Participants:
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW017156A
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00:10 ♪[Theme music]♪
00:19 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. 00:20 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me. 00:23 Now, imagine it, if you can. 00:25 You've been reading your Bible, 00:27 and you're now convinced that Jesus is coming back soon, 00:32 really coming back, literally. 00:34 You believe that you're gonna see Jesus 00:36 and the angels on a certain day. 00:40 October days in eastern New York state 00:42 near the Vermont border can be cool. 00:45 Life in the middle of the 19th century could be difficult, 00:48 and having peculiar religious views 00:50 doesn't ordinarily buy you popularity, 00:53 and when you're a Millerite, 00:55 a follower of the Baptist preacher William Miller, 00:57 well, you're out there on the fringes. 00:59 Now, you're not alone; 01:01 Miller has tens of thousands of followers, 01:04 but still you--well, really, 01:06 none of that matters because you're gonna see Jesus. 01:09 He's coming back in just a few weeks. 01:11 He's coming back in just a few days. 01:13 He's coming back tomorrow. 01:15 You'll see Jesus in just a few hours. 01:18 Can you imagine? 01:22 So as October the 22nd got closer, 01:25 the Millerites, the Adventists, 01:27 were more than excited. 01:28 These were regular hard-working people, faithful Christians. 01:32 And Jesus was returning? Tomorrow? 01:36 William Miller had predicted that Jesus would return in 1843, 01:40 but that didn't happen. 01:41 But then he recalculated and said 01:43 the Second Coming would happen in the spring of 1844. 01:47 That didn't happen either. 01:49 The Millerites were perplexed, 01:51 until a man named Samuel Snow calculated 01:54 that Jesus would return on October the 22nd, 1844. 02:00 Of course! 02:02 William Miller was a rational man. 02:05 He was not a fanatic. He was a deep Bible student. 02:09 But he was wrong. 02:11 He was right about an awful lot, 02:13 but you don't have to be wrong about much 02:15 to botch a prediction about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 02:19 As he was studying the Bible, 02:21 he came to Daniel 8 and verse 14, which says, 02:25 "Unto two thousand three hundred days; 02:27 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 02:29 Miller was convinced he was looking at a prophecy 02:32 about the Second Coming of Jesus. 02:35 Based on the prevailing idea that the sanctuary 02:37 represented the earth, 02:40 he figured the earth would be cleansed 02:43 when Jesus returned the second time. 02:45 What else could that possibly mean? 02:47 Looking at the Scriptures, he determined that a day 02:51 represents a year in Bible prophecy. 02:54 He was right about that. 02:55 That's a symbol, just like a beast represents a nation, 02:59 and a woman represents the church. 03:01 Miller figured that Jesus would return 03:03 at the end of 2,300 years. 03:06 If only he could know when that period began, 03:10 then he could know when it ended. 03:12 But then Miller found his starting point. 03:15 Daniel chapter 9 spoke of a decree, of the "going forth 03:20 of the commandment to restore" and rebuild Jerusalem. 03:23 Miller found that decree in Ezra chapter 7. 03:27 It was issued in 457 BC by the Medo-Persian emperor Artaxerxes. 03:33 So that was that, then. 03:35 Start in 457 BC, add 2,300 days--or 2,300 years-- 03:43 and you get to 1843. 03:46 You correct that because you forgot 03:47 that there's no year 0, and you get to 1844. 03:53 Miller's opponents couldn't argue with his logic. 03:56 Now, of course, the Bible does say that no one knows 03:59 the day or the hour of Jesus' appearing, 04:01 but Miller never set a date. 04:04 It was Samuel Snow who set the date. 04:06 He did that in August of 1844. 04:10 Miller never accepted that interpretation 04:12 until October the 6th. 04:14 He spent October the 22nd in this very room, 04:18 looking out this window, 04:20 waiting for Jesus to come in the eastern sky. 04:24 ♪[Music]♪ 04:27 So imagine how it felt on October the 23rd, 1844. 04:33 You weren't even expecting to be here, 04:35 but now you have to face people. 04:36 You have to go back to your occupation. 04:39 You have to admit that the movement was wrong, 04:41 that you've made a big mistake. 04:45 Where was God in all of this? 04:47 And what about the Bible? 04:49 How do you relate to the Bible now? 04:52 Well, some people simply chose not to, 04:53 and they gave up on their hope in God altogether. 04:56 Most people simply went back to the churches 04:59 from which they'd come, 05:00 but that wasn't an option for everyone. 