Battle Ready: Bootcamp Basics
Speaker: Pastor Dianne Towns
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ShHaVZjyU
YouTube upload date: 2025-05-08 (used as publication date; not represented as the recording date)
Video duration: 00:50:11
Transcript basis: Faster-Whisper small.en automatic timestamped transcription.
Transcript note: Formatted for publication while preserving the supplied sequence and substantive wording. Automatic recognition and punctuation errors may remain; verify against the audio before exact quotation. Statements in the transcript are the speaker's and are not automatically independently verified facts.

[00:00:05] Well, not in the past a choice, but with some and all of my material.
[00:00:09] I don't have much to say.
[00:00:12] But I was not a camera.
[00:00:15] Thank you.
[00:00:16] Yeah, I want to give you just a second to pray.
[00:00:18] My Father, in the name of Jesus, I just bless you Lord,
[00:00:21] and I praise you and I thank you for Lord for using me as your vessel today.
[00:00:25] Lord, I thank you for speaking to me and speaking through me.
[00:00:31] Lord, I pray with you, no matter what I have on these pages,
[00:00:35] that you would use me for your glory today,
[00:00:38] Lord, and that you would allow me to speak on your heart
[00:00:41] and that your people need to hear.
[00:00:44] And I just give you all in praise and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:00:49] Alright, you guys.
[00:00:51] So let's have a look at this message and who can face it
[00:00:55] so you can see on your paper there.
[00:00:57] And, you know, when I first came up with that title,
[00:01:02] it was basically because of what Pastor Dancy had sent us
[00:01:05] that already married, boot camp.
[00:01:07] The first thing I thought about was my military experience.
[00:01:10] And I started thinking about, first of all, we're in the last days.
[00:01:16] We all know that, right?
[00:01:18] So no matter where you have been in your marriage,
[00:01:21] up until now, if you think about where we are
[00:01:26] and how close we are to the end,
[00:01:30] even though we've been married, most of us, for a lot of years,
[00:01:33] this is new territory.
[00:01:35] It's absolutely new territory.
[00:01:37] None of us have been where we are.
[00:01:39] I don't care how long we've been married.
[00:01:41] This is brand new territory.
[00:01:43] And we have to treat it for what it is.
[00:01:46] And so with that being said,
[00:01:51] it's time for us to take things to the next level, okay?
[00:01:56] I'm not trying to put a plug in for our names
[00:01:59] for you guys, but it is time to take things to the next level.
[00:02:02] And what I mean by that is it's time for next level love,
[00:02:06] next level forgiveness,
[00:02:08] and it's a next level fight that we're in, okay?
[00:02:12] It's a next level fight.
[00:02:14] And when I was looking up some definitions of words,
[00:02:19] I started with boot camp,
[00:02:21] and boot camp basically is a training station for recruits, okay?
[00:02:25] I don't know how many military folks are in here,
[00:02:27] but some of you guys couldn't identify with that.
[00:02:30] But what is a recruiter?
[00:02:33] A recruiter is a person newly enlisted in the armed forces.
[00:02:37] So like I said, no matter how long you have been married,
[00:02:40] you are now newly enlisted in the last days of your marriage, okay?
[00:02:44] And it's also a short, intensive, and rigorous course of training.
[00:02:49] That's what boot camp is.
[00:02:51] And our time is short.
[00:02:53] So it's time to intensify the things that we do in our marriages
[00:02:57] with our spouses, because this is where it all counts.
[00:03:01] And the purpose of boot camp also is to separate the week from the strong, okay?
[00:03:09] And so here we are today.
[00:03:11] And I want to, when I was thinking about this,
[00:03:13] y'all want to put all these notes on this paper and everything,
[00:03:16] and I thought I was going to just go down this outline,
[00:03:20] and it was just going to be real easy
[00:03:23] until Pastor Troy Catterman spoke.
[00:03:25] And I realized this morning, when I was praying about this,
[00:03:27] and I said, Lord, I don't want to just stick to this.
[00:03:30] Well, I'll go down.
[00:03:31] I want you to use me for your purpose.
[00:03:34] What is the most important thing?
[00:03:37] What is the most important point that I need to get across
[00:03:40] to everybody in this room, including myself?
[00:03:42] And God took me, right?
[00:03:44] I'm not surprised that Pastor Troy is expressing my own love,
[00:03:48] because he said, whereas it's been said,
[00:03:52] you got hurtness, you got so many times,
[00:03:55] love, or no, sorry,
[00:03:57] live each day as if it's your last, all right?
[00:04:01] We hear that all the time.
[00:04:02] Live each day as if it's your last.
[00:04:03] And most people think of that as they got a buck of this.
[00:04:06] They got all these things they want to do before they die, right?
[00:04:10] You have your little buck of this and whatever.
[00:04:12] But when I was praying about this,
[00:04:13] God said not to live each day as if it's your last,
[00:04:17] but to love each day as if it's your last.
[00:04:22] And you can start with that person sitting right next to you.
[00:04:25] Okay?
[00:04:26] And for those of you whose spouses did not make it,
[00:04:29] you can still carry this, which when you go home,
[00:04:32] to love each day as if it's your last.
[00:04:35] And I'm going to start, you guys, with John 3 16.
[00:04:37] And I'm going to say this.
[00:04:39] Everybody can recite John 3 16.
[00:04:41] I don't care if you say, not say, in the world.
[00:04:46] I mean, you could be a celebrity on TV.
[00:04:48] Everybody knows John 3 16.
[00:04:50] Okay?
[00:04:51] You can ask anybody.
[00:04:52] They can recite it without even looking at the word.
[00:04:54] But I'm going to read it because I'm going to put some emphasis
[00:04:56] on some things here that we probably think about sometimes,
[00:05:00] but I don't want to be really, really dig deep.
[00:05:03] So, for God so loved the world that He gave.
[00:05:09] Y'all, I can stop right there.
[00:05:11] Okay?
[00:05:13] I can stop right there.
[00:05:14] For He so loved the world that He gave.
[00:05:16] Not only did He give, but He gave the best.
[00:05:19] He gave the one thing that we needed that's going to save us
[00:05:24] if we will receive it, if we will accept it.
[00:05:27] And I don't know anybody in this room who has children
[00:05:32] who would actually sacrifice one of your children,
[00:05:36] especially if it's your last or your only.
[00:05:41] But I'm just saying, would you really sacrifice your children
[00:05:44] or your child so that other people might be saved?
[00:05:48] Think about, you guys are holding your babies here right now.
[00:05:52] All of us know the story.
[00:05:55] We know it's not just that He sacrificed.
[00:05:58] We all know the story.
[00:06:00] We all have read the story.
[00:06:01] We all know what Jesus suffered for us, right?
[00:06:04] But because God so loved us, He paid the ultimate price.
[00:06:08] And it says that whosoever believes in Him should not perish,
[00:06:11] but have everlasting lives.
[00:06:14] Verse 17 says, for God sent not His Son into the world
[00:06:17] to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
[00:06:22] The way I look at this and the way it translates in my mind
[00:06:27] is God proved His love for every single one of us by sacrificing.
[00:06:33] Sacrificing His Son, His most prized position,
[00:06:37] the thing that He loved the most.
[00:06:39] And so all of us in this room, I want to say this to you guys,
[00:06:43] we claim that we love each other.
