Give Me the Bible

Great And Dreadful Day Of The Lord

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox

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Series Code: GMTB

Program Code: GMTB000050


00:18 Good evening and welcome again to Give Me The Bible series.
00:22 This is a Kenneth Cox production that is coming to you live
00:26 from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:27 And we are so thankful
00:30 that you have joined us tonight
00:31 and believe that you will be
00:33 thankful as well.
00:34 This has been an incredible series, has it not?
00:37 This is the fifth message of The Elijah Message,
00:41 and it's all about turning the hearts of the fathers
00:44 to the children and the children to the fathers.
00:47 All about family values.
00:49 And we have had such wonderful messages.
00:52 We had several in the audience last night who said
00:54 they just hated to see this series come to an end.
00:58 Tonight is going to be the 50th message.
01:02 Do you realize that? 50 sermons; 50 major themes
01:06 that Pastor and Evangelist Kenneth Cox has spoken on.
01:10 And this will be The Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord.
01:15 A day that is both great and dreadful.
01:18 But this is going to be something that if you've missed
01:21 any of these, they're all available on DVD.
01:25 And what a library... what a wealth of knowledge
01:29 that you'll have at your finger- tips if you get these DVDs.
01:32 Before Pastor and Evangelist Kenneth Cox comes
01:36 to give us this lesson, first we'll have Tammy Larson.
01:41 And she's going to be singing a beautiful song
01:44 Remind Me, Oh Lord.
02:05 The things that I love
02:09 and hold dear to my heart
02:13 are just borrowed...
02:16 they're not mine at all.
02:21 Jesus only let me use them
02:25 to brighten my life.
02:29 So remind me,
02:31 remind me, dear Lord.
02:37 Roll back the curtain
02:41 of memory now and then.
02:45 Show me where You brought me from
02:49 and where I could have been.
02:52 Just remember I am human
02:56 and humans forget.
03:00 So remind me,
03:02 remind me, dear Lord.
03:39 Nothing good have I done
03:43 to deserve God's own Son.
03:47 I'm not worthy of the scars
03:50 in His hands.
03:55 Yet He chose the road to Calvary
03:59 to die in my stead.
04:03 Why He loves me I can't understand.
04:11 Roll back the curtain
04:15 of memory now and then.
04:19 Show me where You brought me from
04:23 and where I could have been.
04:26 Just remember I am human
04:30 and humans forget.
04:34 So remind me,
04:36 remind me, dear Lord.
04:55 Just remember I am human
05:00 and humans forget.
05:03 So remind me,
05:06 remind me, dear Lord.
05:11 So remind me,
05:13 remind me, dear Lord.
05:24 Thank you Tammy Larson.
05:26 Remind Me Again. Enjoy that?
05:29 That's great. Thank you again.
05:30 Well we welcome each of you tonight.
05:33 Appreciate you being here very much all of you that have come.
05:37 And those that are watching by television
05:40 or listening on the radio
05:41 we welcome you again tonight.
05:43 Appreciate you tuning in
05:45 and being with us as we've gone
05:46 through this series
05:48 on The Elijah Message.
05:50 Talking about a message that God has
05:54 that's to take place right down at the end of time.
05:58 We've looked at that,
06:00 and we hope it's been a blessing to you.
06:03 Our next series that we're going to be doing...
06:06 the next series that we're going to be doing is entitled
06:14 You know what the apple of God's eye is?
06:16 Well, the scripture says the apple of God's eye
06:20 is His church. That's what it says.
06:22 And so we're going to look at that in our next series.
06:25 We're going to have subjects like: Why a Church?
06:28 Why have a church?
06:31 What's the purpose of the church?
06:32 How much authority does the church have?
06:35 We're just going to take a look at what the scripture has to say
06:38 about the church. And then we're going to one night
06:42 talk about The Front Door of the Church.
06:45 The Front Door of the Church.
06:47 And then the next one's going to be on the Back Door
06:50 of the Church.
06:52 We're going to talk about both the front door
06:54 and the back door.
06:56 We're going to talk about The Church Victorious.
06:58 Those are some of the subjects we'll be looking at
07:00 as we talk about The Apple of His Eye.
07:05 Very, very important subject... so we hope all of you will
07:09 tune in next month as we take a look at the subject of
07:14 the church.
