to come to give us whitney's eulogy. >> father, it is the entrance of thy word that bring it light and life and we pray this afternoon that the glory is light of the gospel of jesus christ which shine bright as always and may the people be blessed by thee, never impressed by me calls through the glorious light of the revelation of the word to love you clearly and follow you more nearly and now, lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. my strength and my redeemer and every glad heart say amen. >> amen. >> the first thing i want to do. i want to give honor to the pastor of this church, pastor

carter. [ applause ] for his spirit of humility. i want to thank mama houston, cissy, for your -- just willingness to forget about everything else and have this service here. that took a lot of courage. and because of that, you brought the world to church today.

i want to give honor to all of the bishops and pastors and folk that have come. i want to assure you that i won't be that long, but i've been waiting on y'all all day. i want to make a couple of disclaimers. one, that most of this will be done in english, but old habits are hard to break, so if you hear language you don't understand, don't worry about it because i wasn't talking to you no how. i was hoping that cece would

have been singing before -- i was going to do something, mama houston, and that's okay. you know we hear a lot bebe and cece. you know, and you would actually believe that bebe and cece knew nippy first. that's not the case. just like you think bebe knew whitney, oprah -- that wasn't the case. i'm going to ask my twin brother carvin to come, i'm going to ask bebe and cece to come. i'm going to ask my son marvin winans ii to come, angie and debbie can come, my nephew al can come. my mother, she's here, but she can stay right there.

where's butch? where carvin? come on up here. the truth is carvin and i met whitney first in beverly hills. we were -- we were a group -- >> that's true. >> that's very true. we were the winans. i tell people i used to be famous i'm now cece's brother. and i'm proud to be so. we, the winans, the four brothers, we were signed to william morris. and whitney, this young new star who i thought sounded a lot like cece when i heard her but she was also a sign to william morris agency at the time. and we both had the same agent, a man by the name of marshall

resnick. and so he told us, he said have you heard of whitney houston? i said yeah i heard of her. this was her first album. and so when she went on tour, he said well she's singing you guys' song. and i said what song is that? she sings your song "tomorrow." and he should've never told carvin that. because he was gonna stay wake day and night until he got in touch with whitney houston. and i remember going to the hotel in beverly hills and carvin and i. we didn't know. he told us where she was staying, probably shouldn't have told us. we went and whitney came down. and when i looked at her and i said, oh, lord, i'm in trouble. she said why? i said you gonna be my missionary. we were thanking her for singing

our song. and i'm going to ask carvin to come and we're going to sing a little bit of "tomorrow." and then i'm going to preach and we're going to go home. you know it? ♪ ♪ jesus says here i stand won't you please take my hand ♪ ♪ and you said i will tomorrow

♪ jesus said i am here who supplies all your needs ♪ ♪ and you said i know but tomorrow ♪ ♪ oh tomorrow ♪ tomorrow i thought about today ♪ ♪ today is so much easier to say ♪ ♪ tomorrow who promised you tomorrow ♪ ♪ choose the lord today or tomorrow ♪ ♪ very well might be today

♪ jesus says -- ♪ jesus said here i stand he's my older brother and he thinks he's my dad ♪ ♪ and i say i will tomorrow ♪ jesus said i am here who supplies all your needs ♪ ♪ and you said i will tomorrow ♪ tomorrow, i give my life tomorrow ♪ ♪ i thought about today

oh, but it's so much easier to say ♪ ♪ tomorrow, who promised you tomorrow ♪ ♪ better choose the lord today for tomorrow very well might be too late ♪ ♪ and who says tomorrow would ever come for you ♪ ♪ still you laugh and play and continue on your way ♪ ♪ tomorrow

♪ forget about tomorrow won't you give your life today ♪ ♪ don't just turn and walk away ♪ ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow is not promised ♪ ♪ cause your tomorrow has very

well -- your tomorrow has very well become -- ♪ ♪ whitney, your tomorrow has very well become today ♪ [ applause ]

>> we are happy to recognize pastor michael mcqueen from atlanta, georgia, or alfreda, georgia, and he was whitney's pastor, and she loved him and he was the last minister she heard before her passing. god bless you. we are also happy to have the governor of new jersey here, governor christie who had the flags at half mass in honor of whitney. thank you. and stood by his decision.

let's go to the word of the lord. i can assure you that this is not a speech. i'm getting ready to preach. someone, some lawyer called my office to see if i wanted to property rights on what i'm going to say. i don't know how i can do that because all i'm going to preach is the word today. ♪ i heard of a land in a far away strand ♪ ♪ 'tis a beautiful home for the soul ♪ ♪ built by jesus on high

