[Music] that's it rich I [Music] was though [Music] I'm found was blind but now I see twas grace that taught my to fear and great is my fears [Music] [Music] meow [Music] you as promised good to me his birth sake he my [Music] yes [Music] right yeah [Music] we've to see [Music] Weaver to be gone [Music] how sweet [Music] like me [Music] I think might there we go I'm pretty sure I turned it on welcome everybody we're so glad that you've come here for our prophecy encounter program this is night and under number two welcome mrs. bachelor I like calling her mrs. bachelor it's kind of an oxymoron isn't it she got married became a bachelor I am do you want to first tell people who are listening how they might be able to send in their questions so that we can do them through the remainder of the week you may have questions and are not here locally but would like to text your question in you can text it to one seven six zero five two three two two eight seven that's one seven six zero five two three two two eight seven and we'll look forward to doing our best to answer as many questions as we can he can all right are you ready for number one okay our first question is if God knew that the world would rebel against him why did he create it I deliberately included this question so I could tell you I'm not going to answer it tonight someone sent it to us because tomorrow night we're gonna talk about why is there evil if God is good if God is love if God is all-powerful did he make a devil if he knew things were gonna go bad why did he do it anyway it's we're gonna be answering some of those big questions so please come tomorrow night when we talk about the villain of Revelation all right our second question does it really make a difference what a person believes if you move it while I'm reading it that's hard okay sorry about that does it really make a difference what a person believes about how Jesus will come yes we spent some time considerable time last night talking about not just the imminence or nearness of Christ coming but how he will come and some might be thinking what difference does it make how you the reason it's gonna make a difference is because the devil is going to seek to impersonate Christ before Jesus returns and if we don't know how Jesus is coming then you're really a sitting duck to be deceived by Satan impersonating Christ now think about this when Jesus came the first time 2,000 years ago did the disciples have the Bible they had the Old Testament were there prophecies about Jesus first coming yes quite a few did they misunderstand them yes what was the result tremendous disappointment and God's own people many of them did not accept Jesus because they misunderstood the prophecies about his first coming so let me ask you does it matter if we understand the prophecies about how he's coming the second time it does the Lord doesn't give us anything in his word he doesn't want us to know it's there for a reason man all right when Jesus comes back will God the Father and the Holy Spirit be visible with him well you know the Bible tells us that Christ said he's coming in the glory of the Father but keep in mind one of the characteristics of God not only all-powerful and omniscient all-knowing he's omnipresent and so the Lord the father doesn't need to get off his throne to accompany Christ in his glory when he comes and the Spirit is everywhere jesus said if I go I'll sin the Spirit he sends the spirit to the whole church around the world so you're not going to see the embodiment of the Holy Spirit I think coming with Jesus the Spirit will be in you and the Spirit is of course in Christ and God the spirit is everywhere so yes their presence will be there when Jesus comes because Christ said so in Matthew 26 I believe all right I have heard people say that stop that sorry about this he keeps moving that questions are down here so we can look more you don't so it keeps moving is like rain and I'm right brain that's what's messing us all okay go ahead that's probably very true okay I have heard people say that the Lord will come in this generation is this true well now see even if I were to answer that I'd be bordering on setting a date my personal opinion would be yes Bible generations forty years so if you were to ask me you know do I think the Lord's going to come in the next 40 years personally I would say I think so but you got to be very careful because I remember 40 years ago when I came to the Lord I thought he was coming in a year and so here we are but you know every day is a day closer yeah that's one thing every day is a day closer and it is gonna happen amen and we want to be ready yes whenever that day jesus said I will come again let me just why we're on that think about that for a second when Christ said he would come the first time every Jewish mother hoped that her baby would be the Messiah God said to Abraham through your descendants all the world will be blessed and maybe Sarah hoped it was Isaac and Isaac hoped it was Esau Jacob and so forth 100 years went by 500 years been 1,000 years went by and they said the Messiah is coming he's coming when finally when he does come 2,000 years later they say wise men right and they say where is he born of the king of the Jews and when he finally did come God's people were asleep they weren't ready so here we are now 2,000 years after his second his first coming so once again what did Jesus say the church will be doing when he comes the bridegroom comes in the parable of the ten virgins they're all asleep and so one reason I think the Lord's coming is because you look at the church and it seems like there's sort of a universal snore right now so I think he is coming soon well in Revelation talks about the Church of Laodicea time period in which were living man says they think they're rich and increased with Goods and it's a time when it's lukewarm so yes sorry I'm refuting okay sorry there we go how would an understanding of the end times benefit us after all we can't do anything about it well we can't actually do something about it the Bible tells us that in the second Peter chapter 3 it says that we want to live in such a way that we hastened the Lord's coming what did Christ tell us we read Matthew 24:14 last night said the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world then the end will come Christ wants everyone to have an opportunity then the end will come so what can we do to hasten the Lord's return according to Peter preach the gospel shall live the faith share the faith as well as you can and when the gospel blankets the world Christ gonna say everyone's had an opportunity ready or not here I come so I do think it matters we're witnesses to others - yeah so when we have Christ living in us then we're witness to others and we don't know the impact that we have in someone's life so to do that live a godly life amen all right I mean did you move it okay if the Bible predicts that things are going to get worse before Jesus comes well see you didn't move it I just read that well that's a little different okay you're right it is if the Bible predicts we're gonna edit this so don't worry it's okay if the Bible predicts that things are going to get worse before Jesus comes why should we try and make the world a better place well that would sort of be like saying well you know grandpa has got terminal cancer why do we need to take care of him you know even though you know what the Bible says I think Christ has told us to do all we can for as many as we can as well as we can as long as we can try to make things better and so by all means you would try to make the world a good place Christians can make a difference even when Abraham was praying over Sodom and Gomorrah he said to the Lord you know Lord if you can find 20 righteous in the city will you spare the city if this 20 righteous God said yes he started I think 50 and got down to 10 they couldn't find 10 but so there's an influence that believers have and you know we can help prolong the opportunities for people that don't know yet so always do the right thing well and the martyrs when the martyrs were burned at the stake or whatnot they were an example and more people came as a result of their witness through their sacrifice and we can make it a little bit of heaven on earth you know when we have that relationship possible that's right we can make it a little heavier people say well you know the environments going to pot and the world's gonna burn up so why take care of the environment God planted this garden in the world it's his garden I think that we should do everything we can like I said to make things better and every way we can that's being a Christian amen all right what should we do practically to prepare for the tribulation well first of all and Karen reminded me when we reviewed this question store scripture in your mind we will be needing to claim the promises of God I'll tell you a good one to memorize is Psalm 91 where it says a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it will not come nigh entity neither will any plague come your dwelling only with your eyes will you see and behold the punishment of the wicked there's promises that will reinforce your faith and promises it will help you be a witness now I'm getting ahead of myself but when we talk about the tribulation it's almost divided in two parts part of the tribulation happens with the beast power before the seven last plagues people still have an opportunity to be saved at that point once the plagues begin to fall the Bible implies probation is closed the Savior to save the lost or lost there's no changing