Participants:
Series Code: AFDB
Program Code: AFDB000067A
|
00:02 male announcer: This presentation is brought to you
00:04 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. 00:10 Doug Batchelor: On Christmas Eve 1971, 00:13 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke boarded Lansa flight 508 00:17 with her mother in Lima, Peru. 00:19 After crossing the Andes Mountains, 00:21 dark thunderclouds surrounded the aircraft, 00:24 causing severe turbulence. 00:26 Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck 00:28 the plane's engine, tearing off a wing. 00:30 As the doomed airliner spiraled towards the earth, 00:33 the cabin disintegrated, and Juliane found herself 00:36 strapped to a row of seats falling silently 00:39 through the stormy sky. 00:40 Plummeting over 10,000 feet, she struck the jungle canopy 00:44 and slammed into the forest floor. 00:46 Incredibly, Juliane survived the two-mile fall with a just 00:50 a broken collarbone and a gash in her arm. 00:53 Failing to find other survivors, Juliane hiked for days to reach 00:56 civilization and was eventually reunited with her father. 01:00 You know, the Bible talks about when Adam and Eve fell through 01:03 the devil's temptations in the Garden of Eden, 01:06 it brought down the whole human race. 01:08 But Jesus came to help us survive this great fall into sin 01:12 and to make it back to the Father's house. 01:16 Do you ever think that maybe you have fallen too far 01:19 or too many times? 01:20 Join me now for some encouragement as we talk about 01:23 what the Bible has to say on this important topic. 01:31 Doug: Our message this morning is dealing with 01:34 When A Christian Falls, and the Bible has a lot to say 01:40 about the subject of falling. 01:42 There's actually a somewhat famous report that has made 01:48 the rounds, it's also a little bit humorous, about a bricklayer 01:53 who sent in a report to an insurance company that was 01:55 asking for more information regarding an accident. 01:58 This is, dates back several years, but it's a masterpiece. 02:01 I'd like to share this with you. 02:04 "I'm writing in response to your request 02:06 for additional information. 02:08 In block number three of the accident reporting forum, 02:11 I put 'poor planning' as a cause of my accident. 02:15 You said in your letter that I should explain more fully. 02:18 I trust that the following details will be sufficient. 02:22 I am a bricklayer by trade. 02:24 On the day of the accident, I was working alone on a roof 02:27 of a ten-story building. 02:29 When I completed my work, I discovered I had about 02:32 500 pounds of bricks leftover. 02:34 Rather than carry them down by hand, I decided to lower them to 02:38 the ground in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was 02:42 attached to the side of the building at the 10th floor. 02:45 Securing the rope at ground level, I went to the roof, 02:48 loaded the 500 pounds of bricks in the barrel, then went back 02:51 down to the ground to untie the rope, holding it tightly 02:55 to ensure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of bricks. 03:00 You'll note in block 11 of the accident reporting form 03:03 that I weigh 135 pounds. 03:07 Due to my surprise, it being jerked off the ground so 03:10 suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go 03:14 of the rope. 03:15 Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side 03:19 of the building. 03:21 In the vicinity of the fifth floor, 03:23 I met the side of the barrel coming down. 03:26 This explains the fractured skull and broken collarbone. 03:30 Fortunately, by this time, I regained my presence of mind 03:33 and was able to hold tightly to the rope in spite of my pain. 03:37 I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my 03:41 right hand were lodged two knuckles deep in the pulley. 03:46 At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks 03:50 hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. 03:54 Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed now 03:57 approximately 30 pounds. 03:59 I refer you again to my weight in block number 11 04:02 of the accident reporting forum. 04:05 As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down 04:08 the side of the building. 04:10 In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the empty barrel 04:13 coming up again. 04:15 This accounts for the two fractured ankles and lacerations 04:18 of my legs and lower body. 04:20 Fortunately, the second encounter with the barrel slowed 04:24 me enough to lessen the injuries when I fell into the pile 04:27 of bricks, and only three vertebrae are cracked. 04:31 I'm sorry to report however, that as I lay there on the 04:34 bricks in pain and unable to stand, forgetting the empty 04:37 barrel ten stories above me, I lost my presence of mind 04:41 and I let go of the rope." 04:47 That's sort of funny. 