Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox
Series Code: GMTB
Program Code: GMTB000043
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00:19 Hello and welcome to Give Me The Bible
00:22 with Pastor Kenneth Cox. 00:23 We're so happy that you could 00:25 join with us in this live presentation 00:28 coming to you from the 3ABN Worship Center 00:32 right here in Thompsonville, Illinois. 00:36 And we are just so happy that we can be with you. 00:39 This series on this particular weekend is about the Bible. 00:43 And today the subject is going to be 00:47 How Can I Know My Bible Is True? 00:50 Now I learned to love the Bible, 00:53 as many of you have learned to love your Bible, 00:56 from my mother. 00:57 My mother read her Bible and studied it every single day. 01:01 I'm also happy to tell you 01:03 that my children have had that same example 01:05 from their mother... who has read the Bible through 01:09 at least 15 times that I know of... 01:11 and probably a number of times more. 01:14 So it's been a beautiful relationship that I've had 01:19 with those women that I've loved 01:21 who love the Bible so much. 01:22 But how can I know that the Bible is really true? 01:27 And in this presentation Pastor Kenneth Cox 01:31 is going to answer that question. 01:33 I remember a song: My Mother's Old Bible Is True. 01:37 From cover to cover... all true. 01:40 And I accept that 100% by faith. 01:44 But today, Pastor Cox is going to show us 01:48 some reasons that we can add proof to our faith. 01:54 It's a wonderful presentation. 01:56 Please stay tuned; call your friends. 01:58 Invite them to join us on 3ABN 02:01 as they watch this presentation today. 02:04 But before we hear from Pastor Cox, 02:06 Joe Pearles from Nashville, Tennessee, 02:10 a man who has sung on all kinds of stages all over this country, 02:15 is going to sing for us God On The Mountain. 02:28 Life is easy 02:31 when you're up on a mountain. 02:36 And things go wrong sometimes 02:40 when life's at its best. 02:44 It's down in the valley 02:48 of trials and temptations 02:53 that's when things 02:56 are really put to the test. 03:00 For the God on the mountain 03:05 is still God in the valley. 03:09 When things go wrong 03:13 He'll make them right. 03:17 For the God in the good times 03:21 is still God in the bad times. 03:25 The God in the day 03:29 is still God in the night. 03:34 You talk of faith 03:38 when you're up on a mountain. 03:42 But talk comes easy 03:46 when life's at its best. 03:50 It's down in the valley 03:54 of trials and temptations 03:58 That's when faith 04:02 is really put to the test. 04:06 For the God on the mountain 04:10 is still God in the valley. 04:14 When things go wrong 04:18 He'll make them right. 04:23 For the God in the good times 04:27 is still God in the bad times. 04:31 The God in the day 04:35 is still God in the night. 04:39 The God in the day 04:43 is still God in the night. 04:53 Thank you, Joe Pearles. 04:56 Glad that each of you are here today. 04:59 Want to welcome you. 05:02 Those of you that are joining us by television or radio, 05:06 for some of you it may be morning. 05:09 For some of you it could be 05:10 the middle of the day. 05:12 For some of you, it could be evening. 05:14 But wherever you are, we're just glad you're here 05:17 and joining us. Appreciate it. 05:19 Hope that the program will bless you in a special way 05:23 as we look at God's Word. 05:25 This particular series that we're doing 05:28 in Give Me The Bible 05:30 is on the Bible 05:32 entitled Your Bible and You. 05:34 So far in the series we've looked at two things. 05:37 We've looked at where your Bible came from 05:40 and we've looked at which translation is the best. 05:43 Those are the things that we've looked at so far. 05:46 Our next session will be entitled 05:49 What The Bible Can Do For You. 05:52 In other words, why read it? 05:54 Why should I spend any time with it? 05:57 What can it do for me personally? 06:00 That's what we're going to take a look at 06:02 in the next presentation. 06:04 And where you can know that you can go to God's Word, 06:08 find certain things that it will do for you. 06:10 So we hope you'll join us for that. 06:12 Today we're looking at... 06:17 How can I know my Bible is true? 06:20 What you want to look for is I'm going to share with you 06:23 four ways that you can know the Bible is true. 06:27 You want to watch for those four ways. 06:29 Because if you can believe and know without question 06:34 that it's true, then the promises that are made 06:38 in scripture you can place faith in and you can follow it 06:42 with confidence. And so it's very important 06:45 that you understand and know that it's true. 06:47 I've mentioned a couple times that the disciples 06:50 the thing that sparked as the Holy Spirit led them 06:55 and they went out and proclaimed the Word of God 06:57 was they understood and they knew without question 07:01 that He had risen from the grave. 07:03 They had been witnesses to that, 07:05 and it filled their lives and souls as they went out 07:09 and preached all the different places. 