On September 11, 2001,
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the liberty of all
freedom loving people
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in the world was attacked.
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And the airline crashes
into the World Trade Center
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in New York, in the
Pentagon in Washington D.C.
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Seven thousand people
were either dead or missing.
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On September
11, more people died
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in the attack than
on any other occasion,
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on an attack by a
foreign power on U.S. soil.
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We lost more people on
that day than in Pearl Harbor.
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In a picture of poetic
tragedy the statue of Liberty
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overlooked the scene
of terror and devastation.
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We struggle to make
sense out of the senseless,
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but that is the nature of evil.
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If evil made
sense it wouldn't evil.
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But today even while we
mourn this great tragedy,
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we can find good news.
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We can find what God is
doing in this situation.
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Now it would be
easy to capitalize
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on all the fear and the trauma.
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After all this is the end time.
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Bible believing
Christians all over the world
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see events like this as simply
typical of what will happen
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more and more
towards the end of the world.
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But if all we get
out of this is fear.
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Then we've missed the good news.
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While fear can get our
attention, it can't save us.
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And so today we're
going to examine two aspects
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of dealing with
this kind of trauma.
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Number one, God did not cause
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the terrorist
attacks on our country,
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nor did He want them to happen.
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Number two, God can and will
bring good out of this evil.
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In fact, we see
that happening already.
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You see Satan is the
terrorist of the universe.
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God has been fighting a war
against spiritual terrorism.
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Unfortunately, you
and I are in this world
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and we're caught
in the crossfire,
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cause of spiritual liberty
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is worth fighting
for, it's worth dying for.
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And Jesus
demonstrated that on the cross.
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Two days after the attack
on the World Trade center.
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Dateline NBC,
ran a story on a man
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by the name of Harold Lutdnick
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CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald,
a bond trading company
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with about a thousand employees
in the World Trade Center.
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The company occupied floors 101
through 105 in the north tower.
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As it happened
Harold Ludtnick the CEO
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was late getting
to work that day.
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So he drooped his son on
his first day of kindergarten,
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which made him late to work.
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On that fateful day
as he arrived to work,
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he saw the towers coming down.
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His interview with NBC
was a gut wrenching interview.
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He broke down several
times but NBC noticed that
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in spite of being a
hugely successful man,
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in spite of being a head
of hugely successful company.
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Harold Ludtnick was proud not
just because of his companies
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bottom-line but you see he
considered his company a family.
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He was proud of the kind
of people he had to work with.
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Ludtnick lost 700 of
his employees that day.
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None of his employees
who were up in their offices
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that day made it out alive.
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There were few who
perhaps arrived late as he did,
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some of them made it to
the lobby but every one,
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who were already
in their offices,
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everyone died that day.
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The average age of his employees
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was about 30, Ludtnick said.
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So he said, "We have a lot
of people to take care of."
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But that's what we
want to do, he said.
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It's interesting to notice
the reactions to these attacks,
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politicians, the
pundits, public reactions.
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We heard all kinds of reactions.
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Some said, "Let's bomb them
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and if there's
collateral damage, so be it."
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One person even
said, "God have mercy
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on you because we won't."
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There were reactions from
the religious world as well.
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Some said, "It's
a sign of the end."
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Some said, "It's a
fulfillment of prophecy."
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Some said, "It's
a judgment of God."
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A couple of well
known religious leaders
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even went on television angered
a lot of people with statements,
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that God had
allowed this to happen
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because of activities
of pagans, abortionists,
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feminists, gays,
lesbians and even the ALCU.
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Understandably
there was quite a backlash
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to those kinds of statements
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nd they since
backed away from them.
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But this often happens
when we make get records
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about making sense
out of the senseless.
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Actually I like what
Elder Don Schneider had to say.
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Don Schneider is the President
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of the North American division
of Seventh-day Adventist.
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The day after the
attack, he gave worship talk
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to the employees in his office.
And this is what he said.
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He said, "It's
incredible to think
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that the tragic
killings of yesterday
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would be
attributed as an act of God."
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He went on to say that,
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"When we help
people hurt by the attack,
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so when we get
together to pray for the victims
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of the tragedies
those are acts of God."
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How do we make
sense out of all of this?
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Is there
something we need to learn?
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What does God had to
do with this tragedy?
