Game Changer

The title is Game Changer. Maybe you've heard that before. When I think of game changer, it's a phrase that I feel like might have started in the 1970s, although it was not really brought out until the last decade or so. My mind goes back to about 1973-74. I lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We would go to the Middle Tennessee State University basketball games. They had a very good team for about three years in a row. We won the conference. An incredible record. Played some of the top teams. Beat those to the NCAA tournament twice in IT once. And had great players. But there was one unique player. His name was Steve Peeler. If you ever want to go back and look up college, you can look him up. I did, just to reconfirm since it's been that many years ago. I wanted to make sure I remembered his name was Steve Peeler. Steve Peeler only started two games in three years for Middle Tennessee State. He was a sixth man.

He was a player who came off the bench and ignited the team. Whether it was rebounds, whether it was defensive plays, whether it was offensive plays. Steve Peeler was a game changer. He averaged about 11 points. Seven rebounds for his entire time. Almost all three years that he played, freshmen couldn't play then, was all about the same. But I do remember, man, why don't they start that guy? Because he'd only played, played less than half a game, averaged 11 points. I'm saying, man, he could be one of the top players in the nation. They did! And he didn't get half those points in the games he started. But he was unique. He was a game changer. They could put him in and all of a sudden the hustle, the shots, the confidence, everything that he brought onto the floor at his time changed and made even his teammates better. Made a definite change. The words they use today in game changer, words like revolutionary, radical, they're game changer. Definition is an individual or company that significantly alters the way things are done as a whole. Yes, they change things. I want to talk about that because it where we're headed. Also, the time of the year. I'll be back in two weeks and we'll be talking about some of the game changers that will happen when we talk about the two witnesses and when we talk about the two beasts that will be coming as we go into prophecy. Very deep next time I'm here. But I want to look at something because the world has been in a mess for quite a few years and nobody's really being able to fix it, right? We hear that every two years, every four years. We have somebody standing out there that thinks they can fix this country, this state, their city, this world. Eventually there will be. But I'd like to look at that because Adam, after the fall, had we known somewhere around 900, maybe even 930 years, to help change the world into a better place. Did it happen? No. No. You can follow that up. And basically 90 over 99 percent of the people said, we don't need God. Don't need God. Along came Enoch. Walked, a man who walked with God, it says for how many years? 300 years. He walked with God. He was a preacher of righteousness, as we find out. Even talked about the end time, what would happen when Christ returns, as we find out in the New Testament. But did He make a difference? Was He a game changer? No. No. 99 plus says, don't care about your God.

Noah says he was a preacher of righteousness. How about 600 years? What about the 350 after the flood? You think he stopped preaching? I don't. He was in his blood. I think if any of you were preaching for 500 or 600 years, I doubt you'd stop and get down. That enough.

Did He make a difference? Other than having some sons and living through it? No. Still didn't. Think about this. For 4,000 years from Genesis to Malachi, all the people who preached, all the things that were done, did anybody make a difference to the world as a whole? No. You look through there. 99% plus.

They weren't game changers.

Didn't really seem to help. Then we have God Himself, the Word became flesh, and lived on this earth 33 and a half years.

Was that a game changer? I think so. His life. But did He convert that many people? No. No. I mean, think about it. For the last 1990 years. This year. Go back 1990 years.

With few exceptions. Basically, people have said, don't need God. Don't need Him.

Not the way He wants us to live. Don't need that kind of God. Can you imagine 4,000 years of the Old Testament, roughly? 1990 years now? No. And 99% plus tell you no. How are you going to change the world?

I know if you've ever been in sales and I was, you have to be used to rejection. Chances are you get more rejections and you do acceptance, right Phil? Is that why? You have to learn. That's part of your character. You learn to develop that. You don't get all like, oh, I love nobody likes me. Well, God can't be that way either. Now, what is He going to say? Okay. 99 plus percent don't want me. And He would be right, wouldn't He? He would be right. Just look at it. Can I get my water? Now, thank you. Think about people who keep the Sabbath.

99% of those people who keep God's seventh-day Sabbath reject either the Messiah who came or they reject the Holy Days. Ever thought about that? Tell me that isn't rejection. Tell me that wouldn't be depressing.

But should we expect? Romans 8 and verse 7. Romans 8 and verse 7 says the carnal mind is enmity, or in another word, hostile towards God. So naturally God is saying the carnal mind, the human mind, driven by human nature, doesn't like Him.

