"The Main Thing - Starved for Truth" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

and so it's a delight to be here with you can I just have another brief prayer with you would that be all right father in heaven in a special sense as we direct our attention now to your blessed word we pray for the Holy Spirit to just fill our minds be with me as I speak I pray that you will forgive my sins and ultimately Christ will be lifted up we ask this in Jesus name Amen you know there's a story in the Bible I had something else originally planned and I changed my mind back at the room if you have a Bible or you've some of you of course you haven't one of your phones it's in the second book of Kings it's a very short story it's a little bit troubling but I love the way it ends and you find it beginning in 2nd Kings chapter 6 verse 24 during the time of war it says that it happened after this that been hey Dad the king of Syria and all of his army wind up and they besieged Samaria alright I'll stop there real quick the Northern Kingdom of Israel you know they had a civil war ten tribes in the north they made their capital Samaria and they weren't entirely faithful to the Lord they started getting involved in idolatry and doing a lot of things wrong and worshiping other gods and God withdrew his protection to try to teach them that they needed him and and they had some problem with their enemies one of the most prominent of their enemies were the Syrians in the north and they had a much bigger army Israel and Syria is still fighting today isn't that amazing 3,000 years later 2500 years later and so this was one of those occasions where the king of Syria came down with his name was Ben Hadad he does appear in history he came down with his forces and they besieged Samaria that means they went to the capital of Israel and they took their army and they they surrounded the capital city of northern Israel Samaria and they camped just outside of bowshot you know so they were a couple hundred yards away where you could not hit them with a bow and arrow or a spear and they built ramparts and earthen works and they had their camp all pitched beyond that they basically surrounded with their army the capital city there weren't enough soldiers in the city to fight against the Syrians and the idea of this ancient method of warfare was basically starve them into surrender when you besieged them you can't get out to go get help they had no airplanes back then nobody can come in food is not brought in they have to live off what they have and you can read through the Bible and through history of a number of sieges where one Kingdom tries to conquer another Kingdom by besieging their capital matter of fact before Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar the Bible tells us that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for two years so these sieges would last a long time the Roman army besieged Masada for three years usually either get so hungry that they can't fight and you read in in the Bible in this story I'm not gonna read it all because it's very troubling but I'll just tell you that way I'll not read a little bit of it and I just want to get your attention they besieged Samaria and there was a great famine they're starving in the city in Samaria and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver it's a fabulous amount to buy a donkey which is unclean food and the worst part of a donkey and it says one-fourth of a cab or a pint of dove droppings five shekels of silver and you read on and it says they even turned to cannibalism now do you know that Moses in Deuteronomy 28 we're told exactly that this would happen said if you turn your back on God and you start worshipping other gods I'll withdraw my protection from you your enemies will perceive you until you devour each other and so the idea in these ancient times was you just star people so they're so weak they can't fight now my mother was Jewish my grandparents were Jewish and they had many friends that were in prison of war camps in Europe during World War two and I remember seeing them they came to my grandparents anniversary and some of them still have the the tattoos and and I remember going to the Holocaust Museum in Israel and you would see sometimes two or three Nazi guards guarding hundreds of prisoners and I couldn't resist asking one of my grandparents friends I thought why didn't you there's so many more of you why didn't you just charge them and overwhelm them and I said you don't know what you're talking about Doug said we were so weak we were so hungry you could have pushed this over with a feather said we couldn't fight and they knew it and you know that is the devil's objective for the church today it's the starve us into surrender now what is the food that we eat to fight man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and when the devil came to tempt Jesus what did Jesus do to resist temptation all three times he quoted from the scripture he said it is written it is written it is written he and those three times he quoted from the book of Deuteronomy so it must be a good book if Jesus used it but Jesus quoted from the word David tells us thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee so the devil does all he can to prevent us from eating or defeat us with things that give you no nutritional value so that you have no strength to fight it was a verse in Isaiah 55 why do you eat that which is not bread now I don't know how it is in Canada I think you eat better here than we do in the