Ralph Rice

[0:00] And I appreciate the ministry of this church, ministry of individuals. Sometimes I come to a place and I meet those that are children, and I love them.

[0:15] And then all of a sudden they grow up. And our teenagers, I like that, I'd like to have you go with me, that's good. But then I love dogs, and I see these service dogs.

[0:28] And I was in a church up in Michigan recently, and I wanted to pet the dog. Don't, you know, because the man is blind. And I had sight and lost it.

[0:40] Boy, that was a big adjustment, totally blind. And so here's this dog, and the man is serving as an usher in the church, blind. I'm saying, oh boy.

[0:51] And so that dog is on duty. But then others, they have a duty of smiling and wagging their tail at you, and you can pet them. I like those. I wanted one for the trailer, and my daughter said, Dad, you can't have a dog.

[1:06] I said, why not? I said, they said, well, because the dog needs attention. And you're gone all the time from the trailer, and the dog's got to be walked.

[1:17] And I said, well, what about a hamster? And they said, you need two hamsters. And then also they go in the wheel and keep you awake all night with the wheel. And so I said, huh?

[1:28] And so I have three stuffed dogs out there in the trailer. Yeah, one is almost life-size. It's a collie. And I brush it once a month, whether it needs it or not.

[1:39] I dust it, you know. Yeah. And then I got plants. Got about 12, 13 plants. Wife and I went and had meetings at the Blaisdell Auditorium in Honolulu, Hawaii years ago.

[1:52] And at the airport, they had these little pieces of little logs like your finger, and it said put them in water and it'd grow. And they said, you make skirts. I said, honey, this will save on clothing.

[2:04] And, you know, make Hawaii. And they would have tea plants, they're called, you know, and they'd be the nice. So I made several skirts for it. Well, actually, it would grow and hit the ceiling.

[2:15] I'd cut it off and start new ones. So I have right now three that are great, great, great, great since that was 1975. Ooh. Great, great, great, great grandchildren are the ones I have in the trailer now.

[2:28] But I still have to give them attention because in the trailer, it gets real cold going down the highway for nine hours yesterday. And so, you know, they sit in my wife's seat up in that front seat with me.

[2:40] Yeah, got to take care. I'm keeping the right temperature and everything. Thank you for having a part in the ministry that we've had these years.

[2:51] You have been a wonderful, wonderful presence, a help, a support, a family individually, but also here as a church. Church, you have been everywhere I've been.

[3:04] And so just since I was here last time, it's not hundreds, but thousands of people in all ages, of course. The little ones, they're fans.

[3:18] Sometimes five, six, seven, eight years old, they come up to you. Oh, you're so funny. I said to my wife, I said, what are they saying? I don't tell a lot of jokes. She said, it's your face, Ralph. I said, what?

[3:28] She said, they're talking about your face, you know. But it's been wonderful just since I've been with you. Over a hundred trusting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

[3:41] And I'm glad for what God did a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, ten years ago, but I'm glad for what He's doing now. And in the last few weeks, last two months, over 23 have made a public profession in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

[3:59] And I'm just thankful for your prayers. And you have been a great blessing. It's most of you. You know, most people are really a help, but I did have a problem.

[4:10] My marriage, we had a great marriage. The only problem, we had a bump. And my wife, the only things that embarrassed my wife was me, usually. But there was, when I came to Lake Charles, Louisiana, Louisiana, you know.

[4:25] And you see, there was a family. Well, we parked out by the church. It was real wet when we parked. And, you know, kind of wet. And there were these things crawling around, crawfish.

[4:37] And they made these little mounds, you know. And out by the church here, there was mounds. Where were we parked? And my wife said, look at that. I said, well, I think that's from the crawfish or something, honey.

[4:48] I said, you know, I don't know. You see, out in the rice fields, they got these traps-like things. And I think that's what they are. So we're invited over to a family. Brother James, David, invited us over to the house.

[5:00] So it's at night. It's dark. You know, it's dark. So we're driving over there and got trees in the yard and stuff. We're walking through the yard. It's dark. My wife's looking around because she's enamored by all these mounds that she sees.

[5:13] You know, people's yard stuff. So she asked, she said, what do you call these things? He said, well, I don't know what you call them in Texas, but down here we call them pine cones.

[5:27] And, you know, instead of being embarrassed, the way he handled that when he said that, it was such a blessing to her that she laughed.

[5:40] You know, it's wonderful when you can laugh at yourself and enjoy life. And my wife did enjoy life. And she told her children, she told lots of people all about, well, let me tell you what happened to Lake Charles.

[5:53] I kept saying these, and I said, he said, well, we call them pine cones here. So, you know, it's just wonderful to know the Lord. Wonderful to be in his hands. And I'm delighted to be here.

