Carter Report, The

The Game Changers, Jesus Pt. 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: CR

Program Code: CR001818A


00:01 Welcome to a new Carter Report series,
00:03 The Game Changers.
00:05 These rare individuals appear once in a lifetime.
00:09 Like a blazing meteor across the night sky,
00:12 they change the course of history.
00:15 They show us the way forward.
00:18 Welcome to The Game Changers.
00:26 Oh, welcome back.
00:27 Today, we're talking about
00:28 the greatest game changer of them all,
00:32 the person who has changed the world
00:36 more than any other single individual.
00:40 I want you to think at this state now
00:42 and this is follow-on from the last program.
00:45 I want you to think of His teachings.
00:49 I went to the Soviet Union for the first time
00:51 in the year 1971.
00:54 I was at Moscow airport, and as I was standing there,
00:59 a communist official came up to me
01:01 and started to interrogate me just a little bit.
01:04 And he started to deride Christianity saying,
01:07 "You know, like Rostov said, it's all going to be gone soon.
01:09 We're just going to take over the world,"
01:11 and blah, blah, blah.
01:12 I said to him, "Do you know what Jesus taught?"
01:16 Now usually if you talk to an atheist and say,
01:18 "Do you know what Jesus taught?"
01:20 You know what he's going to do, don't you?
01:21 He's just going to give you the blank look.
01:23 He's going to say, "Oh, no, but
01:26 all those people carried out the inquisitor..."
01:28 "No, no, it had nothing to do with Jesus,
01:30 don't give me that stuff."
01:32 "Do you know what Jesus taught?"
01:34 Well, I said...
01:35 Well, he said, "No, I really don't."
01:37 I said, "I've got a Bible that I'm carrying around the world.
01:40 This is my own personal Bible.
01:42 I really don't want to lose it,
01:44 but I think maybe you need it more than I do."
01:48 So I gave him my Bible and I said...
01:50 Let us together do something.
01:53 I want you to come over here to Matthew 5
01:55 and verses 43 and 44
01:58 and notice what this Jewish carpenter said.
02:03 Matthew 5:43, 44.
02:06 This is one of the most extraordinary,
02:09 one of the most revolutionary teachings
02:12 in the history of the world.
02:13 Jesus said, "You have heard that was said,
02:17 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
02:21 But I say to you, love your enemies,
02:25 bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you,
02:30 and pray for those who spitefully use you
02:34 and persecute you."
02:37 Goodness, how many people really do that
02:42 who call themselves Christians?
02:45 Jesus said, "You got to love your enemies."
02:50 You know the man who lost his daughter
02:52 at the hands of the Irish Republican Army in Ireland?
02:58 That's where the Catholics and the Protestants fought
03:02 and killed each other for the love of God.
03:07 And so this beautiful girl is dying in her father's arms
03:11 and murdered by the IRA.
03:16 Her last words, "Daddy, I love you."
03:22 After the funeral,
03:24 he sought so hard to have a meeting
03:29 with the leaders of this infamous gang of murderers.
03:35 After a long time, he was able to meet them.
03:39 They thought perhaps he'd want to kill him, but he said,
03:45 "I've come with one message.
03:48 I'm a follower of Christ, and I forgive you."
03:53 That's something they couldn't understand.
03:56 He said,
03:58 "Haven't we killed enough in this country of Ireland?
04:03 Isn't it time for Catholics and Protestants
04:06 to follow the teachings of Christ
04:09 and love one another?"
04:12 This was the end of the violence in Northern Ireland.
04:18 The man who said, "I forgive you."
04:21 You know the biggest problem today in the Middle East?
04:25 You know why they can't get peace
04:26 between the Jews and the Arabs?
04:30 Every president thinks he's going to do it,
04:33 but the problem is every president
04:35 is fighting against human nature
04:39 because human nature hates.
04:42 But Jesus said, "Love your enemies."
04:47 The Middle East will never have peace
04:49 until they accept the Prince of Peace,
04:53 who taught us to love our enemies,
04:58 a bitter pill for the so-called Christian to believe.
05:04 You've heard of the born fools in Russia,
05:08 where the communists with militant atheists,
05:11 and tortured, and beat people to deaths.
05:15 That's what atheism does.
05:17 That's what communism does.
05:21 And they were a group of Baptists there.
05:25 And they would see the communists and the atheists
05:28 beating other communists and atheists
05:31 and they would be screaming and blaspheming.
05:35 And the Baptists said,
05:38 "Don't beat the atheists, beat us.
05:41 When you beat them, more hate will go into the world,
05:46 but when you beat us,
05:49 we will send love into the world."
05:52 So they did.
05:55 You know what the atheists call them?
05:58 Born fools.
06:00 They said they've got to be born fools.
