June 23, 2025 • 28 mins
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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.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I am the regular speaker on Getting to Know Your Bible,
and I want to welcome you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This may be the.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
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 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
(00:55):
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 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
(01:17):
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 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
(01:39):
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 time.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
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 call toll free
(02:10):
one eight seven seven seven one one five two one four.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It's a pleasure to be with you today on getting
to Know your Bible. I want to thank you for
tuning in to watch today. We may have those watching
for the first time, and we want to welcome you
to our broadcast. Stay tuned today as we discuss this
question what is your life? I'm going to be reading
(02:44):
today from the Book of James, chapter four, beginning in
verse thirteen. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow,
we will go to such a in such a city
and spend a year there by and sell and make
a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
What is your life?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It is even a vapor that appears for a little
time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say,
if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this
or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All
such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to
do good and does not do it, to him it
(03:30):
is sin. Think about that question. Ask in the text
here for what is your life? For what is your life?
You know there's not a soul watching this telecast, and
then this includes your speaker that knows how much time
(03:51):
any one of us has left. You say, well, you
know tomorrow I'm going to do this, and so tomorrow
I'm going to have plenty. And it's well and good
to make plans. But it was Solomon and Proverbs twenty
seven and one says, boast not yourself off tomorrow. Don't
boast about it, for a man does not know well
(04:13):
what a day may bring forth. We don't know what
tomorrow may bring to us. In Luke, the twelfth chapter,
there's the Lord told about a man who boasted about
what he was going to do in the future. He
had built new barns to put all of his produce in,
and he boasted about what he was going to do.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
He's going to eat and he's going to drink and
live a long, long time.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And the Lord said, you're a very foolish man, because
this very night your soul will be required of you.
And he said, then, who will those things be you've provided?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
See, the man didn't have as much time as he thought.
What is your life? You know, it's profitable for us
to study the lives of people. Think about how we
benefit when we study, for example, the life of a
man called Abraham. Abraham is called a friend of God,
(05:10):
and he's also called the Father the Faithful, and there's
so many wonderful, profitable things we learn from Abraham. Think
about how profitable he is to study the life of
the man called Moses, Moses who was the leader of
God's people through the wilderness, and Moses who had his
(05:31):
ups and he had his downs, and think about leading
a group of complaining people. Moses' life contains so many
great lessons. One of the great lessons is illustrated by
the Hebrew writer when he said when Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son
(05:52):
of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season. That we learn from the life of
Moses that one decision determined the course of a lifetime.
To think about the benefit of studying the life of
a man called Daniel.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And Daniel was a young man.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
When he was carried into captivity along with God's people.
But while in captivity, Daniel stood tall, he stood firm.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
He refused to yield to the culture around him.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Daniel one to eight says he purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself. He purposed, he made
up his mind, he made a decision. So it's profitable
to study the lives of other people. But you know,
it's better if we study.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Our own life. What is your life?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, let's all think about that question as it relates
to our own life.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
What is your life? Well, what is your life.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So far as its length is concerned, Or to put
it another way, what is your life as to its brevity?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know what we studied the Bible.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
We learned that our lives are compared to a number
of things. For example, in Psalm's the thirty ninth chapter
and verse five, they're referred to a handbreadth. Man's life
is just like a handbreadth. In Psalm's seventy three, man's
life is compared to.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
A dream, is just like a dream.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Have you ever said I just can't I just cannot
understand where all of the years have gone. They've gone
by so quickly, almost like a dream, isn't it. And
then in job the seventh chapter and verse six, man's
life is compared to being swifter than or weaver shuttle.
And then in the text that I just read from
(07:50):
James chapter four, man's life is compared to a vapor
that appears for just a short period of time and
then just vanishes away. In Jode fourteen and two, man's
life is compared to a flower by flower that grows
up the life of a flower. The flower grows up,
(08:11):
and then the flower blooms, it's withered, cut down. See,
the life is so very brief, it's so short. Why
In Second Samuel fourteen and four, life is compared to
water spilled on the ground. Well, what happens when you
spill water on the ground is not long until if
it sorbs into the soil. You see, life is brief.
