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Greg Laurie & James Dobson: Faith, Family, Purpose | Praise

March 24, 2025 | 53:50

Greg Laurie & James Dobson: Faith, Family, Purpose | Praise
Matt and Laurie Crouch host Pastor Greg Laurie and Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Dobson shares invaluable insights on family, faith, and the importance of raising children with strong moral values in today’s world.
#GregLaurie #PersonalStory #LaurieCrouch #Faith #Author #Purpose #Marriage #Parenting #Praise #Religion #Evangelism #MattCrouch #Family #TalkShow #JamesDobson

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Praise | Greg Laurie & James Dobson: Faith, Family, Purpose | Praise | March 24, 2025
  • James dobson, renowned, focus on the family, news radio,
  • 00:00:00.690 --> 00:00:05.028
  • Okay, when we're in our cars, on the hour.
  • 00:00:05.028 --> 00:00:07.764
  • Knx news time, four forty five.
  • 00:00:07.764 --> 00:00:10.166
  • Sports report
  • 00:00:10.266 --> 00:00:10.934
  • He was bigger than life.
  • 00:00:10.934 --> 00:00:12.836
  • You spend a lot of time with him.
  • 00:00:12.936 --> 00:00:14.771
  • This is an in-depth interview.
  • 00:00:14.771 --> 00:00:16.639
  • Is there
  • 00:00:16.639 --> 00:00:17.574
  • A way to divorce- proof a marriage?
  • 00:00:17.574 --> 00:00:19.175
  • The culture's at war with the family.
  • 00:00:19.275 --> 00:00:22.312
  • I'm doctor james dobson with focus on the family.
  • 00:00:22.412 --> 00:00:25.415
  • He's james dobson.
  • 00:00:25.515 --> 00:00:26.749
  • I mean, if there was a mount rushmore of christianity--
  • 00:00:26.749 --> 00:00:29.152
  • Yeah. of evangelical leaders,
  • 00:00:29.152 --> 00:00:30.453
  • I think dobson could be one of the ones we would put there.
  • 00:00:30.453 --> 00:00:33.957
  • He was a counselor to presidents.
  • 00:00:33.957 --> 00:00:36.059
  • What's it like to walk into the oval office?
  • 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:39.329
  • It's awe inspiring.
  • 00:00:39.329 --> 00:00:41.798
  • He was a really great voice for so many people,
  • 00:00:41.898 --> 00:00:46.069
  • Generations. what is your greatest passion?
  • 00:00:47.036 --> 00:00:50.039
  • Strengthen the family, support the family, and therefore
  • 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.911
  • Pass on the gospel of jesus christ to others.
  • 00:00:54.911 --> 00:00:57.280
  • ♪♪
  • 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:03.319
  • Greg laurie, pastor, evangelist, roving reporter.
  • 00:01:03.319 --> 00:01:07.524
  • Yes. yes.
  • 00:01:07.524 --> 00:01:08.525
  • James dobson.
  • 00:01:08.525 --> 00:01:10.793
  • Yes. renowned.
  • 00:01:10.894 --> 00:01:12.195
  • Focus on the family.
  • 00:01:12.195 --> 00:01:13.530
  • Blessed. for anybody in the southern california area,
  • 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:19.035
  • Knx 1070 news radio.
  • 00:01:19.035 --> 00:01:21.037
  • [newscaster] knx news time, 4:45,
  • 00:01:21.037 --> 00:01:23.540
  • Sport--
  • 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:24.240
  • K. when we're in our cars,
  • 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:26.409
  • There was james dobson on the hour.
  • 00:01:26.509 --> 00:01:29.312
  • Knx news time, 9:54.
  • 00:01:29.312 --> 00:01:31.447
  • I'm doctor james dobson with focus on the family.
  • 00:01:31.447 --> 00:01:34.284
  • Doctor paul brand was a flight surgeon during world war ii.
  • 00:01:34.384 --> 00:01:37.887
  • I mean, was like he was bigger than life to a young couple
  • 00:01:37.887 --> 00:01:43.193
  • From southern california.
  • 00:01:43.193 --> 00:01:45.295
  • James dobson, focus on the family, started off kind of
  • 00:01:45.395 --> 00:01:51.434
  • As a psychologist, even a child psychologist.
  • 00:01:51.434 --> 00:01:54.704
  • You spent a lot of time with him.
  • 00:01:54.804 --> 00:01:56.639
  • This is an in-depth interview.
  • 00:01:56.639 --> 00:01:58.308
  • Mhmm. your rough takeaway of kinda what we're gonna be
  • 00:01:58.308 --> 00:02:02.812
  • Getting into today on the broadcast here.
  • 00:02:02.812 --> 00:02:06.416
  • Well, you know, we've talked about a lot of different
  • 00:02:06.416 --> 00:02:08.785
  • People from alice cooper,
  • 00:02:08.785 --> 00:02:11.387
  • Your rock star extraordinaire, to michael franzese,
  • 00:02:11.387 --> 00:02:15.258
  • Part of the mafia, being groomed to become the next
  • 00:02:16.392 --> 00:02:20.196
  • Godfather, if you will, of the colombo crime family.
  • 00:02:20.196 --> 00:02:23.399
  • Daryl strawberry, probably more known for his antics off the
  • 00:02:23.399 --> 00:02:28.905
  • Field than on the field.
  • 00:02:28.905 --> 00:02:30.073
  • A notorious life.
  • 00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:32.008
  • All of these guys came to christ,
  • 00:02:32.008 --> 00:02:35.311
  • But the story of james dobson is none of that.
  • 00:02:35.411 --> 00:02:38.915
  • No drugs, no rock and roll.
  • 00:02:38.915 --> 00:02:42.051
  • In fact, he became a christian when he was four years old.
  • 00:02:42.151 --> 00:02:45.855
  • Because i asked him,
  • 00:02:45.955 --> 00:02:46.990
  • Doctor dobson-- he'd say, well, call me jim.
  • 00:02:46.990 --> 00:02:49.759
  • Okay. so doctor dobson-- i think i did call him jim, but
  • 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:53.896
  • It was sort of respect, you
  • 00:02:53.896 --> 00:02:55.031
  • You know, because he's james dobson.
  • 00:02:55.031 --> 00:02:56.766
  • I mean, if there was a mount rushmore of christianity--
  • 00:02:56.766 --> 00:02:59.535
  • Yeah. of evangelical leaders,
  • 00:02:59.535 --> 00:03:00.937
  • I think dobson could be one of the ones we would put there.
  • 00:03:00.937 --> 00:03:04.540
  • I asked him, doctor dobson,
  • 00:03:04.641 --> 00:03:06.142
  • When did you become a christian?
  • 00:03:06.142 --> 00:03:07.277
  • He said, when i was four.
  • 00:03:07.277 --> 00:03:08.411
  • And i thought, can you really, i mean, at four?
  • 00:03:08.411 --> 00:03:12.215
  • And he says, that is the moment i believed in jesus.
  • 00:03:12.315 --> 00:03:15.652
  • My goodness.
  • 00:03:15.652 --> 00:03:16.786
  • So i don't know how dramatic his testimony was.
  • 00:03:16.786 --> 00:03:18.154
  • It was a short addiction to hostess ding dongs.
  • 00:03:18.154 --> 00:03:21.057
  • Bubble gum. [laughter]
  • 00:03:21.157 --> 00:03:21.924
  • Ding dongs and bubble gum.
  • 00:03:21.924 --> 00:03:23.159
  • I mean, you know, i don't know what the challenges were.
  • 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:25.928
  • There was a void in my life i was trying to fill with what?
  • 00:03:26.029 --> 00:03:29.032
  • You know?
  • 00:03:29.032 --> 00:03:29.799
  • Rattles. i don't know.
  • 00:03:29.899 --> 00:03:31.267
  • But it but he came to christ, and that is where he marks it.
  • 00:03:31.267 --> 00:03:35.071
  • Because he was-- mhmm.
  • 00:03:35.071 --> 00:03:36.105
  • He was raised in the home of an evangelist.
  • 00:03:36.105 --> 00:03:38.141
  • Mhmm. you know?
  • 00:03:38.141 --> 00:03:39.442
  • So his father traveled around preaching the gospel, and it
  • 00:03:39.442 --> 00:03:42.512
  • Was thought that james himself would become a preacher maybe
  • 00:03:42.512 --> 00:03:46.015
  • One day, and he became a preacher of sorts and more, a
  • 00:03:46.015 --> 00:03:51.521
  • Very influential, continues to be an influential christian
  • 00:03:51.521 --> 00:03:56.526
  • Figure who's used his abilities, his intelligence,
  • 00:03:56.526 --> 00:04:00.730
  • And his folksiness.
  • 00:04:01.264 --> 00:04:02.432
  • That's, i think, what makes him so interesting.
  • 00:04:02.432 --> 00:04:04.801
  • Very intelligent man,
  • 00:04:04.901 --> 00:04:07.036
  • But there's something about his voice.
  • 00:04:07.036 --> 00:04:09.138
  • Mhmm. and i think that's why he works so well on radio.
  • 00:04:09.138 --> 00:04:12.308
  • Yeah. his voice on radio was just so it was almost like your
  • 00:04:12.308 --> 00:04:16.779
  • Grandpa speaking or your dad, and he was a father figure
  • 00:04:16.779 --> 00:04:21.150
  • For a lot of people.
  • 00:04:21.150 --> 00:04:22.385
  • And so i think that he was a really great voice for so many
  • 00:04:22.485 --> 00:04:26.522
  • People, for so many generations, with so many
  • 00:04:26.522 --> 00:04:29.425
  • Families that remember what he said, and what he wrote
  • 00:04:29.425 --> 00:04:33.429
  • In his many books.
  • 00:04:33.429 --> 00:04:34.464
  • Let's give a warm harvest welcome to doctor.
  • 00:04:34.464 --> 00:04:37.200
  • James dobson.
  • 00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:38.067
  • [applause]
  • 00:04:38.067 --> 00:04:50.947
  • Jim, and you've told me i can call you jim, absolutely.
  • 00:04:50.947 --> 00:04:54.217
  • How would you feel i started calling you doctor j?
  • 00:04:54.317 --> 00:04:57.553
  • Would you be okay with that?
  • 00:04:57.553 --> 00:04:59.255
  • Well, jim, you know, you're known for your advice and your
  • 00:05:00.556 --> 00:05:05.828
  • Counsel and your teaching on the subject of the family, but
  • 00:05:05.828 --> 00:05:09.665
  • I think people would be
  • 00:05:09.665 --> 00:05:10.700
  • Very surprised to know about your family.
  • 00:05:10.700 --> 00:05:13.269
  • Your father and mother, your father james senior, your
  • 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:16.773
  • Mother myrtle, raised you.
  • 00:05:16.773 --> 00:05:19.008
  • You were an only child.
  • 00:05:19.008 --> 00:05:20.510
  • Tell me a little bit about your childhood.
  • 00:05:20.510 --> 00:05:22.412
  • First of all, i was an only child because, my mother
  • 00:05:22.412 --> 00:05:26.649
  • Couldn't have any more children.
  • 00:05:26.649 --> 00:05:28.184
  • She had a bone structure that
  • 00:05:28.284 --> 00:05:29.819
  • Did not allow her to have children.
  • 00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:31.521
  • They told her that, she should not have any children.
  • 00:05:31.521 --> 00:05:34.891
  • And my dad, came to my mother and said, i've been praying
  • 00:05:34.891 --> 00:05:38.394
  • About this, and the lord told me you're gonna have a son.
  • 00:05:38.394 --> 00:05:41.063
  • I had, a very close family.
  • 00:05:41.063 --> 00:05:44.700
  • I don't wanna imply that there was any lack commitment there.
  • 00:05:44.700 --> 00:05:47.904
  • My dad was committed also to evangelism.
  • 00:05:47.904 --> 00:05:51.541
  • I mean, that was the passion of his life.
  • 00:05:51.641 --> 00:05:54.177
  • And before i got in school, i just traveled with him.
  • 00:05:54.277 --> 00:05:57.947
  • And then when it was time to go to school, everyone's not
  • 00:05:57.947 --> 00:06:01.284
  • Homeschooling at that time, and
  • 00:06:01.284 --> 00:06:02.919
  • They didn't know what to do with me because my dad
  • 00:06:03.953 --> 00:06:06.656
  • Needed my mother.
  • 00:06:06.656 --> 00:06:07.824
  • And so i stayed, with my great aunt when i was in the
  • 00:06:07.824 --> 00:06:12.261
  • First grade and part of the second.
  • 00:06:12.261 --> 00:06:14.163
  • And, my dad and mom would come back every six weeks
  • 00:06:14.263 --> 00:06:18.935
  • Or so to see, and
  • 00:06:18.935 --> 00:06:20.069
  • It was very difficult.
  • 00:06:20.636 --> 00:06:21.771
  • I felt abandoned.
  • 00:06:21.771 --> 00:06:22.939
  • Yeah. and, my dad saw it.
