My White Stone

I'm going to, I've selected a scripture out of

the book of Revelations, and if you'd be a little

patient with me here, I want to talk about something,

and I want to encourage somebody here today.

I don't know if we're on Radioland, or Videoland,

or Facebookland, or, is the camera on? They're

recording. Oh, okay, good. Amen. I'm going to

throw a stone that way. Praise God. It reads

this way, Revelations 2 .17. He who has an ear.

Somebody touch your ear. See if you got one there.

You got one? All right. You're good. He who has

an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to

the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give

some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give

him a white stone, and on the stone a new name,

written which no one knows except him who receives

it. Amen. This is an interesting passage of Scripture.

My goodness, we can stay on this for a whole

series. But I want to pull out some... Nuggets,

if you please. Praise God from this. And just

talk a little bit about encouraging. I want to

encourage somebody here today. This scripture

in Revelations 2 .17 is part of the letters to

the seven churches of Asia Minor. Specifically

for this passage today to the church of Pergamum.

And if you read Revelations and you attempt to

discover the hidden meanings within the seven

churches of Asia Minor, they were real churches.

They were churches that went through certain

things. But the Lord used John, and John wrote

about these churches, different characteristics

about these churches definitely help us today

in our Christ -like living and attempting to

live for God. These letters were written by the

Apostle John while he was exiled in the island

of Patmos. As he received divine revelations

from the Lord Jesus Christ, he began to write.

And it's amazing because when you read the book

of Revelation, you would discover there was so

much, so much that John was receiving of the

Lord such great revelations about apocalypse

and whatnot. And it was, it's very powerful.

Many people shy away from the book of Revelation

because they don't think that it has anything

to do with them. But I beg to differ there because

there's, Four shadows of everything. There's

shadows from the past and there's shadows in

the future. If you walk long enough in the path

under the sun, there's going to be times where

your shadow will be behind you. Then there's

going to be times when your shadow is before

you. And so it is with the Word of God. Prophetically

speaking, there's going to be things in the past

that happen as a shadow of things to come. But

then there's what is ahead of us that, oh my

God, if we put attention to them and attempt

to learn deeper on the significance of things,

we're going to find out that there's so much

depth to revelation. And John attempted to explain

it, but he was writing fast and he was passing

on this information to the church. The phrase,

he who has an ear, emphasizes the importance

of listening and understanding spiritual truths.

There are things that, you know, we... will have

to hear them and read them several times before

you captivate because they have hidden meanings

within them not that god is trying to deprive

us from revelation but we have to dive deeper

you know when you dive into the ocean and you

are looking for the beauty of the ocean some

folks they They snorkel on the top. And, yeah,

you're going to see some things. Yeah, you're

going to see some nice fish here and there. Have

you ever snorkeled? I've snorkeled. I hate it.

I don't like it because the water always gets

in that little thing. And I say, oh, man, this

is not for me. But, you know, if you want to

see some beauty, you've got to do that, right?

But I'll tell you what. If you really want to

see the beauty, you go deep. You go deep, man.

And that is not snorkeling. That's deep dive.

And down there, you're going to find things and

truths that they just come out. Wow. There's

beauty in depth. And in the scripture is the

same thing. There's so much beauty, so much to

learn, so much to apply to ourselves, but it's

deep. We have to be willing to go deep. Somebody

say, go deeper. I'm not going to pull a T .D.

Jakes and say, can I go deeper? He used to use

that all the time. Can I go deeper? Amen. Praise

God. You're not going to go deeper with the life

jacket on. Oh, come on now. When you got a life

jacket on, you're planning to stay on the surface.

But if you want to go deep, get rid of the securities,

insecurities. You got to get rid of all that

stuff if you want to go deep in God. Praise the

Lord, somebody. I didn't cost you nothing. That's

another message. Those who are receptive should

pay attention to the message that is written

in between the words. Amen? It signifies that

not everyone will understand, will accept spiritual

teachings. Not everybody's into it. But if you

are into depth, people want to know, just give

me the bullets, they say. You know, they don't

want the details. But I want you to know that

God is not in the bullets. He's in the details.

