Participants: Pr. Lyle Albrecht
Series Code: RIN
Program Code: RIN000010
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01:00 Welcome to each of you.
01:03 Are you ready to travel? 01:04 Have your seatbelts fastened? 01:06 Alright. 01:07 We're going to go, tonight, to a lovely, lovely city. 01:12 It seems that when men, after the dark ages, 01:15 took a renewed interest in the arts and sciences, 01:20 sculpting and painting and writing, 01:23 that renewed interest, now known as the renaissance, 01:28 happened largely in and around this city. 01:31 We're going to Florence. 01:33 We've said so many times the major cities of the world 01:36 are born on the banks of a river. 01:38 In Paris, it's the Seine. 01:42 And in London, it's the Thames. 01:45 Here, it happens to be the Arno. 01:48 And this is a shot of downtown Florence. 01:52 You can see several bridges across the Arno river. 01:54 There's one in particular that we're going to talk about and 01:58 visit in just a little bit. 02:00 But let me tell you about my appreciation for the 02:03 style of the city. 02:05 It's hundreds of years old, of course. 02:07 But there has been a city statute that says that 02:11 the buildings, homes or businesses in the downtown area, 02:16 now of course that stretches for miles, must be of a 02:20 cream colored stucco on the outside and must have 02:24 burnt orange tiled roofs. 02:27 And it makes the city unique. 02:29 In my mind, it makes it look clean and neat 02:32 and somehow organized. 02:34 So let's get down then and have a close-up of the city. 02:38 From this panoramic view, I shall point out to you 02:41 the three major places that we're going to visit. 02:44 So go to the extreme right and the upper of the screen. 02:47 And there we see the tower of the Medici Palace. 02:52 That tower had a very famous occupant. 02:55 We're going to talk about him. 02:56 And that's where we're going to begin in just a little bit. 02:59 At the Medici Palace and tower. 03:01 And then we're going to go to this building. 03:04 That is the second largest Catholic cathedral in the world. 03:08 That is the cathedral of St. John the Baptist. 03:11 And after visiting there, we're going to end up visiting 03:14 over at this cathedral. 03:16 This is the cathedral of Santa Croce, or the Holy Cross. 03:23 A good way to see the town without a lot of expense 03:27 is to get aboard the Florentine taxi. 03:30 There it is. 03:33 But because we need the exercise and because it's a 03:35 very short distance from here to where we want to go, 03:38 we're going to just walk. 03:40 And we find ourselves then in front of the Medici Palace. 03:45 And I want you to notice a couple of things. 03:46 Firstly, you see a lot of folks gathered around, 03:49 you see bleachers. 03:51 And this picture is, of course, taken at night. 03:54 This was taken at the time of the Florentine rodeo. 03:59 Now, we're use to rodeo's and horse races in all of 04:03 this part of the world, aren't we. 04:04 We have bull riding and barrel races and bucking bronco's 04:12 and bareback and all that sort of thing. 04:15 Here, it's quite different. 04:17 It begins with 5 days of imbibing alcoholic beverages. 04:23 That's putting it mildly. 04:26 And when everyone is pretty well drunk, then they 04:28 ribbon off several streets throughout the city. 04:32 This direction and that and over here and 04:34 over there and there and there. 04:35 And that is the race track. 04:38 And then they bring out their cowboys 04:40 who are now well oiled. 04:42 And they put them on the backs of these wild bronco's. 04:45 And the first guy to get around and through, and there are 04:49 folks watching their every step and every movement, 04:52 the first guy to get through this obstacle course 04:55 and back to the point of beginning is the winner 04:57 of a large purse and he becomes the hero, 05:00 the all around cowboy of Italy. 05:03 Nearly every year, there are some who are seriously injured, 05:08 either riders or spectators or both. 05:10 And oft times, there are some who lose their lives. 05:13 But they continue on with the Florentine rodeo. 05:17 Now, I want you to next notice the style of the 05:21 architecture of the building. 05:23 You'll see that this palace is about four and a half 05:26 stories in height. 05:27 And at the roof level, there is a cantilever with arches. 05:31 Right across there. 05:34 An overhang. 05:35 Now, we have overhangs over our roofs here 05:38 in this part of the country and in other places 05:40 of the world, of course. 05:41 Especially where there's a lot of rain or snow or whatever. 05:44 But the overhang here was for a different purpose. 05:47 The cantilever has these arches which are open 05:51 to whatever is below. 05:54 There were enemies of the Medici. 05:57 Of course, there are political enemies of any ruling family, 06:01 or any government, I suppose, for that matter. 06:05 And so they had bars and shutters over the windows 06:08 and they were able to make the doors quite secure. 06:10 But if someone really began to batter and was determined 06:14 to break in then the defenders up on the roof, and this is 06:18 24 hours around the clock, they had fires going up there 06:23 atop which they boiled oil, 06:27 olive oil. 06:28 And if someone was insistent on causing a problem down below, 06:32 through those arches, they could pour down the boiling oil 06:37 on the troublemakers down below. 06:39 And that had a tendency to discourage them a fair amount. 06:42 You can imagine. 06:44 Now, if on the other hand someone did gain entrance 06:48 through a door or a window at the first or second level, 06:50 then the royals could go up into the clock tower, 06:54 the bell tower, it's one and the same. 06:56 And up in the very top, the place is designed 06:59 in the same way. 07:01 And in fact, now we have a better picture of it. 07:03 You can see that much of it has fallen away now, tragically. 07:10 The tower was more often used as a place of imprisonment 07:14 than it was a place of security, or a safe room 07:18 as we might call it. 07:19 You know, many of the homes today, the wealthy families 07:22 have a safe room. 07:24 If someone tries to break in, if your alarm goes off, 07:27 folks go to this room that is more solidly built than others 07:32 and is suppose to be doubly safe and many of them 07:34 even bullet proof. 07:35 And mom and the kids go inside and lock the door. 07:38 Well, the safe room here was way up in the bell tower. 07:43 I want to talk to you now about the most famous 07:45 prisoner every held in that tower. 07:49 His name was Girolamo Savonarola. 07:52 Now Savonarola was a pastor, and a very dedicated pastor 07:57 and a very serious student of the word of God. 08:02 And he loved, particularly, the writings of the apostle Paul. 08:06 The Romans, the Galatians, the letter to the Ephesians 08:10 where righteousness by faith was so clearly taught. 