07:11 So if you and I can know without question 07:14 the Bible is true, 07:17 well then it gives us the faith to move ahead 07:19 and believe it and walk according to it. 07:23 So we're glad that you're here today. 07:25 Joe Pearles has 07:30 been with us for a number of years singing for us. 07:33 Always blesses my soul. 07:38 And today he's going to sing probably the... 07:40 of all the gospel songs that have been written... 07:44 probably the most popular requested of any gospel song 07:49 that's ever been written is the song: 07:52 In The Garden. 08:02 I come to the garden 08:06 alone, 08:10 while the dew 08:13 is still on the roses. 08:19 And the voice I hear 08:23 falling on my ear 08:28 the Son of God 08:32 discloses. 08:38 And He walks with me 08:43 and He talks with me. 08:48 And He tells me I am 08:53 His own. 08:57 And the joy we share 09:01 as we tarry there... 09:06 None other 09:08 has ever known. 09:33 He speaks 09:35 and the sound of His voice 09:41 is so sweet 09:43 the birds hush 09:46 their singing. 09:50 And the melody 09:54 that He gave to me 09:59 within my heart 10:03 is ringing. 10:08 And He walks with me 10:13 and He talks with me. 10:18 And He tells me I am 10:23 His own. 10:27 And the joy we share 10:32 as we tarry there... 10:36 None other 10:38 has ever known. 10:44 And the joy we share 10:49 as we tarry there... 10:56 None other 10:58 has ever 11:02 known. 11:24 Our Heavenly Father, 11:27 We'd like to take this time to thank you 11:31 for Your Word. 11:33 We pray that as we open it today 11:36 that we may see... be convinced... 11:42 that indeed it is true. 11:45 And that as we accept the truthfulness of Your Word 11:52 that our faith may be increased 11:54 and that we might stand firmly upon it. 11:58 Give us Your Spirit. Enlighten our eyes. 12:02 May our hearts be soft and tender today. 12:06 We pray in Your name, Amen. 12:16 One of our team members, Diane Lohr, 12:20 was raised in a home where they taught or believed 12:26 that the Bible was kind of 12:29 fairy tales and fables. 12:33 And she grew up pretty much 12:36 reading them or - from time 12:39 to time - not reading them 12:40 very much but when they did 12:42 they read them as a fairy tale 12:43 or as a fable. 12:45 And then she started attending the meetings, 12:49 and as she listened night after night 12:52 she began to sense that the Word of God was true... 12:58 that it wasn't just fairy tales and fables. 13:02 And we live in an age of skepticism. 13:05 We live in an age where people have real doubts 13:09 about the Word of God. 13:12 Higher criticism and all this. 13:14 So can I know without any question of a doubt 13:18 in my heart that the scripture is true? 13:22 I can depend on it. I can trust it. 13:25 That it doesn't fail. 13:26 And so the first thing that I would like to tell you 13:30 concerning the Word of God, 13:32 as far as I'm concerned one of the proofs of it 13:35 is the permanency of it. 13:37 Because this is what it says: 13:48 In other words, God's saying: 13:50 "It's going to be around. It's not going to disappear. 13:53 It's going to be here. " 13:55 So the permanency of God's Word. 13:58 Now there has been great, great efforts 14:01 down through the centuries to do away with the scripture. 14:05 In fact, the Roman Empire 14:07 decided to do away with God's Word, 14:11 do away with the Christians, 14:12 do away with any concept of it. 14:15 It was fought terribly, 14:16 and many, many people gave their lives 14:21 because they were willing to trust it... 14:23 willing to stand on it... 14:25 and they were brought before the Emperor. 14:28 You see, Rome didn't care... 14:29 Rome didn't care what God you worshiped. 14:32 They were polytheistic. 14:34 They worshiped many, many gods. 14:36 But they wanted the allegiance of the people, 14:39 and you had to sacrifice to their god. 14:44 And if you didn't sacrifice to it - which was a sign 14:47 of allegiance - then you were taken to the arena 14:50 and fed to the lions. 14:52 In fact, Diocletian... Diocletian made a decree 14:57 that every scrap, every book, every part of scripture 15:02 was to be burned. 15:04 I mean, gotten rid of. 15:06 The people were demanded to offer sacrifices 15:10 to pagan gods. And if they didn't, they were to be killed. 15:14 For ten years it was absolutely horrible 15:18 in the Roman Empire... trying to do away with the Word of God. 15:22 Saying it would be over... 15:25 was going to end. 15:26 One of the great historians of the past 15:31 by the name of Voltaire, who was an atheist, 15:35 he said that the Bible was an exploded book 15:39 and would be soon passed away. 15:42 But Voltaire is dead... and it's still around. 15:47 Robert Ingersoll, another atheist, 15:50 said: "in 100 years, the Bible will be no more. " 15:53 But he's dead. 15:55 So what I'm trying to get across to you 15:59 is there's a permanency to God's Word 16:02 that you and I can rest assured it's been around a long time. 16:06 Russia, Karl Marx, decided they would set up 16:11 an atheistic government. 16:13 That God would not be there. 