Participants:
Series Code: SSH
Program Code: SSH021950S
|
00:00 ♪♪♪
00:10 ♪♪♪ 00:20 ♪♪♪ 00:30 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Jean Ross: Hello, friends. 00:36 We'd like to welcome all of you once again to "Sabbath School 00:38 Study Hour," here at the Granite Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church 00:41 in Sacramento, California. 00:43 I'd like to welcome those joining us, 00:44 across the country and around the world, 00:46 as well as our extended Sabbath School church members, 00:49 our online members, very warm welcome to all of you. 00:52 And as always, we'd like to welcome our regular Sabbath 00:55 School members here, and those who are visiting with us today. 00:58 As many of you know if you've been coming regularly, 01:01 we've been studying through the two Old Testament books, 01:04 Ezra and Nehemiah, and that's actually the title of 01:06 this quarter's study. 01:08 Today, we're going to be looking at lesson number 11, 01:11 an important topic. 01:12 It's called, "Backslidden People." 01:14 As Christians we always need to be careful of what the Bible 01:17 refers to as backsliding. 01:19 We'll learn more about that as we study today. 01:21 We do have a free offer we'd like to let you know about. 01:23 It's one of the "Amazing Facts" Study Guides and one of the 01:28 reasons why many people backslide is because of the 01:30 things in this world, the love of money, 01:34 so our lesson, or at least our free offer, 01:37 goes along with this theme. 01:39 It's called, "In God We Trust?" 01:40 And we'll be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks. 01:43 The number is... and you want to ask 01:48 for offer number 135 and we'll be happy to send 01:52 this to anyone who calls and asks. 01:53 Or you can get a digital copy of our lesson by simply texting the 01:56 code "SH038" to the number "40544." 02:04 You'll then be able to download a copy of the Study Guide and 02:07 read about one of the dangers as Christians: 02:10 how do we manage money? 02:13 How do we avoid money causing us to lose our faith or our 02:15 commitment to Christ, and you'll find that helpful. 02:19 Well, before we get to our lesson this morning, 02:21 I'd like to invite our song leaders to come and they'll be 02:23 leading us in our worship song this morning and then, 02:27 following that, we will get started with the study. 02:30 female: We will be singing hymn number 373, 02:33 "Seeking the Lost." 02:35 ♪♪♪ 02:42 ♪ Seeking the lost, yes, kindly entreating ♪ 02:47 ♪ Wanderers on the mountain astray; ♪ 02:53 ♪ Come unto Me, His message repeating, ♪ 02:56 ♪ Words of the Master speaking today. ♪ 03:01 ♪ Going afar upon the mountain ♪ 03:07 ♪ Bringing the wanderer back again into the fold. ♪ 03:16 ♪ Into the fold of my Redeemer. ♪ 03:21 ♪ Jesus the Lamb for sinners slain, ♪ 03:26 ♪ for sinners slain. ♪ 03:29 ♪ Seeking the lost and pointing to Jesus. ♪ 03:33 ♪ Souls that are weak and hearts that are sore, ♪ 03:38 ♪ Leading them forth in ways of salvation, ♪ 03:43 ♪ Showing the path to life evermore. ♪ 03:48 ♪ Going afar upon the mountain ♪ 03:55 ♪ Bringing the wanderer back again into the fold. ♪ 04:02 ♪ Into the fold of my Redeemer. ♪ 04:08 ♪ Jesus the Lamb for sinners slain, ♪ 04:13 ♪ for sinners slain. ♪ 04:15 ♪ Thus I would go on missions of mercy, ♪ 04:20 ♪ Following Christ from day unto day, ♪ 04:25 ♪ Cheering the faint and raising the fallen, ♪ 04:30 ♪ Pointing the lost to Jesus, the Way. ♪ 04:35 ♪ Going afar upon the mountain ♪ 04:42 ♪ Bringing the wanderer back again. ♪ 04:50 ♪ Into the fold of my Redeemer. ♪ 04:56 ♪ Jesus the Lamb for sinners slain, ♪ 05:00 ♪ for sinners slain. ♪♪ 05:07 Jean: Dear Father in heaven, we thank You that we're able to 05:09 gather in Your house to open up Your Word and study. 05:11 Lord, we are grateful that You are our shepherd and that You're 05:14 leading us but help us to follow close to You and not allowing 05:18 things of this world to pull us back and so give us guidance and 05:21 understanding as we look at this important subject today, 05:24 for we ask this in Jesus's name, amen. 05:27 Our lesson today is going to be brought to us by Pastor Doug. 05:32 Doug Batchelor: Happy Sabbath. 05:33 It's good to see some of our young people home from college 05:36 for Thanksgiving, singing. 05:38 It's partly good, it's partly bad, 05:42 because I remember when they were just teenagers and now 05:44 they're adults which means I'm getting older. 05:46 But otherwise it's good to see them prospering. 05:50 And you may, if you're tuning in online, 05:55 notice that the background is a little different at Granite Bay 06:00 and it will be a little different for a while because 06:02 you may know we're building a new church right now. 06:07 It's not quite finished. 06:09 We sold this building to some dear people in another church 06:12 and they're being kind enough to rent it back to us and so we're 06:16 sharing the space on the platform and some construction 06:18 is happening and so that's why you've got a little different 06:21 fabric and something going on behind us right now. 06:25 I may explain that again for our church family online for church. 06:31 To our lesson. 06:32 We're continuing our study on "Ezra and Nehemiah." 06:35 And we're in lesson number 11 today. 06:37 And if you have your quarterlies, 06:39 some of you have them in paper form and some are doing 06:42 it online now. 06:44 You'll notice we have a memory verse. 06:46 Memory verse is from Nehemiah 13, 06:50 verse 22, and this here is in the New King James Version. 06:53 Nehemiah 13:22. 06:54 I always like if you can say that with me. 06:56 Are you ready? 06:58 "And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse 07:02 themselves, and they should go and guard the gates, 07:06 to sanctify the Sabbath day. 07:08 Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, 07:12 and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy!" 07:17 You'll find several times in the book of Nehemiah he says, 07:20 "Remember me, remember me." 07:22 Matter of fact, I think the last verses you'll find in the book 07:25 of Nehemiah, he says, "Remember me." 07:28 Almost makes me think about the thief on the cross. 07:33 What did he say to Jesus? 07:35 "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom." 07:37 And, by the way, the lesson title is "Backslidden People." 07:45 Now, is there a particular generation that we see in the 07:51 Bible where they struggled with backsliding? 07:54 Or do we see it happening a lot in the Bible? 07:58 Well, let's talk about it. 08:00 God makes Adam and Eve perfect and they backslide. 08:05 And then He renews His covenant with them and says, 08:11 you know, "Raise up your children that way," 08:12 but Cain backslides. 08:14 And then He tells Adam and Eve, "Well, 08:17 just make sure the children of Seth don't get mixed up with the 08:19 daughters of Cain," but they intermarry and they backslide. 08:25 And then after the flood comes as a result, 08:29 Noah plants a vineyard and he does a little backsliding. 08:35 Then they build the tower of Babel and they backslide. 08:37 Then He calls Abraham out and he goes to Egypt and lies and says, 08:41 "She's not my wife; she's my sister." 08:43 And are you getting the point? 08:45 God keeps calling out this remnant. 