London 2016

Agent of Change

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Richard Daly (Host), Pr. John Lomacang

Series Code: 16LON

00:10 I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send,
00:14 and who will go for Us?
00:16 Then I said, Here am I, send me!
00:34 Three Angels Broadcasting Network,
00:36 and the South England Conference present:
00:45 Well, this evening not only do we want to welcome you here
00:50 tonight, but we also want to welcome those who are watching
00:56 via the website that we have, our SEC website,
01:01 and also those who are watching live as well on 3ABN.
01:07 We want to welcome you this evening.
01:10 Last night we heard a powerful message on the topic,
01:14 The Book That Breathes.
01:15 And amongst many things we were introduced to the fact that
01:20 God's word, Isaiah 55:11, that God's word will not return
01:26 unto Him void, but will accomplish what
01:30 He pleases, what God pleases.
01:32 And we are tonight so grateful to know that we are not here,
01:37 despite the wonderful presentations that we have each
01:41 evening, we are not here to entertain.
01:44 But we are here to stimulate hearts and minds to a greater
01:49 recognition of the need for a Savior.
01:52 And so this evening we are happy to have with us our speaker,
01:58 Pastor John Lomacang.
01:59 He's going to be presenting to us his message on the topic,
02:03 Agent Of Change, Agent Of Change.
02:07 So before he comes with this message, we're going to be
02:12 favored with a special item.
02:13 And we're happy to have with us for the first time
02:16 Yolanda Innocent Palmer.
02:24 Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
02:39 that saved a wretch like me!
02:54 I once was lost. Thank God now I'm found;
03:05 I was blind, but now I see.
03:21 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
03:30 and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear
03:49 the hour I first believed.
04:03 Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come;
04:29 'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
04:38 and grace will lead me home.
04:52 When we've been there ten thousand years,
05:05 bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's
05:26 praise than when we first begun.
05:38 Amazing Grace!
06:01 Can we say Amen again? Amen!
06:04 Thank you so much, Yolanda.
06:07 Yolanda is a good friend of mine and my wife's.
06:09 We go back a ways. I met Yolanda not too long ago.
06:14 We all are aging, but what's so nice about a friendship
06:19 with a person, a Christian like Yolanda, is that as we serve
06:24 the Lord it can only get better, what do you say? Amen!
06:28 I am so glad to see that you have braved the gloomy London
06:34 evening to come out tonight to hear about the word of God.
06:38 And tonight we are talking about the agent of change.
06:45 What's the title of the topic? The Agent Of Change.
06:51 Before we go into the word of God
06:53 let's bow our heads together.
06:54 Our Father in Heaven, we thank You so much for this great
06:58 opportunity tonight to present Jesus.
07:01 Come Holy Spirit and speak to our hearts.
07:04 We pray in Jesus' name.
07:06 And all of God's people said, Amen, Amen!
07:09 Now I didn't tell the Elder earlier, before he prayed,
07:14 what my Scripture was going to be.
07:15 I think the Lord laid that on your heart, because it is
07:19 in fact 2 Corinthians 5:17.
07:21 And the Bible says, Therefore.
07:24 As a matter of fact, it's on the screen.
07:26 Let's read this together.
07:27 Are you ready?
07:42 Now generally speaking, the world is
07:45 divided into two groups: the haves and the have not's.
07:50 But the only two groups that really matter are those that are
07:54 born again, and those that must be born again.
07:58 When I was being raised, I remember getting
08:02 in a lot of trouble.
08:03 My dad, the man that raised me, was from Barbados,
08:07 and his wife was from Trinidad.
08:10 And they really did believe that you spare the rod,
08:16 you spoil the child.
08:17 And I was raised, as the Bible said, trained up in the way I
08:22 should go, so whenever I got out of line, or the way that
08:26 I should not go, the rod corrected me.
08:31 But I always knew by the way my voice was called,
08:34 whether or not I was in trouble.
08:36 You know, some of you, when your spouse calls your full name
08:39 you know you're in trouble.
08:40 And I would hear my name with the West Indian hum behind it.
08:45 I won't tell you what my Dad called me, but he would kind of
08:50 lower his voice, and made it sound very authoritative,
08:52 and he would drag my name out.
08:54 And I knew that I was in trouble.
08:57 That's what my earthly father did.
08:59 You see, tonight the reason I'm so excited about this topic is
09:02 when my heavenly Father comes back, I want to hear my name
09:07 from a God that I am going to meet in peace.
09:10 What do you say? Amen!
09:11 So tonight we're going to talk about the beauty of meeting
09:15 the agent of change.
09:17 You see, the equation of life is simple.
09:20 Those who are only born once will die twice.
09:24 Those who are born twice might only die once.
09:29 We come forth in the resurrection of life
09:33 never to die again.
09:35 When it comes to eternal life, everything
09:37 natural falls short of it.
09:39 Tonight what I'd like you to do is train your ears,
09:42 because I'm going to use some terms tonight that you may
09:44 not have heard before like natural, and spiritual,
09:48 and carnal, and Godly.
09:50 Because the reality of it is if eternal life were enquired,
09:55 or acquired by money, wealth would be the goal,
09:59 or by education, or by status, education would be the goal.
10:03 But tonight eternal life is not based on wealth, possession,
10:07 education, fame, or position.
10:10 Tonight eternal life is based on the sufficiency
10:13 of the blood of Jesus Christ.
10:16 Nothing else we can acquire can give us eternal life.
10:19 The categories we face are simple.
10:22 Romans 6:23. There are only two destinies.
10:27 Notice what the Bible says. Paul writes:
10:40 Now when you read that verse, let me make it even clearer
10:43 tonight, when you read that verse you come to think...
