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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:19 ♪♪♪ 00:29 ♪♪♪ 00:36 Shawn Brummund: Hello and welcome, friends, to another 00:38 edition of the "Sabbath School Study Hour." 00:40 It is always good to be able to come together here in the 00:42 Granite Bay Hilltop Seventh-day Adventist Church, right in the 00:46 greater area of the Sacramento, California area of the U.S. 00:50 It is always nice to have all of you who are joining us online or 00:53 in the local broadcast, international broadcasts, and, 00:56 of course, our local church family here, as well, as we 00:59 continue to study together and as we continue to look at this 01:04 very important theme and topic of rest that can really only 01:08 truly fully be found in Christ. 01:11 And so, friends, I don't know about you, but I've been blessed 01:14 as we've been making our way through this third quarter of 01:16 2021 as we looked at this theme of rest in Christ, and we're 01:21 almost wrapping things up. 01:23 We are in lesson number 12, "The Restless Prophet," which is the 01:27 second last study for this particular quarterly. 01:31 And so, again, I've been blessed. 01:33 I know that you've been blessed if you've been joining us. 01:35 If you're joining us for the first time, I know that the 01:37 time that you will be investing over the next hour with us 01:39 will be a blessing as we continue to study these great 01:42 themes of truth in Scripture. 01:46 I also want to invite you to take advantage of our free gift 01:49 offer that we always like to offer that you can continue 01:51 your study in the Word of God. 01:53 It is one that is directly relevant to the subject that 01:56 we're looking at here as we study the prophet Jonah 01:59 and a very unique experience in ministry that he 02:02 had during his lifetime. 02:04 And so the free gift offer is the little booklet written by 02:07 our senior--or lead pastor, Doug Batchelor, "The Sign of Jonah." 02:12 And you can receive that simply by dialing in to 1-866-788-3966, 02:19 and, again, that's 1-866-Study-More, and get your 02:23 free copy if you are in the U.S., if you're in Canada or 02:26 some of the different U.S. territories. 02:28 If you are interested in getting a digital download, you can also 02:31 get that in the Continental U.S., and you just simply have 02:34 to text the code "SH147," to the number 40544, and we'd be happy 02:42 to be able to get that to you. 02:44 You could also see on the screen a website address in which you 02:47 can also find it on the Amazing Facts website. 02:49 Shall we pray? 02:51 Father in heaven, as we close our eyes, we want to thank You 02:53 for the inspiration that we have just received. 02:57 Thank You for the reminder of the greatest hope that we have 02:59 as human beings, as a broken and fallen race, that there is a 03:04 Savior that is as eternal as the Father that willingly came down 03:09 and took upon human flesh, died on a cross, rose to glory, 03:16 and now is ministering as our High Priest in a 03:18 New Testament heavenly sanctuary. 03:20 Lord, we come to You as the living Christ. 03:23 We come to You, Jesus, we come to You, Father, Holy Spirit, 03:26 pray that You will guide us and lead us as we make 03:28 our way through this study. 03:30 Want to pray, God, that You will bring to life the experience of 03:33 this man of ancient times, named Jonah, God in heaven, that it 03:38 might be able to be applied to our lives, the different 03:40 spiritual lessons and truths that are found there as well. 03:43 Build our faith, Lord. 03:45 Teach us. In Jesus's name we pray, amen. 03:50 "Jonah and the Whale." 03:53 You know, just saying that can elicit some--a number of 03:58 different images and thoughts in the minds of many different 04:01 people, not just us as Seventh-day Adventists, not just 04:04 as Christians, but as general Americans, Canadians, Europeans, 04:10 those who have a Christian heritage of some sort that are 04:13 exposed to if they are not even churchgoers. 04:16 Not even genuine believers have elicited--there's different 04:20 images that are elicited in concern to that title, 04:24 "Jonah and the Whale." 04:28 Not only "Jonah and the Whale," 04:29 but "Balaam and the Talking Donkey." 04:34 Then we also have a man of ancient times, named Noah, where 04:37 there was a time where not only did they build the biggest boat 04:40 in all of history by that--at least to that point, but every 04:45 single species that was existing at that time came and made their 04:48 way and willfully walked and found themselves--walked up the 04:53 plank and found themselves in the boat. 04:55 These are different images. 04:58 These are different stories that have probably even been reduced 05:01 to a storybook status in the minds of most who now live 05:05 in the U.S. today. 05:07 This popular view reveals our natural tendency to limit God 05:12 and to limit His abilities, to limit His power. 05:16 We have a natural tendency to limit things down to our level, 05:22 down to our limitations, our limitations both in power, 05:26 capability, our limitations in intellect. 05:31 When we come to these stories, there are--most people on the 05:35 streets of America today, I would say, would say, "Yes, it's 05:37 a story I'm familiar with, these three stories, but certainly 05:41 these are the far-fetched allegorical fable-like myths 05:47 that you can find in that book that some religious 05:50 people call the Bible." 05:55 And so it reveals that we must be very careful on what we do 05:59 with Bible stories like these, Bible stories that we might be 06:02 tempted to think are "too far-fetched." 06:05 "It's beyond our explanation. 06:07 It's ridiculous. 06:08 It's something that is way beyond anything that can 06:12 be explained with a scientific method in any way, 06:16 shape, or form." 06:19 But as the famous American evangelist by the name of Billy 06:21 Graham, who, during his lifetime, would be sometimes 06:26 challenged in questions by the media and different journalists, 06:29 and they'd say, "Now, come on, Reverend Graham, surely you 06:32 don't believe that the story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale 06:37 and, three days later, thrown up onto the beach somewhere was a 06:42 literal reality, was a literal story that took place with a 06:45 literal historical figure? 06:47 Surely you understand that this is too far-fetched?" 06:50 And Billy Graham's answer was classic as he would say, 06:53 "Listen, if the Bible says it, I believe it. 06:56 And not only that, but if the Bible told me that it was Jonah 06:59 who swallowed the whale, I would believe it." 07:06 You see, we have to be careful that we don't reduce the truths 07:11 and the stories and the history that the Bible reveals to us, 07:14 down to our own limitations. 07:17 God is way bigger than the whales. 07:19 God is way bigger than Jonah. 07:21 He's way bigger than you and I. 07:22 He's way bigger than the universe. 07:24 He's the Eternal One. 07:25 He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. 07:28 He is the all-knowing one. 07:29 He is the all-present one. 07:30 He is the all-powerful one. 07:33 And God can do things that are unexplainable to you and I. 07:37 The scientific method and the scientific world will never be 07:39 able to explain fully how God was able to prepare a fish that 07:44 was there at the right time and the right place for the right 07:48 purpose and had the capabilities to be able to preserve the life 07:52 of a human being in its belly for about three days. 07:56 We can't explain it. 07:58 We very likely will never be able to fully 08:00 explain it, but that's not the point. 