Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001411
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00:07 From Arcadia, California, the Carter Report presents
00:10 "The Living Word" around the world. 00:17 Hello, I'm Dave Deno and this is the Carter Report 00:20 with pastor and evangelist, John Carter. 00:22 This is where we tackle 00:24 the questions about a life of faith. 00:27 Today, we're gonna be taking your questions, 00:31 questions that have been written in 00:32 for Pastor Carter to answer. 00:33 We're calling this, Hot Potatoes, 00:36 More Hot Potatoes. 00:38 We'll have more for you in just a moment. 00:43 I wish you would come with me 00:46 to a land of more than a billion souls 00:51 all in need of hearing the Gospel of Christ. 00:54 Did you know this my friend, it is the duty of the Christian 00:59 to take the Gospel of Christ to our lost world. 01:04 And the lost world I'm talking about right now is India, 01:08 land of millions and millions of pagan gods 01:13 but more than a billion lost souls. 01:19 India cries out for God. We are now back on India TV. 01:24 We're broadcasting on prime time in India. 01:27 We need your prayers, we need your support. 01:31 Is it easy in India? 01:33 No, it's the hardest place we have ever worked. 01:36 Harder than Russia? Harder than Russia. 01:39 Harder than America? Harder than America. 01:41 Harder than Australia? Harder than Australia. 01:45 Because it is a land that's given over almost 01:47 totally to demonism. 01:50 Now I can tell you about those demons, 01:52 I can tell you about the false gods 01:54 but what I want to tell you today, 01:56 is about the true God and the true God 01:58 who told us go into all the world 02:00 and preach the gospel to every creature. 02:03 We're back in India. Yes, we are back in India. 02:06 And by the grace of God we're back in India to stay. 02:10 We want you to come with us. We want you to pray for India. 02:13 We want you to give for India and do it today. 02:17 Please write to me, 02:19 John Carter, Post Office Box 1900, 02:21 Thousand Oaks, California. 02:22 Write to me at Terrigal in Australia. 02:25 Email me, contact me and say, 02:27 yes, I'm going to stand with you 02:29 in the preaching of the gospel to the lost souls of India. 02:33 Thank you in Jesus' name and God bless you. 02:44 Welcome to the Carter Report. 02:46 Today, questions from viewers, questions that don't shy away 02:51 from the very tough issues of life. 02:54 Pastor, thank you so much for being here 02:56 and thank you for taking these questions 02:59 and meeting them head on. 03:00 Dave, thank you for coming today. 03:02 You are an old friend of this ministry. 03:04 We love you and we appreciate you. 03:06 I love being with you. Thank you. 03:08 Let's begin with a question that really puts us 03:11 into the frying pan right out of the shoe here. 03:15 This comes from Larissa. 03:17 She says, "Please pray for my friend, George 03:20 who does not know God and is caught up in every vice 03:23 there is, women, smoking, drinking, 03:26 gambling, parties and lies. 03:30 Pray that somehow he comes to know God 03:33 and leaves behind his life of sin." 03:36 Where do we begin in answering this? 03:38 I think he needs a big prayer. 03:41 I mean, she is just about to cover it all, hasn't she? 03:45 How about we pray for him right now? 03:47 Why don't we do this? Okay. 03:48 Let me have a prayer for him. Okay. 03:49 This is for you, George. 03:51 Dear Father in heaven, we pray earnestly for George 03:54 who is caught up in this carnal way of living, 03:58 which is going to lead him down to the gates of hell. 04:01 We pray that You will send a workman into George's life, 04:05 who can lead him to Christ 04:07 and to a knowledge of the scriptures. 04:09 Bless him, bless his friend in Jesus' name, amen. 04:13 Amen. 04:15 Seeing this question leads me to ask this follow up question. 04:20 Some of the things that she has listed here, 04:23 God says in His word, He has given us all things to enjoy. 04:28 He is our Father, He delights in blessing us. 04:32 He delights in seeing us happy and enjoying His creation. 