Hello and welcome to One on One. We are so pleased you've carved out this time of your day to allow Veronica and I to come and to break the bread of life with you and bring the good news of the gospel. And it is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and this wonderful technology and wherever you're hearing us from. Just thank you for taking the time.
We truly enjoy when we get together and we get to sit down and plan these messages and listen to what God's sharing and break the bread. We get to break the bread together before we break the bread with you. And it's so rewarding for us to hear the wonderful things everyone has to say and to know that you trust us enough to let us do this for going on 20 some years. Wow and I'm only 29.
That's just incredible isn't it? It really is. It's wonderful when in ministry when God calls you to be a servant and that's what we are when he pours into us. We get so excited to pour into you because we understand how hard it is.
We know, you know, you can feel isolated, you can feel alone and that's what we're going to talk about today. You know, it's a fast, crazy, paced world that we're living in. It's like we're especially right now, holidays, everything that's crashing in and you know, the holidays are soon approaching and it's you can feel very overwhelmed. You can feel alone.
You can feel depressed. There's all kinds of emotions that the enemy wants to overwhelm us with. And so that's what we want to talk about today that even in this fast paced world that we can know that Jesus is with us and we are not alone. We are not alone to face these battles and there are battles.
You know, we understand the past two years we have fought a worldwide pandemic and the enemies wanted to isolate us. We've lost friends who have been very, very dear to us. You know, there are just things that happen in our jobs and our communities, you know, in the nation. And you just stand back and you're like, whoa, you know, is all of this really happening and the enemy starts to play on your mind.
You know, and it does. It makes us feel lonely. You know, sometimes your kids go crazy, your spouse goes crazy. You know, I mean, seriously, and you're trying to struggle through it and make sense of it all.
And you feel so isolated. And like you said, with COVID, COVID was the isolate or it was a tamanic in nature. It was demonic. It was demonic.
It was driven to destroy us to come against our lungs. You know, God breathed his breath into our lungs and the enemy's been jealous of that spirit that God has imparted to us ever since. So he really attacked that part of our bodies, our minds, you know, steal. There's COVID fog and COVID brain.
There's still things that we have to get through. And also the isolation of losing dear friends who fought this battle and the Lord took them home. So we understand that there are things that we all are dealing with right now that normally we wouldn't have to deal with even at this time of the year. You know, when I was thinking about this and we were getting this message together, I remember reading an article about Indonesia and in Indonesia, they don't leave you alone.
You just, it's part of the culture. I mean, their culture is a together, we're a group culture. You know, if you need a new roof on your house, everybody gets together, puts a new roof on your house. You know, if you need to go to the doctor, hey, you don't go to the doctor by yourself.
Someone's going to go to the doctor with you. Anything that you have in life, they want to make sure that you're comfortable, that you feel that sense of community, that sense of caring, that sense of love. And it's wonderful. It really is how the Christian community should be.
That's how we as Christians should treat each other. That if we see somebody in need, we should be the first ones to help. We should be the first ones there on the scene, you know, with our hearts, our servants' hearts that Jesus has given us too, so that we can ensure that people are not alone and they feel isolated and then the depression and the anxiety sits in. I know in the mountains where we live in, there is a people that, in an Amish group of people that live where we are.
And you can see that with them as well, can't you, Ben? Well, you know, you hear about the barn raisings. Those were the big things when I was a kid. They would all come together to raise a barn for a new farm, a new family of Amish people.
And they would also help out, you know, when it was time to harvest, when it was time to plant, when it was time to till, when the big jobs were there on the farm, they would get together and have that sense of community. Then they would join together for parties and for times to get. I mean, it is, it's a sense of community. And we have to realize that being a Christian and loving the Lord, that we also have that sense of, we should have that sense of community.
We should want to have that sense of fellowship because the enemy wants to isolate us. That's what he wants us to do. He wants to get us separated from the other people who think alike. And he wants to get us into an area, into a zone where we are listening to him and we're not listening to the people who love us.
But he will paint that picture that, hey, this is okay. This is the way it should go. This should be the comforting factor for you. You're going to, you know, you're not being treated right.
They're not doing all the things they need to do for you. And you know, you're getting convinced that, hey, this disease is not going to lead, man, you really need to hide away and hide yourself and never show your face or you're not going to get any better. It's only going to get worse. Her husband's never going to get Savior.
Her wife's never going to get Savior. Those kids are running crazy. They're going to do something wind up in jail and prison. We don't have to hear all of that stuff.
But that's what the enemy wants to do. He wants to separate us from the hope and the love of Jesus and the love that he has for us. Once he can get us separated and we listen to the wrong things and we accept those into our spirits, into our hearts, then he's got us where he wants us. Then he can have his way with us.
