Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: AA
Program Code: AA000008
|
00:05 In a world surrounded by darkness there is a voice
00:09 that whispers to every young heart, urging them 00:13 to find the treasure of truth. Those who follow 00:23 the path will discover eternal riches beyond 00:26 their wildest dreams. Join us now for an 00:29 amazing adventure, a journey for life with Jesus. 00:36 Good evening friends, welcome again to another 00:38 amazing adventure. We're so glad that you joined us. 00:42 This is night number 8 of this 10 part series. 00:46 Thanks for coming out tonight, anybody here for the first 00:49 time this evening. Sure enough, welcome. Well, 00:52 at this time I'm gonna invite those here to stand as we 00:59 sing our theme song. Let's stand together. 01:07 Life is an adventure following the king. 01:12 Everyday with Jesus makes us want to sing. 01:17 Walking in the spirit, he will lead the way. 01:23 With his word to guide us glowing deep inside us. 01:27 Nothing can divide us following the king. 01:34 Life is an adventure following the king. 01:38 Everyday with Jesus makes us want to sing. 01:43 Conquering with kindness everywhere we go. 01:48 Voices we are raising, Jesus we are praising. 01:54 Life is so amazing following the king. 01:59 Life is so amazing following the king. 02:06 Please remain standing for our scripture reading 02:09 and prayer. I'm going to invite our volunteers 02:11 to come forward. Tell us your name, how old you are 02:15 and what the scripture reading is tonight. 02:17 My name is Karamina and I am nine-years-old 02:20 and we are gonna be reading from First 02:22 Thessalonians 4:16. For the Lord himself will descend 02:26 from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an 02:28 archangel, and with the trumpet of God and 02:31 the dead in Christ will rise first. 02:34 Thank you very much. Our prayer has been 02:36 brought to us by, Michael tell us 02:39 how old you are? I'm 11. 02:41 Would you pray for us? Yes. 02:43 Let's bow our heads for prayer. 02:45 Dear, heavenly father, we thank you for this 02:48 wonderful day, please bless the message that is going 02:51 to be delivered to us. In Jesus name, Amen. 02:54 Amen, thank you very much, you may all be seated. 02:57 I'm going to invite Pastor Doug to come for our 02:59 Bible questions. Pastor Doug, we've got quite 03:01 a few video questions that have come in. 03:03 Alright And, so we'll start 03:04 with a video question. Evening friends. 03:07 My name is Steve, and I'm eight years old and 03:11 my question is, where is heaven now? 03:14 Where is heaven now? When you say the word heaven 03:16 in the Bible, it's used three ways. The Jews had 03:20 what they called the first heaven, which is the 03:23 atmosphere around the earth, that's the air you breathe, 03:26 where the birds fly and the clouds float, that's 03:28 called the first heaven. The second heaven is the 03:32 space where the sun and the moon and the stars are. 03:35 So, when we aim our telescope at the heavens 03:37 we're talking about the space. The third heaven, 03:40 the apostle Paul talks about that is paradise, 03:43 the dwelling place of God. We always pray and we think 03:47 up in heaven, but you know, depending on how the 03:51 world is turning, heaven may not be up, 03:53 it might be that way, it might be that way, 03:55 you never wanna say I wanna go down to heaven 03:57 because you always think about the other direction there. 04:00 But there is a place out in space called heaven were 04:03 God dwells, the constellation Orion is mentioned 04:07 a couple of times in the Bible, many Christian 04:08 astronomers think that its off through the corridors 04:12 of that Nebula and so we are not exactly sure, 04:16 but its out there and we're gonna talk about that during 04:19 our last study tomorrow night. 04:21 Pastor Doug, we've got a question that somebody 04:23 sent in, if the devil knows the Bible and that he will 04:27 be destroyed, why doesn't he just change his mind 04:29 and ask God to forgive him. Well, the devil had a long 04:33 time to change his mind, he had a big opportunity 04:36 and he was too proud and stubborn and, finally 04:40 the door of his probation closed. 04:42 You know, it's like in baseball you see three 04:45 strikes, you're out. God gave him many chances and there 04:47 are no more chances and he knows, it says in 04:50 Revelation chapter 12. The devil knows his time 04:53 is short, so instead of being kind or apologizing, 04:58 he is trying to be as destructive as he can be, 05:01 he is too proud, and he is too stubborn to apologize. 05:05 Oh! We have another video question, Pastor Doug. 05:08 My name is Rosie, I am 12 years old and 05:10 my question is, since God can do anything, why didn't 05:13 he save us without the death of Christ. 05:16 Since God can do anything, why can't he or how come 05:20 he can't save us without Jesus needing to die. 05:23 The fact the Jesus needed to die tells us how important 05:27 God's law is, and how deadly sin is. There was no other 05:32 way because God is a good God and he is a just God, there 05:36 is no other opportunity that he had. It's like a 05:39 story I heard one time about this Crown Prince. 05:42 He was a Prince, and he was a Prince in Arabia 05:44 and his father had a lot of wives. He had, they 05:46 called it a Harem or a Harem, and nobody was ever supposed 05:51 to look in to the chambers of the Harem where all the 05:54 women lived. But the Prince one day, if he did his eyes 05:57 were gonna be knocked out, if anybody went in and 06:01 and looked to in the Harem without the king's 06:03 permission, their eyes were plucked out. Well, the 06:05 Crown Prince said, I am the Crown Prince, I can do 06:07 whatever I want, so one day his son went marching off 06:11 into the quarters of the wives and everyone 06:13 said Oh! That's against the law of the king 06:16 and pretty soon word came to the king and the king said, 06:19 what shall I do? My law says nobody, 06:23 but he is my son, I love him, but I am a king, 06:27 so you know what the king did, he said in order 06:29 to be just, in order to be loving, he plucked out 06:32 one of his son's eyes and one of his own. So they 06:35 could still both see. See God was faced with this problem 06:39 that we broke his law, and the penalty was Sin is dead, 06:42 he said, I love you so much, I am gonna give you a chance, 06:44 I'll become a man, I'll come to earth and I will die 06:48 for you, if you trust in me, you'll get another chance, 06:53 and so there was no other way. Pastor Doug its getting 06:57 closed to the end of October and you can walk toward 07:01 the store and you see all the Halloween decorations, 07:04 so this person is asking people say that Halloween 07:06 is the devil's birthday, is it true? And why can't 07:10 we participate in Halloween activities? 