Participants: Ron Halvorsen
Series Code: 13RVT
Program Code: 13RVT000011
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00:06 In today's troubled world people are wondering,
00:10 "Where Are We Headed?" 00:13 Revelation Today presents the answers. 00:17 Bible prophecy reveals what the future holds in store. 00:23 Revelation Today. 00:37 Good evening again everyone, 00:39 I'm glad you are at Revelation Today 00:41 and I know you are going to be blessed tonight. 00:44 Now, according to the Bible the devil is a deceiver. 00:49 Working through a snake he beguiled or he deceived Eve 00:54 way back there in the Garden of Eden and sin 00:57 and all its attended misery entered the world as a result. 01:02 When it comes to the subject of death 01:05 there are all kinds of deceptions doing the rounds. 01:08 So, watch right on the subject, 01:11 should we believe in reincarnation? 01:13 Should we expect to see a bright light in a long tunnel 01:16 when we are in a state near dead? 01:18 What about those people 01:19 who claim to be able to contact the dead? 01:22 Now, this is the very important subject. 01:24 Tonight you're gonna be blessed to hear 01:27 just what the Bible has to say. 01:29 The presenter tonight of Revelation Today 01:32 is Ron Halverson. 01:37 God bless you. 01:38 Let's have a word of prayer now as we open God's Word together. 01:41 Gracious Father, I thank You for Christ our Savior, 01:44 I thank You for the privilege of being here, 01:46 but most of all Father I thank You that we can, 01:49 in this great country of ours come together 01:51 in worship and freedom. 01:53 I thank You we can open the Bible together in 01:55 that we have open minds, 01:57 with open hearts we're willing to learn 02:00 and we're willing to follow the Lord Jesus. 02:03 We thank You in Christ name, amen and amen. 02:09 There's a principle I want to share with you tonight. 02:12 Principle. The principle is this. 02:16 Better to walk alone than with a crowd 02:20 going in a wrong direction. 02:23 How's that principle? Come on. 02:25 Better to walk alone than to walk with a crowd 02:28 that's going in the wrong direction. 02:32 Eugene Petersen wrote once of visiting a monastery. 02:36 And while there at the monastery 02:38 he made friends with some of the monks 02:40 and it was time to go to dinner 02:42 and so they were crossing the campus there 02:44 and walk by a little cemetery and it was an open grave. 02:48 So Eugene Petersen said, 02:51 which member of your community passed way or died recently? 02:54 They said, oh, nobody. The grave is for the next one. 03:01 Everyday three times a day they walk to go to eat 03:08 and the members of the community are reminded 03:11 what we spend our waking hours trying to forget. 03:15 One of them will be the next one. 03:20 Now, if I knew I was going to preach about death tonight, 03:22 I would have stayed home. 03:25 You say, it's not really exciting message. 03:27 Well, it isn't until you get to the Bible, until you find 03:30 what God's answer is in the Word of God 03:32 and then you'll go home rejoicing in the Lord 03:35 and not afraid of the future, not afraid of death 03:38 and not afraid of anything 03:40 knowing that God is a God of life 03:42 and God is a God of resurrection 03:44 and God is a God of hope. 03:46 And so we come here 03:47 to Revelation in our subject tonight, 03:49 "The Mystery of Death, Deadly Delusions." 03:52 Each day of your existence 03:55 and my existence here on this planet 03:57 we're reminded of the grim reality of death. 04:00 It haunts us, we know so little about it. 04:03 In fact, we know almost nothing regarding 04:06 the ultimate physical experience 04:08 except for what is revealed in the Bible. 04:12 I mean different interpretations of death. 04:16 Some say death is an illusion. 04:19 That there's no such thing as death, 04:21 that's just in your mind. 04:22 That's denial. 04:26 Some others say, no death is not only illusion. 04:29 They say death is the ultimate biological reality. 04:31 In other words, to your biological accident 04:34 and at the end the accident boom, hits the wall, boom, 04:37 you're over that's it, no more, nothing after. 04:42 That's the agnostic and atheist explanation 04:45 for death, future and that's their hope. 04:50 Others say that, that it is merely a transition 04:53 from one life to another, from one person to another 04:57 and so they say this is just transitorios, transition. 05:01 Death is transition. 05:04 Others say that death 05:05 is a termination of human existence. 05:07 Death is death, that's it no more. 05:10 That's a frustrating way to look to the future, 05:13 especially when you get my age. 05:17 Some say that no death 05:18 is a state of non-conscious existence. 05:21 Now, I've been trying to figure out for a while 05:23 how can you be non-conscious and exist? 05:28 Well, I'm still wrestling with that. 05:31 Others say that well, no, it's really a sleep 05:34 before the resurrection 05:35 so all these explanations for death, 05:37 now they all can't be right 05:38 because they all disagree with each other. 05:42 And so we want to find out tonight, 05:43 we want to go and find out what is truth, 05:47 what is the true meaning of death? 05:49 Now, you know in our culture 05:51 they say there's nothing really true. 05:55 Everything is how you feel about it. 05:57 In other words, there's no black and white, 05:59 there's just grey. 06:01 In other words, is there's no such thing as truth and error, 06:05 no such thing as right and wrong. 06:07 If it's right for you, it's all right. 06:09 If it's wrong for you, then it's wrong. 06:11 You see, nothing to do with commandments, 06:13 nothing to do with morality 06:15 and has nothing to do with right or wrong 06:17 or truth and error. 06:19 But the Bible specifically says 06:21 there is truth and there is error, 06:23 there is conflict between right and wrong, 06:25 between good and evil 06:27 and there's conflict between Christ and Satan. 06:32 So we look at some of these various beliefs, 06:35 ideas about death. 06:36 For instance, the Buddhist teachings 06:38 about death is death is not the end of life, 06:41 it's merely the end of the body reinhabit in this life. 06:44 Our spirits still remains and seeks out through 06:47 the need of attachment, it has to attach, 06:50 this soul has to attach to something 06:53 and so it goes along and attaches. 06:55 They have six places that attaches to. 06:58 One, it attaches to heaven, some attach. 07:05 Others human beings, 07:07 so it finds its life in other human beings it attaches. 07:14 Thirdly, Asura. 07:17 And others say in all hungry ghosts, 07:19 I sure don't want to attach to that. 07:23 Animals and finally held itself. 07:28 That's their explanation for death. 07:31 Islam says this, it holds that human existence 07:35 continues after death of the human body 07:38 in the form of spiritual and physical resurrection. 07:42 There is a direct relationship between conduct on earth 07:45 and the life beyond. 07:46 The afterlife will be one of rewards and punishments 07:50 which is consummated with earthly conduct. 