[00:06:45] Every one of us in this room who has a spouse
[00:06:47] or who's planning to get married,
[00:06:50] we've all sent these words out of our minds at least one time,
[00:06:53] and I love you.
[00:06:55] We've all said that we really weigh it as for what it really costs,
[00:07:00] what it really means.
[00:07:02] I don't know if any of us really have,
[00:07:04] because do you really sacrifice for your spouse?
[00:07:08] And some of us will sit here and lie,
[00:07:12] because, hey, we're in a marriage conference,
[00:07:14] of course you want to shake your head,
[00:07:16] of course I love my spouse,
[00:07:17] but do you really understand what it means?
[00:07:19] Because if you're not willing to love outside of your comfort zone,
[00:07:23] that's not love.
[00:07:25] Most of us love within the confines of what makes us comfortable,
[00:07:29] not hate a person.
[00:07:31] We don't really do what that other person needs.
[00:07:35] We do what we want,
[00:07:36] and we do what makes us feel like we're doing a good thing.
[00:07:39] But for God so loved the world,
[00:07:41] he gave his son up to be tortured,
[00:07:46] to be beaten, to be crucified.
[00:07:48] Do you guys think about that?
[00:07:51] There is no greater price.
[00:07:53] There is no greater way to express or to prove love than to die.
[00:08:03] But the only way we have to do is die in our flesh,
[00:08:05] and that's hard for us to do.
[00:08:08] We don't have to really die a physical death.
[00:08:10] We don't have to shed every drop of card blood for ourselves.
[00:08:14] Some of us probably would.
[00:08:18] But ultimately, the only thing we're required to do
[00:08:22] is to die to this question,
[00:08:23] and we find that difficult to do, okay?
[00:08:26] But Jesus paid it all.
[00:08:28] He paid it up front,
[00:08:30] so we don't have to wonder what we get.
[00:08:32] We know what we got.
[00:08:33] We got one who literally paid the price for all of us.
[00:08:37] We might, right?
[00:08:39] So let me just say this.
[00:08:41] I know Pastor Troy touched on this a little bit.
[00:08:43] If you're holding anything against your spouse,
[00:08:46] if there's any anger, if there's any unforgiveness,
[00:08:53] all that is is an open door for any to get in.
[00:08:57] Now, we are in the last days.
[00:08:58] There is no time.
[00:08:59] Not as if we had time anyway to play around.
[00:09:02] There is no time to play around with yesterday,
[00:09:07] what happened yesterday.
[00:09:08] Because I'm going to tell you what,
[00:09:10] if you know Jesus is coming tomorrow,
[00:09:12] is it going to matter today what happened yesterday?
[00:09:17] So we're living and loving each day as if it's our last.
[00:09:20] Does yesterday even matter anymore?
[00:09:22] It doesn't matter what they said to you.
[00:09:24] It doesn't matter what they did to you.
[00:09:25] It doesn't matter because right now we're all,
[00:09:28] we're battle ready.
[00:09:32] When I was in the Air Force,
[00:09:33] there was something called the Buddy System.
[00:09:35] Everybody know what the Buddy System is?
[00:09:37] When you're responsible, they assign somebody to you
[00:09:40] and assign you to somebody,
[00:09:41] and you're responsible for that person's well-being.
[00:09:43] You don't even have to know them,
[00:09:45] but you've got to learn them,
[00:09:46] and you are responsible for making sure
[00:09:48] that that person does not fall,
[00:09:50] that person does not fail,
[00:09:51] and if they do, guess what's wrong with these?
[00:09:53] It's yours.
[00:09:55] It's yours, okay?
[00:09:57] It's funny how a lot of things you hear in the world,
[00:10:00] they get a lot of stuff from the Bible.
[00:10:03] They get a lot of stuff about the Buddy System
[00:10:05] and all that.
[00:10:06] That's really, that's got less to do with them
[00:10:09] figuring out a way to have you take care of somebody
[00:10:12] who's going to be about us loving each other
[00:10:15] the way Christ said it to, okay?
[00:10:18] So Pastor Troy already sold 1 Corinthians 13.
[00:10:23] I'm going to talk about it a little bit more, you guys,
[00:10:27] because obviously we substitute the word charity with love, right?
[00:10:35] Love, in the way that it is intended in this word,
[00:10:38] it's a copy of it.
[00:10:39] It's selfless and it's unconditional, right?
[00:10:44] But what intrigues me about 1 Corinthians 13,
[00:10:48] starting in verse 4, it says,
[00:10:50] charity would love sufferers.
[00:10:53] It suffers, not only does it suffer,
[00:10:56] but it suffers long.
[00:10:58] Now, if you think about the word love,
[00:11:02] why does love require suffering?
[00:11:05] Love sounds like a beautiful thing.
[00:11:08] It doesn't sound like you should be suffering
[00:11:10] because you love it,
[00:11:11] but that's exactly what love is
[00:11:13] because it's long suffering,
[00:11:15] it's patient, it's kind.
[00:11:16] It endures all things, it holds all things.
[00:11:18] We know, and I'm going to finish reading the scripture,
[00:11:20] but I'm just saying, you guys,
[00:11:22] if you think about love for what it is,
[00:11:24] it's painful.
[00:11:26] It's painful to give out something
[00:11:29] without expecting anything in return.
[00:11:32] You just give and give and pour out
[00:11:34] and pour out and pour out
[00:11:36] because that's what love is
[00:11:38] and that's what love does, right?
[00:11:40] But not only does it suffer long,
[00:11:42] it's also kind.
[00:11:44] And it says love suffers long and is kind.
[00:11:48] So while it is suffering, it's also being kind.
[00:11:50] Y'all understand that?
[00:11:53] While you're suffering,
[00:11:54] while you're going through the things
[00:11:56] that you're going through,
[00:11:58] if you really have the love of God in you,
[00:12:00] you're still going to treat that person
[00:12:02] with the love of God.
[00:12:04] Love is patient and it is kind.
[00:12:07] Love suffers long and it's kind.
[00:12:09] Charity in me is not.
[00:12:11] It boasts not or vaunted not itself.
[00:12:15] It's not puffed up with meaning.
[00:12:17] It's not hearty.
[00:12:18] It doesn't behave itself unseemly.
[00:12:22] It's seeking not our own.
[00:12:23] It doesn't act alone.
[00:12:25] When you're in a marriage,
[00:12:27] you're in a relationship,
[00:12:28] a courtship.
[00:12:29] You're not seeking out your own.
[00:12:31] It's about the other person, right?
[00:12:34] It's not easily provoked.
[00:12:35] I think of no evil.
[00:12:36] Pastor Troy already went over that.
[00:12:38] Rejoice in not in iniquity,
[00:12:39] but rejoiceth in the truth.
[00:12:41] Beareth all things.
[00:12:43] Believe with all things.
[00:12:44] Hold with all things.
[00:12:45] Endures all things.
[00:12:47] And love never fails.
[00:12:49] Now, just going back to what I just said,
[00:12:51] if you're saying you love somebody,
[00:12:53] you have to be willing to sacrifice
[00:12:54] beyond your comfort zone.
[00:12:56] Now, John 3 16,
[00:12:59] for God so loved the world,
[00:13:00] and he gave his only God's Son.
[00:13:01] We've already read that,
[00:13:02] but guess what?
[00:13:03] John 15 12.
[00:13:05] This is my commandment.
[00:13:07] It's not a suggestion.
