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00:01 Doug Batchelor: Hi, friends. Pastor Doug Batchelor.
00:03 I have a very important announcement 00:05 I'd like to share with you. 00:07 About 25 years ago, even more than that, Amazing Facts began 00:11 broadcasting our Sabbath School Study Hour programs. 00:15 Now, we initially did this as a service for the church because, 00:18 well, there were very few churches back then that were 00:20 media-ready to do programs like that. 00:23 In the intervening years, hundreds of churches and 00:26 ministries have been able to start recording and 00:29 producing Sabbath School Study programs. 00:32 Well, right now, we'd like to put our energy into doing things 00:35 that are more evangelistic and so, beginning July, this year, 00:39 2022, we're only going to be providing our Sabbath School 00:42 program on our streaming sites, social media, like Facebook and 00:47 YouTube, as well as the Granite Bay Hilltop website. 00:50 We've got some new things planned during the regular slot 00:53 where we've been airing the Sabbath School Study times on 00:57 Hope Channel, 3ABN, and AFTV, and we want to do all we can to 01:02 be as innovative and fresh as we can, to be 01:04 evangelistic and reach as many as we can. 01:07 And so, once again, if you want to see the Sabbath School Study 01:11 Hour, it will be broadcasting on the Granite Bay Hilltop website, 01:15 but on our stations, our partner stations like Hope Channel and 01:19 3ABN, we're going to be having some new programs for you. 01:22 Thank you so much for your continued prayers 01:24 and support of Amazing Facts as we move forward 01:27 together in sharing the good news. 01:30 ♪♪♪ 01:35 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io 01:40 ♪♪♪ 01:50 ♪♪♪ 02:00 ♪♪♪ 02:06 Shawn Brummund: Hello, and welcome to the Sabbath School 02:08 Study Hour right here in the Granite Bay Seventh-day 02:10 Adventist Church in the Greater Sacramento area of California. 02:14 My name is Pastor Shawn Brummund and it is my privilege 02:17 both to host and--both to host as well as to be 02:19 able to teach our lesson here today. 02:22 We are coming to the very last lesson 02:24 of this particular quarter of the year. 02:28 And we are finishing up our study in the book of Genesis. 02:33 So I hope you have your Bibles with you because 02:35 this is a Bible study, as well as your Quarterly, 02:38 if you have a copy of that as well. 02:41 Just want to give a special welcome to everybody that is 02:44 watching as far as our online members across the country, 02:47 different people around the world, and also 02:50 those who are friends of our church 02:52 here, in different parts of the world as well. 02:54 It is just such a privilege to be able to come together on this 02:57 particular morning as we continue to study God's Word. 03:02 Before we invite our musicians out to lead us out in song and 03:05 worship, I just want to invite you to take advantage of a free 03:08 gift offer that we have for you here today. 03:11 It's entitled, "The Culture and Christian," "The Culture and the 03:16 Christian," and it's written by Joe Crews, the founder of 03:18 Amazing Facts Ministries, and all you have to do 03:21 is dial 1-866-788-3966. 03:25 Now, that's mailed out to all those who are in the US, or 03:28 US--North America, I should say, as well as the US Territories, 03:32 and you just ask for Free Offer Number 143. 03:37 And again, that's 1-866-788-3966. 03:41 If you want a free digital download and you live in the 03:44 United States, you can go ahead and text the code, "SH020," 03:49 and you want to dial that to 40544. 03:53 Now, if you're not in America and you still want a free 03:56 digital download of that, that is also available 03:58 on a website that we have available for 04:01 anybody that has Internet access. 04:03 You just simply go to study.aftv.org/SH020. 04:12 Again, that's study.aftv.org/SH020. 04:18 We'll be happy to be able to get that out to you. 04:20 Very good read, very important, especially today, as the culture 04:23 is deteriorating at a rate that I think anybody in my lifetime 04:28 has ever seen and so we want to be able to see how 04:31 can we stay faithful to the Lord, what 04:33 does the Lord have for us in that counsel. 04:36 And so, nice to see you, good morning. 04:37 Nice to have you with us here this morning 04:39 as we study the book of Genesis. 04:41 We're going to ask the Lord to be with 04:42 us in prayer, first thing. 04:44 Father in heaven, we want to thank You so much for the 04:46 opportunity to be able to study Your Word. 04:49 I thank You so much for Your church. 04:51 I thank You so much that I can count myself a member 04:54 and family member of Your Church, Lord. 04:57 And God, I want to thank You for the privilege of being able to 05:00 serve Your Church and each and every person and interested 05:02 friend that might be watching here today. 05:05 I want to pray that Your Holy Spirit will do 05:06 its special work that I could never do. 05:09 And God, I want to pray that You will teach us, that You fulfill 05:12 Your promise that when Your Spirit comes to all the sincere 05:15 in heart, that You will guide us and lead us into all truth. 05:19 And so we ask for that again, even right now. 05:21 In Jesus's name we pray these things, God, amen. 05:26 All right, friends, I want to invite you to go with me, not to 05:28 the book of Genesis, but to the book of Hebrews. 05:31 We're going to start our lesson study here by reviewing a little 05:33 bit of the highlights of one of my favorite chapters in the 05:36 Bible, which is Hebrews chapter 11. 05:39 And in the book of Hebrews, the apostle Paul is inspired and led 05:42 by God to do a little bit of review of a family tree that we 05:47 have been studying in detail for the last couple of months now, 05:51 and it's the most important family tree that we can find in, 05:56 not only all the Bible, but in all of history, all of mankind. 06:00 There is no more important family tree than the family tree 06:02 of Abraham and Isaac and then finally, Jacob and his 12 sons. 06:08 And so let's go to Hebrews chapter 12. 06:11 We're going to pick it up with verse 8 through 10 as our first 06:14 spot that we'll look at here together. 06:16 That is Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 8. 06:20 It says, "By faith," this is the great faith chapter. 06:23 Some call it the Hall of Faith. 06:26 "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the 06:29 place which he would receive as an inheritance. 06:32 And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 06:36 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign 06:40 country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, 06:43 the heirs with him of the same promise. 06:46 For he waited for the city which has foundations, 06:50 whose builder and maker is God." 06:53 I just want to invite you to park that in your mind here as 06:55 we move on to verse 13 now in this chapter and also 06:58 into the following chapters in Genesis. 07:01 And where Abraham's mind was, first 07:04 and foremost, throughout his lifetime. 07:06 We're going to go to verse 13 now 07:09 and read through to verse 16. 07:11 In Hebrews 11, verse 13 it says, "These all died in faith, not 07:16 having received the promises, but having seen them afar off 07:21 were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they 07:24 were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 07:28 For those who say such things declare 07:30 plainly that they seek a homeland. 