimate it to be. And that some people that we thought were so different are not quite as different as we thought they were. I remember the first time Ian Paisley asked me to come and speak for him in Northern Ireland. I was frightened, really. I thought maybe somebody shooting at him would shoot at me or something. All great people make you comfortable being around them. They just have a way of doing it, don't they? and my wife and I enjoyed him so much. He was vitally connected here. Let me just read something just for a moment because I know you don't feel like hearing some long thing. There's a discerning story in the book of Acts about women arguing. And the Bible says that in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there rose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily menstruation. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you, and you know the story. These seven men of honest support for the Holy Ghost, and on the story goes. And then they conclude, in verse four by saying, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. And I think there's a divine order in that. And so someone might say, what is the problem here? The real problem was not the problem with the women arguing. It only brought attention to the real problem. The real problem is there had to be more attention given to prayer and the ministry of the word. And so when we're doing something like this, we're involved in our ministries, you know, our heads are down, we're going 90 miles an hour trying to get it all done. And when I'm around hardworking people, I certainly appreciate that. But when something goes on, something a little out of the ordinary goes on, for me, we need to say, what is God trying to say to us in all of this? If the disciples could have met together, they would have said, what is God saying in all of this? We have everything going well, everything's being multiplied and all of a sudden these women have a problem. No, that's not the problem. That's only God's indicator to look because there's a more serious matter going on. And the more serious matter has to do with prayer and the word of God. And there's been so many pieces putting this thing together, and I've watched. We have conferences, you have conferences. You know what happens when you have to put all those pieces together. What has God been telling us? Somewhere, somebody gets it. That the underpinning for everything we're doing, the real foundation, the real work, the important thing, that's happening. It's not my preaching, sorry, or your preaching, or your teaching. God's getting our attention again. That His work is done with prayer and the ministry of God's Word. You're never going to get beyond that. And if the Lord has to get you That's the world we live in. It's okay. Be glad you've been converted. How many things does the Lord use to bring us to the real issue? The real issue for me is I want to see God do something in my heart, in my home, In the lives of my children, they both work with me. They're great boys. My grandchildren, I want to see them develop into really mature Christian men and young women. I want to see God really work in the life of our church. I want to see God bless our college. But all the pieces I get from being motivated by what you've said, That's all they are. I'm sorry. They're just reminders of what the real need is, is our conversation with God and the work He wants to do with His Word in our hearts. I admire what you're doing. All of you seem to be on the right team, heading the right direction. And before long, Many of us will finish this race. That's just the way it is. Some of the great people that I've known, loved, we now just talk about what they did while they were here. They're no longer with us. But if God can get our attention, get us to the real issue of prayer and His Word, I feel like that's what the root of the situation is all about, don't you? Thank you for letting us be a part of this. We've had a wonderful time. And we'll remember you as Christians who showed us the love of Christ. Thank you. God bless you.