tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42166245518406516672024-03-05T23:21:00.157-08:00Adventist Sermons And MusicVideo, audio and text Adventist Sermons from some of the best teachers, musicians and preachers in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It also includes Adventist music.Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-4508953253079739392015-08-03T15:19:00.002-07:002016-06-15T15:58:38.671-07:00I Want My Church Back! - CD Brooks Sermon Transcript<div style="text-align: justify;">
I Want My Church Back!</div>
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<a href="http://www.christiansermonsandmusicvideos.com/2015/07/resurrection-of-dead-at-second-coming.html" target="_blank">C. D. Brooks</a> </div>
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Speaker Emeritus, Breath of Life </div>
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In the writings of<a href="http://newchristianherald.org/adventist-home/" target="_blank"> Ellen G. White</a>, that inside information which God sent just to us, the Lords servant draws a line over here against this extreme, and then she draws a line over there against that extreme. Ive been doing this for years. But notice, she leaves a broad swath down the middle. I can walk here and you can walk there, and were still within the safety zone. We dont have to think alike. We dont have to wear a uniform. You can be you and I can be me, but lets stay in the safety zone; were better off near the middle of the road, avoiding the perilous ditches on both sides of the Christian pathway.</div>
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We are now facing an unusual time in which those on the inside of our church are questioning our distinctive teachings and doctrines more than those who despise us. Many of us are walking away from the mandate that God gave to us.</div>
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A brilliant professional friend of mine called me long distance. In an almost desperate tone, he said, "Charles, I want my church back!" Then with anguish in his voice, he said, "I dont know if I can ever get it back!"</div>
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Preach Our Message!</div>
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My dear fellow workers, I want to tell you today, that one of the powerful keys to success and power in our churches and our pulpits and in our evangelism is resolute faithfulness to the word of God, and to the message God has given to us to preach!</div>
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We must preach our message. All of it! There are forces that seem to be dismantling what was so laboriously put together under the indispensable aid of the Holy Ghost. There is a picture of erudition which we carelessly call scholarship, but which is more scholasticism. Ellen White says its as certain that we have the truth as that God lives. She spoke of a platform of truth. She knew that wed always be gathering sources and resources, but she said, "Dont get off the platform." The Holy Spirit is not one to foster confusion, and He does not divide the saints. He may bring separation from the mixed multitude, but not from the saints.</div>
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Awesome Prophecy. Amongst us there are those who appear to be tired of our message, bored with it. There is a swelling cry for something different, unique. Some are saying, "We want a modern message designed for young people." That doesn't go along with the awesome prophecy of Malachi 4, for when the Elijah message comes, just before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the Bible says the hearts of the fathers and the children will be turned together. We are not to be divided by age and generation.</div>
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The media use the term simulcast, meaning that they are broadcasting in English and Spanish and other languages at the same time. But to us the gospel is coming down from glory simulcast. I've preached to little children and they've come up and said, "I enjoyed your sermon." And I thought it was too heavy for them.</div>
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My beloved fellow workers, loose liberalism does not accomplish what we think it will accomplish. George Whital, writing in Washingtonian Magazine, says, "The churches that make the greatest doctrinal and moral demands on their members" (he mentions the evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants) "are growing. Their churches are booming. In contrast," he says, "the churches that have a hard time telling you why you ought to be a Christian, the churches of the old main line, like the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and the United Church of Christ, have been hemorrhaging congregants since the mid-60s. It is vanilla Protestantism that is dying." And then he says, "Theological friendliness, avant-garde worship, and political correctness are a prescription for ecclesiastical catastrophe. Millions are leaving because they have no good reason to stay."</div>
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No Discipline, No Care</div>
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A blond girl came into my office at one of our colleges where I was preaching and burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. When I asked her problem, she said, "Pastor, my parents dont love me."</div>
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I said, "How can you say that? They are sacrificing to keep you here and you are dressed very well. Theyve taken good care of you. Why do you say that?"</div>
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She said, "Because they dont care what I do."</div>
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Young and old need the discipline of the Word of God. When people feel like they can do what they please, then the church loses its premium value. They figure we dont care. But "feel-goodism" is pervading our congregations, creeping in, and our churches and our schools are floundering. Our church income is being depleted. We had our biggest budget crisis this year.</div>
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The devil is playing every device he can. Im going to do a little tongue in cheek, dont get angry with me. The devil is pleading, "Culture! And pluralism! And scholarship!" He impresses many of us to try to modernize God by humanizing Him. God already answered that one. He said, "I am the Lord, I change not! I am the same yesterday, and today, and forever!" (Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8).</div>
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Relevant. I hear a lot about, "Oh, we need someone now to make Scripture relevant!" Fellow workers, I wouldn't talk like this to just anybody. I am glad I can speak to my fellow workers. If God said it, its relevant! Its our extraneous ideas about what He says that are irrelevant!</div>
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Paul said, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit" (Col 2:8). The preaching of the Word, even with love and tact and diplomacy, will inevitably cause confrontation with our sinful, carnal natures. We are not called to make the Word popular, but to preach it with power! Im one of those transition preachers, a connecting link between the old and the new. Those old war-horses, they preached it straight.</div>
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George Peters, Frank Peterson, W.W. Fordham, J. H. Wagner, J. H. Lawrence, P. M. Rowethey stood up for the right. They placed the burden on the Holy Ghost. The message poured out of them. These men made and built Black Seventh-day Adventism.</div>
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In 1946 a skinny preacher came to my hometown. I had never heard anyone like him. There was one thing I knew when I looked at that preacher, he believed everything he preached! And he made me believe it.</div>
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These are the men to emulate.</div>
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You know that our laymen today are too caught up and preoccupied to study, and they get little substance from the pulpit. Wait, wait, wait, and let me say something else. I've got two libraries, one at my home and one at the General Conference. They are rather extensive, and I like to read the hardbacks and the softbacks. But when I sit at my desk in my study, the bookshelves immediately behind my chair have the Spirit of Prophecy, several versions of the Bible, and the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary. When I get ready to read the other books, I've got to get up out of my chair and walk over to get them. But after I get through the books from Review and Herald and all the good stuff from our publishing house out in Idaho, then all this other becomes simply a skeleton on which I can hang the meat of Seventh-day Adventism. Verily my people can be fed. We've got to confront our people for their sake. If you pamper them, youre not helping them. We've got to dare to guide them.</div>
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Guide. Some of what theyre doing is because they dont know any better. We've got to guide them concerning where they ought to go, what they ought to do, what they ought to wear, what they ought to think. And we ought to do it with the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy.</div>
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When we talk to our people its not a purely human-to-human encounter. There is a Person called the Holy Ghost. Its our privilege to have Him standing by us and moving out there in the congregation. He will take a difficult truth and apply it to the heart. You think I didn't have to give up things I liked? Id rather save one person with the truth and with the Holy Ghost than comfort ten thousand in their self-deception. We fail our people when we water down and compromise and undermine and repudiate the message that God has given us to bearand to live!</div>
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Emboldened to Defy</div>
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Not only that, we embolden them to defy our standards. We embolden them to follow their own whims and offend fellow church members and even their parents. Many of them have chips on their shoulders. They are so self-confident they dare you to say anything.</div>