05:03 William and Lucy Miller and their children were kicked out 05:05 of the Baptist church that they'd been attending 05:07 because they continued to hang on to the belief 05:10 that Jesus was still coming back soon. 05:14 And then there were others who tried to figure out 05:17 how God was leading now. 05:20 But what became known as the Great Disappointment of 1844 05:24 became to the heirs of the Millerite movement 05:27 what the great disappointment of Calvary became 05:30 to the followers of Jesus. 05:32 Jesus' disciples were sure that their master would set up 05:36 an earthly kingdom and drive the heathen Romans 05:39 from the covenant land. 05:41 On the road to Emmaus, two disciples poured out 05:43 their despondency to Jesus Himself, saying, 05:47 "But we were hoping that it was He 05:48 who was going to redeem Israel." 05:50 Luke 24:21. 05:53 But the disciples' hopes had been based on a false view 05:56 of the Messiah's mission. 05:58 They weren't wrong in recognizing Jesus 06:00 as the promised Savior, 06:02 but they were wrong in their understanding of His work. 06:06 The same was true with the disappointed followers 06:09 of William Miller in 1844. 06:12 They were correct in their timing, 06:14 but they were wrong about the event. 06:16 But God wouldn't leave His faithful followers 06:19 in the dark for long. 06:20 After an all-night vigil, weary and heartbroken, 06:24 two men decided to visit some of their fellow believers, 06:27 who'd been through the same disappointment. 06:29 One of them was Hiram Edson. 06:32 Here's how he explained the events that followed: 06:35 "We started, and while passing through a large field 06:39 I was stopped about midway of the field. 06:42 Heaven seemed open to my view, 06:44 and I saw distinctly and clearly that instead of our High Priest 06:48 coming out of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary 06:51 to come to this earth on the tenth day of the seventh month, 06:54 at the end of the 2,300 days, 06:57 He for the first time entered on that day the second apartment 07:02 of that sanctuary; 07:04 and that He had a work to perform in the Most Holy 07:08 before coming to this earth." 07:10 With this dramatic insight, 07:11 the movement birthed by William Miller 07:13 gave rise to yet another movement, 07:16 the one predicted by the angel spoken of by John 07:19 in the tenth chapter of the book of Revelation. 07:21 "Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, 07:25 and nations, and tongues, and kings." 07:29 Revelation 10:11. 07:31 A movement was born, and with this new movement, 07:34 God set in place a global initiative 07:36 to complete the Protestant Reformation. 07:40 I'll have more in just a moment. 07:41 ♪[Music]♪ 07:48 >>John: I'm John Bradshaw from It Is Written, 07:51 inviting you to join me for "500," 07:54 nine programs produced by It Is Written, 07:57 taking you deep into the Reformation. 08:00 This is the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation 08:04 when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses 08:06 to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. 08:09 We'll take you to Wittenberg, 08:11 and to Belgium, to England, to Ireland, 08:14 to Rome, to the Vatican City, 08:16 and introduce you to the people who created the Reformation, 08:19 who pushed the Reformation forward. 08:21 We'll take you to sites all throughout Europe 08:23 where the reformers lived and, in some cases, died. 08:26 We'll bring you back to the United States 08:27 and take you to a little farm in upstate New York 08:30 and show you how God spread the Reformation here. 08:33 Don't miss "500." 08:35 You can own the "500" series on DVD. 08:39 Call us on 888-664-5573 08:43 or visit us online at itiswritten.shop. 08:49 ♪[Music]♪ 08:51 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. 08:52 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me. 08:55 William Miller became the figurehead for a movement 08:57 after studying his Bible and then sharing what he found. 09:01 He and others believed that Jesus was coming back 09:04 to the earth in the year 1844. 09:06 And they believed this based on a prophecy, 09:09 which said that the sanctuary would be cleansed. 09:13 But Jesus didn't come back in 1844. So where was the error? 09:18 Miller believed, like virtually everybody else, 09:21 that the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14 was the earth. 09:25 But look into the Bible, and you see that that sanctuary 09:28 could really only be the portable sanctuary 09:31 that went with Israel throughout the wilderness 09:34 or the temple or the great sanctuary of God in heaven. 