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00:06 ♪♪♪ 00:16 ♪♪♪ 00:26 ♪♪♪ 00:36 Shawn Brummund: Hello, and welcome to another edition of 00:38 the "Sabbath School Study Hour." 00:40 It is so good to be able to have you join us here as we come 00:42 together over the next hour. 00:44 We open the Word of God, and we continue to study a new book 00:47 that we just started studying in the Word, 00:49 which is entitled the book of Deuteronomy, 00:52 which is written by none other than one of the most famous 00:55 prophets, Moses himself, so if you joined 00:57 us last week, welcome back. 00:59 For those of you who are joining us for the very first time, 01:01 it's nice to be able to have you join in with us. 01:03 We know that, if you do stay with us, 01:05 that you will be blessed, that your knowledge of the Word will 01:07 increase, and that your faith can increase as well. 01:11 So a special welcome to all our online members, 01:14 to those who are watching on the various networks as well as 01:17 online, and of course, we always are thankful for our 01:21 local church family here in the Granite Bay Hilltop Seventh-day 01:24 Adventist Church in the greater area of Sacramento, 01:27 California, and again, it is always nice to be able 01:30 to join our family with the international family that also 01:34 is with us together. 01:36 We're studying our new quarterly, 01:39 which is "Present Truth in Deuteronomy," and if you haven't 01:42 gotten a copy of this yet, make sure that you ask your local 01:44 church for a copy of this even if you're not a church member. 01:49 Very rare to find a Seventh-day Adventist Church locally that 01:51 doesn't have a couple extra copies of these that they have 01:54 ordered just with you in mind that, 01:56 if you're interested in studying and getting to know this book 01:59 called Deuteronomy, that much better, 02:01 this is your opportunity to be able to get one. 02:03 Just go ahead and visit 02:04 your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. 02:07 You could also get an electronic version of that as well if you 02:09 just do a search on the Amazing Facts website, 02:12 which is AmazingFacts.org, so go ahead and take advantage of that 02:17 if you'd like your digital copy. 02:19 Also, I want to make sure that you know about our free gift 02:24 offer, which is "Riches of Grace" written by Pastor Joe 02:27 Crews, and if you would like a copy of this particular booklet 02:31 and learn more about the riches of God's grace-- 02:33 what does that mean? 02:35 What is God's grace, and why is it so valuable to us as human 02:38 beings and believers? 02:40 And so you can go ahead and dial the number 866-788-3966, 02:46 and go ahead and ask for free Offer Number 152. 02:51 That'll make it that much easier for the agents 02:52 that will be answering those lines. 02:54 So that's available in North America 02:55 and the U.S. territories. 02:57 We're happy to be able to bring that to you. 03:00 And if you'd like a digital download of that on your phone, 03:03 you can go ahead and text the code "SH056," and you want to be 03:09 able to text that to the number 40544. 03:15 And again, that's available if you are in the United States or 03:18 its different territories. 03:21 And again, as you can see on the screen, 03:22 there is also a website there that you can get a free digital 03:25 download on the Amazing Facts website. 03:28 So we want to make these resources as available 03:30 to you as much as possible that you can continue to grow even 03:33 outside of watching the "Sabbath School Study Hour." 03:36 I want to invite you to pray. 03:37 Father in heaven, we want to thank You for this opportunity 03:41 to be able to come together, to be able to open Your Bible. 03:44 We thank You for the privilege of knowing that You can give us 03:47 Your Holy Spirit when we ask. 03:50 We want to pray that Your Holy Spirit will be upon us, 03:52 that You will speak to each and every one of us that's in the 03:55 Granite Bay Hilltop Church, as well as those who are joining us 03:58 online and on the various networks. 04:01 I want to pray, God, that You will fulfill Your purposes in us 04:04 as Your Word comes to our hearts as well as to our minds. 04:08 Help us to embrace the truth, to run with it, and to be blessed. 04:12 And so we want to pray it in Jesus's name, amen. 04:17 Luccas Rodor: Happy Sabbath. 04:20 It's so good to see you all, to be at church. 04:23 It is so good to open God's Word. 04:25 I am super excited for our lesson today. 04:29 I believe Pastor Doug said last Sabbath that the book of 04:32 Deuteronomy is his favorite book in the Old Testament, 04:35 and it's definitely up there in one of my favorites also. 04:40 There's so much to learn, you know? 04:42 In the book of Deuteronomy, there's so much for you to 04:44 understand, so much to--so many details. 04:46 I really like the details of the biblical text. 04:49 So I'm just so excited for the whole lesson and excited to 04:53 share this morning with you here that are present, 04:55 also those that are watching from home. 04:57 May God be with you and bless you as we open up the Word this 05:00 morning and study from this week's lesson. 05:03 The title of this week's lesson is "Moses's--" 05:06 or "Moses' History Lesson." 05:08 And I like history. 05:10 As a kid, growing up, one of the subjects 05:12 that I liked the most was history. 05:15 Problem with that was that I was born here in the U.S., 05:18 and my father is a pastor, and so we moved around quite a bit. 05:23 In our case though, we moved-- 05:24 we moved around in the states for a little bit, 05:26 then moved up to Canada for a while, 05:28 and so the school system kind of changes, 05:30 you know, from when you move from one country to the other, 05:34 but it was still pretty similar once we got there, 05:38 because I was still speaking English. 05:41 So at least I have the language going for me. 05:42 And then we moved to Brazil, and things just got a whole much 05:44 worse because there, the whole system changes, 05:47 and they kind of change their emphasis a little bit. 05:51 It was really interesting. 05:52 But I've always loved history, learning about world history, 05:57 Bible history, the national history 05:59 of the country where you're at. 06:00 It's always been fascinating to me. 06:02 And so here, just learning about the different steps 06:04 and the different things that the children of Israel 06:07 were going through, especially here in this lesson, 06:09 "Moses' History Lesson," it was quite-- 06:13 I enjoyed it a lot this week, 06:15 just going through the different aspects. 06:17 Now, I think that one of the most important things 06:18 as we dive into this lesson is to understand about--and one 06:23 of those important things that we have to understand 06:24 about the Bible is that all of it revolves around one crucial, 06:30 one central person, which is--who? 06:34 Jesus Christ. 06:36 Without Jesus, taking Him out of the picture, 06:38 everything else stops making sense, 06:41 and that's why you'll have books and encyclopedias 06:43 and commentaries today from different religions, 06:46 different denominations, but when you find that the focus 06:50 is not on Jesus, well something's missing. 06:53 Something's wrong. 06:54 It's like you don't have the central structure, 06:57 the crux of the topic. 06:59 And so, really, Jesus is the lens. 07:02 He's the filter by which you understand the entire Bible 07:05 and the book of Deuteronomy. 