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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:36 Jean Ross: Hello friends, we'd like to welcome all of you 00:38 to "Sabbath School Study Hour" coming to you from the Amazing 00:41 Facts World Headquarters in Sacramento, California. 00:44 Of course, this is part of the Granite Bay online church 00:46 service and as many of you know, across the country, and really 00:49 around the world, we're doing something different as we can't 00:52 gather together in large groups because of the virus, but we can 00:55 still gather together and study God's Word. 00:58 We have a very exciting lesson that we want to share with 01:00 you today. 01:02 It's in our lesson quarterly entitled How To Interpret 01:04 Scripture, and today we find ourselves on lesson number four 01:09 and it's entitled, The Bible, The Authoritative Source Of Our 01:13 Theology, very important study. 01:16 What do we believe, why do we believe it? 01:18 It needs to be based upon the Bible. 01:20 Well, before we get to our study, I'd like to remind our 01:22 friends joining us across the country and around the world 01:24 about our free offer. 01:26 This is actually our first lesson in the Amazing Facts 01:28 lesson study series entitled, Is There Anything Left You 01:31 Can Trust? 01:33 And it's all about the Bible, how do we interpret the Bible, 01:35 how do we understand the Bible? 01:36 If you'd like to receive this study guide for free, the number 01:40 to call is 866-788-3966 and you can ask for Offer Number 103. 01:47 You can also text the number, or the code, SH043 to the number 01:53 40544, and we can send you a digital link where you'll be 01:58 able to read and study this right online on your phone, or 02:02 your iPad, or your computer, whatever it might be. 02:05 Well, even though we're not meeting with our regular 02:07 congregation, it still gives us an opportunity to lift our 02:10 voices in song wherever you might be. 02:13 We invite you to join us for our Sabbath School song and Jolene 02:16 will come and lead us in our song this morning. 02:22 Jolene: Thank you, Pastor Ross. 02:23 I invite you to bring out your hymnals wherever you are, and 02:27 we're going to sing hymn number 523, "My Faith Has Found A 02:32 Resting Place." 02:33 My grandpa and I used to talk about what it would be like just 02:35 before Jesus came. 02:37 He always wondered, what is it going to be like? 02:40 How will the earth fall apart? 02:42 This week when I was walking, I thought of grandpa and I 02:45 thought, boy, if you could see things now, Grandpa, you'd know 02:48 that we are about to go home. 02:50 So, we're going to sing about that, 523, we're going to sing 02:53 the first, the second, and the last verse. 02:57 ♪♪♪ 03:00 ♪ My faith has found a resting place ♪ 03:05 ♪ Not in a manmade creed ♪ 03:09 ♪ I trust the ever living One ♪ 03:14 ♪ That He for me shall plead ♪ 03:19 ♪ I need no other evidence ♪ 03:23 ♪ I need no other plea ♪ 03:29 ♪ It is enough that Jesus died ♪ 03:34 ♪ And rose again for me ♪ 03:38 ♪ Enough for me that Jesus saves ♪ 03:43 ♪ This ends my fear and doubt ♪ 03:47 ♪ A sinful soul ♪ 03:50 ♪ I come to Him ♪ 03:53 ♪ He will not cast me out ♪ 03:57 ♪ I need no other evidence ♪ 04:02 ♪ I need no other plea ♪ 04:07 ♪ It is enough ♪ 04:09 ♪ That Jesus died ♪ 04:12 ♪ And rose again for me ♪ 04:17 ♪ The great Physician ♪ 04:20 ♪ Heals the sick ♪ 04:22 ♪ The lost He came to save ♪ 04:26 ♪ For me His precious blood He shed ♪ 04:31 ♪ For me His life He gave ♪ 04:35 ♪ I need no other evidence ♪ 04:39 ♪ I need no other plea ♪ 04:45 ♪ It is enough that Jesus died ♪ 04:50 ♪ And rose again for me ♪ 05:01 Jean: Amen, thank you, Jolene, for that beautiful song, 05:04 and Pastor Doug, welcome. 05:05 We are going to be looking at a very important study 05:08 this morning. 05:09 Doug Batchelor: Thank you Pastor, Ross. 05:11 Thank you, Jolene. 05:12 We're going to be talking today about the authority of 05:14 God's Word. 05:15 We're going through our quarterly talking about how to 05:17 interpret Scripture and the study today in particular is 05:20 talking about the authority of the Bible. 05:23 And we have a memory verse and the memory verse is from Isaiah 05:28 chapter 8, verse 20. 05:29 Any good evangelist knows this. 05:31 It says, "According to the law, or to the law, in the testimony 05:35 if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there 05:38 is no light in them." 05:40 And the Bible needs to be the bottom line. 05:43 Now, we want to make this as much as an interactive class as 05:47 we can since we're studying with you online, and so if any of you 05:51 who are watching now on Facebook, YouTube Live, that 05:58 would be the Doug Batchelor Facebook page, The Amazing Facts 06:01 Facebook page, the Granite Bay Facebook page, and you have 06:05 questions about the lesson, we want to tell you right at the 06:07 beginning, Pastor Ross is sort of plugged in with someone who's 06:11 getting your messages, and they're going to send them 06:13 to him. 06:14 Just give your name and what your question is about 06:16 the lesson. 06:18 You may have a question about some of what's happening in the 06:19 world today, and we'll screen through those as well. 06:22 Send them in, we want to try and answer as many questions as 06:25 we can. 06:27 And then we'll, you know, take them. 06:31 Matter of fact, I'm going to invite Santiago up here. 06:34 We've got people listening or anyone tuned in from around the 06:37 world, Santiago? 06:39 Yeah, come on up here. 06:40 We can, we're going to put you--we'll hold our breath, 06:42 don't worry. 06:43 Well, we'll put you right in here. 06:45 We're trying to maintain our social, social distance. 06:47 He's kind of keeping track of who's tuning in. 06:50 >> Santiago: Yeah, we have a Winsome watching from watching 06:53 from Michigan, Elizabeth from Germany, Yancey says Happy 06:58 Sabbath from California. 07:01 We got Andrew from South Africa saying Happy Sabbath, Oscar from 07:06 Florida, Nellen from New York, Byron from Canada. 07:13 We got Adeli from the North Fork Church, Marina from Las Vegas. 07:20 Doug: People all over. 07:21 All right, so what will happen now, if you have a question 07:23 about the lesson, you go ahead and put that into Facebook, it's 07:26 going to be relayed to Pastor Ross's computer and he'll share 07:28 that with us. 07:29 Thank you, Santiago, appreciate that. 07:31 Jean: Well, Pastor Doug, before we get to our lesson, it's 07:33 probably always good to have a Word of prayer. 07:35 When we open up the Bible, and we're studying especially about 07:37 the Bible, we want the Holy Spirit to help and guide 07:40 our understanding. 07:41 So, let's bow our heads for prayer. 07:42 Dear Father, we thank you once again that we do have this 07:44 opportunity to gather together here in Sacramento, just a few 07:47 of us in the studio, but those gathered around the world 07:50 in homes. 07:52 We pray, Lord, that you would be with all of us as we open up 07:54 your Word. 07:55 It's so important, it is the anchor to our faith and we pray 07:58 that you give us understanding as we look at this 08:00 important lesson. 08:02 In Jesus' name, amen. 08:03 Doug: Amen. 08:05 Jean: Well, Pastor Doug, as you mentioned a little earlier, we 08:06 are going to invite those who have Bible questions, probably 08:09 the theme of the questions that we're hoping for today, anything 08:13 related to the Bible. 08:14 If you have questions about how to understand the Bible, or 08:17 maybe there's a particular verse in Scripture that has puzzled 08:19 you and you're wondering, what exactly does this mean? 08:22 We'd love to hear from you. 08:24 You can just type that Bible question on Facebook. 08:26 I believe it's the Amazing Facts Facebook page, or the Doug 08:29 Batchelor Facebook page, and they're going to email it to me, 08:32 and I'm going to try and take as many of these questions through 08:34 our program. 08:36 We do want to make sure we have enough time though to cover the 08:38 lesson because there's some very important points that we need to 08:40 highlight in the lesson. 