by Elder Douglas Bennett, Southern Adventist University

Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

The Woman Beast Rider

You know and I know that are living in a rather unusual time. That's the understatement of the morning. The reason for the abnormality of our times, I think, is expressed in the passage that I want to share with you at the beginning from the book of Romans, the thirteenth chapter. Verses eleven and twelve. I'm reading from the New International Version, Romans 13:11,12 - And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. My sermon to you this morning can be expressed in one simple sentence. It's a sentence that I hope will vibrate in your minds as we talk today, and I hope that as you leave, you will take that sentence with you and will pulsate in your minds as you drive. Take it to your homes and your workplace. It is a profoundly simple sentence but it is also simply profound. Jesus is coming soon. Be ready. Now I've given my sermon. I think I'll sit down. Oh, did I hear someone say, "No! Don't sit down." No, I didn't hear anyone say that. But I think I will take a few minutes more to enlarge on the statement that I made. Now, I know that when you came to this service this morning you already believed that Christ's is soon. I hope that as a result of our time spent together this morning that you will be more convinced and perhaps more committed as a result of the time we spend here today. One of the features of "end-time" is the book of Revelation. There is no book of the Bible that I understand that deals more fully with the "end-time" than the book of Revelation. It's a last-day book for last-day people to prepare the human family for final events. And one of those outstanding characteristics of Revelation is that frequently throughout the book it contrasts the True on one hand and the FALSE on the other hand. The TRUE and the COUNTERFEIT are often set opposite to one another throughout the book of Revelation. Time is not going to let us deal with them all. And this is understandable why it surfaces so frequently, because the book of Revelation is the final act of the great controversy, a controversy that began up in heaven when a sinless angel said, "I will make myself like the Most High God." And so the book of Revelations is revealing how in these last days this Lucifer, now turned devil, is endeavoring to fulfil his desires. One of the marked differences or maybe contrasts in this book of Revelation is the contrast between two women in Revelation. Some things I need not prove. You understand that a woman in Revelation is a description in prophecy, it is a picture of a system of worship, a religion. (Jeremiah 6:2) We have two women in Revelation. In Revelation 12 you have a woman that is simply and plainly clothed. She's giving birth to the male child who is caught up to God and then the arch- enemy turns the canons of his warfare against the followers of Christ, his church who are identified as those that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus, which is the voice of Jesus speaking through the prophets. In Revelation 17 we find another woman. She is ornately adorned, clothed in colorful garments and her appearance, as you look at her, appears to be like the genuine, true church of God because she has the colorful garments, she has precious ornaments, she has a head-band, a miter, like that which was worn by God's true priest in the Old Testament. You'll find it recorded in Exodus 28. However, instead of this woman being God's true people and God's true church, it is a counterfeit of Satan for the purpose of misleading mankind. Now you say, "How do you know this is a false system?" Well, let's look at the description in Revelation 17. Verse 6 tells us that she is drunk with the blood of the saints. In verse 2 of Revelation 17 she's engaged in the act of immorality, fornication. Verse 3 of Revelation 17, her head and her life is full of blasphemous names. All of these are descriptions of something that is foreign and alien to God. It is in this woman of Revelation 17, and a study of this woman will help us to recognize that we're living near the end of time. There are two features that we will concentrate on in Revelation 17, although there are many others that are worthy to be expounded. One of those features that helps to indicate that we are living near the end is seen in verse 5. Revelation 17:5 (KJV) And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. We notice that we have a family, and the family name is Babylon. And you notice, it begins with the name, Mystery. There ar two mysteries in the Bible: the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity. Here we're dealing with the mystery of iniquity. The family, Babylon, a state of confusion. Now this is significant to you and me when we begin to understand that Revelation 17 is an enlargement, it is a development, an expansion of Revelation 13. In Revelation 13 we meet in the opening verses, in fact the first ten verses is talking about a sea-beast that we and others have identified (and we'll not give the proof) as the Papacy, The Roman Catholic System. May I pause at this point because I don't want to be misunderstood. I do not have any animosity against Catholics. I'm not talking against people. You understand that. We're only tracing the finger of God in prophecy. We're talking about something bigger than individuals. I know that proportionately in the Catholic there may be more sincere and earnest Christians there than we can find in any other Christian faith. But we are only following what God in prophecy has indicated, and you'll understand as I expose these things from where I come. You notice in the thirteenth chapter, verse 3, it tells us that one of the heads of this beast was wounded to death. Now, this is reminding us of what occurred in history February 10, 1798 when Berthiere, the French general of Napoleon went into Rome and defrocked the Pope from his position. He was taken into Velas, France, and he died the next year. At that time the Papacy was dealt a death blow to end the Papacy and historians believed at the time that this was the end. But that is not what the text says. Prophecy says that the head would be healed. There would be a resurrection like Jesus who was dealt a death blow. He was raised, so this enemy, the anti-Christ was going to be raised. The head would be healed. Now, a wound can be dealt suddenly, you understand. But healing is not sudden. It's a process of time. You understand that, too. And so the death-blow was given, the wound began to be healed immediately as most wound, in fact all wound begin to heal immediately. In eighteen hundred, another Pope was elected, despite the fact that Napoleon had said one should not be. In 1929, the Vatican was given back to the Pope. A process of healing, but may I remind you that the healing is not complete. Revelation 17 is giving us a picture of what we can expect to happen when the wound is fully healed. It is not fully healed, yet. Revelation 17 tells us that when it is fully healed, although it was wounded as one religious power, one head that was wounded, it will surface and be healed as a family with other religious powers and churches. If the mother was a church, the daughters, likewise, are a church. And they are immoral. Now a child and a church is not born immoral. It become that way by its own choice. And so, the choices have made these families of churches co-lace themselves together in support of the mother church. Revelation 16:13 (KJV) describes the composition of this family when Babylon's wound is fully healed. We read: And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, (That's the Devil working through Pagan Rome) out of the mouth of the beast, (The Devil working through Catholic Rome) and out of the mouth of the false prophet (And that is the land beast of Revelation 13 that we know as Protestant America). Protestant America was founded on the separation of church and state, preserving the liberties of the individual, but when she dissolves that separation she will be false to her profession. And she appeared as an innocent lamb but later speaks as a dragon. She is a dragon in lamb's clothing, and when this happens, she's a false prophet. A kind of false teacher. Now, is there anything in our religious world that seems to suggest that we may be nearing that? There was a time when it seemed unlikely that a day would come when Catholics and Protestants would actually develop a cordial relationship between them. But Romanism today is not now regarded as it once was by Protestants. We thought that they were barbaric at one time in their behavior. And they were. But in these civilized times and trough Vatican II, things have changed for the better. Don't be fooled. And we thought it would be impossible for heathen religions to have any kind of sympathetic agreement with some form of Christianity. Our trouble, perhaps, was that we were putting too much confidence in the differences that were held rather than focussing on the commonalities, the things that they held in common. You know, there has been a movement of ecumenism, meaning one world church at least in the fifties. I remember reading about it. Efforts were made in the sixties. 1968. You're acquainted with the fact that Methodism and United Brethren joined to form the United Methodist Church. And there have been others. More recently, October 6, 1997 the Evangelical Lutheran, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterians USA and the Reformed Church in America joined together. Four churches merged together into one church, which meant there had to be a meltdown of some of the specific beliefs that were being held in the past by these churches. The next day, on October 7, 1997, the Evangelicals (Evangelical is another term for conservative Christians) and Roman Catholics met together in New York City to discuss their theological beliefs. You'll find it posted in Christianity Today, Dec. 8, 1997, also in Christianity Today, Aug. 10, 1998. Already the Catholics and the Evangelicals have joined together in what is known as the Christian Mission for the Third Millenium. They are agreed, both Catholics and Evangelicals, to become partners in the coming mission of preaching the gospel to all the world. On page 23 of the final draft we read these words:

"It is neither theologically legitimate, nor prudent use of resources for one Christian community to proselytize among adherents of another Christian community."