08:14 "By grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. 08:18 It is the gift of God. " 08:20 And this pastor began to share these ideas and these teachings 08:24 with the folks and it was like pouring water on dry ground. 08:28 The folks coming out of the dark ages hadn't 08:31 heard anything like this. 08:33 They had been taught for centuries, and also had their 08:36 fore bearers, that you gain God's pleasure 08:39 by going on pilgrimages, by lighting candles, 08:43 by flagellating your back, by on occasion walking on 08:47 glass in your sandals. 08:49 And when Pastor Savonarola began to teach that 08:53 righteousness was by trusting in what Jesus had already 08:57 done for us, when he began to explain salvation by grace 09:02 and justification in Jesus the folks came to hear him en masse. 09:09 What he was teaching, now, was contrary to what the church, 09:12 at the time, was teaching. 09:13 And the church and the state were one and the same. 09:17 This was long before laws against church and state 09:20 being joined together. 09:22 And many of the countries of the world, of course today, 09:24 still do not have any such laws. 09:26 We're fortunate that here in the United States we believe 09:30 still strongly in the separation of church and state. 09:35 Savonarola was threatened, "You must stop your preaching 09:38 the righteousness of Jesus. " 09:41 And Savonarola said, "It's the good news, it's the gospel. 09:45 How can you tell me to stop?" 09:48 And so he continued to share. 09:50 And ere long, the officers came and arrested him. 09:53 There was a farce of a trial here and then because he refused 09:58 to change his ways, he was taken up into the top of the tower. 10:02 We're going to go up in there in just a little bit. 10:04 And there a cell had been prepared for him. 10:07 It did have one window out of which he had a southern view. 10:11 And there he was held for years and years and years 10:15 with no appeal. 10:18 But after some many years, he was called down 10:22 for an examination. 10:26 And the judge said to him, "Pastor, I am willing 10:29 to let you go home today, but you must promise me 10:34 that you'll stop talking about the righteousness of Jesus. " 10:38 And Savonarola said, "I have no desire at all 10:42 to be a firebrand or to proselytize or to cause 10:47 a disruption within the church. 10:49 That's not my aim, not my plan. 10:51 But, what if folks come and ask me about 10:55 the righteousness of Jesus? 10:56 Surely you can't expect me to say that I don't know or 10:59 I can't tell you or anything such as that?" 11:02 And they simply said to him, "I'm warning you. 11:05 Be very careful, be very careful. " 11:10 We'll finish that story of Savonarola, after we just 11:14 for a moment look inside the chapel. 11:17 This is where the Medici who'd arrested Savonarola worshipped. 11:22 And it is made lovely by some of the most precious marble 11:26 in all of the world. 11:27 Italy not only produces still today some of the finest, 11:31 some of the most expensive marble, but it also still today 11:35 provides the finest marble workmen and tile setters, 11:40 I guess we might call them in our language, 11:43 in our setup today. 11:44 Well, out in front of the chapel, in front of the palace, 11:51 there is a monument in the pavement today 11:55 about the end of Pastor Savonarola. 11:58 And here's the end of his story. 12:01 He was released and allowed to go home after the warning, 12:05 "You must stop talking about the righteousness of Christ. " 12:07 And as soon as it was announced that he was released, the people 12:10 came from every direction you can imagine, 12:13 hungry more to hear about the righteousness of Christ. 12:17 And Savonarola began to share and crowds came and grew. 12:21 So he was arrested again, taken again up into the tower. 12:26 But only for a short while. 12:28 One day the soldiers went stomping up the staircase 12:31 and into his little cell where they strangled him to death. 12:36 Then dragged his body, bumpity bump, down the staircase 12:40 and out in front where the people had gathered. 12:44 There they burned his body. 12:47 Where that happened, there is today a monument, 12:50 as I mentioned, with some very kind words 12:53 about Pastor Girolamo Savonarola. 12:57 This in his memory, on the spot where he was burned. 13:03 Many, many years later, other pastors; 13:07 Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Knox, Huss, 13:12 would find not only spiritual direction, 13:18 not only theological guidance, but also courage and strength 13:27 from the example of Girolamo Savonarola. 13:29 So I would say to each of us tonight, whether our Christian 13:33 back ground is from some branch of Protestantism 13:37 or from the Roman Catholic church, I believe each of us 13:40 owes a debt of gratitude to Pastor Girolamo Savonarola. 13:45 And if ever you're in Florence, you be sure to go to this spot. 13:49 Because in many ways, it's sacred. 13:51 We're now up in the little room where Savonarola was held. 13:54 And that was his view. 13:56 He had a really wonderful view of the bell tower 13:59 of the second largest cathedral in the world. 14:01 We're going to just put the camera out with 14:04 the wide angle lens. 14:05 We see again the coloration, the configuration of the city. 14:09 And right in the center, our next stop. 14:11 And this is, by the way, the best picture you're going to get 14:14 of this lovely large cathedral. 14:18 The cathedral of St. John the Baptist. 14:20 I mentioned earlier that it is the second largest 14:24 Catholic cathedral in the world. 14:27 But it is the third largest cathedral. 14:31 The largest cathedral in all of the world is the 14:34 cathedral of St. Peter inside the Vatican 14:36 where we're going to visit in a few evenings. 14:39 I'm going to take you right inside the Pope's home 14:42 and into the Sistine Chapel where the popes are elected. 14:46 I'm going to take you down the main nave of St. Peter's 14:49 which is longer than two football fields end to end, 14:53 to give you just a little bit of a feel for the size. 14:55 So that's the largest cathedral in the world, 14:57 St. Peter's in the Vatican. 14:58 The second largest cathedral is the cathedral of St. Paul 15:02 in the city of London. 15:04 And we had a brief glimpse of it our first night together here. 15:08 We visited London if you'll recall. 15:11 But that's an Anglican cathedral, you see. 15:13 The Church of England owns that one. 15:15 Built by the direction of Christopher Wren. 15:18 That makes this one then the third largest cathedral, 15:22 but the second largest Catholic cathedral. 15:25 It is made out of a very diverse combination 15:31 of colors of marble. 15:33 The dominant color and the largest section is made of 15:38 Carrera marble. 