Saving Souls

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Halleluia, that’s worth everything.  And I welcome you today to the campus of Oral Roberts University, the City of Faith Health Care Center, the Healing Outreach Center right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Welcome to Richard Roberts Live. This program today is designed to help you get needs met in your life.  And if you have a need, I urge you right now to stop what you’re doing for a moment, pick up your telephone and call the Abundant Life Prayer Group, area code 918-495-7777.  The Abundant Life Prayer Group prayer partners are ready to receive your call right now.  They are on duty 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. 918-495-7777.  While you’re writing that number down, I want to give you some dates to write down –  June 23, 24, and 25. That’s the dates for the fourth annual Oral Roberts Ministers Conference in association with the Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship and that’s the fastest-growing fellowship in the nation. More than 2,500 ministers are already a part of it.  Later in the program my dad will be here to tell you how you, as a minister, can be a part of that great conference.  But right now I want to take you back to last year’s conference and let you see what God did so that you will know what to expect to happen during this upcoming conference.  So just watch this.    AD04 (ROLL-IN) Highlights from the 3rd annual Ministers Conference.  (APPLAUSE)

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS  SU01 Let me tell you, if you want to be involved in something exciting, the fourth annual Oral Roberts Ministers Conference June 23, 24, and 25, in association with the Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship.  Let me tell you, it is for you if you are a minister of the gospel in any way, shape, form, or fashion.  It is for you.  And I’m going to ask my dad who is my special guest today to explain a little bit about it. He and I are joined today by Dean Clarence Boyd, dean of students of ORU, Lindsay is here, Cheryl Prewitt Salem is here, and I have other guests coming later in this program.  Give them all a good welcome. (APPLAUSE)  Dad, we’ve been talking about the Ministers Conference upcoming this next June in association with the fastest-growing fellowship in America, the Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship God led you to organize.  Can you share a word about it?

SPOR ORAL ROBERTS Well, I think the important thing to hold up in front of your mind is that it is a fellowship; it is not a denomination.  We have many denominations in the world and each is fulfilling its own part in the kingdom of God.  But there is a tremendous need for ministers like myself and others across this land to come together in the fellowship in the Holy Spirit, unity and love through signs and wonders.  So we organized what we call the Charismatic Bible Ministries.  People from every walk of life, some from denominations, some from independent groups, but all of them ministering in the charismatic power of the Holy Spirit and desiring a fellowship where they could come and not transsect official church business but to get down to loving and praying and fellowshipping and strengthening each other so that as we each go back to our own ministry calling we have a greater anointing, we have more understanding of how to win souls, to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to love as Jesus loved. Now the Charismatic Bible Ministries will meet in conjunction with the Oral Roberts fourth annual Ministers Conference June 23, 24, and 25 — a Tuesday, a Wednesday, and a Thursday — and I officially and lovingly invite you to come.  There are no fees. Hotels are near the campus and many of them are giving special rates.

You can make your reservation by writing me, Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Or you can pick up your phone and dial that number on your screen, 918-495-7777, and say, “Make me a reservation.”  Some 7,000 were here last year and we’re expecting a great number this year.  And some of the greatest charismatic leaders of the world will be sharing their ministry with you — how to build a great church, how to have a healing ministry, how to use the gifts of the Spirit, and how to come together in love. It’s going to be exciting and I invite you to be here.  I’ll be sharing my ministry, the secrets of the Lord’s call upon my life. I want you here and I’m expecting you.  (APPLAUSE)

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS That was last year’s conference. Nearly 7,000 people gathered here before that conference was over in Mabee Center.  What a fantastic 3 days it was.  Now mark these 3 days down on your calendar:  June 23, 24, and 25.  You can see them on your screen.  Now there’s how you can make your reservation.  Call 1-918-495-7777.  There are hotels available in the area on June 23, 24, and 25.  If you’re a minister of the gospel, a pastor, an evangelist, an associate pastor, children’s ministry, we’re going to have a youth services children’s ministry during this conference.  There are outstanding things going on.  My dad will be on the program tomorrow to share a little bit in more detail about it.  And some of the men you were hearing about are members of the board of the Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship, the fastest-growing fellowship in America. And one of those board members who you just heard from right there is my very special guest  SU03 today, Dr. Johnny Johnson….. (APPLAUSE)….. former Assistant Secretary of the Navy and the director of the National Coalition of Concerned Citizens.  Johnny, it’s a joy to have you here and for us to get a chance to meet with you again.  We had such a tremendous time with you when you were here on the program the last time as well as when you are in that Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship. Just before I ask you a couple of questions, what do you feel about the Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship conference? You know, there are almost 2,500 now that have joined it.

