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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:38 Luccas Rodor: Hi, friends, welcome to the 00:39 "Sabbath School Study Hour," 00:41 here at the Granite Bay Hilltop SDA Church 00:43 in the Greater Sacramento area. 00:45 We are so glad that you have decided to invest this hour 00:48 here with us, ready to study the Word of God, 00:50 and today we have a beautiful lesson to study. 00:53 The theme of our whole lesson this quarter has been 00:56 "Rest in Christ," and today is lesson eight, and I hope 01:00 you've studied because pastor Doug has a great lesson for us. 01:03 The title of this week's lesson is "Free to Rest," 01:07 so I hope that you're ready. 01:09 I hope you studied. 01:10 I hope you have your notes down and even the questions to answer 01:12 throughout the study of this week's lesson. 01:15 But before that, before we actually get into the lesson, 01:17 I'd like to invite you to take advantage of our free offer 01:21 this week. 01:23 The free offer is called the "Amazing Health Facts," 01:26 and here, you're going to find the eight biblical secrets 01:28 to live a longer and healthier life. 01:31 And so, if you'd like a copy of this magazine, you could call 01:35 the number 866-788-3966, and you could ask for Offer Number 806. 01:43 If you're in the USA or in North America, 01:46 you could text "SH005," to the number 40544, 01:51 and you'll also get a digital download copy. 01:54 If you're outside of North America, you can go 01:56 to study.aftv.org/SH005, and you will also be able 02:02 to receive a digital download. 02:04 I'd like to invite you now for a moment of prayer. 02:08 Dear Father in heaven, thank You so much for Your love for us. 02:11 Thank You so much for Your guidance, 02:12 and thank You so much for Your rest. 02:14 Thank You for giving us the Sabbath where we can truly stop 02:17 in this temple in time and dedicate this time 02:20 to our relationship with You, Father. 02:22 Lord, as Pastor Doug leads out this morning, 02:26 please imbue him with Your Spirit, Father. 02:28 May all the words that come from his lips 02:29 come from the throne above. 02:31 I ask these things in the name and the power of Jesus, amen. 02:36 Doug Batchelor: Good morning, friends. 02:38 I want to especially welcome those that are here 02:40 at the Granite Bay Hilltop Church. 02:43 We've had an exciting week here at the time of this recording. 02:46 We're just concluding a week of a VBS Live 02:50 Amazing Adventure program. 02:51 Pastor Luccas has been leading out. 02:53 We've had a wonderful crop of young people, 02:55 and you can probably tell, if they take a wide shot 02:58 of the stage here, if you wonder 02:59 why things are looking a little different, 03:01 it's because we're all set up for this Amazing Adventure 03:05 the young people have been enjoying, 03:07 and that's been just great. 03:09 We're continuing in our lesson, dealing today-- 03:12 well, the whole lesson is about "Rest in Christ." 03:15 You know, the two great utterances of Jesus, you can 03:18 find in Matthew, Matthew chapter 11 and Matthew chapter 28. 03:24 And one says, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." 03:29 And then, as a result of that, He then says, 03:32 "Go and tell all nations all authority has been given 03:36 unto Me. 03:38 Go and tell all nations." 03:39 So salvation is a continual coming to the Lord, 03:44 finding that rest, and then going for the Lord 03:47 and telling other people about that rest. 03:50 In our study today, we're going to be talking 03:52 about two case studies of people who were restless, 03:56 that found rest. 03:58 And we have a memory verse. 04:00 Memory verse is from Psalm 27, verse 1. 04:03 This is in the New King James Version, Psalm 27, verse 1. 04:06 For those of you here at Hilltop Church, 04:08 you can say it out loud with me if you've got that. 04:10 You ready? 04:12 "The Lord is my light and my salvation. 04:16 Whom shall I fear? 04:18 The Lord is the strength of my life. 04:20 Of whom shall I be afraid?" 04:23 Well, we've got a couple of cases here of people 04:25 that were living in fear. 04:27 Now I'll tell you where the two studies are: 04:29 one from the Old Testament, one from the New. 04:31 We'll start with the New Testament and go to the Old. 04:34 The New Testament study, you can find in Mark chapter 2. 04:37 If you have your Bibles, you may want to turn there. 04:38 This is the story of Jesus healing the paralytic 04:44 in Mark chapter 2, and you'll not only 04:46 find this here in Mark chapter 2, 04:48 but you can find this in Luke chapter 5, verse 17, 04:51 and Matthew 9 verse 1 through 8. 04:54 It was a remarkable experience in Jesus's healing ministry 04:58 that's recorded by three of the four gospel writers. 05:01 So I'm going to read through verses 1 through 12, with you, 05:04 just so you know because it's going to kind of run from one 05:09 study heading page to another. 05:12 The study headings are "Healing Rest," the "Root Treatment," 05:17 "Running Away," "Too Tired to Run," "Rest and More." 05:22 But, basically, we're studying two Bible stories today. 05:25 All right, so let's read Mark chapter 2, verses 1 to 12: 05:28 "And again He entered Capernaum--" 05:32 now, He's probably living at this point 05:34 at the house of Simon Peter, and it says 05:38 that He returned to His city. 05:40 Capernaum was considered Jesus's city in Galilee-- 05:43 "and after some days, it was heard that He was in the house." 05:49 Again, it was probably Simon Peter's house. 05:52 "Immediately many gathered together, so there was no longer 05:56 room to receive them, no, not even near the door. 06:00 And He preached the word to them." 06:03 I wonder, did people come because He preached the Word, 06:07 or did He preach the Word because people came? 06:10 I know some pastors, whenever they saw a crowd, 06:13 they preached the Word, but I think Jesus had a crowd 06:15 because He did preach the Word. 06:18 "And many were gathered together, and then--" 06:22 by the way, that's one of the simplest methods 06:25 for church growth. 06:27 There's all kinds of seminars and science and training 06:30 that people go through to grow churches. 06:33 You know what Jesus did? 06:35 He preached the Word. 06:38 If you preach the Word, many will gather together. 06:42 People are hungering for the Bread of Life. 06:46 "And there wasn't even room near the door. 06:48 Then," verse 3, "they came to Him, 06:51 bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men." 06:55 All right, let me just give you a little insight into this. 06:58 This man, he could not come to Jesus without some outside help. 07:03 I forget the ratio, but I think it's like 40% of the people that 07:08 Jesus heals in the Bible were either brought by someone else, 07:12 or someone else brought their case to Jesus, and Jesus 07:14 healed them remotely, but so many people that were healed 07:18 were healed because of the intercession or the efforts 07:22 of someone else to bring them. 07:25 Now, there's a lot of people that will never find Jesus 07:28 unless other people bring them to Christ for healing. 07:32 Now, this man, he was paralyzed. 07:38 He's not an old man because Jesus refers to him as "son." 07:43 Jesus is only 30, 33, and, you know, if you call someone, 07:48 "son," you probably want to-- I would not call a 65-year-old 07:51 and say, "Well, son--" you know, just, it would not sound right. 