07:15 And then of course tonight we're down to the closing one
07:19 on our series here on The Elijah Message:
07:29 We have looked at the coming of Elijah.
07:34 How that God said he would come. What his message would be.
07:37 And we found that as we looked at Malachi 4 verses 5 and 6
07:43 that his message dealt with the home.
07:47 That it would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
07:50 the heart of the children to their fathers.
07:53 And so we talked about the home.
07:55 We talked about the responsibility of fathers.
07:59 We talked about family worship.
08:02 We talked about God's blessing on the home.
08:05 But tonight we're going to take a look at The Great
08:09 and Dreadful Day of the Lord...
08:11 referring to the coming of Jesus Christ.
08:15 And so we'll look at that this evening.
08:17 We hope that it will help you
08:20 prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ.
08:23 Tonight Dona Klein is going to sing for us a song entitled
08:29 Wasted Years.
08:48 Wasted years,
08:52 wasted years,
08:55 oh how foolish.
09:01 As you wander
09:05 in darkness and fears;
09:14 Turn around,
09:17 turn around
09:21 God is calling.
09:26 He's calling you
09:30 from a life of wasted years.
09:40 As you wander along
09:46 on life's pathway,
09:52 have you lived without love
09:58 a life of tears?
10:05 Have you searched
10:09 for the great
10:12 hidden meaning?
10:16 Or is your life
10:22 filled with long and wasted years?
10:30 Wasted years,
10:34 wasted years,
10:37 oh how foolish.
10:43 As you wander
10:47 in darkness and fears;
10:57 Turn around,
11:00 turn around
11:02 God is calling.
11:07 He's calling you
11:12 from a life of wasted years.
11:20 He's calling you
11:25 from a life
11:27 of wasted years.
11:52 Gracious Lord,
11:54 we come to You tonight
11:57 asking that Your blessing may rest upon us.
12:01 That as we look at Your Word
12:05 and we understand the times in which we are living...
12:09 that Jesus is coming soon.
12:13 We pray, Lord, that we each might understand
12:19 what You want and that our hearts will be open
12:23 and they'll be soft, pliable.
12:27 That Your Holy Spirit can speak to us and guide us
12:30 and lead us. Help us, Lord, to walk
12:34 as You lead us and that we might just reach out and
12:38 take hold of Your hand...
12:40 walk with you all the way into the kingdom.
12:43 For this is what we ask in Christ's name, Amen.
12:52 Evidently God was wanting to
12:57 emphasize to mankind...
13:00 emphasize to us...
13:02 uh, the importance of being ready for His coming.
13:05 Because as I mentioned when we come to the last book
13:10 of the Old Testament, the last chapter of the Old Testament
13:14 the last two verses in that chapter it says:
13:24 Now, when it speaks of the great and dreadful day of the Lord
13:29 that is talking about the coming of Jesus Christ.
13:32 That's what it's referring to is the coming of Christ.
13:35 And it tells us certain things that were to be done
13:39 or cared for in order for us to be ready
13:43 for the coming of Jesus Christ.
13:45 And the scripture emphasizes that that day will come
13:50 quickly because it says here in Zephaniah
13:53 the first chapter and verse 14 it says:
14:05 So what it's saying... As we see these things
14:09 take place, that they will take place in quick succession.
14:14 And so it says the coming of the Lord will come quickly.
14:19 And you and I need to be prepared for that day.
14:22 It continues in verse 15 and says:
14:30 So it's going to be a time - the coming of the Lord -
14:34 in which the whole world will be involved.
14:36 It will be a time of wrath, a time of distress.
14:39 A day of devastation and desolation.
14:43 A day of darkness and gloominess.
14:45 This will not be a good time and, dear friend, above all
14:50 you and I need to make sure that we have
14:55 our lives fully and completely
14:59 set in Jesus Christ. That our foundation is firm.
15:04 That we are not moved around.
15:06 That we have laid hold of the hope that there is
15:10 in Christ our Lord.
15:12 Because it's going to affect people.
15:14 It says: "Men's hearts failing them for fear... "
15:18 So it's not an easy time.
15:27 So we need to be ready for the coming of Jesus Christ.
15:32 So tonight that's what we're going to look at.
15:36 We're going to look at what do I need to do to be prepared
15:41 for the coming of Jesus Christ.
15:51 Now, have you ever just stopped and thought about it...
15:58 what it's going to be like when Christ comes?
