Participants: John Carter
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000021
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors of Truth,
00:15 from the Community Adventist Fellowship Church. 00:18 Present Truth with John Carter. 00:21 Well, we are live and we're coming to you from 00:24 Arcadia California, which is right in the heart of 00:28 Los Angeles County and a part of the greater Los Angeles area. 00:34 It's great to be here, isn't it. 00:35 It is indeed, the Lord has treated us well. 00:37 The weather has been great, it's been fine. 00:40 Not like what we left at home at 3ABN, much cooler and dryer. 00:45 And it's been great. 00:47 It really has been and everyone has been so friendly to us. 00:50 We've just really enjoyed the few hours now that we've 00:54 spent here in beautiful sunny southern California. 00:59 And so some of you are watching us, it's later where you are; 01:04 Central time 9 pm, Eastern time 10 pm. 01:09 We appreciate your staying up late. 01:11 I was just talking to some folks in Dyersburg Tennessee 01:15 and they're waiting up for us to watch this program tonight. 01:20 So we are excited about coming to you and being 01:25 with Pastor John Carter. 01:26 This is a very special Anchors series. 01:29 This is, I think, the first one we've done away from 3ABN. 01:32 This is sort of an Anchors Away, as it were, 01:35 and coming from California. 01:37 And we're really excited about the subject matter 01:39 that Elder Carter is going to preach on tonight. 01:41 Well, that is true. 01:42 Anchors Away. That's great. 01:45 We have several of those that we have planned here 01:48 before the end of the year. 01:49 And you'll hear about them later on. 01:51 But this is the first. 01:53 And boy I tell you something, we are just looking forward. 01:58 The response we've had so far to the Anchors series, 02:01 all the different series, have just been tremendous. 02:05 And we're just praying. 02:06 We're already lining up our series for next year. 02:10 We've got January, February, March already filled with 02:13 some very exciting speakers. 02:14 And so you're going to be wanting to stay tuned for that. 02:19 But you know, right now before we begin, 02:22 I wonder, Pastor, if you would lead us in a word of prayer. 02:25 I'd be glad to do so. Shall we pray. 02:28 Gracious Father, we thank You so very much for the occasion 02:32 that calls us to the house of prayer and praise this night. 02:35 We thank You Father, for the great advent message and the 02:40 great advent movement. 02:42 We thank You that You are preparing a people 02:45 for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 02:49 And we plan, even this night, to be in that number 02:52 that will greet You on that great and glorious day. 02:55 But now this night, Lord, we commit ourselves to You. 02:58 We submit and humble ourselves before You and ask that 03:02 You might be the honored guest in this place on this night. 03:05 We ask that You will bless this speaker, Elder Carter, 03:09 in a very special way. 03:10 Anoint his lips and give him words that will be meat 03:14 in due season for us. 03:16 Bless the music that shall be sung. 03:18 May it transport our hearts and minds to heaven. 03:22 We submit and commit ourselves to You. 03:24 Bless the technical equipment and those who hear and see 03:29 the message this night. 03:31 May we be drawn closer to Jesus Christ. 03:35 And we thank You for Your promise to hear and answer 03:38 the prayer of faith. 03:39 In Jesus' name, amen. 03:41 Well Pastor Murray, would you tell us about the music 03:45 that we're going to hear at this time, and the one that's 03:47 going to bring it to us. 03:48 Our music tonight comes from someone that I had the 03:51 privilege of baptizing quite a few years ago, plus twenty. 03:55 We were both children at the time. 03:58 She was a member of my church and God has blessed her with 04:00 a beautiful voice and to be a beautiful Christian person. 04:04 She is Yvonne Lewis. 04:06 She is now the General Manager of our Dare To Dream network. 04:11 But a wonderful singer in her own right. 04:14 And she's going to be singing, I'm Amazed. 04:21 I'm amazed each time I think 04:29 that You would love me. 04:36 And You made Yourself a willing, 04:43 such a willing sacrifice, yes, 04:52 when all I've ever done 04:58 is cause You pain and so much sorrow. 05:08 When I think of what You've done, 05:14 well, I'm amazed. 05:25 I'm amazed to know that soon 05:32 my Jesus is coming back for me 05:39 with a robe of light 05:45 and the life that never ends. 05:51 Oh Lord, it never ends. 05:57 Because all I've ever done 06:03 is go astray when You said follow. 06:13 When I think of what's to come, 06:18 yes, I'm amazed. 06:28 Now I've often asked what kind of love is this. 06:36 Because I just don't understand 06:43 why my Savior left His glory 06:52 to die for sin upon man. 07:00 When all I've ever done is go astray, 07:10 oh, when You said follow. 07:17 When I think of what You've done, 07:23 well, I'm amazed. 07:33 When I think of what's to come, 07:39 yes, I'm amazed. 07:44 I'm so amazed. 07:50 How could You show such love. 08:06 Well, I'm amazed. 08:11 I'm so amazed. 08:29 I'm so amazed. 08:47 Thank you so much, Yvonne. We appreciate that. 08:50 Our speaker tonight is no stranger to 3ABN. 08:55 He has been one of those that has been a speaker on 3ABN 09:01 since early in its existence. 