07:54 A day will come when God will resurrect 07:56 and God with the first and the last of the creation 07:58 and judge everyone justly. 08:00 People enter their final aboard hell or paradise. 08:04 Hindus say, and they teach that death, 08:08 well, it's not often welcome and while it experiences 08:11 may present some difficulties to those who are dying, 08:14 yeah and to the family. 08:17 It's still a part of the continuum. 08:20 You live on, you live on in some animals 08:25 and how you treated people on earth 08:29 you're gonna go to become, I hope you become a cow. 08:34 Yeah, I was all through India and cows are sacred. 08:39 In fact, there's a religion called Jainism 08:42 and they believe it that you can even go into insects 08:46 and so when they walk on the street they sweep, 08:49 they don't want to step on an ant or an uncle. 08:56 That's the explanation. 08:58 Christianity has all different types of belief. 09:01 It's amazing, Christian teaching, 09:03 body dies, decays, 09:05 spirit of soul lives on in an afterlife 09:10 and some, the part of man 09:11 that's placed in the dust of the earth 09:12 is that which sleeps, the soul lives on. 09:15 Man's body that's placed in the earth, thus if the body, 09:18 it is the body that sleeps in death not the spirit. 09:21 The spirit is the thinking, living, 09:22 acting spiritual part of the person, the soul. 09:26 And then there's those in the Christianity 09:28 that says no, soul is the whole person, 09:30 the whole person goes down into the grave 09:33 until the resurrection 09:34 and then they are raised up in newness of life. 09:36 Now, they all can't be right. 09:39 So how do we find truth? Here. 09:46 There's no confusion, I mean, we go to the Bible 09:49 and we find in the Bible 09:51 that there is an answer to the problem 09:53 that Jesus Christ was dead and is alive, 09:55 He knows, He knows. 09:59 Now, the other night we looked at the frightening world 10:01 of the occult explosion. 10:04 We discovered from the Bible 10:05 that the occult came from paganism. 10:09 That even latched itself in the church 10:11 and latched itself upon the Israelites 10:13 and upon the people of God through history. 10:17 Satan's attack is at the most fundamental 10:20 biblical truth found in the Bible, 10:22 that's the condition of man in death. 10:25 It was the first lie in Eden 10:26 and it would be the last lie in last days 10:29 to the tribulation. 10:32 In fact, down through the ages 10:34 Satan has used deception to create a whole culture, 10:38 a whole society that has fallen under the occult trap. 10:44 We can readily understand why a pagan society would accept 10:47 such a satanic concept, immortality of the soul. 10:51 You posses immortality that's what it says, 10:55 you have an immortal soul. 10:56 You heard that many times, you have an immortal soul 10:59 for getting in the Garden of Eden 11:01 that man had an immortal soul. 11:03 No, conditioned upon obedience, 11:05 the day you eat there off, the day you will die. 11:08 If you die you don't have an immortal soul, 11:11 therefore you must receive 11:12 an immortal soul at the end of time 11:15 because if you don't have it now, 11:16 you got to get it somewhere. 11:20 That's the very beginning. 11:22 Right in the beginning in the Book of Genesis. 11:25 We've all kinds of explanations, 11:27 immortal-ADC, 11:28 After Death Communication you can talk. 11:32 Then that we have transmigration of the soul, 11:34 the soul goes to another or to a lower being 11:37 or to a lower organism. 11:39 Then we have reincarnation. 11:41 All these have been taught in history 11:43 and been taught even in Christian circles. 11:46 The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptian cultures 11:49 all believe in life after death. 11:51 Intricate details preparing the death for life, 11:54 in fact, there was mummy deification. 11:57 The deification of mummies. 11:59 When I go to London, England 12:00 I always head right away to the London museum. 12:03 They have one of the finest mummy exhibitions anywhere, 12:08 mummies and daddies. 12:11 And I spend hours. It's fascinating. 12:15 It's fascinating. 12:16 I mean, they built extensive pyramids 12:20 and exotic death chambers. 12:22 In fact, when a pharaoh died they killed all his slaves. 12:26 They killed his wives. 12:29 So they had to try to keep him alive. 12:32 I mean, they had to feed him good 12:34 because if he died they died. 12:37 I mean, that's the Egyptian, that's the way 12:40 and they put their money in there riches in there, 12:43 fortune in these exotic death chambers, 12:46 all in preparation for what? 12:48 A journey to another realm. 12:50 The Greeks created a whole philosophy 12:53 about death and the hereafter. 12:55 Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, I mean they taught 12:58 the continuation of spirit life, 13:01 the continuation of soul life after death. 13:04 Death has always fascinated us 13:06 and frightened us at the same time. 13:09 But even more tragic, the same pagan 13:12 and philosophical and theological teachings 13:14 of pagan world crept even into the Christian church. 13:19 The fear and mystery of death has made us vulnerable 13:22 to an ancient occult practice. 13:24 And now we find a terrible delusion 13:28 to the brightness of the tunnel. 13:30 Death is reality. 13:32 You see, death comes in many ways old age, 13:35 weeks, months, years, old age. 13:38 Death comes in many ways it comes in - 13:40 I mean, accident, tragic death. 13:42 One moment you are alive and that's it, 13:44 next moment you are dead. 13:46 I mean I don't want to scare you 13:48 but you can leave this place and not make it home. 13:53 My wife's driving so I think I will make it home. 13:55 If I was driving it would be 13:57 lesser chance for me to make it home. 14:01 But accidents, terrifying, tragic, death 14:04 and then it comes disease, 14:06 I mean disease, invisible to the human eye, 14:08 disease attacks the body of some of the healthiest people 14:11 and they get the news and within a split moment 14:15 the news comes critical. 14:18 The news agonizing death. 14:22 However it comes, whenever it comes 14:24 it shocks doesn't it, come on. 14:26 Even if you're prepared for it, you're not prepared for it. 14:29 It hurts, it numbs, it-- by the way 14:31 the Bible says that this is the last enemy 14:34 that will be defeated by Jesus Christ. 14:36 The enemy we call, the enemy we call death 14:39 and we have to face it, 14:40 we don't like to think about it, 14:41 we don't like to talk about it, we don't joke about it. 14:44 In fact, even when it comes there's something within us 14:47 that tries desperately not to face it. 14:50 We embalm the dead. We beautify the dead. 14:55 I mean, we transform cemeteries into beautiful scenic parks. 14:59 I mean, beautiful places to walk, scenic parks. 15:04 This is the cemetery of the dead 15:06 but death is still the enemy. 15:08 It's an enemy to mankind and Jesus said it would be 15:11 the last enemy defeated but death is inevitable. 