Participants:
Series Code: SSH
Program Code: SSH022218S
|
00:01 ♪♪♪
00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:32 ♪♪♪ 00:36 Luccas Rodor: Happy Sabbath. 00:37 Welcome to the Granite Bay Hilltop 00:39 Seventh Day Adventist Church. 00:41 It's so good to have you here with us. 00:42 Thank you so much for investing your time, learning more about 00:46 God's Word, learning more about the Bible. 00:48 We sure have a great study planned for today. 00:51 We're going to be studying lesson number 5 of this lesson 00:54 about Genesis, and we're going to be studying with 00:57 Pastor Shawn Brummund. 00:59 The title of this week's lesson is "Babylon," 01:01 or "All Nations and Babylon." 01:04 Now, before we get into the study of the lesson, 01:07 I'd like to invite you to take advantage of this free offer. 01:10 It's called "Coming One World Church." 01:12 It's a very interesting study. 01:14 If you would like to receive it, you could call the number 01:16 866-788-3966, and you could ask for study number 138. 01:22 If you're in continental North America, you could text SH076 to 01:27 40544, and you would get a digital download, or you could 01:30 go to study.aftv.org/SH076, and you can also get 01:36 a digital download. 01:38 Before Pastor Shawn comes out, though, we have a special song 01:42 that is going to be sung by the Sacramento Ukrainian Choir, 01:46 and you are going to be blessed by this song. 01:48 May God bless you in the study of today's lesson. 01:53 [singing in foreign language] 02:03 [singing in foreign language] 02:13 [singing in foreign language] 02:23 [singing in foreign language] 02:33 [singing in foreign language] 02:43 [singing in foreign language] 02:53 [singing in foreign language] 03:03 [singing in foreign language] 03:13 [singing in foreign language] 03:23 [singing in foreign language] 03:33 [singing in foreign language] 03:43 [singing in foreign language] 03:53 [singing in foreign language] 04:03 [singing in foreign language] 04:13 [singing in foreign language] 04:23 [singing in foreign language] 04:33 [singing in foreign language] 04:43 [singing in foreign language] 04:53 [singing in foreign language] 05:03 [singing in foreign language] 05:13 [singing in foreign language] 05:23 [singing in foreign language] 05:36 Luccas: Dear Lord, thank you so much for the grace 05:39 of this day. 05:40 Thank you for your love and your guidance, 05:42 and thank you for your Word. 05:44 As Pastor Shawn leads today, Lord, in the study of this 05:47 lesson, may the human instrument fall into the background, and 05:51 may your knowledge, your wisdom, Lord, and your understanding 05:54 fill our hearts and our minds. 05:56 I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. 06:00 Shawn Brummund: Good morning to everyone. 06:02 It's good to see your smiling faces, as we come together here 06:05 on this special day that God has blessed and sanctified, 06:09 and that He has called holy. 06:13 And so, it's good to be able to come together and worship Him on 06:16 that special day that God has given us from 06:17 the beginning of time. 06:19 And speaking of beginnings, we are continuing to coming back to 06:22 our quarterly study, which is that of Genesis, the very first 06:27 book in the Bible, where Genesis means from the beginning 06:30 or origins, and so we're looking back at history. 06:34 There's a lot of important theology, a lot of important 06:37 truth that we're drawing from that, and today is no exception. 06:40 I want to invite you to open your Bibles here this morning to 06:43 Genesis chapter 9, as we get right into the Word. 06:46 There's lots to look at, more than we can cover today; but 06:49 nevertheless, we'll see if we can learn as much 06:52 as we possibly can. 06:54 These are, again, as is the case with the first half of Genesis, 06:58 some very packed chapters, and there's just a whole lot for us 07:03 to be able to draw from. 07:06 So, we're going to Genesis chapter 9, and we're picking up 07:09 with verse 18, and we're going to read right through to the end 07:11 of the chapter, and then we'll talk about what we find here, 07:14 as we continue to study together. 07:17 So, we're in Genesis chapter 9 and verse 18. 07:21 In verse 18 it says, "Now the sons of Noah, who went out of 07:24 the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Ham 07:28 was the father of Canaan." 07:30 Now, we're going to find out that that's pointed out twice. 07:33 Why? 07:34 Because Moses is inspired to be able to point out 07:37 some sad connections there. 07:38 We're going to talk about that once we get to the end 07:40 of the passage. 07:41 So, he points out that Ham was the father of Canaan, and these 07:44 three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth 07:48 was populated. 07:50 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 07:54 And then he drank of the wine, and he was drunk and became 07:57 uncovered in his tent. 07:59 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father 08:03 and told his two brothers outside. 08:06 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and lay it on both their 08:10 shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of 08:12 their father, and their faces were turned away, 08:16 and they did not see their father's nakedness. 08:19 And so Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son 08:23 had done to him, and then he said, 'Cursed be Canaan; 08:27 a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.'" 08:33 Interesting. 08:35 As God is inspiring Noah to respond in a prophetic way, God 08:40 speaks not to Ham directly but speaks to one of the four sons 08:43 of Ham, which is that of Canaan. 08:46 And then in verse 26 it says, "And he said, 'Blessed be the 08:49 Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant; and may 08:54 God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, 08:57 and may Canaan be his servant.' 09:00 And Noah lived after the flood 350 years. 09:03 So, all of the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died." 09:08 And so there we finish up what we looked at in the first half 09:12 of Genesis chapter 9 last week, and we look at those last tragic 09:17 words in the latter part of Genesis chapter 9. 09:22 Now, here we find sin on two different levels. 09:25 We find two family members that are guilty as charged. 09:29 We have the dad, which is Noah. 09:32 And not only did he start to farm wine grapes, but he fell 09:36 into the temptation of fermenting those or at least 09:39 found them fermented. 09:41 We don't know all the details on how some of those grapes 09:46 became--or the grape juice became fermented and contained 09:48 alcohol, but it did. 09:50 And Noah found himself indulging in something that the Bible 09:54 later on tells us--and this is one of those Exhibit A's why God 09:58 would have us abstain from alcohol in the first place. 10:03 So, it's interesting. 10:05 It's very sparse, as we find the Genesis record 10:07 in the first chapters. 10:09 You know, it's covering a whole lot of history and a lot of 10:11 centuries, millennia of history, and so it has to be sparse. 