09:04 And his partnership with our founder, Danny Shelton, 09:08 has been one that has benefitted the work of God 09:13 all over the world. 09:14 And this is a man who has held evangelistic campaigns 09:19 in all parts of the world, nearly every continent. 09:23 And in such places as India and in Russia, and in others 09:30 where the Lord has called him to go. 09:32 I appreciate his ministry. 09:36 Tonight he is going to, through this series, the Anchors series, 09:40 he's going to be talking about present truth. 09:43 And specifically tonight, he is going to be speaking 09:48 about The Blessed Hope. 09:50 And so Pastor John Carter, we invite you to come 09:53 to your own pulpit. 09:55 And we welcome you. 10:00 Thank you, sir. 10:01 Nice to see you, Jim. 10:03 Good to see you. 10:04 I just want to say to everybody... 10:06 And this is a worldwide telecast. 10:08 It makes you excited, doesn't it. 10:09 1.65 billion people can turn in. 10:15 I hope that most of them will. 10:16 Millions are watching, there is no question about it. 10:19 You don't get nervous about this anymore, do you. 10:22 I'm always nervous. 10:23 Are you nervous? Yea, I'm nervous. 10:25 I'm going to ask you some questions. 10:26 Now I'm getting really nervous. 10:30 I just want to say to the folks watching on television, 10:35 I appreciate and respect 3ABN more than I can say, 10:41 because they have the courage, as Danny Shelton said 10:45 many years ago, 25 years ago, the courage to preach the 10:50 undiluted truths of the three angels messages. 10:53 Praise the Lord. 10:54 And so we are privileged to be partners with 3ABN; 10:58 with you, Dr. Gilley, with our dearly beloved Danny Shelton, 11:03 and all the rest of the staff who've come out here. 11:06 And I just want you to know something. 11:09 They're nice people. 11:11 Yes, I know that. 11:13 They're nice people. 11:14 I've very aware of that. 11:15 My team has said they're nice people. 11:17 They are. Yea, they are. 11:19 And I'm going to tell the folks, you're a nice person too. 11:23 Well thanks. 11:25 Now, you've been a conference president and you've been 11:30 an evangelist at one stage in your work with Camille. 11:34 You would run 8 or 9 campaigns a year? 11:37 Was it 8 or 9 or 10? 11:39 I've held 10, as many as 10 in one year. 11:42 They were 4 week crusades. 11:44 You're going to go straight home to glory. 11:46 Yea, well... 11:47 That's 40 weeks in a year. 11:48 Yea, and it was tough. It was tough. 11:51 That should be written somewhere in the Bible. 11:54 It is in the book of Acts. 11:57 It's not in the Bible, but it's written. 11:59 It's written, I know. 12:00 It's written in the very nervous system 12:02 and everything like that, and the aches and the pains. 12:05 Exactly. 12:06 And we've been around longer than some of these folks 12:08 have been around, Dr Gilley. 12:10 Well, not all of them. 12:11 Not all of them, I know. 12:14 In fact, some of them look to me as though they've been 12:16 around even longer than us. 12:17 Well I think, you know... 12:19 Yea, I know. We'll just leave it there. 12:22 Let me ask you this. 12:23 You became the Vice President of the North American Division 12:28 of the church. 12:29 Yes. 12:30 That must have seemed like translation. 12:32 Well to tell you the truth, they called me there 12:37 and told me that I'd be in charge of evangelism. 12:40 And when I got there, they gave me all these different 12:44 committees to chair. 12:45 And I said, "Wait a minute. 12:47 I thought I was supposed to be involved with evangelism." 12:49 They said, "Well, that's a title. 12:52 But you are to be involved with all these things." 12:56 So I chaired 65 boards and committees. 12:59 Now some of those met several times a year. 13:02 So you spend a lot of time being bored. 13:04 If you were a Roman Catholic, they would 13:08 canonize you straight away. 13:10 You wouldn't have to go through all the process. 13:12 They'd just make you Saint Jim. 13:14 Now after you retired from the North American Division... 13:19 My people here like to laugh. 13:20 Is it alright to laugh on 3ABN? 13:24 I just want to clear this up. 13:25 As long as you do it within certain limitations, yea. 13:29 Not too much laughing is okay. 13:30 Exactly, right. 13:32 Now you retired from the North American Division. 13:35 You could have gone into real estate. 13:40 Yea. 13:41 You could have gone to the beach in Florida. 13:44 You could have just sat back and watched the grass grow. 13:48 Why on earth did you assume, when invited, 13:53 the presidency of 3ABN? 13:57 Well you know, Danny was having some 14:00 health challenges at the time and I felt like 14:02 he needed a younger man to come and to be with him. 14:09 It has been hot out here in Los Angeles today. 14:11 You've been standing out in the sun. 14:14 You know, we just had so many indications from the Lord. 14:19 You believe in 3ABN. 14:20 Oh, totally. 14:22 You believe in the Bible. Absolutely. 14:24 And in the Spirit of Prophecy. Yes. 14:26 And in the great message that we believe in, 14:29 the three angels messages. 14:30 Yes, absolutely. 14:31 So that's why you're not retired. 14:33 Well because, you know, Elder Richards, HMS Richards, 14:37 use to say, "There are two things that aren't in the Bible. 14:40 One is Sunday keeping and the other is retirement." 14:43 Elder Richards was absolutely right. 14:46 He preached right up until he could preach no longer. 14:48 I know. 14:49 So I've come to the conclusion; I'd rather work than not work. 14:52 I'd rather preach than not preach. 