Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001368
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00:02 ♪ [Dramatic] ♪ ♪ [It Is Written Theme] ♪
00:06 It has stood the test of time 00:11 God's Book, The Bible 00:16 Still relevant in today's complex world 00:21 It Is Written, sharing Hope around the globe 00:34 [Roar of the Ocean] JB: There are some moments in 00:40 your life that you never forget, things you know are going to 00:45 change your life. 00:47 Getting married; the birth of your first child; 00:52 getting the job of your dreams. 00:54 I've experienced l of those things 00:57 and I can't ever forget how I felt at the time. 01:01 But then there are times when your family and your faith 01:05 are all you have to lean on. 01:07 [Suspensful Drone] About 1.6 million Americans are 01:13 diagnosed with cancer every year. 01:17 Lung cancer claims the most lives. 01:21 Cancer is a fact of life. 01:24 Medical experts tell us to eat more fresh fruits and 01:27 vegetables, to exercise well, to eat little or no red meat, 01:32 drink little or no alcohol and quit smoking. 01:36 But when you're relatively young, 01:38 you live a healthy lifestyle, have a positive relationship 01:42 with God, cancer isn't something 01:45 you expect. 01:48 But not long ago I heard words spoken to me that I never 01:52 expected I would ever hear. 01:56 The doctor said to me, "The news isn't good. 02:00 It's cancer." 02:04 Now, that will get your attention really quickly. 02:07 Cancer means you could die. 02:10 Depending on the type of cancer you're diagnosed with, it might 02:13 even mean you are likely to die. 02:16 I have a wife and two younger children, and now I'm learning 02:21 that I could die. 02:24 I'm in my 40s. 02:26 I never need to see a doctor. 02:28 And yet now I could leave my wife a widow 02:31 and my children fatherless. 02:35 Not good. 02:38 Today I want to share some of my experience with you. 02:41 My journey, my still ongoing journey. 02:45 You know, a cancer diagnosis raises a lot of questions, some 02:48 of them pretty big questions. 02:50 Not just questions of treatment options and family 02:53 and life and death but really big-picture questions, 02:57 such as, why me? 03:00 Or, where was God when this happened? 03:02 Why did God allow this to happen? 03:05 What happens now? 03:08 Maybe the biggest question of all, 03:12 where am I going to spend eternity if I die? 03:15 Now that's a big question. 03:17 Now, for me to come down with cancer, you know, cancer is 03:23 something that always happens to other people. 03:25 And now I'm one of the other people. 03:29 I was always strong, never sick, never weak. 03:33 I was raised playing rugby. 03:34 I played rugby into my early 20s. 03:36 That's a man's game. 03:38 I'm not here to tell you I was the hardest guy on the field, 03:41 but that was the orientation of my life. 03:44 Certainly never one to be sick, and now I'm not just sick, 03:49 I have a disease. 03:51 A significant disease. 03:53 I have cancer. 03:56 What's going to happen now? 03:57 Well, let me tell you this. 04:00 One thing I've discovered along the way, and I want to encourage 04:03 you with, is this: There are a lot of people 04:06 with cancer. 04:08 Everybody knows someone who has or has had, or most likely, 04:12 has even died from cancer. 04:14 There are plenty of people among us right now who are dealing 04:17 with a cancer diagnosis. 04:19 Even though this is a little bit dark for me to say, the truth is 04:23 there are many people among us who will be diagnosed one day 04:27 with cancer. 04:29 Well, I want to tell you this: The truth is, especially for a 04:33 believer in God, cancer isn't all bad news. 04:39 Now, some people might find that hard to hear or hard to accept. 04:43 But the truth is, it isn't. 04:45 I'm here to tell you today, cancer simply isn't 04:48 all bad news. 04:51 [Ocean Roar] I came home from the It Is 04:56 Written office and the mail for the day was on the table 05:00 in the kitchen. 05:02 I was flipping through it and I found a postcard from a dentist, 05:06 and it said on the postcard words to the effect: 05:09 Mouth cancer. 05:10 Don't mess with it. 05:12 Get checked. 05:14 And I thought man, this spot on my tongue. 05:18 I don't want it to be mouth cancer. 