  • 00:06:22.939 --> 00:06:25.508
  • And so he bought a house.
  • 00:06:25.508 --> 00:06:27.543
  • My mother stayed with me till i was out of high school.
  • 00:06:27.643 --> 00:06:31.514
  • Right. so he made a sacrifice.
  • 00:06:31.514 --> 00:06:32.748
  • He made an unbelievable sacrifice because he was very
  • 00:06:32.748 --> 00:06:37.053
  • Close to my mother and needed her, but he gave me priority.
  • 00:06:37.053 --> 00:06:42.425
  • And when he would come home then, he was mine.
  • 00:06:42.525 --> 00:06:45.394
  • And so we had a very close family.
  • 00:06:45.394 --> 00:06:47.763
  • Yeah. now, there's a book about your life, a biography called
  • 00:06:47.763 --> 00:06:51.033
  • Family man, and in that book it mentions that your father's
  • 00:06:51.033 --> 00:06:54.036
  • Greatest passion was winning people to christ.
  • 00:06:54.036 --> 00:06:56.706
  • What is your greatest passion?
  • 00:06:56.806 --> 00:06:58.908
  • Well, it's the same passion,
  • 00:06:59.008 --> 00:07:01.410
  • Greg, but it is through the family.
  • 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:03.779
  • Mhmm. the family is like the red blood cell in the body.
  • 00:07:03.779 --> 00:07:09.151
  • It carries a globule of oxygen, and the family carries the
  • 00:07:09.151 --> 00:07:14.524
  • Oxygen to the body, having to do with the gospel.
  • 00:07:14.524 --> 00:07:18.261
  • And so that is, what i'm trying to do is to use the
  • 00:07:18.261 --> 00:07:23.699
  • Family, strengthen the family, support the family, and
  • 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:27.703
  • Therefore pass on the gospel of jesus christ to others.
  • 00:07:27.703 --> 00:07:31.274
  • So this is not our normal story.
  • 00:07:31.274 --> 00:07:33.276
  • We're usually kind of detailing
  • 00:07:33.276 --> 00:07:35.211
  • Some kind of radical conversion story.
  • 00:07:35.311 --> 00:07:39.181
  • Yes, his father, who i mentioned was an evangelist,
  • 00:07:39.282 --> 00:07:42.919
  • Had, i'm not sure if it was a vision or a prophecy, but he
  • 00:07:43.019 --> 00:07:47.456
  • Had a strong sense, and he shared it with his son, son,
  • 00:07:47.456 --> 00:07:51.193
  • One day you're gonna reach millions of people.
  • 00:07:51.193 --> 00:07:53.195
  • Well, at that point, was doing none of the things that he
  • 00:07:53.195 --> 00:07:56.666
  • Ended up doing.
  • 00:07:56.666 --> 00:07:58.034
  • And so it was something he held in his heart and was fulfilled.
  • 00:07:58.134 --> 00:08:03.039
  • And you know what i loved about being on his show is he knew
  • 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:06.576
  • That i was an evangelist, and he would give me the platform
  • 00:08:06.576 --> 00:08:09.912
  • To share the gospel.
  • 00:08:09.912 --> 00:08:11.414
  • So he had a real heart for the gospel through all of the many
  • 00:08:11.414 --> 00:08:15.284
  • Things that he did.
  • 00:08:15.284 --> 00:08:16.319
  • But of course his focus was on the family.
  • 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.287
  • That was the name of his ministry.
  • 00:08:18.287 --> 00:08:20.456
  • He also had great influence in
  • 00:08:20.456 --> 00:08:22.692
  • The presidency of ronald reagan.
  • 00:08:22.692 --> 00:08:24.660
  • Right. and, you know, so he was a counselor to presidents.
  • 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:28.331
  • I think he just had a role that
  • 00:08:28.331 --> 00:08:30.032
  • Was unique, and god raised him up.
  • 00:08:30.032 --> 00:08:31.801
  • You know, god raises up interesting people.
  • 00:08:31.801 --> 00:08:34.270
  • Like, take nehemiah.
  • 00:08:34.270 --> 00:08:35.638
  • Here's nehemiah.
  • 00:08:35.638 --> 00:08:37.173
  • He's called the cup bearer of the king.
  • 00:08:37.273 --> 00:08:39.275
  • So a cup bearer, what it was interesting because your
  • 00:08:39.275 --> 00:08:42.511
  • Technical job was to eat the food before the king ate it,
  • 00:08:42.511 --> 00:08:45.314
  • And if you died, your job had concluded.
  • 00:08:45.314 --> 00:08:47.883
  • But you ended up having influence because you're always
  • 00:08:47.883 --> 00:08:51.654
  • Around the king, because he couldn't taste anything
  • 00:08:51.654 --> 00:08:55.024
  • Until you tried it.
  • 00:08:55.024 --> 00:08:56.292
  • So a cup bearer had a position of influence, and one day,
  • 00:08:56.292 --> 00:08:59.729
  • Nehemiah heard what was going on in jerusalem.
  • 00:08:59.829 --> 00:09:02.531
  • He heard how the walls of the city were lying in ruin, and so
  • 00:09:02.531 --> 00:09:06.569
  • He went to the king and asked for permission to go do
  • 00:09:06.569 --> 00:09:09.538
  • Something about it.
  • 00:09:09.538 --> 00:09:10.873
  • Nehemiah was not an architect, he wasn't a prophet, he wasn't
  • 00:09:10.873 --> 00:09:14.010
  • A priest, but he was a man who had some influence and ability
  • 00:09:14.010 --> 00:09:17.780
  • And wanted to use it.
  • 00:09:17.780 --> 00:09:19.115
  • The king ended up funding his little expedition, and he went
  • 00:09:19.115 --> 00:09:22.284
  • Back with a detailed plan to rebuild the walls of jerusalem,
  • 00:09:22.284 --> 00:09:26.555
  • Which was done successfully.
  • 00:09:26.656 --> 00:09:28.190
  • And james dobson was a bit like that in our nation.
  • 00:09:28.190 --> 00:09:32.328
  • He helped to rebuild our foundations and remind people
  • 00:09:32.328 --> 00:09:36.432
  • Of what really mattered.
  • 00:09:36.532 --> 00:09:37.800
  • In his heart, he was a very strong bible believing,
  • 00:09:37.800 --> 00:09:41.270
  • Evangelical christian, but he was a psychologist.
  • 00:09:41.270 --> 00:09:44.040
  • Mhmm. and as you said, hearing him on news radio, they gave
  • 00:09:44.040 --> 00:09:47.276
  • Him an entree because he was very educated.
  • 00:09:47.276 --> 00:09:50.913
  • He was very respected.
  • 00:09:50.913 --> 00:09:52.548
  • So he had that audience and that platform, but he took
  • 00:09:52.648 --> 00:09:56.052
  • His platform and used it for god's glory.
  • 00:09:56.052 --> 00:09:58.387
  • That's the way marriage works best.
  • 00:09:58.387 --> 00:10:00.389
  • Now you went on to found focus on the family in 1977.
  • 00:10:00.389 --> 00:10:04.060
  • Your radio broadcast was heard on over seven thousand stations
  • 00:10:04.160 --> 00:10:08.330
  • Worldwide, heard by more than two hundred and twenty million
  • 00:10:08.431 --> 00:10:12.201
  • People in a hundred and sixty four countries.
  • 00:10:12.201 --> 00:10:15.571
  • Since then, you've gone on to
  • 00:10:15.571 --> 00:10:16.772
  • Found, your ministry family talk.
  • 00:10:16.772 --> 00:10:19.675
  • For family talk, here's doctor james dobson.
  • 00:10:19.675 --> 00:10:22.278
  • Perhaps one of the
  • 00:10:22.278 --> 00:10:23.279
  • Most difficult-- so your father's word
  • 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.314
  • About you influencing many really
  • 00:10:25.314 --> 00:10:28.317
  • Turned out to be true, didn't it?
  • 00:10:28.317 --> 00:10:30.152
  • It really did, and i told you i didn't know about it until
  • 00:10:30.152 --> 00:10:35.291
  • Seven years later.
  • 00:10:35.391 --> 00:10:36.559
  • I was on the gambling commission at that time.
  • 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:40.029
  • It was the hardest, most difficult, most nasty,
  • 00:10:40.029 --> 00:10:44.266
  • Terrible assignment i've ever had.
  • 00:10:44.266 --> 00:10:46.535
  • And i was running focus on the family, and i was advising
  • 00:10:46.535 --> 00:10:51.807
  • President reagan and the others, and i got tired.
  • 00:10:51.807 --> 00:10:55.711
  • People think that those who are in ministry, yourself included,
  • 00:10:55.811 --> 00:11:00.449
  • Are driven by ego needs that forces them to do what they do.
  • 00:11:00.549 --> 00:11:07.690
  • It is not true.
  • 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:08.891
  • I was asking the lord, how long can i do this?
  • 00:11:08.891 --> 00:11:11.260
  • Right. because i was really worn out.
  • 00:11:11.260 --> 00:11:14.163
  • Yeah. and i got a letter from my aunt, it's the one that my
  • 00:11:14.163 --> 00:11:19.034
  • Dad had told about that prayer, and she laid it out for me,
  • 00:11:19.034 --> 00:11:25.174
  • And her last line is the end is not yet.
  • 00:11:25.174 --> 00:11:27.810
  • Yeah.
  • 00:11:27.810 --> 00:11:29.044
  • And so far, the end is not yet for what i'm doing now.
  • 00:11:29.044 --> 00:11:32.681
  • That's right.
  • 00:11:32.681 --> 00:11:33.149
  • Not at all.
  • 00:11:33.149 --> 00:11:34.216
  • Yeah.
  • 00:11:34.517 --> 00:11:35.317
  • [applause]
  • 00:11:35.317 --> 00:11:38.287
  • I left usc.
  • 00:11:38.287 --> 00:11:40.022
  • Yeah. that was that was a plum of a position.
  • 00:11:40.022 --> 00:11:44.326
  • I was doing what i loved, what i was trained for.
  • 00:11:44.326 --> 00:11:47.029
  • I was doing research, and i
  • 00:11:47.029 --> 00:11:50.299
  • Think we were accomplishing a lot.
  • 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.434
  • And i could have enjoyed staying there, but i saw
  • 00:11:52.535 --> 00:11:57.139
  • The family unraveling.
  • 00:11:57.139 --> 00:11:59.408
  • I don't wanna sound like father time here, but i saw
  • 00:11:59.508 --> 00:12:03.412
  • Where we are today.
  • 00:12:03.412 --> 00:12:04.713
  • I recognized what abortion was gonna mean and what the assault
  • 00:12:04.814 --> 00:12:12.021
  • On the definition of marriage was gonna be and what the
  • 00:12:12.021 --> 00:12:15.825
  • Attack on righteousness was gonna be.
  • 00:12:15.825 --> 00:12:18.294
  • And i just felt the lord put his hand in my back and say,
  • 00:12:18.394 --> 00:12:22.431
  • You need to do what you can.
  • 00:12:22.531 --> 00:12:24.533
  • And so i walked out of there and started this
  • 00:12:24.533 --> 00:12:28.070
  • Little two room office.
  • 00:12:28.070 --> 00:12:29.305
  • I didn't know where it was going or what would happen.
  • 00:12:29.305 --> 00:12:31.440
  • But that was a major turning point for me.
  • 00:12:31.540 --> 00:12:33.943
  • You know, it's been said that a family can survive without a
  • 00:12:33.943 --> 00:12:37.146
  • Nation, but the nation cannot survive without the family.
  • 00:12:37.146 --> 00:12:42.518
  • The family is so important to you,
  • 00:12:42.518 --> 00:12:44.186
  • It's so important to our country.
  • 00:12:44.186 --> 00:12:46.188
  • What is the family?
  • 00:12:46.188 --> 00:12:47.790
  • Well, it's defined in genesis.
  • 00:12:47.890 --> 00:12:51.694
  • Right. genesis 2:24, when it says, for this cause a
  • 00:12:51.694 --> 00:12:56.398
  • Man shall leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife.
  • 00:12:56.398 --> 00:13:02.204
  • His wife.
  • 00:13:02.204 --> 00:13:03.038
  • And the two shall be one flesh.
  • 00:13:03.038 --> 00:13:05.140
  • That's the beginning of the family.
  • 00:13:05.140 --> 00:13:06.508
  • The beginning of marriage, it was not man's idea,
  • 00:13:06.508 --> 00:13:09.411
  • It was god's idea.
  • 00:13:09.411 --> 00:13:10.679
  • That attraction between men and women has characterized
  • 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:16.652
  • The basic social unit in every continent.
  • 00:13:16.652 --> 00:13:20.189
  • It's not just a christian thing.
  • 00:13:20.189 --> 00:13:21.924
  • In fact, it wasn't christian.
  • 00:13:21.924 --> 00:13:23.759
  • Christ hadn't come yet.
  • 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:25.261
  • But it was divinely inspired and it is the ground floor.
