Revelation Insights

Warnings Of A Global Warming & Pollution

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Lyle Albrecht

Home

Series Code: RIN

Program Code: RIN000003


01:02 Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
01:03 Say, it's good to see you.
01:06 You can tell the "A" students. They're always here on time.
01:09 Have their notebooks out and their text book in their hands.
01:13 Isn't it wonderful to have a Bible?
01:15 Have the privilege and the freedom to read and
01:17 study from a Bible?
01:18 Each evening at 7:00 o'clock, we travel to some country
01:21 that it has been my privilege to visit.
01:23 The travel is related to the subject matter that we
01:26 study from the Bible later.
01:28 And just now, I'm going to ask you please
01:30 lean back, relax, fasten your seat belts,
01:34 we're going to be on our way this evening.
01:36 We're going to go to what is said to be the most
01:39 romantic city in all the world.
01:44 Maybe I ought to have a little contest.
01:46 Where do you think we're going, the most
01:47 romantic city in the world?
01:48 Where do you think?
01:49 Paris, how many of you said Paris, you thought Paris?
01:52 How many of you?
01:54 You're all wrong.
01:56 Come on.
01:58 I heard somebody say Ritzville.
02:04 Alright.
02:06 No, we're going to Venice.
02:07 And then we'll decide in a bit if we think it's the most
02:10 romantic city in all the world.
02:13 I left from the city of Florence in Italy
02:18 at about 5:00 o'clock in the morning by way of train.
02:22 And I traveled a few hours to Venice, got off the train.
02:25 And everything that I would do from that point on
02:28 by way of conveyance or travel, other than foot travel,
02:32 would be done in a boat.
02:34 For this city, you see, is unique.
02:36 It is made of the result of a confluence of rivers.
02:41 In Alaska, I suppose, they might call them chain rivers.
02:45 Where one river runs through another and they
02:47 co-mingle like this, you see.
02:49 Intermingled together.
02:51 This co-mingling, this confluence has resulted
02:55 in a bit over 100 islands, most of them fair size.
02:59 And upon these 100 islands, the city of Venice originated
03:04 several hundred years ago.
03:05 It was in fact, America's foremost literalist and writer
03:10 of the past century, Mr. Ernest Hemingway,
03:13 who because of his love of the city went here and spent months
03:16 and ended up writing a book entitled,
03:18 "Across the River and Into the Woods"
03:24 Across the rivers, there were once dense forests.
03:28 Hardwood forests, Oak and Larch.
03:31 And they cut those trees down, made pilings or ties
03:36 out of them, brought them back and drove them down
03:38 into the mud, and then built the city atop those pilings.
03:42 And so tonight, we're going to be seeing a number of
03:45 different kinds of boats.
03:46 And perhaps I'll point some of them out to you.
03:49 Here over on the left hand side, we see a boat that is
03:52 Philippine mahogany.
03:54 A plank mahogany boat and it's a fair size boat.
03:57 And that tells us that the owner of that boat is either a
04:01 fairly successful business man or a wealthy family.
04:04 It's not unlike having a Rolls Royce Corniche
04:08 down in the Hollywood area.
04:10 And those boats are very, very expensive and they're
04:12 really quite rare now.
04:14 And then in the center picture, we see the city bus.
04:18 It's a fiberglass boat.
04:20 And if you want to travel from one island to the next,
04:23 or at any distance at all, you get aboard the city bus boat.
04:27 And then over to the right hand side, you see the boat
04:30 that's called the boat of romance.
04:33 That is the Gondola.
04:34 And we're going to talk much more about those
04:37 in just a little bit.
04:38 But now, let's move in.
04:41 Just today, as I was driving down Broadway Street,
04:45 I saw the ambulance going with lights and
04:48 siren flashing and all.
04:50 And it reminded me of this picture on this occasion.
04:53 This is the ambulance in the city of Venice.
04:57 And aboard that boat, they have all the
05:00 measures for life support.
05:02 Oxygen and the defibrillators, and all of the rest.
05:04 And they will attempt to stabilize someone while they're
05:07 rushing them to the hospital.
05:09 They do it aboard a boat.
05:11 But that's not all.
05:12 If there is a funeral, that is the hearse ladies and gentlemen.
05:16 And someone's taking the last ride in that boat.
05:22 This will give you a little bit of an idea of main streets
05:26 sort of intersecting with lesser streets.
05:28 Perhaps you have heard that the city has been sinking
05:32 down into the mud.
05:33 Well that's not exactly true.
05:35 While the water is getting higher and doing
05:38 more and more damage to the buildings,
05:39 it's really not the result of the city sinking.
05:43 Matter of fact, in the last few years there has been
05:46 an up thrust, there has been a push up against
05:49 those planks and timbers that are down in the mud.
05:52 And the city has been raised up just a fraction.
05:55 But in spite of that, there is more water.
05:58 And that may sound strange but here
06:00 is the answer to the riddle.
06:02 In order to get the bigger ships nearer and nearer to town,
06:06 in order that the vegetable ships can come right in to the
06:11 vegetable warehouses, they have widened the canals
06:16 and deepened the channel.
06:18 And that, of course, lets more water come in from the sea.
06:21 The sea, by the way, is the Adriatic.
06:23 Which is just an arm or a branch off of the Mediterranean.
06:27 Consequently, the deepening of the water has ruined
06:31 some of the most wonderful, some of the most famous art
06:34 in all the world.
06:36 And it's caused some other problems as well.
06:38 Now here we see streets and alleys.
06:41 You see a sidewalk there with folks
06:44 walking over the top of it.
06:45 And down beneath it, you see a boat going
06:48 through the archway there.
06:50 And this also gives us a pretty fair idea of the construction.
06:53 Remember, driven down into the mud
06:56 are those pilings of hardwood.
06:58 And then atop those are the foundations stones, big stones.
07:03 And then atop those big stones there have been laid bricks.
07:08 And the bricks have then been covered over with plaster.
07:11 And it seems to matter little whether or not you repaint.
07:19 Because, they will repaint these buildings
07:21 and make them bright and lovely.
07:23 And just a matter of days, as a result of the destruction
07:28 of the salt water and the pollution
07:31 that comes from the factories.
07:33 By the way, this is the center, you ladies of course knew this,
07:37 this is the center of the most lovely lead crystal glass
07:42 in all the world.
07:43 Venetian glass.
07:45 And something else originated there.
07:47 Could you guess what it might be?
07:48 It covers the windows.
07:50 That's right, Venetian blinds.
07:53 So it has lots of factories.
07:55 And those factories belch out pollution.
07:57 And we're going to talk more about that
08:00 as we go along as well.
08:01 Now this is the police cruiser.
