Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR100010
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00:01 Some of the largest crowds in the history of Christianity
00:03 attended the Carter Report in the Sir John Guise Stadium, 00:07 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 00:10 Who were these people? 00:11 Well, they were earnest seekers for truth 00:14 with hearts strangely warmed by the love of God. 00:18 They came hungry for God. 00:20 And they listened to His Word with a holy awe, 00:23 mingled with a divine excitement. 00:26 When the invitation to accept Christ as Lord and Savior 00:28 was given, thousands surged forward. 00:32 The fervency and devotion of these seekers 00:34 displayed the miracle working power 00:37 of the Holy Spirit in their lives. 00:39 You are now invited to join this mighty congregation 00:43 as Pastor John Carter forthrightly proclaims 00:45 the message hot from the heart of God. 00:48 Welcome to the Carter Report 00:50 in the Sir John Guise National Stadium, 00:53 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 01:02 There are two things that you cannot avoid. 01:06 You cannot avoid paying your taxes 01:08 and you cannot avoid death. 01:15 I want you to know that the Bible teaches 01:19 the great truths about, "Life After Death." 01:23 And one day by the grace of God, 01:26 I am planning to live for a thousand years 01:31 and then a billion years and then a trillion years. 01:37 I am planning to live a life that has no end 01:43 when Jesus Christ comes. 01:46 So I believe in life after death. 01:50 I'm gonna turn to a text in my Bible 01:52 and in these lectures I use the New International Version 01:57 which is a great translation. 01:59 I'm gonna turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:16 02:04 and I want you to notice the text up on the screen. 02:07 The Bible says-- can you see it there? 02:10 The Bible says, "For the Lord Himself will come down 02:13 from heaven, with a loud command, 02:16 with the voice of the archangel 02:18 and with the trumpet call of God, 02:20 and the dead in Christ will rise first." 02:25 The Bible teaches the truth about the judgment day. 02:29 The Bible teaches that the righteous 02:32 are going to be raised by everlasting life. 02:36 And the Bible teaches 02:37 that the wicked are going to be raised 02:40 to meet God in judgment. 02:43 But the Bible teaches when Jesus Christ comes back, 02:47 He's going to come back with the shout, 02:50 with the voice of the archangel 02:51 and the dead in Christ are going to get up out of their tombs 02:55 and they're going to live forever. 02:58 And I want to ask you tonight. 02:59 Don't you want to live forever, my friend? 03:02 Don't you want to live forever? 03:05 Don't you want to be eternally young? 03:10 Don't you want to have eternal peace and joy 03:13 and a life that is commensurate with the life of Almighty God. 03:20 I believe in life after death. 03:26 Now listen to me. 03:29 Our authority--I'm holding up our authority. 03:34 I want to make this ever so plain, 03:36 I don't want to offend any person, 03:38 but our authority in these meetings is not the church. 03:44 Hear what I said? 03:45 Our authority is not the Roman Catholic Church. 03:49 It is not the Baptist Church. It is not the Methodist Church. 03:54 It is not the Pentecostal Church. 03:57 It is not the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 04:00 Our authority in these meetings 04:04 is the living Word of the living God. 04:07 Our authority is the Bible. 04:12 Paul, the evangelist says in the Bible 04:15 that "God will finish His work 04:16 and cut it short in righteousness." 04:19 The prophet Joel says, 04:20 "God will pour out His Spirit in the last days, 04:23 and signs and wonders will follow." 04:25 The Carter Report believes that we are now in the end times 04:29 and His Spirit is moving mightily. 04:32 During the Port Moresby campaign, 04:34 we testified that we saw the power of God revealed. 04:38 God-hungry souls 04:40 could not get enough of the Word of the Lord. 04:43 As at creation, the Spirit of God 04:46 moved upon the face of the waters 04:48 and God brought cosmos out of chaos. 04:52 Souls were recreated in the image of the Creator. 04:55 Instead of hate, there was love. 04:58 Instead of despair, there was hope. 05:00 Instead of sorrow, there was joy. 05:02 And in the place of death, God gave life. 05:06 One night as John Carter preached 05:08 on the person and work of the Holy Spirit 05:10 the image of a white bird was flashed on the screens. 05:13 That moment, a great white bird flew low 05:17 over the astonished congregation. 05:19 Cries of joy filled the air as the audience recognized 05:22 that God visited His people. 05:25 A mighty surge of Pentecostal power 05:27 swept the audience of 120,000 souls 05:31 and everyone present felt the warm, 05:33 comforting presence of God. 05:36 The Carter Report team invites you, my dear viewer, 05:39 to be a partner in this work. 05:41 Soldiers of the cross are wanted. 05:44 Faith partners are needed. 05:46 Write to us now here at The Carter Report, 05:49 P.O. Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, CA 91358 05:54 or in Australia at P.O. Box 861, Terrigal, NSW 2260. 06:02 You may also contact us online at cartereport.org 06:06 or email us at info@cartereport.org 06:14 This meeting will change lives. 