Carter Report, The

Forget The Church, Follow Jesus

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. John Carter

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Series Code: CR

Program Code: CR001212


00:08 From Arcadia, California, the Carter report presents
00:11 "The Living Word" around the world.
00:18 This Newsweek magazine inspired today's talk.
00:22 Take a close look,
00:24 it says "forget the church, follow Jesus."
00:29 Now should we forget the church?
00:33 I'm going to talk about that in the talk today.
00:36 Forget the church, it says follow Jesus.
00:41 This is not a religious magazine,
00:44 this is a secular unbelieving as they come.
00:51 But I'm going to quote from it today,
00:52 but firstly it is my privilege to introduce a beautiful
00:57 and charming and gracious and lovely young lady.
01:04 I love her to death.
01:06 She's got the voice and the disposition of an angel.
01:11 Her name is, Sharon Verde.
01:13 Would you please welcome Sharon today?
01:17 God bless you.
01:40 I was taken just a young child
01:47 Bound and marked for slavery
01:55 So forsaken stripped of all life
02:03 Could this be my destiny?
02:09 But Lord
02:13 You send someone to find me
02:17 And though I leave that place behind me
02:25 These scars
02:29 Remind me of the love You have for me
02:36 Were it not for you where would I be?
02:43 For these scars
02:47 They point me to the cross of Calvary
02:54 I bear them in your name
02:58 And I won't be ashamed of these scars
03:09 What can man do, but take the body?
03:17 Death has lost its grip on me
03:24 With your blood you claimed and bought me
03:31 You have set my spirit free
03:37 And Lord
03:41 With every pain I'm yearning to know
03:48 The suffering of Your journey
03:52 These scars
03:56 Remind me of the love You have for me
04:02 Were it not for you where would I be?
04:09 For these scars
04:13 They point me to the cross of Calvary
04:19 I bear them in your name
04:23 And I won't be ashamed
04:27 Let these marks
04:30 I tell them more than loss
04:37 Point them to Your cross Lord
04:41 I will boldly wear
04:48 These marks that tell the world
04:51 Jesus I am Yours
04:58 These scars
05:02 Remind me of the love You have for me
05:09 Were it not for You where would I be?
05:15 Oh, for these scars
05:19 They point me to the cross of Calvary
05:26 I bear them in Your name
05:30 And I won't be ashamed of these scars
05:38 Oh, these scars
05:45 Oooooo.
06:02 According today from Newsweek,
06:05 a secular, secular magazine.
06:09 Famous in North America, famous around the world.
06:14 Look at it, Newsweek.
06:18 It says, forget the church, follow Jesus.
06:24 What you think about that?
06:26 Well, we're gonna talk about that,
06:28 should we forget the church?
06:30 What should we forget?
06:32 Inside, well, there's a picture of our Lord's hand.
06:37 Amazing isn't it?
06:39 The world can't get rid of Him.
06:42 You know, they can say He doesn't exist,
06:44 but He just goes on existing.
06:46 That's the problem.
06:48 The bishop of Sydney
06:50 I heard him getting interviewed in Sydney.
06:52 He's an evangelical, great man of God.
06:55 And Peter Jensen said-- they said to him,
06:57 don't you know Bishop Jensen,
07:00 Archbishop that the atheists
07:02 are having a big convention in Sydney.
07:04 Oh, he said, that's wonderful.
07:05 I'm glad they are coming.
07:07 They talk about God all the time.
07:11 He said, I noticed Christians don't talk about Him
07:14 but Richard Dawkins can't talk for two minutes
07:17 before he start talking about God
07:20 who doesn't exist, you know.
07:23 Now look at this though, The Forgotten Jesus.
07:27 Now he's writing to Christian America...
07:31 The Forgotten Jesus.
07:33 Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests
07:40 and get rich evangelists ignore them.
07:48 Writes Andrew Sullivan "and embrace Him."
07:56 You're going to notice as we go through today
08:00 that this is sort of a theme that runs through the talk.
08:04 If you live by your feelings
08:08 you're gonna be up and down all the time.
08:13 If you live according to your feelings and your emotions,
08:18 you'll be unstable in all your relationships.
08:24 Your marriage is not going to last.
08:27 You'll have bad relationships with your children.
08:31 And you'll always be late to church.
08:33 That is if you feel you should even go.
08:41 And so this magazine talks about the problem in the church.
08:47 Let me read to you just a bit of it.
08:51 "Organize religion is in decline.
