Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP200711S
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00:12 ♪♪ 07:06 >> Amen. And particularly today, He hears our cry and hears our 07:12 plea and will not pass us by. And we can see that by how He 07:15 has led us in the past, because He has moved in our lives and is 07:19 still moving in our lives today. So that gives us hope for 07:23 tomorrow, 'cause He says, "Do not worry about tomorrow." 07:27 So we can place our hope in Him, because He has us in His hands 07:31 and He loves us so much. 12:09 ♪♪ [ Static crackling ] 12:12 >> Hey, Sis, Dad, Mom, come on! "Children's Story" is on! 12:18 >> Hi, boys and girls. I'm Aunt Carole, greeting you 12:21 from your story hour. I would be saying hello from my 12:24 home, but I don't have one right now. 12:27 See, my husband and I sold our home in California, and we're driving all the way 12:30 cross-country to Massachusetts, to our new home. And that made me think of a 12:36 family a long time ago who had to drive all the way across the United States from California to 12:42 Florida. And even though now is a hard time to drive cross-country, 12:47 because so many things are closed, back then, they even had a worse time. 12:52 Let me tell you about that family. Their name was the Crane family. 12:57 There was mom and dad and Jimmy and Robbie and Betsy. And, you know, they were migrant 13:03 workers. Do you know what migrant workers are? 13:05 They're people who follow the harvest around from farm to farm and they pick the apples and the 13:11 fruit and the asparagus and whatever is in season. Now, mom and dad and the kids 13:15 had just picked dates in California, and they were finished. 13:19 And they asked the owner of the field, Mr. Henderson, "Do you have work through the winter for 13:23 us?" But he didn't. As a matter of fact, nobody 13:27 around there did. So he told them they should go to the post office and look at 13:30 the bulletin board, see if anything was available. But there wasn't. 13:35 Well, they were gonna stop at the store to get some food, but then they realized, "You know, 13:39 we don't have much money. We better save it till we find out where we can find work." 13:43 So, they went back to their cabin and they ate potatoes for dinner. 13:47 Now, Betsy said, "I like potatoes, but isn't there anything else?" 13:51 And her brother Robbie handed her some ketchup. She goes, "That's not what I 13:55 mean. You know, I like different kinds of food." 13:59 "Well, we don't have a lot of money and we don't have different kinds of food right 14:04 now, but, you know, we'll just have to do with what we have." And that's when her brother 14:10 Jimmy, who liked to tease her, said, "Well, I bet you'd like a nice, cold watermelon. 14:14 I bet you somebody put one on the porch while we were eating these potatoes. 14:18 Why don't you check." Well, Betsy got up right away to go check, but mom said, "Jimmy, 14:22 stop teasing. Betsy, there's no watermelon out there. 14:26 Sit down." Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Mr. Henderson had 14:29 good news. There was a man in Florida who had a job for their dad. 14:33 The only thing was, they had to get there, to Florida, on their own money. 14:38 Well, they only had enough money for gas and for oil, and their old jalopy had to stop every 14:45 hour to be filled up with water. So, before taking off, they knelt down to pray and asked God 14:52 to provide the food that they need, just like it says in Matthew 7 -- "Ask and you will 14:57 receive." And Betsy said, "Yes, God will send us manna, just like He did 15:02 the Israelites in the desert." Oh, the boys teased her about manna. 15:06 Well, God provided lettuce from a field that had been harvested, and the manager said, "You can 15:12 have what's left over, 'cause it's just gonna rot in the field." 15:15 And that tasted good and filled their tummies for a while. But it didn't last long. 15:20 And then they got cantaloupes from another field, because some of them were too ripe to pack. 15:26 And they got to eat those. But after a while, those were gone, too. 15:30 Each time, after the lettuce and the cantaloupes, they prayed, "Lord, please send us something 15:36 to fill our bellies. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't even have to taste 15:40 really good but just fill our bellies and nourish us." Well, after the lettuce and the 15:47 cantaloupes, they prayed about the same prayer. But Betsy had a different idea. 15:52 She said, "Dear Lord, I want manna and I want peanut-butter-and-jelly manna 15:58 and I want vegetable soup and stew and peaches and chocolate candy for dessert." 16:04 Well, the boys laughed at her. Have you ever heard of peanut-butter manna? 