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I'll tell you what: where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak, your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. How has Jesus Christ returning? How has it changed your life?
How has Bible prophecy changed your life? Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. Eight six six three four truth. This is Michael Zwic, and and we've already got somebody who just called in. We've got a Carrie out of Clemens, North Carolina.
Are you there, Carrie? Hey, brother, sure am. How you doing? I'm doing great, man. I hope you are.
And and so I I know we we're talking about Bible prophecy. We're talking about prophecy in the Bible, and you know how it's changed your life. But I've I've seen you online, Carrie, and I know that you are telling people about what's coming. And part of prophecy is the second coming. Is that right?
That is correct, absolutely correct. We've been living in the last day since Jesus ascended back into heaven, and we know by Scripture prophecy is for believers. We are meant to know Amos three seven. We don't do anything without God first revealing it to His servants, the prophets.
So it is meant for us to encourage us to encourage the word, the trustworthiness of the Bible. Amen. And so, when you see when you see Jesus coming back, or when you think about Jesus coming back, how has that changed your personal walk with Jesus Christ? Knowing that He is going to return, does it give you a sense of urgency, Carrie? Yeah, and I'm I'm kind of glad we are the generation.
I firmly believe we are the generation that will see the return of Christ. And the reason I say that is because. We are fast asleep in the western part of the world, and for me, I'm a student of the Bible, student of prophecy, eschatology. Is it's helping me to remain focused because we are too comfortable, and it's helping me to be more intentional, to be more purposeful for the world and the day in which we live. And it's it's hopefully that the church wakes up and lives out Daniel chapter nine, what Daniel did when he realized.
The end of the seven years were coming that was prophesied by Jeremiah the prophet, and in the first 14 verses of Daniel chapter 9, he's he's repenting of the sins of himself and his people, and we as the body of Christ, the world's not going to do that. We as the body of Christ should be intentional, purposeful, interceding on behalf, remembering our life is not our own, and being about God's business, and unfortunately. We in the western part of the world were fast asleep and we're too lazy. But that's motivated me, and that's the motivation of my videos: is to to have the proper context of what God has revealed in His second coming, concerning the time of the rapture and all that. But also for us to be intentional and to be purposeful, and that God's in control; He is sovereign at all times.
He is sovereign, and in Matthew chapter six, verse twenty-five says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, which you will eat or drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. It is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing." And it goes on in Matthew six thirty-four, where it says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself sufficient. For the day is is its own." And and what I've seen over the years is that there's some people, and we've got a Stu Epperson, we got the owner, we got the owner on there. You go, but one of the things that we've seen over the years is that there are some people who I believe completely ignore the second return of Christ because you've had people who have been obsessed with it. You know, 88 reasons why Jesus is coming back in 1988, and and they've heard this so many times that they just ignore it.
But then I think there is the other side of the people who are just obsessed with it, and I think sometimes with that obsession can really cause them to worry. Oh no, he's coming back! He's coming back! But I think what a lot of people don't realize, Stu, is that as us as Christians, we are on the welcoming committee. We're looking forward to Jesus Christ coming back, and I know it impacts my life, Stu, and I know it does yours as well.
Is that right? And it should impact our life, and this is a great topic. I know a lot of folks are going to call in today, and because this is ultimately your question of of one of my college, one of my Bible profs used to say this in class all the time. He said, "Look, if your theology doesn't show up in your life, then what good is it? If your if your beliefs." If what you believe doesn't impact how you behave, you got to ask yourself: Is this really, you know, gone from my head to my heart to my feet?
So we are a well taught, we are a well versed culture, but maybe we aren't because our orthodoxy has got to become orthopraxy. It's got to become real. Our our syllabus has got to become a realibus, and so, you know. Paul wrote this this letter to the church in Thessalonica. They were a struggling church.
They were on. They were being assaulted and they were being persecuted at every level. And they were growing like crazy, and they were so encouraging to him. They were a young baby church, but they were on fire. He gives them like seventeen imperatives in chapter five, but the first thing he says before giving these seventeen imperatives, like you'll recognize them, I can care.
