Spring Camp Meeting 2017

Can the Dead Speak to Us?

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang

Home

Series Code: 17SCM

Program Code: 17SCM000017A


00:14 Welcome to 3ABN Spring Camp Meeting 2017,
00:19 Exposing the Counterfeit.
00:25 Hi, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:26 And, boy, is it my privilege
00:28 to introduce our speaker for this hour.
00:31 But first I just want to welcome all of you
00:33 who are here tonight
00:35 and all who are watching by television
00:37 or on the radio.
00:38 I could say so many things about Pastor John Lomacang,
00:42 but I want to be respectful of his time,
00:44 so this is what I'll say,
00:45 he is an anointed minister of the gospel
00:48 and an anointed minister of music.
00:51 But he's my pastor,
00:53 and most of all he is a man of God.
00:56 He walks the talk.
00:58 Before he comes to present to us a wonderful topic,
01:03 "Can the Dead Speak to Us" will be his topic tonight.
01:08 Before he comes, however,
01:09 we've got Reggie and Ladye Love Smith
01:12 who are going to join us once again.
01:14 And they're going to be singing...
01:16 Oh, and Tim Parton on the piano.
01:18 And they will sing "Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus".
01:22 Thank you.
01:37 O soul, are you weary
01:41 And troubled?
01:45 No light in the darkness
01:50 You see?
01:54 There's light for a look at
01:59 The Savior
02:04 And life more abundant
02:09 And free
02:14 Turn your eyes
02:18 Upon Jesus
02:23 Look full in His
02:27 Wonderful face
02:33 And the things of earth
02:37 Will grow strangely dim
02:44 In the light of His glory
02:50 And grace
02:56 Turn your eyes
03:00 Upon Jesus
03:06 Look full in His
03:09 Wonderful face
03:16 And the things of earth
03:21 Will grow strangely dim
03:28 In the light
03:31 Of His glory and grace
03:38 And the things of earth
03:43 Will grow strangely dim
03:54 In the light
03:57 Of His glory
04:03 And grace
04:14 Amen.
04:21 Can we say amen again? Amen.
04:24 Thank you, Tim.
04:26 Thank you, Reggie, thank you, Ladye.
04:29 Let us turn our hearts to the Lord
04:32 tonight as we open His Word on a very potent topic,
04:36 Can the Dead Speak to Us?
04:39 Now I don't know what time it is
04:41 where you are but if it's late, don't die
04:45 because the Lord wants to speak to the living tonight.
04:47 Can we say amen? Amen.
04:49 Let us bow our heads.
04:52 Loving Father in heaven,
04:53 we thank You for the privilege of opening Your Word tonight.
04:56 We ask Word of God speak.
05:02 In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
05:07 This is a topic that has
05:12 eluded the minds of so many.
05:16 Yet, I could end this sermon with one simple answer.
05:19 Can the dead speak to us? And the answer is no.
05:23 And I can close with prayer.
05:25 But the confusion would not cease.
05:27 And so tonight we're going to let
05:28 the Word of God speak clearly.
05:31 And if you give me your ear,
05:35 I will let you hear
05:36 what the Word of God has to say.
05:39 The belief that we have a living soul
05:41 that keeps on going
05:45 after we have physically died
05:48 is a 6,000 year-old lie that refuses to die.
05:54 The only thing that keeps on living
05:55 is the lie not the soul.
06:00 But for whatever reason when that topic is discussed,
06:06 and I've spoken to people through the years about
06:09 what happens when we die.
06:13 We are not saying that we don't go to heaven,
06:17 we are saying that
06:18 we don't go to heaven immediately.
06:21 Amen.
06:23 But if you trace the origin of this continued lie,
06:26 you'll find clearly
06:28 that it was born in the Garden of Eden.
06:31 One of the oldest lies Satan ever told,
06:34 consider Genesis 3:4.
06:37 If you have your Bibles, you can turn there,
06:38 but if not it'll be on the screen.
06:42 "Then the serpent said to the woman, together
06:45 'You will not surely die.'"
06:48 As a result of that 6,000-year-old lie,
06:52 today people believe that their dead relatives
06:55 can still contact them.
06:57 Others believe that
06:59 their dead relatives are now their guardian angels.
07:02 I have a niece who said,
07:04 "Now I'm so glad my mother is watching over me."
07:06 I said, "No, your mother is not your guardian angel.
07:10 Your guardian angel is your guardian angel."
07:15 And I'm glad that our dead loved ones
07:17 are not in heaven watching us
07:18 because heaven really won't be heaven.
07:20 Come on, say amen. Amen!
07:21 If they see some of the things that we do
07:23 long after they're gone, they would say,
07:26 "Lord, could You send me back to earth
07:28 to straighten out my loved ones?"
07:31 Some even ask the dead for advice
07:33 and believe that the dead periodically visit.
07:36 I've heard that before. Even in my own church.
07:41 Not this one but in the Adventist church.
07:43 We have people that have become Adventists
07:46 and instead of letting the Bible
07:48 get rid of the fairy tales and the traditions
07:50 that were formerly believed
07:52 by their families or in their culture.
07:54 There are some cultures
07:55 that believe in ghosts and evil spirits.
07:59 And in the West Indian culture in Jamaica
08:01 they call that "Duppy".
08:04 There are some individuals that...
08:05 I remember one person said,
08:06 "When you come to visit me, knock on my door three times."
08:11 He was one of my elders. I said, "Elder, why?"
08:14 He said, "Because ghosts only knock twice."
08:18 So my wife and I visited him and we knocked twice.
08:25 And he said, "Who is it?"
08:26 I said, "It's the pastor, open the door."
08:28 He said, "Pastor, I told you to knock three times."
08:30 I said, "I'm going to do everything I can
08:31 to get rid of that Satanic lie."
08:33 What do you say? Amen!
08:36 Others talk openly to their dead
08:37 waiting for answers
08:39 as so many talk shows have said,
08:41 "From the other side".
08:43 There is another side,
08:45 but our loved ones are not there yet.
08:48 Some go to the cemetery and talk to the graves
08:51 as though they are being heard.
08:54 Some say they died and floated above their bodies
08:56 before returning.
08:58 And sometimes the devil uses children.
09:01 I've seen books written with children on the cover.
09:03 There was a little boy that
09:05 is the focal point of a book that was written.
09:08 And he said: "I died and went to heaven."
09:10 And he brought back a message.
09:12 He said God gave him a message
09:15 from the other side that we really don't die.