07:09 And so I find that that's just one of the main things 07:11 that we have to focus on here. 07:13 The lesson tells us this. 07:14 It says--this is in "Sabbath Afternoon's" lesson. 07:17 It says, "For He--" 07:18 speaking about Jesus--"He is the one who created us. 07:22 He is the one who sustains us and redeems us." 07:24 And in a looser sense of those words, 07:27 Deuteronomy reveals how the Lord continued to create, 07:30 sustain, and redeem His people at this crucial 07:34 time in salvation history. 07:37 And so here what we see is that, as the children of Israel end 07:40 that 40-year exodus--all of us are going through 07:43 an exodus in life, friends. 07:45 All of us are going through an exodus. 07:47 Life on this planet is an exodus, 07:49 and as the children of Israel, they ended their exodus 07:52 through the desert, right? 07:54 After those 40 years, Moses needed to remind them exactly 07:58 of this, of this reality that everything that they had, 08:02 that everything that they were, that everything that they hoped 08:04 to be came from God and God alone. 08:08 It didn't come from their strength, 08:09 it didn't come from their might, 08:11 it didn't come from their numbers. 08:13 It came from God. 08:14 And this was a lesson that was drilled into them throughout 08:17 their time in the desert. 08:18 I mean, think about it: They had a cloud by day to protect them 08:22 from the sun. 08:23 They had a cloud of fire by night to give them warmth. 08:26 Their food came from--Who? Their food from came from God. 08:30 Their clothes were maintained. Their shoes were maintained. 08:33 They were entirely maintained by God. 08:36 And you'll see that they still had a hard time 08:38 understanding this after 40 years, and, you know, 08:42 they still had a hard time. 08:43 One of the most exciting times, in my opinion, 08:45 in biblical narrative, is the end of these 40 years, 08:49 as this generation of people who had only known God 08:52 as their main provider-- they had only known God. 08:54 They knew no other reality, and now they enter Canaan. 08:58 They crossed the Jordan in this miraculous way. 09:01 There were some of them that, you know, 09:02 most of them, that had been born in the desert. 09:04 Actually, we only have two of them that actually went through 09:08 the whole exodus from Egypt, the plagues, 09:09 and all that stuff, that enter Canaan. 09:12 Everyone else, they had only heard about these things, 09:15 and now they see the Jordan opening up in the same way. 09:18 So that's not really the topic here, 09:20 but I just find it exciting that you have this generation 09:23 of people, and now Moses that will himself not enter Canaan, 09:27 he starts speaking to them. 09:29 And that's what Deuteronomy is. 09:30 Deuteronomy is that instruction, that final instruction coming 09:34 from the parent, coming from Moses, 09:35 telling them what to remember and what not to get involved in. 09:40 Friends, this is a principle that must stay in our minds 09:43 today during our exodus also. 09:46 If we keep in mind how far the Lord has brought us, 09:49 what he's done for us, how he has provided and sustained 09:52 us--and I'm sure that everyone that is here right now, 09:54 everyone that is watching at home, 09:55 you know this: There are moments in your life that you can only 09:59 describe as miraculous, moments where you can only say, 10:02 "It was God." 10:04 There's no other explanation. 10:05 There's no other way. It had to be God. 10:08 And that confidence of what God has done in the past, 10:12 well, that's a motivating force for the future. 10:15 Ellen White, in the book "Life Sketches," she says, 10:18 "In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step 10:21 of advance to our present standing, 10:23 I am filled with astonishment and with confidence 10:26 in Christ as leader. 10:27 We have nothing to fear for the future, 10:30 except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, 10:32 and His teaching in our past history." 10:35 So this is what we truly need to remember here in this lesson. 10:39 Now, you might notice that, throughout the lesson, 10:41 I'll be rushing a little bit because I do want 10:44 to get to Thursday's lesson. 10:46 Thursday's lesson is one of the biggest, 10:49 hardest questions--or doubts, to understand one of the biggest 10:54 questionings in biblical narrative, 10:56 and I do want to get to that topic of Thursday. 10:59 So we might rush a few of the other days, 11:01 but I'm going to try to get through all of it. 11:03 On Sunday, you have a topic of "The Ministry of Moses." 11:07 Now, it's very difficult for you to disassociate 11:09 the influence of Moses from the Bible. 11:11 He is everywhere. 11:13 You see this man everywhere in Scripture, right? 11:16 That's how important Moses was. 11:18 After all, he's at the very foundation and core 11:21 of our understanding of the biblical logic. 11:23 How do we understand-- look, every religion, 11:26 friends, has three crucial motives, all right? 11:30 Has three crucial underlaying, foundational cornerstones, 11:36 every religion. 11:37 Otherwise, it's not really a religion. 11:40 You'll find some religions that emphasize a little bit more 11:43 or a little bit less, depending on, you know, 11:45 on where they're coming from, but every religion has three 11:48 cornerstones, which is origin, the origin of the world, 11:51 the cosmos vision, right? 11:53 How they see everything-- right?--the origin, 11:58 or the Creation theology; the purpose, 12:01 what are they doing here, what are they here for; 12:03 and the destination. 12:04 Where are they going? What's the endgame, right? 12:07 So you'll find that in Buddhism and Hinduism, 12:09 you'll find that in philosophical religions or such 12:14 as evolution, you'll find them trying to explain or are trying 12:18 to describe their understanding of origin, 12:21 purpose, and destination. 12:23 In Christianity, you find that, also, 12:25 when we find all three already presented in the first book of 12:30 the Bible, in the first 11 chapters, 12:32 really, you'll see the whole-- these foundational cornerstones, 12:36 and the rest of the Bible kind of builds on that. 12:37 But who wrote this? Where do we get this from? 12:40 From Moses. 12:41 Moses is intertwined into the very fabric of the Bible. 12:46 All that comes from the human instrument Moses. 12:48 And even though Moses is--he is the author, 12:52 he's the human author here of these six books of the Bible, 12:55 Genesis through Deuteronomy, and then the book of Job, 12:58 we can forget that he was also so much more. 13:00 Moses wasn't only an author. 13:02 Actually, he became an author, I believe, 13:04 later on in his life. 13:06 He wasn't an author only, but he was very--he was an exceptional 13:10 leader, and we find that in Scripture. 13:13 Perhaps one of the best glimpses of this reality that we find 13:16 is in Exodus chapter 32, verse 29 through 32. 13:19 Look at what it says. Exodus, 29 through 32. 13:25 It says, "Then Moses said, 'Consecrate yourselves today--" 13:29 this is in the context of the golden-calf situation, 13:32 all that thing that happened. 13:34 We're going to talk a little bit more about it, 13:36 but it says, "Then Moses said, 'Consecrate yourselves today 13:39 to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, 13:43 for every man has opposed his son and his brother.' 13:46 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the 13:48 people, 'You have committed a great sin. 13:50 So now I will go up to the Lord. 13:52 Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.' 