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Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001823A
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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 Many of my Aussie friends 00:29 are very anti-religion. 00:35 Not really anti-God, 00:38 but very anti-religion. 00:43 Now the Aussies are fond of saying, 00:45 and this is rather awful. 00:49 They say there are three sexes, 00:54 men, women, and clergymen. 00:59 Oops, now on the screen, 01:04 we have the Sydney Opera House. 01:05 We hired the Sydney Opera House for more than six months 01:09 when we had evangelistic meetings there. 01:11 Australia was not founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, 01:15 but by convicts. 01:18 Many of whom had stolen a loaf of bread 01:21 to feed their kids. 01:23 And so in the heart of many Australians, 01:26 it was a sense of justice 01:29 and injustice. 01:33 And then, of course, the pedophile scandals 01:35 in the Catholic Church around the world, 01:40 from Europe, Australia, 01:42 to America to Latin America. 01:47 These terrible scandals around the world 01:50 has not helped their appreciation 01:52 of organized religion. 01:56 The Australian government 01:57 has gone out basically by itself. 02:01 And it has formed a royal commission 02:05 to investigate this great church. 02:09 And at present, they're investigating 02:12 Cardinal Pell, 02:17 the highest ranking Roman Catholic prelate 02:21 to be investigated and charged for pedophilia. 02:27 Now, his trial is ongoing. 02:30 But can you imagine 02:32 what the average Australian thinks about this? 02:36 Organized religion, not good. 02:40 A clergyman in the eyes of the sunburned soul 02:45 is a rather weak, colorless individual. 02:50 But I would tell my Aussie friends today, 02:53 the reality is far from the truth. 02:56 If you look at the Australian $20 bill, 03:02 see it here, 03:05 the Aussie $20 bill. 03:07 On the $20 bill, 03:08 there is the portrait of John Flynn. 03:13 I tell my Australian friends, 03:15 this man is recognized all throughout Australia 03:18 as a great hero. 03:21 Did you know 03:23 he was a preacher of the gospel? 03:26 He founded the Australian Inland Mission. 03:31 He had a desperate passion for the lost 03:34 in Australia's greater outback, 03:37 and you've got to go there to find out how big it is, 03:40 how desolate it is, how lonely it is. 03:45 He walked, rode on camel, drove in old cars 03:48 all throughout the outback, and then he founded 03:51 the Royal Flying Doctor Service. 03:55 And so today, if you're living on a remote outback station 03:59 or ranches, as it is called in America, 04:04 and if you get sick, 04:06 they will send a plane with a doctor. 04:10 And John Flynn was the person who brought medical help 04:14 to all those people in the outback. 04:18 He was a minister, not a namby-pamby, 04:22 and certainly not a clergyman. 04:27 We've been talking about the game changers, my friends. 04:30 The game changers are all heroes, 04:34 Moses, Elijah, 04:36 John the Baptist, and Jesus, our Lord. 04:39 Tough, strong, courageous people, 04:44 not namby-pambies. 04:47 And then, we had some other heroes 04:49 like Mary Magdalene, Ruth, and Esther, 04:53 Phoebe, Priscilla, strong people. 04:58 Now there was a man 04:59 whose description goes something like this. 05:03 "Short, stooped, bowed legged, 05:10 hook nose, 05:13 and full of grace, 05:17 the Jew, 05:19 I'm talking about Paul, the Jew, 05:21 changed the history of the world. 05:23 Listen to this, my American friends, 05:25 because virtually nobody remembers this 05:29 or knows this today. 05:33 Paul was responsible for the rise of democracies 05:38 around the world. 05:40 He was actually responsible... 05:43 If you take the long view 05:44 for the founding of the United States of America, 05:48 you believe it? 05:49 And the right to be free. 05:51 He was tough, resilient, courageous, compassionate, 05:55 and a genius, no clergyman, and namby-pamby, 06:00 no wimp, but a hero. 06:03 Take your Bible, 06:05 come with me to Philippians 3:5, 6. 