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Dr. Robert Jeffress

Robert Jeffress - How Can I Know There Is A God? (Part 2)

January 7, 2025 | S25:E11

Robert Jeffress - How Can I Know There Is A God? (Part 2)
Pathway to Victory offers a practical application of God’s Word to everyday life through the clear, biblical teaching of Pastor Jeffress.
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Dr. Robert Jeffress | Robert Jeffress - How Can I Know There Is A God? (Part 2) | January 7, 2025
  • ...
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Male announcer: from the pulpit of the first baptist church of
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  • Dallas, texas, this is "pathway to victory" with
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  • Dr. robert jeffress.
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  • Dr. robert jeffress: hi, i'm robert jeffress and welcome
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  • Again to "pathway to victory."
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  • If you've ever looked up at the night sky full of stars or gazed
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  • At the range of majestic mountains, then you've probably
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  • Asked yourself the question, where did it all come from?
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  • Well, we have lots of evidence for the existence of god and
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  • Today i'm going to explore the origins of god in the universe
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  • As revealed in scripture.
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  • We're answering the question, how can i know there is a god?
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  • On today's edition of "pathway to victory."
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • ♪ death could not hold you, ♪
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  • ♪ the veil tore before you ♪
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  • ♪ you silenced the boast of sin and grave. ♪
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  • ♪ the heavens are roaring ♪
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  • ♪ the praise of your glory ♪
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  • ♪ for you are raised to life again. ♪
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  • ♪ you have no rival, ♪
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  • ♪ you have no equal ♪
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  • ♪ now and forever, ♪
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  • ♪ god, you reign. ♪
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  • ♪ yours is the kingdom, ♪
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  • ♪ yours is the glory, ♪
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  • ♪ yours is the name above all names. ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ the name of jesus christ, my king. ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ nothing can stand against. ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ the name of jesus. ♪
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  • ♪ you have no rival, ♪
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  • ♪ you have no equal. ♪
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  • ♪ now and forever, ♪
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  • ♪ god, you reign. ♪
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  • ♪ yours is the kingdom, ♪
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  • ♪ yours is the glory, ♪
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  • ♪ yours is the name above all names. ♪
  • 00:02:47.357 --> 00:02:54.097
  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
  • 00:02:54.097 --> 00:02:57.500
  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ the name of jesus christ, my king. ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
  • 00:03:08.111 --> 00:03:12.015
  • ♪ nothing can stand against, ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ the name of jesus. ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ the name of jesus. ♪
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  • ♪ what a powerful name it is, ♪
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  • ♪ the name of jesus-- ♪
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  • ♪ there is none like your name ♪
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  • ♪ --of jesus. ♪♪
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  • [congregation applauding]
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  • Announcer: it's okay to have questions about your faith, but
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  • You need answers you can trust.
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  • In his book "how can i know?"
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  • Dr. robert jeffress addresses seven of life's most
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  • Important questions.
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  • If you've ever wondered how you can know the bible is true or
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  • How you can know if you're going to heaven, this book makes a
  • 00:04:10.707 --> 00:04:13.776
  • Compelling case for answers you can embrace with confidence.
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  • Request your copy of "how can i know?"
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  • When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of
  • 00:04:19.749 --> 00:04:22.652
  • Pathway to victory.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Jeffress: last time we began a series entitled "how can
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  • I know?
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  • Answers to life's seven most important questions."
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  • And last time, we began looking at four powerful arguments for
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  • The existence of god.
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  • There's the cosmological evidence.
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  • The cosmos, it's simply the question why does
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  • Anything exist?
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  • Why is it when i look around i see something instead
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  • Of nothing?
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  • How do you explain something rather than nothing?
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  • The second argument we're gonna look at today is the
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  • Teleological argument.
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  • How do you explain the complex design of the universe?
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  • Teleios, it means design.
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  • How do you explain the intricate design of the systems and things
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  • That we see in the universe?
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  • Author dennis mccallum illustrates it this way.
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  • Imagine there are two men on a train and the train is pulling
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  • Into the station, and one man looks out the window and says,
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  • "oh, look over there on the hillside.
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  • Look at the message.
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  • It says, welcome to canada.
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  • Somebody sure went to a lot of trouble to make us
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  • Feel welcome."
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  • The second man said, "nobody designed that.
