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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:21 ♪♪♪ 00:30 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io 00:35 Doug Batchelor: Something very special is happening. 00:37 Now, as far as today, this is about a week and a half or two 00:42 weeks away, but these programs are prerecorded, so when you 00:45 actually see this broadcast, unless you're watching live, 00:50 it will already be in progress, but there's going to be a very 00:54 exciting international evangelistic program that's 00:56 going to spring from this location. 00:58 It's called "Panorama of Prophecy." 01:01 It begins October 15, and continues on through November 01:05 13, and it'll be broadcast on Three Angels Broadcasting, 01:10 Hope Channel, AFTV-- 01:12 that's Amazing Facts Television, this is going to go 01:14 all over the world, plus we're going to be sharing it with 01:16 our friends in this community. 01:18 If you want to know more about that, simply go to the website. 01:21 We'd encourage you and your church or in your home groups. 01:24 Invite your friends over. 01:25 Study the Word of God, and you could lead somebody to Jesus. 01:29 It's PanoramaOfProphecy.com. PanoramaOfProphecy.com. 01:34 Well, before we get to our study today, we're very 01:37 thankful that we can have with us today 01:39 the Weimar University Chamber Singers. 01:42 Weimar University is just up the road from Amazing Facts 01:46 and the Granite Bay Hilltop Church. 01:48 We have a great relationship, and we look forward to seeing 01:50 them here more often, but they're going to bless us today 01:53 with our music before we go to our study. 01:59 ♪♪♪ 02:09 ♪♪♪ 02:19 ♪♪♪ 02:28 ♪ And can it be that I should gain ♪ 02:35 ♪ an interest in the Savior's blood? ♪ 02:42 ♪ Died He for me, who caused His pain, ♪ 02:50 ♪ for me, who Him to death pursued? ♪ 02:57 ♪ Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, ♪ 03:05 ♪ my God, shouldst die for me? ♪ 03:12 ♪ Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, ♪ 03:20 ♪ my God, shouldst die for me? ♪ 03:31 ♪ He left His Father's throne above, so free, ♪ 03:40 ♪ so infinite His grace ♪ 03:47 ♪ emptied Himself of all but love, ♪ 03:53 ♪ and bled for Adam's helpless race. ♪ 04:00 ♪ 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, ♪ 04:06 ♪ for O my God, it found out me. ♪ 04:14 ♪ Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, ♪ 04:22 ♪ my God, shouldst die for me? ♪ 04:30 ♪♪♪ 04:40 ♪♪♪ 04:50 ♪♪♪ 05:00 ♪♪♪ 05:03 ♪ Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound ♪ 05:10 ♪ in sin and nature's night. ♪ 05:14 ♪ Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, ♪ 05:20 ♪ I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. ♪ 05:26 ♪ My chains fell off, my heart was free, ♪ 05:31 ♪ I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. ♪ 05:41 ♪ I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. ♪ 05:44 ♪♪♪ 05:54 ♪♪♪ 06:04 ♪♪♪ 06:09 ♪ No condemnation now I dread. ♪ 06:15 ♪ Jesus, and all in Him, is mine. ♪ 06:22 ♪ Alive in Him, my living head, ♪ 06:30 ♪ and clothed in righteousness divine, ♪ 06:36 ♪ bold I approach the eternal throne, ♪ 06:44 ♪ and claim the crown, through Christ my own. ♪ 06:54 ♪ Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, ♪ 07:02 ♪ my God, shouldst die for me? ♪ 07:14 ♪ That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? ♪♪ 07:24 ♪ That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? ♪♪ 07:36 Doug: Let's have a word of prayer. 07:38 Father, in heaven, we're just so thankful for this Sabbath Day 07:41 opportunity to come together and study the Book of books. 07:44 We pray for Your Holy Spirit to rest in a special way on our 07:47 teacher today and guide him as he guides us. 07:50 We pray in Jesus's name, amen. 07:53 Pastor Shawn Brummund will be bringing 07:55 us our lesson at this time. 07:59 Shawn Brummund: Well, good morning to everyone. 08:02 It is a pleasure to be able to be here 08:04 and to be able to teach this lesson. 08:07 It's one of my favorite subjects by far as we look at lesson 08:13 number four, "To Love the Lord Your God." 08:16 Do you love Jesus? Do you love God? 08:20 This is important, you know, 08:21 Thursday's lesson, it opens up and points--I shouldn't 08:23 say, "opens up," but Thursday's lesson points us to a encounter 08:29 and conversation that Jesus had during His public ministry. 08:32 It's found in Mark chapter 12, and starting 08:36 with verse 28, right through to verse 34. 08:40 And in that passage, we find that there is a scribe. 08:44 Now, we need to understand what a scribe is. 08:45 A scribe is someone who is an expert in the law of God, an 08:49 expert in the Torah, the writings of Moses, and the other 08:52 prophets that continue to expand upon that up until Jesus's day. 08:56 And so a scribe is someone that actually scribes 09:00 the Scriptures because they didn't have 09:01 publishing houses and printing houses. 09:03 They had to copy each copy of the Bible by hand, and a scribe 09:06 was just--that's what they did full time. 09:09 And so the scribe was very familiar 09:12 and was recognized as an expert in 09:14 the Old Testament Scriptures, the writings of Moses. 09:17 And when he'd listened in on the conversation that Jesus was 09:19 having with the crowd that day, as they were reasoning amongst 09:22 themselves, and Jesus was answering well in the mind of 09:25 the scribe, he puts his hand up, and he says, "Rabbi, tell me, 09:32 which is the first commandment in all of the law?" 09:35 Now, we don't want to misunderstand "first." 09:37 "First" means "the greatest," "foremost." 09:39 It's not chronological that he was asking, but he was asking, 09:42 "Which is the most important commandment in all the law?" 09:46 And Jesus, He goes ahead, and He quotes one of the most famous 09:51 quotes still that we find from our Jewish friends, even today, 09:55 which is in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4 and 5: "Hear, O 09:59 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." 10:05 But then He goes on, and He's setting that up 10:08 for that which is not quoted as often, which is 10:10 the greatest commandment of all the Scriptures, 10:13 which is "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, 10:20 with all of your mind, with all of your strength." 10:25 And then He says, "And the second one--" the one that comes 10:30 second place to the greatest commandment in all the 10:32 Scriptures is quoting from Leviticus chapter 19, in verse 10:37 18, where He says, "It is very much like it. 10:39 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'" 10:42 And so the good news is that the scribe responded positively, 10:47 and he said, "This is true, Rabbi, this is-- 10:49 What You say is the truth that these two commandments, of all 10:52 the law, trump everything else in all of the Scriptures." 