Word of Encouragement - May 7th

Channel: Bible Baptist EL RENO

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] good morning I was thinking this past

[0:02] week and reminiscing as we have enough

[0:06] time to do that and my class went back

[0:09] to 1965 September 27th to be exact and I

[0:16] stood in an Elizabeth center and

[0:19] Harrisburg Pennsylvania and I raised my

[0:23] right hand and I took the oath of

[0:26] enlistment and it went like this

[0:28] i donnelly Weigel do solemnly swear that

[0:33] I will support and defend the

[0:37] Constitution of the United States

[0:39] against all enemies foreign and domestic

[0:44] that I will bear true faith and

[0:48] allegiance to the same and that I will

[0:52] may the orders of the President of the

[0:54] United States and the orders of the

[0:57] officers appointed over me according to

[1:01] the regulations of the Uniform Code of

[1:04] Military Justice so help me God and for

[1:09] the next 12 years seven months and 21

[1:13] days I wore the uniform of the United

[1:20] States soldier proudly and it had all

[1:27] started in basic training and I took

[1:33] basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey

[1:35] and when I got off the bus there was a

[1:39] man named sergeant Williams he was a

[1:43] drill instructor what have we got off

[1:46] that bus they were shouting and

[1:50] hollering and screaming and telling us

[1:52] to move move

[1:55] we all got in the line and sergeant

[1:59] Williams stood before us that he said

[2:00] look you're mine I have you for the next

[2:05] eight weeks and during those eight weeks

[2:09] I'm going to teach you certain things

[2:12] and tell you certain things and at the

[2:16] end of this eight weeks you're no longer

[2:20] going to be an individual you're going

[2:23] to be a unit when one turns to the right

[2:28] here all going to turn to the right

[2:31] you're going to do a right face you're

[2:33] going to do a left face you're going to

[2:35] do whatever I tell you to do to become

[2:40] that unit and during that time there was

[2:45] some good times and some trying times

[2:48] but at the end of that time we had to

[2:51] take some tests and one of the tests we

[2:53] had to take was our PT test one of the

[2:57] things that obstacle course we had to do

[2:59] it was called the bars and one of the

[3:02] young men there he didn't have the arm

[3:05] strength to to go across those bars and

[3:09] you had to do a certain amount if you

[3:11] did pass the test you were put in the

[3:14] next training class that would come up

[3:16] and so I looked at a buddy of mine and

[3:19] he looked at me and we saw him

[3:22] struggling so we ran up and we got

[3:24] underneath him and put him on our

[3:26] shoulders and he reached up and he's

[3:29] walking those bars and we made sure that

[3:32] he had enough automatically we were

[3:36] working as a unit and what we got done

[3:42] we graduated went to Fort Devens

[3:45] Massachusetts and then I found out

[3:49] something pretty strange they had the

[3:53] same mission statement

[3:56] you're going to help the person in front

[3:59] of you the person behind you the person

[4:01] to the right of you the person to the

[4:03] left of you to get the mission done no

[4:07] matter what the cost is and after that

[4:11] training I would to Vietnam and I guess

[4:16] you already know the same mission

[4:18] statement was there and we helped each

[4:21] other to get the mission done no matter

[4:24] what it was those 12 years 7 months the

[4:31] 21 days that's what I did in August of

[4:39] 1973 in my home in Warrington Virginia

[4:46] I joined another army I didn't raise my

[4:53] right hand and say an oath I bowed my

[4:57] knee and when I bowed my me I said this

[5:02] lord I thank you for loving me

[5:06] I'm a sinner I deserve help but you sent

[5:13] your son to die for me and right now by

[5:20] faith I believe that Jesus died was

[5:25] buried and rose again and that night

[5:32] I became a soldier for the Lord Jesus

[5:37] Christ

[5:40] and for the past forty seven years been

[5:47] at different churches known a lot of

[5:50] pastors and deacons and church members

[5:53] and some of the churches that had

[5:58] mission statements some of the churches

[6:01] did not but what I found that was

[6:11] you were on your own I became an

[6:15] individual again it wasn't let's do this