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A young woman who had always been friendly came to church loaded down with jewelry. When I approached her, ready to speak, she wouldn't even look at me. She avoided me. She couldn't be friendly as usual. No wonder our churches are turning cold! Its because our members remain guilt-ridden and insecure and not sure of what they really stand for. They hear about easy divorce, about moral falls even in the ministry, Sabbaths on the golf course, or on the bicycle trail, or at the beach, theater-going, attacks on Ellen G. White. Whats happening amongst us?</div>
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Responsibility. Ellen White says, "Of all the sins that God will punish, none are more grievous in His sight than those that encourage others to do evil" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 323). And of all the groups of people on the topside of the earth, none has such an awesome responsibility resting upon it, as well as privilege, as the Seventh-day Adventist ministry.</div>
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When I was a boy we saw our pastor once every five weeks. Today nearly every Sabbath there is a preacher and still our members wonder, "Whats happening to us? Is the Holy Ghost still with us?" Many who feel a lack of the Spirit are trying to compensate with a shaking, rocking, rollicking religion. They want to feel good. But that good feeling will replace their faith and it will be wiped out in a crisis.</div>
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Temporary Fix. The Bible says, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isa 57:21). Many of our people who love the truth but dont know what to love are getting caught up in the subjective, ecstatic experience, and the 11 oclock service is like cocaine, a temporary fix. Before the sun sets they are right back to where they were, unhappy, critical, not doing so well. "And what do I want now?" says the devil. "A loud, thumping, bumping religion," I hear him say. "It will cause me great delight to make the old saints uncomfortable." And so we are being divided.</div>
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Were not supposed to set our churches on firethats the work of the Holy Ghost. What are we supposed to do? We are to be repairers of the breach, restorers of paths to dwell in (Isa 58:12). Culture? That deals with the natural man and its not wrong. Im not trying to make everything wrong. But if that is the natural part of us, the Bible says the natural man cannot receive the things of God, "for they are foolishness unto him" (1 Cor 2:14).</div>
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Delusions. Some among us are questioning things that have been worked out by the Holy Ghost in human history and in my lifes history and yours. There will always be some excess baggage. But dont throw everything away. The Apostle said, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess 5:21). Instead, many are trying to satisfy themselves rather than pray and study. They want to reason things out with unsanctified minds. Theyre starting from the wrong position and will never arrive at spiritual fulfillment, but rather at compounded delusions. For spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The Bible says, "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (2 Cor 4:3).</div>
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I said to a congregation one Sabbath, "The gospel is good news, but its not just the cross. Thank God for the cross! But the gospel is more than that. The gospel is health reform, thats good news! The gospel is social reform, thats good news!"</div>
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I was invited to preach for the 65th anniversary of the high school I graduated from some 40 years ago. I walked in there and what a crowd! The head table was longer than this auditorium. I had given word that I couldn't arrive there until after sunset. They had said, "We understand that. Well take care of the preliminaries, and you just come right in." And I did. I sat right in the middle. Those tables were surrounded, many of them, with former classmates. I looked out and they kept waving and winking and carrying on. Finally it would dawn on me . . . Oh, I recognize themand they looked awful!</div>
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Good News. You think I look old! You should have seen them! Our message is good news! I tried to figure it out; I looked back, and I said to myself, I've been keeping the Sabbath for 54 years. Thats seven years of Sabbath-keeping, which means I got seven years of rest they never got!</div>
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It hurts me todaySome of you heard a rumor that Im getting ready to retire. It hurts me today to see that amongst us many, rather than kneeling in humility, are standing up like the Pharisee in the narrative of Christ with jaw set and shoulders squared to debate with God, and the pulpit is losing. Its enough!</div>
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Idols. Im not suggesting that you brow-beat anybody. I dont do that! Ellen White says rationalism is an idol (see The Great Controversy, p. 193), for it exalts human reason above the Word of God. Many of our beloved people are making dangerous decisions based on how they feel rather than on explicit revelations from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Error is always impinged to this. How sad I feel. They love to talk about theater now and evolution; and even the mark of the beast is getting a dressing down in our own journals. What are we doing?</div>
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There is such a thing as "possessionism." I was the first that I know of to start using that word, but I read two psychiatrists who wrote a book about it. In this present, mixed company I cannot tell you what they said concerning the manipulation and the stroking of the physical by the spirits of demons who possess them. You want a thrill? It will come. If thats where your faith is, it will come. But the Bible says, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom 10:17).</div>
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Harold Lee was addressing this condition not long ago when he said, "Neo-Pentecostalism will be the death of Black Adventism." I wrote that down. We Black people are especially vulnerable, because we are such an emotional people. We've been here too long. Divided and separated by racism, by advantage, education, money and privilege, we've been forced into being reactive, but we've come too close to heaven. Dont let us be cheated now and miss heaven after all we've gone through.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q26q3Fzt_aTLhgcSRCibiw_mHTRAY6Mgt8muAXthyphenhyphen5BQAq6_zEGGtZgG8BByl-C4znbQtOfsYNDBhWE3tqwrifzVHqyQVp7sRnL8h_jmDrlOeNOX_wQQGVsK5mdjDiKSvEjQJ6XI2C1A/s1600/cd+brooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q26q3Fzt_aTLhgcSRCibiw_mHTRAY6Mgt8muAXthyphenhyphen5BQAq6_zEGGtZgG8BByl-C4znbQtOfsYNDBhWE3tqwrifzVHqyQVp7sRnL8h_jmDrlOeNOX_wQQGVsK5mdjDiKSvEjQJ6XI2C1A/s320/cd+brooks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CD Brooks </td></tr>
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Culture Not All Bad<br />
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Culture? When I moved to Washington more than 30 years ago I was courted assiduously to join the White church. Now, these are good churches, good people, good pastors. But I was culturally more satisfied in the warmer atmosphere of the Black church. I see nothing wrong with that. But there is something that transcends culture. That something melds us into the family of God, distinguishable, distinctive, even peculiar.</div>
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My problem is that culture is becoming our religious experience. This is the reaction of the insecure that are not sure about anything. I want you to know, beloved, today, that I am not and never have been defined by corn rows and kente cloth.</div>
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I was having a discussion with a well-known Black Adventist minister about African-Americans escaping from the plantation syndrome. He said to me, "These people say they are Americans, but they ain't. They say they are Africans, but they ain't. They are kind of lost people."</div>
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Adopted. Well, let me tell you. A long time ago I was adopted. There is a Seventh-day Adventist culture, and I was born into this Adventist culture by adoption, which is a legal compact. By contrast, my daddy and mother adopted a boy before I was born; I never saw him. As he grew older he got into trouble with the law and spent time in jail. Finally he said, "I want to leave this family." Remember, he was adopted. No person born of Brooks blood in my large family has ever spent a night in jail. Whats the difference? He was adopted. He came in from another nature. The rest of us were born with Brooks blood. So I have been adopted but I have been born again! Adoption makes me His, new blood makes me like Him. There is a commonality of the blood.</div>
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Our Culture. Im proud of our culture. Im proud to be a Black man. I want you all to know that I mean that. I am glad I am a Black man. I always have been. The African said that kente cloth was made in Ghanaian villages. It was worn by the Ashanti royalty, the kings and princes of that country. It was very expensive, too expensive to be available to ordinary people. There are plenty of cultural things to be proud of from that part of the world. The first president of that country was named Kwame Nkrumah. Kwame means born on the Sabbath, Saturday. And if you get C. E. Bradfords book [Sabbath Roots: the African Connection, a Biblical Perspective (Silver Spring, Md.: General Conference Ministerial Association, 1999)], youll understand that Sabbath-keeping is intrinsic in our culture. But remember that the Bible tells us whats important in dress. It tells us in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. I want to make this clear, because we have a bunch of smart alecks now saying, "You dont have a Bible base!"</div>
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Oh yes, I do! Where have you been?</div>
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Ornaments. And even if I didn't find it explicitly I got it indirectly from the Spirit of Prophecy, which is biblical. If its not, we ought to throw it away! In time of danger and crisis and judgment God required His people to take their jewelry off. When Jacob was trying to get home, they had to stop and bury something (see Gen 35:2-4). When they worshiped the golden calf, God was about to move with vengeance and wrath. Moses stood between Him and the people. God didn't say, "What theyre doing is all right." No, indeed. He told the people to take off their jewelry. "Take it off," He said, "that I may know what to do unto you." Then, the Bible says, they "stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb" (see Ex 33:5, 6). Since 1844 were in the judgment, and the Bible says those that dont afflict themselves will be cut off.</div>
