Guest Bro Ralf Rice

[0:00] Welcome to this week's message from Faith Bible Church of Lake Charles. We're excited to share a practical Bible-based teaching that we hope will encourage you and strengthen your faith.

[0:13] ! Thanks for listening. Now, here's today's message. Our speaker this morning needs no introduction to everyone who is here, but if you are listening or watching online today, we have Evangelist Ralph Rice. Brother Rice has been preaching God's Word for over 50 years.

[0:34] He has been in schools not only across the United States, but across the world as well, teaching children and young people. And we're so thankful to have him here this morning. So, Brother Rice, welcome.

[0:48] Well, praise the Lord. It's a delight to be here. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Psalm 105. Psalm 105. Oh, what a day to be in the house of God.

[1:01] You say, Brother Rice, every day, any day. Well, you got that right. Everywhere we go, if you're a Christian walking with the Lord in His presence, so I'm by myself.

[1:15] Well, if you're a Christian, that's not true. Not true. Psalm 105. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name.

[1:28] Make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him. Sing psalms unto Him. Talk ye. Well, you know, I had a problem.

[1:40] Well, this car was full of those on drugs. The police was chasing them. And the police said they were over 100 miles an hour.

[1:51] And, well, we hit right fronts and I went through the windshields, you know. And I spent time in three different hospitals putting my face back together.

[2:02] Couldn't breathe through my nose for almost two years. And then one doctor came to see, because everything was different. My taste, nothing tasted the same, you know. Now, I like to tell girls I was handsome for the wreck.

[2:17] But the truth is, they put me back together pretty much like I looked before. But one of the doctors that came three times a week to see me in the hospital was what's called a speech therapist.

[2:31] And she was trying to, you know, help people that couldn't talk. And I, my, my, my, my, all the scar tissue and everything, you know, and my, and my words didn't come, come, come out.

[2:45] But, uh, she wanted to get me to talk again. I think she did a good job. But, uh, um, it says here, talk ye. You know, whatever ability you got.

[2:58] I didn't have it for a while. I remember when I had eye surgery and came out and only worked on one eye, but it, it failed and big surgery in the hospital problem. And I came out, couldn't see out of either eye.

[3:09] I was totally blind. You see what happened? They said, well, uh, it's sympathetic trauma. When one part of the body has a shock, the other one gets it and reacts. And they said, it'll be okay in a day. Well, it took three weeks.

[3:20] And I was at the altar church, everybody putting a hand, praying for Brother Rice and see, you know, I want to use what a God. You never know. Money that I had, we were saving for, for when we got old, you know.

[3:34] And, uh, all of a sudden we had to invest in real estate because that'd be safe, you know. Well, that's when everything went sideways and the money that we were looking at and sort of counting on, it was gone.

[3:49] It's real important to use what you have for him. Talk ye, sing. And he says, glory to who? His name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

[4:04] Oh, seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done.

[4:16] Oh, I don't know about you, but my life, all the wonderful works. And my father is omnipotent and that you can't deny.

[4:30] A God of might and miracles. Tis written in the sky. It took a miracle to put the stars in place.

[4:47] It took a miracle to hang the world in place. But when he saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole.

[5:04] It took a miracle of love. If you're saved, don't ever get over it.

[5:14] I mean, you say, well, I got to say, woo, it's so wonderful to know the Lord. So wonderful to be a Christian. Well, the older you get, the longer you've been saved, ought to be more precious to you.

[5:25] Ought to be more gratitude. You don't have Thanksgiving one day a year. It's all every day is a thanks living day. Mm hmm. And blessings. You know, we read in back in Genesis chapter 12.

[5:38] It talks about and God promises Abraham and said, you know, I'm going to make you a great nation. And he said, I'm going to bless you. Make your name even great. And I'm going to make you a blessing.

[5:52] And everything God does for you. It's not just for you. It's so that you can understand others and be a blessing to others. And a blessing came to me. I was, you see, I've just been since I was with you last time.

[6:06] Whoa. And that woman got, you see, Brother Rice is wonderful when you trust the Lord. That's right. I was just a young person. I was just a kid. I was just a boy. I wasn't grown. I trusted Jesus.

[6:17] It's wonderful. But since I was with you, that lady, she had lost. Did she met Jesus? Whoa, that was wonderful. You see, Brother Rice, yeah, well, you weren't there, but you were.

[6:29] See, when you have missionaries and when you pray for those that aren't where you are, you have a part in everything God does, wherever they happen to be. And I was all the way up to the Canadian border up in upstate New York.

[6:42] And when they get snow, they don't play around with it. And it doesn't come and go. It doesn't melt. And you've got a snowman once every 20 years. You make, no, no, no, no, no. It stays.