lower 51 state above you let me look around lower-48 I just looking in the supermarket yesterday and he seemed to be more nutritionally conscious but I know that down in the u.s. about 85% of the advertising budget for food is spent on the least nutritious foods we are having a health crisis I expect it's also true in Canada not because people are starving but for the first time in history people are dying from being overfed because they're eating the wrong thing that's not only true physically it's true spiritually it's not that we have nothing to eat mentally we have more to consume our attention now than any other time in history you just think about it for a moment hundred years ago if you wanted to listen to a song you needed to know how to sing or you needed to have someone sing to you you couldn't say I'm gonna turn on my ipod and listen to 3,000 songs I've just downloaded but with the ability to record information can you imagine trying to show a smartphone to the Apostle Peter and say let me Google that he'd think you were demon-possessed if he saw that you could you had the the access of all of the knowledge of all the libraries of the world at your fingertips just think about the time we live how many of you see people walking around with your buds all the time they're listening it doesn't matter whether they're you know mowing a lawn or whatever they're doing they're they're just listening to stuff all the time and in your cars and in my car and in our homes it's like constant noise and everybody is so connected and there's so much information that we've got information overload but are we eating food with no nutritional value you know got some food you can eat in New Guinea we were in Papua New Guinea last year and Wayne was there with us and they've got some plants that they eat there that the people eat and they can't eat it alone because it'll give you a feeling of satisfaction but it has zero nutritional value so you can technically starve to death while you're feeling full and there are some people on our culture that have no desire for God because they are just so full of information but it has no spiritual nutritional value and so the devil is starving people spiritually so when temptation comes he can push them over with a feather man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word if you wanted to be strong spiritually you need to read your Bible it's that simple it's that primitive we need to fill our minds with the Word of God the thing that's gonna prepare us for the storm that's coming no it didn't just build an ark he stored it with food and we're not gonna get through the storm ahead unless we start storing the Word of God the Bible says the Word of God is filled with exceeding great and precious promises that by these we might become partakers of the divine nature would you like the divine nature the powers in the word even Jesus is defined as the word became flesh and dwelt among us we don't know what he looked like we know what he said and you and I have an opportunity to have Christ in us not through you know meditating on a photograph of Jesus but meditating on the words of Christ and it transforms us so that was actually a detour so there's this terrible famine and there's a famine there's a famine in the world today you know the Bible says in the Book of Amos chapter 8 I'm sending a famine in the last days not for a hunger for bread or a thirst for water but for hearing the words of the Lord and people will wander from north to south and from east to west looking for the word of the Lord and not be able to find it do you know owning a Bible is not a substitute for reading a Bible some people think because I own six Bibles that means I'm a biblical person if you're not reading it and doesn't help you and just you know reading the devotional verse once a day that's usually not enough we need to spend time memorizing Scripture and filling our minds with it you know Jesus when he was in the desert and tempted by the devil and he quoted from Deuteronomy many Jewish boys in the time of Christ had memorized the entire book of Deuteronomy and the reason they could quote it he didn't pull out a scroll he didn't turn on his iPad there in the wilderness and start quoting verses to the devil he'd put it in his mind there's a famine coming for the word of God and you know how do we know how to discern there's so many false teachings out there the true from the false because we're so well acquainted with the true that we recognize the counterfeit we've got to read our Bibles there are thousands of churches that claim to be Christian but you know they're not all telling the truth they have varying amounts of truth and I'm not questioning that there are not sincere people in many different churches but there's some that believe some things that are really strange that are actually dangerous how do you know what is what line upon line precept upon precept except they speak as as isaiah chapter 8 verse 20 except they speak according to this word there is no light in them do you know your Bibles so they're dying of this famine they're eating donkey heads and dove droppings and each other or you know I might also mention when people are hungry they'll eat just about anything and they might turn to cannibalism spiritually when people are hungry Paul talks about cannibal Christians he said you bite and devour one another and what's Paul talking about it's talking about when church members start getting at each other do you know that if sheep get hungry enough and