This is “The 25th Bear”. Of all the bears in the wild, only one out of 25 bears are wired to kill you. The rest are just as scared of you as you are of them. But this one in 25 will lock in on you and attack. There are angry bears and if you are going to places you know you shouldn’t go or doing things you know you shouldn’t do, it’s not too late. But please beware: you may be one encounter away from that 25th bear. Confess and repent today and do not take one more step in that direction. Accept that you need help and ask the Lord to help you. You don’t have to be a victim of that 25th bear. There is nothing you have done that God cannot or will not forgive today. Confess it and repent today and be free.
♪ ♪
>> Hello, and welcome
to Kingdom Connection
I really want to thank you
for watching today.
The message that you’re
gonna hear I believe is
one that will open your eyes
and change your life.
I shared it at our annual
Forward Youth conference
right here in Atlanta, Georgia.
And so, today I want you
to listen to this message.
I believe —
and you may wonder,
“Where in the world is he
going with this message?”
Just listen to it
because there’s a truth
and a revelation in it
that you’ll never forget.
Let’s go into that service.
♪ ♪
>> If you have your Bibles,
open them with me
to the book of 2 Kings 2.
2 Kings 2.
And I’ve got something
I want to share
and it’s real
in my heart tonight
and I pray that God
before I’m finished —
I don’t preach long,
I’m on a clock right now
and I’ve —
if you’ve got a clock
you can set it,
I’ll be done in about
27 minutes.
2 Kings 2,
this is what it says,
verse 23, “Then he,”
Speaking of Elisha,
“went up there to Bethel;
and as he was
going up the road,
some youths came
from the city.”
Everybody say,
“Some youths,
some young people.”
Turn to somebody and say,
“That’s us.”
>> CONGREGATION: That’s us.
>> “Came from the city
and mocked him,” who?
The old prophet, Elisha.
“And they said to him,
‘Go up your baldhead!
Go up, you baldhead!’
and he turned around
and looked at them,
and pronounced a curse —
he didn’t cuss ’em out,
he didn’t say he cussed ’em,
it said he cursed them.
Meaning in this text,
I looked it up the other day
and one translation said,
“He turned them over
to the Lord.
He cursed them
in the name of the Lord
and two female bears
came out of the woods
and maul forty-two
of the youth.”
That’s what I’mma preach on.
I’m not preaching
on the three bears,
I’m preaching on
the two she bears.
Notice the Bible said
they were she bears,
you know why?
Because she bears are
meaner than he bears.
[Applause]
Especially when you
mess with their cubs.
We all know your momma
will kill somebody
if they mess with you.
I wanna talk to you about
this strange text in the Bible.
It seems brutal,
it seems vicious.
Forty-two young people
splattered and torn
to pieces by two bears
because they were mocking
and attacking and belittling,
not just the messenger
but the message
going to Bethel,
going with the word
of the Lord.
They were part of the place
that he was going to
but they had lost something
in the house of the Lord,
a reverence for God.
Sometime ago,
it’s hard to even find it
in print but you can.
A man wrote a book
by the name of Frank Dufresne,
he’s the former director
of the Alaska gang commission.
A forest ranger.
He lived his whole life,
most of his adult life
in the forest with
grizzly bears on an island.
He studied them for decades
and he wrote a book called,
“No Room for Bears.”
He points out that there’s
a huge difference between
grizzly bears,
or what is called brown bears,
and black bears.
Black bears are what we have
in Georgia and Florida
and the east coast,
for the most part
all the way up.
Black bears are much smaller.
The biggest they’ll get,
maybe a large male
500-600 pounds
but a grizzly bear is
totally different
from a black bear.
They’re only on the other side
of the Mississippi
and mostly on the west coast.
This man who wrote this book
was at a place,
an island in Alaska
that’s famous.
It has all the time more than
1,600 grizzly bears on it.
Trophy bears, the largest bears
in the world live on this island
and he studied them for decades.
He said that he tells
in the book one story
about how that there
was call that there was
a problem with
a very aggressive bear.
I’m going somewhere
so just let me do
what I wanna do right now.
So they got a call that
there was a very aggressive bear
on the island and it —
every time bears
outnumber people there 30 to 1.
For every person on the island
there’s 30 grizzly bears.
And this particular bear
they were afraid was responsible
for taking human life.
And so —
they, this ranger get’s
an assistant that he’s training,
the trainees name was Jose.
And they go into this island
and they said when
they got into the island
that there was a area
of the stream
where there were about
15 bears that hung out
and that’s where
they were told this
extremely aggressive grizzly
would be in that area.