16:15 The scripture would not be there, 16:16 and it would get rid of all of it. 16:18 Well, Communism came into being. 16:23 Went 70 years, 16:25 and now it's something of the past. 16:30 But the Word of God is still around. 16:34 Still there. I can remember being in Russia 16:36 and walking through their cemetery. 16:39 And there were tombstones there 16:41 that were back before Communism. 16:44 And they had gone in and taken a chisel 16:47 and chiseled off any symbols of Christianity 16:50 trying to completely do away with the Word of God. 16:54 But, no. God said: "It will abide forever. " 16:59 That you and I can trust it. What bothers me today 17:03 is basically our universities are atheistic. 17:09 They teach no God. 17:12 They teach that... science teaches that we came about 17:16 by evolution and all. 17:18 And these things are being taught to the people today, 17:21 and yet... the evidence is there, folks, 17:26 that those universities, 17:30 all these things are going to pass away one of these days 17:32 but I'll assure you: 17:33 the Word of God is going to still be here. 17:37 It hasn't failed; the permanency of it is there. 17:40 It says: 17:48 So God's Word is permanent, 17:51 and they can say what they want to 17:53 but it's living proof that it's exactly what God said: 17:57 that it's true; it has stood the test of time. 18:00 We don't have to have any doubts about it 18:03 standing the test of time. 18:05 Another way in which you and I can know that the Bible is true 18:09 is that of prophecy. 18:11 Prophecy helps us know that the Word of God is true. 18:16 It says... Jesus said this... He said: 18:23 That's prophecy, right? 18:25 You tell something before it comes... 18:27 that's prophecy. 18:33 So if I can pick up the Bible 18:36 and read a prophecy that was made 18:41 a thousand years ago, 18:44 and then that prophecy came true 18:47 then I know it's true. 18:50 Know that. Established on that fact. 18:54 So you and I can know the Word of God is true. In fact, 18:57 the thing that makes the Bible distinctly different - 19:01 different than any other book - are two things. 19:06 Those two things are prophecy and miracles. 19:10 If you take prophecy and miracles out of scripture, 19:16 then it just ceases to be any- thing but a book of philosophy. 19:20 But that's what make it distinctly different, 19:22 and prophecies help us know that it's true. 19:25 And I want to share just a few prophecies with you. 19:28 It says: 19:43 Now it says there that you and I need to heed 19:48 the word of prophecy. And it says it's like a light 19:52 that shines in a dark place. 19:55 You know, that's one thing about atheism. 20:02 Have you ever thought about it? 20:04 There is absolutely no light there. 20:10 None. 20:11 When you stop and think about it, there is no light there. 20:14 There's nothing there that can give you any hope 20:17 beyond the grave. 20:20 No... nothing. No light there. 20:23 But God's Word does, and it gives us light. 20:26 And God said prophecy's something that you need to 20:29 take heed to because it's a light shining in a dark place. 20:33 And then the day's going to dawn. 20:36 Morning Star rises in your heart. 20:39 So let me just share a couple prophecies with you 20:44 that I think are significant 20:48 concerning what God told us would happen... 20:51 what took place. 20:53 One: Jesus. 20:55 Jesus said this to them in Matthew 24:15: 21:10 Now listen to what He's saying to them here. 21:19 He said: "Now those that are in Judea 21:21 let them flee to the mountains. " 21:33 He said: "Now when you see 21:36 the 'abomination of desolation' set up, 21:40 then you need to get out of there. " 21:42 Now He's talking about Jerusalem. 21:44 Watch: 21:51 OK? Promised all that. 21:54 Well, the Roman government sent their army in. 22:00 They surrounded the city of Jerusalem. 22:03 Not only did they surround it, 22:06 they carried banners, folks. 22:09 And on those banners they had pictures of their pagan gods. 22:14 And they came and set that up 22:16 right in the courtyard of the sanctuary. 22:19 This is what it's talking about there when it's talking about 22:21 the 'abomination of desolation. ' 22:23 They were defiling the sanctuary of God. 22:26 And He said: "When they come in and do that, 22:28 then you need to get out of here. " 22:30 He said: "Don't even go... bother to go back home, 22:32 flee. " 22:34 Well, Titus had surrounded the city. 22:38 All of his soldiers there. 22:40 Nobody could leave. 22:43 And then for no apparent reason 22:48 he withdrew his whole army, 22:50 and all of the Christians fled. 22:54 And after they fled, brought his army back... 22:58 surrounded the city. 22:59 Just exactly as Christ 23:03 had predicted it took place. 23:05 Jesus went on about the city: 23:17 Now, folks, I don't know if you've ever been over there, 23:22 but one thing they have an abundance of is stone. 23:27 Just look here at this city. This will give you an idea. 23:32 Stones everywhere. I mean... and the wall and all there. 23:37 And even in the temple they had stones. 