Hi, welcome to Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. I welcome all our friends and neighbors from around the world. We have a fabulous show here today. It's going to be called Empowerment and Giving Back. But before we get to the show, I want to show you a couple of photographs of last week. You remember when we were with Dave Livingston, and he talked about all of the fun things that Rotary does? Well, here's a few pictures that you could see. This was me at the Rotary Club luncheon where I was the guest host, and there's me giving... Let's hold that picture for a second. Dave is wearing an I Am In Charge shirt, which is something that we do with one of the topics we're doing today. Let's see the next one. There I am speaking, and I think that's enough. That just gives you the idea. It's the Rotary Club of Waikiki or Honolulu, and it was just a fabulous meeting. These people give away a lot of money, and they do a lot of things for their community. So let's get on to today's show. Empowerment. Now, I have a co-guest here with me, a co-host with me, Sharon. You have been with me before, actually, just a few weeks ago, and now you are one of the best hosts on Think Tech Hawaii. Oh, thank you. Welcome back. Well, it's true. It's true. You were one of the... I think one of your weeks, you were the highest rated show of the week, which is terrific. Wow, that's amazing. I'm very proud of you. Thank you. I feel slightly responsible for bringing you to Think Tech Hawaii, so it's wonderful to have you aboard. And we have Patria, who is from Kids or Two, and Hiro, who is from Kids or Two. And both of you have been on this show as well before, and the reason I'm smiling so much is because I'm so happy that we're all together. The reason is because empowerment and giving back is something all four of us have in common. And I think it's so important to understand it's not all about making money. That happiness in this world is about doing things for other people. You happen to be doing it for sisters empowering Hawai'i. Sisters empowering Hawai'i. And you guys are doing it for Kids or Two, which is all about kids. And to me, that is such a critical piece of our community. Yes, we all have to make money. Yes, we all have to feed our families. But what you are doing is critical for those people who need that little extra push, whether it's for the women in our audience and the women around the world and you guys for the kids. We're also, just before we get into it, I want to say that Sharon, you're going to be speaking at the same group I just showed at the Rotary Club Network. Thank you so much. And you'll enjoy that because it's a large group of people and you'll find them extremely receptive and I know what you'll talk about will be very inspirational to them. And then you guys are getting something from Dave Livingston, who was my guest last week, where he is going to help your foster youth coordinate a program in the YMCA. So everything comes around. It's amazing how things really come in circles. So one of the reasons I wanted to have you all here is because I want the audience to know whether you're in Austria or whether you're in Germany or Canada or here in the U.S., that we're all in the same boat, that kids need help, women need help, mothers need help, everybody somewhere needs help and we all should do something to help those people. So Sharon, why don't we introduce Sisters Empowering Hawaii a little bit? Absolutely. Sisters Empowering Hawaii is Hawaii's foremost women's empowerment organization. And our biggest goal and mission and objective is to empower, motivate and educate all women, all across the board. And so I always look at happiness as something to look forward to and I really love the fact that empowering women and I love confident women who are able to also give. And like you said before, it's not all about getting paid, yes we do need to get paid. But what you give, the return is so much larger. So thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to come on once again. Well I have to tell you that it's a pleasure having you on because I don't have to say anything once you take over the microphone, even if it falls off, it's wonderful. Patria, tell us a little bit again about Kids Hurt 2. So Kids Hurt 2 Hawaii is an organization that works with kids who have had a loss of some sort of a parent. So kids lose parents for a variety of reasons and so we get referrals from families themselves but also from a variety of different places all around the community. And we do peer-to-peer support groups for kids who have lost parents and we also work with youth transitioning out of foster care. Which is something that I'm involved with you with or you are in charge of. We're going to actually show some pictures of that a little bit later. Hiro, you tell us what you do at Kids Hurt 2. I'm the founder of the Kids Hurt 2 Hawaii 16 years ago with my wife Cynthia and then my friends, I mean three of us founded. And then we've been supporting grieving children, so peer-to-peer, peer support and doing a lot of activities and also at the same time. Hiro, I know for a fact that you do much more than that. You also go back to Japan to help the grieving children in Japan. And that's part of the Kids Hurt 2 program too. Explain how that works. The 2011, the big earthquake happened in northern part of Japan around Fukushima and then I started going since June of 2011 and then up until last year, you know, every two months I go back to Japan and the Tohoku area and we provide support groups and training like we do in Hawaii. So that was pretty busy in a sense, but back and forth and I was doing a group and programs half of the month in Hawaii, maybe two-thirds and then 10 days or two weeks or so go to Japan and work with those kids. So Kids Hurt 2, Patria, the aim of Kids Hurt 2 is overall helping children, children in need for grieving children. But what Hiro is doing is on an international scale. Now, how many kids have you helped Hiro in Japan? I don't know. Close to maybe a thousand. A thousand kids. And we brought, last year we brought 44 children, four parents from the tsunami and then we did an international grief trauma account with the local children. So last year it was 60, 45. And this year we brought 20, you know, children who were family members through the tsunami and then we did about 30 children's grief international campaign up in the North Shore this much. That is terrific. Well, I can tell you that I'm part of this Kids Hurt 2 organization and they are the most worthy, worthy of organizations because nothing is more important than helping our kids and what Patria does and what Hiro does both on a Hawaii level and an international level needs a tremendous amount of support. And we did have a fundraiser. We're going to talk about that and the next fundraiser. But more important than that is we're going to accentuate how we're going to get sisters in power in Hawaii helping you guys. So could you explain what we're doing to help them via your, it's not a donation. It's a scholarship. Absolutely. Unfortunately sisters in power in Hawaii every year March is National Women's History Month and in March we had our second annual women making history luncheon and it was also a book signing. We were able to partner with Argosy University. They were so generous and so giving and very involved and inspiring and motivating and of course educating people. They donated to each attendee, which we had well over 200 attendees we were sold out at the Wildlife Country Club, that they donated to each attendee $5,000 scholarship and fortunately some of the people said you know Sharon I would like to pay this for it and we already have our doctorate, we already have our masters and they returned some of the certificates to me to pay it forward. And so when I came on your show and I donated them to you, you paid it for it and you offered it to kids her too, is that correct? So this is a $5,000 scholarship to show it to the camera, show it to the camera right here. Yep, perfect. Right there is a $5,000 Argosy University Hawaii Scott, $5,000 scholarship and says congratulations sisters in power in Hawaii March 2017. And I'm so happy that I'm able to donate this to your children so we can further their education to empower them, inspire them and educate them as well. So here you are. Thank you. You're very welcome.  