Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / July 28, 2019 | Special Guest Tommy Webb - Jesus Knows Who You Are

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July 28, 2019 | Special Guest Tommy Webb - Jesus Knows Who You Are · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, people of God.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see each and every one of you this morning.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: When I first came and spoke to you a few years ago, I shared with you my life story growing up on the streets of Korea.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I've shared that story for many, many years, and I keep on being asked the question: when are you going to write a book?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I am here to let you know that hopefully this book will be out this fall.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Running Away and Finding Home, an Abandoned Child's Journey to Hope and Healing.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Rosie Williams from TBC Brooke Web Genusa are the ones who are writing this book.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And Steve Williams is the one who got the title.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I can thank him for that.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Rosie has told me that as we go through this process, nothing is in concrete until that book is published.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the projected title for that book.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we seek your prayers as we put our life story together.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thankful for God opening the door that we can work with one another in this adventure and sharing what God has done within my life, touching the lives of those around me.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: In researching this book, I've had the privilege of doing some researching, finding out some things that I was not aware of.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the pictures that I came across was a picture, you know, when I shared my life story a few years ago, I told you about sitting on the edge of the bed, grinning from year to year, and they took a picture of me.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: The first picture that was ever taken of me in my life, and I was probably about seven years of age, and I told you that all my teeth were black.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Here he is.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is Parkin Sioux.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest with you, as I look at this picture and I look at those black teeth, I really don't know who this boy is.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who his mother and father were.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know where he came from.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at this picture, the words that come to my mind and my heart is abandoned, afraid, alone.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Rosie texted me this week, and she gave me a verse of scripture from Psalm 27, verse 10, and the New Living Translation says, even if my father and mother abandoned me, the Lord will hold me close.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Abandoned, alone, afraid, abused.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And at 67 years of age, I can look at that picture and I can look at my life and I say, you know what?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Life has been unfair.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I can deal with the negatives in the journey of life, and I can choose to become bitter in the journey of life.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm so thankful that as a young child, Jesus came and spoke to my heart.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Tommy, I know who you are, and I love you.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And because of accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior, I am not only alive physically, but I am alive spiritually.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of becoming bitter in the journey of life, I believe I am becoming better.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now don't ask Judy.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: She might tell you differently.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in the journey of life we have the decision, we have the choice, even when life is unfair, to walk toward God.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And in Galatians chapter 5, verse 22, when we accept Jesus Christ, we get the Holy Spirit within us.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that is my prayer, that in the journey of life, since I know Jesus Christ as my Savior, that I might know his joy, his mercy, and his grace.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: But as I exemplify Christ to those around us, because I believe all of us have a purpose, and that is to share Christ in the journey of life to those around us.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and thy neighbor as yourself.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and that is my goal in the journey of life to love.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what motivates you in the journey of life?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Bitter.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Better.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Luke chapter 7.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And this morning I want to talk about when we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: When we come to Christ, and here in chapter 7 of Luke, we see a woman who came to Jesus.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know the story.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is speaking in a Pharisee, and his name is Simon.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know when this event happened, and we don't even know the name of the woman.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the theologians think that she was Mary Magdalene, but we really don't know who she really was because she's not named.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But here we we see a story where Jesus is speaking, and a Pharisee invites Jesus to his home.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to begin reading from Luke chapter 7, beginning with verse 36.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now you need to understand that in those days when you came to someone's dinner, it's not like sitting around the table like we do today.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: They had these sort of couch things, chairs, couches that they would lean upon and lay upon and lean upon an elbow, and then they would eat from the table, and their feet would be pointed in the opposite direction.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And although this woman had not been invited to this dinner, she came and she saw Jesus there and she went, and the scripture says she humbled herself and she knelt by his feet and she started weeping, and she wiped the dust off of Jesus' feet with her tears.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's been times that I don't know if you do this or not, but I I'll be singing and I'll be praying as I'm driving, and all of a sudden, there's just there's such joy that comes within my life, and the tears start to flow, and I just have to pull over so I don't run into your car.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I can imagine so many tears that flowed that she was able to clean the feet of Jesus.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, the sorrow that she must have felt.