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I loved it when you could look at a young lady and know she was an Adventist. I got invited to a camp meeting. I went into a town and didn't know where to go. My wife said, "Honey, stop and phone." Then it dawned on me that no one answers the phone at a campground on the Sabbath, at least they used to not answer it. I was desperate. I looked at a car easing by and I saw some women, their faces clean. They looked like something. I pulled my car into that lane and followed them. My wife said, "Honey, what are you doing?"</div>
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I said, "Im following those people!"</div>
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"You know who they are?"</div>
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"No! I just know how they look!"</div>
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And I ended up at my destination.</div>
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Im saying with my friend, "I want my church back."</div>
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Praising the Devil?</div>
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Every year at Hampton Institute there is a convention of great preachers from all over this country, and many of our ministers go. I am told that this year, when one of those men got up to preach, he said to that congregation (not Adventist), "In our music, we've got to be careful that we are not praising the devil instead of God."</div>
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Ellen White says that Satan dialogues with his imps. They discuss their plans together. His craftiness, he knows, will not fly unless he can first discount the Spirit of Prophecy. So he raised up a West Coast preacher, who called the Lords servant a plagiarist and a liar. Then he raised up a teacher and his kind to buy it. Black preachers threw away their red books in green trash cans at a time when they needed them most. But I believe in the Spirit of Prophecy. Now Im going to read to you what Ellen White says:</div>
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Selected Messages, book 2, p. 36: "The Lord"</div>
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Who?</div>
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[Audience:] "The Lord."</div>
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"The Lord has shown me." Now the criticism has been that everything is not inspired when she says, "The Lord showed me." All right, Im reading it again:</div>
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"The Lord has shown me what would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit."</div>
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In the very next line she says, "The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise."</div>
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Gospel Music. Wait a minute! I like gospel music! I probably like it more than many sitting out here. And I can prove it. For 35 of the last 37 years I have gone every November to German town, Ohio, a Mecca of gospel music. Twenty-eight of those trips were over the Thanksgiving weekend, giving up my family holiday to be inspired by those people. Our precious Eleanor Wright, the late Eleanor Wright, wrote much of it. They were message songs. They rebuked sin! They encouraged the discouraged. Thats one reason she did not die a millionaire, because she stayed faithful to this message!</div>
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A little more from Selected Messages: "A bedlam of noise shocks the senses and perverts that which if conducted aright might be a blessing" (ibid.). Gospel music should be a blessing.</div>
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But you all know it is out of hand.</div>
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I dont believe the drum is a bigger sinner than the trumpet or the psaltery or the harp. Its what we do with it! So Satan had a huddle, and he said to his imps, "Lets develop crossover."</div>
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Why would a saint want to crossover?</div>
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"Lets develop crossover!" said the devil. "Lets blend some of ours with some of theirs. Lets start off with a balance, and then lets gradually move off center. Then lets talk about Christian jazz and religious gospel rock. They are contradictions of terms, you see. Lets get them moving and grooving like our crowd in our places when they are getting down. Then, lets pull out all the stops." Thats what the devil says.</div>
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You all believe I tell the truth? I love gospel music. You know what? "Power in the Blood" is a gospel song. So are "Standing on the Promises," "Love Lifted Me," and "Im on the Battlefield for My Lord." Eleanor Wright wrote "Naaman" the weekend after I preached it in Cincinnati, Ohio. And when my father-in-law died she wrote one for our family called "I Dont Plan to Stay Here." Theres a stanza in there that says:</div>
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If you miss me, dont dismay,</div>
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I might have to rest in a mound of clay,</div>
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But when I hear that trumpet sound</div>
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Im coming up out of that cold, cold ground!</div>
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Cause I dont plan to stay here, children.</div>
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Pray. Today the intonations are pulsing with sensuality and sexuality. When they talk about loving Jesus they say it in a most sensual and sexual way.</div>
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But ladies and gentlemen, do we expect Satan to be candid, or subtle? Do we expect him to be honest, or a master deceiver? The other day I was listening to the Morgan State Choir when a young lady took a solo on a spiritual: "Old Satan wears a clubfoot shoe. / If you dont mind, hell slip it on you."</div>
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Bypassing Our Judgment</div>
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One scholar from Australia said that music is one force that does not have to pass through the judgment hall of the brain before it affects us. Theres an organ at the base of the brain to which music appeals directly. He said that you dont even have to think to start moving. Thats how Muzak became so successful. It was background music. Folk didn't even know they were listening to it. It just soothed them. Now theyre doing it with light rock. And music is gone. We ought to know Satan would take advantage of a thing like this to captivate and enchant us.</div>
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Great Music. We were once known as masters and purveyors of good music of various kinds. I grew up in a small church where we didn't hear the great anthems. When I came to Oakwood I had never heard the Messiah. One day, going to the dairy where I worked at 3 a.m., I heard music over in the chapel. The lights were on. Then when I came back I heard thump, thump, thump. Dr. Dyes was beating out the time with a staff. I said to somebody, "Whats going on over there?"</div>
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They said, "Theyre getting ready for the Messiah."</div>
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I admit I didn't know what it was, but I said, "Oh, yes!"</div>
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On the night it was presented, I felt like the top of my head would blow off. When they got to the Hallelujah Chorus I didn't need a royal example to get me to my feet as the choir sang, "He shall reign forever and ever and ever and ever and ever! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"</div>
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We were known for that music, classical and dignified, warm and moving and simple. But Ellen White said, "The line of demarcation is [becoming] indistinct" (Christs Object Lessons, p. 316). Satan starts out small. No one comes to sudden ruin. It takes time to corrupt the soul. Gradually the devil perverts. One departure from principle begins the journey.</div>
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I want my church back!</div>
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Movies and Smokes</div>
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Who do we think were dealing with? Hes called the wily foe. Hes no friend of ours. These coffin nails called cigarettes he names "Salem" ("Peace"!), "Cool," "True," "Joy."</div>
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Who do we think were dealing with when he names the poison of alcohol "Southern Comfort"? God says a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. (Ive got to hasten and please forgive me!)</div>
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Moviesif you say anything about them, youre old fashioned! I dont mind that opprobrium. Call me old if you want, God is older than I am. And when God tells us something, He gets it right the first time! He doesnt have to edit or adjust.</div>
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"Oh, preacher, you cant stop it." I know that. Im not saying you can, but we shouldn't promote it!</div>
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My Experience. I used to sneak off to the movies. Finally one of my buddies and I didn't know what else to do, and he took me to hear that skinny preacher, Earl Cleveland. Within two weeks something happened, thank the Lord God.</div>
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One Sabbath I walked out of that mans meeting. The sun was going down, and my buddy and I headed to the Carolina Theater. But nobody made me feel comfortable about it. My own conscience wouldnt let me feel comfortable about it. We walked about seven blocks discussing what we heard in that mans tent. The theater was across the street. The red light stopped us and I started thinking. All of a sudden the light turned green and he started off and I stayed. He turned around and said, "Whats wrong with you?"</div>
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I said, "Im not going."</div>
