Participants: Danny Shelton
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000577
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01:01 I mentioned last night, this friend of mine
01:02 wrote a song Aaron Wilbert, 01:04 went four days late and it says, 01:06 when the Lord appeared to be four days late, 01:09 He's still on time, when God seems like He's late, 01:11 He's still on time. 01:12 Because your timing can be mixed up 01:14 but it's not God's, right? 01:16 So the song is written about Lazarus, 01:18 though he came and was late, 'cause he was already dead 01:22 and they said, "Lord had you been here, 01:24 he would have not died." 01:25 But of course, he raised Lazarus from the tomb. 01:28 And so I believe that God's timing 01:30 is always perfect in our lives. 01:32 So this morning, about 6:30 I was saying, 01:36 Lord what is it that you want me to talk about today?" 01:38 'Cause I never really plan. 01:40 I'm not a preacher, nor a son of a preacher, 01:42 so I don't claim to be a preacher 01:43 but I get up and talk and give testimony 01:45 for what God has done for me, 01:47 and what He's doing here at 3ABN. 01:48 "Lord, what is it?" 01:50 And the Lord directed me to scripture 01:51 that I have been thinking about the last couple of weeks. 01:53 I want you too turn in your Bible's 01:55 to Exodus the 14th Chapter 01:57 and while I put on my $1.98 new pair of glasses here 02:03 and Exodus the 14:14 says, 02:09 "The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall," do what? 02:12 "Hold your peace." Okay? 02:15 I give you just a movement to look it up Exodus 14:14, 02:19 "The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 02:23 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? 02:27 Speak unto the children of Israel, 02:29 that they" do what? 02:31 Say it louder. 02:33 "Go forward" all right. 02:34 So, the Lord, it says, "The LORD shall fight for you, 02:37 and ye shall hold your peace. 02:39 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? 02:42 Speak unto the children of Israel, 02:44 that they go forward." 02:46 And this morning, I was reading that 02:48 and I got a phone call, a little after 6:30, 02:51 from a friend of mine name Mark Trammell, 02:52 Mark Trammell has the Mark Trammell trio. 02:54 He sang gospel music for years, 02:57 with The Cathedrals, The Kingman, Gold City Quartet. 03:01 And Mark and I, are friends and we call each other 03:03 and pray with each other from time to time 03:05 and I haven't heard from Mark in about five or six weeks 03:07 and this morning, just as I was studying this, 03:11 he called me and said, this morning as I got up, 03:15 I just, the Lord laid you on my heart 03:18 and I want to encourage you this morning, 03:20 he says, "Continue to go forward, 03:22 no matter what you're going through, 03:24 the Lord just said, you know, 'Confirm to Danny 03:26 that he should never compromise, 03:28 just always go forward, 03:29 don't worry about what's going on.'" 03:31 And I said, Mark I was just reading Exodus 03:33 and he goes, "No, 14:14, that's what the Lord called me, 03:37 woke me this morning and said call you 03:39 and give that scripture today." 03:41 Now, I'm standing here, now is that accident? 03:43 Or is that that divine providence? 03:45 All right, you're pretty quite. 03:46 I think it's divine providence, right? 03:48 So, the Lord was conforming 03:50 that we should be talking about. 03:51 That's why I said, I want to figure out this story 03:54 of what happened. 03:56 As you know, the children of children of Israel, 03:58 the children, now, when I'm talking about 04:00 I'm not just try to preach do this morning, 04:02 when I read in the Bible, I like to put myself. 04:04 How does this apply to me today? 04:07 If it's just a story that happened 04:08 a few thousands years ago, it could be interesting 04:11 but, it's, it's not that relevant to me. 04:13 I want to know, this in there the Bible's in here 04:15 for instruction, for reproof, for learning, for education, 04:18 for drawing us close to God. 04:20 So, what is it about this story of Moses 04:23 and the children of Israel, can I glean from that today, 04:26 that helps you and me and our walk with the Lord? 04:29 And, so as I begin to read this story, 04:32 we go back to where God is leading 04:35 the children of Israel, they get away from Pharaoh, 04:38 they're out, they begin to wonder around. 04:40 Now God could have taken them a direct way, 04:42 but He says that He wanted to take them 04:44 through this wilderness experience for a reason. 04:46 But God is directing him, and it says, and the Lord, 04:49 and of Exodus 13 verse 21, "And the Lord went before them 04:54 by day in a pillar of cloud and lead the way." 04:59 And it says, "And by night he was there 05:01 in a pillar of fire to give them light, 05:03 to go by day and night." 05:05 Now, "He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, 05:08 nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people." 05:12 So now place yourself here, 05:14 you're suddenly out from Pharaoh's grasp, 05:18 you're out and you actually see God leading you. 05:22 Now that ought to be all that we need right? 05:24 If, if, if you're walking out side, 05:26 and you're going somewhere, 05:28 and you knew that God was leading you by day 05:30 and a pillar of a cloud, and by night a fire 05:33 that literally stayed there hovered over you, 05:35 led you exactly where He wanted you to go, 05:38 that ought to be all that we need, right? 05:40 Man, this is God. He cares for us. 05:43 Of all the universe He's looking down on us, 05:45 He's taking care of us, but you know what, 05:47 human nature does not allow that to happen. 05:50 Our human nature comes in, and boy, this is wonderful. 05:53 God is leading us but the first time 05:55 something goes wrong, "Oh, where is God? 05:58 What happened? 05:59 Oh, God, why are you letting this happen to me? 06:02 All these terrible things is happening. 06:03 I wonder if God really loves me. 06:05 I wonder if He even knows my name. 06:07 Does He even care about me?" 06:09 And what I want to talk to you today 06:10 is about living your life in faith 06:14 or in the spiritual rather than in the physical. 06:17 Because when we look at the physical around us, 06:20 Satan is the prince of this earth. 06:22 If we live our lives in the physical, 06:24 we're gonna take our eyes off of Jesus, 06:26 and we're gonna miss out on eternity forever. 06:29 The children of Israel, over and over and over, 06:32 you see that they would take their eyes off of God 06:34 and finally they would get this in big jam, 06:36 and then they would cry out to God. 06:38 "Oh, God, save us we're in trouble." 06:40 The good thing is, God would hear their voice, 06:43 when they were sincere and He would come back 06:45 and He would help them. 06:47 So I want to talk to you today about 06:49 when God is leading to listen by faith "Go forward," 06:53 and what God said in His scripture was, 06:55 "Tell the children of Israel to go forward." 06:58 When we read on, verse 15, it says 07:01 "Tell the children of Israel to go forward." 07:03 Now here's an interesting thing God did. 07:05 And, I want you think about your own life right now. 07:08 The Lord told him to go, told Moses 07:10 to take the children of Israel. 07:12 Now get this, it's God speaking. 07:14 The creator of the universe says, 07:16 "Go down to the Red Sea. 07:18 Yes, there will be mountains on either side of you, 07:21 the wilderness is there. 07:22 But I want you to camp there." 07:24 So, they went and they camped, 07:27 because God let them, 07:28 the cloud by day, the fire at night. 07:30 So they're here camping 07:32 but the Lord allows Pharaoh's heart to be hardened 07:34 and Pharaoh says, "You know what? 07:37 I think I made a mistake. 07:38 I want to go get those children of Israel, all of them." 07:41 Tremendous group of them. 07:42 Let's go after them so he took 600 chariots, 07:45 took everything that he had 07:47 and said, "We're gonna go get these children of Israel." 