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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:21 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Jean Ross: Good morning, friends. 00:36 Welcome again to "Sabbath School Study Hour" here at the Granite 00:39 Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. 00:42 We'd like to welcome our online members who are tuned in to 00:45 study our lesson with us, also our friends who are joining us 00:48 across the country and around the world. 00:50 And also our regular Sabbath School members and our visitors 00:53 who are here in person, very warm welcome to all of you. 00:56 I'm glad that you have chosen to study the lesson with us today. 01:00 And of course, we started a new lesson dealing with two 01:03 Old Testament prophetic books called Ezra and Nehemiah. 01:07 And that of course is the title of our new quarterly. 01:10 Today, we find ourselves on lesson number four in the study 01:13 called "Facing Opposition." 01:15 So, if you have your lesson quarterly with you, 01:18 you can turn to lesson number four, "Facing Opposition." 01:21 For our friends who are joining us online, 01:23 if you don't have a copy of today's lesson, 01:26 you can download one at lesson.aftv.org. 01:30 Again, that's lesson.aftv.org, lesson number four called 01:36 "Facing Opposition," and you can study along with us. 01:38 We also have a free offer we'd like to let you know about, 01:40 it's a book written by Pastor Doug, it's entitled 01:43 "Compromise, Conformity, and Courage." 01:47 This is our free offer today. 01:48 And if you'd like to receive it, the number to call is... 01:54 and ask for offer number 774. 01:57 We'll be happy to send this out to anyone who calls and asks. 02:00 You can also download a copy of our free offer today by 02:04 texting the code SH019 to the number 40544. 02:12 You will then get a link and you just click on that link 02:15 and you'll be able to download the book "Compromise, 02:17 Conformity, and Courage." 02:19 And I think you'll find it an encouragement to read this book 02:21 and look at the various Scriptures contained in it. 02:24 It'll encourage you in your Christian walk. 02:25 Well, before we get to our lesson this morning, 02:29 we always like to be in our Sabbath school time with song, 02:32 and so I'd like to invite our song leaders to come out. 02:36 male: We'll be singing this morning number 577 in the 02:38 Seventh Day Adventist Hymnal, and it's 02:41 "In the Heart of Jesus." 02:43 We'll sing all four verses. 02:46 ♪ In the heart of Jesus, there is love for you. ♪ 02:54 ♪ Love most pure and tender, love most deep and true. ♪ 03:02 ♪ Why should you be lonely, why for friendship sigh, ♪ 03:11 ♪ when the heart of Jesus has a full supply? ♪ 03:21 ♪ In the mind of Jesus, there is thought for you, ♪ 03:29 ♪ warm as summer sunshine, sweet as morning dew. ♪ 03:38 ♪ Why should you be fearful, why take anxious thought ♪ 03:47 ♪ since the mind of Jesus cares for those He bought? ♪ 03:57 ♪ In the field of Jesus, there is work for you ♪ 04:06 ♪ such as even angels might rejoice to do. ♪ 04:15 ♪ Why stand idly sighing for some lifework grand, ♪ 04:24 ♪ while the field of Jesus seeks your reaping hand? ♪ 04:34 ♪ In the home of Jesus, there's a place for you. ♪ 04:43 ♪ Glorious, bright, and joyous, calm and peaceful too. ♪ 04:52 ♪ Why then, like a wanderer, roam with weary pace ♪ 05:02 ♪ if the home of Jesus holds for you a place? ♪♪ 05:16 Jean: Dear Father in heaven, we thank You once again that we 05:18 have this opportunity to gather in Your house on this, 05:20 this beautiful Sabbath that You've given us to open up 05:24 Your Word and study. 05:25 And so, Father, we ask for the Holy Spirit to be with us, 05:27 to guide our hearts and our minds, 05:30 and guide us as we need to look into a very important 05:32 subject this morning. 05:34 So, we pray for Your blessing in Jesus's name, amen. 05:37 Our lesson this morning is going to be brought 05:40 to us by Pastor Doug. 05:43 Doug Batchelor: Good to see each of you. 05:44 Feels like I've been gone, I think it's 'cause I have. 05:46 And it's good to be back, be able to study God's Word. 05:50 Want to welcome our friends who are studying with us, 05:52 via either the internet, or you're watching on satellite, 05:56 or maybe some programs that are archived. 05:59 I'm glad that you could study His Word with us. 06:01 Our lesson today is from chapter four in this, 06:06 our study of Ezra and Nehemiah. 06:08 And it's dealing with facing opposition. 06:12 You ever run into any opposition when you tried to do God's work? 06:18 It won't be the first time, biblically. 06:20 And we have a memory verse, memory verse is from Ezra 5:5. 06:25 If you have your Bibles, you might turn and look 06:27 at that with me. 06:28 We invite you to say that it loud. 06:30 Ezra 5:5, and this is in the New King James version, you ready? 06:35 "But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews so 06:40 that they could not make them cease till a report 06:43 could go to Darius. 06:45 Then a written answer was returned concerning 06:48 this matter." 06:49 So, they were doing all they could to try to stop and to 06:54 block the work of the Lord in sharing the gospel and in 07:00 building up the city and the walls. 07:02 Now, the time of Ezra is a very interesting time historically. 07:07 You've heard of Buddhism? 07:08 Ezra lived during the time of Buddha. 07:12 You've heard of Confucius? 07:16 Ezra lived during the time of Confucius. 07:19 Of course, they're not in the same place. 07:21 And in Greece, you had a famous philosopher by 07:22 the name of Socrates. 07:24 So, all around the world during this time, 07:28 some very powerful religions were being born, 07:33 or ways of thought. 07:35 And Ezra in many ways is responsible for helping to 07:41 organize the books of the Old Testament the 07:43 way that we have them now. 07:45 He was a scribe trained in the law. 07:48 He understood what happened in Babylon, 07:50 Persia, and of course Israel. 07:53 And so, the period of time we're talking about in this study on 08:00 Ezra, it's a pretty good span. 08:02 First you've got during the time of--well, 08:07 Daniel's carried away captive about 70 years later with 08:11 the handwriting on the wall. 08:13 Babylon falls, the Persians come into power. 08:16 Cyrus the Persian, he ends up giving the people permission to 08:21 move back home, the Jews are allowed to go back home. 08:25 And then there's a pilgrimage of Jews that go during the time 08:30 of Zerubbabel. 08:32 And then from that time until Ezra, 08:35 about 50 years go by, but Ezra covers that history. 08:38 And you can read here, you know, in Ezra chapter 1, 08:41 he talks about the group that comes back during the captivity 08:45 and worship is restored in chapter 3. 08:49 Now, we're beginning in chapter 4. 08:51 And it says resistance to building the temple. 08:56 "Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that 08:59 the descendants of the captivity were building 09:03 the temple of the Lord." 09:04 What came first, let me just ask you, 09:06 building the temple or building the walls? 09:12 Temple came first. 09:14 First you think, "Whoa, wouldn't you want to first put walls up?" 09:17 And no, they thought the worship of God needed to be first. 