sides anymore and so but up until the very end you want to be a faithful witness to as many as you can and so ways to prepare for the tribulation store Scripture take care of your health I'm just a practical thing to do all the time and the reason that Jesus could probably endure some of the trials he went through is he lived a pretty rugged life walking the roads and preaching as an a tenor a preacher and you want to do what you can to take care of your health be a witness pray pray have a faith faith is what's going to get you through and we talked about doomsday preppers was it last night and you know the way to prepare for the tribulation is not hoarding gabon Sabine's and burying them in a in a you know a bunker somewhere I don't think anyone's gonna be saved by that it's your faith you need to store away that's right is the character that we're preparing because it's the only thing we take to heaven that's right is our character all right does the Bible predict a third world war before Jesus comes well you know we didn't tell you that the Bible specifically predicted the first or the Second World War by the way today is Armistice Day so with a hundred year anniversary this weekend and you know from 1918 and so a day when we're remembering and showing our gratitude both in Canada and North America for the veterans people around the world around the world people who have made great sacrifices to preserve freedom World War One World War two are not specifically predicted in prophecy the Bible does say Jesus said in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 there will be wars and rumors of wars and of course those were great significant wars someone's wondering is there any prophecy about a great future war yes called the Battle of I may get Armageddon you find in Revelation chapter 16 now that battle is not a battle between Russia and China and the US or any of these world powers it is principally a battle you read about in Revelation 12 the dragon makes war with the woman it is the war where the beast power tries to annihilate those who are still believers and so but it is it is kind of an a global war that takes place all right does the Bible mention a new world order not in those terms but during the time where the the beasts power is implementing its laws many have referred to that as new world order some when they think of the new world order they think in Revelation 13 where it says that there'll be laws that you cannot buy or sell and I think that's interesting because do we have governments that get together around the world now and control the buying and selling of other governments based on their coop raishin they're called economic sanctions that are imposed and it's very easy to see how on an international level and on a personal level can your buying and selling be controlled when we go to a cashless society we're almost at a cashless society right the more I travel the less cash I need to take now it's just all you know credit card everywhere and so it's very easy to see how those things can be controlled but your credit card is not the mark of the beast we'll get to that later all right why are there so many different Bible translations is one better than the other well when you save different translations you'd be surprised in most languages is only one or two in English and maybe French and a couple of other languages there are many many translations and yes some are better than others some are closer to the original some try to create a paraphrase a Bible scholar will try to put the Bible words in their own language it's not a transliteration it's not exactly word for word but sometimes you actually need to change things a little bit so that it goes from one language to another it's like I think in German if I was to say throw some hay over the fence to the cow and German you'd say throw the cow over the fence some hay some English sounds like you throwing the cow over the fence and so you do have to adjust some things as you go from one language to another the translations my favorites as far as accuracy would be King James is a classic that has affected the English language around the world it's have tremendous impact I typically preach from the New King James which is very similar just modernize some of the words new American Standard Version a new English version these have come from what you call the received text or the Textus Receptus which i think is the best document some of the other translations come from what they call the signee Atticus and the Vaticanus or at least they include those I a lot of scholars think that there are more dubious origin I don't have a lot of time - that's it can get pretty deep because there's 100 of English translations but hope that made sense I've got a little book you can download for free and it's called the ultimate resource and it just it's a little sermon book and amazing facts talks about Bible translations okay are the apocryphal books and as inspired as the other books in the Bible the apocryphal books it's like 14 books that are of doubtful origin they don't know who the authors were they're not referenced by any other inspired books some of them have some good you know they're sort of manufactured it's believed they have some good maybe moral teachings the Maccabees has some history books like Tobin and Judith and Barak and most Protestant Bibles exclude them the books that you've got in your Bible are the most dependable inspired books and one reason we know is most of these if not 100 well first of all when we talk about inspired books the whole Old Testament was established the way you've got it by the time Jesus was born I mean the Old Testament books that you have were all recognized it's some books that were what they call the intertestamental period and others that maybe were added to the New Testament times all the books that we have included in the traditional Protestant Bible are endorsed by other Bible writers they're written by apostles and Jude references Peter Peter references Paul there's a lot of cross-pollination and endorsement there's there's a lot more established authenticity and so I believe that what you've got in this book is the dependable Word of God that it's inspired and that you can count on it doesn't mean it's the only time god has spoken in an inspired way matter of fact the Bible refers to books by other prophets like Jaffer they're nowhere in the Bible but God did speak through other prophets in time and they wrote books that were for a specific purpose a specific time but this is the timeless Word of God that we have here all right our last question what does it mean to have authority to trample on snake and yet we are to love our enemies all right that's a good question now person is probably referring to you know in mark it talks about you will do wonders you will take up serpents and then in Psalms it talks about trampling on the serpent Chris John the Baptist called the deceptive religious leaders he says you brood of serpents people say he's supposed to love your enemies why would you call someone a serpent why would you want to trample on them well the serpent is taught is really talking about the spirit of the devil and actually that's a good segue for our lesson tonight because we've got a slide where it talks about that prophecy regarding the serpent all right well we're gonna go ahead and start with our program tonight which is called the hero of Revelation thank you very much miss Batchelor and and again welcome everybody want to welcome our friends who are watching online I understand we had about 1200 people watching live but between various websites there have been over a hundred thousand views so far in 24 hours and that exciting and many of them from different parts of the world sometimes they're sleeping it's archived and then they click and they're studying with us we want to welcome you thank you and by the way text and tell your friends to be tuning in if they want to hear the live program right now tonight's presentation dealing with the subject of the hero of Revelation is probably one of the most important and as you came in those locally you probably noticed we gave you a card it's a card about a commitment to Christ I'm telling you right up front I'm warning you in advance I'm going to ask you to do something with that it's gonna be between you and the Lord at the end of the program you should know if you're coming to a worship facility and you're studying the book of Revelation that you cannot separate that from an understanding of a relationship with Christ what profit is it to you the subtle study Bible prophecy and reject the God who wrote it the very title of Revelation the revelation of Jesus Christ is one of the most important things that you have him revealed to you that you know him eternal life is knowing him so we're going to be talking a lot about Jesus we're going to be looking at Bible prophecy going all the way from Genesis to Revelation you're gonna find out the sensual figure the quintessence of Bible prophecy is Jesus now a case in point would be a very famous Bible character by the name of Joseph now I'm not talking about Joseph the father of Jesus I'm talking about Joseph the son of Jacob in the Old Testament think about that story many of you know it Jacob the patriarch has 12 sons he sends his son Joseph to look for his brothers that are missing but Joseph's having dreams he's having prophetic dreams dreams that of greatness he's a humble boy but he's having these dreams he's not sure what they mean and about all the sheaves in the field and the Sun Moon and