Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000061
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 The Great Controversy with John Bradshaw. 00:22 And we do welcome you and we're so happy that you could join us. 00:26 The Anchors Of Truth series has become a very popular series 00:32 here at 3ABN. 00:33 And we look forward to it month after month 00:36 as we bring to you these speakers that come from 00:39 all around the world. 00:41 John Bradshaw is coming to us from 1000 Oaks, California 00:45 where he is the speaker and director of It Is Written. 00:49 And John has been traveling a lot since he took that position. 00:53 He has been holding evangelistic meetings. 00:55 He just finished a large meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. 00:59 We carried that on 3ABN. 01:02 The Lord blessed with a lot of baptisms there. 01:06 The last Sabbath, they baptized over a hundred. 01:09 They had over 250 decisions for baptism 01:13 in that particular meeting. 01:15 And they continue to develop interest from it. 01:19 So it was not only a reaping meeting, 01:21 it was a meeting that is developing a lot of people 01:25 who are studying the message and continuing 01:28 to attend church and attend follow up meetings. 01:31 And we just know that this is going to bear fruit 01:34 for a long time. 01:35 Many of the people there came as a result of watching on 01:40 channel 43, which is our television channel in Las Vegas. 01:46 And in fact, on the last Sabbath a couple came 01:50 and they asked them "Have you been attending the meetings?" 01:55 They said, "We have not missed a single meeting. 01:58 We've been watching it on 3ABN. 02:00 And we want to be baptized." 02:02 And so we just praise God for that. 02:06 We're excited about that ministry and the 02:09 ministry of John Bradshaw. 02:10 And we're excited about this particular series 02:14 on the great controversy. 02:16 Because I believe that this is a message that is so important 02:21 for these last days. 02:23 The subject for John Bradshaw tonight is going to be, 02:26 Seeing The Big Picture. 02:28 And we're going to be taking a good look at the big picture. 02:32 And I know that he's going to be presenting some things 02:36 that will be extremely interesting to each one of us. 02:41 But you know, before John comes, I want to have a 02:45 little word of prayer with you. 02:47 And then we're going to invite another John to come. 02:49 This is John night. 02:51 We're going to have John Lomacang come 02:54 and sing for us, This Is My Father's World. 02:57 But before John comes, let's bow our heads. 03:01 Father in heaven, we thank You for all the blessings 03:05 that You've given to us. 03:06 We thank You for truth. 03:08 Because You have said, "You shall know the truth, 03:11 and the truth shall set you free." 03:14 And Father, we just thank You for that. 03:16 We know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. 03:20 And we just thank You that knowing Jesus is truth. 03:26 And tonight, Lord, this is Your world. 03:29 It is Your world. 03:31 It was Your world because You created it. 03:33 It's Your world because Your Son Jesus, even after it was 03:37 taken away by an enemy, by Satan, that He 03:40 came to this earth, He went to the cross, 03:43 and He died on that cross to win this world back. 03:48 So Father, we thank You that this is Your world. 03:53 And we thank You for Jesus and His wonderful name. 03:57 Amen. 03:58 John, thank you for singing for us tonight. 04:16 This is my Father's world. 04:22 And to my listening ears 04:29 all nature sings, and round me rings 04:36 the music of the spheres. 04:42 This is my Father's world. 04:49 I rest me in the thought 04:55 of rocks and trees, of skies and seas. 05:03 His hands the wonders wrought. 05:12 This is my Father's world. 05:18 The birds their carols sing, 05:24 the morning light, the lily white, 05:30 declare their Maker's praise. 05:36 This is my Father's world, 05:42 He shines in all that's fair. 05:48 In the rustling grass I hear Him pass; 05:54 He speaks to me everywhere. 06:03 This is my Father's world. 06:09 O let me never forget 06:15 that though the wrong seems oft so strong, 06:21 God is the ruler yet. 06:26 This is my Father's world, 06:32 the battle is not done. 06:38 Jesus who died shall be satisfied, 06:44 and earth and heaven be one. 06:59 For this is my Father's world, 07:06 the battle is not done. 07:11 Jesus who died will be glorified, 07:20 and earth and heaven be one. 07:47 Well, thank you so very much, John. 07:50 Beautiful. 07:51 Good evening, everyone. 07:53 What a blessing to see you, what a privilege to be here. 07:57 I am thankful to be part of Anchors Of Truth 08:03 this month of this year. 08:05 What a great time we're going to have as we spend some time 08:07 studying the subject of the great controversy. 08:12 Now that's a familiar subject to a lot of people, I know. 08:15 A familiar name. 08:17 But we're going to have a look, not just at a title of a book. 08:21 We're going to look at a grand theme that winds its way 08:26 through the Bible like a golden thread. 08:29 We're going to look at the big picture. 08:31 As a matter of fact, tonight out subject is, 08:33 Seeing The Big Picture. 08:35 Seeing the Big Picture. 08:38 As Elder Gilley said just a few moments ago, 08:41 we've been busy at It Is Written. 08:42 In recent times we just came back from Las Vegas, Nevada. 08:47 We must have finished there about that long ago. 08:51 And what a blessing it was. 08:53 You know... 08:57 ...several things really impressed themselves 08:59 on my mind while we were in Las Vegas. 09:03 One... 09:05 And I'm not going to tell you anything you haven't heard 09:07 or that you're surprised to hear. 09:10 But as we were making an altar call the second last day of 09:15 the meeting in the morning... 09:17 We had two meetings a day in Las Vegas; morning and evening. 09:22 As we were making an altar call and people came forward, 09:27 en masse, I just had this very, very strong impression; 09:34 you know, there's something about public evangelism that's 09:37 still effective and still powerful. 09:40 It still works. 09:42 Because there are still people who are willing to respond, 09:46 waiting to respond, wanting to respond, 09:49 to the voice of the Holy Spirit of almighty God. 09:52 And that's just encouraging. 09:54 I can't see it enough. 09:56 Somebody, the lights go on in their mind. 10:00 You know, when people come to you and say, 10:02 "Thank you for being here. I now have a reason for living." 10:08 You go away and say, "I'm glad that I'm doing what I'm doing." 10:11 And please don't misunderstand. 10:13 We preachers are just there as spokespersons. 10:16 This is God's work. It's the work that God is doing. 10:19 But we're happy to be working with God 10:21 seeing men and women responding to Jesus 10:23 and accepting His message and His gift of salvation. 10:28 People have said to me, "I've been studying the Bible 10:30 all my life, and now it makes sense. 10:34 Now I'm seeing things I never saw before. 