You'll recognize them. Pray without ceasing, rejoice evermore. In everything, give thanks. Rebuke the unruly. You know, comfort the afflicted.
Pursue pure doctrine. All these admonitions are in the context of Christ is coming back in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Therefore, this belief should directly impact how we behave. It should it should engender gratitude. It should engender joy.
It should engender a urgency about the gospel. Look, I just left a funeral. I'm going to another one tomorrow. A guy my age who who passed away suddenly. I wasn't planning on that.
This wasn't in the in the cards this time last weekend. But the clock is ticking. The clock is ticking. That you know, listening someone listening to this show right now might be in heaven this time next week.
So what are we doing to warn those who aren't on their way to heaven? What are we doing to exhort and encourage the disciple? Those who are, and what are we doing to reach the lost who, who could, be left behind when Christ returns?
So we got Christ coming back, we got our human clocks ticking. Everyone's gonna—it's a point in a man wants to die. After that, the judgment.
So there's a whole lot of fronts. This fires on. And so the question is, is and I would I'd love to that that question for our listeners. How is this? How is Christ coming back, the next great event in history that is yet to happen?
How has this changed your life?
Someone be real practical, and just share maybe an opportunity you had to share the Lord with your neighbor. Maybe how it's helped you love your family more, pour Christ into your kids more. And I'd love to hear how this has impacted folks listening. Because it sure has impacted me.
Well, and and you just wrote a book about about being thankful. We're coming up on Thanksgiving, Stu. Not too long ago. Not too long away. And and the thing is, is that I've been reading the book, but you know, I learned this years ago.
Stu is is it was an older lady. It was near Asheville, North Carolina, or in Asheville, and she said, Mike. She said, before you go, I want to tell you something. She said that when praises go. Up, blessings come down.
And Stu, the name of your book is "Thanks Living." Is that right? Yes, sir. That's exactly right. Embracing the power of gratitude every day. How has gratitude changed your life, Stu?
Wow.
Well, I'm the best guy to write the book and the worst guy to write the book because I'm a struggling guy with with dealing with all kinds of things and and you know we have circumstances coming at us every day. We have chaos. We're living in a world of chaos, and so what? Gratitude will change your life if grace has changed your life. And there's a powerful, powerful principle there.
You can't have true gratitude without God's grace.
So when you realize and recognize what He has saved you from, and what He has saved you for. And how His grace has changed a wretched sinner like me, and made me a saint, and given me a new heart. Wow! I don't even deserve to be talking to you right now. I deserve to be burning in hell right this second.
And I am so blessed and so, so transformed by His grace that it produces gratitude in my heart. And gratitude is also an action. It says in everything, give things.
So I've got to intentionally say, I'm going to thank God. For this, Matthew Henry was mugged. He was robbed. This guy's preaching the gospel, and he was robbed. And he said, "He said, God, I'm thankful that even though they took my purse, they didn't take my life.
I'm thankful that even though they took everything I had, they didn't take all of my possessions. I still have a lot at home." And then he said, "This. I'm thankful that it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed." Amen. Eight six six three four. Truth.
We will be right back after this break. How has the return of Christ changed your life, and and what are your thoughts on Bible prophecy? This is Michael Zwick. We got Stu Epperson, and we will be right back after this break. Truth talk live.
All right, guys, we are back. I've got Stu Epperson, and we've got a Buxman who is out of Dayton, Ohio, I believe. How are you doing today, Buxman? Hey, Michael, and always good to hear from Stu as well. This is such an important topic, Church.
I see a lot of people that go in and out of their churches on Sunday, Michael. And but after they leave the church building, they just go eat, and they don't really share. And I and I say that is for real, but I also say it as a metaphor as well. I think the church needs to stop, you know, thinking about well, where am I going to go to eat, and go feed someone the bread of life, ladies and gentlemen. I do that on a regular basis, and yeah, it gets you in a lot of trouble.
It really does. But isn't that what the Bible said would happen? It does. Yeah, the Bible is true. And then the other thing I want to say is this: is there is such a pandemic of biblical illiteracy in America, especially?
