Revelation Now (new)

Miracles Today

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jac Colon

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Series Code: RNN

Program Code: RNN000005


00:19 I want to ask you a question.
00:24 And I just want you to answer it inside.
00:28 Search your own heart and see where you stand.
00:39 Have you come to the place in your life
00:44 where if you were to die right now,
00:50 you would know without any hesitation,
00:52 without any doubt,
00:53 you would know that you'd have eternal life?
00:58 Don't answer out loud, just answer to yourself.
01:03 Have you come to the place where you would know
01:06 without a doubt or hesitation
01:09 whatsoever, if you would die right now,
01:11 you would have eternal life or,
01:16 or you are not sure,
01:18 or perhaps some of you may feel like
01:21 I know I wouldn't have eternal life.
01:25 Well, I've got good news for you,
01:28 the Bible says, "I write these things to you
01:31 who believe in the name of the Son of God
01:33 so that you may know that you have eternal life."
01:36 1 John 5:13.
01:38 God wants you to know, He wants you to be sure.
01:43 He doesn't want you to doubt, He doesn't want you to wonder.
01:47 God wants you to know
01:49 that if something would happen to you right now,
01:51 this instance you would have eternal life.
01:53 The problem is there are a lot of forces
01:56 that work in this old world
01:57 that want to take that assurance away from you.
02:01 They want you to doubt,
02:03 they want you to think you are not worthy,
02:05 that you are not good enough.
02:06 There are forces in the work in this world
02:09 that are trying to prevent you from knowing the lamb.
02:12 Open your Bibles to Revelation 13.
02:15 In the 13th Chapter of Revelation
02:18 you can identify them.
02:20 Actually let's start in Chapter 12:17
02:23 as it kind of review of what we've studied so far,
02:26 "Then the dragon was angry at the woman,
02:30 and he went off to make war
02:32 against the rest of her offspring,
02:35 those who obey God's commandments
02:38 and hold to the testimony of Jesus."
02:40 Two points of attack
02:43 that the dragon launches against God's people, the rest.
02:47 The King James says the remnant.
02:49 It means the last of God's people on this earth.
02:52 This is it, this is the last battle
02:55 that will unfold on this earth.
02:57 What are the two points of attack?
03:00 They obey the commandments of God
03:03 and cling to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
03:08 The law and the gospel, the law and the cross,
03:12 Jesus and His law,
03:14 the two points of attack in the last days.
03:18 We'll understand a lot more about that
03:20 but watch how this battle, how this war unfolds.
03:24 The next verse Chapter 13:1,
03:27 "The dragon," that's the devil, remember.
03:29 "The dragon stood on the shore of the sea
03:34 and saw a beast coming up out of the water.
03:37 He had ten horns, seven heads,
03:39 ten crowns on his horns,
03:40 on each head a blasphemous name."
03:42 The dragon sees this beast rise up out of the water.
03:47 Watch what he does, at the end of verse 2,
03:50 "The dragon gave the beast his power,
03:54 his throne and great authority."
03:58 So it's the dragon who gives his authority to the beast.
04:05 Now watch, verse 4, "Men worshiped the dragon,"
04:10 that's the devil.
04:12 Well, who would worship the devil?
04:14 Oh, there are few devil worshippers around but not many.
04:18 Who would really worship the devil?
04:20 Watch this, "Men worshiped the dragon
04:24 because he had given authority to the beast,
04:29 and they also worshiped the beast."
04:32 You see that's his plan.
04:33 The dragon, that's the devil gives his authority to the beast
04:38 and the whole world worships the beast
04:41 but in fact they are worshipping the dragon,
04:44 that's the devil
04:45 because he gave his authority to the beast.
04:49 That's his plan.
04:55 Why would they ever worship the beast?
04:57 We can sit here in this comfortable auditorium,
05:00 it's like not me.
05:02 I would never worship the beast.
05:05 Well, how does it happen?
05:07 Verse 11, "I saw another beast come up out of the earth."
05:10 First one came out of the water,
05:12 this one comes out of the earth.
05:14 Remember the Book of Revelation is symbolic,
05:17 these beasts are not real animals
05:19 running around on the earth,
05:21 they are symbolic.
05:22 "So the beast comps up out of the earth,
05:25 that's the false prophet, look at him,
05:27 he has two horns like the lamb.
05:37 He looks like the lamb.
05:44 But he speaks like the dragon."
05:50 He looks like the lamb.
05:53 "And he exercised all the authority
05:55 of the first beast on his behalf,
05:57 and made the earth and its inhabitants
05:59 worship the first beast."
06:01 So this false prophet,
06:03 a beast who looks like the lamb
06:05 forces the earth to worship the first beast
06:08 who comes out of the water
06:11 and get's his authority from the dragon.
06:13 Now how does he do it?
06:15 First, he looks like a lamb but secondly, verse 13,
06:23 "He performed great and miraculous signs."
06:27 And verse 14, "Because of the signs or the miracles,
06:30 he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast,
06:34 he deceived the inhabitants of the earth
06:37 and ordered them to erect an image in honor of the beast."
06:40 So the false prophet does miracles,
06:43 he looks like a lamb.
06:44 He appears as though he is a man of God.
06:47 He appears as though he is a follower of Jesus Christ.
06:50 He does miracles.
