Watch Will Graham explore his family history and chat with his father, Franklin Graham, about why they preach the Good News.
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gospel message is too simplistic these
there are days people that disagree when
jesus said i’m the way the truth and the
life
you either have to say he was a maniac
or except by faith that he was who he
claimed to be
you say franklin why jesus
we see churches
we see symbols of christianity
is irrelevant
the bible speaks to everything that’s
going on in our culture today
my granddaddy was bold my dad was bold
i want to be bold
some people ask is he relevant
can he change lives today
our granddad’s last wealth testament you
see a sense of the urgency of the gospel
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we don’t always know what the end is
going to be
we want to make our life count
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my name is will graham
i’m a student of history
i love searching things out for myself
as a grandson of billy graham and the
oldest son of franklin graham i realized
that i’ve been given a unique legacy in
life
[Applause]
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[Applause]
i think it’s kind of neat tonight that
we have three generations on the
platform at once
looking back over the decades i can see
god working
through both my father and grandfather
even though they came from different
generations and confronted different
challenges they both understood a
timeless truth that everyone must
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um face this is a real simple question
how do you feel about hearing your son
preach for the first time i understand
this is the first time well i’ve heard
him on tape
and the thing that thrills me is how
straight he is on the gospel
and how bold he is and how the lord has
anointed him and called it because you
see it’s christ that died on the cross
for you and for me and tonight god is
willing to forgive you if you’re willing
to come to him through jesus christ
jesus said i am the way the truth and
the life no man no man comes unto the
father but by me
growing up i learned a lot by watching
my dad preach
i learned even more by spending time
with him that came up from you
that’s the first time i’ve been on 321
in years
as you’ve gotten older you’ve
you’ve switched gears and you’ve gone
with a more sense of an urgency
well when god gives you an opportunity
in life to preach you know you just take
it of course people would rather hear
billy graham
not me
same for me
they would rather hear billy graham or
franklin graham brother than me but the
last one we did together
having this family legacy of proclaiming
the gospel is a gift
no matter what’s happening in our
culture or country
jesus is always relevant
[Applause]
america is being stripped of its
biblical heritage and god inspired
foundations
we cannot afford to be timid
we’ve got to be willing to take a stand
for jesus christ
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[Applause]
my only hope is an almighty god and his
son jesus christ
[Applause]
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my dad’s bold
and so is my granddad my granddaddy just
didn’t have the same type of opposition
because it was more of a christian
culture back then
[Applause]
today it’s a very anti-christian
environment out there
especially in the media world the news
world
tonight one of the most powerful
evangelical voices in the nation
reverend graham’s son franklin graham
president and ceo of the billy graham
evangelistic association franklin graham
when it comes to doing live television
interviews
there’s no question there are risks
content and especially controversy
is king
and you’re going into their show in
their arena with their agenda
let’s take a look at what you said i
don’t know what the interviewer’s going
to ask me rarely will they ever tell you
sometimes people hear your words and
feel like there’s a certain rhetoric to
them the christian faith is not the rule
for all that’s the point why do we need
more christians holding if anything good
comes out of the interview it’s because
of god
if the interview gets screwed up it’s
because of me
i wasn’t prepared spiritually
as i’m waiting to go on the program i’m
just praying just quietly in my heart
just lord give me the right word i’m an
evangelist
i want people to know that god loves
them that god is real
i believe that jesus christ is the son
of god that died for my sins and rose
from the grave when he died on that
cross he died for me he died for you
christian there’s power in the gospel
message and god uses that god will
forgive our sins i know you’re going to
be in church today
we as christians need to be bold and we
need to stand up and we need to be hurt
even if we’re criticized even if we’re
ridiculous it doesn’t matter when god
has called you to do something
he’ll give you the strength to do it
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in the fall of 2020
the country was hurting and people
were afraid
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tomorrow is a is a special day
we have a chance to pray
and 2016 we went to all state capitals
and we held a prayer rally on the state