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He said, "What do you mean, youre not going?"</div>
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I said, "You know. The things youre learning. I cant go, for I know them already."</div>
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He said, "If you dont go, I dont go."</div>
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That was 47 years ago. Today that man is a deacon in the Adventist church. His wife and daughters are officers in the church. Suppose I hadn't stopped?</div>
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Our Truth Is Still the Truth</div>
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We serve a timeless God, and time, as we know it, is about to experience a cataclysmic collision with eternity. We are about to enter His realm of time and space. When we do, the truth will still be the truth. Sabbath will still be Sabbath, because truth never dies.</div>
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Though ages come and go,</div>
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Though mountains wear away and seas retire,</div>
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Destruction lays earths mighty golden cities low,</div>
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And empire states and dynasties expire.</div>
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But caught and handed onward to the wise,</div>
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Truth never dies.</div>
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No Change. Fifty-four years ago I joined this church. I've been somewhat educated, illuminated, experienced. Im getting ready to retire. But I want to tell you, nothings changed. We've matured, and we've been enlightened. People are meaner, more immoral. But nothings changed. Gods law is still a transcript of His character. Its too high for us, so He gave us a ladder called grace that we might climb up.</div>
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The sanctuary is still in heaven. It isn't going anywhere just because some say it doesn't really exist. Judgment is still going on. God still hates pride. Men are still born in sin. Men must be born again. Dead folk are still dead. Christ is still our only Savior. None but the righteous shall see God. We've got to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Weve got to be covered with His righteousness alone. He still sends the Holy Ghost. And He is still seeking the lost. He is still saving sinners. And it is possible to delight ourselves in the Lord and the truth. Our message is still valid. And if we stand around waiting for our truth to change, were exactly like the Protestants who want the Sabbath to change. Jack Sequeira said, "If you believe in the Redeemer, you've got to start looking more redeemed."</div>
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"Morehouse Man." Through the agency of my friend, Walt Pearson, I was privileged to join others to be honored at Morehouse College. I arrived there, and I saw what I dont see on the average worldly campus. We walked outside and up to the presidents dining room, and I saw it again, a certain dignity. I said to some of those who belonged there, "What is this thing I notice, and why? This, this thing that is almost imperceptible and yet is here?" We were told that when a man applies to Morehouse and is being accepted, he starts getting their propaganda.</div>
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"You are now a Morehouse man. You cant just dress any kind of way."</div>
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"Youre a Morehouse man. You cant carry on and get loud and ugly."</div>
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"Youre a Morehouse man. Youve got to stay under control."</div>
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"Youre a Morehouse man."</div>
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And I thought, "Oh my, Oh my! Im an Oakwood man."</div>
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Let me conclude with the Spirit of Prophecy: The Great Controversy, page 461, if you want to read it. I have these little dots in there because I cant read all of it. The "terror of appearing, in their guilt and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. . . . Who shall deliver me? . . . [T]hey saw that nothing but the merits of Christ could suffice to atone." They "brought forth fruit," "not to fashion themselves after their former lusts, but by the faith of the Son of God to follow in His steps, to reflect His character, and to purify themselves even as He is pure. The things they once hated they now loved, and the things they once loved they hated. . . . The vain and supercilious became serious and unobtrusive. The profane became reverent. . . . The vain fashions of the world were laid aside."</div>
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Revival Coming</div>
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Today there are many accessions to the truth. Oh, please, get what Im saying. I do evangelism. Brethren and sisters, we are not in competition with one another. When you run a church meeting and baptize sixty, youve done what some eight-week campaigns under a tent do when they baptize two hundred. Were not in competition. Let us glory when the Lord does it.</div>
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But listentoday "there are large accessions to the churches; nevertheless" the new members show no "corresponding increase of real spiritual life" (ibid., p. 463). Many who join are not more willing to deny self and take up their cross than before their baptism. Our religion becomes a sport of infidels and skeptics. Oh, Im gonna say it! If I ever hear a man bragging about how many he baptizes, I worry about him.</div>
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But I tell you something, and I mean it with all my heart. If you dont like what I say, at least give me credit for being honest and sincere. When I work as hard as I do to run an effort, I want somebody to stay at least until after the snow falls. Dont let me hear that you baptized 250 and nobody can find them. When Earl Cleveland and Bill Scales and George Rainey and Eric Ward and all those, along with many pastors who have not made it their specialtywhen they do it, the church is enlarged and the folk know what they believe.</div>
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Primitive Godliness. The Great Controversy, pages 463, 464: "Picnics, church theatricals, . . . personal display, have banished thoughts of God. . . . Notwithstanding" You see, there is a second statement here. (Im glad theres a second one; the first one took us negative, and this one takes us positive.) "Notwithstanding . . . there will be . . . a revival of primitive godliness"! Did you get it? Not neo-Pentecostalism, but such "primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times"!</div>
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Now page 464 again: "Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world . . . [with] an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false. . . . Yet none need be deceived" if they rely on Gods word.</div>
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Lets go to page 474: "Every sinful gratification tends to benumb the faculties and deaden the mental and spiritual perceptions, and the word or the Spirit of God can make but a feeble impression upon the heart."</div>
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Suppose you had a baby boy, and as he began to grow up he only wanted to eat cake every day three times a day for the rest of his life. Would you comply?</div>
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You and I, my fellow workers, are Gods called facilitators to a purer, more powerful Christian life and to a finished work. The only reason why God needs us in the church at all is that we might become witnesses to those on the outside. The truth makes a difference, and we will not arrest their attention until we are peculiar. The power that we walk and talk about is in the Word.</div>
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In the Word! Whose side are you on?</div>
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I want my church back!</div>
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In the Safety Zone. You dont have to be just like me. But lets walk in here, in the safety zone.</div>
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Over in Chicago there was an old man, an elegant old man. He wore sport coats like a young guy, drove a yellow Cadillac, brought his beautiful wife (they were both old but she was beautiful) to my meetings every night. He never said a word, just listened and went home. Finally we got down to the decision time and he walked up by himself and said, "I need to talk to you."</div>
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I said, "Well, lets go aside."</div>
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We did.</div>
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He said to me, "Now I want to know from you what I should do about a problem I have."</div>
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I said, "Well, what is your problem, sir?"</div>
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He said, "In my bar in my basement I have a lot of good liquor. I want to know what to do with it. Shall I sell it? Shall I give it away? What shall I do?" He turned and stared at me.</div>
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I said, "My dear brother, you have a misapprehension. There is no such thing as good liquor. What you probably mean is its expensive. Now, suppose you gave it away or sold it, and the person that received it went out driving drunk and killed a bunch of people or shot his wife. Do you know youd bear the responsibility? The book of Habakkuk says, "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink" (Hab 2:15).</div>
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He said, "Then what shall I do?"</div>
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I said, "I have a suggestion. Make your bathroom a temple and the toilet stool an altar. Bring that expensive liquor up from your basement and set it on the back of the toilet. Then kneel down and in an act of commitment give yourself anew to the Lord and pour that liquor out of the bottle with prayer."</div>
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He looked at me sternly and said, "If you had told me anything else, I was going to walk out of here." Today, 21 years later, his wife sleeps in Jesus and he is still in the Truth.</div>