Some of the leading evangelists are now conducting their crusades in partnership with Catholics, one of whom is Billy Graham. He said that there is to be absolutely no proselytizing of those whose beliefs in the Christian church theologically different from us. At the same time the Protestants are moving toward Catholics, the Catholics are courting the Protestants. When the Catholic Pope, Pope John II, went into office on October 16, 1978, he became an evangel, traveling the world, promoting his wares. He has been a public relations and a marketing specialist for the Catholic church. On December 11, 1983, the Pope for the first time, since the break in 1531, the Protestant's Reformation, entered a Lutheran church, not just as a viewer, but as a participant in the service. In 1054, the eastern church split from the western church (Western church being the Roman church, the eastern church over in the east Constantinople area) and they called themselves "Orthodox." Today the Orthodox take the name of whatever country they're in. Rumanian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, whatever country they're in. They take that name. Over three hundred million of them. The Catholic church invited Patriarch Dimitrics I of the orthodox church to come and visit St. Peter's Basilica in 1987. The Pope called him a "brother in Christ" and said, "The Catholic church and the Orthodox church have been given the grace to recognize one another as sister churches and to walk toward full communion." He is reaching out his hands to all groups endeavoring them to pull them together. In Christianity Today entitled "What Separates Evangelicals and Catholics?" there is an article that reads, "As we (these two groups) discussed the meaning of the gospel... it became evident that we shared a common faith... (How can that ever be? Share the "common faith"?) The Catholics and Evangelicals share the promise of the Father that they have been accepted by Him... So his children had better accept each other." In Moody Magazine, November, 1993, Dan Duggins wrote an article and let me give you just a portion of it. "'Today, for good or bad, the lines that separate evangelicals and Roman Catholics are fading.' More and more people from both sides are working together on common social causes, and many of them are describing their lives in similar language. Some evangelical leaders welcome the changing landscape, saying, 'it is high time that all of us who are Christians come together regardless of the difference of our confessions and our traditions and make common cause to bring Christian values to bear in our society.'"  

You see, there's a reaching out to try to find common meeting points where we can agree. Let me tell you, the world is providing a lot of these needs where we need to agree. For instance,
• WAR: we're destroying ourselves in war.
• DRUGS: the war on drugs has changed the whole landscape of our country and of our world.
• CRIME: I wake up every morning and someone was murdered here, a bank was robbed in the city, our little community of Chattanooga.;
• ABORTION: three million lives being snuffed out every year.
• MORALS: at their lowest point world-wide.

All of these are needs of society of mankind, crying for solutions, and the churches are playing on these and are suggesting that we get together in order that in strength and unison we can deal with these problems. Now, I grant that they need to be dealt with. And there's some Biblical basis for the needs of dealing with these, but not on the compromise of our faith.  

If this is not enough, it is significant to note that the Roman Catholic Pope has become the Ecumenical leader in a move to unite not only the "separated brethren" of Protestantism, but also all of the world's religions into a new world church.
1. Billy Graham, in Saturday Evening Post (Jan./Feb. 1980), made this observation, that John Paul II (is) "the greatest religious leader of the modern world." And then our Focus on the Family speaker, James Dobson, in Jan. 1990, states that the Pope is "the most eminent religious leader who names the name of Jesus Christ." Their efforts to focus on some kind of leader that can get everybody marching behind and in step, if you please.
2. Sri Chinmoy, the guru of the United Nations, and eminent leader of Hindus. He is Pope John Paul's true friend. He considers him as a friend and co- worker. Pope John made this statement: "the Hindu life and the Christian life shall go together. Your message and my message are the same."
3. During a tour of Africa in 1993, according to a Los Angeles Times report of February 5, 1993, the Pope "sought common ground with believers in Voodoo... suggesting they would not betray their traditional faith by converting to Christianity."
4. Speaking to Muslims in Brussels, Belgium, the Pope said, "We Christians and Muslims meet one another in faith in one God and strive to put into practice the teaching of our respective books." Meeting with Muslim leaders in West Africa in 1993 the Pop called on Christians, Muslims, Animists... to respect one another's belief. (National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 19, 1993)
5. It is evident that the Pope takes a broad-minded view of world religions. Instead of opposing them by calling attention to their differences, he is wooing them by emphasizing what they hold in common. The New World Religion will be tolerant of all beliefs which are willing to unite with one another in the charitable rescue of mankind.In 1986 the Pope gathered at Assi, Italy, together with 130 leaders of 12 major religions to pray for peace. He told them , we are all praying to the same God. He allowed his friend, Dali Lama, who considers himself God and the fourteenth reincarnation of the original Dali Lama, to remove the cross from the altar and to replace it with Buddha. The Buddhist monks perform their worship at the alter. It is evident that Rome is becoming the bridge to together bring all faiths. We see the Evangelical Christians stepping on the bridge at one end and Hindu, Buddhists, and all other pagan religions stepping onto the bridge at the other end, and we know what will happen when they meet.

I wish I had time to comment on these, but I don't. Let's go to our second feature before we wrap up our talk this morning in Revelation 17. This has to do with the coming together of the support of the civil governments. For the first time in the book of Revelation a distinction is made between the church and religious powers. It is made by the use of two different symbols, (1) a woman which represent the religious powers, and (2) a beast which describes the political (civil) kingdoms. Notice in Revelation 17:3, the woman is pictured as riding astride the beast. This indicate that she is in a control posture. The beast is subservient to the whims and wishes of the woman, the church. If you should notice the twelfth verse, it tells us that the ten horns which you saw were kings who have received no kingdom as yet. But they receive authority for one hour with the kings. The eighteenth verse says, The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth. The woman is ultimately to reign over the nations of the world is what we are told. And the only way this can happen is for some compromises to be made in our separation clauses. For Revelation 13 tells us that Protestant America will be the one that will lead the forces in getting the nations of the world to take the mark of the beast.  

You are aware, aren't you, that the Justices of the Supreme Court have already down-sized the separation clause.
1. Chief Justice William Rehnquist says, "The wall of separation between church and state is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned." (Church and State, October 1988, p. 24)Justice Anthony Kennedy: "Substantial revision of our establishment (of religion) clause doctrine may be in order. (Separation of Church and State, October 15, p. 1) Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: "Religious liberty is a luxury that we can no longer afford." (Liberty, Sept./Oct., 1990)
2. David Burton: "Did you know that separation of church and state is a myth?" (Myth of Separations jacket cover)
3. Jay Sekulow, Attorney for Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice: The so- called wall of separation between church and state has begun to crumble." (Americans United for the Separation of Church and State)
4. Addressing 4,000 people at a rally in South Carolina, Pat Robertson mocked church/state separation, and said, "It's a lie of the left, and we are not going to take it any more." (Church and State, V. 47 #1, January 1994, p. 18.)
5. He said: "We have together, with Protestants and the Catholics, enough votes to run this country."
6. Popular evangelical author, Tim LaHaye said: "The only hope for America is legislative reform." And Jerry Falwell chimes in saying: "Victory is not a matter of if, but when."
7. Pope Paul II has indicated in his Apostolic Letter that Sunday legislation is needed to guarantee Sunday observance.