23:41 Now they had stones lying in the temple 23:44 that were 4' thick, 4' high, 23:49 and 20' long 23:52 laying on top of each other. 23:54 By the way, so perfectly laid you couldn't even 23:57 stick a knife blade between them. 23:59 That was through the whole city. 24:02 And here Christ said: "There's not going to be one stone left 24:05 on top of another. " 24:06 And they yelled "blasphemy! " 24:08 This couldn't be. Impossible. 24:11 But Roman army had surrounded the city 24:17 And finally when they decided to take it, 24:21 one of the soldiers had thrown a firebrand. 24:25 It went through the window of the temple 24:28 and in no time the whole place was on fire. 24:31 There was enough gold in that temple 24:37 that it melted and ran down into the rocks and the crevices 24:42 throughout that whole area 24:44 And so when it was all over, 24:46 people came in and they turned over every stone 24:50 to gather the gold. They even plowed the ground. 24:54 Just exactly as Christ said. 24:57 So you have a prophecy where Christ said 24:59 this is what would happen, 25:00 and true to His word, 25:02 it took place just exactly as He said it would. 25:06 Another fascinating prophecy to me is one concerning 25:12 what was going to happen. 25:16 You see, the Bible made it clear 25:19 that the church was going to go through that time of 25:21 persecution by the Roman power and all. 25:25 And it says here: 25:39 Now watch what he says is going to happen here: 25:51 So it says here that she was going to be persecuted. 25:55 And then it says that the earth would open up and swallow 26:00 this flood of persecution towards the church. 26:03 That's what it's saying. 26:04 And you find as you read through history 26:07 and you study it, that's exactly what took place. 26:10 Because after all the persecution 26:14 then we hit what we talked about our last session 26:18 and so forth. We hit the time of about 1400-1500 AD and so forth 26:24 and you have all of a sudden the Reformation taking place. 26:28 And what was being done away - since there was only one 26:34 type of scripture available, and that was the Latin - 26:37 all of a sudden all the Word of God began to come back 26:40 and men like Luther and Knox and Calvin 26:43 and all them began to translate the Bible 26:46 into the language of the people. 26:48 And all of a sudden they began to be able - every man, 26:51 every woman - could pick up the Bible and read it 26:54 for themselves. 26:56 Something they hadn't been able to do for 1,000 years. 27:01 They could read it. It opened up its mouth 27:05 and swallowed up that flood that was taking place. 27:08 At the same time... have you ever stopped to think about it? 27:11 At the same time that this was taking place 27:16 you have the discovery of the United States. 27:19 And you have these people who have been persecuted 27:24 leaving and coming to this country to get away from 27:27 persecution where they can worship as they want to. 27:30 And thus the earth opened up its mouth... 27:33 swallowed up the flood of persecution. 27:37 Prophecies... the prophecies of scripture are so, so true! 27:42 As you read through them and read one right after another 27:46 where God says it's going to happen, 27:48 what happens when you pick up the Word of God 27:51 and you read about somebody 27:56 and they're named. I'm not talking about just in general... 28:02 I'm talking about where they name them by name 28:04 150 years before they're born. 28:07 Like in the case of Cyrus. 28:11 You know, there's something more to that. 28:14 You can't just... you can't just say 28:16 "well... " You know, there's got to be more than human. 28:19 We aren't capable of telling people's names 28:21 150 years before they're born. 28:24 But God can... and He does! 28:28 Those are prophecies that were made. 28:30 One that has fascinated me 28:34 was one here in archaeology. 28:37 Archaeology is another way that you and I 28:41 can tell that the Bible is true. 28:43 Because as they have gone places and dug up things 28:46 they have found evidence of things that took place 28:51 and know that it is true exactly like the scripture said. 28:56 Remember, Christ had been there. 29:02 See, Christ... Folks, you've got to understand 29:05 that when He went through the country, now the whole country 29:09 is flocking to Him. 29:12 I mean, they came by multitudes to see Jesus. 29:16 And this was so upsetting to the... to the Pharisees 29:21 and the Sadducees that all these people were flocking to Him. 29:25 And they said, you know: 29:27 "We've got to do something about this. 29:29 We've got to stop this 29:30 or He's going to change the whole nation. " 29:33 And so it says here: 29:58 Said: "Don't you understand that it's better that one person die 30:03 than for the whole nation? " Because he said: 30:05 "If this Man's going to keep preaching like He is, 30:08 He's going to bring the Roman government down on us. 30:10 And rather than the whole nation perish 30:13 much better that He dies. " 30:29 He made that prophecy. 30:31 A few weeks later... a little time later... 