Participants: Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG021639A
|
00:03 Doug Batchelor: Friends, would you win souls if you could?
00:06 Well, you can. 00:07 Please plan now to join me in doing 00:09 some evangelism this winter. 00:11 It's easier than you think. 00:13 Prophecy Encounter will be a major new, ten-part evangelistic 00:17 program that will be broadcasted by satellite and streaming on 00:20 the Internet to homes or churches near you, hopefully 00:24 your home or church. 00:25 From February 17 through 25, I'll be preaching an all new 00:30 old-fashioned evangelistic program from Sanford, Florida. 00:33 And we'll be using the latest technology 00:35 and fresh illustrations. 00:37 So, all you have to do is open your churches, your homes, 00:39 invite friends and family, be friendly, pray, and let the 00:44 power of the Word do the work. 00:46 The programs will be available on 3ABN, 00:49 AFTV, Facebook, Roku, and more. 00:52 You'll be surprised, there are people in your community that 00:55 are really worried about what's happening in the world, 00:57 and they're looking for answers. 01:00 Jesus said, "The harvest is truly great, 01:02 but the laborers are few. 01:04 So, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest will send laborers 01:06 out into his harvest." 01:08 You can be one of them. 01:10 So, I'd like to encourage you to join us and be praying for the 01:13 upcoming Prophecy Encounter meetings. 01:15 For more information, check out www.prophecyencounter.com. 01:21 And who knows, you might be revived in the process. 01:25 [music] 01:31 [music] 01:42 Doug: Every now and then in the panorama of history, we hear 01:44 about individuals that go from the lowest depths 01:47 to the highest pinnacles. 01:49 They emerge from the shackles of prison 01:51 to lead and inspire a nation. 01:54 Take Joseph, for instance. 01:57 He's sold by his brothers as a slave, then falsely 01:59 accused and thrust into prison. 02:01 Yet, through a series of divine circumstances, 02:03 he miraculously goes from the prison to the palace, 02:06 ruling the ones who imprisoned him. 02:09 Sound farfetched? 02:10 It's happened in history more than you think. 02:13 South Africa is the home of just such a leader. 02:16 Nelson Mandela worked tirelessly to establish peace 02:19 and freedom in his country, and his influence 02:22 was felt around the world. 02:25 Before freedom, there must be forgiveness. 02:27 Like Joseph, who was unjustly accused for a crime he did not 02:30 commit, Nelson Mandela was accused of terrorism, 02:33 and sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island. 02:36 He was often exposed to cruel punishment and abuse, but even 02:40 in the midst of apparent failure and discouragement, he never 02:42 lost heart, he never gave up. 02:45 After years in prison, a growing number of supporters rallied 02:48 for his release and eventually took place. 02:51 And God used him so that he was instrumental in helping to 02:54 abolish racial segregation in the country of South Africa. 02:58 Incredibly, he now was virtually the absolute leader in the 03:01 country that had imprisoned him. 03:03 He had all of the tools and the power at his disposal to get 03:06 even with the prison guards and others that had mistreated him. 03:09 Instead, Mandela chose forgiveness. 03:12 It reminds me of that verse in the Bible in Ephesians chapter 03:15 4, verse 32, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and 03:19 anger, and clamor, and railing be put away from you, with all 03:22 malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, 03:26 forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you." 03:31 I'm so thankful that Nelson Mandela, like Joseph, chose to 03:35 forgive those who were once his enemies, and to serve his nation 03:38 with love and courage. 03:40 You can find a number of examples of this 03:42 happening in the Bible. 03:44 You have Daniel, who was a captive from the land of Judah, 03:46 and yet God arranged things where he becomes the prime 03:48 minister in the kingdom of Babylon. 03:50 You have Esther, who was a poor orphan girl in Persia, and yet 03:54 God worked things out where she becomes a queen of that country. 03:57 The book of Jeremiah ends with an incredible story of a young 04:01 king named Jehoiachin, who is in the Babylonian dungeon 04:04 for 37 years, and then King Evil-Merodach has mercy on him, 04:08 and he has a new status, going from the prison to the palace. 04:11 This is what the Lord wants to do for you and me, friends. 04:14 He gives you the bread of life, he gives you the robe of Jesus' 04:17 righteousness, he gives you a seat at his table. 04:19 If you accept his forgiveness and you're willing to pass it 04:22 on, you and I can live and reign with Christ. 04:25 Wouldn't you like that experience? 04:27 [music] 04:34 [music] 04:49 Doug: Our message today is going to be dealing with the 04:51 subject of "Many Members, One Body." 04:56 And the central focus of this is going to be revolving around 04:59 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 05:03 We'll be referring to that chapter as much as many others. 05:06 And so, if you want to do and get your Bible marked for that 05:09 spot, we'll be returning there and reading several verses 05:12 together that talk about the body of Christ. 05:17 Now, not so much today, but it used to be that all of our 05:22 currency had the American logo on it. 05:25 You know what the American logo is? 05:28 Have you heard the statement "E Pluribus Unum"? 05:33 E Pluribus Unum, some of you are thinking that's some kind of a 05:37 digestinal problem that you might get coming back from 05:41 a foreign country, "I got E Pluribus." 05:44 But actually it's Latin, and it means "out of many, one." 05:48 And it was selected as our logo by, back in 1776, Benjamin 05:54 Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, "out of many, one." 05:59 And of course, this is a theme that you can understand that 06:03 Paul would easily buy into because all through the Bible, 06:07 it talks about the importance of how all of us together become 06:11 one in Christ, that we're more effective, we're more powerful 06:15 for Christ as we work together collectively. 06:18 The church is to be one body. 06:21 Now, there's some verses I'd like to share with you 06:23 before we get to 1 Corinthians. 06:25 Ephesians 4:1 through 6 is a great passage 06:28 to illustrate this. 06:31 Ephesians 4, start with the first verse, "I therefore, the 06:35 prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, I beg of you, walk worthy 06:40 of the calling to which you were called, in all lowliness 06:43 and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing 06:45 with one another in love." 06:49 Now, he's saying, he's intimating here that there are 06:52 times we need to bear patiently with each other in a loving way, 06:56 as with most families, amen? 07:00 "Endeavoring, striving to keep the unity." 07:04 Unity is something you need to endeavor to keep. 07:07 "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit." 07:10 If you don't endeavor to keep it, you might 07:12 lose the unity of the spirit. 