"Best Of" Thanks Praising

Happy Thanksgiving and happy thanks praising.

I'm Stu Everson. What a great time of year. I hope you enjoy this special podcast and broadcast where we went to the Mayflower restaurant. That's right, you can't have Thanksgiving without the Mayflower, not just the beginning of our country, but right now great restaurant, some great Christian Radio partners, and we had a big crowd of Christian Radio friends, ministry partners. We had Randy Shepherd and Jamie Johnson from Crossfire Ministries to share their testimony. My sister shares some scriptures connected to the attributes of God, and you'll hear some other wonderful, wonderful stories including a song based right out of scripture from Pastor J. Stay tuned, be encouraged, please share this, and remember we give thanks because God has given us everything, including every breath that we breathe. Happy Thanksgiving, happy thanks praising. Enjoy this special show.

Randy Shepherd, they just left Alex McFarland. They were on a national, international TV program with him. Jamie Johnson, Randy Shepherd, what's, what is Crossfire Ministries, and has God been working in your life this year?

It's a special time, it's the holidays, people are in Thanksgiving, Christmas. Tell us what God's been doing, man. Well, Crossfire uses basketball to travel the world, share Christ, and years ago, middle school, high school, college, I played against Randy. He was at UNCA, I was at Gardner Webb, and his team's always beat my team in basketball, and so I tell people around the world, I decided, J, I'd stop getting beat and join Randy and start Crossfire.

So what we've done all these years, brother, we have been able to use basketball, games, ACC All-Star, college schedule, high school teams we share with, football teams we shared with the Clemson football team when they played Wake Forest, when you were here, had a lot of fun, but we use sports to connect with people. I'm a preacher's kid. I grew up in the church, grew up in the church, my dad was a pastor for many years, and I heard the gospel as a boy. My father led me to Christ outside church walls at age nine, and so my point of sharing that is this, most people we get to connect with, Randy and I, are not in church on Sunday. We love preaching in church, we love guys who use their talent in music like J. We use sports to connect with them, I'll let Randy take the second half of this, but we use sports to connect with them outside church walls. If I'm in a bar Saturday night getting drunk and I'm lost, you won't find me in church on Sunday morning at the spiritual bar, will you? So sports is a way to reach them like Wake Forest, Clemson, Carolina, Duke, and build the bridge and show Christ. Now I pull Randy's string when we travel the world because what I used to do I don't do anymore.

He spins the ball, I can't. He just did that on this other program, it gets their attention, toothbrush, spoon, I hope he'll do it while you eat. I love that he draws a crowd around the world and we show Christ. So thank God for Stu, what y'all are doing with this Truth Network, y'all are awesome. Thanks for letting us walk in on your meal. God bless you guys. And we got Randy Shepherd, the other half of this amazing duo.

I don't, you don't want to take these guys on two on two, but we're gonna try actually to do that next. But Randy, you know, share a little bit about your testimony and we want to get into what God's done. I get these reports from you all throughout the year. This many kids got saved, this many basketball players committed their life to Christ, rededicated. You go to camps, you have a heart of an evangelist. You walk into IHOP and little do they know the half of the waitstaff would commit their life to Christ by the time he leaves.

It's like, we close at midnight, you don't leave till 3 a.m. because you're having prayer and worship breaks out. But tell us how you came to Christ and what your passion is and what God's been doing. I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina. Had a mom and dad like many of you that took their children to church. I heard the gospel as a nine-year-old that we're sinners.

I'd lied, I cheated, I'd been disobedient. Realized that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and got up and walked forward during a church service. I tell young people, did walking forward make me a Christian?

No. Just like going to McDonald's doesn't make you a hamburger. But I understood what sin was, repented, made Christ my Lord and Savior at nine. Grades one through eight I went to a Christian school and I was growing in my relationship with the Lord, but unfortunately in the ninth grade basketball became number one.

Maybe you can relate to that. I don't know who all we have here, but I'm sure there's some businessmen that might have put their business before the Lord before. There's some businessmen or some parents here that might have put their children before the Lord or their grandchildren.