15:40 The Carrera quarry, or mine, is only just a short distance 15:45 or just short miles from here. 15:47 And I think it's the most beautiful marble 15:50 in all the world still, the white Carrera marble. 15:53 And then there is a hot pink marbling that is used for trim 15:56 along with kind of a dark green. 15:59 Now generally we would not think of putting those 16:01 colors together probably. 16:03 If a lady wore a suit and a purse with those combinations, 16:07 someone would say that they clashed, I suppose. 16:11 But here, somehow it fits. It really does fit. 16:14 Now we're going to back away a little bit and give you a feel 16:17 for the size and the style. 16:20 The architecture, for your interest sake, is called 16:22 Tuscan Romanesque. 16:24 Kind of a combination of Tuscany, where we are here, 16:27 and the Roman style of architecture. 16:31 And you can see the beauty. 16:32 And oh, by the way, be reminded that this thing was built about 16:35 a thousand years ago by men with crude hand tools. 16:38 And you see the statues above, high above the entry doors. 16:42 Well, look down toward the doors. 16:45 There are three main doors. 16:47 One on the left over here that you see. 16:49 And one over on the right. 16:51 And then one right in the very center. 16:53 This is the main door that gains you access to the main nave. 16:58 That's where the folks go in to worship. 17:01 We can see where the folks are waiting to go inside. 17:04 Let's look at the main door. 17:05 There it is, there's the top of the door right up there. 17:08 And down at the bottom of the screen, there are the heads 17:11 of the people waiting to go inside. 17:14 I've, I guess, never felt much smaller or insignificant 17:18 than when I stepped inside for the first time, 17:20 this massive church. 17:22 It is so huge and it is so very, very lovely. 17:27 Now there are three buildings here that comprise 17:31 the church complex. 17:33 This is the main one of course, the cathedral. 17:35 Next to that is the campanile or the bell tower. 17:38 And then when we turn around 180 degrees, 17:41 we see another building, separate or apart, 17:43 but a part of the complex. 17:45 This, ladies and gentlemen, is the baptistery 17:47 named in the honor of St. John the Baptist. 17:53 Some very important men have been baptized 17:55 inside that baptistery. 17:57 And I'll just take a moment to mention one of them for you. 18:01 His name was Dante. 18:04 Dante Alighieri was baptized inside this baptistery 18:09 when he was just a young person. 18:11 And it was Dante, you remember from reading in your 18:14 high school literature, who wrote the "Divine Comedy. " 18:17 And a portion of that is called, 18:19 "Sinners In The Hand Of An Angry God. " 18:21 Dante would represent God as vengeful and angry 18:26 and waiting for the least excuse to drop folks, His children, 18:29 into the tar pits of hell where they would roast and burn 18:32 and fry forever and ever. 18:34 Tragically, Dante's theology was passed down into the church 18:39 and down through the ages. 18:40 It is my considered opinion that Dante Alighieri has done more 18:45 to defile the character of our Father God 18:49 than any one other single person. 18:54 I want you to take a close-up of the doors of the baptistery. 18:59 There was a man by the name of Ghiberti who was commissioned 19:02 at the time of the construction of the cathedral and 19:05 the baptistery to design the entry doors. 19:09 Ghiberti was a gifted artist. 19:12 He could draw, he could sculpt. 19:14 But his main gift, it seemed, was working with brass 19:19 and with bronze. 19:21 He was able to take a sheet of metal; brass, bronze, or a 19:26 combination thereof, and begin to shape it and fashion it 19:30 until it became almost three dimensional. 19:33 In other words, the figures out in the front of his design 19:38 would stand out, sometimes 6 or 7 inches from 19:42 those of the background. 19:44 So we're going to move in for a close-up of these doors, 19:49 the doors of the baptistery. 19:53 They tell the story of the history of God's children, 19:55 the Jews, and about their deliverance from Egypt 19:59 and about the crossing of the Red Sea. 20:01 Here, we see them doing just that. 20:04 Now, these frames, ladies and gentlemen, 20:06 are a bit larger than 3 feet square. 20:10 And again, be reminded, they're done out of one piece of metal. 20:14 That's called bas-relief, for your interest sake. 20:18 And these bronze pieces were here for hundreds 20:21 and hundreds and hundreds of years. 20:23 But because of pollution and acid rain 20:26 and all that sort of thing, 20:27 they began to show some wear. 20:29 And so only just a few months ago, they were taken down 20:33 and replaced with copies that had been made from forms 20:38 taken from them, beautiful copies out of the same material. 20:42 And the copies now replace the originals. 20:44 And the copies are covered over with a water proof 20:48 sort of a plastic material. 20:50 Alright. 20:51 Now, here's the really good news. 20:54 Copies of these doors are going to be displayed in a few months 21:00 over in Seattle, Washington. 21:01 And I'm telling you folks, it's worth the drive to go 21:04 from here to see them. 21:06 And if you'll log onto National Geographic or some such source, 21:11 or just look for the doors of Ghiberti, you'll find 21:15 when they're going to be over in Seattle. 21:16 I think it's going to be quite soon now 21:18 but I'm not certain of the date. 21:19 They're going to display them here in 3 major cities, 21:23 I believe, and Seattle happens to be one of them. 21:26 The doors of the baptistery. 21:27 Let's look at one other, shall we. 21:29 Here is the depiction of the Queen of Sheba 21:32 coming over to Solomon's temple. 21:34 And the King James Bible says she was greatly impressed 21:38 by the ascent, the new translations say, 21:41 "by the staircase," that went up to the temple. 21:43 And one of these nights, we'll have a look at 21:45 what's left of that. 21:46 And you'll notice now, again, how these figures stand out 21:50 from the background. 21:52 And you'll just think that they had been made separately 21:54 and then placed there individually. 21:56 But they were not. 21:58 We're down on the Arno river now. 22:02 Framing our picture through one bridge to the second bridge. 22:06 The second bridge is the one that we're going to spend 22:09 some time talking about and regarding just a little bit. 22:14 This, ladies and gentlemen, is the oldest bridge in the world. 22:18 Therefore, it has been given that name. 22:20 Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge. 22:23 Now if ever you have been to Venice, and you remember 22:27 a few evenings we went. 22:28 If you were here with me, we went to Venice 22:30 and we went down the Grand Canal. 