08:42 The first thing, if you look on our opening study, the first day 08:47 it says tradition as being sort of the subject that we need to 08:52 look at as it relates to the Bible. 08:54 Doug: Absolutely. 08:56 Now, this subject about the authority of Scripture, it 08:58 really was the turning point for the Protestant Reformation 09:03 because the church had said that really the church and tradition 09:08 are above Scripture and their argument was, who is it that 09:12 interprets Scripture? 09:14 It must ultimately be the church that interprets Scripture so the 09:16 authority of the church is above the authority of Scripture. 09:19 I know that sounds a little convoluted to a Protestant, but 09:22 for the Protestants they said, no, the Church must be guided by 09:25 Scripture and the church's authority is measured, or 09:29 regulated, or restrained by Scripture. 09:31 The ultimate authority must be Scripture, even above tradition. 09:35 Now, this is no new problem. 09:37 Jesus dealt with that during His earthly ministry. 09:40 And maybe to kick this off, Pastor Ross, if you want to go 09:42 ahead and read Mark 7, go ahead and read 6 through 13, and then 09:45 we'll comment on that. 09:47 Jean: The verse that we're looking at is Mark chapter 7, 09:49 beginning then in verse 6. 09:50 If you have your Bibles, you can follow with us. 09:52 "He answered and said to them," Jesus speaking, "'Well did 09:55 Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 09:58 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is 10:01 far from Me. 10:02 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the 10:05 commandments of men. 10:06 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition 10:09 of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such 10:13 things you do.' 10:15 He said unto them, this is verse 9, 'All too 10:17 well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep 10:20 your tradition. 10:21 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother.'" 10:23 Of course, it was more than just Moses who said that, that's 10:26 part of the Ten Commandments. 10:28 "And, 'He who curses his father and his mother, let him be put 10:32 to death.' 10:33 But you say, 'If a man says to his father and mother, 10:35 'Whatever profit you might have received from me is 10:38 Corban' (that is, a gift of God), then you no longer let him 10:43 do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of 10:47 God of no effect through your tradition which you have 10:51 handed down. 10:52 And many such things you do." 10:54 Doug: You know, I used to wonder when I first read through the 10:57 Bible, what does this mean where they would say, Corban, and they 11:00 didn't honor their father and mother. 11:03 And evidently, they had a manmade tradition sort of 11:06 developed by the priests in the temple, that, you know, they 11:09 were anxious for funds to support the temple. 11:11 And someone said, "Well, I would donate to the temple, but I need 11:14 to take care of my mother and father in old age." 11:16 And they manufactured a law that pretty much says if you choose 11:19 to dedicate or will your assets to the temple, then you can 11:23 declare Corban over it, that word means gift, and you can 11:28 tell your mother and father, "I can't really support you in your 11:29 old age." 11:31 Keep in mind, they had no Social Security back then. 11:33 It was really the obligation of a family to care for their 11:35 aged parents. 11:37 They say, "sorry, mom and dad, I'm going to have to actually 11:39 boot you out on the street or we can't help you because it 11:42 belongs to the Lord now." 11:43 You could use it as long as you live, but you couldn't give it 11:46 away because it was dedicated to the Lord. 11:48 And so, they kind of made this law that you can neglect the law 11:53 about honoring your father and mother in order for the temple 11:58 to get the money, and the tradition was trumping the 12:01 commandment of God. 12:02 And He said there's many things like that you do. 12:05 And so, now, do we have some of those manmade traditions that 12:09 seemed to trump the commandments of God in the church today? 12:14 Jean: Well, you know, Pastor Doug, it's interesting in the 12:16 time of Jesus, that he was upholding the authority 12:18 of Scripture. 12:19 He would say, "It is written." 12:21 The religious leaders, they were upset with Jesus because He 12:23 placed the Word above their traditions. 12:26 Well, you come down a thousand years later to the time of the 12:29 Reformation and you find once again, the religious leaders of 12:32 the day being very upset with the reformers because they said, 12:36 in essence it's the same thing that Jesus said, is that 12:39 Scripture is above the church's traditions, and that offended a 12:41 lot of people. 12:43 It actually led to persecution of Bible-believing Christians. 12:46 Doug: You know, Matthew Henry in his commentary, he said that 12:50 during the Dark Ages, the church had manufactured a similar law 12:53 to Corban. 12:54 If someone said that they were going to join the monastery, 12:57 they could give all their money to the monastery, they joined 13:00 the monastery, they didn't have to give anything to their mother 13:02 and father to take care of them. 13:04 And so, he basically said, "You know, this isn't the first time 13:08 that's happened, what happened there." 13:10 But why do people go to church on Sunday? 13:14 Jean: Biblical reason for that. 13:17 Doug: You know, and people say, "Well, we've done this for over 13:19 a thousand years," which certainly makes it a tradition. 13:22 When you do something a long period of time, it sort of 13:24 becomes a tradition, but I've often stood up in live meetings 13:27 with hundreds, thousands of people and I say, show me one 13:31 verse in Scripture that commands us to keep the first day holy as 13:35 the Sabbath. 13:37 And there's usually a deafening silence, nobody says anything. 13:41 I say, all right, then why are we doing it? 13:43 Tradition. 13:45 And they'll have lots o arguments like, "Well, it's 13:46 because we're not under the law." 13:48 So, why are we keeping Sundays the Sabbath? 13:49 It's the Lord's day. 13:51 But where are we commanded to do that? 13:52 "Well, it said John was in the spirit on the Lord's day." 13:54 So, where does it say He's resting and that is 13:55 a new Sabbath? 13:57 Where does it say God threw out the Old Sabbath? 13:59 It's just a tradition. 14:01 Jean: But if you look at what the Lord's Day is in the Bible, 14:04 it's pretty clear that there is a day that God claims is His. 14:07 That's the seventh day, it's the Sabbath. 14:09 So, the idea that Sunday is now the new Lord's day, it's 14:11 not biblical. 14:12 You know, we do have folks who are sending in questions, Pastor 14:14 Doug, as you mentioned, they are coming in, and let's try and 14:17 take a few of them. 14:18 Manny's asking the question, "Who decides what is, or which 14:22 is Scripture?" 14:23 We're talking about the authority and importance of 14:25 Scripture but who gets to decide this? 14:27 Is it the church that decides what Scripture is? 14:29 Doug: Well, the Bible, the Bible is the one who--the Bible is the 14:34 one--the Bible is the book that has been agreed upon from the 14:38 days of the apostles, and I can hear where the person's 14:41 coming from. 14:43 They're saying, "Well, it's the church who decided what 14:44 was Scripture." 14:46 It says the authority of the church is above the authority of 14:47 the Bible. 14:49 Once the church comes together and decides this is 14:50 Scripture--it was the early church in the time of the 14:52 apostles that first recognized what the books of the New 14:56 Testament were. 14:58 By the time of Christ, Jesus tells us what Scripture is, and 15:01 in the time of the apostles, they're telling us what 15:03 Scripture is. 15:04 And these are the holy men that are moved by the Holy Spirit, so 15:07 that's been established since 100 A.D. 15:10 right into the Book of Revelation. 15:12 Jean: What I find interesting is that the Scripture precedes, if 15:15 you like, the church. 