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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:21 ♪♪♪ 00:30 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Jëan Ross: Good morning. 00:37 We'd like to welcome you again to "Sabbath School Study Hour," 00:39 coming to you here from the Granite Bay Seventh-day 00:41 Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. 00:43 We'd like to welcome our online members and our friends who are 00:46 joining us across the country and literally around the world. 00:50 Our extended Sabbath School class, 00:52 if you've been joining us for the last few weeks, 00:55 you know that we've been studying through the Old 00:56 Testament book of Isaiah. 00:58 Today, we are on lesson number six. 01:00 It's got the title "Playing God," and we'll see what the 01:03 Bible has to say about that subject. 01:06 That's lesson number six in our lesson quarterly. 01:08 We also have a free offer entitled "The Surrender of 01:11 Self," and we'll be happy to send this to anyone 01:13 in North America. 01:14 If you'd like to receive the book, 01:16 the number to call is 866-788-3966, and just ask 01:22 for offer number 153. 01:25 We'll get that in the mail and send it to you. 01:27 You can also request a digital download of the book, 01:31 and to do so, you just need to text the code "SH087" to the 01:36 number 40544 and you'll get a digital copy of the book, 01:41 "The Surrender of Self." 01:43 Well, before we get to our lesson this morning, 01:45 we're going to be having a special musical item from the 01:47 Milson family. 01:51 ♪♪♪ 02:01 ♪♪♪ 02:06 ♪ Lord, let Your light, ♪ 02:12 ♪ light of Your face shine on us. ♪ 02:20 ♪ Lord, let Your light, ♪ 02:26 ♪ light of Your face shine on us, ♪ 02:34 ♪ that we may be saved, ♪ 02:42 ♪ that we may have life ♪ 02:49 ♪ to find a way ♪ 02:52 ♪ in the darkest night. ♪ 02:58 ♪ Let Your light shine on us. ♪ 03:06 ♪♪♪ 03:16 ♪♪♪ 03:17 ♪ Lord, let Your grace, ♪ 03:23 ♪ grace from Your hand fall on us. ♪ 03:32 ♪ Lord, let Your grace, ♪ 03:38 ♪ grace from Your hand fall on us, ♪ 03:46 ♪ that we may be saved, ♪ 03:54 ♪ that we may have life ♪ 04:01 ♪ to find a way ♪ 04:04 ♪ in the darkest night. ♪ 04:09 ♪ Let Your grace fall on us. ♪ 04:18 ♪ Lord, let Your love, ♪ 04:23 ♪ love with no end come over us. ♪ 04:32 ♪ Lord, let Your love, ♪ 04:38 ♪ love with no end come over us, ♪ 04:46 ♪ that we may be saved, ♪ 04:53 ♪ that we may have life ♪ 05:01 ♪ to find a way ♪ 05:04 ♪ in the darkest night. ♪ 05:11 ♪ Let Your love come over us. ♪ 05:20 ♪ Let Your light shine on us. ♪ 05:45 Jëan: Let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. 05:48 Dear Father in heaven, how grateful we are then that we 05:51 can turn to You, that You're always there. 05:54 In the midst of joy or sorrow or trials or victories, 05:58 you are there to guide, sustain, comfort. 06:01 And Lord, as we open up Your Word, 06:03 we want to ask Your Spirit to be with us. 06:05 Be with us here in this place, but also with those who are 06:08 joining us, wherever they might be, in their home. 06:11 We pray, Lord, that Your Spirit speak to their hearts as well. 06:14 And we commit this time in Your keeping, in Jesus's name, amen. 06:18 Our lesson today is going to be brought to our family life 06:21 pastor here at Granite Bay: Pastor Shawn Brummund. 06:26 Shawn Brummund: Well, good morning to everyone. 06:27 It's nice to have you join us here as we continue to worship 06:31 the Lord from Sabbath to Sabbath, 06:33 and we're not going to let any pandemic get in the 06:35 way of that, amen? 06:37 We continue to worship, either in person in different 06:41 capacities as the restrictions have lifted in the Greater 06:44 Sacramento region just recently, as well as, 06:48 of course, online as many people are continuing to choose to 06:52 stream from their homes; in their living rooms, 06:55 their kitchens, wherever it is, their cars, their phones, 06:57 wherever they're located. 06:59 You want to continue to worship the Lord. 07:01 And so we come together to study, 07:03 and today we're looking at the Book of Isaiah. 07:05 And you know, this is the second time I've had the privilege of 07:07 being able to teach from the Book of Isaiah during this 07:09 particular quarter, and I have to say that after going through 07:14 this particular week, it reminds me what terrible, 07:17 cruel treatment we have given to Dr. Roy Gane as we asked him to 07:23 author this particular quarter and have asked him to cover the 07:29 Book of Isaiah in just three months. 07:31 And friends, very quickly, it doesn't very-- 07:34 take very long to be able to start to recognize that he can 07:36 only just but touch on some of the great themes of truth. 07:40 The Book of Isaiah is just so deep, 07:42 so rich, so lengthy, and so comprehensive in its message 07:46 that, really, it is an impossibility to cover 07:50 the entire Book of Isaiah in three months. 07:53 In fact, I got a good dose of my own medicine-- 07:55 of that same medicine, I should say, over the last week as I was 07:58 preparing for today's lesson study, and many of you as you 08:01 look through it because we are asked to look 08:03 at six entire chapters. 08:05 And in some of those chapters, one chapter alone could take 08:08 two or three sessions on its own. 08:10 And so there's just-- 08:12 it's going to be impossible to be able to cover so many of the 08:16 deep truths that God reveals in those six chapters. 08:18 But by God's grace, we're going to look at some of them and see 08:22 if God can continue to open our minds and understand how much He 08:26 is involved in this world, how much He loves us, and, 08:29 friends, the great rewards that are found in the Book 08:31 of Isaiah. 08:33 I also hope that this inspires us, 08:35 motivates us to be able to open up the Book of Isaiah in later 08:38 times after this particular quarter is over, or even during 08:41 it, if you have the time, to be able to spend those extra hours 08:45 looking at the other chapters, digging them a little bit 08:48 deeper, looking at the SDA commentaries 08:50 and Ellen White's commentaries and others that give us such 08:54 rich insight and understanding, because the rewards are there, 08:58 much more rewards that we could even find just 08:59 in the quarterly alone. 09:03 So we're looking at some very important details to start off 09:06 with this particular week in Isaiah's chapter 13 and 14, 09:11 and in those two chapters we find, 09:13 again, just a load of gold and treasures that concern 09:17 to prophetic truth, the principles, and involvement 09:21 of God in the world. 09:23 Sunday's lesson points out that these two particular chapters 09:26 are the first of 11 chapters; that is, from chapters 13 to 23, 09:31 and in that particular section in which this one week is kind 09:35 of trying to encompass plus three more. 09:38 You know, it's just impossible to cover it all. 09:41 But in those 11 chapters and in the first initial chapters of 13 09:45 and 14, it proclaims God's judgments on several 09:47 different nations. 