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Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW022256S
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00:15 ♪[music ends]♪♪
00:19 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. 00:21 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me. 00:23 It's one of the most celebrated of all things. 00:27 Love has been called "a many-splendored thing." 00:31 Songs have been sung about love: [crowd cheering] 00:33 "Love Me Tender," "Love Me Do." 00:35 In classical music there's "Liebestraum"-- 00:38 "Dream of Love"--by Liszt. ♪[soft music]♪ 00:40 "Salut d'Amour"--"Love's Greeting"--was given 00:43 by the English composer Elgar as an engagement gift. 00:46 Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream" 00:49 and "Romeo and Juliet" and "Much Ado About Nothing"-- 00:52 all love stories. [sound of pen scribbling] 00:54 Poetry and love go hand in hand, always have. 00:57 "Oh, my Luve is like a red, red rose, 00:59 that's newly sprung in June," wrote Robert Burns in the 1700s. 01:03 The Western world has even set aside a day 01:05 on which to remember love: Valentine's Day. 01:09 And when you come to the Bible, there it is: love. 01:14 "For God so loved the world, 01:16 "that He gave His only begotten Son, 01:18 "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 01:21 but have everlasting life." John 3:16. 01:24 Twice in the same chapter, 1 John 4, 01:27 we are told that "God is love." 01:29 Paul wrote, "I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, 01:33 "nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 01:36 "nor things to come, 01:37 "nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 01:41 "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 01:44 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 01:47 Beautiful! Love cannot be separated from God. 01:51 And the Bible depicts love in some beautiful ways. 01:55 In Genesis, "Jacob served seven years for Rachel; 01:59 "and they seemed unto him but a few days, 02:01 for the love he had to her." 02:03 "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: 02:07 "if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, 02:11 it would be utterly contemned." 02:13 And Jesus said, "The Father Himself loves you." 02:16 That's John 16:27. 02:18 So let's ask ourselves about this, then. 02:23 God says through the prophet Samuel, 02:26 "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy 02:30 "all that they have, and spare them not; 02:33 "but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, 02:38 ox and sheep, camel and ass." 02:41 That's 1 Samuel 15 in verse 3. 02:44 Now, I know you got that. 02:45 God commanded King Saul, the leader of His people Israel, 02:50 to utterly destroy all that they have, men, women, 02:56 young children, even nursing babies, even the animals. 03:00 God said, "Wipe them out. Kill them all." 03:05 How do we reconcile this with the idea that God is love? 03:12 How is that love? 03:16 Atheists love passages of the Bible like this. 03:19 They'll tell you that the God of the Bible is murderous, 03:21 a tyrant, a megalomaniac, a bully. 03:24 Except, of course, God is love, 03:26 as we've read from Holy Scripture. 03:28 Can God be both? Can He be love? 03:31 And notice, it's not that God loves, but that God is love. 03:35 It's not just who He is, but love is what He is. 03:39 Can God be love and order the total annihilation 03:43 of an entire people group? 03:45 The answer, of course, has to be...yes. 03:48 And I'll tell you why. 03:49 But even after I do that, there'll still be questions 03:52 hanging in the air because someone has to ask, 03:55 but what about the Flood? 03:57 What happened to Amalek is a drop in the bucket 03:59 compared to what happened in Noah's day 04:01 when God destroyed an entire planet 04:04 with the exception of just eight people. 04:06 There may have been millions of people in the world 04:08 at that time, and yet God killed them all and saved only eight. 04:13 Eight! Two-thirds of a dozen, 20 percent less than 10. 04:18 That's all God saved 04:20 out of the entire population of the world at that time. 04:23 How does a God of love do that? And what's the justification? 04:28 Now, I'm okay with questions like these. 04:29 These are real questions. 04:32 They're not the questions of only skeptics and cynics 04:34 and critics; they're the questions of thinking people, 04:38 of searching people. 