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And here she is weeping and crying and using her hair as a towel to wipe the dust and the dirt off the feet of Jesus.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then she takes the perfume and pours it upon the feet of Jesus.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: There he is with the other people.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the sinner, this woman, this woman that no one would have ever invited to their home for dinner.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some writers say that she was an immoral woman, but here in the NIV says that she was a sinner.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone knew her within their community, and she was a sinner.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: No one would have invited her, but in those days, the special guests, those who were invited dinner, would be sitting or lying and eating, but there'd be other people that would come to look at the feast and look at the special guests that were in this home, and she had snuck in and she was not invited.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: No one of any kind of reputation in this Pharisee believed that he had a great reputation because one of the writers says the reason he did not wipe the feet of Jesus, which was tradition in those days, to wash the feet of your guest, because he was showing Jesus, I'm the important one.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: You should feel honored that I invited you into my home.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And while this woman is doing this, Simon says to himself, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, this is a self-talk.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't say it out loud to his friends or other people in that dinner.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: He said this to himself.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he still loves you.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: But here Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, teacher, he said.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Two men owed money on a certain moneylender, one owed him 500 denarii and the other 50.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Neither of them had the money to pay him back.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So he canceled the debts of both.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now which one of them will love him more?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have judged correctly, Jesus said.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: I came into your house.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: She did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much, but he who has loved much, but he who has been forgiven little loves little.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to her, Your sins are forgiven.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your sins are forgiven.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: The other guests began to say among themselves, Who is this who can even forgive sins?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Go in peace.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to emphasize one point from this story.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that is Jesus said to her, You are forgiven because she seeked forgiveness.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: She received forgiveness.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe when God said, And peace go with you, I believe that she went and started sharing the love of Jesus with those around her.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Her life was changed and she lived a life of joy because she had Jesus.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: When you think of the word joy, I want you to think of Jesus, others, and yourself.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to have joy and peace within your life, Jesus, and in being obedient to him, others and yourself.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: When the lawyer asked Jesus, what is the greatest commandment in Mark?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and thy neighbor as yourself.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: The greatest commandment is to love and to love others as you love yourself.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're truly going to have joy, there must be forgiveness within our lives.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: To seek forgiveness, to receive forgiveness, and to give forgiveness to others.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: In writing the book, one of the chapters we're going to deal with is I wear a lot of different hats.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've worn a lot of different hats.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: A judge, a minister, clinical therapist, motivational speaker, jack of all trades, and master of none.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's sort of been the story of my life.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that we're going to talk about is as a therapist, how we have touched the hearts of those and lives of those around us, and how important it is as we struggle in the journey of life in our relationships to seek forgiveness, to receive forgiveness, and to give forgiveness.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I called a friend of mine who's a veterinarian.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Tim, I'm writing this book, and I would like for you to share your story and Terry's story, and I'd like to make that a part of my book.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, You bet.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, talk to Terry first.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: He said, No, no, no.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: He said, We want to do this.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for asking.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to share what he wrote me, and this is the unedited version.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: He writes, Tom Webb is a reason that my wife and I have the family that we have today.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: In October of 2009, after Tom baptized my older daughter and younger son, my wife leaned over and gave Tom a hug full of gratitude and told him, Without you, this moment would not have been possible.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: 18 years prior, my wife and I were on the brink of divorce.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I had filed for divorce.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Both of us had given up on the relationship.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I was involved in another with someone else.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I had abandoned my Christian faith and wife, but God had not given up on me yet.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: One day, in the early morning hours, I woke up and God impressed on my spirit that what I was doing was wrong.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I verbally stated, You don't believe in divorce.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: The next day I called Tom Webb and asked him if he would be willing to meet with us.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: He agreed to counsel us and our work began.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: After months of counseling, God was able to soften our hearts, which led to repentance and reconciliation.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: When we reflect on the blessings the Lord has given our family, we are so thankful for our relationship and the miracle that God has worked within our life.