3ABN On the Road

3abn Fall Campmeeting - Sabbath School

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Kenneth Cox (Host)

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000537


01:01 I'd like to invite Brother Jim Morris
01:04 to come out at this time.
01:05 Jim is our General Manager of 3ABN Radio.
01:08 Good morning, Jim. Good morning, Danny.
01:11 Where are you from? Where do you live?
01:13 I live in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Okay.
01:16 Down the road of Pearson. All right.
01:18 That is down the road of Pearson,
01:19 we have a station there,
01:20 and what's-- what's the numbers of it?
01:22 That's WBLC-AM 1360 in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
01:27 The Christian radio station--
01:28 Hear that radio voice, all right.
01:29 Member of the Three Angel's Broadcasting Radio Network.
01:32 All right. You got a great voice.
01:35 W, what BLC radio.
01:38 Well, you do that all right too.
01:40 We have one here. What's that?
01:41 95.9 FM on your AM FM dial.
01:45 That's right. Opening wide--
01:46 I've to practice that, you know, hey.
01:51 Look good. Oh, yeah, all right.
01:53 Yeah, all right. Tell us a little bit
01:55 what's happened 3ABN radio has grown tremendously. It has.
01:59 You know, we have low power and full power affiliates
02:03 and we added 19...excuse me 2003 with 15 low power affiliates,
02:09 but we've had tremendous growth in 2004. From January to April,
02:15 we added 13 low power FM affiliates. Amen, wonderful.
02:18 From April through August,
02:21 we added 11 more and we have added three in September.
02:27 I've got a roll, I want these people
02:28 to see and there is something
02:30 I want to tell you after this roll. Okay.
02:34 Hi, folks. This is Jim Morris,
02:35 General Manager of the 3ABN Radio Network.
02:38 As you watch your screen,
02:39 you will see that the information
02:40 has been updated to show the continual growth
02:43 3ABN Radio has experienced in the past few months.
02:46 Since its information was first brought to you last February,
02:49 our four year anniversary,
02:51 we have added five new affiliates
02:53 to the 3ABN Radio family.
02:55 The LPFM groups are faithful to the task
02:57 God has called them to do
02:59 and they are working diligently to get their stations on the air
03:02 and broadcasting to their friends,
03:03 families, and neighbors.
03:05 They are a unique bunch of individuals.
03:07 There is one group with an antenna
03:09 on a tower made it look like a flag bull.
03:11 There is another with equipment
03:13 in the steeple of the church
03:14 in a 25th pole on top for an antenna.
03:17 There is an even an LPFM station
03:19 that was completely built from the ground up in just 30 days.
03:22 We would also like to mention a new full power AM station
03:25 that is attached to a health food store.
03:28 There is another radio station in the Caribbean
03:30 that recently started carrying
03:31 3ABN Radio programming on Sabbath.
03:34 The dedicated individuals
03:35 who make up these radio groups have the one goal in mind,
03:39 and that's to spread God's gospel message to the world.
03:42 They are all hitting the call of the Holy Spirit
03:45 and providing God's undiluted
03:47 Three Angels' Message to their corner of the world.
03:49 With your prayers and support,
03:51 we'll continue to provide them with quality radio programming
03:54 to reach the lost and dying souls God is seeking.
03:57 All of us at 3ABN Radio appreciate all of you.
04:03 Amen. Well, Danny, I've got to tell you something,
04:07 that thing was updated about a month and a half ago.
04:10 But I've got to update it again,
04:13 because just this past Tuesday,
04:16 I had one of the unique privileges
04:18 a general manager of radio network has,
04:21 and that's putting another radio station on the air.
04:24 Amen. In the town of Spencer, Tennessee,
04:28 W-S-P-E-L-P when on the air 93.1 on the FM dial,
04:34 and I've got a couple of pictures
04:36 I would like to show you of this station.
04:38 And here is a station.
04:40 Now Danny, you are a contractor and you know
04:42 that's not a finished building yet, is it? No.
04:45 No. In fact, the sideness is not even on,
04:48 and if you look closely,
04:49 they don't even have a meter on there.
04:51 But we were able to put the station on the air
04:54 in a testing mode on Tuesday evening
04:57 and I have to tell you there were tears in the room
05:00 as that station went on the air,
05:02 broadcasting the 3ABN Radio Network.
05:05 The next picture is the folks that are responsible for this.
05:10 It's a good small low power FM station.
05:14 But Ruth Dennis has been the leader now.
05:18 Lives have been touched, the construction manager there.
05:21 To him this was just another construction job.
05:24 His name is Dan Cook.
05:26 I have to tell you there were tears in his eyes
05:28 when we put the transmitter switch
05:30 and 3ABN started going over the air.
05:33 And that gentleman has talked with me since then.
05:36 It has changed his heart and his life
05:39 working on that station. Amen.
05:41 And that's why we're doing this folks,
05:42 because we are broadcasting the clear
05:46 and last day message to the lost and dying world
05:51 to give people the opportunity to make an intelligent,
05:53 eternal choice and that's why we're doing this, Danny.
05:57 And I could tell you hundreds--
06:00 well, I shouldn't say hundreds, many miracle stories.
06:03 We've got pastors, Baptist pastors
06:06 who are listening to our radio stations who are saying,
06:10 I believe the seventh day is the Sabbath now.