[6:21] together it was he would come and you

[6:26] would sit and you'd hear the sermon and

[6:29] and you get up and and you go home and

[6:33] you come back the next service and you

[6:36] go through the same thing

[6:41] there was no mission statement there was

[6:45] there was nothing to follow but then

[6:55] I actually started studying my Bible

[6:58] against one

[7:03] that army that I joined back in 1973

[7:09] they had a book this and when I started

[7:16] studying that I started noticing some

[7:19] things the factors some things that we

[7:24] need to do that we no longer were

[7:28] individuals but that we were a unit

[7:31] I think Bible Baptist Church here in El

[7:37] Reno Betty and I began to visit and in

[7:43] time we joined and there were times when

[7:47] I walked in and I felt as an individual

[7:51] and walk out as an individual but in

[7:58] time it came to the point of we're not

[8:05] individuals

[8:07] we have a book we have a mission

[8:10] statement

[8:13] we're soldiers she say doc were not

[8:17] soldiers

[8:18] then white when Paul wrote to the

[8:21] Corinthian church in first Corinthians

[8:24] chapter 16 verse 13 he said watching

[8:32] let's be on guard

[8:35] stand fast in the faith know what you

[8:39] believe and know why you believe in and

[8:41] stand on it quit you like men which is a

[8:48] military state would say face the enemy

[8:50] and March the lasas be strong be strong

[9:02] that's part of our mission statement for

[9:05] a statement for this year

[9:08] Ephesians 6:10 be strong in the Lord

[9:14] there are Sundays when I walked into

[9:18] Bible Baptist and I literally felt like

[9:22] that young man up on the bars my arms

[9:25] wasn't strong enough to carry the weight

[9:29] but as soon as I walked in the door and

[9:32] walked down the hall walked into a glass

[9:34] room there's someone that said something

[9:37] of encouragement they got up underneath

[9:42] me and I was able to walk and use my

[9:46] hands and get down those bars just that

[9:51] one person it just wasn't the pastor

[9:54] with other members this is what I've

[10:00] noticed in the last few months of Bible

[10:02] Baptist people

[10:06] becoming a unit people saying I see a

[10:12] job that needs to be done and we need to

[10:15] get it done teaching different classes

[10:19] singing Spencer's doing things out in

[10:23] the parking lot to get things ready for

[10:25] the driving church services just being

[10:29] able to drive in and say someone say hey

[10:32] park over there do this do that it's

[10:37] encouraging to see a imminent simply

[10:43] this helping the person in front of you

[10:47] and the person behind you and the person

[10:50] to the right of you at the person to the

[10:53] left to you get the mission done no

[10:57] matter what the cost

[11:03] trust paid the cost no matter what it

[11:09] was he gave his life for us

[11:16] thank you for libel Baptist Church enter

[11:23] members you've encouraged the other

[11:39] evening the young man asked me done why

[11:43] did you stay in the military for 12

[11:45] years 7 months of 21 days very simple

[11:49] answer came out of my mouth

[11:50] I loved it if I could be truthful with

[11:56] you which I am I still love it done

[12:06] how do we get this church Bible Baptists

[12:12] to become one unit it's the answer we

[12:19] love it we love it I love the military

[12:28] because there was a job to get done and

[12:31] at the end of the day you could see that

[12:33] job being done there was an

[12:35] accomplishment it Bible Baptist things

[12:43] are getting done not just things but the

[12:48] work of Christ is getting done it's

[12:52] getting a complete that's why I love it

[12:58] has it always been that way I think I

[13:01] told you at the beginning there's times

[13:03] when I walked into Bible Baptist as an

[13:06] individual walk out as an individual

[13:10] that's not happening anymore

[13:17] become part of a unit that glorifies

[13:22] good there was a military unit that I

[13:28] was in and and we said as a model we

[13:31] will fight you can't mangas and in

[13:35] church sometimes we have that same

[13:38] attitude

[13:39] we won't worship and you can't make it

[13:42] we won't sing and you can't make it we

[13:45] won't teach and you can't make us

[13:51] Bennett

[13:56] we would fight

[13:59] who will fight the fight because there's

[14:02] a job to be done