If you want to find God, you're going to have

to get into the details of God. You've got to

get deeper. You've got to want it. You've got

to be hungry for it. You've got to dive down

more. Praise God. But if you just want to serve

God on the surface and float around and throw

the volleyball around on the top, that's fine.

But I want to go deep. I want to get into what

God has hidden things. down there so that he

can reveal. God's not going to reveal anything

to us on the surface. He's going to reveal it

to us in the deep. Last week we heard a very

powerful message for those that were here and

others that maybe heard it online. The pastor

preached on the net. And I really, I'm just fascinated

by the net. And, you know, that particular situation

is that, first of all, the reason there was a

couple of things why Peter did not really at

first appreciate the Lord's attempt to tell him

to go back out. Number one, a fisherman doesn't

fish during the day. Not with a net. You fish

at night. It's night fishing. And the net, there's

a lot of complexities about the net. But the

thing what happened to Peter is the Lord worked

contrary to what he thought fishing was all about.

He went out during the day and he went out in

the deep because net fishing is primarily done

on the edges because the fish come in to eat.

They come from the deep, and they come in to

eat. And that's where you throw your net. You

capture them. You know, a fisherman, man, he

cheats. You know, he knows they're hungry. And

they come in, and that's where they catch them.

But the Lord told them to do two things. He says,

go out into the deep and go out during the day.

It's all contrary to how we think. And that's

what it is. That's how God, when he reveals himself

and when he speaks to our lives, he speaks to

us. Come deeper, he says. Come out here in the

deep. I'm going to show you what I can do because

then he is the miracle worker that does a miracle

catch like Peter experienced as we heard last

week. That is where the miracles are. That's

where it is. That's where the power of God is

in the deep. Somebody say, let's go deeper. It's

about being spiritually minded. and attentive

to the deeper meanings that are extremely important

and relevant to our spiritual lives. The Apostle

John, he directs this letter to the angel of

the church. And the angel of the church is the

pastor. Praise the Lord. I don't know if you

knew that. The angel of the church in Scripture

is the pastor. And when the apostle wrote, he

wrote to the, he didn't write to Gabriel or some

invisible angel. He wrote to the angel of the

church, which is the pastor. See, when God directs

himself to something that has to do with the

church in general, whatever it is, from vision,

casting to leading, whatever, he directs himself

to the angel of the church, which is the pastor.

Praise the Lord. That's how God works. And so

he was directing himself, first of all, to the

pastor. The apostle does not mention the members

or the leaders of the church. He doesn't say

all the little angels and the rest of the angels.

No, one angel. Somebody say one angel. Somebody

say there's only one pastor in the church. That

was a little Debbie week. He directs himself

to the pastor as the one chosen by God and responsible

what happens within the church. The pastor will

be held accountable for implementing God's divine

plan, and if needed, correct situations that

may be harmful to the health of the church in

his own charge. When the pastor... Led by the

Holy Ghost makes decisions that make someone

uncomfortable. Know this. The pastor has the

best interest of the church in mind. Knowing

and needing to follow the leading of the Holy

Ghost. Pergamum was addressed through the pastor.

But Pergamum was a city. Talking about the city

of Pergamum, not the church, but now the city

as Mountain View being the city, not city like

church, but let's just say Mountain View was

a city known for its pagan practices and idolatry.

Yet there were within Pergamum faithful believers.

There was a group of people there that believed

God at his word, who held fast to their faith

amidst all the adversities that surrounded them.

pressures of the city, government, society, and

all that is going around them. Over there in

Connecticut, if you please, I think that's where

they had that recent, you know, fatalities of

the little children that died when they were

inside of a temple. They were in what they call

the temple hour, whatever it is. The kids were

in the temple and somebody came by and started

shooting like through these windows. I don't

want to scare anybody, but I would have sat on

this side over here. No, I'm just kidding. But

they shot through the windows. Can you imagine

that? Killed two kids and injured about 12 or

14 others. That's horrible. Horrible. And now

people in our beloved country. Praise God that

at the top of the Washington Tower, it says Laos

Dao, which means the Word of God. You know, we

founded this thing on God's Word and on God,

on Scripture. There's even a Bible buried down

there. You know, we built everything around that.