10:56 Important as everything else is, the greatest, 10:59 most important truths that God brings to us is to love God 11:01 and to love man with everything we have. 11:05 God has called us to be loving beings, why? 11:08 Because God has called us to be godly, 11:10 and God is love, is He not? 11:14 God is love, the three most important 11:16 words, I would say, if we were to boil 11:18 it down, and what are the three most important theological 11:20 words in all of Scripture, it is the fact that God is love. 11:23 And I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that the God that 11:26 is in charge of all the universe, the One that made the 11:28 heavens and the earth, the One that is from eternity past and 11:31 will live into eternity future, the One that is responsible and 11:35 sustainer of all life is love, that means we can trust Him. 11:41 That means that He always has our best interest in mind. 11:43 That means that He truly cares for you, and He cares about you, 11:50 and He wants you to have the very best life that you can in 11:52 this life, and then, of course, He wants to 11:54 spend an eternity getting to know you better 11:57 throughout the endless ages of time. 12:02 And so Jesus finally said to the scribe, as the scribe responded 12:06 positively, "You are very close to the kingdom of God." 12:13 Love, my favorite subject. 12:15 You know, there's a five-volume series that was written by a 12:19 woman by the name of Ellen White. 12:21 Many of us are familiar with her writings, and I strongly 12:24 recommend all of her writings, but the favorite that I have 12:28 amongst all her writings is a five-volume series that she 12:31 wrote, and that five-volume series 12:35 basically traces and is a commentary, 12:37 essentially, it's a Bible commentary of the Bible, right 12:41 from Genesis, all the way through to the end of 12:43 Revelation, that traces chronologically the history of 12:47 the world from the creation of the planet and even heaven 12:52 before that, and then brings us all the way to our time, covers 12:55 future prophesies that we still have ahead of us until the 12:58 Second Coming of Jesus, and then, of course, also then 13:01 carries us beyond that into the ceaseless ages of eternity. 13:05 So powerful, powerful Bible commentary volume that she has 13:09 given to this planet, and it's one of the greatest gifts this 13:12 world has ever received since the Bible was written. 13:16 The first volume, which is entitled "Patriarchs and 13:19 Prophets," starts with those three key words, 13:23 1 John chapter 4, in verse 8, "God is love." 13:30 The interesting thing is that, when you get to the very last 13:32 volume that she wrote, which is entitled "The Great 13:34 Controversy," and you go to the very last page, and you go to 13:41 the very last sentence, the last three words of that volume, 13:45 in the last book, is "God is love." 13:51 There's a powerful statement that I believe that was trying 13:53 to be made there and that those three words are the bookends of 13:58 the entire history of the great controversy, this "conflict of 14:02 ages" as this series that she wrote is referred to. 14:08 God is love. 14:10 And so it shouldn't surprise us that the two greatest 14:12 commandments that God has given to us that He 14:15 reveals through His prophets is to love God and to 14:19 love man with everything we have. 14:23 Well, Sunday's lesson brings us to Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 14:25 1 through 5, and so I want to invite you, if you have your 14:28 Bibles, your tablets, your phones, to be able to come with 14:30 me and follow along as we kind of continue in this Bible study. 14:33 We're going back to the actual book that this quarterly is 14:36 bringing us through in a thematic type way, 14:39 a topical way, and today it is about love. 14:43 And so, again, I'm just so excited about that. 14:45 Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 6, 14:49 and verses 1 through 5, is what we're going to look at. 14:55 So let's just take some time and look that as a whole. 14:57 It says, "Now this is the commandment, and these are the 14:59 statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to 15:02 teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are 15:06 crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God 15:10 and keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command 15:13 you, and you and your son and your grandson, all the days of 15:17 your life, that your days may be prolonged." 15:21 Does that sound like a God who cares? 15:24 Sure it is. It's a God who loves. 15:26 It's a God that has your best interests in mind, "that your 15:28 days may be prolonged," that you may have better, longer days. 15:33 "Therefore hear, O Israel--" the great Shema, or as our Jewish 15:38 friends call it today, which is reflecting the first word there 15:42 or the second word of that verse in verse 3, "hear," "listen," 15:47 "take heed," as the lesson study points out, even, "to obey." 15:51 You know, sometimes we use the word "listen" to mean more than 15:54 just actually hearing the words that come out of your mouth and 15:57 then enter into my ear and to my brain. 16:00 "Listen," sometimes--we do that as parents sometimes. 16:02 You know, we tell our kids something, and then they don't 16:06 do what we told them to do, and we say--when we find out, we 16:09 say, "You weren't listening, were you?" 16:12 Well, I didn't mean "You didn't hear me," right? 16:15 I meant, "You didn't take heed to what I said. 16:18 It came into your ears, and it hit your brain, 16:21 but your brain didn't decide to follow it." 16:23 And so, even today, we use that term, and so the word here is 16:26 "Hear, take heed, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that 16:30 it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly." 16:35 Again, we hear the clear evidence that God wants to 16:38 prosper us and to bless us and to have a more abundant life-- 16:44 "that you may multiply greatly as the Lord your God, 16:48 the God of your fathers has promised you, 16:49 'a land flowing with milk and honey.'" 16:53 "A land flowing with milk and honey" is the promise that God 16:55 had given to His--that generation and the generation 16:58 before them that actually had escaped 17:00 from the slavery and bondage of Egypt. 17:05 And so, "a land flowing with milk and honey," again, 17:08 is an ancient symbol of prosperity, of blessings. 17:13 God wants to bless us. He loves us. 17:16 He wants us to have the very best life we can. 17:18 Verse 4, it goes on and says, "Hear, O Israel, 17:21 the Lord our God, the Lord is one." 17:23 Sorry, I jumped the gun here. Verse 4, is actually the Shema. 17:27 "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 17:29 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all 17:33 your soul, and with all your strength. 17:37 And these words which I command you 17:39 today shall be in your-- in your heart." 17:42 God wants it in our heart, does He not? 17:45 So, again, we find this all the way through the covenant as God 17:48 was writing this covenant, as He was giving Moses and instructing 17:52 Moses, both to speak it to the people 17:53 as well to put it on paper--and papyrus. 17:58 Whatever it was that they used and Moses 18:00 used back at that day to be able to write these words. 18:04 He over and over, multiplied times--multiple times throughout 18:08 the Scriptures tells us how important it is for God 18:10 to write His words, His law, His statutes, 18:13 His principles and truths upon our hearts. 18:18 "And these words which I command you 18:19 today shall be in your heart. 