capitol and people said well franklin
are we going to finish in washington
no i don’t think so
i just didn’t have a burden
but it wasn’t till the pandemic hit
and we saw the country locked down we
saw people gripped in fear
and i felt the lord just put a burden on
my heart to come to washington to hold a
prayer march
we’re at a crossroads now
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i don’t know
how many people might come i have no
clue
but our country has lost its way
jesus said i’m the way
he said i’m the truth and the life no
man comes to the father but by me
we want to lift up the name of jesus
christ as we march
how important it is to lift him up
[Applause]
you are watching an extraordinary event
in our nation’s capital prayer march
2020
everybody understands that our nation’s
in trouble
and everyone’s a little confused as to
what to do
but god
[Applause]
god can fix this
and we’re here today
to pray
and to call upon the name
of almighty god
prayer
is what can change things it’s what
moves in people’s hearts and that’s
where we’re seeing so many thousands
tens of thousands of people here
this is a time to stand up and be
counted
you don’t put your lamp under a bushel
we need to put the lamp back on the
stand so that it gives light to the
nation
coming up i said well we don’t have the
money i don’t have the ability billy
graham faces a daunting decision at the
start of his ministry
they said well that’ll never happen and
he leaves behind a powerful message at
the end through the words of his last
will and testament so many times in life
we chase after things that really don’t
matter
this is life changing
billy graham devoted his life to the
gospel let christ change you and
transform you today franklin graham
continues this mission of proclaiming
the good news through every means
possible with internet evangelism we’re
reaching nearly every country on earth
24 hours a day chaplains from our rapid
response team step into the midst of
tragedy to offer hope and we continue
sharing god’s love to those who need
jesus christ through festivals and
celebrations
join us in taking the gospel to the ends
of the earth visit billy graham.tv or
call
peace for 877-567-8989 and hope for the
future
call 877-567-8989
or go to billy graham.tv your gift can
make a difference in someone’s life
today
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knowledge of jesus christ in other areas
in los angeles
we saw over 3 000 people
in eight weeks
come
to our saving knowledge of jesus christ
all across america hundreds of people as
a grandson of billy graham
my search to find out all i can about
this legacy
has turned up a lot of interesting
stories
one in particular really caught my
attention
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the billy graham evangelistic
association might never have happened
without a risky step of faith
there’s these two men
walter bennett and fred tyner
they proposed this thing to my
grandfather
you should do this you need to be on
national
radio
they followed me everywhere i went and
called me and did everything they could
they said we know god wants you on radio
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now you gotta remember radio is king in
the 50s
television is out but no one has it as a
new technology
radio was still dominant
and i said well we don’t have the money
i don’t have the ability this is not my
field
but they kept on and on and on
finally it came down it was in portland
oregon in 1950
he was staying at the multnomah hotel
and lo and behold walter bennett and
fred diner
walk in again
and so bill talked to them
and bill said well let’s come up to my
room and we’ll pray together
and then in the prayer he said oh god
if you want us to be on radio
tonight give us 25 000 that’s what it
was going to take to sign a 13-week
contract
we claimed it by faith that if god
wanted us to do this
he would send in that much money
finally i said all right if we get 25
000 tonight we’re not going to take a
collection but if they come by the
office and leave twenty five thousand
dollars on their way out
i’ll consider that an answer they said
well that’ll never happen
we’ve been praying for many weeks and
months and now almost a year that god
might send a great revival to this city
well people began to line up when the
meeting was over
and we were there for at least an hour
man
there were notes there were pledges
there were
bills in there they told me that they’d
received twenty four thousand dollars
and walter and fred said oh that’s an
answer to prayer we’ll start on radio
meet i said no we said twenty five
thousand
we walked back to the hotel
i said to grady i said grady go buy our
boxes in the hotel
and see if there’s any messages for us
and he went and found two letters there
was one with a check from a dear friend
in texas he had sent a check in mark
you’re talking about like a week earlier
for 500
another letter from another friend came
and said we believe that you’re supposed
to be on radio for 500
these are all mailed a week before he
even said anything about because he only
said 25 000 that night
and he opens them that night
my granddaddy said well i can’t explain
but god gave us the 25 thousand dollars
we’re going to take it as a sign of
faith