[6:03] Thank you for the ministry that you've had. Tell that the monthly support has, you know, I was voted, we have a nonprofit board. I was voted a salary 20 years ago, and I've never seen a penny of it.

[6:16] There's never been any money, you know, to help us. But there's been repairs and over 100 tow trucks. And five RVs have died.

[6:27] And the one I'm driving now is pulling is 14 years old. And the truck is 20. And I'm so grateful. But offerings in churches now, like here, if there's an offering, it goes for vision one hour.

[6:41] So I'll tell you a little more about that. Take your books right now. Turn, replace the book of Hebrews. Well, it's Romans. I think Romans first. And we'll go to Hebrews in a few moments. But let's go to Romans 13 first.

[6:54] Time, time, time. I do love this one because it goes a while. I don't have to be in a rush, you know, and worry too much about the time. And I'm around teenagers and children.

[7:04] They come up to me and they love me because I don't have a clue about most of their jokes or what they're saying. They say, Brother Rice, do you know what dog can tell time? And I'll say, no, I don't know. Tell me. They'll say a watch dog.

[7:16] Oh. And then they'll say, well, you know, why did that man sit on his watch? I say, I don't know. And they'll say, because he wanted to be on time. And why did that girl, why didn't she shoot that guy?

[7:28] Well, she wanted to kill time. Yeah. And what time is it when there's seven dogs, you know, they're chasing one cat? Well, it's seven to one is what it is.

[7:42] And they say, well, look, do you know what time it is? Do you know the time? You know the time. No, I haven't met her yet. But let's look together at Romans chapter 13.

[7:52] The Bible says, and knowing the time, that it is now high time to awake or sleep, for is our salvation nearer than when we believe?

[8:05] The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light, and let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.

[8:37] So, important to know what time it is, how late it is. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this church. Thank you that they have a heart for you and a heart for missions.

[8:49] Thank you, Lord, for taking their prayers. And many, many, many times I serve, and your Holy Spirit changed hearts and lives and marriages, and I didn't do that.

[9:01] You did that. And this church had it by prayer and by support. And I just thank you for that. And I pray, Lord, that you will encourage every person here. I pray for the finest Christian in this room that you will stir and encourage them.

[9:15] I pray, Lord, for that person that may not know you, that this happy day, that they might be saved. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the Bible says that we need to be taught.

[9:27] Need to be taught. It says in Psalm 90, you don't need to turn there. I'll read it. Verse 12. Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

[9:39] But he said, life is short. You know, you've heard that. I saw it on signs when I was a child 100 years ago. Not quite.

[9:50] Just today now. But I saw this sign, and it was in people's homes. It said, only one life shall soon last. Only one done for Christ shall last.

[10:03] And it seemed like that when we were young, that it takes forever. Somebody would say, well, you can't have tomorrow. Well, tomorrow seemed like months away, you know.

[10:15] And you have to wait till your birthday. Well, when is that ever going to come? And of course, it just seems so long. But as you get older, days, the years are passing.

[10:25] Now, in my travels around the world in 50 states and all the U.S. and other countries, they say, huh, and I'd say, I don't know what day it is, what month it is, huh, where am I today? Because of my travels.

[10:37] But the truth is, all of us are on a journey. And it's not a long one. You see, Brother Rice, you're 80. Well, my dad was 91 and still driving in heavy traffic in Omaha, Nebraska, so I may have a while.

[10:53] And I don't know. But it doesn't matter how long a person lives. I was in a ministry recently. There was a lady came up to me, and I was, you know, I'm never sure whether a person's 100% mentally or not.

[11:07] So sometimes I have to check out what they told me by somebody else. And she said she was 107 years old. So they said, yeah, she is 107.

[11:21] But, you know, those years go by very quickly. And it's very important. Wherever you are, whether you're 7 or 70 or 17 or 27, it really doesn't matter.

[11:33] It's important that we apply God's Word to our life. And I'm thankful that as a child, my Sunday school teacher taught me and all of us that were in the class that we had sinned.

[11:47] That all have sinned. And she explained, and of course, she doesn't use your hands, but you can use your hands and tell people about the Lord. That this hand represents God. And this hand represents us.

[11:59] But this hand represents God. And God loves us. For God so loved the world, John 3, 16, that he loved us. But we have a problem. And that problem we call, well, we call it sin.

[12:12] And we have sin on us and in us. All of sin comes short of the glory of God. And, of course, I knew as a boy that I didn't always tell the truth.

[12:24] And I didn't always do what Mama said. And sometimes I talk back. And sometimes she said, don't you touch those cookies. Those are for the ladies down at church. But when Mama wasn't looking, those cookies are talking to me.