09:18 And the devil uses an innocent face of a child
09:22 to sometimes break down our resistance to lies.
09:26 But let me say this clearly and with a lot of love,
09:28 no matter where the lie come from,
09:30 no matter the age, it's still a lie.
09:33 Amen!
09:35 Some say they died,
09:37 went to heaven and returned with a message from God.
09:39 Some claim to have the ability
09:41 to conjure up the spirits of the dead.
09:46 Had church members that once said to me,
09:47 "We have a ghost that visits us on Sabbath
09:50 when we're having lunch."
09:53 And once again not here. Thank the Lord.
09:57 And they said, "Oh, it's a funny ghost.
09:59 It makes us laugh."
10:01 There was one family member that said,
10:02 "Dad, that's not funny!"
10:03 Oh, they said,
10:05 "It's a ghost that gives us jokes every time it shows up."
10:09 I said, "It's breaking down
10:10 your resistance to spiritualism."
10:14 And they said, "What should we do?"
10:16 And I told them what to do and praise the Lord,
10:18 it never continued that.
10:20 That never continued in their home. It ceased.
10:22 But there are those that embrace that,
10:24 and somehow cultural conditioning plays its role
10:28 in the idea that people continue to live
10:30 after they die.
10:31 Some say that they embrace their dead children
10:34 when they reappear.
10:36 A lady talked about the fact.
10:37 Matter of fact, I know someone that sent me a message
10:39 through Facebook.
10:41 She said she had a 45-minute talk with her mother.
10:44 I said, "Well, how did it go?"
10:46 She said, "It went really well."
10:47 Well, I said, "Well, that's good."
10:49 But then she told me her mother died.
10:50 I said, "That's not your mother."
10:51 And somebody said to me,
10:53 No, don't tell her that's not her mother.
10:54 You're going to offend her."
10:55 I said, "She'll be more offended
10:57 if that lie continues and one day
10:58 she has a face-to-face meeting with the devil."
11:00 Amen!
11:03 But, when you deal with topics that are so ingrained,
11:06 you've got to be truthful but you have to be loving.
11:12 You can't beat up the person that believes it.
11:14 You've got to beat up the devil that told it.
11:16 Come on, say amen. Amen!
11:18 Sometimes it's conveyed with such conviction
11:19 that one would believe it's based on scripture.
11:21 But tonight, praise the Lord.
11:23 Tonight, the Bible is going to expose
11:26 the counterfeit behind this teaching.
11:30 Only as we examine the Bible
11:33 can we conclude
11:35 what the teaching is about after we die.
11:37 What happens when we die?
11:39 Don't allow the talk shows to tell you.
11:43 Don't allow the movies to tell you.
11:47 Don't allow those in positions of power to tell you.
11:51 If it's not based on God's Word,
11:53 it is not a sure foundation.
11:55 Amen!
11:56 But since death is the opposite of life,
11:59 let's begin with the process.
12:01 Go to Genesis 2:7.
12:04 If there's anything that survives death,
12:06 the Bible will reveal it.
12:08 Amen.
12:09 Here's what the Bible says, Genesis 2:7.
12:12 And we go back to the beginning and the Bible says,
12:14 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
12:19 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life:
12:22 and man became a" what?
12:24 "Man became a living soul."
12:27 Now if you look at in various translations,
12:31 I'll share some of the other translations in just a moment.
12:34 But the Bible does not teach
12:36 that man was given a living soul,
12:39 the Bible teaches that man became a living soul.
12:44 Simply put,
12:47 when God formed man of the dust of the ground,
12:50 man was simply a pile of dust.
12:54 I have a good friend of mine that's a pathologist.
12:58 You know, they do autopsies when a person dies.
13:01 And he says, "When you read that text
13:04 that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground
13:06 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life."
13:09 He said, "If you only understand
13:11 what's between the surface and the bone."
13:13 He said, "It is fascinating the layers
13:16 that God put in place.
13:18 The organism that continues to work
13:21 from the skin to the bone, even inside the bone."
13:24 He said, "God designed all that,
13:25 so it's not just flesh and breath."
13:30 But somehow from the Garden of Eden
13:34 when the devil said to Eve, "You will not surely die,"
13:38 there are some of you sitting here tonight
13:40 that still believe that.
13:42 Let me test it.
13:43 How many of you would spend the night in a cemetery?
13:46 Raise your hands.
13:53 Maybe you didn't hear me.
13:59 I'm going to say, some of you say
14:00 "Not me, ain't no way."
14:04 Let me tell you,
14:06 the cemetery is the safest place
14:09 in New York City.
14:12 Amen? Amen.
14:13 You could put your wallet next to you.
14:17 You want to find some place safe in Chicago?
14:19 Go to the cemetery.
14:20 Everybody in there is already dead.
14:22 Amen somebody? Amen!
14:24 And they put up fences.
14:27 Nobody wants to go in and nobody coming out.
14:34 Now out here it's different.
14:35 You can walk up through the cemetery,
14:37 drive down the street and stop and read the cemetery stones.
14:40 But the reality is, somewhere deep inside of us,
14:43 and the movies have messed us up.
14:47 Some of us before we became a Christian
14:49 watched movies that we wish we never watched.
14:52 We had some friends visiting us from New York City,
14:54 I never forgot that.
14:56 We were living
14:57 I think on Angel Lane or over here, wherever it was.
15:00 And it was during camp meeting.
15:02 And they said, "Would you walk us to our car?"
15:06 I said, "Why?" They said, "It's dark outside."
15:11 I said, "What's outside?"
15:13 They said, "We don't know.
15:15 But could you walk us to our car?"
15:17 I said, "This is not New York."
15:19 He said, "That's not what I'm concerned
15:20 but I can't see what's outside."
15:22 "It's not what's happening outside,
15:24 it's what's happening inside."
15:26 The devil plants seeds in our mind
15:28 that germinate and they go on to make us fearful.
15:32 I'm not fearful of the dark any more.
15:33 Matter of fact,
15:35 when I first left New York City and moved,
15:36 we eventually moved to California,
15:38 when we began to live in Placerville
15:40 with the Heritage Singers.
15:41 My complaint was it was too dark to sleep.
15:45 But my wife can tell you now,
15:46 if the light on my phone lights up my room
15:48 it's too bright to sleep.
15:50 I like total darkness. Anybody else?
15:53 Got to be dark for me to sleep.
15:55 And my wife says,
15:56 "If you just close your eyes it'll be dark."