15:16 Let me explain, in the time of Abraham, you know, God spoke to 15:20 Abraham and his descendants, God communicated directly with him. 15:23 But it's not until the time of Moses that you actually have the 15:26 Scripture being written down. 15:27 And we believe that during the 40 years when Moses in the 15:29 wilderness, he began to write possibly the Book of Genesis 15:32 during that time, the Book of Job. 15:33 So, by the time the children of Israel come up out of Egypt and 15:36 they, in essence, become the Old Testament church, there is 15:39 already a Scripture given under the inspiration of God by Moses, 15:43 maybe just one or two of the books. 15:45 But as time has gone on, the time of Christ, the Old 15:48 Testament, which was the Scripture, was 15:50 already established. 15:51 And in the New Testament era, the Scripture that the apostles 15:54 refer to was the Old Testament. 15:56 And then as time went on, you find some of the apostles 15:58 referring to the writings of some of the other apostles. 16:01 So, it's not a church that gets to say, "I think this is 16:03 Scripture and that's Scripture," it's really the Bible that tells 16:07 us what is inspired and what's not inspired. 16:10 Doug: And even the last book of the Bible was Revelation and it 16:13 says, "If any man thinks to add to the words of this book, he's 16:17 going to be called least, or the curses will be added to him if 16:20 he thinks to add or if he takes away, his name is going to be 16:22 taken away from the Book of Life." 16:24 So, now are all traditions bad? 16:29 Just because something's a tradition doesn't mean it's no 16:31 good if you can't find it in the Bible. 16:33 You know, we, in our culture, we mentioned there's no commandment 16:38 to keep holy the first day of the week. 16:40 But there's nothing wrong with a person going to church on 16:43 Wednesday, or Thursday, or any day. 16:46 It's just not commanded as the Sabbath. 16:48 Nothing wrong with keeping Thanksgiving. 16:50 We've got a tradition, you might say in our culture, that 16:55 Thanksgiving is a great time for families to get together, but 16:59 there's no command to do that, but there's nothing wrong 17:02 morally with it. 17:05 You know, we have a tradition that people shake hands. 17:08 Jean: Can't do that now. 17:11 Doug: Yeah, that's right but I was going to say, where does 17:13 that come from? 17:14 There's no commandment. 17:16 In the Bible, it says greet the brethren with a holy kiss. 17:18 So, while we're talking about this, let me read a couple 17:21 things here. 17:23 For instance, if you look in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 12, 17:27 maybe next you can read 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6 17:30 through 7. 17:32 I'll read 1 Corinthians 11, verse 2 rather. 17:34 "Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all 17:37 things and keep the traditions." 17:39 Now some people say, "Well, they're just telling us keep 17:41 the traditions." 17:42 That word "tradition" there is actually precepts or ordinance. 17:47 So he's saying, "Keep the precepts and the ordinances that 17:49 we taught you." 17:50 So, the disciples were not saying, the apostles were not 17:52 saying that we're to keep manmade tradition 17:54 above Scripture. 17:57 That word there is really talking about the precepts or 17:58 the teachings that were given. 18:00 Jean: You know, the apostles gave practical information on 18:02 the church, how the church was to worship, how they were to 18:05 organize, how they were to take care of the needs of certain 18:07 members in the church, and these sort of became traditions. 18:11 They didn't trump the authority of the Bible, but it helped to 18:13 do things decently and in order, as the Bible says. 18:16 2 Thessalonians chapter 3:6 and 7 says, "But we command you, 18:20 brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you 18:22 withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not 18:26 according to the tradition which you received from us. 18:31 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were 18:35 not disorderly among you." 18:37 Doug: That's right. 18:39 And so there again, you see, we've given you an example in 18:41 our lives and it's also based on the Word. 18:44 You know, even in our church, we've got some traditions. 18:49 I know when I first--I came from the Sunday keeping churches 18:52 before I became a Seventh Day Adventist, and they said, "Yeah, 18:56 we're going to get together for haystacks." 18:58 I thought, what's a haystack? 19:02 So, you know, for those who are watching that don't know, it's 19:06 sort of a traditional potluck meal where everyone brings their 19:09 chips, and their beans, and their sauce, and their lettuce, 19:11 and their olives, and their onions, and they chop it all up 19:13 and they kind of make a vegetarian tortillas or 19:16 something like that. 19:18 Jean: You know, Pastor Doug, that is an international 19:19 Adventists tradition because I grew up in South Africa. 19:22 I didn't know anything about Mexican food. 19:24 We don't get Mexican food in South Africa, but we all knew 19:26 what haystacks were, all the Adventists did. 19:28 So it crosses borders. 19:31 We have somebody asking a question about the Bible. 19:33 It's Natie* is asking, "There are those who said that the 19:36 Bible borrowed many things from Egyptian mythology, but they say 19:39 that the book of the dead is older than the Bible, and how 19:43 true is that?" 19:45 I guess maybe to add to that a little bit, people say, "Well, 19:48 there were sacrifices in these pagan religions. 19:50 Some will argue that Moses just adopted some of these pagan 19:53 practices and incorporated that in the sanctuary service. 19:58 Doug: All right, well, I'll respectfully disagree. 20:00 I think that there may be truths that you'll find in other 20:03 cultures that went from the Tower of Babel to their cultures 20:07 that originated with God. 20:09 The sacrificial system predates the Tower of Babel. 20:13 And so, many cultures had sacrificial systems, and many of 20:16 them would only sacrifice clean animals. 20:19 It might just be clean birds. 20:20 I think there are a number of tribes in Africa that would only 20:22 sacrifice what the Bible would call a clean bird, and they did 20:26 sacrifice cattle too, the Masi* and others. 20:31 So, I think that if they found some truth in the Egyptian 20:35 writings and the Egyptian practice, they were probably 20:37 holdovers that came from the truths of the Bible. 20:41 And so, rather than Moses borrowing it from them, they got 20:45 it from Noah, and Adam, and Eve. 20:47 And, of course, it just, that's why you see a similarity there. 20:50 Jean: And of course, this is not only talking about the 20:52 sacrificial system, but I think we mentioned this a week or so 20:54 ago that even the story of the flood is carried down in 20:57 different tribal traditions or legends talking about, in some 21:01 cases, it's a group of eight that were saved by a canoe. 21:05 They talk about a big bolder, box or something, and it's got 21:09 essence of truth. 21:10 But you find the real true story, of course, found in 21:13 the Bible. 21:14 Somebody else has another question. 21:16 Ruthie's asking, "There's a principle in 21:18 Bible interpretation. 21:19 How can you be sure that a day in Bible prophecy stands for 21:23 a year?" 21:25 Doug: All right, when you're interpreting Bible prophecy, of 21:27 course, look at the context. 21:28 Is it a time prophecy? 21:30 And God gives the example that for the 40 days, the 12 spies 21:33 went through the Promised Land. 21:35 He said for every day they went, ten of the spies did 21:37 not believe. 21:39 He says you're gonna spend a year marching through this 21:40 wilderness, a day for a year. 21:42 God told Ezekiel you lay on your side, I believe it was Ezekiel. 21:46 He says, "For every day you lay on your side, it will be 21:48 a year." 21:50 And Jesus, I think gives a really good example of a day for 21:53 a year. 21:54 When John the Baptist had been arrested, it may have been even 21:56 after John the Baptist was beheaded, some came and told 21:59 Jesus what Herod had done. 22:00 They're basically saying, "You better run and hide. 22:02 Look what happened to John." 22:04 He said, "Go tell that fox that I teach, do cures, cast 22:07 out devils. 