The prophet Ezekiel saw a river flowing from the temple of God. Join Pastor John Bradshaw for “The River” and discover what God’s commission to His end-time church really is.

<p>The prophet Ezekiel saw a river flowing from the temple of God. Join Pastor John Bradshaw for “The River” and discover what God’s commission to His end-time church really is.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written

Special Edition

John Bradshaw

Three Important Steps

♪ Music ♪ Thanks so much for joining me.

We are going to be blessed as we open up the Bible together.

I am going to share with you 3 steps to get you through a time of challenge.

Yes, this time of challenge but any time of challenge.

Our Father in heaven, we're grateful that we can gather around the Bible together.

We are grateful that while church doors are shut, your heart is always open.

Have Mercy on your faulty human servant by speaking through your spirit.

It started just like any Thursday would start.

In most cases, the moms were at home, the kids went off to school.

They went to work at an interesting place of employment, not unusual if it's what you do but if you're a bus driver or a doctor or if you fly a plane this might be quite unusual.

It was August the 5th, the year was 2010.

The men worked about 9 hours drive north of the capital of Chile, the city of Santiago.

Copper and gold was mined in that area actually.

As they went to work, they descended into the heart of the earth.

They were 5 kilometers or 3 miles from the entrance to the mine.

700 meters below the surface of the earth.

Things can go wrong and when things go wrong, they tend to go really wrong.

Well on this day, August 5, 2010, with 33 men, things went wrong.

There was a collapse in the mine and when you're 2, 300 feet below the earth and there is a collapse You would tend to think that things are not going to work out too well now for those up on the earth above the earth up on the ground What terrible news to discover that your family members, your husband, your son, your brother, or your dad is stuck beneath the earth and anybody who works in the mining industry is familiar with the hazards of mines.

Collapses happen, sometimes explosions, sometimes the earth moves and very often those who are trapped under the ground don't ever come back out.

So 33 men trapped and maybe they would never come back out.

We all have lived through experiences in our time that have lended us very little hope.

And right now the earth finds itself in a very difficult situation.

Now we will say to each other, we will get through for a couple of reasons.

And 2, because deep within us, there is a belief that we will get through.

But when the stores are closing and the restaurants are closing, businesses everywhere are closing, people can't get to work, there are skeleton crews in many places, hospitals are being swamped, there's a tendency to wonder just how in the world we're going to get through.

We're here together today because we couldn't get to church because churches are not open.

That's why we're gathered here, thanks to the marvels of technology.

It's 1 thing to be sick and not be able to go to church.

It's another thing to be well and to be told that you must not go to church because people have been discouraged or even forbidden from congregating and gathering together.

And when I say difficult, you know what I mean.

People are now unable to earn in many cases.

Some people have had their hours reduced.

People have watched their nest eggs diminish in size as Investments have rapidly become worth less than they were.

Families are now cut off from each other because of travel restrictions.

Ooh, this doesn't feel good at all, does it?

And I would say, and I will come back to this point, that what we are seeing playing out before us is a sign to help us understand what Earth's last days are going to be like.

Don't let me forget to come back to that because it's very important.

I want to give you 3 important steps that you must take during this crisis and I want to talk with you about how what we're seeing today is a sign of things to come.

God does for us what we could never do for ourselves.

God surprises us even though when he does we shouldn't be surprised, we shouldn't.

I was just reading about George Mueller, the great man of faith who opened orphans homes in the city of Bristol in England.

Mueller said that he bowed his head to pray and asked God to provide for a certain need that the orphanages had.

He prayed for 36 days straight about this certain need and then God answered the need.

And he was not surprised because God had been answering needs along the way.

God works, we shouldn't be surprised and we should be expectant.

Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Exodus and we'll discover that God has seen His people through before.

Exodus chapter 13 is where we will begin.

And I'll kind of skip through this because the story of the Exodus is a long story and maybe we'd be better off not reading every last word of it but let's hit the high points.

Exodus 13 verse 17, Exodus 13 and verse 17, Does God get His people through?

It came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.

For God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt." 2 things, God understood the frailty of the human heart that when trouble comes we tend to have this idea that, oh, it would be better off if we went back to a bad situation, then struggle on our way to a good situation.

And the experience of the children of Israel demonstrated that God certainly knew what he was talking about.

Sometimes God will lead you by a harder way because it's better for you.

He didn't lead them 1 way, even though that was a nearer, a shorter distance.