07:13 You know, tonight our lesson's dealing with the 07:15 subject of death and some of the devils tricks. 07:19 And, I know the kids like dressing up and the idea of 07:22 candy in door-to-door can seem very appealing, but 07:25 if there is a holiday that Christians should avoid 07:29 I would think it's a holiday that has to do with the devil 07:31 and witches and scary things and death and so I don't 07:36 believe the Christians can support that, the history of 07:39 Halloween it's not from the Bible. A lot of it 07:41 has to do with the occult and things like that, but 07:47 you need to be careful. You know, Pastor Doug I heard 07:49 a story once about a little boy who had for many years 07:53 dressed up and gone out and trick or treated, but his 07:56 parents became Christian and they didn't think that that 07:58 was something that their son should do and so mother 08:02 explained to the little boy we are not going to be doing 08:03 this again and she was walking down the hall way 08:07 and her son came out from his bedroom dressed up 08:10 like the ghost. Now, she knew what was happening, 08:13 he was gonna go do trick or treating. Mother said, 08:16 no we don't do that anymore in the house and 08:18 the little boy thought for moment, scratched his head 08:20 and finally said, but mommy I am dressed up like 08:22 the Holy Ghost. Well, Pastor Doug I don't 08:26 think there is anything holy about Halloween. 08:29 That's good. We have our final question, 08:31 a video question. Okay. 08:34 My name is Diana, I am 11 years old, 08:36 I would like to know if the Holy Spirit can talk to you. 08:41 Can the Holy Spirit talk to you? You know, the 08:44 Holy Spirit talks to you all the time. Matter of fact, 08:46 I have got something, we just happen to have something, 08:49 a volunteer who maybe to go in the who has not been 08:52 up yet to the mystery chest. Judith, you haven't been 08:55 up to the mystery chest yet, alright come on, 08:57 look in there, look in the mystery chest, there will be 08:59 a bowl and in the bowl you might find something that 09:01 a person can listen with. Okay, go and reach and there 09:05 is big bowl with two big rubber things, they look 09:07 sort of like ears. Okay, now what was the question 09:19 can the Holy Spirit? Can the Holy Spirit 09:21 speak to us? My ears are so big, they 09:36 barely fit in here, all by themselves. Now, the reason 09:42 I did this, is for one thing, it keeps your attention, 09:45 the other reason I did it is because you got two kinds 09:48 of ears, you got the kinds of ears where you want to 09:51 hear the things you want to hear, and then 09:52 there is a spiritual ear and you can pray that God 09:56 will help enlarge your spiritual ears, so that you 09:59 can hear his voice. Did you know there is a scripture 10:01 that talks about this? In Revelation chapter 3, 10:05 verse 6, it says, he that has ears let him hear 10:11 what the spirit says to the church. Does God's 10:15 Spirit talk to us? Yeah, you know, problem is 10:18 down here on earth the Lord sees that we go 10:20 around like this and we don't hear what he is 10:23 saying to us. I'll let you have these, if you promise 10:28 not to play with them until after the program, okay 10:29 Okay. Thank you Judith. 10:31 Was that our last question. That was the last question 10:34 and we're gonna invite our amazing adventure singers 10:36 to come forward and they will be singing 10:39 for us, 'he will be exalted.' 10:54 The King of heaven at his rightful place on heaven's 11:03 throne, he went to Galilee, where he suffered all alone. 11:15 The king was humbled when he bore the sin of every man, 11:26 but one day awaits the lord is coming again. 11:35 He will be exalted to the highest place, every eye 11:47 shall see him and behold his place, to the mighty 11:58 throne of Jesus, Jesus, all the worship we will bring 12:08 and proclaim him lord of lords and king of kings. 12:23 The thunder crashes to pronounce Christ throne 12:30 upon the earth, the lightening rushes to proclaim 12:39 his master's word, though men reject him, Christ alone 12:49 shall reign supreme at last, all his enemies shall 12:59 wither like the grass. He will be exalted to the 13:11 highest place, every eye shall see him and behold 13:22 his place, to the mighty throne of Jesus, Jesus, 13:32 all the worship we will bring and proclaim him 13:40 lord of lords and king of kings, and 13:48 proclaim him lord of lords and 13:53 king of kings, king of kings, king of kings. 14:16 Beautiful, thank you so much, I have just been 14:19 very thrilled with the wonderful music that 14:22 Gratziela and her singers and Kelly had been providing 14:25 for us it's been a real blessing. Well, it's so 14:28 good to see each of you here with us in Richardson, 14:30 Texas and our friends who are watching. Oh! 14:33 It's exciting to hear all the emails and the notes and 14:36 the pictures that are coming in from all over the country, 14:39 all over the world, of people who are joining us on this 14:42 amazing adventure. Well, tonight we have a 14:45 special lesson that may seem a little bit spooky and its 14:49 dealing with the subject of Whistling through 14:52 the Graveyard. Now, you know, there is a cemetery in Paris, 15:00 and they are catacombs and these catacombs are filled 15:06 with the bones of about a 160,000 deceased Parisians. 