06:19 We are challenging myths, legends 06:23 and traditions in the name of the Lord 06:27 and in their place discovering 06:30 a great truth of hope and life and goodness. 06:38 This program tonight is going to take a very simple format. 06:42 It's the most effective way of teaching. 06:44 And tonight I'm teaching. 06:45 I'm not preaching. I'm teaching. 06:48 We are going to ask questions of the Bible. 06:52 We are going to go to the Holy Word of God 06:55 and we are going to ask questions of the Bible. 07:01 And as we ask questions of the Bible, 07:04 we will read the answers 07:06 from the living Word of the living God. 07:13 Here is the first question. Listen carefully. 07:18 Does man have an immortal soul? 07:23 I'm perfectly aware that almost every religion teaches 07:29 that man has an immortal soul. 07:36 What does the Bible say? 07:38 I'm going to turn in the Bible 07:40 to 1 Timothy 6:14-16. 07:47 Does man have an immortal soul? Look at the screen. 07:54 "To keep this command without spot 07:58 or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 08:04 which God will bring about in his own time-God, 08:08 the blessed and only Ruler, 08:11 the King of kings and Lord of lords, 08:14 who alone is immortal 08:21 and who lives in unapproachable light, 08:23 whom no one has seen or can see. 08:26 To Him be honor and might forever. Amen." 08:33 The Bible teaches that God alone has immortality. 08:37 It seems very plain to me 08:39 that if God alone has immortality, 08:43 I do not have an immortal soul. 08:48 This is the Word of God. 08:50 God alone, the Bible says, is immortal. 08:56 But the Bible teaches that I am mortal. 09:00 I need Christ. 09:03 I think I should come over here to the blackboard. 09:07 And I think I should write this up 09:09 because it is one of the great key truths. 09:13 The Bible says, God--we're gonna get a camera in here 09:17 so you can see this way down the back. 09:20 "God alone," that means "By Himself." 09:24 "God alone is immortal." 09:31 If I had immortality, innately, my friend, 09:38 I would be God Himself because the Bible says, 09:44 "God alone has immortality." 09:48 Before I come to the next question 09:50 which is almost superfluous, 09:55 is man mortal or immortal? 10:00 And we're going to put a text up, Job 4:17. 10:07 Want you to notice the text in the Bible, 10:10 "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? 10:16 Can a man be more pure than his Maker?" 10:20 The Bible tells me that Almighty God 10:24 has immortality but we are mortal. 10:29 Listen to me. 10:32 The time is coming 10:33 when the greatest man is going to die. 10:37 And he's going to go back to dust. 10:40 And one day he is going to stand in the judgment and meet God. 10:45 Therefore, the Bible says, "Be careful how you live." 10:51 Because the Bible tells me, 10:53 there is a record kept of every life. 10:56 You and I can cheat and we can steal 11:00 and we can hide things from other people 11:03 but we can hide nothing from Almighty God. 11:09 Tonight, He is looking down upon this vast audience 11:13 of 100,000 people and He says, "I am God. 11:17 You are mortal and I am immortal." 11:21 These are the words of the Creator. 11:27 Now we come to the next question. 11:31 When will man become immortal? When will we become immortal? 11:38 If I am naturally mortal, 11:41 when do I get the gift of immortality? 11:48 I'm going to take my Bible, here it is. 11:52 And I wish I could give everyone of you here 11:54 a copy of this Bible. 11:56 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 and I'm going to stand here 12:04 and I'm going to read it out of the Holy Word of God. 12:07 And we're going to put the text up on the screen 12:10 so you can see the texts with your own eyes. 12:14 1 Corinthians 15:51, listen to the Word of the Lord, 12:21 my beloved friends, in PNG. 12:25 "Listen, I tell you a mystery. 12:30 We will not all sleep, 12:32 but we will all be changed--in a flash, 12:36 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 12:41 For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised 12:45 imperishable, and we will be changed. 12:50 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, 12:54 and the mortal with immortality." Hallelujah. 12:59 "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, 13:03 and the mortal with immortality, then the saying 13:07 that is written will come true, 13:09 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'" 13:14 The Bible tells me that we, the children of God, 13:19 are going to get immortality when Jesus returns. 13:24 So I want a camera to come over here. 13:28 I'm going to get it close. 13:29 The Bible says, "Immortality 13:34 is given to the people of God 13:38 when Jesus comes at the second coming of Christ." 13:45 That is not the teaching of my church. 13:50 That is the very teaching 13:52 of the very Word of the living God. 13:58 Now listen to me. 14:03 As you know, I've been to Russia 42 times. 14:07 I remember on one occasion 14:09 we ran a great series of meetings 14:11 like these in the city of Nizhni Novgorod. 14:16 Hundreds of thousands of people attended the series. 14:19 Even the KGB came to the series. 14:23 The Spirit of God came down upon those meetings. 14:27 And God blessed those meetings. 14:30 We had a tremendous choir. 14:35 We had this tremendous, magnificent choir. 14:39 And the choir leader was a beautiful Russian girl 14:43 and her name was Anna. 14:49 So we had this magnificent series of meetings 14:53 and we had a tremendous baptism. 