Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: 09GYC
Program Code: 09GYC000015
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00:13 As we learned last night the Bible says in Proverbs 22:1
00:16 and a good name is more to be desired than even great 00:20 riches and Ecclesiastes 7:1 says a good name is better 00:23 than precious ointment. 00:25 We have been asking the question, what does it mean for 00:29 a Seventh-day Adventist Christian to be unashamed in 00:32 this time, in this context? 00:34 And in answering that question we have taken a look at 00:38 the actual name Seventh-day Adventist. 00:40 Made up of two parts, first part seventh day, which is 00:44 a referent to the Sabbath. 00:47 To what everyone? 00:48 To the Sabbath, the Sabbath has two primary, certainly 00:51 not the only ones, the two primary theological teachings 00:54 or scriptural teachings. 00:56 The first is creation and the other is salvation. 01:00 Creation - salvation. 01:01 What is it mean for a Seventh-day Adventist to be 01:04 unashamed of Christ in the year 2010. 01:07 It means that we are unashamed of the crucified Christ, 01:10 can you say Amen? Audience: Amen. 01:12 That is the heart and soul of what we preach. 01:16 Everything that we preach is in the context of Christ. 01:18 Ellen White says on one occasion, hanging upon the cross 01:21 Christ was the gospel. 01:23 She then goes on and says, this is our argument, 01:26 this is our reason, she says this is our message, 01:28 this is our doctrine. 01:32 Christ and Him crucified is our doctrine. 01:34 On one occasion someone wrote Ellen White and said, 01:36 but wait a minute, what about the three Angels messages? 01:39 We keep hearing about righteousness by faith. 01:41 Righteousness by faith, righteousness by faith, 01:43 what about the three Angels messages? 01:45 In particular what about the third angel's message and 01:46 Ellen White responded and said, the third angel's 01:50 message is righteousness by faith in Verity. 01:55 It is not contradistinction between the gospel and the 01:58 end-time message that God has given to us. 02:00 So far from contradistinction is absolute integration. 02:06 So what does it mean for me to be a Seventh-day 02:08 Adventist Christian? 02:09 It means I am unashamed of crucified Christ and with the 02:13 doctrinal package that goes with the crucified Christ. 02:16 Part of that doctrinal package includes creation, 02:20 and that is the other element of the Sabbath. 02:24 To be unashamed, in this portentous hour in which 02:28 we are living, it means we are unashamed 02:30 of the creative Christ. 02:32 There is intense intellectual pressure on us, the whole 02:36 current of popular opinion is pulling us toward 02:40 materialism, pulling us toward naturalism, pulling us 02:43 toward evolutionism, pulling us toward scientism, 02:46 pulling us towards all of these different godless 02:49 enterprises and yet Scripture is pulling us towards 02:53 itself so we are in a conflict, we are in a war being 02:56 drug toward Scripture by God's word, and being drug 03:00 away by the world. 03:03 This is a time where we should be affirming in the most 03:06 emphatic language that we believe exactly what Scripture 03:09 teaches, we believe in Solis Scriptura. 03:14 Can you say Amen? Audience: Amen. 03:16 I remind you again that of all the Solis, the Solis 03:19 Scriptura that paved the way for the other battle cries 03:21 of other Reformation, Sola fide, Sola Gratia, Soli Deo 03:24 Gloria, none of those would have been available had they 03:27 not said show it to me from Scripture alone. 03:30 Ellen White says that in the last days there will 03:32 be a people that will stand on the Scriptures, 03:35 and the Scripture alone. 03:37 Will it look foolish? Will it look foolhardy? 03:38 Will it look unintelligent? Will it look literalist? 03:41 Will it look fundamentalist? Yes to all of that. 03:43 But I am going to do it anyway. Audience: Amen. 03:46 Everyone is betting on something. 03:48 I am betting on Jesus and His word. Audience: Amen. 03:51 If you are Seventh-day Adventist I take it to mean 03:54 you are as well, so we are unashamed 03:56 of the creative Christ. 03:58 Then there is that second part of our name, we have 04:01 dealt with the seventh day part, salvation and creation. 04:04 The second part of our name, Adventist. 04:06 From Latin Adventus, which means, does anyone remember, 04:11 what does it mean? 04:13 It means arrival, we are anticipating that someone 04:18 is coming, someone is going to arrive. 04:21 Who is said that we anticipate His arrival? 04:24 Who is that? That's Jesus. 