16:09 But, again, the car overheated, and mom and dad sent them out to play, but it was so hot. 16:15 They were sitting around. Well, finally, Jimmy nudged Robbie and said, "Robbie, want 16:21 to have some fun? Follow my lead." So Robbie nodded, said "Okay." 16:25 And he said, "Betsy, this looks just like the desert where, you know, the Israelites had manna. 16:30 I bet you there's manna around here. Why don't you go behind that 16:33 rock and see if there's some manna there." Well, Betsy said, "Sure!" 16:36 And she ran around in that hot weather, looking for manna. Well, there was none behind the 16:41 rock. "Well, what about that tree up there?" 16:44 Well, she ran to the tree. "There's no manna here." So, then she ran down the hill, 16:49 and he said, "I'm sure it's in the arroyo down there." Down in the arroyo, she was 16:54 quiet while they were laughing and laughing and thinking, "She's getting so hot running 16:58 around, trying to find this silly manna." All of a sudden, they heard her 17:02 call, "Manna! Manna! There's manna!" And she was waving something. 17:07 Well, when they ran to find her, she was waving a gunnysack. "Where are all these cans from? 17:13 They were in this gunnysack. There's one that says 'peanut butter.' 17:15 There's one that says 'bread.' There's one that says 'jelly.'" And they looked, and there's one 17:19 that says "creamed corn" and "vegetable soup" and even one that said "chocolate candy." 17:25 Well, dad came along and he saw these green cans were K rations, and he called the number on the 17:30 can and found out that there was a troop nearby who had been on maneuvers, and they threw all 17:37 these cans away because they didn't want to carry them back. And they had a good mess hall, 17:41 so they didn't need it. They said, "Help yourself. Compliments of Uncle Sam." 17:45 So, guess what. They piled their car with all these cans of food. 17:49 They even tied them to the roof and to the fenders and took off, and they had food for the rest 17:54 of their trip and part of the winter. So, you see? 17:57 God provides not only what we need, but sometimes even what we want. 18:01 And I know he'll take care of all of us through this virus. Just remember, keep praying and 18:06 remember God loves you. So do I. Goodbye for now. 18:10 >> And thank you for giving us not only what we need, but even 18:15 also what we want. And thank you for bringing us 18:19 this whole day and the whole night. 18:22 And now it's in the morning, and we can enjoy this day. 18:25 In Jesus' name, amen. >> Amen! 18:27 Dear Jesus, thank you for this day. 18:29 Lead us and keep us safe from harm and danger. 18:33 And even though this COVID-19 is ruining all of our fun, but it 18:38 can't ruin all our hope and faith. 18:42 Thank you for not giving only what we need, even what we want. 18:48 In Jesus' name, amen. >> Amen. 18:50 ♪♪ [ Static crackling ] 19:00 ♪♪ 19:16 >> ♪ I waited for the Lord ♪ He inclined unto me ♪ He heard my complaint 19:30 ♪ He heard my complaint ♪ I waited for the Lord ♪ He inclined unto me 19:44 ♪ He heard my complaint ♪ He heard my complaint ♪ O blessed are they that hope 19:58 ♪ And trust in the Lord ♪♪ 20:13 >> ♪ I waited for the Lord >> ♪ I waited for the Lord >> ♪ He inclined unto me 20:20 >> ♪ He inclined unto me >> ♪ He heard my complaint >> ♪ He heard my complaint 20:32 >> ♪ I waited for the Lord >> ♪ I waited for the Lord >> ♪ He inclined unto me 20:39 >> ♪ He inclined unto me >> ♪ He heard my complaint >> ♪ He heard 20:46 >> ♪ He heard my complaint >> ♪ O blessed are they that hope ♪ 20:55 >> ♪ Blessed are they that trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ O blessed are they that hope 21:07 ♪ And trust ♪ O blessed are they that hope and trust in the Lord ♪ 21:18 ♪ Trust in the Lord ♪ Trust in the Lord ♪ The Lord 21:35 >> ♪ I waited for the Lord >> ♪ I waited for the Lord >> ♪ The Lord 21:45 [ Singing in German ] 22:13 ♪♪ 22:29 [ Music stops ] >> All: Amen! >> Thank you, Gallos twins. 22:38 Beautiful, Dorothea, Christiane. "I Waited for the Lord." That's the prayer that we're 22:45 praying as a faith community. Let's pray right now. Father, in English and German, 22:50 it doesn't matter. That's the only option we have. We can run on ahead, I suppose, 22:58 so that would be the other option, or we can wait. We've been waiting and waiting, 23:05 and the waiting isn't over. But in this brief moment, in the coolness of this summer 23:11 sanctuary, when we come to that fork in the road, give us what we need to know to make the 23:21 right choice. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 23:25 I think the Chinese got it right. 23:27 So, they were rummaging around, and "how are we gonna come up 23:30 with a word, 'crisis'? 