You gave it to me and I said I know somebody who really needs it and it's some of your foster kids right? Explain to me how these are going to be given. So we work with foster youth who are leaving the system and that can be a very tenuous time for young people without a solid base of support and many do not have that support, trying to figure out how to make a living wage and some are not on a track to go to college, they don't have a path to college. So as we get to know these young people, it becomes clear who's really ready and would jump at the chance if they had the resources available. So we have several young people who we're talking with and finding out who's ready to commit to pursuing this and we also do some work development pieces with young people. So we want to encourage college, we want to encourage making a living wage and finding work that they enjoy doing and can grow in. So this allows us to offer something really special to a couple of our young people. Well what we need to do, I think if it's okay with you Sharon and with you Patrick, is when you decide on which of your recipients will get these two scholarships, why don't we bring them on the show and you, I think that would be great. Oh I would love that. You would be able to come on as well and we do a presentation to them on air, which I think would be great for them and their families to see. Yeah. All right, are you all? I'm on board for that and another thing I would like to add. Please. Which is wonderful about this scholarship, they have two years to use it. So this gives them a time to research the field that they would like to go into, have a chance to visit the campus, get familiar with the campus, and get in that comfort zone. So I'm very excited about this. I would love to come back and present it to you too. I have another surprise for you. If you find another one, I am willing and ready to give another $5,000 scholarship. Wow, that's extremely generous. That would be fantastic. That is so cool. Thank you, Sharon. Oh, I'm so excited about this. Well, I think you know what it does? It just shows what we all want to do. And that's to help, especially young people, it's so important. And I think from my experience with what KidsHer2 does, and what the Hawaii Foster Youth Coalition does, and what my program, You're In Charge, does with the kids, education is truly the key. Yes, we can help them get jobs, but if we can get them in education, they will have a much better life and they'll be a much better contributing member to our society. And I think that's a critical issue for all of us, don't you think? Yes. So Sharon, I want to hear a little bit more about what your plans are.  You're on How Often? Are you so people can find you? Thanks to you. We have a show Sister Power, which I am the host of, and it's on every other Thursday at 4 PM. And we're live, and fortunately I've had two guests so far. The honorable Sandra Sooms, she's a retired judge. And she's a Hawaii's first African American judge, woman judge as a matter of fact. And then we were also able to have on yesterday, Tadia Rice, who she received the 2017 Ellis Medal Honor, which is very prestigious. And this was given out in New York. So this is a wonderful platform. I was saying yesterday, a lot of times when we girls meet for lunch, we don't really have a chance to talk about what we do and how we do. And so through your giving, paying it forward, we're able to have a platform where we can have sister talk right here at Think Tech. Just a wonderful. Think Tech Hawaii. Think Tech is wonderful. Now, Patrick and Hiro, we're going to show some photographs, some pictures of the Kids Who Are Two events and things that we've done together. And I'd like you and all of us to actually comment on them as we go. Because I want people to see what Kids Who Are Two is all about. So if we could bring one. Okay, there's the first. Hiro, there you are. That's with me. And that's James, who has been on our show and is a wonderful, wonderful speaker. James has been with you for several years now, right? Yes, quite a long time. Yeah, yeah. And really, he's been with us and for our new store. Yeah, he's been coming out every week to work with us on this new program we're trying to launch. And he's really excited to contribute and we talk about ideas. And yeah, it's wonderful. And this event actually was a fundraiser that we did at the Coalau Golf Club. Right. And I was honored at that fundraiser. Thank you very much. That was wonderful. And we raised a lot of money for Kids Who Are Two, which is absolutely fabulous. And James was one of our speakers. And he was so inspirational, absolutely amazing. Whenever we do outreach programs like we do your, what's the program we do once a year? A real world? The real world program. That's right. He's one of the guys that's doing it with it. Now, we've got to take a short break. And then we're going to look at some more of the pictures of Kids Who Are Two and what they do and we'll go from there. So I'm here with Sharon, with Hiro, and with Patria. We're on Seymour's World and we're talking about empowerment and giving back. We'll be back in a minute. Aloha, my name is Steven Philip Katz. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist. And I'm the host of Shrink Rap Hawaii, where I talk to other shrinks. Did you ever want to get your head shrunk? Well, this is the best place to come to pick one. I've been doing this. We must have 60 shows with a whole bunch of shrinks that you can look at. I'm here on Tuesdays at three o'clock every other Tuesday. I hope you are too. Aloha. Hi, welcome back to Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. We're here with three of my favorite people in the world who have all been on my show before. But I have to say we are together now because we're intermixing. We're just, all of us are working together. And I think Sharon, you said the word, we're going forward with it. And I think that's so important because all of us have to rely on helping each other. One of the most important things we do. Sharon Yarbrough is here from Sisters in Power in Hawaii. Hiro and Patria are here from Kids Who Are Two. And I'm representing, I guess, just me. But in any case, we're going to talk a little bit about Kids Who Are Two and what we do there. So here's our first picture. Oh, that's my wife. She's lovely. Yes, Sue is my rock. She is the lady who holds me together. Responsible. If any of you do watch my commentaries, and I know a lot of you do because I get a lot of comments. Sue is actually the one mostly responsible for the commentaries.  