Now they're saying that prayer doesn't work.

Even the mayor from that city says, what about

prayer? They were praying, and what happened

to them? Wow. Let me tell you where the world

is going. The world is going from bad to worse.

But there's going to be some faithful ones, and

God's looking for those faithful ones that are

going to stand strong and say, let God be true

and every man a liar. We believe that God can

intervene. We believe that God can protect. We

believe that God can deliver still, heal. people

and heal the land. We're believing for it, and

you know there isn't anything worse than to,

you know, than to stirring up the hornet's nest,

man. Because, you know, you want to kill a little

bee, don't mess with the nest. Praise God, and

we're the nest. Praise the Lord. We are the group

of believers that are uniting and believing that

God's up to something big. The devil is trying

to put fear in the people, but God's people are

going to stand up more than ever. This is the

time to stand up and believe. that God is with

us. We thank God for faithful members that serve

under the leading of the angel of the church,

their pastor, the under shepherd, and to work

together in communion in God's kingdom. There

are three things that... out from this script,

Revelation 2 .7. There are three important messages,

and I can't go through all of them. I'm going

to touch on two very little, but I'm going to

attempt to. But one of them is the hidden manna.

You can put that up there. The hidden manna,

the white stone, and a new name. These are the

very things that pop out from this scripture.

The promise of hidden manna. reminds us that

spiritual nourishment and strength come from

our relationship with Christ. As the manna of

Exodus, and when we think manna, we think the

Exodus. We think of the Israelites that were

sustained and strengthened for 40 years as they

wandered in the desert. So Jesus is the manna

from heaven. The spiritual sustenance we need.

And it is promised to us. In John 6, 48 to 51,

it says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers

ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.

They're gone. This is the bread which comes down

from heaven that no man eat of it and not die.

He said that I am the living bread which came

down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread,

he will live forever. And the bread that I shall

give is my flesh, he says, which I shall give

for the life of the world. Now listen, the hidden

manna, there's a beautiful teaching, and I can't

get into it completely today. There's no way

I'd get through it. But the hidden manna. are

the things that God reveals to us. Because you

see, not everybody gets it. Not everybody understands

it. You're not going to understand it fully until

you go deep. Somebody say deep again. There it

goes. You're not going to understand it until

you get into the Scriptures. You're not going

to understand it until you have a personal and

you seek a personal relationship with God. There

are people that know God, and there are people

that have a relationship with God. You can know

your neighbors, but you don't have to have a

relationship. And you might not even know all

their names. You just wave hi. Do you have any

neighbors you just wave to them all the time?

Hey, how you doing? Hey, man. You don't know

their names. Hello. Right? Sometimes we do. Well,

maybe you know all your neighbors' names, but

that's unusual. But nevertheless, I wave to people

three or four houses down. I'm doing this, you

know. But I know my immediate neighbors, you

know. Vinny's on this side. Paul's on that side.

I know them. But, you know, you don't know everybody.

And people, they think they know God, but they

don't know him. They don't understand who he

is, what he stands for, his holiness. You're

never going to understand the holiness of God

until you go deeper in God. And you understand

that he's a holy God. He's a sanctified God.

He's in the third chamber, the holiest of holiest.

People run around the court of the tabernacle

praising God, jumping and everything. That's

religion. You've got to get in deeper. You've

got to get into the courtyard. Then you've got

to get into the holy place. Then you've got to

get into the most holy place. That's deeper,

friend. That's a deeper relationship with God.

Those that receive this hidden manna are those

who are victorious and they're overcomers. What

are they victorious? First of all, the first

victory you need to have is yourself. You need

to have victory over yourself. You need to overcome

not your neighbors. You need to overcome yourself.