08:02 The point is that God is bigger than-- 08:04 "My thoughts are greater than your thoughts," 08:05 does not the Bible says? 08:07 Does God got to remind us of that? 08:11 So we have to be careful when we come to places like the book of 08:15 Noah and the story of Noah or "Balaam and the Talking Donkey," 08:19 or Noah and the animals that walk upon his ark. 08:24 It's vital for us to understand that we cannot limit it. 08:29 In Mark chapter 10, in verse 27, Jesus said this. 08:32 He says, "With men it is impossible, but not with God, 08:37 for with God all things are possible." 08:41 Many of us know that by memory and rightly so. 08:43 We need fully be able--to be able to write that verse and 08:46 that statement of Jesus upon our hearts. 08:48 Now, Jesus was talking about a different topic, but the 08:51 principle, it pervades to all things in all ways, 08:54 and Jesus made that clear in the statement when He said, 08:56 "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with 08:59 God all things are possible." 09:03 And so the book of Jonah and the story and the experience of this 09:07 historical figure with God is very much possible. 09:12 And we may be able to understand that is--being able to 09:15 understand that is critical. 09:18 Now, the truth is that the Bible is loaded with all kinds of 09:21 different times where God is on record of manipulating 09:24 nature to fulfill His purposes. 09:26 I started to do a bit of an exercise as I was preparing for 09:29 our message and study here today. 09:31 Now, the Bible refers to them as "signs." 09:34 We call them more often "miracles." 09:37 What is a miracle? 09:39 A miracle is a phenomena that we observe that takes place within 09:44 our reality, within our observation, that is 09:47 unexplainable through the scientific method. 09:52 It is beyond the scientific method. 09:55 It is beyond the laws of nature as we observe them, but we have 10:00 to remember that God is the God of the laws of nature. 10:03 God created those laws, and He is not subject to those laws in 10:06 the way that you and I are. 10:09 God is higher and greater than those laws, and, therefore, 10:14 again, when we come to these different examples, we find that 10:17 God is on record of doing this multiple times, not 10:20 just in the life of Jonah. 10:21 As a Christian, we can't just throw out the book of Jonah and 10:24 say, "Well, that's a little bit too far-fetched. 10:26 God is obviously not--didn't literally do that. 10:28 That must be allegorical. 10:30 That must be something that didn't historically take place." 10:32 No, when we look through the Bible, 10:34 the Bible is riddled with it. 10:35 Just look at ten examples I'd just like to share with you. 10:37 I just jotted these down: Jesus curses a fig tree. 10:41 Many of us are familiar with that. 10:43 Jesus, in His last days, just before He's arrested, crucified, 10:46 He's on His way into Jerusalem. He's hungry. 10:48 He goes up to a fig tree, there's no figs on it, 10:50 and so He says, "Cursed be you, fig tree." 10:53 Now, all through Scripture, through the Old Testament, God 10:55 had been using a tree, and many times a fig tree, to represent 10:59 and symbolize Israel. 11:01 And this fig tree was to represent Israel. 11:04 It had all kinds of leaves of pretension, religious pretension 11:07 and religious pretending, but it had no fruit. 11:11 And so Jesus used that as a symbol of Israel that was 11:14 rejecting the Son of God, the Messiah, the true Messiah. 11:19 And so He says, "Cursed be you, fig tree." 11:21 While the next morning, as the disciples of Jesus are walking 11:23 by, sure enough, they see the fig tree, and that thing is 11:25 dried up from the roots down. 11:28 Now, friends, I've been blessed over the last few 11:31 years of having a beautifully landscaped yard. 11:33 You know, the previous owners, you know, did some 11:35 wonderful work with it. 11:37 We enjoy the different trees and bushes, and so on, and I know 11:39 one thing I've learned about California is that, if your 11:42 irrigation system starts to go out of whack, things 11:46 don't live long, you know? 11:49 They need water. 11:51 If you don't artificially water our plants and our trees 11:53 here in California, they don't live long at all and so-- 11:57 but this was only 12 hours. 12:00 Twelve hours, the thing was dried up, withered up and dead. 12:03 Even in California, it takes longer than 24 hours to kill 12:06 a tree if you don't water it. 12:08 God was manipulating nature to be able to fulfill His purpose 12:12 and make a message with His disciples. 12:15 Second example, the temple tax found in the mouth of a fish. 12:19 I don't know about you--you know, I've done some fishing. 12:21 I used to--you know, I gave up fishing 'cause I got skunked way 12:24 more often than I caught fish. 12:27 And, you know, I used to kid with my youngest-- 12:29 oldest daughter; we'd go out and we'd throw the cast out-- 12:32 or cast the rod out and the line out, and I'd say, 12:36 "Well, we never came out to fish, honey. 12:38 We just came out to cast," you know. 12:43 But I've caught a few fish over the years, 12:44 and I've never found a coin in the mouth of any of those fish. 12:48 Have you? 12:50 And Peter, the one who caught it, I'm sure never had before 12:52 and never had ever since that happened. 12:55 But God had manipulated nature. 12:57 He had made sure that the right fish was there at the right time 13:00 with a coin in mouth. 13:01 Now, Peter threw out a line. 13:03 He had some kind of rudimentary hook that they used back in 13:05 those days, some bait on it. 13:07 Now, the fish comes and gets the bait. 13:08 Now, whether he had the coin in his mouth before he took the 13:10 bait, or not, I don't know because his mouth was already 13:13 busy with this foreign coin that was in his mouth that fish don't 13:17 normally deal with, so I'm guessing that maybe God had put 13:20 that temple tax coin inside the mouth's fish after the fish 13:24 had grabbed the hook, and Peter was starting to draw it in, and 13:28 God puts a temple tax coin inside the 13:31 mouth of that fish, why? 13:32 Because He was making a point to the temple--or the synagogue, 13:37 the leader of the synagogue in the town of Capernaum-- 13:41 Capernaum, I should say. 13:43 And so God manipulated nature and put a coin in there that 13:47 shouldn't have been there, that normally wouldn't be 13:48 there, to make a supernatural point that Jesus 13:52 is the Alpha and the Omega. 13:53 He is the God of the fish. 13:56 Not only that, but then we find that He's on a sea, that same 13:59 Sea of Galilee, and the sea is going crazy, one of those crazy 14:03 storms in which the--even the veterans, the veteran, seasoned 14:10 fishermen that were on there--Peter, James, and John, 14:13 and so on--they were scared for their life. 14:18 Jesus gets up calmly, and what does He say? 14:21 "Peace, be still." 14:25 And the clouds didn't slowly start to dissipate and the winds 14:28 start to calm down over the next couple of hours. 14:30 No, it just--boom. 14:32 The wind had stopped immediately, and it went from 14:35 life-threatening whitecaps to absolute crystal clear, calm, 14:42 reflective water. 