10:46 This is powerful. You think to yourself for a moment,
10:49 Well, I'm going to choose death, or I'm going to choose
10:53 the gift of eternal life.
10:54 The fact of the matter is you don't choose death.
10:57 If you are not born again you are already dead.
11:02 You don't say, Well, let me choose death or life.
11:06 Let me see now, hum, which one should I pick?
11:08 Uh, I'll wait awhile and choose it.
11:10 A lot of people today put off decisions about eternal life,
11:14 because they think that some where along the way they'll
11:16 either choose one or the other.
11:17 The fact of the matter is if you don't choose life,
11:20 you are already dead.
11:21 There's no yellow line in Christianity.
11:24 There's no neutral ground.
11:26 There is no place where you stand until you decide
11:29 to go right or left, or light or darkness,
11:33 or salvation or destruction.
11:35 Everyone is born, and the wages of sin is already
11:42 applied to them at birth.
11:44 Just before we boarded the plane, as a matter of fact
11:48 when we got on board on our way to London the flight attendant,
11:53 as we're sitting in our seat, she said, If your final
11:57 destination is not London, this will be a
12:01 good time to disembark.
12:05 We always hear that. They say that.
12:07 And I wondered what she meant by that, but then she followed
12:10 this up with a profound statement that stuck in my mind
12:14 as I was putting the topic together.
12:15 She says, Because when the doors are shut it will be too late
12:19 to change your destiny.
12:21 The fact of the matter is friends, tonight when the doors
12:25 of salvation are shut there is no more chance to make a
12:29 decision for eternal life.
12:31 It is too late for our destiny.
12:32 The reason why God gives you life to breathe, and to think,
12:36 the reason why you're still alive tonight is the Lord in His
12:39 gracious love for every one of us is saying,
12:42 Don't settle for the wages of sin.
12:46 I've already paid for the gift of eternal life.
12:49 Just simply accept it.
12:52 It doesn't make sense to be on a plane going nowhere fast,
12:56 knowing that the doors have been shut, and we no longer have the
13:00 opportunity of salvation.
13:02 And every day somebody, every day somebody is going to be
13:06 lowered into a grave.
13:07 My sister and I were driving down the roadway there in
13:10 New York City a few months ago.
13:11 I went to visit with her, and I cannot forget the scene.
13:15 I was driving down one of the highways I was so familiar with
13:19 as I was growing up, and I looked to my right into the
13:22 cemetery; I think it was Evergreen Cemetery,
13:24 or Cypress Hills. It doesn't really matter to you,
13:26 but I saw thousands, and thousands,
13:28 and thousands of headstones.
13:30 And my sister said, There are so many people that have buried
13:33 in New York there are no more spots to be buried.
13:36 They are being buried now in the next state.
13:39 And I thought to myself, there's a day coming that everybody
13:43 in that cemetery is going to come up either in the first
13:46 resurrection or the second resurrection.
13:49 And I thought to myself, Does it make sense to be in the
13:54 resurrection of the lost when we have the opportunity to be in
13:57 the resurrection of the saved?
13:59 It doesn't make sense.
14:00 But I think one of the reasons why we don't often make that
14:02 decision, or why we postpone that decision, is because we
14:06 don't understand that when it comes to choosing our destiny
14:10 the only thing that matters is making the right choice.
14:14 Now think about that for a moment.
14:16 Your plane lands and you are in Ireland, but you paid for a
14:20 ticket to go to London.
14:21 And you say immediately to the flight attendant, How come you
14:23 didn't tell me this was going to Ireland?
14:25 And she said, Well, you bought the ticket.
14:27 It was your choice.
14:28 The fact of the matter is when we get to the end of our lives,
14:31 when we stand before the Lord every one of us will be where
14:35 we are, and it's our own responsibility to decide
14:39 where we're going to be.
14:40 You cannot blame that on anybody. Amen somebody.
14:43 You can't say, My Mamma did it.
14:45 You can't say, My Dad did it.
14:47 Husbands can't save wives, and wives can't save husbands.
14:50 Every one of us must give an account of our
14:53 own destiny to God.
14:55 But God is merciful, is He not?
14:58 Look at Deuteronomy 30:19.
14:59 God is merciful. He says in His word:
15:12 When? today, right now, right now.
15:16 This text applies any time you read it.
15:25 And here's the reason why.
15:37 And He didn't say, Pick one.
15:39 He loves us so much what did He say? together.
15:44 He doesn't say pick one.
15:46 He doesn't say pick the one that you feel is best.
15:48 He said, Pick life, choose life.
15:52 Who would not want to be alive?
15:54 I've been by the bedside of people that have ignored God,
15:57 and I've looked at their faces.
15:59 And I've even held...
16:01 I remember very well a story of a man that, when I lived in
16:03 Northern California, he did not want to hear about
16:06 God, no matter what.
16:07 As a matter of fact his wife said to me, When ever you visit
16:09 with us, please don't tell my husband about God.
16:12 It'll turn him off.
16:14 So I didn't. But I said to him, Whenever you need me, call me.
16:19 And I'm from New York City.
16:21 I was living up in the mountains where they cut trees down.
16:24 I didn't know how to cut a tree down.
16:26 But he called me one morning at 4:30 in the morning,
16:29 in the heavy rain, and he said to me, My farm is overflowing.
16:32 It's flooding. I need your help.
16:34 And I got up not knowing what to do and I put boots on,
16:37 and I went out to this farm with this 72 year old man
16:41 that was in better shape than I was: fit, moving trees,
16:46 and cutting trees down.
16:47 And there we were struggling during the night trying to save
16:50 his farm from being flooded; moving large pipes.
16:53 And we struggled till the break of dawn.
16:55 And we sat down and had something warm to drink as we
16:59 watched a grizzly bear walk by his house.
