BRO. MICKEY FRIEND

The verse of scripture that I am going to read is from Philippians chapter three, and its a very appropriate verse of scripture for this night. Philippians chapter three beginning with verse ten. And for our
Graduates would you read aloud with me. Lets read, “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. Being made conformable unto His death, if by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended, of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do.” Everybody say do. There’s just one thing that I’m going to do Paul says, Lets continue reading. “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth for those things which are before. I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in (Holy Bible, K.J.V.)

Christ Jesus. “I am going to Preach to you tonight, Pam, Dave, and Arlie, “Separation by Desperation.”

The only thing that will make these graduates successful in this world, what will separate them from it is their desire. HOW much do you want it? How desperate do you get when you set your mind and when you
decide that is what I should do. It’s going to separate you. Separation by Desperation.

At my graduation, the Men wore red. Our school colors were red and white. The men had on the red and the women had on the white. And it rained horribly on us, and it faded my red onto my skin. So I
remember my graduation, I didn’t even get a diploma. They lust picked them up, ran into the school, and said pick them up in the morning. So, that was the extent of my graduation.

I’ve often wondered as a minister, this is my job, this is my vocation, this is what I have chosen to be my walk in life. I’ve often wondered, what makes those who we hear of so often so successful? Now hear me out, I don’t agree with some of the beliefs of Billy Graham, and I don’t agree with some of the beliefs of Jimmy Swaggert. We disagree on certain scriptures. I’m sure that if we sat down, there are certain things that you and I might not agree on. I agree with the fact that they are loving the Lord. They are trying to find the Lord. I believe that God is trying to speak to those men as much as he is trying to speak to me. I don’t agree with some of their philosophy, but I often wonder what makes some so successful, and others never, not fame, I’m not looking for fame, but what is it that separates the men in our movement. The great men that maybe some of you have heard of. Bro. Urshan, some of our great speakers, Bro. Tenney. What separates those men from the rest of us. What, I’m going to tell you tonight. It’s not some God given talent, It’s not excessive brains, It’s not that they’ve got some sixth sense, that takes them beyond the norm.
It’s the fact that they desire it more, they discipline themselves, they gird their mind, and they don’t allow themselves to just go in every direction. They are capable of concentrating on what they want from the Lord, and what they want in life. There are many things that call to our hearts that would draw our mind and would draw our desires, and take up our time. You have to become desperate. There has to be singleness of eye. Young people today need to have faith that the world that they are facing is falling apart.

I believe that we are on the brink of Armageddon, we are coming to nuclear war. We have got all kinds of unrest all around us, and in this nation. The only thing that will save us and keep us is with good young people going into the world with faith in God. We need young people that say that I’m desperate enough not to let circumstances get me down. What is going to separate people from the norm? It’s going to
be desperation. In this country in which we live, a world of ease, it is hard to relate to the word desperation.

Probably the most desperate that I have ever been in my life, two times, of real desperation. Once, when I skipped school, I went down to the gravel pit about a half of mile from my house. I was going to go fishing. It was in the Spring and I had decided that rather than walk all the way around the pit, I was going to swim across it. It was a gravel pit, and you know how people did them things out and then they fill up with water. Well, it was about 90 feet deep in the middle. So, I took my shoes off, and I took my shirt off, and I tied them around my shoulders. I had blue jeans on, and I thought, now I’II swim across this gravel pit. But I really didn’t think about the fact that I had not been swimming all winter, and I wasn’t in all that good of shape, not to mention the fact that it was almost a half a mile across. It didn’t scare me, I had done it before, but not with shoes tied around my neck. I can remember getting in the middle of the pit and I was
done. I was worn out. My arms felt like led, I was breathing hard, I was in that cool water and my face was flushed from working so hard. I looked and I though, I’m in the middle, I’m not going to make it. So, I lay on my back and slowly tried working to the other side. I thought, I’m going to drown. My feet kept going down, and you know that if you don’t keep working, your feet go down then you go down. My jeans
were heavy, and my shoulders were heavy, I thought, I’m going to die. Alone, nobody know where I am. God, I skipped school, now I’m in real trouble. I can remember the feeling that came over me, DESPERATION!

A couple of years ago, during one of the coldest winters in history. Do you remember, it must have reached here? I was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, preaching a Revival. It was 90 below zero wind chill. It had snowed for a few days and then the temperature went way down. It was right around the Super Bowl time, because I remember how bad cold it was the day that they played.

My family and I were coming home and the road was slick. I was going about 5 miles per hour. As I turned, the car just kept going, and the wind was blowing and the car just rested up against a fence post, didn’t dent the car or anything. I could not move the car. We were about a half of mile from the house. It was an old farm house, way down the lane, no houses around it” We were alone, in the car, and in this blizzard. All I knew is that I had to get my children into that house. I had to get my children a half of a mile to that house through knee deep snow. I was dressed in a suit, I had an over coat, but didn’t have any over shoes, hat, or gloves. So I gathered 45-50 pounds of children up into my arms, and I told my wife, we have got to go to the house. So we took off running for the house. The wind was blowing directly into my face, and it began to freeze. My hands as I held the children began to freeze, and my wife could not keep up. I went ahead trying to break through the snow. I’II never forget the desperation that came over me, when I stopped half way. My lungs hurt breathing that cold air. I thought I was going to die. I was desperate. I prayed, God, I can’t stop here with these babies. Their little hands would come out, they were talking to me from underneath the blankets. “What are we doing daddy?” Please, don’t make daddy talk, please don’t move, don’t put your hands out. I knew that it wouldn’t take long for them to get frostbite. So, I wrapped them up and kept running. I stopped about a hundred yards ahead, and I was in snow up to my thigh. I could hardly move. I was so cold. It hurt so bad, and I looked at the house and I said, God, I can’t stop, not for me, but for these babies and my wife. She grabbed ahold of me, and I said I’II drag you. I kept running, and it took 45 minutes for us to reach the house. By the time we got there, the tears that I had gotten from the cold had frozen to my face. My lips were frozen, my nose was frozen. We got to the house and we fell
on the floor. My wife began to cry. I was desperate. There was something that came over me, I can’t let my children be hurt.