14:56 We're going to have a baptism here and you ought to be in it. 15:01 We had this baptism 15:03 and thousands of people were baptized. 15:05 Communists and atheists were baptized 15:08 in the Volga River. Hallelujah. 15:13 But when I went back in the winter time, 15:17 when the snows of Russia were falling 15:21 and kissing the face of Northern Russia, 15:25 I discovered that Anna was in hospital. 15:31 There was a knocking on my hotel door. 15:36 Alexander, one of my Russian friends went to the door 15:40 and he brought in three men, 15:43 all so strained and worried. 15:49 One was a doctor, one was a pastor 15:53 and one was Anna's husband. 15:57 And through the translator they said to me, 15:58 "Pastor Carter, come to the hospital 16:03 because Anna has given birth 16:06 to two little baby girls and she's dying." 16:17 It was so cold. 16:19 The snow was so thick 16:22 and I went to the hospital. 16:27 These were in the days when Russia was so, so poor. 16:33 The economy had collapsed 16:35 because of atheism and communism. 16:43 And so they did me up 16:45 in the hospital garments, special shoes. 16:50 You know what they put on you 16:52 when you go into the intensive care ward. 16:55 And I went into the intensive care ward. 16:59 And there was this beautiful girl, 17:01 lying beneath a sheet, a white sheet 17:06 and a young Russian doctor trying to help her. 17:10 She was bleeding from the mouth and the ears and elsewhere. 17:18 And I said, "What can be done?" 17:20 They said, "We have no medicines. 17:23 If we only had some medicines." 17:31 And so I took her hand, she was entirely unconscious. 17:37 I took her hand and I prayed for Anna 17:43 who'd given birth to two little baby girls. 17:47 One little baby girl had already died 17:50 but the other one was named Anna also. 17:54 And she was alive. So I prayed for her. 18:00 When you pray to God, my beloved friends, 18:03 sometimes God says, "Yes," sometimes He says, "No," 18:10 and sometimes He says, "Wait a bit." 18:16 That evening as the sun was going down-- 18:19 the sun went down about quarter to 4:00 in the afternoon. 18:24 It got pitch black. Snowing heavily. 18:28 The telephone rang and Alexander said to me, "Anna has died." 18:36 I was asked to take the funeral. 18:41 This was after the collapse of communism 18:43 that had destroyed the country entirely 18:46 and murdered 70 million innocent people. 18:50 Anna was buried in a little cardboard coffin. 18:54 They could not put her in a wooden coffin. 18:56 They didn't have the money. 19:01 They had to break the ground open because it was frozen. 19:07 I went up to this vast Russian cemetery. 19:11 The trees were naked against the sky. 19:15 The wind was moaning. 19:17 Beverley and I stood there on the ice 19:21 and together we with a group of about 200 Russian believers, 19:29 we praised the Lord. 19:32 And we read from the Bible. 19:36 And after we had prayed together 19:39 and after we had read from the Bible, 19:42 Anna in the cardboard box with a little baby girl 19:48 at her breast was lowered into--was lowered into-- 19:59 she was lowered into the frozen ground, 20:03 into the heart of mother Russia. 20:09 As I stood there, I said to those Russian survivors 20:13 of the communist holocaust, I said to them, 20:18 "This is not the end of Anna. 20:22 This not the end of our choir leader. 20:27 Anna is going to be raised from the dead. 20:31 Anna, hallelujah, is going to live again." 20:39 I want you to know something. We're going to see Anna again. 20:43 I'm going to see her again 20:45 with her beautiful long black hair. 20:47 I'm going to see her little baby. 20:50 We're going to see our loved ones again 20:53 if we truly repent of our sins and if we turn to God 20:59 and if we give our lives to Christ. 21:04 The Bible says "The Lord Himself shall descend 21:07 from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, 21:10 with the trumpet call of God 21:12 and the dead in Christ are going to be raised first." 21:15 You ask me, "Why have you come to Port Moresby?" 21:19 I have come here, my friend, in the name of the God 21:23 who sent me to preach His word, 21:26 to tell you that Jesus is coming soon. 21:30 And you and I can live for eternity. Hallelujah. 21:36 You and I can live for eternity in the kingdom of God. 21:40 You and I can live and go on living 21:43 forever and ever and ever. 21:46 Amen and amen. 21:49 Now we're going to ask the question, 21:51 here's another question. 21:52 Now you may think I get stirred up 21:54 when I talk about these things, I do. 21:57 I've seen so much suffering. I've seen so many deaths. 22:04 I've seen so much poverty. I've seen so much hunger. 22:08 And I'm longing, my friend, for a better world. 22:13 And one day we're going to have a better world 22:16 when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. 22:19 And they must-see old graves 22:23 where the pilgrims sleep shall be opened as wide as before. 22:29 And the millions that sleep in the mighty deep 22:34 shall live on this earth once more. 22:37 He's coming, He's coming soon I know. 22:40 This is the Word of the Lord. 22:44 Now we ask the question, what is the soul? 22:47 And we're going to turn to Genesis 2:7 22:52 and we're going to put this text up on the screen. 22:55 And it's going to tell you what is the soul. 22:57 Are you ready? 22:59 I'm coming out here, gonna look at the text. 23:01 We're gonna read it together. 