07:55 Of course, I'm about that age now anyway so--but I mean, 07:57 Jesus is 33, so this is a young man who's been afflicted 08:00 with this paralysis. 08:02 You can read in the book "Desire of Ages," page 267, 08:06 "This paralytic had lost all hope of recovery. 08:10 His disease was the result of a life of sin, 08:15 and his sufferings were embittered by remorse." 08:18 He's not only physically suffering, he's remorseful 08:21 that he's suffering because of his life of sin. 08:23 "He had long before appealed to the Pharisees and the doctors, 08:26 hoping for relief from the mental suffering 08:28 and the physical pain. 08:30 But they coldly pronounced him incurable, 08:33 and abandoned him to the wrath of God." 08:36 This man had been looking for mercy and looking for healing, 08:38 and they said, "No, you're suffering for your sins. 08:40 You are abandoned by God." 08:43 "The Pharisees regarded the affliction as an evidence of 08:46 divine displeasure, and they held themselves aloof 08:49 from the sick and the needy. 08:51 Yet often these very ones who exalted themselves as holy 08:54 were more guilty than the sufferers they condemned." 08:58 So this man, what's one of the principal concerns in his life? 09:02 Is it physical healing or spiritual forgiveness? 09:07 Either way, I think we'll agree he has no rest. 09:12 He's very restless in his heart. 09:14 He's physically suffering, and he is tormented 09:17 because he's suffering because of bad choices that he made. 09:20 Now, that's often true that we sometimes suffer 09:23 with physical problems because of bad choices that we make. 09:27 It might be lifestyle choices or health and eating choices, 09:32 and then we're twice as restless because we're thinking, 09:37 "I brought this on myself." 09:40 It's a like a person, now they got a drinking problem, 09:42 then they have a car accident, someone else is hurt, 09:43 and they--crippled up for life, and they're thinking, 09:46 "Look what my sin has done." 09:49 So this man is struggling with that, but he has some friends, 09:54 and his friends, they hear about Jesus, 09:57 and they notice that Jesus heals everybody that comes. 10:02 And so they say, "Look, if we could bring you to Jesus, 10:07 we believe He can heal you." 10:09 And he thinks, "Oh, that'd be wonderful, but if I could just 10:12 know--He's a spiritual teacher. 10:14 If I could just know that I could be helped by God?" 10:18 Now, it says, "They brought unto Him one carried by four." 10:22 This one man ends up being healed. 10:25 I hope that's not a spoiler for you that he gets healed. 10:28 You know that. 10:30 Borne of four. 10:33 You know, I think that four is sort of a number in the Bible 10:36 that represents something universal. 10:38 Four is also the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 10:42 Around the throne of God, there are four creatures. 10:44 Do you remember what the different creatures look like? 10:47 One had a face like a lion, one like the face of an eagle, 10:55 one like a man, one like a calf. 10:58 And some Bible scholars say these are different attributes 11:01 of Christ, and they're also telling us 11:03 they kind of describe the gospels. 11:07 Matthew is thought of as the messianic gospel, 11:09 that Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. 11:12 Mark is the gospel that appeals to the Romans. 11:16 The Roman standard was the eagle, and it's a very fast-- 11:19 you read through Mark, and it is rapid. 11:22 It's a quick gospel. 11:23 Luke is a physician. 11:25 He shows Jesus the man. 11:27 And then you've got John who shows Jesus as the sacrifice. 11:31 He's the calf. 11:33 And so I like to think these four men that brought 11:36 their friend to Jesus represent the gospel that brings people 11:40 to Christ. 11:42 I remember hearing an amazing fact 11:44 that really got my attention. 11:47 It was about someone named "Russian Jack." 11:49 He was better known as-- his nickname was Russian Jack. 11:52 His real name was Ivan Fredericks. 11:55 He lived between 1864 and 1904, in Australia. 11:57 He was a gold miner in the western fields 12:01 when they had a gold rush. 12:03 You know, after the California Gold Rush, they also had 12:04 a gold rush in Australia and-- but it was very hard 12:08 to get to there. 12:09 It wasn't like the Sierras. 12:11 They were in what they called a Great Sandy Desert, 12:13 and it was terrible terrain. 12:17 Well, Jack and a friend of his had run short on food 12:19 while they're out there mining in this remote area, 12:22 and they decided to shoot a kangaroo, and his friend, 12:25 then running after the kangaroo, fell and broke his leg. 12:29 That's a bad place to break your leg, out there 12:31 in the western bush of Australia. 12:36 And Ivan put him, Russian Jack put him in a wheelbarrow, 12:42 and the wheelbarrows, back then, were not like the, you know, 12:44 fiberglass wheelbarrows today with the pneumatic tire. 12:46 They were wooden, they were clunky, heavy steel, tire, 12:50 and he put his friend in the wheelbarrow, 12:53 and he pushed him to Wyndham, 12:55 which was the nearest town, 100 miles away. 12:59 Now, that's a friend. 13:01 You ever push 150 pounds a mile? 13:08 Going down the road, it'd be tough. 13:10 I've pushed a lot of concrete in a wheelbarrow before 13:12 and to push it over--it's hard, rough terrain like that. 13:22 When he got into town, people said, "Where'd you come from?" 13:25 And he said, "Well, I just pushed this guy 100 miles," 13:28 and they couldn't believe it, and they all came out and said, 13:29 "No way, that's impossible." 13:31 And his friend in the wheelbarrow said, 13:32 "It's true, and he never missed a rock along the way." 13:37 It takes a friend to do something like that, amen? 13:41 And sometimes it takes friends to bring others to Jesus. 13:45 So they couldn't get near the door. 13:48 They said, "We're going to bring you to Christ." 13:50 And as they get to the house, they say, "It's crowded." 13:54 I mean, it's just, they couldn't receive him at the door. 13:57 Jesus is inside teaching. 13:59 They can't hear through the windows, 14:01 and there's a crowd there, so they try to press 14:04 through the door, and they push them all back. 14:06 They said, "You got here late. Forget about it." 14:08 They tried to get through the window. 14:10 They said, "Forget about it." 14:11 They completely circled the house, and it's just completely 14:13 jammed with people, a great multitude of people 14:16 that are there. 14:18 And, I don't know, maybe the poor cripple looked up 14:20 at his friends and said, "Thanks, guys, for trying. 14:22 I sure appreciate it. 14:24 You can just take me back." 14:25 And I just imagine one of them saying, "No way. 14:31 We carried you here. You're walking home." 14:35 And so they would not give up. 14:37 Now, when you run out of horizontal options, 14:39 what do you do? 14:41 You go vertical. 14:43 So often, whenever I run into a problem-- 14:45 It happened yesterday. Encountered a problem. 14:47 I start to try and think. 14:49 I think I'm pretty smart, and so I start thinking, 14:51 "What are the solutions?" 14:53 And the first thing I should've thought of was looking up, 14:56 but so often we think horizontally. 14:59 They tried all the horizontal options. 15:01 It didn't work. 15:02 Then they decided, "We better look at the vertical options." 