Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000175
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00:01 Are you looking for an exciting change in your life? Well, get ready for a breath of new life.
00:06 Byrd. 00:18 Matthew 28:19 and 20: "Go ye therefore, and teach all" what? Audience: Nations. 00:28 "Baptizing them in the name of the" what, everybody? of the Father, the Son, and the Holy what? Audience: Ghost. 00:33 "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you" what? Audience: always 00:39 "Even unto the end of the world. Amen." Father, bless us now for the next couple of moments, speak for your servants heareth. 00:55 to gain entrance in this place in our lives, that, God, you would stop it right now, that we might be focused in on what 01:02 you have for us, because what you have for me and what you have for us, it is for me and for us today. 01:07 And when the appeal is made, may individuals respond, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. 01:14 Is it time to head to the hills? Is it time to head to the hills? We're living in 01:29 a time of fear, panic, terror, and alarm. The Ebola virus has become the major topic 01:40 of conversation everywhere as 4,877 people have been killed this year by Ebola alone. 01:48 Then, according to one World Health Organization worker, we really don't know how many 01:55 actual deaths we have, because there are a lot of people who have died either alone or 02:01 in the bush in West Africa. We know one man has died here in the United States, we know 02:08 three, two nurses that worked with the man have been infected, and now a New York doctor 02:14 is being reported as being infected. People who have come in contact with these people 02:20 are now being tested for infection. Is it time to head to the hills? 02:28 ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq, whose members want to create an Islamic state governed 02:37 by an extremist interpretation of Islamic law, is out of control in the Middle East. 02:43 Thirteen thousand square miles is stretched between Syria and Iraq, about the size of Belgium, 02:51 is thought to be under Islamic state control. Other estimates suggest that ISIS controls an area 02:57 closer to 35,000 square miles, which is about the size of Jordan. In June alone, 1,922 people were 03:07 killed as a result of ISIS, the deadliest month on record. Some of these killings taken out on 03:15 women and children are some of the most gruesome acts you can witness in your life. 03:21 Beheadings. Machine guns, taking people out in a direct line as if children were standing 03:31 in a water fountain line. Some have urged our President, President Obama, to send our troops 03:39 to the Middle East and restore order against ISIS. But then on the flip side, some have said, 03:46 leave them alone. Let them solve their own problems, and let them kill themselves among themselves. 03:56 But don't be deceived. A main reason for all this fighting is not a holy war, but it's also a money war. 04:08 An estimated three million dollars is the daily revenue of ISIS. Why? Black gold. Oil. 04:20 Fighters with ISIS have taken control of oil and gas fields across northern Iraq and Syria 04:27 that now controls a volume of resources and territory unmatched in the history of extremist organizations. 04:34 There are zero--how many, everybody? Zero openly practicing Christians thought to be left 04:44 in the city of Mosul where ISIS has made Christianity punishable by death. While it's impossible 04:52 to know if ISIS militants have actually chased every Christian out of the city, recent reports 04:57 suggest that all remaining Christians have fled from Mosul. Is it time to head to the hills? 05:08 Just last weekend, Hurricane Gonzalo ripped through the island of Bermuda, closing down the airport, 05:18 creating power outages among 85 percent of the country's residents, and called in between two hundred 05:24 and four hundred million in insured losses over the weekend on Bermuda, and it's only sixty-five thousand inhabitants. 05:31 Is it time to head to the hills? Just yesterday, students are thinking it's a normal class day at 05:44 a Washington state high school, when a student fatally shoots one classman, wounds four others, 05:52 and then turns the gun on himself in the school cafeteria. Friends, is it time to head to the hills? 06:02 Ellen White told us in "Prophets and Kings," whether we want to believe or not, she's truth, 06:08 that we are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. She said, in quick succession, 06:15 the judgments of God will follow one another. Fire, flood, earthquakes, war with bloodshed. 06:26 She said, iniquity is becoming so common a thing that it no longer shocks the senses as it once did. 06:33 This trouble will not cease until Jesus comes. So I don't care what news station you watch: 06:42 CNN, HLN, TBS, TNT, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, or whatever it is, you are seeing earth's pains leading 06:55 up to Jesus' soon return. Events taking place around the world don't just happen by accidents. 