Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000804
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01:00 Imagine with me the absurdity
01:03 of turning back from finishing the race 01:08 when the finish line is right in sight. 01:12 Let's just say for this purposes of our illustration 01:16 that you are running a marathon, 01:17 is that 26.4 or 24.6, I always get confused? 01:21 26.4 is it? Whatever it is. 01:27 Imagine with me that, 01:28 that you have just run this very long race, 01:30 whatever it is and you are within the last tenth of a mile. 01:36 And you are going to finish the race. 01:39 And more than that you are going to finish first 01:43 and then you just suddenly apparently, spontaneously 01:47 in a moment of what can only be describe as temporary insanity, 01:51 you stop and you don't finish the race. 01:54 Just imagine that. 01:57 Many Christian people are doing 01:59 and will continue to do this very thing. 02:01 I have seen it with my own eyes and it is happening even now. 02:04 People turning back from the race 02:06 when we are just about to cross the finish line. 02:11 Ellen White put it this way, she said, 02:15 "In vision I saw two armies in terrible conflict." 02:20 How many armies? Two. 02:21 "Two armies in terrible conflict. 02:24 One army was led by banners bearing the world's insignia, 02:29 the other was led 02:30 by the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. 02:33 Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust, 02:38 as company after company from the Lord's army joined the foe, 02:43 and yet tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy 02:46 united with the commandment keeping people of God." 02:50 Apparently just before the close, 02:53 apparently just before this thing wraps up, 02:55 there's going to be some wholesale, 02:58 wide spread changing of sides. 03:04 She saw company upon company 03:06 going from this side to this side 03:08 and tribe upon tribe, 03:09 incidentally tribes are larger than companies 03:11 going from this side over to this side. 03:13 So there's going to be a wholesale defection 03:15 on both sides just as we are about 03:18 ready to cross the finish line. 03:21 How do you know you are not going to be one of those 03:23 that defects from the Lord's side? 03:26 Please do not say what Peter would say 03:29 where he here do not say, 03:31 I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. 03:34 That would be of anything, prima facie evidence 03:37 that you just might change sides. 03:40 So how can you be sure that you will not 03:42 in fact be one of those defectors? 03:45 Well, I would do my very best today 03:47 to give you ten reasons why not to do that 03:49 and hopefully in light of this knowledge, 03:51 why not to turn back, why not to look back now. 03:55 We will see in this something that will give us the elixir 04:00 from turning away for the Lord Jesus Christ. 04:03 And so I present to you reason number one, 04:05 open your Bibles with me if you would to Luke 17, Luke 17:32. 04:11 One of the shortest verses in the Bible, Luke 17:32. 04:18 Our presentation is entitled "Don't look back now." 04:24 This is not the time for back sliding, 04:26 this is the time for forward sliding if you would. 04:32 Luke 17:32, this is really the verse 04:35 from which we derive our title, "Don't look back now." 04:39 Jesus said, right in the middle of this homily, 04:43 right in the middle of this sermon, 04:44 this discourse on end time events, 04:46 it says, though He pauses for just a moment 04:48 and He says in verse 32 04:50 by the way, "Remember Lot's wife." 04:58 Remember who, everyone? Lot's wife. 05:00 What happened to Lot's wife? 05:03 She looked back and in looking back 05:05 she turned into a pillar of salt. 05:08 So reason number one to not look back now 05:11 is you could turn into a pillar of salt or worse. 05:16 When she turned around it was not so much the physicality 05:20 of turning her body in that direction, 05:23 what she was demonstrating was that the intentions 05:26 and the desires of her heart were really back in Sodom. 05:30 So though she was walking in this direction, 05:32 her heart was back there 05:34 and she casts a furtive glance back to her homeland 05:37 because that's where her heart was all along. 05:42 Jesus in Luke 9, in fact we are so close, 05:44 we may as well just go there. 05:45 Look at the very last verse of Luke 9. 05:50 Luke 9:62 and here we find this very same concept, 05:54 the idea of looking back at the wrong time. 05:57 Luke 9 and I am reading in verse 62, 05:59 last verse of that chapter, "But Jesus said to him, 06:02 'No one having put his hand to the--" what, everyone? 06:07 "To the plough, and--" what? 06:08 Turning around and leaving the plough 06:10 and evacuating the premises? 06:12 No, no, no. And what? 06:15 "Looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'" 06:19 Two times Jesus says that 06:21 someone is actually headed in the right direction, 06:24 their body, their anatomy 06:26 is actually headed in the right direction 06:27 but they look back demonstrating that their affections 06:32 are really in that which they have left. 06:35 Reason number one why this is no time to look back now 06:38 is you could turn into a pillar of salt or worse. 06:43 There is no guarantee, young person, 06:45 if you backslide that you are going to live to tell about it. 06:51 There is a great danger in telling testimonies 06:55 and listen, I love to hear a good testimony 06:57 and I love to tell my own testimony 06:59 but we need to be very careful 07:01 in the Seventh-day Adventist church 07:02 that we are not communicating that the best or most important 07:05 or most remarkable testimonies are those 07:08 in which people were way out and then they came back in 07:12 because for every testimony that you hear of somebody 07:15 who was way out and came back in 07:17 there's another hundred people who were way out and died. 07:24 Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:17, 07:27 "Why will you die before your time." 07:30 That tells us that you can die before you are supposed to. 07:34 If you are necessarily place yourself on Satan's ground, 07:38 you too some degree relinquish the protection of Holy Angels, 07:42 Heavenly Angels and you can be killed by Satan himself 07:46 or by one of his forces while you are outside of the faith. 07:50 If you turn back now, if you look back now 07:52 what guarantee do you have 07:54 that you are going to live long enough to change your mind? 07:58 The answer is you don't. 08:01 Now you are not just playing 08:02 with just a mildly risky proposition here, 08:05 you are playing with your eternal life. Amen. 08:09 If you go out to sow your wild oats 08:11 because after all you heard David Asscherick's testimony 08:14 and you heard Doug Batchelor's testimony 08:15 or you who heard somebody else's testimony 08:18 and after all they were out and they came back in, 08:20 that is not a guarantee that if you go way out, 08:23 you will even make it back. 08:25 As we said last night, if you were in a room 08:27 it is illogical to think that you must leave the room 08:30 in order to come back into the room. 08:32 Somebody say, amen. Amen. 08:34 So reason number one why this is no time to look back now 08:36 is what guarantee do you have that you will ever get back. 08:45 Reason number two, open your Bibles to John. 08:48 We go from Luke to John, 08:49 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John 6. 