time does our world have? History is littered with man's failed attempts for
utopia on earth. Kingdoms crumble and empires evaporate. What is the destiny of
man? How can one find personal peace? Can we know the future?
Yes, we can. Throughout the scriptures, God has sent messages of hope to help us recognize our
place in time and prepare for the future. Join us now as Amazing Facts presents
Millennium of Prophecy with Doug Batchelor.
Good morning and happy Sabbath to those of you joining us via satellite. We are
just energized this morning as we have gathered together here in New York at
the Manhattan Center. We have a capacity crowd and I hope that wherever you're
joining us from that your house is also filled whether you are in a church or
stadium or just at home. I hope you've invited your neighbors because this
morning the passage, the subject that Pastor Batchelor is going to share with
us is one of immense proportion. It is about the unsinkable ship and the
question is whether or not you are on a ship that's going down or whether in fact
you are on an unsinkable ship. So we're glad that you're joining us and my name
is John Lowe McCann. Before we go any further though I'd like to encourage
those of you who are joining us to stand in your respective congregations, stand
here in Manhattan with us. We're all going to sing a song together. Jesus
saves, Jesus saves. We have heard that joyful sound, Jesus saves. We're all
going to sing that together.
Singing. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the gladness all around. Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Spread the sleep and cross the waves. Onward tease, onward tease our Lord's command. Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Sing above, sing above the battle strife. Jesus saves, Jesus saves. By His death and endless life. Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Sing it softly through the gloom. When the heart for mercy craves. Sing the triumph for the two. See what Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Before you're seated, well matter of fact we're going to do that a little later on, you may be seated.
And all God's people said, Amen.
We'll remind you all so about this evening, our last evening here in New York.
Don't forget to be a part of this evening and we're all going to so to speak, wind the meeting up on a high note.
And we're looking forward to all of you joining us via satellite as well as here in New York City.
Come out early so that you can get your seat and be comfortable and be in place.
At this time I'd like to invite one of our pastors in New York, Pastor Mitchell, Oret Mitchell.
He is the pastor of the Crossroads Seventh-day Adventist Church on 45th Street.
He's been pastoring 25 years, he's been married 25 years.
So New York, I'd like you in a wonderful way this morning with a hearty amen.
Let us welcome Pastor Mitchell.
We're very happy this morning to have each one of you here.
And this morning it is my privilege to join Pastor Doug in thanking you for being here week after week, night after night.
In a very special way today we're going to worship the Lord in our tithes and our offerings.
And we want to thank you not only for your presence but for your continued giving.
At this time as we prepare to worship the Lord through our giving I'd like to direct you to a passage of scripture found in the book of Malachi.
It reads,
Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?
In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse.
For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bringing all the tithes into the storehouse.
And prove me now herewith, said the Lord of Hosts,
If I will not open you the wilderness of heaven,
And pour you out a blessing, there shall not be room enough to receive it.
This morning as you give your tithes, your offerings, you have envelopes that are on your seat.
We're going to ask you to put your tithes, your offerings in the envelope.
At the end of the service the envelopes will be collected.
But just before you do that I'm going to invite you to bow your heads as we ask the Lord's special blessing on us as we give of our tithes and offerings.
Let us pray.
Father in heaven we thank you today for this privilege of worship.
We thank you that we have been called to be your children.
And now as we return to you a portion of that which you have given us, we ask that you may bless what we give.
But above all we ask that you will bless us and pour out now your Spirit upon us.
Make us holy yours we pray.
Accept us in our giving we ask in Jesus name.
So please be sure to put your tithes, your offerings in the envelope.
And at the end of the service as you leave the envelopes will be collected.
Thank you.
Before we go any further in our program we have this morning individuals who through the messages that have been preached here each evening have decided to give their lives to the Lord.
Can we say amen?
Amen.
And this morning to my left of the stage I'd like to point your attention.
Also those joining us via satellite.
This morning we're going to give God the glory.
And I'm introducing Pastor Robert Wagley who is going to participate now with the baptismal candidates in our baptism this morning.
Let's give our full attention.
This is a very exciting day in the life of my friend David.
Truly it's a divine appointment where God has led you here to New York for this day David.
For a lot of people around the world we're coming to the end of a millennium but it's the beginning of an eternity for you and many others like you today.
We praise God for the way that he has led in your life and because you have responded to his love and his grace and because you want to be ready when Jesus comes in the clouds of glory.
I now baptize you in the name of the Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Put your body in the midst.
I'll follow thee, my Savior, where's the way that I've learned to be?
Where thou goest, I will find thee.
Thee I rest, I'll follow thee.
I'll be in your knees when I say Holy Spirit, okay?
We have seen how the Lord has guided and directed in your life,
and you have accepted His grace and His love, His redeeming power in your heart.
Because you love Jesus and because He's coming for those who have responded for His love,
and you want to be ready on that glorious day, I now baptize you in the name of the Father,
His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you.
I will follow thee, my Savior, thou that shed the blood for me.
And the Holy will forsake me by thy grace, I'll follow thee.
Amen.
We have more baptisms that are going to continue after our service today,
but I'd like to invite you to stand with me this morning.
And I'd like to invite Pastor Doug Batchelor out this morning.
We're going to sing our theme song together, Jesus Shine on Me.
Let's all stand together.
Everybody.
Together.
Jesus shine on me everywhere I go.
When I follow fast and in vile listen slow.
On bright mountains high, in dark valleys low.
Jesus shine on me everywhere I go.
Let's do it one more time.
Jesus shine on me everywhere I go.
When I follow fast and in vile listen slow.
On bright mountains high, in dark valleys low.
Jesus shine on me everywhere I go.
And before you are seated, turn around to your left, to your right,
and extend a hand to your neighbor's smile as you welcome them.
Say happy Sabbath. We're so glad that you're with us.
Do the same at your satellite sites.
Make sure that you smile, and after you've done that, then you may be seated.
Amen.
Well, friends, this is what I would call a high day in Zion.
Can you say amen?
We are praising God for the reports that are coming in from around North America
and around the world of people who are making decisions that they'd like to live forever.
That's a good decision to make. Amen?
And we're just praising God that he has blessed this meeting thus far
in spite of a lot of challenges.
The Lord has continued to move the mountains and depart the sea.
I'd like to invite Mrs. Batchelor out.
In a few moments we're going to have prayer together as a family,
as an international church family,
and we're also going to still greet some of the locations.
Happy Sabbath, dear.
Happy Sabbath. We're glad to be here, aren't we?
Amen.
Well, we're going to go right to our screen, and we're going to greet a couple of churches,
and then we'll go right on.
Our first church that we'd like to show a picture of is Concord, California.
Northern California, that's right.
We're glad that they're participating.
Our next church is Greeley, Colorado.
Amen.
And they even waved. That's great.
And Morton, Washington.
That's a home meeting, I can tell.
That's a home meeting. We're excited about that.
Now, at this time we'd like to show a special video clip
from the Sacramento Central Seventh-day Adventist Church,
which is our home church,
and they've been very gracious in allowing Doug to be gone quite a bit
from our home church and for participating in this.
We were in India 40 days this year and then six weeks here in New York City,
so I want to thank the Central Church for allowing me to do these evangelistic meetings,
and I think we've got a little roll in where we're going to have the Central Church greet the world
in a moment here.
Any second now.
We have a lot of people here at the Central Church in Sacramento, California.
You know what else we're going to do?
We're going to say hi and God bless you.
Here we go.
I thought I was at home for a minute.
There we are.
Oh, yeah, I see those faces.
You know, we were thinking we've had the whole world greeting New York.
I think it's time for New York to greet the world.
What do you think?
We're going to turn our boom camera around and right there,
see that monstrosity?
So we're going to wave at that robot.
We'd like to have all of New York say hello to the world.
And welcome.
And greet the people around North America and wish them a happy Sabbath.
On the count of three, let's say happy Sabbath.
You ready?
No, no, no, no.
Altogether.
Ready?
Altogether.
Unity.
One, two, three.
Happy Sabbath.
There we go.
Thank you.
Very good.
Well, we're really excited to be able to welcome these churches
and to have these churches greet the world.
But at this time, we're going to get ready for our opening prayer.
And, you know, we've had thousands of prayer requests that have come in.
Many have been unspoken.
Many have been spoken.
And at this time, we'd like to invite Annie Kehr to come out,
and she's going to join us in our morning prayer.
And we'd like to welcome you to keep in mind those prayer requests
that have been coming through to our website
and pray for those unspoken prayer requests and for the ones that have been spoken.
Let me share with you.
I think it's appropriate to let you know thousands of people around the world
are making decisions to be baptized.
That's right.
We've received reports of several people who have said their lives are threatened
if they make a decision to be baptized.
We enjoy more freedom here in North America than some parts of the world.
Some people have made a decision to be baptized.
They said, even if I am killed.
And so we want to pray for these individuals, some by their families,
some by political pressures, and others are in the valley of decision.
They're on the borders of making that decision to surrender their lives to Jesus.
Please, let's all together as a church around the world
elevate our prayers to the throne in their behalf.
Amen.
Let's kneel together for prayer.
Our loving Father in Heaven, we come to you this morning by special invitation.
We know that you care about us.
We know that you see us.
And our prayer comes right into your ear.
So we come by special invitation knowing that we need you.
And Lord, we have various needs from all around the world
that we present to you right now.
Some of us are struggling.
Some of us are hurting.
And whatever the need is, I just pray that you will make yourself so very real to us
that we will find the strength, the comfort, the guidance,
whatever it is that we need.
Lord, if we're lonely, I pray that you will be the Father, the companion,
the friend that we need.
I pray that if we're struggling with decisions or struggling with something in our life
that we need peace in.
Lord, be the peacemaker, be the guide, be the wisdom that we need.
And we know that Christ is all.
God is all we need.
So I just pray that at this very moment, all around the world,
you will come to us and that we will have a personal encounter with you.
We give our lives to you, everything that we have, everything that we are.
From this day forward, I pray that you will be a part of our life
in a new way like you've never been before.
For those of us here in New York City, I just ask that your presence will be with us
as we go through this service.
Those around the world, may we be united in our desire to be in heaven,
to leave this world behind, and to be part of your kingdom.
Lord, it doesn't matter what happens here.
All that matters is the decisions that we make for you.
So just help us to keep that in mind, and may the things of this earth grow dim
in the light of the glory and the future that you have for us.
We leave this prayer time, but not your presence.
In your name, Amen.
Amen.
Today we have a very special, special music.
Laura Ru- I practice this so many times.
How do I say it?
Laura Ru- Sorry about that, Laura.
Laura.
Laura is one of our Bible workers.
She comes to us from Lithuania.
She's been living in the United States for a little over a year,
and she really enjoys singing.
This morning she will be joined in song with John Loma King,
and they will be singing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
Oh soul, are you weary in trouble?
There's no light in the darkness you see.
There's life for a look at the Savior.
There's life more abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
In the light of his glory and grace.
His word shall not fail you, he promised.
He heard you and all will be well.
And go to a world that is dying.
His perfect salvation to turn.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
In the light of his glory and grace.
Amen.
Is he introducing me?
Happy Sabbath, friends.
We're almost at the final meeting.
Are you sad?
I hope so.
But the things that we're learning, we're praying that you will use to share with your friends and to transform their lives.
I hope that we'll see you all tonight here at our grand finale.
It's nice to see this place packed.
And I trust that the people who are meeting around the country, that many of you are enjoying your first Sabbath day.
And we pray that you receive a special blessing on this day that God has blessed.
Amen.
And we want to remember to continue to pray for those who have learned these truths.
That God will give them the strength and the grace and the wisdom to incorporate these things in their lives.
Remember, tonight we're going to have a special offering at our service.
And we pray that you will come prepared to give, as the Lord has blessed you, that we might perpetuate these meetings.
And also help buy materials for follow-up meetings.
You can give to your local site, and I know that they'll appreciate that.
Now this Sabbath morning, we're doing something that's unique.
I'll be sharing with you a story from history.
And then as we near the conclusion, I will weave it into some Bible themes.
I have a special interest in the story of the Titanic.
Matter of fact, long before it became in vogue, I was looking at the study of the Titanic.
I always enjoyed the ocean, stories of the sea.
And I was fascinated with the story of the Titanic and read it and studied into it before the ship was discovered back in 1985.
You know, I grew up living on the water.
My dad had a home right on the bay there in Miami Beach.
We had three boats in our backyard.
And I've lived two different times in my life on sailboats.
I've been in storms in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific Ocean.
And I love the sea.
I read the stories in the Bible about Jonah.
They take on special meaning for me.
I read about Paul.
Last story in the book of Acts is the story of a shipwreck.
And you know, the church is something like a ship.
And so there's things we can learn from these seagoing stories.
The Titanic has been a special interest for me.
As a matter of fact, Karen and I, on our honeymoon, we went on a cruise and I got a copy of the headlines from the New York Tribune,
More than 1,500 people perish as the great Titanic sinks.
And over the years, I've collected a variety of little trinkets.
I've actually got a piece of coal that was on the Titanic and a number of other articles, some things I'll share with you this morning.
But it represented a transition in history, the end of an era and the beginning of an era.
It represented how futile man's best laid plans are without God's blessing and how limited our technology really is.
But I'd like to take you now to the screen.
Our amazing fact this morning is going to be the whole presentation.
I will sprinkle several amazing facts through the program this morning called the Unsinkable Ship.
Most of you know that back in 1985, there were a team of explorers that were scanning in a grid back and forth across the North Atlantic,
trying to locate this mystery ship.
Now, there had been several teams before that had been searching for the Titanic unsuccessfully.
Part of the reason they had so much trouble locating the Titanic is because the last position that she recorded was very inaccurate.
They had not been taking account for a very strong current and they had drifted off what they presumed was their course.
It was the first time this crew had been working together on a transatlantic crossing,
and there were several areas where they were going through a learning curve.
Well, Robert Ballard and this team of international researchers on a French vessel with special equipment,
they had this camera that was reaching down on a cable 13,000 feet and it was scanning the bottom of the ocean.
And they were going back and forth for weeks hoping that they would find something.
Finally, when they were about to despair, into the view of the camera came this very beautiful picture, at least it was to them.
They recognized it immediately as one of the boilers on that ship.
They had acquainted themselves with every corner of the vessel.
Soon the majestic bow of the colossal ship came back into view.
And you can imagine how exuberant and jubilant they were at that point.
They made several excursions with a small submersible after that,
and several times they actually went down in a man submarine that held individuals.
Very dangerous when you go that far down, 13,000 feet.
The pressure is so incredible that it can take a golf ball and squish it down to the size of a pea.
It's just hard to imagine, and the darkness is as thick as any darkness could possibly be.
They took these manned voyages down there.
They took photographs and measurements and tried to see if they could decipher a number of things.
What actually caused the sinking, whether the bow ripped open, whether it was faulty steel,
and they did also some research to discover if they could retrieve and salvage some of the valuables.
There were rumors of precious treasure that had been left on board.
My dinger's not working in the studio.
They're trying to guess where I'm at. Apologize for that.
Tell you what, I'll just go like that when we're supposed to go to the next side.
Okay? Is that nice and discreet?
The Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland, and it was constructed in record time.
It was a massive ship, and even by today's standards, it was considered to be a tremendous vessel,
11 stories tall, longer than a couple of football fields.