15:15 You heard about the merchant of Bagdad, didn't you? 15:18 Well, the merchant sent his servant 15:20 down to the market place in Bagdad 15:22 to buy provisions and bring it back. 15:24 And the servant was gone just a short time 15:26 and he came galloping back 15:28 into the courtyard of that merchant 15:31 and he jumped off the horse 15:33 and the merchant asked where's the provisions? 15:36 I mean what's wrong he said, 15:37 well, I was down in the market place in Bagdad 15:41 and I saw death in the crowd and death looked at me 15:45 and it made a threatening gesture 15:47 and oh, master, he said, lend me your fastest horse 15:50 I've got to gallop from Bagdad, 15:52 I've got to got to Samara and hide from death. 15:56 And so the merchant lend him his fastest horse 15:58 and he galloped in the direction of Samara. 16:01 That afternoon the merchant went down to the market place 16:04 and he saw a death in the crowd, 16:05 he walked over and said, death, 16:07 why did you make a threatening gesture 16:09 at my servant this morning in the market place in Bagdad? 16:13 This all wasn't a threatening gesture at all, 16:16 it was sort of surprise, 16:18 I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara. 16:21 I was surprised to see him in Bagdad. 16:25 Well, in a sense we all have an appointment. 16:29 You see, it's inevitable, 16:31 we have an appointment in Samara 16:36 and here we meet an issue 16:37 that comes very close to the human heart. 16:39 But who can fail to understand the loneliness it comes, 16:44 the empty chair, the silence, that tells upon a person 16:49 who has seen a treasured love one. 16:52 And many of us have sat beside those we love the most 16:55 and there's nothing we can do but weep with them. 17:00 Hold their hand, yesterday it was laughter in our home 17:04 and it was happiness and joy and tears 17:06 and there was love and then death, an emptiness. 17:12 Now, what do we hear the cries of lonely people 17:14 and suffering in despairing people, 17:16 multitudes saying tell me it isn't soul, 17:19 I mean tell me there is no death. 17:20 Death is without doubt man's greatest enemy, 17:23 so in an attempt to deprive the traditional enemy, 17:26 man has vigorously attacked it. 17:28 They fought well, perhaps 17:29 we could find a fountain of youth. 17:32 Now, they say the Fountain of Youth is in Florida. 17:34 Don't believe it, I live there. 17:39 I sure I haven't found it you can see that. 17:42 So Ponce de León said I could go there, 17:44 and went to Florida searching for the Fountain of Youth, 17:46 he searched and searched and searched till he died. 17:50 Now, but they fought it 17:51 they could just find the Fountain of Youth. 17:53 Others thought of reincarnation. 17:55 Pleasant thought, reincarnation 17:58 and that was something they tried to cheat death 18:00 through the theory of reincarnation. 18:03 And by the way lately it spread this idea of reincarnation 18:06 in the search of Bridey Murphy, 18:08 Morey Bernstein set out to prove it, reincarnation, 18:11 actually takes place his subject 18:14 while hypnotize claim that dead people haunt houses 18:17 we discovered the other night, that's not true. 18:22 He says they reenter the body through the fetus 18:25 in a mother's womb, that's not true. 18:28 All kind of answers, all kinds of explanations 18:31 but man cannot cheat death by occupying another body 18:35 or finding a Fountain of Youth 18:37 and then they came up with an idea 18:39 this is called the Deep Freeze Method, Cryonics. 18:43 If you could freeze the body, if you could freeze the body 18:47 and then they'll later on find the cure for the disease 18:49 you died from they'll just store the body 18:53 to inoculate you and you'll be live again. 18:57 Oh, come on. 18:59 I'm not gonna be a popsicle for nobody, 19:03 because my hope is not in being frozen, 19:05 my hope is being lifted up 19:07 to the glory of the Kingdom of God, amen. 19:10 While they did try that cryonics 19:12 and people spend a lot of money 19:13 in their frozen as long as their money lasts 19:16 once their money stops they get unfrozen. 19:20 So, you better have a lot of bucks. 19:23 And then there are some people 19:24 who just deny it totally saying, 19:26 no, there's no such thing as death. 19:28 And then the spiritualist says, no this is spiritual realm 19:30 and you go off there to another realm. 19:32 But there are two eternal truths 19:34 I want to tell you about tonight about death. 19:36 Man cannot eradicate it. 19:38 Secondly man cannot bestow upon another eternal life. 19:42 Eternal life comes to you individually by your choices. 19:45 Your mother can't give it to you, 19:47 your father can't give it to you, 19:48 your husband can't give it to you, 19:50 your wife can't give it to you, 19:52 it comes by your choice to choose to have eternal life, 19:56 that comes by your choice for Jesus Christ. 20:01 Man can't bestow upon another eternal life. 20:05 Death is the result of disobedience. 20:08 Death is the result of broken law. 20:10 Death is the result of rebellion against God 20:13 and death is because of sin. 20:15 The wages of sin is death. 20:18 Payday, some day as the old preacher said, 20:22 payday someday. 20:23 Let's go to Bible, let's see 20:24 what the Bible says about this subject. 20:27 Let's go, it doesn't matter what Buddhists or Hindus 20:29 or some Christians or whatever new ages 20:32 whatever let's go to the Bible and find, 20:34 I think Jesus could show us the way, don't you? 20:37 He was there and he's back again. 20:39 Listen, so let's go to Genesis, let's go to the beginning. 20:42 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 20:45 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 20:47 and man became a living soul." 20:50 And then He goes on to say, 20:52 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 20:53 thou shall not eat of it for in the day 20:55 that thou eat thereof thou shall surely" what? 20:58 Die. 20:59 "Die." All right. 21:01 Here's the test, there's the temptation, 21:05 there's the fall. 21:08 Is man mortal or immortal? Well, let's look at the Bible. 21:11 Let's see what the Bible says. 21:13 "Now the serpent was more subtle 21:14 than any beast of the field 21:16 which the Lord God had made. 21:17 And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said 21:21 that Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" 21:24 And then he goes on, 21:26 "And the woman said unto the serpent, 21:27 We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 21:30 but of the fruit of the tree 21:31 which is in the midst of the garden, 21:32 God said, Ye shall not eat of it, 21:34 neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 21:39 And the serpent said unto the woman, 21:40 Ye shall not surely die." 21:42 Who says you shall not surely die? 21:45 Christ or God or Satan? 21:47 Satan says you have immortal soul, 21:50 Satan says you have immortality, 21:52 Satan says you, who I want to listen to, God or Satan? 21:56 God? 21:58 Listen to me, he says you'll be like God. 22:00 What about being like God? 22:03 God has immortality and so Satan comes and lies. 22:07 By the way Satan never says anything true. 22:10 He says you're beautiful, you're not. 22:12 He says you're ugly, you're not. 22:14 He says you're a loser and you're not. 22:16 I mean, he never tells you the truth. 