06:52 And by the power of the miracles,
06:54 he gains the confidence of the people
06:56 and somehow deceives them into worshipping the beast
07:01 but they think they are worshipping the lamb.
07:09 And that's the devil's master plan.
07:13 They think they are worshipping the lamb.
07:17 In verse 8, he tells us
07:18 all of the inhabitants of the earth
07:21 will worship the beast.
07:28 "All whose names have not been written
07:30 in the book of life belonging to the lamb."
07:34 Folks, we need to have our names written in that book, amen.
07:41 We need to have our names written in that book
07:45 because everyone else will worship the beast
07:49 thinking they are following the lamb.
07:53 Jesus said the same thing in Matthew, Matthew 7.
07:59 Matthew 7:15, "Watch out," Jesus said,
08:03 "Watch out for false prophets.
08:05 They come to you in sheep's clothing,
08:08 but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
08:13 False prophet, there he is.
08:16 He comes in sheep's cloth, oh, he looks like a man of God,
08:20 looks like a lamb, a Christian, a powerful preacher
08:26 but inwardly he is a ferocious beast.
08:32 It's the same thing John saw in Revelation
08:36 but watch what Jesus said
08:38 and this ought to get our antennas up
08:43 and grab our attention.
08:46 Verse 21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
08:53 will enter the kingdom of heaven."
08:58 Not everyone,
09:00 "but only he who does the will of my Father
09:02 who is in heaven."
09:04 Verse 22, "Many," how many?
09:08 "Many will say to me on that day,
09:12 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
09:16 and drive out demons
09:18 and perform many miracles in Your name?
09:26 And then I will tell them plainly,
09:30 'I never knew you,
09:35 away from me, you evildoer.'"
09:45 Not everyone who says,
09:46 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom.
09:51 Many people who do miracles in the name of God,
09:56 many who drive out demons in the name of God.
10:02 Many who can pray for healing in the name of God.
10:06 And Jesus said, "I never knew you."
10:12 What kind of a person is this?
10:16 Is this is a murderer, raper,
10:20 not raper, rapist.
10:24 You know what I meant.
10:27 Terrorist, mean, vile, vicious abuser.
10:35 These are the holiest looking people you can find.
10:39 They go around praying all the time.
10:42 They do miracles in the name of God.
10:44 They talk about the Lord all the time
10:48 and yet Jesus said I never knew you.
10:54 In fact if any of those people were here
10:57 and I ask the question,
10:58 how many of you know without a doubt
11:01 that you've come to a place in your spiritual life,
11:02 if you were to die right now,
11:03 you know you would have eternal life.
11:05 They would be the first ones to raise their hands,
11:07 wouldn't they?
11:11 Sure, they would.
11:13 So now I am going to ask you a hard question,
11:20 I ask you to search your own heart
11:23 and answer that question.
11:26 Do you know without a doubt that you have eternal life?
11:30 And some of you said, yes to yourselves, I do.
11:37 I want to ask you.
11:39 How do you know that you are not one of them
11:46 who think they have eternal life
11:49 but in the end they hear, away from me you evildoer?
11:55 How do you know you are not one of them?
11:59 Don't tell me it's because my spirit bears witness,
12:01 that's exactly what they would say.
12:05 So how do you know that you don't think
12:09 you have eternal life only to find out at the end,
12:12 they hear the words, I never knew you.
12:17 Is that a fair question?
12:20 It's a hard question but it's one we better ask ourselves.
12:26 What was the problem with these people?
12:29 I kind of read over it quickly, let's look at it again,
12:33 "Not everyone who says to me,
12:34 'Lord, Lord,' will enter kingdom
12:36 only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
12:42 You see, God is not interested in just lip service.
12:46 He is not interested in a bunch of people who are--
12:48 oh, praise the Lord, hallelujah,
12:49 I got saved on the beach of California 25 years ago,
12:52 while they are living the same old sinful life,
12:57 only he who does the will of my father.
13:01 Remember the two points of attack,
13:03 the commands of God and the cross of Jesus Christ.
13:07 Only he who obeys the will of my father.
13:10 In fact if you look at that last verse
13:12 and of you could read it in Greek,
13:14 "I never knew you, away from me, you evildoer."
13:17 The word evildoers is anomia in Greek,
13:21 it means, you lawless one,
13:23 you who lives without the law.
13:29 So how do we know?
13:30 The only way you can know
13:32 that you are among God's people
13:36 is that you do the will of the father.
13:41 That raises an interesting question.
13:45 How much of the father's will do I have to do
13:48 before I know that I've done enough to be sure
13:50 that I have eternal life?
13:53 How good do I have to be?
13:55 James tells us, little Book of James 2:10,
13:59 "Whoever keeps the whole law
14:01 and yet stumbles at just one point
14:04 is guilty of breaking all of it.
14:07 Because he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,'
14:09 also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery
14:13 but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."
14:17 So God demands perfect obedience to the law.
14:20 Remember, the law is that big circle.
14:22 He says, "This is the way I made you,
14:23 I made you according to these principles.
14:25 If you live within the circle
14:27 or these principles you are going to live,
14:28 if you step out of bounds you're going to die."
14:30 And that's why if we break one,
14:32 it's the same as breaking them all
14:34 because when we step out of bounds,
14:36 we break, we get hurt,
14:38 we suffer and bad things happen to other people.
14:42 So God wants perfect obedience.
