Hello and welcome to yet another edition of the Sabbath School Study Hour. My name is Pastor Shawn brummund, and I'm just so happy that you have decided to join us here, not only for those of us who are local here in the Granite Bay church as we come together to study from Sabbath to Sabbath but, of course, always, we will always want to welcome those who are watching either live stream here today on Sabbath, the 7th of April or on various television networks, it's always good to be able to have each and every one of you come and join us as we study where Jesus is lifted up and the Word of God, the holy Bible is our key textbook. Today's key subject is going to be entitled "salvation and the time of the end". That is salvation and the time of the end. That's lesson study number four, and that's coming from a quarterly that we just began recently, and it's entitled "preparation for the end time".
Preparation for the end time, very relevant subject, very important topic from prophecy and from the Bible as we continue to study that even here today. Every time we come together, we always like to give you a very special free offer to continue your study and the Word of God in addition to what we are going to be studying here today. And today's free offer is entitled assurance, justification made simple. Again, that's "assurance, justification made simple, very important topic in regards to the topic of today's study as well. Now you can get this in a couple of different ways.
You can just simply dial on your telephone 1-866-788-3966, that's 1-866-788-3966 and ask for free offer number 727, that's number 727. Now if you're in North America, we're happy to send that out to you, now if you're not in North America and you still like a copy of this particular free gift offer, you can find a digital download copy of that again on amazingfacts.org. It's always good to have you, we're just so excited being able to have our singers here together as they're going to be leading us out in praise before we invite Pastor Doug up for our lesson study today. We're going to be singing number 189, "all that thrills my soul is Jesus," "all that thrills my soul is Jesus," it's such a thrilling thing to worship Jesus and to sing to our creator and Savior, Jesus, let's sing together 189. Who can cheer the heart like Jesus by his presence all divine? True and tender, pure and precious o how blest to call him mine all that thrills my soul is Jesus he is more than life to me and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see Love of Christ so freely given grace of God beyond degree mercy higher than the heaven deeper than the deepest sea all that thrills my soul is Jesus he is more than life to me and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see Every need his hand's supplying every good in him I see on his strength divine relying he is all in all to me all that thrills my soul is Jesus he is more than life to me and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see By the crystal flowing river with the ransomed I will sing and forever and forever praise and glorify the King all that thrills my soul is Jesus he is more than life to me and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see All that thrills my soul is Jesus he is more than life to me and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see Thank you for singing, and we have a special number on this lovely Sabbath morning, we have the orange veil girls' chorus which is going to do a number for us at this time.
Healing rain is coming down it's coming closer to this old town rich and poor, weak and strong it's bringing mercy, it won't be long healing rain is coming down it's coming nearer to the lost and found tears of joy and tears of shame are washed forever in Jesus' Name healing rain, it comes with fire so let it fall and take us high healing rain, I'm not afraid to be washed in heaven's rain to be washed in heaven's rain Lift your heads let us return to the mercy seat where time began. And in your eyes, I see the pain. Come soak this dry heart with healing rain healing rain, it comes with fire so let it fall and take us high healing rain, I'm not afraid to be washed in heaven's rain God, as we come together, we want to pray that your Holy Spirit will be with us once again, reclaim him as our teacher, even as we thank you also for Pastor Doug in the way that you've called him and the way that he will serve again today. I want to pray that you'll bless him and that you'll bless all of us as we study together and we come closer to the knowledge of Jesus and his holy word, in Jesus' Name, we pray these things, God, amen. We're continuing on our study dealing with preparation for the end times, today we are in lesson number four, talking more specifically about salvation and the end time.
It's going to go with our message a little later today 'cause we're talking about armageddon, part one, and we have a memory verse. And the memory verse is from 1 John 4:10, that's 1 John 4:10 if you'd like to say it with me, and you can read it in your lesson here, it's out of the niv version. You ready? "This is the love of God, not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." I think they chose the niv here because it uses the word in the King James "appropriation," and I remember when I first read that I thought, "what in the world is appropriation?" But it means in the "place of" as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. So we're going to be talking about God and the plan of salvation in our study today. And I don't always do this, I assume that you have your lesson and you read your lesson in the opening comments, but just in case to the some here that haven't, I want to read the opening comment in the study guide.