18:22 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk 18:25 of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the 18:27 way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 18:30 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. 18:31 They shall be as the frontlets between your eyes." 18:35 And I know I said we were only going to read 18:36 verse 1 through 5, but, you know, it's just such 18:41 a powerful passage there, I can't stop. 18:44 You know, God tells us that we are, just, to get excited about 18:46 these things, to get excited about His ways, His truth, His 18:49 life, His commandments, and you should be so into them that you 18:53 talk about them with your children. 18:54 They become part of your conversation 18:56 around the dinner table, when you're driving them to school 18:58 or when you're going on a trip with your family. 19:01 Well, and, you know, and He says, "When you're on the way, 19:03 when you're traveling, when you're sitting, when you're 19:06 lying down," whenever it is, you know, that God 19:09 and His ways and His truth should be 19:10 a regular part of our conversation, why? 19:13 Because it's written where? 19:15 It's written in our hearts. It's part of our experience. 19:18 It's just not part of our knowledge. 19:20 It's just not an intellectual theory and philosophy and 19:22 religion, but it is an experience that we have in 19:26 Christ, and when you experience Christ and the Holy Spirit in 19:29 your heart, your mind, then you get excited 19:32 about His Word, about His commandments. 19:35 As we're going to look at later, you know, when we love God, 19:37 you know, we want to obey Him and keep 19:39 His commandments, and His commandments 19:40 are not burdensome, we're excited about them. 19:44 Now, that doesn't mean that they're always easy to keep. 19:47 We'll talk about that too. 19:49 So what's the context of Deuteronomy in this key passage 19:52 that this lesson study brings us to, which has the key verse, 19:55 you know, "Love the Lord your God with all 19:56 your mind, your soul, your strength"? 20:02 The context is that this is the first of multiple speeches that 20:06 Moses is giving to the Israelites, this generation 20:09 that's about to enter the Promised Land. 20:12 The previous chapter, in chapter 5, 20:14 reviews the Ten Commandments of God. 20:17 Now, this is God's ultimate code of ethics, 20:19 His ultimate code of pure godly morality. 20:25 It is the foundation of His government. 20:28 It's under the mercy seat, you know, when God had instructed 20:31 Moses and the Israelites in that first generation when they had 20:34 escaped out of Egypt, He said, "Now, I want you to get your 20:36 craftsmen and start to get busy at work, and I want you to make 20:38 this golden-covered box, called the ark," and inside that ark, 20:43 you know, it's about foot-and-a-half wide, and 20:46 foot-and-a-half high, and about three feet long, and He said, 20:49 "Now, I want you to put inside that ark, I want you 20:52 to put the two tablets of stone that contain 20:54 My Ten Commandments, the foundation of My government. 20:57 Then I want you to take a golden-covered lid, called the 21:01 mercy seat, and I want you to put it on top of the ark and on 21:04 top of the commandments because I know that as a fallen, broken 21:09 human race, that you're going to transgress My law at times. 21:14 You're going to be guilty in different ways. 21:16 And so I want you to know and be reminded that 21:19 there's mercy at the throne of Jesus, this is My mercy seat. 21:23 And then, one with that lid, I want you to have these two 21:26 cherubim, these grand angels that are positioned at My left 21:29 and right hand of My throne, the highest positioned angels, and 21:34 as they're reverently and fearfully bowing down and 21:37 covering their face before Me," the Shechinah glory, the Bible 21:41 describes as the very presence that was originally between 21:44 those two cherubim, above the mercy seat and above the Ten 21:47 Commandments, the foundation of His government. 21:51 And so this is the context of what we're looking at here in 21:54 Deuteronomy chapter 6, and the subject that we're looking at, 21:58 and so to take God's commandments to our heart, to 22:05 follow them, is our ultimate demonstration of love towards 22:08 God, and we want to be able to touch on that more later. 22:15 Now, is keeping the commandments the only way to love God? 22:20 Is keeping the--very clearly, the Bible tells us that keeping 22:22 His commandments, obeying Him is one of the clearest, most direct 22:28 directives that God gives to us in demonstrating our love to 22:30 God, but is that the only way that we 22:32 demonstrate our love to God? 22:34 No, not at all, okay, there's additional ways that we also 22:36 love Him, we talk with Him, we pray to Him. 22:41 You know, I love my wife, and so, because of that, 22:44 I love to hang out with her, I love to chat with her, 22:49 I love to talk about life and her day and what her goals are 22:52 and encourage her and learn from her in different ways, 22:56 and so I have this communication. 22:59 I talk with her on a regular basis, and so that's part of my 23:01 demonstration of my love for her, and the same with God, and 23:05 so we have to make sure that we also not only obey Him but that 23:07 we stay in regular communication with Him as well. 23:11 That's so important for us to be able to have in this experience 23:14 that God wants us to have and that feeds that love and that 23:17 feeds that experience and connection with God, and so we 23:19 demonstrate our love to God by talking with Him, also walking 23:24 with Him, sharing our day with Him. 23:26 Again, that's tied in with communication and saying, "Lord, 23:28 I want to keep Your commandments, write them upon my 23:30 heart," but then He also gives us other directives, personally. 23:34 You know, "I want you to go and apply for this job," or "I want 23:36 you to get this education," or "I want you to help this person 23:39 next door," your family member, or whatever it is, and so He 23:42 gives us personal directives that 23:44 we also obey that demonstrate that love. 23:47 We walk with God in different ways 23:49 in addition to the commandments. 23:51 We fear and we worship Him. 23:54 I would like to think that we're all here in this room because we 23:56 have chosen to worship Him because we want to express our 24:00 love towards the Maker of the universe because of all that 24:03 He's done for us that we might be able to connect with Him and 24:07 glorify Him and demonstrate both to a fallen, broken world, as 24:11 well as to the universe, that we love and choose God again today, 24:17 that He is worthy of our time, He's worthy of our worship. 24:22 And so I think that's important for us 24:23 to be able to understand as well. 24:25 And so love is expressed and demonstrated in a number of 24:27 different ways, but if there's one thing that God knows 24:29 that we can lose too quickly in our love relationship 24:32 with God is to start to fall into the very popular 24:36 and common trap within religion. 