You know, I've always said that, you know, if you're a Christian, if you love the Lord, you know, you got to target on your back. The enemy is after you. He's not after when I was living in the world and I was doing all the things I should be doing and all the places I should be doing. I mean, hey, I was drawing the crowd for him.
I wasn't drawing the crowd for God. He wasn't chasing after me. He already had me. But when I became a Christian, I became someone who understood the love of Jesus, how much he cares for us, what he did for us, and what his promises for us if we just love him and do what he asks us to do.
The enemy then said, hey, you know, I need to quieten this guy down. For 12 years, he put nodules on my vocal cords. I would have to go in and have them remove surgically numerous times a year. I would have to have them removed and I couldn't speak.
We would try to schedule our television programs around it, have to schedule work around it, have to be at home with your family. He came and talked to me, got to write notes and he got to hand it to him, trying to communicate. And it gets frustrating. You know, it didn't dissuade us.
We never missed a program. I never missed my work. I never missed my family. Yeah, I got a little frustrated along the way.
But after 12 years, he took those from me. You know, I don't know if I passed the test, but I do know that I love the Lord more now than I did then. But then after that, even after that, I want cancer through that one under the wheels of my bus. And then after that, after we overcame that, he throws the brain tumor for Veronica under the wheels of the bus.
You know, and in between, we had one of our children go crazy in college. So we get it. We understand the things that can happen. But you know, the wonderful thing about the crazy, when she's now getting her master's degree in ministry leadership, that's how God works.
When you don't give up, you don't listen to the lies of the enemy and you hold on to the truth of God's Word. And you're not alone. You're not alone in the battle. I don't know where you are.
And you say, buddy, you don't get it. I'm smothering. I'm struggling. I'm about to go under for the third time.
We'll lift up your hands, praise the Lord and thank Him for His love and His mercy and His grace in your life today. He is still there to rescue you. You know, we talk about this program, throwing a lifeline out. Jesus is there every moment of every day in every situation with those nails, card hands, reaching out for you if He will just grab hold.
That's what we have to do. And don't turn loose. And we go to the Word of God. Even in Psalms 23, it says, don't fear any evil.
Don't fear that. For I am with you. Don't fear the lies of the enemy. When they come to tell you that things will never change, there's a spirit of hopelessness that really wants to encapsulate the Christian mind to say, it will never change.
That's a lie of the enemy. You know, when the enemy would come with our daughter who had been raised in church, who loved the Lord, but had gotten off the path, I said, I will not give up. She will not give up. And she will tell you today.
Part of her testimony is that she knew that she had praying, parents praying for her. Now she can minister with prayer and power and effectiveness because she knows where she has come from. Don't listen to the lies of the devil. Don't let him tell you that things will never change.
A story in the Bible is the woman with the issue of blood. In Luke 13, we see that this was the daughter of Abraham, that she was there and she had been afflicted with a sickness. And as Buddy was talking about having nodules on his vocal court cords for 12 years, that was a trial. There were times that when we would go into ministry or conferences or revivals that he could not speak.
And the enemy would say, okay, I've shut you up this time. There were many times that he would almost have to whisper that he would get his message out. The woman with the issue of blood, I'm sure the enemy would come to her to tell her things would never change. The enemy had her exactly where he wanted her.
She was broke because the Bible said she had spent all of her money on doctors. She was alone because she was considered unclean and she felt hopeless. But then she heard of a man named Jesus walking down her street. And she thought if this man who has raised the dead, the news had already reached her.
If this man that could raise the lane, that could open the eyes of the blind, then surely if I can just reach him, I won't be alone. I won't be sick. I won't be broke. And what did she do?
She broke out of her four walls. Somebody needs to hear this today. You need to break out of your four walls and say, I'm not going to be alone. Jesus is for me.
So who can be against me? She got out of that house. She pressed through the crowd, pressed through her fear, pressed through her anxiety, pressed through 12 long years of being alone to touch the hem of his garment. And the Bible says that instantly she was made whole.
Who needs to press through and to get to Jesus today? The one who is feeling alone. The one who the enemy has lied to to say that things will never change. Her life instantly changed.
And she had a testimony right on that street. Why? Because Jesus is our healer. Jesus is the way maker.
Jesus is the one that says, I will give you hope and I will never ever leave you alone. When we even go to the book of John, when he was telling his disciples, listen, I'm going to be leaving you, but I am not going to be leaving you alone. In John 1415, Jesus was telling his disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments. And I pray to the Father and he will give you another helper who will abide with you forever.
