We're gonna have some fun with this. How about Jesus Is The Rock And He Rolled My Blues Away. Do you have the blues out there? Jesus will give you the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The day you go to be with the Lord. Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6.

I did nothin' but work with rock groups my whole life. I did nothin' but hang out with people connected with the rock industry, the music industry. Actually, here I am in Nashville. I got my first record deal in Nashville. I probably shouldn't name the guy's name, but he is still here. And he was the Executive Vice President, Vice President of Nashville, CBS Nashville. And I'd been in a rock group as a kid. Got a couple of hit records. And while I was in Nashville, I was nineteen, walked into CBS records here with a guitar. One of those stories, like, just kinda of, you know, you hear about 'em. Well, duh, it happens. And I walked in with a guitar and I was singin' a couple of songs that I had written. And this guy said, 'Well, how long are you in town?' I said, 'Well, I'm tourin', but, you know, what do you have in mind?' He said, 'Let's go in the studio.' So, I can't remember if I came back later that day or the next day. But I went back into the studio here in Nashville; recorded some songs; he sent them to Los Angeles to somebody out there; and they signed me to a record deal. Shortly after that, I got into, with Eric Clapton's manager and all that, Peter Brown, Robert Strigwood, those guys. Then my career just [exploded] took off. There I was on tour in front of thousands, I guess millions, of people. Buyin' mansions and doin' all that stuff. But I got so far lost. I got so bound up. You talk about havin' the blues, and Jesus rolled my blues away, I'm tellin' you, He rolled my blues away!

I called on the name of the Lord. And after I first got saved, I looked around. You say, 'Well, you're glossin' over that.' No, I called on the name of the Lord. Some men laid hands on me at my house. Carpenters came into my house; laid hands on me. I got saved; I got set free. But then came the next step. What do you get when a rock'n'roller gets saved? Saved rock'n'roller, you know. What do you get when a whatever gets saved? Saved whatever. We have to renew our minds. So, I'm lookin' around and I think, 'Wow, I got this house; I got all this stuff; I got another house; I got yahdah, yahdah, yah. I can't be givin' this up. I'm not gonna give it up.' And I tried to go my own way. But I fell flat on my face. The Scripture says, I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me. He is the author and the finisher of your faith. If you draw close to God, He'll draw close to you. And if you, really, in your heart, want to serve God; want to be with the Lord; want to be close to the Lord; if you want it badly enough, you'll get it. You can usually get what you want, if you want it badly enough. Sometimes people say, 'Well, I don't have the money to buy a brand new Cadillac or Mercedes or something.' Well, if you put everything you had into it, that you have in this earth, you could probably buy one, might scrap it up or do somethin'. How badly do you want somethin'. I knew what I wanted. After I got saved, I knew what I wanted and I knew what I didn't want. I didn't want to be bound up anymore; I didn't want to have to take pills anymore, just to get straight; I didn't want to be drunk; and I didn't want to be alone anymore. I wanted what I had found, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. And Jesus had set me free of pills; free of drugs. I got supernaturally set free of drunkenness, and hatred and all the stuff. And I didn't want to sign for that package again.

So I stood there and I said, 'You know what? I'm goin' on with the Lord.' But I looked around and I thought, 'Nobody out here looks like me in the church.' This was, like, 15 years ago [1983]. I was gettin' some major hassles. I was tryin' to go to church and guys were freakin' out, you know. And, I drove up in a Mercedes Limo, or whatever, that I owned, which ever one I was drivin' that night. But I remember I drove up in one of the cars I had, and somebody came out and said, 'Well, I never saw a Christian driving a Rolls or whatever.' I said, 'Well, now you have, dude.' Then I had made excuses. I went around to different people and I said, 'Well, I can't really hang with Christians 'cause they're like this; they're like that. And the church is like this; the church is like that. They don't understand rock'n'roll; they don't understand me; they don't understand what's goin' on in my mind. I got my own little thing with God.' If you think you've got your own little thing goin' with God and it is private; is it so private that God doesn't know anything about it? Bottom line is, I realized all my friends that had been in the past that had been on drugs; all my friends that had been just lawyers, and people that were helpin' me with business, and management, and all people that I had that were friends, I realized that they don't really have a clue in their personal lives. And I'm goin' on with God.

People have called me names. I remember one of the articles that came out, I had some old band mates say that I had burned out. They said, 'He just freaked out, burned out. He went off on some God thing.' That was fifteen years ago. Ten years since I've been witnessin' for the Lord. And I want to tell you somethin'. Some of those guys that were crackin' on me, now are dead. I'm certainly not happy about that. But it's just the truth. So we have to decide what it is we're gonna do. We have to set our mind to do it, not be double-minded. And then to walk forward.

Sister, if you're strugglin' out there, with a man that is givin' you fits; you need to get it straight between you and the Lord. And turn that man over to God. If you've been hurt, Jesus was hurt. But the Word of God says that you can get from where you are right now, point A to point B, point B to point C. Not from failure to failure; not from sin to sin; but from righteousness to righteousness; victory to victory. You can get there through the power of God. He's the author and the finisher of your faith. Do you have faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Do you have faith in the only begotten Son of the Father, Jesus? You need to pray and ask God to help you. And you don't need to be lookin' around at somebody else and sayin', 'I got to be just like this person or just like that person.' You need to find out who you are in Christ Jesus. And then you need to walk that walk. It will not be the easiest walk, but it will be the best walk.

I praise God for you. I praise God for me. I praise God for J. Brian Duncan back here that has been saved. You used to play clubs and rock'n'roll tours. And he was drunk, you know? Praise God, we've been saved; we've been set free. How about you? Some of you business people that are watchin', you tune in and you watch. I have people contact me a lot and they'll say that they watch because I was sayin' it straight forward or whatever. The only reason, if I do say it straight forward, 'cause I got the right to tell the truth, no reason to lie. I don't care how high up you are in society; how low you are; you need Jesus. Lord I plead Your blood upon each and every person who's watchin'. I pray that you will strengthen my brothers; strengthen my sisters. And that they can and will do all things, Lord, that You've called forth. Through Your strength, Lord, who strengthens my brothers and my sisters. And I pray, Lord, that Your will be done in our lives, as it is in heaven, in Jesus' name, amen. I want you to write to me out there. And, let me know what's goin' on in your life. And, we do read the letters. God bless you. I'm gonna do Lamb Of God [759k .wav file, 35 sec]. Praise God. This is on my new Celtic Glory album. Praise God. Go in peace. Praise you, Jesus. Praise you, Lord. Remember God that says, That His strength is made perfect in weakness. And remember that the Word of God says, I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me. Pray for strength. Go with God. God bless you.

My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Studio, Trinity Music City, Hendersonville Tennessee, August 27, 1998