[12:36] And how come one cookie doesn't satisfy a boy? Oh, yeah, I knew I had sinned. And so the teacher explained, I have sin, all of sin. You have sin. And see, God loves you, but there will be no sin in heaven.

[12:50] And God is a righteous. He's holy. Not going to be any sin in heaven. But he loves you. But you got sin, so you can't go to heaven. Because sin has to be judged.

[13:03] Now, on earth, maybe the judge is crooked. But not with God. And there's consequences. There's a judgment. There's wages of sin. There's death separation from God forever with the devil.

[13:13] And so God loves you, but the sin, you can't go to heaven. And so Jesus came. God sent his son all the way from heaven down to earth to live and to die.

[13:27] And he didn't die for his sins because he didn't have any. But he came, Ralph, because my name is Ralph. And so she would talk to us, you know. And Jesus came to take your sin on him so Ralph could go to heaven.

[13:45] And I want to tell you, I wasn't real smart. But I understood that. You say, what did you do? I repented.

[13:56] I accepted. I asked God to be my Savior. I took the gift of salvation that I couldn't earn and couldn't be good. You know, I'm thankful you don't have to be 30, 40, 50, 60 to trust the Lord.

[14:11] I'm so thankful that at whatever age we are, God's Word can become real to us. And, you know, I don't know how long you have to live.

[14:22] I've been at funerals of those that were children. I've been at funerals. I was in a Christian school. The one I'm thinking of was in Louisiana. It was not too far from Baton Rouge.

[14:36] And there was this, he was 11 years old. And they called me, I'm in Wisconsin. They said, will you come do the funeral? I said, huh? They said he was with his family on vacation.

[14:49] He was about 13 at this time. And he says, I don't feel too good. And he's gone. He's dead. They found out he had a heart problem. They didn't even know it. His parents, they said, would you do the funeral?

[15:00] I said, I'm in a revival. I can't really come and leave, you know, where I am. But we had later had another memorial a year later that I was there. But it had been my privilege to see that boy trust Jesus Christ as Savior.

[15:13] And everybody knew where he went. There was a change in his life. You know, there should be a change when God works in you and works in me. As a result of that boy trusting the Lord, his father came to me.

[15:26] Now, I don't know a whole lot of Boudreaux and Thibodeau. But I came here. And at one time I was here. We had a men's meeting. And pastors' sons were sometimes normal. But other times they weren't.

[15:36] And they told more Thibodeau and Boudreaux. And I've been to Thibodeau, by the way. And I had some of the best at Touffe or whatever that is. Oh, man. But anyway, I want to tell you that this man came to me.

[15:51] I could hardly understand this man. It was the teenager, the 11-year-old who later died as a teen. Knock comes on my trailer. And I'm pulling. It's hooked up. We're ready to leave.

[16:01] I mean, the motor's running. And he knocks on the door. And he says, he saw my son. And they talked like did. I doubt they don't do anything else. I mean, he was really. He was genuine. I'm telling you.

[16:12] He drove one of these big sugar cane trucks. Something like that. You know, tractor trailer. Big deal. And he says, my son. And I said, yeah, Justin. He said, I need what he got.

[16:24] Can you help me get that? Woo! And listen, I want to tell you. When God works in your life, there ought to be a change. And other people need to know it. And he saw what was in his boy that was different.

[16:37] And he wanted that. People ought to see what's in you and me and want what we got. Y'all with me on that? And it was my privilege to see that man. And he knows that he'll see his son again.

[16:48] No question about where that boy is. Everybody knew that. He got saved. And everybody ought to know that about you. But I don't know how long you have. You know, the doctors. Of course, when we have physicians in the house.

[17:01] But, you know, those in the medical profession. Sometimes people, or even those that are institutionally statisticians, they do a lot of things with statistics.

[17:12] And they'll tell you you have a body clock or a life clock. And they take this. And they take your heredity. And they think how long. But it's a guess. It's really a guess. Nobody really knows how long you have.

[17:25] And my wife, you say, Brother Rice, your parents. Oh, my parents had 71 years together. 71 wonderful years. So I thought, you know, I'd like to go for that.

[17:37] Yeah, 70, 80. You know, I'd be wonderful. And you say, well, how long did you get? Only got 58. Woo! They were 58 incredible years. Y'all know the story that I proposed to her.

[17:50] Because I prayed a bunch about it. I started looking for a wife. Not when I was little. But when I was six, I started looking. Now, you laugh. But I want to tell you, I was serious about this.

[18:00] Because I like girls. I never have understood a boy that didn't, you know, want to get one. But because the Bible says, you know, who will find it? The wife find it a good thing. And so I was in the mood.

[18:11] Anyway, I proposed to her. And she said no. And you know this story. It was 13 months. She said no. For she finally said yes. Of course, she wanted me to grow up.