I want to tell you that this is strong language we're listening to this morning. And it's happening all about us, and we're being shuttled, if you please, moved rapidly forward. You remember the statement of one wise writer, Ellen White. She said, "Yet under one head--the Papal power-- the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witness. (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 7, p.. 182) We are being moved rapidly in that direction. And so we have found from our study this morning that prophecy indicates that before Christ returns, there is to be a uniting, a pulling together of religions on principles in which they hold in common. And that civil powers will lend their support to the carrying out of the whims and the desires of the church. Therefore on the basis of what we have found here, it seems that we can safely say we are living near the end of time. Now, what does it mean to you? What does it mean to me? It means that we can't go on living life carelessly, nonchalantly, casually, life-as-usual. We can't go on living that way. It means that we are on the verge, the very verge of coming events which will effect everyone of us here, physically, emotionally, financially, yes-spiritually. We're on the verge of seeing what Ellen White said. "When the leading churches of the United States unite on such points of doctrine as is held in common, and shall influence the state to enforce their decrees, we will have formed and image to the beast." And so it means that we should ask ourselves the question: "Am I ready for these events?" This message is a call for a new commitment to Christ. A call to renew a commitment to His church, to His word, and to the mission of carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. And if anybody has been waiting, and I'm sure you haven't, on some startling events to occur before we wake up, then this is God's wake-up call to you, to me. The hour has come for us to wake up from slumbering, because our salvation is nearer than we first believed. The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. Jesus is coming. Are we ready? In times like these, we need an anchor. We're going to sing about that in our closing hymn. And may God help you and me to be committed, making Christ Lord as well as Savior of our lives.  

Openning Hymn: #202, Hail Him the King of Glory
Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:34-40
Closing Hymn: #593, In Times Like These

McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

Quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Launching a New Life

Let us Pray: Dear Father, I cannot fill the sanctuary with people, but I can fill the service with purpose. I cannot convince people they are sinners, but I can confess that I am a sinner. I cannot persuade the whole world, but I can proclaim your whole Word. Open our eyes today that we may see Jesus. Amen. If you are ever going to tap into the unfathomable rejuvenating power of Christ AND you are going to accomplish it in this millennium, now is the year. Only 364 days separate us from that moment and perhaps even less from our own end. Why not launch a new life right now?  

I believe that God exists.
If not, then humans are just future fertilizer.  
We are a stir in the slime, a movement in the muck.
Without Christ our globe is a nomadic mud ball. 
Devoid of Jesus we are insignificant clots of accidental  hurting  molecules: 
Zombies zealously zooming to the tomb.

But connected to God our future is inexhaustible. We become eternal, significant and vitalized. The greatest thing you can ever do is connect to God. Invite Jesus to take up occupancy in your heart. When Jesus enters the old man of sin dies. They cannot coexist. When someone dies we have a funeral to dispose of the corpse. This burial is Baptism which helps us to live a NEW LIFE. Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If you want to have a dynamic Christian life, there are four essentials. 1.- PRAYER (The BREATH of the Christian) Prayer is the vehicle through which the awesome power of God is conveyed. This transforms the meaningless mass of molecules. A large heavy truck stalled on the expressway and a man stopped to see if he could be of any help. He soon found that the wheel bearings had frozen up due to a lack of grease. What is so peculiar about that? The truck was an oil company truck which just happened to be hauling grease! How often we Christians get so occupied bearing the duties of Christianity and the grease of the gospel that we neglect to lubricate our own spiritual bearings. How many Christians are stalled on the edge of a true and deep experience? Stranded there on the side of the road of life. Stalled out! Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Have you ever watched a bird sleeping on its perch and never falling off? How does it manage to do this? The secret is the tendons of the bird's legs. They are so constructed that when the leg is bent at the knee, the claws contract and grip like a steel trap. The claws refuse to let go until the knees are unbent again. I guess if the bird got arthritis he could never get up. The bent knee gives the bird the ability to hold on tight to his perch. When you are on your knees you can't fall. From sleeping birds we can learn the secret of holding on. That secret is the bent knee, seeking to get a firmer grip on those values which make life worth living. When we hold firmly to God in prayer, we can be assured He will hold tightly to us. During 1999, seek a closer walk with God. Develop your prayer life. Communicate with Your Forever Friend. God answers EVERY prayer. But not always with a yes. If God said yes to every one of your prayers He would cease to be God. Instead, you would be in charge of the universe. John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. James 5:16 The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. These verses wrongly taken lead to a fallacious a view of prayer.

People think that if we are earnest enough 
                             and believe enough 
                          and claim hard enough 
                            and are good enough 
that whatever we ask will be given to us.

Is that true? Remember one of the most zealous and intent prayers in the whole Bible.... It was prayed by a dying person hanging on a cross.... Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, (Jesus) fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." God did not say yes even though Jesus was earnest, and believed and was perfectly good. The purpose of prayer is not to get God to do our will, but rather to get God's will done in our life. I would rather be totally surrendered to His will than have my will done. I would like to suggest that you try Positive Praying. So often we pray for help in quitting Alcohol or sexual abuse. We focus on the problem. Job said: Job 3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me." He got what he focused on. Instead, try focusing on what you want to be. "I want to be pure." Someone did a study and discovered that passing vehicles are seven times more likely to run into a police car that is parked by the side of the road IF its blinking lights are on! We tend to move toward the brightest picture in our mind. So, Don't think about the problem, instead contemplate the resolution. We become what we think. So think positively. The parent who tells the kids: "Don't play in the street" is painting a picture in the young mind of playing out there on the street. Instead say: "Please stay here in our yard while you play." Virtually every medical student in their course of study will develop the symptoms of one or more of the diseases she or he is studying in their textbook! They never even got near the germs! We become what we think. So pray positive prayers. Pray to become more like Jesus. Instead of praying "Lord, help me overcome my temper" pray: "Lord make me patient and composed." The first key in launching a new life is prayer. 2 REGULAR, MEANINGFUL BIBLE TIME. (The FOOD of the Christian) - (Jeremiah 15:16). Job 23:12 "I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread." Eat some exhilarating food in 1999. The Word of God is exciting. Did you know that the Bible refers to a man who had a bed 13.5 feet long and 6.5 feet wide?- Deut. 3:11. Now that would be a fairly large man. There is a story of a man who got a hair cut once a year and the waste weighed six and a quarter pounds! (II Samuel 14- Absalom) For me that would be a lifetime record! Great value enriches the Bible reader from the spiritual life that surges out of its chapters. II Timothy 3:15-17 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The Bible is our spiritual food. Do you plan to eat in 1999? How many meals? At least once a week? How many feasts will you enjoy from the Bible? If the King James seems like Brussels Sprouts, then try varying the menu to include other accurate and fascinating translations. Your knowledge of God will increase in the proportion to the amount of food you eat. Too many Christians look like they have spent time in a Spiritual concentration camp! Plan on reading your Bible all the way through this year. Let's eat in 1999! #3 WORK for God. This is the bodies EXERCISE. You probably made a new year's resolution to get more exercise. How about spiritual exercise. Paul Harvey said, "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium." See Matt 4:19. "Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men."  

   If you wish to enrich days, plant flowers; 
   If you wish to enrich years, plant trees; 
   If you wish to enrich Eternity, plant Jesus in the hearts of others.