07:33 And truly if they had called to mind that country which they had 07:36 come, they would have had opportunity to return. 07:40 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. 07:46 Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, 07:49 for He has prepared a city for them." 07:53 Now, it's reflecting on the same city again that God had revealed 07:56 to Abraham, and the heavenly country that God 07:58 had revealed to that whole family line. 08:01 Then we go to verse 22 and verse 20--verse 21 and verse 22. 08:07 In verse 21, there's that word again, "By faith Abraham--sorry, 08:12 Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of 08:15 Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff." 08:20 So as we look at the Genesis record shortly after this, I 08:22 just want us to picture Jacob in his dying hours and his last 08:28 breath that he's taking, and he's giving these deep 08:31 prophecies of the future to his sons, and he's sitting on the 08:34 edge of his bed, and even sitting on the edge of his bed, 08:37 he needs to lean on the top of that staff. 08:42 "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the 08:45 departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions 08:49 concerning his bones," his burial. 08:54 And now that we've reviewed this Hall of Faith and reviewed this 08:58 great family and family tree, come with me 09:01 now to Genesis chapter 50 and verse 24. 09:05 So we're going to go back to the book of Genesis that we've been 09:07 studying, and today we're looking at the last five 09:09 chapters, but we're going to start our study by looking at 09:12 the very last verses of the last chapter of Genesis. 09:20 So we're going to verse 24 and it says, "And Joseph said to his 09:24 brethren, 'I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring 09:30 you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to 09:33 Isaac, and to Jacob.' 09:36 And then Jacob took an oath from the 09:38 children of Israel, saying, 'God will surely visit you, and you 09:43 shall carry up my bones from here.' 09:46 And so Joseph died, being 110 years old; and they embalmed 09:51 him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." 10:02 Now, Joseph was the second oldest of all 10:04 the 12 sons of Jacob, was he not? 10:07 There's only one younger than him, and his name was Benjamin. 10:11 Okay, many of you know the story. 10:13 All right, so Joseph was, by far, one of the youngest 10:15 brothers and one of the youngest sons of Jacob. 10:18 And so, when we read those last verses of Genesis and we find 10:22 there those last dying words of Joseph before he gives up the 10:26 ghost, as we say, we find there that he is almost for certain 10:34 one of the last ones, if not the last one to die. 10:36 Now, Benjamin may be alive still, we don't have that 10:39 record, but we know that Joseph's older 10:41 brothers most likely had already passed away. 10:44 His father certainly had passed away 50-something years before 10:47 that, and so there's a very high chance that he was the last one, 10:51 if not very close to being the last of this great family tree 10:56 to pass away and go to their rest. 10:59 The ending--and so when we come to the close of Genesis, it's 11:01 really the ending of the fourth generation. 11:04 The four great generations that are found first in Abraham, and 11:08 then in Isaac, then in Jacob, and then in Jacob's 12 sons. 11:13 Now, those 12 sons, of course, as many if not all of us know, 11:15 were eventually to become the 12 tribes of God's 11:19 country, the country of Israel that was named 11:21 after that new name of Jacob himself. 11:25 Now, I think it's important for us to understand that long 11:28 before Jacob and Joseph's death ever came to be, God had already 11:32 let them in on the fact that it would be several 11:34 hundred years before their descendants would 11:38 inherit the Promised Land of Canaan. 11:42 I want to bring us back to Genesis chapter 15 because in 11:45 Genesis chapter 15, verses 13 to 15, we find there that there is 11:50 recorded one of those prophetic encounters that the first of his 11:53 family tree encountered with God, and that is Abraham. 11:58 His name was Abram originally, and as God was speaking to him 12:01 in one of those very first prophetic encounters, God had 12:06 made and cut a very deep covenant with Abraham. 12:10 And as He was doing that, He told Abraham some information 12:14 that must have been very overwhelming for Abraham, and 12:18 not only for him but I would say also for his later descendants. 12:23 God says to him, "Know certainly that your descendants will be 12:26 strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and 12:30 they will afflict them 400 years. 12:35 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward 12:38 they shall come out," and there's that promise. 12:42 God says, "Listen, it's going to be a long haul. 12:44 As your descendants multiply and become more than just a large 12:48 family," as it was, 70 of them entered into Egypt as we read 12:52 the last chapters of Genesis, "but they will become 12:54 2 to 3 million, and then after that, find 12:57 themselves in the millions upon millions." 13:00 And so God confirms His promise again. 13:02 He says, "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; 13:06 and afterward they shall come out with great possession. 13:08 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; 13:11 you shall be buried at a good old age." 13:15 And so God reveals a couple of important pieces of information 13:18 with Abraham early on in his ministry and in his pilgrimage. 13:22 And that is, number one, that he won't live to see the full 13:26 inheritance of the Promised Land in this world. 13:29 Thus we find as we read in Hebrews that Abraham's mind was, 13:33 yes, on the Promised Land and the descendants and the nation 13:37 that would develop called Israel in this world, but even bigger 13:40 than that, he was looking forward to a heavenly country. 13:43 He was looking forward to a city that was built without hands, a 13:47 city that the Lord Himself would be a builder of. 13:49 God had revealed to Abraham that indeed this world would be 13:53 something that is temporary and that he would not actually 13:56 witness the fulfillment of the Promised Land being 13:59 fully owned by him and his descendants. 14:03 Not only that, but his descendants's descendants 14:05 and his descendants's descendants's 14:07 descendants would not see that as well. 14:09 It would be 400 years as they multiplied before they inherited 14:14 the Promised Land, before they developed this earthly country 14:19 that was to be the light to the world of all nations. 14:26 What are the odds that Abraham shared 14:27 that truth with his son Isaac? 14:32 Pretty great, isn't it? I would say it's very high. 14:34 In fact, I would put my money on 100% that Abraham would have 14:38 shared with his prophetic, and isn't it interesting, you know, 14:41 as I reflected upon this again this morning, 14:42 as I've been poring over these chapters over 14:45 this week, is that what a lineage. 14:48 I mean, you have Abraham, a prophet, 14:51 prophet of God, multiple visions. 14:53 Then you have his son Isaac, 14:54 prophet of God, multiple visions. 14:56 Then you have his son Jacob, 14:57 prophet of God, multiple visions. 