>>Announcer: It has
stood the test of time.
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God's book, The Bible
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Still relevant in
today's complex world
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It Is Written
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Sharing messages of
hope around the world!
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>>Chris: Salmon Arm, British
Columbia is a beautiful city in
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the southern interior portion of
the province. It is nestled on
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the shores of Shuswap Lake with
a stunning view of Mt. Bastion.
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It is a tourist destination in
the summer. The many beaches and
recreational activities
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are an attraction to many. It is
truly a gem of a place. In 1998,
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however, you wouldn't have
wanted to find yourself in
Salmon Arm. 1998 was one of the
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warmest and longest summers
recorded in Canada. In that
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summer of 1998 the Fly Hills
near Salmon Arm were ignited by
natural causes in the
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drought like weather. The fire
quickly became unmanageable and
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began moving toward Salmon Arm.
The dense forest with plenty of
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fuel to burn gave a path for the
flames toward the city. Despite
efforts by the Ministry of
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forests and the local
firefighters - the flames
couldn't be controlled.
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Many watched their own homes,
their life work go up in flames.
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Others watched and wondered when
the disaster would finally stop.
When it was all said
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and done 10 million dollars
had been spent to extinguish the
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blaze. Over 6000 hectares were
burned, over 40 buildings
destroyed and more than
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7000 people had to be evacuated.
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Those burning flames of forest
fires are almost impossible to
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imagine the heat and destructive
power. Flames like those seem to
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conjure up apocalyptic type
images. Vivid images of burning
landscape The book of
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Revelation tries to paint a
vivid picture of those
apocalyptic flames in
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Revelation 14:10-11, speaking of
those who follow and worship the
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antichrist,
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A little later in the book
of Revelation, John further
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emphasizes that picture by
speaking of the destruction of
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spiritual Babylon, Those burning
forests of Salmon Arm give us a
stunning preview of the
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final fire, which will destroy
the earth. And in asking the
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question Is Heaven for Real? We
now turn and ask is hell for
real? And just as millions
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prayed and hoped that the flames
of Salmon arm would stop, what
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about the fires of hell? What
does it mean that the smoke
ascends forever and ever? Is the
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final destruction of the wicked
timeless ongoing inferno of
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pain? To get a true picture, we
open the Bible to study what it
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has to say about hell? As we
have studying over the past
weeks, there is no doubt that
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heaven is very real place that
each one of us wants to be a
part of. It is a place
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that Jesus has prepared for us
and it is a place, which He has
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made every provision for us to
be there. But what about those
who choose not to go
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to heaven? Through their
actions, thoughts, and deeds -
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what about those who don't want
to be in heaven. Will they burn
in torment forever and ever?
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We already know that they are
not experiencing any pain right
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now. In the previous weeks we
have studied and seen that they
are not anywhere right now
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but sleeping in the grave. But
what happens once Jesus comes
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again? Last week, we studied
that when Jesus comes, the
righteous, those who are
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ready for the return of
Jesus are made incorruptible -
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perfect. Those that are dead are
resurrected and given a new
body, those alive are
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changed in an instant and we
join Jesus in heaven for 1000
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years or the millennium. If you
have missed any of the series,
Is Heaven for Real? - You
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can go to our website to find
the archives, w
ww.itiswrittencanada.ca
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or to our youtube channel,
www.youtube.com/IIWCanada there
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you will find the archives of
this series along with many more
materials to help you in
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your spiritual walk. The wicked
who were dead will simply stay
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dead, except for a select
group - Revelation 1:7 tells us,
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That select group are those
directly responsible for the
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death of Christ - they will be
resurrected to see the folly of
their mistakes and ways. This is
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especially in light of the fact
that they had been given so many
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opportunities to see and
recognize who Jesus was. The
wicked alive will be
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slain by the brightness of His
coming and then all of the dead
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remain on the earth and Satan is
bound here by the chains of
circumstance for 1000
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years so he can contemplate
the results of his rebellion.
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Then what happens next? As the
New Jerusalem descends from
heaven to the earth
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the wicked are all raised. The
Bible then tells us what happens
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in Revelation 20:7-10,
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The clear picture of hell is not
some place out there in space.