15:05 And someone, maybe it was the--matter of fact, I think in 15:08 "The Desire of Ages," it says it was a crippled man because, 15:10 from his perspective, laying down, where could he look? 15:12 He could just look up. 15:15 And he said, "Maybe the roof?" 15:18 Now, keep in mind, in Bible times, you just need to know 15:22 a little bit about the architecture in the buildings 15:25 back then. 15:27 It was a hot climate, something like--matter of fact, 15:29 they're very similar climate to Northern California, 15:32 there around Israel, 15:34 and it gets very hot in the summer. 15:36 They still cooked their food, but it's so hot, 15:39 they have to let the heat out, and they have roof tiles. 15:43 The houses were like a mud-straw stucco. 15:45 They had wood railings across the roof, but they usually 15:48 left us a hole in the middle of the roof, and the rooms 15:52 would be formed around the outside of the wall. 15:54 Kitchen area was in the middle, and when they cooked, then 15:56 the smoke can go up, and they would pull aside some tiles. 16:00 They had these tiles that would keep the sun out and keep 16:03 the rain out, but when they were cooking, they could pull them 16:06 aside in the warmer weather, and it created convection. 16:08 So I don't want you to think that they climbed up on this 16:10 poor guy's roof, Peter's roof, and took a fireman's ax 16:14 and started hacking through the guy's roof. 16:16 That would not be a very Christian thing to do. 16:18 But what they did is they got around back, and they found 16:20 a ladder that went up, and they hoisted their friend up 16:24 on the roof, and then they began to pull aside the tiles. 16:28 Well, let's look in the Bible here, and we'll read about it. 16:31 And it tells us, "When they couldn't get near because 16:34 of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. 16:39 So when they had broken through--" you know, 16:41 sometimes we need a breakthrough-- 16:44 "they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying." 16:47 Now, you could imagine this. 16:49 Jesus is in there, and He's teaching, 16:51 and if you read the story, He's-- 16:53 not only has disciples there. 16:56 Peter's there, probably Peter's family. 16:58 Peter may have had a larger house. 16:59 So you've got Peter and his wife and his mother-in-law. 17:03 You got Andrew and maybe his wife. 17:05 They often had big family dwellings. 17:07 The little tribe would live together. 17:09 The apostles were there. 17:11 There are scribes and Pharisees there because you can hear them 17:13 in the story, criticizing Jesus. 17:15 So there's all these people gathered in this house. 17:17 All of a sudden, they hear a clamor up on the roof. 17:19 They're also already hearing the clamor through the windows 17:22 and the doors, and sunlight begins to pierce through, 17:26 and all this dust begins to fall down, 17:29 and they look up, and there's a big commotion 17:31 on the roof, and these guys are lowering this man down 17:34 on this rough hammock that they used to carry him. 17:38 And the scribes and Pharisees are no doubt thinking 17:42 within themselves, "These uneducated, rough masses. 17:47 How rude." 17:49 What is Jesus thinking? 17:51 How does Jesus respond? 17:53 And it says, "When He saw their faith--" this is verse 5. 18:00 Says, "So they'd broken through, they let down the man, 18:04 the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 18:07 When Jesus saw their faith--" was it "his" faith? 18:13 When you bring your friends to Christ, it requires faith. 18:17 "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 18:20 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.'" 18:24 Now, this is a wonderful passage. 18:26 If you read this actually in Matthew, 18:30 it adds a little more to it. 18:33 In Mark, He says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." 18:36 In Matthew chapter 9, verse 2, same story, He says, 18:39 "Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you." 18:45 Now, if you saw that man come to Jesus, and he's paralyzed, 18:51 he's--you know, probably limbs are atrophied. 18:53 He's gnarled up. 18:54 He can't do anything, and he's lowered down in front of Jesus, 18:58 who is known to be a great healer. 19:00 What would you think his problem was? 19:03 You would normally think his problem was paralysis, right? 19:06 He's sick. 19:08 But what's the first thing that Jesus addresses? 19:12 The big problem, which is sin. 19:16 What is the big problem that we all have? 19:20 Would there be any sickness in the world if it wasn't for sin? 19:24 All the thorns and thistles and all the problems 19:26 in the world today are the fallout of sin. 19:30 And so, ultimately, you have to deal with the sin problem. 19:34 You know, I believe in the health message, 19:40 and I prayed many times, and God has healed me from, 19:43 you know, various things, 19:46 but I realized that any physical healing is temporary. 19:51 The most amazing healing would be, like, if Jesus should raise 19:54 the dead, right? 19:55 I mean, do you get any sicker than being dead? 19:59 Yeah, you do, actually. 20:01 You can be dead and saved, and you can be dead and lost. 20:04 So worst condition is to be dead lost. 20:07 The Bible says, "A living dog is better than a dead lion," 20:10 and "Where there's life, there's hope." 20:13 But when Jesus healed Lazarus, do you realize that Lazarus 20:19 eventually got old and got sick and died or he had an accident 20:23 and died or he get martyred and died? 20:26 But that healing was temporary. 20:29 Any physical healing in this world is temporary. 20:33 You know, one of the most important reasons 20:35 for the health message, it's not just to make you feel better. 20:39 The most important reason for the health message is 20:41 so that other people can live longer eternally. 20:44 The Lord wants to heal us so that we can serve Him 20:47 and our fellow man in telling them 20:50 about eternal life because flesh and blood, 20:52 your bodies that you're wearing right now, are not going 20:54 to inherit the kingdom of God. 20:57 That's what the Bible says, right? 20:59 Now, I believe in the health message. 21:01 Everyone clear on that? 21:02 I believe in exercise. 21:04 But if all you emphasize is the health message and you don't 21:08 emphasize the sin problem, then what good does it do us? 21:16 When Jesus comes, we're going to say, 21:18 "Look, I'm in perfect health." 21:19 And then He throws us in the lake of fire. 21:22 Jesus said, "What profit is it if you've got your eyes 21:25 and your hands and your feet, and you're whole, 21:27 and you go to the lake of fire?" 21:29 He said, "You're better off going into heaven, 21:30 missing and eye--" and not that it's going to happen-- 21:32 "or missing a hand or a foot." 21:34 He uses that as a metaphor. 21:35 It's like I know some people that they run Christian Schools, 21:38 and they think, "The most important thing 21:40 is the academics, academics, academics," 21:42 and I think academics are important, 21:43 but I heard a pastor, a school board, say one time, 21:46 "We're not interested in having intelligent sinners." 21:51 So the kids are not learning the Gospel in the school, 21:54 then what good are we doing? 21:56 We're going to have them be very smart and lost when Jesus comes. 21:59 So the most important thing has to be the priority. 22:02 This man, lowered into the presence of Jesus, 22:04 what was his big problem? 22:06 Everyone there would've thought it was paralysis, 22:09 but Christ was looking on the inside. 22:11 Man looks on the outward appearance. 22:13 And he said, "Son, be of good cheer." 22:16 Now, that's the part you find in Matthew chapter 9, verse 2. 