10:16 But, you know, when we look at it, we kind of connect 10:18 all the dots. 10:20 We can put some important truths together in concern to this. 10:24 Again, we don't have all the details of how Noah got to the 10:27 point where he indulged, why he decided to indulge. 10:30 I'm guessing that obviously there's some temptation, 10:32 there's the evil one, not exactly the prettiest place 10:35 to live after the flood. 10:38 We have to remember the whole place is just distorted. 10:40 It was paradise. 10:41 Anywhere you went on the planet--you didn't have to get 10:43 on a plane and go to Hawaii to find paradise, like we do today. 10:48 Everywhere you went, there wasn't a spot on the planet that 10:50 wasn't paradise. 10:52 But now, you know, the contrast that Noah and his family were 10:55 forced to be able to see--you know, the children that--Noah's 11:01 grandchildren, his great grandchildren, his great 11:03 grandchildren--all the generations after, they only 11:06 know one world, and that's after the flood. 11:09 Noah and his family, they know paradise before. 11:11 They know how much they've lost, and so imagine being on a planet 11:16 that used to have billions of people, and now there's eight, 11:20 and paradise is gone. 11:23 And even much of the beauty that we have around us hasn't grown 11:26 up from the ground yet. 11:28 And so there's not a lot of grain. 11:30 It's pretty depressing, pretty tragic. 11:33 And so sometimes, as we, as human beings, even as Christians 11:38 sometimes can find theirselves at a weak point, and we're 11:42 looking for some escape. 11:45 And so Noah finds himself indulging in some alcoholic wine 11:49 that got into his possession. 11:54 So, both Noah and his son, Ham, are guilty as charged. 11:57 They both are guilty of sin. 11:58 Noah has a temporary setback in his righteousness and walk with 12:02 the Lord. 12:03 And does it bring a shame and embarrassment to himself and to 12:06 his family? 12:08 Always does. 12:09 Many of us are familiar with that. 12:11 Many of us have family members that deal with alcoholism, 12:16 problem drinking, and so on, and we know the embarrassment. 12:20 We know the shame that it can bring; and certainly, 12:21 this is no exception to that. 12:23 And so Noah is certainly not an alcoholic, but certainly he did 12:27 find himself at a weak point, and he made a sinful choice, 12:33 found himself in a very sinful situation. 12:35 And yes, it brought shame and embarrassment to himself and to 12:38 his family, to the point where we don't know if he passed out, 12:41 but he certainly--you know, alcohol is a sedative, and so, 12:45 you know, the more you indulge, the more you're gonna pass out. 12:48 And Noah didn't quite make it to his bed. 12:51 Or if he did, he wasn't able to fully dress himself and cover 12:54 himself with blankets, and so there he was in his tent naked, 12:58 passed out. 13:01 It's not a pretty picture. 13:04 Noah was a prophet of God, yes? 13:07 Yeah, very clearly, he was a prophet of God. 13:11 He had conversations with the Lord directly, and God had 13:14 called him to build the ark. 13:16 Was Noah a preacher of righteousness? 13:19 Yes, he was. 13:21 You know, Peter made it very clear, as Peter looks back on 13:24 the overall life and pattern of Noah. 13:29 He calls him a preacher of righteousness, 13:32 and so he was a preacher, and a prophet, and a boat builder. 13:38 He walked with God. 13:40 He had a pattern that tells us that Noah 13:42 most certainly repented. 13:44 Noah most certainly had found forgiveness from the Lord, 13:49 once again. 13:51 He had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 13:54 Now, of course, we know that Noah is not only one of the 13:56 champions of the Lord that found themselves in a very 13:59 embarrassing situation, sinful spot at some point 14:01 in their life. 14:03 We look at King David. 14:04 We look at pretty well every other figure and champion in 14:07 history, and there's different blemishes that are found there. 14:11 But just like David, Noah found himself on his knees, 14:14 prostrating before the Lord, begging for forgiveness, and 14:17 repenting from his sin, and so we don't find the Bible 14:20 reporting any kind of pattern that he left behind 14:24 in the rest of his life. 14:26 And so Noah was found guilty of sin, but it's on a different 14:29 level than that of his son, Ham. 14:31 Now, when we come to Ham, we find a much different 14:33 level of sin. 14:35 Of course, as we just read the Bible record, we find that, 14:38 sadly, Ham, when he finds his dad naked and passed out in his 14:41 tent from overindulging in this alcoholic wine, we find that 14:46 Ham, instead of responding like the other two brothers--very 14:49 clearly full of respect and love and reverence for their dad, 14:54 find themselves backing up, you know, into the tent with a 14:57 blanket and covering his dad so that they don't look upon his 15:01 shame and his nakedness and this embarrassing blemish 15:04 in his life. 15:06 Ham didn't respond like that. 15:07 He was the first one to find him. 15:09 And so we can kind of picture Ham giggling when he sees his 15:13 dad and says, "Oh man," you know. 15:15 And then he runs out to his other brothers and said, saying, 15:17 "Listen, we've got a really serious situation. 15:19 Dad has kind of lost it. 15:21 You know, he went and indulged in this alcoholic wine. 15:24 He's passed out in the tent. 15:26 We need to be able to respect him and help him through this 15:29 as best as we can." 15:30 He doesn't do that, does he? 15:32 The other two brothers do, but Ham doesn't. 15:34 He goes out there and says, "You won't believe 15:35 what the old man just did. 15:38 You know, you've gotta see this, guys, come on." 15:40 Get the camera, get out your phones, you know. 15:42 Let's open Instagram and YouTube, 15:47 and let's take some videos. 15:48 Let's take some pictures, and we'll post it up, and so on. 15:52 And so he's having fun with it. 15:55 You know, he thinks this is a joke. 15:57 And so the other two respond, of course, by honoring 16:01 their father and their mother. 16:03 They know the commandments of the Lord. 16:06 And so, sadly, Ham not only is guilty of sin just like his dad 16:11 is at this juncture in their life, but it reflects a pattern 16:15 of his life that must have existed beforehand. 16:18 So, the very fact that he responded in the way that he did 16:21 doesn't just come out of a vacuum. 16:24 For Ham to respond the way that he did, he already reveals that 16:29 he had already set into motion a pattern in his life that was not 16:34 full of reverence before God and before his father, 16:37 before his parent. 16:42 And so and definitely throughout the remaining of his life, 16:45 the rest of the Bible record tells us that Ham set in motion 16:48 a family line that is familiar, very similar and parallel 16:51 to that of Cain. 16:54 You know, when we find the first family, the only family on the 16:57 planet--Adam, Eve, the first two sons--we have Cain, 17:00 we have Abel. 17:02 Abel chooses the righteous and holy pathway of God and his 17:05 repentant parents, and then we find Cain that chooses a pathway 17:09 of rebellion and independence from God. 17:11 And here we have again, you know, all families on the earth 17:15 destroyed except for one family. 