Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001247
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00:07 Jesus is talking with His disciples one day and
00:09 He says to Philip, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father. 00:13 That's John 14:9. 00:14 On Father's Day - Happy Father's Day, Dads - some 00:18 people reflect on the fact that they didn't have a great 00:20 father while they grew up. 00:21 Gone too much, to angry, violent, abusive... Tragic. 00:25 But there's a Father you can love, and even if your earthly 00:28 father didn't give you a perfect picture of what 00:30 a Dad should be, Jesus said that if you want to know what 00:33 God the Father is like, just look at Jesus. 00:36 Jesus reveals what our Heavenly Father is really 00:39 like. 00:40 He4s kind, patient, merciful, forgiving, accepting, 00:44 healing, uplifting... 00:46 If you want to know what the Father is like, look at 00:48 Jesus. 00:49 And when you do that, you'll agree that you DO have a 00:52 Father you can love and trust. 00:55 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written. 00:57 Let's live today by Every Word. 01:11 [music] It has stood the test of time. 01:16 God's book, the Bible. 01:20 Still relevant in today's complex world. 01:28 It Is Written sharing hope around the globe. 01:40 Imagine growing up thinking you were someone, and then 01:43 discovering you were someone else. 01:46 And imagine if you found out your own godfather was one of 01:48 the monsters of history. 01:50 Guntram Weber was a 63-year-old teacher living in 01:53 Berlin, West Germany. 01:54 Like many Germans his age, he never knew his father, and 01:59 that was because his dad was killed during the war. 02:01 Or, at least that's what his mother told him. 02:04 "Guntram, your dad was a truck driver for the 02:06 Luftwaffe in Croatia and he died in the fighting." And 02:10 that's all she told him. 02:11 For much of his life, Guntram remained skeptical about what 02:14 his mother had said regarding his father. 02:17 He could never quite bring himself to believe her story. 02:20 It always bothered him that she never talked about his 02:22 father, and when he asked questions, she would say 02:24 something quickly and then change the subject. 02:27 And to make things seem even more suspicious, there were 02:29 never any photos of his dad around the house, and he 02:32 couldn't find any documentation. 02:34 Then one day, following a hint his stepfather gave him, 02:37 Guntram did a little digging his shock he found the truth. 02:43 Guntram was what they called a Lebensborn baby, a term the 02:47 Nazis used to describe their plan to use selective 02:50 breeding to create a Master Aryan race that would 02:54 eventually rule the world. 02:55 They'd pick out what they considered to be the most 02:58 Aryan-looking and racially pure men and women, and under 03:01 the direction of the SS and Heinrich Himmler, they ran a 03:05 special program where those people were essentially sent 03:07 to breeding farms around Europe to give birth to 03:10 supposedly racially pure children. 03:13 And when Guntram went to find the truth about his dad, 03:16 that's what he discovered. 03:18 His dad wasn't a lorry driver killed in Croatia. 03:21 He was a Major-General in the SS who had a wife and three 03:24 children of his own when he got Guntram's mother 03:27 pregnant. 03:28 His mother then went to one of the "Lebensborn" clinics, 03:31 and thus Guntram came into the world. 03:34 His real father was deemed a war criminal and had to flee 03:37 to Argentina after the war, where he lived until his 03:40 death in 1970. 03:42 But as bad as that was, it wasn't the only dark secret 03:45 in his life. 03:46 He discovered, to his horror, that Heinrich Himmler, the 03:50 infamous director of the death camps, was his 03:53 godfather. 03:54 Imagine: thinking one thing about your origins all your 03:57 life, and then discovering the horrible truth: your 04:02 birth was a part of a systematic eugenics program. 04:06 Thousands of Germans, after the war, suffered the trauma 04:09 of making that very discovery. 04:13 [Music] Some of the most basic questions people ask 04:15 during the course of their lifetime are things like "Who 04:17 am I?", and "Why am I here?" 04:25 Anybody who lives long enough and gives life even a few 04:28 moments of serious thought is going to ask those kinds of 04:31 questions. 