15:12 What happened is during the 18th century. There, 15:16 at the cemeteries in Paris just got so overcrowded and 15:19 unsanitary that they finally needed to start burying 15:22 people underground and they had all of these old 15:25 mines underneath the city. A 190 miles of mines and 15:33 they disinterred, they dug up all the people from the 15:36 cemeteries and they put them down and they lined the 15:39 walls from mile after mile with bones and skulls, 15:43 they could have just throw them out, cause they didn't 15:44 want to be disrespectful so they buried them 15:46 under the city and people come from around 15:48 the world and they have got about Oh! 100,000 people 15:52 visit a year looking at all of these bones 15:56 in the catacombs. They only open about a mile 16:00 of the catacombs, because years ago one fellow wandered 16:03 off on his own and they didn't find him until 16:06 11 years later and he wasn't alive. That would be 16:12 terrible to get lost in that spooky place or to be down 16:14 there when the lights get turned off. You ever have 16:17 to walk through a cemetery at night does that make 16:20 you feel spooky. One time before I was a Christian, 16:25 I ran away from home when I was 13 years old and 16:28 I was by myself and I had to walk through a cemetery 16:32 at night, it was the shortest way to go to get the mount 16:35 where I was going and it kind of scared me 16:37 a little bit, I was looking around, I was just hoping 16:39 no one was gonna reach out of their grave 16:40 and grab me. Because you know, people are sometimes 16:44 scared of death and people are scared of cemeteries 16:49 and ghosts and things like that, but then I read 16:52 the Bible and I found out the truth about what happens 16:55 when you die and I realized we don't have to be scared. 16:59 Now, you think about it when you are young, you don't like 17:01 to think about it, but you're born and you grow up, 17:05 and then you pick your career and you grow old and if 17:09 you grow old enough what happens. 17:11 Oh! It's we don't even like to think about it, 17:13 but it's a fact, if you live long enough you die. 17:16 You know, you're living in a generation that 17:17 might not die. There are some who will be alive 17:22 when Jesus comes and they won't die, they'll be changed 17:26 and given a glorified body and go right to heaven, 17:30 there is a few people who haven't die, did you 17:32 know that, they lived and we're going to talk about 17:34 that tonight. Let's get to our lesson, we got a lot of 17:37 stuff to cover and I think you are gonna find this an 17:39 amazing adventure tonight. Question number one, 17:42 what really happens when you die and where do you go? 17:46 What does the Bible say? Well, to first understand 17:50 this we sort of need to backup a little bit and 17:52 explains how does God create people. It says in 17:55 Genesis chapter 2, verse 7. And, the Lord God formed 17:59 man from the dust of the ground and he breathed 18:03 into his nostrils the breath of life. The what? 18:08 Breath of life and man became a living soul. 18:12 So, God took the dust, the elements of the earth, 18:15 it was kind of like clay and he breathe the special 18:18 power of life that God has into his creatures. 18:21 All creatures breathe, did you know that, did you know 18:24 fish breathe, they use their gills, plants breathe, 18:29 worms breathe through their skin, everything 18:32 breathes and God breathed this breath of life 18:36 into Adam, he came alive. When something dies it's 18:40 like creation in reverse, you separate the breath 18:43 of life from the elements of the earth, the dust, 18:48 the clay and they die, they turn back to dust, 18:51 that's why it says in Ecclesiastes 12 when someone 18:54 dies the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the 18:58 spirit returns to God who gave it, that spirit there is 19:02 what confuses people. So let's go to 19:04 the next question. Number two, what is the 19:08 "Spirit" that returns to God when someone dies? 19:12 Some people think that, if you are saying and 19:15 you die, this little ghostly butterfly jumps out of you. 19:19 And, it flies off back to God, but the Bible doesn't 19:23 teach that, the Bible teaches that the spirit of all 19:25 creatures when they die return to God. Let me give 19:29 you proof, that word spirit means breath of life. 19:33 Job chapter 27, verse 23. The spirit of God is in my 19:38 nostrils, have you ever thought that you have got 19:42 a Spirit in your nose, the word Spirit there in the 19:46 Old Testament it's from the Hebrew word Ruach 19:49 and it means wind or breath, in Greek it's a word 19:53 Pneuma, Pneuma, men use pneumatic tools, that means 19:57 it's got air that drives it. Have you ever heard 19:59 someone getting sick and they getting pneumonia, 20:02 that's because that affects their breathing. And so it 20:05 says in the Bible that the Pneuma, the Ruach, 20:08 the breath of life returns to God who gave it. 20:11 It's not a little ghost. The Bible says, the body 20:14 without the Spirit is dead. And, so when a person dies 20:20 the Spirit returns to God. Now, let me see if we can 20:24 illustrate this. Well, let's go to question 20:26 number three first. If the "Spirit" is the breath of 20:30 life then what is a "soul?" Remember the Bible says 20:34 that when God first made man, we just read this in 20:37 Genesis chapter 2, verse 7. He formed him from the 20:40 dust of the ground and God breathed into to him 20:43 the breath of life into his nostrils and he became 20:47 a living soul or a living being. A soul is 20:52 what you have when you put together the dust 20:56 of the clay with the Spirit of God equals a soul. 21:00 If you separate the clay from the breath of life 21:04 that God gives, where does the soul go? 21:08 The soul doesn't, it's nothing anymore. Alright, 21:11 now I do need a volunteer at this point? I just need one. 21:16 Let me see here, young man have you had a chance yet? 21:19 Alright, come on up. Go ahead and reach there in the 21:22 mystery chest, you're gonna find, you'll some bread 21:25 and some cheese. See if you can find that, it might be 21:28 in a bowl in there and you can take that out. Oops, did 21:33 that get spook you a little bit. Go ahead you can 21:39 grab the bread and the cheese. 21:44 Now, I know that's a Halloween trick, but I'm 21:46 using it is part of my illustration tonight. 21:48 Alright now, what's that? Bread. 21:51 That's bread, you want to hold the bread, I could use 21:53 one more person here, here young lady come here, 21:57 can you unwrap that for me. We're gonna put this back 22:01 out of the way here for a second. Alright, 22:06 now what is that, what are you holding? 22:07 Bread. Whole wheat. I want you to 22:08 know, now what does she got, it's actually 22:11 veggie-cheese I just wanna go on record, we eat that 22:15 in our family, so we might use it, I had to buy 22:17 a whole pack. Alright you got that, so what do 22:20 you got there, you can call it cheese, that's okay, 22:22 what is it? Cheese. 22:23 Cheese, alright, what do you say when they take a picture. 