Try and picture something that had all the technology of the space shuttle.
For that day, all of the latest and newest technology in the entire world was incorporated into that one vessel.
You can see where everything was of immense proportions.
They had an anchor that weighed 20 tons, I'm sorry, 15 tons being hauled by 20 mules.
Is it working now? Okay.
They also called it the Millionaire Special.
Part of the reason for that was that there were only 40 millionaires in the world back then.
11, or in North America, I'm sorry, 11 of North America's millionaires were on the Titanic.
It was called the Millionaire Special.
You've heard of John Jacob Astor, his family's responsible for the Waldorf Astoria here in New York City,
and then Molly Brown, sometimes called the Unsinkable Molly Brown,
and they've made a couple of movies and stories about her.
But it was a beautiful vessel, and we're going to show you a little animated clip,
and we'd like to thank CyberFlix for giving us permission to use this, of this remarkable ship called the Titanic.
This, of course, is an animated reconstruction of what the ship looked like in its glory.
A very long vessel would barely fit through the Panama Canal by today's standards.
They did not have enough lifeboats. They thought they were needless.
Since the ship was unsinkable, they would just be cluttering the deck.
They had a barbershop. All the amenities, wood ingrained from all over the world,
was incorporated in this beautiful central staircase that was sort of the gathering place
and the social hub of this magnificent vessel.
And they had something that was the first time then, they're very common now,
a swimming pool, gymnasium, Turkish bath, a sauna, all of these exquisite amenities
that we take for granted on the ships today that were very luxurious back then and unique.
A picture of one of the first classrooms, and then you can take a little trip down the beautiful corridors.
All was lit with 12-volt lighting, one of the second-class cabins, not too bad for a second-class.
Back then, they had this beautiful first-class dining room, and they had the smoking room
and the card room, which was filled to capacity, I understand, when it struck the iceberg.
They just felt a little shimmy in the ship. They felt things tremble a little bit.
The Parisian promenade, there were different themes for different parts of the ship.
And a beautiful, exquisite, state-of-the-art vessel, they believed that it demonstrated
how the world was entering a new age.
People, back in 1912, remember, World War I had not transpired yet.
After the turn of the century, the stock market was booming.
People really believed that they were entering a millennium of peace.
And the Titanic was sort of a celebration of the victory of man over the world,
that through technology we could conquer all of the world's problems.
This was the mentality when people gathered there at the shore to celebrate the launching of this beautiful vessel.
All of the media gathered there, and it's rumored that Captain Edward John Smith,
sometimes called John Smith or Captain E.J. Smith, that he had been interviewed by some of the reporters,
and they said, we understand that this vessel is unsinkable.
And reportedly, Captain Smith said, God himself could not sink this ship.
Now, he had worked for several years for White Star Lines.
A matter of fact, Captain Smith, this was supposed to be his final voyage.
He was getting ready to retire.
They thought they would allow him to go out in a blaze of glory by being the first to cross the Atlantic,
not only because of the privilege of captaining the Titanic, but because of the powerful engines in the Titanic.
They expected to break the record crossing the Atlantic.
You know that only one century earlier, it took months to cross the Atlantic.
They were going to do it in just a few days.
And so he hoped to be the first to break that record, and they were going to honor him
because he had been such an experienced captain, had never had any record of any catastrophe or calamity
while he was at the bridge.
And so they felt that he would be the most confident person, most trustworthy person they could choose.
One reason Captain Smith said that he felt that the boat was unsinkable
is because the Titanic was built with this unique state-of-the-art system
where they had 16 compartments that were all separated by these watertight doors
that could be operated from the bridge either electrically or manually, and they could be closed.
Well, if they hit another ship head-on and crumpled the first three or four sections of the ship like an accordion,
they could close these watertight doors, and in theory the boat would continue to float.
They'd have to limp back to shore for repairs.
So they were very confident that anything short of a 500-foot tidal wave, the boat was unsinkable.
But they had not taken everything into account.
And so as they began to steam across the Atlantic, spirits were very high and folks were jubilant.
I'll give you one little amazing fact that many people do not know,
is that the Titanic is the only ship in recorded history that had a fire on board the whole time it was in active service.
That's right, people don't know that.
In the electric room, they were still learning about using 12-volt electricity to power these boats.
Most of it was still gas lanterns back then.
In the electric room, one of the rooms, a fire broke out in one of the closets,
and every time they opened it, it flared up.
And so they'd shut it and it would smolder, and they'd checked it every few days and it continued burning.
They didn't want people to panic and they were able to divert the electric service in other ways.
But there was a fire on board the Titanic the whole time that it was in service.
Something else they had that was relatively new, other ships were beginning to get this,
they were what they called wireless radios.
We call them Morse code radio today.
Back then they called them the Marconi operators,
because an Italian gentleman had patented a certain brand of these wireless radios.
And there were people who were specially trained to use these radios.
Now, because there were so many wealthy people in the first class section of the Titanic,
and they were sending greetings to all of their friends around North America and the world,
that they were piling up stacks and stacks of messages.
They thought, this is wonderful, we can communicate while we're on vacation.
They wanted to check their stocks at the stock market.
They wanted to send greetings to all the social elite of their friends in England and New York City.
And so the radio operators were absolutely flooded with these frivolous messages
from all the millionaires in first class checking their stocks, giving orders,
checking with their business, giving greetings and telling how wonderful the trip was.
And that contributed to the problem because some of the other ships that were going from the east to the west,
I'm sorry, from the west to the east, from New York towards London,
that were passing in the opposite direction, radioed a number of messages
to the wireless operator of the Titanic saying, you need to be careful because we've encountered icebergs.
And the Titanic was making a very great headway.
They were traveling at a very high speed for that day,
and they would report their location to these other passing ships,
and they'd say, boy, you're moving pretty quick, you better slow down, you better pay attention, there's ice ahead.
Well, the radio operator, Jack Phillips, who was the chief operator at that time, he sent one or two messages up.
But some of those messages never reached the bridge because there was so much communication coming into the bridge
on the maiden voyage, they were checking all the systems, there were little breakdowns in communication,
problems with service, that the bridge was just buried with messages as well
that they fear that at least one of these messages, maybe only two that were sent to the bridge,
did not reach the bridge. Several of them were stuck on a nail inside the radio operator's room.
He said, I've already told them about the ice ahead, I do not need to continue sending messages up.
Finally, the radio operator of the Titanic received the sixth message from another ship
believed to be the California, and it said, you better be careful, there's ice ahead.
And he was so irritated and so much anxiety from trying to catch up with his growing workload
that he radioed back, would you please shut up?
Because he said, you better slow down, there's ice ahead, and it was the second warning they had received from that ship.
Well, it was about 11.30 at night, and that offended the radio operator of the California,
and so he thought, well, it's late, they don't want to talk to me, there's no other ships out there.
He was supposed to stay on duty until midnight. He took off his headset at 11.30 and turned off his radio.
You've got to be careful about hurting people's feelings, you might need them later.
It wasn't long after that, that the lookout in the crow's nest, who he did survive incidentally,
Frederick Fleet, he was looking, scanning the horizon. Now, this was a moonless night,
a clear starry night, a very calm sea. They were struggling to see the icebergs
because there were a set of binoculars, but the people of the bridge said they wanted the binoculars.
They said in the crow's nest, we're the ones that need them, but they said, no, we'll keep the binoculars.
So they would, their human sight are scanning the horizon to keep their eyes open.
The boat is just barreling along full steam, and they were hoping that when there's a little bit of rough water,
you can see the iridescent foam around the base of the icebergs. Those of you who have traveled at sea at night
know that the waves when they break actually create a luminescent light, you can see.
And so they were hoping, if there was a moon, they would have seen the icebergs.
But because it was so calm and so still, it wasn't until it was only about 150, 200 yards away, they saw it.
They called into the microphone, they shouted ahead, iceberg dead ahead.
Well, once they received that message, you know, they made several mistakes.
If they had only done a few things a little bit differently, you know, turning an ocean liner is like trying to stop a train.
It takes a long time. And you know, with an iceberg, most of the mass of an iceberg is below the surface of the water.
And this is how it was. They saw an iceberg and they thought, if we can just steer clear of the iceberg, we'll be safe.
But part of the problem is he reversed the engines, which made it twice as hard for the ship to turn.
Tried to reverse the engines. And so it managed to come along and it grazed the iceberg underneath the water.
And below the water level, it ripped an opening, unzipping the rivets about 300 feet long,
disposing compartments number one, two, three, four, five, and a little bit of six to the seawater that was pouring in in great cataracts.
Now, since they've discovered the iceberg, they've actually brought up large sections of the ship and they've done some research on the metal.
And even though they incorporated the very best technology in the ship in every capacity,
they found that the iron, the steel that was used in the Titanic was flawed.
The composition, there's a chemical balance that the iron is supposed to have. It was a very brittle nature.
And so when it became cold, it was a lot more susceptible to cracking.
And so as this iceberg pushed upon the steel and the tremendous force, it's like running into an iceberg.
You'd think it would break, but no, those ships are not icebreakers. It's like running into a rock.
And it just ripped a great big gash across many of the people who were down in the lower rooms of the ship, died instantly.
Some of them who were up in the bow that were working, some of the greatest heroes in the Titanic were the people in the mail room.
They didn't realize that the ship was doomed and they worked frantically to try to save the mail.
And they were carrying these bags of mail up. They died and the mail was not saved, but they kept moving it up one flight after another
to try to save the mail from being saturated and being ruined.
Many of the men who were up in the lower bowels of the ship that were performing maintenance or doing engine work were not able to escape.
And when they sealed the watertight doors, some of the people then could not travel up the stairs fast enough and the oncoming water caught them.
Well, people on the ship, it was about 11.40 at night, they were having a good time.
The band was playing the rock and roll of the day, which was Alexander's ragtime Charleston, and they were dancing on the dance floor.
You know I could do that, did you?
And they were playing cards in the smoking room, smoking, and the millionaires were up there talking about their stocks and bonds.
They barely felt, they felt the ship taking a turn and they felt the ship shudder a little bit because the vessel was so massive
and that the iceberg was struck below water level, which absorbed most of the sound.
But very few people on the boat knew that they had hit an iceberg.
They knew something had happened because eventually the engines stopped.
Some of the people who were up on the forward deck, the lower parts of the forward deck, they saw the iceberg go by
and part of the iceberg that kind of exploded up into the air landed on the deck and they thought,
boy, that was a close one because the boat went past the iceberg several hundred yards.
Keep that in mind, some people have asked, why didn't the people climb on an iceberg to survive?
Well, for one thing, where the waves hit against the side of an iceberg, it is absolutely as slick as anything can be.
You cannot climb up the side of it. It washes a flat edge like a big sea. You can't climb up it.
The second thing is after it struck the iceberg, it went several hundred yards before the boat was dead in the water.
There was no report that you could even see the icebergs by the time the boat began to go down.
Well, pretty soon, message reached the bridge that they'd hit an iceberg.
Part of the problem was from the time the man in the crow's nest called iceberg dead ahead
until the man at the bridge made an adjustment. There was too much hesitation.
He was going straight at it. Actually, if he had hit the iceberg dead on, they probably would have survived.
It wouldn't even be much of a historical record right now.
Probably would have knocked a lot of people over, but the ship probably would have continued floating.
But because they grazed the iceberg and because he hesitated, he couldn't decide whether to go to the right or to the left,
the ship was doomed, made several decisions wrong, reversing the engines and then turning the wrong way.
Well, pretty soon the captain, who should have been at the bridge at that time,
some people think that the historians are too hard on Captain Smith because he did have an excellent record,
but he was hobnobbing with the millionaires. They were at the critical place of the crossing.
They were using an untried vessel going maximum speed.
Part of the reason they were going maximum speed is one of the owners, Mr. Ismay,
he was egging them on to go as fast as they could. And the captain was called to the bridge
and they also brought up a man named Thomas Andrews, who was one of the designers and people involved in building the ship.
And as the messages began to come to the bridge, that water was pouring in, the holds, one, two, three, four, five and six,
Andrews did some calculating there. He pulled out some charts and he turned to the captain.
He said, the boat is going down, the ship is going down. And the captain said, the ship can't go down, it's unsinkable.
I said, well, I don't know how to tell you this, but we built it and it was not designed to have this many of its compartments flooded.
Eventually, as the weight from the forward bow nosed it down, the water would roll over
because those watertight decks did not go all the way to the 11th floor.
It only went three or four stories. It would eventually start going over the top into the next compartments
and eventually the strain of the weight in the front and the empty compartment in the back,
it would pull it down or the ship's going to snap in two, which it ended up doing.
There was a young man, there's 2,000 plus people that died and so I don't have time to tell you all 2,000 stories,
but one story that I thought was interesting. There was a young man who was eavesdropping on the bridge
and he was listening to the conversation between Captain Smith and Thomas Andrews
and he heard them say the boat is going to sink and they knew there were not enough lifeboats.
You see, because the boat was unsinkable, they actually felt the 16 lifeboats they had were a waste of space
because they were just taking up deck room. And what a terrible waste of aesthetics.
You could fill it with more themes, more entertainment.
Well, they knew they didn't have enough lifeboats. This young man heard the captain say,
what, it's going to sink? The ship's unsinkable and Thomas says, yes, it's going to sink.
Well, we don't have room for everybody, women and children only. They were very gallant back then.
And so you know what happened? This young man went back to the cabin. He put on some of his sister's clothing.
He was traveling with his mother and his sister and he was thinking, you got to give him credit, he survived.
You know, little by little the water began to pour into the front, one, two, three, four, and part of the sixth compartment
and began to weigh down the bow of the ship. And then they realized that there was a problem.
Pretty soon they knew that they were going to need to call for help.
Once they recognized that the boat was going to sink, they had seen other ships passing.
They had heard other ships passing. They see the lights on the ocean and they thought, we'll send out a distress call.
We've got a few hours. Thomas told Captain Smith, there's at least you might have one, maybe two hours.
They thought we'll call another ship to come by and we'll transfer the passengers. So it's not a terrible crisis.
They could see the light of a ship off in the distance. They call on the radio.
And the radio operator now was calling the British version of SOS. They have a different version of SOS that we use.
The distress emergency signal at sea. And they kept calling and they saw the lights of the ship but there was no response.
They started trying to use the radio. They had flares but they did not use the flares.
They waited an hour before they sent up the first flare. Another terrible mistake.
Then they noticed the ship turned and went away in another direction.
It was a mystery ship. They don't know what it was. The California says it was not us.
And then they realized that the situation was desperate. There was no ship coming.
They fired the emergency flare and by then it was too late.
Gradually as they were trying to fill the lifeboats, people did not want to get in.
Now let me give you something to think about here.
They had received six warnings that there were icebergs dead ahead.
Because they were so preoccupied with the cares of life and what they were doing on the ship,
they neglected the warnings that God had sent them.
Finally when they were in distress, the other radio was off.
You know the Lord gives us signs and he gives us warnings in his word that there are icebergs ahead.
There is a danger ahead. And if we persist in becoming so absorbed with our immediate cares of life
that we're telling God leave us alone. We're busy. We're having a good time.
We're preoccupied. Then we may discover if we have a disaster, he's not listening.
The Bible tells us very plainly that if we turn away our ear from hearing God's law,
there's a danger that our prayer will be an abomination.