22:33 And we saw there a bridge that was sort of V shaped 22:36 and kind of like an arch, and it was called the Rialto. 22:39 And I told you it was built in 1588. 22:41 That is the second oldest bridge in the world. 22:43 But this one is older by more than 200 years. 22:48 1345, this bridge was built. 22:52 Now, this is the only bridge across the Arno river, 22:57 for miles and miles in either direction, 22:59 that was not blown up during the time of World War II 23:03 by the allies. 23:04 The Americans and the British fighting against the 23:08 central powers, the allied powers of Germany. 23:10 Because this is a main communication line, you see, 23:13 between Hitler in the north and Mussolini down south. 23:15 And so they blew up the bridges across the Arno, 23:18 but they saved this one for two reasons. 23:21 It is so narrow that you couldn't, certainly couldn't 23:25 get a tank across it. 23:26 You couldn't drive a jeep through it. 23:28 And you could not march soldiers in any number. 23:31 And so it was not a threat in that way. 23:33 But more importantly, I'm sure because of its antiquity. 23:37 It's the oldest bridge in all of the world. 23:39 Now I want to point out a couple of things here to you. 23:42 Let's look up toward the top. 23:44 Maybe the next picture, yes. 23:46 This one is even more clear. 23:48 Look up across the top of the bridge there 23:50 and you'll see windows. 23:51 And those windows have bars across them. 23:54 And those windows give light to a very, very special sidewalk. 23:59 I guess that's the best way to say it. 24:02 The Medici family had their palace on one side of the river 24:06 and they had their places of government on the other side. 24:12 The home was on one side and the governmental offices were on the 24:15 other side of the river. 24:16 In order to get to work, you had to cross the river. 24:18 In order to get back home, you crossed the river. 24:20 And they had political enemies as we mentioned earlier when 24:24 we talked about the design and the architecture of the palace. 24:27 It would not be safe for a royal to walk down with the 24:31 commoners and down in the street, 24:33 especially in a narrow and confined place. 24:35 And so they built this special sidewalk so that the Medici 24:40 could cross the river in safety. 24:42 What's on the bridge today? Well I'll tell you. 24:45 There is a Jewish family that does gold jewelry. 24:52 They're said to be the finest goldsmiths in all the world. 24:56 And I can tell you ladies that their jewelry is 24:59 very, very expensive. 25:01 And the main shop is here on the bridge. 25:04 And when they make a piece of jewelry, they mark it 25:07 with their family mark and with the 25:09 old bridge mark, Ponte Vecchio. 25:11 And they say that as soon as it is stamped in that way, 25:14 it has instant antique value. 25:17 Now that sounds to me like a contradiction in terms, but 25:20 none the less, you would pay twice or perhaps three times 25:24 as much for the same piece here made on the bridge 25:28 as you would for the piece that that was made a block 25:31 or two on either side. 25:33 But if you're like me, you'd probably just as soon 25:37 put new tires on the car. 25:41 Well, we're going to stop now at the Gallery of the Academy 25:44 and we're going to see what I believe to be some of the most 25:46 beautiful marble carvings in all of the world. 25:52 I can't tell you who's done this, one but I can tell you 25:55 that it's a solid piece of marble. 25:57 And you notice the folds of the dress, the delicacy. 26:02 We're going to move inside the main theatre and take a look 26:06 at Michelangelo's David. 26:08 Standing there on a raised stone platform some 30 feet 26:11 is Michelangelo's David. 26:13 Now let me tell you a bit about the background. 26:16 Out at the Carrera quarry, there was an accident. 26:19 The miners were taking off a large chunk of marble 26:23 when a piece on the end slivered off. 26:25 It was icicle like, long and narrow. 26:28 And they felt that it would be of waste but Michelangelo said, 26:30 "No, give it to me. " 26:32 He happened at the time to be about age 24. 26:36 They took the marble downtown and there was a 26:39 tent built around it. 26:40 And this young man began to chisel and chisel and chisel. 26:44 And two years later, he had the unveiling. 26:46 Michelangelo's David, perhaps the most famous marble carving 26:50 in all this world. 26:52 Now you'll notice that he kept the one arm tight to the side 26:56 and the other arm that holds the sling 26:59 is near to the body as well. 27:01 But we're going to move in, you and I, for some close-up. 27:05 I want you to look at the hand there. 27:09 And you see the cords that open and close the fingers. 27:13 And you look at your own hand and you exactly the same thing. 27:17 And then we're going to move over to the neck we see the 27:20 great cords that turn the head. 27:24 And we're going to move up this cord, and right there 27:28 we see a blood vessel. 27:32 And we just have to pinch ourselves to be reminded 27:36 that this done with a man with a hammer and chisel. 27:40 Amazing. 27:41 How was he able to bring out such detail? 27:43 And by the way, if you're ever looking at art, 27:45 the finest art is classified by its detail. 27:49 If you're looking at a sculpture, 27:50 if you're looking at a bronze, if you're looking at a Cousinet, 27:53 if you're looking at a Dresden piece of something of humanity; 27:57 if the fingers are webbed together, that's not the finest. 28:00 But if the detail is fine, if the fingers are separated, 28:04 if the lace is individual, then it's the finest stuff. 28:08 And so we find it here. 28:10 How was he able to bring out this detail? 28:12 Before ever he began to paint or sculpt, he had been a student 28:16 of the human anatomy. 28:18 He had been a part of the dissecting several cadavers. 28:20 He knew all the muscular system and the circulatory system. 28:24 And he was able, somehow, to make it come to life in stone. 28:27 Here are a couple of graves, a couple of sarcophagi inside 28:32 the Gallery of the Academy, and male and female figures. 28:38 And one is day and the other is night. 28:40 And that is the tomb, by the way, of Lorenzo de' Medici. 28:43 Now our final stop is this cathedral, Santa Croce, 28:48 the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. 28:51 We're not going to go inside because it's not elaborate 28:54 and it's not terribly large. 28:57 We are going to go over into a crypt in just a little bit 29:00 to see one place of burial. 29:03 But this one, for my mind, is important because of four men 29:07 who are buried inside. 29:08 To say that these men were contemporaries 29:10 wouldn't be exactly correct. 29:12 But to say that, to the large degree, their lives overlapped 29:15 would be correct. 