We can put our church, we can put our ministry before the Lord. And I put basketball before the Lord. Grew up with a guy named Buzz Peterson. Buzz and I went off to North Carolina basketball camp as a 16-year-old and Buzz was 17.

We got put in a room beside of us with a name you might know in a minute. He was African-American from Wilmington, North Carolina. His best friend was Leroy Smith who was 16.

We were there with about 400 different players from around the southeast, dating myself now, but the summer of 1980. And African-American young man knocked on the door, came through, stuck his hand out. He was 17.

I was 16. He said, I want to introduce myself to you. My name is Mike Jordan. You know him today as Michael Jordan. We got on the same team that week and boy he made me look good.

Better than Stu makes me look on the court. When I was throwing the ball up to him he was dunking it forwards, backwards. We were giving high-fives.

Buzz and Michael were McDonald's All-Americans. They decided they would go play at North Carolina. I wasn't good enough.

I went to UNC Asheville to play. You men know one of these days you're gonna get told you're not good enough. People get cut from jobs every day, God forbid. Pastors run, congregations run their pastors off and pastors run their congregations off. Just kidding.

But I went to UNC Asheville to play and unfortunately you guys can relate. And ladies, I continued going to church on Sunday, but I wasn't listening to message. The awesome message you gave sister that we caught the tail end of it. I know you probably didn't call it a message. You called it a testimony or something, but it was awesome. And I wasn't listening though.

I was looking at my watch thinking, when is he gonna wrap this up? I got to get home and play basketball. I let basketball become number one. Long story short, my junior year at UNC Asheville we were getting ready to play Gardner Webb. Jamie and I had played against each other middle school, high school, and college. Jamie was the guy that you didn't want to hang out with if you weren't walking with the Lord because Jamie was salty for the Lord. His dad was a Baptist preacher. Jamie grew up in the church, gave his life to Christ at a young age, and didn't get off the path like a lot of preachers kids do. Jamie was walking with the Lord. Well he was playing for Gardner Webb.

I'm at UNCA. Hebrews 12 5 says, do not despise the chastening of the Lord that he disciplines those he loves. And about two days before we played Gardner Webb, a guy approached me on campus and he said, Randy, how's your walk with Jesus going? Well I lied to him. And I tell kids and adults when we speak to them sometimes, if you had to come up to the mic, not this crowd, because I know y'all are all on fire for the Lord, but if you had to come up to the mic and say how your walk with the Lord was going at a public school if you were a student there, you might have to lie if you wanted to not be telling the truth, which Truth Network, which I did that day. And I wasn't proud of that, but he asked me this question that changed my life. And men and ladies, I want to challenge you in this. You may not have the gift of evangelism, but every Christian is called to be an evangelist.

These waitresses, salvation, are just as important as the ones at your church or the ones that are listening to the Truth Network. And he asked me this question. He said, Randy, if you had died today and you stood before God, and he said, why should I let you into heaven, what are you gonna say to him?

Well I knew the answer. I'd grown up in church, I even prayed to receive Christ when I was nine, but I wasn't living it. And I don't know what I said to him, but two days later we played Garden of Web. Real tight game, we needed to win. I was a point guard, they were gonna foul me at the end of the game, get me to miss my free throws, hopefully. And a team fight broke out, and I got sucker punched right in the side of the head. Didn't see the punch coming, didn't get a chance to defend myself.

Jamie was probably trying to break the fight up, because he was a peacemaker. I was a rebel at that time, wasn't living for the Lord. And from that injury, men and ladies, I realized just like that, basketball shouldn't be number one. And when your God gets taken from you, you re-evaluate your priorities. And two days later I got down on my knees in my dorm room, and I said, Lord, I could have died from that injury. And I'm not ready to stand before you, but I want to be ready. And probably like a lot of you men here in the Truth Network teaches, I don't believe you can lose your salvation, but the question is this.