17:03 And he called me again on another occasion to help him
17:07 pile tree limbs together.
17:09 And we sat down again as we watched a
17:11 mountain lion this time go by.
17:15 But I never talked to him about God.
17:16 But always in the back of my mind I kept saying, Lord give me
17:21 an opportunity to let this man know how much You love him.
17:24 And one day he went to the hospital for a simple procedure.
17:27 They put the tube down his throat and hit his...
17:30 He had a gag reflex and bile went into his lungs.
17:34 And they airlifted him fifty miles away,
17:36 and his wife called me frantically and she says,
17:38 My husband may not make it.
17:40 Could you rush to the hospital to see him?
17:43 He's fifty miles away.
17:44 My wife and I jumped in our car and drove as fast as we could.
17:47 And we got to the bedside of this man with his two sons,
17:50 linemen. A lineman is a man that hangs telephone poles
17:54 and power lines: big, strong, strapping Caucasian men,
17:58 tough looking guys.
17:59 And there he is laying with a mask on his face,
18:03 hardly able to breathe.
18:04 And when I walked in the room he reached out with all the
18:07 strength he had left and grabbed my hand.
18:09 And I looked at his wife as I was walking in the room,
18:11 and she said, Please, whatever you do,
18:13 don't tell him about Jesus.
18:14 I said, This is one time I'm going to ignore you.
18:18 This is all he's got left.
18:20 And I looked at that man and said, Jim!
18:22 And he looked at me with tears in his eyes knowing that
18:25 the moments of life were fleeting.
18:27 And I said, Jim! I want to let you know.
18:29 I've wanted to tell you for a long time,
18:30 but I'm going to tell you tonight.
18:32 Jesus loves you, Jim!
18:33 He wants to save you, Jim.
18:36 Jim, do you accept Jesus' atoning sacrifice for the
18:40 pardoning of your sin?
18:41 And he looked at me with his two sons there, and his wife
18:44 looking on almost with intrepidation,
18:46 and he said, Yes, I do!
18:48 I said, Jim, do you know that Jesus is coming back
18:50 one day to save you?
18:52 Do you want to be in that number?
18:53 He said, Yes, I do!
18:54 And I continued on and on, and I grabbed his hands
18:56 and I said, Father, forgive him of his sin.
18:58 Accept him as Your child.
19:00 And when he closed his eyes he closed his eyes in peace
19:03 with the Lord. Somebody say Amen!
19:05 It doesn't make sense not to offer Jesus when the only
19:09 other choice is hell.
19:10 His wife never forgot that.
19:13 From that day till she passed away, she never forgot,
19:18 and in many ways showed her gratitude.
19:21 Whenever we were on the road in evangelism she would come.
19:24 When I was ordained she, in her 80's had someone drive her
19:27 almost 400 miles just to be there just to say,
19:30 I thank you that I can look forward to seeing my husband
19:33 in the resurrection.
19:34 One of the most touching stories in the Bible takes place when a
19:38 rich man, a rich leader by the name of Nicodemus confronts
19:42 Jesus, the agent of change, found in John 3:1.
19:47 And I'm going to move a little quicker tonight. The Bible says:
19:55 One of the most difficult things to do is to tell
19:58 a ruler what to do.
19:59 Rulers tell people what to do.
20:02 People don't tell rulers what to do.
20:04 And I can guarantee you that some of you here tonight
20:06 are maybe in your own right a ruler in your own mind.
20:09 Who is he to tell me what to do?
20:13 But I'm going to pray tonight that the Lord will take you out
20:16 of your ruler position and put you in the category of a person
20:19 just like I am; a sinner in need of a Savior,
20:23 saved by God's grace.
20:25 Nicodemus came to Jesus, and the Bible says in verse 2:
20:41 You know what amazes me about this verse?
20:43 The Bible says Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.
20:45 Let me say this friends.
20:47 It's better to come to Jesus by night than not
20:49 come to Him at all. Amen!
20:51 When the sun is setting on your life, and on your health,
20:55 no matter how dark it is, Jesus wants to meet you by night.
20:59 When life is dark and the future is bleak, and everything and
21:02 everyone that you knew, or had disappoints you, Jesus says,
21:06 Come to Me by night.
21:07 He didn't care what time of day it was,
21:09 as long as you come to Him.
21:11 The thief came to Jesus in the closing moments of His life.
21:14 And Jesus wants us to be saved so badly. He didn't say to the
21:17 He didn't say to the thief, You should have done this earlier.
21:21 All he said to Jesus was, Remember me when You
21:24 come in Your kingdom.
21:25 And Jesus said, I will.
21:26 You will be with Me in Paradise.
21:28 Friends tonight, I haven't come to London to meander in the
21:32 maize of mediocrity, or ponder at the pool of popularity,
21:37 or negotiate at the table of the enemy.
21:39 I've come to present Jesus.
21:40 Because all that's going to matter when this world,
21:43 and everything it has to offer, is no more
21:45 valuable in your sight.
21:47 All that's going to matter when Jesus comes is that you are
21:50 ready to meet Him in peace.
21:52 Can you say Amen? Amen!
21:53 Nicodemus had everything: wealth, position,
21:55 influence, and power.
21:57 But there was one thing that he needed.
21:59 And the reason why he came to Jesus by night is because he
22:03 cared more about what other people thought
22:05 than what he needed.
22:07 When the invitation tonight will be made...
22:11 I'm going to make an invitation tonight,
22:12 and I'm letting you know now.
22:14 Because there are some of you that are here tonight that I may
22:16 never, ever see again.
22:19 And to have the best gift to offer you doesn't make sense
22:23 to talk about Jesus and not offer the best gift that He
22:27 has ever come to give us.
22:29 That is eternal life.
22:30 Nicodemus was more concerned about what people thought
22:33 than what he needed.