[00:13:10] This is my commandment.
[00:13:12] That you do what?
[00:13:13] Love one another.
[00:13:15] Ask.
[00:13:16] I have loved you.
[00:13:19] What does it ask me?
[00:13:21] Just like I just read here.
[00:13:22] For God so loved the world,
[00:13:23] and he did what he gave.
[00:13:24] So the same way that he loved you,
[00:13:27] there's a same way you're supposed to love others.
[00:13:30] That is what this word is telling us.
[00:13:32] And it's like I said,
[00:13:33] it's not a suggestion.
[00:13:34] It's a commandment that you love one another.
[00:13:36] Give of yourself.
[00:13:37] You sacrifice of yourself.
[00:13:39] Your comforts.
[00:13:40] For the betterment of the other person,
[00:13:42] just like the bloody system.
[00:13:43] You are responsible for that other person's wealthy.
[00:13:47] Okay.
[00:13:48] Now, Pastor Charney stole Genesis 2 24.
[00:13:55] Therefore shall the man leave his father and mother
[00:13:57] and cleave his wife,
[00:13:58] and they shall be one flesh.
[00:14:00] He's already explained that enough,
[00:14:02] so I'm not going to also go over that.
[00:14:05] So I'm going to go here.
[00:14:06] Matthew 6 14 and 15.
[00:14:09] If you forgive men their trespasses,
[00:14:12] your heavenly father will also forgive you.
[00:14:14] But guess what?
[00:14:15] Verse 15, what is the same?
[00:14:17] But if you forgive not men their trespasses,
[00:14:21] neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
[00:14:26] Are you holding anything against anybody
[00:14:28] that you claim to love?
[00:14:31] Okay.
[00:14:32] So I'm going to let that sit there for me.
[00:14:34] Y'all just meditate on that for a minute.
[00:14:36] And here's the thing too.
[00:14:38] Let me go to Ecclesiastes 5,
[00:14:40] and I'm going to verse 5,
[00:14:42] except for the same example.
[00:14:43] I've got a story I've got to tell you guys.
[00:14:45] Okay.
[00:14:46] Verse 5 says,
[00:14:47] the better is it that thou should not vow
[00:14:49] that thou should vow cannot pay.
[00:14:53] Okay.
[00:14:54] How many of us took wedding vows?
[00:14:56] All right.
[00:14:58] Why don't you take those vows?
[00:15:00] Because here's the thing, you guys,
[00:15:03] most of us, when we think about getting married,
[00:15:07] we're only thinking about the wedding day.
[00:15:10] We're not thinking about the eternity that comes after.
[00:15:13] We're not thinking about that.
[00:15:16] I don't know anyone.
[00:15:17] I've got girlfriends,
[00:15:19] you guys who have had scrapbooks
[00:15:23] from when they were little girls
[00:15:24] up until the day they got married,
[00:15:26] because they picked out their colors,
[00:15:28] they knew their flowers,
[00:15:29] they knew what kind of cake they wanted,
[00:15:31] they had their dress picked out,
[00:15:32] they knew how they were going to wear their hair,
[00:15:34] what their jewelry was going to look like,
[00:15:35] how many rives makes,
[00:15:36] all the stuff that leads up to the day.
[00:15:40] Nothing after.
[00:15:43] Everybody's longing for that wedding day.
[00:15:45] Oh, I want to wear this.
[00:15:46] I want to look like this.
[00:15:48] Everything that you can think of
[00:15:50] that goes into the day of the marriage.
[00:15:52] You have picked out everything,
[00:15:55] and you want it to be exact.
[00:15:57] Y'all seen the...
[00:15:58] What is that?
[00:15:59] Um, bridezilla?
[00:16:01] Y'all seen that show?
[00:16:03] That is real.
[00:16:07] People are serious about that day,
[00:16:10] but didn't give account to the vows
[00:16:12] that they were going to take.
[00:16:13] Nobody studies the vows.
[00:16:15] Nobody studies the wedding vows and says,
[00:16:18] oh, I want to do this.
[00:16:22] No.
[00:16:23] I want to look good on that day.
[00:16:26] They're going to only want that train
[00:16:27] to be on the wedding gown,
[00:16:29] but nobody takes into account
[00:16:31] what they're really professing
[00:16:35] when they speak those vows.
[00:16:36] Most of us only spoke those vows.
[00:16:38] You know why?
[00:16:39] Because the preacher said,
[00:16:40] repeat after me.
[00:16:41] He was just being obedient.
[00:16:44] Right?
[00:16:46] It was a requirement.
[00:16:47] It was just a requirement,
[00:16:49] and that's what most of us did.
[00:16:50] But if you are not married yet,
[00:16:53] and even if you are married,
[00:16:55] I challenge you to look up your wedding vows.
[00:17:00] Go back and look at what you promised to do,
[00:17:05] for better or for worse,
[00:17:07] sickness and health,
[00:17:08] till death do us part.
[00:17:09] Nobody knows, bro, what they're...
[00:17:11] Everybody loves that for better part.
[00:17:13] Right?
[00:17:15] But what is for worse?
[00:17:17] I didn't know what my for worse was going to be,
[00:17:21] but I made a vow that for better or for worse,
[00:17:24] I was going to love this man.
[00:17:26] Right?
[00:17:27] For worse came in ways that I didn't burn him for.
[00:17:30] I never thought that was going to happen.
[00:17:32] But I found myself one day,
[00:17:35] facing my for worse hand-on,
[00:17:38] and I had to ask myself,
[00:17:40] what am I going to do now?
[00:17:42] So, let me say this.
[00:17:46] 2 Timothy 3, 16, he says,
[00:17:48] all scripture is given by inspiration God
[00:17:50] and is a prophet of the doctrine,
[00:17:52] for reproof, for correction,
[00:17:54] and for instruction in righteousness.
[00:17:58] Everything in this word, yes,
[00:18:02] will profit you in your marriage.
[00:18:04] If you have not read this word,
[00:18:07] I encourage you and I challenge you
[00:18:10] to do so with your spouse.
[00:18:13] Right?
[00:18:16] With your spouse,
[00:18:17] it's so vitally important that both of you
[00:18:19] are on one court.
[00:18:20] You're on the same page,
[00:18:22] that you go into your marriage fully armed
[00:18:26] with this word,
[00:18:27] because if you don't,
[00:18:29] you will suffer at the hands of the enemy.
[00:18:32] You're going to suffer when warfare comes,
[00:18:35] and it's not about that love-suffering law.
[00:18:38] You're going to suffer because you don't know
[00:18:40] what love really is,
[00:18:41] and you don't know what you committed to.
[00:18:43] And you don't have any fight in you
[00:18:46] to deal with the things that are going to come at you
[00:18:49] because the devil is on ambition to destroy.
[00:18:52] He cometh not but for to what?
[00:18:55] Everybody knows that.
[00:18:56] But we don't get prepared for it.
[00:18:58] He is not going to remember that.
[00:19:01] He is not going to sit back
[00:19:03] and just let you have some meritfulness.
[00:19:06] It's not going to be like everybody else in the movies.
[00:19:08] I promise you that.
[00:19:10] I don't care how many movies you've seen.
[00:19:12] You can scrap all that.
[00:19:14] It does not happen that way, okay?
[00:19:17] And I'm moving along because I have got to get to
[00:19:20] one of my stories, you guys.