08:56 Organized religion itself is in trouble.
08:59 The Catholic Church-- this is written by a Catholic.
09:04 "The Catholic Church's hierarchy lost much of its authority
09:08 over the American flock
09:10 with the unilateral prohibition of the pill
09:14 in 1968 by Pope Paul VI.
09:20 But in the last decade,
09:22 whatever shred of moral authority
09:26 that remained has evaporated.
09:29 The hierarchy was exposed
09:32 as enabling, and then covering up
09:37 an international conspiracy of abuse and rape
09:44 countless youths and children.
09:49 I don't know what greater
09:51 indictment of a church's authority
09:54 there can be except the refusal,
09:57 even now, of the entire leadership
10:00 to face their responsibility and resign."
10:04 He says, the whole system from the pope down
10:08 the whole hierarchy are to resign...
10:12 amen, in repentance
10:16 for the terrible sin against children.
10:21 "Instead, they obsess about others sex lives,
10:27 about who is entitled to civil marriage,
10:30 and about who pays for birth control in health insurance.
10:34 Inequality, poverty, even the torture
10:41 institutionalized by the government
10:45 after 9/11 these issues attract
10:48 far less of their public attention.
10:55 For their part, the mainline Protestant churches,
10:59 which long promoted religious moderation,
11:02 have rapidly declined in the past 50 years.
11:08 Evangelical Protestantism has stepped into the vacuum,
11:13 but it has serious defects of its own."
11:18 And he talks about Bad Religion.
11:21 How We Became a Nation of Heretics,
11:28 The Forgotten Jesus.
11:30 Listen to this. I'm ashamed to say this.
11:34 I want to say this to all the evangelicals like me.
11:39 I'm an evangelical Christian.
11:41 Evangelical means you believe in the gospel.
11:47 Now it's the most abuse term,
11:48 but the word evangelical in itself is good,
11:53 but not what it represents.
11:56 Listen to this.
11:57 "And what group of Americans have pollsters found
12:01 to be most supportive of torturing terror suspects?
12:09 Evangelical Christians."
12:14 The Christian shout amen, torture him some more.
12:19 Something has gone very wrong.
12:24 The crisis of our time,
12:26 you think this man was preaching.
12:29 I wish he could preach
12:30 in a thousand of our Christian churches
12:35 that have forgotten Jesus.
12:39 "All of which is to say something
12:41 so obvious is almost taboo.
12:44 Christianity is in crisis.
12:48 It seems no accident to me that so many Christians
12:50 now embrace materialistic self-help than self-denial,
12:57 or that most Catholics, even regular churchgoers
13:01 have tuned out the hierarchy in embarrassment or disgust.
13:08 Given this crisis, it is no surprise
13:11 that the fastest-growing segment of belief
13:15 among the young people is atheism,
13:23 which has leapt in popularity in the new millennium.
13:27 Nor is it a shock that so many have turned away
13:30 from organized Christianity
13:32 and toward 'spirituality, meditation, yoga.'
13:41 "The thirst for God he says is still there.
13:45 How could it not be,
13:47 why does the universe exist rather than nothing?"
13:50 That's why I interviewed Hugh Ross.
13:52 These are the great questions,
13:55 that most Christians are afraid to think about.
13:59 "How did humanity come to be on this
14:01 remote blue speck of a planet?
14:05 What happens to us after death?
14:08 Remain as pressing and mysterious
14:12 as they've always been?"
14:14 Now then he quotes religion.
14:24 A famous evangelical author and television evangelist.
14:30 "God wants to increase you financially,
14:34 by giving you promotions,
14:37 fresh ideas, creativity, think big.
14:41 Think increase. Think abundance.
14:43 Think more than enough."
14:47 When a Bible is never opened on the pulpit
14:52 and people will sit and gaze and say, boy, that's great.
14:57 You know why?
15:00 They are living by their feelings
15:04 and not by faith in God,
15:06 in Christ, or is in the word of God.
15:11 He talks about the forgotten Jesus.
15:16 It is now a fact that most Christians do not know Him.
15:24 I want you to come to a theme text John 14:5-6.
15:30 Please turn in your Bible to the text.
15:33 This is not a feely, touchy, good church.
15:39 We want to be in touch with God. John 14:5-6.
15:44 "Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we don't know
15:46 where You are going, so how can we know the way?'
15:50 Jesus answered,
15:52 'I am the way and the truth and the life.
16:00 No one comes to the Father except through Me."
