Getting to Know your Bible

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert. I am the regular speaker on
Getting to Know Your Bible, and I want to welcome
you today. This may be the very first time that
you have seen this telecast. I want you to know
that the thing that we emphasize on getting to Know
your Bible is a word of God. The Bible is

(00:46):
the greatest book that has ever been written. Many years ago,
there were those that wrote books that thought they would
replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine thought when he
wrote The Age of Reason. But the Bible continues to
live after century. Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my Word shall not pass away. So on getting

(01:07):
to Know your Bible, we're teaching from the timeless Word
of God. The Bible is God's book, the greatest book
that has ever been written. And today we're going to
be opening up the pages of the Word of God
and delivering a message to you from God's book. Today
we're going to be seeing a one of our classics

(01:29):
that is a production of one of our telecasts from
time in the past, and we want you to stay tuned.
We're going to be offering a free Bible Correspondence course
today and we will see information on the screen as
to how you can receive that course. And so we
want to pause at this.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Time to help you in your study of the Bible.
We want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This
course is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's
conducted by mail, and it's free to receive this course.
Right to getting to Know your Bible po Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama, three six five eight zero or

(02:09):
call TWLL free one eight seven seven seven one one
five two one four.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
You remember when you were a child and growing up
and you admired your parents. You admired your mother, and
you'd admired your dad, and you just thought they could
do everything. I had an uncle that that helped ray
raise me. He helped with my mother, with me and

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my oldest brother, and we live with hi and my
aunt while dad was away in the navy during World
War Two. I thought that uncle could do anything. I
just believed he could do anything. I just thought he
was able to almost walk on water in my eyes,
and I really loved him as a child. And now

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that's with the Lord. Are still missing, Well, what about
our father in heaven? What is God able to do?
Is God able to do anything on man's behalf. I
want to read a passage to you from the book
of Second Timothy, and it's in the first chapter of

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Second Team the verse number twelve. Listen to it. For
this reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
for I know in whom I have believed and am
persuaded that He is able to keep what I have
committed to him until that day. God is able. I

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want you to think about what God has done through
his mighty power in the realm of the maraki Us,
where God creates a miracle, where God makes something out
of nothing. For example, the creation of the world. The
creation and everything involved in the creation was a great

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miracle of God. Everything was made full grown on this
earth when God made the heavens and the earth. According
to Genesis one, verse one, that was a miracle. The
first man was made from the dust to the ground
and breathed doing his nostrils the breath of life. That

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first man became a living soul. That was a miracle
of God. Of course, God's not producing people like that anymore.
Now we have people that come into the world through
the seed of the Mother and the Father, and then
they grow to manhood. But the first man was made miraculously.

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Think about the way the children of of Israel allowed
to cross the Red Sea when they left the land
of Egypt. Well, had it not been for God, they
had been destroyed, perhaps, But God parted the waters of
the Red Sea. It was a miracle, and they were
allowed to cross the river and escape from the land
of Egypt. You think about how God fed his people

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in the Old Testament. He fed them with manna from heaven.
That was really a miracle. Think about Naim and the Leper,
a man who was a captain and of the Syrian army,
and yet he was a man who was a leoper.
The Bible says, but he was a leper. He was
a leper. And he was told to go down to
the river Jordan and dip seven times in the river Jordan,

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and when he did, he was cured of leprosy. I
was a miracle. Now by some things that God has
done in time past, in the realm of the miraculous.
Consider what Jesus did. Jesus caused the blind to see,

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Jesus caused the death to hear. Jesus caused the lame
to walk, and Jesus caused the dead to come to
life again. I got it in my mind as a
young preacher that I would study the accounts of where
Jesus would attend the funeral and what Jesus might say

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or do of the funeral. And I soon learned that
would not work, because every time Jesus attended the funerally
always raised the person from the dead. You see, Jesus
dealt in the realm of the miraculous. But when Jesus
performed a miracle, it was always instantaneous and it was complete.