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  • That just happened by chance.
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  • Those rocks fell down the hill and formed that message
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  • By chance."
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  • That same second man a few moments later says to the first
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  • Man, "well, i guess we better go into the train station and
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  • Change our currency from american currency to
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  • Canadian currency."
  • 00:06:06.422 --> 00:06:08.191
  • The first man says, "why should we do that?"
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  • The second man says, "didn't you read the sign?
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  • It says we're in canada."
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  • Now dennis mccallum's point is, you can't have your
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  • Philosophical cake and eat it too.
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  • You can't say everything is random that happens.
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  • We're here by chance, not by design.
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  • You can't say that and at the same time say when you're trying
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  • To offer an alternative explanation that there are
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  • Certain laws of science that can be repeated over and over again
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  • And there's order in the universe.
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  • You can't have one and the second observation at the
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  • Same time.
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  • Where exactly do we find this evidence of design in
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  • The universe?
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  • We'll look at the universe itself, you know, the big bang
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  • Theory basically says all of the universe was compacted into a
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  • Massive matter that exploded and yet, if that massive matter that
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  • Included the entire universe, if that mass were changed by no
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  • More than what would be one grain of table salt, the
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  • Big bang theory would have never happened.
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  • If there had been one tiny variation in the amount of
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  • Matter, either the big bang wouldn't have happened at all,
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  • Or the universe would have begun to expand so rapidly, there
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  • Would be nothing.
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  • The universe, the mass of matter.
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  • Look at the earth itself.
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  • The universe has uniquely designed planet earth to be a
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  • Place that allows for life, even though the universe as a whole
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  • Seems to be hostile to the existence of life.
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  • William dembski writes, "imagine you discover an abandoned cabin
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  • In the mountains.
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  • As you approach the cabin you notice something strange.
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  • Your favorite meal is cooking in the oven.
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  • The television is turned on to your favorite tv show, and all
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  • Of your favorite books, dvds, and video games are lying on
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  • The table.
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  • What would you conclude?
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  • The best explanation would clearly be that somebody was
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  • Expecting your arrival.
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  • Scientists have recently learned that the universe is much like
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  • This cabin.
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  • It's crafted uniquely for us."
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  • Scientists estimate there are over 100 constants, 100
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  • Conditions that have been woven together to form a scientific
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  • Welcome mat to you and me as residents of planet earth.
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  • A third evidence of design is found in the cell itself.
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  • How did life begin?
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  • Well, charles darwin postulated that life came about when the
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  • First unicellular organism crawled out of a primordial
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  • Biotic soup.
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  • It happened just by accident that this one cell came
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  • Into being.
  • 00:09:15.411 --> 00:09:17.813
  • Yet darwin himself said, quote, "if it could be demonstrated
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  • That any complex organ existed, which could not possibly be
  • 00:09:22.084 --> 00:09:27.223
  • Formed by numerous successive slight modifications, my theory
  • 00:09:27.223 --> 00:09:32.762
  • Would absolutely break down."
  • 00:09:32.762 --> 00:09:36.699
  • Darwin didn't know when he wrote those words.
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  • That he was signing the death certificate for the theory of
  • 00:09:39.535 --> 00:09:43.773
  • Evolution and his own theory of the origin of life.
  • 00:09:43.773 --> 00:09:48.044
  • Sir frederick hoyle was the founding director of the
  • 00:09:48.044 --> 00:09:51.814
  • Institute of theoretical astronomy at
  • 00:09:51.814 --> 00:09:54.083
  • Cambridge university.
  • 00:09:54.083 --> 00:09:55.785
  • He said, quote, "the likelihood of the formation of life from
  • 00:09:55.785 --> 00:10:00.690
  • Inanimate matter is one to a number with 40,000 zeros
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  • Behind it.
  • 00:10:07.363 --> 00:10:08.698
  • It is a number big enough to bury darwin and the whole theory
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  • Of evolution.
  • 00:10:13.135 --> 00:10:14.670
  • If the beginnings of life were not random, they must therefore
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  • Have been the product of purposeful intelligence."
  • 00:10:18.741 --> 00:10:23.379
  • Now the cell is complex enough, but consider the complexity, the
  • 00:10:23.379 --> 00:10:28.551
  • Design of the human body.