And he said as soon as
they got into that area
they got the most
creepiest feeling.
And the experience
forest ranger —
Only one of them had
a rifle, I must add,
and that was the experienced
forest ranger.
The trainee was not
allowed to bring a rifle.
And the experienced ranger
turns and he says,
“I think he’s close.”
The young man starts
looking around
and suddenly he sees
through the branches
the piercing red eyes
of a massive grizzly bear
and all that he said
he could see was
his lips snarled up
and his brown teeth.
And when he touched
the forest ranger
and got his attention to look
the forest ranger hit
his safety on his gun
and just loaded the shell
and the second he did
that bear that was 20 yards
away started charging.
The forest ranger shot
that bear and hit it
and tried to rechamber
but before he could do it,
in less than 1 ½ second,
that bear covered 20 yards
and was on top of
that forest ranger.
Jose the trainee
was knocked back into
a thorny area
and rolled down a hill
and into a stream
and finally just climbed up
a tree and waited
and he had to hear
the horror of the man
who was supposed to train him
how to deal with and recognize
and be aware of grizzly bears
and get along with them
and he said he listened
to that bear as it ripped
and tore that man to pieces
and he was helpless without
a gun to do a thi —
anything about it.
He said, “I listened to
the man who was supposed
to train me be murdered
by a grizzly bear.”
A few months later
he decided to go back,
he felt like he needed to finish
what that bear started
and he said that
they went back in,
that one man went back
in about a year later
after he had trained.
And he said he got in a tree
and he did things to kill
his scent so the bear
wouldn’t have the advantage
of knowing where he was
and he got set
and in camouflage.
And he said, within
a few minutes he got set,
he said suddenly
he felt that creepy feeling
and here comes that bear,
that massive bear coming
through that forest
popping his jaws
because that’s what they do
when they’re really ticked
and they think somebody’s
on their turf.
Popping his jaws
angry and mad.
He said, “The moment
that I chambered the bullet
he turned and started charging,”
and was almost on him
and he shot and it severed
the spine of that massive,
massive grizzly
and it fell dead.
And when they checked him
and he had one place
where he had been wounded,
where the other ranger
that had been killed
had shot him.
And here’s why I told you
all of that because
I think it’s important.
They have determined,
scientist, bear people
who study these animals,
especially grizzly bears.
They have determined that
all bears are not
looking for a fight.
All bears are not angry
and killers and vicious
and aggressive.
They will if they have to
but most of the time,
even grizzly bears,
they’re not necessarily
looking to kill somebody
and this is what the man
determined after doing
extensive studies
and this is well documented.
He said, “Only one out
of 25 grizzly bears
will stalk you and kill you
and track you and aggressively
try to kill you on purpose.”
They call it the 25th grizzly.
And this is what it says
if you look up
the 25th grizzly.
It is a scientific
and studied phenomenon
that 1 out of 25 grizzlies
are not looking for
a peace treaty
under any conditions.
Here’s the actual definition
of the 25th grizzly,
“One that tolerates
no man or bear.
One that will kill
without bias.”
Only 1 out of 25
really will not back down.
Most of the time
if you’re out in the forest
and they hear you,
they’ll take off.
Or maybe you have to say,
“Hey bear!
Hey bear!”
And they’ll take off.
That’s why they tell you
if you’re walking through
the forest where
there are bears,
don’t surprise them.
Speak up and say something
and usually they’ll
just run off.
But 1 out of 25 grizzlies
they say what you ought
to do if you see a bear
who’s is a, y’know,
make yourself as big as you can
and get loud if you have to
and, “Hey bear!”
And usually they’ll take off
but if you do that
to the 25th bear.
See, the problem is,
you don’t know which number
you’re dealing with.
They don’t wear numbered
football jerseys,
they don’t go through the,
“I’m number 12,
you don’t have
to worry about me.
I’m number one,
you don’t have
to worry about me.”
Oh you got a bunch more,
“I’m number 18,
you can do it
all you wanna do it.
And come in this area
and do anything you wanna do
and I won’t mess with you.”
But they’re not numbered,
you never know when you’re
coming up on bear number 25.
And if it’s number 25
and you say, “Hey bear!”
And you stand there trying
to look big and bad,
he’ll say,
“Challenge accepted.
I’m going to tear you
to pieces.”
I don’t speak Latin
but let me give you
the scientific name
for the grizzly bear,
this is the Latin name
and scientific name.
Ursus arctos horribilis.
I’m not making this up
and I don’t understand Latin,
I don’t understand
the first two words
but I do get the last word,
horribilis.
I can translate that.
It means horrible bear.