07:49 So here they are camping, they're comfortable 07:52 because they know that God now is in charge. 07:55 All right? They should be. 07:57 But all of a sudden, they looked behind them 07:59 and Pharaoh's army is coming behind them. 08:01 Did they look up and said, 08:03 "Uh, huh, we're not the least bit concerned. 08:05 We have got it made because God brought us 08:08 here to this place and God is in charge 08:11 and we will make, and we will win this battle. 08:13 We're gonna let God fight our battle for us, 08:15 and we're just gonna hold our peace and see what God does." 08:18 Is that what they did? No. 08:20 They began to murmur. "Oh, no. 08:22 Pharaoh's army is behind us. We can't escape. 08:25 We can't go forward, 08:27 two million or how ever many of us, 08:28 we can't cross the Red Sea. 08:30 The mountains are on either side, 08:32 the wilderness is all around us. 08:34 We're in terrible trouble. What in the world can we do?" 08:37 And so, they begin to complain to Moses. 08:40 "Well, what's the matter? 08:42 Didn't they have enough space to bury us in Egypt? 08:45 So, let us come out here so they can kill us 08:47 and we'll all die, right out here?" 08:49 I mean, then they began to say to Moses, 08:51 before they were happy to follow God, see. 08:54 Okay. 08:55 The Lord is leading us, we want freedom. 08:57 Let's go. 08:58 They're following God, but now all of a sudden, 09:00 they come into trouble, and instead of saying, 09:03 it's all right, that clouds up there 09:05 still following us, that's God. 09:07 He's protecting us. What did they say? 09:09 "Oh, no well, there's not enough, 09:11 may be there wasn't enough graves. 09:13 And, Moses we told you, we would rather have stayed in, 09:17 in Egypt and serve the Egyptians 09:20 rather than to be out here for you to bring us 09:23 in this wilderness just to die." 09:26 Now what kind of faith is that? 09:27 That's not very much faith is it? 09:29 Does that remind you of me and you today? 09:32 Sometimes it does, folks. 09:33 Does it remind us of the church of God today? 09:36 See Jesus says, "Go forward." 09:38 But as the church and as the people, 09:40 we don't always want to go forward. 09:41 Why don't we want to go forward? 09:43 That's uncomfortable, right? 09:46 Sometimes it's easy just to stay in that little rut. 09:48 The rut is, as we say as a grave with two ends open. 09:51 Sometimes it's easy to stay in a rut, 09:54 and we get comfortable where we are. 09:56 If you heard a couple a weeks ago, 09:57 the Lord impressed me to, 09:59 to, give a little talk on coming out of the stall. 10:03 Talking about a horse 10:04 that we went to see, I went to visit. 10:06 And, they wanted this horse out of the stall, 10:08 but it had been born and reared in that stall, 10:11 had not been out of the stall for four years. 10:12 They couldn't get the horse out of the stall. 10:14 You could scare it, you could get in with it, 10:16 you could whip it, you could do anything you want. 10:18 They cut the whole wall out of the back of the stall 10:21 and the horse still wouldn't go out. 10:22 Now he was standing in all of this muck, 10:24 and all of this, his stall hadn't been cleaned, 10:27 it hadn't been taken care of 10:28 and yet, outside it was a hundred acres 10:31 of green pasture, a water, a fresh air, the sunshine. 10:34 But this horse stayed in that stall. 10:35 Why did he stay in that stall? 10:37 Because he didn't know anything else. 10:39 He was comfortable where he was. 10:41 And that's the way we are as a church today, 10:43 we get comfortable were we are when God says, 10:46 get out of this stall, go forward I have something 10:49 that I want you to do. 10:50 I want to lead you into the promise land. 10:52 Will you say amen to that? 10:54 God want's to lead us into the promise land, 10:57 but we suddenly say, "Oh, we can't do it." 11:00 What happened is, you see what happens is this. 11:04 The children of Israel did what God told them to do. 11:06 Moses took them, they camped in this particular spot 11:10 and so when Pharaoh heard about it, 11:12 he said, "Uh, huh, they're entangled, 11:15 they've got the Red Sea before them, 11:17 they've got mountains, 11:19 they've got the wilderness around them, 11:20 we can get them now. 11:21 Let's get to them. 11:23 We can, and they are in tangled." 11:25 And I want to tell you something today. 11:26 This is a lie of the devil because Satan wants to tell you 11:30 that you're entangled in sin. 11:32 Satan wants to tell you that whatever you're doing, 11:35 it's too late to turn back to Jesus. 11:37 And it's never too late. 11:39 No, matter what you've done, no matter what you're past is, 11:42 we think about our children, 11:43 will they ever turn back to God? 11:45 Our grandchildren, think about 11:47 husbands and wives, will they ever? 11:48 You know what? Yes, let's continue to pray. 11:51 Let's let God fight the battle. 11:53 Let's don't beat them over the heads 11:54 and say, "Look, you better be a Christian 11:56 or you're gonna burn in hell," right? 11:57 That's what some people do, and some preachers in churches, 12:00 "If you don't serve God, you're gonna burn in hell." 12:02 We forget to tell them about the love of God. 12:04 It's the love of God that draws us to Him, 12:07 not being concerned 12:08 about they're only serving God out of fear. 12:11 You agree with that? 12:12 Lot of the networks, I'm thankful that 12:13 doesn't happen on 3ABN. 12:15 But I've heard religious networks 12:16 put so much emphasis on a God torturing people 12:19 forever and ever and ever and ever. 12:21 So you better serve Him. 12:23 Well, when we serve Him, it's only in the eye of flesh, 12:25 because it's not because we've experienced a love 12:28 and I'd rather-- 12:30 And I'm happy that the folks at 3ABN, 12:32 the pastors are saying, "We love God and we serve God 12:35 because He first loved us." 12:37 So, what happens is Satan tries to tell you 12:40 there is no way out, 12:41 this is the end, God has led you a stray." 12:44 And all of a sudden, what is it that we can do? 12:47 We're in the jam we can't get out. 12:48 I want to tell you little story. 12:50 Last week, a week ago today, I was in Trinidad 12:54 and there was 10,000 people there at the meetings, 12:57 festival of lady it was a great meeting 12:59 and I was speaking at the meetings 13:01 and so they had me in little area back to the side 13:04 because so many people there to watch, 13:05 it was hard to, people kept coming up. 13:07 We didn't want to interrupt the service 13:09 so I was kind off to side, 13:10 but a few people would go around the room 13:12 and say, "I just want to let you know, 13:14 we watch 3ABN, we love 3ABN." 13:16 A young man came over and he said, 13:18 "Mr. Shelton, I just want to tell you, 13:21 I want to thank you, for 3ABN." 13:23 And he said, "I watch 3ABN, 13:25 and it's really helped me a lot." 13:27 And I said, "Well, good, praise the Lord." 13:28 I'm happy to hear those reports. 13:30 I hear them all around the world. 13:31 He walked away. 13:33 About five minutes later, he came back 13:36 and he said, "Mr. Shelton, excuse me, one more time. 13:38 I was trying to get my little talk together, 13:40 and he said, "Excuse me, one more time, 13:42 but I didn't tell you, that if weren't for 3ABN, 13:45 I would be dead right now." 13:48 And, I said, that's interesting. 13:49 He said, "Maybe I can tell you sometime." 13:51 I said, "I want to hear right now. 13:53 I want to hear how you would be dead." 13:54 Twenty year old tall, young strong man from Trinidad. 13:58 "How would you be dead?" 13:59 He said, "Well, I'm gonna tell you, 14:00 I was not a Christian, I was not a Christian. 14:05 I was not an Adventist" 14:06 I think he said his grandmother was Adventist. 14:09 But he said, "I was out in the world. 