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Jesus did not say to someone that he healed of
being lame. Now your leg's going to get better, and
after a while, I want you to come back so
we can see how it's doing. No. No, when Jesus
healed someone that could not walk, they were healed instantaneously
and it was complete. That was what the way Jesus

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dealt in the realm of the miracles. Now, since the
Bible teaches that miracles have ceased with completed revelation of God.
God no longer is active in doing things in the
miraculous way. So some people have assumed that God is
no longer active in their lives, and that just reduces

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people to theological diast where where we believe that God
put us down here and just left us alone to
fend for ourselves. And that's not what the Bible teaches.
And it also would make prayer nothing more than justmental gymnastics,
just repeating words over and over again, and God will
do nothing. Let me tell you what God has done

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in the realm of providence. And sometimes people confuse that
which is a miracle with how God deals in the
realm of providence. Think about God used Cyrus to deliver
his people from captivity. Proverbs twenty one in one says,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord,

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and his heart was in the hand of God. And
it was years and years before he was ever born,
that it was predicted that he would be raised up
and God would use him to bring his people out
of captivity. He used as Syria to chastise his people.
In Isaiah chapter ten, verses five and six, he referred

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to Assyria as the rod of my anger. He used
them to chastise his people, and then he used Pharaoh
to feed his people when there was a famine in
the land. That's how God worked in the realm of providence.
And then he used Esther to save his people from destruction.
Of course, in the case of Esther, she was told

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that if you hold your peace, that is, you don't
go and stand before the king and plead for the
lives of my people. If you've refuse to do it,
I want you to know that enlargement and deliverance shall
arise from another place. And what that tells me is
that when God used the person, and if that person refused,
God would just raise up someone else and use that individual.

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So God has worked in the realm of providence. And
when he works in the realm of providence, he's working
in harmony and in keeping with his established will and
his established law. It's what God does on behalf of
people is he works to provide for them. Now what

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does God do doing now? I know that there was
a time that God worked in the realm of the miraculous.
I believe with all of my heart that he's working
in the realm of Providence today. But what is he
doing now, Well, let's just mention some things. God is
saving people, and he's able to save people. He Hebrew

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seven twenty five says he's able to save to the
uttermost all of them that come into God by him.
You see, God is able to save Now. Almost two
thousand years ago, God sent his son into the world

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for the purpose of dying, to save the world. And
he is still in the business of saving sinners. And
he's saving all sinners. Well, he saved a man like
Saul of Tarsus, he wrote in verse teventy one thirteen,
who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious.

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But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Well,
he said, there was a time I was a riscult,
but he said, God saved me. And if he can
save a soul of Tarsus, a man that persecuted Christians,
a man that was a blasphemer, he can save you.
He's in the business of saving all mankind today. You know,

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some people think the only kind of people that God
saved is going to be upright middle class people. Well,
nothing could be further from the truth. He came into
the world to save the whole world. Jesus said, go
into all the world and preach the gospel. The whole
world needs to hear about Jesus Christ. And it saddens
me to know that there are people in the world

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who have yet not heard about Jesus Christ. I heard
a missionary one day, and this missionary now is own
up in years. I think he's even in a nursing home.
But it had done mission work in Thailand for many years.
And I heard him say one day that he talked
to a young man on the streets and he asked
him if he had ever heard of the name Jesus,

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and he said yes, And he asked him where I
heard it? He said, in a movie. Isn't it sad
that a young person would only hear about the name
Jesus and in a movie actually have to pay someone
to tell him about Jesus. It saddens me to know
their people throughout our world who have yet not learned

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about the Lord Jesus Christ. All people everywhere have a
right to hear the gospel about of Jesus Christ. They
have a right to know that God loved him enough
to send his son into the world to save them
from their sins. And my friends, what the people world
needs today is Jesus, and the whole world needs to

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know about the love of God. The only thing that
can change the hearts of man and woman is not
nuclear power, it's not government, it's not money. The only
thing that can change the hearts and the lives of
man and women, boys and girls is the power of God,

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the power of the Gospel, the power of the Cross,
the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is the power of God under salvation. Oh,
how we need to get the Gospel out to people.
And God is able to save them. And let me
tell you, He's able to save all kinds of sinners.