  • 00:10:28.551 --> 00:10:31.220
  • Our bodies are more than a single cell.
  • 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:35.324
  • There are billions of cells that form thousands of different
  • 00:10:35.324 --> 00:10:39.628
  • Systems and organs in the human body.
  • 00:10:39.628 --> 00:10:42.765
  • How does the atheist explain that?
  • 00:10:42.765 --> 00:10:45.601
  • How does the atheist explain the complexity of the universe and
  • 00:10:45.601 --> 00:10:50.272
  • The mathematical hurdles involved in a
  • 00:10:50.272 --> 00:10:53.542
  • Chance explanation?
  • 00:10:53.542 --> 00:10:55.478
  • You know what he resorts to?
  • 00:10:55.478 --> 00:10:57.346
  • He resorts to something called the multiple universe theory,
  • 00:10:57.346 --> 00:11:01.383
  • Which imagines that our universe is just one of an infinite
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  • Number of universes.
  • 00:11:05.321 --> 00:11:07.890
  • Now, to understand what that means, it would be like this.
  • 00:11:07.890 --> 00:11:12.962
  • Let's say you took a 787 jumbo jetliner.
  • 00:11:12.962 --> 00:11:19.034
  • And you took it all apart and it was just a mass of nuts and
  • 00:11:19.034 --> 00:11:23.339
  • Bolts and wires and knobs and you put it in a wind tunnel and
  • 00:11:23.339 --> 00:11:28.177
  • You turned that wind tunnel on.
  • 00:11:28.177 --> 00:11:31.180
  • How long would it take for that collection of millions of pieces
  • 00:11:31.180 --> 00:11:37.119
  • Of the airliner?
  • 00:11:37.119 --> 00:11:38.721
  • How long would it take for it to assemble itself together into a
  • 00:11:38.721 --> 00:11:43.359
  • Jetliner that you would want to step on and fly on?
  • 00:11:43.359 --> 00:11:47.163
  • Could there be any circumstance under which that would happen
  • 00:11:47.163 --> 00:11:50.900
  • Accidentally if you just turned the wind on?
  • 00:11:50.900 --> 00:11:54.036
  • Well, here's what the atheist says, says, well, it might not
  • 00:11:54.036 --> 00:11:57.907
  • Ever happen in this universe, but there's an infinite number
  • 00:11:57.907 --> 00:12:01.844
  • Of universes, and if you have an infinite number of universes
  • 00:12:01.844 --> 00:12:06.248
  • Somewhere, at some time in eternity, that's gonna come
  • 00:12:06.248 --> 00:12:10.653
  • Together for a jumbo jetliner.
  • 00:12:10.653 --> 00:12:14.523
  • It's a foolish explanation.
  • 00:12:14.523 --> 00:12:17.459
  • First of all, there is no evidence that there are multiple
  • 00:12:17.459 --> 00:12:21.330
  • Universes in existence.
  • 00:12:21.330 --> 00:12:24.166
  • And secondly, even if you allow for that fanciful explanation,
  • 00:12:24.166 --> 00:12:28.771
  • It basically means there's no explanation for anything that
  • 00:12:28.771 --> 00:12:32.141
  • We see.
  • 00:12:32.141 --> 00:12:33.475
  • There's no reason that water freezes at 32 degrees.
  • 00:12:33.475 --> 00:12:37.046
  • There's no explanation for why the earth revolves around the
  • 00:12:37.046 --> 00:12:40.282
  • Sun or while summer follows the springtime.
  • 00:12:40.282 --> 00:12:44.420
  • The late norman geisler wrote about the multiple universe
  • 00:12:44.420 --> 00:12:47.890
  • Theory this he said, "the multiple universe theory is
  • 00:12:47.890 --> 00:12:51.360
  • Simply a desperate attempt to avoid the implications
  • 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:56.298
  • Of design.
  • 00:12:56.298 --> 00:12:58.100
  • It doesn't multiply chances.
  • 00:12:58.100 --> 00:13:00.269
  • It multiplies absurdities."
  • 00:13:00.269 --> 00:13:04.039
  • Psalm 14:1, "the fool has said in his heart, 'there is
  • 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:09.712
  • No god.'"
  • 00:13:09.712 --> 00:13:11.046
  • That word fool is the word we get moron from.