08:03 This last night, my officer buddy sat
08:05 right over here near the front.
08:07 And we conversed a little bit, do you remember.
08:09 Officer Twigg.
08:11 Well, this is the cruiser and they pulled someone over
08:14 and they're writing him a ticket.
08:16 I don't know if he was speeding or maybe driving
08:18 under the influence of something or another.
08:20 But I thought about this.
08:22 It'd be a little bit embarrassing
08:25 to be pulled over and written a ticket
08:27 right on your front step, wouldn't it now.
08:30 I'll bet all the neighbors are looking and laughing, huh.
08:32 Boy, it's about time, huh.
08:34 I'm tired of him speeding by and razing a wake.
08:38 This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Grand Canal.
08:40 We would call it main street.
08:41 And across this main street, there is a bridge called Rialto.
08:47 You may want to go home and look it up and read a bit about it.
08:49 It is the second oldest bridge in all the world.
08:52 It was built in 1588.
08:55 There is one older bridge and we'll see that in another city,
08:59 not so far away, on another evening.
09:02 The Grand Canal.
09:04 I have noticed that when folk come to this auditorium,
09:08 whomever drives often lets out the passengers
09:12 out near the entry and then backs away, or drives away,
09:15 to park somewhere in the parking lot.
09:17 Well, this is the way it is here.
09:19 This is one of the many cathedrals.
09:21 And they have one for each island, you might
09:23 be interested to know.
09:24 And whomever drives here brings the passengers right over here
09:28 and they off load.
09:29 And then he backs the boat away and parks it
09:31 somewhere over here in the parking lot.
09:37 In Europe, Paris and Rome, certainly in other major cities,
09:40 they have their outdoor restaurants
09:44 which are lovely through the spring, summer, and fall.
09:47 And folks are asked when they enter,
09:50 "Would you prefer to dine inside or alfresco?"
09:53 Outside.
09:54 Well here, they're not going to be outdone.
09:57 They have built an addition to the front of the restaurant
10:00 a wharf, I guess we could say, or a dock.
10:03 And they've put awnings and they have put tables and chairs.
10:07 And you're given the option to dine outdoors.
10:11 I noticed this, however, if you're seated on the
10:14 backside of the table, the maitre d' will whisper
10:18 in your ear, "Be careful when you push away. "
10:21 Not a bad idea, I'll tell you. Not a bad idea at all.
10:26 Well, this is a typical home.
10:30 There's the front door.
10:31 It opens onto the canal, as you can see.
10:34 I've thought about this, it wouldn't be a good situation
10:38 if you had a problem with somnambulates.
10:41 And if there's anyone here from Idaho, that means
10:43 someone who sleepwalks.
10:47 We'll pick on the Idahoans a little more later.
10:49 Because I'm laughing at myself.
10:52 You know that by now, don't you.
10:54 Ole Idaho Lyle.
10:55 By the way, down in Salem where I worked a while back,
10:58 before we were finished they were calling me Spuds Albrecht.
11:04 And that's okay.
11:06 But I'll tell you what, if you wandered out of that door
11:09 in your sleep, you'd be for a rude awakening by the time
11:11 you hit that polluted water.
11:12 But now notice up the second level
11:14 and you'll see this lady's garden.
11:17 These happen to be flowers.
11:19 But I have seen in similar pots, tomatoes, bell peppers,
11:24 other kinds of garden things that you might put in a salad.
11:28 For you see, the folks have no opportunity to go
11:30 into the backyard and grow a garden.
11:32 There's no backyard, and so they do the best
11:34 that they're able to do.
11:35 And that we're now passing by.
11:38 This is parade day on the Grand Canal.
11:41 And you see the boats coming.
11:44 And traditionally, whether it's 4th of July or
11:47 some other occasion in our environment,
11:50 the band leads the parade.
11:52 And the drums beat and the horns blow
11:55 and the marchers come behind them.
11:57 It's not really unlike that here.
11:58 In the first boat is the band.
12:01 Now, when we decorate up a wagon or we decorate up something,
12:06 and put it in a parade, what do we call it?
12:08 What do we call that?
12:10 A float, exactly so.
12:11 The Pasadena Rose Parade, here comes the
12:13 float from the Jaycees.
12:16 This whole idea of floats originated here in this city,
12:20 in the parades.
12:22 Those are the original floats, ladies and gentlemen.
12:25 And the folks who live in along the Grand Canal and
12:28 have apartments up above, lofts, if you please,
12:31 have a really good view of the parade.
12:34 Now let's talk a little bit about this boat of romance,
12:38 the Gondola.
12:40 Originally, it was a war ship.
12:44 The Doge family who ruled the city/state here
12:47 for decades and decades and decades, kept here a large army.
12:53 Hundreds and hundreds of sailors and a
12:56 large ground force as well.
12:59 They had here 1600 boats, some of them large,
13:02 but the majority of them were gondolas, war ships.
13:06 And these are not so terribly different from the war canoes
13:11 of the native Americans who lined the
13:13 Oregon, Washington, British Columbia coasts
13:15 a few hundred years back or even less time than that.
13:19 Less than a hundred years in some instances.
13:22 Well, since there is no longer a great navy here,
13:26 or a need for it, they have turned these boats
13:29 into boats of romance.
13:32 Ladies and gentlemen, it is said in study after study
13:36 that there are more folk who come to this city
13:39 to be engaged, to celebrate Valentine's Day,
13:45 to celebrate an anniversary, or to have their wedding performed.
13:50 More folks come here in that way than
13:53 any other single city on the earth.
13:56 I'm not sure of the accuracy of that statement,
13:58 but the folks over here certainly advertise in that way.
14:02 Now as soon as I got back from this trip, someone asked me,
14:06 "Did you take a gondola ride?"
14:08 And I said, "No, I did not. "
14:11 For a couple of reasons.
14:12 Firstly, I was traveling with three preachers
14:15 and I wasn't feeling particularly romantic.
14:21 But secondly and more importantly really,
14:24 while the canals in these pictures don't show it,
14:28 they are terribly polluted.
14:30 Now you just think with me for a moment.
14:33 Here is a city that was built hundreds of years ago.
14:36 Built in and on the water.
14:39 Where do you suppose the sewer all originally went?
14:42 If you have a leaking pipe today,
14:44 where do you suppose it goes?
14:46 You know where it goes.
14:49 I shot this film with Kodak kodachrome film,
14:53 and these pictures on kodachrome film.
14:55 And kodachrome has the effect to make reds more brilliant,
14:59 blues more blue, and greens a brighter green.
15:03 In spite of that, you can see that the waters here are brown.
15:08 They're nasty, they're ugly, they're polluted.
15:10 And they smell badly.