16:00 And will you and I greet that with joy
16:06 and expectation? Because it says it will be
16:10 a fearful time indeed.
16:12 So how to prepare for the coming of the Lord.
16:17 Well to begin with, tonight I would like to talk
16:25 to those... maybe here in the audience,
16:29 maybe you're watching by television,
16:32 or maybe you're listening on the radio...
16:35 but I'd like to talk specifically to those who know
16:39 at this point that if Christ was to come you'd be lost.
16:46 That you know without a question of a doubt
16:48 that you're lost
16:52 and that you would not make it if Christ would come.
16:56 So what can you do as an individual
17:00 to be prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ?
17:03 Well the first thing I would say to you
17:06 is it tells him to do this. Listen carefully to this text.
17:10 And it's about the Elijah message, and it says:
17:22 Now listen...
17:31 So it says that what Elijah was doing
17:34 was to make these people who are disobedient
17:38 to turn them to the just
17:41 and prepare them for the coming of the Lord.
17:44 So that's what we want to do tonight.
17:46 We want to make sure that if you know that you
17:51 are not saved,
17:54 you know that you are lost,
17:56 then I'd like to share with you what you can do
18:00 to be ready for the coming of the Lord.
18:02 So the first thing I would tell you is accept Christ.
18:08 There's no other way. I can't take you
18:12 some other way and tell you do this and this and this
18:16 because THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.
18:18 To begin with, you must accept Jesus Christ
18:22 as your personal Savior.
18:25 Because, dear friend, let people say what they want to
18:29 but there is no salvation outside of Him.
18:34 That's the only way you're going to find it.
18:36 This is what it says:
18:50 No other way. Only in Jesus Christ.
18:54 And it's really this simple.
18:57 There's nobody else...
19:00 nobody else in the universe...
19:04 nobody else ever... that died for mankind.
19:11 Nobody came and bore your sins and mine
19:15 except Jesus Christ.
19:18 And He came and died in your place.
19:22 And therefore, dear friend, if you want salvation
19:27 you must come to Christ
19:29 and accept Him as your personal Savior.
19:32 I can't offer you any other way.
19:36 Only in Christ Jesus.
19:39 Secondly, you must accept Christ
19:44 but you also must understand
19:49 that you and I must surrender self.
19:54 You cannot hang on to the old man of sin
20:00 and go through and think that you'll make it.
20:04 That is contrary to Christ,
20:07 and therefore I must surrender.
20:10 I must surrender myself
20:12 to the work of the Holy Spirit.
20:15 Please understand that when it comes in this question
20:20 of preparation for the coming of the Lord
20:23 this is not something that you and I can do
20:27 of our own strength.
20:30 You can't do it.
20:32 It's basically when we talk about that
20:35 that is an impossibility
20:38 for you and I to do what is necessary
20:42 of our own strength.
20:44 I cannot change
20:48 to the degree that I need to change
20:51 of my own strength.
20:53 I must have the Holy Spirit
20:55 when it comes to understanding this book.
20:59 When it comes to understanding what it says,
21:04 I can't in my own intellect.
21:07 It's just not there. That's the reason it says this:
21:20 That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
21:22 He will teach you all things.
21:25 I must get into the Word of God.
21:28 And as I get into the Word of God
21:31 the Holy Spirit will teach us.
21:35 So the Holy Spirit's necessary.
21:37 But the Holy Spirit cannot work
21:42 in you or it cannot work in me
21:46 if self is not surrendered.
21:52 If self is predominant in your life,
21:56 the Holy Spirit can't work there.
22:04 This is the work of the Holy Spirit:
22:07 to make me different...
22:13 to make me different than I am.
22:19 I can't do that... but the Holy Spirit can do that.
22:24 And that's why it says
22:27 that the Holy Spirit gives to us - if you please -
22:31 the fruits of the Spirit.
22:34 You see, by nature
22:37 these things just don't take place.
22:41 But only as the Holy Spirit comes into your life
22:45 do you become loving.
22:48 See? By nature... not very loving.
22:54 But the Holy Spirit can bring that into your life
22:57 and make you a loving person.
23:01 He can make you so that you care about others.
23:04 He can bring about that change.
23:06 It's the Holy Spirit that gives you joy.
23:09 Gives me peace, longsuffering...
23:21 You see... you having troubles?
23:25 Are there habits that plague your life
23:30 and you can't seem to get over it?
