In today's troubled world
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people are
wondering where we are headed?
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Revelation Today
presents the answers.
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Bible prophecy reveals
what the future holds in store.
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Revelation Today.
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Good evening, everyone.
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I am glad that
you are here tonight.
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Because tonight's
subject is one that
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you don't want to miss.
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I'd like you to
think of the most
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beautiful place
you've ever been.
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Is it the Smoky's,
the Blue Ridge Mountains?
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You might say the Outer Banks,
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you might say further away,
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the Gulf Coast,
further, the French Riviera,
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the Swiss Alps,
Yosemite, Statesville.
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In spite of what sin has done,
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this world is
still very beautiful.
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But it's true that we
haven't seen anything yet.
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The very best is still to come.
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You'll be blessed by
tonight's presentation,
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"As Good as It Gets."
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The presenter
of Revelation Today
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is Ron Halvorsen.
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Good evening. Good evening.
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That's our topic tonight,
"Heaven, As Good as It Gets."
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Amen.
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I lived on this
blue marble planet
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for almost 76 years
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and I've been
in some of the most
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beautiful places
in all the world.
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I stood on a
mountain in Switzerland
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in the early
morning and watch the fog
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sweep up the valley
walls like a jewel scarf
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being taken off
a lady's shoulders.
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I've stood on beautiful
clean clear meadow lake
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in New Zealand, fly
fishing at day break.
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I could hear the sheep bells
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and just at that
time a flock of sheep
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came up over the
crest of the hill
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and looked down upon me.
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It was morning.
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I'll never forget
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that I was touched by
the cool morning water
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and invigorated by the
cool unpolluted air, beautiful.
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For 75, almost 76 years
I've lived on this beautiful
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blue marble planet called earth.
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And I've been in
places some just dream about.
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I kissed my wife in the
shadow of the Taj Mahal.
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They say you live forever
after that with each other.
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Amen.
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So you better get
a plane trip, man.
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I rode on a boat on the
beautiful fjords of Norway,
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my country of my ancestors.
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And I watched
100 water waterfalls
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tumbling down from the cliffs
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and cascading down
to the water's edge.
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I swam in Nylon Pool in
Tobago just off of Trinidad.
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So beautiful and so clear,
you can look 100 feet down
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and it seems
like just a few feet.
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Beautiful, Nylon Pool in Tobago.
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I stood in-- on my skies at
Keystone Mountain in Colorado
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and I've been the first
one to come up to chair lift
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and I was there all by myself
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and a foot of
snow fell that night
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before in fresh powder.
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And there I was and then
I started down the mountain,
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I was exhilarating, invigorated
by the snow and the wind.
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I've swam in the Crystal River,
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a thousand
times with the manatee
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and I listened as they blew
the water from their nostrils,
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Crystal River and the
Three Sisters Springs.
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My son and I
walked the Shadagee river
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fly fishing in New York
State, fishing for brown trout.
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And I remember sitting on
the boulder with my son at noon
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and we watch the midday
hatch and we sat together
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and we ate a good peanut butter
and jelly sandwich together.
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All on this blue marbled planet,
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this beautiful place.
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But I'm not fooled by beauty.
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I've seen the world
old and I've seen it dirty
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and I've seen it dying.
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I've been in the slums of India
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and so poverty
that lowest level.
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The stench of horror, the
open sewers, hungry people,
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it was Gandhi who said,
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"Poverty is the
worst kind of violence."
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I've been there.
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I've been in South
Africa during apartheid
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and preached at
Soweto, a township
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where I wasn't
supposed to even go.
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And I saw the poor and I
saw sadness in the faces.
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I've been in a Barrios of
LA and saw poverty and dirt,
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I saw falling down shacks where
four families lived together
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surviving and hoping for a job.
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I lived in the ghetto.
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I mean the
slums of Coney Island.
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My only scenic
view out the window
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was the garbage
barrels in the alleyway.
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I lived with the
violence and the blood
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and the gore and the death.
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I've been in the inner
cities of the great nation
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and saw what drugs and alcohol
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and sin can do to
wreck a neighborhood
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and hold its citizens captive
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behind the doors
captive to violence.
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I've seen the pollute
waters of Coney Island creek.
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And I saw the
east river where I swam
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and when I came up I had
a sheen of oil on my body
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and I had to watch
out for the water rats
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when I crawled out of the river.
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I've been there.
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I discovered that all
this beauty in this world
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which has inspired
the tracing of artists
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and the words of
poets is not sufficient.
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You see, that is the world,
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that is this world
and it's not enough.
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There is a better place.
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I mean, and that brings
us to our subject tonight,
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it's as good as it
gets, the good as it gets.
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The Book of
Revelation can be called
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the book of homecomings.
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For there in that
book he's given the picture
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of a heavenly home.
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And heaven is our true home.
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You see, anonymous
writer about an American tourist
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visit to 19th century
Polish Rabbi, Hofetz Chaim.
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As he walked
into the Rabbi's home,
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he noticed there was
so little bit of furniture
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and it was just a
room filled with books
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and a table and a bench.
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And the tourist asked then,
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"Rabbi, where
is your furniture?"
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And the Rabbi
said, "Where is yours?"
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He said, "Mine?"
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Asked the puzzled American.
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"I'm a visitor here.
I'm only passing through."
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And the Rabbi looked at
him and said, "So am I."
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Amen.
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So am I.
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You see, Revelation describes
of people who are pilgrims
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and not tourists
that they are pilgrims
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going to the Promise Land.
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They are pilgrims like Abraham
starting out trusting God
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every step by faith until
they found their promise land.
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We are pilgrims today. Amen.
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I went home
recently back to New York.
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I go there every now
and then just to walk up
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and down the streets
and smell again the smells
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and hear again the sounds.
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I love the city.
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You get to heaven I know
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you have a place
out in the country,
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I'm gonna live in a
condo in New Jerusalem.
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But I went back to New York,
I went back to Coney Island
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the boardwalk and
also I went to ground zero.
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I stood on the spot
where the age of fear was born
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and the war on
terrorism really began.
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The skyline looks so different.
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It looked like some teeth
were plucked out of the city.
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I mean, the skyline
looks strangely different.
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Twin Towers lay in ruins.
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I stood
reverently thinking about
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those people that
perished that day.
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They had everything to live for
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and I stood
there with bowed head
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and thought of those people.
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David Tatkey, twin
sons and daughters,
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he died at 47
years old at the towers.
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I mean, Patrick Sean Murphy,
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he left behind a
two year old daughter
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and he died in the ruins.
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William Rob, 38 years old
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left behind a wife
and six year old daughter.
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Vincent Brunton, Captain,
Truck Company Ladder 105.
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He left behind a two
year old and a three year old.
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Just a few names
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and it tells me
death be not proud.
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My Bible tells
me in 1 Corinthians,
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"If in this life only
we have hope in Christ,
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we are all men most miserable."
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He tells us that this is
the only hope that we have,
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here charlotte
at North Carolina.
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If this is the
only hope we have,
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United States of America,
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if this is the
only hope we have,
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if this is the
only hope we have,
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we are miserable.
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Because there's
a good and the bad,
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there's the
beautiful and the ugly.
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And even our tranco
world is ripped apart
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sometime in our growing years.
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Does God have anything to
say to a world held hostage?
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Does God have anything
to say to those who grieve?
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I have good news for you.
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Yes, God has
something to say to us.
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The book is written in
the age of pain, Revelation.
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The book is stained with
tears, this Book of Revelation.
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This book is stained in
blood, the Book of Revelation
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and it gives us hope.
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The apocalypse, the Revelation
is a book of the soaring
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and it says, "I, John, saw."
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Nearly 50 times,
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John the man of
Patmos says, "I saw."
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And why he says that
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is because when
you read this book,
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he wants you to see.
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He wants you to see what he saw.
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He wants you to see
00:10:24.58\00:10:25.98
the beautiful kingdom of heaven.
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He wants you to
see the curtain open,
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he wants you to see the angels
of God rejoicing at the throne,
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he wants you to
see Jesus Christ,
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King of kings
and Lords of Lords.
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I saw, he saw
things of the past.
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I saw Jesus walked to the water
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and be baptized
by John the baptizer.
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I saw and beheld he
says, I saw Jesus Christ
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as He came up out of the water.
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John saw it with his
own eyes, that was past.
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He saw the slain lamb
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
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He saw the upper room
where He was with His disciples
00:10:59.53\00:11:01.84
and where Judas came
and betrayed his Lord
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for 30 pieces of silver.
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But what do we
betray Christ for?
00:11:06.38\00:11:09.04
What cheap things do
we betray Christ for?
00:11:09.07\00:11:12.19
I saw, he says.
00:11:12.22\00:11:14.05
I saw the upper room, the feast.
00:11:14.08\00:11:16.37
I saw the
garden where He prayed,
00:11:16.40\00:11:18.77
where drops of blood
poured from His forehead
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and mingled with
the dust of the earth.
00:11:21.31\00:11:23.11
"Let this cup past from
the me, o God, not my will
00:11:23.14\00:11:26.30
but Thee be done."
00:11:26.33\00:11:28.67
He said I saw
the trail of Jesus.
00:11:28.70\00:11:32.26
I saw where they
took the crown of thorns
00:11:32.29\00:11:34.82
and crushed it upon His head.
00:11:34.85\00:11:36.83
I saw Him die upon the
cross, bloodied by man's spear
00:11:36.86\00:11:41.24
and bloodied by man's whip.
00:11:41.27\00:11:43.60
I saw Him die.
00:11:43.63\00:11:47.81
I, John, I saw Him.
00:11:47.84\00:11:52.54
I saw Him resurrected.
00:11:52.57\00:11:55.22
I saw Him come forth, I saw Him
00:11:55.25\00:11:58.01
who had broken
the bonds of death
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and the stone
had been rolled away.
00:12:00.13\00:12:02.09
I saw Jesus alive.
00:12:02.12\00:12:04.70
I, John, saw.
00:12:04.73\00:12:06.85
The ascension of
Jesus back to heaven
00:12:06.88\00:12:09.30
and the future is open to John
00:12:09.33\00:12:11.09
and the veil is pulled
away and now He sees things
00:12:11.12\00:12:13.61
that will come to
pass in the future.
00:12:13.64\00:12:15.76
And those are the
things he wants you to see.
00:12:15.79\00:12:17.89
He wants you to see
the Christ of the past
00:12:17.92\00:12:20.13
and the Christ of the present
and the Christ of the future.
00:12:20.16\00:12:23.24
He wants to show you
and there are two things
00:12:23.27\00:12:25.49
among many that he shows us.
