Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001639A
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00:13 Welcome back, my friend.
00:15 Today, we're talking about 00:17 the greatest person who ever lived, 00:20 that of course is who? 00:21 The Jewish Jesus. 00:23 And we're also talking about the Trinity. 00:27 What on earth 00:28 is the teaching of the Trinity? 00:31 I want you to come in the Hebrew Bible, 00:33 let's see Old Testament over here 00:35 to the Book of Isaiah 48:16. 00:40 And here we have an intimation of the Trinity 00:43 and this book is about 00:46 or 2,700 years old, 00:48 Isaiah 48:16, 00:53 the Bible says, 00:55 "Come near to Me, here this: 00:57 I have not spoken in secret from the beginning..." 01:00 So here I, I is talking. 01:03 "From the time that it was, 01:05 I was there." 01:06 So here's one person telling I 01:08 "And now the Lord God and His Spirit. 01:12 So you got the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me." 01:17 Now, this is an intimation 01:19 that the Godhead is somehow 01:21 made up of three persons 01:24 but this is only an intimation. 01:26 I want you to come over here to a clearer passage 01:28 and that is Matthew 28:19. 01:32 What we're really doing here is having a Bible study. 01:35 Not seeing what the church teaches 01:37 but seeing what the Bible teaches 01:39 Matthew 28:19, you ready? 01:44 Matthew 28:19. 01:46 Jesus said, 01:47 "Go therefore and make disciples 01:49 of all the nations, 01:51 baptizing them in the names..." 01:54 Does it say that? 01:55 No "In the name of the Father 01:58 and of the Son 01:59 and of the Holy Spirit..." 02:04 There are some people in the Christian church 02:07 who deny the truth of the Trinity. 02:12 If they are right 02:13 then this text should say 02:15 baptize them in the names of the Father, 02:21 Son and the Holy Spirit. 02:23 But Jesus said baptize them singular in the name. 02:28 We do not worship three Gods. 02:32 Let's make this very plain. 02:33 We do not worship three Gods. 02:36 We worship one God 02:38 who is manifested in the Father, 02:42 the Son and the Holy Spirit, 02:44 and if anti-Trinitarians are correct, 02:48 this text is saying 02:49 baptize them in the name of the creator 02:54 and the creature 02:58 and a power 03:03 or sing. 03:04 But the text says, 03:06 "The name of the Father, 03:08 Son and Holy Spirit." 03:11 Let me try to define this 03:13 so that people don't misquote us 03:15 and we don't misunderstand it. 03:17 We do not believe that the trinity teaches 03:20 that we serve three Gods. 03:23 We serve one God 03:25 and this one God is manifested 03:28 in a person called the Father, 03:31 a person called the Son, 03:33 and a person called the Holy Spirit 03:36 and they share one thing in common. 03:40 They have the same essence. 03:45 The word was with God, 03:47 the Bible says 03:48 and the Word was God, 03:50 he had the same essence as the Father. 03:55 Now come over here to 2 Corinthians 13:14 03:59 and I've got to keep moving along, 04:00 2 Corinthians 13, 04:02 "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 04:05 and the love of God, 04:07 and the communion of the Holy Spirit 04:09 be with you all. 04:10 Amen." 04:12 So here you have the Father, 04:14 the Son, 04:15 and also the Holy Spirit. 04:19 I want you to come now to Genesis 1:1 04:24 and then verse 26. 04:25 Genesis 1, 04:27 probably the most important statement ever made 04:30 in the history of the world. 04:31 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." 04:35 So we came from the hand of God. 04:37 "Then God said, 04:39 "Let Us make man in Our image, 04:43 according to Our likeness, 04:45 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, 04:48 over the birds of the air, 04:49 and over the cattle, 04:52 over all the earth and over every creeping thing 04:54 that creeps on the earth." 04:56 So the self existent God 05:00 Yahweh Elohim said, 05:04 "Let us..." 05:05 which is plural, 05:07 "Let us make man 05:10 in Our image..." 05:12 which of course is an intimation 05:15 that there is more than one person there. 05:19 Somebody has said this 05:20 and this is a good statement. 05:23 "Love is an impossible exercise 05:26 to a solitary being." 