"The fact that nine in ten Americans are not committed Christians is worthy of our deepest concern." -- George H. Gallup in Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 4, 1997. Acts 26: 17,18 "I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." If you want to come alive in 1999 then try helping someone else. Over this Christmas our family went down to the Community Kitchen in Chattanooga to serve breakfast. We arrived at 6:15 AM where a crowd of cold hungry folks waited. Their obvious needs quickly justified our coming. One lady came to the serving counter and as I dished up some hot oatmeal and toast on her plate she said: "I had another seizure last night." I noticed a fresh cut on her forehead. I said: "God bless you Ma'am." She said: "He already has... I woke up alive this morning. I was not frozen, or hurt." Another had just been evicted because his company had downsized and he lost his job and everything he had. We tried to share some of the love of Jesus with them. If you want to launch a new life in 1999 then exercise your spiritual muscles for Jesus. Go on a Maranatha project yourself. Deliver food to a person in hunger. Use your car for transportation. Work for Jesus. 4 Daily Surrender to Christ. James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Submit to God and resist the devil. Yield your will to Gods will and defy Satan's efforts. Every day you must give your all totally into Jesus hands. Oswald Chambers said: "Freedom is the ability not to insist on my rights, but to see that God gets His." Put God first in 1999. You may say: I don't have time to study the Bible and pray and witness. So how do we find time? The answer is that we don't lose time in doing these things. We gain time! How's that? Because God can solve problems instantaneously, a problem that we might work on for months before solving. A very busy person can't afford not to pray. It is like tithing. Tithing doesn't make you poorer, it makes you more prosperous. This is one of God's paradoxes. Whatever we give to God, He gives back better.  

Launch a new life in 1999!  Now is the time.
Another year is dawning; dear Father, let it be, 
   In working or in waiting, another year with thee. 
   Another year of progress, another year of praise, 
   Another year of proving thy presence all the days. 
   Another year of service, of witness for thy love; 
   Another year of training for holier work above. 
   Another year is dawning; dear Father, let it be, 
   on earth, or else in heaven, another year for thee. 

      Frances Ridley Havergal (1836 1879)

Opening Hymn: 1 Praise to the Lord
Scripture: Responsive Reading- 792 (From Psalm 16, NKJV)
Closing Hymn: 492 Be Like Jesus

McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted

Freedom in Change

John 8:36 This is Jesus speaking. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. That's the only true freedom: if the Son set us free. The sunshine sets us free from the frost of the world. And so the Son of God set us free the sin of the world. In 1776 Thomas Paine, American Revolution patriot and writer, wrote about the price of freedom: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. A celestial article like Freedom should be highly esteemed." I want you to know that our freedoms as Christians were purchased at great expense. That expense was the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior. His blood saves us. We have enjoyed freedoms here in the United States for many years. However, those freedoms are fading. And you recognize that. For instance, take some of the ordinances that are now restricting the right of worship here in the United States in our homes.  

But It seems that legislators despise freedom of religion. A number of recent zoning cases have affected the right of worship in private homes.
1. In Colorado Springs, minister Richard Blanche has been repeatedly cited by the police, by the courts for holding religious meetings in his home in violation of city zoning ordinances.
2. In Fairhaven, Massachusetts, a local zoning official ruled that Bible studies in the home, if you're going to study the Bible in your home with other people, that is a home occupation and therefore prohibited under the town's property-use ordinances.
3. In Los Angeles, officials ruled that home-occupancy regulations forbade orthodox Jews from holding prayer meetings in their homes.
4. In Stratford, Connecticut case, prayer in home Bible studies is penalized while Tupperware parties enjoy the full protection of the Constitution.

It doesn't make sense, does it? You can have a large crowd of people for a Tupperware party, but you can't have a dozen people come by for a prayer meeting service, We all enjoy freedom, and how long our freedoms last we don't know. But I would like to propose to you today there is a secret to real freedom, and it's found in the Bible. Everybody longs for freedom. Would you like to know the secret of true freedom? "A bird is free in the air. Place a bird in the water and he has lost his liberty. A fish is free in the water, but leave him on the sand and he perishes." Henrietta Mears Christians are free when they do the will of God and become obedient Him. We are out of our realm when we dabble with sin like a fish on the beach. We will die! Psalm 119:45 I will walk about in freedom, for (Because) I have sought out your precepts. Why does he walk in freedom? Because he has sought the Lord's precepts. God's precepts are God's directions, His instructions, His rules, His commandments. When we follow God's directions, life is so much easier. One evening I was sitting on our back porch and we had one of these bug- zappers. Do you know what they are? You plug it in. It's got a bright light bulb inside and a couple layers of screen wire. When the bugs hit that screen you hear a little zippp. That's the cooking sound, I guess, when that bug meets his doom. I sat there, and these bugs, attracted by the light, were just zooming in to their death, being sizzled and zapped and fried and roasted and each one was meeting the same doom. And I thought, those bugs are crazy. They're all a quart low. As stupidity is the greatest cause of anything happening in the world it seems like. Each bug followed the other bugs to their death. Sizzle, Zap, Roast, Fry.... each met the same doom. I thought, they are crazy. Stupidity is the greatest agent for action in the world. Each bug followed other bugs to their scorched death. Like the world, they followed the crowd and quickly ended up like a pile of char broiled powder. Each tried to see how close they could get to the action. Each seemed to care less about the danger. Brainless Bugs! And as I watched, I thought about life. How often we chase after the world. We love the bright lights. We crave the excitement. We thrill at the feel of electricity in the air. The wild lights attract us. We go like those bugs to our death. Away from the lights and attractions of sin we have freedom. I would like to submit to you that we have freedom if we seek the precepts of God, if we stay away from the sin and the attractions of the world and cling to Jesus Christ. Only then do we have true freedom. Proverbs 9:6 Leave your foolish way and you will live. Forsake the foolish ways that you have and you will live. In other words, if we cling to God's ways we are going to live. If we forsake the ways of the world. Obedience is the fountain of genuine freedom. When I was a boy I found that I had a lot more freedom when I obeyed my mother than when I did not. I stood many times with my nose in the corner (it seems like there were a lot of corners in that house), and you have plenty of time to think when your nose is in the corner. I seemed to value my freedoms more when I was standing with my nose in the corner. There was nothing to look at. I guess I did a lot of thinking that brought me to where I am today, in those corners. Even in that one-room church school in Indiana, I remember standing in the corner. I never did anything wrong, of course, but I will tell you that obedience gives you a lot more freedom. It was also a good place to think about life. Obedience brings freedom.  

America is not an obedient nation. We are drifting so far and so fast from the bible, it makes you quiver. We are a land filled with selfishness and sin. Most great civilizations last about two hundred years. Rome did better than that, but most don't. And they proceed through this classic sequence:
1. From Bondage to Spiritual Faith
2. From Spiritual Faith to Great Courage -
3. From Courage to Liberty -
4. From Liberty to Abundance -
5. From Abundance to Selfishness -
6. From Selfishness to Complacency -
7. From Complacency to Apathy -
8. From Apathy to Dependency -
9. From Dependency once again into bondage.