stars bowing down to him and he tells his brothers and his brothers are already jealous because Jacob intends to make Joseph who's the second to the youngest the firstborn he's gonna will everything to him and and they resent that sir Joseph comes he finds his brothers and they're so full of hatred and envy they want to kill him Reuben talks him out of it instead they sell him as a slave and he goes through these terrible years or trial he's a slave he's imprisoned and then through a miracle and one day he goes from prison because of a prophecy he interprets a prophecy he goes from prison to being the ruler of Egypt or at least Prime Minister and because of his foresight and a coming famine he prepares bread and great quantity and the whole world is fed with bread from Joseph his brothers come and give him the bread and he tests them to see if they've been changed he realizes they're different men he reveals himself to him he forgives his brother and there's a great reunion and there's a reunion between Jacob and Joseph take it had thought that Joseph was dead the story of Joseph is the story of Jesus indeed you will find Joseph is sold for silver by one of the twelve just like Jesus is sold for the price of a slave for silver by Judas Joseph feeds the world of Jesus feeds the world with the bread of life and as you look through the story of Joseph you can see echoes of the life of Jesus I'll share with you that the whole Bible story especially the Old Testament stories are all really allegories that are telling us something about the gospel and oftentimes about Jesus Moses is a type of Jesus he's the great savior born from among his own people the great liberator the great lawgiver the great judge as Jesus is all of those things Moses stretches out his hands and as long as the people see him with his hands stretched out they get victory over their enemies the Amalekites Samson stretches out his hands and he lays down his life to deliver God's people from their enemies then you see Jesus on Mount Calvary stretching out his arms and laying down his life to save you and I from our sins all the stories I don't have time to go through them all but I just want you to know ahead of time the Bible prophecies and especially in the Old Testament are all pointing forward to Christ is first coming in the second coming we're going to be looking at a lot of those prophecies in the presentation tonight so it's not only with Joseph so not only with Moses and David and Jephthah and Gideon and Samson and Samuel and that the whole Bible is talking about Jesus as I mentioned Revelation chapter 1 it says that it's a revelation of Jesus and he tells us these are things which must shortly take place so revelation covers a panorama of Bible history from the first coming to the second coming now everyone awake okay well some of you sounded more awake than others I saw something to go I am gonna talk fast I have a lot to cover I want to respect your time I want you to do your best to listen fast um there are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that talk about Christ I don't have time to cover them all but I'm going to cover a lot and so you'll have to get the tape and play it back slowly that's uh try to stay with me because I got a lot to cover all right first of all we're gonna take some questions and and kind of like I said Socratic method I'll answer ask your question just to set it up and then we'll answer the question who was Jesus you can't study Revelation without exploring this very important point there are over 300 New Testament or I'm sorry Old Testament prophecies besides a number precisely identifying characteristics regarding the Messiah the Messiah means The Anointed in Greek it's the Christos or the Christ they both mean the anointed someone who has been slathered covered filled with the Holy Spirit God was going to come to earth and a man and this man would be perfectly spirit-filled from the cradle to the grave to show us what God is like first prophecy in the Bible is in what book it's in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 after Adam and Eve sinned they eat the forbidden fruit God then talks to them the Serpent's not far away and he says I will put enmity that means there's a polar adversarial relationship there's a war between you and the woman God is telling the serpent there's gonna be m2t between you and the woman so here's a battle between a serpent and a woman between your seed the seed of the serpent the evil and the seed of the woman now all through history everyone was looking for the promised seed the Messiah of the woman this is a prophecy about Christ listen to what it says he the seed of the woman Jesus will bruise your head now how do you kill a snake the head and he will bruise your heel now if you had to get a serious foot injury or serious head injury which would you want probably a serious foot injury right serious head injury can change everything and so this is telling us that there's this battle but ultimately the heel of Christ would mortally wound the serpent but in the process he would be wounded Jesus was wounded for us but he rose again but the devil is gonna be completely destroyed and he is already defeated so you get to Revelation now notice how I just went from Genesis to Revelation and you know what you see there you look especially in Revelation chapter 12 it talks about a battle between the woman and the serpent you can read in revelation 12 verse 9 so that Great Dragon was cast out that serpent of old dragons serpents interchangeable called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world talks about the dragon wants to destroy the seed of the woman there in Revelation 12 so this battle between the devil and the church the Bride of Christ the woman is the church and there's this battle that's going on through history between the father of lies and the church is supposed to be the custodian of truth about the gospel number 2 so Jesus is the Messiah to Christ what does Christ say about himself where does he claim he came from he makes some pretty bold claims Jesus said for I have come down from heaven now somebody were to tell you yeah I came from heaven you'd begin to wonder you know I've actually met somebody once who claimed to be Jesus I've met a couple of people but this was a really unusual experience because I was in the mountains living by myself in a cave some of you got my testimony book last night and I don't think the stories in the book and while I'm in my cave this guy comes hiking into my cave yard front I had a little yard there by the creek and he's got he looks like the typical picture of Jesus he's like 30-something he's got shoulder-length brown hair blue eyes about six feet tall he's just wearing some hiking shorts and I visited I used to see hikers all the time it wasn't that unusual there was near trail and my cave was on the creek so I would you know sometimes I lived like a hermit but sometimes I run into people I talked to a few few minutes and he said I am Jesus I thought oh well then I thought well I've got some Spanish friends named Jesus maybe he just means I'm hey Seuss no no he said I am Jesus well that just made all kinds of things go through my hand I was a new Christian I just read the Bible and just kind of on my own accepted Christ and I'm not sure what to think about this I thought well based on my experience in New York City this guy's probably crazy but who knows I just accepted Jesus if this is Jesus I sure wouldn't want to insult him right now because that would be really bad and if it is I got a lot of questions but if it's not I'm up here in the mountains with a lunatic and all this is going through my mind I'm sitting I'm talking to him about oh you know these things you go to my head and I I said I didn't want to offend them I said now but I thought I read in the Bible event when you come you're coming in the clouds and everyone's going to see you he said well that's for the general world but I'm coming especially for some people in advance get an answer for everything you know and I said I tried to quote the little scripture that I knew to him and he knew his Bible which made him even scarier and he stayed with me for three days and the longer I stayed with me the more convinced I was this is not Jesus because he ate all my food and he didn't help me clean up at all and a few days later I finally had to evict Jesus from my cave and a few days later I ran into him in Palm Springs and I kind of was hanging out with some of the street people and he had found someone who believed he was Jesus Douglas first apostle I suppose and then at about a few more weeks I saw him he was down in town and he got into a fight and someone had knocked out one of his front teeth and I went that removed all remaining doubts because I know Jesus has all of his teeth and so I made me feel much better better so if someone says I've come down from heaven right away you know this person's either crazy or they're a liar or is it telling the truth and as we explore the different claims that Jesus made this is what CS Lewis and other philosophers have said you've got this great trilemma you know what a dilemma is choice between two options a trilemma is you've got to make a choice between one of three options as CS lewis said he is either lunatic or liar or Lord you have no other option so listen to his plans I've come down from heaven let's go quickly now Jesus also said that my kingdom is not of this world I am a king of another realm that's a pretty bold claim it's something that should be examined so there's a third question did