05:31 God existed before the angels, 05:34 human beings, anybody else. 05:37 But God was love 05:40 and love can only exist 05:42 if love is shared 05:44 and the Bible tells me 05:46 that God is love. 05:47 Now how old is God? 05:49 I like talking about this. 05:53 How old is God? 05:57 Scientists tell us. 05:58 I don't argue with them 06:00 that the universe or the Big Bang 06:03 which is simply a scientific term 06:05 many Christians are afraid of it, 06:07 so I don't often use it. 06:09 So instead of talking about the Big Bang 06:12 that they use in scientific circles we'll say, 06:15 "The Point of Creation". 06:17 All the scientists in the world believe 06:20 that this vast universe 06:23 of two trillion galaxies 06:25 came into existence 06:27 13.82 06:31 billion years ago... 06:35 13.82 06:39 billion years ago. 06:42 And God was there. 06:45 He'd been there 06:46 for billions and trillions of years. 06:51 But that is wrong 06:53 because scientists now know, 06:56 this is not speculation. 06:59 This is not a story. 07:01 This is not a vision I'm having. 07:04 Scientists tell us 07:05 that before the creation of the universe 07:09 13.82 years ago, 07:13 there was no time. 07:18 Time came into existence 07:21 when this universe was created, 07:24 and so when you get back past 07:27 13.82 billion years, 07:32 there is no time. 07:35 And the Bible teaches there was not a time. 07:40 But there was a something 07:45 when there was no time. 07:47 Take your Bible and turn to these two texts. 07:50 I want you to come over here 07:52 to 2 Timothy 1:9, 07:55 2 Timothy 1:9 in the New Testament, 08:00 the Bible says, 08:02 "...who has saved us and called us 08:03 for the holy calling, 08:05 not according to works, 08:07 but according to His own purpose and grace 08:09 which was given to us in Christ Jesus 08:12 before time began..." 08:16 Did you know the text was there 08:18 before time began? 08:20 Then if you come to Titus 1:2, 08:24 Titus 1, 08:26 "In hope of eternal life 08:28 which God, who cannot lie, 08:29 promised before time began..." 08:34 So time began 08:36 13.82 billion years ago. 08:41 But before time began 08:43 God was there, Christ was there. 08:48 Now, 08:51 who can understand the infinite God? 08:57 I don't understand 08:59 the serial relativity 09:00 I've tried to study it. 09:02 I don't, I have an idea of the concept of the E= mc2. 09:08 That's the theory of relativity. 09:10 We know it is true 09:13 that a substance that travels at the speed of light, 09:17 time slows down, the time stops. 09:22 We know that is true. 09:23 I don't understand it. 09:25 Then that we have today quantum physics. 09:29 Quantum physics is a concept 09:32 that simply blows the mind, 09:35 concept that is very hard to wrap the mind around it. 09:41 Quantum physics. 09:45 But I don't make a decision not to believe something 09:47 because I'm too dumb to understand it. 09:50 Now, there... 09:54 now listen, there are many things 09:56 I don't understand 09:58 but just because I don't understand it, 10:00 it doesn't mean I'm going to be so foolish 10:03 as to throw it out the window and say, 10:05 I can't believe this. 10:08 Now, how big is God? 10:13 Well, our universe is just a little bit of his backyard 10:16 and universe is made up of two trillion galaxies. 10:20 How strong is God? 10:23 How strong is He? 10:24 Well, the Bible tells me you think of this, 10:28 Jesus Christ the great I am, 10:31 this is a picture of the Big Bang 10:33 or the point of creation. 10:36 If you can't understand it, who can? 10:38 But the Bible tells me 10:40 that the great I am Jesus Christ... 10:45 He breathed... 10:49 He spoke 10:51 and it appeared. 10:53 How big is God? 10:56 So you think you got big problems? 10:59 You think you got a problem that's too big for God? 11:02 Goodness me, goodness me. 11:04 How much does He know? 11:05 He knows everything, 11:07 about everything 11:08 and everything about everyone. 11:11 How loving is God? 11:13 How loving is God? 11:15 Loving enough to become a man. 11:19 John 3:16, you know the text of by heart, 11:22 "For God so loved the world 11:24 that He gave His only begotten Son, 11:26 so that whoever believes in Him should not perish 11:29 but have everlasting life." 11:31 It is the greatest text in the Bible. 11:33 You know, why it's the greatest text? 11:35 For God, He's the greatest person. 11:38 He's so loved, the greatest emotion. 11:42 He loves the world, 11:44 not the chosen frozen, you know, 11:46 or the frozen chosen, 11:48 He loved the world, He loved every sinner, 11:50 every person the greatest number. 11:53 "He gave His only begotten Son..." 11:54 The greatest gift. 11:56 The greatest gift. 11:58 "That whoever..." 