00:12:25.52\00:12:27.11
First of all he
shows us a world ruined,
00:12:27.14\00:12:29.90
a world ruined by
man and then secondly
00:12:29.93\00:12:32.87
a world restored
by the Son of Man.
00:12:32.90\00:12:36.21
1 John says,
the world is ruined.
00:12:36.24\00:12:39.39
Listen, "And I looked,
and behold a pale horse,
00:12:39.42\00:12:42.12
and his name that sat
on him," this is prophetic.
00:12:42.15\00:12:44.62
Listen to what he says.
00:12:44.65\00:12:45.96
He said, "Behold a pale horse,
00:12:45.99\00:12:47.39
and his name that
sat on him was Death,
00:12:47.42\00:12:49.75
and Hell," that translated
in Greek is the grave.
00:12:49.78\00:12:52.88
I saw the grave.
"Followed with him.
00:12:52.91\00:12:55.11
And power was given unto them
00:12:55.14\00:12:56.35
over the fourth
part of the earth."
00:12:56.38\00:12:58.08
And he describes it.
00:12:58.11\00:12:59.40
"To kill with
sword, war and with hunger,
00:12:59.43\00:13:02.60
pestilence and death,
00:13:02.63\00:13:04.07
and with the beasts of
the nation of the earth."
00:13:04.10\00:13:06.78
He saw all these
things a world ruined by man,
00:13:06.81\00:13:10.72
a world ruined by man.
00:13:10.75\00:13:12.37
And then in
chapter 6 verse 4, he says,
00:13:12.40\00:13:14.63
"And there went
out another horse,"
00:13:14.66\00:13:16.32
this is the four
horse galloping across
00:13:16.35\00:13:18.32
the scene of human events
00:13:18.35\00:13:19.66
telling us what terrible
things are going to happen
00:13:19.69\00:13:22.13
before Christ comes.
00:13:22.16\00:13:23.55
He says, "And there went
out another horse that was red,
00:13:23.58\00:13:26.12
and power was given
unto him that sat thereon
00:13:26.15\00:13:28.59
to take peace from the earth,
00:13:28.62\00:13:30.31
and that they
should kill one another,
00:13:30.34\00:13:32.17
and there was given
unto him a great sword."
00:13:32.20\00:13:34.54
He describes
this terrible world,
00:13:34.57\00:13:36.55
the world of
war, the world of hate
00:13:36.58\00:13:38.69
when nations can't
get along together.
00:13:38.72\00:13:41.16
The war of hate.
00:13:41.19\00:13:42.52
He talks about it
and he says, it says,
00:13:42.55\00:13:45.14
if the horse
gallops across the scene
00:13:45.17\00:13:47.48
the scene of human events.
00:13:47.51\00:13:49.82
And the Bible
tells us, Roman 3:17,
00:13:49.85\00:13:53.12
notice, and it says,
00:13:53.15\00:13:54.58
"The way of peace
have they not known."
00:13:54.61\00:13:57.39
What a world.
00:13:57.42\00:13:59.00
Must I remind you we are at war.
00:13:59.03\00:14:01.16
Iraq, Iran, I mean, Afghanistan.
00:14:01.19\00:14:05.48
We're at war,
00:14:05.51\00:14:06.66
we're at war with
terrorism around the world.
00:14:06.69\00:14:09.02
And we are at war
and the Bible says,
00:14:09.05\00:14:11.79
it needs the Prince of
peace, the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:14:11.82\00:14:14.39
Amen.
00:14:14.42\00:14:15.45
And so John
describes it in that chapter,
00:14:15.48\00:14:17.94
the sixth chapter of Revelation.
00:14:17.97\00:14:19.70
He describes a
world, a world throttling
00:14:19.73\00:14:22.57
on the brink of disaster.
00:14:22.60\00:14:24.76
And the Bible again tells us,
00:14:24.79\00:14:26.52
"Ye shall hear of
wars and rumors of wars."
00:14:26.55\00:14:29.22
And he says, the end's not yet.
00:14:29.25\00:14:31.48
Not one decade has
been in universal peace
00:14:31.51\00:14:34.48
in our lifetime.
00:14:34.51\00:14:36.05
Always somewhere man is at war.
00:14:36.08\00:14:38.81
I mean John sees it
there in Revelation.
00:14:38.84\00:14:41.09
And he goes and says,
00:14:41.12\00:14:42.18
"And when he had
opened the third seal,
00:14:42.21\00:14:43.74
I heard the third
beast say, Come and see.
00:14:43.77\00:14:45.76
And I behold, and
lo a black horse."
00:14:45.79\00:14:47.76
Notice, he says, "A black
horse and he that sat on him
00:14:47.79\00:14:50.86
had a pair of
balances in his hand."
00:14:50.89\00:14:52.87
They're trying to balance out
the food supply for the world.
00:14:52.90\00:14:57.79
"And I heard a voice in
the midst of the four beasts,
00:14:57.82\00:15:00.29
the four nation say,
00:15:00.32\00:15:01.84
A measure of wheat for a penny,
00:15:01.87\00:15:03.69
three measures of
barley for a penny,
00:15:03.72\00:15:05.90
and see thou hurt not
the oil and the wine."
00:15:05.93\00:15:09.05
Figuratively who
is speaking listen,
00:15:09.08\00:15:11.46
the food is weighed out
in small portions at a time.
00:15:11.49\00:15:15.90
Famine and inflation
will play a major role
00:15:15.93\00:15:18.20
in the last days.
00:15:18.23\00:15:19.49
I'm Paul when I go to Africa,
00:15:19.52\00:15:21.50
I'm Paul when to the
third world countries.
00:15:21.53\00:15:24.64
And I think of what
we have here in America
00:15:24.67\00:15:27.42
and we're always complaining.
00:15:27.45\00:15:30.49
I'm amazed.
00:15:30.52\00:15:32.83
Follow me through
those Sahara places,
00:15:32.86\00:15:37.67
those dry places.
00:15:37.70\00:15:39.41
Go with me into
some of those townships.
00:15:39.44\00:15:42.07
Go with me with a
people who are hungry
00:15:42.10\00:15:44.04
and starving and they have no--
00:15:44.07\00:15:45.67
and they are
following their momma,
00:15:45.70\00:15:47.24
they're looking for
something, something to eat.
00:15:47.27\00:15:50.39
Some haven't had a
bit of food for the week,
00:15:50.42\00:15:54.21
those little thin
children with bloated bellies.
00:15:54.24\00:15:59.23
Bible says it will
get worse and worse until
00:15:59.26\00:16:01.50
the man ruined the
world that God gave them.
00:16:01.53\00:16:04.45
All the beautiful things
I talked about man ruins it.
00:16:04.48\00:16:07.38
He pollutes the sky.
00:16:07.41\00:16:08.90
I mean he does
away with the ozone.
00:16:08.93\00:16:11.31
I mean he melts the ice cap.
00:16:11.34\00:16:13.19
Listen to me, friend,
we are our worst enemies.
00:16:13.22\00:16:17.30
"And when he
opened the fourth seal,
00:16:17.33\00:16:18.57
I heard the voice of
the fourth beast say,
00:16:18.60\00:16:20.07
Come and see.
00:16:20.10\00:16:21.34
And I looked, and
behold a pale horse,
00:16:21.37\00:16:23.23
and his name that
sat on him was," what?
00:16:23.26\00:16:25.88
"His name was Death."
00:16:25.91\00:16:28.07
And we go on.
00:16:28.10\00:16:29.22
"And Hell followed with him.
00:16:29.25\00:16:30.73
And power was given unto them
00:16:30.76\00:16:32.08
over the fourth
part of the earth,
00:16:32.11\00:16:33.57
to kill with sword,
00:16:33.60\00:16:34.84
and with hunger, and with death,
00:16:34.87\00:16:36.66
and the beasts of
the field of the earth."
00:16:36.69\00:16:39.07
We find a world ruined by man.
00:16:39.10\00:16:41.79
But we find a world
soon to be restored by God.
00:16:41.82\00:16:44.92
God is about to
restore in spite of pestilence,
00:16:44.95\00:16:48.72
in spite of anthrax
and smallpox and Rickets
00:16:48.75\00:16:52.72
a world under the
threat of chemical warfare.
00:16:52.75\00:16:54.84
In spite of all that God
has an answer for our future.
00:16:54.87\00:16:59.64
A world will be restored again.
00:16:59.67\00:17:02.46
I'll look for the
restoration of this earth.
00:17:02.49\00:17:04.43
I long for the
restoration of this earth.
00:17:04.46\00:17:07.03
And God says that He
will do it, restore it.
00:17:07.06\00:17:10.13
When I was a young minister,
I got a telephone call once.
00:17:10.16\00:17:13.25
I was in my study
reading the Word of God,
00:17:13.28\00:17:15.21
trying to write a
sermon for the coming Sabbath
00:17:15.24\00:17:17.60
where I was to preach.
00:17:17.63\00:17:20.47
If in this life
only we have hope.
00:17:20.50\00:17:23.52
And I got a telephone call
00:17:23.55\00:17:24.80
and this was a
mother of C.M. Jennings
00:17:24.83\00:17:27.11
and she said, "My
boy is in the hospital."
00:17:27.14\00:17:29.08
I couldn't believe it why
he was a seminary student,
00:17:29.11\00:17:32.10
that weekend he was
there at the church and I--
00:17:32.13\00:17:34.31
I had him have opening prayer
00:17:34.34\00:17:36.70
and he was so excited
about finishing seminary
00:17:36.73\00:17:39.32
and going out and preaching
00:17:39.35\00:17:40.82
and being a
minister of the gospel.
00:17:40.85\00:17:42.96
And I said C.M?
00:17:42.99\00:17:44.73
She said, "He's in
the hospital at New Haven
00:17:44.76\00:17:47.00
at Yale at the
medical center there.
00:17:47.03\00:17:50.19
Would you go see
him?" I said, "I sure will."
00:17:50.22\00:17:51.91
And so the next morning I
drove down from New London,
00:17:51.94\00:17:54.74
Connecticut down to New Haven.
00:17:54.77\00:17:57.07
I walked into the hospital
00:17:57.10\00:17:58.22
and up the stairs
and down the hallway
00:17:58.25\00:17:59.76
and got to his
room, third floor.
00:17:59.79\00:18:04.01
The door was open
a little, I noticed
00:18:04.04\00:18:05.50
he was sitting on
the edge of his bed
00:18:05.53\00:18:06.73
and he was reading his Bible.
00:18:06.76\00:18:09.32
And so I walked in
and he said, "Hi, pastor.
00:18:09.35\00:18:13.47
I'm so glad to see you."
00:18:13.50\00:18:15.33
And we sat down
together and we talked a little.