22:20 What's the Gospel? 22:22 What does the word "gospel" mean? 22:23 "Evangel." 22:24 It means, "good news." 22:26 When you talk about an evangelist, 22:28 he's someone who's bringing the good news. 22:30 The Gospel is good news. 22:31 Jesus tells us, "Man, I have good news." 22:35 "Son," what does the word "son" mean? 22:38 "Adoption." 22:40 What did Jesus say? 22:41 I'm sorry--what did God say after Christ was baptized? 22:43 "Behold, Thou art My Son, in whom I am well pleased." 22:47 And when a person is baptized, God declares they are His son 22:50 or His daughter. 22:51 They are adopted into the family. 22:53 Paul talks about us being adopted. 22:55 Folks say, "Well, we're all children of God." 22:58 And I know that sounds nice, but technically, Jesus said 23:00 to the religious leaders, he says, 23:02 "You are not children of Abraham. 23:04 You are children of your father, the devil." 23:07 You're not technically really children of God 23:09 until you are adopted by surrendering to the Lord. 23:12 This man came to Jesus for mercy. 23:14 Jesus called him "son." 23:16 That's what happened to Zacchaeus. 23:18 Afterwards Zacchaeus came to Jesus, He says, 23:21 "This is a son of Abraham. 23:24 He's adopted into the family." 23:26 So this man, in that one little statement, 23:28 "Son, be a good cheer. 23:30 Your sins--" "will be" forgiven? 23:32 "Are forgiven." 23:34 How long did he have to wait for forgiveness? 23:38 As soon as he came to Jesus. 23:40 The prayer of his heart was for mercy. 23:42 Jesus forgave him. 23:43 Isn't that good news? 23:46 Now, that man had a shriveled body but a perfect soul. 23:52 When Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven," his body was a mess, 23:55 but he had eternal life. 23:57 So he had a down payment. 23:59 He had a guarantee of a brand-new body. 24:01 Isn't that right if you're saved? 24:03 But Jesus wasn't going to leave him like that. 24:07 It says here in the book "Desire of Ages," page 268--Christ makes 24:14 that statement, "Son, be of good cheer. 24:16 Your sins are forgiven"-- 24:18 "Now, in words that fell like music on the sufferer's ear, 24:23 the Savior said, 'Son, be of good cheer. 24:25 Thy sins are forgiven thee.' 24:27 The burden of despair rolls from the sick man's soul. 24:31 The peace of forgiveness rests upon his spirit, 24:34 and shines out on his countenance." 24:36 His face goes through a noticeable change. 24:38 "His physical pain is gone. 24:41 His whole being is transformed. 24:44 The helpless paralytic is healed. 24:46 The guilty sinner is pardoned. 24:48 In simple faith he accepts the words of Jesus 24:51 as the boon of new life. 24:53 He urges no further request, but he lays there--" 24:55 I mean, he's been forgiven and healed, 24:58 but he doesn't even know he's healed yet. 25:00 "He lays there in blissful silence, too happy for words. 25:03 The light of heaven irradiated his countenance, and the people 25:07 with awe look upon the scene." 25:09 Everyone saw something happen. 25:11 They saw his face, and he went from restless to peaceful. 25:16 And what made the difference? 25:18 You know, our study is about how you find freedom and rest: 25:21 forgiveness. 25:24 Most important thing is forgiveness for sin. 25:26 When Jesus says, "All you who are weary and heavy laden," 25:29 "weary, burdened by--" what? 25:32 "Heavy laden, burdened by--" what? 25:35 It's sin. 25:37 He read the book "Pilgrim's Progress," about Christian. 25:39 He's on that journey, and he's carrying this burden 25:42 on his back, and he can't wait to set the burden down. 25:45 This man, when he heard Jesus say, 25:46 "Son, your sins are forgiven," his burden is rolled away. 25:50 And does he care about the people looking on? 25:53 No, he's happy. 25:58 "Son, your sins are forgiven." 26:00 But there's a problem. 26:02 Says, "Some of the scribes were sitting there, 26:04 and they're reasoning in their hearts, 26:06 'Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? 26:08 Who can forgive sin but God alone?'" 26:11 Were they correct? 26:14 Can anyone forgive sin? 26:16 I'm talking about--not talking about, now, if you step 26:18 on my toe, I can say, "You're forgiven," right? 26:21 But that's not forgiving sin. 26:24 You know, when Joseph was tempted to sin, he said, 26:26 "How can I sin against God?" 26:28 It wasn't a sin against Potiphar or his wife. 26:30 He said it was a sin against God. 26:33 When David sinned with Uriah and Bathsheba, he said, 26:36 "Against Thee, and Thee only, have I done this sin." 26:39 All sin is ultimately against God, 26:41 so who is the only one that can forgive sin? 26:44 God. 26:45 They were right. They knew their Bibles. 26:47 Let me read to you from Isaiah 43. 26:49 This is verse 25: "I, even I, am He who blots out 26:55 thy transgressions for My own sake. 26:57 I will not remember your sins." 26:59 By the way, in the previous verses, He says, 27:01 "I am the Lord. I am Jehovah. 27:04 I, even I, am the one who blots out your transgressions." 27:07 You can also read in Isaiah 44:22, "I have blotted out, 27:12 like a thick cloud, your transgressions." 27:15 God is the only one who can forgive sin. 27:19 So they thought, "Who is this that He's forgiving sin? 27:21 God, and God only, can forgive sin." 27:23 By the way, were they right? 27:26 Only God can forgive sin. 27:30 Did Jesus forgive sin? 27:32 What does that tell us about Jesus? 27:35 Is Jesus God? 27:37 You know, the Bible says, "You're only to worship God." 27:40 But do the angels worship Jesus? 27:43 You with me? 27:45 The Bible says, "In the beginning, 27:47 God created all things." 27:49 But the Bible says, "All things that were made 27:51 were made by Jesus." 27:53 So what does that tell us about Jesus? 27:55 God was on earth in Christ, and only God can forgive your sins. 28:01 Now, has He changed? 28:04 "I am the Lord. I change not." 28:06 So if you come to Jesus, crippled in body and sick 28:11 with sin, will He forgive your sin? 28:13 He does if we come in faith. 28:16 Christ is still the great forgiver. 28:18 So they're wondering how in the world He thinks 28:21 that He can forgive sin, and He knew what they were thinking. 28:25 "Immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that 28:30 they reasoned thus within themselves--" 28:32 did they say out loud, "Who can forgive sin but God alone?" 28:36 or did they think it? 28:39 Says, "Jesus perceived in His spirit." 28:41 They didn't say it. 28:43 They thought it. 28:44 You know another definition for God? 28:47 Says, "God, and God only, knows the thoughts of men's hearts." 28:50 Says, "Jesus knew what was in man." 28:53 Can the devil put a temptation in your mind? 28:55 But can the devil read your mind? 28:59 The devil cannot read your mind. 29:02 He can take a pretty good, educated guess, 29:04 based on your expression and body language, 29:07 but if you're married, you can do that with your spouse. 29:10 So you can kind of look at your kids and tell 29:12 what they're thinking sometimes. 29:14 The devil can do that, and he's very good at it, 29:16 but he can't read your heart. 29:18 "God, and God only, knows the thoughts of men's hearts." 29:20 Jesus knew what they were thinking. 29:23 "And so He answers the thoughts in their hearts, 29:25 'Why do you reason these things in your hearts?'" 29:27 There you have it. 29:29 "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 29:31 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 29:33 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?" 