If you can live your life any old kind of way, and not be convicted, or the Lord not use something to get your attention, then we need to check and see if we really know the Lord. So that night in my dorm room at UNCA, I got down on my knees. I said, Lord, if I didn't mean that at nine, I mean it now. And I want you to be the Lord of my life. And I repented, got up off my knees, and that made all my problems go away, right?

Wrong. In this life there's gonna be trials and tribulations, and I'll close with this, because Stu wants me to. I was so into basketball during those young years that my parents would come home, and I'd be spinning the ball like so, and they didn't think that was too strange.

I couldn't shoot like Stu, I couldn't jump like Jamie, but I was told if I could handle the ball, there would be a place for me on the team. And mom and dad would come home, and I'd have different instruments out. The next day they came home, I had a spoon out. And Crossfire has been blessed to go to 68 countries, 47 states, and we go to foreign lands, we tell folks, this is how boys from Asheville, North Carolina eat ice cream.

Not really, but a few of us. So you get it going real good, and you eat your ice cream or your shrimp like so. But here's the most important. The Word of God says, taste and see that the Lord is good. How do you taste the Lord? You repent of sin. You give your life to Jesus and find out how much he loves you and how much he cares for you. The next day mom and dad came home, had a toothbrush out, and Jamie and I had been blessed to go to Israel 23 times. And I tell young people, you can believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God. That means without error, what the Truth Network teaches.

That's why we back them and buy advertising as well. There's a place though in Israel, but some of you been there, it's called Golgotha. It's where a holy God came to this earth, went to the cross. Spikes were nailed in his hands and his feet, his side was pierced, he went to the grave.

You men know he didn't stay in the grave like Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, but on the third day he came out of that grave. That's why we're here. And just like this silly toothbrush is gonna clean my teeth, Jesus Christ wants to clean our hearts up and give us peace and hope and purpose for living. Then when you get excited about the Lord like the Truth Network is and like you all are, many of us neglect this and I did for many years, the 95% of Christians don't share their faith. Our Heavenly Father, our head coach if you will, the last thing he told us, Matthew 28, go into all the world and share the gospel.

So whether it's in a restaurant, a college, a prison, internationally, your neighborhood, God wants us to use all means necessary to win some. So I give the praise and glory and honor to God. Appreciate Stu, his friendship.

Didn't know we were gonna do this today, but we all of a sudden became the the featured guest. So thank you Stu. Love you guys. God bless you. Enjoy your food.

Praise the Lord. Hey Randy Shepherd, Crossfire Ministries, a special Thanksgiving Christmas edition. We're at the Mayflower. You can't have Thanksgiving without the Mayflower.

And if only the pilgrims had taught the Indians or the Indians had taught the pilgrims how to play ball and not just how to plant corn, right? What would be different, Randy Shepherd? Jamie Johnson. Hey, any questions for them from the gallery or anyone have any comments about what he shared? What a blessing. Just a tremendous encouragement.

How many of you all have heard about Crossfire before? Just a show of hands or a scene? Good. Fantastic. Jeffrey, we got to get him on the big morning show with you.

That would be huge. Real quick, how can we pray? Jamie, maybe come up and tell us how we can pray for you guys this year. You guys are going in places.

We're going over to my kid's school and you're gonna speak to some of the teams there. Well, what will happen there and how can we pray for you this year? So many folks coming to Christ through Crossfire Ministries. Their hearts will be open that they'll hear what the Holy Spirit prompts their heart to hear. And then when he spins that ball, we share the gospel, they'll respond to Christ and pray that doors will be open.

We love to go wherever God opens doors and people are lost. You know that. That's why you're here. You support this radio station, but pray that God will open the doors.

Yeah. You guys make sure you meet Miguel, the hit man, Vieira, who played football in Kentucky and now he's tackling souls for Christ, right? Miguel, what a blessing. You hear these guys talk. What comes to mind, Miguel, when you hear that?

What about that? Isn't that encouraging? Very encouraging.