00:18:15.36\00:18:17.96
And then he says,
"You know, pastor,
00:18:17.99\00:18:19.02
I've been reading about Abraham.
00:18:19.05\00:18:21.45
The Bible says
Abraham looked for a city
00:18:21.48\00:18:23.56
whose builder
and maker was God."
00:18:23.59\00:18:26.04
And we spent the most beautiful
hour and a half together
00:18:26.07\00:18:29.61
studying the
restoration of the new planet.
00:18:29.64\00:18:32.59
And he was so
excited, he was so thrilled,
00:18:32.62\00:18:35.24
we had prayer together.
00:18:35.27\00:18:36.42
I went home and when I got home,
00:18:36.45\00:18:38.16
the mother called me.
00:18:38.19\00:18:39.82
She says, "The
tests have just come back.
00:18:39.85\00:18:42.13
C.M. has leukemia."
00:18:42.16\00:18:44.96
Nineteen year old boy.
00:18:44.99\00:18:47.52
He has leukemia and it's deadly.
00:18:47.55\00:18:52.95
So I prayed for C.M.,
00:18:52.98\00:18:54.54
the next day I went
down to the hospital.
00:18:54.57\00:18:57.32
Then the next day.
00:18:57.35\00:18:59.12
About the fourth day he
was looking weaker and paler.
00:18:59.15\00:19:02.99
And I was sitting
on the bed beside him
00:19:03.02\00:19:04.41
and we again studied about
00:19:04.44\00:19:06.29
the restoration
of the new earth.
00:19:06.32\00:19:09.31
And he said, "I know I
have a terrible disease,
00:19:09.34\00:19:11.20
pastor" he said.
00:19:11.23\00:19:12.26
But I look for a builder
00:19:12.29\00:19:16.10
who's the maker is Jesus Christ.
00:19:16.13\00:19:18.77
And that city, that restoration.
00:19:18.80\00:19:22.78
Few days later I
came to the hospital,
00:19:22.81\00:19:24.47
I walked and he was in
last stages of leukemia.
00:19:24.50\00:19:27.93
His fiancée was
standing at the foot of the bed
00:19:27.96\00:19:30.11
and mother, father,
brother, sister, two sisters.
00:19:30.14\00:19:37.47
And I sat down beside
him and I took his hand.
00:19:37.50\00:19:42.18
And he squeezed
my hand and he said,
00:19:42.21\00:19:46.02
"Abraham, Abraham. Abraham."
00:19:46.05\00:19:51.84
I said, "C.M., go to sleep.
00:19:51.87\00:19:55.79
I'll see you with Abraham."
00:19:55.82\00:19:58.98
That's right. Amen.
00:19:59.01\00:20:00.67
I walked out in the room
and I was crying because--
00:20:00.70\00:20:05.26
then after I came back
00:20:05.29\00:20:06.32
the bed sheets
were out in the hall
00:20:06.35\00:20:07.90
and there was mother
and father heartbroken
00:20:07.93\00:20:10.06
and a brother and two sisters.
00:20:10.09\00:20:14.40
It's hard to explain
but was through his death
00:20:14.43\00:20:17.74
that I let his mother
and father to Jesus Christ
00:20:17.77\00:20:20.95
and the kingdom of God
00:20:20.98\00:20:22.25
and I baptized his
three, his three siblings.
00:20:22.28\00:20:27.16
Looks for a kingdom.
00:20:27.19\00:20:30.56
I left that
place a different man.
00:20:30.59\00:20:32.42
I was determined
from the moment on,
00:20:32.45\00:20:34.24
that any opportunity God gave me
00:20:34.27\00:20:36.51
to show a man or a woman
or a young person and child
00:20:36.54\00:20:39.33
to the kingdom of God
00:20:39.36\00:20:40.60
that's why I live
for and I die for.
00:20:40.63\00:20:42.92
Amen.
00:20:42.95\00:20:44.31
Revolutionized my ministry,
00:20:44.34\00:20:46.76
if in this life only
we have hope a world--
00:20:46.79\00:20:50.32
a world restored.
00:20:50.35\00:20:52.54
Now this
miserable world without God,
00:20:52.57\00:20:57.33
why because we've
been held hostage.
00:20:57.36\00:20:59.51
Look at this
man he is in chains,
00:20:59.54\00:21:01.46
the more figurative that we
had to put real chains on him.
00:21:01.49\00:21:04.85
Sin has brought him to ruin.
00:21:04.88\00:21:07.34
Alcohol and drugs
00:21:07.37\00:21:09.03
and there is no
denying that we live here
00:21:09.06\00:21:11.08
but we really don't have a
full abandon life, come on.
00:21:11.11\00:21:14.19
Just when you think
everything is going all right,
00:21:14.22\00:21:16.31
you get news from
the doctor, come on.
00:21:16.34\00:21:18.73
Just when you think
everything is going by you
00:21:18.76\00:21:20.91
hear news from the bank.
00:21:20.94\00:21:22.87
Just when you think things--
00:21:22.90\00:21:24.17
you're finally getting
on top of it you know fall.
00:21:24.20\00:21:29.48
In this life we don't
have permanent love here.
00:21:29.51\00:21:32.39
I mean we will
laugh we don't have
00:21:32.42\00:21:33.48
permanent happiness here.
00:21:33.51\00:21:35.59
You see sinners robbed
us and God will restore us
00:21:35.62\00:21:38.88
and that is what John is saying
in the Book of Revelation.
00:21:38.91\00:21:41.38
The ultimate
life, the ultimate love,
00:21:41.41\00:21:43.20
the ultimate
happiness is heaven.
00:21:43.23\00:21:46.09
And that's why I'd
like to talk about heaven.
00:21:46.12\00:21:48.84
I mean, I love to
talk about heaven.
00:21:48.87\00:21:51.15
You see heaven,
00:21:51.18\00:21:52.49
you see it's true
that a Christian has a--
00:21:52.52\00:21:54.48
I mean ability to
enjoy life here on earth.
00:21:54.51\00:21:56.97
I mean I love life, I
mean, everyday is a blessing,
00:21:57.00\00:22:01.53
I mean even when I'm
sick it's a blessing.
00:22:01.56\00:22:03.80
I mean everyday,
I mean, I can't help
00:22:03.83\00:22:05.79
but to be rejoicing and happy.
00:22:05.82\00:22:07.77
Sometimes my wife
she says, what's this?
00:22:07.80\00:22:12.78
I say, that's
right, I take two pills,
00:22:12.81\00:22:14.61
one in the morning
prayer and one in the evening
00:22:14.64\00:22:16.90
and the whole day goes better.
00:22:16.93\00:22:19.47
A whole day goes better.
00:22:19.50\00:22:21.64
I mean, a world filled with evil
00:22:21.67\00:22:23.87
yet we can find
some kind of good.
00:22:23.90\00:22:25.72
Can't we as a believer?
00:22:25.75\00:22:27.70
I mean tragic
circumstances the believer finds
00:22:27.73\00:22:30.03
happiness in a
world of unhappiness.
00:22:30.06\00:22:32.26
The believer finds
peace in the world of panic.
00:22:32.29\00:22:35.29
Believer finds love
in the world of lust,
00:22:35.32\00:22:37.37
I mean but the
ultimate happiness,
00:22:37.40\00:22:39.23
the ultimate peace
and the ultimate joy
00:22:39.26\00:22:41.35
will be in heaven itself.
00:22:41.38\00:22:42.74
A person is not prepared to live
00:22:42.77\00:22:44.61
until he's prepared to die.
00:22:44.64\00:22:46.60
Amen.
00:22:46.63\00:22:48.00
Bob Harrington,
chapel in the Bourbon Street
00:22:48.03\00:22:50.70
had his Bible in his hand
was walking along Bourbon Street
00:22:50.73\00:22:53.32
singing a hymn just moving
fast through Bourbon Street
00:22:53.35\00:22:56.92
and there was the bartender
00:22:56.95\00:22:58.01
standing out in
the corner he says,
00:22:58.04\00:22:59.53
Bob, where you going?
00:22:59.56\00:23:01.12
He said, heaven just
passing through town.
00:23:01.15\00:23:05.52
I like that, we are
pilgrims on a way to heaven.
00:23:05.55\00:23:10.16
And you're just
passing through town.
00:23:10.19\00:23:15.16
Heaven is for real
people, for you and for me.
00:23:15.19\00:23:19.02
It's for young
people and old people.
00:23:19.05\00:23:21.36
I mean, in fact, do you realize
00:23:21.39\00:23:23.57
that 88 percent
of people surveyed,
00:23:23.60\00:23:26.43
said they
believe heaven is a place
00:23:26.46\00:23:28.02
where people
live forever with God.
00:23:28.05\00:23:31.67
Fifty seven
percent people believed
00:23:31.70\00:23:33.92
people get there
through a mixture of
00:23:33.95\00:23:35.99
faith in God and good works.
00:23:36.02\00:23:38.82
Seventy nine believe
Mother Teresa is in heaven.
00:23:38.85\00:23:42.60
Sixty six believe
that Oprah Winfrey
00:23:42.63\00:23:44.73
will go to heaven, that's nice.
00:23:44.76\00:23:47.59
I wonder if I'm on
this survey anywhere.
00:23:47.62\00:23:51.70
I mean, I kind of like her
but surely if Oprah is going
00:23:51.73\00:23:54.77
I want to go, come on I mean.
00:23:54.80\00:23:57.84
Sixty one percent
believe that Princess Diana
00:23:57.87\00:24:00.21
will be in heaven.
00:24:00.24\00:24:01.33
Eighty seven believe
that they were going there.
00:24:01.36\00:24:05.79
I don't know if
that's faith or presumption
00:24:05.82\00:24:07.67
but anyway 87 percent.
00:24:07.70\00:24:10.24
I don't think
the average American
00:24:10.27\00:24:11.70
gives it a second thought
until someone they love dies
00:24:11.73\00:24:15.31
and then heaven is real.
00:24:15.34\00:24:18.59
Heaven is real and
the restoration of eternal
00:24:18.62\00:24:21.54
never ending life and
peace and happiness and joy
00:24:21.57\00:24:24.59
spoken out by John
and John did not lie to us
00:24:24.62\00:24:27.77
Revelation is a
revelation of Jesus Christ
00:24:27.80\00:24:30.32
and Christ is never lie
to us and if my Christ says
00:24:30.35\00:24:33.20
I go to prepare a place for you,
00:24:33.23\00:24:34.84
I will come again
receive you unto Myself
00:24:34.87\00:24:37.44
I'm waiting,
00:24:37.47\00:24:40.82
I'm waiting to go home
to be with Jesus Christ.