(08:34):
That's the reason. In Psalms chapter nineteen twelve, the Psalm
is said, so teach us to number our days, that
we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Right now we
are in the seed time of life, and the seed
time of life is going to determine the fall harvest.
(08:55):
Galatians six seven and eight says, be not deceived. God
is not balked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he
also reap. He that saw it to the flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption. And he that sow to
the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Right
now we are sowing seeds that we're going to reap
(09:18):
an eternity. One day, we're going to give an account
of how we've lived this life, this brief life that
we have. You know, the days of our years are
three score and ten. If by reason of strength they
be four score years. Yet is their strength labor and sorrow,
For it is soon cut.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Off and we fly away.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And you see, a person may live to be one
hundred years old or one hundred and ten years old.
That's not uncommon to hear of that nowadays. But what's
one hundred years or one hundred and five years or
one hundred and ten years compared to eternity. It's nothing,
you see, one day we're going to stand before God
and given account of the seeds that we've sown in
(09:58):
this life. Second, in Corinthians five, in verse ten says
we must all appear before the judgment seed of Christ. Folks,
we're going to die one day, and my prayer is
the prayer in numbers twenty three ten, let me die
the death of the righteous. For folks to die the
death of the righteous, you got to live the life
(10:19):
of the righteous. When you not agree with that, you
can't live one way and die some other way. But
if you want to die the death of a righteous person,
you've got to live the life of a righteous person.
And a righteous person does what God tells them to do.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
In Psalms one hundred and nineteen, verse one hundred and
seventy two, the psalm is said, all thy commandments are righteousness.
For me to live a righteous life, I must obey
the Lord. And when I obey the Lord, then it
comes my time to leave this world. I can die
the death of the righteous, so I'm not going to
(10:58):
live much longer. Say well, how old are you, brother Lambert.
I'm pasted through three score and ten. I'll tell you that.
That's all I'll tell you. And so but I'll tell
you this, regardless of how old I am. If I
were twenty years old, I still don't have much time left.
If I were thirty years old, I'd have less fifty,
(11:18):
much less, seventy, a lot less. You see, time is
passing by us so rapidly. Life is brief at its
very best. That's true for every one of us. What
is your life as to its past?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
What have you been? What have you been? Think about it?
It might be.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
As you stop and think about your past, you need
to change, or, to put it in biblical terminology, you
might need to be converted. When you think about the
way you've lived your life and you think about the past,
you say, I want to change my past. We hear
(12:07):
from people continuously who have watched Getting to Know your Bible,
who've taken the Bible course, who studied the Bible for
themselves and have changed their lives, and God has forgiven
them of.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
All of the sins of their past. That's why.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And Acts three nineteen the Bible says, repent and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
In the second chapter of Acts there's a parallel passage
to Acts three nineteen. Peter's the same spokesman, and he's
(12:45):
asked the question, what, men and brethren, what shall we do?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Here is inspired answer, repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
For the remission of your sins.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
So in Acts two thirty eight it's repent and to
be baptized for remission of your sins. Acts three nineteen
Repent and be converted, that your sins be blotted out,
which is equivalent to having your sins forgiven. So I
understand that in order to be converted, I must believe
on Christ repent of my sins. I must be baptized
(13:22):
for the remission of my sins.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And then I'm converted. I'm changed.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And when you are changed, the old is gone, and
you're now new. In Second Corinthians five seventeen, Therefore, if
any man be in Christ is a new creature. Old
things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
But now think about your past.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Are you really satisfied with your past? Are you satisfied
with the way that you have been as a husband?
He said, Well, when I get to thinking about it, sometimes,
brother Lambord, I'm really not satisfied whether the way I've
been as a husband. I don't know that I've treated
(14:07):
my wife the way that a wife deserves to be treated.