09:20 Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 09:22 so they started with the temple. 09:24 "Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin." 09:26 Why does he say Judah and Benjamin? 09:29 How many tribes came back from--originally, 09:32 how many tribes of Israel were there? 09:34 Let me ask the question that way. 09:36 I hear 12. Technically, 13. 09:40 Now, I know we always say Jacob had 12 sons, 09:42 but what he did is because Joseph was sold by his brothers, 09:46 Jacob said, "I'm going to count Ephraim and Manasseh 09:50 as two of my sons. 09:51 They'll get an equal share." 09:53 So, Ephraim and Manasseh were counted, 09:55 and you say, "Well, why does it still call it the 12 tribes?" 09:58 Because when they divided the Promised Land, 10:00 the Levites did not get an inheritance, 10:02 they were the priest for everybody. 10:04 So, they have the 12 tribes and Levi. 10:06 So, when ten of the tribes are carried off by the Assyrians, 10:09 they don't really come back the same way as the tribes of Judah, 10:13 Benjamin, and the Levites. 10:15 They were in the southern kingdom. 10:17 So, "The adversaries heard that the people of Benjamin and 10:20 Judai--Judah and of the captivity were building the 10:25 temple of the Lord God of Israel. 10:26 They came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's house and 10:31 they said, 'Let us build with you, for we seek 10:33 your God as you do. 10:35 And we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon, 10:39 king of Assyria, who brought us here.' 10:41 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads 10:45 of the father's house of Israel said, 10:46 'You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, 10:51 but we alone will build the Lord--to the Lord God of Israel, 10:55 as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.' 10:58 Then the people of the land tried to discourage 11:02 the people of Judah." 11:03 When you make overtures to someone to help them and they 11:08 tell you no, instead of going your merry way, 11:10 you may be more angry than if you had never offered your help. 11:15 Look how quickly Potiphar's wife goes from loving Joseph 11:21 and wanting to sleep with Joseph to turning Joseph 11:24 in and falsely accusing him. 11:28 When you offer yourself to someone and they spurn 11:31 that offer, it may turn from love to hate. 11:34 And they all of a sudden went from, 11:36 "Hey, let's all work together," to, 11:37 "We're going to stop the work altogether." 11:40 Which kind of tells you maybe they made the right decision. 11:42 Their hearts were not in it if they were so willing to stop it. 11:45 "Then the people of the land," talking about the people that 11:49 lived up in the north, the Samaritans and the Arabs, 11:51 "they tried to discourage the people of Judah. 11:54 And they troubled them in building, 11:57 and they hired counselors against them to frustrate their 12:00 purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, 12:03 even until the reign of Darius king of Persia." 12:05 This is another Darius now. 12:09 I've just got to say something here, 12:10 and I hope it doesn't confuse you a little bit, 12:14 but the book of Ezra is written chronologically. 12:18 Yeah, he's a very meticulous scribe, 12:21 he's kind of giving the order of events that happened. 12:23 Sometimes, it looks like he's hopping around 'cause these 12:25 kings seem to appear long distances apart. 12:28 Several of the kings have the same names. 12:31 When I say Caesar, who are you thinking of? 12:35 But what about Augustus Caesar? 12:38 What about Nero Caesar? 12:40 A lot of people called themselves Caesars. 12:42 You know why you've got the czar of Russia? 12:46 Do you know how you say Caesar in Russian? 12:49 Czar. 12:51 Do you know you had Kaiser Wilhelm? 12:53 You know how you say Caesar in German? 12:56 Kaiser. 12:58 So, they're all--the term "Caesar," so often when people 13:01 say Caesar, they think of Julius Caesar because he was born via 13:04 caesarian, which is where the word originated. 13:08 When you're reading in the Bible about the Philistines, 13:14 you'll find that it tells us Isaac told Abimelech, 13:20 the Philistine king, that Rebekah was just his sister. 13:24 Years later, David is scrabbling on the doors of Abimelech, 13:28 the Philistine king. 13:30 Now, that guy must've lived 400 years. 13:32 No, Abimelech was a very common name among the Philistine kings. 13:36 Some of their names almost meant king, 13:39 and so it was used interchangeably. 13:42 You're going to find that with some of the kings of Persia, 13:43 and that's caused no small amount of confusion about 13:45 who was the king. 13:47 There was more one king by the name of Darius, 13:50 and there was one--more than one Artaxerxes. 13:54 So, you're going to find when you're in--for instance, 13:57 if you look in Ezra chapter 4, verse 11, 14:02 King Artaxerxes stops the building. 14:05 Well, then you get to Ezra chapter 7, 14:07 Artaxerxes is the one who gives the decree to rebuild. 14:10 Well, you think, "Will he make up his mind?" 14:12 They're two different characters. 14:14 And so, there was one guy who is Smerdis, 14:18 he was a magician, he briefly inserted himself, 14:22 he's called the false king. 14:24 He put himself and he was also called Artaxerxes. 14:26 He's the one that stopped the building. 14:29 So, I just wanted to let you know that it's caused some 14:32 confusion 'cause these guys had the same names and--but 14:35 they're really different. 14:37 And you've got quite a period of time going between when the 14:40 first captives came back and when Ezra comes in person. 14:42 He's just giving the history up until his coming. 14:45 And then Nehemiah comes about 15 or 16 years after Ezra, 14:49 but Ezra and Nehemiah did know each other. 14:51 All right, now are you thoroughly confused? 14:54 Okay. If you are, don't look it. 14:57 Look like, "Got it, I understand." 15:01 All right, so they're wanting to build up the temple and there's 15:05 great opposition. 15:06 Does God still have a temple on earth today? 15:10 Don't you know, first of all, your body's the temple 15:13 of the Holy Spirit? 15:15 And the Bible tells us that we, His church, 15:18 are living in stones built up on the cornerstone of Jesus and the 15:25 apostles to a holy habitation to God. 15:28 That wicked one, the antichrist, would sit in the temple of God 15:32 showing himself that he is God. 15:34 Is that a physical temple or is he putting himself 15:35 over the church? 15:37 A lot of people are waiting for the antichrist to build a temple 15:40 and rebuild another temple. 15:42 The antichrist, John said, "There are even many antichrists 15:45 now," back in the New Testament. 15:48 When any false person puts himself over the church, 15:51 over the temple--so, God is a temple. 15:54 Jesus said, "Destroy this temple made with hands, 15:57 and in three days I'll make one without hands." 15:59 What was He talking about? Said His body. 16:03 The church is called what? The body of Christ. 16:07 So, does God still have a temple? 16:09 And as we're seeking to build up the temple of God, 16:13 what will the devil do? 16:15 He'll try to stop it one of two ways. 16:17 One way he tries to stop it is to join it. 16:20 You notice what they said here first? 