29:36 All right, let's stop and ask the question. 29:39 Which is easier? 29:43 Which is easier, to heal a paralytic, or to say, 29:46 "Arise, take up your bed and walk"? 29:48 I'm sorry--or to forgive sin or to heal a paralytic? 29:53 Physical healing is easier. 29:57 It's a physical problem. 30:00 Spiritual healing is something that only God can do. 30:04 It's the power of God. 30:06 The power of a changed heart. 30:09 You know, I need to tell you, I am impressed that, you know, 30:16 some of these billionaires are now getting 30:18 where they're taking ships into space. 30:20 You heard, of course, Branson--was it?-- 30:23 took Virgin Atlantic. 30:25 He actually--they went suborbital, 30:27 so they got weightless. 30:28 They went up to what you would technically call "space" 30:30 for about five minutes, and after he did it-- 30:33 that was Sir Richard Branson. 30:34 Is that his name? 30:35 And then Jeff Bezos did it with his space company. 30:38 And Tesla's not content to just go to space. 30:40 He's still trying to get to Mars. 30:42 Tesla's already putting-- taking rockets up 30:44 to the International Space Station. 30:46 He said his goal is to die on Mars. 30:49 And, boy, if I had--all you need is about $200,000, 30:54 and you can take a trip to space for five minutes. 30:59 But you know how much power it takes to break 31:01 the gravitational pull of Earth? 31:04 That's a lot of power. 31:06 But, you know, that's not enough power to forgive sin. 31:09 It's not enough power to change your heart. 31:12 The only one who has the power to change your heart is God, 31:16 and when that man heard those words from Christ-- 31:22 so whenever God is forgiving sin, the devil is angry. 31:29 Spurgeon used to ask his sons-- they'd come back 31:32 from a revival, and he said, "How'd the revival go?" 31:36 and they'd say, "Good." 31:37 Well, he'd want more information. 31:39 He'd say, "Well, were many converted?" 31:41 They said, "Not many." 31:43 Said, "Well, did the people get angry?" 31:45 "No, they're rather pleasant." 31:47 Spurgeon said, "Well, if no one was converted and nobody 31:49 got angry, you probably didn't do anything because, 31:53 when you're doing the work of God, the devil doesn't like it," 31:55 and so he's got these accusers which is easier. 31:58 He says, "'But that you might know that the Son of Man has 32:01 power on earth to forgive sin'-- 32:04 He then says to the paralyzed man, 'I say to you--'" 32:08 and this is in verse 10, "I say to you--" 32:11 I'm sorry, verse 11-- "'arise, take up your bed, 32:14 and go to your house.' 32:16 And immediately he arose, and took up his bed, and went 32:20 out in the presence of them all, so they were all amazed--" 32:24 now, there's an amazing fact-- "and they glorified God, 32:27 saying, 'We never saw anything like this.'" 32:30 This man, who was considered to be a hopeless case 32:33 spiritually and physically, he could do nothing 32:37 to save himself. 32:38 Others had to bring him to Jesus. 32:40 He comes to Christ, carried by the bed. 32:43 He leaves Christ, carrying the bed. 32:47 And the Bible, a bed sometimes might be compared to, 32:50 like, a symbol of the carnal nature. 32:54 Paul, talking about marriage, he says, 32:56 "The married bed is undefiled." 33:00 And the man, when he came to Christ, was carried by the bed. 33:05 You know, so many people-- everyone's got a spiritual side. 33:08 We got a carnal side. 33:10 You get physical desires, and it's perfectly normal. 33:15 You know, people get hungry, and they get tired, and there's 33:17 all kinds of different passions, and God gave us most 33:21 of these desires, but people typically pervert and 33:23 corrupt them and abuse them, and we suffer the results of that. 33:27 But if you're controlled by the flesh, the carnal side, 33:31 you will die. 33:34 "But if through the power of the Spirit--" 33:36 I'm quoting Romans 8, now-- "you subdue the flesh 33:39 and you're controlled by the Spirit, you will live." 33:43 When that man came to Jesus, he was carried by the bed. 33:47 When Jesus healed him, did he still own his bed? 33:52 Yes, but now who carries who? 33:55 Is the bed carrying him, or is he carrying it? 33:57 After you come to Christ, you will still have a carnal side. 34:01 After you come to Christ, you will still have 34:03 a fleshly nature, but it is not to have dominion over you. 34:07 It does not carry you. 34:10 You are not to be controlled by that. 34:12 You are to be led by the Spirit now. 34:14 You see the difference between when that man came to Christ 34:16 and when he left? 34:18 He left free. 34:19 He was no longer a slave of his bed. 34:22 It now is a slave to him. 34:24 After you come to Christ, you will still get hungry. 34:27 You will still get tired. 34:29 You may still get lonely. 34:30 You can have all of those same natural desires that are normal 34:34 to humanity, but you are not ruled by that anymore. 34:39 You are ruled by the Spirit, and that's the difference 34:41 between a person before and after encountering Jesus, 34:46 and they saw that, and "They were all amazed." 34:49 All right, well, this is one story of a person who finds 34:51 rest in Jesus, and he's brought to Christ by others. 34:56 And, you know, they had made a movie out of--he was my friend 35:01 before they made a movie out of him, Desmond Doss. 35:04 You know, his first wife died. 35:06 His second wife was from the little town her family lived in, 35:08 Covelo, where I pastored. 35:10 And so they would come up, and we got a chance to become 35:12 friends with Desmond Doss, and I was so proud 35:14 when they made this movie of him. 35:16 You know why they made a movie of him? 35:18 Because he carried sick people to safety. 35:21 He was a stretcher bearer, these guys who brought that man 35:24 in Mark chapter 2, they are the heroes of the story, 35:27 in one sense, because that man never would've got to Jesus 35:30 without them. 35:31 How many people are there that will never get to church 35:33 unless you bring them? 35:35 They brought this man to the house where Jesus 35:37 was teaching the Word. 35:39 Isn't that right? 35:41 That's sort of an analogy of us bringing people 35:43 to where the Word is proclaimed. 35:45 And how easy was it? 35:47 Probably took some effort. 35:49 That's why they were the last ones there, 35:51 and they couldn't get in. 35:53 So it's a good, good story for us. 35:56 That man found rest, and the root problem, 35:59 of course, was the sin problem. 36:01 All right, now we're going to look at the next story, 36:03 which is the story of "Running Away." 36:05 Go with me to 1 Kings 19, and we're going to go 36:08 to the 1st book of Kings 19, starting with the 1st verse. 36:11 This story comes on the heels of one of the greatest stories 36:14 in Scripture, the story of the showdown of Elijah 36:18 on Mount Carmel. 36:21 And you remember, I mean, the nation's just experienced 36:25 three and a half years of famine, severe famine, 36:29 and there's, like, nothing even for the horses to eat, 36:32 and then Elijah tells Ahab to call all of Israel together 36:37 and the prophets of Baal and the prophets of the grove, 36:40 and they all danced around, carrying on all day, 36:42 trying to bring fire down from heaven. 36:44 Nothing happens, but at the end of the day, about the time 36:47 of the evening sacrifice, which is when Jesus died, by the way, 36:50 on the cross, he builds the-- gosh, it said, 36:54 "He repairs the altar of the Lord." 36:57 He prays a 19-second prayer. 