If we refuse to listen to the Lord's pleadings in the days when the doors of mercy are open
and God is trying to get our attention, we may find ourselves like those in the days of Noah
pounding on the door of the ark after it's been closed.
Human nature is such that we always wait until the last minute before we recognize our danger,
before we listen to the warnings. We just don't seem to take God seriously.
You know what I think is amazing? I'm a pastor. I conduct funerals.
It's one of our dubious responsibilities.
You'd be amazed how few people believe they're going to die in spite of the fact there seems to be a 100% death rate.
So few people make preparations. So few people make funeral arrangements or have a will.
It's shocking. People do not want to think about the possibility that they have a terminal disease called life.
That's right. We are terminal. And we forget it. We don't want to think about it.
We get so preoccupied with this life and what we're doing. We hope if we ignore it, it'll go away.
Friends, this life is terminal. We're only here for a little while.
And the purpose of life is that we might know God and His love, accept His salvation, and then share God and His love.
These are the great priorities and we manage to get distracted with everything else.
Well, when they first began to lower the first few lifeboats and the captain was saying, women and children first,
there were so many mistakes that were made. The crew, boy, you had good service on the Titanic.
They did not want to alarm anyone. The captain called his people together.
He said, now, don't we don't want to panic because we don't have enough lifeboats.
So be calm. Don't be agitated. But let the people know they need to put on their life jackets and they need to make their way to the deck.
And women and children first begin with the first class section.
Well, the crew not wanting to create an alarm, they went walking up the halls.
A lot of people were asleep and never woke up when they struck the iceberg.
And they went walking up the halls and they're tapping on the doors.
Excuse me, pardon me, sir. We don't mean to disturb you, but there's been a problem.
The captain's asked if all the passengers could make their way up on the deck.
And if you could put on your life jacket, please. And don't be concerned. Nothing to be alarmed about.
Because of the tone of their voice and because of the gentle way that they were giving this emergency message,
very few people recognized how dangerous it was.
They were not able to persuade people to get into the boats.
Matter of fact, the first couple of lifeboats that were lowered away were less than half full,
even though there were not enough lifeboats.
Now, you can't blame them very much. You think about it.
And the band was playing. You know, the captain wanting to calm people down, he told the band.
He said, play something cheerful. We don't want to cause a panic. And so obedient, they began to play.
And they started out playing the equivalent of, you know, some Chipper dance music from back then.
And people thought, oh, this is a very gay event. Oh, we hit an iceberg. This is, oh, we didn't expect an adventure like this.
It was an adventure. They're all up on the deck.
The crew is going around asking them to put on the life jackets. Very few wanted to comply.
For one thing, most of the people in first class were wearing their wonderful, fabulous evening garments,
the best garments that they took with them. And, you know, they've got their tuxedos and their sequins.
And the life jackets back then were not a fashion statement.
The life jackets they had back then were brown canvas that covered bulky balsa wood, blocks of balsa wood.
I mean, they were just as ugly as you can imagine.
And they're saying, would you please put this on? And they said, I don't think so.
And so they couldn't get the people to put on the life jackets initially. You know why?
They didn't realize the danger they were in. And because the message that was given was not combined with a sense of urgency.
You know, one of the problems that we have in our day today is we're living here on the end of time, the threshold of eternity.
Jesus is about to come. You and I, I believe, are the generation that will witness the climax of the great controversy.
And so many preachers are saying, peace, peace. Or they're saying, Jesus is coming again.
We don't mean to alarm you, but Jesus is coming again.
Some young people came to interview me yesterday and wanted to know about the millennium.
They brought their camera and they wanted to know if they thought that the year 2000 and the second coming, if people should be afraid.
I said, if they're not ready, they should be afraid. There should be a sense of urgency.
Now, you never want to say this in a full building like this, so don't panic.
But if the building was on fire, it's not. You know, you don't want to play this game.
But if the building was on fire, I wouldn't say to you, I don't want to disrupt anything right now,
but we smell smoke and the building is about to go up in flames.
There would be more urgency in my message. Can you say amen?
And I'm concerned at the lack of urgency that I hear from people who know and believe the truth.
We should not only feel urgency that we might be ready,
but there's a lack of urgency among God's children to share the message of salvation with the world that's about to perish.
You and I in the gospel, we possess the serum for the disease the world is perishing from.
And if we don't share it with them, if we don't feel some urgency, then their blood is on our hands.
And why would we hesitate? There's an abundance of grace. Amen?
Well, the band started out playing Alexander Ragtime,
but then as the ship began to list a little more, they changed their tune.
Eventually they set up the flare, but by then nobody saw it.
There was one report of a ship where some sailors told the news in New York.
They said, we saw a flare in the direction of where the Titanic was reported to be in distress.
We told the captain and the captain thought that they were celebrating.
They woke them up and he said, it's the Titanic. They're showing off. They're celebrating.
Because they have different color flares for different things, and they set up the wrong color flare.
And so they thought that they were having a celebration showing off.
You know, the year 2000, a number of the cruise lines will be doing fireworks.
And I wonder what would happen if some of those cruise ships that are doing fireworks needed to then send up a flare of distress.
You could see why they'd be confused.
As the boat began to list more and more, it was getting easier to convince people to get into the lifeboats.
At first they didn't want to. You can understand why.
Think about it. The music's playing cheerfully. Your friends are there.
Everyone is laughing and gay. They think this is an adventure.
They're trying to ask you to get off this great big warm vessel
and get into a small dinghy with no electricity and get pushed out into an icy ocean with some oars wearing a life jacket.
Would you want to do that?
Everything in your senses would be telling you, you don't want to leave your friends.
You don't want to leave the light. You don't want to leave the warmth where everybody's positive and get inside this little vessel.
But the ones who survived had to make that decision.
In the same way, some people hesitate to make the decision
to go to the popular religions of the world and to get into the lifeboat.
They say, but the majority of the people believe this. How can so many people be wrong?
We always follow the crowd and friends, that's so dangerous.
You want to come tonight when we talk about living above the crowd.
So many people are saying, Doug, how can the Sabbath be true when so many of the other people believe this?
Friends, if there's anything we can learn from the Titanic, it's this.
You shouldn't follow the crowd.
The crowd typically goes on the wide road to destruction.
The crowd typically waits to the last minute to file their taxes.
You just go, October 15, and stand by a mailbox and you'll see the tendency of human nature.
When you hear the warning, it's the best time to listen.
The best time to do God's will is when you're hearing God's will.
The best time to listen to God's voice is when you're hearing God's voice.
The Lord says again and again in His word, today, today, now is the accepted time. Amen?
The Lord says, come immediately, quickly. He invites us to come.
The tendency is to put it off and wait until everybody else does it.
I believe there were some people back in the days of Noah who planned on getting on the ship,
but they thought, well, I'll wait until everybody decides to go.
It's never going to happen that way, friends. You have to think for yourself.
If you're going to survive, you cannot think like everybody else.
Well, the boat began to list more and more, and as it began to list,
it became easier to convince people to get off the warm ship and to get on the Titanic.
Matter of fact, it became downright hard to stand up.
Oh yeah, it became easier to get off the warm ship into the lifeboats.
Karen's here. She's screening me. I sometimes misspeak and I appreciate that.
In any event, finally, the captain told the band when they realized that the last of the lifeboats were going away,
and the last lifeboats, they waited too long to launch them.
One of them capsized because the boat was leaning so hard it tipped over.
A few people survived clinging to the keel, the bottom of that lifeboat.
But the last few lifeboats were packed to the gills, and they paddled as far away as they could from the boat,
because they knew, first of all, when the ship goes down, it creates a lot of suction.
Secondly, when the ship goes down, that a lot of survivors might bob to the surface that were then wanting to be rescued,
and they would swamp the lifeboats and maybe bring everybody down.
There wasn't enough room.
Good news about the gospel is there's room for everybody who makes a decision.
The lifeboat of Jesus Christ is big enough to take everybody who will come just as they are.
The band was asked to play, and they started to play near my god to thee.
Isn't it interesting how someone can go from Alexander Ragtime to near my god to thee
and think that that's going to save them at the last minute?
They played as long as they could stand up, we understand.
They were very heroic, and some people gathered around and sang, some of the believers.
Priests were going around hearing confession and giving absolution.
Some pastors were praying and pleading with people to accept the Lord,
and the other people were in absolute panic, the parents looking for their children,
and some folks in desperation to find anything that would float.
Other people at the last moment, instead of worrying about saving their lives,
they wanted to go to the vaults and get their possessions.
When they found the safe and the Titanic, they thought that there would still be things in there,
because who would worry about their possessions? They were empty.
The people wanted to get their treasures, and they loaded their pockets with their gold and silver,
and it made them sink all the more quickly.
Water began to crash in. People in the lifeboats who survived said that they could hear this long,
extended, continuing roar as pianos and furniture and equipment began to slide down.
The boilers, as they went underwater, the compression forced them to explode,
and plus the displacement of all the weight and the water in the front
and the buoyancy in the air in the back, they now believed that the boat,
before it even reached the bottom, broke into two sections and sank.
And it was, of course, a very tragic, tragic experience.
I'll say more about that in a moment.
There was a ship called the Carpathia that eventually heard about the distress call
that went out from the Titanic. One of the reasons fewer people were saved
is because they gave the wrong location.
The Carpathia went to the longitude and latitude where it was supposed to be.
It was not there. They eventually found some of the lifeboats drifting.
This is an actual photograph of one of the first lifeboats that was found.
Before they took the people off, this lifeboat could hold up to 65 people.
There were 23 people in it because they were afraid to utilize the time
and the means that they had to be saved. They waited too late.
So many amazing stories I could tell you.
One thing many people do not know is the Titanic was not the only vessel
built by White Star Lines.
There were actually two other sister ships that were almost identical.
One was called the Britannia and the other one was called the Olympic.
A little amazing fact was there was a nurse on the Titanic the night it sank.
Her name was Violet Jessup. She was a Christian lady.
Not only did she survive the sinking of the Titanic, she conducted herself very valiantly.
She was used to help many people find their way into the lifeboats.
And I don't remember whether she was picked up.
Only a few people were picked up by lifeboats after the ship sank
or if she was initially in one of the lifeboats.
But she survived. Now here's the amazing fact.
Violet Jessup then continued working for White Star Lines.
She was on the Olympic when it was struck at sea. She survived that.
Then during World War I, they turned the Britannia into a hospital ship.
She was on the Britannia when it struck a mine and it sank and she survived that.
Which tells me that if you've got God with you, a thousand may fall at your side
and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come nigh unto thee.
Just a fascinating story. It's amazing.
She was on all three ships when they had their catastrophe and she survived them all.
Another story that is a very sad story.
There was a minister, and this is the best picture that they have, called John Harper.
He was a man who lived in Ireland who was making his way to Chicago via New York City on the Titanic.
He was traveling third class to work with the Moody Bible Church.
And he was going to do a revival there, a very godly evangelist, a minister.
As the Titanic sank, some of the survivors reported, the last time we saw Pastor Harper,
he was leaning on the deck of the Titanic, clinging to the railing,
pleading with people to accept Jesus.
And this report, believed to be true, circulated.
Several survivors said we saw him going from one person to another,
as we were getting in the last lifeboats, pleading with them.
He'd say, brother, do you know Christ? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray now with me.
And he was leading people to Christ, realizing.
Some said that he gave away his life jacket.
Also some of the priests and rabbis who were on boat, too.
All the clergy gave away their life jackets to the other people.
There were so many stories of gallantry.
You've heard of Ismay, a millionaire who was on board,
who I think was one of the owners, was it, Saks Fifth Avenue?
I forget. His wife, when they asked her to get into the lifeboat,
they were first class passengers, millionaires.
She said, I've been with him 50 years.
They said, your husband's going to perish.
She said, then we'll die together.
And she decided to stay with her husband.
And so for years after the Titanic sank, they had a very popular song,
Near My God, to Thee.
And pastors would make these altar calls in these Baptist churches, you know.
And they would play Near My God, to Thee.
They'd talk about the sinking of the Titanic.
They'd say, brother Harper, the last thing he was doing.
Pastor Harper invited people to accept Christ.
Are you going to wait until it's too late, friends, or will you come to him now?
There was a church in Canada that was having an altar call.
And the Baptist minister was playing Near My God, to Thee,
inviting people to the front.
And he said, the last thing Pastor Harper was doing on the Titanic,
he was clinging to the rail, inviting people to accept Jesus.
This old Scotsman stood up and he said, that's not true.
He interrupted the whole service.
He said, I was on the Titanic and I survived.
He said, you want to hear the real story?
He said, that night I'd been drinking.
I was not a Christian.
Incidentally, some of the people, we don't recommend this,
but some of the people that survived in the water,
part of the reason they survived is they had some alcohol in their blood
and they did not succumb as quickly.
Now, I'm not trying to give you an excuse for drinking alcohol,
unless you plan on jumping off a ship where icebergs are floating.
But, so this Scotsman, he said, when we struck the iceberg
and we knew the ship was going down, the last of the lifeboats pushed away.
He said, it was a very tragic scene because people were weeping and crying,
things were falling.
You could hear people begin to slide down the deck as they lost their grip.
Now, I pastored a church where one of my members was on the Andrea Doria
when it sank.
Some of you have remembered the story of the Andrea Doria.
He was drinking and dancing and he said, he survived.
He came back to the Lord after that experience.
But he said, one thing he couldn't forget, when the boat began to list like this,
folks lost their grip and were sliding down the deck.
He said, you could hear everybody's bones breaking
and he could never forget that.
And this is what the Scotsman said.
He said, people were sliding down the deck and you could hear the people's bones breaking
as they collided with the apparatus and the obstacles along the way.
He said, I knew that if I waited until the ship went down, I was doomed.
He said, so I forced myself to jump into the water because the suction pulled so many people down
that the pressure burst their ears before they ever reached the surface
and it became very difficult to survive the initial shock of going down 100 feet with the suction.
And he said, I jumped overboard and swam away.
He said, it felt like a thousand knives were stabbing me.
Have you ever been so cold in the water that, or been so cold in the snow
that you get the opposite sensation as though you're burning?
Some of you know what I'm talking about.
I felt this before.
And he said, I felt like I was burning.
And he said, then when the ship went down, there was this tremendous explosion.
One thing that several people said that was another amazing fact, Titanic,
because it was so new and the electrical system was so carefully sealed, brand new,
the lights did not even go off until the ship was half in the water and it broke in two.
The lights remained on until it was almost halfway sunk,
which was just a little added blessing that the Lord extended.
Anyway, when the ship went down, he said, for a few moments there was absolute quiet.
He said, then gradually some of the survivors began to bob up to the surface.
And he said, it was the most horrible experience you could possibly imagine.
He said, it was as though I was in hell.
The Scotsman was talking in this Canadian church.
He said, because I felt like I was burning and now I could hear people all around me
shrieking, crying, praying, cursing.
He said, mothers were calling for their babies, fathers were calling for their wives,
people were calling out to God, people were cursing.
And he said, it was the most awful experience.
He said, gradually the people began to, the sounds began to die down.
He said, he managed to find a deck chair.
The Titanic had these beautiful oak deck chairs that provided just a little bit of buoyancy.
He said, and I was clinging to one of these deck chairs.
