What Happens When I Die -Bill Wiese at Shekinah Worship Center

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well what a blessing for my wife and I to be back here at Shekinah worship center we so enjoy and appreciate this church you all are so blessed to go here and you know as you know we have said before we have fallen in love with your pastors pastor Joe and Melinda we love you so much and we so appreciate you and very honored to be in your pulpit thank you thank you for having us you know there just have the pure Word of God that they teach you and their hearts are so pure and we have not met very many people like that in life so we're very blessed to be considered their friends we love you all thank you for being here today and thank you for joining us online okay a little bit more how's that any better all right I know I'm kind of soft-spoken so I all right you know there's a lot of misconceptions regarding the afterlife and mainly two reasons number one because there's a lack of investigation on most people's part you know people raised with a certain belief or religion and they really don't check it out or investigate it but if people would investigate the Bible they'd find out that every word is true but yet most people do not they don't even read it and there's many scholars that have investigated the Word of God thousands of them and found out there's not one discrepancy in the word of God no other belief can claim that also most of the world religions are based on philosophical thought except for for Judaism Buddhism Islam and Christianity but only Christianity claims resurrection for its founder no one else can claim that only Jesus rose from the dead no other religion can claim that so that's a huge difference but the other reason people are miss can have misconception regarding the afterlife is because there's a deceiver there's a deceiver in life and most people don't realize that they are deceived you know in this world we live actually in a world of deception it's all around us in so many errors and I'm just going to give you one and you know we've all heard a lot of the prescription drug commercials right you ever watch those commercials and they show the people nice family playing with the children or the dog and chasing the frisbee and and just a nice happy music in the background and as they're playing all this they're quietly reading underneath it's the silent you know it's you can hear it but and they have it listed in small little print the side effects of these drugs I just wrote down a few of them just so you would you know I know you already know this but you know this is just for the commercials that advertise weight loss or quit smoking or skin disorders so not major life-threatening things but here's some of the things and there's so many they have to do it in like three different phases blurred vision constipation memory loss abdominal cramps shortness of breath loss of appetite dryness of mouth pain in your chest trouble breathing loss of eyesight fever blood and urine hair loss migraine headaches severe chest pains stop breathing heart failure which could lead to sudden death these are some of the things that they say quietly while they're showing bone the frisbee and the dogs running in there hugging the baby you know so why don't they just tell you the truth now I know people need prescription drugs for things but there are some you don't need you know and but it's all to do with money and so they deceive you into thinking it's okay but these side-effects they're barely you know mentioning to you but anyway the the most the biggest area that we're deceived in is to do with our our soul and you know revelation 12:9 said Satan deceives the whole world that's he's a mighty deceiver that he can you know deceive the entire world about where they're gonna go after they die that's why there's so many different religions and beliefs and false teachings even amongst Christianity there's a lot of false beliefs people that don't believe in Hell or it's not eternal or their soul sleep or your nya lated many false teachings so you know I wrote a book called what happens when I die this is the book and I wrote it because I wanted to give it give us a lot of proof that there is an afterlife and so I just want to list you I'm going to talk about a few of the things in this book we can't cover it all but this is some of the chapters I wrote some things in about I'm just going to read you the chapter titles gone in three seconds I'll share with you what that means in a minute why should I go to heaven whole chapter on explaining salvation from the time of Adam and Eve all the way through so it makes sense to the unsaved person why we all need a Savior it's very spelled out very clear what is truth because truth is downplayed today or twisted even changed completely jesus said he was truth and so I talked a whole chapter about what is truth and the deception that's going on with that today informed or ignorant you know a lot of people think that as Christians were just ignorant people and the people that wrote the Bible were ignorant so I wrote a chapter on on what the accomplishments were of a lot of the writers of the Bible their prime ministers kings and you know so many different doctor in statesman and so forth so most of the people that wrote the Bible were educated people they weren't foolish people like a lot of the world declares I also put in there a lot of quotes from some of the great scientists that say there has to be a God that made all this even scientists that were atheist that have said there had to be a God to design all this it's too overwhelming the design so I have a lot of that in there then I wrote about near-death experiences clinical death experiences and dreams and visions of the afterlife people that have been on their deathbed that were slipping out of their body and they saw heaven or hell people that actually died they were clinical death people and they went to heaven or hell what they saw and then people have had dreams and visions what they saw and the remarkable thing is almost every single one that saw heaven reports about the same thing they also saw similar things and then the ones that saw Hell also solve very similar things and they were all different walks of life and all different beliefs the ones that saw hell and of course many atheists and so forth so I've got chapters on that we're gonna cover some of the stories today about that and then what religions tell us so I listed a lot of with the other religions talk about what they believe about heaven and hell and what they believe about eternal life so I've listed them in seven reasons why Christianity is unique from all these other religions why it's more believable and you'll find out some of these religions you can't even believe what they believe the foolishness of what some of the beliefs are founded on and so most people are uneducated in that area also listed a chapter on what does the Bible say about Hell just about all the verses about Hell and what Jesus said and the Apostles and so forth that there is really a hell like the Bible talks about and then also what heaven is like all the scriptures in the Bible about heaven and how glorious heaven is and so forth and many more things I just just given you a little flavor of what I've covered in this book so I'm just going to talk about a little bit of that today we're gonna I'm going to cover a little bit about the fear of the Lord what is the fear of the Lord I want to share some stories about some people that have been to heaven and hell' and so forth but first I just want to get quote you a few polls so you can get a flavor of where the church and where America is act ok a Barna poll of 320 415 reported that 34 percent of Americans are skeptics now it says a skeptic is someone that dismisses the idea that the Bible is holy or supernatural in any way and 66 percent of americans contend that the bible is simply a book of well-known stories and advice written by humans and containing the same degree of authority and wisdom as any other self-help book so that 66 percent of americans think that about the Bible a Christian Post for 26:14 showed that 23 percent of Americans believed they were just ceased to exist a Harris Poll 11 2013 showed that 42% of Americans believe in ghosts ok a Barna poll 3 6 2009 said that only 40% of born-again Christians believe that Satan is a real force only 40% of born-again Christians that's interesting and then a Pew poll 2012 revealed that 50% of born-agains believe you can earn salvation through good works not amazing born-agains they're supposed to know better than this and 10% of born-agains believe you're a reincarnated so a Barna poll 1219 11 showed that 50% of Americans believe that all people are eventually saved or accepted by God no matter what they do a Barna poll 1021 13 showed that 32% of Americans only 32% believed hell is actually a place of torment and less than 1/2 of 1% expect to go to hell in a CBS News poll for 27 14 showed that 82 percent of Americans expect to wind up in heaven so that's you can see that the world and even the church is deceived in so many areas so I just want to read you first I want to start off with a few stories of people that have been in heaven and I've met some of these people the first one dr. Gary wood he was a minister of the gospel preached the minister all of the gospel all over the world he had a tremendous ministry saw people even raised from the dead and healed and so forth well he was in a terrible car accident first of all he just died about a year ago for the second time he died the first time and he went to heaven he was in a terrible car accident and this is what he said I'm just condensing his story down to one page from a whole book but as I began to ascend up through this tunnel of light I felt such a tranquil feeling of peace wash over me all around me I could hear