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Visiting the Real Twilight Zone Msg 1722 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The crisp voice of Rod Serling is familiar to most
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Speaker 1: of us, those well enunciated words, that amazing ability, with
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Speaker 1: such a fine script to carry us from the world
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Speaker 1: of the scene to the unseen, out of the realm
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Speaker 1: of the now, into the realm of tomorrow, another dimension
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Speaker 1: called the twilight zone. Oh, I've had more fun with
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Speaker 1: that this week than you'll ever believe. I stuck in
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Speaker 1: my pocket and I was in a department store looking
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Speaker 1: for ties, and I turned it on. Dear guy next
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Speaker 1: to me thought I'd moved into the realm of tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: He looked at me and said, is that you? And
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Speaker 2: I say it's not me.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't that make you want to just curl up with
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Speaker 1: your teddy bear and the fetal position and kind of
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Speaker 1: suck your life away in some corner. There's something amazing
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Speaker 1: about those haunting four notes. There's something so familiar and
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Speaker 1: yet so strange, so strange, strange, and perhaps a little
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Speaker 1: bit fearful, because that zone has a way of pushing
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Speaker 1: at us and telling us in a number of different
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Speaker 1: ways that this could happen. This may not be seen,
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Speaker 1: but it may be real Thanatologist Edwin Schneidmann found that
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Speaker 1: the first time he taught a course on death at Harvard,
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Speaker 1: two hundred undergraduates from Harvard and Ratcliffe showed up in
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Speaker 1: a classroom that could set only twenty Since then, colleges
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Speaker 1: everywhere have been offering courses on death and dying.
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Speaker 2: There seems to be a renewed.
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Speaker 1: Interest in the out of body experiences and the after
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Speaker 1: life visions. But even the medical profession is having to
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Speaker 1: sit up and take notice. J. Kirby Anderson, of an
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Speaker 1: associate with pro Ministries and a lecturer on college campuses.
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Speaker 2: Has said in his book Life, Death.
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Speaker 1: And Beyond, students are signing up in order to try
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Speaker 1: to register for my course later in the year. There's
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Speaker 1: a growing interest in the real twilight zone, that part
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Speaker 1: of us that wants to run, yet finds ourselves strangely
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Speaker 1: drawn back to reality, that part of us that will
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Speaker 1: allow a thirty minutes or an hour's entertainment on.
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Speaker 2: The television tube to hold us.
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Speaker 1: And yet when we shut it off, we want to
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Speaker 1: run from it, but we cannot run because it is real.
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Speaker 1: We are going to die. I am going to die
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Speaker 1: sounds ghoulish, but I want you to say that with me.
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Speaker 2: Here we go.
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Speaker 1: I am going to die. You know, for some people,
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Speaker 1: that's the first time in years they've let those words
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Speaker 1: pass their lips. Who hasn't chuckled about the comment regarding
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Speaker 1: the inevitability of taxes and death. You can't get away
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Speaker 1: from it. I like the way one wag put it.
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Speaker 1: Maybe death and taxes are inevitable, but death doesn't get
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Speaker 1: worse every time Congress meets good comment. Arnold Toynbee, the
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Speaker 1: philosopher and historian, has said, man alone has foreknowledge of
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Speaker 1: his coming death and possesses and possessing this foreknowledge, he
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Speaker 1: has a chance, if he chooses to take it. Of
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Speaker 1: pondering over the strange of his destiny, he has at
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Speaker 1: least a possibility of coping with it, since he is
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Speaker 1: endowed with the capacity to think about it, to face it,
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Speaker 1: and to deal with it in some way that is
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Speaker 1: worthy of human dignity. For the next few minutes, I
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Speaker 1: want you to do those things that Twynbee suggests.
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Speaker 2: I want you to think about it in advance.
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Speaker 1: I want you to face it. I want you to
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Speaker 1: stop denying it. I want you to deal with it.
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Speaker 1: You are going to die, and just because you will
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Speaker 1: no longer be seen on earth, is no reason to
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Speaker 1: believe that you will stop existing. On the contrary, that
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Speaker 1: which is invisible may be just as real as that
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Speaker 1: which is seen. And her word. You see, that's the
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Speaker 1: part that haunts us. Sometimes death is sudden, Sometimes it
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Speaker 1: is long and drawn out. Sometime it's beautiful and sweet
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Speaker 1: and comforting. Other times it is wrenching and hideous and
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Speaker 1: bloody and ugly. Sometimes it comes early. We call that premature.
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Speaker 1: Sometime in our doubting moments, we call it unfair. On
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Speaker 1: other occasions, death comes, it seems too late, and some
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Speaker 1: dear soul endures until the nineties and on beyond the
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Speaker 1: hundred mark in pain and sadness and loss of memory
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Speaker 1: and even loss of mind. But it comes, it's coming.
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Speaker 1: Getting around it without turning to these verses, listen to
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Speaker 1: them from various versions of the scriptures. Just just sit
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Speaker 1: and listen. Genesis three. You will have to work hard
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Speaker 1: and sweat to make the soil produce anything until you
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Speaker 1: go back to the soil from which you were formed.
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Speaker 1: You were made from soil, and you will become soil again.
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Speaker 1: Psalm eighty nine. Who can live and never die? How
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Speaker 1: can man keep himself from the grave? Psalm ninety seventy
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Speaker 1: years are given us, and some may even live to eighty.