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The answers are this.
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God does not cause evil
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but God will
bring good out of it.
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God did not cause this evil,
in fact He did not even allow it
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in order to teach us some thing.
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In what sense does
God teach us things?
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Does God wish bad
things to happen to us
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in order to
teach to us a lesson?
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Does God need the devil in
order to teach us something?
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The Book of Job
pictures the context
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between good and evil.
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In the first
chapter of Job, it pictures
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all the representatives of
the world coming before God
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and Satan accusing God of giving
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inordinate protection to Job.
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Of course he will
serve you, said Satan.
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You've put head around
him, You have protected him.
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God said okay,
"Take the hedge down.
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I know my servant
Job, he will serve me
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even if you threaten
him and even hurt him."
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You see innocent
people suffer and die.
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For this short life
span that we're here
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God must allow
evil to reveal itself.
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There's more at
stake here than just us.
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The eternal security of
the universe is at stake.
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The universe needs people
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who will live
righteous unselfish lives,
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even when it's
inconvenient or even painful.
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Being good must
be its own reward.
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God modeled that
sought of character,
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when Jesus came here
and lived and died for us.
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Whenever you're
tempted to wonder
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if God is using bad
things to teach us something,
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go read and
reread the story of Job.
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Did the attack on New
York and Washington reveal
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a judgment on people
who were especially evil.
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Many people think that
this was a judgment of God.
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Now I have no doubt, that
there's a lot of wickedness
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in New York and Washington,
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and all of the other
major cities of the world.
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But the terrorist
attacks did not happen
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because people in
New York and Washington
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were especially
evil. They happened
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because the
terrorist were especially evil.
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Remember it was the well meaning
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but mislead
friends of Job who said,
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"That evil happens because God
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is punishing you for something."
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Well if God does not cause
evil to teach us something.
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How does He
bring good out of it?
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I wanna show you some
pictures from around the world,
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after the World
Trade Center disaster
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and after the
attack on Pentagon.
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People around the world
joined in kind of a common
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outpouring of
sympathy and prayer.
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For example
Palestinians in east Jerusalem,
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the American
Consulate in St. Petersburg,
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the American Embassy in Moscow,
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the American Embassy in
Beijing, Pristina Kosovo.
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And Russian
players in a football game
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in Germany were
unwilling to compete
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when they heard of the tragedy,
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but officials told
them to play anyway
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and they played defiantly
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but spiritlessly
and uncompetitively.
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Yes, things like this
should be a wake up call.
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It should wake us up to
realize that we need the gospel
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and we need to share the gospel.
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We need to turn
to Matthew 24 and see
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what Jesus had to
say about the bad things
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that would happen
in the end of time.
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I'm turning to
Matthew 24:6 to 8.
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Jesus words, "You will
hear of wars and rumors of wars,
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but see to it that
you are not alarmed.
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Such things must happen,
but the end is still to come.
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Nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom.
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There will be famines and
earthquakes in various places.
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All these are the
beginning of birth pains."
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Many people have said,
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that when bad
things like this happen,
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it means the end is here
and I have no doubt that if--
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if I had been
standing there in the shadow
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of the twin towers, I
would have been convinced
00:10:35.25\00:10:39.04
that the end was
happening right there.
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But you know bad things
are not the sign of the end.
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Wars and rumors of wars
are not the sign of the end.
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Even famines and earthquakes
are not the sign of the end.
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The Bible says, those are just
the beginning of birth pains.
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We need to read on later
in the chapter Matthew 24:14,
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where Jesus says, "And
this gospel of the kingdom
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will be preached
in the whole world
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as a testimony to all nations,
and then the end will come."
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Tragedy can be a wake up call.
00:11:13.14\00:11:15.91
In the case of
the terrorist attacks
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on New York and Washington,
it should be a big wake up call.
00:11:17.34\00:11:21.26
But bad news is not the gospel.
00:11:21.29\00:11:24.57
The gospel is good news.
00:11:24.60\00:11:27.45
Sometimes it's
easy for a preacher
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to take advantage of tragedy.
00:11:32.63\00:11:35.88
You can get a lot of, amen's.
00:11:35.91\00:11:38.75
You can get a lot
of people flocking
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to churches in the wake
of a disaster like this.
00:11:40.18\00:11:44.17
But fear although it can get
our attention,cannot save us.