14:10 I was doing everything, 14:12 drugs, alcohol, I was ruining my life." 14:14 He's approximately I didn't ask him, 14:15 he looks like he's what he's told me 14:18 approximately 20 years old. 14:20 He said, "Everything had gone bad for me. 14:22 One night I got into a huge fight with my mother. 14:25 And so I left, I left and I went uptown. 14:29 My mother ended up finding me, brought me back to the house. 14:32 So I went in my room, I sat down, 14:34 I shut all the lights off, 14:35 and I began to contemplate my life. 14:38 And what it meant to me. And what value was it. 14:41 I came to the conclusion, 14:43 there is no value for me to live. 14:45 No reason for me to live. Satan had entangled me." 14:48 Remember what Pharaoh said, "Uh, huh. 14:50 We can go, get those folk, 14:51 we can get the children of Israel 14:53 because they are entangled. 14:54 The Red Sea is in front of them, 14:55 the mountains on either side, the wilderness, 14:57 they cannot get away from us. 14:59 We'll bring all of our chariots, all of our army. 15:01 We will catch up. 15:04 We will catch up with the children of Israel." 15:06 Now this young man, Satan is saying to him, 15:09 "you're entangled, you're in sin. 15:11 The mountains are on the sides of you. 15:14 The Red Sea is in front of you. 15:15 You can't get out of the grasp of sin, 15:17 so let's end you life. 15:19 So he said, "I finally decided I'm gonna kill my self. 15:23 As I decided for sure to kill my self," 15:26 he said, "I started to get up, 15:29 and as I got up my remote, it was dark, 15:32 but the remote to the television fell on the floor." 15:35 I don't know if knocked it off, if an angle knocked it off 15:37 but the remote to the television," 15:39 this was this past year. 15:41 "Fell off in the floor." 15:42 He said, "For some reason, here I'm gonna kill myself 15:46 but I bothered to reach down and pick up the remote. 15:49 As I did, I found... 15:51 Felt compelled to turn on the television. 15:56 When I turned on the television set, 15:59 immediately as I turned it on, a man named Mark Finley was on. 16:05 He was at 3ABN, was being interviewed. 16:07 He and I was doing, Mark and I was doing 16:09 a live Thursday night calling. 16:11 He said, "Immediately on the screen, Mark Finley, 16:14 did like this with his hands, 16:16 and he said, 'If you're contemplating suicide, don't. 16:20 There is hope for you Jesus loves you.'" 16:23 Now you can call that coincidence if you want, folks. 16:26 But, here's the man that says, "Life is not worth it. 16:30 He's listing to Satan's lie." 16:31 The lie is, folks, that you're entangled. 16:34 You're entangled in a web of sin, 16:37 and there is no escape for it, there is no hope for you. 16:41 Yes, I've seen God work in the past 16:43 and yes, He's done some great things 16:45 but, where is He today when I need him. 16:47 See that's the trouble with this. 16:49 Satan wants us to look back to the past and he wants... 16:53 God says, "Go forward." 16:55 He doesn't say, "Go back, go back, look behind you." 16:58 Satan wants you to look back because he wants you to say, 17:02 "Well, look this happened and that happened. 17:04 Don't look ahead, don't look to Jesus, 17:06 look anywhere but Jesus, 17:07 look at the mountains on either side of you. 17:10 Look at the Red Sea in front of you, 17:11 look at Pharaoh's army behind you." 17:14 That's what Satan's all about. 17:15 He's wanting to keep your eyes off of Jesus. 17:18 But, Jesus says, "Go forward, 17:20 because in front of you is the promise land. 17:22 There is hope and there is salvation for you today." 17:25 Isn't that a wonderful promise that God wants to give us? 17:28 So, the young man says, 17:29 "As immediately, as I flipped on the television, 17:32 Mark Finley throws his out and says, 17:35 'If you're contemplating suicide, 17:37 don't do it, don't do it." 17:40 He said, "Immediately I was so shocked by that, 17:43 I sat down and I began to watch the program, 17:46 I gave my life to Jesus right there 17:48 because I knew that could not be an accident." 17:51 Now let me tell you the story, the rest of the story. 17:55 Is it's Paul Harvey? Is he the one who says that? 17:56 Let me tell you, there's somebody, 17:58 "let me tell you the rest of the story." 18:00 The rest of the story is this, I came home Sunday night 18:03 and Tuesday morning we have a worship 18:05 for everybody at 3ABN. 18:07 It's about 135 employees right there. 18:09 So we all get together now on Tuesday mornings 18:12 and so we're together and I'm telling them 18:15 the story in my production crew says to me, 18:17 "Don't you remember what happened that night?" 18:20 I said, "No, what happened?" 18:21 They said, "That was just past year, 18:23 and when Mark Finley," 18:25 we have lights, big lights up that are around, 18:28 of course, to light the studio. 18:30 When Mark Finley said, "Someone had called in 18:32 and said, what about suicide. 18:34 Can you commit suicide and to go heaven?" 18:37 Some people say you can't, 18:38 some say that's the unpardonable sin. 18:40 "And that's when Mark said, 18:42 'If you're contemplating suicide,' 18:43 he looked right into the camera 'don't.' 18:45 As he said it, one of our big lights burst. 18:48 And literally went out and burst." 18:50 Well, fortunately, that glass is very, very hot 18:53 and if the glass was to fly out could have burned us, 18:56 or burned the production crew, could have burned somebody. 18:59 Satan was angry. 19:01 Satan knew what was happening when Mark said it, 19:03 Satan has just told this man, "You're life is no good, 19:07 you have no value, you need to be dead, 19:10 there is no reason to live. 19:11 You're entangled in sin." 19:13 Just like Pharaoh said, "The children of Israel 19:15 are entangled in sin." 19:17 You're, you are done for, 19:19 all of a sudden I believe in angel, 19:21 I believe in angel. 19:23 It is the one that knocked out that remote off, 19:24 And now weather he did it through him and moved his arm. 19:26 He said, "I don't know how the remote 19:27 fell on the floor. 19:29 I picked it up, but felt compelled." 19:31 Isn't that amazing? 19:33 He said, "I felt compelled to turn on the television." 19:35 Now if you're getting ready to kill yourself, 19:37 you're gonna probably not gonna be turning on 19:39 and watching "I Love Lucy," right? 19:41 That's probably, I don't know I've never tried that, 19:43 I don't know, I don't think that would happen. 19:46 I mean, you reason with me, be logical. 19:48 Reason with me so, hey wasn't saying 19:50 "Well, let me just flip on and look to channels, 19:52 then I'll kill myself." 19:54 The man said, "I don't know why" 19:56 now I have this on video. 19:57 We'll be showing it on 3ABN, 'cause I want you to hear 20:00 from his own lips, they video taped it. 20:02 And I'm asking him to send me a copy of this, 20:04 because at the meetings I started to tell the story, 20:07 later in the afternoon. 20:08 I said, "If that young man is still here, come forward." 20:10 And he came forward, and I said, 20:12 I want you to tell your own story. 20:13 But I believe in whatever God orchestrated 20:16 because Jesus gave his son that not one should perish 20:20 but all should have everlasting lives. 20:22 Can you say amen to that? 20:24 So this young man, ready to kill himself, 20:26 the remote falls in the floor, gets his attention, 20:29 picks it up, feels compelled to turn it on. 20:32 Mark Finley is looking at that second. 20:35 This man is not in the studio. 20:36 Mark doesn't know this man exists. 20:39 He's by himself in a darkroom, 20:40 at that second he looks into the camera 20:42 and says, "If you're contemplating suicide, don't. 20:45 And I want to say that to you today. 20:46 If you're just turning on here 20:48 and you're contemplating suicide, don't. 20:50 The devil is lying to you. 20:51 You're not entangled in a web that's so bad 20:54 that's you can't get out of it, in a prison of sin, 20:57 because there is no sin so big that God can't forgive it. 21:00 Amen, to that? 21:02 There's no, that's good preaching 21:03 and I'm not even a preacher. 