'tis a land where we won't die ♪ ♪ it's a land where we will never grow old ♪ ♪ i just want to say one more time, we'll never grow old ♪ ♪ we'll never -- never grow old ♪ ♪ there is a land where we'll never grow we won't grow old ♪ >> the word of the lord from matthew 6:25.

jesus says these words. therefore i say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat. or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body. -- shall put on. is not the life more than meat and the body more. so far the scriptures. i want to concentrate our thought on the b clause of this

text. is not the life more than meat and the body more than ramen. in order for us to expedite this process i am looking for my amen chorus. sound like it's maybe coming from over here somewhere. i try to tell folk in the little church where i pastor at if you say amen, i'll get through this sooner. if you don't, i feel like you don't understand what i'm saying and i'll have to reiterate some things. but if you want to leave here with a subject everyone repeat after me, prioritize.

that's what we want to talk about today. somebody lied on jesus and i want to set the record straight. there is this untrue, this misrepresentation that living for the lord is somehow boring, dull, ho hum, unfulfilling, second rate, unimpactful, dissatisfying, wait until you have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel sort of existence. when nothing could be further from the truth. jesus said in john 10:10, the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy. but he speaks of himself and

said i am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. the apostle peter speaks out of his experience in 2 peter 1 and 3 and says according to as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. prioritize. prioritize simply means to arrange in order of importance. are the words setting up your life based on things that really matter. and in this discourse, that's exactly what jesus is trying to

teach. this is the sermon of the mount known as the attitudes and it starts according to mark's account in the fifth chapter and ends in the eighth. so i would suggest you read it and pay specific attention to the sixth chapter. but at the end of the eighth chapter, it says that the people were astonished at his doctrine because he speaks with such authority. in other words, he talked as if he knew god. and it amazes me -- see, i'm getting loud. it amazes me how ambiguous the believer is about god. when, in fact, we ought to know

him. i'm gonna preach in a moment, stay with me. and the only way to know him is to have him included in what you do. not excluded. and jesus says here, take no thought that word in the greek -- it's a verb which simply means don't be careful or don't be anxious. don't get nervous about life, which simply means to breathe or to have the psyche or mind of an individual. don't get nervous about life. because the life, the breath is more important than what you eat. what you -- what you put on

cannot equate to life itself. and so jesus says take no thought for your life, in no way is he suggesting that one lives a life aimlessly without dreams or aspirations. he is not saying let life happen and just accept what comes your way. he's actually saying the opposite. i want you to understand that our salvation was not given to christ. he had to buy it. and jesus came with purpose and thought to obtain our deliverance. salvation is free, but it ain't cheap. one of the qualities of faith is expectation. now faith is the substance of

things hoped for. and the evidence of things -- so if you find someone without expectation or hope, that individual is void of faith. because faith always expects and faith always moves towards its goal. so don't think that the church is for somebody that doesn't want anything. don't think that the church was for somebody that can't get a gig anywhere else. don't think that the church are for people that do not have hope or cannot make impact.

as a matter of fact, that is the opposite. it opposes what jesus is about. john writes and says, but i would above all things, prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. but what we're dealing with is the misappropriation of what's important. and the devil wants you -- and i said the devil. the devil wants to use your circumstance against you by making you become anxious when things don't happen on your timetable. he wants you to assume responsibility in that you become the master of your own faith and trust in your ability to make things happen and

thereby abdicating your faith in jesus. but jesus is saying i don't want you to become anxious about life. i don't want you to feel as if life happens without purpose. for i want you to understand according to ephesians the first chapter. to understand that you are not a mistake that you are not a mishap. but god had a purpose before he ever created a person. and that existence on earth has significance. y'all got to help me preach here. look at somebody and say i'm significant.

