Give Me the Bible

How Can I Know My Bible Is True?

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox

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Series Code: GMTB

Program Code: GMTB000043


00:19 Hello and welcome to Give Me The Bible
00:22 with Pastor Kenneth Cox.
00:23 We're so happy that you could
00:25 join with us in this live presentation
00:28 coming to you from the 3ABN Worship Center
00:32 right here in Thompsonville, Illinois.
00:36 And we are just so happy that we can be with you.
00:39 This series on this particular weekend is about the Bible.
00:43 And today the subject is going to be
00:47 How Can I Know My Bible Is True?
00:50 Now I learned to love the Bible,
00:53 as many of you have learned to love your Bible,
00:56 from my mother.
00:57 My mother read her Bible and studied it every single day.
01:01 I'm also happy to tell you
01:03 that my children have had that same example
01:05 from their mother... who has read the Bible through
01:09 at least 15 times that I know of...
01:11 and probably a number of times more.
01:14 So it's been a beautiful relationship that I've had
01:19 with those women that I've loved
01:21 who love the Bible so much.
01:22 But how can I know that the Bible is really true?
01:27 And in this presentation Pastor Kenneth Cox
01:31 is going to answer that question.
01:33 I remember a song: My Mother's Old Bible Is True.
01:37 From cover to cover... all true.
01:40 And I accept that 100% by faith.
01:44 But today, Pastor Cox is going to show us
01:48 some reasons that we can add proof to our faith.
01:54 It's a wonderful presentation.
01:56 Please stay tuned; call your friends.
01:58 Invite them to join us on 3ABN
02:01 as they watch this presentation today.
02:04 But before we hear from Pastor Cox,
02:06 Joe Pearles from Nashville, Tennessee,
02:10 a man who has sung on all kinds of stages all over this country,
02:15 is going to sing for us God On The Mountain.
02:28 Life is easy
02:31 when you're up on a mountain.
02:36 And things go wrong sometimes
02:40 when life's at its best.
02:44 It's down in the valley
02:48 of trials and temptations
02:53 that's when things
02:56 are really put to the test.
03:00 For the God on the mountain
03:05 is still God in the valley.
03:09 When things go wrong
03:13 He'll make them right.
03:17 For the God in the good times
03:21 is still God in the bad times.
03:25 The God in the day
03:29 is still God in the night.
03:34 You talk of faith
03:38 when you're up on a mountain.
03:42 But talk comes easy
03:46 when life's at its best.
03:50 It's down in the valley
03:54 of trials and temptations
03:58 That's when faith
04:02 is really put to the test.
04:06 For the God on the mountain
04:10 is still God in the valley.
04:14 When things go wrong
04:18 He'll make them right.
04:23 For the God in the good times
04:27 is still God in the bad times.
04:31 The God in the day
04:35 is still God in the night.
04:39 The God in the day
04:43 is still God in the night.
04:53 Thank you, Joe Pearles.
04:56 Glad that each of you are here today.
04:59 Want to welcome you.
05:02 Those of you that are joining us by television or radio,
05:06 for some of you it may be morning.
05:09 For some of you it could be
05:10 the middle of the day.
05:12 For some of you, it could be evening.
05:14 But wherever you are, we're just glad you're here
05:17 and joining us. Appreciate it.
05:19 Hope that the program will bless you in a special way
05:23 as we look at God's Word.
05:25 This particular series that we're doing
05:28 in Give Me The Bible
05:30 is on the Bible
05:32 entitled Your Bible and You.
05:34 So far in the series we've looked at two things.
05:37 We've looked at where your Bible came from
05:40 and we've looked at which translation is the best.
05:43 Those are the things that we've looked at so far.
05:46 Our next session will be entitled
05:49 What The Bible Can Do For You.
05:52 In other words, why read it?
05:54 Why should I spend any time with it?
05:57 What can it do for me personally?
06:00 That's what we're going to take a look at
06:02 in the next presentation.
06:04 And where you can know that you can go to God's Word,
06:08 find certain things that it will do for you.
06:10 So we hope you'll join us for that.
06:12 Today we're looking at...
06:17 How can I know my Bible is true?
06:20 What you want to look for is I'm going to share with you
06:23 four ways that you can know the Bible is true.
06:27 You want to watch for those four ways.
06:29 Because if you can believe and know without question
06:34 that it's true, then the promises that are made
06:38 in scripture you can place faith in and you can follow it
06:42 with confidence. And so it's very important
06:45 that you understand and know that it's true.
06:47 I've mentioned a couple times that the disciples
06:50 the thing that sparked as the Holy Spirit led them
06:55 and they went out and proclaimed the Word of God
06:57 was they understood and they knew without question
07:01 that He had risen from the grave.
07:03 They had been witnesses to that,
07:05 and it filled their lives and souls as they went out
07:09 and preached all the different places.