23:32 Crisis, crisis." So they talked among themselves. They said, "Let's put two 23:36 characters together." I want to show you the Chinese word for "crisis." 23:41 We had two people who speak and read Chinese in first service. And we got this from Wikipedia, 23:48 so we believe it's right. Those two words together -- Those are two pictograms. 23:54 I grew up in Japan, and the Japanese use 10,000 Chinese characters. 23:58 But their pictograms -- they tell stories by the way they're shaped. 24:02 And I don't know the stories for these two, but I'll tell you what the word means. 24:06 So, it's a compound word. What is crisis? Danger or dangerous. 24:13 Danger or dangerous. And the other word -- "change point." 24:18 Hmm. What's a crisis? 24:20 It's a "dangerous change point." Does that make sense to you? 24:24 Boy, it sure makes sense to me. Medically, what's a crisis? 24:28 Dangerous change point. Economically, what's a crisis? 24:32 Dangerous change point. Racially, what's a crisis? 24:37 Dangerous change point. You come to that fork. 24:40 Do we go this way? Do we go that way? 24:42 Obviously, it is a collective experience, coming to these 24:44 dangerous change points. 24:46 It's also a private experience. Some of you are, right now, in a dangerous change point in your 24:50 life, and it has nothing to do with COVID-19. That's okay. 24:55 But are you gonna go this way or are you gonna go that way? There is a cryptic superhero in 25:06 "The Book of Beginnings." Talking about a brave new world. Nobody knows much about him. 25:13 We're gonna dig just as much as we can to see if we can identify the portrait. 25:20 There are actually two superheroes. Both of their names begin with 25:24 the letter "N" in English. We're gonna watch dangerous change points. 25:30 Which way will the superhero go? Once upon a time, when the world needed desperate divine 25:38 intervention, God had a man build an ark. It got filled with animals and 25:44 birds and all those creepy-crawly things. And then eight people from that 25:48 man's family boarded that ark. One year and two months later, they emerged from that ark with 25:56 that zoo. And it is a brave new world. They didn't even recognize it. 26:02 One last time, we go to that brave new world in this little summer miniseries that you and I 26:07 have been sharing. They emerge. What are they gonna do? 26:11 Well, they're gonna have to make a domicile for themselves. And, so, there are four 26:15 families -- mom and dad and then the three boys with their wives. That's four families. 26:19 So, they get the rocks and they pile them up and they have these humble little huts, rock huts. 26:25 Some were on the slopes, maybe near the summit of Mount Ararat. Yep, that's -- Talking about 26:31 crisis, the dangerous change points. They're at one. 26:35 I've been trying to figure out in my mind, "Okay, so, how many people -- How fast could those 26:41 three families --" And, now, there are four, but I figure, you know, Noah and Mrs. Noah, 26:45 you know, at the age of 600, are probably not gonna have any more kids. 26:48 You just don't do it after 600 anymore, do you? No. So they're not gonna have 26:52 any more kids. So, you got three of their boys and their wives. 26:56 And husbands and wives being husbands and wives, they begin to have children. 27:00 So, I'm trying to figure out, "How fast could they have those children?" 27:04 So, I'm not mathematician. Those two girls are going to Purdue University. 27:08 They're having to do remote right now, like every university in the land. 27:12 But they're mathematicians. So, I said, "Okay, I'm gonna figure this out. 27:17 Here are the givens that I'm gonna work with. I'm gonna work with the given 27:21 that of the three families, every family can have five children," okay? 27:24 So every family from here on out is gonna have five children. They may have had 10 or 20. 27:29 I mean, who knows? But I'm gonna just say five. And then we're gonna allow for 27:33 endogamous marriages. What's that? That's a marriage that takes 27:36 place within the family. And, by the way, endogamous marriages are not banned by God 27:42 until the book Leviticus gets written. So there's a whole lot of 27:45 endogamous marriage-ing going on. Obviously, it had to go on, 27:49 alright? So we're gonna allow for those kind of marriages. 27:52 And we're gonna call every generation about 30 years. And then we're gonna go for 27:59 330 years. Now, Noah will die at 350 years after the flood. 28:02 We'll just say 330, 'cause it's easy to do the arithmetic that way. 28:05 Hey, listen, so, here's the number I came up with. You were doing it real fast. 28:08 What did you come up with? That's what I thought. The number is 209,000 babies are 28:14 born by the time Noah dies. 209,000 babies. That's a maternity ward. 28:19 But, of course, that's done over a period of 330 years. Or 350. 