22:08 Today, tomorrow, and the third day, I'll be perfected." 22:13 Well, this happened six months into Jesus' ministry. 22:15 He did not teach three more days, he taught three more 22:18 years, and he was making a prophecy, a prediction. 22:21 And so, even Jesus used the day for the year principle. 22:25 Jean: And of course, if you take that principle and you apply it 22:27 to a prophecy found in Daniel 9, we call it the 70 weeks, you 22:30 have to apply the year for, a day for a year principle 22:33 otherwise, it really doesn't have any meaning. 22:36 But if you do apply that principle, it has great 22:38 significance because it points to the coming of Christ, 22:40 the Messiah. 22:41 Doug: Yep, very good. 22:43 And jump in with any other questions or we can keep going. 22:45 Jean: Yeah, let me ask one more and then we'll move to the 22:46 next section. 22:48 Here is one that's asking, good question, a lot of questions. 22:50 Thank you for your questions. 22:52 This one is from Lynn, "How can you explain to an atheist that 22:57 the Bible is authoritative? 23:00 How can you explain the authenticity," exactly the way 23:02 she worded it, "of the Bible to an atheist?" 23:06 Doug: Well, I'm glad they're asking that question. 23:07 We have a section here in the lesson that talks about reason, 23:11 and I'm just gonna jump to that now because none of these really 23:14 have to be given. 23:15 I don't think the authors of the lesson will mind if we 23:16 jump around. 23:18 These are just five principles of how you understand the 23:20 authority of the Bible. 23:22 Martin Luther, when he stood before the Diet of Worms and 23:25 they were asking him about his beliefs, he made a kind of a 23:28 famous statement, he said, "Unless I am convinced by the 23:32 testimony of Scripture or by clear reason, for I do not trust 23:37 that either the Pope and his counsels alone, since it's well 23:39 known they've often erred and contradicted themselves, I am 23:42 bound by the Scriptures I've quoted and by my conscience that 23:47 is captive to the Word of God, I cannot recant anything since it 23:50 is neither safe or right to go against conscience. 23:53 May God help me." 23:54 But I think--and he said, "May God help me, amen." 23:56 So, I think Martin Luther there he's saying, "You need to show 23:59 me by Scriptures and reason." 24:01 Well, the Lord says in His Word, "Come now, let us 24:04 reason together." 24:05 God wants us to use our noodle. 24:07 And whenever an evangelist, you're talking about reaching an 24:10 atheist, every time, you know, you've done an evangelistic 24:13 meeting, we just finished a meeting here, Carlos did, 24:15 in Folsom. 24:17 And every evangelistic meeting I have performed, I always assume 24:21 that there are people there that don't believe the Bible or don't 24:24 understand the Bible and so, I need to show them through logic 24:27 and reason why the Bible should be believed. 24:30 Amazing Facts just completed a DVD, it's called, "Kingdoms in 24:35 Time," where we take approximately 40 prophecies in 24:39 the Bible and we show how these prophecies were made before the 24:42 event, and then they're fulfilled. 24:45 And a logical person would say this is a supernatural book 24:48 because it foretells something and then you see it was foretold 24:50 before the event happened. 24:52 It's exactly fulfilled. 24:53 This author of this book must have supernatural insight, and 24:57 that then gives credibility to the rest of the Bible as sacred 25:00 message from God, as a sacred message. 25:03 Jean: I think that's one of the most compelling reasons. 25:05 If somebody were to look, even if they're an atheist and they 25:08 look at the prophecies in the Bible, so many which have become 25:10 true, you got to just use reason. 25:13 And if you have some sort of understanding of history, you're 25:16 going to reach the conclusion that there's something unique 25:18 and special about this book. 25:20 No other book, no other religious book, whether it's the 25:22 Qur'an, or whether it's some writing of the Hindu faith, has 25:26 prophecy that has been so accurately fulfilled and the 25:30 prediction hundreds of years in advance. 25:32 That sets the Bible above any other book. 25:34 Doug: Yeah, and the prophecies about Jesus you read in the 25:36 Psalms where it says, his hands and his feet would be pierced, 25:40 they would gamble for his clothing, he would declare from 25:42 the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 25:45 That a mob would surround him and mock him, that he would be 25:48 betrayed by a close friend for 30 pieces of silver, and that 25:52 silver would be cast down in the house of the Lord. 25:54 These things are given a thousand years in advance. 25:58 That detail, I mean, you look at the prophecies of Nostradamus, 26:02 and I'm not recommending that. 26:03 But, you know, some people have talked about the prophecies of 26:05 Nostradamus and I look at them and I go, what a garbled bunch 26:08 of fortune cookie utterances. 26:10 It doesn't make any sense. 26:12 And people try to force history into these very vague 26:16 prophecies, or the Oracle of Delphi, and it's just all these 26:19 strange mutterings. 26:21 The prophecies in the Bible are explicit, and clear, and 26:24 precise, and there's no misunderstanding them. 26:27 So, that, I think, would convince a person. 26:31 Jean: Talking about the prophecies in the Bible, we have 26:32 Monica that's asking a question and it's related to one of the 26:35 verses in the Book of Revelation. 26:37 It says, "There is a verse that refers to the seven Spirits of 26:41 God, what are those Spirits?" 26:43 Is the question. 26:45 Doug: Good question. 26:47 Let's take a look real quick in our Bible, and I think that one 26:49 of the keys for understanding the authority of the Bible is 26:52 let the Bible explain the Bible. 26:54 I'm going to go to Isaiah chapter 11, almost there, 26:58 verse 2. 27:00 And it says, "The Spirit," speaking of the Messiah, "The 27:03 Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom 27:06 and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of 27:10 knowledge and the fear of the Lord." 27:13 So, when it's talking about the seven Spirits of God, you have 27:15 here seven, if you include the Spirit of the Lord being one, 27:18 you get seven facets of the Spirit of the Lord. 27:21 Seven is, of course, a perfect number and it's talking about 27:24 the all knowing. 27:26 You know, time is developed in a seven day week. 27:30 God created our first cycle of time. 27:32 And it represents that God is all knowing, the perfect, 27:35 complete cycle. 27:37 The Holy Spirit knows all things, He guides, wisdom, 27:39 peace, so forth. 27:41 And so, some have thought, "Well, these are the seven 27:43 attributes of the Holy Spirit." 27:46 Jean: Absolutely, of course, that verse found in Revelation 27:48 chapter 4 that talks about the seven spirits, Revelation is a 27:51 symbolic book, and there are some very significant, you know, 27:54 the numbers in Revelation are significant. 27:56 Number one and number three, the number seven, number four, I 28:00 mean these are significant numbers, number 12. 28:02 Doug: And it talks about that lamb that's got seven eyes. 28:06 That's obviously unless you've seen a lamb with seven eyes 28:08 before, that means God, he knows all things and he's got seven 28:11 horns and that represents all power in the Bible that it was 28:15 the power of their cattle. 28:17 And so, all right, what else? 28:19 Shall I go back to the lesson? 28:20 Do you have another question? 28:22 Jean: I got another question, Pastor Doug, and then we'll jump 28:23 right in the lesson. 28:25 Abraham is asking, "What do we say to people who said that the 28:26 Bible is out of touch with modern society?" 28:30 What can we share with them to say? 28:33 Well, no, it's useful. 28:35 It's true for us today. 28:38 Doug: Well, in our next section, that's probably a good segue, 28:40 it's talking about culture, not tradition. 28:42 It's talking about culture. 