SPKM JOHNNY JOHNSON I know, I know, I know.  You know, I think that’s one of the finest things I’ve ever seen.  It doesn’t just bring people together, it brings them together in the spirit. And all over the country, everywhere I go, someone will say to me, “Hey, how do I get started in that?  What do I have to do?” And that thing is growing faster than any ministry I have ever seen in my entire life.  (APPLAUSE)

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Thank God for it. But I want to remind you once again.  June 23, 24, and 25.  Make your reservation now. Make your reservation now.  There are hotels in the area and they will be filling up very, very quickly. So make your reservation for June 23, 24, and 25 and you can expect to see the 77 board members as well as the nearly 2,500 ministers that have joined the Charismatic Bible Ministries Fellowship.  It’s alive, it’s well, it’s healthy, it’s going, and it can be a blessing in your life.  Your spouse is welcome, your family is welcome, and it will be a blessing to you so mark those days down on your calendar, June 23, 24, and 25.  (APPLAUSE)  Johnny, one thing in particular, among other things, but one thing in particular that I would like to ask you is concerning the congressional prayer breakfasts that you are deeply involved with in Washington.  You know, we hear a lot of what goes on in Washington in the news but there are other things that we don’t hear.  Can you bring us an update of what is going on in Washington, what is going on in those congressional prayer breakfasts, what is going on behind the scenes with some of our elected officials.

SPKM JOHNNY JOHNSON A lot of people don’t even know that we are having all of those prayer breakfasts around there and we have a prayer breakfast once a month in the Capitol.  Now they first said that it would be impossible to do that because they said, “Johnny Johnson and his people are charismatic and we can’t have that inside.”  And, of course, they went to Tip O’Neill and Tip O’Neill said, “Well, you know, I know Dr. Johnson and he’s a nice guy.  His politics are bad but he’s a nice guy and we’ll allow him to come.”  So we have been in there for five years now……. (APPLAUSE)…. yeah, that’s beautiful.  And we have congressmen and senators and all of the staff coming together.  And regardless of the politics might be, when they come in the love of Jesus it’s one unit and one accord.

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS What happens when they get there?

SPKM JOHNNY JOHNSON When they get there they begin to hug each other because I make them do that.  It’s rather a tough…. Richard, let me tell you this.  The first time I did that I said, “Will everybody please stand,” and they all stood.  And you could tell, there were Democrats on one side and Republicans on the other.  There was a divided line there.  So I said, “I’d like for you people to make a right face and you people make a left turn and start walking.”  And they started walking and finally they got right together and I said, “Stop right where you are now.”  I said, “Now turn to your right and left and whoever you see there, put your arm around them and hug them and tell them you love them.”  There was a long pause… (APPLAUSE)…. and then all of a sudden they started laughing and hugging each other.  But we teach the Bible and we teach the Word and that’s what they keep coming back for is the Word that is ____________.  And, Lindsay, I’ve got to mention this. She is so right when she said earlier that if you put the Word inside them and you begin to squeeze and things get rough around you, something has to come out.  Well, whatever you put in there is going to come out.  If you put the Word in there, the Word is going to come boiling out.  That’s why people will begin to get edified and people will begin to see the real true Spirit of the Lord coming out of you, when they’re in a tight spot.  (APPLAUSE)

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Johnny, knowing your past, knowing your background, how you came up, how you were raised, and how you went through the military service and how you became the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and now the director of the National Coalition of Concerned Citizens, it would seem impossible, especially when you look at your father… now you shared your testimony of your father who was actually a slave. You shared that.  Here in America we talk about the land of the free and the home of the brave, but it was impossible for Johnny Johnson.

SPKM JOHNNY JOHNSON Yes, in fact, that’s what everyone said. They said, “Your father being a slave, there’s no way you can ever rise above that level.” But, you know, I just love America. See, I’m a flag waver, I love this country, and it allowed me to come all the way from the son of a slave, first generation from a slave…..

Right there in that prison of drugs and alcohol I could have accepted Jesus in federal prison, as they wrapped the handcuffs around me, and I looked over and I saw Mom and Dad, who I had literally broke their heart.  They had me in church all my life and prayed for me, that I would have a close relationship with Jesus.  Tears were running down their face. My wife was crying.  My little girl and my son, Chris, who was a 14 year old macho man, I trained him to be an athlete playing second base there on the baseball team.  I looked over at Chris and I saw tears as big as nickles running down his face. And he said, “Daddy, where are you going?”  My little girl, Summer, ran to me — 4 years old, “Where are you going, Daddy? Will you ever be back?”  And I didn’t know how to tell my family where I was going, facing over 150 years in prison. That day they led me out of the courtroom — and I tell folks this all over America — when we sin we don’t sin alone but we take our loves ones down with us, Brother Richard, and I took my loved ones down with me.  Jonah was called to serve God.  He ran from God.  Was swallowed up by the whale and went to the bottom of the ocean. But in the belly of the whale he saw grace, and the Word of the Lord came unto him a second time. I am here to tell all of America, we serve a God of a second chance.  (APPLAUSE)  He wants to reach down into your home right now, no matter what the sin, no matter what you have done, Jesus is able to reach in and touch you today. But Jonah almost took a whole shipfull of people down with him, and he said, “Cast me overboard.”  I almost took my family down.  I broke my mama and daddy’s heart.  I broke my wife’s heart.  I broke my children’s heart.  I broke my pastor’s heart.  They sent me away to a federal prison 500 miles away.  I became a bitter man — in federal prison — I rebelled against the system, continued to smoke pot and do cocaine and drugs when I could get them.