07:11 So if you and I can know without question
07:14 the Bible is true,
07:17 well then it gives us the faith to move ahead
07:19 and believe it and walk according to it.
07:23 So we're glad that you're here today.
07:25 Joe Pearles has
07:30 been with us for a number of years singing for us.
07:33 Always blesses my soul.
07:38 And today he's going to sing probably the...
07:40 of all the gospel songs that have been written...
07:44 probably the most popular requested of any gospel song
07:49 that's ever been written is the song:
07:52 In The Garden.
08:02 I come to the garden
08:06 alone,
08:10 while the dew
08:13 is still on the roses.
08:19 And the voice I hear
08:23 falling on my ear
08:28 the Son of God
08:32 discloses.
08:38 And He walks with me
08:43 and He talks with me.
08:48 And He tells me I am
08:53 His own.
08:57 And the joy we share
09:01 as we tarry there...
09:06 None other
09:08 has ever known.
09:33 He speaks
09:35 and the sound of His voice
09:41 is so sweet
09:43 the birds hush
09:46 their singing.
09:50 And the melody
09:54 that He gave to me
09:59 within my heart
10:03 is ringing.
10:08 And He walks with me
10:13 and He talks with me.
10:18 And He tells me I am
10:23 His own.
10:27 And the joy we share
10:32 as we tarry there...
10:36 None other
10:38 has ever known.
10:44 And the joy we share
10:49 as we tarry there...
10:56 None other
10:58 has ever
11:02 known.
11:24 Our Heavenly Father,
11:27 We'd like to take this time to thank you
11:31 for Your Word.
11:33 We pray that as we open it today
11:36 that we may see... be convinced...
11:42 that indeed it is true.
11:45 And that as we accept the truthfulness of Your Word
11:52 that our faith may be increased
11:54 and that we might stand firmly upon it.
11:58 Give us Your Spirit. Enlighten our eyes.
12:02 May our hearts be soft and tender today.
12:06 We pray in Your name, Amen.
12:16 One of our team members, Diane Lohr,
12:20 was raised in a home where they taught or believed
12:26 that the Bible was kind of
12:29 fairy tales and fables.
12:33 And she grew up pretty much
12:36 reading them or - from time
12:39 to time - not reading them
12:40 very much but when they did
12:42 they read them as a fairy tale
12:43 or as a fable.
12:45 And then she started attending the meetings,
12:49 and as she listened night after night
12:52 she began to sense that the Word of God was true...
12:58 that it wasn't just fairy tales and fables.
13:02 And we live in an age of skepticism.
13:05 We live in an age where people have real doubts
13:09 about the Word of God.
13:12 Higher criticism and all this.
13:14 So can I know without any question of a doubt
13:18 in my heart that the scripture is true?
13:22 I can depend on it. I can trust it.
13:25 That it doesn't fail.
13:26 And so the first thing that I would like to tell you
13:30 concerning the Word of God,
13:32 as far as I'm concerned one of the proofs of it
13:35 is the permanency of it.
13:37 Because this is what it says:
13:48 In other words, God's saying:
13:50 "It's going to be around. It's not going to disappear.
13:53 It's going to be here. "
13:55 So the permanency of God's Word.
13:58 Now there has been great, great efforts
14:01 down through the centuries to do away with the scripture.
14:05 In fact, the Roman Empire
14:07 decided to do away with God's Word,
14:11 do away with the Christians,
14:12 do away with any concept of it.
14:15 It was fought terribly,
14:16 and many, many people gave their lives
14:21 because they were willing to trust it...
14:23 willing to stand on it...
14:25 and they were brought before the Emperor.
14:28 You see, Rome didn't care...
14:29 Rome didn't care what God you worshiped.
14:32 They were polytheistic.
14:34 They worshiped many, many gods.
14:36 But they wanted the allegiance of the people,
14:39 and you had to sacrifice to their god.
14:44 And if you didn't sacrifice to it - which was a sign
14:47 of allegiance - then you were taken to the arena
14:50 and fed to the lions.
14:52 In fact, Diocletian... Diocletian made a decree
14:57 that every scrap, every book, every part of scripture
15:02 was to be burned.
15:04 I mean, gotten rid of.
15:06 The people were demanded to offer sacrifices
15:10 to pagan gods. And if they didn't, they were to be killed.
15:14 For ten years it was absolutely horrible
15:18 in the Roman Empire... trying to do away with the Word of God.
15:22 Saying it would be over...
15:25 was going to end.
15:26 One of the great historians of the past
15:31 by the name of Voltaire, who was an atheist,
15:35 he said that the Bible was an exploded book
15:39 and would be soon passed away.
15:42 But Voltaire is dead... and it's still around.
15:47 Robert Ingersoll, another atheist,
15:50 said: "in 100 years, the Bible will be no more. "
15:53 But he's dead.