30:36 Jesus is being tried 30:40 and they have brought Him in before Caiaphas the high priest. 30:45 And Caiaphas is upset 30:50 because Christ was there. 30:53 They brought witnesses against Him, 30:56 but He didn't answer them anything. 30:58 He didn't say anything to them. 31:00 And Caiaphas finally charged Him 31:04 under the authority of heaven to answer. 31:09 When He did... Christ answered him. 31:11 But Christ said this to Caiaphas: 31:18 He asked Him point blank: "Are You the Son of God? " 31:21 And He said: "It is as you said. " 31:42 He said: "Caiaphas, YOU are going to see Me come back 31:48 in the clouds of heaven. " 31:50 Oh, they were digging here a while back 31:54 south of the old city of Jerusalem. 31:57 And as they were digging, they came across these boxes. 32:03 Found about twelve of them. 32:06 Twelve boxes. And in these boxes 32:09 as they opened them, they found the bones 32:12 of people that had died and all. 32:16 But there was one box... 32:18 one box that was especially nice... 32:22 decorated beautifully. 32:26 That's Caiaphas's coffin. 32:29 Not only did they find it there, 32:31 but it had his full name written on it. 32:34 And they've examined the bones; they found it fits the age. 32:38 It fits him perfectly. 32:40 In fact, this is the only case that we have, folks, 32:44 of the remains of someone who is actually mentioned in the Bible 32:48 is Caiaphas. 32:50 There's his tomb there... or his coffin. 32:54 And Christ said: "You, Caiaphas, 32:57 are going to be resurrected to see Me come. " 33:02 Prophecy of the scripture. Archaeology. 33:06 You know, somebody would say: "Well, who was Caiaphas? " 33:08 You can't deny it. There he is 33:10 waiting for that day to come when Christ will come back. 33:15 So we have the Word of God over and over proven 33:19 time and time again. 33:21 Another case in scripture where archaeology has shown us 33:25 what has taken place is the case of Lot. 33:29 Abraham's nephew. 33:51 Abraham had told him... Said: "Lot, 33:54 if you want to go to the left hand, I'll go to the right. 33:58 If you want to go to the right, I'll go to the left. " 34:00 Because their flocks and all had increased so much 34:03 that there was not room for both of them to dwell together. 34:07 So they had to separate. 34:08 And Lot chose the fertile plains of the Jordan. 34:14 This was beautiful, folks. 34:16 This is... this is not like it 34:18 is today. I mean, it was beautiful then and everything. 34:22 So Lot went down and dwelt there in the plains of Jordan 34:27 and went to the city of Sodom... where he lived with his family. 34:32 OK? Well, as you know the Bible story, 34:35 Sodom and Gomorrah became so wicked 34:38 that finally God said: "I'm going to destroy it. " 34:43 And He sent angels down to get Lot and his wife 34:49 and his daughters and get them out of the country. 34:52 Well, it says this is what happened: 35:01 Now He had told Lot... those angels had told Lot 35:04 "You get out of here. " 35:06 In fact, they told him to flee up to the mountains 35:07 and he said: "Well, can I just go to Zoar? " 35:09 And they gave him permission to do that. 35:12 And when that happened, then fire and brimstone 35:16 was rained down. 35:24 Now listen carefully. 35:41 Says He overthrew it. He sent fire and brimstone. 35:45 Burned it all up. 35:47 There were five cities there, folks. 35:50 Five cites. Now you and I today think, 35:54 you know, five cities there... 35:55 these were just small cities there. 35:59 I want to share something with you. 36:01 These five cities are in the lower end of the Dead Sea. 36:07 That's where they were. 36:09 It's probably kind of hard for you to see here on the map, 36:13 but if you can look at it there 36:16 you can see where it says Moab. 36:18 Well below it, you have 36:19 five cities listed there. 36:21 OK. Five cities. 36:24 That first city is Sodom. 36:27 OK? The first one there. 36:31 Then the others make up Gomorrah 36:33 and three other cities. 36:35 If you look at it on a kind of a topographical map, 36:40 it would look like this. And this is where 36:42 Sodom would be right at the top. 36:44 Now it's interesting that archaeologists have found 36:50 in the city that represents Sodom... 36:53 they've gone in and as they have now begun to excavate 36:57 they found the cemetery for Sodom. 37:03 And in that cemetery they found a half a million people buried. 37:10 That's not it. 37:13 They have gone, and in two more of those cities 37:17 they found cemeteries. 37:19 And each one of those cemeteries have over half a million people. 37:24 They found 1,500,000 graves 37:30 of people that lived in those cities. 37:32 So when it speaks of those cities of the plain 37:36 these weren't just little things. These were huge 37:39 cities that were destroyed. 37:42 Burned up. Today they're there... 37:46 nothing's there. Strictly a desert. 37:49 Nothing there anymore. 37:51 But God said this is what would happen. 37:54 And true to God's Word, it took place 37:57 just exactly as God said it would. 