06:10 And these are the words of this man 06:14 who changed the world. 06:17 Philippians 3:5, 6, "Circumcise the eighth day, 06:21 of this stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, 06:25 a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, 06:31 concerning zeal, persecuting the church, 06:35 concerning the righteousness which is in the law, 06:39 blameless." 06:40 A Pharisee. 06:42 We're going to notice exciting stories 06:45 about this super game changer. 06:48 He tells us 06:50 that he was born and bred a Pharisee. 06:55 Who were the Pharisees? 06:58 The Pharisees were the very best 07:01 of the very best. 07:03 They were the most religious people 07:05 on the face of the earth. 07:09 Have you heard of Antiochus Epiphanes? 07:12 Now most scholars know about Antiochus Epiphanes. 07:16 In the second century BC, he tried to force hellenization 07:22 or pagan culture upon the Jews. 07:25 In fact, the stories told 07:28 that he went into the Jewish sanctuary 07:31 and he offered a pig on the altar. 07:38 Now the Jews are fighters, 07:40 and they rallied around a man by the name of Judas Maccabeus, 07:44 and his followers were called the Maccabees, 07:48 and you can read them 07:49 in the Apocrypha of the scriptures. 07:54 They had a long and bloody fight. 07:57 And Judas Maccabeus and the Maccabees drove out 08:02 Antiochus Epiphanes, 08:04 one of the greatest events in the history of religion. 08:08 And after they had driven out these people 08:11 who were trying to paganize the church, 08:14 the Jewish people said, 08:18 "Never again. 08:21 We brought this upon ourselves 08:26 because we broke the law of God. 08:30 And thus came into being the Pharisees, 08:34 the defender of orthodoxy, 08:38 and the defender of the Church of God, 08:41 the state of the Israelis," 08:44 we would call them today. 08:46 Back then, 08:48 the Israelites, the Jews. 08:53 The Pharisees had a saying, 08:55 "When Israel keeps the law perfectly, 08:59 Messiah will come and save us." 09:03 There are Christians who think the same today. 09:07 The Pharisees are mentioned 98 times 09:10 in the New Testament. 09:12 They saw Jesus as a threat to their existence. 09:18 They were not a big group, 6,000 strong. 09:21 They were political, they were perfectionists, 09:26 they were proud, 09:28 and Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. 09:31 He hated Jesus and His followers. 09:34 Now Paul had dual citizenship. 09:37 Paul is his Roman name, 09:40 Paulus. 09:43 His Jewish name is the Hebrew word, Saul. 09:47 He never changed his name from Saul to Paul. 09:53 One of our first introductions to him is that we discover 09:57 that he is an accessory to murder. 10:03 Whatever he did, 10:04 he did with a passion, even bad things. 10:06 He was involved in the murder of a good man. 10:09 Turn with me to the Book of Acts 7:54. 10:14 Chapter 7 verse 54. 10:21 "When they heard these things," the Jewish mob, 10:25 "they were cut to the heart, 10:27 they gnashed their teeth at him, Stephen, 10:29 "they gnashed at him with their teeth." 10:33 And then you come to verse 58, 10:35 "And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. 10:40 And the witnesses lay down 10:41 their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul." 10:46 Chapter 8:1, the first part, 10:49 "Now Saul was consenting to his death." 10:54 I want you to understand today 10:56 that stoning was cruel and bloody. 11:00 The person is usually cast to the ground. 11:04 This is what they did to women 11:06 who were caught in the act of adultery, not to the men. 11:10 And so the person was cast to the ground, 11:12 and then the righteous mob picked up stones, 11:17 and they threw the stones at him and a blood... 11:23 Somebody said the difference between a Pharisee 11:25 and a follower of Christ 11:27 is that while the Pharisees picked up stones, 11:33 Jesus picked up people. 