[00:19:23] But I do want to say,
[00:19:25] let me read Romans 12, verse 2.
[00:19:28] Be not conformed to this world.
[00:19:30] Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[00:19:33] That you may prove what is that doing
[00:19:35] acceptable and perfect will of God.
[00:19:38] If we could just renew our minds
[00:19:41] to loving the way God loved,
[00:19:43] most of the battles that we face in our marriage
[00:19:46] will be so much easier.
[00:19:48] If we just get it right up here, okay?
[00:19:52] And lastly, it was in Luke 10-19
[00:19:54] before I go on to this story.
[00:19:56] Behold, I give unto you how it treads
[00:19:59] on certain goods and scorpions,
[00:20:01] and over all the powers of the enemy,
[00:20:03] and nothing shall by any means forgive you.
[00:20:06] If we can get that down in our bones, you guys,
[00:20:11] know the power and authority that we have
[00:20:13] over demonic spirits,
[00:20:16] we will have a fighting chance,
[00:20:18] especially in these last days
[00:20:20] when we had given in to save our inheritance
[00:20:22] and the enemies trying so hard to destroy, okay?
[00:20:26] So, with those things being said,
[00:20:29] let me just tell you guys,
[00:20:30] when I'm 19 years old, I joined the Air Force, okay?
[00:20:34] And I didn't just join the Air Force.
[00:20:37] My sister took me down to the map station
[00:20:40] to speak to a recruiter,
[00:20:43] take a test and all.
[00:20:44] Long story short, I scored high enough
[00:20:46] to join the Air Force, so yay, right?
[00:20:48] Okay.
[00:20:49] Well, the only problem was,
[00:20:50] I hadn't even told my parents that I took the test.
[00:20:54] And this is April of 1987.
[00:20:59] I'm not supposed to leave until September.
[00:21:01] So, I've got time to kind of break them in
[00:21:03] and, you know, get my mom prepared,
[00:21:05] especially that, you know, her youngest is leaving, right?
[00:21:08] I'm the youngest of seven.
[00:21:10] And I'm supposed to spend these next four months
[00:21:12] getting them ready, letting them know,
[00:21:14] oh, I'm leaving, whatever.
[00:21:15] So, I'm trying to figure out my plan.
[00:21:17] How am I going to break it?
[00:21:18] Am I going to call them and sit them down
[00:21:21] and have a conversation with them or whatever?
[00:21:23] I didn't know how I was going to do it.
[00:21:24] But then, I'm going to say this,
[00:21:26] I'm going to save them, and I'm going to say,
[00:21:27] the Lord answered that question for me
[00:21:29] because what happened was I gave a phone call,
[00:21:32] and I'm not supposed to leave until September,
[00:21:33] but my recruiter calls me,
[00:21:35] and they had a sloth in them that earned it, right?
[00:21:39] So, I'm like, okay, so now what, right?
[00:21:45] Well, when he told me when I was supposed to be leaving,
[00:21:50] it's now the middle of May,
[00:21:53] and my report date was June 2nd,
[00:21:56] and the mama didn't know that I was leaving, right?
[00:21:59] And like I said, I'm the youngest of seven.
[00:22:01] You guys, I was in college.
[00:22:02] I was doing well.
[00:22:03] Never gave my parents any problems or anything like that.
[00:22:06] You guys said, for all they knew,
[00:22:07] I still had several years left at home
[00:22:09] because I'm going through college, right?
[00:22:11] So, imagine they're surprised
[00:22:15] when I'm standing there in the kitchen,
[00:22:16] talking to my recruiter,
[00:22:17] and my mama was,
[00:22:18] we didn't have cell phones, you guys,
[00:22:19] so I'm in the kitchen on that phone,
[00:22:21] it's got that long cord, you know,
[00:22:23] and I'm trying to stretch it as far away from her
[00:22:25] as I can, so she can't hear my conversation with the recruiter.
[00:22:30] And when I'm coming back closer to her,
[00:22:32] she's like, what was that all about?
[00:22:34] And I'm like, what?
[00:22:36] You can't let it see what happened was.
[00:22:40] I was going to surprise you.
[00:22:42] Four months from now,
[00:22:43] he wants the surprise, the leaving, you know?
[00:22:47] And my dad, who admitted to Air Force before,
[00:22:49] and he had been in and out before I was even born,
[00:22:52] he's like, what?
[00:22:54] You know, he got excited.
[00:22:55] He's like, so what we got to do, you know?
[00:22:57] And I told him to do the list of things,
[00:22:58] and he told me, and my mom was like, what?
[00:23:00] She's like, D, Ann, are you sure?
[00:23:04] I was like, yeah, I had no doubt,
[00:23:06] I had no fear, I had no worry.
[00:23:07] I was like, yeah, this is, I'm ready to go, right?
[00:23:11] You know?
[00:23:13] For two straight weeks, until I went to have my physical,
[00:23:17] my mom asked me every single day, are you sure?
[00:23:21] D, Ann, are you sure?
[00:23:23] And she kept on and kept on asking me,
[00:23:25] I was 100% sure, no fear, no worries, no doubts, right?
[00:23:31] Until that bus started moving from the back station,
[00:23:35] and I'm on there by myself.
[00:23:37] I'm the youngest of seven, I've never been away from home.
[00:23:41] For real, for real, and I'm going from Phoenix, Arizona
[00:23:45] to San Antonio, Texas, on my bus by myself,
[00:23:49] and yeah, so all kind of fear jumped on me,
[00:23:53] and y'all know, y'all seen things in movies
[00:23:56] where people have been under hypnosis,
[00:23:59] and it's this one sound that they hear,
[00:24:01] and all of a sudden, it's like, when you hear this sound,
[00:24:03] you're gonna wake up, right?
[00:24:05] Y'all, I was sitting on that bus,
[00:24:06] and I'd already waited for my mom and dad,
[00:24:09] and everybody, I'm good, I get on that bus,
[00:24:11] and I sit down, and everybody else is getting down,
[00:24:13] all of a sudden, I hear that, shh!
[00:24:16] Y'all know that sound?
[00:24:19] And all of a sudden, I'm going, oh, God, what did you do?
[00:24:24] What did you do?
[00:24:26] What did you do?
[00:24:27] Fear got all over me.
[00:24:29] I wanted to run off that bus, you guys,
[00:24:32] and guess what?
[00:24:34] The last station I went to before I had to get on that bus,
[00:24:37] so when you go and raise your right hand,
[00:24:39] then you got to swear in.
[00:24:41] And they had told me before I raised my right hand
[00:24:44] and swore in, and I'm in a room full of people.
[00:24:47] They said, up until now, you could go home.
[00:24:53] As a matter of fact, if anybody has any doubt
[00:24:56] that you still want to go home, leave now.
[00:25:00] But once you swear in, you take that bus, you're in.
[00:25:06] It's a dumb deal, but that's where we are right now.
[00:25:11] It's a dumb deal.
[00:25:13] There is no turnaround.
[00:25:14] There is no runaway.
[00:25:15] I don't care what noises you hear.
[00:25:17] I don't care what happens.
[00:25:19] You've already signed up.
[00:25:21] You've already sworn in.
[00:25:23] You've already made a vow to open for the Lord.
[00:25:26] You're all in, right?
[00:25:29] Now, we arrive at the Blackwood Air Force Base, you guys.
[00:25:35] And I'm going to tell you what, just like in the movies.