06:06 But I want you to know that the greatest force in the world
06:10 is not military might which has failed us completely
06:16 but it is love.
06:18 On one occasion,
06:20 the Pharisees sent men to arrest Jesus,
06:23 but they came back empty-handed.
06:26 They couldn't bring Him back, and they said to those men,
06:30 "Where is the man we told you to arrest?"
06:34 And they said, "Never man spoke like this man."
06:40 His teachings are totally extraordinary,
06:44 hardly known or believed by people
06:47 who call themselves His followers
06:50 let alone the atheists.
06:56 But I have reserved for the last,
06:58 the greatest reason why He is the greatest game changer
07:02 and why He is so extraordinary and so amazing.
07:08 We are born to live.
07:09 Every baby that is born is born to live.
07:13 But He was not born to live.
07:16 His destiny was to die.
07:19 If you turn to Acts 4: 27, 28,
07:23 these are profound almost overwhelming thoughts,
07:27 Acts 4:27-28,
07:33 "For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus,
07:35 whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
07:40 with the Gentiles and the people of Israel,
07:43 were gathered together to do whatever Your hand,"
07:47 wait for it, "and Your purpose determined
07:50 before to be done."
07:53 This teaches the sovereignty of God
07:58 and that Jesus was the child of destiny.
08:08 He was born to die.
08:10 I want you to notice,
08:13 and we're going to go through this
08:15 not with any great exegesis
08:17 because we don't have the time,
08:19 but I want you to notice
08:20 ancient predictions about this child of destiny.
08:24 The place of His birth was predicted.
08:27 His parents came from a little town
08:31 by the name of Nazareth.
08:35 But they had to go down to a town
08:38 by the name of Bethlehem.
08:40 Jesus could have been born anywhere
08:43 except the prophecy said that He would be born in Bethlehem.
08:50 And you can read it in the Jewish Old Testament
08:53 in the book of Micah 5:2.
08:58 The text says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
09:01 though You are so little among the thousands of Judah,
09:05 yet out of you shall come forth to me
09:08 the one to be ruler in Israel,"
09:11 look at these words, "whose goings forth
09:13 are from of old from everlasting."
09:16 He was the one from billions of years ago.
09:20 It was predicted He would not be born in Nazareth
09:24 but in Bethlehem.
09:25 The miracle of His birth was predicted.
09:28 Isaiah 7:14, it was predicted,
09:32 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign,
09:35 behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son,
09:39 and shall call His name Immanuel."
09:42 Mary was engaged to a good man by the name of Joseph.
09:47 And before the marriage,
09:48 it was discovered she was pregnant.
09:50 He was going to put her away.
09:52 But an angel came down and said,
09:54 "Don't be worried about this beautiful little girl
09:58 because that which is conceived in her womb is of God."
10:04 People say, "Can't believe in the virgin birth,
10:07 it's an absolute impossibility."
10:11 How much do you know?
10:14 How much do you know?
10:17 Don't you realize
10:18 that the God who made the stars can do anything?
10:24 Nothing is too hard.
10:26 It was predicted that He would live in Egypt.
10:31 Hosea 11:1 says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him.
10:37 And out of Egypt I called My Son."
10:40 The Bible tells us that Herod the Great tried to kill Him.
10:45 And therefore Joseph and Mary took the little baby
10:50 and took Him down here to the land of the Pharaohs.
10:56 It was predicted.
10:58 It was written down.
10:59 The year of His baptism and death was predicted.
11:05 This is so complex.
11:08 I'm not going to try to prove it to you.
11:10 It was predicted that there'd be a period of 483 years
11:16 that would come after the decree
11:18 of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457
11:22 and this brings you through to the year 27 AD.
11:28 And that was the 15th year
11:30 of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
11:32 and that was the year,
11:34 that was the time when Jesus appeared
11:37 to the children of Israel.
11:41 This was the year when John the Baptist baptized Him.
11:44 It was the time when Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled.
11:48 The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
11:51 Three and a half years later,
11:53 in the midst of the final prophetic week, in 31 AD,
11:59 the Messiah was cut off and murdered.
12:02 It was predicted.
12:04 Let me share quickly the prophecy with you.
12:07 Daniel 9:25-27,
12:11 "Know therefore and understand that
12:12 from the going forth of the command to restore
12:15 and to build Jerusalem," 457,
12:17 "until Messiah the Prince there shall be
12:19 seven weeks and sixty-two weeks..."
12:21 483 years, "and after the sixty-two weeks,
12:25 Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself,"
12:28 He'd be murdered, "and the people of the Prince,"
12:30 the Romans, "who was to come shall destroy the city
12:34 in the sanctuary."
12:35 That happened in 70 AD,
12:37 "Then he shall confirm the covenant
12:39 with many for one week," the last week,
12:41 "and in the middle of the week," 31 AD,
12:44 "He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering."