I live right here in Ohio, Dayton, Ohio. And when I go up, brothers, and just question just basic, you know, milk type questions to my feather fellow Christian, they can't answer it, or or they stumble, or they're not. And I'm not talking about you know knowing the addresses. I like to to know the the chapter and verse so that I can give God all the credit. But that's you know that's a side thing.
But just knowing the truths of the Bible, I think there is a great lack of that in America today. I think I heard the word comfortable, and I know that when we go to church, we sense a completion when we leave our churches.
Okay, and we heard the sermon, and we listened, we took notes. But what do we do after that? Gentlemen, is what I have really seen as a great concern in American churches today, and I would love your comments on that, gentlemen. Most blessed, everybody. I'll take the answer offline.
All right, thank you, buddy.
Well, Stu, I I know you are out there sharing the gospel. I know I do it as well, and the thing is, is that the Bible does not say. Hey, this is the great suggestion. It is the great commandment. You know, I heard a story recently about a an attorney, and the attorney said, "Hey, he saw a sign up on the door of a doctor's office, and the sign said, 'We will cure anything.' And he said, 'If we can't cure you, we'll give you a hundred dollars.
If we can cure you, we'll give you twenty dollars.'" And so the attorney walked in, and he said, "I can't taste anything." And the the doctor told him, he said, "Look in drawer drawer number thirty three. You take it out, you take it, and it'll fix you." And he took it out. He said, "Oh my gosh, this is gasoline! This is terrible!" And they said, "Your taste has been fixed. Twenty dollars, please." So the attorney left, and he said, "Okay, I gotta find something else." He said.
What can I do this time to trick these guys? And he he walked in and he said, "You know what? I'm blind." He said, "I need you to fix my blindness." And so they came in and they said, "Oh, the doctor said I'm sorry. There's nothing that I can do to fix your blindness." They said, "Here, we're gonna give you a hundred dollars." And they gave the attorney a five dollar bill, and he said, "What is this? It's not a hundred dollars.
This is only five dollars." And the doctor said, "Blindness fixed, blindness cured. Twenty dollars, please." And so, there is no trick. To answer your question, Buxman, there is no short cut home, as they say. You know, we go out every Saturday, and we share the gospel on the streets.
Now, there are days where there's Saturdays, or there's days or weeks where I don't feel like doing it. You know, Jesus told us in the Word of God, He said, "Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all creation." Telling them and and and and sharing the gospel and and making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and he said, "Freely you have received." He said, "Freely give." He told us to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. You know, Jesus told us exactly what to do. You know, and I I like what I heard Chip Ingram said not too long ago. He said what a lot of people do is he said they will want to know God's perfect, holy will for their life.
So they can take it and decide if that's something that they want to do.
Well, that's not how it works. God doesn't give us His will, His holy will for our lives, so that we can say, "Maybe I'll think about that, and maybe we'll do it." No. But see, we will do anything but the Great Commission. We will do anything but go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Why do we not do that?
Why do we not share the good news?
Well, we say it's uncomfortable. I tell you what—that's what the return of Jesus Christ. That's what it pushes me to do. It pushes me to go out and share this good news, friends. There's heaven and hell.
There's no third option. There's no chance that we have after we die. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation. It is given to a man once to die and then the judgment. There is nothing in the New Testament that says there is any other way to get to heaven other than by Jesus Christ.
John three sixteen says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Romans three twenty three says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans six twenty three says that the wages of sin is death. It says, "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." There is no other way, and you know I've mentioned this before, but. You know, Penjollet said. He said there was a guy who gave him a Bible and he gave him some scriptures, and he said the guy was proselytizing to him.
And he said that he knew that he was an atheist, but he wanted to tell him about Jesus, anyways. and And Penjollet said that a lot of atheists would say, "No, you keep this religion to yourself." But Penjollet said, "No." He said, "If you really believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven, you're going to want to go out and." Somebody.
Well, it's uncomfortable.