15:58 I said, "No, I know that
15:59 there's still a light on somewhere."
16:03 That's how it messes with your mind.
16:05 There's a light somewhere
16:06 so I put a towel over the top of the phone
16:10 'cause it's charging at night, it blinks intermittently.
16:13 She says, "Honey, really if you just close your eyes."
16:15 I said, "Honey, there's a light on in this room, I know it."
16:21 But it's not the dark that we need to be afraid of.
16:24 It is the lie sown in our lives
16:28 through the decades in some cases
16:30 40, 50 years some people still have that seed in them
16:34 that keeps them fearful.
16:36 The body is formed from the dust of the ground.
16:39 And when God completed the construction of man,
16:43 He breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life,
16:46 and then man became a living soul.
16:50 And so the fact of the matter is until God breathed into man,
16:54 this is huge.
16:55 Until God breathed into man, man was not alive.
17:00 Now the sad reality of this,
17:01 and I'm going to read a text here in Ecclesiastes.
17:04 The sad reality
17:06 is if this next text is ever used to believe
17:11 that we go to heaven when we die,
17:13 then we have a serious problem.
17:15 Let's look at Ecclesiastes 12:7.
17:17 Look at life in reverse. Life in reverse.
17:22 Solomon says,
17:24 "Then shall the dust return to the" what?
17:27 "Earth as it was:
17:31 and the spirit shall return unto God"
17:33 who did what?
17:34 "Who gave it."
17:36 So some people say,
17:37 "There it is, the spirit goes back to God."
17:39 But now here's the problem,
17:40 if they say that the spirit that goes back to God is a man,
17:44 if they say the spirit that goes back to God is a man,
17:47 then they are saying that man came from heaven,
17:50 came down to earth, got in the body,
17:52 brought the body back to life, and when the body dies,
17:55 he gets out of the body, and goes back to heaven.
17:58 Man did not originate in heaven.
18:00 Amen somebody? Amen!
18:02 God formed him from the dust of the ground
18:05 and then breathed into his nostrils
18:07 the breath of life.
18:09 It is not the man that goes back,
18:11 it is the breath of life.
18:13 I was going to bring a bulb with me.
18:16 But most of you know what a bulb looks like.
18:21 If you turn your lamp off,
18:25 where does the light go?
18:29 I want to tell, the light doesn't go anywhere.
18:31 It just stops illuminating. It ceases to function.
18:38 It doesn't go back to the power plant.
18:42 There ain't no lights hanging out
18:43 somewhere in Thompsonville
18:44 waiting to leave and come back to my house.
18:47 It is the filament inside the bulb
18:50 and the gas in the bulb with the filament
18:52 that causes it to illuminate.
18:54 If the filament breaks, the gas is going to do nothing,
18:57 the gas doesn't go anywhere.
18:59 When we die there's nothing hanging out saying,
19:01 "I can't wait to leave."
19:04 But somehow some people believe that.
19:06 One scientist said they weighed the body of a dead person
19:09 after they died and they noticed
19:10 it was a few grams lighter.
19:12 "Ah, evidence, he's in heaven."
19:19 But according to the Bible, I said according to the Bible
19:22 God makes it clear what is in that brings man from death,
19:29 from a comatose state to life.
19:31 Look at Job 27:3.
19:33 Here's what the Bible teaches.
19:37 "All the while my breath is in me,
19:41 and the spirit of God is" where?
19:43 "In my nostrils."
19:46 How did the Spirit of God...
19:48 And if you look at the word there in Hebrew,
19:50 it is the breath, the life giving force of God
19:53 is in my nostrils.
19:55 How did that happen?
19:56 God put it there when He created Adam.
19:58 And by the way, we don't have that.
20:01 If a person's life is slipping away,
20:02 we can give them mouth-to-mouth or nose-to-mouth resuscitation.
20:05 We can blow, but our breath does not have life in it.
20:10 Only the breath of God. Amen somebody?
20:13 Amen!
20:14 "In Him was life, and that life was the light of man."
20:18 And the Apostle Paul says, "Only God has immortality."
20:22 We are not naturally mortal by nature.
20:25 And that's good.
20:27 I was listening to a case one day
20:29 about a lady who killed another man's wife.
20:32 And in court after the case was decided
20:36 that this lady was going to face the electric chair,
20:39 the husband of the wife who was killed, the judge said,
20:42 "Do you have any last words to say?"
20:45 And the man said, "I cannot wait till she dies,
20:49 so that she can go to heaven.
20:50 And my wife is waiting to pay her back."
21:01 I'm not even laughing.
21:03 You know why? Because that's a sad reality.
21:05 That's what people believe.
21:07 I read the story when I was living in California
21:09 about a man who was an immigrant,
21:12 a farm worker.
21:13 And they were so poor, five family members,
21:16 that this man killed his family starting with his grandmother,
21:21 killed his wife and his three children,
21:24 and he wrote a note.
21:26 He said, "We are too poor, we cannot live,
21:28 we cannot afford to live.
21:30 But at least now we are in a better place."
21:33 That's what that belief has done.
21:35 That's the belief behind terrorism.
21:38 They believe they're going to die
21:39 and there are some kind of pleasure
21:43 waiting for them in heaven.
21:44 Let me tell you something.
21:45 You don't kill somebody
21:47 and go to heaven and have pleasure.
21:48 Amen somebody? Amen!
21:50 Matter of fact, when you kill somebody,
21:51 there's a judgment, you don't even escape judgment.
21:52 There's a day coming that every one of us
21:54 has to give an account for what we've done in this life.
21:59 But now listen to Genesis 2:7, in the New King James Version.
22:05 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
22:08 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
22:11 and man became a living being."
22:15 A living being, a total individual.
22:17 If I stop breathing, I'm dead.
22:21 Death is not the continuance of life in another location.
22:25 Death does not change your address.
22:33 If the bulb dies in your lamp,
22:34 do you sell it for somebody else
22:35 to put it in their lamp?
22:37 I mean, think about it.
22:40 Death is the end of life,
22:43 not the continuance of life somewhere else.
22:46 Man became a living being and Adam understood that.
22:50 If you go back to Genesis 3:19, Adam understood his fate.
22:54 Adam had no preconceived idea that he was going to die
22:58 and go right back to heaven because Adam knew
23:00 he did not come from heaven.
23:01 The Lord made it very clear in Genesis 3:19,
23:04 God revealed to Adam his fate.
23:06 It's clear.
23:08 Notice what the Bible says,
23:10 "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..."