09:49 Now, if you read through Isaiah before, in the past, 09:52 this is something that probably jumped out to you-- 09:54 at you just like it did with me. 09:57 I still recall very clearly when I was reading through the Book 09:59 of Isaiah for the first time many years ago, 10:02 and when I was doing that I had discovered that God had 10:06 all these prophecies not only for Israel 10:09 but for multiple nations surrounding Israel in that 10:12 region of the world. 10:13 And so I started to read in the Book of Isaiah in these 10:16 two particular chapters and the chapters following as God was 10:18 addressing several nations, and it revealed to me that, 10:24 very clearly, at that point onward that God is an 10:26 international God, that God is not only working through the 10:31 nation of Israel. 10:32 Now, Israel is obviously a key nation and we're going to talk 10:34 about its place in the nations, but it only is holding one 10:39 place--one of the nations of the world. 10:41 God has been working through and has been working in and about 10:46 the royal palaces, the different democracies and republics that 10:50 have risen and fallen throughout Earth's history on all 10:54 continents, in all the world. 10:56 And I think this is one of the rich, 10:59 important themes that Isaiah, among all the prophets, brings 11:02 out more clear, more extensively than any other prophet. 11:06 Yes, and those chapters in Isaiah that we looked at this 11:08 week, God addresses Babylon, He addresses Assyria, 11:12 He addresses Moab, He addresses Syria, 11:16 He addresses Ethiopia, He addresses one of the strongest, 11:21 mightiest cities on the Mediterranean by the name 11:23 of Tyre. 11:25 That is T-Y-R-E. 11:27 Yeah, God has messages for more than just Israel, 11:30 and this is an important truth that jumped out at me, 11:33 and I hope it has-- or if it hasn't in the past, 11:36 that it jumped out to you over the last week because 11:39 that helped me to be able to understand that God has not 11:41 just developed in Israel this kind of exclusive club, 11:45 this kind of--you know, kind of exclusive club that if you're 11:50 fortunate enough to be born into it or maybe you're a neighbor of 11:53 it and you're fortunate to be able to plug into that, 11:57 then that's all that God's really interested in. 11:59 He just kind of has His favorite people, 12:01 and that's the really only ones that are important to Him. 12:04 No, not at all. 12:06 You know, now for-- unfortunately, 12:07 the generation that came and had developed up to the point 12:11 of Jesus's life on Earth, that was the case and the mind of 12:15 most Jewish people, that was the case and the mind of the rabbis 12:19 and the priesthood and so on, that that God looked upon 12:22 everybody that was fortunate to be born a Jew and then they-- 12:26 you know, they were born into the Kingdom, they were born into 12:29 eternity, they were born into the worship of the true God and 12:32 the true revelation of God in the Scriptures and so on, 12:36 the true religion. 12:37 But really, the rest of all peoples were dogs. 12:40 You know, they were just unclean, common people. 12:42 They were the inferior ones that God wasn't all that interested 12:44 in, but that's not the case at all, 12:47 and Isaiah brings that out loud and clear. 12:49 And so Israel had no excuse by the time Jesus came along and 12:52 tried to have--you know, did his best to be able to try to 12:54 straighten that out, and sometimes I think he has 12:57 to straighten it out for us as Christians and as a church at 13:01 times as well. 13:03 Daniel said it best in his book in chapter 2 and verse 21, 13:06 where he makes that very famous and very powerful statement. 13:09 He says, "And He," that is the Lord, 13:12 "changes times and seasons. 13:15 He removes kings and raises up kings." 13:18 Many of you are familiar with that important verse. 13:21 This is an important theological statement concerning God's 13:24 involvement in the world. 13:26 God does not call us into an agnostic faith. 13:30 God does not call us into an exclusive club within the church 13:33 or within Israel. 13:34 God is working through all nations, 13:36 and He is the one that is deciding not only who will 13:38 be king in Israel or who will be president of the United States, 13:41 but He's also deciding who will be the next president or king 13:43 over in Somalia or over in China and so on. 13:48 You know, God is the one that really is watching over the 13:50 boundaries of all nations. 13:52 God is an international God, and I think that we forget that too 13:56 quickly and maybe some of us have never really 13:58 comprehended that. 14:00 God makes it very clear from the beginning of all nations. 14:02 After all, through one blood-- 14:04 Paul says, all people, all nations, and all races have 14:08 come from one blood, from Adam and Eve. 14:10 We all share the same grandparent and the same 14:12 grandfather and the same grandmother. 14:15 And so naturally God is interested in all nations, 14:18 naturally God is involved in every single people group, 14:21 every nation, tribe, tongue, and people around the world. 14:25 And God decides when their iniquity-- 14:27 their cup of iniquity, as the prophets put it in the symbolic 14:30 way, when their evil reaches a point where they cross that line 14:35 in the sand where God says, "This far and no farther," 14:39 that God then allows that king, and quite often 14:41 that kingdom, to fall. 14:46 And so God pronounces that judgment not only on Israel 14:48 as he did, sadly, so many times, but on all nations, 14:51 and He always has. 14:53 And Isaiah, again, opens our mind to that grander scale of 14:56 truth that God wants us to be able to understand. 15:01 Now, the fascinating thing is that 100-- 15:04 over 100 years before Daniel came along, over 100 years 15:08 before a couple of Babylonian kings came along during Daniel's 15:12 lifetime, God had revealed through Isaiah that one of 15:16 those two kings would be removed from his throne. 15:19 He would be slaughtered by an enemy force, 15:22 and He names one of those forces in the same chapter of Isaiah 15:25 chapter 13, and that is found in Isaiah 13 and verse 17. 15:30 He names the Medes, and He says, "Listen, 15:33 one of the enemy forces that will remove that king--" 15:36 even as Daniel had proclaimed earlier in Daniel chapter 2 15:38 that it's God who lifts up kings and places them on the throne. 15:41 He's the one who decides when they are removed from the throne 15:43 as well. 15:47 And so Isaiah names it over 100 years beforehand and says the 15:51 Medes will be one of the key forces that will remove and 15:54 slaughter the final king of the great Babylonian Empire. 15:57 And of course, we know that to be Belshazzar. 16:02 We can find that detailed in Daniel chapter 5, 16:04 how he was removed and some of the powerful details that 16:07 surrounded that particular circumstance that caused God 16:11 to be able to draw that line and say, 16:13 "This far and no further." 16:16 But not only the-- are the Medes mentioned-- 16:18 in this case, the Medes are mentioned in Isaiah 13. 16:21 But the Persians really were the most powerful of that alliance, 16:25 as we could say, because it was not just the Medes over in what 16:29 we call modern Iraq-- 16:30 or not Iraq, but Iran today. 