they're all corralled in the snow they'll start nibbling of the wool of other sheep one of the fastest things to solve any kind of internal problems in the church is if the people are well-fed they don't bite and devour each other if they're not well fed you can have cannibal vegetarians there's an oxymoron for you so the people are very hungry now I'm gonna jump to chapter 7 and if you look in verse 3 if you think the people in the city are having a hard time brace yourself because now I'm going to introduce some characters that are struggling even more now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate all right stop right there in Bible times leprosy was called the finger of God if you had a leprosy they just figured it was a judgment from God there was no cure no treatment really you were considered unclean they knew it was contagious you had to cover your face and if you came within a certain distance of people that were uninfected you'd have to cry out unclean unclean unclean they lived in colonies outside of the city and back in Bible times because it was contagious and there was no cure some of these colonies could have you know fifty hundred people there very large the famine now because the people in the city are dying when the Syrian army came those in the leper colony they had to kind of retreat towards the city but they couldn't go in the city because their lepers but they couldn't get away because there's an army out there so have you ever heard the expression being stuck between a rock and a hard place use that in Canada yeah boy these guys are stuck they can't get in they can't get out in the best of times these lepers depended on the mercy of people they would beg they'd lower some food in baskets over the wall and then the basket became unclean if they touched it and they had friends and family in the city you know the obviously lepers were people they had family that maybe cared about them but they're unclean now there's no food in the city one by one all the lepers had probably starved and died off until there's only four left can you what a pitiful picture these poor people leprosy I remember going to both Africa and Indian and you can still see people with the the scars of leprosy and it's an understatement to say it's not pretty so there's four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another why are we sitting here till we die if we say we'll enter the city what good will it do the famine is in the city will die there of starvation if we sit here we know what's going to happen we'll die now therefore come let us surrender to the army of the Syrians if they keep us alive we'll live if they kill us we'll only die the other two options are dying this one is at least an option where you might die but there's hope you ever heard the expression hope springs eternal is we got a chance if you sit here and do nothing we know what's gonna happen what's going to happen you know sometimes or they define insanity at continuing to do something that you know doesn't work and a lot of people plan on doing something about surrendering to the Lord one of these days that they never get around to it they said come now let us surrender you know in the Christian life it's a battle that you only win by surrender Jesus said if you would seek to save your life you'll lose it but if you lose your life for my sake in the Gospels you'll find it it seems like is antithetical it seems like a contradiction but you win by surrendering if you want to win you've got to give up to get everything you got to give up everything said unless you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me you can't be my disciple that means you need to come to the place where you are crucified with Christ these folks were willing to come to the point where they were gonna face death isn't that what they said let's march right out there to the face of death if they kill us will but die but there's hope now we might be they'll look at us I'll see our pitiful condition not only because we a leprous II but we're starving maybe they'll throw us a few crumbs and give us something to drink it's hard to even think about what they had been eating and so they resolved that this is probably a smart thing to do and by the way it's a smart thing for us to do to surrender to the Lord because if you give God your heart Peter said Lord we've given up everything to follow you what will we have that's a normal question right well we have jesus said no man has given up anything father mother houses lands for my sake in the gospel you will have a hundred times more in this life plus eternal life in the world to come you know if your father and mother forsake you because of your faith you end up with a whole new family when you come to Christ amen you're a quiet group I think I always like this Pastor Dave mostly so these guys come to their senses and they say let's surrender so they arose verse five this is 2nd Kings chapter 7 verse 5 they arose at Twilight to go out to the camp of the Syrians and when they came to the outskirts of the Syrian camp to their surprise no one was there for the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots in the noise of horses and the noise of a great army so they said to one another look the king of Israel is hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us therefore they arose and they fled at Twilight and they left the camp intact their tents their horses their donkeys and they fled for their lives now God has a sense of humor and God always does things