It was really good for our lesson number four. "One fascinating but critical difference between Christianity and non-Christian religions is that while others emphasize what their founders have taught them..." As in buddha or muhammad or the siddhartha or krishna, one of the others, "they do not emphasize what their founders have done for them, and that's because whatever their founders may have done for them, it cannot save them. All these leaders can do is try to teach the people how to save themselves." Christianity is very different in that, we don't have a founder that just said, "here are some teachings, here are some good Proverbs for life." Here, Christianity, God says, "I'm doing something for you, not only did I die for you, I will give you power on a day by day basis." Christianity is very different from the other religions of the world. Now under the first section, we're going to be talking about The Father, we're going to be talking about The Son, we're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit. And this is a subject that is often misunderstood when we say father, son, and Holy Spirit, what do you typically think of? We think of a doctrine or teaching called the trinity.
And that's been... Have you heard... Is it just me? Have you heard people questioning the trinity doctrine lately? Yeah, I've been running into it. It seems like it comes in waves. It comes in waves, and then it's dull, but then it fades away as people are better instructed, and it comes up again and we're going through a wave of that now.
I just completed a book on the trinity. It's not quite printed, they're just doing the final edit on it now, but I'm anxious to get it out because I'm meeting people everywhere that misunderstand that teaching, they're reading too much into it or they don't understand it or they think that Jesus is a creature that he was created, and they say, "oh, no, he wasn't created, he was begat." Well, that's the same thing. If you go from not being to being and if God is the one who initiated, you go in from not being to being, you're a creature. And so, there's no in between, and so they say, "Jesus had a beginning, he's not from everlasting and everlasting." And it diminishes what God does for us for one thing, it's almost like God creates this creature to be the fall guy for humanity. It's different from God giving himself.
And I better be careful not to launch off into my thesis on the trinity right now, but we're going to be talking about The Father, son, and Holy Spirit in the lesson. And it's a very important subject to understand. First of all, one of the big points is that people think that God, The Father and God, The Son are somehow different Gods. How many of you were here last Friday when we had the friendly debate? That's quite a few hands. Did you notice one thing that kept coming up, and if you're not acquainted with that, friends, we're having a debate about the Sabbath and the new covenant and should Christians keep the Sabbath and the friend I was debating against kept trying to differentiate between Jesus' law and God's law as though they were two different things, and it's the same God.
This is a common mistake that is made. People think that God of the old testament is different from the God of the new testament, and they say, "God, The Father, he is stern and he is severe but God, The Son, he's loving." And that is a very common misconception. Listen to what Jesus said about The Father and The Son if you look in John 14:8, and I'll read through verse 11, "Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us The Father, and it suffices us.' And Jesus said to him, 'have I been with you so long and you've not known me, Philip? He that has seen me, has seen The Father, so how can you say, 'show us The Father?' Do you not believe that I am in The Father and The Father is in me? That the words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority but The Father who dwells in me does the works." The Father doing the works through me. "Believe me that I am in The Father and The Father is in me or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves." Now Jesus couldn't say it any clearer that he and The Father are one. Matter of fact, in John 17, that great prayer, "I and The Father are one.
" Back to the trinity problem, people say, "how can God say, 'hero of Israel, the Lord, our God is one.'" And then you say, "well, God is father, son, and Holy Spirit." Well, in Hebrew, when you say one, does one always mean a numerical quantity or does one often mean unity? When a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife and God says they become what? One flesh, and in John 17, when Jesus is praying for the 12 apostles, he prays Jesus, "father, let them be one," it's a dozen of them, "that we may be one." And so when you say there is one God, you're talking about the unity, and keep in mind, all of the other countries and nations, not all of them, most of them were polytheistic. And they had all these different Gods, you know, the Greek Gods are all warring with each other, and they're involved in this intrigue and it's like some cosmic chess game between the Gods and the Egyptians and the Gods and the bushes and the frogs and the clouds and the sun, and they all had their domain, and God says, "no, no, I am one God." It's the person of The Father, son, and spirit, but a united God. They're not at odds with each other, they're perfectly in tune. They're perfectly in harmony. This is what Moses meant, because even if you go back there in Genesis, God says, "let us make men in our image.
" It's perfectly plural and again, you see that in Genesis 11 when they're at the tower of babel, the man has become like us and so forth. So, yeah, God, The Father and God, The Son, they both love us. And that brings us to John 16:27, it says, "for The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I have come from God." Now I don't know about you, but the way Christianity was first presented to me, not always, but many of the pictures that I saw coming from pastors and sermons and different books was almost like God, The Father was sitting on a throne, how many of you, when you picture The Father, he is sitting down? Come on, fess up. Okay. He's always sitting down, but Jesus is a little more mobile.