04:32 [music] ... 04:33 In his book Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy presents a 04:35 Russian aristocrat by the name of Konstantin Levin who 04:50 asks three essential questions: (1) What am I? 04:53 (2) Where am I?, and (3) Why am I here? 05:03 As the story goes, Konstantin was looking at his estate 05:06 when he suddenly wonders: what does it all mean? 05:10 "When these people are all dead, and I'm dead, too - 05:13 what will all of this mean?" 05:15 I had a conversation once with a philophosy professor 05:18 in London, England once told me that philosophers still 05:21 wrestle with the big questions. 05:23 I said "Michael, what are those big questions?" And he 05:25 told me: "Here are the big questions we are trying to 05:27 get to the bottom of. 05:28 Who am I? 05:30 Why am I here? 05:32 There's something in the human heart that cries 05:34 desperately to know what life is all about. 05:37 What a waste to live here without knowing why you're 05:41 here and how you're supposed to spend your time. 05:44 Most people wander through life not knowing what their 05:48 life really means. 05:50 And then, when it's too late they discover what they could 05:55 have done. 05:56 So let me ask you: how, exactly, are you supposed to 05:59 live your life if you don't know why you're here or where 06:03 you come from? 06:05 Richard Dawkins, the famous Oxford zoologist and atheist, 06:08 believes quite strongly that he's got the answer. 06:11 He says that we are cosmic accidents created by chance 06:15 through the unconscious mechanism of random mutation 06:18 and natural selection. 06:20 In other words, more conscious thought and purpose 06:23 went into somebody scribbling some graffiti under a bridge 06:26 than went into the creation of you and me - or the whole 06:29 universe even. 06:30 But look at the world around you: everything seems to have 06:34 a purpose. 06:35 Ears have purpose, the brain of a dolphin has a purpose, 06:39 the sun has a purpose, the DNA of a flower has purpose, 06:43 and yet we're being asked to believe that everything 06:46 around us is an accident and has no purpose at all? 06:51 After more than a century of evolutionary theory being 06:53 taught in the classroom, millions and millions of 06:57 Americans still don't believe it. 07:00 Most of us still believe that God purposely created us - in 07:04 His image. 07:05 All the hypotheses and speculations out there about 07:08 there being a "the selfish gene," or about "natural 07:12 selection," or about primordial soup - just don't 07:15 make the same kind of sense found in the first words of 07:18 the Bible: Genesis 1:1 says, "n the beginning God created 07:25 the heavens and the earth" You know, in those few words, 07:29 we have a radically different perspective on the question 07:33 of life than the stuff we learned in high school 07:36 biology. 07:37 Are we really just the chance product of cold cosmic forces 07:40 who never even saw us coming? 07:42 Or are we the purposeful creation of a loving God who 07:46 made us, as the Bible says, in His own image? 07:50 There's quite a stark contrast between those two 07:53 views. 07:54 Guntram Weber thought he had it pretty bad, having 07:58 Heinrich Himmler as his godfather. 08:00 But at least his life had some sort of misguided design 08:03 to it. 08:04 As bad as the picture was, I think it's even worse to be 08:07 told that your great-great-great-great-grand 08:09 father was a single-celled organism coming out of a 08:13 primordial soup. 08:15 Suddenly, your life has got no kind of meaning at all. 08:21 Now let me ask you this question: Can a painting of a 08:24 water lily suddenly become an actual water lily? 08:30 Are you sure you know the answer to that question? 08:32 I'll bring that answer to you in just a moment. 08:52 [Music] Time for today's Bible question and thanks for 08:54 submitting Bible questions to us at It Is Written. 08:57 How can a person really believe the Bible is true? 09:02 It was written years ago, it has been copied so many 09:04 times, it was written by a lot of different people and 09:07 those people wrote different parts of the Bible at 09:10 different times. 09:12 Help me believe the Bible is believable. 09:15 Great question. 09:16 Thank you. 09:17 I'll do my best. 09:18 You know what's funny? 09:20 There are historical books that not many people question 09:23 when it comes to authenticity. 