11:36 And if you're in the business of picking up stones, 11:39 then you are no follower of Christ 11:42 even though you may be an elder in the church. 11:46 Is anybody hearing what I'm saying? 11:51 And Saul had dual citizenship like me. 11:55 I have Australian citizenship and American citizenship. 12:00 Saul, his Hebrew name, Paul, his Roman name. 12:05 John is my Australian name, 12:08 and John is my American name. 12:12 He had a misguided zeal for the kingdom of God. 12:15 He was what we would call a religious bigot. 12:19 He was like the inquisitors in the dark ages 12:22 who carried out the inquisition, 12:24 who put people on the rack, 12:26 who burned innocent people at the stake 12:31 when their bodies were fried, 12:35 religious people, religious people. 12:39 What about ISIS today? 12:40 Religious people. 12:43 And Paul was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong. 12:48 Religious bigotry is responsible 12:51 for much of the suffering in the world today. 12:54 I tell you, 12:55 God, save us from religious bigots 13:00 who would pick up stones instead of picking up people. 13:06 Now we come to intervention. 13:12 He was stopped in his tracks. 13:14 Saul went on a rampage persecution. 13:18 He was on his way to Damascus to arrest the Christians. 13:24 For the glory of God, for the glory of Israel. 13:30 Acts 9:1-2, notice it, Acts 9:1-2, 13:34 "Then Saul still breathing threats 13:38 and murder against the disciples of the Lord, 13:40 went to the high priest and asked letters from him 13:43 to the synagogues of Damascus. 13:47 If he found any who were of the way," 13:49 the Christian way, "whether men or women, 13:52 he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." 13:56 Therefore he is on crusading zeal 14:00 for the greater glory of God. 14:05 One of the most important words is the word "But." 14:10 But God had a plan. 14:14 Man proposes... 14:16 What does it say? God disposes. 14:19 Christ appears, 14:21 and the voice of Christ says these words, 14:25 "Saul, Saul," He talks to him in the language he understands. 14:32 "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me. 14:36 It is hard for you 14:38 to kick against the goads." 14:43 The voice of Christ. 14:45 What are these goads? 14:49 The goads are sharp sticks that are used to direct cattle. 14:59 Poke them into a beast, then the beast will quiver. 15:06 Jesus said, "It's hard for you to kick against the goads," 15:09 the goads of his own guilty conscience. 15:14 Deep down inside him, there was a fire burning 15:18 that he knew that what he was doing 15:20 even though he was consumed by religious zeal 15:25 was somehow wrong. 15:29 And Stephen had made a great impression upon him. 15:35 And so he was on a crusade, a holy religious crusade. 15:38 I've seen lots of people and lots of churches 15:41 on holy religious crusades. 15:44 Holy self-satisfied, holy religious, and holy wrong. 15:50 But something that this man did not realize, 15:53 and lot of people don't realize today, 15:54 is this great truth. 15:56 Christ is the sovereign Lord. 15:59 Christ is in charge of everything in the world. 16:02 And God had a plan and a purpose for the Saul 16:06 a million years before he was born. 16:08 God saw him, God had a plan for him, 16:11 amazing, isn't it? 16:13 Christ is sovereign Lord, not Mr. Trump, 16:16 I would remind my American friends. 16:18 He's not in charge. He may think he is. 16:22 Not Mr. Putin. 16:23 He may think 16:25 he's in charge not only of his own country, 16:27 but of some other people as well. 16:29 Not Mr. Kim in North Korea. 16:33 Christ is the Lord of history, 16:39 and He's Lord of all. 16:41 And Paul is knocked down, he's struck blind. 16:45 And as the great English preacher, 16:48 John Newton said, 16:50 "I was blind, but now I see." 16:55 Saul had to become blind before he could see, 17:01 like some of you 17:02 who are watching the telecast today, 17:04 like some of you sitting here in the studio. 17:08 We have to become blind... 