04:39 There's nothing wrong with the man enjoying a woman. 04:44 God has given us that relationship. 04:48 There is nothing wrong with having 04:51 a wonderful time with friends, a party. 04:53 Sure, sure. 04:54 There's nothing wrong-- Jesus went to parties. 04:56 Yeah. Yeah. 04:58 I would argue that there is a problem with lying 05:00 and drinking and smoking. 05:02 But apparently, George is willfully 05:05 living a life that is opposed to God. 05:09 He's going against the scriptures. 05:10 He's fornicating, he is committing adultery. 05:14 He is lying, he's cheating, 05:16 he's getting drunk and all of those things. 05:21 George will need to come to a place 05:23 where he finds God and finds himself. 05:28 Because if a person lives this sort of life, Dave, 05:31 it's gonna bring him down, it's just gonna cripple him. 05:34 It's going to destroy him. Kind of eat him up inside. 05:38 So you know, we need to pray for George 05:40 but I want to say to the lady 05:42 who is good friends with George. 05:46 She needs to be a little bit careful too, 05:48 lest her association with George pulls her down. 05:53 Because, if you hang out with people 05:55 who are doing really bad things, 05:58 after a while there's a big tendency 05:59 if you decide to do those bad things too. 06:02 You and I know this is true. 06:03 I'm going to come over here 06:04 to 1 Corinthians 5:9 and onwards. 06:10 1 Corinthians 5, I think it is, verse 9. 06:15 "I've written you in my letter not to associate 06:19 with sexually immoral people." 06:23 Don't, He says, associate with sexually immoral people. 06:28 "Not at all meaning that people of this world 06:31 who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. 06:37 In this case, you would have to leave the world." 06:41 And so he's talking about people in the church, he says, 06:43 don't associate with people in the church 06:45 who are sexually immoral. 06:47 Wait a minute. You said people in the church. 06:49 Yeah. That's what he said. 06:51 And so there were people in the church 06:53 back here in the days of Corinth, 06:55 who were committing fornication, everything else. 06:59 And so the church is not immune, 07:01 Dave, to temptation. 07:04 And church members struggled with these sins 07:07 the same as anybody else. 07:08 So Paul says, don't associate with the person of the church 07:12 who is an idolater, a fornicator, 07:14 but he said I'm not talking about people in the world. 07:16 He said, if you stopped associating 07:19 with people in the world 07:20 who are fornicators and liars and cheats, 07:22 you would have to go out of the world. 07:24 So I imagine that this lady is associating with George, 07:31 a person in the world to try to lead him to Christ. 07:36 But she needs to be awfully careful. 07:41 To be brutal. 07:43 We are told not to cast pearls before swine. 07:47 Does there come a point, does there come a point 07:51 where we simply have to walk away 07:54 and stay away from that person. 07:56 Doesn't mean we can't pray for them 07:58 but that we have to disassociate ourselves. 08:00 Absolutely. Now you are right on the money. 08:03 2 Corinthians Chapter 6, 08:05 got it right this time, verse 14. 08:08 "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." 08:11 And then it says, "What agreement has there 08:14 between the temple of God and idols? 08:16 For we are the temple of the living God." 08:19 Then it says, "Come out from among them 08:22 and be separate." 08:24 The Bible says a believer in Christ 08:29 while he is in the world must be very careful, 08:34 that he keeps himself separate from sin 08:38 and lying and fornication. 08:41 Because if you associate a great deal with people 08:45 who are doing these things you got to be very careful 08:49 lest after a while you start doing it yourself. 08:55 God is our Creator. Yes, He is. 08:57 He knows us better than anyone else. 09:00 Yes, He does. 09:02 Perhaps that's why in Proverbs, 09:03 He says that when we see evil, don't even pass by it, 09:07 turn around and run the other way. 09:09 Yeah. Don't even get close to it. 09:12 Never, never, once look at pornography. 