00:24:40.85\00:24:46.81
I tell you what a
wonderful promise.
00:24:46.84\00:24:48.87
Heaven is for real
people, the Bible tells us.
00:24:48.90\00:24:52.40
"And he showed
me," Revelation 22:1-5,
00:24:52.43\00:24:55.66
'he showed me a pure
river of water of life,"
00:24:55.69\00:24:58.14
you see listen to me
at Eden there was a river,
00:24:58.17\00:25:01.02
when sin came into
world it was divided.
00:25:01.05\00:25:03.24
Sin always divides.
00:25:03.27\00:25:04.91
And then there was a
river and remember the time
00:25:04.94\00:25:06.85
they came through
the waters of Mara
00:25:06.88\00:25:10.78
and remember they,
the waters were bitter
00:25:10.81\00:25:14.01
and then he took the tree and
then through it in the waters
00:25:14.04\00:25:16.34
and it became sweet the
tree always makes lives sweet,
00:25:16.37\00:25:20.07
Calvary always makes life sweet.
00:25:20.10\00:25:23.96
And then you know the
river-- the river flows
00:25:23.99\00:25:26.19
it flows through
the Old Testament
00:25:26.22\00:25:27.92
then my blessed
Lord hangs upon a tree,
00:25:27.95\00:25:30.26
they pierce His
side and blood comes out
00:25:30.29\00:25:32.52
and water the
river runs through it
00:25:32.55\00:25:35.00
from Genesis to
Jesus and Jesus to John.
00:25:35.03\00:25:37.94
And then John
says I saw a new river.
00:25:37.97\00:25:40.82
Amen.
00:25:40.85\00:25:42.62
The river of life
"clear as crystal,
00:25:42.65\00:25:47.62
proceeding out of the
throne of God and of the Lamb.
00:25:47.65\00:25:50.43
In the midst of
the street of it,
00:25:50.46\00:25:51.61
and on the either side
of the river, was a tree."
00:25:51.64\00:25:54.21
Listen, "and there
was a tree of life,
00:25:54.24\00:25:55.89
which bare
twelve manner of fruits,
00:25:55.92\00:25:57.49
and yielded her
fruit every month,
00:25:57.52\00:25:59.15
and the leaves of the tree
00:25:59.18\00:26:00.22
were for the
healing of the nations.
00:26:00.25\00:26:01.92
And there shall
be no more curse."
00:26:01.95\00:26:04.60
Amen. Amen.
00:26:04.63\00:26:06.57
Nothing can harm us there.
Armies cannot touch us there.
00:26:06.60\00:26:10.93
Terrorist cannot fight us there.
00:26:10.96\00:26:13.42
I tell you floods
cannot destroy us.
00:26:13.45\00:26:15.61
Fires cannot burn us.
Evil cannot overcome us.
00:26:15.64\00:26:19.10
Famines cannot starve us.
00:26:19.13\00:26:21.47
Torture chambers cannot hold us.
00:26:21.50\00:26:23.91
Concentrated
camps cannot defeat us.
00:26:23.94\00:26:28.53
That's we are children of God.
00:26:28.56\00:26:31.05
There will be no more tears.
00:26:31.08\00:26:33.04
I love that.
00:26:33.07\00:26:34.64
"But the throne of God
and the Lamb shall be in it,
00:26:34.67\00:26:36.84
and the
servants shall serve him,
00:26:36.87\00:26:38.55
and they shall see his face,
00:26:38.58\00:26:39.76
and his name shall
be in their foreheads."
00:26:39.79\00:26:41.62
The name not 666
00:26:41.65\00:26:43.60
but the name of Jesus
written in your forehead
00:26:43.63\00:26:46.18
because that your forehead
is where of your thoughts are,
00:26:46.21\00:26:48.85
that's where your mind is,
00:26:48.88\00:26:50.43
you respond to Christ
here in your forehead.
00:26:50.46\00:26:53.42
He says, the name
of Christ is written
00:26:53.45\00:26:56.18
"and there shall be
no more night there."
00:26:56.21\00:26:57.94
What a
description of this world.
00:26:57.97\00:26:59.73
"And they need no candle,
neither light of the sun,
00:26:59.76\00:27:01.99
for the Lord God
giveth them light,
00:27:02.02\00:27:04.45
and they shall
reign for ever and ever."
00:27:04.48\00:27:06.63
I remember as I was
knocking on door sharing faith
00:27:06.66\00:27:09.58
and I would go into the
home and I would shared Jesus
00:27:09.61\00:27:12.18
and give them the
assurance that the Bible gives.
00:27:12.21\00:27:14.66
And I remember I was in
this doctors home and he says--
00:27:14.69\00:27:17.54
he says, I don't
believe in heaven.
00:27:17.57\00:27:20.40
Now I was taken back
because that's my first line.
00:27:20.43\00:27:24.10
If you died
would you go to heaven?
00:27:24.13\00:27:25.46
He said, I don't
believe in heaven.
00:27:25.49\00:27:27.54
So I said, what
if there was a place,
00:27:27.57\00:27:31.21
that there be no
taxes, no sickness,
00:27:31.24\00:27:37.48
no pain, no death, no separation
00:27:37.51\00:27:42.39
and I went on and on
and on just describing
00:27:42.42\00:27:44.45
what the Bible
describes about heaven
00:27:44.48\00:27:46.10
and he said, this, he
said, you'll have to be crazy
00:27:46.13\00:27:48.88
not to, want to go there.
00:27:48.91\00:27:50.19
I said, that's
right, may I share with you
00:27:50.22\00:27:51.87
the gospel the good news?
00:27:51.90\00:27:53.54
Amen, amen.
00:27:53.57\00:27:55.70
You'd have to be
crazy if you don't go there.
00:27:55.73\00:27:59.61
There in Revelation
the Bible teaches us,
00:27:59.64\00:28:02.85
I think Jesus is personal,
00:28:02.88\00:28:05.26
I think that
children will flock to Him.
00:28:05.29\00:28:07.31
I was out at a little
church school the other day,
00:28:07.34\00:28:09.90
we have two beautiful
church schools in this city,
00:28:09.93\00:28:12.46
you should check up on them
for your children, believe me.
00:28:12.49\00:28:15.87
And anyway when I finished
00:28:15.90\00:28:18.35
the children came
and ran and grab me,
00:28:18.38\00:28:21.62
held on me, this
grandfather's heart
00:28:21.65\00:28:24.62
I tell you it was
beating boom, boom, boom.
00:28:24.65\00:28:29.16
I think it was
like that with Jesus.
00:28:29.19\00:28:31.77
Isn't a terrible thing now?
00:28:31.80\00:28:34.26
Come on, isn't a
terrible thing now?
00:28:34.29\00:28:36.25
There is so evil
people that they can't
00:28:36.28\00:28:39.96
a child cannot put
their arms around you.
00:28:39.99\00:28:42.26
Amen. Amen.
00:28:42.29\00:28:43.95
I remember when I had a church
00:28:43.98\00:28:45.13
I had a big
church in Washington DC
00:28:45.16\00:28:47.36
and the children
like me for some reason.
00:28:47.39\00:28:49.14
I'm a pretty
likeable guy for little ones.
00:28:49.17\00:28:53.13
And we had many doors out
of this great Cathedral Church.
00:28:53.16\00:28:57.16
And one day a mother
came up dragging her child
00:28:57.19\00:29:01.92
and she said, he won't
go home until he hugs you.
00:29:01.95\00:29:07.10
I hugged him and he went home.
00:29:07.13\00:29:11.00
And then I-- then a
little girl came up to me
00:29:11.03\00:29:12.82
she heard I like Snicker bar
00:29:12.85\00:29:14.45
and she's came up to me one day
00:29:14.48\00:29:16.19
just before I get up to
preach just a little girl
00:29:16.22\00:29:18.58
and she said, I got
something for you, pastor,
00:29:18.61\00:29:21.31
and she held it
out was Snicker bar.
00:29:21.34\00:29:25.42
And I said, honey, I
said, I got to go preach
00:29:25.45\00:29:27.12
I said, I can't-- I
said, I tell you what,
00:29:27.15\00:29:29.50
you hold it and after
you and I will split it.
00:29:29.53\00:29:34.65
She sat in the front
row holding a Snicker bar
00:29:34.68\00:29:39.28
and I preached
the shortest sermon
00:29:39.31\00:29:41.13
I preached a whole year.
00:29:41.16\00:29:42.79
Wow, no more sickness.
00:29:46.42\00:29:51.79
No more land grabs
and loan forecloses.
00:29:51.82\00:29:56.58
No more runaway inflation
in trillion-dollar depts.
00:29:56.61\00:29:59.23
Amen.
00:29:59.26\00:30:00.81
No more poverty
and hunger and hurt,
00:30:00.84\00:30:03.64
no more beggars, no
homeless, no war no--
00:30:03.67\00:30:06.99
and you don't want to go there?
00:30:07.02\00:30:10.26
You don't want to go there?
00:30:10.29\00:30:12.71
My friend Johnny,
no my friend Richard,
00:30:12.74\00:30:15.98
excuse me, my
friend Richard was out --
00:30:16.01\00:30:17.87
I told you about
my conversion there
00:30:17.90\00:30:20.03
the other night
and Richard was with me
00:30:20.06\00:30:22.01
remember the young
man that was with me
00:30:22.04\00:30:23.49
just out of reform school.
00:30:23.52\00:30:25.36
And I remember when I
gave my heart to Jesus,
00:30:25.39\00:30:26.88
I turned Richard and I
wanted to invite him to come
00:30:26.91\00:30:28.87
and he looked up and he said
00:30:28.90\00:30:30.29
it cost too much
to be a Christian.
00:30:30.32\00:30:33.24
Later he murdered someone
00:30:33.27\00:30:35.31
and he spent the rest
of his life in prison.
00:30:35.34\00:30:37.82
And I've
traveled around the world
00:30:37.85\00:30:39.50
to the most beautiful places
a human being can ever go.
00:30:39.53\00:30:43.15
It cost too much
not to be a Christian.
00:30:43.18\00:30:45.98
Amen.
00:30:46.01\00:30:47.40
No tears, no sorrow, no Taliban,
00:30:47.43\00:30:51.30
I mean we have God's word on it.
00:30:51.33\00:30:53.44
I John saw the new
heaven and a new earth
00:30:53.47\00:30:56.21
wherein dwelleth righteousness.
00:30:56.24\00:30:58.03
The people of God
listen they're safe at last
00:30:58.06\00:31:02.22
and my Bible
tells me Revelation 21,
00:31:02.25\00:31:05.61
"And I heard a great
voice out of heaven,"
00:31:05.64\00:31:07.26
this is my favorite
chapter in Revelation.