14:54 And I'd much rather be at 3ABN than any place I can. 14:58 And you'd rather wear out than rust out. 15:00 Well, yea. 15:01 Absolutely. 15:03 Well it's a privilege to have you here in our church. 15:06 And I want to thank you for the long association 15:10 we've had with 3ABN. 15:11 We love the folks at 3ABN. 15:13 We believe in them and we support the mission. 15:16 And the feeling is absolutely mutual. 15:19 The people love you. 15:20 God bless you, dear old friend. God bless you. 15:29 You can just see when Pastor Gilley and I get together, 15:32 we get all tensed up. 15:36 The topic tonight is, The Blessed Hope. 15:40 Last week I was talking to an old friend whose been with us 15:46 on many occasions overseas. 15:50 I noticed he was missing at church. 15:52 And I called him up and I said, "Are you okay?" 15:54 He said, "No, it's tough." 15:57 He said, "I'm hurting all over." 16:00 He said, "The days come when I wish the Lord 16:05 would put me to sleep." 16:08 We then talked about the blessed hope 16:12 when God is going to give us new bodies, 16:14 when we're going to be young again and live for eternity. 16:19 I ask you my friend, where would we be without the blessed hope. 16:26 Would you take your Bibles please, and turn with me 16:29 to our theme text. 16:30 It is Titus chapter 2 and verse 13. 16:33 I want to welcome the worldwide audience, 16:35 my friends up there in Tennessee, 16:39 you know who you are, 16:40 and the rest of my friends across this great land 16:44 of the United States of America. 16:46 Not forgetting our friends here in southern California. 16:50 Also my friends down under in the land of Australia. 16:56 We've got friends right around the world, 16:58 people whom we love around the world. 17:01 We ran a big series of meetings over there in Johannesburg 17:05 and we want to send you greetings also. 17:07 The text we're going to start with is Titus chapter 2 17:11 and verse 13. 17:12 If you folks have got your Bibles, hold up your Bibles 17:15 so everybody can see that you've got a Bible. 17:19 We believe that this is the word of God. 17:24 And so we bring our Bibles to church 17:27 and we read them every day. 17:29 Titus 2 verse 13, "While we wait for..." 17:32 What does it say, folks? 17:34 "...the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our 17:38 great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." 17:42 My friend, we have a blessed hope. 17:46 Recently, I got some bad news from Australia 17:50 of an old friend. 17:53 We have gone back a few years, as Elder Gilley says. 17:57 Not as far as some of you folks go back, 17:59 but still going back a fair while. 18:01 And this man and I have been buddies, mates, 18:06 friends for 50 years. 18:11 Then I discovered that he had developed an awful sickness. 18:15 He has a marvelous wife. 18:19 The last time in Australia, we spent time together 18:23 because I just, I really love those folks. 18:26 Because this person led me to Christ. 18:32 When I was a wayward boy at Avondale College 18:35 about to get expelled, he led me to Christ. 18:39 I wrote to him and I said to him, I said to his wife, 18:44 "I want you to know that the day is coming when you're 18:46 going to be new again. 18:48 You're going to have a new body and you're going to 18:50 have a new mind. 18:53 And the pain is going to be a thing of the past." 18:59 I say to you tonight, folks, how utterly tragic to be 19:04 without faith, to believe there is no meaning 19:07 to human existence. 19:10 On occasions in my lectures, I refer to the famous scholar, 19:15 the scientist, Professor Richard Dawkins. 19:21 He says that man is a cosmic accident. 19:26 That man is the blind product of time plus matter plus chance. 19:34 He says there is no hope at all, and when we die, 19:39 we simply finish the evolutionary process. 19:43 He believes in blind chance, no creator, man is nothing more 19:50 than animated mud on the way to dust. 19:56 Look at this magazine. 19:58 And maybe we can get a camera come in close on this one, 20:02 The New Yorker. 20:04 It shows the ascent of man from a monkey. 20:11 And as the millions of years roll by, he becomes 20:17 even a Pharaoh. 20:20 And he gets better and better and better. 20:24 So he continues to rise up the evolutionary scale 20:29 until the very end as he stands at the summit of success. 20:35 You notice what happens? 20:37 Well look. 20:39 He falls off the escalator into oblivion. 20:45 So much for Professor Dawkins. 20:49 So I will present to you tonight, the truth, 20:52 that it is not oblivion. 20:55 It is the coming of Christ. 20:58 As most of you know, well some of you know, 21:01 I have been to Russia and Ukraine forty times. 21:04 I plan to go back again next year in January 21:08 when the weather is nice in Russia. 21:11 I like it when it's cold in Russia, I really do. 21:13 I get dressed up and I feel like an Eskimo. 21:17 It's no hardship for me to go to Russia. 21:20 I enjoy it so much. 21:21 I have my own Russian hat and I'm never cold 21:25 because I have so much clothing on. 21:27 I look as though I weigh 500 pounds. 21:33 Let me tell you a story that some of you will know. 21:38 I've told it before. 21:40 There was Olga, a woman who was born in the land of the Ukraine. 21:48 When the Nazi's invaded the Ukraine, as they called it 21:52 in those days, it was a part of the Soviet Union, 21:54 her whole village had protested about the Nazi's. 21:58 They were marched out into the forest in the dead of winter. 