05:20 But if it is, I don't want to not get checked. 05:23 And so I picked up the phone and I made an appointment 05:27 and I went to see the dentist. 05:29 And the dentist looked in my mouth and he called over his 05:33 lovely assistant, and she looked in my mouth as well, and they 05:35 went "Hmmm" for a few minutes. 05:39 And then they said, "It's nothing. 05:43 You don't need to worry about it." 05:46 Now, I did get a second opinion, but if I were to be honest with 05:50 you, I would have to admit that that wasn't my idea. 05:55 Sometime after my first encounter with the dentist I was 05:59 having lunch with a friend. 06:00 He was also a dentist, providentially. 06:04 He found out I was having a little discomfort in my mouth. 06:06 He took a look, and he said, "You need to get that biopsied, 06:10 yesterday." 06:12 Well, that got my attention. 06:14 I'll tell you what happened next, tell you how good God is. 06:16 I had been invited to speak at a church. 06:19 Funny enough, there were some who tried to talk me out of 06:21 going. 06:22 If they had, things would have turned out very differently. 06:25 I spoke at the church, had a wonderful time. 06:27 After the church service, the church family 06:29 is having lunch. 06:30 I'm invited to join them. 06:32 It seems like there's nowhere to sit. 06:34 Someone graciously clears out a place for my family and some 06:37 friends who were with me, and I sit down. 06:40 There's a long row of seats, and I sit down in one of them. 06:44 Obviously I didn't sit down in two of them, 06:46 but I sat down here. 06:50 You know how good God is? 06:52 Sitting directly opposite me was an ENT, 06:57 an ear, nose and throat doctor. 07:00 A head and neck surgeon, an expert in tumors. 07:05 A man who does this all day long for a living. 07:09 Well, we got talking. 07:11 He looked inside my mouth. 07:13 He said, "You need to get that biopsied." 07:15 I said, "Can you do it?" 07:16 He said, "My partner can." 07:19 Three days later they took a little chunk out of my tongue 07:22 and 10 days later, that man was operating on me. 07:28 I mean, how good is God? 07:31 He led me 100 miles from my home into a crowd of people I didn't 07:36 know, and He sat me down directly opposite the man 07:40 who would save my life. 07:43 You see, that's how God works. 07:45 Even when it appears things are going terribly, 07:48 God is working for you. 07:50 If you'll open your eyes and look, if you'll open your ears 07:52 and listen, you will see God and you will hear God's voice, 07:56 and you'll know that even when things look grim 07:59 God is with you, and He's for you, 08:02 and He's not against you. 08:04 The Bible makes this clear. 08:06 David wrote about it in the Psalms. 08:08 It says this, in Psalm 139, verses 7 through 12: 08:15 "Where can I go from Your Spirit? 08:17 Or where can I flee from Your presence? 08:20 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; 08:24 if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 08:30 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the 08:32 uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand 08:35 shall lead me, and Your right hand 08:37 shall hold me. 08:39 If I say, Surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the 08:43 night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not 08:49 hide from You, but the night shines as the day; 08:53 the darkness and the light are both alike to You." 08:59 The surgery was extremely well done. 09:03 God didn't plant me opposite just any surgeon, but opposite 09:07 an extremely talented and very gifted surgeon. 09:11 Things went well. 09:12 And the hope was that surgery would be all I needed, 09:17 no further treatments. 09:19 Well, it didn't work out that way. 09:22 Whereas we hoped it would be surgery and nothing else, 09:25 it ended up being surgery and 33 radiation treatments. 09:29 No chemotherapy needed, thank the Lord, but radiation. 09:34 And radiation isn't necessarily any walk in the park. 09:38 I'll never forget what my radiation doctor told me. 09:41 He said, "There are some patients I have, they have 09:45 radiation and they're completely unaware that anything is even 09:48 taking place. 