22:17 So don't believe him. Don't believe him. 22:22 He says doesn't matter, don't believe him. 22:25 If Gods says it I believe it, that settles it. 22:30 Amen. 22:31 You see, it's not what Ron Halverson 22:33 wants to tell you, it's not what Ron Halverson says, 22:35 not what your preacher says, not what your church says, 22:38 not what those who have so called died 22:39 and come back again, give me a break, 22:42 not what Hollywood says for sure. 22:44 What does God's book say? What does the Bible say? 22:47 What's the evidence? What's the weight of evidence? 22:51 I want you to notice this, it was on a tombstone 22:53 in Richmond, Virginia, on the tombstone, 22:55 "Stop my friend as you go by. 22:57 As you are now so once was I. As I am now you soon shall be. 23:01 Prepare yourself to follow me." That's graphic. 23:03 Little boy was coming through the cemetery read that, 23:06 took out his crayon and he wrote this, 23:08 "To follow you I'm not content, 23:09 until I know which way you went." 23:20 Which way you went. 23:21 Well, let's see which way you went, 23:23 let's see what the Bible says, all right. 23:25 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was 23:28 and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." 23:31 Now, follow me carefully, listen to the word of God, 23:34 weigh the evidence. 23:35 We've been influenced all of our lives one way. 23:38 Now, let's just listen to the other side. 23:40 Let's listen to what God says fully in his word. 23:43 You see anything out of context is a pretext. 23:45 You have to have the weight of the evidence, 23:47 not grabbing one text here 23:49 and fashioning whole doctrine on it. 23:51 You take the Bible wholly and you take the text 23:54 and on the subject you bring them together 23:57 and there you have the picture. 24:00 And so listen to the picture, notice what he says. 24:03 "The spirit is "the spark if life" 24:08 or the breath of life." 24:10 Listen to the Word of God. 24:11 "All the while my breath is in me, 24:13 and the spirit of God is" where? 24:16 "In my nostrils." 24:18 Well, you see, Brother Halverson, 24:19 the spirit is the thinking, spiritual part of you, 24:23 it floats off when you die like some kind of Casper, 24:26 the friendly ghost. 24:29 No. 24:31 All the while my breath is in me 24:33 and the spirit of God is in my what? 24:35 In my nostrils. 24:37 The word breath is in the margin spirit. 24:41 So he says the breath is the spirit of God, 24:44 it's the spark of life. 24:45 James said this the apostle, 24:48 "For as the body without the spirit is dead 24:50 so faith without works is dead" 24:53 and the margin says breath, it's breath interpreted breath 24:57 so the breath is the spirit, the breath is the spark, 25:00 but someone says, Brother Ron, what about the soul, 25:03 I mean, the word soul was used 850 times in the Bible. 25:06 Check up on me. 25:08 And nowhere does it say it is immortal. 25:12 Nowhere in the Bible does it say the soul is immortal. 25:16 In fact, it says the soul that sins it shall die. 25:20 The Bible says all have sinned, therefore all souls die. 25:25 Let's look at man in the beginning. 25:27 Let's look at the formula for creation, 25:30 the creation of man. 25:31 Here's the formula. 25:32 Body, it forms man from the dust, 25:37 forms him in his own image, 25:38 he forms with eyes, ears, nose, mouth 25:41 but he can't speak, he can't smell, 25:44 he can't listen, he's just form. 25:48 Then God does something, God breathes into his body. 25:55 Breath says its nostrils and what happens? 25:59 Man becomes a living soul. 26:02 It does not say that man has body, 26:04 man has breath and man has a soul, 26:06 nowhere in the Bible does it say that. 26:08 It says man has a body, man receives the spark of life 26:11 which is breath and he becomes a living soul. 26:17 When the breath leaves the body, man is a dead soul. 26:21 And I'm gonna show you how and when 26:24 that'll take place the resurrection 26:26 and then man will receive the gift of eternal life. 26:30 Not body, breath and soul. Let me illustrate. 26:33 Here we have a flashlight, all right. 26:38 This is it physically, 26:40 now if I would open this flashlight 26:45 and if I would take out the batteries... 26:51 I take out battery here 26:55 and I take out the battery and... 27:07 I'll do that all night. What do I need? 27:12 You see the battery is the spark. 27:15 You see the battery brings light. 27:17 The battery-- now let me see 27:19 if I can do it, put it in right apart, 27:20 I put them wrong but we'll get this now, there? 27:29 The spark. 27:31 God takes body creates it, gives the spark, 27:37 when we die, 27:40 when we're resurrected, simple. 27:46 Why do we make it so complicated? 27:47 Well, let me illustrate. Water, H2O, all right. 27:55 So many parts of what? 27:56 Hydrogen and what? Oxygen. 27:59 Does anybody know what they are? 28:02 Two parts what? 28:04 Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, is that it? 28:08 Okay, well, whatever. It has it. 28:15 Take away hydrogen from the water. 28:21 It's the right combination of hydrogen and oxygen 28:23 that makes water, right. 28:25 What's the right combination of breath and body 28:28 that makes man a living soul? 28:30 I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist. 28:32 Why do we make things so complicated? 28:35 Let me illustrate. 28:36 My wife comes in, she says honey, 28:38 I'd like to have a coffee table for our living room. 28:44 Well, I said, all right I'll make you one. 28:47 Now, you got to imagine please 28:48 'cause anything breaks in my house 28:50 I have to wait till someone, I have to wait till Tim comes. 28:54 I mean, really, I mean, 28:57 when Carrol's grandfather was around 29:00 I had to wait till he came. 29:01 Once a year I get things fixed and anybody knows, 29:04 I mean they're just smiling my friends in the front row, 29:05 they are smiling over this. 29:07 But let's imagine I can't, I'll say honey, 29:09 I'll be happy to make you a coffee table. 29:11 So I go to my workshop find my way through what I need 29:17 and I get the wood and I drill the holes 29:20 and I make the-put it together 29:24 and arrange it and glue, screws, 29:30 sand it, varnish it, bring it in the house, 29:34 and say here it is honey, she goes ah, it's beautiful. 29:38 And then you know what you do men, 29:39 what you do the rest of the day. 29:42 Find the place for it, put it here, 29:44 she says I don't know, over here, I don't know. 29:49 Over here, for the rest of the day you're doing this. 29:51 Come on. 29:55 And finally she says this, brilliant statement, she says, 29:59 you know the more I think about this room 30:00 and the way it is and the decor, what's decor? 30:03 Here's the coffee table, hon. 30:05 Come on I want to go out fishing. 30:08 She says, I think the chair would do better. 30:12 A chair would do better! 30:15 So I bring the coffee table out to the workshop, 30:17 I take the screws out, 30:18 I put the wood here and the legs over there. 