Morning, friends. Time again for moments of melody. I'd like to read some words of Tom Skinner, one-time leader of the Harlem Lords, toughest gang in New York City. I quote, As a young teenager, I was stopped by a fellow who belonged to a gang in the Harlem area of New York City. How'd you like to belong to the Harlem Lords?" His tone was sarcastic. Sure, why not? That evening I was hung by my wrists from a spike in the wall and lashed across the bare back about twenty times. I had to take it without a whimper. I had a strong back and enough willpower, and so I came through in good fashion. Six weeks later I got the bright idea. Why not be leader of the Lords? And in traditional style I challenged the leader and beat him in a fistfight. The mob spirit caused me to lose all my moral restraint. In my Bible I had read, the heart is desperately wicked. Mine certainly was. I got to the place where I could break a coke bottle and put it in a fellow's face and twist it. My knife had twenty-two notches, indicating how many fellas I'd cut up. But all of this ended suddenly for me. One Tuesday night, I made the greatest discovery of my life. I had my radio on, listening to my favorite rock and roll program. Anger seized me as an unscheduled program came on, a gospel preacher. I reached for the dial, but somehow I was compelled to keep the program on. I sat back and thought, the last thing I need is religion. I'm sick of it. But his message began to get through to me. A sense of sin, a sense of inner cleansing gripped me. The speaker's text was Second Corinthians five-seventeen. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. I felt God was very near, as the man seemed to speak directly to me. It doesn't matter who you are, where you've come from, or what you've done. God is prepared to forgive you of every sin you've ever committed and make you a new person and live his life in you, said the radio preacher. At the close of the broadcast, I merely told the Lord, I don't understand everything. But you said to come, and I'm coming. I didn't have any special feelings or emotions, but I know that I'm convinced that that night I was a sinner, and I needed Jesus Christ. Then he took over my life. St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians is translated by J.B. Phillips. Paul's special messenger of Jesus Christ by God's will and Brother Timothy send this greeting to all faithful Christians at Colossi. Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to know by this letter that we here are constantly praying for you. Whenever we do, we thank God the Father because you believe in Christ, because you are showing true Christian love toward other Christians. We know that you are showing these qualities because you have grasped what we call the heavenly hope, that hope which first became yours when the truth was brought to you. It is, of course, part of the gospel itself, which has reached you as it spreads all over the world. St. Paul was changed from a persecutor to a believer. Tom Skinner was changed from a leader of the Harlem teen gang to a servant of Jesus Christ. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Trust in Christ today.