10:36 Now the Word of God means more to me 10:39 than it has ever meant before." 10:40 And so I just can't tell you how thrilled I am about that. 10:43 So Las Vegas was a blessing. 10:45 And thank you 3ABN for the continued great work 10:48 you're doing there with, I think you said channel 43. 10:51 Jim, didn't you? Channel 43? 10:53 And so, you know what? 10:54 I don't want to do this, it's kind of corny. 10:56 But we've got people watching in Las Vegas right now 10:58 and I just want to say, "Hi, Las Vegas." 11:00 We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. 11:03 You know how you can have a good time in Las Vegas? 11:05 There's two things; share Jesus and keep out of the casinos. 11:09 You go there and you're not going to have a good time. 11:11 Stay away and you can have a happy time. 11:14 And coming up, from the It Is Written point of view, 11:17 we've got our foot down on the accelerator 11:20 when it come to evangelism. 11:21 We've got a series coming up in Loma Linda, California 11:24 very soon in a few weeks. 11:26 And right after that, we go to Paris in France. 11:29 You know that's going to be something. 11:31 Europe is very, very secular. 11:32 I was just there. Very secular. 11:35 Not religious. 11:37 France of all places. 11:38 I was reading about a French mega church. 11:42 Now I can only tell you what I read. 11:45 I was reading about a French mega church. 11:49 Now how big is a mega church in the United States. 11:52 How many people would be going to an American mega church? 11:55 What would you say? 11:57 15 or 20 thousand? 11:58 That's not unreasonable, is it? 11:59 That's right. 12:01 15 or 20 thousand, and maybe more. 12:04 They said the mega church in France, 12:06 and I believe it was Paris, had 200 people attending. 12:13 Isn't that remarkable? 12:15 Yeah, 200 people. 12:18 And that just goes to show that some parts of the world 12:22 are kind of tough and jaded and resistant to the 12:27 message of the gospel. 12:29 But you know, we go to Paris not because we're 12:32 expecting trouble, but because we're expecting people 12:35 to say "yes" to Jesus and "no" to the devil. 12:37 We're expecting people to say, "This is what 12:39 I've been looking for." 12:40 We're expecting someone to say, 12:42 "You know, I read the Bible once," 12:44 or "I've been reading the Bible and I've been having these 12:45 thoughts and the Spirit of God has been leading me. 12:48 And now it makes sense." 12:49 I'm expecting that. 12:50 Somebody once said that anywhere you go, there are 12:53 people looking wistly towards heaven. 12:55 And they would go if only somebody was there 12:57 to show them the way. 12:58 So Paris is going to be a great challenge. 13:00 You know what I've discovered? 13:01 I've discovered that when I tell people we're going to Paris, 13:04 no one looks at me with sympathy. 13:08 No one. 13:09 And I have a hard time convincing people I'm not 13:11 going there for a vacation. 13:13 I'm not going there for a vacation. 13:15 Whether you're convinced or not, it's the truth. 13:18 I'm sure there are worse places to go, but we're going to 13:20 go there and see Jesus do a great work. 13:22 And then later this year, man am I excited about this, 13:24 Dayton, Ohio. 13:26 Dayton, Ohio. 13:27 God is... 13:28 I wish I had time to tell you about what 13:29 God is doing there now. 13:31 You know, if you've shared Jesus, if you've done any 13:34 evangelistic endeavor of any kind, you're excited 13:38 when you find out you're going to a place where there's 13:40 people on the ground working hard and sharing Jesus. 13:42 And the people are excited and they're getting the place ready. 13:45 And they're doing great things. 13:46 That's what's going on in Dayton, Ohio. 13:48 Oh, we've got some wonderful people there. 13:50 Wonderful churches, wonderful church members, 13:52 who are getting busy. 13:53 We've had evangelism training. 13:56 I think it was 220 people have trained to be Bible workers. 14:00 That's not bad. 14:01 In fact, you all should have said amen. 14:03 That's wonderful. 14:04 So anyway, a crowded calendar this year. 14:06 And I wouldn't want to have it any other way. 14:08 I believe that Jesus is coming back soon. 14:11 Can you say amen to that? 14:12 I believe that. 14:13 You know something? 14:15 If I'm wrong, that's not such a bad thing. 14:19 But I don't think I am. 14:20 I think I'm dead right. 14:21 I think Jesus is coming back soon. 14:23 And I believe it's the privilege of us, most of us, many of us. 14:27 It will be our privilege to be able to stand on the 14:29 circle of the earth and look up when Jesus comes and say, 14:32 "Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him. 14:35 And He will save us." 14:37 He is coming back soon. 14:40 Well, let's consider the great controversy. 14:43 Tonight, seeing the big picture. 14:45 I would be honored if you would bow your head with me 14:47 and we will pray together and ask God's blessing. 14:51 Father in heaven, we thank You that we can come to You tonight 14:57 in the name of Jesus. 15:00 All around the world we pause to pray humbly 15:08 to ask that You, the God who upholds all things by the 15:14 Word of His power, would be gracious enough 15:18 to bless us with a powerful moving of Your Holy Spirit. 15:22 I know better than to ask that You would send Your Spirit. 15:25 We're in Your house, Your Spirit is here. 15:28 I'm praying that Your Spirit will work with power 15:31 and that all who speak, those who hear, 15:36 would have hearts that are open to the moving of Your Spirit, 15:39 ears that are open to hearing Your message, 15:43 feet that are open to going where You want us to go, 15:45 and hands that are open to doing Your bidding. 15:49 So bless us, please Lord, we pray. 15:51 These are exciting times to be alive. 15:54 And we sense we are living on the edge of eternity. 15:59 So be with us to that end, please. 16:00 We pray that we might know you more and be blessed. 16:04 And we ask this of You in Jesus' name. 16:06 Please say amen. 16:13 You might not be surprised to hear me say this. 16:16 You may have even heard me say this before. 16:19 But I am convinced that I have two of the most 16:24 wonderful children alive. 16:28 If fact, they may even be the most wonderful children alive. 16:32 Maybe with the exception of your children. 16:36 Or grandchildren. 16:38 But that's what I think. 16:39 I think they're wonderful. 16:40 And whenever I say what I'm about to say next, 16:42 people say, "Oh, you're just being humble." 16:46 I'm not. 16:48 One of the main reasons that my children are wonderful children 16:51 is that they have a wonderful mother. 16:53 There's no doubt about it. 16:55 I just say, "I'll keep out of the way and let you take, 17:00 just do your thing." 17:01 And things are working pretty well. 17:06 I have great kids who have a great mother, 17:09 who also happens to be a wonderful human being 17:11 and my best friend. 