15:13 And I could not see the romance in paying some guy
15:16 a 100 bucks to paddle me through the city sewer.
15:19 I just couldn't do it.
15:22 But lots of folks were doing it.
15:24 They were lined up in a line over a block long,
15:27 paying their money.
15:28 And the gondolier will take the lovers out onto the canals
15:31 and he will ask them, if they're celebrating perhaps
15:34 an anniversary, "What song was sung at your wedding?"
15:38 Or what song were they singing, what was playing on the jukebox
15:42 when you first danced and fell in love?
15:44 And then he will sing that song.
15:45 And they know nearly all the great standards,
15:48 the great love songs.
15:49 And with their Italian tenor voices, they sing.
15:52 And it's quite nice really, to hear those pretty voices
15:55 coming across the waters of the canals and
15:59 then perhaps even the Adriatic.
16:01 Now this is an aerial view of what I believe to be
16:05 one of the most fascinating churches in all the world.
16:08 This is the cathedral of St. Mark.
16:10 And I want to just point out a couple of things.
16:13 Notice there, the onion shaped domes.
16:15 Anytime you see a dome like that, you know that you're
16:19 seeing the result of the influence of ancient Byzantium.
16:23 That's Byzantine in architecture.
16:25 And today, of course, we call that area Turkey.
16:29 But this church was built to be a special place of internment,
16:35 a special place of burial for St. Mark.
16:38 And here is the history behind it.
16:41 While the Doge family was having the cathedral completed,
16:44 they sent an armada of ships from here, Venice,
16:49 over to Alexandria on the north of the continent of Africa,
16:53 on the north of Egypt, for that matter.
16:55 And there, Mark had died on a mission journey.
16:58 You see, in the early centuries 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
17:01 Alexandria was a Christian outpost.
17:04 And many an apostle went out from there
17:07 to other places in the world.
17:08 They'd catch the ship in Alexandria and go elsewhere
17:11 to share the love of Jesus.
17:12 And Mark was there when he died.
17:15 And in a quiet little place, he was buried.
17:19 Over the centuries, Islam replaced Christianity.
17:24 While once it was a great Christian center, it is today
17:28 and has been now for hundreds of years, a very strong center
17:31 of the faith of Islam.
17:33 Consequently, the tomb of Mark the evangelist
17:37 went unnoticed and the grounds went into disrepair,
17:40 and largely the place was ignored.
17:43 And the Doge family, with strong feelings about that neglect,
17:47 decided they would exhume his remains and have them
17:51 brought over to Venice and interred beneath the high altar
17:55 inside this cathedral.
17:57 And so when the cathedral was near completion,
18:00 they sent some ships and some sailors from Venice
18:03 over to Alexandria to exhume the remains of Mark.
18:08 And they went first to the city fathers.
18:11 And they asked the city fathers, "Would it be alright
18:14 if we exhume Mark's remains and took him to Venice
18:18 to bury him in a sacred place?"
18:20 And without thinking really, the fathers said, "No, no way. "
18:25 And the sailors plead the case of the Doge family
18:30 and the idea behind it.
18:32 "You folks are followers of Islam.
18:34 There are hardly any Christians within miles of here.
18:37 We'd like to give him a sacred Christian place of burial.
18:40 Why not?"
18:42 And the city fathers said, "Look, this is where he died
18:44 This is where he's buried.
18:46 This is where history knows about him.
18:48 And this is where he's going to stay. "
18:51 Well, without arguing, the sailors went back to their ships
18:55 but they didn't immediately leave.
18:57 A couple of nights later, under the cover of darkness,
19:00 a sky with no moon, they went to the grave of Mark
19:05 with their shovels and their spades,
19:07 and they exhumed his remains and wrapped them in burlap,
19:11 and headed back to their boat.
19:13 At about daylight, they were stopped
19:16 by the local constabulary.
19:18 The policemen stopped them and said, "What do you have there?
19:22 What are you taking aboard your boat?"
19:23 And the sailors said, "We're ready to go back now to Venice.
19:29 We're ready to take the bad news back to the Doge leadership.
19:33 But before we left, we thought we would take some
19:37 protein to eat on the way.
19:39 And so we have been out to a farmer just outside of town.
19:42 And he butchered a couple of hogs for us
19:44 and we wrapped them in this burlap.
19:46 Would you like to see our pork?"
19:48 And the leaders of Islam and the jurisdiction, they said,
19:52 "We don't even want to hear about pork.
19:54 You go ahead and get on your boat. "
19:56 And in that way, history says, they brought Mark back
20:00 and buried him on the inside.
20:03 And so in just a moment, we're going to go inside.
20:05 But before we do that, I wanted you to notice this.
20:09 This is, today, the bell tower.
20:12 The bells for the cathedral are up in there.
20:14 And every hour, on the hour, they ring.
20:16 You, by the way, can go up inside there and climb stairs,
20:20 get up in there and walk in and around, amongst the bells.
20:23 But from experience, I can tell you this.
20:25 You don't want to be on there when the clock strikes the hour.
20:28 Because you're ears are going to ring for a good long while.
20:32 I could give several tourist tips but let that be one to you.
20:36 It originally, this tower, was a lookout for the sailors.
20:41 And always there were the lookouts, two or three,
20:45 that were watching the canals and watching the Adriatic
20:49 to see if a ship be friend or foe.
20:51 And if they didn't know who it was, then they would
20:53 send out the war ships.
20:56 Now before we go inside St. Mark's cathedral,
20:58 I want you to notice the beauty of the exterior
21:02 of the architecture.
21:03 Those statues that we're looking at on the spires
21:06 are standing about 22 feet high from their base.
21:11 And they're made of pure Carrera Marble.
21:14 And this was done 1000 years ago folks.
21:17 Long before power tools, long before pneumatic tools.
21:22 It was done by men with hammers and chisels in their hands.
21:27 And I suggest to you, they did a really good job.
21:29 What do you think?
21:31 Yea, they did a good job.
21:33 There is that bell tower that we spoke about a bit ago.
21:37 And up inside there, the sailors watched.
21:40 And that original tower though, I should tell you, fell down.
21:44 It literally collapsed and this one is from more modern times.
21:50 Not in just the last few years but from what we would
21:52 call historically, modern times.
21:55 Now we're going to go through the entry door.
21:58 Inside and there at the altar,
22:03 we have at the base, the tomb of Mark.
22:07 Mark was not one of the twelve disciples.
22:12 And this is a strange idea, and I'll just share this
22:15 with you quickly because you may find it of interest.
22:18 It'll help you in your Bible study.
22:22 You cannot study, carefully, the gospels without recognizing
22:26 almost immediately, that the leader of the
22:28 disciples was Peter.
22:30 When there was a questions asked, Peter gave the answer.