17:18 We're back down to one family on the planet, and sadly again we 17:22 find that--fortunately two of them chose the pathway 17:26 of righteousness, and then we also have Ham. 17:33 And so Ham, you know, definitely remained rebellious to God. 17:38 Now, this is demonstrating, first of all, in his dad's 17:41 prophetic response--and by the way, the prophetic response, the 17:44 very fact that God chose to speak through Noah tells us that 17:47 Noah has reconciled himself to God, tells us that Noah has 17:52 begged for forgiveness, and found grace, and reconciliation, 17:55 and such in the eyes of the Lord. 17:59 He's made himself right with the Lord; but as God now speaks 18:03 through him, as a continued spirit of prophecy, we find here 18:06 that sadly the words that God gave to Noah to speak don't 18:11 speak well of Ham and particularly of 18:13 one of his sons, Canaan. 18:15 Now, we have to remember that Canaan is one of the four sons 18:18 of Ham, one of the four grandchildren of Noah, but 18:21 Canaan kind of stands out for--especially for the author 18:24 of Genesis, which is Moses and Moses's generation, 18:28 which is the children of Israel, the Israelites. 18:30 Why? 18:31 Because they're just about to enter into the promised land, 18:34 and that is inhabited by the Canaanites. 18:39 These are inhabitants--or the descendants of Canaan, 18:43 the grandchild of Noah, the son of Ham. 18:47 And so this is very relevant, present truth for Moses 18:50 and for his generation, when Moses is penning Genesis. 18:53 And so Moses points that out, that when you look at the legacy 18:58 that Ham left behind, he left behind a horrible legacy of 19:01 Canaan, because Canaanites became so wicked 19:04 and so desperately wicked that God eventually sent 19:07 the Israelites in and said, "Listen, not only 19:09 am I giving you the promised land. 19:11 I'm not asking you just to go and ask them 19:13 to find another home. 19:15 I want you to wipe out complete tribes, complete peoples." 19:18 Because the desperate wickedness that had developed in these 19:23 Canaanite tribes was horrible, atrocities that you and I can 19:26 hardly but imagine. 19:30 And so, you know, this is about a thousand years after Noah 19:34 gives this prophecy, we find that God and Moses and the 19:37 Israelites are casting out or destroying the Canaanites in 19:41 judgment on their wickedness. 19:42 And so the Bible says that God is not just saying, "Here's some 19:44 promised land, take it." 19:46 Part of that purpose, as God so often accomplishes more than one 19:49 purpose, He's not only establishing a headquarters for 19:54 the gospel and for truth in this crossroads of the known world 19:57 back then in Israel, along the Mediterranean Sea there in the 20:00 fertile crescent there, this prime real estate, but He is 20:05 also accomplishing a judgment on the wickedness and sin 20:10 of the Canaanite tribes. 20:18 All right, so there's Genesis chapter 9. 20:21 Not very good news, is it? 20:23 I wish it could get better, but it doesn't. 20:26 I really appreciate, by the way, Monday's lesson. 20:31 When we go to Monday's lesson, and we look at Genesis chapter 20:33 10, we find there, you know, many scholars, Christians call 20:36 Genesis chapter 10 the Table of Nations, because now 20:39 God gives us a quick rundown. 20:41 It's not precise, as the quarterly points out. 20:44 It points out and lists 70 nations, and it's not quite in 20:49 the same precision as we find in some of the other genealogies, 20:53 but it is the Table of Nations. 20:55 This is where the nations split into their various languages and 20:58 peoples that came from the family of Noah, from the three 21:02 sons of Noah--Japheth, Shem, and Ham--Shem and Japheth. 21:09 And we find here that there's a key connection. 21:13 Noah is that key connection between the generations, and the 21:17 peoples, and the nations that lived before the flood, as well 21:20 as after, because Noah lived how many years again? 21:23 350 years, 350 years after the flood. 21:27 So, Noah was around for more than a couple of years 21:28 after the flood had begun. 21:30 And so by the time he died, he had great, great, great, great, 21:32 great, great, great, great grandchildren. 21:34 And so you see the pattern there. 21:38 As the quarterly points out--and this used to fascinate me 21:41 so much. 21:42 When I first started to read the Bible many years ago, and looked 21:44 at the genealogies and how long they lived--you know, 21:48 Noah 950 years. 21:50 You know, Methuselah 969. 21:52 Noah--Adam, 930 years. 21:54 You know, it was just hundreds and centuries of years of life. 21:57 And, of course, there's these massive overlaps. 22:00 So, that's why they didn't need the Bible. 22:01 God didn't inspire the Bible to be written at first because 22:04 there was so much overlap between the generations. 22:07 You know, the first people that lived during the first 930 years 22:11 of history could hear the truth concerning the gospel, 22:14 concerning the fall into sin, and Satan, and rebellion 22:18 in heaven, and all that. 22:19 All that was available through Adam himself because 22:23 he lived so long. 22:24 And as it turns out, as the quarterly points out that there 22:27 is--in fact, let's go to Monday. 22:30 Let me see now. 22:32 This is page 40. 22:36 And at the very top of Monday it says, "The chronological 22:38 information about Noah's age makes us realize that Noah 22:41 served as a link between the pre-flood 22:44 and the post-flood civilization. 22:47 Because Adam died when Lamech, Noah's father, was 56 years old, 22:52 Noah must surely have heard stories from Adam, which he 22:56 could've transmitted to his descendants before 22:58 and after the flood." 23:00 And so there's an overlap there of 56 years. 23:04 So, Noah's dad lived for 56 years while Adam was still 23:09 on the planet, still walking around. 23:12 And so because of that, Noah almost for certain received 23:17 secondhand information directly from Adam to Lamech 23:22 and then to Noah. 23:24 So, when Noah grew up, he would be able to hear the stories 23:27 about Lamech hearing the gospel and the truths of their origins 23:31 and all the great controversy between Satan, and between God, 23:36 and between truth, and between error, and so all straight 23:40 secondhand from his dad, directly from Noah. 23:42 So, we've got some fascinating overlaps of the Bible--gives to 23:45 us concerning these different first centuries of history. 23:52 And so verbal, verbal transmission of truth was the 23:55 only way that they needed back then--and unlike us, where we 23:58 need it on paper or on our phones and so on to be able 24:01 to see and remember these different truths. 