07:14 "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit 07:17 in the bond of peace." 07:19 Now, notice how many times he says the word "one" here. 07:23 "There is one body, and one spirit, just as you are called 07:29 in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 07:35 one God and Father of us all, who is above all, 07:38 and through all, and in you all." 07:41 He's in me, he's in you. There's one God that we serve. 07:45 You notice that seven times, nice Bible number. 07:48 Now, first of all, let's talk about the one God. 07:51 There's several things that are one here we're going to address. 07:54 We're going to talk about the church is one as God is one. 07:59 The Bible says the church is one as a marriage 08:01 or a family is one. 08:03 And of course, the church is one as a body is one. 08:06 First, the church is one as God is one, there is one God. 08:09 Now, you know that great Shema the Israelis would say 08:13 when they came together. 08:15 It's based on Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, 08:18 where Moses said, "Hear, O Israel! 08:21 The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 08:25 And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, 08:28 with all of your soul, with all of your strength." 08:31 There in the Bible, in the beginning it says God said, 08:34 "Let us," plural, "make man in our image." 08:38 And yet, it says there is one God. 08:41 Now, the pagans used to worship many different gods. 08:44 They had a god of the bushes and the trees, and the god of 08:47 the birds and the bees and everything else 08:49 and--but the God of Israel was a one united God. 08:54 And in the three persons of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit 08:57 is the oneness of God. 09:00 Now, one for Hebrew did not always mean numeric quantity, 09:05 it meant unity. 09:08 And so, one is a very important point here. 09:10 Malachi 2:10, "Have we not all one Father? 09:13 Has not one God created us?" 09:17 And then Jesus, he bears up his theme of how important 09:20 the unity in one body is in John chapter 17. 09:23 I'll start with verse 11, and I'll jump around a little bit. 09:26 This is the great prayer of Christ, dedication prayer, 09:30 or commitment prayer for his church. 09:34 John 17:11, "Holy Father, keep through your name those who 09:39 you have given me, that they may be one, as we are." 09:45 That's a pretty tall order for you and I to be one as the 09:49 Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. 09:52 But that's what he's praying for, that we can--now, 09:54 if we've got the Holy Spirit, we can be one as 09:57 God the Father and the Son. 09:59 Does that make sense? 10:01 John 17:20, Jesus is praying still, "I do not pray for these 10:05 alone, but also those who will believe in me 10:07 through their word." 10:09 All right, stop. Who's that talking about? 10:12 Jesus is praying, said, "I'm not only praying for these, the 10:14 apostles, I'm praying for those who will believe 10:16 because of what they say and write." 10:19 So, when you and I read the Bible, Jesus is praying 10:22 for us, that we will have this oneness that he 10:25 prayed for for the apostles. 10:27 Does that encourage you to think Jesus prayed for you? 10:30 I mean, who could you possibly want to pray 10:32 for you more than Jesus? 10:34 What is he praying for? Listen. 10:37 "I pray for those who will believe through their word, that 10:39 they may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you." 10:45 Talk about the oneness of Jesus, Jesus in the Father, 10:48 the Father in Jesus. 10:50 "That they may be one in us." 10:55 Now, in order for us to be one, if I'm in Christ and you're 10:58 in Christ, then we're in Christ. 11:00 Does that make sense? 11:02 If you say, "I'm in Texas," and I tell you, "Well, I'm in Texas 11:05 too," that means we're both in Texas, right? 11:09 And so, we are one together in Christ. 11:13 So, you don't have to worry about being so much one 11:16 with me as you do being one with Christ. 11:19 And you know, some basic marriage counseling is--I'll get 11:24 to the marriage part in just a moment. 11:26 The closer you come to Christ, the closer you 11:28 invariably come to each other. 11:31 And that's also true in a church. 11:34 The closer we all come to Jesus, if you want to get along better 11:36 with somebody else that's a brother or a sister, you get 11:39 closer to Jesus, you'll get closer to them, assuming 11:42 they're doing the same thing. 11:45 "That the world might believe that you sent me." 11:49 Now, why does he want us to be one? 11:52 That the world might believe. What's our mission? 11:54 Take the gospel to the world. 11:56 Now, I think the devil was listening to Jesus' prayer. 11:58 You know, you always wonder, should we just 12:00 go in our closet and pray? 12:02 How did this prayer get recorded in the Gospel of John? 12:05 John must have heard him pray. And the devil heard him pray. 12:10 And the devil heard Jesus pray, "Father, the world will believe 12:14 by their love for one another." 12:16 And the devil thought, "Well, if the world will be converted by 12:19 their unity, the world will be un-converted by their division." 12:23 So, what's the devil's mission? 12:26 Scatter the flock, fragment, have everybody kind of 12:30 break off doing their own thing. 12:32 Oh, we'll come together for church once a week 12:33 so we can call ourselves Christians, but otherwise 12:35 we're sort of detached. 12:38 That's not God's plan. He wants us to be one. 12:42 You know, one reason that I'm focusing on this right now is 12:47 because we're entering the time--our church sort of follows 12:49 a biannual nominating committee, where people get involved in 12:54 serving, and we have our nominating committee, and folks 12:58 are praying about different positions in the church. 13:01 And it's so important that, especially now that we've grown 13:04 quite a bit since our last committee, some people have kind 13:07 of come and they say, "I like going to Granite Bay," but 13:10 now we want people to get involved. 13:13 If everybody's involved in using their gifts, there's no limit 13:16 to what the Lord can do through a church if we really 13:18 have the oneness that Jesus prayed for. 13:20 What do you think? 13:23 So, maybe you've been coming, and we're glad you're coming. 13:26 You may have even joined, and you show up faithfully, and you 13:29 pray, and you pay your tithes, but that's the extent 13:32 of your involvement. 13:35 You got to go all the way and be part of the body. 13:38 You need to integrate. 13:40 So, you want to know what I'm up to, that's what I'm up to. 13:46 Jesus said, "That the world might believe that you sent me," 13:49 the world might believe because of their oneness. 13:52 "And the glory that you gave me, I have given them," why? 13:55 "That they may be one, just as we are one." 13:57 There he says it again, one as he and the Father are one, "I in 14:01 them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, 14:06 that the world might know that you have sent me, 14:10 and have loved them as you love me." 14:13 There's something about the church being a united organism 14:16 that is so very powerful, and it threatens the devil. 