22:33 When there was an action to be taken, whether it was
22:35 jumping out of the boat or whipping out his sword,
22:36 Peter takes the action.
22:38 Peter, indeed, was the leader of the disciples.
22:43 We have the gospel according to John.
22:46 We have the gospel of Luke.
22:49 We have the gospel of Matthew.
22:51 But no gospel of Peter?
22:53 When he was the leader? Strange.
22:55 No, on the other hand we do.
22:58 You see, Mark, was a traveling companion of Peter.
23:01 When Peter would go out as an apostle and preach,
23:05 Mark would write down his sermons.
23:07 So therefore then, when we're reading the gospel of Mark,
23:10 we're, in reality, reading the gospel according to Peter.
23:15 Now we're going to move again and go out the rear exit and
23:19 as we do, we notice the beauty of the interior of the dome.
23:22 They have mosaic stories and art stories, Bible stories.
23:27 These, built during the dark ages when folks couldn't
23:30 read or write, were beautifully decorated with Bible art.
23:33 And the leaders of the church would take the folks around
23:36 and show them the art and tell them the Bible story
23:38 that went with them, and educate them in that way.
23:42 Now we're going to go around by boat to the Doge chapel.
23:49 On weekends they worship in the cathedral of Mark.
23:51 But during the week, morning and evening, those who wanted,
23:56 and most did, worship inside the chapel.
23:59 And I want you to go with me up those marble steps,
24:02 past those statues of Neptune, god of the sea,
24:06 and we'll go right through this door into what I believe to be
24:10 one of the most beautiful rooms in all the world.
24:13 Some of the most gorgeous parquet hardwood flooring.
24:17 is to be found in that floor.
24:19 And over the centuries it's been beautifully
24:21 kept and redone and redone.
24:23 And then you'll notice up in the ceiling the hardwood
24:26 has been hand carved.
24:28 Delicately carved and then covered over with gold leaf.
24:31 That is not spray paint, that's the real thing.
24:34 But my reason for wanting you to come inside with me tonight,
24:38 was to show you this painting that decorates
24:41 the front of the chapel.
24:42 We're going to move in for a little bit of a close-up.
24:45 And what we have?
24:46 We have our Lord Jesus seated on the throne,
24:49 coming back from heaven on a rescue mission.
24:52 Coming on clouds. "And every eye shall see Him. "
24:55 And He said, "When I come, I'll come with the
24:57 glory of all of My angels. "
24:58 There they are on the clouds, all of the holy angels.
25:01 And He said, "I'll come with the glory of My Father. "
25:03 There in the painting is the Holy Father.
25:07 Coming to rescue the children.
25:10 And this is what thrilled me so.
25:13 Even during the darkest of ages, ladies and gentlemen,
25:18 during the darkest of ages, at a time when Bibles
25:22 were extinct, people were disallowed to read them.
25:26 And the Bibles that were around were literally chained
25:29 to monastery desks and were for the private interpretation
25:32 of the pastors only.
25:34 During the darkest ages, the church never completely
25:38 lost sight of the beautiful teaching of the
25:41 second coming of Jesus.
25:43 And I hope that we're emphasizing it
25:45 to our benefit each evening, at least as we conclude,
25:49 and lifting up Jesus.
25:50 And your heart, like mine, will long to see Him face to face.
25:54 He is coming again.
25:57 Thank you for traveling with me.
26:02 As I travel the major cities of the United States,
26:04 and other of the world for that matter,
26:05 and I'm introduced as a native of Idaho,
26:08 I often become the brunt of Idaho jokes.
26:12 I'll share one or two of them with you folks.
26:16 "What's the difference," I've been asked, "in Idaho
26:20 between a tornado and a divorce?"
26:23 "Oh, I don't know. "
26:25 "Well either way someone's going to lose their trailer house. "
26:32 How do you know when you're in Idaho?
26:34 Well, if your wealthiest relative invites you over
26:38 for a house warming, and before you leave
26:41 they ask you to help take the tires off the house,
26:44 you're probably in Idaho.
26:50 If you decide finally you're going to mow the front lawn
26:53 and you find there a 1960 Plymouth Valiant,
26:58 you're probably in Idaho.
27:01 Now I'm not trying to be a standup comic,
27:03 and those things sound to me like kind of remakes of
27:05 Jeff Foxworthy, but at any event, my point is this.
27:09 We folks who've lived in and around Idaho, and perhaps
27:12 some of you who are neighbors to us, have sort of
27:15 been looked down upon as hay seeds.
27:18 Like we've fallen off the turnip truck fairly recently.
27:21 And that in Idaho, we have a lot of junk along the roadsides,
27:26 and a lot of old refrigerators in the backyard.
27:29 And tragically, a lot of that is true.
27:31 Tragically.
27:32 I use to often drive, I now more often fly, but when I would
27:37 drive from the east to the west, or go from Oregon or Washington
27:41 into Idaho, it seemed I could almost tell when
27:44 I had crossed the border because there was
27:46 a lot of trash along the highway.
27:48 And there were a lot of trashy old places
27:50 and a lot of junk parked around.
27:52 You know, spare parts.
27:54 I confronted one Idahoan about it.
27:56 And I said, "You know, you could clean up a little around here. "
27:59 He said, "Well, I'll tell you what, I just got religious. "
28:02 He said, "I was just born again and I don't believe
28:05 in righteous by works. "
28:11 Our Lord Jesus told a story, a parable that He called
28:17 the parable of the steward.
28:19 And in that parable, He made it abundantly clear to us
28:22 that this world does not belong to us.
28:25 My backyard is not mine to trash.
28:27 The highways upon which I drive are not mine
28:32 to through my garbage upon.
28:33 But rather, I am to be the caretaker.
28:36 I am to watch over His world and I am to take
28:40 very good care of it.
28:41 And in His word, He has warnings for me if I choose
28:44 to do otherwise.
28:45 Now I want to share with you very quickly,
28:47 something that I think is related.
28:49 And before we conclude, I believe you'll agree with me.
28:51 On Fox news this evening, there was the report that fuel prices
28:55 across the United States in the last 10 days have risen
28:59 as much as 20 cents.
29:00 Now that's not news to you.
29:01 Especially the price of diesel.
29:03 You farmers know what's been going on.
29:05 Even that red stuff has gone out of sight in cost.
29:09 And they went on to say that farming and manufacturing
29:12 and delivery by rail and by truck are all affected.
29:16 And that at the grocery store, whether we're going to get
29:18 Cheerios or a head of lettuce, we're going to pay more money.
29:24 And then they gave some illustrations.
29:26 They said that in the last 10 months, in the major grocery
29:30 chains in the United States, a loaf of bread has increased
29:33 in price 35 percent.