24:37 I'm talking about Bible--professed Bible-religious 24:40 people, Jews and Christians, and so on, 24:43 that to love God is to obey Him. 24:48 You cannot choose to disobey God, to disregard 24:52 His commandments and also love Him, you just can't do it. 24:58 And the Bible makes it so clear, and He knows it's 25:00 so easy to fall into a alternative of that 25:04 truth that He tells us indeed over and over. 25:08 We find it multiplied dozens and dozens and dozens of times 25:12 through the Old and New Testament, and so that's 25:14 important for us, I believe, to understand. 25:20 Now, does that mean that obedience is always easy? 25:24 Well, as I said earlier, no. 25:26 It's not always easy to obey God, is it? 25:29 Okay, sometimes obedience to God costs us some relationships. 25:36 You know, you may choose God and say, 25:37 "No, I'm going to go this direction. 25:39 I'm going to make this choice because this is the choice 25:41 in obedience that God has called me into," 25:43 and you might lose relationships. 25:47 Some of us have lost our marriage 25:49 over our choice to obey God before man. 25:54 So we can lose some very precious and important 25:57 relationships, so obeying God is not always easy. 25:59 It comes with loss at times. Some of us have lost our jobs. 26:02 We choose to keep the fourth commandment. 26:04 You know, I lost one job. 26:06 I know there's more than one person in this room that, 26:08 because of their love and obedience to God, 26:10 they've lost their job because they have chosen 26:12 to obey the fourth commandment of God. 26:15 Some have lost their jobs because they've chosen 26:19 to keep some of the other commandments of God too, 26:21 "You shall not lie," you know? 26:25 So there's others as well, but some of us have lost our jobs. 26:28 So obeying God is not always easy. 26:30 Sometimes we lose our possessions. 26:33 History attests to that, there's Christians today that are losing 26:35 their households, their possessions. 26:39 You know, some of us lose our freedoms, we're stuck in jail. 26:43 There's Christians right now around the world 26:44 that are in jail, only because they decided to obey 26:47 and make God number one in their life. 26:52 Some lose their health. 26:54 History is full of millions of Christians that have lost their 26:57 health through nutrition deprivation as they're tortured 27:02 at times, and it's horrible things that many of us as 27:05 Christians have paid because we have chosen 27:08 to obey God no matter what the cost. 27:10 And so obeying God doesn't always come on an easy pathway. 27:15 Jesus says, you know, "Narrow is the way and difficult is--narrow 27:19 is the gate and difficult is the way that leads 27:21 to eternal life, and few are them who find it." 27:23 So Jesus tells us that following Him is not always easy. 27:27 Sometimes it comes at a high price in this life as far 27:30 as the things that we sometimes lose. 27:32 But, nevertheless, Jesus says, "Listen, I lost more than any of 27:35 you in this earthly life," and so it's not like 27:37 we're not in this together, right? 27:40 Jesus says, "Listen, we're all in this together. 27:42 I'm there as well. 27:43 I know what it's like to lose everything." 27:46 Did Jesus lose precious relationships 27:47 in His earthly life? 27:49 Yeah. Did He lose His health? 27:53 While in those last, those last hours, He sure did. 27:57 He lost a lot of blood. Even before He got to the cross. 28:02 Even before they nailed Him to the cross, 28:03 He was extremely dehydrated, massive blood loss. 28:09 So He lost His health, He lost His well-being, 28:14 and then, of course, He lost His life. 28:17 And so Jesus knows what it's like to lose precious things in 28:24 this life and to follow a difficult pathway 28:27 because of His ultimate love for His Father. 28:30 And so it's important for us to understand that as well. 28:33 Now, fortunately, that's not always the case 28:34 all the time, and most of the time, as God says, 28:37 you know, we can enjoy different relationships. 28:41 We can enjoy jobs, possessions, and these different types of 28:46 things, even as the Israelites did. 28:48 As God tells us very clearly, He wants that ultimately for us, 28:52 but some of us, you know, in different times, in different 28:54 ways, in different contexts, we have to know that all, the land 28:58 flowing with milk and honey, might have to be postponed until 29:01 we wake up at that first resurrection, and when we wake 29:04 up at that first resurrection when Jesus comes, then He said, 29:07 "It is guaranteed, and I'm going to give you a body 29:10 and a mind that is so much better. 29:11 You're going to enjoy way more just because of that alone. 29:14 But not only that, but you will never be threatened in your 29:16 well-being, your safety, your possessions. 29:19 Your health will never be threatened 29:21 again for all of eternity." 29:26 Now, loving God is the obvious foundation of the Old Testament 29:28 that God was sealing with the Israelites in Moses's day. 29:32 Ten times in the book of Deuteronomy, 29:34 the Israelites were called to love God. 29:36 I just want to read a sampling of that 29:38 for you, just to make that point. 29:40 Now, of course, the first one, Deuteronomy 6:5, the greatest 29:44 first commandment of all the Old Testament law that God was 29:47 sealing, that covenant that He made with that generation of 29:50 Israelites and all that were to follow until Jesus came with the 29:53 New Testament, says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all 29:56 your soul, all your heart, your soul, and your strength." 30:00 And then, in Deuteronomy chapter-- 30:01 and this is just half of them, Deuteronomy 30:02 chapter 10, in verse 12, it says, "And now, Israel, 30:06 what does the Lord your God require of you--to fear the Lord 30:09 your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to 30:13 serve the Lord God with all your heart." 30:16 Deuteronomy 11, verse 13, it says, 'And it shall be that if 30:18 you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you 30:20 today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him 30:24 with all your heart and with all your soul." 30:27 Deuteronomy chapter 30, in verse 6, says, "And the Lord 30:30 your God will circumcise your heart." 30:32 You know, Paul, picked that up. 30:34 You know, I remember reading Romans, and he says, "How 30:35 important it is that a true Jew--" when he's using "Jew," 30:39 he's using a grander sense in the book of Romans, meaning 30:41 that, you know, you and I are spiritual Jews as well. 30:45 And he says, "A true Jew," including a Christian Jew, "is 30:49 one that is circumcised of the heart." 30:52 And he was picking that up from, way back in the first Bible 30:54 writer, Moses: "And the Lord your God will circumcise your 30:57 heart and the heart of your descendants, 30:59 to love the Lord your God with all your heart 31:00 and with all your soul, that you may live." 31:02 Deuteronomy chapter 30, in verse 20, "that you may love the Lord 31:05 your God and obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for 31:09 He is your life and the length of your days, and that you may 31:11 dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, 31:13 Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them." 31:18 And so, very clearly, there's a sampling of ten, just in the 31:21 key summary book of Deuteronomy 'cause, indeed, Deuteronomy is 31:24 basically a series of speeches that is summarizing everything 31:27 that God had did and said in the previous four books or at least 31:32 the previous three, from Exodus through to Numbers. 