when you recognize that you did not just show up but that god had purpose for you. i like to use the analogy that everyone buys a new car and when you buy that car there is an owner's manual in the glove compartment. now most of us because we have our license and have had it for some time, we do not even go through the owner's manual. because it tells us how often we should take it in for a tune-up and the oil we should use and the gas we should use. and i had a car that i used to put just mobile premium in. but these gas prices ran me to regular right quick, fast, and in a hurry. everything gets regular now. but the -- the owner's manual

for the climb doesn't tell you where to drive. it doesn't tell you who to let in your car. but it tells you how to get the best performance. and when people look at the bible, they look at it from the wrong perspective. because this is the owner's manual. and the things that god has set up is so that you can get the best performance -- i don't hear nobody talking to me. so that you can get the best performance out of your life. so let's take another look at what jesus said. and i'm finished. if we read this text in its

entirety. jesus says some wonderful things. he says no man can serve -- in other words, somebody has to be in control. someone has to be subservant to the other. either you love god or you'll serve money. but you can't serve money and god. somebody holler back at me prioritize. i don't want want anybody to leave here thinking that god wants anybody here broke. and i just need to say this as i have your attention. we have a lot of folk that say, well, you know, i don't agree with the prosperity gospel. i don't know what other gospel there is. and if god wants somebody to be

broke, would you tell me who that is? who's volunteering? i can't get no hands here. please, i just believe the bible. i just believe the bible. you have to understand that this manual gave us examples and testimonies of how we should live and when god brought israel out of egypt, everybody came out with something. i don't hear nobody talking to me. so you to believe somebody has to be broke is to say that god doesn't have enough sufficiency to supply for everybody. i talk about that on another day. i be -- you know, folks been coming to the church and wanting to hear me, what you gonna say? i'll be there sunday, come sunday. all the people that was trying to hear me preach today. come sunday, i'll be there. all the news agency -- this come

sunday, i do this every sunday. i want you to understand that what god desires for everyone is that everyone would be healthy and prosperous. and so he says you don't have to worry about it because i i want to say it in the day, he said i got you. i know that's not proper english, but the text seems to emphasize the fact that if i'm not going to worry, bishop jakes, about what's going to become of me, then god says i

got you. so he says here's the priority for the believer. because sometimes the world is afraid of church folk as one muslim said he wish he had met christ before he met the christian. because sometimes we are believers behaving badly. but jesus, jesus says that i'm going to give you the order of how this should go. and in that same text he says

seek, ye, the kingdom of god and his righteousness. you've got to put that there in there before we go through. seek ye first the kingdom. in other words, the first thing that comes to our mind when we begin to do things is this consistent with kingdom living? we want to get the proverbial cart before the horse. and we start seeking things before we seek the kingdom. but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness. in other words, with everything i do i want to remain in right

standing with god. i'm getting ready to preach now. i want to remain in right standing with god. in other words, i want my life to please him. the gifts that we have are god's gifts to us. but the life that we live is our gift to god. and god says, i got you. so if you seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, then all these things shall be added. see that's the part that allows you to work the foundation of

your faith. to allow god to take you through a wilderness area, knowing he's going to make you the better for it. and that when i get in the middle of the valley that is not a time for me to leave my faith, but to trust that god is still with me. and that if he has me in the middle of a sunny afternoon, then he has to have me in the middle of a dark night. look at somebody and say he got you, me got you. i want us -- i want us to recognize that our faith in god must not be something that we attach to the end of our lives. but that we must prioritize.

that you make your decision based on your faith, that you walk according to what you believe. knowing that you can never say yes to god and god make you ashamed. that you can never -- put god first and god forget and leave you. i'm finished. thank you. [ applause ]

every head bowed. father, we thank you for this life of whitney elizabeth "nippy" houston. we thank you that she was a different. and we echo the sentiments of all that have come to show their love. but father, i pray. by the power of the holy spirit that you would give all the sound of my voice, the thought to prioritize, to make you first. for us not to talk about you but for us to live for you. let us leave here recognizing that whitney left too soon. let us leave here impacted by her life saying that i want to

finish what god has started. let us make you first. i pray that you would lift up mike and gary and pat and bobbie kristina, lift up cissy. lift up aunt bay, lift up dionne, all of those that are touched, all of us that are hurting, that you would lift us up. and father, we will not leave here bitter or upset. ♪ let the church say amen ♪ let the church say amen ♪ god has spoken

so let the church say amen ♪ ♪ ♪ let the church say amen ♪ say it again, blessed church ♪ let the church say amen ♪ let the church say amen ♪ let the church say amen ♪ let this be your response

♪ amen ♪ whatever he says, the healing of your body ♪ ♪ no matter what you're feeling or how your world is reeling ♪ ♪ and all through the night and in the fight ♪ ♪ amen ♪ yeah, everybody say it so let the church say amen ♪ ♪ raise your voice, everybody say -- ♪ ♪ say, let the church say god has spoken ♪

♪ so let the church say say it one more time ♪ ♪ let the church let the whole church say it now ♪ ♪ god has spoken now so let the church say ♪ ♪ amen ♪ i need you to say it ♪ no matter what the devil does know you've got a word that's incredible ♪