30:21 You see the moment I separate, 30:25 the moment it ceases to be a table, 30:27 the moment God separates breath from your body, 30:30 the moment you cease to be who you are 30:37 until he makes you again to be who you are. 30:42 That's the Word of God. 30:43 That's the Bible and that's what the Bible says. 30:46 And so is with man. 30:48 He seizes to be a dead 30:49 until the resurrection as we shall see. 30:52 By the way the word soul and body, 30:54 the word soul and body is mentioned 30:56 1,800 times in the Bible, check up on me. 30:59 But nowhere does it say that it is immortal, 31:03 nowhere, does not one text context, 31:06 so we got to find the weight of evidence, all right. 31:08 Let's turn, let's look at the biblical evidence, 31:10 all right together tonight. 31:11 And notice what the Bible says, "Behold, all souls are mine, 31:14 as the soul of the father, 31:15 so also the soul of the son is mine, 31:17 the soul that sinneth, it shall" what "die." 31:20 Immorality cannot die, we die, 31:23 so we do not possess immortality. 31:26 That doesn't mean we shall not possess immortality 31:29 that means we do not have immortality. 31:32 Well, let's go to the Word of God. 31:33 Let's see the weight of evidence. 31:34 Well, my momma told me. 31:36 Hey, your momma is a wonderful Christian woman, 31:38 she is going to heaven by the grace of God. 31:41 But what does David say. 31:44 I mean I've got to take David's word 31:46 even above my own mother's word 31:48 because the Bible is above my mother's word. 31:50 Come on, amen. 31:52 Amen. Come on, now. 31:53 "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, 31:55 in whom there is no help. 31:56 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, 31:58 in that very day his thoughts" what "perish." 32:01 You don't have thought after death, the Bible says. 32:04 You don't have thoughts after death. 32:06 Doesn't sound like the soul is the Casper floating around 32:09 and you're thinking looking down. 32:10 Someone said I like to think mom is up there. 32:12 Why would you like to think mom is looking down on you? 32:14 You have enough trouble, haven't you? 32:16 You think would it ever be heaven for a mother, 32:18 I don't think it would be heaven for mother 32:19 looking down on her son Ronny 32:22 because her son Ronny had gone through two cancer treatments. 32:25 His son Ronny has been sick. Listen to me. 32:28 God's way has always been best. He puts them to rest. 32:31 The resurrection you go to heaven with momma. 32:33 What's better than that? Amen. 32:36 Well, we want biblical proof for that. 32:38 Well, let's look at the biblical proof, come on. 32:40 Let's see what the Bible says. 32:42 "The dead praise not the Lord, 32:43 neither any that go down into silence." 32:45 It says when you die, you go down in the silence. 32:47 That's the Word of God. I am not making that up. 32:49 That's the Bible, Book of Acts. 32:51 "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you 32:52 of the patriarch David, 32:54 that he is both dead and buried, 32:55 his sepulchre is with us to this day." 32:58 Someone says "well that's just the house." 33:01 Hey listen to me 33:02 if I got to live with this house forever... 33:08 Come on. 33:10 When this house comes up, it's gonna be a mansion, 33:15 not an old tenement, come on. 33:17 I mean handsome not. 33:18 Yeah, I am going to come up handsome 33:19 I figured it out. 33:22 I am going to come up brilliant to get a figure 33:24 that has to be a real transformation by the way. 33:26 But anyway I am going to come up different. 33:28 David, what did he say about David?" 33:30 David is not ascended into the heavens." 33:32 Of all people David should have gone 33:34 right to heaven when he died. 33:35 If that was the case but it says no 33:37 David is still in the grave waiting for the day 33:39 when Jesus would come and call him forth from the grave. 33:42 Now since there is no time in death. 33:44 The moment I will go to sleep, I wake up in the morning. 33:48 Have you ever gone to sleep and maybe you have been sick. 33:50 Oh, terrible you go to sleep and next morning 33:53 you wake up and you're well. 33:55 And it seems like you just laid your head on your pillow 33:57 and the next thing you're awake. 33:59 Well, you see that's the way it is with God. 34:01 God's way is always best. 34:03 You lay your head upon the pillow 34:04 and the next thing you know you wake up well. 34:08 Well, wow I love that. 34:10 That's the most positive message 34:12 in the Word of God for me. 34:13 The Bible tells us again listen. 34:15 "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, 34:17 in that which all that are in the graves 34:19 shall hear his voice, 34:20 and shall come forth from the grave. 34:22 They have done good, unto the resurrection of life, 34:24 and they that have done evil, 34:25 unto the resurrection of damnation." 34:27 That's what John says. 34:28 And he is the same one who writes the Revelation. 34:31 He is the same one that writes about heaven. 34:33 He is the same one that writes about the future. 34:35 And he tells us this in the fifth chapter of John. 34:38 1 Corinthians 15, 34:39 this is the Word of God, the weight of evidence. 34:41 Listen "Behold, I shew you a mystery, 34:43 we shall not all sleep." 34:44 By the way every time Jesus spoke about death, 34:47 he called it sleep. 34:48 Soul sleep. Every time he talked time. 34:51 Every time the Apostle Paul talked about it, 34:53 he talked about sleep. 34:54 "Behold, I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep, 34:57 but we shall all be changed, in a moment, 34:59 in the twinkling of an eye, 35:01 at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, 35:04 and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 35:07 We shall be changed. 35:08 For the corruptible must put on incorruption, 35:10 a mortal must put on immortality." 35:12 If you have immortality, why do you have to put it on? 35:15 And "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 35:18 and when this mortal have put on immortality, 35:20 then shall be brought to pass the saying, 35:23 Death is swallowed up in victory. 35:25 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 35:29 What a promise made by the apostle there, 35:31 Paul, that there will be the resurrection, 35:35 there will be the resurrection of the dead. 35:37 That the grave will break forth 35:39 and they will come forth in the resurrection 35:42 and into this new, into this new experience and new life. 35:45 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, this is the weight of evidence 35:49 "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 35:52 with the voice of the archangel, 35:53 and with the trump of God 35:54 and the dead in Christ shall what, rise first. 35:58 Then we which are alive and remain 36:02 to meet the Lord in the air, 36:03 so shall we ever be with the Lord." 36:05 Comfort one another with those words 36:06 and that is comfort, isn't it my dear friend. 