Tiana, can you come? And Misty, can you come? These ladies are with child. Amen. For Misty, this is her first run. Amen. Some of you other ladies come down here and get around Shane. Amen. Praise the Lord. We want to pray God's blessing on this little girl. God save her at early age. First time the Lord deals with her. What's her full name? Claire Emory. Amen. Boy, she looks Christmas, don't she? That's why these mothers love having these girls, so they can doll them up. Amen. Now she looks like a little girl. Hallelujah. And pray God's blessing on her. God, make a prayer warrior out of her. Save her and use her for his glory as he would be fit. For we pray, shut it. We won't get them in prayer for you too, Heath. Come up here and say what's on your heart. And God sure been good to us, haven't he? And I remember back in, maybe around, May or June, sometime in there, probably in June, we were at youth camp. And before we had the baby, and Brother Daniel told me, he said, your life's fixing to change. And we laughed. And he said, I know everybody tells you about that part. He said, what it'll do to your heart and the way you preach. He said, you'll never be the same. And I'll never forget that day. It was just me and her in the room. And we had the little baby. And they do all the stuff they do. And they laid it in my wife's arms. And when she cries for the first time, and looks up at you, and that first night I held her, she was having a little bit of a tough time, and my wife was exhausted, and I remember sitting over in that chair they have in the room, and she's four months old almost now, and she still wants to be in my left arm like a recliner. We started that way, I guess we're gonna end that way. And I held her all night long. I couldn't sleep, brother, I just kept looking at her. And every now and then she would wake up, she'd look at me. And there's a pure love that you just can't express. It'll just break you down, won't it? Make the hardest of men. It'll do something to you. And, you know, I thought about something, Brother Daniel, that's been tearing me up a whole lot lately. I've, of course, gone a whole lot during the day. I go try to do my, you know, time with the Lord and go see people or be preaching. And my wife goes with me, but she'll stay back one thing and another and be gone for a few hours. and I'll come back in, I always go over to her when I first get home and I always say, hey baby, daddy loves you. And when I do, her whole face, she goes. Like that, every time, every time. And I was riding around not long ago and the Holy Ghost said to me, he said, that's how God feels when we take time to talk to him. He likes to be acknowledged because he's our daddy. Makes his heart skip a beat. He created the whole world, but all he wants is you. He does everything he does, just so every now and then, all throughout the day, you take time just to say, hello, Father. I love you. That's what it's all about. It's the whole Christian life in a nutshell. Just loving God like that. Everything else will fall into place. That's just what's on my heart. I'm glad that I've got a father that's better than I could ever ask for. And I'm glad that he gave me a little baby so I could understand just how much he loves us. You can trust him today. He's worth serving. He's worth loving. Amen. Thank you, Preacher. Mike, some of you other men come down here. God's hands on this man. He's being used about every week of the year now. But CT Townsend could not do what he's doing without him. He does all these preparation of the youth meetings, does a lot of things, and tent meetings too. He's the one that gets all that together. Then preaches all these meetings across the country all around the year. And God touched him at Myrtle one time, and I want God to touch him right now. Give him what he needs. Oh, Lord. God grant it. God grant it. Keith, you lead us. God, we thank you so much. of God. to bring great glory unto thy holy name. God bless his good family, his wife, his wife, and God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Help me pray for him, God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Oh, Oh, This is the Holy Ghost. Thank God. pray for it. Jesus. Jesus. Good Father. Good Father. Amen, amen, amen. God grant it, Lord. Hey, don't you talk to Michael, maybe after church about some of them youth meetings and stuff. I want to be as sensitive to the Holy Ghost as I know to be. I think right now we'll just look at John 6 for a minute. Thank you, Chancellor. I have been wrestling this for two weeks. What to do in this service, because I know what I want to do. I know what I want to do all week. This subject is so big, I can't get to it. I have written down front and back, just this week, over 150 pages of notes on this subject. and I can't get to a third of it. I don't even know what I'm gonna do, but I wanna just read this and see where the Lord takes me. I'm gonna tell you right now, I guarantee you he's got something he can say. Absolutely. But I beg God, maybe I need to say something to help him in this service. Maybe that's what some of it is. I want to talk to you about George Washington sustained in his darkest hour. What will sustain you in your darkest hour? I was wanting to get to Trenton and that's next Sunday on Christmas 1776. Oh, what a day that was. Miracle came. After a month of struggle, 1776 is known to Americans. If you were to ask, what's the greatest year of American history? A lot of people would say 1776. I remember when 1976, when we celebrated the bicentennial of our country, we called it the spirit of 76. Whenever you talk about patriotism, you talk about the spirit of 76. It was a year, literally, July the 4th is recognized as the day of the Iron Man signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was really July the 2nd and not the 4th. And then on the 9th, George Washington received the Declaration of Independence and read it to his men. But 1776 was the most trying time in the life of this great general. And what God did to help him and sustain him will help sustain us. It's an amazing thing. It all started with a miracle. One of the great miracles of the war. And it ended in a miracle. But everything in between looked like we were absolutely going to be annihilated. And God, like he always does, comes through with a miracle. And throughout the year in Washington's most trying times, God would do a miracle. There'd be something of divine providence that'd be so spectacular that it'd keep Washington encouraged. Look here in John six and verse number 66. Notice here what Jesus says here. or what's being said. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Verse 67, then said Pete, Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Do you hear the heart of Christ? The Lord's just run off all of His crowd. How is God left are these 12 disciples? Verse number 68, Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe in our cure that Christ, the son of the living God, Jesus answered them, have I not I chosen you, 12, and one of you is a devil? He speak of Judas, his carrier, the son of Simon, for it was that should betray him. Now in verse number two, let me just show you this right fast to give you a summary of this chapter, because we're living in a day of quitters, deserters from the cause. God help us to never quit and hurt the heart of our Lord. We don't serve the Lord just because he'll be good to us. We serve him because of who he is. Verse number one talks about Jesus goes over the sea of Galilee. Verse number two, a great multitude followed him because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased. Then the Lord is healing all these diseases and then He heals or He feeds the 5,000. He takes the little lunch of a little boy, five little loaves and five little fishes, and He feeds 5,000 men. not counting women and children. Verse number six tells us what he fed them with. And then there were 12 basketfuls that were left over. Verse number 15, Jesus and his disciples flee because the crowd is coming to take Jesus and make him king. They wanted free health care and free bread. And they were coming not because of the giver, but because of the gift. And it grieved the heart of Christ that men did not want him. They just wanted what he had and what advantage there was in serving him. Jesus reveals the shallowness of the crowd. Verse 26, he answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not, because you see the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed." Now, the crowd here is pursuing Christ. And the crowd's gonna be decimated. What will Christ do to decimate this crowd? You know what he's gonna do? He's gonna preach. That's how he got rid of the crowd, he preached. What did he preach on? Commitment. Commitment to him. Commitment to who he was. Commitment to his lordship. Commitment to follow him. Verse 67, he said to the 12, will you also go away? Thank God Simon Peter got it right again. He said to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. I think one of the most, I don't know this by experience and I don't want to know, but I believe one of the most look, a countenance that someone may never get over is if your mate disappoints you severely or if your children do. And let's say if a child would come home and curse mom and daddy and strike mom or dad, the hurt that would do to the heart of that parent would be tremendous because of the love. When we violate one another as married men and women, we can do a hurt that's deep and lasting and thank God, the mercy of God can help in a lot of that. But never forget, Christ gave his all for you. He wants you to serve him because of how great he is. Now, you want to be with somebody if you know them and you're comfortable with them. And the devil does everything in his power to get you out from under God's Word, to get you out of the prayer place. For those of you that are not safe, to keep you from knowing Christ because to know him's life eternal, to know him's the greatest knowledge in the universe, greatest thing in all the world is loving God, having a relationship with him. He's given us so much. He's done so much for him that it hurts Christ personally when we forsake him. Boy, I've seen a lot this year. Turn back. We'll see a lot next year, turn back. May you not be one of them. May God do something for you, for you to understand. No man lives unto himself and no man dies to himself. My actions affect my wife. My actions affect my children. My actions affect you. My actions affect everybody that knows me. My actions affect my nation. My actions affect everything around me. And I want to be one that won't be a stumbling block, but a stepping stone of encouragement in this hour. Jesus said, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. What sustained Christ in his darkest hour? This is one of them. You know what sustained him? The delight of doing the will of the Father. That was a delight to his soul. Verse 39, and this is the Father's will, which is sent me, that all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, believing on him, may have everlasting life. I'll raise him up. the last day I'll resurrect him. So you've got Jesus was sustained by his delight to do the Father's will. He was sustained by the desperate need of men. Oh, he's the only hope we've got. Everything rested on him. Everything depended on him. This community, lost souls, cannot get saved looking at apple trees or looking at stars. Somebody's got to preach to them. Somebody's got to live right. Somebody's got to get the gospel out. I tell you, there's a lot dependent on us, and the devil wants us to cut out on God and destroy the trust and confidence that people has put in us that we won't help them get to God and be a blessing and encouragement to them. The desperate need. Verse number 32. My father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then they asked, Lord evermore give us this bread. Jesus, that's like the woman at the well. Jesus said, I've got water. If you'll drink, you'll never thirst again. She said, sir, give me that water. That's what they're asking the Lord. Give us this bread that's come down from heaven. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. I say unto you, you also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh unto me all in the wise cast out. No man can come to me, verse 44, except the Father which sent me draw him. I'll raise him up at the last day. Verse 45, every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Verse 46, not that any man seen the Father save he which is of God." That's Christ. He has seen the Father. Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Verse 51, I am the living bread which cometh down from heaven if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread I give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. Verily, verily, verse 53, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. What's Christ saying? If you eat something, if you drink something, you receive that. There's not a man in 10 million worlds that had placed their eternal destination on a man that they're not convinced is of God. Christ is saying, I'm not the son of Joseph. I'm the son of God. I'm not just the son of Mary. I'm the son of God. I'm going to give my flesh. I'm going to give my blood. And the communion cup and the communion bread are symbols of the blood he shed and the life he gave. That's what Christ is saying. Christ is saying, I want you to follow me because you love me. You appreciate me. You understand the depths that I went through to redeem you and save you. not to put another tank of gas in your car, not to heal your body or make you rich. Can I find somebody, he said, that just loves me for who I am and is willing to follow me. If you never see the bright lights, if you don't get recognition, is there one in the house that just loves Christ, that loves him above all things? And that was the heartbeat of the Lord. And he looked at the 12 and said, are you just like them? Are you just following me for my gifts or do you love me? Boy, there's some things that's got to sustain a person in the dark times. And if you don't have them, you're not going to make it. The delight of Christ to do the Father's will. The desperate need of men. Then number three, the disciples who believed on and stood with Him when all others fled. Boy, that meant something to the Lord. Oh, it meant something to Him. And there's a special reward for those that stay with him to the end. John 13, one. Now the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew his hour was come, should depart out of the world unto the Father, having loved his own in the world. He loved them unto the end. What sustained Christ? Those that would be drawn to him in the future. John 17, nine. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Here we've seen this young father and young mother, this little baby girl before us. I'm telling you, she's the one that is to come. Somebody's gotta stay right. She needs a Sunday school teacher that's not a hypocrite. She needs to see old women in Zion and men that praise God and love God. I'll tell you, it's worth every step of the way. It's worth every battle for those that's accounting on us. Amen. What's on the heart of Christ, for these men forsaken him. John 17, 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also we shall believe on me through their word. When you back up preachers, you're backing up Christ. How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel and bring glad tidings of good things. Oh, a blessing, something that's got eternal consequence. Staying with something that's gonna last. Staying with something that's eternal. Staying with something that's a cause greater than yourself and that shall never fade away when the devil's in the lake of fire and world shall be no more. done through us shall live throughout the eternal, endless ages, and may the eternal meaning of righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament forever and ever and ever. 1776, it sure got started right. Some of you, you got started right. You got started with a miracle. It's called salvation. Some of you got started with a miracle of being filled with the Holy Spirit. You're not a stranger to the anointing of God. You're not a stranger to the power of God. But those miracles sometimes are hard to remember because of the hardship and the disappointment that's come along the way. I can't even tell you how we can let each other down. Oh, how we can let each other down. It echoes in my ear. I'm hearing it right now when they ordained me how to preach the gospel. When I went to the first little church in the month of February of 1983, when I was ordained, my daddy told me, he told me something. I've told you this. I remember more than anything any preacher said. He said, son, don't ever Betray the trust that people have put in you. I've never forgot that. All the days of my life. Oh, that there be some church members preachers can count on. There could be some people, some young people that people could count on. There could be some preachers that God's people can count on. I'm talking about being faithful to God and not being a deserter. Brother Heath here brags on his grandpa all the time. That's his dad's dad. Now his mom and dad's praying for him. But his grandpa prayed for him. And it made an impression on him. He's never got over. Boy, 1776 sure started right. Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, and the Green Mountain Boys in 1775 had conquered Fort Ticonderoga, upper New York on Lake Champlain. Over a hundred cannon was taken. Henry Knox is gonna go on a 300 mile journey to retrieve the best of those cannon and bring them back to Boston that's being occupied by the British. The only way to get the British out of Boston is to have a superior position and to have cannon. There was no cannon on the American side. And, but old Henry Knox goes on a journey of 40 days and he'll go through the snow. He'll start in December. He'll go up the Fort Ticonderoga. He'll pick out the 59 of the best cannon. And these cannon would weigh an ammunition 120,000 pounds. You think about the effort it would take to get cannon weighing a ton or more than a ton on a boat to take down Lake Champlain. Then when they get to the land, he hired teamsters and 160 oxen to pull those sleds. Had a bunch of men make sleds. Henry Knox spent $2,500 of his own money to get those cannon to Boston. You say $2,500 isn't much money. It is when a soldier makes $5 a month. I'm talking about people that believed in a cause. Oh, Henry Knox, coming down all that ice and all that snow. They'd have to wait at times for the rivers to get frozen over enough to take their weaponry. And they'd be going up those roads. We're not talking about two lane roads. We're not talking about interstate highways. We're talking