14:45 He goes on to say in that same passage,
14:47 "Speak and act as those
14:49 who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom."
14:53 Freedom only comes so they agree
14:54 that we find ourselves in harmony with the law of God.
14:59 And God is not going to allow people into His kingdom
15:05 that don't trust Him enough
15:07 to want to be obedient to His law.
15:10 He's not going to let this thing rise up again in the future.
15:15 So God wants people who trust Him enough
15:17 to live their lives within that circle perfectly.
15:22 You say, "Ooh, pastor, that's bad news."
15:25 It is bad news because the Bible tells us in 1 John 3:4
15:30 that sin is transgression of the law.
15:33 Sin is stepping outside of the circle.
15:36 Deciding to live the life
15:37 the way you want to live instead of trusting God
15:41 to provide joy and peace and happiness
15:42 the way He made us, that's sin.
15:47 Sin is transgression of the law and heathen,
15:49 it gets even worse.
15:52 In Romans 6:26 the Bible says,
15:57 "The wages of sin is death."
16:01 Sin is transgression of the law,
16:02 sin is breaking the law and the wages of sin is death,
16:04 that's' bad news and it gets even worse.
16:06 We say, "Pastor, I don't want to hear bad news,
16:08 I want to hear good news."
16:09 Well, you can't understand good news
16:10 unless you hear the bad news first.
16:14 Good news isn't good news without bad news.
16:19 Sin is transgression of the law and the wages of sin is death,
16:24 and God demands perfect obedience to the law, bad news.
16:29 But the worst news, I am sorry,
16:30 comes in Romans 3:23, the worst of the bad news,
16:35 "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
16:40 That doesn't leave us with much hope, does it?
16:44 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
16:46 the wages of sin is death.
16:47 We all deserve to die and no amount of doing good
16:52 and obeying laws or anything else like that
16:54 is ever going to save us
16:55 because we have sin and the wages of sin is death.
17:00 Now comes the good news, are you ready for it?
17:05 Now comes the good news, verse 20,
17:07 "But now a righteousness from God
17:10 apart from the law has been made known."
17:14 So what is this righteousness of God apart from the law?
17:19 The righteousness of God,
17:20 righteousness is a kind of technical religious word
17:23 but it's really simple, it means right doing.
17:27 Well, what is right doing? What is right?
17:32 Paul said in Roman 7, the law is right.
17:36 So righteousness is right doing,
17:38 right doing is becoming obedient to the law.
17:44 Now a righteousness apart from the law
17:46 has been made known.
17:47 Here is the good news, verse 22,
17:49 "This righteousness, right doing,
17:52 this obedience to the law comes from God,
17:58 through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."
18:02 You see, God can only allow
18:05 those who are perfectly righteous,
18:08 perfectly obedient to Him.
18:10 Those are the only ones
18:11 He can trust to enter His kingdom.
18:13 We can't do that, we've already all sinned
18:17 but He sent His son, Jesus who was God
18:21 and became a human being like us
18:24 and He perfectly obeyed the law and He ascended to heaven.
18:30 And now He wants to give you as a free gift
18:33 the perfect life that He lived.
18:39 And that's the righteousness, the obedience that saves us.
18:45 Now the devil is not very happy about that.
18:49 He says, "God, you can't do that.
18:53 You can't do that because they are all sinners.
18:55 How can you just give them the perfect life Jesus lived?"
18:58 And God says, "Devil, you don't understand."
19:02 Listen, this is a verse
19:05 that's not often understood by many,
19:07 verse 25, "God presented him,
19:10 that's Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement,
19:12 through faith in his blood."
19:14 Why did He sacrificed Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die?
19:19 He did this in order to demonstrate His justice.
19:24 He did it in order to show that He is doing the right thing
19:28 when He saves you to whom He gave the free life,
19:31 perfect life of Jesus freely as a gift.
19:34 You see, when Adam and Eve ate the tree,
19:36 remember God said, if you eat the fruit from that tree,
19:39 you are going to die.
19:42 They ate it, God didn't want them to die,
19:47 He loved them.
19:49 But how could He allow them to live
19:53 and number one, still be saying the truth
19:55 when He said, if you eat it you will die,
19:57 that was His dilemma.
19:59 How could He allow them to live outside of the bounds,
20:03 the circle that provides peace and joy and happiness for us?
20:09 You see that was God's dilemma.
20:13 Well, the solution, the answer to the question is
20:15 Jesus came and died in our place
20:23 so that God can be fair
20:25 and just when He saves us
20:27 by giving us the perfect life of Jesus Christ.
20:31 He did this to demonstrate His justice.
20:34 Jesus died so God could demonstrate
20:37 His justice at the present time
20:39 and be just or fair
20:41 in the one who saves those who have faith in Jesus.
20:45 And the devil says, "Oh wait a minute.
20:46 That still doesn't wash with me
20:50 because they sinned, not Jesus.
20:54 Colon sinned, not Jesus.
20:57 Colon deserves to die.
20:58 Jesus just can't go die in his place."
21:02 And God says to the devil,
21:04 "You still don't get it, do you?"
21:07 Let me help you understand.
21:09 2 Corinthians 5, I believe,
21:13 maybe the most important verse in the Bible.
21:16 You should circle it, underline it, memorize it.
21:19 2 Corinthians 5:21,
21:25 "God made Him, that's Jesus Christ,
21:28 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
21:33 so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
21:38 What a verse.