24:05 Now, one of the other things that the genealogies points out 24:08 in the quarterly, gives us that insight, as well, is that there 24:12 is a--when the genealogies are there, you'll notice that the 24:16 genealogies list all the children. 24:19 You know, so they'll list all four children of Ham, and 24:23 they'll list all the children of Japheth, and all the 24:25 grandchildren, and all the great grandchildren, so on. 24:28 One of the things you'll pick up is some of those figures, 24:30 some of those names become outstanding figures in the 24:32 history of the world and in Bible history. 24:35 Most of those names are never mentioned again. 24:39 And so this is very unlike legends or fables and other 24:42 accusations and misunderstandings 24:44 that people have concerning the Bible record. 24:47 Legends and fables don't have genealogies that give you 24:49 precise, full, complete records of all the different children, 24:54 and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, the descendants 24:56 of these different figures, if they're not already playing a 24:59 key role in the narrative of the legend or of the fable. 25:04 But in this case, it's a history book. 25:07 You know, Genesis is a literal history book, and so these are 25:10 literal figures, very real and authentic people 25:13 that lived in the past. 25:16 And so that's important for us to be able to pick up, as well, 25:19 because, of course, the world and the devil continues to 25:21 propagate these falsehoods concerning the Bible record. 25:27 One of the most profound insights that I found in the 25:29 quarterly lesson this week was on Monday again. 25:33 So, let's go back to that again. 25:35 On Monday, we find there that it points out the 70 nations that 25:40 are listed there, and it foreshadows the 70 members 25:42 of the family of Jacob. 25:44 So, we have this fascinating 70 that kind of is strung through 25:48 the Scriptures themselves that is not by coincidence. 25:54 And so in that second to last paragraph, after the first 25:58 sentence, it says the 70 nations foreshadow the 70 members 26:01 of the family of Jacob and the 70 elders in Israel in the 26:05 wilderness, when God told Israel--I mean told Moses, 26:08 "Listen, have 70 key elders of Israel consecrate themselves, 26:12 bathe themselves, fast, pray, get ready to meet me at the 26:15 mountain of Mount Sinai." 26:17 And they had a meeting with the Lord. 26:19 And so we have these 70 key representatives of Israel. 26:25 And so the idea of a correspondence between 26:27 the 70 nations and the 70 elders suggests the mission 26:31 of Israel towards the nations. 26:33 And later on, the same paragraph points out that Jesus, 26:35 when He first sent His disciples out, He sent them out 26:38 in the total number of 70. 26:41 Did Jesus pick that randomly? 26:43 Was that coincidence? 26:44 I would say not. 26:46 I would say that God is using that key word--that key number, 26:49 I should say--70 to represent both ancient Israel and its 26:53 mission--because we have the 70 nation that dispersed and spread 26:56 out and multiply and fill the earth, and God has a gospel for 27:01 every single one of those nations. 27:04 So, when God established Israel and gave them the 70 elders, 27:07 this was designed to be able to tell them and further impact the 27:09 fact that they have a mission, that God has not given them the 27:12 truth just for themselves to enjoy, to keep them to 27:15 themselves, but to spread it out to all nations represented by 27:18 the original 70. 27:21 Now we have over 200 and something nations that are 27:23 recognized by the United Nations on the planet today. 27:27 The 70 disciples that were sent out by Jesus is to represent 27:30 that we are now spiritual Israel. 27:33 And so Israel has morphed into a different kind of organization 27:37 that no longer has borders. 27:39 It no longer has a civil government and so on, but 27:41 rather, instead, it is the holy church, the body of Christ that 27:44 is throughout the whole world. 27:46 We have the same mission and thus we have 70 representative 27:49 disciples that Jesus sends out, representing that God has called 27:52 us to bring the gospel to every nation, tribe, tongue, 27:54 and people. 27:56 So, I found that very fascinating, as far as an 27:58 insight in concern to God's working and His original plan 28:01 right from the beginning for Israel of Old Testament times 28:04 and now also for modern Israel, New Testament Israel, which is 28:07 the church itself. 28:12 Another helpful point in concern to Genesis chapter 10 and the 28:15 nature of Genesis 10 is that as you read through it--we don't 28:18 have time to read the whole thing--is including the dividing 28:21 of the nations after the tower of Babel. 28:23 Now, the details of the Tower of Babel and the circumstances and 28:27 the events that came up to it, as well as that which followed 28:31 it, is found in Genesis chapter 11 in the following chapter. 28:35 But as Genesis and other Bible authors do more than once--and 28:40 we can find more and more an example--where they will assume 28:44 that you're going to read the next chapter 28:46 and know the details. 28:47 But for now, they're just saying, "Listen, at some point, 28:49 multiple languages developed and were found within the nations 28:53 and the planet and among humanity, and different nations 28:57 were represented by their various languages. 29:01 And then God backs up in Genesis chapter 11, and He gives us 29:05 further detail on how that took place. 29:08 And so that's why you'll find, even as you read through Genesis 29:10 chapter 10--it can be confusing at first when we say that, when 29:13 we read it, because we would say, "Well, wait a minute. 29:15 Was Moses confused? 29:16 Did he forget when he wrote Genesis 10 that, you know, the 29:18 tower of Babel and the confusion of languages didn't exist yet?" 29:21 You know, Genesis 11 starts with the whole earth was of one 29:24 language and of one speech. 29:28 Well, no, Moses already did this once already in Genesis, 29:31 by the way, didn't he? 29:34 Where was the other example? 29:36 What other point did he describe something, and then he backs up 29:38 and gives further detail in the next chapter? 29:42 Genesis chapter--Genesis chapter 1 and 2, the very first two 29:47 chapters, right? 29:48 He goes through the record. 29:50 He goes through the Genesis record--I mean through the 29:51 creation record. 29:53 And as he goes through each day, the 6 days of creation, he comes 29:55 to the climax of the 6th day, and He says, "Let us make man 29:57 in our image. 29:58 And thus He made man and woman in the image of God." 30:03 And then in Genesis 2, he backs up, and then he gives the 30:06 details on how He made Adam and Eve. 30:09 And so then he kind of brings in the magnifying glass in Genesis 30:14 chapter 2 and gives us further details on how that took place. 30:17 And so Genesis 10 and 11 is in that same style. 30:20 And so that can be helpful and avoid some confusion as you're 30:24 studying, perhaps, this for the first time or getting to know it 30:26 just a little bit better. 