about ruts. Him have those sleds, that's why they had to wait for the snow. Have those sleds and the ground would start thawing and he'd have to wait for days for the ground to freeze back so they could continue on their journey. And night and day, night and day, sleeping on the ground to get the cannon to Dorchester Heights. When they get to Boston, one of the greatest strokes of engineering there's ever been. George Washington prefabricates, takes a bunch of sticks and puts them together and has them all prepared. He's got 3,000 men that's going to climb Dorchester Heights. They're going to pull up their biggest cannon. They're going to bring all that fortification stuff and start a building on top of Dorchester Heights to fortify. The ground is so cold they can't dig in the ground. Washington sends out a call, 3,000 men will work until 3 o'clock in the morning till all the fortification and the cannon are set there. When they leave, 3,000 fresh men are gonna go up on the top of Dorchester Heights. The amazing thing was a miracle. I don't have time to get into this. You've heard me preach this, but there's a real miracle takes place here. One of the British generals that saw that the next morning and the man of engineering said it'd take 15 to 20,000 men to do what they just did in that amount of time. And they did it with 3,000 men. Put a mist over all of Boston where they've been shooting their cannons up there. And they couldn't see what they was doing. But on top of Dorchester Heights was a clear full moon. Oh, the light of that reflected moon where they could see what to do. The next morning when the British see what's happening, they're going to make a charge. When they do, God sent a hurricane-like storm and it drove them back. and they were not able to charge into the afternoon. By that time, they knew it'd be suicide to try to go up that heights with all those cannon up there. By the way, what I'm saying is, old Hal made a bargain with Washington. He would pull out of Boston. He would not torch the city. If Washington would let them leave unmolested, what a day of celebration that was. The occupation of Boston was over. The miracle of Henry Knox, the hard work, those men working together, what God did. Boy, they sing, man, this thing is gonna be a cakewalk. It's gonna be good. God's come to our aid and God's gonna bless us. Little did they know what the year was gonna behold. Washington, they're celebrating all over the colonies. They took down an effigy or they were burning effigies of King George III. They would take like New York and take the loyalists, not the loyalists, but the Whigs or the colonists would take down old King George, the image of him on a statue riding on a horse. They'd send it to Connecticut. They'd melt it down and make bullets out of it. Every statue of British royalty or British influence, they'd tear down. Boy, this is their country. And they were going to declare independence. George Washington goes to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where the Capitol was. They let him know it's up to him to defend New York, an absolute impossible Order that they gave Washington. They throw upon him all these accolades. They make gold rewards and celebrations to honor the great George Washington. But then they give him a job he can't do. New York is surrounded by islands. George Washington doesn't have one ship. You can't defend New York and you can't occupy without a Navy. July the 4th, when the word gets out of the Declaration of Independence and word gets to Britain. They're coming with all their fury to put down what they called us was rebels. And they're coming to put us down with overwhelming strength. New York Harbor at the first of August is gonna fill with over 400 ships. Over a hundred warships, over 1,200 cannon is going to be pointed at any site that the Americans set up. And then they can come up the East River, come into Manhattan, come into Brooklyn. George Washington has 18 or 20,000 militia men. When he was in Congress, he told them, I cannot win an aggressive war with militiamen. I've got to have a standing army. I've got to have men that'll sign up for three years, that I can train, that I can discipline. Without a standing army, all we can ever do is defensive warfare. Washington lost nine out of 13 major battles, but they won the war defensively. He would retreat, fight, retreat, fight, have the British running all over America, trying to find him. But Washington knew with his men, who had many of them, most of them, didn't have any battle experience, wasn't in any uniforms. They didn't know anything about warfare. There was no way he could take on 32,000. counting the Navy, 40,000 of the best trained men in the world with squirrel hunters and militiamen. George Washington knew that he'd have to have divine intervention. What happened to Washington was the British killed, wounded a thousand men. I don't have time to get in all that battle in New York City, it'd take me all day. 1,000 men are wounded or killed, and then 3,000 are captured. Half of them will die on British prison ships. George Washington has a group of 10,000 men on Long Island. All they've got to do is come up the East River, and they'll have no way of escape. They've got him pinned in. He's gone. They're going to slaughter him. That's when God did what's being called the greatest evidence of a miracle in military history. Even the secular people will tell you that. Never been anything like it. When old Hal decided to not advance, and waited days when George Washington evacuated Long Island with John Glover and the marble heads, those Marines and navigators from Massachusetts. When George Washington evacuated all those men within 600 yards of the British. Horses, cannon, ammunition, artillery all night long and the British never heard them. Unheard of. The fires are being kept up. The next morning day broke. George Washington is still on the island with a thousand men. He knew that if the British saw what was happening, him and those thousand men would be cut down. He'd be hanged for treason. God sent up that fog. First of all, God sent a mighty storm to keep out the Phoenix and the Rose, those big warships coming up the East River to keep Washington from evacuating. God sent such a hurricane that they