21:40 God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us
21:43 so that in Him we can become the righteousness of God,
21:47 perfectly obedient to God.
21:50 Let me ask you a question,
21:52 I want you to raise your hands and answer.
21:57 How many have you believe that Jesus was sin?
22:05 Was Jesus sin?
22:08 And I see about half a dozen hands go up.
22:13 Does Jesus ever sin?
22:17 Let me read this verse again.
22:20 "God made Him
22:22 who had no sin
22:25 to be sin for us."
22:31 Now God made Him to be sin,
22:35 was He sin?
22:40 Is the Bible true?
22:43 God made him to be sin, was He sin?
22:49 Why is it so hard to believe what the Bible says?
22:52 I will tell you why some of you are struggling.
22:55 You think that I am saying that Jesus sinned.
22:59 No, God made Him who had no sin.
23:04 He never sinned, not in action,
23:09 not in word, not even in thought.
23:12 Jesus never sinned
23:14 but by a miracle God made Him to be sin for us.
23:20 What does that mean?
23:22 It means, like Peter said,
23:25 he bore our sins in His body.
23:30 God took the guilt for every sin
23:33 that you and I and the whole world has ever done,
23:36 He took all of that guilt and put it in the body of Jesus,
23:41 so that Jesus became sin.
23:45 Jesus became guilty for your sins
23:49 even though He never sinned.
23:53 But it was just the same as though He did
23:57 because God by a miracle
23:59 which I believe is the greatest miracle of all
24:02 takes the guilt for our sins and made Jesus guilty.
24:05 If you tell a lie, Jesus becomes a liar.
24:09 If you want to be a druggie,
24:11 Jesus is the one sticking the needle in His arm
24:14 even though He never did it, He become guilty of it.
24:19 If you insist on destroying your body
24:22 with alcohol and tobacco,
24:24 you are forcing Jesus to take a drink,
24:26 you are forcing Jesus to light up and take a puff.
24:29 He never did it, you did it.
24:34 But you're making Him become guilty
24:36 just as though He did.
24:41 And folks, that's why Jesus dies on the cross.
24:45 Not because of the nails in His hands,
24:49 not because of the crown of thorns on His head
24:54 but because He bore in His body
24:57 the guilt for your sins.
25:02 The abusers, the wife beaters, the cheating wives,
25:08 the liars, the murderers,
25:12 Jesus felt it all as though He did it.
25:17 He felt the sickness, the dirty feeling of sin,
25:23 the shame and it crushed His life.
25:30 He was made to be sin for you.
25:34 In fact He so identified with you that in verse 14,
25:39 "One died for all therefore all died."
25:45 Jesus became so much one with your sin
25:49 that when He died on the cross,
25:51 you died with Him and that's how God can say,
25:56 "If you eat the fruit you will die."
25:59 That's how God can say, "The wages of sin is death."
26:03 And then save those who choose to love Him
26:07 because Jesus became guilty for your sins
26:11 so much that He died, you died with Him.
26:15 And now in Jesus you become a new creation.
26:18 The old man is dead.
26:23 And now I am a new creation in Jesus Christ.
26:26 Well, how do I know He did that for me,
26:29 people ask me.
26:31 Not everybody is going to be saved.
26:32 In fact most people are going to worship the beast.
26:35 How do I know He did that for me?
26:39 1 John 5:11,
26:43 "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in the Son.
26:48 He who has the Son has life and he who does not have
26:51 the Son of God does not have life."
26:53 How can you know if you have eternal life or not?
26:55 It's simple, do you have Jesus?
26:59 If you have Jesus then you have eternal life.
27:04 If you don't have Jesus, then you don' have eternal life.
27:08 I don't care how many good things you do,
27:10 I don't know how many good deeds you worked,
27:12 if you don't have Jesus, you don't have eternal life.
27:15 So the next question obviously is
27:19 how do you get Jesus? How do you get Jesus?
27:23 Look at the next verse, "I write these things to you
27:25 who believe in the name of the Son of God
27:27 so that you may know that you have eternal life."
27:30 He wants you to know-- how can we know?
27:32 Look verse 14, "This is the confidence
27:35 that we have in approaching God.
27:38 If we ask Him for anything
27:40 according to His will, He hears us."
27:42 And we know that we have what we have asked.
27:45 So how can we be sure, what is our assurance,
27:48 what is our confidence? Our confidence is this.
27:51 If we ask Jesus for anything
27:54 according to His will, He is going to give it to you.
27:57 Is it His will to save you? Yes.
28:00 That's why He died on the cross.
28:03 So if you say, "Jesus, I want you to come in to my heart."
28:06 Will He come? Yes.
28:08 How do you know? Because He said so.
28:12 You know, the most profound little song
28:14 that I've ever heard.
28:16 "Jesus loves me,
28:19 this I know for the Bible tells me so."
28:28 One lady told me, "Pastor, I know I am saved."
28:30 I said, "Tell me, how do you know?"
28:32 Because when I got saved,
28:33 I felt electricity go up in my back.
28:38 I said, "What verse is that?"
28:42 Show me that verse,
28:43 I didn't feel any electricity on my back.
28:47 I know I am saved because Jesus said,
28:50 if you ask me and I promise you, I'll come
28:54 and He doesn't lie.
28:56 Revelation 3:20, He says,
28:58 "I stand at the door and knock
29:00 and if any man hears my voice
29:02 and opens the door I might come in?