14:46 God, Jesus, was making a point to His disciples. 14:50 He was impacting upon their hearts again that Jesus was not 14:53 just a human being, as human as He was. 14:58 Not only that, but Jesus is on record of resurrecting the dead 15:01 more than once during His ministry, and so God manipulates 15:05 nature to be able to fulfill His purposes. 15:08 Then we come to Mount Carmel, and we have the great prophet 15:10 Elijah with the great showdown between the false god Baal that 15:14 most of Israel had given their hearts and their lives and 15:16 devotion to, their religious worship, and that of Yahweh, the 15:20 God of Israel, the Great I Am, and so Elijah prays 15:24 and, sure enough, what happens? 15:25 Fire comes down inexplicably, unexplainably 15:28 comes down out of nowhere, and not only does it consume the 15:32 sacrifice that Elijah had put on the altar, but it consumed the 15:35 entire rock altar, and it consumed all the water that had 15:37 soaked that altar and that sacrifice in just a heartbeat. 15:43 God was unexplainable, supernaturally, miraculously 15:48 manipulating nature to fulfill His purpose. 15:52 The burning bush at Mount Sinai, we found Moses 15:56 coming up to this burning bush. 15:57 And the bush has been burning who knows how long, 15:58 but it's still burning. 16:01 Bushes burn for a time, but then they burn out pretty fast. 16:06 Not this one; this one just kept on burning, 16:09 and then we find there's a voice and an angel 16:11 inside of that bush. 16:15 God is manipulating nature. 16:16 He's living and demonstrating that He lives above nature and 16:21 the laws of nature. 16:24 When the Israelites were called out of Egypt and freed from 16:27 bondage, they came to a huge obstacle, an obstacle that they 16:32 could never--it was insurmountable. 16:34 They had this arm of the Red Sea that was before them. 16:39 They had no boats. 16:40 They had no life jackets. 16:41 They had thousands or hundreds of thousands of livestock, two 16:45 to three million people. 16:49 They have the Egyptian army behind him. 16:51 God manipulates nature, does He not? 16:54 And He takes that Red Sea, and He brings wind with it, 16:56 but He brings more than just a wind. 16:58 The wind came in, but I've never seen a wind, you know, part a 17:01 lake or a sea before, but God uses that wind, along with His 17:05 supernatural power, and He separates the waters, 17:10 and He creates this pathway of dry land with a wall 17:13 of water on both sides. 17:15 Science will never explain that. 17:18 You'll never be able to explain that. 17:22 Plagues of Egypt that hit them, that hit the Egyptians before 17:25 they even let the Israelites get to the Red Sea. 17:27 Frogs, so many frogs that they were going crazy. 17:31 There was frogs coming in and out of their houses. 17:33 There were--it was a plague of frogs. 17:35 They were inundated with millions upon millions of 17:39 additional frogs that suddenly came in. 17:41 Now, the Egyptians worshipped the god of the frogs. 17:46 God says, "I have come to cast judgment upon your false gods." 17:50 Said so, right in the writings of Moses. 17:52 And so God says, "You think that your 17:54 god is the god of the frogs? 17:55 He's not. I'm the God of the frogs. 17:58 Not only am I the God of the frogs," 17:59 but after the frogs disappeared, after God made the frogs 18:02 disappear supernaturally, then He brought behind it a 18:05 whole millions and billions of locusts, and then behind 18:08 that, He brought a whole batch of millions and 18:11 billions of lice, and then flies, and each of those times, 18:17 God is saying, "Your god is a false god. 18:20 I'm the God of the flies. 18:21 I'm the God of the lice. 18:23 I'm the God of the locusts. 18:25 The locusts answer to Me," God says. 18:31 Then we have that intriguing story where the mother bears 18:34 come out of the woods. 18:36 You know the story. It's a wild story. 18:39 We have Elisha. Elisha. 18:40 And he's just picked up his ministry. 18:42 Elijah's been carried up into heaven, and we have these young 18:46 men that they're not just mocking. 18:49 Yes, they are teasing and mocking, but it's in a vicious, 18:51 violent, life-threatening situation, and God knows that He 18:56 has a purpose still for Elisha, and so He manipulates nature. 19:00 He speaks to these mother bears. 19:02 Now, He knew the situation ahead of time and probably made sure 19:05 that those mother bears were heading that way and that they 19:07 were just behind the woods there to be able to protect and save 19:10 the life of Elisha. 19:12 And so God sends out these mother bears, and they maul 19:14 these young men to death. 19:17 God was manipulating the bears in nature 19:20 to fulfill His purposes. 19:24 It also tells us that there were hornets. 19:26 God is the God of the hornets, is He not? 19:27 He says, "Listen, when you go into the land of Canaan," to 19:29 these same Israelites that escaped from Egypt through all 19:32 these different manipulations of nature that God had already 19:34 achieved, He says, "I'm going to manipulate nature again, and I'm 19:37 going to send these hornets, millions and billions of hornets 19:41 that are going to come in, and they're going to overwhelm your 19:43 enemies in Canaan." 19:47 God did use that at times, different places when He gave 19:51 the Promised Land to the Israelites. 19:54 And then, finally, when we come to the book of Jonah, not only 19:56 do you find that God is manipulating a whale, a great 19:59 fish of some kind, but we also find, later on, that He 20:02 manipulates a plant. 20:04 And then after He has this plant that supernaturally 20:06 unexplainably is growing up overnight, we find that 20:09 God then sends a worm. 20:12 And a worm is also found in nature, and so God is 20:15 manipulating in a worm, and He's using that worm to His purpose 20:18 is to be able to destroy that plant. 20:22 For those of you who read and did your homework this week, you 20:24 know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? 20:28 Yeah, and so there's just ten examples. 20:30 Now, I'm sure that, if I open the floor, that there's many of 20:32 you that know the Bible just as well, if not better than me, 20:35 that can give me at least another ten examples of 20:37 different ways in which God is on record in the Bible of 20:40 manipulating nature unexplainably, supernaturally to 20:46 be able to fulfill His purposes. 20:48 And so why am I spending this time? 20:51 I think that God has put it upon my heart and my mind because we 20:53 live in a culture now, a post-modern culture, a 20:55 post-Christian culture here in America, where we have 20:58 reduced--where there have been voices that have been voicing 21:01 and now are by the thousands across this nation that are 21:04 telling us the Genesis and the Creation record onward, 21:09 including, of course, the story of Jonah, 21:11 is nothing but allegory. 21:12 "It is nothing that we can take seriously. 21:14 It's nothing that we can take literally, but it is something 21:17 that we can perhaps bring some religious and theological or 21:22 moral lessons that we can draw from it at best." 21:27 But that was not the take of the Bible writers. 21:29 No, not at all. 21:31 That was not the take of Jesus. 