29:35 And that during the same last 10 months, the price of a
29:39 gallon of milk has gone up 40 percent.
29:42 And it's largely due to the great increase
29:45 in the cost of fuel.
29:47 Now, George Will, in last weeks Newsweek Magazine,
29:52 did a little bit of a commentary on his page, "The Last Word".
29:57 And I'm not going to read to you from that tonight
30:00 because I've much other to read.
30:01 And by the way, when tonight I read perhaps more than usual,
30:04 it's because I want to share original sources.
30:07 I think it's not fair for Lyle to stand up here
30:10 and sort of set up straw men,
30:13 and leave folks with the idea that maybe he made that up.
30:16 Where's the background, where is the origin for that resource?
30:19 I, further, want to go on record at the outset tonight
30:22 by saying that I am not some kind of a fanatic.
30:25 I am not a Greenpeace nut.
30:28 I am not a tree hugger.
30:30 I am an old logger.
30:32 And I'll go, at the same time, on record to say to you
30:35 that I have always strongly been against clear cut logging.
30:38 And I'm against the slaughter of what's left
30:41 of our old growth forests.
30:44 Okay? So you know where I stand on some of these issues.
30:47 But at any event, George Will says that, "The American people,
30:50 it seems obvious, have decided to avoid drilling up in the
30:54 Alaskan area where we could get enough oil
30:58 to provide our needs for at least several years.
31:00 We have chosen instead to destroy the forests of the earth
31:05 and create all kinds of greenhouse gases.
31:08 And to grow a lot of corn and soybeans
31:11 and try to make fuel out of that. "
31:13 And he said, "It's going to cost us more in the diesel
31:16 for the tractors to grow the soybeans than it is
31:19 if we would do some exploration off shore
31:22 or maybe up in Alaska. "
31:23 And so, the point that I want to make at this juncture is
31:26 that we're caught in a catch-22.
31:28 We really are, we're in that proverbial vicious cycle.
31:32 Now I'd like you, ladies and gentlemen, if you will please
31:34 to open your Bible's to our first scripture,
31:37 Revelation chapter 11.
31:39 We've said over and over again that the book of Revelation
31:42 is for those who live in the last days.
31:44 It's not the last book by accident, but by God's design.
31:48 It's information for those who live in the very last days.
31:52 And I also, while we're turning to Revelation 11, want to
31:55 say once more that prophecy is history written in advance.
32:00 It's God pulling aside the curtain that veils the future
32:02 and giving us insights as to what the future holds
32:06 in order that we might get ready, make preparation.
32:09 Spiritual, most of all.
32:11 On the other hand, history is the
32:14 mirror reflection of prophecy.
32:15 It is prophecy fulfilled.
32:18 And prophecy and history go together like identical twins.
32:23 Now, we're ready then to read from Revelation chapter 11.
32:29 Revelation chapter 11, and I'm going to read at verse 18.
32:38 "The nations were angry, Your wrath has come,
32:43 and the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
32:48 and You're going to reward those Your servants and the prophets
32:52 and Your saints, and those that have done work in Your name,
32:57 both small and great, and You're going to destroy those who... "
33:04 There it is.
33:05 Did you know that the Bible was filled with warning
33:08 about destroying our planet?
33:11 God says that in the end time, "I'm going to have to destroy
33:14 the folks that willingly and flagrantly
33:18 and purposely destroy the earth. "
33:20 Those who pollute and know they're polluting
33:22 are going to come to a sad end.
33:25 In the beginning, ladies and gentlemen, we lived,
33:27 our parents, I should better say, lived in a perfect world.
33:30 And the record of Genesis is abundantly clear.
33:32 God, in the center of the universe, placed planet earth.
33:36 In the center of planet earth, he placed a beautiful garden.
33:38 In the center of the garden, He placed our parents Adam and Eve.
33:42 My daughter called me from the Big Island of Hawaii yesterday.
33:46 She said, "Dad, you won't believe where we are. "
33:48 She said, "We're in a botanical garden.
33:51 We're in a natural garden alongside the sea. "
33:54 And she said, "There's the most lovely plants and flowers. "
33:57 "In fact," she said, "I and the grandkids were just
34:00 saying a bit ago, it reminds us of the Garden of Eden.
34:04 It must have been much like this. "
34:06 It was indeed beautiful.
34:07 More beautiful, I'm sure, than anything we've ever imagined.
34:10 And so God said to our parents Adam and Eve, "Live here. "
34:13 "Make this your home, train the vines,
34:16 name the animals, raise your kids.
34:18 I'll stop by in the evening time to visit with you. "
34:21 And then, as you read on, you find God giving instruction.
34:27 And let's go there to read, shall we.
34:28 We ought to do that together.
34:30 It's one thing for Lyle to say it.
34:31 It's something else again for us to read it from our Bibles.
34:34 Genesis chapter 1, beginning with verse 27.
34:37 Here was God's instruction to the family
34:39 shortly after He'd placed them inside the garden.
34:43 Genesis chapter 1, beginning to read at verse 27.
34:53 "God created them in His image; in the image of God
34:56 He created them; male and female He created them both.
34:59 And then God blessed them, and He said unto them,
35:01 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, subdue it;
35:08 have dominion over the fish in the sea,
35:10 and over the fowls of the air,
35:12 and every moving, living thing. '"
35:15 This is your home, you're in charge of it all.
35:17 Take care of it.
35:20 And then you continue your study in the book of Genesis.
35:22 And you come over to chapter 7.
35:25 And we don't have time to turn and
35:27 read chapter 7 and 8, of course.
35:28 The story of the great flood and of the
35:31 great destruction that would come.
35:34 Men had become so sinful and so belligerent against God's truths
35:37 that God said, "I'm going to have to destroy the thing. "
35:40 "Noah, you better build a big boat. " And he did.
35:42 And then the flood waters came and the earth
35:44 was drastically changed.
35:46 And from that point on, we Christians believe in what
35:49 we call catastrophism.
35:51 Some folks look at the age of the earth through
35:53 the eyes of the evolutionists.
35:54 And they see millions and millions and millions of years.
35:57 Other folks, Christians in particular, look at the earth
36:01 through God's eyes and from the vantage point of God's word.
36:03 And we see catastrophe that changed the earth
36:07 instantly and suddenly, and did not require
36:10 millions of millions of years.
36:12 But only just a few thousands of years.
36:15 I remember so very well and not so very long ago,
36:17 a man who was leading a group of tourists down into the bottom
36:22 of the Grand Canyon.
36:23 They were riding on the backs of mules.
36:26 And they would go a ways and down a few switchbacks,
36:29 and then they would dismount.
36:30 And the guide would point out
36:32 various strata and various ideas.