04:39 I mean, ya have to ask those questions, don't you? 04:43 How can God be love and yet-- well, we'll find out. 04:49 Let's consider the Amalekites, the descendants of Esau. 04:53 The union of Esau's son Eliphaz and a concubine named Timna 04:57 produced, among others, a child called Amalek. 05:00 Immediately after the Exodus, his descendants attacked Israel. 05:04 This was the time when Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms 05:08 during that famous battle. 05:09 As long as Moses' arms were outstretched 05:11 toward the heavens, the battle was in Israel's favor. 05:14 But when Moses' arms were down, the battle turned 05:17 against Israel, and Amalek prevailed, the Bible says. 05:21 Ultimately, the armies of Israel led by Joshua 05:23 defeated Amalek. But notice that God said, 05:26 "Write this for a memorial in a book, 05:29 "and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: 05:31 "for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek 05:35 from under heaven." Exodus 17:14. 05:38 After that, Amalek was a thorn in the side of Israel. 05:42 The Amalekites were in the promised land 05:44 when Israel got there. It was one of the people groups 05:46 that Israel should have eradicated. 05:49 And it was the Amalekites who attacked Israel 05:51 and caused a great amount of loss and damage 05:54 when Israel thought, presumptuously, 05:56 to take the promised land without the blessing of God. 06:00 There was a reason God wanted the Amalekites destroyed. 06:03 It wasn't that He held a grudge. Keep the context in mind. 06:07 God's people had been enslaved for hundreds of years. 06:10 He delivered them so they could go on to the promised land, 06:13 where they could thrive and where Israel would function 06:16 as an incubator out of which would spring the Messiah. 06:20 No Israel? No Messiah. 06:22 No Messiah? No salvation. 06:23 No salvation, and you are lost. 06:27 Israel's survival depended on their safety and security, 06:30 and as long as the Amalekites were around, 06:34 Israel was in jeopardy. 06:36 They were not safe, and they were not secure. 06:40 You couldn't make the case 06:42 that the Amalekites were upstanding citizens 06:44 or that they'd made any kind of positive contribution 06:46 to the world. You have to understand 06:49 that after a couple of thousand years of sin, 06:51 some people were profoundly wicked. 06:55 Well, couldn't God have brought them over, 06:57 led them to repentance, 06:58 convinced them that He had their best interests at heart? 07:02 Obviously not. 07:04 They knew about Israel's deliverance from Egypt 07:06 and the miracle that that was. 07:08 They had evidence that God was with Israel. 07:11 They knew about this God. 07:12 Yet they chose to remain defiant. 07:17 They had crossed the line. 07:19 God knew they would never repent. 07:22 I think the problem some people have with this 07:24 is that they think the Amalekites 07:26 were something like their own rowdy neighbors, 07:28 that they had a penchant for playing loud music 07:31 late at night; they left old cars in their front yard, 07:33 drank too much, got in occasional trouble with the law, 07:37 lovable rogues who could never straighten up. 07:41 No, the Amalekites were profoundly wicked. 07:44 That's why God wanted them gone. 07:48 They'd have lived miserable lives, 07:51 and they would have made other people miserable. 07:54 Rather than leaving them to pollute the earth 07:56 with their presence, rather than leaving them 07:59 to commit atrocity after atrocity, rather than leaving 08:03 their children be subject to degradation, 08:05 without a future to look forward to, God knew, 08:08 and this wouldn't have been simple for God, 08:10 but God knew it was better off that they were gone. 08:14 Yes, it sounds a bit grisly: "Go and destroy them all." 08:19 That cannot have been pretty. 08:22 But would it have been better if they died by lethal injection 08:24 or all died in their sleep? 08:27 No, it wouldn't. 08:28 And the destruction of the Amalekites was further evidence 08:31 to the world that Israel's God was the true God. 08:36 It wasn't mayhem or malice. 08:39 It wasn't hate or venom that led to the destruction 08:42 of the Amalekites. 08:43 It was love. A God of love knew in His wisdom 08:48 that this group of people would never repent, 08:51 that they'd be better off gone, 08:53 and that Israel would be better for the Amalekites' absence. 08:58 Also, God was safeguarding the birth of the Messiah. 09:02 The Amalekites, fueled by the devil, 09:04 would have messed that up in a big way. 09:08 But if you thought the destruction of the Amalekites 09:09 was something, what about the destruction of the world? 