37:01 Fire comes down from heaven, and the whole nation just goes 37:04 through this radical change. 37:05 "They fall on their faces. 37:07 They say, 'The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God." 37:09 Earlier that day, they would not speak up 37:11 and even say who God was. 37:13 So this is dramatic change. 37:16 Then Elijah prays. 37:18 Not only fire comes down, then the rain comes down. 37:20 Fire and rain in one day in a miraculous way. 37:24 And then he kills all the prophets of Baal. 37:27 Of course, he kills them after the fire, then the rain comes. 37:30 At the end of the day, he runs before the chariot of Ahab. 37:34 Now, he's been fasting all day long. 37:37 He told Ahab, "Arise to eat and drink, but I'm going up 37:39 to the mountain," and he goes up, and he prays. 37:42 The carnal king goes to eat and drink, and Elijah goes to pray. 37:46 Then he tells the king, "There's the sound 37:49 of an abundance of rain. 37:50 You better make your way to Jezreel quickly, 37:52 or you're going to get caught. 37:53 Chariot wheels are going to get stuck in the mud like Pharaoh. 37:56 And so he--Elijah is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, 37:59 and he runs before the king's chariot, 38:01 and he leads the king all the way into the gates of Jezreel. 38:05 King does not invite him to the house. 38:08 He knows Jezebel is not going to be happy about 38:10 all of her prophets being dead. 38:11 Elijah has got to sleep with the servants at the king's gate. 38:14 He's out on a damp bench somewhere sleeping, 38:18 and he gets a message. 38:20 He's wakened from his sleep, and he gets a message from Jezebel, 38:23 this wicked queen. 38:25 Bible says the worst king that ever reigned was Ahab, 38:28 who his wife, Jezebel, she was the daughter of the king of the 38:32 Sidonians and worshiped Baal, and she turned the kingdom 38:37 to Baal worship, and she said-- she sends this message-- 38:40 well, let me read it to you: "And Ahab told Jezebel--" 38:43 this is, again, 1 Kings 19, verse 1. 38:45 "Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done 38:49 and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 38:52 And then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, 38:55 'So let the gods do to me, and more also--'" 38:58 notice, she says, "the gods." 39:01 She is polytheistic. 39:03 She doesn't believe in Jehovah-- "if I do not make your life 39:05 like the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." 39:08 She even sets it on her calendar. 39:10 She says, "By tomorrow this time, you're going to be dead." 39:13 "And when he saw that--" Elijah inquired of the Lord 39:17 what He would have him to do--he didn't. 39:22 He was tired, he was hungry, he was exhausted, and instead 39:27 of praying--every other time in Elijah's life, 39:30 "The word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, 39:32 'Go to Ahab.' 39:35 The word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, 39:36 'Go to the Brook Cherith.' 39:38 The word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, 'Go to Sidon. 39:40 I've got a widow there that's going to feed thee.' 39:43 The word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, 39:45 'Go show yourself to Ahab.'" 39:47 Now he does not wait for the word of the Lord. 39:49 He jumps, and he bolts. 39:52 He panics. 39:54 He's tired, he's exhausted, and he thinks, 39:55 "You know, after everything I did to kill off all the prophets 39:57 and turn the people back to God, 39:59 Jezebel is still telling the king what to do, 40:02 and all that I've done is a waste." 40:06 The devil starts to give him words of discouragement. 40:08 Isn't that amazing? 40:10 This is amazing. 40:13 You would think that a guy that has just experienced 40:15 something like this is going to be on cloud nine, 40:19 that his faith is going to be unshakable, 40:22 but sometimes after our greatest victories, 40:25 we experience our lowest defeats, 40:28 and it's not long after David kills Goliath 40:30 that he's running for his life from his own king. 40:34 Sometimes it's after the high point. 40:35 It's after David conquered all the other nations that-- 40:39 then he falls with Bathsheba. 40:43 See, you've got to watch out. 40:44 You know, after these high points, 40:45 after the mountain, sometimes you hit the valley. 40:47 He went from Mount Carmel to the Valley of Jezreel, 40:49 and he got discouraged. 40:52 He does not inquire of the Lord. 40:53 He panics. 40:55 "When he saw that, he arose, and he ran for his life--" 40:59 I also think it's interesting: Peter said, 41:04 "Lord, thou all men forsake thee, I'll not forsake thee." 41:07 And they come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 41:10 Peter pulls out a sword. 41:12 You remember, Peter was not afraid to die 41:14 for Christ at first. 41:15 He pulled out a sword to fight the men, 41:18 the soldiers that came to arrest Jesus, 41:20 but a little while later, a girl starts to make fun of Peter, 41:24 and he cannot stand that intimidation, 41:26 and he denies Christ. 41:28 Elijah was not afraid of 450-- you know, there's actually-- 41:33 altogether there was about 850 false prophets. 41:36 There were the prophets of the groves, prophets of Baal, 41:39 so it's like 850 to 1. 41:41 Elijah is not afraid. 41:44 One woman sends him running. 41:47 What is it about men that they are so intimidated by women? 41:51 And he gets up, and he runs. 41:54 He was not afraid to stand up to the king. 41:56 He got in Ahab's face and said, 41:58 "It is you and your father's house that have sinned." 42:02 "He arose and he ran for his life, and he went to Beersheba, 42:05 which belongs to Judah. 42:06 He left his servant there." 42:08 He had a servant just like, you know, Elisha had Gehazi. 42:12 "But he himself, he went a day's journey into the wilderness--" 42:14 he's just heading off into the desert where there's this 42:16 trackless wilderness, and he can't be found-- 42:19 "and he came, and he sits down 42:21 under a broom tree." 42:22 And that tree is kind of what it sounds like. 42:24 It's a tree that, when it was dry, 42:25 they would make them into brooms. 42:28 "And he prayed that he might die." 42:31 Now, is that the only time that God's people 42:34 have gotten so discouraged that they wished they were dead? 42:38 I won't ask for a show of hands, 42:40 but have you ever despaired of life? 42:43 I have. 42:44 You know my testimony. 42:47 Jonah, prophet of God, does miracles for him, and he says 42:50 in Jonah chapter 4, verse 3, "Therefore now, O Lord, 42:53 take away my life from me, for it's better for me to die--" 42:57 prophet of God, thinking suicidal thoughts. 43:01 Actually, it's not suicide. 43:02 He's asking God to do it. 43:04 Job 6, verse 8, "Oh, that I might have my request, 43:07 that God would grant me the thing that I long for, 43:10 that He would be pleased to crush me, 43:12 that He would loose His hand from me, 43:14 that He would cut me off." 43:15 That means, "That He would slay me." 43:18 Job wanted to die. 43:20 Numbers 11, Moses is speaking: "If You treat me like this, 43:24 then please kill me here and now." 43:28 Moses is praying to die. 43:32 Jeremiah 20:14, "Curse be the day in which I was born. 43:36 Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me." 43:40 I remember one of the few times I was bold enough 43:42 to talk back to my father. 