22:26 "Cheese." Okay, now open up your bread, 22:30 you place the cheese there in the bread, close 22:33 the bread, now what is it. Sandwich. 22:35 Sandwich, how many agree, that is it, it's not much 22:38 of a sandwich. When you heat that up, what do you 22:40 call it? Well, he is holding it'd be a boy cheese right. 22:46 Okay, now open that bread backup, little easy 22:50 take the cheese out of there, okay, now what do you got, 22:54 you get a bread, where did the sandwich go, 22:59 it stops being a sandwich, when you separate the two, 23:02 you see what I am saying, it's no longer a sandwich, 23:04 it's not much of a sandwich, I mean if your mother said 23:06 I made you a sandwich and you open your lunch and go, 23:10 where is the sandwich mom? Right. You'd be pretty 23:13 disappointed or she said I made you a sandwich 23:16 and you open up your lunch and say, this my sandwich! 23:21 You gotta put the two of them together to have a 23:23 sandwich right. Alright, when you combine the Spirit 23:29 with the body you get a soul, when you separate them 23:32 it stops being a soul. If you want you can eat that 23:35 afterward, now that everybody has touched it. 23:38 I won't do that to you. Thank you, very much, 23:39 let's give them a hand. There is a point to that, 23:49 I'll explain it later. See the devil wants to scare 23:53 kids about death and you don't have to be scared, 23:56 when you understand what the Bible teaches. 23:58 Alright, question number four, do you say people go to 24:01 heaven right when they die? No. 24:04 You know, a lot of people believe, if you're good 24:07 and you die, you'll immediately go to heaven 24:10 and if you're bad and you die, where do you go? 24:14 Hell, lake of fire, you'll burn. That's terrible 24:17 to think about, but you know, the Bible doesn't 24:19 actually teach that. Let me prove it to you. 24:22 In Acts chapter 2, in the New Testament after 24:25 Jesus died and ascended to him, he is preaching 24:28 about the Apostle, the Apostle Peter is 24:31 preaching about King David. Now, good King David 24:34 who killed Goliath, you remember him, is he going 24:38 to be in heaven, sure he will. The Bible says, 24:40 he was a man after God's own heart. It says 24:43 men and brethren, Peter speaking. Let me freely 24:47 speak on to you about the patriarch David that he is 24:50 both dead and buried, and his grave, his tomb is 24:55 with us to this day. And, you read on, and 24:58 David say, Peter says in that sermon. For David did 25:02 not ascend into the heavens. Now notice this, Peter 25:06 says David is dead, buried and he is not ascended 25:09 to heaven. Well, where is he then? Says he is in 25:12 his tomb, but doesn't the Bible say to be absent 25:17 from the bodies to be present with the Lord, yes. 25:20 That's because as soon as a person dies they don't 25:24 know anything until the resurrection. 25:26 The next thing they are conscious of is waking up 25:30 for the resurrection and the judgment all takes 25:32 place in the future, people don't know go right to 25:35 heaven and hell before the judgment day 25:37 or before the resurrection. Question number five, 25:41 what do dead people know after they die? 25:45 Let's find out what the Bible says. In Ecclesiastes, 25:49 written by Solomon, that's King David's son. 25:52 He says, for the living know that they will die, 25:55 you can read those last words with me, but the 25:57 dead know nothing. Let's say that one more time, 26:02 but the dead know nothing. How much do they know? 26:07 "Nothing." Are they spying on you? 26:09 "No." Do they come back 26:11 to haunt you? "No." 26:13 Can they reach out of their grave and grab your ankle 26:15 when you're walking by? "No." 26:18 They don't anything, do you believe the Bible 26:21 or do you believe the scary TV programs. 26:23 "The Bible." Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10 says, 26:29 whatever your hand finds to do, whatever you do 26:31 with your hand, do it with all your might, do everything 26:34 with enthusiasm, for there is no work or device 26:38 or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you're going. 26:44 People don't know anything, they have no wisdom, 26:46 they have got no device, that means they're not 26:47 doing anything. So, if you're gonna do something 26:50 with your life, you better do it while you're alive. 26:52 Cause if you're planning on getting busy after you die, 26:56 while you're in the grave you don't do anything. 26:59 Number six, is that clear to everybody and if so 27:02 many people are afraid of being haunted or spooked. 27:06 Question number six, can a dead person's "soul" or 27:10 "Spirit" come back and talk to the living? What does 27:14 the Bible say? Can they see what's happening 27:16 on this earth? Are they watching you, the dead 27:20 people up there? No, the Bible says, so man lies down, 27:27 and he rises not till the heavens be no more. 27:31 When a person dies, he is resting until the heavens 27:34 are no more, that's taking about when the heavens 27:36 depart as a scroll and Jesus comes. And, again 27:40 in Job chapter 7 verse 10, He shall never return 27:45 to his house. You know, if you're going to a house and 27:48 someone died in the house, Mrs. Bachelor and I we 27:52 bought the house we've been living in for the last 27:56 15 years and someone died in that house, 27:59 they died in their bed. Nice house, do you think 28:01 that scared me, do you think that spooked me, 28:04 have we ever gotten haunted, no, no it doesn't 28:08 matter one bit. And if you knew the truth people die 28:12 all kinds of places and if you're worried about 28:14 being haunted, don't think like that, the devil wants 28:18 to scare young people with these spooky stories. 