16:32 And the Medes lived more in what we call Northern Iran today, 16:36 and then the Persians lived more in the southern section 16:39 of modern Iran today. 16:40 And they were somewhat related and so on, but-- 16:43 and so they had some similar blood, 16:45 but they were always battling and at heads with each other. 16:47 And sometimes the Medes were the ones that were ruling and kind 16:50 of making the Persians subject to them and sometimes the other 16:53 way around. 16:55 Well, the time that the Babylonian Empire was 16:57 destroyed and conquered, it was actually the Medes that were 17:00 subject to the Persians. 17:01 The Persians were ruling the roost at that time. 17:03 And so the Persians actually were led by a key king by the 17:07 name of Cyrus, historically coming to be known as Cyrus 17:11 the Great, and he was a Persian. 17:14 And he's labeled later on in Isaiah chapter 45, 17:17 and you can find that in verses 1 and verses 13, 17:21 two fascinating verses-- amongst the fascinating-- 17:24 one of the most fascinating chapters you can find in all 17:27 the Scripture are on Isaiah 45. 17:30 And again it's labeling there, that the Persians actually be 17:33 the key leading force that'll remove Babylon and the 17:36 Babylonian king, but the Medes would be intricate 17:38 in that as well. 17:40 Now, one of the fascinating things about Isaiah chapter 45 17:43 and verse 1 is where it labels, and even names, King Cyrus over 17:46 100 years before he was ever conceived. 17:50 God looking forward into the future, 17:52 knowing the beginning from the end as He declare so often 17:55 through the prophet Isaiah indeed declares for us here 17:58 that the first king--the key king, the Persian king that 18:02 would actually mastermind the breakdown and the conquering 18:07 of this--what was known as the unconquerable city of Babylon, 18:10 and then his forces--the Persian forces along with the Median 18:14 forces would actually conquer Babylon in one swift moment in 18:19 one night, and indeed Belshazzar, 18:22 the last Babylonian king, was slaughtered that night. 18:26 And--so fascinating chapter. 18:28 King Cyrus the Great, the great deliverer of Israel-- 18:32 Israel had been in captivity to this enemy of God, 18:35 the enemy of true religion, the enemy of God's people, 18:38 and God's people, Israel, had been in captivity there for 70 18:42 years now, and Cyrus was the key figure that turned the key and 18:47 allowed--and opened the door and allowed the Israelites to 18:50 be able to return to their homeland, 18:52 rebuild Jerusalem, rebuild the holy temple and continue 18:55 to proclaim the coming Messiah through the temple services, 18:59 the salvation of the world. 19:02 In fact, in 45, verse 1 in Isaiah, 19:04 God actually not only named Cyrus 19:06 but then He calls Cyrus His anointed one. 19:09 Now, I find this fascinating, friends. 19:12 He calls him His anointed one. 19:13 Now, anointed one means "messiah." 19:15 This is--the Hebrew term "messiah" 19:17 literally means "anointed one." 19:18 "Christ" is the Greek equivalent to the same word and title "the 19:23 anointed one." 19:24 Now, God had a number of anointed one throughout history. 19:27 He had David the Anointed One. 19:28 David, several times, referred to his father-in-law Saul-- 19:31 King Saul, the first king of Israel, as God's anointed one. 19:35 And whenever a king in Israel was anointed as a king, well, 19:40 they would kneel down and the priest or the prophet 19:42 would pour some oil over their head as a symbol, 19:45 as an initiation into this great responsibility of king 19:49 of Israel. 19:51 But of course, Jesus never received that oil, did he? 19:54 He was called the Anointed One because the Gospel of Luke-- 19:56 Luke writes for us and says that he was not anointed with oil 19:58 but he was anointed with the Holy Spirit on the day that 20:01 he was baptized. 20:04 The only other figure in all of history that God refers to as 20:07 the anointed one that was never anointed with literal oil like 20:10 the other kings was King Cyrus. 20:16 And so King Cyrus is clearly used by God as a figure-- 20:21 a symbolic figure of the final and ultimate divine Messiah and 20:25 Anointed One: Jesus Christ himself. 20:28 And so we find here a very fitting figure because it was 20:31 King Cyrus that was the key one that came in and delivered and 20:34 freed God's people from Babylonian captivity, 20:38 not only physical captivity but spiritual and moral captivity as 20:42 well because the influences and the practices that were taking 20:44 place in Babylon were extremely strainful upon those who wanted 20:49 to remain faithful to God. 20:51 Just ask Daniel. 20:54 Just ask Daniel's three friends. 20:56 They're very much acquainted with a very hot fire in a very 20:59 hot furnace. 21:00 David was very much acquainted with sleeping with lions that 21:03 were very hungry. 21:05 And so it was very difficult. 21:07 It was very difficult during those captive years to be able 21:10 to stay faithful to God. 21:15 Cyrus was a symbol of the coming-- 21:17 Messiah to come, who would deliver New Testament Israel, 21:21 the holy church, God's true people, from the New Testament 21:25 Babylon, and we're going to expand upon this as we continue 21:28 to go through our lesson study here today. 21:30 And so we have a powerful figurative figure in the-- 21:34 in that of King Cyrus but also his armies, 21:36 his forces, and then the task that God had accomplished 21:41 through him as His anointed one, again, 21:43 which is to deliver God's people, Israel. 21:49 And so God has revealed He's working through and with all 21:52 nations as best as He-- 21:53 as possible with as many as possible to bring as many as 21:56 possible to the truth and the gospel of His eternal salvation. 22:02 And again, Isaiah by far writes the most on this very critical 22:07 grand scale of truth. 22:11 Now, if we were to back up to week number one of our 22:14 quarterly, we would discover that there was a key chapter 22:16 that we had to skip. 22:18 Now, this is no sleight against our author, Dr. Roy Gane, 22:21 because, again, he was given a task that was 22:24 insurmountable as try to cover all the key paths-- 22:26 facets of Isaiah in three months. 22:29 Impossible. 22:31 And so he was--found himself compelled to be able to have 22:33 to skip over Isaiah chapter 2. 22:35 But there's a key there in Isaiah chapter 2 that 22:38 is directly related to what we're looking at in the chapters 22:40 of Isaiah chapter 13 through 23. 22:43 And friends, that is the fact that God has a global agenda, 22:50 that God is involved globally and internationally 22:52 in the world. 22:54 And so I want to bring us to that, 22:55 Isaiah chapter 2 and verses 2 through 4. 22:57 If you have your Bibles open, you can follow along with me. 23:00 Isaiah 2, verses 2 through 4. 23:03 God says through Isaiah, He says, 23:04 "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days," that is in 23:07 the future, "that the mountain of the Lord's house--" 23:13 Now, when he's referring to the mountain of the Lord's house, 23:14 He's referring to Mount Zion, He's referring to Mount Moriah. 