[00:25:38] The movies got some of that ride.
[00:25:41] The bus arrives, you guys, and goes through the gate.
[00:25:47] And we don't know where we're going,
[00:25:49] but once it comes to a stop, I'm looking, first of all,
[00:25:52] I'm looking around, and it's like, oh, this is nice.
[00:25:54] They were with y'all.
[00:25:55] Beautiful base, pristine.
[00:25:57] And it's nighttime now, because it was a long ride
[00:25:59] that we had not eaten or anything, whatever.
[00:26:01] I'm looking around, and I'm like, oh, this is nice.
[00:26:03] Now, I'm ready to get out and get my warm welcome
[00:26:06] and all that.
[00:26:08] I'm the new recruit, and they're going to show me the ropes
[00:26:10] and all that, y'all.
[00:26:11] Those doors open.
[00:26:12] I'm going to tell you what.
[00:26:16] They started yelling, fussing, cussing.
[00:26:21] I heard some things.
[00:26:23] I had never heard before.
[00:26:24] I had been a shelter child, you know what I'm saying?
[00:26:27] I was just like, what?
[00:26:29] And y'all, I'm in the middle of the bus,
[00:26:31] and I'm looking out the window like, who are they yelling at?
[00:26:35] We just got here.
[00:26:37] We ain't done nothing wrong.
[00:26:39] You know, they sure think they're not killing at us,
[00:26:42] you know?
[00:26:43] But why nobody else out there?
[00:26:45] And the only thing that could have been getting yelled at
[00:26:48] was the ones who was in the front of the bus,
[00:26:50] and they had gotten off, and I'm like, oh, my God,
[00:26:52] what are they doing?
[00:26:53] Why?
[00:26:54] They're so mean.
[00:26:55] Y'all?
[00:26:56] And all I'm hearing, I'm hearing toe to toe,
[00:27:01] heel to toe, face front, you know?
[00:27:04] I don't know what toe to lie means.
[00:27:06] I don't know what heel towe means.
[00:27:08] I don't know what heel towe means.
[00:27:09] I don't know nothing, bro.
[00:27:12] Y'all, as I'm getting off the bus,
[00:27:15] I'm seeing these recruits,
[00:27:18] and they're packed like sardines, right?
[00:27:20] The person that was yelling toe to line is the first person
[00:27:23] that gets off the bus,
[00:27:24] and if you put your toes on the line,
[00:27:26] everybody behind you is heel toed.
[00:27:28] Your toes have to be touching the heels
[00:27:30] of the person in front of you.
[00:27:32] Yes, ma'am.
[00:27:33] I sneeze that face, Angie.
[00:27:34] Yes.
[00:27:35] You have to literally work your toes,
[00:27:37] and look, and they are coming down, looking,
[00:27:39] making sure your toes are touching the heels
[00:27:41] of the person in front of you, okay?
[00:27:43] You're a germaphobe?
[00:27:45] Wrong career.
[00:27:46] Don't you?
[00:27:47] Okay?
[00:27:48] Because it doesn't matter.
[00:27:49] So, yeah, you've got to stand there
[00:27:50] with your toes in any way,
[00:27:52] and once they do that,
[00:27:54] if you look into the lunchtime
[00:27:56] and they're yelling face front, face front,
[00:27:59] and look, you should be looking directly
[00:28:01] at the back of the person head in front of you.
[00:28:04] That's true.
[00:28:05] That's all you know to do.
[00:28:06] So, what you're learning is follow orders.
[00:28:09] Follow directions.
[00:28:10] Just do what I say, okay?
[00:28:12] There is no deviation from what's in front of you.
[00:28:15] Do exactly what I say, the way I say it,
[00:28:17] and you're going to be fine, right?
[00:28:19] Well, for the first few weeks,
[00:28:20] I did everything just fine, all right?
[00:28:23] You can get some rules to follow with all the rules, okay?
[00:28:27] No trouble out of me, right?
[00:28:28] And I'm trying to still be that.
[00:28:30] I told you, I was a shelter child.
[00:28:31] I'm the one that's kind of staying in the bag.
[00:28:33] Don't look at me.
[00:28:34] Don't talk to me.
[00:28:35] I'm good, you know, whatever.
[00:28:36] That's me.
[00:28:37] Well, when you're in the military,
[00:28:38] it's a whole different story, right?
[00:28:40] Because they are trying to separate the week
[00:28:42] from a straw.
[00:28:43] And, y'all, it's a mental game.
[00:28:45] If they can take this from you,
[00:28:47] they got you, right?
[00:28:49] So, fast forward a few weeks,
[00:28:52] and I had to get separated from my flight
[00:28:55] because I had to do some administrative stuff,
[00:28:57] but when I came back to the dorm,
[00:28:58] everybody looked out on the flight line,
[00:29:00] and they were already in formation.
[00:29:01] They were doing some, basically,
[00:29:03] they were learning how to march, right?
[00:29:05] Y'all, I knew as I was walking to join the flight,
[00:29:10] I was about to get it.
[00:29:12] I just had this, I was like, oh, here we go.
[00:29:14] Here we go.
[00:29:15] I didn't know what was going to happen, but y'all,
[00:29:17] I get out there, Sergeant Becca,
[00:29:19] she's a little five foot two black lady, right?
[00:29:21] Had that big smoke there, had all y'all seen them hats,
[00:29:24] right?
[00:29:26] And she saw me coming, and she started yelling,
[00:29:29] double-town, double-town, double-town.
[00:29:31] Fall in, fall in.
[00:29:33] If you don't know anything about marching,
[00:29:34] you can't fall in until moving flight, okay?
[00:29:36] You can only fall in when everybody's still, right?
[00:29:39] And if they say you fall in,
[00:29:40] then they size you up and, you know,
[00:29:43] call you to attention or whatever.
[00:29:44] So she's telling me, fall in.
[00:29:46] I'm like, I'm knowing I can't do that.
[00:29:48] I'm supposed to follow the orders, right?
[00:29:49] So I get over there, and I try to get behind the flight
[00:29:54] so I can just fall in and start marching.
[00:29:56] What does she do?
[00:29:57] She called that face.
[00:29:59] Knowing I was trying to get in line,
[00:30:01] she called them, so they go this way now, okay?
[00:30:05] And now I'm over here somewhere, right?
[00:30:07] She yelled, double-town, get in line.
[00:30:10] I'm taking soul now.
[00:30:11] I'm trying to get over to something.
[00:30:12] What's she doing?
[00:30:13] Right face.
[00:30:14] So she just trying to make this idiot out of me, right?
[00:30:17] Well, y'all, I had to get broken in.
[00:30:20] I'm going to tell y'all like this.
[00:30:22] I wasn't having it.
[00:30:23] You try to make a fool out of me.
[00:30:25] I ain't doing it.
[00:30:26] So I just stop walking.
[00:30:28] Y'all know what happened, right?
[00:30:31] Get over here, Evan.
[00:30:33] So you guys are like, you know, I walk over to her,
[00:30:36] and she put that brim.
[00:30:38] She fought that, she walked five states,
[00:30:40] and she put that brim on her ankle bone.
[00:30:42] It might not touch her feet.
[00:30:44] And she went in on me.
[00:30:46] She invented some words, you know?
[00:30:48] He went in front of me.
[00:30:50] I'm going back.
[00:30:51] I'm going back.