28:21 The Bible says, we should have nothing to do with the 28:24 idea of talking to the dead or communicating 28:27 with the dead. When I was a young person, didn't grow 28:30 up a Christian. Sometimes in our family we would have 28:32 Seance, you know what that is? 28:35 Family member would get around and we'd light 28:37 a candle and we'd hold hands and we say Oh! 28:40 We are gonna try to talk to Abraham Lincoln 28:42 or somebody dead. Yeah, but that's very dangerous, 28:46 because sometimes the devil will pretend to be somebody 28:51 that is died to deceive the living. The Bible tells 28:55 us that the devil was very tricky and that's why 28:57 I want you to know that. Furthermore in the Bible, 28:59 it says Christians should have nothing to do with 29:02 witchcraft or sorcery. Leviticus 20, verse 27, 29:07 it says a man also or a woman, that has a 29:10 familiar spirit, that means they are talking to the 29:12 spirits of the dead or trying to. Or that is a 29:15 wizard like Harry Potter. Shall surely be put to? 29:22 "Death." Aha! God doesn't want 29:26 Christians to be dabbling with witchcraft or wizardry 29:29 or spirits or enchantments or drugs, a lot of things 29:34 that the world and the occult dabble with. 29:39 The Bible says, that the dead are dead. A matter 29:42 of fact, number seven, explains it a little 29:44 better to us. What is death like? How many of you will 29:50 believe what Jesus says. When people die 29:54 do they go flying around haunting folks? 29:56 "No." No, the Bible says that 30:00 they're sleeping. Let's listen to Jesus. John 11:11, 30:04 this is easy for you to remember. John 11:11 30:09 you can remember that. Jesus said after that 30:13 he said to them "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go 30:17 that I might wake him up. Now Jesus had a friend named 30:21 Lazarus who was very sick and his friends said 30:24 you better go check on him, he said Lazarus is sleeping, 30:26 but I'm going to go wake him up and they said well 30:28 if he's sleeping and he is sick he will feel better. 30:30 Jesus said no, it says in John 11:14, he told them 30:34 plainly, Lazarus is dead. What word did Jesus use to 30:39 symbolically describe death. Sleep, he said death is like 30:44 sleep and then of course later Jesus rose Lazarus 30:47 from the dead. John 11, verse 43, now when he 30:51 had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 30:55 "Lazarus, come forth!" Jesus went to the tomb 30:57 of Lazarus, they rolled away the stone, he said 31:00 Lazarus come forth and Lazarus came back to life. 31:03 But he had been dead for four days and Jesus 31:06 called it asleep. All through the Bible when people 31:09 died it says they slept. David died, he slept 31:14 with his fathers. Now, King David for instance, 31:18 he died about 3000 years ago but David went to sleep 31:23 does it seem like 3000 years to him. When David was 31:27 old and he got cold, the Bible says and he couldn't 31:31 stay warm and pretty soon he died, he closed his eyes, 31:36 he breathed out the last time and he stopped breathing 31:38 the breath of life left him, he was a great king, 31:41 they had a wonderful funeral, they put him in a grave, 31:45 but his body, what's happened to his body? 31:48 Body just dry out, once the spirit is gone the house 31:50 is empty there is nothing happening there. 31:53 And so, he doesn't know that. 3000 years have gone by, 31:59 if you're King David and all of a sudden you die 32:03 and you're saved, the next thing you know is you 32:05 hear a trumpet, and you wake up and you got a 32:08 new body and David is going to come out of the grave 32:11 and he is going to see Jesus, the next thing David knows 32:14 absent from body present with the Lord, 3000 years 32:17 have gone by, but he is not going to know it. 32:19 Many of you get sleepy during my meetings, 32:20 a little bit. I need a volunteer. Okay. Let's 32:26 see here, young man right here. Yeah, why don't 32:28 you come up here. You said, you get sleepy during 32:31 my meeting, a little bit maybe, see if you can find 32:33 some for tell and time there in the box, can you 32:39 pull that out. Okay, this is my personal watch here, 32:45 what's your name? Jason. 32:46 Jason What time does that say? 32:50 7.35. 7.35, okay. Why don't you 32:54 lay down right here just for a second if you don't mind, 32:58 and you can just take a nap okay. 33:00 Just relax. Okay, you can get up now, look how long 33:08 he's been sleeping what time does that say? Oh! 33:11 I went the wrong way, wait a second here. 33:17 Okay, what's that saying? Its 8.00. 33:21 You didn't know you've been sleeping a whole hour, 33:23 did you? How long did it feel to you? We've been 33:26 sitting here for an hour waiting for you to wake up, 33:29 do you feel better now? Stay awake for the rest 33:31 of the program. You can go sit down. 33:39 Thank you very much. Alright, how many of you, 33:45 have you ever had a hard day, you've been playing, 33:47 especially if you go swimming hard day at school, 33:49 did a lot of homework. You go to sleep and all 33:53 of a sudden, the next thing you know the alarms 33:54 ringing and you're up and you've been laying 33:56 there 7 hours but how long does it seem? Seven minutes, 34:00 five minutes, that's what it will be like, it's like a 34:03 dreamless sleep when a person dies. So even if 34:08 they died thousands of years ago, if you're 34:09 saved next thing you know is resurrection, if you're 34:12 lost the next thing you know it's the resurrection, 34:15 but it's the wrong resurrection. You want 34:17 to make sure you're in the right resurrection. So, how 34:20 many people are in heaven now? Oh! There is few. 34:25 Well, the Bible tells us there is some special 34:27 exceptions that God has made, any of you remember when 34:30 Jesus went up to this, they call it the glorious mount, 34:33 the mount of transfiguration, to who people from the 34:36 Old Testament appeared to Jesus, who knows what their 34:38 names were? What does it say, Moses and Elijah, 34:45 Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus on the mountain. 34:48 How did Moses get to heaven? Book of Jude says that 34:51 Jesus resurrected him. How did Elijah get to heaven? 34:55 He didn't die. Elijah never died. Moses died and God 34:59 resurrected him. Elijah he when riding off to heaven 35:01 in a chariot with angels and horses of fire and then 35:05 there is at least one other person we know of in heaven 35:07 by name I heard someone say it, Enoch, walk with God 35:12 and he and God walked together all the time and 35:14 one day God said we're closer to the my house than 35:16 your house, let's just go home. And Enoch is in 35:19 heaven and he was the father of the oldest man 35:23 who ever died. Enoch's the oldest man who 35:27 ever lived, because he never did die. 35:30 Methuselah was his son and then when Jesus died 35:34 on the cross there was another resurrection. 