16:24 They said, "Let us help you build. 16:27 Let's all work together." 16:29 And they knew what they were up to, 16:31 that the devil was going to try to destroy this 16:34 revival through compromise. 16:35 Now, let me see if I could prove that to you. 16:41 If you look, for instance, in 2 Kings chapter 17, 16:46 says now after the ten tribes were carried away by the king of 16:50 Assyria to the north, it says, "Then when the king of Assyria 16:55 brought the people from Babylon, Kuthah, 16:58 Ayva, Hamath and Sepharvaim, and he placed them in the cities of 17:02 Samaria instead of the children of Israel." 17:04 So, when the ten tribes were carried away, 17:05 the king of Syria, he transplanted Assyrians back down 17:09 in that area of Samaria. 17:12 They later became known as what? 17:15 Samaritans, who did not worship the same way as the Jews, 17:18 and they hated each other. 17:20 Do you want to know why the Jews and the Samaritans hated each 17:22 other so much? 17:23 It goes back to Ezra and Nehemiah. 17:25 So, the king of Assyria, he transplanted some Assyrians. 17:29 There may have been some Jews among them, 17:31 but they're principally Assyrians back in the area of 17:34 the ten tribes, and they got attacked by lions. 17:37 I'm getting ahead, let me read it. 17:40 "They took possession of the cities of Samaria 17:42 and they dwelt in its cities. 17:44 And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, 17:46 they did not fear the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions 17:48 among them, which killed some of them. 17:52 So, then the king of Assyria commanded, 17:54 'Send there one of the priests who you brought from there, 17:58 and let him go and dwell them, and let him teach the rituals 18:02 of the--of the God of the land.'" 18:04 Now, when it says send one of the priests, 18:06 the ten tribes in the north that were carried to Assyria, 18:11 did they have the same priesthood as the tribes 18:13 in the south? 18:15 No, there was a bad king, that Jeroboam, 18:20 he made priests of anybody. 18:21 And they started worshipping golden calves. 18:24 And they understood the commandments of the Lord, 18:27 so they kind of commingled paganism with true worship. 18:30 So, now they send one of these kind of half priests or 18:33 self-made priests down to teach the Assyrians who Jehovah is. 18:37 So, they did learn some things, but they weren't pure priests. 18:42 "Let him dwell there, let him teach the rituals of 18:44 the God of the land. 18:45 Then one of the priests who they carried away from Samaria," not 18:48 from Jerusalem, "came and dwelled in Bethel," that's where 18:52 they had a golden calf. 18:53 "And taught them how to fear the Lord. 18:55 However, every nation continued to make gods of its own and put 19:00 in them shrines," idolatry, "in the high places which the 19:04 Samaritans had made. 19:06 So, they feared the Lord, yet they served their own gods." 19:09 Now, I've got that underlined. 19:14 That sums up a lot of Christians too. 19:17 They fear the Lord, yet they serve their own gods. 19:20 Kind of let's see if we can commingle the world 19:22 and the church. 19:24 "According to the rituals of the nations from whom they 19:27 were carried away." 19:28 They were bringing in the other nations' worship 19:30 into their worship. 19:31 "To this day, they continue practicing the former rituals." 19:34 So, when they come to Ezra and Nehemiah, 19:38 they say, "Hey, praise the Lord, you can build the temple. 19:40 Let's all work together." 19:41 Can you understand why Zerubbabel and those with him 19:46 said, "No, that's not going to happen. 19:48 We know you're going to get us to start compromising worship. 19:52 And the reason we got carried off to Babylon is because 19:54 we compromised"? 19:55 The reason that in the book of Judges, 19:57 they kept having trouble is 'cause they compromised. 19:59 We're not going to do it. 20:01 They said, "Oh, so you want to be that way? 20:03 Well, we're going to stop you from building altogether." 20:05 This animosity between the southern kingdom, 20:10 the Jews, Benjamin, the Levites, and the Samaritans went all the 20:15 way down to the time of Jesus, where you've got a woman at the 20:17 well saying to Jesus, "Where should we worship, 20:20 Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim?" 20:22 They still were arguing about worship in that day. 20:25 And so, they'd never completely got over it. 20:27 But this is what started it all is when they sent a phony priest 20:30 from Assyria, kind of a half priest, 20:34 one of Jeroboam's priests, to come down and teach 20:37 the Assyrians about Jehovah. 20:40 And it just corrupted the religion. 20:42 They believed in the five books of Moses, 20:43 but they didn't believe the other prophets. 20:45 And so, it was just a hodgepodge. 20:48 Now, do we see that happen to Christianity also? 20:50 You got the commingling of paganism and idolatry and 20:54 pagan teachings with Christianity. 20:57 And then you ask and they'll say, 20:58 "Oh yeah, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus." 21:00 But they're worshipping kind of like some of the pagans. 21:04 So, things have not changed I guess is what I'm saying. 21:06 All right, so have you noticed that when the work of God is 21:10 going forward, the devil tries to stop it? 21:13 Is that true in your life? 21:16 If you're trying to get out of Egypt, 21:17 will the pharaoh chase after you and try to 21:21 keep you from escaping? 21:22 When God poured out the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, 21:25 there was a great revival. 21:27 Did the devil sit back and applaud, or did 21:29 he try to stop it? 21:31 Look in Acts 6, verse 8, 21:34 "Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders 21:37 and signs among them." 21:39 And then you go to Acts 8:1, "Now Saul was consenting to his 21:44 death," Stephen's dead, tried to stop it. 21:47 "And at that time, great persecution arose 21:51 against the church." 21:52 It doesn't just say persecution, what kind of persecution? 21:55 Great persecution. 21:57 Did the persecution come from the Romans 21:59 or from their own people? 22:02 From their own people. 22:04 Was Jesus killed by the Romans or did His own 22:06 people hand Him over? 22:09 Who handed over Paul to the Romans? 22:12 His own people. 22:14 And who turned--who executed Stephen? 22:16 His own people. 22:17 They didn't even bother going to the Romans that time. 22:20 "And Saul was consenting to his death, 22:22 and there was great persecution. 22:24 And they were scattered throughout the regions of Judah 22:26 and Samaria, except the apostles." 22:28 So, you can see there's this opposition because they refuse 22:34 to be unequally yoked with the pagans of Samaria. 22:40 2 Corinthians 6:14 through 18: "Do not be unequally yoked 22:46 together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has 22:49 righteousness with lawlessness? 22:51 And what communion has light with darkness? 22:53 And what accord has Christ with Belial? 22:56 Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 22:59 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? 23:02 For you are the temple of the living God. 23:05 As God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. 