Are you satisfied with yourself as a wife? Are you
really happy with the way that you've.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Treated your husband?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You see, when we think about the home, we're talking
about relationships, and if Christianity does not work in your
family and your home, folks, it's not going to work
anywhere else. So how are we treating one another in
the law? Are you satisfied the way you've been as
a husband, the way you've been as a wife. Are
(14:41):
you satisfied, really happy with how you have conducted yourself
as a parent in the home? Or do you let
your children do just as they please, without any discipline,
without any restraint whatsoever. If you're doing that, but you're
going to go to your grave weeping one day because
(15:05):
of what you've done to your children. Children deserve better
than the train of a child and the way he
should go, and when he is old, he'll not depart
from it. You see children having a right to parents
who care for them enough they try to train them
(15:25):
and bring them up in the nurture and the admonition
of the Lord. Maybe I have some children that are
watching right now. Are you really happy with your past
as a child, the way you've treated your mother and
your daddy. Sometimes I see children that are so disrespectful
of their parents, so very disrespectful, And all I can
(15:45):
say is you ought to be ashamed of yourself. The
Bible says, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for
this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which
is the first commandment, with promise that it may be
well with you and that you may live long on
the earth. Are you really satisfied with your past? Have
(16:05):
you been a bundle of bad habits that you need
to break? Have you really been honest? Have you been
honest at school? Have you been honest at work? Have
you been honest with the government that is on your
income tax? Have you really been honest have you been
(16:26):
honest with your spouse? Have you really been honest and
trustworthy with your spouse? Think about your past? What is
your life as to its past? And what is your
past going to do to make you a better person?
(16:51):
What is your life as to the present? Think about
your present?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
What are you right now? Are you Christian? Now?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well you say you know, brother Lambord, I've been watching
you for a long time, and I hear what you're saying.
I'm not sure that I always agree with you. Well, now,
are you disagreeing with me or God? Make sure you're
disagreeing with Billy. It's okay to disagree with Billy, it's
not okay to disagree with God. You say, well, I
(17:20):
understand what you mean and when what you say about
believing on Christ? And I believe in Jesus. And I
really think a person ought to repent of their sins
because Jesus said, unless you repent, you shall perish. And
I think that we confess Jesus Christ before men. And
it's not just a one time thing, it's something you
do for the rest of your life. Because Jesus said,
(17:41):
whoever will confess me before men him, will I confess
before my father, which is in heaven.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
But you say, brother Lambord, I just don't agree with
you about this baptism thing, because you see, brother Lambert,
I've never been taught the way you're teaching it. Well,
how have you been taught? You say, well, I have
been taught that you believe in Jesus and you're saved,
and then you're baptized later on. You believe and are
(18:11):
saved and baptized later on. If you want to be
Jesus put it this way. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. Let me just urge you to
trust Jesus more than you trust, brother Lambert. Trust Jesus
more than you trust any other teacher, any other preacher
(18:33):
anywhere in the world. Trust Jesus with your soul. I
ask you, what are you right now? Are you a Christian?
Are you really what you pretend to be? So everybody
is not what they pretend to be? Are you a pretender?
Are you the real deal? Are you mature? You know,
(18:54):
Paul said, when I was a child, I spake as
a child, I thought as a child, understood as a child.
But what I became a man I put away childish things.
I have seen people in an adult body that acted
like children. Are you mature?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Are you acting mature? And are you.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
What God wants you to be? The only person that
can change your life is Jesus. He can change you.
And as I read earlier from Second Corinthians five point
seventeen that if any man be.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
In Christ, he is a new creature.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
What is your life as to the present?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Now?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
What we've discussed thus far are these points? What is
your life as to its brevity? Life is brief? What
is your life as to its past? What have you been?
What is your life right now? Right now?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
What are you? What are you right now?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
But let's think about our life in another vein, and
that is what is your life as to the future?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Have you ever thought about the future?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Go to our text that we read from James four,
and there were those who were saying today or tomorrow,
that's the future.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
We'll go to such and such a city.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
We're going to stay there for a year, and we're
going to set up shop. We're going to buy and sell,
and we're going to make money there. And James says,
you don't know what tomorrow is going to happen. You
don't know what will happen tomorrow. I do not know
what will happen tomorrow. So we ask this question, what
(20:58):
is your life? These people were making plans for the future,
about all these plans for the future. They were boasting
about what they were going to do for an entire year.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
But James says.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Your life is like a vapor, Like a vapor that
appears for a little time and then it's gone. That's
the way life is, just like a dream, like water
(21:36):
spilled on the ground. It's so short. So when you
think about the future, what is your life? You want
to have a purpose for your life in the future.