09:39 In Old Testament times, 09:40 the cleansing of the sanctuary took place once a year 09:44 on the Day of Atonement. 09:45 It was a day of judgment. 09:48 So some of these Millerite believers went to the Bible 09:51 and studied, and their eyes were opened. 09:57 Hebrews 8, verses 1 and 2 says, 09:59 "We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand 10:03 of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. 10:06 A Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, 10:10 which the Lord erected, and not man." 10:13 The book of Hebrews describes this sanctuary again 10:16 in the following chapter: 10:17 "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, 10:22 with the greater and more perfect tabernacle 10:24 not made with hands, that is, not of this creation." 10:29 That's Hebrews 9, verse 11. 10:31 These believers found that on the Day of Atonement, 10:34 a new sacrifice was offered, by which the record of sin 10:38 in the sanctuary was taken away or cleansed. 10:41 On that day, God's people would afflict their souls 10:45 and search their hearts to be sure that no unconfessed 10:48 or unforsaken sin remained in their lives. 10:53 Once the record of sin was expunged from the sanctuary, 10:57 the sins were transferred again to a scapegoat. 11:02 That goat would then be led into the wilderness to carry 11:04 the sins of the people into oblivion and to die there. 11:09 But the ultimate purpose of the service was not only 11:11 to remove the record of sin, 11:13 but to remove sin itself from the hearts and lives 11:16 of the worshipers. 11:17 Leviticus 16:30 says, 11:20 "For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, 11:23 to cleanse you, 11:25 that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord." 11:28 And like the sanctuary on earth, 11:30 the book of Hebrews is clear that the sanctuary 11:33 in heaven must also be cleansed. 11:37 "Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things 11:40 in the heavens should be purified with these, 11:43 but the heavenly things themselves 11:45 with better sacrifices than these." 11:48 The judgment hour message hadn't ever been proclaimed. 11:52 It was a message that would lead people to the Bible-- 11:55 Bibles people now had, thanks to the reformers. 11:59 These were people who were free to think for themselves, 12:02 thanks to Roger Williams, and it was a message 12:05 that would prepare people for the Second Coming of Jesus, 12:08 a teaching now known, thanks to the ministry of William Miller. 12:12 It's interesting that Martin Luther said this: 12:14 "I persuade myself verily, that the day of judgment 12:18 will not be absent full three hundred years. 12:22 God will not, cannot, suffer this wicked world much longer!" 12:28 In the 1500s, Martin Luther said that the judgment 12:31 would take place 300 years into the future 12:34 in the middle of the 1800s. 12:37 So what would God do? 12:39 Two thousand years before, John wrote in the book of Revelation 12:42 that the judgment hour message would go to the world, 12:46 but there was much more, which by the time of William Miller, 12:49 still had not been proclaimed. 12:52 This is Revelation 14:6 and 7. John wrote, 12:56 "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 12:59 having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them 13:02 that dwell on the earth, 13:03 and to every nation, and kindred, 13:06 and tongue, and people, 13:07 saying with a loud voice, 13:09 'Fear God, and give glory to Him; 13:11 for the hour of His judgment is come: 13:14 and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, 13:16 and the sea, and the fountains of waters.'" 13:20 John wrote that there would come a time when God's people 13:23 would be called to live lives of complete surrender 13:26 to Jesus in the time of earth's final judgment. 13:29 And there's something else in that passage: 13:33 "Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, 13:36 and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 13:39 That's a direct quote from the fourth commandment, 13:42 the Sabbath commandment. 13:44 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 13:47 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, 13:49 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." 13:53 It goes on to say, 13:55 "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 13:58 the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: 14:03 wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 14:08 It's about as clear as it could be. 14:11 In earth's last days, 14:12 God would call His people to surrender, 14:16 to obedience to His Word rather than obedience 14:19 to the teachings of men or of churches. 