04:26 We believe the solution to this world's problems are not 04:31 political, in fact the Bible says do not put your trust 04:35 in princes, in the arm of flesh in whom 04:40 there is no help. 04:43 If that was being written today in modern times it would 04:46 say, do not put your trust in presidents. 04:49 Do not put your trust in politicians. 04:52 Paul did tell us to pray for the king, but we need to 04:55 be very careful that we are not getting caught up in 04:58 the various political machinations. 05:00 People say to me are you a Democrat or Republican? 05:02 I say I'm a Christian. Audience: Amen. 05:07 It doesn't mean we are totally divorced from the 05:08 political process, and I don't want to get into this 05:11 part particularly but only to say that in this last 05:14 election there was a vigor, there was a sense, and 05:17 Barack Obama basically campaigned, his entire campaign 05:20 was based under the heading of hope and change. 05:24 Well hey good, I want hope and change too, but let's be 05:29 crystal clear about something. 05:30 The kind of hope that the human heart is calling out 05:33 for, and the kind of change that the human heart needs, 05:36 Barack Obama cannot deliver and neither can any 05:40 politician, put not your trust in princes. 05:45 Put not your trust in presidents, put your trust in 05:48 the potentate, put your trust in God. 05:51 Audience: Amen. 05:53 These are not political statements, they're scriptural 05:55 statements, these are biblical statements since we are 05:59 anticipating the only solution to the massive problems 06:02 that face the planet Earth. 06:06 Probably you have seen the news lately, you would have 06:10 to be asleep to not see the increasing momentum to see 06:14 the monolithic problems that we are facing, it's economic. 06:18 You cannot look to a single area of society in the 06:21 world in which we are not facing some kind 06:24 of a significant crises. 06:27 Let's talk about the economy, is there a crisis there? 06:29 Yes! The global economy is in a crisis. 06:31 What about the governmental systems, and militaries? 06:35 Is there a crises there? Absolutely a crisis! 06:39 What about morality? Is there a crises there? 06:41 There is an absolute crisis. 06:42 What about the condition of the Earth and the 06:44 environmental circumstances in which we find ourselves? 06:47 Again I do not want to get involved in all of that. 06:50 The bottom line is this, you cannot look to any area, 06:53 any segment, any place in society or the culture at 06:57 large and not say man, we are living in strange times. 07:04 We are living on the verge, the very edge of eternity. 07:08 We believe that Jesus is coming soon. 07:10 Do you believe that, yes or no? 07:12 Audience: yes! 07:14 Tonight we are going to talk about the unashamed of the 07:17 coming Christ and you might think, incorrectly, that 07:20 tonight will be a sermon on the signs of the times. 07:23 I'm getting to the place in my evangelistic meetings 07:26 where I don't even preach the signs of the times much 07:29 anymore because it goes without saying. 07:33 You don't need to stand up and tell people that we are 07:36 living at the end of time. 07:37 People sense, even the irreligious, unreligious minded, 07:41 secular minded people, there is a sense in the air that 07:45 we are living in weird times. 07:47 To stand up and tell people here's all the evidence is 07:51 almost to weaken your case because everyone sees it. 07:57 There is no need to preach a sermon on the signs of the 08:00 times right now, perhaps there is a place for that. 08:03 Certainly there is a place for that, but I think there 08:06 is something of even greater significance. 08:09 Perhaps greater is the wrong word, I don't want to make 08:11 it sound like I'm some super insightful guru. 08:13 That is not what I am saying, what I'm saying is simply 08:17 this, there is something even more urgent that should be 08:21 pressing itself upon your mind and your attention then 08:25 the signs of the time. 08:26 That is what we are going to talk about. 08:28 Being unashamed of coming Christ. 08:32 We find that all three of the central doctrines 08:36 components right in three Angels messages. 08:39 Perhaps you will join me there. 08:40 Revelation, where is that found? 08:42 Audience: Revelation 14! - Very good Revelation 14. 08:47 As we discussed yesterday, Revelation 14 is regarded 08:51 by virtually all historicists, 12, 13, and 14, 08:56 as in many ways the climax or centerpiece of 09:00 the book of Revelation. 09:02 It's constructed on what theologians call chiasma from 09:05 the Greek letter Cia that looks like an X. 09:07 The basic point is that if you begin in Chapter 1 and 09:10 work toward the middle, and then you go to chapter 22 09:13 and work toward the middle you are going to basically, 09:16 you have correspondence there and there. 