13:54 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, 13:56 'Oh, these people have committed a great sin, 13:58 and have made for themselves a god of gold. 14:00 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, 14:05 I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.'" 14:08 Friends, this text is so rich with details. 14:10 There's so much going on here that we could have an entire 14:13 week just talking about these few verses. 14:15 We really could. 14:16 But we just don't have that time right now. 14:19 The context, as I said before, is the golden-calf incident. 14:22 The children of Israel had left Egypt. 14:24 The Lord had delivered them through a mighty hand, 14:27 the ten plagues, we see the opening of the Red Sea, 14:30 and then, at this moment, only three months later, 14:34 three months later, three months after seeing the plagues, 14:38 three months after seeing the Red Sea open, 14:40 three months after--you know, 14:42 they were already having their manna. 14:44 After three months-- that's it-- 14:46 they fall into this horrible moment, 14:49 this horrible, terrible sin. 14:51 And we're going to talk a little bit more about 14:54 what they actually did, on Thursday. 14:57 But at this moment, God comes to Moses. 14:59 He appears to Moses, and He says, 15:00 "I'm going to destroy them, and I'm going to make you 15:03 into a big, a huge, an entire nation." 15:06 And so one of the questions that emerges from this is "Why? 15:11 Why is God acting this way? Why is He reacting this way?" 15:13 I mean, no doubt, sin is horrible, 15:15 sin is terrible, and they have just committed a grave sin, 15:18 but didn't God already know about it? 15:21 Isn't God omniscient? 15:23 Why does He react this way? 15:24 It seems, in a very superficial reading of the text, 15:29 it seems as though God is this, you know, 15:31 childlike, temper-tantrumist being that just gets angry, 15:36 loses his temper, and it's up to Moses to, 15:38 kind of, hold the reins on this all-powerful, 15:41 tiny little child, crying out and kicking around in a temper 15:44 tantrum, "I'm going to destroy them. 15:45 I'm going to kill them." 15:47 And the question that emerges is "Is that really who God is? 15:51 And it's up to Moses, the human, fallible figure to, 15:54 kind of, rein him in?" 15:56 After everything that happened in Egypt, 15:57 all of the plagues, everything that God had done, 16:00 all of the powerful wonders that God did, 16:02 is this how it should end, to then, 16:04 here at this moment, just wipe them out in Kadesh Barnea? 16:10 Friends, something that we need to understand-- 16:12 and this is very important. 16:13 If you don't understand this in the biblical text, 16:15 you're going to miss out on a lot. 16:17 One thing that you need to understand is God 16:21 is not that volatile. 16:24 God's wrath in Scripture is not an explosion 16:28 of passionate emotion. 16:33 It's not. 16:35 And we might be tempted to think it that way by reading the text, 16:39 but God's wrath in Scripture is not an explosion of emotion, 16:43 a passionate explosion of emotion. 16:45 He's not losing His temper. 16:49 It is the result of His holy character. 16:52 That is God's wrath in the Bible. 16:54 It's a result of His holy character. 16:56 Now, this will get a little bit technical, 16:58 but I really want you to understand this. 17:00 God's wrath in the Bible is not "affectus." 17:04 It's "effectus." These are two Latin words. 17:06 And "affectus*" means that it is not affected 17:09 by passion or by emotion. 17:12 "Affectus," it denotes passion. 17:14 "Effectus*" denotes the effect. 17:17 There is a technical effect. 17:19 God's passion or God's emotion in Scripture, 17:22 it's not effected by this explosion of wrath. 17:25 It is an effect of His holy character. 17:27 It's an effect of His attribute of holiness. 17:32 It's an effect of who He is. 17:34 It's a result of who He is. 17:36 God's wrath, again, is not affectus, or passionate. 17:39 It's effectus. 17:40 It's a result of His holy character. 17:43 God's wrath is holy because it is entirely exempt from sin. 17:48 So why does God say the things that He says to Moses, then? 17:50 Why does God explode, or apparently explode, 17:53 saying, "I'm going to destroy them. 17:55 These people are stiff-necked people." 17:57 Why does God react this way? 17:58 You know why? 18:00 It's for Moses's benefit. 18:02 Do you remember in the beginning of the story 18:04 when God calls Moses? 18:06 How does Moses react? Is he excited to go? 18:09 Does Moses want to go? Does he? 18:13 No, Moses does not--he absolutely doesn't want to go. 18:21 Moses comes up with some very good excuses. 18:23 Moses was very good at making excuses. 18:26 He comes up with some very good excuses, 18:29 justifying why he shouldn't go, and we're going to talk a little 18:31 bit more about that later. 18:32 But here, in this moment, we find Moses, 18:35 the same one that was reluctant to go, 18:37 the one that did not want to go, we find Moses, 18:39 the one who had come up with all the excuses not to become the 18:43 great leader that he became to this multitude of millions of 18:45 people, here we find him doing exactly what, 18:48 if you had told him that he would be doing this, 18:50 months before, he would've called you nuts, crazy. 18:53 "Me? Interceding for them? 18:58 I'm out of it. Don't count me in." 19:01 But here, Moses, he is acknowledging how much he cares 19:04 for these people, how much he is invested in their future. 19:09 And so God, through His dealing with Moses in this situation 19:12 here of the golden calf, God is teaching Moses that he cares, 19:17 that he loves, that he is invested in these people. 19:19 Moses realizes, "Ha, I do care. 19:24 I care so much that, Lord, if you don't forgive them, 19:26 then take my name out of the book." 19:28 That's a lot of love, isn't it? 19:30 For how many people--for who would you be capable 19:32 of saying that to? 19:35 Moses, friends, is a type for Jesus. 19:37 We find a very clear representation right here, 19:40 an example of what "substitution" means. 19:44 In "Patriarchs and Prophets," page 330, 19:47 it says, "While Moses was on the mount, 19:49 God presented to him, not only the tables of the law, 19:52 but also the plan of salvation. 19:54 He saw that the sacrifice of Christ was pre-figured 19:57 by all the types and symbols of the Jewish age, 19:59 and it was the heavenly light streaming from Calvary, 20:02 no less than the glory of the law of God, 20:04 that shed such a radiance upon the face of Moses. 20:07 The divine illumination symbolized the glory of the 20:11 dispensation of which Moses was the visible mediator, 20:14 a representative of the one true intercessor." 20:16 And so in this situation, in the story, 20:19 we see that Moses, he prefigures, 20:21 he's a type for Christ. 20:26 Now, the people didn't need Moses to substitute them. 20:30 As Moses offered, he said, 20:31 "Look, Lord, just take my name out if you can't forgive them." 20:34 The people needed Jesus. 20:36 They needed the future Messiah, the Holy One of Israel 20:39 that would redeem them from their sin. 20:42 But one thing that I want you to understand is that God is not 20:44 this passionate, petty, emotional, 20:47 childlike, temper-tantrumist being that is just kicking and 20:51 exploding with wrath. 20:53 God doesn't lose His temper that way, friends. 