30:30 Another interesting thing that we find here is Peleg, and Peleg 30:36 in verse 25, and so Genesis chapter 10 and verse 25 it says 30:41 to Eber--and this is one of the sons of Shem. 30:47 Now, remember, Shem is kind of lifted up prophetically in the 30:49 end of Genesis chapter 9 as the most faithful before the Lord 30:55 and gives the biggest and best legacy of faith and truth. 30:59 And so it says, "To Eber were born two sons: and the name of 31:02 one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his 31:05 brother's name was Joktan." 31:07 And so Eber decided to name his son, one of the two sons, Peleg, 31:14 which literally means division. 31:16 Why? 31:17 Because almost for certain, at this point, the tower of Babel, 31:20 the whole project was stymied by the Lord, as He brought in 31:24 supernaturally all kinds of different languages among the 31:27 different groups of people that were building that tower. 31:32 And so there was the division that took place 31:34 among the nations. 31:35 And so we find that that must've took place sometime 31:38 about the time that Eber had one of his first sons. 31:41 And so I find that fascinating, as well. 31:43 Some people have suggested that that may be also the continents 31:46 that were dividing. 31:48 You know, even today, when you look at Europe and North America 31:51 and so on, you know, you bring them together, 31:52 it's kind of a bit of a fairly obvious puzzle piece there. 31:55 They used to be connected. 31:57 Now our evolutionist friends will say, "Yeah, that's right, 31:59 they were. 32:00 You know, but then the earth's crust kind of slowly moved in 32:02 one inch per year. 32:04 It started to separated and now millions of years later, 32:06 we're where we are today." 32:08 But the flood tells us, the Genesis record tells us, no, no, 32:11 no, it wasn't millions of years. 32:13 It was weeks. 32:15 And some have suggested perhaps even years after, there was a 32:19 faster drift that was continuing to take place in those first 32:23 several decades after the flood, as well. 32:26 Ah, it could be. I don't know. 32:28 I wasn't there. 32:31 But it's probably more likely that Peleg is named after the 32:34 division of the nations through the different languages that God 32:37 brought to the tower of Babel. 32:42 All right, and then we come to Genesis chapter 10 and verses 6 32:45 through 11, and it's not in the study quarterly, but, you know, 32:48 I just can't, you know, not look at this. 32:51 This is just so intriguing and key. 32:54 In verse 6 it says, "The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, 32:56 Put, and Canaan." 32:59 Now Canaan's already pointed out. 33:00 We talked about that and its connection, and it certainly 33:02 wasn't a good legacy that Ham left to Canaan, and Canaan left 33:06 to his following generations. 33:08 And the fruit that it bore is--it led to some great 33:11 wickedness and suffering. 33:13 But Cush is no saint, either. 33:18 And so we come to verse 8, as we look at the other son of Ham, 33:22 Cush, and he begets and has a son, and he names 33:25 his son Nimrod. 33:26 So, here we have one of the grandchildren of Noah--or great 33:33 grandchildren--and his name is Nimrod, and he began to 33:37 be a mighty one on the earth. 33:39 Now, Hebrew experts tells us that that "mighty one" 33:43 is referring to one with bold deeds and daring deeds. 33:47 It is also associated with being a tyrant. 33:50 It's not a compliment. 33:53 This is a mighty one in regards to his daringness, his defiance 33:58 before God, and his power. 34:02 You know, the power base that he developed in his generation was 34:06 tremendous, but it wasn't in a godly, and it wasn't in a loving 34:10 way, by any means. 34:12 You know, we have modern examples of that today. 34:14 We have different dictators that are ruling different nations of 34:16 the world today. 34:18 We have some that are causing great suffering. 34:22 We have one individual today that we know of that's causing 34:25 great suffering and destruction upon innocent civilians, even as 34:28 we speak this morning. 34:31 This is a mighty one. 34:33 Is he powerful, the figure that is over in Ukraine 34:36 and Russia today? 34:37 Yes, okay. 34:39 Is he a loving, compassionate, wonderful man? 34:43 No. 34:44 I wouldn't want to be married to him. 34:48 I feel sorry for his wife, his children. 34:55 El Chapo, you know, another individual that we have, you 34:59 know, on the criminal side of things, you know, 35:02 outside of politics, and the government and so on. 35:07 Again, a mighty one, daring, bold. 35:11 But friends, you know, this is not in a complimentary way. 35:19 And so we have different figures. 35:21 And so Nimrod is no saint before the Lord. 35:24 In verse 9, it can be confusing. 35:26 He says he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 35:28 Now, you know, you can get confused because later on we 35:32 read about how the prophet and faithful follower of Christ who 35:35 was a very godly, loving, compassionate, Spirit-filled 35:38 man, King David, he danced before the Lord when he brought 35:42 in the ark, you know, of the covenant into its tabernacle and 35:48 so on, and put it in its rightful spot and place and such 35:51 in Jerusalem. 35:52 And so we find here that David danced before the Lord. 35:56 He was worshiping before the Lord. 35:59 But in this case, it's not Nimrod being faithful before the 36:02 Lord to worship. 36:03 Instead, we find that Nimrod in the original Hebrew and such--in 36:07 fact, the Hebrew experts that translated the Old Testament 36:10 Hebrew of the Old Testament Scriptures into Greek, we call 36:13 that the Septuagint today because Sept means seven, and 36:17 there was like 70--the tradition goes there's 70 Hebrew scholars, 36:21 Greek scholars and Hebrew scholars that came together not 36:24 very long before Jesus was living on the earth, and they 36:27 were rabbis and such and scribes, and they translated the 36:31 Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, because there was a growing 36:34 number of Jews that weren't learning Hebrew, but they knew 36:37 Greek, because Greek was the international language of the 36:39 Roman empire. 36:42 And so they translated the Old Testament Scriptures into Greek. 36:45 And in the Septuagint, when they translated this particular 36:48 verse, they render it, "He began to be a mighty one on the earth. 36:51 He was a mighty hunter against the Lord." 36:55 And that certainly gives us some clarification on that verse 36:58 there, as well. 36:59 "Therefore it was said Nimrod was the mighty hunter 37:02 before the Lord." 37:03 Now, Nimrod went on to develop the city of Babel or Babel and 37:10 in the land of Shinar. 37:12 And so we find here that Nimrod is one of the leaders in this 37:15 rebellious, defiant project called the tower of Babel. 