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: As I was counseling with Tim and Terry, I learned that Terry's mother and father lived in their small community.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Wonderful Christian people.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you mentioned Max and Donna to anyone, he had taught school there for years and years, giving, compassionate person, loving person.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: But when I knew that Max and Donna lived in that same community and they had seen the pain and the hurt that their daughter had gone through.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And Terry was their only child, the only daughter, and the only grandchild that was going through all of this turmoil and all of this pain.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Donna being the mother came and just put her loving arms around her daughter and granddaughter to protect them.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I said to Terry, Would your mom and dad be willing to come and to visit with me?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure they would.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so we set a time, and Max and Donna came, and I got to meet them.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as I was talking about Tim and Terry and where they've been and our goals and the aspect of forgiveness, Donna all of a sudden stood up and she looked at me and said, forgiveness.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: You don't understand.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know the hurt and the pain as she was sharing from the depths of her heart.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I knew what she was saying was true.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know the hurt and agony of a mother that's going through that.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I have never carried a child for nine months next to my heart.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I can think I know as a father, but the pain that she must have been going through, and now I am a person that's trying to put her daughter back into a relationship.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: That was so abusive, and there was so much unfaithfulness.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And oh, after she spoke for a few minutes, she looked at me and she said, I'm gone.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And she walked out of the counseling chamber.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Max looked at me and said, I better join her.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I understand.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: I understand.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Two weeks later they came back, and I'm sitting there and we're visiting.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And this time she didn't stand up, but she sat there in her chair and the tears flowed.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Tom, you don't understand.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: You don't understand what you're asking.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And she got up and she walked out, and Max sat there and we visited.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: In Austin.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Their son graduated from high school.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: I walked into the party, and there was Donna on the other side of the room, and she saw me walk in, and she hurriedly came over to me, and she gave me a big hug.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, Thank you.
• 20:33
  unknown: Thank you.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Max passed away early part of this year.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tim and Terry went to Newton, Kansas.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: God both of them brought them back to Ulysses, Kansas after Max passed away.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: They helped her find a home.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: They've been with her on Sundays, on week evenings when the family gathers together.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's the whole family that gathers together to celebrate, and there is rejoicing and there is joy because they chose to let go of the past and listen to the mandate of the Holy Spirit, the word of God, when Jesus says, if you don't forgive others, I won't forgive you.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you get an opportunity this week, you might want to look at the parable that Jesus tells about the man who owed so much, and he was forgiven by the king.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then he went out and saw a person that owed him so little, and yet he chose not to forgive.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And when the king heard about that, the scripture says the king turned him over to the tormentors.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: The king turned him over to the tormentors because you see, forgiveness is for you.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: When you choose not to forgive, it doesn't matter what great piece of steak you're eating, it's gonna hit the bottom of your stomach and go clunk.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how comfortable your bed might be, you're gonna toss and turn.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is because of what Jesus wants you to have so that you might have his joy within you, and your joy may be complete.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're gonna have that, we must allow forgiveness to be a part of our lives.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Don't justify unforgiveness.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, forgive.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're gonna have the joy and the peace and the love, we must submit to his spirit and let go.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: I believe if I visit with Donna today and said, Donna, from one to ten, where would you rank Tim?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And she would say, How about eleven?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: How about eleven?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: The joy of the Lord to love God Jesus, to receive, and to give the forgiveness for others, to receive, so that we in the turmoils of life might forgive others.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: To love God, to love others as yourself.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, others, our neighbor.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jim preached a message not long ago when he said, and I'm paraphrasing this, in the journey of life, we're fortunate that if we can say, these are our very close, close friends.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of friends.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: But we're blessed if we can say, these are truly our close, close friends.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I remember one time, let me go back to Tim and Terry.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was in their home and we were visiting and we were talking about a financial endeavor, and Tim said, just a minute.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Terry, bring me the checkbook.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Tim, why do you want Terry to get the check?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm just gonna write a check.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're just gonna jump right in.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: I said, let's pray about this.