21:05 That's a good preaching, I'm not even a preacher. 21:06 There is no sin so big that God can't forgive it, 21:09 isn't that true? 21:10 There is no problem so small that God doesn't hear it. 21:13 So, folks, we don't have to be entangled. 21:16 The children of Israel, because they continued 21:18 to look in the flesh rather than in the spiritual. 21:21 That's why God says, "We need to live by faith." 21:24 Faith is a what? 21:25 The evidence, "substance of things hoped for, 21:27 the evidence of things not seen." 21:30 Today, you and me cannot make it in this life 21:32 unless we learn to live in the spiritual realm. 21:35 Now people say to me, 21:36 "How do you live in a spiritual realm?" 21:38 And I said, "Well, I can't tell you about everybody else, 21:41 but I can tell you what helps me. 21:43 Because I'm a controversial person for one thing. 21:47 When you watch me on television, 21:49 people write in, they usually either love me or hate me. 21:51 It's not like, "Oh, he's okay." 21:53 Usually people hate what we do, they hate 3ABN, 21:56 or they love 3ABN. 21:57 And sometimes they feel the same way about me. 22:00 What I say, is some people write 22:01 and say, "Oh, Danny, you should say more. 22:04 You have the most beautiful voice 22:05 we've ever heard. 22:07 We just love your singing." 22:08 The very next letter says, "Your singing is terrible. 22:11 I wish you wouldn't sing anymore." 22:14 One man, one man wrote me, some of you heard me 22:16 say wrote me a letter 22:17 and he said, "Danny, yours, I want to compliment you. 22:19 You're singing is improving. 22:20 You used to sound like a lost donkey braying in a cornfield. 22:25 So you are improving a little bit." 22:27 Now that'll do a lot for you, won't it? 22:29 Some people will tell you, they don't like how you dress. 22:32 They don't like your hair. Hey, I don't like my hair. 22:34 I did, just dyed I got to a little bit, right? 22:37 I don't, I'm not going to argue about that. 22:39 So people don't like, so how do you, 22:40 how do you keep going when you get thousands 22:43 of letters a month and everybody tells you 22:45 you're too fat, some says, you're too skinny. 22:47 Some says you're too short, and others don't know. 22:49 They have all of these things. What do you do? 22:52 You have to remove yourself from that. 22:55 When this person that wrote that, 22:56 would you believe, in that letter 22:58 where, there he said, "I sound like a lost donkey 23:00 you braying in a cornfield." 23:01 There was a check for $10,000. 23:05 So I got on the air and said, "Anybody else 23:07 who wants to say anything bad about my singing, 23:09 feel free to do it, just put in a little money. 23:11 And it'll help. 23:13 It'll help the wounds a little bit. 23:14 All right, when you do that. 23:15 So that say anything you want to about me, 23:17 but what we have to do, folks, is remove our self, 23:21 because it's not about us. 23:23 If we get to thinking it's about us, 23:25 we will put, our eyes will be on the flesh. 23:28 And, suddenly we'll be trying to be people pleasers. 23:30 Suddenly we'll do what people want us to do 23:33 because our circumstances dictate 23:35 that we do what people want us to do. 23:37 When people write me and say, 23:38 "If you put on those Revelations seminars again, 23:41 I'll never support you again." 23:43 You know, I have to say that, "So what?" 23:47 "So what?" 23:49 That, I'm not being cocky about that. 23:50 I'm just saying you, "So what?" 23:51 The Lord impressed me to build a television station 23:54 that would reach the world with an undiluted 23:56 Three Angels' messages, 23:58 one that would counteract the counterfeit. 23:59 Now do you think in an undiluted 24:02 Three Angels' messages to the world, 24:03 we ought to have Revelation seminars on? 24:06 Yeah. Of course, we should. 24:07 So even if a thousand people wrote and said, 24:09 "I can't stand these Revelations seminars. 24:12 You've got to take them off." 24:13 You think we can listen to that? 24:14 No. 24:16 What if they say, "I can't stand you?" 24:17 You know what? 24:18 I can't help that, I can't help that. 24:21 All I have to do and all I know to do is to go forward. 24:25 And don't worry about what people say 24:26 and what they think. 24:28 When you look in the eye of faith, 24:29 first of all, you put the emphasis on the message. 24:32 3ABN is not about Danny Shelton, 24:34 it's not about, John Lomacang, it's not about Mark Finley. 24:37 3ABN is about God's message, an end time's message 24:40 to an end time's people in planet earth, 24:43 for the closing moments of earth's history Am I right? 24:44 Amen. 24:46 It's the message that the whole world needs to hear, 24:48 because Jesus is not waiting. 24:50 We're not waiting on Jesus to come back. 24:53 He's waiting on His people to perfect His character 24:56 within our lives. 24:57 So that He can come back for a purified bride, 24:59 a purified church, Am I right? 25:01 So if that's the case, folks, 25:03 let's don't worry about ourselves. 25:06 Let's continue to look why are we here? 25:08 Very simple to me, why am I here on planet earth? 25:12 So, that I can be somebody important, 25:13 so, that I can impress somebody, so, that I no. 25:16 I'm here for one reason 25:17 and that's to be a channel of blessing 25:19 to those who don't know about Jesus Christ. 25:22 Now, if I can keep things in that perspective 25:24 and you can keep things in that perspective, 25:26 you are here not so you can be just a doctor, 25:29 a lawyer, a professional so that you can be a teacher 25:32 so, that if you understand 25:34 that the reason you're a doctor, a lawyer, 25:36 a business professional or whatever 25:38 is so that you have contact with people 25:40 who need to hear about Jesus. 25:41 Then you have things in the right perspective. 25:43 That makes us witnesses 25:45 and Jesus says, "Go ye," how far? 25:47 "Into all the world preaching the gospel to every nation, 25:50 kindred, tongue and people." 25:52 I want to tell you something. 25:54 This young man, that Satan lied to him 25:57 and said, "You're no good. 25:58 Your life is not valuable for anyone kill yourself now." 26:02 This young man told me today, I'm a set with my hand up. 26:06 He's as enrolled in the Seminary 26:08 of the Seventh Day Adventist institution in Trinidad. 26:10 He wants to be a preacher of the gospel for Jesus. 26:13 Now, how does that make Satan look? 26:15 It makes him look like the liar and the loser that he is. 26:18 Because, he came and said, "You're entangled in a web." 26:21 The children of Israel, they are right here. 26:23 God is leading them. 26:25 And they're right here ready to go forward 26:26 but they say "Oh, no, have mercy on us". 26:29 And I love what God said to Moses. 26:31 What God said to Moses in verse 15, 26:34 I'm gonna paraphrase this just a little bit 26:36 but he said, "Moses, quit coming and whining. 26:39 Why are you crying all the time? 26:41 Why are your people crying? 26:43 Am I not the God who is leading you? 26:45 I'm the cloud by day, I'm the fire by night." 26:47 It is not what it says? 26:49 Read verse 15 and the Lord said to Moses, 26:51 "Wherefore criest thou unto me. 26:54 Speak unto the children, and tell them," to do what? 26:57 Quit? Tell them to quit? 26:59 Tell them they're not worth anything? 27:00 Well, it looks like, "Sorry. I led to this far, folks. 27:04 But I can't get you through to the promise land. 27:06 I made a mistake, I must have been, 27:08 I must, ate too much for supper, God saying. 27:10 I led you on the wrong path. Nothing I can do. 27:13 Pharaoh's army is behind you. 27:15 The Red Sea is in front of you, the mountains on either side. 27:19 I can't do anything for you." 27:20 Is that what God would do to us? 27:22 No, the Lord wanted to lead these people 27:25 through the wilderness experience 27:27 into the promise land. 27:29 Now God is going to supply your every need 27:33 and I don't care if it's small. 