20:54 God doesn't experience emotion 20:56 as we humans do or as we expect Him to. 20:59 God is way beyond us. 21:01 He way surpasses us. 21:04 Monday's lesson, "Fulfilled Prophecy," one of the great 21:07 biblical lessons, one of the great biblical topics that we 21:09 find in Scripture, in the Bible, and that is exemplified through 21:14 the story of Moses, here in the book of Deuteronomy, 21:16 is that Jehovah is a God of prophecy. 21:19 He is a God that, while He is outside of time, 21:22 in the sense in which He created time, 21:24 He also includes Himself in time in the sense 21:27 where He interacts with creatures of time. 21:29 And so Jehovah, Yahweh, here in this book of prophecy, 21:33 He reveals prophecy. 21:35 He reveals what is going to happen in the future. 21:37 One of the best examples of this is in Amos chapter 3, 21:41 verse 7, where we read, "Surely the Lord God does nothing, 21:44 unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." 21:47 Friends, our God is a Teacher-God. 21:50 Among the attributes of God, He is omnipotent. 21:52 He is omniscient. He is all-powerful. 21:55 Among these great qualities and attributes of God is one 21:59 of His great attributes which is He is transparent. 22:03 He is a Teacher-God. 22:04 He wants us to understand His process. 22:06 Couldn't God have gone like this and created the world and the 22:08 cosmos and the universe? 22:10 Couldn't He have just snapped His fingers, 22:11 and everything was ready, everything was already made and 22:14 planned and in place? 22:16 Of course, He could, but He didn't. 22:20 He went through a process. 22:23 He created the light. 22:26 Before, in some time of the universal history, 22:29 He had created the waters that were there already, 22:33 and then He creates light, 22:34 and then He divides the day and the night. 22:37 And then He creates atmosphere, and He divides the waters, 22:40 and then He creates the dry land and the vegetation, 22:43 and He creates--do you see that each step of the week of 22:46 Creation had to have happened the way it was? 22:48 God is a Teacher-God. 22:49 He wants us to understand His process. 22:52 Prophecy is God allowing us to understand His process. 22:56 He is telling us before it happens so, 22:58 when it happens, we might understand that He hasn't lost 23:02 control, that He is doing exactly what He had planned 23:06 in spite of the curveballs 23:08 and despite of the detours that happen. 23:12 God is always in control. 23:15 The example provided here in the lesson is the example 23:17 of the 40 years that they would spend in the desert, right? 23:21 Numbers chapter 14:34, says, "According to the number 23:24 of the days in which you spied out the land, 23:26 40 days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, 23:31 namely 40 years, and you shall know My rejection." 23:34 This is one of the texts that we use to understand that, 23:37 in prophecy, one day equals one year. 23:40 This is one of those texts. 23:42 And so, here, we see God using prophecy to explain 23:46 what is going to happen and what the people could expect. 23:49 Guys, friends, God has not left us alone. 23:53 God has not abandoned us to be wandering about without an idea, 23:57 without an inkling of an idea of what's happening in our world. 24:01 God has not abandoned us. 24:02 The lesson here is telling us, it's affirming to us that, 24:06 when God says that something's going to happen, 24:08 you can take it to the bank it's going to happen. 24:11 Of course, there's the reality of conditional and unconditional 24:14 sins--prophecy, sorry-- 24:16 conditional and unconditional prophecies. 24:18 For example, Jonah going to Nineveh and telling them that 24:21 they will be destroyed if they don't turn from their evil 24:23 ways--conditional or unconditional? 24:28 Conditional. 24:29 They turned from their evil ways, 24:31 and they were forgiven. 24:32 They weren't destroyed. 24:33 The Second Coming of Jesus, conditional or unconditional? 24:37 Unconditional. Jesus will come. 24:40 Want you or don't want you, rain or shine, 24:43 Jesus will come. Unconditional. 24:47 But the lesson is teaching us that, 24:48 when God said or says that something will happen, 24:51 it will happen. 24:53 And we see multiple applications of this truth 24:55 throughout the Scripture. 24:56 We find, you know, texts that are very central to our identity 25:01 as Seventh-day Adventists. 25:03 We find Daniel chapter 8, the 2,300 years. 25:06 Daniel chapter 9, the 70 weeks. 25:08 We find in the New Testament the prophecies of Revelation chapter 25:11 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. 25:13 Chapter 10, that describes the whole situation happening 25:17 with the Millerite movement. 25:18 Everything that happens tied to Daniel chapter 8, 25:20 verse 14, and Daniel chapter 9, verse 24 and 25, 25:23 you see that revelation is in God's character 25:26 because He's telling us what will happen. 25:28 These are great examples throughout the Bible of God 25:31 revealing that He is a Teacher-God, 25:33 that He is in control, that things might seem out of place, 25:36 but He knows exactly what is happening, 25:38 and He's never caught by surprise. 25:40 Our God is never taken by surprise. 25:44 His hands never tremble. 25:48 One important thing to remember, friends, 25:50 is that prophecy is not given 25:51 with the intent of keeping us guessing. 25:54 That's not what God is doing. 25:55 Unfortunately, there are many people that don't understand 25:57 this truth, that don't understand this reality, 26:00 and they go about as though with tinfoil hats on their head and 26:04 crystal balls in their hands, coming up with all sorts of 26:07 weird calculations and mental gymnastics to prove that Jesus 26:11 will come back in a certain day or in a certain year, 26:13 in a certain period and that certain things will happen, 26:16 and they want to say that "This is this plague, 26:18 this is that plague," things that have not happened yet, 26:20 things that we don't know exactly how they will pan out. 26:23 Jesus Himself told us, "Don't come up with dates. 26:29 Don't come up with dates." 26:30 He couldn't have made it clearer, 26:32 and, yet there is a large quantity of us that insist on 26:36 trying to be some kind of new news: "Jesus will come back in 26:41 this year and that year because this calculation says this." 26:44 That's not the purpose of prophecy. 26:46 That just makes us weird. 26:49 The purpose of prophecy is not to make us weird. 26:51 The purpose of prophecy has been revealed in John chapter 14, 26:54 verse 29, where Jesus says, "I tell you these things before 26:58 they happen, before they come to pass, 27:01 so that, when they come to pass, you may--" what? 27:04 "Believe." 27:06 The purpose of prophecy is to construct and edify our faith. 27:10 That's the purpose of prophecy. 27:12 It's for us to see, "Well, God said this was going to happen, 27:14 and now it just happened. 27:16 God is still in control. 27:17 God still knows." That's the purpose of prophecy. 27:21 It's not for us to keep on guessing. 27:24 You know why? 27:26 Because, when you spend time on those things-- 27:28 oh, I'm not saying that you shouldn't study prophecy. 27:30 Of course, you should. 27:31 We should be vivid students of prophecy but for the right 27:34 reason because, when we do it for the wrong reason, 27:37 then we lose all focus on the rest of the gospel. 27:40 Friends, the gospel is not only the gospel, 27:41 according to Revelation or according to Daniel. 27:44 The entire gospel is necessary. 