You need to overcome this person, this person

right here. You're your worst enemy. Hello? Nobody

told you to steal that candy. You did it. Praise

God. Hey, I'm sorry. Praise the Lord. But it's

all your fault. Tell yourself it's your fault.

That's what it is. But when you overcome yourself,

when you overcome yourself, you overcome other

things, and the Lord has something great for

you. He's going to reveal that manna, that bread

from heaven, the word of God that will come into

your life, and you will be blessed. despite all

the trials and the hardships that you're going

through. Amen. God wants to bless you. Praise

the Lord. All right, I'm going to jump to the

next one. I can stay there for a long time, believe

me. The next part is stones. The stones. From

Genesis to Revelations, we read about stones.

They hold significant symbolic and metaphorical

meanings, such as memorials, altars. which are

important to the believers, and especially in

ministries in the church. Stones were often used

to mark significant events or even agreements

with God. As Jacob set up a stone to memorialize

his legacy dream and God's covenant to him. Joshua

erected 12 stones at Gilgal. as a memorial after

the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into

the Promised Land. Stones were used to build

altars for sacrifices and worship, such as the

altar that Moses built at Mount Sinai. And the

altar Elijah built that became consumed with

fire from heaven. And there are so many other

altars that we can imagine. And I mean, from

the beginning, from Noah and so forth, and the

very beginning to now altars. The stone of Ebenezer

is a stone of reflection of how the Lord has

brought us this far. Isaiah wrote, that the Lord

God is a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone,

and a sure foundation. Matthew also wrote the

stone that was rejected by builders that became

the cornerstone, making reference to Jesus. In

Revelation 21, if you read that chapter, we read

about the stones of the foundation of the new

Jerusalem, made of precious stones, with each

having their own symbolic meaning. Interesting.

In essence, stones in the Bible are not just

literal objects, but they carry a deep symbolic

meaning, reminding us of God's character, His

actions in history, and the spiritual truths

about our faith. The Bible references large stones.

It references smooth stones like the one that

David looked for, memorial stones, cornerstones.

altar stones, and lively stones as the Lord declared

upon Peter and the church. I'd like to speak

directly to myself today and to the City Light

Church today about a special and unique stone.

And if you can put the slide up there, my white

stone. My white stone. Now you know why I've

got these here. My white stone. Now, my white

stone, the Bible says, with a new name written

on it, and I'll get to that in a minute, this

white stone is symbolic. Today, it's just a stone.

If you drop it in water, it'll go deep. You want

to be a stone? If you're a stone, you'll go deep.

Oh, you didn't get that at all. That didn't cost

you nothing there. But if you want to be a stone,

think about it. If you're one of these, if you

got one of these, you're going to go deep. You're

going to go to the depths of God. The white stone.

It is symbolic of victory, symbolic of purity,

and acceptance for those who overcome trials

and remain faithful to God. The white stone is

not literal, as we see here today, but it is

symbolic of a precious token of the love of the

Lord Jesus. It signifies God's approval. Freedom

from condemnation and a unique personal relationship

with God. In biblical times, white stones, probably

no bigger than the one I'm going to show you

here, white stones and black stones were given

to a jury that was listening. to accusations

against somebody. Every juror had one of these.

A white stone and a black stone. They heard all

the complaints, all the witnesses, all, you know,

of what they did wrong. And I saw them. And somebody

comes in, well, I saw him too. And somebody else

comes in, I've never seen the man or woman or

whatever. And they just, at the end, you know,

they finally heard all the testimonies of everything

that was said about that person. Good, bad, indifferent,

whatever. was said about that person. But the

jurors, after they heard all the testimonies,

the judge would say, okay, jurors, you know what

to do. If the man is innocent, you put a white

stone down. If he's guilty, you put a black stone

just like that. So I imagine that poor fella

sitting there. He can see the people. They were

not hidden. They were walking up. Then he was

there. Make it a white one. Please make it a

white one. White, white, white, white, white,

white. Yes, white. No, black. That's not good.

