Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

Preview:

Rev. Canon J.John: The word Christian has got the word Christ in it. If you remove the word Christ from the word Christian, you are left with I-A-N, Ian isn’t gonna help you.

Audience: (laughs).

End of Preview

John Fuller: Today’s guest is British evangelist J.John, with a compelling message on why he’s convinced that Christianity is true. And as you might’ve noticed, there’s going to be some humor in the mix as well. Thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

Jim Daly: You know, it’s important to know why you believe in something, especially something as important as your faith. If you don’t understand the fundamental principles, uh, you can easily be swayed one way or the other. So today we’re providing a unique look at why the Christian faith is something you can have confidence in, and I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy it. As you said, uh, J.John is an evangelist and he’s in great demand around the world. He’s traveled to 69 different countries, has authored several books, and he is one of our most popular guests. Uh, J.John lives near London with his wife Killy. Uh, they have three sons and several grandchildren.

John: And here now is J.John speaking at an Easter service hosted by Hillsong Australia on today’s episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

J.John: Whenever I get asked J.John, what do you do? It’s always very difficult to know what to say because if I say to them that I’m a reverend, which I am, that conjures up certain images in people’s minds. So I often like to be a little bit creative in telling people what I do. I sat next to this woman on an airplane at Heathrow Airport in London, and I said, “Hello.” And she said, “Oh, hello.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I said, “Where are you going?” She says, “I’m going to Singapore.” She said to me, “Where are you going?” I said, “I’m going to Australia.” I said, “What do you do?” So she told me. Then she said, “What do you do?” And I said, “Well-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … “I work for a global enterprise.” She said, “Do you?” I said, “Yes, I do.” I said, “We’ve got outlets in nearly every country of the world.” She said, “Have you?” I said, “Yes, we have.” I said, “We’ve got hospitals, we’ve got hospices, we’ve got homeless shelters, we’ve got orphanages. We do marriage work, we got feeding programs. We do justice work.” I said, “Basically, we look after people from birth to death and we deal in the area of behavioral alteration.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: She went, “Wow.” Like really loud. People all turned around and looked at us. She said, “What’s it called?” I said, “It’s called the church. Have you heard of it?”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: If you are a visitor, you are, you are someone who’s not yet a follower of Jesus and you are here tonight, you have seen something of what the church is. This is the church. What you are seeing and feeling here tonight. Now, I’m going to explain what Christianity is. Now, when I conclude, if you would like to say yes, ’cause you’ve never said yes before, or you used to be a Christian, but you’ve kind of strayed away, or you are not quite sure what it’s all about, but you’d like to begin that journey, I’m going to ask you to stand up. Now, I’m telling you now, so when I tell you later, you are not gonna be surprised.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: It’s like, “Oh yeah, he told us that.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Now, if you do Instagram and you tweet, I’m Canon J.John, if I say anything good, let’s go global. Let’s tweet it.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: If you don’t know if it’s good, I’ll tell you when it’s really good.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Now, the way I’m gonna explain it to you tonight is I’m going to tell you why I am a Christian. Okay? I’m gonna give you four reasons why I’m a Christian. In fact, I could give you more reasons, but I’ve kind of, with the time that I’ve got, I’m gonna give you four reasons why I’m a Christian. Four reasons why you should be a Christian. Now, there’s a very famous verse in the Bible located in John’s Gospel, chapter 3, verse 16. It says this, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. So whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

That little one sentence kind of captures the essence of what Christianity is all about. But a lot of people’s understanding of Christianity is a misunderstanding. Someone said to me, “I, I, I can’t believe in anything I don’t understand.” I said, “Really?” They said, “Yes.” I said, “What do you do?” He says, “Well, I’m involved in agriculture.” I said, “Oh.” I said, “Well, tell me this. How is it possible for a black cow to eat green grass and produce white milk?”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You see, there’s a lot of things we don’t fully understand. You see, there are a lot of people who think that Christians don’t think, and they think that Christians don’t think because Christians don’t think like they think. They think we don’t think at all.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: But we do. So the beginning of the verse for God, God, G-O-D, what does that mean? Did you know that when the first Russian astronaut returned from space, first interview, first question, did you see God? He said, “No, I did not.” The Soviet Union heralded this as proof that God did not exist.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: When the first American astronaut returned from space, first interview, fourth question, “Did you see God?” He said, “I would’ve seen God had I stepped out of my spacesuit.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Two completely different understandings of the word God. There was a little girl that said to her mommy, “Mommy, is God in the house?” The mother thought about it and said, “Yes, yes. He is dear.” And the little girl said, “Mommy, if God’s in the house, is He in the kitchen?” So the mommy thought, He’s in the house. He is. Well, He’s gotta be in the kitchen. “Yes. He is dear.” The little girl said, “Mommy, if God’s in the house and He’s in the kitchen, you know the marmalade jar without the top on it? Is He in the marmalade jar?” What do you reckon? What do you think? You think He’s in there? So, so, so when the kettle’s boiling, He is in there having a sauna.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: No, it’s just good to know what you believe, isn’t it? So the mother thought, He’s in the house, He’s in the kitchen. Yes. A- a- and thought about the marmalade jar. “Yes, He is dear.” And the little girl went, “I’ve got Him.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You see a lot of people do that, and a lot of people feel that they want to say, “This is God. God is unboxable.”