09:15 What about the time God destroyed the entire planet 09:17 with the exception of only eight--eight!--people? 09:22 We'll look at that in just a moment. 09:25 ♪[music swells and ends]♪♪ 09:34 >>Announcer 1: Everyone talks about love. 09:36 We love people, pets, hobbies, and even food. 09:39 But there is a love that goes deeper. 09:42 Find out how to discover this love 09:43 by requesting today's free offer, 09:46 "The Greatest of These." 09:47 To receive your copy, 09:49 call us at 800-253-3000 09:52 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com. 09:55 Learn how God models love for us 09:57 in "The Greatest of These." 09:59 Call 800-253-3000 10:01 or visit iiwoffer.com. 10:05 >>John: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written. 10:08 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 10:12 That's Genesis 1:1. 10:14 And so begins a 66-volume epic 10:17 tracing the history of the world from its genesis, its creation, 10:21 to its re-creation when the earth is made new. 10:25 In between those bookends of creation and re-creation, 10:28 there are some incredible events: 10:31 [crickets chirping] the Exodus where Israel was guided 10:33 by God out of Egyptian slavery; [animal noises] 10:36 [rush of water] a sea opening up before them, 10:38 allowing them to cross from Africa to the Middle East 10:41 on dry ground; 10:43 the birth of Jesus [baby fussing and crying] 10:44 when the Son of God became incarnate, God with us; 10:48 blind men healed, dead people raised from the dead; 10:52 [rumbling] the walls of a city crashing to the ground 10:55 after an army circumnavigated it seven times. 10:58 Oh, and the destruction of the world, [thunder and rain] 11:01 the total, complete devastation of an entire planet. 11:07 "The fountains of the great deep were broken up, 11:09 and the windows of heaven were opened." 11:11 Genesis 7, verse 11. 11:13 "The flood was forty days upon the earth; 11:15 "and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, 11:18 "and it was [lifted] up above the earth. 11:21 "And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; 11:24 "and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, 11:27 were covered." Genesis 7 again. 11:29 God Himself said, "Every living substance that I have made 11:34 will I destroy from off the face of the earth." 11:38 Genesis 7, verse 4. 11:39 That's a whale of a thing to say. 11:43 And God kept His word. 11:45 Consider, if you are able, the scale of this destruction, 11:50 all of it ordered by Almighty God. 11:54 "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, 11:58 "and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing 12:00 "that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 12:03 "all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, 12:06 "of all that was in the dry land, died. 12:09 "And every living substance was destroyed 12:11 "which was upon the face of the ground: 12:13 "both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, 12:15 "and the fowl of the heaven; 12:16 "and they were destroyed from the earth: 12:18 "and Noah only remained alive, 12:21 and they that were with him in the ark." 12:23 Now, I want you to see this verse: 12:26 "He who does not love does not know God, 12:31 for God is love." First John 4, verse 8. 12:35 I'm going to repeat that: "God is love." 12:40 And now this: 12:41 "And every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, 12:45 of all that was in the dry land, died." 12:49 I don't know how many people were alive in Noah's day-- 12:51 scholars estimate, in the millions-- 12:54 but all of them, with the exception of just eight, died, 12:58 and they died because God killed them. 13:00 Now, remember, God is love. 13:04 But how do you get to wipe out every man, every woman, 13:07 every child, every dog, every cat, every cow, every elephant, 13:11 every bird, except for just a very few of each, 13:15 and afterwards there's John writing, 13:17 "For God so loved the world"? 13:19 Same man again: "We love Him because He first loved us." 13:23 Well, God definitely is love, 13:26 and God definitely did destroy the world in a flood. 13:30 So the act of destroying the world 13:32 had to have been an act of love. 13:34 And it wouldn't have been easy for God. 13:36 Surely it brought immense pain to His heart. 13:39 But this is where some people kick up. 13:42 They can't get past the idea that God is a tyrant 13:45 because of what happened in Noah's day. 13:47 So let's look at that. 13:49 We'll think it through. God created the human family. 