12:48 There's only one thing that could bring an end
12:50 to all the Jewish sacrifices in their old temple
12:54 and that was the sacrifice of the Lamb of God Himself.
12:59 Astounding.
13:01 Astounding.
13:03 I do not believe because of blind faith.
13:07 I believe in Christ
13:08 because of overwhelming evidence,
13:13 lived on time, preached on time,
13:17 was baptized on time, died on time.
13:20 It was predicted He'd be betrayed by a friend.
13:23 Psalms 41:9 says,
13:27 "Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,"
13:31 Judas, "who ate my bread,
13:36 has lifted his heel against me."
13:40 He was betrayed by one of His closest friends.
13:46 It was predicted.
13:50 The price of his betrayal was predicted,
13:53 30 lousy pieces of silver.
13:57 Zechariah 11:13, "And the Lord said to me,
14:02 'Throw it to the potter'
14:04 that princely price they set on me.
14:06 So I took the 30 pieces of silver
14:09 and threw them into the house of the Lord
14:12 for the potter."
14:14 The priests gave Judas
14:18 30 dirty pieces of silver
14:24 to bite Christ.
14:26 How many people have sold Christ for money,
14:30 and political power, and to win the votes?
14:39 And after the die was cast and Christ was arrested,
14:45 Judas took the 30 dirty pieces of silver,
14:50 blood money, and went into the Jewish temple,
14:54 and threw it to the priests, and he said,
14:58 "Your blood be on your own head, serious,
15:00 do it yourselves."
15:03 Judas went out and hanged himself,
15:05 and the Jewish leaders
15:08 bought the potter's field.
15:13 It was written down thousands, hundreds of years
15:16 before He was born.
15:19 He was a child of destiny, not like anybody else,
15:24 not like you and me.
15:25 The manner of His death was predicted.
15:29 By crucifixion.
15:31 Psalms 22:16, "For dogs have surrounded Me,
15:37 the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
15:41 They pierced My hands and My feet."
15:43 Crucifixion...
15:47 these words written in 1000 BC,
15:51 crucifixion was not known.
15:54 It was predicted that the Jewish Messiah,
15:57 Yahweh, Elohim,
15:59 God in human flesh would be crucified,
16:03 the worst type of death.
16:06 Who was this person hanging on the cross?
16:10 Not a Jewish renegade, not a heretic,
16:14 this was the Creator of the universe
16:18 come down to save us.
16:25 People today are mesmerized
16:28 by every little newsflash.
16:33 Breaking news, who cares,
16:36 it's dead in one second.
16:40 It's trivia.
16:41 It's humbug.
16:43 Most of it, it was predicted
16:46 that God would be manifested in human flesh
16:51 and died for the world.
16:54 The greatest truth in the history of the world,
16:56 not politics, none of this stuff,
16:59 it'll all be gone soon.
17:04 But the truth of Christ, the greatest game changer,
17:09 it was predicted
17:11 that none of His bones would be broken.
17:13 Psalm 22:17-18, "I can count all My bones.
17:20 They look and stare at Me.
17:23 They divide My garments among them," they did,
17:26 "for My clothing they cast lots."
17:29 They did.
17:32 Jesus was put on the cross at 9:00 in the morning.
17:34 He was dead at 3:00 in the afternoon.
17:39 Remarkable, man could live on the cross for a week.
17:44 He was dead in six hours, why?
17:47 Because of the sin of the world.
17:51 So they came before the Sabbath
17:54 to break the legs of the criminals.
17:57 They were going to take them down,
17:59 lie them at the foot of the cross,
18:00 and put them up on Saturday evening
18:03 'cause they could live for another few days.
18:10 When they came to Christ, His bones were not broken
18:15 because He was dead, because it was written.
18:25 It was predicted that His death would be for sinners,
18:27 His burial in a rich man's tomb.
18:31 Isaiah 53:9,
18:34 "And they made His grave with the wicked,"
18:36 in the midst of two thieves,
18:39 "but with the rich at His death,"
18:41 buried in a rich man's tomb,
18:43 "because He had done no violence,
18:45 nor was any deceit in His mouth."
18:50 Buried in a rich man's tomb.
18:51 It was also predicted
18:56 that the grave could not hold Him.
19:01 In Psalms 16:10,
19:04 written a thousand years before He was born,
19:07 "For You will not leave my soul in Sheol
19:12 nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."
19:19 He was dead at 3:00 on Friday.
19:22 He was anointed,
19:23 put in the tomb before the Sabbath.
19:30 But on the Sunday morning, there was a mighty earthquake,
19:37 and Jesus the Creator of the universe
19:42 walked out of the tomb,
19:46 walked out of the tomb and said to the world
19:50 and the hosts of evil,
19:53 "I am the resurrection and the life."