  • 00:13:11.046 --> 00:13:15.484
  • You have to be a moron to believe all of this happened
  • 00:13:15.484 --> 00:13:20.656
  • Just by chance.
  • 00:13:20.656 --> 00:13:22.258
  • That's the teleological arguments for the existence of
  • 00:13:22.258 --> 00:13:26.195
  • The universe.
  • 00:13:26.195 --> 00:13:27.730
  • Thirdly, the third piece of evidence, "the anthropological
  • 00:13:27.730 --> 00:13:31.834
  • Evidence," anthropos, meaning man, how do you explain the
  • 00:13:31.834 --> 00:13:36.705
  • Existence of man if you don't believe in god?
  • 00:13:36.705 --> 00:13:40.242
  • Think about, for example, our existence.
  • 00:13:40.242 --> 00:13:44.914
  • Our mere existence.
  • 00:13:44.914 --> 00:13:46.982
  • Think about not only our existence, but a
  • 00:13:46.982 --> 00:13:49.618
  • Human's consciousness.
  • 00:13:49.618 --> 00:13:52.154
  • What is it that gives us an awareness, first of all,
  • 00:13:52.154 --> 00:13:56.926
  • Of ourselves?
  • 00:13:56.926 --> 00:13:58.560
  • I love this.
  • 00:13:58.560 --> 00:13:59.995
  • Allan sandage asked the question, "how is it that
  • 00:13:59.995 --> 00:14:03.899
  • Inanimate matter, non-living matter, how is it that inanimate
  • 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:09.371
  • Matter organized itself to contemplate itself?"
  • 00:14:09.371 --> 00:14:14.576
  • I mean, why are we aware of our own existence?
  • 00:14:14.576 --> 00:14:19.181
  • There's no explanation for that--or think about our
  • 00:14:19.181 --> 00:14:22.384
  • Awareness of god.
  • 00:14:22.384 --> 00:14:24.353
  • Where does that come from?
  • 00:14:24.353 --> 00:14:26.021
  • Now we say, well, the evolutionists would say we're
  • 00:14:26.021 --> 00:14:29.425
  • Wired to believe in god, and we would agree with that.
  • 00:14:29.425 --> 00:14:33.495
  • We believe god is placed on our hearts an awareness of him.
  • 00:14:33.495 --> 00:14:37.866
  • Some people tune that out, but it's there, an awareness of god.
  • 00:14:37.866 --> 00:14:42.805
  • But to say we're spiritually or biologically wired to believe
  • 00:14:42.805 --> 00:14:48.043
  • In god,
  • 00:14:48.043 --> 00:14:49.378
  • For the atheist to claim that is absolutely refute his own theory
  • 00:14:49.378 --> 00:14:53.449
  • Of evolution.
  • 00:14:53.449 --> 00:14:54.783
  • You see, part of the theory of evolution is the survival of the
  • 00:14:54.783 --> 00:14:57.987
  • Fittest, that we are wired in such a way only to do what is in
  • 00:14:57.987 --> 00:15:02.891
  • Our best self-interest.
  • 00:15:02.891 --> 00:15:05.294
  • And while it's true, a belief in god has some benefits to our
  • 00:15:05.294 --> 00:15:09.965
  • Well-being, it also has some downsides to it.
  • 00:15:09.965 --> 00:15:13.235
  • Think about giving your money, that's not operating in your
  • 00:15:13.235 --> 00:15:16.672
  • Best interest, or giving your time to come and worship god.
  • 00:15:16.672 --> 00:15:20.142
  • That's not in your best interest.
  • 00:15:20.142 --> 00:15:22.144
  • Think about the martyrs who were tortured and beheaded and
  • 00:15:22.144 --> 00:15:25.681
  • Murdered in any number of gruesome ways.
  • 00:15:25.681 --> 00:15:28.484
  • Their belief in god didn't lead to their
  • 00:15:28.484 --> 00:15:30.919
  • Immediate self-interest.
  • 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:32.955
  • The fact is there's no explanation for that.
  • 00:15:32.955 --> 00:15:36.558
  • C.s. lewis famously
  • 00:15:36.558 --> 00:15:38.227
  • Argued that our desire for god is one of the
  • 00:15:38.227 --> 00:15:42.164
  • Most convincing arguments for the existence of god.