38:00 Well, another way that you can know your Bible's true 38:04 is it says: "By their fruits you shall know them. " 38:08 See? In other words, what is the fruit? 38:13 What... what kind of thing does this book produce? 38:18 What takes place when people read the Word of God? 38:22 Jesus gave us an indication of what takes place. 38:26 And it says: 38:55 I have found that wherever 38:59 the gospel has gone in and preached 39:03 there has been a dramatic change in the people. 39:08 I found that in place of bondage, 39:12 they have liberty. 39:15 In place of depression, they have joy. 39:19 All those things change. As a person comes to the gospel, 39:25 it changes the life, it changes the community. 39:28 I've found that where the gospel has gone in and been preached 39:31 then the whole community changed. 39:36 Things completely turned around. 39:39 To give you kind of an example of what I'm talking about, 39:42 I don't know how many of you have ever read the book 39:46 or saw the movie Mutiny on the Bounty. 39:48 But if you remember the story, 39:51 old Captain Bligh had been commissioned 39:57 to go to the Indies 40:02 and to get breadfruit trees 40:05 and bring them back to England. 40:08 Captain Bligh hired himself a crew 40:14 and they set sail. 40:16 But old Captain Bligh was ornery. 40:21 Not just ornery, he was just downright mean. 40:25 And for any kind of a misdemeanor 40:28 he would beat them. Treated them horrible in every way. 40:33 And finally after sailing for quite some time 40:39 they reached Tahiti, and they stayed there. 40:43 And they stayed there, folks, for... oh, I don't remember, 40:46 but... six months? Eight months? 40:49 They stayed there quite a long time. 40:51 And they gathered breadfruit trees and loaded up the Bounty 40:57 with these breadfruit trees. 40:58 And then they set sail headed back to England. 41:05 The old captain, when they were on land, wasn't too bad. 41:09 But when they started sailing, he was horrible. 41:13 And for instance, when they got low on water, 41:18 it was more important to him that the breadfruit trees be 41:21 watered than to have water for the crew. 41:25 And... and if they did something wrong, 41:28 they were strapped to the mast and beaten. 41:31 This went on so much 41:33 that they finally rebelled and mutinied. 41:38 They just said: "We're not going to put up with this. " 41:40 They took the captain, if I remember right... 41:43 they took him and 19 other sailors that weren't... 41:47 didn't want to be involved in the mutiny... 41:49 and put them over the side of the ship in a long boat 41:52 and said "goodbye" to them and sailed off. 41:55 By the way, that old captain was such a fantastic sailor 41:59 that he sailed... erected a sail on that long boat 42:03 and sailed it clear to shore... 42:05 which was 1,500 miles! 42:07 You know... So, fantastic sailor. 42:10 But anyhow, they knew that their lives were at stake now 42:16 and they knew that the penalty for mutiny was to be hung. 42:20 And so they took the Bounty and they began to make one island 42:24 after another around the country. 42:26 And finally they came to this little island that was 42:33 uninhabited, 42:34 and they decided they would stay there. 42:37 And this little island is called Pitcairn. 42:45 They fought... they got drunk on all these different islands 42:51 they went to. And they fought one another 42:53 and killed one another, and stayed and did different things 42:57 until when they got to the Pitcairn Island 42:59 there wasn't too many of them left. 43:01 Anyhow, they took the Bounty and they sailed it into 43:05 Bounty Bay, and they burned it. 43:08 And they moved onto the island, and that was it. 43:12 Lived there. They continued to be drunk 43:17 and continued to do the things that they did. 43:20 And it was so bad that they killed each other off 43:25 until finally there wasn't anything left but two men 43:29 and five women. 43:31 And those women were so sick and tired of them 43:34 they decided they were going to kill those two men. 43:36 And... and they made an effort to do that 43:40 and they got so close to accomplishing it 43:44 that it scared those fellows. 43:46 And so happened that they had taken the stuff off the Bounty 43:50 and in an old trunk they found a Bible. 43:54 Captain Bligh's old Bible which is what you see right there. 43:59 And those men read it, and it converted both of them. 44:04 And one decided he would become the teacher; 44:08 the other decided he would kind of become the preacher. 44:10 And so they did that, and time forgot them. 44:15 Time forgot them. 44:16 And years and years and years passed. 44:20 Nobody knew what had happened to them. 44:22 And one day an English vessel was sailing from England 44:26 to the United States and they were charting uncharted islands, 44:31 and they found this little island. 44:34 The captain of the vessel had them stop, 44:36 and he sent some sailors to shore. 44:38 And of course they expected to find natives on the island. 44:43 They expected to find cannibalism... 44:45 which was prevalent in that part of the world and all. 44:48 And they got to the shore and walked up the sandbar 44:52 and looked over. And lo and behold, here was a compound. 