15:00 And even Joseph was a prophet and 15:03 received information directly from God, 15:06 interpretations of dreams and so on. 15:08 And so we have this deep, spiritual, 15:12 prophetic family tree and family of God. 15:16 Now, were they perfect in any--by any means? 15:18 No. 15:20 Did they grow as they learned through 15:22 their disobedience at different times? 15:24 Yes, they did. 15:26 And so we find all kinds of important 15:29 lessons that we've picked up on that. 15:30 But you know, coming back to Abraham, after he received that 15:33 information and then Isaac grew old enough to be able to 15:36 comprehend the great privilege and responsibility and place 15:42 that God had told him that he would be holding in history, 15:46 that Abraham certainly would have shared with Isaac at some 15:48 point in his maturing years that, indeed, that their 15:52 descendants, the descendants of Isaac, would find themselves in 15:55 another land, serving them and being afflicted even for a time 15:59 for 400 years before they became a nation large enough, populated 16:03 enough, to become a nation of their own in the Promised Land. 16:06 And what are the odds of Isaac sharing that with his son Jacob? 16:10 Pretty high. 16:11 I would say probably 100%. 16:14 And so Jacob in his maturing years, whatever year that Isaac 16:18 believed that Jacob was able to be able to comprehend and be 16:20 able to come to grips with the fact that there's a great 16:24 lineage and future ahead of them, but it 16:26 would be a long and difficult haul before they 16:28 actually owned the Promised Land of Canaan. 16:32 What are the odds of Jacob sharing that with his sons? 16:36 Well, that's pretty high as well, isn't it? 16:38 And so Jacob's sons including Joseph would have understood 16:41 that as well and so I think it's easy for us and certainly I 16:44 think until I park in Genesis as long as I have over the last 16:47 three months, that I haven't quite picked up on the fact that 16:50 they were all conscious of the bigger picture 16:52 all the way through their lives, through their 16:54 prophecies, through their struggles in life. 16:57 And thus when we come to Hebrews chapter 11 I think that explains 17:02 again why when we see that review and reflection upon the 17:06 lives of this great family and family tree, that we find that 17:09 their focus is revealed not to be only or even foremost on the 17:15 land of Canaan but beyond that, the heavenly country. 17:20 Beyond that, the city that is made with--by God Himself. 17:23 The eternal kingdom that God has in store beyond 17:26 the land of Canaan and beyond this earth. 17:29 And therefore they're described and understood 17:30 themselves as pilgrims, foreigners, not only in 17:33 the land of Canaan but upon the whole earth. 17:36 And so this is certainly something that has 17:39 helped me as I've reflected upon this truth. 17:44 Now, of course, they understood in this life, in this world, 17:48 that their place and their role is one that was going to usher 17:51 in a very special country that would make up-- 17:54 be made up of their descendants. 17:56 That country was designed to be a light to all nations. 17:59 God had revealed that through his first revelations to the 18:02 prophet Abraham, the grandfather of all this family tree and 18:07 certainly God had said, "And you shall be-- 18:09 your descendants shall be a light to the world. 18:12 They shall be a blessing to all nations." 18:15 And so there's a messianic, prophetic, large, international 18:20 picture that God began to reveal to Abraham as well as to his son 18:25 Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's 12 sons. 18:30 They understood that that country was not to be an 18:32 ordinary country but it was to be a country that was to be a 18:35 light to all nations to introduce and to help all 18:40 nations to be able to understand there is only one true God and 18:43 that one true God loves you with an unending love. 18:47 And that one true God is going to send His Son, His only 18:50 begotten eternal Son, that whoever should believe in Him 18:54 shall not perish, but have eternal life. 18:58 And so they understood the bigger picture in 19:02 this world but also beyond this world as well. 19:06 And we're going to see more of that as we look at 19:08 chapter 50 in a few minutes as we review Jacob's prophecies 19:12 that he had shared with his children there. 19:19 Now this would also--this truth, this context that I've been 19:22 spending a few moments now looking at for us here together 19:26 is a context that also, I think, would best explain 19:29 God's message to Jacob that implied that 19:31 Jacob obviously had some kind of anxiety. 19:34 He was being--he was being challenged with some level of 19:38 fear about moving his whole camp, his entire family, and 19:44 every family member into that foreign country south, out of 19:48 the Promised Land, out of the place in which his 19:54 father, his grandfather had been buried, 19:57 his mother, his grandmother had been buried. 20:01 We find there that Jacob was struggling. 20:03 Let's go to Genesis chapter 46 which is the 20:05 first chapter that we looked at this week. 20:09 And we're going to look at verses 3 through 4. 20:12 Genesis chapter 46, and we're going 20:16 to look at verses 3 through 4. 20:21 In 3 it says, "And He said, 'I am God, the God 20:24 of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, 20:27 for there I will make you a great nation. 20:31 And I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will 20:33 also surely bring you up again; and Joseph 20:36 will put his hands on your eyes.'" 20:38 Now, we have to remember that God gave this 20:40 vision after Jacob had already learned very clearly that the 20:44 son, his favorite son, in whom he thought had been devoured and 20:49 killed by wild predators in the wilderness many years before 20:52 that, some 20 years before that, is now alive. 20:55 And not only is he alive and living in Egypt and doing well, 20:59 but he is the second-most powerful leader and 21:01 person--positioned person in the land of Egypt. 21:04 Now that was no small thing because Egypt was the most 21:07 powerful nation in the entire known world. 21:10 And so this is a huge thing. 21:13 So Joseph is beside himself, you know? 21:15 He's just--he's pinching himself. 21:17 He can't believe that this could hardly come to be. 21:20 And so was he excited to see his son? 21:23 For certain he was excited to see his son. 21:25 He was also learning that he was going to be put up, and his 21:28 family would be put up, in some of the best, most fertile, 21:31 richest land in all of Egypt, to be able to prosper, to feed 21:36 their flocks and their livestock as they were shepherds. 21:39 And so this was important. 21:41 They had also--he also had learned now that they weren't 21:44 going to starve because the famine, even though it is also 21:47 revealed to him is going to extend for several more years 21:50 down the road, that he need not worry about him and his family. 21:53 God was going to feed him and his family for 21:56 the next several years of the famine. 21:57 This is all good news. 22:00 And so one would think that Jacob was nothing but excited 22:03 and full of faith and comfort and reassurance, and 22:09 yet God shows up and says, "Jacob, don't fear. 22:13 Don't be afraid." 22:15 Now, God doesn't tell you and I not to 22:16 be afraid unless we're afraid, right, okay? 22:20 I've never said to my daughter, you know, "Rachel or Ashley, 22:24 don't be afraid," when they're not afraid. 22:27 I always say it when they're afraid. 