23:07 I will be their God and they will be My people. 23:09 Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, 23:13 says the Lord. 23:14 Do not touch what is unclean and I'll receive you. 23:17 I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons 23:20 and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.'" 23:21 This is an important verse, but it can be misunderstood. 23:23 "Come out from among them and be separate." 23:26 Does that mean Christians shouldn't have 23:28 any non-Christian friends? 23:30 When it says, "Do not be unequally yoked," does that mean 23:34 you cannot work for a non-believing business? 23:39 No. 23:40 You shouldn't be entering into a partnership where you're going 23:45 to be tempted to compromise your convictions with an unbeliever. 23:48 And of course, the most important partnership anyone 23:50 ever enters into is called marriage. 23:53 And so, that's principally what he's saying there, 23:56 but you shouldn't enter into a religious alliance with somebody 24:01 that does not believe. 24:03 Now, you know, if people who are Protestants and Catholic say, 24:08 "Look, we're going to get together down town and feed 24:10 the homeless," and you're on neutral ground, that's great. 24:14 But when you start commingling in your worship services, 24:18 that's a different story. 24:20 So, sometimes it takes wisdom to know where 24:22 do you draw the lines. 24:23 Christians ought to have a lot of friends that they're reaching 24:26 through Bible studies or you won't reach anyone. 24:29 When it says come out and be separate, 24:31 it doesn't mean build a wall around yourself and just live in 24:33 a Christian ghetto and let the world all go to pot. 24:36 They're already there. 24:37 So, it's saying just don't enter into these alliances 24:41 with unbelievers. 24:42 You might find you've got to compromise your convictions. 24:46 All right, so the building of the temple is being resisted. 24:50 Go to Ezra chapter 4, verse 13 now. 24:57 And you can see that--well, go to verse 11. 25:02 They send a letter. 25:04 This is a copy of the letter they sent to King Artaxerxes. 25:07 This is the false Artaxerxes. 25:09 "From your servants, the men of the region 25:11 beyond the river," and so forth. 25:13 I mean, this is the introduction, 25:15 "Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up 25:19 from you," have come from Persia, "have come to us 25:22 at Jerusalem, and they're building the rebellious 25:24 and the evil city." 25:26 Is that kind of setting the stage for what they're saying? 25:30 They're telling them they're rebellious and the evil city. 25:32 What city are they talking about? 25:33 Jerusalem. 25:35 "And are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations. 25:37 Let it be known to the king that if this city is built and if the 25:42 wall is completed, they will not pay tax, 25:45 tribute, or custom to the king's treasury. 25:47 It will be diminished. 25:48 Now, because we receive support," the Samaritans, 25:52 "we receive support from the palace, 25:54 it was not proper for us to see the king's dishonor." 25:57 Now they said, "It'll hurt you, it'll hurt us. 25:58 That's why we're doing this." 26:00 "Therefore, we've sent and informed the king that a search 26:03 might be made in the book of our records of your fathers, 26:06 and you'll find in that book the record and know that this city 26:09 is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, 26:12 and that they have incited sedition within the city in 26:16 former times, for which cause this city was destroyed." 26:19 All right, was it true that Jerusalem on more than one 26:25 occasion had rebelled against pagan kings? 26:31 Yeah, they rebelled against Egypt, they rebelled against 26:35 Babylon, they rebelled against Hezekiah, 26:38 refused to surrender to Assyria. 26:40 And God fought for them. 26:43 And two sons of Josiah rebelled against Babylon. 26:48 They promised, "We will submit, we will pay taxes." 26:50 In fact, Zachariah or Zedekiah rather, 26:53 he made a covenant in the name of the Lord that he will not 26:57 rebel and he would pay taxes. 26:59 And Jeremiah said, "You need to submit to the king of Babylon, 27:02 pay the taxes. 27:03 You will have peace." 27:05 And he would not, and they ended up the temple was destroyed, 27:08 the walls were destroyed, and everything got burnt and turned 27:10 into the ruins they're describing. 27:13 So, the kings look through the record books, 27:16 and you know, they had some amazing libraries. 27:20 Up in Asia, they discovered an ancient library with cuneiform 27:23 tablets that had 14,000 books. 27:26 And they had many vast, ancient libraries. 27:29 And they weren't all cuneiform tablets, 27:31 they were sometimes scrolls. 27:33 And so, they had some method of carrying these books. 27:37 In the peak of the Ottoman Empire, 27:40 just trivia, the grand vizier traveled with his library. 27:46 He had 400 camels that carried his books when he traveled. 27:52 And he organized his camels alphabetically so he could find 27:56 the books in his library. 27:59 They wanted to take their documents with them. 28:01 But they--so they had vast libraries, they kept things. 28:04 And it's so much faster now, you just type in 28:07 search, press enter. 28:09 It was a little harder back then, 28:12 they had full-time scribes that would do that. 28:14 And so, they did a search, they said, 28:16 "Sure enough, this is true." 28:19 And notice what else it says. 28:21 "If they build the city, they'll rebel. 28:24 We want to inform the king if this city is rebuilt, 28:27 you'll have no dominion." 28:29 So, the king sends an answer. 28:31 This is verse 17 of Ezra 4, "To Rehum the commander, 28:34 to Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their companions who 28:37 dwell in Samaria, and to the remainder beyond the river," 28:40 that's Euphrates, "peace and so forth." 28:42 They said--they had a long introduction. 28:44 "The letter which you sent us has been clearly read before me, 28:47 and I gave the command and search was made, 28:50 and it was found that this city in former times has revolted 28:54 against kings, and rebellion and sedition 28:56 have been fostered in it. 28:58 There have also been mighty kings." 29:01 He kept reading, he said, "There have also been mighty kings over 29:04 Jerusalem, who rule over all the region beyond the river." 29:07 And who are those mighty kings? 29:09 Well, David, actually Solomon. 29:12 His reign went all the way to beyond the river. 29:16 There were times when King Asa, who reigned 52 years, 29:19 King Jehoshaphat, there were some other kings that did pretty 29:23 well in being some of the most powerful. 29:25 And it says tribute and custom were paid to them. 29:28 "Now, give the command to make these men cease, 29:32 that this city may not be built until the 29:34 command be given by me. 29:36 Take heed now that you do not fail to do this. 29:39 Why should damage increase to the hurt of the king?" 29:42 Now, when the copy of King Artaxerxes's letter was read 29:45 before Rehum, Shimshai scribe, and their companions, 29:47 they couldn't wait. 29:49 "They went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews, 29:53 and by force of arms made them cease. 