31:35 And so that's just a sampling of ten times in the book of 31:39 Deuteronomy that God ties in love with obedience to God and 31:43 is--obviously a love for God is the foundation 31:46 of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. 31:50 Jesus made it clear that this is also to be the same for the 31:53 Christian in the New Testament that it was sealed through the 31:55 blood and the life and the death of Jesus Christ, not only by 32:02 confirming that Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 5, still stands 32:05 at the top of the list for the Christian but through other 32:10 statements that He Himself had made as well as 32:12 His other prophets that came up after Him. 32:16 The apostle John is one of the most 32:17 prominent writers in regards to that. 32:19 John chapter 14, verse 15, he records 32:22 actually the words of Jesus. 32:23 He says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 32:29 1 John chapter 5, in verse 3, "For this is 32:31 the love of God, that we keep His commandments. 32:33 And His commandments are not burdensome." 32:40 Now, friends, there's more than one Christian today 32:41 that has misunderstood the Old Testament 32:43 as compared to the New Testament. 32:46 You know, one day, I'm going to write a book. 32:47 I've been saying this for years, so pray for me, and then I'll be 32:52 able to, just--God will give me the time if He really wants me 32:56 to write it, but I say it as a illustration at minimum. 32:58 I want to write a book one day that's called--you know, because 33:00 the more I read the Old Testament and the 33:02 New Testament, there were--I realized that 33:04 there's nothing new in the New Testament. 33:07 In fact, that's what I was going to entitle the book--and maybe I 33:09 will one day--"There's Nothing New in the New Testament." 33:15 The more you read it and the more 33:16 you study it, the more you'll see that. 33:18 Now, you know, I put together a bit of a list, and it's not 33:21 complete yet, but I just want to share a couple of those 33:23 different points just to show that the key elements 33:26 that are found in the New Testament are also 33:28 already found in the Old Testament. 33:32 Now, the reason I think it's important for us to understand 33:34 that is because there's a lot of our fellow Christians that have 33:38 fallen into this trap, believing that "The Old Testament 33:40 is much different than the New Testament, 33:42 and that's why I'm a New Testament Christian." 33:43 Well, the New Testament is only better in the fact that there 33:46 is a better sacrifice, a better priesthood, and a better temple. 33:50 Outside of that, all the other elements are exactly the same, 33:53 and even those are the same ones, the symbology, 33:55 and one is the reality fulfilled in Christ. 33:59 But all the other essential elements are the same. 34:02 Some Christians have fallen into the trap, believing that the Old 34:04 Testament God was one that He sealed through this kind of 34:07 legalistic foundation in which the Israelite had to earn their 34:10 way by obeying God in such a meticulous and exacting way that 34:15 they were able to finally deserve heaven, to earn heaven 34:18 somehow on kind of a legalistic basis, and they had to live 34:21 under the watch care of a very angry and easily angered God, 34:29 and then came Jesus with all His gentleness and grace, and mercy 34:32 came to us, and now we're saved by grace, 34:34 and the law is no longer relevant, that's just not true. 34:37 Now, it is true that the New Testament 34:40 is based on love for God. 34:42 Mark chapter 12, verse 30, Jesus made that clear: "Love the Lord 34:45 your God with all your strength, your mind, your soul." 34:50 John 14, verse 15, as we just quoted, John 3:16, 34:53 our God's love back to us as well. 34:55 It's reciprocal love, both in the Old Testament 34:57 and the New Testament, "For God so loved the world, 35:00 that He gave His only begotten Son." 35:02 And so God loves us, and we love Him back. 35:04 It's a reciprocal love that is based at--it's a foundation of 35:07 the New Testament sealed with Christ, but the Old Testament 35:10 that was sealed with the sacrifice of an animal during 35:12 the days of Moses was also based on love. 35:15 "Love the Lord your God with all your strength, 35:16 your soul, your mind." 35:20 Okay, but then, in Deuteronomy chapter 10, in verse 15, 35:22 it also tells us very clearly that God loves 35:26 us back, and so it's reciprocal love. 35:29 God's grace is found in the New Testament, obviously, 35:31 in Philippians chapter 2, verse 8: "For by grace 35:33 you have been saved through faith. 35:34 It's not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. 35:39 It is the gift of God, not of works, 35:40 lest any man should boast." 35:41 And so we find that multiple times in the New Testament, 35:44 but we also find it's sealed in the Old Testament as well. 35:47 Some of us, you know, how in the world would any of the Old 35:49 Testament characters make it without grace? 35:55 You'll be hard pressed--you are very hard pressed to find the 35:57 greatest champions--and these are just the outstanding 36:01 champions that made it through life and through 36:03 a spiritual, saved relationship with God 36:05 without blundering in different ways. 36:09 David would be a lost man if it wasn't for the fact 36:13 that the Old Testament also offered grace. 36:17 Psalm 51, you know, David cries out, "Have mercy upon me, O 36:22 Lord, according to Your lovingkindness, according to 36:25 the multitude of Your mercies." 36:27 "Mercy" is synonymous with "grace," undeserved mercy. 36:35 David made it very clear in Psalm 51. 36:36 He didn't deserve God's mercy, but he 36:39 was pleading for God's grace, was he not? 36:42 And David was a man that was living under 36:44 the covenant of the Old Testament. 36:49 Now, we don't find grace--the word grace used very often-- 36:51 12 times, and 10 of those are applied to Moses, 36:54 but we find "mercy" comes up, you know, 36:57 which is synonymous in its context, used dozens of times. 37:03 Exodus chapter 20, verse 6, we come to the Second Commandment, 37:09 "You shall not make for yourself any carved image 37:10 of the likeness of anything both in heaven, on earth, 37:15 or in the water that's under the earth. 37:17 You shall not bow down or serve them. 37:20 For I, the Lord your God, I'm a jealous God, visiting upon the 37:22 iniquity of the fathers to the children of the third and fourth 37:24 generation, but showing mercy unto those 37:29 who love Me and keep My commandments." 37:32 There's that again, right at the heart of the commandments. 37:34 We have this tie-in to loving God and keeping His 37:37 commandments, but there's also that mercy 37:39 that is there as well, is there not? 37:41 Because God knows that you and I still need mercy. 37:45 If you're married, you know that you need 37:46 to extend mercy to your spouse. 37:49 Still, today, I know that I need mercy from 37:51 my wife from time to time still. 37:54 I need her grace, undeserved grace and mercy. 