09:49 Some of them say, 'Doctor, is the machine working, because I'm 09:51 not actually feeling anything.' Now, that's good, 09:54 if that's your experience." 09:56 And he said to me, "But then, way far at the other end of the 10:00 spectrum are those patients of mine who have radiation 10:04 in their mouth." 10:06 Way far at the other end of the spectrum. 10:09 That's kind of sobering. 10:11 Well, the first few treatments, no trouble at all. 10:14 And again, thank God I was blessed by a wonderful radiation 10:19 oncologist and a fantastic team. 10:23 But then after a while I started to figure out what my doctor 10:26 meant by "way far at the other end of the spectrum." 10:29 After a while there was pain, and then, 10:32 an inability to swallow. 10:33 And while I don't want to give you all of the gory details, 10:35 if you can't swallow, you can't eat. 10:37 If you can't eat, you're going to lose weight. 10:39 And sure, I lost weight, and then it becomes difficult 10:42 to talk, and then, talking becomes impossible. 10:47 However, here I am talking to you today. 10:50 Which means that things have worked out well. 10:54 At least, so far. 10:58 So far. 11:00 Now, there's a thought. 11:03 I'll be back with more in just a moment. 11:07 [Gentle music] >: In Matthew 4:4:4, the Word of 11:10 God says: "It is written. 11:12 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 11:15 proceeds from the mouth of God." 11:18 "Every Word" is a one-minute Bible-based daily devotional 11:21 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially 11:25 for busy people like you. 11:26 Look for "Every Word" on selected networks or watch it 11:30 online every day on our website, ItIsWritten.com. 11:34 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 11:35 Watch "Every Word." 11:37 You'll be glad you did. 11:39 Here's a sample: 11:42 [rythmic theme music] JB: It can be so easy to let 11:51 discouragement sink into our experience with God. 11:54 So it's important to know what God has said and to remember 11:57 what He has not said. 11:59 In Isaiah 45:19, God said, "I did not say to the seed of 12:03 Jacob, seek me in vain." 12:06 Now, Satan would like you think God doesn't hear your prayers 12:08 and doesn't want you to come to Him. 12:10 But God makes it plain to us that He will hear your prayer, 12:13 and He does know what you're experiencing. 12:15 Despondency and discouragement are enemies of faith. 12:19 You can be assured today that God does answer prayer and that 12:22 the person who seeks God will find Him. 12:25 Don't make the mistake of believing circumstances more 12:28 than you believe the promises of God. 12:30 God never told you that your faith is in vain, 12:32 and He never will. 12:34 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written. 12:36 Let's live today by every word. 12:44 JB: This is It Is Written. 12:45 I'm John Bradshaw. 12:46 Thanks for joining me. 12:47 Today I'm sharing a little with you from my heart about my own 12:50 personal experience with cancer: my enemy, and in some ways, 12:57 my friend. 12:59 With cancer treatment the goal is to make it five years from 13:02 the end of treatment and then you can start talking about 13:05 a cure. 13:06 Until five years have passed, the fact is, you've pretty well 13:10 just lived from scan to scan. 13:13 Can that be unsettling? 13:14 Well, it sort of depends on how you look at it. 13:18 The goal with cancer treatment in many cases, 13:21 not all, but in most, is to kill all the cancer cells, 13:24 because if you don't kill the cancer cells, 13:26 the cancer cells will kill you. 13:29 You start asking some pretty searching questions. 13:33 Questions like, Maybe this is God's will for my life. 13:37 Is this my time to go? 13:40 You start wondering about your family, 13:44 your children, your ministry in my case. 13:48 Mostly, your family. 13:51 And while being treated for cancer, more than once 13:54 I asked myself, What if this treatment 13:57 doesn't actually work? 14:01 Well, the good news for me is, the physicians are telling me my 14:06 cancer is in remission. 14:08 That means, as far as we know, there are no more cancer cells 14:12 floating around inside my body. 14:14 It seems as though we've got them all. 14:17 Now that's not a guarantee. 