44:56 Here was people in it... clothed. 45:00 In the middle of it was a church. 45:03 And above everything else, they spoke English. 45:06 And it... they couldn't imagine what had happened. 45:11 But you see, the Word of God had changed their lives. 45:15 Made them different. 45:17 That's what it does over and over and over. 45:21 It changes people's lives... makes them different. 45:24 Makes them better. 45:26 This is what the Word of God can do for you and for me: 45:31 it changes our lives. 45:33 Makes us different than we were. 45:35 Better than we were by far. 45:39 So those are some things that change. 45:42 Not only does it change our lives but it makes us different. 45:46 It gives us wonderful promises. 45:48 It says this: 45:57 I don't know. Have you ever experienced that? 46:01 You know, when you came to Christ how things changed 46:05 so completely? 46:06 No longer the same. 46:08 Changed your life. 46:10 Certainly has done that in my life. 46:13 Changed it. And I've had the 46:15 privilege for years now 46:18 to go different places 46:21 to proclaim the Word of God 46:23 and see the lives of men and women changed. 46:28 Made different by the Word of God. 46:31 What a wonderful opportunity that is for each of us 46:35 to see the change that takes place in people's lives. 46:39 We were holding meetings in Costa Rica. 46:45 And there... they couldn't find a building 46:50 that... to hold the meeting in, 46:52 so they decided they would erect one, they'd build one. 46:56 And so they built this building to hold the meetings in. 47:00 And I guess that it attracted enough people there 47:03 that anyhow... the opening night - or all the way through 47:07 the whole crusade - it was just absolutely packed. 47:10 I mean, full of people. 47:12 So much so that young men even crawled up 47:15 and sat in the rafters and all. 47:17 And we were just... enjoyed being there 47:21 and watching the reaction of the people. 47:25 In fact, that meeting we saw 47:30 more business people - nurses, doctors, 47:36 lawyers and those type of people - come to the Lord 47:40 than any meeting I've ever held. 47:42 In mean, they came by the hundreds there. 47:46 We enjoyed being there. 47:48 But one night after the close of the meeting 47:52 this old lady came up to me, grandmother, 47:55 and... crying. And she said: "Brother Cox, 48:00 will you pray for my grandson? He's a drunkard. " 48:04 Said: "He's a drunkard. " And she said: 48:08 "He's lost his home. His wife has left him, 48:14 taken the children. He doesn't have anything. 48:17 He's lost everything. 48:19 And if he doesn't change, he's going to lose his job. 48:23 So would you be willing to pray for him? " 48:27 And I assured her I would be happy to pray for him. 48:31 A few days later I was actually holding a meeting 48:37 with some ministers. We were having what we called 48:39 a worker's meeting, and I was talking to them. 48:41 And while I was talking to them one of my team members 48:45 came up to me and said: 48:46 "There's somebody out in the foyer 48:48 that wants to talk to you. " 48:50 So I turned the meeting over to the team member 48:53 and I walked out to the foyer. 48:55 And there, having trouble standing up, 48:59 was this man. 49:01 Drunk as could be. 49:04 So drunk that his speech was slurred 49:09 and you had even a hard time understanding him. 49:12 But between his crying and his slurs and his drunkenness 49:18 he poured out his soul that he had just been fired 49:23 from his job. 49:24 And of course as he told me all this 49:26 I put together that this was the grandmother's grandson. 49:31 And begged, you know, saying: "Do something for me. 49:37 Help me. I've wrecked my life. 49:39 I've done all this. I've ruined everything... " 49:41 and just cried. 49:42 What do you say to somebody that's so drunk? 49:45 You know? What can you say? 49:48 I said: "Well... " said to myself... 49:50 "just tell him to go home. 49:53 Go home and sober up, 49:56 and when you're sober, come back and talk to me 49:58 and I'll be glad to visit with you. " 50:00 I thought about that, and I thought 50:03 "what do you have to lose? 50:06 What do you have to lose? 50:09 So you talk to him and he doesn't remember one solitary 50:13 thing you said to him, what have you lost? " 50:18 Thought about that and said: "Nothing. " 50:21 So I said to him: "Sit down. " 50:23 Had him sit down, and in his drunken state 50:27 I just very simply went through the gospel 50:32 and explained to him what it meant 50:36 to accept Jesus Christ. 50:37 And there in his drunkenness 50:41 he gave his heart to the Lord. 50:46 When we were through as he staggered off 50:52 I thought "well, probably won't remember anything I said 50:58 to him. Won't remember a thing that I went through with him. " 51:01 This was a large meeting, folks. 51:06 We had lots of people coming 51:10 and the building was packed every night and so forth. 51:13 I didn't see him again. 