O Ship of State - H. W. Longfellow (read by S. W. Chambers)

During his last sermon as General Superintendent of  the United Pentecostal Church, Stanley W. Chambers read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "O Ship of State" to the 1977 General Conference in Indianapolis, IN. The title of the sermon was "The United Pentecost Church Must Survive the Onslaught of History."

Below is an audio link to that reading and some comments by the preacher:
http://k005.kiwi6.com/hotlink/9a78l6umu5/o_ship_of_state_henry_wadsworth_longfellow.mp3

O Ship of State

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, -are all with thee!

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Also:

http://kiwi6.com/file/9a78l6umu5

N. A. Urshan (1991) - When the Savior Reached Down for Me

I was thinking of N. A. Urshan today and the times I heard him preach (and sing with his wife) at my home church - Zion Tabernacle (Kokomo, IN) - so many years ago now that it seems life a lifetime ago.  Then I went on YouTube and found this clip from the 1991 Because of the Times conference in Alexandria, LA. 

Here's a great song and a great moment of insight in the middle of the clip by a stalwart champion of the faith.

I'm so glad, so glad, I was raised in the home of godly parents who are Christians.  I'm also glad I was raised in and Oneness Pentecostal movement (we are a movement, not a denomination), and that I know what it means to be Apostolic, but I'm at the place now where I'm simply wanting to conform, not to the image and practices of the Apostles, but to the image of Jesus Christ.

I want to be like Jesus and part of that process involves the Savior reaching way down for me, forgiving me, paying for my debt of sin through the power of His name in baptism, filling me with His Holy Spirit, and making me a son of God.

Oh, and thank you, musicmaker85, for uploading the video clip on YouTube.