09:25 Let me explain this a bit. 09:27 A historian named Tacitus wrote The Annals of Imperial 09:30 Rome. 09:31 Few people question its accuracy or its veracity, 09:34 even though what is available today comes from a copy and 09:39 doesn't NEARLY date back to the original. 09:41 Now I'm not knocking Tacitus at all - just pointing out 09:46 that there's a bit of a double standard when it comes 09:48 to considering the accuracy of the Bible. 09:51 Now there are several reasons you can trust the Bible. 09:54 I'll name just a few. 09:55 Historically it stands up. 09:57 Luke, who wrote Luke and the Book of Acts, is a very 10:00 accurate historian, and the historical details found in 10:03 what he wrote stand the test of thorough scrutiny. 10:07 Archaeology has validated the Bible again and again. 10:11 On numerous occasions it has been said that portions of 10:13 the Bible couldn't be trusted because they couldn't be 10:16 validated by the archaeological record. 10:18 But again and again archaeologists have found 10:21 records of cities or other evidences that show the Bible 10:26 record was accurate after all. 10:29 It has happened many, many times. 10:32 Then there are the manuscripts. 10:34 There are hundreds of old manuscripts or portions of 10:37 manuscripts that show us that what has come down to us 10:40 today is consistent with what was written hundreds and 10:43 hundreds of years ago. 10:45 Tthe Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the late 1940s 10:48 and early 1950s are compelling evidence that the 10:51 Bible is legitimate. 10:52 They date back as far back as 11:01 before the time of Christ, and they show us that the 11:04 Bible we read today is fundamentally the same as 11:07 what was written way back then. 11:09 Now the 'differences' that exist in manuscripts are 11:11 generally so small that they're just irrelevant. 11:13 You don't find a manuscript where Jesus says He is not 11:16 the Son of God, or where Christ is teaching something 11:19 bizarre. 11:20 And consider prophecy. 11:21 Many prophecies of the Bible are being fulfilled and this 11:23 demonstrates I think, conclusively, that the Bible 11:25 can be trusted. 11:26 When you've got predictions made that name a king before 11:29 he is born or that name a certain invader or conquerer 11:32 before he is born and then these things come to pass... 11:35 When you have got all those prophecies about Jesus coming 11:39 to the world one saying He would be crucified, another 11:41 saying not a bone would be broken, another saying He 11:44 would be born in Bethlehem, another saying He would die 11:47 in dishonour, another saying He would be rejected by the 11:50 ones He came to save, and on and on... 11:53 You've got a real problem if you want to argue against the 11:57 inspiration of the Bible. 11:58 What are you going to do with all that evidence? 12:02 But you know what? 12:03 At the end of the day we accept the Bible by faith. 12:07 The Bible's critics do raise fair questions at times - 12:10 sometimes questions aren't very easy to answer, 12:12 especially to everybody's satisfaction. 12:14 But there's enough clear - what I would call - 12:18 "evidence" for us to know that the Bible really is the 12:22 word of God. 12:23 You can accept it by faith. 12:24 Not blind faith, but reasonable, studied faith. 12:28 There are many, many good reasons to trust the Bible. 12:31 So many I"m not sure how someone can really be 12:35 confident in rejecting the Bible. 12:39 If there's a question you would like answered, pleae 12:41 send it to me at ItIsWritten.com. 12:43 I'll do my very best to get your question answered. 12:48 If you have a question for pastor John Bradshaw, please 12:51 write to It Is Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, California 12:55 91359 or visit our website, ItIsWritten.com t Is Written 13:01 is dedicated to sharing the gospel around the world. 13:03 To discover more about It Is Written, I invite you to 13:05 visit our website: itiswritten.com and browse 13:12 the dozens of pages that describe what we do and how 13:15 we do it. 13:16 Let' get to know each other better. 13:19 Visit our website itiswritten.com today. 13:23 You know, one of the great puzzles of modern science is 13:26 the question of life itself: where, exactly, did it come 13:30 from? 13:30 How did these chemical products - water, carbon, and 13:34 proteinhow did they make the jump from being - well, 13:38 water, carbon, and protein - to a living thing? 