09:16 No. 09:17 If you got a computer, and I'm told you've got 09:21 opportunity there, a million opportunities. 09:23 Don't start because it's the path 09:26 that leads down to hell. 09:29 Let's go to another question. This comes from Reggie. 09:32 "Pastor, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:15 09:37 that the scriptures are to make us wise 09:40 for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. 09:45 Other verses talk about growing in grace 09:47 and becoming mature believers, 09:49 but yet I notice so many church goers just fall apart 09:53 over the least little trial that comes to them." 09:56 Yeah. 09:57 "As a young Christian, I don't want to be like that. 10:00 How can I best become a mature 10:03 and faithful follower of Christ?" 10:05 Read the Word. Get into the Word. 10:08 And read the Word. Become a disciple of Christ. 10:12 When you come to Christ, 10:13 God wants you to become not just a mere follower, 10:17 He wants you to become a disciple. 10:20 And if you read the Word, 10:21 and if you determine in your heart 10:24 that you're going to stand firm for God 10:26 whatever happens, like Mrs. Vitali. 10:30 A lady in Russia, I never knew her, 10:32 knew her son, who was a pastor. 10:34 His mother was brought up in a communist village. 10:38 Everybody hated God, somewhere toward Siberia. 10:43 One day, their cow got struck by a lightning 10:47 and all the communist and the atheists said, 10:49 "Are there any Christians here?" 10:51 Our cows are okay, your's got struck by a lightening." 10:54 You see. 10:56 Now this lady happened to be an Adventist Christian. 10:59 The church was many, many miles away. 11:03 She would start walking to church on Friday afternoon 11:08 and walk through the night Friday night. 11:11 In winter minus 40, going through the snow drifts. 11:15 At 6 o'clock in the morning she would get to a place, 11:18 to got a ride on a truck. 11:20 She would travel for three hours in the truck, 11:22 in the back of the truck. 11:24 Get to church, stay in church from 9 o'clock 11:28 until 6 o'clock in the afternoon 11:30 because she wanted the fellowship. 11:32 She wanted to hear the Word of God preach. 11:34 This was in the days of the Soviet Union. 11:37 And then after that she would walk back on Saturday night, 11:41 she would get on the truck, three hours. 11:44 Then she would walk through the forest 11:46 and get home on Sunday about 9 o'clock in the morning. 11:51 Why? Because she was strong. 11:54 Now there's no doubt about it, Dave, 11:55 this person has touched on a sensitive point. 12:01 We seem to breed today people 12:05 who do not have that resilience who fall apart. 12:09 But we must walk by faith not by our emotions. 12:12 So many people say, 12:13 well, I can't do it 'cause I don't feel like it. 12:15 I don't feel good today, I'm not gonna go to church. 12:19 I know I'll just-- they start crying. 12:22 We've got to get over that, 12:23 we've got to stop just going by that emotion 12:26 and we've got to put our eyes upon Christ 12:31 and we've got to walk the walk. 12:34 It is what we talked about in our pervious program. 12:37 A culture that lives by 'what's in it for me?' 12:40 So many come to Christ just for the "benefits." 12:47 And when times get tough, 12:49 this isn't what I signed up for. 12:50 Yes, yes. It's a sad commentary. 12:57 I can remember early in my Christian life, 13:02 coming across the concept 13:04 and the thought of be God's man. 13:08 Yes, yes. 13:10 And live my life striving to be God's man. 13:13 Amen. 13:14 Asking God to give me the ability, to guide me, 13:17 to fill me with His spirit, to help me to be His man 13:22 and to see my life and the life of others 13:25 around me as God's man. 13:29 As Paul said, "And having done all to stand, stand." 13:35 It's a difficult age that we live in 13:37 to be a Christian, isn't it? 13:38 Sure is. 13:41 The temptations, 13:43 I'm sure for young people are almost overwhelming. 13:47 We live not in a Christian culture. 