Let's see the next one. I said this picture. And that is my family. Oh my God. They were all there. Now that's my son, Aaron, in the middle, the little guy. He's only six foot five. And Ashley, his wife and my daughter, Alana, the blonde and the pose feature and grant her boyfriend. Let's see the next one. Okay, Hiro, who's this? This is Senator Wakai. And we are same age and he's out of Japan. He was adopted when he was a baby. So we both grew up in a Japanese orphanage. Oh, so he is a great supporter. Yes. So yeah, great supporter. We just talk story then. Oh, that's wonderful. Did he speak at our fundraiser? I don't remember German. No, he didn't speak. But I always invite him to come. That's wonderful. We are just, we just both turned 50 years old this year. So he's a great supporter. James, this is our James, who is there and so kind and generous to be there with us then. Patria, tell me a little bit about how you handle the situation. James is a quadriplegic, correct? Yes. And he has a great difficulty in speaking. And he comes, yeah, but he comes all the time, right? Yeah. Your kids, her too, is his home, isn't it? Yeah, I really am touched every time he comes over. A hero is someone who is really close to. And so everything like eating, heroes assisting him. Anything that James needs to do, hero is like right there assisting. And so there, you can tell there's a strong relationship that's developed over time. And that's a really special thing to be part of his family. Hero, is he like a son to you? Well, he's my buddy. Yeah. We're always hanging out. We have to wait sometimes to buses and we do talk stories. And one time I was pushing with my skateboard, skating together. No, kidding. Waiting for the handyman is sometimes. James has to wait a lot for the handyman, so. He has a very tough life, but this young man has such a positive attitude. I'm amazed. He's been to my year-in-charge program three times, I think. Oh, wow. Or more, three or four times, and he loves it. He loves the camaraderie because he's with other young people. And he now has become one of the seniors in our year-in-charge group. And he talks to them about what it takes to make sure you're structured and you have discipline and how to handle your passion and support and all that stuff. He really is an amazing character. Let's see some of the other photos. Go ahead. Oh, this is a long time ago. He must be close to maybe 20 years old now. Oh, wow. And he was not like a loy, up in the Kaneohe side. And that was the first time we did this. Organize kids to organize, go to the loy and take care of the taro event. This is a picture from when that first began. And that continues up till today, just this last Saturday. We had a group of youth visiting a loy on the Windward side. And there's something we all know that's really important about connecting with our nature and being able to see something grow and be a part of that. That's wonderful. This is, I think, one of the first. This is Li Keke. Remember Li Keke? Yes, of course. He spoke about 10 years old. And all boys are like about close to 20 years old. And this is the south for us all. We do now a day, four times a year, but then once a year event. And you have to do this all on your own. This is, I mean, these kids don't do this on their own. They have to do it through kids or two. So there's no opportunity for these kids to do it unless they do it through you. Yes, wonderful. Just wonderful, wonderful. These are, we want to include pictures of when we work with young people, oftentimes transitioning out of foster care. We like to create space to hear from them about what their thoughts are, what their dreams are, what things they are looking for, support around. So this is an example of the kinds of gatherings that we like to create and set up with our young people. Oh, wonderful. And these are foster kids? Yes, yes. This is like maybe seven, eight years old. So they might be in the year in charge program in the next group that we do? They are much older now. Oh, okay. So this is why we're here. We're trying not to show pictures of them. Because I don't recognize any of them. Well, we don't want to show pictures, current pictures of our young people. All right. Cool. Oh. This is the last day of the camp. We did, you know, from children from Japan to Hoku, you know, full of parents and family members through Tsunami. And then the campfire in the last day is these pictures. How wonderful is it? Sharon, we're both in Jewish. We have an expression that's called kvelling. Kvelling means you just feel so good when you see that you're helping other people. And what you guys are doing is just as good as what you were doing. Sister's empowering what I do.  I think this is absolutely amazing. I would love to be a part of this today. Well, you are going to be because once you know me here, all of the stuff that I do, it's really important. Because I think everybody needs role models. And one of the issues that we have at KidsHer2 and our foster kids program is they need people to talk to them. They need people that they can confide in. And we have Hero and Patria provide interns in my group and your in charge group who can help the kids just relate, answer questions, feel comfortable about talking about their intimate and issues that they have. And I think I always like to have a lot of guest speakers come and talk to the group at your in charge. So, yes, you will definitely be involved. And we have, I'd say, equal girls and boys now, right? Yes, about more boys. Right now there's a lot more boys. Patria, there's something going on at KidsHer2. We haven't even talked about it. Tell us about this new initiative in the foster space. So, we have this incredible space at the Kukui Center, which is right on the edge of Chinatown, and a large room. And we looked at that room and we looked at what Hero and I started talking and dreaming and considering what we've heard time and time again from young people in foster care about needing to gain work experience in a safe place. And this is what we decided to build based on all of that feedback. And we named this new project. It's called High Rising, H.I. for Hawaii High Rising. So, we are all about incubating young people who have ideas and want to learn design, want to apply those designs to a real market in a real retail setting. We are developing some customer partnerships towards that end and will be able to feature the products and ideas of young people. And it's something that we imagine will be like an entrepreneurial hub where a lot of different young people will be involved. A lot of different ideas will get hopefully launched in that space. And there's a lot of young people who are so creative and if they had access to a market, if they had access to mentors and access to safe places to test their ideas, we think they'll go and do all kinds of small businesses and pursue their ideas. Well, Hero, the market, tell us about the market. Who's going to be the market for us? Well, we're thinking like there's so many Japanese tourists come to Hawaii, as you know. And there's a Japanese Shinto shrine right behind, you know, our building. And there's always like every day 30 or 40, you know, trolley comes around. Trolley and buses come. Yeah, so they just go to visit, you know, Shinto shrine and they just wait. You know, that place becomes like one of the tourist destinations. So you have 1200 people a day. I don't know how many, but I've got 30 to 40. Yeah, go ahead. So I just, in the beginning, you know, we have to market, you know. So just first, I have to go there, talk slowly with them, invite them maybe, you know.  But the high-rising store that you're going to have is not just for the tourist market. The area around where your location is, there's an office building. There's a bank behind you. There's a lot of people that walk in that area. So there has to be some way for them to be able to come in and buy some of the products that you have. And also we're going to have a coffee shop. Yeah, it'll be little snacks down. Because there's no vending machine in our building and we hear from our co-workers all the time, oh, it'd be great if there was a place to buy coffee nearby. It'd be great if there was some snacks we could purchase. And there's tons of parking, too. So people can stop in, grab something and then just go. Wonderful. Wonderful. I think it's such an exciting project. I love the idea and you know, part of my program that you are in charge program is mentoring them into figuring out what they want to do. Not just doing their passion, but figuring out how they can best move forward in their life. How they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here's a way for most of them to gain retail experience, design experience, creativity. There's all sorts of things that they will gain by working in a location like this. So how many foster kids are we talking about? Well, as we launch it, we're looking at working real closely with about eight young people as we get started. And they'll be paid learning stipends for agreeing to come into our training. Wonderful. So we'll start small and we hope to grow. Well, I have two volunteers for you. We need them. Sharon Yarbrough, right there. Seymour Kazimerski, right here. We will be glad to help. And I know my wife, Sue, said she'll be glad to help, too. Oh, my husband, too. There, that's four volunteers. So we have four. Yeah, four volunteers will be glad to help. And I was looking at what kinds of skills and immediately three caught my eye for Citizen Park in Hawaii. Graphic design, marketing, and business planning. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. These are areas that young people, if they had a chance to learn. And even bookkeeping, we're talking about interior design a lot because we're designing our store space and they're helping renovate it. So there's a lot of skills that come to play. And as you can see, this is very typical of what we're all about, right? Helping each other. So thank you very much for coming on Seymour's World. This will not be the last time because I love talking about what you guys are doing. Sharon, Hero, Patria, just wonderful to have you. And thank you all for watching and listening. You're just watched another episode of Seymour's World, which I hope will give you a chance to think about helping others. Aloha from Seymour's World in Tiktok, Hawaii.