And we figure that, you know, we think of the great white throne that God, The Father is sitting there, how many of you... He's got great white grey hair? Jesus hair, he dyes it, it's a little later? We get these pictures in our mind, some of its artists' concepts and God's sitting there, and he's the judge. He's on his great white throne, and he's looking at the books, he's going, "they're in trouble. Destroy them, in the fire for you." And Jesus, "oh, wait, father, but my bloodstain hands." He goes, "ah, all right, for your sake, I'll let them go." And it's almost like The Father is anxious to be the judge and to punish us, I had this picture in my mind, and Jesus is the merciful one. A lot of people have that kind of picture, but Jesus, he is merciful.
He says The Father himself loves you. As a matter of fact, who is it according to John 3:16 that initiates The Son coming to save us? For God, obviously, The Father, so loved the world, he gave his son, God The Son, you see that? And so this idea that The Son is down there trying to... Ever seen two men get into a fight and then some other men come along try and break them up, that's like Jesus is trying to stop The Father from thrashing us. And so we run to Jesus for mercy, and we run from The Father. That's not a biblical picture.
They both love us. It's the law and punishment of the law, they're saving us from, it's not from them. They both love us, is that clear? All right, in a moment, someone's going to read psalm 147:1, okay, I'm going to read a couple other verses. Go to 1 John 4:8, "for he who does not love, does not know God for..." What? That famous verse. "God is love.
" Now if I were to say to you, "John speaks french." Well, that just means that John has the ability, it's an attribute that he can speak french, but if I said, "John is french." That's something that's ingrained in his dna. You see what I'm saying? We're not saying that God loves, that would be something God does or saying God is love, that's something God is. He is the essence, he is the ultimate, supreme definition of what love is. In other words, you don't say what is love, and wonder if God is love. You say what is God, and that describes love 'cause he is love and he's the author of all love.
Now one more thought... By the way, I forgot to mention at the beginning, a lot of people, matter of fact, more people are watching, streaming on Facebook now or some other internet version than actually sitting in the room, and we try to take a few questions, don't forget, text your questions. And we'll try and capture a few before the end of the program. They put them up on the screen for me. I don't know if some of you saw the live program Karen and I did at the home last night.
Yeah, bless your heart. You're faithful members. So we kind of did the Bible study online, and Karen was looking at the questions, and they were coming in so fast and scrolling by that as soon as one came up, another one bumped it down, so she had to like do a flash memory of it and then write it down real quick, and so they do that in the studio. So if you have a question, we'll try and take a few minutes for that before the end of the study. So God is love.
Can you love when you're the only person in existence? Can there be love without another being to express love or demonstrate or give love to? If you only love yourself and you live by yourself, is that love? That's like self-worship. God is all about going out, the devil is about loving himself. See the difference? God is a giver. He's always... Love from God is flowing away from him.
As soon as love cannot flow away from you, it ceases to be God's love. If your love is a vacuum or you're always sucking it in, that's the devil's love. The devil's love is reverse polarity, it's broken. It's all about me, i, take. God's love is about give.
So the idea that God existed zillions of years ago without Jesus, God The Father, and God the Spirit, they say is just the force, I'm talking about this false teaching. How can God be loved with no one to express love to? God The Father, son, and spirit had always exist as three distinct persons through eternity or they could not be love because it's always about giving away love. You see what I'm saying? Does that make sense? And so God is love. I just want to emphasize that again. Psalm 143:8, "cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for in you, I trust, cause me to know the way I should walk for I lift up my soul to you.
" It's not the idea of God being a God of love in the old testament. It's consistent, it's true. Read for me, please, psalm 147. Psalm 147:11, "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his mercy." All right, now maybe I should stop here. Sometimes people say that God in the old testament is a God of wrath.
I mean after all you've got war, and you've got plagues, you've got judgment in the old testament, and in the new testament, Jesus is mercy and love and grace as though they're two different Gods, is that true? Or are they both loving Gods? Do you find judgment in the old testament? Do you find judgment in the new testament? Do you find love in the old testament? Do you find love in the new testament? Do you find plagues in the old testament? Do you find plagues in the new testament? Is there war in the old testament? Is there war in the new testament? There is in both places. There is war. You got the battle of armageddon. New testament, you got soldiers in the new testament. And so this idea, it's really a myth that the God of the old testament is wrathful, severe, plagues, love is in the new testament.
In God, you find a lot of love and mercy. In the new testament, you find the most severe judgments in the Bible are in the new testament. Look at one, it talks about the seven last plagues poured out without mercy. At least, the Egyptians had some mercy in their plagues. Psalm 145:8, "the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy.