17:13 Now you might think that by me starting by saying this 17:15 that I'm in trouble at home. 17:17 I'm not in trouble at home. 17:18 Everything is good. 17:20 As a matter of fact, I was in a super market once 17:23 and I was standing in line at the checkout with a 17:25 big bouquet of flowers in my hand. 17:28 And the lady in... 17:29 She was in front of me or behind me, I'm not sure which one. 17:32 She said, "Uh-ho." 17:35 And I turned and she said, "So what did you do wrong?" 17:41 And I looked at her and I smiled, and I said, 17:44 "Lady, if you buy enough of these, you can do no wrong." 17:51 Anyway, things are alright. 17:54 I'm not in trouble. 17:56 I just happen to have wonderful kids and a wonderful wife. 17:59 That's all. 18:00 And you know how it is with kids. 18:03 Things are sort of seasonal at home. 18:06 I mean, one weekend or one week or one fortnight, 18:11 one two week period, all they want to do is play Monopoly. 18:14 That's all they want to do, is Monopoly. 18:16 And then they might ride their bikes a lot. 18:19 But I don't know what it is. 18:20 For two weeks or three weeks, or a week or a day, 18:22 all they want to do is ride their bicycles. 18:24 That's it, it's like that's the only thing left 18:26 in the world to do. 18:27 Things seem to be seasonal. 18:30 They may want to bounce the ball and play Four Square 18:33 on the back patio. 18:35 And then they forget about it and move on to something else. 18:37 The might want to play Uno. 18:40 It's kind of fun when you get to the age where you can 18:42 play Uno your hardest and still not win. 18:46 And maybe it's not fun, maybe that's not fun. 18:48 Maybe it was better when they were two years old. 18:52 But it's seasonal, you know. 18:54 One day it's one thing, one week it's another thing. 18:56 It's one pursuit, it's one game, it's one pastime. 19:00 I mean, we were geocaching like... 19:02 You know what geocaching is, right? 19:04 If you don't you'll have to Google it. 19:06 We were geocaching... 19:08 If you don't know what geocaching is, 19:10 it's like a treasure hunt. 19:11 You go online and people leave these... 19:12 It's nothing stuff. 19:14 They leave a little thing somewhere and they'll 19:18 give you the coordinates. 19:19 And so you go out with your GPS. 19:20 And you take your GPS around the place and you find the stuff. 19:25 And then you write your name on the log and you say, 19:27 "I was here," you know. 19:29 And then you go on the little website and you say, 19:31 "I was there." 19:33 It's kind of pointless really, but it's fun. 19:35 It's pointlessness with fun. 19:36 You go find stuff and you see things and you discover... 19:40 And it's great if you're a dad because you're with your kids. 19:43 You know, I don't mind watching paint dry if I'm with my kids. 19:46 That's good. 19:48 So we've done that until we've geocached 19:50 ourselves into oblivion. 19:54 Recently we went through another jigsaw puzzle thing. 19:58 Every now and then, someone in the family will just 20:00 get it in their minds that what they need to do, 20:02 what we need to do as a family is a jigsaw puzzle. 20:05 And we've done some nice ones. 20:06 In fact, we did a beautiful one recently with 20:07 dogs on a little pier. 20:09 And my son decided he needed to keep that. 20:11 And so we bought the jigsaw puzzle glue. 20:12 And that one is going to be a keeper. 20:16 You know what I'm really thankful for when 20:18 we put jigsaw puzzles together; a couple of things. 20:20 I'm thankful that my children are very good at it. 20:23 In fact, my daughter and I are very grateful to 20:26 my son and my wife because when we do jigsaw puzzles, 20:30 it's like Melissa and Jacob have ten eyes. 20:33 And they can see just everything. 20:36 I'm looking around for a piece and they're 20:38 grabbing things here and there. 20:40 And they know where they go. 20:41 It's almost intuitive. 20:43 So I'm glad for that. 20:44 But I'm also glad for the second thing. 20:46 I'm glad that when we do jigsaw puzzles, 20:48 there's a picture of what we're trying to do 20:50 on the front of the box. 20:53 You can relate to that? 20:55 I am glad that I can pick up a little piece, 20:59 and I have no idea where it goes, 21:03 but I can look on the box and see; 21:07 ah-ha, that's part of the paw of the dog. 21:12 That's part of the tiger's tail. 21:15 That's a bit of a tree, but not that tree over there. 21:18 That's a piece of the tree up in the top left hand corner. 21:21 All that water looks the same, but there's a little 21:24 ripple in this piece. 21:25 And so I know it goes here. 21:27 When we do jigsaw puzzles, I am appreciative of 21:31 the big picture. 21:35 Because without the big picture, I might be lost. 21:39 I would take a year to put a jigsaw puzzle together 21:43 that might only take us a couple of days. 21:45 You understand. 21:46 And we did this one, in fact, it was the puppies on the pier. 21:49 And they did one better than just the picture on the box. 21:51 Because if there's four of you in a family, like in my family, 21:54 and there's only one box, it's like, "Let me have the box." 21:56 "I need to see the box." 21:57 "Would you give the box back?" 21:59 But we have the box and a little poster 22:03 of the dogs on the pier. 22:05 Two copies of the big picture. 22:08 When you're looking at a puzzle, the big picture can be 22:13 tremendously helpful. 22:16 You get an idea where that little piece fits in. 22:21 You can start making sense of what you've got in your hand 22:26 because you have the context that comes from 22:29 seeing the big picture. 22:33 Now I'd been kicking around Christianity for a little while 22:36 before I actually gave my heart to Jesus and became a Christian. 22:41 I was searching, I was looking, I was seeking. 22:44 I was dabbling a little bit. 22:49 But it wasn't until I saw the big picture 22:54 that Jesus was really able to get a hold of my heart. 22:57 When I gave my life to Christ, I was thankful that I could 23:02 see the big picture. 23:05 Because now the Bible made much more sense to me. 23:09 Now I was able to understand certain subjects that, 23:12 isolated and on their own, I might not have been able 23:14 to get my head around. 23:16 I got the view from a distance. 23:19 I mean, if you go to the zoo and you take a telescope, 23:22 you might look at something and say, "I don't know what that is. 23:24 I'm seeing a patch of gray." 23:27 But if you back off and look through your eye glasses, 23:30 you see that's an elephant in front of you. 23:33 When you get a picture of the whole, a view of the whole 23:38 when you back up, you don't want to get in too close. 23:41 If you've got one piece of the jigsaw puzzle 23:44 and you look at it very close, 23:45 it's of no use to you whatsoever. 23:48 But when you back up just a few steps 23:51 and look through a lens that takes in a full field of view, 23:56 now you're able to make sense of what you're looking at. 24:00 What do you do with the subjects in the Holy Bible? 24:04 How do you find a harmony in the various teachings 24:07 of the Word of God? 24:09 How do you help Genesis to go together with Revelation? 24:11 How does Isaiah and Jeremiah work with John 24:16 and the book of Acts? 24:17 How do we wrestle with, successfully wrestle with, 24:21 the big questions, the pressing questions, 24:24 the difficult questions, life's most challenging questions? 