23:34 Well dear friend, what you need here is the Holy Spirit
23:38 because the Holy Spirit is what brings self control.
23:41 That's not what comes of our own self.
23:45 That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
23:47 So I have to surrender my life to the work of the Holy Spirit.
23:52 Now I'm talking specifically to those of you out there
23:56 that know you're lost.
23:58 And I'm saying forget this thing
24:02 of thinking you're going to change yourself
24:04 and you're going to make yourself different.
24:07 I know people - have known them for 30, 40 years -
24:10 that all this time they've been trying to change themselves
24:13 and they're just as worse off now as they were back then.
24:17 You see, you can't do that.
24:19 That has to be the work of the Spirit of God in your life.
24:25 So dear friend, QUIT TRYING and surrender.
24:29 You see, in Christianity victory does not come by fight,
24:35 it comes by surrender.
24:39 That's how it comes.
24:40 OK. Also... quit being disobedient.
24:46 I'm talking specifically to those of you
24:49 that are not saved.
24:51 Quit being disobedient!
24:54 That's what it says. That's what the Elijah message is.
24:58 It says: "the disobedient... He will turn them from that
25:02 to obedience. "
25:04 And so I have to come to the place where I am willing
25:08 to follow God's commandments.
25:17 So dear friend, if you find yourself
25:22 being on the rebellious side and disobedient,
25:28 then, dear friend, you've got to surrender it.
25:31 You've got to give it to the Lord and say "OK,
25:34 I will follow You. "
25:39 Talk about it all you want to...
25:52 That's the whole duty of mankind.
25:55 Now let me just say this to you.
26:00 And I hope you... those of you that are considering
26:04 accepting Christ and giving your heart to Him...
26:07 understand simply this:
26:10 there's nothing you can do...
26:13 NOTHING you can do... to add to salvation.
26:18 Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Jesus Christ did everything
26:23 that was demanded.
26:26 He did everything. There's nothing you can add to it.
26:30 There's nothing you can put to it.
26:33 You can't do anything.
26:34 The only thing you can do
26:38 is accept what Christ has done for you.
26:42 See? So when it comes to salvation,
26:45 you can't add anything to it or do anything to it.
26:48 Christ did it all.
26:50 Your responsibility, my responsibility
26:55 is simply to obey.
26:58 OK? It's just that simple.
27:02 He did it all. I accept what He did.
27:04 My responsibility is simply to obey.
27:09 So if you want to be prepared
27:12 for the coming of Jesus Christ,
27:14 then give your heart to the Lord.
27:16 Surrender your life to the work of the Holy Spirit
27:19 and be obedient.
27:22 It will make a great, great difference in your life.
27:25 All right. Now I want to talk to those
27:30 who have accepted Christ.
27:33 Maybe you have been a Christian for years
27:37 and you have followed the Lord.
27:40 I want to talk specifically to you.
27:43 And what the Elijah message has to say to you and to me
27:48 concerning the times in which we are living in
27:51 and what we need to do to be prepared for the Lord...
27:54 because there's some of us that have been going along here
27:57 for a long, long time now
27:59 and we need to be ready for the coming of Jesus Christ.
28:03 So Elijah gives us a little insight into some of the things
28:07 that we need to do. And it says here...
28:10 In I Kings 17 verse 1 it says:
28:27 Never in history... never in history
28:32 when you have had a king like Ahab
28:36 that led all of Israel the opposite way
28:40 away from God and you had national apostasy...
28:44 Every time that has happened in history God has always
28:49 had a man like Elijah.
28:51 Every time!
28:53 And so He called Elijah and He said: "You go in there
28:56 and you tell Ahab that if he does not change
29:00 his way it will not rain for 3-1/2 years. "
29:06 And Elijah left the court of Ahab
29:12 and Ahab didn't see him for 3-1/2 years.
29:17 And it didn't rain for 3-1/2 years.
29:22 And dear friends, Israel -
29:25 who even in the days of Ahab
29:29 was still a very fertile, beautiful country,
29:34 lush - became a desert.
29:40 Not a drop of rain for 3-1/2 years.
29:46 And after 3-1/2 years God told Elijah...