37:20 And not only is there the tower of Babel; but as we're going to 37:22 find out in Genesis chapter 11, that is also a city that 37:26 developed at the same time. 37:28 So, it wasn't just a tower that they were also blueprinting and 37:31 starting to develop, but it was also a city. 37:37 And so we find there some of the foundations 37:39 that were being laid. 37:40 Later on, in verse 11 in Genesis 10, it says, "And from that land 37:43 he went to Assyria and built Nineveh." 37:46 Now, Nineveh, again, became a longstanding--for centuries, it 37:51 became a longstanding enemy of God, a center of wickedness and 37:56 sinfulness and false religion of all different kinds, just like 38:00 the tower, just like the city of Babel or Babylon, as the Greek 38:04 rendition eventually was adopted; and, of course, 38:08 we're most familiar with the name Babylon. 38:11 And, of course, that means confusion, pointing not only to 38:15 the origins of the confusion that God brought through the 38:18 different languages that He confused, the different people 38:21 groups with, but also the religious confusion that 38:24 developed in the ancient city of Babylon, because Babylon became 38:27 known--in fact, you know, the Babylonians, by the way, didn't 38:31 name their own city. 38:32 Nimrod didn't choose Babylon--or in their case, Babel--as their 38:37 name for the city. 38:39 That's what God inspired the Hebrew prophets to label it as. 38:43 But when you went to the city or you looked at the map of their 38:45 day, it didn't say Babylon or Babel. 38:48 It actually said Babilu, B-A-B-I-L-U, Babilu. 38:53 And so in the language of the Babylonians, the Mesopotamians, 38:57 that actually meant the door to the gods or the gate 39:00 of the gods. 39:03 You know, and again that's very fitting in the fact that they 39:07 prided themselves as being the center of religion, 39:11 the center of the gods. 39:12 This is the greatest, most powerful connection to the gods. 39:16 And, of course, they were all false gods. 39:18 They were all fictitious gods, but this was the center of 39:21 confusion in regards to religious things. 39:24 Okay, so now we go on to Genesis chapter 11, and we pick up 39:27 that--we pick that up in verse 11--sorry, chapter 11, verse 1, 39:32 it says, "Now the whole earth was of one language 39:36 and of one speech." 39:38 So, again, God is clarifying, led us to know that, you know, 39:41 for the first several hundred years, over 1,000 years, over 39:47 1,500 years, there was only one language that was spoken 39:51 throughout all of humanity. 39:52 In verse 2 it says, "And it came to pass, as they journeyed from 39:54 the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, 39:58 and they dwelt there." 39:59 That's modern Iraq today. 40:02 You know, this is where the Babylon that many of us are 40:04 familiar with, where King Nebuchadnezzar ruled from, 40:08 the golden city that ruled the empire, that was the world 40:11 empire for many centuries, you know, that ruled in that part 40:14 of the world. 40:16 This is the same Babylon, the same plain. 40:21 "And then they said to one another, 'Come and let us make 40:24 bricks and bake them thoroughly.' 40:26 And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 40:29 And they said, 'Come, let us build a city for ourselves. 40:34 Let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top 40:38 is in the heavens. 40:39 Let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad over 40:44 the face of the whole earth.'" 40:45 And so, this is a very defiant and rebellious statement 40:48 that is being quoted here by Nimrod and by Canaan 40:53 and probably by Ham, as well. 40:57 We have this lineage, this legacy that is starting to 40:59 develop, and it tells us that the bulk of humanity that 41:03 existed back then fell into place, fell into their 41:07 leadership, and they said, "Hey listen, we need to be able to 41:09 make a name for ourselves. 41:13 Let's build ourselves a city, a tower whose tops 41:14 is in the heavens." 41:16 Now why do you suppose they would want a tower that would go 41:18 all the way to the heavens? 41:20 It's a little bit different than ours today. 41:21 You know, we still have this competition a little bit, this 41:23 unsaid silent competition between the nations. 41:26 You know, the Empire State Building went up, and then the 41:29 Twin Towers, and then we had, you know, Dubai come along and 41:32 say, "Well, we're gonna outdo that." 41:33 And they built the longest--you know, the highest tower and 41:36 building in the world. 41:37 And now somebody just told me the other day that Dubai 41:40 has part 2 now. 41:41 So, Dubai was looking and said, "Well, there's gonna be somebody 41:44 that's gonna pop up somewhere and say, 'We've gotta outdo 41:46 Dubai,' and so let's get ahead of them.'" 41:48 And I don't know if that's the conversation 41:50 or not, but I'm guessing. 41:51 And so they built another one that's even higher. 41:53 So, they outdid themselves before somebody else could, 41:56 you know. 41:57 And I'm guessing that there is some very real pride behind some 42:00 of that and not what we would probably godly pride, 42:04 but it is fascinating to see some of these buildings. 42:07 But this was one that they wanted to get up into the clouds 42:10 to because the clouds was the culprit. 42:14 You know, they looked--and, of course, we have to remember that 42:16 years have gone by, maybe decades, 42:19 likely decades have gone by. 42:20 Because as we come to Peleg again in chapter 2, the son of 42:23 Eber and so on, you know, this is more than a couple 42:26 of years down the road. 42:27 And so, you know, the devil's brought in all kinds of 42:29 theories, like he does today, you know, convincing people that 42:32 there is no God, that this was all a natural occurrence. 42:35 It's just nature doing its thing. 42:37 There was climate change that started to take place, and the 42:41 temperature changes, and the carbon dioxide levels started to 42:44 change, and then suddenly rain appeared in these clouds that 42:47 we'd never seen before. 42:49 Rain came down and flooded the earth for a time, and it's just 42:52 an occurrence of nature. 42:55 So, if we could just get up into the clouds--first of all, 42:57 if it happens again, we have an escape route. 43:00 And number two, if we can get up there where the culprit is, 43:03 these mysterious weird clouds that are forming rain, and they 43:05 continue to bring rain, maybe, you know, we can figure out what 43:10 caused the rain in the first place, 43:11 so we can control that rain. 43:14 And so we have all of this kind of, you know, implied--and 43:20 for me, it's a very clear way. 43:22 "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top 43:25 is in the heavens. 43:27 Let us make a name for ourselves." 43:28 And so you can see that kind of satanic, it's kind of Luciferian 43:33 mindset, you know. 43:34 "I will be like the Most High," as Lucifer eventually 43:38 came to say. 43:40 And so it was a very heady--it's a very heady statement 43:42 in verse 4. 43:44 "But the Lord came down to see the men of the tower, 43:46 which the sons of men had built. 