23:20 This is where Abraham was called by God to sacrifice his son 23:25 Isaiah, in which God then intervened with a substitute, 23:27 with a ram. 23:29 And it was upon that same mountain in which God then 23:32 instructed God's people to be able to-- 23:34 the Israelites, to build a permanent temple on top of 23:38 that small mountain that was the tallest point in the Jerusalem 23:42 area, in the vicinity of the city of Jerusalem. 23:45 "That the mountain," Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, 23:48 "of the Lord's house--" 23:49 The Lord's house is none other than the holy temple of the 23:52 Jewish nation. 23:53 "Shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be 23:56 exalted above the hills." 23:59 God is saying--His ideal, His plan for Israel was to exalt in 24:03 the minds and the hearts of all nations the true God of 24:09 the universe, and come and worship and see His gospel 24:12 being played out in the great 3D lesson that He had 24:15 in the sanctuary service. 24:18 But my favorite verse or-- 24:19 not verse, but statement is in the last several words of that 24:22 same verse, verse 2. 24:24 And it says, "And all nations shall flow to it." 24:28 Did you pick that up, friends? 24:29 How many nations? 24:31 All nations, it tells us. 24:32 "All nations shall flow to it." 24:35 What was God's plan for Israel? 24:38 God's plan for Israel--that all nations would flow to it. 24:42 You see, Israel was not to be some exclusive, kind of 24:45 favorite, club, some kind of country club in which you had 24:48 to be born into and privileged to have. 24:50 No, it was--if you were born in-- 24:51 as an Israelite, God is trying to tell Israel that you were 24:55 born with the greatest responsibility 24:57 on the entire planet. 25:00 "You have the greatest responsibility to bring 25:02 My truth and true religion and faith and knowledge of Me to all 25:06 the world." 25:08 Israel was intended by God to be the headquarters-- 25:11 the evangelistic headquarters, the GC headquarters to bring the 25:17 gospel to every nation upon the earth, 25:20 and that the Word would go so powerfully that people would 25:22 flow for the Passover, flow to Israel and Jerusalem for these 25:26 different feasts and different ceremonies and so on, that were 25:30 all pointed by faith to the ultimate Passover lamb: 25:32 Jesus Christ. 25:40 Verse 3, it goes on, Jesus says, "Many people shall come and say, 25:44 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 25:46 to the house of the God of Jacob; 25:47 and He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk 25:51 in His paths.' 25:53 For out of Zion shall go forth the law." 25:56 This is the Law of Moses, you know, 25:58 the first five books of the Old Testament. 26:01 "And out of Zion shall go forth the law and the Word, 26:05 the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 26:08 This is the same Word that you and I have, friends, 26:10 the Bible, as we call it today. 26:12 "And the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem shall go 26:15 to all nations. 26:16 He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. 26:20 They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears 26:22 into pruning hooks. 26:24 Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 26:26 neither shall they learn war anymore." 26:28 Friends, if this was fulfilled as God gave that potential to 26:32 Israel and all nations literally began to flow to it, 26:36 and there's only one window that I'm aware of in all of 26:38 this sacred history of the Old Testament where Israel started 26:41 to--just started to taste that potential was during the first 26:45 years of King Solomon. 26:47 King David blew it in a number of different ways, 26:49 but his heart was after the God of the universe. 26:52 He was a man after God's own heart, 26:54 and God lifted him up as one of the most sincere and faithful 26:57 followers of Christ throughout all the Bible. 27:00 But as David came to the end of his life and he left all 27:02 the plans to build a permanent sanctuary and temple before 27:05 his--for his son Solomon, who then took the throne, 27:08 and Solomon and his sincere faith and faithfulness to God 27:11 in those first years brought to life this grand temple, 27:15 and it tells us that nations around the world started to hear 27:19 word, they started to hear these rumors of this great, tiny 27:23 nation and all of its power and prosperity. 27:25 But even as queen--the Queen of Sheba had said, 27:29 you know, "The rumors that I heard, 27:30 the reports that I had been given that drew me to this 27:33 particular nation doesn't even hold a candle to the reality 27:38 that I have found when I actually arrived here 27:39 and took the tour, when I saw it for myself." 27:42 Yes, she was speaking about material prosperity as God 27:45 has always intended to bless Israel with, 27:50 but much more importantly than that, 27:51 she says, "The mood and the attitude and the happiness of 27:54 the people of Israel is grander than I've ever 27:56 seen in any other nation," why? 27:59 Because the fruits of the Spirit is what? 28:03 Joy. Love. 28:09 Friends, these are-- 28:10 these were being shown and fabricated into the very culture 28:14 and society of Israel when this queen came from so far away. 28:20 But sadly, Israel had failed. 28:22 They had quickly declined. 28:23 Even Solomon didn't make it through half his life, 28:26 as you know, and half of his reign be started-- 28:27 before he started to compromise and he started to adapt some of 28:30 the different ways of the world and built up-- 28:32 was more interested in building a harem than he 28:35 was in building Israel anymore. 28:38 And so we find that Israel had quickly lost that sight, 28:41 but there was that small window when the potential of these 28:44 prophecies of Isaiah started to take place. 28:47 Now, of course, Isaiah came after this, 28:50 but nevertheless, Isaiah is still building on that and 28:53 reoffering it to Israel. 28:57 And he's saying as a result of that, 28:58 when all nations did finally flow to the nation of Israel 29:02 and worshiped God at His temple, that peace would come among the 29:06 nations and we would no longer have war being covered on the 29:08 news any longer. 29:10 There would be peace among the peoples. 29:13 Isaiah chapter 56 and verse 6 29:15 and 7 tells us the same powerful truth. 29:17 In Isaiah 56 and verses 6 through 7, it says this. 29:20 "Also the sons of the foreigner--" 29:23 The sons of the what? 29:25 "The sons of the foreigner, who join themselves to the Lord, 29:28 to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, 29:31 to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath 29:35 and holds fast My covenant, even them I will bring to My holy 29:39 mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. 29:43 Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on 29:45 My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer 29:49 for all nations." 29:52 And so God very clearly tells us that God has always intended His 29:56 temple not just to be for the Jews-- 29:57 no, not at all. 29:59 The Jews were built and born with the responsibility to be 30:01 able to bring the temple worship to all nations, 30:06 that all people groups would come and want to 30:08 pray and worship and fall on their knees and spend their 30:11 time with the true God of the universe. 