16:06 But most Christians do not know Him.
16:09 I want to remind every person watching the telecast today,
16:14 it is time of political excitement
16:18 Jesus was not involved in politics.
16:24 Well, He lived in the days of the Roman Empire,
16:26 some people would have said,
16:27 well, Jesus run for the senate.
16:34 Jesus of course was a Jew
16:40 and the ruling body over the Jews
16:42 was a group of religious politicians
16:45 called that's Sanhedrin.
16:49 I want to remind every person here today
16:52 Jesus never held political office
16:57 and what is more, He never held any church office.
17:03 You say better goes against him, oh, well, I'm sorry.
17:05 If it goes against what is wrong.
17:11 Jesus was the un-politician.
17:14 Come to John 18:36. John 18:36.
17:20 Jesus said to Pilate,
17:24 "My kingdom is not of this world.
17:27 If it were, My servants would fight
17:29 to prevent my arrest by the Jews.
17:33 But now My kingdom is from another place."
17:38 Christ followed a higher path.
17:43 Jesus unlike the television evangelist
17:47 have brought this grace to the name of Christ
17:50 did not seek worldly power influence or riches.
17:56 Jesus was a poor man.
17:59 Come over here to Philippians 2:5-8.
18:02 Philippians 2:5-8.
18:06 It says, "Your attitude should be the same
18:10 as that of Christ Jesus,
18:14 Who, being in very nature God,
18:16 did not consider equality with God
18:19 something to be grasped,
18:21 but made himself nothing,
18:23 taking the very nature of a servant,
18:26 being made in human nature or the likeness of a man.
18:32 And being found in appearance as a man,
18:35 he humbled himself and became obedient to death--
18:40 even death on a cross."
18:45 I said again, Jesus did not seek worldly power,
18:50 influence, or riches.
18:54 I say it to every person
18:55 watching who is deluded by the prosperity gospel.
18:59 The prosperity gospel
19:02 is the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ.
19:08 It appeals to man's carnal heart
19:11 and is far removed from our blessed Lord.
19:14 Could you imagine Jesus saying,
19:17 instead of saying, blessed are the meek,
19:21 blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are those that mourn.
19:26 Jesus would say God wants to increase you
19:30 financially by giving you promotions,
19:34 fresh ideas, creativity, think big.
19:39 Think increase. Think abundance.
19:43 Think more than enough.
19:48 The unknown Jesus.
19:53 You know why most Christians in this country
19:58 of the United States do not know him?
20:01 Would you like to know why?
20:05 Because they don't open their Bibles.
20:08 They go to churches where the preacher
20:10 doesn't quote the Bible
20:12 or he may say a text to make people feel good.
20:16 As Larry King sits in time back,
20:18 talking to a prosperity gospel preacher
20:21 who had great success
20:22 and a great congregation in size.
20:26 He said, why don't you quote the Bible?
20:29 All he said, I'm not.
20:32 It is because people live according to their feelings
20:38 and that is why we have so much instability
20:42 that is why even in this church
20:45 people come to church at 12 o' clock
20:48 because when they woke up they were feeling,
20:51 that they didn't feel like going to church today.
20:57 Has anybody here ever heard of the word, duty?
21:01 Oh, somebody said to me that's an awful word.
21:05 It's not an awful word for soldiers.
21:08 Honor, duty, guard, country.
21:14 I've been--I don't say this self-righteously,
21:16 because I've got no reason to be righteous about anything.
21:20 But I got up early every Sabbath morning
21:22 and driven for the last 25 years,
21:25 60 miles to this church
21:28 and I've done it year after year, day after day,
21:32 not because I am motivated by feeling,
21:36 because sometimes I feel like giving it all away.
21:41 But I look to Christ
21:45 not feeling but faith.
21:51 That's the reason some of you are in so many problems.
21:54 I know when you come into church,
21:56 you can't help yourself.
21:57 You got to be playing with your cell phone
22:01 or else you got to be playing with your iPad.
22:05 If you even invite people over to your house,
22:07 you can't even have a conversation.
22:11 You got to be texting. What's wrong with you?
22:14 It is--don't laugh, it is a sickness.
22:18 It is a psychological disease.
22:22 Did you know, they've discovered that people
22:23 who are all the time
22:28 are suffering a decrease in their IQ?
22:33 They are dumbing down.