14:22 That's why we maybe need to consciously think about are 14:25 we really--you know, what do you do for a living? 14:30 "Well, I'm a carpenter." 14:32 If you're a Christian, you say, "I'm a Christian. 14:34 I do carpentry to subsidize my Christianity." 14:38 If every member would realize that our priority--the church is 14:41 not an appendage we kind of add on a little bit during the week. 14:45 And God isn't someone you fit in your schedule, 14:47 he is your schedule if you're a believer. 14:50 And everything else is what you fit into God's schedule. 14:54 And the church really needs to be an integral 14:57 part of your experience as a Christian, 15:01 praying for it, communicating, networking. 15:04 Because we gain strength from each other that way. 15:06 Now, this is an unusually good church. 15:09 I don't want to interpret what I'm saying now as some 15:11 form of admonition or--it is a little bit admonition, 15:14 but I'm not chastising because I praise the Lord for this church. 15:19 But we've grown, and I think it's important that we don't 15:21 let the devil come in and cause division, and that we're 15:24 conscious of how important it is for us to be united 15:26 and to be involved, amen? 15:30 Now, I said God is one, marriage is one. 15:34 Jesus, quoting the Old Testament, in Mark chapter 10, 15:37 verse 7, "For this reason a man will leave his father and 15:40 mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two become," what? 15:44 "One flesh. 15:46 So then they are no longer two, but one flesh." 15:50 In order for a couple to be successful, they need to see 15:53 that they're united in their lives, in their ministry. 15:57 In Ephesians, Paul, bearing the same theme out, Ephesians 16:00 chapter 5, verse 28, "So, husbands ought to love 16:03 their own wives as their own bodies. 16:06 He who loves his wife loves himself." 16:09 If I'm not good to Karen, if I don't love Karen, 16:11 I end up hurting myself. 16:15 How many of you men will say amen to that? 16:17 You've heard it before that if mama ain't happy, 16:19 nobody's happy, so you're just hurting yourself. 16:23 "He that loves his wife loves himself. 16:29 If you care for your body, you cherish your body, 16:31 for we are members of his body." 16:33 Notice he's making the connection now 16:34 between marriage and the church. 16:38 "Of his flesh and of his bone. 16:41 For this reason," he quotes it again, "a man will leave his 16:43 father and mother, and be joined to his wife, 16:45 and those two become one flesh. 16:48 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning," 16:51 not husband and wife, "Christ and the church." 16:55 He says, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ 16:57 loves the church." 16:59 So, this oneness is not only compared to God, the oneness 17:02 the church should have is compared to marriage and family. 17:07 And then Paul, and we'll spend most of our time talking about 17:09 this, Paul talks about the oneness that we should have 17:12 in the church as a body. 17:15 Even Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in 3 days I will 17:19 raise it up," and he was talking about his body, one body. 17:22 It's really something when you see some of these Olympics. 17:26 The routines the gymnasts do, and how they're able-- 17:31 the timing, and the flips, and the twists, and the spins, 17:35 and I just--it's breathtaking sometimes. 17:37 And I can tell you what, they've got their whole body working 17:42 together whenever they're able to do that. 17:46 And when you're in touch, and the body's all connected and 17:50 communicating, it's amazing what you can do. 17:52 It also happens through training, through practice. 17:56 And the church is something of an organism in that way, 18:00 in that we should be involved. 18:02 Let me give you some verses, the church is one body. 18:03 Romans 12. 18:05 I told you we're going to go to a few other verses, 18:07 and then we're going to dive into 1 Corinthians 12. 18:10 Romans 12:4, "For as we have many members in one body," 18:14 members meaning, you know, your foot's a member, your arm's a 18:17 member, your head is a member of the body, 18:19 your tongue is a member of the body. 18:21 "As we have many members in one body, but all the members don't 18:24 have the same function." 18:27 Most of them don't. 18:29 "For we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individual 18:33 members of one another." 18:35 Now, because we're one body doesn't mean we're the same. 18:39 Your body's composed of all kinds of different organs, and 18:42 systems, and functions. 18:44 And you know, I've heard that like in one square 18:48 inch of skin, you've got like 16 miles of blood vessels 18:53 or something like that. 18:55 I mean, it's fascinating the complexity of one body, yet it's 18:58 one thing that accomplishes, you know, controlled goals 19:04 because all of the organism works together. 19:07 You have all different kinds of gifts, and I won't try to even 19:09 guess what part of the body you would represent 19:11 as an illustration. 19:15 But take it we're all different, this is 19:18 what Paul is talking about. 19:21 1 Corinthians 12:27, "Now you are the body of Christ, 19:26 and members in particular." 19:28 We're all different particular members of the body. 19:31 You may not have thought about it, you might not be 19:33 sure where you fit in, but if you're a Christian, you 19:35 are a body of Christ. 19:37 For one thing, the body needs to stick together, amen? 19:41 It's not good when a body's not together. 19:43 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12 through 14, "For as the body is 19:47 one and has many members, and all the members of that body, 19:51 being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 19:56 For by one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether 20:00 you're Jew or Gentile, whether you're bond or free, whether 20:05 you've been made to drink in one spirit, for the body 20:10 is not one, but many." 20:12 Now, the big issue back in Bible times, it says were you a Jew 20:17 or are you a Gentile? 20:19 We don't have such a racial division here in this country, 20:23 but you might say everyone in the Sacramento area, doesn't 20:26 matter if you're a Slavic or English, doesn't matter 20:30 if you're Asian or African-American. 20:33 It doesn't matter whether you're Hispanic 20:35 or South Pacific Islander. 20:40 We are all one body, amen? 20:43 And we all work together as one body. 20:46 Now, I've asked some of our youth, I want to illustrate 20:50 this to you in a way that I thought might be helpful. 20:53 I've got some youth that I handpicked at Sabbath School. 20:56 If they come up front, you know who you are, 20:57 I got like six youth. 