angels singing I then began walking on a green lush carpet of grass that covered the hillside from the hill I viewed the outer portion of a magnificent City there was a wonderful wall made of Jasper that surrounded the city in front of me was my was a very beautiful gate made of solid pearl and was studded with sapphires rubies diamonds and many other precious gems but then suddenly there in front of me stood my best friend John who had died earlier John took me in a very large building that looked like a library the walls were solid gold I saw hundreds and hundreds of volumes of books John explained to me that these books contained a record of every person's life that has ever been born throughout all history everything we do here on earth is recorded in these books good or bad I could see the prayers of the saints below shooting up like arrows towards heaven angels would receive the prayers in thee and bring them into the throne room of God God would grant the prayer requests and the angel would be dispatched from the room to deliver the miracle I saw angels carrying a golden golden bowls filled with a liquid substance it was all the tears of the saints presented at the throne of God I saw a crystal river with fruit-bearing trees and each fruit represented a gift like the gift of knowledge I heard a sweet melody of praise being sung even by the flowers the flowers actually sing praises to God I saw Jesus ministering to many children they came running up to him and what he would catch them as they leaped into the air and he would hug them and love them I have never seen anyone or anything that could possibly compare to the beauty of our Lord Jesus who I now stood before then he went on to describe everything that he saw and so I've met with him and he was a great man of God and I really believed that he had been to heaven and he had such a powerful ministry in his life just another one quickly as Don Piper maybe you've heard of him he wrote the book 90 minutes in heaven he's a friend of mine and we've spoken many times together across the country he was in a terrible car accident where he was his car was hit head-on by a semi-truck and had flattened the car he was instantly dead and he was dead for forty-five minutes and then another pastor was driving by the accident and said the Lord told him you need to pray for somebody here so he got out of the car and he stopped and asked the police he's not gonna pray for somebody here and he said well there's nobody to pray for the guy in the truck he's fine but the guy in the car he's he's been dead for 45 minutes and we pronounced him dead four different paramedics so he said I've got to go pray for him so he went and prayed for him and after 45 minutes the Lord brought dawn back to life now he was in bad shape and he went through terrible surgeries to get his body back together but the point was God brought him back to life and that was a miracle even the paramedics couldn't believe that he could be alive after that time anyway this is just some of the things he said he said a light enveloped me I was standing in heaven there was an awesome gate interrupting a wall that faded out of sight in both directions as I gazed upward I couldn't see the top of the wall I could see inside it was like a city with paved streets to my amazement they had been constructed of literal gold as I looked around I could hardly grasp the vivid dazzling colors joy pulsated through me and at that moment I became aware of a large crowd of people they rushed towards me and every person was smiling shouting and praising God I felt overwhelmed by the number of people who had come to welcome me to heaven my friends and relatives were all in front of me calling the urgent me and invited me to come in through the gates I was home I wanted to be there more than I had ever wanted to be anywhere on earth I did not see God although I knew God was there I had the sense I was being ushered into the presence of God a holy all came over me but my most visit vivid memory of heaven is when I heard it was the most beautiful and pleasant sound I've ever heard the melodies of praise filled the atmosphere the aromas were overwhelming and the most fragrant flowers but there was even a more pleasant aroma than the flowers and the angel said to me that it was the aroma from the prayers of the saints on the earth he went on to describe but I keep I'd love to go on with each of these stories they're powerful but you know I talked to him just the other day and he said bill you know I'll never forget just the the peace that I had in heaven you don't want to leave once you get there and he didn't want to come back but the Lord sent him back so he could testify and many many people have been saved from his ministry dr. Richard Sigmund he was known as Little Richard he preached in some of the largest meetings in the world at the time with Oral Roberts a a Alan William Brannon Jack Co Kathryn Kuhlman and many others so this was a real man of God and on October 17th of 1974 Richard had a devastating car accident and was pronounced dead well eight hours later God brought him back to life so he wrote a book called a place called heaven he's seen the most of heaven than anybody I've ever talked to and I talked to him on the phone before he actually died the second time which is just about man I think eight years ago I think he died and I had talked to him he was such a sweet humble man and he just wanted to please God and serve God all his life but this is what he said this is the longest testimony I'm going to read to you because I just want to give you a little bit more of a flavor of what he saw a force was drawing me up through a glory cloud and on the other side of the cloud I could hear people singing the wall around heaven was filled with all types of precious jewels the gates were huge twenty five miles high there were people waiting for their loved ones to arrive in heaven and as they did they would pass through a veil after passing through the veil they immediately became young and beautiful through the gate alone the pathway were many beautiful houses mansions I saw one huge Avenue with people walking up and down this Avenue and it was made of diamonds you could see through the diamond and it had layers of gold and silver on the on the road there were mansions on the street beyond compare they were for missionaries I was taken to one house it was carved at a one giant pearl it was three hundred feet across and a hundred feet tall another was made of gold there were hundreds and hundreds of people visiting this one mansion and they were all the friends and family and people that the missionary had led to the Lord when he was here on the earth they were like family to him there were people who could casually stroll off the edge of their verandas verily very easily float to the ground I saw a home made of clear stone with roses that were alive and embedded in the walls I saw my grandfather's house he was sitting on the front porch with Grandma they were only 28 or 30 years old but when they died they were 97 they were looking perfect he said Richard you have an appointment with God I would get a glimpse of Jesus just a bit further ahead on the path he was talking with people loving them and hugging them I just wanted to be with Jesus a little girl came up to me and had a beautiful blonde hair I knew she had died of cancer she prominently proceeded to mess up her beautiful hair hair that she had lost when she had suffered from the cancer there were many other children and each had abilities far greater than any adult on the earth I saw Smith Wigglesworth and he was preaching and he was helping others I saw a choir of fifty to sixty thousand people they sung with a deepest bass and the highest soprano beyond the ranges of anyone on the earth they could be heard all over heaven there were beautiful flowers grass and trees of enormous size there was no death not one blade of grass would die in heaven as I walked along the golden pathway I saw the sky it was crystal clear blue the clouds were thousands of angels there were huge beautiful trees 2,000 feet tall one was crystal clear each leaf was a teardrop and there was a continual sound of chimes coming from it each leaf gave off a continual glow with all colors and it was a flamed with God's glory it was miles across I saw many many children playing in heaven I saw one very large building inside were rows upon rows of shelves with books that were 15 feet high and shells that were miles long these books were the records of our works if a person sins it is recorded in these books there are also records kept of the rewards that we do not receive on the earth but we'll receive in heaven I saw on another book standing on a golden pillar it had to be a mile high and a half a mile wide on the right was another book the Lamb's Book of Life the angel lifted me up and I saw in three inch golden letters outlined in crimson red was my name it was glorious to see my name written in God's land's book of life there was a building containing books on there on the written part of the knowledge of God one man who was there said he had been standing there for two millenniums reading this book and he was only on page 2 studying the knowledge of God there were colleges for people there is no end to learning every word you are taught stays with you for all eternity you never forget 100 percent of your mind is used and it is increasing in capacity there are fountains in heaven that looked like crystal some a city block across with live figures in the fountain that were alive praising God there is light everywhere but no shadows there are no bathrooms you can eat you don't have to go to the bathroom [Music] they see had some real stuff in here to whom heaven is layered there are layers in heaven with buildings and grounds suspended in the air thousands of feet apart with different levels there are balconies that look