" And I see that we got a question popped up on the screen. "Is the 144,000 a literal number of believers?" You're talking about salvation in the last days. Boy, I'm real tempted to... I'm talking a little bit about that in our sermon later today, but I think I can say something. Yes and no.
When you give a yes and no answer, it means you're qualified to run for public office. The Numbers in the Bible all have a literal value. When the Bible says there are 12 kinds of fruit, 12 times a year on the Tree of Life, are there really 12 kinds of fruit? When it says, there are 12 gates around the city, are there really 12 gates? When it talks about 42 months, is that just a spiritual nebulous number or is it a literal number that needs a prophetic application? The Numbers in Revelation have literal value in some way. But it also has a spiritual message, in that, 12 is a number for God's people, in the leadership in particular, 12 apostles in the old testament... Sorry, new testament, 12 tribes in the old testament, there are 12 patriarchs, 12 princes of Israel, 12 Judges.
Most people count 12 Judges including Samuel in the Bible. And so it represents God's leadership. In the last days, God is going to have special leaders, 144,000, that will do a special work. Let me just tell you in a nutshell. Christ came the first time, he filled with his spirit and trained 12 that followed the lamb wherever he went, that's what it says in Revelation about the 144,000.
He used them during his first coming to prepare people and Israel to accept him on the day of pentecost, Judas had killed himself, they only had 11 apostles. They replaced Judas, they got the number 12, the Holy Spirit falls in the next verse on not just the 12 but 120 in the upper rooms. So it's not just the 144,000 that are spirit-filled and doing a special work in the last days. They represent kind of leadership. There'll be many more beyond that that are saved.
I see another question. "Do you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture?" I believe that there will be a rapture, and I believe that there'll be a great time of trouble, but the time of trouble comes before the second coming. Bible says at that time, Daniel 12, "Michael will stand up, there'll be a time of trouble such as there never has been since the resonation, even under the same time, and at that time thy people will be delivered." Jesus said in Matthew 24, "he that endures to the end will be saved." Their salvation, being caught up comes at the end, and something to be endured. So let me give you another example of that. You have the seven last plagues of great tribulation, it is the great tribulation, seven last plagues.
They overlap. Were God's people in Egypt when the ten plagues fell? They were. Did God preserve them through the plagues? Yes. He doesn't save them from the plagues, he saves them through. Paul says, "it is through much tribulation that we enter the Kingdom of God.
" Not from. It's a very popular and it's a very attractive belief to say, "oh, we're saved. He loves us too much to let us go through trials and tribulations." Friend, this is not biblical. God typically saves his people through trials. He didn't save Joseph from his trials.
He saved him through his trials, job is saved through his trials, Noah is saved through the storm, Daniel through the lion's den, shadrach, meshach, and abednego are saved through the fiery furnace. He saves them. Doesn't he deliver them through it? But they're in it. So this doctrine, the secret rapture doctrine that the rapture takes place before the time of trouble is comparatively a new teaching. The church for 1,900 years believed that at the culmination of the time of trouble, the Lord would come to deliver his people.
That's 1 Thessalonians 4. All right, let me do another lit bit of lesson, I'll get back. I see some more questions are coming in. All right, talking still about The Father, we need to get to The Son. Let met just give you a couple more things about the love of The Father.
Jeremiah 29:11, I love this verse, "for I know the thoughts I think towards you," says the Lord, thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God is a loving God, a merciful God. Zephaniah 3:17, "the Lord, your God, is in your midst, the mighty one will save, he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." I mean, can you imagine God singing over us? And so here's a God that creates, he loves, he makes all things good, he has mercy, he sings, he's long suffering, full of compassion, you read the descriptions of God The Father in the old testament. Of course, it often describes God The Son too. All right, now let's talk about Jesus, the love of Christ. John 1:1-5, "in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God.
.." There is that oneness again with The Father. "And the word was God." It says he was with The Father and yet he is God. "He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, without him was not anything made that was made." Now back to my question about the trinity, if all things that were made were made by him, then how could he have made himself? That's like which came first, the chicken or the egg, right? To say, "well, all things were made except the God The Father made the sun," that verse doesn't work anymore, it says all things that were made were made by him. Without him was anything made that was made.
He is not the creature, he is the creator. Amen? Amen. And that's speaking of God The Son. That's right, when we had our little debate last week and they tried to make it sound like Jesus' law is different from the Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments came from The Father but Jesus gave us a new law.
I said, "no, Jesus gave us the Ten Commandments." Right? All things that were made were made by him. So this is not in conflict. Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Now we know that Jesus is the same but what does it say about God The Father? Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord," he says yahweh. "I do not change. Therefore you're not consumed oh, sons of Jacob.