00:31:07.29\00:31:09.45
I want you to look at it,
00:31:09.48\00:31:10.79
"And I heard a great
voice in heaven saying,
00:31:10.82\00:31:12.36
behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men,
00:31:12.39\00:31:14.58
and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people,
00:31:14.61\00:31:16.96
and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God."
00:31:16.99\00:31:19.55
You don't have to
build the tabernacle,
00:31:19.58\00:31:21.50
you are a tabernacle.
00:31:21.53\00:31:22.93
Amen. Amen.
00:31:22.96\00:31:24.77
Then he goes on to say,
00:31:24.80\00:31:26.02
"And I heard the number of them
00:31:26.05\00:31:27.11
which were sealed,
and there were sealed
00:31:27.14\00:31:28.97
an hundred and
forty and four thousand
00:31:29.00\00:31:30.39
of all tribes of
the children of Israel.
00:31:30.42\00:31:32.20
After this I beheld,
and, lo," notice he goes on,
00:31:32.23\00:31:35.55
"and a great multitude,
which no man could number,
00:31:35.58\00:31:38.04
of all nations,
kindreds, people, tongues,
00:31:38.07\00:31:40.21
stood before the
throne, before the Lamb,
00:31:40.24\00:31:42.33
clothed with white robes,
and palms in their hands."
00:31:42.36\00:31:45.07
Multitude after multi-- friend,
00:31:45.10\00:31:47.55
God is trying to make it for you
00:31:47.58\00:31:49.94
the kingdom
possible, the kingdom possible.
00:31:49.97\00:31:53.73
Revelation 7, and God will
wipe away all tears here it is,
00:31:53.76\00:31:57.88
"God will wipe away
all tears from their eyes,
00:31:57.91\00:32:00.27
and there shall
be no more death,
00:32:00.30\00:32:02.19
neither sorrow, nor crying,
00:32:02.22\00:32:04.19
neither shall
there be any more pain,
00:32:04.22\00:32:06.51
for the former
things are passed away."
00:32:06.54\00:32:10.16
I have good news for
you there will be a heaven.
00:32:10.19\00:32:14.35
Amen.
00:32:14.38\00:32:15.69
And it does by the way
the Bible speaks about it
00:32:15.72\00:32:17.74
doesn't argue the
point it just takes it.
00:32:17.77\00:32:20.79
He talks about
heaven, he just takes it,
00:32:20.82\00:32:22.84
don't argue it.
00:32:22.87\00:32:24.35
You can't argue with
ignorant people anyway.
00:32:24.38\00:32:27.42
Heaven is real
place with real person
00:32:27.45\00:32:29.21
with real people.
00:32:29.24\00:32:31.02
Heaven is a
real place of newness
00:32:31.05\00:32:32.82
that's what the Bible
teaches us, that is a place--
00:32:32.85\00:32:35.48
wipe away all the
tears from their eyes.
00:32:35.51\00:32:38.59
Wow.
00:32:38.62\00:32:40.21
I want to and
wipe away the tears
00:32:40.24\00:32:41.73
from my eyes, don't you?
00:32:41.76\00:32:43.70
That's the tender
touch of Jesus Christ.
00:32:43.73\00:32:46.55
That's the God you serve
00:32:46.58\00:32:47.81
not some tyrant
sitting on a throne
00:32:47.84\00:32:49.73
looking to see you
whether you're doing exactly
00:32:49.76\00:32:52.28
like you should
so He can zap you.
00:32:52.31\00:32:54.69
Amen. Amen.
00:32:54.72\00:32:55.89
Listen to me, we
have people in the church
00:32:55.92\00:32:59.92
that give a bad
impression about who God is
00:32:59.95\00:33:02.09
and how He is and how He acts.
00:33:02.12\00:33:05.18
We got bad
people behind a pulpit
00:33:05.21\00:33:07.08
trying to make
God out as a tyrant.
00:33:07.11\00:33:09.32
But I want to tell
you He wants to wipe away
00:33:09.35\00:33:10.83
your tears with His own finger.
00:33:10.86\00:33:13.74
And heaven is a
real place with newness.
00:33:13.77\00:33:16.24
It's a place of newness.
00:33:16.27\00:33:18.59
The people of God are
safe at last in this new place.
00:33:18.62\00:33:23.00
Listen to me, the
people are safe at home,
00:33:23.03\00:33:26.63
"Let not your
heart to be trouble,
00:33:26.66\00:33:27.86
ye believe in God,
believe also in me.
00:33:27.89\00:33:29.50
In my Father's
house are many mansions,
00:33:29.53\00:33:31.12
if it were not so,
I would have told you.
00:33:31.15\00:33:33.25
I go to prepare a place for you.
00:33:33.28\00:33:35.41
And if I go and
prepare a place for you,
00:33:35.44\00:33:37.22
I will come again, and
receive you unto myself,
00:33:37.25\00:33:39.68
that where I am,
there ye may be also."
00:33:39.71\00:33:41.23
Amen.
00:33:41.26\00:33:42.35
The Taj Mahal, I don't
know, if you ever been there,
00:33:42.38\00:33:44.09
it's a beautiful place.
00:33:44.12\00:33:45.22
That's after he took
all the jewelry out of it,
00:33:45.25\00:33:46.90
it was still a
beautiful place all the jewels.
00:33:46.93\00:33:49.17
Shah Jahan, built this
for his wife for 14 years
00:33:49.20\00:33:53.49
who died giving
birth to his son.
00:33:53.52\00:33:57.30
It was
constructed of white marble.
00:33:57.33\00:34:00.17
I mean it's so beautiful.
00:34:00.20\00:34:02.95
It's-- I can't explain it
even after they robbed it,
00:34:02.98\00:34:08.05
it's so beautiful.
00:34:08.08\00:34:09.50
It took 20,000
artisans to build it
00:34:09.53\00:34:13.84
and when they finished it
he cut off their right hand
00:34:13.87\00:34:17.04
so they could never
duplicate Taj Mahal.
00:34:17.07\00:34:21.38
My wife and I
went there together.
00:34:21.41\00:34:23.36
I've been
preaching all across India
00:34:23.39\00:34:25.16
and we went to the
Taj we had a day off.
00:34:25.19\00:34:28.32
And what was it, it was a tomb.
00:34:28.35\00:34:32.15
A tomb.
00:34:32.18\00:34:34.20
Imagine what Jesus
has prepared for us.
00:34:34.23\00:34:37.28
If a mogul could build
such a monument or tomb,
00:34:37.31\00:34:42.28
tomb to his wife
00:34:42.31\00:34:45.51
but heaven is a
place of newness.
00:34:45.54\00:34:47.72
Let me tell you that
heaven is a place of newness,
00:34:47.75\00:34:50.90
a new earth, a new
city, a new beginning.
00:34:50.93\00:34:56.11
I mean notice Isaiah
describes and talks about it.
00:34:56.14\00:34:59.08
He talks about this
new place and this newness.
00:34:59.11\00:35:01.36
"Behold, I create new
heavens and a new earth,
00:35:01.39\00:35:03.79
for the former
shall not be remembered,
00:35:03.82\00:35:05.32
nor come into mind."
00:35:05.35\00:35:06.38
It's not gonna bother
you any more this old earth,
00:35:06.41\00:35:09.04
your mind is
gonna be clear of it.
00:35:09.07\00:35:10.71
Amen.
00:35:10.74\00:35:11.94
And it's gonna be new.
00:35:11.97\00:35:13.71
And there is something
about newness isn't there.
00:35:13.74\00:35:15.80
I grew up in a inner
city I told you about that.
00:35:15.83\00:35:18.60
I mean I grew up
inner city and we were poor.
00:35:18.63\00:35:23.17
Just suppose how poor I
don't know what this group.
00:35:23.20\00:35:25.62
I mean, one minute you're happy
00:35:25.65\00:35:26.69
and the next
minute you look like
00:35:26.72\00:35:27.75
you lost your best
friend, come on here.
00:35:27.78\00:35:32.00
How poor, I was so poor.
00:35:32.03\00:35:34.26
My momma used
to scrimp and save.
00:35:34.29\00:35:36.09
You ever hear that word.
00:35:36.12\00:35:37.42
My momma used to scrimp
and save to get enough money.
00:35:37.45\00:35:40.35
She would buy a suit, one suit
00:35:40.38\00:35:44.69
once a year for one of the boys.
00:35:44.72\00:35:46.12
Now there are
five boys so you get--
00:35:46.15\00:35:49.04
I remember it was my turn.
00:35:49.07\00:35:51.10
We got on the subway
train in Coney Island
00:35:51.13\00:35:52.84
rode out to 34th
Street in Manhattan.
00:35:52.87\00:35:55.98
Got off the train walk by
Macy's that was too expensive,
00:35:56.01\00:35:59.26
went on to
Gimbel's by the way I even,
00:35:59.29\00:36:02.02
I even put a little
gimbel there is gimbels.
00:36:02.05\00:36:05.64
And my momma said
she brought me there
00:36:05.67\00:36:07.82
and I remember I went
into a room with suits
00:36:07.85\00:36:10.87
and I looked
and my eyes got big.
00:36:10.90\00:36:13.81
Saw a new suit
and then she kind of
00:36:13.84\00:36:17.17
guided me to the sales section.
00:36:17.20\00:36:20.48
And then she says all
right son pick it out.
00:36:20.51\00:36:24.42
I was walking up and
down, up and down, up and down
00:36:24.45\00:36:26.75
and the poor sales person
00:36:26.78\00:36:27.84
he want to get
rid of these sales
00:36:27.87\00:36:29.27
and I mean he
want to sell this boy
00:36:29.30\00:36:31.16
and get him out of there.
00:36:31.19\00:36:32.88
I get up suit
once every five years
00:36:32.91\00:36:35.53
I'm gonna enjoy it.
00:36:35.56\00:36:36.96
Amen.
00:36:36.99\00:36:39.20
And finally I saw it,
it was a pale blue suit.
00:36:39.23\00:36:45.71
Come on now pale
blue suit in Coney island,
00:36:45.74\00:36:50.89
a pale blue suit.
00:36:50.92\00:36:54.63
My momma said, you sure son?
00:36:54.66\00:36:58.78
She said, this
is a beautiful suit.
00:36:58.81\00:37:00.43
I said, oh no,
momma, I love that suit
00:37:00.46\00:37:03.95
and she said all right.
00:37:03.98\00:37:06.32
And I took it to the
counter, laid it on the counter
00:37:06.35\00:37:08.75
and the woman rung it up,
I don't know what it was $7
00:37:08.78\00:37:12.85
or you know in those
days you could buy a suit
00:37:12.88\00:37:15.16
now you got--
00:37:15.19\00:37:16.22
bring whole trailer
of money to get a suit.