[18:22] And she died. She still wanted me to grow up. But at the time, she was 16 when I proposed. And 13 months later, she accepted. And then we finally got married.

[18:32] Three or... Anyway, I don't know. She was about almost 20. I was about 21, something like that. And we finally got married. But we had the most incredible life together. And some of you saw that.

[18:43] You felt that. You witnessed that. And I wanted more. But I'm so thankful. And every time I miss her. And in the trailer, I have about 12 pictures of her doing things with me or by herself or with the children or cooking or whatever else.

[19:00] But whenever there's a moment of sadness and sorrow that I'm missing her, it turns immediately to gratitude. Woo! For the wonderful days and years and months I had.

[19:13] Grateful. But we don't know. You know, God should be in every moment of your life. But my wife and I talked from before we were ever married about how we'd live.

[19:25] And that we wanted to live every day so we had no regrets. We'd never want a day where we hadn't said if something happened and somebody died, well, I wish I had told her. I wish I had told him. I wish I had made that right.

[19:36] I wish... And so before we ever married, we agreed on that and we lived. Now, she was always telling me. She said, now, I know some women need this, Ralph. But you have to understand, I don't need to hear.

[19:48] I love you. I love you. You're a wonderful wife, Ralph. I've heard it enough, Ralph. You don't have to tell me ten times a day. So just cool it a little bit. But, you know, she read me as we're driving down the road. She read over 500 Christian romance books to me to keep awake.

[20:02] So that kept me kind of lovey-dovey, you know, with that Christian... Those novellas and things like that going down the road. But God gave me a wonderful life.

[20:13] You know, God gives you... I mean, if you walk with Him... And if you recognize God's hand, everything that's good comes from Him. It may come through people. You say, Brother Rice, we as a church have supported you.

[20:26] But it's from God through you. So it was a family. This family, they're helping you. Yes, but it's from God through that family. And you need to recognize the blessings that you have.

[20:38] And my wife, she said, Ralph, I don't like hospitals. Well, she didn't have a hospital. She don't like hospitals. And she didn't want to be in a nursing home. She said, Ralph, I want to die at home.

[20:50] I don't want to go to... I said, honey, as long as there's any kind of way that I can, without putting the family in jeopardy and putting us in debt or the children or whatever, for years and years, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you're at home and that we have somebody helping as necessary or whatever, but we will make sure.

[21:08] And the Lord made that happen. And my daughter, my oldest, had taught in Christian school for 36 years. And she gave up her job. And she said, I want to be with Mama and Daddy so that you can sleep a couple hours a day.

[21:22] I'll take the night shift. And so she gave up last year to help her mom and dad. And my wife had a desire. She said, Ralph, she said, I want to see all my sisters before I go.

[21:35] And so she was in the hospital, hadn't eaten for days and weeks, I guess. I don't know, not much of anything, keeping anything down. She was so sick. And on oxygen and everything. Well, the doctor said she may not leave this hospital, you know, and just go straight to heaven.

[21:50] I said, well, she's got to go home because two days from now, her sisters are flying in. One's a nurse from a director of a school of nursing in New Jersey. One is ahead of the preemie babies, a whole shift in the hospital up in Michigan and Grand Rapids.

[22:05] And then another one's a pastor's wife out in California. And they're all flying in and she's got to see them at home before she goes. Well, I don't see any way that she's going to be at home. I said, well, doctor, we got to release her and she's got to go.

[22:17] Well, they were all flying in and the doctor released her and the people come to move you, you know, the ambulance, all that stuff.

[22:28] They said, oh, we got our hands full on this one. And so they got her home barely. I'm telling you, woo, woo, woo. They got her home. Well, she got home the same day her sisters flew in at the hotel.

[22:42] And so the next day they came over and here my wife was half dead and could hardly talk or anything. And all of a sudden, God came on the scene and gave my wife the answer to her prayer.

[22:52] And she became a different person. And so here they all are around our house. And she said, tomorrow I'm going to take you to my favorite Chinese restaurant. You've probably never been in a buffet as nice as the one we got, as big and nice.

[23:06] And I had to look at her, you know, and I wanted to tell her, look, honey, it was about six months ago the last time you were in one and you didn't keep it down. You got sick right there at the place and there's no way in the world you're going anywhere.

[23:19] And I said, honey, she said, oh, yeah, we're going. The miracle is that she did go to that Chinese restaurant. And so in the wheelchair, and she even unplugged the oxygen.

[23:33] I had that in the back. She hugged that thing because it got away, she said. And she said, I want that, and I want this, and I want that. And I'm, I'm saying, oh, boy. And she ate more than I'd seen her eat, and I don't know when.