08:48 He keeps seeking to call and to purify His people but there's a 08:51 battle between good and evil that is going on from Genesis to 08:54 Revelation in the Bible. 08:57 And it's not really 'til you get to Revelation that the 09:00 backsliding stops and that's not until you get to the 09:02 last three chapters. 09:04 But this struggle, this tug-of-war in the heart of man, 09:09 between God and the devil is continually going on. 09:13 Don't be discouraged by it; it's a fact of life. 09:16 We must resist the backsliding that happens in our lives. 09:21 There's a gravity. 09:26 Sin is like this constant pull and you need 09:30 to consistently resist it. 09:32 If you don't, you'll backslide. 09:35 Now, the reason that backsliding is especially insidious is 09:38 because notice it's not back hopping, 09:43 jumping, or skipping. 09:44 It's not back jogging or climbing, it slides. 09:49 You know, you can slide in your sleep and it's something that 09:54 can be imperceptible and I think I've told you that story before 09:59 where I was hiking up the hill and I found--a buddy and I found 10:07 a bottle of wine floating in this pool on--by a waterfall on 10:14 our way up. 10:15 Did I tell you this story? 10:17 We were hiking, when I lived in the cave. 10:19 I don't even remember the guy's name. 10:21 We were hiking uphill and halfway up the mountain, 10:25 we stopped. 10:27 There's this pool called "Square Pool." 10:28 It's one of the few places in the desert where you had clear 10:30 water, you could actually get in and cool off, 10:32 you could drink the water, and it was cold because some of the 10:34 water came up from underground. 10:36 And somebody had providentially, we thought, 10:39 left an unopened bottle, like a half gallon of Chianti in the 10:45 pool to keep it cold. 10:47 Well, there was no one in the canyon and so we thought, 10:50 "Well, this is sent from heaven." 10:52 And so my buddy and I thought, "Well, 10:57 let's just take a sip or two," and we took a sip or two that 11:00 turned into about drinking most of the bottle. 11:03 And we realized as the sun went down that we probably were in no 11:07 shape to hike the rest of the way up the canyon and--but there 11:12 was a big flat rock. 11:15 You didn't want to sleep on the pebbles and the sand and there 11:17 was a smooth flat rock and it stayed warm during the night 11:20 because the sun had hit it during the day. 11:21 We thought, "We'll go up here above the waterfall and we'll 11:23 just lay on the flat rock and get some sleep, 11:26 and when the sun comes up we'll head to town." 11:27 Well, I went to sleep and I thought, 11:30 "Now, I'll lie here and I want to make sure I'm plenty of 11:32 distance from the waterfall because there's a, 11:34 you know, 50-foot drop." 11:38 So I laid down and when I woke up very early in the morning, 11:42 it was still dark, I felt something odd was happening that 11:46 I was, like, my bed had changed and all of a sudden there was a 11:50 big slope underneath me. 11:53 Well, I didn't realize there was just a little bit of a grade and 11:55 every time, you know, you move in the night when 11:57 you're--without thinking about it. 11:59 And every time I shifted and moved during the night, 12:01 because the rock was sloped downward, 12:03 which way did I go? 12:05 I was wiggling and moving downward and when I woke up in 12:08 the morning, I was right at the edge of the waterfall. 12:10 And I thought to myself, "Boy, I wasn't very far from that being 12:17 the end of the story." 12:19 And it was happening imperceptibly because there was 12:24 a little grade, a little down bend and, 12:28 in the world, everything is bending towards the downward 12:31 spiral and unless we are constantly aware and resisting 12:35 it, we will slide. 12:38 And so you see that happening. 12:40 And Nehemiah and Ezra are books of great reform and revival. 12:43 In the midst of the reform and revival and the commitments and 12:47 the covenants we read about last week, 12:49 they still managed to slide. 12:52 And so we always have to be on our guard. 12:54 Problem is, if you're on your guard too much you will be 12:58 accused of being a legalist and Nehemiah was accused of that. 13:02 But you've got to watch--you've got to watch or you tend 13:07 to slip backwards. 13:08 All right, so let's get into our study with that lengthy 13:10 introduction, talking about His backsliding people. 13:15 Turn--now, our mission today is in the book of Nehemiah. 13:18 We've got two lessons left and--but today we're going to be 13:22 talking about Nehemiah 13, verses 1 through 22. 13:26 So if we get 1 through 22, we'll have accomplished our mission. 13:29 I want you to notice in Nehemiah chapter 13, 13:32 verse--I'm going to read 1 to 3: "Now on that day they read from 13:37 the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people," and this is not 13:41 the only time they did that. 13:43 Sometimes, they did it half the day. 13:45 "And it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should 13:49 ever come into the assembly of God, 13:52 because they had met the children of Israel--I'm sorry, 13:56 because they had not met the children of Israel with bread 13:59 and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. 14:02 However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 14:05 So it was, then that we heard the Law, 14:08 they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel." 14:12 Now, in their midst after the children of Israel had been 14:16 carried off to Babylon, some of the surviving Moabites and 14:19 Ammonites and I don't know if there were any surviving 14:22 Edomites, they had come and filtered back into the country 14:25 and intermarried with the remaining Canaanites, 14:28 and when the Israelites came back, 14:32 you've already read in the books that they began to intermarry 14:35 and not only do business with them but they were marrying with 14:38 them and they were coming into their church. 14:40 And you might be thinking, "Why did God say that? 14:45 Is that being restrictive?" 14:47 Look in Deuteronomy 23, verse 3. 14:50 This is probably what they were reading that day: "An Ammonite 14:55 or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; 14:59 even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall 15:03 enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 15:05 because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road 15:08 when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you 15:12 Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, 15:15 to curse you." 15:17 Now, the story, you can actually find is in Deuteronomy chapter 2 15:21 and Moses is repeating this at the end of his book. 15:24 You go to the beginning of Deuteronomy and it says: "So I 15:28 sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon 15:32 king of Heshbon." 15:34 Now, the children of Israel, they're done wandering 40 years. 15:36 They're making their way towards the Jordan River. 15:38 The most direct route means they have to go through the 15:41 land of the Moabites. 15:43 To not be able to go through the land of the Moabites would mean 15:46 an extremely long, grueling trip north or south that was going to 15:53 exhaust them and their resources and so just to make the direct 15:58 line through their country and he said, 16:00 "Look, let us go through." 