24:29 We see in society today many people have turned their 24:33 back on God and don't want to know anything about God 24:36 because they see a small piece, a tiny sliver 24:41 of the big picture. 24:42 Someone sees suffering in the world and they say, 24:46 "Why does God permit that? 24:48 If God lets that go on, He is unjust and He's unfair in that." 24:51 You know, Steve Jobs, the Apple computer man who died recently, 24:55 Steve Jobs was raised as a Christian. 24:57 I don't know if you knew that. 24:58 He was well known as being a some kind of 25:00 Buddhist sort of a man. 25:02 But he was raised by people who took him to a Christian church. 25:06 And one day he took a cover, I believe it was TIME Magazine 25:09 or LIFE Magazine, some magazine, he took it with him to church. 25:11 And one that front cover of the magazine, there was a picture of 25:15 starving children in Biafra. 25:18 And some of you remember Biafra, and some of you don't. 25:20 Biafra was a part of Nigeria. 25:23 It's just part of Nigeria today. 25:26 And there were tremendous challenges in Biafra, 25:28 lots of starving people in Biafra. 25:31 And Steve Jobs took the magazine to church and he asked 25:33 his pastor, "What about this? 25:35 Does God know what's going on?" 25:37 And the pastor said to him, "Steve, I can assure you that 25:40 God knows what's going on." 25:41 And he pressed him a little bit further. 25:43 And he asked him, "If God knows what's going on 25:45 then why doesn't He do something about it?" 25:46 And I wish I could remember the pastor's exact words. 25:48 It's in the biography on Jobs written by Walter Isaacson. 25:54 And Isaacson reported about this and he wrote it in his book. 25:57 And when the pastor gave Steve Jobs the answer to the question, 26:01 Jobs was not satisfied. 26:03 Jobs or Jobs? 26:05 Jobs? 26:06 Okay. 26:08 Jobs. 26:09 I see J-o-b and it's a man's name, I want to call him Job. 26:12 The Bible, you know. 26:13 Okay, Steve Jobs. 26:14 Someone is tearing their hair out right now. 26:17 Steve Jobs. 26:19 Jobs asked the man about this difficulty in Biafra. 26:25 And when the pastor was done, Steve Jobs said, 26:29 "If that's what God is like, then I don't want to have 26:35 anything to do with Him." 26:37 And he left church and never went back. 26:43 I mean, somebody that talented seems to me to be a tremendous 26:47 waste to the cause of Christ. 26:49 To have someone working at odds with Jesus rather than 26:52 working with Jesus. 26:54 Anyone's soul who has decided not to walk with Jesus 26:56 is a great waste. 26:59 You see, Jobs didn't see the big picture. 27:03 I remember hearing that Oprah Winfrey was in church one day. 27:06 This is what I read. 27:07 I know you can't believe everything you read, 27:08 but this seemed to be legitimate. 27:11 And she heard one day the pastor saying that 27:13 God was a jealous God. 27:15 And she didn't like that. 27:17 Didn't seem to make much sense to her. 27:18 And so she kind of severed her ties with 27:20 Christianity right about there. 27:22 That is, as a practicing, fully paid up, 27:24 go to church on Sunday, Christian. 27:26 She was done with it right then. She was done. 27:29 I spoke with a lady one day. 27:31 And as I stood at the door of her apartment in the South, 27:33 I was at her apartment at the door, 27:36 I noticed that there was something a little bit 27:38 different about her. 27:40 There were several things different about her. 27:42 Her clothing was different, her jewelry was different, 27:45 her make-up was different, her hair was different. 27:47 Just different. 27:48 I mean she wasn't a freak, she wasn't way out. 27:51 You wouldn't be scared of her. 27:53 But she was a little bit different, 27:54 if I can just say that. 27:56 And as I got to talking to her, we got onto a discussion 28:00 of a spiritual nature, she said, "Well, I use to go to church. 28:03 And now I don't, but I do sort of." 28:07 And I asked her about that. 28:08 I don't know what that means, you know. 28:09 So I said, "What do you mean that you use to go to church 28:11 and now you don't, but you do sort of?" 28:13 And she talked around it and talked this way 28:15 and over it and under it. 28:16 Anyway, when she said it again, I said, "Mary Ellen..." 28:19 Her name was Mary Ellen. I remember her name. 28:21 "Mary Ellen, you've got to tell me what you mean. 28:25 You don't go to church, but you do sort of." 28:29 She said, "Well John, I was raised in a hell fire and 28:34 brimstone spitting..." 28:36 And then she named the denomination 28:37 "...church." 28:38 "A hellfire and brimstone spitting...church." 28:42 "And I would go to church every Sunday and the pastor would 28:44 talk about a God who would take the sinners and burn them 28:47 and roast them and toast them and fry them 28:48 and frazzle them forever. 28:50 Old people, little babies. It didn't matter. 28:52 The lost were going to burn forever. 28:58 I decided that if that is what God is like, 28:59 I'd be better off without Him. 29:01 So I am done with going to church. 29:03 Except I still go, sort of." 29:09 She said, "John, I don't want to frighten you or anything. 29:13 But these days, I'm a witch." 29:18 And you know, when people say that kind of thing to you, 29:20 you try to act cool. 29:22 Like everyone you meet is a witch. 29:24 "Oh yeah. I'm fine with that." 29:29 And she said... 29:30 Well actually, I'll tell you what I did. 29:32 You'll think this is funny, but I really did this. 29:34 When she said, "I'm a witch," I said, "Oh." 29:39 I looked around for a broomstick. 29:40 I honestly did. I looked around. 29:43 All there was, was a little red car out 29:44 in front of her apartment. 29:45 No broomstick. 29:47 This dear lady, and she was a sweetheart... 29:51 And then I understood the hair and the make-up and the jewelry 29:54 and the clothing, all just a little bit different. 29:55 She was a witch. 29:56 Told me about her witch stuff and the witch church 29:59 that she went to, and so forth. 30:01 And she was driven away, she was driven away from Jesus 30:06 because someone had presented to her with just a small piece. 30:09 And worse than that, a misrepresentation of 30:15 what God was like. 30:17 See, what she had was a small piece. 30:21 There's a truth about hell and there is a real hell. 30:24 But you've got to step back from that and see if you can 30:27 make that piece of the puzzle fit with the rest of the puzzle. 30:30 And when you have the big picture, you understand now 30:35 starving children in Biafra, you understand God being a 30:38 jealous God, and you understand hell fire in its proper context. 30:43 When you see the big picture. 30:47 How can we line up the various teachings of the Bible 30:50 in some sort of a harmony? 30:52 How can we make sense of the world in which we 30:55 find ourselves today? 30:56 How can we make sense of this war that we seem to be in? 31:01 In life it seems as though we take one step forward 31:03 and two steps backward sometimes. 