Audience: Amen.

J.John: You can’t box God in. It’s only as we come humbly to God that we can begin to fathom and understand who God is. If you and I could fully fathom and understand God, He would be the same as our little minds. Therefore, He wouldn’t be worth believing in.

Audience: Yeah, yeah. Okay.

J.John: You see, too many people today ask the wrong questions. And if you ask the wrong questions, you can never get the right answers.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Now, the first reason why I’m a Christian is because Christianity is true.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Here’s the good question to ask. Has God revealed Himself? Has God spoken, has He? Well, the Bible… In the Bible, we have an account of how God has revealed Himself. God spoke in creation. There is enough in creation for us to encounter the Creator. But most people who like creation aren’t interested in the Creator. God has spoken through history, but God’s greatest revelation of Himself for all people, for all cultures, for all times, was in Jesus Christ.

Now, here’s a really good question. How do we know Jesus was the one? That’s a good question. I agree. Now, the Bible, you got two testaments in the Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament. Now, between the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and the first book of the New Testament, Matthew, there are over 500 years of silence when God does not speak and nothing is communicated. In the Old Testament of the Bible, there are what are called Messianic prophecies. These prophecies tell you about the arrival of the King of Heaven on earth.

I’ve got lots of friends in the Middle East because I’ve done a lot of work there in the Middle East. I’ve got lots of rabbi friends. I said to one of my rabbi friends, I said, “Rabbi.” I said, “Let’s just read all the Messianic prophecies.” I said, “Rabbi, how many are there?” He said, “300.” I said, well, “Actually 322.” He says, “Yes, of course, yes, of course.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: So I said, “You read one, I read one. You read one. I’ll read one. You read one. I’ll read one. When we’ve read all 322, I’ll just say to you, “Rabbi, does that remind you of anyone?”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: ‘The 322 prophecies, tell you where he is gonna be born, how he’s gonna be born, how he’s gonna grow up, what he’s going to say, how he’s going to die. You’ve even got the number of coins that will be used to betray him. Do you know what the mathematical compound probability is of 322 prophecies being fulfilled in one man at one moment in time, it is one over 84 with 100 zeros. In other words, it doesn’t happen every day.”

Audience: (laughs).

John: Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, we’re listening to J.John and, uh, he’s a terrific speaker. He’s also a great writer. He’s got a book on this topic called Jesus Christ – The Truth. We’ve got that, uh, available for you for a gift of any amount to the ministry of Focus on the Family. Donate today, request that book, and, uh, we’ll also give you free access to the J.John Audio Collection. It features almost three hours of content from him, including this message. So donate today and, uh, request those resources at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast or call for details. Our number is 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY, 800-232-6459. And let’s return now to more from British evangelist J.John.

J.John: But it’s not just based on Jesus fulfilling these prophecies. It is not just based on His teaching. It is not just based on His life. It is not just based on His death. It is based on His resurrection.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: His resurrection. In the 18th century, there was a man called Gilbert West, who he didn’t like it that alot of his friends were becoming Christians. So he decided that he would write a book to disprove the resurrection, because if you can disprove the resurrection, you can disprove Christianity. So he started researching, he started writing the book. Halfway through the book, he met Jesus. So he wrote his book the other way round.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I’ve got one of the original copies that he wrote in the 18th century. In the 19th century, there was a very famous atheist in America called Ingersoll. He didn’t like it that Christianity was growing. He had a great friend who was a very famous general called General Lew Wallace. He said to his friend, “Lew, you’ve gotta help me out and let’s damage Christianity. Let’s damage the church. Why don’t you write a book to disprove the resurrection?” So Lew Wallace began to write his book. Lew Wallace actually had a wife who was a Christian, so she was praying while he was writing.