28:25 And even if that 209,000 -- "Dwight, you didn't take into consideration mitigating factors 28:31 and, you know, infertility and all this stuff." No, I didn't do any of that. 28:34 I just said, "Five per family." Let's cut it in half. Here's the point. 28:39 You can get there from here. That little conclave of four families eventually, over 28:48 330 years, becomes a massive community. And they're in these rock huts 28:53 and maybe they're using wood now. They're dotted all over the side 28:56 of that mountain range. You want to say 100,000. But then... 29:03 [ Vocalizes "Dragnet" theme ] ...trouble strikes. And the community is fractured. 29:11 Take a look at this. Open your Bible to Genesis 11. Let's go. Genesis 11. 29:14 I'm in the New International Version. Genesis 11. 29:17 Everybody knows the Tower of Babel. We're not going to that story, 29:21 but it begins with these two words -- These words will tell us about a split, a fracture. 29:27 Talking about crisis, dangerous change points. They came to one, and one group 29:32 went this way. The other group went that way. And look what we end up with. 29:36 This will amaze you. 29:38 Genesis 11:1. "Now the whole world had one 29:43 language and a common speech." Well, we know that. 29:45 That makes sense. If they're all the 29:47 great-great-great-great-great- grandma and -grandpa Noah, 29:49 nobody's changing languages up there. 29:51 Verse 2 -- "But as people moved eastward --" from the mountain 29:56 haven -- "As people moved eastward, they found a plain --" 29:59 way down in the plain -- "plain in Shinar and they settled 30:04 there." 30:05 They go -- They move east. They have to go east from Ararat. 30:11 This is in the area of Iraq today. They say, "Hey! 30:16 This is beautiful. Let's settle here." Now, a little book called 30:21 "Patriarchs and Prophets" draws -- gives us just enough of a peek to pique our curiosity. 30:28 Take a look at "Patriarchs and Prophets." 30:29 Put it on the screen for you here. 30:31 "For a time, the descendants of Noah continued to dwell among 30:35 the mountains," okay? So they're all up there -- 30:37 100,000, 200,000, eventually. We don't know. 30:40 "Among the mountains where the ark had rested. 30:42 As their numbers increased, apostasy soon led to division." 30:48 Now one more line. Watch this. "Those who desired to forget 30:52 their Creator --" So when time goes on, even though the 30:56 great-great-great-grandfathers and -mothers are still alive, 31:01 the traditions passed on in the families begin to weaken among 31:05 some of them. "They desired to forget their 31:07 Creator and to cast off the restraint of His law." 31:09 "We don't have to live under this." 31:11 And, by the way, they felt a constant annoyance from the 31:14 teaching and example of their God-fearing associates. 31:16 Keep it right there. Keep it back on that screen, 31:19 because we got teenagers sitting in this room right now. 31:21 And I'm so glad that you came out -- you braved it and you 31:23 came out, young adults sitting right here. 31:26 You know the meaning of this. There are times when you have to take a stand, when your parents 31:29 have inculcated moral values into your life, and that stand means you have to resist the 31:34 crowd that you're running with. You have to resist the circle that you're hanging with. 31:38 And you know what happens. They get this little -- They get this little, "Oh, 31:42 Goody-Two-shoes, huh?" or "Holy moly" or whatever it is. And they begin to poke fun. 31:47 But that begins to wear on them, because you, with your moral chutzpah, your moral courage, 31:54 you stand as a rebuke to them. You're not doing a thing. You're just -- But it bugs them, 31:59 and, eventually, they say, "Hey, I'm out of here." That's what's happened in the 32:04 mountain range of Arafat. And the group -- The community literally splits so that we end 32:11 up with two superheroes. Both of them -- in English, their name begins with "N." 32:20 Yeah, well, let's finish this. I guess I needed to finish this, 32:22 didn't I? Let's finish the quote here. 32:31 Now watch this. Why were they attracted? 32:41 Guess what. Three chapters later, Lot does 32:44 the very same thing. 32:45 He says, "You know what? I don't like this country-living stuff. 32:48 I'm going down there." Remember that? And that's dangerous. 32:52 Twice, we're told -- We can see it right now. It's dangerous. 32:57 Dangerous change points. And they said, "We're going that way." 33:01 Hmm. Superheroes. You know, our world is awash in superheroes. 