So what? You're going to want to go out and tell somebody. If you knew somebody was going to was about to jump off of a cliff or jump off of a bridge, you would run over to them and tell them to stop. You're about to die. But this is so much more important than that.
We have the keys to eternal life. And we have the tools that they would have loved to have had forty or fifty years ago. And I've told this before, but you know it's like a you know the guy who died in twenty twenty six. And he met the Apostle Paul in heaven, and he said, "I made it, yea." And they started talking. He said, "Oh my gosh!" He said, "You're the Apostle Paul." He said, "What was it like to be able to be around the times right after Jesus and see the explosion of the church and the early miracles and this, that, and the other?" And the guy said, and Apostle Paul said, "It was pretty amazing.
It was pretty great." He said, "Well, hold on. Let me ask you: Did you die in the year 2026?" And the guy said, "Yes, I did." He said, "What was it like to be able to take your phone, take a camera, put share a video, share a picture about God being good, and immediately people all over the world could hear that simple, loving message of the cross of Jesus Christ?" And the guy said, "I don't know. I just looked at videos of cats online." And so, yes, we've got tools now at our disposal. We can take a picture and share. God is good.
Jesus loves you. Jesus is coming back. Prophetic word. Whatever you want to, whatever you want to do to share the goodness of God, and immediately, what would take years for us to do fifty years ago, the average Joe who has a camera, who has Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube. Whatever it is, rumble.
You know, you can go out there and share that same message that people would have loved to have been able to share. You know, I heard a story one time about Jesus. They said Jesus went out and he would heal somebody, and he would tell them. He said, "Don't tell anybody what I'm doing." And he said they would tell everybody. And then all of a sudden, nowadays, Jesus told us to share the gospel without the throughout the whole world, and we don't want to.
Anybody? Anyways, we want your calls eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. This is Michael Zwic. We will be right back after the break. How is Jesus coming back?
How does that push you? All right, guys, we are back with Bible prophecy. Jesus Christ is coming back again soon, and I don't know about you guys, but I am looking forward to seeing him. And so, like we talked about before, there are some people who say they will say something like, "You know, well, yeah, Jesus is coming back, but we've always heard this, and you know, I'm just sick of hearing about it, and this, that, and the other." That doesn't change the fact. That Jesus Christ is real.
That doesn't change the fact that Jesus Christ saves, heals, delivers, and that He is coming back soon. And I one hundred percent believe that with all of my heart. Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. And so, you know, I was reminded of a story about a a guy who had taken a dog. He he loved this dog, and he took the dog out, and he he he said through.
Threw the stick at the dog, and it ended up going in the water. And instead of swimming over across the water and and and getting that stick and bringing it back, the dog walked on water, walked all the way across, walked back on water, and brought the stick back. And this guy said, "Oh my gosh, this is absolutely incredible." He said, "I'm going to go show my neighbor," and he said that he went and he showed his neighbor what the dog did and what happened. This dog and so he showed the neighbor. He brought the neighbor back.
He said, "Look what my dog just did." And the neighbor said, "Yeah, your dog can't even swim." And I tell you what: if we're looking to the world to give us praise, if we're looking to the world to say to justify what we're doing, we're never going to win. This world loves to bring you down. This world loves to bring me down. I tell you what: I am. Playing for an audience of one, and the audience that I am playing for is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is coming back soon. I don't care what you've done in your life. I don't care who you've done it with. I'm telling you what: there is room at the foot of the cross. I see two issues when I go out and I do evangelism, and the number one issue is this: is I ask people, "Why do you think you would get to heaven, or what chance do you think you've had of get to?" And they said, "Well, I am pretty sure." And I say, "Why is that?" And they say.
And I and I tell them this. I say it's because you think you're a good person, and they'll say, "Well, I'm a good person. That's why I'm going to heaven." Let me tell you something. You're not going to heaven because you're a good person. You're going to heaven because you have trusted in Jesus Christ and you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ.
You've repented. You've turned away from your sins. You're not living the way that you've always lived. You're not living just like the world has lived, and like I've told you before, it says in the book of First Peter three fifteen. He says, "If anybody comes to you asking you for a reason for the hope that you've got within you," he said.