Do you have a purpose today? I think one of
the observations I've made about modern man is that there
(22:01):
is so much aimlessness in modern man. You say, what
do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
People don't have a purpose. They don't have an aim
in life. You see, you need a goal in your life.
One of the dearest friends I've ever had was a
man with the name of Jimmy Faulkner Senior. Jimmy Faulkner
Senior was such an unusual man. He had been a politician,
(22:32):
he had been a publisher, was very he was an entrepreneur.
He was involved in so many different things. And there
are two colleges named for him. Faulkner State College in
bay Manette, Alabama, that was his hometown, and also Faulkner
University in Montgomery, Alabama's name for Jimmy Faulkner. And Jimmy
(22:57):
told me numbers and numbers of time that his only
purpose and his only goal in life was to go
to heaven. And it seemed as though the older he got,
(23:18):
the more he longed to reach that goal. His desire
was to die practically penniless, that is, to give everything
he had away, and I'm convinced that he possibly did that.
And he just wanted to go to heaven. He had
(23:42):
a goal with a short term goal he wanted to reach.
He wanted to write a little track, and he wanted
to circulate that tracking. Was he was never able to
accomplish that, and and the track was going to read,
let's just go to Heaven. Let's go to Heaven. And
it'd be a wonderful thing if all of us had
that purpose for our life, that we want to go
(24:04):
to heaven. I don't understand all about heaven. I'll be
frank with you. I do not understand all there is
to know about heaven. But this one thing I do know.
I want to go there. I want to go there
number one because my father is there, My heavenly father's there.
Jesus taught me walt to pray our Father, which art
(24:25):
in heaven. God is in heaven. And I want to
go there because Jesus is seated at his right hand.
So my Savior is there. The King is there, the
King of Kings is there, the Lord of lords is there.
The folks, I want to go to heaven. Let me
(24:46):
ask you, what's your purpose? What's your goal? What's your aim?
You say, well, well, you know, brother Lamb, and I
understand what you're saying. And I realize how important it
is to be a Christian. I realize how imparted it
is to go to heaven. But you know, things are
so hard now, said, I have to work all the time,
(25:07):
and when I do have a little time off, you know,
I like to I like to try to relax a
little bit. Sunday is the only time I have to rest,
and so I'm just sorry, brother Lambord, I just don't
have time to weave Christianity in right now into my life.
Do you really want to go to heaven more than
(25:29):
any other thing? Let me listen, Just listen to what
Paul wrote about heaven. For me to live is Christ
and to Dye's gain. In the preceding verse, Paul said,
Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life
(25:50):
or death, whether it was going to live or die,
he was going to live with Jesus. You see, there
comes a point in our lives when we think about
our life, we think about how brief it is, When
we think about where we've been, where we are, and
we think about the future, there comes a point there,
(26:12):
at least there should come a point where we make
a major decision. And that major decision is this, Whatever
else happens in this world, however much money I have
or don't have, however I'm able to live the standard
of living I have or I don't have, whatever happens,
(26:33):
Above all things, I want to go to heaven, and
I will not allow anyone or anything to prevent me
from going there, because one day I want to be
with my Lord. Is that your purpose? When you think
about the future, well, what is your hope for them?
Do you have any hope for the future right now?
(26:56):
Jesus is our hope. Give your life to Him. Would
you not do that as quickly as possible. I want
to thank you for watching today, and may I give
you a personal invitation to visit the Church of Christ
in your community. And if you're not certain where the
church is located, contact us.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
We'll get you the address.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
And if you visit a Church of Christ and you
feel like you feel be better suited somewhere else, you
call us. We'll find another one somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
We want to help you.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
We want you to go to heaven one day, and
so let me urge you right now to pick up
the phone call for the Bible course. I want to
thank you for watching today. Till we meet again. May
the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you as
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 he Obox
one four Summerdale Alabama three six five eight zero or
call one eight seven seven seven one one five two
(28:07):
one four. Join us next time forgetting to know your Bible.