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Speaker 1: But even the best of these years are often emptiness
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Speaker 1: and pain. Soon they disappear and we are gone.
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Speaker 2: Ecclesiastes three.
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Speaker 1: There is a right time for everything, a time to
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Speaker 1: be born, a time to die Ezekiel eighteen. The person
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Speaker 1: who sins will die Romans five. Sin came into the
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Speaker 1: world through one man, and his sin brought death with it.
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Speaker 1: As a result, death has spread to the whole human
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Speaker 1: race one Corinthians fifteen. All people die because of their
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Speaker 1: union with Adam Hebrews nine. Everyone must die once, and
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Speaker 1: after that be judged by God. James four. Yet you
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Speaker 1: do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: You are like a puff of smoke, visible for a
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Speaker 1: little while, and then dissolving into thin air. Revelation twenty.
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Speaker 1: I saw a great white throne, and the one who
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Speaker 1: sat upon it, from whose face earth and sky fled away,
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Speaker 1: and they found no place to hide.
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Speaker 2: I saw the dead.
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Speaker 1: Great and small, standing before God. From Genesis to Revelation,
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Speaker 1: the Bible is interwoven with reminders that we must die. Euripides,
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Speaker 1: the poet is right. Death is the debt we all
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Speaker 1: must pay. In fact, if it helps, you have an
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Speaker 1: appointment with death. You just haven't kept it yet. You
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Speaker 1: have an appointment. Peter Marshall loved to tell the story
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Speaker 1: that emerged as a legend out of Baghdad. Seemed as
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Speaker 1: though there was a There was a servant who came
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Speaker 1: to his master hurriedly one morning, trembling in great agitation.
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Speaker 1: He said, down in the marketplace, I was jostled by
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Speaker 1: a woman in the crowd, and when I turned around,
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Speaker 1: I saw it was Death who jostled me. She looked
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Speaker 1: at me, frowned and made a threatening gesture. Master, please
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Speaker 1: lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to
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Speaker 1: avoid her. I will ride to Samara, and there I
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Speaker 1: will hide and Death will not find me. The master
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Speaker 1: consented and gave him his horse, and the servant galloped
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Speaker 1: away into the distance. Later, the merchant himself went down
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Speaker 1: to the marketplace and saw Death standing in the crowd.
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Speaker 1: He went over to her and ask, why did you
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Speaker 1: frighten my servant this morning, and why did you make
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Speaker 1: that threatening gesture? That was not a threatening gesture. Death replied,
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Speaker 1: it was only a surprise. I was astonished to see
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Speaker 1: him here in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with
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Speaker 1: him tonight in Samara. Yeah, all of us have an
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Speaker 1: appointment with him in a Samara.
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Speaker 2: All of us.
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Speaker 1: But what happens? What happens when we keep the appointment?
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Speaker 1: What happens to me when my body is placed in
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Speaker 1: a grave and my dear wife's body is placed in
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Speaker 1: a grave. What happens to your loved one when you
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Speaker 1: say goodbye for the last time? What happens to some
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Speaker 1: individual whose death was destructive and dismembering, and perhaps died
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Speaker 1: in fire and even the remains couldn't be found.
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Speaker 2: What happens?
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Speaker 1: What effect does death have on one's being? Again, we
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Speaker 1: have the scriptures to thank for assistance here, and I
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Speaker 1: want you to move from the imaginary to the real,
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Speaker 1: though unseen.
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Speaker 2: Out of the.
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Speaker 1: Creative twilight zone that rested on some scriptwriter. I'd like
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Speaker 1: you to turn to the real twilight zone and see
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Speaker 1: your future. Tewod Corinthians, chapter five. You owe it to
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Speaker 1: yourself to turn You have an appointment with this someday.
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Speaker 1: You need to see how it's going to turn out. First,
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Speaker 1: let me talk to you who are Christians. I want
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Speaker 1: to talk to you who know that you have eternal
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Speaker 1: life with Jesus Christ forever. I want you to think
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Speaker 1: in terms of categories. I want you to think about
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Speaker 1: that which is seen as your body, and that which
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Speaker 1: is unseen, which is your inner person, your inner man,
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Speaker 1: your soul, and your spirit. Think in those categories. As
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Speaker 1: we read this analogy of the house which has been
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Speaker 1: torn down, it's a picture of the body when it
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Speaker 1: dies two Corinthians five. We know that if the earthly
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Speaker 1: tent which is our house is torn down, we have
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Speaker 1: a building from God, a house not made with hands,
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Speaker 1: eternal in the heavens. Now for a moment, study verse one.
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Speaker 1: God promises us that there will be some kind of
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Speaker 1: body existence, some kind of eternal house not made with hands,
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Speaker 1: that will fit us for eternity. And the point of
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Speaker 1: this passage is, as long as we are living in
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Speaker 1: this earthly body, he postpones the building of this eternal
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Speaker 1: house verse two. For indeed, in this house we've grown
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Speaker 1: longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. Just
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Speaker 1: before speaking this hour, I spoke with a friend of
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Speaker 1: mine who told me of his daughter, who, though not
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Speaker 1: old in years, is now marked by a disease that
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Speaker 1: you and I would call tragic. I spoke with another
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Speaker 1: friend just before speaking now, and I heard her tell
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Speaker 1: of her sister who has been on the mission field
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Speaker 1: for forty five years, and she's recently returned to the
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Speaker 1: United States and they have found in her abdomen cancer.