22:35 Don't worry about what people think.
22:36 Just make your mind up about what you're needs are.
22:39 Because the fact of the matter is when you're on your death
22:41 bed, when you're in your hospital, when your number
22:43 is up, and your moments of life are fleeting, when there's more
22:46 time behind you than there is in front of you.
22:48 You don't really care about anybody else.
22:50 You just want to make sure that you have made
22:52 the right decision.
22:54 The fact of the matter is Nicodemus had studied the
22:57 prophecies about the Messiah.
22:59 He was in the crowd when John the Baptist introduced Jesus.
23:02 He kept track of Jesus for three years.
23:05 He was impressed by His teachings.
23:07 Nicademus knew of the Divinity of Jesus, but the fact of
23:12 having the facts about Jesus is not conversion.
23:17 Let me say that again.
23:19 You can have the best Bible study life you've ever had,
23:23 but unless you make up your mind to give your heart
23:25 to Jesus, it doesn't matter at all.
23:27 A good Bible study life is not conversion.
23:30 Hanging out with religious people is not conversion.
23:34 Keeping track of Jesus is not conversion.
23:37 A vegetarian diet is not conversion.
23:39 Come on somebody, help me out. Amen!
23:41 You could have the cleanest colon,
23:44 but the most corrupt heart.
23:46 You'll be lost. Nothing wrong with a healthy diet.
23:51 But don't make that the mistake of your salvation.
23:54 Jesus came to clean hearts.
23:56 Jesus came to save lives.
23:58 Being impressed by Jesus is not conversion.
24:01 Knowing that Jesus is divine is not conversion.
24:04 Even singing religious songs is not conversion.
24:08 Going to church; it is the right location, but Jesus is more
24:13 concerned about location of your heart,
24:15 and not just the location of your body.
24:17 He added unto the church those who were being saved.
24:21 But the fact of the matter is we need to be in the right
24:23 location spiritually before we are more concerned about
24:26 being in the right location physically.
24:28 John 3:3, notice the words of Jesus.
24:32 He said to Nicodemus:
24:50 Now this is powerful.
24:53 He cannot see. You see, one of the challenges we've been faced
24:58 with as people that are trying to decide about our eternal
25:01 destiny; one of the challenges with trying to see everything
25:04 before you are a Christian...
25:06 Let me say that again.
25:07 One of the challenges of trying to see and understand everything
25:12 before you are a Christian is this: you cannot see until
25:16 you are a Christian.
25:18 That's why people say, I don't see what's wrong with alcohol.
25:22 Every now and then a small...
25:23 I don't see what's wrong with a little cigarette
25:26 every now and then.
25:28 I don't see what's wrong with partying every now and then.
25:30 The reason why you don't see is because you are looking
25:34 at life through eyes that are natural,
25:37 not eyes that are spiritual.
25:39 Until you are born again, there are certain
25:42 things you cannot see.
25:44 You just cannot see it.
25:46 There's a lady sitting in my Sabbath School class
25:48 there in Thompsonville.
25:49 And I remember her story.
25:51 She came to our church after thirty years.
25:53 How many years did I say?
25:54 After thirty years of resisting the voice of God,
25:58 every time she would hear on 3ABN Radio...
26:01 My wife works for 3ABN Radio.
26:02 Every time she heard the topic of the Sabbath
26:04 she'd turn the radio off.
26:06 And she'd say, There goes those Adventists again
26:07 talking about the Sabbath.
26:10 Every time the Sabbath came on she'd turn the radio off,
26:14 until one day... Hear me carefully.
26:16 Don't sleep on me tonight.
26:17 Until one day her church gave her a placard to put on her
26:24 lawn to let everybody in the neighborhood know where they're
26:27 having Bible studies.
26:28 So they gave her a Ten Commandment placard.
26:33 Come on now, God knows you can run, but you sure can't hide.
26:40 So in putting the placard on her lawn she said to her husband,
26:43 Honey, look at this!
26:45 And he said, What?
26:46 She said, Look, the Ten Commandments.
26:48 And she went through them with her finger and stopped.
26:50 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
26:53 And then when it came on on the radio the next time she said,
26:57 Well, let's listen and see what they have to present.
26:59 So she listened, and the goodness of God led her to open
27:03 her eyes and accept the Sabbath truth.
27:06 And then she said to me as she sat in our baptismal class,
27:10 getting ready for baptism with her husband, she said to me,
27:15 You know, Pastor John...
27:17 Let me say this. When I accepted the Sabbath all of a sudden
27:22 everything else that I did not understand
27:25 began to be made clear. Amen!
27:28 Spiritual things... Look at 1 Corinthians 2:14.
27:47 The most intellectual, the most learned individual cannot know
27:51 the things of the Spirit, because they are not yet
27:54 Spiritual in their eyesight.
27:55 They are in the natural realm.
27:58 I told you last night, I always liked it when I got together
28:01 with intellectual people.
28:02 I'd listen to their proposals and their esoteric conversation,
28:07 and I would wait until they stumbled on the
28:09 topic of the Bible.
28:10 That's where God allowed me to shine.
28:12 I don't have all the degrees, but let me tell you something,
28:15 the only degree that you need is a BA.
28:18 Somebody say, What's a BA? born again,
28:22 knowing the word of God.
28:24 These intellectual men, these learned men, these men with
28:28 degrees, these individuals that have great status in society,
28:31 they cannot see the things of God, because they are looking
28:35 with natural eyes, not Spiritual eyes.
28:40 That's why Jesus said what He did in Matthew 7:13, 14.
28:43 Notice what He said. Notice what He said. He said:
28:50 What kind of gate?
29:17 Now when you read that verse you almost immediately begin
29:21 to think to yourselves, Well, how could I find eternal life
29:26 if it's a difficult, narrow way, and very,
29:30 very few people can find it?