00:11:44.20\00:11:49.14
The gospel is good
news, not bad news.
00:11:49.17\00:11:51.30
I ask you, what
will we do when things
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get back to
normal, whatever normal is?
00:11:53.98\00:11:57.39
When the dead are
buried, the mess is cleaned up,
00:11:57.42\00:12:00.46
the buildings rebuilt,
the stock market recovers,
00:12:00.49\00:12:03.84
people feel safe to fly
again, what happens then?
00:12:03.87\00:12:10.14
Fear of the end
can go only go so far.
00:12:10.17\00:12:12.94
If fear is your
motivation to turn to God,
00:12:12.97\00:12:15.07
what will you do
when you feel safe again?
00:12:15.10\00:12:17.08
Will you turn away from God?
00:12:17.11\00:12:19.36
That's why the
real sign of the end
00:12:19.39\00:12:20.92
is not the bad
news in the world,
00:12:20.95\00:12:22.61
the real sign of the end
is the success of the gospel.
00:12:22.64\00:12:27.02
Now some of us
need a wake up call.
00:12:27.05\00:12:29.95
We need to say, "If
I'm heading the way,
00:12:29.98\00:12:31.45
I'm headed, I'm not
going to be in the kingdom.
00:12:31.48\00:12:34.47
And a tragedy can be
that kind of wake up call.
00:12:34.50\00:12:37.39
But there is no
eternal security in this world.
00:12:37.42\00:12:42.30
We're all doomed to
destruction eventually
00:12:42.33\00:12:44.83
unless we have good news.
00:12:44.86\00:12:49.92
Once you wake
up you have to have
00:12:49.95\00:12:52.35
something
positive to believe in.
00:12:52.38\00:12:55.12
Do you know the
God, who loves you?
00:12:55.15\00:12:57.92
And do you know what
He really wants from you?
00:12:57.95\00:13:02.09
One of the first
victims that was brought
00:13:02.12\00:13:05.11
into the Trade
Center was a young woman,
00:13:05.14\00:13:09.26
who appeared to be
in her late twenties.
00:13:09.29\00:13:12.70
She was terribly mangled up.
00:13:12.73\00:13:15.54
From what they had
heard about what happened,
00:13:15.57\00:13:18.49
from those who had rescued her
00:13:18.52\00:13:22.39
and loaded her
into the ambulance
00:13:22.42\00:13:25.12
and taken her into the hospital.
00:13:25.15\00:13:26.77
From what they could
gather from eyewitness.
00:13:26.80\00:13:30.71
She had been
struck by falling debris,
00:13:30.74\00:13:32.77
it may even have been
a piece of a landing gear
00:13:32.80\00:13:35.79
from one of the
airplanes and as she was running
00:13:35.82\00:13:39.48
terrified away from one
of the Trade Center buildings
00:13:39.51\00:13:44.21
where she had worked.
00:13:44.24\00:13:46.59
A piece of debris and probably
00:13:46.62\00:13:48.38
this landing gear
stuck her from behind.
00:13:48.41\00:13:51.47
They said, if it had just
been a couple of inches higher
00:13:51.50\00:13:55.29
it probably
would've hit her head
00:13:55.32\00:13:57.29
and would've
killed her instantly.
00:13:57.32\00:13:59.39
But it plowed into her back side
00:13:59.42\00:14:01.19
and when she
arrived in the hospital.
00:14:01.22\00:14:03.53
Of course she was unconscious,
00:14:03.56\00:14:05.83
they didn't know who she was
00:14:05.86\00:14:07.68
and her life hung by a thread.
00:14:07.71\00:14:12.60
They called her
Jane Doe number 1.
00:14:12.63\00:14:16.52
She was the first victim
to arrive at that hospital
00:14:16.55\00:14:19.64
and since she was unnamed,
00:14:19.67\00:14:21.56
she was called Jane Doe number 1
00:14:21.59\00:14:24.61
Well they put
intravenous fluids into her,
00:14:24.64\00:14:29.37
they kept her alive and they
prepared to amputate her legs.
00:14:29.40\00:14:34.44
One of the
traum a surgeons there
00:14:34.47\00:14:35.90
who was very well
trained and expert in his field,
00:14:35.93\00:14:39.24
took one look at her and said,
we got to amputate her legs,
00:14:39.27\00:14:42.76
its necessary to save her life.