21:34 Jesus understood that Jonah was a literal, historical figure, 21:37 did He not? 21:39 Sure He did; it's interesting that Jesus didn't talk 21:42 about every biblical figure that's recorded in the 21:45 Old Testament during His public ministry, 21:47 but it's interesting that He's on record of 21:50 more than once referring to the story of the 21:52 literal historical figure named Jonah. 21:59 Matthew chapter 12 is the classic one. 22:01 I want to read it for you here this morning, if I could. 22:04 In Matthew chapter 12, in verse 39 through 41, it says, "But He 22:08 answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation 22:11 seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it, except the 22:15 sign of the prophet Jonah." 22:20 There he is, friends, okay, "Except for the 22:23 sign of the prophet Jonah. 22:24 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a 22:27 great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three 22:31 nights in the heart of the earth." 22:34 Now, friends, as we reflect upon that--and, of course, I don't 22:37 have any Scripture to verify that one way or the other, so 22:40 I'm certainly not dogmatic about it, but I wonder if it's--I 22:43 think it's certainly plausible that, as Jesus is using this 22:47 literal historical experience that Jonah had experienced so 22:50 long ago to represent and symbolize as Jesus's death, His 22:54 burial in the tomb, in the belly of the earth, and that His 22:57 Resurrection, when the earth released Him again, and He came 23:01 back out from the belly of the earth, that, when Jonah was 23:05 captured by that--when he was swallowed by the whale, makes me 23:08 wonder if it was on a Friday afternoon, and then, early 23:14 Sunday morning, even before the sun started to rise, that whale 23:20 made its way to the Mediterranean shore of what we 23:22 call Israel, maybe somewhere near Tyre, the city of Tyre, a 23:27 little bit further north, and vomited him up onto the shore. 23:35 "And so the Son of Man will be three days and 23:37 three nights in the heart of the earth." 23:39 Verse 41, it says, "And the men of Nineveh will rise up in the 23:41 judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they 23:44 repented of the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater 23:48 than Jonah is here." 23:50 Jesus, who is a literal historical figure, is referring 23:53 and referencing Himself to another literal 23:56 historical figure. 23:58 He said, "Even as Jonah literally was swallowed by a 24:00 fish, and then he was literally released three days later, so 24:05 will the historical Son of Man Himself die on a cross 24:09 and be buried into the heart of the earth and 24:11 then be released three days later." 24:15 And not only that, but then He also confirms, Jesus also 24:17 confirmed that this historical figure named Jonah went into a 24:22 historical, literal, ancient city called Nineveh, and the 24:25 people of Nineveh heard that message, and they repented. 24:31 They turned from their sins, and they found themselves filled 24:33 with the Spirit and converted in God. 24:34 We'll talk about more of that as we continue. 24:39 When we come to the very first verse of the book of 24:41 Jonah--let's open our Bibles. 24:43 Jonah chapter 1, in verse 1. 24:47 In the book of Jonah chapter 1, in verse 1, this is how it 24:51 introduces the actual book. 24:56 It says, "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah." 25:08 And so the book of Jonah is not a fable. 25:10 It's not a myth. 25:11 It's introduced by its author as "the word of the Lord." 25:16 "The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, and he 25:21 began to say, 'Arise and go to Nineveh,'" and such, and so, 25:24 when we come to the very first verse, right off the start, we 25:27 find that the prophets, as they're writing this book, 25:31 whether it was Jonah or some other prophet during that day or 25:34 shortly after, that recorded the experience and the words, some 25:38 of the words that Jonah himself spoke, we find that Jonah is 25:41 referred to and introduced as the son of Amittai. 25:48 Now, friends, I've never opened up a storybook, a children's 25:52 storybook, adult storybook-- I've never seen a 25:55 storybook that introduces one of its main characters 25:57 with its family ties. 26:01 You know, "This is was Cinderella, the son of Sarah-- 26:04 or the daughter of Sarah." 26:06 No, it never starts that way, why? 26:08 Because this is not a fable. 26:09 This is an historical record that the prophets are recording, 26:12 concerning a historical literal experience and person that lived 26:15 so many years ago, about the early 8th century, 729 B.C. 26:23 or something to that effect, 750 B.C. 26:29 And so the very first verse introduces that in such way, in 26:33 such a manner that, right off the start is introducing a--and 26:37 wanting us to understand that this is a literal historical 26:41 figure, that he is a literal prophet that was receiving 26:45 literal prophetic messages from God and then relaying those, not 26:49 only to his kingdom, which was the northern kingdom of Israel 26:52 and to the palace and the king himself of his country, but 26:56 also, as we know the story, to the Ninevites, a foreign city, 26:59 in a foreign land, in a foreign empire called Assyria. 27:04 And so that's the introduction into the book itself. 27:08 Now, before we go to verses 2 and 3, I want to invite you 27:10 to--just keep your thumb in Jonah, and let's back up to 27:12 2 Kings chapter 14 now. 27:17 As we go to 2 Kings chapter 14, we find there that the prophets 27:23 and the prophetic record here is referring again to Jonah. 27:27 And so this is no small verse because it gives us more 27:29 information and, again, it's validating what the 1st verse of 27:32 the book of Jonah itself is trying to validate is that, 27:34 indeed, Jonah was a literal historical figure. 27:37 And so, in verse 25, it says, "He restored the territory of 27:40 Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of Arabah, 27:45 according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had 27:49 spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet 27:58 who was from a town." 28:00 He lived in a literal ancient town in his northern kingdom of 28:03 Israel, called Gath Hepher. 28:05 And so we find here that, again, Jonah is referred to during the 28:09 reign of Jeroboam II. 28:11 At this time, during the life of Jonah, Israel was split after a 28:15 previous civil war that kind of split the country in half, and 28:18 so we have Benjamin and Judah, which represent--and is referred 28:21 to simply as the kingdom of Judah, the southern kingdom, 28:24 and then the northern kingdom of Israel, which has 28:26 the other tribes included. 28:28 And so, friends, here we find that Jonah is referred to in a 28:31 literal country with a literal king, and he's a literal prophet 28:35 that is serving more than just the Ninevites, but he's also 28:38 receiving messages from God that He's relaying to a literal 28:40 historical king named Jeroboam. 28:43 And so, again, all the evidence is crystal clear if we open our 28:46 minds and our hearts, and we actually dig into this life, 28:50 this intriguing figure of history by the name of Jonah. 28:55 And so we come back to the book of Jonah, and we read 28:56 verses 2 and 3, in the 1st chapter. 