in the most amazing ways and the simple terms God knows how to do great things and not let people get any credit for it he told Gideon once when he was going up against the Midianites and he had like ten thousand soldiers alert says now you got too many cases too many they got a million we got you know ten thousand it's a to many you'll take credit so he whittled it down so they've got I don't know thirteen thousand God said you get too many eight thousand whatever it was and finally they get down to three hundred so now I can do it with three hundred maybe you'll give me the glory here in this battle God doesn't use anybody he does it himself and all he does does he uses a little noise and maybe some dust on the horizon see now the Syrian army was huge matter of fact there was one battle between Jerusalem and the Syrians and says the angel of the Lord struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand of their captains in one night that says the leaders I mean there's a massive army they surrounded Samaria and these sieges as I mentioned could last for years so if you're gonna go and you're gonna camp somewhere for a couple of years stuff do you ring how many do you bring 10 times more food than you need when you camp anyway they say that when you travel bring half as much clothes and twice as much money and so here they've got and you know they're they're doing trade with other surrounding nations and and they've got their tents and they got their supplies and they get their food and and all of a sudden they heard this thundering rolling noise off on the horizon they look and coming from the south they saw dust and it looked like a moving army and someone said something about Hittites here Egyptians and the rumors spread through the camp that an army but and they weren't expecting any resistance they a men maybe had been there already for a year and a half they are expecting a white flag to go up above some area any day now it looks like another Army's coming and panic spread through the camp the spirit of fear you know the Bible says in Proverbs 28 the wicked flee when nobody pursues but the righteousness is bold as a lion there was nobody even pursuing but panic went through the camp they all got scared and they ran and they ran so fast they did not attack anything they did not tie take their camels and their donkeys they left their tents they were still food probably turning on the barbecue and they just took off and you read later in the story and it says they left a trail of clothes as they're running they started tearing off their clothes so they could run faster and they left a trail of debris and clothes all the way to the Jordan River so these lepers they come limping towards the edge of the camp and as they get close you know they're very cautiously coming in and they see the camels and donkeys and horses are tied off and snorting and stomping and and there's fire still smoldering and food cooking and the tent flapping in the breeze and there's nobody there well they get a little closer and they smelled of barbecue and they even look at the tent and they see food and they say well we don't know where they've gone they might be having a convention so we're gonna get why the getting's good and they go in the tent and the Bible say they found food and drink and silver and gold and clothing and they dumped a bunch of food and the clothes and they said we might use silver in case this you know the economy could turn and this famine will be over one day and we'll need the money and they scurry back up to the walls of Samaria after they for heat and they dig a hole and they bury some of it and they are you know licking their chops and they look at each other and think you know we don't know how long this is gonna last we better get a little more so they go back down to the Syrian cabinets they're not here yet so we don't know where they went but it looks like they just abandoned the Kim I mean if it was today we think the rapture taking place but there's nobody there and so they went they got more food and drink and silver and gold and clothes and they bundle it up and as much as they can carry with their skinny legs they go wobbling back up to the city walls they dig another hole and they bury it they sit on top of the hole they think okay well we got enough stored away for a couple weeks here but we don't know how long this famines gonna last maybe we better get some more so now the sun's down they sneak back to the camp and no answer they become more relaxed as they make a few trips back and forth the camp halt in the food back up to the walls and then best statement in the Old Testament is that's a probably in exaggeration but it's one of the great ones 2nd Kings chapter 7 verse 9 then it says they said to one another we are not doing what is right this is a day of good news and we remain silent if we wait until the morning light some mischief will come upon us now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household you know they're thinking of all this abundance they've got and while they're sitting by the walls of Samaria they can hear just on the other side of the wall the people are moaning and crying and dying from a hunger and they're sitting on these piles of food talk about turning of the tables instead of the people in the city wait until I felt like feeding the lepers now the lepers are rich in the people in the city or poor does Jesus tell a story like that about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus and how in the end the