FREEDOM OF PREACH FEATURING BISHOP EDDIE LEE LONG

Can the church say Amen! Amen, Reverend. We're gonna do another offering right now, we're gonna do another one in 15 minutes, then we're gonna do one more right after that. Yes. Woman you're looking so very beautiful in here today, some of you with the same thing on from the club last night. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Oh Lord Jesus I wish you'd taketh away Sister Mary's wig, oh you disrespecting the house of God with that thing, it don't even look real. Oh it's testimony time. Oh who is that, young Chris Bridges. Boy I'm glad you finally grew into them ears, go on testify. Lord, please forgive me for the mistakes I've made, And thanks for keepin' my mama safe when she wrecked my Escalade. See I can replace a Cadillac, but I can't replace my mama, I'm sorry for the hip-hop beefs, we sorry for the drama. But you gotta understand, us rappers ain't never had nothin' And one's loss is another's gain so we gotta grab somethin' Lord, got so many questions I need the answers to, And sorry for the things I've put my baby's mama through. I feel that woman are really the strongest human beings But why do you make 'em so emotional and other minor things. I guess it's your way of sayin' we gotta love 'em and gotta praise 'em, 'Cause without 'em we'd be nothin' plus our kids, they gotta raise 'em While we out and about and seein' what life has to offer, But if you offer a new life then what we need is better fathers. Either I'm smarter 'cause of my daughter or I'm just too dense, I'm 28 years old, it just now started makin' sense, And I've been... Searchin' so long, I was lost in the clouds, I'm tryin' to stay strong and make you proud. It took me some time, but now I see, (now I see,) That He resides in me. Lord, forgive me for any time a fan said I was bein' rude, I'm only human, I'm not always in the best of moods. But thanks for givin' the gift of rap to wirte my feelings down, And sorry for cursin' sometimes, but feelings make me shout 'em out. Forgive the people that wanna blame everything on rap music, If they didn't live it they can't relate or even adapt to it. Forgive those who don't think I'm great and wanna see me go, Forgive Oprah for editing most of my comments off her show. Don't get me wrong, I know some people got an image to hold, But those who criticize the youth might just be gettin' too old. We still travelin' through life findin' what's right or wrong, I know some folks may not agree or even like this song. But I'm just speakin' my truth 'cause I heard it sets you free, And my conversation's with God, even though he speaks through me. I'm smater 'cause of my daughter and I'm not too dense, I'm 28 years old, it just now started makin' sense, And I've been... Searchin' so long (I been searchin' so long), I was lost in the clouds (I admit that I been lost in them clouds), I'm tryin' to stay strong (I'm just tryin' to stay strong man) and make you proud (you know I'm gonna make you proud). It took me some time (I know life is full of contradictions), but now I see, That (I'm tryin' to become a better man) He resides in me (prayin' for redemption each and every day). Hallelujah! As the choir sings... Searchin' so long, lost in the clouds, Tryin' to stay strong and make you proud (make you proud). Took me some time, now I see (now I see), He resides in me. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest in the house tonight, came with some words of encouragement. Bishop Eddie Long. (Searchin' so long, lost in the clouds…) What you just heard is real life. It's real life for you, it's real life for many. It's about where you been, yet at the same time you, hey, you find yourself in the midst of conflict and turmoil. Yes, I'm talking to you. In the midst of conflict and turmoil, because you realize hey, it's time to change right now. And it the middle of that I want to say this: the Bible says that when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. Hey, but when I became a man, I put away those childish things. Did you not know that your environment has shaped you? Where you were born, in the projects, in the ghettos, in the up or downtown, wherever it was, the people around you, the things around you, caused you to do strange things because you were seeking to learn. But what you learned was on the streets and not in the book. God called you a prophet, when you open up your mouth, everything of God comes out. And it commands attention, it commands change. I'm talking about the power that's inside of you. And in the midst, when you're starting to understand that I caught the wrong message and now it's time I'm hearing from God. What amazing experience that you hear from God. He said it's there forth any man be in Christ. He is a new creation, old things are passed away. Somebody need to hear that and behold, everything becomes new. And when everything becomes new in you, it's time to stop the killing. I said it's time to stop the stealing. It's time to stop disrespecting our women. It's time for us to come home and raise our children. It's time for us to really mold our communities. It's time for us not to get hooked up in religion, but to get hooked up in relationship with God. And the amazing thing about it is wherever you find yourself right now, you can confess, and you can tell God“I'm sorry. I had the wrong cue, I was doing the wrong thing. I was going after things that I thought were right, but it wasn't right. And now that I'm getting it right, I'm asking you to forgive me. And I may have done the things that they say I did, but I'm not who they say I am. I am who you made me to be, and I'm changing in that, and it takes a few moments. But every time I fall down, I'll get right back up. And every time I make a wrong turn, I'll get myself back in line, because I recognize I have been called for such a time as this. “You can't resist the change, and you're not condemned by your yesterday if you can grab hold of your now and move in your destiny. Move, change, and be now. Searchin' so long, lost in the clouds, Tryin' to stay strong and make you proud (make you proud). Took me some time, now I see, He resides in me (in me, yea).