couldn't get the ships and then they didn't have the wind to get the ships up the East River. God sent a fog. A man could not see six feet in front of him. And when the last American soldier got out of the firing range of the British, God lifted that fog and old George Washington and his men escaped. I'm talking about what a devastating loss in the Battle of New York. Discouragement on every hand. Washington takes his men and divides them. He goes up the Hudson River to White Plains, and he tries to fortify that place, and he is defeated. And then of a go, he leaves the decision. The only real bad decision Nathaniel Green ever made was right here. On the Hudson River, on the New York side was Fort Washington. On the New Jersey side was Fort Lee. It was originally called Fort Constitution. These two forts are to keep anything from coming down the Hudson River. They didn't have any idea that there would be any attack on Washington or Lee. So Washington let Nathaniel Green make the decision to defend that fort. What they didn't know, there was a trader from inside the fort that went to Howe and told him, had drawn out on paper the weaknesses of the forts and they're going up the Hudson River and they turn those British ships around and come back down the river and they charge that place 3,000 men are captured at Fort Washington. And then not only that, they have 3,000 men are captured, the fort's captured, their artillery's captured. It was one of the most massive defeats of the war. George Washington is on the way to Pennsylvania. He hears about what's happened at Fort Washington. watching him. He goes as fast as he can to Fort Lee. When he gets there, there's four days that he's got to get every bit of ammunition, all that he can out of Fort Lee. But in four days, he barely saves his life. because there was a man that lived nearby, a patriot, and he came and warned Washington, the British are coming. They narrowly escaped being captured. When the British got there at Fort Lee, their breakfast was still hot on the fire. I'm talking about disappointment after disappointment after disappointment, but in the midst of all that, God would do miracles to sustain them. Boy, these was awful days. If I can find where I was, I like facts and I was going to give you a few here right quick if I could find them. From my memory, at Fort Lee, you know what the Americans lost at Fort Lee? They lost over 3,000 muskets. They lost a bunch of cannon. They lost 400,000 cartilages. They lost their blankets. They lost their tents. They lost all of their shovels, their equipment. in order to dig fortifications. I'm telling you Fort Lee and Fort Washington, it was an awful blow in the midst of all this. Washington is being criticized. There's many in Congress that want to replace him. Replace him with what? They have given him an impossible job to do and he can't do it. And his men start deserting him. by the thousands. He takes 2,400 and he's on the run. He's gonna cross the Delaware into Pennsylvania. Christmas night, the Delaware crossing is when he comes back into New Jersey and goes to Trenton and then to Princeton at the 1st of January. Charles Lee, has got 5,400 men and he's up to the north. Now stay with me, up to the north, trying to keep the British from cutting off New England from the rest of the colonies. But what George Washington does not understand is the sedition that's brewing in the air. Here it is, let me read this right quick. Fort Lee and Fort Washington lost 3,000 men, 146 brass and iron cannon, 3,000 muskets, 400,000 cartridges, and then the tents, the blankets, and all these things. George Washington said, I think the game is pretty much up if we don't get some reinforcements. It's what he was trying to say. So Washington is about to be out of men. He's almost out of gunpowder. Uniforms almost non-existent. And the winter hadn't even come. Men had to wear whatever they could find to cover their bodies and their feet up with. All that marching wore their shoes out. There was nowhere to find shoes. They had to cover their feet with rags or canvas, anything they could. And those jagged rocks would rip through their shoes and rip through their rags. That's why they left a trail of blood. Sickness began to prey on the camp. And then not just sickness, but also exhaustion and exposure. The British will soon take Philadelphia. December the 13th, Congress moves from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Then Washington is being criticized for his failure to take a stand. His second man, second man, his right wing, is a man by the name of Charles Lee. Charles Lee was the only general that had fought in European warfare. And the British considered him their greatest traitor. because he had the most experience in British warfare. Charles Lee always wanted to be commander in chief. He starts a campaign among the militiamen, the military men, and among Congress to get George Washington taken down from his position, and then Charles Lee to be exalted. November the 30th, 1776, 2,000 men, Their enlistments are up. A man's enlisted for a year. Congress, Washington, has no power to get him to stay. He's totally at their mercy. The whole crowd can walk away. By the end of December, the reason Trenton and Princeton's so important, December the 31st, Washington was to lose 2,000 of 2,400 men. He would have no army unless they would reenlist. Somebody has to have a cause. Now, you've got November the 30th, you got how given the most expansive pardon to patriots. If you'll come over to our side, if you'll express your loyalty to the crown and your promise to never take up arms against us, We'll give you all your money back. We'll give you your commerce back. We'll pardon you and there'll be nothing held against you. A lot of them went that direction. It looked like New Jersey and New York were gonna cease to be. And the 13 colonies, it looked like the colonies was about to be reduced to 11 colonies. Washington is being criticized. King George, advances howl for him winning New York. And then General Washington is imploring Charles Lee to come from upper New York to rejoin his army. He's thinking they've got to defend Philadelphia. They've got to defend Congress. He doesn't know what's about to happen. He doesn't know all that. Lee delays, Lee resists, Lee