16:02 Notice what he says. 16:03 "'Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the 16:07 road,'" me and my people. 16:08 "'I'll turn neither to the right hand or the left. 16:11 You'll sell me food,'" if we're along the way and if your 16:14 merchants want us to sell food, "'we'll pay money for it, 16:17 that I might eat and give water--and give me water for 16:21 money,'" we'll pay for water, "'that I might drink; 16:24 only let me pass through on foot.' 16:26 But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass through." 16:31 And you go to verse 32: "Then Sihon and all his people came 16:34 out against us to fight at Jahaz. 16:37 And the Lord our God delivered him over to us; 16:39 so we defeated him, and his sons, and his people." 16:42 So there was a curse pronounced on them because they had been 16:45 so unhospitable to, really, their relatives. 16:50 The Moabites, remember, are descendants of Lot who's 16:53 related to Abraham. 16:55 This was family and they said, "Look, we're 16:57 just passing through. 16:58 If we take anything, we'll pay for it. 17:00 We're not going to take anything that's yours. 17:01 We're not going to molest you, we're not going to bother you." 17:03 A peaceful message. 17:05 And instead of saying, "No," they not only said "No," they 17:07 attacked them so there was a curse pronounced on them. 17:09 Now here's a question. 17:13 How carefully did they enforce that? 17:17 Not too carefully. 17:19 Can you think of a Moabite that ended up going into Israel 17:22 and--what was Ruth? 17:26 Ruth was a Moabite, wasn't she? 17:31 And this took place, of course, after Moses. 17:34 But she was allowed to marry Boaz and probably Boaz was the 17:44 son of Salmon, one of the spies we're suspecting. 17:47 And they could enter the temple of the Lord. 17:50 So when a person converted to God and if a man was 17:53 circumcised, they usually waived this. 17:56 But even to the time of Christ, notice this. 17:59 Why did they want to kill Paul, do you remember? 18:02 When you get to Acts chapter 21, verse 27: "Now when the seven 18:06 days," Paul has finished a missionary tour. 18:08 He comes to Jerusalem. 18:10 He's wanting to celebrate the feast. 18:11 Says--and during that time he shaved his head and he's going 18:14 into the temple. 18:16 "Now when the seven days were almost ended, 18:18 the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, 18:21 stirred up the people, the whole crowd, 18:24 and they laid hands on him, crying out, 18:26 'Men of Israel, help! 18:29 This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the 18:31 people, against the law, and this place; 18:34 and furthermore he has brought Greeks into the temple and 18:38 defiled this holy place.'" 18:39 So did they still have a law, even down to the time of 18:43 Jesus that you were not supposed to bring Gentiles 18:45 into the regular temple? 18:48 They had a place called the Gentile Court and they even had 18:52 a place called the Women's Court where the women would come in. 18:55 But you were not supposed to bring a Gentile. 18:58 If you go today, to the Wailing Wall, 19:02 which is that-- they call it the Western Wall, 19:05 that part of Israel is, you know, kept by the Jews. 19:09 And they've got the barricade around it and you can't go in 19:13 there, unless you cover your head. 19:15 They got some strict laws. 19:17 And there are very strict laws about anybody who would go up 19:21 onto the place where the compound used to be. 19:24 Orthodox Jews won't do it because they say it's 19:26 holy ground. 19:27 And so even to this day, there are some strict 19:31 behavioral things. 19:33 On the Sabbath, they stopped us. 19:35 They didn't want you taking pictures once you're in there 19:39 because you're making an image. 19:43 Kind of interesting. 19:45 And so, yeah, they had some laws. 19:46 They did not want the Gentiles entering into that place and so 19:49 when they realized that, what did they do in the 19:52 book of Nehemiah? 19:54 They separated themselves from the Gentiles that were coming 19:57 into the house of the Lord so they're trying to implement 19:59 these revivals 'cause they--supposedly, 20:05 Paul had brought Gentiles in. 20:07 Go to verse 4, Nehemiah 13, verse 4: "Now before this, 20:12 Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms 20:16 of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah." 20:21 All right, now, who is Tobiah? 20:24 Do you remember reading about there was these three characters 20:29 that were trying to stop them from building the walls when you 20:32 read in the first four to six chapters of Nehemiah? 20:36 You've got Tobiah, Sanballat, and the Arabian, 20:41 and it says that he was mocking them. 20:44 You can look in Nehemiah chapter 4, 20:46 verse 3: "Now Tobiah the Ammonite," not only is he not a 20:50 Jew, he's an Ammonite who they were already told to not have 20:52 even the people in the temple. 20:53 Says: "He was beside him, and he said, 20:56 'Whatever they build, even a fox goes up, 20:57 he will break down their wall.'" 20:59 He was trying to fight it. 21:02 Now, Nehemiah, he implemented these reforms but you remember, 21:06 he got permission from the king of Persia to come and 21:08 to do this work. 21:09 He didn't get permission to quit and leave forever. 21:12 He went back to Persia, took care of some business, 21:15 and while Nehemiah was gone, somehow the church leaders had 21:21 allowed this Ammonite to not only come into the courts of the 21:25 temple, but they gave him a room. 21:27 They turned the temple into an Airbnb. 21:30 Not just for anybody, but their enemy. 21:36 Maybe he thought, "Well, this will help us ingratiate 21:40 ourselves to the Ammonites and can't we all just get along? 21:43 And, you know, we need to make some compromises so we 21:46 can all be one." 21:48 And it would have been really interesting to hear the priests' 21:50 arguments for this. 21:52 But it's kind of outrageous when you and I look at it today that 21:56 the man that you find consistently fighting them and 21:59 trying to stop the temple and the walls from being built, 22:01 suddenly has a first-class room in the temple itself that had 22:05 been set aside for the articles of the temple and the things you 22:09 needed to serve in the temple. 22:11 It's really outrageous when you think about it. 22:14 "He had prepared for him a large room, 22:18 where previously they had stored the grain offerings, 22:21 and the frankincense, and the articles, 22:24 and the tithe of grain, and the new wine and the oil, 22:26 which were commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers 22:29 and the gatekeepers, and the offerings and the priests." 22:32 Now how does--how does Nehemiah feel about that? 22:36 Go to the book of Nehemiah and I want to read this to you. 22:40 And it says: "But doing all this I was not in Jerusalem, 22:47 for in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had 22:51 returned to the king. 22:53 And after certain days I obtained leave from the king, 22:55 I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that 22:59 Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the 23:03 courts of the house of God. 23:05 And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw out all the 23:10 household goods of Tobiah." 23:12 You ever been driving down the road in a suburb and you see a 23:19 bunch of furniture kind of being thrown out in the streets? 