29:04 No, I will come in."
29:08 If you confess your sins,
29:09 if you ask Jesus into your heart,
29:11 He will forgive you, He will come in
29:13 and He who has the son has life
29:16 and you can be sure of that.
29:21 You can be sure.
29:22 Now asking Jesus, you have to understand,
29:25 we've already said it's more than just saying the words
29:29 because not everyone who says Lord,
29:31 Lord is going to enter.
29:33 So it's not just saying Jesus come into my heart.
29:36 When you ask Jesus into your heart,
29:38 you have to ask Him in as your Savior
29:41 and as your Lord and Master.
29:47 And what does the Lord do? He rules.
29:51 Asking Jesus into your heart is saying,
29:53 "Jesus, I want to pray like You did.
29:59 Father, not my will, let Your will be done."
30:04 Asking Jesus in your heart
30:05 is asking not to be your co-pilot
30:07 but your pilot.
30:15 It's saying, "God, I messed up
30:18 and every time I try, I don't do very good.
30:21 Now I am putting it into Your hands."
30:27 And He will change you.
30:29 He will give you a new heart.
30:32 He gives you the perfect obedience of Jesus
30:34 and credits it to your checking account.
30:39 And He changes your heart
30:40 and creates within you a desire to be obedient to Him,
30:44 to want to live according to the way He made us.
30:48 To seek that peace and happiness
30:50 that He wants to give us.
30:53 We trust Him with that.
30:55 That's what asking Jesus into your heart means.
30:58 No, you are not going to be perfect
31:00 as soon as you accept Jesus.
31:03 But you're going to have eternal life
31:05 and in God's eyes you will be perfect
31:07 because His righteousness becomes yours.
31:11 First time Jesus went into a temple,
31:14 they were selling animals, cheating the people.
31:19 Now Jesus didn't step outside
31:21 and said, "Wow, you get out of there before I come in."
31:26 He didn't do that. What did He do?
31:31 He went in with a whip in His hand.
31:37 And He turned over those tables
31:41 and chased out the cows and chased out the goats
31:45 and the pigeons and the money changers.
31:54 You are the temple of God.
32:00 And when you say Jesus come in to my life,
32:04 all you're doing is saying, Jesus here is the whip,
32:09 come on in, clean it up.
32:13 And He starts chasing out those cows,
32:16 chasing out those sheep.
32:19 Get them out of there.
32:21 Turns over the tables, cleanse your life up.
32:27 I bet you some of those goats
32:29 and cows went around the back door
32:31 and came in again.
32:34 Sometimes they do that for us, don't they?
32:38 Lord, help me never do it again and, oh, Lord, I did it.
32:42 Forgive me, help me again.
32:46 And He keeps chasing them out
32:47 over and over and over again
32:49 as many times it takes to keep him out.
32:53 And He will chase him out
32:54 as long as you let Him have that whip,
32:58 but you have to say,
32:59 "Jesus, you see that cow over there,
33:02 the black one with the white spots,
33:06 that's my favorite cow.
33:09 Leave him, let be there, don't chase him out."
33:14 What you're saying is give me back the whip,
33:17 I am Lord here, don't trust you anymore.
33:23 As long as you let Him have the whip,
33:24 He is cleaning your life up,
33:25 no matter how many times you stumble,
33:27 no matter how many times
33:28 those animals come in the back door,
33:30 Jesus is there and He who has the Son has life.
33:35 And He will give you power, you will be victorious.
33:38 I know, He changes your heart
33:40 because I haven't always been a Christian, 12 year--
33:43 I was 12 years old, not 12 years ago.
33:49 I was 12 years old
33:50 and I went to a religious meeting something like this.
33:54 Now this is back in the days of hellfire brimstone preachers
33:57 and I am telling you
33:59 this preacher knew how to make it hot.
34:02 He preached the hottest hell you could ever imagine
34:04 and right at the end of the ceremony,
34:06 it just seems that he pick me up by my ears
34:08 and dropped me in the fire.
34:11 Who want's to get saved?
34:13 Oh, I bounced out of my seat,
34:15 I didn't want to burn in that fire,
34:19 so I got baptized, I got saved.
34:23 But you know when you serve God out of fear
34:27 of the hell's fire,
34:29 pretty soon those flames start cooling down.
34:33 That's what happened to me.
34:36 I went to a Christian high school.
34:40 I even went to a Christian college
34:44 and there on the campus of that Christian college,
34:47 I began to drift away from my Lord Jesus Christ
34:53 and I can remember exactly what happened.
34:57 One day I was in my dorm room,
35:01 some friends came in and they said,
35:03 Jac, we are going downtown to do something,
35:05 I knew was wrong.
35:08 Now I am not going to tell you what it was,
35:10 doesn't even matter.
35:12 What matter is that when you know that something is wrong
35:17 and you chose to do it anyway,
35:20 it works back on you and starts to dampen
35:25 that spiritual walk that you have
35:30 and makes it easier to do it again.
35:33 You know what I am talking about.
35:34 We've all been there.
35:38 And so I began doing more and more things
35:41 that were not a part of God's plan for me.
35:45 And by the time I graduated from that Christian college,
35:50 I didn't even believe in God anymore.
35:54 I thought that religion,
35:57 Jesus, God were crutches
36:00 for weak people to get through life
36:03 and I am not a weak person,
36:05 I am a man, I can make it on my own.