29:51 He said: "You go see Ahab. "
29:54 Said: "I don't want to go see Ahab. He's looking for me. "
29:57 And said: "Well you go see him. "
30:00 And you remember he got out there and his servant,
30:03 Ahab's servant found him, and Elijah told him:
30:06 "You go tell Ahab I'm here. "
30:07 He went and told Ahab he was there,
30:09 and it says this is what happened:
30:20 You know, dear friends, it always is interesting to me
30:25 how that the one that's doing the troubling
30:30 thinks somebody else is.
30:32 You know, he said: "You're the troubler of Israel. "
30:35 Listen to the words of Elijah:
30:53 He said: "No, I'm not the one who's troubling Israel.
30:56 You and your household who have forsaken the commandments
31:01 of the Lord and have followed the Baals. "
31:07 Tonight I'm talking now specifically to those
31:12 that have given their heart to the Lord.
31:15 Have you forsaken God's commandments?
31:18 Are you keeping them?
31:23 I'm not talking about one... I'm talking about all ten.
31:29 Are you true to what those commandments say?
31:33 Are you walking in the commandments of the Lord?
31:36 Are you violating some of them?
31:40 He said: "You've left the commandments of God.
31:42 You're following the Baals. "
31:45 And then we find that Elijah said to the people...
31:49 They called them all up on top of Mount Carmel.
32:08 You see, dear friend, you cannot...
32:13 you just cannot follow God
32:18 and follow the world.
32:20 I'm sorry... you can't.
32:25 You can't take and put those two together.
32:29 No more than you can put God and Baal,
32:32 you can't take God and the world and put them together.
32:37 And tonight if you're caught up in the world
32:41 then dear friend I plead with you
32:44 take a good close look
32:47 because we're coming down here
32:49 in which the Lord is coming back.
32:52 We need to be ready for His coming.
33:06 All the prophets of Baal... By the way,
33:09 you know how many of them there were?
33:13 Eight hundred and fifty.
33:16 There were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the grove.
33:21 Eight hundred and fifty of them there.
33:25 And they gathered around there and they pled with Baal
33:29 to send down fire from heaven...
33:32 by the way, he was the god of fire...
33:36 to send fire down from heaven and burn up the sacrifice.
33:44 Now they had prayed all morning long
34:04 Said, you know: "Cry louder,
34:07 talk louder. Maybe he's not hearing you. "
34:11 And they continued to pray
34:16 all afternoon.
34:34 Took knives and cut their bodies and they cried all afternoon
34:40 praying that Baal would do something in their behalf.
34:53 That's late afternoon.
35:03 I mean, and all this noise, when it was all said and done
35:09 nobody answered.
35:12 Now folks, learn something.
35:17 This old world isn't going to answer your problems.
35:25 This old world isn't going to give you
35:31 satisfaction.
35:33 It's not going to give you peace.
35:37 It's not going to give you joy.
35:40 It's not going to give you any of those things.
35:43 When it was all said and done, there was no one...
35:47 there was no answer, there was no one that gave them
35:51 any attention. And so if you're looking to this world
35:55 to find an answer for your problems
35:59 I'll tell you right now: you won't find it in this world.
36:03 And then it says that Elijah said: "that's enough. "
36:08 He went over to where the altar of God had stood
36:12 and he had them rebuild it.
36:14 Took and put on that altar a sacrifice
36:18 and then had them bring up seven barrels of water
36:22 and dump over that until the water drenched everything
36:28 and filled up the ditch that they had dug around it.
36:30 And then it says
36:34 Elijah went over and he knelt
36:36 and he said: "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
36:40 and the God of Jacob, if Thou be the God of Israel
36:44 send fire and burn up this sacrifice. "
36:47 The scripture says here:
37:05 Fire fell. I mean it burned up everything.
37:10 It even licked up the water and the dust of the ground.
37:15 And Israel fell on their faces and they said:
37:17 "The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. "
37:20 And I plead with you this evening,
37:24 dear friend, get it clear in your heart and your soul
37:28 who you believe in.
37:30 If you believe in God, believe in Him.
37:34 Don't be half-hearted about it.
37:36 Believe in Him. If you're not going to believe in Him,
37:38 then follow the world.
37:40 But I can tell you for sure, when it all ends up
37:45 nothing in this old world is going to do for you
37:49 what you need to have done.
37:51 Because it says:
38:07 That means
38:11 that you've got to make a decision.
38:14 You've got to get your priorities in the right place
38:18 and say: "Well, this is what I believe
38:20 and this is what I'm going to do
38:22 and I'll put nothing ahead of it. Nothing! "
38:27 Wife. Mother, father.