06:13 I can't tell my church yet. All right.
06:16 But you as-- we have discussed before,
06:19 people are beginning to come
06:20 into our churches around the world
06:22 as result of watching and hearing 3ABN.
06:25 Just in the town of Lenoir City, Tennessee, historically
06:29 we had trouble holding evangelistic events
06:32 in that town and, of course, we have WBLC
06:35 and we also have channel 14
06:37 which is a low power T.V. station
06:39 for 3ABN in the Knoxville area.
06:43 We're not on cable there yet.
06:45 And we normally had about 11 people attained
06:48 an evangelistic series and then it would decrease rapidly.
06:52 The opening night, several months ago
06:54 as a result of advertising and working together,
06:59 we had 42 non-Adventist at that church.
07:02 It stayed that way practically the entire time
07:06 and there were nine baptisms out of that series.
07:08 Is that praise the Lord? Yeah.
07:11 Absolutely. So there is a tremendous synergy
07:14 that comes between radio and T.V.,
07:16 and we enjoy working with you,
07:20 and its tremendous, the opportunities
07:23 we have so many more potential affiliates.
07:26 We're the largest Seventh-day Adventist Radio Network now.
07:30 We've got 53 affiliates now.
07:32 Wow! Praise the Lord.
07:33 We own several ourselves--
07:36 Yeah, WDQN, that's the FM in Du Quoin
07:39 which if you turn to 95.9 on your FM dial,
07:43 you can hear that with the radius of about--
07:45 excuse me, a footprint of about 100 miles.
07:49 WBLC in Knoxville has a footprint of about 45 miles.
07:56 It's a 1000 watt AM station.
07:58 But I was talking with one of our LPFM general managers
08:03 who is here today from Missouri and,
08:06 you know, when the FCC established
08:08 these low power FM stations,
08:10 they said, "Well, the radius
08:12 will be 5 or 6 miles and that's it."
08:16 So that really if you had a radius up to 5 miles
08:19 then you would have a footprint of 10 miles, right?
08:22 Twice that. His footprint is 30 miles.
08:25 Wow! Amen.
08:26 Now that signal is gonna go where God wants it to go.
08:29 That's right, regardless of--
08:32 Okay, well, listen, Jim. I want to thank you
08:34 for what you are doing in with 3ABN Radio.
08:36 They will continue to go and grow into the world
08:40 as we join hands together with 3ABN Television.
08:42 You and Jay and all the folks there,
08:44 Nicky, everybody that's working in radio.
08:47 It's been something that we started
08:50 like the television from nothing,
08:52 but with God's blessing, it's growing
08:53 and you say it's the largest network,
08:55 Adventist Radio Network.
08:57 I didn't know that till this minute,
08:58 but anyway I am happy about that,
09:00 they are continue into grow.
09:02 We hope all of them grow, all of our--
09:03 we want Adventist Radio
09:05 and Television stations around the world,
09:07 because we believe that we have a end time
09:08 message for end times people.
09:10 Absolutely. And we're going to--
09:12 we're going to stay on point as they say and grow.
09:15 The opportunity is there for more.
09:17 So thank you, Danny. All right, thank you.
09:18 And thank you, folks, for supporting 3ABN Radio.
09:21 All right.
09:28 There is a tremendous project, that's brand new, it's underway.
09:32 I'm going to invite Hollis and Alice Scarbrow
09:35 from Arkansas to come on out this time.
09:39 Don't be bashful, folks.
09:40 All right, here they come.
09:41 And Hollis and Alice have been friends for a number of years.
09:45 They are supporters of Three Angels Broadcasting Network,
09:48 and we just appreciate you guys and love you.
09:50 And I'm gonna hug your wife's neck. Okay.
09:53 Here we go, all right.
09:54 And tell us about you've got an exciting project.
09:58 Now you are not a pastor, right? No.
10:00 All right. What kind of work have you been in for many years?
10:02 Well, I've been little of everything, Danny.
10:04 I think you used to, did you own
10:05 like a Lincoln dealership and stuff and--
10:06 Yeah, we owned the car dealership.
10:08 Car dealership and then,
10:10 but then you got out of that and got in construction and--
10:12 Right, into manufacturing,
10:15 'Jack of all trades, master of none'.
10:16 Master of everything, huh? Yeah, right.
10:18 Okay. Now you have a project.
10:21 It's been just burning in within your heart.
10:23 Tell us about it. 'Leaves of Autumn.'
10:26 Okay. How many of you know about 'Leaves of Autumn.'
10:29 Yeah. Well, you know,
10:30 every Seventh-day Adventist in the world
10:32 just about even in Russia.
10:34 They know about 'Leaves of Autumn.'
10:36 Ellen White made the statement
10:37 that these books ought to be passed out
10:38 like the 'Leaves of Autumn.' That's right.
10:41 You really don't understand 'Leaves of Autumn'
10:42 unless you go to swimming pool under too big oak trees.
10:48 And it's a good statement, you know,
10:52 a couple of years ago, Danny, we--
10:57 Alice and I were approached to buy a number of books
11:03 mostly all Spirit of Prophecy books,
11:05 mostly 'Desire of Ages', 'Great Controversy'
11:07 from Remnant Publication.
11:09 We bought several thousand of them and passed them out.