23:03 You're ready to read it? Look at this. 23:05 This is the Word of God, my friend. 23:08 The Word of God will save us, not the tradition of the church. 23:11 If you are following the tradition of the church, 23:14 you are in the gravest danger. 23:16 I want you tonight not to follow me. 23:19 I don't want you to follow John Carter. 23:21 I want you to follow Jesus Christ. 23:23 Now look at this text, "And the Lord God 23:28 formed man of the dust of the ground." 23:32 You know what we're made of? We are made of dust. 23:39 Chemically speaking, 23:40 every person is worth about three kina. 23:46 We're just made of the dust of the ground 23:50 and some of the minerals. 23:51 The Bible says "The Lord God 23:53 formed man of the dust of the ground 23:57 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 24:02 and man became a living soul." 24:07 Listen, the Bible says God caused the man. 24:15 There he was. He was lying there just dust. 24:22 God had fashioned him with His own fingers. 24:26 You think of this. 24:27 God with His own fingers got together the dust 24:32 and He fashioned a man out of that dust 24:36 and He called him Adam. 24:39 And then Almighty God breathed into his nostrils 24:45 the breath of life and the Bible says "He became a living soul." 24:52 Now look at this on the blackboard. 24:55 The Bible says, "The Lord God formed man"-- 24:59 I'm gonna put this on the screen-- 25:01 "of the dust of the earth 25:04 and He breathed into that dusty body 25:08 the breath of life and man became a living soul." 25:16 It doesn't say God took a body and put a soul in that body. 25:22 No, no, no. It doesn't say that. 25:26 You say, "Well, that's what I've been taught." 25:27 Well, I'm not here to argue with you. 25:31 I'm simply here to tell you what the Bible says. 25:35 The Lord God formed man of the dust 25:37 and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life 25:41 and Adam became a living soul. 25:47 Listen now, would you like to see a soul? 25:53 Well, I reckon tonight it would be a good thing 25:55 if I could actually show you a soul. 25:59 When I talk about this, some people think 26:02 I'm going to have a little glass bottle 26:05 and I've got a soul inside it. 26:08 So when I say, "I'm going to show you a soul tonight," 26:13 they wonder what I'm going to do. 26:15 Now my wife, Beverley is going to bring out a little soul. 26:21 And I'm going to ask that-- oh, here she comes. 26:25 Would you welcome them tonight? 26:28 Here comes Vagi. This is my wife, Beverley. 26:35 And Vagi's husband is Steve 26:38 and he's working one of the cameras. 26:40 And this--come on, come on out here. 26:44 I'll take care of you, okay. You come out here. 26:49 Isn't she cute? We can't drop her, you know. 26:52 Steve will get after me and be so mad. 26:55 Okay, here she comes. 26:58 Can we just--we'll just tilt her head up a little bit. 27:02 Oh, oh, there she is. 27:06 She was born last Saturday night. 27:11 And-- when? 27:13 Oh, she was born Saturday morning. 27:16 And Steve was with the meeting on Friday night. 27:19 He should have been with you. 27:21 Yeah. There she is. 27:24 Ladies and gentlemen, 27:28 this little girl doesn't have a soul. 27:33 This little girl is a soul. 27:37 And these beautiful people-- 27:42 this lady used to have her own television program. 27:45 Now she got five children. 27:47 This dear little soul-- 27:50 hey, can we get a camera in close here? 27:52 Hey, she is absolutely gorgeous. 27:55 I've got a beautiful little granddaughter, you know? 27:59 And it's a toss up which one is the most gorgeous. 28:05 Let's get this down a little bit. 28:07 Turn around so the light can get on her. 28:09 There she is. Look, she got a hat on. 28:10 Oh, look at this. Can you see her on the screen? 28:15 There she is. 28:17 Ladies and gentlemen, 28:19 I introduce to you a brand new soul.There she is. 28:24 Now, I have been given-- 28:27 Beverley and I have been given-- 28:30 we've been given a great honor. 28:35 We've been asked to name this baby. 28:38 And the parents don't know the name we've worked out. 28:41 That's a huge risk, isn't it? That's a huge risk. 28:45 So we've got a suggestion to make 28:47 so you don't have to name this baby 28:49 what you've asked us to name this baby. 28:51 But we thought because this baby happened about the time 28:55 when these meetings were running 28:56 or when these meetings were running 28:58 and these meetings are all about God's grace, 29:02 God's mercy, God's love, God's forgiveness 29:07 and there's a wonderful hymn 29:09 we sing back in the United States, in Australia. 29:11 I'm sure you sing it here. 29:13 "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound 29:16 that saved a wretch like me. 29:19 I once was lost, but now I'm found. 29:23 I was blind, but now I see." 29:26 Grace is the most wonderful name for our little baby girl. 29:33 And we'd like to name 29:35 this beautiful little girl from PNG, 29:42 we'd like to name her 29:44 in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit 29:48 we'd like to name this beautiful little soul Grace. 29:55 Grace. God bless you. Thank you. 29:58 You're a beautiful mother with a beautiful smile 30:01 and a beautiful gorgeous little baby. 30:05 Now be careful. 30:07 Beverley, be careful getting her down the stairs. 30:09 We don't want Grace to fall down the stairs tonight, you know. 30:13 Goodness me. What would Steve do to me. 30:18 Here they go. 30:20 Okay, now here's the next question. 