[6:53] Uh-huh. And you live on generators. And you get a bigger generator. And then you graduate. And so I was up there. And then I was in Dover, Delaware. Whoa, God was working. And I thought back some years before I was helping several churches up in Dover, Delaware.

[7:09] And there was a man. And, oh, God put him into my life and me. And, you know, God puts people in your life so they can bless you.

[7:22] And he puts you into their life so you can be a blessing to them. And this one pastor, his name was Wayne Trout.

[7:33] Wayne Trout, like the fish. Wayne Trout. And he said, Brother Rice, he said, I got me a song. I said, oh, he says, yeah, God just gave me these words. And so he had his young people, a bunch of teenagers.

[7:45] And they sang, whoa. I never heard that. Well, he just, Wayne Trout, God just gave it to him. And it goes sort of like this. When I wake up in the morning or I lay my head to rest, I am blessed.

[8:04] I am blessed. Well, I hadn't heard that. It just been written, you know. You say, but Brother Rice, I saw that sheet music and it didn't say Wayne Trout on there.

[8:17] Well, I know because Wayne, he didn't, you know, get a copyright, you know, and protect and all that. All he wanted was just to be a blessing. See, God gave it to him.

[8:29] So that he could be a blessing to others. You see, Brother Rice, you were blessed. Yeah. Yeah. I was there. It just been he'd only had that song for a couple of weeks.

[8:40] God had given it to him. And then I got, whoa. And you say, well, somebody else got the recognition and the credit, maybe a little money or whatever else for that because they changed one word and then they had it all.

[8:52] Well, I want to tell you, Wayne Trout, you're my buddy. You know what? He was an example to me. He was a pattern to me of what you ought to be because all he wanted was God to just use whatever he had.

[9:06] And because I was waiting to see if he'd be upset and mad because that guy, well, he took my sting and he got me. And that was my song. No, it wasn't his song. See, Brother Trout had it right.

[9:18] He got it. He got it. That'd be God's. And God just let him have it for a while and gave it to him to just share it. You know, God's blessing you.

[9:30] Isn't he blessing you? And God's so good. I would have you turn with me to the book of Titus. In Titus chapter 2.

[9:43] Titus chapter 2. You say, well, I just don't know what to do. Open your Bible. It's got lots of instructions and help. You say, I'm needy.

[9:55] Well, join the crowd. That's all of us. Well, I don't know what to do. Go to the Bible. Titus chapter 2, verse 7.

[10:05] In all things. Don't say, you know, I do good in a few things. No problem. You want to see how I do? Okay. Okay. Yeah, I know what to do there. What about?

[10:17] No, I have. I'm still working. Well, I hadn't got that. Well, no, that's not my strength area. But the Bible says in all things. This morning.

[10:29] God wants to talk in your life about stuff. He's not talking to a person sitting next to you. God wants to talk to you about something that's not. He's not talking to a person behind you or next to you or around you or not in your family or somebody else.

[10:41] Maybe. Maybe. But. In all things, showing thyself. Now, when I read my Bible, I put Ralph in there. If you know, we're talking to Christians.

[10:53] That's me. And so I just put the thou them. That's me. In all things, showing Ralph. Whoops. Oh, spend time in your Bible.

[11:06] You won't spend too much. Well, you know, just spend. I don't think so. That's not our danger. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works.

[11:18] In doctrine, showing uncorruptness. Gravity. Sincerity. Sound speech that cannot be condemned. And he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed.

[11:32] Other people watching you. Well, they having no evil thing to say of you. Whoa. To be an example.

[11:44] To be a pattern. Are you saved? That's the most important thing. You don't know Jesus. I mean, there's some people trying to live for the Lord. They can't live for the Lord. They don't know him.

[11:56] It's not a matter of church. Not a matter of religion. It's a matter of trusting Jesus Christ to know that you're a sinner. And that Jesus, because the reason Jesus came was because you couldn't make heaven.

[12:08] He wanted you there. No matter how good you were, you couldn't be good enough. And he wanted you. That's why he made Adam and Eve. So he could have fellowship and talk and walk with them.

[12:18] And he wants you to be in heaven with him forever. But won't be any sin there. And so Jesus came to pay the price. And you trust him as your own savior. Boy, it was a wonderful thing that God cared about Ralph.

[12:32] And if you're a Christian here today, then this is for you. Be a pattern. Be an example. You see, Abraham was blessed to be a blessing.

[12:46] And everything that God is doing for you that others may see. Say, well, how can you live for the world? You know, nobody can live. Well, nobody's living like that. Oh, well, there she is.

[12:59] Well, if she can, I reckon I can. Maybe. Well, if he is, I want to tell you, our boys and girls and our children, the thing I'm concerned about, I want them to see a dad or a mom or a brother or a sister or an aunt or an uncle or a grandpa, somebody that's walking with God.