36:07 God, go help somebody else.
36:11 I didn't even care.
36:16 In order to show what a real man I was,
36:20 I joined United State's Air Force,
36:23 didn't stop to think that there were also
36:25 women in the Air Force.
36:28 It didn't prove anything. Oh, but I am the man.
36:35 I went to flight school, assigned to B52 bomb crew,
36:40 60 second bomb wing.
36:43 Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
36:49 I was Captain in the Air Force
36:50 with a 105 combat missions in Vietnam.
36:57 I was the man and I could do it all on my own.
37:01 I didn't need God,
37:04 except that I can remember sometimes
37:07 especially the first time we flew into North Vietnam.
37:12 You see, when we first went over there,
37:14 they gave us all the easy missions
37:16 around Saigon in the south.
37:18 There was no threat down there.
37:21 But finally, after we had some experience
37:24 went in for target study and there it was North Vietnam,
37:30 an area defended with anti-aircraft artillery
37:33 but we were too high for that
37:36 but there was surface to air missiles
37:39 and there were MIG bases not too far away.
37:46 So we did a pre flight climb on the air plane,
37:51 headed for Vietnam, North Vietnam.
37:57 The closer we got to that target area,
38:01 the more I began to realize
38:05 that there were people on the ground
38:07 that wanted to knock us out of the air.
38:11 And the closer we got to that target area,
38:15 the more I began to realize we might not be going home
38:25 and I got scared.
38:27 Oh, I may be the man all right but this man was scared.
38:34 Sweat dripping off of me like buckets full.
38:40 In fact I got so scared, do you know what I did?
38:46 Sure you do.
38:49 I prayed.
38:52 And to God, if you get me out of this mess,
38:55 I promise I will be good from now on.
39:00 Did you ever make a little deal with God like that?
39:05 Now praise the Lord, he got me out of that mess.
39:09 We landed back at the air base after we debriefed.
39:15 I was back at the officers club again,
39:19 drinking, living it up.
39:21 Forgot all about the little deal
39:24 that I made with God, after all I am the man.
39:27 I don't need God.
39:31 After five years I decided,
39:34 if am really going to make my mark on the world,
39:37 I need to make plenty of money.
39:40 It was a sin, sure I wasn't
39:41 going to get rich in the military
39:44 so I resigned my commission
39:48 and decided the best way to get
39:49 rich fast is to be a stockbroker.
39:52 I got interested in stocks
39:54 and played around with it a little bit.
39:57 So I took all the training, I became a stockbroker.
40:02 I was a broker for Paine, Webber, Jackson and Curtis,
40:05 one of the largest firms on Wall Street at that time.
40:11 And I set a goal to be a millionaire
40:12 by the time I was 35, and will be unto anyone
40:17 who dare to get in my way
40:20 because the only thing that mattered to me
40:23 was making money and I was going to make a lot.
40:30 It wasn't long till I discover that the business world
40:35 is just as vicious if not more than fighting a war.
40:41 Making money was the only thing that mattered
40:46 and don't you dare get in my way
40:50 because I am going to get there.
41:00 And I remember some of the people
41:03 that I did business with
41:04 because business was good for me.
41:06 I was considered one of the bright stars
41:09 on the horizon in my firm.
41:13 I remember at first $3,000 payday,
41:19 two weeks later another one.
41:21 Now that doesn't sound like a lot of money today
41:23 but back then that was plenty money
41:26 and it was just the beginning.
41:29 There was a lot more where that came from
41:31 and I was on my way,
41:34 millionaire by the time I was 35,
41:37 I never made it.
41:38 Still I haven't made it but I will,
41:42 because my millions are waiting for me up there, amen. Amen.
41:49 Oh, I remember walking down the streets of New Orleans,
41:52 big roll of bills in my pocket,
41:55 making sure the 100s were on top,
41:57 oh so everybody could see, oh, what a man, wow.
42:03 I remember walking down the sidewalks
42:05 looking at the big buildings, the cars, the people.
42:08 New Orleans, this is my city.
42:10 I got you in the palms of my hands.
42:12 Watch out New Orleans,
42:14 Jac Colon is here and it felt good.
42:21 Some of my friends, clients, had already made it all.
42:26 They had millions of dollars in the banks.
42:29 Made their fortunes in oil,
42:32 real estate, businesses.
42:37 They had big beautiful homes,
42:40 yachts, condos in Aspen,
42:43 on the Riviera with jet setters.
42:46 They could go wherever they wanted to go
42:48 anytime they wanted to-- they had everything.
42:50 Beautiful families, beautiful wives they had it all.
42:55 And I was going to get it soon even more than I thought
43:01 because I began to notice
43:04 that they were not happy people.
43:09 No, I am not saying that all rich people aren't happy
43:12 but I am telling you this group was not
43:16 a group of happy people.
43:19 There was something missing in their lives.
43:22 They put away a fifth of scotch in a day
43:24 without even thinking about it.
43:28 And they used my nice beautiful apartment
43:33 so they can cheat on their wives.
43:35 They weren't happy.
43:38 And I was beginning to discover for myself what it was.
43:44 I learned quickly that in order to be
43:46 successful in the business world,
43:47 you have to look successful.
43:48 You got to buy successful looking suits.
43:53 You got to drive successful looking car.
