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It Is Written Canada

The Jerusalem Factor

Chris Holland

A Society in Turmoil

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written sharing messages of hope around the world.

2 all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, all on a sesame seed bun.

Now whatever your thoughts on the nutritional value of a Big Mac may be, a study was done a few years ago called the Big Mac and the 10 Commandments.

Now I won't ask how many of you have eaten a Big Mac in the last week, but that little jingle has stuck in the mind of millions for many years.

You know, the sad thing is that I haven't eaten a Big Mac in a long, long time.

Yet I'm able to think of those ingredients with relative ease.

The survey that they took shows that more people can name the 7 ingredients in a McDonald's Big Mac than the 10 Commandments.

They surveyed a thousand people and it showed that 80% of the people could name the sandwich's primary ingredient of 2 all-beef patties.

But less than 60% of people recalled the commandment, Thou shall not kill.

They found 45% could recall the commandment, Honor your father and mother, while 76% of the people remembered the Big Mac ingredient, lettuce.

All of those ingredients are more than the people who could recall, honor your father and mother is a commandment.

It is remarkable that in this day and age more people know that there are pickles on a Big Mac, then the commandment, thou shalt not kill." What is happening in our society?

A society where more people know that a sesame seed bun is part of the ingredients of a sandwich from the Golden Arches, then the commandment, honor your father and mother.

You see, something, something is going on in our society.

Lines are being blurred and moral standards which were once rock solid are seemingly non-existent.

It seems that our society has turned its back on God's moral standards.

If we look into the world of entertainment, we find competing values.

In fact, the average 18-year-old, and I want this to sink in, the average 18-year-old has witnessed over 200, 000 violent acts on television and in the movies.

What does that do to a person's mindset when they witness violent acts and murders of those magnitudes.

And what we're seeing and that the research reveals is the biblical reality that by beholding, we become changed.

After you witness violent act after violent act, murder after murder, it becomes much easier to pull the trigger.

I'll never forget when I was in high school, when I received news in my 11th grade year that 1 of my classmates had been sitting in the back of a car and someone approached their car.

Not sure exactly what happened, but his hat was probably turned just the wrong way.

His shirt happened to be the wrong color.

His pants happened to be rolled up on 1 side and that day it was the wrong side and that classmate of mine pulled out a gun and killed that young man.

Later he went to trial and was found guilty and was sentenced to 65 years in prison.

When you think about it, this is what's happening in society.

It's becoming easier to pull the trigger, because if we're pulling the trigger in video games, how much easier is it?

If we're playing video games that are focused with 1 primary goal, and that is, how many people can you kill?

Well, it becomes much easier to do it in real life.

Children who identify with aggressive TV characters and perceive the violence to be realistic are more at risk for later aggression in their life, according to the American Psychological Association.

In 2013, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey found this among high school students.

During the past 30 days, 35% of high school students have drank alcohol.

Now I would remind you, in high school, you're under the age of 18.

21% involved themselves in some type of binge drinking.

22% rode in the car with someone who had been drinking alcohol.

You see, it's starting younger and younger and younger.

And in Nunavut, we are doing a special project to bring Bibles and Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people.

And we're also working on building community centers where churches can meet and be used on a daily basis.

However, while I was there, I met a young person.

Young person, 8 years old, young people, 9 years old.

And this young man who was 8 years old, the first question he asked me, the first question he asked a friend of mine was this.

Not what's your name, not where are you from, The first question he asked is, do you use drugs?

Friends, why did he ask me that question?

Because he lived in a home where his parents were doing drugs.

Drugs that were obtained from outside workers coming in, who were bringing, bringing them when they came to work.

Then the children could not eat and then the children would steal their parents' drugs.

So you have eight-year-olds, this eight-year-old in particular, who was smoking marijuana on a regular basis.

You see it's becoming younger and younger.

One-third of teenagers report that they have used some type of illicit drug at some point in their lives.

In fact, according to some statistics, 57% of all men, 54% of all women, report that they have been involved in some type of marital infidelity.

When asked the question, would you have an affair if you never got caught, 74% of men and 68% of women said they would have that affair.

When I was studying in my master's program, I had to preach during a class on the seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery.

And as I was in that preaching class and preparing to preach, I wanted to make this class and this sermon particularly relevant because I would be preaching to preachers.

So I started doing research and the research indicates that anywhere between 45 and 55 percent of all pastors have some form of pornographic material on their computers.

Now, I want to be clear, I'm not trying to denigrate pastors, but it is to demonstrate the challenge we are facing in the eroding moral situation in this society.

You see, Proverbs 28, 26 gives this little snippet, but it's a powerful snippet.

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.

Hosea, in fact, says this, They sow the wind, they reap the whirlwind.

But today, we will look because this is not what God intended.

You see, the Jerusalem factor is all about turning our eyes upward toward heaven and looking to the new Jerusalem, to that tabernacle made by God and not by man and seeking to find answers for the ever-quickening moral decay in our society.