14:18 The cancer could come back, but the educated hope right now 14:22 is that it won't. 14:25 Now, I recognize that remission and guarantee do not appear on 14:28 the same page in the dictionary. 14:30 I recognize that. 14:32 But, right now, the news is absolutely as good as it can be. 14:39 And I'm thanking God for that. 14:41 Now, I mentioned before, there are a couple of issues that I 14:43 wanted to share with you, or go through with you, and one of 14:45 them is this: When you learn 14:47 you have cancer, one of the questions you 14:50 ask yourself is, Where am I going to spend 14:53 eternity? 14:54 Because you start asking those life-and-death, eternal life and 14:59 eternal death, questions. 15:01 So where am I going to spend eternity? 15:03 Well, I know the right answer: I've counseled, as a pastor, 15:07 many people dealing with family members, or people who 15:10 themselves are dealing with illness, even terminal illness. 15:14 And I always tell them, You can have assurance. 15:16 God is good. 15:17 You can know that Jesus is with you. 15:20 Well, now the boot's on the other foot, and I've got to ask 15:23 myself if I believe my own message. 15:27 Can I have assurance, knowing that it's possible my life could 15:31 be ending? 15:32 Well, sure. 15:34 As a Christian minister, I know what to say. 15:37 Do I have assurance? 15:37 Yes, I do. 15:40 But that question is followed by another question. 15:44 And that question is, Upon what do you base your assurance? 15:48 What makes you so sure that you will have everlasting life? 15:52 Now, that's a good question to be asking yourself. 15:55 I couldn't say, I'm going to go to heaven because I'm such a 15:58 good guy, because I'm such a good person. 16:01 Because that's not why anybody goes to heaven. 16:05 Heaven isn't even for good people; 16:08 heaven is for righteous people. 16:10 So, what makes a person righteous? 16:12 Well, we know the answer to that. 16:14 The Bible makes clear that the only thing that makes us 16:17 righteous, the only place we get righteousness from, is Jesus. 16:22 If we have Jesus, then we have righteousness. 16:25 If we have Jesus, then we have the gift of eternal life. 16:28 I want to tell you something: I had never in my life been so 16:32 thankful for Jesus Christ as when knowing that my life could 16:37 be coming to an end, I had Jesus and therefore the very real 16:41 assurance of everlasting life. 16:44 First John 5 verse 12 says, "He that has the Son has life." 16:50 So, if you know you have Jesus, you know you have life. 16:54 And there I was. 16:55 Thanking God more than ever before for Jesus, because having 17:01 Christ in my life assured me that eternal life 17:05 was truly mine. 17:07 Now, if you don't really care about living forever, then 17:12 I guess having Christ in your life isn't really important. 17:15 If you don't care about honoring God and pleasing God, hm. 17:21 But for me, that's what I care about. 17:23 I do want to live forever, I do want to be 17:25 in the presence of God, I do want to honor the One 17:28 who gave Himself so that I might live. 17:30 I want to experience eternity with my family. 17:33 I want whatever it is God wants to give me, I want to receive 17:36 because of the love that I have for God in my heart. 17:40 And looking down through the years, the potentially very 17:45 short years that my future, whatever was left of it, 17:48 I could face the future with confidence, 17:51 because I knew in my heart I had Jesus. 17:54 And I want you to have that same confidence. 17:56 If you know that Jesus really is yours, and you have Him by faith 17:59 in your heart, then cancer, diabetes, heart disease, 18:03 a stroke, whatever it might be, you can face the future with a 18:06 confidence that comes from knowing that you belong to Jesus 18:11 and He belongs to you. 18:14 Second Peter 3 verse 9 says, "The Lord is not willing 18:18 that any should perish." 18:20 I mean, think about that. 18:22 Isn't that magnificent? 18:23 It's God's will that we be saved. 18:26 It's God's will that we be blessed. 18:28 The world is filled with people who view God as a tyrant, as 18:32 somehow harsh and mean-spirited. 18:34 But God's like the wealthy man who wants to give the 18:39 poverty-stricken man a gazillion dollars, except salvation is 18:42 worth so much more than that. 18:45 God wants to bless us. 18:49 You think you want to go to heaven? 