[13:15] So they say, well, it's tough, but God can help you. And you can live for God and God can bless you. And how do you get those blessings? Well, you got to walk with him.

[13:27] Well, he is walking with God and she's walking with God. And, you know, I travel with a black evangelist. We shared a room and meetings and praying together and preaching together.

[13:38] His name was Charlie Mims, black brother. And he tried to teach me to sing black. I said, I can't even sing white hardly. And he said, you got to learn, Brother Rice, to moan and groan.

[13:50] I said, oh boy, oh boy. But there'd be a song that I never had heard before. He took me some church. I'd be the only white face in the place, you know. But I found out they know how to cook.

[14:02] Best food, what they can do with chicken. But I heard this. I'd never heard it before. And they have choirs. They don't have one choir. They had two, three choirs. And, not my father, not my mother, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

[14:21] Not my sister, not my brother, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. You see, it's not about who's in the room in front of you, beside you, behind you.

[14:35] It's not about those that aren't here today. Some of them couldn't be, I'm dangerous or whatever, or different reasons. But it's all about, you know, it'd be good if you just drew in your mind a circle right around you.

[14:49] And this morning, what we share this morning from God's Word, it's me. Oh God! You know, when you come to church, you ought to ask God, oh God, make me a blessing.

[15:02] See, you don't come to church just to take in. You come to church to minister. You say, well, I wasn't in, I wasn't singing, I wasn't playing instrument on the platform. You know, I'm not the pastor, I'm not the Sunday school teacher, I'm just...

[15:15] But you come to be a friend to others and to minister to each other and be there a minute early so you got time to have more time with others. And then you stay a minute or two after everybody else is leaving because you just minister.

[15:29] Hey! You're here to be a blessing. You're here to have a ministry. It's not the people who are shouting, but it's me, oh Lord.

[15:42] I'm standing in the need of prayer. Oh Lord, it's Ralph. I had my birthday last Sunday, you know, I was 87.

[15:53] I'll be a great Christian, I ought to really know everything by now, but I'm still, oh Lord, I got this. I'm not having arrived yet. And if Paul could say that, boy, oh boy, oh boy.

[16:04] And oh God, I need to hear from you. Oh God, I need your help. Oh God! Here's Ralph again. Would you just let God talk to you right now this morning and speak to you about something?

[16:19] And it's, it's not the other man in danger, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

[16:31] Not my neighbor, not the stranger, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I don't know how your prayer life is.

[16:43] And this morning service is not all about prayer. I just want to say, it doesn't matter how old you are. I started learning to really how to pray when I was little because I had all kinds of problems.

[16:57] I thought when I got to be a teenager, I wouldn't have any more problems. I found out that's when the problems really get started big. Then I thought, oh, when I'm grown, have my own kids or have a wife, have a home, then have a job, all that.

[17:10] Then I found out there are more problems. When I was a child, my parents, they called, nowadays have names for people that fix up houses and stuff, you know.

[17:24] And my parents, my dad, buy a house. I went to eight different grade schools. I don't want to move again. I don't know nobody. And I go to a new school and they all know each other.

[17:36] They've been in school together. I don't know nobody. Oh, God. Then math. My other students would be real smart and I wouldn't. I said, oh, God, help me, help me.

[17:46] It's Ralph again. I don't know where you are in your prayer life. But if you just, well, I just need to have more time in prayer. I want to tell you, prayer ought not be something terrible that you have to put in your schedule.

[18:01] You need to learn. You know, I'm telling you, I just, there's problems. I go to a place like Walmart. And before I started riding in the electric buggies, I'll make sure they charge up because you get halfway through the store.

[18:16] Things stop. There you are, you know. But before that, I'd get a cart and I'd fight with that cart, that grocery cart, fight with that thing all through the grocery store. So I learned to, oh, God, help me get a cart.

[18:30] They're going to go my way. Just be mad. Listen, talk to God about everything, wherever you are in your life. And we're blessed to be a blessing.

[18:42] In Titus, it said to be a pattern. What are some things? We're all different. But I want to share some things with you right now that God's been talking to me about. And see, it's me.

[18:54] Ask God to just help that something that I'm going to share will be a help to you that you can talk to God about. That God, you can be a blessing to others.

[19:06] One thing, to be a pattern, to be the type of person. And, you know, I talked about Wayne Trout, that God, when I wake up in the morning, I'm blessed. His life, his attitude.

[19:18] Bless me. There's some things that I want to have in my life. What about you? I believe that if we're going to be a pattern, an example, a blessing to others, there should be a calmness in our lives.

[19:34] Now, I've had so many exciting and big things happen. I mean, even since I was with you last. And you say, well, you're excitable.