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.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I am the regular speaker on Getting to Know Your Bible,
and I want to welcome you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This may be the.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
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 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
(00:55):
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 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
(01:17):
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 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
(01:39):
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 time.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
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 call toll free
(02:10):
one eight seven seven seven one one five two one four.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It's a pleasure to be with you today on getting
to Know your Bible. I want to thank you for
tuning in to watch today. We may have those watching
for the first time, and we want to welcome you
to our broadcast. Stay tuned today as we discuss this
question what is your life? I'm going to be reading
(02:44):
today from the Book of James, chapter four, beginning in
verse thirteen. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow,
we will go to such a in such a city
and spend a year there by and sell and make
a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
What is your life?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It is even a vapor that appears for a little
time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say,
if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this
or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All
such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to
do good and does not do it, to him it
(03:30):
is sin. Think about that question. Ask in the text
here for what is your life? For what is your life?
You know there's not a soul watching this telecast, and
then this includes your speaker that knows how much time
(03:51):
any one of us has left. You say, well, you
know tomorrow I'm going to do this, and so tomorrow
I'm going to have plenty. And it's well and good
to make plans. But it was Solomon and Proverbs twenty
seven and one says, boast not yourself off tomorrow. Don't
boast about it, for a man does not know well
(04:13):
what a day may bring forth. We don't know what
tomorrow may bring to us. In Luke, the twelfth chapter,
there's the Lord told about a man who boasted about
what he was going to do in the future. He
had built new barns to put all of his produce in,
and he boasted about what he was going to do.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
He's going to eat and he's going to drink and
live a long, long time.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And the Lord said, you're a very foolish man, because
this very night your soul will be required of you.
And he said, then, who will those things be you've provided?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
See, the man didn't have as much time as he thought.
What is your life? You know, it's profitable for us
to study the lives of people. Think about how we
benefit when we study, for example, the life of a
man called Abraham. Abraham is called a friend of God,
(05:10):
and he's also called the Father the Faithful, and there's
so many wonderful, profitable things we learn from Abraham. Think
about how profitable he is to study the life of
the man called Moses, Moses who was the leader of
God's people through the wilderness, and Moses who had his
(05:31):
ups and he had his downs, and think about leading
a group of complaining people. Moses' life contains so many
great lessons. One of the great lessons is illustrated by
the Hebrew writer when he said when Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son
(05:52):
of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season. That we learn from the life of
Moses that one decision determined the course of a lifetime.
To think about the benefit of studying the life of
a man called Daniel.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And Daniel was a young man.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
When he was carried into captivity along with God's people.
But while in captivity, Daniel stood tall, he stood firm.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
He refused to yield to the culture around him.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Daniel one to eight says he purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself. He purposed, he made
up his mind, he made a decision. So it's profitable
to study the lives of other people. But you know,
it's better if we study.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Our own life. What is your life?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, let's all think about that question as it relates
to our own life.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
What is your life? Well, what is your life.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So far as its length is concerned, Or to put
it another way, what is your life as to its brevity?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know what we studied the Bible.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
We learned that our lives are compared to a number
of things. For example, in Psalm's the thirty ninth chapter
and verse five, they're referred to a handbreadth. Man's life
is just like a handbreadth. In Psalm's seventy three, man's
life is compared to.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
A dream, is just like a dream.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Have you ever said I just can't I just cannot
understand where all of the years have gone. They've gone
by so quickly, almost like a dream, isn't it. And
then in job the seventh chapter and verse six, man's
life is compared to being swifter than or weaver shuttle.
And then in the text that I just read from
(07:50):
James chapter four, man's life is compared to a vapor
that appears for just a short period of time and
then just vanishes away. In Jode fourteen and two, man's
life is compared to a flower by flower that grows
up the life of a flower. The flower grows up,
(08:11):
and then the flower blooms, it's withered, cut down. See,
the life is so very brief, it's so short. Why
In Second Samuel fourteen and four, life is compared to
water spilled on the ground. Well, what happens when you
spill water on the ground is not long until if
it sorbs into the soil. You see, life is brief.