35:37 The Bible says in Mathew 27:52, there was an 35:40 earthquake and many of the graves were opened, 35:44 and many bodies of the saints who had fallen 35:47 asleep were raised. And after the resurrection of Christ, 35:52 they later ascended to heaven with him. So there 35:53 was a special resurrection of some of them the prophets 35:57 and the faithful, maybe kings who had been faithful to God, 36:00 they came out of their graves sorted of as a trophy 36:03 that Jesus took back to heaven with him. So there 36:05 is a few people in heaven, but for the vast majority 36:08 when people die, what do they do? A dreamless sleep 36:13 until the resurrection of the Lord. So, if most people 36:18 aren't in heaven now, how many people are 36:20 burning in hell right now? "None." 36:23 None, because would God put somebody in hell and 36:26 burn them before their judgment. Can you 36:29 imagine God, someone dies and they go to hell and 36:31 they're suffering down there and then he pulls 36:33 him out and says okay now it's time to judge you, 36:35 yup you're guilty, put him back in hell. That God 36:37 doesn't operate like that. See the judgment, the Bible 36:41 says is still in the future, you can read here the book of 36:44 Job chapter 21, verse 30, talking about the wicked. 36:48 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom, they 36:52 shall be brought out at the day of wrath. 36:54 The day of the Lord, the day of judgment, 36:56 the day of the doom, that would be the 36:57 resurrection of the wicked then they're brought forth 37:00 from the graves, they are judged and everyone's 37:03 punished according to what he deserves. 37:06 You know some people think that the wicked burn 37:08 forever and ever and ever in hell. Do you know Bible 37:11 doesn't teach that. Have any of you got a dog? 37:16 Has that dog ever misbehaved? "Yes." 37:20 Did you ever have to punish your dog? 37:21 "Yes." Would you ever burn your 37:24 dog forever and ever? "No." 37:27 You wouldn't do that to your dog, are you more 37:30 loving than God? "No." 37:33 This idea that God tortures the lost forever 37:36 and ever, that doesn't comes from the Bible. The Bible 37:39 says they are two choices, believe in God, everlasting 37:44 life and do not believe you perish, you've got life 37:48 or death. Jesus is offering you everlasting life. 37:51 The Bible says what's going to happen to the lost is the 37:54 same thing that happened to people in Sodom 37:56 and Gomorrah. Do you know the story of about 37:57 Sodom and Gomorrah? They are real wicked there 38:00 and the Bible says the Lord rained down out of 38:02 heaven fire and brimstone on the people in 38:05 Sodom and Gomorrah, for their sins and they 38:09 were burned with eternal fire, everlasting fire. 38:13 Are Sodom and Gomorrah still burning today? 38:15 "No." Were those cities 38:17 ever rebuilt? "No." 38:19 No, they were burned up. Matter of fact, I got 38:22 something pretty interesting to show you here. 38:28 Cameraman, I want to get a close up of this, 38:30 because I know you can barely see it, does anyone 38:32 know what that is? "A rock." 38:34 It's not a rock. "Salt." 38:37 Let me tell what it is. You can only find this 38:39 listen, listen. You can only find this one place 38:42 in the world, if you go down to the lowest part 38:45 in the world, which is by the dead sea and there by 38:48 the south part of the dead sea there is an area where 38:51 they believe Sodom and Gomorrah used to be, 38:53 these wicked cities and the Bible says God rained 38:56 down out of heaven fire and sulfur and brimstone 38:59 upon them. And there is a place where you kick around 39:02 in the ground and there is all this packed down ash 39:05 on the ground, the very place where they were 39:07 burned up, it is still there today and you can find 39:10 this sulfur balls in the ground that are left over, 39:14 for when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah 39:16 someone who is down there brought this to me. 39:18 I've saved it for years and they've told me you just 39:21 put a match to it and it will still burn now, after 39:24 all these years, do you think we have to try that? 39:26 "Yeah." I need someone, I need 39:29 someone big and strong to help with this, 39:32 where did no, no, I see here. Alright, peace be still. 39:39 Okay hang on a second here. Alright, you can come 39:42 over here, I just, you got to hold this, I don't want 39:45 anyone get burned. Hold that right there by the knob, 39:49 I think you'll be alright and let me just you know, 39:53 we've had problems along the way, we've had problems 40:01 along the way with this thing, let's see if what can 40:04 get it to work. Hey, look at that, let's see if this 40:06 thing is still, now they told me it makes a terrible 40:10 stink, what's your name? Josh. 40:13 Is that burning Josh? Uh hm. 40:16 Can you sit, maybe camera needs a close up of that, 40:18 kids that is already on fire. It's blue fire, woo! 40:22 It burns, woo! Oops, sorry, it stinks. Oh, 40:25 it smells like rotten eggs. This is left over, you are 40:31 looking at actually left overs of Sodom and 40:34 Gomorrah, when those cities were destroyed. But that 40:38 thing that burned didn't it, but is it still burning. 40:40 "No." Sodom and Gomorrah are not 40:41 burning right now either are they? Thank you 40:43 very much Josh. Woo! It smells, it smells a little bit 40:51 up here right now. So, the Bible tells us that we 40:56 have one life, you know some people believe that 41:00 when you die that you are resurrected again as 41:03 somebody else and if you're good you come back and 41:07 you have a better life and if you're bad you come back 41:09 you might be an animal. They call it reincarnation. 41:13 Have you heard this before and I am not trying to be 41:16 unkind to other people's beliefs, I am just telling 41:18 the Bible says that, that just isn't true. You've got 41:21 one life and when you die the only resurrection is 41:25 going to be when you come back and you're saved 41:29 and you get your glorified body or you're judged 41:31 and you're lost. The idea that you just keep on 41:34 coming back is not what the Bible teaches. It says 41:38 here in Revelation chapter 20, that when Jesus 41:41 comes again, the wicked are destroyed by the 41:44 brightness of his coming. But the rest of the dead, 41:47 this is verse 5, the wicked they live not again 41:51 until the thousand years are finished. See the wicked 41:57 they're destroyed by the brightness of his coming. 