36:34 And then he looked down into the bottom of the canyon,
36:38 pointed out the little narrow ribbon of water
36:40 that was the Colorado River.
36:41 And he said, "Now, look at the river and then slowly
36:45 raise your eyes and look up to the rim of the canyon.
36:48 And imagine how many millions and millions
36:51 and millions of years it took that tiny little bit
36:53 of water to carve this massive canyon. "
36:56 And folks jaws dropped, "yea".
36:59 They said they'd heard of scientific fact.
37:01 And a little bit later, the guide stopped the group.
37:07 And he made this remark, "Those of us who have spent
37:10 a lifetime studying the canyon and its environment
37:14 have seen the mud of the canyon turn into stone. "
37:20 Now he didn't seem to catch it, but he'd raised a question.
37:22 Did the Colorado River carve that massive canyon out of stone
37:26 or out of mud?
37:28 I was a student at Walla Walla college when there came
37:31 a break in the irrigation ditch out in the countryside east.
37:35 And by the next morning, there was a washout in the sand hills
37:39 that you could park, I don't know, 50 or 60 big trucks in.
37:44 And it happened just like that.
37:45 And so there are several ways to look at the world
37:49 and its origin, its beginnings.
37:50 And no matter how you look at it, it requires faith.
37:54 Now, we want to read together from Genesis chapter 9,
37:58 because this is God's instruction now after the flood.
38:01 And we're going to begin at the very first verse,
38:03 Genesis chapter 9.
38:06 Genesis 9 and reading forward.
38:09 "God blessed Noah and also his sons, and He said unto them,
38:14 'Be fruitful now and multiply and replenish the earth. '"
38:19 And so, man did a really good job of replenishing the earth.
38:22 And I want to just share with you now, the facts in regard to
38:26 the growth of the population on planet earth.
38:29 Scientists who mathematically study these kinds of events
38:32 say with some certainty that before there were ever a
38:36 first billion people here who'd lived on planet earth,
38:39 it took 5000 years.
38:41 Do you have that now?
38:42 You "A" students are going to want to write it down.
38:44 It took 5000 years to produce the first billion people
38:48 here on planet earth.
38:49 The second billion took only 100 years.
38:54 Now look at that leap.
38:55 From 5000 years to 100 years for the second billion.
38:59 The third billion took only 35 years.
39:01 The fourth billion took 5 years.
39:03 And the fifth billion took only 2 years.
39:07 At the present rate of growth around the world,
39:09 by the year 2020, there shall be 16-18 billion of us.
39:14 More than we can possibly feed and clothe.
39:16 And that is from, that is a fact, a statement
39:19 from the scientists.
39:20 Not from Lyle's library.
39:22 Mike Wallace from 60 Minutes Magazine made this
39:26 report recently, and I jotted it down.
39:28 He said, "Today around the world, there are
39:31 1 million new people every 48 hours. "
39:36 A million folks, new babies, every 48 hours.
39:42 A few years ago, a group of scientists formed a think tank.
39:48 They formed a study group to try to look at the
39:51 problems of pollution and population explosion.
39:54 And the feeding of humanity and what the future might hold.
39:57 And they gave themselves the title, "The Club of Rome"
40:00 because that was sort of a central meeting place.
40:03 Had nothing to do with religion or church.
40:05 The Club of Rome, and I want to read to you
40:08 a little bit of what they have said.
40:10 They were formed in 1968.
40:12 They're made up of economists, humanists, civil servants,
40:15 and governors and so forth.
40:17 Now listen, "We members are united by an overriding
40:22 conviction that the earth's major problems are so complex
40:27 that traditional policies are not going
40:29 to be able long to cope. "
40:30 "The trouble," in big caps now, "WE ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE,
40:36 BIG TROUBLE."
40:37 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
40:40 recently presented this fact.
40:42 They said, "The present model that we now study
40:46 of interaction between the population
40:48 and its relationship to agriculture,
40:50 industrial production, natural resources,
40:53 and environmental health and degradation is frightening. "
40:58 Now these are scientists, these are not preachers.
41:00 These are not maniacs who've escaped from a
41:02 looney bin somewhere.
41:03 These are the scientists.
41:05 You know, if a few years ago, a preacher said
41:07 something like this, he'd be immediately tagged as
41:10 some kind of a weirdo from a storefront church down on Main.
41:13 You know?
41:14 But no longer.
41:15 Now the scientists are saying it, and the men who spent
41:17 years and years and years studying it.
41:20 And then they go on, from The Club of Rome,
41:22 to spell down some of the problems.
41:24 Number 1, too many children.
41:32 Too many children.
41:33 Number 2, agricultural burning.
41:38 Number 3, over consumption.
41:44 And number 4, improper waste disposal of our household,
41:47 our kitchen garbage.
41:48 Number 5, improper human waste disposal.
41:53 And that includes the sewer.
41:55 And then number 6, pesticides and overcrowding.
42:01 And finally, economic dependence upon growth.
42:04 And what they're saying is that the economies of the
42:07 industrialized world's depend upon
42:10 a super abundance of people.
42:11 We must have more people so we can have more refrigerators.
42:14 And vice versa, you see.
42:15 More people so we can sell more automobiles, and vice versa.
42:18 And so we're caught in that catch-22 once again.
42:21 "And it's out of hand," say the leaders of the world
42:23 who study this thing.
42:25 Now listen to me.
42:26 I began to speak to you about 11 minutes ago, there's the clock.
42:29 About 11 minutes ago, I began to talk to you.
42:32 10 minutes ago, in the last 10 minutes, I should better say,
42:41 there have been 565 people born.
42:45 3 per second.
42:49 In the last 10 minutes, 58 have died from hunger,
42:52 from starvation.
42:54 In the last 10 minutes, 327 acres of wild lands
42:58 have been lost.
42:59 1.7 acres per second.
43:02 In the last 10 minutes, 140,893 metric tons of carbon dioxide
43:07 have been released up into the atmosphere.
43:10 That's 708 tons per second.
43:16 10 minutes ago, since the last 10 minutes, 148,853 metric tons
43:22 of top soil have been lost by erosion.
43:25 That is 747.5 tons per second.
43:29 Thousands and thousands of acres of farmland
43:32 in the last short while have been concreted over.
43:35 Have you folks noticed that in your area?
43:37 Let me tell you a little bit about what has
43:39 happened in my home town.
43:40 And I say that kind of loosely because I haven't lived there
43:43 for a while, but I refer often to Boise, Idaho as my home town.
43:48 Born nearby and raised nearby, and lived in
43:51 the city itself for several years.
43:54 Boise took an explosion, a growth spurt a few years ago,
43:58 that has continued and increased at a phenomenal rate.