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The lake of fire is on this
earth. And Satan and the wicked
are destroyed in it. This
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is called, in the Bible, the
second death. Not somewhere out
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there, but the lake of
fire will happen on this earth.
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Now I must hit pause here for
just a moment. Friends, we are
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about to discover an amazing
picture of God. Many have
pictured God as this great
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tormenter who is out to get you.
The picture of God, that has
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been painted by the church, is
that God is waiting for you to
make that one mistake, so zap
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He can get you. This picture has
been painted not by the Bible
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but by things such as Dante's
Inferno, Greek mythology and
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Egyptian false religion. This is
not the picture that the Bible
paints at all. In fact,
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why is there even a hell fire?
Matthew 25:41 makes it
absolutely clear why
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hell fire even exists,
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My dear friends, hell fire was
prepared for the devil and his
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angels - it was never intended
for any human to be there. It
was created to take care of
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the author of sin - Satan.
God could not destroy Satan
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immediately - by doing so He
would have risked a universe
that served Him out of fear
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rather than love. But the Lord
allowed Satan to run his full
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course so beings everywhere
could see the sinfulness of sin
and horrible nature of the
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devil's rebellion. So why is it
that human's will be there.
Because the lake of
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fire is intended to end once
and for all, sin, rebellion and
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Satan. Humans will end up in the
lake of fire because they have
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so attached themselves to their
sin and are so unwilling to let
it go that they are
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burned up with their sin. How
is that hell-fire works then.
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Hell-fire is a one time event
that destroys sin, suffering,
pain, the Devil and his
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angels along with the wicked who
cling to their sin - never to
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exist ever again. The
consequence is permanent. The
Bible doesn't describe some
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ever-burning place of torment
where we will be able to see or
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hear the agony of the wicked. In
fact, quite the opposite.
Revelation 21 describes
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the new heaven and new
earth, in Revelation 21:1-4,
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No sectioned off corner for
an ever-burning hell. Just the
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wonderful promise of a new
heavens and a new earth. No
death, do dying, no pain, no
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sorrow, no separation.
Everything is made new. So how
is it that you could have an
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ever-burning hell where people
agonize in pain in the same
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perfect place? Friends, the
reality is you cannot. The fire
of Salmon Arm consumed
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anything in its path. If you
look at before and after
pictures of a forest
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fire - it is truly astonishing -
nothing is left - nothing. Could
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it be that the fire of Salmon
Arm might serve as a lesson on
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the lake of fire of Revelation?
00:13:41.76\00:13:46.00
What happens to those who are
thrown into a lake of fire? How
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long will they survive?
Typically the bigger the fire,
the quicker the burn? If you
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want to torture someone for a
long time you need a very small
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flame, not a great lake of fire.
Could the Bible be trying to
tell us something by
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calling this lake of fire the
second death? We need to allow
00:14:08.56\00:14:15.53
the Bible to speak for itself on
the subject of hell. Listen to
what it says in Malachi
00:14:15.53\00:14:22.43
4:1,
00:14:22.43\00:14:28.93
Malachi describes hellfire; did
you notice that it didn't speak
00:14:47.50\00:14:51.63
of people being eternally
roasted on the hell spit? No, it
says that they were
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turned to stubble and they are
burned up. The scripture is very
00:14:59.70\00:15:07.26
clear here that, number one,
hell is in the future and the
wicked will be burned
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on that day. It is not going on
now in some central hotspot of
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the earth or the universe.
Secondly, the wicked will be
consumed, turned to
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ashes burned up completely. This
is the consistent teaching of
00:15:25.80\00:15:35.40
scripture on the
subject, Psalm 21:9 states,
00:15:35.40\00:15:43.93
The fire devours them.