22:40 The greatest antidote to the dumbing down
22:42 on this foolishness is a systemic study
22:45 of the word of God and getting out of bed early
22:48 and going to church and doing your religious duty,
22:53 add a motivation for Christ, because you love Him.
22:57 You do your duty, because you love Him.
23:00 People say, why haven't you retired
23:02 enjoying the rest to sit on the beach?
23:04 Because I have a duty to Christ, that is why.
23:10 By the grace of God
23:11 I will not be a namby-pamby wimp
23:17 that is guided by how I feel.
23:26 I say this to you, come over here to Matthew 19, Matthew 19.
23:34 Now I got a lot of text
23:36 so you better go pretty fast, 23, 24.
23:45 Matthew 19:23-24.
23:51 "Then Jesus said to his disciples,
23:53 'I tell you the truth,
23:54 it is hard for a rich man
23:56 to enter the kingdom of heaven.'"
23:58 Have you ever heard of prosperity
23:59 gospel preacher talk about this?
24:03 "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel
24:05 to go through the eye of a needle
24:07 than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
24:09 So much for this nonsense of prosperity gospel.
24:13 Would you come to Luke 12, Luke 12:15 and onwards.
24:19 "Then he said, 'Watch out.
24:21 Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,
24:25 a man's life does not consist
24:27 in the abundance of his possessions.'
24:30 And he told them this parable,
24:31 'The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.'"
24:35 We're talking now about Wall Street and the bankers.
24:38 "He thought to himself, 'What shall I do?
24:40 I have no place to store my crops.
24:42 Then he said, this is what I'll do.
24:44 I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones,
24:46 and there I will store all my grain and my goods."
24:50 And I'll get more stuff going on the stock exchange.
24:54 "And I'll say to myself,
24:56 you have plenty of good things laid up for many years.
24:58 Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.'
25:02 'But God said to him, you fool.
25:05 This very night your life will be demanded from you.
25:10 Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?
25:13 This is how it will be with anyone
25:16 who stores up things for himself
25:19 but is not rich toward God.'"
25:22 One magazine article said
25:24 recently that most Christians people have called themselves
25:28 Christians are monumentally ignorant.
25:33 I've been telling you for years
25:36 and I've been pouring out my heart.
25:38 I've been saying don't go by your feelings,
25:41 but go by the word of God.
25:42 And I know that some of you have obeyed
25:46 and you have believed and you done it
25:48 and you been blessed
25:49 and I know that some of you have said,
25:51 he's not gonna tell me what to do.
25:54 Nobody tells me what to do.
25:56 I do what I want to do and I will always do
26:00 what I want to do, my friend.
26:03 Play not the fool.
26:06 Play not the fool.
26:09 Listen, we need to be weary of churches
26:15 where preachers call themselves life coaches.
26:20 What do you do? I'm a life coach.
26:23 Who do not preach from the Bible
26:26 where the congregation is composed of lost souls
26:32 who come to hear pleasing things
26:34 and who do not know the forgotten Jesus.
26:37 You tell me this is Christianity.
26:41 This is not the Christianity of the Bible.
26:45 And there no place my friend,
26:49 where people are more controlled
26:52 by their feelings than in tinsel town.
26:58 Los Angeles,
27:02 that has polluted the wells of the world
27:07 with their liberalism in everything else.
27:12 And you and I are now a part of this culture.
27:17 You and I will need to fight a little bit harder
27:20 to escape the mud around us.
27:26 Come to 2 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
27:33 I'm just getting ready to go folks.
27:36 2 Timothy 4:1-5 I'm just warming up you see.
27:42 2 Timothy 4:1-5. If I catch anybody not with the Bible
27:46 I'll come down and grab you.
27:50 Yeah, I'll do that.
27:51 I did it once in church over in the other church.
27:56 The lady never ever took her eyes off the Bible again.
28:01 I think she's still sitting reading a Bible.
28:03 2 Timothy 4:1-5,
28:04 "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
28:07 who will judge the living and the dead,
28:09 and in view of his appearing and his kingdom,
28:11 I give you this charge, Preach the Word."
28:15 You see, preach the word.
28:19 "Preach the word, be prepared in season,
28:21 out of season, correct, rebuke and encourage--
28:24 with great patience and careful instruction.
28:26 For the time will come
28:28 when men will not put up with sound doctrine.
28:30 Instead, to suit their own desires,
28:33 they will gather around them
28:35 a great number of teachers to say
28:37 what their itching ears want to hear.
28:40 They will turn their ears away from the truth
28:44 and turn aside to myths.