28:44 And when you read in the Bible about culture, you've got to 28:49 keep in mind, not only the culture that we're living in, 28:52 which should not compromise anything, we shouldn't be 28:55 compromising truth to accommodate culture. 28:57 But when you read the Bible, you need to recognize the culture in 29:00 which it was written. 29:02 You know, a lot of what Jesus said, it was an agrarian society 29:06 where they had goats, and they had sheep, and they were 29:07 farmers, and they fished. 29:09 And Jesus tells parables about fishing, about farming, 29:13 about goats. 29:15 Now, living most of the world today, they do not live 29:17 on farms. 29:19 Most of the world is living in cities today. 29:21 And so, we need to keep in mind, who is Jesus talking to? 29:24 It helps us then to understand their culture as we read 29:27 the Bible. 29:29 So, that's one aspect. 29:30 But then we are in a culture that is, does a lot of things 29:37 that are not biblical. 29:38 Now, there's some cultural things we've got, there's 29:40 nothing wrong with it. 29:42 As I mentioned a minute ago, you know, we've got the habit of 29:46 shaking hands or something like that, but you should never-- 29:50 Jean: Even in other cultures, I mean, for example, you just 29:52 reminded me, Pastor, that when we were in India, you asked to 29:56 speak at one of the largest Christian churches. 29:58 It's amazing. 30:00 It's actually in India, but part of their tradition, when you go 30:02 up onto the stage and you begin to preach or go in front of the 30:04 pulpit, you remove your shoes. 30:07 Now, that's not something we do in North America, but it's a 30:09 sign of respect and a sign of reverence. 30:13 When you go into church, you take your shoes off. 30:15 Doug: This church had 30,000 cubby holes for shoes. 30:19 I thought I'd never get my shoes back. 30:21 Jean: Everybody places their shoes outside the church and 30:23 then they go in. 30:25 So, now there's nothing wrong with that. 30:27 You know, that's a sign of reverence. 30:28 Here in North America, if you're a man and you're going to the 30:31 church and you're wearing a baseball cap, you'll take 30:33 it off. 30:34 It's a sign of reverence and respect. 30:36 Doug: But when we were in Israel, we went to the Wailing 30:37 Wall, I had to keep my baseball cap on. 30:40 They prefer you use a yarmulke, but they said at least if you've 30:42 got a head covering, so a lot of people went up with their 30:44 baseball caps. 30:46 I kind of turned mine around backwards to be more respectful. 30:48 But, so that was purely a cultural thing, whatever the 30:52 respect is in your culture. 30:54 I might read a little definition here, what is culture. 30:56 "Culture is the characteristic and knowledge of a particular 30:59 group of people encompassing language, values, religion, 31:02 cuisine, social habits, music, and art." 31:05 And so, values, there may be values that change in a 31:09 particular culture, but biblical values should always trump, or 31:14 go before, the values of the culture. 31:19 Jean: So, we find two things, we find traditions and we 31:22 find principles. 31:23 The principles are founded upon the Word of God. 31:25 The ultimate set of principles is of course, the Ten 31:27 Commandments and that needs to be absolute. 31:30 But the traditions might vary from place to place, and it's 31:33 not always wrong. 31:34 It might have cultural influence, but we never want to 31:36 have a tradition stand in opposition to a 31:40 biblical principle. 31:42 You know, in the case, we have Daniel and his three friends. 31:44 We got the three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 31:46 It might have been cultural for them in Babylon to show their 31:49 loyalty to the king by bowing down to the golden image, but 31:53 that was going against a biblical principle. 31:56 And even at, you know, losing their life, they were willing to 31:59 lose their life than violate one of those biblical principles. 32:02 Doug: Yeah, and like for an example, we're wearing ties 32:06 right now. 32:08 There is no command in the Bible, thou shalt wear a tie. 32:10 And a lot of good pastors, they don't wear ties. 32:13 And, you know, even in our office dress code, we've talked 32:16 before at what point, I think a few years ago we decided, you 32:19 know, it seems like ties are sort of going out of style as 32:21 far as formal, you know, workplace attire. 32:24 It's a cultural thing. 32:26 There's no biblical principle here. 32:29 It probably carries a lot of pathogens on it as it 32:31 drags around. 32:33 So, good idea to get rid of the tie. 32:35 But some things that cultures change, you don't want 32:39 to change. 32:40 And, you know, I might just mention, for example, in the 32:43 world today, there's a lot of confusion in the culture about 32:48 how important is it that the distinctions the Bible makes 32:52 between men and women? 32:54 And well, does the Bible say something about that? 32:58 Jesus said, "From the beginning of the creation," this is Mark 33:01 10:6 and 7, "God made them male and female. 33:06 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and 33:08 be joined to his wife." 33:10 Well, this creates in the Bible talks about the roles, and the 33:13 Bible talks about that a man should not lie with a man, a 33:15 woman with a woman, but in our culture today in the last 20 33:18 years, that has totally flipped on its head so that now it's 33:23 almost like people are serving and say, "What do you, what 33:26 gender would you like to choose today?" 33:28 And people sort of get to choose their gender. 33:30 And in spite of the fact that the genes, the cellular, 33:36 chemical levels, biology it says, a person is inherently 33:43 male or female. 33:44 That's, we're living in like a fantasy that people get to 33:46 decide these things. 33:48 So, the church has been having to grapple with, how do we deal 33:51 with that? 33:52 Do we accommodate what's going on in our culture at the 33:56 sacrifice of the Word of God? 33:57 Or do we say, "No, this is what the Bible says and we need to 33:59 stick with the Bible." 34:01 Jean: You know, Pastor Doug, even secular entities are having 34:04 some challenges with this new interpretation where you can be 34:06 whatever you want to be. 34:08 There are some athletes who were born men or male, and for some 34:14 reason they decide to be female and then they want to compete in 34:18 maybe a race with girls, or with women. 34:21 And the women are saying, "Wait a minute, it's not fair, you 34:23 have an advantage. 34:24 Your genes are different than ours." 34:26 So, even secular entities are realizing that there is a 34:30 fundamental difference. 34:32 It's not just a matter of choice. 34:33 God is the one who created us. 34:36 He's the one that set the DNA the way he did, and there's a 34:39 reason for that. 34:41 Doug: I heard of one example where there's this gentleman 34:43 that was a fighter, MMA, very brutal form of fighting, and he 34:50 decided that he wanted to go through the transgender 34:52 operation, which he did, and now he wants to fight the girls and 34:57 they're all protesting and said, "No way in the world. 34:58 You're a man. 35:00 Everything about your anatomy is different, you'll cream us." 35:04 And I'm paraphrasing. 35:05 So, yeah, I think even in our culture they're beginning to say 35:08 that, you know, it doesn't matter how much wishful thinking 35:11 you have, a man is never going to ovulate, and lactate, and 35:14 give birth. 35:16 There are some physiological differences, but, you know, 35:19 we're grapple--we're in a culture where there's all kinds 35:21 of things that we have to evaluate. 35:23 Jean: Well, you know, Pastor Doug, there's a reason behind 35:24 it, we don't want to miss that. 35:26 The two institutions that God created, even before sin entered 35:28 the world, Sabbath. 35:30 Remember, he rested on the seventh day of the week, and he 35:33 created marriage, he created male and female. 35:35 It seems that the devil is doing everything he can to undermine 35:38 those very principles established at the beginning 35:39 of time. 35:41 We know what he's done for the Sabbath trying to substitute a 35:43 counterfeit day for the Sabbath, but now we see what he's doing 35:47 to marriage, redefining marriage, and also trying to 35:49 redefine male and female. 