23:23 And you figure that there might have been a marital squabble or 23:28 some girlfriend got tired of her boyfriend and--or the other way 23:33 around, and this is what's going on here. 23:37 Nehemiah, he doesn't wait for Bekins Movers or 23:40 Mayflower or anything. 23:42 He says, "Throw this stuff out of here." 23:45 He wouldn't even wait. 23:46 He thought, "This is sacrilegious." 23:48 "Therefore, I threw all of the household goods 23:52 of Tobiah out of the room. 23:54 And I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; 23:56 and I brought back into the rooms the articles of the house 23:59 of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense." 24:03 So how does that apply to us today? 24:13 Do we ever invite the wrong people into the temple of the 24:16 Lord, into holy places? 24:19 Have you ever seen an occasion where unbelievers, 24:26 even people who under normal circumstances would be seen as 24:28 the enemies of our message, are invited into 24:31 the pulpit to speak? 24:34 And you think, "What are they doing there? 24:38 These are people that scoff at what we believe. 24:41 And we've invited them in?" 24:43 Now, let me read something to you and this is from the SDA 24:46 Church Manual 2019 Edition, page 120: "Under no circumstances 24:55 should a pastor, elder, or other officer invite strangers or any 24:59 unauthorized persons to conduct services. 25:02 Individuals who have been removed from the ministry or 25:05 have been removed from membership in other places or 25:08 designing persons who have no authority from the church 25:11 should not be given access to the pulpit. 25:14 Those worthy of confidence will be able to identify themselves 25:18 by producing proper credentials. 25:20 At times, it is acceptable for government officials or civic 25:24 leaders to address a congregation but all others 25:26 should be excluded from the pulpit unless permission is 25:30 granted by the conference. 25:32 Every pastor, elder, and conference president must 25:34 enforce this rule." 25:36 Why is that so important? 25:39 You've seen it, I've seen it. 25:42 And it's one of those things, it's a very slippery slope if 25:48 you're not careful. 25:49 An area that where backsliding can happen. 25:51 Now, we're getting ready, God willing, 25:52 this coming year, we're hoping in April we're going 25:54 to have 30 days of praise. 25:55 We'll be dedicating the new Word Center, 25:57 the church, and the offices, and we're going to have a whole 26:00 month of special services. 26:02 And one of those weeks, we're going to invite people who 26:05 helped us put the church together and we're going to have 26:08 them stand and we're going to thank them and some of the 26:11 builders and others who have helped this all happen. 26:13 We may invite someone from the community and so, 26:15 you know, we are here to serve the community and if you'd like 26:18 to say a word of thanks to the local Advents, 26:21 we might invite them up to say, "Thank you for coming. 26:23 We look forward to seeing how this building can 26:25 serve the community." 26:27 See what I'm saying? 26:28 That's what I'm talking about, a civic situation. 26:31 We might thank the fire marshal for his help, I don't know. 26:33 You know, you do stuff like that, that's one thing. 26:36 But to say, you know, we're going to bring a pastor of 26:40 another denomination and he's going to preach because he's a 26:44 specialist in this special category. 26:47 And you know that in his other services he mocks those that 26:51 believe in the three angels message, that's not appropriate. 26:55 They shouldn't be put in positions of teaching. 26:57 Yeah, anyone who wants to say, "Amen," I welcome that. 27:00 This is what they happen--had happened in 27:03 the time of Nehemiah. 27:04 He came back absolutely incredulous. 27:06 He is outraged that this fella Tobiah, 27:09 who had been openly fighting against their work, 27:12 now has a large room in the temple. 27:15 "We should not be giving place to the devil," the Bible says. 27:20 "Oh, but Pastor Doug, you are being a legalist. 27:24 And shouldn't we all just--John 17. 27:27 Let's just all love each other." 27:29 Well, I can love people fine but when a person stands in the 27:33 sacred desk to teach or to preach, 27:35 they need to be rooted and grounded in the message. 27:39 They--we shouldn't be inviting people in to 27:42 take a sacred position. 27:44 I know I was presented with a little bit of a moral dilemma. 27:50 A pastor from another--I'm being very open and honest with you 27:52 now, I hope you don't mind. 27:53 Pastor from another denomination said, 27:56 "Brother Doug, would you be willing to preach to us in our 27:59 church one day?" 28:01 I thought about it and I said, "You bet you." 28:04 And then he says, "And we might even exchange pulpits." 28:08 I said, "Oh." 28:11 I said, "That could be a problem." 28:13 I didn't know you were going to say, 28:15 "Well, you think you're good enough to preach to them but 28:17 they're not good enough to preach you?" 28:19 Well, I think we've got the truth. 28:23 And I don't think they've got the truth and I'm--if they don't 28:28 think they've got the truth, then they ought to come and sit 28:31 and listen with us. 28:33 But every pastor--I'm surprised another pastor would let me do 28:37 that but they have and I've done it. 28:39 I've spoken in other denominations and it was really 28:44 amazing in China. 28:46 You know, China's a little different animal. 28:48 They sort of got the government-approved Christian 28:50 churches and they push them all together. 28:52 And when we did our evangelistic meetings in China, 28:55 they had us preaching in this Three Self Church which is sort 28:59 of their Protestant church and all the Protestant pastors 29:05 brought all of their people to our meeting and I asked my local 29:08 pastors through the translator, I said, 29:10 "Now, these are all the Sunday members and these are their 29:13 pastors here and I'm--you want me to preach? 29:15 I'm going to preach mark of the beast, Sabbath, you want me--" 29:17 "Yeah, yeah, yeah." 29:18 "State of the dead, punishment of the wicked?" 29:20 "Yeah, yeah, yeah." 29:22 I said, "Okay," and I did. 29:24 It's very unusual but sometimes I've been invited to, 29:26 like, share my testimony in another church and you want to 29:29 be sensitive not to say things that would be offensive. 29:31 And--but when I travel with the Heritage Singers, 29:36 for years I--we were in all different churches, 29:38 a lot of Adventist churches as well as Methodist and Nazarene, 29:41 Assembly of God, Foursquare, non-denominational. 29:43 And, you know, night after night I'd get up and 29:46 I'd share my testimony. 29:47 You want to be respectful of, you know, 29:49 where they are and share things that would encourage them 29:51 without offending their beliefs. 29:53 I think as a Christian, you need to be sensitive to those things. 29:55 But I don't believe and I know you may think this is pretty 30:01 rigid, I don't believe we should be inviting people to our 30:04 pulpits that do not in their heart believe what we believe. 30:09 It can send the wrong message. 30:12 Tell you one reason. 30:13 Let me give you an example. 