07:03 Ellen White says that God has a purpose in permitting these calamities to occur. You say, well, 07:12 why does God allow this? How could a good God allow all this? She says, God permits these 07:17 calamities to occur because they are one of his means of calling men and women to their senses. 07:22 The sad thing is, we see these things, we hear these things, and it does nothing to us. 07:28 Business as usual. But what she's trying to tell us is, God is showing us every day that 07:36 the coming of Jesus, that the time of Jesus' return, is getting closer by the day. 07:43 Don't think that the day of Jesus' return will tarry. Don't think that Jesus is just waiting, 07:50 God is putting it off until a later time. Don't think God is sitting around his celestial 07:55 courts twiddling his thumbs. God has set a day. God has set a time. God has circled 08:06 that day on his divine calendar, and God will not miss it. Jesus is soon to come. Aud: Amen. 08:12 So is it time to head to the hills? Is it time to go into hiding for fear of persecution? 08:20 Is it time to cower down in fear of what's happening in the world? My answer to you today is no. 08:29 It's not time to be scared. It's not time to panic. It's not time to be afraid. It's not time to be scared. 08:41 But it's time to sound the alarm. It's time to tell a dying world that Jesus is soon to come. 08:50 Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. 08:57 Understand that the events under the sixth seal in Revelation 6, the great earthquake, the dark day, 09:12 The only thing, friends, left to occur in Earth's history is the main event under the seventh seal, 09:20 which is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus has charged us, go ye therefore, teach all nations. 09:29 It's not time to retreat. It's not time to withdraw. It's not time to move back, draw back, run back or go back. 09:39 It's time to press forward. This is what I've been waiting for. This is what we've been praying for. 09:48 This is what we've been preaching for and teaching for and singing for. This is what we've been fasting for. 09:56 The devil is alive. It's not time to be scared. It's not time to run to the hills. It's time to sound the alarm. 10:08 Now, the George Barna Group, one largest leading religious research groups in the U.S., reports that right here 10:18 in America people are being deceived every day. The report says 59 percent of Americans don't even believe Satan exists; 10:28 51 percent believe praying to dead saints is beneficial; 35 percent believe you can actually communicate with the dead; 10:38 50 percent believe salvation is earned and not a gift, so forget the concept of grace; 10:54 44 percent believe that the Bible, the Karan and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same truth. 11:03 There are 2.2 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing a third of the estimated global 11:11 population of seven billion, which, friends, means that there are 4.8 billion people who do not believe 11:20 in or follow Jesus Christ. Of this amount, nearly three billion live in what we call the 10/40 window, 11:31 where Christianity isn't taught, it isn't practiced, nor is it known. Atheists compose and comprise an 11:40 estimated two percent of the world's seven billion people. Which means there are more than 140 million 11:49 people who don't even believe in God. But more than that 16 percent of the seven billion people are nonreligious, 11:57 which means 1.12 billion people in our world could care less about religion. 12:03 But then I read my Bible. And Acts 4:12 says that there's no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved, 12:17 but save the name of Jesus. Which means it's not time to head to the hills, but it's time 12:28 to tell the world about Jesus, tell them Jesus was born, tell them he was reared in a carpenter's shop, 12:38 tell them he amazed the great preachers and teachers of the day, tell them he was baptized in the muddy Jordan, 12:44 tell them that Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, five thousand hungry souls he fed. 12:50 Tell them that when you're sick Jesus heals you, that when you're hungry Jesus feeds you, 12:55 that when you're naked Jesus clothes you, that when you're down, Jesus picks you up, when you're out, 13:01 Jesus reaches and pulls you back in. Tell somebody about Jesus. Tell them he's the Savior, 13:08 that he's a deliverer, that he's a healer, that he's a preacher, that he's a teacher, 13:14 that he's a way maker, that he's a mountain mover, that he's a problem solver, that he's a marriage saver, 13:20 that he's a bill payer, that he's a financial clearer, that he's a heart fixer, that he is a cancer killer. 13:29 Tell somebody about Jesus. Quit talking about problems and talk about Jesus. 13:36 Quit talking about foolishness and talk about Jesus. Quit talking about people and talk about Jesus. 