27:48 So understand that the purpose of prophecy is to edify our 27:51 faith, and that's why this is a church that is so centered on 27:54 prophecy because we believe that the more we understand the 27:57 events that are happening in the world around us, 27:59 the more we understand that God is in control and that we are 28:02 good when we are by God's side. 28:05 That's what's happening so that you may believe God 28:10 is in control. 28:11 Tuesday's lesson, "A Thousand Times More Numerous," 28:15 on Tuesday's lesson Moses, he evaluates the fruitfulness 28:18 of the children of Israel, right? 28:21 The people, as they were exiting--I just made-- 28:23 I think I made that word up, but they were exiting through 28:26 the desert those 40 years, and Moses, he takes his time 28:29 to evaluate how much God has blessed them, how much God 28:32 has been by their side, leading them and guiding them 28:34 and conducting them. 28:36 And what I find interesting is that, 28:37 in his perception of how the people had fared during 28:41 their time in the desert, he never attributes to himself 28:45 any quality of his leaders or his capacity as a leader. 28:51 He never attributes to himself, "Well, I did this. 28:52 I'm a good leader. 28:54 I led them through all of--" 28:55 you don't see that in Moses, do you? 28:57 Well, you see here, as an authentic spiritual leader, 29:01 he recognized that the true power 29:04 that was by the people's side was--who? 29:07 Jehovah, Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. 29:11 Once again, Moses, he admits his fallibility, 29:14 his incapacity that, by himself, 29:17 he could guide this great multitude. 29:18 What does he say here in Deuteronomy chapter 1, 29:20 verse 9 through 11? 29:21 He says, "And I spoke to you at that time, saying, 29:24 "I alone am not capable. 29:27 I alone am not capable to bear you. 29:29 The Lord your God has multiplied you, 29:31 and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude. 29:36 May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more 29:39 numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you." 29:43 And so, in his reminiscing of the events, 29:45 Moses seems to pull back from the center stage 29:48 to cast all light on God: "God has done this. 29:50 The Lord has done this." 29:52 Friends, this is true integrity, and this is what experts 29:55 in leadership consider to be the first and most important virtue 30:00 of leaders: integrity. 30:03 Deplorably some leaders are like that small rooster. 30:07 Have you ever heard the story of the rooster that would puff up 30:08 his chest and go up to the fence every morning? 30:11 And it'd started crowing as the sun came up, 30:15 believing that it was by his noise that the sun, 30:18 the star, was coming up. 30:20 Some leaders are like that. 30:24 What we see here is Moses declaring God's graciousness 30:27 and acknowledging that the hero 30:29 of the story has always been God. 30:33 However, leading such a great multitude, 30:36 it did take a heavy toll on Moses. 30:39 Here we have a biblical example, 30:41 and this is why this is good, all right? 30:43 Here we have a biblical example of what burnout syndrome is. 30:48 Moses, with all those people, he couldn't do it on his own. 30:51 He said it himself, "And I spoke to you at that time saying, 30:54 'I alone am not capable of bearing all of you.'" 30:57 Chapter 1, verse 12, "How can I alone bear your problems and 31:01 your burdens and your complaints?" 31:02 And so in order to share the burden, 31:04 Moses and the children of Israel, they get organized. 31:08 They divide up leadership. 31:10 And here we see the biblical precedent 31:12 for an organized structure. 31:15 Look at what the lesson says in Tuesday's lesson: 31:17 "Thus, even when the Lord was so powerfully present among them, 31:22 there was need for organization, for structure, 31:25 for a system of accountability. 31:27 Israel was a qahal, which was an organized assembly, 31:31 a precursor to the New Testament ekklesia, 31:33 or ekklesia, the Greek for 'church.'" 31:35 And it goes on to say, "The church today, 31:37 as the qahal back then, needs to be a unified body with people 31:42 fulfilling various roles according to their gifts." 31:45 Now, friends, I've heard, in multiple places, 31:48 people speak down and accuse and then talk badly of an organized 31:53 church, the organization of the church: 31:55 "The church doesn't need organization. 31:56 It doesn't need to be organized in any kind of structure. 31:59 God will lead. God will guide." 32:02 Yes, God will lead, and God will guide, 32:03 but He set the precedent. 32:06 In the Bible, you see, both in the Old Testament and in the 32:08 New, you find an organized structure. 32:11 You find an organized people, an organized church. 32:15 God found that important because dividing up the roles of 32:19 leadership into the different qualities and different talents 32:21 that people have, well, then you share the load. 32:25 How else could we have, for example, 32:26 the educational system that 32:28 the Seventh-day Adventist Church has? 32:30 Worldwide, we are the second largest private educational 32:33 system on the planet. 32:36 You know who we lose to? 32:37 Catholic Church because they've been around for 2,000 years. 32:41 We've been around for, what, 180? 32:43 Second, why? 32:45 Because we feel that, first of all, 32:47 education is important, and it is a great way to preach the 32:50 gospel and, secondly, because we're an organized church. 32:54 Because we are organized and we have these levels of structure, 32:56 we find that, throughout the world, 32:57 wherever you go, you will find an educational group 33:01 for children to learn and to be educated in the ways 33:04 of the Bible, the ways of Scripture. 33:06 How else without this organization? 33:08 What about the missionary force that we have, 33:10 sending missionaries out all over the world? 33:12 The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the church with the greatest 33:15 presence anywhere, even in countries where we can't have 33:20 people officially--North Korea, that 10/40 Window, 33:25 in Arabia, in the Middle East, there are Seventh-day 33:29 Adventists preaching the gospel. 33:31 One way or another, the message of the gospel, 33:33 the three angels' message is being preached. 33:36 How else without this organization that God Himself 33:40 set the precedent in the Scripture? 33:41 What about our media ministries? How? 33:44 How can we have such a united message, 33:46 a united front, without being organized? 33:50 Ministries such as Amazing Facts International that sends 33:55 out the gospel around the world. 33:58 Hope Channel, 3ABN, channels that preach the-- 34:02 how else without organization? 34:05 Health ministries, clinics, hospitals all over the world-- 34:08 so you see that there is a need for organization. 34:12 We need to be organized. 34:13 Wednesday's lesson, "Kadesh Barnea." 34:16 Wednesday's lesson is kind of a hybrid between Wednesday 34:18 and Sunday, so it touches up on part of what we talked 34:21 about on Sunday's lesson. 34:24 It overviews the events that transpired in Kadesh Barnea, 34:27 regarding the people's rebellion against God. 34:29 And since we talked about this on Sunday, 34:32 I don't want to get too deep into it, 34:34 but, you know, perhaps just as important as understanding what 34:40 Moses intended to do for the people or what he told God 34:43 that he would do for the people, "Take my name out of the book," 34:46 just as important as that is the nature of the argument 34:48 that he used to dissuade God 34:50 from destroying the rebellious nation. 