13:42 The idea of a painting of a water lily suddenly becoming 13:45 a real water lily seems impossible. 13:49 How would the painting make that kind of jump? 13:52 It's not just a small tweak here and there and then 13:54 suddenly the painting comes to life! 13:56 It just doesn't seem feasible. 13:58 But the old, old story you find the Bible DOES seem 14:02 feasible. 14:03 God CREATED life with purpose and design - and with human 14:09 beings, He took special steps to make something very 14:12 special. 14:13 Listen to what the Bible says, in Genesis 2:7 "and the 14:19 LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 14:22 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man 14:26 became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). 14:30 I want you to notice the intimacy: it says God 14:33 breathed into our nostrils the breath of life. 14:35 According to the Biblical account, it wasn't an 14:38 accident. 14:39 Someone who cares deeply about our existence put us 14:42 here on purpose, for a reason. 14:45 Now take that version of human origins and contrast it 14:48 with what the late paleontologist Stephen Jay 14:52 Gould said about human origins: He said, "We are 14:56 here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin 15:00 anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial 15:04 creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during 15:09 the ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising 15:14 in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has 15:17 managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. 15:22 We múy yearn for a 'higher' answer - but none exists." I 15:29 can't imagine anything more hopeless - and when it comes 15:33 to the really important questions in life, it just 15:36 doesn't bring any lasting satisfaction. 15:39 And with all due respect, how could Dr. Gould be so 15:42 certain? 15:43 He just wasn't there when it supposedly happened. 15:46 He didn't see any of his hypothesis take place. 15:49 Instead, he took a few bits of scattered data - a little 15:53 piece here, a little piece there - and then building on 15:57 a whole bunch of unproven assumptions, he cooked up a 16:00 theory of human origins that just doesn't really make 16:03 sense. 16:04 When I listen to people like Dawkins and Gould, and all 16:07 these other people who seem to insist that life is an 16:10 accident, it reminds me of a passage in the book of Job 16:14 where God asks some pretty tough questions. 16:18 I'm turning to the book of Job, Chapter 38 and verse 4, 16:22 Job 38:4 and it says this, Where were you when I laid 16:28 the foundations of the earth? 16:30 Tell Me, if you have understanding. 16:33 Who determined its measurements? 16:36 Surely you know or who stretched the line upon it? 16:41 Just try to imagine standing in front of God, attempting 16:45 to answer questions like this. 16:47 And the rest of the chapter has a lot more questions. 16:50 The point of it is really pretty simple: none of us 16:53 were there. 16:54 We're building a theory of human origins from scratch, 16:57 based on a tiny bits of information and a whole lot 17:01 of human arrogance. 17:03 You know, I've heard people say that it's arrogant to 17:05 suggest that human life is special, and that Christians 17:09 are arrogant to suggest that people have a special place 17:12 on planet earth, but sometimes I really have to 17:15 wonder: when we want to be smart enough to think that we 17:19 think we hold the key to the universe, and we're too proud 17:22 to think that Someone might just have a claim on our 17:25 lives, where does the real arrogance lie? 17:30 And in the view offered by Dawkins and Darwin and Gould, 17:34 the universe doesn't last. 17:36 Follow these guys' theories to their logical conclusion, 17:39 and you get a pretty hopeless picture. 17:42 Eventually, the universe just collapses - and nothing will 17:46 have meant anything. 17:48 But the story given in the Bible bubbless with hope. 17:52 It admits the sad condition of our planet, it explains 17:56 the pain and suffering we're living with, and it holds out 17:59 a promise that answers the toughest questions we can 18:02 ask. 18:03 To put it simply, God offers us a future. 