21:00 I'd like you to come up, if you'd just stand here just 21:03 across from me, and they're going to help me 21:06 illustrate this point in a vivid way. 21:08 Just you can line up on over here, there we go, very good. 21:10 These are my helpers, we've got one, two, three, four, five. 21:13 Are we missing one? 21:15 Are we missing a member of the body? 21:17 Did I only pick five? I thought there was another. 21:21 All right, I need another, one of the youth, 21:23 you just come on up, somebody. 21:26 Move by the Spirit, pick someone. 21:30 Who's coming up? All right, here we go, okay. 21:33 All right, just stay right there. 21:36 Here, hang on a second, I got to put this down. 21:39 All right, they're going to help me illustrate like 21:41 they're different parts of the body here. 21:44 And maybe Pastor Ross is going to help me. 21:48 No. 21:56 I'm going to ask you guys, let me give you a hand. 22:24 Now, no, this isn't going to work right, 22:25 we got to switch this here. 22:26 You hold that for a second here. 22:28 There we go. 22:33 Okay. 22:34 Oh, yeah, yeah, bring that out. 22:36 Let's put that--let's put that right here. 22:38 So, here we have a body. 22:40 Now, some of you might think this is a little strange, 22:42 but I wanted to illustrate this. 22:44 And what did you want me to do, use a real body 22:45 and dismember it? 22:47 So I got to use a mannequin, I don't know what else to do. 22:50 And yeah, let's put it over here, Pastor Ross, because 22:52 it might--yeah, I don't want to compete during the sermon. 22:56 Okay; all right, here we got different members of the body. 23:00 It doesn't accomplish very much separated like that. 23:02 So, if someone says they've got a hand, 23:05 how many of you have a hand? 23:07 Hold up your hand. 23:08 All right, now look at your hand. 23:11 Now, look at the hand next to you of someone else. 23:14 Is that scary? No, because it's on a body. 23:18 But if I said, "Look, on the floor, a hand," 23:22 if that was a real hand, would that trouble you? 23:25 Why? It's dismembered. 23:29 It's separated. You get that? 23:31 It's separated from the body, something dangerous 23:34 can happen like that. 23:36 But if we start to put things where they belong--all right, 23:40 let's see here, we'll start with you. 23:42 You're probably happy to unload, right? 23:44 Now be careful, those legs come off, and then we're going to 23:46 have a problem, I wanted to keep this--let's go like this. 23:51 And there's no easy way to grab this thing and not look weird. 23:58 Okay, there we go, that's much better. 24:00 I want you to all know these are my pants, and that no real legs 24:08 were hurt in the making of this video. 24:12 And those are Steven's shoes that he didn't like anymore. 24:15 All right, so can I borrow the hand again? 24:18 Give me a hand. Is that where that goes? 24:22 No, so, what goes next? 24:27 Try the--that's right, torso. 24:30 You want to see if you can do that yourself? 24:34 All right, let me help you a little. 24:36 All right. 24:40 There we go. 24:42 This is Harvey Dunlap. 24:47 That's HD, that stands for Humpty Dumpty. 24:50 No one can put him back together again. 24:53 Okay, now you want to try and put an arm on? 24:56 Starting to come together. 24:58 Now, how much--how much good does your arm do 24:59 when it's by itself? 25:02 I know how to do it, I just want to see how they do. 25:05 They've had no practice on this. 25:11 Wow, first try. I didn't do that. 25:17 All right, let's do another arm. 25:26 So, how important is it the body stays together? 25:29 If you got--give me a hand for a second. 25:32 I love saying that. 25:35 How long would that live by itself if a hand gets separated? 25:41 I got a friend that was working in academy, he accidentally cut 25:44 off his finger with a band saw, tip of his finger. 25:47 And they ran him to the hospital 20 miles away, and the doctor 25:51 said, "Where's the tip of the finger?" 25:54 And they said, "Well, it's in the nurse's pocket 25:55 back at school." 25:58 "Ah," he said, "I can't do anything, 25:59 it's going to be too long. 26:01 If you dropped it in some ice and brought it to me, 26:03 I could reattach it." 26:04 Because a piece of the body 26:05 doesn't last very long by itself, right? 26:09 How important is it that we come together for worship? 26:14 We gather strength, we have accountability. 26:17 Hebrews said, "Do not forsake," Hebrews chapter 10:26, 26:21 "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, 26:24 as the manner of some is, and all the more as you see 26:27 the day approaching." 26:28 What day is he talking about? 26:30 The Second Coming, the day of the Lord. 26:33 Okay, who had this? Want to try and put that on? 26:37 You can go ahead and put your hand on too. 26:45 Now, doesn't that look a lot better? 26:51 Did you guys get the wrong hand on there? 26:54 No, that's right, yeah. 26:56 I'm curious, though, could you put this hand on that side. 26:59 What would that look like? 27:03 That would--yeah, my hand would hurt like that. 27:09 There you go, let's give them a hand. 27:12 Get it? 27:13 Thank you very much, you can sit down. 27:17 So, all of a sudden, we took many parts, and we made one body 27:21 to help illustrate--you want to hear something funny? 27:29 I set this up yesterday, and I put it at the podium, 27:33 and I put a baseball hat on and sunglasses. 27:38 And I knew the deacon was going to have a real jump 27:40 when he came in. 27:43 And Sam Devi* told me he walked in, he turned on the lights. 27:47 He said, "I knew the alarm was on, how did he get in here?" 27:51 Had it set up in our house the other day, and every time we 27:55 walked in the other room, we're going--so, it is kind of fun. 28:00 But the Bible tells us that we want to be one body. 28:04 Now, you'll not forget that, that there just is something 28:06 weird when the body is not connected as it should be. 28:11 And different parts of the body function well when they're doing 28:15 what they're supposed to do. 28:17 1 Corinthians 12:15, "If the foot will say, 'Because I'm not 28:21 a hand, I'm not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? 28:26 And if the ear shall say, 'Because I'm an eye--or I'm not 28:31 an eye, am I not of the body?' 28:33 Is it therefore not of the body? 28:36 If the whole body was an eye, where would the hearing be? 28:39 If the whole was hearing, where would the smelling be?" 28:43 You ever heard the expression, "too many cooks in the kitchen"? 28:47 Or I don't know if it's politically correct to say this 28:49 anymore, but we used to say we got all chiefs and no Indians. 28:54 Well, you know the expressions, it's like everybody wanted to 28:56 be--but in God's body, people need to know what their gifts 29:00 are, and we need to respect and empower people, 29:02 and everyone needs to be willing to serve. 29:05 And, "Well, if I can't do that, then I'm not 29:07 going to do anything." 29:09 Now, sometimes during a nominating committee, a person, 29:14 Christian counselors get together, and they'll pray, and 29:19 they'll say, "We think you'd be really good at this." 29:20 "Oh, but I really wanted that." 29:22 "Well, but someone else is doing that." 29:24 "Well, then I'm not going to do anything." 