over the events on the earth and people come to watch the prayers come to pass he saw angels being sent to respond to our prayers he saw mountains great bodies of water people animals and families but the most wonderful experience he had was that of meeting Jesus and seeing the throne of God when Jesus approached him he said I fell at his feet as one dead he touched me and I didn't feel worthy to even look into his face with his fingers he lifted up my chin and said he loved me and I saw the nail scars in his hands and wrists I saw the palms of his hands and it was written in his hand my name like a knife had been carved with my name in in palm of his hand but that scripture Isaiah 49 16 says see I have engraved you you in the palms of my hand we'd not be glorious to see your name in God's Jesus hand oh my goodness I'm just gonna read you one more story about heaven this was a captain captain Dale black he was a pilot for the TWA for 40 years and he flew he was PhD in business he was a aircraft systems instructor and so forth he was a reputable guy anyway he was flying this was before he was went into the ministry but he had flew for this company and this experience happened 40 years before he ever told anybody about it didn't even tell anybody for 40 years but he said he had died in a plane crash okay his experience happened 40 years before he finally shared his story it is a miracle that he survived the plane crashed he was the only one who did his injuries were so massive an extensive is a continual miracle that he ever recovered he said I was fast approaching a man nificent city golden and gleaming among my my rid of respondent colors I was overwhelmed by its beauty there was a huge gathering of angels and people millions countless millions below me and below me laid the Kuras most perfect grass colorful wildflowers the fragrance was permeated heaven was so gentle and sweet in the distance I saw range of mountains majestic and appearance my energy seemed boundless it was though I could accomplish anything the worship of God was the heart and focus of the music that I heard when I had questions or needed understanding it seemed to be imparted automatically and directly into my heart and mind I understood in my heart that God's Will was perfection and his word was the source of all creation well after that he became he quit TBW and he went as a missionary and flew missionary trips all over the world and so most people have seen heaven or hell got into the ministry after that changes your life for sure but you know I just want to share one quick story because you know God's entrusted us with the gospel you know first that's only to forset is entrusted us with his precious word that's such a privilege that we all have as Christians and you know it's no greater joy than seeing a person accept the Lord in other than being in God's presence and enjoying his presence outside of that to see a person give their heart to the Lord and that God used you in any way is just remarkable that God would even use us and entrust us with his word but you know I just want to share one story we've had so many were people that were going to commit suicide and didn't one time we were invited to a church up in the hills of Virginia and it was out in the middle of nowhere and we traveled for like three hours to get there we were on dirt roads middle of nowhere we get to soul town and we couldn't even see it there was no stores there was no gas stations there was no hotels we saw an occasional house spread out here and there we finally arrived at the church at midnight and the person meeting us we said where are we going to stay I mean there's no hotels here and they said well there's only one building here in this whole town and well I'll take you to it so it was a senior citizens nursing home and so we went in and the walls were paper-thin and you could hear the nurses coming in all night to the all around us there was rooms and you could hear them coming in slamming the door and the people moaning and groaning and crying and you could smell the smell of urine and it was it was terrible to be honest with you and we were there for two days we had no food we were in this room they give you all they had was a bath towel was a size of a dishrag that's all we had and and it was really odd but even his is kind of disgusting me but even the toilet paper was dispersed through the wall you only got a little piece at the time it was his bizarre we thought Lord did we miss it coming here you know and so we didn't even know if anybody would come to the church the next day when we spoke we had to speak in the morning and at night at this church well to our surprise 250 people showed up at eat service we don't know where they came from but the point was here's the point at the end I was in the back just greeting people and this one boy came up to he's 20 years old and he was crying tears and he come up to the altar and gave his heart to Lord but he said he hugged my hand and he said bill you understand he said somebody gave me your book a year ago and you're 23 minutes and he'll book and I threw it in the trash he said but a year later which was today tonight I was driving by this church at 5 of 7 and it said seven o'clock bill we speaking and he thought what is that's the guy that I threw away his book what's the chance of him being here out in the middle of nowhere maybe I should stop he said you don't understand he said I was on my way to drive off a cliff I was going to commit suicide that's where I was heading and I thought maybe I should stop first and he said if you wouldn't have come here I'd be in Hell right now and he's crying the whole time he held my hand for an hour not exaggerating right huh and so we were so touched and I thought wow Lord here I'm complaining about no food in the room you know but look what Paul went through you know he spent so much time in prisons you know and he said I learned how to baste and I learned how to abound and so we were so honored and blessed to even be a part of that person not going to hell and we've had so many any people like that and I just thought Lord that's what encourages us to keep going when you can and God can use every single one of us you know we all see planners and so it's a privilege and an honor to be able to share God's work with people and I just want to share a few stories quickly about Hell since we talked about heaven and you see the similarities about heaven there's also some letters about Hell and I'm just going to give you a few quickly there's a man named Brian Melvin he wrote a book called Hell's Dominion a land unknown and we met him before and he preaches all around the country now he was an atheist and he had he was working out in the hot day and he didn't look inside this big thermos or not thermos what he called a cooler a cooler and he hit the thing to get water and he didn't even look at it he drank it well it was as in his words he said it was green fungus and fuzzy worms swimming around in the water well he didn't look and he drank it down well he got deathly sick and he died and so his is what he said he began going down a tunnel in extreme darkness but there was an astounding light in the distance as he approached this light he saw it was emanated from a man in a white robe the beauty of a light Auld me when he revealed a hand raised a brightness came shooting through his hand in blinding fashion I knew who it was he said my fate appeared sealed before arriving there I was without excuse I could not blot out the shame and guilt of rejecting this person standing before me now and all he had gone through to restore a soul like mine in life I had argued that I could prove God was a criminal with intent and I defended the teaching of evolution I was now sent to see unspeakable horror smelled a stench that was extremely putrid heard intense screams saw flames and felt intense heat I was in a greenish hue tunnel the smell was terrible I could hear a great war cries I found myself falling now through a hole in this darkest yellow sky then I landed on this parched cracked ground the creature before me had a vile appearance its skin color was dark yellowish green with a moldy texture reptilian Raptor like feet teeth like a shark its breath was so foul and it had lizard like arms it was escorting me bizarre beings hideous a few look like snakes some had three faces slowly orbiting around the orb of it's purplish head the road I was brought on was going lower and lower and lower I was passing cube after cube within these cubicles were people experiencing in ever-increasing degrees of punishment their own worst nightmare I saw horrible sights what was done in life was measured back in full recompense cubes on top of cubes stacked six high and multitudes deep people sobbing weeping screaming and crying the people trapped inside these small cubicles could not see anything except for the interior each person received degrees of punishment according to his or her deeds and as eternity passes his or her anguish increased and accelerated the levels of the spiral a world would move downward along this road all the cubes sliding farther and farther towards darker things dwelling below each person imprisoned for some unknown date waiting for some kind of final future verdict to be decreed well he's talking about the current hell because they'll be delivered up and and at the time of judgement Revelation 20 12 through 15 and then that's when everybody in the current hell she'll will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire so that's what he didn't understand that then he was an atheist but long he had someone praying for him and then so this demon grabbed him was going to throw him into one of these cubes and and the Lord came and grabbed him and pulled him out he said he never felt such a awesome relief of being pulled out of there and gods because of I think it was his mother praying for