09:18 There and there, there and there, there and there. 09:20 Like two sets of steps going up to the summit, 09:23 at the summit they tell us, I think it is exactly 09:25 accurate based on my own study, is basically 09:27 Revelation 12, 13, and 14. 09:29 Now remembers that word that we encounter over, 09:32 and over, and over again, they are in that summit 09:34 Revelation 12, 13, and 14, what is that word? 09:36 And who remembers how many calls to false worship? 09:40 Yeah seven, and how many calls to true worship, 09:44 to the true Creator God? 09:45 Just one, it is as if God said I don't have to repeat 09:49 Myself, just one time is enough. 09:52 What does He do when He calls us to worship Him? 09:54 He reminds us of the Sabbath command. 09:56 I so appreciated Dr. Rhonda Freed, he came up to me 09:59 last night and said David you were right, 10:00 but you could have been righter. 10:02 He said you say that there were four verbal parallels 10:07 made heaven, sea and earth. 10:10 He said there's actually nine verbal parallels. 10:14 He said if you look at it is a direct, 10:16 it is not an illusion, it is a direct quotation 10:19 of the Sabbath commandment. 10:21 So in that one single call to true worship, John quotes 10:25 the Sabbath commandment, can you say Amen? 10:28 Audience: Amen. 10:29 But look what happens just after that. 10:31 Just after that we have the second Angels message, 10:34 verse 8, describing the radical religious confusion 10:37 at the end of time. 10:38 "And another angel followed them saying, Babylon is 10:40 "fallen has fallen, that great city because she 10:42 "made all nations think of the wine of the wrath of her 10:45 "fortifications," second Angels message. 10:46 Third Angels message is in verse 9, "then the third 10:49 "angel followed saying with an loud voice if anyone 10:51 "worships the beast and his image or receives his mark 10:53 "on his forehead, on his hand. He himself shall also 10:55 "drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured 10:57 "out full strength into the cup of his indignation. 11:00 "He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the 11:02 "presence of the holy angels and the presence of the 11:04 "Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever 11:06 "and ever; and they have no," no what? "No rest." 11:08 Maybe they have no rest because they're not keeping the Sabbath. 11:16 "They have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast 11:19 "and his image, and whoever sees the mark of his name. 11:22 "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who 11:24 "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 11:26 Beloved I want to be in that number, verse 12, 11:29 can you say Amen? Audience: Amen. 11:31 I want that to be me and then verse 13, notice what it 11:33 says, "then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me," 11:35 "write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from 11:38 "now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from 11:41 "their labors, and their works follow them." 11:42 And then in verse 14, what is the very next thing after 11:44 we see these three Angels messages go through in 11:47 successive fashion. 11:49 The very next thing we see is the second coming, 11:51 in other words, what are pioneers believed and had 11:53 what I believe, and probably what you believe, 11:56 I hope you believe is that these messages not only 11:58 precede the second coming, but they actually 12:01 bring about the second coming. 12:03 The powerful, fearless, unashamed preaching of these 12:08 messages, and Christ at the center of these messages. 12:12 The everlasting gospel, is what ushers in the second 12:15 coming, Jesus Himself said, this gospel of the kingdom 12:18 shall be preached in all the world, 12:20 does anyone know the next words? 12:22 As a witness and then the end shall come. 12:27 In many ways the second coming is the message dependent. 12:32 It's dependent on you, that is by Peter says we can 12:36 haste the coming of the Lord. 12:38 Now it stands to reason that if we can haste it, 12:41 what can we also do? 12:44 Audience: delay it We can delay it. 12:45 That is what we are going to be talking about 12:48 momentarily, but look at first 14. 12:49 "Then I looked," what is the result of these messages? 12:52 What happened when these messages go forth in 12:54 Spirit inspired power. 12:56 "then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the 12:58 "cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head 13:01 "a golden crown," He is the King, King of Kings and 13:04 Lord of lords, "in His hand a sharp sickle. 