27:35 I don't care what it is. 27:36 He's going to fight your battles for you 27:37 if you just simply listen. 27:39 Now when we listen, we have to forget 27:42 what it feels like, we have to forget 27:44 what it looks like, the circumstance, 27:45 I'm talking about. 27:47 But what happens is Satan being a prince of this earth 27:50 binds us by our senses, 27:52 our taste, our smell or feel, right? 27:55 All of these things, how, we know, 27:57 how everything is based on how we feel around us. 28:00 There was saying used to be when I was in high school. 28:03 "If it feels good do it." They said. 28:05 Yeah, and look what happened to the world 28:06 since the 60s and the 70s 28:07 and all the things that happened. 28:09 How ungodly that we have become even as a Christian nation 28:12 because if it feels good let's do it. 28:14 What happened is Satan is saying to people. 28:17 "Hey, if they don't look right, look at your situation. 28:20 You're not worth anything, you're not valuable." 28:22 One night he told a man that entered his apartment. 28:25 He said, "You're not valuable. You need to die. 28:28 You need to your life is not worth living. 28:30 Nobody cares about you, nobody. 28:34 No one cares if you live or die. 28:36 In fact, some people might be better off." 28:39 Is it what he says to us? 28:40 "Some people might be better off if you were dead." 28:44 This man says, 28:46 and he called our prayer line later. 28:47 He said, "I picked up my gun, I put it to my head 28:53 and I just decided to kill myself 28:55 because life wasn't worth it." 28:56 Satan had said, "You're entangled in a web of sin. 28:59 There is no way you can get out of this. 29:01 You have done things so bad 29:03 that the best way out is to kill yourself. 29:06 Separate yourself from God for eternity. 29:09 Get rid of where you are right now, 29:11 because life isn't worth it." 29:13 "I was going to shoot myself." It's nearly midnight. 29:17 So, he said, "I live in a duplex or apartment. 29:20 I didn't want the people next at midnight hearing some noise. 29:23 Come and find me I thought I'd wait. 29:25 Maybe, I thought I would, would try to hide that 29:28 so they could find me later on. 29:30 So I didn't know what to do." So guess what he picked up. 29:33 Has a gun in one hand, ready to kill himself. 29:37 He looks down and sees his TV remote. 29:41 He says, "I'll turn on the TV so loud, 29:44 I'll turn it on so loud, 29:46 they won't know there's a gunshot. 29:49 Maybe, they'll think it's cowboys, 29:50 I don't know what he was thinking. 29:52 I'll--There's some other violent program, 29:54 I'll turn it up so loud that no one will hear 29:57 that I've killed myself tonight. 29:59 So he has the gun in his hand, he picks up his remote, 30:02 turns on his television set and what do you think comes on? 30:05 Hello. 30:07 3ABN comes on 30:08 and elder John Carter is saying to them. 30:11 God, He says, "Jesus loves you. 30:13 He died for you, made a plan of salvation for you. 30:16 And there is hope. 30:17 No matter what your situation is, 30:19 God can bring you out of that situation." 30:22 The man says, "This is what is going on? 30:24 I don't even know about 3ABN. I didn't turn 3ABN on. 30:27 I just hit my remote. 30:29 And right there, this man is telling me 30:32 there is hope for my life. 30:34 There is hope for me. 30:35 He put the gun down, looked at the number 30:38 on the screen around midnight and called 30:40 and I think it was Pastor Dinzey 30:41 and said, told him what he was doing he said, 30:44 "Is there hope for me?" 30:45 "Yes, there is hope for you." 30:46 And right then John Dinzey led him to Jesus Christ. 30:49 Can you say amen to that? 30:51 You see, folks, that happen all the time. 30:54 And that's why when people tell me, 30:55 they'll say, "Oh you know, this you shouldn't" 30:57 I mentioned this yesterday, 30:58 "You shouldn't have religious stuff on all the time, 31:00 religious programming. 31:01 If you put that all people don't want to watch 31:03 a steady diet of religious programming." 31:05 I said, "What about the people 31:07 that at 2 o'clock in the morning, 31:08 at 3 o'clock in the morning writes says, 31:10 "I was shooting heroin in my veins 31:13 trying to kill myself, I turned on the television 31:16 and 3ABN was there, 31:17 and somebody told me Jesus loves me. 31:19 I've given my life to Jesus 31:21 and then seven months later now, 31:22 I am free and clean. 31:24 I'm no longer addicted to heroin." 31:26 Can you say amen to that? 31:27 Now, if we had on the, I Love Lucy 31:29 and Leave it to Beaver which I'm not complaining 31:31 about those programs, 31:32 I watched a lot of those growing up in my years. 31:35 What I'm saying is now is a time in earth's history 31:38 that Jesus says, "Go ye into all the world." 31:40 And, I think he wants us 31:42 to be full time Christians, don't you? 31:43 I think God called, raised 3ABN 31:46 to be a full time Christian network 31:48 giving an undiluted Three Angels' messages 31:51 into all the world 24 hours a day, 31:53 seven days a week. 31:54 Because there are people who need to hear about 31:57 Jesus Christ and Him crucified everyday. 32:00 I'm thankful Satan does not have me 32:02 and he does not have you 32:04 entangled in a web of circumstances 32:06 that you can't get out of. 32:08 Because all it takes is a prayer. 32:10 There's a song that says, "He's only a prayer away." 32:13 Have you ever heard that song? 32:15 He's only a prayer away so, no matter, 32:16 if you're watching today, no matter where you are, 32:19 those of you here in the audience 32:20 you've done nothing so bad. 32:22 God knows everything you've done. 32:23 I've done nothing so bad. 32:25 There is no circumstance so bad that we have to be discouraged. 32:28 But, God says to Moses because He's been dealing 32:32 directly with Moses and the children of Israel. 32:34 And He says, "Moses, quit crying." 32:37 My dad used to say, "For crying out loud, 32:40 don't do that anymore." 32:41 I can almost hear frustration in God's voice. 32:44 Why do you crying again. 32:46 Now, I led you here do you think 32:48 I'm going to lead you here 32:49 to be ambushed by the Egyptians. 32:51 No, go forward. 32:54 But there's no place to go forward. 32:57 There's not a place to go. 32:58 We're gonna drown in the Red Sea. 33:00 Finally, the Lord says, "Stretch out your hand" 33:02 I can see Him almost in frustration, 33:04 "Moses, trust me. 33:05 Stretch out your hand." 33:07 And when he did guess what happened? 33:09 The seas parted, didn't they? You know the story. 33:12 We don't have time to go into all the story. 33:14 But when you go forward and you don't worry about 33:18 what it looks like 33:19 and the circumstances around you, 33:20 God will open up doors time and time again. 33:23 Now, for 3ABN some of these, we go forward, 33:26 huge things happen, sometimes the small things. 33:29 You see, God deals with us 33:30 where we are and what our needs are. 33:32 Back when we first started, this network, 33:34 when the Lord impressed me November 19, 1984 33:38 to build a station the reach the world, 33:39 I was so excited. 33:40 Do you know want I did? I got on the phone. 33:42 I began to call everybody I know. 33:45 And I said, "The Lord's impressed me 33:46 to build a television station to reach the world." 33:49 All of a sudden d-day came, no wasn't d-day 33:51 what would you call it? 33:53 That's when you this would be, the reality struck in, 33:56 let me say that. 33:57 Reality struck in months later you know why? 33:59 I got a phone bill. 34:02 I forgot I was so excited in my enthusiasm 34:05 I forgot that I'd had to pay for all those phone calls. 34:08 I hadn't realized, I didn't call that many. 34:10 But, I do know this person and that person, 34:12 I talked to how long? 34:13 I can't believe it, $375. Now I didn't have $375. 