Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon: All My Friends are Dead

Dr. Freddie Gage

FOREWORD

Dr. Gage and I grew up together on the tough, dangerous, drug soaked streets of Houston, Texas.

We have been close friends for over thirty years.

Barbara, his lovely wife, and I were in school together.

His second son is named after me.

Freddie led me to Christ.

The tragic end of each life recorded in "All My Friends Are Dead"is true.

These young men were friends of mine.

Freddie Gage has probably preached to more underworld personalities than any preacher in America.

I have seen him bail them out of jail, keep them in his home, feed, clothe, and go to court with them.

I have also seen him pray, plead, and weep with them.

I have been with him when he has walked into grief stricken homes to bear the sad news of the senseless drug death or prostitution murder or shotgun slaughter of a son or daughter.

He has stood before huge cross sections of dissipated, drug controlled audiences at funerals to make a final plea for them to give their lives to Christ.

If I had not attended a Freddie Gage Church revival on August 7,1952, it is very likely that my story might be among those recorded in "All My Friends Are Dead."

The book is powerful and honest.

It is destined to become one of the great "life changing" books of this decade.

I pray it will get into the hands of every inmate, drug user, prostitute and teenager in America.

"All My Friends Are Dead" should, by all means, be read by every parent.

The stories are history, but still being lived out daily in cities across this country.

In the concrete jungles of large metropolitan areas, in quiet, sophisticated urban communities embryos of these tragedies are alive.

The only possibility for a changed life is Jesus Christ.

Fromexperience I have learned that for a life to turn around there mustbe an internal change.

People will not change from the outside in,only from the inside out.

Values, priorities, goals, attitudes allmust change before there can be a change in lifestyle.

Only Christcan perform the miracle of internal transformation.This is the message Freddie Gage has preached in churches, foot-ball stadiums, under tents, in open air meetings, prisons, andjails.This is the message of "All My Friends Are Dead"-only Christ canchange the human heart.

Time can run out!

A person's ticket canbe punched!"

However, while there is life, there is hope of new lifein Christ.

Paul CarlinHouston, Texas DR.

BAILEY SMITH SAYSThis famous sermon has been preached by Freddie Gage over2000 times resulting in over 100,000 decisions for Christ.

Dr.Bailey Smith, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention,says, "On Sunday when Freddie Gage preached his sermon, 'AllMy Friends Are Dead', I feel we had the greatest single serviceever for First Southern.

The joy, love and conviction I felt in thatservice is the kind of spirit that will continue to make us grow inquality and in quantity.

Frieddie Gage has maintained the integrity of his calling.

Helives what he preaches.

I know of no one more sold out to bringmen to Jesus than Freddie Gage.

I am thankful always for hislife.

He has been a blessing and enrichment to my ministry:' Dr. Bailey SmithFormer Pastor, First Southern Baptist ChurchDel City, Oklahoma ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD! Have you ever stopped to count the cost that must be paid tofollow Jesus?

Have you ever stopped to count the cost if you don'tfollow Him?

The strongest conviction I have when I preach is the tragic truththat there will be some who will wait too long to commit theirlives to Christ-they will cross God's deadline.

One day theirnames will appear in the obituary column, sooner than anyoneexpected, and they will have missed heaven because they chosenot to get right with God when they had the chance.

They willhave committed the unpardonable sin.

This may be YOUR last chance to be saved-this may be yourlast word-there may be no tomorrow for you.

Yet, I believe withall my heart God has given you the opportunity to read thefollowing words.

Someone somewhere has been praying for you,and this is your chance to get right with God.

OPEN YOUR HEART Will you just take a moment before you read any further andpray with me?

God, I realize it is not by might, nor by power.

that people aremade aware of their need for You.

It is only by Your HolySpirit.

Please speak to my heart and draw me closer toChrist.

Please don't let anyone cross YOUR deadline andrefuse to commit his life to Jesus.

Please stir their hearts.Their lives can be changed by your Holy Spirit within them.Please save them in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, "He that is not with Me is againstMe."

There is no middle ground with Jesus.

You are either for Him,or you are against Him.

You either accept Him. or you reject Him.You confess Him, or you deny Him.

You take a stand for Him, oryou take a stand against Him.

There is no middle ground withChrist.

As you read this message, you will either choose to follow Jesus,or you will choose to follow the devil.

There is no other choice.

Matthew 12:30-32 says:He that is not with me is against me; and he that gatherethnot with me scattereth abroad.

Wherefore I say unto you, allmanner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; butthe blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgivenunto men.

And whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonof man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speakethagainst the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neitherin this world.

neither in the world to come.

When I was saved, Christ changed my life.

The night I was bornagain God put a burning desire in my heart to see my friends andfamily won to the Lord.

I took a Bible, and I wrote in the front of it300 names of my friends, acquaintances, family members andsome police officers I knew.

I have preached the gospel to all 300without exception.

I have either shared one-to-one in prisons, orthe streets, in psychiatric wards, at funerals, or in crusade meet-ings.

I can truthfully say there is no blood on my hands for anyperson I knew on the streets of Houston, Texas.

I tried to leadevery one of my friends and family members to Christ.

Man, when God saves you, He doesn't expect you to forsakeyour friends; He expects you to introduce them to Jesus.

One of the police officers I knew was Lieutenant BrackenridgePorter, known on the streets as "B" Porter.

He used to say I woulddie with a knife in my back or by an overdose of drugs by the age of21.

But because of Jesus, his prophecy backfired.

I had the privi-lege of leading "B" Porter to Jesus Christ, along with the othermembers of his family.

Today he is one of my closest friends-abrother in the Lord.

I have only one desire in mind with regard to this book, and thatis to awaken you to the terrible fate that awaits everyone whorejects Christ.

May this be a message of warning, urging you not totake that final step across God's deadline.

Please stop and con-sider!

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, "For what is a man profited, ifhe shall gain the whole world, and lose his own souf? or what shalla man give in exchange for his sour?"

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN Jesus said that there is a sin which is unpardonable; but what isit?

On death row at the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Texas is aman who is waiting to die.*

He had the gospel shared with himmany times.

In fact, he is listed as a member of a Baptist church inHouston.

But several years ago on Halloween night he put potas-sium cyanide in some candy and poisoned his nine year-old son.The story made the headlines of major newspapers.

All the tele-vision stations in Houston came to a stop when the news direc-tors announced, "There is a maniac loose in the city of Houston.Bring your children in off the streets."

In the wee hours of the morning the boy died from having con-vulsions.

Reportedly, his father said at the hospital, "I'll spend therest of my life tracking down the murderer."

*All stories are documented in the files of the Houston PoliceDepartment.

A few days later the entire city of Houston was shocked whenthe mayor and the chief of police called a newscast to announcethat the father had been indicted for the murder of his son.On death row the inmates call him "the candy man."

He ishated.

But "the candy man" did not commit the unpardonable sin.What he did was a horrible crime, but murder is not the unpar-donable sin.

In another part of Houston, there was a 23-year-old mannamed Johnny Garrison, who robbed a liquor store.

Johnny was afriend of mine.

Johnny went into the liquor store and when themanager who was confined to a wheelchair grabbed a pistol,Johnny shot him to death.

I visited Johnny many times on deathrow, and I preached his funeral after his life was snuffed out.

But,listen, murder is not the unpardonable sin.