It's about how it happens. A few years ago, this wonderful United States of ours experienced its two- hundredth birthday. How much longer this nation can last, I don't know. I guess that depends on us and our offspring. But apparently nations and people can't stand prosperity very long. The above cycle is not inevitable -- it depends on us and our offspring. Alexander Fraser Tyler (1748-1813) in The Decline and Fall of The Athenian Republic. There are symptoms that our American freedoms are about to change. This past summer the Papacy issued an apostolic letter calling all Catholics to faithfulness in Sunday worship. In a previous statement he said nations should enforce Sunday rest by legislation with punishment to offenders. That's pretty serious, isn't it? First of all it is unscriptural to say that Sunday should be kept due to the resurrection of Jesus. The Seventh day is the Sabbath and therefore the birthday of the world. Can you change your birthday? I was born on a Monday. Would someone like to make a motion that I was born on a Tuesday and we could vote on it? Would that change the day of my birth? Could we all vote that you were born on Sunday if you were born on the seventh day? NO! You can't change the birthday of the world. Sabbath cannot be changed. Compelling people to attend church is immoral. God wants worship to come from the heart. John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command. In other words, God wants our worship to come from the heart, from love. That's the motivation. It's love. The final crisis is looming like a dark apocalyptic storm cloud that is approaching over the western horizon. I'm going to talk a little bit about Y2K. Is Y2k mentioned in the Bible? Well, hardly. But look at II Timothy 3:1 But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. The King James says, "perilous times shall come." Dangerous, Hazardous, Unstable, Unsafe times in the last days. It's bad times. Could Y2K bring on this final crisis? I don't know. I doubt if much will happen, but it could. I read in the Signwatch magazine, which is put out by the Seventh-day Adventist church. It says, "In a worst case scenario there will be no electricity anywhere in North America or the rest of the world on January 1, 2000. All grocery stores will empty out within a week. Huge masses of people will have no income, no water..., no food..., no heat... No gasoline. There will be rioting in the large cities..." Y2K could be the day the world shuts down. Laid low by two measly digits in computer codes. At midnight New Years eve the world could turn into a technological pumpkin. Could you pump water? Can you cook without electricity? These conditions could bring on a national state of confusion thus precipitating the time when we cannot buy or sell. All these things could happen. WE don't know. Is Y2k predicted in the Bible? Computer problems are not mentioned because they did not exist, at least not that we know of. Some people think they did exist prior to the flood, but no remains have been dug up. (There was a simple calculator discovered in a Greek shipwreck in the Mediterranean, but no others have been found.) COULD ASTEROIDS bring the last day perplexity? Let's look in Luke 21. Here's another sign of the last days. I believe that these two verses are not totally fulfilled yet. Luke 21:25,26. There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Now, I don't think this prophecy is totally fulfilled: parts of it. Now of course I certainly believe in the great events that happened in 1833 (falling of the stars: Leonid meteor shower) and 1780 (dark day, moon came up red as blood). In verse 26 "Men" means people, humans everywhere. In verse 25 "Nations" means a world-wide event. More even than the awesome signs in 1833 and 1780. Signs of the times magazine feels that there is a very real possibility that Jesus was predicting comets, asteroids, and/or meteorites impacting our globe. See Signs of the Times, Feb. 1999. Even the visitation of a small asteroid could create Jesus' dark day. It could stunt harvests, and cool the whole globe. There could be immense waves in the sea: the "tossing" of the sea. The whole population would be shaken to the core. Heart attacks and strokes over these perplexities. People would be yelling "the day of judgment is here." Luke 17:26,27 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. And it was like that in the days of Lot. Now, I don't know what it was like in the days of Noah. We don't have any records except the Bible of what happened before the flood. I don't know where the dinosaurs came from or for that matter many of the weird things of nature, but I suspect that the super intelligent antediluvian people experimented with amalgamation (the combination of man and beast). Some of the weird things of nature are hard to describe in any other way. Today we are fiddling with genetic engineering. I believe that just as this characterized the first humans it will characterize the last ones. Since the cloning of Dolly, research has continued at a fast pace. The University of Massachusetts is trying to combine human cells with Bovine (Cow) cells to produce milk more like human milk. Experiments are underway to clone swine with human beings to provide human body parts for surgery needs in today's operating rooms. Tidings, Jan, 1999 Imagine harvesting hog parts for transplantation into people! You might strongly suspect I am not totally original if I suddenly OINK during a sermon! These are signs of the last days! I want to share a story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. One day in 1789, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand, and thought that they should adjourn. Quelling the pandemonium, he heard the cry for immediate adjournment. Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgement is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought and we will proceed." Rather than fearing what is to come, Christians ought to be faithful till Jesus returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we ought to be lights to the world as we watch the darkening conditions. And that light will only shine as Jesus Christ is in our heart. A young man who dives to supply exotic fish for aquariums related an interesting fact. He said that one of the most popular aquarium fish is the Shark. He said that if you catch a small shark and confine it in a small aquarium, it will stay a size proportionate to the size of the tank you keep it in. Sharks can be six inches long and yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they have the freedom to grow to their normal length of eight feet. I've seen the cutest little six-inch Christian sharks who swim around in their little puddle. But I want to tell you, if you hold on Jesus is going to come to take His friends home, He will place us in a larger domain. When He does that We will then be allowed to roam the far reaches of the universe and we're going to grow up. Only then can we have total freedom to become all that He designed us to be. II Corinthians 4:17 for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. We may be in troubles in this world, but we need to... in verse 18, So that we may fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. I urge you to fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. You can't see Him, but you can focus on Him. Are you confined in a small puddle today? Is your Christian growth tantamount to a six inch shark? I am thankful for the liberties that we enjoy here in America. I realize that all too soon those precious freedoms will vaporize away like the morning dew. You can't prepare for the future in the future. Now is the only time to prepare for the future. We need to get filled with Jesus Christ. I urge you to fill up on Jesus every day. One New Year's Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit and stopped the whole parade. It ran out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Wouldn't it be a tragedy for Seventh-day Adventists like the Standard Oil Company, we ought to be full of gas. We ought to be tanked up on Jesus. Wouldn't it be a tragedy for us to neglect to connect. Especially in these last days, you don't want to run out of spiritual gas. Now is the time to be fully filled with Christ. Let's go back to the first verse I read at the beginning of this sermon, John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Come to Jesus. Surrender your life to Him. Don't worry about the last days and their troubles. I am not so much concerned about knowing what is coming but in knowing who will be holding my hand when it does come. That's what I am concerned about. I want to be in those everlasting arms. I want you to be in those everlasting arms, too. You can be. Jesus can be your Savior if you give your life to Him.  

Opening Hymn:  645  God of our Fathers
Scripture:     Responsive Reading: # 816
Closing Hymn:  469 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
 McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