30:16 Of course, we know that Jesus had quoted this same passage as 30:20 Jesus looked upon his generation and upon Israel in his time, 30:23 and he looked at them and saw what 30:25 an exclusive-kind-of country club and superiority-kind-of 30:28 complex they had developed. 30:30 He was disgusted with the state of the mind of the religious 30:35 culture of his day. 30:40 And so God--as Jesus looked around and He saw that they 30:43 had just totally desecrated the temple. 30:44 Now there are people yelling and trying to get customers' 30:47 attention as they were selling different sacrificial animals 30:50 and exchanging the currencies for the temple currencies so 30:54 that they could buy the different sacrificial animals 30:56 and make their offerings at the temple and so on, 30:58 Jesus cries out and-- you know the story. 31:01 He's not a happy camper that afternoon--or that morning. 31:06 No, not at all. 31:08 He cries out, "God has intended this house to be a house of 31:10 prayer for all nations, but you have turned it into a den 31:14 of thieves." 31:17 Jesus understood all along because He's the one that's 31:19 speaking through Isaiah. 31:21 He's the one that's offering this to Isaiah again before 31:23 Jesus ever arrived--hundreds of years before he arrived. 31:26 He's saying, "Listen, the potential is this, seize it. 31:30 Run with it. Fulfill it." 31:34 But of course, sadly, we find that the potential 31:41 was never reached. 31:45 Well, after the Persian king, Cyrus, 31:47 conquered Babylon--that is ancient Babylon in 539 BC, 31:51 even as Isaiah had prophesied over 100 years beforehand, 31:56 the city of Babylon forever lost its independence and its great 31:59 power and its influence. 32:01 It faded off into obscurity, it shrank in population, 32:04 and then, finally, it was abandoned by the last several 32:06 hundred that lived there about 100 AD. 32:10 And so Babylon never regained its independence, 32:14 and eventually, as I just shared with you, 32:16 it was abandoned. 32:18 It shrank in political power, in military power, 32:22 and in population over the hundreds of years that followed, 32:25 until, finally, 100 AD, the last straggling residents, 32:29 or citizens, that were there kind of disappeared. 32:32 And then the desert sand of what we now call modern Iraq came 32:35 along and began to bury those buildings and bury those ancient 32:40 temples, and we never discovered them until 32:43 just in recent history. 32:46 And so now we can find it in Iraq, 32:48 and we know where that place is. 32:49 And archaeologists have found some very enlightening 32:53 discoveries there. 32:57 This was all according to God's but judgment. 32:59 This is all according to God's plan. 33:00 In Isaiah chapter 13 and verses 19 through 20-- 33:04 and I'm going to open my Bible for that one. 33:06 Isaiah chapter 13, verses 19 through 20, 33:11 we read that fascinating prophecy that God gave, 33:13 again, some 160 years beforehand. 33:18 And as God looks forward into the future and judges Babylon 33:22 for its great wickedness and rebellion against God, 33:24 it says, "And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms--" 33:28 And so God is pointing out rightly that, you know, 33:30 Babylon was the superpower. 33:32 It was the golden city of the ancient world during those years 33:36 of the 6th century BC. 33:38 "And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, 33:40 the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, 33:42 will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 33:46 It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from 33:48 generation to generation." 33:51 And history attests to that very fact. 33:54 After it was finally abandoned in about 100 AD, 33:58 again, never gained its independence and then 34:00 began to be buried by the sand and was forgotten for hundreds 34:03 of years until archaeologists, again, just discovered it in 34:05 recent years. 34:07 But even today it's an archaeological tell, 34:09 as we call it. 34:10 It is a place where we can learn about history, 34:12 but it's certainly not a settled and established city. 34:15 As God said, it never will be until Jesus comes again. 34:19 And so another fascinating prophecy that God revealed 34:22 so many hundreds of years beforehand that has been 34:24 fulfilled in its preciseness as God has given it. 34:29 And all this history is used by God-- 34:31 this is fascinating. 34:32 When it come to the Book of Revelation-- 34:34 all of this history is used by God in the Book of Revelation 34:37 to represent a global grand battle between Jerusalem and 34:42 Babylon, God's people, or the church, and those in Satan's 34:46 camp, those who continue to promote false religion 34:49 and false philosophies. 34:54 Now, the fascinating thing about the ancient city of Babylon is 34:56 many people do not realize that Babylon is not the name of-- 35:00 that the kings and the citizens of Babylon actually named it and 35:03 called it, which really makes sense because Babylon means-- 35:07 it means confusion. 35:08 So Babylon means confusion. 35:10 And so, you know, I can't imagine, 35:12 you know, any king that's establishing his city and 35:15 a kingdom and so on and-- 35:16 saying, "Hey, let's call our kingdom 35:17 and the capital confusion." 35:20 This is a derogatory term. 35:22 Actually, in the original Babylonian language, 35:25 the kings of Babylon, starting with Nabopolassar and maybe 35:29 before that, had named it Babili, 35:32 and you can find that in your quarterly lesson study, Babili. 35:36 And Babili is the Babylonian name that they called it. 35:39 It literally meant the gate of the gods, 35:43 the gate of the gods. 35:44 Now, that wouldn't be much more fitting for what they 35:45 would choose to call it because, of course, 35:48 they understood that Babylon was the religious mecca of the 35:52 ancient world, and really it was. 35:54 When it came to false religion, Babylon was the centerpiece. 35:59 It was the headquarters of false religion. 36:01 Now, the Assyrians and the Medes and the Persians and others had 36:05 also developed a lot of false philosophies and religion, 36:08 but Babylon was the king of it. 36:10 You know, you couldn't find more idols and more temples and more 36:13 different forms of religion that you could in the ancient 36:16 city of Babylon. 36:17 And so it was known as the gate of the gods, 36:19 the gateway to the gods of all divinity and all of the 36:22 different forms that they had developed, 36:25 man-made false forms. 36:28 And so they called it something much different than the 36:30 Babylon--than the Hebrew prophets called it in what 36:34 we read in the Bible, and now-- 36:36 which is most commonly known as. 36:39 And so, really, what the Old Testament prophets were doing 36:42 was a wordplay. 36:43 And so they said, "Well, the Babylonians, or the Chaldeans, 36:48 may want to call it Babili, 36:50 but we're going to call it Bab-a-lon." 36:53 And they played on the-- 36:54 probably on the original name of what the Babylonians actually 36:57 called their city, as well as the ancient Tower of Babel. 