28:58 It says, "'Arise, and go to Nineveh, that great city, 29:01 and cry out against it, for their wickedness 29:03 has come up before Me.' 29:06 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the 29:09 presence of the Lord. 29:11 And he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish, 29:14 and so he paid the fare, went down into it, to go with them to 29:17 Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." 29:19 And so twice it says that, even though God had called him to go 29:22 to Nineveh, Jonah says, "You know what? 29:25 I'm not convinced that I should be in Nineveh. 29:28 In fact, I'm so convinced that I shouldn't be in Nineveh that I'm 29:30 going to go down to Joppa," which is one of the Israelite 29:35 seaports, "and I'm going to buy the most expensive ticket to the 29:39 furthest location that they sail to," which was Tarshish, 29:43 "in the opposite direction." 29:45 Nineveh was northeast from the town of Jonah. 29:54 And Jonah's town actually was just a little bit just 29:58 outside a ways inland from the Sea of Galilee near 30:01 the city of Nazareth. 30:04 And so he goes the opposite direction. 30:07 Nineveh, again, is northeast about 500 to 800 miles, 30:10 depending on how you travel and what route you take. 30:12 And Tarshish was 2,500 miles in the opposite direction. 30:18 And so we find here that Jonah obviously is not in agreement 30:21 with his Lord at this point, and so he makes the mistake of 30:26 deciding that his life would be much better off in Tarshish. 30:31 Now, I'm guessing that Jonah didn't have any personal 30:33 business that was pressing in Tarshish. 30:36 I'm guessing that Jonah didn't say, "Listen, Lord, I'd really 30:39 like to help you, but, you know, I've got this appointment. 30:41 You know I had this scheduled for a year now, and if I miss 30:43 it, I'm going to miss out on important business, and so I've 30:47 got to go to Tarshish." 30:49 The evidence just doesn't show that--no. 30:50 We find that, instead, he's fleeing from the presence 30:53 of the Lord, twice, it says in those verses that 30:58 that is the motivation. 30:59 That is why he's forking out so much money and is willing to 31:02 risk his life going across the Mediterranean for so many miles 31:05 that he might be able to escape from the presence of the Lord. 31:08 He's in rebellion. 31:11 He's in disagreement with his Lord. 31:14 And this whole story tells us a whole lot, but one of 31:18 the things that we want to be able to draw out and that the 31:20 quarterly draws out is this is evidence that, prophets 31:23 themselves, they have shortcomings. 31:25 They have character flaws. 31:26 They have times when they're not sure if God is as wise as they 31:30 claim that He believes He is. 31:33 And we're all guilty of that at times too, aren't we? 31:39 Every time that we decide, "Lord, I know that you're 31:41 telling me that this is the ideal and best way, 31:44 you know, I'm more convinced that this direction 31:45 is a little bit better." 31:48 We do that more often than maybe we're aware of or that we want 31:52 to confess, but we'd be able to learn from that. 31:55 And even as we look at Jonah, thank God that when, you know, 31:58 when we look at the story of Jonah, it tells us that, when 32:03 we're--when our hearts are sincere after God, when your 32:07 faith is real and authentic and you not only believe in the 32:11 existence of God, but you believe in God, you believe that 32:16 He loves you, that He cares for you, that He has your best 32:18 interest in mind, and you want Him to be your Lord, when you're 32:21 in that space, even when you have these different 32:23 shortcomings and disagreements with the Lord, God is patient 32:26 with us, is He not? 32:28 Thank God for that. 32:31 I'm sure Jonah thanked God for that for the rest of his life as 32:33 he looked back with shame at times and regret during this 32:36 experience that he had and the bitter experiences that he 32:39 didn't have to go through but he went through anyway and that God 32:41 brought into his life to be able to bring him back onto the 32:44 tracks and help him to be able to continue in that 32:48 faith walk with Jesus. 32:51 And so that's an important lesson for us to be able to 32:54 learn from this as well. 33:01 God sometimes asks us to do things that we're 33:02 not excited about. 33:06 Sometimes He asks us, and He says, "You know what? 33:08 I want you to go to an underdeveloped country, and I 33:10 want you to spend the next 10, 20, 30 years laboring for the 33:16 people in that foreign land." 33:18 Now, you don't know their language. 33:20 You're totally out of context when it comes to their culture. 33:24 The food, it's going to take you a while to get used to that food 33:28 because it is not American food. 33:30 It's foreign. 33:32 It's foreign to your taste buds. 33:33 It's foreign to your liking. 33:36 You know, my hat goes off to missionaries, amen? 33:39 You know, I did some short missionary trips. 33:42 I've been to some countries that aren't nearly as developed and 33:45 clean and sanitary as we are here in the United States. 33:49 And, you know, when I came back, I kissed the ground. 33:54 You know, when you are accustomed to the standard of 33:57 living here in this part of the world, it's a sacrifice. 34:02 It's a sacrifice on a personal level, on a comfort level, 34:06 to be able to live in a lot of these different 34:08 countries as a missionary. 34:10 So sometimes God calls us to go to places that we're not all 34:13 that excited about going to, you know, because we're not 34:17 going to stay at the resort. 34:20 You know, we're going there to mingle and live amongst the 34:23 people and experience their standard of living that we might 34:27 be able to bring them the good news and the story of Jesus and 34:30 the hope and the Gospel that comes in Christ. 34:34 So sometimes God asks us to do that we're not excited 34:36 about, just like Jonah. 34:38 Sometimes God asks us to address sins of those 34:40 in authority over us. 34:42 That's not a exciting thing to do. 34:44 I've never got up in the morning and go "Oh, boy, I'm so excited 34:46 to get to address the sins of my superiors," the ones that are my 34:50 bosses or my parents or, you know, whatever 34:53 authorities are in my life. 34:54 That's not a easy thing to do, but God sometimes calls us to do 34:58 things that we're not excited about. 35:01 God once called myself and my family in the ministry 35:03 to go to the far north. 35:05 Now, when I say, "the far north," we're talking 35:07 Alaska-like-type stuff, and I wasn't excited about it, 35:14 but as we looked at the circumstances and the providence 35:17 of God in our lives, we understood that, hey, that's-- 35:20 God has a work for us up there right now. 35:23 And so God sometimes calls us to faraway places that we're not 35:27 all that thrilled about, but God still has a purpose. 35:31 God still has a work for us in that place, and that's 35:34 where we find our peace. 35:36 Taking a pay cut to fulfill a calling in ministry, by some. 35:41 You know, I've heard from more than one person over the years, 35:43 more than one pastor, you know, that during the--you know, 35:46 they went into dental school. 35:47 The Lord had told them when they were in college years, 35:49 "I want you to be a pastor, I want you to be a pastor. 35:52 I've called you to be a pastor." 35:53 And they say, "I want to be a dentist, I want to be a dentist, 35:55 I want to be a dentist." 