43:48 And the Lord said, 'Indeed the people are one, and they all 43:51 have one language, and this is what they will begin to do. 43:54 Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them." 44:00 And so, of course, God is rightly concerned 44:01 as He looks down. 44:03 And He says, "Indeed the people are all one. 44:05 They're all one language, and they're working together very, 44:08 very effectively. 44:10 We have some power mongers down there that are kind 44:14 of taking the reins." 44:16 And that's another insight that I found fascinating, as well, is 44:20 back in chapter 10 and verse 10 it says, "In the beginning his 44:23 kingdom--" That's Nimrod. 44:24 His kingdom was Babel, Erech, Acca, Accad, Calneh, in the land 44:28 of Shinar, and then later Nineveh. 44:31 This is the first record of somebody on earth taking the 44:35 prerogative of being a king, a monarch, you know, with absolute 44:39 power, the final say. 44:42 And so under this new defiant form of government called a 44:49 monarchy, with Nimrod at its head and such, we find that 44:54 there's this city and this tower, this great project of 44:57 defiance and rebellion that is underway. 45:01 And when mankind comes together, and they cooperate, we can do 45:05 amazing things, cant' we? 45:08 I mean, we've got space shuttles now that are going out and 45:11 traveling through space in ways that we couldn't imagine 45:13 100 years ago. 45:16 You know, so we're capable of amazing, amazing 45:20 accomplishments, even in spite of our language differences, 45:23 even in spite of our culture differences, even in spite of 45:25 the fact that we continue to have animosity, and wars, 45:29 and at national levels, at group levels, gang levels, family 45:34 levels, individual levels. 45:36 Even then, we are accomplishing things that we could hardly 45:39 but imagine that we could accomplish 100 years ago. 45:42 So, imagine if we were all of one mind, all under one 45:44 leadership, one government, and one language. 45:49 And not only that, but you have to remember that we deteriorated 45:52 for the last 4,000--this is 4,500 years later. 45:54 Your mind and my mind is not nearly as bright and sharp. 45:57 And not only that, but we can't live very long anymore. 46:01 And so if you make it to 100, you're doing 46:03 extraordinarily well. 46:05 And so even if you absorb like a sponge as much as you can over 46:08 the next 100 years of your life, you still can't absorb nearly as 46:12 much information as somebody that could that lived four, 46:15 five, six, seven hundred years long. 46:18 And so not only did they have more time to accumulate 46:20 information, but they could hold it there way better 46:24 because their mind hadn't deteriorated nearly as much. 46:26 And so their intellect was genius. 46:29 And so you put that together under one leadership. 46:31 God knew that we would self-destruct way before the 46:38 Messiah would come and this great controversy played out in 46:40 the way that God knew He needed to. 46:42 And so because of that, He looked down and He says, "If we 46:45 don't do something now, nothing will be withheld from them. 46:49 They're gonna accomplish things that they should never be able 46:51 to accomplish at this point in history." 46:54 And so God had to slow down the progress of mankind. 46:59 He had to slow it down, and so He put on the brakes. 47:02 And, of course, many of us know the story. 47:04 In verse 7, it says, "Come, let us go down there 47:08 and confuse their language, that they may not understand 47:11 another's speech." 47:12 And so Moses talks about God coming down. 47:14 Of course, this is implying very clearly that Moses understood 47:17 that God is the maker of the universe. 47:20 He is sovereign. 47:21 He is the one that calls the shots, even though sometimes 47:23 we think we do. 47:24 And there's more than one politician that think they do. 47:29 But it's really God that calls the shots. 47:32 God's the one that's sovereign. 47:33 He always has the last word, and this is just another 47:37 demonstration of that. 47:38 "Let us go down." 47:39 There's the plurality of the Trinity there. 47:41 God is talking to himself, once again, just like He did 47:43 when He created Adam and Eve. 47:45 He said, "Let us make man in our image." 47:47 We have that plurality. 47:50 We have that Trinity that is being revealed there. 47:53 God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. 47:55 And as the three are talking amongst themselves, the eternal 47:58 Godhead, they go down and confuse the language that they 48:01 may not understand each other's speech. 48:04 "And so the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the 48:06 earth, and they ceased building the city. 48:08 And therefore the name is called Babel because the Lord confused 48:11 the language of the earth." 48:13 And so again, that's what the Hebrews and God named it. 48:15 It's not what the actual--of course, it wouldn't make sense 48:19 that they would give their own name a derogatory 48:22 name like confusion. 48:24 But rather, instead, they called it Babilu. 48:28 Well, that's it for the time that we 48:29 have here today, friends. 48:31 It was good to be able to visit and study with you. 48:33 And don't forget, if you haven't taken advantage of our free gift 48:36 offer, if you joined our program after it already began and you 48:39 missed the free gift offer in the beginning, 48:40 I want to make that available to you, 48:42 and it's called, "The Coming One World," 48:46 "The Coming One World," written by one of my friends, 48:48 Gary Gibbs. 48:50 He used to work for Amazing Facts many years ago. 48:52 And so take advantage of that. 48:54 Just dial into the number, 1-866-788=3966 and ask 49:00 for offer number 138. 49:03 And the screen is also revealing that you can text the code 49:05 SH076, and you want to dial that to the number 40544. 49:12 Now, friends, there's also a website that you can get if 49:15 you're outside of North America and you'd like to be able to 49:18 make that available to you. 49:19 You'll see it on the screen there. 49:21 Please take advantage of that. 49:22 It's nice to visit with you, and we look forward 49:24 to seeing you next week. 49:29 announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 49:31 free resource. 49:32 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail; you can 49:35 download a digital copy straight to your computer 49:37 or mobile device. 49:38 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 49:42 the key word on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 49:46 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the digital 49:49 download option on the request page. 49:52 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word 49:55 with Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, 49:58 and most important, to share it with others. 