37:01 And so Babel, we know it means "confusion," 37:06 because God confused their languages. 37:08 And so the Hebrew prophets under inspiration of God labeled that 37:11 tower Babel because that was the time in which God confused their 37:15 languages, that they might not be able 37:16 to complete their project. 37:18 God stymied their project on purpose through doing that. 37:21 And so the Hebrew prophet said, "Well, you know what? 37:23 The city of Babylon is the ultimate symbol of the ancient 37:27 tower of Babylon. 37:28 It is the ultimate headquarters 37:29 of religious confusion and counterfeits, 37:32 and therefore we weren't going to call it Babili. 37:34 We're going to call it Babylon." 37:40 And so Wednesday's lesson in our study this last week draws 37:43 a fitting comparison between the false religion of Babylon that 37:46 is based on proud self-righteousness and 37:49 self-produced works and the true religion that the quarterly 37:52 points out concerning Jacob. 37:55 And of course, his religious experience and conversion 37:57 experience started at Bethel, 37:59 but it didn't end at Bethel, did it? 38:01 He received the vision at the beginning of his exile from home 38:04 and from the homeland in which he was accustomed to in the land 38:07 of Canaan, and he received this vision of a ladder that God had 38:10 developed with angels going up and down. 38:12 But then several years later, when he's returning with his 38:15 family and camp and so on, he hears his brother is coming 38:18 with 400 armed men; and he knows what his brother's intention 38:21 was, to kill him. 38:22 And so he wrestles with the Lord that day. 38:24 But when he arrived at that spot in which he wrestled with the 38:27 Lord, it tells us that angels again appeared before Jacob. 38:31 And when those angels appeared, Jacob then called that place 38:34 God's camp, or referred to it as God's plant--camp. 38:40 He actually named it double camp, 38:43 meaning that there's humans as well as there's the population 38:46 of angels that were present there. 38:48 And so it was a very similar experience that he had. 38:51 And when he was wrestling with God, 38:53 the angel of God, God Himself, Jesus Christ-- 38:56 it tells us that as he was doing so, he finally cried out and he 39:01 said, "I will not let you go unless you... 39:04 unless you bless me." 39:06 But there's something else that he had also shared earlier on, 39:10 and it's in verse 10 of the same chapter, 39:13 Genesis chapter 32. 39:15 Now, we're all very much accustomed to Genesis chapter 39:16 32, verse 26, and rightly so. 39:19 "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 39:22 But before that, in verse 10 of the same chapter, 39:25 he tells us this. 39:27 He says, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of 39:29 all the truth in which You have shown Your servant." 39:35 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, 39:37 of all the truth which You have shown Your servant. 39:39 Friends, this is a diametrical completely different religious 39:42 experience and truth that Jake is experiencing compared to that 39:46 of which Babylon offers. 39:51 The Bethel and God's camp experience, 39:54 the Jacob experience is one in where we must have-- 39:56 we must humbly fall before a holy God confessing our sins, 40:01 confessing our sinfulness, confessing our selfishness, 40:04 confessing our self-centeredness, 40:06 our self-serving motives; asking God for grace and mercy, 40:10 that we might be changed, that we might be saved, 40:12 and that we might be transformed 40:14 and brought into a better light in life. 40:17 That's the true religion, amen? 40:20 The apostle Paul said it this way. 40:22 He says, "This is a faithful saying of worthy of all 40:24 acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save 40:27 sinners of whom I am chief." 40:34 Paul humbled himself before the-- 40:35 before his Lord every day and said, "Lord, have mercy upon me, 40:38 a sinner. 40:39 I am not worthy of all the mercies and all the grace in 40:42 which You bestow upon me, but please be in my heart. 40:45 Let me live faithfully as You continue to work Your amazing 40:48 work through my heart, through my life." 40:53 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. 40:56 Then also Paul penned in Ephesians chapter 2 and 40:58 verses 8 through 10, as the quarterly points out, 41:00 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, 41:04 and that not of yourselves. 41:07 It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 41:11 For we are His workmanship, 41:12 created in Christ Jesus for good works." 41:15 Did you catch that, friends? 41:16 We are saved by grace through faith alone, 41:20 not of ourselves. 41:21 It's a gift that God gives to us, 41:22 not of our works, lest anyone should boast. 41:24 All other false religion, including the religions that 41:26 Babylon had offered in ancient times, 41:28 was designed to be able to point ourselves to our self, 41:33 was designed to be able to look to ourselves to 41:35 be able to, somehow, try to save us and save ourselves, 41:39 even as they did back during the times of the Tower of Babel. 41:44 And then we are His workmanship, 41:46 created in Christ Jesus for good works. 41:48 God has created us for good works to be certain, 41:50 and we need to cooperate that if we dream of true and genuine 41:53 faith before us. 41:54 But friends, every good work that He works through us is not 41:56 our own work. 41:58 Did you know that? 41:59 Every good work that you and I work are not our works. 42:03 They're Christ's works, and that leads us to another deep 42:06 statement that Paul himself had penned in Galatians chapter 2 42:10 and verse 20. 42:11 "I have been crucified with Christ," Paul says. 42:14 "It is no longer I who live, but it is," who? 42:17 "But it is Christ Jesus who lives in me, 42:21 and the life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God, 42:23 who loved me and gave himself for me." 42:27 You see, Paul understood that all his good works 42:29 were not his works. 42:31 Every good deed that he did, every time he obeyed 42:33 the Sabbath, every time that he resisted the temptation to be 42:36 dishonest, every time that he would resist the temptation to 42:39 be dishonest to his wife-- 42:40 whatever it was, friends, any temptation that he faced, 42:43 any victory that he achieved, every poor person that he 42:46 helped, every hungry person that he fed, 42:49 he understood it wasn't Paul that was doing that. 42:51 It was Jesus Christ, because he understood that he was crucified 42:57 in Christ. 42:58 It is no longer Christ who-- 42:59 it's Christ who lives in me that's no longer-- 43:01 I've been crucified. 43:03 That's why Paul also said, "I die daily." 43:06 Because if you don't die daily, friends, 43:08 you're living today. 43:10 But if you die and you invite Christ into your life, 43:13 now Christ is living in you. 43:18 That's what God wants in our life. 43:20 That's what God wanted Israel to bring to the world in opposition 43:24 to that of Babylon, and so you have these two great archenemies 43:28 in ancient times. 