Jesus claimed divinity absolutely he didn't just say that he was a special man or a great prophet listen he says in John 8:58 most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was in capital letters I am and if you've got any doubts about what he meant by that those listening did not doubt because they took up stones to stone him God Jehovah spoke to Moses at the burning bush he said I am that I am jesus said before Abraham was I am he claimed to be eternal self-existent that's pretty clear claim of divinity he says in John chapter 10 verse 17 therefore my father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again no one takes it from me I lay it down of myself and I've got power to lay it down I have power to take it up it's one thing to die it's another thing to say after I die I've got power to resurrect myself so Christ claimed to have the inherent power of the word of God to even resusci Tate himself and how that happens don't ask me but he's God there's a lot we can't explain about God and that's why he's God but he definitely claimed divinity he asked the disciples who do you say that I am missed' you are the Christ the Son of the Living God and he basically accepted the Bible says you sure to only worship God and when he rose he said all hail they fell down they worshiped him book of Hebrews says even the angels worship Him John says in the beginning God created the heavens and the Armstrong in Genesis said God created the heavens in the earth John says all things that were made were made by him Christ without him was not anything made that was made God the Father created all things through Christ this is the New Testament teaching he definitely claimed divinity he also said mark chapter 2 verse 10 but he had power on earth to forgive sins the Bible says God and God only can forgive sins the Bible says only God is Savior and so when you look at the definitions of divinity Jesus embraced all of it so again it's either true or it's not you've got to make up your mind how do we evaluate the claims of Christ well if you look in John chapter 5 39 Jesus tells us search the scriptures these are they that testify of me and again Luke chapter 24 and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures means all the Old Testament Scriptures New Testament wasn't written yet when he said this the things concerning himself now let me just give you a quick visual demonstration you know I shopped in shopton I just bought a new Bible this is fairly new I told the church members today that I didn't come with all these ribbons a sweet lady gave me all these ribbons so they're still here but just I got this Bible because I wanted a Bible with nothing but the Bible this Bible is got no concordance it's gotten when you get to the first couple pages there's Genesis you get to last it's revelation and I wanted one like that I could mark up and it's the only way you could get one with big letters that wasn't too heavy that's another reason I wanted that so I'm going to turn here just to give you a pretty accurate visual here's the book of Mathew first book in the New Testament there it is New Testament begins once just do a visual what percentage of the Bible is Old Testament almost 3/4 and so this much of the Bible was written before Jesus was born it came to earth anyway in the Incarnation we're gonna look at prophecies here that were written in some cases 2,000 years thousand years 700 years the the latest one is 500 years before he was born we know that this was written before this happened because of something in 1948 called the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in the cave they are copies of virtually every book of the Old Testament in full or in part was in the Dead Sea Scrolls and some other books but they're easy to date because they were written on parchment lambskin and they know that many of them are written over a hundred years before Christ was born so there's no way that Christ and the prophets could have fabricated these prophecies to fit so closely with a fulfillment in the life of Jesus so we're gonna look quickly at some of the prophecies that talk about how do we know who the Messiah is according to the prophets and they're gonna look at a panorama of prophecies one more verse I have here for you Hebrews 10 he says behold i come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your Will O God the whole book is about Jesus number 5 does the prophecy foretell the Messiah's family tree so several of the prophecies in the Bible are actually tracing the genealogy of Christ how many of you started reading the Bible and either in Matthew or in Chronicles or numbers you got into the genealogy and he went home boy its own zombie cats so-and-so and you can't even say the names it makes it muhuali yell begat Shamu collide and you know this is not you know real interesting be glad that it's there because that chronology is really tracing the family tree of Christ all the way Luke takes it all the way from Adam to Jesus he mentions every single ancestor from Adam to Christ and so when people say you know we slowly evolved it can have a real problem with Lucas Luke is tracing the giana genealogies all the way back and I think it's pretty clear that his family tree is given now we're not going to go back to Adam we're gonna start with Abraham we don't have time to go back to Adam are there prophecies that God gave Abraham that said the Messiah would come through his lineage yes my family got me a DNA test well I think Aaron got it for me for Christmas last year or something and and my father had been telling my family and all my uncles yeah we are part Cherokee Indian they came from Oklahoma and I've said it all my life said it to all my kids and my grandkids they gave me a DNA test I don't have any Indian I was really kind of bummed by that you know we lived among the Native Americans we've got a home on the reservation we've got our we I worked as a missionary or the natives I always told them were related and oh yeah really I found out a part in Indian from India mostly Jewish so I'll be talking about my family tree tonight - so Abraham he said to him in Genesis 12:3 and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed through your seed he hadn't even had any children God said the through your descendants the whole world will be blessed cuz the Messiah is coming through your lineage you've heard of the great patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob God repeats that promise to all three here's the one - Isaac the son of Abraham he was the promised son think about Isaac God says Abraham take your son your only son who you love bring him to the mountains of Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice for me and they put the wood on Isaac's back and they go up the hill together and Isaac says father we've got the fire we've got the wood where is the lamb and Abraham says my son God will provide himself a lamb that's what you call an allegory God provided his son as a lamb later before Abraham brings down the knife God stops him and he directs Abraham to a ram that is caught by his horns in a thorn bush did Jesus wear a crown of thorns Isaac went up a mountain with a wood on his back Jesus went up the mountain with the cross on his back the father and the son went to the sacrifice together Isaac was a willing sacrifice Abraham was a Jesus is a willing sacrifice so you know in the lives of the patriarchs you see the gospel played out I don't have time to go through all the stories God said to Isaac I will give your descendants these lands and your seed in the nations of the earth shall be blessed it was in your seed it came Jesus came through Isaac and then Isaac had sons Jacob and Esau but he said which son Jacob the Messiah would come through the younger not the older numbers 24:17 prophecy of Balaam actually a star shall come out of Jacob a scepter will arise out of Israel now Jacobs got two names God renamed Jacob when he wrestled with the angel gave him the name Israel means a prince with God when you talk about the Land of Israel it's the land of Jacob his sons and so Israel was the other name for Jacob and then all of Jacob's sons how many sons did he have twelve and how many daughters one that we know of Dinah but of his sons which one would the Messiah come through not the oldest not the youngest but through Judah that's interesting Judah is the one who pleads for the Joseph as an intercessor Judah is the one who tells Joseph take me take my life instead of Benjamin he sacrifices himself Jacob when he's dying he blesses Judah and here's what he says until shiloh come and unto Him the gathering of the people will be he says a scepter will not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh Shiloh similar to the word Shalom the Prince of Peace will come that was a term for the Messiah so it prophesized not only through Judah but you had many sons he several sons died he had two that survived and had offspring and from those twins the Messiah was going to come through one of them ultimately through someone named Jesse you know you've probably heard of Ruth who married Boaz who was the son of Salman Ruth and Boaz had a boy named Oh bed stories in the Bible wonderful story of redemption and Obed had a son named Jesse and Jesse had seven sons of the youngest was named David the prophecy said in Isaiah 11 verse 1 and 2 there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse talking about the branch of the family tree right here a branch will grow out of his roots and the Spirit of the Lord The Anointed will rest upon him now we're gonna jump to the