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Truth Wins. Brethren, this truth will win souls. You dont need to play games and fool people. This truth, with its dignity and power, this truth attended by the Holy Ghost will win souls of the best kind.</div>
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I want my church back! </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oqY3OUC9_xk" width="420"></iframe>Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-13269649456797246822014-09-04T14:01:00.000-07:002014-09-04T14:01:09.710-07:00Samuele Bacchiocchi - Divine Rest For Human Restlessness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The late Dr Samuele Bacchiocchi, professor emeritus of Andrew University presenting a talk entitled, Divine Rest For Human Restlessness. In a world full of restlessness due to the hectic pace of activities and competition for first place most of us are stressed and depressed and need rest. The Bible presents a God who mandated a rest called Sabbath when man is called upon to rest and find time to focus on the source of all things and creator of all things, the God of heaven. </div>
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This talk will give you confidence that God is indeed a God of love and prepared in advance for the need for man to rest both physically and spiritually. If only we had remembered to keep the Sabbath, incidences of stress and depression could have been almost negligible. Unfortunately man forgot and thinks that this mandate no longer applies this side of the cross.</div>
Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-53220300442743033072014-01-26T15:32:00.000-08:002014-01-26T15:32:24.835-08:00Heaven Is A Real Place<div style="text-align: justify;">
A Dutchman leaving an evangelistic meeting paused to express appreciation for the evangelist's presentation of the "Home of the Saved." The evangelist had been stressing the reality of heaven.</div>
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"I vould radder be somebody going someplace und knows ven I gets der dan to be nobody going no place und knowing nudding ven I gets der!"</div>
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Our Dutch friend with his broken English had something! He spoke words worthy of our consideration!</div>
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Heaven is indeed, a real place. Jesus declares it to be so. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare <i>a place</i> for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2,3.</div>
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Twice in this passage the Savior promised His disciples He would prepare a place for them. According to the dictionary a "place" has physical environment, physical surroundings, or both. The same authority declares "place" to be "a particular part of a surface or body." - <i>Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary</i>, Seventh Edition.</div>
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So when Jesus said that He went to prepare a place - a very real place - He meant just what He said. It is not all clouds and spirits and glory. It will have "physical environment and physical surroundings with a real surface or body."</div>
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The Word of God describes real trees that will be there. "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree." Isaiah 55:13. There are real animals there. "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock." Isaiah 65:25. Real flowers will be there. "And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly." Isaiah 35:1,2. There will be real houses and real gardens there. "They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." Isaiah 65:21. Real mansions will be there. "In my father's house are many mansions." John 14:2. A beautiful river - real and crystal clear - will flow "out of the throne of God." (Revelation 22:1.) There will be real fruit from real trees for real people to eat. "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month." Revelation 22:2.</div>
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Thank God that heaven is a real place with real things and real people.</div>
Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-69914221776199111442013-12-28T14:50:00.002-08:002013-12-28T14:50:46.276-08:00They Shall See His Face<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"When you get to heaven, Billy, what do you want to see most?" a Christian teacher asked one of her first graders.</div>
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Billy thought for a moment. There was much his little heart longed for. He had heard the blessed land with its beauties, its treasures, its delicacies, spoken of frequently.</div>
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"Please, teacher," the little fellow replied, "I want to see the lions, the mansions, and the angels, but most of all I want to see Jesus."</div>
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Fanny J. Crosby, the hymn writer, expresses the same longing in these words:</div>
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"Through the gates to the city, in a robe of spotless white, He will lead me where no tears shall ever fall; In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight; But I long to meet my Savior first of all."</div>
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What Christian heart has not filled with the same desire? In the midst of life's turmoil and stresses have you not also longed to see your Savior?</div>
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The precious promise to the redeemed is, "The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it;.....<i>and they shall see his face." Revelation 22:3,4.</i></div>
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Yes, Jesus will be there, and He "shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." (Revelation 7:17.) We shall be like Him at his appearing (1John 3:2), and we shall be with Him throughout the ages of eternity.</div>
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Of the redeemed, the author of Revelation says, "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Revelation 14:4. It was a wonderful privilege the disciples of Jesus enjoyed as they lived with him during His three year ministry on earth. They saw His mighty healing power. They listened to the words of life as they fell from His lips and penetrated their hearts.</div>
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The prospect before us is even more glorious. Not for three brief years will we be with Christ, but throughout eternity. The disciples were forced to witness His scourging and crucifixion. You and I may witness His coronation - His glorious rule as King of kings and Lord of lords. They had hoped to see Him end the iron rule of Rome. We will see Him end the reign of sin.</div>
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The disciples could follow Jesus over only a comparatively few square miles, but you and I have the prospect of following our Lord from planet to planet.We may follow Him "whithersoever he goeth."</div>
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There are some sobering facts we must not lose sight of, some conditions for entry to heaven as outlined in this passage: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8. If we expect to see Him in the hereafter, our hearts must be pure here. The blood of the Lamb must cleanse our hearts now if we hope to see Him then. Sin must be confessed and forsaken. Only clean men and women can see, and have fellowship with, a holy Savior.</div>
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If you and I expect to "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth" in the earth made new, we must begin following Him now in this earth.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-65605278352127921572013-03-30T09:39:00.000-07:002013-03-30T09:39:14.716-07:00Jesus The Mighty Prayer Warrior - Pastor Ron Halvorsen<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Bible records various instances when Jesus prayed to the father. For instance it records that Jesus prayed alone early in the morning in the wilderness. It is during one of these encounters that the disciples found Him praying that they were so impressed that they asked him to teach them how to pray. This resulted in Christ teaching us the Lord's prayer.<br />
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By the way, it can also be inferred from this incident that Christ prayed out aloud. How else would the disciples have have heard Him if he was offering a silent prayer?</div>
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The prayer life of Jesus evidences the life of a mighty prayer warrior. During his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane the Bible records in <b><a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Luke 22.44" data-version="esv" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Luke%2022.44" target="_blank">Luke 22:44</a></b> — "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." This was most definitely not those prayers we offer while in our blankets. This was an earnest prayer that expressed the deeper longings of His heart.</div>
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The bible records that He prayed before choosing the 12 disciples and in other important decisions of His ministry on earth. If the sinless Son of God prayed like this, how then should we sinful human beings pray. We definitely cannot afford to be casual about our prayers. We need to wrestle with God in prayer just like Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord.</div>
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In the following video, Pastor Ron Halvorsen. preaches a sermon titled, Jesus The Mighty Prayer Warrior. It is a sermon that will challenge to a powerful prayer life in your christian walk.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-4949525937610821092013-03-20T15:05:00.000-07:002015-05-04T13:36:33.775-07:00The Sabbath Under Attack<div style="text-align: justify;">
If there's one bible doctrine that has been attached than any other then it is <a href="http://whatissabbath.net/">the Sabbath</a>. You only have to look in history to see all sorts of attacks against it. Starting from the time the church decided to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday, the sabbath has been under constant attack or crossfire.<br />