23:15 And follow carefully.
23:16 "Till you return to the ground."
23:20 How clear?
23:22 "For out of it you were taken, for dust you are,
23:25 and to dust you shall return."
23:29 It's that clear?
23:30 You don't return to heaven
23:32 because you didn't come from heaven.
23:34 We went to...
23:37 Utah. What's that major city in Utah?
23:40 Salt Lake City, Utah.
23:41 My wife and I went a few years ago,
23:43 and we walked around in the Mormon temple.
23:45 And we saw some beautiful paintings,
23:47 some beautiful art work.
23:49 And one was called the cycle of a life,
23:53 where they showed a picture of a man
23:56 in heaven in spirit form.
24:00 And they showed a body on earth that was not alive yet.
24:04 And if you follow the cycle of life
24:06 they say that this man that existed in spirit form
24:09 was sent down to earth to inhabit his body
24:12 that was in physical form.
24:15 And he brought that body to life.
24:17 And they say the spirit and the body look identical.
24:20 And if he did not, so to speak, learn the lesson in this life,
24:25 then he had another cycle to go.
24:28 We were in India and went to the Hindu temples,
24:32 and we saw there's a certain word,
24:35 that if you keep saying it, and saying it, and saying it
24:37 and you repeat it enough times before you die
24:40 you get a chance to come back.
24:43 A mantra.
24:45 But it's all based on the same lie
24:47 that "Ye shall not surely die," said another way,
24:51 "You'll die but not surely."
24:57 David the Psalmist makes it very clear.
25:00 Psalms 146:4.
25:06 David said, "His breath goeth forth,
25:11 he returneth to his" what?
25:13 "His earth, in that very day" what happens to his thoughts?
25:16 "His thoughts perish."
25:18 That's a good thing because can you imagine?
25:21 If people died and they thought about you after they died.
25:25 There's some people that say, "I can't wait.
25:28 My uncle's going to get you for what you did to him."
25:30 We say, "How's that going to happen?"
25:32 "He may be dead,
25:33 but he didn't forget what you did."
25:37 Really?
25:39 In that very day his thoughts what?
25:42 Perish. No more thoughts after that.
25:47 I had an experience with my dad.
25:50 He was from Barbados. He's resting now.
25:53 And I was going through a difficulty financially once
25:56 and I called him, I said,
25:57 "Papa, I need X amount of dollars."
26:00 And he said, "No."
26:02 Now I was raised with the word no.
26:04 Everything I asked for, "No."
26:06 But I tried it again and he still said, "No."
26:09 So I asked his wife and she gave me the money.
26:15 And when she died he said,
26:16 "Don't forget you owe me a thousand dollars."
26:18 I said, "No I don't. I owe her."
26:23 And I said, "All debts are cancelled at death."
26:26 Amen.
26:28 I got a call from Fingerhut one day.
26:34 They said, "We're calling to speak to Rosie,"
26:36 that's my mother's name.
26:38 I said, "I'm her son. She's not here right now."
26:42 They said, "She has a debt, an outstanding debt
26:44 that we are making an attempt to collect.
26:47 Can you put her on the phone?"
26:49 I said, "I would love to but she's in the cemetery
26:52 in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands."
26:54 They said, "Sir, can we please speak to her?"
27:02 I said, "If you think I'm going to make up a lie
27:05 like that to prevent my mother from paying a bill,
27:09 then you don't know me."
27:11 And I hung up the phone.
27:12 They never called back.
27:13 I guess they never got a call from her.
27:19 When we die...
27:21 Amen somebody?
27:22 Our thoughts do not continue going on.
27:26 As a matter of fact, when the ark floated
27:30 only eight people made it on the ark.
27:33 Everybody that was outside of the ark did not make it.
27:35 Genesis 7:15.
27:38 Notice what the Bible says,
27:42 "And they went unto the ark of Noah,
27:44 two by two of all flesh
27:48 in which is the breath of life."
27:51 But look at verse 23 of Genesis 7.
27:54 What happened to those that did not go into the ark?
27:57 The Bible says, "So He destroyed
27:59 all living things which were on the face of the ground,
28:04 both man and cattle,
28:07 creeping things and bird of the air.
28:11 They were destroyed from the earth,
28:13 only Noah and those who were with him
28:17 in the ark remained alive."
28:21 So if you didn't make it in the ark,
28:23 you didn't make it through the flood.
28:25 There were no people, there were no souls
28:26 outside of the flood still swimming around
28:29 after the flood had subsided.
28:32 Only those in the ark of safety continued to live.
28:36 And that's why the word at the very end,
28:38 the last two words, remained alive.
28:40 Say that with me.
28:41 Remained alive. Remained alive.
28:44 Which means if you were not on the ark,
28:46 you did not remain alive.
28:48 You were dead.
28:50 Luke 17:27 say it this way. Look at that.
28:55 The Bible says, "They ate, they drank, they married wives,
29:01 they were given in marriage,
29:02 until the day that Noah entered the ark,
29:05 and the flood came and did" what?
29:08 "Destroyed them all."
29:11 Not only were the wicked destroyed in Noah's day,
29:14 the Bible reiterates that there is no such thing
29:18 as a soul that survives death.
29:22 Now I'm going to give to you a scripture
29:24 that you may not have read before,
29:26 'Cause you know we know those verses.
29:27 But let's go to a Bible verse you may not have read before
29:30 on this particular topic.
29:31 And you know, by the way,
29:33 this is a topic that from Genesis
29:34 all the way to Revelation
29:36 is extremely clear in the Bible.
29:37 Joshua...
29:39 My wife and I are reading the Bible together
29:41 and we are now in the Book of Joshua.
29:43 Oh no, Judges now, we just finished Joshua
29:45 a few weeks ago, we're in Judges now.
29:47 When you read your Bible, let me just say this,
29:49 when you read your Bible,
29:51 no matter how long it takes you...
29:53 There are some people that read their Bible
29:54 through in a year.
29:55 I can't do that 'cause I'm a gleaner.
29:58 Which means I've got to stop and get something out of it.
30:00 Amen, Brenda? Amen!
30:01 Got to get something out of it.
30:03 There are some people that read through the Bible
30:04 like they're in a hurry.
30:05 I read through my Bible in a year.
30:07 What did you learn? It went by in a blur.
30:10 My wife and I took seven years to read the Bible
30:12 through in one year.
30:18 But we learned something.
30:19 Now we're going through it again,
30:21 and I found a scripture that I didn't see
30:22 last time around.