New Testament and show the fulfillment of these things this can sound like a Christmas sermon for a few minutes now Luke 1:26 now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel six month of Elizabeth's pregnancy the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth notice the angel Gabriel to a virgin who was betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the Virgin's name was Mary and that's another prophecy gonna stop right here says that the Messiah would be born of a what a virgin you read about that in Isaiah chapter 7 14 behold a virgin will conceive and bear a son and you will call his name Emmanuel which means God with us God came to earth in Christ God with us by the way Jesus has more names than anybody in the Bible do you realized Jesus is called Immanuel he's called Prince of Peace it's called the bread of life says I'm the water says I'm the Good Shepherd he said I'm the door I'm the way I'm the truth I'm alive you start going through revelation he says I am the Alpha and the Omega I am the Everlast like a diamond with a thousand facets the names of Christ all reflect different attributes of his character now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows after his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together and you know what that means she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit as the angel promised that would happen now skeptics and cynics around the world are very suspicious of this as you can understand a lot of people have unplanned pregnancies and they think this was just a big cover-up it was a very creative one oh I don't know what happened Holy Spirit an angel and talk to me and so you know atheists out there they this have a lot of fun with this but you know God foretold in advance that this would happen and he meets all the other requirements so we need to believe the testimony of Mary not only does it talk about being born of a virgin it gives the place of his birth in a couple of different ways both Nazareth has a place of dwelling and Bethlehem notice you can read in the Book of Micah and this has written six hundred years before Jesus is born Micah chapter 5 verse 2 these are all prophecies I'm going through but you Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah Judah had thousands of little towns out of you shall he come forth to me the one who's to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old even from everlasting Bethlehem you know Bethlehem means ham means house death our house means death means house ham means bread it means House of bread now think about this Jesus he was born in Bethlehem House of bread Mary wrapped him up and put him in a manger it's a place where you feed grain to animals and here he is the bread of life the bread of life is born in the house of bread and placed in a breadbasket I mean everything about Jesus tells us he's the bread now you notice when the angel comes to Mary she's up in Nazareth and I don't know if you can see there's a little map here at the north of the screen you got nazareth seventy miles down you got bethlehem how is God gonna work things out so that Jesus is born in Bethlehem when the angel announces her the Incarnation would happen the the conception when she's up there in Nazareth this is one of the only times in history we need to thank a politician for a tax increase the Bible says Luke 2 it came to pass in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed and people had to go register for the tax in their hometown where they were born Joseph and Mary of the linee David needed to go to Bethlehem where David was born by the way this is the same Bethlehem where Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin it was a very significant town outside of Jerusalem they went to their own City and Joseph went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judaea that's the southern kingdom where Bethlehem is it says unto what unto the City of David because they were of the house of David not just Joseph Joseph and Mary when you read your Bible you'll see in Matthew it traces the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph back to David in the Book of Luke it traces the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph's father-in-law back to David so either way you know sometimes family trees reconnect they both go back to David so jesus meets that requirement to be taxed with Mary his wife who was great with child she was very pregnant and I think we all know what happened while they were there so it was while they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths with strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn Christ came into the world he left the throne of glory he came down became a vulnerable human baby and didn't even receive a proper place for his nativity or his birth but was placed in a stable or something like it and the Angels declared them to the shepherds in the field for there is born to you this day in the city of who city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord even the proclamation from heaven announced the time told the Shepherd's told the Wiseman and it says that he arose after the warning of the wise men that Herod would try to hurt the child he arose and he took the young child and his mother by night and they departed for Egypt and notice what it says here in Matthew chapter 214 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the Prophet saying out of Egypt this is from the book of Hosea out of Egypt I have called my son now Matthews even quoting an Old Testament prophet saying Christ fulfilled this Jesus had to flee to Egypt and he was called out of Egypt just like Israel was called out of Egypt to come into the Promised Land and then you can also read not only that he was born in Bethlehem but that he would return and he grew up in Nazareth Matthew 2 verse 3 and he came and he dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets he will be called a Nazarene now it makes a connection here with Jesus being a Nazarene or a Nazarite like Samson and because the town there's a connection in the words there some have wondered did did Jesus take the valve and that is a right and that's why he's often painted with longer here but a Nazarite was not supposed to drink anything from the vine but you could take the Nazarite valve for a limited time and it could be that he took the vow until he began his ministry at 30 years of age at his baptism when he was filled with the Holy Spirit we don't know that that's just little free information and it says he went down with his parents and he came to Nazareth and he was subject to them now some people say oh you know there's these mystery years Jesus after after he fled from Jerusalem he went the only way he could get all the wisdom and knowledge that he had he must have gone and studied with some gurus in India and he was studying with the wise people in Egypt and he went to Babel and in Mesopotamia and he he studied with the astronomers there and I've read all kinds of the Aquarian gospel of Jesus Christ back I heard all these goofy theories but the Bible is very clear Jesus went from Egypt he was there as a baby four years of age or so he went back to Jerusalem he lived with his parents he was subject to them he grew up it says he waxed strong in spirit he grew he's always identified as the carpenter's son so when you hear these crazy theories that Jesus God is learning because he went here there and and studied under Bible doesn't say that he was taught of his mother and his father the Scriptures and he was mighty in the scriptures because of that so when would he appear now we're going to delve into a prophecy that is in the Old Testament in Daniel and it cooperates with the book of turn with me if you got your Bibles you might turn with me to the Book of Daniel I know it's hard to see so I'll have it all on the screen I'm gonna turn to ribbon read here in Daniel chapter 9 there's an amazing prophecy that talks about when the Messiah would come the first time there were there was a way for the people to know when the time was near for him to come the first time that's why the wise men showed up in Jerusalem they were reading the prophecies that's why Simon and the temple said God told me that the Saviour was coming he held Jesus in his arms and he said Lord now let your servant depart in peace I've long to see your salvation they knew the time was near like we can know when the time is near so you read a prophecy the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel and if you look in Daniel chapter 9 and you can read in oh I'm sorry I grabbed the wrong page here Daniel 9 you go to verse 20 for seventy weeks are determined for your people and for the holy city notice to finish transgression to make an end to sin that means a sacrifice for sin to make reconciliation for iniquity someone who would reconcile us and save us from our iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to bring in the possibility of people having the righteousness of God to seal up the vision to complete the vision given here and to anoint the most holy who is the most holy that's the Messiah that's Jesus so he said seventy weeks seventy weeks now what does that mean how do we understand that if if you got how many days in a week seven and here's those verses on the screen seventy weeks is how many days seventy times seven 490 seven times seven is forty-nine you still with me that's 490 days but when you're dealing with prophecy he uses a principle of a day is a year and I'll get to that in just a moment so it tells us what the starting point is