50:03 ♪♪♪ 50:07 Bill: I went to church as a child, I think more out of 50:09 because that's what you did. 50:11 So, I became an altar boy because it looked cool. 50:15 It was very ritualistic, which was fascinating to me. 50:18 There was a pattern and a process to it, and you got to be 50:21 out in front of all those people and just do something. 50:23 After that, we moved away. 50:25 I never really went to church again. 50:27 As I became a teenager, drifted away from church, never believed 50:31 in God, never thought about God. 50:33 Got through high school, did pretty good. 50:35 Began hanging out with the wrong people, doing things I shouldn't 50:37 have been doing, just involved in doing drugs, doing 50:41 recreational drugs, sometimes more than recreational drugs. 50:45 And from that, I knew I needed some discipline in my life, 50:47 and I joined the U.S. Navy, 50:49 and I thought that would change my life. 50:51 And in some ways, it did, but I still had that big hole. 50:54 I was still looking to fill it. 50:55 I now had direction, and I had discipline in my life. 50:58 I learned a trade, but I never found God. 51:00 The circumstances never led me to God. 51:03 I got married while I was in the Navy. 51:05 I married a naval officer. 51:07 We married and had a son together. 51:08 We didn't go to church. 51:10 God was not a part of our lives, and it reflected in our lives, 51:13 and it ended up in a failed marriage for a lot of reasons. 51:16 Got in a second failed marriage. 51:18 We didn't have God in that marriage. 51:19 And then met my current wife. 51:21 From a career perspective, I was doing what I loved. 51:24 I'd found this job. It was great. 51:26 I loved what I did. 51:28 I felt I was good at it, and that filled part of the hole, 51:31 but there was still a big hole in there that was empty, 51:34 and I didn't understand why it was empty. 51:37 I just knew there was an emptiness inside of me. 51:39 Package showed up one day, and I opened it, and it was a bunch of 51:42 DVDs and a Bible study guide, and it was Doug Batchelor. 51:46 And we had nothing else to do, so we started watching the DVDs, 51:49 and I was absolutely engrossed in it. 51:52 It was fascinating to me. 51:53 I was hearing things I had never heard, and I learned more in 51:56 that two or three weeks it took us to do those than I had in my 52:00 whole life, and it was amazing. 52:02 Nobody talked about prophecy. Nobody talked about Revelation. 52:06 Nobody really talked about the Sabbath. 52:08 And so it was fascinating to me. 52:10 And as I learned more, I wanted to know more. 52:12 The Amazing Facts website was phenomenal. 52:14 I was able to go through that. 52:16 I could find studies on the Sabbath. 52:17 I could find studies on prophecy. 52:19 And taking this journey hand in hand and going through it 52:22 together, it was amazing for us and what it did for our marriage 52:26 and for our life. 52:27 And then the next thing I know, I'm getting baptized. 52:30 Then I became a Sabbath School reader for that class and 52:33 continue to teach to this day. 52:35 I'm able to take that information, the resources, 52:38 the links, and provide that to others and start multiplying 52:41 that effort out. 52:43 Without Amazing Facts, I don't think I would've 52:44 gotten to this point. 52:48 My name is Bill. Thank you for changing my life. 52:52 ♪♪♪ 53:00 ♪♪♪ 53:02 announcer: "Amazing Facts, Changed Lives." 53:11 male: My greatest wish is that my children will see me 53:16 the way I see my own father. 53:22 He's a very devoted man, and that kind of framed my childhood 53:27 going forward from there, where I was always involved in church 53:31 work, and I had a very rich experience with the Lord 53:35 at a young age, all the way up through college. 53:40 Then after I got married, I got in a company called Comcast, and 53:46 I spent the past roughly 8.5 years, 9 years at Comcast, 53:52 and I was actually watching television with my son, and a 53:57 Comcast commercial came on the air, and he said, 54:01 "Oh, Daddy, that's Comcast. 54:03 That's where you work, Daddy." 54:07 And most fathers would be proud of something like that, but it 54:10 really struck me that, you know, my son's getting older, and he 54:15 does not see me as a servant of the Lord. 54:17 He sees me as a servant of my company. 54:20 And I knew that I would have to make some changes, 54:25 because I wanted him to know me as a man of God. 54:31 I never thought I would be a preacher or anything like that, 54:34 but I knew that there was room in the work for me and for my 54:40 talents, and I wanted my son to see me operating in the work. 54:48 That's when I knew that my time there was coming to an end. 54:52 I was sitting in my office one day, and I was kneeling 54:55 in prayer. 54:57 I said, "God, you know, show me what you want me to do, because, 55:01 you know, it seems like a big move here." 55:04 And, you know, everyone's thinking I'm crazy. 55:09 And I don't know exactly how, you know, things are gonna go 55:16 if they don't go well. 55:19 A crazy thought when you're thinking about God. 55:23 And I lifted my head up in prayer, and there were just like 55:28 a flock of, I don't know, maybe 300 birds that were just flying, 55:35 and they were swooping down over the water, and they would fly 55:39 back up, and then they would chase each other around and, you 55:43 know, I was just looking at the pattern of the giant flock. 55:46 And the promise of the Lord came to me where He says that, you 55:51 know, He takes care of the sparrows. 55:54 And you don't see them worrying about how they are going to be 55:58 taken care of from day to day. 56:00 You know, they don't, you know, wring their hands wondering, you 56:04 know, will there be any worms to eat tomorrow? 56:07 And that promise really stood out to me. 56:11 You know, He said, "How much more do I love you? 56:15 You know, I'm not gonna send you on a mission to do my work and 56:19 leave you high and dry. 56:21 Because you claim to be my child, you claim to be my son, 56:25 and everyone knows that." 56:28 That assurance allows me to know that whatever happens here, 56:33 whatever happens after here, we're sons of God, and there are 56:40 certain things that we shouldn't worry about. 56:42 From the day we arrived at AFCOE, it's been obvious that 56:48 God has blessed the Amazing Facts Ministry, the AFCOE 56:52 program, and I will be using my AFCOE experience, no matter 56:58 where I go to reach people, because the personal touch of 57:03 face to face evangelism, speaking and sharing the Word of 57:08 God out of your own mouth, there's no replacement for that, 57:13 and Amazing Facts has been very instrumental in helping me find 57:20 the area of the work of God and showing me how large 57:24 and how broad it is. 57:26 It's been a tremendous blessing to be in a place where we're 57:30 around people seeking to do God's will and listening for His 57:35 voice in their life. 57:36 And that's very, very important today. 57:40 ♪♪♪ 57:47 announcer: Together, we have spread the gospel much farther 57:50 than ever before. 57:52 Thank you for your support. 57:54 ♪♪♪ 58:01 ♪♪♪ 58:11 ♪♪♪ 58:21 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2022-04-21