Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 683 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: I don’t know what the Lord has for tonight, but I do believe that God is dealing with hearts already, brethren. I really do. I believe the Lord’s dealing with hearts already. A few days ago, the Lord impressed upon me to ask someone to get up and give their testimony and I’m gonna do that tonight. There was someone among us that…’course doctors, they know some things and some things they don’t know. God does use doctors in a special way and I appreciate that. But this person, they claim her life was just seconds-- seconds away before leaving this world. But through a miracle of God, God spared the life of one among us, Sister Laura Rhodes. She has been through a lot and she’ll tell you about it in a few moments. But she has always had a beautiful smile, a bright countenance. Sister Laura, I want you to come and Buddy can help you there. And I want you to take your time and you share what the Lord has done for you and give glory to the Lord for His faithfulness.

-- Sister Laura Rhodes: Praise God! We serve a wonderful Lord, don’t we?

( congregational amens ).

I’m just so…new meaning to, I’m glad to be here.

( laughing ).

I just…whatever I say, I want to honor the Lord and exalt the Lord, because He is the only One that’s worthy.

( congregational amens ).

I was in a car accident October 14th last year. I don’t even remember going off the road, but what I remember is the flames and being trapped. And I thought, well, Lord, I’m just gonna die in this car, in this rain. But, He didn’t let me. And I just remember crying out for help. "Help, somebody help me." And there was a couple, an older couple…this is kind of like out in the country. They had just come home. They’d been home about ten minutes and they thought they heard something.

So, they finally went outside and it was me crying out for help. The man tried and tried…I was pinned underneath the car on the outside, ‘course it was pretty much engulfed in flames. He tried and tried and he couldn’t. He said, well…told his wife…I think he’d just had back surgery, I’m not sure. But anyway, he said he was gonna try one more time and he did. And he could lift the car up enough that she could pull me out.

( congregational praise ).

Just up until recently, I didn’t even really in my mind believe I was trapped. I said, "No, Buddy, I was in the car." He said, "No, you were trapped." And I said, "Well, how come nothing was broken, you know?" The Lord didn’t let me die and you can’t be trapped underneath a car and somebody just barely able to pull you out, without the Lord--without it being the Lord.

( congregational amens ).

No bones were broken. My spleen was lacerated. They had to take that out. They did exploratory surgery because they were certain that…beside the burns they were certain that there was extensive internal damage, and there was none, except the spleen. So, if you don’t think God is not with you every step of the way, you’re wrong, ‘cause He is.

( congregational amens ).

He’s just a wonderful, marvelous friend. You know, you might think that you know somebody that would never, ever let you down, but just because they’re human, that person will. But I have…our Lord has told us to prove Him and to put Him to the test and when you do that, whether you realize it or not that you’re doing that, He will prove Himself faithful.

( congregational amens ).

He will never, never, ever let you down. I don’t care what you have to go through, what your circumstances are, He is with you. He wants to help us. He wants us to love Him and to prove Him in many different ways. His power is limitless.

I was in the burn unit… that’s all I remember about that part. And I think that’s the Lord, too. Most of the time in the unit, or a lot of it, I don’t remember. But, I thank God for that. But I was there in Shands burn unit for two months. While I was in the hospital, I had seven surgeries.

I had third degree burns over twenty-seven percent of my body, which is my legs, up to my thighs. ‘Course there’s a lot of treatment and things involved in that, that you have to go through that aren’t pleasant. But I just…whatever you have to go through, if God sees fit for you to go through it, with Him, you can go through it.

( congregational praise ).

I can’t thank Him enough for, not just that, but I can look back from even when I was a little child and I can look back and I can see the hand of the Lord. When I didn’t know Him, He was there and He was very definitely protecting me and helping me and keeping me until He saw fit to bring me to a knowledge of Him. I thank Him with all my heart for what He’s done for me through this and through the recovery. I’m still recovering. But before all my brothers and sisters in Christ, I want to thank Him for saving my soul. There’s nothing greater than that.

( congregational praise ).

They tried to save my toes, but I lost all my toes. ‘Course your walking and your balance and all those things is greatly changed if you lose…and I lost all my toes. Every step of the way, the nurses would say…they’d think it would be so much longer than it had been. And I’d say, no that it was just October and they were like, oh my gosh, just then. They couldn’t believe it.