you read in Daniel chapter 9 verse 25 from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem on to the messiah the prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks what's seven plus 60 to 69 you still with me so first he says there's gonna be this 70 week time period but first I want you to know the Messiah is gonna be anointed at the end of 69 weeks I mean there's one week left so find out how far that goes now when you're studying Bible prophecy there's a principle that a day equals a year you can read about this in Ezekiel 4:6 I have appointed you each day for a year some of you remember in the Bible when someone came to Jesus they said Herod's killed John the Baptist and he's gonna get you next and Jesus said I'm paraphrasing said go tell that Fox that I teach and I do cures and I cast out devils today and tomorrow and the third day I will be perfected Jesus distinctly says days he didn't preach three days he preached three more years so even Jesus making that prophecy made a day a year so when we talk about 483 years until the Messiah would be anointed or baptized with the Holy Spirit it's not days it's actually years now it gives us a starting point he said from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem that very commandment is found in Ezra 7-eleven can you remember 7-eleven well you guys remember Ezra now it gives you the decree of artaxerxes commanding the people that they could go to Jerusalem and to restore and build the city and it is a very well-established date in history it is 457 BC and so that means from this decree that is given by artaxerxes if we go 483 years remember we're before this 70 weeks is complete 483 years is the first part of it which is to anoint the most holy that's the baptism of Jesus you count and it was exactly 483 years till Jesus comes to the Jordan and John the Baptist says behold the lamb of God that take where the sin of the world the Bible establishes when that is because John only ministered for a short period of time before he was executed and it was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar it's 27 AD it tells us who's in power during that time there was only one year when these leaders lives overlapped and what happened when Christ was baptized notice acts 10:38 God anointed who are we looking for The Anointed the Messiah the Christ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power when Christ was baptized he came out of the water the Bible says in Matthew chapter 3 the heavens were opened the Holy Spirit descended like a dove he was filled and anointed in a special way with the Holy Spirit now Christ had the Holy Spirit before his baptism but he was empowered in a special way at his baptism that's when he began his ministry you never see Jesus doing any miracles before his baptism it all starts right there and then Jesus preaches three and a half years which is half a seven he dies on the cross then through his disciples they preach exclusively to the Jews for another three and a half years and that completes the whole 17 I'll get to that and I just wanted to tell you where I'm going we're gonna take a little detour and come back to this prophecy talks about the Ministry of Christ he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil this is what Jesus is during that time for God was with him so let's talk about what would Christ what would the Messiah do why was he anointed what did he do with his spirit filled power Isaiah now when I read Isaiah keep in mind on 700 years before Christ comes listen to how Isaiah talks about the Ministry of Christ matter of fact when Jesus got up in Nazareth his first sermon in his home church he reads from Isaiah 60:1 which says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the good tidings to the poor he sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to those that are blind well bound sorry I'll tell you know one of the most powerful prophecies in the Old Testament and my Jewish brothers and sisters really struggle with this because they believe the Old Testament you read Isaiah 53 where it describes the sacrifice and the sufferings of Jesus and it is so explicit explicit that he is wounded and he is bruised for our sins that he's pierced and we're gonna look at some of these prophecies tonight Jesus what about doing good those who went to listen to Jesus even the spies came back and they said to the religious leaders no man ever spoke like this man that you know that is true I got some notes here I just want to read something to you real quick somebody shared a statement with me he never wrote a book but if you're gonna read a book a week it would take you a hundred years to read all the books about the life of Christ that are cataloged in the u.s. Library of Congress he was not an artist or a sculptor but the greatest masterpieces paintings and statues in the world portray his life and death he was not a musician but the greatest musical masterpieces and songs were inspired by love for him he was not an architect but most of the Magnificent structures in the world are dedicated to him he has no formal degrees yet the most prestigious universities of the world were founded in his honor he lived less than 34 years but history is dated from his birth nobody knew anything about him really until he was anointed and he just went out into his ministry like a cannonball out of a cannon and the whole world was turned upside down by the power and simplicity of his teaching people sent to arrest him came back they said where is he we told you to arrest him and they said no man ever spoke like this man and the words of Jesus they still echo around the world today amen now some of the most astounding prophecies in the Bible are the ones related to the events surrounding his cross and his betrayal for example if you look in zechariah 9:9 it says rejoice greatly o daughter of Zion shout o daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and having salvation and riding on a donkey a Colt the foal of a donkey now this has written 600 plus years before it happens almost 700 years before it happens and then you turn to the new testament and some of you remember the story he sent his disciples to borrow a donkey and the owner didn't know what it was for and they said the Lord needs it he gave it and Jesus rides first he weeps up on top of the Mount of Olives over Jerusalem by the way David wept over Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives another echo in the Old Testament and then he rides down and they rejoice and they proclaim him King and he goes through this beautiful gate just as it was foretold hundreds of years earlier by the way that gate that he went through the Jewish prophecies were so explicit that the Messiah would ride through the golden gate that the Muslims the Muslim Turks when they occupied Jerusalem about sixteen hundred years ad they wanted to prevent the Jewish prophecy from coming through so they walled up the golden gate and there you've got a picture of it there it is up on the screen they walled up the golden gate and they put a cemetery in front of it to defile the ground to prevent the Jewish Messiah from coming but they were you know 1,500 years too late Jesus had already written through the gate just as the prophets had said but we were just there like I said a few months ago and and you could see it and it's just so encouraging to know that Jesus got through that gate and the prophecy was fulfilled look at the events about his betrayal these are prophesied in the Old Testament in some cases a thousand years in advance look for instance in psalm 41 even my own friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me do you know David had a dear friend named the hipa fell that betrayed him and then went out and hung himself does that sound familiar Judas betrayed Jesus and then went out and hung himself even my own friend this is prophesied in Psalm 91 and then look at Zechariah it gives some great very explicit details he said if it is agreeable to you give my wages and if not I will refrain and so it goes on to say so they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver how much was Jesus betrayed for 30 pieces of silver furthermore he tells us and the Lord said to me throw it to the potter that princely sum that they set upon me so they took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the Potter now if you read in the New Testament you read that Judas when he realized he had this terrible regret that he had betrayed Jesus he went into the temple he cast down the blood money in the house of the Lord he told their Jewish leaders he said I betrayed innocent blood they said that's your problem he went out and he hung himself and they said what do we do with this money they said well we can't use it it's blood money can't give it to the Lord said let's use it to buy the potter's field to bury strangers in the very thing that's foretold we know this was written before it happened I mean doesn't let it stir you like it serves me I mean just the very fact that somebody knows exactly what's gonna happen a thousand years it could you predict some kind of detail like this two years from now you don't know what's gonna happen two years from now if you go back a couple years ago did you know you'd be exactly doing what you're doing now two years ago there's so many of our lives have changed in radical ways how can you predict something 700 years in advance and control that kind of detail all the atoms that interact in the molecules and the events that are bouncing off each other only God can do that and that's why these prophecies