[23:46] You say, she keep it down. Yep. And so about the third day, they were there for a week. And about the third day, Pastor and one of the deacons came over to meet the sisters and their husbands, you know, all over there.

[23:57] And they came, and my wife was just talking and sharing that and the other. And Pastor goes outside with the deacon. And he said, we're going to kneel right here. And the deacon said, what? He said, we have just witnessed miracle.

[24:12] He said, I've been her pastor for the last six and a half years. I have never seen a woman that's in that strength, that health. That is a miracle what we're witnessing.

[24:23] It was a wonderful time. Everything my wife asked God for. Her sisters flew back home. She said, thank you, Lord.

[24:37] Two days later, she was in heaven. The moment they left, she became exactly the person physically that she was before they arrived. And the hospice nurse that was on duty the night she passed said, I was on vacation.

[24:54] And she said, I got back a day early. And she said, I don't want to go to work. But I just felt like, you know, the Lord wants you to do something. Put your name in the pot.

[25:05] Maybe somebody needs you or whatever. And so she said, I did. And she was there. And when Marianna passed, she was shouting and singing with us, dear black sister, love the Lord.

[25:16] Whoa! My wife had a wonderful life. Are you? Walk with God. Enjoy his blessings. I mean, just roll around in God's goodness.

[25:30] I mean, is it tough? Yeah, we're on earth. I tell teenagers, what do you think this is, heaven? It's not fair. I say, hey, yeah, you got it. That's earth. But you have a little bit of heaven.

[25:42] You have the Holy Spirit. You have the presence of God and the peace of God. Do you? Time. It's time for us to recognize our time is short. The Bible says it's time for working.

[25:53] It's day. It's day. You know, we're in a terrible world. Our world is just like somebody said that this world is in a mess. It's like a monkey with a room filled with dynamite and he's got a blowtorch in his hand.

[26:07] We're in a crazy. And the Bible says that it's time for working. And then there's something we must put off. You know, we put the things of this world. Why would you want to?

[26:19] I mean, when you get up, when you get up and you go to work, don't you change clothes? Because, I mean, I hope, you know, you wouldn't go to work in your pajamas. Right? You put off.

[26:31] And there's things that belong to this world that ought not belong to you and I. The dirty clothes of the flesh and our feelings and our hurts and our selfishness and our busyness.

[26:44] Anything that is the part of darkness. Boy, you just. Anything that's in the social media or maybe television or cable or dish, whatever, DVDs or movies or anything.

[27:02] You know, the first time you see something that's wrong. Ah! Ah! I can't believe I. Whoa! And the second time you see it, say, whoa! Ah!

[27:12] Next time you see it. Oh, my. And then after a while, say, well, it's not that bad. I mean, there's a lot worse than that. That's how teenagers get into the wrong music and the wrong associations and the wrong places.

[27:27] It's just little by little. Things don't bother them anymore. Marriages can be like that. And what they had, you know, they talk about, well, they'll get over it.

[27:38] They're honey motors and they're all excited. They're just a married couple. They'll get over it. No way. Why do you want to get over it? I mean, they're new Christians. They're excited. Why would you want to not be excited about the Lord?

[27:52] Time to put off and some time to put on. We're to put on the armor of light. Put on the Lord. You know, when you wear the Lord Jesus all day, that means the smile you got's not Ralph's smile.

[28:04] Now, you all know my dad that I told you when I've been here before about my father being real quiet and real bashful. And that he built a house out behind our house, a shack so that if mom had company or the pastor or anybody else.

[28:18] Now, he loved the Lord and he wore out two Thompson chain Bibles and we had devotions in our house, whether I slept or not through it. I mean, my dad loved the Lord, but people he's scared to death of people.

[28:29] And he built a shack so that as soon as mom has any friends, family or anything, he's in the shack. And if he came up to you and you said, hello, Mr. Rice, my dad would go outside and get physically sick.

[28:41] And I have my father in me. You say, Brother Rice, you're in out in California in Sacramento, California. There's 800 people out there. You're up on the platform.

[28:52] Where's Brother Rice? Where's Brother Rice? He's supposed to speak this morning. First thing, he's the speaker right off the bat. Where is he? Oh, he's behind the curtain up there on the platform. What's he doing back there? How come he's not out here shaking hands, saying hello to people while he's hiding?

[29:06] How come he had somebody else closed in prayer the moment's over? I wanted to talk to him. I had a question. I want to say something. I want to say hello to him. And where did Brother Rice go? Oh, he had somebody else closed in prayer because he's hiding.

[29:19] I want to tell you any time that a person ever sees a smile on my face or I ever say hello to them. Or I talk about my wife's mounds and pine cones.

[29:35] It's not me. I want to tell you that we have our weaknesses. I have mine. You have yours. I want to tell you the Lord. When we put on the Lord, we can be what we cannot otherwise be.