And eventually, he said, the voices of people began to die out.
Now there's, even though the water was very calm that moonless night,
there's always a swell on the ocean.
Those of you who have lived at sea know what I mean.
There's always a swell.
The swell is this rolling that goes across the ocean.
He said, eventually the swell brought this man over to me.
He said, it was Pastor Harper.
He said, we'd recognized the famous evangelist.
And he said to me, with a trembling voice quivering from the cold,
he said, man, are you saved?
So the old Scotsman said, I don't know.
And Pastor Harper said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.
He said, then the next swell came by and it pulled them a little bit apart.
Said a few moments later, another swell came over and brought them back together again.
Pastor Harper said, are you saved yet?
And he said, I don't know.
And he said, man, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.
He said, after that he went into shock and he slid beneath the surface.
And the old Scotsman said, I was Pastor Harper's last convert.
There were 13,000 feet of water beneath me.
I asked Jesus if he'd forgive me and save me.
Said a few moments later, a lifeboat came along and I was one of the only people that was picked up.
The lifeboats were afraid to come, get the passengers.
They thought we'd better wait until some of them die because they'll swamp our boats and we'll sink.
They didn't tell almost nobody was alive.
Well, when news reached Belfast, Ireland that the Titanic had gone down four days into its maiden voyage,
the grief in the city was so complete that one witness said you would see grown men walking up the street.
Now, keep in mind that on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, a lot of the people who had spent the years building ship were invited.
They were invited to ride third class, but a lot of the builders of the ship died.
And the grief in the town was so complete that grown men would be walking down the street.
They'd see each other.
One witness said they'd embrace, they'd cry, and they'd part without ever uttering a word.
It was just like this uniform understanding throughout the town that had lost dozens of its citizens.
Several of these mechanics, 16 engineers, mechanics, workers that had been engaged in building the Titanic,
were invited on the maiden voyage.
They were all members of the same church.
You know, there's only two churches, the Protestant and the Catholic,
and all of them went to the local Protestant church who had built the Titanic.
That Sunday, the church had invited an American minister to come and to preach.
He had not anticipated what the situation would be.
He was just a guest speaker.
The audience was filled with newly made widows and sobbing orphans.
The platform was covered with dignitaries from out the British Empire who were offering their condolences.
And he picked as his sermon title, the unsinkable ship.
When I first heard that, I thought, oh, that's bad taste.
He's going to rub it in that they were bragging the ship was unsinkable and it sank.
But then I read on and I found that he was not preaching about that 11-story vessel,
that beautiful majestic ship that sank there in 13,000 feet of water and took with it over 1,500 lives.
The pastor wasn't talking about this tremendous tragedy
where all those people who waited to the last minute went down with the ship
because they neglected the opportunity for salvation.
The pastor was talking about another vessel that was indeed unsinkable.
The Titanic, we know, was not unsinkable.
But the Bible tells us about another ship that is unsinkable.
And an amazing fact, that unsinkable ship was a little bitty vessel.
It wasn't the mammoth Titanic.
That unsinkable ship was a little fishing boat that though it was in a storm,
swamped with waves and smelly, it was an unsinkable ship because Jesus was in the boat.
You know you read about this in Mark chapter 4?
Christ sent the disciples across the sea and they strained at the oars to get to the other side,
did everything they humanly could do to survive.
But they waited to the last minute.
Finally they realized Jesus was in the boat and they came.
He was asleep in the boat and they needed to wake him up to revive him.
And they asked him one of the most outrageous questions in the Bible.
They said, Master, don't you care that we're perishing?
What a thing to ask Jesus.
Don't you care that we're perishing?
Friends, the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his son
that whoever believes in him might not perish.
Jesus got up, he looked at the raging elements,
and then some pastors like to say, he screamed at the elements, be quiet.
It's not what he did.
Jesus said, shh, be still.
Jesus does not even need to shout at nature.
His word is so potent, his word is so powerful that he can speak softly.
And then all of a sudden the water flattened out like glass and there was a great calm.
Friends, there is only one ship that is going to be an unsinkable ship.
That ship is the ship that has Jesus in it.
Even though Christ was asleep in that boat because Christ was in the ship,
it was unsinkable.
Is he the pilot in your boat?
You're going to have storms in life.
You've heard what Jesus said.
He said that the wise man builds on the rock, and when the storm comes, his house stands.
The fool builds on the sand, and when his storm comes, that house falls.
Some people, they're on a boat and Jesus is not their pilot.
They've got no rudder, they've got no sail, they're just bobbing around with every wind of doctrine,
and they do not know where they're heading.
But if Christ is your pilot, you know that you're safe.
You know, I'd like to invite John to come up,
and maybe we could have him sing an appeal song at this time.
Those of you who are watching around the country, please take your envelopes.
Those of you here in New York City, will you do me a favor, write your name on your envelope.
I'd like to ask you a question.
Some of you have been coming night after night.
You've been listening to the word of God.
You know that there's a storm ahead and there's only one way of surviving.
I'd like to invite you to ask Jesus into your heart, now as he's passing by.
You know, the Bible tells us, not only was Christ in the boat one time,
there's two stories in the Bible where Jesus walked on, where Jesus was still the stormy sea.
In the Gospel of John, it also tells us that he was walking on the sea.
At first, they were afraid.
Then, when they invited Jesus into their ship,
there was a great calm and the boat was instantly at their destination.
Can you say amen?
Christ is passing by now.
I hope that you hear his voice.
You need to invite him to come into your ship, to be near to you.
Please pray about this.
As John sings, I'm going to invite you to make a decision.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee.
Even though it be the cross that saviour's leave,
still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee.
I'd like to make a specific appeal.
I want to talk not only to my friends who are here in New York City,
but to those of you who might be watching in a church, congregation,
or in your home right now.
Some of you have been listening night after night to the Word of God.
You know that we are approaching a storm.
Jesus is coming soon and there's going to be a great time of trouble.
Just like an iceberg, 90% of it is hidden from sight.
People cannot fathom what's on the horizon right now.
They think that they're in control, that they can take care of it.
But human nature and the devil is telling us to procrastinate,
to wait until it's in view.
But by the time the iceberg's in view, it's too late, friends.
You cannot turn the ship when you think you can.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.
We're praising God here in New York City for the scores of people
who have made decisions to be baptized and to commit their lives to Jesus.
Those of you here who have made decisions to be baptized,
I'd like to invite you to stand where you are right now.
If you're still in the audience, you may be getting baptized tonight.
We have several who are behind the stage.
And there may be some of you here who are considering this decision.
I'd like to plead with you while you hear His voice to make that decision right now.
Will you stand on your feet in God's presence now?
Don't worry about the people.
It's more important that God and angels are watching. Amen?
Praise the Lord for this decision.
Are there others? Please remain standing.
You at home, you can stand. Praise God.
Has the Holy Spirit spoken to you?
Then listen today. Listen. Please stand.
Some of you right now are hearing a battle rage in your heart
between your God and your devil.
And you have the deciding vote.
Stand where you are.
Some of you who are watching in your local churches, yes, you can stand.
If you'd like to make a decision to accept Jesus, maybe for the first time,
maybe you've drifted from Him and you'd like to invite Him back into your ship.
Stand where you are right now.
We'd also like you to take advantage of your envelope
and indicate by putting a B on your envelope that you're interested in baptism or R for rebaptism.
Are there others here?
We know we've got about 30 people behind the curtain who are making decisions for baptism.
Praise God.
Any in the balcony?
The Holy Spirit's speaking to you.
I see some standing. It could be because they don't have seats.
And we want to pray for these who are making decisions.
Friends, my heart is yearning for you right now because I don't think people recognize how little time we actually have left. Amen?
I'm going to ask you to remain standing and, John, to sing another verse.
I want to invite you here and all around the world.
Pray for these who are making decisions for eternity now.
While this world rushes on
Do you hear my cry?
I'll save you one and all
Save you by and by
Still all my song shall be
Draw nearer my God to thee
Nearer my God to thee
Nearer to thee
In a moment, we're going to have special prayer for these people.
Are there others here that would like to make a decision to be part of God's family?
Would you like to get in the boat and invite Jesus in your boat?
Stand now.
Don't be afraid of standing up for Jesus.
You who are watching at home, Christ died for you publicly.
You should not be ashamed to stand up for him and say, I want him to take control of my life.
Praise the Lord.
Are there some others here?
Some of you at home.
Some of you maybe would like to become part of God's people by profession of faith.
You've been a Christian.
You've been baptized, but you want to join God's remnant church.
Stand where you are right now, please.
Are there others?
I hate to close this aspect of our service today because people are making decisions to get in the lifeboat.
Someone else, some of the balcony, some of you young people have not been baptized yet.
If you think you're old enough to be lost, you're old enough to be saved.
Amen.
Praise the Lord for these decisions we see up there.
And you at home, I trust that you've made decisions.
Please contact your pastor there, your group leader, or call us at Amazing Facts so we can help you in your new life.
We're going to have prayer here with these people, and then we're going to witness some who are sealing their decisions with baptism.
Let's bow our heads together.
Father in heaven, we want to praise you and give you glory for the fruit of your spirit that we see,
for the evidence of the Holy Spirit working in their lives, the Word of God transforming hearts.
Father, be with these who have made decisions to come to Jesus just like they are.
They want to draw nearer to God.
Wash us from our sins, and Lord, prepare us to hit the iceberg and to survive.
I pray, Lord, that we can surrender the helm to Jesus, that he can pilot us through the coming storm,
that we will have him in our ship, that we might be unsinkable as we sail on to glory together.
Bless them, Lord.
Keep them from temptation.
Fill them with your spirit.
We ask in Christ's name. Amen.
You may be seated.
Now we want to direct your attention to these who are joining God's family through baptism in New York City.
Can you say, praise the Lord?
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
This is Pastor Samir.
Dear Rick, you had your share of running away from God, but he found you.
Amen.
And you gave your life to him completely.
This is just the beginning of a journey of your life in which you will make a difference for the Kingdom.
You will help God establish his Kingdom on this earth.
And I invite you to join our church community who will take care of you on this journey.
Amen.
And make your hope be great and hold you up until the day he comes and brings you with all of us brothers and sisters who are here together so we can celebrate together there.
Amen.
And now, on the basis of his grace and his love for you, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Dear John, you have professed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, but he is as well your shepherd.
And there are good times before you once you get baptized because he will lead you in life of growing, in life of helping people around you, in life of righteousness.
The day will come when we will all be together there, all these brothers and sisters here and many around the world who are watching you.
With great joy and on the basis of God's grace, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Dear Nightingale, you said you want to commit yourself to truth and to true church and a true way for God.
It is with great joy that we all are here to support you in your Christian life.
You always count on the help of your brothers and sisters.
And on the basis of God's grace and his eternal love for you, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Very good. Very good.
Friends, we're about to say farewell to our viewing audience.
We're going to continue baptizing souls here for some time.
Can you say praise the Lord?
We want to remind you to join us again tonight as we gather for our grand finale where we talk about how to live above the crowd.
You have a happy Sabbath.
Remember to turn in your envelopes.
God bless you. We'll see you all this evening.
Amen.
How much time does our world have?
History is littered with man's failed attempts for utopia on earth.
Kingdoms crumble and empires evaporate.
What is the destiny of man?
How can one find personal peace?
Can we know the future?
Yes, we can.
Throughout the scriptures, God has sent messages of hope to help us recognize our place in time and prepare for the future.
Join us now as Amazing Facts presents Millennium of Prophecy with Doug Batchelor.
Good evening, friends, and welcome to a final night in New York City here at the Manhattan Center.
And I don't know if you feel the same way I do, but we are somewhat sad that this meeting is coming to an end.
As our momentum has been building from night to night and tonight, we're pretty much at capacity crowd.
And I understand there are about 400 people still trying to get in here.
So really pull together.
If you're having the same problem, which I hope you are, wherever your side is, snug, close together so that everyone can get together and hear this message tonight, living above the crowd.
Last Tuesday, we had a chance to go to the top of the Empire State Building, and for a few minutes we were, in fact, literally living above the crowd.
But then, as they say, what goes up must come down.
We had to come down, but that's not what the subject is about tonight.
Pastor Batchelor is going to share how we can spiritually, by God's grace and strength, live continually above the crowd of the world, ever ascending, getting closer and closer to Jesus.
So stick with us tonight as we cap up with this wonderful project and this wonderful topic.
But before we go any further, I'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me as we invite God's presence to be with us.
Gracious Father and our God, what a joy it is to abide in your presence and to know that as we walk with you and we talk with you,
we will know that in fact there is a relationship with us that you have that you desire so much to continue to grow.
Tonight, as we spend the time that we have so often done in your Word, send your Holy Spirit, we ask, in a very special way, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, we ask,
that we will understand what is communicated, that our hearts will be lifted up and drawn closer to thee, that our dedication and our service for you will also increase,
and Father, that we will have greater love for you and greater love for each other.
We also pray that tonight you'll be with Pastor Doug Batchelor as he presents this topic.
May his mind be clear that we may be blessed, but Father, we also pray that in the process you will bless him also.
We pray for the world afield and those who have been blessed through these meetings.
We ask as baptisms are continuing that all the lives transformed by this message may become powerful workers in the field of our Lord.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Friends, join with me this final evening as we welcome our speaker, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Well, bless your hearts. It looks like you all came back. Thank you so much.
You know, I'm hoping that you will not look upon this as the conclusion of our Bible study time together.
We want you to, we're hoping this is habit forming.
We're hoping we can start an epidemic of Bible studies.
We're wanting you to take the materials that we've placed in your hands and you at home, share them with your friends, your family.
What is the destiny of man?
How can one find personal peace?
Can we know the future?
Yes, we can.
Throughout the scriptures, God has sent messages of hope to help us recognize our place in time and prepare for the future.
Join us now as Amazing Facts presents Millennium of Prophecy with Doug Batchelor.
Good evening, friends, and welcome to a final night in New York City.
We are here at the Manhattan Center and I don't know if you feel the same way I do, but we are somewhat sad that this meeting is coming to an end.
As our momentum has been building from night to night and tonight we're pretty much at capacity crowd and I understand there are about 400 people still trying to get in here.
So really pull together.
If you're having the same problem, which I hope you are, wherever your side is, snug close together so that everyone can get together and hear this message tonight.
Living above the crowd.
Last Tuesday we had a chance to go to the top of the Empire State Building and for a few minutes we were in fact literally living above the crowd.
But then as they say, what goes up must come down.
We had to come down, but that's not what the subject is about tonight.
Pastor Batchelor is going to share how we can spiritually, by God's grace and strength, live continually above the crowd of the world ever ascending, getting closer and closer to Jesus.
So stick with us tonight as we cap off with this wonderful project and this wonderful topic.
But before we go any further, I'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me as we invite God's presence to be with us.
Gracious Father and our God, what a joy it is to abide in your presence and to know that as we walk with you and we talk with you,
we will know that in fact there is a relationship with us that you have that you desire so much to continue to grow.
Tonight as we spend the time that we have so often done in your word, send your Holy Spirit, we ask, in a very special way, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, we ask.
That we will understand what is communicated, that our hearts will be lifted up and drawn closer to thee, that our dedication and our service for you will also increase.
And Father, that we will have greater love for you and greater love for each other.