will not comply. He disobeyed direct orders. Charles Lee would rather see Washington fail than Washington succeed. He'd rather see the war lost than Washington to succeed. Get that in your mind. All of this happened to Washington. And then your second man is doing everything in his power to undercut you. And he will not come to help you fight the enemy. He's determined. He's got such disdain for George Washington. Without Washington, the war would be lost. The American forces west of the Hudson are extremely weak. Enlistments again are about to lapse. He orders Lee to bring his troops from New York and General Lee deliberately delays again. Then the British start pressing toward Washington. Lee's reinforcements, he's waiting on them. They fail to come. Washington has only 3,000 men now fit for duty. He informs Lee, I'm retreating before the British to lull them into a false security. November the 30th, 1776, a personal letter arrives from Charles Lee to Joseph Reed. Washington's top aide called Adjutant General. Washington, Joseph Reed's gone. Washington needs to know where Lee's at. He sees that letter. He thinks it's a letter about his arrival. So Washington did what he never would do is open somebody else's mail. And when he did, he seen a scathing criticism from Lee to Joseph Reed. He said, it's a fatal indecision in my mind, which this war is the indecision of Washington is a greater disqualification than his stupidity. Lee advised Reed that he had no intention of coming to the assistance of Washington and his troops and thanked Reed for an earlier letter wherein he criticized General Washington or the Commander in Chief. Lee also sent a letter to Benjamin Rush. in order to turn many in Congress against Washington. Lee also got so furious when Fort Washington went down, he literally tore hair out of his head. He would curse George Washington. I mean, literally curse him in his letters. Lee's letter to Reed. What does Washington do when he gets that letter? He puts it back. He puts the letter back in the envelope for the dispatch. He hands it to Joseph Reed. Him being the man Washington was, he never mentioned it. But Reed knew he knew. You know what Washington said right after that? I will not despair. How can a man, Congress is criticizing him. Charles Lee is trying to overthrow, do a coup through fake news to overthrow the commander-in-chief. He's got all this against him. He doesn't have a standing army. He doesn't have qualified men. He doesn't have gunpowder. He doesn't have supplies. He's got one thing. He's got the providence of God. He's got the miracles God's done. And there's something inside of Washington. I will not despair. I'm determined to go on. Charles Lee continues to refused to obey. Lee viewed himself, Charles Lee, as the most capable officer, and Washington a bungling amateur. Washington made his mistakes, absolutely, but he is a man of leadership. General Lee is second in command. Now Lee is gonna start communications with the British. I mean, with friends like this, who needs any enemies? Now, I'm emphasizing all this to let you know what Washington is facing. It's obvious, old Lee said, that we're gonna be defeated. Now, the winds are about to change. Winter's coming. And it's coming early and with a fury, freezing sub-zero weather. It's what Washington is gonna have to deal with. Ancient dispatches go out to Lee. Washington imploring him, where are you? Send out another dispatch. Why won't you come? Washington leads his men across the Delaware waiting on Lee. Once again, he writes him, I need you. Help me avoid a disaster. Come immediately. Lee will not come. Lee wants him defeated. If it takes down the American cause, let America be damned. If he can take out Washington, Boy, you better know what you're up against in this hour, buddy. General Lee carelessly, what goes around comes around. And old General Charles Lee, that is so superior to George Washington, he ain't fit to change his stockings. Charles Lee, like an amateur. And when a man gets full of this kind of bitterness and hate, he'll always overplay his hand in his pride. Charles Lee takes his bodyguard and 15 men. He separates from his troops. Now, by this time, he's getting pretty close to Washington. He goes four miles to drink and stay at a tavern. While these boys are there freezing on the ground, he's in the heat of a tavern on a good bed. He gets up the next morning and when he gets up, this is Friday, December the 13th, when Lee is sitting in the tavern in his evening gown and his slippers, 10 o'clock in the morning. He's just written a letter to Horatio Gates, blasting George Washington. He said the ingenious maneuver at Fort Washington has unhinged the goodly fabric we have been building. There never was such a stroke. He said a certain great man, Washington, is most damnably deficient. Lee had just finished a letter when John Wilkinson, his aide, went crazy. He said, the British are here. What happened was Cornwallis sent out a scouting party of men of about 30 men and they were trying to find where Charles Lee was. And a Tory or a loyalist come and told them that Lee was in the tavern. Colonel William Harcourt had served under Lee in Portugal. When he learned that Lee was on the inside, you better remember this name because you'll hear it again. Bannister Tarleton. You ever heard of that bloodthirsty, sadistic assassin that had killed people trying to surrender? I'm talking about Tarleton. That's what that movie, The Patriot, that's that man that killed old Martin's son and his boy Thomas. That's Tarleton. Todd and his six men start a gallop down the lane of about a hundred yards. When they get to the tavern, he shoots two guards, starts shooting through the windows. The woman by the name of Miss Smith comes screaming out of that tavern and says, Lee's here, don't burn down my place. And so it stopped. And old Carlington said, Lee, you got five minutes to come out. They were torturing this place. It took two minutes when old General Lee comes out with his head down in abject, total humiliation because he touched the commander in chief. And don't you know, They get old. Let me just take time to tell this. When word got to the British army that they had arrested Lee. It was like they won the war. They thought the war was over because they