29:31 I mean how am I going to find eternal life if Jesus Himself
29:34 said that narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way that
29:38 leads to life, and there are few that find it?
29:41 How am I going to find it then?
29:42 Well, here's what He meant.
29:47 He meant that finding the road to life is difficult...
29:50 Hear me carefully.
29:52 ...because the nature that we were born with will never lead
29:57 us in the direction that threatens its existence.
30:01 Did you get that? Let me say it again.
30:04 It's deep. Are you ready?
30:07 Pray to grab it. The reason why finding eternal life is often
30:13 difficult is the nature that we struggle with every day.
30:18 Anybody struggle? Don't tell me with what.
30:23 But the nature that we were born with, this nature that
30:26 Adam gave to us, this corrupt nature, this nature that wants
30:31 to do anything to survive, this corrupt natural nature will
30:35 never lead us in a direction that threatens its existence.
30:40 In other words, let me use the illustration, a drug dealer will
30:45 not sell drugs in front of a police station.
30:50 A bank robber will not notify you by e-mail that he's on his
30:55 way to rob your bank.
30:58 And a thief will not send you a letter telling you
31:00 when he plans to break in.
31:01 I want you to listen tonight.
31:03 The Devil wants you to fall asleep.
31:05 Come on pray, stay awake.
31:07 The sinner avoids Jesus just like a thief avoids police.
31:13 A sinner can't find Jesus, just like a thief
31:17 cannot find the police.
31:18 You know why? Because finding the police will
31:21 end the criminals life.
31:22 And finding Jesus will end the sinner's life.
31:29 Think about that. But if the sinner knew the truth
31:34 they would no longer avoid Jesus. John 10:10.
31:37 Let's unwrap this tonight.
31:50 That's what drugs does to you.
31:52 That's what the world does to you.
31:53 That's what promiscuity does to you.
31:54 That's what the world offers: stealing,
31:58 killing, and destroying. But Jesus says...
32:02 Let's read this with some umph. Are you ready?
32:14 Jesus didn't come to give us a cheap life.
32:18 I'm a testimony to that.
32:20 When I met my girlfriend at sixteen years old, I was out in
32:24 the world gambling, partying, pool hustling.
32:28 I was the disc jockey with the two turn tables, scratching, and
32:31 rapping before they called it rap on the World Trade Center,
32:35 44th floor, on Broadway uptown, downtown
32:38 Manhattan in house parties.
32:40 To me that was life, until this young lady kept
32:44 inviting me to her house for family worship.
32:47 I was afraid to read the Bible.
32:48 I could not open the Bible.
32:50 It made me nervous.
32:51 I sweat when I read it.
32:53 I couldn't read John 3:16 because it condemned my heart.
32:57 But she kept on inviting me until one Friday night the Lord
33:01 broke through at a pivotal point in my life.
33:04 And I realized that Friday evening that I was on my
33:07 way to destruction.
33:09 And I fell to my knees and said, Lord, help me!
33:12 I'm going in the wrong way.
33:14 And God came into my life.
33:16 That Friday I went to Bank of America,
33:17 when I worked in the Wall Street area.
33:19 I want to the bank every day with a
33:21 pool stick, and a boom box, because I partied
33:25 during my lunch hour.
33:26 You know what I'm talking about?
33:27 I'm not going dancing tonight, relax.
33:29 But I partied on my lunch hour, and I gambled after work.
33:32 That was Friday. But when Jesus came into my life on Monday
33:35 morning I went to work with a Bible,
33:37 and The Great Controversy. Amen!
33:40 I don't need the pool stick anymore.
33:41 I don't need the boom box any more.
33:43 Just in the matter of two days I fell so in love with Jesus
33:46 I'm on the trains of New York looking for people
33:50 to tell about Jesus. Amen!
33:52 I want to tell you, I know that life is in Jesus.
33:55 When I was partying in New York, I went from Brooklyn
33:57 to Manhattan, from Manhattan to Brooklyn, but when I gave my
34:00 life to Jesus, sixty countries later on His dime.
34:04 He said, Go and tell them about the gift that I've given to you.
34:07 So I'm not here to meander with you.
34:09 I'm going to tell you tonight that there is no
34:12 life outside of Jesus.
34:13 There is no joy outside of Jesus.
34:15 Young man say Amen. Amen!
34:17 There's no pleasure like the pleasure you can find in Jesus.
34:21 Sometimes we get side tracked.
34:22 But I'm so glad we have a friend in Jesus.
34:26 The reason why there are people where they are today is because
34:28 the lie that Satan told from the beginning
34:30 people still believe today.
34:33 Look at Genesis 3:4, what the Devil said.
34:44 You see, people would not...
34:46 I don't know of anybody who will willingly put him or
34:50 herself in the path of death and say, I want to die.
34:57 But they go down a road that they think is the right road,
35:01 only to lose their lives, only to end in death.
35:05 Had Eve known... Let me say... Had Eve known the result of
35:11 her choice, I can guarantee you she would not make that choice.
35:14 If Adam had known the result of his choice,
35:18 he would not have made that choice.
35:20 But the Devil tries to make sin look pleasurable,
35:23 so we look at it in the way he dresses it.
35:26 And he says it, not like a devil in a cape,
35:29 not like a guy with horns.
35:30 He didn't come to Eve that way.
35:32 He was a beautiful serpent.
35:34 When he came to tempt Christ he was not an evil looking
35:36 guy with a pitchfork.
35:38 He was a beautiful prince.
35:39 He used to be an angel.
35:40 He was an angel of light: Lucifer, the son of the morning.
35:43 But he knows still how to dress sin in a beautiful package
35:47 to make it look like what it's not.