34:53 He says here, "Lord, it won't go well for You if You do this. 34:57 It's not going to be good. It won't look good. 34:59 Think about what the Egyptians will say and everyone else will 35:02 say about You," and you can see that in Numbers chapter 14, 35:04 verse 16, where Moses says, "Because--" 35:07 and here he is saying what the other peoples would say 35:08 if God really destroyed the children of Israel. 35:11 He says, "Because the Lord was not able to bring these people 35:13 to the land which He swore to give them, 35:17 therefore, He killed them in the wilderness." 35:18 That won't be good for Your reputation, Lord. 35:21 Now, Moses was a specialist 35:22 in this type of argumentation, right? 35:25 Remember that he tried to dissuade Jehovah 35:27 with his arguments before in that "impossible mission 35:30 of leading out the children of Israel." 35:32 "Those people won't believe that You sent me, 35:33 Lord, I'm heavy of tongue. I can't speak very well. 35:36 Come on, Lord, send someone else--don't send me-- 35:39 someone a bit younger, a bit more energetic, 35:41 a bit more capable. 35:42 He'll be more hip than me. 35:46 It will be better for Your PR, for Your public image. 35:49 What kind of choice am I? 35:51 I'm just an 80-year-old man. Smells like sheep. 35:55 I've been out in the desert way too long. 35:58 Lord, this is a crazy idea." 36:00 And curiously, Moses seems to be the realistic of the story, 36:04 and he always seems to be the one 36:08 with the big, impossible dreams. 36:09 But we know that God chose the right man. 36:12 God chose the right man. 36:14 Well, isn't it extraordinary how audacious Moses 36:19 is in his words and how patient God is in hearing him 36:21 and listening to him? 36:22 Again, all of this, friends, for Moses's benefit. 36:25 God didn't need to be told these things, God knew. 36:29 It was all for Moses's benefit. 36:33 As a Father who patiently listens to His small child and 36:36 descends to his level of understanding to relate to him, 36:38 to be with him, to connect to him, 36:43 that is our God. 36:45 And so I find that a very important lesson 36:47 from Wednesday's lesson. 36:49 Now, Thursday, and this is where I wanted to get, 36:51 and I have a little less time than I intended. 36:53 This is one of the hardest subjects of the entire Bible. 36:56 Deuteronomy chapter 2, verse 33 and 34, 36:59 is an example, "And the Lord our God delivered him," 37:02 the Amorites, "over to us, so we defeated him, 37:05 his sons, and all his people. 37:07 We took all his cities at that time, 37:08 and we utterly destroyed the men, 37:11 women, and little ones of every city. 37:13 We left nothing remaining." 37:15 Now, what's going on here? Why is God doing this? 37:17 This sounds like genocide. Is that the God of the Bible? 37:23 How do we understand this reality? 37:26 Well, first of all, friends, we need to understand the 37:27 difference between polytheism and monotheism, all right? 37:30 Now, it seems very obvious, doesn't it? 37:32 What's the difference between polytheism and monotheism, 37:34 or paganism and monotheism? 37:36 What's the difference? That's what it seems, right? 37:39 That's what anyone would say. It's the number of gods. 37:43 In one, you have many. In the other, you have one. 37:45 Friends, that is not entirely true because the primary 37:49 difference, the primordial difference between monotheism 37:52 and polytheism is not really about the quantity of gods 37:55 but the quality of the gods involved. 37:59 Let me explain polytheism a little bit for you. 38:03 In polytheism, humans found themselves-- 38:05 in the beginning of the world, right? 38:06 And this is after the flood. 38:07 This is after they had forgotten all about the God of heaven. 38:10 They find themselves alone in this universe at the mercy 38:13 of the elements, the mercy of this powerful world, 38:16 rainstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, 38:20 floods, unrelenting heat coming from the sun, 38:22 destroying their fields and their crops-- 38:25 earthquakes, all of these things. 38:27 Nature is powerful, but it's so very unpredictable. 38:30 And so, logically these humans seeking 38:33 to create a truce between themselves and the world 38:35 around them, they need to find out some way to be a little bit 38:41 in control, to be able to do something to escape 38:44 from these forces of nature. 38:45 Now, today, with the technology that we have, 38:47 we understand what's happening with rain and earthquakes 38:50 and thunderstorms, but they didn't have that. 38:51 What could they do? 38:52 How could they possibly find a truce between these powerful 38:55 forces of nature? 38:57 Now, in these pagan religions, there was no Creator God, 39:01 one great God. 39:02 On the contrary, there was a very large range of powerful 39:06 entities that they knew as gods. 39:10 And these entities were usually capricious, 39:12 indifferent, and very much fallible. 39:15 They didn't really care much for humans, 39:17 but sometimes, when they got bored, 39:19 they found amusement torturing, tormenting the humans 39:23 in the world down below. 39:25 But humans could try to buy, at least, 39:27 their allegiance and, at most, their help. 39:32 You see, while they were powerful, 39:34 while the sun god, the rain God, the wind god, 39:37 the earth god, while they were powerful-- 39:41 all of them were powerful-- they were not all-powerful. 39:44 Do you understand what I'm saying? 39:46 They couldn't do everything. 39:47 They didn't control everything. 39:49 The power of the sun was very strong, 39:50 indeed, but it didn't have any sway over the rain. 39:54 Actually, the rain god was the sun god's enemy. 39:58 And so that's how the humans would interpret 40:00 the ebb and flow of nature. 40:01 If it's raining today, the rain god is winning the battle. 40:04 If there's unrelenting heat, well, 40:06 the sun god was winning the battle. 40:07 Those were the battles of these strong gods. 40:11 They're fighting, and the one that's winning is the one that 40:13 we're seeing--the wind, the earthquakes, the tornadoes. 40:16 That's how we know. 40:18 That's how they gauged which were the powerful gods. 40:21 The gods were fighting amongst themselves for supremacy. 40:24 What this means, ultimately, is that every god has their own 40:28 area of power, but at the same time, 40:30 every God has their own weakness. 40:33 These pagan gods had needs that could be exploited, 40:38 and so in order to survive, the pagan nations had to do 40:41 basically two things: First of all, 40:43 they had to choose their god. 40:44 And so, if they were living in a very hot place in the desert, 40:47 they would choose the sun god. 40:49 If they were living on the coastal regions as the 40:52 Philistines, for example, they would choose 40:54 a god such as Dagon, the fish god. 40:57 If they were living in the jungles or in the forest or in 40:59 the mountains--everything was conditioned to where they lived 41:02 because they needed the protection, 41:04 and they needed the fertility coming from these gods. 41:07 Do you understand? 41:08 Everything revolved around fertility. 41:09 The multiplication of their food, 41:11 the multiplication of their animals, 41:13 of their livestock, everything revolved around fertility when 41:16 it came to these gods. 41:18 And so, once they chose their god, 41:20 next, they would need to do their best to appease that God. 41:23 Like I said before, since these gods were not all-powerful, 41:26 they had vulnerabilities and needs. 