15:55 So what I'm trying to get across to you
15:59 is there's a permanency to God's Word
16:02 that you and I can rest assured it's been around a long time.
16:06 Russia, Karl Marx, decided they would set up
16:11 an atheistic government.
16:13 That God would not be there.
16:15 The scripture would not be there,
16:16 and it would get rid of all of it.
16:18 Well, Communism came into being.
16:23 Went 70 years,
16:25 and now it's something of the past.
16:30 But the Word of God is still around.
16:34 Still there. I can remember being in Russia
16:36 and walking through their cemetery.
16:39 And there were tombstones there
16:41 that were back before Communism.
16:44 And they had gone in and taken a chisel
16:47 and chiseled off any symbols of Christianity
16:50 trying to completely do away with the Word of God.
16:54 But, no. God said: "It will abide forever. "
16:59 That you and I can trust it. What bothers me today
17:03 is basically our universities are atheistic.
17:09 They teach no God.
17:12 They teach that... science teaches that we came about
17:16 by evolution and all.
17:18 And these things are being taught to the people today,
17:21 and yet... the evidence is there, folks,
17:26 that those universities,
17:30 all these things are going to pass away one of these days
17:32 but I'll assure you:
17:33 the Word of God is going to still be here.
17:37 It hasn't failed; the permanency of it is there.
17:40 It says:
17:48 So God's Word is permanent,
17:51 and they can say what they want to
17:53 but it's living proof that it's exactly what God said:
17:57 that it's true; it has stood the test of time.
18:00 We don't have to have any doubts about it
18:03 standing the test of time.
18:05 Another way in which you and I can know that the Bible is true
18:09 is that of prophecy.
18:11 Prophecy helps us know that the Word of God is true.
18:16 It says... Jesus said this... He said:
18:23 That's prophecy, right?
18:25 You tell something before it comes...
18:27 that's prophecy.
18:33 So if I can pick up the Bible
18:36 and read a prophecy that was made
18:41 a thousand years ago,
18:44 and then that prophecy came true
18:47 then I know it's true.
18:50 Know that. Established on that fact.
18:54 So you and I can know the Word of God is true. In fact,
18:57 the thing that makes the Bible distinctly different -
19:01 different than any other book - are two things.
19:06 Those two things are prophecy and miracles.
19:10 If you take prophecy and miracles out of scripture,
19:16 then it just ceases to be any- thing but a book of philosophy.
19:20 But that's what make it distinctly different,
19:22 and prophecies help us know that it's true.
19:25 And I want to share just a few prophecies with you.
19:28 It says:
19:43 Now it says there that you and I need to heed
19:48 the word of prophecy. And it says it's like a light
19:52 that shines in a dark place.
19:55 You know, that's one thing about atheism.
20:02 Have you ever thought about it?
20:04 There is absolutely no light there.
20:10 None.
20:11 When you stop and think about it, there is no light there.
20:14 There's nothing there that can give you any hope
20:17 beyond the grave.
20:20 No... nothing. No light there.
20:23 But God's Word does, and it gives us light.
20:26 And God said prophecy's something that you need to
20:29 take heed to because it's a light shining in a dark place.
20:33 And then the day's going to dawn.
20:36 Morning Star rises in your heart.
20:39 So let me just share a couple prophecies with you
20:44 that I think are significant
20:48 concerning what God told us would happen...
20:51 what took place.
20:53 One: Jesus.
20:55 Jesus said this to them in Matthew 24:15:
21:10 Now listen to what He's saying to them here.
21:19 He said: "Now those that are in Judea
21:21 let them flee to the mountains. "
21:33 He said: "Now when you see
21:36 the 'abomination of desolation' set up,
21:40 then you need to get out of there. "
21:42 Now He's talking about Jerusalem.
21:44 Watch:
21:51 OK? Promised all that.
21:54 Well, the Roman government sent their army in.
22:00 They surrounded the city of Jerusalem.
22:03 Not only did they surround it,
22:06 they carried banners, folks.
22:09 And on those banners they had pictures of their pagan gods.
22:14 And they came and set that up
22:16 right in the courtyard of the sanctuary.
22:19 This is what it's talking about there when it's talking about
22:21 the 'abomination of desolation. '
22:23 They were defiling the sanctuary of God.
22:26 And He said: "When they come in and do that,
22:28 then you need to get out of here. "
22:30 He said: "Don't even go... bother to go back home,
22:32 flee. "
22:34 Well, Titus had surrounded the city.
22:38 All of his soldiers there.
22:40 Nobody could leave.
22:43 And then for no apparent reason
22:48 he withdrew his whole army,
22:50 and all of the Christians fled.
22:54 And after they fled, brought his army back...
22:58 surrounded the city.
22:59 Just exactly as Christ
23:03 had predicted it took place.