31:05 There is injustice. 31:07 It's still white hot across the fruited plain and 31:10 around the world. 31:11 There is oppression and there is depression. 31:14 There are people struggling and there are people battling. 31:17 And then there are unemployed people who are well qualified. 31:20 And there are people who bought homes in good faith 31:22 and they now owe way more on the home than the home is worth. 31:27 I've sat in the homes of people who've told me the numbers, 31:30 and it boggles your mind. 31:33 We have all of that in the world and we say, "How does that work 31:37 with the idea that God is love?" 31:40 Well I'm going to encourage you to take your Bible tonight. 31:42 We'll look at some passages in Scripture 31:43 that may indeed be familiar. 31:45 If they're familiar, then you can say, "Praise the Lord." 31:47 And if they're not, well you can say, "Praise the Lord." 31:50 We'll start in the book of Isaiah chapter 14. 31:53 Isaiah, Isaiah 14. 31:55 Oh, it was so liberating. I was recently in England. 31:57 It was so liberating. 31:58 I was able to say, "Isaiah." 32:03 When I came to the United States from New Zealand 32:05 and I was preaching, I would say to people, 32:08 "Now would you turn with me in your Bibles 32:09 to the book of Isaiah." 32:10 And I would turn to Isaiah and start reading. 32:12 And people would be looking like this and 32:14 shrugging their shoulders. 32:15 And the husband would nudge the wife and he'd ask her, 32:17 and she wouldn't know. 32:18 And they'd turn to the front of the Bible and start looking 32:21 for the book of Isaiah. 32:25 So to make it work; when in Rome do as the Romans. 32:29 Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12. 32:32 Here's what the Bible says. 32:34 Isaiah 14:12, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, 32:37 son of the morning! 32:38 How art thou cut down to the ground, 32:40 which didst weaken the nations!" 32:42 Now let's stop right there for a moment. 32:44 I think we can understand that when God created the universe, 32:46 He created it in perfection. 32:48 We can understand that, right? 32:49 Everything was good when He created the world. 32:52 And it's pretty evident that the world was here kind of 32:56 after some of the rest of the universe. 32:58 When He created the world, God said, 33:01 "It is good." "It is good." "It is good." "It is good." 33:03 Then He even said, "It is very good." 33:06 He created a perfect universe. 33:07 There was no sin, there was no sadness. 33:09 There was no corruption, there was no decay. 33:11 No none of that. 33:13 So in Isaiah chapter 14, we see something remarkable. 33:16 "How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. 33:18 How are you cut down to the ground, 33:20 which didst weaken the nations. 33:21 For you have said in your heart, 'I will ascend into heaven. 33:25 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. 33:28 I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation 33:31 on the sides of the north. 33:32 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. 33:35 I will be like the Most High.'" 33:38 Lucifer said that. 33:41 Now "Lucifer," the word means, light bearer. 33:44 This brother dwelled in the presence of God. 33:46 You read a somehow parallel passage in Ezekiel chapter 28. 33:51 You discover this being was a covering cherub. 33:54 He was beautiful, he was favored. 33:57 Highly favored. 33:59 And then he went off the rails, and craziness happened. 34:03 As matter of fact, I'm going to go with you to the book 34:07 of Genesis and see what happened when Lucifer came down here. 34:10 The Bible says in Revelation chapter 12, 34:12 Lucifer came down to the earth. 34:14 And look what happened when he did. 34:16 Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1. 34:18 "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field 34:21 which the Lord God had made. 34:24 And he said to the woman, 'Yea, hath God said, 34:26 "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"'" 34:29 Notice what he did. 34:30 "Has God really said that?" 34:32 Had God said it, yes or no? 34:33 Yes He had. 34:35 And He meant what He said. 34:36 You know something? It's interesting. 34:38 Lucifer will often come along and take the plainest statements 34:41 of the Word of God and twist them, 34:43 and question them, and second guess them, 34:47 and cast doubt over them. 34:49 Plain statements. 34:51 He did it right here. 34:52 "The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of 34:54 the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is 34:57 in the midst of the garden, God has said, 34:59 "You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, 35:01 lest ye die."' 35:03 And the serpent said, 'You shall not surely die. 35:10 Because God knows that in the day you eat that fruit, 35:12 your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods 35:17 knowing good and evil.' 35:21 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food 35:23 and that it was pleasant to the eyes..." 35:26 You know, we make too many decisions based on 35:28 what's pleasant to the eyes. 35:34 "...and a tree desired to make one wise, 35:38 she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. 35:41 And gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 35:46 The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that 35:49 they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and 35:52 made themselves aprons." 35:54 There's a lot in that passage. 35:55 But look what happened. 35:58 Lucifer decided that he would lift himself up 36:01 and wanted to sit in God's place. 36:03 Clearly, that just didn't fly with God. 36:05 There was war in heaven. 36:09 "Michael and His angels fought against the dragon. 36:11 The dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not. 36:14 Neither was there place found anymore in heaven." 36:16 So we see the big picture. 36:17 Long ago there was war in heaven. 36:19 No, you didn't have anything to do with that war. 36:20 No, you're not to blame. You're not implicated. 36:23 It wasn't your fault, that's true. 36:24 I've had people say to me, "I didn't ask to be 36:26 put here in this world." 36:28 Well you didn't ask to be ransomed either. 36:29 And Jesus died on a cross to ransom you. 36:31 So you ought to be glad about that. 36:33 Long ago there was war in heaven. 36:36 Lucifer, for some inexplicable reason, decided to 36:39 rebel against God. 36:40 He was cast out of heaven. He came to the earth. 36:44 And full of hate and full of malignity. 36:47 Malignity. That's right, isn't it? 36:52 Sometimes words don't seem right. 36:53 Full of hate and malignity. 36:56 Full of a miserable hatred for God and everything God loves. 37:02 Lucifer came here to this earth determined to deface, 37:09 or even eradicate from this earth, the image of God. 37:15 Very important. 37:16 God said, "Let us make man in Our..." What? 37:21 "...in Our image." 37:23 So as long as there were people walking on this earth, 37:25 Lucifer was reminded of God's goodness. 37:28 And God's love and God's kindness and God's fairness. 