08:53 Reason number two is that you may become 08:55 so jaded by the world 08:57 that you will never turn back to the correct path. 08:59 I am in John 6 and it is coincidently amazing to me 09:05 that John 6:66 says what it does. 09:09 That would be John 6:66. 09:13 John 6:66 and of course we know 09:15 that the versification was added much later 09:17 but it is nevertheless a remarkable coincidence 09:21 and perhaps God even had His hand in it 09:24 that John 6:66 should read this way, 09:29 From that time Jesus had been in the temple 09:32 discussing with His disciples 09:34 began to say some things that they didn't understand 09:36 and frankly some things that sounded counter and two 09:39 and even outright repulsive to them. 09:41 He began to say things like, "Except you eat the flesh 09:43 of the Son of Man and drink his blood, 09:44 you have no life in you" and this was revolting to them. 09:47 This was disturbing to them. 09:49 And Jesus, when He sense 09:50 that there was a murmur among the people, 09:52 He actually intensified it and the Bible says in John 6:66, 09:57 because of those words from that time 09:59 many of His decuples went back and walked with Him no more. 10:05 Now according to that verse the people that walk away 10:09 and never came back were disciples. 10:13 They were what, everyone? Disciples. 10:15 They were-- isn't it remarkable that 10:16 that's what John 6:66 should say? Yeah. 10:19 From that time many of His disciples 10:20 walked with Him no more. 10:21 These were people who had been following Jesus, 10:24 who believed in Jesus. 10:25 The Bible calls them disciples and they walked away from Jesus 10:29 and what John says is, they never came back. 10:34 Reason number two why this is no time to look back now 10:37 is you could become so jaded and disenfranchised by the world 10:43 that you never even think to come back to church. 10:47 There's this amazing thing called deception. 10:52 Have you ever heard of deception before? Yeah. 10:55 Yeah, deception is exceedingly dangerous 10:57 and what makes deception so very dangerous is that 11:00 the very essence of deception is that you are unaware, 11:03 you are being deceived. 11:07 Nobody who is being deceived 11:09 thinks of themselves as being deceived. 11:12 If you are sitting there this evening 11:14 thinking to yourself, well, I am not deceived, 11:16 the problem is, is that is exactly 11:18 how deceived people think 11:19 because no deceived person thinks they are deceived. 11:22 The essence of deception is you don't know it. 11:26 I've used this illustration before 11:27 but as I am repeating its little bit like sleeping. 11:30 Have you ever noticed 11:31 that you didn't know you are asleep until you wake up? 11:36 And after you woken up, then you have context 11:39 with which to evaluate your former slumber 11:41 and you can say, "Oh, I was asleep" 11:43 but the only reason that you know 11:45 you were sleep is that now you are awake. 11:48 You can go out into the world and you can literally start 11:51 buying in to the world's paradigm, 11:54 the lust of the flesh, 11:55 the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. 11:57 You can become so jaded, loose a biblical worldview 12:00 that you wouldn't even know you were lost. 12:05 Reason number two, according to John, 12:09 he says these disciples turned away and never came back. 12:14 Now reason number three, we will stay here in John 6. 12:18 Reason number three, why this is no time to look back now 12:21 is really, I mean frankly, honestly, 12:27 what are you going to go back to? 12:31 Amen. I mean, be real. 12:38 What are you going to go back to? 12:40 The ashes and vomit and aimlessness 12:44 of your pre-Christian life? No way. 12:49 I am in verse 67 of the same chapter. 12:51 Then Jesus said to the twelve 12:53 as Jesus was watching the other disciples walk away, 12:56 He turned His attention to the twelve 12:58 and he said, "Do you also want to go away?" 13:03 The heart of Jesus is breaking. 13:05 He turn His attention to the inner sanctum, to the core 13:09 and He addresses them and He says, 13:11 "Do you also want to go away?" 13:13 And in verse 68, Peter speaks up on behalf of 13:15 the rest of the apostles and I love Peter's response. 13:18 Simon Peter answered him, 13:19 and said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? 13:24 You have the words of eternal life. 13:28 And we have also come to believe and know." 13:32 Believe in what, everyone? 13:34 Not believe and hope, "believe and know 13:37 that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 13:41 Think about that for just a moment. 13:42 The other disciples are walking out, 13:44 Jesus turn His attention to the twelve 13:45 and He says, "Do you want to go too?" 13:50 And in that moment, in that unusual, awkward, 13:53 poignant moment, Peter turns to Jesus 13:56 and says, "Lord, if we left, where would we go?" 14:01 That's the question I have for you. 14:02 Where are you going to go? 14:04 Really, where are you going to go? 14:09 Peter says basically You are the only show in town. 14:13 We don't understand everything You say. 14:14 We don't understand everything You do 14:17 but we believe that You have the words of eternal life 14:19 and we have come to know and to believe 14:20 that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 14:22 Where else you're going to go beloved? 14:28 Back to the vomit and aimlessness of your old life. 14:33 Do me a favor, do not make 14:34 eternal decisions about your welfare, 14:38 do not make eternal decisions about your spiritual experience 14:41 while you are watching a sitcom. Amen. 14:46 Sitcoms and beer commercials and Must See TV is not reality. 14:53 You are not choosing between 14:56 Seventh-day Adventism and some sitcom show. 15:00 That is not reality. 15:01 If you really want to know what you are turning to, 15:04 just spend a little alone time, a little quiet time, 15:06 turn off the mp3 player, turn off the cell phone, 15:10 Lord have mercy and sit and be quiet. 15:15 And start to think about the confusion, the questions, 15:19 the forebodings, the doubts that were in your mind 15:23 before you became a Christian. 15:25 Think about the despair 15:27 and the depression that you know you had, 15:29 the great and grand questions that plagued your every day 15:33 before you came to faith in Jesus. 15:35 Get that picture in your mind, 15:36 that's what you'd be going back to. 15:39 You are not going back to some artificial world 15:41 that's been created by some charlatan in Hollywood. 15:44 You are going back to despair. 15:48 Only in Christ do you find 15:50 origin, meaning, morality and destiny. 