Welcome to Palm Sunday's worship service. Hallelujah. This is the day we commemorate Jesus' triumphant entrance into the city of Jerusalem. And they cried, Hosanna, save us now. Save us Jesus. Save us Jesus. Hosanna. Come on Saints, hallelujah. Hallelujah. We serve a mighty God. We serve a faithful God. We serve a powerful God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He is a waymaker, a miracle worker, a promise keeper, light in the darkness. Hallelujah. We thank the praise of Lord for our first lady in Jesus' name. The Lord is a miracle worker. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He deserved all the praise, all the honor, all the glory as His. Hallelujah. Father we come this morning, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, Lord God. We come this morning, Lord God, thanking you for your mercy, Lord God, thanking you for your grace, Lord God, your loving kindness, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, Lord God. Hallelujah, Lord God. We thank you this morning, Lord God, for being a miracle worker, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, Lord God. We come this morning, Lord God, continually, Lord God, standing, Lord God, standing on your word, Lord God, standing on your promises, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, Lord God. You said Lord God that you're worried Lord God. We're not returning to you boy. That it would do Lord God. What it was set up to do Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. Hallelujah Lord God. Hallelujah.  Hallelujah Lord Jesus. Lord we ask you this morning Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. That you will have your way Lord God. In this service Lord God. That you will touch Lord God. That you will move Lord God. In a mighty way Lord God. That you will move upon the hearts Lord God. Of your people Lord God. That they may draw their minds in Lord God. And worship you Lord God. Inspire Lord God. And in truth Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. Lord God you said that you do well. In the mess Lord God. Appraises Lord God. We ask you this morning. In the name of Jesus. That you are done knowing Lord God. Every portion Lord God. Of this service Lord God. Annoying Lord God. The scripture reader Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. Annoying the praise to you Lord God. As they come forth Lord God. Singing Lord God. The song of Zion Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. Annoying the musicians Lord God. As they play skillfully Lord God. Before you Lord God. Anointing Lord God. Of the Holy Ghost Lord God. As your messenger come forth this morning Lord God. Speak through him Lord God. Use him Lord God. Annoy him Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. Send forth your word Lord God. In the name of Jesus Lord God. That we as your people Lord God. May continue to apply your word Lord God. To our lives Lord God. That we as your people. May live Lord God.  In the name of Jesus Lord God. You say be holy. For you are holy Lord God. In Jesus name Lord God. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. This morning is in St. John chapter 10 verses 6 through 11. This parable spake Jesus unto them but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then Jesus said unto them again barely barely I say unto you I am the door of the sheep. All that ever come came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and shall find pasture.  Hallelujah. Glory. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd give it his life for the sheep. Thank you Jesus. Glory. Good shepherd give us his life for the sheep. We're here to celebrate the Lord this morning. Praise the Lord. Just the first lady we love you. Praise this morning. Amen. Sunday and we're celebrating that. Amen. Amen. Amen. At this time we will have our bishop come forward. Amen. Goodness of Jesus. Calling today for Zion. Amen. For Zion. Ask me about you every Sunday. To your sister first lady. Zion is rejoicing today that you're back in the midst of your family to be here. Amen. Come on sister first lady and have some pastures. Then I look on internet on the Facebook. I listen to a lot of churches. Now I understand what the pastors mean when they get up in the pool pit and say it's nothing like being here. The service is nothing like being in the house of God. It's not the same looking at it on internet. And this is the first time I experienced that because I've looked at it all on internet. Our churches and a lot of churches but almost every pastor say you need to be in the house of God. Now I know what they mean because service is a lot different when you're in the house of God. The spirit of the Lord is there even though I felt the spirit of the Lord through the internet but it's nothing like being in the house of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So those who are out in media land is looking at church on internet. You need to be in the house of the Lord. And now it's time to get back to the house of the Lord. Amen. And I'm a witness of that because I've looked at multiple churches all over the world. I had a church in England that I was looking at but it's nothing like being in the house of God. So that's the first thing I want to say. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get the service today. I couldn't wait.  Some of you all may not know 27 years ago 1994. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 27 years ago and they always say there's really no cure for cancer and I'm a believer of that now because after 27 years you think I would never get it back again. In fact, my doctor told me that it's amazing that you waited to this long for it to reoccur again. And it came back in the same breast it was before the same type of cancer. And the type of cancer I had was aggressive, aggressive cancer. But I praise God for those 27 years that he gave me. And guess what? Like my doctor said, well, if you live 27 years more, I don't know. But I don't think I'm gonna live 27 years more because I think the Lord's gonna come a man before that time is up. But I thank God that I am now cancer free. I am cancer free. And I thank God that this journey was easier than the last journey. This journey was a piece of cake compared to the last journey that I had and I praise God for that. And the thing about it, I saw God in every step that I took going through this battle. I saw him. I saw him working. I prayed and I asked God, Lord, you are the great physician. You are in medicine, they have what you call care planners and care managers and that's what Arlene is now a care manager. They have all those kind of people who plan your care out, what you should do, what kind of treatment you should get. I told the Lord, Lord, you be my care planner. You be my care. You take care of my care. I said, don't let the doctors do it. You instruct the doctors what to do. And every step of the way, I saw God working in that situation, working in that situation. And the one thing about it when I got the diagnosis, I didn't cry. I didn't want to have it. But I told the Lord, Lord, whatever you want me to learn from this, I'm willing to learn from it. And whatever it is, I'm willing. And I start going through scriptures. And one of the scriptures that I've continued had always, a Mary Heart in Proverbs 17 23. A Mary Heart does good like a medicine. But a bitter heart drives the bones. And I decided I was going to have a Mary Heart all through this process. And so I had a Mary Heart. There was days that I got down. But every time I think about that scripture, a Mary Heart does the body good like a medicine. I perk up like that. I had some moments where I chatted some tears. But guess what? When I think about that, I said, Lord, you still control.  