14:21 Up until this time, 14:23 very few people were keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. 14:25 Sunday was the day acknowledged to be the holy day. 14:29 It just stands to reason that Jesus would want the people 14:32 He's going to return for to be surrendered, 14:36 to be living in obedience, because as He has said, 14:39 surrender demonstrates love. 14:42 John 14:15 says, 14:44 "If you love me, keep my commandments." 14:48 So who are these people who'd been keeping 14:51 the commandments of God? 14:53 I'll tell you in just a moment. 14:54 ♪[Music]♪ 15:00 ♪[Music]♪ 15:03 >>Announcer: In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says, 15:05 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 15:08 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 15:12 "Every Word" is a one-minute Bible-based daily devotional 15:15 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw 15:18 and designed especially for busy people like you. 15:20 Look for "Every Word" on selected networks 15:23 or watch it online every day on our website: 15:25 itiswritten.com. 15:28 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 15:30 Watch "Every Word." You'll be glad you did. 15:33 Here's a sample. 15:36 ♪["Every Word" theme music]♪ 15:42 >>John Bradshaw: As you look back at the Reformation, 15:43 which began 500 years ago on October the 31st, 1517, 15:47 there are several major events that are pretty well forgotten. 15:50 In August of 1572, King Charles IX of France 15:53 ordered the killing of a group of French Huguenots-- 15:56 Protestants. 15:57 By the time the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre 15:59 was over, as many as 30,000 people had been killed. 16:02 Protestants were ruthlessly persecuted, 16:04 and it was not until the French Revolution 16:06 that they gained equal right in France. 16:09 What kind of person or people perpetrate 16:10 that kind of utter wickedness? 16:13 Jeremiah 17:9 says, 16:14 "The heart is deceitful above all things, 16:16 and desperately wicked; who can know it?" 16:19 What kind of person? Anyone at all. 16:22 The heart can be extremely wicked 16:23 when God's fear and love have been removed. 16:25 Human nature follows just one selfish direction, 16:28 but Christ in your heart creates a new you, 16:30 gives you a new heart. 16:32 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written. 16:33 Let's live today by every word. 16:37 ♪[Music]♪ 16:41 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written. 16:43 Rachel Oakes lived here in Washington, New Hampshire, 16:46 in 1844. 16:48 Her daughter, Delight, was a local school teacher. 16:51 This was almost 70 years after this town became the first 16:55 to be named after George Washington. 16:58 Then, as now, Washington, New Hampshire, 17:01 was just a tiny little slice of the New England landscape. 17:05 But what happened here in Washington in 1844 17:08 went on to make a major impact in the entire world. 17:15 She attended this church, 17:17 pastored by a man named Frederick Wheeler. 17:21 Wheeler had accepted the teachings of William Miller 17:23 and was active in preaching the doctrine of the Second Advent. 17:28 While preaching during a communion service 17:30 in this church building, 17:32 Wheeler made the comment that only those who keep 17:35 all of the Ten Commandments should participate. 17:38 Well, Sister Oakes, 17:39 a Seventh Day Baptist, challenged him, 17:42 and she told him after the service that he wasn't keeping 17:45 all of the Ten Commandments 17:46 because he did not keep the seventh-day Sabbath. 17:50 Wheeler went to his Bible, 17:51 and he studied the matter for himself, 17:53 and he came to the conclusion that Rachel Oakes was right. 17:56 And he became the first Sabbath- keeping Adventist minister. 18:01 And this church building became the first Sabbath-keeping 18:04 Adventist church in the world. 18:08 In March of 1844, he preached his first sermon 18:11 on the subject of the Sabbath. 18:14 A number of families here in Washington 18:16 became Sabbath-keepers. 18:18 A man named Thomas Motherwell Preble learned of the Sabbath 18:22 from Wheeler, and he wrote a tract on the subject 18:25 called "Tract: Showing That the Seventh Day Should Be Observed 18:29 As the Sabbath." 18:30 Somehow a retired sea captain named Joseph Bates, 18:33 who lived in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 18:36 got hold of that tract. 