11:13 And I bought several more, and passed them out,
11:16 and that was kind of the beginning of our excitement
11:20 about this concept of everyone
11:23 in the United States should be, should have
11:26 a 'Great Controversy' or 'Desire of Ages'.
11:29 Actually, there shouldn't be a motel room
11:32 in the United States without a 'Great Controversy'
11:34 laying next to the Gideon Bible.
11:36 So, you know, we just kind of languish along
11:41 like most like people do,
11:43 didn't pay a lot of attention to it until the 'Passion' book,
11:48 and most all of you have seen this book,
11:50 I mean its, had more notoriety than any book that I know of.
11:55 Our little church in the Decatur, Arkansas,
11:58 eventually purchased 27,000 of these little books.
12:03 We passed them all out in Northwest Arkansas,
12:05 most of them in Northwest Arkansas.
12:07 A few cases went here and there in another place.
12:10 But it just-- what it did for our church,
12:13 you can't believe. A church of 100 members,
12:16 they're probably giving 20 Bible studies. Amen.
12:20 There is no doubt this afternoon there
12:22 will be a group of people go out door to door,
12:25 Northwest, Arkansas is one of the biggest growing areas
12:28 in United States you most of you know.
12:30 And there will be hundred
12:33 or two books passed out this afternoon.
12:35 And every evening, we went to in front
12:39 of the Wal-Mart store, the KMart store,
12:42 and you'll just be surprised
12:45 what acceptance you have with Ellen White books.
12:49 And you know as we read these books,
12:52 its cost, Alice and I about to read more.
12:55 She just completed the Conflict Series.
12:58 And as we read them, you know,
13:02 I read 'Great Controversy'
13:04 and I read the stories of 'Martyrs'
13:08 and I want to be like them.
13:10 Then I read the story in 'Desire of Ages' of Jesus.
13:15 And I want to be like Him. Amen.
13:17 So my appeal to those out in Adventist
13:24 across the United States is, let's develop little cells
13:29 of Adventist churches that will raise money
13:33 and buy these books by the hundreds of thousands.
13:38 Now we have, we had two hour meeting with 'Pacific Press'
13:43 and 'Review and Herald' and 'Remnant' yesterday
13:45 right here down at Marian at the airport.
13:49 And they are on board. They want to be a part of this.
13:52 They see that this is the way that--
13:55 and the one way that we can finish the work.
13:58 So, you know, the--
14:02 I think this beginning to rain, its happening.
14:06 Amen. Amen. We believe that the Lord is coming soon.
14:12 Amen. Amen. And in my reading this past year,
14:17 I've learned that we're going to be judge
14:20 not only by what we do, but what we don't do.
14:25 And so it is our responsibility those of us
14:29 that are close to Jesus and know Jesus to share
14:32 what we have with others.
14:35 And for me the easiest way
14:38 is through the writings of Ellen White,
14:41 because these books can go where I can't go.
14:46 I can pass them out from door to door,
14:48 and the people that get these books,
14:51 they read them and in the back of the book,
14:54 we will have information on someone
14:58 that they can contact to get further information,
15:01 so that they can get other books,
15:04 so they can get Bible studies,
15:06 so that they can learn to know Jesus and learn the truth.
15:11 This is the one thing that we have to do
15:13 is to get the message out to--
15:17 the Three Angels Messages out. Amen. Amen.
15:22 Another thing, Danny, the suppliers
15:26 that we've contacted Review, Remnant, Pacific Press,
15:32 they have agreed to print these things,
15:35 you know, like a hundred thousand price for us.
15:38 And they can be send to churches,
15:40 10, 20, 30,000 at a time.
15:43 And the cost is just phenomenally low,
15:46 you wouldn't believe. What you can buy this for?
15:50 I mean, you know, maybe a dollar a piece
15:52 for quality books, not just chief books.
15:55 And you know, if we can just get
15:58 these little sales at churches going
16:00 and getting their people motivated.
16:03 There will be a book in every home in the United States
16:05 if we work at it. And I really believe that.
16:08 Okay, so how do we go about doing that?
16:10 We go home now and decide to do it,
16:11 but our little church can only buy 10,000,
16:15 but we want to get the 100,000 price for all of that.
16:17 How do we join together to do that?
16:20 Certainly the mechanics haven't been worked out,
16:22 Danny, but we're hoping
16:23 that we're going get telephone calls from out there
16:25 of people that have seen this program.
16:28 We hope that there will be people in all over
16:31 the United States say, you know,
16:33 we will band together several small churches
16:36 and we will raise funds, and we will--
16:39 we have the buying power collectively. Sure.
16:42 And we can--we can actually have a million printed,
16:46 you know, it can happen. Sure, okay.
16:48 Let's do, we will work together
16:49 and if people are watching,
16:51 we will try to keep you updated.
16:52 You thinks that's a good idea for us
16:54 all to join together, because--
16:59 We can be good stewards of God's money that way
17:02 and we can all get these books out much cheaper.
17:04 The presses can print them up much cheaper.
17:06 We can get them in the homes
17:07 and if you get them much cheaper into the home,
17:09 you get two for one and of course,
17:10 that means twice as many homes covered.
17:12 So thank you for your work and for what you are doing,
17:15 and what God has placed in your heart today.
17:17 One other thing, Danny, you have promised us
17:20 that you will be the medium for this.