Over 3, 000 years ago, God wrote some things in stone that if applied to the society of Canada, to the society of North America, in fact to the society all around the world, that would make a marked difference in what is happening today.

You see, the book of Psalms, in Psalm 111, verses 7 and 9, give us clear counsel when it says these words, "...the works of His hand are verity and justice.

They stand fast Forever and ever." How long did it say?

God’s Answer to Turmoil

♪♪ Joey Prusak was a 19-year-old working at Dairy Queen to make a few extra dollars.

That day, work seemed like any other day.

The blind man made his order and he was going to pay.

As he drew his monies out of his pants pocket, A $20 bill fell on the ground.

You pull something out and other things fall to the floor.

Because the man was blind, he didn't notice that he had dropped that $20 bill.

The woman standing behind the blind man picked up the $20 bill and placed it in her purse.

Joey was astonished by this action and asked her to return the money, But she refused.

And she actually left without returning the $20 bill to the blind man.

Joey Prusak was so astonished, yet he was moved in his heart.

This 19-year-old Joey Prusak couldn't stand for such an injustice.

He took a $20 bill out of his own pocket and gave it to the blind man.

It is a true story that speaks volumes of the sad state of our society, yet it gives us a glimpse of something more.

Now, I don't know if Joey Prusak is a Christian or not, but he demonstrated through that action and through that act of kindness the love of Jesus Christ.

You know the law of God actually exists out of love.

God's law, the 10 Commandments, exists because God loves us.

Yet His law also defines our love response to Him.

In John 14, 15, the words of Jesus Himself, What does Jesus say?

Now, I need to be very clear so I'm not misunderstood.

We don't obey to be saved because obedience, the Bible tells us, will not save us.

Jesus will save us and His righteousness.

But God calls upon us as we enter into a relationship with Him and because we love Him that our love response to Him would be to be obedient to His instructions, His commandments.

If 1 John chapter 2 goes on to expand on this idea of a love response to Jesus' love to us.

Now by this we know that we know him if we keep His commandments.

He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Now while that may sound a bit harsh, here is the fundamental reality that we must understand.

Grace and God's law are not contradictory ideas.

According to Paul, in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20, it says this, by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Now I want you to picture it in your mind.

When we look into the law, what do we see?

When we look into a mirror, what do we see?

When we look into God's law, it tells us our imperfections.

Now, most of us, on a regular basis, visit a mirror.

And when you come to the mirror and you notice, I have a blemish on my face, my hair is receding, or whatever the mirror may tell you, and sometimes that may be depressing.

When you look into the mirror and you notice that your hair is a little bit of a mess, Here's the question, don't miss it.

Does the mirror fix the blemish on your face?

You see, the mirror simply tells you that your hair needs fixing.

When you're looking in the mirror, if you're standing in front of the mirror and you're far away How helpful is that mirror usually?

Not very helpful So I want you to imagine for a moment that I put a mirror some 25 meters away and I looked at myself in the mirror from that distance You know when you look at a mirror from 25 meters away, everything looks okay.

But you see, as we get closer to the mirror, what happens?

I don't have as much hair as I did when I was 18.

Maybe I've had too many visits to Tim Hortons this past month.

You see, the closer we are to God's law, the closer we are to God.

In fact, Paul, to the Romans, said this in Romans 7-7, I would have not known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, You shall not covet.

The law defines sin for us, so then there is no floating definition of sin.

Why is it then, I might ask, that there are many Christians then who say that the law is done away with, that we are under grace and not the law?

And does it really need to be 1 or the other?

Now I want you to follow the logic because the logic is actually biblical logic.

You see, because sin cannot be defined without God's law.

And before we stand up and clap and cheer and say, oh there's no sin, there's a bigger problem.

Because if there's no sin, the Bible says there is no grace.

Now some of you are saying, how's that possible?

But remember, the book of Romans says where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.

You see, if we don't know that there's sin, then there is no need for grace.

And by the way, if there is no grace, then there is no cross.

And if there is no cross, there is no salvation.

And if there is no salvation, there is no Savior.

And my dear friends, that would be very bad news.

But the Bible says there's good news and this is the good news.

There is a Savior and that Savior came to bring salvation and that Savior who brought salvation brought grace and that same Savior who brought salvation and brought grace is the 1 who wrote the law in stones that were given to Moses, but he's also the 1 who authored the law eons and ages in the past to govern the universe.

And He's the 1 that can save us from our sin.

Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 define clearly what is grace.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." You see, God's grace is unmerited.

God’s Remedy for Stress- Part 1

There's a story told by the great literary giant of Russia, Leo Tolstoy.

He tells the story of a man by the name of Pahom.

Pahom lived in a little village and there in that village he had a little farm and he had his whitewashed bricked house and there on that little farm he enjoyed the fruits of his labor.

But 1 day while Pahom was out in the field and he was working, he pondered and asked himself the question, how much land does a man need?

As he began to contemplate that question, How much land does a man need?

Through the grapevine he learned of a people called the Bashkirs.