29:16 One of the men buried inside is Machiavelli. 29:21 Niccolo Machiavelli was only about 20 years of age when 29:26 he wrote a book entitled, "The Prince. " 29:28 And it was his own design for the way cities and states 29:31 ought to be governed. 29:33 And in his writing he said, what is important is 29:37 political expediency. 29:39 I think that's the best way to say it. 29:41 And he promoted the idea that the end justifies the means. 29:45 And it's alright to be involved in a little immorality, 29:48 it's alright to cheat a little, it's alright to lie a lot 29:50 as long as you have the best political result in mind. 29:54 And it seems, to my mind, that has caught on in a lot of 29:57 political circles today. 29:58 Did it ring any bells in your head? Yea. 30:01 That whole idea is called today, Machiavellian attitudes. 30:05 Machiavelli is buried inside. 30:09 And then another that we have spoken of. 30:12 Michelangelo Bounarroti is buried inside. 30:15 This is not his tomb. 30:17 But it is a tomb of a contemporary, in a sense. 30:20 This is the tomb of Galileo Galilei. 30:24 Galileo was born in the same year that Michelangelo died. 30:29 And they're both buried inside. 30:33 And then the fourth man of importance is Dante Alighieri 30:37 of whom we spoke a bit earlier. 30:39 Dante is buried inside. 30:41 If you folks haven't read a couple of good biographies 30:44 of Michelangelo, and Galileo certainly, you need to do that. 30:49 Galileo didn't invent but he perfected the telescope. 30:52 And made it a working tool and traced the movements 30:54 of the heavenly bodies with an accuracy 30:56 that still stuns astronomers today. 30:59 I thank you for traveling with me. 31:04 And now to our subject. 31:06 The Prayer Never Answered Yet. 31:11 Would you open your Bibles please to Matthew chapter 6. 31:13 Matthew's gospel chapter 6. 31:16 And I'm going to read verses 9 and 10. 31:19 Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 and 10. 31:22 The context is this. 31:24 The disciples have obviously heard our Lord Jesus pray 31:27 oft times, and they were impressed by His pray 31:30 and by His style. 31:31 And so they asked Him, "Lord would You each us to pray?" 31:34 And Jesus did. 31:36 And we now refer to His teaching in this area as 31:39 the Lord's prayer. 31:40 And I want to read just a couple of verses. 31:42 Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 and 10. 31:46 Jesus said, "After this manner, therefore, pray ye; 31:50 Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 31:56 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.. " 31:59 Now you tell me what it says. 32:01 Thy will be done where? 32:02 "... on earth as it is in heaven. " 32:07 That is the prayer, my dears, not answered yet. 32:11 Lord, could Your will, Your way, Your love 32:14 be demonstrated daily here on earth? 32:16 Could Your kingdom come, could people love one another? 32:19 Could they treat folks decently? 32:21 Could they train their children in the right way? 32:23 Could they live a healthful live? 32:25 Could Your kingdom come now? 32:28 Here on earth, it hasn't happened yet. 32:31 I'm sorry to have to report to you. 32:35 The world news in the last three days. 32:38 I've taken a couple of notes here. 32:40 They found a baby again in the dumpster day before yesterday. 32:43 It's getting so folks throw their kids away with the 32:46 morning trash and the kitchen garbage. 32:48 And not very many hours prior to that, there was a guy who 32:52 got angry with his wife over the divorce settlement and said, 32:54 "I'll get even with you. " 32:56 And he took the kids and threw them into the bay 32:59 and off of the bridge. 33:00 A couple of days later another guy, evidently getting the same 33:03 idea, decided he would shoot his three kids to death 33:06 to get even with his wife. 33:08 And he did that and then he killed himself. 33:10 And then you'll remember the tragedy of just yesterday. 33:13 In the fast food store, a guy goes into the restroom 33:17 and for no reason at all pulls a semi automatic pistol 33:21 and shoots six people and then takes his own life. 33:28 "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. " 33:33 Not yet. 33:34 I want to read you a little something here. 33:38 But before I read it, I want you to turn with me to Matthew 33:41 chapter 24 verse 12. 33:43 We've alluded to Matthew chapter 24 and Luke 17 and 21 33:47 so many, many times in the last several evenings 33:49 because they go together. 33:50 They're referred to by theologians these days, 33:53 by the way, as the Olivet discourse. 33:55 The disciples have asked their Lord, "What will be the sign 33:59 of your coming and of the end of the world?" 34:00 And He said it's going to be like this and this and this. 34:03 And then He gives, in verse 12, this little bit of information. 34:09 Chapter 24. 34:14 "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many 34:20 shall wax... " How? 34:22 Get better and better? 34:24 No. 34:25 Natural love shall wax worse and worse, 34:29 and colder and colder still. 34:33 I want to read you something from a man who said it, I think, 34:35 better than I could ever say it. 34:38 He said, "Love's growing cold in the last days is 34:42 really the root of not only religious persecution, 34:47 but racial bigotry as well. 34:48 The breakdown of the family unit in our century 34:51 is directly related. 34:52 We're stunned, not only by bizarre crimes where parents 34:55 and children murder one another, but by a growing multitude of 34:59 sad eyed boys and girls who are mournfully adrift 35:02 between separated parents. 35:04 Some physically and mentally abused. 35:06 Some who's faces stare at us for perhaps the last time 35:10 from the milk cartons and the newspaper mailings. " 35:14 He said, "Selfishness is today completely suffocating 35:19 God's love. " 35:21 Some say that the coming of Jesus, which I believe 35:24 will finally bring an end to this kind of tragedy 35:27 and finally will bring the answer to that prayer, 35:29 "Thy will be done. " 35:31 "The coming of Jesus," some say, "is an invisible thing. 35:36 It happens in the heart. 35:37 When you accept Him as your Lord and Savior, 35:40 that's the second coming of Jesus. " 35:42 There have been others who said, "No, no. 35:44 Jesus comes when you die. 35:46 When a believer dies, that's the second coming. " 35:48 And then there is another and growing group that have said 35:51 that He's already here in a literal way. 35:53 That He came in 1914 or 1917. 35:56 Others say, "He's never coming. It's only an allegory. 35:59 It's never going to happen. 36:01 It's just the kind of a pious platitude that's dished out 36:04 to those that are hurting and suffering at times of accident 36:08 and tragedy and illness and disease and death. " 36:13 Ladies and gentlemen, we're not the only ones, you and I, 36:17 who believe that something has to happen. 