35:49 That's what happened in Jonestown there.
35:52 I believe it was when Jim Jones fed grape Kool-Aid,
35:56 mixed with cyanide.
35:58 It tasted good, but look what the Bible says, Proverbs 14:12.
36:02 Hear the word of God tonight.
36:12 I'm here tonight to tell you Satan is a liar,
36:16 and sin always leads to death.
36:18 I had a childhood friend that died at seventeen years old
36:22 at the point of a gun, because he thought that the life
36:25 he lived will not lead to death.
36:28 I had a high school friend that died of a sexually
36:30 transmitted disease.
36:32 I remember seeing her down in the Wall Street area.
36:34 And then I asked, What ever happened to so and so?
36:36 And they said she died of aids.
36:38 I had a church friend that died of brain cancer
36:41 from smoking marijuana.
36:43 He only tried it twice, but his body couldn't handle it.
36:46 And before he was nineteen years old he was
36:48 dead from brain cancer.
36:50 You see, people think that some how sin plays with us.
36:52 We dabble with it, but sin is deadly.
36:55 The wages of sin is what? death.
36:58 I had a high school friend that I went to high school with,
37:01 and when I went to my thirtieth class reunion,
37:04 my wife was there with me, in Brooklyn, New York.
37:06 And they were naming the names, and I looked around.
37:09 I said I hadn't seen her in years.
37:10 I wonder what happened to her.
37:12 And I went around to my other class friends.
37:14 Do you know what happened to Deena?
37:15 Have any of you seen Norma?
37:16 Have you seen Norma?
37:18 And they said, Well, there's a section in the program.
37:19 You'll find out what happened to her.
37:21 And they flashed her picture on the screen.
37:23 And my wife can tell you I sat there and wept.
37:25 I said, That was my high school friend.
37:27 We hung out every day.
37:29 We vowed to make it through high school together.
37:31 Just us and two other girlfriends.
37:33 We had good friendships.
37:34 But I said, She's dead!
37:36 Will I see her again? Only God knows.
37:38 Friends, sin lies to you.
37:41 The wages of sin is death.
37:43 That's why when people tell you that Jesus doesn't make sense,
37:48 they're lying to you.
37:49 When people tell you that you can find satisfaction and joy
37:52 without Jesus, they're lying to you.
37:54 Look at John 8:44. The Bible says, of those that lie to you:
38:06 What was he church?
38:10 He led Adam to die, Eve died, their children died.
38:15 I could imagine today when Adam had to lay his wife to rest,
38:18 and he knew the result of the sin.
38:31 But let me make it even clearer tonight.
38:32 I want this topic to be clear.
38:35 You see, the fact of the matter is even if you never did
38:38 anything wrong... You hear me tonight?
38:42 You may never have smoked a cigarette, alcohol, promiscuity.
38:47 You may be the only person that never lied, or cheated.
38:51 Even if you did nothing wrong, you are still destined to die,
38:57 because it's not what you've done, it's the nature that you
39:00 have that determines whether you live or die,
39:03 even if you did nothing wrong.
39:06 That's why I'm always amazed when people say, Well, you know,
39:09 my neighbor has a generally good heart.
39:11 I said there is none that's good, no not one. Amen somebody.
39:14 Ain't no good people.
39:16 Nobody's good. There's only one that's good.
39:19 His name is Jesus.
39:20 So when you say you're good, what you mean
39:24 is good for nothing! That right!
39:28 You step on somebody's toe on the wrong day, you'll find out
39:32 how good they are. Oh yeah!
39:35 We're not good. There's nothing good about us.
39:38 We know how to put on the good side.
39:42 There's some church members that would beat you up.
39:44 But let me tell you this, I'd rather be in a church with a
39:49 church member that's going to beat me up, than in a bar with a
39:51 bar mate that will not beat me up.
39:53 Let me tell you why.
39:54 Because the church member's in the right place.
39:56 And God can work on his or her heart getting her ready.
39:59 There isn't any perfect people in the church.
40:01 Don't look for them. They aren't here.
40:02 Every one of us is in process.
40:05 The Lord is working on every one of us.
40:09 He calls us so He can enter us into His refurbishing program,
40:15 so that when He comes we look just like Him.
40:17 Somebody ought to say Amen.
40:19 Don't look for perfect people in the church.
40:20 Somebody said, I don't want to join the church.
40:22 There are a lot of hypocrites there.
40:24 Well, they're in the right place. It's the hospital.
40:27 Even if you give your life to Jesus,
40:28 don't walk around looking for Jesus.
40:31 If Jesus can be seen in your life, praise God.
40:34 But if somebody doesn't look like Jesus yet,
40:38 He's still working. Come on somebody!
40:40 He's still working on me.
40:42 That's what the kids sing.
40:44 He's still working on me.
40:45 He's still working on all of us.
40:47 When sin entered the world death came with it.
40:51 Sin was a Trojan horse.
40:53 Do you know that Trojan horse story?
40:55 The Romans built a Trojan horse out of wood,
40:57 and they gifted it to their enemies.
40:59 And when they accepted the Trojan horse, and they were in
41:02 the comfort thinking, Well, Rome loves us.
41:04 During the night they opened the belly of that horse,
41:07 and loaded on the inside were Roman soldiers that
41:10 devastated their enemies.
41:11 Sin is a Trojan horse.
41:13 It comes with death on the inside.
41:16 Look at Romans 5:12, Romans 5:12.
41:20 The Bible says, speaking of this Trojan horse
41:24 that came through Adam.
41:28 How many men?
41:33 The Trojan horse.
41:38 Spread to how many of us?
41:44 Now when you look at that new born baby, when you look at that
41:52 seven year old that looks so cute, what you need to be
41:56 reminded of is that they have the same nature that Adam had.