[19:50] Well, I wasn't till I went to Louisiana and I met some folks that, hey, got excited. They got they get real happy. They get real mad. They get real whatever. They real, you know, Louisiana people say, well, they just cage.

[20:01] And no, no, no, no. I mean, people always say that. They feel things. And so, but, you know, if you're in a turmoil, Ralph.

[20:13] How come you're going to people be around you? They're going to get nervous. They were fine till they met you. They hang around you. Now they're worried about everything. I believe God wants us to have a holiness, but also a calmness.

[20:29] I believe that you and I ought by the Holy Spirit of God be in control of our emotions rather than controlling us. A second Thessalonians chapter three, verse 16.

[20:42] There's what it says. Now, the Lord of peace. Himself. Give you peace. Oh, dear, comes that word.

[20:55] Oh, every or always. Ralph. Now, the Lord himself give you peace always by all means.

[21:09] Some of you know, John 4, 27. Peace. I leave with you, Ralph. When it talks about people in the Bible, that Christian put your name in there. For you, you know.

[21:20] Peace. I leave with you. My peace. I give under you. Not as the world giveth. Give I unto you. Let not Ralph's.

[21:31] Your, it says. Your. Put that circle around you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. So, I'm asking God to help, Ralph.

[21:43] I need to. No matter what's going on around me or in me or with finances or anything else, I need a calmness. How about you?

[21:55] Also, I've been asking God, Ralph, would you have more empathy about other people's problems rather than your own? Yeah, but I've got quite a few already of my own, Lord.

[22:05] Yeah. But, I want to be a person that understands others with concern and have feelings for others' problems.

[22:17] Romans chapter 12, verse 15 says, rejoice with them that if they're happy, rejoice with them. Yeah, well, they feel good and I feel bad. Well, rejoice that they feel good.

[22:29] Well, you see, it's not all about you. It's all about God and others. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep.

[22:42] When somebody, when I'm around you, when you're around me, when you're around people, others ought to feel like, I'll tell you what, she cares about me.

[22:53] She cares. It says, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's just words. Doesn't mean a thing. They ought to know it means something to you, what's happening to them. And if they're happy, you're happy, they're happy.

[23:08] You rejoice with them. And I'm saying, oh, God, would you help Ralph to have more peace, not be up and down, up and howling, and get so, oh, God, would you help me to care about other people?

[23:21] Not go through emotions, not just be, but have empathy. And, and Lord, boy, do people just lie? I had a friend that was public school principal for a number of years.

[23:33] And he said, boy, he said, honesty is so hard to find. He said, I had these four, four teenage boys came in. He said, they ride together at school. And one of the boys drive and the others ride with him. And they came late.

[23:45] Boy, well, they were really late. And, and so they said, well, we had a flat tire. And he said, now what I did, I gave each one of them a piece of paper, had them go separate corners of the room, and they were to tell me which tire it was.

[24:00] And he said, you know what? They weren't the same type. Honesty, hard to find today. Oh, God. You know, everybody's hiding and sneaking.

[24:12] And you can't tell who are they. They're one person when the preacher's around at one place at church or at something else, another place, different at school, different at job. They're not, well, who are they? They're sneaky. Their parents don't have a clue what they're doing.

[24:24] Well, then they don't know. But, oh, God, help me to be transparent. No sneakiness. Oh, God, help me to live so there's nothing.

[24:37] I'd be ashamed if everybody knew it. Oh, God, help me to be right and do right and be right when nobody's looking. Transparent, honest.

[24:51] Psalm 15, verse 2. He that walketh, or she, that walketh uprightly and worketh right. Doing what's right. Right is always right. Wrong is always wrong.

[25:02] Worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth. Ooh. Proverbs 12, 17. He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit.

[25:14] Well, but are you honest? Well, yeah, most of the time. Well, what was this most of the time? Well, but did you? Well, you didn't tell the whole truth.

[25:25] Well, you just, well, you made it. You made them think that this was, well, you didn't exactly. Well, it was just a white light down in white lights. Well, it wasn't a real bad light. Well, it was just exaggerating.

[25:38] You know, every time that somebody is handing me a bill, might be a $20 bill or something, put in my hands as a gift and service at church or school or something. And it goes to good, better, best ministries.

[25:51] You say, well, Brother Rice, didn't that buy the hamburger when you stopped by? No, no, no. That didn't buy the hamburger. That went to good, better, best. And every penny that's ever been given, it's all on the Internet.

[26:03] And you can see who gave, how much money came into ministry where I've been for these 26 years. And you say, doesn't that make you nervous? Well, if you're doing what's right, what you got to hide?

[26:15] Oh, God, help me. I've seen so many people that are sneaky. I don't want to be that. I mean, so many that they do this and they do that and they do this. Oh, God, I don't want to be like that.

