682. Rakesh Christian Shares his Personal Testimony (#2) - Episode 327 (6/4/23) - November 12, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:36] This is Proverb 12 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:41] Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

[00:00:47] A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions he will condemn.

[00:00:55] A man is not established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous cannot be moved.

[00:01:02] An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.

[00:01:11] The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

[00:01:17] The words of the wicked are,

[00:01:26] And are no more.

[00:01:30] But the house of the righteous will stand.

[00:01:33] A man will be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart will be despised.

[00:01:42] Better is the one who is slighted, but has a servant, than he who honors himself, but lacks bread.

[00:01:51] A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

[00:01:59] He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, but he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding.

[00:02:08] The wicked covet the catch of evil men, but the root of the righteous yields fruit.

[00:02:17] The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous will come through trouble.

[00:02:25] A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hands will be rendered to him.

[00:02:35] The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.

[00:02:43] A fool's wrath is known at once, but a prudent man covers shame.

[00:02:50] He who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness deceit.

[00:02:57] There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.

[00:03:06] The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

[00:03:14] Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy.

[00:03:21] No grave trouble will overtake the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil.

[00:03:29] Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

[00:03:37] A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.

[00:03:45] The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor.

[00:03:53] Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.

[00:04:00] The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.

[00:04:08] The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man's precious possession.

[00:04:18] In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

[00:04:25] Well, I have a special guest for you today.

[00:04:28] I have Rakesh Christian on.

[00:04:31] And Rakesh, it's nice to have you back on the program.

[00:04:34] We just went over Proverbs 12.

[00:04:36] And if you would, Rakesh, please share with the audience which verse you'd like to discuss and tell the audience why.

[00:04:44] Okay.

[00:04:45] Yeah, sure.

[00:04:46] So it's out of Proverbs 12 and it's the first verse.

[00:04:49] And I'll read out of the King James.

[00:04:52] Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

[00:04:58] Let me just give the New King James, I mean, yeah, the New King James real quick.

[00:05:03] Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

[00:05:09] I like that.

[00:05:11] That's just real blunt there.

[00:05:14] And the reason why I did pick that verse or the reason why it did stand out to me because it is pretty much in line with my testimony.

[00:05:23] The last time I was on with you, Bill, I shared with you my background and what I've been through.

[00:05:30] And I'll just give a quick synopsis of it.

[00:05:33] I had shared with you that I had landed in prison.

[00:05:37] I had received a five year sentence.

[00:05:40] And this is when I was about, I think, what was I 22, 23 years old.

[00:05:47] In when I was around 11 or 10, 10 years old.

[00:05:51] That's when I got saved in a Pentecostal church.

[00:05:55] But don't want to get too much into the details.

[00:05:58] But anyone from that background understands that, you know, in order to get saved, you had to speak in tongues.

[00:06:05] And, you know, the doctrine was incorrect.

[00:06:08] I never thought that I could ever please my heavenly father.

[00:06:12] It was very legalistic.

[00:06:13] And I didn't I couldn't please my earthly father as well.

[00:06:17] So that caused me to go into a spiral.

[00:06:21] You know, as a teenager, I was a young, angry kid hung around with the wrong crowd.

[00:06:26] And then I started selling drugs later on.

[00:06:29] And unfortunately, I did get caught and I got caught in a drug free zone.

[00:06:36] And to fast forward, I had landed in prison, got a five year sentence.

[00:06:40] Now, before that, when I read this verse, I remembered when the Spirit of God, you know, he sent people to to basically warned me about my lifestyle.

[00:06:57] You know, I just had it with Christianity.

[00:06:59] I just couldn't understand it.

[00:07:02] One denomination said this about God or that about God.

[00:07:06] But, you know, even though I was doing the things that I was doing, I still want I still yearned for truth and I wanted it so bad.

[00:07:16] And so when I looked at this verse and I looked at the word instruction, the Greek word is actually musad.

[00:07:27] And that means that means discipline, chastisement, training, exhortation and warning.

[00:07:35] So when I looked at the definition to God, definitely tried to warn me.

[00:07:40] And I remember when this one Methodist preacher, he was also he was an ex-convict and he tried to talk to me.

[00:07:49] But, you know, again, I was an angry kid and I actually was pretty mean to him and said, look, if you know, I'm not going to stop doing what I'm doing.