36:20 And I'm going to enlarge upon that in just a little bit. 36:23 But I first want to put into your minds another passage 36:26 that's very directly related to the inhumanity; 36:30 one man to another, parents to children, children to parents 36:33 and grandparents. 36:34 In Matthew chapter 24 and verse 6, there our Lord Jesus 36:38 talked about the war and rumor of war. 36:40 And we alluded to this on another evening. 36:42 But I want to read this to you tonight. 36:44 It's a recent study. 36:46 It suggests that we travel, in our minds, eastward. 36:49 We go from Iran to the Soviet occupied Afghanistan. 36:53 And then we go to India with its racial turmoil. 36:56 And then we move to the ravaged countries of Laos and Cambodia 36:59 and eventually to Vietnam. 37:01 We go to the Korea's. 37:03 And then we move on south to the Philippines, 37:06 that ticking time bomb. 37:08 And then we're going to head across the Pacific to the 37:11 troubled Central and South America's. 37:13 Across the Atlantic then to Ireland. 37:15 Down to South Africa. 37:17 Over into Libya where there has been the export of terrorism. 37:21 And we arrive again finally in the Middle East 37:23 where the strife is as complex as it is implacable. 37:27 "You'll be hearing of wars and rumors of wars," said Jesus. 37:31 "How very true," says the author, "all around the world. " 37:35 And then in addition to that, as we also mentioned 37:37 on another evening, there is the ethnicity, the fighting of gangs 37:41 in the neighborhoods because of this color against that color 37:44 or this neighborhood against that other neighborhood. 37:47 And so, the folks of the world have known, 37:49 some for a long while have felt that something is 37:52 going to happen. 37:53 And while there is the idea out there in the secular world 37:57 that only religious fanatics believe in a literal 38:01 second coming of Jesus, I thought that I would 38:03 just share with you some of the other perspectives 38:07 from other points of view. 38:09 Let's talk about the Native American. 38:11 The idea of end time belief has been held by Native Americans 38:16 for many, many years. 38:18 A Sioux medicine man by the name of Ogallala said that the world 38:22 would grow out of balance and natural disasters like floods, 38:25 fires, and earthquakes would, in the final days, increase. 38:28 And then he said, "There will come a white buffalo. 38:32 When the white buffalo is born, there will soon come 38:35 a return of balance and harmony and 38:37 spiritual awakening in the world. " 38:39 "And some of the tribal leaders still today," I'm reading. 38:42 "Some tribal leaders still today feel that this may well have 38:45 begun when a white buffalo was born in 1994." 38:50 Interesting. 38:52 The Hopi Indians. 38:53 Alright, a little nearer to home perhaps for some. 38:56 Several Hopi tribal leaders have prophesied that the coming 39:00 of the white man to their part of the world was the signal 39:03 of the end times. 39:05 And they began to say and teach that about 250 years ago. 39:10 And then there's the Judaic perspective. 39:12 The Talmud states that the world as we know it today 39:16 will last only 6000 years. 39:19 And by the way, in their calendar it is now 5766. 39:25 And that relates to our calendar year 2038. 39:34 Only just a few years away is the way they 39:37 believe about it all. 39:38 And then there's the Islamic perspective. 39:40 And we could go on and on and on. 39:42 But to those who suggest that it just an illusion, 39:45 it's only just a symbol, it's a metaphor. 39:47 I'm here to say to you tonight once again that it is 39:50 indeed a reality. 39:52 And it is not only the blessed hope, 39:54 it's the world's only hope. 39:55 As we've said also on several prior occasions. 39:58 Our Lord Jesus, in an upper room to His very best friends, 40:01 gave this promise. 40:02 They were gathered to celebrate for the last time, 40:04 the Lord's supper. 40:05 To celebrate, rather, for the last time the Passover feast. 40:10 And then to put it in it's place, the Lord's supper. 40:13 And in that context, while His twelve best friends are 40:16 gathered around Him, Jesus says, "I'm going to have to leave you. 40:20 Where I'm going, you can't come. Not now, not yet. " 40:23 And their hearts are broken. 40:24 They've just come to love Him totally 40:26 and trust Him explicitly, completely. 40:29 And they begin to show their concern. 40:32 "Lord, why? 40:33 Please don't desert us. Please don't. " 40:36 And into this troubled environment, 40:39 Jesus speaks words promise. 40:41 John chapter 14, verses 1-3. 40:44 And I read not long ago in my study for this subject 40:48 that this verse has been learned by more children in 40:51 church and Sunday school and elsewhere than perhaps 40:54 any other single verse. 40:56 John 14, verses 1-3. 40:59 Jesus in the upper room said, "Let not your heart be troubled. 41:03 You believe in God, believe also in Me. " 41:06 "In My... " now tell me. Where? 41:10 Somewhere out in outer space? 41:11 Somewhere among the clouds in some ethereal place? 41:14 In some misty nebula sort of a notion in your mind? 41:18 No. "In My Father's house, there are many mansions. " 41:23 "Many rooms," say other translations. 41:25 "If it were not so, I would have told you. 41:27 I'm going to go to get one ready for you. 41:29 And if I go, I will come again; that where I am, 41:34 there you may be also. " 41:38 "In My Father's house. " 41:40 In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 19-29; 41:44 and I want you "A" students to write it down. 41:46 And before you go to sleep tonight, go home and read it. 41:48 Because it's so very, very encouraging. 41:51 But the apostle Paul would say to those who want to suggest 41:54 that heaven and the earth made new is a metaphor, 41:57 he would say this. 41:59 "If in this life only we have hope, then we are of all men 42:03 most miserable. " 42:06 If this is all we have, if this is it, if this party is all 42:11 that we're entitled to then we are of all men, most miserable. 42:17 The Bible refers to our Lord Jesus as the paradigm 42:21 of resurrection. 42:22 "He is the first fruit," says the King James Bible. 42:25 That means He is the supreme example. 42:28 And we could, then, let our minds be reminded 42:32 of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. 42:35 When, on that resurrection Sunday, the stone was 42:37 rolled away, did Jesus come out as some kind of a ghost 42:40 or a vapor or an essence or kind of a metaphor sort of? 42:44 No, He came out a real man. 42:46 A real man. 42:47 Mary from Magdala, the last to leave the cross, 42:50 is the first at the open tomb. 42:52 And when she gets there in the early morning before 42:55 the sunlight really has arrived, as she looks through her tears 42:58 and sees that the stone is rolled away and her heart is 43:01 broken, and she moves nearer and looks inside and sees 43:05 His body is gone. 43:07 And she's thinking, "Will they never let Him alone? 