22:29 And so God is saying to Jacob, "Listen, don't be afraid. 22:31 Go ahead, you can do it. 22:33 Just go down south." 22:35 Now Jacob understood that they were to become 22:37 a nation and another nation in which they 22:39 would be afflicted for 400 years. 22:42 Now, friends, I don't know about you but I wouldn't be all that 22:44 excited about leaving the Promised Land and knowing that 22:47 you're kind of walking into the lion's mouth in one way and so, 22:50 yes, the reception was good, but God had already prophesied to 22:55 that family but it's not always going to stay good. 22:58 And so Jacob must have been a little bit apprehensive 23:01 about that, knowing that information. 23:03 And therefore, God comes in His grace and His graciousness as He 23:06 always does, and He says, "Do not be afraid. 23:09 It's going to be okay, and I'm going to reassure once again 23:13 that your people, your descendants, will come back out 23:16 of Egypt and inherit the Promised Land." 23:22 Now this also may be the reason why God brought 23:24 a famine so severe in the first place. 23:28 It may be that part of the reason--and God also always does 23:30 so many things for multiple reasons because he's such a 23:33 sophisticated and complex, all-knowing, sovereign God, that 23:38 one of the other reasons that He likely brought that famine upon 23:42 the family and upon the land of Canaan and not Egypt was because 23:46 this was kind of a little bit of a boost, you know. 23:49 It's almost like God got behind Jacob's back and kind of pushed 23:52 him a little bit and said, "Listen, I know you're going to 23:54 hesitate and the last thing you want to do is leave the Promised 23:57 Land and know what the future holds from you because I've 24:00 already told you, starting with your grandfather, Abraham. 24:03 But I want you to know that you need to go anyway. 24:06 And just in case you hesitate and you decide otherwise," God 24:10 being sovereign over all the circumstances of things that 24:12 take place upon the earth, He kind of got behind Jacob and 24:15 pushed him and said--Jacob basically knew 24:17 that if he doesn't take his whole family to Egypt, 24:20 they're literally going to starve to death. 24:23 And so it was a matter of survival 24:25 for them to go to the land of Egypt. 24:28 God sometimes pushes us, doesn't He? 24:30 He kind of gets behind us and He kind 24:32 of pushes behind our back, just lightly. 24:34 He doesn't push us over, He doesn't kick us, but He 24:38 sometimes gets behind our back and He just kind of nudges us a 24:40 little bit and says, you know, "I know you're hesitating. 24:42 You're not sure if you should go this way. 24:43 You may even be scared to go in that direction. 24:46 But I'm going to break some circumstances and so on in your 24:48 life that's going to just help you in that direction. 24:52 And certainly I can look back and God has called 24:54 me to do a number of things that came with a 24:56 lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, you know? 24:59 It's like, "Oh, God, this is not me. 25:01 I can't do this," including standing up before an 25:04 audience like this and preaching and teaching. 25:07 I was terrified. I was terrified. 25:11 I mean, the first time I was asked to do a scripture reading, 25:14 maybe I've shared this before, you know. 25:15 First time I was asked to do scripture reading 25:16 was the first time I ever did public speaking. 25:18 I stood in front of the church. 25:19 You know, I could hide behind the pulpit and my knees were 25:22 knocking, literally, but you couldn't tell that part. 25:26 But I couldn't hide my voice, and my voice was 25:27 literally shaking like this... I'm not-- 25:31 I'm barely exaggerating that. Barely exaggerating. 25:35 You could hear the shaking and the 25:36 quivering of my voice as I was speaking. 25:39 God calls us sometimes to do things and go in 25:41 directions that can be very intimidating, and 25:45 very apprehension--cause us to be very apprehensive. 25:48 And I think this is one of those instances. 25:54 When Jacob arrived with his family, the Bible 25:56 goes out of its way to point out that there was 25:58 a total of 70 biological members. 26:00 We find that in the same chapter. 26:02 In verse 27 it says, "And the sons of Joseph who 26:04 were born to him in Egypt were two persons." 26:07 So there's three biological descendants and sons of Jacob 26:12 already in Egypt that preceded the rest of the family. 26:16 And verse 26 told us that there are 66 that were 26:19 still on their way, including Jacob himself. 26:22 And therefore, when we come to the end of verse 27, 26:24 it can rightly say, "All the persons of the house 26:26 of Jacob who went into Egypt were 70." 26:30 Now, 70 is something that many of us, you know, 26:33 that kind of attracts our attention. 26:34 Seventy is not a small number because seven is one of God's 26:38 key biblical numbers that He has revealed. 26:40 It is kind of the ultimate divine number. 26:42 Seven and twelve are the two biggest numbers, twelve 26:45 representing the kingdom of God and then we have seven 26:47 representing God's perfection, completeness, His wholeness. 26:52 When we go to the very first chapter of Genesis we find there 26:54 that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, 26:58 but He didn't stop there, did He? 27:00 Then He blessed and rested and made holy the seventh day and 27:04 said, "Okay, from now on, there is a seven-day weekly cycle." 27:09 And all of mankind has somehow found themselves still operating 27:13 under that perfect weekly cycle of seven. 27:16 So right from the get-go, God has 27:18 revealed there is a completeness. 27:20 There is a fullness, a perfection, 27:22 found in the number seven. 27:24 And so when we find the number 70 we find that reflection of 27:28 the number 7 and as the Quarterly points out, I think 27:32 there's some useful and some legitimate suggestion there by 27:37 God that in Genesis chapter 10 there were 70 nations 27:42 that were listed that represented all of mankind 27:45 in those first generations after the flood. 27:48 And so there's a strong suggestion there that Abraham 27:54 and his family arriving in Egypt, every single 27:57 biological family member of his family. 28:01 It even points out and says his daughters-in-law weren't 28:03 included 'cause they weren't his biological descendants. 28:06 But the fact that there are 70 biological descendants that are 28:10 found in the land of Egypt by Jacob, Israel, that this 28:16 represents the fact that their journey and the implications of 28:21 Jacob, this budding infant of a nation arriving 28:26 in Egypt, represents and has implication 28:28 that affects all the nations of the world. 28:32 And that's why us, in the year 2022 in the United States of 28:35 North America, which they didn't even know existed back then as 28:39 far as a continent and certainly weren't existed as a country 28:42 yet, is also included in the implications. 28:45 The implications and the results of Jacob's life and his son's 28:49 life directly reflect your life and mine. 28:54 And so there's some deep symbolism there in the numbers 28:57 that are being thrown around here in the book of Genesis, and 29:00 I think this is certainly one of them. 29:03 When we come to chapter 47, that chapter's highlight there is 29:07 when the 5 brothers of Joseph and, of course, 29:10 the father of those 12 brothers, including Joseph-- 29:14 Jacob have a personal meeting with Pharaoh. 