17:22 And we appreciate that and you know,
17:25 everyone watches 3ABN.
17:27 So you're gonna hear more about this on 3ABN.
17:29 There is gonna be some think tanks going on so and so forth.
17:32 Okay, thank you very much. God bless you.
17:41 Now I'd like to praise the Lord
17:42 for Brother Kenneth Cox and for his team.
17:46 Elder Cox has traveled around the world and he--
17:51 I guess only in heaven where we know the amount of people
17:55 lives have been impacted by the ministry of Kenneth Cox.
17:58 Me for one, I tell you that.
18:00 I have been blessed by Kenneth Cox.
18:02 I've watched him numerous years on television
18:06 and here is a man that has donated,
18:08 given his life for the cause of Christ.
18:11 And today he is going to doing our Sabbath School
18:13 and he also--I'll let him introduce his music
18:15 and when you gonna have it
18:17 and how you wanna to do but for the rest of time,
18:19 we got 40 some odd minutes.
18:20 You are here for the Sabbath School.
18:21 And thank you, Kenneth, for being here at 3ABN.
18:23 Thank you, you have been a 3ABN evangelist
18:25 for last couple of years.
18:26 Right. And that--
18:28 we've talked a couple of years ago and he said,
18:30 "Most of the places I go,
18:31 most of my converts are coming in through watching 3ABN,
18:34 so why don't we just work together?"
18:35 And I said, "That's great.
18:37 Let's just be a 3ABN evangelist."
18:40 Marvelous thing. God bless you. Thank you.
18:41 Thank you, Danny. Good morning.
18:43 Good morning. I'm very happy to be here
18:46 and to see each of you.
18:48 Beautiful, cool, fall morning
18:52 here at 3ABN in Southern Illinois.
18:55 And we're just very, very happy to be here
18:57 and to have this opportunity to worship with you.
19:01 We finish up here and on our way to Tulsa, Oklahoma
19:07 to begin a meeting there, start there,
19:10 so we would appreciate your interest in your prayers
19:14 as we start a meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
19:17 It's always a great, great honor and privilege for me
19:22 to have the team that works with me.
19:25 They are hard to even describe
19:31 the blessing they're and the help
19:33 that they are to each arch of the crusades.
19:39 Donna Klein, over the last few years
19:42 has written quite a number of songs
19:46 and we've been blessed very, very special way by those songs.
19:52 This morning Maddy Coupersus,
19:54 and Don are going to do one that she has written
19:57 one that I probably consider the best that she has written
20:03 and its entitled "Golgotha's Hill".
20:15 Hear the beat of the feet of the soldiers
20:19 as they climb Golgotha's Hill
20:25 Hear the cheers and the jeers of the people crying crucified
20:32 And kill the great love story
20:37 how the King of glory came
20:42 My debt paid on that hateful,
20:48 fateful day
20:55 As the lightning flashed
20:57 and the thunder crashed upon Golgotha's Hill
21:05 Satan and his ghost came straight from hell
21:10 to cast their evil spell
21:15 The battle rage gone as the Lamb of God
21:20 hang up less on that tree
21:24 Hear Him cry,
21:27 see Him dying for you and me
21:34 But they never uttered a word,
21:42 every word
21:45 from the lips of the Son of God
21:55 As the hammer struck the bolt,
21:58 the Father bent low to hear His dying son
22:05 It is finished, He said, then He bowed His head
22:11 The victory had been won
22:16 All heaven cried
22:18 as the Savior died that day on Calvary
22:26 Times stood still on that Hill, Golgotha's Hill
22:42 In a borrowed grave,
22:46 the Savior laid
22:49 the air thick with grief
22:54 Salvation has cost at such a loss
23:00 Seems so hard to believe
23:06 There still left an emptiness
23:11 as darkness filled their hearts
23:16 No one knew what to do
23:27 Then deep within the ground
23:30 came around the layman sound
23:32 The earth began to sway the heavenly most
23:40 that Satan fear most have rolled that stone away
23:48 The sky turned black and the guards felt back
23:53 has end the nightmares dream and all was still,
24:00 deathly still on that hill
24:13 With the mighty shout,
24:16 the Father cried out awake, awake my son
24:23 And Jesus soars victory
24:27 all He suppose salvation had been won
24:34 They had crossed to the rugged cross
24:39 upon Golgotha's Hill
24:43 life began on that Hill, Golgotha's Hill
24:56 New life begin
25:00 on that Hill,
25:06 Golgotha's Hill
25:27 Thank you.
25:32 Before we take a look at today's lesson,
25:35 let's talk to the Lord.
25:40 Father in Heaven,
25:43 as we look at this great book of Daniel,
25:49 and we see the hand of the God,
25:54 how that you with the sweep of Your hand
25:59 could protect the history of nations.
26:04 Help us Lord to reach out in faith
26:09 to claim the promises of Your word,
26:13 may our hearts be open, may they be soft.
26:18 We ask to the Holy Spirit,
26:21 maybe present that He may guide us
26:23 in all that we study today, we pray in Your name, amen.
26:34 Well, through the next three months,
26:37 you're gonna be study the Book of Daniel.
26:40 Great, great book.
26:43 One that is extremely important for our day and our time.