12:00 The greatest opportunity. 12:02 Whoever, whoever you are "should not perish." 12:05 To perish is the, 12:08 is the greatest disaster and the greatest tragedy, 12:12 "But have everlasting life." 12:14 which is the greatest gift. 12:16 So I propose to you, 12:17 this is the greatest text in the Bible 12:20 because it talks about the gospel of Christ. 12:25 Now, I want to say this to the television audience. 12:29 Listen to me, please. 12:32 If you feel just weighted down with the burden 12:35 and you can't go on, 12:37 don't give up because think of how great God is, 12:40 the greatest is still to come, 12:42 our best days are still to come. 12:44 You've got a problem. 12:46 God is a million times bigger than your problem. 12:48 You've got a financial debt, don't despair. 12:52 God owns the whole of the universe, 12:55 he owns all the stars. 13:01 So the truth comes into our minds 13:03 when we somehow can comprehend 13:05 that God made us 13:07 and He is almighty 13:09 and He gave Christ. 13:11 And Christ was the person 13:13 who made the universe, 13:15 because He is the great I am, 13:18 which leads us now to this question. 13:20 Who or what is the Holy Spirit? 13:23 Many people believe that the Holy Spirit 13:26 is a influence 13:28 or a power that is sent from God, 13:31 that is wrong. 13:33 I want you to notice Acts 5:1-9 Acts 5, 13:39 "But a certain man named Ananias, 13:41 with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 13:44 He kept that part of the proceeds, 13:46 his wife also being aware of it, 13:48 and brought a certain part 13:50 and laid it at the apostles' feet. 13:52 Peter said, "Ananias, 13:54 why has Satan filled your heart 13:55 to lie to the Holy Spirit..." 13:58 remember that, "To lie to the Holy Spirit 14:00 and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 14:03 While it remained, was it not your own? 14:06 After it was sold, 14:07 was it not your in your own control? 14:09 Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? 14:12 You have not lied to men but you've lied to God." 14:17 You've lied to the Holy Spirit. 14:20 You've lied to God, 14:23 and so God 14:24 and the Holy Spirit are equal. 14:28 The Holy Spirit is the third person 14:32 of the Godhead. 14:34 Then he gone a little bit further, 14:36 let me see the next verse. 14:37 Let's have the next verse. 14:40 What happened? 14:42 This man, he dies 14:44 and they carry him out, they bury him. 14:46 That's what the text says. 14:47 "Now it was about three hours later 14:49 when his wife came in, 14:51 not knowing what had happened. 14:53 Peter answered her, 14:54 "Tell me whether you sold this land for so much?" 14:58 She said, "Yes, for so much." 15:00 And Peter said to her, 15:01 "How is it that you have agreed together 15:03 to test the Spirit of the Lord? 15:08 Look, the feet of those 15:09 who have buried your husband are at the door, 15:11 they will carry you out." 15:14 Now, in this amazing story 15:18 of stealing from God, 15:22 the Bible says, 15:24 "You've lied unto God, 15:27 you've lied unto the Holy Spirit." 15:30 So the Bible tells me 15:32 that the Holy Spirit 15:34 is a part of the blessed trinity. 15:37 The Holy Spirit is God, 15:41 but the Holy Spirit is not the Father 15:44 and he is not the Son. 15:48 Is he an influence or a person? 15:51 I want you to notice these texts 15:53 in the Gospel of John, 15:54 John 14:18, 15:57 John 14:16-18 Jesus says this, 16:02 "I will pray the Father, 16:06 and He will give you another Helper, 16:09 " sounds like a person. 16:11 "That He may abide with you forever- 16:13 the Spirit of truth, 16:16 is a helper, 16:18 whom the world cannot receive, 16:19 because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, 16:22 but you know Him, for He dwells with you 16:25 and will be in you. 16:26 I will not leave you orphans, 16:29 I will come to you. 16:32 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, 16:34 whom the Father will send in My name, 16:37 He will teach you all things, 16:39 and bring to your remembrance 16:41 all things that I said to you." 16:44 He's a helper. 16:46 He's not an influence. 16:48 He's not a power 16:50 but he is a person. 16:53 He is the person the same as you 16:58 and I are persons. 17:02 Now if you come to John 16:7, 8. 17:06 Jesus takes it a little bit further. 17:09 John 16, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. 