00:14:42.88\00:14:46.38
But there was also a
foot specialist there
00:14:46.41\00:14:49.08
and as he looked at the damage
00:14:49.11\00:14:52.76
he wondered who she was.
00:14:52.79\00:14:54.67
He saw her long
dark hair, he thought,
00:14:54.70\00:14:59.41
"I wish I could save
her feet and her legs."
00:14:59.44\00:15:02.04
And so he begged for
little bit more time.
00:15:02.07\00:15:04.90
"I think I can
save them" he said.
00:15:04.93\00:15:07.80
And so they gave him
a little bit more time
00:15:07.83\00:15:10.59
and in a very arduous surgery
00:15:10.62\00:15:12.40
they reconstructed
her whole back side,
00:15:12.43\00:15:15.88
her lower torso, and
her legs and her feet.
00:15:15.91\00:15:21.65
At the end of the surgery,
00:15:21.68\00:15:25.33
she was still
alive, she survived.
00:15:25.36\00:15:31.19
Eight hours later, in
spite of tube down her throat,
00:15:31.22\00:15:36.53
she was able to
wake up and whisper
00:15:36.56\00:15:41.72
a phone number and her name.
00:15:41.75\00:15:44.87
it turns out she was Debbie
Martinfeld from Manhattan.
00:15:44.90\00:15:50.76
They called the phone number
00:15:50.79\00:15:52.73
and the voice on the
other end of the phone
00:15:52.76\00:15:56.49
turned out to
belong to her fiancé.
00:15:56.52\00:15:59.33
She was engaged to be married
00:15:59.36\00:16:00.77
in about a year from that time.
00:16:00.80\00:16:05.23
One of the nurses
who took care of her
00:16:05.26\00:16:08.40
said that she--
she had looked at her
00:16:08.43\00:16:11.73
and wondered who she was
00:16:11.76\00:16:13.99
and then once they
found out who she was
00:16:14.02\00:16:16.76
and found out she was
engaged to be married.
00:16:16.79\00:16:19.72
She looked at
her and she thought,
00:16:19.75\00:16:24.28
"This person, who
is so badly mangled,
00:16:24.31\00:16:28.34
whose life was almost
taken, who almost lost her legs
00:16:28.37\00:16:31.57
and her feet is
going to use those legs
00:16:31.60\00:16:35.08
and those feet
at her own wedding."
00:16:35.11\00:16:38.71
She had 30 units of blood.
00:16:42.04\00:16:45.20
She had a tube
between her vocal cords
00:16:45.23\00:16:47.63
and she could hardly whisper.
00:16:47.66\00:16:51.31
But when she
looked up at the doctor
00:16:51.34\00:16:54.19
and the nurse
and opened her eyes.
00:16:54.22\00:16:58.77
The nurse and the
doctor both started crying
00:16:58.80\00:17:02.09
and they thought,
she is going to live
00:17:02.12\00:17:04.84
and we are going to her wedding.
00:17:04.87\00:17:08.70
You see the end of
time, the end of this world
00:17:08.73\00:17:15.35
is not meant to be something
00:17:15.38\00:17:18.96
that scares the
wits out of everyone.
00:17:18.99\00:17:21.01
Yes there are bad
things that happened,
00:17:21.04\00:17:22.93
they've been bad
things they've been happening
00:17:22.96\00:17:24.41
all through earth's history.
00:17:24.44\00:17:27.76
And sometimes we as
Christians are tempted
00:17:27.79\00:17:29.76
to capitalize on the bad news.
00:17:29.79\00:17:33.90
And we look at the
bad news as the message.
00:17:33.93\00:17:40.16
Bad news is not the message.
00:17:40.19\00:17:42.41
The gospel is good news.
00:17:42.44\00:17:45.25
You see just like
Jane Doe number 1, Debbi.
00:17:45.28\00:17:50.60
We are helpless, lost in sin.
00:17:50.63\00:17:53.36
We have been damaged by sin.
00:17:53.39\00:17:56.43
When God comes to this
earth to save His people,
00:17:56.46\00:18:01.35
it will not be in
order to destroy His people,
00:18:01.38\00:18:07.00
it will be a rescue mission.