tables are totally turned then one of the lepers he makes that statement now I can't prove this but you can't disprove it so I'll share it with you I think it's still Cephas who said that the leper who makes the statement is named gazai now if you know your Bibles you know that a couple of chapters earlier in second Kings chapter 5 Nannan I'm sorry Elijah rather has it's in the story of Naaman Elijah has a servant named gazai who because of greed gets leprosy and so here now they're being greedy and they're trying to store and hoard all they can of the treasure you ever heard the expression enough food to feed an army they literally found enough food to feed an army and everybody on the other side of the wall is starving and they're not telling them isn't that really a terrible thing to do that's why they say we're not doing the right thing if their conscience of gays I got the best of them he said look we've got this great abundance we got good news there's more food than anybody could possibly eat they're gone the army is gone and our friends and family are starving and we are not telling them about this abundance and no matter how much we gather and eat we are never going to be able to eat everything that's out there in the Syrian camp you know how could you ever run out of Jesus if you give them away are you reluctant to give away Jesus because you think well there may not be enough left for me or are you afraid that you won't get his full attention you know I don't want to share all God gives me he's so good to me if I share God he's gonna be busy helping them he won't have time for me is that ever true of the Lord you can't give away God or give away the gospel so that you're gonna run short indeed it's the opposite you will lose what you have if you do not share it it's like a muscle you ever heard the expression use it or you'll lose it that's the way it is with the gospel so here they are hoarding it now there would never be any Christians anywhere that would do this would they that would say praise the Lord on save come to church and just sit on it he ever heard of that story rich man and Lazarus there in Luke chapter 16 rich man clothed in purple feasts luxuriously every day and there is a poor beggar that lies at his gate named Lazarus desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fall from his table moreover what the dogs come and lick his sores I don't know why he included that part but it's in there and they both died and there's an incredible change so that the rich man goes to Hades which is a Greek place of torment and Lazarus goes to Abraham's bosom which is the Hebrew place of reward Jesus is using an incredible irony here to tell a lesson to the Jewish nation but it applies to the church today the Jews had the gospel Paul says to the Jews were committed the Oracles of truth they knew about Jesus they knew what the truth was but they weren't sharing it with the Gentiles matter of fact they started feeling a little bit like you know we're better now I can say this because I'm half Jewish and they started thinking you know we're the chosen people and they are the dogs even even once jesus said to the Gentile his Gentile lady said please heal my daughter and Jesus said is not appropriate to take the children's food and give it to the dogs and the disciples amen he said that to try and teach them a lesson that's how they looked at the Gentiles they thought they're unclean and the lady said yes but even the dogs get the crumbs isn't that what Lazarus wanted the Gentiles were wanting the crumbs of God's bread of life they're starving for him and instead the Jewish nation kind of sequestered itself and said it's wonderful to be the chosen frozen and they just went to church and they argued about the Bible and they decorated the temple and they went through all their fanfare and their services and said we know the truth God has given us the truth we have the truth and all the beggars than Gentiles a lost we're at their gate wanting the crumbs that fell from their table people share that parable they think it's talking about the state of the dead has nothing to do with that Jesus used that as iron II he's the Gentiles Lazarus was a type of the Gentiles he's going to Abraham that's the the salvation for the Jews and the rich man he ends up going to the Greek place of torment so Jesus was using humor there in irony it has nothing to do people in heaven and hell aren't gonna be talking to each other it's a parable you know Jesus told parables about sheep too but you know we don't hear each other right well some people get fleeced I did but that let's do you understand what I'm saying and so here you've got this abundance the Jewish nation had the Word of God and the Gentiles were starving for do you realize that within a hundred years of Christ there were far more Gentiles believing in Jehovah than there were Jews because they were so hungry it the the message of Christ just went like fire through the Gentile world they were starving for it now could history repeat itself we're here we are in the borders of the Lord's second coming and God's got people that have word and we're surrounded by people that are lost and dying for the crumbs that fall from our table today is a day of good news and we hold our peace if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us come now that we may go and tell the king's household this what does the word gospel means good news that's where you get the word evangelism Evangelion could the good news the good news that you were dead