00:37:16.25\00:37:19.03
But anyway or if you
get one of those cheep once
00:37:19.06\00:37:21.97
you get home and
the unravels on you,
00:37:22.00\00:37:23.96
have you notice that?
00:37:23.99\00:37:26.30
And so I had the blue
suit and this woman she said,
00:37:26.33\00:37:31.02
should I put it in the bag?
00:37:31.05\00:37:32.39
I should a bag, I lean
back and my momma grab me
00:37:32.42\00:37:36.76
I should a bag-- I want to box.
00:37:36.79\00:37:40.75
And there were
these Gimbel boxes
00:37:40.78\00:37:42.19
I don't know
with the wooden handle
00:37:42.22\00:37:44.85
and I dragged up box
all along 34th Street
00:37:44.88\00:37:49.27
and sat on the
subway with that box
00:37:49.30\00:37:51.66
sitting on my lap.
00:37:51.69\00:37:55.39
My momma said,
now its Easter Sunday
00:37:55.42\00:37:57.13
you're go in the Sunday School,
00:37:57.16\00:37:58.26
I was first one in Sunday School
00:37:58.29\00:37:59.86
in my pale blue suit.
00:37:59.89\00:38:02.84
I mean isn't it something
about getting something new.
00:38:02.87\00:38:05.48
Come on you women know
that, you're from Venus,
00:38:05.51\00:38:08.38
I'm from Mars.
00:38:08.41\00:38:09.73
A new suit.
00:38:13.27\00:38:14.84
My Bible tells me I'm
gonna have a new body.
00:38:14.87\00:38:16.59
Amen. Amen.
00:38:16.62\00:38:17.98
All things are new a
Wal Mart made new again,
00:38:18.01\00:38:21.34
a body shaded made new again,
00:38:21.37\00:38:23.80
a home
desecrated made new again,
00:38:23.83\00:38:26.19
the Bible was on to
describe this place.
00:38:26.22\00:38:28.41
"And he that sat
upon the throne said,
00:38:28.44\00:38:29.71
Behold, I make all things new.
00:38:29.74\00:38:31.30
He said unto me,
Write, these words are true
00:38:31.33\00:38:33.48
and the faithful."
00:38:33.51\00:38:34.84
God has always been faithful.
00:38:34.87\00:38:36.49
Death will be no more,
00:38:36.52\00:38:38.24
that's what the
Bible teaches us.
00:38:38.27\00:38:40.06
He is going to
us glorious bodies,
00:38:40.09\00:38:42.21
fashion unto his body.
00:38:42.24\00:38:43.61
"For if the dead rise
not, then is not Christ raised,
00:38:43.64\00:38:46.29
And if the Christ be not raised,
00:38:46.32\00:38:47.56
your faith is vain,
ye are yet in your sins.
00:38:47.59\00:38:49.98
Then they also
which are fallen asleep,"
00:38:50.01\00:38:53.03
they have
"fallen asleep in Christ"
00:38:53.06\00:38:55.05
and then he
says, "are perished."
00:38:55.08\00:38:56.50
But notice
00:38:56.53\00:38:57.69
"If in this life only
we have hope in Christ,
00:38:57.72\00:38:59.55
we are of all
men most miserable.
00:38:59.58\00:39:01.28
But now is Christ
risen from the dead,
00:39:01.31\00:39:03.07
and become the
firstfruits of them that," what?
00:39:03.10\00:39:05.58
"Slept." Amen.
00:39:05.61\00:39:07.71
I have not seen.
00:39:07.74\00:39:09.26
Amen.
00:39:09.29\00:39:10.52
Nor ear heard.
00:39:10.55\00:39:12.84
You see it's gonna be
real forever, it's a real life
00:39:12.87\00:39:17.15
and "Behold I
shew you a mystery,
00:39:17.18\00:39:19.04
we shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed,
00:39:19.07\00:39:21.49
in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye,
00:39:21.52\00:39:23.19
at the last trump for
the trumpet shall sound,
00:39:23.22\00:39:25.51
and the dead in
Christ shall raise first"
00:39:25.54\00:39:28.54
and then we which
are alive and remain
00:39:28.57\00:39:30.15
shall be caught up
together with them in the cloud
00:39:30.18\00:39:33.44
to meet the Lord near.
00:39:33.47\00:39:34.60
Amen.
00:39:34.63\00:39:35.78
So shall we ever
be with the Lord,
00:39:35.81\00:39:39.82
that's a promise made
right from God's holy book.
00:39:39.85\00:39:42.72
Listen to me, Jesus wants
us to enjoy that life forever.
00:39:42.75\00:39:48.50
I have not seen He says,
there is beauty in that truth.
00:39:48.53\00:39:52.55
A real forever
life, cataclysmic change.
00:39:52.58\00:39:56.97
You say how does that happen?
00:39:57.00\00:39:58.59
How will those
things become new?
00:39:58.62\00:40:00.68
Notice, notice how. Fire.
00:40:00.71\00:40:04.03
You see, cataclysmic change.
00:40:04.06\00:40:05.55
Why fire? Why
cataclysmic change?
00:40:05.58\00:40:08.08
The answer lies
in the fact of sin,
00:40:08.11\00:40:10.05
the fact of redemption.
00:40:10.08\00:40:11.48
Sin cannot be eradicated
by scientific process,
00:40:11.51\00:40:14.55
just there has to
be a cross on Golgotha
00:40:14.58\00:40:16.97
to end sin in the human heart,
00:40:17.00\00:40:18.83
so there must be
another divine invent
00:40:18.86\00:40:20.97
to end sin in the
world and the universe.
00:40:21.00\00:40:23.36
A cross fro a new heart
00:40:23.39\00:40:25.63
and a coming King
for the new world.
00:40:25.66\00:40:28.79
2 Peter tells us,
00:40:28.82\00:40:30.61
"But the day of the
Lord will come" what?
00:40:30.64\00:40:32.03
"As a thief in the night,
00:40:32.06\00:40:33.27
in which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise."
00:40:33.30\00:40:35.84
Someone says well,
that's very secret.
00:40:35.87\00:40:37.72
If the heavens are
passing away with a great noise
00:40:37.75\00:40:39.87
I don't know if that's secret.
00:40:39.90\00:40:42.64
"And the elements
shall melt with fervent heat,
00:40:42.67\00:40:44.33
and the earth also and the works
00:40:44.36\00:40:45.58
that are therein shall be" what?
00:40:45.61\00:40:47.34
"Burned up."
00:40:47.37\00:40:48.59
Notice how John puts it.
00:40:48.62\00:40:49.99
well, Malachi, "And
behold, the day cometh,
00:40:50.02\00:40:52.04
that shall burn as an
oven, all the proud, yea"
00:40:52.07\00:40:54.70
notice "and the day that cometh
shall burn them up," what?
00:40:54.73\00:40:58.60
"Up, saith the Lord of
hosts, that is shall leave them
00:40:58.63\00:41:00.64
neither root nor" what?
00:41:00.67\00:41:02.22
"Branch."
00:41:02.25\00:41:03.65
2 Peter seeing then,
00:41:03.68\00:41:05.51
"That these things
shall be dissolved,
00:41:05.54\00:41:06.82
what manner of persons ought ye
to be in all holy conversation,
00:41:06.85\00:41:09.58
godliness,
looking for an hasting
00:41:09.61\00:41:12.40
unto the coming
of the day of God
00:41:12.43\00:41:14.49
wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved,
00:41:14.52\00:41:17.19
and all the elements
shall melt with fervent heat?
00:41:17.22\00:41:19.45
Nevertheless we,
according to the promise,
00:41:19.48\00:41:22.30
look for new
heavens and a new earth,
00:41:22.33\00:41:24.02
wherein dwelleth righteousness."
00:41:24.05\00:41:25.37
Let me illustrate, it
says, it shall dissolve away.
00:41:25.40\00:41:29.79
It shall dissolve
00:41:29.82\00:41:37.33
by fervent heat.
00:41:37.36\00:41:39.31
You see the tablet disappears
but it's not destroyed.
00:41:39.34\00:41:44.17
It becomes liquid.
00:41:44.20\00:41:46.35
You see, the old
world the Bible says,
00:41:46.38\00:41:48.42
the old world
will dissolve away.
00:41:48.45\00:41:50.37
I mean, mortality will
dissolve into immortality.
00:41:50.40\00:41:53.14
I mean, corruptibility shall
00:41:53.17\00:41:54.95
dissolve into incorruptibility.
00:41:54.98\00:41:57.21
Death shall
dissolve into life itself,
00:41:57.24\00:42:01.09
the world change
by the power of God.
00:42:01.12\00:42:03.98
The world whose role models
00:42:04.01\00:42:05.43
entertain as
athletes, politicians,
00:42:05.46\00:42:07.71
tragedy as many of whom
lack morals and integrity
00:42:07.74\00:42:10.61
and even come in decency.
00:42:10.64\00:42:12.45
But in that day the day will
burn them up, the Bible says.
00:42:12.48\00:42:16.67
But you don't
believe that I do believe it
00:42:16.70\00:42:19.08
because God said it.
00:42:19.11\00:42:21.62
A world where
there is no compromise.
00:42:21.65\00:42:23.88
"And I saw a new
heaven and a new earth,
00:42:23.91\00:42:25.39
for the first
heaven and the first earth
00:42:25.42\00:42:27.06
were passed away, and
there was no more sea."
00:42:27.09\00:42:31.34
The Bible tells us.
00:42:31.37\00:42:32.75
hey, listen, grab
all the gusto you can
00:42:32.78\00:42:34.64
you only gonna go round once
00:42:34.67\00:42:36.05
but if you are believing
you are gonna round twice
00:42:36.08\00:42:39.16
and you are gonna have
the most blessed eternity
00:42:39.19\00:42:41.60
that anyone could ever offer.
00:42:41.63\00:42:43.69
He offers it to
you, every one of you.
00:42:43.72\00:42:45.99
You can have eternal life.
00:42:46.02\00:42:47.86
You can possess eternal life.
00:42:47.89\00:42:50.26
You can have it if
you were just reach out
00:42:50.29\00:42:52.72
and if you would take it.
00:42:52.75\00:42:54.39
If you would take it.
00:42:54.42\00:42:55.68
Just think what
that's going to be like
00:42:55.71\00:42:57.73
the kingdom of heaven.
00:42:57.76\00:42:58.92
"And I John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem,
00:42:58.95\00:43:00.79
coming down from
God out of the heaven,
00:43:00.82\00:43:02.40
prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband."