  • 00:13:25.261 --> 00:13:31.166
  • It's the foundation.
  • 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:32.801
  • Everything sits on it.
  • 00:13:32.801 --> 00:13:35.037
  • Everything, our institutions, our government, our way of
  • 00:13:35.137 --> 00:13:38.140
  • Life, everything rests on that foundation.
  • 00:13:38.140 --> 00:13:40.976
  • If you undermine it and you weaken it and you redefine it,
  • 00:13:41.076 --> 00:13:46.815
  • And you tear into its fabric, the whole superstructure
  • 00:13:46.815 --> 00:13:51.787
  • Could come down.
  • 00:13:51.787 --> 00:13:53.088
  • And that's what's happened in other civilization, and it's
  • 00:13:53.088 --> 00:13:56.325
  • Gonna happen to us if we're foolish enough to
  • 00:13:56.325 --> 00:14:00.329
  • Walk away from it.
  • 00:14:00.329 --> 00:14:00.896
  • Yes. that's right.
  • 00:14:00.896 --> 00:14:02.831
  • [applause]
  • 00:14:02.831 --> 00:14:07.069
  • You know, the breakdown of the families you've been talking
  • 00:14:07.069 --> 00:14:10.139
  • About is at the root of so many social ills, so many problems
  • 00:14:10.139 --> 00:14:13.509
  • In our culture today,
  • 00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:15.511
  • And specifically, the lack of fathers.
  • 00:14:15.511 --> 00:14:18.580
  • You know, lot of studies have been done and they found that,
  • 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:21.517
  • For instance, sixty three percent of teenagers who
  • 00:14:21.517 --> 00:14:23.786
  • Attempt suicide come from fatherless homes.
  • 00:14:23.786 --> 00:14:27.056
  • A child that is from a fatherless home is 68%
  • 00:14:27.056 --> 00:14:29.425
  • More likely to use drugs or alcohol, more likely
  • 00:14:29.425 --> 00:14:32.895
  • To become sexually active at an early age, three times
  • 00:14:32.895 --> 00:14:36.532
  • More likely to commit a violent crime, 71% of
  • 00:14:36.532 --> 00:14:40.035
  • High school dropouts from fatherless homes, ninety
  • 00:14:40.035 --> 00:14:42.905
  • Percent of all homeless and runaway children from
  • 00:14:42.905 --> 00:14:45.541
  • Fatherless homes.
  • 00:14:45.541 --> 00:14:47.042
  • And it just goes on and on.
  • 00:14:47.142 --> 00:14:48.811
  • Why is fatherlessness
  • 00:14:48.811 --> 00:14:51.280
  • At the root of so many of our nation's problems?
  • 00:14:51.280 --> 00:14:54.350
  • Cause of the role that fathers are supposed to play.
  • 00:14:54.450 --> 00:14:58.787
  • On the statistics that you just listed with regard to them,
  • 00:14:58.787 --> 00:15:04.760
  • More than seventy percent of african american babies are
  • 00:15:06.028 --> 00:15:11.633
  • Born out of wedlock.
  • 00:15:11.633 --> 00:15:12.901
  • Then you add divorce to that and other things that take
  • 00:15:12.901 --> 00:15:19.408
  • Fathers out of the home and the stupidity, the foolishness of
  • 00:15:19.408 --> 00:15:25.414
  • The late 60's when they decided that if a man stays in the
  • 00:15:25.414 --> 00:15:29.785
  • Home, the family is not supported by the government.
  • 00:15:29.785 --> 00:15:33.188
  • They destroyed the black family.
  • 00:15:33.188 --> 00:15:36.225
  • It is reeling now.
  • 00:15:36.325 --> 00:15:39.194
  • Take a look at what inner city
  • 00:15:39.194 --> 00:15:41.430
  • Life is like without this leadership.
  • 00:15:41.430 --> 00:15:45.667
  • When you don't have a man to teach a boy what it
  • 00:15:46.702 --> 00:15:51.707
  • Means to be a man.
  • 00:15:51.707 --> 00:15:52.775
  • And i tell you something else, girls need their
  • 00:15:52.775 --> 00:15:56.445
  • Dads as much as boys do them.
  • 00:15:56.445 --> 00:15:57.913
  • [applause]
  • 00:15:57.913 --> 00:15:59.515
  • I wanna talk about what it means to teach a boy
  • 00:15:59.515 --> 00:16:05.888
  • What it means to be a boy.
  • 00:16:05.888 --> 00:16:07.790
  • He doesn't know when he's born.
  • 00:16:07.790 --> 00:16:09.691
  • That's not something that's automatic.
  • 00:16:09.691 --> 00:16:12.661
  • It has to be taught.
  • 00:16:12.661 --> 00:16:14.563
  • And if you have a single mother and the husband's gone, and his
  • 00:16:14.663 --> 00:16:19.902
  • Influence is not there,
  • 00:16:19.902 --> 00:16:21.637
  • You gotta find a substitute for him.
  • 00:16:21.637 --> 00:16:23.405
  • Yeah. because a woman is not equipped to teach
  • 00:16:23.405 --> 00:16:27.142
  • A boy how to be a man.
  • 00:16:27.142 --> 00:16:28.077
  • That's right.
  • 00:16:28.077 --> 00:16:28.844
  • That has to come from a man.
  • 00:16:28.844 --> 00:16:30.446
  • That's right.
  • 00:16:30.446 --> 00:16:30.946
  • A coach.
  • 00:16:30.946 --> 00:16:31.647
  • Yeah. an uncle.
  • 00:16:31.647 --> 00:16:33.148
  • A grandfather.
  • 00:16:33.148 --> 00:16:34.016
  • A youth pastor.
  • 00:16:34.016 --> 00:16:34.483
  • A neighbor.
  • 00:16:34.483 --> 00:16:35.150
  • A youth pastor.
  • 00:16:35.150 --> 00:16:36.018
  • Sure. yeah.
  • 00:16:36.018 --> 00:16:37.219
  • And all those on occasions have done the unthinkable.
  • 00:16:37.219 --> 00:16:41.690
  • Right. so you have to keep a real close eye on it.
  • 00:16:41.790 --> 00:16:44.460
  • When i was being raised, you know, my mom was gone most of
  • 00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:47.396
  • The time, so i would go out and get my own food every night
  • 00:16:47.396 --> 00:16:50.265
  • At the restaurant.
  • 00:16:50.265 --> 00:16:51.467
  • And i always ordered the same thing, a hamburger, french
  • 00:16:51.567 --> 00:16:53.535
  • Fries, and a vanilla malt.
  • 00:16:53.535 --> 00:16:55.137
  • And all my friends envied me because i didn't have to go
  • 00:16:55.137 --> 00:16:57.706
  • Home at night and eat dinner.
  • 00:16:57.706 --> 00:16:59.308
  • I could eat what i wanted, when i wanted.
  • 00:16:59.408 --> 00:17:01.910
  • Hamburger, fries, vanilla malt.
  • 00:17:01.910 --> 00:17:03.946
  • After about doing that for about six months, i got tired
  • 00:17:03.946 --> 00:17:06.915
  • Of it and started going over to my friend's house where there
  • 00:17:06.915 --> 00:17:09.318
  • Was a mom and a dad and sat down for a family meal
  • 00:17:09.318 --> 00:17:13.055
  • Because i wanted that structure.
  • 00:17:13.055 --> 00:17:14.690
  • So maybe you don't have that structure, but maybe there's
  • 00:17:14.790 --> 00:17:17.392
  • Another place where that structure could be because it
  • 00:17:17.392 --> 00:17:20.696
  • Could be modeled for them to see what a family should be,
  • 00:17:20.696 --> 00:17:24.166
  • And even better, what a christian family should be.
  • 00:17:24.166 --> 00:17:26.034
  • You wrote a book, what wives
  • 00:17:26.034 --> 00:17:27.636
  • Wish their husbands knew about women.
  • 00:17:27.636 --> 00:17:29.805
  • What are some of the things
  • 00:17:29.905 --> 00:17:31.140
  • Husbands need to know about women?
  • 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:33.809
  • How much time do you have?
  • 00:17:33.909 --> 00:17:35.511
  • [laughter]
  • 00:17:35.511 --> 00:17:36.778
  • If men,
  • 00:17:36.778 --> 00:17:38.147
  • Are together and they are talking and discussing
  • 00:17:39.181 --> 00:17:44.953
  • What they care about,
  • 00:17:44.953 --> 00:17:46.455
  • They talk about their work.
  • 00:17:46.555 --> 00:17:49.091
  • Talk about they've accomplished.
  • 00:17:49.191 --> 00:17:51.660
  • Well, you know, we're building this new complex here, and
  • 00:17:51.660 --> 00:17:56.431
  • We have invested this, and they talk about those things,
  • 00:17:56.532 --> 00:18:00.169
  • Because that's how men develop self worth, is that they've
  • 00:18:00.269 --> 00:18:05.440
  • Done something with their lives.
  • 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:07.442
  • I'm that way, you're that way, i think men are that way.
  • 00:18:07.442 --> 00:18:11.013
  • Women, by contrast, draw their self worth from relationships,
  • 00:18:12.281 --> 00:18:18.687
  • From romantic love, from being loved, and being cared for.
  • 00:18:18.787 --> 00:18:24.293
  • And that's something that men
  • 00:18:25.027 --> 00:18:27.396
  • Frequently don't know about women.
  • 00:18:27.396 --> 00:18:29.665
  • Well, why is she complaining?
  • 00:18:29.665 --> 00:18:31.700
  • I know i'm working long hours, but i'm doing it for her.
  • 00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:35.170
  • Well, take another look, brother, because she needs
  • 00:18:35.270 --> 00:18:38.707
  • Something else from you.
  • 00:18:38.707 --> 00:18:39.908
  • Yeah. she needs your love, your attention, your time.
  • 00:18:39.908 --> 00:18:42.678
  • So i talked about that in what wives, what's their husbands,
  • 00:18:42.678 --> 00:18:45.280
  • Know about women.
  • 00:18:45.280 --> 00:18:46.315
  • How many of you have read dare to discipline?
  • 00:18:46.315 --> 00:18:47.950
  • Yeah, look at that, lots of them.
  • 00:18:47.950 --> 00:18:49.451
  • In fact, there's a boy who was in college who wrote you
  • 00:18:49.551 --> 00:18:52.521
  • A poem once and in his poem he said,
  • 00:18:52.521 --> 00:18:54.289
  • Roses are red, violets are blue.
  • 00:18:54.289 --> 00:18:56.258
  • When i was a kid, i got spanked because of you.
  • 00:18:56.258 --> 00:19:00.796
  • And i was that boy.
  • 00:19:01.330 --> 00:19:02.397
  • No. i'm not kidding.
  • 00:19:02.397 --> 00:19:03.565
  • I'm a little too old for that.
  • 00:19:03.665 --> 00:19:05.133
  • There's a whole generation yeah.
  • 00:19:05.133 --> 00:19:07.402
  • That would like to catch me in a blind alley.
  • 00:19:07.402 --> 00:19:10.305
  • Seems like we're in a time where you don't see a lot
  • 00:19:11.406 --> 00:19:14.142
  • Of discipline.
  • 00:19:14.142 --> 00:19:15.410
  • Not even a sense of what is
  • 00:19:15.510 --> 00:19:17.779
  • Right and what is wrong in our culture.
  • 00:19:17.779 --> 00:19:21.083
  • Why is discipline important in the lives of our children?
  • 00:19:21.183 --> 00:19:25.187
  • Well, just look around.
  • 00:19:25.287 --> 00:19:27.322
  • Yeah. what happens in airports and in
  • 00:19:27.322 --> 00:19:32.327
  • Schools and in public, you see that parents have no idea how
  • 00:19:32.427 --> 00:19:38.700
  • To deal with those kids.
  • 00:19:38.700 --> 00:19:40.035
  • Got two, three, four year old kids who are already in charge
  • 00:19:40.035 --> 00:19:44.139
  • At home because they've been taught not to confront
  • 00:19:44.139 --> 00:19:49.278
  • And not to discipline.
  • 00:19:49.278 --> 00:19:50.279
  • But the scripture tells us otherwise.
  • 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:53.015
  • I thought you might ask me about that.
  • 00:19:53.015 --> 00:19:55.150
  • So hebrews 12:7...
  • 00:19:55.150 --> 00:20:17.139
  • There's three more verses there
  • 00:20:17.906 --> 00:20:20.409
  • That describe the need for discipline.
  • 00:20:20.509 --> 00:20:23.779
  • A child feels like he doesn't belong if he challenges the
  • 00:20:23.779 --> 00:20:29.184
  • Authority at the home and nobody has the courage to
  • 00:20:29.184 --> 00:20:33.655
  • Confront him or to lead him.
  • 00:20:33.655 --> 00:20:35.457
  • You know, he's got sense enough to know that's not right.
  • 00:20:35.457 --> 00:20:38.794
  • And you damage a child if you don't take charge.