Just that people are using sports as a platform to share the gospel and it starts with creating a relationship and then once you have a relationship that they're interested in what you have to say and it's very positive. And we've got Pastor Jay here. We've got a Thanksgiving song and I want all of you to learn it, but first the Christian car guy before he takes a big bite of that delicious salad.

Oh my. Jay Boyce is a baller. Christian car guy, masculine journey. You got some guys here in this room with this awesome ministry. You do a radio feature that's all over the country, but tell her when you hear him talk about just a passion, how encouraging men and what all you do with a Truth Network.

Share a little bit. Well, I just have an unbelievable opportunity to help people do radio shows, right? As a result of the Christian car guy show, which I, you know, the Lord took that and made it syndicated and so I get to help people do that and all sorts of different really cool radios like date the word right right here next to it.

Dr. Carson, yeah, and you know finishing well with, you know, certified financial planner Hans Shyle and then Lantern Rescue with, you know, Mark and his team that go around the world, you know, rescuing folks out of sex trafficking. So we are really blessed to have a lot of opportunities to share Christ in so many different ways. And the guy to your left has been in radio maybe longer than the rest of us.

You know, it seems like, yeah, longer than Moses. Abraham was kind of shepherding at the time that you got into radio, I think, or maybe Noah was finishing up the ark, but Dave Compton, your passion, you see all these Christian radio folks and friends and Truth Network is growing, all these ministries. What's on your heart and why is it important that ministries like, we interview people like Crossfire, we, you know, we share this with the world out there, people listening. Yeah, almost 50 years, Stu, since I started in Christian radio and since I've been at the Truth Network, I've saw a different perspective that I haven't seen before. So it is important that folks like Randy, that we get them on the air and talk with them and share with the nation what God is doing in the hearts and lives of these incredible people. And you're sitting right next to one of our Christian radio pastors, Jeff Johnson. Pastor Jeff, what's in your heart when you hear all this? You've seen these guys spin balls and share the gospel. What does that do for your passion for reaching the lost?

It does a whole lot. I'm getting real close to asking Randy Shepherd to come and preach for me in Greensboro. Awkward things happen, these kind of get-togethers, you know, so someone said it's harder to go through the eye of a needle than to get in his church and preach, Randy.

I don't know, a bunch of folks might get saved. Dr. Carson, date the Word. What is that ministry?

Tell everyone real quick. In Thanksgiving, give us a good, what is 518? May, May the 18th, what does that verse say? I think something about in everything gives something.

I don't know what. 1st Thessalonians 5 18 says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God, and everything that we have received is a good gift from God, and we take time at Thanksgiving to acknowledge He is the giver of everything we are enjoying. And I love this ministry because they're taking advantage of every available opportunity to make the gospel known, and using sports.

Sports is a language of young people. They are going to listen in ways that no one else listens. Music, sports, that's a way to get into a young person's heart, so I'm thrilled to hear this testimony today. And that's Acts 11 23, as we're getting close to Thanksgiving, where Barnabas heard, saw the evidence of God at work, and it brought great joy to his life.

And there's nothing like hearing testimony to bring great joy to a person's life. That's so cool, and so here's the thing, everyone's about to learn a song that you may not know, but first you're gonna learn a verse, and then you're gonna find out that I tricked you, because that verse is a song. Now keep eating your delicious food. This is a Thanksgiving feast, pre-Thanksgiving, Mayflower, Thanksgiving, it all goes together.

We're out. Uncle Gus has set us up real nice. Hey, let's thank this young lady taking care of us. Let's thank her right now, guys, on National Radio. Now we're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, more testimonies, more music, more encouragement on this special Thanksgiving edition of a podcast and a broadcast leading right into the Christmas holiday. So be encouraged and say someone today, Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Thankspraising. We're thankful for all of you, our wonderful listeners, our wonderful partners, and our wonderful affiliates that are brave enough to carry Truth Talk.

I'm Stu Epperson, and we'll be right back after this quick break. A, God is awesome. God is beautiful. God is the creator of all things. God is delightful.