23:05 Jesus went on about the city:
23:17 Now, folks, I don't know if you've ever been over there,
23:22 but one thing they have an abundance of is stone.
23:27 Just look here at this city. This will give you an idea.
23:32 Stones everywhere. I mean... and the wall and all there.
23:37 And even in the temple they had stones.
23:41 Now they had stones lying in the temple
23:44 that were 4' thick, 4' high,
23:49 and 20' long
23:52 laying on top of each other.
23:54 By the way, so perfectly laid you couldn't even
23:57 stick a knife blade between them.
23:59 That was through the whole city.
24:02 And here Christ said: "There's not going to be one stone left
24:05 on top of another. "
24:06 And they yelled "blasphemy! "
24:08 This couldn't be. Impossible.
24:11 But Roman army had surrounded the city
24:17 And finally when they decided to take it,
24:21 one of the soldiers had thrown a firebrand.
24:25 It went through the window of the temple
24:28 and in no time the whole place was on fire.
24:31 There was enough gold in that temple
24:37 that it melted and ran down into the rocks and the crevices
24:42 throughout that whole area
24:44 And so when it was all over,
24:46 people came in and they turned over every stone
24:50 to gather the gold. They even plowed the ground.
24:54 Just exactly as Christ said.
24:57 So you have a prophecy where Christ said
24:59 this is what would happen,
25:00 and true to His word,
25:02 it took place just exactly as He said it would.
25:06 Another fascinating prophecy to me is one concerning
25:12 what was going to happen.
25:16 You see, the Bible made it clear
25:19 that the church was going to go through that time of
25:21 persecution by the Roman power and all.
25:25 And it says here:
25:39 Now watch what he says is going to happen here:
25:51 So it says here that she was going to be persecuted.
25:55 And then it says that the earth would open up and swallow
26:00 this flood of persecution towards the church.
26:03 That's what it's saying.
26:04 And you find as you read through history
26:07 and you study it, that's exactly what took place.
26:10 Because after all the persecution
26:14 then we hit what we talked about our last session
26:18 and so forth. We hit the time of about 1400-1500 AD and so forth
26:24 and you have all of a sudden the Reformation taking place.
26:28 And what was being done away - since there was only one
26:34 type of scripture available, and that was the Latin -
26:37 all of a sudden all the Word of God began to come back
26:40 and men like Luther and Knox and Calvin
26:43 and all them began to translate the Bible
26:46 into the language of the people.
26:48 And all of a sudden they began to be able - every man,
26:51 every woman - could pick up the Bible and read it
26:54 for themselves.
26:56 Something they hadn't been able to do for 1,000 years.
27:01 They could read it. It opened up its mouth
27:05 and swallowed up that flood that was taking place.
27:08 At the same time... have you ever stopped to think about it?
27:11 At the same time that this was taking place
27:16 you have the discovery of the United States.
27:19 And you have these people who have been persecuted
27:24 leaving and coming to this country to get away from
27:27 persecution where they can worship as they want to.
27:30 And thus the earth opened up its mouth...
27:33 swallowed up the flood of persecution.
27:37 Prophecies... the prophecies of scripture are so, so true!
27:42 As you read through them and read one right after another
27:46 where God says it's going to happen,
27:48 what happens when you pick up the Word of God
27:51 and you read about somebody
27:56 and they're named. I'm not talking about just in general...
28:02 I'm talking about where they name them by name
28:04 150 years before they're born.
28:07 Like in the case of Cyrus.
28:11 You know, there's something more to that.
28:14 You can't just... you can't just say
28:16 "well... " You know, there's got to be more than human.
28:19 We aren't capable of telling people's names
28:21 150 years before they're born.
28:24 But God can... and He does!
28:28 Those are prophecies that were made.
28:30 One that has fascinated me
28:34 was one here in archaeology.
28:37 Archaeology is another way that you and I
28:41 can tell that the Bible is true.
28:43 Because as they have gone places and dug up things
28:46 they have found evidence of things that took place
28:51 and know that it is true exactly like the scripture said.
28:56 Remember, Christ had been there.
29:02 See, Christ... Folks, you've got to understand
29:05 that when He went through the country, now the whole country
29:09 is flocking to Him.
29:12 I mean, they came by multitudes to see Jesus.
29:16 And this was so upsetting to the... to the Pharisees
29:21 and the Sadducees that all these people were flocking to Him.
29:25 And they said, you know:
29:27 "We've got to do something about this.
29:29 We've got to stop this
29:30 or He's going to change the whole nation. "
29:33 And so it says here:
29:58 Said: "Don't you understand that it's better that one person die
30:03 than for the whole nation? " Because he said:
30:05 "If this Man's going to keep preaching like He is,
30:08 He's going to bring the Roman government down on us.
30:10 And rather than the whole nation perish
30:13 much better that He dies. "
30:29 He made that prophecy.