  • 00:20:38.894 --> 00:20:44.032
  • Right. discipline is necessary.
  • 00:20:44.032 --> 00:20:45.767
  • Right. i was raised without a father.
  • 00:20:45.767 --> 00:20:48.036
  • My mom was an alcoholic.
  • 00:20:48.036 --> 00:20:49.671
  • I had no discipline in my life and i was--
  • 00:20:49.771 --> 00:20:51.640
  • You know what i was talking about a few minutes ago.
  • 00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:53.775
  • Well, sure.
  • 00:20:53.775 --> 00:20:54.743
  • I know it all from personal experience.
  • 00:20:54.743 --> 00:20:56.578
  • I was a problem in school, but i was sent to military school
  • 00:20:56.678 --> 00:20:59.915
  • For a short time.
  • 00:20:59.915 --> 00:21:00.716
  • And they applied discipline.
  • 00:21:01.383 --> 00:21:04.853
  • And it's funny, i went from being a delinquent to being
  • 00:21:04.953 --> 00:21:09.391
  • On the honor roll when i had structure.
  • 00:21:09.391 --> 00:21:11.560
  • And as soon as i got out of the structure, i went back to
  • 00:21:11.560 --> 00:21:14.529
  • My old ways again.
  • 00:21:14.529 --> 00:21:15.797
  • I needed that structure and i think it's comforting, you
  • 00:21:15.797 --> 00:21:18.400
  • Know, because as you just read in that scripture, whom the
  • 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:21.403
  • Lord loves, he disciplines.
  • 00:21:21.403 --> 00:21:22.904
  • It's not because he hates us, it's because he loves us and
  • 00:21:22.904 --> 00:21:26.174
  • It's a sign that god cares about you to give you that
  • 00:21:26.174 --> 00:21:29.077
  • Reinforcement of what is right and what is wrong.
  • 00:21:29.177 --> 00:21:32.047
  • It finishes that scripture saying it yields the peaceable
  • 00:21:32.147 --> 00:21:38.387
  • Fruit of righteousness.
  • 00:21:38.387 --> 00:21:41.390
  • That's right.
  • 00:21:41.390 --> 00:21:42.224
  • Discipline leads to righteousness.
  • 00:21:42.224 --> 00:21:45.227
  • In the heyday of the progressive education movement--
  • 00:21:45.327 --> 00:21:50.265
  • 600,000 children go to public elementary schools
  • 00:21:50.265 --> 00:21:53.068
  • In new york city.
  • 00:21:53.068 --> 00:21:54.703
  • These children vary in their intellectual abilities.
  • 00:21:54.803 --> 00:21:58.039
  • Principals find it helpful to meet with parents.
  • 00:21:58.140 --> 00:22:01.309
  • There are many other things besides tests that we use.
  • 00:22:01.410 --> 00:22:05.313
  • Of course we do consider a child's general ability and the
  • 00:22:05.414 --> 00:22:09.451
  • Way he scores on standardized tests, particularly in reading,
  • 00:22:09.451 --> 00:22:14.222
  • But that's not all.
  • 00:22:14.322 --> 00:22:15.791
  • The child must be physically fit and the child must be
  • 00:22:15.891 --> 00:22:20.162
  • Emotionally ready.
  • 00:22:20.162 --> 00:22:21.696
  • That is, he must be able to
  • 00:22:21.696 --> 00:22:23.165
  • Adjust easily to new situations.
  • 00:22:23.165 --> 00:22:26.435
  • Some of the educators began thinking, john dewey and
  • 00:22:27.536 --> 00:22:31.640
  • Others, that they needed to take down the fences that were
  • 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:35.410
  • Around the playground because kids were they wanted freedom.
  • 00:22:35.410 --> 00:22:39.514
  • They didn't wanna be hemmed in.
  • 00:22:39.514 --> 00:22:41.183
  • So they took them down
  • 00:22:41.183 --> 00:22:42.517
  • And the kids huddled around the center of classroom.
  • 00:22:42.517 --> 00:22:46.955
  • They wanted that protection.
  • 00:22:46.955 --> 00:22:48.423
  • Wanted it.
  • 00:22:48.790 --> 00:22:50.125
  • Can you imagine riding in a car over royal gorge, if you've
  • 00:22:50.125 --> 00:22:55.263
  • Ever been there in colorado, and it's scary.
  • 00:22:55.263 --> 00:22:58.800
  • It looks like forever below you there.
  • 00:22:58.800 --> 00:23:02.037
  • And if those guard rails were not there, you would move
  • 00:23:02.137 --> 00:23:07.676
  • Toward the center.
  • 00:23:07.676 --> 00:23:08.577
  • Those guard rails bring security.
  • 00:23:08.577 --> 00:23:11.913
  • That's what a child wants.
  • 00:23:12.013 --> 00:23:13.682
  • We have a little bunny rabbit.
  • 00:23:13.682 --> 00:23:16.284
  • My granddaughters have him and his name is fuzzy.
  • 00:23:16.284 --> 00:23:19.154
  • They named him and they take him out and play with him
  • 00:23:19.154 --> 00:23:21.556
  • And my granddaughter allie kind of manhandled him a little bit,
  • 00:23:21.556 --> 00:23:25.927
  • Girl handled him, i think you might say, at first.
  • 00:23:25.927 --> 00:23:28.830
  • And now she's better with him and now our grandson
  • 00:23:28.830 --> 00:23:31.299
  • Christopher, you know, he'll
  • 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:33.301
  • Sometimes pick fuzzy up by the head.
  • 00:23:33.301 --> 00:23:35.136
  • Know, we know christopher's support is bottom and so
  • 00:23:35.136 --> 00:23:38.406
  • After they're done playing with this rabbit, when i take him
  • 00:23:38.406 --> 00:23:40.942
  • Back to his cage, he leaps out of my arms to get in the cage.
  • 00:23:40.942 --> 00:23:44.513
  • It's like, let me get in the cage because when he's in
  • 00:23:44.513 --> 00:23:47.816
  • The cage, he's secure and the bars are keeping
  • 00:23:47.816 --> 00:23:51.553
  • The grandkids out, you know.
  • 00:23:51.553 --> 00:23:52.354
  • So there's security there and
  • 00:23:52.354 --> 00:23:53.522
  • God has given us absolutes and parameters.
  • 00:23:53.522 --> 00:23:57.058
  • They could seem like bars, but we could also think of them
  • 00:23:57.158 --> 00:24:00.328
  • As walls to keep evil out and to protect us from evil.
  • 00:24:00.328 --> 00:24:04.199
  • Well, my dad would have said that'll preach.
  • 00:24:04.299 --> 00:24:07.802
  • Yeah. yeah.
  • 00:24:07.802 --> 00:24:08.637
  • That'll preach.
  • 00:24:08.637 --> 00:24:09.905
  • That's a message that comes right out of reality today.
  • 00:24:09.905 --> 00:24:13.041
  • Is there a way to divorce-proof a marriage?
  • 00:24:13.041 --> 00:24:16.478
  • Not in this culture because it's working against us.
  • 00:24:16.578 --> 00:24:19.948
  • Yeah. it's working against your kids too.
  • 00:24:19.948 --> 00:24:22.150
  • Yeah. we're the culture's at war with the family.
  • 00:24:22.150 --> 00:24:27.722
  • So you can't guarantee it, but the best glue to hold a family
  • 00:24:27.822 --> 00:24:32.894
  • Together is commitment.
  • 00:24:32.894 --> 00:24:34.429
  • You just decide.
  • 00:24:34.529 --> 00:24:35.664
  • I mean, it never enters your
  • 00:24:35.664 --> 00:24:37.032
  • Mind or your thoughts or your words.
  • 00:24:37.032 --> 00:24:39.467
  • This is for life.
  • 00:24:39.568 --> 00:24:41.336
  • This is the way it's intended.
  • 00:24:41.436 --> 00:24:42.938
  • I was fishing with my father-in-law not long ago,
  • 00:24:42.938 --> 00:24:47.909
  • We each had a little rowboat.
  • 00:24:47.909 --> 00:24:49.978
  • We were on a choppy lake.
  • 00:24:50.078 --> 00:24:52.480
  • We were rowing along there together and then the fish
  • 00:24:52.581 --> 00:24:58.520
  • Started biting and our attention was drawn away from
  • 00:24:58.520 --> 00:25:03.191
  • Staying together and we wound up with one on the east shore
  • 00:25:03.191 --> 00:25:09.531
  • And one on the west and
  • 00:25:09.531 --> 00:25:11.833
  • It was the same lake, same wind, same influences,
  • 00:25:12.901 --> 00:25:18.440
  • But when we quit rolling, we drifted apart.
  • 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.543
  • And marriage is like that.
  • 00:25:21.643 --> 00:25:23.178
  • Yeah.
  • 00:25:23.178 --> 00:25:23.845
  • How do you stay together?
  • 00:25:23.845 --> 00:25:24.512
  • Right.
  • 00:25:24.512 --> 00:25:25.113
  • You row like crazy.
  • 00:25:25.113 --> 00:25:26.915
  • Yes. and don't stop.
  • 00:25:26.915 --> 00:25:29.284
  • That's good advice.
  • 00:25:29.284 --> 00:25:31.453
  • Yeah. and he helped so many people, millions of people.
  • 00:25:31.553 --> 00:25:34.389
  • Really? listening to him daily.
  • 00:25:34.389 --> 00:25:36.658
  • Talking about what it is to be
  • 00:25:36.658 --> 00:25:37.892
  • A man, to be a man in your family.
  • 00:25:37.892 --> 00:25:39.894
  • Yes. to stand for your marriage.
  • 00:25:39.894 --> 00:25:42.197
  • Him and shirley had a beautiful marriage.
  • 00:25:42.197 --> 00:25:44.933
  • Yes. and just how to stand for your marriage and discipline.
  • 00:25:44.933 --> 00:25:49.304
  • Talked about discipline and how the breakdown of the family
  • 00:25:49.304 --> 00:25:53.274
  • And has-- what it's done to society. yes.
  • 00:25:53.274 --> 00:25:58.013
  • Basically. and he was such a great counselor.
  • 00:25:58.013 --> 00:26:01.016
  • He was.
  • 00:26:01.016 --> 00:26:01.616
  • What i think about,
  • 00:26:01.616 --> 00:26:03.251
  • James, is for some reason i think of authority.
  • 00:26:04.285 --> 00:26:08.023
  • Doctor dobson. yeah, doctor dobson,
  • 00:26:08.023 --> 00:26:09.658
  • I think of authority.
  • 00:26:09.658 --> 00:26:12.661
  • Yeah, authority figures.
  • 00:26:12.661 --> 00:26:14.396
  • Typically all i knew of him is on the radio, on the
  • 00:26:14.396 --> 00:26:20.902
  • Regular news channel.
  • 00:26:20.902 --> 00:26:21.903
  • The big news channel had doctor
  • 00:26:21.903 --> 00:26:24.639
  • Dobson doing these little shorts, and he was always
  • 00:26:24.639 --> 00:26:26.775
  • On the radio.
  • 00:26:26.775 --> 00:26:28.209
  • And then i would see him when my father would go to
  • 00:26:28.309 --> 00:26:32.080
  • Washington for some event.
  • 00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:34.282
  • Mhmm. so he was this bigger than life kind of-- yeah.
  • 00:26:34.282 --> 00:26:39.154
  • Personality and person.
  • 00:26:39.154 --> 00:26:40.655
  • When you think of billy graham, and i know you spent a lot of
  • 00:26:40.655 --> 00:26:44.426
  • Time with billy, but no matter how many times you saw him,
  • 00:26:44.426 --> 00:26:48.163
  • He was always bigger than life.
  • 00:26:48.163 --> 00:26:49.397
  • Yes. mhmm.
  • 00:26:49.397 --> 00:26:50.098
  • And james kinda had that--
  • 00:26:50.098 --> 00:26:51.700
  • Yeah.
  • 00:26:51.700 --> 00:26:52.434
  • With me in my mind too.
  • 00:26:52.434 --> 00:26:54.769
  • Rolling, mike?
  • 00:26:55.203 --> 00:26:56.371
  • Mister president, you've had a busy day, haven't you?
  • 00:26:56.371 --> 00:26:58.540
  • Yes. and i'm so you've been a friend of presidents,
  • 00:26:58.540 --> 00:27:04.646
  • President reagan, president h. w. bush,
  • 00:27:04.646 --> 00:27:06.915
  • President george w. bush.
  • 00:27:06.915 --> 00:27:09.951
  • Our audience and focus on the family, our people care deeply
  • 00:27:09.951 --> 00:27:14.656
  • About the family and i know that you do, too.
  • 00:27:14.656 --> 00:27:17.058
  • What's it like to walk for the
  • 00:27:17.058 --> 00:27:18.893
  • First time into the oval office?
  • 00:27:18.893 --> 00:27:21.162
  • It's awe inspiring because you just think of lincoln
  • 00:27:21.262 --> 00:27:26.401
  • And roosevelt and all the people
  • 00:27:26.401 --> 00:27:28.136
  • Who lived and worked in that place.