It means this thing is
horror-able.
It is able to bring horror
to your life like you
can not even imagine.
It’s a horribilis,
it’s a horrible bear.
It’s got claws,
it’s got teeth,
it’s mighty,
it’s 1,100 pounds,
it’s ten feet tall
and it is not afraid
and it is not going to back up.
If you come on its territory,
it’s going to be horrible.
I’ll tell you it’s horrible
what sin can do
to somebody’s life,
that’s full of potential.
They’re some places
and some people
and some things
you just can’t touch.
One unguarded moment,
Samson kept going to Delilah
and at first he held
the secrets back,
at first he didn’t tell her
and she would get him to lay
his head in her lap
and he had the long hair
and she would run her fingers
through his hair
and she would say,
“Tell me the secret
to your power.”
And at first he wouldn’t do it
and the thing about that story
that drives me crazy
is how could he keep laying
his head down after
the first time he should’ve
got his wake-up call.
When he told her,
he said, “Y’know,
if you do this or you do that
then I’ll lose my power.”
And she told the Philistines
while he was sleeping
and when he woke up
the Philistines come running in
and they try to bind him up
with chords and it didn’t work
and he broke the chords
and he slew ’em.
He should’ve known then
this situation right here
is not my friend.
But he kept going back
and laying down
and doing it again
and doing it again
and doing it again
and finally the 25th bear
showed up.
You can’t just keep
doing things that you know
are not right.
Finally, Samson laid down
and she said,
“Tell me the secret.”
And my point to you
is not just to tell you
horrible stories
but I have lived long enough,
I have had that bear
come into my home,
into my family
and try its best to kill,
steal and destroy
on levels that
I cannot even speak of.
And I told God if ever
got to preach at
Forward Conference again,
I was gonna make hell pay.
[Cheering]
It’s not gonna happen to you
and it’s not gonna happen to you
and it’s not gonna happen
to you and you.
We’re not gon’ drop you off
in a drug rehab,
we’re not gonna
do that to you.
You’re not gonna do it,
you’re gonna say,
“My body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost.”
You’re gonna say,
“I’ve got a purpose
greater than anything
this world can offer me.”
[Applause]
Come on, somebody.
Somebody reach out to God.
Somebody who’s fighting
with a bear.
Somebody who’s really
got a problem
and you can’t —
you can’t just cover it up.
You need help!
You know what I read?
I mean, you keep doing it,
it’s just a matter of time
twenty five is gon’ show up,
“But I been doing it so long
it’s just —
If something doesn’t
hurt it’s okay.
It’s —
I’m used to it.”
You can’t keep doing things
that are blatantly wrong
and it be okay.
Repent means to turn completely
in the opposite direction
and get as far out of there
as you can get.
You know what I read?
They said,
“There’s three things
you ought to do
if a grizzly’s coming after you
or you come up on one
on a trail.”
Number one, they said,
basically group up.
Get in a group.
If there’s any other people
out there and they’re
walking up the trail,
all of y’all need
to get together.”
And I thought,
“My goodness.”
Because you look real vulnerable
when you’re isolated
all by yourself.
But we’re in
a big ol’ group here
and Satan is trembling.
The greater is He that is in us
and if you’re weak
I’m gonna reach up
and pick you up
and when I’m weak you can
reach up and pick me up.
But you know
what else they said?
They said,
“Make a lot of noise.”
[Cheering]
It’s more than noise
when you praise the Lord
because his blood
has made you righteous.
His blood has taken the shame
and the guilt.
His blood has redeemed you.
He hung on that cross.
That bear that tore Him up
on that cross,
it ripped His back,
it tore His face off.
He had scars
all over His body.
He took the attack
of the grizzly of sin.
He conquered the 25th grizzly
that wants to destroy
your destiny.
He already defeated it.
So make some noise
and say, “Jesus!
Jesus, you are my refuge!
Jesus, you are
my hiding place!”
[Cheering]
And lastly,
I promise you this
is the truth.
The difference between
a smaller black bear
and a massive grizzly bear
is if you climb up a tree
and a black bear is after you,
they can climb better
than you can.
A black bear
will go right up,
I know ’cause
I’ve seen ’em do it
and they’ll be right on ya.
But a grizzly is
so big and heavy
they cannot climb trees.
Never will you see
a grizzly climb a tree.
Brown bears can’t climb.
And I thought, “Well,
get in a good group,
make some noise
and climb up higher.”
[applause]
Get up on your feet,
get up higher,
get up higher.
We’re not a bunch
of defeated people,
we’re not afraid
of the bear,
we’re not afraid of anything
in our culture, our society
because the blood of Jesus
make us overcomers.