37:31 And it was a rebuke to him; the hateful one, the proud one, 37:35 the deceitful one, the lying one, the father of lies. 37:38 It was a rebuke to him, you understand. 37:41 And here he came, guns blazing. 37:44 Gunning at the thing that God loved more than anything. 37:49 The jewel of creation; Adam and Eve. 37:51 Our original grandparents. 37:53 Lucifer came for them, Satan came for them. 37:55 And they fell, and they fell into sin. 37:59 And from then till now, that same devil has been doing 38:03 everything he can to win entirely this planet. 38:07 Now thank God we're going to get to the 38:09 good news in just a moment. 38:10 Revelation chapter 13, let's see where it goes. 38:12 Revelation chapter 13. 38:15 Where is the big picture leading us? 38:17 Revelation chapter 13. 38:19 We're going to start in chapter 13 verse 1. 38:24 Revelation chapter 13 verse 1. 38:26 This is where John writes, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, 38:28 and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and 38:32 ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads 38:36 the name of blasphemy. 38:37 The beast which I saw was like unto a leopard..." 38:39 And so on. Let's get to verse three. 38:41 "I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; 38:44 and his deadly wound was healed." 38:46 And who? Can you tell me please? 38:48 All the world did what? 38:50 Wondered after who? 38:52 The whole world was swept up in delusion and deception. 38:57 We drop down to verse 11. 38:58 "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. 39:00 He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke 39:03 just like a dragon speaks. 39:04 And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, 39:08 and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship 39:12 the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 39:16 And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire 39:19 come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." 39:21 Let's drop down to verse 16. 39:25 "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, 39:29 free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand 39:32 or in their foreheads. 39:33 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, 39:37 or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." 39:41 There is a battle raging now. 39:46 Long ago an angry devil decided, or a jealous devil decided 39:52 that he wanted to sit in God's place and receive the worship 39:55 that only God was due. 39:58 I imagine, the Bible doesn't give us the details, but I've 40:02 got to imagine that God went the extra mile with Lucifer. 40:06 You don't think that Lucifer just had a thought 40:08 and God took him by the hand like a principle getting 40:10 a rowdy school boy. 40:12 Now I don't know anything about that, but grabbing a rowdy 40:15 school boy by the upper arm and saying, 40:16 "You need to come with me now." 40:19 Lucifer had an errant thought one day and God just booted him. 40:23 Wouldn't have been like that. 40:25 I imagine God pled with him. 40:26 I imagine God reasoned with him. 40:28 And I'm being honest and telling you that I imagine this. 40:32 I imagine God did everything He could. 40:36 But Lucifer hardened his heart in sin, and rebellion 40:38 grew up, and there was no turning back. 40:40 And he was cast out of heaven, He came to this earth. 40:42 And misery loves company. 40:44 He spotted Adam and Eve who were not miserable. 40:46 And he said, "I would feel so much better if they 40:47 were miserable like me." 40:49 And he deceived them. 40:50 The Bible says Eve was beguiled. 40:52 Now they were on the opposite side of the ledger; 40:54 opposed to God, separated from God, enemies of God. 40:57 At enmity with God because sin had now 41:01 entered into their being. 41:02 And they were now, rather than walking in union with God, 41:05 God turns up and they ran. 41:06 We didn't read that verse in Genesis 3. 41:08 It was the next verse. They ran. 41:10 They hear God coming and they go, and they take off. 41:12 Can't be around God because sin has done its dirty work. 41:17 And as we consider this big picture, 41:21 we consider, we see, we understand 41:23 what is going on in this world. 41:24 There's an angry devil, a jealous devil. 41:26 He's after worship. 41:27 We read in Revelation chapter 13, he's after worship. 41:30 You can blame God when a tornado tears through town if you want. 41:33 Or you can say, "That's the devil doing his dirty work." 41:37 You can wonder when you see strange things going on 41:39 in the world today, or you can say, "Yes, there is a master 41:42 conspirator at work." 41:44 And he's seeking to line this world up like so many dominos. 41:49 And at the right time, he's going to flip that first one 41:51 and everything is going to fall. 41:53 Maybe like a house of cards might have been 41:54 a better illustration. 41:57 There is a battle raging, a warfare. 42:00 We look at this big picture, this great controversy. 42:03 Imagine, if you would, a violin playing a note. 42:07 A violin. 42:09 You're in a house, maybe, with many rooms. 42:11 And you enter in a room, and a violin is playing a note. 42:15 I like the violin. 42:16 I like the violin to play more than a note though. 42:18 I go into the next room and there's a cello. 42:20 There's my friend, Tim, who's taking cello lessons. 42:23 And he's beautifully playing one note on a cello. 42:26 I would prefer if he played other notes, 42:28 but he's playing one note. 42:29 I go to another room, and perhaps there's a flute 42:34 playing a note. 42:35 And the next room, a trumpet or a French horn 42:38 or a clarinet or an oboe. 42:40 Maybe a timpani is beating in one place and a glockenspiel 42:44 doing its thing in another. 42:46 And apart, they don't make much beauty. 42:52 I'm not saying a violin cannot make much beauty. 42:54 But remember, I qualified this by saying they're 42:56 playing just one note, maybe two. 42:58 Not much. 42:59 Bring them together now, bring them together 43:05 and now you've got something beautiful taking place. 43:09 When we look at the Bible, a thought here, 43:12 a thought there, a doctrine there, a teaching there, 43:15 a question in some other place, 43:18 this can make about as much beautiful music 43:21 as instruments hidden away in various rooms playing one note. 43:25 But bring them together, the big picture, 43:28 maybe the orchestra under the leadership of a conductor, 43:31 now you've got some harmony, now you've got something 43:34 beautiful taking place. 43:35 When you begin to understand the big picture in the Bible, 43:38 you can start to make sense of questions. 43:41 You can start to answer questions. 43:43 You can take ideas and say, "I see how they fit. 43:46 I see where they go." 43:47 We go to Ephesians chapter 6 and God shines a little extra 43:51 light on what we see taking place in the world today. 43:54 Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12. 43:57 It says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, 43:59 but against principalities, against powers, 44:02 against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 44:04 against spiritual wickedness in high places." 