  • 00:27:28.136 --> 00:27:30.672
  • And it's dangerous too because your eyes spin.
  • 00:27:30.772 --> 00:27:35.510
  • It was chuck colson who said that the lions of the waiting
  • 00:27:35.510 --> 00:27:40.081
  • Room become the lambs of the oval office.
  • 00:27:40.081 --> 00:27:43.785
  • Once you get in the presence of power, yes.
  • 00:27:43.785 --> 00:27:46.688
  • And you have to be aware that that's happening to you because
  • 00:27:46.688 --> 00:27:50.759
  • You can be corrupted very easily.
  • 00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:52.761
  • Thankfully, the people i was working with
  • 00:27:52.761 --> 00:27:57.165
  • Were not there to do that.
  • 00:27:57.165 --> 00:27:58.066
  • Right. ronald reagan was a great man.
  • 00:27:58.066 --> 00:28:00.034
  • I mean, he was a great man.
  • 00:28:00.135 --> 00:28:02.303
  • [applause]
  • 00:28:02.303 --> 00:28:04.539
  • Yeah. it was 1981,
  • 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:06.541
  • And he was about to be inaugurated.
  • 00:28:06.541 --> 00:28:08.576
  • And i got invited to come and bring
  • 00:28:08.576 --> 00:28:12.013
  • Six friends with me to the inauguration.
  • 00:28:12.947 --> 00:28:17.418
  • We were excited about that.
  • 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:19.287
  • The new beginning.
  • 00:28:19.287 --> 00:28:20.655
  • It was, you know, there was
  • 00:28:20.655 --> 00:28:22.290
  • Just so much excitement in the country.
  • 00:28:22.290 --> 00:28:24.659
  • And reagan was coming in.
  • 00:28:24.659 --> 00:28:27.061
  • And i just wanted to catch a glimpse of him.
  • 00:28:27.162 --> 00:28:29.898
  • I mean, that's what everybody in washington was trying to do,
  • 00:28:29.898 --> 00:28:32.801
  • To see him go buying a car or something.
  • 00:28:32.801 --> 00:28:34.936
  • And we were at the smithsonian, and so that
  • 00:28:34.936 --> 00:28:38.807
  • Was the ninth inaugural ball of that night.
  • 00:28:38.807 --> 00:28:42.710
  • And so we had to wait, and it was jammed.
  • 00:28:42.811 --> 00:28:45.780
  • You could not move.
  • 00:28:45.780 --> 00:28:47.282
  • There were people just shoulder to shoulder.
  • 00:28:47.282 --> 00:28:51.186
  • And we looked at our watches
  • 00:28:51.286 --> 00:28:52.520
  • And said, you know, it's nearly midnight.
  • 00:28:52.520 --> 00:28:54.522
  • He's got to be coming soon.
  • 00:28:54.522 --> 00:28:56.724
  • So after he leaves, everybody's
  • 00:28:56.825 --> 00:29:00.161
  • Going to be trying to get their coats.
  • 00:29:00.161 --> 00:29:01.663
  • It's very cold.
  • 00:29:01.663 --> 00:29:02.831
  • And so let's go get our coats.
  • 00:29:02.831 --> 00:29:05.433
  • And we were walking back.
  • 00:29:05.533 --> 00:29:07.035
  • We had our coats over our arm.
  • 00:29:07.035 --> 00:29:09.304
  • And doors swung open and secret service men, who looked
  • 00:29:09.404 --> 00:29:17.145
  • Very much-- i'm 6'2 and my friend
  • 00:29:17.145 --> 00:29:18.947
  • Was 6'5 and we had on tuxes.
  • 00:29:18.947 --> 00:29:21.282
  • We looked like them.
  • 00:29:21.282 --> 00:29:22.851
  • And they came in and ran into a stairwell.
  • 00:29:22.951 --> 00:29:27.922
  • I looked at my friend.
  • 00:29:28.022 --> 00:29:29.424
  • He looked at me.
  • 00:29:29.424 --> 00:29:30.258
  • I said, why not?
  • 00:29:30.258 --> 00:29:31.159
  • We ran with it.
  • 00:29:31.159 --> 00:29:32.327
  • [laughter]
  • 00:29:32.327 --> 00:29:37.398
  • That's funny.
  • 00:29:37.398 --> 00:29:38.666
  • And we went up the next step to the second floor and opened
  • 00:29:38.766 --> 00:29:45.773
  • The door and walked straight into ronald reagan.
  • 00:29:45.773 --> 00:29:48.676
  • I was three feet away from him.
  • 00:29:48.676 --> 00:29:50.912
  • Yeah.
  • 00:29:50.912 --> 00:29:52.080
  • And, you know, secret service never looks behind.
  • 00:29:52.080 --> 00:29:55.383
  • Yeah. they look ahead.
  • 00:29:55.383 --> 00:29:57.552
  • They never turn around to see who was following them.
  • 00:29:57.652 --> 00:30:00.288
  • That's funny.
  • 00:30:00.288 --> 00:30:01.623
  • Alright. and we're there, and so they have this cordoned off
  • 00:30:01.623 --> 00:30:05.660
  • Area of blue uniformed police to the platform where nancy and
  • 00:30:05.660 --> 00:30:10.765
  • And ron reagan were going to go up and speak and dance.
  • 00:30:10.765 --> 00:30:14.636
  • Ladies and gentlemen, the president
  • 00:30:14.636 --> 00:30:16.638
  • Of the united states and missus reagan.
  • 00:30:16.638 --> 00:30:18.773
  • And it was just about three foot wide, and then all this
  • 00:30:18.773 --> 00:30:22.510
  • Sea of people.
  • 00:30:22.510 --> 00:30:24.579
  • And they started down that cordoned off area.
  • 00:30:24.679 --> 00:30:28.149
  • I looked at my friend, he
  • 00:30:28.149 --> 00:30:29.651
  • Looked at me, and i said, why not?
  • 00:30:29.651 --> 00:30:33.288
  • We walked with him.
  • 00:30:33.821 --> 00:30:34.956
  • Oh my.
  • 00:30:34.956 --> 00:30:35.957
  • We followed him three feet behind as though we
  • 00:30:36.057 --> 00:30:39.894
  • That is amazing.
  • 00:30:39.894 --> 00:30:40.995
  • And everybody thought we were secret service.
  • 00:30:40.995 --> 00:30:43.798
  • And we walked to the platform, and then they went up, and i
  • 00:30:45.033 --> 00:30:48.903
  • Looked at my friend.
  • 00:30:48.903 --> 00:30:49.737
  • He looked at me, and i said, no.
  • 00:30:49.737 --> 00:30:52.240
  • Yes. so they the secret service was looking down at us, and all
  • 00:30:53.574 --> 00:30:58.813
  • Of a sudden, they realized we didn't belong there.
  • 00:30:58.813 --> 00:31:00.815
  • Oh my.
  • 00:31:00.815 --> 00:31:02.216
  • We were we were right here, and they didn't know what was under
  • 00:31:02.216 --> 00:31:04.185
  • Those coats.
  • 00:31:04.185 --> 00:31:05.453
  • Yeah. and they panicked, and they come came running down,
  • 00:31:05.453 --> 00:31:09.891
  • Pushed me in the back, and said, get out of here,
  • 00:31:09.891 --> 00:31:14.028
  • And we decided we should.
  • 00:31:14.028 --> 00:31:16.431
  • Three years later, i was sitting beside him in the
  • 00:31:16.531 --> 00:31:20.134
  • Oval office talking to him about the family.
  • 00:31:20.134 --> 00:31:23.938
  • You know, really cool little detail about doctor dobson.
  • 00:31:24.038 --> 00:31:27.308
  • What his wife shirley, you know, we think of them
  • 00:31:27.408 --> 00:31:29.777
  • As the model couple.
  • 00:31:29.777 --> 00:31:30.912
  • She came from a horrible alcoholic home and a very
  • 00:31:30.912 --> 00:31:35.316
  • Abusive home.
  • 00:31:35.316 --> 00:31:36.718
  • And so he fell in love with her.
  • 00:31:36.818 --> 00:31:39.420
  • And i think the first thing she noticed about him, she said,
  • 00:31:39.520 --> 00:31:42.890
  • Were his legs because he was a tennis player.
  • 00:31:42.890 --> 00:31:46.027
  • He was very athletic. wow.
  • 00:31:46.027 --> 00:31:47.662
  • And a great tennis player.
  • 00:31:47.662 --> 00:31:48.963
  • She'd noticed his legs, which is kinda funny hearing them
  • 00:31:48.963 --> 00:31:52.133
  • Talk about it.
  • 00:31:52.133 --> 00:31:53.368
  • But he said to her, i want to spend the rest of my life
  • 00:31:53.368 --> 00:31:57.205
  • Making up to you what you never had as a child.
  • 00:31:57.305 --> 00:32:00.174
  • I love you.
  • 00:32:00.174 --> 00:32:01.109
  • To give her a strong, loving family.
  • 00:32:01.109 --> 00:32:03.044
  • And so what he did for her
  • 00:32:03.144 --> 00:32:06.414
  • He tried to do for other people too, talking about what
  • 00:32:06.514 --> 00:32:09.650
  • The role of a man, as you as you said, laurie, you know,
  • 00:32:09.650 --> 00:32:12.820
  • That a man is a protector.
  • 00:32:12.820 --> 00:32:14.455
  • Yeah. a man is a provider.
  • 00:32:14.455 --> 00:32:16.591
  • A man is a leader.
  • 00:32:16.691 --> 00:32:18.259
  • A man is a servant.
  • 00:32:18.259 --> 00:32:19.794
  • All of these things in the marriage.
  • 00:32:19.894 --> 00:32:21.529
  • And i think he modeled and models that beautifully
  • 00:32:21.529 --> 00:32:26.134
  • And has for many years.
  • 00:32:26.134 --> 00:32:27.702
  • You can hardly think of the name jim dobson without
  • 00:32:27.802 --> 00:32:30.638
  • Thinking of shirley dobson.
  • 00:32:30.638 --> 00:32:32.173
  • There's just certain names that go together, you know, ron and
  • 00:32:32.273 --> 00:32:35.076
  • Nancy reagan, billy and ruth graham, jim and shirley dobson.
  • 00:32:35.076 --> 00:32:39.781
  • Your story of how you met your wife to be is a classic
  • 00:32:40.915 --> 00:32:45.286
  • American love story.
  • 00:32:45.286 --> 00:32:46.788
  • Here's a great photo of you
  • 00:32:46.788 --> 00:32:48.289
  • Back then and more recently.
  • 00:32:48.289 --> 00:32:50.925
  • And your wife was the homecoming queen.
  • 00:32:51.025 --> 00:32:55.329
  • You were the captain of the tennis team, and so you met for
  • 00:32:55.329 --> 00:33:00.268
  • The first time on your college campus, and you were in your
  • 00:33:00.268 --> 00:33:04.305
  • Tennis outfit, probably on your way to practice.
  • 00:33:04.305 --> 00:33:06.774
  • Do you remember the first thing that shirley said to you
  • 00:33:06.774 --> 00:33:08.943
  • When she saw you?
  • 00:33:08.943 --> 00:33:10.211
  • Well, this tells you a lot about shirley because first of
  • 00:33:10.211 --> 00:33:12.780
  • All, she's got a great sense of
  • 00:33:12.780 --> 00:33:14.582
  • Humor, but she's also very feisty.
  • 00:33:14.582 --> 00:33:17.685
  • Yeah. and that's what i fell in love with.
  • 00:33:17.685 --> 00:33:20.021
  • Yes.
  • 00:33:20.021 --> 00:33:20.955
  • And that little flirt walked up to me.
  • 00:33:20.955 --> 00:33:25.760
  • And she said, hi, legs.
  • 00:33:26.394 --> 00:33:29.397
  • Hi, legs? and
  • 00:33:29.397 --> 00:33:32.033
  • I thought, man, anybody who likes my legs can't be all bad.
  • 00:33:32.133 --> 00:33:37.538
  • And back in those days, shorts were shorter, weren't they?
  • 00:33:37.538 --> 00:33:40.041
  • Oh, yeah, they were.
  • 00:33:40.041 --> 00:33:40.842
  • So there was more legs showing.
  • 00:33:40.842 --> 00:33:42.009
  • Absolutely.
  • 00:33:42.009 --> 00:33:43.244
  • But there was a sequel to that because several days later, i
  • 00:33:44.512 --> 00:33:47.915
  • Figured i could get to know this girl that has come up
  • 00:33:47.915 --> 00:33:51.786
  • There and said that to me.
  • 00:33:51.786 --> 00:33:53.588
  • And she was standing out on campus after dinner one night,
  • 00:33:53.688 --> 00:33:57.258
  • And i walked up to her, and i had a nickel, i was
  • 00:33:57.258 --> 00:34:01.028
  • Flipping it in the air.