35:51 So, there is a conspiracy, if you like, the devil's conspiracy 35:56 is trying to undermine the very institutions that 35:57 God established. 35:59 Doug: Everything in Genesis, the evolution is seeking to 36:01 undermine creation, the confusion about gender, the 36:05 importance of the family, the original diet for man, you could 36:09 just go through the foundational things in our culture are all 36:12 the Sabbath, or they're all under attack. 36:14 Jean: Right, I think we got a text coming in, a question that 36:17 somebody's asking about different Bible translations. 36:21 "Could you explain which is the best Bible translation and why?" 36:25 Doug: Well, this is sort of a subjective question. 36:28 You and I will maybe have our favorites, and I hope we have an 36:32 evidence for the reason. 36:34 I believe the most dependable for Bible study, there are some 36:38 modern paraphrases that might have some creative renderings 36:42 that are useful, but I think as far as Bible study and accurate 36:45 theology, you want--in English, there are more translations in 36:48 English than probably any other language. 36:51 You want to have something that's based on what we would 36:54 call the textus receptus documents and that's mostly New 36:57 Testament or the received text. 37:01 And King James, New King James, New American Standard, New 37:04 English Version, I think are very good translations. 37:07 Jean: I think it's important, Pastor Doug, to recognize that 37:09 at least in the English language, you do have two 37:11 categories of what we call Bibles. 37:14 The one would be a paraphrase, which could be somebody taking, 37:17 you could write your own paraphrase, you can just take 37:19 the English Bible and you could read a verse, and then write in 37:21 your own words. 37:22 And I'm not saying all of them are bad, you can get some 37:25 wonderful insights, but we need to recognize that, that is 37:27 a paraphrase. 37:29 Then you have a translation, and then a translation, you go to 37:32 the original language and you hopefully, you have people that 37:35 are translating the original Hebrew or Greek as closely as 37:38 they can. 37:40 So, when we're studying a doctrinal point, I think it's 37:42 important that we go to a genuine translation. 37:45 In our Bible program at the beginning of the year, we have a 37:48 lot of people calling in and they ask a question, and you can 37:52 tell they're starting to read their Bible through starting 37:54 in Genesis. 37:55 One of the common questions they have is, who are the sons 37:58 of God? 37:59 Were they somehow talking about taking--were there angels that 38:04 were marrying people on earth, woman on the earth? 38:08 And part of that idea came from, really a paraphrase. 38:12 Maybe you want to explain a little more what that is. 38:14 Doug: Yeah, I think it's the Good News Bible and it says that 38:17 angels married with men and they had these giants, and it doesn't 38:21 say that in the original and so, it creates a lot of confusion. 38:25 But we still got a lot left and we got 12 minutes to go so maybe 38:29 we can get--and then we'll try and take some more. 38:32 Now, I never did get into the section on experience, I jump 38:35 right to culture. 38:36 Where does a person's experience come in when it comes to 38:39 interpreting the Bible? 38:41 When we read the Bible, is there any role of experience? 38:44 And I would say that, first of all, Scripture needs to 38:48 go ahead. 38:49 By the way, when we talk about the authority of Scripture, it's 38:52 where we get the word "author," it's the authorship. 38:55 And since God, all Scripture is God breathed, He is the author 38:58 and so it is the supreme bottom line, it's the foundation. 39:02 You know, Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, My 39:05 word will not pass away." 39:07 And so, that's the bottom line for everything, but experience 39:09 does play a role. 39:11 As we read the Bible and we put the words of Scripture to the 39:14 test, and we pray, and we get answers to prayer, our 39:18 experience informs the validity of Scripture and we see that God 39:26 wants us to have an experience based on the Word of God. 39:28 In other words, when we read the Word, and we try the promises, 39:31 we experience that it's real. 39:33 I think people ought to have an experience in the Word of God 39:36 putting the promises to the test. 39:38 But we never say, "Well, I prayed, I didn't get an answer. 39:41 The Bible must not be true so I don't believe the Word anymore." 39:45 But I think that if the Word, if we are reading the Word, you 39:49 will have an experience. 39:51 Jean: Absolutely. 39:53 You know, the devil is always apt to try and get people one 39:54 way or the other, either putting tradition above the Bible. 39:57 And now in our culture today, there is a tendency to put an 40:00 experience or a feeling above the Bible as well. 40:03 So, someone might say, "Well, you know, I know what the Bible 40:06 says, but I feel this way, or I have this experience so I must 40:10 have the Holy Spirit," even though they're contradicting 40:12 what the Bible says. 40:14 So, the devil doesn't mind when he gets tradition above the 40:16 Scripture or some type of feeling above the Scripture, he 40:19 wants to keep people away from what the Word says. 40:22 Doug: That's right. 40:23 And if we're reading the Scripture and following the 40:25 Scripture, there ought to be a change in the experience. 40:28 And I'll read here Titus 3, verse 4 and 5, "But when the 40:31 kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not 40:34 by the works of righteousness which we have done, but in 40:37 accordance to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of 40:41 regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." 40:45 And so, there's a renewing, there's a washing that 40:47 takes place. 40:49 And I remember hearing stories about atheists that say, "You 40:52 know, why do you believe that bad book, the Bible? 40:54 It just causes all kinds of problems in the world." 40:56 And this lady responded to this atheist by saying, "I live at 41:00 home with my brother, sir, and he was an alcoholic, a gambler, 41:06 a loafer, he cursed. 41:08 He was immoral. 41:09 He started reading the Bible, and now there's peace in 41:12 our home. 41:14 He works. 41:15 He earns a living. 41:17 He takes care of our mother. 41:18 And he stopped drinking, he stopped gambling, he's 41:20 saving money." 41:21 She said, "You might think the Bible is a bad book, but it made 41:23 a good difference in his life." 41:25 And so, there should be an experience that's seen. 41:28 Jean: You know, we read the stories of the Great Reformation 41:30 in the early 1800s that swept across North America, and the 41:34 stories go how that these preachers would go preach in 41:36 villages and towns, and there would be a marked decrease in 41:41 crime as a result of the preaching of the Word of God. 41:44 So, the Bible changes people's lives and that's a powerful 41:46 evidence for the Scripture being what it is. 41:50 Doug: I heard about a revival they had in Scotland years ago, 41:53 and the Holy Spirit moved so much, that this one factory had 41:58 to build several sheds to store the goods that workers brought 42:03 back that they had purloined over the years. 42:07 They had kept buying replacements and but they were 42:09 also convicted by the preaching of the Word, they began to bring 42:12 back all the tools and things they'd stolen from the factory. 42:14 And they ended up with much more than they started with because 42:18 of the Holy Spirit moving in their lives. 42:21 Any other questions? 42:22 Jean: We do, somebody, we have Carl who is asking the question, 42:25 "Is there any missing books that should be in the Bible?" 42:29 Doug: Well, we don't believe there are. 42:31 Now, there are other inspired books you can read in the Bible 42:34 where it talks about the book of Gad, the book of Gad, Nasher*, 42:39 and there were other prophets who wrote inspired messages that 42:45 were present truth for their day for particular people or 42:47 particular time. 42:49 God did not see fit that they should then be added to the 42:51 canon of Scripture that we have today. 