[29:47] Y'all with me on this? Together. So important. Put on the Lord. Time to put off. Time to put on. They say, well, what about being saved?

[30:00] You know, the two ladies were talking. I said, oh, it was so sad, so sad. I said, what was so sad? That man just died at 54 years of age. 54 years of age. And he died suddenly in that car crash.

[30:13] And he had no time to get right with God. The other lady said, what? What do you mean he had no time to get right with God? He had almost 50 years to get right with God.

[30:26] It's really important that we not count on tomorrow. Tomorrow for us may not come. Very important for us to live now. The Bible says that there is this rich man in Luke 12.

[30:43] I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thy ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool. When? This night.

[30:55] Thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall these things be which thou hast provided? Well, it's really important that we be prepared for heaven. And to have that sin issue dealt with.

[31:09] The Bible is clear and sometimes... Well, do you ever have nightmares or a scary dream or anything like that? I've had ants and they were the carpenter ants.

[31:23] I've been chased and I've been racing. Ha, ha. And you wake up and you're exhausted and your legs hurt and everything because you've been in your dream. You've ever had something like that? Well, there was a man called Robert Hardy had a dream and it was really something.

[31:36] And he dreamed he only had seven years before... Seven days before he was to die. Seven days. He had only one week and he was going to die. And so he was all of a sudden trying to get things ready. What have I got to do in the next seven days because I'm going to die?

[31:50] When he woke up, what a relief. It was just a dream. But this actually happened. One, this man, when he woke up from that dream, got to thinking that next day, someday it will be my last seven days.

[32:07] Someday it will be my last seven. And so I want to live the rest of my life as if... That's a good way to live, isn't it? Somebody said time was...

[32:21] Oh, that's past. Thou canst not it recall. Time is, thou hast. Employ the portion small. Time future is not and may never be.

[32:33] Time present is the only time for thee. Well, the clock of life, I don't know where yours is. But this Vision 1000 right here.

[32:46] My children said, Dad, what? What? This was about six months or so ago, seven. They said, what, what, what? I said, Vision 1000.

[32:57] They said, you have a vision? I said, yeah. They said, what you're talking about is going to cost $50,000. Yeah. Well, you haven't even got a paycheck yet. There are no extra money.

[33:09] There's just enough to pay the bills and whatever. And what, what, $50,000? I said, yeah. They said, why don't you have an idea of maybe five instead of 1,000? I said, well, I could do five.

[33:21] But it'd take God to do 1,000. You see, what is the vision? Okay, the vision is this. I no longer can go overseas. I have invitations as recently as last week to go overseas, whether it's in New Guinea or whether it's in the Philippines or Australia or Japan.

[33:35] And they'll call me and say, but the rights, we have 500 pastors going to be here and we'll pay the expenses. Would you come? I no longer with my back. And I've just had 18 doctor's appointments and injection at the hospital in my back.

[33:45] And they got these torn rotator cups. And I got all kinds. And they did twice. And there's two different treatments of the blood vessels in the eye that had to be fixed so I can see the drive.

[33:56] And then the feet that go asleep. And so, you know, so they've been working on me. No longer can I go overseas. But in my meetings, I have had missionaries that came up and said, Brother Rice, what you just used with teenagers.

[34:11] Or, Brother Rice, what you did over there, like we've had men's meetings, Brother Bart, right here with you. What you just did in that men's meeting. Look, can I have that, those visuals. Can I have that because I can change this to Japanese and use it in Japan.

[34:23] Another one said, Brother Rice, I can change this to Portuguese. Can I have some of these things that you've used on PowerPoint, these visuals? I said, sure. Sure. He said, Brother Rice, I'm going to Guatemala and I'll change this to Spanish.

[34:33] Can I? Sure. And I got thinking, wait a minute, Brother Rice, you no longer are using the screen and pulling that up and doing stuff. And a lot of places you are, they don't have the projector and the screen right in the place where you're speaking to the man or something.

[34:45] And you're no longer able to get down on the floor and tape down the cords and do those things because of your body. But those, what about all those things that you used to use? So, the vision is 1,000 missionaries to get something like this.

[35:01] And I'm going to be leaving, by the way, two with you, Brother Bart. You say, what is this? Oh, it's $50 is what it costs, $50. And the offering, whatever the offering is here to help my ministry will go totally toward this.

[35:14] The support is what's keeping going. But this says a torch passing gift to you. And on the back is a card that comes off.

[35:25] And Pastor Bart takes this off because it says, it's a card to mail to me. And it says, torch passing vision. Brother Rice, I was happy to present one of your missionary encouragement kits to missionary couples' names, field address, where they are.