30:23 Joshua 11:11. Notice what the Bible says.
30:26 Joshua 11:11.
30:31 And they smote..."
30:32 This is King James Version.
30:34 "And they smote all the souls that were therein
30:39 with the edge of the sword" doing what?
30:42 "Utterly destroying them:
30:45 there was not any left to breathe:
30:49 and he burned Hazor with fire."
30:51 They stopped breathing, all the souls were destroyed.
30:54 Not a single soul was left.
30:57 So this idea that we have souls that wait to be released
31:01 to go on living is not a supported belief
31:04 by the scriptures.
31:06 It doesn't exist.
31:07 Matter of fact, Ezekiel 18:4 makes it even clear.
31:09 Look at Ezekiel 18:4.
31:14 The Bible says, "Behold, all souls are mine.
31:17 The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine.
31:23 The soul who sins shall" what? "Shall die."
31:27 Now there's a text in Matthew...
31:29 This is not in my notes,
31:31 so you're not going to get a slide.
31:33 But I'm going to go there very quickly
31:34 and read this one to you.
31:37 It's okay to add extra verses. Is that right?
31:39 Amen!
31:41 Let's look at one in the Bible. Here it is.
31:43 Matthew 10:28.
31:45 I'm going to read a scripture to you
31:46 that a lot of people read to support the idea
31:47 that souls don't die.
31:49 But when they read the scripture
31:51 the only reason they come to that conclusion
31:53 is because they don't read the scripture.
31:57 Follow me.
31:59 Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those
32:05 who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul."
32:08 They stop right there and say, "See there?"
32:11 But if you keep reading you'll see that the soul
32:13 is not an immortal entity.
32:16 "But rather fear him
32:19 who is able to destroy both soul
32:23 and body in hell."
32:26 Now Pastor, how do you get away from that one?"
32:29 Easy.
32:32 That is the very belief
32:35 that encouraged Christians to be martyrs.
32:38 Because they knew that all that man could do to them
32:41 is kill the body.
32:43 But they will come forth in the first resurrection.
32:45 Come on say amen. Amen!
32:47 Only God can keep you from coming forth
32:52 in the first resurrection.
32:58 But if the first death
33:02 eliminated any possibility of living again,
33:04 then the Bible would talk about that.
33:06 But I'm going to get further in the message
33:07 and talk about how we come forth.
33:10 But the soul is not immortal, because if the soul is immortal
33:13 the word immortal means cannot die.
33:16 But there's nothing we have that cannot die.
33:19 Men could kill our bodies but they cannot...
33:22 And the word there soul means the living being.
33:25 They cannot take, they cannot wipe you out.
33:30 Whether you die in a car accident,
33:32 whether you die in a plane accident.
33:37 Can I get little gruesome?
33:38 Whether a shark has you for dinner.
33:42 No matter how you go out, Jesus can bring you back in.
33:46 Amen! Amen?
33:47 Amen!
33:50 So it's not how you die.
33:52 When you read Hebrews 11, the Bible says,
33:55 "That those who chose not to be delivered
33:59 did not give their life for a good funeral.
34:02 They sought a better resurrection."
34:07 A better resurrection.
34:08 You can bury somebody in a golden casket.
34:11 It will not guarantee the first resurrection.
34:14 Amen!
34:15 And you can bury somebody in a plastic bag,
34:17 it will not prevent the first resurrection.
34:20 When we were in Dubai a few years ago,
34:22 and we were surrounded by opulent wealth.
34:26 But they humbled me
34:27 when I was amazed by a 7 star hotel,
34:30 24 carat gold around the frames and on the pieces in the rooms.
34:35 And by the way we didn't stay there
34:36 just for the record.
34:39 And they showed the pictures of the sheiks
34:41 and the men that have this opulent massive wealth.
34:45 And I said, "Well, what happened when they die?"
34:47 They said, "Oh, no matter how much money they have
34:49 when they die, we wrap them in a shroud,
34:52 take them to the desert, dig a hole, drop them in.
34:55 And the only thing we say is,
34:57 "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya."
35:00 No, I kind of changed that a little bit.
35:03 'Cause I doubt they talk that way in Dubai.
35:07 But they said, "In a few days we don't even know
35:09 what happened to them
35:10 because the sand covers them over."
35:12 Their wealth does not even buy them an opulent funeral.
35:17 They just cover them over
35:19 because they realize, that's it.
35:22 No matter how wealthy you are,
35:24 your money can't do anything for you right now.
35:26 Amen.
35:29 The soul that sins it will die.
35:32 Ecclesiastes 9:10. Go there with me.
35:35 Go there with me.
35:39 The Bible says, "Whatever your hand
35:41 finds to do, do it with your might."
35:43 In other words do it energetically.
35:45 And here is why?
35:46 "For there is no work or device or knowledge
35:50 or wisdom in the grave..."
35:52 And get these last three words, four words.
35:56 "Where you are going?"
35:59 Is that clear?
36:02 So if somebody says, "Where are you going?"
36:04 Read this text. "In the grave."
36:06 What does the text say? "In the grave."
36:10 When I was in New York recently,
36:13 my sister works for the Fire Department
36:14 in New York, and she was there for 9/11.
36:16 And she spent 90 days just collecting body parts.
36:22 She said they found the head of the chaplain
36:26 of New York City.
36:27 That when the buildings came down,
36:29 his body was obliterated.
36:31 Pieces of fingers, arms, limbs that are separated.
36:35 They spent 90 days and she said to me,
36:38 "I can quit now on insanity and get a full salary
36:43 because of all the things I've seen
36:45 over the last few years."
36:51 And so I said, "Now where have all these people been buried?"
36:55 She said, "There is no more place
36:56 in New York to bury anybody."
36:59 Unless you had a pre-purchased plot,
37:02 there's no space in New York to bury anybody."
37:06 So said, "Where did they bury them?
37:08 "In New Jersey."
37:11 Do you realize that
37:13 if the Lord doesn't return in the next 100 years
37:17 we won't have any place to be buried.
37:23 No amens required.
37:29 That alone ought to tell you that we ain't going to heaven.
37:34 We need a place to be buried.
37:38 And there we stay until Jesus comes again.
37:42 Amen somebody? Amen!
37:43 That's why when I hear pastor say,
37:45 "Well, we're having a home-going sermon
37:46 or a home-going service. You ain't going home.
37:50 You sure ain't going back to your house.
37:53 So they try to dress it up
37:55 where we're having a home-going service."