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Speaker 1: They'll find out tomorrow if it's the end or not.
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Speaker 1: Our body's grown. You discover through the frown of your
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Speaker 1: physician that the X ray doesn't look good. You find
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Speaker 1: that the prognosis is bleak, and you're surprised because you
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Speaker 1: didn't expect to be carrying on your body the marks
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Speaker 1: of disease and death. But you do, and you are,
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Speaker 1: and the body awaits being changed. And as long as
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Speaker 1: we are present in this groaning body, we are absent
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Speaker 1: from our Lord. That's the point of verse six, verse eight.
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Speaker 1: Look at chapter five, verse six. Therefore, being always of
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Speaker 1: good courage and knowing that while we are at home
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Speaker 1: in the body, we are absent from the Lord. Isn't
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Speaker 1: this interesting? I just thought of this. He refers to
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Speaker 1: us in the plural pronoun we, as being a part
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Speaker 1: of this body. But the we doesn't change when death comes.
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Speaker 1: The part of us that makes us who we are
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Speaker 1: still is very much in existence. And as long as
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Speaker 1: we are, we are in this earthly body, groaning and
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Speaker 1: hurting and diseased and dying, we are absent from the
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Speaker 1: presence of the Lord. So in order for there to
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Speaker 1: be a present time with the Lord, we must leave
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Speaker 1: this body. That's what happens at death. When death occurs,
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Speaker 1: the inner part of us is separated from the body.
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Speaker 1: The soul and spirit are removed instantaneously from the physical body,
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Speaker 1: which has dyed. The part of us that pomps blood
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Speaker 1: and breathes, the part of us that has muscle and
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Speaker 1: bone and tendons and and organs, that part of us dies.
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Speaker 1: But instantaneously the inner part of us, the personality, the
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Speaker 1: people we really are, the real, though invisible part of us,
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Speaker 1: is taken to the presence of the Lord. Look at
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Speaker 1: how he puts it verse eight. We are of good courage,
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Speaker 1: I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the
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Speaker 1: body and to be at home with the Lord. Now
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Speaker 1: this is good news, this is a wonderful message. You
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Speaker 1: and I, who know the Lord Jesus, carry about within
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Speaker 1: ourselves a soul, a spirit, and our spirit has responded
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Speaker 1: to the Lord Jesus, and we have invited him into
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Speaker 1: our lives, and he has taken up residence there. He
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Speaker 1: has given us a new nature. He has become a
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Speaker 1: part of our inner being. And though the outer being
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Speaker 1: hurts and groans and is dying, the inner being is
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Speaker 1: maturing and growing up and awaiting its home with the Lord.
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Speaker 1: In fact, look up in chapter six, Chapter four, verse sixteen,
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Speaker 1: he says, we do.
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Speaker 2: Not lose heart.
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Speaker 1: But though our outer man is decaying, it's another reference
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Speaker 1: to the body. Yet our inner man is being renewed
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Speaker 1: day by day for momentary.
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Speaker 2: Light affliction, which is.
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Speaker 1: Producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond
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Speaker 1: all comparison. While we look not at the things which
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Speaker 1: are seen, and we are so tempted to do that,
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Speaker 1: so preoccupied with the scene, we are to look rather
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Speaker 1: at the things which are not seen. For the things
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Speaker 1: which are seen are temporal, and may I add, dying
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Speaker 1: and groaning and hurting and full of pain. But the
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Speaker 1: things which are not seen are eternal. What am I saying,
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Speaker 1: I'm saying. At the time death occurs, there is a separation.
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Speaker 1: Death always means separation. There is a separation of the
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Speaker 1: soul and spirit from the body. The body, whether cremated
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Speaker 1: or embalmed, and placed in a casket or a crypt,
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Speaker 1: wherever we may place the body. Even if it is placed,
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Speaker 1: it is left on this earth, and the soul and
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Speaker 1: spirit are taken immediately directly to be with the Lord Jove.
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Speaker 1: That venerable old saint said, I know that my Redeemer lives,
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Speaker 1: and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
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Speaker 1: this earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this
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Speaker 1: body in my flesh, will I see God. In fact,
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Speaker 1: he goes on to say, my eyes will see him.
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Speaker 1: We will be in face to face touch with each other.
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Speaker 1: What did job have in mind? Well, he had in
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Speaker 1: mind the next phase of this process, the resurrection of
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Speaker 1: the decaying body. Go back a page and look at
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Speaker 1: chapter four, verse fourteen, same book, Chapter four, verse fourteen.
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Speaker 1: Look at the promise. Then I'll talk about the procedure,
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Speaker 1: knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise
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Speaker 1: us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.
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Speaker 1: Now Paul looks at the future. He says, there's going
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Speaker 1: to come a time when we will all be raised.
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Speaker 1: We looked at this last time. The Lord Jesus will
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Speaker 1: descend from heaven with.
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Speaker 2: A shout this is the procedure.