29:17 Now, the Bible doesn't explain why. 29:19 It's probably a matter of logistics and so on, but Joseph 29:22 chose five men from among his brothers to come in. 29:26 So we have five brothers plus Joseph, so there's six. 29:29 Half of the brothers. 29:31 I don't know, maybe Joseph didn't want to 29:32 overwhelm the Pharaoh or--I'm not sure. 29:34 It doesn't explain why. 29:35 But Joseph first introduces half of his--there's five of his 29:39 brothers, Joseph being the sixth, and introduces them and 29:43 asks for an official blessing and confirmation 29:46 that they can dwell in the land of Egypt, his country, 29:51 Pharaoh's country, in the land of Goshen. 29:54 And Pharaoh, very graciously, offers it to him. 29:58 This is a much different pharaoh than the pharaoh that is 30:01 introduced in Exodus which is two or three pharaohs later when 30:05 we come to the next book of the Bible. 30:07 This one is a very gracious king. 30:11 He is obviously one that is very open to the God of Joseph. 30:15 We don't know if he died a saved man. 30:17 There is a high chance that he would have. 30:21 He had experienced a prophetic dream 30:24 from the true God of heaven. 30:26 The land of the goats--I mean, no, not the land of them but he 30:29 had the corn and the cows, the two dreams that he had received, 30:32 you know, that represented the seven years of 30:35 plenty in the land of Egypt, which would be 30:37 followed by seven years of severe famine. 30:41 Joseph didn't make that up, and certainly the Pharaoh didn't, 30:43 but the Pharaoh received it, just very much like 30:45 Nebuchadnezzar who eventually gave his heart to the Lord. 30:48 And so here we have the Pharaoh. 30:50 He's obviously a very gracious king. 30:52 He's one that is very open to the God of Joseph because of his 30:57 experiences with God, and also revealed because of his very 31:01 amiable relationship with Joseph who is a very faithful, devout, 31:06 exclusive worshiper of the God of Israel and the God 31:11 of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob alone. 31:14 And so, Joseph was faithful all of those years, 31:17 and Pharaoh was okay with that. 31:21 And so Pharaoh was--it's not surprising to find here that the 31:24 king had graciously offered them the best of the land in regards 31:28 to feeding their livestock and then also asked them and said to 31:33 Joseph, "Oh, and by the way, the most competent among your 31:35 brothers, can you please assign them even to be the chief 31:38 herdsmen of my herds, of the royal herds." 31:41 And it doesn't give us the details of how many 31:43 actually took him up on that, but certainly the 31:46 Pharaoh wanted to plug in on that as well. 31:50 And then, of course, Dad comes in. 31:52 So Joseph then goes ahead and ushers his dad, Jacob, in. 31:55 Now Jacob is 130 years old at this point. 31:58 He's only 13 years away for--17 years away from 32:01 the end of his life, and so he's a senior. 32:04 And as he makes his way into the room, 32:07 Pharaoh asks, "How old are you?" 32:09 And Jacob responds and in a short answer he says, 32:12 "I'm 137--" no, 100 and, no, what is it? 32:18 It's 130, 130 years. 32:21 Yeah, 'cause he died at 147. 32:23 So he's 130 years old. 32:25 And so then it tells us, as we read--let's go ahead and read 32:29 those verses, verses 5 through 9. 32:33 In verse 5 it says, "Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, 32:35 'Your father and your brothers have come to you. 32:38 The land of Egypt is before you. 32:40 Have your fathers and brothers dwell in the land--the best of 32:42 the land; and let them dwell in the land of Goshen. 32:44 And if you have any competent men among them, make them the 32:47 chief herdsmen among my livestock.' 32:49 And then Joseph brought his father Jacob and set him before 32:53 Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 32:56 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, 'How old are you?' 32:59 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, 'The days of 33:02 the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years; 33:05 few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and 33:09 they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of 33:11 my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.'" 33:13 And so Jacob, as he comes to 130 years old, 33:16 knows that he's not going to approach the later years 33:19 as Abraham, his grandfather, and his father had 33:21 reached several decades older than Jacob was able to achieve. 33:27 And that's probably most likely because Jacob 33:29 went through a lot of years of suffering. 33:31 Those 20 years aged him prematurely, almost for 33:35 certainly, very greatly because when he was serving his Uncle 33:38 Laban, because when we come to the last conversation that is 33:41 recorded between Jacob and Laban, we find 33:45 that Jacob went through a lot of hard times 33:47 and those hard times probably took their toll. 33:51 Many people ask themselves, "Well, how in the world would a 33:54 pagan heathen king, the pharaoh of Egypt, open himself up and be 34:00 receptive to a blessing from this Hebrew man 34:04 that he had never met before, this stranger, 34:07 this shepherd, the father of Joseph?" 34:10 And that's not an unusual question. 34:12 I can remember asking myself the same thing, questioning, 34:14 scratching my head and say, "Wait a minute. 34:16 Pharaoh's not a worshiper of God. 34:19 He's the--in fact, he's recognized as one of the gods of 34:21 Egypt in the false religions that were existing there." 34:25 But again, as I shared earlier, we have to remember the history 34:28 that is taking place with this pharaoh. 34:30 He's very open and receptive. 34:32 Doesn't say that he's fully converted, but he's certainly 34:34 not antagonistic against the true God. 34:36 In fact, I'm sure that he believes in the existence, at 34:38 minimum, the existence and the power that is found in the God 34:43 of Joseph, because remember, it was God's--Joseph's God, it was 34:46 Jacob's God, that had saved his country. 34:49 Pharaoh knows that he would be destitute and starving with the 34:52 rest of Egypt and like all the nations around 34:54 him, if it weren't for the God of Jacob. 34:57 And so, Pharaoh would very naturally, in fact, it would 35:00 make more sense to be--for him to be open to the blessing of 35:03 Jacob because of all that Jacob represents. 35:07 Pharaoh recognizes that Joseph is a prophet of the true God of 35:10 Israel, and we also can see that Pharaoh would recognize that 35:15 Jacob is also a prophet, as Joseph probably 35:18 would have shared with him, of God as well. 35:20 And so for Pharaoh to receive a blessing, a religious blessing, 35:25 from this elderly man that has so much deep experience with the 35:29 true God of heaven, would be something that 35:31 I think Pharaoh would be very--found himself 35:33 very honored to be able to receive. 35:36 And so I think the context helps us to be able to understand that 35:39 just a little bit clearer for us as we look at that. 35:46 Now we go on to chapter 48. 35:48 In chapter 48, God leads Jacob to spiritually adopt both of 35:51 Joseph's sons, and thus the two become two tribes 35:55 of Israel and not just the tribe named Joseph, 35:59 Manasseh and Ephraim are the sons of Joseph. 