19:57 He is the greatest game changer because He's not dead,
20:03 He's alive.
20:06 He's alive.
20:08 He's alive.
20:11 Every baby boy, every baby girl,
20:16 every baby is born to live.
20:18 He was completely different.
20:20 He was God in human flesh.
20:26 Some people say, "Well, of course,
20:27 it doesn't matter what you believe,
20:29 it doesn't matter what your religion is."
20:31 It's, of course, very shallow thinking, it's really puerile.
20:38 Either He is whom He claimed to be
20:41 or else He's a crazy lunatic.
20:45 But if He is whom He claimed to be...
20:51 And this is why astronomy fascinates me
20:53 and why I study it,
20:55 the one who made the black holes
21:00 and 400 billion galaxies,
21:05 400 billion,
21:08 one who made all of these things...
21:13 slept for 9 months in the womb of a peasant girl,
21:19 completely apart from the priests
21:22 and the political establishment.
21:27 And then went to the cross,
21:29 hanging on the cross was the gospel.
21:32 One of the strangest texts is Matthew 27:45-46,
21:38 "Now from the sixth hour," twelve o'clock,
21:41 "until the ninth hour," three o'clock,
21:43 "there was darkness over all the land.
21:44 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
21:48 saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?'
21:50 That is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"'
21:55 This is an extraordinary way to die.
21:58 I do not want to die as Jesus died
22:03 because He did not die as a saved soul,
22:07 He died under the wrath of the broken law of God.
22:13 And all of our sins were laid upon Him.
22:17 And He was punished in our place.
22:20 And that is why He said, "My God, My God,
22:25 why have You forsaken Me?"
22:28 Every person outside of Christ
22:30 one day is going to say those words.
22:34 In the second judgment
22:35 when people come up in their brilliance,
22:37 they're going to cry out, "My God, My God,
22:39 why have You forsaken me?"
22:43 But they don't need to
22:45 because He bore the price of our sins.
22:51 There may be some things
22:52 that our dull, dumb minds can't comprehend,
22:56 but I can understand a little bit.
22:59 John 3:16,
23:04 you know the words,
23:06 John 3:16,
23:10 "For God so loved the world"
23:16 how big "that He gave His only begotten Son,"
23:23 the Monogenes, the one and only,
23:26 "so that whoever believes in Him should not,"
23:29 or shall, "not perish
23:34 but have everlasting life."
23:37 So that's why He's the greatest game changer.
23:40 That is why as a Christian,
23:41 I find it quite extraordinary to see
23:43 Christians playing around in mud puddles
23:47 and other people completely obsessed with politics.
23:51 It's all going to be gone soon.
23:53 It's all trivia.
23:57 But Christ endures forever.
24:01 We get caught up in other things
24:04 because we really have never met Him.
24:09 Not only is he the greatest game changer
24:12 in the history of the planet,
24:14 the good news is He will change your life
24:19 if you let Him.
24:22 If you let Him, He will come into your life
24:26 and He'll make you into a new person.
24:31 And because of His grace,
24:34 He will take you to be with Him in paradise.
24:40 That's His promise.
24:42 And so we say "Amazing grace,
24:48 how sweet the sound
24:50 that saved a wretch like me.
24:55 I once was lost,
24:58 but now I'm found.
25:03 I was blind,
25:06 but now I see."
25:08 Many years ago, I heard this poem,
25:13 Oh, It's Him because the Bible says,
25:18 He will come again,
25:21 and He comes again
25:23 as King of kings and Lord of lords.
25:26 "Look ye Saints!
25:29 The sight is glorious.
25:33 See the man of sorrows now,
25:36 from the fight returned victorious,
25:41 every knee to Him shall bow,
25:46 crown Him, crown Him,
25:50 crown Him, crown Him.
25:54 Crowns become
25:57 the Victor's brow."
26:01 I present to you today Jesus Christ,
26:07 the greatest game changer of them all.
26:11 In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
26:15 and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
26:25 Jesus said, "All authority has been
26:27 given to Me in heaven and on earth.
26:31 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.
26:35 Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
26:39 and of the Holy Spirit."
26:43 John Carter reports we have seen God's power
26:46 as the gospel of Christ
26:48 has been proclaimed in Africa,
26:51 India, Russia,
26:57 Ukraine, Cuba,
27:02 El Salvador, and many other places.
27:06 We invite you to partner with us
27:09 in proclaiming Jesus Christ.
27:15 To God be the glory.
27:18 Great things He has done.
27:23 Write today to the Carter Report.
27:26 P.O. Box 1900,
27:28 Thousand Oaks, California 91358.
27:33 That's The Carter Report,
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27:53 That's The Carter Report
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28:07 May God richly bless you.
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28:52 May God richly bless you.


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Revised 2018-07-16