30:31 A few weeks later... a little time later...
30:36 Jesus is being tried
30:40 and they have brought Him in before Caiaphas the high priest.
30:45 And Caiaphas is upset
30:50 because Christ was there.
30:53 They brought witnesses against Him,
30:56 but He didn't answer them anything.
30:58 He didn't say anything to them.
31:00 And Caiaphas finally charged Him
31:04 under the authority of heaven to answer.
31:09 When He did... Christ answered him.
31:11 But Christ said this to Caiaphas:
31:18 He asked Him point blank: "Are You the Son of God? "
31:21 And He said: "It is as you said. "
31:42 He said: "Caiaphas, YOU are going to see Me come back
31:48 in the clouds of heaven. "
31:50 Oh, they were digging here a while back
31:54 south of the old city of Jerusalem.
31:57 And as they were digging, they came across these boxes.
32:03 Found about twelve of them.
32:06 Twelve boxes. And in these boxes
32:09 as they opened them, they found the bones
32:12 of people that had died and all.
32:16 But there was one box...
32:18 one box that was especially nice...
32:22 decorated beautifully.
32:26 That's Caiaphas's coffin.
32:29 Not only did they find it there,
32:31 but it had his full name written on it.
32:34 And they've examined the bones; they found it fits the age.
32:38 It fits him perfectly.
32:40 In fact, this is the only case that we have, folks,
32:44 of the remains of someone who is actually mentioned in the Bible
32:48 is Caiaphas.
32:50 There's his tomb there... or his coffin.
32:54 And Christ said: "You, Caiaphas,
32:57 are going to be resurrected to see Me come. "
33:02 Prophecy of the scripture. Archaeology.
33:06 You know, somebody would say: "Well, who was Caiaphas? "
33:08 You can't deny it. There he is
33:10 waiting for that day to come when Christ will come back.
33:15 So we have the Word of God over and over proven
33:19 time and time again.
33:21 Another case in scripture where archaeology has shown us
33:25 what has taken place is the case of Lot.
33:29 Abraham's nephew.
33:51 Abraham had told him... Said: "Lot,
33:54 if you want to go to the left hand, I'll go to the right.
33:58 If you want to go to the right, I'll go to the left. "
34:00 Because their flocks and all had increased so much
34:03 that there was not room for both of them to dwell together.
34:07 So they had to separate.
34:08 And Lot chose the fertile plains of the Jordan.
34:14 This was beautiful, folks.
34:16 This is... this is not like it
34:18 is today. I mean, it was beautiful then and everything.
34:22 So Lot went down and dwelt there in the plains of Jordan
34:27 and went to the city of Sodom... where he lived with his family.
34:32 OK? Well, as you know the Bible story,
34:35 Sodom and Gomorrah became so wicked
34:38 that finally God said: "I'm going to destroy it. "
34:43 And He sent angels down to get Lot and his wife
34:49 and his daughters and get them out of the country.
34:52 Well, it says this is what happened:
35:01 Now He had told Lot... those angels had told Lot
35:04 "You get out of here. "
35:06 In fact, they told him to flee up to the mountains
35:07 and he said: "Well, can I just go to Zoar? "
35:09 And they gave him permission to do that.
35:12 And when that happened, then fire and brimstone
35:16 was rained down.
35:24 Now listen carefully.
35:41 Says He overthrew it. He sent fire and brimstone.
35:45 Burned it all up.
35:47 There were five cities there, folks.
35:50 Five cites. Now you and I today think,
35:54 you know, five cities there...
35:55 these were just small cities there.
35:59 I want to share something with you.
36:01 These five cities are in the lower end of the Dead Sea.
36:07 That's where they were.
36:09 It's probably kind of hard for you to see here on the map,
36:13 but if you can look at it there
36:16 you can see where it says Moab.
36:18 Well below it, you have
36:19 five cities listed there.
36:21 OK. Five cities.
36:24 That first city is Sodom.
36:27 OK? The first one there.
36:31 Then the others make up Gomorrah
36:33 and three other cities.
36:35 If you look at it on a kind of a topographical map,
36:40 it would look like this. And this is where
36:42 Sodom would be right at the top.
36:44 Now it's interesting that archaeologists have found
36:50 in the city that represents Sodom...
36:53 they've gone in and as they have now begun to excavate
36:57 they found the cemetery for Sodom.
37:03 And in that cemetery they found a half a million people buried.
37:10 That's not it.
37:13 They have gone, and in two more of those cities
37:17 they found cemeteries.
37:19 And each one of those cemeteries have over half a million people.
37:24 They found 1,500,000 graves
37:30 of people that lived in those cities.
37:32 So when it speaks of those cities of the plain
37:36 these weren't just little things. These were huge
37:39 cities that were destroyed.
37:42 Burned up. Today they're there...