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He's able to save sinners of every strife, every sort,
good moral people, he's able to save them, immral people,
He's able to save them. In One Corinth Them six
and nine, Paul said, no, you're not. The unrighteous, shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. And then he gives
a listing of various sins of the flesh of which

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people are guilty, such as fornication, adultery, and the like,
even homosexuality and being a sodomite. He even mentions those things.
But he says in verse eleven and such were some
of you, some of the members of the Church of
Christ in Chrith at one time, had been guilty of

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those various sins. But he says, but now that's what
you had been. But now you're washed, you're sanctified, and
you are justified. And when they are washed their clanse,
When they're sanctified, they're set apart for a purpose, and
the purpose to serve God. And when they are justified,

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they are saved. And is just as if they had
never sinned. So all people can be saved. I don't
care what sin they've committed, adultery, murder, drunkenness, homosexuality. You
just named the whole catalog of sins. God loves every

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one of them, and God wants to forgive every one
of them. And God can forgive everyone. That's what he's
able to do. And he's able to do it because
he's God. Where sin abound that Paul wrote in Romans
five twenty twenty one, grace did much more bound. And

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God came into the world, Jesus came into the world,
and God sent him into this world for the purpose
of saving lost humanity. In Luke chapter five, Jesus said
they that a whole need not a physician, but those
that are sick. He said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So someone told me

(15:53):
one day, brother Lambert, I don't think God could save
a man like me. And he told me all the
different things he had done, and after he mentioned cars
and drugs, and I only went on with his litany
of things that he had done. It I don't think
he mentioned murder. My response to him was, you're the

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kind of person that the Lord came into the world
to save. He can save people that are sinners. But
that's the reason Jesus came. He came to seek and
to save that which is lost. So God's able to
do that, He's able to save you. You say, well,

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I've been a pretty bad person, brother Lamborn. I've been
a bad person. I've heard that before. But let me
tell you. God came to save bad people, and all
of a sudden, not good people till we come to Jesus,
and we come to the foot of the cross. And

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I want to encourage you to become I'm a child
of God, and I allow God to save you. You see,
God cannot save a person who doesn't want to be saved.
He's not going to save you against your will. And
He can save you today if you would acknowledge that

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Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God. You say, well,
I believe that, Brother Lambert, I believe in Jesus. Now
I believe Jesus is God's son. Well, then God can
save you if you're willing to repent of your sins,
and that means you'll turn away from them. If you've
been mistreating your wife, that means you cease doing that

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and you apologize to her. You try to make some
form of restitution to her because you've been mistreating her.
If you've been mistreating the children, you need to do
the same. You see, when we repent, we cease doing
what we were doing us wrong because it breaks God's heart.

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And then, as a penitent believer, confessing believer in Jesus,
you're baptized that your sinds be washed away in Jesus'
blood Acts twenty two sixteen. God can save it if
and only if you want him to. You see, the

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decision is yours. The choice is yours. Your eternity is
within your hand. What will you do with Jesus is
the question. Let me urge you to become a Christian,
and if we can help you finding someone to baptize

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you into Christ, let us know and we'll put you
in contact with the Church of Christ and they will
assist you. Recently I was in Canada. Two fine people
watched Getting to Know your Bible, took our Bible course.
They call the Church of Christ, and Joseph and Irene said,

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we want to be baptized, and they're faithful children of
God to this day. Thank God for the Gospel. Thank
God that he can save. What is God able to
do for us as Christians? Is there anything he's able
to do? Well? When I mess up as a Christian,
he can forgive me. He's able to do that. And

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how thankful I am, because even at our best, sometimes
as Christians, we mess up and we sin. And First
John chapter two is written to Christians. He said, my
little children, these things write I onto you that you

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sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous, and he
is the preparitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. When

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we sin, we have a God who is willing and
able to forgive us our sins. Listen to First John one,
verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us of our sins, and he's

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able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see, God
can cleanse us and make us whole again. We need
to stay in the light of God's word. We need
to stay in fellowship with God, in fellowship with Jesus,
and fellowship with the Spirit. First John one seven says,
and this is a promise to Christians. If we walk

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in the light as his and the light we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son cleanses us from all sin. God is able
to keep us clean in the blood of Jesus if

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we continue to walk in that life. And when God
forgives us, he doesn't hold that against it. He doesn't
make a notation and say, well, you know, I'm going
to keep an eye on that person and if they
ever mess up, then I'm going to come back and
I'm going to remind them about all of those things
they did before they were baptized, and I'm going to

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remind them again. Folks, that's the way we forgive people.
That's not the way for God forgives people that The
Lord said, I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and their
sins and their iniquities. Will our remember no more. According
to Michael Chapter seven, Verses nineteen and twenty, he takes
our sins and cast them into the depths of the sea.