30:23 The next question, we're gonna ask is this, can the soul die? 30:27 Many people believe that the soul cannot die. 30:31 And that's why they teach the immortality of the soul. 30:34 But if you turn over here 30:35 it tells us about the soul. 30:39 It says, "For every living soul belongs to me, 30:42 the father as well as the son-- both alike belong to me. 30:46 The soul who sins is the one who is going to die." 30:51 So the Bible teaches that the soul can die. 30:54 The idea that man has an immortal soul 30:56 even though it's taught by all the churches 30:58 or by many of the churches is not taught in the Word of God. 31:02 As one wise man observed the immortality of the soul 31:06 is taught by all of the world's great religions. 31:09 It was taught by the Egyptians, 31:11 by the Babylonians, by the Greeks. 31:13 It's taught by many of the great churches today. 31:16 It's taught by the Hindus. 31:17 It's taught by many, many religions 31:19 except one great religion 31:21 and that is the religion of the Bible. 31:25 And we ask the question now. 31:26 Where did the 'immortality of the soul' come from? 31:29 If so many people believe in the immortality of the soul, 31:31 where did it come from? 31:33 We turn over here now to Genesis 3:1-5 31:37 and it tells us the origin of the doctrine 31:39 of the immortality of the soul. 31:41 Genesis 3:1-5, look at it on the screen, 31:46 my friend, every one of you. 31:47 The Bible says, "Now the serpent was more crafty 31:51 than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made." 31:53 Now that serpent was the devil. 31:56 "He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, 31:58 You must not eat from any tree in the garden?' 32:01 The woman said to the serpent, 32:03 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 32:06 but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree 32:09 that is in the middle of the garden, 32:11 and you must not touch it, or you will die.' 32:15 'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman. 32:18 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, 32:23 and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' 32:25 "Now this is very important. 32:27 God said to our first parents, 32:29 "If you sin, if you take the forbidden fruit," 32:32 the Bible says, God said, "you're going to die." 32:34 But the old devil came along and he said to Eve, 32:37 "Well, you're going to eat it and you're not going to die." 32:40 This was the first sermon that was ever preached 32:43 on the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. 32:46 The doctrine of the immortality of the soul 32:48 does not come from the Bible. 32:50 It comes from the great liar 32:52 who said to our first parents Adam and Eve, 32:55 "If you sin, you will not surely die." 32:58 And thus, it passed into all the great religions. 33:01 The immortality of the soul is the devil's lie. 33:06 I want you to hear this. 33:07 The immortality of the soul is simply the devil's lie. 33:12 Now we ask the question, where do we go at death? 33:16 We're going to turn now to Acts 2:29, 34. 33:20 Where does a person go at death? 33:22 Does he go to hell? Does he go to purgatory? 33:25 Does he go to heaven? 33:27 Look at this, "Brothers, I can tell you confidently 33:29 that the patriarch David died and was buried 33:33 and his tomb is here to this day." 33:35 So David died, he's buried. 33:37 And then the Bible says, look at this, 33:39 "David did not ascend to heaven." 33:42 Bless your heart. 33:43 "David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said, 33:45 "The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand." 33:49 Now many of the churches tell me and many of my friends tell me 33:52 that David, the man who wrote the Book of Psalms, 33:54 the man who was a friend of God, a man after God's own heart, 33:58 they say, David is up there in glory. 34:02 But the Bible says David did not ascend to heaven. 34:05 The Bible tells me that King David, 34:07 this great prophet of God is not in heaven 34:10 but he is sleeping in the grave, awaiting the resurrection. 34:14 Now we're gonna turn over now to John Chapter 11 34:17 and we're gonna start at verse 38 and onwards. 34:20 I think we're gonna read verse 38, 39, 41, 43 and 44. 34:26 And this tells us where a person goes when he dies. 34:30 Now listen to this and if you get this 34:32 your eyes are going to be opened 34:34 and you're going to be liberated. 34:36 "Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. 34:40 It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 34:43 So here's the man who has died and Jesus comes to the tomb. 34:47 'Take away the stone,' He said. 34:49 'But, Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 34:53 'by this time there is a bad odor, 34:55 for he has been there for four days.' 34:57 Here's a man who's been dead for 4 days. 34:59 'So they took away the stone. 35:01 Then Jesus looked up and said, 35:02 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me.' 35:06 When he had said this Jesus called in a loud voice, 35:09 'Lazarus, come out!' 35:13 The dead man came out, 35:14 his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, 35:17 and a cloth around his face." 35:20 And the Bible says, "Jesus said to them, 35:22 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" 35:26 Now listen to me. 35:28 I appeal to you on the authority of the Word of God, 35:31 not on the authority of the church. 