22:03 They were forced to dig a huge, huge hole. 22:07 They were marched into the hole and after they were 22:11 stripped naked, standing there in the snow, 22:13 the Nazi's opened up with the machine guns. 22:17 Everybody fell except Olga and a young man. 22:22 They fled naked from the scene. 22:24 She found refuge with some farmers. 22:27 They clothed her and they fed her. 22:29 They put her on a train that went north to Moscow 22:33 and then on to Nizhny Novgorod, 22:35 where 3ABN, glory be to God, has a center today. 22:39 She came to our meetings back in 1992. 22:43 She said, "I came as a Communist and as an atheist." 22:47 Her husband had been murdered by the KGB 22:50 when they were just newly married. 22:53 She said, "I came with no hope at all." 22:58 But she discovered there was a God who loved her. 23:04 And she found hope. 23:08 I want to tell you folks something. 23:10 If you find hope, hope in Christ, 23:14 you can face anything. 23:17 Our authority is the Bible. 23:19 Would you please come with me to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. 23:22 And you may wonder why I would go to Genesis chapter 1 23:25 when I'm talking about the coming of Christ. 23:28 Genesis 1 and verse 1. 23:30 The Bible is our authority. 23:33 And as you're turning to the text, I'm going to walk over 23:35 here to my old blackboards. 23:37 I like them because they're old. 23:39 I've come to the stage in life where I like old things. 23:43 Our authority, our authority. 23:50 It is not the teaching of any church. 23:53 It is not the teaching of the church fathers. 23:56 Our authority is the Bible. 24:01 As Martin Luther said; sola Christus, only Christ. 24:05 And then he said; sola scriptura, only scripture. 24:08 Sola gratia. What does it mean? 24:10 Only grace. 24:11 Sola fide, only faith. 24:13 Our authority is the Bible. 24:16 And it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens 24:20 and the earth." 24:21 Let me tell you something which is quite incredible. 24:25 Scientists once believed in the steady state of the universe, 24:29 that the universe had always been there. 24:33 Even Einstein as a young man believed in the steady 24:36 state theory of the universe until he spoke to 24:40 Professor Hubble who showed him that the universe was exploding 24:44 out like a cracker, moving out at a tremendous speed 24:49 and forming space as it went. 24:53 Thus they said, if it is going out, there must have been 24:57 a time, there must have been a time... 24:59 If it is exploding out, then it is logical to believe 25:06 that there was a point of creation. 25:10 And therefore today, virtually every astronomer 25:13 believes in this verse. 25:16 That there was a time when there was nothing, 25:19 and all of a sudden, there was everything. 25:23 Every scientist today believes in what he calls, the big bang. 25:27 We would call it creation. 25:30 Every scientist is aware of this fact I'm going to tell you, 25:34 but not every church member. 25:38 One milli millisecond after the moment when there was nothing, 25:44 and then all of a sudden there was this tremendous explosion 25:47 that the call the big bang, there were four great forces 25:51 created in the universe. 25:52 And those four great forces hold the universe together. 25:56 Without these four forces, we could not exist. 26:00 There would be no universe. 26:03 And those four forces are these, try to remember. 26:07 You all know about gravity. 26:23 There would be no universe, we would not be here, 26:26 there would be no planet, except for these forces 26:29 that were created within a millisecond of the big bang. 26:33 All astronomers tell me this. 26:35 And they tell me this, that if those forces 26:38 had been out of sync, listen to this, 26:42 if they had been out of sync by one quadrillionth, 26:48 more than the Federal debt, one quadrillionth, 26:52 we cannot have any idea of the greatness of that figure, 26:57 one quadrillionth of one quadrillionth 27:00 of one quadrillionth of one quadrillionth 27:04 of one quadrillionth of one percent... 27:08 All those quadrillionths are more than the 27:11 atoms in the universe. 27:14 And if those forces had been out of sync 27:18 by that amount which is too small to conceive, 27:24 there would be no universe. 27:29 How can one accept this scientific truth and 27:33 not believe in "in the beginning, God." 27:40 We live in an age today where God is giving to the world 27:45 its last opportunity, last chance to believe. 27:51 I believe in the Bible because of some of these 27:53 scientific discoveries. 27:55 I believe in the Bible because of the prophecies. 28:02 I do not believe in the naive assumption of having 28:06 faith in faith. 28:09 There is no virtue in faith. 28:13 Bin Laden had faith, more than most of you and me, 28:17 but faith in the wrong thing. 28:20 So faith in faith is crazy. 28:27 I have faith in the Bible for many reasons. 28:32 But one reason is because of Bible prophecy. 28:36 I've spoken to vast crowds of people around the world, 28:40 not like you sitting here in our church tonight, 28:43 but I'm talking about atheists and Communists 28:47 and rank unbelievers. 28:49 I've spoken to millions of them. 28:53 And when I presented the prophecies of Daniel 2, 28:56 the great metal man, and Daniel 7 and the 28:59 great beasts of Daniel 7; the lion, the bear, 29:02 the leopard, the monster, the little horn power that comes up 29:06 that describes the history of Europe. 