43:44 I was exasperated, a teenager, and having a hard time, 43:47 and he was mad at me, and I said, 43:49 "Well, it's your fault that I'm here." 43:54 He didn't know quite what to say because it was true. 43:58 I said, "It's all your fault that I'm here." 44:03 Have you ever said, "Lord, just take me life," 44:05 "I don't want to live anymore"? 44:07 But Elijah got so discouraged, then he runs. 44:11 Well, no, wait a second. 44:13 He falls asleep, exhausted. 44:16 "As he lay, he slept under the broom tree, 44:18 and suddenly an angel touched him." 44:21 God had not forgotten him. 44:23 "'Arise and eat.' 44:24 And he looked there, and by his head was 44:26 a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water, 44:30 and he ate and drank, and then he lay down again." 44:33 He's just exhausted, and he ate. 44:35 Sometimes after a meal, you're tired again. 44:38 "And a second time, the angel came back and touched him, 44:41 and he said, 'Arise and eat, because the journey 44:43 is too great for you.' 44:45 So he arose, and he ate, and he drank, and he went 44:47 in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights 44:50 as far as the mountain of God." 44:53 When we're discouraged and ready to die, you need angel's food. 44:58 There's the lesson. 45:00 Sometimes you just need to claim the promises of God. 45:03 What is that bread that comes from angels? 45:05 It's the Word of God. 45:07 "Man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word of God," amen? 45:10 Elijah was exhausted. 45:12 He needed rest. 45:13 He needed peace. 45:15 "And he went up, and he went in that strength of that meat 45:18 40 days and 40 nights." 45:19 Does the Bible talk about others who fasted 40 day and 40 nights? 45:24 Moses fasted 40 days, 40 nights. 45:26 Moses did it twice, actually, but Moses did not eat 45:29 or drink 40 days, 40 nights. 45:31 "Elijah went in the strength of that food 45:33 and water 40 days and 40 nights." 45:37 It's telling us how you can be sustained by God. 45:40 [clears throat] Excuse me. 45:43 And then who's the other one that went 40 days and 40 nights? 45:46 Jesus, right? 45:49 And was Jesus ministered to by angels? 45:51 You know, it doesn't say it in every gospel. 45:53 It says, "And angels came and ministered to Him." 45:55 How do you think the angels took care of Jesus 45:57 after He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights? 45:59 They fed Him. Took care of Him. 46:02 So what happened to Elijah is a reminder to us. 46:05 And he went to Mount Sinai, which is where Moses fasted 46:08 40 days and 40 nights, and Jesus went 46:10 into the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights, 46:13 and there God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice. 46:18 God was not in the wind. 46:19 He was not in the fire. 46:21 He was not in the earthquake. 46:22 He was in the still small voice, and that's when he found rest 46:24 after eating God's food and drinking the living water. 46:29 It's talking about through taking Christ in, 46:31 he finally found rest. 46:33 You can tell I've run out of time. 46:34 I want to remind our friends that are watching, 46:37 we do have a special free offer. 46:39 This is a premium offer. 46:40 It's a beautiful magazine on "Amazing Health Facts: 46:43 Bible Secrets for a Longer & Stronger Life." 46:45 We'd like to send this to you for free, and you'll see 46:48 the information there on the screen, how you can obtain that. 46:51 God bless you, friends. 46:52 Lord willing, we'll study His Word together again next week. 46:56 ♪♪♪ 46:58 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 46:59 life-changing free resource. 47:01 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 47:03 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 47:06 or mobile device. 47:07 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 47:10 simply text the key word on your screen to 40544, 47:14 or visit the web address shown on your screen, 47:17 and be sure to select the digital download option 47:19 on the request page. 47:21 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word 47:24 with Amazing Facts, 47:25 wherever and whenever you want and, 47:27 most important, to share it with others. 47:34 ♪♪♪ 47:37 announcer: "Amazing Facts Changed Lives." 47:40 ♪♪♪ 47:45 Gary: Early 1980s, all the baby boomers were turning 21, 47:48 and the nightclub scenes were exploding, 47:50 and I started a entertainment lighting company. 47:53 female: I was the president, and there were six divisions, 47:55 doing the raves in the '80s and '90s, you know, in some 47:58 warehouse where you're setting up lighting and fog and, 48:01 you know, who knows what's going on in there, 48:03 and nightclub installations. 48:06 I loved it, and it was who I was. 48:09 Gary: Bought a new house out of town, and we moved 48:11 about two or three times, but we were always going 48:14 into different churches. 48:16 We were in a Lutheran Church, and then we were 48:17 in a Methodist Church. 48:19 I think we were in three different Baptist churches. 48:21 My wife was raised Catholic. 48:22 I was raised Methodist. 48:24 Currently, I've been up, reading all the Hal Lindsey books 48:26 and watching all the, "Left Behind" movies, 48:28 and so I really wanted to understand 48:30 what the book of Revelation was all about, 48:32 but nothing really ever made sense to me. 48:34 female: One day, Pastor Lloyd Logan came knocking, 48:37 and he had that Net '99 flyer. 48:40 Lloyd Logan: We were preparing for an evangelistic series, 48:44 and different people were going different directions 48:47 with handbills to invite people to the meetings. 48:51 female: I saw that coming at me, you know, all the colors, 48:53 and I thought, "Oh, no, this is some kind of cult thing." 48:56 Lloyd: And she said, "Thank you very much, 48:58 but I'm not much interested myself, 49:00 but my husband likes that kind of thing." 49:03 female: And Lloyd said, "Would you give it to him, 49:05 please?" 49:06 And I said, "Okay, I will." 49:08 So I took the pamphlet, and I put it on the calendar. 49:11 Gary came home, and he walked by it. 49:13 Gary: Ran to the kitchen to quickly eat and take a shower 49:16 and go back out and work a show. 49:19 female: Two, three days went by like this, and I had moved 49:21 that brochure from the calendar, put it on the dining room table, 49:25 put it back on the counter, and I actually threw it 49:28 in the garbage. 49:30 As I threw it in that garbage can, I could hear him 49:32 and see his face saying, "Would you give it to him, please?" 49:36 And I actually took the garbage out. 49:38 And that night, lying in bed, I kept seeing his face 49:41 and hearing his voice, and thinking, 49:43 "Oh, boy, I got to get that brochure out of the garbage." 49:47 And I took that, and I put it right underneath 49:50 the remote control. 49:52 Bright colors. He'll see it. 49:54 Gary: I finally sat down in my living room, 49:55 and I picked up the remote, and I saw that angel 49:57 holding out that scroll. 49:59 female: "Whoa, cool. What is this?" 50:01 And I was in the kitchen cooking, and I thought, 50:03 "Oh, no." 50:05 Gary: And I looked at it, and I turned it over, 50:07 and then I saw a little building, 50:09 a little church building, and it wasn't too far away. 50:11 It was about six houses down, and it said, "Friday night." 50:14 female: And I certainly wasn't going. 