36:02 So when we come to the 48th chapter, we find there again 36:04 that the key, the highlight there, is this conversation that 36:07 Jacob has, first with Joseph, and then with Joseph's sons. 36:11 And as we come to verse 5 and as we come to verse 6, we find 36:17 there that Jacob is declaring that he's basically 36:25 spiritually adopting both of Joseph's sons. 36:31 So again, in chapter 58 and verse 5, we have the two sons 36:35 that are being declared as actual sons of Jacob. 36:38 Now, are they the literal sons of Jacob? 36:41 No, they're the grandsons of Jacob, to be certain they're his 36:44 biological grandsons, but certainly they are 36:47 not--certainly they're not the direct sons. 36:53 But nevertheless, he declares them as his. 36:55 Now, Jacob and Joseph apparently understood that this was a 37:01 declaration that would exclude now Joseph from being named as 37:05 one of the 12 tribes and descendants of Jacob and his 2 37:09 sons that came from the loins of Jacob--I mean, of Joseph, would 37:14 find themselves inheriting the two tribes that would be named 37:20 after them, which is Ephraim and Manasseh. 37:24 And we can find that being picked up in verse 15. 37:25 In verse 15, he said, "And he blessed Joseph, and said: 'God, 37:29 before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who 37:32 fed me all the days of my life, the Angel has redeemed me from 37:35 all evil, and bless the lads; and let my name be upon them, 37:39 and the name of their fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them 37:41 grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.'" 37:44 And so we find something very special there and that's also 37:47 why it also tells us at the end of chapter 49 or towards the end 37:52 of chapter 49 in verse--note there, verse 28 says, 37:56 "All these are the 12 tribes of Israel." 37:58 Now, that can be confusing if you just read 49 in its own 38:02 isolated chapter, and the reason being is that if you go back and 38:05 actually count the brothers that Jacob actually prophesied over, 38:10 there's only 11, and Joseph being one of them. 38:14 And then--yet in verse 28, it says that they're 38:16 the 12 brothers and tribes of Israel. 38:19 Well, how could that be? There's only 11. 38:21 Well, that's because Joseph is representing two brothers and 38:25 that's the two sons of Joseph which is Ephraim and Manasseh. 38:30 And so that helps explain that 38:32 mystery just a little bit as well. 38:34 All right, so let's go to chapter 49. 38:36 Now we're running out of time fast as we always do, 38:38 and so we're just going to jump ahead 38:39 and skip Reuben and Simeon and Levi. 38:42 If we have time, we're going to come back to them because there 38:44 is some important insights that we can find there. 38:46 But we want to go to the most important of all the 12 sons 38:50 which become the 12 tribes of Israel. 38:53 Now when we come to chapter 49, in verse 1 it says, "And Jacob 38:56 called his sons and said, 'Gather together, that I may 38:58 tell them what may befall you in the last days.'" 39:02 And so, this is a prophecy of the future. 39:05 Is it reflecting some of the current events and 39:08 characters of those 12 sons of Jacob? 39:11 Yes, but at the same time, we find that--at the same time we 39:16 find that they are also talking about the future, 39:21 and so this is a prophecy, one of the deepest 39:24 prophetic chapters that we have in all of the Bible. 39:29 And Judah is the most important. 39:31 In chapter 8--or verse 8, I should say, it says, "Judah, you 39:34 are he whom your brothers shall praise; your neck 39:38 shall be on the neck of your enemies; and your 39:40 father's children shall bow down before you." 39:44 Now, essentially, what God here is saying through His--through 39:47 this father, through this dad named Jacob, is 39:50 that the right of the firstborn has been removed 39:53 from Reuben who is the literal firstborn. 39:55 It's been removed from the second and third oldest of the 39:59 brothers, who would naturally have received the birthright if 40:01 the oldest was removed from that birthright. 40:04 But God actually skips all of the three oldest 40:06 brothers and gives the different reasons why. 40:09 And then He declares that Judah, that he would receive the 40:12 birthright, that ultimately his brothers would praise him, and 40:17 his neck would be on--his hand would be on the neck of his 40:20 enemies, representing power and dominance over 40:23 the other enemy nations around Judah, and that 40:26 of Israel, and your father's children. 40:29 That is all the other brothers, found as sons of 40:33 Jacob, would bow down before Judah. 40:36 In other words, Judah would be the most dominant, most 40:39 powerful, most important tribe of all the 12 tribes of Israel. 40:43 And of course, the rest of history as revealed 40:45 in the New Testament--Old Testament record 40:47 tells us that is exactly what came to be. 40:50 Verse 9, it says, "Judah is the lion's whelp; from 40:54 the prey, my son, you have gone up. 40:56 He bows down, he lies down as a lion; 41:01 and as a lion, who shall rouse him?" 41:04 Now, friends, if I was to ask you, who's the king of the 41:07 jungle in regards to the animal kingdom? 41:10 Who is it? It's the lion, isn't it? 41:12 Okay, so all of us here in our culture when we're growing 41:14 up and this is obviously not new because it was also part of the 41:17 culture way back then in Jacob's time as well, and Joseph's time. 41:23 And that is that the lion is recognized 41:25 as the king of the jungle. 41:27 If there's a lion that is living in whatever part of whatever 41:30 country in the world it's kind of almost always, if not always, 41:33 the most dominant, most powerful animal there is. 41:36 And so, rightly, it is a representation of Judah. 41:41 Now, a lion, of course, is also representative of royalty and 41:47 many nations have adopted, and kings have adopted, for that 41:50 reason the lion as a symbol of--and sometimes 41:53 found on their flag or their seal and so on. 41:56 Revelation chapter 5 and verse 5 tells us that Jesus is declared 42:00 the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and also the root of David. 42:05 And so Judah would be the one, this person named Judah, because 42:09 you remember, he's a person originally, the son of Jacob 42:12 would originally give birth to descendants that would 42:14 eventually usher in the most powerful, the most successful 42:18 and important kingdom of all of Israel's history as far as 42:21 earthly kings goes, and that's David. 42:23 And then the root of David would come, which is Shiloh himself, 42:27 the one who would bring shalom, the one who would bring peace, 42:30 or as most scholars, interpreters, understand Shiloh 42:34 to be interpreted as which is rest-giver. 42:37 And that is Jesus Christ, the great Messiah 42:39 and Savior of the world Himself. 42:41 And we read that in verse 10. 42:43 In verse 10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a 42:46 lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him 42:51 shall be the obedience of the people." 42:55 And scepter was the staff, very royal and important staff that 42:59 was representation of the authority and 43:03 the kingship of the king of whatever nation, 43:06 in this case, that of Israel and Judah. 43:08 And it says that "the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor 43:10 the lawgiver from between his feet." 43:13 Indeed, Judah would be the most prominent tribe throughout all 43:18 of Israel's history, even in Jesus's time. 43:20 The only part of Israel that was remaining that was even named 43:24 after any of the tribes of Israel was that of Judea. 