42:54 But so, you can't really say there's missing books. 42:56 We have everything that is sufficient in here to 43:00 save souls. 43:02 You know, years ago, I'll tell a quick story, years ago, I was 43:05 part of a mission that was called Land and Seas Missions 43:08 of God. 43:10 And they had a special ministry where they would go out into the 43:13 Pacific Ocean. 43:15 Now, this would be bad now, but this is what they did. 43:17 They were trying to get the gospel into Asia so they put New 43:21 Testament--no, no, they put the gospel of John, that's all that 43:23 could fit in a bottle. 43:25 And they would fill thousands of bottles with the gospel of John, 43:28 they would dump them in the ocean, they'd take the boat out 43:30 to the currents where they knew the currents would bring it to 43:32 the shores of North Korea, and China, and even the Philippines, 43:36 then they'd get messages back of these people that were reading 43:39 these gospels of John in their languages. 43:41 And they found people were finding the Lord just through 43:44 that one book of the Bible. 43:46 And so, instead of saying, "Well, we don't know what truth 43:49 is because we may be missing a book," we've got more than 43:52 we need. 43:53 It's like Mark Twain, of course, Mark Twain is not the best 43:55 person to quote for the Bible but Mark Twain used to say, 43:58 "It's not the mysteries in the Bible that cause me 44:00 sleepless nights. 44:02 It's the good I know I should do. 44:04 It's the part I do understand." 44:06 He said, "It's not arguing about the stuff I don't understand." 44:08 He says, "I'm convicted about the stuff I do understand." 44:11 So, there are all these wonders about Christians arguing about 44:13 the things they don't understand. 44:15 You see, you got more that you do understand you're not living 44:16 up to. 44:18 So, I don't think there's any missing books. 44:21 We've got already too much information. 44:23 Jean: We've got a really important question I want to try 44:24 and get in here, Pastor Doug. 44:26 Elijah is asking, he says he's a newly converted Christian. 44:28 He wants to--or he's asking, "What Bible version explains 44:32 better to my understanding what I should do when I read 44:35 the Bible?" 44:36 What can we share with somebody who's wanting to start a Bible 44:39 reading plan with reference to a Bible version, and then how do 44:44 they go about reading the Bible? 44:46 >> Doug: I would strongly encourage, was it Elijah 44:48 the name? 44:49 Jean: Yes. 44:51 Doug: I'd strongly encourage Elijah to go to the Amazing 44:52 Facts website and sign up for our free online Bible program 44:56 and just take--I think it follows the New King James 44:59 Version, the new lessons if I'm not mistaken. 45:02 And so, get yourself--New King James is not hard to understand. 45:05 And I think that people can learn. 45:08 You know, I started reading the King James Version, and I had no 45:10 experience growing up in a Bible Church and I struggled, but I 45:13 got where I really am thankful that I learned to read the King 45:16 James Version, and even the New King James. 45:19 There's some ancient English in there, but you know what? 45:22 We can learn. 45:24 Instead of dumbing down the Bible, I think we smarten up 45:25 the people. 45:27 We can learn what these words mean. 45:29 The whole English language has been shaped by the King James 45:32 Version and even the New King James. 45:34 And you'll pick it up. 45:37 If I can, anybody can. 45:39 Jean: One of the suggestions is start reading, if you like, if 45:41 you haven't read the Bible before, start with Genesis 45:43 because that lays a great foundation, and then maybe you 45:46 want to also connect that with maybe the Book of John or maybe 45:49 the Book of Luke, or Mark. 45:51 Mark is the shortest of the four gospels and you can also begin 45:54 to learn more about the story of Jesus. 45:56 And as you read those two together, you'll begin to see a 45:59 change taking place in your heart and life. 46:01 There is power in the reading of the Word. 46:03 Doug: Amen. 46:05 You know, and maybe before we run out of time, Pastor Ross, 46:07 let's get to that section on the Bible. 46:09 We talked about culture and reason. 46:13 A lot of people are looking for signs and wonders instead 46:15 of Scripture. 46:17 Like the father came to Jesus and he was thinking in his 46:20 heart, "If Jesus heals my son, then I'll believe in Him." 46:23 Jesus knew what he was thinking. 46:24 This is in John chapter 4, verse 46 through 48 Christ said to 46:29 him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by 46:32 no means believe." 46:34 And the father then implored Jesus said, "Lord, come down 46:36 here or my child die." 46:38 So often, they were looking for signs and wonders and Jesus 46:41 said, "It's an evil generation that seeks after sign." 46:45 Now, the reason I wanted to mention this right now, friends, 46:47 is because we've got a lot happening in the world today and 46:52 boy, this would be a great time for someone to show up false 46:54 prophets and false Christ to start doing signs and wonders. 46:57 People are wondering, they're looking for direction. 46:59 And boy, I'll tell you, we need to understand now more than 47:02 ever, it's according to the law in the testimony. 47:05 What does the Bible say? 47:06 We're gonna have to measure everything that's happening in 47:08 our culture, in the world, in the governments. 47:10 People are wondering, are we violating some Christian 47:13 principle by not gathering together during the pandemic? 47:16 No, the Bible says, "Do not tempt the Lord." 47:19 You know, there's a good time for us to, you know, give it 47:22 a break. 47:24 The Bible talks about sanitation and isolating things when 47:26 there's a sickness. 47:27 There's nothing, no moral problem here and this is 47:29 something that's going across the board equally for all 47:32 religions, and it'll pass. 47:34 But so, we're going to need to have a good judgment in these 47:39 last days to know, you know, how to apply the Scriptures, and we 47:42 need to know them for ourselves because we're going to be 47:45 brought to answer. 47:46 Jean: You know, this is a verse I think, a powerful verse, John 47:49 chapter 7, verse 38. 47:51 Jesus said, "He who believes in Me," he's talking about Himself. 47:54 Then he adds, "As the Scripture has said, out of his heart will 47:57 flow rivers of living water." 47:59 Jesus is referring to the Scriptures to sort of back up 48:02 his claim that he is the Messiah. 48:05 So, we find even Jesus, who didn't have to do that, He was 48:07 the Word of God, yet he was saying, "Look to the Scriptures, 48:10 they testify of Me." 48:11 Doug: Yeah, absolutely. 48:13 And as I think we mentioned in our study last week from the 48:15 gospel of Luke chapter 24, he said, "We're slow of heart to 48:19 believe all that prophets have said and beginning at Moses, and 48:23 all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, 48:27 the things concerning Himself." 48:30 And there's that verse it says, "Lo, in the volume of the book, 48:34 it is written of Me." 48:36 So, the volume of this book, it's telling us all about Jesus 48:40 and he's the bottom line. 48:42 So, really the most important point we want to leave people 48:44 with, it's like Peter says here, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 24 48:48 through 25, "All flesh is as grass and the glory of man is 48:53 the flower of grass. 48:54 The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the Word of the 48:59 Lord endures forever." 49:01 Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, my Word will not 49:03 pass away." 49:05 He says, "Not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law, 49:07 till all is fulfilled." 49:10 And so, and it's, "The Word of the Lord endures forever. 49:14 Now, this is the Word by which the gospel was preached to you." 49:18 You know, maybe we could just mention to our friends, before 49:20 we tie off our Sabbath school time, that we do have a 49:22 free offer. 