15:53 Only in Christ is your life even make sense 15:56 and so Jesus says to you today, where are you going to go? 15:58 I mean, really, where are you going to go? 16:04 If you are struggling in your Christian experience, 16:06 if you don't have all the answers join the club 16:11 but in those difficult, sometimes depressive, 16:14 sometimes frustrating moments please, please, please 16:17 do not chose between that and some artificial option 16:21 that doesn't really exist in the real world. 16:24 Take some time alone and remember 16:26 what it was like before you came to Jesus. 16:29 Think about the ashes that your life was 16:32 before you came to faith in Christ. 16:34 That's where you would be going back to 16:35 and don't kid yourself about it. 16:38 Someone say, amen. Amen. 16:43 You think you are going to freedom, 16:44 you are really walking headlong into bondage. 16:48 That's reason number three not to turn back now. 16:52 Where are you going to go? I've just got to throw this in. 16:59 Now this will be a little sophisticated 17:00 for which I don't apologize. 17:07 As we said in our opening presentation, 17:09 there are only two kinds of universes possible. 17:14 You think with me just for a moment philosophically. 17:17 There are only two possible kinds of universes. 17:22 We either live in a theistic universe 17:24 that is a universe in which God exists and is real 17:27 or we live in a non-theistic universe, 17:29 that is to say in a natural universe in which 17:32 everything you see around you is simply matter in motion. 17:36 You have two fundamental components 17:37 that make up everything you see around you, 17:39 from chairs to people to pianos 17:41 and that is matter and energy. Okay. 17:45 These two world views could not be further apart. 17:48 On this side you have a personal creator 17:50 that has fashioned you in His own image 17:52 and on this side you have matter in motion 17:55 and these two world views are totally antithetical. 17:58 If what I am saying makes sense say, amen. 18:00 Amen. Okay. 18:02 If you go over into this world view, 18:04 where all you have to work with is matter and energy. 18:07 You are not allowed to take the ladle 18:09 and dip into that world view 18:11 to take the things out that you like. 18:13 In this world view you don't have God, 18:16 so you don't get any of the benefits 18:17 or blessings or amenities that come in a God centered universe. 18:22 You are stuck with matter and energy 18:26 and are winning in philosophy, you are stuck with it. 18:29 Now what does life look like? 18:32 Well, let me tell you what it looks like. 18:37 All of the things that you consider to be virtuous 18:39 just immediately evaporated. 18:41 There is no such thing as virtue in this universe. 18:46 We do not laud Martin Luther King Junior 18:49 or Mother Teresa or any other great person 18:52 for the wonderful things that they have done 18:53 because in this world you only have matter and energy 18:56 and in a world of just matter and energy, 18:58 there is nothing such as virtue in the transcendence sense. 19:03 In this world view there is no difference 19:05 between caring for your neighbor 19:07 and killing your neighbor and cutting his head off. 19:10 In this world view everything that you think of, 19:13 the dreams that you have, the passions that you have, 19:15 the sense of honor that you have, 19:17 everything that the movies really make their money off of, 19:21 all of that virtue and joy and honor 19:24 and the guy gets the girl, it disappears. 19:29 You cannot sustain that kind of a moral world view 19:32 when all you have to work with is matter and energy. 19:37 If you want those niceties, if you want those amenities, 19:39 you got to step into God's world view 19:42 because God alone as a moral figure 19:44 can create a moral context 19:47 with which to make sense out of life. Amen. 19:49 So if you are over there, you are not allowed 19:52 to dip the stick in over here and still hope for things 19:55 like virtue and wise and meaning in life. 19:59 It's gone. But so much more is gone. 20:03 You are gone because you think that you exist. 20:09 You think that you are a person that has personality 20:12 and desires and hope and ambitions, 20:15 you believe that you exist but guess what, over here 20:18 you are only what you think is you is only illusory. 20:24 You are nothing more than a bag of biological stuff in which 20:29 physiological and physical processes are taking place 20:32 that creates the illusion of personhood 20:35 but you are not a person in the most emphatic sense. 20:41 In fact the love that you feel for your sweet someone, 20:43 the love that you feel for your spouse, 20:46 the tenderness that you might feel toward your children 20:48 or toward your mother, 20:49 all of that is not one bit different from gas or diarrhea. 20:58 They are just physical processes 21:00 taking place in a physical organ. 21:02 We attach happy feelings to one, 21:04 namely love and all of those things 21:06 and unhappy feelings to the other 21:07 namely gas and indigestion 21:09 but they are physical processes taking place in a physical being 21:12 and they are essentially, quantitatively, 21:15 qualitatively the same in a physical universe. 21:19 Now tell me that's how you are living your life. 21:22 Tell me that when you see your spouse, 21:25 you don't attach very different feelings to that 21:27 then when you have indigestion. 21:33 Now we kind of chuckle but beloved, 21:35 I want you to think about this. 21:37 In this universe when all you've got to work with 21:40 is matter and energy you cannot get the niceties and amenities 21:45 of living in a moral frame where you can't get them. 21:49 Beloved, if you get rid of God, 21:50 you don't just get rid of some old bearded man 21:53 living on a cloud in the sky, 21:55 your whole life breaks down as you presently understand it. 22:00 By the way, what makes you, you? 22:04 I am going to venture a guess 22:05 that you actually believe that you have a mind. 22:09 That you have a what, everyone? 22:10 Mind. A mind. 22:12 And I am going to hazard a guess that you believe 22:14 that you are actually a person that actually exists 22:19 but in a physical, in a strictly physical world over here, 22:22 minds do not exist, only brains do. 22:28 Now there is a difference you understand 22:31 between a brain and a mind. 22:33 Amen, yes or no? Yes. 22:35 Okay, so you could cut my head open, 22:36 I hope you don't choose to do that but you could do that 22:39 and you can take out my brain and you could look at my brain. 22:42 You could weight it, you could measure it, 22:43 you could smell it, you could touch it, 22:45 you could throw it, you could-- 22:46 you have a physical object that you could manipulate 22:49 and weigh but I could never show you my minds. 22:54 But I couldn't reach my pocket and say, 22:55 let me show you my mind, right. 22:57 When we say, I've lost my mind, 23:00 you didn't really loose it, 23:01 it's not like it's under the couch. 23:05 Now think about this for just a moment, where is your mind? 23:10 Your mind is not your brain, they are different things. 23:13 The brain is a physical organ 23:15 that is subject to physical processes. 23:17 It is true that the mind has its seat in the brain 23:20 but the brain and the mind are not synonymous. 