43:57 I couldn't afford a Cadillac or a Continental,
43:59 so I got me a little yellow Datsun 240z car.
44:03 That's successful looking enough for a starter.
44:06 You have to live in a successful looking place.
44:11 You have to associate with successful people
44:13 and I learned quickly
44:14 that in order to associate with successful people,
44:16 you have to spend successful amounts of money.
44:22 So I found myself spending more and more
44:24 in order to make more,
44:26 so that I could spend more in order to make more.
44:31 I was caught in this vicious circle.
44:39 The pressure began to build and I would work
44:42 harder and harder and longer and longer,
44:46 stress got to be too much, turn to drink a lot.
44:51 We passed volumes around like M&M's.
44:56 And they stop working, turn to alcohol.
45:01 I can remember stopping on my way home
45:03 at night in the lounges and the clubs
45:06 and standing in the dance floor with the strobe lights going,
45:09 the heavy beat of the music,
45:11 can of beer in my hand thinking,
45:13 wow, I am on top of the world
45:15 and then I go home
45:17 and I felt as low as you could ever get
45:21 because there was an empty feeling inside.
45:25 That's the devil's big lie.
45:27 Young people here tonight,
45:28 you are not going to find happiness like that,
45:31 maybe for a moment but it ends
45:33 and then you are down lower than you were before.
45:38 And it just kept getting worse and worse and...
45:44 I turned more to alcohol, experimenting with drugs.
45:50 And I believe something else at that time,
45:52 I used to believe a real man
45:54 never lets people know what's inside.
45:56 Did you ever heard that lie?
45:59 They had to keep it all in.
46:02 My life is a mess on the inside and I can't tell anybody.
46:05 I started staying away from my friends even
46:08 because I was afraid I might slip,
46:09 give him a glimpse of that awful struggle going on.
46:12 I even stayed away from my family
46:14 because they thought, oh, everything is just great, man.
46:17 He is riding the crust of the wave.
46:20 Have you ever been alone? I was alone.
46:26 I turned my back on my friends,
46:28 I turned my back on my family.
46:30 I turned my back on my God.
46:34 I was alone and I just wanted to die.
46:40 And that's when God began to work.
46:43 I am convinced sometimes He let us get--
46:45 let us get beat down so low
46:48 because He knows that's the only way we will ever look up.
46:54 You know, it was lunch time, didn't even feel like eating,
46:58 walking down the sidewalk, New Orleans.
47:01 Cars going by, I didn't have that buzz inside anymore
47:08 and I saw a sign on the wall,
47:11 of a window of a travel agency said,
47:17 Tahiti is calling you.
47:22 And I thought, Tahiti.
47:26 I have been working too hard.
47:28 I just need a break.
47:31 I used to love to go to the Caribbean,
47:32 I am a scuba diver and the Caribbean is just tops
47:36 but Tahiti sounded wow, great.
47:39 So I will go to Tahiti.
47:42 See, God was beginning to work in my life
47:44 because he had to stop,
47:46 He wanted me to make on the way.
47:49 I got somebody to cover all my accounts
47:52 and I got on that big jet going to Club Med, Tahiti.
47:58 Oh, it doesn't get better than that, does it?
48:01 Wild club, party, lot of fun.
48:07 I stopped in Los Angeles
48:08 and spend two nights with some friends of mine,
48:10 from that Christian college so many years ago.
48:14 And while I was there, went to bed that night,
48:19 reach out to bookshelves
48:20 to get a book to read, I love reading.
48:23 And there was that book, The Planet in Rebellion.
48:28 Look like a science fiction book to me.
48:31 So I took it off the shelves, George Vandeman,
48:35 turned out that was a religious book.
48:37 He is an evangelist, passed away now.
48:41 I started reading and I got interested in it.
48:45 So the next morning I said,
48:47 "Hey, can I take this with me to Tahiti?"
48:50 Yeah, they were surprised, I wanted a book like that
48:51 but they said sure, take it.
48:54 So I got on a big jet for Tahiti
48:56 with The Planet in Rebellion in my briefcase.
49:00 We landed in Papeete,
49:02 got a little boat to the island of Moorea.
49:04 We were greeted by the beautiful Tahitian dancing girls.
49:07 They gave us some refreshment to drink,
49:10 put a crown of flowers on our heads.
49:12 Oh, man, I felt good already.
49:14 First day there I went swimming,
49:17 scuba diving, water skiing, played tennis,
49:21 enjoyed the big buffet, lunch they had for us
49:25 and dance band late that night.
49:27 making my way back to my bed,
49:29 I thought wow, that's all I needed just to live hard,
49:32 play hard and I will be ready to go back to work.
49:35 Well, God had a different idea
49:36 because I woke up in the middle of the night
49:39 with a headache you would never believe.
49:42 It wasn't what you think it is.
49:45 I had got an ear infection
49:48 in both of my ears and it hurt.
49:53 Hurt to lay down, hurt to stand up, hurt to do anything.
49:56 I got up, walked up and down the beach
49:58 until the infirmary opened early that morning,
50:00 I went into the infirmary.
50:02 Doctor took a look in there and he said something in French,
50:05 I don't know what it was
50:09 but the nurse said you got ear infections.
50:14 You need to stay out of the water.
50:17 I said, "What?" No scuba diving?
50:23 No scuba diving for sure.
50:25 Water skiing, just my ankles were going to get wet.