" God doesn't change, Jesus doesn't change. You know, when you study with the jehovah witnesses... Someone... Karen had a question about that last night. They don't believe Jesus is jehovah, they believe Jesus is a lesser God, a created God.
Oh, you know, the Bible says you technically are God. Jesus even says that, "know ye not that your Gods", meaning God made us kind of Gods of the world compared to the animals and we're not divine. But they make Jesus how to sort of be a created God, it doesn't make them very different from humans by biblical definition. But when you start looking at the definitions of jehovah in the old testament, they all fit Jesus. The Bible says in the beginning, "jehovah created the heavens and the earth.
" Well, who created the heavens and the earth? Jesus. The Bible says that, "no one can forgive sin but jehovah." But the Bible says Jesus can forgive sin. The Bible says, "there is no Savior but jehovah." Bible says, "Jesus is Savior." Bible says, "only jehovah knows the thoughts of men's hearts." Bible says, "Jesus knew what was in their hearts." You go through all the... "Thou shall not worship anyone but jehovah." Jesus rose and he said, "all hail." Hebrews says, "even the angels worship him." Look at all the definitions of jehovah, you're going to find Jesus fulfills those. Amen.
And so, you know, I've had that study with jehovah witnesses before and it kind of leaves them a little bit anxious because Jesus is jehovah and The Father's jehovah. It's a term for both of them really. Okay, we're talking here still about the love of Christ. Philippians 2:5-8, it explains why Jesus appears lower than The Father 'cause he humbled himself when he became a man. Philippians 2:5, "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
" We have to allow it to humble ourselves and allow the mind of Christ to be on us, "who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." He said "it wasn't being unfair to say I have equality with God. But he made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the lightness of men and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself became obedient. They are in the God, not my will, thy will be done obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross." So he chose to humble himself. You know, there's a great quote in the book Desire of Ages page 22, "the earth was dark through misapprehension of God that the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, satan's deceptive power was to be broken." When God finally came into the world as a man in the time of Christ is because there was great darkness. It's like Isaiah said, "darkness fills the land, gross darkness covers the land and covers the people.
But I'm sending light, my light will arise upon you." When Jesus came, he brought light to an age of great darkness. Now when he comes again, will there also be a time of great darkness in the world? Yeah, there is. And so Christ came to show the light of God, to show us what The Father is like. I've got another question on the screen here, "where in the Bible does it say a woman represents a church?" Well, there are several places. Ephesians says, "husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
" Jeremiah tells us, "I have likened the daughter of to Zion to a delicate and a comely woman." And you can look at the depiction of God's bride in Revelation chapter 12, "and she is likened unto a woman clothed with the sun, moon, and stars." Light, God said to the church, "you're the light of the world." Hosea said, "the church is like a bride except she was an unfaithful bride," a harlot that ran from the Lord. So there's many, many analogies in the Bible to a woman being an analogy of a church, faithful or unfaithful. Revelation 17, you've got an unfaithful church. Okay, a little more about Jesus 'cause we still got to get to the Holy Spirit here. If you look in Romans chapter 3:23, "for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
" God made us in his image, but we fell from that, it's like the fall of adam. And Jesus came to restore us to reveal The Father. Now someone's going to read for me in a moment Romans 5:5. And before we get there I'm going to read Hebrews 1:3, "who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his persons, and upholding all things by the word of his power." All things are upheld by the power of Christ, he is the express image of the perSon of God. "When he by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of majesty on high.
" Here he's enthroned with God The Father. So you look at some of the descriptions of Christ, you see his love. For instance, Luke 2:16, "he is a babe in a manger." And it says, "he is before all things and in him, all things consist." Colossians 1:17, it says, "he is the same human child that increased in wisdom and stature." The incarnations of mystery, how do you have Jesus learning? If God knows everything, then how can he learn anything? Well, he laid aside his knowledge when he became a human. Everything that Jesus said supernaturally in his ministry came through the Revelation of the Spirit of The Father. He took on him the form of a man.
And you can read in John 3, it says, "everything that was made was made by him. And he is the same one who was murdered by man hanging on a tree", acts 5:30. All right, let's go ahead, now you read Romans 5:5 now. "Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." All right, so we've talked about the love of The Father and we talked about the love of The Son. No one ever questions the love of Jesus, right? But now it's talking about the love of the Spirit.