00:43:02.43\00:43:05.91
Listen, I've never
seen an ugly bride.
00:43:05.94\00:43:08.45
I saw a lot of
husbands that needed help
00:43:08.48\00:43:11.24
but I never saw an ugly bride.
00:43:11.27\00:43:14.23
I've known all kinds of people.
00:43:14.26\00:43:16.11
I know drug addicts and
drunkards and reprobates
00:43:16.14\00:43:18.27
and rich men and poor men,
housewives and down trodden
00:43:18.30\00:43:21.38
but I found them changed
00:43:21.41\00:43:22.80
by the
anointing of God's spirit.
00:43:22.83\00:43:24.57
I saw their life
looking in the gutter,
00:43:24.60\00:43:26.91
looking in darkness now
looking up into the light
00:43:26.94\00:43:29.56
longing and praying
00:43:29.59\00:43:31.24
for the coming of
the kingdom of Christ.
00:43:31.27\00:43:33.23
I find it everywhere.
00:43:33.26\00:43:34.88
Isaiah said, "They shall
not build, and another inhabit,
00:43:34.91\00:43:37.76
they shall not
plant, and another eat,
00:43:37.79\00:43:39.93
for as the days of the
tree are the days of my people,
00:43:39.96\00:43:42.89
and my elect shall long
enjoy the work of their hands."
00:43:42.92\00:43:45.88
You are gonna build
houses and you are gonna keep.
00:43:45.91\00:43:48.51
"They shall not labor in vain,"
00:43:48.54\00:43:50.43
and you won't
need the government
00:43:50.46\00:43:51.88
trying to help you to keep
them until they run out of money
00:43:51.91\00:43:54.67
and then they leave you in the--
00:43:54.70\00:43:56.64
I mean, come on,
and he says this,
00:43:56.67\00:43:59.41
"Their offspring with them."
00:43:59.44\00:44:01.60
Jesus Christ never fails,
00:44:01.63\00:44:03.18
I want to tell you that tonight.
00:44:03.21\00:44:04.39
The Lord Jesus never fails.
00:44:04.42\00:44:06.16
You may fail but
Jesus never fails.
00:44:06.19\00:44:08.42
We're gonna know each
other in the kingdom of heaven.
00:44:08.45\00:44:10.76
The Bible says "For now we
look through a glass, darkly,
00:44:10.79\00:44:12.81
but then face to
face, now I know in part,
00:44:12.84\00:44:15.10
but then shall I
know even as I am known."
00:44:15.13\00:44:18.13
So you walk up
to me and you say,
00:44:18.16\00:44:19.82
Ron Halverson, and I say dove.
00:44:19.85\00:44:24.26
Well, we met there at Charlotte,
00:44:24.29\00:44:27.14
North Carolina at
the Ovens Auditorium.
00:44:27.17\00:44:31.51
I say, oh, you were in
the fifth row, fourth seat.
00:44:31.54\00:44:34.45
Yeah, and will
spend a good time together
00:44:34.48\00:44:37.39
where we can get to
know each other better.
00:44:37.42\00:44:40.08
It's gonna be real.
00:44:40.11\00:44:41.68
It's a real
place for real people
00:44:41.71\00:44:45.19
and Jesus, listen to me,
00:44:45.22\00:44:47.20
the lame will
leap in joy at that day
00:44:47.23\00:44:49.86
and the blind will see
for the first time in that day
00:44:49.89\00:44:53.50
and the deaf will hear.
00:44:53.53\00:44:55.65
Mortality shall
put on immortality.
00:44:55.68\00:44:57.40
I mean, mother weep
no more for that baby.
00:44:57.43\00:45:00.03
He's gonna put it
back in your hands again.
00:45:00.06\00:45:02.07
I mean, husband weep
no more for that wife,
00:45:02.10\00:45:03.90
God is gonna give her back.
00:45:03.93\00:45:04.99
I mean, you're
gonna know each other.
00:45:05.02\00:45:06.41
Wife weep no
more for that husband.
00:45:06.44\00:45:08.22
God wants to give you it back.
00:45:08.25\00:45:10.57
God wants to welcome you back.
00:45:10.60\00:45:14.23
The story has told
the missionary name
00:45:14.26\00:45:15.92
Samuel Morris and
that was his name.
00:45:15.95\00:45:18.71
Who after 25 years in
Africa, serving God in Africa
00:45:18.74\00:45:24.66
was returning to the
United States to die.
00:45:24.69\00:45:28.40
As it so happened he traveled
home on the same ocean liner
00:45:28.43\00:45:31.73
that brought
President Teddy Roosevelt
00:45:31.76\00:45:34.54
who had just been
in Africa to hunt.
00:45:34.57\00:45:37.12
And the old man lost his
two children while in Africa
00:45:37.15\00:45:40.46
and buried then in Africa.
00:45:40.49\00:45:42.32
And just before he was
to return home with his wife
00:45:42.35\00:45:44.50
she perished there in Africa
00:45:44.53\00:45:46.75
and he buried her
in the soil of Africa.
00:45:46.78\00:45:49.69
Now its time to go
home Pastor Morrison
00:45:49.72\00:45:53.52
and he climbs on the same
ship that Teddy Roosevelt is on
00:45:53.55\00:45:57.22
and they sail across the ocean.
00:45:57.25\00:45:59.91
When they come to the
harbor to New York harbor the--
00:45:59.94\00:46:03.40
fire boats are
out shooting up water
00:46:03.43\00:46:05.36
and there's fireworks and
here comes Teddy Roosevelt
00:46:05.39\00:46:09.46
walking down the
gangplank with his rifle.
00:46:09.49\00:46:13.30
He spent two weeks in
Africa and they are cheering
00:46:13.33\00:46:18.14
and there is bands
playing and there is--
00:46:18.17\00:46:20.16
I mean, all of this because
he's come home, our president.
00:46:20.19\00:46:25.76
After all this
the marching bands
00:46:25.79\00:46:28.77
Pastor Morrison
came off the ship
00:46:28.80\00:46:30.87
and no one was to greet him.
00:46:30.90\00:46:32.78
Twenty five years he
served in Africa, 25 years.
00:46:32.81\00:46:36.52
He tried to find a taxi
00:46:36.55\00:46:37.98
but couldn't
even find a taxi cab.
00:46:38.01\00:46:40.64
And so here he is, I
mean, here is this poor man,
00:46:40.67\00:46:43.88
I mean 25 years he
gave his life to Africa,
00:46:43.91\00:46:47.96
he gave his children to Africa,
he gave his dear wife to Africa
00:46:47.99\00:46:52.89
and now he is home in America
and no one there to greet him.
00:46:52.92\00:46:57.36
And so he was walking through
the dark streets of New York.
00:46:57.39\00:47:00.86
The bands had seized and
gone home and he was alone.
00:47:00.89\00:47:05.25
And as he was
walking he said, Lord,
00:47:05.28\00:47:11.54
these 25 years I
served You in Africa,
00:47:11.57\00:47:14.79
25 years I've
been faithful in Africa
00:47:14.82\00:47:18.12
and now I'm home and
no one here to greet me.
00:47:18.15\00:47:22.40
And God said, oh,
you are not home yet.
00:47:22.43\00:47:28.93
I prepare a place for you
and I prepare a place for you
00:47:28.96\00:47:33.51
I will come again and
receive you unto Myself.
00:47:33.54\00:47:38.99
My dear child,
you are not home yet.
00:47:39.02\00:47:41.80
We are almost home
but we are not home yet.
00:47:41.83\00:47:47.52
So therefore when you wake
in the morning say your prayers.
00:47:47.55\00:47:51.23
When you wake in the
morning open your word,
00:47:51.26\00:47:53.87
read your Bible.
00:47:53.90\00:47:55.06
Say, I don't know much
about, I can't understand.
00:47:55.09\00:47:57.42
Doesn't matter read your Bible
00:47:57.45\00:47:59.38
because eventually you
will begin to understand.
00:47:59.41\00:48:02.01
Read your Bible, witness
to the faith of Jesus Christ.
00:48:02.04\00:48:05.33
Tell others of the glorious fact
00:48:05.36\00:48:07.31
that this Jesus
who was crucified,
00:48:07.34\00:48:09.76
this Jesus who was
buried in the tomb,
00:48:09.79\00:48:12.13
this Jesus who
hung upon the cross
00:48:12.16\00:48:14.62
and now lay in
a dark musty tomb,
00:48:14.65\00:48:17.59
that this Jesus is
going to come again
00:48:17.62\00:48:20.09
in power and great glory
00:48:20.12\00:48:21.96
and for one purpose
and one purpose alone
00:48:21.99\00:48:24.41
and that is to give
you a mansion in heaven.
00:48:24.44\00:48:27.40
Amen.
00:48:27.43\00:48:28.83
You may not have it
here, you may never get it here
00:48:28.86\00:48:33.98
but I'm telling you
what he says in Revelation
00:48:34.01\00:48:36.30
you will get it soon.
00:48:36.33\00:48:38.74
I prepare a place for
you and I will come again.
00:48:38.77\00:48:43.60
With that great
joy we want to be ready
00:48:43.63\00:48:45.91
for the coming of Jesus Christ.
00:48:45.94\00:48:47.86
He is going to give us a
place, a place called heaven
00:48:47.89\00:48:51.78
and I want to see
with my eyes Jesus.
00:48:51.81\00:48:54.78
I want to feel with
my around Him, Jesus.
00:48:54.81\00:48:58.27
I want to walk with
Jesus and I want to be forever
00:48:58.30\00:49:02.08
in the kingdom of God.
00:49:02.11\00:49:03.40
I want my
family to be in heaven.
00:49:03.43\00:49:06.88
Amen.
00:49:06.91\00:49:08.02
And so therefore
I witness everyday.
00:49:08.05\00:49:10.34
I share faith
everyday until that day
00:49:10.37\00:49:13.39
when Christ
breaks through the cloud
00:49:13.42\00:49:15.58
and I'll be looking up
and say lo, this is God,
00:49:15.61\00:49:18.48
I waited for Him,
He has come for me.
00:49:18.51\00:49:21.10
Good evening, everyone.
00:50:00.11\00:50:01.82
Really a blessing
to be able to answer
00:50:01.85\00:50:03.33
some Bible questions.
00:50:03.36\00:50:04.60
Tonight, we will start
with the first question
00:50:04.63\00:50:06.79
on our list and it is this.
00:50:06.82\00:50:10.18
"When we look at Bible
prophecy how can we be sure
00:50:10.21\00:50:12.55
that what we are looking at
00:50:12.58\00:50:13.80
is not simply one
man's interpretation?"
00:50:13.83\00:50:17.17
Very good question.