44:06 There is a war taking place. A war. 44:09 You know what, I'm going to read you a little quote that I 44:11 came across yesterday. 44:13 My wife shared this with me. 44:14 Was it my wife? I think so. 44:16 "We are on the earth as combatants. 44:19 This is no time or place for us to be negligent, 44:21 indifferent, or careless. 44:22 We have a heaven to win and a hell to shun. 44:25 We are in an enemies country." 44:29 This is a hostile place. 44:32 You understand why you have these lousy days. 44:34 You understand why the devil seems to be 44:37 prodding you and poking you. 44:38 We're in a hostile place. We're in enemy territory. 44:41 Let me read this. 44:42 "Every Christian should understand that there is a 44:45 decided warfare going on between the chosen people 44:47 of God and the powers of darkness. 44:50 When men are content to live merely for this world, 44:53 the inclination of the heart unites with the suggestions of 44:56 the enemy, and his bidding is done. 45:00 But when they seek to leave the black banner of the 45:02 power of darkness, and range themselves under the 45:05 bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel, the struggle begins, 45:08 and the warfare is carried on in the sight of 45:10 the universe of heaven. 45:11 Everyone who fights on the side of right 45:13 must fight hand to hand with the enemy." 45:15 There is an enemy. 45:18 And understanding the great controversy; it's not really the 45:21 great controversy between the enemy and us. 45:24 It's the great controversy between Christ and Satan. 45:28 Because, you know, as soon as there was sin, 45:30 there was a Savior. 45:31 And you go way back to the beginning and 45:33 what did the devil do? 45:34 The devil said, "Yea, hath God said..." 45:37 "Hath God, is that really what God meant? 45:41 You know what God is doing? 45:42 He's keeping good things from you. 45:44 He knows if you get your hands on that fruit, 45:46 man, you'd know some stuff. 45:47 Your eyes would be opened. 45:48 You would be like Him. 45:51 And God doesn't want that." 45:53 Isn't it interesting that Satan is saying, 45:56 "God doesn't want you wanting to be like Him." 46:00 He knew that from experience. 46:03 "So eat the fruit. 46:04 Everything will be so much better because 46:06 God is holding out on you." 46:08 And you know, I cannot understand why Eve fell. 46:12 I just don't get it. 46:14 Mind you, if people like you and me don't get why Eve fell, 46:17 maybe we should start asking the question, 46:19 "Why is it that we fall?" 46:21 If we think there was no excuse for her, 46:23 there is certainly no excuse for us. 46:25 She fell because there's a battle going on. 46:29 Satan seeks to misrepresent God. 46:32 Jesus steps in. 46:34 What did Jesus come to this world to do? 46:36 I know the classic answer, the textbook answer, 46:38 it's a good answer. 46:39 He came to this world to save us from our sins. 46:41 But you know something? 46:42 There is a more important reason why Jesus came to this earth. 46:45 More important. I have that on good authority. 46:48 More important than dying for our sins, Jesus came to this 46:51 earth to show the universe what His Father is really like. 46:55 More important. 46:56 So before we think that salvation is all about us, 47:01 and really it isn't; it's all about God. 47:05 In coming to this earth, Jesus demonstrated what God was like, 47:10 what the Father was truly like. 47:12 Answering finally and forever the accusations made 47:15 by the devil, and anybody else who wants to line up behind him, 47:19 accusing God of being unfair, unjust, deceitful, 47:22 deceptive, untrue. 47:25 Jesus would come to this earth and demonstrate to the universe 47:29 what God is really like and what God can really do 47:33 in the lives of people who have given themselves over to Him. 47:37 There is a controversy raging, burning. 47:41 It's a controversy between Christ and Satan. 47:44 Satan says, "God isn't good. Follow me." 47:48 And you know what he does? 47:49 He uses truth, some truth, he uses lies, he uses threats, 47:53 he uses flattery. 47:55 He uses just everything he can. 47:58 Jesus, on the other hand, uses truth and love. 48:01 Truth and love. 48:02 Jesus says, "If you will just follow Me, 48:05 if you'll just open up your heart, if you'll just 48:10 consider the truth of My word, then you'll know that there's 48:13 one place to stand in this great controversy." 48:16 And that's right where Jesus stands. 48:19 There is a battle raging. 48:20 I'll share a little story with you in the time we have left 48:23 in 2 Kings chapter 6 that helps us understand 48:26 that there is a story behind the story. 48:31 Behind the tragedies in the world there is a story, 48:36 there is a great controversy playing out. 48:39 Behind the false doctrines that are being spread around 48:44 Christianity there is a story, there is a 48:46 great controversy playing out. 48:48 You know, there's a reason the devil told Mary Ellen 48:51 that God's going to burn the babies forever and ever 48:53 and ever and ever. 48:54 There's a reason. 48:56 Because he knew that this woman with a thinking mind 48:59 would come to the place where she would say, 49:01 "I don't want to have anything to do with that God." 49:04 See, misrepresenting the character of God led 49:06 that dear lady out. 49:08 And not just out, but all the way into the arms of the devil 49:11 who was just waiting for her like this, "Come to daddy." 49:15 And she ran into his arms and embraced him and said, 49:17 "I think this is better than that." 49:21 Frankly, she was right. 49:24 Frankly, she was right. 49:25 The idea that God is a monster; terrible idea. 49:28 It has made more atheists than any other false teaching 49:31 you'll ever find. 49:32 2 Kings chapter 6, pick it up in verse.. 49:34 Where are we? Verse 8. 49:36 "The king of Syria warred against Israel, 49:39 and took counsel with his servants, saying, 49:41 'In such and such a place shall be my camp.'" 49:45 Alright. 49:46 "The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, 49:48 'Beware that you do not pass such a place; 49:50 for there the Syrians are come down.'" 49:53 Now you got that right? 49:54 The king of Syria said, "Let's put our camp here." 49:57 And the prophet told the king of Israel, "Don't go there 50:01 because the Syrians have their camp there." 50:05 "And the king of Israel..." 50:06 Oh, I think we read that. 50:07 No we didn't. 50:08 "The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God 50:11 told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, 50:15 not once nor twice." 50:17 You can imagine this must have been frustrating 50:19 for the king of Syria. 50:20 Every time he had a plan, it seemed like the Israelites 50:22 were a step ahead. 50:24 And how could that be? 50:26 "Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled, 50:29 sore troubled for this thing." 50:32 Now if you were to find a colloquialism for that phrase, 50:36 "sore troubled," you could probably find a colorful one. 50:39 He was sore troubled. 