[00:30:53] Look, y'all, just as I was starting to break,
[00:30:58] and I was so slightly, I was starting to break,
[00:31:00] and I'm pretty tough, you guys.
[00:31:02] But in that moment, I'm going to angle.
[00:31:04] I didn't know what to do, right?
[00:31:06] But y'all, I promise you, in that moment,
[00:31:10] I saw myself back in my kitchen at home with my dad
[00:31:13] before I left him.
[00:31:15] My dad stood there, Jesus.
[00:31:18] In that kitchen, he told me, he said,
[00:31:23] all of my children, he said, you're my baby.
[00:31:26] I went down to some seven, y'all.
[00:31:28] He said, all of my children, I wanted somebody
[00:31:31] to join the military because he had been in the Air Force.
[00:31:34] And he said, I want you to know you like this.
[00:31:37] He said, if anybody can do this, you can.
[00:31:40] And I said, yes, sir.
[00:31:44] Everybody told me, y'all.
[00:31:46] He said, if you don't remember anything else,
[00:31:51] you remember just one thing.
[00:31:53] He said, they could yell, they could cuss,
[00:31:58] they could scream, they could call you out your name,
[00:32:01] but they can't put that on.
[00:32:04] He said, you remember that.
[00:32:05] You're going to be just fine.
[00:32:07] So in that moment, when this lady is in my face,
[00:32:15] doing all of that, I remember what my dad said to me.
[00:32:19] That was the only piece of advice that he gave me.
[00:32:22] And it kept me from the duration of my time
[00:32:26] in the military because it's a victim of their power.
[00:32:31] If you know they can't hurt you, for real, for real,
[00:32:33] it's all just worry.
[00:32:34] It's all just love.
[00:32:35] Oh, you're just putting on a show.
[00:32:37] Because if you don't let them take your mind,
[00:32:40] they can't get the rest of it.
[00:32:42] So when I realized it was a mind getaway, it's wrong now.
[00:32:45] You know what I'm saying?
[00:32:46] So as she was standing there yelling at me,
[00:32:48] I tensed up, I clenched my fist,
[00:32:51] and I was just bringing, I got you now.
[00:32:54] You can't do nothing to me.
[00:32:56] And I think she realized in that moment
[00:32:59] that she was defeated because all of a sudden,
[00:33:01] she was like, are you listening to me, Aaron?
[00:33:03] And y'all, I looked and I stared at her dead in her eyes.
[00:33:06] I said, yes, ma'am.
[00:33:08] But I didn't flinch.
[00:33:09] All fear was gone.
[00:33:11] And that five-foot-two shot down at three feet.
[00:33:14] I promise you, she was done for.
[00:33:17] Because she knew I figured out the game.
[00:33:20] And the rest of that six weeks that I was there,
[00:33:23] she did not bother me.
[00:33:24] Because as a matter of fact,
[00:33:25] she was telling me I have to kick.
[00:33:28] And I say that because there was another not-so-nice T.I.
[00:33:31] And T.I. was training instructor, who had it out for me.
[00:33:36] Because I had a problem with my knees.
[00:33:39] Those patellar tendons inflamed the whole time I was there.
[00:33:44] Y'all know if you ever ran in formation before,
[00:33:46] but you don't get to stretch your legs like you're supposed to.
[00:33:49] You're running those short chocolate steps,
[00:33:51] and somebody calling Kate.
[00:33:52] Y'all, my knees were done.
[00:33:54] Y'all hear me?
[00:33:55] So I had a waiver, and I wasn't supposed to have to run,
[00:33:58] because I had this waiver,
[00:33:59] which is a good thing for me, but not so sharp.
[00:34:02] Because she didn't want anybody on her flight
[00:34:04] to make her look bad, right?
[00:34:06] So she had it out for me.
[00:34:07] But anyway, long story short, y'all,
[00:34:10] I didn't know that she was going to try to recycle me,
[00:34:13] and make me fall back into the flight behind me,
[00:34:15] and make me repeat some of my basic training.
[00:34:20] But guess who told me?
[00:34:22] That little five-foot-two leg that I stood up to.
[00:34:25] She gave me just enough information to keep me,
[00:34:30] so that I could graduate.
[00:34:31] But what happened was, she said,
[00:34:32] if you don't make this run,
[00:34:36] they're going to recycle you,
[00:34:37] and you're going to get a setback.
[00:34:39] And I'm like, recycle?
[00:34:40] I didn't know what recycle meant.
[00:34:42] She said, sorry, Sean, I didn't tell you.
[00:34:44] I said, no, ma'am.
[00:34:46] And so, she said, well, what that means is,
[00:34:50] and what I just told you,
[00:34:51] she said, I sent you back, and I'm like,
[00:34:53] well, no, see, here's the thing.
[00:34:54] You think you're going to set me back.
[00:34:55] All you did was give me ammunition to fight.
[00:34:59] So, once again, that's where we are.
[00:35:01] The devil wants to send us back by the things
[00:35:03] that we are enduring with our spouses,
[00:35:05] whatever it is.
[00:35:06] I don't care if it's infidelic.
[00:35:07] I don't care what type of mental abuse,
[00:35:10] whatever you may be going through.
[00:35:12] The devil's position is to take you out, you guys.
[00:35:16] But you know what?
[00:35:17] There's got to be some fighting in here.
[00:35:20] Look, whenever he comes in,
[00:35:22] whenever he comes in like I love,
[00:35:24] the spirit of a little race and standing together,
[00:35:26] you be that standard that is raised against the devil,
[00:35:29] when he's trying to come against you,
[00:35:31] your spouse, and your marriage, right?
[00:35:33] So, when he, when she told me,
[00:35:35] oh, if you don't do this,
[00:35:36] they're going to set you back on.
[00:35:38] That's a set up for a step up,
[00:35:40] especially as Todd from Next Level Ministries, you guys.
[00:35:43] So, let me tell you something.
[00:35:45] I'm going to fast forward to lap six.
[00:35:49] When it came time for us to make this run,
[00:35:51] and you have to make this run in order to qualify
[00:35:53] to graduate from basic training.
[00:35:55] You have got to do that.
[00:35:57] Now, I'm going to have six laps.
[00:35:59] First week, you work one lap a day,
[00:36:02] second week you want to run two,
[00:36:04] and they gradually increase until you get to six.
[00:36:06] Well, here we are.
[00:36:08] It's time for us to go out and do this final run,
[00:36:11] and y'all, my knees are in flames.
[00:36:13] I can feel fire coming out of it.
[00:36:15] You understand?
[00:36:16] I was hurting so bad,
[00:36:18] but by the time we got around to lap six,
[00:36:20] let me tell you what.
[00:36:22] I'm shocking myself.
[00:36:23] Hey, I can't believe I've run this far
[00:36:25] because my knees were hurting so bad,
[00:36:26] but I was so deterred.
[00:36:28] You are not going to set me back, right?
[00:36:31] Y'all, we come around the last curve,
[00:36:33] we hit straight away,
[00:36:35] and I'm like, I'm almost done.
[00:36:39] I'm almost done, right?
[00:36:40] Well, wouldn't you know?
[00:36:42] The little girl in front of me gave up.
[00:36:45] Y'all ever seen people running in formation?
[00:36:46] Y'all know how tight that formation is?
[00:36:49] The little girl in front of me,
[00:36:50] Phil, guess what happened?