but now you can be alive you were sick but now you could be well you were lost but now you could be found when the gospel is all really good news when you have that good news you can't keep it to yourself you're gonna want to go tell everybody and the lepers realize you know we're this is not appropriate this is not even moral here we are sitting up on this abundant good news and we need to tell others you know what I think is beautiful about this story the lepers do end up telling the good news to the people in the city and the famine is over the next day but don't miss this God chose as the vehicle for the good news the most unqualified that you would expect he picked people that were poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked but they knew it these were lepers they knew what their condition was and God said look I can't give it to anybody that's self-satisfied but I'm gonna give this wonderful message of life to you the least likely you know that's what I love about the gospel is Jesus rises from the dead and he doesn't ascend to the Father he's hiding in the bushes somewhere and Peter comes and leaves and John comes and leaves and the women come and leave his own mother ostensibly comes and leaves and he waits until everybody's come and gone and finally when Mary's there by herself crying he reveals himself to Mary now you know Mary was she was one many believed Mary of Bethany Maria of Magdalene is Saint Mary and both of them it says had a bad reputation and remember Simon said if this man was a prophet he'd know who and what manner of woman this is that's touching him for she is a sinner jesus waits til they're all gone he says I've got some really good news and I'm gonna wait and I'm gonna wait under way and I'm gonna tell it to Mary and let you be the one to go tell the mama live God uses the most unqualified instruments I am exhibit a of that really I mean you know I figured the church must be in bad shape of God's calling me to share the message and don't wait until you think that I'm good enough to tell others about salvation or you will never do it because you'll never be good enough you come to him just like you are and after you come to him you go for him those lepers came to their senses and said this is a day of good news why don't we share it and God was able once they came to that realization he was able to share the good news with the people starving someone once said evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where the bread is you ever heard that that's all it is and you don't have to wait until you know everything share what you do know now I won't do it today I won't do it tomorrow but sometime during our series I'll share more of my testimony but I came to the Lord I'll give you a quick story I came to the Lord I living up in the mountains I was a hippie and you know this is 40-something years ago I didn't wear any clothes and I do think it's really strange but I wasn't the only one back then like that just tell you that right now yeah these were unusual times and I found the Lord I found the Bible in the cave I started reading it I accepted the Lord you know the first few Bible studies I gave I had no clothes on now I don't recommend you try that but the people I was studying with then have clothes on either but I was absolutely sincere Wow this is great you ought to read this and I like the part where it says Adam and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed but I was given Bible studies and I look back my god you know but God meets us where and the people I think they actually got something out of the study you know what the number one thing is if you're gonna teach a donkey something you know what the number one step is you need to know something the donkey doesn't know and if you want to share Jesus you just start sharing what you do have don't wait until you know everything don't wait until you feel like you can pronounce all the words in the Bible or hardly any of us would be able to give a Bible study if the Lord has done anything if he spoken to you you share what you do have because people out there are starving the gospel is good news this is a day of good news let's not hold our peace can you imagine what would it be like if if the world was dying from this terrible virus terrible painful virus and slow death miserable and all of a sudden you discovered the cure and you have an unlimited supply if you've got the cure for the disease of the world and you're not sharing it with anybody what would that say about you if you only take it for yourself wow I'm glad I got it too bad about everyone else and you got an unlimited supply that's what it's like right now when the Angels look down and they wonder sometim why people don't care more about the lost you look at that first generation of the Apostles and they they were willing to die they're willing to be tortured I just got done reading through the book of Acts and Paul is attacked in the temple he's being torn limb from limb they're spitting on him they're kline him they're scratching him they're beating him they're trying he's rescued by our a Roman army has to fight their way through the crowd to pull Paul from their grip it's amazing he survived and as they're carrying Paul over their head up the steps to try and save them from the mob in the temple Paul says you put me down now they put him down says can I talk to him I want to talk to him about Jesus now would that be the first thought on your mind dude we'd be thinking take me as far away from this place