23:22 Are we all on the same page, yes or no? 23:24 Yes. Have you ever seen a mind? 23:29 Has anyone in this room ever seen a mind? 23:32 Okay, how many people in this room believe that minds exist? 23:37 Okay, so every one of you believes 23:38 in something that you have never seen. 23:42 Every one of you believes in multiplied millions of minds 23:46 and yet you have never seen a single one, guess what. 23:49 In this world over here, in this world view over here 23:52 where all you have is matter and energy, 23:54 immaterial things cannot exist in a material world. 23:59 Non-material things do not exist in a material world. 24:02 What are you going to make a mind out of? Carbon? 24:06 What are you going to make a mind out of? Helium? 24:08 Guess what, in this world over here 24:11 your very personality, your mind what makes you, you is gone. 24:19 Only over here in a biblical world view can we make sense 24:24 out of immaterial things like minds and spirits and God. 24:30 Now here is the point. 24:31 If you've been able to stay through with this, 24:32 the point is this. 24:33 If you decide to leave God, 24:35 you are not just leaving an old bearded man in the sky, 24:38 you are leaving intelligible life 24:40 as you know it and understand it. 24:43 And guess what? 24:44 Even atheists who believe 24:47 their philosophy intellectually cannot live that way. 24:53 If an atheist is-- if an atheist has his wife murdered, 24:57 he has a sense of justice, 24:59 he has a sense of vengeance, why? Why? 25:05 There is nothing like justice in his world view, 25:07 there is nothing like honor in his world view, 25:09 there is nothing like punishment in his world view, 25:11 there is nothing like wise in his world view. 25:13 All he has is carbon and helium 25:16 and energy and that's it, matter. 25:22 Reason number three why this is no time to leave is simply this. 25:25 When you get rid of God, you are getting rid of a lot 25:28 more than a bearded old patriarchal figure in the sky, 25:31 you are getting rid of life as you know it 25:33 and understand it and love it. 25:38 If that make sense say, amen. Amen. 25:40 We need to be teaching this by the way 25:42 to our young people in the schools. 25:43 We need to be teaching that Christianity is fiercely, 25:47 philosophically, intellectually credible. 25:51 They need to understand that the bankruptcy of materialism, 25:55 they need to understand the bankruptcy 25:57 of a strictly materialistic view of the universe. 26:00 They need to see that Christianity is not just 26:03 a fuzzy-woozy feels good stuff, it's true. Amen. 26:08 So that that if they are turning from-- 26:09 if they are turning from Christ, if they are turning from faith, 26:12 if they are turning from the biblical world view, 26:14 they are in my estimation 26:16 and I think many philosophers have made a good case for this, 26:18 they are turning from rationality itself. Amen. 26:24 Number four, reason not to turn back now, 26:28 Jesus is coming soon. Amen. 26:31 This would be a bad time to look back. 26:35 Two hundred and fifty plus thousand people are swept 26:40 into oblivion and non existence by a single tsunami. 26:45 My Bible says in the Gospel of Luke 26:47 that the waves of the sea would be roaring. 26:51 Earthquakes and false christs and false prophets, 26:54 a state of confusion in the religious world, 26:57 the United State just increasing, increasing, 26:59 increasing in its political potency and power 27:02 and do I need to say anything 27:04 about the first beast of Revelation 13, 27:06 gaining influence, gaining influence not just 27:09 over the Christian churches but also over Islam 27:12 and reaching out his hand in variety of different directions. 27:14 The Lutheran church just ready now 27:17 to step back up under the banner of mother Rome 27:19 and of course the Methodists are doing this and others. 27:23 It's all happening. 27:24 Our whole end time scatological picture 27:27 is being fulfilled right before our very eyes. Amen. 27:31 Everything I see communicates to me 27:34 in the plainest language that Jesus is coming soon, 27:37 that our end time picture which incidentally 27:40 Ellen White communicated in the book, The Great Controversy, 27:42 some hundred plus years ago and she did not have 27:46 the perspective of history that we do today. 27:47 I mean things that she said in that book 27:49 were so plainly prophetic. 27:51 In my estimation you have to be a fool 27:53 to deny the prophetic significance. 27:55 Amen. They are happening. 28:00 Jesus is soon to come. 28:02 As we've already suggested the post 9/11 world 28:04 looks nothing like the pre 9/11 world 28:06 and it's only going to intensify. 28:08 Now don't ask me to put a date on it. 28:10 I don't know if Jesus is coming in five years or in 10 years 28:12 but I will tell you this, 28:14 everything is in place for Him to come. Amen. 28:17 Everything, every single time prophecy has been fulfilled. 28:20 The 1260 fulfilled, 1290 fulfilled, 28:22 1335 fulfilled, 2300 day prophecy, 28:25 the longest time prophecy in all the bible was fulfilled in 1844, 28:28 that was a 150 years ago, the time prophecies are done. 28:31 We are waiting on nothing. Amen. 28:37 Jesus is soon to come. 28:38 It's not just a cliche, it's true. Amen. 28:44 This is no time to be looking back. 28:49 What guarantee that you have that Jesus won't return 28:52 while you are out sowing your veritable wild oats? 28:56 Reason number five, open your Bible with me to Luke 14. 29:02 Reason number five why this is no time to look back now. 29:05 Others will mock you 29:07 and potentially be lost by your poor example. 29:10 Now I know that's not happy fuzzy warm feelings 29:14 but the reality is that the religion of Christ 29:17 will loose significant credibility 29:19 with those within your circle of influence. 29:22 Luke 14:28, Jesus said it, not me, 29:28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower," 29:31 intending to build what, everyone? Tower. 29:33 "A tower does not sit down first and count the cost 29:37 whether he has enough to finish it." 29:38 Verse 29, "Lest after he has laid a foundation 29:41 and is not able to--" what, everyone? 29:43 "Finish, all who see it will begin to--" what? "Mock him." 29:49 Jesus says this is a story of a man who begins to build 29:53 but he's not able to finish the building project 29:55 because he didn't have enough resources, 29:57 he didn't count the cost. 30:01 Beloved Jesus has been 30:02 unequivocal about what the cost is. 30:06 He who seeks to save his life will lose it, 30:09 the cost is everything. 30:11 The cost is taking up your cross, 30:13 the cost is giving up your life 30:16 so that you can find your life in Christ. 30:18 So you can never say, oh, I didn't know what the cost was. 30:20 The cost is everything. 30:22 If Jesus gave everything for you, 30:23 what makes you think that you can give any less to Him. 30:27 Amen. Amen. 30:30 And so one reason why not to turn back 30:32 is that others within your circle of influence 30:35 will mock you and then will potently be lost 30:38 by your turning back. 30:39 Look at verse 34 of the same chapter, 30:41 salt is good but if the salt has lost its flavor, 30:46 how shall it be seasoned? 