36:08 Isn't that comfort to be caught up together 36:12 with them in the cloud to meet the Lord in the air, 36:15 so shall we ever be with the Lord. 36:18 And that's the Word of God the Bible says. 36:21 Then we which are alive remain 36:22 that you and I will be caught together with them. 36:25 Who? Those who are raised. 36:26 The ones you love, 36:27 you're gonna be caught up together. 36:28 Families are going to be caught up together. 36:30 Can you imagine what it would be like 36:31 going through the stars? 36:32 Can you know what it's like when we go 36:33 through all reigning together as family. 36:35 Can you know what it's like 36:36 when we see our grandmother again, 36:38 my beautiful Christian grandmother. 36:40 And I can put my arms around her. 36:42 And I could-- she will say "good boy Ronny." 36:46 And she knew I was a rascal. 36:50 But we'll be caught up together in the cloud 36:52 to meet the Lord in the air. 36:53 I hope I am in Brooklyn anyway. 36:56 I hope I am in Brooklyn. What a great promise it is. 36:59 I am thrilled with the promise of return of Christ 37:01 to earth the second time. 37:02 That's what this is all about. 37:04 That's what Revelation today is all about. 37:06 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 tells us, 37:09 "For the living know that they shall die 37:10 but the dead know not any thing." 37:12 How clearer can that be? 37:14 Neither have they any more a reward, 37:16 for the memory of them is forgotten." 37:18 The Bible says notice 37:20 "For the living know they shall die, 37:21 the dead know not any thing." 37:23 One what? 37:24 "Neither have they any more reward 37:26 for the memory of them is forgotten. 37:28 "Also their love, their hatred, their envy is now perished, 37:31 neither have they any more portion 37:33 of anything done under the sun." 37:34 You don't go back to haunt the house. 37:38 And if it comes it's not your loved one, it's a demon. 37:43 It's a demon. Notice the Bible. 37:47 Well, you say, Ron, what about the thief on the cross. 37:50 You know, didn't Jesus say to the thief 37:52 you're going to go with me to paradise. 37:54 Didn't Jesus say today right now, 37:56 I am going to take you to paradise. 37:57 Well, let's look at it. 37:58 Let's find out what the Bible says. 38:00 And let's see what the Bible says on this subject. 38:03 All right, notice here. 38:04 "And then he said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me 38:07 when You comes into Your kingdom." 38:09 And now notice what Jesus says. 38:12 "And Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you, 38:17 today you will be with Me in paradise." 38:20 Now I want to give you little Bible lesson. 38:22 They didn't have commas in the days of Jesus, 38:24 in the days when the book was written. 38:26 But anyway just let's first of all look at the comma. 38:30 Now the comma puts it in the present. 38:33 "Jesus said unto him 'Assuredly I say to you today 38:36 you will be with Me in paradise.' 38:39 " Right, but look at that little comma. 38:42 I am going to just change it. I am just going to move it. 38:44 But it wasn't there in the first place 38:46 but I am just going to move it. 38:47 Notice, he says this "Jesus said to him 38:50 'Assuredly I say to you today, 38:52 you will be with Me in paradise.', 38:58 Well, it's not only a comma friend, you see Jesus Christ, 39:02 the thief did not even die that day. 39:04 How can he go to paradise and be with Jesus. 39:06 Because you remember the story 39:08 I am going to read it for you right here in the Bible. 39:10 You see, by the way let's look at another 39:12 little thing about changing a comma. 39:15 It was during the days of women's suffrage 39:17 that was when they were marching, 39:18 you know, they want to be equal to men. 39:19 Look at this. 39:21 "Woman: without her, man would be a beast." 39:24 That's pretty good. 39:25 I mean women can you imagine are marching to the streets 39:27 but they made a slight-- 39:28 the printer made a slight error. 39:30 He put woman without her man, would be a beast. 39:35 Of course, the printer was chased out of town. 39:38 But when you see just a comma like that moved 39:39 but the Bible is very clear on it. 39:41 Not just a comma "Jesus saith unto her." 39:44 This is on Sunday, this is three days later. 39:47 He says "Touch me not 39:49 for I have not yet ascended to my Father." 39:52 How can he take the thief to heaven to his father's house 39:56 and three days later he says don't touch me 39:58 I haven't gone there myself. 40:04 Text out of context is a pretext. 40:06 And yet they build the whole doctrine on that passage. 40:10 No, friend, he is talking future. 40:12 You see the thief he says 40:13 "with every drop of blood that pours of my veins, 40:15 listen every drop of blood that pours from my veins 40:18 you shall be with Me in paradise" Listen to me. 40:21 No one will keep you from heaven. 40:23 Because I am dying sacrificing Myself 40:26 just so you can go to heaven. 40:27 What a wonderful promise it was to that thief. 40:30 Listen to me that promise made with thief 40:32 1,900 years ago on cross is made to everyone of you here 40:36 in this great auditorium tonight, 40:37 can you say amen. 40:39 You have that promise, it's a promise of God, 40:41 a promise of God. 40:44 John 20:17 he hadn't ascended himself. 40:48 In fact, "Then came the soldiers, 40:50 and brake the legs of the first, 40:51 and the other which was crucified with him. 40:53 But when they came to Jesus, 40:55 and saw that he was dead already, 40:56 they brake not his legs." 40:58 Bible tells us what hour it was in the afternoon. 41:01 They rushed to get the body of the cross. 41:03 Because Jews were not buried on the Sabbath. 41:05 So he had to be buried before the Sabbath came. 41:08 It was about to set the sun. 41:10 They took it to Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, 41:12 put it in the tomb, Mary Magdalene, 41:15 Mary the mother of Jesus 41:16 wouldn't even anoint the body on Sabbath, 41:19 so it was on the first day of the week 41:21 they came to anoint the body of Jesus. 41:23 They kept the Sabbath according to the commandments. 41:26 And I think if it was good enough for Mary 41:29 the mother of Jesus surely should be good enough for me. 41:33 It would be good enough for me. But what does it tell us. 41:37 They broke the legs to hasten death. 41:39 They hadn't even died the sun went down. 41:42 "So man lieth down, and riseth not 41:44 till the heavens be no more." 41:45 Listen this is scripture. 41:46 "They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 41:48 If a man dies, shall he live again? 41:50 All the days of my appointed time 41:52 will I wait, till my what, change come." 41:55 Listen to me friend, when will that change come. 41:58 "These things said he, 41:59 and after that he saith unto them, 42:00 Our friend Lazarus what, sleepeth, 42:02 but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 42:04 And then said his disciples, 42:06 Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." 42:08 Jesus says no "Howbeit Jesus spake of what, his death. 42:12 And they thought that he had spoke of taking rest in sleep. 42:15 And then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." 