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For instance, recently a number of Sunday keeping scholars have produced scholarly articles which promote the view that the abrogation of the Sabbath was made by the apostles in the New Testament. Some former Sabbath keeping churches such as the worldwide Church of God have also abandoned the Sabbath and adopted Sunday arguing that it is the apostles who changed the day of worship in the New Testament.<br />
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Even recent efforts by the church to promote the observance of the Sabbath have, instead of going back to original Sabbath which is Saturday, promoted the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath. And as history of the Christian church has shown, it is disastrous to call upon the politicians to enforce the observance of sacred christian days or christian beliefs. Such efforts in the past have led to the persecution of those who hold contrary opinions to the majority.</div>
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In the video below, Dr Samuele Bacchiocchi presents the various attacks on the Sabbath in history and in our day. The title is the Sabbath Under Crossfire.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-39233626597725909122013-03-20T13:58:00.002-07:002013-03-20T13:58:59.071-07:00My Search For The Sabbath At The Vatican University<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the 1970's an Italian Seventh Adventist scholar, Dr Samuele Bacchiocchi became the first non Catholic to be allowed to Study at the Pontifical Gregorian University at the Vatican. Dr Bacchiocchi chose as his study the history of the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. He later published a book titled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1930987005/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1930987005&linkCode=as2&tag=npommtaz-20">From Sabbath to Sunday : A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=npommtaz-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1930987005" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. The book details his findings from his search for the Sabbath at the Vatican University. In the video below Dr Bacchiocchi details his search for the Sabbath at the Vatican.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-65588799548689702242013-03-20T13:33:00.001-07:002013-03-20T13:33:26.653-07:00How Did The Sabbath Change From Saturday to Sunday In Christendom?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Have you wondered how the early Christian church decided to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday? This has been a contentious issue between the few Christians who still worship on Saturday and the majority who worship on Sunday. Most Sunday keepers say that it was the apostles who decided to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection which took place on a Sunday. On the other side, those who worship on Saturday insist that it was not made by the apostles but much later by an apostate church and that there is no scriptural basis for doing so. They say this is exactly what Christ warned about when he said, 'in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men'. If the change is man made then those who worship on Sunday better heed the warning of Christ on worshiping in vain by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. </div>
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To find out how the change occurred Dr Samuele Bacchiocchi spent five years at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome examining most ancient documents available. His investigation established that the change from Saturday to Sunday began approximately one century after the death of Christ as a result of an interplay of political, social, pagan and Christian factors. The results of this research are presented in the book From Sabbath to Sunday.<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=npommtaz-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1930987005&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=FFFFFF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
This book which originally Dr Bacchiocchi's dissertation has the distinction of being the first book written by a non-Catholic ever to be published by a Pontifical press Catholic approval. Hundreds of scholars have praised Dr Bacchiocchi's book and consider it definitive study on the history of the change of the Lord's day.
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-77171279885253780042013-03-20T12:45:00.000-07:002013-03-20T12:45:14.866-07:00A Prayer God Will Always Answer<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the video below, Dr Dwight Nelson preaches a sermon titled, Two Word Prayer. It is about a prayer that God will always answer. If you have tried all sorts of prayers without success then this kind of prayer is suitable for you. The Lord has promised that, 'ask and you shall receive.' But all these prayers require faith in order for God to answer and you need to satisfy all the requirements specified in the Bible. For instance the Bible says that if you regard iniquity in your heart God will not answer your prayers. It also says that you need to have a spirit of forgiveness as well. But the prayer presented below is when you have tried everything and you are at your wits end.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-74941832811867918222013-03-18T13:10:00.000-07:002013-03-18T13:10:00.720-07:00What The Bible Says About Gays or Homosexuals<div style="text-align: justify;">
A lot has been said about how Christians should relate to gays, lesbians or homosexuals leading to fierce debates among Christians and non Christians alike. But what does the bible really say about gays? In the video below Dr Dwight Nelson, Senior Pastor of Pioneer memorial SDA Church delves into this contentious issue to reveal the biblical position on homosexuality. </div>
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Lewis Walton, J.D., LL.M, an experienced adventist lawyer goes through the trial of Jesus as found in the Bible from a lawyer's perspective. Did the trial of Jesus meet the conditions for a fair trial both by Ancient Roman standards or by modern standards? Should Jesus have been condemned to death by crucifixion if Pilate had followed all the standards required for a fair trial? What better way to get to glimpse with these issues than from a seasoned lawyer. Dr. Lewis Walton uses his credentials as an attorney to uncover the illegal trial of Jesus Christ.</div>
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Most people have the feeling that their prayers do not go beyond the 'ceiling of their homes'. We are all looking to the reasons why our prayers do not appear to be answered by God. In the video below Richard O'Ffill goes through hindrances on answered prayer. This video will open your eyes to the secrets of a dynamic prayer life that will bring rich dividends to your spiritual life.</div>
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There are various hindrances to answered prayer that can be found in the bible. Among those hindrances are disobedience to God, marital or home discord, unbelief, unforgiveness, idolatry, cherished sin etc. (Deut. 4:30, 31; Prov. 28:9; Isa. 1:15, 19, 20; Zech. 7:13; Gen. 22:18; Ps. 66:18; Isa. 59:1, 2; Mark 11:24; Heb. 11:6; James 1:6, 7)</div>
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We all want to have good health, unfortunately it is much easier to eat whatever we like and whatever we like is mostly junk food that will harm our health. Does the Bible have anything to say about health. In the video below David Asscherick of ARISE ministry goes through some bible texts that teach us how to take care of our bodies. You will be surprised at how the bible offers some sound principles of health that were ahead of the knowledge at that time. The more you read these tips on health the more your faith will grow in the divine inspiration of the bible.</div>
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God's desire is that we should prosper both in spirit and in health as well. It is with this in mind that the bible offers some tips on how we can pospone our funeral by following some principles. Principles that most christians have abandoned and have resulted in His people suffering from the same lifestyle diseases that are wreaking havoc in the lives of modern men.<br />
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The bible says our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit and should be taken care of intelligently. This means that we need to have enough rest and follow good principles of health. To show the importance of rest God mandated his people to have one day of rest which He called the Sabbath. Most people nowadays are suffering from diseases that result from lack of enough rest. If man had obeyed God in keeping the seventh day as a Sabbath on top of the rest we need everyday man would have prevented most of these diseases from shortening his life.<br />
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The Bible also calls upon us to avoid certain foods and some substances that can destroy our bodies. (Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 John 2:6; Eph. 5:1-21; Phil. 4:8; 2 Cor. 10:5; 6:14-7:1; 1 Peter 3:1-4; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; 10:31; Lev. 11:1-47; 3 John 2.)<br />
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The title of the video below is titled, How To Postpone Your Funeral.<br />
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our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, we are to care for them intelligently. Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures. Since alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics are harmful to our bodies, we are to abstain from them as well. Instead, we are to engage in whatever brings our thoughts and bodies into the discipline of Christ, who desires our wholesomeness, joy, and goodness. (Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 John 2:6; Eph. 5:1-21; Phil. 4:8; 2 Cor. 10:5; 6:14-7:1; 1 Peter 3:1-4; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; 10:31; Lev. 11:1-47; 3 John 2.)Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-1095451306794342532013-03-16T10:29:00.001-07:002013-03-16T16:56:08.777-07:00How To Be A Good Father To Your SonMike Tucker, Director of Faith For Today, discusses the role of fathers to their sons. This is a very important and timely message in an age when most fathers are abandoning their responsibilities resulting in millions of children being raised by single mothers. Mike Tuckers goes into the scriptures to discuss the role of fathers. The sermon was titled fatherhood and was in two parts. The first one is for fatherhood for sons and the second one discusses the role of fathers to their daughters.