35:34 Here's a man who's been dead for 4 days. 35:36 He's in the tomb. He's not in heaven. 35:38 He's not in hell. He's not in purgatory. 35:41 He is in the tomb. 35:44 And Jesus goes to the tomb and Jesus is the Prince of life. 35:49 And Jesus goes to the tomb and He says, 35:51 "Take away the stone." 35:53 And they say, "No, Lord, there'll be an odor. 35:55 He's been there for 4 days. You can't do it." 35:58 And Jesus said, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, 36:03 if you believed, if you believed, 36:05 you would see the glory of God" 36:09 I say this to you tonight, if you will believe, 36:12 my friends in PNG, you will see the glory of God. 36:17 If you believe, but you got to believe 36:21 and it's within you to believe. 36:23 If you will look up to God and so Jesus said, 36:26 "If you believe, you'll see the glory of God." 36:28 And they take away the stone 36:30 and Jesus goes to the mouth of the tomb 36:33 and He says, "Lazarus, come out!" 36:38 And the dead man comes out. 36:40 And Jesus said "Take the grave clothes off him and let him go." 36:46 Listen, where was Lazarus? 36:50 Well, if Lazarus was in heaven, 36:52 Jesus didn't help him out a bit, did He? 36:55 He should have left him in heaven. 36:58 And he was a friend of Jesus. 37:00 Look, where do we go at death? On the screen. 37:03 We sleep in our graves at death. 37:07 And we sleep in the grave like Lazarus 37:11 until Jesus comes in power and great glory. 37:18 Therefore, the Bible teaches 37:21 the dead are sleeping in the grave. 37:26 Now we're going to turn to another text, John 5:28-29. 37:31 Are you folks following me? 37:33 John 5:28-29, Jesus says, "Do not be amazed at this." 37:40 Some people say, "I can't believe this." 37:42 Well, Jesus says, "Have some faith." 37:45 Jesus says, "Don't be amazed at this, 37:48 for a time is coming when all who are in their graves," where? 37:55 In purgatory? In hell? In heaven? No. 37:59 Jesus said, "These people," I'm going to read it again, 38:04 "Do not be amazed at this for a time is coming 38:06 when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 38:12 and come out, those who have done good will rise to live, 38:16 and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." 38:20 Look at me. 38:22 This is sort of amazing. Look over here. 38:24 Look at this picture on the screen. 38:27 Absolutely incredible. I believe this. 38:30 This is burning in my soul. 38:32 I'm not taught to-- I'm not paid to teach this. 38:36 I'm not in this for money. 38:39 God has called me to preach His word. 38:42 And I can feel tonight 38:43 the anointing of the Spirit of God upon me. 38:46 And I want to say to you tonight, 38:48 the day is going to come 38:50 when Christ is going to come back in power and great glory 38:54 and He's going to raise His children. 38:58 And the Bible says there are two resurrections. 39:02 Did you know that? 39:03 There's a resurrection of the righteous 39:05 and there's a resurrection of a wicked. 39:07 The Bible says we are going to be judged 39:10 according to our works because our works show 39:14 what sort of people we are. 39:17 The Bible says those who've done evil 39:22 are going to be raised to judgment. 39:26 And the Bible says the righteous, 39:28 those who've turned to Christ, 39:32 repented of their sins and kept the commandments of God, 39:36 those people are going to be raised 39:40 and they're going to live for all eternity. 39:45 Hallelujah, praise God. Thank you, Jesus. 39:49 Sometime ago, my dear mother died. 39:53 I loved her so much. 39:55 She was 97 when she died. 39:59 Ninety seven, God had blessed her. 40:04 But she can't live forever in this life. 40:06 She died, but one day I am going to see my mother again 40:11 and she's going to be a young girl 40:13 running down the streets of glory. 40:17 Listen, some years back, I lost my father. 40:21 My father had been an unbeliever, 40:23 didn't believe in God, didn't go to church. 40:26 But then he came to one of my meetings 40:29 and my father, hallelujah, gave his life to Christ. 40:36 When I had an appeal, 40:38 my father came forward and he gave his life to Christ. 40:42 My father was baptized. 40:44 My father became a true believer who loved Jesus. 40:50 And whose life was transformed by the power of God. 40:55 Tonight, we are not talking about a dead religion. 40:59 We are talking about the power of God 41:02 to change your life and to change mine. 41:07 The Bible says the day is coming 41:10 when the dead are going to hear the voice of the son of God 41:15 and the dead are going to walk out of their tombs. 41:19 What a tremendous, what an amazing truth. 41:23 I want you to see it tonight. 41:26 And if you understand this tonight, 41:28 you'll understand the meaning tomorrow night 41:30 when I speak on demons and sprits. 41:36 The next question is this, are the dead conscious? 41:42 Millions of people, billions of people believe 41:46 that the dead are conscious and they're all around us. 41:50 And they believe that the living can talk to the dead 41:53 and the dead can talk to the living. 41:56 That is the devil's lie. 42:00 Are the dead conscious? 