42:19 You mean to say that Jesus came there 42:23 to that place in that tomb, call Lazarus down of the heaven 42:28 because he received the reward 42:30 put him back into the stinking grave. 42:32 Put him back into four days stinking. 42:35 And then brought him forth from the day from the grave 42:38 so when a few more years he could go through it again. 42:43 Don't you see God's way is always best? 42:47 Don't you see friend God's way is always best? 42:50 Listen to the word of God. This is the weight of evidence. 42:53 "For the Lord himself shall descend 42:54 from heaven with a shout, 42:55 with the voice of the archangel, 42:57 and the trump of God, 42:58 and the dead in Christ shall what, rise first." 43:03 Dead in Christ, where are they? 43:05 In the grave, waiting for the resurrection. 43:07 That's a word of God. And the word of God is plain. 43:10 Notice what the Bible says "Then we which are alive 43:13 and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds, 43:15 to meet the Lord in the air, 43:16 so shall we ever be with the Lord." 43:18 Let me tell you a story about two little caterpillars. 43:20 Of course this is a preacher story 43:22 but you can enjoy it. 43:24 Two little caterpillars were crawling 43:25 through a cabbage patch. 43:27 Drilling holes in cabbages, one little caterpillar turned 43:30 over to the other caterpillar and said "do you know 43:33 I am not going to have to crawl on my belly all the time. 43:37 You know some day I am going to have wings. 43:39 And I am going to fly across the fence 43:42 and drink and suckle honey from the wine." 43:44 That's the caterpillar. 43:45 And the other caterpillars say "what." 43:48 "He said oh, no I am not going have to crawl on my belly 43:50 through the dirt no and drill holes in. 43:53 I am going to have wings 43:54 and I am going to fly across the fence 43:56 and drink and suckle honey from the wine. 43:59 And the caterpillar moved away from him 44:00 and they all thought he was strange. 44:03 And with his last dying strength 44:06 he created his cascade, his chrysalis. 44:11 And he lay in the chrysalis, 44:13 they came and extol his virtues. 44:14 Do you notice that? 44:15 All the little caterpillars gathered around told about 44:18 how good a caterpillar he was? 44:20 He stayed in his own row, he drilled nice little holes, 44:23 he was friendly to everybody. 44:25 Why do you wait till they're dead to tell them 44:27 how wonderful they were? 44:29 Hey, listen to me get on the phone tonight 44:31 and call momma up and tell her how wonderful she is. 44:34 Don't wait till she is gone. 44:36 Hey if you're holding any grudges, bury them, 44:40 say hello to momma or daddy or someone say hello, 44:45 but don't wait till they're gone 44:46 and don't start weeping then. 44:48 It means nothing. 44:50 And so they were the two caterpillars 44:52 and then the summer sun came and warmed the dry chrysalis 44:55 and rain fell and it broke open and it came, 44:58 it came not an ugly caterpillar from that death 45:02 but there came a beautiful butterfly 45:04 and it flew across the fence 45:06 and it drank suckle honey from the wine. 45:08 You know what caterpillar is right. 45:13 Some day, in God's day he will call us forth 45:19 and we'll come not forth like ugly little caterpillars. 45:27 But we'll come forth in the immortal body, 45:31 an incorruptible body and we'll-- 45:34 listen mother weep no more. 45:37 For someday Jesus is going to put 45:38 that child back in your arms again. 45:40 And you're going to rise up to heaven 45:41 to meet the Lord in the air. 45:43 Come on that's what God says here. 45:45 Give God praise here tonight. 45:50 Anyway Lord Lindsay went to Egypt 45:52 found the mummy brought it back 45:54 and he noticed that the mummy's hand was closed in a fist in 45:57 and he was wondering what was in that fist 46:00 and curiosity got the best and he found a flower seed 46:05 in the hand of a mummy 2,000 years dead. 46:11 So he took the flower seed and he put a flower box 46:14 out the window there at the London museum. 46:17 He buried the seed and he would water 46:21 and the sunlight would beat down 46:23 2,000 years in the dead man's hand. 46:26 Two thousand years in the dead man's hand 46:32 and then a green shoot came up out of the dirt. 46:36 And soon a beautiful, beautiful flower 46:42 and all the scientists and all the archeologists, 46:45 you know, they gathered around 46:46 and there they saw it a beautiful flower 46:49 2,000 years in a dead man's hand 46:51 when buried in the earth. 46:53 You see when you bury your seed in the earth 46:55 it comes forth a flower, 46:57 when you bury a corn in the earth 46:59 it comes forth an oak. 47:01 When you bury a man or a woman 47:02 or a child in the earth that's not the end. 47:04 There will be resurrection. 47:06 There will be life after life and that life is hidden in God. 47:13 Father, weep no more. Son weep no more. 47:18 Daughter weep no more. 47:20 For this Christ is coming back again. 47:23 This Christ is going to come in glory. 47:25 I tell you every person born into the human family, 47:28 no matter how wealthy, how powerful, 47:31 how knowledgeable he or she becomes, 47:34 no matter how small and insignificant 47:36 he or she feels will ultimately be defeated by death. 47:39 Therefore, we must put our trust in God. 47:42 There will be a resurrection. 47:45 My grandmother came from Norway. 47:47 She had six children 47:49 and one on the way that was my father. 47:51 The only one born in America was my dad. 47:55 And my grandmother didn't a word of English. 47:59 My grandfather was a shipbuilder. 48:00 Halverson's are great shipbuilders in Norway. 48:04 He worked as a carpenter to get his family across to America. 48:06 He wanted freedom he wanted the place to work. 48:09 He wanted to build a home for them. 48:11 And he was working on the mass 48:12 just had come recently to America 48:15 and working on the Masten in Brooklyn shipyard 48:17 he fell off and every bone in his body was broken, 48:19 3 weeks later he died. 48:22 And that little dear grandmother of mine 48:25 she couldn't hardly speak a word of English, 48:26 she had now seven children. 48:31 She worked as a superintendent 48:33 in a tenement building in Brooklyn. 48:36 And she raised us. She was a godly woman. 48:40 She used to take us to the little Norwegian church 48:43 little Lutheran Norwegian church. 48:45 And I would see her carrying a Bible 48:47 and we would come out of Sunday school 48:50 and she would have candy for us, 48:51 I know some of you would be frighten by that. 48:54 But anyway it was good for a grandmother. 48:56 And it was good for a grandson. 48:58 You can have an apple tree in heaven, 48:59 I am going to have snicker bar treat. 49:01 That's all right. That's all right. 49:05 Anyway my grandmother she was a saintly Christian woman. 49:09 She had a stroke. 49:11 And half her body was paralyzed. 49:13 My momma took her in tenement with six children. 49:15 And she took care of them for years. 49:20 But my mother got sick on that 49:22 when she was going to give birth to girl 49:25 and they put her in a home 49:28 in one of these big county hospitals. 