26:49 And the book Prophets and Kings,
26:53 Ellen G. White make this statement,
26:56 "As we near the close of this earth's history,
27:00 the prophecies recorded by Daniel
27:03 demand our special attention,
27:06 as they relate to the very time in which we're living."
27:12 So it's very, very important that you and I understand
27:16 what the word of God has to say concerning the times
27:19 in which you are living today.
27:22 I placed on each chair this morning a little quiz
27:27 and I hope that you have taken time to just go through it
27:30 and see kind of where you are in understanding
27:34 that first chapter of Daniel,
27:36 and as we go through the study here this morning,
27:38 I will answer those questions.
27:40 So if you have questions about any particular one,
27:44 we will take a look at them,
27:45 try to answer them for you so that you are clear on those.
27:49 But it's important as we're going into the Book of Daniel
27:53 and this first chapter of Daniel gives you a background
27:57 and that's what we're going to do today.
27:59 We're just going to establish
28:00 a background for the Book of Daniel.
28:03 So that you get a picture of what is happening
28:06 and taking place in the life of Daniel.
28:09 As you remember the children of Israel
28:13 decided that they wanted the king.
28:16 And as the result of that God told Samuel to listen
28:20 to what they had to say and they chose
28:24 or God had them choose Saul to be the first king of Israel.
28:30 But Saul was not faithful,
28:32 did not follow the Lord
28:33 and as a result of that his lineage
28:37 was rejected and Daniel was--
28:42 excuse me, David was put in place of Saul
28:46 and his household became that power
28:51 that was to rule through Israel for so many years.
28:55 But David's son Solomon
29:01 even though in the first few years of his life
29:05 follow the Lord, later he departed
29:07 and then in his later life came back.
29:10 And the lineage was passed onto his son Rehoboam.
29:16 But Rehoboam made some unwise decisions
29:19 and there was a division,
29:22 and you remember as the result of that Jeroboam
29:26 took ten of the tribes of Israel and went off
29:30 and started another kingdom.
29:32 And so you have the kingdom
29:33 divided between Jeroboam and Rehoboam.
29:37 From that point on, folks,
29:41 Israel the ten tribes of Israel had 17 kings.
29:48 Okay. Every one of them was bad.
29:55 Seventeen kings, every last one of them was bad.
30:01 Judah which was the other that
30:05 Rehoboam took had 19 kings.
30:10 And of those 19 kings about half of them were bad
30:14 and about half of them were good.
30:16 That was pretty much the division.
30:21 During the time of Jehoshaphat
30:24 of the king of Judah,
30:26 the nation of Israel or the ten tribes
30:31 were carried off into captivity and dispersed.
30:37 The kingdom of Judah continued.
30:41 Some of the great kings of the kingdom of Judah was Hezekiah.
30:48 One, a man that love the Lord, followed Him,
30:52 very, very faithful great king.
30:55 He is great-grandson.
30:59 Josiah was also a great, great king that love the Lord.
31:06 But Josiah was the last good king,
31:12 wasn't anymore after that, Josiah was the last one.
31:16 That brings me to the point that I want to make,
31:20 is that it's under the reign of Josiah
31:24 that Daniel is born.
31:27 This is the time that Daniel is born,
31:32 comes on the scene of action a very, very good time,
31:36 because there has been a tremendous revival in Israel.
31:41 That people have turned to God.
31:43 God has poured out blessing upon blessing upon them,
31:47 and so this is a great time in which without question
31:51 he has received great instructions from his parents,
31:55 the country of Israel, or Judah has turned to God
31:59 and also there is a prophet
32:03 at this time that is telling them what is coming,
32:06 what's taking place encourage them to be faithful
32:08 to the Lord, and his name is Jeremiah.
32:12 Jeremiah is there, he is encouraging the people
32:16 so it's in this period of time in which things are very,
32:20 very favorable in Judah that Daniel was born.
32:27 But, folks, you must understand that you can't,
32:33 you can't turn away from God and go and have things done.
32:39 I don't care whether you are talking about an individual,
32:42 or you are talking about a nation.
32:44 If that person or nation turns away from God,
32:48 you set in motion certain circumstances
32:53 is going to take place that those things will happen
32:57 unless divine intervention takes place.
33:02 And by the bad kings of Judah, they set in motion
33:07 certain events by foreign powers coming down upon them
33:12 and these events begin to take place and no matter
33:17 what happen unless God intervene those circumstances
33:22 is going to happen, and that's why Jeremiah
33:25 is over and over telling the people,
33:28 this is what is going to happen.
33:33 Josiah; very, very good king down in Egypt.
33:41 There is a Pharaoh by the name of Pharaoh Neco, okay.
33:48 Over in Babylon, there is a ruler
33:53 by the name of Nabopolassar.
33:57 He has grown old and there has--
34:01 he has taken over the kingdom,
34:04 and there has risen some opposition to him
34:08 up in a place called Carchemish.
34:11 He feels that he is too old to go and take care of this
34:16 and so he has sent his son up to put down the revoke
34:21 his name is Nebuchadnezzar, okay.
34:27 Pharaoh Neco sees this is an opportunity,
34:32 because he feels if he can go up and join forces with them
34:36 up in Carchemish, and overthrow Nebuchadnezzar,
34:41 then he will take over the whole part of the country.
34:45 So you find him making his way from Egypt up to Carchemish
34:50 and as he gets to the plains of Megiddo,
34:55 Josiah decides to go out and stop him.