42:02 I'm turning in the Bible, John 11:1 and 11-14 42:09 and this talks about the man who was the friend of Jesus, 42:15 the man whom Jesus raised from the dead. 42:18 "Now a man named Lazarus was sick. 42:22 He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 42:30 After he"-- so here's a man, 42:33 he's a friend of Jesus and he dies. 42:37 He gets sick and he dies. 42:40 Bad things happen to good people. 42:44 "After he said this, he went on to tell them, 42:48 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.'" 42:53 He's fallen asleep. He has fallen asleep. 42:59 "'But I am going there to wake him up.' 43:04 His disciples replied 'Lord, 43:05 if he sleeps, he will get better.' 43:10 Jesus had been speaking of his death, 43:13 but His disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 43:19 So then he told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.''' 43:27 Lazarus is sleeping. 43:30 Lazarus is dead. 43:32 I want you to know our loved ones are not in pain tonight. 43:37 They are not in hell tonight. 43:40 They are not in purgatory tonight. 43:42 The dead are peacefully sleeping. 43:48 My mother is sleeping. 43:51 She is unconscious. My father is sleeping. 43:55 Saint Paul is sleeping. 43:58 David is sleeping. 44:00 None of the saints, my friend, are home in heaven. 44:08 They are sleeping awaiting the coming of Jesus. 44:14 You know we put up on the screen 44:16 a moment ago, it was appropriate. 44:17 We put up the flames of hell. 44:22 Some people are taught that their loved ones are in hell. 44:30 They're told to pay money to get their loved ones out of hell. 44:36 I want you to know our loved ones tonight are not suffering. 44:42 They are in the arms of God. 44:46 They're sleeping. 44:49 Jesus said Lazarus is sleeping. 44:52 Lazarus is dead. 44:54 When I turn to the Book of Ecclesiastes 44:58 it tells me how much the dead know. 45:02 The book of Ecclesiastes 45:05 and I'm going to for the record tell you the verse. 45:10 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 45:16 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, that's in the Old Testament. 45:21 We take texts from the old and we take them from the new. 45:26 "For the living know that they will die." 45:29 Every person here, I don't care who you are. 45:33 I don't care how wealthy you are. 45:35 I don't care how important you are. 45:38 We are simply animated mud on the way to dust. 45:42 Did you hear that? 45:44 You and I are animated mud on the way to dust 45:48 but for the grace of God. 45:54 What counts is what God sees inside our hearts. 45:58 "For the living know that they will die." 46:00 I know that. I know I'm going to die. 46:04 You're going to die, too. 46:05 "For the living know that they will die, 46:07 but the dead know nothing. 46:12 They have no further reward, 46:14 and even the memory of them is forgotten. 46:17 Their love, their hate 46:20 and their jealousy have long since vanished. 46:24 Never again will they have a part in anything 46:26 that happens under the sun." 46:29 Until Jesus comes. 46:31 But the Bible says a dead person can't love. 46:35 A dead person can't hate. 46:38 I want you to know tonight 46:40 that the dead are in the hands 46:44 of a merciful and a loving God. 46:50 I want you to know there's no pain in death. 46:53 We don't have to be afraid of death 46:55 if we're right with Christ. 46:57 But I want you to know that the day is coming 47:00 when the sky is going to be filled with the angels of God. 47:03 Every person here in Port Moresby 47:06 is going to see Christ when He comes back. 47:08 You won't be able to run away and hide in the hills. 47:12 Every person in Sydney 47:13 is going to see Christ when He comes back. 47:15 Every person in Los Angeles where I live, 47:18 every person is going to see Christ when He comes back. 47:21 Every person is going to see Him. 47:24 But the dead, the Biblesays, 47:26 are sleeping and they're unconscious 47:29 and they're peaceful. 47:31 And when Jesus comes back, 47:33 He's going to come back with the shout 47:35 and with the trumpet call of God, 47:37 the shout of the archangel 47:40 and the trumpet is going to sound 47:42 and the dead are going to be raised incorruptible. 47:47 Now listen, everybody here tonight, 47:52 I guess most folks will say, maybe everybody will say, 47:56 "You have proved it from the Bible 47:58 and that settles it with me." 48:00 I believed that people of PNG are a Bible-believing people, 48:04 a God-fearing people. 48:10 But people say to me and rightly so, 48:14 "What about the dying thief? 48:19 Did he not go to be with Christ the very day he died?" 48:26 You know how our blessed Lord 48:28 was hung on the cross between two criminals. 48:32 They were thieves. 48:35 They cursed at our blessed Lord until one turned to Christ 48:41 because he saw he was more than a man. 48:43 He saw he was God. 48:45 And he said, "Lord, remember me 48:48 when You come into Your kingdom." 48:50 Now we're going to put up that text on the screen 48:53 because you need to see it 48:55 so you can get the answer to this. 48:57 The text is Luke 23:39-43, 49:02 Luke 23:39-43 49:06 and I would have you, my beloved friend, 49:08 notice the text and notice it well. 49:11 "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him, 49:15 'Aren't you the Christ? Save Yourself and us!' 49:20 But the other criminal rebuked him. 49:22 'Don't you fear God,' 49:24 he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? 49:28 We are punished justly, 49:30 for we are getting what our deeds deserve. 49:33 But this man has done nothing wrong.' 