49:24 What was that free offer? 49:25 Jean: We'd like remind everyone, this is the first of our series 49:27 of study guides and if you're looking to study, now maybe you 49:30 have a little more time on your own and at home and you'd like 49:32 to study the Word, we want to encourage you to call and ask 49:35 for our free offer. 49:36 It's the study guide entitled, Is There Anything Left You 49:38 Can Trust? 49:39 To receive it, just call the number 866-788-3966 and ask for 49:44 Offer Number 103. 49:46 We'll be happy to send that to you. 49:48 The Postal Service is still up and running so you'll be able to 49:49 get it. 49:51 If you'd like to receive a digital copy of our study guide, 49:54 text the code SH043 to the number 40544 and we'll be able 50:00 to send that to you. 50:01 Doug: Amen. 50:03 announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 50:06 free resource. 50:07 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 50:10 download a digital copy straight to your computer or 50:12 mobile device. 50:14 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 50:17 the key word on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 50:21 shown on your screen and be sure to select the digital download 50:25 option on the request page. 50:27 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 50:30 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want and most 50:34 important, to share it with others. 50:42 announcer: Amazing Facts, Changed Lives. 50:50 Charlie Green: My life was in turmoil. 50:52 My wife and I were fighting all the time. 50:54 I got away from everything and everybody. 50:57 I don't know, just I always had this emptiness in my heart I 51:00 wanted filled. 51:02 I just felt like I went my whole life, you know, just searching 51:05 for something. 51:07 And my father died, and that ruined me a lot. 51:10 My father didn't believe in suicide and I didn't want to 51:13 live but rather than disrespect him, I decided I would just 51:16 become so mean someone else would do it to me, you know, and 51:19 I wouldn't have to. 51:21 So, I joined the Army thinking, what better place to get killed 51:23 than the Army? 51:24 While I was in the Army, my daughter got injured, she was in 51:28 an accident and she was blind and paraplegic, and it's just 51:34 like I felt the whole world was coming down on me. 51:37 One morning, I just really got mad, and I gave God a cussing 51:41 like you wouldn't believe. 51:42 I said, "I'm not Moses, not Abraham, you know, I don't--but 51:47 I put my sandals on just like they do and I'm a man. 51:50 I don't want to know why this is happening to me, I just want to 51:53 know that it's happening for a reason. 51:55 If you tell me right now this is all for a reason, then you can 51:58 stack it on me from here till the end of time and I will never 52:03 complain again." 52:05 And that little TV came on, had been sitting there just static 52:09 all night long. 52:11 And there's this minister when he pops up and he says, "Today's 52:14 lesson's from the Book of Job. 52:16 God only lets those suffer that He loves the most." 52:19 And I said, "Well, that's all you had to say, Lord. 52:20 I appreciate it." 52:22 From that day forward, I knew that He was there, He was in my 52:25 life, and that He would help me. 52:29 I went to prison just almost immediately. 52:32 I was in prison for aggravated assault. 52:35 I was in one the worst prisons in the state of Tennessee. 52:38 It was full of gang activity. 52:40 I got my throat cut, 52 stitches. 52:44 My neck, I could take those fingers and stick them all the 52:46 way to out my mouth. 52:48 I'd gone to the library that day because it was really about the 52:51 only thing to do. 52:52 But I ran across this little book called "The 52:54 Richest Caveman." 52:56 This book is hilarious, but it is great. 53:00 I'm sitting there with this big beard and I'm thinking, hey, I 53:02 know what it's like to look like a caveman. 53:05 I'm not an educated person, I guess you'd say, but I'm a 53:07 simple guy. 53:09 I'm just really a simple guy. 53:11 That's what I loved about Doug Batchelor because this guy is 53:15 just straight out as you can get. 53:18 And my wife and I, we've kept contact through all these years. 53:22 And so much has gone on. 53:26 And I told her, I said, "Listen, this is the center of my world 53:31 right now." 53:33 And I said, "I really want you to be involved in it with me. 53:35 I need it," and I said, "And you will too if you ever just take 53:38 hold of it." 53:40 I told my wife I said, "Listen, they've got this Amazing Facts 53:42 Bible study going here and this is the best way for you to get 53:47 this information, I think," I said, "because it's broken down 53:50 and they give you questions and to make you look for these 53:58 things, you know? 53:59 So, it's not anyone telling you, you find it on your own, and 54:03 they teach you actually to use the Bible." 54:05 She was there faithfully every Wednesday until we decided, you 54:09 know, she wanted to be baptized also. 54:13 She saw it coming around. 54:16 The choice was made and October 4, 2014, my wife and I were, we 54:21 were baptized in the water at the same time and we started our 54:28 walk together, I guess you'd say. 54:30 I went through everything that a man could possibly go through, I 54:33 guess, from marital trouble, loss of family members, death in 54:39 my family. 54:41 My children were harmed. 54:42 My daughter handicapped for life. 54:45 I went to prison, but still I kept my Word to God that He 54:51 could stack it on me as much as He wanted, and I'd never 54:54 question Him again, and I didn't. 54:57 But I can say this much, He never put nothing on me that I 55:01 couldn't handle, and He walked with me through it all. 55:05 And I'd like to say that anyone who is in prison, not to 55:11 give up. 55:12 Don't lose hope. 55:14 Put your faith in the Lord and study and seek Him and He will 55:18 seek you. 55:20 And my name is Charlie Green, and I want you to know that you 55:22 and Amazing Facts have changed my life. 55:26 ♪♪♪ 55:38 ♪♪♪ 55:52 Doug: Hi friends, this is Pastor Doug Batchelor. 55:54 Would you like to hear an amazing fact? 55:56 More and more of the world is turning now to natural forms of 55:59 energy to try and find their power, and they're resorting to 56:02 things like the wind farm that we have here in Jamaica 56:04 and Wigton. 56:06 You know, I remember years ago, my wife and I going to visit the 56:08 Big Island of Hawaii, and we were amazed at all the potential 56:11 there for natural power, but they weren't using it. 56:15 There at the south part of the island, there was 56:17 volcanic activity. 56:19 You can make geothermal power there. 56:21 If you went to Waimea, the wind was constantly blowing, but they 56:25 had no windmills there. 56:27 If you went over to Kona, sun always shines, solar electric, 56:31 but they didn't have very much solar electric there. 56:34 And if you went to Hilo, it was always raining, hydroelectric. 56:37 And in spite of all that potential for power there on the 56:40 big island of Hawaii, they were powering the island back then, 56:43 with dirty diesel generators. 56:46 Made me think about how we sometimes waste the power of 56:48 God's Spirit that he's making available to us, and each of us 56:51 can have that Spirit if we simply ask. 56:54 You can read in Zechariah chapter 10, what do we do? 56:57 Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, and he will 57:01 send flashing clouds. 57:03 Jesus also said in the Book of Luke, "If you then being evil 57:06 know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more 57:09 will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them 57:12 that ask?" 57:14 When you look in the Book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit was 57:17 poured out, it says there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind 57:20 and that power that launched the church back then, can still 57:23 power your life today, friends. 57:25 So, why don't you ask Him? 57:27 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2020-04-18