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Speaker 1: He will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
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Speaker 1: voice of the Archangel, with the trump of God, and
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Speaker 1: the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who
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Speaker 1: are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
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Speaker 1: them whom the dead. We will be caught up together
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Speaker 1: with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
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Speaker 1: the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Well,
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Speaker 1: I'm so excited, I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the
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Speaker 1: way it works. When death occurs, the soul and spirit
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Speaker 1: go immediately into the presence of the Lord. There is
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Speaker 1: no soul sleep, there is no reincarnation, there is no
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Speaker 1: re entry. It is appointed unto man once to die,
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Speaker 1: once to die, we will go instantly into the presence
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Speaker 1: of the Lord, and there we will await the resurrection
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Speaker 1: of the body whenever that occurs. When it does occur,
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Speaker 1: the soul and spirit will be joined to a glorified body,
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Speaker 1: which will no longer grown, no longer age, no longer
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Speaker 1: be marked by the limitations of this earth. It will
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Speaker 1: be fitted for eternity. And in this what is called
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Speaker 1: glorified state, we will spend eternity with our God.
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Speaker 2: We will be first.
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Speaker 1: Thessalonians fore tells us we will always be with our Lord.
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Speaker 1: That is good news. You will have no more tears,
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Speaker 1: no more death, no more sadness, no more crying, no
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Speaker 1: more enemy, no more satan, no more oppression. The old
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Speaker 1: things are all passed away, and an eternity will dawn
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Speaker 1: in which you will physically and personally enjoy.
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Speaker 2: The presence of God forever.
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Speaker 1: I think about that some time when sorrow seems to
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Speaker 1: sort of crush in on me. I never fail to
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Speaker 1: think of it. When I bury a saint. Precious in
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Speaker 1: the sight of the Lord is the death of his
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Speaker 1: godly ones. Every saint who goes home to be with
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Speaker 1: the Lord has this wonderful future in front of him
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Speaker 1: or her. Every burial is a reminder that this is
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Speaker 1: a temporary abode for this body, and this body will
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Speaker 1: be raised and will be chained. That's good news. There
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Speaker 1: was also bad news. Now, if I wrote my script,
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't include this, okay, But I am simply a
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Speaker 1: messenger boy for one who has given me the script,
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Speaker 1: and I am to deliver the message that we are
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Speaker 1: all to hear. Now we must think in another category.
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Speaker 1: We've considered the believer who dies, the body is placed
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Speaker 1: in the grave, awaiting the resurrection, when it will be
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Speaker 1: joined with its spirit, and that wonderful union will be
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Speaker 1: in a glorified state forever with the Lord. What about
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Speaker 1: the non believer, Let's look at several passages Matthew, Chapter
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Speaker 1: twenty five. Matthew twenty five talks about the destiny of
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Speaker 1: the unbeliever. By the way, did you know the Bible
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Speaker 1: says much more about hell than it does about heaven?
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Speaker 2: Did you know that we know.
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Speaker 1: Many more things about the eternal abode and even the
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Speaker 1: temporary abode of the lost, than we do about the
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Speaker 1: temporary and eternal abode of the saved. We can develop
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Speaker 1: a rather clear theology of hell, though when we come
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Speaker 1: to the subject of heaven, much of it is left
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Speaker 1: to one's imagination and interpretive creative thought. But there's no
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Speaker 1: guess work when it comes to the destiny of the damned. Matthew,
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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five, Verse thirty one. Jesus is speaking. When
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Speaker 1: the Son of Man comes in his glory and all
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Speaker 1: the angels with him, then he will sit on his
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Speaker 1: glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before him,
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Speaker 1: and he will separate them from one another, as the
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Speaker 1: shepherd separates the sheep from the goats verse forty one.
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Speaker 1: Then he will say to those on his left, depart
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Speaker 1: from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has
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Speaker 1: been prepared for the devil and his angels. That is
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Speaker 1: the most interesting statement. Tragic but interesting. You will observe
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Speaker 1: the reference to eternal fire means just what it says.
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Speaker 1: Even the universalist John Robinson had to admit it is
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Speaker 1: futile to attempt to prove Christ taught no belief in
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Speaker 1: heaven or eternal punishment. Robinson wrote a book called but
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Speaker 1: that I Can't Believe, and in it he included that statement,
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Speaker 1: It's futile to attempt to prove Christ taught no belief
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Speaker 1: in hell or eternal punishment. When the unbelieving person dies again,
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Speaker 1: the body, as with the believer, begins to decay. It
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Speaker 1: is either cremated or it's placed in a grave, or
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Speaker 1: perhaps in death it was blown apart. Whatever, the condition
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Speaker 1: of the body is the same as with the believer.