thought Lee was their most formidable foe. When the word got to England, all of London went into a parade like the war was over. It gives such encouragement to the enemy because of Lee's selfish and unwise movements. It helped the enemy be encouraged and it became a great thorn. in the flesh of Washington. He's thrown me into a situation where I have a choice of difficulties. Here's what Washington wrote after this. I stay in the providence of God. I risk myself and my army. If I do not stay, But the province, if I do not stay, is lost forever. In short, unless something doesn't happen and something doesn't happen soon, it looks like the cause is over, but it always put him there unless God would intervene or something like that. So all this stuff's happening. Folks, I'm talking about 1776. I'm talking about our great leader. A type of Christ in this situation. Our great leader deserves to be followed. Christ. He doesn't deserve to be deserted. He gives his blood for you, his life for you, and believes you must give him your life. But I'm telling you all this to let you know when you serve God, David had his Saul. For he ever become king, when he become king, he had his Absalom. Christ had his Judas. There's always a Judas. There's always a betrayer. There's always somebody when you're at the bottom, standing there to throw the dirt in on you and finish you off. I hate to tell you that, I'm just talking about reality. Banisher Tollington wrote his mother, this coup d'etat has put an end to the campaign. Boy, they're ringing bells and rejoicing all over England. Let me get to this right quick. December the 13th, here it is. December the 13th, fateful day. It's when they captured Lee. December the 13th is when Philadelphia, the Congress, left for Baltimore. December the 13th is when William Howe will make his most fateful decision that'll come back to bite him. He called off the war until the next spring and left Trenton at the hands of 1,500 Hessians. or German-bought mercenaries. When all this happens, everything's changing. But wherever these British have gone, let me just, and that's Johan Rall that's over there at Trenton, that's next Sunday, and I don't have time to even get much more than I've already got. Here's what Washington wrote. He wrote then, only our dependence now is upon the speedy enlistment of a new army. If that fails, I think the game's over. Finally, December the 20th, John Sullivan brings what was Lee's army. He marches them four times as fast as Lee was and gets there, but instead of 4,000 men, he's only got 2,000. Horatio Gates will bring 600. That means he's got 7,500 men and only 6,000 are even fit to fight, if that much. Many of them suffering from diseases and exposure to all that cold, lack of clothing. Two former congressmen, Joseph Galloway, Andrew Allen, have gone to the other side. It looks like the war is lost. It looks like all hope is gone. Now, Washington knows if something isn't done quick, he must have a victory quick because all of his men, almost all of them's up for enlistments at the end of the year and they'll be going home. While all this has been happening from the middle of November till Hal called it off. And even after that, pillaging and looting. The Redcoats and the Hessians, Stole everything they could find and burned every law or every colonist's house. When they looted it, they raped the women. In one town, they raped three women. One woman in her 70s and another woman with child. They're raping women all over New Jersey. They're looting the houses. New Jersey's called the Garden State for a reason. It's got all those farms and all those huge plantations, all the food that had been put up for winter, all the livestock. They stole it all. They looted the houses. They took the furniture out. They took any kind of silverware out. They stole everything they could get their hands on and abused the elderly and those that were infirmed. And it was such a pillaging site. They've done that in the South, that's what turned the South from supporting the Tories to supporting the colonists because of the brutality of the British. All of this is happening and George Washington, what are you gonna do about it? What a man. Here's what Thomas Paine wrote. He was there with them. No sign of fears to be seen, perseverance, fortitude. We have the prospect of a glorious issue in the face of all that. Henry Knox wrote on December 8th, I'm about done. We're now making a stand at the side of the Delaware toward Philadelphia. In truth, they were so dispirited. Men are hungry, they're miserable. This will explain to you what Washington's up against. The great writer by the name of Charles Peale, Walker, or Charles Peale, Charles Peale. He walked among those men when they came near Trenton, and he said they were unrecognizable. They was in rags, wretched, starving, cold, He said, but there's one guy in particular that caught my attention. He had almost no clothes. He was wrapped up in an old dirty blanket jacket. His beard was long. His face was so full of sores that he couldn't clean it. He was so disfigured that I looked at it. And finally he said, that's my brother, James Peel. I'm talking about people that's given all for us to sit here today. Christ gave his all. Don't you desert him. Don't you pull his heart out. All he's done for you. Field commanders, let me just give you this one, encourage Washington. It was his men. That's what did. It was God's providence and God's miracles, his faith. He was seen many times in private prayer. Washington wasn't perfect, but it's a man that knew God had to give the victory. But what kept him going, he'd tell it. It's his men that stayed with him. Field commanders, Green, Sterling, Sullivan, Henry Knox, Alexander Hamilton. Nathaniel Green wrote his wife that his greatest thrill was that he had full confidence of his excellency, that's George Washington. He said, confidence seems to increase, the more difficult and distressing times. The more he seems to have confidence in me. By the way, Henry Knox, the man that did, brought all those cannon. He is a bookseller. That's what he was. George Washington chose two men. He knew leadership. He chose two men that stayed with him to the end. Nathaniel Green and Henry Knox. And neither one of them had one ounce of experience in