[35:42] So I know where it went, see. And so these are being mailed overseas. It costs about $25 postage and then $25 for the contents and the box and everything else, about $25.

[35:56] So it's $50 a piece. But if a missionary is on furlough or they're coming through like at your church right here, then you hand them one. And so when you hand it, we save the $25 of postage, right?

[36:08] So at that point, I go to Cracker Barrel and I buy from Cracker Barrel a $25 gift card. So when you give one to a missionary, boy, they've got to have somewhere nice to go with their family.

[36:23] And so here's the $20. I wish it was $50 or $100. But hey, $25 is $25. And so here's a Cracker Barrel card. And it says on here, from one harvester to another, I, Ralph Rice, 80, pray for your vision and family.

[36:40] My days of harvesting are nearly finished. After serving 60 years, well, 61 now, in 50 states and 20 countries, I now pray for you, your family, and your harvesting.

[36:53] Enclosed is a DVD for you to watch as a family and discuss. Also, a DVD for your children, ages 4 through 12, to watch.

[37:03] A CD for you and your wife on marriage and parenting. And a DVD data disc. I was going with the cloud and doing everything with Dropbox and whatever, and I ran snags and problems.

[37:16] So that's why we went data disc. So there's a DVD data disc with my most requested PowerPoint visuals you might use. Blessings carrying your torch.

[37:28] So on the inside is a DVD for children. Here's the one on family, choices and consequences. And then over here is a CD on words that shape and misshape a marriage. I think we did that here.

[37:39] Here's a parenting words that shape children. And over here, challenges hundreds of visuals. Challenges to children, to youth, to men, to general audience. So the vision is to send 1,000 foreign missionaries.

[37:56] Now, we're not talking about nationals. There was a church that just went to Chile. And when they went to Chile, in their suitcases were what? Five of these.

[38:06] So they only cost $25 instead of $50. There were five of these. And so when they're on the field, they pass them out to other foreign missionaries that were there.

[38:18] Say, Brother Rice, 1,000, that's an awfully big goal. Well, it sure is if it was my idea. But if it's God's, it will happen. You say, in a five-year period?

[38:28] Well, that's what I came up with. Five years. You say, to be on target right now, there needs to be 60 out there already. Well, best I can figure, we have 60 out right now.

[38:43] Ah! Isn't God good? Now, I want to tell you, I'm getting awful tired as an old man trying to do all this. Because I try to make it look nice.

[38:54] And to print that dumb thing on there and to stick that, you've got to use a razor knife to get that off. And then put this ribbon. I had to go to Hobby Lobby. And I found it cheaper at Walmart.

[39:05] And put that on. And then to make all of these and do all of this and bend these things in and fix it is a job. So I did a hundred of them. But there's a Bible church.

[39:18] Twin Valley Bible Church. In Narvawn, Pennsylvania. Not far from Reading. And they have missionary ladies. They said, Brother Rice, can we help you? I said, whoo! I said, you mean that or are you just talking?

[39:28] They said, oh, we mean that. I said, would you help put together boxes and do these things and go to the post office and fill out all the custom stuff on the missionaries? They said, we sure will. Whoo! I love those ladies.

[39:40] I mean, you know. In the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. So they have 300 they're getting and sending and moving and working on right now.

[39:51] So whatever offering there is from here will go $50 for each of these so you know there's a foreign missionary. You say, well, Brother Rice, why?

[40:03] Well, I put the bow on here so it'd look nice. They don't want something from some old geezer. They got enough stuff. I don't have time to watch. Some old man like that. So I've got to make them want to do something. So make it look pretty.

[40:13] Okay. The $25. Oh, it may not be too bad. There's a $25 gift card in it. And then it may be the child because I know the thousands of children that have watched those stories.

[40:26] The letters and cards and the emails and things I've got. And I know the fruit of that. And maybe there's one wife that needs to be encouraged. And she listens or their husband or the families.

[40:37] But if and maybe they won't use any of the visuals. And it says on there, please pass this off to some other missionary that does use visuals if you don't. But my prayer is that something out of every one of these will be touched of God to be a blessing.

[40:53] Would you share this vision in your prayers as you think of rice? Now, also, it is time. Do it now. If you have work to do, do it now.

[41:04] If you have a witness to give, give it now. Now, if you have soul to win, win them now. If you have obligations to discharge, discharge them now. You have debts to pay, pay them now.

[41:15] If you have a wrong to right, write it now. If you have a preparation to make, make it now. If you have children to train, whoo! Better get at it.

[41:26] Train them now. Grandchildren, now. Because you don't know how long you have. You see, Brother Rice, you're 80.

[41:37] Uh-huh. You got all these things. Yeah, yeah. What you doing? Well, I don't know how long I have, but God has given me this opportunity. And the doctors, five of them had prayer with me.

