Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's a battle going on for the soul of me.
He's the wythvery. But I'm saying, within the arms of God,
Dear Brad, She's the keeper of muscle cheers of Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'll have Surreyender, I'll have Surreyender. I'll have to renender.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I know I'll always be a godspol.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Defender, Ladies and gentlemen, Rick Bright in Baw of the
Gospel Defender Ministries. This gospel message will encourage and equip
those who have ears to hear to be a Christian
clothed with the armor of a gospel devender array.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I'll not survey, I'll not survey.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Rid always be a godspel.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Ladies and gentlemen. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the
good News of Jesus Christ. That is what the word
gospel means good news. When Apostle Paul told Timothy in
Tewod Timothy four, verse two to preach the Word, that
is what Timothy was told to do, preach the good News.
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The word preach in that verse can also be translated
as Herald, not the name of a boy, but Harold,
as in cry out Timothy, go, Harald, go cry out
the word. This remains to be the charge of God
given to every preacher of the Word. This charge can
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be a dangerous one to receive. It has gotten a
lot of preachers and a lot of trouble over the years,
from the time of the Apostles down to this present day.
There is no reason not to believe that it will
continue to get preachers into trouble until Jesus returns, sometimes
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even in trouble with those who say they believe and
love it. Paul told Timothy something else in the second
chapter of his second epistle to his understudy, two things, actually. First,
Paul told Timothy something about himself, and then something about
the Word that Timothy was to go out and preach
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in season and out of season. In verse nine, the
first thing Paul told Timothy about himself was he was
suffering trouble as an evil doer for preaching that Jesus
was raised from the dead. He wasn't the first apostle
to suffer trouble for doing this. In the fourth chapter
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of Acts, Peter and John did also, and like Paul,
in Second Timothy two, they too were thrown in jail
for daring to preach the message of the resurrection of Christ. Then,
in the next chapter of Acts, the ten other apostles
joined Peter and John in the common prison in downtown Jerusalem.
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Paul had followed their example, and like them, found himself
in chains. Sometimes it can be a dangerous thing to
preach Christ in certain circles. The second thing Paul told
Timothy in his personal letter to his young disciple was
that even though he was incarcerated, the Word of God
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was not and could not be to this present day,
despite the efforts of the enemies of Christ, it still
cannot be chained. God Almighty and his Word is greater
and more powerful than any government with all its supporting
Powerful bureaucrats protected by laws of immunity, powerful men, powerful nations,
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and powerful armies and navies of the world have come
and gone, and the Word of God remains and marches forward.
Messengers of God's almighty Word are still preaching the message
of the good news, and they will continue until Jesh returns.
(05:02):
This was the lesson Jonah learned in the third chapter
of the book bearing his name. He could refuse to
cry out the message of good news. He could try
to run from God. He could be cast into a
sea and be swallowed by a great fish. But the
word of God would be preached by him, even if
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it took him having to be regurgitated from the belly
of that great fish. It is in verses three and
four that God's word tells us about the message of Jonah,
that he preached to those dastardly Ninevites. So Jonah arose
and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.
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Now Ninevah was an exceedingly great city, a three day
journey in extent, and Jonah began to enter the city
on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, yea,
forty days and ninev Us shall be overthrown. Dozens of
pages of commentary have been written about these two verses,
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but not much to the complete satisfaction of the majority.
But this one thing is not disputed. When Jonah went
to Nineveh, he went according to the word of the Lord.
It is never wrong for a preacher to go preaching
according to the word of the Lord. It is the
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only way to go, not only for the preacher, but
for those who happen to sit at the preacher's feet
to listen. Unfortunately, there are many among us who do
not see it this way. There are preachers and their
followers who refuse to go according to the word of
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the Lord when it comes the matter of salvation. They
say they do, but they don't. They use the wrong map.
There are several road maps in religion, but there is
only one that shows us the right way to go
to be right with God. It is the road map
labeled B I, B L E. Yes, that's the map
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for me. There is a host of books, creeds and
dogmas tell us that if we would only follow that
particular book, creed or dogma, we can be assured of
receiving salvation. The problem with this claim is that none
of these documents is inspired by God Almighty. They are
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the products of the uninspired brains of uninspired men who
have no more authority to claim they are right while
all the others are wrong than does any denomination have
any biblical right to claim it is part of the
church that Jesus built that is revealed in Holy writ.
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Any religious outfit that does not bow its knees to
the authority of the scriptures does not have a reliable
roadmap to take us anywhere but to eternal separation from
the author of eternal salvation. Who is Jesus of Nazareth.
Since Jonah was going to Nineva to preach a salvation message,
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and since there could be no message more important for
a person seeking salvation to know, let us go to
the roadmap of salvation revealed in Acts chapter nine. Saul
of Tarsus was traveling on the road to Damascus in
that chapter, determined to harass, beat, and kill disciples of
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the Lord, people who had been saved and added to
the Lord's church. The roadmap he was using on that
that road was an outdated road map that could only
take him to damnation. It was labeled old Testament law.