34:19 If you knew my circumstances, I didn't have any money. 34:22 We're living hand to mouth and from just week to week, 34:25 trying to get by. 34:26 I mean, I did not have any money to pay a telephone bill. 34:30 I didn't know what to do. We had just, just started 3ABN. 34:33 We were out. 34:34 This was a few months, well, a month afterwards. 34:37 So given us about 30 days. 34:39 We're talking, we're excited we're all ready to go. 34:42 Somebody had come and given us, 34:44 I don't know of $100 or something said, 34:46 "Well, we'll help you build this network." 34:48 So I remember what happened. 34:51 And I was thinking about that this morning. 34:52 The Lord brought this to my mind. 34:54 See where, whatever your needs are God supplies them. 34:57 So here we are, we're getting ready to, 34:59 to I'm excited, going to build a television station 35:03 to reach the world but I don't have money 35:04 to pay a $300, $375 dollars phone bill. 35:08 So I say "Okay, I don't know what to do." 35:11 I don't know what to do. I called my brother. 35:13 I waited till the day that you got the red bill. 35:16 You know, when you get the red notice. 35:18 And that gives you a date that says, 35:20 "If it's not paid by this day. 35:22 You're done for," right? You're cut off. 35:24 They're going to shut the phone off. 35:26 So I waited till the day. I saw the red notice. 35:29 That gave me a few more days. Finally the due day came. 35:33 Now, here I am, that's what I was looking for a while ago, 35:36 the due day, there you go. 35:37 Yeah, it was due, either now or never. 35:40 So, I said, "What are we going to do?" 35:42 You know, what we did? 35:44 I said, "Well, we have to, 35:45 since we waited till the last day, 35:47 the, the phone company is 12 miles south of us 35:51 in West Frankfort, Illinois. 35:53 It's in a town called Marion, where you have to go in 35:55 and pay it by cash that day or it's cut off. 35:58 So all we had to put towards this was a $100. 36:02 So now I could have sat still 36:05 and said, "Well, Lord I know you called me 36:08 to build a television station that would reach the world. 36:11 And, I really wanted to do it. 36:13 But, I don't have any money. 36:18 I owe, how can I build a television station 36:21 reach the world that might cost a millions of dollars? 36:24 I can't even pay this stupid phone bill, right? 36:26 Seem stupid to me now after I did all, 36:28 I got that big bill and all of a sudden reality. 36:31 I didn't have any money. 36:32 So I had $100 dollars I could have said, 36:34 "Well, Lord, you know, if you want this to, 36:36 if you want this to work, 36:37 then you send a miracle, you send it to me. 36:40 And if somehow in the mail today 36:41 I get an extra $275, 36:44 I'll go pay the phone bill if not, forget it. 36:48 My circumstances, I was entangled in circumstance. 36:52 I didn't have the money. 36:53 But some how the Lord impressed us to go forward. 36:57 So I said, "All right, I tell you what we'll do. 36:58 So my brother and I, we got in our truck 37:02 and we said, "Well, we need to drive to Marion. 37:04 It's 12 miles away. We can't sit still. 37:07 But that morning, a man named Randy Mercer, 37:10 lived in Johnson City, Johnson City is six miles 37:14 south of West Frankfort and Marion is 12 miles. 37:16 So, we said, "Well, we'll go by and see what Randy wants." 37:19 We knew Randy. He went to our church. 37:21 He said, "If you get a chance, stop by my place. 37:24 I'd like to see you." So we drove to Randy's place. 37:27 And Randy said, "I'm so excited about this new television, 37:32 satellite television station that I feel impressed," 37:35 he had a little business there, 37:36 "I feel impressed to give you some money." 37:38 He said, "I'm going to give you 100 dollars." 37:40 And "$100 to help you." 37:43 And we said, "Well, great that would be wonderful." 37:44 Well, we knew the phone bill was 375 dollars. 37:48 It had to be paid in the next couple of hours 37:50 or we're cut off. 37:51 But, Randy says, "He's going to give $100. 37:54 And so, well, praise the Lord, at least, we got $200. 37:57 Maybe, I could go down and ask them 37:59 if they'd take partial payment. 38:01 I don't know, but we had to do something, 38:03 rather than to be discouraged 38:04 about the entanglement that we were in. 38:07 So Randy says, "Let me write you a check." 38:09 He said, "First of all, let me tell you, 38:11 why I'm giving you a $100. 38:12 Six weeks ago, I lost my glasses. 38:15 I cannot find my glasses." 38:17 And he said, "We have looked everywhere. 38:19 So this morning I prayed and said, 'Lord, 38:22 if you let me find those glasses," 38:23 they're going to cost about $100, 38:25 "If you let me find those glasses, 38:28 I'll give the Sheltons $100 instead of buying glasses.'" 38:31 And he said, "A few minutes later 38:33 after I prayed here at my work, my wife called and said, 38:37 'Guess what I found your glasses.'" 38:39 He said, "Really, after six weeks 38:41 you found the glasses, where were they?" 38:43 "Oh, there were in our driveway." 38:46 "Oh, no. 38:47 He said, "Six weeks we've been driving," 38:48 he had several kids that drive. 38:50 "We're driving back and forth in our little driveway." 38:53 He said, "Oh, they're crush?" 38:54 She said, "No they are in great shape, 38:55 there is nothing wrong with them." 38:57 He said, "They couldn't be, 38:58 I couldn't lost them in a driveway, 39:00 they had been run over 100 times 39:01 in the last six weeks." 39:03 And I'm well, she said, "They're in great shape." 39:04 So he called he said, 39:06 "I'm going to give you this $100." 39:07 We said, "Well, praise the Lord 39:09 because we're halfway to Marion." 39:10 That's 200 dollars. 39:11 What's going to happen between now and then. 39:13 All of a sudden, he says, "Let me write you a check." 39:16 I was standing there. 39:17 He reaches down, he's talking to us. 39:19 I think this is great, build a satellite Adventist station." 39:22 He said. 39:24 Wrote the check and handed it to me. 39:25 And just he handed I just put my hand on the other end of it. 39:28 And he said, "Oh, oh, no, look what I did." 39:31 He said, "Man I made a mistake." 39:33 And I looked at it. 39:34 You know, what he had written it for? 39:35 Three hundred dollars. 39:37 He said, "Oh, I didn't name to write this for 300 39:38 but after this month. 39:40 If the Lord blesses me, 39:41 I'm going to commit $300 a month. 39:43 So I'll need to re-write that. 39:44 You can imagine how hard I begin to grip that. 39:48 Not on purpose. 39:49 Not on purpose but, I knew, we needed that, right? 39:52 That $300. 39:54 So I don't know feeling the pressure got to him or what 39:57 but I wanted to let go. 39:59 And all of a sudden he said, 40:00 "Oh well, it does make a difference go ahead. 40:03 Just take the 300 dollars. And, don't worry about it." 40:06 He said. Now we had how much money? 40:09 Four hundred dollars. How much was a phone bill? 40:11 Three hundred and seventy five dollars. 40:12 You see, people might say, "Well, that's nothing." 40:15 You know what? 40:16 That's just as big then to us 40:18 because, if you don't have it you don't have it. 40:20 That was just as big amount of money 40:23 as it was when we first went on satellite 40:24 and found out we're going to have 40:26 to pay $50,000 a month. 40:27 You know what? 40:29 We didn't have $50,000 a month either. 40:31 But did that stop God from supplying every need, 40:33 when we went forward? 40:34 No, when He wants you to go forward, 40:36 He'll supply every need. 40:37 Now our transponder bills are way over $200,000 a month. 40:41 Does He supply the $200,000 a month? 40:44 Our expenses are way over a million plus dollars a month. 40:46 Does he supply those? Yes. 40:48 Everything 3ABN has is paid for, 40:50 we have zero long term debt, 40:52 yet, we have no money in the bank. 40:53 Do you think that's a divine providence 40:55 or that's coincidence or accident? 40:57 What is? Divine providence. 