43:29 And that was where Jerusalem was located, 43:31 where Jesus was crucified, and it was where the most 43:34 prominent and predominant population of religious 43:37 Jews was still living at the time as well. 43:39 And so, Judah continued to fulfill that 43:41 all the way to the time of Christ. 43:43 Christ Himself is recognized by almost all Christians as Shiloh, 43:49 and Shiloh comes, of course, as a descendant 43:52 of Judah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. 43:56 "And to Him shall be the obedience of all people." 44:00 Now, we can interpret that in two different ways. 44:02 First of all, "all people," and a lot of times the 44:04 Bible writers would use the term "all." 44:05 In Revelation 13 it says that the dragon would give his 44:09 authority and power to the beast and all the world 44:13 would wonder and worship after the beast. 44:15 Then the very next chapter says there's going to be 144,000-plus 44:19 people that will be faithful and refuse to worship the beast. 44:23 And so, sometimes when the Bible writers say "all," they don't 44:26 mean literally to the very final end, but as a whole there would 44:29 be a whole lot of people that would obey Jesus. 44:33 And of course, in Philippians as the Quarterly points out, it 44:36 also points there, I think it's in chapter 2, 44:39 that there would be a time in history when all 44:42 will bow down and worship Jesus as Lord. 44:46 And so that could be pointing to that as well. 44:48 And of course, that won't take place until after Jesus comes. 44:51 There's a judgment that takes place. 44:52 All of the lost, all the unfaithful, 44:55 will find themselves bowing down. 44:56 Not because they're now converted or repentant, but 44:59 because they recognize and are compelled to acknowledge that 45:02 Jesus is indeed the truth that they had been 45:05 rejecting all their life, and indeed, that He is fair 45:10 and just in spite of their own unfaithful choices. 45:15 Well, friends, we've run out of time here today. 45:17 I'm glad that we were able to look at the most important part 45:19 which is that prophecy of Jacob here in chapter 49. 45:23 And again, if you've never gone through all those chapters as a 45:26 whole, as you never had time, this week I want to very 45:28 strongly encourage you, go ahead and read those five chapters. 45:32 I've given you some insights and interpretation and information. 45:35 Now you can go ahead and read that and comprehend 45:37 it in its whole context there as well. 45:40 For those of you who are watching, I want to again invite 45:42 you to take advantage of our free gift offer which is 45:45 "Culture and the Christian," written by Joe Crews. 45:47 You just have to dial 1-866-788-3966, ask for Free 45:52 Offer number 143, and we'll be happy to send that out to you if 45:55 you live in North America or any of the US territories. 45:59 If you live in the US, you can also use your phone to text the 46:03 code "SH020," and you want to dial that to 40544 and we'll be 46:10 happy to be able to get that out to you. 46:12 And again, you can see the website which is 46:14 study.aftv.org/SH020 and you can find that on the Internet as a 46:22 free digital download anywhere in the world. 46:25 Until next week, God bless you, God keep you, 46:28 and may you continue to look to Him. 46:34 Doug: Hi, friends. Pastor Doug Batchelor. 46:36 I have a very important announcement 46:38 I'd like to share with you. 46:40 About 25 years ago, even more than that, Amazing Facts began 46:44 broadcasting our Sabbath School Study Hour programs. 46:48 Now, we initially did this as a service for the church because, 46:51 well, there were very few churches back then that were 46:53 media-ready to do programs like that. 46:56 In the intervening years, hundreds of churches and 46:59 ministries have been able to start recording 47:02 and producing Sabbath School Study programs. 47:05 Well, right now, we'd like to put our energy into doing things 47:08 that are more evangelistic and so, beginning July, this year, 47:12 2022, we're only going to be providing our Sabbath School 47:15 program on our streaming sites, social media, like Facebook and 47:20 YouTube, as well as the Granite Bay Hilltop website. 47:23 We've got some new things planned during the regular slot 47:26 where we've been airing the Sabbath School Study times on 47:30 Hope Channel, 3ABN, and AFTV, and we want to do all we can to 47:35 be as innovative and fresh as we can, to be 47:37 evangelistic and reach as many as we can. 47:40 And so, once again, if you want to see the Sabbath School Study 47:44 Hour, it will be broadcasting on the Granite Bay Hilltop website, 47:48 but on our stations, our partner stations, like Hope Channel and 47:52 3ABN, we're going to be having some new programs for you. 47:55 Thank you so much for your continued prayers 47:57 and support of Amazing Facts, as we move 47:59 forward together in sharing the good news. 48:04 male announcer: Don't forget to request 48:06 today's life-changing free resource. 48:08 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 48:10 you can download a digital copy straight 48:12 to your computer or mobile device. 48:14 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 48:17 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 48:22 shown on your screen and be sure to select the digital 48:25 download option on the request page. 48:27 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 48:31 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want. 48:34 And most important, to share it with others. 48:42 announcer: "Amazing Facts" Changed Lives. 48:45 ♪♪♪ 48:50 Gary: Early 1980s all the baby boomers were turning 21 and 48:54 the nightclub scenes were exploding and I 48:56 started a entertainment lighting company. 48:58 female: I was the president and there were six divisions. 49:01 Doing the raves in the '80s and '90s, you know, in some 49:04 warehouse where you're setting up lighting and fog and, you 49:06 know, who knows what's going on in there and 49:09 nightclub--nightclub installations. 49:12 I loved it and it was who I was. 49:15 Gary: Bought a new house out of town 49:16 and we moved about two or three times. 49:18 But we were always going into different churches. 49:21 We were in a Lutheran church and 49:22 then we were in a Methodist church. 49:24 I think we were in three different Baptist churches. 49:26 My wife was raised Catholic. 49:28 I was raised Methodist. 49:29 Currently, I've been reading all the Hal Lindsey books and 49:32 watching all the "Left Behind" movies and so I really wanted to 49:35 understand what the book of Revelation was all about. 49:37 But nothing really ever made sense to me. 49:39 female: One day, Pastor Lloyd Logan came 49:41 knocking and he had that NET '99 flyer. 49:45 Lloyd Logan: We were preparing for an evangelistic 49:48 series and different people were going different directions with 49:52 handbills to invite people to the meetings. 49:56 female: I saw that coming at me, you know, all the colors and 49:59 I thought, "Oh no, this is some kind of cult thing." 50:02 Lloyd: And she said, "Thank you very much and I'm not much 50:04 interested myself but my husband likes that kind of thing." 50:08 female: And Lloyd said, "Would you give it to him please?" 50:11 And I said, "Okay, I will." 50:13 So I took the pamphlet and I put it on the counter. 