30:16 There's a pastor, has a good marriage ministry, 30:18 and someone said, "Well, yeah, I know, 30:22 he doesn't believe exactly like us but let's have him come and 30:24 he'll talk Sabbath morning about marriage." 30:27 Now, if he wants to do a seminar, 30:29 it's a different thing. 30:31 And people come and they hear him and they see his name and 30:34 say, "Oh, that was really good." 30:36 And then they realize, "He's got a whole series of books out on 30:39 the 'Secret Rapture.' 30:42 I think I'll get his books." 30:44 You see how one thing can lead to another? 30:46 It kind of--it's almost like you are endorsing the other 30:51 things they say. 30:52 So you've got to be careful about that. 30:54 I know I'm going to get letters on this. 30:55 Anyway, Nehemiah got letters too so I'm okay. 31:00 So he said Tobiah had to go and you just wonder how in the world 31:06 the priest had decided to give him a room. 31:12 Here, they're kicking all the foreigners out and they give 31:17 Tobiah a room in the sanctuary. 31:20 So he threw it all out. 31:22 Then you go on to verse 10, the Levites in the fields. 31:28 Nehemiah 13, verse 10. 31:30 I talked a little bit about this last week. 31:32 Says: "I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not 31:38 been given to them; for each of the Levites and the singers who 31:43 did the work had gone back to his field. 31:46 So I contended with the rulers, and I said, 31:49 'Why--'" By the way, you know, one of the things the Bible 31:54 tells us is that part of teaching is called 31:58 reproof and exhortation. 32:01 When there's reproof and exhortation, 32:04 that might mean that you're challenging why someone is 32:08 believing or teaching or doing what they're doing. 32:10 That is biblically healthy. 32:12 Every now and then we've got to keep each other accountable so 32:15 Nehemiah's going to them. 32:17 Nehemiah's not a priest. 32:18 He's a governor but he said, "Look, 32:20 I need you to explain this to me. 32:22 I contended with the rulers, and said, 32:23 'Why is the house of God forsaken?' 32:27 And I gathered them together and I set them in their place. 32:29 Then all of Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new 32:34 wine and the oil to the storehouse. 32:35 And I appointed as treasurers them over the storehouse." 32:39 So, you know, God has a design and there's a lot of Scriptures 32:45 we've got here that kind of outline this. 32:47 You look, for instance, 1 Corinthians chapter 9, 32:51 verse 13: "Do you not know that those who minister of the holy 32:58 things eat of the things of the temple, 33:01 and those who serve at the altar partake of the 33:04 offerings at the altar? 33:06 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel 33:09 should live from the gospel." 33:11 Now before I became an ordained pastor, 33:14 I was a lay pastor and I was self-supporting. 33:16 And at that time I already had three kids and I was doing 33:23 construction work, I was doing mechanic work, 33:25 I was doing--selling firewood, just whatever you could do, 33:29 and preaching and doing evangelism. 33:33 And you know, let me tell you in case you didn't 33:34 know, that's hard. 33:36 I remember I had a friend in a small town where I worked and he 33:42 was pastor of the Baptist Church. 33:44 And he had a full-time job. 33:48 It was a small church. 33:49 They just did not have the money to support him. 33:52 They also did not have the tithing system that we have. 33:54 And he would try to live on whatever offerings there were 33:57 but they needed the offerings to fix up the building and to pay 34:00 the electric bill and stuff. 34:02 There was almost nothing left for him. 34:04 So he had a full-time job, a very hard job, 34:06 all week long, working at, like, the lumber mill and then in that 34:10 time he'd have to try and take care of his own home, 34:13 his family, and take care of the household of God. 34:16 That poor guy, he'd fall asleep during his own sermons. 34:21 It's not easy. 34:23 If you want to have a pastor who's really involved in 34:25 ministry--my father used to tease me all the time. 34:28 He said, "Ah, you just work one day a week. 34:29 You're a preacher. 34:31 You just--you just get up and you preach one day a week." 34:33 And if you talk to the people at "Amazing Facts" and they'll tell 34:37 you that Pastor Ross and I, man, it's like seven days a week. 34:42 And you know, you got the radio program on Sunday. 34:45 There's weddings sometimes on Sunday. 34:48 In the evening, there's board meetings. 34:51 There's all kinds of different council meetings and there's 34:55 visitation and, you know, all week long we've got office work. 35:01 There's writing, there's studying that goes into it. 35:03 And, boy, you've got to plan your day really careful. 35:06 If I had another full-time job besides ministry, 35:10 you just can't do it. 35:12 I couldn't do what I'm doing now. 35:14 And so God designed a method so that those who preach the gospel 35:19 are supported of the gospel. 35:22 Now, here at Granite Bay, again, I may be giving you more 35:25 information but nothing secret, we have a little bit 35:28 of a unique situation. 35:29 Pastor Ross and I are ordained Adventist pastors credentialed 35:33 by the conference but we get no tithe money from this church. 35:38 We're paid by "Amazing Facts." 35:40 Our other pastors, Pastor Luccas and Pastor Shawn, 35:42 are paid from the regular conference tithe. 35:45 And--but it's a system where those that are paying a faithful 35:51 tithe helps to support the missionaries and pastors and 35:54 teachers that are doing the work around the world. 35:56 When that's neglected, what do they end up doing? 35:59 "We've got to go find other work to feed our families and take 36:03 care of their practical needs." 36:05 And that's what was happening. 36:07 Let me read this verse, Matthew chapter 10, 36:09 verse 9 and 10: "Provide neither gold--" 36:13 Jesus sent out the apostles 36:14 and what did he tell them as they were preaching? 36:16 He said, "Provide neither gold nor silver or copper in your 36:20 money belts, nor bags for your journey, 36:23 nor two tunics, nor sandals," meaning no extra sandals, 36:27 "nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food." 36:31 Now that's in red-letter edition. 36:33 That, once again, was Matthew chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. 36:36 When Jesus sent out the apostles, 36:37 how did he expect they would be sustained? 36:40 By the people they were preaching to. 36:43 They said, "You are worthy of your hire. 36:45 You are out there doing the work of the Lord and you should trust 36:48 in the hospitality of people to help sustain you 36:50 as you do your work." 36:52 Now that's a--again, that's a fine line because I was living 36:57 in a small town in Texas one time and this guy showed up. 36:59 He lived in a school bus with his family and he said, 37:01 you know, "Do you want to study the Bible?" 37:04 I said, "Sure, let's study the Bible." 37:05 And I had a Bible study with him and he said, 37:07 "Now you need to support me and my family 'cause it says here 37:10 that I'm working for the Lord and you need to support us." 37:12 I said, "Wait." 37:15 I said, "I didn't send you." 37:17 [laughing] 37:19 I think we did help him a little bit but he just went everywhere 37:21 kind of counting on everybody to pay all his bills and I guess, 37:24 you know, if the Lord moves you to do that, 37:26 but some people kind of exploit that principle, 37:32 you know what I'm talking about? 