17:13 and after we are blind, 17:16 then we can see. 17:20 Christ tells him to go into Damascus, and he said, 17:25 "I want you to meet one of My children." 17:27 He said, "I know all about him, I can tell you where he lives. 17:30 Actually, I think I've been to his house." 17:34 He says, "I know where he lives, 17:37 I want you to go to his house." 17:39 Did you know this, my friend? God knows where you live. 17:44 He knows your name, 17:46 He knows what you're thinking right now, 17:50 He knows every thought that courses 17:52 through the molecules of your mind. 17:57 How does that make you feel? 18:00 So he goes into Damascus, and he meets Ananias. 18:05 Acts 9:15, 18:09 God said to ananias, 18:12 "Lord said to him, 18:14 'Go for he is a chosen vessel of Mine 18:17 to bear My name before the Gentiles, kings, 18:20 and the children of Israel." 18:22 I don't know what you think about it 18:24 when you read that text, 18:25 but it tells me that God has got a plan 18:27 and a purpose for every life. 18:33 Do I have a sense of destiny? Absolutely. 18:37 When I was a tiny baby, my mother didn't go to church. 18:41 She had enough of religion. 18:43 But as a tiny baby, 18:45 she had an impression in a soul 18:47 that I was going to be a minister 18:49 and an evangelist. 18:51 And I'd preach around the world, 18:52 and she held me up in her arms, this unchurched mother of mine, 18:58 and dedicated me to God. 19:03 Before you're born, God sees you, 19:07 He has a plan for you. 19:13 Then he is baptized, is Saul. 19:16 When he's baptized, the scales because he become blind, 19:20 the scales fall off his eyes. 19:23 It's a new day, it's a new man, 19:26 it's a new mission, and in a sense, 19:28 it's a new world 19:31 because Paul has been unleashed 19:34 upon the powers of darkness. 19:37 Then he goes into the wilderness 19:40 where he has the great revelation. 19:43 I just want to emphasize so much today. 19:48 Like Moses, Elijah, 19:53 John the Baptist, 19:55 like our Lord, Jesus Christ, he's driven by the spirit 19:59 into the wilderness. 20:01 And he's there for about three years. 20:03 God says, 20:05 "I've got to take you away from the city, 20:07 I've got to take you away from your friends. 20:13 I've got to take you away from your cell phone." 20:15 Some people are so addicted to it, 20:17 they can't leave home without it. 20:20 They live with it, they sleep with it. 20:23 When they wake up, 20:24 they look, they're looking at it. 20:26 It is an addiction, 20:27 the same as if they were taking heroin. 20:32 And it causes the greatest dumbing down 20:35 of the human mind. 20:36 People who are on these things all the time, 20:40 their minds are shrinking. 20:44 How does that make you feel? That's a fact. 20:48 That's why I try to stay away from that stuff 20:50 as much as I can. 20:51 It is not going to be my master. 20:54 I'm not going to answer it every time it rings or beeps. 21:02 So he goes into the wilderness. 21:05 He goes into the wilderness where the gold is refined 21:09 and the dross is removed. 21:11 He goes into the vast desert of Arabia for three years. 21:16 And there he receives the great revelation 21:20 that most of us do not understand, 21:22 and we've never had it 21:24 because we're so tied up with the world 21:26 and we're so blind. 21:28 Galatians 1:15-17 says this, 21:33 "When it pleased God, 21:34 who separated me from my mother's womb 21:37 and called me through His grace, 21:39 to reveal His son in me, 21:41 that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, 21:44 I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 21:47 nor did I go up to Jerusalem 21:49 to those who were apostles before me, 21:52 but I went to Arabia, returned again," 21:55 after about three years, "to Damascus." 21:59 So he doesn't go to the seminary 22:03 or to the cemetery. 22:06 And he doesn't even go and talk to the apostles, 22:08 God drives him into the wilderness 22:13 for the revelation. 22:15 Galatians 1:11, 12. Think of these verses. 