[26:28] Help me. Honesty. How I know. Well, is that exactly? I was with a preacher one time and he told this and told that. And I knew he wasn't telling. He lied through his teeth.

[26:40] But Bart, you know, the person I'm talking about. And that make everybody think, oh, it happened just like that. Well, it didn't. A couple of those things I knew about. I've been there myself and it wasn't anything at all.

[26:51] Like he told you say, well, that's exaggerating. I call it lying. Oh, God, help me not do that. Oh, God, help me be not like that. Are you honest? Could everybody say, I want to tell you what?

[27:01] There's nothing that that boy, he's not sneaking. That girl, you know, there's nothing a parent going to find out that she's. Well, yeah. But, you know, now she's 15 or 16 or 18 or now that he's seven.

[27:13] But with the eight. Yeah. Yeah. But. Oh, we need to be honest. Nothing hiding, nothing sneaking. Oh, God. Then. Reliability, dependability.

[27:26] There's people you can't count on. They tell you they're going to do something to don't do it. And there's some people. If everything is just suiting them, they'll do something.

[27:36] But if not, forget it. And you can't count on. They'll tell you they do something, but they don't. They don't. You know. Oh, God, help Ralph to have follow through.

[27:47] But what I say I'm going to do, I do it. Oh, God, help Ralph. Now, now, also, I've told God about if you don't maybe in Lake Charles, there's a couple of times, you know, that I didn't make it to Lake Charles.

[27:58] And I had a call, Brother Pastor Barton. I say, I'm sorry. I said, well, I got AIDS. No, I didn't call with AIDS, but I did call with COVID.

[28:12] COVID. Uh-huh. And I wasn't here. Didn't make it. And and so I always when I'm driving here, I said, Lord, if you if I'm not safe, I'm going to stop.

[28:24] Well, if I need to just say, sorry, I'm not going to make it. I'm not going to make it. I want to be where you want me to be and go where you want me to go. And and and I want to tell you, it's real important to when you tell God you're going to love him and serve him.

[28:39] You know, people that get in a jam. Oh, God, you get me out of this and I'll do right. Oh, God. Then they get out of the mess they're in and they forget all about that promise they made.

[28:50] There been a time in your life where you told God you're going to walk closer. And oh, God, help help Ralph. Help me, Lord, that people can count on what I say.

[29:01] Help me have follow through in my life. Hebrews, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13. In Proverbs 25, 19, confidence in an unfaithful man in the time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.

[29:21] Count on somebody. I've had people that promised me. See, I had people working at my side, staff, and I'd be in Papua New Guinea or I'd be in Japan or I'd be in Korea or I'd be in Thailand or I'd be in the Philippines.

[29:36] And they're all over America. And they had 39 locations of meetings. And you say, well, you're in charge. Yeah, but I'm not there. And I had people working that working with me.

[29:48] You say, you tell them what you want. Yep. But you know what? Some people, you can't trust them if you're not there watching them. They're not going to do it. You see, I told those men that I'm going to be gone.

[30:00] But all across America for three, four months, they're going to be going to the city, city, city, and they're going to be preaching, speaking. I told them, I want you to move all the chairs because all the hotels, convention centers, everything, they put the chairs, boom, they know what they're doing.

[30:13] And they got it the way they want it. They don't have it the way I want it because they put them chairs right together. And some women don't like to have somebody pushing right over against them. And they like to have a little bit of wiggle room, you know.

[30:26] And some people have eaten quite a bit and they take a little bit. They fill up every bit they get. And so I said, hey, I want every chair in the place.

[30:36] Well, that's 500 chairs. God, that's going to take us half an hour to get that done. Well, I didn't. I just said I want two and a half, three inches between everyone and the flag, the Christian flag and the American flag.

[30:51] When they get put in the box and pushed in and carried to the next place, they get all wrinkled. I want them steamed out every morning. And so we have a steamer. You plug that in, put water in it, and it start coming out.

[31:04] And you go like that. That takes time. We're tired. We've been on the road. Hey, we're meetings. And I want to tell you, I had a man, one man that I had once.

[31:16] And I told him how to do. But when he negotiated for us to be in a hotel convention center, he let them think there's going to make a lot of money off the bar because that's where the big money comes.

[31:31] And he didn't exactly tell the kind of people we were, you know. And was he a blessing to me? Not in dependability.

[31:45] But Oscar Husky, you might have met Oscar Husky. Bob Thomas. See, Brother Rice, you all over the world. Yep. Guess what they were doing? Moving three inches apart, chair after chair.

[32:02] Steaming the wrinkles out. Was I there to, hey! No. But they gave their word. Not only to me, but God was listening. And they did it.