42:07 When we get to that point of accountability,
42:10 and we understand the difference between the nature
42:14 and the actions, God holds us responsible
42:18 for the actions of our lives.
42:19 But the fact of the matter is, in 1 Corinthians 15:22,
42:26 the Bible makes it very clear:
42:29 Read that on the screen.
42:31 Most die. All! How many die? All!
42:43 You want a very interesting fact?
42:45 Are you ready for it?
42:46 All that you have to do to be lost is nothing.
42:55 You don't have to shoot anybody.
42:57 You don't have to lie.
42:59 You don't have to steal.
43:01 As we say in New York, You don't gotta do notten.
43:06 To be lost you don't have to do anything.
43:09 But decide to be saved.
43:13 Once you don't decide to be saved, you were born on the
43:18 conveyer belt to the grave that is without any recompense
43:23 or without any hope of coming forth in the
43:25 resurrection of life.
43:26 That's why this born again thing is so vitally important.
43:29 Look at John 3:18.
43:36 The reason I like to talk about Jesus, is Jesus didn't
43:39 come to condemn us, because we were already condemned
43:42 by Adam's decision.
43:43 Adam's sin already condemned us.
43:47 If you understand that say Amen. Amen!
43:50 Let me make it even clearer.
43:51 I've got ears like my mother.
43:57 Can you see them? I can't change them.
44:01 They are a family trait.
44:03 I was born with them, I'm going to die with them.
44:07 The only way they'll look different is if I
44:09 have plastic surgery.
44:10 But I've had them so long they're going to stay this way.
44:13 I got them from my mother.
44:17 I've got a nose like my father.
44:21 My hair is like my mother's and my father's.
44:24 I can't do a thing about it.
44:26 I'm the tallest Filipino, French, African American,
44:30 Indian, Italian you'll ever meet.
44:35 And I can't do a thing about it.
44:36 I was born on July 30th.
44:39 I can't change that fact.
44:42 Let me make the correlation.
44:44 We were born with the heirs and mind of Adam.
44:48 That's a fact. You can't change that.
44:52 And because of that you were born destined to die,
44:56 with no possibility of reprieve unless you make a decision
45:01 that you don't want to die without Jesus. Amen!
45:04 Born on a conveyer belt to hell.
45:08 That's why the Bible says, John 3:18, notice this.
45:11 Oh I love Jesus. Amen! The Bible says:
45:23 This is profound; is what?
45:34 That's powerful. Brother you don't have to do anything.
45:39 If you don't know Jesus, you're already condemned.
45:41 You see, what I love about preaching about Jesus is this:
45:45 Jesus is always good news.
45:49 Aw, you didn't get it!
45:51 I didn't say Elvis.
45:53 I didn't say Beyonce.
45:55 I said Jesus is always good news. Amen!
45:58 Jesus is the agent of change.
46:01 He came to change our standing with heaven.
46:04 He said, John I know you were born in trouble.
46:07 I don't want you to die in trouble.
46:09 I know you were born destined to die, but if I had anything
46:13 to do with it, you'll be destined to live.
46:16 You see, we were born sentenced to death, and Jesus changed
46:20 my sentence to life.
46:21 We were born sentenced, but Jesus, the agent of change,
46:25 came to change us from sinners to saints.
46:27 Somebody say Amen tonight.
46:29 We were born destined for hell, but because of Jesus,
46:33 we can be destined for heaven. Amen!
46:36 That's what John 3:16 is all about.
46:38 We read that text like it's some kind of give me a pass card.
46:43 Look at John 3:16 with new eyes.
46:46 The beauty of Jesus. The beauty of Jesus. Together.
47:07 And verse 17 is powerful.
47:12 To do what? You know why He didn't send Him to condemn it?
47:16 Because it's already condemned.
47:21 You see, if you came tonight for me to tell you what's wrong with
47:25 you, that's no the Gospel.
47:27 You know you messed up.
47:29 Come on somebody, say Amen. Amen!
47:31 You know you've got issues, got attitudes,
47:33 practices that you live in the dark with.
47:36 You know you are in trouble.
47:38 That's not my job. The Gospel is good news because...
47:42 Thank You Jesus!... because it condemns sin, not the sinner.
47:47 Amen! Amen! That's good news!
47:50 If you're sick I don't have to tell you that.
47:52 If you're in the hospital I don't have to say,
47:54 Did you know you're sick?
47:55 If you've got a toothache me telling you you have a toothache
47:58 does nothing for you.
48:00 But if you come to my office and you leave healed,
48:02 you're glad that I've come to help you out.
48:04 Jesus did not come to condemn us.
48:07 Jesus came to save us. Amen!
48:10 The Gospel is good news, but there's a problem.
48:12 But there's a problem.
48:14 For so long... Hear me tonight as I close.
48:17 For so long, for so long, for so long, we have been led to
48:24 believe that the problem is us.
48:26 Hear me carefully.
48:29 We have been led to believe that the problem is us.
48:32 You know, your parents say, You've got a problem.
48:34 You know, your husband says, You're the problem.
48:36 You and your wife said, You're the problem.
48:39 The tax accountant says, You've got a problem.
48:41 We've been led so long to believe that we are the problem,
48:43 but the reality is sin is the problem.
48:48 We inherited the problem of sin from our Daddy named Adam.
48:56 He gave us the best he could.
48:59 Let me continue. Adam gave us a nature that messed us up.
49:17 Think about who you are.
49:19 I don't need to know you.
49:20 I don't need to know your life.
49:21 The Lord knows the secrets of your life.
49:23 But let me tell you some tonight.
49:24 Adam... Let me apply it to myself.
49:26 Adam gave me a nature that messed me up.
49:31 Everything I did was because of the nature that Adam gave to me.