18:51 God wants you to be with Him in eternity infinitely more than 18:55 you want to be there. 18:57 God is good. 19:00 Well, a cancer diagnosis can be pretty hard on a family. 19:05 And I had to ask myself really early on what I would 19:07 tell my children. 19:08 At the time, they were 13 and 10. 19:11 What do I tell them? 19:13 How do I explain it to them? 19:15 My wife and I made the decision that we would involve the 19:17 children in every aspect of what was going on. 19:20 So, I was very up front with them, 19:21 told them what I was facing, told them what it might mean. 19:24 They were very positive and were a huge source of strength 19:27 for me. 19:28 They came with me to all of my treatments, they came to all of 19:30 my doctors' appointments. 19:33 In fact, having them with me, made the atmosphere a lot 19:39 lighter than otherwise it wouldn't have been. 19:41 I have to tell you this: I was visiting the doctor 19:44 in the doctor's office one day. 19:45 The radiation doctor. 19:47 He's explaining various things to me, some complicated things, 19:49 some very important things, and that's when he said, 19:52 "Now, Mr. Bradshaw, I think you understand this. 19:55 You're an intelligent man." 19:57 I said, "Doctor stop. 19:58 Stop." 19:59 And I turned to my son and I said, "Son, 20:02 you heard the doctor. 20:03 It's official. 20:05 He said I'm an intelligent man. 20:09 That ought to settle it." 20:11 My son didn't even miss a beat. 20:13 He looked at me and he said, just like that, "Dad, 20:16 I think we need a second opinion." 20:20 Well, what are you going to do about that? 20:23 Well, there are other questions that you've got to deal with 20:26 when difficulty comes. 20:30 What about worry? 20:33 And what about the question, Why me? 20:37 I'll be back with more in just a moment. 20:41 [Indian music with Sitar] JB: "Eyes for India" is giving 20:45 sight to the blind, and you can be a part of this amazing work 20:49 that God is doing. 20:50 Fifteen million blind people live in India. 20:52 More than any other country in the world. 20:55 And many of the blind in India could see again, 20:57 if only they could have simple cataract surgery. 21:01 It Is Written is making that happen. 21:04 Would you support "Eyes for India"? 21:07 For just $75 you will be giving the gift of sight to someone who 21:11 desperately wants to see. 21:14 Here's all you need to do: call 1 (800) 253-3000 to donate 21:19 and support "Eyes for India." 21:22 Or you can write to It Is Written, Box O, 21:25 Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. 21:29 You'll also find "Eyes for India" online 21:32 at ItIsWritten.com. 21:36 JB: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written. 21:40 I was pastoring a church once when a dear older lady in the 21:43 church contacted me. 21:45 She said, "Pastor, come and visit me. 21:46 I have something very important to tell you." 21:50 I visited her, didn't know what was on her mind. 21:52 She was in really good spirits. 21:55 She told me that the doctors had told her she had liver cancer, 22:00 and that she only had a few months left to live. 22:04 I said, "Well, how are you doing?" 22:08 She said, "Well, Pastor, I've always tried to get cancer 22:11 in a part of my body where I had two of something. 22:15 I lost a breast. 22:16 I lost an eye." 22:18 It might have been that she lost a kidney, I don't remember. 22:21 She said, "But I only have one liver." 22:25 Her energy was just remarkable. 22:27 I said, "So, how are you going to be?" 22:28 She said, "You know, Pastor. 22:30 And she looked at me with a sparkle in her one eye, 22:33 and she said, "Jesus and me are going to 22:37 get through this together." 22:41 You know, when it comes to a setback in your life -- cancer, 22:44 it could be anything really. 22:45 Something major. 22:47 It pays to have a really positive attitude. 22:50 It helps you and it helps those around you. 22:53 The Bible says in the Proverbs. 22:54 Proverbs 17 verse 22. 22:56 "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." 23:00 And that's really true. 23:02 I've got a lot to be thankful for. 23:05 Perhaps this is just another way of saying, count your blessings. 