37:46 nothing's there. Strictly a desert.
37:49 Nothing there anymore.
37:51 But God said this is what would happen.
37:54 And true to God's Word, it took place
37:57 just exactly as God said it would.
38:00 Well, another way that you can know your Bible's true
38:04 is it says: "By their fruits you shall know them. "
38:08 See? In other words, what is the fruit?
38:13 What... what kind of thing does this book produce?
38:18 What takes place when people read the Word of God?
38:22 Jesus gave us an indication of what takes place.
38:26 And it says:
38:55 I have found that wherever
38:59 the gospel has gone in and preached
39:03 there has been a dramatic change in the people.
39:08 I found that in place of bondage,
39:12 they have liberty.
39:15 In place of depression, they have joy.
39:19 All those things change. As a person comes to the gospel,
39:25 it changes the life, it changes the community.
39:28 I've found that where the gospel has gone in and been preached
39:31 then the whole community changed.
39:36 Things completely turned around.
39:39 To give you kind of an example of what I'm talking about,
39:42 I don't know how many of you have ever read the book
39:46 or saw the movie Mutiny on the Bounty.
39:48 But if you remember the story,
39:51 old Captain Bligh had been commissioned
39:57 to go to the Indies
40:02 and to get breadfruit trees
40:05 and bring them back to England.
40:08 Captain Bligh hired himself a crew
40:14 and they set sail.
40:16 But old Captain Bligh was ornery.
40:21 Not just ornery, he was just downright mean.
40:25 And for any kind of a misdemeanor
40:28 he would beat them. Treated them horrible in every way.
40:33 And finally after sailing for quite some time
40:39 they reached Tahiti, and they stayed there.
40:43 And they stayed there, folks, for... oh, I don't remember,
40:46 but... six months? Eight months?
40:49 They stayed there quite a long time.
40:51 And they gathered breadfruit trees and loaded up the Bounty
40:57 with these breadfruit trees.
40:58 And then they set sail headed back to England.
41:05 The old captain, when they were on land, wasn't too bad.
41:09 But when they started sailing, he was horrible.
41:13 And for instance, when they got low on water,
41:18 it was more important to him that the breadfruit trees be
41:21 watered than to have water for the crew.
41:25 And... and if they did something wrong,
41:28 they were strapped to the mast and beaten.
41:31 This went on so much
41:33 that they finally rebelled and mutinied.
41:38 They just said: "We're not going to put up with this. "
41:40 They took the captain, if I remember right...
41:43 they took him and 19 other sailors that weren't...
41:47 didn't want to be involved in the mutiny...
41:49 and put them over the side of the ship in a long boat
41:52 and said "goodbye" to them and sailed off.
41:55 By the way, that old captain was such a fantastic sailor
41:59 that he sailed... erected a sail on that long boat
42:03 and sailed it clear to shore...
42:05 which was 1,500 miles!
42:07 You know... So, fantastic sailor.
42:10 But anyhow, they knew that their lives were at stake now
42:16 and they knew that the penalty for mutiny was to be hung.
42:20 And so they took the Bounty and they began to make one island
42:24 after another around the country.
42:26 And finally they came to this little island that was
42:33 uninhabited,
42:34 and they decided they would stay there.
42:37 And this little island is called Pitcairn.
42:45 They fought... they got drunk on all these different islands
42:51 they went to. And they fought one another
42:53 and killed one another, and stayed and did different things
42:57 until when they got to the Pitcairn Island
42:59 there wasn't too many of them left.
43:01 Anyhow, they took the Bounty and they sailed it into
43:05 Bounty Bay, and they burned it.
43:08 And they moved onto the island, and that was it.
43:12 Lived there. They continued to be drunk
43:17 and continued to do the things that they did.
43:20 And it was so bad that they killed each other off
43:25 until finally there wasn't anything left but two men
43:29 and five women.
43:31 And those women were so sick and tired of them
43:34 they decided they were going to kill those two men.
43:36 And... and they made an effort to do that
43:40 and they got so close to accomplishing it
43:44 that it scared those fellows.
43:46 And so happened that they had taken the stuff off the Bounty
43:50 and in an old trunk they found a Bible.
43:54 Captain Bligh's old Bible which is what you see right there.
43:59 And those men read it, and it converted both of them.
44:04 And one decided he would become the teacher;
44:08 the other decided he would kind of become the preacher.
44:10 And so they did that, and time forgot them.
44:15 Time forgot them.
44:16 And years and years and years passed.
44:20 Nobody knew what had happened to them.
44:22 And one day an English vessel was sailing from England
44:26 to the United States and they were charting uncharted islands,
44:31 and they found this little island.
44:34 The captain of the vessel had them stop,
44:36 and he sent some sailors to shore.
44:38 And of course they expected to find natives on the island.
44:43 They expected to find cannibalism...
44:45 which was prevalent in that part of the world and all.