38:33 Brother, sister, child.
38:35 Nothing that I have must come between me and God.
38:50 What am I telling you?
38:55 If you have anything...
38:58 if you have anything
39:02 that comes between you and God,
39:06 that's an idol.
39:10 If you have anything that comes between you and God,
39:16 that's an idol.
39:19 And you want to just find out whether it's there or not?
39:23 I'll just simply how you can tell whether it's there or not.
39:26 If you've got anything - I don't care what it is -
39:31 and you can't walk away from it,
39:34 it's an idol.
39:39 I have to be willing to forsake everything that I have
39:45 for Jesus Christ.
39:48 I must be willing to give up
39:52 everything that I have for Him
39:56 or else it comes between me and Him.
40:01 It's an idol.
40:05 If you leave them, OK?
40:07 That house is more important to you than Jesus Christ,
40:10 then it's an idol.
40:25 I have to be willing to give it up
40:29 for the Lord Jesus Christ.
40:31 OK. Now you need to understand where we are.
40:37 We're talking about the Elijah message.
40:39 We're talking about where we are... what we've got to do
40:42 to be prepared for the coming of the Lord.
40:44 And so there's some facets here that we've got to understand.
40:48 One:
41:03 Babylon has fallen.
41:09 I cannot be permitted to be caught up into Babylon.
41:15 In God's eyes, Babylon has fallen.
41:21 But you see the problem is -
41:23 and we're drawing a comparison here, folks.
41:25 You remember the children of Israel were carried where?
41:28 In the captivity they were carried to where?
41:30 To Babylon.
41:32 But what people don't understand
41:35 is life was good in Babylon.
41:41 See? They were there.
41:44 You remember Daniel had gone there.
41:46 Daniel had become the prime minister of the country.
41:49 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had been elevated
41:53 to some of the very top positions in the country.
41:57 And therefore, things were great in Babylon.
42:02 Babylon was the richest nation on earth.
42:08 I mean, Nebuchadnezzar had lavished all kinds of wealth
42:12 upon that city. It was a wonderful place to live.
42:16 They had things that nobody else had.
42:18 It was a great place to live.
42:20 Things were nice in Babylon.
42:22 They all had good jobs.
42:29 They not only had good jobs,
42:32 they had plenty of food.
42:35 In fact, historians tell us that if they closed the gates
42:39 to the city of Babylon, they had enough food inside the city
42:43 to take care of them for 40 years.
42:47 So food was plentiful... all of it you wanted.
42:50 They had good houses... good homes.
42:54 All those things were there.
42:56 They had been in Babylon for seventy years...
43:01 and life was good.
43:06 And God said: "Come out of Babylon. "
43:12 That's what He's saying to you today.
43:15 Spiritually God is saying "Babylon is fallen.
43:19 Come out of Babylon. "
43:23 Do you know where He's asking you to go?
43:25 Hmmm? Where was He asking them to go?
43:29 Oh, He's telling them to go back to Jerusalem.
43:33 Well, life in Jerusalem was hard.
43:37 Life in Jerusalem wasn't easy.
43:41 I mean, it was just the opposite of Babylon.
43:45 There were no jobs.
43:48 There was no city.
43:50 Everything in Jerusalem was in ruins.
43:55 Food was scarce.
43:58 No housing; everything was in bad shape in Jerusalem.
44:04 And He's saying: "Come out of Babylon.
44:07 Go to Jerusalem. "
44:13 I'm not offering you tonight an easy way.
44:19 God's not offering it to you.
44:21 He says in these last days "Babylon is fallen. "
44:24 He's saying: "Come out. "
44:26 It may not be easy, folks.
44:30 I can't promise you that.
44:32 It may be very, very difficult.
44:35 But God is calling you, He's calling me
44:40 to leave this world behind.
44:43 Leave the things that this world offers behind
44:48 and put our eyes on Jerusalem...
44:51 because that's where God says we're going:
44:54 to a city "whose builder and maker is God. "
44:58 That's what we're looking for.
45:00 A new place where we are.
45:15 See? It's a call.
45:19 It's a call out... out of the world.
45:23 And He says that you and I need to understand this.
45:27 We need to decide we're willing to do this
45:30 because He's coming back
45:32 and we need to be prepared for His coming.
45:35 And it says that while He's coming...
45:37 here we're talking about the ten virgins...