41:58 The wicked who are dead they stay dead. But then 42:01 at the end of the one thousand years Revelation 21 42:04 tells us, I, John, saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem 42:10 coming down from God out of heaven and when the 42:13 New Jerusalem comes down to the earth, all the 42:15 righteous who are in the city, we've been living 42:17 and reigning with Christ the righteous for a 42:19 thousand years, then he will bring forth the wicked, 42:22 they're raised for judgment and it says I saw 42:25 Revelation 20 verse 11, I saw a great white throne 42:29 and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth 42:32 and the heaven fled away. And I saw the dead, 42:36 small and great, standing before God 42:39 and books were opened. What books do you 42:42 think those are? "The Bible." 42:44 The books of records of everything everybody 42:46 has done. Now God, we know his books may not be 42:50 kind of the old fashioned books that we're used to 42:52 today, I mean today we've got DVD and we get 42:55 video and all kinds of ways to record information. 42:57 God is using words that we understand, somehow God 43:01 has recorded everything that everybody has done 43:04 not only that, does the Lord know what you think? 43:07 "Yes." Does the Devil know 43:09 what you think? "No." 43:11 No, God knows your heart, the devil can guess 43:14 what you're thinking sometimes by the expression 43:16 on your face, but you know what your mom and dad 43:18 can also sometimes guess what you're thinking by the 43:21 expressions on your face, right. But only 43:24 God knows that. Bible says, God and God only 43:27 knows the thoughts of men's hearts and everybody 43:29 is going to be judged. And the Bible says another 43:32 book was opened, which is the Book of Life. 43:37 And the dead were judged according to their works. 43:40 That's why we need the Lord to change our hearts, 43:42 and anyone who is not found written in the Book of 43:45 Life was cast into the lake of fire. And some 43:50 people will die instantly, others will be punished 43:53 according to what they deserve, may suffer 43:55 a little longer, there is punishment for sin. 43:58 See Jesus not only died for your sins he suffered 44:02 and died, isn't that right? He didn't just say okay 44:05 I am going to die now, flip a switch and die. The Devil 44:08 tortured him, there is a penalty for sin and Jesus 44:11 took all of your suffering, he doesn't want 44:13 you to suffer. That's why it's important that we trust 44:17 him and believe in him. The Bible says in Psalms 44:19 37 verse 20, the wicked shall perish; do they 44:24 burn forever and ever? "No." 44:25 No, they perish into smoke, they will vanish away. 44:28 You saw we're just burning something with smoke, 44:30 it will vanish away. The day comes, Malachi 44:33 chapter 4 verse 1 and verse 3. The day is 44:37 coming that will burn like an oven, and all the proud 44:41 and all that do wickedly will be stubble, and the day 44:44 that comes will burn them up. That's a picture there 44:48 of the ancient city of Pompeii, I've been there 44:50 before, and a bunch of people were destroyed very quickly 44:53 by a volcano and their ashes are still there. 44:57 And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be 45:00 ashes under the soles of your feet. God's going to 45:03 create a new heavens and a new earth, but what 45:05 happens to the wicked, it's called the second, 45:08 what's that word up there on the screen? 45:09 "Second death." Now, a lot of people get 45:12 old and die the first death. You don't have to be afraid 45:14 of that, but if you've got Jesus, you don't have to 45:17 worry about the second death do you? That's what 45:19 the lost die. If you're only born once you die twice, 45:25 but if you're born twice. How many of you were 45:26 born once, let me just check I've asked this before? 45:29 You have all been born once that's why 45:30 you're here right. But how many of you've also been 45:33 born twice, you've been born again because you've 45:35 accepted to Jesus, if you're born twice, you may only 45:39 have to worry about one death, but you don't have to 45:41 worry about the second death, right. Number 8. 45:45 What was Satan's first lie on earth and how do we 45:49 know it was a lie Remember the devil wants 45:52 you to think that the wicked burn forever and ever 45:55 in hell, that we're immortal souls, that's not true. 45:59 The only way to have life is through Jesus. 46:01 Remember the devil said to Eve, the serpent said 46:04 to the woman, you will not surely die, 46:07 you won't really die, you will either live 46:08 forever in heaven or live forever in hell. That's a 46:11 doctrine that came from the devil, sad thing is 46:14 there is some dear people out there that 46:16 still believe that. The Bible says in Ezekiel 18 verse 4. 46:20 The soul that sins shall, they'll die. Souls? 46:26 I thought souls live forever and ever. Bible says the 46:29 soul that sins dies. The King of Kings, and 46:32 Lord of Lords Jesus is the only one who has immortality, 46:38 but you get the gift of immortality when Jesus comes. 46:41 The Bible says in First Corinthians 15, then this 46:45 mortal, a mortal means someone who gets old 46:47 and dies, will put on immortality. Now number 9. 46:51 This is very important. Can the devil perform 46:54 miracles? "Yes." 46:57 Yes, he can. How many of you remember. Well, first 47:00 of all, let me read you a scripture, Revelation 16 47:04 verse 14. It says they are spirits of devils 47:08 working miracles. Can the devil create illusions? 47:11 "Yes." How many remember when 47:13 Moses went before the Pharaoh and he threw 47:15 down his rod and it turned into a serpent, but the 47:20 magicians of the Pharaoh threw down their rods, 47:23 what did they do? They became snakes also, the devil can 47:26 impersonate the miracles of God, so that's why you 47:29 got to understand that the dead are dead. So, if 47:32 someone comes back and says I have come from the past, 47:34 I am the Apostle Peter, I've come to give you some 47:36 information and it doesn't go along with the Bible, 47:38 but I've got fresh information. 47:41 Is that from God or from the devil? 47:42 "The devil." So you got to know that. 47:44 Now, for Pastor Ross, you got that here. 47:47 Few kids have been watching every night as we 47:49 started our amazing adventure we wanted that 47:50 sense of drama, we'd have a fog machine, do you 47:53 have any water? I do. 47:55 Oh you got there. You, okay. You've been wondering 47:59 how that work huh! Let me see here, bring this, 48:04 drop that and put the water in the, put the water, 48:07 pour the water in there. That's what happens to 48:13 dry ice, even that's as good, you can put it in here. 48:15 Look at there. Well, that would really scare somebody 48:17 huh! It's a trick 'cause he is going to knock that over, 48:21 whoa! It's all over, you better get that out of there. 