[00:07:59] Somebody, you know, if I don't sell the drugs, somebody else is going to do it.

[00:08:03] But that's how cocky I was. And then the preacher looked at my dad and told him that you should have kept him in jail.

[00:08:11] And that really got me mad. And, you know, I kind of cursed at him.

[00:08:15] You know, I told him he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's an idiot.

[00:08:18] And he left, you know, and I think that was the last straw.

[00:08:23] God did try to warn me.

[00:08:25] And later on, when I did find out about the goodness of God, when I was actually in prison, all these things were recalled to me.

[00:08:34] And and make a long story short in prison, I finally woke up and said, what am I doing in here?

[00:08:41] And I remember the days when, you know, I did accept Christ and I was so peaceful, you know, and I loved it.

[00:08:47] And and then all of a sudden, you know, you and I know that this is most Christians experience.

[00:08:54] You know, you get it. You you you're excited about salvation.

[00:08:58] But then you get into church and then later on, six months later, all the joy is out of you. Right.

[00:09:02] Right. So I finally just surrendered.

[00:09:06] And I said, look, Lord, I I know you're real.

[00:09:09] Um, but I'm tired.

[00:09:13] Right. You got to be sick of being tired.

[00:09:16] And I said, one denomination says this.

[00:09:19] This pastor says this. Who are you?

[00:09:21] Reveal yourself to me. You said you would reveal yourself to me.

[00:09:25] You know, and and I said, I need you to teach me.

[00:09:29] And, you know, even though I was in a prison guard.

[00:09:32] He's he shows no favoritism.

[00:09:35] And that was like the best prayer I ever prayed in my life.

[00:09:39] And we fast forward to like maybe 25 years later and he is faithful.

[00:09:44] And so he has given me revelation of who he is, even in my darkest hours and even in my good hours.

[00:09:51] He truly has.

[00:09:53] Um, and if you look at the last part of the verse where it talks, where it says stupid or King James is brutish.

[00:10:01] Basically, what that means is that dove of understanding, ignorance, you know, and God was very merciful.

[00:10:08] He knew I was ignorant.

[00:10:09] And I feel like what God was saying to himself is he was like, man, this boy is hardheaded.

[00:10:15] But if I could get him into the truth, he's going to go all out for me.

[00:10:20] You know, so really good.

[00:10:22] And I'd like to do with stop you right there.

[00:10:25] I want to go to the book of Jeremiah.

[00:10:27] And many people are familiar with verse 11 in chapter 29.

[00:10:32] And a matter of fact, on the previous podcast, I also mentioned verse 12, but I did not go into verse 13.

[00:10:40] And listen to verse 13 of chapter 29 of Jeremiah.

[00:10:45] And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

[00:10:53] Now, Rakesh, that's the key.

[00:10:55] That is the key.

[00:10:56] It's not just kind of just, you know, open in the door and say, well, you know, kind of come in.

[00:11:02] And you're not really totally present with the Lord.

[00:11:06] But if you really want to get in with him, I'm going to go to the book of Revelation.

[00:11:12] I'm going to talk to Jesus's words here.

[00:11:15] And we're in the very last book of the Bible.

[00:11:18] But friends, if you don't have a close relationship with God, if you've never invited Jesus into your heart,

[00:11:24] this is what Jesus has in store for you.

[00:11:28] I want to read Revelation chapter 3, verse 20.

[00:11:32] It says,

[00:11:48] Rakesh, it doesn't get any closer than that.

[00:11:50] But what Jesus wants from each and every one of us is to have a meal with us, to discuss with him the things that are going on in our life.

[00:12:02] And he is concerned, Rakesh, about every single detail of our lives.

[00:12:09] Your thoughts on that?

[00:12:12] Oh, yeah, he.

[00:12:15] Yeah, he.

[00:12:16] Yeah, he is concerned.

[00:12:17] I could tell you that.

[00:12:18] And, you know, there's a scripture and I forgot what the address is, but be still and know that I am God.

[00:12:24] And I think because I was ripping and running the streets.

[00:12:28] Again, I never advocate that God is the one that sent me to prison.

[00:12:32] It was my own stupidity, you know, that sent me there.

[00:12:35] And I acknowledge that.

[00:12:37] And I took full responsibility.

[00:12:39] I always blamed my circumstances.

[00:12:41] I blamed the judges, the cops and stuff like that.