him I'm not sure if it was his mother or not praying for him he said because of their prayers I'm pulling you out and giving you another chance so it was prayers that that rescued him out of hell well now he's you know on fire for God serving God and so forth so I'm just going to give you one more story then we're going to just watch a little short five-minute film of three other people that's been on television that have also seen hell and they they gave a half-hour testimony but it's condensed down to two minutes each so we'll watch that in a minute but let me just give you another story this is uh well let me give you just a couple more there's so many ones here it's important for you here dr. Maurice Rawlings he was a MD a cardiologist he was an atheist and one of his patients was dying and screaming I'm in hell I'm in hell save me he saved me so the doctor was trying to resuscitate him the doctor was an atheist he didn't know what to do but he resuscitated that patient well after that this doctor started researching many other patients near-death experiences and he investigated 3,000 in cases of people that have had near-death experiences anyway he became a Christian and he's written many books and so forth in the in one of the books it's called to hell him back he wrote this let's see there was a 62 year old male suffering of an acute heart attack and he had to be restrained because using his words there were demons coming after me fighting the staff and he was fighting the staff and writhing and kicking off the demons they pounced on him again and again and he screamed out they're taking me to hell they're taking me to hell and then he suddenly died so he just reported these things another 38 year old a heart attack victim who was blood-curdling screams kept yelling he was in hell I'm in Hell demanding that a pastor be called he ended up resuscitating him and the man lived Sir Francis Newport who was on his deathbed and said this why have I become a skeleton in three or four days seen al then I have despised my Maker and denied my Redeemer I have joined myself to the atheist and profane and continued this course under many convictions when my security was the greatest and my checks of my conscience were the least in inexpressible horror he screamed out oh the unseparable pains of hell and then he died this was in the hospital another one Napoleon Bonaparte said this in night in 1821 he confessed to the Count de monofin ma month Philon and he said this such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon what an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ so he died at once but he knew he was going to hell one more the self-reliant Voltaire whose pen was mightier than the sword he said whose or whose intellect and honors could never be excelled was now excelled by a stroke that was slowly causing him death for two months he was tortured with such an agony as led him at times to gnash his teeth in impotent rage against God and man then turning his face he would cry out I must die abandoned by God and a men and then he screamed out in horrible agony and died and the nurse said for all the wealth of Europe I would never see another infidel die as the man screamed going into hell and one one last story I'll just tell you quickly and this is by John Bunyan I don't know if you've heard of him but he wrote that the pilgrims progress that's the most famous book they say ever written other than the Bible of course but he wrote a book called visions of heaven in Hell and most people even great scholars that are Christian scholars believe that his experiences are credible so he's not just some flake he's a really well-known and he wrote visions of heaven hell what he saw God showed him heaven in hell and it's amazing to read his book he saw so many terrible things and how way beyond what I saw and many of other people but here's just a couple things that he said we descended into a gray nasty stench like a rotting carcass I was at the gates of total destruction and there were hideous beings as tall as the Angels and I saw guard the gates of heaven which are 40 feet tall they were grew a grotesque when they saw the master because he was with Jesus they screamed in horror there were flames of punishment on people I felt the doom and despair I heard people crying out demons taking people and torturing them I saw people there that were walking skeletons with flesh of some kind hanging off of them rotting off of their bones maggots and the smell was unbreathable I cannot describe everything I saw because it makes me violently ill anyway it goes on and on so there's so many things I could report about that but I think right now I just want to take the few minutes and watch this film and then get to some other easier things to talk about then then hell okay we can bear with me for the few minutes let's watch that film every day people like you and me living their lives one minute and the next they lay dying having never known or believed the message of salvation they traveled from this world to one beyond but what they found was pure terror they returned and these are their true stories so I new say I had a condition that was called acute hemorrhagic necrotic pancreatitis you don't live with this disease and I was an atheist I see it's very easy to be an atheist when you're successful do you have worked your way from Oklahoma welfare being one of the most powerful men in your part of the country one of the most powerful men in the state of Oklahoma in relationship to political it's very easy to be an atheist when you have done all of that man can sit back and say I don't need to God what is God but it's very difficult to be an atheist when you're laying on your deathbed because you begin to think what if these people are right when I'm laying on my deathbed and knowing that I'm going to die guess who I thought about I thought about what if Ron is right what if there is a heaven and a hell and so the most immediately immediately the most pressing thought in my mind is how do I get saved what is saved as I'm laying there in bed I would begin to fade away I would begin to fade away and as I would fade away I would begin to go down it now it was like darkness it was like it was so so dark it was like the very darkness just penetrated into your very very being and as I left and I can tell you I left my body because I remember when I came back into my body you know I don't know where I was out of my body now there are people that talk about the light there are people that talk about floating above there are people that talk about a feeling of warmth and love I didn't feel any of that I felt none of that I felt untold Tara on told Tara because I knew that if I ever went all the way if I slipped all the way I would never get back now in my beings of beings I knew that and as he was talking to me it had appeared like the ambulance literally exploded in flames I thought it had actually it filled with smoke and immediately I was moving through that smoke as if through a tunnel and after some period of time coming out of the smoke and out of the darkness I began to hear the voices of a multitude of people screaming and groaning and crying but as I looked down the sensation was looking down upon me a volcanic opening and seeing that fire and smoking and people inside of this burning place screaming and crying they were burning but they weren't burning up they weren't being concerned but but the most terrible part of it I begin to recognize many of the people that I was seeing in these flames as if a close-up lens on a camera was bringing their faces close to me I could I could see their features and see the agony and the pain and the frustration and a number of them began to call my name and said Ronnie don't come to this place there's no way out there's no escape if you come here there's no way out and the smell was like a sulphur like an electric welder and the the stench was was terrible the story of Kenneth Hagins near-death experience is spectacular in April of 1933 Hagen was bedridden he had been ill with a deformed heart from birth on the evening of the 22nd he took a turn for the worse his family stayed by his side and waited for the arrival of the doctor suddenly a pain shot through his heart like lightning he was convinced he was living his last few moments he states my toes seem to go numb this numbness spread to my feet my ankles my knees my hips my stomach my heart and I leapt out of my body I knew I was outside of my body I could see my family in the room but I couldn't contact them as he tried to communicate with his family members he felt himself leaving the room and falling into what seemed to be a downward well or cavern but as the darkness surrounded him he was convinced that this hellish place was real Hagen tells of calling out into the darkness God I belong to the church I've been baptized in water I was conscious of the fact that some kind of creature met me at the bottom of that pit I didn't look at it my gaze was riveted on the gates as the creature grabbed Dagon he said that place shook it just trembled Hagen remembers praying as he ascended towards Earth Oh God I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I ask your life to forgive me of my sins I want you to know it was like a tomb ton weight lifted off my chest dr. Kenneth Hagin eventually recovered from his heart condition he is known internationally as the founder and president of Rhema Bible School my point in this book is just showing you that there's many people that have seen heaven and hell many but more importantly it's with the Word of God says there's so many verses on heaven and hell and you know people might think but why would God send a person to hell well God doesn't send anybody to hell and the reason hell was made was prepared for the devil and his angels he never intended for man to go to this horrible place but because he loves man