The problem with life is, things come so easy, but we don’t have anything where we can say, this is what I stand for. There’s a cause for me to adhere to. I want you to know that in this generation, if you don’t have anything that’s worth dying for, than you really don’t have anything that’s worth dying for. I’m going to tell you something, It’s time for the church to say, God, let me separate myself from everybody around me, and get desperate for what is right, and for truth.

There was a man the bible says who was sick with the palsy. This man, I’m sure, was laid in his bed, alone and wanted the accompaniment of his friends. One day his friends came over to visit him and the man
said, would you please pick me up and take me to the man named Jesus. I hear that he is healing people. I know that if I can get to him I will be healed also. Well, you know they’ve helped him and have taken him
to the store before, and it had probably been a while since he had asked them to do anything for him. So, they agreed, let’s take him to Jesus. In this story we always talk about his four friends, but you know that there had to be the faith of someone, that inspired them. So, they got to the house where Jesus was. The Bible says that they could not even get to the window, the door was packed with people. People were crowded listening in through the windows, as Jesus was in the house teaching. And they got there, and looked around, and they carried him around the house. We can’t get you in there, they said. They finally turned to the man and said, sorry, we’ll have to try again later. But, here’s a man that is going to have to live with palsy. Here’s a man that’s not going to get out of bed unless he gets to Jesus. He is desperate. He says, can’t you think of something else? I know that the windows are full of people and the doors are full of people, but can’t you think of something. They said, you might as well give up. What separates people from pressing: forward, and like Paul said, “pressing toward the mark” and not giving up. What is it going to take to get these young people to live for God, now that they have found their independence, Its going to be desperation. The man looked up from his bed and said, I’II tell you what I want you to do, you take
me up on the roof. What!, what in the world are we going to do up there? He said, It’s an old tile roof like mine, we will just tare off the tiles and you can lower me down to Jesus. Are you crazy, how are we
going to get you up there. I don’t know but let’s do it, I’ve got to get to Jesus. They got up there and started to tare off the roof. Inside is Jesus, when all of a sudden a beam of light shows through. And all of a sudden a finger came through, then a hand comes through the hole, until finally they had the roof apart. They tied ropes to his bed and lowered him down in. You know what the bible says, Jesus healed him, it happened it paid off, it worked.

I’m going to tell you something about your jobs. This generation is lazy. If you go to work, don’t try to get by with everything you can get by with. Don’t try to slide your way through. You want to know how
to be successful in life, Get desperate. Determine yourself, I’m going to do this, this is what I’ve made my mind up to do. You know how you made it through school sometimes, and you say well, my parents. Many
of us were pressured by our parents. I’II be honest with you, I don’t know I had what it took to go on without the drive of my parents. I’m going to tell you something, now your going to have to get it by
yourself. The only thing that is going to make you different and special is how bad you want what you desire. That’s desperation. I’m Preaching about a concept that you cannot treat as a hear and go on
sermon. God is worth my prayers, it is worth my time.

Never let it be said that you had potential, never let it be said, he could have been. I don’t want anyone to be able to say, boy, if Mickey Friend would have done this, he could have been this, or, he had such potential. Don’t let them say that about you. I think that God is concerned about our lives, I think that we have gotten so involved in an experience at an altar, that we think maybe God isn’t concerned about our lives. I believe that these young people are in God’s plan to be successful. I believe that he wants then to be businessmen or successful in whatever they do, and be a great example for God. I believe they ought to be Presidents of banks, Presidents of corporations. They ought to be the greatest people because they are
christians. The only way that your going to make it, the only was that your going to meet you potential is when you grit your teeth and everything that pulls at you, tries to make you normal you say I’m going to go through this, I’m pressing on. That’s what’s going to make you a Christian. We need people, so many people in this great nation say that they are Christians, we need somebody to step out of this mess and show others the way. If your parents are here, I’d like to speak to the parents. Please, understand that God has given each of us our independence. There’s a difference between independence and rebellion. Don’t fight the independence God has given them and call it rebellion. There were people that wondered about me, I didn’t turn out so bad. I can remember people shaking their heads. You pray that God give them drive. I’m sick of seeing young people sitting around smoking dope, of just sitting around and drinking a Pepsi, because they’ve got no direction, or they don’t know what they want in life.

Dear God, let Christian people be the example of what we are. It’s not that we are supposed to be something here, We are not going to have the doors open and everybody in the world look in here, and see
what we are. It’s how we are out there that they are going to see. That’s what is going to make the difference. Get desperate with God and you can look the world in the face, you can look the devil in the face
and say I’m ready to tangle with you. I’m ready, I’ve made my mind up, I’II fight, I’m going to do this. I’m not going to let my family go to pieces. I’m not going to let the world cram me into a shell. I’m desperate in this way and to this way, and I’m going to do it in Jesus Name…………..Let’s Stand.