  • 00:15:42.164 --> 00:15:46.802
  • He wrote it and explained it this way, "creatures are not
  • 00:15:46.802 --> 00:15:50.239
  • Born with desires unless the satisfaction of those
  • 00:15:50.239 --> 00:15:54.443
  • Desires exist.
  • 00:15:54.443 --> 00:15:56.378
  • A baby feels hunger.
  • 00:15:56.378 --> 00:15:58.113
  • Well, there's such a thing as food.
  • 00:15:58.113 --> 00:16:00.315
  • A duckling wants to swim.
  • 00:16:00.315 --> 00:16:02.184
  • Well, there's such a thing as water.
  • 00:16:02.184 --> 00:16:04.319
  • People feel sexual desire.
  • 00:16:04.319 --> 00:16:06.321
  • Well, there's such a thing as sex.
  • 00:16:06.321 --> 00:16:08.957
  • If i find myself in myself a desire which no experience in
  • 00:16:08.957 --> 00:16:14.963
  • This world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that i
  • 00:16:14.963 --> 00:16:20.269
  • Was made for another world."
  • 00:16:20.269 --> 00:16:25.040
  • Where's our consciousness of morality?
  • 00:16:25.040 --> 00:16:27.309
  • Where does that come from?
  • 00:16:27.309 --> 00:16:28.644
  • How do you explain that if we're not designed by god?
  • 00:16:28.644 --> 00:16:32.915
  • Well, people say, well, we're biologically wired to know the
  • 00:16:32.915 --> 00:16:38.921
  • Difference between right and wrong.
  • 00:16:38.921 --> 00:16:41.423
  • If it's just a case of biology, then why do we call
  • 00:16:41.423 --> 00:16:47.396
  • Anything evil?
  • 00:16:47.396 --> 00:16:49.031
  • Why do we call abusing a child evil?
  • 00:16:49.031 --> 00:16:52.634
  • Why don't we call it orange or purple?
  • 00:16:52.634 --> 00:16:56.271
  • Why do we call it evil?
  • 00:16:56.271 --> 00:16:59.041
  • How do we have a sense of right and wrong?
  • 00:16:59.041 --> 00:17:01.977
  • The evolutionist says, well, if it's not just a case of
  • 00:17:01.977 --> 00:17:04.513
  • Biological wiring, every community has to decide for
  • 00:17:04.513 --> 00:17:08.550
  • Itself what's right and what's wrong.
  • 00:17:08.550 --> 00:17:11.453
  • Cultures develop their own standard of what's right and
  • 00:17:11.453 --> 00:17:15.724
  • What's wrong.
  • 00:17:15.724 --> 00:17:17.092
  • That's how we determine the evil and good.
  • 00:17:17.092 --> 00:17:19.962
  • But can you really trust culture to tell you what is right
  • 00:17:19.962 --> 00:17:23.398
  • And wrong?
  • 00:17:23.398 --> 00:17:24.766
  • Can culture tell us what is evil and what is good?
  • 00:17:24.766 --> 00:17:28.904
  • God has stamped on our hearts the awareness, the consciousness
  • 00:17:28.904 --> 00:17:33.041
  • Of good and evil, and that leads to a fourth evidence, a fourth
  • 00:17:33.041 --> 00:17:39.648
  • Argument for the existence of god, and that's the
  • 00:17:39.648 --> 00:17:42.584
  • Experiential evidence.
  • 00:17:42.584 --> 00:17:44.987
  • "why do people find god if he doesn't exist?"
  • 00:17:44.987 --> 00:17:50.025
  • Isn't that interesting?
  • 00:17:50.025 --> 00:17:51.360
  • Why do people keep finding god if he doesn't exist?
  • 00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:56.231
  • Think about the 11 remaining apostles after christ died, and
  • 00:17:56.231 --> 00:18:01.637
  • The 500 witnesses, all of whom said they found, they saw, they
  • 00:18:01.637 --> 00:18:08.043
  • Experienced the resurrected christ.
  • 00:18:08.043 --> 00:18:10.579
  • Now the senate would say "what they were looking for," and
  • 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:13.048
  • That's just the case of wish fulfillment.
  • 00:18:13.048 --> 00:18:16.952
  • But the fact is they weren't looking for the risen christ.