Always be willing to give an answer. Always be willing. Don't sometimes give an answer. Don't once in a while give an answer. But what I'm also saying is this: If people are coming to you and asking you what's different about you, I know you've got that fire in your in your gut, and you love the Lord Jesus, and you're on fire for Jesus.
What is different about you? That means they see something in your life that is different than the rest of the world. And I'm here to tell you today that if your life looks the same as a non-Christian, do you think you've even really been saved? But see, the good news is is that there is grace. And I heard a story about a guy one time, and he said that he, you know, the guy died and he was going to heaven, but he he met with Saint Peter at the door of heaven, and and Saint Peter said, "Why should I let you in?" He said.
I tell you what he said. We are doing a score basis, and you've got to get a hundred points to get into heaven. And the guy said, "Well," he said, "I've never committed. I've never committed adultery." He said, "You get one point." He said, "One point. That's it." He said.
He said, "Well, he said I've never stolen anything." He said, "You get another point. That's in." He said, "What else do you have?" And the guy said, "Well, I haven't stolen anything. I haven't committed adultery, and and I go to church every Sunday." And the and Saint Peter said, "Okay, that's one more point." He said, "Oh, I've got his three points." He said, "The only way I'm going to get to heaven, the only way I'm getting in here, is by the grace of God." And Saint Peter said, "Well, then come on in." And I'm here to tell you today that if you're going to get to heaven, it's not by your own good works, it's not by the sweat of your brow. It is by the finished work on the cross that Jesus Christ has done for you. And by surrendering your life to Jesus, you can know that you are going to heaven.
I'm not talking about perfection; nobody's perfect. But Jesus did say this. He said, "If your hand causes you to sin, he said to cut it off. He said it's better for you to go through life with one of your hands than to have both of your hands and to be thrown into the fire of hell." He said, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." He said, "It's better for you to go through life with one of your." Than to have both of your eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. I tell you what, we've got a lot of things.
I think one thing that we've missed out on. I think one thing that we we don't have right is that we have not completely surrendered our lives to Jesus. And Buxman was talking about it earlier out of Ohio. He said people basically people don't want to take it seriously. People don't take this Jesus thing seriously.
You know, you could say. That you believe in Jesus, but do you really believe in Jesus by the way that you live your life? If you really believe that Jesus is the only way to get to heaven, you are going to go out there and tell somebody. You are going to pray for revival, like we've been praying for revival for years in our community. You're going to want to go out, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons.
You're going to do everything that you can do to make heaven crowded. And we got a Mike from Dayton, Ohio, who's on the line. How are you doing today, Mike? I'm doing great. And thanks for taking my call.
Sure. What's on your mind today?
Well, my mind is, you know, I was a Christian all my life, and I heard that Jesus was coming back all my life, and. It really didn't penetrate my heart that much because I just kept hearing it and hearing it and hearing it. I'm just being truthful here. And recently I said, you know, God's coming back soon. And I would say the last five or six years, I said, really hit my heart, and I'm.
Understanding the word and understanding what and getting deeper into the word and understanding and reading some books about in prophecy and all that stuff really got into my heart and realized that you know God's coming back soon and this world is not worth living for. Yeah, there's there's an old song, and it said, "This world is not my home. I'm just passing through." And it goes on to say, "It says somewhere beyond the blue." And he says, "And I can't feel at home in this world anymore, Mike." And I think sometimes, Mike, I think there's some people who have gotten a little too comfortable with this world. They love this world a little bit too much. And Jesus said, "This is not Mike's wick.
This is Jesus." He said, "Anybody who wants." Wants to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me daily. And I tell you what, man, I want to tell somebody that God is good. Amen. And also, I love what you just said. You want to live a Christian lifestyle.
You know, you want to be a great example. And if you're cussing on the job, like I was in construction, I mean, you hear words all day long a lot of times. And you know, if you fall into that trap where you're just gonna try to be friends and you're just cussing right along with them, guess what? They're not gonna respect you if you say something about Jesus. You know what I mean?