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: And let's come back after we prayed, and then, and seeking God's direction, then let's come back and see what direction we want to go.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked at me and said, Tommy, I can count on one hand the men that I would trust my wife, my children, and my money with.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you're on that list.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: When I think about loving my neighbor, not only Tim comes to my mind, but Charlie.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Charlie.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: A four-year Letterman football player in high school.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Four-year Letterman as a football player at the university, big Lyman.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Went to college, got a teaching degree in special education, had a heart for people, had a heart for children.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: He helped organize the Special Olympics for the state of Kansas.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I had the opportunity and privilege of getting to know Charlie because he had left the education and gone to the banking business, and he was a bank, he was a president of a bank of a local bank there.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Charlie and Dean, his wife, and Judy and I became the closest of friends.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: We hadn't even made plans that one day when we retired, he was a little bit older than me, but we had planned retired about the same time, and we had made plans about traveling throughout the United States, going to different golf courses and playing golf.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he'd play golf.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I just hack at it.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: One day I received a call from his wife, Deanna, and she said, Tommy, I need a I need a favor.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Deanna, what's going on?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Do you know how large Charlie is?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And for the past few months, when he comes home from work, he doesn't want to do anything.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or there's times we'll go over to your house, or you guys come over here to visit.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: But besides that, he goes to work, comes home, sits in his chair.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want to do anything else.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Would you visit with him?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: He'll listen to you.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Oh, Deanna, he's my friend.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can't be his therapist.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we visited, and I said, Let me think about it, let me pray about it.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: A few nights later, a few days later, I called him at his office.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Charlie, I've got a favor to ask of you.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, what do you want?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Do you know I'm going skiing in a few weeks or a few months?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been trying to cut about 10 pounds to get ready for skiing, and every morning I get up and I think about going to the gym and as as I eat my food and I just don't have the motivation to do it.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Can you relate to that?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I said, if I had someone who would go with me, who would commit to be my workout partner, I think I'd have the motivation to get to the gym and and have the exercise and everything that's that's good for me and get me ready to go skiing.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Why are you calling me?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Charlie, you're my friend.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you'll help me out.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: To which he said, You gotta be kidding me.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those weren't his exact words, but that's what he meant.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then he said, Well, let me think about it and I'll get back with you.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Thank you, Charlie.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we hung up, and that evening he called me back.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Okay, Tommy, I thought about it.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: When do you want to start?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: I said, tomorrow morning.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta be kidding me.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I gotta be at work at 7:30.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay, let's meet there at 5 o'clock in the morning.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: You got to be kidding me.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Seriously, Charlie, in the evenings we're both worn out.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: But in the morning, what do we have going on at 5 o'clock in the morning?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be there.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: You be there.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I'll be there, Charlie.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: And for the next weeks and months and years, Charlie and I would meet in that gym and we would work out.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: In about a year and a half, Charlie had lost over a hundred pounds.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'd gained about 10 pounds.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now you got to understand, Judy and I had redone our kitchen and we had put a bar, so we bought some stools for our kitchen bar.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we bought chairs that specifically would hold over 400 pounds so that when Charlie came over, he'd be able to sit on those chairs.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, within a year and a half, physically, he looked pretty good.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't until long after that that we started noticing Charlie forgetting some things.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: And one day, Deanna and Judy and I were visiting, and Deanna said, Charlie's been checked, and he's got the early stages.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: And oh.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And yet Charlie and I, we still did that.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: We went out playing golf together.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember the last time we played golf, we're sitting there, and when I say play golf, I would have to take out the club for him so he could use it.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because he got to the point where he wouldn't know which club to use.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then if I let him put the club back into the bag, he would start rearranging all the clubs in the bag.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we played the last game, I remember saying, Charlie, I think that's about 150 yards.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, which club do you think?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or which club do you think I should use?