We also pray that tonight you'll be with Pastor Doug Batchelor as he presents this topic.
May his mind be clear that we may be blessed, but Father, we also pray that in the process you will bless him also.
We pray for the world afield and those who have been blessed through these meetings.
We ask as baptisms are continuing that all the lives transformed by this message may become powerful workers in the field of our Lord.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Friends, join with me this final evening as we welcome our speaker, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Well, bless your hearts. It looks like you all came back. Thank you so much.
You know, I'm hoping that you will not look upon this as the conclusion of our Bible study time together.
We want you to, we're hoping this is habit forming. We're hoping we can start an epidemic of Bible studies.
We're wanting you to take the materials that we've placed in your hands and you at home, share them with your friends, your families, your neighbors.
And we want to perpetuate this. This is what the gospel is all about. Sharing the good news, sharing the truth that will set you free.
You know, I want you to know that especially for those of you who have acquired the satellite equipment, and if you're watching on cable right now,
in North America there is going to be another similar special satellite broadcast of the gospel coming up in the year 2000 right around the corner.
My friend Mark Finley, the director of the It Is Written ministry, is going to share a little announcement with you about something very exciting that's on the horizon
so you can continue studying God's Word and utilize this equipment that you've acquired. Take a look.
I thank God for what He's done through Pastor Doug Batchelor as we've come to this series of meetings.
Each of us have been inspired and uplifted. I'd like you to look forward to the new millennium.
What does God have in mind next for the new millennium?
At It Is Written Television, we've been conducting a series of evangelistic meetings around the world called Acts 2000.
This series began just two years ago. We've conducted meetings in Manila, the Philippines, by satellite.
In Kamasi, Ghana, by satellite. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, by satellite. And Lucca, Restor, and Me.
Over one million people have attended the meetings so far, and hundreds of thousands have made decisions for Jesus Christ.
Our next major series will be uplinked from Greater Los Angeles, Buena Park, California, from March 3 to April 15.
This series will focus especially on the great prophecies of the Book of Revelation. I've entitled it a Revelation of Hope.
The messages are all new, powerfully illustrated presentations on the prophecies of Scripture.
Your church can be involved in a Revelation of Hope, satelliteed from Buena Park, Greater Los Angeles.
You can invite your friends to come to this series. As we enter into the new millennium, I believe that religious interest will be at all-time high.
I believe that God is going to stir America, that God is going to move America.
What we've seen happen during these Net New York meetings is only a prelude. A prelude to God's moving, a prelude to God's stirring.
Your church can be involved. Why not, with the inspiration of Net New York, leave your church inspired to invite your friends, your neighbors,
to this new series of meetings, Revelation of Hope, satelliteed from Greater Los Angeles, beginning on March 3.
If you come to these meetings for the first time, you've accepted these truths, you've found Christ, you've found the truths of the Bible.
Why not bring your friends, your neighbors, to this series, beginning on March 3, a Revelation of Hope.
To register for the series or get more information about it, you can call 1-888-664-5573. That's 1-888-664-5573.
God will move in a special way through your witness as you invite your friends, your neighbors, to attend a Revelation of Hope.
And God will bless your church as you register for this new, powerful series on the Book of Revelation.
Amen. I hope that you took note of that information and you'll plan now on looking ahead, participating, especially those of you who are watching at home.
Invite your friends into your churches, into your homes, and utilize these programs so that we can spread the truth. Amen?
Amen. Well, we've saved one of our favorite theme songs for our last night. We're going to sing He's Able Together, okay?
We believe that the Lord is able to keep you from falling. Amen? Amen. Let's all stand together as you can.
Let's all stand together. Balcony, those joining us via satellite, do the same thing. The words will appear on your screen.
We know God is able, He's able to carry us through. Let's sing this together. Here we go.
He's able, He's able, I know He's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through.
Sounding good. He's able, He's able, I know He's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through.
He healed the broken hearted and set the catfish free. He made the lame to walk again and cause the blind to see.
He's able, He's able, I know He's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through.
Amen. Before you are seated in here and also via satellite, turn to your right, left and behind you.
Extend the hand with a smile and let those who are with you tonight, let them know you're glad that they are here.
After that, you may take your seat.
Thank you very much, Pastor John.
And at this time, I'd like to invite out the lovely Mrs. Batchelor.
There are some people that we would like to extend thanks to at the conclusion of this seminar.
Now, we were wondering how to do this.
And there's a virtual army of people that we are very grateful to for making this whole program possible.
We thought, well, maybe we could bring them all out and bring them on the platform.
Problem is they're all working right now at their respective stations.
So the whole program would stop if we did that.
We're also at risk that we're going to forget somebody.
But we're going to do our best to tell all these people how grateful we are for all the work they've done.
This has been a joint effort of literally thousands of people working together.
The local sites, the coordinators here in New York.
Well, shall we start?
All right.
We want to thank our event coordinators, Betty Cooney, Robert and Peggy Wagley.
And we want to say hello to their sons Wade and David.
Is that right?
I think that's right.
Wade and David, they've been very kind in loaning us, their parents, for the last six or eight months.
So we're really thankful for that.
I want to thank our Bible coordinators, Annie Care, who's let out, and all the Bible workers.
We've had 20 Bible workers who've been here for about six weeks, two months.
Three to six months.
Amen.
We're thankful for them.
Who've taken their time off to visit and hand out flyers in the subways.
All right.
We have our computer people that are keeping everything organized.
Josh and Jason and many others that are helping.
All the volunteers, the Roe hosts that are seated out there.
Our volunteer staffs from the local churches.
We really want to appreciate them, too.
And we want to be, we want to make sure and take time to especially thank our music coordinator, John Loma-Cain.
Can you say amen for his good music and all that he's done?
Well, we have to, and Bonnie Innsminger, who's been floor director as well as assistant music coordinator.
And Bonnie Innsminger, who's my mother-in-law.
That's right. That's important.
And her mother.
Taking care of our son right there.
Taking care of our children right now, wrestling on the front row with the youngest bachelor.
Who's in trouble.
All right.
Our production crew, Doug Hill is our producer.
Lanny Allen is our director.
Rick Lundquist, who's been doing video control.
These folks came from California and from Illinois.
Debbie Thompson, who's been doing the graphics.
And Cheryl Curtis, who's been operating the character generator.
They're all working right now down in the studio.
And our AGCN and ACN crew.
The translators that you met last night.
Sixteen of them back there translating right now.
We have several camera crew that are volunteering as well.
We're very appreciative of them.
Todd and the Morgans.
That's right.
We have some friends who came from Walla Walla.
They took their personal time, came all the way out,
have volunteered working in the studio on the camera.
And that's special thanks to Jim and Denny Morgan.
And we are very grateful for their sacrifice.
They're from Moses Lake.
What did I say?
Walla Walla.
Oh.
Okay.
We want to thank 3ABN for all that they've done for us.
Amen.
And those watching on 3ABN Greetings.
All of the respective churches around the world participating.
The sponsoring churches in this area, the Advent Hope,
the Crossroads Church, the Manhattan Church,
any other?
Well, there's a lot of churches that have come from the
surrounding greater New York area.
But we're thinking of the ones right here in Manhattan that
have been helping.
Our Amazing Facts employees back in California have been
working on this project for the last year and a half getting
everything ready.
And they've been home while we've been here.
And we really want to thank them for all that they've been doing.
They've been dealing with an avalanche of mail every day
that's been generated from this series and phone calls.
Very grateful to them.
We want to also thank Lloyd who's been...
Sharpenburg.
Lloyd Sharpenburg who's been going around helping us with a
whole spectrum of things in construction.
He's been a real big help.
Martin, our audio man.
Who also wrote the opening music for our program.
We thank the Sacramento Central Church.
Okay.
We also want to thank Merlin and Juanita Kretschmeyer who are
our prayer coordinators.
Amen.
Every night while we're preaching, they go around,
they pray with everybody.
They have been receiving prayers and praying with people via
the Internet, thousands of people around the country and
the world.
And they've been on their knees with me every night asking for
God's blessing.
And they've set aside this time from their own personal
ministry to be here with us.
And they've also organized prayer partners and prayer people
around the world so that they can take care of all the prayer
requests that come through.
Amen.
And we're just so grateful.
And you know...
There's one more.
We might be forgetting someone.
Our chat room people and our Bible counselors online.
You know I'd be amiss if I didn't say them because I'm
always announcing them.
That's right.
But we really appreciate our Bible counselors and our chat
room people.
And I think that's all for me.
Okay.
Now we're going to greet some more churches who have sent us
at the last minute.
Everybody wanted to say hi to their churches.
And so you'll notice on the screen we've got...
Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Say hello.
Midland, Michigan.
Burbank, Illinois.
Midland.
Oh, did we do that one?
I missed it.
Amphilon, Cape Town, South Africa.
Men.
Navajo Land.
All right.
West Bango, New York.
Murphy, North Carolina.
Robson Peak, Canada.
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Amen.
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Amen.
Yuma, Arizona.
The Mystery Church.
Now let me explain.
Let me explain the Mystery Church.
It looked like such a well attended meeting.
Someone forwarded this to me but they never told who it was.
But we're glad you're there.
We're glad you're there.
If you recognize your church, you let us know who the
Mystery Church was.
All right.
La Grande, Oregon.
There's two people going there.
And the church and school.
All right.
I know Doug told me I couldn't do this but there were hundreds
of churches so I've just decided to put them, grouping
them into states and countries.
So we're going to be really fast.
We're going to thank all those in Mississippi, Washington
State, New York.
There's been many around the area who have asked for their
churches but New York will have to do.
Tennessee, New Zealand, Colorado, Bulgaria, Kenya, East
Africa, Wisconsin.
We've had academies in Wisconsin and New York, hospitals
in Africa and colleges all around asking for us to
recognize them.
Florida, Virginia, Texas, Indonesia, Iowa, New Mexico,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Bahamas, Jamaica and New Jersey.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
And there's one more translator, the last translator,
the 16th translator.
We're very happy to listen to the message of Pastor Doug
Batchelor in our own language Aramaic.
Thank you to Pastor Trunye for your willingness to
translate into Aramaic.
Amen.
This is from Ethiopia.
Praise the Lord.
All right.
As our custom, we want to do a few of your Bible questions
tonight and what time remains?
We have some really good ones.
Matthew 28 talks about making disciples.
How does this church make disciples?
Well, in Matthew 28, Jesus said, go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them, name of the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, teaching.
There's teaching before baptism and then there must be
a continued teaching after baptism.
He said, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I've commanded you.
Now, there's more to discipling than just teaching with
information.
We're going to have follow-up meetings here in Manhattan.
You've got the information there about the Daniel seminar
that will be conducted and I hope you're planning on
attending.
We believe some of your respective groups are also
going to have continuing seminars.
But discipling, the most powerful part of discipling,
is making a friend in the Lord that you can walk with
and you can encourage and instruct and model
Christianity for.
The personal touch is essential.
We believe in that.
This is what Jesus did.
He essentially took 12 men and he modeled the Father for
them for three and a half years.
Discipline is not just verbally teaching.
It's demonstrating Christianity.
You know, we all want to meet Christians with skin on
them, right?
To see people who are living the life and show us that it
can be done.
A lot of people talk the talk, but it means much more when
you meet somebody who walks the walk.
Amen?
That's discipling and then walking with that person.
That's why the Lord paired up the apostles.
He put John and Peter together and he sent them out so that
they could work together and pray for and strengthen
one another.
And this is where the church, new church members,
the old church members that are there need to take in the
new church members and be their disciple.
Choose somebody that you can mentor and that they can ask
questions and that you can guide them.
Adopt them.
This is your opportunity to be Jesus with real skin.
So we want to encourage you to do that.
All right.
Can you give me any Bible references that Jesus ever
told anyone to keep the Sabbath,
including his disciples?
And does the Bible ever tell us that Jesus rested on the
Sabbath?
Well, there's actually dozens of references in the New
Testament.
First of all, it says in Matthew, I'm sorry,
Luke and Mark that as his custom was,
he went into the church, the synagogue on the Sabbath.
So he had a pattern of keeping the Sabbath.
A custom is not something you do once or twice.
It was a pattern of his life.
The Bible tells us all things that were made were made by
him.
And that's why Jesus said, the Son of Man is Lord also of
the Sabbath.
He made the Sabbath for a man.
The question really needs to be with those who doubt the
validity of the Sabbath.
The Lord established it as one of his laws.
He kept it with his own demonstration.
He tried to clarify misconceptions because they
thought it was against the law to heal someone on the
Sabbath day.
Jesus said, no, it's better to do good on the Sabbath
days.
He never said do away with the Sabbath days, right?
So the burden of proof would rest with those who say,
show me a scripture that says it's been abolished or
changed.
The pattern of Christ was to keep it.
Amen.
All right.
You never, pardon me, you see Jesus many times in his
ministry healing people, teaching people on the Sabbath
day.
Do you ever see him in the carpenter shop?
No.
His pattern was always doing the works of the Father on
the Sabbath day.
And that's permissible for us as well.
Does the Bible mention dinosaurs and does the Bible
tell us what happened to them?
Well, dinosaur is a new word compared to the Bible.
It means thunder lizards.
There was no dinosaur word back when the Bible was
written.
There are some beasts that are described in the Bible
that are very nondescript and the scholars are not sure
what they are.
The Leviathan, the Bahiamoth, you've heard of these
descriptions and some have wondered if it's the
crocodile or the hippopotamus because they seem to
describe these beasts that have tails like a cedar
tree.
Well, an elephant and a hippo don't have tails like a
cedar tree.
And the carpenter was this, a description of some of
those who remembered the tradition of these giant
lizards.
I believe the dinosaurs did exist.
I believe that the dating system that places them
millions of years ago is seriously flawed.
I believe dinosaurs coexisted on Earth with the
people who lived before the flood and I think shortly
after the flood the ones who were, who did survive,
were exterminated.
They were rendered extinct because they were such a
large threat.
The environment changed.
They may not have been able to survive because they
ate copious amounts of vegetation.
So the larger reptiles died off.
Not only the larger reptiles, the fossil record
tells us many of the large species of mammals died as
well.
So a lot of animals became extinct after the flood
because there was such a radical change in the
environment.
The problem with so much of what you hear is the dating
system is grossly flawed.
Yes, I believe there were dinosaurs.
There were a lot of creatures that are extinct now,
but it wasn't millions and millions of years ago.
All right.
Do we have the same power available to us today that
Jesus had when he was on Earth healing the sick and
raising the dead?
Did he use his godly powers to heal the sick?
Well, the same power that was available to the Father
is available to us.
To the Son.
That's right.
Thank you.
The same power that was available to Jesus is
available to us because the Father told Jesus that
as I've sent you, so I am sending them.
So we have been sent and empowered in the same way.
Christ was baptized with the Spirit when he began his
ministry.
He preached for three and a half years.
Then he said to the disciples, now it's your turn.
They were baptized with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
They went forth raising the dead, healing the sick.
So we've seen that the disciples had the same power.
In fact, Jesus declared shockingly, these miracles
that I have done, greater things than these will you
do because I go to the Father.
Did he do these miracles through divine power?
Yes.
Christ never used his divine power for his own selfish
purposes though.
He used it to bless humanity.
And that power is available to us by faith.
Through the Holy Spirit?
Through the Holy Spirit.