37:57 The home-going idea is not supported by scripture
38:02 except you believe what Job says
38:04 "The grave is my house."
38:07 That's the only home that we're going to be in
38:09 until Jesus comes back.
38:10 Amen? Amen!
38:12 Look at Psalm 115:17.
38:15 I'm teaching tonight.
38:17 I'm not preaching, I'm teaching, is that okay?
38:20 I want to teach, the Word of God is important
38:22 because people believe
38:23 that family members reunite in heaven.
38:25 People believe that people up in heaven
38:27 are having praise services.
38:28 They say that when Michael... You know what also?
38:31 In the world, no matter how you live,
38:33 you're going to go to heaven anyhow.
38:36 Michael Jackson they say is in heaven.
38:37 I don't know where he is. I'm not the judge.
38:41 They say the Rat Pack. Anybody know who that is?
38:44 Sammy Davis?
38:46 Well, you know, who I mean. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
38:50 Is that the other one?
38:51 Well, whatever you know who I mean.
38:54 Frank Sinatra.
38:55 They say the Rat Pack are in heaven.
38:57 They say Liberace is in heaven playing his piano.
39:00 My question is how did his piano get there?
39:09 That's why we've got to let the Bible speak for itself.
39:11 Can I get an amen? Amen!
39:14 Look at Psalm 115:17.
39:15 The Bible says,
39:17 "The dead do not praise the Lord."
39:19 The dead do not praise the Lord.
39:21 So while you're alive
39:23 you get a chance to praise the Lord.
39:25 Praise the Lord. Amen!
39:26 But the dead don't praise the Lord,
39:28 nor any who go down into silence,
39:32 not up into praise.
39:35 But now let me go ahead
39:37 and share an amazing concept with you.
39:40 If our thoughts perish when we die,
39:44 is it safe to say
39:45 that the brain also ceases to function?
39:47 Yes or no? Yes.
39:48 Okay. Now it's going to get deeper.
39:51 If the brain...
39:53 If people can be declared brain dead
39:56 while their heart is still beating,
40:00 are they still thinking
40:02 long after the heart stops beating?
40:07 That was deep, wasn't it? Yes.
40:10 If the heart is still beating
40:12 and they are declared brain dead,
40:15 meaning they ain't thinking diddly.
40:21 If the brain is dead
40:23 while their heart is still beating,
40:25 wouldn't it be safe to say that
40:27 when the heart stops
40:29 the brain also ceases to function?
40:34 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6.
40:37 That's why God teaches the following,
40:40 "For the living know that they will die,
40:44 but the dead know nothing.
40:47 And they have no more reward,
40:49 for the memory of them is forgotten."
40:51 It doesn't mean you forgot them,
40:52 it means the memory ceases to function.
40:55 "Also their love, their hatred,
40:57 and their envy have now perished,
41:01 nevermore..."
41:02 Say nevermore. Nevermore.
41:03 "Nevermore will they have a share
41:06 in anything done under the sun."
41:08 So the next time you have a dinner,
41:10 don't set a plate.
41:13 People do that.
41:15 Don't set a plate for your loved ones.
41:17 Don't throw salt over your shoulder.
41:23 And don't fall for the idea
41:24 that they're trying to send you a signal
41:25 'cause the clock is at 7:30.
41:29 This is what we are being bombarded with.
41:32 This is what the media wants you to believe.
41:34 Look for the signs.
41:35 If you can look for the signs,
41:37 you'll find that they're trying to communicate somehow.
41:38 No, they ain't communicating.
41:40 You know who's trying to communicate?
41:41 The devil is trying to communicate.
41:45 That's why the Bible uses the word in the Old Testament
41:47 "familiar spirits".
41:49 Somebody said, "But it looked just like mama."
41:51 Well, how long has the devil been around?
41:53 Don't you think he could take a picture of your mama
41:54 and re-duplicate it?
41:57 "But she said something only I knew."
42:00 He also has a tape recorder.
42:03 So don't be amazed that you heard something
42:06 that only you and your mama know.
42:10 The devil knows more about
42:11 some of us than we know about ourselves.
42:13 That's why the Lord made it very clear in John 11.
42:16 Come on, go quickly now.
42:18 John 11:14, verse 11-14.
42:21 Jesus said, speaking to Martha, speaking to His disciples,
42:25 "These things He said..."
42:27 Verse 11 of John 11.
42:29 "And after that He said to them,
42:31 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps,
42:33 but I go that I may wake him up.'
42:36 Then His disciples said,
42:38 'Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.'"
42:41 However, verse 13," Jesus spoke of His death,
42:44 but they thought that He was speaking
42:46 about taking rest in sleep.
42:48 Then Jesus said plainly to them together
42:52 "Lazarus is dead."
42:54 I was talking to a pastor once, and he got upset.
42:56 He said, "Do you believe in soul sleep?"
43:00 I said, "No, I believe in death."
43:08 This is not my topic,
43:09 but I want to add one more thing.
43:11 They said, "You don't believe in hell either."
43:12 I said, "No, we believe in a hotter hell than you do."
43:17 Amen? Amen!
43:18 'Cause there ain't nobody in the rotisserie forever.
43:21 When they burn up they are...
43:26 Amen somebody? Amen!
43:28 Then he give me that topic so I can't preach that one.
43:32 But the clarity of what happened
43:33 when Lazarus died was understood
43:35 by Mary and Martha.
43:36 Look at verse 23-24.
43:38 "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'
43:41 Martha said to Him..."
43:42 I like this "I know that he will rise again..."
43:46 When did she say,
43:47 "In the resurrection at the last day."
43:51 Clearly.
43:52 Let's look at the resurrections,
43:53 it's John 5:28-29.
43:55 By the way,
43:57 this is the teaching that has been deleted
44:01 from Christianity.
44:02 Deleted. Deleted.
44:05 They don't talk about it.
44:07 Death is somehow an alternate route
44:09 they don't talk about the resurrection.
44:12 I had a Baptist manual once,
44:13 or a Baptist pamphlet that said,
44:15 "Yeah, they'll be resurrected
44:16 so the body can be connected back
44:18 with the spirit.
44:19 The spirit comes down, goes back in the body,
44:21 and takes the body back up."
44:22 That's the only kind of resurrection
44:24 that is even surfacing to some degree.
44:26 But here's what the Bible says, John 5:28 and 29.
44:30 The Bible says, "Do not marvel at this,
44:31 for the hour is coming in which all..."
44:34 How many?