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so that’s how it began
not knowing of course what god was going
to do
it’s one of the most incredible stories
because it’s really the beginning of the
billy graham evangelistic association
which he had never dreamed of you must
come by faith you don’t see christ with
your naked eye you believe that he’s
there and you accept him by faith
now for his message today here is billy
graham and he was on radio for the rest
of his life because the word of god is a
lie my father just believed that god
would give him the resources that he
would need to get the job done
and god over the years his entire life
was like that
he had a plan for our lives he’s got a
plan for your life
if you surrender to it
you may wonder who this is this is my
son
frankie
in 2000 billy graham asked franklin
graham to take over the billy graham
evangelistic association
can you imagine as a son
stepping into those shoes
that would be incredibly
hard the pressure would be intense
this
is a big decision
and it has not come
easy
when franklin assumed day-to-day
leadership there’s no question that many
people were watching him
to see what he would do how it would go
the great commission
is a call to each and every believer
and the task of evangelism is not
through
when my dad took over one of the things
you notice is there’s this big sum of
money it was like a rainy day fund
my father came out the depression and
out of the depression
all the banks here in charlotte that
reopened after depression the only one
that didn’t reopen was the one that my
grandfather had his money in
so that he lost his money that was in
the bank he still had the farm
but that was a hard thing for my father
and so it had an impression he always
saved
and so if we came at the end of the year
if there was budget it hadn’t been spent
he would put it over into a future
ministries account but when i took over
i said daddy i don’t plan just to to
manage that money people gave it for
evangelism i want to spend it for
evangelism he said franklin i want you
to give me a plan on how you want to do
that
dad decided a good way
of spending that money down was this
initiative called my hope
my whole project was an ambitions
project to reach
actually the whole world
franklin’s vision was to take messages
and lip sync them into local languages
and put them on television and go buy tv
time in countries that will sell us time
and my father said okay
let’s do it
we all thought can we actually pull this
off in all these cultures
all these languages
there’s no question there was risk
involved
it seemed like every country we went
into
there was this question in our minds how
in the world can this possibly happen
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so we went to central america and we
bought time
then we went to africa
india
russia took it around the world
places that you would never be able to
get the gospel into
we spent every dime of that money that
had been saved up before my father
passed away
this is a safety net
the organization could have had
dad said jesus is gonna be our safety
net it’s not gonna be money
the dynamic way they share the gospel
touch millions
of people around the world
because of the work of my hope we saw
more people start to come to know christ
than any other time in bga’s history
we don’t always know what the end is
going to be
sometimes we just have to trust god
and follow the leading of the holy
spirit
realizing that god will somehow work it
out
coming up
i’m a student of history
i love searching things out for myself
will graham learns a valuable lesson as
he reads his grandfather’s last will and
testament for the first time you’re only
given so much time you think of 99 years
going by you know man that’s a long time
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just like that
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for the first time since the pandemic
franklin graham is on tour
with a message of god’s love
the franklin graham route 66 god loves
you tour an eight city run featuring the
news boys and marcos witt
if we are willing to repent and to
believe on the name of the lord jesus
christ you can be forgiven
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my grandfather often said that one of
the greatest surprises of his life
was the brevity of it
even though he lived a century he was
amazed at how quickly time had slipped
away
his final wishes recorded in his will
reveal a singular urgency and focus
i asked my children and grandchildren to
maintain and defend at all hazards and
at any cost of personal sacrifice to
blessed doctrine of complete atonement
for sin
through the blood of the lord jesus
christ
when you read this i will be safely with
jesus in paradise
time on earth is so short
it seems only yesterday that i was a
little boy
playing on the farm
near charlotte
have you read that before
it’s his voice
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you know when i think of uh my
granddad’s last will testament here you
know you see a sense of the urgency of
the gospel time is short and he knew
that
you know any references here you know
it felt like he was still a young boy
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at 99.