Now you might be thinking, why don't we see more
demonstration of these biblical miracles?
You study Bible history and you'll discover they seem
to come in cycles and waves.
There's a place in the Bible where Gideon asks an
angel, whatever happened, all the miracles we used to
hear about, we don't have miracles anymore.
Now think about that.
Gideon lived before Jesus and Elijah and all these
other miracles that came after him.
There was a downturn and then he experienced some
miracles.
We're going to see an increase in miracles, genuine
miracles, just before Jesus comes.
You've got to be careful about the counterfeit though.
All right.
Please explain the Rosary Prayer.
Is it acceptable?
And this is from Wewak Papua, New Guinea.
We've had a lot of questions like this.
The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 6 verse 7,
but when you pray, pray not in vain repetition as the
heathen do, for they think they'll be heard for
their much speaking.
Now you'll find nothing in the Bible about purgatory
or the Rosary.
Nothing in the Bible says to say the Lord's Prayer or
Hail Mary over and over again.
God is not deaf.
He knows what you need before you ask.
And so it's important that we recognize that these
repetitive prayers, like the prayer wheels they've
got in countries, that's not real prayer.
Real prayer is the cry of your heart, using your
reasoning intelligence to an intelligent God.
Amen?
Amen.
All right.
For our last question, since we know that Eve was
deceived by a snake, is it okay to have a snake as a
pet?
This is from Joshua in Avon Park, Florida.
As long as it's not a winged serpent, there's nothing
that forbids it.
Better talk to your mom, Josh.
I don't want you to say, but Pastor Doug said I could
have this boa constrictor.
Actually, you know, the Bible tells us that some of
these unclean animals, it's not forbidden that they
should have a purpose in life.
We're just not supposed to eat them.
All right.
Well, I'm not hungry for a snake, are you?
Gotten the victory over that.
All right.
Tonight our special music is going to be brought to us
from John Loma King.
He's been our music coordinator.
He's been faithfully coming every night working with
us, and we really want to appreciate his Fairfield
Church for lending him to us.
He's going to be singing A Place in the Valley.
There'll be peace in the valley.
Oh, I'm sorry.
A cappella.
It says...
Goodbye.
Thank you.
What are you doing?
Well, I'm tired and so weary, but I must toil alone,
till the Lord comes and calls me away.
Oh, yes.
Where the morning is bright, where the lamb is the
night, where the night is as fair as the day.
There will be peace in the valley for me someday.
There will be peace in the valley for me.
Oh, Lord, I pray.
There'll be no sadness and no sorrow and no trouble.
I'll see.
There will be peace in the valley for me.
Well, the bear will be gentle and the wolf will be tame,
and the lion shall lay down, down with the lamb.
Oh, yes.
And the bees from the wild will be led by a child,
and I'll be changed, changed from this creature that I am.
There will be peace in the valley for me someday.
There will be peace in the valley for me.
Oh, Lord, I pray.
There'll be no sadness and no sorrow and no trouble.
I'll see.
There will be peace in the valley for me.
There will be peace in the valley for me someday.
There will be peace in that valley for us.
Oh, Lord, we pray.
There'll be no sadness and no sorrow.
There's no trouble.
We'll see.
There will be peace in that valley for me.
Amen.
Thank you so much, John.
That was a special request of mine tonight,
and I want to thank him for doing that.
I heard him sing that a cappella at a camp meeting one time,
and my knees gave way.
So I asked if he could do that again tonight.
You know, we promised you that tonight we would mention
that we'd like you to take this opportunity to show us
if you have been blessed by this seminar.
And so at this time, we'd like to encourage you,
you across the field, if you'd like to take the envelopes
that have been provided, and if you'd like to make an offering
to help with the expenses of your local meeting,
those here in Manhattan, if you'd like to do something
for us to show, if you've been blessed
and demonstrate that in a tangible way,
we would be very grateful.
These resources will go to help not only cover the expenses,
and of course they can't cover all the expenses,
but it'll make it possible for us to conduct follow-up programs
to continue to spread the word.
Can you say amen?
Amen.
I also hope you won't mind if, as the director of Amazing Facts
did I remind you, 95% of the expense for this series
has been absorbed by Amazing Facts.
We paid for the broadcast time on ACN, AGCN, 3ABN,
this production.
We are very thankful to the NAD for their donations
and helping with the Manhattan meetings
and the large contribution that was made,
but we have really broken our piggy bank as a ministry,
and if you would like to help us know that you appreciate that also,
we would like to hear from you.
The address is on the screen.
Some of you who have been watching at home,
we have not been able to communicate with you.
We would appreciate if you've been blessed by this seminar.
Drop us a line and let us know.
Write us at Amazing Facts.
It's P.O. Box 909, Roseville, California 95678,
and we will be very grateful.
Remember to leave your offerings and your envelopes at the door
or with your ushers at your respective groups,
and again, we are so thankful for your faithfulness.
You know, I just received word before I came out
that 500 people have been turned away downstairs.
Aren't you glad that you did not procrastinate?
We are very sorry about that.
We'll have the tapes that will be available,
and hopefully they can be blessed by that,
but we're glad that each of you are here.
Amen?
Tonight is a very important presentation.
We're going to be talking about how to live above the crowd,
which is an ongoing challenge for God's people.
Our amazing fact tonight is really taken from the life of an amazing man.
Now, I hope you don't mind if I tell you that Teddy Roosevelt is one of my heroes.
He was a Christian, but it's not because he was a very humble man.
As a matter of fact, he was a very proud man.
His daughter says he always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral
and the bride at every wedding.
He enjoyed being the center of attention.
But what I admire about him was his resolve, his determination, his grit.
He would make up his mind what was right, and he would do it.
And once he put his hand to the plow, he would not look back.
You've heard of the Panama Canal.
You know, the first person who thought about building the Panama Canal
was Hernando Cortez.
When he looked at that isthmus, he says,
you know, we could connect the Atlantic and the Pacific
if we put a canal across here.
And it was surveyed, but nothing ever happened.
Later, there was another Spanish group that thought about building it
and did a little more work on it and some more surveying,
but they said it's too big a job.
Then there was an international company that failed
and a French company that went bankrupt.
Finally, someone asked the United States if they'd like to buy
that little stretch of land.
When Teddy Roosevelt was president, he said,
if we take it on, we will finish it.
They had to literally move mountains.
Karen and I went through the Panama Canal on our honeymoon,
and we'll never forget the staggering amount of work
that had to be done with comparatively primitive equipment.
Teddy Roosevelt made up his mind when something was right,
and he would not give up.
One day when he was campaigning for his second term in president,
or actually third term in the Bull Moose Party,
he was on his way to deliver a speech,
and a crazy lunatic came up to him with a revolver,
put it right in his chest, and pulled the trigger.
Shot him point blank in the chest,
but he had a speech in his pocket he was about to deliver
that was all rolled up, very thick,
plus an extra pair of glasses in a metal case.
The bullet went through the glass case, through his speech.
Good thing for him, he had long speeches.
Into his chest, and they wanted to rush him to the hospital.
One witness says he was bleeding like a bull moose.
He said, I have a speech to deliver,
and I'm not going to quit until I do it.
They could not deter him.
He went and delivered his speech, a shortened version.
He said, you'll need to excuse me, I've been shot.
The people all laughed.
He opened up his shirt and exposed all the blood under his jacket.
Just was very determined.
You know, after he did not get elected president,
he continued to explore the world.
He went on a safari for several years in Africa, hunting big game.
He lived in the badlands of the Dakota territories in his youth,
climbed the Matterhorn.
Just a man who was driven to do everything he did with all of his might.
And I respect somebody who will not give up.
He was a little strange, I'll admit.
Dignitaries would come to the White House,
and he would wrestle and box with them.
We don't have presidents like that anymore, do we?
But that was the concept of manliness back then.
He actually went blind one time because he decided to box a professional boxer.
He was blinded one of his eyes and he was already nearly blind in the other.
When he was 55 years old, he went down to South America with his son
and joined an expedition to explore an uncharted tributary of the Amazon.
Very treacherous, unexplored territory.
Several people died.
He came down with malaria, nearly died,
and they named the river after him, the Teodoro.
All through his life, his motto was,
whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.
When you think something is right, you don't turn back.
You know why we have national parks today?
Because Teddy Roosevelt saw that we were losing all the beauty of this country.
And even though the powerful, rich politicians did not want to set aside
all this acreage in North America for the poor people,
he knew if he didn't do something, it would be lost.
And he fought against the rich and the powerful until he was able to set aside
these parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone and dozens of others around the country.
That's why his face is the last that's etched at Mount Rushmore.
Probably the last president that you could say was a man's man,
a real adventurer, and not just a politician.
I admire and respect people that do not follow the crowd and that do not give up.
Amen?
I want to be someone who will put my hand to the plow,
look at Jesus, and not look back.
What do you say, friends?
Our lesson tonight comes from that theme, learning how to live above the crowd.
And our story comes to us from the life of one of the most gregarious
and extroverted of the apostles.
His name was Simon Peter, a man after my own heart in many respects.
Peter had the habit of having his mouth in gear before his brain was engaged
and speaking and then thinking.
That's why I'm always grateful that Mrs. Batchelor sits on the front row
to edit my sermons as I go along and help me make corrections.
Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee one day and multitudes were following him.
He saw four friends that were fishermen that were cleaning their nets,
Andrew, Peter, his brother, and James and John.
He asked if he could borrow Peter's boat so he could preach to the people
without being crushed by the crowd off into the water.
And Peter accommodated him.
Jesus preached, then afterward he said, I see your boat is empty.
Why don't you launch out into the deep and let down your nets?
They said, Lord, you're a good preacher, probably a fine carpenter,
but you don't know anything about fishing.
You fish at night.
We fished all night.
We didn't catch anything.
But if you insist, we'll try one more time.
So they went out and they let their nets down.
And the Bible tells us that the catch of fish was so enormous
the nets began to break.
They had to call for their partners, James and John, to come along.
And both boats were filled.
They had never seen a catch like this at any time in their life.
They knew it was a supernatural miracle.
Peter, recognizing that he was in the presence of a divine being,
fell down before the Lord and said, Lord, you don't know who I am.
You better leave.
I am a sinful man.
You know, that's what the Lord wants us to do.
Come and confess our weakness just like we are.
Jesus said, don't fear, Peter.
From now on, you are going to catch men.
You can come with your gifts and your sin just like you are,
and the Lord will train you to utilize your gifts in His service.
One of Peter's big problems he needed to overcome,
he was preoccupied with other people and what they thought of him
more than what God thought of him.
He always wanted to know if the crowd was watching him.
You remember one time Jesus came walking on the water
and the disciples at first were shocked and they cried out.
And Jesus said, don't be afraid.
It's me.
Peter said, Lord, if it's you, bid that I come to you on the water.
He said, come.
Jesus said, ask and you'll receive.
Peter stepped out of the boat, fixed his eyes on Jesus
and began walking towards Christ.
Halfway there he thought to himself,
hey, there's probably not too many people who have walked on water
like this except me and Jesus.
I wonder if the fellas have the video camera rolling.
And he turned around to see if his friends were taking it all in.
And when he took his eyes off Jesus,
he then noticed the wind and the waves and his faith began to sink.
And he began to sink and he uttered the shortest prayer in the Bible.
You can memorize this one, Lord, save me.
It's a complete sentence.
Say it with me.
Lord, save me.
I've used it many times.
You may need that someday.
As soon as he called out, the Bible says immediately
Jesus lifted him up out of the water.
He became Christ's most devoted apostle.
He loved the Lord.
Well, of course, John was the beloved disciple.
Peter always wanted to be near Jesus.
He deeply loved his sincerity.
He respected his humility because Peter struggled with pride
and worrying about what people thought of him.
Always wanted to be by Christ when he was multiplying the bread and the fish.
And Jesus liked to escort him away after he raised the dead.
The Bible tells us the night of the Last Supper
when Jesus notified them that tonight one of you is going to forsake me
or one of you is going to betray me and you'll all forsake me.
Peter said, though all these men forsake you, I will not forsake you.
Comparing himself among his friends.
And they all said the same thing.
Peter did not recognize his own weakness.
He was sincere, but he did not know his own heart.
I mean, later that night when Judas came with the mob,
Peter pulled out his sword.
He planned on fighting.
You know why?
His friends were watching.
As long as he had an audience, Peter was very brave.
But shortly after that when all of his friends forsook Jesus and fled,
Peter wanted to follow Jesus, but now Jesus was not popular.
So the Bible says in Mark chapter 14, he followed from a distance.
He followed afar off.
Friends, if you're going to follow Jesus, don't follow afar off.
You want to be as close as you can possibly be.
Otherwise, you may repeat the mistake of Peter if you follow Jesus from a distance.
Peter knew that Christ was not popular anymore,
and so he did not want to get too close.
So when Jesus was led off into the judgment hall,
Peter sat outside with the enemies of Christ.
Someone recognizing him said, ha, you're one of his followers.
The fellow getting beaten up inside, you follow him?
Peter said, I don't know what you're talking about.
I've never seen the man before.
Now there's a different audience and he is succumbing to the pressure of the crowd.
A little later, servant girl recognized him, said, you've got a Galilean accent.
And we know most of his followers are from Galilee.
Surely I've seen you with them before.
And the Bible says he began to curse and to swear.
I know not the man.
All those words were still in his mental vocabulary,
and he was able to recall them in just a moment,
that I'll punctuate that I don't follow Jesus by using words that he would never use.
And about that time, he denied him a third time.
And the Bible says the Lord turned and looked at Peter.
Did you ever catch that?
Jesus was in the judgment hall.
The Roman soldiers were putting a bag over his head and beating him
and then ripping it off and saying, now tell us who hits you?
And Christ was not thinking about his own physical suffering.
He turned and worried about his beloved disciple out there
that had just denied him for the third time.
And it was not a look of anger or frustration.
It was a look of love and forgiveness and compassion.
And the Bible says Peter remembered the word of the Lord,
how he had said to him, before the rooster crows, yield to 93 times.
And the Bible says he went out and he wept bitterly.
Later that day when Christ was crucified, Peter stood afar off.
The crowd around Jesus now was mocking and deriding him.
Mary Magdalene and his mother were at the foot of the cross.
Peter was standing afar off, probably too ashamed to come to Christ.
That's why when the angel saw Mary at the tomb
and when Jesus had risen from the dead, the angel specifically said,
but go tell his disciples and Peter.
Peter thought I have committed the unpardonable sin.
There's no hope for me.
And Jesus made sure the angel instructed them,
tell Peter that he is going before you into Galilee
and there you will see him as he said.
There was hope for Peter.
Friends, you and I can learn how to get the victory over our pride
and over the temptation to please the crowd.
You cannot be a child of God if you're manipulated by the crowd.
Amen?
Let's find out what we can learn from God's Word about these principles
by going to question number one.
Have you been doing your lessons?
I hope that you are going to fill them all out.
Even if they're not complete now, you will still receive a blessing
as you do them in your homes. Amen?
And don't forget, you can continue doing these studies through the videotapes
if you've missed any of them.
That's why we designed them this way.
Question number one.
How does God determine whether or not we are on his side?
Say the answers with me.
Matthew 7, 21.
Not everyone that says unto me,
Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that talks about doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
You know, Jesus says quite a bit about doing.