44:35 "All who are in the graves
44:37 will hear His voice and come forth.
44:39 Those who have done good, to the "what?
44:42 "Resurrection of life, and those who have done evil,
44:45 to the resurrection of" what?
44:46 "Condemnation."
44:48 There are only two resurrections.
44:49 The dead will be
44:51 in one resurrection or the other.
44:53 Each resurrection has a different destination.
45:00 The wages of sin is death
45:02 but the gift of God is eternal life.
45:04 Now follow carefully.
45:06 If the wages of sin is death, who receives the wages of sin?
45:11 The righteous or the wicked? The wicked.
45:13 Who receives the gift of life which is eternal life?
45:15 The righteous or the wicked? The righteous.
45:17 So how can the wicked
45:18 who don't receive eternal life live eternally?
45:22 Doesn't make sense.
45:24 The wages of sin is still death.
45:26 Amen somebody? Amen!
45:27 Revelation 20:6,
45:29 The Bible talks about the resurrection.
45:31 If you die before Jesus comes,
45:32 this is the resurrection you want to be in.
45:35 Amen.
45:37 "Blessed and holy is he who has part
45:38 in the first resurrection.
45:40 Over such the second death has no power,
45:42 but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
45:45 and shall reign with Him" how long?
45:47 "A thousand years."
45:49 The second death does not affect the Christian
45:54 but the first death affects everybody.
45:56 Everybody dies. Everything dies.
46:00 There's nothing that has natural immortality.
46:03 Everything dies.
46:06 But only those
46:07 that are raised in the first resurrection
46:10 doesn't die a second time.
46:11 So here's the formula,
46:13 born once without Jesus, die twice.
46:18 Born twice with Jesus, die once.
46:22 Amen.
46:23 Remember that formula.
46:25 Jesus said in John 11:25-26,
46:28 he made it very clear
46:29 about the blessing of the resurrection,
46:31 He says, and this another one I have to clear up.
46:33 "Jesus said to Martha,
46:35 'I am the resurrection and the life.
46:37 He who believes in Me,
46:39 though he may die, he shall live.
46:43 And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
46:47 Do you believe this?" Now what was He talking about?
46:50 Now you all know, you're theological.
46:53 Jesus meant that if you, now, get it,
46:56 He already said
46:57 "Whoever lives and believes in Me,
46:59 though he were dead yet shall he live."
47:03 But if you live and believe in Me,
47:05 you shall never die."
47:06 What did He mean?
47:07 He means the second death because everybody is affected.
47:12 Even Jesus Himself
47:17 was dead for three days.
47:20 Everybody is affected by the first death.
47:22 Let's look at the second death.
47:23 What happens at the second death?
47:25 Matter of fact, what happens at the first resurrection?
47:31 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.
47:34 Go there with me.
47:36 The fact of the matter is the righteous
47:37 will never die the second death.
47:39 Here it is.
47:41 Speaking about the coming of the Lord,
47:43 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep,
47:46 but we shall all be changed."
47:48 Every time I read that,
47:49 I remember seeing that sign on a mother's room.
47:53 You'll get that on Tuesday.
47:56 In one of the churches on the mother's room
47:58 where they change babies,
47:59 we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."
48:06 You are alive.
48:09 "When will we be changed in a moment,
48:14 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
48:17 For the trumpet will sound,
48:18 and the dead will be raised incorruptible.
48:23 And we shall be changed
48:25 for this corruptible must put on incorruption.
48:28 This mortal must put on immortality.
48:33 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption,
48:35 and this mortal has put on immortal,
48:39 then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
48:42 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'
48:44 'O Death, where is your sting?
48:46 O grave or Hades, where is your victory."
48:48 Amen somebody? Amen!
48:49 But now here's the point.
48:51 We've got to be changed before we go to heaven.
48:54 You're not going to go in the condition
48:55 you went into the grave.
48:56 Look at Job 14:14.
48:59 He made it very clear.
49:00 Job knew this is Old Testament and New Testament.
49:03 Paul says, "We will be changed from mortal to immortal,
49:06 from corruptible to incorruptible."
49:08 Notice what Job says in Job 14:14.
49:10 He says,
49:11 "If a man die, shall he live again?"
49:15 And notice this,
49:16 "All the days of my appointed time
49:19 I will wait together till my change comes."
49:25 I'm waiting for my change.
49:26 Let me say this,
49:27 even if you live till Jesus comes
49:29 you've got to be changed.
49:30 Come on, somebody. Amen!
49:32 This hair that turns gray,
49:34 these limbs that hurt for no apparent reason
49:36 will not be taken into the kingdom.
49:38 What do you say?
49:39 We will all be changed.
49:41 The Bible says, "He will change our corruptible bodies
49:44 that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body."
49:49 So here's the point.
49:50 If you haven't gotten to the first resurrection,
49:53 if Jesus has not returned, you have not been changed.
49:56 If you have not been changed,
49:58 you cannot die and go to heaven.
50:00 Mortal man cannot exist
50:02 in the presence of an immortal God.
50:04 Our God is a consuming fire.
50:10 Look at Job 14:10.
50:14 We cannot go to heaven until we are changed.
50:17 "But man dies and is laid away,
50:19 the Bible says, indeed he breathes his last..."
50:23 And look at the next three words.
50:25 "Where is he?"
50:27 Instead of us saying let the Bible speak.
50:30 "As water disappears from the sea,
50:33 and a river becomes parched and dries up.
50:36 So man lies down and together does not rise.
50:40 Till the heavens are no more.
50:42 They shall not awake
50:44 nor be roused from their sleep."
50:45 And Job says,
50:46 "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave,
50:48 that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past.
50:52 That You would appoint me a set time..."
50:54 And do what? "Remember me!"
50:56 Now I'm going to say it very quickly.
50:57 What Job asked is the same thing
51:00 the thief on the cross asked.
51:03 The reason why we believe
51:05 that he went to paradise right away
51:07 is because we don't read the verse before that.
51:10 Look at what the thief asked.
51:11 Luke 23:42.
51:14 The thief said, "Then he said to Jesus,
51:17 'Lord, remember me
51:20 when You come into Your kingdom."
51:23 Job said, "Appoint me a set time
51:25 and remember me."
51:27 The thief said, "Remember me when You come."
51:30 And the fact of the matter
51:32 is Jesus did not go to heaven that day.
51:33 He went three days later.
51:37 If you read both verses, it's cleared up.
51:39 What about the fate of David the apostle?