In re-hab, they would say, we’re gonna stand you up…I’d gotten up on a tilt table where they just tilt you by degrees to what…the amount of pressure you can stand, weight-bearing like that and that’s all I’d done. They said, we’re gonna stand you up, and I was like, yeah, right.

( laughing ).

( laughter ).

You know, just your humanity, I didn’t believe it. And then they’d say, we’re gonna stand you up and we’re gonna…you’re gonna let go and we’re gonna throw a beach ball and you’re gonna throw it back. And I said, there is no way I can do that.

( laughing ).

( laughter ).

And I’d be standing there thinking that so many, many times…different things they would want me to do and I’d say, there’s no way I can do that. And they’d do it, and I would do it like nothing was wrong. I would tell ‘em--I’d say, if you doubt the Lord, just look at me because I couldn’t have done that without the Lord helping me.

I don’t know, my mind’s kind of gone blank. But, I just want to say that the Lord is…He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. I would not…my little niece Charlotte asked me the other day if I was ever sad. She says…she had skinned herself and she said, you know I thought, Aunt Laura, I’m gonna be okay, she says, but you’re always gonna be like you are. She said, does that make you sad? And I said, well, yeah, sometimes that makes me a little sad, I said, but Charlotte, what the Lord’s done for me through this, I said I would not go back for anything.

( congregational praise ).

I would not go back for the peace and rest the Lord’s ministered to me and the work He’s done in my heart. I had been praying for a long time for a closer walk with the Lord and a deeper relationship with Him and if He chose this to bring it about, praise God!

( congregational praise ).

It doesn’t matter if God gives you--grants you those things, it doesn’t matter what He uses to bring that about. His presence is just so sweet and so wonderful and so precious. There’s not enough of those kinds of words to describe how precious our Lord is to us. And that is not an abstract thought. I think you can tell that. It’s not an abstract thought. It’s true.

( congregational amens ).

It’s so wonderful. I’m so thankful. One of the first outings I had, Barbara took me to Wal-Mart on a busy day and think I had my walker. I was walking around and you know, people look at you and you see different expressions and different reactions. And I felt like the Lord gave me the thought that probably some of these people feel sorry for me. I said but I would not…not knowing them, I thought, I would not trade places with any of them. It’s true to know the Lord and to have the hope of going to heaven and being with him…it doesn’t matter how you go, if you go in limping, or crawling.

( laughter ).

You go!

( laughing ).

Praise God! I’m just so thankful. And the other thing that’s been so real to me is that I did not, from the beginning to whatever the end is, I haven’t gone through this by myself. And there’s been people that have come to help me in my house and, you know how we help each other…cleaned my house and prepared meals and more things than I could name…I mean all the cards and letters and different things. It’s been very real to me that all of y’all have gone through this with me and I don’t think--I really don’t think I could’ve gone through it without the prayers and the love and the support of the people, of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is a very real, active, important thing.

( congregational amens ).

I’m thankful for it and I’m thankful to be a part of it. I got a chance through the cards and the letters in the burn unit, and the picture--the big panoramic picture that South Carolina sent me…they would come and comment on it or comment on the cards. They said they’d never seen anybody get so many cards. I’d get two or three a day. I got a chance to tell ‘em about y’all and tell ‘em about the saints out there that were praying for me. And if I’d go through a particularly hard thing that day, I would tell ‘em, I couldn’t have done that without the prayers. I got a chance to tell ‘em about the goodness of the Lord through the people. It’s a very active, vibrant, alive thing.

( congregational amens ).

I hate to use the word ‘thing’, but forgive me. It’s just a wonderful thing to be a part of the Body of Christ and to see Christ, not only work in me, but work in all of us. I just would like to challenge you, if you’re a young person or if you’ve been here since the church doors opened, to prove our Lord, to prove Him faithful and dare to trust Him--to dare to believe Him. There is no one, or anything else that you can do that to and never be disappointed. But the Christ we serve is worthy and He will prove Himself to you.

( congregational praise ).

Praise God. Thank you.

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: Thank God for that testimony.

( congregational amens ).

Wonderful testimony. Jesus, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." He was in the garden crying out to His Father, "…if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless…" not my will, but thine be done. His life for mine. Thanks be to God. God is so good.