17:13 It is to your advantage that I go away, 17:15 for if I do not go away, 17:17 the Helper will not come to you, 17:20 but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 17:24 And when He, He, you notice it's He, not it. 17:27 He will convict the world of sin, 17:29 and of righteousness, 17:31 and of judgment:" 17:34 Look at me. 17:35 The Holy Spirit is a person. 17:40 He's a real person 17:42 and the Holy Spirit 17:45 is God. 17:46 He partakes of the essence of God. 17:52 Sometimes Christians pray 17:55 in such a way they think 17:56 that they want to get the power of the Holy Spirit they say, 18:00 "If we could only get this power, 18:02 it would be better if the Holy Spirit got us. 18:05 Because if the Holy Spirit got us, 18:09 then we would have the power 18:11 of the Spirit of God in our hearts." 18:13 Genesis 6:3 says, 18:16 that the Holy Spirit 18:18 actually troubles people's hearts, 18:21 he strives with them, "And the Lord said, 18:24 Yahweh said, 18:26 "My Sprit shall not strive with man forever, 18:30 for he is indeed flesh, 18:31 yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 18:34 The Bible says, 18:35 "I'm going to strive with you for ever." 18:40 Sometimes, if you go to a meeting like this 18:45 or if you're reading the scriptures, 18:47 maybe watching a television program, 18:49 when the preacher is anointed by God, 18:52 you'll feel something down in here. 18:55 God will talk to you. 18:57 Not in an audible voice, 18:59 but they'll come striving in your heart, 19:01 may be you're committing adultery. 19:05 Are you breaking 19:06 one of the other commandments of God, 19:09 and the Spirit of God will strive with your heart. 19:13 So the Spirit of God 19:15 is the third person of the Godhead 19:17 who comes to lead us 19:19 to Christ and to strive us. 19:23 And Paul in the Book of Romans says, 19:25 "The Holy Spirit has a mind." 19:28 I want you to notice this in Romans 8:26, 27, 19:35 Romans 8:26, 27. 19:37 "Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. 19:42 We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, 19:45 but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us 19:49 with groans which cannot be uttered. 19:52 Now He who searches the hearts knows, 19:55 look at it, the mind of the Spirit, 19:59 because He makes intercession for the saints 20:02 according to the will of God." 20:04 He is a person with 20:08 an infinite mind. 20:12 He is everywhere at once. 20:14 He works in perfect harmony with another person 20:18 who is called the Father 20:19 and another person who is called the Son. 20:24 And the three of them together 20:25 make up the one Godhead whom we worship. 20:32 The Bible says, 20:33 "When He comes, 20:36 He convicts us of sin." 20:38 Now I'm going to tell you 20:40 a couple of stories. 20:44 I have personally felt His presence and His power. 20:51 When I went to Russia for a great campaign 20:54 in the year 1992, 20:56 I was preaching to vast crowds, 20:59 huge crowds of people. 21:01 The meeting seemed to go on from early in the morning 21:04 until late at night. 21:06 I would become wrung out and exhausted. 21:11 And sometimes before another meeting started, 21:15 I would be as weak as a kitten 21:19 and as I walked out on the stage, 21:23 I would feel literally a mantle of His power 21:27 fall on me. 21:31 You know what it's like? 21:33 I was surrounded with love and warmth, 21:37 all of my nervousness was gone. 21:40 My mind was filled with thoughts and words 21:43 that held thousands of people. 21:47 I've seen, 21:49 I felt, I know, 21:51 I went to Ukraine, 21:52 had a tremendous campaign in Ukraine. 21:55 Thousands and thousands, 21:57 these are just some of the crowds, 22:00 the biggest crowds in the history of that nation 22:03 attending this type of meeting. 22:06 As I walked out to preach and sometimes, 22:08 I'd be standing back in the curtains saying, 22:11 "Lord, please come." 22:13 And as I walked out, I would feel Him come upon me, 22:17 and as soon as I walked back off the stage, 22:21 I was weak again. 22:24 More recently we ran meetings in Port Moresby, 22:28 Papua New Guinea. 22:30 These are some of the people who were baptized. 22:35 Thousands and thousands of people, 22:38 but one night when I was preaching, 22:44 I said to the audience, "He is here. 22:47 I can feel that He is here." 22:52 And the audience, 22:54 we had 150,000 people there. 22:57 Some stayed totally outside 22:59 that of the great stadium another 50,000. 