13:52 We live in a paganized culture and there is an antagonism 13:59 and antipathy towards Christ 14:02 and the church and the Word of God. 14:06 But God has always had His men, 14:08 God has always had His women and He's got them today. 14:12 One thing, we have about a minute left 14:14 before we take a break. 14:16 If you could say to a friend sitting 14:20 across the table saying, "I'm struggling." 14:22 What is the one thing-- and I think I know 14:25 what you're going to say because you've already said it. 14:27 What is the one thing you would encourage them to do 14:30 to be stronger in Christ? 14:32 I would say this, Dave. 14:33 I would say if you are serious 14:36 and if you want to be strong in Christ, 14:38 then you've got to learn discipline. 14:40 Oh, but I'm saved just by-- No, discipline, 14:44 you've got to become a disciple. 14:47 And at first-- in the first part of discipleship 14:50 is to discipline yourself 14:52 whether you feel like it or you don't feel like it, 14:55 whether you are up or whether you're down, 14:57 is to read the word. 14:58 And not just to read any part of the Bible, 15:01 start with the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 15:06 You say my mind wanders, bring it back. 15:09 That's a good place for us to end this portion 15:13 and for us to pick it up in just a moment 15:16 as you listen to the Carter Report. 15:17 When we come back in just a moment, 15:19 we're gonna talk about what is heaven like 15:22 and can we get a glimpse of it in this life. 15:25 We'll be back in just a moment. 15:30 Did you ever have a sense of destiny? 15:33 Did you ever feel that God has put His hand upon you 15:36 for some tremendous task that you really got a purpose 15:40 that God has called you for such a time as this? 15:44 I have that sense, that conviction today 15:48 because God is opening up doors for us in Latin America. 15:53 And in Latin America, my good friend, 15:56 there's a revolution going on. 15:59 It's not a revolution in the streets. 16:01 It is a revolution in the hearts of men and women. 16:07 That's why the Carter Report is going to go to El Salvador. 16:12 We are renting an outdoor stadium 16:15 with room for more than 60,000 souls. 16:20 And we're planning a baptism in the-- 16:22 on the Sabbath afternoon 16:23 of more than 5,000 born again souls. 16:29 In El Salvador, in Latin America, 16:33 where there's a revolution going on, 16:35 where the Holy Spirit is being poured out. 16:37 Don't you want to be a part 16:41 of this great purpose, this great task, 16:45 this God designed outreach to Latin America. 16:51 Would you please write to me 16:52 John Carter, PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California. 16:56 Tell me, I'm going to support you. 16:58 Write to me in Australia. 17:00 Tell me, I'm gonna support the preaching of the gospel. 17:04 Write to me today, and support the preaching 17:07 of the Word of God, around the world 17:10 but right now in Latin America. 17:14 Thank you and God bless you. 17:30 Welcome back to the Carter Report 17:32 with pastor and evangelist John Carter. 17:34 I'm Dave Deno and we're looking at what 17:36 we call hot potatoes, these are questions 17:38 that have come in from you, our viewers. 17:41 And we're not shying away from the tough questions 17:45 and the controversial issues. 17:48 John, before we took our break I said, 17:51 we were gonna look at a subject 17:52 that is out there in front of us, 17:54 in the media today that is heaven 17:56 and people having a glimpse of heaven. 17:58 So here's a question that comes in from Nita. 18:02 "There is a movie on a book called Heaven is Real. 18:06 A true story about a four year old, 18:09 now eleven, who almost died 18:11 from the poisons of a burst appendix. 18:14 And while sick in the hospital, 18:16 he has a near-death experience. 18:19 And says, he met his dead great grandpa and a sister, 18:24 his mom miscarried years before. 18:27 He sat on Jesus' lap and next to the Holy Spirit. 18:32 I have read my Bible, I don't believe the lie, 18:35 "Ye shall not truly die." 18:38 Please explain, how and what happened to this boy?" 18:43 This is a difficultly for many, many Christians. 