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Speaker 1: It begins to deteriorate and decompose. However, the soul and
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Speaker 1: spirit of the unsaved, rather than going into paradise, the
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Speaker 1: place of the presence of God called in Luke sixteen
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Speaker 1: Abraham's bosom. The spirit of the unsaved goes to Gahenna
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Speaker 1: called Hadi in the New Testament, or often Hell. It
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Speaker 1: is a place of temporary conscious pain. I say temporary
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Speaker 1: because it too awaits final resurrection of the body. Now,
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Speaker 1: before I go any further, let me say that many
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Speaker 1: who hear such a thing respond quickly by saying, I
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Speaker 1: need to get more religious. I need to go to
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Speaker 1: church more. I need to carry a Bible, I need
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Speaker 1: to have my good works outweigh my bad. I got
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Speaker 1: to deal with this guilt that I'm living with. So
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Speaker 1: maybe if I get religion, I'll find an answer to
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Speaker 1: this eternity that I'm afraid of. If you go back
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Speaker 1: a couple of chapters to chapter twenty three, you'll meet
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Speaker 1: the most religious people who ever lived, called scribes and
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Speaker 1: Pharisees Matthew twenty three, verse thirty three, And you'll read
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Speaker 1: some surprizing words. If you think religion is going to
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Speaker 1: help you, to these religious people who were living in
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Speaker 1: hypocrisy and only words about their faith, no real faith,
27:14
Speaker 1: Jesus said, you serpents, you brood of vipers. How shall
27:19
Speaker 1: you escape the sentence of hell. No religion doesn't relieve
27:25
Speaker 1: you from the future of hell. Going to church, studying
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Speaker 1: the Bible, being baptized, being christened, paying your bills, living
27:35
Speaker 1: a good life, obeying the law will in no way
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Speaker 1: ingratiate you before an eternal God who requires of us righteousness,
27:46
Speaker 1: not human goodness. In fact, he demands perfect righteousness, and
27:55
Speaker 1: not even religious people can provide that kind of righteousness.
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Speaker 1: Righteousness for eternal life comes in Jesus.
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Speaker 2: Christ, and only there. Christ spoke of.
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Speaker 1: Another excuse in Mark chapter nine, verse forty three. You'll
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Speaker 1: turn from Matthew to the next book. You'll see Jesus' words.
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Speaker 1: Many people will excuse themselves by saying, I'm only human.
28:30
Speaker 1: I've got these eyes that lust, I've got these hands
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Speaker 1: that commit wrong. I have these feet that move me
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Speaker 1: to places that are ungodly.
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Speaker 2: I walk in darkness, not in light.
28:43
Speaker 1: But I'm a victim of my own humanity, and being
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Speaker 1: a person of this kind of condition, I can't help myself.
28:53
Speaker 1: Look at Jesus words in Mark nine, verse forty three.
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Speaker 1: If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.
29:00
Speaker 1: It is better for you to enter life crippled than
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Speaker 1: having your two hands to go into Hell into the
29:05
Speaker 1: unquenchable fire verse forty five. If your foot causes you
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Speaker 1: to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you
29:13
Speaker 1: to enter life lame than having your two feet to
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Speaker 1: be cast into hell. Verse forty seven. Doesn't get any better.
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Speaker 1: If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out.
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Speaker 1: It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of
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Speaker 1: God with one eye than having two eyes to be
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Speaker 1: cast into hell. Now there are some times you take
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Speaker 1: the Bible literally. There are some times you understand it's symbolism.
29:38
Speaker 1: Jesus isn't saying that we're to enter life with no hands,
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Speaker 1: no feet, and no eyes. The point is symbolism. Don't
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Speaker 1: misunderstand he's saying. For you to hide behind a hand,
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Speaker 1: or an eye or a foot that disobeys is foolish.
29:56
Speaker 1: You prepare yourself by preparing your heart. You prepare yoursel
30:00
Speaker 1: else by placing your whole self at the disposal of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, who cleanses hands, eyes, heart, feet, lives. But
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Speaker 1: it's worth noting that he refers once twice three times
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Speaker 1: in a row to hell verse forty eight, where the
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Speaker 1: worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
30:27
Speaker 1: Look again at John chapter five. Please turn John five,
30:34
Speaker 1: verse twenty five. Jesus again is speaking truly. Truly, I
30:45
Speaker 1: say to you, an hour is coming, and now is
30:50
Speaker 1: when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
30:52
Speaker 1: of God, and those who hear.
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Speaker 2: Shall live.
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Speaker 1: Just as the Father has life in himself, even so
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Speaker 1: he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
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Speaker 1: And the Father gave the Son authority to execute judgment
31:11
Speaker 1: because he is the son of man. Do not marvel
31:14
Speaker 1: at this, says Jesus. An hour is coming, in which
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Speaker 1: all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice
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Speaker 1: and shall come forth, referring to the life of faith,
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Speaker 1: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life,
31:33
Speaker 1: those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
31:42
Speaker 1: Now there is no getting around it, unless you wish
31:45
Speaker 1: to do an enormous amount of semantic footwork, unless you
31:50
Speaker 1: have a wonderful way of cutting out of scripture, certain
31:54
Speaker 1: verses that have the same kind of reliability as those
31:58
Speaker 1: you would prefer to leave in your life, left with
32:00
Speaker 1: facts that you have to come to terms with. And
32:07
Speaker 1: I would suggest that we not joke about hell. It
32:11
Speaker 1: isn't a laughing matter. I wrestled a little with using
32:17
Speaker 1: this illustration, but I'm going to do so. These are
32:21
Speaker 1: not my words. I'm reading from a book Whatever Happened
32:24
Speaker 1: to Hell? By John Brawn.
32:29
Speaker 2: Just listen.
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Speaker 1: It is not unlikely that within the last twenty four
32:33
Speaker 1: hours you have heard someone say what the hell are
32:36
Speaker 1: you doing? Or as sure as hell will? Or who
32:42
Speaker 1: in the hell do you think you are? That word
32:46
Speaker 1: hell has become a conversational byword in our day. Good
32:52
Speaker 1: friends dare to say playfully to one another, oh, go
32:55
Speaker 1: to Hell. They surely don't mean go to the place
33:00
Speaker 1: of punishment for the wicked after death, though, that is
33:05
Speaker 1: how the dictionary defines the word hell.