He was talking about the Holy Spirit. They didn't understand what was getting ready to happen. He's like, if you love me, you're going to do what I told you to do, but I'm not going to leave you without a comforter. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, who the world will not receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.
We understand that today. The world doesn't understand us. The world doesn't understand who lives on the inside of us. They don't get it, but we do because he abides on the inside of us.
He said, they can't receive him because they don't see him, but you know him. We know him as Holy Spirit. We know him because he is our power, he is our comforter, he is our guide for he dwells with you and he will be with you. I will not leave you alone.
I will not leave you as orphans and I will come to you. But he what a great promise that's even for us today. He's telling his disciples, you're not going to be see me and body anymore. They didn't get it, but he said, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit and he is going to be the Spirit of truth.
The world will not understand. The world doesn't understand. They have blinders on their eyes. If they don't know Jesus Christ, they're not going to know the Spirit of truth.
But he just like when you were living in the world and you were living it up big time, you didn't know about the Holy Spirit. But then when Jesus came to dwell within you, you knew that he was your guide, he was your comfort, he was your everything because Jesus left him with us. And now the Holy Spirit brings all these things of truth to my remembrance. When I am troubled, the Holy Spirit is there to love on me.
When I am lonely, the Holy Spirit is there to love on me, to guide me, to keep me in the truth of God's Word, the promises that are God's promises for my life and for my future and for my hope. And you have a hope too. I don't care how alone you feel, how many times you've been let down, how the world has treated you. You have the Holy Spirit that will be with you forever.
He will never leave you. Jesus said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will stick with you closer than a brother.
That's the promises that we have. We don't have to get caught up into this feeling of separation. We only separate ourselves when we allow ourselves to be separated. Yes, we're going to go through trials and tribulations.
Yes, troubles are going to come. But we always have the Holy Spirit there to remind us of God's Word, of God's promises, of God's love for each and every one of us. You know, this time with the holidays all around us, everything that's going on, we all look so forward to this time of fellowship with our families and our friends. But not everyone has that opportunity to have the fellowship with family and friends.
We need to embrace them somehow. Let them know they're loved. Let's do the Christian thing for people and to help them understand the love of God, that they don't have to fear the world, that tomorrow is not a day to fear. Tomorrow is just the next day in the line of promises that God has given us that we get to enjoy.
We can employ the truth of God's Word in our lives, each and every day, help everyone else by throwing them this lifeline of hope that we have reminding you, reminding us when we come and we speak with you, reminding ourselves as well of how much God loves us, of the beauty of God's Word, of what it's intended to be, not something to beat us up with, not something that tells us we're not living right, we're not doing the right things, it's just a reminder of how we should be and all we have to do when we fall in short and Romans 3, 23 assures us that we'll all fall short of the glory of God and we do, we're human. God knows how we are. Jesus came to live like us with us so he would understand our nature and how we are and that he would give us a way to come to the Father, Buddy McLaughlin, who was the part of the world, could come to the Father on his knees, ask for someone to be healed, delivered, set free, saved in the name of the Lord, and he could see that happen. The same one who lived in sin was forgiven because we have a Savior who loves us that much to forgive us.
I'm looking at someone today and you know that's you, you know that Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart. It's time that you stop the running, it's time that you stop lying to yourself, it's time that you stop trying to be convinced by others who don't understand the call of God in your life and all you have to do is stop and say, enough, I'm drawing the line right here, I'm accepting Christ as my Lord and my Savior. Father, forgive me in my sense, I want you to repeat that after me Father, forgive me of my sense, I know that I'm a sinner, I know you died on the cross from my sins, you were buried and you rose again on the third day, forgive me Lord and make me new, I want to be your child Father, I want to feel your love, make me new. That's all you have to do.
This Holy Spirit will come and live in your heart and will bring you remembrance to the things that you need to know when you need so that you can't be separated again in the lives of the enemy be the things that you follow, the things that you hear. That's what the Holy Spirit will do, remind you of God's love, remind you of the boundaries that we don't need to cross, remind you that you are not alone in this world, that you are there with a bunch of believers who share the same faith in the hope and the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's wonderful, Veronica to know that we can come back when we've slipped across and we've never been there, his arms are open to invite us there to have that hope and promise and salvation to the Lord. He is our hope and promise and he said in Jesus was telling his disciples in Acts, he said you have the promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he says in Acts 1 8 that you will receive power, yes, you'll receive boldness, you'll be endowed with this power that the Holy Spirit brings upon you and when he comes you will be witnesses, that you will be bold to witness for me in all of these places it started out in Jerusalem with his disciples and then all of Judea and Samaria but then what's happening now, we're going into all of the ends of the earth because we have been emboldened by the power of the Holy Spirit, our comforter, the one that Jesus promised was coming to us.