35:56 So they go into dentistry or to real estate, and there's all 35:58 kinds of different examples of different men that I've talked 36:01 to over the years, you know, and for sometimes 10, 20, 30 years, 36:05 they've been fighting that peace, that rest that God has 36:07 been calling to find in ministry and the talents that God had 36:10 called them to, until finally they gave in, and they said, 36:13 "Oh, Shawn, I tell you--" or the crowd that they're 36:15 talking to, the pastors will say, 36:17 "Once I gave in, I found this peace in my life because, 36:22 just like Jonah, I was running from the presence 36:24 of the Lord, the calling that He had given to me." 36:30 And so, just like Jonah, we sometimes might, at first, 36:32 believe that we can enjoy God's rest and peace while fleeing or 36:35 ignoring His call, but experience and the Scriptures 36:39 are telling us that we can't. 36:42 The same could apply to those who are trying to avoid God's 36:44 call to surrender to Him, to follow him. 36:47 You know, as an evangelist and as a pastor over the years, I've 36:50 been in the homes and my office with more than one person that 36:53 is wrestling inside, and they're wrestling with decisions. 36:56 They've been coming to an evangelistic series. 36:58 They've been going through Bible studies in person, in their 37:00 home, and in my office, and they know what the Lord has called 37:04 them to do, but they know, if they follow the Lord, if they 37:07 surrender to Him completely, if they give Him his full 37:10 obedience, they know that it's going to be-- 37:12 bring a storm in their life. 37:15 They know that, in order to be able to achieve that peace on 37:18 the inside, they're going to have to give up that peace 37:20 that's on the outside. 37:24 You see, the only way that we can find that peace on the 37:27 inside, that full rest in Christ, is to understand that 37:31 there's going to be storms that are going to be caused 37:32 by that on the outside. 37:34 But some of us make the mistake. 37:35 Some of us are convinced by the devil that we need to be able 37:38 to--that avoiding the peace of God on the inside is worth it in 37:43 order to keep the peace on the outside. 37:46 "My children will abandon me. 37:48 They will disown me if I stand for the Lord and 37:50 obey Him in all ways." 37:53 "My parents will never talk to me again." 37:57 "I'll lose my job. 37:58 My employer will never look at me the same, and 38:00 they'll never put up with it." 38:03 Whatever it is, friends, there are storms that come by 38:05 accepting the peace on the inside. 38:08 You know, there's two statements that seem 38:09 contradictory that Jesus made. 38:10 He says, "My peace I give to you. 38:13 My peace I leave to you. 38:15 Not as the world gives do I give to you." 38:17 Jesus offers us peace and rest in the heart, does He not? 38:21 But that same Savior, that same Christ also said during His same 38:25 ministry, He said, "Do not think that I have come 38:27 to bring peace, but a sword. 38:31 For I have come to set a mother against her daughter. 38:35 I have come to set a son against his mother-in-law. 38:38 I have come to set family members one 38:40 against another," why? 38:42 Because He knew that there was a peace that He offered on the 38:44 inside, but the price of accepting that peace, which is 38:47 full surrender and obedience to Jesus Christ, would bring a 38:50 storm on the outside. 38:56 And so, just like Jonah, we can find ourselves struggling 39:01 between those two worlds. 39:04 God says, "Choose Me." 39:07 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 39:10 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but 39:12 have everlasting life. 39:14 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the 39:17 world but that the world might be saved through Him." 39:19 Accept Christ in your heart. 39:21 Make that decision for Him, and there will be a peace that will 39:26 flood into your heart that far exceeds the peace that you're 39:30 trying to maintain on the outside. 39:35 So Jesus was not contradicting Himself, but rather, instead, we 39:39 find that Jesus is telling us that there's two peaces that we 39:42 have to choose from: the peace that we find in the world in 39:46 which we compromise our faith and obedience to Christ, or the 39:49 peace that we find in our heart, which is Jesus in the heart, at 39:52 the price of a storm on the outside. 39:56 Now, fortunately, God rarely has to resort to having us nearly 39:59 drowned and then be saved by a swallowing whale and then 40:02 vomited up on the seashore before we can find that peace. 40:09 Some of us have different versions of that. 40:11 God certainly had to cut me off at the knees before I'd ever 40:13 considered accepting Him into my heart. 40:17 And so, in my own way, in my own experience, I was almost drowned 40:19 and swallowed by a whale but in different circumstances. 40:24 Many of us have that story as well. 40:27 Well, the rest of chapter 1, goes on, and then 40:28 we read the last verse. 40:29 In verse 17, it says, "Now the Lord had prepared 40:32 a great fish to swallow Jonah. 40:34 And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three 40:36 days and three nights." 40:38 And so, of course, many of us are familiar with the story. 40:41 We've read the chapter of the quarterly. 40:43 Jonah finds himself on the ship to Tarshish. 40:46 God quickly brews up the storm, and the storm is 40:49 life-threatening, and the crew on board discover 40:53 that it's Jonah's fault. 40:54 Jonah confesses it's his fault. 40:56 He says, "Throw me into the sea." 40:58 Eventually, they thrown him into the sea, and the storm calms. 41:02 Again, God manipulating nature, so He's not just manipulating 41:06 nature through the whale in this story. 41:08 He's manipulating through the storm, through wind, rain, 41:13 clouds, lightning and, again, plants later on, a worm. 41:20 Yeah, God is the God of nature. 41:23 He lives above nature. 41:26 Now, Jonah had some pretty good reasons for not wanting to go to 41:29 preach to the Ninevites and possibly get them off the hook 41:31 in regards to Judgment Day. 41:33 He probably knew some Israelites that were perhaps flayed alive, 41:37 as the Assyrians were famous for doing. 41:40 You know, they would come in, and they would take some of its 41:42 different captives of war, and so on, and 41:45 they would skin you alive. 41:49 That procedure is extremely cruel and wicked. 41:54 Makes crucifixion look not too bad. 41:58 To be flayed alive, just like you fillet a fish. 42:01 You know, you pull the skin. 42:02 Just pull the skin back and expose all the muscles. 42:04 Now, you can't live without your skin. 42:06 Bacteria move in. Extremely painful. 42:09 All the nerve endings are exposed. 42:10 It's hard to think of a different work, more torturous, 42:14 cruel way to bring somebody to the end of their life. 42:18 And so I'm sure that Jonah had a mixture of fear as well as the 42:23 fact that he was looking forward to them--revenge, you know, when 42:27 God would finally bring on their heads the things that they 42:30 deserve, and he knew that, if he went up and preached--and many 42:33 of us have read the book. 42:35 Later, you know, at the end, he got mad at God, and he said, 42:37 "I knew this was going to happen. 42:38 I was going to go in there, and this is why I went to Tarshish 42:40 in the first place is because I know I was going to go in there. 