That roadmap had been nailed to the cross of Christ,
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but it was the road map he was using because
it was outdated. It did not show any roadblock on
that road, but that did not matter. He was blocked
from carrying out his mission of threats and murder. The
roadblock that blocked Paul from carrying out his crusade against
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Christ and his followers suddenly showed up in the form
of a light shining round him from heaven. Ironically, it
was the door through which all men must go to
receive salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ. He fell to the
ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul,
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why are you persecuting me? Trembling and astonished, Saul asked
the Lord, what do you want me to do? The
Lord answered, go into Damascus and you will be told
what you must do. Ladies and gentlemen. What he was
told that he must do all depends on what road
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map you read at this point. The instructions of most
denominational road maps lead you to believe that once he
got to Damascus, he was told to confess his sins
to Christ, pray the sinner's prayer, and invite Jesus into
his heart. The instructions of other denominational road maps lead
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you to believe that once he got to Damascus, he
was told he didn't have to do anything. Everything needed
to receive salvation had already been done. If he tried
to do anything to be forgiven of his sins, he
would have been trying to work his way in to heaven.
We could continue and wax eloquently about all of this,
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but we must hurry, So let us turn to the
celestial roadmap the bib l E to learn what he
was really told. Not Almighty, for whatever reason, has included
in his roadmap three separate accounts of how Saul of
Tarsus was converted to Christ and recede forgiveness chapter nine,
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twenty two, and twenty six of the Book of Acts.
When we examine the Heavenly Roadmap to find what it
was Saul was told that he must do in the
city of Damascus, we find only one verse in those
three accounts that explicitly, expressly, and exclusively tells us what
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it was. He wasn't told to pray a sinner's prayer,
although he did pray, And he wasn't told to fast,
although he did that also. The answer to our question
what was Saul told that he must do once he
arrived in Damascus is written in such a simple, understandable
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way that it would take a prejudice fool or a
prejudiced preacher, of which we have many not to see
and understand it. Here it is, if you can handle it,
arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins calling
on the name of the Lord. There are those who
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tell us that calling on the name of the Lord
was where, when and how Saul received from the Lord
the forgiveness of his sins. That isn't so. But for
the sake of argument, let us accept the answer of
those who tell us this. Why should we believe it
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was in prayer that he received forgeartiveness of his sins
and not in his baptism. Baptism is a washing, and
that is what Saul was told to do, and that
is what Saul did. His sins were washed away by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Ladies and gentlemen.
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I have prayed many times in my Christian life, and
I know of others who have prayed more than me,
and I have yet for anyone to tell me they
believed their sins were washed away in a baptismal prayer.
Denominational road maps with their false, imaginary, uninspired roads to
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salvation are not the word of the Lord. Jonah went
to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord, and
because he did, he went to the right city to
preach the right word. Nineveh was not just a great city.
It was an exceed eatingly great city, as we have
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noted in a previous message. It was great in its population,
it was a metropolis. It was great in its wickedness.
It was great in its wealth, and it was great
in its size, so great that for Jonah to preach
to it it was a three day journey. In extent,
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estimates had been suggested concerning its size nineteen miles long
by eleven miles wide, walls one hundred feet high, and
so thick that three horse drawn chariots could go abreast
on the top of its walls. Fifteen hundred towers that
were two hundred feet high atop its walls. The city
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was massive, huge, enormous. Jonah began to enter this city
on the first day's walk, suggesting that it took more
than one day to walk through or around this city.
It has been estimated that, walking at a pace of
twenty miles per day, it took a man three days
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just to walk the sixty miles circumference of its walls.
What is even greater is that Jonah alone was commissioned
to preach to this great city the word of God.
No fellow laborers assisted him. No Old Testament prophet preached
on the south side of town, while Jonah preached on
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the north side of town. This was not a door
to door campaign. Quickly hanging on doorknobs, a printed copy
of his message. This was preaching by going up and
down streets, pounding the pavement, and standing in busy intersections.
Perhaps he preached from a top the massive walls, looking
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down on the crowd of passers by who looked up
to the preacher. It was not a drive by message
blurring from bullhorns. This was a preaching assignment for a
motivated preacher, and Jonah was motivated. He wasn't tempted to
take a cruise. He had already done that. He wasn't
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tempted to go fishing. He had had his fill a fish,
and a great fish had had its fill of him.
On the first day he crossed the city limits of Nineveh,
he immediately began to cry out herald the message he
was commissioned by God to preach. Yet forty days and
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Nineveh shall be overthrown. There was no time to waste,
and Jonah didn't waste any. Ladies and gentlemen, as we
look at and ponder the work the church that Jesus
built in our communities, we rarely see a local congregation
busy doing evangelism. That which some congregations call evangelism is
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not New Testament evangelism. It is more social work than evangelism.