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Even in prison.

SPKM DON STANLEY Drugs are very, very available in prison.  I tell prison reform boards this today.  There is no rehabilitation unless a man has been born again, washed in the blood, filled with the Spirit, walking in the application of the Word of God, then he can be an overcomer because his feet have been planted on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ, (APPLAUSE) and he can overcome because greater is he that is within us than he that is in the world.  Praise God.

Richard, we have, there have been times in our life that only the grace of God has kept us going.  John Osteen there in Houston makes this statement, “If I had quit the church every time that God, that I felt like quitting, I would have, and moved one mile,” he said, “I’d be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by now.”  And it’s the inspiration, and I’m not saying this just because I’m on your show, but certainly this is an appropriate time to say it, it’s what your family has been able to hold on through.  If you’ve got a call, there’s no place else to go. Like Jesus asked Peter, He said, “Peter, do you want to leave with the rest of these that are leaving me?”  He said, “Where would we go?  You have the words of eternal life, but where would we go?”  And those people come to us and we know that that’s what we’ve been called to do.  And what we do is, we try to contact every person that comes to Bread of Life Church, every new person, every new member, every new convert and keep in touch with them through what we have called a Home Fellowship Network. And it’s much like Dr. Cho’s cell group system.  But what we do is meet every other week, and it’s mainly for that time of fellowship, that time of mutually encouraging one another.  You know, you can devote yourself to the apostles teaching and to prayer, but iron sharpens iron.  And it’s that being a person with another person and sharing the love of God with them. There’s something about you that will convict me and there’s something about me that will convict you and we’ll build each other up.

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Working together.

SPKM DUSTY KEMP And we put them in that home fellowship.

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Now, Rhonda, as a pastor’s wife, as a woman, how do you, how do you respond to people who come in this kind of situation into your church?

SPKM RHONDA KEMP Well, we try to love them, the first thing.  And we try to connect them with someone, you know, with similar situations, maybe someone that has been through it or someone that has knowledge of the problem they’re at.  And try to just love them and show them that God loves them and God didn’t cause bad things to happen to them.  And show them that, you know, through Christ they can obtain everything that they want and they can be, you know, Christ like.  You know, it’s kind of funny, you know, being so young but looking at the people in the church, you know, and the congregation and there’s some–you know, you can’t do this with everyone, as you probably know–but just some you pick out and you watch.  And then when they grow it’s almost like the first time your child walks, you know.  And it’s so exciting when they get hold of something that you’ve known for years. It’s really fulfilling, you know, knowing that they are grasping hold and they are gaining and they’re getting more self-confident, like you said, people that come through divorce or, you know, people that are being kicked out.  They have no self-confidence, you know.  When that starts building, it’s so rewarding to watch that, that they come through the knowledge of God to get strength, you know, and self-confidence.

SPKM DUSTY KEMP You said something on the show the other day that really clicked in my spirit and she brought it up, and I think that’s one of the most important things we need to understand. The other day when your baby bumped its head and you had to take it to the emergency room and you were reminded

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS You were watching that day.

SPKM DUSTY KEMP Yeah, I was watching that day.  I go to prayer in the morning at the church and come back home and study and many times catch your program. It’s always been a blessing.  And you were talking about immediately the fear came back upon you that, of it happening again.  With the attack of the devil, it seems always–and the greatest attacks that have come against us, the devil tried to come against our mind with the thought that God is not on your side in this one.  He’s really the reason that I’m able to do this, which is a total lie from hell.  And we all know that.  But many people don’t know that.  There are people hurting out there today, I feel like, that possibly they’re hurting but maybe through some false doctrines, through some false teaching, maybe just because they don’t know any better, they don’t think that God really is on their side.  But Romans 8:31 just always rings in my spirit where He said if He did not withhold His own Son when you were a sinner, how could He withhold anything, but freely give you all things through Him.”  (Applause)

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Dusty, we have about two minutes before we close today.  You’re right, there is someone who is watching that feels right now that God is not on their side, that God caused the bad situation that’s happening. And I want you to just stretch out your hands and pray for them right now because it’s not the truth.  God is on their side.  So just pray for them right now as we come to a close.