(08:34):
That's the reason. In Psalms chapter nineteen twelve, the Psalm
is said, so teach us to number our days, that
we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Right now we
are in the seed time of life, and the seed
time of life is going to determine the fall harvest.
(08:55):
Galatians six seven and eight says, be not deceived. God
is not balked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he
also reap. He that saw it to the flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption. And he that sow to
the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Right
now we are sowing seeds that we're going to reap
(09:18):
an eternity. One day, we're going to give an account
of how we've lived this life, this brief life that
we have. You know, the days of our years are
three score and ten. If by reason of strength they
be four score years. Yet is their strength labor and sorrow,
For it is soon cut.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Off and we fly away.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And you see, a person may live to be one
hundred years old or one hundred and ten years old.
That's not uncommon to hear of that nowadays. But what's
one hundred years or one hundred and five years or
one hundred and ten years compared to eternity. It's nothing,
you see, one day we're going to stand before God
and given account of the seeds that we've sown in
(09:58):
this life. Second, in Corinthians five, in verse ten says
we must all appear before the judgment seed of Christ. Folks,
we're going to die one day, and my prayer is
the prayer in numbers twenty three ten, let me die
the death of the righteous. For folks to die the
death of the righteous, you got to live the life
(10:19):
of the righteous. When you not agree with that, you
can't live one way and die some other way. But
if you want to die the death of a righteous person,
you've got to live the life of a righteous person.
And a righteous person does what God tells them to do.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
In Psalms one hundred and nineteen, verse one hundred and
seventy two, the psalm is said, all thy commandments are righteousness.
For me to live a righteous life, I must obey
the Lord. And when I obey the Lord, then it
comes my time to leave this world. I can die
the death of the righteous, so I'm not going to
(10:58):
live much longer. Say well, how old are you, brother Lambert.
I'm pasted through three score and ten. I'll tell you that.
That's all I'll tell you. And so but I'll tell
you this, regardless of how old I am. If I
were twenty years old, I still don't have much time left.
If I were thirty years old, I'd have less fifty,
(11:18):
much less, seventy, a lot less. You see, time is
passing by us so rapidly. Life is brief at its
very best. That's true for every one of us. What
is your life as to its past?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
What have you been? What have you been? Think about it?
It might be.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
As you stop and think about your past, you need
to change, or, to put it in biblical terminology, you
might need to be converted. When you think about the
way you've lived your life and you think about the past,
you say, I want to change my past. We hear
(12:07):
from people continuously who have watched Getting to Know your Bible,
who've taken the Bible course, who studied the Bible for
themselves and have changed their lives, and God has forgiven
them of.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
All of the sins of their past. That's why.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And Acts three nineteen the Bible says, repent and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
In the second chapter of Acts there's a parallel passage
to Acts three nineteen. Peter's the same spokesman, and he's
(12:45):
asked the question, what, men and brethren, what shall we do?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Here is inspired answer, repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
For the remission of your sins.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
So in Acts two thirty eight it's repent and to
be baptized for remission of your sins. Acts three nineteen
Repent and be converted, that your sins be blotted out,
which is equivalent to having your sins forgiven. So I
understand that in order to be converted, I must believe
on Christ repent of my sins. I must be baptized
(13:22):
for the remission of my sins.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And then I'm converted. I'm changed.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And when you are changed, the old is gone, and
you're now new. In Second Corinthians five seventeen, Therefore, if
any man be in Christ is a new creature. Old
things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
But now think about your past.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Are you really satisfied with your past? Are you satisfied
with the way that you have been as a husband?
He said, Well, when I get to thinking about it, sometimes,
brother Lambord, I'm really not satisfied whether the way I've
been as a husband. I don't know that I've treated
(14:07):
my wife the way that a wife deserves to be treated.