45:39 it says:
45:47 Hmmm.
45:50 Do you think... I'm going to ask you a question...
45:53 Do you think the bridegroom has been delayed?
45:57 Huh?
46:00 Oh, absolutely.
46:02 No question: the bridegroom has been delayed.
46:06 So you know, if we didn't have anything else telling us
46:10 where we are, that itself ought to tell us where we are.
46:13 The bridegroom is delayed.
46:16 And it says that all the virgins did what?
46:21 Slumbered.
46:23 It does not say five of them didn't.
46:26 It says they all slumbered and slept.
46:30 All ten of them.
46:34 But what happened?
46:36 There was a call.
46:39 There was a cry saying: "Wake up!
46:43 Wake up! The bridegroom's coming! "
46:46 And so they woke.
46:56 And I hope, dear friend, tonight you know the time.
47:08 If there was ever a period of time
47:11 in which mankind has lived and are living today,
47:15 now is the time to wake out of sleep.
47:17 Wake up
47:20 because Jesus Christ is coming back.
47:23 So how do I wake out of sleep?
47:25 They ALL slumbered and slept.
47:29 How do I wake up?
47:32 Well, let me share some things with you.
47:41 How am I drugged?
47:46 I'm drugged by taking in the drugs of this world.
47:52 And let me tell you some of the things
47:55 that we're doing that's drugs
47:59 that are keeping us asleep.
48:01 One of those things that we're doing
48:03 is we're watching too much television.
48:06 Dear friend, you cannot...
48:10 you cannot spend 5-6 hours a day
48:14 watching television and maintain a Christian belief.
48:20 That is totally impossible.
48:24 You and I must... we must not spend time
48:29 in television. We need to spend time in the Word.
48:33 We need to spend time there.
48:36 I'm not saying don't watch TV.
48:37 I'm saying stop spending the hours and hours and hours
48:41 that people spend. I know people come home from work
48:44 5 o'clock and they sit in front of that thing
48:47 until 10 o'clock at night.
48:50 You can't do that.
48:54 You've got to spend time in the Word of God.
48:58 You see what you're doing...
49:01 you're eating the wrong type of food.
49:06 That's what you're doing.
49:08 The same thing that Christ told the disciples. He said:
49:12 "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. "
49:17 You and I are feeding our souls
49:20 with the wrong type of food.
49:25 This book... this book
49:28 has the power within it
49:31 to change your life.
49:33 Do you understand that?
49:35 That is... here is the power to change your life
49:40 and to make things different.
49:42 And you and I must spend time in it
49:45 so that our lives are changed.
49:48 And people today are drugged.
49:54 They know more about actors
50:00 and sport figures
50:02 and all that than they know about the Word of God.
50:05 You can ask them and they can tell you all about
50:08 these people but they can't tell you anything
50:10 about the Word of God.
50:11 And I'm not talking about people who claim to not,
50:14 you know, claim to be non-Christian.
50:16 I'm talking about people that claim to know the Lord,
50:19 and they know more about sports
50:21 than they know about the Word of God.
50:23 No! That cannot be
50:27 if I'm going to be prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ.
50:31 Thirdly: not listening.
50:37 We're just not listening. We don't have our ears open.
50:41 It says: "They have ears, but they do not hear. "
50:45 I can't hear the still small voice of the Lord.
50:51 I can't hear it because I am deaf
50:57 to the Spirit of God and the voice of God.
51:02 See, I've got to listen. I've got to understand.
51:06 I've got to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying.
51:08 Finally, need to change your lifestyle.
51:14 The lifestyle needs to be changed.
51:18 I'm talking about why people are... what needs to happen
51:23 for them to wake out of sleep.
51:25 You can't continue to have a lifestyle that doesn't
51:29 spend any time with the Lord Jesus Christ.
51:32 That doesn't spend any time. I'm amazed
51:37 at people who call themselves Christian
51:42 and they may spend an hour or two hours a week
51:48 in Christian activity and that's it.
51:51 And they thing they're going to make it
51:54 into the kingdom of heaven?
51:56 Dear friend, they are asleep and they will remain asleep.
52:02 You and I have to wake out of sleep.
52:05 We have to prepare our souls for the coming of the Lord.
52:09 And if we don't, we'll miss it.
52:13 These are things that have to take place,
52:16 and this is what the Elijah message is about:
52:18 calling people to be prepared for the coming of the Lord.