as you can get me the only thing they fought about back then was trying to share the gospel with others Paul's in prison he's trying to convert his jailers we need to rediscover that passion that the early church had you know and maybe this is a special it's a special interest of mine because I grew up not believing there was a God or not knowing I was wavering between atheism and being agnostic and dabbling in Eastern religion and I have no idea what the purpose of life was I believed in evolution and thought that we just evolved and you die you turn back into dirt there's no purpose to life and years like that it's miserable not thinking there's any meaning in your life and when I discovered the gospel I went hallelujah this makes sense praise the Lord I was so excited I wanted to tell everybody I'm sure I turned off a lot of people but you know I think the Lord bless my enthusiasm because I just thought if people are dying if they die without Jesus they're lost forever there's no second chances and I just felt this urgency and you know I came to church I started visiting churches and I wondered why people who had been Christians all of their lives did not feel the same urgency I thought they either don't believe it or they don't care now there's no other option is there if you're not excited about telling people about salvation either maybe you don't believe you're saved you don't believe you can be saved our people can be saved you don't care very much about others any of those scenarios is not good for you if you don't really believe it you're already in trouble because we're saved by faith if you don't believe he can save you then you probably don't think he can save anybody else but once you believe and you realize I really can live forever all of my sins can be forgiven God is gonna be in me he's gonna walk with me he's got a plan for my life he's my best friend there's a meaning and a purpose for everything I mean that is such a wonderful epiphany that when you realize that and you know it's true he's gotta tell everybody because I would think that and I was I was mystified when I started going to different churches and I just saw the apathy I thought and you've been a Christian your whole life some people grow up in the church they just get enough of it to inoculate them against ever catching the real thing but if you could catch the real thing then you can't wait to tell people and you know what you would be surprised sometimes we think well nobody really wants to know don't believe that I mean some of the media makes it sound like nobody really wants to know if people are starving people are starving for the crumbs that fall from your table they might act like they don't care but I'll tell you there's a lot of people out there that do take my word for it Jesus don't believe me believe him jesus said the harvest is great what's the problem that there's no harvest the laborers are few this is a day of good news the door of mercy is still open it won't always be that way I think Jesus is coming soon hey man I'm glad you said that if we're in an Adventist Church the reason we're called a dentist is because we believe in the imminent and rent and some of you are thinking well you pastors have been saying that Jesus is coming for years that's right one of these days one of us is gonna be right that he is coming and it says in the Bible if if the Bible says behold they come quickly back then then it's certainly true today amen and you know not only is a true life is short and it comes quickly in that respect but it's true because you even look in the world around you right now it's never been like this before and I just think you know I don't think you should ever set dates but I just think that God does give us signs and when you look at what's happening in the world I just think it's ripe for Jesus to come you know one of the most important reasons I think Jesus is coming soon it's what the Lord says in Matthew 24 one of the signs Matthew 24:14 the gospel of this kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness unto the nations and then the end will come he didn't say the nations would all believe said it'll go everywhere they'll have an opportunity you know just this last year I've made like three trips to the other side of the world Africa India Middle East three trips to the Middle East and everywhere I go I run into people that are hearing Christian programming through the internet through satellite through DVDs on their phones it's the most amazing thing China we were in New Guinea as I mentioned anyhow it's you think one of the more primitive countries in the world and these people were living literally in grass huts and they pulled out their phones so yeah pastor Doug will you watch every week now I got a witness Wayne is here with me he was with me we're driving through the jungle of New Guinea we're looking for a hut we're just looking for a hut so we can get some good visuals we found this Hut we asked our translator could you go ask the people that live here if we can just take a shot as a picturesque beautiful place that's got some nice background easy I'll go talk to her she said sure come on in you can even come to the yard and I walk the yard the lady looks at me like she's seen a ghost she was she starts to say something to the translator and she says I watch you every week I never dreamed I'd see you in my yard she could have said she kept hugging me Wow Jesus is coming soon we had that happen in China you know we've we've done meetings in China were