41:28 And if they had needs, they could be bribed or, 41:31 better, bartered with. 41:33 And the train of thought was "If I give this god something 41:36 valuable, then maybe he will care a little bit more about 41:40 having fish in my river or of protecting my crops and my 41:43 fields from the merciless sun god. 41:46 Everything, again, had to do with fertility, 41:49 procreation, survival, and this is where the rationale for 41:51 sacrifice comes into play because the more painful, 41:54 the more explicit, the more sensationalistic, 41:57 dramatic, and outrageous the sacrifice, 42:00 the more the god would see that the people 42:02 were serious in serving it. 42:04 And so the more outrageous, the better. 42:09 And what better way to catch the attention of a temperamental, 42:12 indifferent being, some bored egomaniac entity, or deity, than 42:18 through some kind of dramatic act, 42:20 say, such as ritualistic and ceremonial harlotry 42:25 or child sacrifice? 42:30 And that's where the atrocities were committed in these nations, 42:34 horrible, vile acts of violence, bloodlust, 42:37 chilling cruelty, something totally different from the logic 42:40 involved in monotheism. 42:42 You see, when it comes to the One God, 42:44 to one supernatural entity, Master of the universe, 42:46 Creator of the cosmos, who brought everything into being, 42:51 how do you barter with Him? 42:54 What needs does He have? 42:55 What do you have that you could offer Him? 42:58 Does He need anything that you could offer? 43:01 What do you give to someone that has everything? 43:03 And so that's why monotheism was so strange to these peoples. 43:07 They couldn't understand it, not only because of the fact that it 43:11 was only one God versus so many, 43:13 but because the quality of this God. 43:15 What could you do to bribe Him? 43:17 How do you barter with this God? 43:20 And so the logic of monotheism must be something entirely 43:22 different, mustn't it? 43:25 Unfortunately, we absolutely don't have time to go into that, 43:28 but here we understand precisely who these people were, 43:31 who these other nations were. 43:34 These were nations that practiced bestiality, 43:36 necrophilia, pederasty and pedophilia as rituals for 43:42 worship, incestuous relations, human sacrifices, 43:46 child sacrifices, right, and the list goes on. 43:50 God had given these people centuries to turn back, 43:54 to change their ways. 43:56 Genesis 15:16, "But in the 14th generation they shall return 43:59 here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." 44:02 God is giving them time to change. 44:04 God is giving them a chance to change, 44:08 but they ignored these calls of grace, 44:09 and they descended into their own self-created hell. 44:15 Their hearts had petrified, fossilized. 44:18 Despite all the opportunities God gave them to change, 44:20 nothing else could be done for them. 44:23 And so God's order to execute them, 44:25 to exterminate them, friends, was an act of mercy. 44:30 It wasn't an act of wrath. It wasn't affectus. 44:34 It was effectus. Effectus. 44:36 It was not done out of wrath or anger. 44:38 It was done out of mercy because children did not go by un-raped 44:42 in those nations. 44:45 They grew, learning that that's how you bartered with gods. 44:48 Many were sacrificed and killed. 44:52 Imagine going into a church and seeing the scene of an orgy. 44:55 That's what they had. 44:56 And so until we get to that point, 44:58 our world is not worse than it was back then yet. 45:03 And so God, out of mercy, He decided to use Israel as an 45:09 instrument to provide mercy and an end to these people that had 45:15 only misery in their life. 45:19 Of course, it's difficult to understand this. 45:20 It's very difficult. 45:21 But here we see the foreshadowing 45:23 of what is going to happen in the very end, when God, 45:27 a holy God, destroys sin and sinners, 45:31 providing final rest to those that did not choose life. 45:37 You can't choose life-- you can't choose death 45:40 and continue living, friend. 45:41 It doesn't work that way. 45:42 When you disconnect yourself, that's what happens. 45:45 Our time is over. 45:46 I hope that you--I had more here about this. 45:49 Unfortunately, we weren't able to get through it. 45:52 My prayer is that God will lead you in answers and finding 45:55 answers for these subjects. 45:57 There's so much to understand through studying the lesson, 45:59 so that's why I urge you to study your lesson. 46:01 Study it. 46:02 You will have a lot of answers to some of these difficult 46:04 questions, or at least you'll find where to look 46:06 for the answers. 46:08 May God bless you, and I'd like to finish with a word of prayer. 46:10 Dear Father, thank You so much for Your love. 46:11 Thank You for guiding and leading us 46:13 and giving us a good morning. 46:14 Please help us understand these realities that the lesson puts 46:17 in front of us, Lord. 46:18 Help us have patience with our own lack of understanding, 46:21 and let us seek truth, Lord, and seek understanding as You have 46:25 promised to provide it for us. 46:27 Give us a good Sabbath, a good day ahead of us. 46:29 I asked in Jesus's name, amen. 46:31 May God bless you. 46:32 Have a happy rest of the Sabbath Day. 46:37 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 46:38 life-changing, free resource, 46:40 not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 46:42 you can download a digital copy straight 46:44 to your computer or mobile device. 46:46 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 46:49 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544, 46:53 or visit the web address shown on your screen, 46:56 and be sure to select the "digital download" 46:58 option on the request page. 47:00 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word 47:03 with Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, 47:06 and most important, to share it with others. 47:15 announcer: "Amazing Facts Changed Lives." 47:18 ♪♪♪ 47:26 Justin: Growing up, as a kid, my mother was, 47:29 like, on drugs and alcohol, lots of fighting in the home. 47:34 My mom would be abused mentally, verbally, physically. 47:39 Went from California to Oregon, spent some time in Oregon, 47:44 and it was just the same cycle of drugs, alcohol, violence. 47:49 My mom's boyfriend would go to jail at times. 47:52 She would wait until he would, you know, 47:54 get out of jail, and it was back to square one. 47:57 The drugs and alcohol escalated to a lot harder drugs-- 48:02 crystal meth, cocaine, and lots and lots of alcohol, 48:07 so I started using the alcohol too, as a medication. 48:12 It was like it took the misery and the fear that I had. 48:16 I wanted to drown all that misery. 48:18 Times, I would just grab, you know, 48:22 a bottle of beer and go out into the desert and just drink until 48:26 sometimes I'd just pass out in the desert somewhere and wake up 48:29 the next morning and, you know, and I just couldn't find rest. 48:34 My step-dad had gotten me a motorcycle, 48:37 and so I started riding motorcycles. 48:40 I'd drink a lot of beer, get on the motorcycle, 48:43 ride into the desert, do donuts and just, 48:46 you know, just ride on private property. 48:49 People would chase me off, and I was just causing-- 48:52 stirring up dust and rocks and just causing chaos. 