he gives us a free will to choose see it's not God's decision it's ours if we don't go to heaven it's our own choice by rejecting the provision for our sin which is Jesus Christ that's what sends us to hell not our individual sin it's the rejection of Jesus Christ the provision for our sin but you must um I think but couldn't God being all loving and merciful couldn't he let someone out of hell after a time you know 500 years couldn't you let someone out but no he can't for several reasons but number one if you spent 3 4 or 500 years in hell and you said you know it's enough time well that would be works it's be like saying you worked off your and a FISA two eight nine says were saved by grace not by works see time is the wrong premise it's not based on time it's based on a relationship because time represents works and God will not violate his own word he said we're saved by grace through faith there's no faith required once you're in hell to get saved there would be no faith needed you already know it's for real and so forth but also time is the wrong premise because man's time is not our time is not valuable enough to pay for sins only the shed blood of Jesus is valuable enough to pay for sins Hebrews 9:22 says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins so it took the blood of Jesus to pay for our sins so God can't just be like in a elack's mood that day and say I'm going to let this person out of hell because that would violate his word also there's no place to put a person because he said he'll let nothing in revelation 21:27 he said they hold that nothing in heaven that defiles or corrupts well in our fallen nature we would corrupt heaven we have to have a new nature new heart and that only comes through a relationship with Jesus repenting of her sin and receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior then he gives us a new heart a new spirit so that that wouldn't work time is a wrong premise but also we have to realize that our sin against the holy God it is deserving because people think you know I send for 70 or 80 years where does that deserve an eternity of punishment the crime doesn't seem to put the punishment is what many of the people think but see that would that's the wrong premise also because have to realize who were sinning against and Thomas Aquinas he said this he was considered the greatest theologian of the medieval church and he said the higher the position the one sinned against the grave of the sin in other words if I lie to you it would be wrong but if I lied the Supreme Court it would be worse because of their position well God is infinitely greater in position if I punch my brother in the stomach could be wrong but if I punch my mother in the stomach that'd be worse because of her position so God again is infinitely greater position but he's also infinitely greater in being and if I step on a bug and kill it it's no big deal even though a bug is life but if I kill a dog or a cat that's worse isn't it it's deserving of some kind of punishment if I kill a dog or pet okay but yet if I kill a human being well that's far worse that's deserving of much greater punishment so we have to realize who we've sinned against we've sinned against a holy omnipotent perfect eternal God so therefore our sin against him is deserving of eternal punishment can you see that I just want to share one quick story - before I get into this next part this was in the first chapter of the book I said gone in three seconds well this was about me personally my wife and I had gone to a nutritionist and when we were leaving to get some vitamins and the nutritionist said you should take this pill it's good for circulation and you guys are on planes all the time it helps circulation so we took it we took it home and normally we read everything and check up on it but we were leaving that next morning at 5:00 a.m. for to airport to fly to some place and so anyway if she had said to take two of these pills well my wife just said you know what let's just take one we don't even know for sure what it is it was at a strange name to it and so I took the pill at five o'clock in the morning driving on the 405 freeway six lanes of traffic going 70 miles an hour I'm on the inside lane and suddenly I said to my wife I don't feel right and I passed out that fast and in two seconds three seconds I was out at the wheel going 70 miles an hour in six lanes of traffic and it was still dark out so my wife had to get her leg over the console get it on the brake and maneuver the car all the way off the freeway which was a miracle she was able to do that but she did but during the time I was passed out this is what happened suddenly I was in a room and I was watching myself watch a film and the film was my life my whole life was recorded and I was sitting there watching it and I was only out for about a minute but during that minute every single thing I ever did every even thought in every action I ever had was recorded in this film and it was going in a super fast speed but my mind could absorb it I could grasp all of it and I was thinking every little thought I've ever had is recorded and then it came up to my age this happened six years ago I was 60 then and all of a sudden that this film kind of slowed up and then it stopped well when I came to I wasn't sure how old I was for a second it was like where I'm at in life here for you know it's kind of for me but the point is that I realized that everything we do is made record of in heaven but as a Christian thank God all the evil and all that is erased and our sin is forgotten but if if you're not a Christian that's all recorded and will be played in heaven I mean how would you feel if you think you're good and you watch your life on a film with every action and every thought you've ever had it's going to be played before a holy God you would feel very uncomfortable you know you'd be guilty and worthy of help and so that gave me an eternal perspective and after that I realize you know what I am going to guard everything I say what I think I'm gonna walk the Word of God I want to think about the things of God all the time keep my mind focused on what the word said meditating the word day-and-night is what it says all through the Bible so getting a habit of doing that you know so it's just giving me that perspective thank God I've recovered but when I was out just quickly my heart had dropped to three beats a minute from that pill and because it's called nitric oxide that's where it was and that's a pill that's a drug that lowers your blood pressure they give it to heart attack patients and so I don't know why she gave that to us but I have low blood pressure already so I dropped it to nothing and I was gonna need three beats a minute so it's a miracle I lived through it honestly the doctor said it was a miracle I survived that thank God his goodness you know I just want to take a moment to and refute a teaching that's real prevalent in the church today and because you're gonna come across it if you haven't heard it but it's universalism universalism I'll just give you the definition by dr. J I Packer he's a doctor of theology and philosophy from Oxford University and Regent University he said a universalist is someone who believes that every human being whom God has ever created or will create will finally come to enjoy the everlasting salvation into which Christians enter here and now so in other words everybody eventually gets saved that's a teaching that's prevalent in a lot of the Christian churches today now we know the founder of evelyn averse ilysm was Origen it was back lived in born in 185 ad but Origen was judged her etiqa laughter his death and so forth so but this teaching is prevalent in the church today a lot of people weave churches we go to they believe in universalism it's hard to believe that what's the purpose for the cross you know so but I just want to give you some verses so this you can understand that the Bible refutes that so if you come across it and somebody tries to convince you of it you'll know know the Bible says opposite so I'm just going to give you some verses first of all first John 5:19 says the whole world lies in wickedness the whole world and Psalms 917 says the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God so that's a problem where all our found sinners and while all sinners would be turned into hell okay so that's what the scripture says there John 13:36 this is Jesus speaking and he's talking to Peter and he says where I go he's getting ready to leave the earth and he says where I go you cannot follow me now but you shall follow me afterwards so he's telling Peter he'll go to heaven but then look what he says are the Pharisees in John 7 33 then jesus said unto the Pharisees yet a little while I am with you and then I go unto him that sent me you shall seek me and shall not find me and where I am you cannot come did you get that so that's now they're saying that everybody eventually gets saved that's what a universalist says well here Jesus said that they could not go where he's going then he said it again in John 8 21 I go my way and you shall seek me and you shall die in your sins where I go you cannot come is that clear and then he said in John 8:24 you shall die in yours sins if you believe not that I am he the Savior so if you die in your sins you're not going to go to heaven because he said the verse above you shall die in your sins where I go you cannot come so if you die in your sins you cannot go to where he's going and he said you'll die in your sins if you don't believe Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior okay then he said in Matthew 12 32 but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world or in the world to come so there's some other people not going to make it right then he sent to Judas in Matthew 26:24 it had been good for that man if he had not been born doesn't sound like he made it to