43:29 You have ancient Jerusalem and Israel in which God had bestowed 43:34 the holy words of Isaiah, that they might understand that they 43:38 are not some exclusive country club. 43:40 They have been given the highest responsibility of all the 43:42 planet, to bring the truth to all the rest of the world that 43:46 all nations might flow into it. 43:48 And in opposition to that, Satan raises up an ancient city by the 43:51 name of Babylon and develops a great empire that surrounds it, 43:56 and he does everything he can to be able to propagate every 43:59 possible counterfeit that would keep us from looking to God for 44:02 good works and look to ourselves for good works. 44:06 Self-righteousness is at the heart of all false religion 44:10 in which the devil brings to this world. 44:12 Now, the New Testament Babylon is something 44:14 that's much different. 44:15 It's first known to be the pagan city of capital, 44:17 because the New Testament authors were-- 44:19 now, we have to remember by the time the New Testament authors 44:21 were coming along, Babylon-- the ancient literal 44:23 city of Babylon was starting to be buried by the sand. 44:27 It was becoming and had become history. 44:30 It was no longer relevant. 44:32 It was no longer existing. 44:34 And so when Peter refers to the city of Rome and says, 44:37 "She greets you from Rome--" 44:39 not from Rome but from Babylon. 44:41 The Christian church and the 44:43 apostles leading the way under God's inspiration were starting 44:46 to refer to the ancient pagan city of Rome as the new Babylon 44:49 of the New Testament era. 44:52 And indeed, it was the great archenemy of God's people, 44:54 was it not? 44:56 Now, Jerusalem was the key persecutor in the first years, 44:57 but Rome very quickly surpassed that and became 45:00 the longstanding--for 300 years, the city of Rome, 45:03 pagan Rome, persecuted God's people and persecuted 45:06 His church. 45:07 In fact, Peter, who referred to Rome as Babylon, 45:10 was one of the ones that met his end in the vicinity and in the 45:14 city of Babel--I mean, the city of Babylon, 45:16 or ancient Rome. 45:19 Peter was crucified upside down in the city of Rome-- 45:21 the great apostle to the Jews, as he was labeled 45:23 in the New Testament. 45:24 The other instrumental-- 45:26 the second most instrumental apostle of all the apostles was 45:28 the apostle Paul, who was also labeled as the apostle to the... 45:32 to the Gentiles. 45:33 Peter was the--labeled as the apostle to the Jews, 45:36 met his end in modern New Testament Babylon, 45:38 the city of Rome. 45:40 And then we also have the other instrumental apostle, 45:44 which is the apostle Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, 45:48 who also found himself losing his head at the head-- 45:51 at the hands of the Roman authorities in the city of Rome, 45:55 Babylon, the new archenemy of God and everything that 46:00 represents God, the new headquarters of propagating 46:06 everything that opposes the true religion of the Bible. 46:12 Now, pagan Rome, as we know, as we look at history and as 46:14 Revelation picks up as he works his--as Revelation reveals the 46:17 very last years of Earth's history and the last centuries, 46:20 in some ways, of Earth's history, that pagan Rome 46:23 quickly was surpassed by pagan Rome-- 46:26 I mean, papal Rome, and so starting with the 300s, 400s AD, 46:31 we find that, indeed, by the time we come to 538 AD, 46:34 the bishop of Rome is the most powerful figure in all 46:36 of Western Europe. 46:39 And so Rome was to continue to remain 46:41 to be the New Testament Babylon. 46:43 It was replaced by the figurative and symbolic 46:46 ancient Babylon, which indeed was a very real and ongoing 46:50 threat to all that is true and all that is God. 46:53 But it is replaced now in the New Testament era first by pagan 46:56 Rome, and then as it transformed into papal Rome, 46:59 the papacy, the Vatican, the seat of the pope. 47:06 The same city would eventually leave what is overt idolatry 47:09 behind and then introduce much of the same idolatry 47:13 and paganism in the form of Christianity. 47:15 It simply left idolatry and then adopted the same realities and 47:20 same false teachings and same false religion and same false 47:24 gospel into the Christian church. 47:29 And so right from the get go, right during the life of the 47:32 apostles, Rome is lifted up as the new Babylon right through 47:36 to the second coming of Jesus Christ. 47:37 Do you see that, friends? 47:40 This is important for us to understand. 47:41 And I see that we're down to our last minute and a half. 47:46 And indeed, it introduced and compromised the church, 47:49 and that same church would proceed to imprison, 47:52 torture, and kill millions of God's people simply for living 47:55 by Bible religion and teaching the same to those around them, 48:02 the exact same thing that ancient Babylon did to ancient 48:04 Israel, modern New Testament Babylon and Rome has done and 48:08 continues to do at every fullest capacity that it can find, 48:12 an authority that it can grab on to to do the exact same thing, 48:16 to oppose everything that is God and is true and oppose all those 48:19 who insist and give-- 48:20 have given their hearts to Jesus, those who are truly 48:22 born again and are falling after the true religion 48:25 of the true Bible. 48:26 Well, friends, we're out of time. 48:29 And I'm glad that we were able to look at most of it. 48:31 Unfortunately, we're unable to look at Isaiah chapter 14. 48:34 We have in recent quarters, so it's not something that 48:36 we haven't touched upon over the last year or so. 48:38 But Isaiah 14, of course, also reveals Lucifer who is behind 48:42 Belshazzar and the kings of Babylon, 48:44 and that is Satan himself. 48:46 And even as he is behind Rome, modern Babylon, 48:49 New Testament Babylon even today. 48:51 And so, friends, I hope that opened up some very important, 48:54 grand themes that God intended to bring and open up for us both 48:58 in the Book of Isaiah as well as Revelation chapter 14, 49:01 16, 17, and 18. 49:03 We find Babylon is lifted up as the new Babylon-- 49:06 as the new Rome, or the New Testament Babylon, 49:09 which is what we literally call Rome and will be the enemy of 49:13 all that is God and truth until Jesus comes. 49:18 announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 49:20 free resource. 49:22 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 49:24 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer or 49:26 mobile device. 49:28 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 49:30 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web 49:35 address shown on your screen. 49:37 And be sure to select the digital download option 49:39 on the request page. 49:41 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 49:44 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, 49:47 and most important, to share it with others. 49:58 Andrew: When I was eight years old, 50:00 I brought home a 5-foot rattlesnake, 50:02 and it's gone downhill ever since. 50:04 Rattlesnakes, sharks, cliff diving, free-diving. 50:08 I wouldn't call myself an adrenaline junkie. 50:09 I just realized that the closest that I've ever been to being 50:13 alive is when I'm so close to death. 