supposed to if they're having some challenges as you know in China right now but we're supposed to go back in February if the permit has not stopped and the gospel is going every which makes me think Jesus at the end will come and say it might come or it could comment may come he said it will come didn't say everybody would believe is it'll be preached for a witness that's happening friends this is a day of good news and we hold our peace if we tarry till the morning light that morning light is the resurrection morning you know you don't want to wait till Jesus comes and then get excited about telling someone it's like the sign out in front of the Baptist Church it said repent now and avoid the rush because everybody is you don't want to repent then but it'll be too late probational are closed if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us come now this is the way it words I love this come now that we may go and tell the king's household what did I say when we began you come to Jesus and then you go for Jesus and when do you do it now it's like Jesus said to Zacchaeus come down quickly come to me quickly make haste because I want to abide in your house if you want to go for Jesus first you need to come to Jesus I remember hearing once about two Eagles I understand you've got a lot of bald eagles up here in Canada they must have gotten lost because there are national burdens so I don't know what they're doing up here but and these two bald eagles were sitting on this tall craggy Mountain you know they have wonderful sight and they wanted to get as high as they could and they're sitting there next to each other and they're they're looking at their domain and they feel very majestic they feel very empowered as they're sitting here like the pinnacle creation and then a jet flew over leaving that white trail of smoke behind it and they cocked their heads and they looked at it for a minute and one Eagle said to the other Eagle wow I wish I could fly as high and fast as that bird and his friend said if your tail was on fire you could and maybe that's what we need so we need to get our tails on fire because Jesus is coming soon so in closing come now that you may go if you'd like to make a difference in the world for Christ we're gonna be doing some meetings here in November not too far away most important preparation is hard preparation your hard preparation surrendering yourself you come to the Lord just like you've done it a hundred times before do it again tonight say Lord I want to fully surrender to you I want to surrender that I might live I want to feed on that bread of life and then I want to share that good news that gospel Gold these lepers in the tent they found the goal of the gospel they found the silver of salvation they found the bread of life they found the living water they found clothing the robe of his righteousness they found it all there and it was free and it's free to you tonight that's good news because there's an abundance for everybody else that you know but they you know when they found it when they surrendered you got problems in your life whatever it is you surrender it to Jesus you know what once you're crucified with Christ not too much can hurt you after that you let go of your pride you let go of your unforgiveness let go of your worries I've never seen a corpse worry if you're crucified with Christ then you just live for him it's very liberating and then you begin to live so as we have our closing prayer if it's your desire to have that peace to come to him and then to be willing to be used by him this fall in a special way to share the good news with your neighbors invite them to this event would you stand with me as we close with prayer dear father Lord Jesus we thank you for your presence this evening we thank you for the simple lessons in your word that we are still living in a day of good news that the doors of Mercy are open that the gospel is available that there is no shortage that through the good news through the bread of life we can help satisfy the famine that's in the world right now for truth first of all Lord before we can share it we need to receive it we come to you you've invited us come unto me we come to you Lord come into our hearts save us from our sins we repent of our sins we want to invite you to be the Lord the king of our lives and then Lord I pray that we will feast on the word first those lepers ate themselves and then they thought about the others Lord we want to fill our hearts with the truth and then give us opportunities and help us recognize them to share the good news give us courage and boldness lord I pray that you'll pour out your spirit on this church every family represented here on these communities that will be coming to the meetings on the broadcast that will go out and we pray that many will be in your kingdom because of that Lord we know that the success is going to depend upon your leading in prayer we'll do all we can practically Lord but we pray that your spirit and Angels will go before us and prepare the way and that because we do look to you and trust in you there'll be a great harvest bless each person Laura give us your joy your spirit we thank you be with us through this evening and the Sabbath hours in Christ's name Amen god bless you good evening we'll see you tomorrow morning

Channel: Aaron

Views: 15,435

Rating: 4.8817205 out of 5

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Id: JsrTA1OdTLQ

Length: 50min 49sec (3049 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 15 2018