And the wreck doesn't like Him at all. It's against Him. Well, the world needs a game-changer. And there's only one thing that I can find in here that's going to change the game. It's going to change the world. Only one thing will cause this world to change.

And so God can smile. Christ can smile. And man can live as the first two did in the Garden of Eden before the fall. In Isaiah 11, verse 9. Isaiah 11, verse 9. It says that the what earth shall be full of the knowledge of God? The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God. That's a game-changer. And I want to talk about that today because that should be our understanding. That should be something we can teach. That should be something that we go to the Feast of Tabernacles to experience. And we begin to have an even clearer vision of this. And just how important it is. Shall be full of the knowledge. The knowledge. The Hebrew word there is Dea. And I found it interesting because that word is only used a few times, the meaning of it. Because Dea in this verse means opinion. Opinion. Change that around. The earth shall be full of the opinion of God. The earth shall be full of the opinion of God. Now, won't that be a great time? Something he looks forward to. Now, when we go and we look up knowledge, and most commentaries will tell you this, it means to know, to understand, to come to understand. But God is referencing this scripture with... the whole world is going to have my opinion.

And you have the opinion that you won't be able to argue with.

It should be a very, very wonderful time. What's the problem? Hosea 4 verse 6. Hosea 4 verse 6 said, what? My people are destroyed or perished for lack of God's opinion.

It is. For lack of knowledge. Because a lot of people know what the Bible says about God, but they don't agree with God's opinion that He's right. Maybe right when we want Him to be right. Maybe right when we feel like, oh, I like that one. But that's not what God is about. My people perish for lack of knowledge. I was driving a few weeks ago, two-lane highway road, and I don't know why it was very busy. We were shooting down the two lane at 55, 60 miles an hour.

And I thought, I must have met 100 cars. I'm sure glad they have knowledge on which which side to drive on. If I go to another country, I don't drive on the same. If I go to Caribbean, some of them ride on the other side. And aren't you all glad that people don't just decide, well, I think I want that side of the road. I think I'll take up the middle of the road. I've seen that a few times, but it's not consistent. Most people have some knowledge. They don't give you a license unless you know there are certain rules and regulations. And you will pay the price either jail, fine, if you break those rules and laws. I'm thankful for that. I just saw a video this past week of someone who had a bunch of friends over, got in a boat, a fairly new boat, and decided to go out into the water. Well, that's as dangerous as not knowing how to drive and getting in a car because they didn't understand the speed to wake and what buoys were where and why. And they got to going so fast. They were all laughing and then it shows them as this wave hits the side of that boat and just doesn't flip it over, but sends enough so it sends everybody crashing to the side. And then the wave comes back and sends everybody crashing there. Those people thought they had a hand in their hand. Those people thought they had a handle on the boat, broke arms, broke out teeth, eye sockets, everything because they just became flying debris in a boat.

I bet most of those people will not get in a boat like that again. Knowledge. It is so, so very important. The thing is the world wants to be happy. Let me see anybody out there. You say, do you want to be happy? No!

You don't see that that much. There may be a few, but no, I choose to be miserable the rest of my life. No, most people want to be happy. The issue with 99 plus percent in the world today, they want to be happy without God. They want to be happy with no rules or their rules, but it really doesn't go that way, does it? It really doesn't. And I think nobody puts it better than Paul when he was writing to the Romans. Excuse me. Romans 1, I'll read from the New Living Translation. I think Jeff has it up here.

Let's start with verse 18. Romans 1. It's a Bible. It says, But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he's made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and the sky. How'd it get up there? Oh, yeah, forgot. Big bang. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities, his eternal power and nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think of foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere men and birds and animals and even reptiles. In case you haven't seen reptiles climbing around here. We had iguanas that occasionally wander onto our property as they come over from the lake. Those are ugly creatures. And when we went to Suriname and Haiti and various places, yeah, they have them, but they used to have them, but they eat them.