13:07 "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with 13:09 "a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, thrust in 13:11 "your sickle and reap, the time has come for you to 13:13 "reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." 13:16 What is the word everyone? Ripe, maturation, something 13:21 has happened, is now time, maturation has taken place 13:25 and we are talking about this in my seminar. 13:26 There were the weeds and the tears that people came to 13:29 the man that sowed the field and said I want you to go 13:32 and gather them up. 13:33 His response was no, lest wiling gathering up the weeds 13:36 you will uproot some of the wheat. 13:37 Let's finish this with me, let both grow together 13:42 until the harvest. 13:45 Something about the harvest, there's something about the 13:48 maturation of both righteousness and evil is necessary, 13:51 so Jesus your revelation Chapter 14 is depicted as 13:54 thrusting in his sickle and it says the harvest of the 13:57 earth is what is the word everyone? 13:59 Ripe, right verse 16, 14:00 "So he sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the 14:01 "earth and the earth was reaped." 14:03 That is the second coming. 14:07 So right there in the context of Revelation 14 we 14:10 have the crucified Christ, we have the creative 14:12 Christ and we have the coming Christ. 14:14 What does it mean for me, David Asscherick, what does it 14:17 mean for you living in 2010 in an intellectually hostile 14:20 environment, can you say Amen? 14:22 Audience: Amen! 14:23 What is it meant be unashamed? It means we are unashamed of the 14:26 crucified Christ, you are on ashamed of the creative 14:28 Christ, and you are unashamed of the coming Christ. 14:33 Now, I was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist 14:38 church, I was actually one at a secular university 14:42 campus; I was exposed to the message of Adventism on 14:47 the campus of the University of Wyoming. 14:50 That is why a belief in campus work, I believe the work 14:52 that these young people, we are describing here tonight, 14:54 that work at campus and other ministries. 14:56 Let me tell you that is the time and sociological 14:59 studies have demonstrated that that is a time of flux 15:01 in the life of a young person, 18 to 21, because they 15:04 have left home and everything is up in the air. 15:07 Many of the professors take a little pride, 15:10 perhaps just the reality that they begin to undermine, 15:14 purposefully or not, many of the values and other things 15:18 that young people may have brought with them. 15:20 So it is a time of flux, it is a time of uncertainty, 15:24 it is a fantastic time for people to make a decision 15:27 for Jesus Christ. 15:29 Campus Crusade's for Christ in the evangelical world is 15:32 wildly successful in bringing about convergence because 15:35 they understand this very point. 15:37 You are looking at someone who is a case in point. 15:39 I was converted at a public university setting and 15:42 I remember I was baptized June 6, 1996. 15:44 When I read the great controversy book I was so happy 15:47 that I had snuck in just in time, because I was sure 15:50 Jesus was coming any moment. 15:57 After a little while people would come to me, I had been 15:59 in the faith a year and they would say, you know, 16:01 do you have a girlfriend? 16:03 I say Matt are you mad, Jesus is coming soon who has 16:08 time for girls? 16:13 You think I'm kidding, I was wild, if you think I'm 16:15 wild now this is nothing. 16:17 Then one day I laid my eyes on this woman right here. 16:22 Even when I look at her now, I have got to, I tell you 16:28 not to sit there sweetie, sit back there. 16:32 Now I know she's there and I will be looking at her 16:34 all night, but I laid eyes on this woman and I waited 16:36 a full six weeks before asking her to marry me. 16:40 Some people say are you crazy, have you lost your mind, 16:42 you have asked your wife to marry you after six weeks? 16:44 Beloved I was prepared to do it after six hours. 16:51 Happily married now 10 year's, two children, 16:53 but here is something very interesting. 16:55 When I fell in love with her and she fell in love with 16:58 me, I hope, we got married and used to have discussions 17:02 there goes something like this. 17:04 I say sweetie and you know, when are we going to do 17:06 this wedding because Jesus is coming soon if we are 17:09 doing this, we better do this quick. 17:13 That is why I acted so quickly, I did want somebody else 17:16 to come in and sneak away my bride and so we were 17:18 married and people will come and say you make 17:21 such a lovely couple. 17:24 And you are in ministry together, 17:25 are you going to have children? 