00:18:07.03\00:18:10.12
And unlike Debbi, you and I
00:18:10.15\00:18:14.55
are never John
Doe's and Jane Doe's.
00:18:14.58\00:18:18.24
God knows us, He knows
every hair of our heads.
00:18:18.27\00:18:23.20
And He will reconstruct us too
00:18:23.23\00:18:24.88
just like those
surgeons who meticulously
00:18:24.91\00:18:27.54
operated on poor Debbi's
feet and legs and lower torso.
00:18:27.57\00:18:32.91
Our heavenly
Father, He is our creator.
00:18:32.94\00:18:35.51
He can create us better
than we ever were before.
00:18:35.54\00:18:39.73
The second coming
is a rescue mission.
00:18:39.76\00:18:43.52
It will rescue us
from the terrorism of sin
00:18:43.55\00:18:48.32
and the evil
conditions of this world.
00:18:48.35\00:18:53.00
Jesus calls us to be His bride.
00:18:53.03\00:18:56.85
Just like Debbi,
Jane Doe number 1,
00:18:56.88\00:19:01.23
she was destined to be a bride.
00:19:01.26\00:19:03.90
You and I are destined
to be the bride of Christ.
00:19:03.93\00:19:07.03
That is the kind of symbolism
00:19:07.06\00:19:09.11
that the Bible uses
to picture the redeemed.
00:19:09.14\00:19:13.03
When that New
Jerusalem comes down
00:19:13.06\00:19:14.73
out of heaven according
to the Book of Revelation.
00:19:14.76\00:19:18.92
It will be adorned as a bride,
00:19:18.95\00:19:21.74
beautifully
dressed for her husband.
00:19:21.77\00:19:26.43
God will reconstruct His people.
00:19:26.46\00:19:29.83
He will create them new.
00:19:29.86\00:19:31.78
He will bring them to Himself
00:19:31.81\00:19:34.05
as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband.
00:19:34.08\00:19:37.19
And no longer we'll be subject
to the terrorists of the world.
00:19:37.22\00:19:41.42
No longer we'll we be
subject to the terrorist
00:19:41.45\00:19:44.60
of this unnerves, Satan.
00:19:44.63\00:19:48.13
No longer will evil
wreck havoc on our lives.
00:19:48.16\00:19:55.95
It would be
tempting to motivate people
00:19:55.98\00:20:01.90
to serve God out of fear.
00:20:01.93\00:20:04.26
Many a times fear
has more immediate
00:20:04.29\00:20:08.07
motivational
power than good news.
00:20:08.10\00:20:10.70
And that's the unfortunate--
that's the unfortunate case
00:20:10.73\00:20:15.74
for many of us human beings.
00:20:15.77\00:20:17.38
We are more
immediately motivated
00:20:17.41\00:20:20.08
by fear and by tragedy.
00:20:20.11\00:20:23.39
How many of us have
ever suddenly decided,
00:20:23.42\00:20:26.83
well it's time to
fasten our seatbelts
00:20:26.86\00:20:28.86
when we know of somebody,
00:20:28.89\00:20:30.28
who was killed
in a car accident.
00:20:30.31\00:20:32.12
How many of us
have suddenly realized
00:20:32.15\00:20:33.72
that may be it's
time to slow down
00:20:33.75\00:20:36.07
when we see a bad
accident on the highway.
00:20:36.10\00:20:40.40
Yes, God can use bad news
00:20:40.43\00:20:44.04
and He has all the
way through history.
00:20:44.07\00:20:47.23
When Jesus sat down
on the Mount of Olives
00:20:47.26\00:20:50.22
and gave that famous
sermon about the end of time.
00:20:50.25\00:20:55.37
He was very honest,
blunt even about the fact
00:20:55.40\00:20:59.23
that there were going to
be a lot of bad things happen.
00:20:59.26\00:21:01.83
In fact, He even, He even said,
00:21:01.86\00:21:03.89
not only will there be
wars and rumors of wars,
00:21:03.92\00:21:06.03
but you will be handed
over to people, bad people.
00:21:06.06\00:21:09.71
You will be
handed over to people
00:21:09.74\00:21:11.11
and persecuted for my sake.
He was very honest about that.
00:21:11.14\00:21:15.95
But such things are not
the motivation to serve God.