29:55 Thus the work of the house of God which is in 29:58 Jerusalem ceased. 30:00 And it was discontinued until the second year of the reign 30:03 of Darius, King of Persia." 30:05 Now, eventually they get permission to rebuild. 30:09 This is a long spell when they don't build. 30:11 But then they get permission to rebuild, but they stall. 30:14 Because you know, when you lose momentum--we have a house 30:19 up in the hills. 30:22 And a friend who is a contractor did most of the work on that. 30:27 And we were getting so excited about moving in, 30:31 they weren't quite done. 30:32 They were little things like, you know, 30:34 some trim around the wallpaper and some baseboards in the 30:36 closet, just little things, and hanging a few lights. 30:39 And I remember he said, "Don't move in until it's 30:42 all done, Doug." 30:43 He says, "Once you move in, you'll never finish." 30:46 I said, "No, I'll finish. You don't know me." 30:51 Well, here we are 35, almost 40 years later, 31:01 and still don't have the trim around the wallpaper, 31:05 still don't have all the baseboard in. 31:08 Temporary things have a strange way of becoming permanent. 31:11 And they had put off the building of the temple, 31:15 even though they had laid the foundation and 31:17 they done some work. 31:19 And you remember when they laid the foundation, 31:21 I think this was in an earlier lesson, 31:22 I wasn't here, that the old man who had seen Solomon's temple, 31:29 when they saw the size, the inferior size of the new temple, 31:33 when they're laying the foundation, 31:35 they're weeping. 31:37 And the other people are saying, "Oh, we're starting 31:38 to build the temple," and they're praising the Lord. 31:40 And it says you couldn't tell who was weeping and 31:42 who was rejoicing. 31:45 So, they had started, but now the work had stopped. 31:50 But finally, that king didn't last very long, 31:53 that false Smerdis, that Artaxerxes. 31:57 And he died off and they sent another letter, 31:59 and they got permission to remobilize building the temple. 32:04 And so, during this time, the prophets encourage. 32:07 You go to Ezra chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. 32:11 "Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah--" 32:14 By the way, when you're reading what we're studying here, 32:15 there's a cluster of books that go together. 32:18 It's good to know Daniel 'cause Daniel's life overlaps 32:22 Zerubbabel, who ends up bringing back the captivity. 32:24 Daniel, he foretold Cyrus. 32:27 Actually, Daniel lived until the time of Cyrus. 32:30 And then you've got Zerubbabel, you got Ezra, 32:34 Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. 32:39 And guess who else appears during this time? 32:46 She was a queen. 32:48 That was a giveaway, wasn't it? Esther. 32:50 And so, all of these books are happening during the same 32:53 time period, okay? 32:56 So, now they've got permission to rebuild again. 32:58 And then it says, "The prophet Haggai, 33:00 and Zechariah the son of Iddo, and the prophets prophesied to 33:03 the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the 33:06 God of Israel who was over them. 33:08 So, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua 33:11 the son of Jehozadak." 33:13 Jeshua is the same as Joshua, just it's a little 33:17 different spelling. 33:18 "Rose up and began to build the house of God, 33:20 which is in Jerusalem. 33:21 And the prophets of God were with them helping them." 33:24 Now, how do prophets help? 33:26 Well, they might've had bricks and a trowel, 33:28 but the main way prophets help is by prophesying. 33:32 Notice what it says in Haggai chapter 1, verse 3. 33:35 "Then the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 33:38 saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your 33:42 paneled houses and the temple lie in ruins? 33:45 Now therefore, thus says the Lord, consider your ways. 33:48 You've sown much, but you bring in little. 33:51 You eat, but you don't have enough. 33:53 You drink, but you're not filled with drink. 33:56 You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. 33:59 And he who earns wages earns wages to put it 34:02 in a bag with holes.'" 34:03 Any of you ever felt that way before? 34:05 You just feel like you can't get ahead. 34:08 It feels like no matter what you do, 34:09 you're buying clothes, but you're still never quite warm. 34:11 Nothing seems to be blessed is what he's saying. 34:15 You earn wages and you put them in a bag with holes. 34:19 I had that happen to me not too long ago. 34:21 I put something in my pocket, and I went to look for it later 34:23 and I couldn't find it. 34:25 I kept digging and I said, "I know I put it in my pocket." 34:27 I'm digging around with my hand. 34:29 Pretty soon, I stuck my finger through a hole in the pocket. 34:31 I said, "Ah, who knows where it is now." 34:36 So, you ever feel like you put something in your pocket 34:39 and it just--it goes away? 34:43 "Thus says the Lord." He's explaining why. 34:47 "Consider your ways. 34:48 Go up to the mountains. Bring wood. 34:51 Build the temple that I might take pleasure in 34:54 it and be glorified." 34:55 He says, "You're all running to your houses, 34:57 you're neglecting My house." 34:58 He says, "You look for much, but indeed it came to little. 35:00 And when you brought it home, I blew it away." 35:04 You don't want God will be blowing away your stuff. 35:06 "Why, says the Lord? 35:09 Because My house is in ruins while everyone 35:12 runs to his own house." 35:15 Boy, this would be a terrible waste of a Scripture for me to 35:17 not mention to you we are in the midst of a church building 35:21 program and we don't have enough money to 35:23 finish yet, hint, hint. 35:26 Want a blessing? Haggai chapter 2. 35:30 He says that this temple, "The glory of this latter temple will 35:35 be greater than the former." 35:37 Now, why did he prophesy that? 35:39 They were saying, "Oh, this temple's nothing 35:41 like Solomon's temple." 35:42 But Haggai said, "No, no, no, the glory of this house 35:45 will be even greater." 35:46 Why could he say that? 35:48 Well, two things. 35:50 First of all, Jesus would be in that temple. 35:54 You know, there was a day when on top of the mountain 35:58 of transfiguration, Jesus is on the mountain. 36:00 And while He's up there on the mountain, 36:03 who appears to Him? 36:05 Moses and Elijah. 36:08 And then Peter doesn't know what to say, 36:09 he says, "Lord, let's build three tabernacles, 36:11 one for You, one for Moses, one for Elijah," 'cause he 36:14 didn't know what to say. 36:15 But that's actually an interesting statement. 36:17 Even what Peter said was inspired. 36:18 There was one temple during the time of Moses in 36:21 the wilderness, correct? 36:23 There was another temple during the time of Elijah 36:27 that Solomon's temple was when what was still in existence 36:30 during the time of Elijah. 36:31 And wasn't there a different temple? 36:33 Nehemiah and Ezra's temple was during the time of Jesus. 36:35 And actually, the temple of Ezra and Nehemiah, when Herod 36:39 the Great came along, he said, "I want a temple that's going 36:44 to rival Solomon's." 36:46 And he went through one of the most massive temple 36:48 reconstructions in history. 