37:33 They kind of just move in and mooch off people. 37:35 And you can't have it that way. 37:37 But the disciples when they were involved in full-time itinerate 37:40 preaching, he said, "A worker is worthy of his food." 37:43 In Luke chapter 10, verse 7, Jesus said it a little 37:47 different: "And remain in that house," they trusted 37:50 in people's hospitality. 37:52 You remember the story of Lydia. 37:53 She went to Paul and Silas and said, 37:56 "Please stay with me," and as Paul and his people traveled, 38:00 sometimes they'd stay at an inn, sometimes they'd 38:03 sleep on the road. 38:04 They often were brought into people's homes. 38:06 I heard this week there were no churches until probably 200 38:10 years after Christ when the Christians actually had their 38:13 own church buildings. 38:15 And that was after the severe persecution that happened 38:19 during that period. 38:21 He said, "Remain in the same house, 38:23 eating and drinking such things that they give, 38:25 for a laborer is worthy of his wages. 38:28 Do not go from house to house." 38:31 Don't be bouncing from house to house. 38:32 Once you find a house, you can use it as a staging point for 38:35 your mission work, you travel around. 38:37 How many remember the Shunammite woman as Elisha went on his 38:42 circuit teaching? 38:44 She said, "This is a man of God. 38:46 Let's build a little upper room for him." 38:48 And she said, "Let all of your needs be upon me." 38:51 She took care of him. 38:52 And another woman took care of Elijah. 38:54 And they were both thankful 'cause both of them had boys 38:57 resurrected in connection with that. 38:59 If you read in the book, "Prophets and Kings," page 670, 39:03 "Not only had the temple been profaned," speaking about the 39:07 time of Nehemiah, but the offerings had been misapplied. 39:11 This had tended to discourage the liberalities of the people. 39:14 They lost their zeal and fervor and they were reluctant to pay 39:18 their tithes because the work of their Lord was being neglected. 39:21 "The treasury of the Lord's house was poorly supplied, 39:24 many of the singers and others employed in the temple service 39:27 were not receiving sufficient support. 39:29 They had left the work of God to labor elsewhere." 39:32 Now here's a point that I thought I should make. 39:36 Many of the what? 39:37 Not only the Levites who are doing the teaching and offering 39:39 the sacrifices. 39:41 It said the singers. 39:42 Do you think there's a good Bible argument for 39:45 ministries--for music ministry being part of the church? 39:51 I think so. 39:53 Not all churches can do that. 39:55 I remember when I first joined this conference, 39:56 we had four conference evangelists and one or two that 39:59 were involved in doing just music. 40:02 And I remember when Dale Galusha who is now with Pacific Press 40:07 and Gary Vinden, they were music evangelists 40:11 in the conference. 40:13 And I could go through a list of the King's Herald. 40:15 A lot of the evangelists went on the road, 40:17 they took several musicians with them. 40:19 And Heritage Singers, I think, just got done doing a meeting 40:22 where they did an evangelistic meeting with Jean 40:24 in Southern California. 40:26 Part of the budget: bring a team of singers. 40:28 Music is part of preaching the message. 40:30 It's very powerful but it seems like it's been neglected and 40:35 funds have just not been there for that. 40:37 And then, of course, I think we all know Malachi chapter 3, 40:42 but I'd be remiss if I did not read that. 40:45 Malachi 3, verse 8: "'Will a man rob God? 40:49 Yet you've robbed Me! 40:51 But you say, "In what way have we robbed You?" 40:53 In tithes and offerings. 40:56 You're cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, 40:58 even this whole nation. 41:00 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, 41:02 and there might be food in My house, 41:04 and try Me,'" or prove Me, "'now with this,'" test Me, 41:07 "says the Lord, 'If I will not open for you the windows of 41:10 heaven and pour you out such a blessing there will not be room 41:14 enough to receive it.'" 41:16 Notice, He says, "There's a curse when you don't; there's a 41:18 blessing when you do." 41:20 It's just that simple. It's a very clear verse. 41:23 He says, "Not only will I bless you," He says, 41:25 "'I will rebuke the devourer,'" things that are threatening to 41:28 consume what you do have. 41:30 "'I'll rebuke the devourer for your sake, 41:32 and he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, 41:35 nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,' 41:38 says the Lord; 'and all nations will call you blessed, 41:41 for you will be a delightful land,' says the Lord of hosts." 41:44 You know, I do believe God has blessed America. 41:48 It's hard to deny that there's a degree of prosperity here you 41:52 don't see in every country. 41:54 And I sometimes wonder if it's connected with the fact that 41:56 more charity is sent by North America globally than any other 42:03 country per capita. 42:04 It's, I mean, I forget what the numbers are but, 42:08 I mean, it's a phenomenal amount. 42:10 Americans are a very generous people in charity that is sent 42:16 overseas around the world. 42:18 And mission work. 42:20 More missions are supplied by North America than 42:21 any other country. 42:23 And so I think that in spite of all our problems, 42:25 God has blessed us materially because we're 42:28 generous in that way. 42:31 And it's also still true in the church, amen? 42:35 1 Corinthians 9:3: "My defense to those who 42:38 examine me is this." 42:40 Paul is being criticized as he travels and preaches with Silas 42:43 or Barnabas, and they're saying, you know, 42:49 you need to support yourself. 42:51 You need to do your own work. 42:53 Paul says, "My defense to those who examine me is this: Do we 42:56 have no right to eat and drink? 42:59 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, 43:01 as do the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord," meaning 43:03 James and Cephas or Peter? 43:06 They evidently took their wives with them. 43:08 You know, our evangelists at Amazing Facts, 43:11 we pay the wife because these evangelists, 43:16 when they're doing a meeting out of town for six weeks, 43:17 we want their wives with them. 43:20 You know, causes problems if they don't travel 43:21 with their wife. 43:22 We want their wives with them and the wives often help with 43:25 the meetings and they can't do other work because they're 43:27 traveling with their husbands and we believe that's fair. 43:30 I'm so thankful Amazing Facts, not every trip, 43:34 but they'll often cover the expenses for me to take my wife. 43:36 Years I couldn't do it 'cause the kids were at home and 43:39 now I can, I will. 43:41 And so it's kind of nice. 43:42 But the apostles, it says they had a right. 43:44 So the church already had a policy that they'd not only 43:47 supply Peter, they said, "You can bring your wife." 43:49 They'd not only supply James and Jude, 43:51 they said, "You can bring your wives." 43:53 And they would help sustain their wives. 43:55 And Paul said, "And here, you're saying that I've 43:58 got to go make tents? 