18:07 Listen to His promise, it's found at the end of the book 18:09 of Isaiah: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new 18:15 earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come 18:19 into mind" (Isaiah 65:17). 18:20 If life were really meaningless, I don't think so 18:23 many people - for so many years - would have asked so 18:26 many questions. 18:28 If you and I are just machines that fell together 18:30 by accident, why would we even care about the meaning 18:34 of life. 18:35 But if our lives are the creation of a loving, caring 18:38 God, who has our best in mind, the questions you've 18:41 got about life begin to make sense. 18:45 They're kind of a homing beacon, steering you back 18:47 into a relationship with God. 18:50 Now in the book of Ephesians, the Bible says, Ephesians 1, 18:54 He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, 18:58 that we should be holy and without blame before Him...." 19:02 (Eph. 19:03 1:4) You didn't just happen: you were chosen, and you 19:07 still are. 19:09 Because of what God did for you at the cross of Calvary, 19:11 you are free to answer the call in your heart and 19:14 rediscover your original purpose. 19:17 Here's another passage found in 2 Timothy 1:9, where the 19:21 Bible tells us that you and I have been called, with a 19:26 holy calling, not according to our works, but according 19:30 to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in 19:34 Christ Jesus before time began." Over and over again, 19:38 the Bible says that you were chosen, you were called 19:42 before the creation of the world. 19:44 There's a reason you wonder about the meaning of your 19:47 life. 19:48 Dig a little deeper into your past, and you're going to 19:50 make a remarkable discovery: your life really does have 19:55 purpose. 19:56 You were put here intentionally, and there are 19:59 forces at work in this universe to keep you from 20:02 discovering the truth. 20:05 In a moment, an incredible story about two men who found 20:09 out who they really were. 20:14 Planning for your financial future is a vital aspect of 20:17 Christian Stewardship. 20:19 For this reason, It Is Written is pleased to offer 20:21 free planned giving and estate services. 20:24 For information on how we can help you, please call 20:29 1.800.992.2219. 20:30 To receive additional material on the advantages of 20:32 life-income plans such as a Charitable Gift Annuity, 20:35 which can provide you with tax benefits and income for 20:39 life, Call today or visit our special website: 20:42 www.hislegacy.com. 20:46 You could also write to It Is Written, Planned Giving and 20:49 Trust Services, Box O, Thousand Oaks, California 20:53 91359. 20:55 Our toll-free number again is 1-800-992-2219 and our web 21:01 address: www.hislegacy.com 21:09 Somebody doesn't want you to know who you really are. 21:13 You know, a little while ago, I came across a remarkable 21:15 story. 21:16 In the state of Maine, there were two men - Gary and Randy 21:19 - working at the same furniture company. 21:21 Customers and coworkers alike couldn't help but notice that 21:24 they two guys looked a lot alike. 21:26 Both of them had light hair, both of them had stocky 21:29 builds, and both of them wore baseball caps and had 21:32 goatees. 21:33 Their mannerisms and appearance were so much alike 21:35 that people used to ask if they were brothers. 21:37 But of course, they weren't - because if they were 21:40 brothers, they would have grown up together, right? 21:43 Then one day Randy asked Gary if he knew the names of his 21:45 biological parents, and to his surprise, they were the 21:49 same as his biological parents. 21:52 And the fact that they were both adopted really started 21:54 raising some important questions. 21:57 Randy knew that he had a brother out there somewhere, 22:00 and so he asked Gary what his birthday was. 22:03 It was June 10, 1974 - the same year that his brother 22:07 had been born. 22:08 Now think about this very carefully: what are theodds 22:12 that two brothers actually worked together in the same 22:15 company all those years, and didn't realize that they were 22:19 brothers? 22:20 What twists of fate had to happen to bring them both 22:23 together on the same payroll - and how many days - weeks - 22:28 years , had actually been wasted because they didn't 22:32 realize just how close their family really was? 22:36 And now think about yourself here on planet earth. 22:44 Your heart tells you that your life is important. 