36:50 Matter of fact, when Jesus said, "You destroy this temple, 36:52 I'll raise it up in three days." 36:53 They said, "Forty and six years it's taken us 36:56 to build this temple." 36:57 Why did they say 46 years? 36:59 The restoration of Herod the Great had made it one of the 37:02 wonders of the world. 37:04 The temple was bigger than the Coliseum, 37:06 at least the courtyard and the building area. 37:09 It was--it was a jewel even for the Romans. 37:13 They didn't want to destroy it in 70 AD, 37:15 it was a soldier that threw a firebrand that wrecked it 37:17 because it was such a beautiful building. 37:20 And so, it's a twofold prophecy. 37:23 Haggai's saying, "The glory of the second temple's going to be 37:27 bigger, first of all 'cause the Lord Himself in person is going 37:31 to come to this temple and teach in its courts." 37:33 Jesus often went into the temple. 37:36 Every day, He went into the temple and He taught when 37:38 He was in Jerusalem. 37:39 Secondly, because he was saying, "The temple you're looking at 37:42 now is going to grow in magnificence." 37:45 So, by the time Jesus came, it was pretty spectacular after 37:48 that 46-year remodeling program. 37:53 So, he said, "Don't worry, it's going to be better 37:57 than you can imagine." 37:58 And then he tells us in chapter--Haggai I'm in, 38:01 chapter 2, verse 18, "Consider now from this day forward, 38:04 from the 24th day of the ninth month from the day that the 38:07 foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. 38:10 Is the seed still in the barn, and yet the vine and the fig 38:14 tree and the pomegranate and the olive, have they 38:16 not yielded fruit? 38:18 But from this day, I will bless you." 38:21 He said, "From the time you finally start getting back to 38:25 work on the house of the Lord, I'm going to bless you." 38:27 There's a neat quote in the book "Prophets and Kings," this is 38:33 page--this is in your lesson, page 573 and 574. 38:37 "The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were raised up 38:41 to meet the crisis. 38:43 In stirring testimonies, these appointed messengers revealed 38:45 to the people the cause of their troubles. 38:48 The lack of temporal prosperity was the result of a neglect to 38:52 put God's interests first." 38:56 That's a great quote, sounds a lot like where Jesus said, 38:59 "Seek first the kingdom of God and all the other 39:01 things will be added." 39:03 When we fail to put spiritual things, 39:06 and God's work, and God's house as a priority, 39:09 our houses and our other things aren't going to 39:12 have the same blessing. 39:13 "The neglect to put God's interests first, 39:17 the prophets declared had the Israelites honored God as they 39:20 had shown Him due respect and courtesy by making the building 39:24 of His house their first work, they would've invited His 39:27 presence and His blessing." 39:29 So, now we're going to jump to Nehemiah, 39:32 I've just got ten minutes here to cover this very 39:34 important section. 39:36 Go to Nehemiah chapter 4. 39:37 And you'll see here this is so great, 39:40 the whole story. 39:42 And this is another study, it's about Nehemiah praying and being 39:44 sent by the king, and some believe that the queen during 39:49 that time was Esther, to come and to rebuild 39:51 the walls of the city. 39:54 They built some of the walls around the temple, 39:56 but the main fortifications they had not built because, 40:00 well, the enemy said they're going to do that to defend it 40:02 against the king of Persia. 40:05 But when the king--Nehemiah went directly to the king 40:08 and he gave him permission to go. 40:09 And he says, "I'll also even pay for it." 40:12 So, now not only are they getting what do you call it? 40:16 To opposition from building the temple during the time of 40:18 Nehemiah, "It happened with Sanballat heard that we were 40:22 rebuilding the wall that he was furious." 40:27 You know, the Bible says God's people are going to be called 40:29 the restorers of paths to dwell in. 40:34 We are to do repairing, repairers of the breach. 40:37 Has there been a breach in God's law, 40:39 in God's church? 40:41 Does the Seventh Day Adventist church have a special work to do 40:44 to repair a breach in the wall? 40:48 And when we do that, how's the devil going to feel? 40:52 Revelation 12:17, "The dragon was wroth, 40:57 enraged, furious with the woman, and went to make war with the 41:00 remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God." 41:04 Restoring that breach, does that make sense? 41:07 So, when our enemies heard, they were furious and very indignant, 41:12 and mocked the Jews. 41:14 They'll try to use discouragement. 41:16 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, 41:19 and he said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? 41:22 Will they fortify themselves? 41:24 Will they offer sacrifices? 41:25 Will they complete it in a day? 41:27 Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, 41:29 stones that are burned?" 41:31 Once the stones are burned, they're not safe anymore, 41:32 you need to get new ones. 41:34 "Now, Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, 41:36 and he said, "Oh, whatever they build, 41:37 even if a fox goes up on it, he'll break 41:40 down their stone walls." 41:41 Foxes are so small and fleet of foot, 41:43 the idea that a fox could tumble it over is a figure of speech. 41:47 So, how does Nehemiah respond? 41:51 He doesn't argue with him, he prays. 41:53 Verse 4: "Hear, oh our God." What else does he do? 41:58 Verse 6: he ignores him and he keeps working. 42:00 The devil will try to distract you by mocking. 42:04 You know what the devil does? 42:05 He tries to get you to defend yourself. 42:08 You know, friends, you have no idea of the amount of mail, 42:12 Bonnie knows something about it, the amount of mail I get. 42:15 And much of it very kind and positive, not all of it. 42:20 And a lot of people say the most outrageous things. 42:23 And if I wanted to, I could spend all of my time defending 42:25 myself, defending my statements. 42:28 And sometimes you have to say, "This person is not open." 42:31 They're not--if they're open, we always try and 42:33 send them information. 42:34 But if they're just being hostile and angry and combative, 42:37 the devil would love to distract you, 42:39 getting into a debate so you stop building. 42:42 You got to keep the main thing the main thing. 42:44 And don't waste your time arguing with people you're never 42:48 going to reach anyway. 42:50 Verse 7, how did they respond when they 42:52 were ignored and he kept building? 42:54 You notice what happened? 42:55 "So we built the wall. 42:56 The entire wall was joined together up to half its height 42:59 because the people had a mind to work." 43:02 They had a mind to work 'cause Nehemiah was a great leader. 43:05 "Then their enemies," verse 7, I'm in Nehemiah 4, 43:08 verse 7, "became very angry." 43:12 That dragon is very wroth. 43:15 And so, what did Nehemiah do? 43:16 Go to verse 13, "Do not be afraid of them." 43:19 They threatened to attack. 43:21 "Remember the Lord, great and awesome, 43:22 and fight for your brethren, your sons, 43:25 your daughter, your wives, and your homes." 