44:01 They're so far behind now in their infrastructure,
44:04 in the roads and sewers and streets and sidewalks
44:07 and schools, that they don't know if they'll ever catch up.
44:11 Now, the Treasure Valley which extends from Ontario, Oregon
44:15 out to near Mountain Home, Idaho is one of the most fertile
44:19 valleys in all of this world.
44:21 I mean, you put a seed in the ground,
44:23 you give it a little water, and it's going to grow.
44:26 And grow very, very well.
44:28 And you folks have some similar soils around here.
44:31 It's volcanic and alluvial, and it's great and really very good.
44:38 About 4 years ago, the city of Boise
44:41 surpassed Spokane, Washington.
44:43 Spokane had been the 3rd largest city in the
44:45 Pacific Northwest.
44:46 There was Seattle, there was Portland,
44:47 and then there was Spokane.
44:49 But 4 years ago, Boise surpassed Spokane,
44:52 became the 3rd largest.
44:53 18 months ago, Boise surpassed Olympia, Washington.
45:00 And now it is Seattle and Portland, and then Boise.
45:04 The third largest city.
45:06 And they have poured concrete and pavement
45:08 over the most fertile soil that I have ever
45:10 known in my lifetime.
45:12 And I wonder now when I drive through the Treasure Valley;
45:15 where in the world are we going to get our spuds?
45:19 And when you look at this whole situation from the
45:22 farmers point of view, you have to be sympathetic.
45:24 You know, they've struggled and struggled and struggled,
45:27 and worked and worked, and often they've gone behind
45:29 for that year.
45:30 And they wonder how they're going to buy the fuel and
45:33 the fertilizer for next year.
45:35 And then someone comes along and offers them
45:37 millions and millions of dollars for those few acres,
45:39 you can't blame them for selling out.
45:42 I read, by the way, about a farmer in Iowa who'd won
45:45 several million dollars at the lottery.
45:47 And the reporters went to him, as reporters often do when such
45:50 good news comes to a community, and they said to him,
45:52 "What do you plan to do with all that money?"
45:54 And the guy said, "Well, I guess I'll just keep farming
45:56 until it's all gone. "
46:02 Scientists from the Central Institute in New Zealand
46:05 say that the present global population of 6 billion
46:09 is 30% more than the earths biological capacity
46:12 to sustain the present standard of living.
46:17 Growth may not even be able to be stabilized.
46:21 It's projected to be 10 million in a few short years.
46:24 There are 51 billion hectares of earth's surface.
46:28 But only 13 billion of these are arable and suitable for farming.
46:35 3.3 billion are used as pasture land to feed cattle.
46:41 The world needs to immediately reduce its
46:44 carbon dioxide emissions by at least half.
46:47 The United Nations recognized this desperation and they
46:50 put out the warnings.
46:52 But few, it seems, at least in the third world,
46:55 are paying any attention.
46:57 And then they go on to say that the industrialized nations,
47:02 and that includes us, we're right at the top of the list,
47:05 are the biggest polluters.
47:06 You see again the conundrum, the catch-22.
47:09 And when a country becomes industrialized,
47:12 such as now is happening in China and out in India,
47:15 they pump out more and more and more pollution.
47:17 And the problem increases, drastically increases.
47:21 I want to read you again from the scientists
47:23 of The Club of Rome only just very briefly.
47:26 I'm going to read it.
47:30 "Changing weather patterns are reducing permanently
47:34 the amount of arable land and the growing population is
47:36 simultaneously demanding more food.
47:38 Water is essential for the supply of both domestic use
47:45 and agriculture purposes, and is becoming critical
47:47 in so very many countries.
47:50 Some states are looking for desalinization as the solution.
47:53 This means pumping water over long, long distances
47:58 which demands more electrical power.
48:00 With our growing population, there is an increasing problem
48:02 of pollution in our drinking water sources.
48:05 Much power is generated from oil and natural gas.
48:08 New reserves will continue to be discovered, but
48:10 recent detailed reports suggest that we now find
48:20 1 new barrel of oil for every 4 that we consume. "
48:24 Amazing, amazing.
48:29 "In spite of the best efforts of technology,
48:32 we have no alternatives for oil and gas.
48:34 Technology cannot replace limited resources. "
48:39 I told you folks, I think a night or two ago,
48:43 but just during the announcement period,
48:44 that while I was in Phoenix, Arizona there came
48:47 the announcement that over in Los Angeles that day
48:51 they began to drink, for the first time, the water
48:54 that had been in their toilets 3 days before.
48:57 And they say the water is pure, and as pure as that which is
49:00 coming down from the Shasta Mountain snow melt.
49:03 Pure water.
49:04 Some were shocked at that but it's been happening
49:07 in and around Denver, Colorado for years and years and years.
49:10 And when I moved to the Denver area to work,
49:12 it was suggested to me by some of the folks that I might take
49:15 my cup of drinking water and hold it up to the light
49:19 and then decide whether or not I was really all that thirsty.
49:23 Here's one again.
49:26 Here's one for you.
49:27 And this comes from the scholars over in France.
49:31 "The global economy is using natural resources faster than
49:35 they can be renewed. "
49:37 This from Lester Brown of the Washington based
49:40 Earth Policy Institute.
49:42 "We're releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
49:45 faster than the earth can begin to absorb it.
49:47 Our economy is based upon cutting trees
49:49 faster than they can grow, over pumping aquifers
49:52 and draining rivers, soil erosion of our crop lands
49:55 exceeds new soil formation.
49:57 We're taking fish from the ocean faster than they can reproduce.
50:01 We're creating an economy who's output is inflated
50:04 by drawing down the earth's national capital.
50:06 The challenge is to deflate the global economic bubble
50:09 before it bursts with an effect to the entire world.
50:13 To avoid this, action has to be taken to reduce
50:15 water consumption to a sustainable level,
50:18 to address the population of the world to a point of stability
50:22 in the developing countries, as well as stabilizing emissions.
50:27 Avoiding the effects of higher temperatures on crop yields
50:30 means quickly stabilizing the climate by cutting
50:33 global carbon emissions in half by at least 2015."
50:38 But those who are in the know say
50:39 that is quite, quite impossible.
50:44 Bad news, huh?
50:46 Someone said, bad news travels like wildfire
50:49 while good news travels slow.
50:53 But there is good news, ladies and gentlemen.
50:57 There is good news.
50:58 One day, our Lord Himself is going to come
51:00 and purify this earth.
51:02 One day Jesus is going to come riding down the skies.
51:06 And He's going to bring an end to all of these things
51:09 that we have brought upon ourselves,
51:10 or the devil has been in partnership in bringing upon us.
51:14 I want to elude quickly to a book now.
51:16 Some of you may want to go and buy it.