Instead, He led them another because God understood what the people couldn't understand.

My friend, let me assure you that what God is calling to us to demonstrate is faith.

You don't understand why you have to go the long way and not the short way, but God understands.

You don't understand why this had to happen in your experience, but God understands.

You don't understand why God would let this certain thing take place in your life, but God understands.

And as long as God understands, that's enough for all of us.

Let God do the understanding, and we'll do the believing.

But God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.

And the verse goes on to say that on went the children of Israel.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

And that was a great demonstration of faith.

Right now You are here in Egypt, but God's going to get you out.

The Coronavirus Conspirator

We'll be blessed because it's God's Word and we're always blessed from God's Word and because we'll pray and ask God to specially bless us with His Holy Spirit.

Let me begin first by saying this, I hope you're okay.

I hope that whatever your circumstances are, your trust in God is strong.

We're kind of in uncharted waters, aren't we?

This is a strange new world in which we find ourselves.

I've said to people, I think I've posted online, if it seems like you're in stormy seas right now and the wind is blowing and the rain is pelting down and the boat is filling with water.

He's going to get both you and me through.

And today we'll find courage in God's word and we'll go behind the scenes, see a little bit of what's taking place.

Come on, let's pray together and expect God's blessing.

Our Father in heaven, we're grateful we can come to you today in the name of Jesus, as we open the pages of your sacred word, speak and be heard, we pray.

Bless us for your honour and glory, for our edification, encouragement and spiritual growth.

We ask and we thank you in Jesus' name and we said together, Amen.

Many discoveries are made by people standing on the shoulders of those who went before them.

It seems that the gaining of knowledge is a progressive thing.

In science, in medicine, that is definitely the case.

It was the 1860s and a Frenchman named Louis Pasteur was working.

He did so much in developing the science of vaccination.

He was the 1 who popularized, you might say invented, pasteurization.

In the 1860s he was conducting a series of experiments on the relationship between germs and disease.

As a microbiologist, he believed that many diseases were spread by tiny organisms, invisible to the naked eye.

He disproved the theory of spontaneous generation.

Spontaneous generation was the idea that little creatures such as fleas or maggots just simply came into existence out of dust or out of dead flesh just like that.

Now It's no surprise people used to believe things like that.

As unlikely as today they sound, without microscopes, who could know otherwise?

And if you're not looking for something, you're not going to find it.

But Louis Pasteur looked and he found and he's recognized today as 1 of the fathers of germ theory.

He was not the first to propose the idea, far from it, but he developed the idea, really brought it into the public eye and brought it into general acceptance.

Pasteur was convinced that there were little things present that we couldn't see.

That we couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't there.

He believed that microorganisms caused things such as milk and wine and beer to spoil.

And he believed that microorganisms caused people to spoil.

Pasteur believed and proved that something you cannot see could do great damage.

Pastor the scientist believed and proved that something you cannot see could do great damage.

Something you could not see could spread disease.

That's why we don't appreciate people coughing or sneezing in our space.

That's why we're shocked even by those videos that show how far droplets spread.

We've come to believe that our health is affected by things that we cannot see.

Could it be that our spiritual health is affected by things that we cannot see?

Could it be that there are things that we cannot see, forces that we do not readily witness, things taking place behind the scenes that affect us spiritually, manifestly, in a direct way.

Oh, we believe that to be true, and we're going to see it from the Bible in a well-known parable.

Please turn with me in your Bible to Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew chapter 13, and the Bible says this, and we're starting, I need to be able to tell you exactly what verse, in verse 24.

It says in Matthew 13, verse 24, Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.

But while men slept, His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

I'm going to read through this parable and then I'll go back and we'll amble slowly through it.

But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared tares also.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in thy field?

The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay, no, lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them." And then verse 30, Jesus relaying the parable says these words, "...let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn." Let's go back now, I told you I would.

Some sowed by the wayside, Some sprang up but had no depth of earth.

Some sprang up but then it was choked by what Jesus explained was the cares of this life.

And then the good seed that sprang up and it was fruitful and brought forth much with it.

So first, the seed was sown and the seed responded differently to certain conditions.

Now the seed is sown and somebody comes and messes with, meddles with the seed.

"'The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field.'" God has sown good seed.

But while people were sleeping, notice that, While people slept, you know something, in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus says, watch and be ready.

Pressure

We're going to pray first that God will speak to us and give us ears to hear.

Our Father in heaven we're grateful for your word.