Christ talks about a father that had two sons
and he said, please go work in my field.
And one son said, not today, Dad.
I've got other plans.
But he repented and he later went.
The other son said, I'm on my way, Dad, but he never went.
And Jesus says the bottom line is which of the two sons did what their father said?
The one who had a pretense but didn't go
or the one who said no but then repented and went.
The bottom line Christ said is the one who did it.
The Lord wants us to be doers of the Word. Amen?
Romans 6, 16.
Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves, servants,
let me say that again.
Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves, servants, to obey,
his servants you are to whom you obey,
whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.
We are ultimately the servants of the one we're obeying.
If we are obeying the rules of a church,
then you better hope that church has a heaven to take you to.
If you want to get to heaven you need to obey God. Amen?
If you're obeying a government instead of God as some people have done,
you better hope that government has a heaven to take you to.
Number two, when the commands of God and men conflict,
whom did Peter say we should obey? Answer.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
we ought to obey God rather than men.
Notice the transformation that came over this apostle
that was once so worried about being popular.
Now he's surrounded by the Supreme Court in Israel.
They said, you better not preach in the name of Jesus anymore.
All of us here are telling you not to,
and he stood boldly and said,
we're going to obey God rather than men.
Friends, you cannot serve two masters.
You cannot please the crowd and please your maker.
And there's a very strong temptation to be preoccupied
with what those around us think of us
rather than the one that sees our heart and our mind thinks of us.
Those in the kingdom will serve God supremely. Amen?
Number three, how do we best demonstrate our love for God?
By honking your horn, right?
Get one of those bumper stickers, if you love Jesus honk,
that means you love Jesus. No.
John 8.31, he says, if you continue in my word,
then you are my disciples indeed.
And again, John 14.15, the Lord tells us,
if you love me, keep my commandments.
He wants us to keep them.
First John 2.4, he that says he knows him and keepeth not his commandments
is a liar and the truth is not in him.
Now how many commandments would that be?
All of them, because it says in James 2.10,
for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble or offend in one point,
he's guilty of all.
Now we've learned during this seminar that God is looking for a people
in the last days who have the commandments of God
and the testimony of Jesus.
Do you think that means some of the commandments or all ten of them?
God's law has not been abrogated, it has not been annulled.
What Jesus wrote with his finger in stone is still intact.
You will see it as in heaven someday.
That's why he said, heaven and earth must pass away
before one jot or tittle in any wise passes from the law.
And I make no apologies for teaching the commandments,
including the Sabbath commandment,
because Jesus told me that whosoever therefore shall break
the least of these commandments and teach men so,
Matthew chapter 5, he'll be spoken of as least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever shall do and teach them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
And so I'm worried about what he thinks of me
and not what the popular world thinks of me. Amen?
So we've learned that there is at least one and in some places
several commandments that even Christians are turning away from.
And it's a very critical thing to do.
Number four, according to Jesus, why did the hypocrites act religious?
The Bible says in Matthew 6 verse 2, that they may have glory of men.
Matthew 6, 5, that they may be seen of men.
Jesus began his sermon on the mount by emphasizing
that the scribes and Pharisees did good things but for the wrong reason.
Good things for a bad reason.
They prayed, that's good. They fasted, that's good.
They gave, that's good.
But for the wrong reason, he said, you're doing it to be seen of men.
When you give, when you pray, when you fast, do it for your Father in heaven
and he will reward you openly.
Those of us who are acting pious and religious
so that people will think that we're holy,
that's not going to get you to heaven because God knows our hearts. Amen?
We need to be concerned with what the Lord sees.
That's why Jesus said, make sure the inside of the cup is cleaned first.
If you went to visit somebody and you asked for a drink of water
and they said, well, I've got two cups here.
I've got one that's been cleaned on the inside
and one that's been cleaned on the outside, but the inside's dirty.
Which one do you want? Which one would you want to drink out of?
The one cleaned on the inside, right?
And that's the way it is with the Lord.
He wants us to come and allow him to clean the inside
because when he cleans the inside, then by God's grace,
you'll see a transformation on the outside.
Question number five.
Is it generally safe to follow the crowd?
You know the answer to this.
What does the Bible say? Exodus 23 verse 2.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.
Doesn't matter how popular it is.
Now, friends, what does the Bible tell us in the last days?
Will it be the majority or the minority that will accept the truth?
Will the majority be religious?
Yes, they will. You better believe it.
The Bible says, he causeth all small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond to worship.
They receive a mark and they must worship.
They're all religious.
So there's going to be a lot of religious people out there
that will be practicing the wrong religion
and worshiping the wrong way.
That's why we've got to know what does God say.
Because religion, sincerity, that doesn't cover our evils.
Matthew 7 verse 13 and 14.
Jesus declared, enter ye at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction
and many there be that go in there at.
Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life
and few there be that find it.
Back in Bible times, people typically lived within sight of a fortified city
and they operated their farms and their ranches not far from a city.
And there was a trumpeter on the wall.
And if he saw a cloud of dust in the distance of an approaching army,
he would trumpet and signal the people that they were to make a beeline for the city,
get within its walls where they could be safe.
But you know, some of the people said, well, the invading army,
they're going to sack and pillage my house,
so I'm going to load up my wagon and I'm going to take all my stuff with me into the city.
Those who went on the wide road, it was typically congested,
there was no room and beyond that,
they couldn't fit all their stuff in the city gates.
But if you went straight up the city wall,
most of those cities back then had small entrances that a man could get through,
but an army and a horse could never get through.
You could not bring your stuff in your backpack and they could seal those entrances quickly.
In the same way, if you would follow Christ,
you cannot take the broad road and bring all your stuff.
We need the straight gate. Amen?
1 Peter chapter 3 verse 20.
Are we to believe that it's many or few?
What did Jesus say?
In the days of Noah, actually this is Peter,
while the ark was being prepared wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water.
Friends, I hope you're not waiting for it to be popular.
God's remnant church in the last days is not going to be the socially accepted church.
The Bible says that we will be hated of all nations because of our faith.
You know, I think it was interesting a couple of years ago,
that's been more than that, they had the riots in LA.
Karen and I were in Russia, we were hearing on the news about the LA riots,
and in Russia they made it sound like every city in North America was in flames.
They really kind of exasperated what was going on.
When we got back we thought it was interesting that the defense of some of these gang members
that were taking innocent civilians, dragging them out of their cars and beating them up.
You know what their defense was?
They said, we're not responsible because there was a crowd mentality that came over everybody.
Do you think the Lord's going to accept that defense when you stand before him in the judgment day?
Sorry Lord, I lost my free will because there was a crowd mentality
and I was caught up in the enthusiasm of beating innocent people.
You cannot do that with the Lord, you cannot follow the crowd.
Number six, how does Jesus feel when we put the traditions of men before the commandments of God?
Mark 7, 7 and verse 9,
Howbeit Christ said in vain do they worship me.
Wait a second, does it matter how we worship God?
Is it possible to worship God in vain if we put traditions of men ahead of the commandments of God?
Look at what that verse says, in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines
something that's nothing more than the commandments of men.
Now I don't want to offend you but the fact remains that I've been here 26 meetings now.
I've invited anybody to produce a scripture where we are commanded to worship on the first day of the week or Sunday
and I've not had any takers yet.
There have been a couple of ambiguous references to places where the disciples did thing on the first day of the week
but Jesus did things on many days of the week that are recorded in the Bible.
Nowhere is it said that it's the new Sabbath that we should keep holy, am I right?
And so there's a whole lot of people out there that are worshiping God in vain
thinking they're keeping the commandments of God but it's the doctrines of men.
Now we've got to find out what the commandments of God are and go by that, am I right?
And he said unto them, full well you reject the commandments of God that you may keep your own tradition.
A lot of people out there are saying but Doug, you know, there's so many people doing it.
I've got news for you. If there are 6 billion people in the world today
and if 5 billion 999 million of them all get together and vote and decide to change one of God's commandments,
the vote doesn't count because God has the veto pen for those votes, amen?
Doesn't mean a thing what the world does.
We've got to go by what God says in his word.
And the Lord is not wishy-washy.
When he speaks audibly, when he writes in stone, and he blesses something that's blessed forever, amen?
Number seven, will true Christianity be popular in the last days?
Christ has warned us if you want to be a real Christian you need to brace yourself
because you're going to meet with opposition.
Matthew 24 verse 9, Jesus said, you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Is he worth it friends?
That means that everywhere you go, if you really live the Christian life, you're going to meet with opposition
because you will be a threat to the devil and he will oppose you.
You know, I wish I had time to just stop and tell you about all the different obstacles we have run into
through the course of this meeting.
We've had to spend a lot of time on our knees because the devil has fought us every step of the way.
And I'm just praising God that we have more meeting, more people in our meeting, our closing nights than our opening nights.
It's evidence to me of God's victory over all these obstacles, amen?
Amen.
And to him be the glory.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, but the devil will oppose you every step of the way.
Second Timothy 312, it says there,
Yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Now, why don't we have more persecution in places like the United States?
You know why?
There's not very much godly living.
Matter of fact, I've often wondered if we ought to pray for trial and persecution that it would stimulate some more godly living, right?
We might be praying the wrong prayers.
We're praying for peace and prosperity.
We ought to say, Lord, send a famine.
That's what Elijah did and it brought a revival, am I right?
You start living godly, you'll see more persecution.
If we would be more of a threat to the devil, the fires of persecution will be rekindled.
The Bible says in Revelation 12, 17, and the dragon, who's that?
The devil was wroth, infuriated with the woman, and he goes to make war,
that's the battle of Armageddon, with a remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.
This is just on the horizon right over the next hill, friends.
Furthermore, Revelation 13, 5, the Lord tells us in prophecy,
the beast power will cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
I don't know what you think, but I think that's pretty serious.
Now, you can expect that if you take your stand for the truth, people are going to call you a cult.
They're going to call you bizarre, i.e. there's all kinds of strange rumors floating around out there,
Seventh-day Adventists sacrifice chickens, and I don't know,
you know, if people think that we have green antenna or something and don't know that we're just Bible-believing people.
And there'll be a lot of misconceptions. You will be falsely accused.
You know, back in the days of Nero, Nero wanted to use the Christians as a scapegoat
because the people were very dissatisfied with his government.
So you know what he said?
The Christians during their communion service, they said,
this grape juice and this bread is a symbol of the body and blood of Christ.
Nero took that and said, Christians are cannibals.
They go into the catacombs and they eat human flesh.
And that spread all throughout Rome and that made them feel more justified
when they saw the Christians being torn from limb to limb in the Coliseums
because they said, well, they're cannibals. What do you expect?
That wasn't true. The devil is a master of false advertising. Am I right?
Number eight, is it possible to serve both God and the crowd?
No, Jesus tells us very clearly, friends, what does it say?
No man can serve two masters.
You know, one time someone came to Benjamin Franklin.
They asked him for a scripture that proved that a man could not have more than one wife.
And he quoted this, no man can serve two masters.
No man can serve two masters for he will either hate the one and love the other
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
Now, during World War II and World War I, Switzerland was neutral.
They said, we don't want to get involved. We've got the banks. Be nice to us.
And everyone left Switzerland alone. They were neutral territory.
I've got some sad news for you.
In the battle between Christ and Satan, there is no Switzerland.
If you're not with him, you are on the devil's side, friends.
If you're not on the winning team, you're on the losing team.
There's no middle ground.
And you might say, well, I don't want to make a decision right now.
By saying, I don't want to make a decision now, you're making a decision.
You're staying on the devil's side.
And you make yourself an adversary of the one who died to save you.
Matthew 13, 20, Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me.
Those are our choices, friends. We are with Christ or against Christ.
And after all he's done to save me, I don't want to be against him.
Number nine, is it safe to love friend or family member more than Jesus?
No. Matthew chapter 10, Jesus said, he that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me.
He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Now what is Christ saying?
Is he telling us we're not supposed to love our children?
No, we're supposed to love him supremely more.
Luke 14, 26, if any man comes to me and hate not,
that word hate there means to love less dearly,
his father and his mother and his wife and his children and his brethren
and his sisters, yet his own life also cannot be my disciple.
We need to love the gift, the giver more than the gift, am I right?
Some people think, well Doug, I want to take a stand,
I want to join the remnant church, I want to be baptized,
but I'm waiting for my family.
They need time to adjust and to accept.
I'm waiting for my husband, my wife to come along.
The best thing you can do for the ones you love is to put God first.
Because if you procrastinate, you're sending a message to them
that it's really not that urgent, it's not that important.
If you want to really show love for your children,
then you put Christ first.
You sense the urgency, they will sense that.
Whatever decisions you make will ultimately react in those around you.
You're going to take people to heaven or to hell with you by your example friends.
And it's so much more important that you love the one who gave you your children,
your spouse, your family, than loving them supremely.
I know a sister who kept procrastinating.
She learned the Sabbath truth and wanted to take a stand,
but said, you know my husband, I need to submit to him.
You don't submit to your husband when it means violating the commandments of God.
He wants me to go out with him on the Sabbath day, and she kept putting him first.
One day I got a call and they said, can you please come,
my husband's in the hospital in critical condition.
Had an accident at work and he was on his deathbed.
And she was sobbing and said, I know the Lord has told me
that I was loving him more than God, and he's on the verge of taking him away from me.
Please pray for my husband and I promise I'll put God first.
It's a dangerous thing to put somebody ahead of God, friends.
Jesus says further, Matthew 12 verse 50,
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and my sister and my mother.
Now when you start talking about loving God more than your immediate family, that's pretty close.
But I seem to remember Jesus saying somewhere that you're better off entering heaven
without an eye or a hand or a foot than going into the lake of fire complete with all your members.
Sometimes you need to make some very painful sacrifices when it comes to following Jesus.
Jesus warned us, if you're going to follow me, you need to take up your cross daily and follow me.
That means that there is some self-denial, there's a self-crucifixion involved.
That's why Paul said, I am crucified with Christ.
Her story of a young boy who went out with his dad one day, a bear was pestering their ranch,
and the father went out in the woods with his son to set one of these massive bear traps.
They chained it firmly between two trees by a creek right on the trail where the bear was in the habit of passing,
covered it up with leaves, set some bait on it, and covered it all up to disguise it.
Father said to the boy, now don't fool with this trap. I'll come back in a couple days and we'll check it.
And the boy was so fascinated to find out if they were going to catch up the hare.
The next day he could not resist. The boy went back out to where the trap was, and the trap was gone.
He thought. The wind had been blowing the leaves around and things looked like they'd been moved,
and he thought the bear took the trap and ran off. He couldn't see it.
And so he took a stick and began to brush the leaves aside to see if the trap was there,
and he unintentionally triggered the trap.
Pulled his hand away as fast as he could, but it snapped down on his index finger.
He moaned and howled. You know, bear traps, their jaws are as big as my arms, they're massive.
He screamed and howled. The thing squashed his finger. Nobody could hear him.
The ranch was half a mile away.
And he moaned and he wept and he waited. Pretty soon the sky grew dark and it started raining.
And then it started pouring.
The boy realized that no one was going to hear him, and he was just praying someone would eventually come looking for him,
but no one knew where he went.
Then the water at the creek by the trap began to rise higher and higher.
Pretty soon it was around his ankles, then up around his knees, and it was coming up fast.