43:09 Will they torture and torment Him always? 43:11 They tortured Him during His life, they won't let Him 43:13 have peace in death? 43:14 Is there nothing sacred any longer?" 43:17 And then through her tears, she looks. 43:19 And it's becoming a bit more lighted in the garden. 43:22 And she sees someone whom she believes to be the gardener. 43:26 And so she calls out, "Sir, if you've taken His body 43:28 somewhere, tell me where you've taken Him 43:31 and I'll take care of Him. " 43:32 I've always admired the faith of little Mary. 43:37 "You just tell me where His body is and I'll 43:39 take care of it now. " 43:41 And who was it? 43:43 It was Jesus. 43:45 And He said to her, "Mary, Mary. " 43:50 And she recognized Him by His voice. 43:53 And she ran to Him. 43:54 And the picture in the New Testament is, 43:56 from John's gospel chapter 19 and chapter 20, that she 44:00 fell down and threw her arms around His ankles. 44:03 She was never going to let Him out of her sight again. 44:05 And Jesus said, "You can't hang on to Me, Mary. 44:07 I have not yet ascended. 44:09 You can't hold Me here. I have work yet to do. " 44:12 He came out of the grave a real man with a real body. 44:16 He appeared later that day to the disciples. 44:19 And there was one who was absent, you remember. 44:22 Thomas, the man from Missouri, had to be showed. 44:25 And when the other disciples said, 44:27 "Boy, you missed something wonderful. 44:28 Jesus is not dead, He just stopped by. " 44:31 And Thomas said, "There's no way, there's no way. " 44:33 That was some kind of a ghost, some kind of a 44:35 spook that came by here. " 44:37 And so a week later, Jesus stopped by again 44:39 and this time Thomas was home. 44:41 And Thomas still refused and backed away. 44:43 "Don't come near me. " 44:44 Jesus said, "Grow up Thomas. Stop this nonsense. 44:48 Come and put your finger into My wound. " 44:51 And then Jesus said, "A spirit, a ghost, doesn't have a 44:54 flesh and body as you see that I have. " 44:57 Jesus, 40 days later, ascended up into the skies. 45:01 And the Bible says a cloud received Him out of their sight. 45:05 And you read this in Acts chapter 1 verses 9-11. 45:09 And then an angle stood beside some of the folks that were 45:11 watching and said, "You men of Galilee, why are you 45:13 gazing up into heaven? 45:14 For this same Jesus that you've seen going into heaven 45:18 will so come in like manner as you have seen Him go. " 45:22 He went up into heaven and He's coming back to take His children 45:26 to the places there that He has made. 45:28 And then the prayer will be answered; 45:29 "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. " 45:33 I've been asked often times, "Where is heaven?" 45:36 Where is it? 45:37 Is it in outer space or where is heaven, what is this? 45:42 I'm going to give you several answers as regards the 45:45 New Testament language when it speaks about heaven. 45:48 And for want of time now, I'm going to have to insist that 45:51 you just take notes and it'll all be on the taping, of course. 45:55 I want to allude to 2 Corinthians 45:57 chapter 12 verses 1-4. 46:00 There the apostle Paul talks about a vision that he had. 46:03 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the first 4 verses. 46:06 He said, "I was caught up to the third heaven. 46:08 Whether I was there in my mind and vision, or whether my body 46:12 was literally taken, I'm not sure. 46:14 But I know I was there. " 46:16 The third heaven. 46:17 Now, it's a matter of simple logic. 46:20 It is a matter of deduction that if there is a third, 46:26 there must, of necessity, also be a first and a second. 46:31 So let me then give you some of the ideas. 46:34 The first heaven, I believe, is the aerial heaven. 46:37 Revelation chapter 19 and verse 17 gives the suggestion. 46:41 That's where the birds fly, up there in the atmosphere. 46:45 And I'm not suggesting, by the way, the three degrees of glory. 46:48 I don't want anyone to get the mistaken notion that I'm 46:51 suggesting some kind of spiritual progression. 46:57 But the atmosphere where pollution is. 47:00 And where the rain comes from, where the birds fly. 47:03 Psalm 19 verses 1-6 tell us about that part of the heavens 47:09 that's called the stellar heavens then. 47:11 That's where the stars are. 47:13 And so that, I believe, is the second heaven. 47:14 And the third heaven, as is alluded in 2 Corinthians 47:18 chapter 1 verse 4 and also in Revelation chapter 2 verse 7, 47:23 speaks about Paradise. 47:25 And it tells us that's where God's throne is. 47:27 And that's where also the tree of life is. 47:30 In Paradise. 47:31 And so I see then, the 3 heavens the apostle Paul talked about. 47:35 There is the atmospheric heaven where the birds fly. 47:38 There is the starry heaven where the stars shine down upon us. 47:42 And then there is Paradise where God's throne is 47:45 and where Jesus is going to come and take us to 47:48 when He comes in His second coming. 47:51 Moses and Elijah were taken to the third heaven. 47:55 Moses was resurrected to represent and symbolize those 47:59 that will be taken out of the graves when Jesus comes 48:02 in His second coming. 48:03 Elijah, on the other hand, was translated. 48:05 That's a Bible word. 48:06 That mean that he did not die. 48:08 The Bible says he was taken up in a chariot of fire. 48:11 I was talking to one lady not so very long ago about 48:14 the realities of heaven and how wonder it's going to be. 48:17 And how we're going to build mansions and grow gardens. 48:20 And she said this, "The thing that delights me is, 48:22 to just think, there'll be no more trailer houses. " 48:27 No more trailer houses. 48:29 Yeah permanence, that was her idea. 48:32 Finally, permanence. 48:33 It true, we're going to have a home in the city built 48:35 by our Lord Jesus. 48:36 It's also true that we're going to go out into the countryside 48:39 and build our own according to our own design and our own plan. 48:43 And that's why folks sing that lovely spiritual, 48:46 "Plenty good room, plenty good room in My Father's house. 48:50 Plenty good room in the Kingdom. " 48:52 The size of the city is enormous. 48:55 The book of Revelation tells us, and when you compute it 48:58 into our ways of measuring, it's about 375 miles square. 49:04 Some have suggested, it's about the same size 49:07 as is the state of Oregon. 49:08 141,000 square miles. 49:13 I have a buddy with whom I was talking not long ago. 49:16 A buddy that I appreciate so very much for his lifestyle. 49:20 He graduated from Loma Linda University with a 49:22 degree in dentistry. 