17:27 We'd be like are you mad? 17:31 Jesus is coming soon having you read Matthew chapter 24? 17:33 It says will to there who give suck in those days. 17:36 Don't you know Jesus is coming soon and I'd give them 17:39 a Bible study in Matthew 24. 17:42 Children? Surely you jest. 17:45 At about two and half years later this really weird 17:51 thing happen, I looked at my wife and I said you're 17:58 pregnant, I'm telling you the truth in the sight of God. 18:02 I was like I think you're pregnant. 18:04 She said no I'm not pregnant. 18:06 I said no I just have this feeling you are pregnant. 18:07 No I'm not pregnant and she went and got one of those 18:09 tests, pregnant. 18:14 Yet you think that is amazing, nine months later, 18:17 out of the blue, totally out of the blue I looked at my 18:22 wife and said you're pregnant. 18:27 She's like you've lost your mind I am not pregnant. 18:29 I just have this feeling that you're pregnant. 18:32 She was like, I'm not pregnant and went and got 18:35 a pregnancy test, pregnant! 18:37 She read the thing on the back, 99.6 accurate. 18:41 Went and got another one and I said statistically you 18:43 are 99.7, she got another one because I said listen 18:46 you're pregnant girl. Three tests. 18:52 After we had our two little ones we would be carting 18:54 them around like this and bring them like this and would 18:57 be carting them around and people would say how you feel 19:00 about schooling, what are you going to do? Are you going 19:02 to send them to an Academy or are you going to 19:06 home school? Are you mad, Jesus is coming soon. 19:09 These children, God will lay these children to rest 19:12 because we are told the affirmed and the young ones 19:16 will be laid to rest. 19:17 These children are never going to see a textbook. 19:18 Jesus is coming soon. 19:21 My boys are seven and eight, can you get a close-up shot 19:28 right here, can you see this right here? 19:30 Right there, can you see that? 19:35 I mean it's gray, something is happening. 19:43 You have something is happening sessions here at night. 19:45 Something else is happening and it is happening 19:48 in my life and your life and people now say 19:50 what about college? 19:52 I'll be totally honest with you, I am fully persuaded 19:55 they Jesus is coming before my children go to college. 19:58 I am totally persuaded, beloved the point is this am 20:01 I say this to take away from your sense of urgency? 20:03 Am I saying this to take away from your sense that 20:06 Jesus is coming soon? Absolutely not! 20:09 But the point is this, I believe there is a subtle 20:13 danger in taking and putting all of our sense of urgency 20:17 on the second coming. 20:19 Now follow me here very carefully, don't write me 20:21 off yet, you can write me off at the end but don't 20:24 write me off now. 20:25 I do believe Jesus Christ is coming soon, can you say 20:28 Amen to that? I believe that with every ounce of my 20:31 being, I see what is happening with the papacy. 20:33 I see what is happening with United States. 20:35 I see what is happening with the world's economy. 20:37 I even believe many of these conspiracy theories, 20:39 like but please don't give me any DVDs, 20:41 just don't give them to me. 20:43 I believe many of these things and I believe we are 20:46 living in the end of time, but beloved I have news for 20:48 you, we set ourselves up for not so subtle and 20:52 certainly a very dangerous situation if we place 20:57 our urgency, mostly or entirely on our understanding 21:02 of end time events. 21:04 This is what it will not only do, but frankly has done 21:06 and is doing. 21:08 It causes us to become CNN, BBC watchers. 21:14 Not that there's anything wrong with that but our sense 21:17 of urgency is now tied to what is happening in Rome. 21:21 Our sense of urgency is somehow tied to what is 21:25 happening in the White House. 21:26 Our sense of urgency is somehow tied to what is 21:29 happening in the economy. 21:30 Beloved I want to tell you something, on one occasion 21:32 Ellen White met a man, just listen to this dialogue. 21:35 She rarely does this, she rarely walks you through a 21:37 dialogue in her writings, but I want you to hear this 21:39 conversation that she had. 21:41 One brother said to me, this is the 'Last Day Events,' 21:46 page 42. Someone came to Ellen White and said, "sister 21:50 "White, do you think the Lord will come in 10 years?" 21:55 This is 1886, "what difference does it make to you 21:59 "whether He shall come in 2, or 4 or 10 years. 