Not good. Brother. Brother Kong. If it was you

and you saw them putting this stone down, what

would you think, man? Not good, man. This is

not favorable. You don't want one of these. You

don't want one of these black guys. Man, I'm

telling you, when you're watching them walk up,

you wonder what he's going to do. They've got

a white one in one hand and a black one in the

other, and they're walking up there, and then

they just go. They might even play games with

you. Which hand is it in? But if it's one of

these, my God, uh -oh, that's one strike. You

got 11 more to go. And so the other one comes

up and whoo -wee, he got a white one for you.

Right, Brother Rico? I sat in the courtroom with

this man, I know. Hallelujah. Did we get a white

stone that day, brother? Yeah. We got a white

stone, man. And I told him, don't you worry,

Brother Rico. You're coming out of here, man.

Yeah, but all the odds are good. Don't you worry

about the odds. You leave the judge to me. And

I sat in the back of the courtroom and I rebuked

that judge. Did I rebuke him, brother? You can

feel the presence of the God in that courtroom?

Man, I rebuked that judge. He says, don't you

say nothing against my brother Rico. He was a

new convert. Then, What did he do, brother? He

almost jumped over that big desk, huh? He looked

like he was going to jump at you, huh? He came

over his desk. I've never seen a judge do that

in my life. Here it comes, I said. He jumped

over the top of his desk. And then he points

at Brother Reed. I don't know why I'm doing this.

And I says, I know. I don't know why I'm doing

this, he said. I said, I know why. We got this,

we got this. And then he says, I'm going to let

you go. They should have thrown him in deep,

man. And not in the waters, in the pen. But he

got off, man, because he got one of these. I'm

going to quittle. Hey, he was set free, man.

I'm going to tell you something. How many have

been set free here today? If you're set free,

you say, praise the Lord, I'm free and I'm free

indeed. If the Son sets you free, you're free

indeed. But if you get a black stone, the black

stone signifies condemnation. Doomed. Oh my God.

You don't want one of those. You do not want

a black stone. Praise the Lord, somebody. I'll

tell you, I know some of your hearts are really

beating fast right now. I'm going to hide these

over here. Feel better? All we got is white stones

now. In ancient Greco -Roman culture, A white

stone was a token of victory award to a winner

of an athletic contest. They didn't give, you

know, they started giving other things. They

don't give medals, gold medals and all of that,

like now they do, you know. And it's nice, good

for them, they earned it. But in those times,

in ancient Olympic games, the white stones were

given. to the athlete that won. They were given

one of these, a white stone. I don't know how

it looked. I mean, this is just a stone that

I have here. But they were given one of these

stones. And in ancient times... They were presented

these stones in a celebration parade. They had

a parade. And when the athletes came by, they

were all wondering if they were going to get

one of these. This went to the victor, to the

champion, to the winner. And they were given.

Those, it says, they're all coming by. They were

just kind of looking to see. I don't know exactly

how, you know, the parade functioned and all

that. But I can imagine them wondering, wondering,

wondering until their name is called. And they

come up and they get one of these. Isn't that

interesting? But what they did is they put the

name of the victor on the stone. They put their

name on it. And it wasn't just so that, you know,

you can have a stone with your name inscribed

on it. But it was possessing a white stone like

this was an entitlement. An entitlement, not

only a public recognition, but for the rest of

your life. If you had one of these, it was basically

like a carte blanche. My God, that meant something.

It had value. Praise the Lord. It was your new

identity. Maybe you were a nobody last week,

but this week you got a white stone with your

name on it. And because it's got your name on

it, guess what? When they began to have the great

festivities, the huge banquets, where only special

guests were invited, you would take your white

stone, and when you got to the entrance of the

door, you just went like this. What's that say?

It says, Joseph, thank you very much. Come on

in. And you can go into the banquets, festivities.

Man, this thing got you into a lot of places.

Praise the Lord. Wouldn't you like to have one

of those today? Praise God. You can walk into

a banquet and say, go like this. Oh, you're welcome.

Come on in, Joseph. Come on in, Kong. You're

in, man. Woo, where'd you get that? Never mind.