Isaiah 47:14 is also clear,
00:15:55.53\00:16:04.06
Stubble is the remnant of
the fire; there is no ongoing
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burning here. Psalm
37:20 goes on to say,
00:16:27.56\00:16:32.50
So the Bible says the wicked
will perish, they will be turned
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to stubble, but why does
Revelation speak of the smoke of
their torment going up
00:16:53.40\00:17:00.73
forever and ever? Is it possible
that other verses might help us
00:17:00.73\00:17:07.60
understand the subject more
clearly? Here is one example,
Hebrews 9:12 says this,
00:17:07.60\00:17:15.90
And Hebrews 6:2 speaks of
"eternal judgment" Now Jesus
00:17:27.93\00:17:34.53
died once for our sins. His
great act of redemption took
place at a specific time and
00:17:34.53\00:17:40.50
place. In addition the final
judgment is specific time.
Neither of these goes on
00:17:40.50\00:17:45.46
forever and ever into eternity
but the results are permanent.
00:17:45.46\00:17:52.13
The results have everlasting
consequences. And it is the same
00:17:52.13\00:17:59.13
way with hell fire. It
has permanent and everlasting
00:17:59.13\00:18:06.43
consequences. The book of Jude
is even more explicit in
explaining this idea to
00:18:08.10\00:18:12.86
us. Jude, it is
only one chapter, 7,
00:18:12.86\00:18:18.36
Sodom and Gomorrah are an
example. What are they an
example of? They are an
00:18:38.53\00:18:45.43
example of what the destiny
of the wicked will be. The clear
00:18:45.43\00:18:50.83
testimony of scripture is that
Sodom and Gomorrah experienced
the vengeance of eternal
00:18:50.83\00:18:57.06
fire. Eternal fire. Now let
me ask you a question - have you
00:18:57.06\00:19:04.90
seen on the news or read in a
magazine or newspaper, seen a
video on the internet of some
00:19:04.90\00:19:11.46
city in the locality of the
Dead sea that is now continually
00:19:11.46\00:19:17.66
burning never to be
extinguished? Of course not, no
such thing is going on. In fact
00:19:17.66\00:19:23.13
that Bible tells
us in 2 Peter 2:6,
00:19:23.13\00:19:30.76
Friends, Jude says that Sodom
and Gomorrah are an example of
00:19:45.00\00:19:51.43
eternal fire; Peter said they
were turned to ashes. Then Peter
goes on to say that
00:19:51.43\00:19:59.56
Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction
and being turned to ashes is an
00:19:59.56\00:20:06.66
example to the ungodly or
wicked. Friends the Bible is
consistent throughout
00:20:06.66\00:20:14.06
and rejects Greek philosophy and
mythology and its ever-raging
00:20:14.06\00:20:21.73
inferno. The Bible is
consistently clear hell fire is
00:20:21.73\00:20:30.83
eternal from the standpoint that
its consequences are permanent
00:20:30.83\00:20:36.16
or everlasting and everything
thrown into the lake of fire
will be turned to stubble or
00:20:36.16\00:20:41.46
ashes. Paul is also clear
on this subject, in Philippians
00:20:41.46\00:20:51.46
3:19, The end of the wicked is
not ever burning cycle of death.
00:21:07.50\00:21:12.43
No, it is destruction. Literally
in the Greek to cease to exist
00:21:12.43\00:21:22.66
or be annihilated. The Bible is
consistent in what happens to
Satan and the wicked. It is the
00:21:22.66\00:21:28.70
same picture over and over
again. The wicked will simply
00:21:28.70\00:21:35.40
cease to exist as in the lake of
fire they are consumed fully.
Malachi 4:3 further
00:21:35.40\00:21:44.06
emphasizes this point,
00:21:44.06\00:21:46.63
The scripture is clear. Romans
6:23 says that wages of sin is
00:21:55.96\00:22:03.90
death. This is the second death
- permanent separation from God
because you no longer
00:22:03.90\00:22:11.23
exist. Jesus himself
said in Matthew 10:28,
00:22:11.23\00:22:22.83
Destruction. This is what the
lake of fire brings. Total and
00:22:36.00\00:22:41.20
utter destruction -
to exist never again.
00:22:41.20\00:22:48.03
Many of the texts that seem to
allude to a place of everlasting
00:22:49.83\00:22:53.86
ongoing continual punishment are
merely metaphors to describe the
00:22:53.86\00:22:59.36
permanent nature of hell fire.