23:02 Nobody moving, 23:05 spellbound, why? 23:07 Not by the preacher but because He was here. 23:11 I felt I was surrounded with warmth, 23:14 I felt warmth. 23:17 I felt a sense of empowering love 23:21 and then a one night 23:23 as before I came out to preach, I was meeting 23:26 with the leaders of the government. 23:28 I heard the crowd shouting, 23:32 and I've put my head out to see what was happening. 23:37 And the people, 150,000 people standing 23:40 pointing up right this 23:43 and coming in low over the heads of the people 23:46 was a bird that didn't live in that part of the world. 23:49 A white, great white dove 23:52 flowing gently 23:53 and slowly over the audience. 23:57 I saw the Spirit of God come. 24:01 He came back at the meeting, 24:02 He came back at the baptism when we had the baptism. 24:06 Reporters said, 24:08 "We saw him coming over the crowd." 24:10 I didn't see Him in that time. 24:12 He came three times to the meetings. 24:17 That last night He came 24:19 when I made an altar call 24:21 because I'm old fashioned enough to believe 24:23 that God still works. 24:25 Sixty thousand people came down to the front. 24:29 And you couldn't hold them back. 24:32 Listen, I want to read you a poem, 24:36 run out of time, 24:38 doesn't matter. 24:40 There's a line that is Crossfire rejecting the Lord, 24:43 Where the call of His Spirit is lost, 24:46 As you hurry along with the pleasure mad throng 24:48 Have you counted, have you counted the cost? 24:50 What about you? 24:52 Watching television, 24:54 what about you? 24:55 Living in sin. 24:57 You may barter your hope of eternity's morn, 25:01 For a moment of joy at the most, 25:05 For the glitter of sin 25:06 and the things that it will bring 25:09 Have you counted, 25:11 have you counted the cost? 25:12 Have you counted the cost, 25:14 if your soul should be lost. 25:16 That you gain the whole world for your own? 25:20 Even now it may be that the line you have crossed 25:23 Have you counted, 25:25 have you counted the cost? 25:31 The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit 25:35 all work together for our Salvation. 25:38 Christ became a man, 25:41 wasn't the Father, 25:42 wasn't the Holy Spirit. 25:44 Christ made a blood atonement on the cross, 25:48 so that we can be saved. 25:50 But unless the Holy Spirit comes 25:53 and brings it to our hearts, 25:55 we will be lost. 25:57 Therefore what should we do? 25:59 We should open our hearts to the Holy Spirit 26:03 and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord 26:07 and as our Savior 26:09 and we should do it now. 26:14 Amen. 26:19 Hi there, I'm John Carter in Havana, Cuba, 26:21 this communist fortress. 26:24 We're here to preach the gospel of Christ 26:26 to the public, 26:27 but more than this, 26:28 we are running a school of evangelism 26:31 and biblical studies for the Cuban pastors, 26:35 140 pastors coming 26:38 from right across this wonderful island 26:42 and they're coming to join with us 26:43 to study how best we can meet 26:46 the needs of the Cuban people. 26:49 The Cuban people are just the most wonderful people, 26:52 they're warm, friendly, 26:54 and I'm amazed that in the meetings every night 26:57 that we are taking 26:58 that I think most of the people there 27:01 are young people. 27:03 Now, of course when I say young people, 27:04 I mean people up to say 35 years of age. 27:08 They're young to me, 27:10 but they're so warm 27:11 and they're so receptive 27:13 and when they come forward night by night to accept Jesus, 27:17 they come with tremendous sincerity. 27:20 So what a privilege it is to be here 27:22 in the land of Cuba. 27:24 But remember to pray for the pastors. 27:28 One hundred and forty pastors are coming from Guantanamo Bay 27:33 and other places right across this island nation. 27:36 They're coming to join forces with us. 27:38 Think of this, they're coming from Guantanamo Bay 27:42 and everywhere. 27:43 We're going to meet with them, study with them, 27:45 pray with them, 27:47 to devise the best means 27:49 of reaching this nation 27:51 for the Lord Jesus Christ, 27:54 and thank you for being my special partner. 28:21 For a copy of today's program, 28:23 please contact us at PO Box 1900, 28:27 Thousand Oaks, California 91358 28:31 or in Australia contact us at PO Box 861, 28:36 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:40 This program is made possible 28:42 through the generous 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Revised 2017-02-24