are so important because it tells us about them the incredible unlimited power of God to not only foretell the future but every little detail is in his hands and so that should give you encouragement haven't you know I remember maybe it excites me some of you grew up Christians I didn't all right grew up in atheist and I thought life has no purpose and no one knows what's going to happen and everything is out of control our will is just kind of careening through the cosmos with no meaning and once I saw prophecy I said wait second someone is in control there is a purpose there is a power there is a destiny I changed everything for me that came from understanding the power of prophecy means that there's a plan in the world I got very excited about that I wish it was contagious his manner of death is foretold not just that he wouldn't die but how he would die four dogs have surrounded me this is Psalm 22 four dogs have surrounded me the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet thousand years before Christ was born they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots now what book is this end you see it up there Psalm 22 you know what the first words are in Psalm 22 my God my God why have you forsaken me what does Jesus say from the cross he quotes from Psalm 22 why not because he had become discouraged but because he's directing the attention of all the people watching to that Psalm where these details are given they pierced my hands and my feet they cast lots for my clothing they divided my garments among them but who could foretell that kind of detail Jesus had to be the Messiah I mean you know how does a person control the events around their birth you can't control that you can't choose we're going to be born most people can't control when they're gonna die he certainly could not control these things I've read some crazy theories that Jesus manipulated the whole thing to try to fulfill these prophecies how do you do that and when they crucified him they divided his garments casting Lots for them to determine what every man should take but when they came to Jesus they saw he was already dead and they did not break his legs notice what John says but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out the Bible tells us for these things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled not one of his bronze would be broken and again John here is quoting from a psalm written a thousand years earlier and again another scripture said they'll look on the one whom they have pierced his side was pierced and blood and water came out and that's why we sing we are washed in the blood now I want to return you think I forgot about Daniels prophecy I wanted to talk about what the ministry would happen what would be going on in the life of Christ during that first three and a half years that we saw in the prophecy there it said now after 62 weeks you go back to Daniel chapter 9 after the first sixty-two weeks you made divides that prophecy it's the seven weeks that was the time Jerusalem was being rebuilt during trouble as times in the wall and another sixty-two weeks seven and sixty-two is 69 that's reaching up to the time of his baptism then he would confirm the covenant of salvation that he had made with the Jewish nation for that last week or seven years three and a half years in person at the end of that three and a half years it says he would cause the sacrifice to cease did something happen when Jesus died on the cross that caused the sacrifice to cease it says and after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off from the prime of his life he's cut off but not for himself well then for who for me for you he was cut off and he'll confirm the covenant with many for one week he wasn't going to give up on the Jewish people even after his death that was his people he wanted the Jewish nation to be the nation they were the guardians of the auricles they would proclaim the gospel to the rest of the world God did not just choose the Jews to save Jews he chose the Jews to be the guardians of the Oracles Paul says and to proclaim the Messiah to the world Christ dies the Holy Spirit is poured out the Apostles then begin to preach in Jerusalem at Pentecost there are devout Jews out of every nation the Holy Spirit is poured out Jews everywhere except that they begin to fan out through the Roman Empire they've come for the holiday they accept Christ they fan out and for three and a half years the gospel is really preached by Jews to Jews all over the Roman Empire many are converted but then at the end of three and a half years something else happens says in the middle of the week he will bring an end to the sacrifice in the offering Christ dies on the cross what happened when Jesus died on the cross it says Christ cried out again matthew 27:51 a loud voice and he yielded up his spirit and it tells us that the veil in the temple was ripped the whole purpose for the sacrificial system ceased the whole purpose you don't need to sacrifice lambs anymore because that was the Lamb of God dying on a cross outside the city amen the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom it was not the human hand there's an earthquake the rocks were rented so here looking at our chart again here up on the screen you've got Christ is baptized 27 ad Ian's most whole he's anointed he confirms a covenant for a whole week but he does it in person for three and a half years then he makes the sacrifice cease he dies on the cross he fulfills the purpose of the ceremonial law at all points to him as the Lamb of God but he doesn't go to the dentals for another three and a half years he now confirms a covenant through those that heard him after his resurrection and ascension the Bible says he makes his grave with a wicked and the rich in his death that was foretold in Isaiah he's buried in a rich man's tomb he's crucified between two thieves because he had done no violence neither was there any deceit in his mouth this is that prophecy in Isaiah 53 Psalm 16 verse 10 you will not leave my soul in Sheol you'll not allow your Holy One to see corruption he rises from the grave before his body corrupts her decomposes and then he appears alive to the disciples does that over a period of 40 days now notice what it says in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3 Christ confirms a covenant in person and then how does he confirm it for the last three and a half years it says how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which had first began to be spoken by the Lord first three and a half years and was confirmed what's that word what's that word confirmed what did Daniel say what happened confirm it was confirmed by those who heard him for three and a half years Christ confirmed the covenant he dies in the midst of that last seven years he says but I'm just gonna go to the Jews Christ told the Apostles do not go in the way of the Gentiles go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel the Gospels preached exclusively to the Jews until something happened three and a half years after Christ dies one of the spirit-filled deacons named Stephen is tried he's falsely accused like Jesus he's taken outside the city he's summarily executed he just like Jesus he prays for the forgiveness of those that are killing him he's the first martyr and it says a great persecution arose in Jerusalem the disciples went everywhere preaching and one of the witnesses and the accomplices in the execution of Stephen is summoned by the name of Saul better known as Paul who becomes the apostle to the Gentiles happens in 34 AD exactly seven years after Christ is baptized three and a half years later in the midst of the week he's crucified causes a sacrifice system to cease he confirms a covenant for another three and a half years in the Jewish nation Supreme Court gets together they plug their ears when Stephen is preaching to them they don't want to hear it and of course many Jews are the ones who first accepted Christ and took the gospel Everywhere's we're not talking about Jews talk about the nation they plug their ears the gospel then exploded to the Gentiles and you realize that in about 30 years after that point there were more Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians it just Jesus said many will come from the east and the west and sit down on the kingdom with Abraham Isaac and Jacob while some of the natural children will be in outer darkness who is a Jew he that accepts Christ he is Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise so here you've got that prophecy and we've been covering we've just looked at one of the most powerful prophecies in Daniel that told about the first coming of Jesus now how could you know the time of Christ's birth from this prophecy of Daniel well because Messiah began his ministry at 30 that could have been guessed David began to reign at 30 Joseph went out over Egypt at 30 a priest could not begin to rule until he was 30 or serve until he was 30 years of age Christ began his ministry at 30 they could have just counted back and sort of guessed that but these prophecies about his first coming all happened what do you think about the prophecies about the second coming are they gonna happen he came the first time as a lamb to save us he's coming next time as a lion you need to take advantage of his first coming if you're gonna be ready for his second coming you know one of the great quotes from history now this is not in the Bible this is history a contemporary of the Apostles was a Jewish historian you've probably heard of Flavius Josephus and he was one of the few