And the boy, 11 years old, knew if he didn't do something drastic, he was going to drown.
He made a very difficult, painful decision, but a necessary one.
Took out his boy scout's knife and he had to cut off his own finger, going through the bone, to save his life.
Did he do the right thing? He did the right thing. Was it easy? It was hard.
This is the language that Jesus uses when he says, if you're going to follow me, it's going to require putting me first.
You must sell all to get that pearl of great price. Amen?
You need to sell everything to get that field with the treasure in it.
Some of you are struggling. You're thinking, Doug, I'd like to join the remnant church.
I'd like to be baptized, but I'm not quite ready to give up my cigarettes.
That's right. There's some people. They'd rather have a filter king than the king of kings.
Some people would rather have a string of pearls than the pearl of great price. Amen?
A lot of people are willing to sacrifice eternal life. They're not willing to cut.
Some people are saying, Doug, I'd like to follow you, but God knows I need to take care of my family.
If I keep the Sabbath truth, I'm going to lose my job.
Well, pardon me, friends. I know that's difficult. I've been there and been through that.
But you're going to meet people in heaven who lost their lives rather than disobey Jesus.
We need to love him so much because he laid down his life to cover our disobedience.
Will we continue in sin, knowing that it grieves him, that it wounds him?
If you love him, you must be willing to make any sacrifice, and you will be blessed if you do.
Don't forget that. The blessing outweighs the sacrifice.
Number ten. Is it wise to put a prosperous career or earthly treasures before Jesus?
What does the Bible say? Matthew chapter 26, I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 16, verse 26.
For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
A lot of my immediate family thinks I'm stark-raving mad because my father is virtually a billionaire living in Miami.
And I'm bebopping around the country preaching, and I get a pastor's salary.
And they said, you know, you need to be down there. You need to be working for him.
You need to be close and think of how you can help God's work.
A lot of people, Christians, tell me, you got to go work for your dad for a few years,
and when you get a few million dollars, then you can help God's work, and you can help my ministry.
And they'll say, that's right. I know that God's called me to preach the gospel.
If I do that, I know my weaknesses. I would be lost.
I'm not bragging about it, but I could not live in that environment.
One way that I stay close to the Lord is I stay actively engaged in sharing Jesus with others.
I'm doing this partly for selfish reasons, friends.
It keeps me in the Word. It keeps me close, and it's invigorating for me to see people come to the Lord.
I'm a mess just like you. This is just my calling.
And by God's grace, I love preaching, because I do it anyway. They pay me for it.
Number Luke 12, 15.
The Bible says, A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesses.
You know, my heart yearns over a lot of our young people.
I visit at the schools, and I say, what are your plans?
And so many of the young people, even at Christian schools,
their plans revolve around what career is going to pay the best.
Instead of saying, how can I best serve God and my fellow man, which used to be the pattern,
now they want to know what will have the best job opportunities, the best retirement,
what will give me the quickest raises and most power to buy a new house and a fancy car,
and oh, I think they don't know. I've been there and done that too.
And happiness does not come from the abundance of things.
Happiness comes from knowing that you're on your way to glory, that you're going to live forever,
that there's a plan for your life.
Because you ask these people with all these possessions, I know some that have killed themselves.
It doesn't bring happiness.
You know, when I lived in Florida, they have greyhound races there.
And one day I heard a story that during a race, you know, they open the hatch,
and these dogs are trained all their lives to follow after a mechanical bunny rabbit.
They're never intended to catch it.
And they run with all their heart and soul to catch this mechanical rabbit.
One day it had rained at one of these tracks there in Florida,
and the grass was laying across this little electric track where the electrical bunny runs on a rail.
Halfway through the race, everybody's cheering and the dogs are yapping full bore.
The rabbit went across this wet grass and it caused a short and the bunny blew up.
And all these poor skinny little anorexic greyhounds were wandering around nervously
because they lost their goal. They didn't know what to do anymore.
Some people spend their whole lives chasing after these dreams that they're never going to attain
because happiness doesn't consist.
As soon as you think you've got everything, you'll find out you don't.
And you'll want that and you're dissatisfied.
I also heard about a greyhound race one time where a real rabbit bounded across the track
and one dog looked at the mechanical rabbit, he looked at the real one, he said,
forget that, he went after the real rabbit, never saw him again.
Number 11, is it safe to continue disobeying God's will after he's shown us the truth?
Very disastrous friends.
Hosea 4-6, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Now wait, you're thinking that doesn't sound fair.
Keep reading.
Not just because of lack of knowledge, but because you have rejected the knowledge.
Oh, my heart is yearning over people who've sat night after night in the seminar.
You've heard the truth and you're holding off.
The Bible says if you reject knowledge, I will also reject thee.
Seeing that you have forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
It will not only affect you, it will affect those around you.
Friends, for your sake, for the sake of God's glory, for your loved ones,
surrender to Jesus and follow him.
Don't follow the crowd.
Don't worry about pleasing the world.
The world is not going to make you happy anyway.
Number, or Hebrews 10 verse 26, for if we continue to sin,
willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
That's why it's so important that we do something about what we've learned.
Number 12, what will happen to those who persist in rejecting the truth?
It's very devastating.
The answer is 2 Thessalonians 2, 10 to 12.
And with all the sealableness of unrighteousness in them that perish
because they receive not the love of the truth.
Now, wait a second.
What's one of Jesus' names?
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
And you need to receive a love of the truth.
When you love Jesus, obeying his word will be so much easier.
That they might be saved.
And for this cause, because they do not receive a love of the truth,
for this cause God will send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie
that they might be damned who believe not the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Are you aware that people in the last days who persecute God's children
will ultimately get to the place where they're very sincere?
Because they've rejected the truth, they will become convinced that the lie is genuine.
You've met those people before, haven't you?
They're very sincere that these ridiculous theories are true
and they think their sincerity makes them true.
John 3, 19, it tells us, and this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light.
Why? Because their deeds were evil.
Why did Cain kill Abel?
Because Abel was bad or because Cain was evil.
Why did the religious leaders crucify Jesus?
Because of Jesus' badness or because of his goodness?
The light of his goodness made the darkness of their badness stand out in stark contrast
and it convicted them.
So they needed to put out the light and that's why they crucified Christ.
Number 13, will those who persecute God's people in the last days
believe they're doing the right thing?
Oh, they'll be very sincere.
Those who follow the beast and receive his mark will be very sincere.
And I need to tell you, friends, their arguments will be very compelling,
very convincing.
They're going to make all of those who take a stand for God's truth feel like
that we are outcasts and we're ignorant and bizarre, extremists, fanatics,
and you're going to feel that way.
That's why Jesus said, if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived.
We need a faith that will be built on the rock.
It says in John 16, 2,
Yea, the time is coming that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service.
They'll be sincere, just like Paul when he was out killing Christians.
Number 14, how did Peter describe those who have not learned the truth,
I'm sorry, how did Peter describe those who have learned the truth
but refused to follow it?
2 Peter 2, 21 and 22.
For it had been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness
than after they've known it to turn from the Holy Commandment.
Oh, friends, if you've heard the truth, don't turn from the Holy Commandment.
Amen?
You know, there's one commandment that God calls holy in particular?
It's the Sabbath day.
There's one that he says to remember.
It's the Sabbath day.
There's one commandment that he tells us is a sign and a token of his creative,
redemptive power.
It's the Sabbath day.
And yet there are people who say they love the Lord, they love the Bible,
that are turning away from the Holy Commandment, that holy day.
But it happened to them according to the true proverb,
the dog has returned to his own vomit again,
and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
The very graphic language Peter uses to describe this.
You know, friends, what profit is it if you have all the trappings of religion,
if you don't have the peace in your heart that comes from knowing you're doing God's will?
You know, I remember having a car one time, brand new car,
but a mouse moved into the car.
Matt moved into the ventilation system,
and then I accidentally cooked the mouse turning the heater on one day,
found out it wasn't a mouse, but he had set up a home,
and there was a whole family of mice in there.
They died and began to decompose in the remote recesses of my brand new car.
Remember one time I couldn't use my air conditioner, my ventilation system.
John and I were doing some meetings in Vallejo, California,
and he said, let's take your car.
So we hopped in my car, we're driving along that summer day.
He wondered why this new car, I'm not using my air conditioning.
So without asking my permission, he reached over and turned the fan on high,
pressed the air conditioner.
Oh, something terrible happened.
All of this mouse nest and mummified mouse and mouse droppings
began to blow out in the cab of the car,
and hurricane velocity with this overwhelming stench.
You should have seen the look on John's face.
From then on, when we went to visit, he said, let's take my car.
Here I have this brand new car, cruise control, power windows,
new paint, magnesium rims, and it stunk because there was something dead inside.
That's what sin will do to your lives, friend.
We need to allow the Lord to wash us from those things.
Number 15, does following Jesus involve some struggle and self-denial?
Absolutely.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Number 16, is it safe to procrastinate or postpone that decision?
Wait a second.
Oh, I'm sorry, I missed this scripture.
This is not in the lesson, but I wanted to show it to you.
Submit yourselves therefore to God,
resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Do we have to put up a battle?
Now, you want a pet snake, someone asked?
There you have one.
Some people want the devil to be their pet snake.
You got to resist the devil.
There's a struggle involved, and he'll flee from you.
Thank you.
Number 16, is it safe to procrastinate or postpone this decision
to follow Jesus?
Hebrews 4 verse 7, today, if you will, hear his voice,
and harden not your hearts.
Hebrews 2 verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation?
And 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2, behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
You may have heard that story about the parable
where the devil gathers all of his demons,
and they come before him, he says,
what effective plot to ensnare human beings?
And one demon jumped up and he said,
tell them the Bible's not true.
The devil said, we've done that, it's got limited success,
something better.
Another demon jumped up and said,
tell them there's no God.
The devil said, well, I've tried that too,
but there's so much evidence of God.
Another demon jumped up and said,
tell them God doesn't care about them, they've gone too far.
The devil said, that works too, but I need something great.
One by one they came, and then finally a demon
with a diabolical grin said, Lucifer, I've got it.
Tell them there's a God, tell them to go to church,
tell them that the Lord loves them,
tell them to give their hearts to the Lord tomorrow.
Don't do anything right now, they've got plenty of time.
And as the legend goes,
satanic smiles snarled a crown around the devil's face,
and he said, that's it?
And that is going to be the design that will fill
hell to bursting capacity, friends.
Procrastination.
Now, if God is speaking to you,
do not wait until the intensity of the Spirit
from this meeting disappears.
Make your decision now, friends. Amen?
Number 17.
What benefits come as a result of accepting
and following the truth?
Psalm 119, 165.
Great peace have they which love thy law,
and nothing will offend them.
Then in Job 8, verse 32,
and you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free.
And then 1 Peter, 1, 22.
Seeing you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit,
you'll be free, you'll have peace for all these things.
Finally, number 18.
What question did Jesus ask Peter three times?
John 21, 17.
He said unto them the third time,
O ye who love him, and son of Jonah,
lovest thou me?
What needs to be the mode of friends?
It needs to be because we love the Lord.
Story I like to share about a father who was sailing
through the warm Caribbean water
with his two teenage boys.
And one day he told them,
be careful not to play near the edge of the boat.
We're going through some shark-infested waters.
Well, the boys soon forgot
what their father had warned them.
They began to wrestle and chase each other around the boat.
And one began to lose his balance.
He grabbed his brother's T-shirt,
and they both fell off into the warm Caribbean water
as the boat slipped on by.
They were good swimmers.
They began to shout for their dad,
who came up below the deck,
and he saw that the boat was leaving his sons behind.
He dropped the sail,
and he encouraged them to swim back to the boat.
Well, they were out there blaming each other
and dunking each other.
And then the father noticed dark shadows
beneath the surface beginning to circle his sons.
And the father said, boys, I see sharks.
Swim quickly and calmly back to the boat.
Well, they looked around,
and they saw no dorsal fins cutting the water.
They'd watched too much TV.
One of the brothers said,
I haven't seen these sharks in days.
Dad's trying to scare us to teach us a lesson.
So they said, shark, shark, help.
And they began to mock their father.
They continued to splash and to wrestle
to show they weren't afraid.
And the sharks continued to close their circle.
The father understands the nature of sharks,
and he told those boys,
now, now, come to the boat.
They hesitated.
He threw them a life preserver.
They said, we don't need that, Dad.
We can get there on our own.
Finally, in a desperate effort to save the boys,
the father took a knife from the galley.
He cut his wrists.
He dove in the water, and he swam away from the boat.
The water began to boil and shurn red
off in this other direction.
And the question is,
now that the father's given his life
to create a means for the boys to get back to the boat,
he's shown his love, what more can he do?
If they choose to remain in the water, friends,
my plea to you is that you'll make a decision right now
to come to Jesus.
Will you do me a favor?
Reach for your envelopes.
On your envelope, please, write your name.
And I'd like to ask you a question.
If the Lord has spoken to your heart
and you feel this battle going on
between the devil and between the Lord,
and you know that Jesus is calling you,
you want the power to follow him,
put yes on your envelope.
Put yes on your envelope.
If you want to say, yes, I'm going to follow him all the way,
I'm not going to follow the crowd.
Please take your envelope and mark you at home as well.
Mark B on line number two.
If you've been praying and struggling about baptism
and now you'd like to make the decision to be baptized,
or put an R on line number two
if you're considering rebaptism.
You could also join God's church family by profession of faith.
We're encouraging you to make a decision now.
Please pray about that.
Make your decisions as John sings.
I feel quite sure if I did my best
I could maybe impress you
with tender words and harmonies
a clever rhyme or two
But if all I've done in the time of each year
is turn your eyes on me
then I feel that what I've been called to do
is someone else I want you to see
Will you love Jesus more
when we go our separate ways
When this moment is a memory
will you remember his face
will you look back and realize
you sensed his love more than you did before
I pray for nothing less
than for you to love Jesus more
We like to keep these memories
in frames of gold and silver
to reminisce a year from now
about this time we've shared
But above all else I hope you will come
to know the Father's love
When we see the Lord face to face
we will hear him say,
Well done, will you love Jesus more
when we go our separate ways
When this moment is just a memory
will you remember his face
will you look back and realize
we sensed his love more than we did before
I pray for nothing less
than for you to love Jesus more
Will you love Jesus more
when we go our separate ways
When this moment is a memory
will you remember God's face
will you look back and realize
we felt his love more than we did before
My prayer is nothing less
than for you to love Jesus more
I pray for nothing less
than for you to love Jesus more
Friends, will you make a decision now
to love Jesus more?
Some of you have been praying about this.
I want to pray for you this very minute.
Father in heaven, please give these folks
who are still in the valley of decision
the grace, the courage, not to follow the crowd,
but to love Jesus more, to seek first his kingdom
and his righteousness.
I pray they'll make that decision this very moment
with the power of your spirit.
In Christ's name I pray, Amen.
Don't forget to leave your envelopes at the door.
I want to thank everybody for all your help.
We're going to carry on with baptisms right now in New York,
and God bless you around the country right
and tell us how you've heard about us.
You can now pre-order the entire Millennium of Prophecy
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These first quality professional videotapes
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This epic series will bring peace and hope
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This exciting series includes 24 messages
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That phone number again is 888-459-5581.
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.