And so here it says, "the love of God was given to us." When we think of the Holy Spirit, he is love, God is love, God The Father is love, God The Son is love, God the Spirit is love. Look at Galatians 5:22, "the fruit of the Holy Spirit is," what? "It's love." I went to a church one time... Do I have time to tell you that story? Pastor John lomacang and I were doing evangelistic meetings in vallejo, California. And John and angie met another couple, and they invited them to the meeting. They said, "we'll come to your meetings if you come to our church on Sunday.
" John said, "sure, if you'll come to the meetings." And so they came to our meetings, they said, "now you got to come to our church." John said, "doug, you want to come with me?" I said sure. So John, and angie, and myself, and I brought... I didn't know what I was into, so I brought our son Daniel. And he was very young at that time, and it was a storefront church and it was a charismatic church. And I mean I've never been to a church that.
.. They had such a hootenanny going on in there. And it was the drums, they were literally dancing up and down the aisles. They weren't dancing stationary. It was like a parade, up and down the aisles.
And they were shouting and we got to the door. And we were going to turn around but the couple that invited John spotted us. They said, "oh, come on in." And furthermore they said, "you're pastor, you sit on the platform." They sat us up on the platform, but they don't think women should sit on the platform. So angie sat with Daniel. I'm glad she could sit with him.
And John and I are sitting up there and they broke out and they started speaking in tongues. And they were... And then they saw us just sitting and reading through our Bibles. We are just listening, we are just trying to be nice and... And they noticed that we weren't speaking in tongues.
And then they started saying, "you think because you've got the Bible, you've got the Holy Spirit..." They started to testify, they wanted to do their testimony service. They started testifying against us, first time we had been there, we didn't ask to get sat upfront. They sat upfront, they started testifying against us. And finally, they said, "you don't have the Holy Spirit 'cause you don't speak in tongues and..." And a number of other things and we're just trying sit there, read our Bibles, we don't know what to do, we've never been here before. And finally, I spoke up.
And I said, "the Bible does not say the fruit of the Spirit is tongues, the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love." And the pastor jumps in and says, "good, let's have a debate." I don't go looking for debates, sometimes they find me. And so we, John and i, actually there was another pastor there, I think melvin janey. John and I and melvin got into a debate with this whole congregation, and they are elders, all speaking in tongues. And we said, "no, the fruit of the Spirit never does it say the fruit of the Spirit is tongue. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
" And if you speak in tongues and you don't have love, what does Paul say? "You are nothing." So the evidence of the Spirit is not that you babble, the evidence of the Spirit is do you love your neighbor, do you love your spouse or do you have the 1 Corinthians 13 in your life? All right, let me give you some more on the Holy Spirit here, Galatians... I'm sorry, Colossians 1:8, "who also declared to you, us, your love in the Spirit." Romans 15:30, "now I beg of you brethren through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Holy Spirit." Notice, he specifies, he singles out Jesus, "and the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God." Now notice that one verse, spirit, Jesus, God. You see it all over in the Bible. But he specially says the love of the Spirit, how much do we need the Spirit? The food of the Spirit is love. Amen? Amen.
Go to Luke 12:12, "for the Holy Spirit will teach you that very hour what you ought to say." One of the things that Holy Spirit does is he teaches, he instructs. You look in John 14:26, "but the helper, the Holy Spirit," the Holy Spirit is called the comforter. And some places, it's translated the paraclete. And that is something like he is a family defense attorney, he intercedes in your behalf. That might be what Paul is referring to in Romans 8, where he said, "likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, for we don't even know what we should pray for as we ought but he spirit himself makes intersession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.
" Sometimes you don't even know what to pray, and God through the Spirit, he translates our prayers into words that are eloquent before God. Not only does Jesus intercede for The Father, the Holy Spirit intercedes before The Father. Holy Spirit brings things to remembrance. You don't know I slip into the office sometimes when I get to church by myself, I kneel down, I pray among the things I pray. And I pray this prayer more often now is that the Holy Spirit will bring back to my remembrance, my memory.
I used to just have almost a photographic memory, never had film but I had a photographic memory. But I pray that the Lord will help me remember the things that I've read before 'cause sometimes I feel like Nebuchadnezzar, when the wise man said, "tell us the dream, and we'll tell you the interpretation." I say, "the thing is gone from me." And so I pray. But that's one of the promises, John 16:4, "but these things I've told you that when the time comes, you may remember." Amen. And you read in John 14, it says, "he will teach you all things and he will bring to your remembrance," that's John 14:26, "all things that I've said," now that means you need to read everything Jesus said for the Holy Spirit to help you remember it. Holy Spirit doesn't promise to help you remember something you never read, amen? Amen.