Not someone who wants to go to public and go, you have iguana for a Friday night meal. No, those are ugly things. And can you imagine somebody wanting to worship that thing? But this is what Paul is explaining to the Roman world because they had a plethora of Gods of every shape and size. And these people were coming in church. Matter of fact, I want to do a serious Bible study on the book of Romans because it is such powerful. So I hope we can have an interaction Bible study after the feast because I like to go into Romans, especially because you cannot understand Romans without understanding some certain history that goes along with it. Then the whole thing falls into place and you can understand. So I hope to do that. You guys still keep me around. Okay, let's go on down there to verse 28. Not that I'm dismissing everything that happens between 23 and 28. That's a whole different sermon. I don't want to get involved in that now. But since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, this is the world, they abandon Him to their foolish thinking and let them do the things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murdering, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior and gossip. That's a mouthful right there that He just let everybody go do your own thing. They are backstabbers, haters of God. Are they ever? Just get into an argument with someone. I have something coming up about atheists, too, that I found just so interesting the other day. Yeah, did I write that? I may have written that. I was greeting because I saw the atheists and when they brought up the fact, most of them had never read more than two pages of the Bible. And yet they would disagree with the whole thing. Isn't that amazing? I mean, here, at least if you're against that, I'm going to read it and find out why and be able to tell you what's wrong with it. But to go, nope. I only need two pages. I can tell you. I don't want this.

Where's the lack of intellectualism there?

So let's get. They invent new ways of sinning and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die. Yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them too. They do them too. See, the world needs some type of game changer. And without the knowledge of God, it will be hard to do because everybody's going to do what they want to do. When they want to do it, how they want to do it, and who they want to do it too. There is a new world coming. We know that from the Bible. I doubt there's anybody in here that would argue that point. The only problem is that the old world is going to have to be destroyed. The old world is going to have to be just obliterated. You're not going to be able to change the world by saying, oh, I've got a big band-aid.

I've got a big band-aid. We'll just patch this over here. It's not what God is going to do. It's not what Jesus Christ is going to do. Anybody here from Chicago? Ben to Chicago. Oh, you have? Okay. You're the only one. You've been to Chicago?

You've been? Frank's been too. Okay. Well, I'm talking back a few years, at least two decades ago. One of the largest housing projects in America, I think it was, was the Robert Taylor homes. It's in South Chicago, a crime-ridden area. Huge, huge project homes that were built. And they were one right after the other. One right after the other. 27,000 people lived in the homes there. 27,000 people in 5,000 homes.

And 95% of them didn't have a job, or even education, or even care. And it was a very dangerous place. They finally, after it was one of the first experimental places about 1996-97, they just decided, this thing, they just mowed them down. They just had to tear them down, build something else. Which reminds me of some other projects. Another part of Chicago was done probably 40 years ago. And they came in and said, new people in the politics of things, and go, man, these projects, I would be depressed, too, if I lived there. There would be all kinds of crime. So they had five buildings. A row here. And they said, let's take millions of dollars, and let's give these people something they can appreciate. Let's redo them, and let them see what they can have, and how they can live, and make it really nice. So they did, and they took one first one, and it was going to take two and a half years to remodel everything inside and out of these five buildings. And so they got the very first one done, and you know the people were so excited. About it. They go, yes! Wow! And the people beside them were excited because this was going to go. And so they start on theirs, and they go through, and two and a half years later, they have all five buildings completely redone. And they went back to the first one, and it looked as bad as it did when they started. People didn't care. The change was not inside. The change of this world has to be inside, not outside. That's why God has to do what he has to do. A complete change must occur. This world is messed up. Knowledge, religions, because in the coming Kingdom, I don't know that that word will exist. I don't know if the S will exist, because there won't be religions. One religion, one God, one way to worship. But here, I just looked up some of the things that came to my mind. And some people feel that we have some weird religious practices. We're strange. We're odd, peculiar, fanatics. Bible thumpers. Nuts. Freaks. Because we go back to this. Knowledge of God. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God. It's a time we look forward to, isn't it?

There's a time we look forward to, isn't it? There's a religion where the people want to pay for their sins, their issues. And one of those is they take a leather strap, and they sit and they beat themselves across the back heart, where it brings welts on their backs. And after years of scar tissue on top of scar tissue, they continue to pay for their own sins in their own way. We're strange? How about the guy that started Heaven's Gate? His father was a preacher and he was a preacher. Remember him? Remember that group? They all got together and they said there's a comet that's going to come through. And that comet has some aliens on it, and it's going to take us to this whole new world. And the only thing we have to do is buy some Nike shoes, get this certain clothes, drink a bunch of alcohol, and put plastic bags over our head. And we commit suicide. And then as soon as that comes over, our bodies will be gone. Well, two days later, the police came because nobody answered the phone, and their bodies with their purple covering was still there with their Nike tennis shoes on. People believe this. They recruited people. There's still a website today by some of the followers of Heaven's Gate. You can find it if you want to, if you want to waste your time. I didn't want to. There's another country where they think the only way to cleanse your house, to make it pure, make it a temple, is to cleanse it with cat urine. It's a religious practice. We had a cat, didn't have a cat living in the house, but I know the smell of cat urine. Most of you do, too, right? It's something that you pick up just like that. Where did that come from? I can't find it in here. Jeannie, if you find it, let me know this week. Because it's not here. I could go on and on, but the last one just happened about a year ago, is a minister. A minister. Now, what church? Don't remember who's on the radio. He was arrested for teaching his followers that they need to purify themselves from the inside out. And so, the best way to do it was to drink one small bottle of hydrogen peroxide every day. Now, I wash my mouth out with it. I do some stuff. I use it. I have some. We have some in most of our rooms, because it's a good purifier. But it almost killed some of his people. Because that wasn't its intent. Especially not drinking a bottle a day. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God. Do you think it's needed? I just gave you some examples. There's a time it says in the future when we'll tell people this is the way walk you in it. Why? Because Proverbs 9 and verse 10. Proverbs 9 and verse 10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Do you believe that? That knowledge of the Holy One results in what?