We are thankful for the presence of your Holy Spirit.

Bless both speaker and hearer that we might be transformed by your grace, by your presence, by your word, by your power.

Bless us we pray for your glory, in Jesus' name, Amen.

If you've ever been scuba diving, you'll know that the deeper you go into the ocean, the greater pressure you experience from the water above.

Now that makes sense because the deeper you go, you have an increasingly large blanket of water pressing down on top of you.

Water or not, scuba diving or not, wherever you are right now, there's pressure.

Our atmosphere, created on day 2 of Creation Week by God, is a huge layer of gas.

It's about 300 miles thick, although most of it is within 10 miles of the earth.

The higher you go, the thinner the atmosphere gets.

So the pressure caused by the atmosphere lessens the further you get from the earth.

This is 1 of those occasions where you want more pressure and not less.

At sea level, air pressure is about 14.7 pounds per square inch.

That's 1 kilometer per square centimeter.

At 10, 000 feet, the pressure is 10 pounds per square inch.

Now, as you know, the atmosphere is made up mainly of what?

What's the primary component of the Earth's atmosphere?

Oxygen makes up 21% of the Earth's atmosphere.

Then you have some argon, a little bit of CO2, tiny amounts of several other things.

If you have a barometer, you understand that a barometer measures changes in atmospheric pressure.

You don't notice it, but the barometer notices it.

Without that atmosphere, we don't survive.

You go too far up there, you could get altitude sickness.

We are safe where we are in spite of the pressure being exerted.

Maybe because of that pressure being constantly exerted.

Our existence is owed to a certain amount of pressure.

But there are times in life when the pressure increases, when the heat rises.

It's not the pressure that's the problem you understand, it's how we relate to it.

When the pressure increases, how do you react?

You know, it doesn't always work out well.

In fact, as we look today in the Bible, we see something that, quite frankly, is alarming.

When there's a hint of pressure, a strong man with good reason to be confident in himself speaks up and boldly declares that he'll do what any Christian believer would want to do.

What you'd naturally think that you would do.

But when the heat went on, when the pressure rose, This man fell apart like a house of cards, like a tower of Jenga blocks, when 1 too many has been pulled out of the base.

Down he fell." Let's begin in our Bibles in Matthew 26.

As we turn to Matthew 26, we remember the setting, the context.

Judas had been promised 30 pieces of silver for his cowardly betrayal of Jesus, selling him for the customary price of a slave.

In today's money, Judas realized around $200 for the sale of the Messiah, the 1 who spake and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast.

The disciples had broken bread together with Jesus.

Jesus had conducted the first communion service.

Wouldn't you love to know what it was they sang?

And then they went out to the Mount of Olives just across the Kidron Valley.

And Jesus says some things that had to have absolutely astounded them.

Jesus said, Jesus quoted Zechariah 13 in verse 7.

By the way, after Isaiah, Zechariah is the most quoted prophetic Old Testament book in the New Testament.

"'All of you shall be offended, ' Jesus said." The Greek word, skandalizo, you will be scandalized.

And then he adds in verse 32, "'But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Try as he might to get this into their hard heads, try as he might to convince them that he was going to die there in Jerusalem.

The disciples simply couldn't wrap their minds around this concept.

In their thinking, Messiah was going to restore national greatness to Israel, drive out the hated Romans.

And yet here's Jesus telling them that He is going to die.

He said, after I am risen, indicating He was going to die.

You can expect Peter to react in a certain way.

This is the same man of whom it says in Matthew 16, Mark 8 and Luke 4, "...then Peter took Him, Jesus, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee.

This is when Jesus said, Get thee behind me, Satan.

The text implies that Peter took Jesus off to 1 side to talk to them by himself.

Jesus had told Peter and the others at that time about his divinely appointed destiny.

From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day." Peter couldn't take that.

Now the Bible says Jesus rebuked the winds and the waves.

The disciples rebuked those who brought little children to Jesus.

Back here in Matthew chapter 26, he's up to his usual antics.

Matthew 26 verse 33, Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, Yet will I never be offended.

And do you know what never means in the Greek?

Here was Peter, just fine when the winds were calm, just fine when the sailing was plain, just fine when they're breaking bread and they're singing hymns.

He's not trying to upset Peter, he's just trying to warn him.

Peter, I wish you knew what you were really made of.

Peter, you need a trifle more humility and a little less bravado.

Peter, verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice 3 times.

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Special Edition

The River

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