33:10
Speaker 2: But why use the word hell?
33:12
Speaker 1: He has a good point, Keep listening. Why use the
33:16
Speaker 1: word hell? Why not instead what the jail are you doing?
33:21
Speaker 1: Or as sure as school will? And why not say oh,
33:26
Speaker 1: go to Chicago? Simply because now listen, simply because jail,
33:33
Speaker 1: school and Chicago, even for the enemies of each, have
33:36
Speaker 1: no real sting. They have only the flavor of vanilla
33:42
Speaker 1: at a time when chocolate or peppermint is needed. When
33:46
Speaker 1: it comes right down to it, in the English language,
33:50
Speaker 1: Hell is the strongest expletive available that carries the idea
33:58
Speaker 1: of ultimate deprivation, torment, punishment, suffering, and loss. Whether or
34:04
Speaker 1: not the user of the term hell believes in it
34:08
Speaker 1: as an actual literal place is of little or no consequence.
34:12
Speaker 1: There is an inbuilt, inarticulated, yet understood bite in the.
34:20
Speaker 2: Very word itself.
34:22
Speaker 1: So, if Hell really is the place for eternal punishment
34:25
Speaker 1: of the wicked after death, how come at you so lightly?
34:28
Speaker 1: Millions and millions of times each day? Why is there
34:33
Speaker 1: such an apparent lack of seriousness about the word. Why
34:37
Speaker 1: do people pretend the place doesn't exist? He concludes, When
34:43
Speaker 1: is the last time you heard a serious sermon on
34:45
Speaker 1: the subject or read an article of note dealing with
34:50
Speaker 1: judgment and eternal punishment? Even the evangelical crowd has by
34:57
Speaker 1: and large avoided the topic, opting for a more positive approach.
35:03
Speaker 1: Hell has come on hard times. You realize I would
35:10
Speaker 1: not be a true servant of the Father, as an
35:12
Speaker 1: ambassador of his and a spokesman for the Lord if
35:15
Speaker 1: I failed to tell you as much about Hell as
35:18
Speaker 1: I tell you about Heaven. You realize that you would
35:22
Speaker 1: be ill informed regarding your future.
35:26
Speaker 2: If you picked and chose only those.
35:28
Speaker 1: Passages regarding heaven and forgiveness and security and hope and
35:33
Speaker 1: a definition and life with Christ forever. For it isn't
35:39
Speaker 1: for everyone, it isn't even for most. As a matter
35:51
Speaker 1: of fact, those who will spend eternity in hell have
35:56
Speaker 1: always been in the majority. And if you will allow
36:04
Speaker 1: me to be almost cranky for a moment, I suggest
36:08
Speaker 1: we stop using the term lightly. I suggest you reserve
36:15
Speaker 1: the word hell for its singular purpose. It is the
36:20
Speaker 1: destiny of the lost, and it is the most hideous
36:26
Speaker 1: scene the mind can imagine, and it isn't imaginary. The
36:35
Speaker 1: ultimate scene is in Revelation chapter twenty, the last five verses. Again,
36:45
Speaker 1: you owe it to yourself to look. You may not
36:50
Speaker 1: like what you see, but you will read the truth
36:53
Speaker 1: when you read Revelation twenty eleven to fifteen. Let's understand
37:03
Speaker 1: where we are before we read this awful scene. When
37:08
Speaker 1: the believer dies, the body goes into the grave, the
37:11
Speaker 1: soul goes immediately to be with the Lord Jesus, awaiting
37:14
Speaker 1: resurrection when they're joined and forever with the Lord. A
37:18
Speaker 1: lot of other details in the scriptures, but they're not
37:21
Speaker 1: pertinent to this subject. At this moment, when the unbeliever dies,
37:24
Speaker 1: the body goes to the grave, and the soul, the
37:27
Speaker 1: spirit of that body goes into hades or hell, where
37:32
Speaker 1: it is kept in conscious torment, as we shall see
37:36
Speaker 1: in my next message, is kept in constant torment awaiting
37:40
Speaker 1: its resurrection, that is the resurrection of its body. The
37:45
Speaker 1: body and spirit will be resurrected at this last judgment,
37:49
Speaker 1: and we're going to read about it now. It's the
37:52
Speaker 1: judgment for the Lost Revelation twenty eleven. I saw a
37:57
Speaker 1: great white throne, and him who set upon it, from
38:00
Speaker 1: whose presence Earth and heaven fled away, and no place
38:06
Speaker 1: was found for them. We're looking at a scene that
38:09
Speaker 1: is in the spaces. There is no longer any Earth.
38:12
Speaker 1: It's been burned up. There is no longer the atmospheric
38:15
Speaker 1: heavens as we know it, as we know of them
38:19
Speaker 1: in space. Is this incredible scene yet future, not Twilight
38:25
Speaker 1: Zone imagination, but reality, the ultimate real Twilight Zone Verse twelve.
38:34
Speaker 2: I saw the dead.
38:36
Speaker 1: This is the lost, the great and the small standing
38:40
Speaker 1: before the throne books were opened. Another book was opened,
38:45
Speaker 1: which is the Book of Life, and the dead were
38:49
Speaker 1: judged from the things which were written in the books.
38:52
Speaker 1: According to their deeds, no one was missed. The sea
38:58
Speaker 1: gave up the dead which were in it, Death and Hades.