04:50 Sometimes people laugh when others fall, they've got a 04:54 special type of comedy, it's called physical comedy 04:57 and some comedians are known for their acts involve 05:00 a lot of falling Dick Van Dyke, Jackie Gleason, 05:04 and Charlie Chaplin, and The Three Stooges, 05:07 and Jerry Lewis, and they're always trying 05:09 to invoke a laugh by falling. 05:11 And people sometimes think it's funny when they see 05:14 someone else fall. 05:15 They've discovered that even some animals, chimpanzees, for 05:18 example, will laugh when they see another chimp trip or fall. 05:25 Kind of sinister that you're glad it's not you, I suppose. 05:29 But biblically falling is not a funny matter. 05:33 It can be very serious. 05:35 All of the pain, and the death, and the misery that we see 05:37 in the world today is a result of a fall. 05:41 There in the Garden of Eden man was given a simple test of 05:44 loyalty to God and His Word, or they could choose to follow 05:48 the rebel, which involved really self-worship. 05:52 And because Adam and Eve did not trust the Lord, and maybe they 05:56 wanted the God-like powers the serpent promised, they fell. 06:00 Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world 06:05 through one man, and death through sin--" 06:08 So, death spread to all men because all have sinned. 06:12 Romans 3:23, for how many have sinned? 06:17 All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God. 06:23 We've all experienced that because of the fall 06:26 of Adam and Eve. 06:28 Pastor was talking to his five-year-old son about Adam 06:31 and Eve, and the temptation in the garden, he said, 06:35 "Now, what can we learn from that?" 06:37 And the boy said, "Don't play with snakes." 06:39 And it's still good advice, do not listen to the devil. 06:45 Now, that brings us to our story that was in our Scripture 06:48 reading about a person that's in church that falls. 06:53 And it's a story of Eutychus that you find in Acts chapter 06:56 20, and I'd like to take you back there again very quickly. 07:01 Paul is preaching in this region of Asia. 07:05 He's gonna leave the next day, and he doesn't know 07:08 if he'll ever see him again. 07:09 And so, the whole church has gathered for the Sabbath. 07:13 They close the Sabbath together. 07:15 Now technically, it's the first day of the week, 07:17 and he preaches, and he preaches, 07:19 and he preaches. 07:21 And back then at night, they didn't have LED lights. 07:25 They didn't have incandescent bulbs or fluorescent lights. 07:28 They used lamps, and these oil lamps tended to put off a little 07:32 bit of oil, and it says that there were many lamps 07:34 in the upper chamber. 07:36 And the reason they mentioned that is if there's a lot 07:38 of lamps, there's often some smoke residue. 07:40 You ever choke when someone puts out all the candles 07:42 on a birthday cake? 07:44 And it got hard to breathe. 07:47 And so, this young man thought, 07:49 "Well, I'm gonna sit a little closer the window." 07:50 The building's full of people, so it's short on oxygen. 07:53 It may have been a warm night, and the lamps are filling the 07:56 place with smoke and so Eutychus thought that he had a good seat, 08:01 and he leaned down in this stone window sill three stories up, 08:05 tried to keep some fresh air, and still he had one ear 08:08 on the sermon. 08:09 Paul was long in preaching. 08:12 And Eutychus, overcome with sleep, not realizing the 08:18 precarious place, don't sleep in the edge of a window. 08:22 And he flinched, but he flinched, 08:24 and he fell out the window. 08:27 He fell down from the third story, and he was taken up dead. 08:31 Parents and people ran downstairs, 08:34 and they embrace them, and he died from the fall. 08:39 It was fatal. 08:41 But Paul feels really bad because he knows partly it's 08:43 because he preached too long. 08:48 And he went down. 08:49 It's interesting, the word that's used. 08:51 Eutychus fell and Paul went and fell on him. 08:56 And he's praying as he's hugging him, and he tells the crowd 08:59 gathered around, "Trouble not yourselves, 09:02 for his life is in him." 09:03 Now, this point, you're in Acts chapter 20. 09:05 Paul's faith is pretty strong. 09:07 He's already affected some miracles, including maybe 09:09 his own resurrection when he was stoned. 09:13 And not the Paul resurrected himself, 09:15 but God raised him up and a miracle takes place. 09:18 The boy was dead. 09:20 Paul goes and he embraces him. 09:22 You know, when Elijah and Elisha resurrected a boy, 09:27 maybe Paul was thinking back on this story, 09:30 they both did it through physical contact. 09:33 In one case, Elisha put himself on the boy and embraced him. 09:39 "Trouble not yourself, his life is in him." 09:42 And so, there was great rejoicing. 