And you really need to humble your heart and follow God, and and read the Word and renew your mind, and pray, fast. Give to churches, give to the people. Be an example in this world, and live up to that example. You do, and and there's an old expression, Mike, and it says that you can't sell a dream if you're living a nightmare. And so, in other words, it's like if if if you're living just like the world, if you're depressed just like the world, if you're down just like the world, why would anybody want to?
Listen to you, and we've got to carry out of Clemens, who has called back to back as well. And yeah, we've got Mike on here, and and and Mike, you're saying that you seem to be pretty on fire, Mike. But yeah, I mean, I'm telling you what, I am ready for the Lord to come back. I think they're they're trying to call him back right now, but I am ready for the Lord to come back, and I want to live my life in expectation. I want to live my life with the hope of Jesus Christ coming back because I don't have anything in this world to look forward to.
Yes, I love my kids. Yes, I love the church. Yes, I love all of these other things. But I tell you what, Jesus comes first place in my life. Jesus said, "Anybody who wants to follow me must deny themselves and follow me." But what it also says is this: It says, "If you want to follow me, you've got to love me more than mother or father or brother or sisters or anybody else." If you have something else in your life, if you have anything else in your life that is more important than Jesus, I'm telling you what—that's a problem.
And I don't know what it is. I can't. I can't think of what you've got in your life that could be more important. But Jesus put it like this. He said, "What good is it to a man if he gains the whole world, let yet loses his own soul?
Or what would a man trade for his soul?" And I've heard Kerry, and I think he's trying to call back now, but I've heard Kerry say before. He said, "Man, he said it would be easy for me just to live my life in a way where I say, 'Hey, you know what? I I've got things going pretty well. I understand things pretty well, and so I don't care about.'" Anybody else? But see, I've got a Greg Hennett.
Are you there, Greg? Greg's calling in.
So, are you there, Greg? Yes, I'm here. Yeah, man, I'm. I'm ex. I sure can hear you, man.
I'm. I'm excited about Jesus coming back, and I know that you. I mean, how old are you right now, Greg? Seventy-one. You're seventy-one years old, right?
And then, so it's like you're seventy-one, and so you've just said, "Hey, it's time to retire. I'm going to sit around the house and watch. I love Lucy reruns, right?" Yeah, that's right. Exactly, my guy. But you don't do that because you care enough about people to warn them about what's coming in Bible prophecy.
And so, I know I tried to get in touch with you earlier before, but you know, we had talked about this a little bit before with Bible prophecy. That you know, somebody told me one time, and I don't know if it was you and I talking about this yesterday, but you said that there are people who profit who are true. Prophets from the Bible, true prophets, just like they were in the Bible, and they can read your mail, and then you know, then what they they can tell you everything as well. But we have to use discernment, and we have to test the spirits because there are people who are operating in witchcraft or the occult, and they can kind of walk in that same gifting.
So, how do you use discernment, Greg?
Well, first of all, what you just alluded to—the the occult—is the attempt to gain unrevealed information by unauthorized means, and it is always a is mimicking the true gifts and operations of the true Holy Spirit. And we will be right back after this break with Doctor Greg Hennett, who does the Hennett Minute. This is Michael's Wicke eight six six three four Truth. We'll be right back. All right, guys, we are back with the last segment, and I've got a Greg Hinnet here from the Hinnet Minute.
But Greg, you were talking a little bit before about prophecy, is that right? Right. Yes, and we're talking about specifically the way that the works of the occult mimic the genuine works of the genuine Holy Spirit. Yeah, and I did want to mention this to you as well because I know that you are you are not a cessationist, and you don't believe in cessationism.
So there are some people who say that the gifts of the spirit, like prophecy, ceased with the closing of the canon, but you don't believe that, right? Oh no, I definitely do not believe that because there is not a syllable in the New Testament that states that. That's a twisting of one text in one Corinthians thirteen, and which does not say that at all. It refers to the coming of that, the coming of the Lord, really, not the coming of the scriptures. And so, now that's a misinterpretation of one Corinthians thirteen, and very clearly, the gifts continue.