I got it. And they will let you in. You can get

into these great festivities, celebration. It

didn't matter how much people paid for that ticket.

You already had your ticket. This was your pass.

This was your ticket. This was the token that

you can get in and celebrate with everybody.

Amen. Give me a filet mignon medium, please.

Who do you think you are? Hey. Oh, okay. How

did you say you wanted that? Listen, this is

serious stuff. This was serious. I mean, can

you imagine people wanting that kind of a level

of recognition? This was a very special recognition.

This is a token. This is just for athletes. My

God. This is a stone that had your name on it.

And wow, that is awesome. The promise of the

white stone that we read. Encourages believers

to persevere in their faith. Holding fast to

a relationship with Christ. Overcoming the hardships

of this world. Not paying attention to anybody

that's going to distract you from this stone.

They're not going to pay your way in. Nobody

else can lend you their stone. You've got to

have your own stone. If you want to get into

the banquet. The banquet of God. At the end.

festivities that God's going to have one day

in the heavenlies. You're going to need one of

these. It's not two for one. You're not going

to be able to ride on your mama's stone, your

daddy's stone, your neighbor's stone, your girlfriend,

brother's stone, nobody. You have to have your

own stone. Bless the Lord. There's going to be

a great feast. In the heavens. There's going

to be a wonderful celebration. Great festivities.

And brother, if you don't have one of these,

you're going to get kicked out. And the Lord

Jesus talked about those. Get them out. They

don't belong here. They don't have a white stone

with their name on it. And these white stones.

are going to have. You know, before I go any

further, I want you to, I brought some stones

here. Sounds good, huh? Better than money. You

like how money sounds? This is better than money.

Praise God. I'm going to put some stones right

here. Man, I'm telling you. Look at that. Look

at those stones. My God. Look at that. Praise

God. Hello. Wait, where are you going with that

stone, brother? You've got to earn it. I'm kidding.

Look at this. I'm going to ask. You don't need

to. I'm going to ask if you want something to

remind yourself. Before we continue here, to

remind you about how important it is for you

to get one of these in heaven, come up and get

one. Don't idolize it. Don't make it an idol.

Don't pray to it. Just come and get one and say,

this is my stone. You put that on the dashboard

of your car. You can put it on your headboard,

under your pillow. I don't care where you put

it. Just don't idolize it. This is just a reminder.

Praise God. Look at that. Come on. Hopefully

you can all get one. If you don't get one, you

have to wait until the by and by. There you go,

brother. Come on. Hey, everybody got a stone?

If you want one, you got one, right? Ooh, he

even got a stone. Look at that. Good for you,

man. You got it. You put that somewhere, you

know, put it somewhere, you can remember one

of these days, God's going to give me one of

these. But if you're faithful, when you become

of age, you give your life to the Lord. Serve

the Lord. But listen to this. Here's another

thing about white stones. I just thought I'd

throw this as extra measure. A white stone was

also known as, it was called a tessera hospitalis.

Tessera hospitalis. These stones were split in

half. And they were exchanged among two people

to signify a covenant. friendship a covenant

friendship and what you can do with this years

can go by 20 years generations can go by if you

have a half of a stone from somebody when you

get to that half of whatever it is You will receive

the gift of the hospitality, meaning welcome.

Mi casa, su casa. You're welcome. Think about

it for a moment. Your stone, Jesus has the other

half. He has the other half. It's a stone of

covenant. It's a friendship stone. and he has

a place prepared for you. I'm going to tell you

something. I mean, I know it's a lot of symbolics

here and all of that, and that's good, you know,

and you can, whatever you want. There's people

that, they come up with some weird ideas. This

is not a weird idea. This is biblical. Okay,

but let me tell you something. You show up to

heaven, and you have a half of a stone, And Jesus

has the other half. He's going to go like that.