13:45 Several years ago in my birth state of Louisiana in the city of New Orleans, a celebration took place 13:53 at a municipal pool in New Orleans. The party around the pool was held to celebrate the first summer 13:59 in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans City Pool. In honor of the occasion, 200 people gathered, 14:15 history says they found a fully dressed body in the deep end. They tried to revive Jerome Moody, 14:57 And because no Christian has told them about Jesus, their eternal life is jeopardized because they didn't know Jesus. 15:07 The early New Testament church was committed to reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. We need to raise the bar, 15:16 Oakwood, in raising our commitment toward reaching others for Jesus Christ. I was readying a book, 15:24 "The Purpose-Driven Church" by Rick Warren. You all know Rick Warren. It's not heresy, but I was reading. 15:30 He pastors the Saddleback Church there in California. And he said, "Strong churches are built on purpose." 15:38 The starting point, he said, for every church should be the question, Why do we exist? Why are we here? 15:50 Why does the church exist? Why does this church exist? Why is this church here? Why do we come here week after week? 16:08 Is this just a country club for people with like minds and attitudes? Is this just a place where we come to see who's 16:17 who and what's what? Is it just a place where we come to entertain ourselves? Is it just a place where we come to meet 16:35 Is this a hospice or a hospital? Is it a place where we come to make people comfortable before they die, 16:47 or is it a place where sick people can come and let the Master Physician do spiritual surgery, which may 16:57 disrupt our lives, disrupt our habits, disrupt our preferences, disrupt our way of thinking, but in the end, 17:07 hallelujah, we're made hold? Is this a place where somebody can come in here broken, but leave blessed? 17:16 Is this a place where one beggar is trying to tell another beggar where they can find bread, 17:24 or should we just pack up, close shop, head to the hills, and let everybody fend for themselves? 17:33 Why do we exist? What difference do we want to make as God's church? Do we really want 17:41 to see people fall in love with Jesus? Will we really want to see a people who are excited in Jesus, 17:49 that when they think about the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for them, their soul cries out, hallelujah, 17:57 thank God for saving me? I've learned it's easier to preach what you practice than to practice what you preach. 18:05 Oh, we gotta go and tell somebody. Tell somebody about Jesus. Tell them what Jesus has done for you. 18:17 Tell them what Jesus can do for them. Friends of mine, we're living in unique times of Earth's history. 18:25 Christianity with its over two billion people is just about everywhere, and the Lord has given 18:31 us this opportunity to take the message of Jesus Christ to people to hear this gospel message. 18:37 Go ye, therefore. But too many of us either lack the confidence in what the Scriptures say, 18:43 or we're not familiar enough with them to feel bold in our speaking. Now bold, let's be clear, 18:51 does not mean odd-ball. Bold means bold. Bold does not mean crazy. Bold is confidence. Bold is courageous. 19:08 The phrase actually means natural speech, which means you don't have to sound like somebody else. 19:15 All you've got to do is work in your own armor and go tell somebody. Do I have a witness in this place? 19:22 Everybody up in here, everybody watching, has a story to tell. You and you only know for 19:30 yourself what God has done for you in your life. There's power in your testimony. 19:34 Every day someone's asking the same question. Is God hiding His face from our problems? 19:41 Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God really hold my destiny in His hands? 19:50 The Breath of Life Ministry has the perfect answer in a beautiful new book called "How Can I Understand the Bible." 20:09 It's your gift free with your donation of any amount. Contact us at www.breathoflife.tv. Or call us at 1-877-265-6333. 20:24 Now, back to Dr. Byrd with a message already in progress. 20:28 And so today you should make a declaration that as often I can come in contact with different people, 20:32 I'm not going to try and wrestle them down by the collar and make them listen to what I say, 20:36 but I'm just going to tell them the good things that Jesus has done for me. 20:40 Another thing: Don't assume that people actually know the gospel message. 20:47 We think people know, but they really don't know. Each of us could take a handful of rocks, 20:53 stand in our driveways at our homes, and throw the rocks in different directions in our neighborhood, 21:02 and for every rock that falls on a house, there's somebody in your community with a house that has never 21:10 heard the real persuasive, clear gospel of Jesus Christ. They don't know. We think they do, but they really don't. 21:19 They're not able to say that Jesus was miraculously and spiritually born of a virgin, 21:25 that he precariously died on Calvary, supernaturally resurrected to the voice of God, 21:30 and spiritually ascended back on a cloud to heaven, and that one day soon he will 21:34 miraculously return on the clouds to get his people that belong to him. 21:39 All you got to do is turn on the television. Look at some of these Christian TV programs. 