13:53 Adam and Eve had children and one of them, Cain, 13:56 murdered his brother. That didn't take long. 14:00 That is, until Adam and Eve disobeyed God, 14:03 the world had been perfect. 14:05 But not now. And rather than repenting and seeking God, 14:08 Cain was surly and mean and spiteful and jealous. 14:13 He not only killed his brother, but he lied to God about it. 14:17 "Am I my brother's keeper?" he said to God. 14:20 "I don't know where my brother is." Five generations later, 14:23 Cain's descendant Lamech takes a second wife. 14:26 So polygamy was now in play. You can see what's happening. 14:30 Humanity was rapidly devolving, sinking--imploding, actually. 14:37 At the same time, people were living long lives. 14:40 Methuselah died in the year of the Flood at the age of 969. 14:46 And you can be sure that back then, close to Creation, 14:49 people had giant intellects and unfathomable creativity. 14:54 So you had very brilliant and very wicked people 14:58 developing sin and sinfulness over a period of centuries. 15:03 They had put God out of their minds. Idolatry was rampant. 15:09 "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, 15:12 "and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart 15:15 was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5. 15:19 Moses went on to write that "the earth also was corrupt 15:22 before God, and the earth was filled with violence." 15:25 It sounds like every conceivable sin was being practiced 15:28 by people who were experts at sin. 15:31 God's law was being trampled in the dust. 15:34 Decency was gone. The world was sick. 15:38 And you know how wicked the world was 15:40 because after preaching for 120 years, 15:43 Noah could only convince eight people to get on the ark, 15:47 and they were all his own family members. 15:50 Animals got on the ark in twos and sevens. 15:54 There were almost as many goats on the ark 15:57 as there were people--seven. 15:59 The world was thoroughly wicked. 16:02 And when there's a minority faithfully following God 16:05 and a majority who are in apostasy, 16:07 the majority will often persecute the minority. 16:11 Ah, but God had plans for His people. 16:14 The Messiah was to come. 16:16 But that wouldn't be for almost another 2,000 years. 16:19 Where would God find a faithful young woman 16:22 prepared to selflessly raise the promised Messiah? 16:25 Where would God find a noble man with integrity enough 16:28 to be the earthly father of the Christ? 16:30 [water sloshing] With only eight people on earth 16:32 willing to get on the ark, many of whom were very dysfunctional, 16:37 God knew that if He didn't start over, 16:40 the Messiah might never be born. [wind and birdsong] 16:43 God had been pleading with the people of the earth for decades, 16:47 and yet they did nothing but ignore Him. 16:50 He had one of the few truly faithful men left on the planet 16:55 build an ark and warn the people of impending destruction. 16:59 You know that many of them were convicted 17:01 by his warning message. 17:02 And you have the future to think of. 17:04 You know the planet is going to still exist 17:06 4,000 or so years into the future 17:09 and that people living in, say, the 21st century 17:12 will need a Savior. 17:14 You know that if you start again, there'll be Israel, 17:17 there'll be a Christian church, 17:18 and there will be people down through history 17:20 who will take hold of the message of the Bible. 17:24 It wasn't hate or cruelty that drove God to destroy the world. 17:29 It was love--love for you. 17:33 Because if God had not done so, there would've beeb no Messiah 17:37 and no salvation, salvation for you. 17:40 Because if He hadn't, the world would have sunk deeper 17:43 and deeper into sin and into the misery that comes with it. 17:50 What did the Bible say? 17:52 "The thoughts of [their] hearts [were] only evil continually." 17:56 They were better off gone. 17:58 Because no one is truly happy 18:01 when they live only for wickedness. 18:04 And they had fully rejected the pleading of the Holy Spirit. 18:07 It was out of mercy for the wicked in that day, 18:11 and out of mercy for every soul that lived after the Flood 18:15 that God destroyed the world. 18:17 If He hadn't, there'd hardly be a world today. 18:21 Oh, and it's easy to take the lazy route and say, 18:24 "God destroyed the world, so God is evil." 18:26 I don't think so. 18:28 The Bible says, "Noah found grace in the eyes of...[God]," 18:32 in Genesis 6 in verse 8. 18:34 God said to Noah, 18:35 "Thee [I have] seen righteous before me 18:38 in this generation." Genesis 7:1. 