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: How about how about a six-iron?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's the right one.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'd pull that and we played golf together.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: We got to the second to the last hole and beautiful fairway to the green Cimarron River to the right, cactuses in the rough.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're sitting there.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Charlie, it's a beautiful day.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, it's a beautiful day.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: I said, now, Charlie, this is Monday.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Charlie, now remember, tomorrow is men's prayer breakfast.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to pick you up at 6.15.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're ready.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: He looked at me and said, You better call Tommy Webb.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's going to come and pick me up tomorrow morning for the men's prayer breakfast.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at Charlie.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Charlie, I am Tommy Webb.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: He looked at me, and then all of a sudden that little twinkle came to his eye, and he said, You are Tommy.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then months came and went, and it got to a situation where for the safety, for his safety, he couldn't stay home.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: And fortunately, we had a new facility that was built in Hugoton, Kansas, only 35 miles away with an Alzheimer's unit.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so Charlie was checked into there.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Judy and I we'd go by and we'd visit Charlie.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: If I was going to Elkhart for court or Hugueton or something, I'd stop by and see Charlie.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: One day his brother-in-law, who's a CEO of the banks, I was in Mike's office and we're visiting, and Mike leaned forward and he said to me, Tommy, I know your schedule.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And yet you go over and visit Charlie.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand that.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked at Mike, Charlie's brother-in-law.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Mike, he's my friend.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's my friend.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Mike sat back in his chair and put his head down.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure he was reminiscing because he's younger.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was in grade school when Charlie was a football player and he used to go to all the practices.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: He had the list of all the names of the football players.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: He knew all the stats.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Charlie had been his hero.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he sat there.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And tears came to his eyes.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked up and he said to me, I understand.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I understand.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Months went by, and there's times that I would go and see Charlie or Judy and I would go and visit him, and he wouldn't even know who we were.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: But we walk him back to his room from the main area, and we sit there in his room and we look at the pictures, we talk about the pictures.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: As he just sat there and looked and listened.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Many months later, I was having lunch with a group of men, and one of the men said to me, Judge Webb, why do you go and visit Charlie?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't even know who you are.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked at that man and I said, But I know who he is.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I know who he is.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: In the journey of life, sixty-seven years of age.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's been times that I walked away from Jesus.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: And yet he has never left me.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: He has never, never deserted me.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: But he has always kept me close.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because he knows who I am.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he knows who you are.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he knows who you are.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: And he knows who you are.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he loves you.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: Will you bow your heads with me this morning?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: My prayer this morning is that each and every one of us knows Jesus as our personal savior and we know the joy that comes from a relationship with him when we listen and we obey.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: But if for some reason today you do not know him as your savior, as your friend, as your father, may I just pray a prayer that you can repeat after me?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know that you love me.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know that you died on the cross for me.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that you've said if I confess my sins, that you will forgive me of my sins.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: And today, Jesus, I just want to say to you, I'm a sinner.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: I need forgiveness.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm asking you to forgive me and accept me into your family as your child.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that I might know your love, your mercy, your grace, your joy, your peace.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: In Christ's name.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: I prayed this prayer.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: There might be some here this morning that are struggling on the issues of life.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Life has been unfair.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's hurts.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's relationships.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's circumstances.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know what God's word says.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: But you're justifying where you're sitting.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Where you're standing, where you are in the journey of life.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: By saying just like Donna said, you don't understand.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm here to let you know Jesus understands.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: He even knows your thoughts.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he is so close today.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Will you come to his feet and allow repentance to be a part of your life?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: To seek forgiveness.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: To receive forgiveness so that you may give forgiveness to those who have hurt you or have hurt your family.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your love, for your mercy, for your grace.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: But most of all, the joy.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: And in Psalm 118, the psalmist said, This is a day that the Lord hath made.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: I will rejoice and be glad in it.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Help us as we wake up in the morning to start our day with you, rejoicing in your love.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that life is going to be a fair, it's going to be fair.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean all the people are going to love us.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it helps us to have an attitude of gratitude as we journey in life's journey.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we're at the place where we can be used of you to share Christ with others.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is our prayer today.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: In Christ's name we ask it.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: And all the people said Amen, Amen.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.