09:44 Now, how is it that he fell? 09:48 Here he's a member, he's in church, 09:50 he's listening to a sermon and he fell. 09:52 Where was he sitting? 09:55 He's sitting near the edge. 09:58 You know how people fall out of church? 10:01 They stay on the edge. 10:03 If he had been in the room, it might have been a little 10:05 tougher, but he wanted to stay on the edge. 10:08 And you know who it was the devil attacks? 10:12 Those on the edge. 10:13 Who does the wolf go after? 10:16 It's the lambs that are on the edge. 10:19 And a lot of people that are sort of on the edge of church, 10:22 now I'm not speaking specifically to young people who 10:24 are sitting on the outside of the building right now, 10:26 but I'm talking about those who, in their lives, 10:29 they sort of go to church once a week. 10:31 They want to stay connected, but they're living on the edge, 10:35 and they are kind of have one foot in the church, 10:38 and they've got one foot in the world. 10:42 So, if you want to be safe, you want to be right 10:44 in the middle of the flock, amen? 10:47 Get involved, get in the middle of it. 10:50 Get in the thick of it. 10:51 You're a lot more-- you're a lot safer. 10:53 You're more inclined to survive as a Christian 10:55 if you stay involved in a church. 10:57 That's one of our goals here in Granite Bay is you'll notice 11:02 that we try to involve the young people in the music, 11:04 in the Scripture reading. 11:06 Some of them volunteer with the media, they help with the sound. 11:10 And I think it's so important that we keep the young people 11:12 engaged, and we keep them involved. 11:14 They're a lot more likely to stay with the faith. 11:17 If they sit near the edge and all they hear is long-winded 11:19 preachers, there's a chance they can fall. 11:23 That's not only young people that fall, 11:25 but it happens to all of us. 11:28 The Bible says the apostles fell. 11:32 Jesus foretold that that would happen. 11:34 Matthew chapter 26, verse 31 Jesus said, and I'm reading this 11:38 from the English Standard Version. 11:40 He said, "You will all fall," I think King James says, 11:43 "You will all stumble." 11:45 But that's the word. 11:46 "You will all fall away because of me this night. 11:48 For it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, 11:52 and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'" 11:54 How is it that Peter ended up denying Christ? 11:57 Have you read there in Mark chapter 14 it says 11:59 Peter followed, after Jesus was arrested, 12:01 "Peter followed from a distance." 12:05 And because he was following from a distance, and when Jesus 12:07 went into the judgment hall, Peter stayed on the edge, 12:11 hanging out with the the enemies of Christ. 12:13 And when he was hanging out with the enemies, 12:15 eventually he denied them. 12:19 So, you want to stay in the middle of it. 12:21 Says, "They all forsook him and fled." 12:24 One of the ways that people fall is you can fall through pride. 12:29 This is how the devil fell. 12:31 Notice, 1 Timothy 3:6, "Don't exalt a novice as an elder, 12:37 lest being puffed up with pride 12:39 he falls in the same condemnation as the devil." 12:44 A way to keep from falling is through humility. 12:48 Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, 12:52 and a haughty spirit before a fall." 12:55 And you can read in 1 Corinthians 10:12, 12:57 "Therefore lead him who thinks he stands take heed 13:01 lest he fall." 13:02 So, how do Christians fall? 13:05 They can fall through thinking too much about themselves, 13:08 just like the devil, fall through pride. 13:12 I think this is really where Judas fell. 13:14 Judas just had such confidence in himself. 13:18 He was so sure of his abilities. 13:19 He thought that he was gonna manipulate circumstances 13:22 that would force Jesus to be proclaimed King, 13:25 and he was gonna get all the credit for it. 13:28 He didn't, he didn't want Jesus washing his feet, 13:31 but Jesus washed the feet of the other disciples. 13:33 They all humbled themselves. 13:36 Judas had his feet washed, and he went out 13:38 and he betrayed Christ. 13:40 And so, it's through pride. 13:43 Doug: Don't go anywhere, friends. 13:45 In just a moment, we'll return for the rest 13:46 of today's presentation. 13:48 Do you sometimes feel like your faith is a little lukewarm? 13:52 Do you struggle with motivation when it's time to go to church? 13:56 Does it seem lately like you're being more easily overcome 13:59 by temptation? 14:01 Well, friend, don't despair. You're not alone. 14:03 Millions of Christians struggle with the same challenges. 14:06 They want to keep their experience vibrant and strong. 