33:05 Have you noticed that? I was trying to think of all the superheroes that I know, but 33:09 they're so old compared with the new ones. And when I went on to Google, I 33:12 said, "What are the new superheroes?" There are so many out there now. 33:15 But you know what a superhero is. But here's the deal about 33:18 superheroes. Tell me if I'm right or wrong. The deal about superheroes is -- 33:21 they're a very -- They start off with a very -- as a normal woman, a normal man, right? 33:25 But they come to a moment in that tale -- they come to a moment when they have to make a 33:29 choice. They can become a hero or they can become a villain. 33:32 True or false? True. Some choose to go this way. Some choose to go that way. 33:37 We have two men with their names beginning with "N." They come to that dangerous 33:44 change point and they both make opposite decisions, and we've lived with the results ever 33:49 since. Watch this. Go back to Chapter 10. 33:54 Okay, so, we were just in 11. I told you we weren't gonna stay with the Tower of Babel. 33:57 Go back to Chapter 10. We have now what's called the Table of Nations. 34:02 This is the story of how the boys of Noah and their wives multiplied and the regions of 34:08 the world they began to move to. So, drop down now to Verse 8. Genesis 10:8. 34:13 "And Cush --" Oh, Cush is the son of Ham. Who's Ham? 34:16 Ham's that boy that went into his dad's tent when his dad was naked. 34:20 Remember that? His dad was drunk and naked. We just talked about that, 34:23 didn't we? Ham is the boy that goes in there. 34:25 We don't know what happened in that tent, but it was not good at all. 34:29 Something is now being passed on. That moral character, or the 34:34 lack thereof, is being transmitted now to generation after generation. 34:38 Now you have Cush, who was the father of -- here's that "N," boy -- Nimrod. 34:46 The father of Nimrod. The son -- The grandson of Cush -- well, who is he? 34:55 We have very little information, but watch what happens with what we have. 34:58 "Who became a mighty warrior on the earth." So, who's the first -- Who is 35:02 the first "N" superhero? It's Noah. Come on. We've already got Noah. 35:07 We're sure about it. He's in the Bible Hall of Fame. He's a superhero. 35:11 Now we have Nimrod. What do we know about Nimrod? Well, we just read it. 35:14 He is a mighty warrior on the earth. Robert Alter, in his translation 35:17 of the Hebrew Bible, renders this line -- "He was the first mighty man on earth." 35:21 We could call him the first, really, superhero. The guy just looked like -- He 35:26 just looked like he had it all together, in terms of courage, in terms of physique, in terms 35:32 of power. He became a hero, a superhero. Now, I need to tell you that his 35:38 name meant "he shall rebel." It can also mean, "We shall rebel. 35:48 Kind of interesting that a parent would name a child that, but... 35:52 Who is this guy? Nimrod. What else do we know? 35:57 Well, let's read the -- at least read the next line. What is it? Verse 9? 36:03 So, "Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth --" that's Verse 8. 36:05 And here comes Verse 9. 36:16 Whoa! Now, I'm not a hunter. I've never gone hunting. But what I've heard about 36:22 hunting is that it's how you live with an adrenaline rush. This stuff just happens. 36:30 It's kill or be killed, particularly big game. And we've been to a big-game 36:34 park in Kenya. And you've got big, big game. 36:40 So, hunters are mighty people. They're not intimidated. 36:43 And back then, it wasn't an AK-whatever to take that animal 36:47 down. Shhhhhh! Pfoo! 36:50 That's it. Shhhhhh! Pfoo! Gotcha! 36:57 We got a superhero here who's courageous, and the people love it. 37:00 People always are drawn to, you know, masculine, fully testosteroned males, 37:08 superheroes. Nimrod becomes a superhero. Living with the adrenaline rush. 37:16 The only adrenaline rush I've ever gotten was -- I went 37:18 fishing once over here by the dam in Berrien Springs. 37:22 And I actually -- [ Laughs ] I actually caught something. 37:25 Man, I'm talking about adrenaline rush. 37:28 It only lasted a few seconds, 'cause I let the fish go. 37:34 But you can understand that if you have the prowess for hunting, that is an adrenaline 37:40 rush that rushes again and again and again. We have a superhero on our 37:46 hands. His name also begins with "N" -- Nimrod, "he shall rebel," 37:51 "we shall rebel." Oh, is anything more embedded here that might tell us about 37:57 who this Nimrod superhero guy is? Well, there is a little -- one 38:04 more key that I'm gonna throw in here. Years -- Centuries later, after 38:10 Genesis gets written by Moses -- Centuries later, Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, decide to 38:16 translate the Hebrew Bible. And it's called a Septuagint -- the Septuagint, right? 