  • 00:18:16.952 --> 00:18:20.489
  • They didn't expect to see him.
  • 00:18:20.489 --> 00:18:22.758
  • In fact, they had written him off.
  • 00:18:22.758 --> 00:18:24.193
  • They thought the crucifixion on good friday ended all of that.
  • 00:18:24.193 --> 00:18:28.096
  • If they had been expecting a resurrection, they would have
  • 00:18:28.096 --> 00:18:30.365
  • Been camped out at the tomb saturday night, waiting for the
  • 00:18:30.365 --> 00:18:34.002
  • Big day, but they weren't, and yet the 11 apostles saw the
  • 00:18:34.002 --> 00:18:39.441
  • Resurrected christ, 500 witnesses saw the resurrected
  • 00:18:39.441 --> 00:18:43.645
  • Christ, even though they weren't looking for him.
  • 00:18:43.645 --> 00:18:46.381
  • And by the way, it wasn't confined to them.
  • 00:18:46.381 --> 00:18:49.184
  • Other people throughout history have found god, not because they
  • 00:18:49.184 --> 00:18:53.589
  • Were running toward him, but because they were running away
  • 00:18:53.589 --> 00:18:56.692
  • From him.
  • 00:18:56.692 --> 00:18:58.060
  • Think about c.s. lewis, even though he grew up
  • 00:18:58.060 --> 00:19:00.996
  • In a religious home, he rejected christianity,
  • 00:19:00.996 --> 00:19:04.399
  • Largely because it offered, he thought, no
  • 00:19:04.399 --> 00:19:06.568
  • Explanation for the existence of evil.
  • 00:19:06.568 --> 00:19:09.605
  • And yet by the time he entered oxford university in 1917, he
  • 00:19:09.605 --> 00:19:14.443
  • Was a full-fledged agnostic, but it was during that time that he
  • 00:19:14.443 --> 00:19:18.814
  • Became friends with j.r. tolkien and owen barfield.
  • 00:19:18.814 --> 00:19:22.985
  • It was during that time that lewis finally abandoned his
  • 00:19:22.985 --> 00:19:26.221
  • Agnosticism and surrendered on his knees to the belief that god
  • 00:19:26.221 --> 00:19:32.060
  • Is god.
  • 00:19:32.060 --> 00:19:33.795
  • He later said he was the most reluctant convert in all
  • 00:19:33.795 --> 00:19:38.066
  • Of england.
  • 00:19:38.066 --> 00:19:39.701
  • In more recent times, agnostic a.n. wilson shook the entire
  • 00:19:39.701 --> 00:19:44.840
  • World when he announced to the world on palm sunday 2009 that
  • 00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:49.845
  • He was renouncing his atheism and returning to
  • 00:19:49.845 --> 00:19:53.215
  • Historic christianity.
  • 00:19:53.215 --> 00:19:55.317
  • In a letter he pinned to the newspaper on the saturday before
  • 00:19:55.317 --> 00:19:58.854
  • Easter 2009, and i remember reading this letter to you all.
  • 00:19:58.854 --> 00:20:03.258
  • A.n. wilson wrote, "my own return to faith has surprised no
  • 00:20:03.258 --> 00:20:08.463
  • One more than myself.
  • 00:20:08.463 --> 00:20:10.299
  • My belief has come about in large measure because of the
  • 00:20:10.299 --> 00:20:13.935
  • Lives and examples of people i have known.
  • 00:20:13.935 --> 00:20:17.306
  • Not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have
  • 00:20:17.306 --> 00:20:22.077
  • Lived and faced death in light of the resurrection story or in
  • 00:20:22.077 --> 00:20:26.848
  • The quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die.
  • 00:20:26.848 --> 00:20:31.353
  • The easter story answers their questions about spiritual
  • 00:20:31.353 --> 00:20:35.057
  • Aspects of humanity.
  • 00:20:35.057 --> 00:20:37.559
  • It changes people's lives because it helps us understand
  • 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.163
  • That we like jesus are born as spiritual beings."
  • 00:20:41.163 --> 00:20:47.736
  • This experiential argument, let me say it again, isn't limited
  • 00:20:47.736 --> 00:20:52.407
  • To any one geographical region, any one time period in history,
  • 00:20:52.407 --> 00:20:57.713
  • To any particular race, the christian message
  • 00:20:57.713 --> 00:21:00.849
  • Is transcendent.