♪ oh in the night say amen today ♪ ♪ so let the church say you can say it ♪ ♪ go on and say it i believe it ♪ ♪ god has spoken ♪ so let the church say say amen ♪ ♪ say it again

♪ >> come on, let's give the lord a hand. clap. we're going to ask if everyone except for the family, the first three rows here if everyone could please have a seat. please, except for the first three rows. please have a seat. thank you.

this is how we need to exit. i'm going to ask as you all know you can see we have more stars here than the grammys. that says something, hallelujah. i'm sorry, tyler. i love you, that's all -- that's the only way i know now. so what we're going to do is please ask everyone to be patient and i'm going to ask all of you who are right here, right now with the exception of the governor and the mayor, i'm going to ask everyone to please clear this area for right now. we're going to ask the family will be -- this is the way we're going to exit. the family will go first, the three rows. i'm going to now ask if i can have -- and all your security that goes along with it, we're

going to ask if the first seven rows would please stand on my right. yep. don't go anywhere. don't go anywhere, the casket has to go first. clear the aisle. everyone else please stay seated. carolyn, it's on you. ♪ ♪ if i should stay i would only be in your ♪

♪ so i go but i know i'll think of you every step of the way ♪ ♪ and i will always love you ♪ i will always love you ♪ you, you, my darling you

♪ bittersweet memory that is all i'm taking with me ♪ ♪ so good-bye, please, don't cry, we both know i'm not what you need ♪ ♪ and i -- will always love you ♪ ♪ i will always love you ♪

♪ ♪ i hope life treats you kind ♪ and i hope you have all you dreamed of and i wish you joy and happin s happiness ♪ ♪ but above all this i wish you love ♪ ♪ and i will always love you

♪ i will always love you ♪ i will always love you ♪ i will always love you ♪ i will always love you ♪ i will always love you ♪ ♪ you, darling i'll love you ♪ i will always

i will always love you ♪ >> we're going to ask everyone to please have a seat except for the first seven rows on the side. please have a seat, we will get you out quickly, i promise. thank you. >> well, there you have it, everyone. we've been watching the funeral of whitney houston for some three hours and 45 minutes there, and it was a profoundly moving culmination to that service. listening to whitney when she was at her very highest in her career singing that beautiful song "i will always love you." the irony being as her casket being removed from her church. i'm joined here with my fabulous group. we have christopher john farley, david wilson, christopher witherspoon, i have all of them here in studio with me out in los angeles, allison samuels, as

well. and i don't mind sharing with all of you a couple of us were looking at each other and fighting back tears looking at all of that. but there were joyful highs during this service. what did you find to be a profound moment for you, david? >> there were so many. bebe winans, tyler perry, all of these folks really painted the picture of whitney houston and who she was. you know, this was truly home going service. she was rooted in the black church. and i haven't seen anything like this before on national display where you really got to see the black church in action. and this just reminded us of how much this was a part of whitney's life. that's the church in which she was from and she continually went back to. and it was a powerful sort of display. and it was very moving in many parts of it. >> absolutely. christopher, what did you find compelling? >> well, i think the moment when alicia keys sang "send me an

angel" and sort of showed that the -- whitney houston lives on in the voices of other singers that came after her and she's continuing the tradition of great performance and great r & b singing. i think also the moment at the end when is continuing the great performances and r&b singing and the moment at the end when we see whitney's casket carried out and hearing "i will always love you" and her voice heard and her casket out, and american music is rooted in the blues and when somebody dice it brings out the bedrock that was always there, and it is not just a pop song, but something more. >> and you look at the casket there which must be so heavy and taken to the gold hearse, and her body is whisked to a private

funeral home from whence it came, and it will rest tonight until interment, and burial is schedule scheduled tomorrow. for you tour ray? >> well, so many poignant moments, and "i will always love you" now becomes a song about whitney of us thinking about her, and how she will remain in our memory, and going back to what david said, we saw a real black churcher service in amer today, and they said in the beginning, we are going to have church today, and we surely did. singing, real preaching and marvin winan's eulogy was beautiful, and he really preached the word. i think that tyler perry really brought it home with a moment of preaching that changed people's opinion of him. and stevie wonder's moment was