38:22 So, the Hebrew becomes Greek. Guess what they do. Apparently, the reputation of 38:27 Nimrod has been festering for centuries, and when they come to this line that reads "and he was 38:34 a mighty hunter before the Lord," they said, "Nope. We're not gonna translate it 38:38 that way." The Greek reads, "And he was a mighty hunter against the Lord." 38:44 Ooh! So he's a rebel. He's strong. 38:50 He's a superhero, and the people just gravitate to him. They like him. 38:56 They like what he stands for. Nimrod, superhero number two. The community splits. 39:05 [ Imitates tearing ] He says, "Chh! Follow me. I'll give you what you want." 39:14 And where does he lead them? We know it, right here. There's only one more line to 39:19 help us here. We got to unpack this. Verse 10. 39:22 "And the first centers of his kingdom --" Hit the pause button right there. 39:26 "The first centers of his kingdom." I'm gonna ask you a question. 39:30 If you invent a kingdom, what does that make you? A king. You're a king. 39:39 There hasn't been a king on this planet. But the superhero says, "Hey, I 39:46 cleared this space for you." And, by the way, it's a very small step from prowess with 39:53 hunting animals to prowess with killing humans. I'm just gonna hit a pause 40:00 button right here. I just -- I'm just telling you. "Oh, you old fogy." 40:06 No, I'm telling you that if every video game in your house that's being played is killing 40:13 whoever steps in front of you -- "Pshoo! Gotcha! Pshoo! Gotcha!" 40:17 Blood splattering. "Pshoo! Gotcha!" That kind of numbness to human 40:23 life eventually can be acted out. And killing animals -- aah! -- 40:31 marauding animals -- Hey, listen, I'm glad he was a hunter. 40:34 Do you know what? Have you seen some of those fossils they found? 40:37 Pssh! How would you like to be on a mountain trail, and you run into that sabertooth whatever? 40:43 He was delivering people. He was a hero. He was a superhero. 40:47 But you can go from killing animals to killing people... if you're not careful. 40:55 Nimrod. Oh, what was that line again? "He..." 41:00 "The first centers of his kingdom --" Okay. The king has a kingdom. 41:04 And notice his kingdom and notice where the headquarters is. 41:07 What's the next word? The first sentence of his kingdom were what? 41:10 What's the first one? What's the first one? It's Babylon. 41:14 Okay, where did Babylon come from? Babylon came from Babel. 41:17 Hey, guess who led this little -- this mountain fracture. 41:22 Guess who led them to the plain. Guess who was the superhero that set up this alt kingdom. 41:30 "And I'll be your king." You're gonna watch here, and in just a split second, you're 41:36 gonna see a portrait emerging of, "Oh, no. You're kidding me." 41:42 No, right, really. "The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon --" That's 41:48 mission control. Then Uruk, then Akkad, then Kalneh, in Shinar. 41:52 "From that land, he went --" next verse, 11 -- "he went to 41:55 Assyria. There, he built Nineveh, 41:56 Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and 42:00 Calah -- which is the great city." 42:02 Isn't that something? The boy whose name means "he 42:06 shall rebel" becomes the planter of cities. 42:14 Reminds me of Cain, whose name might as well have read "he shall rebel" and becomes the 42:21 father of walled cities. Wow. What's going on here? This is crazy. 42:29 "A mighty warrior against the Lord." Against the Lord. 42:34 Two superheroes -- Noah -- And, by the way, Noah almost got took down, if I can put it that way. 42:42 He almost got took down. Somebody who knows when crises come, they are dangerous change 42:51 points was waiting for that moment. "I'm gonna take that man down." 43:01 Mm. Who is this? Who is this mysterious, cryptic 43:07 Nimrod -- "he shall rebel" -- who makes himself the king of an alt kingdom, who sets up his 43:13 headquarters in a place called Babylon? Who is he? 43:20 Well, he is who he is, but it doesn't take us long to figure out who might be the actual alt 43:32 king behind Nimrod. Lookit, here's what Nimrod did. He said, "Hey, guys, come on. 43:38 Superhero me -- you follow me." You know what? They get down to that plain, and 43:42 you know what he declares? "We're gonna move from monotheism to polytheism. 43:49 We're gonna have lots of gods. We're gonna move from patriarchal government to 43:54 monarchical government. We're gonna have me as your king. 43:57 And we're gonna move from the quiet of outdoor living to walled fortresses that can be 44:05 controlled." I mean, who's emerging from this? 44:08 You seeing anybody? The king of an alt kingdom who's thrown a rebellion against the 44:15 government of the universe? Yeah, you don't need a PhD. This isn't rocket science. 