18:39 If there'd been another righteous person, another Noah, 18:43 they'd have been saved, too. 18:45 An evil God doesn't build a giant boat and then invite 18:49 everyone alive to get on the boat and be saved. 18:51 Love compelled God to push the reset button. 18:55 And the story of the destruction of the earth 18:57 is preserved by God out of love 19:00 in the hope that today's generation will take notice 19:03 that there's going to be another global destruction 19:07 and run to God and be saved. 19:10 So, how are you seeing God's love in your life? 19:15 And how can you be sure 19:16 that you experience God's love forever? 19:20 I'll tell you in just a moment. 19:22 ♪[music swells and ends]♪♪ 19:31 ♪[soft piano music]♪ 19:32 >>Announcer 2: This season on Conversations ... 19:35 >>Woman 1: Many times I think I know what God wants 19:39 or doesn't want me to do, 19:40 and many times it's the opposite. 19:43 >>Man: I was, uh, looking, uh, next to the car. 19:45 There's this family with a little ugly car, 19:48 you know, I would never have, 19:50 but I saw the family; they're so happy; 19:52 they're laughing and giggling. 19:53 I said, "Lord, this is, that's what I, I want." 19:56 >>Woman 2: Jesus just had this warm, loving feeling 20:00 that I just couldn't describe, 20:01 and I wanted it more than anything in this world, 20:03 and I knew He was the answer. 20:05 I don't know how I knew. I just knew He was the answer. 20:09 >>John: Amen, amen. 20:11 She is Gayle Haberkam. 20:12 His name is Dr. George Guthrie. 20:14 She once was a practitioner of Santería. 20:18 I'm John Bradshaw, and this is our conversation. 20:22 ♪[soft piano music]♪ 20:25 >>Announcer 2: Watch new episodes every Sunday 20:27 on itiswritten.tv. 20:29 ♪[music ends]♪♪ 20:32 >>Announcer 1: Everyone talks about love. 20:34 We love people, pets, hobbies, and even food. 20:37 But there is a love that goes deeper. 20:39 Find out how to discover this love 20:41 by requesting today's free offer, 20:43 "The Greatest of These." 20:45 To receive your copy, 20:46 call us at 800-253-3000 20:49 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com. 20:52 Learn how God models love for us 20:54 in "The Greatest of These." 20:56 Call 800-253-3000 20:59 or visit iiwoffer.com. 21:03 >>John Bradshaw: The fact is God is love. 21:06 Even when He destroyed a city or even the world, God was love. 21:11 Everything God has done, He has done out of love, 21:14 and all we demonstrate when we accuse God of being tyrannical 21:19 is our own lack of understanding of the big picture. 21:22 Of course, Valentine's Day has nothing at all 21:25 to do with the Bible. 21:26 To be honest, those caricatures of little angels 21:29 with bows and arrows representing love, 21:32 that's the Roman god of love depicted there. 21:35 Honestly? A little blasphemous. 21:38 Imagine if the love of God was like Valentine's Day, 21:42 that is, if just once a year God showered His love upon you. 21:47 Thankfully God's love is constant. It never fails. 21:50 Every single day God's love is towards you. 21:53 Jeremiah wrote that God's mercies "are new every morning" 21:57 in Lamentations, chapter 3. 21:59 The sad truth is that many people don't know 22:01 the love of God. And for some people 22:03 that's compounded by their experiences. 22:06 Maybe you've been rejected. 22:08 You've been through tough things. 22:10 Maybe you've made choices that didn't turn out for the best, 22:14 gone through hardship. 22:16 Maybe you've been betrayed. 22:17 You might feel as though nobody loves you, 22:19 that you've made just too many mistakes. 22:23 You might find yourself in prison. 22:25 Right now there are 25 million Americans incarcerated. 22:29 Some of them will never be released. 22:32 Under some circumstances it can be hard 22:34 to really know the love of God. 22:37 So how can you know for sure that God loves you? 22:41 Let me ask you this: 22:43 How have you seen God's love revealed in your life? 22:47 I'll give you a moment to think about that. 22:50 Here's the question again: 22:52 How have you seen God's love revealed in your life? 22:57 I know what many people say. They say something like, 22:59 "When I needed a new vehicle, I got one." 23:02 "I found a new job right after losing my last one." 23:04 "We have food on our table." 23:06 "We went to the Bahamas on vacation." 23:08 "I almost wrecked my car, and it was a miracle I didn't." 23:11 Yes, all that's good. 23:14 But the problem is, what if the accident had occurred? 23:19 What if you lost your job and went broke? 