29:26 Is that how we maintain unity in the spirit of Christ, 29:28 in the attitude of service? 29:31 I heard one time an illustration about a man 29:33 who woke up in the morning. 29:34 As he was just waking up, he reached over to the nightstand 29:38 and grabbed the glasses to put them on. 29:41 And all of a sudden, he heard his nose yell at him. 29:44 And his nose said, "No more glasses." 29:46 He said, "What?" 29:48 And the nose was talking to him, and it said, "No more glasses." 29:52 He said, "You sit on me just so you could help those eyes there, 29:55 and the eyes get all the attention." 29:57 He said, "These glasses, they live* a little dense on me, 30:00 they pinch me, I can't breathe. 30:02 No more glasses, I've had all I can take." 30:05 So the man felt bad, he put his glasses down. 30:06 And as he was walking to the restroom, he bumped his nose 30:09 against the door because he couldn't see where he was going. 30:13 The eyes needed the glasses on the nose. 30:17 The different parts of the body all need to work together, amen? 30:21 Every part is needed. 30:24 1 Corinthians 12:24, "Much more those members of the body 30:30 which seem to be more feeble are necessary. 30:33 And those members of the body which we think to be less 30:35 honorable, upon them we bestow more abundant honor. 30:38 And on our uncomely parts we have more abundant comeliness. 30:42 For our comely parts have no need, but God has tempered the 30:46 body together, having given more abundant honor 30:49 to that part which lacked." 30:51 Let me see if I could illustrate this. 30:54 Sometimes we think, "Well, you know, I'm not a very important 30:57 part of this church, and I don't do much, and I come, 31:00 and what gifts do I have?" 31:02 But everybody has been given gifts of the Spirit, 31:05 and everybody is to use their respective gifts. 31:08 We'll talk about a list in just a moment. 31:10 The toe, what percentage of your total body weight do you think 31:14 your toe is, your little toe? 31:18 I won't ask you to--it might be different for each one of us, 31:21 but if you got a 200-pound man, and you ask how 31:23 much does the little toe weigh, not even 1%. 31:29 But you lose that little toe--I heard about an Arctic explorer 31:34 that had one of his little toes got frostbite, and he lost it 31:37 when he took off his boot. 31:40 And he walked with a limp the rest of his life 31:42 just because of one toe. 31:43 Got a friend, because of diabetes, lost a couple of toes, 31:47 can't walk quite right anymore. 31:49 Those little members do make a big difference. 31:53 I don't know about you, boy, if I got a piece of popcorn stuck 31:56 between my teeth, the world has to stop 31:58 spinning till I get that out. 32:00 Anyone else? 32:02 Get an eyelash in your eye, and just say, "I'll be right back, 32:04 I got to get--" Just little things. 32:09 Now, when I was growing up, they took my tonsils. 32:13 I constantly had colds, and they said, "You got bad tonsils." 32:17 I grew up during that era where they just assumed that if you 32:21 had a sore throat all the time, somehow you had dysfunctional 32:23 tonsils, and take out your tonsils and it'll be better. 32:26 Well, I know now I was constantly--I ate Twinkies 32:30 for breakfast and drank tons of milk, and I was sick 32:32 all the time from what I ate. 32:34 There's nothing wrong with my tonsils. 32:38 Brother had his appendix taken out because he got 32:40 a stomachache back then. 32:42 Now, I know some people really did need their appendix taken 32:44 out, but they said, "Oh, it's just a vestigial remnant, 32:47 you don't really need it." 32:49 But now they've learned that the tonsils and the appendix, 32:52 they're all needed, that your body has use 32:55 of all these things. 32:57 And have any of you ever felt like, 32:59 "I'm just the tonsils of the church. 33:02 I'm expendable. 33:03 They won't even know if I'm gone. 33:05 See, I can't tell Pastor Doug has no tonsils, 33:07 what difference will it make?" 33:10 But yeah, it makes a difference. 33:12 Everybody is needed, and there's a purpose for everybody 33:15 in the church, amen? 33:17 The body needs you. 33:19 Romans 12:6, "Having then gifts differing according 33:24 to the grace that is given us, let us use them." 33:28 He's saying all of us must use the different gifts 33:30 that God has given us. 33:32 "If prophecy, let us prophesy." 33:33 And prophecy meant--it was preaching or teaching back then. 33:36 "Let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. 33:39 Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. 33:43 He who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; 33:47 he who gives, with liberality." 33:49 Some have a gift of exhortation, some have a gift of giving. 33:54 I made a phone call this week to thank an Amazing Facts supporter 33:58 for a gift, a significant gift. 34:02 And he said, "Boy, I was just so amazed you called. 34:07 My wife and I were just talking last night, and 34:09 we're thinking about doing something more, 34:12 and we were thinking about supporting what you're 34:14 doing there, and here you are calling." 34:16 And he said, "We're going to give you some more right now 34:18 just because you called." 34:20 Just said, "And if there's anything else you need." 34:22 I wish everybody would say this. I mean, I just was speechless. 34:26 Said, "The Lord's blessed us. 34:28 If there's anything else you ever need, you just call." 34:31 Oh, that person's got the gift of giving. 34:33 No, I'm not telling you their name. 34:38 The Lord gave it to me. 34:41 But some people have the gift of giving, gift of administration. 34:46 And we're all supposed to use these different gifts. 34:49 We have different gifts, but we have one purpose. 34:54 Our purpose is to share the gospel with the world, and to 34:57 build up the church, the body of Christ, amen? 35:00 1 Corinthians 12:27, "Now you are the body of Christ, 35:05 and members individually. 35:07 And God has appointed these in the church," 35:10 and now he goes through some of the gifts of the Spirit. 35:12 This isn't all of them, these are just some of the 35:14 more prominent ones that were really Spirit-driven 35:19 in these early days of the church. 35:21 "First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, 35:26 after that miracles." 35:28 I'd like to know, who has the gift of miracles? 35:31 It's a gift in the church. 35:34 Some people pray, and it seems like their prayers 35:36 are always answered. 35:38 "Then gifts of healing," and that could be medical work. 35:42 "Helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 35:46 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? 35:48 Are all teachers?" 35:50 Now, you know what he's saying now? 35:52 What's the understood answer of these rhetorical questions? 35:54 Let me ask you, are all prophets? 35:56 Are all pastors? Are all evangelists? 36:01 Do all have gifts of working with children? 36:05 Do all speak with tongues? No. 36:08 He's saying we don't all have all the gifts. 