49:30 I would used to go there even when I was gang bang, 49:32 even when I was a mean I would go there. 49:35 And I walked down and I see these hospital beds 49:37 and my little grandmother 49:38 she had half a smile on her face, 49:39 always have half a smile. 49:42 And I had to walk up in my black leather jacket 49:44 and skull and blood you know looking cool. 49:47 Then my grandmother would look up and smile. 49:51 And she would say "Ronny good boy." 49:56 I wasn't good boy. 50:00 I don't know what she saw in me. 50:02 No one else saw much good. 50:04 But my grandmother she would take her hand 50:07 and my hand with her good hand. 50:10 And she stroke it she said Ronny good boy. 50:16 I can't wait till Jesus comes. 50:19 And I can't wait to fly with my grandma 50:21 and look at her and she'll look at me 50:23 and say good boy. 50:25 And we'll go to the kingdom of heaven together. 50:27 Don't you think God's way is best, 50:29 come on friend, God's way is always best. 50:33 God's way is always best. 50:35 This death does not have the final word 50:38 because one day your faith will become sight 50:41 and you'll see the gates of pearl thrown open for you. 50:45 And you will walk in and God will say 50:47 welcome home children. 50:49 Welcome home and forever 50:52 through the ceases of ages of eternity 50:54 we shall be home with God and with all those 50:58 that we have loved for the sake of Jesus Christ. 51:01 May God burn in your heart tonight. 51:04 May you hear in Ovens Auditorium 51:06 go with this place knowing that Jesus is the resurrection. 51:09 That he is life and he never made a promise 51:12 that he is broken and the promise is 51:14 I will come again and receive you unto myself 51:19 that where I am there yee may be also. 51:22 God bless you. 51:59 Another Bible Question. 52:02 If a person is worried about dying 52:03 what can I say to that person? 52:06 Well, this is where it becomes very real. 52:08 If you know somebody approaching death 52:10 and what the fact is 52:11 we're all approaching death on one level or another. 52:14 If you know, somebody who is terminally ill 52:16 or struggling with these things 52:19 what do you say to encourage that person? 52:21 Now, first thing you say is God loves you. 52:25 1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16, God is love. 52:30 You tell that person John 3:16, "God so loved the world 52:34 that He gave His only begotten son, 52:35 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, 52:38 but have everlasting life." 52:42 You know, if you lived as long as the oldest person ever 52:46 to have lived in recent times, 52:49 the oldest person ever to live, live 900 some years 52:55 the myth-wait a minute the oldest person ever 52:58 to have died is Methuselah, live to be 969. 53:02 The oldest person who ever lived is probably Enoch 53:04 because he didn't die. 53:07 But you want to tell us somebody 53:09 or if you live as long as anyone 53:11 in recent times to be 122 years. 53:13 A woman in France Jeanne Calment lived to be 122. 53:20 You know just the other day I just spoke to a lady 53:23 who was 99 years old, about to turn 100. 53:31 I said to her, 53:32 did it take very long to live as long as you lived? 53:36 Did it seem to take a long time? 53:37 She said, oh no, it just passed by just like that. 53:41 I spoke to another centenarian and asked the same question. 53:44 Does it seem like it took you a long time to live be hundred? 53:47 She said, oh no. oh, no. 53:50 Even if you live to be 122, 53:53 not very old in the grand scheme of things 53:56 and even then what are you gonna do but die. 54:01 So we're all going to die. 54:02 The fact is that God has promised everlasting life 54:06 and that's the good thing, everlasting life. 54:11 Here's what I would do. 54:13 I would encourage somebody 54:14 by talking about the resurrection. 54:18 You know that Jesus said in John Chapter 11, 54:21 I am the resurrection and the life. 54:25 In John Chapter 6 Jesus said, he who believes in me 54:30 though he dies yet shall he live. 54:33 He said, I will raise him up on the last day. 54:38 Now, that's encouragement for anybody. 54:41 John Chapter 5, I shall turn there. 54:44 John Chapter 5:8, 54:47 'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, 54:50 in that which all that are in the graves 54:52 shall hear his voice, and shall come forth 54:56 they that have done good unto the resurrection of life." 54:59 Thank God for that. 55:01 Paul wrote to the Thessalonians 55:02 he said, "For the Lord himself 55:04 shall descend from heaven, with a shout, 55:05 with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, 55:08 and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 55:13 Be encouraged today and if you know somebody 55:15 who is looking at a very uncertain future, 55:18 encourage that person with the love of God. 55:21 And with the promises of God that say that one day 55:24 there's gonna be a great getting up morning 55:26 and we're all going to go home where we're supposed to be. 55:32 Thanks for your questions, God bless you. 55:33 We look forward to doing this again some time soon. 55:44 In Matthew 4:4 the Word of God says, 55:47 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 55:50 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' 55:54 " Every Word is a one minute Bible based daily devotional 55:57 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw 55:59 and designed especially for busy people like you. 56:02 Look for Every Word on selective networks 56:05 or watch it online every day on our website itiswritten.com. 56:09 Receive a daily spiritual boost, 56:12 watch Every Word, you will be glad you did. 56:19 Perhaps our program today has touched your heart 56:21 and impressed you with a personal need 56:23 for deeper Bible study. 56:25 If you desire to listen to God and follow where he leads, 56:28 we've got a wonderful resource that can help you do that 56:31 in a systemic way, the Discover Bible Guides. 56:35 These study guides will take you 56:36 through the essential truths taught in Scripture. 56:38 They give you the big picture, 56:40 showing how it all fits together. 56:42 The Discover Bible Guides are a wonderful way for you 56:45 to become grounded in the Word of God, 56:47 and to see how Jesus Christ relates 56:49 to all the areas of our lives. 56:52 Please call or write us 56:53 and the Discover Bible Guides will be on their way to you. 56:57 If you live in North America, 56:58 we'll mail these Bible guides free of charge. 57:01 Or for even easier and immediate access 57:02 from anywhere around the world, 57:04 you can get these wonderful Bible lessons 57:06 on our website itiswritten.com. 57:10 Request the Discover Bible Guides 57:13 by calling our toll free number 1 800 253 3000. 57:18 Call right now and tell us the name of today's free offer, 57:21 the Discover Bible Guides. 57:23 You can also request today's offer by writing to 57:26 It Is Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. 57:32 Thank you for your letters and for your continued support. |
Revised 2015-01-15