30:48 I could say Christianity is good. 30:50 Christians are good but if the Christians 30:52 has lost its Christianity, how shall it be seasoned? 30:56 "It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, 31:00 but men throw it out. 31:01 He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 31:06 If you are on fire for Jesus 31:07 and you are living for Jesus and talking for Jesus 31:10 and preaching for Jesus and all of the sudden you stop, 31:14 do not tell me that, that will not have 31:16 a reverberating and redounding 31:18 decidedly negative influence on those around you 31:21 who saw you as a Christian person. 31:25 Amen. Amen. 31:27 Be responsible about your Christian witness. 31:30 It's not all about you. 31:32 If you chose to turn away, this will not only affect you, 31:36 it will have reverberating consequences 31:38 for those around you. 31:40 Amen. Amen. 31:44 Now you might not like that and you might not like that, 31:46 oh, here comes the big "R" word, responsibility. 31:51 But beloved, here's something never forget this. 31:53 Your salvation is wrapped up with other people's salvation. 31:59 Who you are and how you live 32:01 and the decisions you make are not only yours. 32:04 You are not some autonomous, isolated island unto yourself. 32:08 If you chose to live for God, then you can reverberate 32:11 and send out good vibrations 32:12 if you will to those around you 32:14 and if you chose to turn from that, 32:16 it will redound not to the glory of God 32:19 but to the glory of Satan and people will be influenced 32:22 and even horror of horrors potently lost 32:25 because of your negative influence. 32:31 Reason number six is very similar to that. 32:35 Others could be lost 32:37 but you could have been instrumental in helping to save. 32:42 Ezekiel 33, go there with me if you would. 32:46 This is not happy scripture but it is true scripture 32:56 beginning in verse 1. 32:59 Ezekiel 33:1, reason number six, 33:01 others maybe lost that you could have been 33:04 instrumental in helping to save. 33:09 Ezekiel 33:1, "Again the word of the Lord came to me, 33:11 saying, "Son of man, speak to the children of your people, 33:13 and say to them, 'When I bring the sword upon a land, 33:15 and the people of the land take a man from their territory 33:17 and make him their watchman, 33:18 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, 33:20 he blows the trumpet and warns the people." 33:21 Verse 4, "Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet 33:24 and does not take warning, if the sword comes 33:26 and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 33:29 He heard the sound of the trumpet, 33:30 but did not take warning, his blood shall be upon himself. 33:33 But he who takes warning will save his life. 33:34 But if the watchman sees the sword coming 33:36 and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, 33:38 and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, 33:41 he is taken away in his iniquity, 33:43 but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' 33:47 "So you, son of man. 33:48 I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, 33:49 therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth 33:51 and warn them for Me. 33:52 When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, 33:54 you shall surely die!' 33:55 and you do not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, 33:57 that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, 33:59 but his blood I will require at your hand." 34:04 The Apostle Paul said in Romans 1 34:06 that he was a deader to both the wise and to the unwise, 34:10 to the Greek and to the Barbarian, 34:11 he was a deader. 34:12 He was a what, everyone? Deader. 34:14 What he meant by that is he knew the truth 34:16 and now he was duty bound, 34:18 debt bound to communicate the truth 34:21 to others in whatever way he could. 34:27 Now that does not mean-- 34:28 and I want to be crystal clear about this, 34:30 that does not man you have to be a Mark Finley 34:32 traveling around the world with a veritable you know, 34:36 or made of satellite technology 34:39 but what it does mean is in you little sphere of influence, 34:43 you can tell others what you have come to know 34:45 about God and Jesus and salvation. Amen. 34:50 You are responsible. 34:52 God has entrusted this to you, 34:55 now you need to use it to the glory of God. 34:58 Amen. Amen. 35:00 People say, oh, pastor, oh, that's that a guilt trip. 35:03 Oh you are going to give them a guilt trip, pastor. 35:06 Let me tell you something. 35:09 If somebody accuses me of being a drug trafficker, 35:12 somebody says, Pastor Asscherick is really a drug trafficker, 35:14 all of his national, international travels is just-- 35:17 it's a cover up for drug trafficking, right. 35:20 You can accuse me of that, you can put me 35:22 in front of a high court, you can accuse me of that. 35:23 You know what, I would never ever feel guilty about it 35:27 because I am innocent. 35:29 Have you ever noticed if there is a direct correlation 35:31 between having a guilt trip put on you 35:34 and actually being guilty? Are you with me? 35:41 I can't put a guilt trip on you. 35:44 If you are guilty you know it, that's the point. 35:46 The Holy Spirit is the one that says to you, 35:49 be more responsible with the gifts 35:50 that I've entrusted you. 35:52 Someone say, amen. Amen. 35:53 It's not a guilt trip, it's the truth. 35:56 A metallurgical engineer who had zero charisma, 36:01 zero charisma is the one who studied the Bible with me. 36:05 His name was Josh and he talked very slow. 36:15 And I remember the first time I ever met Josh, 36:16 I had been going into this vegan vegetarian restaurant 36:19 and I just enjoy their food and as I've already said, 36:22 I had purple hair, blue hair, long hair, 36:24 no hair, dreadlocked hair, crazy hair. 36:25 I was a punk rocker and I told, 36:27 I thought these people were weird 36:28 because they call one another brother and sister, 36:30 they were just weird people. 36:32 And I would ask questions about the Bible 36:34 and I was kind of curious about you know, 36:36 how biblical people thought. 36:37 Frankly I thought these people were naive 36:39 and just uninitiated. 36:40 And it came up, the lady that on the restaurant, 36:44 Mary, she said, would you like Bible studies 36:46 and I thought well, it's a novel idea, sure. 36:49 And so I made the arrangement to have Bible studies 36:51 at the restaurant and when I came in, 36:52 I thought I was Bible studying with Mary, right? 36:57 But she did the switch rule 36:59 and I ended up Bible studying with Josh. 37:06 And from the moment that I met Josh, 37:09 I was so frustrated by him 37:10 because I wanted to finish every single one of his sentences. 