36:12 Some have multiple gifts, but everybody 36:14 is to understand what their gifts are. 36:20 Just while I'm thinking about it, there are several good--you 36:24 can even--there's an app, there's an app for everything. 36:27 You can download a spiritual gift app, 36:29 and you go through this survey. 36:31 And in this spiritual gift app, you fill out, it asks you 36:34 different things about what you enjoy doing, and where 36:37 you see your strengths are. 36:38 And at the end, it'll kind of say, "Here are the areas 36:41 where your gifts are most likely to be." 36:43 There's some online forms you can download, 36:46 there's like ten pages. 36:47 I thought about sharing it with everybody, but I thought, 36:50 you know, that's a lot of paper for the church, 36:51 ten pages per person. 36:53 But you can download them, print them out. 36:54 We'd like to know as we're going into nominating committee, 36:57 you know, where do you see your spiritual gifts? 37:00 And some of these surveys are very important 37:03 if you want to do one of these app or online surveys. 37:05 Sometimes, you can talk to Christian friends and say, 37:08 "You know, I know that I'm part of the church, 37:10 I know God's given me gifts. 37:12 I'm not sure what my gifts are. What do you think?" 37:15 You ask Christian counsel, and sometimes they'll say, 37:18 "Oh, no question, you've got a gift in this area." 37:20 "Really? 37:21 I never really thought that before." 37:23 And so, be aware of what your gifts are. 37:26 Sometimes, it's good to know what your gifts aren't. 37:30 I always want to think I have the gift of singing, and then I 37:32 hear myself, and I say, "Oh Doug, it's not your gift." 37:36 But it's a good idea to know what your gifts are. 37:39 And when the time comes for a nominating committee, 37:41 we'll probably send out something and say, 37:43 "Are you willing to serve in some of these areas?" 37:47 Different gifts, everybody has gifts. 37:50 And God wants us to use our gifts together. 37:54 The Bible says we need to be united in mind. 37:57 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10, "Now I plead with you, 38:02 brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you 38:05 all speak the same thing." 38:06 That doesn't mean we all parrot the same words. 38:09 It means theologically, they were to be united 38:11 in their beliefs. 38:13 And it's a concern when our church gets to the point 38:15 where we're not all united in our beliefs. 38:19 It used to be, it's still pretty much this way, but I could go 38:23 anywhere in the world and if I met other Seventh Day 38:25 Adventists, I knew where they stood. 38:28 Now, there would be little insignificant differences. 38:31 You know, you go to the church in Russia, and the women maybe 38:33 would be more sensitive about covering their head in public 38:36 worship because they'd come out of the Russian Orthodox church. 38:39 Or there's little things, the food might be different, 38:41 but the doctrines were the same, and there was unity. 38:45 Well, the Corinthian church was having a problem, and the devil 38:48 is attacking all churches this way, including our church, 38:52 where there's disunity of belief. 38:56 "I plead with you that you all speak the same thing, and there 38:59 be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined 39:02 together in the same mind, and have the same judgment." 39:06 I threw up a picture, it's not to make a statement on 39:09 competitive sports, but you all know in football that they get 39:13 together in a huddle, and they're getting ready to make 39:15 a play, and the quarterback will say what the play is. 39:20 They don't then vote. 39:23 They don't deliberate and break off into small groups. 39:26 They are of one mind when they go into that next play, 39:29 you know what I'm saying? 39:30 And boy, what a powerful influence in a community if a 39:33 church could say, "We're going to do an evangelistic meeting," 39:35 we all come together and use our gifts, 39:38 if all of us would invite people. 39:41 Whew, you'd see the gospel take off like it did 39:43 in the first century. 39:46 United in mind, together in the same mind, same judgment. 39:50 Romans 15:5, "Now may the God of patience and comfort 39:54 grant you to be likeminded toward one another 39:58 according to Jesus Christ." 39:59 Now, the thing is if we've got the Holy 40:01 Spirit, then we all have the DNA of Jesus. 40:06 And all of us become part of the same body through that, amen? 40:15 Someone was--years ago, they were talking to a man that was 40:21 overseeing people at a mental institution in Sonoma. 40:25 And a lot of people were out on the grounds, and the man 40:28 was watching everybody, and someone said--and I 40:30 don't mean to be unkind, but it's what they said, 40:33 "Now, you're out here by yourself kind of watching 40:36 over all of these crazy people." 40:39 He said, "Aren't you afraid that they would organize 40:42 some attack and escape? 40:45 Just one of you." 40:46 He said, "No, that doesn't worry me at all." 40:48 He says, "These people are here because they 40:50 cannot work cooperatively." 40:55 So, it's kind of a sign of insanity when people 40:58 can't work together. 41:01 And it's a sign of self-control and maturity when we 41:03 can work together, amen? 41:07 I mean, the Lord wants us to be united in mind, and especially 41:10 in these last days, when we're being attacked by the devil. 41:15 I go camping off in the desert, and we see sometimes wild 41:17 donkeys, and we see wild mustangs. 41:20 And I've not seen this, but I've heard that if coyotes or wolves 41:24 were to attack thoroughbreds out there in the wilderness, 41:28 they all put their heads together in a group, 41:31 and they kick at the enemy. 41:34 That's the horses. 41:36 But donkeys all put their heads towards the enemy as they're 41:39 going to take care of it by themselves, 41:41 and they kick each other. 41:45 So, here we are in the last days, what do you want to be, 41:48 a thoroughbred or a donkey? 41:51 We need to put our heads together, amen, and kick 41:53 at the common enemy that we've got. 41:56 In conclusion, there's two ways or two primary reasons that it 42:01 is so important that we understand we are one body, 42:05 and that we all work together. 42:06 Well, for one thing, you're safer together. 42:10 You know, the devil knows that when you get a lamb 42:13 chased off by itself, they pick off the old and 42:16 the weak that they can isolate. 42:19 Some people come to Christ, and they don't get involved in 42:21 a church, or they separate from the church, you're an easy 42:23 target for the wolves when you're out there by yourself. 42:26 You are much safer when you're together. 42:29 You've maybe seen some of these nature films, where these musk 42:32 ox out there in the Arctic wilds, that--now I've got 42:36 conflicting illustrations here. 42:39 But when the wolves come around, they all get together, and all 42:43 the young get in the middle, and they protect them so that they 42:47 can defeat the enemy on the outside. 42:50 And we need to stay together for that reason. 42:52 Furthermore, there's a storm coming. 