  • 00:21:00.849 --> 00:21:02.584
  • People everywhere in every circumstance have found that god
  • 00:21:02.584 --> 00:21:06.922
  • Even when they weren't looking for him.
  • 00:21:06.922 --> 00:21:09.825
  • Evolution has no answer for that.
  • 00:21:09.825 --> 00:21:12.294
  • Why do so many people find god if he doesn't exist?
  • 00:21:12.294 --> 00:21:16.965
  • And so that brings us down to the question, where does the
  • 00:21:16.965 --> 00:21:20.602
  • Evidence lead us?
  • 00:21:20.602 --> 00:21:22.771
  • Remember, we can't prove there is a god.
  • 00:21:22.771 --> 00:21:25.107
  • The atheists can't prove there isn't a god.
  • 00:21:25.107 --> 00:21:27.809
  • But the question is, where does the evidence lead?
  • 00:21:27.809 --> 00:21:31.680
  • Does the evidence, the very best evidence, argue for or against
  • 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:36.518
  • The existence of god?
  • 00:21:36.518 --> 00:21:38.053
  • You know, every day we are forced to make decisions based
  • 00:21:38.053 --> 00:21:42.924
  • On the best evidence available.
  • 00:21:42.924 --> 00:21:47.429
  • For example, let's just say that you prefer sweetened iced tea,
  • 00:21:47.429 --> 00:21:52.567
  • And somebody sits in front of you two glasses of iced tea and
  • 00:21:52.567 --> 00:21:55.904
  • They said, "now i put a sweetener in one of them, but i
  • 00:21:55.904 --> 00:21:58.740
  • Can't remember which one."
  • 00:21:58.740 --> 00:22:01.009
  • Your chances of picking the sweetened tea would be 50/50.
  • 00:22:01.009 --> 00:22:06.815
  • But even if you picked the wrong glass of tea, it wouldn't be
  • 00:22:06.815 --> 00:22:10.018
  • That big of a deal if you had to drink unsweetened tea.
  • 00:22:10.018 --> 00:22:13.989
  • But just suppose your host said to you, "here are two glasses
  • 00:22:13.989 --> 00:22:17.793
  • Of tea.
  • 00:22:17.793 --> 00:22:19.127
  • I accidentally dropped a cyanide tablet into one of them."
  • 00:22:19.127 --> 00:22:24.166
  • How much evidence would you require before you felt
  • 00:22:24.166 --> 00:22:28.336
  • Confident enough to take one of those glasses?
  • 00:22:28.336 --> 00:22:32.474
  • Now listen to this.
  • 00:22:32.474 --> 00:22:33.809
  • The legal scholar mortimer adler concluded, "more consequences
  • 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:38.747
  • For life and action follow from the affirmation or denial of god
  • 00:22:38.747 --> 00:22:44.786
  • Than from any other question."
  • 00:22:44.786 --> 00:22:47.322
  • Ladies and gentlemen, this is the bottom line question.
  • 00:22:47.322 --> 00:22:52.260
  • Does god exist?
  • 00:22:52.260 --> 00:22:55.330
  • Where does the evidence lead you?
  • 00:22:55.330 --> 00:22:57.999
  • What decision are you going to make?
  • 00:22:57.999 --> 00:23:01.870
  • To ignore the evidence that we've looked at today for the
  • 00:23:01.870 --> 00:23:05.407
  • Existence of god
  • 00:23:05.407 --> 00:23:07.309
  • Is to, like one person said, "slide into eternity with your
  • 00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:12.981
  • Fingers crossed, hoping you're right."
  • 00:23:12.981 --> 00:23:18.887
  • What sane person would ever make that choice?
  • 00:23:18.887 --> 00:23:25.260
  • "the fool has said in his heart, there is no god."
  • 00:23:25.260 --> 00:23:30.665
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:23:30.665 --> 00:23:35.337
  • Jeffress: if you haven't already, it's time to make
  • 00:23:35.337 --> 00:23:37.806
  • That choice.
  • 00:23:37.806 --> 00:23:39.140
  • Is there a god or isn't there?
  • 00:23:39.140 --> 00:23:41.810
  • The evidence is strong and the stakes are high.