Biblical quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

God Give Us Godly Men

A cute little girl was sitting on top of a pile of luggage in a hotel lobby. Her parents were registering for a room. A sympathetic lady asked if they were staying long. "Oh, we are just going to live here until we find a house. My Daddy has a new job and we had to sell our old house and move here." The lady said: "I am sorry you don't have a home any more." The little girl said: "Oh, we have a HOME, we just don't have a house to put it in." Do you have a home? Tomorrow is fathers day and I want to help strengthen our homes. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. - - - How?? Today we are going to enumerate ten success factors, ten keys that make a Godly Father. The world today is in a crisis. Involved Fathers are almost obsolete. Did you know that if the current trend continues, by the year 2015 one out of every two American babies will be born to a single mother. First Things First, summer 1999, p4. Tennessee's non-marital birth rate increased 252% between 1962 and 1994. Twenty five million children today are growing up without their biological father in the home. About the only father they see is the one they see on TV which mostly shows a person who is not dedicated, not competent and not moral. - Ibid. Now, ten principles that will help you grow into a Godly person, a Godly father. 1 - WALK WITH GOD Notice God's advise to Solomon: I Kings 9:4,5 As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever... A good father will walk with God. You will go where God goes. A godly person will follow God's leading. You can be sure that your children will follow in your footsteps. One cold snowy Michigan morning I went from our house down to the barn we had. I heard a small voice behind me.. "I'm coming along too daddy." Looking back I saw my little boy lifting his little feet and planting them carefully in my footsteps. I thought about my example. Our children will follow where we lead. We must take heed how we walk. We must walk with God. America has gone through Megatrends in my life. But one thread of tradition shows no sign of unraveling: Our sons and daughters still follow in their father s footsteps. A father attended church with his small boy. He found fault with everything in the service. As he walked home, he criticized the minister, the sermon, the choir and everything in general. The boy who had noticed what his father put in the offering plate said, "Well Dad, what can you expect for two quarters?" Kids watch adults! So if you want your children to be Godly, you must first be walking with God yourself. A father cannot be all he ought to be unless he knows Jesus Christ as Savior. Only Jesus can make the father a solid human anchor in his own family. 2 - BE TRUSTWORTHY. John 14:1 says we can trust our heavenly Father. It goes without saying that our kids ought to be able to trust us. A grocer was down in the cellar of his shop when he noticed his small son standing at the edge of the open trap door. He called up, "Here I am sonny, jump down and I will catch you." But the boy hesitated. "I can't, Daddy; I can't see you." Up came the answer, "No but I can see you; trust me and jump and I will catch you." The lad jumped into the darkness because he trusted his father. He was caught in his fathers arms. 3 - RECOGNIZE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY Fatherhood is vitally important. Studies have revealed that fathers significantly influence their children's sexual identity. Children who have a good father image relate well to the opposite sex. Fathers most significantly influence the social behavior of their children. If children do not have good communication with their parents they are more likely to succumb to the use of drugs than those who have a good healthy relationship. The parents of several unruly youngsters were asked whether or not they would have children if they had it to do over again. "Certainly we would," they said, "but not the same ones! Good kids have good training." Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. You have the responsibility of doing the training, not the TV, not a surrogate father. You train by example. It takes energy to train them up. After the kids leave home, some parents suffer from the empty-nest syndrome. Others change the locks! Do the training while they are young. It is amazing how little time it takes for the child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night! It is amazing how some parents put the ball games, camping trips, fishing trips, and the field days above attending worship, and then are literally amazed when their children leave the church. What you men are, thunders so loudly that we can't hear what you say. 4 - EXERT A POSITIVE INFLUENCE Isaiah 54:13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the prosperity of your children. - New Revised Standard Version

Teach your children. Raise them up. Raise them as eagles and you will not see them act like starlings.
• Good fathers show an interest in such things as Grades, Games, School, Friends...
• Good fathers are hard workers. Let your children see you at work, working hard, laboring, producing.
• Good fathers show emotions. Don't be afraid to express emotions of love, joy, sadness, or proper anger.
• Good fathers show Godliness. Your children should see their father in prayer. They should see you in church, reading the Bible.
• Good fathers are fun to be around. Not the grumpy old man, but a joy to be had. When you come home from work, leave your cares outside and let the moments you spend with your family be precious and happy ones.

A father who says he believes the Bible but leaves it to gather dust while he spends hours with the newspaper and magazines and TV, is really saying, "Kids: the Bible is really not all that important." Your influence is vital. Jeremiah 32:18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. You fathers must overcome sin. A good life will benefit your children but a life with sinful habits will drag your kids down. 5 - SPEAK VIRTUOUSLY  

Your children should HEAR several things:
• They should hear you read the Bible. Plan your time so that they will see you enjoying God's Word.
• They should hear you interacting positively with others. They should note how you speak words of encouragement, and kindness. Avoid criticism and a critical spirit.
• They should hear you speaking in a leadership role as a teacher at church or an elected official or a civic service club function. They will gain respect and motivation for future greatness.
• They should hear you say, "I Love You."
• They should hear you openly and unashamedly condemning immorality, unfairness, and wickedness.

6 - REPUTATION (provide a good legacy.) Proverbs 22:1 A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. So often we concentrate on providing a good inheritance of material wealth. Of primary importance should be a good name. Perhaps the finest gift you can give your kids is a honorable legacy. Leave them a heritage of which they can be forever proud of you. As we enter the 2000's a crying need of this old world is for men of impeccable integrity. We see so much dishonesty. We look to our leaders and are disappointed. We need fathers today who have an inward character... who will not be swayed by the desire for gain or glory. We need men who have heavenly convictions and are not afraid to stand for the right in their daily living. Matthew 7:9-11 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! The point is that good fathers will give good gifts to their children. Give them a humble faith. Give them your love. Give them a good example. 7 - SPEND TIME WITH YOUR KIDS. No one wishes they had spent more time at work as they lie on their deathbed. Slow down. Life is too short to squander on trivial pursuits. You can't make memories if you are never around. Be a specialist at fatherhood. Be there. Spend Quality time with your family. Luke 9:25 What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and yet loses his own soul? Let's rephrase that-- "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own children?" A nationwide survey shows that the average father spends about twelve minutes a day with his children. These twelve-minute dads contribute greatly to thirteen year old delinquents. Spend time with your loved ones. You cannot substitute a popsicle for POP himself. No amount of candy bars, hot rods or fishing rods will substitute for TIME. You can't exchange PRESENTS for your own PRESENCE. You used to read the Little House on the Prairie to your kids, you watched the Waltons. Did you notice how the father was always there? Have things changed? America is standing at the crossroads. Our very survival as a nation may depend on the presence or absence of the masculine leadership in our homes. There are many troubled homes out there. In 1998 there were 367 families applying to enroll their troubled sons in Advent Home, a youth home for boys in distress. Most had to be turned away for a lack of space. Some homes are more like Orphanages. Not because the father is dead, but because he is too busy pursuing his own pipe dreams. With the help of our God, let's stamp out residential orphanages. Take time to answer their questions. They need your wisdom. A father went to the mall with his little 5 year old. They went down the escalator. He asked, "Daddy, what do they do when the basement gets full of steps?" Kids need correct information. You are the source. Take time to listen to your kids. "Johnny" came home from school and said, "I don't like school anymore." What he got from his parents was a lecturing session on the value of school. What really happened was that he was having a rough time at school. Some boys threatened to beat him up if he did not bring candy bars for six of them. Later that week, Johnny was roughed up in the bathroom. His parents did not take time to listen. Be willing to spend time being a father. One mother told of hearing her pre-school son talking to another four-year-old boy on the front steps. "Where is your daddy?" he said. "I've never seen him." "Oh, he doesn't live here," came the reply. "He only sleeps here." Fatherhood takes time. G. Brook Adams kept a diary. One day when he was eight years old he wrote: "Went fishing with my father, the most glorious day of my life!" He never forgot that day. There were repeated references to that great experience over the next forty years in his journal. His father was the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain under Abraham Lincoln. The father also made a notation in his diary about the fishing trip. He wrote simply: "Went fishing with my son a day wasted!" 8 - LOVE YOUR CHILDREN & LOVE THEIR MOTHER Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; It is important to love your children, but even more vital is for you to love their mother. A child who knows that daddy loves mama and is true to her will be far more stable and have greater emotional health than one who is torn by the opposite situation. All the fishing trips and ball games will not bring peace to a child who knows that daddy had been unfaithful to mama. We need men today who love their families by showing loyalty in every way to the women they have chosen as their life companions. Good wives help their husbands to become better fathers. A man by himself cannot be the best possible father. You women pray for God to help your husband to be the Godly man God wants him to be. You men, listen to the advise of your godly wife. 9 - BE A MAN OF PRAYER In Romans 10:1,2 Paul said: Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Paul prayed earnestly for the salvation of the Jews. Certainly it is appropriate for us to pray for the salvation of our children. Let your children hear you in Prayer! How wonderful if some of your specific prayers are answered. What a foundation for your families future faith. Pray for wisdom to raise them right. Parenthood takes brains. For instance, any kid will run an errand for you if you ask him at bedtime. 10 - GIVE YOUR CHILDREN TO JESUS There are things that even the best fathers cannot do for their children. John 4:46-54 relates the story of an official whose son was deathly ill. The father came to Jesus in great distress. Notice that Jesus met a need in the life of the son which the father could not supply! Humans have limits. You find this out during a crisis. Jesus will bestow upon your suffering child or your needy teenager what you are unable to give. But notice here that you must come to Jesus and ask Him to help your daughter or son. Hand over your children to Jesus. Someone wrote: "Last night my little boy confessed to me some childish wrong: and kneeling at my knee he prayed with tears, 'O Lord make me a man like Daddy, wise and strong...' Then while my boy slept, I knelt beside his bed, confessed my sins and prayed with a low-bowed head, O God, make me a child like my child here; Pure, genuine, trusting thee with faith sincere." PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to so live that through us you will build us children whose wishbones will not be where their backbone should be. Strengthen them to stand up in life's storms. Help each of us to have high goals, clean hearts, and loving homes. Amen  