heaven does it and then Luke 13:34 says Jesus again speaking he said strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door and you begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence you are then you shall begin to save we have eaten in drunk in that presence and now has taught in their streets but he shall say again I tell you I know you not whence you are depart from me all you workers of iniquity there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom and you yourselves thrust out pretty clear right some people not going to make it so I don't know where these people that teach universalism I don't know they dismiss all these verses Hebrews 3 11 through 19 says so I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest so we see then that they could not enter in because of unbelief and also it says woe unto the wicked Isaiah 33 11 woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him woe unto the wicked doesn't sound like they're gonna make it to heaven you know in Revelation 14 10 11 says and they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the lamb and in the presence of the holy angels and the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night well that's clear I don't know how people can miss these verses then look in Luke 16 the Lord talked about the rich man in Hell the man was in Hell in torment in the flames and he was concerned about his brothers he didn't want his five brothers to come there and he wanted to send back Lazarus to warn his brothers and but Abraham said even if one came back from the dead they would not be persuaded so people said to me bill why would God send you to share your testimony about Hell well number one I don't fit that scenario I wasn't dead I just had a vision and number two I'm not telling anyone to believe my experience I'm just a signpost to point them to the scriptures and by those be persuaded but some say that the Luke 16 was just a parable and so they dismiss it like well it's not really hell with just a parable well it wasn't a parable for two reasons number one no other parable has a name mentioned in it and Luke 16 has three names Moses Abraham and Lazarus and but number two even more important than that is in verse 25 jesus said and Abraham said to the rich man so Jesus was quoting Abraham as saying to the rich man if it was a parable then Jesus was be lying because Abraham wouldn't have said that so it was a parable can you see so that's proof it was not a parable so if you hear these things you can knock down those objections if you've come across this and so forth and one last verse about everlasting because they'll say well hell isn't everlasting there's so many verses about everlasting but just to give you one you know Jesus said in Matthew 25:41 depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels so he just told you you're going to go to the same place the devil is going to and most people want argue that the devil will be in everlasting fire that that word everlasting means everlasting but a lot of the people that believe in universalism are annihilationism say that the word doesn't mean everlasting it just means a temporary a period of time but Jesus said you'll be in the same place as the devil and then he define everlasting in revelation 20:10 where he shows where the devil's going it says and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone stone where the beast and the false prophet are and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever so he just defined everlasting as day and night forever and ever can you see that so anyway I like finding those things because it's just proof to to show the people that they're missing it they're just missing all these verses and so forth I could go on more about teaching about Hell but I just want to go on one more thing I want to point out because people think well that's judgment of God that's harsh you know hell is harsh well we showed you that is deserving because we've sinned against a holy perfect God it does deserve eternal punishment but look at some of the things that happen in the Bible that people might say that was harsh of God but God it you know they form a God in their own mind that's not the real God of the Bible this is the God of the Bible look at Lot's wife she got death penalty for a glance pretty severe right may have been and by who capital punishment for faulty worship akin he stole and a whole family was destroyed for a person's greed whose aya death penalty for trying to keep the art from falling Miriam she became leprous for questioning the authority of Moses Korah Dathan and abiram and their families all went down alive into the pit into Sheol in the earth closed upon them they complained about Moses his rulership over them and so the earth opened up and swallowed them up alive some people might think well that's really harsh well God doesn't think so 14700 killed because of a plague you know from a plague from God the congregation falsely accused Moses for killing the people Moses didn't kill the people God did but so God poured out a plague and killed fourteen thousand seven hundred of them 250 men came out of the kid there came a fire from the Lord and consumed these 250 men because they offered they offered incense they deemed they claimed himself holy and they were not holy men so God sent a fire and killed 250 men a hand withered and made a useless for false arrest first Kings 13 1 through 24 a prophet died in a saloon slung by a lion because he disobeyed a God's Word to not he in that city Ananias and Sapphira capital punishment for lying Herod struck dead and eaten by worms for taking God's glory Zechariah struck dumb and made mute for doubting for season and Simon also blinded for sorcery first season so you see God is different than you might think you know but there is that you know God is not mean they were deserving of these these punishments it's not God's mean he's loving and gracious and gentle and I just want to read you a couple verses about that and this is the Old Testament Jeremiah 3:12 13 says because God speaking says come home to me again for I am merciful only acknowledge your guilt admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God Jeremiah 8 4 and 5 then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path why do the people refuse to turn back even though I have warned them Romans 2 4 and 5 says don't you realize how kind tolerant and patient God is with you this is the New Living Translation or don't you care can't you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin but no you won't listen so you are storing up terrible punishment for yourselves because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin lamentations 3 33 for he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow the Lord has no pleasure in allowing punishment he does not afflict from his heart he doesn't want to but he is perfectly just in doing so the Lord over and over pleads for people to simply turn back to him for he delights in showing mercy that's the God we serve but these are situations where they deserve any you know a punishment like you said but I just want to talk a minute about the fear of the Lord because when you understand how severe hell is it causes three things number one it causes you to walk well it causes you to walk more than the fear of the Lord it causes you to appreciate what you were safe from and causes you to have more of a desire to witness because when you see how severe hell is you understand it you'll take more effort with your family friends and everyone you'll take more effort to convince them or and just to be able to be available for God's use each day that you get up and you'd say God please use me today I'm available put me in front of somebody that can share your word with Lord I don't want them to go to hell use me Lord I'm available that's the heart God wants us to have but when you see how severe hell is it instills that in you you know 2nd Corinthians 5:10 11 Paul said knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men know even though that scriptures talking about the rewards he for Christians the commentaries also he was also talking about judgment in Hell in general so when you understand judgment hell in general you're more persuasive with men you'll take more effort but it causes a fear of the Lord what is the fear of the Lord Deuteronomy sex Deuteronomy 17 said the fear of the Lord is to read his word and to obey his word and it'll still it but you know it's it's hard to get across the fear of the Lord just on the surface because listen to these two verses it says in Proverbs to incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart under understanding yea if they'll Christ after knowledge and lift up my voice for understanding if they'll seek us her as silver and search for her as hidden treasure then you shall understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God so he's saying you won't understand the fear of the Lord until you cry after the word you're passionate about learning the word and getting wisdom knowledge and understanding from God you consider the Word of God a hidden treasure just like you would money that somebody buried 10 million dollars for you you would be passionate to go after that money well the Word of God God's wants us to have that heart for his word when you have that now you're gonna start understanding what the fear of the Lord is and there's great benefits in that we'll get to that in a minute but there's one more verse that I want to read you some 34 11 through 14 says I will teach you the fear of the Lord so we could see we have to be taught the fear of the Lord and he goes on what man is it that desires life and many days that he may see good keep thy tongue from evil and now lips from speaking guile depart from evil and do good works seek peace and pursue it so you see he's telling you some of the things that you