29:08 When I've gone through those prophecies, 29:11 I've seen hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of atheists 29:17 believe in God. 29:18 Because it's true. 29:20 I have over on my desk, and I'd planned to bring it tonight 29:23 but not everything functions as well as it use to, 29:27 and I didn't bring it. 29:29 But it is a silver crucifix that was given to me, Elder Gilley, 29:35 by the General who was in charge of indoctrinating 29:41 atheism with the Ukrainian soldiers. 29:46 He was a professor of Marxist atheism. 29:50 His job was to teach atheism. 29:52 And after he saw the prophecies, he came to me 29:56 and gave me a cross made of silver 29:59 because he had become a believer. 30:02 We do not believe because it is convenient to believe. 30:06 We believe because of the overwhelming evidence. 30:13 But the greatest reason that I can give you tonight 30:16 why I should believe the Bible... 30:19 You see, if Genesis is wrong then the end of the 30:23 Bible is wrong too. 30:28 But the greatest reason to believe in the Bible 30:32 is not Bible prophecy. 30:34 And it is not the theories of the four great forces 30:39 of the universe. 30:42 The greatest evidence to believe in the Bible 30:45 is the person of Christ. 30:50 Now, Richard Dawkins hates Him and criticizes Him 30:52 and scoffs at Him. 30:55 But when Richard Dawkins dies, nobody will remember 30:59 after a year. 31:01 Jesus is the person with the greatest influence for good 31:06 in the history of the world. 31:09 Let me read to you this old statement. 31:13 "He was born in an obscure village, 31:15 the child of a peasant woman. 31:18 Until He was 30, He worked in a carpenter's shop. 31:23 And then for three years, He was an itinerant preacher. 31:27 He wrote no books, He held no office. 31:31 He never had a family or owned a home. 31:34 He didn't go to college. 31:36 He never traveled 200 miles from the place where He was born. 31:41 He had no credentials but Himself. 31:48 He never did any of the things that usually 31:50 accompany greatness. 31:53 The authorities condemned His teachings. 31:55 His friends deserted Him, one denied Him, 31:59 one betrayed Him to His enemies for a paltry sum; 32:03 the price of a slave. 32:05 He went through the mockery of a trial. 32:09 He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. 32:11 While He was dying, His executioners gambled 32:15 for His only piece of property He owned on earth; His coat. 32:21 When He was dead, He was taken down and laid 32:24 in a borrowed grave. 32:27 Nineteen centuries," see this is an old statement, 32:30 "have come and gone, yet today He is the crowning glory 32:34 of the human race, the adored leader of hundreds of millions 32:38 of the earth's inhabitants. 32:41 All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies 32:48 that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, 32:55 and all the kings that ever reigned, put together 33:01 have not affected the life of man upon this earth 33:05 as much as that one solitary life." 33:10 Hallelujah 33:13 Therefore, I must believe on the basis of the evidence. 33:18 I do not... 33:19 And I wish to say this to the people here in the church. 33:23 And what a great crowd. 33:24 Seven o'clock in Los Angeles. 33:27 Everybody in Los Angeles is on the 405 freeway. 33:31 Or the 101, or the 210. 33:35 We're a strange mob here in Los Angeles. 33:38 But here you are in a church. 33:43 I had a great point to give you and now I have forgotten it. 33:47 I got on the 405 freeway and then the 101 and the 210. 33:54 Listen, here it is. It's come back. 33:58 It's back. 34:00 I don't want to be a superficial person. 34:04 The world is full of shakes and flakes; superficial people. 34:08 Some Christians have got a name for being 34:11 very superficial people. 34:14 Many Christians think that Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers. 34:18 I'm tell you, you know, it's true. 34:21 I want a faith that will stand the test. 34:26 And I believe in Christ and I believe in the Bible. 34:30 Not because religion is a crutch for my faltering faith. 34:36 I believe because, as an honest man, 34:40 I am forced to believe. 34:43 Can you say, amen? 34:45 Say it again. 34:46 Yea, let them know that in America, folks in this church 34:50 still know how to say amen. 34:52 Say it again. 34:54 That's good. 34:59 That's good. 35:00 I asked Elder Gilley if it was okay to laugh on 3ABN. 35:03 He said, yea but not a lot. 35:07 Let me talk to you about the parousia. 35:09 Now Elder Gilley has got a great sense of humor. 35:11 Do you know why? 35:13 He laughs at things that aren't funny. 35:16 You know why he laughs at things that aren't funny? 35:19 Because he said if he only laughed at things that are 35:21 funny, he wouldn't laugh at all. 35:25 Since he's been working there at 3ABN in southern Illinois, 35:28 in Thompsonville, he's been laughing lots. 35:34 And we're just glad that he's here tonight and his 35:36 beautiful wife, Camille, who looks better 35:39 as the years roll by and who likes Coach purses. 35:44 The Parousia. 35:47 Well, every minister should talk a little Greek 35:50 even if he doesn't know much else. 35:52 It means, the actual presence. 35:55 Parousia of Christ, the actual presence. 35:59 He will return because He has already come, died, 36:03 and been raised from the dead. 36:06 And they are historical truths. 