18:49 It comes down to this, Dave, 18:50 whether I shall believe the Word of God 18:54 or whether I shall believe in some exotic experience? 19:01 I'm not a doctor, psychiatrist, a psychologist. 19:06 Therefore, I'm not an authority on what happens 19:09 to a person's brain when he is dying. 19:13 But I've read enough to tell me that when a person is dying 19:16 there is a change 19:18 in the functioning of the brain cells 19:22 because of lack of oxygen and because of drugs, 19:25 other things and therefore people can see things 19:28 that may not be altogether true. 19:34 Having said this, I must go to the only source of truth 19:38 that I know in the world today 19:41 I believe, ultimate source of spiritual truth. 19:45 And I turn over here to the words of Jesus 19:47 in John 11:11. 19:52 "After he had said this, he went on to tell them, 19:56 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.' 20:00 Jesus had been speaking of his death, 20:03 but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 20:06 So then he told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.' 20:11 "So Dave, as a believer in God 20:15 and in the Bible, I believe that 20:17 when a person dies, he goes to sleep. 20:21 And he sleeps unconscious until the resurrection. 20:26 Now I know that many people 20:28 don't see it this way and they believe 20:31 that all the saints of God are home in glory 20:34 and the bad people are burning in the flames 20:38 of an eternally burning hell. 20:40 However the Bible teaches that there is eventually 20:44 a place of glory and a place of judgment. 20:48 But talking about the place of glory 20:50 or the place that we call heaven, 20:53 I'd like to come over here to what text, 20:55 I think it's 1 Thessalonians 4:16. 21:02 Now I took a funeral down at Palos Verdes, last weekend 21:07 and I talked to the people about these things. 21:10 You know this harkens back 21:12 to what you were talking about earlier, 21:14 and that is knowing your Bible, 21:15 reading your Bible every day and knowing it. 21:17 Yes, of course. 21:18 Because this is where, as you are demonstrating right now, 21:21 you find the answers to questions. 21:23 If a person does not know the truths of the Bible, 21:27 he is a sitting duck 21:29 for the great deceptions of the last days. 21:32 And you know I know this. 21:34 Verse 16, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, 21:38 with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel 21:42 and with the trumpet call of God, 21:44 and the dead in Christ will rise first." 21:48 When Jesus comes back, He comes back to raise the dead 21:54 and to wake up the sleeping saints of God. 22:00 Now if this is so, then that little boy, 22:03 God bless him, didn't see his great grandfather, 22:08 he didn't sit on Jesus' lap 22:11 and he didn't sit next to the Holy Spirit 22:14 who doesn't have a body. 22:17 The Holy Spirit is a spirit. 22:19 He doesn't have a body, so you can't sit next to him. 22:24 But that is only a tiny issue here. 22:28 The Bible teaches that the dead are sleeping 22:31 and the good news is that we have hope. 22:35 And even if we die in this lifetime, 22:38 one day we are going to be resurrected 22:41 and we are going to go to a-- 22:42 go to a better place that is called paradise. 22:46 What you're saying is that the "sleep of death." Yes. 22:50 Is akin to us sleeping overnight? 22:52 When we sleep overnight we have no concept of time. 22:54 Yes, yes. 22:55 No concept at all, so that a man 22:58 who died 5,000 years ago 23:01 will think it was five seconds ago 23:05 and he'll wake up 23:06 and his last thought will be his first. 23:09 Okay, I'm gonna challenge you. 23:10 Then he'll wake up in the kingdom. 23:11 I'm gonna challenge you with a question, 23:13 I can hear so many yelling 23:15 right now out to their TV screens. 23:17 They're yelling. And right now, wait a minute. 23:18 I'll say, Paul says, "To be absent from the body 23:23 is to be present with the Lord." 23:25 Yes, when Jesus comes. 