44:48 And they got to the shore and walked up the sandbar
44:52 and looked over. And lo and behold, here was a compound.
44:56 Here was people in it... clothed.
45:00 In the middle of it was a church.
45:03 And above everything else, they spoke English.
45:06 And it... they couldn't imagine what had happened.
45:11 But you see, the Word of God had changed their lives.
45:15 Made them different.
45:17 That's what it does over and over and over.
45:21 It changes people's lives... makes them different.
45:24 Makes them better.
45:26 This is what the Word of God can do for you and for me:
45:31 it changes our lives.
45:33 Makes us different than we were.
45:35 Better than we were by far.
45:39 So those are some things that change.
45:42 Not only does it change our lives but it makes us different.
45:46 It gives us wonderful promises.
45:48 It says this:
45:57 I don't know. Have you ever experienced that?
46:01 You know, when you came to Christ how things changed
46:05 so completely?
46:06 No longer the same.
46:08 Changed your life.
46:10 Certainly has done that in my life.
46:13 Changed it. And I've had the
46:15 privilege for years now
46:18 to go different places
46:21 to proclaim the Word of God
46:23 and see the lives of men and women changed.
46:28 Made different by the Word of God.
46:31 What a wonderful opportunity that is for each of us
46:35 to see the change that takes place in people's lives.
46:39 We were holding meetings in Costa Rica.
46:45 And there... they couldn't find a building
46:50 that... to hold the meeting in,
46:52 so they decided they would erect one, they'd build one.
46:56 And so they built this building to hold the meetings in.
47:00 And I guess that it attracted enough people there
47:03 that anyhow... the opening night - or all the way through
47:07 the whole crusade - it was just absolutely packed.
47:10 I mean, full of people.
47:12 So much so that young men even crawled up
47:15 and sat in the rafters and all.
47:17 And we were just... enjoyed being there
47:21 and watching the reaction of the people.
47:25 In fact, that meeting we saw
47:30 more business people - nurses, doctors,
47:36 lawyers and those type of people - come to the Lord
47:40 than any meeting I've ever held.
47:42 In mean, they came by the hundreds there.
47:46 We enjoyed being there.
47:48 But one night after the close of the meeting
47:52 this old lady came up to me, grandmother,
47:55 and... crying. And she said: "Brother Cox,
48:00 will you pray for my grandson? He's a drunkard. "
48:04 Said: "He's a drunkard. " And she said:
48:08 "He's lost his home. His wife has left him,
48:14 taken the children. He doesn't have anything.
48:17 He's lost everything.
48:19 And if he doesn't change, he's going to lose his job.
48:23 So would you be willing to pray for him? "
48:27 And I assured her I would be happy to pray for him.
48:31 A few days later I was actually holding a meeting
48:37 with some ministers. We were having what we called
48:39 a worker's meeting, and I was talking to them.
48:41 And while I was talking to them one of my team members
48:45 came up to me and said:
48:46 "There's somebody out in the foyer
48:48 that wants to talk to you. "
48:50 So I turned the meeting over to the team member
48:53 and I walked out to the foyer.
48:55 And there, having trouble standing up,
48:59 was this man.
49:01 Drunk as could be.
49:04 So drunk that his speech was slurred
49:09 and you had even a hard time understanding him.
49:12 But between his crying and his slurs and his drunkenness
49:18 he poured out his soul that he had just been fired
49:23 from his job.
49:24 And of course as he told me all this
49:26 I put together that this was the grandmother's grandson.
49:31 And begged, you know, saying: "Do something for me.
49:37 Help me. I've wrecked my life.
49:39 I've done all this. I've ruined everything... "
49:41 and just cried.
49:42 What do you say to somebody that's so drunk?
49:45 You know? What can you say?
49:48 I said: "Well... " said to myself...
49:50 "just tell him to go home.
49:53 Go home and sober up,
49:56 and when you're sober, come back and talk to me
49:58 and I'll be glad to visit with you. "
50:00 I thought about that, and I thought
50:03 "what do you have to lose?
50:06 What do you have to lose?
50:09 So you talk to him and he doesn't remember one solitary
50:13 thing you said to him, what have you lost? "
50:18 Thought about that and said: "Nothing. "
50:21 So I said to him: "Sit down. "
50:23 Had him sit down, and in his drunken state
50:27 I just very simply went through the gospel
50:32 and explained to him what it meant
50:36 to accept Jesus Christ.
50:37 And there in his drunkenness
50:41 he gave his heart to the Lord.
50:46 When we were through as he staggered off
50:52 I thought "well, probably won't remember anything I said
50:58 to him. Won't remember a thing that I went through with him. "
51:01 This was a large meeting, folks.
51:06 We had lots of people coming
51:10 and the building was packed every night and so forth.
51:13 I didn't see him again.