50:28 No water skiing, you might fall down.
50:30 I don't fall down. No water skiing.
50:35 No swimming. I will go play tennis.
50:38 Every step just sheer agony.
50:43 There was nothing for me to do in Tahiti.
50:47 So I went to my bed and I open my briefcase
50:50 and took out The Planet in Rebellion
50:53 and I began to read.
50:57 And I read about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
51:03 and God made Him to be guilty for my sins.
51:11 And it just seem so real to me
51:14 that I can see Jesus laying on that cold ground
51:18 crying out, father, not my will, let your will be done.
51:26 And I realize He was doing that for me, Jac Colon.
51:33 And for the first time in my life
51:36 I began to understand what real love was all about.
51:43 And for the first time in my life
51:46 I realized that Jesus Christ was a real man
51:54 and Jac Colon was just a phony.
52:02 And then I read the next part, Calvary.
52:08 How He was tried like a common criminal,
52:13 beat, spit on, dressed in a purple robe,
52:16 stick in His hand,
52:18 marked as the king of the Jews.
52:21 He had to carry that cross up the hill
52:23 so he couldn't go anymore
52:25 and somebody had to take it for Him.
52:28 It was so real,
52:31 it seems like I was right there watching
52:34 as they stretch His arms out on those rough boards.
52:40 And I can see the Roman soldiers
52:42 just pick up the big nails, heavy hammer
52:46 and drive them through His hands,
52:50 same hands that He reached out
52:51 and healed, touched, loved
52:58 and now they are nailing them
53:02 to the old rugged cross because of me.
53:08 It was so real, it's like I was right there.
53:13 And I could almost see them
53:15 as they picked up that cross
53:18 dropped it in the hole prepared for Him.
53:20 What a sickening thought.
53:23 His body racking in pain,
53:27 hanging on the cross like that old serpent on the pole.
53:33 So real.
53:36 I felt like I was standing right there.
53:41 It seems like His eyes locked on mine.
53:47 And He said, "Father, forgive him
53:54 because he doesn't even know what he is doing."
54:00 And that was all I could take.
54:06 So I slipped to my knees
54:09 beside my bed in Club Med at Tahiti.
54:13 And I said, "God, I give up. I give up.
54:20 If anyone is going to do anything
54:21 with this miserable life,
54:23 it's gonna have to be You because I can't."
54:28 At that moment it felt like a heavyweight
54:30 was lifted off of my shoulders
54:33 and I became a new person
54:38 in Club Med at Tahiti.
54:43 And God told His angel, go and write the name,
54:46 Jac Colon in the Lamb's Book of Life.
54:54 As far as I know, I am the only person on this planet
54:57 that ever got saved at the Club Med.
55:01 You can't get too far away from God.
55:05 He will find you. He will come after you.
55:11 I went back to the States
55:13 and I didn't even want to go back to work.
55:17 I said, give me another week,
55:18 I stayed home, read my Bible all the way through
55:23 and then I decided, I don't want to be
55:25 a stockbroker anymore.
55:26 Nothing wrong with being a stockbroker,
55:27 don't misunderstand me.
55:29 I just didn't want to do it anymore
55:31 but I didn't know what else to do.
55:33 It wasn't much of a demand
55:34 for dropping bombs in civilian life.
55:41 So I prayed, I said, "God,
55:42 whatever you want me to do let me know.
55:45 You open the door, I walk through it."
55:46 Never pray that prayer,
55:51 unless you really mean it
55:54 because just the few days later,
55:55 I went to church and the evangelist
55:58 spoke in our church, talking about evangelism
56:01 and I just knew that's what God wanted me to do.
56:03 I went up to him, afterwards I told him my story
56:06 and he said to me, he says, "Jac,
56:08 I'm going to be teaching a class
56:10 for Bible college down in Texas.
56:12 I'm going to be teaching a class in Oklahoma City.
56:15 They are coming up there and I am going to show them
56:17 how to do evangelism. Why don't you come?"
56:19 I said, "I will be there."
56:20 So I can't pay you much, just a $100 for six weeks,
56:24 didn't matter anymore, I didn't care.
56:26 So I quit my job at Paine Webber and packed everything
56:28 I can get into that yellow Datsun 240z,
56:31 left New Orleans, bound for Oklahoma City,
56:34 filled with peace and joy and happiness
56:36 and knowing that it's just me and God.
56:39 And God blessed my work there.
56:42 And as a result I helped many people find Jesus
56:47 and I got the attention of a few people.
56:50 And by the time I finish that,
56:51 I had an invitation to be a pastor
56:53 of a little church in Claremore, Oklahoma.
56:57 Four weeks, less than six weeks, after I was baptized,
57:02 I was a pastor of a little church.
57:06 I didn't know what I was doing
57:07 but I knew Him and He knew what to do.
57:13 That's not the only thing that happened to me there
57:15 because the last weekend of that prophecy seminar
57:19 I met the evangelist's daughter.
57:33 We fell in love, got married a year later
57:39 and we believe with all of our hearts
57:40 that God brought us together
57:43 just to be able to tell people like you,
57:47 here and around the globe
57:49 watching on television
57:52 about Jesus Christ. Amen.
57:55 And how He made something beautiful out of my life.
58:00 He wants to make something beautiful out of your life too,
58:04 if you just let Him.


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Revised 2014-12-17