I will be in heaven by now. But I knew the Lord wasn't ready for me to do that.  Declare the works of the Lord.    I pray more than I've ever prayed in my life. I read the scripture more than I ever read. Everybody should get sick. Because the thing about it, what it does is draw you closer to God. Amen. And sometimes we need to get in a position where we're closer to God. I thank God for every, every card, every telephone call, every, this is like I enjoyed your calls too. And every flower, every encouraging words, text messages and everything. But the thing about it, there's another scripture say, if it's any sick of mine, you call for the elders of the church. So when my sisters didn't found that I had this disease, guess what they did? They got their pastors and their churches to call my name out in the Lord. And they did that for days and days and days. And I praise God for those churches in St. Louis. And I was with this group. I joined this support group for a triple negative breast cancer, aggressive breast cancer. And I was with this group. So they start sending me cards. One of the cards I got was from a little 11 year old boy from Hong Kong. He was from Hong Kong. He said, you don't know me. He said, but I'm from Hong Kong. And I just want to wish you well. And I'm praying for you. And he drew a picture of himself. He said, I'm only 11 years old. And I said, Lord, thank you, Jesus. And those courses been coming from all over the United States, all over, all over the world. And I praise God for that. I have people praying everywhere for me on a prayer line every day they would call my name out. But you know what? When you're sick, you call for the Elvis of the church. And that's gonna happen because there was days I couldn't even pray. Hallelujah. But I knew my husband wanted me here. And I know God wasn't ready to take me away yet. I knew that the Lord, I said, Lord, if it's my time to go, let me know. You never let me know. So I know one time ago. But I do.   And I thank God. And I still got some hair, you all. I still got some hair. It's not all there, but I still got some. And I praise God for what he's done for me. I praise God for my husband.  He's been a, he's been a shopper. He's been a cook. He's been a laundry person. He's been everything. And I praise God for him. He has really stepped to the plate and he really deserve a lot of honor and glory. And I thank God for him being my companion.  But I praise God that I have a man of God who helped me. Even when I get mean and fussy and all that kind of stuff. Guess what? Because sometimes you do get mean during this time. But I thank God for my husband. And I thank God for you all. I thank God for you all, everyone of you all. You all continue to pray for me because I'm, I'm still not 100% like I should be. But I am 100% better than I was. Amen? And God is still healing me. And I'm so glad, so glad, so glad to be in the house of the Lord. Pray for me. I got this. He's seated in the presence that fails us from time to time. But when you put your trust in Jesus, his history is that he cannot fail. He can't fail. It's not a part of his nature. Belier is foreign completely. I thank God. He's a wonderful Savior. He's a wonderful keeper. He's a wonderful provider. He's a wonderful lover. He's everything to me. I'm excited to be back today with the first lady with us, dishwasher, washing machine and the dryer. I became the butler and the chauffeur. But the Lord was my strength. Amen. Thank God for the strength that he provides to his children. I thank the Lord that my wife is cancer-free. And that testimony is not a made-up testimony. Working around medicine, sometimes people come in and want to have a doctor make a statement that their cancer is gone because they got prayed for and the doctor has to refuse because it's not true. But this is a true testimony to the saving, healing, grace of our God. And I thank him. I thank him all the days of my life. I'll thank him. I want to bring to your attention that this is Palm Sunday. All right. I have feedback. Thank you. There are many things to say concerning Palm Sunday. There are just so many things that's difficult to focus in the amount of time that we have for this service. I'm going to attempt to get through maybe like three passages. I didn't know that we would be this long in thanking the Lord but he's worthy of all the time.  But I want to call your attention to Matthew chapter 27. And while you're turning to that, I'll say to you my title for the message today is where do you stand? Where do you stand? So first thing I did was I looked up where I looked at the definition of where, where is defined as a place, a situation, or a position, place, situation, position. And as we live our lives here on this earth from day to day, we're constantly required to choose the road we will travel and we go on our journey to a final destination at the end of our lives. I want to serve notice today on each of us that there are only two roads to choose from, two roads to choose from. The road of righteousness and the road of sin and death. Where do you stand? In the book of St. Matthew chapter 12. I'm sorry. Yes. Yes, that's right. That's out of order. All right. St. Matthew chapter 27, beginning at verse one. And it reads, when the morning was come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See thou to that. He wanted to turn the silver back. He got the guilties for betraying Jesus. Trying to give the silver pieces back. And they said, we don't want it. That's on you. Now I'm going to go to John chapter 12. All right, John chapter 12, beginning at verse one. Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Jesus. And in these first two verses, what we find out is Jesus is seven days from being crucified. And he's going about his business towards the crucifixion. So he visited the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus as he visited with them. Mary wanted to do something other than what Martha wanted to do. Now, what we see in verse two, it says, they had made him a supper and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table. Martha pulled out all of the stops. She brought out all of the China that she might have had with the cloth napkins or whatever they used in that particular time. And she made it very special because he was a great friend of theirs down through the years. And so they had a relationship that they counted on. Then when we get down to the next verse, Mary took a pound of ointment of spitenar very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the anointment. Now, we see two sisters both in a loving kind of way. And we see a brother who sat with Jesus to receive the meal. Mary had a debt that she felt she needed to pay.  And Jesus says, all right. And they waited and they were expecting him at any moment and he did not show up until after Lazarus was dead. Mary said to Jesus, if you had been here, we sent for you days ago and days ago. And you're just getting here. And it's not any help that you come after he's deceased. But Jesus comforted her heart and says, you will see him again. She said, yes, in the rapture. I know Jesus. I know that. But Jesus said, tell me where you laid it. Come on somebody.  