have to do to as you're taught the fear of the Lord this is some of the things that you need to be taught to control your tongue to watch your tongue to keep yourself from evil and to speak no guile depart from any evil stay away from evil and seek peace and pursue it and do good that's what causes us now to start getting the fear of the Lord inside of us and you know Matthew Henry's commentary he said this we must always have in our minds of reverence of God's majesty a dread of his displeasure and an obedient regard to his sovereign authority over us this fear will quicken us to our duty and make a circumspect in our walk the stand in all and sin not so that's a good definition to me of what the fear of the Lord is a a dread of God's displeasure you know yes we are to have a healthy reverential fear of God but it's more than that it's when you fall in love with the Lord you don't want to offend him anyway you want to please God your heart is Lord you feel so convicted when you sin if I'm sorry Lord I shouldn't have said that what the wrong attitude I had or I shouldn't have said those words it deeply hurts you when you when you hurt God when you sin against God that's the point where to grow to in the beginning yes we have all and a fear of Almighty God and we fear his judgments listen these verses Psalms 119 120 David said my flesh trembles for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgments I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts and so and so Luke 12 5 jesus said be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that there is no more they can do but I forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he has killed has power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him so yes we are to have a healthy fear of Almighty God but that should grow to the point where we no longer want to just offend God it's no we're not serving him because of just out of fear of how powerful he is and understand the concept for our actions it's because we love him and we don't want to offend him can you see that so we are David said he grew to the point where he hated every form of evil and it wasn't that he was tempted by it he hated it it was disgusting to him that's where God wants us to grow to but here's some things that showed that we fear the Lord here's some scriptures that point out that if we fear the Lord we will do this Deuteronomy 14 22 and 23 tithe that you may learn to fear the Lord Wow that's a strong one so most of the body of Christ does not tie and they say well that's Old Testament well that's a New Testament too because Jesus talked about tithing matthew 23:23 and Luke 11 42 Hebrews 11 that's all it talks about earth to Hebrews chapter 7 the whole chapter is about giving to our high priests and so forth and you know why would you even fight against tithing anyway you know because your hearts wrong if you're trying to find a way out of giving 10% that means you want to give less than 10% that's why you're arguing it why would you want to do that when we got a better covenant established upon better promises you want to give more to God right well that shows that you fear the Lord if you don't that's one of the things one of the areas that we all would need help in is we don't tithe we need to do that because it'll that's embracing the fear of the Lord and I like I said Deuteronomy 6 and Jeremy 17 it says read the word daily and obey his word daily that you may learn to fear the Lord Psalms 55:19 says because they have no changes therefore they fear not God see changes that means you receive instruction from the Word of God and you're willing to change our bad habits or our sinful ways so you're teachable so we need to be remain teachable and that shows that you fear the Lord proverbs 8:13 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil like I said proverbs 16:6 the fear of the Lord is depart from evil stay away from evil Psalms 19 7 the fear of the Lord is clean or morally pure so in other words live a life that's morally pure keep yourself pure that shows you fear God Leviticus 19 32 says honor the older man that shows that you fear the Lord show respect to the elders and so forth sounds 23 I'm sorry 22 23 says you that fear the Lord praise him you're willing to praise God when you fear him it shows it you know you fear him when you praise his holy name now listen to some of the benefits to those that fear God proverbs 15 4 says he that he honors them that fear him God will honor you that's a wonderful thing God honors you Psalms 2514 the secret of the lord is with them that fear him God will show you secrets that's amazing you know about white we want to learn God's secrets some 3119 oh how great is thy goodness which thou has laid up for them that fear thee Psalms 33:18 the ayah the Lord is upon them that fear thee his eye will be upon you of some sort for seven the angel of the lord encamps around those that fear him angel doesn't camp around everybody sums thirty four nine there is no one to those that fear him we all have wants right well if we learn to fear him then he says we'll have no wants so we need to grow and mature and progress in that area somes eighty five nine his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him that's the most wonderful thing salvation going to heaven Psalms 103 13 the Lord pity at them that fear him we need God's pity many times sums 1:11 5 he that giveth he gives meat unto them that fear Him you won't go hungry sounds 115 11 you that fear the Lord trust in the Lord and he is their help and their shield how many want to have God as your shield Psalms 145 19 he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him not only your wants but your desires are met if you fear God sons 147 11 the Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him I imagine God Himself takes pleasure in you imagine the king of the universe looking down and Santa I got pleasure in what they're doing Wow please God that's amazing proverbs 9 10 11 9 verse 10 11 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom your day shall be multiplied we all want to live long days right to get as much done as we can for for God proverbs 10 27 the fear of the Lord prolong of days another one again prolonging your days proverbs 14 26 the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge so even your kids are going to be blessed proverbs 19 23 the fear of the Lord tended the life and he and he that hath shall be bites at aside he shall not be visited with evil wowthat's blessing not be visited with evil just a couple more proverbs 22 for by humility and fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life and Psalms 103 17 the mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear him God's mercy is upon us I just want to share with you two quick stories just instill in you a little bit about the fear of the Lord this was back at a time I had I had sold a home to a person and I have witnessed to him during the time of the escrow just a little bit but he said I don't want to hear anything about God I don't want to hear don't ever mention to me about God so that was it I didn't say any more but during the escrow we got right to the end the people were just about to close the escrow two days before closing and he comes to me and he says bill I'm not gonna pay your commission I'm cancelling the sale we're gonna cancel it and you're not getting paid a commission I said why and he goes I don't like your Christian stuff I don't like that what you said about God God's a big joke and I think it's an offense to me and I just don't want to sell to these people I know their Christian and I'm not selling it to them and I'm cancelling the sale I says don't do that they've already sold their homes they're packed they're ready to move and move in your house in two days and he said well I'm doing it anyway because I don't want you to get that Commission that's the main reason I don't want you get paid because I don't like you so he said I said look you know what I don't care if you don't like me in that sense but don't cancel on the people they won't get the house I'll give up my commission just forget the Commission but let the escrow closed and he said fine okay well let it close but he said but your God is a joke and I can't believe you believe in something so foolish and he went on to mock God well when he was saying those things a fear came into my heart for him I just thought God is not mocked I said you want to retract what you said because those words are false they're wrong and you're speaking into the holy omnipotent God that's given you your next breath I would repent if I were you he laughed in my face and slammed the door so I left the house closed escrow the next day after a closed escrow I went into the office and the broker said bill have you read the paper and I said no he looked on the front page he said see this man that he bought a new home and he just moved into that home that next day the paper said new home just burned to the ground with man in it while that hit me like he the very next day he lost his life it's home and it wasn't because he robbed me it was because he mocked God you know and listen to these verses 2nd chronicles 36 16 says but they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy proverbs 29 1 says he that being often repute reproved hardens his neck shall be suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy in proverbs 6 14 and 15 says froward 'no sinned his heart therefore shall his calamity comes suddenly suddenly shall he be broken in that without remedy so it was a reverential fear came over me for him and one other story to share with you that was similar to this I had bought a brand-new home and when you buy a new home there is no it's just dirt all around there's no hard scape or landscaping so I hired a contractor to do the work and during the time I had hired him he had not started to work yet you know