Come on in. I built this house for you. I built

this mansion for you. That is what they call

hospitality stone. Hospitality means that you

will have a place in heaven for eternity. What

is his is yours, and what's yours is his. Blessed

be the name of the Lord. Amen. You have a friend

in Jesus, but you got to have a covenant with

Jesus. Don't just start anything. A covenant

with him. Amen. And you might be wondering, when

am I going to close? The keyboard is going to

come up, brother. You didn't come up for a stone,

brother. You wanted the bigger one? Oh, no, you

ain't going to get that one. Pick a stone, brother.

Oh, that's a nice one. Listen. Oh, my God, this

brother. He thinks he's David. He's going to

slingshot him somewhere. Praise God. God is good,

isn't he? But listen to this. This is the most

important part about all of this, is a new name.

The new name written on the stone. It carries

very, very many theological implications. There's

been a lot of... discussions on this theologians

are not fully committed to what it signifies

but because of other scripture and theological

implications and teachings and if we take the

spiritual application a new name is a change

in identity which suggests a unique and intimate

relationship with Christ. It represents a new

status and identity. God gave new names to several

biblical characters, and they all signified new

beginnings, divine covenants, and new destinies.

Abram's new name became Abraham, which means

father of many nations. Sarai's new name became

Sarah, which means princess. Jacob's new name

became Israel, a new identity, which means God

prevails. Simon's new name became Peter, meaning

rock, signifying Peter's new identity as a foundational

figure in the apostolic church. Lively stones.

God gave new names. Because he was expanding

their influence and purpose globally. Many years

ago, I may have mentioned this before. There

was a name, there was a pastor over there in

Campbell. He was an apostolic preacher. I'm trying

to remember his last name, but his first name

was John. Daniels was his last name. He preached

a message on the black brick. It wasn't about

this, but he preached about how he was a running

back for his football team, but he was a fumbler.

He fumbled all the time. He was strong, fast,

quick, understood things. He can get through

the gap. He can do a lot of good things, but

he would fumble when they hit him. So the coach

had enough. He says, you're good, John, but I'm

going to make you better. I'm going to make you

better. He says, I painted a black brick. And

he gave him a black brick. He says, you're going

to take this brick home with you. You're never

going to separate yourself from that brick. You're

going to sleep with it, eat with it, take a shower

with it, everything. You're going to come to

school with it. You're going to take it everywhere

you go and you're going to tuck it right here

like a football. You're going to walk like this

with this brick everywhere you go. Ah, no problem,

coach. Really? Well, I told the rest of the team,

which is about 50 or 60 players, they better

not let you come back in a week with that brick.

What? They're going to try to take it from you.

Everywhere you go, don't lay it down. It's gone.

Well, It's your problem, John. You're the fumbler.

And so he took that brick. Let me tell you something.

He tucked it in right here. He went to school

every day, to mall, to eat, everywhere, to sleep.

It didn't matter. He had that brick right here.

He would not let it go. Every day in school,

there was guys that would come behind him, in

front of him, on this side, distracting him.

And, you know, hey, come on, John, let's sit

down. Here's a soda. And here's a hamburger here,

you know, and he needed two hands. I said, oh,

no, no, no. I even eat with one hand. I'm not

letting go of this brick for a whole week. Boy,

he gave some stories about how they tried to

strip him, but he hung on. At the end of the

week, he shows up to the coach's office. And

the coach said, John, I see you still got the

brick. I see you still got the brick. You're

worthy of carrying a football for me again. Don't

ever fumble, John. Don't fumble. Today, I wonder

if this white stone could be tucked in somewhere

in your heart. Not literally, but symbolically,

metaphorically. That white stone tucked into

your heart, to your life. And you can tell because

you see, all of hell wants to take your stone.

All of hell. They say, I don't care how good

she sings, he sings, it don't matter to me. Take

that stone away from them. Young man, young lady,

church, it's up to you if you're going to give

it up or not for some thrill somewhere. Some

extra paying job. Oh, but they're offering me

more money, really? So are you going to lay down

this thing and go do that for a while? You think

you're going to come back, John, and just pick

it up? No. I'm telling you today. I know it's

symbolic. I'm not telling you the stone that

you have in your hand right now. That's just,

you put that somewhere as a reminder. I got to

get one of those, man. I'm going to get me one

of those. But you have one in your heart. And

every day the devil is trying to take it from

you. You know why? You know why he's trying to

take it from you? Because he's got one of these.