37:16 And we would sit down and in our Bible studies 37:19 that should have taken every bit of 45 minutes 37:21 would some times take two hours or more. 37:33 But that brother in his own armor 37:37 with his great big lack of charisma 37:40 and he would not mind me telling you 37:41 that he is a wonderful godly Christian man. 37:43 He was a student, he was in school, 37:46 he wasn't studying theology, he was studying engineering, 37:49 he was not a great charismatic, 37:52 eloquent person but he took time. 37:56 He took what? Time. 37:58 He took time to sit down with the purple haired freak 38:01 and explained the gospel to him. Amen. 38:04 And hallelujah, that purpled haired freak believed 38:08 what was communicated 38:10 and today he is a preacher. Amen. 38:12 No my friend Josh, it is highly unlikely, 38:14 though all things are possible with God, 38:16 it's highly unlikely 38:17 that he would ever stand up in front 38:19 as I am today making a presentation like this, right? 38:23 He just wouldn't do it. 38:25 But the point is this, every soul that I win 38:28 is a star in that brother's crown. Amen. 38:30 You see, you might not be a Paul 38:32 but maybe you could win a Paul, 38:35 you might not be a Peter 38:36 but may be you could win a Peter. 38:37 By the way Peter was won by his brother Andrew. 38:41 Andrew is the one that brought Peter 38:42 and it's so interesting because every time 38:43 you read the Bible it says, 38:45 it says Andrew and then it says, 38:46 Simon Peter's brother. 38:49 It's really funny because you know 38:50 you know nothing about Andrew. 38:51 If I give a piece of paper 38:52 and I said write down 10 things about Andrew 38:54 you couldn't do it. 38:55 But you could write down a hundred things 38:56 about Peter, right. 38:58 But who won Peter? 38:59 Andrew brought Peter to Jesus 39:01 and so may be you are not a Peter, 39:03 may be you are an Andrew. Amen. 39:07 Do not think for a moment 39:09 that you have to go to some school, 39:10 you have to have some kind of a degree 39:11 or whatever it is in order to be able to share the gospel, 39:15 start sharing what you have. 39:17 God has entrusted the truth to you 39:18 and just start sharing, God will open doors. Amen. 39:24 That's reason number six, why not to turn back 39:26 because others that you could be 39:27 instrumental in saving and by the way 39:29 I just got to say this because I am here at south-- 39:32 where am I? Southern Adventist University. 39:36 I knew it was an educational institution, 39:39 I just couldn't remember which one. 39:43 And then I just suddenly remember 39:44 it was the best one. So then it came to my mind. 39:57 We do not always have to steer 39:59 the most spiritual kids into theology. 40:04 I think that we do need to take some of our best 40:07 and encourage them to go in the direction of theology 40:09 but we are sending a subtle message 40:13 that goes something like this. 40:14 If you are spiritual and you are on fire 40:16 and you love the Lord 40:17 and you have the gift of communication, 40:19 you have the gift of preaching, become a pastor. 40:21 Okay, there's nothing wrong with that 40:22 but beloved, we need some of the most 40:24 spiritual people to be doctors too. 40:27 We need some of the most spiritual people 40:29 to be accountants too. 40:31 We need some of the most spiritual people 40:32 to be nurses too and to be bankers too. 40:34 Are you with me, everyone? Amen. Amen. 40:36 And so let's not create this unnecessary 40:38 almost papal dichotomy 40:40 that the clergy are the ones who study Bible 40:43 and the clergy are the ones who give Bible studies 40:45 and the clergy are the one who know 40:47 the inner oracles of the God. 40:49 No, no, no, as a doctor, 40:50 just for example you have an inner avenue 40:54 into the lives of people that a pastor will never enjoy. 40:59 I mean, you are a doctor, people know you are smart. 41:01 They think of you as smart and they trust you. 41:04 So you say something about Jesus, 41:06 you have a prayer with your patient, 41:09 you mention something about what God has done in your life 41:12 and it means so much more coming from a doctor. Amen. 41:17 Are we all together, yes or no? 41:19 We need spiritual pastors, of course we do 41:21 and I am not in anyway diminishing that, no doubt. 41:23 We also need spiritual bankers, 41:24 we need spiritual pastors, we need spiritual doctors, 41:27 we need spiritual plumbers, we need spiritual carpenters, 41:30 we need spiritual people 41:31 who see that their vocation in life 41:34 is simply an avenue to get them access to people, 41:38 not just to put money and zeros in the bank account. Amen. 41:42 And I'm hoping and praying and I hope and believe it 41:45 by the grace of God that, 41:46 that sense of spiritual urgency 41:48 and infection will saturate Southern. 41:53 That's what you need. 41:54 You need a spiritual urgency in every department. 41:58 Not just in the theology department, 42:00 of course especially there's reason number six. 42:02 Reason number seven, let's do this more quickly, 42:05 one reason not to turn back, 42:06 reason number seven frankly is the terror of the Lord. 42:12 You will be judged more severely 42:14 if having knowledge of the truth 42:15 and of Him who is the truth you turn back. 42:19 You don't believe me, look at Luke 12 42:21 if you would very quickly, Luke 12. 42:27 These are the words of Jesus not the words of David, 42:29 Luke 12 beginning in verse 41. What verse, everyone? 41. 42:33 Luke 12:41, "Then Peter said to Him, 42:35 "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?" 42:38 Then the Lord said, verse 42 of Luke 12 42:43 "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, 42:45 whom his master will make ruler over his household, 42:47 to give them their portion of food in due season? 42:49 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find 42:51 so doing when he comes. 42:52 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler 42:54 over all that he has. 42:55 But if that servant says in his heart, 42:57 'My master is delaying his coming,' 42:59 and begins to beat the male and female servants, 43:01 and to eat and drink and be drunk, 43:03 the master of that servant will come on a day 43:04 when he is not looking for him, 43:05 and at an hour when he is not aware, 43:07 and he will cut him in two 43:08 and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 43:10 And that servant--" now look at this carefully here, 43:12 "who knew his master's will," 43:16 that servant who what, everyone? Knew. 43:17 "knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself 43:20 or do according to his will, will be beaten with--" 43:22 what? "Many stripes." 43:24 Verse 48, "But he who did not know- 43:28 he who did not know, 43:30 yet committed things deserving of stripes, 43:32 shall be beaten with--" what? "Few. 43:34 For everyone to whom much is given, 43:36 from him much will be required, 43:38 and to whom much has been committed, 43:39 of him they will ask the more." 43:40 What Jesus is saying is simple, 43:42 your condemnation should you be lost 43:44 will be in direct proportion to the light that you rejected. 43:48 Did you get that? 43:50 Your condemnation should heaven forbid 43:51 you'll be lost will be in direct proportion 43:53 to the light that you rejected. 43:55 That only make sense, that's the only way 43:57 that the justice of God could make sense. 43:59 If God punished everybody absolutely equally 44:01 that is an unjust system. 