37:58 And so grace is very much alive and well in the Old Testament, 38:01 and the Old Testament believers understood that. 38:05 Otherwise, they knew that they would have no hope. 38:07 And so it's important for us to understand grace is a 38:09 foundational element in the Old Testament as well as in the New. 38:12 What about faith? 38:15 Well, you know, "The just shall live by faith," in the Old 38:19 Testament, Habakkuk chapter 2, in verse 4. 38:21 Now, again, "faith" is not used--in fact, it's only used 38:23 twice in regards to the Old Covenant, but we find "trust" 38:26 that comes up over and over and over again and again, 38:28 and the context of the use of that "trust" 38:30 is synonymous with that of "faith." 38:33 And, of course, Philippians chapter 2, verse 8, 38:35 tells us, the New Testament, again, "For by grace 38:37 you have been saved through faith." 38:40 The confession of sin, Psalm 51, verses 3 and 4, okay, David 38:45 says, "I have sinned against You and against heaven." 38:49 He owns and confesses his sin, 38:51 even as we are also called to confess our sins. 38:54 He who confesses his sin," God is just and? 38:58 To forgive us and to cleanse us from? 39:01 From all unrighteousness, yeah. 39:05 Does God forgive us and cleanse us of our sin? 39:07 Yes, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness it says in the 39:09 New Testament but also in the Old Testament. 39:11 David, living under the Old Covenant promises 39:13 and that God had sealed through Moses. 39:16 Psalm 51, at verses 1 through 2, "Have mercy upon me, 39:20 O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness, 39:22 according to the multitude of Your mercies." 39:24 Then he goes later on in verse 2, he says, 39:26 "And blot out my transgressions." 39:29 "Cleanse me and make me clean," because he understood that was 39:33 available under the terms of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. 39:39 What about the Holy Spirit's presence, being born again? 39:43 Now, we know that Jesus told Nicodemus 39:44 in the night, "You must be born again. 39:46 You cannot enter the kingdom unless you have been born of the 39:48 water and of the Spirit," in John chapter 3. 39:52 But did we find that also in the conditions of the Old Testament? 39:56 Well, we see David again, living under the conditions of the Old 39:58 Testament, and very clearly as he found himself with his 40:02 relationship being threatened because of some very serious 40:04 sins that he was guilty of and had committed, he cries out, 40:07 "Do not take Your presence from me. 40:10 Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me." 40:14 "Cast me not away from Your presence," I should say, "and 40:16 take not Your Holy Spirit from me." 40:19 And we find that in Psalm 51 and verse 11. 40:21 So David understood that one of the vital elements of living 40:24 under the Old Testament and its conditions was to have the 40:27 presence of God available and very much present 40:30 in the mind and heart of the believer. 40:32 David was born again even as we must 40:35 also understand we find in the New. 40:39 Then, number 7, God sanctifies us through 40:42 His presence, through the Holy Spirit. 40:45 Psalm 51, in verse 10, again, we find that David cries out very 40:48 clear, "Create in me a clean heart, O God." 40:53 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, 40:55 and renew a steadfast Spirit within me." 40:59 David is asking for the power 41:01 and presence of God to sanctify him. 41:04 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, that I might obey You, that 41:08 I might be able to follow Your ways. 41:10 Sanctify me and help me to live and follow a godly life. 41:13 Your New Testament, of course, over and over also talks about 41:16 the presence of the Holy Spirit sanctifying us. 41:18 Philippians chapter 2, in verse 10, 41:20 he says, "For we are His workmanship. 41:23 For we are His workmanship, created 41:27 in Christ Jesus for good works." 41:30 That's sanctification, isn't it? 41:33 That's God giving us the power and the direction and the 41:36 motivation to be able to do His will. 41:38 Philippians chapter 2, verse 13, "For it is God who works in you 41:41 both to will and to do His good pleasure." 41:45 So God works in us and motivates us and changes our hearts as He 41:47 writes His presence and His law upon our heart. 41:50 We get excited about His ways, and His commandments are no 41:52 longer burdensome, and He gives us a motivation 41:54 and says, "I want to keep His commandments." 41:58 And so He works in us both to will--that's the motivation-- 42:01 and to do His good pleasure. 42:06 And His commandments and statutes, His ways, His 42:07 principles, is His good pleasure. 42:10 And so we find that also in the New Testament. 42:13 And, again, some of us as Christians have made the mistake 42:15 of plugging some of these elements and attaching it only 42:18 to the Old Testament, and some have made the mistake of only 42:20 attaching them to the New Testament. 42:22 But, again, the more you study this--and I'm giving you 42:24 Scripture, all the way through, to be able 42:26 to demonstrate that it's actually both. 42:30 And this is relevant for our topic, in the book of 42:32 Deuteronomy, because this is the final, kind of, summary of the 42:36 Old Testament that was sealed with that first generation of 42:39 Israelites that escaped from Egypt. 42:44 Giving God our willing obedience is important. 42:47 It's a condition that is important for us to enter not 42:51 only for as a believer in the Old Testament, Covenant, but 42:54 also in the New Testament or Covenant. 42:58 And so both are there, willing obedience in the Old Testament. 43:01 Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 13. 43:03 In fact, I think it's Wednesday on this 43:06 lesson study gives us a long list. 43:08 There's about--I don't know--ten different places in Deuteronomy 43:11 alone that talks about how important it is 43:13 to give our willing obedience to God to 43:14 enter into that covenant with God. 43:17 Does He also offer that same condition in the New Testament? 43:20 Well, sure He does. 43:22 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 19, Paul says, "Circumcision is 43:25 nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the 43:27 commandments of God is what matters." 43:31 Does that sound like keeping the commandments of God is a 43:33 condition of entering into the New Testament with Christ? 43:36 Sure, it is. Of course, it is. 43:38 Jesus Himself said it in the Sermon 43:39 on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, verse 19. 43:42 He said, "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law. 43:44 I've not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. 43:49 I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or 43:51 one tittle will pass from the law." 43:55 And so Jesus was making very clear, as He was approaching His 43:57 death in sealing that New Testament, that indeed until--He 44:00 didn't say, "Indeed, until I die on the cross, one jot or one 44:05 tittle of the law will be done away with." 44:07 That's what many of our Christian friends believe, 44:08 but that's not what the Bible 44:10 teaches, that's not what Christ says. 44:11 He says, "Until heaven and earth pass away." 44:14 Now, I know about you, friends, but heaven 44:15 and earth hasn't passed away yet. 44:20 And so very clearly Jesus is telling us that keeping the law 44:23 of God is important also for the Christian. 