51:41 David the patriarch that is, Acts 2:29 and 34.
51:46 The fate of David was made clear.
51:47 You see the Old Testament
51:48 and the New Testament jive together.
51:50 Praise God for that.
51:52 "Men and brethren,
51:53 let me speak freely of you
51:57 or to you of the patriarch David..."
52:02 Speak on.
52:04 "That he is both dead and" what?
52:06 "Buried.
52:08 And his tomb is with us unto this day."
52:13 If you stop there you say, "Well, where is his tomb?
52:15 I'd like to go visit David."
52:16 But verse 34 says,
52:18 "For David did not ascend into heaven."
52:23 He did not ascend into the heavens.
52:25 So where is David?
52:27 He's waiting for the resurrection morning.
52:28 Can we say amen to that? Amen!
52:30 You see, the reality is, and let me reiterate this.
52:32 I said this earlier but it fits right here.
52:35 We are not saying
52:36 that we're not going to go to heaven.
52:37 I don't know why people hear that.
52:40 So they say, "Are you saying my mother's not in heaven?"
52:42 No, I'm saying, "She didn't go yet."
52:46 Right? Right.
52:48 I'm not saying she's not there. Saying she didn't go yet.
52:51 God's got a good plan,
52:52 I'm going to go when my mother goes.
52:54 Come on. Amen!
52:55 I'm going to go when my friends that are sleeping in Jesus...
52:58 We're going to go together. Amen.
53:00 Ain't nobody up in heaven having dinner.
53:04 Nobody moved into their mansions yet.
53:06 I don't know if Elijah lives in a mansion.
53:08 I don't know if Enoch lives in a mansion.
53:11 I don't know where Moses lives.
53:13 But we're going to all have a celebration together.
53:16 Read 1 Corinthians 15.
53:18 Don't go there now but read the whole chapter.
53:20 It's all about the resurrection.
53:22 It's all about what happens after you die.
53:24 The beauty of it is the Lord is going to come back.
53:26 Nobody outside of these three individuals mentioned
53:29 and the 24 elders have met Jesus yet.
53:33 We're all waiting for that grand reunion.
53:35 It's like the camp meeting
53:37 that will outlast all camp meetings.
53:40 Amen!
53:42 You want to talk about being happy?
53:44 Some of you that have never said amen
53:45 will finally say it.
53:48 I guarantee you that.
53:50 Some people said saying amen is cultural.
53:51 No, that's going to be dispelled in heaven.
53:55 Some of you have never said praise the Lord.
53:56 You will when you get there.
53:58 Somebody's going to shout.
54:00 I will be one, I guarantee you.
54:01 I remember years ago,
54:03 Doug doesn't always sing
54:05 but I'm going to try to get him to sing one day.
54:07 He likes to sing
54:08 but he's very nervous to do it publicly.
54:10 But he said, I said, Doug said,
54:11 "John, when I get to heaven it'll be easy to find me."
54:15 I call him Doug 'cause we're good friends.
54:17 I said, "How?"
54:18 He said, "I'll be the only one singing
54:20 throughout eternity."
54:25 But here is the grand reunion, now are you ready for it?
54:28 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18.
54:32 We're going to meet Him together.
54:34 Praise the Lord. Let's go quickly.
54:37 "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord,
54:40 that we who are alive and remain
54:42 until the coming of the Lord
54:43 will by no means precede those who are asleep.
54:47 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
54:50 with the shout, with the voice of an archangel,
54:53 and with the trumpet of God.
54:54 And the dead in Christ will rise" when?
54:56 "First.
54:57 Then we who are alive and remain
55:01 shall be caught up" how?
55:03 "Together." Mama resurrected.
55:05 My other mother resurrected. My friends resurrected.
55:08 And then we say, "You ready to go?"
55:10 "I'm ready. You ready? Let's go."
55:11 Caught up how? Together.
55:13 To do what? To meet the Lord in the air.
55:17 We haven't met Him yet.
55:19 And nobody who has died has met Him.
55:24 Let the Bible speak.
55:25 "To meet the Lord in the air.
55:27 And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
55:29 Therefore" do what?
55:31 "Together comfort one another with these words."
55:34 That's why I end
55:35 with the most beautiful promise of Jesus,
55:37 John 14:3.
55:39 He says, "I will come again."
55:42 Come on, say amen somebody. Amen!
55:44 For what?
55:46 "And receive you to Myself, that where I am,
55:50 there you may be also."
55:52 You see, friends,
55:53 the dead can't speak to us but the Word of God can.
55:56 Come on. Amen!
55:58 Dear friend, we laid to rest a few years ago,
56:01 he was a member of another denomination.
56:04 Never forgot him.
56:06 He was a pilot,
56:07 professional pilot for a commercial airline
56:09 many years ago.
56:10 He would always sit in our Sabbath School class
56:11 right upstairs.
56:13 Always tell us his pilot stories.
56:15 I said, "Did you fly a Cessna?" "No, commercial plane."
56:18 He told me all of his years of experience.
56:20 And he was so excited about Jesus,
56:23 he gave me a picture of the resurrection of Jesus,
56:25 the cross of Christ, and a poem,
56:27 and a little pendant that had a cross.
56:28 And he said, "Pastor, hold on to that."
56:31 And one day he missed it
56:32 so much he said, "Pastor, I need it back."
56:34 We were at prayer meeting.
56:35 I said, "I'll give it back to you next week."
56:37 I said, "Bud, here it is."
56:39 He came to my office after prayer meeting
56:41 and he said, "Oh, I'm waiting...
56:42 I've been waiting for that.
56:44 I want to put that on my wall when I go home."
56:46 He drove down the driveway
56:48 to exit Angel Lane and he died right there.
56:52 When he left my office
56:54 he said, "Pastor, I'll see you on Sabbath,"
56:58 because of the promise of Jesus,
57:01 we're going to spend Sabbath together in heaven
57:02 with my good friend Bud.
57:04 You see, friends, Bud is not there now.
57:06 If we let the Word of God speak,
57:08 the promise of Jesus will always be our security.
57:12 Not some alternate route. Let the Word of God speak.
57:16 We will see Jesus.
57:17 We will be raised, but the fact of the matter
57:19 is according to the authority of God's Word
57:22 the dead cannot speak to us but the Word of God can.
57:26 What do you say? Amen!
57:27 Thank the Lord for His Word.
57:28 Hold on to that until Jesus comes again.
57:31 Let us pray.


Home

Revised 2023-05-02