49:38 Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me 49:42 when You come into Your kingdom.' 49:46 Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, 49:51 today you will be with Me in paradise.'" 49:58 Now just listen, just listen 50:03 because you need to see this. 50:07 Here is Jesus who's about to die. 50:09 The dying thief calls Him Lord. 50:13 The dying thief with great faith sees in Christ more than a man. 50:19 He sees in this man the very Son of God. 50:23 What about you? 50:24 And he cries out "Jesus, remember me 50:29 when You come into Your kingdom." 50:31 And Jesus shouts back like a trumpet. 50:35 He says "Truly I say unto you 50:39 today you will be with Me in paradise." 50:41 And so people say, "This proves that the dying thief 50:45 that Friday night went with Jesus to paradise." 50:53 But he didn't. What? He didn't. 51:00 I've told you the Bible says 51:02 that the dead sleep in the grave. 51:06 Then how do we understand this text? 51:10 Well, we're going to turn to John 20:17. 51:16 John 20:17 51:21 and this is the day of the resurrection. 51:25 Look at this text. 51:27 Jesus is talking to Mary. 51:30 Oh, this is a great story. 51:34 Jesus was raised and Mary had come to the tomb 51:41 and she thought Jesus was the gardener. 51:44 She was crying so much. 51:46 The tears, the hot soggy tears were pouring down her cheeks. 51:51 Her eyes were blinded with sorrow. 51:53 She could not recognize Him. 51:57 And then Jesus talked to her. 52:02 She said to Him, "If you've take Him away, 52:07 tell me where you've taken Him and I will go and get Him." 52:10 And then Jesus said to her 52:15 "Maria, Mary." 52:19 He said it in the old beautiful way. 52:23 "Mary, Maria." 52:27 And she recognized His voice 52:30 and she cried out, "It's my Lord. It's my Lord," 52:38 and she fell down and she grabbed hold of Him. 52:45 He said these words, "Maria." 52:49 "Jesus said, 'Do not hold on to Me, 52:53 for I have not yet returned to the Father.'" 52:55 Hey, did you see that? 52:57 On the Sunday, He hadn't gone to heaven, yet. 53:00 "For I have not yet returned to the Father. 53:03 Go instead to My brothers and tell them, 53:05 'I am returning to My Father and your Father, 53:10 to My God and your God.' 53:14 "Listen, on the Sunday Jesus had not gone to the Father. 53:22 He'd been sleeping in the tomb. 53:25 If Jesus had not gone to the Father's house, 53:29 neither had the thief, 53:34 then how do we explain the text? 53:38 Listen to me carefully. 53:42 The words of the Bible are inspired. 53:46 The thoughts of the Bible are inspired 53:50 and placed there in the words. 53:52 But listen. 53:55 In the original languages there are no punctuation marks. 54:02 No periods, no full stops, no commas. 54:06 They're replaced there by the translators. 54:12 And most of the translators 54:14 believed in the immortality of the soul. 54:18 The text therefore can be read in two ways 54:22 and the Bible must interpret the right way. 54:26 The first way, "Truly I say unto you, 54:32 today you'll be with Me in paradise." 54:35 Truly I say unto you, today you'll be with Me in paradise. 54:41 Or the correct way, "Truly I say unto you, 54:47 today, I say it to you today as I hang on the cross. 54:52 Today, I say to you, 54:54 you will be with Me in paradise when I come again." 55:02 Listen, look at me. 55:04 The thief is not in paradise. 55:09 The thief is sleeping, 55:13 but one day when Jesus comes 55:17 the thief is going to be with Christ in paradise 55:21 with the rest of God's children. 55:23 This is the Word of the Lord. 55:33 I wonder tonight if you can say the prayer of that dying thief, 55:40 "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." 55:45 If you and I will open up our hearts tonight to Christ 55:49 and say "Lord, remember me 55:52 when You come into Your kingdom," 55:54 He will say to us tonight, 55:56 "Truly, truly, I say unto you, 56:02 I say it tonight in Port Moresby, 56:05 you will be with Me in paradise." Amen. 56:14 The Spirit of God today is moving. 56:17 He is moving wherever human hearts sense their need. 56:20 He is moving whenever and wherever souls reach out to Him. 56:24 He is moving because these are not ordinary times. 56:27 He is moving through the proclamation of His living Word. 56:31 During the Port Moresby meetings, 56:33 the Spirit of God was powerfully present. 56:36 One evening as Pastor John Carter 56:38 spoke about the Holy Spirit and His work to redeem souls 56:41 a huge white bird flew low over the audience. 56:45 The congregation of more than 100,000 witnessed the sight 56:48 and believed that God had set them aside. 56:52 Tens of thousands poured forward 56:54 to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. 56:57 God today is calling you 56:59 as you view this program to come to Him in faith. 57:02 The work of the Holy Spirit is not restricted 57:04 to any one place on earth. 57:06 Wherever you are, He is there. God loves you. 57:10 He has a plan for you and a glorious future. 57:16 Thank you for joining us today. 57:18 To become a faith partner with Pastor John Carter 57:20 and to receive our monthly newsletter, 57:23 write to us here at The Carter Report, 57:25 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358 57:30 or in Australia at PO Box 861, Terrigal NSW 2260. 57:37 You may also contact us online at cartereport.org. 57:42 Remember, Jesus said, "You will know the truth 57:45 and the truth will set you free." |
Revised 2014-12-17