  • 00:34:01.028 --> 00:34:02.096
  • And i said, i tell you what, shirley.
  • 00:34:02.196 --> 00:34:05.533
  • I'd like to flip this nickel, and if i can call it heads or
  • 00:34:05.633 --> 00:34:09.303
  • Tails, i will win a hamburger, and you buy me a hamburger.
  • 00:34:09.303 --> 00:34:15.176
  • And she said, well, i'll take you up on that.
  • 00:34:15.276 --> 00:34:19.180
  • I mean, it's brilliant.
  • 00:34:19.180 --> 00:34:21.415
  • Brilliant. i win both ways.
  • 00:34:21.516 --> 00:34:23.384
  • That's
  • 00:34:23.384 --> 00:34:24.018
  • True. i get a hamburger.
  • 00:34:24.018 --> 00:34:25.319
  • I get a date.
  • 00:34:25.319 --> 00:34:26.454
  • I get both.
  • 00:34:26.454 --> 00:34:27.188
  • That's right.
  • 00:34:27.188 --> 00:34:27.655
  • Win win.
  • 00:34:27.655 --> 00:34:28.656
  • So i flipped it and i won.
  • 00:34:28.656 --> 00:34:30.958
  • And she said, oh, no.
  • 00:34:31.526 --> 00:34:33.161
  • Oh, no.
  • 00:34:33.261 --> 00:34:34.061
  • You're going double or nothing.
  • 00:34:34.061 --> 00:34:34.829
  • So i went double or nothing.
  • 00:34:34.829 --> 00:34:35.897
  • I won again.
  • 00:34:35.897 --> 00:34:36.664
  • Yeah.
  • 00:34:36.664 --> 00:34:37.331
  • And i had two hamburgers.
  • 00:34:37.331 --> 00:34:38.666
  • Things are going in the
  • 00:34:38.666 --> 00:34:41.335
  • Right direction.
  • 00:34:41.769 --> 00:34:42.637
  • Yeah.
  • 00:34:42.637 --> 00:34:43.304
  • And i flipped it again.
  • 00:34:43.304 --> 00:34:44.639
  • I won again.
  • 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:45.673
  • I won 32 hamburgers
  • 00:34:45.773 --> 00:34:49.510
  • Standing up there.
  • 00:34:50.011 --> 00:34:50.845
  • She's been frying them ever since.
  • 00:34:50.845 --> 00:34:56.150
  • Shirley had a rough childhood.
  • 00:34:56.884 --> 00:34:59.587
  • Her parents divorced, she was raised in an al-- i think
  • 00:34:59.687 --> 00:35:02.523
  • Her father was an alcoholic.
  • 00:35:02.523 --> 00:35:04.058
  • People here who have experienced alcoholism in the
  • 00:35:04.158 --> 00:35:08.763
  • Family the shame associated with that.
  • 00:35:08.763 --> 00:35:12.533
  • You don't want anybody to know it.
  • 00:35:12.633 --> 00:35:14.635
  • And so everybody hides it and shirley felt that way.
  • 00:35:14.635 --> 00:35:20.141
  • They lived in very squalid circumstances, tiny little
  • 00:35:20.141 --> 00:35:24.512
  • Shotgun house and her mother had to work in a cannery at
  • 00:35:24.512 --> 00:35:28.950
  • In the middle of the night to
  • 00:35:28.950 --> 00:35:30.384
  • Support shirley and her brother.
  • 00:35:30.384 --> 00:35:33.187
  • So it was not easy and it's amazing that shirley got on her
  • 00:35:33.187 --> 00:35:38.559
  • Knees at six, seven, eight, nine years of age and prayed
  • 00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:43.264
  • For her future husband.
  • 00:35:43.264 --> 00:35:46.033
  • She was praying for me.
  • 00:35:46.033 --> 00:35:48.035
  • She didn't know me, and we
  • 00:35:48.035 --> 00:35:49.403
  • Didn't meet till we were in college.
  • 00:35:49.403 --> 00:35:51.172
  • But that little kid was talking to the lord, and he heard her
  • 00:35:51.272 --> 00:35:55.276
  • And answered her prayer.
  • 00:35:55.276 --> 00:35:58.045
  • So we went together for three or four months through a summer
  • 00:35:58.145 --> 00:36:02.550
  • Before i knew that she had a tough childhood, she had
  • 00:36:02.650 --> 00:36:09.657
  • Not shared it with me.
  • 00:36:09.657 --> 00:36:10.891
  • She's afraid to tell me.
  • 00:36:10.891 --> 00:36:12.026
  • Yeah.
  • 00:36:12.026 --> 00:36:13.294
  • And one night, she said to me, i've really got something
  • 00:36:13.294 --> 00:36:16.764
  • That you need to know.
  • 00:36:16.764 --> 00:36:18.666
  • And she told me about her childhood.
  • 00:36:18.766 --> 00:36:22.436
  • And rather than leaving her, my response was surely my
  • 00:36:22.536 --> 00:36:31.012
  • Purpose if we are to live together and marry and be
  • 00:36:31.012 --> 00:36:35.283
  • Together the rest of our lives, this came a little later,
  • 00:36:35.283 --> 00:36:38.686
  • That i want to make up to you for what you've lost and for
  • 00:36:38.786 --> 00:36:44.892
  • What you experienced.
  • 00:36:44.892 --> 00:36:46.027
  • Yeah.
  • 00:36:46.027 --> 00:36:47.295
  • And that's been sort of the goal of my life to take care
  • 00:36:47.295 --> 00:36:49.563
  • Of her and to love her.
  • 00:36:49.563 --> 00:36:51.165
  • Is that something that every christian husband should do,
  • 00:36:51.265 --> 00:36:54.068
  • Do you think?
  • 00:36:54.068 --> 00:36:54.535
  • That's great.
  • 00:36:54.535 --> 00:36:56.203
  • [applause]
  • 00:36:56.203 --> 00:36:58.539
  • I think that's one of the roles-- yeah.
  • 00:36:58.539 --> 00:37:00.441
  • That god has given to men.
  • 00:37:00.441 --> 00:37:02.510
  • It is in fact, there are there are five elements to it.
  • 00:37:02.510 --> 00:37:06.647
  • Mhmm. there is respect.
  • 00:37:06.647 --> 00:37:08.916
  • A woman deserves respect, not only the husband
  • 00:37:09.016 --> 00:37:13.154
  • For his wife, but for women.
  • 00:37:13.154 --> 00:37:14.388
  • Yeah. and to protect.
  • 00:37:14.388 --> 00:37:16.957
  • Yes. i wanted to protect shirley from this pain
  • 00:37:17.058 --> 00:37:21.028
  • And to provide for.
  • 00:37:21.028 --> 00:37:21.962
  • Right.
  • 00:37:22.263 --> 00:37:23.531
  • And to provide leadership for, i believe that's a godly role.
  • 00:37:23.631 --> 00:37:28.703
  • That's right.
  • 00:37:28.703 --> 00:37:29.937
  • And to then provide leadership for the rest of family.
  • 00:37:29.937 --> 00:37:35.076
  • I think that is what god calls us to do.
  • 00:37:35.076 --> 00:37:39.413
  • Ladies and gentlemen, chair of the national day of
  • 00:37:39.413 --> 00:37:43.284
  • Prayer task force, missus shirley dobson.
  • 00:37:43.284 --> 00:37:46.287
  • Thank you, mister president, for honoring god through your
  • 00:37:46.387 --> 00:37:49.890
  • Consistent support for the national day of prayer.
  • 00:37:49.890 --> 00:37:53.027
  • So your wife has been leading the national day of prayer now
  • 00:37:53.027 --> 00:37:56.764
  • In washington dc.
  • 00:37:56.764 --> 00:37:58.165
  • She agreed to do the-- yeah.
  • 00:37:58.165 --> 00:38:00.134
  • Fantastic. she does a great job too.
  • 00:38:00.134 --> 00:38:02.770
  • During the, bush administration, they, he was
  • 00:38:02.770 --> 00:38:06.640
  • There, of course, eight years, and he had a prayer service
  • 00:38:06.640 --> 00:38:11.145
  • All eight years.
  • 00:38:11.145 --> 00:38:12.113
  • And sometimes it was very hard for him.
  • 00:38:12.113 --> 00:38:15.082
  • The year that he went out to fly the plane out to the,
  • 00:38:15.182 --> 00:38:19.920
  • Abraham lincoln, remember that?
  • 00:38:20.020 --> 00:38:22.289
  • That was a busy busy day for him, and his staff came and
  • 00:38:22.390 --> 00:38:25.559
  • Said, you do not have time to have a national day of prayer.
  • 00:38:25.559 --> 00:38:29.063
  • He said, this is priority.
  • 00:38:29.063 --> 00:38:30.664
  • Yeah. and so, he had an event there, and shirley
  • 00:38:30.765 --> 00:38:35.903
  • Spoke at all eight of those.
  • 00:38:35.903 --> 00:38:37.271
  • She's done a great i'm really proud of her.
  • 00:38:37.271 --> 00:38:39.140
  • She really has.
  • 00:38:39.140 --> 00:38:40.841
  • Then there was this human side that was
  • 00:38:40.941 --> 00:38:46.180
  • Really funny to see.
  • 00:38:46.180 --> 00:38:47.415
  • One day i was having lunch with james and shirley, and
  • 00:38:47.415 --> 00:38:51.018
  • Then his son, and his daughter, danae, and his son,
  • 00:38:51.018 --> 00:38:55.456
  • Ryan. and so ryan knew that i liked the beatles.
  • 00:38:55.456 --> 00:38:57.691
  • And he said, greg, talk to dad about the beatles.
  • 00:38:57.691 --> 00:39:00.394
  • Why would i talk to your dad about the beatles?
  • 00:39:00.394 --> 00:39:02.196
  • He goes, oh, dad's a big beatles fan.
  • 00:39:02.196 --> 00:39:04.532
  • I said, really?
  • 00:39:04.532 --> 00:39:05.766
  • So doctor dobson, what are your favorite beatles songs?
  • 00:39:05.766 --> 00:39:08.402
  • And he said, oh, i like eleanor rigby and yesterday.
  • 00:39:08.402 --> 00:39:11.639
  • Oh, that's great.
  • 00:39:11.639 --> 00:39:12.573
  • And then he asked me this question.
  • 00:39:12.573 --> 00:39:14.341
  • Either john lennon wrote a song with the beatles for a
  • 00:39:14.442 --> 00:39:17.645
  • Record called sgt. pepper's
  • 00:39:17.645 --> 00:39:18.746
  • Lonely hearts club band called lucy in the sky
  • 00:39:18.746 --> 00:39:20.948
  • With diamonds.
  • 00:39:20.948 --> 00:39:22.082
  • And so doctor dobson asked me, do you think that
  • 00:39:22.082 --> 00:39:25.019
  • Song was about lsd?
  • 00:39:25.019 --> 00:39:27.054
  • Well, the story i heard, and i don't know the answer, but the
  • 00:39:27.154 --> 00:39:30.658
  • Story john lennon told was that his son julian came home from
  • 00:39:30.658 --> 00:39:34.695
  • School with a drawing of little diamonds in the sky and a girl.
  • 00:39:34.695 --> 00:39:40.401
  • And john said, what is that?
  • 00:39:40.401 --> 00:39:41.569
  • And he said, it's lucy in the sky with diamonds.
  • 00:39:41.569 --> 00:39:43.938
  • Lucy was a schoolmate.
  • 00:39:43.938 --> 00:39:45.706
  • What the truth is, who knows?
  • 00:39:45.706 --> 00:39:47.641
  • Really, who cares?
  • 00:39:47.641 --> 00:39:48.776
  • But it was just surreal to have this conversation
  • 00:39:48.776 --> 00:39:52.413
  • With the legendary james dobson-- random
  • 00:39:52.413 --> 00:39:54.815
  • Talking about beatle lyrics.
  • 00:39:54.815 --> 00:39:56.550
  • What is your favorite kind of music?
  • 00:39:56.650 --> 00:40:00.621
  • You don't really want me to answer that, do you?
  • 00:40:01.689 --> 00:40:03.924
  • I really want you to answer it.
  • 00:40:03.924 --> 00:40:06.460
  • I'm gonna disillusion everybody here.
  • 00:40:06.560 --> 00:40:09.029
  • Or you'll be happy to hear it.
  • 00:40:09.029 --> 00:40:10.664
  • I'm a beatles fan.
  • 00:40:11.165 --> 00:40:12.700
  • I like that.
  • 00:40:12.700 --> 00:40:16.036
  • I you wonder what
  • 00:40:16.036 --> 00:40:17.805
  • The beatles would have said?
  • 00:40:17.805 --> 00:40:19.206
  • Oh, hear that doctor dobson likes to listen to our music,
  • 00:40:19.206 --> 00:40:22.076
  • You know.
  • 00:40:22.076 --> 00:40:22.676
  • It's lovely, isn't it?