14:10 If you're longing to renew your passion for Jesus, 14:12 there are some very real practical steps you can take 14:16 to experience a spiritual revival. 14:19 So, to help you reignite that spark of faith in your life, 14:22 Amazing Facts would like to send you a special free gift called 14:27 "12 Steps To Revival." 14:29 In this short but faith transforming book, you'll learn 14:32 the 12 must-have keys to reignite your spiritual life, 14:36 and to help you have genuine lasting revival in your church. 14:39 I promise that your faith will come alive when you rediscover 14:42 a vital connection with God. 14:44 So, don't wait, friend. 14:45 To get your free copy, call the number on the screen and ask 14:50 for offer number 780 or visit the web address. 14:53 And after you read this incredible resource, 14:55 make sure and share it with a friend. 14:58 Well, let's return to today's presentation and learn 15:00 some more amazing facts from the Word of God. 15:04 Doug: Hebrews 6:4, now you gotta be careful. 15:06 You know, we are so thankful that God is merciful, 15:10 God is forgiving. 15:11 If it wasn't for his persistent mercy, where would we be? 15:16 If we only had ten years of mercy, those of us that are 15:19 20 would be all out. 15:21 And God's merciful is so great, but there is a risk you can 15:24 presume on God's mercy. 15:26 There's a verse, we get questions on this verse in our 15:30 Bible program on a regular basis because it almost seems 15:33 like it leaves no hope. 15:35 Notice, Hebrews 6, verse 4, it's in the Bible. 15:38 You gotta look at it, difficult verse. 15:41 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, 15:45 and they've tasted the heavenly gift, and they have become 15:48 partakers of the Holy Spirit, and they've tasted the good word 15:52 of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, 15:58 to renew them again to repentance, 16:01 since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, 16:04 and put Him to an open shame." 16:06 Here he's telling us that he says it's impossible for people 16:10 who've had all these benefits. 16:12 If they fall away, in other words, if they turn away from 16:14 every one of the best gifts of God, what more can God do? 16:18 And Peter describes that and he said, "It's like a pig who 16:22 is washed that were turns to wallowing in the mire, 16:25 or a dog that turns to its vomit again." 16:28 Some who fall can't get up again and because they had all 16:33 the benefits, and they turned their back on all the benefits. 16:37 Now, I don't want to discourage you. 16:38 Some are thinking, "Does that mean that if a believer turns 16:42 from God, they cannot be saved?" 16:44 Now, of course, it's not teaching that. 16:45 What would you do with the story of the prodigal son? 16:48 What would you do to the story of David, or Peter, 16:51 or even Moses when he lost his temper? 16:53 And so, Christians fall, and God is very patient. 16:58 The apostles, they, like I said, they denied the Lord. 17:03 And we're so thankful for God's mercy, 17:05 but you take a lot of risks. 17:08 If you live near the edge, it's kind of like riding 17:10 a motorcycle. 17:12 If you keep wondering how far you can lean on the turns, 17:14 eventually you'll find what that point is by falling, 17:17 and you may not survive. 17:20 You never know when you're gonna get to that point where you 17:22 think you've got your balance, and you don't. 17:24 You don't want to find out the hard way what 17:25 that point is, right? 17:29 But you can learn from your falling. 17:32 How many of you, by show of hands, think you fell 17:36 when you were learning to walk? 17:39 That should be every hand, isn't that right? 17:42 And so, there's a lot to be learned by falling and a certain 17:46 amount of falling is expected. 17:47 And you know, even for baby Christians, I used to think, 17:51 you know, in a perfect world, when someone comes to Christ 17:55 and they accept Jesus, if they really have enough faith, 17:58 they never need to sin again. 18:01 You know, I've come to believe that's not very realistic. 18:04 It seems like when a person first comes to Christ, 18:06 there's never a good excuse for sin. 18:08 Don't misunderstand. 18:10 But typically, when we are learning the new way 18:14 of walking in the Lord, you're gonna make mistakes. 18:18 The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 1, 18:19 "We've got to learn to do good." 18:21 That's a learning process. 18:22 That means you don't know everything about it, 18:24 you have to unlearn a lot of mistakes. 18:26 So, you may learn along the way. 18:30 You know, baby eagles, now humming birds 18:32 and eagles are different. 18:33 Hummingbirds, the babies, when they first leave the nest, 18:37 they're flying. 18:38 It's just like they know. 18:40 No lessons, they don't get a license, a medical, 18:41 anything, they just fly. 18:44 Eagles are a little different. 