The video below is on fatherhood for sons.
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/89KsCNimBmo?rel=0" width="480"></iframe>Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0United States28.613459424004414 -145.19531253.0914249240044143 173.4960935 54.135493924004415 -103.8867185tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-40781410097212113572013-02-23T12:57:00.001-08:002013-03-05T11:16:03.891-08:00If God Is A Baby - Pastor John Nixon<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pastor John Nixon preaching at the 2011 Oakwood College evangelism Council. The sermon is titled, If God Is A Baby. It is based on the birth of Jesus Christ as a poor baby in Nazareth. Jesus who was and is God humbled himself to be born as a child in a very poor part of Israel. He went even further to choose a poor virgin girl who had committed her ways to the Lord. How that was done is a mystery we can never understand but Christ was born as a poor helpless baby. Instead of picking a royal family or rich family he chose the poorest of the poor.</div>
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We also see that after Christ was born the message is relayed by angels to poor shepherds and not to the respected religious leaders of his day. To show his impartiality and as a no respecter of persons, it is also the magi from the east who were led by a star to Jerusalem. These magi were non Jews from Arabia. The sons of Ishmael. These magi were perhaps chosen because of their humility as they were humble enough to worship a child. It takes a poverty of spirit to worship a child. What a lesson to those of us who think of ourselves as the only people with whom God can communicate. God always surprises with his choices. Look at how Jesus pointed out that there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha but it was Naaman the Syrian who was killed.<br />
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Below is a video of Pastor John Nixon's sermon.</div>
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Pastor John Nixon preaches a sermon titled, Hypothermia. It is based on Christ's letter to the church of Laodecia as found in the book of Revelation 3:14-22. Laodecia was well known in ancient times for its warm water that was channeled from hot springs to the city in an ingenious feat of engineering of the ancient times. In the letter, Christ laments the lukewarm condition of the church at Laodecia and says He prefers that church was either hot or cold. He says since the church is lukewarm and not hot or cold, he will spew her out of His mouth. </div>
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The city of Laodecia was also well known in the ancient days for its riches. It is said that after an earthquake the city of Laodecia refused any aid from Rome but instead used its own resources to rebuild the city. Christ tells the church that even though it sees itself as rich and increased with goods, it was poor and wretched in the sight of God. He tells it to buy real gold refined in the fire from Him</div>
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The city of Laodecia was also know in the ancient days for its eye salve. Christ asks the church to buy salve from him to apply to her eyes so that she can see.</div>
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Here is a picture of a church very rich in material goods but very poor spiritually. An apt description of the church nowadays. The church is obviously richer than at any point in its history. I have read a story that when the famous church theologian Thomas Aquinas visited the Vatican, he was taken to a room full of gold bars. It is said that Pope Innocent IV remarked to Thomas Aquinas that, 'We can no longer say like Peter and John that silver and gold have we none. Thomas Aquinas is reported to have said, 'It is true holy father, neither can we say like Peter and John, in the name of Jesus rise up and walk.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-63983200522226762602013-02-22T12:29:00.002-08:002013-02-22T12:29:51.109-08:00Living Legends Award Recipient - Barry Black<div style="text-align: justify;">
US Senate Chaplain Barry Black was one of the recipients of the 2012 Living Legends Awards. Chaplain Black has achieved a few firsts in the history of America. He was the first black American US Navy Chief of Chaplains and is currently the first African American chaplain of the US Senate. He has indeed broken many barriers and shares his life story in detail in the book, "From The Hood to The Hill'. It is a very inspiring story that you ought to read for yourself and your kids. You will be inspired to trust the Lord who can break all sorts of barriers and take you to heights you never imagined.</div>
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Chaplain Barry Black grew up poor in Baltimore, owes a lot to his godly mother and the Seventh day Adventist church that nurtured his faith and provided him with christian education that prepared him as he set out into the world. Below is a powerful speech he offered after receiving his award. It is a testament to his christian faith and his dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aRqkayB2wEM" width="560"></iframe>Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-12903169696175904172013-02-22T10:59:00.003-08:002013-02-22T10:59:50.616-08:00Baptism of The Holy Spirit : Early Rain<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the middle East, the farmers look for two types of rains i.e. the early and latter rain. The early rain falls on newly planted seeds causing the seeds to sprout and to grow and the latter rain prepares the grain for harvest. Farming was very important in ancient Israel as the whole economy and life itself depended on good rain seasons It is therefore not surprising that in the Bible, God uses the symbolism of rain to represent the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on his people. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us in everything we do as Christians from repentance to growth in Christ.</div>
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For instance one of the passages that talk of rain to represent God is Joel 2:23 "Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before." Another one is Hosea 6:3 "Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." Both of these passages are talking about the Holy Spirit. This is confirmed by the apostle Peter who in a sermon during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost pointed out that this outpouring was the fulfillment of Joel chapter 2:28-32 prophecy.</div>
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The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was a 'curtain raiser' for the big outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the very end of time. God promises to pour His Spirit on His people before the final harvest of the earth. But just as the latter rain is useless if the early rain has not been sufficient enough to sprout the seed and to grow the plants, in the same way we need to receive the Holy Spirit now if we are to receive this great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the end of the world. </div>
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In the following video, G Edward Reid talks about this important topic of receiving the early rain baptism of the Holy Spirit.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-15406505807890448692013-02-17T13:48:00.001-08:002013-02-17T13:48:29.129-08:00Daniel's Prophecy On The Coming of Jesus<div style="text-align: justify;">
500 years before Christ came, the bible in the book of Daniel 9 predicted with mathematical accuracy the very year Christ was to commence his ministry on earth. Your mind will be blown away by this prediction and will once and for all confirm to you that Christ was indeed the messiah promised by old testament prophets. </div>
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In the video below, David Asscherick goes through this prophecy and shows clearly how it was fulfilled in every detail by Jesus Christ.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-77747572643224677412013-02-17T11:31:00.000-08:002013-02-17T11:31:22.847-08:00How Ancient Babylon Foretold The End Of The World<div style="text-align: justify;">
David Asscherick preaches on the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel chapter 2. The bible says when Nebuchadnezzar woke up he could not remember that dream. He called his wise men and asked them to tell him the dream that he had and also its interpretation. His wise men told him that this was not possible and asked him to tell them the dream and they would then tell him the meaning. The king was so incensed by this and ordered that all the wise men should be killed. </div>
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Those charged with this instruction to kill all wise men went to one of the Hebrew captives, Daniel to carry out the King's command. Daniel had for some reason had not been invited to attend the king's earlier summon.When Daniel was told the purpose of the visit by the king's men he asked that he be given time. He then called his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abdnego, and prayed to God for to reveal to them the dream and its interpretation. During the night the God of heaven revealed the dream to Daniel who offered praises to the Lord for this intervention. </div>