49:23 And then went to California to practice where he 49:27 could have made tons money. 49:28 But got disgusted by the rat race and the lifestyle and 49:32 the competition and the way others were doing. 49:34 So he and his wife went to Africa as missionaries. 49:37 And they spent the rest of their working time there. 49:40 And still, from time to time, go there. 49:42 And not long ago, he and I were visiting. 49:44 We graduated from high school at the same time. 49:47 And I said to him, "George, sometimes I look at the lack 49:52 in my life and what I haven't provided for my family. " 49:56 And by the way, my friend George is living in a mobile home. 50:00 And I said, "I look around at some of the others that 50:03 graduated with us and they have big bank accounts 50:06 and beautiful homes. " 50:10 He said, "That's alright, Lyle. " 50:14 He said, "We have a friend who's building us 50:17 a mansion up there. " 50:19 Yeah. 50:22 A mansion. 50:25 Fine. 50:26 But I want to tell you folks tonight, Lyle's going to be 50:29 happy and satisfied if Jesus will just let me in the door. 50:37 Just let me inside, Lord. 50:41 Just give me a corner there somewhere. 50:44 And I shall be forever satisfied. 50:47 David, you remember, in Psalm 84 verse 10 said, 50:52 "I'd rather be a doorkeeper," that means a servant. 50:55 "I'd rather be the guy that opens and closes the door 50:58 in the house of God than to dwell in fancy places 51:02 with wicked folks. " 51:05 Just let me inside. 51:08 Imagine it now, in the earth made new. 51:11 Our Lord's going to take us to heaven. 51:13 We're going to be there with Him for 1000 years. 51:15 And we're going to talk about the 51:17 millennium in a few evenings. 51:18 And it does matter what you believe. 51:19 And be sure that you're here when we study passage, 51:22 Revelation chapter 20 and that passage. 51:24 Make sure that you're here. 51:26 We're going to spend a thousand years in heaven where 51:28 Jesus has gone to prepare the mansions. 51:30 And then the holy city is going to come down, as we've read 51:33 again and again in Revelation 21. 51:35 "I, John, saw the New Jerusalem, the holy city coming down 51:39 from God out of heaven prepared as a bride 51:41 adorned for her husband. " 51:43 And when the prayer of Jesus is answered, 51:45 "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," 51:50 then there'll be no more hospitals. 51:52 Thank God for the doctors and the nurses. 51:55 And there are many here. 51:56 And I've told you nurses especially, how I appreciate you 51:58 and how I love you because I have two of my kids 52:01 that are nurses. 52:02 Thank God for hospitals and for nurses. 52:04 And there's a necessity of jails and prisons, 52:06 and even for reform schools. 52:08 But not any longer when the prayer is answered. 52:11 Now when God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. 52:14 No longer the cemeteries. 52:16 Don't you want to go to heaven? 52:18 Don't you want to go? I'm ready right now. 52:21 Some have the mistaken notion that there are only 144,000 52:24 that are going to go there. 52:25 And I don't have any great burden about that. 52:29 I really don't believe it in that way. 52:33 I don't care very much, as long as I'm one of them. 52:38 Just let me in the door, Lord. 52:41 I looked in the mirror not long ago. 52:56 I saw someone I didn't know. 53:07 Since our boy died, my face has caved in. 53:20 And I, half jokingly and half seriously, 53:23 had a little conversation with a plastic surgeon. 53:31 Could you help me? 53:32 He half jokingly said, "Well Lyle, I wouldn't know 53:36 where to start or where to stop. " 53:41 And he said, "Besides that, if I gave you my part free 53:44 you still couldn't afford it. " 53:46 I said, "Well I was afraid you'd say that. " 53:51 "Well," he said, "don't feel bad, Lyle. " 53:53 He said, "Keep your chins up. All three of them. " 53:58 One day, I'm going to be changed. 54:00 One day. 54:01 The face I see in the mirror more and more 54:04 is a stranger to me. 54:06 More and more, I see myself becoming a man 54:09 I never thought I'd be. 54:10 You go through the airport these days and they put you through 54:14 trials and tribulations, and you got to go through all of those 54:18 machines that beep no matter what. 54:21 And you have to undress and take off your shoes 54:24 and some of the rest of your clothes. 54:25 And they have cameras now, they tell me, that are 54:27 taking pictures of you but they're real careful not to let 54:30 just everybody see them. 54:31 That's good for me. 54:34 And I went through one such, not so very long ago. 54:37 And I was complaining a little bit. 54:39 And the person on the other end where I was getting my shoes 54:42 said to me, "Sir we didn't check the bags under your eyes. " 54:45 I said, "That's not funny. " 54:48 That is not funny. 54:49 But one day, I'm going to be changed. 54:52 One day. 54:53 Oh, what a day. 54:57 I saw on a television program a couple of days ago, 55:01 a medical program, two little girls, twins they were. 55:08 Born with some serious health problems. 55:13 And they were both deaf. 55:18 And they were both completely blind. 55:25 And I thought much about those little girls. 55:31 Never heard a human voice, never seen a human face. 55:39 But one day soon, there's going to be the blowing of a trumpet. 55:44 There's going to be the shout of an angel. 55:47 "Awake ye that sleep in the dust. " 55:49 There's going to be the call of Jesus, "It's time to get up. " 55:52 It's getting up time. 55:53 And the graves are going to open. 55:55 And imagine those two little girls. 55:57 Their ears are going to be unstopped, 55:58 and their eyes are going to see. 56:00 And the first voice they hear is the voice of Jesus. 56:03 And the first face they see is the face of Jesus Christ. 56:06 Oh what a day that will be. 56:08 Even so, come Lord Jesus. 56:11 Let Your prayer be answered. 56:13 "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. " 56:17 And let us pray. 56:27 It's pretty tough here Lord. And You know that. 56:32 You've been through it. 56:37 But You have promised that one day soon, 56:40 it's going to be much better. 56:45 And it's not just some make believe notion or idea. 56:48 You've gone to build a real home in a real place 56:52 where You're going to take Your real children to spend 56:55 a real eternity 56:57 with no sickness, suffering, sorrow, or heartache. 57:01 Then as my daughter-in-law has said so many times lately, 57:04 "I have so much to tell Terry. " 57:07 We're home sick, Lord. Home sick for heaven. 57:11 It seems we can't wait. 57:15 We're longing to enter Zion's pearly gate where there's 57:17 never a heartache, never a care. 57:22 We long for our home over there. 57:26 Come quickly. 57:28 Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17