42:57 And you survive the storm a lot better together. 43:03 I saw this interesting illustration where, in September 43:11 1996, in Tucson, Arizona, a man named John Leonard, who was 55 43:17 years old, was driving across a creek bed, and there was a flash 43:21 flood that picked up his Lincoln Continental, and washed it in 43:26 just a wall of water 100 yards off the road, 43:28 and pushed it up against a tree. 43:31 And the water began to rise, and he was trapped on--he climbed 43:33 out of the car, he's trapped in the middle of this river, cold 43:36 water from a flash flood, muddy, raging water, on top of his car. 43:42 And rescuers came, and they couldn't do much. 43:45 They saw the water getting higher and higher, and about an 43:47 hour later, he was shivering and cold. 43:49 And even though it was the desert, it was very cold 43:51 at that time of year. 43:53 And they thought that he's going to not be able 43:55 to stand if we do get to him. 43:57 So, what they did is they linked arms. 44:00 And arm and arm, they went 50 feet out. 44:03 And each person, because he was linked to one other person, 44:07 they had enough footing to stand against the flood, they 44:10 pulled this guy off the car, and drug him up to safety. 44:13 We are a lot more effective in saving others 44:16 when we work together. 44:18 It sends a very important message. 44:21 And you'll be a lot more successful in being saved 44:25 yourself in community. 44:28 Now, we're Californians, many of us, 44:30 at least we are now we live here. 44:32 And the biggest trees in the world, 44:35 you got these central redwoods, like the sequoias. 44:39 And General Sherman I understand is one 44:41 of the most massive trees in the world. 44:43 Then you've got the coastal redwoods, which also 44:45 get very tall, they're the tallest, the tallest tree. 44:48 They've hidden it, they don't want to tell anybody 44:50 where it is, it's 365 feet tall. 44:53 And the reason the coastal redwoods that are exposed to 44:56 those storms that come off the Pacific all winter long that 45:01 they don't blow down in those gales, one storm after another, 45:05 is because--it's very interesting, 45:07 they don't have a very deep taproot. 45:09 If one of those trees kind of sprouts and grows off by itself, 45:11 you'll often see it topples, and you'll see this big, 45:14 flat, long root area sticking up. 45:17 Any of you ever seen that at a redwood camp meeting? 45:20 They don't have very deep roots. 45:22 But the roots go wide, and they interlace with 45:26 the roots of the other trees around them. 45:29 And because of that, they have a good footing, 45:32 and they can stand. 45:34 Have you ever tried to stand on one foot, and someone 45:36 can push you over with one finger? 45:38 But when you get two feet, you're a lot more stable. 45:40 If you get three, see how it goes? 45:42 Now, don't grow a third foot. 45:46 But that's the way it is in--even in the Bible, 45:49 Jesus sent them out how? 45:52 Two by two. 45:54 And Solomon says a threefold cord is not easily broken. 45:56 And so, you know, I just wanted to share with you from my heart, 45:59 friends, how important it is, especially in these last days, 46:03 that we stick together, that we have that love, that we are 46:07 united in the Spirit, and we're going to be very effective in 46:10 taking the message to the world in the last days. 46:13 Is that your prayer? 46:18 Doug: Friends, would you win souls if you could? 46:19 Well, you can. 46:21 Please plan now to join me in doing some 46:24 evangelism this winter. 46:25 It's easier than you think. 46:27 Prophecy Encounter will be a major new, ten-part evangelistic 46:31 program that will be broadcasted by satellite and streaming on 46:35 the Internet to homes or churches near you, 46:37 hopefully your home or church. 46:40 From February 17 through 25, I'll be preaching an all new 46:44 old-fashioned evangelistic program from Sanford, Florida. 46:47 And we'll be using the latest technology 46:49 and fresh illustrations. 46:51 So, all you have to do is open your churches, your homes, 46:53 invite friends and family, be friendly, pray, and let the 46:58 power of the Word do the work. 47:00 The programs will be available on 3ABN, AFTV, 47:04 Facebook, Roku, and more. 47:06 You'll be surprised, there are people in your community that 47:09 are really worried about what's happening in the world, and 47:12 they're looking for answers. 47:14 Jesus said, "The harvest is truly great, 47:16 but the laborers are few. 47:18 So, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest 47:20 will send laborers out into his harvest." 47:22 You can be one of them. 47:24 So, I'd like to encourage you to join us and be praying 47:27 for the upcoming Prophecy Encounter meetings. 47:29 For more information, check out www.prophecyencounter.com. 47:35 And who knows, you might be revived in the process. 47:38 [music] 47:45 [music] 47:48 male announcer: "Amazing Facts," changed lives. 47:57 Ruben: You know, we grew up in a neighborhood up 47:59 in the Midwest that was a pretty bad neighborhood. 48:01 And when I became a teenager, I started using drugs. 48:05 I was on--I started using meth when I was, like, 48:08 I think 16, 15, something like that. 48:11 I was having some problems in my life 48:13 I really didn't know how to deal with. 48:16 The only thing I really knew was violence. 48:19 So, this night here, I was going to inflict violence on myself. 48:23 I was really high and really depressed, so I took--you know, 48:27 I had this .40 caliber. 48:29 So, I remember I put one in the chamber, and I stuck it 48:31 to the side of my head like this. 48:33 And that gun had a hair-trigger, you know? 48:38 And I remember I was tapping it because a part of me said, "No, 48:43 I don't want to do this," but there was something very evil 48:47 present there saying, "Do it." 48:49 I just said to myself, I said, "God, if you're real, 48:55 show yourself to me." 48:58 My mother took me into church when I was a little kid, and we 49:01 used to sing "Jesus Loves Me." 49:04 And I remembered that song. 49:06 I started playing it in my mind, and almost had like 49:09 a vision of me as a little kid. 49:14 You know, in Sabbath school, we used to bang those sticks 49:19 together, and sing "Jesus Loves Me." 49:25 And I heard that in my mind. So, I just said, "Wow." 49:34 So, I just kind of, like, put the gun down, and I kind of 49:36 fell on my bedside there, and I said, "Lord." 49:41 I just basically just prayed this crazy prayer. 49:43 I said--you know, I told him everything that 49:45 was wrong with me. 49:47 And I remember one day, I was driving around, 49:49 I kind of felt lost. 49:51 And I drove by this church, and I'd seen Tom out there, 49:53 Tom was just out there watering the flowers, you know? 49:57 Tom: So, I caught a vision out of the side of my eye, 50:00 and this big, husky guy with the tattoos walking up. 50:04 And he's saying hello, and I said--so, I asked him 50:09 if I could help him. 50:11 And he told me that he drives by the church on occasion, 50:16 and every time he goes by, he's thinking that he should stop in. 50:20 Ruben: After he showed me around the church, you know, I 50:25 was like, "Okay, man, it's nice meeting you," and this and that. 50:29 So, I jumped in my car, and I started heading 50:32 down the driveway. 