48:27 It's just a motion detector and batteries and a little 48:30 trick and plastic made in China and people get scared. 48:33 Now if we can create illusions like that, 48:36 what can the devil do? He can create illusions and 48:39 scare people and so many, that's good, 48:41 just don't drink that. That's why a lot of people 48:46 have been fooled by the devil's tricks in to 48:49 thinking that he's got some kind of special power 48:52 or they're fooled into believing that 48:53 they're spirits. Sometimes that the devil's fallen 48:57 angels will pretend to be the dead and they'll 49:02 deceive people. You know, one time there was a king 49:04 in the Bible, his name was Saul, he turned away 49:08 from God and then he got scared and he had to go 49:11 into a dangerous battle, he went and got a witch 49:14 and he asked the witch to bring someone back from 49:16 the dead to tell him what to do and this demon 49:20 impersonated the Prophet Samuel and totally 49:23 discouraged king Saul, Saul's army lost and Saul 49:28 finally killed himself. Obviously it's not a good 49:31 thing to believe in witches and listen to 49:35 spirits of the dead. And so, don't be 49:38 fooled by that, especially now here we are in the 49:42 boards of the Halloween time of year, people get all 49:45 wrapped up in the occult and those kind of things. 49:47 The Bible says in Revelation 21, speaking of 49:50 sorcery, those who consult the dead they will have their 49:53 part in the lake that's burns with fire and brimstone. 49:57 We can still smell a little bit of sulfur brimstone 50:00 right now can't we? That fire and brimstone which is the 50:05 second death, so I want to encourage you that 50:09 there are two choices, we got life and death. 50:12 You want to keep your eyes on Jesus, right friends. 50:14 Question number 10, when will the dead 50:17 live again? First Thessalonians 4, this was 50:19 our memory verse that we started with, for the Lord 50:23 himself will descend from with a shout, with the 50:26 voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God 50:30 and the dead in Christ will rise. What does it mean 50:35 to be in Christ? If you give your life to God, Jesus 50:40 embraces you, you are in Christ. 50:43 You trust your life to him, you walk with him, 50:46 you talk to him. Remember, you have those 50:48 spiritual ears, you can listen to the voice of the 50:50 Holy Spirit and you belong to Jesus, you're then in Christ. 50:54 If you should die, do you need to be afraid? 50:57 If you're a Christian and you die, why would you be 50:59 afraid of death? Matter of fact, if you 51:01 are a Christian and you die, the next thing you know, 51:05 you wake up with a glorified body that will never feel 51:08 pain, that will never get sick, that will never 51:10 die again, and you live forever and ever in Paradise 51:13 and you get to take that journey 51:14 through the stars. So, for a Christian, why 51:17 would you be afraid of death? You read in the Bible 51:20 of some of God's patriarchs, Stephen, whey they told him 51:24 he was going to die, he was praying for others 51:27 he wasn't afraid. Peter, they were going to 51:28 execute him the next day, he went to sleep and slept 51:31 like a baby, he wasn't at all scared that's 51:33 Acts chapter 12. When God's prophets and 51:36 believers have faced death, they've been totally 51:39 unafraid because for them it's like SLEEP, what? 51:43 "Sleep." Are you guys afraid to go 51:45 to sleep at night? "No." 51:47 You shouldn't be, some of you don't want to go sleep 51:49 because you're afraid you're going to miss something. 51:52 But if you trust the Lord, you don't have to afraid, 51:54 when Jesus comes it says First Corinthians 15, 51:57 we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling 52:00 of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet 52:03 will sound and the dead will be raised, 52:05 incorruptible. That means with bodies that will never 52:08 grow old, never get sick again. The trumpet 52:11 will sound and we will be changed. For then this 52:14 mortal would put on immortality. So, what's 52:17 the key, boys and girls, friends who are watching, 52:19 what is the key to unlock death? The secret 52:24 is he who has the son, who is the son? 52:27 "Jesus." Jesus he has life and whoever 52:31 does not have the son, does not have life. You need 52:34 to have Jesus, the son of God. Do you 52:37 have Jesus, have you decided to follow him, have you asked 52:41 for a new heart? If you've not done it before, you can 52:43 do it again tonight. You don't have to be afraid 52:46 of death, you don't have to be afraid of the future, 52:48 because if you got Jesus, you got life. Let's all make 52:52 sure again tonight that we have Christ. Shall we pray 52:55 together and invite him to take our lives so we can 52:58 be in Christ. Father in heaven, we are so thankful 53:03 for your goodness, for the promises in your word 53:06 that help us to know the truth and to know that we 53:08 don't need to be afraid Lord. I pray that each of these 53:12 young people who are here and those who are watching 53:14 will know that you're with them where ever they go, 53:16 they don't need to be scared of ghosts or death, 53:20 because when they have you in their lives, they 53:22 have the gift of everlasting life and they can be joyful. 53:26 Help us Lord to keep our eyes on you, help us to keep 53:29 our ears open to the voice of the spirit and 53:32 to surrender our lives completely to 53:34 yours, to you as your property. Bless the remainder 53:37 of these meetings and pour out your Spirit. 53:39 We thank you and pray in Jesus name! Amen. 53:44 Well, God bless you friends and friends, 53:46 I want to tell you, who are watching remember, 53:49 we still have a very special program coming, we're going 53:52 to be live tomorrow morning. We hope you will continue 53:55 to gathered together at your groups, we'll be 53:57 studying the lesson, a journey through the sea. 54:00 So, please don't forget about that, join us then 54:02 and be praying for these meetings. God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17