28:47 But you, keep your head
28:49 in all situations, endure hardship,
28:51 do the work of an evangelist,
28:54 discharge all the duties of your ministry."
29:00 So I want to give you a little counsel today.
29:03 My beloved friends, watching in Australia,
29:08 I want to give you a little counsel
29:11 that is based on the word of God
29:13 and my friends, in this great church.
29:16 Number one, here it is, sync for yourself.
29:21 Number two, be suspicious of authority figures
29:28 in the world and in the church.
29:32 Because the president says, that doesn't make it so.
29:38 Be suspicious of authority figures
29:43 be a student of God's word.
29:47 Now few years ago I ran a big campaign in Harare, Zimbabwe.
29:52 Doesn't it sound good?
29:53 Harare, Zimbabwe, Salisbury, Rhodesia.
29:59 And I preach the word
30:01 and I put up all the great prophecies on the blackboard
30:05 because that is what I do
30:08 and that is what I was ordained to do.
30:13 And a girl on television had read in all the newspapers,
30:17 it was a national sensation
30:23 and it appeared as though at one stage some people told me,
30:27 hey, the government may close down your meetings
30:33 in the Harare International Conference Center
30:36 because of our success that God gave to us.
30:42 The devil never wants to close down
30:44 something that's doing nothing.
30:48 And they sent along a cabinet member
30:51 and he gave a great talk.
30:53 And the people said,
30:54 well, he's gonna toss you out of the country.
30:58 Oh, ye of little faith.
31:03 The brethren were terrified.
31:06 What's gonna happen to it?
31:07 He came along and I stood here
31:10 and the cabinet member he gave a great speech.
31:15 And then he talked about
31:17 how the missionaries came to Africa, Livingston and others.
31:23 And then he turned to me,
31:26 a minister, a cabinet member in the government
31:30 and he turned to me and he made the sign of the cross
31:34 and he said, In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
31:38 I charge you, John Carter, preach the word,
31:44 preach the word, preach the word.
31:50 Now this great congregation
31:52 and the brethren were so relieved.
31:55 And everybody got up and cheered,
31:59 but whether they cheer or not,
32:01 we are called to preach the word.
32:08 Jesus taught the importance of the individual
32:11 that every soul is important.
32:14 Jesus was a gospel preacher.
32:17 Look at Luke 15:1,2.
32:22 "Now the tax collectors and 'sinners'"
32:26 they were the harlots and the prostitutes
32:28 and all other bad people in society
32:31 "Were all gathering around to hear him.
32:33 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,
32:38 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'"
32:41 And Jesus said, you're right. I'm guilty.
32:47 He cared for the outcast of society
32:51 especially women, Mary Magdalene.
32:56 The Bible says, she had seven demons.
33:00 The woman caught in adultery with the Pharisee.
33:06 He said to her, neither do I condemn you,
33:08 go, and sin no more.
33:11 I'm going to say something
33:12 and I don't want you to misunderstand it.
33:16 The Christian church needs to stand against sin.
33:20 We need to stand against those things
33:22 that undermine the Bible and our Christian faith,
33:27 that undermine the church and that destroy the nation.
33:31 The church needs to speak against him,
33:35 but we ought to love the sinner.
33:39 I read in an article some time ago
33:41 about a gay parade in one of our great cities.
33:48 And as the homosexuals in this great gay parade
33:52 were marching down the streets of an American city
33:56 some of them held up banners that said,
33:59 Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so.
34:05 Well, some of you are shaking your heads.
34:07 I've got news for you. He does love them.
34:11 You better believe it. You say, oh, no Jesus.
34:14 Yes, He does. Jesus died for them.
34:18 If Jesus was here today they would come and hear Him preach.
34:24 They wouldn't go and listen to these charlatans.
34:30 But as this parade went down the street,
34:32 a group of "Christians"
34:37 on the other side of this street
34:38 held up signs that said "burn faggot burn."
34:45 You are going to burn for eternity in hell.
34:53 Jesus hated sin, but He loved the sinner.
34:58 And the sinners loved him.
35:01 I want any person who is watching the telecast,
35:04 if you are a gay person I want you to know
35:09 while we do not agree with the gay lifestyle,
35:13 we love you and you're welcome in this church.
35:18 You're welcome in this church.
35:20 His greatest teaching was the love of God.
35:23 John 3:16, "For God so loved the world
35:28 that he gave His only Son,
35:33 so that whoever believes in Him
35:37 shall not perish but have everlasting life."