35:02 You can read in the new scripture,
35:03 last part of Second Kings.
35:06 Josiah goes out to stop Pharaoh Neco,
35:12 but Josiah is killed, slain in battle.
35:20 You find that with the death of Josiah,
35:22 the people decided to put
35:24 Josiah's son Jehoahaz
35:29 on the throne, and he was on the throne
35:33 for about three months when Pharaoh Neco decided
35:37 to come up and to bring all of Israel under his power.
35:41 and they will be servants of him,
35:44 and so he came up and he took away Jehoahaz,
35:48 and he put on the throne, Jehoiakim, okay.
35:53 He became the one, and he begin to rule Israel,
35:57 and he ruled for about three years, okay.
36:03 He ruled longer than that, but in three years.
36:06 First part of his power,
36:09 Pharaoh Neco was gone up
36:11 faced Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish.
36:14 And Nebuchadnezzar has put them down overthrown.
36:20 Nebuchadnezzar decides that while he is there,
36:23 he might as well take care of Israel also
36:26 and so he comes down, and so in the third year of Jehoiakim,
36:31 Nebuchadnezzar came in and subdued Israel.
36:36 That brings you to the first Verse of Daniel,
36:40 the first Chapter.
36:42 If you want to take your Bibles and turn there,
36:44 Daniel the first, first Chapter and the first verse and it says,
36:50 "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim
36:52 king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
36:55 came to Jerusalem, and besieged it."
36:58 So he came and overthrew, took captives of it.
37:02 Don't want to go into a whole lot of background
37:05 but at this time folks right at this incident
37:08 that this has happened that Nebuchadnezzar
37:11 all of sudden has received word that his father,
37:15 Neo Bonaparte, has died,
37:18 excuse me Nabopolassar has died.
37:24 If you look at the map
37:27 from Israel over to Babylon,
37:32 if you go across the desert,
37:35 it's almost a 1000 miles.
37:39 Now Nebuchadnezzar took a servant and some horses,
37:45 and he and that servant rode across that desert,
37:50 a 1000 miles back to Babylon.
37:53 That is not the way, they normally traveled, I mean,
37:58 that is not the case they normally don't do that,
38:01 because the chances of dying out on the desert are so tremendous
38:06 that he realized that time was of an essence,
38:09 and he had to get back to secure the throne.
38:11 Daniel and his companions that we're talking about
38:16 here this morning, when they are taking captive,
38:18 they didn't take him across the desert,
38:20 they took around what was called the Fertile Crescent.
38:24 They follow the river all the way around,
38:27 because there was water and there was things to eat
38:30 and this was the way that they went back.
38:32 So this is what has happened here,
38:34 so Nebuchadnezzar now has given
38:36 his captain of the guard instructions.
38:39 He has given him instructions that he wants them to secure
38:44 or to choose some young man,
38:48 bring them back to Babylon, okay.
38:54 Nebuchadnezzar is not dumb, folks.
38:56 Probably one of the greatest generals that ever
39:00 lived is Nebuchadnezzar, never lost a battle.
39:05 He realizes that he is overthrowing
39:07 nations after nations, he has just subdued Israel.
39:10 He is going take over others he knows that,
39:12 and so he wants to bring into his court
39:15 young men that he can train, okay.
39:19 So they brought or they chose
39:23 about 50 young men,
39:27 50 young men to take them back to the courts of Babylon.
39:32 There they're going to train them and help them
39:36 to become leaders in the country of Babylon.
39:42 Now rather interesting that
39:49 the choices that the world makes,
39:51 have you read what they asked what his requirements were?
39:56 His told his captain, guard, I want to chose
40:00 some young men, bring them back.
40:01 He said, "One, I want them to be good looking."
40:06 Did you catch that? Yeah.
40:09 Want them to be good looking, all right.
40:12 Choice, you know, if you watch TV, most of the people
40:17 that you see on there, particularly in Hollywood
40:19 are what? Good looking.
40:22 So that's the way the world considers it, good looking.
40:24 Said, get me 50 young men that are good looking.
40:28 Secondly, I want them to be what? Intelligent.
40:34 Intelligent, he said, I want them to be wise,
40:35 I want them to be smart, I want them to be intelligent,
40:38 really great powers there.
40:41 And then he said, "Thirdly, I want them to have
40:45 great social graces, because it says here you can read it
40:50 where it talks about here, it says, that they were to
40:53 possess knowledge, quick to understand who had ability
40:58 to serve in the kings powers that mean
41:00 they had great social graces.
41:03 So these young men were tremendous young men,
41:07 good looking, intelligent, socially refined,
41:11 all the things that you can accept.
41:14 Can you just imagine?
41:15 Can you just imagine the excitement
41:18 in the courts of Babylon, among the young women
41:23 when 50 good looking, intelligent, socially refined
41:28 young men came walking in there.
41:30 Man, what a difference that must have made there?
41:34 They said, chose these for me.
41:36 What Nebuchadnezzar did not consider,
41:40 did not understand was among those 50 young men,
41:47 there were four that had something else.
41:51 They were not just good looking,
41:58 intelligent, socially refined,
42:04 but they were spiritual.
42:07 They had a relationship with God that Nebuchadnezzar
42:11 did not understand, could not comprehend that at all.