Is Brother Mike Marshall here tonight? Where’s Brother Mike Marshall? Where’s he? Brother Mike Marshall was this close to death’s door also. We’re gonna ask Brother Mike to come up and give his testimony and then God willing, we’ll get into the Word after that. Brother Mike Marshall. Praise the Lord.

-- Brother Mike Marshall: I had no idea this was gonna happen.

( laughter ).

Praise God!

( laughing ).

The Lord is so wonderful. I know, I just appreciate the Lord. I’ve been praying about a time to get up and thank everybody for the cards. I’m like Laura. I got about three cards a day, also, and letters and phone calls and it was just so wonderful. And I think of that same scripture she mentioned, that He’s a friend that sticks closer than a brother. When you’re by yourself and nobody else is around, He’s there to help you and to speak to your heart and encourage you. And the letters and the cards are just a wonderful bonus. Praise God!

But anyway, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. I think it was October 31st. I was…I found a lump in my neck and ‘course, I’ve been dating Joann. I asked her to check it out. She said, Mike, that’s a swollen lymph node. You need to get to a doctor. So, I went to a local hospital and they sent me to Duke. And he said, we want to get a second opinion. So, Dr. Allen sent me to Duke, and I met Dr. Gockerman up there.

I feel like the Lord blessed me with him, ‘cause he’s really a wonderful doctor. He’ll speak the truth to you, that’s for sure. But anyway, I saw him and they run some tests before I went up there. Then he saw it and he said, well, it is Hodgkin’s. So I went back a week later and my sister drove me up there and I was having a really hard time breathing. I couldn’t hardly walk three steps without gasping. She asked, Mike, are you alright? I was really not alright at all, but I told her I was. I didn’t want her to worry. But anyway, when we saw Dr. Gockerman, he looked at me…my heart was going about 186 beats a minute. They tried to give me a cardiogram, where they stick this thing under your rib and the lady got real excited. She said you’re outrunning our machine.

( laughing ).

( laughter ).

Your heart’s outrunning our machine and the cardiologist got real excited and then Dr. Gockerman came in. He said, when you get our cardiologist excited, you’ve really done something, and he’s really excited. He said, we’re gonna have to put you in the hospital. And I said, when? Tomorrow? He said no. Right now. I said, I don’t have any clothes. He said, we’ll furnish them.

( laughter ).

( laughing ).

He said, if we don’t get your heart slowed down, you’re not gonna make it. He said it’s gonna wear out before the day’s out. They put me on oxygen that day and started trying to get it slowed down. I didn’t really have a fear of it. I just knew some way that the Lord was with me by His grace, only by His grace.

But anyway, I appreciate His presence there. I never really worried about it a whole lot. I know I had some rough days and then it went away and I had the chemo…12 cycles and it went away. They thought they had it licked. I went back and Dr. Gockerman said, it’s coming back, and he said we’ve got to deal with it a little bit more aggressive. So that’s when they done the bone marrow transplant.

Through it all, I just appreciate the Lord helping me. I say it a lot, but I really do mean it…in spite of myself. I just appreciate the Lord’s people so much…every card, every thought, every prayer. I got some wonderful cards from Laura and it just really blessed me so much. I’m kind of a little bit nervous, I guess my voice is probably shaking a little bit. But I just really appreciate the Lord. And I’ll tell you what, I told Joann…I said, you see people up here and all they have is their immediate family. And my heart went out to ‘em so much. They don’t have the wonderful…but this isn’t just a support base. This is Christ.

( congregational amens ).

This is Christ. That’s my support base, and it’s Christ and His people. It’s just so wonderful. But my heart went out to ‘em. I said, my God, if they just knew, by God’s grace what I know…just to know that I have the whole Kingdom of God in His people that’s with me by His grace. But, I just…I appreciate it. It was…I’m like Laura, I had some days that were really pretty rough, but it started getting better and better and I know that’s just by the prayers of the people.

I talked to Ruth tonight and she said, Mike, in every prayer meeting your name was brought up, and it just humbles your heart to know that. But I appreciate y’all very much--appreciate every thought, every prayer and everything. I just appreciated the Lord in His people. It’s just wonderful to be a part by His grace. Thank you.

( congregational amens ).

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