42:43 I was going to preach repentance, 42:44 I was going to preach judgment upon them. 42:46 And if they decide to repent, I knew Your character, that You 42:49 are gracious and merciful and slow to anger and full of 42:52 lovingkindness and that You would relent from doing harm and 42:55 that You wouldn't bring upon their heads the thing that I 42:57 think that they should get. 43:01 Therefore, I didn't want to go in the first place." 43:05 And sure enough, Jonah goes in there. 43:08 He's been swallowed by a whale for three days. 43:10 You can read the prayer, his powerful prayer in chapter 2, 43:13 and in verse 10, it says, "So the Lord spoke to the fish. 43:15 It vomited Jonah out onto dry land." 43:19 Now, it's interesting. 43:21 You know, you can--and we need to close here now, but a sperm 43:24 whale has four chambers in it. 43:28 Now, it doesn't saw whether it's a whale or not, but a sperm 43:30 whale is probably the most likely fish that exists-- 43:32 species that can do that. 43:34 They swallow giant squid that is much larger than man, and the 43:39 first chamber doesn't have any gastric juices, no digestive 43:42 enzymes, but it's just there for the muscles to crush its prey, 43:46 so that's where they kill it and crush it. 43:48 Now, the second and the third and the fourth chamber have the 43:51 gastric juices, and so most likely it was a sperm whale, 43:55 biologically speaking, because God could've had him in there. 43:59 There's no gastric juices to be able to threaten his life and 44:02 start to decompose him or break him down, and then, on top of 44:05 that, we also find that, you know, God could've obviously 44:09 held back the muscles from crushing him and made sure that 44:13 a supply of oxygen was being supplied to him. 44:16 And now he's back on the shore. 44:18 He goes in, and he preaches, and he's successful, and there's a 44:22 conversion that takes place in the Ninevites. 44:24 They're born again, and God fulfills His purposes. 44:30 We don't have time to go into the further lessons that Jonah 44:36 learned as he was upset with God, as I just mentioned a 44:39 moment ago, because he needed to grow in his theology, in his 44:46 love, his compassion, not only for the neighbors that he liked, 44:48 you know, like Jesus said. 44:50 It's like, it's easy to invite people over that you love and 44:52 know and appreciate and enjoy. 44:54 He says it's when you invite the people that aren't desirable 44:57 into your home for a meal--that's what makes a 44:59 Christian, He says. 45:01 That's the difference between a Christian and an unbeliever. 45:04 And Nineveh--or not Nineveh, but Jonah needed to learn that and 45:08 consider the Ninevites. 45:09 You know, he didn't like the Ninevites. 45:12 He probably hated the Ninevites. 45:13 Couldn't wait till Judgement Day for the Ninevites, but God says, 45:17 "Listen, I love the Ninevites just as much as I love you, and 45:21 they're My children too, and, yes, they're misbehaving. 45:23 They don't know their right hand from their left. 45:25 They don't have the Scriptures and the oracles and the Ten 45:27 Commandments like you do, but I want you to bring it to them and 45:31 give them a chance." 45:33 And they took advantage of that chance, and it delayed the 45:36 judgment that God sadly had to eventually bring on the 45:38 Assyrians just like they did on Jonah's nation and other nations 45:41 as God sadly continues to have to do. 45:44 Well, that's our study for today; thank you for joining us. 45:47 Please don't forget to take advantage of our free gift offer 45:50 which is "The Sign of Jonah," written by Pastor Doug 45:52 Batchelor, and you just have to simply dial in to 45:55 1-866-788-3966, and you can receive this if you're in the 46:00 Continental USA or Canada, and there's also a digital copy 46:04 that's available for you, and you can text the code "SH1447"-- 46:10 or 147, I should say, and you want to text that 46:13 to the number 40544. 46:17 Again, God bless you. Thank you for joining us. 46:19 We look forward to seeing you next week. 46:24 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 46:26 life-changing free resource. 46:27 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 46:30 you can download a digital copy straight to your 46:31 computer or mobile device. 46:33 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 46:37 the key word on your screen to 40544, or visit the web address 46:42 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the digital 46:45 download option on the request page. 46:47 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 46:50 Amazing Facts, wherever and whenever you want and, most 46:53 important, to share it with others. 47:00 ♪♪♪ 47:06 Nick: I was very hyperactive, ADHD. 47:09 My mom had to medicate me just to get through the day because I 47:12 was just super-aggressive and just nuts and got into a lot of 47:17 trouble, was an alcoholic from at least 12 years old on, 47:23 just a problem child, constantly in trouble in school. 47:27 I got into high school, I got into a lot of fights, and my 47:29 parents and I both decided that joining the Air Force 47:32 would be my best choice to keep me out of trouble. 47:35 I actually had to go through basic training twice 'cause I 47:38 was--I needed a attitude adjustment. 47:41 After I finally got out there in Texas, went to another 47:44 place in Texas for my training. 47:46 After there, I got my first duty station which was Germany, and 47:49 when I got there, I got in with the worst of the worst crowd. 47:52 So I thought my high school friends were bad? 47:54 Well, these guys were really, really bad. 47:56 Took me under their wing, and I was their protégé, 47:59 if you could say. 48:01 We drank, and we partied really hard over there. 48:05 After about a year and a half of being in Germany and just 48:07 partying like a rock star, life wasn't really that fulfilling. 48:11 I mean, I was having a great time on the outside, but inside, 48:15 I knew something was dying. 48:17 Something was wrong. 48:18 One night, I was flicking through my channels in my dorm, 48:22 and I got to this channel. 48:23 I still remember it, it was Channel 82, 48:25 and it was just crystal clear, and I didn't 48:27 have any channels that were crystal clear. 48:28 I'd never seen it before. 48:30 There was this guy, this preacher, and I was just about 48:33 to change it 'cause I didn't really want to hear anything 48:35 about religion, and he said the word "Antichrist." 48:38 He was taking his Bible, and he was comparing things with 48:40 history, and I thought that was really interesting, and I never 48:44 actually studied my Bible before. 48:46 I was embarrassed of Christianity back then. 48:48 So I would sneak back to work after hours. 48:51 I'd ride my bike back to work where they had a computer, and I 48:54 would get online, and without anybody being able to see, you 48:57 know, I would get online and start doing this Bible research 48:59 on this Amazing Facts site, and I went through their online 49:02 Bible school, and I learned so much, and I came to a 49:06 point of a crisis, I guess. 49:09 I'm learning these awesome biblical truths right now, yet 49:13 they contradict what I was taught growing up. 49:17 And there was one thing that I heard through all these 49:20 prophecies series that I was watching that just kind of stuck 49:23 with me, and that was Rome is the city of seven hills, and 49:26 that's where the beast sits. 49:27 So I said, "Well, I'm going to go test this one out." 49:31 So I ditched my drinking buddies for a long weekend. 