36:09 That is why I am certain He will return. 36:14 You folks doing alright tonight? 36:16 Are you happy tonight? 36:18 Put up your hands if you're happy tonight. 36:20 Put up your hands if you're glad you're here 36:23 listening to me preach. 36:24 God bless you folks. I love you to death. 36:28 We won't even take up an offering tonight. 36:30 We'll let you off. 36:31 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 down to 8. 36:34 Guarantee you folks haven't even eaten yet. 36:37 I did. 36:40 But I'm the one doing the working here tonight, so. 36:46 "Now, brothers..." 36:48 Whatever happened to the sisters back there? 36:52 It's a bit strange back there, couldn't have had any sisters. 36:55 "Now, brothers..." It's just a custom. 36:58 But the sisters have gotten over that one now. 37:02 "...I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, 37:05 which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 37:08 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly 37:12 to the word I preached to you. 37:14 Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 37:17 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance." 37:21 Remember this, all look at me. 37:24 There are some things that don't matter a great deal. 37:30 Sometimes we get bent out of shape and we cause 37:35 a lot of distress for the saints by messing around with stuff 37:40 that's not that important. 37:43 There are some things that are not very important, 37:47 some things that are important, 37:49 and some things tremendously important. 37:53 Here it is; it's the gospel, the good news. 37:56 And say amen to that. 37:59 You know, when people in Australia hear this, 38:02 it's going to turn them upside down hearing all these amen's. 38:06 "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 38:10 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." 38:16 That's of first importance. 38:18 "That He was buried, that He was raised on the third day 38:22 according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, 38:28 and then to the Twelve. 38:29 After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the 38:32 brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, 38:36 though some have fallen asleep." 38:39 We're not talking about people sleeping in church either. 38:41 We're talking dying. 38:44 "Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 38:48 and last of all He appeared to me also, 38:50 as to one 'born out of time.'" It says in the KJV. 38:54 He was seen. 38:57 Remember this. 38:58 These folks were not crooks. 39:00 They were not religious charlatans. 39:01 He was seen. 39:04 He was seen after He was dead. 39:07 A spear was put in His side. 39:09 It was not a fake death. He was dead. 39:15 And a wise man asked the question, 39:17 what happened to the body if it wasn't raised? 39:20 Did the Romans take the body? 39:21 I don't think so. 39:23 They would have said, "Ah ha, here's the body." 39:27 The Jews? 39:28 Could you imagine the Jews taking the body? 39:30 They could have squelched the Christian church 39:34 in one glimpse by displaying the body, the dead body. 39:39 No, the Romans didn't take the body. 39:42 The Jews didn't take the body. 39:45 The body was raised from the dead. 39:49 Say, hallelujah. 39:51 Hallelujah, praise God. 39:52 The body was raised. 39:54 And the disciples, these simple earnest good men, 39:59 were so convinced that Jesus had been raised 40:04 that they were prepared to die for their convictions. 40:08 I'm not dying for something that I don't believe in. 40:16 So He was born, lived, and died, and He was raised. 40:23 And He's coming back. 40:25 I notice today that people everywhere are in expectation. 40:31 They believe some mighty event is about to happen. 40:35 I'm not talking about church people. 40:37 They say, "What's happening to the planet?" 40:41 The tsunami's, and the earthquakes, and the tornadoes. 40:47 Something seems to be going on in the world. 40:52 And there's a restlessness in the hearts of men and women. 40:56 And they say, "What is going to happen?" 41:04 Listen to me. 41:07 The most certain event... 41:09 Are you folks listening? 41:12 The most certain event... 41:13 Are you listening strong? 41:17 You know how to listen strong, don't you? 41:19 Okay. 41:20 The most certain event, one that will change the history 41:27 of the world and the universe and our lives forever, 41:33 is the soon return of Christ in power and great glory. 41:41 Because I believe in Genesis chapter 1, 41:45 I believe that He will come again. 41:51 It's the hope of the church. 41:53 Would you please come to the words of our blessed Lord, 41:57 John chapter 14 verses 1 down to 3. 42:12 And while you're looking for the text, I've got a CD 42:18 for you tonight after the meeting, from The Carter Report. 42:22 You want to know about the miracle? 42:25 It's free. 42:26 We're going to give it to you free. 42:29 Yea, it's a great CD on the signs of the times. 42:35 Oh no, I think it could be on, I'm not sure but I think 42:38 it may be on... 42:39 Now I don't want anyone to hear this so I'm going to 42:41 whisper it to you folks. 42:44 I don't want anybody watching outside this church, 42:47 just don't listen. 42:49 I think the CD is on the Antichrist. 42:54 ssshhhhh 42:56 So after the meeting tonight, you're going to get it free. 43:00 Okay? 43:02 John 14 verses 1 down to 3. 43:04 "Let not your hearts be troubled." 43:05 Don't worry. 