51:16 All during the meetings I didn't see him.
51:18 We got down to the end of the meetings
51:21 and we're... I'm going through line
51:26 greeting all these people that are going to be baptized.
51:30 And there's over 500 of them lined up there that are being
51:34 baptized. And as I'm going through the line
51:37 shaking their hand and all, there he stood.
51:40 You know. Bright-eyed. Clear in every way.
51:45 And I said to him: "What are you doing here? "
51:48 And he said... "Oh, " he said,
51:51 after you told me about Christ and I accepted Him, "
51:54 he said, " everything has changed. "
51:57 "Everything's changed in my life, " he said.
52:00 "I got my job back. My wife's come back.
52:03 I've got my home back, my children back. "
52:05 He said: "Everything has changed in my life. "
52:08 That's what the gospel does for people.
52:12 It changes their life.
52:14 Say what you want to, dear friend,
52:16 but I can tell you when the Word of God
52:19 comes to the heart of an individual
52:22 and he accepts Christ as his Savior,
52:24 a decided change takes place.
52:28 To me that is proof that indeed
52:33 it is true. That you and I can trust it.
52:37 We can believe it. That God has given us something
52:40 to guide and direct our lives.
52:42 So if you ask me, I'll tell you:
52:45 Give Me The Bible.
52:49 Give me the Bible,
52:53 lamp of life immortal.
52:57 Hold up that splendor
53:02 by the open grave.
53:07 Show me the light from
53:11 heaven's shining portal.
53:15 Show me the glory
53:20 gilding Jordan's wave.
53:25 Give me the Bible,
53:30 holy message shining.
53:34 Thy light shall guide me
53:39 in the narrow way.
53:44 Precept and promise,
53:49 law and love combining.
53:53 Till night shall vanish
53:58 in eternal day.
54:07 There may be some of you
54:08 who have questions about the scripture.
54:12 Maybe in the past you've wondered if it could be
54:16 trusted or if it was true.
54:17 And today you can see that without question
54:22 you can place your faith in the Word of God
54:25 and you would just like to
54:26 reach out and accept Jesus
54:29 Christ as your personal Savior.
54:31 There may be some of you here in the audience
54:33 that have never done that: never surrendered your life
54:38 to Jesus Christ and said: "Yes, I'm going to follow
54:40 the Word of God. "
54:42 Or you may be watching by television
54:44 and you have questions and you've seen that the
54:48 Word of God is there and some- thing that you can depend on.
54:51 Or if you're listening by radio,
54:53 today I'd like to invite you just in simple faith
54:58 to reach out and say: "Yes, Lord, I accept You
55:02 into my heart as my personal Savior"
55:04 and give your life to Him.
55:06 I'll assure you, dear friend,
55:08 it will change things... make it different...
55:11 and give you... give you hope, give you faith,
55:16 give you assurance that God cares for you and loves you
55:20 in a very special way. Let us pray.
55:23 Heavenly Father, as we have seen
55:27 things that tell us without question
55:31 that this book is true
55:33 and that by it we can know You,
55:38 the only true God in Jesus Christ,
55:41 whom You sent here to save each one of us,
55:45 may each one here today reach out in faith
55:48 and accept You into their heart as their personal Savior
55:52 and be willing to follow You.
55:54 For this we ask in Christ's name, Amen.
55:58 God bless you. Have a great day.
56:01 Stay close to Jesus.
56:05 Water can be both inspiring and awesome.
56:09 As it flows from the hills and the mountains
56:11 water changes the destiny of every living creature
56:16 it comes in contact with.
56:18 Not a single living thing
56:20 can survive without water for long.
56:23 But despite its beauty
56:25 the power of water can cut channels through rocks
56:28 and change the landscape forever.
56:31 In John chapter 7
56:33 Jesus stood and cried out saying:
56:36 "If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink.
56:40 He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said,
56:43 out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. "
56:47 As He did so many times,
56:50 Jesus explained the spiritual things of God
56:53 through nature... like flowing water.
56:56 This living water is a life-changing source.
57:00 It can change the landscape of our lives
57:03 and flow through us to change the lives of others.
57:08 Folks, we all need water to live...
57:12 but we also need living water.
57:16 Jesus is that living water,
57:18 and through His Spirit we can bring life to those around us.
57:22 The only goal we have at this ministry
57:25 is to offer living water to all mankind.
57:29 There are thousands - no millions -
57:33 who still long for this water: the living water of life.
57:37 Won't you help us quench their thirst?
57:40 Please consider what you can do
57:42 for those who still don't know about Jesus.
57:45 As the Holy Spirit impresses,
57:47 please send your tax-deductible gifts to:
58:01 Thank you for helping us spread the light of God's Word
58:03 through television and radio.
58:05 Your gifts help bring the blessed hope of salvation
58:08 to millions around the world.


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Revised 2014-12-17