He got to chapter four. He met Jesus. So he wrote his book the other way round. His book is called Ben-Hur. In the 20th century, there was a lawyer and a journalist called Frank Morrison. He decided that he would shatter Christianity and he’d write, and the only way you can do that is to disprove the resurrection. So he’s a journalist. He knows how to, you know, uh, research, but he’s also a lawyer. He knows how to play around with the material, but-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … but he got so much evidence. Halfway through the book, he met Jesus. So he wrote his book the other way round. His book is called Who Moved the Stone? So if you are in a hurry to meet Jesus, try and write a book to disprove the resurrection.

Audience: (laughs and applause)

J.John: If you are walking down a street, you get to the end of the street and the street branches into two, you don’t know which way to go left, right. I don’t know. There are two men lying there. One’s dead, one’s alive. Which one would you ask for directions?

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: The reason I am a Christian is because Jesus Christ is alive. His resurrection authenticates everything that He said, everything that He did. After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent 40 days before His ascension into Heaven. During the 40-day period that He taught, He neither withdrew nor added anything that He had taught the previous three years. That is why we can believe Jesus about the past, about the present, and about the future. I’m a Christian because Christianity is true.

Audience: Yeah. (Applause)

J.John: If that’s why you should be a Christian. Do you know I’ve got three more reasons why I’m a Christian, but that’s in fact that is so good.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You should become a Christian now.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: But wait, wait, wait, wait. We, I’ll give you a few more reasons. The second reason why I’m a Christian is because I need forgiveness.

Audience: Yes.

J.John: I need forgiveness. A mother said to her husband, “Darling, look after Annie for me,” their daughter. So the father said, “Okay,” but he thought, what could he do to occupy his daughter? He’s flicking through a magazine. He sees a map of the world. He says, “Annie, watch what I’m going to do.” He cut the map of the world into small squares and he muddled them all over the floor. He says, “Annie, I want you to put the squares back together again to make the map of the world. When you’ve done that, come and find me.” So the father thought, good, that’ll keep her busy. Couple of minutes later, she said, “Daddy, I’ve done it.”

He thought she couldn’t have done it. Went to have a look. All the squares were put in exactly the right place. He says, “Annie, how did you know where to put all the squares?” She said, “Well, when you were cutting the map out, I looked on the other side and I saw a picture of a man and a woman, and I thought, if I could put the man and the woman back together again, I could put the world back together again.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.

Audience: Wow.

J.John: Repeat. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. You should say that to somebody tomorrow. Did you know-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart? And they’ll go, “Wow.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: It’s at the heart. It’s the heart, it’s there in the heart. Now, let me explain to you in a slightly different way. Just imagine you passed outta this life now. This is just an analogy.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You woke up in a gigantic theater in front of you is a huge screen. All of a sudden, the doors open, an angel flies in, comes up to you and says, welcome to the Theater of Judgment. Relax.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Watch the screen. There on the screen you see your life. Everything you ever did here on earth, everything you ever said here on earth and everything you ever thought, those are what are called the sins of commission. But then you proceed to watch the sins of omission. All the things we should have done, but we didn’t do. At the end of the film, as you are recovering-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … the angel comes back and says, relax. There’s going to be a second showing. All the people who were featured in the film of your life are all waiting outside. We’re just gonna let them in to come and view your life a second time. How would you feel if your life were judged on that basis? That is exactly how God judges us in an instant. I don’t know about you, me. I would not want a private viewing, let alone a public viewing of my life. I do not need convincing that I thought said and done things that I shouldn’t have.

And there are things I should have done, but I didn’t do. And what a lot of people don’t realize is all that stuff on the film has the consequence of disconnecting us from God. And it works a bit like an overdraft in a bank account. If you have an overdraft, I have an overdraft, you can’t help me, I can’t help you. The only one who can help us is someone in credit.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: But a lot of people won’t admit and acknowledge that. So what do a lot of people do in the world? They, they kind of deflect it. They go, “Oh no, it wasn’t my fault. Wasn’t my fault. No, not, not my fault. It was the parents. It is the, you know, the teachers. No, not me, not me.” You know? Yeah. They try and def- kind of deflect it on somebody else. Others deny it. Other people feel so uncomfortable with it. They try and drown it. Listen, if you are guilty in the sight of God, you cannot deny it. You cannot deflect it. You cannot drown it.

The only way you can get rid of it is to dissolve it in the blood of Jesus.

Audience: Wow.