44:27 Otherwise, He said, "Until I die on the cross, 44:29 one jot or one tittle of the law will not pass away." 44:32 But that's not what He said. 44:36 And then as He comes to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, 44:38 in chapter 7, verse 24, He says, 44:40 "He who hears these sayings of Mine," and? 44:44 Does them, and does them. 44:48 Jesus makes very clear that not only hearing His saying 44:50 but doing His sayings and His commandments 44:52 is important. 44:54 John 14:15, again, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 44:58 Later on, He says the same thing 45:00 in different wording, by the way. 45:01 In the same chapter, John chapter 14, verse 21, 45:03 He also says that "If we love Him and we have 45:06 His commandments, we will keep His commandments as well." 45:10 And, of course, there's countless other times in the New 45:11 Testament where He tells us that one of the conditions of 45:14 entering the New Testament is to give God our willing obedience, 45:20 but it has to be motivated by love. 45:22 If it's motivated by fear, no, can't accept it. 45:27 If it's motivated by a legalistic kind of 45:28 self-righteous earning of heaven, no, God can't accept it. 45:32 But if it's motivated by love, then God will accept it, 45:36 and He says--and that's the condition. 45:38 So not only is it a willing obedience, 45:39 but it is obedience that is motivated by love 45:41 and the Holy Spirit within our hearts. 45:44 And that's why God gives us these essential truths. 45:48 The Old Testament was sealed with a 45:49 sacrifice through the priesthood. 45:51 Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1, is just one verse that verifies 45:54 that for us among many in the Old Testament, the writings of 45:56 Moses, as well as the book of Hebrews. 45:59 Was there a sacrifice that was 46:00 an essential element of the New Testament? 46:02 Of course--the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. 46:05 The ultimate sacrifice. 46:11 He offered one sacrifice, one perfect sacrifice. 46:13 Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 12. 46:15 Hebrews chapter 12, in verse 14, "Through one sacrifice, 46:20 through one offering," it tells us, "He has perfected 46:22 forever those who are being sanctified." 46:25 And so a sacrifice was essential in 46:26 the New Testament as well as the Old. 46:28 There is the Old Testament temple that was essential. 46:30 Hebrews chapter 8, verse 1 through 5, tells us that the Old 46:33 Testament temple was an essential foundation and 46:35 condition and element of the Old Testament, but it was pointing 46:38 to a better temple that was also foundational to 46:40 the New Testament, and so both testaments 46:42 have a foundational temple. 46:44 One is in the Middle East, up until Jesus's death on the 46:47 cross, and then after that, they became irrelevant, and now the 46:50 new one that it was pointing to is the New Testament temple, 46:53 which is in heaven itself, where Jesus, the new priesthood is 46:57 serving in place of the earthly priesthood, which is the next 47:01 element that we find in both testaments. 47:05 And so Hebrews chapter 7, verses 20, through Hebrews chapter 8, 47:07 in verse 1, tells us very clearly that there was a 47:10 priesthood on earth in the Middle East, in Israel, but now 47:15 that became irrelevant because it was fulfilled with a better 47:17 Priest, High Priest and Priesthood which is one High 47:20 Priest, Jesus Christ, in a heavenly temple. 47:24 Hebrews chapter 7, verse 20, through chapter 8, verse 1, 47:27 makes that clear for us. 47:30 The Ten Commandments is obviously a foundational element 47:32 that God gave to the Israelites that you were to enter into, and 47:36 not only that generation but any Jew after that and any other 47:39 person on the planet could become a Jew in the Old 47:42 Testament era, but these are all the condition and elements that 47:45 they had to--this was the package deal that God offered to 47:49 any believer, anybody that wanted to become 47:51 a believer before Jesus died, and in the 47:53 New Testament era, the same conditions. 47:56 The package is the same, 47:59 and it's so important for us to understand. 48:01 Are the Ten Commandments important 48:02 to the New Testament believer? 48:05 Yes, they are. 48:08 Jesus, again, said, "Do not think 48:10 that I came to destroy the law. 48:11 I've not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it." 48:14 He perfectly lived it out. 48:16 He's the only one that never broke the law in any point, 48:18 at any point in all of His life. 48:21 He perfectly fulfilled the law in your place and mine because 48:23 He knows that you haven't fulfilled the law perfectly. 48:28 "But I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away, not 48:31 one jot or one tittle of the law will be done away with." 48:33 Now, some people will say, "Well, that's not the Ten 48:35 Commandments He's talking about." 48:36 Then why did He go move right directly into explaining the Ten 48:38 Commandments right after He made that statement? 48:40 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not murder, and 48:45 if you murder, you will be in danger 48:47 of judgment and condemnation.' 48:49 But I say to you that, even if you hate your brother 48:51 or say, 'Raca' or call him a fool, an idiot, 48:54 you have broken that commandment." 48:56 Why would Jesus bring us deeper into the Ten Commandments if He 48:59 wasn't talking about the Ten Commandments when 49:01 He talked about "heaven and earth and one jot 49:02 or one tittle would not pass away"? 49:05 And so, very clearly, the Ten Commandments, and, of course, I 49:07 could preach a whole sermon on that. 49:10 Romans chapter 7, verse 12, Paul calls the Ten Commandment 49:13 law of God holy, good, and just. 49:16 Verse 14, he goes on and says that it's spiritual. 49:18 He says, "Listen, there's nothing wrong 49:20 with the Ten Commandment law. 49:21 The only problem that we have with 49:23 the Ten Commandment law is us." 49:26 Says, "We're the only problem. 49:27 There's a big part of us that doesn't want 49:29 to keep the Ten Commandments." 49:30 In fact, he said, "Before I was converted, every time I looked 49:32 at the Ten Commandments, the more I wanted to break it." 49:36 I'm getting sidetracked here. All right, and then fear. 49:40 This lesson study also talks about 49:41 the importance of fearing God. 49:43 Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 2, God has called us to fear Him 49:47 as we looked at that passage here today, 49:49 and then chapter 10, in verse 12, God calls us 49:52 to fear and to love Him at the same time. 49:55 And so we have to ask ourselves, "Well, how do we do that?" 49:58 First of all, because I thought in the Bible, 50:01 in the New Testament, it says in 1 John, that 50:03 "Perfect love casts out all fear"? 50:06 And so that can cause confusion sometimes 50:07 because it says, "Perfect love casts out all fear." 50:09 God loves us. We love Him back. 50:11 That should cast out all fear, and, yet He also calls us 50:14 in the Old and in the New Testament, 50:15 one of the conditions is to fear God. 50:19 Well, obviously, there's two definitions there, isn't there? 