Opening Hymn: 17, Lord of All Being, Throned Afar
Scripture: Psalm 1
Closing Hymn: 304  Faith of our Fathers

 McDonald Road Sermons

by Evangelist Wendell Stover

Biblical Quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Four Texts the Devil Loves Most

I'd like to do something a little differently this morning for our worship hour. In the meetings [See our web page just above the sermons. "Prophecy Lectures"] we've been covering a number of different topics that have varied from a prophetic theme to the theme of salvation and the gospel to Jesus' second coming and even what happens to a person when he dies. I know there are certain texts in the Scriptures that are sort of difficult to understand. Especially on those topics of the Second Coming, and the Law, and What Happens to You When You Die, and even some concerned with Diet and Healthful Living. So, I've chosen some texts this morning. I believe the devil enjoys the misrepresentation of these particular texts a much or more than any others to be found in Scripture. Would you [permit me to discuss four of these texts with you. Thief on the Cross The first is found in the book of Luke if you would like to follow along with me. It seems that Satan has a special interest in the idea of spiritualism and that he has a special interest in trying to cover up the real truth of God's goodness to man in the face of death. But if you will notice with me in Luke 23. We come to the crucifixion story here. This is happening on Friday afternoon. Christ is already positioned between the two thieves. One thief will turn to Jesus, and notice verse 42. Luke 23:42,43. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. If it is true that we go to sleep when we die to await the wonderful joy and celebration of the resurrection, what did Jesus intend for the thief to believe here when He said to him, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." You know, the Lord doesn't give me and He hasn't given any of us the authority to correct Scripture. But it is our responsibility to study it diligently. Notice in verse 43 what happened if we moved that comma over. Now, remember this is a special day. "Verily I say unto thee today, Shalt thou be with me in paradise." If we move that comma over after the word, "they" it gives a totally different meaning to what Jesus was saying. I believe this is the correct punctuation for this verse because there was something important about that day. When Christ as being crucified as a common criminal, no one shouting, "Take Him down from the cross, He's the king of glory, the king of the universe, the Messiah destined to come." Almost as if all the voices were silent came a lone voice from someone most unexpectedly, someone already condemned to die that the public looked upon as a nobody. But that nobody, that thief would proclaim in his plea to the Lord Jesus Christ his belief. When no one else was willing, this man's convictions swelled up within his heart and he said, "I believe. Lord, when you appear to be a nobody, when You do not look like the King of Glory, the Son of God, I believe that You are the One promised of God." And so, important enough is the record that the bible has left for us to study today where Jesus would say to him, "On this particular day when I am being assumed as a criminal, a nobody, when you have pronounced your faith in Me, I want to declare to you today, you shall be with Me in paradise." Now, I know this to be true because Jesus Himself did not go to heaven that day. And paradise is also the same definition as the New Jerusalem. Someone came to me after a meeting one night and they said, "Wendell, don't you know that paradise is a place different than the new earth?" I thought about that a little bit. That's really not true. In the book of Revelation it tells us that those who are on Jesus' side will be privileged to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (See Genesis 2:7 and Revelation 2:9) So Revelation declares that the New Jerusalem, or the headquarters, the place where the Tree of Life rests, that is really the paradise. And so, Jesus gave this thief on the cross the assurance that he would be with Him in paradise, but it would not be on that Friday afternoon. Turn with me to John 20. John 20 tells us the story of the resurrection, how that Mary came to the tomb early in that Sunday morning. Supposing the someone had stolen the Master away, she was quite concerned because Jesus was no longer in the tomb. Then she hears a voice unlike any other voice, a voice that speaks and calls her name like no other, "Mary." And she turns, doing that which would come naturally to someone you loved. Verse 17. Jesus saith unto her, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to thy brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Now, this is on Sunday morning. He says, "Don't touch me. Don't embrace me. For I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, 'I will ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and to your God.'" Now, read into this, He was really saying to her, "Mary, I have not yet ascended to paradise." So, if this is on Sunday and He died on Friday, it would make all the sense to move that punctuation over after the word, "they" aligning that scripture up with all the others in the New Testament that let us know for sure that when a person dies they quietly await the beautiful calling of Jesus on the resurrection morning. [In the most original manuscripts, there were no punctuation marks at all. The present position of the comma was done after punctuation marks began to be used. By that time, the scholars of Christianity had accepted the Roam-Greco-Babylonian concept of death and hell, mostly Grecian in origin, and had discarded the pure concepts of the early Old Testament.] Rich man and Lazarus Turn with me to another text in the book of Luke. Turn back with me to Luke 16. I happened to be attending a revival meeting in a small rural country church, not long ago. The pastor was preaching. He gave a very eloquent appeal at of that evening's message for those in the audience to come forward and to be saved. I was listening to his content and I was listening to his appeal, watching his mannerism and how he would give that beautiful invitation. And as he walked down and stood in front of the alter and the audience was standing and singing, he began to paraphrase this same story that I want to read from the Bible. His appeal went something like this, "The Bible says there was a rich man and a poor man. And the Bible says the rich man died and as soon as he died he went straight to hell and so he was down there burning and his body and mind was filled with pain and anguish and torment." He further went on and said, "And if you leave this building tonight and you are lost, unsaved and condemned of God, if you are killed on the way home in an auto accident you will wake up in the fires of hell, burning." And he quoted the story here of the rich man and Lazarus. Let's read this and see if this is what you would choose to teach. Luke 16:19, cf. The Bible says, There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; I like to explain that word "sumptuously" to young people. That word sumptuously meant that that man could eat all the pizza he wanted. That's what it means. He could wear the mossymo tee-shirts and the Rebok or Nike tennis shoes. He had the very best of everything. Six four-wheelers out with his camels. He fared sumptuously. But there happens to be, according to verse 20 in this story, And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover he was in such pitiful shape the dogs came and licked his sores. 22. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Is this story really teaching that as soon as someone dies they go to be at home in Abraham's bosom if they're righteous, or if they have died wicked then they go straight down to where the mean old nasty devil is and they begin to burn? The story continues. There's a dialogue that takes place between this man that is burning and those who are on the other side, or in paradise. It says in verse 24, And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, This is the man that is supposedly burning. He's calling up there to father Abraham and he says, "Send Lazarus down here, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. Verse 26. And beside all this, between (I like this position here of grammar - Besides all of this, between us and you.) us and you there is a great gulf fixed: Now, let's pause for a moment. This story of the rich man and Lazarus, if this is a literal story, then we have to explain at least four reasons away. Four reasons, that, in my mind are monumental reasons why this could not be a literal story. As a matter of fact, there is verse that tells us that Jesus taught only in parables (see Matthew 13:34). A parable is a story that has a main lesson or a main theme. You cannot dissect every part of that parable and make it have a main teaching. I would submit, first of all, that, If Jesus were telling a real story here, teaching the idea that when you die you go straight to heaven or to hell, then He is purposefully and willfully denying the massive amount of other texts that we have to prove otherwise, and certainly Jesus would not do that. The idea that when you die, and you are righteous, that you would be raptured up into Abraham's bosom is a foreign thought. I have never met anyone yet that believed literally that Abraham's chest was so large that it could become a haven or a refuge for all of those who would die and go there. What about the idea of the wicked being in hell, burning and they have a body? Now, most of us see some merit in the idea that when you die the body rests in the grave. But here, down there in the place of punishment they had arms and legs. This man had eyes and head and ears and a mouth that could speak. You see, this is not a literal story. This is a parable. What about the idea of someone dipping his finger in water and placing it upon someone's tongue with the flames licking up their angry ways all around that person? No! There could not possibly be a way to carry enough water on the tip of your finger to bring any relief at all to someone who's in such massive place of punishment and of burning. It would take only a second for that wet finger to get dry in that heat. You see, it just does not add up here. If what I've read is true, the Jews believed in those days that if anything was wrong with you, then God would sort of punish you. If you were handicapped, or if you were deathly ill, or something of that nature, even if you were poor, that meant that God did not love you as much as He loved somebody else. And therefore, Jesus, twisted this story around: the very one they would have assumed to go to heaven, he did not make it. The man who was rich and fared sumptuously every day missed out on the joys of eternal life. And then the man who they'd least expect to go there, was the one who was to be rewarded. That would be the poor man. So, I think, rather than teaching the idea that when you die, you go straight to your reward, Jesus was right in harmony with all the other texts. You know, the apostle, Paul, and Jesus and John and so many Bible writers all agree that we come forth to immortality, not at death, but at the second coming of Jesus. And Jesus is longing for that great event to come so that He can give that to the human family. Absent from the body and present with the Lord Let's turn to another text this morning. 2 Corinthians. Every pastor here could testify to the experience of being on the platform officiating at a funeral sermon, and one or more of the pastors there making reference to what the apostle, Paul said and what he meant by being absent from the body and being present with the Lord. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:1. Now I know it's a little dangerous to read more than just a few verses, but in the context here I would really appreciate reading with you through eight verses. Then I would like to explain them. 2 Corinthians 5 1-8. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It sounds like this is written by an attorney, doesn't it. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. now here comes the text that is often misrepresented and another text that I believe Satan really enjoys. As a matter of fact he may even promote this text right here to his own benefit. Verse 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) Now I'm going to make a kind of chart to help us understand what Paul is talking about here. The left side will refer to our life now on this earth, and the right side will refer to our life in heaven or the new earth.  