00:21:15.98\00:21:21.17
They are
necessary, unfortunately
00:21:21.20\00:21:24.43
they revealed the
character of evil.
00:21:24.46\00:21:27.44
But we should never mistake it
00:21:27.47\00:21:28.86
for God's wishes,
or worse His will.
00:21:28.89\00:21:34.04
Although nothing ever
happens outside the will of God.
00:21:34.07\00:21:36.49
We can be sure that God
never wants anything evil
00:21:36.52\00:21:40.10
to ever happen to His children
00:21:40.13\00:21:42.50
or to anybody for that matter.
00:21:42.53\00:21:45.62
So at the end of time,
00:21:45.65\00:21:48.08
the character of
evil will be revealed.
00:21:48.11\00:21:51.63
In one of the most
important speeches ever made,
00:21:51.66\00:21:55.19
the Mayor of New
York, Rudy Giuliani
00:21:55.22\00:21:57.84
stood before the United Nations,
00:21:57.87\00:22:03.21
and recounted what
had happened to his city,
00:22:03.24\00:22:07.15
New York during
the terrorist attack.
00:22:07.18\00:22:11.13
And he recounted how
lives have been lost,
00:22:11.16\00:22:16.53
and what a horrible
tragedy this had been.
00:22:16.56\00:22:20.71
And then he
looked at his audience
00:22:20.74\00:22:22.23
and he said something
that was probably more blunt
00:22:22.26\00:22:28.50
than any United States statesman
00:22:28.53\00:22:33.61
had ever said to
the United Nations.
00:22:33.64\00:22:37.64
He said, we are
right, and they are wrong.
00:22:37.67\00:22:42.85
What was he referring to?
00:22:42.88\00:22:44.91
He was referring to
the principles of freedom
00:22:44.94\00:22:47.92
upon which our
democracy is based,
00:22:47.95\00:22:53.57
the principles of
freedom that people
00:22:53.60\00:22:55.19
all over the world believe in,
00:22:55.22\00:22:57.31
the principles of
freedom to worship
00:22:57.34\00:23:00.31
according to your
conscience, the freedom to work
00:23:00.34\00:23:03.46
for a living, the
freedom to believe
00:23:03.49\00:23:08.51
as your conscience
tells you to believe.
00:23:08.54\00:23:11.09
And he says, these principles
are what has made us great.
00:23:11.12\00:23:15.73
This attack on us was an attack
00:23:15.76\00:23:20.72
on our liberty and our freedoms.
00:23:20.75\00:23:24.56
Because of this horrible
tragedy that had happened
00:23:24.59\00:23:28.03
in New York and Washington D.C.
00:23:28.06\00:23:30.97
Rudy Giuliani could
stand before the United Nations
00:23:31.00\00:23:33.63
representatives
from all over the world,
00:23:33.66\00:23:36.32
and he could say something
00:23:36.35\00:23:37.96
that couldn't have been
said before with such force.
00:23:37.99\00:23:40.91
He could say we are
right, and they are wrong.
00:23:40.94\00:23:45.34
There is going to come a time
when God is going to stand up.
00:23:45.37\00:23:50.11
There is going to come a time
00:23:50.14\00:23:51.56
when evil will
have revealed itself
00:23:51.59\00:23:53.85
so completely to
the entire universe
00:23:53.88\00:23:56.24
that God is going
to be able to stand up
00:23:56.27\00:23:57.90
and he is going
to be able to say
00:23:57.93\00:24:00.16
something with such
bluntness and finality,
00:24:00.19\00:24:03.93
that the end will have to come.
00:24:03.96\00:24:06.21
And he will be able to stand up
00:24:06.24\00:24:07.93
and before the
whole universe say,
00:24:07.96\00:24:10.51
my way is right, my law of love,
00:24:10.54\00:24:14.15
The way I govern in
the universe is right.
00:24:14.18\00:24:16.74
It is the spiritual
terrorist, it is Satan,
00:24:16.77\00:24:19.86
the terrorist of the
universe that is wrong.
00:24:19.89\00:24:22.28
And why will he
be able to say that,
00:24:22.31\00:24:24.12
because it will
have been demonstrated
00:24:24.15\00:24:27.36
to the entire universe already.