Are you satisfied with yourself as a wife? Are you
really happy with the way that you've.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Treated your husband?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You see, when we think about the home, we're talking
about relationships, and if Christianity does not work in your
family and your home, folks, it's not going to work
anywhere else. So how are we treating one another in
the law? Are you satisfied the way you've been as
a husband, the way you've been as a wife. Are
(14:41):
you satisfied, really happy with how you have conducted yourself
as a parent in the home? Or do you let
your children do just as they please, without any discipline,
without any restraint whatsoever. If you're doing that, but you're
going to go to your grave weeping one day because
(15:05):
of what you've done to your children. Children deserve better
than the train of a child and the way he
should go, and when he is old, he'll not depart
from it. You see children having a right to parents
who care for them enough they try to train them
(15:25):
and bring them up in the nurture and the admonition
of the Lord. Maybe I have some children that are
watching right now. Are you really happy with your past
as a child, the way you've treated your mother and
your daddy. Sometimes I see children that are so disrespectful
of their parents, so very disrespectful, And all I can
(15:45):
say is you ought to be ashamed of yourself. The
Bible says, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for
this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which
is the first commandment, with promise that it may be
well with you and that you may live long on
the earth. Are you really satisfied with your past? Have
(16:05):
you been a bundle of bad habits that you need
to break? Have you really been honest? Have you been
honest at school? Have you been honest at work? Have
you been honest with the government that is on your
income tax? Have you really been honest have you been
(16:26):
honest with your spouse? Have you really been honest and
trustworthy with your spouse? Think about your past? What is
your life as to its past? And what is your
past going to do to make you a better person?
(16:51):
What is your life as to the present? Think about
your present?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
What are you right now? Are you Christian? Now?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well you say you know, brother Lambord, I've been watching
you for a long time, and I hear what you're saying.
I'm not sure that I always agree with you. Well, now,
are you disagreeing with me or God? Make sure you're
disagreeing with Billy. It's okay to disagree with Billy, it's
not okay to disagree with God. You say, well, I
(17:20):
understand what you mean and when what you say about
believing on Christ? And I believe in Jesus. And I
really think a person ought to repent of their sins
because Jesus said, unless you repent, you shall perish. And
I think that we confess Jesus Christ before men. And
it's not just a one time thing, it's something you
do for the rest of your life. Because Jesus said,
(17:41):
whoever will confess me before men him, will I confess
before my father, which is in heaven.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
But you say, brother Lambord, I just don't agree with
you about this baptism thing, because you see, brother Lambert,
I've never been taught the way you're teaching it. Well,
how have you been taught? You say, well, I have
been taught that you believe in Jesus and you're saved,
and then you're baptized later on. You believe and are
(18:11):
saved and baptized later on. If you want to be
Jesus put it this way. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. Let me just urge you to
trust Jesus more than you trust, brother Lambert. Trust Jesus
more than you trust any other teacher, any other preacher
(18:33):
anywhere in the world. Trust Jesus with your soul. I
ask you, what are you right now? Are you a Christian?
Are you really what you pretend to be? So everybody
is not what they pretend to be? Are you a pretender?
Are you the real deal? Are you mature? You know,
(18:54):
Paul said, when I was a child, I spake as
a child, I thought as a child, understood as a child.
But what I became a man I put away childish things.
I have seen people in an adult body that acted
like children. Are you mature?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Are you acting mature? And are you.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
What God wants you to be? The only person that
can change your life is Jesus. He can change you.
And as I read earlier from Second Corinthians five point
seventeen that if any man be.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
In Christ, he is a new creature.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
What is your life as to the present?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Now?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
What we've discussed thus far are these points? What is
your life as to its brevity? Life is brief? What
is your life as to its past? What have you been?
What is your life right now? Right now?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
What are you? What are you right now?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
But let's think about our life in another vein, and
that is what is your life as to the future?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Have you ever thought about the future?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Go to our text that we read from James four,
and there were those who were saying today or tomorrow,
that's the future.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
We'll go to such and such a city.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
We're going to stay there for a year, and we're
going to set up shop. We're going to buy and sell,
and we're going to make money there. And James says,
you don't know what tomorrow is going to happen. You
don't know what will happen tomorrow. I do not know
what will happen tomorrow. So we ask this question, what
(20:58):
is your life? These people were making plans for the future,
about all these plans for the future. They were boasting
about what they were going to do for an entire year.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
But James says.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Your life is like a vapor, Like a vapor that
appears for a little time and then it's gone. That's
the way life is, just like a dream, like water
(21:36):
spilled on the ground. It's so short. So when you
think about the future, what is your life? You want
to have a purpose for your life in the future.