it was but I started witnessing to him he was not saved and then he listened and so forth well he had he was on crutches because he had been in a motorcycle accident he had had a crushed foot and it was ruined for life he would never walk again he was on crutches for life so I said to him I said why don't I take you to a church and you can get prayed for and he said I don't know about that and you know he wasn't even saved but I thought let's get him to the church and see what God does so I brought him to actually to Fred prices Church and anyway brought him up front and pastor Fred was not there but assistant pastor was laid hands on them and he actually they even touch him he got close to him and this guy fell over and he didn't know what falling over was but the knowing of God he fell over and he got up and his foot was totally healed completely healed and he was like happy but I thought well good he's going to get saved now for sure so all the way home and we're driving and talking and he didn't accept the Lord he didn't say anything about it and I talked to more about it and he still didn't say that I want to become a Christian anything and I thought well that's strange I mean you would think after that he would you know repent he didn't well anyway about that time I gave him the money to do the work well I was foolish I was young then and I gave him all the money upfront to do all the hardscape I paid him the whole thing back then it was twenty five thousand that was a lot of money way back in 1979 it's still a lot of money but back then it was a lot of money I mean the whole house underneath it was cost a hundred twenty-five thousand for the whole house and that now it sells for about a million three so give you an idea twenty-five was a lot of money anyway he says to me you're a sucker you gave me the money I'm leaving I'm not doing any work for sin I said you can't do that I paid you the money to do the work why don't when she's just dude or guys not giving it to you he said you believe in that God that's a bunch of junk I said how could you say that your foots healed who did that he said I just don't believe in any of that I don't believe it and I'm leaving and I'm doing the work so the next day I went over to see him I wrote a letter I delivered it to my knocking on door I said you have to do the work I'm going to contact the contractors labor board and report you and so forth he tore the letter up and laugh he said you're a joke you were stupid to give me the money and and uh I don't believe in your God at all and he's a joke - I couldn't believe he was saying this that same feeling hit me again and I knew and I said don't do that because God will not let you get away with this that's what came out of my mouth you know I know God's not vengeful he's loving he's forgiving but God also has you know he's holy and just and he was mocking God again after he was healed and so that fear came up in me well when I went home that night went to bed I woke up God woke me up in the middle of night and said to me Psalms 109 is happening to Jim and I said what I know I know what something's 109 so you read it and their kids will become vagabonds he'll they'll Lewton he'll lose his life and he'll lose his wife and lose his health and all that it's terrible what will happen to the person that rejects God and so but God said pray for him that he'll live so I prayed that he would live well I found out I didn't know anything what happened yet so the next day I found out that that night that very night he went to a nightclub and he was drinking he was married had kids but he was out night club drinking party and he was drunk and he was walking across the highway and another drunk driver hit him in the car and didn't know he hit him and was dragging him underneath the car so he drugged him for like a mile so he was in the hospital broken bones everything a mess totally destroyed and ended up losing his business his wife left him his kids left him he lost everything and I don't know what happened to him after that but I thought man Lord you don't really mock God and again God's loving and he's always loving and his displays love throughout everybody's life he tries to get through to people to get him to go to heaven and so forth but there is a side to God that you don't wanna mess with man you know and you know but I just want to give you what this - about God you know people that are going to hell God tries to keep people out of hell in five different ways at least and just to give you first of all he's given us creation in Romans 1 it says that the evidence of design is overwhelming god of man is without excuse because of creation you know if we look at the Stars the magnificence of them in the order in the universe and the plant life and the animal kingdom and the human body how well it's designed a baby being born all that points to a designer there must be a God so if the person in remote jungle that never heard the gospel just will look up to the heavens and say who made all this there has to be a God there's too much overwhelming evidence of design so God says he holds man accountable because of creation that's number 1 he gives us the obvious - for man to call out to God so if that man would just call it and say God who are you God we'll find a way to get through to that person and he's given us number 2 the Bible the written word of God he's put it in writing how to stay out of hell and how to get to heaven he's made it crystal clear there's no doubting anyway like no denouncing that number three though he's given man of conscience to know right from wrong right and Faye and John eight nine and Romans 2:15 it says he's given man a conscious to know good from evil and right from wrong so that's instilled in man to know that and in Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says he put in man that he knows that he's eternal we know that we're an eternal being we're gonna spend it somewhere that's in born in a man and then also he's given us missionaries as missionaries sent all over the earth and to deliver the message there's TV radio Bible CDs and so forth to get through to that person in the jungle that never heard the gospel and then lastly in job 33 it says he even gives man dreams and visions to keep back his soul from the pit so God is a loving God he he tries all these different ways to keep people out of hell it's their own free will that sends them to hell their own choice by the nine Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior I'm probably out of time now so you know there's so much more I wanted to talk about Ward's and how to live a lifestyle of reward so I'm just going to say one thing about that you know we should have an eternal perspective and live our Christian life and you know understanding that we will get rewarded in heaven if we live the way God tells us to live and we should value the rewards because all through the Bible Jesus said in he over and over again great shall be a reward if you do this and do that so he's telling us to value the rewards and just a few things it says mount Mount Matthew six one through four take heed that you do not your own alms or good works before men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven and your father would seize you in secret he shall reward thee openly so do things for God quietly in secret blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great she'll be your reward in heaven so when you're you know mocked for God's sake persecuted for the word of God's sake you're rewarded in heaven you're rewarded for your work the work that we do on the earth in many places about that and so forth sums 1911 says and in keeping of the commandments there is great reward you know be a keeper of the word of God and first Corinthians 3:8 says every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor but this is the attitude that you have to have for rewards Charles Spurgeon said this he said at the mention of the word reward some will prick up their ears and mutter legality yet the reward we speak of is not of debt but of grace it is not enjoyed with the proud conceit of merit but with a grateful delight of humility that's the attitude we're supposed to have but I just encourage you to live a lifestyle think of the things that God says all through his word I wanted to go through a whole long list but we're out of time and and live a lifestyle that you could earn these rewards in heaven because we're gonna be there for all eternity you know and it's what's better thing is it then to please God to live a life that's that he would look and say to you well done faithful servant amen amen well praise God thank you [Applause] you know you guys are taught here the rich word of God most churches don't hear what you get to hear and your pastors instilling you the heart they have and that's why you're so blessed to go to this church there's not many churches that teach it like this and have the heart of God a pureness that you are used to here and because of that you guys are more like I mean this is not a church for wimps you guys are strong and from what you're taught and I felt like I told the pastor you guys are like Navy SEALs here that's what you are you're taught the roar of God's strong if you're weak this isn't really a church for you you know so that we so appreciate that about Pastor Joe and Melinda we love them dearly and we're so blessed blessed be here and being invited in this pulpit and we love you everybody so kind to us and thank you so much for listening [Applause]

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Channel: ShekinahWorshipTV

Views: 46,463

Rating: 4.7689838 out of 5

Keywords: Joe Sweet, Shekinah Worship Center

Id: CIuS7df18iA

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Length: 86min 20sec (5180 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 05 2018

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