43:06 Don't worry about what's going on in Congress, folks. 43:09 Don't worry about any of that stuff. 43:11 "Trust in God; trust also in Me. 43:14 In My Father's house are many rooms." 43:17 The Kings James version, "many mansions." 43:19 I'd rather have a mansion than a room. 43:23 I'd be staying in a hotel room, I don't want that in glory. 43:27 Or a motor home, I don't want that. 43:29 I want a mansion, Lord. 43:33 With hot and cold water, too. 43:36 "In My Father's house are many mansions. 43:40 If it were not so, I would have told you. 43:42 I am going there to prepare a place for you. 43:44 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back 43:51 and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am." 43:57 It says in the beautiful wonderful King James version, 44:02 which is the Bible of my old mother church. 44:08 Did you know that? 44:11 Published in 1611. 44:15 The wonderful King James version. 44:17 It says, "I will come... I will come... 44:25 I will come again." 44:30 Dead, buried, resurrected, and coming back to this planet. 44:39 "I will come again." 44:41 And that is the parousia. 44:43 That, my friend, is the hope of the church, 44:48 and the hope of the world. 44:52 That is going to be, dear friends and gentle people, 44:56 a day of incomprehensible joy and glory for God's people. 45:06 Come with me over here to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 45:10 to the words of the great saint Paul, an itinerant preacher, 45:18 the prince of preachers, a great theologian, 45:23 a sinner saved by grace. 45:31 May the Lord write these words down upon your hearts tonight, 45:37 everybody watching on television. 45:39 This is what 3ABN exists for. 45:43 This is why God raised them up. 45:45 That is why God used Danny Shelton to do this. 45:48 That is why Pastor Gilley is involved with 45:51 this great ministry. 45:54 Here it is, "For the Lord Himself..." 45:56 Not some pseudo-Christ, not a counterfeit. 46:01 "For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, 46:04 with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel 46:09 and with the trumpet call of God, 46:12 and the dead in Christ will rise first." 46:16 Christ is going to come back. 46:19 And Christ is going to raise the dead 46:23 and translate the living saints. 46:26 Verse 17, "After that, we who are still alive and are left 46:31 will be caught up together with them in the clouds 46:34 to meet the Lord in the air. 46:36 And so we will be with the Lord forever." 46:40 Say hallelujah. 46:42 Hallelujah, praise God. 46:44 Come over here to 1 Corinthians 15. 46:47 And every night after the program, we're going to 46:50 give you a new powerful CD. 46:54 One of them is on spiritism. 46:57 Demonism. 46:59 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51 and onwards. 47:02 Have you got it? 47:03 "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, 47:07 but we will all be changed, in a flash, 47:10 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 47:14 For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be 47:17 raised imperishable..." 47:18 Do you believe that? 47:19 I believe it. 47:21 "...and we will be changed." 47:24 I'll get rid of my white hair. 47:27 I'll get nice blonde hair back. 47:32 It won't come from a bottle either. 47:34 "For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, 47:39 and the mortal with immortality. 47:41 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, 47:46 and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written 47:50 will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 47:54 'Where, O death, is your victory? 47:56 Where, O death, is your sting?'" 48:00 So I say to my old friend who came with us to 48:05 Russia and Ukraine so many times, 48:07 "Hold on, old friend." 48:10 I say to my friend back in Australia, "Hold on. 48:15 You're going to get a new body. 48:18 God is going to take away the aches and the pains. 48:20 You're going to be made completely new again. 48:24 You're going to go running down the streets of the New Jerusalem 48:28 and you're going to know this is just the beginning of glory." 48:34 The blessed hope. 48:35 No wonder it is called the blessed hope. 48:38 I pity people like Richard Dawkins, 48:42 where he thinks that a man is simply animated mud 48:46 on the way to dust. 48:48 We want him to know that Jesus is coming 48:51 and Jesus loves him too. 48:53 And He loves you. 48:55 You know the greatest truth in the Bible? 48:58 The greatest truth in the Bible is that God loves you. 49:02 Not because you're good, not because you're good enough. 49:05 Because there's only one person, my friend, who is good enough. 49:08 And that is Christ. 49:10 And He loves us. 49:11 And He loved us so much that He went to the cross 49:15 and went through hell to save our souls. 49:20 Hallelujah, what a Savior. 49:23 I remember the coldest winter in Russia. 49:31 We had run this great campaign in Nizhny Novgorod. 49:34 We'd seen 2530 souls initially, more were baptized later, 49:41 baptized in the cold waters of the Volga River. 49:47 And in that great campaign, where we saw the latter rain. 49:52 Don't tell me there's not a Spirit. 49:55 Don't tell me God is not alive. 49:57 I am here to testify to the power of God. 50:01 I've seen it. 50:05 And there was a young lady who conducted the great mass choir 50:08 that we had up front. 50:10 Her name was Anna. 50:12 She was a beautiful girl. 50:14 Like these Russian girls, some of them are 50:16 absolutely beautiful. 