50:34 And the next thing you know, in like my peripheral vision, I see 50:37 him coming around the corner, 50:40 like Jerry Rice running a football. 50:43 No, not that fast, but you know, he was taking off after me. 50:47 And he says, "Hey, hey, hey, hold on, hold on." 50:50 Tom: I asked him if he would like to have some Bible studies, 50:52 and he said, "Yeah." 50:54 Ruben: He would come by the house, and we'd all start-- 50:56 we'd start hiding the beer cans, 50:58 and trying to air out the weed smell. 51:01 And there was a presence that came 51:02 with Tom that was comforting. 51:06 You know what I mean? 51:08 Even though I wasn't taking the Bible studies as serious as I 51:10 should have looking back, there was just a presence about him 51:15 being there in the house that was comforting. 51:19 I told Tom, I said, "Tom, you know, you can't win everybody." 51:22 Tom: I looked at him, and I knew, I said to him, 51:25 "Ruben, I never get anybody." 51:29 I said, "It's the Holy Spirit who will do that." 51:32 And I kind of in my heart knew that the Holy Spirit 51:36 was going to work on Ruben. 51:38 Ruben: So, then Tom kind of left the picture for a while. 51:42 And then I think one day at my mother's house, they were 51:45 watching "The Final Events of Bible Prophecy." 51:47 So, I watched that, and I remember the scene 51:53 where they had the hellfire and stuff. 51:56 You know, they're outside the city, and it showed the hellfire 52:01 coming down and burning people and stuff. 52:03 And I remember saying to myself, 52:07 "That's where I would be right there." 52:10 After the hellfire scene, I saw the saints, and the city, and 52:16 the New Jerusalem, and Jesus recreating the earth. 52:21 And I said, "I want that to be me and my family." 52:28 There was something about the way Doug preached 52:30 and things that I felt that touched me. 52:33 Because he's kind of like myself, you know. 52:36 He's--he didn't--he didn't grow up like that. 52:40 You know, he'd done drugs and things, so I kind of 52:44 found these common grounds that I had with him. 52:46 And I liked how he just kind of, like, 52:48 kept it real with his preaching. 52:50 And then Pastor Rodney came to the church, and I got to know 52:55 him very well, and we started doing some finishing studies. 53:00 He wanted to make sure I understand what I was doing 53:04 and things, and baptized me, my wife, my brother. 53:08 No matter what you've done, where you come from, where 53:13 you've been, no matter how bad of a sinner you think you are, 53:17 the Lord Jesus loves you no matter what you've done. 53:22 Doug: Friends, it's because of God's blessing and your 53:25 support thousands of others, just like Ruben, 53:30 have found Jesus and eternal life. 53:32 [music] 53:41 [music] 53:54 Doug: For over 60 years, jeepneys have been the virtual 53:56 king of the road here in the Philippines. 53:59 These unique vehicles that are festooned with colorful 54:02 stickers, lights and chrome have grown 54:04 into the cheap source of transportation in the country. 54:07 Let's go. 54:09 [music] 54:13 Doug: These iconic four-wheel drive military vehicles made 54:16 by the Willys company were known as jeeps 54:19 because it stood for "general purpose." 54:21 But it also came from a character in a Popeye 54:24 cartoon that was known as Eugene the Jeep. 54:28 He was an imaginary dog that could crawl across the ceilings 54:31 and the walls, and these jeeps could go anywhere. 54:34 When the Americans left the Philippines following World War 54:36 II, it was just cheaper for them to leave these thousands 54:39 of military vehicles behind rather than 54:41 to transport them back to the States. 54:43 The creative Filipino people, modifying these 54:46 military vehicles by extending the frame about 54:49 6 feet, they added a couple of opposing benches that are 54:52 designed to carry about 18 people. 54:54 They put a cab over it to prevent the 54:56 water from coming in. 54:59 But I've seen what looks like 20 to 25 people hanging off every 55:02 possible edge and ledge of a jeepney, and jumping off, and 55:06 jumping on as it goes through congested Manila traffic. 55:12 Every jeepney is a little bit different. 55:14 Some are just held together with patches of bailing wire 55:16 and bubble gum, a little bit of duct tape. 55:18 Some are a little more ornate and modern, 55:20 they've got chrome and stainless steel. 55:22 And there's good reason that the ceilings are padded. 55:28 When one of the local Filipinos wants to ride on a jeepney, 55:31 they just flag them down, they shout, they tap on the hood, 55:34 and then they jump on board. 55:36 They may not even slow down when they do this. 55:38 Then they pay about 8 pesos, which is the equivalent 55:41 of 16 cents for us. 55:43 It's by far the most economical way to get 55:45 around in the country. 55:51 Some jeepneys are even equipped with an old emergency privy. 55:57 One little downside to the jeepney is because the cabs 56:00 are open like this, they're not air-conditioned. 56:02 It gets pretty hot in the summertime, and all the 56:04 fumes from the street come in, which can 56:07 make it an exhausting experience. 56:10 Part of the downside of a jeepney is they don't have 56:12 all of the modern safety features, no seatbelts. 56:15 You have to take advantage of the padding 56:17 if you hit a hard bump. 56:19 And if you're in a serious accident, there's no airbags 56:21 other than the friends that might be sitting around you. 56:25 But that's the upside of a jeepney. 56:27 Because you're up close and personal with everybody, 56:28 you make some new friends. 56:31 Riding on a jeepney requires teamwork. 56:33 If you buy something from one of the vendors, you all sort 56:35 of pass it back to each other. 56:37 And when passengers get on board, 56:39 you just pass your money up front. 56:47 Thanks a lot. 56:52 Friends, it's safe to say there are no two jeepneys 56:54 that are exactly the same. 56:57 They're all unique and distinct, and so are you. 57:00 Have you ever felt that you get lost in the mass of humanity, 57:03 and God doesn't notice you? 57:05 The Bible tells us that he knows your name, the very hairs 57:07 of your head are numbered, and he hears your prayers. 57:10 More than that, the Lord wants to take you to his kingdom. 57:13 You just have to get on board. 57:16 [music] 57:28 announcer: Can't get enough Amazing Facts Bible study? 57:31 You don't have to wait until next week to enjoy 57:33 more truth-filled programming. 57:36 Visit the Amazing Facts media library at aftv.org. 57:41 At aftv.org, you can enjoy video and audio presentations, as well 57:46 as printed material, all free of charge, 24 hours a day, 57:50 7 days a week, right from your computer or mobile device. 57:53 Visit aftv.org. 57:57 [music] 58:08 [music] 58:19 [music] |
Revised 2017-02-06