51:18 It's entitled, "Ten Billion Mouths to Feed"
51:21 and the author is David Pimentel.
51:24 Listen to him.
51:26 "What will the world do for fertility
51:29 when petroleum is gone?
51:31 What will happen to people's crops when the
51:34 over pumped aquifers deplete?
51:36 Hydrologists say we're running out of water.
51:39 The chemists say we're running out of air.
51:41 The botanists say we're running out of food. "
51:43 But Lyle says, the Bible says we're running out of time.
51:48 We're out of time.
51:50 Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, while we're gathered here,
51:53 8 million in the third world are starving to death.
51:59 8 million.
52:03 The Weyerhaeuser company for whom I worked at a time
52:08 began on the east coast.
52:10 And with their handsaws, they chopped their way
52:13 through the eastern forests in a couple of generations.
52:17 And then they moved to the heartland,
52:20 to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
52:21 And it was said when they moved there, there was timber enough
52:24 to last forever.
52:26 But within 25 years, they had cut the majority of the forests
52:31 of mid-America.
52:32 And then they moved to the Pacific Northwest.
52:35 And when they saw the old growth and the virgin forests
52:37 of the Pacific Northwest, the Weyerhaeuser company said,
52:40 "We have timber enough to last now, indeed, forever and ever.
52:44 We shall never be able to get ahead of the growth. "
52:48 Well you and I know better.
52:50 We know better.
52:51 And I appreciate the timber companies,
52:54 Weyerhaeuser and Boise Cascade and others,
52:57 that are replanting and that kind of thing.
52:59 But you know folks, we're really not keeping up.
53:02 We're not keeping up, we're not getting ahead.
53:05 We're continuing to destroy our forests.
53:07 Forests that take a lot of pollution out of the sky
53:11 and make our air so much better to breathe.
53:15 In Isaiah 51:6, God described what would happen to this world
53:19 before Jesus comes back.
53:21 He said, "This earth is going to wax old like a garment. "
53:26 Like your clothes wear out when they get old and tired.
53:30 And then in Joel 1:17 there God, through the prophet Joel said
53:34 that in the last days the seed would rot under the clod.
53:39 And that's happening all around the world.
53:41 The Gobi Deserts and the other, the African desert,
53:44 and some of the South American deserts
53:46 are growing by acres, multiplied acres.
53:49 Every single day, the deserts are moving on a march northward.
53:54 Northward still.
53:56 I suggest to us tonight that instead of putting our minds
54:01 totally upon solutions, and there's much we can do about it,
54:04 don't get me wrong.
54:05 And there is much we must do about it
54:07 because we are stewards now.
54:09 But instead of setting our hearts on this world and
54:12 putting our hope in a fix, I suggest that we place our minds
54:18 and hearts, like Abraham did, on the next world.
54:21 Because the apostle Paul, as he sat in jail and wrote his last
54:24 lesson, would say, "I look for the blessed hope,
54:28 the glorious appearing of our great God and
54:30 Savior Jesus Christ. "
54:31 This preacher tonight wants to say to you,
54:33 I believe it's our only hope.
54:35 He must come again, and indeed, He's going to do that.
54:39 Get our priorities in order.
54:42 The ostrich syndrome is not going to work for us.
54:46 We began our first night with the story of a lady,
54:49 who near her death called in the pastor and gave instructions
54:53 for her funeral.
54:54 Do you remember? How many of you were here?
54:55 That was the first night.
54:57 Do you remember, yes?
55:00 And she said, "Pastor, I don't want to be in my casket with
55:02 my hands over my chest and folded together.
55:05 No, I want my hands to be by my side.
55:10 And in my left, I want my Bible.
55:13 And in my right hand, I want a fork. "
55:17 And the preachers jaw dropped and he said,
55:19 "What do you mean, what's with the fork?"
55:21 She said, "Pastor, I always really get encouraged
55:24 when at the end of the fellowship dinners at church,
55:27 those who come by to clear the tables say to me,
55:29 keep your fork.
55:33 Because then I know that something better is coming. "
55:40 So each of you tonight again, this preacher would say,
55:43 "Keep your fork. "
55:46 Keep your fork.
55:47 In Psalm 37:25, there God said through David,
55:51 "I've never seen God's children going hungry or begging bread. "
55:55 Things are going to get better.
55:57 In John 10:10, Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life,
56:02 and that more abundantly. "
56:03 So keep your fork.
56:05 In Jeremiah 11:5, God said, "I'm going to take you to a land
56:09 flowing with milk and honey. "
56:11 Keep your forks now.
56:13 In Isaiah 65:21-22, God said, in the earth made new
56:19 you're going to plant vineyards and grow wonderful gardens.
56:22 In Revelations 22:1-4, God says, "I'm going to take you
56:29 to a place that I have remade.
56:32 And you're going to eat from the fruit of the tree of life. "
56:37 And then you move through your Bibles
56:40 to the last three chapters of the book of Revelation.
56:43 And what do you find?
56:44 You find the earth restored.
56:47 You find in the center of this restored, remade earth
56:50 the garden of Eden.
56:51 Beautiful as ever it was, even perhaps, more lovely.
56:55 In the center of the garden is the tree of life.
56:59 And where in Genesis, the folks were forbidden
57:01 to eat from the tree, and the flaming sworded angel stood
57:04 in front to guard it, it says in the Revelation
57:07 that we shall eat regularly from the tree.
57:11 And it's fruit is for the healing of the nations.
57:14 You see my dears, everything lost in the
57:16 first 3 chapters of Genesis because of sin,
57:19 is restored in the last 3 of Revelation because of grace.
57:23 And it's not an accident.
57:25 Because in every passage, in every chapter,
57:27 every book between, you find God running around,
57:31 And begging, through His Son and through His prophets,
57:33 "Accept Me, let Me be your Lord. "
57:36 We thank You, dear Lord, for Your promise.
57:41 Our hearts could be worried, upset.
57:44 We could develop diseases; high blood pressure, hypertension,
57:49 ulcers, as we look at the things that have come upon the earth.
57:52 You predicted that in the end time,
57:54 men's hearts would fail them for fear.
57:56 But then we see and read Your promise, "I will come again. "
58:00 "I'll restore everything, even better than
58:03 it was to begin with. "
58:04 Thank You, dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for Your love.
58:08 Thank You that You've become the hound of heaven.
58:10 You go into the cities, into the skyscrapers,
58:14 looking for Your children and calling them out.
58:16 You go into the mountains and into the woods
58:19 and into the wildernesses seeking Your own.
58:22 Calling them, "Come to Me. "
58:23 "I want to restore to you the best of everything. "
58:27 Thank You tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.


Home

Revised 2014-12-17