42:18 And they chose Daniel, Hananiah,
42:24 Azariah, Mishael,
42:27 the three companions of Daniel to take them back to
42:32 Babylon where they are to be received a special education.
42:40 Now, folks, Nebuchadnezzar did not intend
42:47 to force these young men
42:50 to change their beliefs and all immediately.
42:55 He didn't intend to do that.
43:00 Nebuchadnezzar just set in motion
43:04 that certain things that what wouldn't do that.
43:08 He did say, we will do this,
43:09 we will take them back to Babylon
43:11 where they will receive a Babylonian education.
43:17 They will be taught the language
43:19 and the literature of Babylon, okay.
43:24 Now, what Nebuchadnezzar set in motion
43:28 is what today you and I call brainwashing,
43:34 that's what he started to do.
43:36 And he put those young men there and he began to change them.
43:40 He said, we'll give them a Caldian education.
43:44 Other words, we're going to teach them the language,
43:50 we're going to teach them the literature of Babylon.
43:53 We're going to teach them the ways of Babylon.
43:56 We're going to give them a good great
43:58 big dose of Pagan education.
44:01 We'll give them that,
44:07 it concerns me,
44:11 concerns me greatly,
44:16 because sometimes
44:19 we don't really realize what we're doing
44:21 when we take our young people
44:25 and put them in some of these universities
44:29 where we give them folks
44:32 a great big dose of Pagan education.
44:40 And we wonder, we wonder what happened,
44:44 what, what took place, why did they change,
44:49 why did they not believe that anymore?
44:54 Nebuchadnezzar fully believed
44:57 that he was going to change these young men,
45:02 change the way they thought,
45:04 the way they believed.
45:08 Secondly, he said, I will not only give them that,
45:15 but I'm going to treat them well.
45:18 I'm going to let them eat at the king's table.
45:21 Now that is really a privilege.
45:25 He's going to let them eat at the king's table,
45:27 will feed them with the food from the king's table,
45:30 will give them all those things that they have,
45:33 they can eat here at the king's table,
45:35 we'll treat them good.
45:41 How do you relate to that?
45:45 You know, here they were in a foreign country,
45:49 thousand miles away from their home,
45:54 no travel by air, folks. Okay.
46:00 Thousands miles away from home,
46:02 here in a foreign land with foreign people,
46:05 they are being treated special.
46:08 They are being given all the things that you could
46:12 ask for there in a foreign country.
46:15 It has always amazed me
46:20 at what people will do away from home.
46:28 Nobody around, you know, there's nobody here
46:34 way from home, nobody cares,
46:39 I'm here in this foreign country,
46:41 nobody is aware of what's going on.
46:45 So what if I drink a little of the king's wine?
46:54 Does that really make any difference?
46:59 Don't think, there're 50 young men sitting there
47:04 impressionable, Daniel is about 18 years of age.
47:13 Without a doubt, the vast majority of those young men
47:22 ate the food and drank the wine on the king's table.
47:31 I mean, Daniel could have said, well, you know,
47:33 God must have forsaken us.
47:37 Here we're captives in a foreign land.
47:43 God must have forgotten us.
47:44 I will just--I will just partake of the king's table here.
47:52 Everybody else is doing it, probably okay.
48:00 Do you think, it went through their minds
48:02 what the consequences would be if they didn't do it?
48:09 You know, here the king was giving them a free education,
48:14 three years education, best teachers that they had.
48:20 Here the king has given them all of the fineries of life,
48:23 cloth them and put everything on their back, gave feed them all.
48:27 What if they decide they don't want to do this?
48:33 Is this going to-- maybe lose their position?
48:41 I will tell you probably would have been
48:42 more than lost their position.
48:44 Nebuchadnezzar didn't have any qualms
48:48 about getting rid of you.
48:51 I mean, when some wise men couldn't
48:54 tell him what his dream was.
48:56 He didn't have any trouble saying get rid of this bunch.
49:00 And so to these four young men, they're going to say,
49:03 now we don't want to do this, don't think it would have
49:07 bothered him for a moment to say get rid of them.
49:13 So they had to consider that very, very careful.
49:21 Thirdly, attempt to give them-- attempt to give them
49:27 the opportunity or to try and get them
49:30 to give up their belief.
49:35 They had been taught very clearly by their parents
49:40 that they were not to do certain things
49:42 according to scripture, and I hope this morning
49:48 that you are building your faith on scripture.
49:56 It concerns me, because I talk to people
50:00 and I talk to their church members and so forth,
50:02 and I hear them say, well, the church teaches
50:06 or the church believes, let me tell you something.
50:13 I am a Seventh-day Adventist,
50:17 I am not a Seventh-day Adventist,
50:21 because there's a Seventh-day Adventist church.
50:25 I am a Seventh-day Adventist, because
50:27 that's what the book teaches.
50:31 These young men had built their belief
50:34 on the word of God, and therefore under
50:39 those circumstances in which they said,
50:42 eat the things that's on the king's table without a doubt.
50:48 Food on the king's table was unclean, lot of it.
50:53 Unclean from the scripture standpoint of what
50:56 is taught in the Leviticus 11.
51:00 Therefore Daniel and his friends said,
51:02 can't eat this, scripture forbids it.