He's already been judged. He's already been judged.

This is what he's got. He wants to get your stone.

He wants you to get one of these. No, no, no,

man. Black is beautiful, man. Black, oh, man.

You know, Raiders, really? Come on, man. There's

going to be a lot of reasons why. I'm not telling

you you can't root for them, but it just came

to mind. The point is, he's got one of those,

and he wants you to have one. He doesn't want

you to have this one. He wants to strip you from

this. Brother, sister, don't listen to those

voices that are telling you negative things.

No, no, no, that's not true. Listen to me. No,

you know, you don't understand the whole story.

You can tell them, you know, Satan, get down

behind me. I'm going to put my mind on Jesus.

I'm not going to get to heaven and over there

and then when they're passing out white stones,

I get the wrong color. Come on. Are you going

to take a chance like that listening to somebody

else's complaint rather than to the word of God

and say, let God be true. I'm sorry. I'm not

going to go to hell for you. It's not worth it,

man. Sister, brother, it's not worth it. Get

your life right. Focus on what you need to focus

on. Serve God with all your heart. And you'll

see how that, your reward is there. You're going

to get a name. But you know what's unique about

that name? You're going to get a stone in heaven,

brother. Brother Ben, you're going to get a stone

in heaven. But you know that your stone is going

to have your name on it. Put that next slide

up there, brother. My new name. You're going

to get a name. When you get there, it's going

to be on your stone. Your name is going to be

written. How it's going to look, I don't know.

There's a lot of, you know. and, you know, theologians,

they're just trying to figure it out. And I say,

don't try to figure it out. It's pretty simple.

It's just simple. You're going to get a white

stone with your name, a new name, and that name,

nobody is going to know it except God and you.

That's it. Nobody else is going to know your

name. It's private. It's unique. He's got a name

for you. He's got a name for the victor. But

that name, you will share it with nobody. When

God calls that name, you know that's you. Nobody

else. That's me. God, that's me. He's the only

one that knows my name because he gave it to

you. And he gave it to you because you were faithful,

loyal, committed, obedient, suffering for him.

That new name, I don't know what it is. You don't

know what it is. Only God knows what it is right

now. But he has a name. And then that stone.

It's going to give you access to everything in

eternity that awaits you. Access. That's your

ticket. Celebrate eternity with a stone with

your name on it. Stand with me. Thank you for

your attention today. This is... my thought for

today and I Pray that Somehow some way you can

know that It's real Don't sell out don't lose

it Don't You know, there's an old story about

a venomous snake, venomous snakes, that's what

they call them, with poison. Rattlers have a,

they have venom, but they have a little bag,

a little bag of venom. And when they're going

to go through a process of transition or whatever,

They take that venom out and they hide it somewhere.

They hide it. Because that's the only thing they

have to protect themselves. So they go about,

do what they got to do. And this was an experiment

that some people did. They got that venom and

they took it. Took it from where the snake had

put it. And when the snake came back for it,

it was not there. That snake went off a high

mountain to kill itself. Because without the

venom, life was useless. How much us with a stone

that waits us up there. Man, don't lose your

stone. It's not worth it for nobody. No thrill,

no situation, no gimmies. No, no, no. Be careful.

Lift your hands. Let's be thankful to the Lord.

Father, I thank you, Lord, for this word, Lord,

that you've put in our hearts today. I know,

Father, hallelujah, that this is what you want

to give us. Lord, I want to live my life. I want

to live my life in repentance, holiness, seeking

you, Lord. Everything that comes against me,

Lord, I'm going to tell him, get thou behind

me. I want that stone. With my name on it. I

desire it. I'll do whatever it takes, Lord. To

get that stone. Whatever it takes. I'll do it.

Thank you, Father. Thank you. God bless you all

today.