39:02
Speaker 1: Remember I said that was the temporary location of the
39:05
Speaker 1: spirits of the lost. Gave up the dead which were
39:10
Speaker 1: in them. So both bodies and spirits are given up
39:13
Speaker 1: to this judgment, and they were judged, every one of
39:17
Speaker 1: them according to their deeds. Death and Hades were thrown
39:23
Speaker 1: into the lake of fire. This is the second death,
39:27
Speaker 1: the lake of fire. It really is not technically true
39:31
Speaker 1: to say the eternal abode of the lost is hell.
39:35
Speaker 1: The eternal abode of the lost is the lake of fire,
39:39
Speaker 1: prepared originally for the devil and his angels. If anyone's
39:44
Speaker 1: name was not found written in the Book of Life,
39:47
Speaker 1: he was thrown into the lake of fire. Two very
39:57
Speaker 1: important facts that you must face. The first is the
40:04
Speaker 1: only time to prepare for then is now. Second, there
40:12
Speaker 1: is no chance of change after death. I've not been
40:23
Speaker 1: speaking of some playful, imaginary, fun kind of entertaining scene.
40:28
Speaker 1: I've been talking about truth and reality. I do not
40:33
Speaker 1: care how you were raised. I do not care what
40:36
Speaker 1: you have been taught. I do not care how I
40:38
Speaker 1: have been raised or what I have been taught, but
40:42
Speaker 1: according to an intelligent and careful study of the passages
40:46
Speaker 1: of scriptures, I tell you on the authority of the
40:49
Speaker 1: Word of God, this is the truth, and it's gotten
40:56
Speaker 1: hold of me. It's pushing at me. It causes me
41:05
Speaker 1: increasing an increasing sense of uneasiness when I am with
41:09
Speaker 1: those without Christ, an urgency, a drive, I hope, not
41:16
Speaker 1: maddening or insane, but a growing sense of intensity to
41:21
Speaker 1: tell them, even if it takes a little recording in
41:25
Speaker 1: my pocket, or even if it takes a few casual
41:29
Speaker 1: moments with a neighbor, I am responsible to tell the
41:34
Speaker 1: lost of how to be saved. The worst thing for
41:40
Speaker 1: you is to sit in a place where the Gospel
41:43
Speaker 1: is preached faithfully, and to think that sitting and hearing
41:47
Speaker 1: means you're safe.
41:51
Speaker 2: Sitting and hearing simply means.
41:52
Speaker 1: You're responsible, and you have no possible chance of deciding
42:01
Speaker 1: once you have died.
42:07
Speaker 2: What is the issue?
42:09
Speaker 1: I turned finally to First John, chapter five, verses ten
42:13
Speaker 1: to thirteen, some of my favorite verses on the good
42:17
Speaker 1: News of Jesus Christ. Let's look at them, and we're
42:21
Speaker 1: through one John five, verse ten. This is so simple,
42:31
Speaker 1: It is so easy to grasp if you will only
42:35
Speaker 1: believe it. The one who believes in the Son of
42:38
Speaker 1: God has the witness in himself. The one who does
42:42
Speaker 1: not believe God has made him a liar because he
42:48
Speaker 1: has not believed in the witness that God has born
42:50
Speaker 1: concerning his Son. Now the witness is this, that God
42:55
Speaker 1: has given us eternal life, and this life is in
42:58
Speaker 1: his Son. I love this. He who has the Son
43:05
Speaker 1: has the life. He who does not have the Son
43:09
Speaker 1: of God does not have the life. These things I
43:15
Speaker 1: have written to you who believe in the name of
43:19
Speaker 1: the Son of God, in order that you may hope, think, desire,
43:29
Speaker 1: k n W. In order that you may know that
43:35
Speaker 1: you have eternal life.
43:37
Speaker 2: Isn't that great?
43:39
Speaker 1: Everybody has eternal life. You have a soul and it's eternal.
43:46
Speaker 1: Every person you meet is eternal. What's concerning you is
43:52
Speaker 1: not eternal life. It's where you're spending it. If the
43:59
Speaker 1: most exces righting moment of your life is behind you,
44:01
Speaker 1: you're lost. If the most exciting moment is in front
44:07
Speaker 1: of you, you're saved. Three men, close friends who loved
44:13
Speaker 1: to fish and hunt together most of their lives, had
44:16
Speaker 1: reached the epical moment of their hunting experience. They were
44:20
Speaker 1: in northern India about to be involved in a great hunt,
44:26
Speaker 1: and they were huddled around a fire as it was
44:30
Speaker 1: smoldering early in the morning, and.
44:35
Speaker 2: Not known by two of the three.
44:37
Speaker 1: The older of the three, the oldest gentleman, had just
44:39
Speaker 1: come to know Christ and had just become aware of
44:44
Speaker 1: eternal life with God. He lived now every moment awaiting
44:49
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus return and his departure from this earth,
44:54
Speaker 1: and his joining with other believers to be forever with
44:58
Speaker 1: the Lord. The subject came up, what was your most
45:02
Speaker 1: exciting adventure? He sat very still and listened. One told
45:08
Speaker 1: of a tiger hunt where with one shell left in
45:11
Speaker 1: the chamber, this cat was jumping toward him, and he
45:14
Speaker 1: shot and picked him off, and he dropped at his feet. Mmm. Boy,
45:17
Speaker 1: that must have been exciting. The second one told of
45:19
Speaker 1: a brown bear hunt in Alaska, and a similar story.