18:46 They have to sort of get the hang of it, 18:48 and some eagles do not survive. 18:50 I think I've heard one out of five eagles 18:52 does not survive its first flight because, you know, 18:55 eagle nests are usually very high. 18:57 They need to learn. 18:59 Sometimes they'll wait until they're up there in the nest. 19:01 And they wait until the the wind picks up, and they'll just hover 19:04 over the nest and then pull their wings in. 19:05 And they'll hover and they'll pull. 19:07 And they get the hang of it. 19:08 Sometimes when they're making their first flight, the mother 19:10 or the father goes underneath them and when they realize 19:14 they're dropping out of control, they kind of catch them 19:17 and either lower down easy, or lift them back up again. 19:20 That's why God uses that phrase when he talks to Israel. 19:23 Says, "Like an eagle, I bore you on my wings." 19:28 Because there's a learning process involved, 19:32 and sometimes it takes time for us to learn. 19:35 So, don't be discouraged. 19:37 Sometimes we learn through our falls, and through our trials. 19:41 Now, you can survive a fall, and that's one of the most important 19:46 things I want to tell you. 19:47 We've already established-- 19:49 I won't ask for a show of hands. 19:50 I expect if you're honest, every hand would go up. 19:52 How many of us have fallen in seeking to walk with the Lord 19:57 at some point along the way in varying degrees? 20:01 We've disobeyed. 20:03 We've done what we knew we shouldn't do. 20:06 And then we repent. 20:08 But it's not always easy. 20:10 How do you survive? 20:13 You, first of all, if we sin, what are we told to do? 20:20 Confess our sin to the Lord, repent, 20:24 go to the Lord in prayer. 20:25 Claim the promise that if we confess our sins, 20:28 he is faithful and just to forgive our sins 20:31 and to cleanse us from all on righteousness. 20:33 Then does God forgive us? 20:36 How do we know? 20:38 Because he said so. 20:40 "What if I don't feel forgiven?" 20:42 You don't go based on how you feel. 20:45 "But I have problems forgiving myself." 20:49 Are you setting yourself up as a higher tribunal than God? 20:53 You think that your judgment is more important 20:56 than God's judgment? 20:58 If God says, "I forgive you," if we were repent-- 21:00 well, what is repentance? 21:02 Well, it's been sorry for your sin, not just sorry you got 21:05 caught but remorseful, and you don't want to do it again. 21:07 You don't want to hurt him. 21:08 And this is a very important teaching you don't hear 21:11 a lot about, but it was a primary teaching in the Bible. 21:14 The Bible says Jesus began preaching repent. 21:18 John the Baptist began preaching repent. 21:20 The disciples began preaching. 21:21 "Men and brethren, what should we do?" 21:22 Peter said, Repent. 21:25 Repentance is a genuine sorrow for sin, and the desire to stop 21:30 doing that which hurts God, hurts your neighbor, 21:32 and hurts yourself, and will ultimately end 21:35 in your eternal loss. 21:37 So, if you fall, repent, confess, and then believe, 21:43 because you cannot be saved without faith. 21:45 He says, "I will forgive you, and if you do these things, 21:49 you repent and confess, and I will cleanse you from 21:52 all on righteousness." 21:54 So, he's not putting on probation. 21:57 He says, you are forgiven. 21:59 You're freely forgiven. 22:00 David confessed his terrible sin and God said, 22:03 "Your sin has been put away." 22:06 When he repented, he forgave him. 22:08 Isaiah said, "Woe is me. 22:09 I am undone. 22:11 I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of them." 22:13 People with unclean lips, and God touched a coal to his mouth 22:16 and said, "Your sin is purged, your sin is taken away." 22:19 Zaccheus said, "If I've taken anything from any man 22:23 by false accusation," God said, 22:26 "Salvation has come to this house." 22:27 As soon as they repented and confessed, thief on the cross. 22:30 "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 22:33 What did Jesus say? 22:35 Here's a guy, he's a thief, a rebel, and in one passage, 22:38 it says guilty of murder. 22:42 And God said, "You'll be with me in paradise." 22:46 Believe that God forgives you. 22:49 And when you know that you're forgiven, you don't want 22:52 to jeopardize that, you want to live-- 22:53 walk in the newness of life, amen? 22:55 Now, I want to illustrate something here. 22:58 I'm looking for a couple of volunteers. 23:00 I'd like a couple of young people that would help me. 23:03 There in the back as, of course, all right, come on up, 23:05 two of you, yeah. 23:07 I saw two hands go up. There you go. 23:08 That'll work. That's perfect. 23:10 Come on up here. I want to illustrate something. 