  • 00:40:22.676 --> 00:40:24.078
  • Lovely.
  • 00:40:24.078 --> 00:40:26.046
  • So what's your-- okay.
  • 00:40:26.647 --> 00:40:28.015
  • So you like beatles music.
  • 00:40:28.015 --> 00:40:29.550
  • What's your favorite song?
  • 00:40:29.650 --> 00:40:31.752
  • Well, it would come out of that.
  • 00:40:32.553 --> 00:40:34.154
  • Yeah. obviously, i think yesterday, probably.
  • 00:40:34.154 --> 00:40:37.291
  • The song yesterday or eleanor rigby, or
  • 00:40:37.291 --> 00:40:41.862
  • All of those classics.
  • 00:40:42.429 --> 00:40:44.031
  • I didn't like it when they got crazy, but i liked those.
  • 00:40:44.031 --> 00:40:47.134
  • I went to a concert by arthur fiedler and boston pops.
  • 00:40:47.134 --> 00:40:52.840
  • This was from american academy of pediatrics in boston.
  • 00:40:52.940 --> 00:40:57.678
  • The first half of the
  • 00:40:58.279 --> 00:40:59.914
  • Program was brahms, beethoven, and mozart.
  • 00:40:59.914 --> 00:41:04.051
  • At intermission, arthur fiedler came out.
  • 00:41:04.051 --> 00:41:08.155
  • Arthur fiedler, yeah.
  • 00:41:08.155 --> 00:41:08.822
  • And he said,
  • 00:41:08.822 --> 00:41:10.925
  • You're probably not gonna agree with this, but the music you're
  • 00:41:12.259 --> 00:41:15.896
  • About to hear now from the beatles rank with
  • 00:41:15.896 --> 00:41:20.768
  • Those other composers.
  • 00:41:20.768 --> 00:41:23.070
  • And took everybody's breath away.
  • 00:41:23.070 --> 00:41:27.808
  • It was not about the words or lyrics, it was about the music.
  • 00:41:27.908 --> 00:41:32.279
  • And he said that it is really classic and unlike anything
  • 00:41:32.279 --> 00:41:38.652
  • Else anybody has done.
  • 00:41:38.652 --> 00:41:40.054
  • Looking back over your life, what has been the greatest
  • 00:41:40.054 --> 00:41:43.657
  • Regret of your life?
  • 00:41:43.657 --> 00:41:45.793
  • There've been there've been some significant ones.
  • 00:41:46.894 --> 00:41:49.897
  • Agreed to come here today.
  • 00:41:49.897 --> 00:41:51.432
  • Yeah. well, that's i gave that a lot of thought.
  • 00:41:51.432 --> 00:41:56.837
  • No. i made a huge mistake one time.
  • 00:41:57.638 --> 00:42:00.274
  • I was at children's hospital and a young woman wanted
  • 00:42:00.274 --> 00:42:03.444
  • To see me professionally and she came in.
  • 00:42:03.444 --> 00:42:05.813
  • And she had a two year old who had been born out of wedlock.
  • 00:42:05.913 --> 00:42:10.284
  • She was struggling as a single
  • 00:42:10.284 --> 00:42:11.685
  • Mother and she was pregnant again.
  • 00:42:11.685 --> 00:42:15.589
  • And, she came to tell me that she was gonna
  • 00:42:15.689 --> 00:42:20.027
  • Abort the baby. and,
  • 00:42:20.027 --> 00:42:20.761
  • I did everything i could to talk her out of that.
  • 00:42:21.762 --> 00:42:25.532
  • That gave the whole pro life message.
  • 00:42:25.532 --> 00:42:28.969
  • And she said, no.
  • 00:42:29.069 --> 00:42:31.071
  • I've already got one child i can't take care of,
  • 00:42:31.071 --> 00:42:34.408
  • And i gonna have another.
  • 00:42:34.408 --> 00:42:35.709
  • And i and so then she told me, in fact, i have an
  • 00:42:35.809 --> 00:42:40.014
  • Appointment at, at one of the hospitals in town.
  • 00:42:40.014 --> 00:42:45.019
  • Yeah. will you take me there?
  • 00:42:45.019 --> 00:42:47.187
  • And i drove her there and let her out.
  • 00:42:47.187 --> 00:42:51.291
  • And i've had that on my conscience ever since.
  • 00:42:51.392 --> 00:42:54.662
  • I think that would rank very high.
  • 00:42:54.762 --> 00:42:57.531
  • I'm disappointed with myself.
  • 00:42:57.531 --> 00:42:59.800
  • You're very passionate about
  • 00:42:59.900 --> 00:43:01.702
  • The pro life position, about the sanctity of life, about
  • 00:43:02.903 --> 00:43:06.140
  • Protecting the lives of
  • 00:43:06.140 --> 00:43:07.441
  • Innocent children still in the womb.
  • 00:43:07.441 --> 00:43:10.277
  • I mean, i was conceived out of wedlock.
  • 00:43:10.277 --> 00:43:12.146
  • I could have been an abortion statistic.
  • 00:43:12.146 --> 00:43:14.682
  • Thankfully, my mom carried me to term.
  • 00:43:14.782 --> 00:43:17.184
  • And really, there's no illegitimate children.
  • 00:43:17.284 --> 00:43:19.520
  • Maybe illegitimate parents, but every child is legitimate in
  • 00:43:19.520 --> 00:43:23.323
  • The eyes of god and god loves them and has a plan
  • 00:43:23.323 --> 00:43:25.926
  • For their life, doesn't he?
  • 00:43:25.926 --> 00:43:27.327
  • Yeah. absolutely.
  • 00:43:27.327 --> 00:43:29.096
  • A couple came to see me because the wife had abdominal
  • 00:43:30.264 --> 00:43:36.537
  • Problems and they didn't know what was wrong with her and
  • 00:43:36.537 --> 00:43:40.274
  • They did x-rays on her.
  • 00:43:40.274 --> 00:43:42.643
  • They wouldn't do that today.
  • 00:43:42.643 --> 00:43:44.178
  • They would do mri's or cat scans, but they did the x rays
  • 00:43:44.178 --> 00:43:49.383
  • And found out she was pregnant.
  • 00:43:49.383 --> 00:43:51.018
  • And they told her, you must abort because this child could
  • 00:43:51.018 --> 00:43:55.889
  • Be mentally disabled, could be blind, could be deaf, could be
  • 00:43:55.889 --> 00:43:59.560
  • Distorted in many ways.
  • 00:43:59.560 --> 00:44:01.395
  • You can't allow that baby to be born.
  • 00:44:01.395 --> 00:44:03.664
  • So they came to see me.
  • 00:44:03.664 --> 00:44:04.765
  • They said, what would you do?
  • 00:44:04.765 --> 00:44:09.503
  • I said, this is obviously not
  • 00:44:10.270 --> 00:44:13.207
  • An easy decision for you to make.
  • 00:44:13.207 --> 00:44:17.177
  • And it wouldn't be for me, but i would let the baby live
  • 00:44:17.277 --> 00:44:22.516
  • And leave it up to god.
  • 00:44:22.516 --> 00:44:24.084
  • And the consequences may be everything they say.
  • 00:44:24.184 --> 00:44:27.321
  • I'm not contradicting that.
  • 00:44:27.321 --> 00:44:30.290
  • And they let that baby live.
  • 00:44:30.390 --> 00:44:32.059
  • And the most beautiful baby girl was born.
  • 00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:36.764
  • She's now thirty four years old yes.
  • 00:44:36.764 --> 00:44:38.799
  • And has been a blessing to everybody.
  • 00:44:38.799 --> 00:44:41.435
  • I agree.
  • 00:44:41.435 --> 00:44:45.639
  • Well, you know, we're really at the end of our time,
  • 00:44:46.774 --> 00:44:49.409
  • So i'm gonna ask you just a few little quick questions.
  • 00:44:49.409 --> 00:44:52.146
  • Maybe you could give me short answers, if you wouldn't mind.
  • 00:44:52.146 --> 00:44:54.815
  • You say quick or trick?
  • 00:44:54.815 --> 00:44:56.817
  • Maybe a little of both.
  • 00:44:56.817 --> 00:45:00.554
  • If you were gonna give one last talk, you knew that you could
  • 00:45:00.654 --> 00:45:03.690
  • Only speak one last time, what would you talk about?
  • 00:45:03.690 --> 00:45:07.294
  • I would talk about the theme of that book, which is winning
  • 00:45:07.394 --> 00:45:10.430
  • Your children to christ.
  • 00:45:10.430 --> 00:45:11.765
  • I've written thirty five books or so, and all of them point
  • 00:45:11.765 --> 00:45:16.136
  • Toward this one way or the other.
  • 00:45:16.136 --> 00:45:18.405
  • That's the capstone of my professional life.
  • 00:45:18.405 --> 00:45:22.309
  • If you could ask god one question, what would it be?
  • 00:45:22.409 --> 00:45:26.313
  • Why?
  • 00:45:26.580 --> 00:45:28.582
  • Why what?
  • 00:45:28.916 --> 00:45:29.416
  • Yeah. why indeed?
  • 00:45:29.516 --> 00:45:31.518
  • There's so many questions you can't answer.
  • 00:45:31.518 --> 00:45:33.887
  • That's right.
  • 00:45:33.887 --> 00:45:34.421
  • Jesus asked it.
  • 00:45:34.421 --> 00:45:35.389
  • Yeah. jesus said.
  • 00:45:35.389 --> 00:45:36.690
  • That ought to bring comfort to those who say, why would you
  • 00:45:36.690 --> 00:45:39.393
  • Do this to me? jesus asked the same question.
  • 00:45:39.393 --> 00:45:42.563
  • My god my god, why have you forsaken? yeah.
  • 00:45:42.563 --> 00:45:44.898
  • And why it is such a relevant question.
  • 00:45:44.898 --> 00:45:49.136
  • Right. because god never answers it.
  • 00:45:49.136 --> 00:45:51.905
  • Right. he will not be accountable to man.
  • 00:45:51.905 --> 00:45:54.808
  • Years ago, i had the opportunity to have lunch with
  • 00:45:54.808 --> 00:45:57.578
  • Billy graham and i asked billy the question, billy, if an
  • 00:45:57.578 --> 00:46:01.782
  • Older billy could speak to a younger billy, what advice
  • 00:46:01.782 --> 00:46:04.518
  • Would you give yourself?
  • 00:46:04.518 --> 00:46:05.786
  • And billy said, i would tell myself to preach more on the
  • 00:46:05.786 --> 00:46:08.789
  • Cross than the blood of christ
  • 00:46:08.789 --> 00:46:10.157
  • Because that's what the power is.
  • 00:46:10.157 --> 00:46:11.925
  • I posed the same question to pastor chuck smith who's now in
  • 00:46:12.025 --> 00:46:15.395
  • Heaven and i said, if an older chuck could speak to a younger
  • 00:46:15.395 --> 00:46:18.765
  • Chuck, what would he say to, what would you say to yourself?
  • 00:46:18.765 --> 00:46:22.569
  • And he said, i would tell the younger chuck hold the course.
  • 00:46:22.569 --> 00:46:26.039
  • What would an older james dobson say to that young
  • 00:46:26.139 --> 00:46:30.510
  • Boy that we saw there in that little car and then
  • 00:46:30.510 --> 00:46:34.081
  • As you got older, what did what would you say?
  • 00:46:34.081 --> 00:46:35.649
  • Here's what i've learned in life.
  • 00:46:35.649 --> 00:46:36.950
  • Here's what you need to know.
  • 00:46:36.950 --> 00:46:39.519
  • Two words.
  • 00:46:39.887 --> 00:46:40.687
  • Yep. finish strong.
  • 00:46:40.687 --> 00:46:42.789
  • I see--
  • 00:46:42.789 --> 00:46:44.424
  • [applause]
  • 00:46:44.424 --> 00:46:50.397
  • We see the patriarchs of the bible, samson, solomon--
  • 00:46:50.397 --> 00:46:55.435
  • Yes.
  • 00:46:55.535 --> 00:46:56.503
  • David, so many of them, hezekiah-- yeah.
  • 00:46:56.503 --> 00:47:00.274
  • Who lived a godly life
  • 00:47:00.274 --> 00:47:02.409
  • Yeah. it's true.
  • 00:47:02.409 --> 00:47:03.143
  • And then fell.
  • 00:47:03.143 --> 00:47:04.278
  • That's right.
  • 00:47:04.278 --> 00:47:05.279
  • And i realized it could still happen to me.
  • 00:47:05.279 --> 00:47:09.416
  • Finish strong.
  • 00:47:09.416 --> 00:47:10.517
  • Yes. it's so true.
  • 00:47:11.018 --> 00:47:18.392
  • And doctor dobson, you've been a a great
  • 00:47:19.326 --> 00:47:22.396
  • Representative of us and a great example to us, and we
  • 00:47:22.396 --> 00:47:26.934
  • Wanna thank you for your faithfulness to the lord, your
  • 00:47:26.934 --> 00:47:29.536
  • Personal integrity, your love for your wife, for your
  • 00:47:29.536 --> 00:47:32.039
  • Children, and the stand you've made in our culture.