[32:14] And what a blessing to me. What a blessing. You have to worry about, why are they doing what you said? Are you having to, no, no, I don't have, I'm busy where I am. I'm ministering here in New Guinea.

[32:25] I haven't got time to worry about what they do in those boys. Oh, it's wonderful to have people around you that are dependable. I won't be like that.

[32:37] Do you? Are you dependable? People count on you? The Bible says in James chapter 1 verse 22, Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.

[32:51] I heard it. I heard it. I got a Bible. Yeah, I know. Yeah, but how are you doing on that, Ralph? I'm dependable, reliable. Oh, God, help me be honest, transparent, nothing hiding.

[33:05] Help me to care. And people know that I care. Oh, God, help me to control my emotions and have a calmness no matter what's happening around me.

[33:16] And, oh, God, I want to have an attitude right toward others. Help me to be a person that respects others, their abilities, their calling.

[33:28] Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 19, When the president comes or when the mayor comes, when the... Well, the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 17, Honor all men.

[33:47] Well, that's just... I want to tell you, you have a brother, you better be real careful how you treat your brother. You have a sister. You need to...

[33:59] Your attitudes toward your sister, your mom, your dad, your husband, your wife, brothers, sisters. That'd be real careful. Honor all.

[34:11] Matthew chapter 7 verse 12. Therefore, all things whatsoever that ye would that men should do to you, how you want to be treated, like your words mean something, and like do so even so to them.

[34:31] And, you know, Jesus is speaking, saying, treat others. Think of how Jesus treated you and me.

[34:44] Oh, God, help me. Help me to have respect for others and recognize everyone's important. How I look down or think or judge others, oh, God, help me to see them as you see them.

[34:58] And then, oh, God, help me to have compassion and not just to feel, not just to have empathy, but compassion goes further than just empathy.

[35:18] Well, that person's in trouble. You know, on the Jericho Road, robbed, he's half dead, and they've left him down, besides where he's in trouble. Wow.

[35:29] Well, that's one thing, but something else to, to act and help that person. Compassion not only feels, but it tries to help. And do everybody know you as, I want to tell you one thing, I wish I had the kindness that, that, that he has.

[35:47] I wish I had the kindness that she, she has. Bible says in Ephesians 4, 32, and be, says ye, Bible's for you.

[35:59] Spend more time there. Talk to him about everything about God. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted. Well, my daughter, I just spent five weeks with my daughter, major eye problems, cannot have major, major, major, and so her house, all lights, had to be off, just a little tiny nightlight or something, and I was in darkness for five weeks, but I was by my daughter's side.

[36:34] I want to tell you, it's one thing to say, oh, oh, honey, I'm, I'm, I'm just, I've, you know, I just, well, just, but I want to tell you, it was my privilege and honor to be there with my daughter, and when she went to surgery and to meet the doctors when she came out and then to face the future some weeks with her.

[36:54] I want to tell you, it's important, oh, God, help me to have compassion. Galatians 6, 2, bury one another's burdens and so fulfill the, well, I got enough burdens of my own, I can hardly handle them, Lord, and bury one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

[37:16] Oh, God, help me to be a pattern example. And Jesus went forth and saw a multitude, Matthew 14, Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, was moved, who?

[37:29] Jesus, with compassion toward them and healed their sick. He cares and makes a difference, tries to help.

[37:41] And oh, God, my attention, I get distracted. Oh, God, I spend time thinking the wrong things, looking at the wrong, oh, God, help me when somebody else is talking, not just playing what I won't say, but listen to what they said.

[38:02] Oh, God, help me to get involved with others and be attentive to what they've got, to know their feelings and what they, James 119 says, wherefore, my beloved brethren, I just put Ralph in there, you know.

[38:19] Well, you spend more time in your Bible. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man, there comes Ralph again, let every man be swift to hear.

[38:32] are you a good listener? I would, the people that know you, your family or others, would they say, I'm going to tell you what, if I want to say something, guess what? She listens.

[38:45] He listens. I mean, I can, I'm trying, ha, I'd start saying something, they got, they're not paid, I'd love to know you, he's talking, they're not listening anyway, they don't care anything about me. Would they say about you that I tell you, I want to talk to somebody that cares, somebody listening to me and they say, well, he can, she can.

[39:04] Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. And I have a problem.

[39:16] And, and that doctor that got so I could talk again, last night, I'd be over at a family and I have a wonderful food and wonderful butter, covered that bread, you couldn't see the bread anymore, that butter, mm, yeah.

[39:33] And dessert, mm, yeah. And those pears, yeah. But the best thing be the, the crust, ah, on that dessert, mm, mm, yeah.

[39:44] Well, did you speak anything? Bible talks about talking, speaking. Oh, well, they couldn't get a word in edgewise because you got diarrhea?