21:46 And I'm a TV preacher. And you'll wonder when you watch, do these people really know the gospel message, 21:55 or are they ashamed or lack the confidence in the gospel to do what the gospel is really able to do? 22:01 You see, many--that's all right, I'm going to say it anyhow--many of the pulpits in America have compromised. 22:10 Many of our churches have gotten soft. We've gotten soft on scripture and soft on sin. 22:22 We've become heavy on forgiveness and light on repentance. Preach, Pastor Byrd. 22:28 This is why many people are trying to repackage the gospel in so many ways to connect, to be relevant. 22:36 And I certainly believe that there are cases when you must practice that. 22:40 But yet there are other times when people want to water down the message. 22:45 But the Lord didn't say to us that you're the one that will convert them so water down the gospel. 22:51 Jesus said, just tell them. Just tell them. And leave the converting to the power of the Holy Ghost. 23:00 You just tell them. You just tell them about Jesus, tell them about his life, tell them about his love, 23:07 tell them about his power, tell them about his commandments, tell them about his awesomeness, 23:14 tell them about his majesty, tell them about Jesus. So many people are searching for the gospel 23:22 that when you open up your mouth, they're just waiting for you to tell them so they can hear. 23:27 Now, let's be real. When was the last time you told somebody about Jesus? I ain't talking about the Sabbath. 23:42 I ain't talking about the 2300 days. I'm not talking about the state of the dead, stewardship or diet. 23:49 When was the last time you told somebody about Jesus? You weren't trying to proselytize them, 23:59 you weren't trying to convert them, you weren't trying to change them, you weren't trying 24:05 to make them an Adventist, but you were just telling them about Jesus. 24:12 When was the last time you told somebody about his matchless grace? When was the last time you 24:20 told somebody about his timeless forgiveness, his unconditional love 24:25 When was the last time you told somebody about Jesus? When was the last time, friends, 24:32 you told somebody not of your great church, but that you serve a great Lord? 24:37 Not that you're in a great conference, but you serve a great Lord. Not that you're part of 24:44 a great denomination, but that you serve a great Lord. Not that you heard a great sermon, 24:50 but that you serve a great Lord. Not that you heard a great song, but you serve a great Lord. 24:56 Not of a great building, but that you serve a great Lord? When you talk about religious things, 25:04 do you talk about church or do you talk about Jesus? When you talk about religious things, 25:15 do you talk about a singer or do you talk about Jesus? When you talk about religious things, 25:23 do you talk about a preacher or do you talk about Jesus? Young people, do you talk about AYS 25:31 and the praise and worship, or do you talk about Jesus? Because it wasn't a church, it wasn't 25:39 a singer, it wasn't a preacher, it wasn't a program, it wasn't any of those things that saved 25:48 you, but somebody knows, when you were deep in the pits of your sin, that it was Jesus. 25:57 I told you two weeks ago, I'll tell you again. Look back over your life, look at how many 26:02 times you thought you weren't going to make it, how many times you had bills you couldn't pay, 26:07 problems you couldn't solve, habits you couldn't break, enemies you couldn't have peace with. 26:11 Look at how many people tried to kill you. Out to destroy you. Tried to character assassinate you. 26:20 How many times over your life have you thought you weren't going to make it, that you thought 26:25 you weren't going to get in school, but Jesus brought you through? Not a church, not the preacher, 26:33 not a singer, not the musicians, but Jesus, my sweet Rose of Sharon. Jesus, my Lily of the Valley. 26:44 Jesus, the fairest of ten thousand. Jesus. He was born contrary to the laws of nature, 26:51 yet he lived in poverty, was reared in obscurity, and only crossed the boundary of the land once in childhood 26:56 Jesus. He had no wealth, no influence. He had neither training nor formal education. 27:02 His relatives were inconspicuous and uninfluential. But two thousand years ago, he laid aside the role 27:13 of royalty for a peasant's gown. He was rich, but for our sakes he became poor. How poor? you ask. 27:26 He was born in another man's manger. He cruised the lake in another man's boat. 27:33 He road on another man's donkey. He was buried in another man's tomb. But you know what? 27:44 Death could not destroy him. [Audience reaction: Amen!] 27:48 Hell could not handle him. And the grave could not hold him, because his name is Jesus. 28:00 All else has failed. But out of all the things Jesus can do, 28:06 Thank you for joining us for another exciting broadcast. 28:09 We'd like you to partner with us as we offer the Breath of Life to a dying world. |
Revised 2015-01-30