44:23 We know who he is, this Nimrod. I'm not saying he's the personification of you know who. 44:31 He just became the front for you know who, who you know who chooses Babylon to be his 44:37 headquarters and his front of the alt kingdom all the way till the return of Christ slams 44:43 Babylon one last time to the ground. "Babylon will reign." 44:49 Hey, when this pandemic began, I got to tell you, I said, "Okay, Dwight, you're gonna have some 44:55 time to read." [ Scoffs ] Time to read. But, anyway, I said, "Okay, 45:02 let's try -- I don't know how long this pandemic -- the lockdown's gonna last, but let's 45:06 read the -- I want to read the book "The Great Controversy" through. 45:08 I'd read it a couple times. "Great Controversy." It's an apocalyptic classic. 45:11 By the way, you're watching right now or listening here right now, you want to get the 45:15 book, just go to amazon.com, type in "Great Controversy." You can get a paperback for not 45:20 very much at all. I said, "I want to read that book through." 45:23 And guess what -- this Wednesday, wouldn't you know it? Before the lockdown was 45:27 lifted -- for worship -- I read the last chapter. That reading has -- has -- has 45:34 radically reoriented some of my thinking, and I have to share some of that with you. 45:39 It is so stunning. I saw stuff I have never seen before! 45:45 To the place I'm determined, by the grace of God, that sometime during this new school year, 45:50 we're gonna have a series on prophecy. You know why? 45:53 We have a new generation that has never heard of prophecy, and we have a not-so-new generation 45:58 that has forgotten all about prophecy, and stuff is coming to us now, coming in our face so 46:03 fast, that I'm concerned that we might be caught, all of us, off-guard and miss the moment 46:09 that we were given. Miss it! We didn't see it coming. 46:15 It's coming. These dangerous change points, are you kidding? 46:19 They are gonna be faster and fast-- We've already had three of them -- three of them -- in 46:24 this nation. They're gonna be coming faster and faster. 46:29 [ Clicks tongue ] 46:30 Ah. What's that Chinese word? Come on, let's go to that 46:32 Chinese character again. Chinese... 46:35 Crisis. What's it mean? Dangerous change point. 46:39 COVID-19 -- Is this stage one of COVID-19? 46:43 I'm not sure. Have we ever even moved to stage two? 46:46 Is there gonna be a stage three? Nobody knows. Change point. 46:49 Dangerous change point. We don't know. We have no idea. 46:54 What about what's going on in your life right now? Is this a dangerous change 46:57 point? Ha. Hey, by the way, please, let's 47:00 be very clear on this -- God does not send crises. Once in a while, He does. 47:06 Usually, no. You know what God does? Tchew! Seizes crises. 47:11 He harnesses them in order to advance His agenda in your life, His agenda in my life. 47:20 You see, Noah came to that dangerous change point. Ooh, it was a little shaky 47:24 there, as chapter nine indicates. It was a little shaky, but he 47:28 said, "No, no, no, no, no." He chose to submit to the God of that dangerous change point, the 47:34 Almighty Himself. Nimrod came to that same dangerous change point. 47:38 He said, "Nope, I'm not going that way, which means I'll be my own king and I will rule this 47:43 earth," and he went that way. That, essentially, is the only two choice-- Those are the only 47:48 two choices we have, go with the king of the universe, or me, king. 47:54 The point is, these change points are gonna keep coming. What made the difference? 47:58 Noah said, "I'm gonna submit to God. Whatever His agenda is, do it to 48:02 me." Nimrod said, "I will not submit to God. 48:05 I don't care what you say or what you do." Ah, I got to end with this. 48:10 I want you to see this quotation. Why should you submit to God? 48:12 Some of you are going through a crisis right now. You are poised in a very 48:17 dangerous change point. I don't say that to scare you. I just affirm that that's where 48:22 you -- you are at this moment, but look now. One last quotation. 48:26 Look what God brings out of dangerous change points. Let's go, please, to 48:31 "Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing." Last quotation -- "The trials of 48:35 life are God's workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. 48:39 Their hewing" -- that's chopping or cutting -- "their squaring, 48:42 their chiseling, their burnishing" -- that's rubbing 48:45 real hard -- "their polishing" -- Whew, talk about 48:47 stones. Man, that stone is beautiful 48:49 now. Look at that. 48:50 "...is a painful process; it is hard to be be pressed down to 48:53 the grinding wheel." You ever seen those wheels where 48:55 the -- where the guy sits behind a wheel and he's got a little 48:57 accelerator on this thing, and that wheel can go faster, and he 49:00 slows it down -- ohhhh -- and then he -- rrrrrgh -- sparks are 49:02 going, everything, if he's dealing with metal? 