45:23
Speaker 1: Had two rounds left, and it took both of them,
45:26
Speaker 1: but right at his.
45:27
Speaker 2: Feet he fell. And he showed a picture of this bear.
45:29
Speaker 1: That's not the bear, but the rug has been made
45:32
Speaker 1: out of the bear that now phills his dead back home,
45:37
Speaker 1: The older gentleman said quiet. They looked at him. How
45:42
Speaker 1: about you, You said me, my most adventures an exciting
45:49
Speaker 1: moment will happen just seconds after I die. If you're
46:00
Speaker 1: the most exciting moment is behind.
46:02
Speaker 2: You, you're lost.
46:09
Speaker 1: If your most adventurous and exciting moment is yet to happen,
46:14
Speaker 1: We're going up together.
46:21
Speaker 2: The crisp voice of Rod Serling is no longer heard.
46:29
Speaker 1: He's dead. And every time I hear the haunting melody
46:37
Speaker 1: of the Twilight Zone, I think, I wonder where Rod
46:44
Speaker 1: Serling is today. I wonder, I wonder. I'd like us
47:05
Speaker 1: to bow in a moment of silence. Please. You have
47:13
Speaker 1: given me the courtesy of a few moments to listen.
47:16
Speaker 1: I need to give you the courtesy of a few
47:19
Speaker 1: moments to think. Now, you think he who believes in
47:30
Speaker 1: the Sun has everlasting life. He who does not believe
47:36
Speaker 1: in Christ does not have the life. These are written
47:42
Speaker 1: that you may know that you have eternal life, forgiveness, hope,
47:53
Speaker 1: and heaven. Wouldn't you like to come to know Christ
48:00
Speaker 1: at this moment? Wouldn't you like to firm up that decision?
48:06
Speaker 1: Doesn't that make sense? Then do it? If I could
48:14
Speaker 1: make you do it, I'd go up and down these
48:16
Speaker 1: aisles and up and down the pews, and walk among
48:19
Speaker 1: the cars, and walk among the street and throw switches
48:22
Speaker 1: and push buttons and make people believe. But I can't
48:26
Speaker 1: do that. But at this moment, if you will turn
48:33
Speaker 1: your life over to Jesus Christ, you decide you're moving
48:38
Speaker 1: toward him and not from him. You decide, at this
48:41
Speaker 1: moment in your life, he's becoming your savior because of
48:46
Speaker 1: his finished work on the cross and his resurrection from
48:52
Speaker 1: the dead. You believe. Now, would you lift your hand up?
48:55
Speaker 1: You've just come to know Christ today you want to
48:59
Speaker 1: make it known. Yes, I see that. God bless you.
49:02
Speaker 1: Anyone else, Yes, anyone else? This is the day I'm
49:09
Speaker 1: trusting in Jesus Christ as my savior. Yes, anyone else, Yes,
49:19
Speaker 1: I see. If today has struck a note of interest
49:25
Speaker 1: and decision in your life, I invite you to meet
49:28
Speaker 1: with our counselors in the prayer room, where folk will
49:33
Speaker 1: talk intelligently and graciously with you. They'll pray with you,
49:37
Speaker 1: give you some materials, and spend time answering your questions.
49:43
Speaker 1: You will stay only as long as you wish. No
49:45
Speaker 1: one will manipulate you or force you to sign something.
49:49
Speaker 1: This is simply between you and the Lord Jesus, and
49:53
Speaker 1: today you want to have it make sense. Maybe you'd
49:59
Speaker 1: like to have someone just to pray with you. You
50:02
Speaker 1: may have a lost friend that you need help in
50:04
Speaker 1: knowing how to reach. Take time now to do that.
50:14
Speaker 2: Father.
50:14
Speaker 1: There's a great comfort in knowing that we have told
50:17
Speaker 1: the truth, and we have heard the truth, not that
50:20
Speaker 1: we can explain it all, not that we can answer
50:23
Speaker 1: even our own questions about it, but simply that we
50:25
Speaker 1: have let your words speak for itself. The truth has
50:29
Speaker 1: been declared. Now our need is to respond to it correctly.
50:37
Speaker 1: Thank you for these moments when we have been able
50:39
Speaker 1: to give our attention to something as important as this
50:45
Speaker 1: for the believer, it has represented tremendous encouragement and hope
50:50
Speaker 1: for ourselves as well as our loved ones in Christ
50:53
Speaker 1: who died as believers. Give us a sense of urgency
50:59
Speaker 1: and in tensity as we represent your son on this
51:03
Speaker 1: earth for the brief time we have left. How we
51:08
Speaker 1: look forward to that glorious coming and that reunion with
51:12
Speaker 1: Him who loved us and gave himself for us. It
51:18
Speaker 1: is in his strong name that we pray, and all
51:26
Speaker 1: God's people said Amen.
51:31
Speaker 3: The preceding message Visiting the Real Twilight Zone was copyrighted
51:36
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty five, nineteen eighty seven, two thousand and five,
51:40
Speaker 3: twenty eleven, and twenty twenty two, and the sound recording
51:45
Speaker 3: was copyrighted in twenty twenty two by Charles Arsuindahl, Inc.
51:50
Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
51:54
Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.