18:37 And he was so moved by it that he traveled from his home 18:40 60 miles south of Boston to meet with Frederick Wheeler 18:44 here in Washington, New Hampshire-- 18:46 a distance of at least 160 miles. 18:49 The men studied all night long, 18:52 and by the time they were finished, 18:54 Joseph Bates was a Sabbath-keeping Adventist. 18:59 And he was committed. 19:00 While heading back from Washington, New Hampshire, 19:02 to his home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 19:05 Bates was crossing a bridge near his home when a man 19:08 named James Madison Monroe Hall called out to him. 19:11 He said, "What's the news, Captain Bates?" 19:14 Bates replied by saying, 19:16 "The news is the seventh day 19:17 is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." 19:19 Hall began keeping the Sabbath. 19:21 And so a movement began. 19:23 The truth began to spread, 19:25 and this was truth God wanted the world to know. 19:29 The messages of the three angels in Revelation 14 19:32 are called by God the everlasting gospel, 19:35 or the final gospel message-- 19:37 the final good news message to go to the world. 19:41 And that final message contains a call to worship the Creator 19:45 by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath-- 19:48 a day set aside at creation so all of God's children 19:51 could rest, worship, 19:53 and commune with Him in a special way. 19:57 The most basic principle of the Protestant Reformation 20:00 was the supreme authority of the Bible-- 20:03 supreme over church councils and church tradition. 20:07 This new movement God raised up from the ashes 20:10 of the Great Disappointment of 1844 20:12 would focus in a special way on testing all Christian beliefs 20:17 and practices by the Holy Scriptures. 20:21 Even though many reformers taught things 20:23 that didn't quite measure up with the Bible, 20:25 they all appealed to the Bible as their ultimate authority. 20:29 Martin Luther had theological challenges, 20:31 John Calvin taught predestination, 20:33 in spite of the fact that the best-known verse 20:36 in the Bible says that 20:38 "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 20:42 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish 20:46 but have everlasting life." 20:48 And down through the years, 20:49 the reformers had a blind spot about the law of God. 20:54 Something so fundamental, 20:56 and yet they were missing something essential. 20:58 But rather than castigate them, 21:00 we remember that the likes of Calvin and Zwingli 21:03 and Luther came to the Bible from out of complete darkness. 21:07 Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic priest. 21:10 They came pre-programmed by tradition. 21:14 The fact that they were able to shake off so much 21:16 of that tradition is remarkable. 21:18 And it's important to remember that truth is progressive. 21:22 It grows down through time. 21:23 Knowledge of agriculture, of science, of mathematics, 21:27 of physical wellness-- well, that grows. 21:29 The same is true of knowledge of the Bible. 21:33 But the sad truth is that many people simply don't grow. 21:38 They accept what they were taught as children, 21:40 and then spend the rest of their lives defending that, 21:43 instead of asking God if there is more that they could learn. 21:47 All the way to about the time of William Miller, 21:49 Christians, with some exceptions, 21:51 believed in--not the Ten Commandments-- 21:54 but in the nine commandments. 21:56 And when those Adventists saw the truth of God's Word 21:59 and understood that all of the Ten Commandments 22:01 should be kept, 22:02 it was the dawning of a new day. 22:04 Sunday had come into Christianity as a tradition 22:07 of the Roman Catholic Church. 22:10 Rome had absorbed Sunday worship from paganism. 22:13 It didn't come from the Bible. 22:15 So you would think, then, that Christians who were 22:18 conscientious about separating from tradition 22:21 would be open to embracing the seventh-day Sabbath. 22:24 That's certainly what God was hoping. 22:26 And that's why the message of the Sabbath 22:28 was included into the final gospel message 22:31 to go to the world. 22:33 As the movement grew, 22:34 it eventually became the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 22:38 identified in the Bible as 22:40 a "remnant...which keep the commandments of God 22:43 and the testimony of Jesus." 22:45 That's Revelation 12:17. 