  • 00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:35.776
  • You're one of our heroes, and so we want you to know that
  • 00:47:35.776 --> 00:47:38.645
  • We love you and appreciate you.
  • 00:47:38.645 --> 00:47:46.687
  • His story started with a prophetic word from his dad.
  • 00:47:47.788 --> 00:47:51.158
  • My dad's story started with a kind of a prophetic word
  • 00:47:51.158 --> 00:47:54.261
  • From his grandma.
  • 00:47:54.261 --> 00:47:55.529
  • Do you have any kind of a thing in your life back that
  • 00:47:55.529 --> 00:48:00.033
  • Kind of one of those kind of unique moments?
  • 00:48:00.033 --> 00:48:01.668
  • Well, if you saw the jesus revolution film, it's actually
  • 00:48:01.768 --> 00:48:05.639
  • Presented in the film pretty accurately.
  • 00:48:05.639 --> 00:48:08.976
  • So what happened was i was praying with lonnie frisbee,
  • 00:48:09.076 --> 00:48:13.413
  • Who is the man that was preaching when i came to
  • 00:48:13.413 --> 00:48:15.315
  • Christ, a very charismatic
  • 00:48:15.315 --> 00:48:16.984
  • Evangelist. and so he we were praying for someone.
  • 00:48:18.018 --> 00:48:21.888
  • I was not in ministry.
  • 00:48:21.888 --> 00:48:23.790
  • I think all i'd done at that point was drawn this little
  • 00:48:23.890 --> 00:48:26.326
  • Cartoon track called living water.
  • 00:48:26.326 --> 00:48:28.161
  • I may not even have done that yet.
  • 00:48:28.161 --> 00:48:30.330
  • I was just hanging around with lonnie, almost like an
  • 00:48:30.330 --> 00:48:33.900
  • Assistant or, you know, whatever you wanna call it,
  • 00:48:33.900 --> 00:48:36.937
  • But no real role.
  • 00:48:36.937 --> 00:48:38.305
  • And he's praying for someone, and i'm praying with him
  • 00:48:38.305 --> 00:48:41.775
  • For this person.
  • 00:48:41.775 --> 00:48:43.076
  • And he turns to me, and he says, greg, the lord is showing
  • 00:48:43.076 --> 00:48:46.079
  • Me that you're gonna have a ministry where you will preach
  • 00:48:46.079 --> 00:48:49.683
  • To millions of people.
  • 00:48:49.683 --> 00:48:51.184
  • Well, i'd never preached a single sermon.
  • 00:48:51.184 --> 00:48:53.520
  • My goodness.
  • 00:48:53.520 --> 00:48:54.454
  • I'd never done anything of the kind.
  • 00:48:54.554 --> 00:48:56.790
  • I never aspired to or myself in ministry.
  • 00:48:56.790 --> 00:49:00.761
  • I just was a christian, and i
  • 00:49:00.761 --> 00:49:02.562
  • Was wanting to grow spiritually.
  • 00:49:02.562 --> 00:49:05.065
  • And he was very clear about this prophecy, and, of course,
  • 00:49:05.165 --> 00:49:07.801
  • I walked away thinking, what does that even mean?
  • 00:49:07.801 --> 00:49:10.203
  • Well, you know, it ended up coming true.
  • 00:49:10.303 --> 00:49:12.773
  • And, you know, thanks to a platform like being on tbn
  • 00:49:12.773 --> 00:49:17.144
  • Right now, you know, we've been able to bring the
  • 00:49:17.144 --> 00:49:20.280
  • Gospel to a lot of people.
  • 00:49:20.280 --> 00:49:20.947
  • So that was yes.
  • 00:49:20.947 --> 00:49:22.783
  • I believe a word from the lord that came true.
  • 00:49:22.783 --> 00:49:25.285
  • How can we know if a word is really from the lord?
  • 00:49:25.285 --> 00:49:28.055
  • Well, i guess the ultimate way is, does it happen?
  • 00:49:28.155 --> 00:49:31.158
  • You know, people say they're prophets.
  • 00:49:31.158 --> 00:49:33.160
  • A lot of people say that today.
  • 00:49:33.160 --> 00:49:34.828
  • I'm always a bit suspicious, to
  • 00:49:34.928 --> 00:49:36.696
  • Be honest, when they'd say that.
  • 00:49:36.696 --> 00:49:38.799
  • But, but i do believe god can bring us special words,
  • 00:49:38.899 --> 00:49:43.036
  • And that certainly was a special word to me.
  • 00:49:43.036 --> 00:49:45.272
  • And clearly, it was a word from the lord from doctor dobson's
  • 00:49:45.272 --> 00:49:48.442
  • Father as well to him.
  • 00:49:48.442 --> 00:49:49.643
  • My dad used to say that he had the gift of suspicion.
  • 00:49:49.643 --> 00:49:53.313
  • Spiritual gift.
  • 00:49:53.313 --> 00:49:54.815
  • So that word of the lord from lonnie to you--
  • 00:49:54.815 --> 00:49:59.786
  • Yeah.
  • 00:49:59.886 --> 00:50:00.487
  • Is alive right now.
  • 00:50:00.487 --> 00:50:02.689
  • You are now broadcasting by satellite and internet and
  • 00:50:02.789 --> 00:50:07.394
  • Lots of different ways, to pretty much everywhere
  • 00:50:07.394 --> 00:50:11.531
  • There's electricity in the world.
  • 00:50:11.531 --> 00:50:12.666
  • And,
  • 00:50:12.666 --> 00:50:14.334
  • And i'd love for you to kinda take what we've experienced
  • 00:50:14.434 --> 00:50:18.438
  • Today, the life and legacy of doctor dobson and his
  • 00:50:18.438 --> 00:50:22.275
  • Beautiful wife shirley.
  • 00:50:22.275 --> 00:50:24.077
  • This how god touches little moments in our lives.
  • 00:50:24.177 --> 00:50:28.315
  • Yeah. and, and, there are people, watching right now,
  • 00:50:28.315 --> 00:50:32.953
  • Waiting for that prophetic word to come true right now.
  • 00:50:32.953 --> 00:50:35.889
  • Amen. well, you know, it's i love the fact that
  • 00:50:35.889 --> 00:50:40.060
  • Jim dobson became a christian at age four.
  • 00:50:40.060 --> 00:50:43.163
  • Mhmm. you're not too young to come to christ.
  • 00:50:43.163 --> 00:50:46.032
  • Maybe i'm talking to a kid right now.
  • 00:50:46.032 --> 00:50:48.401
  • Mhmm. and we always think, oh, the kids don't understand.
  • 00:50:48.401 --> 00:50:51.638
  • Well, jesus said unless you become like a little child,
  • 00:50:51.638 --> 00:50:54.407
  • You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
  • 00:50:54.407 --> 00:50:56.776
  • I think kids understand a lot more than we think they do.
  • 00:50:56.776 --> 00:51:00.313
  • And if you understand anything about what i've said, i want
  • 00:51:00.413 --> 00:51:03.283
  • You to know that you can ask jesus into your life.
  • 00:51:03.283 --> 00:51:06.419
  • But you might be 83. mhmm.
  • 00:51:06.520 --> 00:51:09.055
  • And you say, well, it's too late for me.
  • 00:51:09.055 --> 00:51:11.158
  • I'm too old.
  • 00:51:11.158 --> 00:51:12.425
  • You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
  • 00:51:12.526 --> 00:51:14.561
  • Well, these aren't tricks, and you're not an old dog.
  • 00:51:14.561 --> 00:51:17.063
  • God can change anyone, no matter how young, no matter
  • 00:51:17.063 --> 00:51:20.567
  • How old, no matter how moral or immoral.
  • 00:51:20.567 --> 00:51:24.204
  • Everybody is a sinner and everybody needs jesus.
  • 00:51:24.204 --> 00:51:27.807
  • And i would like to just lead you in a prayer to accept
  • 00:51:27.908 --> 00:51:31.077
  • Christ into your life.
  • 00:51:31.077 --> 00:51:32.445
  • If you would like to have your sin forgiven, if you would like
  • 00:51:32.445 --> 00:51:36.049
  • To know, excuse me, that when you die, you will go to heaven.
  • 00:51:36.049 --> 00:51:40.187
  • This happens by asking christ to come into your life.
  • 00:51:40.287 --> 00:51:43.023
  • The bible says, for as many as received him, he gave them
  • 00:51:43.023 --> 00:51:46.760
  • The power to become sons of god.
  • 00:51:46.760 --> 00:51:48.528
  • How do you receive him?
  • 00:51:48.528 --> 00:51:49.763
  • Through prayer.
  • 00:51:49.763 --> 00:51:50.664
  • So i'm gonna pray a prayer.
  • 00:51:50.764 --> 00:51:52.566
  • And if you want christ to come into your life, if you want to
  • 00:51:52.666 --> 00:51:56.903
  • Know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this
  • 00:51:56.903 --> 00:52:00.140
  • Prayer with me right now.
  • 00:52:00.140 --> 00:52:01.675
  • Just pray this after me.
  • 00:52:01.675 --> 00:52:02.909
  • Lord jesus.
  • 00:52:03.009 --> 00:52:03.977
  • Lord jesus.
  • 00:52:04.077 --> 00:52:04.844
  • I know i'm a sinner. i know--
  • 00:52:04.844 --> 00:52:06.646
  • But i know you're the savior--
  • 00:52:06.646 --> 00:52:08.582
  • Yes.
  • 00:52:08.582 --> 00:52:09.115
  • Who died on the
  • 00:52:09.115 --> 00:52:09.783
  • Cross for my sin.
  • 00:52:09.783 --> 00:52:11.184
  • And rose again from the dead. i turn
  • 00:52:11.184 --> 00:52:15.288
  • From my now
  • 00:52:15.288 --> 00:52:16.556
  • And i choose to follow you
  • 00:52:16.556 --> 00:52:19.259
  • From this moment forward.
  • 00:52:19.259 --> 00:52:21.795
  • Thank you for hearing this prayer and
  • 00:52:21.895 --> 00:52:24.264
  • Answering this prayer.
  • 00:52:24.264 --> 00:52:25.265
  • In jesus' name i pray--
  • 00:52:25.265 --> 00:52:27.767
  • Jesus name i pray--
  • 00:52:27.767 --> 00:52:28.568
  • Amen. amen.
  • 00:52:28.568 --> 00:52:29.769
  • Amen. well, if you prayed that prayer a minute on the
  • 00:52:29.769 --> 00:52:33.139
  • Authority of god's word, i wanna say to you, welcome
  • 00:52:33.139 --> 00:52:37.010
  • To the family of god.
  • 00:52:37.010 --> 00:52:38.211
  • Christ has just come to live in your heart and life.
  • 00:52:38.211 --> 00:52:42.949
  • Beautiful way to extend the legacy of doctor james dobson,
  • 00:52:44.184 --> 00:52:47.454
  • To break down this kind of roving report that you did
  • 00:52:47.454 --> 00:52:51.324
  • Sitting with him, bringing it to us, breaking it down, and,
  • 00:52:51.324 --> 00:52:56.296
  • We've been doing that for a long time together.
  • 00:52:56.396 --> 00:52:58.531
  • This is a--
  • 00:52:58.531 --> 00:52:59.366
  • Well, thank you for the opportunity.
  • 00:52:59.466 --> 00:53:00.934
  • I have to just give special acknowledgment to your
  • 00:53:00.934 --> 00:53:04.638
  • Incredible team here at tbn and the wonderful editing they've
  • 00:53:04.638 --> 00:53:08.441
  • Done in telling the backstory of these people and what we
  • 00:53:08.441 --> 00:53:11.811
  • Call b roll, the, you know,
  • 00:53:11.811 --> 00:53:13.313
  • Kind of the pictures and images.
  • 00:53:13.313 --> 00:53:15.548
  • And they've it's made them very interesting to watch,
  • 00:53:15.649 --> 00:53:19.819
  • And you guys have done a great job on it.
  • 00:53:19.819 --> 00:53:22.522
  • And thank you for the opportunity, giving me the
  • 00:53:22.522 --> 00:53:25.158
  • Platform to tell the stories of some pretty amazing people
  • 00:53:25.158 --> 00:53:29.396
  • To a larger audience.
  • 00:53:29.396 --> 00:53:30.664
  • I love that everybody's in their lane doing their thing.
  • 00:53:30.664 --> 00:53:33.800
  • Thank you for your gift.
  • 00:53:33.900 --> 00:53:35.568
  • The evangelists and the storytellers.
  • 00:53:35.568 --> 00:53:37.137
  • It's a good combination.
  • 00:53:37.137 --> 00:53:38.305
  • Thank you, pastor.
  • 00:53:38.305 --> 00:53:39.572
  • ♪♪
  • 00:53:39.572 --> 00:53:39.572