It's definitely not bad judgment.

I've never seen anybody hauled off to jail. And so, well, I didn't do anything wrong. And they did.

God gave just 10 commandments. He didn't need 11. To teach us how to show respect to Him and show respect to each other. All right, to love each other and to love Him. He just needed 10. But this world doesn't view things as well. There was a time on this earth, and probably only one, that I can find. You find different? Let me know. There's only one time on this earth when the people following God got as close to the millennial reign of Christ as it ever was.

The earth and where they lived was about as close to what the coming kingdom will be. Just didn't last very long, like you go with me, if you will. First Kings. First Kings. First Kings 4.

First Kings 4. And it was a time of Solomon. And he ruled righteously for, they think, about 20-25 years, in his last 15-20 years, kind of downhill. But he was blessed, his nation was blessed the entire time of his reign. 40 years. Now, let's read this. You have it there, a picture of Solomon, because anything he wanted, anything he wanted, he was the richest, wisest man who had ever lived. I found it interesting, was it you, or someone else told me long ago that Solomon prayed that God would bless him with wisdom for the people, but he didn't ask God to bless him for wisdom for himself.

I didn't know somebody had called me and talked to me. I thought, wow, that's an interesting point. I hadn't thought about it because he did ride by his people, but then he went off the rails. He didn't use his own wisdom in his own life, but let's look at it. As 1 Kings 4, we'll read from the New Living Translation, the people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. So he blessed them with a lot of people.

That means women were very barren of children. They didn't have any trouble. People moved into the area. People wanted to have a part of it. Now, I know this is a little hyperbole because I don't know how many people they had back then, but it's interesting as the sand of the sea. One square foot of your sand here in Vero Beach, I had a box and could put one square foot of sand in there.

There'd be over 27 million grains of sand. It's a lot. But you see, God wasn't putting a 40-year time stamp on this. He wanted it to grow. He wouldn't mind if there were a billion people. But they didn't. So he couldn't. He said they were very contented with plenty to eat and drink. Similar to this country a little bit, isn't it? Most of us have plenty to eat and drink. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River in the north to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt in the south.

The conquered people of those lands sent tribute money to Solomon and continued to serve him throughout their lifetime. Verse 22, The daily requirements of Solomon's palace was 150 bushels of choice flour and 300 bushels of meal, which means he had a lot of servants, but they also ate very well.

Also 10 oxen from the fattened pens. What's he talking about? Caves. Veal. So they kept just to eat. Now remember this is daily requirements. I need 10 oxen. Uh-huh. How about 20 pasture-fed cattle? For those of us who like grass-fed beef when we can get it. How about 20 of those a day? I think they had a little red meat in their diet. A hundred sheep or goats. I want sheep today. Give me a hundred sheep.

Tomorrow I want a hundred goats. As well as deer, gazelles, roe deer, and choice poultry. Solomon's dominion extended over all the kingdoms, Wethi and Phraides, all the way to Gaza. There was peace on all his borders. Wouldn't that be nice? Peace. Peace. Think about that. We're getting awfully close to the 20th anniversary of 9-11, aren't we? And now we just got a terrorist country that's being taken over, who wanted to see us taken down. Any connection? I'm not a prophet, but that's scary as I read this, because as God it gives us protection. And there was peace on all the borders.

During the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety. And from Dan in the north to Bathsheba in the south, each family had its own home and garden. Sounds pretty good. Dale, sounds kind of like your place out there. You got your own land, garden, water supply. Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariots of horses, and he had 12,000 horses. The district governors faithfully provided food for King Solomon and his court.