God is everything I need. God is faithful. God is good. God is holy. God is invincible. God is just and the justifier.

God is kind. God is love. God is light. God is mighty and mighty to say. God is noble, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

God is omniscient, all knowing, omnipotent, all powerful, omnipresent, everywhere. God is peace. God is praise.

God is my path. God is cute, quintessence of all things. God is my Savior. God is terrific. God is unique. God is the victorious one.

God is wonderful counselor. God is excellent. God is yellow.

His face shines like the sun, shining in all of its glory, and God is zenith, the zenith of all things, for from him and through him and to him are all things. I am adored. I am beloved of God.

I am created in the image and likeness of God. I am delighted in. I am and have everything I need for life and godliness. I am faithful in the Lord. I am kind.

I am loved. I am light. I am mighty in the Lord. I am nobility, the daughter of a king.

I am open to all God has for me. I am the praise of God, and I carry the peace of God. I am the quintessence of all of God's creation. I am upheld by God. I am victorious in the Lord. I am wonderful. I'm excellent, and I'm the zenith of all of God's creations. And now the Word of God, A, always bearing about in my body the death of Christ that the life of Christ might be revealed. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. C, cast all your care on the Lord.

He cares for you. D, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. E, everlasting to everlasting. Behold, you are God. F, faithful is he who called you.

He will do it. G, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. H, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory. I, abide in me that you may bear much fruit. J, I am justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. K, the kindness of God leads me to repentance. L, now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three.

But the greatest of these is love. M, the Lord your God in your midst is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice in his love for you. He will rejoice over you with singing. N, not by works of righteousness which you have done, but according to his mercy he saved you.

O, open wide your mouth and I will feel it. P, peace I leave with you. My peace I give you, not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Q, a meek and quiet spirit I will not despise. U, the eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. V, barely, barely I say unto you, you must be born again.

W, and his name will be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And now we join the next part of our segment with more testimonies, music, and encouragement. Happy, thanks, praising. Why am I saying that?

You'll find out coming up next right here, right now. Be encouraged, be blessed, and have an awesome time this Thanksgiving, this Christmas, with your family. Giving thanks to the Lord for all that he's given us and for who he is.

A wonderful, loving, caring, generous God. Okay, everyone say after me, in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Okay, Pastor J, it's been a year, brother. Actually, we've done it since then, but okay, Pastor J, introduce yourself to this national radio audience on this special time of year. Of course, every day we should be, I mean, in everything, it's pretty broad, isn't it? Right, it's correct. Jay Boyce here, pastor at Oak Lawn Baptist Church in Winston Salem, and just here today singing a song that Stu and I, well, the Lord wrote, but he made me write a tune to it last year, so we're gonna try it.

I haven't done it in a whole year, so. Here it comes, guys. He'll go through it with you, and then we can maybe all sing it. Here we go through the refrain and all that.

Alright, here we go. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. Alright everybody, what do you think?

You guys ready to jump in? Don't leave them up here, right? How do they say that? That's right, here we go. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you.

Let's do that again. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. Awesome. Alright everybody, on three say Happy Thanksgiving.

One, two, three. Happy Thanksgiving. That is 2 Thessalonians 5 18, 1 Thessalonians 5 18. What a blessing and what a blessing to have. We've got all kinds of folks in here at this Mayflower restaurant in rural hall, North Carolina, celebrating. We heard Randy Shepherd share and my sister Karen gave the awesome attributes of God.

We're gonna try to bring that audio in, Karen, did a great job. An attribute of God in a verse from every letter of the alphabet, which is really why when I open talking to you guys, I talked about happy thanks praising. And we can go around and say one thing that we're all thankful for, which we did when we introduced ourselves, which was tremendous.

And you guys really touched me with those testimonies. But when you think about it, we could also go around and say one aspect of God that we praise him for. So what praise, and we're told in Psalm 100 verse 3, who remembers that one? Maybe it's verse 4.

Say it with me if you know it. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. The great 100, one of the most famous Psalms and is the most famous Thanksgiving Psalm, Psalm 100.