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you think of 99 years going by you know
man that’s a long time
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just like that
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so many times in life we chase after the
things that really don’t matter
and here’s what red day saying
the thing that only matters is pursuing
jesus and his kingdom
there’s an urgency to the gospel this is
life changing
this is your one chance that you may
ever have
don’t let it get past you
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when my father wrote the will
he wanted to be a spiritual
document
not just a a legal document
of course the children
will be reading this
but it would be a public document and
that other people would be reading it
too
he made sure that the gospel was clear
and the purpose of that will
was
eternity and he wanted them to
understand
eternity
i know that’s one of the things i’ve
seen in your life dad just in the last
few years it’s uh
as you’ve gotten older you’ve
you’ve switched gears and you’ve gone
faster and faster
and uh with a more sense of an urgency
later in your later year well i’ve
always felt well when god gives you an
opportunity in life
you just take it
there is a sense of urgency and we
better do what god’s called us to do and
let’s let’s get on about doing it
because we don’t have much time left so
i think that’s important
i believe time to be very short
and it’s either heaven or hell
the only way we’ll get to heaven is
through faith
in jesus christ
i feel it’s very urgent all of us need
to be bold
and share the hope of the gospel with a
lost and dying world
your decision today is between life and
death the wages of sin is death the
bible says but the gift of god is
eternal life
when you trust in god you just gotta be
bold
and that’s one of the things i pray now
before i get up and say lord help me to
preach clear but lord help me do it with
compassion
and with a sense of urgency
you may never have another chance like
tonight
to make a decision concerning jesus
you need to accept christ tonight he’ll
turn your life upside down
this will be the most important decision
you’ll ever make in life and no one can
make it for you
he’ll give you joy he’ll give you peace
he’ll give you a reason for getting up
in the morning
come to him right now come on
there’s a world out there that’s dying
they’re separated from god by sin
what are you going to do about it
i’m convinced that the greatest act of
love we can ever perform for another
person is to tell him about god’s love
for him in christ
we need to be the light of the world
we’re not just hiding under a bushel we
have to set it up to where the whole
world would see it
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my father and grandfather have been
clear that this ministry is about the
gospel of the lord jesus christ
even in a changing world this message
will always be relevant
jesus is our only hope
the most important message that we have
is the gospel
jesus told his disciples to go into the
world to make disciples of all nations
well as our world continues to spiral
out of control the only hope is the lord
jesus christ
he’s the only hope for you he’s the only
hope for this nation he’s the only hope
for the world so we pray that you’ll
support us
with your prayers your financial giving
so we can continue doing the work that
god has called us to do thank you and
god bless
partner with us through your prayers and
financial support
visit billy graham.tv or call
[Music]
book 877-567-8989 devotions for the
longing soul
call 877-567-8989
or go to billy graham.tv
your gift can make a difference in
someone’s life today
[Music]
[Applause]
our job is to make the impact of christ
felt in every phase of life
[Music]
his holy spirit filled power when you
preach the gospel gospel i want you to
know tonight that god loves you
but our sins separate us from god
we have chaplains praying with people
counsel people and let people know that
god loves them
we’ve got more opportunity today than
we’ve ever had to reach a lost and dying
world with the truth of god’s love
we’ve got an opportunity to tell others
about jesus christ christ we’re going to
stand up and let our voices be heard as
christian men and women of god
it’s time that we quit being afraid
it’s time that we quit backing up
we need to take a stand
and it all begins with you
the bible says for by grace are ye saved
through faith and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of god not of works lest
any man should boast you cannot save
yourself there is not enough goodness
that you could do to save yourself