really beautiful. and i surely had the chills and had to fight back the tears of the casket up on the shoulders and holding her so steady and the most amazing performance of all time "i will always love you" and comes in, the amazing heart felt song knowing that she is gone and the closed is door, and she is never coming back. it was painful. >> and alice out there in los angeles, after staying with us for the best of ofour hours or so, what moved you the most? >> so many things. the end with the casket, but the mother, too. because when i look at mer her mother's face, and how they had to hold her up, and you see the pain through her, and what the world has lost. and when bebe winans and the

experience of laughing and that is the whitney that i remember, and that is the whitney that a lot of people didn't get the chance to see, and it was the entire service, and also tyler perry was amazing, and kim's performance of "the change is going to come" and whitney was at a point where something had to ing cha, and that is where she was at our life, and we have lost her, and that change has come, and that is a beautiful revision of the sam kocook classic. >> well, allison, you talked about the laughter and what is impressive and i will talk about this with you christopher witherspoon, but kevin costner brought back laughter and joy as he brought in the experiences as a child, and sneaking in the grape juice after church, and it

seemed like he and whitney had a great advocation. and there was tears and laughter and joy. >> yes. and in the last five minutes of the funeral and hearing the "body guard" song that she sang and i thought of the end scene of the "body guard" and if you remember it, there was a montage of whitney running intok kevin costner's arms, and it seemed like a movie, and this whole week a movie, but they needed this closure and her mother, and her daughter, and they needed this closure to have the elite of hollywood tole come out to k about her as a friend and sister, and so many great things about her. at the end the movie had a happy ending, but sad and bittersweet, but. >> so many of us think about her mother, and the daughter bobbi kristina, and how they will cling to each other.

and craig melvin has been standing by all day, and it has been a long one, but i know that at the culmination of the service, you have thoughts to share as well. >> yes, alex. one of the things that struck me and i have heard the panel talking about this over the last few minutes so well is that there were so much singing and you would expect that the story telling and the smiles and the laughter as well, but there was a great deal of discussion in that church today about the stead fastness of her faith, and with heard the story of to tattered bible she toted around from time to time, and how often she liked to quote scripture and talk about scripture, and we heard from a number of speakers who talked about that and especially tyler perry talking about meeting in a restaurant in a number of years ago, and before he could offer to help or step in, she talked about her god. she talked about her savior, and

that was a side of whitney that we have not heard about and read about a great deal maybe over the last five or ten years, but certainly appropriate considering this is where it all started, new hope baptist church a preteenager singing in the choir and she got her start in the church, and today remembered in the church and a great deal of talk and how the church and the faith meant to her. that was striking over the past few hours. >> you make a great point, craig melvin, as bring you in and john christopher farley. there was a point made where there was thanking whitney's moth mother, cici for having the service in the church, and craig makes the point of you could not tie it together much more than where it all began. >> yes, as a young girl in the church, and now an engine of the

ch church as well. but some people who were fans of whitney houston and perhaps id didn't know the whole history might find it startling, because this is the music she identified with, but she brought it to the world in a different way. she said that the sound track is a gospel soundtrack to the number one best selling gospel track, and perhaps we heard her from not the popular sound tracks of "bodyguard" and "waiting to exhale" but where the roots and the heart was. but what struck me is the big gap between the music that she loved, the church that she was rooted in, and this other hollywood world of pop song craft, and songs with more ephemeral, and so it was interesting to hear from the gospel side and the hollywood side, and all people coming together to give the picture of the puzzle that this woman was. >> and let's talk about dionne

warwick, and the role she played. what a strong pillar for that family, which she is a part of. >> absolutely. she was so strong throughout the service, and she kept everyone on time, and making sure that the show or the service went and as it should. so, you know, she has been the rk. obviously, she was somebody who whitney houston looked up to. i can't imagine that she ever would have thought that she would have been burying whitney and seeing this day. >> yeah. >> so it was just, you know, it is really sad, but, again, you get to see how talented her family is. >> unusually so. >> this family, this one family p produced dionne warwick and whitney houston is amazing. >> and the winans family, and extraordinary tourre. >> yes, and cissy houston, and a

gospel legend and people are saying who will play whitney houston in the movie and what will it look like? i am not sure lit come to fruition, and maybe it should, but this day would have been a really powerful, ecstatic and sad and sort of perfect ending to the long saga, and the sort of saga that ann powers on npr called an operatic life. we saw touches of whitney's personality from bebe winans when he talked about houston and said, "you broke, i'm rich." just how reverent and keep it real. she is a girl from some says newark and others said east orange, but a real girl of jersey. >> as we are approaching 4:00 here on the east coast, everyone, we are four hours into the coverage of the funeral of whitney houston, and