[39:57] Oh, the mouth, sometimes, oh boy, and, oh God, you are, you, swift to hear?

[40:12] Well, sometimes, slow to speak, oh God. Now, who is it who's in need? Oh God, it's me, it's Ralph, in the need of prayer.

[40:23] Have you found anything that, things I'm not even mentioning that God is talking to you, that if you're going to be a blessing to others, if you're going to be a pattern, that you're going to have to have his help on?

[40:34] Tim LaHaye traveled with me some, in maybe seven or eight meetings, Tim LaHaye, great writer and speaker, and of course, his idea of, of Left Behind series, and then he got help to write all the detail of it, but, but his book, Transform Temperaments, is one that meant a lot to me.

[40:50] And that's how, how you are. Yeah, but I don't do that, you know, and because my father and my grandfather were, and if you came up to my dad and you said, Mr. Rice, glad to meet you, your brother Rice's father, my dad, he's out of here, he's gone.

[41:06] You say, well, he's a Christian. Oh yeah, yeah, and love the Lord, oh supremely. Oh yeah, read his Bible all the way, oh several times. Oh yeah, I'm a dad. But, as far as people, he's not going to look you in the eye and shake your hands or hug you.

[41:18] Ha! I never felt his hand around me or his back. I think one time, but he'd had two heart attacks and I think, you know, I'm just going to tell him I love him. I'm going to put my arms around him. And I think, well, you know, he might die.

[41:30] Well, he's saved and he's on the way. He's already had a couple heart attacks, so he's ready to go. I'm going to do it. And so, I put my arms around my dad and my dad, he didn't know what to do. Well, the next time he came back from Nebraska down to Texas to see us and he was there, he looked at me like, you're going to do that again?

[41:49] And I did. My dad, he wasn't comfortable about that. I said, dad, I love you. You know, but the third time he came, I felt something I never felt before in all my life.

[42:02] I felt my daddy's arms on me and we made up for lost time and my daddy learned how to, he, I didn't see him giving cards and gifts and candy and perfume to mama.

[42:18] He didn't know how to do that. And I'm my father's son. So when I had a chance for a vacation, where'd I go? The Sahara Desert.

[42:31] Dr. Howard said, well, you're going to see the castles in Spain? I said, I've seen them. Been there. No, it's wrong time, January anyway, you know. He said, where are you going? I said, Morocco. Where are you going?

[42:42] I said, out in the Sahara for a week. He said, there's nobody there. Now you got it. Say, Brother Rice, you'd be the perfect hermit, I guess.

[42:55] So if you ever saw me smile, but I ever said hello and you knew I meant it, that's not Ralph. That's God taking Ralph.

[43:08] Oh God, help me to listen, slow to speak. And oh God, help me to be the same, consistent, not only dependable, but consistent, predictable, reliable, no sudden changes.

[43:24] You say, Brother Rice, you get that. bang. Yeah, I'm a real, I can change in a moment. Bam. And everything, even my wife, she said, Ralph, my children say, Daddy.

[43:36] And I mean, I just, something happened. I said, okay. And a total change. But 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 58 says, therefore, Ralph, no, it says my beloved brother.

[43:51] Therefore, my beloved brother, and be ye, there it is Ralph again, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

[44:06] Hebrews 10, 23, and let us, that's Ralph. I wish you'd take your Bible more often. Wish you'd just, just talk to God about everything, wherever you are, eyes open, eyes shut, driving wherever you go, store, parking spot, doing anything.

[44:23] Somebody cuts in, you're mad at them, pray for them. Just talk to God. Hebrews 10, 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.

[44:38] Oh God, help me to be the same Ralph, only less Ralph and more Jesus that people can know. Oh God, what is it in your circle that you believe that you could be a better blessing to other people in your family, brothers, sisters, moms who are dead, your children, husbands, wives, relatives at work or school, wherever you are.

[45:01] What, what could you, what is there in your life that could change that God could help you to be a bigger blessing and you'd be a better example if, have you thought of something?

[45:13] Maybe I haven't mentioned it, but have you thought something? And, I've never had muscles. Somebody asked me, I think I was in Australia, I was on an elevator or something, some guy said, well, what do you do?

[45:26] I said, oh, I'm a muscle man and they started laughing. Well, actually, the reason I said that, I had this big round thing in a white, I had it, I went to a upholstery place and got a cover made and put a zipper on it and round it.

[45:38] It's called, not a trampoline, but it's a rebounder and you jump, just a little round thing and you jump on it and exercise. Y'all know what I'm talking about? And so, I carried it with me for a couple of years everywhere I went around the world so I could exercise in my motel room or something, you know, and I'd carry that, well, they see this great big thing and I'd say, have you ever seen a frisbee?