48:56 And the adrenaline rush that I had was so exciting, 49:01 and the feeling of it was so intense that I loved it, 49:05 and I forgot about all my problems, 49:09 you know, at the moment, and I thought that material things 49:11 would make me feel so good. 49:15 And so I started working, started making money, 49:18 had a responsibility, but as time went by, 49:23 I had more money, so I would, you know, 49:26 use my money that I made to buy drugs and alcohol. 49:31 I got pulled over drinking and driving. 49:34 I ended up going to jail for a couple days. 49:38 I lost my job because I missed work for a few days. 49:43 Lost my girlfriend. 49:44 Lost all the money that I had. So once again, I was empty. 49:50 No money, no drugs, no alcohol, 49:52 and that was a turning point in my life. 49:55 At this time, I was living with my grandfather, 49:57 and as I was flipping through the channels on the satellite 50:01 system, I found "Amazing Facts." 50:04 Pastor Doug Batchelor was telling his-- 50:07 sharing his testimony about how he was living in a cave, 50:11 and he struggled the same struggles of alcohol and drugs. 50:16 And I continue to read the book, "The Richest Caveman," 50:19 and it really impacted my life and really related to the things 50:23 he was struggling with and all the events 50:26 that took place in his life. 50:28 And when I started reading the Bible, 50:30 Philippians 4:13, says, "I can do all things through Christ 50:33 who strengthens me." 50:34 And I recognized that I had no strength, 50:37 I was weak, and I was wretched, and I needed help. 50:41 So I just asked the Lord, I said, 50:43 "Just help me, Lord," and the Holy Spirit convicted me, 50:47 and I decided to be baptized and to give my life to Jesus Christ. 50:54 A few years after the Lord took the temptation of drinking and 50:58 doing drugs, He gave me a beautiful wife I met at church. 51:02 Now I have a beautiful baby boy, two-year-old baby boy. 51:06 Just exciting to see, you know, what God is doing 51:10 for my life and my family. 51:13 I met with some friends from my local church that I was 51:17 attending, and they had told me about Amazing Facts Center 51:21 of Evangelism training seminar. 51:24 The AFCOE to Go program really inspired me and motivated me 51:29 to tell young people about, you know the same struggles 51:34 that I was struggling with to help these kids give their life 51:37 to Jesus Christ, and there's nothing, 51:40 else that you could ask for. 51:41 I'm Justin, and God used you to change my life. 51:59 announcer: "Amazing Facts Changed Lives." 52:02 ♪♪♪ 52:08 Ruben: You know, we grew up in a neighborhood up 52:10 in the Midwest that was a pretty bad neighborhood, 52:13 and when I became a teenager, I started using drugs. 52:17 I was on--I started using meth when I was, 52:19 like, I think, 16, 15, something like that. 52:23 I was having some problems in my life. 52:24 I really didn't know how to deal with. 52:28 The only thing I really knew was violence. 52:31 So this night here, I was going to inflict violence on myself. 52:35 I was really high and really depressed, 52:38 so I took--you know, I had this .40 caliber. 52:40 So I remember I put one in the chamber, 52:42 and I stuck it to the side of my head like this. 52:47 And that gun had a hair trigger, you know. 52:51 I remember I was tapping it because a part of me said, 52:54 "No, I don't want to do this," but there was something very 52:58 evil present there, saying, "Do it." 53:01 I just said to myself, I said, "God, if You're real, 53:07 show Yourself to me." 53:09 My mother took me to church when I was a little kid, 53:13 and we used to sing "Jesus Loves Me," and I remembered that song. 53:17 It started playing in my mind, and I almost had, 53:21 like, a vision of me as a little kid. 53:26 You know, and in Sabbath school, we used to bang those sticks 53:32 together and sing, "Jesus Loves Me." 53:37 And I heard that in my mind. So I said, "Wow." 53:46 So I just, kind of, like, put the gun down, 53:47 and I kind of fell on my bedside there, 53:49 and I said, "Lord." 53:53 I just basically, just, prayed this crazy prayer. 53:55 I says--you know, I told Him everything 53:57 that was wrong with me. 53:58 And I remember, one day, I was driving around. 54:00 I kind of felt lost, and I drove by this church, 54:03 and I seen Tom out there. 54:05 Tom was just out there watering the flowers, you know. 54:09 Tom: So I caught a vision out of the side of my eye, 54:12 this big, husky guy with tattoos, 54:15 walking up and saying, "Hello," 54:18 and so I asked him if I can help him. 54:23 He told me that he drives by the church on occasion, 54:28 and every time he goes by, he's thinking if he should stop in. 54:32 Ruben: After he showed me around the church, 54:36 you know, I was like, "Okay, man, it's nice meeting you," 54:39 and this and that. 54:41 So I jumped in my car, and I started heading down 54:44 the driveway, and the next thing you know, 54:47 in, like, my peripheral vision, I see him coming around 54:50 the corner like Jerry Rice running a football. 54:54 No, not that fast, but, you know, 54:56 he was taking off after me, and he says, 54:59 "Hey, hey, hey, hold on, hold on." 55:02 Tom: I asked if he would like to have some Bible studies, 55:04 and he said, "Yeah." 55:06 Ruben: He would come by the house, 55:07 and we'd all start--we'd start hiding the beer cans and trying 55:11 to air out the weed smell, and there was a presence that came 55:14 with Tom that was comforting. 55:18 You know what I mean? 55:20 Even though I wasn't taking the Bible studies as serious 55:22 as I should have, looking back, there was just a presence about 55:27 him being there in the house that was comforting. 55:31 I told Tom, I said, "Tom, you know, 55:32 you can't win everybody." 55:34 Tom: I looked at him, and I knew. 55:35 I said to him, "Ruben, I never get anybody." 55:40 I says, "The Holy Spirit will do that," and I kind of in my heart 55:47 knew that the Holy Spirit was going to work on Ruben. 55:49 Ruben: So then, Tom kind of left the picture for a while, 55:53 and then I think, one day, at my mother's house, 55:55 they were watching "The Final Events of Bible Prophecy." 55:58 So I watched that, and I remember the scene where they 56:05 had the hellfire and stuff. 56:08 You know, they're outside the city, 56:10 and it showed the hellfire coming down and burning people 56:14 and stuff, and I remember saying to myself, 56:19 "That's where I would be right there." 56:22 After the hellfire scene, I saw the saints in the city, 56:28 in the New Jerusalem, and Jesus recreating the earth. 56:32 And I said, "I want that to be me and my family." 56:40 There was something about the way Doug preached and things 56:42 that I felt that touched me because he's kind of like 56:47 myself, you know? 56:48 He's--he didn't grow up like that, you know? 56:52 He done drugs and things, so I kind of found these common 56:56 grounds that I had with him, and I liked how he just, 57:00 kind of, like, kept it real with his preaching. 57:01 And then Pastor Rodley came to the church, 57:06 and I got to know him very well, and we started 57:10 doing some finishing studies. 57:12 He wanted to make sure I understand what I was doing 57:15 and things and baptized me, my wife, my brother. 57:20 No matter what you've done, where you come from, 57:24 where you've been, no matter how bad of a sinner you think you 57:27 are, the Lord Jesus loves you no matter what you've done. 57:34 Doug Batchelor: Friends, it's because of God's blessing 57:37 and your support, thousands of others, 57:38 just like Ruben, have found Jesus and eternal life. 57:43 ♪♪♪ 57:53 ♪♪♪ 57:57 ♪♪♪ 58:00 ♪♪♪ 58:10 ♪♪♪ 58:20 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io |
Revised 2021-09-29