______________________________________________________________
|                       |           |                        |
|     Life on Earth     |           |     Life in Heaven     |
|      THIS BODY        |   Death   |      BODY TO COME      |
|_______________________|___________|________________________|
|                       |           |                        |
|  Earthly House        |   Death   |  Building of God       |
|                       |           |                        |
|  This tabernacle      |           |  House not made        |
|  meaning this body    |           |  with hands            |
|                       |           |                        |
|  Home in the body     |           |  Absent from the body  |
|  Absent from the Lord |           |  Present with the Lord |
|_______________________|___________|________________________|

If you notice, Paul makes some real contrast here. Verse one, he wants to compare this body, or this earthly house with something else. On the left side I've put "Earthly House" and on the right side I've put "Building of God." There's more than one way to do this, but the end results, and God had designed this in here, always come out the same. He wants to contrast this body with the body to come. Notice again with me in verse one. He talks about this earthly house and then the building of God. We could also say, this would be called, "This tabernacle" meaning "this body" and then on the right, this would be according to verse one, contrasted with a "House not made with hands." Now that's sort of long, but you'll understand it right here. Listen, when you understand this, you'll always be able to explain it. Come on down with me if you will to verse four. He says, "For we that are in this tabernacle (the left side) do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." Hmm. That's an interesting concept. There must be something here, then between these two stages. And there is. Notice that I put "Death" in the middle. Notice verse six. He says, "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body (right side), we are absent from the Lord," On that side notice what he would say. "knowing that we are home in the body we are absent from the Lord." Now verse 8. "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." So, on the right side we put Absent from the body and present with the Lord. Now, here's the whole concept resented here by Paul. He's telling the story so true to every one of us, that we that are in this body, we grow old and we begin to hurt. We lose our energy. We get arthritis. We begin to dream of being on the other side, or of immortality. He knew enough about this, though, to know that there is a condition between this body (left side) and the body to come: the building of God, the house not made with hands, and we would truly be present with the Lord on that side (right side). And his desire is just like ours demonstrated here in this text. He says, "I am willing, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." He wanted to skip this (center) right here as much as any of us would like to skip this condition, so did the apostle, Paul. He was willing rather to go on and miss death and be filled with the new body which is from the power of God only, recreated. All meat is good for food? Turn with me to another text,: the book of Timothy. Have you ever heard the idea that when Jesus died, he cleaned up all the animals and therefore you can eat anything you want to eat because Jesus died on the cross. And especially if you pray over it you can eat it. You've heard this reference before, I'm sure that you have. Now if you were invited home to eat with the Stovers, maybe on a Sabbath after church service and Debbie were to bring out onto the table a large bowl of poison oak and poison ivy for the salad would you eat it? Why no, you wouldn't eat that. Now notice this right here, 1 Timothy 4:4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: This is a classic example of why you should read what is before verse and what is after. If we stay only with verse 4 it would appear that God would be happy if you ate rats had you prayed over. Now notice verse 5. Verse 5 gives the reason every creature of God is good to eat. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Pay close attention. He was not giving a blanket statement here, allowing permission for people to eat the animals which are described as being unclean. Not at all! It's really a reference to the opposite. This word, "sanctify" has a very visible meaning. It means to separate. There's only one place in the Bible where it describes the foods being separated, and that's in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy (Chapters 12, 14, 15). There is a list of clean and unclean meats given there and that's the reason he could say in verse 5 that it would be sanctified or cleansed or separated, set apart by the word of God and also by prayer. So, really rather than teaching that isn't okay to eat anything, it really should have the permission of God, And we should certainly take the time to ask God to bless us as we participate in that. Aren't you thankful that you can trust the Scriptures? Aren't you thankful that the presence of Jesus is what makes these Scriptures trustworthy? If we hold the Scriptures true to our heart nothing can take away the joy of our complete salvation in Jesus Christ. May the Lord help us to study diligently so we will know how to give an answer for our faith.  

Opening Hymn: #318, Whiter Than Snow
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

 

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McDonald Road Sermons