40:59 It's divine providence. 41:00 Folks, I'm telling you these things today. 41:02 Because what happens is the Lord wants us to go forward 41:05 and not be discouraged. 41:07 Not be discouraged because we think 41:09 Pharaoh's army is behind us. 41:11 I mean, it's amazing to me 41:13 that when the army got behind them, 41:15 the cloud that had been in front of them, 41:17 if you read on, you should read the rest of the 14th Chapter 41:20 and even part of the 15th. 41:21 I can see we're not going to have time 41:22 to go through all of this. 41:25 But when, what happened to that cloud 41:27 that's leading the children of Israel? 41:29 So to keep the Pharaoh's army from coming up on them, 41:32 the cloud went behind them and became a cloud of darkness 41:36 so they couldn't get to the children of Israel. 41:38 Can you imagine that? 41:40 God loves us that much, that He said, "I put you here. 41:43 I'll take care of you. 41:44 Let me fight your battle for you. 41:46 Hold your peace." 41:48 Well, I'm kind of an aggressive little guy. 41:50 Friend of mine says, "You remind me of a banty rooster." 41:53 You know what banty roosters are. 41:55 Some of you said, 41:56 "You remind me of banty rooster. 41:57 Well, all right, I'm kind of aggressive guy. 41:59 I tend to want to fight my own battle sometimes. 42:02 Somebody talks about 3ABN and I'd like to get up 42:04 and say, "Wait a minute, that's not right." 42:07 More and more I'm learning to hold my peace, 42:09 to hold my tongue right. 42:11 Because I'm finding out that God really does want 42:14 to fight our battles for us. 42:15 He wants to fight your battles for you. 42:17 You don't have to worry about getting what you want 42:20 and going to the courts of law and say, 42:21 "This person mistreated me 42:22 or this person in the church did bad 42:24 and throwing a fit all the time." 42:27 More and more I'm finding out, when God says 42:30 that "I want to fight your battle for you." 42:32 Because, the reason He want's to do it, 42:34 He wants to show you that when He told you 42:37 to do something that He's willing to go all the way, 42:40 He's counted his resources in advance, 42:42 he's found that He's not wanting. 42:43 And He will supply your every need 42:45 and he'll take care of you in your situation, 42:47 no matter what that situation is. 42:49 Are you with me so far? 42:51 God wants to take care of you, 42:53 He wants to supply your every need. 42:55 When we applied for the full power 42:57 television station license in the Philippines 43:01 that'd reach 24 million people everyday, 43:04 when we applied for that station, 43:06 there were 4,200 other people had applied 43:09 for the same station, 4,200. 43:13 Some of those people, some from America had offered 43:16 several million dollars to the government 43:18 in order to get the construction permit 43:21 so they could build that 43:22 one full power station to reach the Philippines. 43:25 All odds was against us. 43:27 We were up against the Red sea, Pharaoh's s army was behind us, 43:30 the mountains on either side, but I said, "God, 43:32 do you care about the people of the Philippines? 43:35 It is true when you said, 'Go ye into all the world, 43:38 preach the gospel,' that you believe 43:41 and the earth will be lighten with the glory of God. 43:43 Did you raise 3ABN or didn't you raise 3ABN. 43:46 If you did, and you told us to go into all the world, 43:49 will you not create a miracle?" 43:51 See, you could get discouraged and say, "We can't do that." 43:54 I mean we don't have the millions of dollars 43:56 to pay the government. 43:57 We don't have any way 43:59 that we could get this construction permit. 44:01 Four thousand two hundred people have applied for it. 44:04 And some of those are willing to give a lot of money. 44:07 But as I talk to the ambassador who's an Adventist Christian, 44:10 I said, "Go to the president, and ask the president," 44:13 that time Joseph Estrada 44:15 "ask the president if he can intervene 44:18 and help 3ABN get this license." 44:20 Through a series of miracles, and I've told the story 44:22 before I won't here, through the series of miracles, 44:26 the president intervened and 3ABN got the license, 44:30 we never paid a penny to the government for them. 44:33 We didn't pay the millions. 44:34 They gave the license, wrote on a construction permit 44:37 "Release the station immediately to 3ABN," 44:40 or over there called gate way, 44:41 and today 3ABN is beaming throughout Manila 44:44 and much of the Philippines to millions of people everyday. 44:47 As a result, as a result, there are people walking 44:50 in the churches virtually every week 44:53 wanting to be baptized in this Seventh Day Adventist Church 44:56 because they're watching 3ABN everyday in the Philippines. 45:00 Now, that's a miracle, folks, 45:02 the red sea don't worry about the red sea 45:04 because beyond the red sea when we go forward, 45:07 God says, "Go forward." 45:09 So today, I want you to look at your life, go forward. 45:12 I look back at 3ABN 2004, some things happened to 3ABN. 45:17 The devil lied to us and said 3ABN's in trouble. 45:21 It will never go forward. 45:23 What has happened this year? It's terrible. 45:25 The circumstances are there, the Red Sea is in front of you, 45:29 Pharaoh's army is behind you, the mountains, 45:30 the wilderness on the other sides. 45:32 There is nowhere out, no way out, 45:34 your might as well quit, you might as will give up ship. 45:37 Because 3ABN will not go forward, 45:39 did Satan lie to us? 45:41 Satan lied to us. 45:42 People would write us and say, "This is never going to work. 45:44 3ABN will never go forward because of what is happening." 45:49 But what we began to say is, 45:50 "Lord, we realize what is ahead of us. 45:53 But you know what? We've seen that before." 45:56 The yes, this is worse, this is bigger, this is worse 45:59 but God, you've never told me to backwards. 46:02 You've always said, 'Go forward.'" 46:03 So we're going to go forward now, 46:05 you have to part the Red Sea. 46:07 You see, God wants to part the Red Seas for us. 46:09 But He can't get us to get up off of our seats 46:11 and to go forward. 46:13 So as we began to go forward, 46:14 people said, "Oh, by the end of the year 46:17 3ABN will be down the tubes." 46:19 Well, by the end of the year let me tell you what happened. 46:21 In 2004, 3ABN doubled its audience 46:24 that had taken 19 years to build in one year. 46:27 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 46:29 In the year 2004, by the end of the year, 46:31 come December 31st, 46:33 the income of 3ABN had jumped up over two million, 46:36 right at two million dollars from the year before. 46:39 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 46:40 The amount of monthly donors 46:42 jumped up by 30 percent every month. 46:45 That's in one year's time, that's never happened 46:47 in the history of Three Angels' Broadcasting Network. 46:49 You see, Satan tired to say, "You're caught, 46:52 and you're entangled and it won't work." 46:55 But I want to tell you, that if you go forward, 46:57 no matter what your circumstances is, 46:59 God is in charge, and so people began to realize 47:02 this network not about people, 47:04 it's about God's everlasting message 47:06 to a lost and dying world. 47:07 I'm I telling the truth? 47:09 That's what 3ABN is 47:10 because, many of you have told me, 47:12 your lives have been changed 47:13 because of Three Angels Broadcasting Network. 47:16 God wants to supply our every need. 47:19 What I love about it is, 47:20 when I look at what happened here, 47:22 I'm going to talk you down quickly, 47:23 we only have a few movements left. 47:25 But I want to take you down 47:27 maybe towards the end of this chapter 47:29 but it says, "But the children of Israel, 47:31 walked upon the dry land in the mist of the sea 47:34 and the waters were a wall 47:36 on their right and on their left. 47:38 Thus," it says, "Thus, the Lord saved Israel 47:41 that day out the hand of the Egyptians and Israel 47:44 and saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. 