[00:12:45] But they never forced me to sell drugs, you know.

[00:12:48] So I finally had to be a man.

[00:12:50] First of all, the day I became a man is when I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ.

[00:12:55] And second of all, it's taking full ownership and responsibility for my own decisions.

[00:13:00] So when you talk about the book of Revelations and having a meal with us, I think God could finally have a meal with me and feed me his word, you know, and get me quieted down.

[00:13:11] So that way he could show me who he really is, that he's not a harsh God, that he is kind, loving and merciful, you know, from the least to the greatest.

[00:13:21] Just, and unfortunately, you know, I didn't have the ability because I was so full of pride to humble myself.

[00:13:28] But unfortunately, I was humbled, right?

[00:13:32] Pretty much it was humiliation.

[00:13:33] That's what it was.

[00:13:35] But again, I never advocate that God did that.

[00:13:39] And I remember there was prisoners in there and it would just make me so mad, you know, when I started finding out the goodness of God and he's a good father.

[00:13:47] And there was people in there, you know, again, I asked God to teach me.

[00:13:52] And, you know, there was different denominations that would come in there and teach Bible studies and all that.

[00:13:58] They would say stupid things like, well, God will put sickness on you.

[00:14:02] And I hated it.

[00:14:03] And I actually would openly say, no, he doesn't, you know, because it really, it really upset me.

[00:14:10] There were some inmates that would say, well, God is the one that sent me to prison.

[00:14:14] I said, God is not the one that sent you to prison.

[00:14:16] He didn't force you to smoke that crack pipe.

[00:14:20] He didn't force you to sell drugs.

[00:14:22] He didn't do none of that.

[00:14:23] And I remember I would openly say those things because, you know, when I discovered the goodness of my father, I mean, what can I say?

[00:14:31] Like a child, you're going to defend your father, you know?

[00:14:34] And so to answer your question, but yeah, it's like God quieted me down and he gave me the word of God.

[00:14:42] He gave me good meals to show me who he really is.

[00:14:46] And he still loves me and the calling on my life.

[00:14:51] Well, you know, I'm going to go to the book of first Peter chapter five, and I'm going to begin in verse five.

[00:15:00] It says, likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders.

[00:15:07] Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility for God resists the proud.

[00:15:17] It gives grace to the humble.

[00:15:19] And Rakesh, you talked about that previously.

[00:15:22] You just mentioned that, but we have to clothe ourself with humility.

[00:15:27] And when I think of this verse in first Peter, I think about when Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians in chapter six.

[00:15:35] And he says you have to put on the armor of God.

[00:15:38] We have to literally put it on.

[00:15:41] And we have to do the same thing when we humble ourselves.

[00:15:46] That's not our true nature.

[00:15:48] Our nature is not to be humble.

[00:15:49] So we have to literally put on humbleness.

[00:15:53] And I just put on humility.

[00:15:56] Anyway, I just want to address the audience for just a moment.

[00:16:00] As I mentioned previously, Rakesh has previously been on and he was on.

[00:16:06] And I highly encourage you to listen to his previous testimony.

[00:16:10] And that was episode 327.

[00:16:13] Now we're going back a long way because this is actually episode 682, which is going to air on November 12th.

[00:16:22] But Rakesh, when you were on previously, that came on June 4th of last year.

[00:16:30] But we actually recorded that program in December of 2022.

[00:16:37] And I know that's kind of hard for us to think about now, but it's been almost two years since we met previously.

[00:16:46] And Rakesh has graciously accepted the invitation to come on a recurring basis.

[00:16:53] So he's going to be coming on roughly every four to five months.

[00:16:56] And I want to welcome you to the team, Rakesh.

[00:16:59] I believe that your testimony is true.

[00:17:02] It's pure.

[00:17:03] And you're one of the most foundational people that I have on, primarily because you're one of the few people who have experienced what it's like to be in a jail cell.

[00:17:15] So if you would just share a moment, what it was like being in a jail cell and why anyone listening today doesn't want to be there.

[00:17:28] Yeah, so if I could speak to the youth or to, I mean, all ages are in prison.

[00:17:34] I mean, you'll see the young to the old.

[00:17:37] And if I could give a warning, according to the scripture, you know, I was really into like the rap culture and the gang culture.

[00:17:48] And I was into really bad music, hanging around with a bad crowd.