51:16 All during the meetings I didn't see him. 51:18 We got down to the end of the meetings 51:21 and we're... I'm going through line 51:26 greeting all these people that are going to be baptized. 51:30 And there's over 500 of them lined up there that are being 51:34 baptized. And as I'm going through the line 51:37 shaking their hand and all, there he stood. 51:40 You know. Bright-eyed. Clear in every way. 51:45 And I said to him: "What are you doing here? " 51:48 And he said... "Oh, " he said, 51:51 after you told me about Christ and I accepted Him, " 51:54 he said, " everything has changed. " 51:57 "Everything's changed in my life, " he said. 52:00 "I got my job back. My wife's come back. 52:03 I've got my home back, my children back. " 52:05 He said: "Everything has changed in my life. " 52:08 That's what the gospel does for people. 52:12 It changes their life. 52:14 Say what you want to, dear friend, 52:16 but I can tell you when the Word of God 52:19 comes to the heart of an individual 52:22 and he accepts Christ as his Savior, 52:24 a decided change takes place. 52:28 To me that is proof that indeed 52:33 it is true. That you and I can trust it. 52:37 We can believe it. That God has given us something 52:40 to guide and direct our lives. 52:42 So if you ask me, I'll tell you: 52:45 Give Me The Bible. 52:49 Give me the Bible, 52:53 lamp of life immortal. 52:57 Hold up that splendor 53:02 by the open grave. 53:07 Show me the light from 53:11 heaven's shining portal. 53:15 Show me the glory 53:20 gilding Jordan's wave. 53:25 Give me the Bible, 53:30 holy message shining. 53:34 Thy light shall guide me 53:39 in the narrow way. 53:44 Precept and promise, 53:49 law and love combining. 53:53 Till night shall vanish 53:58 in eternal day. 54:07 There may be some of you 54:08 who have questions about the scripture. 54:12 Maybe in the past you've wondered if it could be 54:16 trusted or if it was true. 54:17 And today you can see that without question 54:22 you can place your faith in the Word of God 54:25 and you would just like to 54:26 reach out and accept Jesus 54:29 Christ as your personal Savior. 54:31 There may be some of you here in the audience 54:33 that have never done that: never surrendered your life 54:38 to Jesus Christ and said: "Yes, I'm going to follow 54:40 the Word of God. " 54:42 Or you may be watching by television 54:44 and you have questions and you've seen that the 54:48 Word of God is there and some- thing that you can depend on. 54:51 Or if you're listening by radio, 54:53 today I'd like to invite you just in simple faith 54:58 to reach out and say: "Yes, Lord, I accept You 55:02 into my heart as my personal Savior" 55:04 and give your life to Him. 55:06 I'll assure you, dear friend, 55:08 it will change things... make it different... 55:11 and give you... give you hope, give you faith, 55:16 give you assurance that God cares for you and loves you 55:20 in a very special way. Let us pray. 55:23 Heavenly Father, as we have seen 55:27 things that tell us without question 55:31 that this book is true 55:33 and that by it we can know You, 55:38 the only true God in Jesus Christ, 55:41 whom You sent here to save each one of us, 55:45 may each one here today reach out in faith 55:48 and accept You into their heart as their personal Savior 55:52 and be willing to follow You. 55:54 For this we ask in Christ's name, Amen. 55:58 God bless you. Have a great day. 56:01 Stay close to Jesus. 56:05 Water can be both inspiring and awesome. 56:09 As it flows from the hills and the mountains 56:11 water changes the destiny of every living creature 56:16 it comes in contact with. 56:18 Not a single living thing 56:20 can survive without water for long. 56:23 But despite its beauty 56:25 the power of water can cut channels through rocks 56:28 and change the landscape forever. 56:31 In John chapter 7 56:33 Jesus stood and cried out saying: 56:36 "If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. 56:40 He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, 56:43 out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. " 56:47 As He did so many times, 56:50 Jesus explained the spiritual things of God 56:53 through nature... like flowing water. 56:56 This living water is a life-changing source. 57:00 It can change the landscape of our lives 57:03 and flow through us to change the lives of others. 57:08 Folks, we all need water to live... 57:12 but we also need living water. 57:16 Jesus is that living water, 57:18 and through His Spirit we can bring life to those around us. 57:22 The only goal we have at this ministry 57:25 is to offer living water to all mankind. 57:29 There are thousands - no millions - 57:33 who still long for this water: the living water of life. 57:37 Won't you help us quench their thirst? 57:40 Please consider what you can do 57:42 for those who still don't know about Jesus. 57:45 As the Holy Spirit impresses, 57:47 please send your tax-deductible gifts to: 58:01 Thank you for helping us spread the light of God's Word 58:03 through television and radio. 58:05 Your gifts help bring the blessed hope of salvation 58:08 to millions around the world. |
Revised 2014-12-17