Social work should be done by social workers, evangelism should
be done by the church. It is one thing to
have ministries to help people who have physical needs. It
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is another thing to have ministries that address the spiritual
needs of people. Physical bodies need to be fed daily
bread made with wheat and flour, but so do men's
inner Man need to be fed the bread of life
that satisfies and saves the soul. Physical bodies need to
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be clothed, but so do the spirits of men. Need
to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Physical bodies
need somewhere to live and dwell, but so do these
spirits of men. There is no better dwelling place than
the eternal house of God his Church. A man, woman, boy,
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or girl can die with a full belly, a full wardrobe,
and live in a fancy house that go to Hell
lost in sin. What shall I profit a man who
is well fed, well clothed, and well housed, but go
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to Hell. He would be more profitable for that person
to die eating one thousand calorie meals, wearing worn out clothes,
and sleeping in a tent, but being welcomed into the
New Jerusalem. The truth is in these United States, men
can eat, be clothed, and live in comfortable quarters and
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simultaneously be saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If
the Church had a mind to preach and teach that gospel,
rather than cower in fear of offending the lost or
violating the imaginary rights of the degenerate. Jonah did not hesitate.
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He lost no time. He marched into Nineveh. When the
Church takes God's commission to go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature seriously, we will
witness more evangelism and more souls will be harvested for
the glorification of Christ. Only God knows how many people
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could be saved, would be saved, and will be saved
if the one and only living organism of Christ, his Church,
would obey the Great Commission. Rather than just being able
to quote the Great Commission, Jonah's message was short and
sweet and to the point. Yet forty days and nine
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of us shall be overthrown. The message was not come
to our soup kitchens, come to our weekly Sunday shows,
come to our food banks, Come take one of her handouts.
The message was repent and come to God. Ladies and gentlemen,
believe it or not. When a person repents of his
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or her sins and is immersed in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, his physical needs
will be met. He may not have a supersized television.
He may not have a Cadillac or Hummer or suv.
He may not have a family room, swimming pool, backyard
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deck with one thousand dollars pro pane grill sitting on it.
But he will have salvation and his personal needs will
be met. King David wrote in Psalm thirty seven, verse
twenty five. I've been young and old, yet I have
not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants baking bread.
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And neither have I, ladies and gentlemen. Has the church
forgotten the words of Jesus in Matthew six. Do not
worry about your life, what you will eat or what
you will drink, nor about your body. What you will
put on is not life more than food, and the
body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air,
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consider the lilies of the field. If God so close
the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow
is thrown into the oven, will he not much more
clothe you owe you of little faith. Therefore, do not
worry saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
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or what shall we wear? For your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things. Church beloved, Do you
really believe what our Lord said in this passage of
Matthew six, or is this nothing more than a Sunday
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morning feel good scripture? The message of Jonah was a
message to everyone in the great city of Nineveh, beggars, traders, soldiers, priests,
and even their king. It was a message to everyone
because it was God's message, and God is no respector
of persons. There is no partiality with God. All have
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sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There
is none righteous, no not one. The message was repent,
no matter who the person was in Nineveh, and no
matter who the person is in this world today. The
message was and still is, repent of sin. Turn to Christ.
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Believe that he is the Christ who God raised from
the dead. Obey him for salvation. He who believes and
is baptized will be saved.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
There's a battle going on for the soul of me.
He's the wrythverdy, But I am saying, within the arms
of God, dear bride, she is.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
The keeper of my soul. Cheers of Christ.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I'll not surreyender. I'll not surreyender. I'll not surredyender.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I know I'll always be a god'spore Defenders.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
And gentlemen, Rick Brightenboss speaking, You have just heard another
Gospel Defender Ministries radio broadcast brought to you by the
Church that Jesus built and preaches all of the Word
to all of the world. Jesus said in Mark sixteen,
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verse sixteen, he who believes and is baptized will be saved.
So find someone today who will immerse you into Christ
today before it is everlastingly too late. Our mailing address
is Gospel Defender Ministries, Post Office Box five seven five
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JELLACOTHI c h I L l I cotche Chello, Coothie, Ohio,
ZIP four five six zero one. You can also contact
us through the world wide Web at Gospel Defender dot
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org or by email at a gosdef a g os
d ef a gosdith at roaderunner dot com. At your request,
a written transcript or an audio copy of today's message
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will be sent to you free of charge, with no
obligation from you, now or in the future. We need
to hear from you as soon as possible, so please
take the time to contact us today now until you
and I meet again at this same time and at
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this same place. Our prayer is that you will be
steadfastly set for the defense of the Gospel.