I know students years ago, they got this crazy notion that if they would listen to tapes playing the history book when they slept, somehow they would remember the history lesson. It only took a couple of generations before they found out that doesn't work, you won't wake up remembering anything. All right, assurance of salvation, and this is our free offers dealing with assurance. Joel 3:31, someone's going to read for me in a moment, John 6:37. Joel 3:31, it says, "the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it will come to pass at whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Isn't that a wonderful promise? "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance as the Lord God has said among the remnant whom the Lord calls." Now what does it mean whoever calls on the Lord will be saved? Won't the wicked be calling on God when the judgments fall? That's just... They are blaspheming God actually. When it says all who call on the Lord, it means all who have a life of calling on God. You have a practice of calling on God will be saved. And so you can't say, "I'm going to wait till the last minute, and I'm going to email or text the Lord and he will save me.
" No, it means that you're a person, who is one of those people that calls on God, they will be saved. So it means that this is a practice, but that's a wonderful promise too. Go ahead, please read for us John 6:37. "All that The Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out." What a wonderful promise of assurance. Jesus said, "all that come to me, I will never cast out.
" And that's what he says, "whosoever will," we don't believe in this predestination idea that God's arbitrarily decided some are going to be lost and you don't whether you're one those or not. If you hear him speak for you, many are called, few choose to respond to that call. But if you hear him calling, you come, will he cast you out? No. That's a wonderful promise. He is longing to save you.
God's more willing to answer your prayers and you are to pray. He is more willing to forgive you than you're to ask for forgiveness. John 10:28, "and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish neither will anyone snatch them out of my hand." What wonderful promises of assurance. And, you know, it's got that wonderful parable that you find of the pharisee and the tax collector. They both go to the temple to pray.
Pharisee says, "Lord, I thank you, I'm not like other men. I fast twice a week." He says, "I am not an extortioner, I'm just adulterer, even as this tax collector back here. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all of that I possess," but the tax collector, the sinner who knows he is lost, standing the far off with not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but he beat on his breast and says, "God be merciful to me as sinner." That's a short prayer you can all remember. You got to pray in the same spirit, though. I tell you this man went down to his house justified, meaning forgiven.
He came, he humbled himself, he confessed, he prayed, and he was received. Isn't that wonderful? It's like zacchaeus, God says, "this is The Son of Abraham." Last section is on the everlasting Gospel, which you of course can read in Revelation 14:6-7, you read in Micah 5:2, "but you of Bethlehem, ephratah, though you're little among the thousands of judah yet out of you shall he come forth to me, the one who is to be the ruler of Israel whose goings forth are from old even from everlasting." So how long ago did God know about the plan of salvation? It's called the everlasting Gospel. It's the lamb that was slaying from the foundation of the world. Nothing is snuck up on God. He always knew that there would come a time when his love would be challenged, and it would cause a terrible rebellion.
I want to remind those who might have missed the opening announcement that we do have a book that tells you more about this assurance. We hope that you'll make most of it. I meet people all the time, they just struggle, and I believe in obedience. But I also think that there are some people who are preoccupied with obedience that they don't know what it means to live a life of peace and assurance. So I wrote this book to try and give them the promises that you can have that kind of peace in your life.
And simply ask for it. It's called assurance, justification made simple. It's offer number 727 but you got to call 866-788-3966, that's 866-study-more, ask for this. If you're out of the country, you can find this online, and download it. And if you do order it, read it and please share it with a friend.
God bless you friends, we look forward to studying His Word together again next week. Did you know that Noah was present at the birth of Abraham? Okay, maybe he wasn't in the room. But he was alive and probably telling stories about his floating zoo. From the creation of the world to the last day events of Revelation, Biblehistory.com is a free resource where you can explore major Bible events and characters. Enhance your knowledge of the Bible and draw closer to God's Word.
Go deeper, visit the amazing Bible timeline at Biblehistory.com. You've probably heard the expression before, "if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait, it will change." And you've also heard everything is bigger in Texas, the ranches, the belt buckles, the cowboy hats. But the most famous slogan about Texas is "remember the alamo." The violent battles and bravery of iconic heroes have been the stuff of legends throughout which entire culture often drawn their identity in pride even long after centuries have passed. And in Texas, the story of the alamo has been a rally in cry of Texas independence for 200 years. One reason that texans love to brag that everything is bigger in Texas is of course because Texas is the largest of the lower 48 us states.
It's hard to believe that this massive state got its beginning in a very small Christian mission during the battle of the alamo. Every year, this famous mission museum receives over 2.5 million visitors from all parts of the planet that are eager to get a good look at this legendary site. The alamo played a critical role in the Texas revolution. In December 1835, texans and tejanos volunteers battle mexican troops quartered in the city forcing general martin perfecto de cos to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the alamo and strengthened its defenses.