He said, I can heal the sick and raise the dead. He said, just show me where you put it. And she said, he's got to be rotten by now. Jesus. He said, I said, show me where you put it. Jesus went before that tomb and he called him by name. He said, Lazarus, come for it. Lazarus, come forth. And I'm saying it for emphasis. I don't believe Jesus said it one time. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus got up and the pastor that I grew up under, he said, he came out wrapped in swatling, swatling, swatling. Rags tied around him. He was bound. And he said, when Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus went and Jesus said, loose the man. Loose the man and let him free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So, so they had standing one with another. They depended on each other and they stood side by side. Where do you stand? Then in verse four, then said one of his disciples, Judas is carrying Simon's son, which should betray him. Now, Judas hadn't betrayed him yet. This is seven days before verse five said he Judas says, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? And what I, what I'll say is, I don't doubt that Judas didn't love Jesus. He didn't love him enough. He didn't love him enough when he was criticizing what Mary had done. The reason Mary did that was because she felt indebted to him because he, that she doubted him when he came. And she said, oh Lord, I'm so sorry. She said, let me wash your feet. Normally they wash feet when people first came off the road. But Mary as they set to eat, and I understand that they didn't sit at the table with chairs. They sat on a low, maybe a low couch or maybe even on the floor and they leaned on the table with their feet stretched out behind them and Mary broke that bow and poured that ointment on Jesus feet and took her hair down. See, in that society, women's hair is their glory and their glory was not to be shared with another, not to be seen by somebody else, but she felt like she owed that to Jesus. And so she took her hair down and she took her hair and wiped his feet with her hair. Somebody said, no, that's just too much. What is she trying to do? She coming on to Jesus or whatever. But she said, I owe that to him. How could I ever have doubted him? How could I ever wonder what he was talking about when he said you'll see him again? She said, I should have known that he was going to do something about it. I should have known that he could fix anything that came into our purview. Where do you stand? Now, what I'll point out to you is in this passage, there are different kind of believers. And so the first believer is the one that Mary was in. She was in the super believers group. She repented because there was love. She sacrificed costly oil. But then in the fourth verse, Judas was in the hypocritical, unbelieving disciples group. We can be in Jesus and not be for him. See, you were chosen as a disciple before the foundation of the earth. How faithful, how loving, how kind, what is in your spirit? What is in your heart? Where do you stand? But Judas, he criticized what they, what she did with that oil. Said that could have been given to the poor. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put there in. He was the treasurer of the disciples group. And he carried the money bag and he wanted that money in that bag. So when nobody was looking, he could break him off a little piece, then said, Jesus, let her alone, leave her alone. It's up to her. It's her decision. She's willing to sacrifice. She had been, well, I'll get to that, but she was willing to sacrifice. It was in her heart, in her spirit to do that for Jesus. He said, let her alone against the day of my burial has she kept this. She had saved that oil, knowing that Jesus was going to go to the grave. And he said, she was saving that until it came time to anoint my body. So it was hers. And she didn't need to give it to anybody. Better than who I am. He said, I'm the king of kings. I'm the Lord of lords and you've been with me and you don't know who I am. He said, you need to get a hold of yourself and find out what's going on here. He said, where do you stand?  Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was, he was there. And they came not for Jesus sake only, but they might see the last was also whom he had raised from the dead. And so we have another group of believers who, who are half sincere seeking when they came to Jesus. They came to see Jesus. And yes, we want to see the last man that got up from the grave. So they came for entertainment. Verse 10 said, but the chief priests consulted that they might put last but also to death. The chief priests, the church, the main man in the church, the presiding prelate, when he saw the attention that Jesus was getting, he said, we can't stand for this. He's just gotten completely out of control at this juncture. And we've got to do something with this man. He's taken away all of the people out of the Tabernacle and they're coming to follow me. I follow Jesus. He said, because by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Now I don't want to be in, in these last two categories. Matter of fact, the last three categories, the last one, they're fearful, self-seeking, religious. So they're the priest. They're, you know, in the upper part of the church and what comes into the church can get into their pockets and enrich themselves. So they're fearful, self-seeking, religious. Well, I thank God for Jesus. I have to give my testimony right here. I've been pastor in this church for 27 years, 26 years. I'm still waiting on my first paycheck. Telephone disconnect, waiting on my first paycheck. See, everybody who's in the pulpit is not self-seeking. Come on. There's somebody who's called by Jesus. There's somebody who got in touch with Jesus. Jesus came and came into their lives and saved them from their sinful ways, brought them out of darkness into a marvelous light and caused them to want to serve the Lord with gladness. Hallelujah. See, there are all kind of categories in the church, but you just need to understand who you are.  Look at yourself, examine yourself from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet and ask, ask yourself, where do you stand? There's two roads through life, road of righteousness and the road of sin and death. All right, let's go on. Verse number 12. Okay. I still got some time. Verse number 12 said on the next day, much people that were come to the feast where they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, Hosanna, bless it is the king of Israel that come in the name of the Lord. They said, Hosanna, Hosanna means blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They were waving their palms because they knew Jesus was coming down the road and they wanted to be there to worship him and they waved their palms. That was the next day. They took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.  These things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that had had these things were written of him and that they had done things unto him, the people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, raised him from the dead bare record. Jesus says there were witnesses, there that saw it. Verse 18, for this cause, the people also met him for that they heard that he had done this miracle. Verse 19, and the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive ye how prevailed nothing, ye prevailed nothing, behold the world is gone after him. The world is gone after Jesus and he left us alone. He's taken all our members. What are we going to do? We got to get paid. Well, I'm going to take you on down the road. Now, after all of the waving the palm branches, the whole design of blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord. They were bowing down and they were worshiping him because they didn't know what he was all about. See, they wanted them to be a king. They wanted him to be one of the kings that they had in their mind. He came to be king. He left heaven to be king and he was king even when he got here. When he was born, he was king of angels. Well, in a few days, just a few days within the week, he had to go before Pilate.  