Do you have a purpose today? I think one of
the observations I've made about modern man is that there
(22:01):
is so much aimlessness in modern man. You say, what
do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
People don't have a purpose. They don't have an aim
in life. You see, you need a goal in your life.
One of the dearest friends I've ever had was a
man with the name of Jimmy Faulkner Senior. Jimmy Faulkner
Senior was such an unusual man. He had been a politician,
(22:32):
he had been a publisher, was very he was an entrepreneur.
He was involved in so many different things. And there
are two colleges named for him. Faulkner State College in
bay Manette, Alabama, that was his hometown, and also Faulkner
University in Montgomery, Alabama's name for Jimmy Faulkner. And Jimmy
(22:57):
told me numbers and numbers of time that his only
purpose and his only goal in life was to go
to heaven. And it seemed as though the older he got,
(23:18):
the more he longed to reach that goal. His desire
was to die practically penniless, that is, to give everything
he had away, and I'm convinced that he possibly did that.
And he just wanted to go to heaven. He had
(23:42):
a goal with a short term goal he wanted to reach.
He wanted to write a little track, and he wanted
to circulate that tracking. Was he was never able to
accomplish that, and and the track was going to read,
let's just go to Heaven. Let's go to Heaven. And
it'd be a wonderful thing if all of us had
that purpose for our life, that we want to go
(24:04):
to heaven. I don't understand all about heaven. I'll be
frank with you. I do not understand all there is
to know about heaven. But this one thing I do know.
I want to go there. I want to go there
number one because my father is there, My heavenly father's there.
Jesus taught me walt to pray our Father, which art
(24:25):
in heaven. God is in heaven. And I want to
go there because Jesus is seated at his right hand.
So my Savior is there. The King is there, the
King of Kings is there, the Lord of lords is there.
The folks, I want to go to heaven. Let me
(24:46):
ask you, what's your purpose? What's your goal? What's your aim?
You say, well, well, you know, brother Lamb, and I
understand what you're saying. And I realize how important it
is to be a Christian. I realize how imparted it
is to go to heaven. But you know, things are
so hard now, said, I have to work all the time,
(25:07):
and when I do have a little time off, you know,
I like to I like to try to relax a
little bit. Sunday is the only time I have to rest,
and so I'm just sorry, brother Lambord, I just don't
have time to weave Christianity in right now into my life.
Do you really want to go to heaven more than
(25:29):
any other thing? Let me listen, Just listen to what
Paul wrote about heaven. For me to live is Christ
and to Dye's gain. In the preceding verse, Paul said,
Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life
(25:50):
or death, whether it was going to live or die,
he was going to live with Jesus. You see, there
comes a point in our lives when we think about
our life, we think about how brief it is, When
we think about where we've been, where we are, and
we think about the future, there comes a point there,
(26:12):
at least there should come a point where we make
a major decision. And that major decision is this, Whatever
else happens in this world, however much money I have
or don't have, however I'm able to live the standard
of living I have or I don't have, whatever happens,
(26:33):
Above all things, I want to go to heaven, and
I will not allow anyone or anything to prevent me
from going there, because one day I want to be
with my Lord. Is that your purpose? When you think
about the future, well, what is your hope for them?
Do you have any hope for the future right now?
(26:56):
Jesus is our hope. Give your life to Him. Would
you not do that as quickly as possible. I want
to thank you for watching today, and may I give
you a personal invitation to visit the Church of Christ
in your community. And if you're not certain where the
church is located, contact us.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
We'll get you the address.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
And if you visit a Church of Christ and you
feel like you feel be better suited somewhere else, you
call us. We'll find another one somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
We want to help you.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
We want you to go to heaven one day, and
so let me urge you right now to pick up
the phone call for the Bible course. I want to
thank you for watching today. Till we meet again. May
the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you as
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 he Obox
one four Summerdale Alabama three six five eight zero or
call one eight seven seven seven one one five two
(28:07):
one four. Join us next time forgetting to know your Bible.
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