44:00 I can't support--be supported?" 44:03 He said, "The other apostles, the brothers of 44:05 the Lord, and Cephas? 44:07 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain 44:09 from working?" 44:11 In other--when he says, "No right to refrain from working," 44:13 they're saying you have to work. 44:14 "Who ever goes to war at his own expense? 44:17 Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? 44:20 Or who tends a flock, even the poorest of shepherds get to 44:24 drink the milk of the flock." 44:26 You read on, again in 2 Corinthians 9, 44:30 verse 6: "But this I say: He that sows sparingly will reap 44:34 sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will 44:37 reap bountifully." 44:39 So here's my question for you. 44:40 How would you like to reap, bountifully or sparingly? 44:46 So how must you sow? 44:48 That will determine how you reap. 44:50 Isn't that what it says? 44:52 "And not grudgingly or of necessity." 44:56 You know, the ideal is that you're giving no matter what's 44:59 in it for you, but because you love the Lord. 45:02 "Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, 45:04 not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." 45:08 God doesn't just approve of it, He loves it when we give 45:12 from a cheerful heart. 45:13 But if you're not going to give cheerfully, 45:15 God will take it from a grouch. 45:18 1 Timothy 5:18: "For the Scripture says, 45:21 'You shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain,' 45:25 and, 'A laborer is worthy of his wages.'" 45:28 Now here, Paul is quoting--he's quoting what 45:31 we just read that Jesus said earlier. 45:34 Now go to Nehemiah 15, verse--Nehemiah 13, 45:39 verse 15: "In those days," here's another area 45:42 of a little backsliding. 45:44 "In those days I saw the people in Judah treading winepresses on 45:48 the Sabbath," and that's--now that's, 45:50 I mean, it's not like you're picking a grape. 45:53 When you get out there, take off your shoes, 45:55 and you're tromping up and down making--boy, 45:56 that's plain old work. 45:58 They're treading wine--and these are not just the pagans, 46:01 it's the people of Judah, on the Sabbath day. 46:03 Do you think that all happened in one day? 46:05 Or did it happen little by little? 46:07 They started saying, "Well, you know, 46:10 the sun's going down, I can maybe tread a couple more 46:13 clusters," Friday afternoon. 46:15 And then they got easy enough to do it even after the sun went 46:17 down and then they said, "Well, I'll do a couple more in the 46:19 morning just to make sure the harvest is almost done and I 46:22 don't want to waste these grapes." 46:24 And they started to rationalize it until pretty soon--isn't that 46:26 how the devil works? 46:27 Little by little they begin to rationalize until pretty soon 46:31 not guarding the edges of the Sabbath, 46:32 they were just plain old harvesting grapes and stomping 46:35 out the grape juice on the Sabbath day. 46:38 "And they're loading donkeys with wine, 46:40 and grapes, and figs, and all kinds of burdens, 46:42 that they brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 46:44 And I warned them about the day on which they were 46:48 selling provisions." 46:49 He said, "You know, speak to them verbally. 46:51 Maybe they forgot." 46:52 "And men of Tyre," these are Phoenicians, 46:55 they're not even Israelites, "who dwelt there also, 46:57 they brought in their fish and all kinds of goods, 46:59 and sold them." 47:01 Are we supposed to be buying and selling on the Sabbath? 47:05 Huh? No. 47:07 Are we supposed to be doing our heavy cooking on the Sabbath or 47:12 does the Bible say: "Bake what you're going to bake and boil 47:15 what you're going to boil. 47:17 Get everything done that you can get done ahead of time"? 47:19 Now, if you've got one of those time-sensitive things that will 47:21 nuke things for you that's great but the principle is get all the 47:24 cooking and preparation done that you can get done. 47:27 Don't be going out and buying and shopping and paying other 47:29 people to cook for you at a restaurant. 47:33 Now, some people on the road, that might be unavoidable but 47:36 a lot of people do it 'cause they're plain lazy. 47:38 And Christians ought to treat the day as holy, amen? 47:42 Backsliding happens little by little through compromise. 47:47 He says, "I contended with the nobles at Judah, 47:51 and said, 'What evil thing is this that you do, 47:54 by which you profane the Sabbath day? 47:56 Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring down 48:00 all this disaster on us and on this city?'" 48:02 So is there judgment that comes from breaking his law? 48:08 "'Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning 48:11 the Sabbath.' 48:12 So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, 48:15 as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, 48:17 I commanded the gates to be shut, 48:19 and I charged they must not be opened 'til after the Sabbath. 48:22 Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, 48:25 that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day." 48:28 We've got to guard our gates sometimes. 48:30 "Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged 48:34 outside Jerusalem once or twice." 48:36 They just waited outside hoping that they'd open 48:38 the gates for them. 48:40 "And I warned them, and said, 'Why do you spend the 48:41 night around the wall?'" 48:43 It's a Sabbath. 48:44 "'If you do this again, I'll lay hands on you!'" 48:46 Meaning we'll arrest you. 48:47 "From that time they came no more on the Sabbath." 48:50 He had to take some drastic measures to get the people to 48:53 take it seriously. 48:56 And he said, "Then I commanded the Levites to cleanse 49:00 themselves, and they should go and guard the gates, 49:03 and sanctify the Sabbath day." 49:06 You know, you'll be called a legalist if you guard the gates 49:09 but every now and then you've got to speak up and everybody in 49:14 our day and age is so afraid of offending anybody that we don't 49:18 say anything and pretty soon the backsliding becomes chronic and 49:21 I think every now and then you've got to just cry aloud 49:25 and spare not. 49:27 And then Nehemiah says in the last verse we're going to 49:31 consider here, Nehemiah 13:22: "Remember me, 49:35 O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the 49:40 greatness of Your mercy!" 49:42 Now does God say, "Remember," somewhere in His law? 49:44 Says, "Remember the Sabbath day." 49:47 And Nehemiah says, "I'm going to remember the Sabbath day, Lord. 49:50 Please remember me." 49:52 How many of you want God to remember you? 49:54 Then you need to remember Him and the things and the times and 49:57 the ways and the means He calls holy. 49:59 Well, we are out of time for our study today. 50:02 I want to remind you we have a good lesson 50:03 on Christian finances. 50:05 We touched on the Sabbath truth today and we will 50:06 send it to you free. 50:08 It's called, "In God We Trust." 50:10 Has a great series of studies on tithes and offerings and what 50:14 the Bible says about that. 50:15 And ask for offer 135 when you call in. 50:18 You can also get this--you can download it right now by simply 50:21 texting SH038 to 40544 or you can call... 50:33 God bless you, friends. 