23:10 People, get bitter, and they get angry with God. 23:13 God can handle that. 23:15 That's okay. 23:15 But is it really necessary to get bitter with God? 23:19 I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen? 23:23 Well, the worst thing that could happen is that you could die. 23:27 But let's be honest about this. 23:29 What then? 23:30 What then? 23:31 You die, and then? 23:34 Well, the Bible says this in First Thessalonians chapter 4: 23:38 "The Lord himself shall be sent from heaven with a shout, 23:41 with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. 23:45 And the dead in Christ shall rise first. 23:48 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up 23:51 together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, 23:53 and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 23:57 Hey, stop and think about that. 23:58 So shall we ever be with the Lord. 24:01 When you look at the big picture, even when things are 24:04 going really bad, things are actually pretty good. 24:09 Paul said in Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ 24:15 and to die is gain." 24:18 The fact is, God is with you in your trial, whether it's cancer 24:23 or diabetes or heart disease or whatever it is. 24:27 You see, these things are going to push you. 24:29 They're going to push you one way or the other. 24:31 They'll push you either closer to God, 24:35 or further away from God. 24:37 The thing is, you get to decide what direction they push you in. 24:44 When life takes an unexpected turn, a difficult turn, 24:46 a turn for what we might say is the worst. 24:50 See, none of that changes the fact that God is good. 24:53 God is good anyway, even when someone you love or care about 24:57 is in a fight for their life. 24:59 God is still good. 25:03 The question is, where to from here? 25:09 I can tell you that I consider myself to be profoundly blessed. 25:13 Cancer hasn't been all bad. 25:16 It's shown me many things that I otherwise wouldn't have been 25:18 able to see. 25:19 It's given me much that I would never have been able to get from 25:21 anywhere else. 25:23 So now, I'm committed to thanking God for every day 25:27 that comes along. 25:29 I'm grateful for the opportunities that come to me. 25:31 I see them, I sense them, I appreciate them. 25:34 I appreciate and love my family now more than I have 25:38 ever before. 25:41 It's onwards, really, and by the grace of God, upwards. 25:46 It's my intention, my hope, to be here and ready 25:48 to meet Jesus on the day that He comes back. 25:51 If that's not to be, well, that's out of my hands. 25:55 What is in my hands is to embrace the gift of salvation 25:59 that God has given me. 26:00 What is in my hands is to live with God in the very center of 26:03 my life, looking forward to the great day when Jesus returns. 26:09 So for now, the journey continues. 26:14 And I'm grateful. 26:17 I want to encourage you to call now for your free copy of 26:21 "Confidence in Chaos." 26:23 You can have confidence in God no matter what's going on 26:26 in your life. 26:28 I wrote this book, and I want to offer it to you, free. 26:32 Call now, 800-253-3000. 26:35 If the line is busy, please do call again. 26:38 800-253-3000. 26:42 You can write us at P.O. Box 6, 26:45 Chattanooga, TN 37401. 26:48 Or visit us online at www.ItIsWritten.com. 26:53 To support It Is Written financially, and we would 26:56 so appreciate that, you can call that same number 26:59 800-253-3000. 27:02 Write to the same address, P.O. Box 6, 27:05 Chattanooga, TN 37401, or again visit us online at 27:11 www.ItIsWritten.com. 27:19 Let's take a moment to pray together. 27:21 Our Father in heaven, we thank you today that You are good. 27:24 Even when things look bad, You're good. 27:27 We thank You that there is always hope, 27:30 there is always a future, and that we can lean on you 27:33 and trust in you, no matter what 27:35 our circumstances. 27:36 Give us that faith today, I pray. 27:39 In Jesus' name, amen. 27:44 Thanks for joining me today. 27:45 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 27:47 Until then, remember: It is written. 27:51 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 27:56 proceeds from the mouth of God. |
Revised 2015-02-05