51:11 Secondly, Deuteronomy the fifth chapter
51:15 taught very clearly, they were not to eat
51:20 what had been sacrificed to an idol.
51:26 And as the pagans did, they sacrificed the food
51:30 to an idol before they ate of it.
51:34 And then they understood clearly according to Proverbs
51:38 the 20th chapter and verse 1, that they were not
51:44 to drink the wine that came from the king's table.
51:50 You see brainwashing simply means that you and I
51:56 or any individual must give up our beliefs.
52:01 They refuse to do that, not willing to give up their belief.
52:11 Brainwashing will do no good.
52:14 You cannot change a person's way of life
52:19 by brainwashing unless, unless they're
52:25 willing to give up their lifestyle, okay.
52:33 That is the ultimate in brainwashing, you know,
52:36 you have the person if they're willing
52:39 to give up their lifestyle.
52:42 If Daniel and his companions were willing to give up
52:44 the way they ate, if they were willing to give up
52:47 the times they prayed, if they were willing
52:50 to give up their lifestyle they had them.
52:54 And they said, no, we're not going to do that.
52:59 You know, have you just considered what this
53:04 must have meant to these young men?
53:09 I remember a few years ago, I had some friends
53:12 who were quite wealthy, and they called me up
53:17 one day and said, go to the ballgame with us.
53:22 And I said, okay, and so they said, we will come by
53:26 and pick you up at certain time, and at this time
53:31 here this great big Cadillac, black Cadillac Sedan
53:38 come puling up in front of my house.
53:40 Went out, got in it, took me to the ballgame.
53:44 I can still remember we got to the ballgame,
53:47 normally, folks, when I go to the ballgame, you know,
53:51 I drive in, I have to pay a ticket to park
53:53 and we parked about a mile away from the ball,
53:57 didn't you walked there.
53:58 I will never forget this, I mean, they drove up there.
54:03 When they got to the gate there,
54:05 this fellow just waved him right on through.
54:07 I mean, they didn't park back there, they drove
54:09 right up to the stadium, right where the ballgame was.
54:14 Here was the special parking place for them.
54:16 I thought man that's nice, I mean, you know,
54:20 don't have to walk all that way, and so we got out of the car,
54:23 walked over the stadium you know in.
54:26 I don't know about you but I go to the ballgame,
54:29 I have to take this ramp that goes
54:32 up and up and up and up, and then you're way up there
54:35 and the players are way off over you know.
54:39 But we got there and I started heading over to walk up
54:43 to the ramp when they said, oh, no, no,
54:45 come here, and we walked around here.
54:48 I didn't even know, I didn't even know those places
54:51 had elevators in them, you know.
54:55 Walked over here and pushed this button,
54:57 this elevator door opened and here this fellow stood in
55:01 white dinner jacket, said, come in.
55:04 Went in and elevator took us upstairs, opened this door.
55:10 I couldn't believe what I saw.
55:12 I mean, here was this beautiful gorgeous place
55:16 all these men in whitener jackets walking around.
55:19 We walked down there and here they opened the door,
55:22 we walked in there and here was seats where you sat there
55:26 and you could see out over the whole auditorium,
55:29 I mean, the whole field, it was wonderful right there, you know.
55:32 Man, this is nice, this is really nice, you know.
55:37 And I just sat there could hardly believe but you know,
55:41 and this fellow walked up to me and said,
55:43 Mr. Cox, what would you like?
55:45 I said, what do you mean, what would I like?
55:48 He said, you want something?
55:53 I said, what do you mean?
55:55 He said, anything you want, anything you want.
55:59 I thought, boy, I can get used to this kind of life, you know.
56:04 This would be all right, you know.
56:07 That's what Daniel and these men were experience, folks.
56:11 I mean, they were in the king's table,
56:15 they were in the king's house.
56:16 Anything they wanted was there.
56:24 I'd to make a decision, I won't change my lifestyle.
56:30 I'm gonna give up this, give up my belief in God,
56:33 going to stand firm for the Lord.
56:38 Daniel said, no, I can't do this,
56:41 I can't eat this food on the king's table,
56:46 I can't drink his wine.
56:48 Went to the captain, said, we can't do this.
56:53 The captain said, what do you mean, you can't do it.
56:56 Daniel said, you know, we just can't eat this.
56:59 Let us have some vegetables and let us
57:02 just have plain things to eat.
57:05 Captain guard said, do you know what you are saying.
57:08 He said, that can cost me my head.
57:14 And Daniel said, test it out and give us ten days.
57:22 And the captain agreed, now, folks, you know
57:25 as well as I do how many of you ever gone on diet
57:27 for ten days and saw anything different.
57:30 I never did, I mean, man ten days
57:32 didn't change a thing, you know.
57:36 So, you know ten days had-- really didn't have much
57:40 to do with it except what God did for them.
57:43 At the end of ten days, they were better looking.
57:47 Flesh, more fleshly they were much better shape,
57:52 and the captain said, okay.
57:54 At the end of that time,
57:58 they were ten times wiser
58:04 than all the men in the realm of Nebuchadnezzar.
58:11 Why?
58:14 Because God simply honors faithfulness.
58:20 God said, you honor me, I will bless you.
58:25 Dear friend, let me tell you,
58:26 you can't fail if you honor the Lord.
58:29 He will bless you every time.


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Revised 2014-12-17