Famous Americans like davy crockett, jim bowie, and colonel william travis made this location, this ancient mission, the beach head, the last stand in an epic battle to win independence of Texas from Mexico. On February 23, 1836, the arrival of general antonio lópez de santa anna nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the texans and tejanos prepared to defend the alamo. For this small ragtag group of rebels, the youngest of who was about 16 and the oldest 75 was against the well-trained and organized mexican army of 6,000-plus soldiers. It was a fierce and lopsided battle, yet the small force of rebels was able to repel the troops for 13 days.
Legend holds that with a possibility of additional help fading, colonel travis drew a line in the ground with the sword and asked, "any man willing to stay and fight can step over the line." All except one crossed over. The final asSault came before day break on the morning of March 6, 1836. The 13th day of the siege cannon and small arms fire from inside the alamo beat back several mexican attacks. Regrouping, santa anna's soldiers scaled the walls and rushed into the compound. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed.
By sunrise, the battle had ended and the garrison was slain. You know, historians may debate some of the details regarding the battle of the alamo but none of them questioned the incredible sacrifice that was made and courage that was displayed during that intense conflict. They made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives. And this is why the story of the alamo is so inspiring and so encouraging. You know, and that's why the Bible is so inspiring, friends, because someone was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and give his life so that you can have freedom and eternal life.
Don't you think you could trust your life to a friend like that that would give everything? The story of the Gospel is a story of courage and hope. It's a story of a God who will never leave you without defense and support. Jesus is the good news, and the Gospel is the story worth remembering. Let's face it. It's not always easy to understand everything you read in the Bible.
With over 700,000 words contained in 66 books, the Bible can generate a lot of questions. To get biblical straight forward answers, call into Bible answers live, a live nationwide call-in radio program where you can talk to Pastor Doug Batchelor, and ask him your most difficult Bible questions. For times and stations in your area or to listen to answers online visit, bal.amazingfacts.org. Amazing Facts, changed lives. My greatest wish is that my children will see me the way I see my own father.
He is a very devoted man. And that kind of framed my childhood going forward from there where I was involved in church work and I had a very rich experience with the Lord at a young age all the way up through college. Then after I got married, I got into a company called comcast. And I spent the past roughly eight and half years, nine years at comcast. And I was actually watching television with my son and a comcast commercial came on the air.
And he said, "oh, daddy, that's comcast. That's where you work, daddy." And most fathers would be proud of something like that, but it really struck me that, you know, my son's getting older. And he does not see me as a servant of the Lord, he sees me as a servant of my company. And I knew that I would have to make some changes because I wanted him to know me as a man of God. I'd never thought I would be a preacher or anything like that.
But I knew that there was room in the work for me and for my talents. And I wanted my son to see me operating in the work. That's when I knew that my time there was coming to an end. I was sitting in my office one day and I was kneeling in prayer, I said, "God, show me what you want me to do because, you know, it seems like a big move here and, you know, everyone's thinking I am crazy." And I don't know exactly how, you know, things are going to go, if they don't go well... You know, the crazy thought when you're thinking about God.
And I lifted my head up in prayer and just like a flock of, you know, maybe 300 birds that were just flying. And they were just swooping down over the water and they would fly back up and then they would chase each other around. And, you know, I was just looking at the pattern of the giant flock, and the promise of the Lord came to me where he says that, you know, he takes care of the sparrows. And you don't see them worrying about how they are going to be taking care of from day-to-day, you know, they don't, you know, wring their hands wondering, you know, will there be any worms to eat tomorrow. And that promise really stood out to me, you know, he said, "how much more do I love you? You know, I'm not going to send you on a mission to do my work and leave you high and dry because you claim to be my child, you claim to be my son.
" And everyone knows that. That assurance allows me to know that whatever happens here, whatever happens after here, we are sons of God, and there are certain things that we shouldn't worry about. From that day, we arrived at afcoe, it's been obvious that God has blessed the Amazing Facts ministry, the afcoe program. And I will be using my afcoe experience no matter where I go to reach people because the personal touch of face-to-face evangelism, speaking and sharing the Word of God out of your own mouth. There's no replacement for that.
And Amazing Facts has been very instrumental in helping me find the area of the work of God and showing me how large and how broad it is. It's been a tremendous blessing to be in a place where we are around people seeking to do God's will and listening for his voice in their life. And that's very, very important today. Together, we have spread the Gospel much farther than ever before. Thank you for your support.