50:17 Had long glorious black hair. 50:20 I went back there... 50:22 That was in summer, I went back in the winter six months later. 50:27 It was Friday afternoon, it was snowing like crazy. 50:30 It was rather cold. 50:31 We were staying in this awful hotel. 50:35 It was cold in the hotel. 50:37 Had to go to bed to get warm, 50:40 with all your clothes on. 50:44 And there was a pounding on the door. 50:46 And one of the pastors with me went to the door, 50:49 one of the Russian pastors. 50:50 He said, "There's a man here whose wife is 50:52 dying in the hospital. 50:53 Would you pray for her? 50:55 Will you come and anoint her with oil, 50:57 in the name of the Lord?" 50:59 So we brought in this young man who was bereaved with grief, 51:02 to a young Russian doctor. 51:04 They said, "Come now." 51:06 They took us to what we could only describe as, bleak house. 51:11 A dreadful hospital. 51:14 There was no shortage of care in that Russian hospital. 51:17 The Russian doctors were magnificent. 51:19 They gave us those blue gowns and things to put 51:22 over our shoes, and masks. 51:25 We went into this room and there was Anna lying on the bed. 51:31 She had two little babies. 51:34 One baby had died in child birth. 51:38 One baby was still alive. 51:39 Anna was unconscious. 51:44 I still remember her hair flowing out. 51:50 And I can still remember the whiteness of the 51:53 tops of her shoulders. 51:54 She was covered with a hospital sheet. 51:57 And she was hemorrhaging. 52:01 I said, "Anna, Anna." She could not hear me. 52:04 This was our Anna, our Anna, our Anna, 52:08 who conducted the choir. 52:13 I anointed her with oil in the name of the Lord, 52:16 and committed her into the hands of Christ, 52:19 with the hope of the blessed hope. 52:21 I want to tell you, unless you've got your hope then, 52:24 you've got nothing. 52:27 If you've got Christ, you've got everything. 52:29 But if you don't have Christ and if you don't have the 52:31 blessed hope, I want to tell you, you've got nothing. 52:36 As the sun went down that Sabbath, 52:38 she fell asleep and died. 52:41 I was asked to perform the service, 52:45 the funeral service. 52:48 She was buried in a cardboard box because they were so poor. 52:53 And her family had drawn flowers on the cardboard box. 52:58 We'd purchased a little bus and we gave the bus as a hearse. 53:03 And I traveled on behind in a Volga car. 53:08 We got out to the cemetery where the wind was howling 53:11 through the trees that were naked. 53:15 So cold. 53:16 They blasted the ground open, it was frozen solid. 53:26 She held in her hands a little tiny baby. 53:34 The church members who had been decimated by the 53:37 ravages of the atheists and the Communists 53:40 who'd killed 50 million people... 53:42 Never defend atheism. 53:44 They killed 50 million people in Russia. 53:51 The church members stood around and stroked her hair 53:55 and sang hymns. 53:56 I thought, after a reign of terror, you cannot 54:01 kill the church. 54:03 You cannot kill the faith in the hearts of the people. 54:08 And after I preached, I remember our feet. 54:14 Beverly told me, "It's so cold, I'm freezing." 54:17 The ground was solid ice. 54:19 We put her down into the ground with her little baby. 54:22 They put a cardboard covering over her body. 54:29 But I said to the folks there, I want you to know something. 54:33 This is not the end. 54:36 I want the devil to know, this is not the end. 54:41 I want the world to know, this is not the end. 54:44 I said to her husband and the grieving church, 54:47 "This is not the end. Anna will live again." 54:52 She's going to come out of the tomb with that gorgeous 54:55 black hair and that beautiful little baby. 55:00 And she will live for eternity. 55:02 We have this hope. 55:08 You can believe it. 55:11 Not because it is a story. 55:16 You can believe it because the word of God vouches for it. 55:22 You can believe it because the Man who inspired 55:28 the book came down. 55:31 He was the Man who made the universe. 55:34 He came down and He went down, but He came up. 55:42 And He's coming again. 55:46 "Let not your hearts be troubled. 55:49 I will come again." 55:53 This is our blessed hope. 55:56 I want you to pray with me. 55:58 I want you to bow your heads, please. 56:02 Our Father in heaven, here in Los Angeles 56:05 in this vast teaming city, in this beautiful church 56:10 that You gave to us as a gift, 56:14 we lift our hearts to You. 56:17 We thank You for the Bible. 56:19 We thank You for Jesus, our Lord. 56:22 We thank You that our Savior came down to us 56:26 when we couldn't go up to Him. 56:29 We thank You that with His own blood, 56:31 He made a perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins, 56:36 and that He came up out of the grave. 56:39 And that there is nothing more certain in the history 56:42 of the universe than His return. 56:47 Who would raise their hand tonight and say, 56:49 "Oh God, I thank You for Jesus." 56:52 Can you raise your hand and say, "Thank You, Jesus." 56:55 Can you say tonight, you say it out loud, "Thank You, Jesus." 57:00 Thank You, Jesus. 57:02 And burn this blessed hope into my heart tonight. 57:07 Say it; Lord, put this hope into my heart tonight. 57:12 Take away my fears, fill me with Your love, 57:18 and everlasting life. 57:20 We worship You. 57:22 In Jesus' name, amen. 57:27 And to all those watching on television, goodnight. |
Revised 2014-12-17