50:16 I mean, it wasn't my intention to go. 50:19 Gary: I didn't have any shows going on that night, 50:20 and so I thought it was a one-night deal. 50:23 I went, and as I heard about the millennium man, 50:26 I was just blown away. 50:28 I didn't want it to end. 50:29 I knew what I was hearing was all from the Scripture, 50:32 and it wasn't based on Hollywood movies or other books 50:34 that were written. 50:35 They said, "Come again tomorrow night," and I thought, 50:37 "Wow, great, two nights." 50:39 So I tried to tell my wife about it, 50:41 and she still wasn't interested, and then she decided to come. 50:45 female: I started to hear the truth, you know, 50:47 and I started to get fed. 50:48 Gary: Every night, after the seminar, 50:50 they would hand us an Amazing Facts study guide. 50:53 I couldn't do those fast enough. 50:54 female: The business kept us going seven days a week, 50:57 and it was night and day. 50:59 Gary: Crews working all around the clock, and so, 51:01 when we finally heard the Sabbath message, you know, 51:04 so far, everything's been true, right from the Bible. 51:06 female: Church on Saturday, no work. 51:08 Anyway, it all clicked. 51:11 Gary: Both our heads turned at each other. 51:12 Our jaws dropped open. 51:14 female: I said, "We can't do that." 51:17 Gary: And the first thing that came out of my mouth was, 51:19 "We have to." 51:20 female: I knew that it would be a sacrifice, 51:22 and I was in fear about it. 51:25 Gary: We didn't know how we were going to do it, 51:27 but we talked to the pastor about it, and the pastor said, 51:31 "Well, just pray about it, and God will open doors." 51:34 female: I didn't want to give up all the connections 51:36 I had made, all the networking, all the money, 51:38 all the investment. 51:40 Gary: We went to the board and ask them if they would 51:41 consider closing on Saturday, and they agreed to, 51:45 so we closed the storefront on Saturday, 51:47 but we were still doing productions, 51:49 and that kind of bothered us, so a couple months later, 51:52 God opened the door for my wife. 51:54 She exited the company. 51:56 I prayed about it, and God opened the door for me too. 51:58 female: Gary, shortly after, was offered a job being paid 52:02 more money than he made as an owner of the company. 52:06 Gary: He said, "I'll give you a thousand-dollar raise, 52:09 and you will never work another weekend. 52:11 female: And we were able to keep the Sabbath and enjoy 52:14 the wonderful blessings that God had for us on the Sabbath day. 52:19 Gary: My kids never again had to say, 52:21 "Quit talking about work." 52:22 After the seminar was over, my wife and I, and my children 52:24 were all baptized into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. 52:28 Even if I gave up everything, I knew that God 52:30 would have something better. 52:32 female: I have much more understanding, 52:35 and there's much more depth in my Christian walk with the Lord. 52:39 Gary: We started an Amazing Facts Bible School at a church 52:41 that allows anybody to understand the Scriptures, 52:44 understand the end times. 52:46 Church changed my life dramatically, 52:48 and I'm very happy and excited to be a part of it. 52:51 ♪♪♪ 53:03 announcer: "Amazing Facts Changed Lives." 53:06 ♪♪♪ 53:11 male: When I was 15, I bought my first bag of marijuana 53:14 out of curiosity, and from the age of 15, on to 23, 53:20 was a constant experimentation with different substances. 53:24 By the time I was 23, there was not a drug I had not tried. 53:28 I had worn myself out, searching for happiness, and one day 53:32 I came home, tired as usual, and I started drinking, 53:38 and as usual, after I started drinking, 53:40 I started looking for a higher buzz. 53:43 Someone came by with some Xanax. 53:49 Someone also came by with something else that I liked, 53:52 and that was cocaine. 53:54 This time, not thinking, I took the whole thing. 53:57 So I went to bed about 5 in the afternoon. 54:01 My roommate went off to work that night. 54:03 When he came back from work the next day though, 54:06 he noticed something was wrong because I was still in bed 54:09 in the same position. 54:11 He tried to wake me up, and he couldn't wake me up. 54:16 And when my parents found me, the found me curled up 54:19 in a fetal position in my hospital room, 54:23 unconscious still, and I stayed unconscious 54:27 in this coma-like state for the next week. 54:31 I stayed the next month in the hospital, 54:33 slowly getting better to where I could sit up in bed, 54:38 and I had to learn to walk again, but my parents found 54:41 this one facility out in the hills of Tennessee. 54:45 I had to admit that I liked the place, but they were Christian, 54:51 and even worse than that, I said, "Yes," 54:53 when they asked me if I wanted to go to church that week. 54:56 Before the pastor said the benediction, 54:58 I was so excited because I was planning my escape. 55:01 And so, after everybody was all in bed that night, 55:04 I made sure that they were snoring 55:07 and that they were asleep. 55:09 I went into the kitchen and stole a few bananas, 55:12 got my backpack ready. 55:14 I figured I could get sober on my own. 55:17 My favorite song was "I Did It My Way." 55:20 Of course, my definition of "sober" was a nice supply 55:26 of marijuana each day and alcohol on the weekends. 55:30 And, of course, if I had a bad hangover, I might need some 55:32 of those relaxing pills to take, but other than that, 55:36 that would be it. 55:39 So here I am, stranded on the street 55:41 in the big city of Houston. 55:43 My bag of clothes is gone. 55:45 My cell phone was gone. 55:46 My wallet, my bus tickets gone. 55:48 I don't have anything but the shirt on my back. 55:51 It's at that point that this man comes up to me, 55:53 this mysterious man. 55:55 He's actually very short and appears to be homeless, 55:59 and he led me to some food and even a place to stay that night. 56:03 Looking back, it is my firm conclusion that 56:07 that was an angel. 56:09 So my dad was able to come down to Houston and pick me up 56:12 and take me back up to the health retreat 56:15 at Wildwood in Tennessee. 56:17 They had a satellite. 56:20 On this channel, there was a man named Doug Batchelor. 56:23 I liked what I heard. 56:25 I liked the way he explained the Bible. 56:27 It was so simple, and he also had an experience similar 56:30 to mine, and I had talked to Lou about him, 56:33 and they happened to have a whole set of cassette tapes. 56:37 I would wake up at 4 in the morning sometimes, 56:40 and I would get up, and I would watch 56:42 two of those videos before breakfast. 56:44 I would sit this close to the TV, watching what Doug Batchelor 56:48 was saying, just eating up every word of it. 56:50 I was so tired of hearing lies and even believing my own lies 56:54 that it was so wonderful to find something that was solid 56:58 and that I could rely on. 57:01 And so, when I got home from rehab, in my local church, 57:06 Eric Flickinger from Amazing Facts 57:08 was holding an evangelistic series. 57:10 They solidified my conviction, and it was then I made 57:14 the absolute decision to follow Jesus. 57:17 I praise the Lord Jesus Christ for Amazing Facts. 57:22 I praise God for Amazing Facts because they're so Bible-based. 57:27 They send out evangelists who are willing 57:30 to teach the truth to people. 57:32 I'm thankful that they're preaching right now all over 57:35 the world, changing lives, just as they changed mine. 57:39 ♪♪♪ 57:42 announcer: Together, we have spread the Gospel 57:44 much farther than ever before. 57:47 Thank you for your support. 57:49 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-08-12