  • 00:23:41.810 --> 00:23:45.347
  • You can't sit on the fence forever.
  • 00:23:45.347 --> 00:23:48.517
  • Well, before we wrap up today, let me say a quick word of
  • 00:23:48.517 --> 00:23:51.453
  • Thanks to those of you who give and make this program possible.
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  • Your investment is truly making a difference in the lives of
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  • People you may never meet this side of heaven.
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  • Pathway partner.
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  • Now stay right there.
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  • I'll be back with more "pathway to victory" in just a moment.
  • 00:24:30.225 --> 00:24:34.462
  • Announcer: if a friend or one of your children came up to you and
  • 00:24:34.462 --> 00:24:37.299
  • Asks, "how do you know christianity is the
  • 00:24:37.299 --> 00:24:39.701
  • Right religion?"
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  • Could you give a clear and credible answer?
  • 00:24:41.069 --> 00:24:43.538
  • We'd like to send you a book from dr. robert jeffress
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  • Containing answers to life's seven most important questions.
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  • It's titled "how can i know?"
  • 00:24:50.278 --> 00:24:52.480
  • Jeffress: if we're honest, every one of us has questions about
  • 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:55.417
  • Our faith, questions like, how can i know the bible is true?
  • 00:24:55.417 --> 00:24:59.421
  • Or how can i know god exists?
  • 00:24:59.421 --> 00:25:02.123
  • In my book, "how can i know?"
  • 00:25:02.123 --> 00:25:04.125
  • I tackle seven important questions and provide biblically
  • 00:25:04.125 --> 00:25:07.996
  • Based answers you can embrace with confidence.
  • 00:25:07.996 --> 00:25:11.266
  • Announcer: seven straightforward answers to seven
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  • Pressing questions.
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  • The book "how can i know?"
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  • Is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the
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  • 00:25:34.389 --> 00:25:35.890
  • Jeffress: it's not a sin to have doubts.
  • 00:25:35.890 --> 00:25:39.160
  • Sometimes doubt is a prerequisite to genuine faith.
  • 00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:43.131
  • Announcer: thank you for investing financially in
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  • "pathway to victory."
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  • Your partnership will help our ministry broadcast god's truth
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  • On television, on radio, and online, addressing doubts,
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  • Bold biblical teaching of god's word.
  • 00:25:58.279 --> 00:26:04.486
  • Jeffress: we can't prove the existence of god, but when you
  • 00:26:04.552 --> 00:26:07.989
  • Add up all the evidence, the cosmological, the teleological,
  • 00:26:07.989 --> 00:26:12.360
  • The anthropological and the experiential, i believe it
  • 00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:16.765
  • Clearly points to the reality of god.
  • 00:26:16.765 --> 00:26:20.435
  • Well, in recent decades, i've become increasingly aware of an
  • 00:26:20.435 --> 00:26:24.139
  • Alarming fact.
  • 00:26:24.139 --> 00:26:25.573
  • More and more americans, both christians and non-christians,
  • 00:26:25.573 --> 00:26:29.244
  • Are embracing the idea that all religions are equally valid.
  • 00:26:29.244 --> 00:26:34.315
  • So is christianity really the only right religion, or are
  • 00:26:34.315 --> 00:26:38.953
  • There multiple paths to god?
  • 00:26:38.953 --> 00:26:41.456
  • Stay tuned for a preview of what's coming up next in our
  • 00:26:41.456 --> 00:26:44.125
  • Series, "how can i know?"
  • 00:26:44.125 --> 00:26:47.429
  • Jeffress: only christianity is spelled d-o-n-e, done.
  • 00:26:47.429 --> 00:26:55.003
  • Everything we need has been done by jesus christ.
  • 00:26:55.003 --> 00:26:59.808
  • That's why he said tetelestai, "it is finished,"
  • 00:26:59.808 --> 00:27:05.013
  • Paid in full.
  • 00:27:05.013 --> 00:27:06.981
  • And perhaps that's worth applauding for.
  • 00:27:06.981 --> 00:27:10.652
  • Announcer: set your dvr and join us next time for the message,
  • 00:27:10.652 --> 00:27:13.688
  • "how can i know christianity is the right religion?"
  • 00:27:13.688 --> 00:27:16.825
  • Here on "pathway to victory."
  • 00:27:16.825 --> 00:27:16.825