49:35 And a lot of us don't understand that a bad tree cannot
49:39 produce good fruit, and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit.
49:43 You are bad not because of your fruit, but because of the tree.
49:46 Adam is your tree.
49:48 But Jesus came to root out Adam, and to plant you in Him.
49:52 Somebody ought to say Amen. Amen!
49:55 Our sinful minds led us to where we did not want to go.
49:58 Our sinful thoughts did to us what we did not want to do.
50:01 We were helpless to break the hold that sin had on us.
50:04 But the reason why I'm so happy tonight...
50:07 My wife and I already preached this sermon.
50:08 I already had, I preached to my wife in the hotel room.
50:12 I already shed my tears.
50:14 That's why I'm able to do it tonight without shedding tears.
50:16 When I look at this message today I couldn't even breathe.
50:19 I said, Honey, the message is so good I'm being born again!
50:22 Amen! The agent of change, by the name of Jesus.
50:31 He came to interrupt our journey to hell,
50:33 so that we could have a journey to heaven.
50:36 What do you say tonight somebody? Amen!
50:38 The good news is that Jesus didn't wait.
50:41 This is deep. This is even deeper.
50:42 Jesus didn't even wait for us to be good before He made
50:46 a way of salvation.
50:47 He didn't wait for us to be good.
50:49 You know why? Because we cannot be good without salvation.
50:53 He's good. He imparts to us His character.
50:56 And His Father looks at us in the character of His Son,
50:59 and said, You look good now.
51:06 That's why when you read the Bible you can read
51:08 about Rahab the harlot.
51:10 And Rahab the harlot is in the family line of Jesus.
51:13 You can read about David the adulterer.
51:16 And David the adulterer is in the family line of Jesus.
51:19 There's nobody Jesus cannot save.
51:21 Somebody ought to say Amen tonight. Amen!
51:23 But I'm going to wind up with this text, Romans 5:6-11.
51:27 This is powerful, but I've got to milk it.
51:29 So I'm going to really walk you through it.
51:30 The good news is Jesus did not wait for us to be good before He
51:34 made a way of salvation.
51:36 It's called Justification: salvation from the
51:39 penalty of sin. Here it is:
51:52 Do you know what that means?
51:53 That means you didn't have any power.
51:55 You had no strength to break the bond.
51:57 You tried. You said, Lord I don't want to do it,
51:59 but sin was so much more powerful than you.
52:01 Sin said, You're going to do it.
52:03 And you did it! Verse 7.
52:05 And the Bible says:
52:14 In other words the Bible says, I'm not going to die for
52:18 somebody that ain't worth nothing.
52:19 But Jesus looked at us and said, Wait a minute!
52:22 They may look like they ain't worth nothing to you,
52:24 but they are worth something to Me. Amen, somebody.
52:27 We are somebody in the eyes of a loving Savior.
52:30 And then the Bible says in verse 8:
52:43 He died for us while we were in jail, so He could set us free.
52:47 Amen! But then in verse 9:
52:57 The world is on a crash course with the wrath
53:00 of the fires of hell.
53:02 But the Lord said, That's not where My children
53:04 are going to end up.
53:05 Tonight the Lord wants to save you from the fires of
53:07 destruction, and give you the streets of gold.
53:10 Somebody ought to say Amen.
53:11 But then verse 10.
53:30 He reconciled us while we were enemies.
53:34 But here's the tie; here's the bow.
53:47 This is the kicker.
53:49 This is the kicker.
53:51 Jesus said, I got a ticket that I want to give to somebody that
53:55 wants to go to heaven.
53:57 I've already paid for your flight.
53:59 I've paid for your release from jail.
54:02 I want to give you abundant life.
54:05 And I want you to be in the kingdom with Me.
54:07 All I'm asking you to do is receive the reconciliation.
54:11 Amen. Take the ticket; take the ticket.
54:15 Who wants to take the ticket?
54:17 Tonight as I sing this song, if you want to take the ticket;
54:20 tonight if you want to take the ticket,
54:22 Jesus wants to save you.
54:23 Tonight as I sing this song, if you want to accept the gift
54:26 of eternal life that Jesus came to give you, tonight if that's
54:29 your desire, as I sing this song just stand where you are.
54:33 Or even more than that, just come down.
54:34 I want to pray for you.
54:36 Don't think about anybody else, like Nicodemus.
54:37 Tonight is about your salvation.
54:39 It's about your stand with God.
54:41 As I sing this song tonight, I pray that you make a decision
54:45 to give your life to Jesus.
54:59 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
55:09 Calling for you and for me;
55:18 See, on the portals He's waiting and watching,
55:27 Watching for you and for me.
55:34 Is there somebody tonight?
55:35 So come on home, come home, You who are weary, come home;
55:55 Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
56:04 Calling, O sinner, come home!
56:12 Somebody else tonight wants to give his life?
56:13 Just take the ticket.
56:15 Come on, you want the ticket?
56:16 Come and take the ticket.
56:19 Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading?
56:27 That's right sister.
56:28 Pleading for you and for me?
56:35 And why should you linger and heed not His mercies,
56:46 Mercies for you and for me?
56:53 Anybody else tonight?
56:54 Just come on down.
56:55 Don't wait for anybody else.
56:57 Oh, for the wonderful love He has promised,
57:05 He's promised for you and for me!
57:11 Here's why. Though we have sinned,
57:18 He has mercy and pardon, It is pardon for you and for me.
57:30 Tonight somebody else?
57:32 So come on home, come home.
57:43 You who are weary, come home;
57:50 Anybody else for Jesus tonight?
57:56 Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
58:06 Earnestly, tenderly, my Jesus is calling,
58:15 Calling, tonight He's calling.
58:27 So come home, come home. Praise the Lord!

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Revised 2016-10-20