[00:17:52] And that will influence you.

[00:17:54] The music you listen to, you need to be careful about that, okay?

[00:17:57] And a lot of these people that are in music or rappers or whatever type of music it is, and the crowd that you're hanging around with, the word says that bad company corrupts good morals.

[00:18:11] And you have to be very careful about that.

[00:18:15] And I remember when I was in prison, there was actually this guy.

[00:18:22] He was a crip and he was tatted up.

[00:18:25] Like, I mean, he was sleeved up.

[00:18:27] I mean, you could tell he was a crip.

[00:18:28] And, you know, for some reason, we just had a conversation and he said, you know, Rakesh, you see all these men over here acting all tough and all that?

[00:18:37] And I'm like, yeah.

[00:18:38] He was like, I guarantee you, they cry every night underneath their sheets, you know?

[00:18:43] So when you look at these music videos, they glorify that culture, the drug dealing and all that.

[00:18:51] But they never tell you about the pain that it causes their families when they're in prison.

[00:18:59] And a lot of these rappers or musicians, they've never experienced a jail cell, never have.

[00:19:05] There was never any repercussions for what they have done.

[00:19:08] And the whole world just praises them.

[00:19:11] And even in the Bible, it says it's not good to give honor to fools.

[00:19:15] And that's what our culture does, you know?

[00:19:18] And so it really opened my eyes.

[00:19:20] This is a real live gangster, all right, crip.

[00:19:24] All right.

[00:19:25] And he told me that he even cries.

[00:19:27] And I'm like, what?

[00:19:28] Because in the streets, you learn a bunch of stupid stuff like men don't cry.

[00:19:33] You can't be a sissy and this, this and that.

[00:19:36] But it was a crip that was telling me this, you know?

[00:19:41] And I was like, wow.

[00:19:43] And it really opened up my eyes.

[00:19:45] And when he said he even cries.

[00:19:48] And it shocked me.

[00:19:49] He was a big guy.

[00:19:50] And you could tell you don't mess around with him, you know?

[00:19:53] And I think that was like a, I believe that was a God moment.

[00:19:58] You know, because there was just, you know, I just had the wrong idea.

[00:20:04] And, you know, I had gotten, again, a five-year sentence.

[00:20:08] And it's not good.

[00:20:10] I wouldn't wish prison upon anyone at all.

[00:20:14] You know, and if I could just warn you right now, and if you look back in your life, and I could look at hindsight, you know, we're to pray for laborers to come across our path.

[00:20:26] And I guarantee you, if you're living that street lifestyle, whatever lifestyle you're living, you've got mothers, you've got fathers, you've got people that are praying for you, asking for those laborers to come across your path.

[00:20:39] And what that means, it could be a physical person trying to tell you about Jesus Christ.

[00:20:43] Just think about it for a second.

[00:20:45] You could turn on the TV, and maybe even someone like Andrew Womack may come across.

[00:20:51] That's a prayer answered, okay?

[00:20:53] These are laborers coming across your path, and I beg you, please pay attention to that.

[00:20:59] And don't listen to all these people glorifying this lifestyle, because if you're in, it does not feel good to have your freedom taken away from you.

[00:21:09] I'm warning you right now, please humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

[00:21:15] And towards the end, we're going to ask for anybody that wants to be saved, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

[00:21:23] And some of you are backsliding.

[00:21:25] You guys are Christians.

[00:21:26] And I remember speaking to Christians in prison that have been in prison three times, and I just couldn't understand why you guys are Christians.

[00:21:34] Why do y'all keep coming back?

[00:21:36] You know, but anyways, I didn't mean to keep going, Bill.

[00:21:39] Go ahead.

[00:21:40] No, it's okay.

[00:21:42] You know, I want to bring up a point, because, Rakesh, I know that there are people listening, even today, to this podcast, and they're not in a habit of reading Scripture on a regular basis.

[00:21:55] I want to go back to your previous podcast, and you mentioned there was a time when you were between about 26 or 27 years old.

[00:22:04] You had been saved, but you mentioned the fact that you were, at that time, prompted to read the proverb of the day every day, as well as reading five psalms every day.

[00:22:18] So you could go through the entire book of Proverbs every month, as well as the entire book of Psalms every month.

[00:22:26] What I'd like for you to do, Rakesh, is address the audience.