23:27 Well, I am in this body, 23:29 while I am in this body of mortality and sin 23:36 I am not present with the Lord. 23:38 But when the Lord comes and gives me a new body, 23:42 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, 23:47 "This mortal is going to put on immortality 23:52 and so shall we be with the Lord forever." 23:56 We have one more question, time for one more question. 23:59 It's a very interesting question. 24:01 They all are. Yeah, they are. 24:04 This comes from Samson. 24:06 It's a good name. It is a good name. 24:09 Is the Quran, the words of God? 24:15 The Holy Quran as they call it 24:19 contains some good teachings, Dave. 24:23 But I'll tell you some things it doesn't teach. 24:25 It doesn't teach the doctrine of the trinity. 24:29 Now I believe in the trinity God the Father, 24:32 God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. 24:34 Do I believe in three Gods? 24:35 No, I'm a monotheist, but I believe 24:39 in the doctrine of the trinity. 24:41 I believe in the personality of the Holy Spirit 24:45 and the deity of Christ. 24:48 Now the Quran doesn't teach this? 24:50 Okay. 24:51 The Quran doesn't teach that Jesus is the Son of God. 24:54 The Quran teaches that He is a great prophet. 24:57 The Bible teaches that Christ on the cross bore my sins, 25:04 became my sin bearer, made an atoning sacrifice 25:09 for the sins of all of the world, 25:11 everybody in the world. 25:12 The Quran denies this. 25:16 The Quran says that one man 25:18 cannot carry another man's burden. 25:22 But our Bible teaches 25:23 that the Son of God came down from glory 25:26 and bore the burden of the world. 25:29 And so while I respect the Quran 25:33 and while I respect my Muslim friends, 25:37 I believe with all my heart and soul 25:40 that this right here is the holy Word of God. 25:45 And I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 25:49 And I believe that Jesus died on the cross. 25:52 The Quran denies that. 25:54 It denies that Jesus died on the cross. 25:57 I believe that Jesus died on the cross 26:00 and He bore my burdens and if I believe in Him, 26:05 I will not perish but have everlasting life. 26:11 Amen and amen. And amen. 26:14 John, we've been dealing with what we've called 26:15 Hot Potatoes questions from listeners. Yes. 26:18 I want to talk about 26:19 just the general area of questions itself. 26:23 As Christians, is it all right for us to have questions? 26:30 Is it all right for us to wonder 26:33 and maybe even to have doubts? 26:36 You quoted the text Before, Dave, in Isaiah, 26:40 God says, "Come let us reason together." 26:43 God is a reasonable God. 26:46 One of the greatest problems in the world today 26:50 is anti-intellectualism, where people no longer use 26:56 what God has given them to think. 26:58 God wants us to reason 27:01 and to search out the deep things of God. 27:04 To search the scriptures daily deceive these things us so. 27:08 The Bible says, if we search the scriptures, 27:14 trusting in God, in faith, in trust and in humility, 27:20 God will reveal His truths to us. 27:23 So, if we would be saved in the kingdom, 27:28 if we would be saved now from satanic deceptions 27:33 we must allow God to put into us His spirit 27:37 so we can search the scriptures and discover the truth. 27:42 That's a great place, 27:43 discovering the truth from God's word. 27:45 It is a great place for us to end our time together 27:48 as we explore questions that people have. 27:51 You've been listening to the Carter Report 27:53 with pastor and evangelist, John Carter. 27:55 We'd love to hear from you 27:57 and if you'd like to support this ministry 27:59 we are entirely viewer supported, 28:01 you may call if this possible. 28:03 You can write to us here 28:04 at the Carter Report, at PO Box 1900, 28:08 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:14 Elsewhere in the world you can write to us 28:16 at PO Box 861, Terrigal, 28:19 NSW 2260, Australia. 28:26 Email us at info@cartereport.org 28:30 and check out our website at www.cartereport.org 28:36 I'm Dave Deno and John, thank you so much. 28:38 Dave, thank you. 28:39 And friends, thank you for joining us. |
Revised 2014-12-17