52:22 Necessary.
52:33 See? I need to be watching.
52:38 I need to be looking.
52:40 I need to be prepared
52:42 for the coming of Jesus Christ.
52:45 Are you ready
52:47 for Jesus to come?
52:49 Are you faithful in all the things that you do?
52:54 Can you look up and say
52:56 "This is my God! "
52:59 Are you ready for Jesus to come?
53:03 Let's pray.
53:05 Father, we ask You tonight
53:11 that we might prepare our hearts and our souls
53:15 for the coming of Jesus Christ.
53:20 Help us, Lord, to not permit anything
53:26 of this old world to come between us and You.
53:30 Take away all the idols of our hearts.
53:35 May we be willing to forsake it
53:39 and to follow You.
53:41 Bless each one.
53:44 Give them, Lord, the fruits of the Spirit in their lives.
53:49 May they know the joy and the peace that only Christ can give.
53:54 May they respond in love to You.
53:59 And may each one of us day by day,
54:04 hour by hour,
54:07 keep our eyes fixed upon You
54:11 and be prepared to enter into Your kingdom.
54:16 For this we ask in Christ's name, Amen.
54:22 Well, our next series: The Apple of God's Eye.
54:28 The Apple of God's Eye...
54:31 which is the church.
54:33 So we're going to take a look at what the scripture has to say
54:36 about the church. Very important.
54:39 Why do we need a church?
54:41 What is its purpose?
54:43 Why did God speak of a church?
54:47 And how am I, how are you, supposed to relate
54:51 to the church?
54:52 Is it just something that I go to once a week?
54:57 You know... Or does it have a real purpose and a calling?
55:02 What God desires to do with the church.
55:06 This is what we'll be looking at in our next series.
55:09 So we hope you'll join us.
55:10 Thank you for being with us, folks.
55:12 God bless you. Take care.
55:14 We'll talk to you next time.
55:18 Although they're small and seemingly insignificant,
55:22 soybean pods fill the farm fields of the United States.
55:26 What a treasure they are for the farmer at harvest time.
55:30 Nearly all soybeans in this country
55:33 are processed for their oil which is then refined for
55:36 cooking or sold for biodiesel production
55:40 as well as for many other industrial uses.
55:43 Because of the high demand for soybeans,
55:46 a farmer must be able to harvest large quantities
55:49 in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
55:52 One of the best ways to do this
55:54 is to use a combine harvester.
55:57 These massive machines give the farmer
56:00 the ability to quickly harvest and haul
56:03 the beans at an incredible rate.
56:06 Have you ever considered what one farmer can do today
56:09 with the help of modern tools?
56:11 The farmer of the past could hardly imagine it.
56:14 Within hours, one man and a machine can harvest
56:18 and deliver untold bushels of soybeans to the market.
56:22 His goal is to obtain the largest yield possible
56:25 at harvest time.
56:27 Like the farmer today, we must do the same.
56:30 In Luke 10 and verse 2
56:33 Jesus said: "The harvest truly is great
56:35 but the laborers are few. "
56:38 And in John 4:35 He looked over the wheat fields
56:41 and said to His disciples:
56:43 "Lift up your eyes and look at the fields
56:46 for they are already white for harvest. "
56:49 In both passages, Jesus referred to men and women
56:52 of this world as He proclaimed that the harvest is here
56:56 and the work must be done.
56:59 When I was a boy,
57:00 the corn harvest was all done by hand.
57:03 We literally had a horse-drawn wagon,
57:06 and we would walk along beside it and pull the corn
57:09 off the stalk and throw it onto the wagon.
57:12 But folks, the time is short,
57:14 so the Lord has provided the most marvelous technology
57:18 to enable us to harvest more souls through television,
57:22 radio, and other media.
57:24 Today we can take the message
57:26 to the multitudes around the world at the speed of light.
57:30 Such ability was far beyond the imagination
57:34 of the evangelists of the past.
57:37 The harvest is here, but we can't do it without you.
57:42 Won't you help us?
57:43 Please consider what you can do
57:45 for those who still don't know about Jesus.
57:48 As the Holy Spirit impresses,
57:50 please send your tax-deductible gifts to:
58:04 Thank you for helping us spread the light of God's Word
58:06 through television and radio.
58:08 Your gifts help bring the blessed hope of salvation
58:10 to millions around the world.


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Revised 2014-12-17