[00:22:30] And how important was that, and was that a good thing to begin doing on a regular basis?

[00:23:06] Absolutely.

[00:23:07] Almost like the Scriptures, it just opened up to me.

[00:23:11] And not only that, but I was in a dorm work with 50 men.

[00:23:16] So you learn a lot of things.

[00:23:17] You learn a lot of things about human nature, you know?

[00:23:20] And it's like the Scriptures were speaking to me.

[00:23:23] Now, I wasn't trying to be judgmental, but I was observing.

[00:23:26] I was like, wait a minute.

[00:23:28] The Bible says this.

[00:23:29] These people are acting like that.

[00:23:30] Wow.

[00:23:31] It's like he'll teach me something in the Word, and then in real-life experience, I'll see a pattern.

[00:23:39] So I started recognizing patterns, you know?

[00:23:41] And I think a lot of us, you know, we might go to church.

[00:23:45] We get busy.

[00:23:47] But because we don't get into the Word, it's hard for us to discern and recognize patterns.

[00:23:52] All right?

[00:23:53] And so now God said, okay, you're looking at them.

[00:23:56] Now what I want you to do is look at yourself.

[00:24:00] I'm like, whoa.

[00:24:01] And so the Scriptures, as I was reading Proverbs, I was like, man, wow, I was stupid, you know?

[00:24:10] But he was lovingly giving me correction, and that's also in verse 1, you know, instruction.

[00:24:17] And he does that with his Word.

[00:24:20] God didn't punish me with prison.

[00:24:22] He didn't do that.

[00:24:23] He didn't.

[00:24:24] I did that to myself.

[00:24:25] But now he was lovingly instructing me about life and how to walk in line with the Word of God and how much better of a life that really is.

[00:24:37] And then when I would read the book of Psalms, I was like, so the book of Proverbs teaches you about your horizontal relationships, right?

[00:24:47] It is important how you treat people and how you carry yourself.

[00:24:52] Now, what I like about the Psalms is it's more vertical, and I love the way that David was just so honest with God.

[00:25:01] I love that because he knows what you're thinking anyways.

[00:25:06] And so there were so many times in my prison cell where I just let, you know, and I feel kind of bad now.

[00:25:12] Like I was feeling so down, like I wanted to get out, and I was in my prison cell, and I was just yelling at God, like, why, why?

[00:25:19] I changed my life, this and that.

[00:25:21] How come I, you know, you can't change the system where I don't have to do this whole five years?

[00:25:26] Because I was lied to, and they said I would just have to do a quarter of a time, just a quarter, and I thought I was going to be out.

[00:25:34] But the law, if you get caught in a drug-free zone, you got to do all your five years.

[00:25:38] So I was really feeling down.

[00:25:40] But after a while, I said, you know what, Lord, I really wanted to come back to you because of you, because you're a good God.

[00:25:46] And I tore up, and we have what you call these timesheets.

[00:25:51] And I just tore it up.

[00:25:52] I said, you know what, Lord, even if I have to do my whole five years, it's okay.

[00:25:58] I just want you.

[00:25:59] And I tore up that timesheet, and I threw it in the trash.

[00:26:02] It's like I pretty much just committed my life to him, like no matter what, whether I got to finish the prison sentence or not, I love him, and I want him because of him.

[00:26:12] Well, that's good.

[00:26:13] And what I'm going to do is go back to your previous testimony, and it says that you mentioned that coming to Karis Bible College was totally different than listening to Andrew, which you had done for years.

[00:26:27] So we only have a few moments left, but what I'd like for you to do is, since we have been together, you have since gone through second year of Karis.

[00:26:40] So what I'd like to do is talk specifically about the IAGs, and that's short for interactive groups.

[00:26:47] How did you handle those, and did you enjoy growing in the Lord through that process?

[00:26:54] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:26:55] Absolutely.

[00:26:57] I'm a little bit long-winded, so it was challenging to do those two-minute testimonies, but I learned a lot, learned how to condense things.

[00:27:05] I think the longest one was, what, seven or ten minutes?

[00:27:09] Seven minutes.

[00:27:10] Yeah, seven minutes, and I did.

[00:27:13] We learned how to do an outline, and what's awesome, Bill, is that even though I didn't have a formal education or never been to seminary or anything like that,

[00:27:23] what's crazy is that before I started doing Bible studies and speaking in prison, you know, because there was a group that came out there and they let some of us inmates speak.