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Daniel went before King Nebuchadnezzar and revealed the dream that he had. He told him that God of heaven wanted to reveal to the king what was to happen in future. He said the dream involved a statue made of God, silver,bronze, iron and clay. He said the statute represented various kingdoms from ancient Bablylon to the very end of time when as presented in the dream, a supernatural stone, a stone not made by hand, would destroy the statue and cover the whole world with an everlasting kingdom.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-62166049515126344992013-02-17T10:12:00.001-08:002013-02-17T10:12:51.682-08:00Lord's Day or Sabbath in The New Testament - E E Cleveland<div style="text-align: justify;">
Most Christians believe that the Sabbath or Lord's day was changed from Saturday to Sunday in the New Testament. They say that the Christian church decided to change the day of worship to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of Christ. In the video below, E E Cleveland goes through the various verses in the New Testament that mention Sunday to see if there is any evidence that the Christian church during the time of the apostles had decided to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.<br />
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While this issue may seem to be a simple issue to some, it is not because Christ warned against the danger of following traditions of men rather than the commandments of God. Christ said in Matthew 15:9 "But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men." If there is no evidence for the change then millions might be worshiping God in vain by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XTXlGIu4Y0U" width="420"></iframe> Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-45013733563618997582013-02-17T09:33:00.000-08:002013-02-17T09:33:13.563-08:00I Must Tell Jesus - Wintley Phipps<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the video below, Wintley Phipps preaches on the topic, I must tell Jesus. It is based on the song composed by Elisha A Hoffman in 1893. Hoffman composed this song after meeting a woman who was going through all sorts of suffering. During the visit the woman asked him, what shall I do? Elisha Hoffman is reported to have told her, "You can not do better than to take all your sorrows to Jesus. You must tell Jesus." The lady was immediately lost in meditation and her face lighted up as she said, "Yes I must tell Jesus". On his way home Elisha A Hoffman is reported to have had a vision of that illuminated face and the words, I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus echoing in her mind.</div>
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It is from this experience that Elisha Hoffman composed the song, I Must Tell Jesus. It reminds me of 1 Peter 5:7, "cast all your cares on him, for He cares for you". He is a kind, compassionate friend.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-21728164930673051252013-02-16T09:55:00.000-08:002013-02-16T09:55:27.628-08:00Let's Cross Over To The Other Side - Keith A Morris<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a powerful semon, Pastor Keith A Morris preaches on the instructions that Christ gave to the disciples to cross over to the other side of the lake or sea of Galilee. This instruction is found in the book of Mark chapter 4. As they were crossing the lake, a huge storm developed on the lake and the boat they were in was soon filling with water and about to capsize as these hurricane force winds pounded the boat. The disciples, most of whom were seasoned fishermen, became very terrified but Christ was calmly sleeping. </div>
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When the disciples realised that they were in danger of drowning, they woke up Christ and asked, Don't you care that we are perishing? Christ rebuked both His disciples and the storm. He rebuked them by asking, "why are you so fearful? How is that you have no faith?" The reason Christ slept through the storm was that He had faith in His father's control of the circumstances of life. Unfortunately in spite of the miracles His apostles had experienced while with Christ they had not developed faith to trust God even in a storm. </div>
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This rebuke is from Christ applies to us as well. We too are fearful especially as we face things with no known human solution. We forget that God is able to deal even with things are humanly impossible to deal with. He is the one who created this world and controls everything that happens in this world. We can and should believe God to handle even the impossible. The impossibles are possible with God.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lMx5SbmqQp4" width="420"></iframe><br />Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-1739594689873126172013-02-16T06:50:00.001-08:002013-02-16T06:50:42.715-08:00How To Vote As A Christian - Dwight Nelson<div style="text-align: justify;">
During presidential and Congress elections in America, there is always a heated debate on how Christians should vote. On one hand are christian leaders who believe that Christians should never vote for anyone who does not share their christian values. One of the most contentious issue recently has been the issue of abortion, with many prominent christian leaders advising their adherents not to vote for anyone who is perceived to be a pro abortion or pro choice. Another issue has been about giving more rights to gays especially the right to marry. Many christian leaders have advised their followers not to vote for any politician who supports gay marriage.</div>
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There is however another group of Christians who believe that American is a christian nation and should be governed as such. They believe that the founding fathers of America wanted America to be a christian nation. With so many christian churches and so many varied christian beliefs, it should be a tricky issue as to which principles and beliefs should be used in running America. For instance if a day of worship were to be enforced, which day would it be? Would it be Sunday or Saturday? Sunday is a day of worship for most Christians while Saturday is a day of worship for a minority of Christians who believe that Christians should go back to the day God designated for worship and that Sunday worship is man made tradition with no scriptural basis. </div>
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The more you think about it the more you would see that any intermingling of the state and religion would eventually lead to the persecution of some minority believers. You only need to look at the history of the Roman Catholic church, when it controlled the politics of western Europe, to realize how an intermingling of state and religion usually leads to persecution of those with opposing beliefs to the official church. Thousands of Christians such as the <a href="http://adventistsermons.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-waldenses-persecuted-christians.html" target="_blank">Waldenses</a> lost their lives for daring to hold beliefs contrary to the mainstream church's beliefs.</div>
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In the video below, Dr Dwight Nelson, Senior Pastor of the Pioneer Memorial SDA Church at Andrews University preaches on this important topic on how to vote as a christian and how far Christians can involve themselves in politics.</div>
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4216624551840651667.post-22868692228346086702013-02-14T05:58:00.001-08:002015-05-04T13:35:10.455-07:00Sabbath: A Day of Liberty - Walter Pearson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;" trbidi="on">
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In the video sermon below, Pastor Walter L Pearson Jr. of the Breath of Life Telecast preaches on the topic, A Day of Liberty. It is a sermon based on the request by Moses to an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, that he should let the Israelites go to worship the Lord in the wilderness. He says the request was really about the Israelites requesting that they be allowed to observe the holy day of the <a href="http://whatissabbath.net/" target="_blank">Sabbath</a>. To show that God is so particular about the Sabbath, God allowed plagues to fall on the Egyptians when the Pharaoh refused to grant their request. <br />
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Observance of the Sabbath, far from being legalistic and a burden actually signifies a day of liberty. It represents freedom from sin that Christ offers us and is a day we rest from labor and our efforts to not only provide for ourselves but also to save ourselves. The Sabbath is a day we recognise that God is the source of all things whether they be physical or spiritual. It shows that He alone is the one that matters in our relationship and is the source of our strength and success. As one writer puts it, had the world faithfully continued to observe the Sabbath, there would be no atheists around. Unfortunately in substituting Sunday for Saturday as a day of worship the Christian church lost out on the benefits that come from obeying the Lord by worshipping Him on the day that He appointed and not on one that man decided.<br />
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Yezganihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08948342153233991787noreply@blogger.com0