[00:36:53] Blamey, I hit the floor.
[00:36:54] I hit that ground.
[00:36:55] The cement?
[00:36:56] We were running on a flight line.
[00:36:58] I hit that pavement,
[00:37:00] and everybody behind me,
[00:37:02] we followed like dominoes.
[00:37:04] You know, one person in front of you
[00:37:06] followed everybody,
[00:37:07] and everything behind it is going to fall.
[00:37:09] We hit that pavement.
[00:37:10] I didn't just fall.
[00:37:12] I skid across the ground.
[00:37:14] I'm scarred up.
[00:37:15] I tore the knees out of my fatigues.
[00:37:17] I mean, I messed up, right?
[00:37:19] All of a sudden, I hear somebody think,
[00:37:21] in my ear, get up.
[00:37:23] Get up.
[00:37:24] I mean, just screaming, get up.
[00:37:28] I look up into Sergeant Sharp,
[00:37:30] the lady who was trying to recycle me.
[00:37:32] She was in my ear yelling, get up.
[00:37:37] Y'all, if y'all can even imagine
[00:37:40] somebody who hates you, here you are.
[00:37:44] God will use anybody.
[00:37:46] I won't even save you, God,
[00:37:48] but God will use anybody if he has to.
[00:37:52] He will use anybody, right?
[00:37:54] He used this moment.
[00:37:55] She's in my ear.
[00:37:56] She's screaming, get up,
[00:37:58] and I managed to get to my feet,
[00:38:00] and she ran with me
[00:38:02] across that finish line.
[00:38:06] The timekeeper yelled at my time.
[00:38:09] She recorded my time.
[00:38:10] Y'all, I was about three seconds away
[00:38:12] from not making it.
[00:38:14] About three seconds away from not making it,
[00:38:17] but she ran across that finish line with me.
[00:38:19] Now, she still made me go out
[00:38:21] for remedial PC that afternoon, okay,
[00:38:24] because I wasn't able to run.
[00:38:25] Whenever you're not able to run,
[00:38:27] they put you on remedial PC.
[00:38:28] You have to go in physical conditioning.
[00:38:30] You have to go out in the afternoon
[00:38:33] to run again, or if you can't run,
[00:38:36] you can walk the whole thing,
[00:38:37] but you still have to go out,
[00:38:38] because that's your punishment
[00:38:39] for not being able to run with the regular flight.
[00:38:41] But once you make that run with the regular flight,
[00:38:44] you're supposed to cancel out remedial PC,
[00:38:47] but you speak because that can't be, y'all.
[00:38:51] Now, she made me go out anyway, right?
[00:38:53] But it's all good.
[00:38:56] I had just enough time to get across that line,
[00:39:01] so she couldn't hold me back from graduation, right?
[00:39:04] But it all started with Sergeant Beckles
[00:39:06] giving me that little nugget of information
[00:39:09] that I needed in order for me to make it
[00:39:12] even go out there to run.
[00:39:15] But what I really wanted you guys,
[00:39:16] like I said, it's just a mind game.
[00:39:18] So while this lady is berating me,
[00:39:22] like I said, I remember what my dad said,
[00:39:24] and that helped me get through basic training.
[00:39:26] What I want to say to you guys is this,
[00:39:28] life is going to be full of examples,
[00:39:30] like Sergeant Beckles.
[00:39:31] You're going to have a lot of little
[00:39:34] junior demons in your face.
[00:39:36] That's what I'm calling for you,
[00:39:37] that little little age.
[00:39:38] Those little junior demons
[00:39:39] are going to get in your face.
[00:39:40] They want to intimidate you,
[00:39:41] and they want to break you.
[00:39:43] They want to take your mind out of the game,
[00:39:46] but you don't have to let that happen.
[00:39:48] You have a choice of what you're going to do,
[00:39:50] because by the time you get to the Sergeant Sharps,
[00:39:52] those big demons, and y'all,
[00:39:54] she looks like, y'all might have seen,
[00:39:56] what is that, the Wizard of Oz?
[00:40:02] Y'all got that green witch?
[00:40:04] That was Sergeant Sharps.
[00:40:06] She looked just like,
[00:40:09] without the green paint, of course,
[00:40:11] but she looked just like,
[00:40:13] she was scary looking just like that lady
[00:40:16] who played that role.
[00:40:17] That ain't scary looking.
[00:40:19] But you're going to have those,
[00:40:21] we wrestle not against legislation of the level,
[00:40:23] we wrestle against what?
[00:40:24] Principalities, against powers,
[00:40:25] against rules over the darkness of this world,
[00:40:27] and spiritual wickedness in high places.
[00:40:29] That's what she represents to me,
[00:40:31] but God even uses her in that situation
[00:40:34] to help you get across that finish line.
[00:40:36] We'll use anything and anybody for what it is.
[00:40:41] Y'all want to stay where I'm saying?
[00:40:46] Now, I'm going to fast forward to this,
[00:40:49] through this rather,
[00:40:51] because I'm going to,
[00:40:52] oh no, let me check like 10 of you guys.
[00:40:54] I'm real bad about going on.
[00:40:58] So I'm going to be good,
[00:40:59] because past and past, you know.
[00:41:02] But here's what I want to say to you guys,
[00:41:05] just like my dad gave me advice,
[00:41:08] you guys, our dad left us.
[00:41:12] All the advice we give right here in this world,
[00:41:15] right, to your husbands it sounds like,
[00:41:19] love your wives as Christ though the church,
[00:41:23] and to you wives and stuff,
[00:41:24] like wives be a subjection to your own husbands, right?
[00:41:28] If you can master those things,
[00:41:33] you are well on your way to having a successful marriage.
[00:41:38] And because I don't have a whole lot of time,
[00:41:41] I'm going to fast forward all the way right here, you guys.
[00:41:44] My dad taught me,
[00:41:46] we used to build things at home.
[00:41:49] I was like the son he never had,
[00:41:51] even though he had three boys.
[00:41:54] They would never,
[00:41:55] I'm not going to say they were good for nothing,
[00:41:57] but they were just like the best sons.
[00:42:01] You can let him tell anybody to say they were good for nothing,
[00:42:03] but I was like the son he never had,
[00:42:05] because I was the one that stuck under him.
[00:42:08] I was when he taught how to build things.
[00:42:12] We used to build cabinets and entertainment centers.
[00:42:14] He taught me how to lay tile and things like that.
[00:42:17] So I just stayed.
[00:42:18] When I did go to college,
[00:42:22] I wanted to be like my dad.
[00:42:23] I was going to be an electrical engineer
[00:42:25] just because my dad was.
[00:42:27] So that was my ambition
[00:42:28] until I realized he couldn't afford to keep me in college,
[00:42:31] and we couldn't qualify at the time
[00:42:34] for me to get a grandson.
[00:42:35] That's why I ended up joining the Air Force,
[00:42:37] but he was in the Air Force so that way, too.
[00:42:39] So like I said, I was like that son he never had,
[00:42:42] but I remember when we used to build things together.
[00:42:46] He always asked me, he said,
[00:42:48] Brad, don't ask me why he called me Brad.
[00:42:50] That's off the table.
[00:42:51] I was like, what that mean?
[00:42:53] But anyway, he said,
[00:42:55] first of all, before you begin to build,
[00:42:58] he said, always read the instructions.
[00:43:01] Read all of the instructions.