50:21 God is not contradicting Himself, but when John wrote 50:23 that "Perfect love casts out all fear," he knew that he was 50:25 talking about being scared of God. 50:28 You know, you're kind of walking and tiptoeing through the day, 50:31 you know, because you're afraid that, if you go to the left too 50:33 far or to the right, you know, a lightning bolt is going to zap 50:35 you, or He's going to, you know, condemn you instantly, and, so, 50:39 God, no, He says, "Perfect love casts out all fear," because now 50:42 you step into this loving, saving relationship that also 50:47 entails grace to our lives, that we might be able to grow and 50:50 walk with Him, and so we're no longer scared of Him. 50:54 But the fear that we find in Deuteronomy as well as we find 50:56 in Revelation chapter 14, in the first angel's message, "Fear God 51:00 and give glory to Him," and so the New Testament also calls 51:04 Christians and New Testament believers to fear God, and so 51:07 the command and the direction is there for both of us, 51:09 again, an element, a condition in both. 51:12 But this is the fear that when we awe and we respect God, when 51:16 we use even the term "God," we use it in a very respectful way. 51:23 And so, for putting OMGs in our text and our e-mails, and so on, 51:29 and we're saying it out loud, you know, friends, this is a 51:32 disrespectful--this is the opposite of fear. 51:35 God has called us to fear God, to use anything that relates to 51:39 God, the name of God, the person of God, that we are to use it 51:44 with great reverence, with great respect. 51:48 I mean, this is the King of the universe. 51:50 This is the One that made the heavens and the earth. 51:52 This is the One from eternity past and eternity future. 51:55 He's the one in charge of everything. 51:58 The only reason that our hearts are beating right now is because 52:00 of His grace and because He is making your heart beat. 52:06 And so, when we approach Him, you know, sometimes some of us 52:09 may have had the privilege of entering into the White House. 52:11 Now, I've never had that privilege, but I can guarantee 52:13 you that I would be just like any one of you, any respectable 52:16 person that walks into the White House and meets the President. 52:19 You've got to be very respectful of that person. 52:25 Everything that that position represents comes with great 52:28 authority and responsibility and power, and yet sometimes we 52:34 just kind of drag God through the mud, and God says, 52:37 no, we must fear Him, we must fear Him. 52:41 Well, friends, I had a feeling that the time was going to go 52:43 much faster than I wanted it to, and sure enough, it did. 52:45 I'm thankful to be able to go through one of the key points 52:48 there, and I hope that you went through the lesson study and you 52:50 were able to pick up some of the other points because there is 52:53 much more than I was able to cover here today, and so I want 52:57 to wish you a blessing for the rest of your Sabbath, and we're 52:59 going to take an intermission even right now. 53:01 It's always nice to be able to have our online members 53:04 as well as different friends that have been 53:05 watching online to join us here today. 53:07 I want to wish you God's blessing, and join us for 53:09 worship hour as we come back in just a few moments. 53:11 Until then, God bless you, and we'll see you soon. 53:16 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 53:18 life-changing free resource. 53:20 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 53:22 you can download a digital copy 53:23 straight to your computer or mobile device. 53:26 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 53:29 the key word on your screen to 40544, or visit the web address 53:34 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the "digital 53:37 download" option on the request page. 53:39 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 53:42 "Amazing Facts" wherever and whenever you want and, most 53:46 important, to share it with others. 53:52 ♪♪♪ 53:55 announcer: "'Amazing Facts' Changed Lives." 53:58 ♪♪♪ 54:03 female: Well, my conversion story is, when I was in the 54:07 Philippines, I just graduated as a nurse, and afterwards, I did 54:13 not have any religion, and one time, I found myself inside a 54:18 small church, Catholic Church in Manila, and before a big cross, 54:26 and I was kneeling before, and I could hear Jesus telling me to 54:32 enter the convent, save myself and also my family, and I said, 54:37 "Lord, I would like to follow You all the way." 54:39 At that point, I seemed to be happy externally, but because 54:44 inside the convent we don't read the Bible, we don't study about 54:48 the Word of God, we pray the rosaries, we also, at the same 54:53 time, study the lives of the saints and also our founders and 54:58 the encyclicals of the Pope and the Virgin Mary, and so I do not 55:03 know the truth, and I had this torture of conscience, 55:07 the guilty feelings that cannot be resolved, 55:11 so I will confess to the priests in the confessional box, 55:13 saying, "Father, forgive me. 55:17 Since my last confession was last week, since then, I have 55:20 committed the following sin, including the root cause, why am 55:24 I falling and falling in that same sin over and over again?" 55:30 And still, for 21 long years, I struggle, 55:34 and I struggle, and I struggle. 55:37 I realized that I was totally empty. 55:40 I was totally helpless and hopeless and so depressed and so 55:45 desperate that I would like already to end my life. 55:49 I was working for five years as dean of the University of St. 55:54 Augustine College of Nursing in Iloilo City, 55:57 one of the islands in the Philippines. 56:00 After five years, I received a commission from my parents to 56:06 help my sister, who was being a battered woman. 56:10 This is one of the reasons why I came over to United States. 56:15 It is because my sister needs my help. 56:19 As I was working in the hospital in New York, my boss, Seraphin, 56:23 he was so gracious enough to give me 56:25 an invitation to the "Millennium Prophecy." 56:29 As I was listening to Pastor Doug Batchelor's presentation, 56:34 my heart really was beating so fast, and my mind--I'm able to 56:39 grasp the truth that this is the truth that I've been longing to 56:45 hear all my life that I have been seeking for so long. 56:50 My personal relationship with Jesus, 56:53 I can see Jesus as my personal Savior. 56:57 He is not only the Savior of the whole world, 56:59 but He is my personal Savior. 57:03 He was the one who delivered me mightily 57:06 from the depths of sin, from the miry clay. 57:11 Pastor Doug Batchelor has been used 57:13 by the Lord in my conversion. 57:16 The "Amazing Facts," I owe to them. 57:19 The Lord really blessed this ministry, and I'm so proud I was 57:25 able to attend this "Millennium Prophecy." 57:28 My life has never been the same. 57:31 It has given me that peace, that joy that never--I have never 57:37 tasted in my life, and now I'm set free to be able 57:42 to work for Him and to follow Him. 57:52 ♪♪♪ 58:02 ♪♪♪ 58:12 ♪♪♪ 58:22 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-10-13