47:47 And Israel saw the great work 47:49 which the Lord did upon the Egyptians 47:51 and the people feared the Lord, 47:53 and believed the Lord and His servant Moses." 47:56 And that's amazing to me, when you read this stories, 47:59 time and time, that's why this Old Testament is here, folks. 48:02 It's not to tell us about Moses. 48:04 He wasn't a great guy. He murdered somebody. 48:06 Moses was in a terrible situation 48:08 and yet, when he finally gave into God's call, 48:12 God was able to do great and mighty 48:14 and marvelous things. 48:16 I love it when I look at these scriptures, 48:18 "The Lord shall fight for you, you shall hold your peace." 48:21 And He says, the children of Israel, go forward. 48:24 That's what He's telling us today. 48:26 It says, but on and on when I've read this chapter, 48:31 I went over and over this morning, 48:33 I was amazed and I said, you what the simple story, 48:36 the Satan is a liar, 48:38 he's out to steal, kill and destroy. 48:40 But, Jesus says, "I'm come to give you life, 48:43 and give you life more abundantly." 48:45 I'm thankful that we serve a God 48:48 that if we're willing to do what He says, for us to do, 48:52 if we're willing to look the cross of Calvary, 48:54 if we'll quit trying to fight our own battles, 48:57 if we'll do what God has told us to do, 48:59 that the Lord will take us through the seas, on dry land 49:04 and He'll take us in to the promise land. 49:07 I don't want you to ever get up, give up, 49:08 I don't want you to every be discouraged, 49:11 in fact, if you're starting to feel that way 49:13 I want you to look up to God 49:15 and say, "Lord, let me hold on to you." 49:17 the Lord gave me this song a few months ago. 49:20 It's mean a lot to me, 49:21 and I want to sing it for you this morning. 49:33 There been times 49:35 When I felt so all alone 49:42 And it seems no cares 49:47 I just can't go on 49:52 Then I raise my hands 49:56 To the Father above 50:01 And cry out loud 50:04 Let me hold on 50:11 Lord, let me hold on to you 50:21 Lord, let me hold on to you 50:31 When it seems I've lost everything 50:41 Lord, let me, let me hold on to you 50:50 The Father hears my cry 50:56 And sees each tear 51:00 And in love, His great love 51:05 He calms all my fears 51:10 Then He reaches down 51:15 Puts His hand in mine 51:19 And says, hold on 51:22 Child we're going through 51:30 Lord, let me hold on to you 51:40 Lord, let me hold on to you 51:50 When it seems I've lost everything 52:00 Lord, let me hold on to you 52:11 When it seems I've lost everything 52:22 Lord, let me 52:25 Let me hold on to you 52:35 When it seems 52:37 I've lost everything 52:46 Lord, let me 52:48 Thank you Lord. 52:49 Let me hold on to you 52:59 When it seems you've lost everything, 53:02 Satan is lying to you. 53:04 Satan is the father of lies, he says, you can't go forward, 53:08 you can't do this, you can remember 53:10 that "greater is He that is in us 53:12 than he that is in the world." 53:13 What I would like to do today, maybe there is some of you here 53:16 that feel like in your life that, 53:21 somebody said to me the other day, 53:23 or I heard somebody said the other day, 53:25 they went through a spiritual tsunami. 53:27 They feel like they were totally blindsided. 53:29 They feel like, that they were just swept away, 53:32 they've done nothing wrong. 53:34 And, I said, "You know what? 53:36 God doesn't allow spiritual tsunamis 53:37 to come to his people." 53:39 He doesn't even allow spiritual tsunamis to come to the enemy. 53:42 Because Pharaoh's army even had warning sign 53:45 that God was leading the children of Israel. 53:47 You think, they didn't see that cloud. 53:49 They ignored the signs. 53:51 When you and I, ignore the signs 53:53 that has for us, we put our self into that tsunami. 53:56 It wasn't a spiritual tsunami 53:59 that got to these people, the Egyptians. 54:01 It was their lack of obedience 54:04 and their lack, in fact, it was their, 54:07 it was their willingness to fight against God. 54:10 Because they said, we're protesting, 54:12 even though this the God and they know it was, 54:15 we're going to go after these people anyway. 54:17 God doesn't bless that, folks. 54:19 I want to tell you today, 54:20 there is nothing happening to us 54:22 that God doesn't know about 54:23 and that He's not in the control of. 54:25 Do I need to say that again? 54:26 There's nothing happening to you today 54:28 that He doesn't know about 54:30 and that He's not in the control of. 54:32 However long you want to go through trials 54:34 and tribulations is up to you. 54:36 Because when we submit and commit our life to Jesus, 54:38 and we confess our sins, then we go forward 54:41 until what He has done for us, 54:44 God will bring us out of that miry clay, 54:46 He will bring us up. 54:47 We'll be standing on our feet. Satan may get a few jabs in. 54:50 But we won't go down. 54:52 We'll be like those little punching bags 54:53 that keep going back up, when you hit them, 54:55 they used to have, right. 54:56 So that can happen to you today. 54:58 I want to encourage you. 54:59 If today, there is something in your life 55:01 that maybe there is habit that you feel imprisoned, 55:04 you feel bound and Satan is telling you, 55:05 you can't give up this habit. 55:07 You've had it for years. 55:08 Something in your life that is controlling you, 55:10 it's separating you from God. 55:12 Maybe there is something hard feelings in your life. 55:15 You're holding hard feelings to get somebody un-forgiveness, 55:17 whether it's your parents, 55:19 whether it's your husbands or wives, 55:20 whether it's relative church members, 55:22 whatever that is, it's keeping you 55:23 from a relation with God 55:25 and I'm going to encourage you today 55:27 to quit looking in the eye of flesh, 55:28 and look in the eye of faith 55:30 and begin to live in the spiritual 55:32 to know that what Jesus said, that He will supply every need, 55:35 He means and that He will do so, 55:37 that no matter when you come to the Red Sea, 55:40 and Pharaoh's army behind you 55:41 and the mountains on either side, 55:43 that if you step into the water, 55:44 God will part that water 55:46 and you will go through a victories on dry land. 55:49 Can you say amen to that? That's what God wants to do it. 55:52 If that's your will today, and your desire, 55:54 that you wanted God to do something 55:56 great and mighty and marvelous in your life. 55:58 And you want to gain victory over sin in your life, 56:01 you want to be prepaid for heaven, 56:02 you want to be a bride of Christ, 56:04 you want Jesus to shine forth through you, 56:06 so that He says, "I've I will be lifted up, 56:08 will draw men unto me." 56:10 I want you to stand your feet today 56:11 as we go out with our closing prayer today. 56:14 God bless you each and every one. 56:16 For those who have you at home, if you need prayer today, 56:19 we want you to pray with us. 56:20 God loves you, He died for you 56:22 and made a plan of salvation for you. 56:24 He's coming back very soon in the clouds of glory. 56:27 Today is the day of salvation. 56:28 Father, thank you, for your many wonderful blessings to us. 56:31 Thank you for life, for health and strength, thank you God, 56:34 that there is no problem so big, 56:36 no battle so big in our life that you can't win it for us, 56:40 that you can't provide every need to get us through. 56:43 We know, Satan is out to steal, kill and to destroy 56:45 but we rebuke him today in the name of Jesus, 56:48 we accept victory in the name of the Lord. 56:50 As we go forward, thank you for taking us 56:53 across the dry land, thank you 56:54 for taking us into the promise land, 56:57 and where we can rule and reign with you forever and ever... |
Revised 2016-03-03