44:03 Our punishment is tied to what we turn away from. 44:06 Incidentally this is why Lucifer, 44:08 Satan's punishment is the most severe 44:10 because he dwelt in the very presence of God. 44:13 Are we all in the same page here? Yes. 44:16 Beloved, it's not going to be pretty, 44:18 when Jesus uses the language, 44:19 weeping and gnashing of teeth, 44:21 He's not painting a hallmark card picture. 44:25 It's going to be hideously ugly and terrible. 44:28 Now someone here some softy is bound to say, 44:31 oh, you are using fear 44:33 and fear is not a legitimate motivator. 44:35 That is patently untrue. 44:37 Fear is a legitimate motivator, 44:39 it's just that it's not the only motivator. 44:41 Amen. Fear works. 44:45 In fact the Apostle Paul, 44:47 he said, knowing the terror of that Lord, 44:49 2 Corinthians 5:11, we persuade men. 44:52 He also said it's a fearful thing 44:54 to fall into the hands of the living God. 44:56 Fear is a proper motivator in its proper sphere. 45:00 It's not the only motivator but let' be honest, 45:02 God employs fear as a mechanism 45:05 not the only mechanism 45:06 and not even the primary mechanism 45:08 but as a mechanism to arrest the attention of people. 45:11 Someone say, amen. Amen. 45:12 I do it with my kids. Right. 45:18 Most of the time I say, "Landon, come talk to papa." 45:21 Right we have a little-- there he goes right there. 45:22 So, Landon, come talk to papa. 45:25 And sometimes we can have it out that way. 45:28 You know he's five now and he's getting it. 45:29 You know, I am able to reason and we are working on that 45:32 but sometimes he finds things like screwdrivers 45:35 and he wanders around the house 45:37 and tries to find places to poke them. 45:39 And one place that he might want to poke them, 45:40 I've seen him trying poking is into the light socket. 45:43 Well, that's not a time for, you know, sweet niceties. Amen. 45:48 No! That's a time for outright panic, right. 45:52 And so I run to Landon and I grab him 45:55 and he of course is absolutely totally terrified 45:58 and I pick him up and I throw him, 46:00 no I am just kidding, I don't throw him. 46:03 Just want to see if you are paying attention. 46:04 I pick him up and I say, "Landon, don't ever put 46:08 a screwdriver in a light socket. 46:10 You will die, your brains will be fried 46:12 inside of your head." And he is just... 46:20 and then I will say, "Are you clear on that?" 46:22 he say, "Yeah, yeah." 46:23 I say, "All right, let's go outside." 46:26 But let me tell you it works. 46:29 Now that is not the only motivator 46:31 but it is a motivator. Amen. Amen. 46:36 I mean go read the Psalms 46:37 if you think that fear is not a motivator. 46:39 One of the things I love to do is to read the Psalms 46:41 and the reason is that more than any other book in the Bible, 46:44 the Book of Psalms gives me a sense of a biblical worldview. 46:49 I mean you have David saying things like Lord, 46:51 let the righteous dwell in your presence forever 46:53 and let the wicked be eaten by jackals, right. 46:59 We are bunch of softies, like we've gone so soft, 47:01 God has become nothing more than 47:03 the big teddy bear in the sky. 47:04 Go read the Psalms, 47:06 David had a biblical worldview and the reality is, 47:08 is that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him, 47:11 God loves people but God has no time 47:14 for those who consistently and obstinately 47:16 reject His offers of mercy and grace. 47:19 They are dooming themselves and it's not going to be pretty. 47:24 That's another reason not to turn away, 47:26 it's not going to be pretty time, 47:27 happy time, it's going to be ugly. 47:31 You don't want to be there. Amen. 47:34 Reason number eight 47:37 when you turn back you are not turning from a belief system, 47:43 you are not turning from Adventism, 47:45 you are turning from a person 47:47 and that person is the man Jesus Christ, 47:48 the great lover of your soul. 47:52 Remember what Peter said, 47:54 "How could we leave You, how could we leave You. 47:56 You have the words of eternal life." 47:57 Think of it this way, if you leave, if you turn back 48:00 you are not leaving a church you are leaving your savior. 48:04 Now my wife is right over there. 48:10 I married my wife and we are engaged in this thing 48:13 called the institution of marriage. 48:16 Are you with me? 48:17 Follow this, the institution of what? 48:20 Marriage. Marriage, okay. 48:21 If I walk away from my wife, if I just decide today 48:25 and I am madly in love with my wife 48:26 more so today than I've ever been 48:28 but if heaven forbid, 48:29 I just change my mind and walked away. 48:32 Follow the analogy here, 48:33 I am not leaving primarily an institution, 48:36 I am leaving a person. Are you with me? 48:40 If you leave the church, 48:42 you are not leaving primarily an institution, 48:45 you are leaving a person that heads that institution 48:47 and it's not any person, it's Jesus Christ. Amen. 48:53 That's another reason 48:54 that this is no time to turn back, beloved. 48:56 You are not leaving a culture, you are leaving Jesus. 49:02 Reason number nine, it is absolute folly 49:04 for you to turn back, 49:05 you are guaranteed to finish the race. 49:10 philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, 49:13 that he which hath begun a good work in you will--" what? 49:16 "Perform it or complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." 49:19 You are not turning away from the potential of salvation, 49:22 you would be turning away from salvation. 49:25 You are going to finish this race 49:27 as we communicated this morning. 49:28 If you keep getting up and you stay with Jesus, 49:31 getting up and stay with Jesus, you stay on that ladder. 49:33 Let me say it in the plainest possible language. 49:35 Let me be a Baptist here for a moment, 49:38 you will be saved. 49:42 It's okay to say that by the way. 49:45 You will be saved 49:47 if you put your faith in Jesus Christ. Amen. 49:51 Is that plain enough, you will make it to heaven, 49:54 you will be saved 49:56 if you put your faith in the Lord 49:57 Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. 49:59 So if you turn away, you are not turning away 50:01 from the potential of salvation, 50:03 you are turning away from salvation. Amen. 50:07 That's number nine. 50:09 And finally, number ten, the last reason 50:12 why this is no time to look back now 50:14 is that you are robbing others. 50:16 Listen to this carefully because I can almost guarantee 50:18 that many of you have not thought about this. 50:22 Reason number ten, why this is no time to turn back now, 50:24 you are robbing others of the privilege 50:26 and uniqueness of your personality throughout eternity. 50:31 Think of it. You will be gone. 50:36 Terminally, irrevocably gone. 50:42 Your mother will never hold you again, 50:46 you will never laugh with your friends, 50:50 you and your children will never run together 50:53 holding hands again, 50:54 you would be selfishly robbing others, 50:57 my self included of the beauty of knowing you 51:00 as a close friend throughout the ceaseless eternal ages. 51:04 Chiefly, of course you would be robbing God, 51:06 your maker of your own unique personality. 