22:47 This group would proclaim the everlasting gospel, 22:50 the judgment hour message, 22:52 a message of cleansing and preparation, 22:55 pointing to Jesus as High Priest and the believers' only hope. 23:00 The seventh-day Sabbath-- 23:01 total surrender to the indwelling of Jesus, 23:04 resulting in willing obedience to God's law and not man's law. 23:10 The call out of Babylon-- 23:11 out of false worship and into true worship. 23:15 A call to the world to worship-- not the beast-- 23:19 but the Lamb, Jesus, and to receive the seal of God 23:23 rather than the mark of the beast. 23:26 And a relationship with Jesus so strong, 23:28 a dependence on Jesus so complete, 23:32 that they're characterized by Revelation 14:12, which says, 23:35 "Here is the patience of the saints. 23:38 Here are they that keep the commandments of God 23:43 and the faith of Jesus." 23:45 This final company of the faithful and the sacred story 23:49 will share one last message of mercy with the world. 23:52 Jesus was clear; He told Peter in Matthew 16, verse 18 23:57 that He would build His church. 23:59 The early Christian church was led by people such as Peter 24:02 and James and John and Paul and others like them, 24:06 who presented Jesus to the world as the sinner's only hope. 24:11 But that early church lost its way, 24:13 it became corrupted by traditions-- 24:15 many of which came into the church from paganism-- 24:19 and then the church was hijacked by a system 24:22 that neglected the Bible, that departed from the Bible, 24:26 that obscured the Bible, 24:28 and then kept the Bible from the people. 24:31 But Wycliffe and Tyndale and Luther 24:33 and others like them put the Bible back in the hands 24:37 of God's children. 24:38 Hearts were touched by the power of God's Word, 24:41 and the broken system was reformed. 24:45 But that Reformation didn't go all the way, 24:47 so God raised up others across the ocean from Europe, 24:51 beyond the reach of a pope, 24:53 to go back to the Bible, to discover neglected teachings, 24:57 and to deliver the final gospel message to the world. 25:01 Organized in 1863, and now numbering 25:04 in the tens of millions of members, 25:07 the Seventh-day Adventist Church exists 25:09 to complete the work of the reformers, 25:12 to take the message of justification by faith, 25:14 the message of salvation, 25:16 to reveal the character of God to the world. 25:20 And will that work be finished? 25:22 Yes, it will. 25:23 God has promised. 25:25 The everlasting gospel will go to every nation, 25:28 kindred, tongue, and people. 25:31 ♪[Music]♪ 25:38 >>John: Jesus said, "Upon this Rock I will build my church." 25:41 He said he would have a church, 25:44 but what would His church look like? 25:46 How would it carry itself? 25:48 What would it teach? 25:49 Where can it be found? 25:51 I'd like you to receive "In Search of the Church." 25:55 Call us on 800-253-3000 25:58 or visit us online at itiswritten.com, 26:01 or you can write to the address on your screen. 26:04 "In Search of the Church"-- 26:06 it's yours, completely free. 26:08 And thank you for remembering that It Is Written exists 26:12 due to the gracious support of people like you. 26:15 It's your support that makes it possible for It Is Written 26:17 to share Christ and the hope of the Bible around the world. 26:21 You can send your tax-deductible gift 26:23 to the address on your screen, 26:25 or you can support It Is Written through our website: 26:27 itiswritten.com. 26:30 Thanks for your generous support. 26:31 Our number is 800-253-3000, 26:35 and our web address is itiswritten.com. 26:38 >>John Bradshaw: Let's pray together now. 26:40 Our Father in heaven, we thank You today for Jesus, 26:43 for the Bible, delivered to us at such great expense. 26:48 It cost nobody more than it cost You. 26:51 We thank You for the plan of salvation, 26:53 for giving Jesus to die for us, 26:56 to lead us. 26:57 And I pray: Give us grace to follow 27:00 those who've gone before us, 27:01 the brave men and women of the Reformation, 27:05 who laid their lives on the line, 27:06 often giving their lives, 27:08 that they might stand for You. 27:11 Oh, great Creator, 27:12 Savior, Redeemer, 27:14 Friend, Guide, 27:16 Lord, give us grace, 27:18 to live our lives in the light of Your love 27:21 and according to Your Word. 27:23 Fill us with Your presence. Give us Your Holy Spirit. 27:27 Make us Yours. 27:28 And ready us for that great day when Jesus comes again, 27:32 to take us home. 27:34 In Jesus' name. 27:35 Amen. 27:36 Thanks for joining me. 27:38 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 27:41 Until then, remember: 27:43 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 27:47 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 27:51 ♪[Theme music]♪ 28:01 ♪[Theme music]♪ |
Revised 2018-11-27