43:27 And verse 19 and 20, Nehemiah says, 43:30 "Our God will fight for us." 43:32 He said, "All right, look, if you want to fight, 43:33 we'll fight, but we're not going to stop working." 43:35 So, they even threatened him with war. 43:36 And so, what was Nehemiah's response? 43:38 "Well, we're going to have soldiers on the wall, 43:40 we'll have the arsenal and the weapons ready, 43:43 and we're going to keep working. 43:44 We're not going to stop building the wall," because the most 43:47 important thing for your protection is to have the wall, 43:50 have it finished. 43:52 The devil doesn't want you to have the wall 'cause if you got 43:55 the wall, then it's really hard for him to get in. 43:58 Isn't that right? 44:00 So, then finally I want you to notice when the walls get built, 44:04 and it's a miracle, you know, they build the wall 'cause the 44:06 people had a mind to work. 44:07 And they had to haul out rubbish, they had all 44:09 kinds of threats and, you know, they threatened Nehemiah's life. 44:13 "You got to hide in the temple, they're going to kill you." 44:15 He said, "No, I'm not going to hide." 44:17 And they kept working. And go to Nehemiah 6. 44:23 Go to the first verse. 44:26 "Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, 44:29 Geshem the Arab," remember I mentioned the Arabs earlier. 44:33 And you wondered, "Why do you say that?" 44:34 "And the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the 44:38 wall, that there were no breaks, no breaches left in it." 44:41 This is the work of God's people to restore the breach. 44:45 "Though at that time had not hung the doors of the gates. 44:47 Then Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, 44:51 saying, 'Come, let's meet together in one of the 44:54 villages in the plain of Ono.' 44:56 But they thought to do me harm." 44:58 So, you just need to know that if anyone ever says they want 45:03 to meet with you in the plain of Ono, your answer is, "Oh no." 45:09 Isn't that right? 45:11 "They thought to do me harm." They said, "Come on down. 45:15 Let's talk about it. We can negotiate. 45:19 Let's find some common ground. 45:21 You make a compromise, we'll make a compromise. 45:24 We don't have to be at odds like this with each other." 45:26 He said, "No, I'm not even going to meet with you." 45:28 You know why we're in trouble? 45:32 It's because Eve wanted to parlay with the devil. 45:37 She was engaged in discussing it. 45:40 And as soon as you get yourself on that ground, 45:43 he's a better debater than you are. 45:46 So it says, "They thought to do me harm, 45:50 so I sent a message to them saying, 45:51 'I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. 45:56 Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?' 46:00 But they sent this message four times, 46:03 and I answered them in the same manner." 46:06 Can you look at the relentlessness of the devil 46:11 to try to just wear him down? 46:14 Kept sending the message, different ways, 46:16 they said, "Oh look, you know, we're going to--the king's going 46:18 to find out bad things are happening. 46:20 You better talk to us. You need us. 46:22 You better negotiate with us." 46:23 And he just said, "Look, I'm focused on getting 46:27 this wall built. 46:29 Why should the work cease while I come down and talk to you?" 46:33 Now, are you and I doing a great work when 46:38 we're sharing the gospel? 46:41 There's nothing the devil wants more than to distract us. 46:44 Can you think of another time in the Bible when someone said, 46:48 "Come down and let's talk about it"? 46:52 He said, "Why should the work cease while I go down to you?" 46:56 Matthew 27, when Jesus is on the cross: 47:00 "Likewise, the chief priest also, 47:02 mocking with the scribes and elders, 47:04 said, 'He saved others, Himself He cannot save. 47:07 If He is the king of the Jews.'" 47:10 Now, who was inspiring that sentence? 47:13 The mocking and the if, does that sound familiar? 47:16 Were they mocking Nehemiah? 47:19 "If He is the king of Israel, let Him now come down 47:23 and we will believe." 47:25 You want us to believe? 47:26 All you've got to do is come down. 47:27 I think those priests were inspired by Satan himself. 47:30 And that word, that line was put in their mouth by Satan himself. 47:33 And he's saying, "Look, we'll believe You're the Son of God. 47:36 You don't need to die on the cross. 47:38 Just come down, use Your miracle power. 47:40 You've healed so many others before, just come down. 47:43 The whole nation will convert. You don't need to die." 47:48 And Jesus by His silence, He said, "I am doing a great work. 47:52 Why should the work cease while I come down and argue with you?" 47:55 You know, I've got--I like history. 48:01 And I got a few heroes in history. 48:03 And one of my heroes, I mean, he had his problems, 48:06 but I admire him, was Teddy Roosevelt. 48:09 Because you know how many people tried to build the Panama Canal? 48:13 Way back in the days of Cortez, they actually got up to the top 48:18 and they said, "Look, you can reach the Pacific 48:20 from the Atlantic. 48:22 We could build a canal." 48:24 And so, some tried to start a business there in Spain. 48:26 And then different conglomerations started 48:29 business and they failed. 48:31 Mostly it was because malaria ate them alive, 48:33 the workers died off so fast. 48:35 And then the French had a corporation, it went bankrupt. 48:38 Matter of fact, the same fellow who built the Suez Canal said, 48:40 "Oh yeah, I can do that. 48:42 I built the Suez Canal." 48:43 But the Suez Canal, it was all flat sand. 48:45 All you had to do was dig a straight line. 48:48 He had no idea he was going to have to dig through mountains, 48:50 all that water, and all that disease and stuff. 48:53 They went bankrupt. 48:54 And finally, Teddy Roosevelt came along, 48:56 he said, "You sell it to us." 48:59 He actually orchestrated things where he created the country 49:01 of Panama with his navy a little bit. 49:05 And then he said, "Now, sell us a little piece. 49:07 We will build the canal," and he did. 49:09 And said, "Just give us 100-year lease." 49:12 Of course, our lease is up now, we don't own it anymore. 49:14 But the determination, if you knew Roosevelt, 49:18 whenever he went after something, 49:20 he just was relentless. 49:22 And so, that's how Nehemiah was. 49:25 He said, "I'm doing a great work. 49:27 I'll not be distracted." 49:28 One of the ways the devil tries to stop us 49:30 is just distracting us, amen? 49:33 We have run out of time, I think we got most of the lesson in. 49:36 And this is a great study to go along 49:40 with what we've talked about. 49:41 Free gift we want to make available to anybody watching, 49:43 it's called "Compromise, Conformity, 49:45 and Courage." 49:47 We don't want to compromise. 49:48 You can get a free copy if you call Amazing Facts, 49:51 it's simply... 49:55 We'll send you one. 49:56 That actually translates into 866-STUDY-MORE. 49:59 Ask for offer number 774 when you do that. 50:02 And you can even get this book via text. 50:04 If you want to download it right now for free, 50:08 you can simply text SH019 to 40544. 50:16 You can download the book and read it now. 50:18 Well, thank you, friends. 50:19 We're out of time, but God willing, 50:20 we'll study His Word again together next week. 50:24 male announce: Don't forget to request today's 50:26 life-changing free resource. 