22:47 You've got this overwhelming sense that you were put here 22:49 for a reason. 22:51 You might struggle to know what that reason is, but you 22:55 just can't shake the feeling. 22:59 Maybe at night, you look up at the stars, wondering if 23:01 Somebody is really out there. 23:05 Maybe, in the quiet moments of your life life, you find 23:08 yourself wanting to talk to Someone - wanting to have a 23:11 relationship. 23:14 In every human heart, there's this feeling that we've been 23:16 disconnected - that we're missing out on the most 23:19 important relationship in the world. 23:22 Some people describe it as feeling a little bit homesick 23:25 - as if we recognize that we really belong somewhere else, 23:28 in a different set of circumstances. 23:31 That feeling, according to the Bible, is universal. 23:34 In Ecclesiastes 3:11, the Bible says that God has put 23:39 eternity in the heart. In the last century and a half, 23:42 there have been a lot of voices telling us that our 23:49 existence doesn't mean anything. 23:53 But after all this time, they're failing to convince 23:56 us. 23:57 The call in your heart just won't go away. 23:59 New theories of human origins have failed to kill the cry 24:02 of our hearts to know who we really are. 24:05 And who are we? 24:07 We are beings purposefully made in the image of God, who 24:12 promised us eternal life with Him long before the world 24:16 even began. 24:18 So right now, only one more question remains: Are you 24:22 going to claim your meaningful life with God? 24:26 According to the Bible, it's yours for the asking - and 24:29 when you ask, you're going to discover that He's been there 24:33 all along. 24:35 It's just that maybe you didn't recognize Him. 24:38 But will you recognize Him right now? 24:41 Let's pray. 24:42 We will thank God that he made us for a purpose. 24:45 He made us in his image and he made both you and me so 24:50 that we might spend eternity with him. 24:55 Our Father in heaven, we thank you that we are not 24:57 just accidents. 24:58 We thank you that life is not meaningless, but that it is 25:02 full of purpose. 25:03 And we pray claiming your purpose for our life right 25:07 now. 25:08 You made us and not just to live and die, but you made us 25:13 to live on this earth and then die or not, live 25:17 eternally with you forever in the place where it is good 25:21 where the flowers don't ever fade and when we will enjoy 25:25 and where we will enjoy meaning and purpose beyond 25:29 our ability right now to comprehend and so we thank 25:33 you that you are our father and that we are yours. 25:36 We belong to you and we are glad and we pray in Jesus' 25:41 name, amen. 26:11 Perhaps our program today has touched your heart and 26:14 impressed you with a personal need for deeper Bible study. 26:17 If you desire to listen to God and follow where he 26:19 leads, we've got a wonderful resource that can help you do 26:22 that in a systemic way, the Discover Bible Guides. 26:27 These study guides will take you through the essential 26:29 truths taught in Scripture. 26:30 They give you the big picture showing how it all fits 26:33 together. 26:34 The Discover Bible Guides are a wonderful way for you to 26:37 become grounded in the Word of God and to see how Jesus 26:40 Christ relates to all the areas of our lives. 26:44 Please call or write us and the Discover Bible Guides 26:47 will be on their way to you. 26:49 If you live in North America, we'll mail these Bible guides 26:51 free of charge. 26:52 Or for even easier and immediate access from 26:55 anywhere around the world, you can get these wonderful 26:57 Bible lessons on our website itiswritten.com. 27:05 Request the Discover Bible Guides by calling our toll 27:08 free number 1 800 253 3000. 27:12 Call right now and tell us the name of today's free 27:15 offer, the Discover Bible Guides. 27:18 Lines are open 24 hours. 27:19 If they are busy when you call, keep trying. 27:23 You can also request today's offer by writing to It Is 27:26 Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. 27:31 Thank you for your letters and for your continued 27:34 support. 27:35 Our toll free number is 1 800 253 3000 and our web address 27:41 is itiswritten.com Thanks for joining me today. 27:47 And remember It Is Written: man shall not live by bread 27:52 alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of 27:56 God. |
Revised 2015-02-06