So, what is the purpose of prophecy, in your opinion?
Well, there's two kinds of prophecy. The prophets themselves in the Old Testament came first to correct Israel for forsaking the law, the written word, the Torah, and then they also, in addition to that, they they did many things. But in addition to that, they taught the people, and then in addition to that, they gave predictive prophecies of the future, whether it was the near future in Israel's exile and post-exile period, or the distant future, and that's what I've been studying for the last 11 years in great depth. Yeah, and so you know we we've talked about this before, Greg. And I I had a a lady who came over to a meeting that we have on Wednesday nights over in Prospect Hill.
And what she said to me is she was able to come up to me and absolutely read my mail. I mean, you you talk about prophecy. I mean, if if if prophecy wasn't real, there was stuff that she was telling me that there's no way that anybody could have known. But it really encouraged me in the spirit.
Okay, if it's your circumstances, you knew that that she did not know it by by natural means of discovery, meaning by asking people who knew you what your circumstances were.
So that is one sign of genuine prophecy.
However, also familiar spirits, which I mentioned in the Bible, are demonic spirits which observe us. They too can pass along information to mediums, and those mediums, in turn, pass the information to the subject. But in this case, this is. A Christian, she wasn't leading into another God. She wasn't saying that, you know, she wasn't antithetical to biblical truth.
So that's a plus on that.
So let me just say that this is a rare thing. What you're talking about there can be called the word of knowledge, where knowledge is imparted by the Holy Spirit apart from natural means of discovery. When Jesus went to Jericho, for instance, he looked up in the tree, saw a little guy, and he said, Zacchaeus. Come down.
Well, how did he know his name? You say, well, because he's the son of God. No, no, absolutely not. It's because of the work of the Spirit in his life. All the gifts of the Spirit were first resident in Christ.
Then he passed them on his love gifts to the church, because Jesus, in the doctrine of the Canossus in Philippians two, completely, completely hid his divine prerogatives and powers. Because he wanted to live completely as a man, so that he could be a substitute for us.
So, what you see in his life on several occasions is the operation of one or another of the gifts of the Spirit. Yeah, and everybody knows the the love chapter in you know First Corinthians chapter four, chapter thirteen. I'm sorry, but what what a lot of people I think don't talk about probably enough is what comes right after that, where it says, "Follow after love and desire the spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy." And it says, "For he who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto man." But unto God, for for no one understands Him. Howbeit, in the Spirit He speaks mystery, mysteries. I'm sorry.
But he that prophesies speaks unto men to edification, exhortation, and comfort. He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself. But he that profits edifies the church. And it goes on to say in verse six, it says, "If I come to you speaking in tongues, what shall I profit you? Except I shall speak to you either by revelation or." Knowledge or prophesying or by doctrine, and it goes on to say that if somebody comes in to your church and and there is an unbeliever in the in that church, and it says that basically they're able to you're able to read their mail, they are going to say that the spirit of God is in this church.
Yeah, they will say truly the Lord is in this place, right?
So that is that is one of many means by which you know the Lord converts people. For instance, when Jesus was at the well of Jacob in John four, he read the mail of the woman of Sychar, told her she had had five husbands before, the one she had now was not her husband.
So again, this was and this was a converting factor.
So this brings up a point, Mike, that all the gifts of spirit are just not to show God can do supernatural things. They are very specific in either evangelism or, as you read, there twice comforting us in great distress.
So the gifts are not to take the place of the word of God. Never, never. And that is a problem in some charismatic circles. They take they take the word out of the service and just prophesy.
So they have they're not tethered to the infallible word. That's why they get into all kinds of messes. But the word is to be our our food. And a drink. We're supposed to feed on the Word.
the The gifts of prophecy and others are supplemental aids, as and they're given as the Spirit wills. And we find both in the Bible and in life, the Spirit wills their operation when we have special needs.
So they're supplemental. They're not primary. Yeah, and and even though they are supplemental, I mean, it seems like you know.