Jesus on one occasion even used
a parable to illustrate
00:22:59.36\00:23:05.46
this reality. Mark
9:43-44 is one such passage,
00:23:05.46\00:23:14.36
Many people today point to
this as evidence of an eternally
00:23:35.16\00:23:40.43
burning hell. However, is that
really what it means? Jesus is
quoting a passage in
00:23:40.43\00:23:46.73
Isaiah. There the prophet speaks
of the fate of the wicked and
00:23:46.73\00:23:53.16
uses those phrases: "Their worm
does not die" and "their fire is
not quenched" But what
00:23:53.16\00:23:59.06
is Isaiah referring to? Here is
what precedes those two phrases
00:23:59.06\00:24:06.26
in Isaiah 66:24,
00:24:06.26\00:24:11.76
What is Isaiah talking about
here? Friends, he is talking
00:24:19.50\00:24:24.70
about dead people. And while a
bit morbid, this is a picture of
00:24:24.70\00:24:28.16
worms, of maggots consuming a
dead body. The picture is of a
corpse being totally consumed,
00:24:28.16\00:24:34.93
totally destroyed. And then
what about "their fire is not
00:24:34.93\00:24:40.30
quenched." Friends what does it
mean to have an unquenchable
fire? It is a fire that
00:24:40.30\00:24:45.06
cannot be put out. The prophet
Jeremiah uses the same metaphor
00:24:45.06\00:24:50.06
in describing the destruction
of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 17:27,
00:24:50.06\00:24:57.86
Jerusalem experienced
unquenchable fire - let me ask
00:25:08.26\00:25:13.00
you - is Jerusalem still on fire
today? Eventually this prophecy
00:25:13.00\00:25:17.90
was fulfilled and Jerusalem was
burned and it was burned to the
ground. Its destruction
00:25:17.90\00:25:23.23
was permanent and unquenchable
- the fire couldn't be put out
00:25:23.23\00:25:28.06
until it had
destroyed everything.
00:25:28.06\00:25:31.50
Friends, we have spent a lot
of time talking about hell. And
00:25:32.20\00:25:36.03
there are a few unanswered
questions. We will deal with
many of those questions on next
00:25:36.03\00:25:40.53
week's program. Friends, God is
going to every length possible
00:25:40.53\00:25:48.23
to save you. You don't need to
worry about hell fire, because
00:25:48.23\00:25:51.96
it wasn't even designed for you.
It is the destiny of the devil
and his angels. The open
00:25:51.96\00:25:58.70
arms of Jesus is the destiny He
has for you. Are you willing to
00:25:58.70\00:26:04.56
let go of your sin, are you
willing to give it all to Jesus.
Let's pray and give
00:26:04.56\00:26:11.06
it all to Jesus. Oh heavenly
Father, we come to you and we
00:26:11.06\00:26:16.83
give all of our sin to you.
Change us, transform us, and
make us ready for when your Son
00:26:16.83\00:26:22.53
Jesus comes again, we
pray in Jesus' name, amen.
00:26:22.53\00:26:27.36
Today's program may have
stretched you a little bit in
00:26:44.93\00:26:47.86
your biblical understanding. I
would like to offer to you today
a special edition of Signs
00:26:47.86\00:26:53.43
of the Times which delves into
these texts even more deeply and
00:26:53.43\00:26:58.80
helps you to understand the
character of the loving God that
we serve. To get today's
00:26:58.80\00:27:04.86
offer, here's the
information that you need.
00:27:04.86\00:27:08.66
Friends, the love of God is so
complete. He wants to save you;
00:28:08.23\00:28:14.36
He wants to save me. He doesn't
want us to have any part in the
lake of fire. He wants us
00:28:14.36\00:28:21.00
to give our hearts and lives
to Him completely. I hope you
00:28:21.00\00:28:25.06
enjoyed today's program. I
invite you to join us again next
week. Until then, remember, it
00:28:25.06\00:28:31.16
is written, "Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every
00:28:31.16\00:28:36.56
word that proceeds
from the mouth of God."
00:28:36.56\00:28:39.10
$$$$$$
00:28:41.10\00:28:44.26