Now the Bashkirs lived in a picturesque place and they had lots of land.

But the Bashkirs were going to be doing something special with their land.

They were going to be giving away a portion of their land.

So Pahom learned of how they would do this.

For 1, 000 rubles, which was a lot of money at the time, you would give it to the Bashkir tribe.

And then you would have the opportunity at sunrise to begin a journey with a shovel in your hand.

And every 100 meters, you would dig a hole and drop a stake.

And you had until sunset to make a full and complete circle and end up back where you started.

Whatever you could do in that approximately 12 hours, that would be your land for 1, 000 rubles.

So 1 day, Pejom made a visit to the Bashkirs and there he met the chief and he gave the chief 1, 000 rubles.

And the chief said, okay Pejom, here's what you need to do.

Here's your shovel, here are your stakes, now go claim your land.

And so Pahom dashed, and every hundred meters he would dig a hole, drop a stake, dig a hole, drop a stake.

It got to about noon and Pahom said to himself, I need to start turning back so I get there in time.

Because you see, if you did not get there in time, you would lose your money and you would get no land.

But just as Pahom was about to turn, he noticed this beautiful lake.

And he noticed the woods behind the lake.

And he said, surely I need this lake and I need those woods to provide heat for me in these long winters.

And so he hurried around the lake, he dug a hole every 100 meters, dropping a stake, dropping a stake, And he was pushing himself.

He was pushing himself and pushing himself.

And then as he was getting ready to turn back, he saw this meadow with a little babbling brook running through it.

And he said, oh, I certainly need the babbling brook.

And so he pushed himself, and he pushed himself, digging every hundred meters, dropping a stake, digging every hundred meters, dropping a stake.

And as he pushed himself, it was 1 of those moments.

When you've been running or working hard and your chest starts to hurt because you've been working so hard?

And Pahom was huffing and puffing and he was running and he was noticed the sun was setting and he could see in the distance the chief.

And he began to run even harder and harder and he would dig every hundred meters, drop a stake.

He saw the chief of the bashkirs off in the distance.

And as he finally arrived to the chief, he fell down in exhaustion.

And all the bashkir people were cheering.

But then they noticed Pahom was not moving.

And they turned Pahom over thinking he had only been exhausted, but Pahom was not breathing.

And Tolstoy ends the story with this question, How much land does a dead man need?

You see, Tolstoy wrote this story as an allegory of what is happening in society, of what is happening in society today.

Some of you remember when the word multitasking did not exist in the dictionary.

But we live in a society where we drive and shave and eat and talk on the phone all at the same time.

We live in a world where we are pressed, pressed, pressed by the stresses of society and the stresses of the world in which we live.

And it leaves us asking the question, is this really what God intended for our lives?

The devices we have are supposed to make our life easier and more efficient.

We live in a world where 1 device is not enough.

We have a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, so on and so forth.

Dear friends, we live in a society where there is no rest.

Statistics tell us that this year 1.3 million Canadians will live with heart disease.

Over 350, 000 Canadians will be hospitalized with heart disease or stroke and 66, 000 Canadians will die this year of heart disease and stroke, with the major contributing factor to it being stress and anxiety in which they live.

Nisa Goldberry of the New York University School of Medicine says this, Chronic anxiety can significantly increase the risk of heart attacks, at least in men.

There's a correlation between the heart and the mind.

In an interesting study, 25% of Canadian workers actually say they have high stress and anxiety in their jobs.

Three-fourths of Canadian workers indicate that they experience some type of stress.

And when we talk about stress, we're talking about unhealthy stress.

Or does God have the ultimate answer to the problem of stress, anxiety, tension, and worry?

Today we're going to take a journey back in time, almost 2, 000 years ago.

2, 000 years ago, the book of Revelation was written.

Revelation's last day message, the true Jerusalem factor, calls out to us that Jesus, who is in the temple in heaven, has placed before us a solution to the frantic pace of the 21st century.

It is a call to rest, rest in our creator, the Apostle John, writing from that rocky crag of an island in Patmos.

In Revelation chapter 4, he witnessed the throne room of heaven and this is what he saw.

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, For you created all things, and by your will they exist, and were created." You see, creation is a powerful concept.

It should not surprise us that in the 21st century, There is a great pushback from the concept of creation.

But in the Bible, creation, this powerful concept, leads us back to the 1 who made us, and it gives us security and rest in his love and in his care.

You see, the call of the first angel in the 3 angels' messages of Revelation chapter 14 and beginning in verse 6, that call is to give glory, to fear God and give glory to Him.

And then the Bible says, for the hour of His judgment has come.

This is the final key of the Jerusalem factor and the reality of judgment is taking place in the heavenly sanctuary.

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Series

The Jerusalem Factor

God’s Remedy for Stress- Part 2

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Parts

A Society in Turmoil

29m

God’s Answer to Turmoil

29m

God’s Remedy for Stress- Part 1

29m

God’s Remedy for Stress- Part 2

29m

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