warfare, none. but he saw something in him. Henry Knox is 26 years old. So much confidence that Washington had in Nathaniel Green that if he'd have got killed, he was going to recommend that he be his replacement. Then John Glover, his magnificent marble heads. that got him across the East River, New York, and then he'll get them across to Delaware next Sunday. Then his junior officers, his soldiers in ranks, men like Joseph Hopkins, these men that were battered, weary, ragged up as beggars, but refused to give up. Oh, Lee done sold them out to the British. Canaries are talking now. while Washington and his men are fighting for the cause. Folks, I'm going to tell you something. It means everything how you finish and what your record is. You say, I messed mine up. Will you straighten it up the rest of your life? Brother Heath, I want to read to you what Colonel William Tudor was with Washington from the beginning. He writes his fiancee in Boston and says, it'll be impossible for me to see you soon because he was already going to enlist. He wasn't leaving Washington. He said, I cannot desert a man who deserted everything to defend his country and whose chief misfortune among 10,000 others is that of a large part of it won't spirit to defend itself. What sustained Washington, the providence of God, the cause of independence, the expectation of Congress, the patriots were counting on him. His men were counting on him, his brave men that stood with him. Chancellor, you come, give me five minutes. This is worth the five minutes. Washington, next week, you ain't gonna believe Trenton how God gave us that victory. We didn't lose one man in the battle. Four wounded. James Madison's one of them, who'll become the fifth president of the United States. Two men froze on the march, but no men got killed in that battle. Enlistments are up December 31st. Princeton hadn't happened yet. Washington appeals to his men at Trenton. Last day, December 31st, 1776, he drew up his forces on a low ridge along the south side of the Assapink Creek with the Delaware on the west flank and Apache Woods on the right. He makes a dramatic appeal to veteran troops of the Continental Congress to stay with him six months. have no authorization. He didn't know he had authorization, but he did this anyhow. He didn't know Congress had voted when they left Philadelphia. They gave him absolute power and authority for six months to call the shots, spend any money. It was all on his shoulders. He promised a bounty of $10 to anybody to stay with him six months. I told you five, it was six dollars a month these men were being paid. The vast majority of New England men were New Englanders. They knew, they were under no illusion what that meant. The suffering they'd go through if they stayed. Here's what Washington said. Everybody that'll stay with me, I want you to step forward. The drums began to roll. Minutes passed. Washington is riding in front of them. Nobody steps forward. Washington wheeled his horse around and said these words, my brave fellows, you've done all that I ask you to do and more than could be reasonably expected, but your country is at stake. Your wives, your houses, your children, your parents, all that you hold dear, You have worn yourselves out with fatigue and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you would render that service to the cause of liberty and to your country, which you can probably never do at any other circumstance. The drums began to roll. Now men began to step forward. Nathaniel Greene wrote, God Almighty, it was like God Almighty inclined the hearts of the men to Washington's proposal. He said, it's like God Almighty, the presence of God, come on those men. And Washington said what he said, he moved them. And they take Princeton, and the rest is history. What a blessing. What an example our president set. But nothing fumbled in the ocean to the example our Christ set for us when he humbled himself and left the glories of heaven to take on the flesh of a baby. To be born as a baby, live a childhood, reach adulthood, Man is the only thing God ever put his hands on. And God put his hands on man, breathe into his nostrils a breath of life. And man's the only thing God's ever let put their hands on. And they did at the cross. Question day, it's time to step forward. Thomas Paine wrote, These are the times that try men's souls. You've heard that, Thomas Paine, in the book, The Crisis. Common sense in the crisis, big factors in American independence. Bible's the greatest. These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in the crisis shrink from the service of their country. But he that stands it now deserves the thanks of man and woman. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us that the heart of the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. Heaven knows how to put a proper piece upon its goods or price upon its goods and it would be strange indeed if so celestial article as freedom should not be highly rated. You dear people have listened so good. I went through a bunch of this and skipped over a bunch of it and I got that much more notes. This is a subject that's absolutely gripped my soul. Brother Eve, serious. The most serious thing going on in the world is not 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It's churches like this right now that can change the course of people's history. You don't need to swear allegiance to man, even though we do, our main allegiance, Christ. And if we swear allegiance to Christ, we'll follow his people. And we'll be willing to sacrifice, give of ourselves to the cause. If you're here today and you're lost, I want to tell you right now, you've missed the greatest thing in 10 million worlds, to know God, to be forgiven. It might look like a lot of times we're burdened down and we're not happy, but there's a joy in our heart. There's a peace in our heart. Even when we're not as close to God as we ought to be, knowing heaven's going to be our home, knowing we're going to see our Christ. God, and when we're really right with Him, we want to please Him. That's what He wants. He wants to prosper us if we won't run from Him. Can God bless us and us not forsake Him? Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Thank you, Heath, for being here. I had to really bow