35:42 He told us to love our enemies.
35:44 That's a bit hard, isn't it?
35:46 Would you come over here to Matthew 5:43 and onwards?
35:51 Matthew 5,
35:54 the favorite topic of His discourses
35:56 was the paternal love of God, that God loved us.
36:01 John 5:43 and onwards.
36:04 "You have heard that it was said,
36:06 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
36:10 But I tell you, love your enemies
36:12 and pray for those who persecute you."
36:15 Now here's the punch line
36:17 "That you may be the sons of your Father in heaven."
36:23 If you don't do that He says you're son of the devil.
36:28 "That you may be the sons of your Father in heaven.
36:31 He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
36:36 and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
36:42 I want to ask everybody watching the telecast,
36:45 I'm said that this is even controversial.
36:50 Jesus said, if you don't love your enemies,
36:54 you're not one of His disciples.
36:56 That's what He said.
36:58 I want to ask everybody watching the telecast,
37:01 can you imagine Jesus waterboarding somebody.
37:10 Because it appears to this country
37:11 the majority of Christians believe it.
37:17 He said, love your enemies.
37:22 That is why this man in Newsweek says,
37:26 he is the forgotten Jesus.
37:30 Did you know that waterboarding
37:32 comes from the Spanish inquisition?
37:37 How tragic that so many Christians in the USA
37:41 perhaps the majority believe in torture and offended.
37:52 One of the blackest chapters
37:54 in the history of this great nation,
37:58 one was slavery
38:01 and one was torture.
38:05 And if you want to see
38:07 America survive and thrive
38:13 do not condemn those practices that will destroy her.
38:24 How can you be a Christian
38:27 and condemn those things?
38:30 How tragic there are so many Christians are the ones
38:33 who seem to want wars and who loved violence.
38:38 Am I getting close to you?
38:41 The forgotten Jesus, do you know Him?
38:44 Do you even know about Him?
38:46 Would you come over here to 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
38:52 2 Timothy 3:1-5, "But mark this,
38:56 there will be terrible times in the last days.
38:59 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
39:03 boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
39:06 ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
39:12 slanderous, without self-control, brutal,
39:15 not lovers of the good, treacherous,
39:18 rash, conceited,
39:20 lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--
39:25 having a form of godliness but denying its power.
39:32 Have nothing to do with them."
39:35 I humbly ask every person
39:37 watching the telecast this question
39:40 and you sitting in the church
39:41 particularly those of you dosing in the back.
39:45 Is it not time to return
39:47 to the Jesus of the Bible and to follow Him?
39:50 Is it not time for you and for me
39:53 to break with the pack,
39:56 the pack and become true disciples.
40:01 Jesus taught nonviolence,
40:06 loving our enemies,
40:09 and seeking first the Kingdom of God.
40:13 He also taught forgiveness to the wayward
40:16 the erring profligate who turn homeward.
40:20 Would you come over here to Luke 15?
40:23 This is a chapter that should give every struggling sinner
40:27 who is watching this telecast a bit of hope
40:31 and that's what I want to give you.
40:33 Luke 15:11, you know it well.
40:36 "Jesus continued, 'There was a man who had two sons.
40:40 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me'
40:44 it's a cry of this generation.
40:46 "Give me my share of the estate.
40:50 So he divided his property between them.
40:52 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had,
40:56 set off for a distant country
40:58 and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
41:02 After he had spent everything,
41:04 there was a severe famine in that whole country,
41:06 and he began to be in need.
41:08 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country,
41:11 who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
41:16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods
41:18 that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
41:23 When he came to his senses,
41:25 he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare,
41:29 and here I am starving to death!
41:33 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him,
41:36 Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
41:41 I am no longer worthy to be called your son,
41:44 make me like one of your hired men.
41:46 So he got up and went to his father.
41:50 But while he was still a long way off,
41:53 his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him,
41:57 he ran to his son,
41:59 threw his arms around him and kissed him.
42:05 The son said to him,
42:06 Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
42:09 I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
42:11 But the father said to his servants, Quick!
42:13 Bring the best robe and put it on him.
42:15 Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
42:19 Bring the fattened calf and kill it.
42:21 Let's have a feast and celebrate.
42:26 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again,
42:32 he was lost and is found."
42:40 The forgotten Jesus,
42:44 taught forgiveness to the wayward.
42:49 Jesus had a lot of successful people
42:54 but not much success
42:57 with self-righteous religious people.