50:28 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 50:30 you can download a digital 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bal.amazingfacts.org. 51:29 ♪♪♪ 51:39 Doug: We're here in Ponce, Puerto Rico, 51:40 in an iguana park surrounded by big lizards or small dinosaurs, 51:45 depends on how you look at it. 51:47 These magnificent creatures are found mostly in Mexico, 51:50 Central America, South America, and the Caribbean Islands. 51:53 Here's a few amazing facts about iguanas. 51:56 Iguanas come in a great spectrum of colors. 51:58 They can be brown, green, blue, and their skin will often work 52:03 as camouflage, allowing them to hide in the jungle. 52:07 They're social creatures who like to eat together. 52:09 And what's really interesting, even though they look fierce, 52:12 iguanas are vegan vegetarians. 52:15 They're regarded as popular pets, 52:17 though if they're not cared for, they can actually just stop 52:20 eating and will themselves to die. 52:22 Typically, iguanas just lay eggs and they abandon their 52:24 offspring, so those little iguanas have to fend for 52:27 themselves from the time they're born. 52:30 If they're attacked, they'll fight with their tail, 52:32 either punching or whipping their opponent. 52:35 It's interesting to see a dog running for mercy 52:38 after being whipped by an iguana. 52:39 [dogs barking] 52:42 Doug: Also, to ensure a fast escape, they can detach their 52:45 tail and later grow another one. 52:47 Iguanas generally like to live around water. 52:49 And they can swim away, escaping from predators. 52:52 Green iguanas in particular are excellent swimmers. 52:56 They have the ability to inflate themselves and 52:59 swim incredible distances. 53:01 This is one way they've been able to populate the different 53:03 islands of the Caribbean. 53:05 What's incredible is these creatures have lungs where 53:08 they're able to hold their breath for up to 28 minutes, 53:12 putting even a crocodile to shame. 53:15 They also know how to compensate for when things get hot or cold. 53:18 They can regulate their body temperature using the loose 53:22 flaps of skin they have under their throats and 53:24 under their legs. 53:26 You might even say an iguana has ESP because God made them with 53:30 sort of a third eye on top of their head. 53:32 They can't really see with it, but it's a photoreceptor that 53:36 helps them to regulate their body's circadian rhythms. 53:39 You know, in the same way that God made iguanas where they're 53:42 some of the toughest creatures in God's natural kingdom, 53:45 Christians need to learn to be resilient in 53:48 the spiritual realm. 53:49 Through God's grace, we can learn to be great survivors. 53:52 Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 8 and 9, 53:55 "We are hard pressed on every side, 53:57 yet not crushed; we are perplexed, 54:00 but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; 54:03 struck down, but not destroyed." 54:07 I think, friends, we all know sometimes life can be tough. 54:10 We feel like we're being beaten, pressed on every side. 54:12 Sometimes, it's health problems, relationship problems, 54:16 financial reverses. 54:18 But in the same way God made the iguana resilient, 54:21 God can help you to bounce back. 54:23 Jesus said that through His help, 54:25 we can be overcomers and we are able to endure. 54:28 If you turn to Him and ask Him for His help and His Spirit, 54:31 He will recreate you and make you even tougher than an iguana. 54:35 Wouldn't you like to ask Him now? 54:37 ♪♪♪ 54:44 Diana Dixon: My name is Diana Dixon, 54:46 I'm a professional truck driver. 54:49 And August the 4th, 2011, I stopped to help in an accident. 54:53 male: Diana Dixon also tried to help. 54:55 She parked her semi, jumped out, and headed toward the pickup. 54:58 That's when she saw vehicles barreling toward her, 55:02 so she reacted by jumping off 475 to a road below. 55:06 Diana: Well, a pickup had clipped a semi, 55:08 and I stopped to help and I saw it in the mirror. 55:10 So, I walked back, gentleman told me, 55:12 he says, "Hey, you know, everything's okay. 55:13 They called 911." 55:14 And I looked over at the pickup and there was a black pickup 55:17 over there and he was okay. 55:19 And about that time, I don't know how far I walked, 55:20 but I walked far enough and a semi hit him, and it imploded. 55:27 I knew it was going to hit me. 55:28 I had 30 seconds to decide, and I decided to jump. 55:31 Diana: Yeah, I jumped off the bridge, my back's broken. 55:35 male: Where are you at? 55:38 Diana: I don't know. 55:40 Fractured my pelvis in 24 places, 5 broken ribs, 55:43 C5 neck fracture. 55:46 I had a collapsed lung, I had a lacerated bladder, 55:49 I was bleeding internally. 55:51 I had no marks on the outside of me at all, 55:53 but a scrape where my arm had scraped the concrete. 55:55 From the chest down, I was on fire. 55:58 I was a dispatcher for a year after the accident. 56:01 And I went back, finished my degree, 56:03 and I went to Pittsburg, threw a backpack over my back, 56:07 walked like all the other students, I ran a marathon. 56:11 And I'm--since then, I've been back to truck driving. 56:15 There was a gentleman I worked with, 56:16 and one day he was walking in, and he walked up to my desk 56:19 and I was reading my Bible. 56:21 And he says, "Are you a believer?" 56:24 And I said, "Yes." 56:25 And he gave me some Amazing Facts study guides. 56:28 And it just--it was an eye-opening experience for me. 56:31 I mean, I started reading them and I had a bunch of questions 56:34 to ask him, so I got online and I got on the 56:37 Amazing Facts webpage. 56:39 And I just found information just that I'd never known. 56:44 I went back to work as a truck driver because 56:47 that was my ministry. 56:48 It was my ministry before the accident. 56:50 And I was driving down the road and I just needed a connection, 56:54 and I was flipping through, and somehow I ended up on YouTube. 56:57 And next thing I know, Amazing Facts, 57:00 one of those things would come up there, 57:02 and I'd listen to it. 57:03 I'm driving down the road, I got--I got 11 hours of driving. 57:06 So, I listen to one, I listen to another one. 57:10 And the more I listen to him, everything that I thought in my 57:12 heart, I'd just click on one of his YouTubes and there he was 57:15 giving me the answer. 57:17 I walked in the Seventh Day Adventist Church for the first 57:19 time and I felt at home. 57:22 I was baptized in the Seventh Day Adventist Church because 57:24 I had found the truth that I just was searching 57:28 for and I'd been praying about. 57:30 Amazing Facts has been such an inspiration and important for my 57:35 coming back into ministry that I want to be able to give back 57:39 to anyone that I can. 57:40 And Amazing Facts is the backbone of my ministry. 57:46 My name is Diana Dixon. 57:48 Thank you for changing my life. 57:51 ♪♪♪ 57:55 announcer: Did you know Amazing Facts has a free Bible 57:57 school that you can do from the comfort of your own home? 58:01 It includes 27 study lessons to aid in your study of God's Word. 58:05 Sign up today by calling... 58:10 That's... 58:13 ♪♪♪ 58:23 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2019-10-18