Jews that was spared from the annihilation that happened in Jerusalem when the Romans destroyed the city here's what he wrote in his antiquity of the Jews he's someone who lived during the time of Jesus is an amazing statement it's not biblical this is a Jew talking about Jesus listen to this now there was about this time Jesus a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man for he was a doer of wonderful works and a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure he drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles he was Christ and when Pilate at the suggestion of principle men among us meaning the religious leaders had condemned him to the cross those that loved him from the first did not forsake him for he appeared to them alive again the third day and as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him and the tribe of Christians is not extinct even unto this day that's an amazing prediction that's made about a 80 AD by a contemporary of Christ I mean this is not a fairy tale Jesus really lived he was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets the power of Christ is not change he rose from the dead he's still alive he said wherever you go I am with you he's here tonight think about that he brought you to this meeting there may be some here who have not taken advantage of that sacrifice that he's made there's no question Jesus is it's like I like this picture of Jesus as a puzzle and the whole Bible is all these different pieces and it gives us a picture of who Christ is it's all helping us to see him because eternal life is knowing him now Jesus came for principally three reasons this is a quick review first of all he came as our example he said I've come to give you an example that you should do as I have done Jesus lived as a man among men to show us how to love how to forgive how to serve says I've come to be your example so that's one reason Jesus came secondly he came to show us the father people don't understand God they think God's a great big policeman with a Taser up in the heavens waiting for us to do something wrong - he could tase us and he said look if you've seen me you've seen the father God is love and thirdly Jesus came to be our substitute the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 God demonstrated his love to us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us you know Pilate at the trial of Christ he knew Jesus was innocent he said I find no fault in him and he was faced with a terrible conundrum and he said what will I do with Jesus friends you got three choices I read the story of the gospel up in the cave 40 years ago I was pretty much an atheist and I thought wow this is a trilemma what do I do I've tried all these different religions but this is different I knew Jesus lived he's historical histories dated from his birth I said he's either a liar I said I can't be a liar everything he did was about true that all resonated with me as the truth he could have lied and saved his life but he couldn't lie he's crazy he can't be crazy I was shocked how Jesus in a few words he would confound his enemies say yeah he without sin you cast the first stone oh you think you're gonna trap me render the seas of the things that are Caesar's to God the things that are gods and they didn't know what to say he's brilliant wasn't a liar wasn't crazy you got one option left he was telling the truth God came to earth to show us his love for us he was the embodiment of the love of God and then to die in our place but it only do you good it's a check that you don't get unless you cash it you've got to make a decision and say lord thank you for dying for me I want to accept you as my savior now I wonder if we could bring some of the house lights up a little bit and even you watching you can participate in this but we gave you a card when you came in and I'd like to encourage you to make a decision if you'd pull that out do me a favor just write your name on that card and I want to read something to you while you're doing that you know there's a statement that you've probably heard before it's called one solitary life it's definitely listen to this for a moment on why you you jot your name down on your card here is a man that was born in an obscure village the child of a peasant woman he grew up in another village he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty for three years he was in a tenner a preacher never owned a home never wrote a book nailed it never held an office never had a family never went to college never put a foot inside a big city he never travelled more than 150 miles from the place he was born he never did any of the things that typically accompany greatness he had no credentials but himself while still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him his friends ran away one of them denied him he was turned over to his enemies he went through the mockery of a trial he was nailed upon a cross between two thieves while he was dying his executioner's gambled for the only piece of property on earth his coat and he asked for their forgiveness when he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend notice 19 long centuries have come and gone and today he is still the central figure of the human race the leader of the column of progress I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that have ever marched and all the navies that have ever been built and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life upon earth as powerfully as this one solitary life God became a man to show us what God is like to show us how to live and to die in our place but you must accept him as your king and your Lord and he will then release his power in his peace in your life God has for you peace power and purpose but he won't activate that and do you say Lord I want that this is also for you that are watching I'd like to ask you five simple questions they'll be on the screen as well first of all just check the box by doing this something tangible actually happens you're making a decision I believe that salvation comes only by grace through faith in Christ it's a gift available to everybody for the asking you say oh but I'm a sinner that's exactly who it's for you all qualify if you don't know that secondly I want to repent of my sins Jesus came to save us from our sins and to give us new power if that's your desire check that we'll be praying for you thirdly perhaps you once followed Jesus but you've drifted away may have been raised in a Christian home but you've become preoccupied with the world and other things have Eclipse thinking about God and you realize that nothing's more important than God you name something for me that's more important than you having an eternal relationship with God maybe you have a special need for prayer that's our fourth question we have prayer groups connected with this seminar we want to pray for you let us know that you can also write down a prayer request or even if you want a question on the back of the envelope and [Music] there'll be an opportunity for you to leave these with the ushers on your way out final question if you would like additional material to know more about Jesus will be sharing free Bible studies now people feel something like this out and we're very suspicious these days I think I mean you're gonna sell this to eBay or something what you can do with my information no we can't do that first of all legally this is just for us here to know how to pray for you and it's actually for you because by writing this down and making the decision saying yes I want to follow Jesus yes I want prayer you're giving God permission to do something Bible says ask and what will happen you'll receive this is a way of making a decision and asking please fill that out let us know if you have a special prayer request on the back or Bible question and I'd like to pray with you as we close tonight could we bow our heads together please Father in heaven weirdest so thankful for the evidence we see in your word that you know the beginning to the end that through the prophecies they all declare that Jesus is a Christ lord I pray that this will not just be information that we find interesting but we'll know that it's personal that you brought us here you want to save us you want us to accept your sacrifice in our place and then fill us with your spirit fill of a new kind of life to give us that peace that power that purpose be with each person I know there's a kaleidoscope of different needs and everyone's life right now but you hear their prayers right now release your power in their lives we thank you for your presence here we pray that you'll also be with those who may be watching help them to make that decision now to pray and invite you into their lives we thank you and ask all of this in the name of your son and we believe for Christ's sake amen now friends we may have closing an announcement or two I'd like to remind you when's our next program tomorrow and I met someone earlier today we're here all week I've come all the way from California so I hope you can come from your neighborhood I met some people today who flew in from Ontario bless their hearts for this series so we hope that you'll plan on coming tomorrow night we're going to be talking about the villain of Revelation why is there good and evil very important subject god bless you Pastor anymore closing announcements I just I want to make sure if I'm missing anything seeing none leave your cards at the door on the way out any Bible questions god bless you we'll see you tomorrow night and I made it one minute before 9:00 god bless