43:01 But He had a lot of success
43:04 with prodigals like you and me.
43:08 So there's hope for the despairing.
43:12 There are two sayings
43:13 that I wish I could write up on the blackboard
43:15 but I don't have room.
43:17 I've told you this before some of you have taken it in,
43:21 others of you have dismissed it.
43:24 Number one, Man is far worse than he ever feared to think.
43:30 Man in himself is fallen.
43:34 Man is a sinner.
43:37 Man has a depraved nature,
43:39 that is why even Christians don't even go to church,
43:45 to keep His commandments.
43:46 That is why they come to church
43:49 and they can't stop playing with their cell phones
43:54 or taking phone calls or wanting to get out quickly.
43:58 Oh, my stomach, I've got to fill it.
44:01 That is because of their depravity.
44:05 And depravity causes spiritual blindness
44:09 that is why they don't read their Bibles.
44:11 That is why they say nobody tells me what to do.
44:16 Because this thing that is called sin
44:20 has made us blind to our own falls,
44:24 but not blind to the falls of earth.
44:27 That's why we're critical.
44:31 But that is why we move by our feelings
44:37 and you hear people say it all the time,
44:38 well, I feel its right.
44:40 Some people say, I make my decisions from the gut.
44:44 Goodness.
44:46 I feel that it's right.
44:48 I have a gut feeling.
44:52 That is a sign of out of depravity.
44:55 That is why the Bible says, Jesus said,
44:58 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word."
45:02 And thus if we live according to our feelings
45:05 we are unstable and some of us here are...
45:11 unstable.
45:13 In all of our relationships unstable without families,
45:17 unstable without church, unstable in society,
45:22 unstable at our work,
45:27 because of feelings.
45:30 And so the first truth is this,
45:32 man is far worse than he ever feared to think.
45:36 The second truth is,
45:39 God is far better than he ever dared to hope.
45:44 In spite of our sin and our depravity
45:48 God loves us just the same.
45:53 Yes, He loves the homosexual in the gay parade
45:57 and wishes to touch Him.
46:03 He loves the self-righteous Pharisee in the church
46:07 and longs to touch him.
46:12 Now religion. This man says, forget the church.
46:20 Well, there's two types of religion.
46:24 It's good and bad religion.
46:27 Most religion is bad. Oops.
46:32 Richard Dawkins the world's most famous atheist has a point.
46:36 He says, religion has started most of the wars.
46:40 Religion today is responsible for covering up
46:43 the abuse of thousands, tens of thousands of children.
46:48 Look at the scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, he says.
46:55 So most religion I believe is bad.
47:00 How does God regard bad religion?
47:02 Come over here to Revelation 17:1-6.
47:05 How does God regard bad religion?
47:08 Well, He doesn't like it.
47:10 Revelation 17,
47:13 oh come to verse,
47:17 oh, verse 1.
47:18 "One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said
47:21 'Come, I will show you the punishment
47:22 of the great prostitute,"
47:24 that stands for the church, the prostitute church.
47:26 "With whom the kings of the earth committed adultery."
47:31 The church is embed with the state here.
47:34 "Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert.
47:37 There I saw a woman."
47:39 And if you come to verse 4
47:41 "The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet,
47:43 was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls."
47:46 She was a part of the prosperity gospel.
47:48 "She held a golden cup in her hand,
47:50 filled with abominable things
47:52 and the filth of her adulteries."
47:53 That's the antichrist.
47:55 God doesn't like it.
47:57 Look at Revelation 18:11.
48:01 This talks about the overthrow of the system
48:03 that is called Babylon.
48:05 The merchants of the "'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon.'"
48:11 Verse 11, "'The merchants of the earth
48:12 will weep and mourn over her
48:15 because no one buys their cargoes any more--
48:17 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones
48:20 and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth,
48:23 every sort of citron wood,
48:25 and articles of every kind made of ivory,
48:29 costly wood, bronze, iron and marble.'"
48:32 It's like Wall Street
48:33 "'Cargoes of cinnamon and spice,
48:36 of incense, myrrh and frankincense,
48:40 of wine and olive oil,
48:42 of fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep,
48:45 horses and carriages, and bodies and souls of men.'"
48:53 You see what this religion is.
48:56 Things first, people last.
49:00 That's false religion.
49:03 Money first and people last.
49:08 So listen to what I say.
49:11 Beware of power hungry clerics
49:17 who are wolves in sheep's clothing.