50:16 I was raised in the northern mountains in Mexico. 50:19 I learned English because there was missionary groups that were 50:22 coming from Colorado and then going to the northern mountains 50:24 of Mexico, and they were all changed in this short-term 50:29 mission trips and they had these unbelievable experiences in 50:32 their close encounters with God and I would 50:35 share their testimony. 50:36 I would translate for them. 50:39 And I was jealous, I was jealous because I didn't 50:43 have a testimony. 50:45 I didn't have something like that. 50:46 I didn't have that life-changing experience, 50:48 that close encounter with God. 50:51 I knew He was there, I just-- 50:54 I couldn't understand Him and I didn't really want anything to 50:56 do with Him, and part of me wanted Him not to want anything 51:01 to do with me. 51:03 I felt like I was unworthy of God's love. 51:07 I left Mexico to come to college. 51:12 Once I got to college, 51:13 I realized how expensive college was. 51:15 And so in order to pay for college, 51:18 I became a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska. 51:21 And the first time that I stepped on a boat, 51:23 I knew I was going to be a fisherman for the rest 51:25 of my life. 51:27 I met this man in Tennessee in one of the rivers, 51:30 and I found out that he had an orphanage in Honduras. 51:34 And he said, you know, "You can come down to Honduras. 51:36 You can help us put a support video together." 51:38 And you know, he was like, "Maybe you can get some college 51:41 credits out of it." 51:43 I said, "You know, that would be great. 51:44 I would do that. 51:45 I would love to do that." 51:47 And so I flew down to Honduras. 51:48 And one of the conversations that we had during dinner-- 51:52 we were talking about this and that and somehow I brought up 51:54 Rapture, and they said, "Well, find us a place in Scripture 51:57 where it talks about Rapture." 51:59 And I said, "It's all over the Bible." 52:01 They said, "Is it really, though?" 52:03 So they gave me a DVD that said "Amazing Facts." 52:05 And I remember coming back to America and I started watching. 52:11 It said, "Amazing Facts Presents," and Doug Batchelor 52:14 started talking. 52:15 One of the things that he said is that the word Rapture wasn't 52:18 in Scripture, and that was the first time that I actually heard 52:22 Pastor Batchelor speak. 52:24 And then I run into YouTube, a video series called "Prophecy 52:30 Code," and I said, "Oh, this is going to be good, sweet." 52:35 But it was just torture because everything I knew it was just 52:38 getting tossed out the window. 52:40 He was just using Scripture after Scripture to take away 52:46 everything and all--everything that I thought was normal and 52:49 everything that I knew about the book of "Apocalypses." 52:53 Ever since, I've learned scriptural truth and I've 52:55 seen the light. 52:57 I feel like there's been a fire rekindled in my heart, 53:01 and I have this knowledge that I want to share with people. 53:05 It brings me peace, and I think that it does that for other 53:09 people we've managed to share with. 53:12 My name is Andrew. 53:14 I am a fisherman and a dreamer. 53:17 I want to thank you for changing my life. 53:36 Ashley: I grew up in northern New Jersey, 53:38 just about 35 minutes out of New York City, 53:41 and I grew up in a famous family. 53:44 So my father played for the New York Giants for nine years. 53:48 That's how we ended up where we were. 53:50 He also played for the San Francisco 49ers, 53:53 and he was in the Pro Bowl. 53:56 He won two Super Bowls. 53:58 And I also had an older brother who 54:02 played professional baseball. 54:04 So I had a lot to live up to. 54:06 Everything we did was based around sports. 54:08 That was my life and I loved it, but inside I was-- 54:12 I struggled daily with insecurity, lacking confidence. 54:16 You know, I would look at myself in the mirror and not-- 54:21 and would not see good things about myself. 54:23 I started to put all my energy into soccer, 54:27 and I decided that I was going to go far with that. 54:34 So I ended up getting a scholarship to play 54:38 in the University of Miami. 54:40 I was being pulled in these, like, 54:41 two directions of, you know, wanting to live this party 54:45 lifestyle with my teammates and I was so engulfed in soccer and 54:51 school, but I also had this, like, 54:54 strong, yearning desire to serve God. 54:58 And I was just struggling to figure out the balance and how 55:01 to do that. 55:02 I was in Sin City in Miami and I couldn't-- 55:06 I felt like I was swimming upstream, and I just felt 55:09 like I couldn't breathe. 55:10 I had everything everyone would have wanted. 55:13 I had everything. 55:14 I had a scholarship to pay for school. 55:16 I was playing a sport. 55:17 I was the captain of my team. 55:19 I was in Miami. 55:20 I was--I had a great family, I had a lot of friends, 55:26 but where was God? 55:27 It was--all of that is meaningless unless I had Him. 55:32 And the lifeline that He gave me was this soft whisper in my ear 55:39 saying, "Go." 55:41 I sure remember, "Go." 55:42 So I decided to go. 55:44 And I spent two months in Kenya and two months in Uganda, 55:48 and God was saving me by sending me there. 55:50 It was God's prescription for my life, for my existence. 55:54 When I returned from Africa, I went back to school. 55:57 I finished school, finished soccer. 56:01 I went to the University of Tennessee to get my master's, 56:06 and I met my husband. 56:08 Our motto in life was we wanted to live in reckless abandon for 56:11 our Creator and-- whatever that was, 56:15 whatever that looked like. 56:16 And you know, we've traveled and we've done mission work, 56:20 but we've mostly been in Tennessee. 56:22 And when we were--we spent the summer apart a year after 56:27 that--we were married, and it was the summer of 2015. 56:31 When we came back together, he's like, 56:33 "I have some things I want to share with you. 56:36 I want you to listen to this." 56:38 And we were on a 14-hour car ride and he just started playing 56:44 this Prophecy Code all the way back from 2005, 56:47 and it was so clear and I just was comprehending it so well. 56:52 You know, after a couple, like three or four, 56:54 I was like, "I need a break. 56:55 My mind is going to, like, explode from all this, 56:58 like, information overload." 57:00 And everything that I thought I had known about the Bible and 57:05 about Scripture is just completely different. 57:10 I was in shock. 57:12 Everything that I was hearing was, like, Scripture is 57:14 proving Scripture is proving Scripture. 57:16 My heart was, like, changing in that car ride because it's like 57:20 learning more about God than I ever have before. 57:24 After that car ride and after listening the whole "Prophecy 57:26 Code," my life was completely changed. 57:30 He's become more real to us than he ever has been before, 57:33 and that has pushed us to disciple and to minister to 57:38 others and share with them what we know. 57:42 My name is Ashley, and I want to thank you for changing my life. 57:46 ♪♪♪ 57:55 ♪♪♪ 58:05 ♪♪♪ 58:15 ♪♪♪ 58:23 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 abercap.com |
Revised 2021-01-29