So that's how we wind up over here in John chapter 12. Now, we go to Matthew. Forgive me firstly. She doesn't like to see me shuffle pages. All right. Now, in Matthew 27, the Messiah had a trial before Pilate. Verse 11 said, And Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him saying, Are thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou say it. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. No, I have to pause right there because that seems kind of unnatural when you're being falsely accused.  It's hard. It's hard to say nothing. See, because we have within us something that says you need to defend yourself. You need to stand up.  Don't let nobody take advantage of you. You need to tell them off. But Jesus never said a word. Can you feature that? He didn't say a word. Then Pilate said unto him, Here's thou not how many things they witness against thee. He said, Man, don't you understand you in court and you're supposed to be defending yourself for your life. He said, They got some goods that they have on you. And I'm not saying that it's legitimate. He said, But you need to answer these accusations. And he answered him to never a word in so much that the governor marveled greatly. Now at the, at the feast, the governor was, was want to release unto the people a prisoner whom they would. He wanted, they wanted to release a prisoner to whomever was chosen by the people. They had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Now in any kind of competition, any kind of race that I have in my life, I have a hard time. I have a hard time not pulling out all the stops. And for him, for Jesus to be put on the same docket with Barabbas seemed ridiculous. Right. Right. Verse 17 therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas are Jesus, which is called Christ. For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. Pilate knew in his heart that the accusations were not true. He knew they were just jealous of Jesus and his position. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him saying, have thou nothing to do with this just man? For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. She said, don't you put your hands on this man? She said, I've gone through something. Something has been speaking to me concerning this man. And she said, he's not a criminal. He's a just man. And she said, you need to keep your hands off of this one. Now, brothers, sometimes wives do have a legitimate statement they want to share with us. Come on somebody. Sometimes we may want to listen to him. All right. Now I'll go back. Verse 20 said, but the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? And they says, Barabbas, when he had done no wrong, all he did was ministered unto people. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He fed the multitude of hungry people. And he had done nothing that was untoward, but he was being charged. And they chose a robber, a murderer over Jesus. Where do you stand? Who's on the Lord's side? Who's on the Lord's side? I'm on the Lord's side. Come on. He's done so much for me. I can't tell at all. He's done more than I know about. And so when it comes down to choosing who I'm going to serve, when it comes down to choosing who I'm going to stand behind, when it comes down to letting people know, yes, he's my savior. He's my keeper. He's my protection. He's everything to me. I'll stand on the Lord's side. Hallelujah. Barabbas said unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus? Which is called Christ? Hear this. They all said unto him, let him be crucified. Crucify him.  Hang him on the tree. That's because they were listening to the wrong folks. Come on somebody. They listened to the wrong preachers. You understand what happened? The preachers got together and influenced all the people. Search the scripture. You search the scripture.  Where do you stand? Are you easily persuaded?  Verse 23 said, the governor said, why? What evil have he done? But they wouldn't be persuaded in that direction. They were all persuaded in another direction already. They said, but they cried out more saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather a turmoil made. He took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just man. He said, now y'all deal with that. You did it. You got to account for it. You got on the wrong side and you did it intentionally.  You awake. You were weak enough to go for anything. You were weak enough to take a wooden nickel. He said, now I'm telling you, he said, I did the best I could. He said, I'm not guilty of this man's blood. The blood that Jesus shed for me way back on Calvary. That blood gives me strength from day to day. It's never failed me yet. It will never, never, never lose its power. It reaches the highest mountain and flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength will never lose its power. Thank God for the blood of Jesus. Thank God that he saved me. Thank God he washed my sins away. Thank God he filled me with his spirit and gave me the strength, gave me the power to persevere, to keep on the right road, the road of righteousness. Come on somebody. I walk with the king. Hallelujah. I walk with the king. Praise his name. No longer I roam because my soul faces home. Come on. I walk and I talk with the king. Oh, come on somebody. Come on somebody. We need to praise him. Hallelujah. Let me finish this last verse. Then answered all the people and said the blood be on us and on our children. That's really weak. That's to get so wrapped up in yourself. If you're willing to make a decision to be responsible for Jesus being nailed to the cross, you're a bad one. But what about your children? They said, let it be on me and whoever is a part of me, whoever comes after me in my family, will take it. What I want to tell you is that John 10 talks about a thief. Come on somebody. The thief coming not but far to steal, to kill and destroy. He said, this is Jesus said, he said, but I have come that you might have life. I came so you can live. I came so you can live throughout all of eternity in the presence of the holy one. I came that you might have life and I came that you might have it more abundantly, not just a little liable, but I came so you can have great liable. Hallelujah. A marvelous life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In large quantities, plentiful.  I went to Calvary for you. Now where do you stand? Are you on my side or not? Are you walking in sin? Are you giving yourself over to the spirit of this age where you got to have what everybody else had? You got to have the latest this and the latest that. Hallelujah. I'm on the Lord side. Do I have anybody that's on the same trajectory with me? I'm not looking back. I'm not looking to the world. The world has nothing that I need. He's everything that I need. Everything that I want according to his will. He said, I'll give it to you. I'm on the Lord side. I'm on the Lord side. I'm on the Lord side. I'm on the Lord side. I'm on the Lord side. I'm on the Lord side. So now when we go through life, we got to continue to look and see what road we're on. You know, if you're not careful and I've, I consider myself a great driver, but sometime when I might get a little bit distracted for just a moment, I'll look about, oh my goodness, that was my turn. The devil's on your track trying to turn you back. You've got to be determined that I'm going to make this journey. I'm going to make this journey. I'm going to live with Jesus.  I'm on the right road and I'm not turning back. Elder Ross, come on. Just for me. Just for me. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus went and did it. Just for me. Come on, say it again. Just for me. Just for me. Just for me. Jesus went and did it. Jesus came and did it. Just for me. Just for you. Just for me. Come on, think about it. Think about it. Just for me. Just for me. Just for me. Just for me. But he did it just for me. He did it just for me. Just for me. Oh, yes, he did. Just for me. Just for me. I was listening to Bishop as he was preaching and I could see Jesus defenseless, defenseless to the world. He said, because if I wanted to, I could call down legions of angels and they would fight for me. Like Bishop said, he never said a mumbling word. He who knew no sin became sin for me. Where do you stand? Are you on the Lord's side today? Where do you stand? Do you stand for holiness? Where do you stand today? As First Lady, do you believe that he's still a healer? Where do you stand? But I want you to stop and just meditate on what Bishop preached about. All that he went through and know that he did it just for me. He did it just for you. And today, if you haven't aligned yourself with Jesus, if you're not on the Lord's side like Bishop talked about, the altar is open. If you could do a little bit better in your walk, the altar is open. If you could come up a little bit higher, the altar is open. If you just want to rededicate your life to Jesus, the altar's open. Whatever you need, if you need healing in your body, come down to the altar because this is your day. Say just for me. Just for me. Come on. Come on. Come on. The altar's open. Never be ashamed to come and get what you need from Jesus because he already paid the price. It's a gift and the price has already been paid. Just for me. Stand on the Lord's side. Come on and stand on the Lord's side. Where do you stand today? Where do you stand today? Jesus came and did just for me. Stand for righteousness. Stand for holiness. Stand for prosperity. Just for me. Stand for healing. Whatever it is you need. Just for me. He already paid the price. Say Jesus. Jesus came and did for me. Say just for me. For me. Just for me. Standing on the Lord's side today. Just for me. This is your day. Come on and stand on the Lord's side. Where do you stand today? If Jesus came back today, where do you stand? I'm standing with Jesus. Just for me. Come down to the altar. He loves you today. He paid the price just for you. Just for me. Just for me. Just for me. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus came and did just for me. Just for me. Just for me. Oh Jesus came. He did it. Jesus came and did it. Just for me. He was a Lamb of God. He did it just for me. Just for me. Jesus came. He came. He came. He came. Jesus. Just for me. Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Victory is her day. I told Shade and I told Shade. Victory. Shade. Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Victory. I told Shade and I told Shade. Where do you stand? Hallelujah. I hope you're on the Lord's side. Every now and then we ought to just check ourselves. Amen? We ought to just check ourselves. Hallelujah. To make sure that we're making the right decisions. That we're standing with the Lord. Come on. Let's give the Lord a hand. Praise for the wonderful word of the Lord that came to us this morning. All might now. That's right. I stand with giving. Hallelujah. And not just giving but being a cheerful giver. Amen. Hallelujah. Come on. Get your envelopes. Amen. So we can be a blessing to the house of the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah. If you're ready to give. Hallelujah. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Bring that. Bring that gift to the Lord. A gift to Shield of Faith. And I know you do. You can give by Give the Five. Shield of Faith Christian Center Long Beach. Amen. Amen. And you can also mail it here to the physical building at 4934 Long Beach Boulevard right here in the city of Long Beach, California. The zip code is 90805. Amen. Amen.  We thank you for the offering. We thank you, God, for the opportunity to give into your kingdom. Thank you for blessing us to be a giver. Not only that but helping us to be cheerful. Hallelujah. We're excited about giving to your kingdom. We thank you. Hallelujah. That you've given us the ability to give into the kingdom. God, now bless it. Let it be meat for this house, God. We'll thank you and we'll praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on. Put those hands together. Amen. You may be seated for just a moment. I need to make this announcement. Next Sunday, which is Easter Sunday, and our service will be receiving communion. Amen. So, all of the strays that are not here, y'all tell them, come on. We're going to celebrate communion on next Sunday. And the Lord always meets us here and we're excited for what he does for us, his people. We want to, on the day that we have the communion, we're remembering what the Lord did for us at Calvary. All right. And then there's another thing that is coming up so very soon. It's coming up on April the 21st and the 22nd. The first one that I have to announce is this is the family and friend day at the convention. Family and friend day. So, we want you to invite your friends. You know, when you find something that's good, you need to want to share it. You know, I'll just use this opportunity. I made myself a bacon and pickle and cheese sandwich with Bob's big boy salad dressing. I went in the den and sat down and I started eating. My wife was sitting over on the other side of the room and I said, I feel guilty. This is so good. You got to have a bite of this. And I gave her a bite and she said, this is good. So now let me say, when you find something that's good, ought to be something inside of you that makes you want to share that with somebody else. This is a perfect opportunity to reach out to our families and our friends to attend the convention with us on the 21st and the 22nd of April in just two weeks now. All right. And then we have one. This one is Women of Faith at the convention. They have a speaker, Natalie Morales. And she's one of the church girls. All right. It has the book Church Girls. I guess she's a pastor. It says pastor. Well, it says pastor. All right. And so the women, you're going to have the opportunity to hear from someone you've probably never heard before. And I'm going to say, if you go with the open heart, the Lord will bless you. No question in my mind, the Lord will bless you. And here's the new, the new pamphlet because the convention has been moved to a better place. All right. A better, better place and cheaper. Amen. So all right. I want to make these announcements. And let me see. Maybe there's one other one that I want to let's see. Oh, the other one that I wanted to announce is this one that came in the newsletter. And this is the schedule of the convention during these two days. So I'm going to take this one and I'm going to make it available. We'll see how it matches with that. I believe that there's not been a change since then. But I want you to be able to look at this and be able to plan your day or evenings or whatever it might be so that you can be at the Shield of Faith convention. We're going to be together for the first time in two years. Amen. Amen. All right. That's it for that announcement. I have one other announcement. Minister Sarton, could you come in for a minute, please? Happy birthday. Minister Sarton's birthday is tomorrow. And we haven't been doing the birthday dollar. But he comes from way back. Amen. This is a faithful man. This is a faithful servant of the Lord. And I'm going to next year, I'm going to try to see if I can give you at least two dollars. Give him a dollar. All right. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. Why don't you dismiss us in prayer? Let us all stand, please. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you. We praise you. We glorify, we magnify your name. Lord, we thank you, Lord God, for that powerful word that came forth, Lord God. Where will we stand? We're going to stand on the Lord's side. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord God. Help us to continue, Lord God, to hold on, Lord God, to your unchanging hand for you are the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, Lord God. Lord, as we leave here, but never from your presence, bring us back, Lord God, at your own appointed time, with victory in our hearts, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.