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That's just getting them out of sight. God is so good.
God is able to forgive. But God is also able
to answer our prayers. He's a prayer answering God. Jesus said,

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what man of you? If his son were to ask
of him for a fish, would he give him a stone?
Or if he were to ask for some bread? Or
if he asked for a fish, would he give him

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a serpent? Ask for bread? Would he give him a stone?
Then Jesus said, you're much more then You're having the
fathers able to give good gifts to all of them
that love him. In other words, God is able to
answer our prayers, and God wants to answer our prayers.

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He just needs to hear from us more. And I
am convinced that most of the failures we have in
life are prayer failures. We have failed to pray. Now
let me mention the fact that you cannot harbor sin
in your heart expect God to listen to you. In Psalms,

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chapter sixty six and verse eighteen, the Day of the
Psalm has said, if I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord not hear me. So I can't keep sin
in my life and in my heart and keep on
committing sin after sin, after sin, and then expect God
to listen to me. I have to get right with
God and be on speaking terms with God. God's able

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to answer our prayers. But let me tell you what
else God is able to do. God is able to
make all things work together for good in your life
Romans eight and verse twenty eight. We may not understand it,
we may not see it at the time, and it
may be many years down the road before we can

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see some of the happenings of our life working out
for good in our life. But God is able to
make all things work together for good. He can do it,
and God is able to help us overcome our fears,
because you see, fear doesn't come from God. Tewod Timothy

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chapter one in seven says He's not given us the
spirit of fear, and perfect love cast out fear. A
lot of people have fears today that they fear the future.
They fear having bad health, they fear of not having
economic security. They have all sorts of fears now. Some

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even have fear of water, Some have fear of close places.
Some have fears of dying. I suppose most office are
like one man who said, I have no fear of dying,
But oh the crossing, the crossing. It's the crossing. But
God is able to help us overcome the fears that

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we have, because our God is a great God. And
in conclusion, God is able to take us home to
heaven one day. One day He's going to send back
his son to gather all of those who belong to
him and take them home to be with him forever
and ever. Folks, God is not a puny god. He's

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not a weak god. He's a God of might. He's
a God of power. He's a God who is able
to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or
even think. Ephesians four point thirty two four three twenty.

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So God is able, He's able to save you. Now.
Some of you been watching Getting to Know Your Bible
for years, and you've been saying, you know, someday I'm
going to call for the Bible of course, or someday
I'm going to try to visit the Church of Christ,
or someday I'm going to call and ask for help
in finding someone to baptize me into Christ. Someday, Folks,

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is not on God's calendar, nor is it on yours.
All you have is today, and I would urge you
to put your trust in this God, who is able. God.
The Proverbs chapter three and verse five says, trust in
the Lord Lord with all of your heart. Lean not
on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him

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and he'll direct your past. Trust him enough to obey,
give your life to him Today. I want to thank
you for watching Getting to Know Your Bible today, and
may I encourage you to visit the Church of Christ
in your community. And also, right now pick up the
phone call please right now for the free Bible course,
and if you prefer, you can take the course online. Well,

(27:27):
whatever you do, take this Bible course, it will enlighten you,
it will help you in your study of the Word.
I want to thank you for watching today and until
we meet again. May the Lord bless you and keep
you is my prayer.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Getting to Know Your Bible has been presented by Churches
of Christ. If you have a question about the church,
or if you would like the location of a Church
of Christ near you, or to receive the free Bible
course right too. Getting to Know your Bible heelbox one four, Summerdale,
Alabama three six five eight zero or call one eight
seven seven seven one one five two one four Join

(28:11):
us next time forgetting to Know your Bible.