50:42 Where are we? 50:44 "And he called his servants and said to them, 50:46 'Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?'" 50:50 "I've got a traitor here. I am ticked off. 50:53 Somebody within my ranks is telling them 50:56 what our plans are." 50:58 "And one of his servants said, 'None, my lord, O king. 51:00 But Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, tells the 51:04 king of Israel the words that thou speakest 51:06 in thy bedchamber.'" 51:11 That's fascinating. 51:12 You see, ladies and gentlemen, there is something that's 51:14 going on behind the scenes. 51:17 We see this. 51:19 We don't see behind the dimension that separates us 51:21 from that unseen spiritual world. 51:24 And while that man thought that he was sharing his 51:28 secrets in private, he didn't realize that there was a 51:31 Watcher and a Holy One hearing and taking note of 51:34 everything that was being said and repeating that into the 51:37 heart of Elisha the prophet. 51:38 You see, there's a battle going on. 51:41 We're not just here and that's that. 51:44 We are the participants in a titanic spiritual struggle 51:47 that involves the entire universe. 51:51 "He said, 'Go and spy where he is that I may 51:53 send and fetch him.'" 51:56 You know, I love the power in the old 52:00 renderings of the Scripture. 52:02 But I had to look that word up. 52:03 Surely he didn't mean fetch. 52:05 I watched my brother... My brother. 52:07 I was about to call him my dog. 52:08 I was watching my son the other day play fetch 52:11 with a dog. 52:12 It was cool. 52:13 We were walking along a path in a park. 52:16 And a dog just ran up to him and plopped a 52:20 tennis ball at his feet. 52:21 A dog we had never met before. 52:23 And looked up at him as if to say, "You know what to do." 52:27 And so he would throw that ball, the dog would run after it. 52:31 It was a Border Collie. 52:32 Grab that ball and bring it back. 52:34 That's fetch. 52:35 No, that's not the fetch that he was talking about here. 52:37 He meant apprehend him, arrest him, take him, grab him. 52:41 Get him. 52:42 Fetch him, will you. 52:46 "It was told him, saying, 'Behold, he is in Dothan.' 52:49 Therefore he sent to Dothan horses, and chariots, 52:53 and a great host. 52:54 And they came by night, and compassed the city about. 52:58 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early 53:00 and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city 53:03 both with horses and chariots. 53:04 And his servant said to him, 'Alas, my master! 53:08 How shall we do?'" 53:12 The servant was scared stiff. 53:14 He saw the enemy army come and he realized when he did a 53:19 head count, "They be more than we. 53:22 They are mightier, they are stronger. 53:24 Our goose is cooked." 53:29 But he forgot there's a great controversy raging. 53:32 There is something going on behind the scenes. 53:36 You see, Satan is jealous for his own glory. 53:41 He wants to misrepresent God and manipulate the truth. 53:44 And maneuver in such a way as your heart will be snatched off, 53:51 and left to wonder in such a way that you're easy 53:54 pickings for the enemy of souls. 53:55 Easy. 53:56 The big picture tells us that long ago there was 53:59 war in heaven; Satan rebelled. 54:00 He has come down, here he is making war. 54:02 He will use any means he can to get you away from Jesus. 54:08 He will lie and he will misrepresent. 54:11 And he'll do it all. 54:13 On the other hand Jesus says, "Oh no, wait a minute. 54:15 The Word of God is truth." 54:17 And He fights with that. 54:18 The Spirit of God works in your heart. 54:21 Jesus came to this earth and lived a perfectly good life 54:23 to show you what God is really like. 54:26 Jesus said, "If you have seen Me, you have..." What? 54:29 "...seen the Father." 54:30 There are people who want to talk about God 54:32 as though He's unjust and unfair. 54:34 Look at Jesus. 54:35 If you can just figure out what Jesus is like, 54:38 you know what our heavenly Father is like. 54:41 And He's here on this earth, He was here on this earth, 54:44 representing God accurately. 54:47 Lifting up those who are fallen, 54:50 straightening out those who are crooked, 54:52 forgiving those who are erring, 54:53 healing the sick and raising the dead, 54:56 demonstrating to us that God is a good God. 54:59 There's a battle raging. 55:00 We don't always see what's going on behind the scenes. 55:04 "Alas, alas, master. There's more of them than us. 55:07 We're in trouble out here." 55:09 "And he said, 'Fear not. 55:10 For they that be with us are more than 55:13 they that be with them.'" 55:15 "How's that? Do the math, man. 55:18 There's more out there than here." 55:20 "And Elisha prayed and said, 'Lord, I pray thee, 55:22 open his eyes, that he may see.'" 55:24 What a prayer. 55:26 "The Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw. 55:28 And behold, the mountain was full of horses 55:30 and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 55:33 When he saw that, that's all he needed to see. 55:36 There's a prayer, "Lord, open his eyes." 55:41 He appealed to God, "Let this young man see 55:46 what's really going on out there." 55:48 In this great controversy, friends, maybe that's all 55:51 we need to pray. 55:52 Maybe that's all we need... 55:53 I shouldn't say that's all we need to pray, but maybe that's 55:56 the most important prayer that we can pray, 55:58 "Lord, open my eyes." 56:01 If my eyes are open, then I'm going to see 56:02 whatever is going on. 56:03 God is not asleep at the wheel, but He's in control. 56:07 I can pray when my finances are a challenge, 56:11 "Lord, open my eyes," and then I'll see that God is in control 56:14 even though I may feel as though I'm in trouble financially. 56:18 Peter slept in the prison cell. 56:20 Appearances said, "I'm going to die. 56:22 James just died, I'm in prison. 56:24 I'm next." 56:25 But his eyes were opened and he could see that God 56:28 had a plan and God was in control. 56:30 Daniel went to the lion's den. 56:31 He was going to be lunch for a hungry cat. 56:34 Appearances said he was doomed. 56:36 But his eyes were opened and he could see. 56:38 Lord, open my eyes. Open our eyes, Lord. 56:40 Let us see that when relationships are falling apart, 56:44 God is still in control. 56:46 I spoke to a man the other day. 56:49 They told him he had pancreatic cancer. 56:52 Now we both know, pancreatic cancer; that's a tough one. 56:54 Few people get through that in one piece. 56:56 I said to him, "When you were battling with that 56:59 terrible diagnosis, did your faith in God help you?" 57:03 He said, "My faith in God got me through." 57:06 You see, the diagnosis said, "You might die." 57:08 Faith in God said, "My eyes are open, 57:10 and I can see that whether I live or die, God is in control." 57:16 Thank God the man is alive and well. 57:18 And best of all, his eyes are open. 57:21 Let our eyes be opened in this great controversy. 57:24 That no matter what we see, behind what we see 57:27 God is in control. |
Revised 2014-12-17