Somebody told me one time they said if Jesus needed, if he needed the the ability to cast out demons, if if he needed people to believe in him because of that, he you know that he and he told us that we would be speaking in tongues and that we would you know cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead. He even said himself, "This is what he said." He said, "If you don't believe me, for the." Words that I speak," he said. "Believe me for the for the works that I do. In other words, who else who else has come around and and and healed the eyes of the blind? Who else had come around and raised the dead?
So, what somebody said to me one time that Jesus confirms his word by signs and wonders, and he uses people in the church today to do that, Greg. Yes, that's true. That has not changed.
Some some cessationists are trying to relegated that to the first century only, but the Bible again, again, the Bible does not say they were limited to that times. It just says they were used then in that way.
Now, to your point, there when Jesus met Nicodemus, what did Nicodemus say? He said, "He said, Rabbi, we know you are a teacher sent from God. For no man does these works which you do unless God is with him." So. Jesus sign miracles, and that's what they were. They are miracles that are given to attest to the validity of a servant of God and his message.
And so, this is what the signs were in Jesus' ministry. That's why God gave them. In addition to, and I think this could be coequally primary, the compassion of God. Jesus was moved to compassion when he prayed and delivered people. It was compassion that motivated him, but God used it as a sign to convince and convert the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles.
Jesus converted many Gentiles to his following during his ministry. They were not born again yet because the Spirit hadn't come, but right from the get-go in Mark four, you see crowds coming from Syria. They come from across the Galilee, that's on the Gentile side, in the Decapolis. That came from Phoenicia. These were Gentiles.
These were Gentiles. So they came to him from the very beginning. There, if you look at the transition from Matthew four to Matthew five, so his sign ministry was needed. We had never heard the name Jesus of Nazareth unless his his miracles had attended his ministry.
Furthermore, the church and many Bible scholars agree to this. There's quite a bit of agreement. Without the miraculous, the church never would have gotten out of the gate. Yeah, and I I agree with that as well. And I'm reminded of when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
Even the people who did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, this is what they said in John chapter 11, verse 48. They said, "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation." And so, I think it's interesting they didn't say that Jesus wasn't performing the miracles. They didn't like Jesus, and they were afraid that their temples were going to be taken away. Can you believe that? Yeah, and that's a good point because you see, initially when his miracles ministry came on the scene in Mark two and three, the word came down from the scribes and who were the religious experts, and came down from Jerusalem that he had a demon, and this was why he could perform these miracles.
But then this instance was at the end of Jesus' ministry. By that time, they knew these were not demons doing these miracles, but they wouldn't admit it to the public. Because they didn't want their place to go. This was pure elimination of the competition. That's what it was, and that's why Pilate says in Matthew eighteen twenty-seven, he knew for envy they delivered Jesus to the cross.
Yeah, that's right. And and Greg, you've written several books on the other kind of Bible prophecy about Jesus Christ coming back, and and and that He's coming, and that you know I think you believe in a partial rapture, and that you know it could be Jesus could be coming back very soon. And and so one of the things that Stu and I talked about before the show was he said, "What would you? How would you live your life if you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow at five p.m.?" And that's the way we should live. We should live as if he is never coming back, and that we go on with our business and calling, yet with the awareness and urgent hope.
And I wouldn't say urgent; I would say an exciting hope that he could come before the sun goes down. And let me say one more thing about what you said earlier. It's not that we believe in the scriptures or the power of God. We must believe in both the scriptures and the power of God, but the scriptures must take central place.
So that's it's hugely important that we understand that if the scriptures authorize the miracles of God, we too must acknowledge them and never say they cannot be or they should not be. Yeah, that's right, and and so you've written a book about about Bible. You've written many books, but you have what a YouTube channel where you do the the Hinn at Minute. If people wanted to check that out, how would they find that? They would look up Greg Hinnant, G R E G H I N N A N T, on YouTube, and we have the Hinnant Minutes.
I have a lot of other courses; all of they're free. On about nine different courses, we're we're preparing to put up the tenth, which we just finished recording on the Book of Revelation. And I've taught four. I've written four large, rather large, work on the end times, and they are shown on my.