We use thanksgiving and praise interchangeably, don't we? Because they're all going toward who? Toward Almighty God. And he is the source of everything. God gives.

Everyone, fill in the fill in the blank. For God so loved the world, he, Jamie Johnson, sent his only begotten Son. Yeah, he gave, right? So God gives, and what do we do? We pay him back. We work our butts off. We try to earn salvation.

We try to outwork everybody else. Well, I'm not as bad as Charlie Manson. Well, I'm not as good as that preacher. No!

No! We give thanks. All that we can do to the point where the climactic verse at the end of the Psalms, which you preached on, and you provided the notes, Pastor J, and helped us a lot with Wednesday in the Word. Psalm 150, the last Psalm.

The Psalms open with Psalm 1. The Blessed Man is delighting in God's Word, rooted in God's Word. Psalm 150, the Blessed Man is told to praise you the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts, which is thanksgiving, what he's done for you. Praise him according to his excellent greatness, which is praise.

Who he is. Who is this God that we're talking about? Because God is loving, we receive love. Because God is merciful, we receive mercy. So the attributes of God are who he is. And what we thank God for, his acts are what he does for us.

Thanksgiving. But Pastor J, what's the last verse in the book of Psalms? Psalm 150. And set it up, because there's instruments in there, but then it culminates in verse 6. Yeah, the instruments are awesome, and it's great to be a musician. I love instruments. I play the piano and the guitar, and of course there's a list of instruments in that Psalm. But when all else fails, and you don't have an instrument, God gave you an instrument, and that's your voice. And so of course the final verse says, let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Grateful for that instrument that we have to lift up his name and make him known and make him great. So while we've been here this hour or so, and some of you got to take off, I know, and let's get Randy and Jamie be sure you put your order in. Okay, that golden brown popcorn shrimp, they got salmon, and she got a menu right back here. Let's get him, here you go right here, Mayflower. Hey, while we've been here, how many breaths have each of you taken? Okay, we got probably 2,214 here.

I got 3,907 over here, because he ran from his car to get in real quick. I got the number, think about the number of breaths, okay. So you can live without water, for we do this all the time, right? How many days, right?

Weeks, not days, you know, a few days. For food! We can live without food now. I probably need to leave without food a little more than some of you folks, right?

But that can go on. But try living without breath. So when the psalmist says, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Who gave us the breath that we breathe?

Almighty God. So he closed this thing that says, everything, the breath that you breathe, which we take for granted that maybe as much as anything, because we have to do that or none of us live, right? We stop breathing. It's interesting that the greatest attack that this horrible plague of COVID had was on the lung, the pulmonary area right here. See, the breathing.

And it was really bad, because you can't do that, then you're toast. And so that everything that hath breath, praise the Lord. So what he's saying, with every ounce of breathing and every breath that comes out of me that you have to do, it goes right back up in praise to the one who gave us the breath to breathe.

Isn't that cool? So that is Psalm 150, and that's why I've been saying happy, thanks, praising. And that's why it's such a treat, all you guys, what you're here, you're here, and you're part of this. And I would love to see if I can get Pastor Rich to open us in prayer to pray for our food. Would you just pray a prayer of thanksgiving over all of our Truth Network listeners?

I'm recording this right here. And for everyone here, just such a blessing. You guys keep, well don't eat during the prayer, but like keep eating during the talking time.

I kind of got my, I mixed my metaphors there. But say a prayer for us, and lift us all up. Father, we are grateful to you because of who you are, and you are like what you have done, and you have redeemed us. You created us for of you, through you, and to you are all things. And we thank you for that, Father, and the delicious food that we've eaten today, all the things that we enjoy, the variety, the beauty, all of it is a reflection of your goodness. And we thank you because you are good. There is never a time that you are not good. And so we acknowledge that, Father, and we humbly bow before you with gratitude, and live, and vow to live lives of gratitude so that all that we do, Father, is worship towards you. Thank you for what you have done, and for what you will do. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.