22:20 I would warrant 22:21 that most of you have never thought about this, 22:24 so think about it. 22:27 "But I make known to you, brethren, 22:30 that the gospel which was preached to me 22:32 is not according to man. 22:34 For I neither received it from man, 22:37 nor was I taught it, 22:38 but it came through the revelation 22:40 of Jesus Christ." 22:44 The gospel that Paul received 22:46 that the vast majority of Christians 22:49 do not understand was not taught to Paul, 22:53 it came by a supernatural revelation 22:59 out in the desert. 23:01 What am I talking about? 23:05 There's an old saying, 23:06 "The cat looks at the king, the cat doesn't see the king." 23:12 The cat has got sight, it hasn't got insight. 23:15 Most people in the church today, 23:17 most people in the world have got sight, 23:19 but they've got no insight. 23:22 So the people look at the king, who is he? 23:25 Nobody. 23:28 And that is why when they take up the Bible, 23:30 if they ever do, and try to read it, 23:31 they say, "I can't understand, that's stupid." 23:35 Let me get back to the Kardashians 23:37 or something like this, let me do that. 23:39 Let me do that 23:40 because this is something that I emphasize, 23:43 this is something that I understand that is... 23:45 You know why they do this? 23:46 It is because they've been dumbed down, 23:49 and they're totally blind. 23:52 Walking in darkness 23:56 and Paul gets the revelation. 23:59 The true gospel is revealed to him, 24:01 Christ alone, not by works of the law, 24:04 opposite to all he'd been taught 24:06 in the theological seminary at Avondale. 24:09 Let me tell you something, 24:10 and I want you to think about this 24:11 when I share it with you. 24:13 I was brought up in a super religious home. 24:17 I was almost inoculated for life against religion 24:21 because of religion. 24:27 I went to Avondale College, 24:29 I heard a preacher from England preach on the God filled blank. 24:34 He said, "Inside you, there is an emptiness." 24:37 I said to myself, 24:39 "He's talking to me, it's me." 24:43 When I was a boy of 17 24:48 from a super religious home, 24:51 where there was a lot of religious fighting, 24:54 supernaturally God revealed to me the gospel. 25:00 You say not a supernatural... 25:02 Yes. 25:03 Wherever I walked, 25:06 the sky was bluer, the birds sweeter, 25:09 the people I've met were nicer. 25:13 And something else. 25:16 I knew in my soul 25:20 that Christ had died for me. 25:24 I knew that God loved me. 25:26 I knew that He was my God. 25:30 I felt I owned him. 25:34 That's the only way the gospel can be found 25:38 through a supernatural revelation. 25:41 I ask you the question, "Have you had it?" 25:45 If you haven't, don't sleep until you get it 25:51 because the gospel is the only way 25:53 we can be saved. 25:55 And we'll be back after this short break 25:58 with more revelations 26:00 of the greatest of the apostles, 26:02 the Apostle Paul. 26:15 The reviews for the John Carter biography are in 26:19 and this is what they say: 26:21 "Anyone who reads this fascinating book 26:22 and is not moved 26:24 should check to see if they still have a pulse." 26:28 "I believe this book 26:29 about God's miracles in Russia and Ukraine 26:31 will burn the flame in your heart." 26:35 "This could prove to be 26:36 one of the most important books ever written 26:38 about public evangelism. 26:40 Make sure you get a copy." 26:44 "I believe this book about John Carter's life 26:46 will help readers grasp a vision for their lives." 26:55 For a donation of $100 or more, 26:58 a signed copy of the John Carter biography 27:00 can be yours 27:01 by writing to us at the address on the screen 27:03 or visit our website. 27:19 Do you sometimes get lost in the crowd? 27:21 Do you feel there is just no love in the room, 27:23 like everybody is against you? 27:25 You're all alone with no one to lean on. 27:27 Do you need a word of encouragement? 27:29 Do you know God? 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Revised 2018-10-18