[00:27:34] And I told God, I said, look, I'm scared to death of speaking in front of people.

[00:27:38] You were never scared, so what do I need to do?

[00:27:42] And it's crazy now from hindsight, the Holy Spirit actually taught me how to do an outline.

[00:27:50] And fast forward years later, that's what they teach in the Bible college, but the Spirit of God already taught me how to do that.

[00:27:56] But, of course, I learned some new things.

[00:27:58] So, yeah, it was an awesome experience.

[00:28:01] Like, wow, God, you were with me even then, and I didn't even know it.

[00:28:05] And so, yeah, it helped me stay on point.

[00:28:08] So, I see the importance of preparing an outline and to stay ready.

[00:28:14] And, yeah, I got to share a little bit of my testimony, and, man, it really did feel good.

[00:28:21] But, yeah, and some of my classmates, they were blessed because I kind of kept quiet, you know.

[00:28:31] So, I didn't go in there with my own agenda.

[00:28:34] I didn't share things about myself or anything like that.

[00:28:37] But it felt good to finally let people know or let some of my classmates know what, you know, what I've been through.

[00:28:45] But not only that, but how good God is and how he has brought me through everything, through everything.

[00:28:51] And now I'm in a great place.

[00:28:54] Well, that's so good, and I'm so happy to hear that.

[00:28:57] And, you know, what I'd like to do is just mention the fact that doing an outline sounds like Rick McFarland.

[00:29:05] And he always has the outlines going on.

[00:29:08] Rakesh, I'm just going to confess.

[00:29:11] I am more like Andrew Womack.

[00:29:13] If I do make notes, I won't use them.

[00:29:17] The Holy Spirit is just going to tell me, Bill, this is what we're talking about today.

[00:29:21] So, to me, I'm different.

[00:29:25] I don't need notes.

[00:29:26] I don't need anything.

[00:29:27] Just listen to the Holy Spirit.

[00:29:30] He will direct you as to what you're supposed to say at the right time, every single time.

[00:29:36] So, Rakesh, what I'd like to do is just give you a couple moments.

[00:29:40] And we only have about two minutes left.

[00:29:42] If you would, talk about the importance of having Jesus in your life and then lead us in a prayer, if you would.

[00:29:50] Okay.

[00:29:51] All right.

[00:29:52] Jesus said, I am the truth, the way, and the light.

[00:29:54] And there's just so much of, since we're speaking about knowledge, there's so much knowledge that is going out there, out on the Internet.

[00:30:01] And we're just hit with every angle.

[00:30:07] But He is the truth.

[00:30:08] Okay.

[00:30:09] Don't let anybody tell you that, oh, there's different ways to God because there isn't.

[00:30:14] He is the truth.

[00:30:15] All right.

[00:30:15] And you need Him in order to navigate this life.

[00:30:19] You really need Him.

[00:30:20] But He is a loving God.

[00:30:22] He's not harsh.

[00:30:23] And He wants to come into your life right now.

[00:30:26] And He's standing at the door knocking.

[00:30:28] So, everyone underneath my voice, if you've been touched right now, the Spirit of God is dealing with you.

[00:30:34] This is not coincidence.

[00:30:36] All right.

[00:30:37] So, I'm going to lead you into a prayer.

[00:30:39] And you guys repeat after me.

[00:30:41] Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, I humble myself and I come to you.

[00:30:48] I confess that I am a sinner and I receive your forgiveness of sins.

[00:30:55] Lord Jesus, come into my heart.

[00:30:57] Thank you for your sacrifice.

[00:30:59] And help me to be the man or woman that you have created me to be.

[00:31:05] Thank you for receiving me into your kingdom.

[00:31:07] In Jesus' name.

[00:31:09] Amen.

[00:31:11] Amen.

[00:31:12] Well, that was wonderful.

[00:31:13] And it's always a pleasure to have you.

[00:31:15] It's good to talk to you again.

[00:31:17] It's been such a long time.

[00:31:19] Yeah, it has.

[00:31:19] But Rakesh will be on again in roughly four to five months.

[00:31:23] And what I'd like to do is to close in a blessing.

[00:31:27] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:31:30] The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:31:35] The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:31:39] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom today.

[00:31:47] Thanks, Bill.