J.John: I’m a Christian because I need forgiveness. I need forgiveness. I gave a whole series of lectures at Oxford University and after my final lecture is like, I must have given about 16 lectures. And the student comes up to me and he says, “I’ve listened to all your lectures and I’ve enjoyed the, dah, dah, dah.” I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” You know, and then he goes, this is what he said, “But personally, I believe Christianity is a crutch.” And I looked at him and I thought, “I hope you break your legs.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Random thought. Random thought. Random thought. And then I said to him, “Listen, if you broke both of your legs, would you appreciate the use of a wheelchair to get around?” He says, “Yes, I would.” I said, “If you broke one leg, would you appreciate the use of crutches to get around?” He says, “Yes, I would.” I said, “I’m a broken person. So are you. I’ve never met a person who isn’t broken, and I’m so pleased I can lean on Jesus while He’s putting me back together again.”

John: And that’s where we’re gonna have to press pause on this message from British evangelist J.John, we’ll hear his conclusion next time.

Jim: What a powerful presentation and what a great message for these challenging times. I really loved hearing those stories that J.John shared about people who didn’t believe in Jesus Christ, who actually set out to disprove Christianity and ended up becoming believers. How awesome.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And isn’t it incredible to see that God seems to reveal Himself to at least one atheist leader for each generation as J.John pointed out. With the lives of Gilbert West, Lew Wallace and Frank Morrison, God cares that much about us to inspire one of our peers to carry His message to our own generation.

John: Mm-hmm. And of course, just recently we’ve heard similar stories from, uh, John Burke. He was a skeptic about Christianity, but ended up becoming a believer after he interviewed literally hundreds of people who had had near death experiences. Uh, and then Lee Strobel who said he was an adamant atheist and journalist before he began researching the claims of Jesus as the Messiah. It really is fascinating to see how a true faith can come out of that kind of intense study.

Jim: Yes, it is. It makes their message probably the most powerful witness, the most powerful example that we have. Here you’ve got somebody who is dead set against Jesus Christ, and then they start digging into His claims to do harm. And who does that sound like? Uh, the Apostle Paul-

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … you know, he was determined to stop the Jesus followers, to rid the world of this sect that was doing so much damage to the Jewish orthodoxy. And then Jesus Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and Paul heard a voice saying, “Why are you persecuting me?” And he became an evangelist to the entire non-Jewish world. And boy, evangelism is our main purpose here at Focus on the Family to be able to provide the channels for the gospel message to go out around the world. Literally, many of our listeners don’t know that Focus on the Family programs are heard outside the US on about 600 radio stations in 55 countries around the world.

Uh, we also have podcast listeners and people who access our YouTube channel from all around the globe. And we are having together a big impact. You know, every day we get letters like this one from Mark. He said, “Thank you Focus on the Family for bringing me back to Christ. I grew up in a Christian home, but as I got older, I fell away from the faith, but I felt guilty about how I was living. One day I was fed up with my usual music station and changed the channel, stumbling upon Focus on the Family.” And that man, how many times have we heard that testimony?

John: Yeah. Lots of people accidentally hear us, and usually it turns out pretty well.

Jim: And Mark went on to say, “I started listening faithfully and really appreciated Jim’s caring heart.” That’s kind.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: Um, he says, “It was your program that brought me back to the Lord.”

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: That’s great.

John: That is awesome. And it’s amazing to hear how God works through these shows.

Jim: That’s the kind of response that we love to see. And if you are in that place of coming back to the Lord, or if you know someone who is on the fence about Christianity, let me recommend a very practical book from J.John called Jesus Christ – The Truth. Does getting plainer than that.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: In it, he addresses two main questions. Who was Jesus and what did He teach? This would be an ideal book to give to a new believer or to someone who wants to be sure they have a firm grasp on the foundations of our faith. And you can get your copy, uh, from us here at Focus on the Family, where the proceeds go right back into spreading the gospel. And we’d be happy to send the book to you for a generous donation of any amount. And when you visit us online, we’ll give you access to a free audio bundle of four inspirational broadcasts from J.John, including today’s message with extra content.

John: Yeah, that audio collection is almost three hours long, and you can download that today. Uh, find that and J.John’s book at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast, or call us if you’d like some help with that 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY, 800-232-6459. Next time, J.John will continue to explain why he’s a Christian.

J.John: You and I cannot altar the past, but we can bring the past to the altar of God.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: And we can be cleansed and set free. I’m a Christian because Jesus died on the cross for me to purchase for me forgiveness from the past.

John: On behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.