23:22 What if you didn't get a new vehicle, 23:23 and you had to take public transport? 23:25 Yes, all those things, they're good, 23:26 and they're blessings from God, no question. 23:29 But that sort of reasoning is fickle; it's up and down. 23:31 And if you're going to hang your faith on those things, 23:33 you'll likely have an up-and-down faith. 23:39 So here's how you can know God loves you: 23:43 Calvary. ♪[soft music]♪ 23:44 The greatest demonstration of God's love for you is the cross. 23:50 The death of Jesus shows us 23:52 that heaven was willing to do whatever was necessary 23:55 to reveal how much God loves you. 23:59 Paul wrote to Titus about how the "love of God our Saviour 24:02 toward man appeared," 24:04 and that "He saved us" because of His great mercy, 24:06 "which He shed on us abundantly 24:09 through Jesus Christ our [Lord]." 24:10 You find that in Titus, chapter 3. 24:13 Just that idea, that a wayward human family has a Savior. 24:18 [siren] The drug trafficker, the embezzler, 24:20 [radio chatter] the petty thief, the career criminal, 24:23 the person on death row, they all have a Savior. 24:28 Jesus died for the world. 24:31 You can't do anything about your past. You can't change it. 24:34 But Jesus died to change your future, 24:38 to give you a life of hope, 24:40 to give you the certainty of eternity. 24:42 Paul wrote that "Christ died for our sins," 24:47 and that Jesus died for us 24:49 "while we were...sinners" and enemies of God. 24:52 And that's love. 24:55 That Jesus was willing to die a hideous death 24:58 on behalf of every sinner who's ever lived is love. 25:03 Jesus leaving heaven [baby cooing] 25:04 on a rescue mission so daring He ran the risk 25:07 of being separated from His Father eternally? 25:11 True love. 25:13 Look to the cross and you see the love of God--for you. 25:17 And seeing that love will have a powerful effect 25:19 on you in your life. 25:21 What do you do about a God who became sin for you, 25:24 who defeated sin, defeated Satan, 25:27 and has prepared a dwelling place for you in heaven? 25:29 A mansion, the Bible calls it. 25:32 The love of God draws out of you love for God. 25:37 John wrote, "We love Him because He first loved us." 25:42 Paul wrote that "love is the fulfilling of the law." 25:45 First John 2, verse 5 says, "But whoever keeps His word, 25:50 "truly the love of God is perfected in him. 25:53 By this we know that we are in Him." 25:56 The devil wants you to believe that in spite of the cross, 25:59 in spite of the Incarnation, 26:01 in spite of the healings and the miracles, God is a tyrant. 26:08 The real truth is 26:10 God is love. ♪[music ends]♪♪ 26:15 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written 26:17 exists because of the kindness of people just like you. 26:20 To support this international life-changing ministry, 26:24 please call us now at 800-253-3000. 26:28 You can send your tax-deductible gift 26:29 to the address on your screen, 26:31 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 26:35 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support. 26:37 Our number again is 800-253-3000, 26:42 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 26:46 Let's pray together now. 26:48 Our Father in heaven, in Jesus' name we come to You, 26:50 and we are grateful. 26:52 We are grateful that we can know always and everywhere 26:57 that God is love. ♪[soft music]♪ 27:00 We thank You that You extend love and mercy and grace 27:04 to sinful people. [gulls crying, waves crashing] 27:06 And that's everyone. 27:08 And right now, Father, I know that there is a sinner 27:10 who is saying, "I want to accept this God of love into my life, 27:13 His Son Jesus into my heart." 27:15 Friend, is that you? Would you do that now? 27:17 If you've accepted Jesus already, 27:19 you could recommit your life to Him. 27:21 So let's pray this prayer together. 27:23 Father in heaven, we thank You for Your great love and mercy. 27:27 We thank You Jesus died for our sins, 27:29 and we accept that and believe that, 27:31 and we invite Jesus to be the Lord of our lives. 27:33 Now, Father, we thank You for Your love. 27:35 Let us never forget it 27:37 and always appreciate it and walk in it, we pray, 27:42 in Jesus' name, amen. 27:45 Thank you so much for joining me. 27:47 Looking forward to seeing you again next time. 27:48 Until then, remember: 27:50 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 27:53 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 27:57 ♪[dramatic theme music]♪ 28:26 ♪[music ends]♪♪ |
Revised 2023-02-09