[45:58] And they'd all look at me and I said, you ever met anybody that's in the real time of competition? And they'd look at that thing and I'd start laughing and I'd tell them what it really was, you know.

[46:09] And then I'd say, but I'm a muscle and they'd look at me and I said, they're all in my mouth. They're all in my mouth. Strength. Well, I respect it.

[46:21] I bought a whole set of barbells and man, I had trouble just getting the bar up let alone all more and more stuff on the side of that thing and you say, well, you're not, you're not a much of a strong he-man and lift much or no, no.

[46:38] But you know what? I want to have strength as a Christian. I want to be a strong man because it takes a strong man to walk when the world's not walking, when people make fun of you, when you don't want to handle trouble, to stand up when everything's fallen, to care and protect.

[47:03] First Chronicles, chapter 19, verse 13. Here it is. Be of good courage and let us, did I put Ralph in there again?

[47:15] Behave ourselves. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Behave our, Ralph, behavior yourself. Let us behave ourselves and then it says how?

[47:27] Valiantly. Hey, you mean a hero? You mean a knight? A conqueror? Well, the Bible says a winner, victor.

[47:40] Yeah. Valiantly for our people. Oh, it's not about Ralph. Life's not about you.

[47:51] It's about honoring the God in heaven and being a blessing to those around you. I think some years ago did I bring a tent and talked about who's in your tent, put a tent up here ever?

[48:04] Should have done that. Talk about who's in your tent. Mind me, if I live another, well, you never know. But Bible says behave ourselves how?

[48:18] Valiantly for our people and let the Lord do that which is good through you. Dear Lord, I thank you for each person here today.

[48:35] Oh God, thank you for this church. Been a blessing to me. There are numbers of people right here in this auditorium that I have seen in their lives a number of these things that I want in my life to be strong.

[48:53] And I thank you, Lord, that some of them, their prayers have gone with me around the world. And oh God, the I don't know hundred people this year since I was here before have trusted the Lord and where I've been in meetings or one by one or said, I know Jesus now.

[49:11] I just, yes, I just tried. Well, I will. And Lord, they had a part. So I just want to thank you for those that have prayed for me. I might have had a wreck the many thousands of miles.

[49:25] I could have, not that I did something wrong driving, but somebody else was in the wrong and they could have smashed into me. Thank you, Lord, for the prayers.

[49:36] Some of these that are here that have prayed with me, not just for a day, but for years. Thank you for this church's special help and to be a love to me and a help to me.

[49:52] And I know, Lord, that everything that's good comes from you. It's a gift from you. But you sent this church and this pastor and a number of these people and some that I met as teenagers and I prayed with when they were a boy or a girl, 10 or 12 or 16.

[50:10] And they have gone to take God's word and be blessed and decide they wanted God's blessings and they're going to honor him and they have walked with God and now they have children, many of them themselves.

[50:27] Oh, God, I pray for every boy, every girl that's even here this very day or watching that they would trust you as their Savior and say, Oh, God, I know I'm a sinner.

[50:38] I know the Bible is your word and Jesus died on the cross and he rose again. Come into my heart. I trust you as my Savior. Lord, I pray for those who are saved and I pray, Lord, it's the focus to be upon others and realize who is it in the need of prayer?

[50:58] It's me. Oh, God, thank you for your forgiveness. So many times when I failed you, you've forgiven me. Thank you that you encourage us to just talk to you and then you forgive us and just lift us up.

[51:13] Lord, I pray for that person right now that's right here in the service or listening, watching, that is in the midst of troubles and trials and life is super tough for them right now.

[51:27] I pray, oh, God, they talk to you about that. And Lord, as I have a number, these are a few of the things I'm asking your help for me to improve, to go from good to better to best, to improve.

[51:44] Lord, I pray that you would help each boy, each girl, each man, each woman who's here today. Not maybe something I said, but something you said to them in their life that needs to be, they need to walk closer to you, some needs in their life.

[52:03] I pray, oh, God, that they might talk to you and that, Lord, tomorrow and the next day they live, they would have a better pattern, be more of an example, a bigger blessing to other people than they've ever been before.

[52:19] And Lord, I don't know how long I have to live, but I pray, dear Lord, as I leave here, Lord willing, go over to Baton Rouge area and Bayou Tech and then up to Mississippi for four or five meetings there and then on to Alabama, then Georgia, Florida.

[52:40] Oh, God, I pray that there would be less Ralph, less sin, less weakness and more strength, more calmness, more power, more peace, more compassion than there was before.

[52:56] And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor. Thanks for joining us today. We hope this message encouraged you and gave you something to apply to your life this week.

[53:08] If you'd like to learn more about Faith Bible Church or connect with us, visit our website at meetfaith.org. We'd love to hear from you. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.

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