[00:43:03] He said, read the instructions,
[00:43:06] identify the parts, count the pieces.
[00:43:10] Okay?
[00:43:11] Read the instructions,
[00:43:13] identify the parts, and count the pieces.
[00:43:16] That was prerequisite to before you build anything, right?
[00:43:20] So here's the thing that happens with us,
[00:43:26] most of us in marriage,
[00:43:27] that we just try to figure it out.
[00:43:29] We just try to link it.
[00:43:30] You know, we just go ahead and get that marriage certificate
[00:43:33] and we go move in this house together
[00:43:36] and we think that everything is going to fall in place.
[00:43:39] If you ever put anything together,
[00:43:41] if you have not read the instructions,
[00:43:44] if you have not identified all the parts,
[00:43:49] if you're not counting the pieces,
[00:43:50] you may end up with something that's,
[00:43:53] look, it's not going to look like a picture.
[00:43:56] You know what I'm saying?
[00:43:58] It's not going to look like a picture.
[00:44:00] But here's the thing,
[00:44:02] this right here, these are our instructions.
[00:44:07] And I encourage, I just said before,
[00:44:09] all of you sit together.
[00:44:12] Read the instructions.
[00:44:14] And when I say read the instructions,
[00:44:16] everything that pertains to life and God and uncertainty,
[00:44:19] this word, everything that pertains to marriage
[00:44:22] is in this word, right?
[00:44:24] If you don't get together and read it together,
[00:44:26] you're not going to know what it says.
[00:44:27] And guess what?
[00:44:28] You cannot identify the parts.
[00:44:30] Identify the parts.
[00:44:31] There's no one in your role.
[00:44:34] What is your role as a husband?
[00:44:36] How do you know what your role is?
[00:44:38] What part do you play?
[00:44:39] It's right here in this word.
[00:44:41] Identify your role as a wife.
[00:44:43] That's knowing what part do you play?
[00:44:46] It's right here in this word, right?
[00:44:48] And counting the pieces,
[00:44:50] Pastor Chol talked about this,
[00:44:52] that threefold cord is all you need.
[00:44:55] You, your spouse, and your Lord.
[00:45:00] That threefold cord is not easily broken.
[00:45:03] If you don't have the Lord in your marriage,
[00:45:05] you may as well wake up the cord.
[00:45:07] You may as well go ahead and cut.
[00:45:09] If it's just you and him,
[00:45:11] then you're going to work.
[00:45:13] If you have not read the instructions,
[00:45:15] it's not going to work.
[00:45:17] If you don't identify the part,
[00:45:19] your role that you are supposed to play,
[00:45:23] you're going to work.
[00:45:25] Read the instructions.
[00:45:29] Identify the parts, write,
[00:45:32] count the pieces.
[00:45:33] That's what I want to say to you guys today
[00:45:37] because the devil ain't playing.
[00:45:42] And we are in the last days, you guys.
[00:45:44] This is boot camp.
[00:45:46] So, just like I said in the beginning,
[00:45:48] what is the definition of boot camp?
[00:45:50] What you didn't get before,
[00:45:52] you need to get it now
[00:45:54] because this is that intensive
[00:45:59] and rigorous course.
[00:46:01] This is like, you're getting fast-tracked today.
[00:46:05] What you didn't know before,
[00:46:06] you need to get it now
[00:46:09] because the definition of boot camp
[00:46:11] is a short, intensive,
[00:46:13] and rigorous course of training
[00:46:15] because we are out of time.
[00:46:17] Long time no hold grudges.
[00:46:20] Long time no to lick your wounds
[00:46:22] because you fell over that little devil
[00:46:25] that was in front of you.
[00:46:27] That knocked you off course.
[00:46:29] It's just a stumbling block.
[00:46:30] That girl fell in front of me.
[00:46:32] That was just like a stumbling block.
[00:46:34] But I had the choice to lay there.
[00:46:37] I had the choice to listen to that voice
[00:46:40] and start screaming,
[00:46:41] get up.
[00:46:42] And I'm telling you guys right now,
[00:46:46] I don't care what you've been through.
[00:46:49] Get up.
[00:46:51] Get up.
[00:46:52] You could still make it across that finish line.
[00:46:54] And you may have to drag.
[00:46:56] You may have to drag your buddy wrong.
[00:47:00] Okay?
[00:47:02] But it's worth it
[00:47:04] because you want to see them make it too.
[00:47:06] You don't just want to arrive at the finish line
[00:47:09] and look back at your husband's way back here
[00:47:11] because he got caught up in infidelity.
[00:47:13] You know what I'm saying?
[00:47:14] Look, that's real.
[00:47:16] Because you got caught up in something back here.
[00:47:20] I'm leaving you because you hurt me.
[00:47:24] Well, how is that love?
[00:47:26] I'm not saying that every situation is salvageable.
[00:47:32] Okay?
[00:47:33] There are some people who will divorce
[00:47:36] for the right reasons.
[00:47:38] And the Bible doesn't give us those right reasons, right?
[00:47:41] But I want to ask you something.
[00:47:45] Is there anything to offer God?
[00:47:47] And I'm going to tell you what, just like it was sent to me so many years ago,
[00:47:53] there's nothing too hard for God, not giving divorce.
[00:47:56] It's too hard for God.
[00:47:58] I had a prophet speak to me.
[00:48:00] She said, there's something in your life that you feel is unforgivable.
[00:48:06] But God says forgive.
[00:48:08] Because God had money.
[00:48:11] God knew what that plan was.
[00:48:12] And as bad as I was hurting, you know, the Lord said,
[00:48:18] You can do this.
[00:48:21] Just like my dad told me before I joined the Air Force.
[00:48:25] And he said, I love anybody, all of my children.
[00:48:30] He said, I know you can do this.
[00:48:33] That's what I believe the Lord had me to say to you guys today.
[00:48:40] If you're still here after all these years,
[00:48:42] some of us have been there for a long time.
[00:48:45] Some of us are just getting started.
[00:48:49] But I know you've been there.
[00:48:51] But you've got to forgive.
[00:48:53] And you've got to love.
[00:48:54] For God's soul, love, and you give.
[00:48:57] Are you willing to give?
[00:48:58] Are you willing to sacrifice?
[00:48:59] Look, if you're not, if you're not married yet,
[00:49:01] and you're not willing to give, if you're not willing to sacrifice,
[00:49:03] don't do it.
[00:49:06] Save yourself the trouble and sink the earth from the headache, the heartache,
[00:49:10] all that.
[00:49:11] Don't even do it if you can't do it with love and a heart for that person.
[00:49:17] Now, you're not going to give hope in the Bible
[00:49:20] and look up Mary's vows, okay?
[00:49:24] But there aren't Mary's vows, right?
[00:49:26] There are vows that we all took.
[00:49:28] I don't care whether it was something that you were familiar with
[00:49:30] because you heard about it and you went to a lot of weddings.
[00:49:33] I've heard a lot of people say words that they did not mean.
[00:49:36] I'm going to ask you guys, if you have not studied your wedding vows
[00:49:40] or something, you said, go back and look at it,
[00:49:43] and remind yourself, just like I said earlier today,
[00:49:47] it's time to get up.
[00:49:49] And it's time to ride the race, the race if I can, to the swing,
[00:49:53] but those who would endure to the pain.
[00:49:57] I believe y'all have that best answer.
[00:50:01] Well, I'll leave it to you later.