00:24:27.39\00:24:31.55
You see folks, we live
00:24:31.58\00:24:33.99
in the middle of
the war and war hurts.
00:24:34.02\00:24:40.82
It may be a spiritual war,
00:24:40.85\00:24:42.31
but it still has
devastating results.
00:24:42.34\00:24:45.61
And the fact that
it's a spiritual war
00:24:45.64\00:24:47.18
means that it not only
has results in this life,
00:24:47.21\00:24:50.03
but results for eternity.
00:24:50.06\00:24:54.71
When evil will
have revealed itself.
00:24:54.74\00:24:59.75
Good will also
have revealed itself.
00:24:59.78\00:25:03.04
When Jesus Christ
went to the cross,
00:25:03.07\00:25:06.73
He showed to the universe
00:25:06.76\00:25:08.17
what kind of
person He really was.
00:25:08.20\00:25:11.75
He was the kind of
person who would rather die
00:25:11.78\00:25:14.05
a miserable death than be
without you and I for eternity.
00:25:14.08\00:25:18.55
He was the kind of person
who would rather be strung up
00:25:18.58\00:25:21.90
and nailed to a cross than
violate His own law of love.
00:25:21.93\00:25:27.88
He was the kind of person
who would go through this.
00:25:27.91\00:25:30.84
In the Garden of Gethsemane
00:25:30.87\00:25:32.35
drinking that
cup as He called it.
00:25:32.38\00:25:34.58
In other words, the suffering
00:25:34.61\00:25:36.09
that He was going to go through.
00:25:36.12\00:25:38.22
According to the
will of His Father,
00:25:38.25\00:25:40.35
rather than give
up on this world.
00:25:40.38\00:25:44.84
And so when God
stands up at the end of time.
00:25:44.87\00:25:49.99
After all the
wars and rumors of wars
00:25:50.02\00:25:52.26
have run their course
and they have been done with.
00:25:52.29\00:25:57.79
When people from all
over the world rather than
00:25:57.82\00:26:01.58
fighting each other
will now have to see
00:26:01.61\00:26:04.62
Jesus Christ come
back a second time.
00:26:04.65\00:26:08.17
They will
realize why He is right
00:26:08.20\00:26:11.65
and why He has the
right to take His people home.
00:26:11.68\00:26:18.34
John 14:1 to 3 is the
message from Jesus to us.
00:26:18.37\00:26:26.16
"Let not your heart be troubled,
00:26:26.19\00:26:28.60
ye believe in God,
believe also in me.
00:26:28.63\00:26:33.58
In my Father's
house are many mansions,
00:26:33.61\00:26:38.36
if it were not so,
I would have told you.
00:26:38.39\00:26:41.36
I go to prepare a place for you.
00:26:41.39\00:26:45.77
And if I go and
prepare a place for you,
00:26:45.80\00:26:48.18
I will come again, and
receive you unto myself,
00:26:48.21\00:26:52.22
that where I am,
there ye may be also."
00:26:52.25\00:26:58.18
My friends, that
promise is for you and me.
00:26:58.21\00:27:04.72
You may be afraid of
many things in your life,
00:27:04.75\00:27:10.42
and you may wonder
what am I suppose to learn
00:27:10.45\00:27:13.05
from this tragedy, be
it a national tragedy,
00:27:13.08\00:27:15.34
an international
tragedy, or may be
00:27:15.37\00:27:17.27
just a personal
tragedy in your own family.
00:27:17.30\00:27:21.71
What you have to learn
is that there is good news.
00:27:21.74\00:27:25.12
God is not causing
this evil to happen.
00:27:25.15\00:27:27.23
God does not want
this evil to happen.
00:27:27.26\00:27:29.40
He has never ever
caused evil to happen,
00:27:29.43\00:27:35.14
even to teach us something.
00:27:35.17\00:27:37.20
But the genius of God is that
00:27:37.23\00:27:38.88
He can bring
good out of that evil.
00:27:38.91\00:27:41.91
He can use it as a wake up
call if that's what you need.
00:27:41.94\00:27:45.49
You can turn to your Savior.
00:27:45.52\00:27:48.33
You can turn now to your Savior.
00:27:48.36\00:27:50.70
There is no better
time than right now.
00:27:50.73\00:27:54.29
You can be right with God,
you can know you are saved.
00:27:54.32\00:27:59.16