23:16 All right, let's see here. You can come here, over here. 23:23 Young lady here, you go on the other side of her. 23:26 Can you stand on one foot? 23:29 Now, while you're standing on one foot, I want you to take one 23:31 finger, push her shoulder and see if you can push her over, 23:33 one finger. 23:36 Okay, all right, you're enjoying this, aren't you? 23:38 Okay now, I want you to hold my hand. 23:44 Now stand on one foot. Is that a little harder? 23:51 You're gonna hurt her. You know what the point is? 23:58 It really helps if you got a hand to hold when 24:00 you're trying to stand up and keep from falling, amen? 24:03 Thank you very much. You did a good job. 24:07 So, it's not just that you fall, we want to learn how 24:12 to not fall, amen? 24:14 Does somebody offer us a hand? 24:16 John 10:28, "And I give them eternal life," Jesus speaking. 24:23 "I give them eternal life and they will never perish, neither 24:27 will anyone snatch them out of my hand. 24:30 My Father who has given them to me is greater than all 24:33 and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand." 24:38 Jesus will never let go of you. 24:40 He will not lose his grip, amen? 24:43 The Bible says you can't keep a good man down. 24:46 Proverbs 24:16, "For a righteous man may fall seven times 24:51 and rise again, but the wicked will fall by calamity." 24:56 Psalm 37:23, "The steps of a good man or ordered by the Lord, 25:01 and he delights in his way. 25:03 Though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down. 25:07 For the Lord upholds him with his hand." 25:11 And there's one fall that you should deliberately perform 25:16 that will help prevent the fatal fall. 25:20 The Bible says that we must fall upon Christ, 25:22 and we will be broken. 25:25 Peter went out of the garden after he denied Christ, 25:28 he went out to the Garden of Gethsemane, he fell on his face 25:31 and he wept bitterly. 25:32 Matthew 21:44, "Whoever falls on this stone will be broken, 25:37 but on whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder." 25:41 If we cast ourselves on Christ, if we fall upon Christ, and we 25:46 completely surrender to him, that's what gives us 25:48 the strength and the power to keep from falling. 25:53 I remember reading about the great Blondin, 25:56 he was the greatest of the tightrope walkers. 25:58 And Karen and I were recently at Niagara Falls, and he was the 26:02 first one who walked across Niagara falls on a tightrope. 26:06 And he did some amazing things. 26:09 They don't even know how many times he walked across Niagara 26:15 because he did it so many different ways, and he did 26:16 so many different theatric variations of it. 26:20 Once he did it in a wheelbarrow. 26:22 Once he pushed someone across in a wheelbarrow. 26:24 Once he carried a man across Niagara Falls on his back. 26:28 By the way, he started tightrope walking when he was five years 26:32 old, and he was just so gifted at--in his balance. 26:37 Someone asked him one time, "Don't you get nervous 26:39 when you're walking across the Niagara Falls or one of these 26:44 great precipices and you see the raging water down there and the 26:48 steam, and the power of it all, and the wind starts to blow?" 26:52 And he said, "No, he says, "Those things never scare me." 26:55 He said, "I don't look at all of that." 26:57 Said, "Before I cross a chasm," he says, 27:00 "I fix a silver star at the opposite end." 27:04 And he said, "I keep my eyes on the star and I know if I do 27:08 that, all I've gotta do is put one foot in front of another 27:11 because the rope is straight. 27:14 And you know, that's the secret to avoiding a fall is we keep 27:18 our eyes fixed upon Jesus, amen? 27:25 announcer: Don't forget to request today's 27:27 life-changing free resource. 27:28 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 27:31 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 27:33 or mobile device. 27:35 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 27:37 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544 27:42 or visit the web address shown on your screen. 27:44 And be sure to select the digital download option 27:47 on the request page. 27:48 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word 27:51 with Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want. 27:54 And most important, to share it with others. 28:02 announcer: And thank you for your continued support 28:04 as we take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. 28:08 We hope you'll join us next week as we delve deep into the Word 28:12 of God to explore more amazing facts. 28:15 ♪♪♪ 28:19 CC BY ABERDEEN CAPTIONING 1-800-688-6621 WWW.ABERCAP.COM 28:24 announcer: This presentation was brought to you 28:26 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. |
Revised 2019-04-29