00:50:17.20\00:50:19.28
Let me read a verse
to you that I think is,
00:50:19.31\00:50:22.73
is a good one
for us to consider.
00:50:22.76\00:50:25.04
It is 2 Peter Chapter 1
00:50:25.07\00:50:30.01
and we look at verse 21, 20.
00:50:30.04\00:50:36.17
"Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the scripture
00:50:36.20\00:50:40.52
is of any
private interpretation.
00:50:40.55\00:50:44.63
For the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man
00:50:44.66\00:50:47.20
but holy men of God spoke
as or spake as they were moved
00:50:47.23\00:50:50.61
by the Holy Ghost."
00:50:50.64\00:50:53.49
Scripture isn't really
up to me and you to decide
00:50:53.52\00:50:57.16
for ourselves what it means.
00:50:57.19\00:50:58.50
Now, I know you could take
00:50:58.53\00:51:00.07
what I just see and
turn it upside down.
00:51:00.10\00:51:01.63
Sure it is for us
to decide for ourselves
00:51:01.66\00:51:03.54
but we decide not
on the say so of us
00:51:03.57\00:51:08.62
or the say so of a teacher
00:51:08.65\00:51:09.97
but on the say so
of the Holy Spirit
00:51:10.00\00:51:12.14
on the say so of the Bible.
00:51:12.17\00:51:15.25
You know, the prophet
wrote that we should look at
00:51:15.28\00:51:17.75
scripture line upon
line, precept upon precept,
00:51:17.78\00:51:21.00
here a little
and there a little.
00:51:21.03\00:51:23.49
You don't want
to build your case
00:51:23.52\00:51:25.19
when you study the
Bible on just on thought,
00:51:25.22\00:51:27.79
one text, one idea.
00:51:27.82\00:51:29.43
You want to study the
Bible and take into account
00:51:29.46\00:51:31.84
as much as you can
find on that subject.
00:51:31.87\00:51:34.84
When you do that you are at
very well rounded picture of
00:51:34.87\00:51:37.68
what God is trying
to get through to you.
00:51:37.71\00:51:39.92
And that's a good
thought to consider.
00:51:39.95\00:51:42.27
When a Bible writer wrote
00:51:42.30\00:51:46.36
and then we read
what the writer wrote,
00:51:46.39\00:51:49.32
we are not really
trying to find out
00:51:49.35\00:51:51.22
what we think that means.
00:51:51.25\00:51:53.41
What we are
trying to find out is
00:51:53.44\00:51:54.82
what the Bible writer
thinks or thought it means.
00:51:54.85\00:52:00.99
What did the Bible
writer have in mind?
00:52:01.02\00:52:03.54
Now back to the
question, how can we be sure
00:52:03.57\00:52:06.07
it's not a matter of
one person's interpretation?
00:52:06.10\00:52:08.32
That's by studying
the Bible for yourself.
00:52:08.35\00:52:11.08
Jesus said,
"search ye the scriptures
00:52:11.11\00:52:13.77
for then you think
you have eternal life
00:52:13.80\00:52:15.80
and they are that testify me."
00:52:15.83\00:52:17.39
We need to do some
searching and some studying.
00:52:17.42\00:52:19.43
And that's not
hard, it's not onerous.
00:52:19.46\00:52:21.58
Pick up the Bible
and read it for yourself.
00:52:21.61\00:52:23.56
It's a joy and it's a blessing.
00:52:23.59\00:52:26.04
If there are some
things you don't understand
00:52:26.07\00:52:27.91
ask somebody.
00:52:27.94\00:52:29.48
And then be careful,
is that really right?
00:52:29.51\00:52:32.43
Ask someone else.
00:52:32.46\00:52:33.75
Ask God and study
the Bible being careful
00:52:33.78\00:52:37.95
not to have very
dogmatic opinions
00:52:37.98\00:52:42.34
until you are certain
you received a revelation
00:52:42.37\00:52:44.26
from God in the Bible as
to what something really says.
00:52:44.29\00:52:46.97
So if you are willing to
just seed your thought process
00:52:47.00\00:52:53.04
to somebody else you'll
believe whatever you are told.
00:52:53.07\00:52:56.31
Some people won't
believe anything you tell them
00:52:56.34\00:52:59.03
but other people will
believe everything they are told
00:52:59.06\00:53:01.18
by whomever and
that's just as bad.
00:53:01.21\00:53:04.82
So if you want to
know what the truth is
00:53:04.85\00:53:07.89
get into the Word of
God study, be very careful
00:53:07.92\00:53:11.17
not to just give over
your mind to somebody else,
00:53:11.20\00:53:14.44
pray and ask for God's direction
00:53:14.47\00:53:16.93
we have been promised by Jesus
00:53:16.96\00:53:19.25
that the Holy Spirit
will guide you into all truth.
00:53:19.28\00:53:23.56
You pray for the Holy
Spirit's enlightenment
00:53:23.59\00:53:25.74
and God will
certainly give that to you.
00:53:25.77\00:53:29.20
Another Bible question now.
00:53:29.23\00:53:31.82
"Since by the law
is the knowledge of sin
00:53:31.85\00:53:33.97
in Roman's 3:20.
00:53:34.00\00:53:35.71
Wouldn't it make more
sense not to know the law
00:53:35.74\00:53:38.66
so that we wouldn't know sin?"
00:53:38.69\00:53:41.54
Okay, that's a
good honest question.
00:53:41.57\00:53:43.98
John, if I only hadn't
learn some of these things
00:53:44.01\00:53:46.12
then I wouldn't be responsible
for what I found out.
00:53:46.15\00:53:51.15
Do you think God wants you
to have a very small picture
00:53:51.18\00:53:56.38
of not only the Bible
but of His will for your life
00:53:56.41\00:53:59.66
and of His
character or would it be that
00:53:59.69\00:54:01.95
God wants you to
have the biggest picture?
00:54:01.98\00:54:03.82
Of course God wants
us to have a larger,
00:54:03.85\00:54:06.42
well rounded
picture of the Bible
00:54:06.45\00:54:08.74
and of His message so
that we can know Him better,
00:54:08.77\00:54:12.53
enjoy Him more closely
00:54:12.56\00:54:14.45
and follow Him
with more of our heart.
00:54:14.48\00:54:17.92
God doesn't share
truth with you to trip you up
00:54:17.95\00:54:22.54
He shares truth with you
00:54:22.57\00:54:23.76
and He takes a bit of
a risk when He does it
00:54:23.79\00:54:26.01
because he wants you
to grow in His grace.
00:54:26.04\00:54:28.44
Now sometimes we
learn certain things,
00:54:28.47\00:54:30.32
we say, oh, I didn't
want to grow like that.
00:54:30.35\00:54:32.75
But that's a lot like the people
00:54:32.78\00:54:34.13
living in Jesus time.
00:54:34.16\00:54:35.45
They wanted a Messiah
00:54:35.48\00:54:37.08
the Jews were desperate
to see the Messiah come
00:54:37.11\00:54:39.52
and when He came they said
00:54:39.55\00:54:42.24
we don't want a
Messiah like that.
00:54:42.27\00:54:44.11
You mean we have to,
00:54:44.14\00:54:45.50
we have to be
that sort of person.
00:54:45.53\00:54:48.72
If someone smash us
once let him hit us--
00:54:48.75\00:54:51.73
let them hit us again.
00:54:51.76\00:54:53.80
If they want our shirt
00:54:53.83\00:54:54.87
we are gonna give
them cloth as well.
00:54:54.90\00:54:56.27
Now hold on a minute,
we want to be selfish,
00:54:56.30\00:54:59.04
we want to be a benefited,
00:54:59.07\00:55:00.77
we want to be great and powerful
00:55:00.80\00:55:03.20
not realizing
that the power of love
00:55:03.23\00:55:06.00
is far greater
in the eyes of God
00:55:06.03\00:55:08.14
than the love of power.
00:55:08.17\00:55:10.95
So, yeah, God wants us
to grow, He wants us to--
00:55:10.98\00:55:14.72
He wants us to live in all
we can and thank Him for it.
00:55:14.75\00:55:18.60
Lord, if this is
Your will I am grateful
00:55:18.63\00:55:22.47
and I say amen
and its a good thing.
00:55:22.50\00:55:26.55
You don't want to
be willingly ignorant.
00:55:26.58\00:55:29.64
Okay, I've come to
Jesus, I know a little
00:55:29.67\00:55:32.49
don't tell me anything more
because it just might make it
00:55:32.52\00:55:34.98
hard for me and mess it up.
00:55:35.01\00:55:37.11
Run to Jesus, study
the Bible, keep on growing.
00:55:37.14\00:55:40.02
God wants you to know His word.
00:55:40.05\00:55:42.17
The law of God is given
to protect and bless you
00:55:42.20\00:55:44.29
the principles of heaven
are given with the same reason
00:55:44.32\00:55:47.17
and the more you learn the
more of God you understand.
00:55:47.20\00:55:49.99
So you keep on
studying, keep learning
00:55:50.02\00:55:52.21
of God's character
and keep on growing,
00:55:52.24\00:55:54.80
surrendering to
God at every step.
00:55:54.83\00:55:56.84
Eyes for India, is
giving sight to the blind
00:56:10.49\00:56:13.99
and you can be a part of this
amazing work that God is doing.
00:56:14.02\00:56:17.75
Fifteen million
blind people live in India,
00:56:17.78\00:56:20.27
more than any other
country in the world.
00:56:20.30\00:56:22.66
And many of the blind
in India could see again
00:56:22.69\00:56:25.42
if only they could have
simple cataract surgery.
00:56:25.45\00:56:28.92
It Is Written, is
making that happen.
00:56:28.95\00:56:31.78
Would you
support Eyes for India?
00:56:31.81\00:56:34.83
For just $75 you'll be
giving the gift of sight
00:56:34.86\00:56:38.77
to someone who
desperately wants to see.
00:56:38.80\00:56:41.61
Here's all you need to do.
00:56:41.64\00:56:43.02
Call 1-800-253-3000
00:56:43.05\00:56:46.36
to donate and
support Eyes for India
00:56:46.39\00:56:50.05
or you can write
to It Is Written,
00:56:50.08\00:56:52.30
Box O, Thousand
Oaks, California, 91359.
00:56:52.33\00:56:56.85
You'll also find
Eyes for India online
00:56:56.88\00:56:59.50
at www.itiswritten.com.
00:56:59.53\00:57:01.83
Eyes for India,
doing the work of Jesus
00:57:01.86\00:57:04.41
in opening the eyes of the blind
00:57:04.44\00:57:06.83
and opening hearts
to the love of God.
00:57:06.86\00:57:09.42