So when you have power in your life you're not alone, you can stand up and you can be witnesses to help others, that's what we are doing today. If you would have told us 20 years ago that we would have been doing this, we had charted our own path, we were in the business sector, we were doing our thing and God said no, you're going to be witnesses of me and I'm going to embolden you, I'm going to give you power and so we said okay God here we are, we are available. When you tell God that you are available for his service, he takes it very seriously and you're not alone, you have a Christian family to back you up, you have people who are praying for you, standing with you and you have others as a community as we were talking about, you're not alone in this thing, we are all in this thing together, standing shoulder to shoulder, we all have different gifts, we all have different callings. So don't buy into the lie of the devil that you don't have a purpose, that you don't have a plan for your life.
If you are living and breathing today and watching this program and listening to us, you have a plan, you have a destiny and now you have the power on the inside of you, have you given your heart to Jesus Christ, now that you will be having the power of the Holy Spirit to go and do what God has called you to do and what's so wonderful we were talking about the lady with the issue of love, the daughter of Abraham, you know she had the power, she was made whole, now she had the power in her testimony because when Jesus turned around and said who touched me, he knew who had touched him and she bowed down trembling at his feet and said God it was me. Well all of those people around in that city, they knew in Capernaum, they knew that she had been sick, shut up in her house, isolated for 12 long years but she was able to give her testimony right on that street because God had touched her and healed her. When you receive from the Lord Jesus Christ then you will have the power to be witnesses of him and you say Veronica I don't have the talents that you do and no I don't have the talents that you do so do what God has called you to do, you don't have to be isolated, you don't have to be alone, you get out and you do what God has called you to do, that's what we did buddy, it was a step at a time as God would open the doors for us we would just walk through those doors and we were not alone doing it, we had people to help us, we had a community of people helping us to say you can do this thing and we are going forward with Jesus Christ. Yes and you know having the Holy Spirit and the ministry to the degree that we always have is what's given us such great peace and joy and contentment in seeing God work in so many lives.
I mean the true joy that we get, the true joy that I hope you receive is when you see God working in a life, you see a life forever changed, a life that was alone and distant, all of a sudden become vibrant, all of a sudden become whole and have a whole new attitude, a whole new way of giving, but the wonderful thing that we receive there's something for you when you receive all these beautiful gifts and you realize that you're not alone and you've gotten into the practice of getting into God's Word and understanding more and fellowshipping with good Christian people, there's something really good in for you today not just with eternity but in verse 27 God's Word tells us peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you as the world not as the world gives to you let not your hearts be troubled neither be afraid. You know that's why the world doesn't get it, we can have peace in the middle of a COVID pandemic, we can have peace when people say we have cancer, we can have peace when they say we have a brain tumor, we can have peace when we know our daughter is doing things she shouldn't have been doing, we can have peace when it looks like the world's coming unglued because we have a God who we know loves us that much and he says I can have that peace that I can trust him for the right outcome if I'll just allow him to be the Lord of my life and let the Holy Spirit rule my heart, my mind and my thoughts and then he will allow me to instill that in you and still that in me, we instill it in each other and we fulfill the calling and then we're bearing fruit for the kingdom of God. Yes he promised not to leave us in the peace that the world cannot give us. I remember that there was a song singing growing up, I've got something the world didn't give me and the world cannot take it away.
It is peace, it is joy, it is contentment, it is Holy Spirit's power living and dwelling in our lives to know that he will walk with us every step of the way even if we have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We know that he is with us, he will always be with us. The Bible tells us in his word, his promise, he will never leave us, he will never forsake us. Isn't that a comfort to know that he's walking this journey with us side by side, day by day, sunrise and sunset.
We have comfort to know that he is always there with us, the comfort to know that we have the power, that when we speak his words, that we have healing, we have salvation, we have deliverance, there's more to this, there's a package deal. You know we're talking about Christmas coming up, hey we've got a package deal knowing the Holy Spirit will always be with us, never leave us comfortless. We counted a joy coming into your homes each and every week until we see you again this time next week. Remember God is always faithful.
Hello everyone, Veronica and I would like to thank you so much for partnering with Deaf Song Ministries through these many years. We appreciate your support, your love. We look forward each week to coming and being a part of your life in your homes. Bring you God's Word.
We are so humbled to receive your praise reports of salvation, of healing and restoration. We are excited to take this gospel across the world. We know this next season is bringing great harvest for his glory. Thank you and remember the best is yet to come.