51:09 You are the only you that has ever been or ever will be. 51:13 In eternity, I can be the best friend 51:15 of every person in this room. 51:18 Isn't that right? 51:19 Because I can spend the first 10,000 years with you 51:22 and then you will get tired of me 51:24 and I can spend the next 10,000 years with you 51:26 and then you get tired of me and then, 51:27 I mean, there are going to be millions saved 51:30 and so just think about it, you can spend 10,000 years 51:33 and cycle through all of the saved. 51:35 And by the time you cycle through all the saved, 51:37 then you can start back with that person 51:39 that you were with multiplied millions of years ago. 51:43 You literally have the time to get to know 51:46 everyone in a very powerful, 51:48 very profound, very intimate way. 51:50 One of my favorite things about life 51:51 is this thing called friendship. Amen. 51:54 But the difficulty of life is that 51:56 you only have so much time, isn't that right? 51:59 I guarantee there are people in this room 52:01 that under different circumstances 52:03 could be your very best friend in the world. 52:05 Why aren't they? 52:07 Time limitations, space limitations, 52:09 geographical limitations, I mean they are just-- 52:11 but in heaven that disappears because time is limitless. 52:15 If you are not saved, 52:17 we'll never have the privilege of knowing you. 52:20 The only you that has ever been or ever could be 52:22 and most terribly, God. 52:26 You will be absent from the very heart of God. 52:28 There will be a vacancy, 52:30 a void in the very heart of God that only you could fill. 52:39 If it's going to break your mother's heart, 52:44 how much more would it break your heavenly father's heart. 52:50 Reason number ten, why this is no time to turn back 52:52 because you would be robbing others 52:56 of your unique, inimitable, 53:00 wonderful personality. Amen. 53:11 God loves you and He wants you to be saved. 53:17 Jesus is coming soon. 53:20 There are myriad of reasons to not turn back 53:29 but the chiefest of reasons is Jesus. 53:37 Jesus loves you, 53:40 He lived for you and He died for you. 53:45 That's not just a nice children's story, 53:47 it's not just something we sing, 53:48 Jesus loves me this I know 53:50 for the Bible tells me so, it's true. 53:54 Jesus loves you and He wants you to be saved 54:00 and He wants to spend eternity with you in heaven. 54:02 Do you want to spend eternity with Him? Amen. 54:05 Then stop entertaining these 54:07 ridiculous notions of turning back. 54:11 Turning back is indefensible and totally illogical. 54:17 You are not just turning from a church, 54:19 you are not just turning from a culture, 54:20 you are turning from your maker and your savior. 54:23 Disabuse your mind of these thoughts right now. 54:26 Say, Lord, I am going to stick it out with You, 54:28 I am going to believe Your Bible promise 54:30 that You will complete the good work 54:31 that You have begun in me 54:32 and by Your grace I am going to stay with Jesus. Amen. 54:37 I am not perfect man, I am not a perfect woman, 54:39 I might make mistakes, I might fall down. 54:41 It is likely that I will need to repent again 54:44 and still again but I am going to stay with Jesus. Amen. 54:48 Make up your mind. 54:50 You are the only one that can do it. 54:52 I can't make up your mind for you. 54:54 You can choose today to be saved. 54:59 You can choose today to know Jesus 55:02 as your personal Lord and Savior, 55:04 not just once but for the rest of eternity 55:07 you can choose today. 55:10 This is no time to be looking back 55:12 or even thinking about what you have left behind. 55:14 What did the Apostle Paul say, 55:16 forgetting those things that are behind, 55:18 I reach forward into those things that are before, 55:20 pressing on toward the mark of the prize 55:22 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 55:24 Press on. 55:28 What are you turning to if you turn away from Jesus? 55:32 Vomit, aimlessness, despair, depression, 55:37 the sitcoms have lied. The beer commercials have lied. 55:41 They do not portray reality. 55:43 If you turn from God, you don't just turn 55:45 from the patriarchal bearded figure in the sky, 55:48 you are turning from life, 55:50 meaningful, emotive, wonderful, glorious life. 55:57 The Bible says, in Him is life. 55:58 You turn from life and death automatically ensues. 56:02 What are you going to turn to? 56:06 Stay with Jesus. 56:09 Are there going to be difficult times? Perhaps. 56:12 Are there going to be questions you don't have the answers to? 56:14 Likely but stay with Jesus. 56:20 All the hypocrites in the church, 56:22 yes, but if you leave it only means that there's one less. 56:27 Are there inconsistencies in the church? 56:29 Yes, but beloved, your devotion is primarily to Jesus 56:33 and Jesus is the head of the church. 56:35 Let Jesus take care of the church 56:37 and you take care of you. Amen. 56:42 God wants to do great things through you, young person. 56:46 Do not limit God. 56:47 One of the first things I tell people 56:48 when they come to ARISE is, 56:50 the greatest single limitation of what God can do through you 56:55 is your own conceptions of what God can do through you. 56:59 God has huge plans for you, limited only by your belief 57:04 and your ability to embrace those great promises 57:06 that God has for you. 57:09 And so I plead with you on behalf of Christ 57:11 and frankly I suppose in a moment of vulnerability, 57:14 I am pleading for you on my own behalf 57:17 because I love to get to know you 57:19 and spend eternity with you. 57:20 So won't you choose Jesus? 57:25 Don't look back now. 57:28 This is no time to look back. 57:33 The finish line is just before us. 57:37 Jesus is soon to be here 57:40 and I want you and I want to be one of those 57:43 who will look up into heaven 57:45 and say, "Lord, this is my God. 57:52 I have waited for Him and He will save me." Amen. 57:59 Isn't that what you want? Amen. 58:04 As we close this week of spiritual emphasis this weekend, 58:11 we've already made the impassioned appeal, 58:13 we've been down that road. 58:17 This is an appeal from the very Lord 58:19 of your heart into your heart. 58:24 He says, "My son, give me your heart. 58:27 My daughter, give me your heart. 58:31 I love you, I made you, I own you, I want you. 58:35 I want to walk with you. I want to live with you." 58:42 He is the great desire of your heart, 58:45 don't turn from Him. 58:48 Embrace Him, receive Him, 58:52 believe on Him and live forever. 58:58 God is awesome, amen. Amen. 59:02 The spirit of God has touched your heart, 59:03 I want you to raise your hands 59:04 and say, Lord has touched my heart. 59:09 You want to turn back? 59:10 Anybody here who want to turn back? 59:15 Me neither. 59:19 Beloved, I commend you the Bible 59:20 and I commend you the God of the Bible. 59:22 He is real, He is alive, He is powerful, He is awesome, 59:28 get to know Him. 59:30 Not only does your salvation depend upon it 59:33 but a meaningful life in here and now utterly depends on it. 59:37 God has great plans for you. |
Revised 2014-12-17