Each made sure nothing was lacking during the month assigned to him. They also brought the necessary barley and straw for the royal horses in the stable. Even the horses lived well. God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. Here we are back again. You know what an 8-ounce cup, which is probably about like that, enough of that, like about how much water I have in this thing here.

8-ounce cup of sand, that's over 700,000 grains of sand. And he's saying, I'm going to give you a great wisdom, understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. When's the last time you prayed for that? I prayed for wisdom, but not as vast as the sands of the sea. In fact, his wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the East and the wise men of Egypt. He was wiser than who? Everyone else. Wisest man ever!

Oh boy! Everybody had their own fig tree, their own home gardens. It was what he's promised, millennium. But what happened? They don't care.

Solomon was a human ruler, and he let his humanity rule him the last 15-20 years of his life.

So it did not last because of the ruler, but it will happen again. But this time, it will last a thousand years plus, because as Christ said when he was on this earth, one greater than Solomon is here. And it also says, I believe we heard that earlier from Romans, I mean from Revelation 20, and we shall reign, rule with him.

Perhaps the catalyst of this revival of the knowledge of God comes to us from Joel. I'm just from us from Joel. I'll go to Joel. I'm going to turn back here quick enough, as you guys can probably read that up there. And you can also, that's also brought to us from when Peter was actually talking on that day of Pentecost. When he saw what needed to be done.

And it says here in Joel 2 verse 28.

Then after doing all these things, I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will dream visions. In those days I will pour out my spirit even on the servants, men and women alike. I will cause the wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns. The sun will become dark and the moon will become red before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. For some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape just as the Lord has said. And there will be among the survivors whom the Lord has called. He will pour out his spirit on all flesh on the earth before the great day of the Lord. How many people will want it? How many people will get tuned up? How many people will say, well, yes. And how many people go, no, don't need him just like it was before. It is a game changer, a big time game changer. I'd like to go to Galatians now. So I begin to wrap this up. I want to keep you late. Don't know how long my voice can hold out. Galatians 6 verse 7. Galatians 6.

Might help if I get to Galatians instead of Corinthians. Know when you read something and it doesn't line up. Galatians 6 verse 7. Don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay, death, and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. Blessings and carcings, basically. Want eternal life? This can be it. Game changer. Now I think you'll find it interesting that in Isaiah 11 verse 9, it says, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. Now, first we talked about just the knowledge and opinion of God. Now it's going to cover as the waters cover the sea. Is that not a game changer? Think about it. That is a big time. Radical, powerful proclamation. 70.4% of planet earth is covered by the sea. In case you haven't gotten on a boat or took a plane over, you really understand why people who get lost at sea are not found for a long time. You see just how small things are, how big it is, how much water's out there. More than a half of that area is covered by 9,800 feet of water. Yeah, half of the ocean is at least 9,800 feet deep. That make sense now? 98% of the water on this planet is in the oceans. Yeah, look at the lakes. Look at the rivers and streams. Only 2%.

And that all the world's water, if it was put over the continental United States, can you imagine that? All the world's water was put right over top of the United States. The water would be 90 miles deep.

You think God was using hyperbole? No. I think he's saying that's how knowledge is. That's how his knowledge is going to be. It's going to be a radically different world where it's going to be an exciting change for us. And it will eventually be for the entire world.

For people to learn, they must be taught. They must be taught the knowledge of God, the opinion of God. That's something we are day in, day out learning. Most of us should have it down pretty pat by now. But are we ready to teach it? Are we ready to spend the rest of our lives teaching it? The rest of our eternal life teaching this. This thing that we know, this book, these incredible things.

It says, as the water cover the sea, God cannot lie. It tells us that in Hebrews 16, right? This is a game changer when 100% of the world will know God. Think on that. Everyone will know God. Everyone will know His name. Everyone will know how to live. One day, it will happen. One religion, one faith, one way. Imagine every Sabbath, all flesh coming before the King of Kings.

The world's leaders today only have band-aids, and they don't stick very well. And God is not looking to bring a band-aid.

And because of this, the world will have peace. As Isaiah 11 verse 9 says, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. Why? Because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What a wonderful world that will be.

It will come, and we will have a chance to experience something that we have looked at. We have been visionaries. He has given us an insight. And hopefully, during the next month, that I'm here, and we'll have these studies, and we'll have these services. We will dig even deeper so that there's no doubt you can say it's coming.