49:04 Whatever it is, it's just cutting off, cutting off. 49:07 It is a painful process to be pressed against that wheel. 49:12 "But...God in His great love" -- I love this -- "is seeking to 49:15 develop in us the precious graces of His Spirit." 49:18 Keep reading. "He permits us to encounter 49:20 obstacles, persecution, and hardships" -- in other words, 49:23 crises, dangerous change points. He allows them to come. 49:26 He doesn't cause them. Jesus said, "An enemy's done 49:28 this." But He allows them to come 49:29 "...not as a curse, but as the greatest blessing of our lives." 49:37 If you're in a change point right now, a dangerous change 49:39 point, I need you to hang on to that last line. 49:45 This crisis will one day be the greatest blessing of your life. 49:55 Say, "Aw, come on, Dwight." No, I'm serious. 49:58 Now, listen, listen. Sometimes you will never see it 50:02 till the crisis has passed. One more caveat -- Sometimes you 50:08 will never see it in this life. 50:14 A dangerous change point. But you said, "I'm going with God. 50:19 I'm not throwing God out now. I'm not abandoning Him now." Oh, my. 50:26 Does God know about dangerous change points? [ Scoffs ] Look at Calvary. 50:31 "I'm standing here at the foot of the cross." Look at Calvary, the greatest 50:35 crisis in the universe -- a huge, dangerous change point. He could go this way, He could 50:41 go that way, but He went the right way, and because Calvary conquered the alt kingdom of the 50:47 fallen Lucifer, there is no crisis that can take you down. Not one that can take you down. 50:54 Stay with Jesus. Oh, I like that hymn -- How's it go? 50:57 "Jesus, keep me near the cross. There a precious" -- Come on, you can say it under the mask. 51:04 It's not gonna hurt you. Do you know the words? "Jesus, keep me near the cross. 51:08 There a precious"... >> Fountain. >> ..."fountain, free to all, 51:11 a healing stream, flows from Calv'ry's mountain." We're talking about mountains. 51:17 "Flows from Calv'ry's mountains. In the cross" -- Say it with 51:21 me -- "In the cross, be my glory"... >> Ever. 51:24 >> ..."ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest," beyond the what? 51:30 Beyond the river. Whatever it is you're going through right now, God is 51:35 preaching to you. At this very moment, He's saying something to your heart. 51:39 He's saying, "Stay with Me, girl. Stay with Me, boy. 51:41 Don't you leave Me now. Don't you let go now. This is going to be -- One day, 51:48 you will see it. Your shining moment -- the greatest blessing I ever gave to 51:54 you -- will come from this, so stay with Me. Stay with Me." 52:03 Does that make sense? Amen. Amen. 52:09 [ "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross" begins ] 52:12 ♪♪ ♪♪ 52:31 ♪♪ ♪♪ 52:51 ♪♪ ♪♪ 53:11 ♪♪ ♪♪ 53:31 ♪♪ ♪♪ 53:51 ♪♪ ♪♪ 54:11 ♪♪ ♪♪ 54:31 ♪♪ ♪♪ 54:51 ♪♪ ♪♪ 55:11 ♪♪ ♪♪ 55:30 ♪♪ ♪♪ 55:50 And so, Holy Father, we stand before You, as it were, at the foot of the cross. 55:56 All we're asking, in this season of dangerous change points, in this season of crises, keep us 56:07 right here. Keep us at the cross. And let Your promise ring true 56:18 deep within us -- "The greatest blessing of your life, I'm about to give." 56:29 We'll stay with You, by Your grace. Stay with us, please. 56:37 And now, may the love of the Father and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship 56:44 of the Holy Spirit be with you into the new week ahead. Amen. 56:52 [ Organ plays ] 57:06 >> We've been really blessed by the financial support that comes 57:08 from our viewers, and we've made a conscious decision not to 57:11 continually appeal to you for that support. 57:14 The fact is, as everyone in the industry will tell you, we're 57:17 needing to make constant upgrades to our technology. 57:20 So if God has blessed you and you'd like to further the work 57:23 of this ministry, we invite you to partner with us. 57:25 Not a single penny of your donation will go to me. 57:28 Every bit of your gift goes to the mission of blessing your 57:32 community and our world. You can donate on our website, 57:35 newperceptions.tv. Or call the number. 57:38 You know the number -- 877-HIS-WILL. 57:40 Again, that number is 877 -- the two words "HIS-WILL." 57:45 And may the God who has blessed you continue to pour into your 57:47 life the gifts of His joy and His hope. 57:50 Thank you. And I'm looking forward to 57:52 seeing you, right here, again, next time. 58:00 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:20 ♪♪ |
Revised 2020-07-21