[41:50] Said, Brother Rice, you're good to go. I said, you sure now? 11 months, coast to coast, border to border, 23 states, over 20,000 miles, driving that truck. That truck is 20 years old. Woo!

[42:01] Pulling all that and doing this and doing that and having newsletters and putting this together. And where are you going first? Going to be in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hmm. Well, of course, last week I was in Flower Mound, Texas ministering.

[42:12] And then one before that, I was at Southern Baptist Hispanic Church. Had to have a translator with me down in Dallas. And you say, well, where are you going next? Going to be in Oakdale. I'm going to be, well, I'm up in Dallas tomorrow.

[42:23] And then I'll be in Oakdale next Sunday. And then I'm going to be over in Baton Rouge area. And then I'm going to be five places in Mississippi. And then three in Alabama. And then four in Florida. And up from there to Georgia.

[42:33] And from South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia. Maryland, Delaware. Then I'm going to be in Pennsylvania. Have a family reunion. My kids are all coming together to be with Daddy. In Pennsylvania. In June.

[42:44] And then, let's see. We're going to be in Iowa and Illinois. And then over to Nebraska. And then up to South Dakota. And then over to Montana. And then to Wyoming and Idaho. Yeah. In Washington State. And, of course, that would be October.

[42:55] Be October. Be getting into California. And then coming in November to Arizona and New Mexico. And back Christmas. Texas.

[43:07] You say, Brother Rice, your health. Yeah. You say, Brother Rice, you got that thing in your pocket. Yeah, they're supposed to ship my body to Texas. Or even if I can't drive, they're supposed to fly me to Texas.

[43:20] And they'll get somebody to drive the truck and trailer. Got that with good Samsung. And what is that that you're wearing right under your shirt? What is that thing? What is that thing that you got under there?

[43:32] Oh. It's one of these things so that if I can't get to my smartphone, I just push the button and they get 911 and call my daughters and say, Pray for Daddy. He is, you know, in trouble.

[43:44] I only have one life. It will soon be passed. My wife's race is run. She finished her race well.

[43:57] Are you finishing your race well? I mean, are you where you ought to be right now in your life? I don't know if I'm going to make it tomorrow to eight hours drive to another meeting.

[44:13] I don't know if I'm going to make it the next seven or eight hours drive to Oakdale. Be closer to go from here to Oakdale rather than here. But you say, Brother Rice, all those miles, all those meetings, you going to do it?

[44:26] That's in God's hands, isn't it? Are you in God's hands? I don't have a lot, but I have an awful lot.

[44:37] I have my God. I have his presence. I have his peace. And God has opened doors. And as long as he opened doors, by God's grace, I want to walk through.

[44:49] How about you? Where are you in your life? Do it now. Let's stand for prayer. Pastor, would you come?

[45:02] Lord, I thank you for every person who's here. Thank you for the blessing that these people and most I've known and been a blessing to me.

[45:14] So good to see them again. Some I've met that are new to me today. Some I knew as children. Now they have children. Oh, my goodness. How many prayers you've answered did I have prayed for these young people who are adults?

[45:31] And this church? Thank you for their love and prayers for me. Thank you for the love they gave to Mariana. Thank you that you've given us, Lord, life on earth to serve you and to prepare us to love you.

[45:49] Now, if there's one here this morning that does not know if they were to die right now, heaven is not their home. Their name's not been written in that Lamb's book of life. They've not had the sin issue taken care of.

[46:00] I pray, oh, God, that they might pray that sinner's prayer. Oh, God, I believe the Bible. I know I'm a sinner. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sin.

[46:11] That it is not by church membership or good works. It's a gift. And now by faith I receive. Come into my heart and life. Be my Savior. I trust you. I pray they do that even this very day.

[46:25] Now, Lord, those of us who know you, easy to talk, to preach, to teach, to say.

[46:36] Not so easy to live. I pray, oh, God, that you'll help me to perform the work of God, not to talk only about it. Help me not to tell others what to do and not do it myself.

[46:52] I pray, oh, God, for each of these who are here that know so much. Thank you for what they know. But, Lord, help us to be doers of your word and not hearers only.

[47:04] I don't know where they work. I don't know what grandchildren they have. I don't know whether they're a teenager or they have brothers and sisters or their home or their school or what they're doing. I don't know. But you know what they can do, what you've called them to be.

[47:21] Where they are right now in their life. And I pray, Lord, that in my heart there will be yes, Lord, yes, to your will and your way. And there will be in their heart.

[47:34] Yes, Lord. Yes. To your will and to your way. Bless each life that's here, especially if there's one unsaved. They might trust you this day in Jesus' name.

[47:46] All God's people said, Amen. Pastor. Amen. Pastor.