49:34 We had a four-day weekend coming up, and I flew down to Rome, and 49:37 I was specifically looking for the city of seven hills. 49:41 And I thought there would be seven great 49:42 big mountains, you know? 49:44 So I'm coming into Rome, and I'm looking out the window, and, 49:48 like, Rome is as flat as a pancake. 49:50 So I'm like, "These guys are liars, dude. 49:51 I've been duped." 49:53 And I finally--I get on a double-decker tour bus as soon 49:56 as I get in there, and I put the headphones in, hit the English 49:59 button, and it says, oh, "Welcome to Rome, the city of 50:02 seven hills," and I'm like, "What in the world? 50:03 Okay, so that's true. Wow, it's awesome." 50:05 They've never lied to me. 50:07 Everything they've said was true, straight from the Bible. 50:09 So I was like, "Hey, I want to get baptized." 50:11 So then, July of 2005, right after I turned 21--and I was 50:15 always excited about turning 21 because I could finally go to 50:18 the bars, but by that time, I was done with it, you know? 50:21 I had stopped, and I said, "I'm going to get baptized." 50:23 So July 2005, I got baptized. 50:28 My name is Nick. 50:29 I want to thank you for changing my life. 50:32 ♪♪♪ 50:45 Raúl: So I was born in a small Christian family, grew up 50:49 in Puerto Rico, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 50:51 My dad was a pastor of our churches there. 50:54 After I graduated from high school, I was so excited. 50:58 You know, I just wanted to leave the house and see 51:00 the world, if you will. 51:03 Came up to the States. 51:04 Went to school in Texas and went to a Christian College there. 51:08 I rebelled against the Christian concept that I became an 51:13 agnostic, 16, 17 years after I had left the church. 51:18 I had three roommates, and we were living the life, you know, 51:22 back then, you know, doing deals with drugs and selling drugs and 51:26 all that kind of stuff. 51:29 The police came over, and they raided the apartment. 51:33 They took my three friends to jail. 51:36 When I found out, it shook me. 51:40 I should have been there too. 51:41 ♪♪♪ 51:46 Raúl: I reached out to God, and I said, "Lord, if You exist, 51:50 get me out of this situation, and I'll go back to Your ways." 51:56 Right around that time, I met this awesome young lady. 52:00 She was a Christian. 52:02 After dating for about a year and a half, someone came to our 52:06 church to give a series of prophecy seminars. 52:10 I decided to re-baptize, make it a fact that I was coming back 52:15 to church, that I was giving my life back to God. 52:19 Amazing Facts became an important part of my life: 52:21 sermons, Sabbath School lessons, DVDs, videos, magazines, and 52:28 especially after looking and watching Pastor Doug Batchelor, 52:33 listening to his experience, has really made a difference in my 52:37 life to the point where I am right now a 52:40 totally different individual. 52:43 It's something that I am so grateful to have experienced. 52:48 I would recommend anyone that wants to give God a chance in 52:54 their life, you'll never be sorry that you did. 52:58 He loves you. 52:59 He understands you. 53:01 He wants you to be happy. 53:04 My name is Raúl, and thank you for changing my life. 53:08 ♪♪♪ 53:21 announcer: "Amazing Facts Changed Lives." 53:30 male: I'd have to say that I had a wonderful childhood 53:32 growing up. 53:33 I went to a private school up until the seventh grade, till 53:36 junior high. 53:38 I believe it was at that point in junior high that my life 53:41 began to change. 53:43 Going from a Christian education into a public school was a 53:46 big difference. 53:48 There was a lot of secular influence, peer pressure. 53:54 And for me it was the music. 53:56 I started listening to heavy metal music. 53:58 Every concert that would come to town, I was there. 54:01 That had a profound effect on me. 54:03 I started using marijuana, probably at the age of 14. 54:09 I started drinking, using a lot of cocaine, and that led to 54:13 methamphetamine, and that completely changed my life. 54:16 I dropped out of high school my sophomore year and went to work. 54:22 I would get off of work, and we'd go into the bar until 54:26 two o'clock in the morning. 54:27 I'd get back up at five and I'd go back through it again six, 54:30 seven days a week. 54:34 At the age of 20, I lost my dad to a heart attack. 54:40 I didn't know how to handle the loss, so I tried to mask my pain 54:43 with alcohol and drugs. 54:46 I got three DUI's in one year. 54:48 I was arrested, and they gave me a year in the county jail. 54:52 And the moment I got out, I went back to doing the same thing, 54:56 hanging with the same people, the same crowd. 54:59 I was involved in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident, and I was 55:02 charged with a felony DUI. 55:05 Even though at the time of the accident, I was not under the 55:07 influence, I still had methamphetamine in my system. 55:10 At my sentencing date, I left the courtroom, and I didn't come 55:14 back, and that left me with a felony warrant. 55:18 And I'd fallen asleep at a park, and I woke up to a park ranger 55:23 knocking on my window. 55:26 I knew I was wanted, and I knew that I was not going to just 55:29 turn myself in. 55:32 I turned to him and I'd made the comment, "Not today," and I 55:34 took off. 55:36 I led five different agencies on about a 35-minute chase, and I 55:41 realized at that point that I wasn't going to get away and 55:44 that this was going to end up either me killing somebody 55:46 or myself. 55:49 And so, I made a decision to pull over. 55:52 At that point, everything that I had, I lost. 55:55 I was sentenced to two years in state prison and it was there 55:59 that God got a hold of me and it was through Amazing 56:05 Facts Ministries. 56:08 I remember listening on my radio Pastor Doug Batchelor. 56:12 I wanted to get to know the Bible. 56:13 I wanted to know God. 56:15 And so, my Aunt Marilyn sent me the Amazing Fact study guides, 56:21 and it was there that my relationship with Christ began. 56:27 I had called home and I knew my mother wasn't doing well, but I 56:33 didn't realize that she had cancer. 56:37 She had about a 30% chance of making it through her surgery. 56:44 She had told the doctors that she was not going to have chemo, 56:47 and she was not going to have radiation, that if her God was 56:49 going to save her, then He would save her. 56:52 I remember hanging up the phone to what I thought was my last 56:55 conversation with my mom. 56:59 I turned around, I got down on my knees, and I prayed to God. 57:04 I said, "God, if you're there, please save my mother, and 57:08 wherever You lead me in life, whatever You want me to do, I 57:12 am Yours." 57:14 And I had a feeling of such peace that I knew that my mother 57:19 was going to be okay and that my life was going to change. 57:24 There are no words that I can adequately express to Amazing 57:28 Facts and to Pastor Doug to say thank you. 57:31 To all those people who support the ministry, I am a product of 57:34 your support. 57:36 My life has changed because of this ministry, and I 57:40 thank you from the bottom of my heart. 57:45 ♪♪♪ 57:55 ♪♪♪ 58:05 ♪♪♪ 58:15 ♪♪♪ 58:23 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-09-10