49:21 Beware of churches that are political
49:25 and they proclaim that candy coated gospel of cheap grace.
49:30 Beware, beware of hierarchies
49:35 that demand obedience country descriptor and reason.
49:41 Beware of yourself
49:44 and your carnal inclinations to neglect Bible study
49:49 and attendance on time after preaching of the word.
49:57 Should we forget religion, bad religion?
50:02 Amen.
50:06 But there is a religion
50:10 that comes from God and I would embrace that.
50:14 Would you come over here to Hebrews 12?
50:18 I would embrace the religion that comes from God
50:23 and I may have to look a bit before I find it.
50:28 Hebrews 12:22-24.
50:36 Describing the church it says, the true church.
50:40 The people of God they elect,
50:46 "But you have come to Mount Zion,
50:49 to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
50:53 You have come to thousands
50:55 upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
51:01 to the church of the firstborn,
51:03 whose names are written in heaven.
51:09 You have come to God, the judge of all men,
51:11 to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,
51:16 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant,
51:20 and to the sprinkled blood
51:22 that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."
51:28 So listen to this.
51:31 Find a church,
51:33 so this to the congregation out there in television land.
51:37 Find a church big or small
51:42 where Jesus is the Lord,
51:46 where the one true holy gospel is proclaimed,
51:49 where the people beliefs say it with me.
51:52 Sola Christus, only Christ.
51:56 Sola Scriptura, only scripture.
51:59 Sola Gratia, only grace.
52:02 Sola Fide, only faith.
52:06 The battle cry of the reformation.
52:11 And where people keep the commandments of God
52:14 rather than the traditions of men.
52:19 Jesus said,
52:22 "I am the way,
52:26 the truth and the life."
52:31 So let it be written.
52:36 So let it be done.
52:40 Amen and amen.
52:45 Hello friend, I am John Carter.
52:47 I am here today to tell you the most amazing news.
52:51 I want to thank you firstly in Jesus name
52:54 for your magnificent support.
52:56 We are on our way to Port Moresby,
53:00 the capital of Papua New Guinea.
53:03 We are going to see the amazing power of God.
53:06 We are going there to preach the everlasting gospel.
53:10 I will be preaching every night outdoors
53:13 in the national stadium.
53:15 The locals tell us we will have over 100,000 people a night,
53:21 some say 150,000 people.
53:24 A few have said, maybe 200,000
53:28 but I want you to know this.
53:29 We go in the name of Christ
53:31 to preach the gospel and to save souls.
53:36 And I am saying today, I can't do this without your help.
53:40 I have got to raise
53:46 for this great campaign
53:48 that is going to shake an entire nation for God.
53:53 Please be my partner.
53:55 Write to me, John Carter, Post office box 1900,
54:00 Thousand Oaks, California, 91358.
54:03 In Australia, my Aussie friends, please write to Terrigal.
54:08 The address is now appearing on the screen.
54:11 Please stand with me in this tremendous outreach
54:16 to the people of Papua New Guinea.
54:19 We used to talk about mission impossible.
54:24 All of a sudden it has become mission possible.
54:29 This is an opportunity to reach
54:32 an entire nation for the Lord Jesus Christ.
54:35 Please write to me today
54:38 and I want to say to you from my heart to yours,
54:41 thank you, in Jesus name.
54:45 The sick and lame
54:49 To set the captive free
54:53 To break the prisoners chain
54:57 I'd still be in the dark
55:02 Grappling for the door
55:06 Longing for some way, somehow
55:12 Love came for me
55:16 Love rescued me
55:21 Love called my name
55:26 Love took my place
55:30 Sweet Lamb of God
55:34 I'm bowing down
55:39 My eyes have seen
55:44 I'm finally free
55:48 Love came for me
55:58 If You had not come
56:03 Willing, spotless Lamb
56:07 My sin would be too much
56:11 For You to take me as I am
56:15 But, oh, the blood of Christ
56:20 That washes over me
56:25 Flowing from your hands, your feet
56:32 I don't have to worry where I'd be
56:39 'Cause Love came for me
56:44 Love rescued me
56:49 Love called my name
56:53 Love took my place
56:56 Sweet Lamb of God
57:00 I'm bowing down
57:05 My eyes have seen
57:09 That I'm finally free
57:13 Love came for me
57:22 This baby King
57:28 My everything
57:32 Love came for me
57:44 Jesus came for you and me


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Revised 2014-12-17