Now lift up your voice
and begin to say, “God,
I’m bringing that bear
to you tonight.”
[Applause]
♪ ♪
>> I wanna encourage you
today to pray.
Maybe you’re dealing with
a bear in your life
and you know it’s that
25th bear.
It’s that one
that will kill you
and destroy you if you
don’t get God’s help,
if you don’t get God’s grace
and God’s deliverance.
That’s why you’re
watching this program.
Pray this prayer with me.
Say, “Jesus, save me.
Jesus, Your body hung
on that cross
and it was ripped
to shredded pieces.
Torn to pieces by the whips
and the nails and the hammers
and O God, they —
the suffering that You took,
You look like You had been
attacked by a grizzly.
You who knew no sin
became my sin
so that I could be
completely cleansed
and forgiven.
Jesus, save me,
Jesus, forgive me,
Jesus, deliver me,
Jesus, I need help,
put me in touch with
the help that I need.
Turn my life around
in Jesus’ name.”
I want you to do something,
I want you to reach out
to our team.
Call the number that’s
on the screen.
It is so important,
it’ll encourage you.
They will —
there’s people ready
to pray with you.
Go to our website
and fill out the salvation form
and we’ll send you
a 21 day devotional
that will help you map out
the next 21 days
in your next relationship
with Jesus Christ.
Before we leave,
I wanna thank you
for your amazing response
to our Life is Beautiful
mobile medical clinic.
We’re teaming up with
Save the Storks
and with your help,
we’re purchasing our first
mobile medical clinic.
It is a state of the art
mobile medical clinic
equipped to offer
pregnancy tests, ultrasounds
and many other medical tests
that will save women lives.
It’s all free.
These busses will have
registered nurses
and counselors
and trained staff
that will drive it
all over the state.
Because its mobile,
it can go to places
that need it to the most.
We’ll also walk alongside
these precious mothers
and their newborns
for two years after birth.
Providing them with
the necessities
that they need
to care for their newborn.
God has a plan
for every unborn life.
Will you step up
and give a special
one time gift this month.
When you do, you’re saying,
“Life is Beautiful,
and I wanna help spread
the love of Jesus.”
We cannot make this new dream
happen without you,
please help us.
Pray and ask God
what He would have you do,
I know it will be enough.
Life is beautiful
and if you only save one life,
just one, it would be
worth it all.
Thank you for watching
this program
and thank you for giving.
>> ANNOUNCER: Every year
there are 78 million
abortions worldwide,
in the US alone there are
3,000 abortions every day.
Tragically, 22% of
all pregnancies in the US
end in abortion.
At Jentezen Franklin
Media ministries
we believe God has called us
to step up and do more for
the unborn and more for
the women who face
such life and death decisions.
And now we are launching
a brand new initiative
called “Life Is Beautiful.”
We know that more than 80%
of abortion-minded women
choose life after
they see their
unborn child on ultrasound.
Because of generous viewers
like you we are purchasing
our very first mobile
medical clinic.
It is a state-of-the-art
mobile clinic equipped
to offer pregnancies test,
ultrasounds, and other
medical tests to women
all at no cost.
And since it’s mobile
it not only allows
pregnancy centers to have
a greater reach
in the community
but allows women
to understand her full range
of options and provide
the support and resources
she needs to feel fully
empowered and informed.
This mobile clinic is
staffed with professional
nurses and doctors
who are trained to offer
qualified care.
In addition to testing
and ultrasounds,
for up to two years after birth,
we will walk with these
new mothers and provide them
and their baby with the care
and basic necessities
that they need to grow.
We believe all life
is beautiful
and your support today
will have an immediate impact
as we launch this new initiative
and together can see
a life saved.
[Baby crying]
>> We cannot just sit back
and think that we can have
our church services
and never address
the issues that everybody out
there is thinking about
and for preachers and pastors
to not stand up in the pulpit
and say something
is almost bizarre.
We are salt and light
and it’s not about
my opinion and your opinion.
When God called me to preach
Billy Graham used to say,
“The Bible says.
The Bible says.”
In our preaching
we don’t have to get up
and take a left position
or a right position,
just say, “The Bible says.”
and say it without apology.
Say it without —
Say it —
the Bible said,
“Speak the truth in love.”
♪ ♪
>> Mentoring moments
with Jentezen Franklin
and Marcus Mecum
now available wherever
you get your podcasts.
♪ ♪
>> For more information
about this message
and other ministry resources,
visit us online at
JentezenFranklin.tv.
♪ ♪