50:17 Gary came home and he walked by it. 50:19 Gary: Ran through the kitchen to quickly eat and take 50:21 a shower and go back out and work a show. 50:24 female: Two or three days went by like this and I moved 50:26 that brochure from the counter, put it on the dining 50:29 room table, put it back on the counter. 50:33 And I actually threw it in the garbage. 50:34 As I threw it in that garbage can, I could hear him and see 50:38 his face saying, "Would you give it to him please?" 50:41 And I actually took the garbage out. 50:43 Then--and that night, lying in bed, I kept seeing his face and 50:46 hearing his voice and thinking, "Oh boy, I've got 50:49 to get that brochure out of the garbage." 50:52 And I took that and I put it right 50:54 underneath the remote control. 50:57 Bright colors, he'll see it. 50:59 Gary: I finally sat down in my living room and I picked up 51:01 the remote and I saw that angel holding out that scroll. 51:04 female: "Whoa, cool. What is this?" 51:07 And I was in the kitchen, cooking, and I thought, "Oh no." 51:10 Gary: And I looked at it and I turned it over 51:12 and then I saw a little building, a little 51:14 church building, and it wasn't too far away. 51:16 It was about six houses down and it said, "Friday night." 51:20 female: And I certainly wasn't going. 51:22 I mean, it wasn't my intention to go. 51:24 Gary: I didn't have any shows going on that night 51:26 and so I thought it was a one-night deal. 51:28 I went and as I heard about the Millennium, 51:30 man, I was just blown away. 51:33 I didn't want it to end. 51:34 I knew what I was hearing was all from the scripture 51:37 and it wasn't based on Hollywood movies 51:39 or other books that were written. 51:40 They said, "Come again tomorrow night," 51:42 and I thought, "Wow, great, two nights." 51:45 So I tried to tell my wife about it and she still wasn't 51:47 interested and then she decided to come. 51:50 female: I started to hear the truth, 51:51 you know, and I started to get fed. 51:53 Gary: Every night after the seminar, they would 51:55 hand us an Amazing Facts study guide. 51:58 I couldn't do those fast enough. 52:00 female: The business kept us going seven 52:02 days a week and it was night and day. 52:04 Gary: Crews working all around the clock and so when we 52:07 finally heard the Sabbath message, you know, so far 52:10 everything's been true, right from the Bible. 52:12 female: Church on Saturday, no work. 52:14 Anyway, it all clicked. 52:16 Gary: Both our heads turned at each 52:17 other, our jaws dropped open. 52:19 female: I said, "We can't do that." 52:22 Gary: And the first thing that came 52:23 out of my mouth was, "We have to." 52:25 female: I knew that it would be a 52:27 sacrifice and I was in fear about it. 52:31 Gary: We didn't know how we were going to do it but we 52:34 talked to the pastor about it and the pastor said, "Well, just 52:36 pray about it and God will open doors." 52:39 female: I didn't want to give up all the connections I had 52:41 made, all the networking, all the money, all the investment. 52:45 Gary: We went to the board and asked them if they would 52:47 consider closing on Saturday and they agreed to. 52:50 So we closed the storefront on Saturday but we were still doing 52:53 productions and that kind of bothered us. 52:55 So a couple of months later, God opened a door for my wife. 52:59 She exited the company. 53:01 I prayed about it and God opened a door for me too. 53:04 female: Gary, shortly after, was offered a job being paid 53:07 more money than he made as an owner of the company. 53:11 Gary: He said, "I'll give you a $1000 raise 53:14 and you will never work another weekend." 53:17 female: And we were able to keep the Sabbath 53:19 and enjoy the wonderful blessings that God had 53:22 for us on the Sabbath day. 53:24 Gary: My kids never again had to say, "Quit talking about work." 53:27 After the seminar was over, my wife and I and my children were 53:30 all baptized in the Seventh-day Adventist church. 53:33 Even if I gave up everything, I knew 53:35 that God would have something better. 53:37 female: I have much more understanding and there's much 53:40 more depth in my Christian walk with the Lord. 53:44 Gary: We started an Amazing Facts 53:45 Bible School at our church. 53:47 It allows anybody to understand the scriptures 53:50 and to understand the end-times. 53:51 Church changed my life dramatically, and I'm very 53:54 happy and excited to be a part of it. 54:05 announcer: Amazing Facts Changed Lives. 54:13 female: Well, my conversion story is when I was in the 54:17 Philippines, I just graduated as a nurse and afterwards I did not 54:23 have any religion and one time I found myself inside a small 54:28 church, Catholic church, in Manila, and before a big cross. 54:36 And I was kneeling before and I could hear Jesus telling me to 54:41 enter the convent, save myself and also my family. 54:46 And I said, "Lord, I would like to follow You all the way." 54:49 At that point, I seemed to be happy externally, 54:53 but because inside the convent we don't read the Bible, 54:57 we don't study about the Word of God. 55:00 We prayed the rosaries, we also at the same time studied the 55:04 lives of the saints and also our founders, and the 55:08 encyclicals of the Pope and the Virgin Mary. 55:12 And so I do not know the truth and I had this torture of 55:15 conscience, the guilty feelings that cannot be resolved. 55:20 So I would confess to the priest in the confessional 55:22 box, saying, "Father, forgive me. 55:26 Since my last confession was last week. 55:29 Since then I have committed the following sin including 55:32 the root cause, why am I falling and falling 55:36 in that same sin over and over again." 55:39 And still for 21 long years, I struggle 55:43 and I struggle and I struggle. 55:46 I realized that I was totally empty, 55:50 I was totally helpless and hopeless. 55:53 And so depressed and so desperate that 55:56 I would like already to end my life. 55:59 I was working for five years as dean of the University 56:03 of San Agustin College of Nursing in 56:06 Iloilo City, one of the islands in the Philippines. 56:10 After five years I received a commission from my parents to 56:15 help my sister who is being a battered woman. 56:20 This is one of the reasons why I came over to United States. 56:25 It is because my sister needs my help. 56:29 As I was working in the hospital in New York, 56:31 my boss, Serafin, he was so gracious enough to 56:35 give me an invitation to the Millennium Prophecy. 56:38 As I was listening to Pastor Doug Batchelor's presentation, 56:43 my heart really was beating so fast, and my mind, I'm able to 56:48 grasp the truth, that this is the truth that I've been longing 56:54 to hear all my life, that I have been seeking for so long. 56:59 My personal relationship with Jesus, 57:02 I can see Jesus as my personal Savior. 57:06 He is not only the Savior of the whole world, 57:09 but He is my personal Savior. 57:12 He was the one who delivered me mightily from 57:16 the depths of sin, from the mirey clay. 57:20 Pastor Doug Batchelor has been used 57:23 by the Lord in my conversion. 57:25 The Amazing Facts, I owe to them. 57:29 The Lord really blessed this ministry and I'm so proud 57:33 I was able to attend this Millennium Prophecy. 57:37 My life has never been the same. 57:40 It has given me the peace, the joy, that never--I have never 57:47 tasted in my life, and now I am set free to be 57:51 able to work for Him and to follow Him. 57:55 ♪♪♪ 58:05 ♪♪♪ 58:15 ♪♪♪ 58:17 ♪♪♪ 58:25 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2022-06-15