50:35 Lord willing, we'll study His Word together again next week. 50:40 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 50:43 free resource. 50:44 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 50:46 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer or 50:49 mobile device. 50:50 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 50:52 simply text the key word on your screen to 40544 or visit the web 50:57 address shown on your screen, and be sure to select the 51:01 digital download option on the request page. 51:04 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 51:07 "Amazing Facts," wherever and whenever you want and 51:10 most important, to share it with others. 51:18 announcer: Amazing Facts: Changed Lives. 51:27 Kip Johnston: I was raised very spoiled and very lucky, 51:30 very blessed. 51:32 I was raised in the church, actually. 51:33 As a child, God was presented to me as vindictive so it didn't 51:38 interest me very much. 51:39 When I got much older I was told by a friend of mine that I 51:43 wasn't even a Christian. 51:44 I said, "I'm a good person, I don't steal, 51:46 I don't cheat, I don't kill." 51:48 And it was told to me that, no, in order to be a Christian you 51:52 must be born again. 51:53 The next day I went and appropriated a Bible. 51:55 I read the New Testament. 51:57 I just set the Bible down and said, 51:59 "God, if You're real deal me in." 52:01 I went to a Christian college to study theology and about God. 52:06 But when I left college, I took a job selling Christian 52:10 literature and Bibles door to door. 52:12 And I went flat broke. 52:14 I stopped in to play poker in a place in L.A. 52:17 I was an instant success. 52:19 My life became poker and I got books and I read poker books. 52:22 I had my Bible in one hand, a poker book in the other. 52:24 I was a Christian poker player. 52:26 I thought the Lord was blessing me. 52:27 The amount of money that I made playing poker was so big it 52:30 would scare you. 52:32 I was very self-indulgent. 52:34 I did not deny myself anything that I thought would make me 52:37 happy but I was still empty. 52:40 I went to all the Christian churches, 52:42 gave them all a fair shot. 52:44 Some of them three months, some of them two years. 52:46 Unimpressed, Saturday morning, I happened to be traveling from 52:50 one poker place to another, I just happened to have a little 52:53 TV in my truck and Doug Batchelor came up on there and I 52:57 was, like, "This guy makes sense." 52:59 I knew Doug Batchelor was in Sacramento so I came 53:02 to meet him. 53:03 I told him, I said, "I am a Christian doing God's work and I 53:07 make a living playing poker. 53:09 And I am giving away great converses to players, 53:11 I go to church and help the community. 53:14 And don't tell me that I'm not doing what's right." 53:17 And he said, "No, you've got to get out of 53:19 that casino, period." 53:21 I said, "I'm making good money." 53:23 And he says, "I know that you know what I'm 53:25 telling you is right." 53:26 And I did. 53:28 I recognized through it all I wasn't happy. 53:32 I said, "Lord, my life is a disaster. 53:36 I'm selfish, I'm empty. 53:38 I've tried to do what You wanted me to do so many times and I've 53:41 always failed. 53:43 Why do I always fail? 53:45 Why do I always lose my way?" 53:51 And the Lord spoke to me. 53:53 Says, "You've got to be involved. 53:56 You've got to be involved in My work." 54:00 And that's when I said, "I need to dedicate my life fully to 54:03 God's work." 54:05 I, by the grace of God, and my wife, 54:08 we went to India. 54:10 Until the Lord tells me otherwise, 54:12 we're going to build orphanages in India so that children can 54:15 grow up and hear about Jesus and they can go tell the 1.3 billion 54:19 people in their country. 54:21 God had a plan for me and now I just want to be fully dedicated 54:27 to the Lord's cause. 54:30 I am Kip Johnston and God used Amazing Facts 54:33 to change my life. 54:37 ♪♪♪ 54:45 ♪♪♪ 54:55 Doug: Friends, have you ever heard of the bowhead whale? 54:57 This enormous leviathan is the second largest 55:00 creature in the world. 55:02 Dark and stocky, it roams the fertile Arctic northern waters. 55:06 These massive creatures can be more than 65 feet long and weigh 55:10 more than 75 tons. 55:12 That's heavier than the space shuttle. 55:15 Yet, in spite of their titanic size, 55:18 they're able to leap entirely out of the water. 55:20 Can you say "belly flop"? 55:23 The bowhead whale gets its name from its bow-shaped skull and 55:27 they've got one ginormous noggin. 55:30 Matter of fact, their heads are about 40% of their body size, 55:33 which comes in handy when you find out how 55:35 they use their heads. 55:37 They've got very thick skulls. 55:38 Sometimes they get trapped under the surface and they use their 55:41 heads to ram the ice. 55:44 They can break a breathing hole in the ice that is a 55:47 foot and a half thick. 55:48 Friends, you have to just imagine what it would be like to 55:51 be walking around on the Arctic ice and all of a sudden have the 55:54 ground beneath you crack and split and rise as one of these 55:58 sea monsters pushes its head up to breathe for the first time 56:02 in 90 minutes. 56:04 Because bowheads make their home in the coldest part of our 56:06 world, they have the thickest blubber of any whale. 56:09 But this, plus their friendly and curious nature, 56:12 made them prime targets when the European whalers 56:15 discovered the bowheads. 56:17 They hunted them nearly to extinction. 56:21 Fortunately, because of conservation efforts, 56:24 we've slowly seen their numbers begin to increase 56:26 since the '60s. 56:28 One of the most amazing facts about the bowhead whale 56:30 is its longevity. 56:32 Scientists have discovered by evaluating harpoon tips found in 56:36 their skull and examining their eye tissue, 56:38 there are bowhead whales out there that are probably over 56:42 200 years old. 56:44 You realize that means there are bowhead whales swimming the 56:47 oceans right now that were alive before Abraham Lincoln was 56:51 elected president. 56:53 Can you imagine that? 56:55 Among the other amazing megafacts about the bowhead 56:58 whale is its megamouth. 57:00 They have the largest mouth of any in the animal kingdom. 57:03 And when they open their pie hole full extended, 57:06 it's large enough to park a medium-sized SUV inside. 57:09 [car honking] 57:11 Yet, in spite of the fact they've got such big mouths, 57:12 they survive by eating the very smallest creatures in the ocean: 57:16 plankton, krill, and other microscopic animals. 57:20 Friends, I'm always amazed by the creatures God has made. 57:24 This bowhead whale is able to dive to the deepest oceans. 57:27 They can break through the ice and move mountains with their 57:30 head and completely leave the water and fly through the air. 57:33 And yet, they do all that by gaining strength from almost 57:36 microscopic organisms. 57:38 Helps us remember that we survive through the little 57:41 promises in God's Word. 57:43 Jesus, when tempted by the devil, 57:45 He quoted just a few little verses and He sent 57:47 the enemy running. 57:49 You can also have that same durability and long life as the 57:52 bowhead whale by trusting in God's Word and His promises. 57:56 ♪♪♪ 58:06 ♪♪♪ 58:16 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2019-12-09