22:03 "He said, I think I would do differently in some things 22:09 "then I now do if I knew the Lord was coming in 10 22:14 "years. What would you do differently, I said? 22:18 "Why he said, I would sell my property and begin to 22:22 "search the word of God and try to warn people and get 22:25 "them to prepare for His coming and I would plead with 22:28 "God that I might be ready to meet Him. 22:31 "Then I said to him, if you knew the Lord was not coming 22:34 "for 20 years you would live differently? 22:37 "He said, the I think I would. 22:41 "How selfish, she said, was the expression that he would 22:46 "live a different life if he knew his Lord was to 22:48 "come in 10 years. Enoch walked with God for 300 years, 22:52 "this is a lesson for us that we should walk with 22:56 "God every day." 22:58 Second statement, 'Lift Him Up' page 98, this one is 23:05 even more amazing. 23:07 "The shortness of time is frequently urged as an 23:10 "incentive for seeking righteousness and making 23:13 "Christ our friend." 23:15 The shortness of time is urged as an incentive. 23:18 This happens all the time, you will hear people say 23:21 things like brothers and sisters Jesus is coming soon, 23:23 this is no time to be playing games with God. 23:25 How many of us have heard something 23:27 very similar to that? 23:28 She says this happens all the time, this is frequently 23:30 urged, brothers and sisters Jesus is coming soon. 23:32 The signs of the times are fulfilling all around us. 23:34 This is no time to be fooling around with God. 23:37 This is the time to be serious. 23:38 Look at what she says, "the shortness of time is 23:40 "frequently urged as an incentive for seeking 23:42 "righteousness and making Christ our friend. 23:44 "This should not be a great motive with us. 23:47 Listen to what she says, "it savors of selfishness." 23:53 What! "It savors of selfishness, is it necessary, 23:59 "she says that the terrors of the day of God should be held 24:03 "before us that we may be compelled to right action 24:06 "through fear, it ought not to be so," 24:09 and then three words, she says just three words. 24:12 "Jesus is attractive!" 24:14 Audience: Amen! Amen! 24:17 Can you say Amen? Audience: Amen. 24:19 I love this, I'd love this balance here. 24:21 We live as though Jesus is coming soon, but our urgency 24:25 cannot be tied to our fallible understanding of end time 24:28 events and ministries pop up. 24:31 All the time when something is happening whether it is 24:34 Y2K, or the economic meltdown, people pop up and they 24:37 have new evaluations, new interpretations, and heaven 24:39 forbid compilations of a bazillion Ellen White 24:42 statements that this is it. 24:44 And maybe it is it, but the point is this, if that would 24:48 change the way you are living you need a reality check. 24:57 Well what should be our sense of urgency then? 25:00 If our urgency is not tied to what Barack Obama is 25:02 doing, and our urgency is not tied to is the international 25:05 monetary fund is doing, and our urgency is not tied to what 25:08 Benedict is doing. 25:09 Then what should our urgency be tied to? 25:11 It should be tied to the person you saw this morning, 25:15 in the mirror, when you brushed your teeth. 25:19 You did brush your teeth this morning? 25:21 Audience laughing! 25:26 Open your Bible to me to the book of Joshua. 25:31 We find in the Old Testament repeatedly, a sense of 25:36 urgency, in fact you could make the case that the Bible 25:40 is saturated with urgency. 25:43 Joshua 24:15 we are going to read a verse here 25:47 you may have memorized. 25:48 Many of us have heard it dozens of times. 25:50 Joshua 24:15 Joshua like Moses has gathered the children 25:56 of Israel into the valley of Shechem. 25:58 We don't know precisely why, but perhaps the valley of 26:01 Shechem was a natural amphitheater, 26:04 that is what Moses did. 26:06 Just before his death the book Deuteronomy records that 26:09 Moses gathered the children of Israel into the valley of 26:12 Shechem and he gave him the covenant. 26:14 Joshua does the same thing, gathers the children of 26:16 Israel there, and perhaps the acoustics were good. 26:18 There were some sort of a natural amphitheater, 26:20 we don't know of course that he gathers them there 26:22 and listen to what he says in verse 15. 26:25 Joshua 24:15, "and if it seems evil to you to serve the 26:28 "Lord or choose for yourself this day whom you will 26:30 "serve, the gods that your fathers served on the other 26:33 "side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose 26:35 "land you dwell, but as for me and my house." 26:38 Come and say with me, "we will serve the Lord." 26:41 Now notice here, choose for yourselves when, when, when? 26:46 He added a modifier, what was the modifier? 26:48 This day! Choose today, is there an urgency here? 26:52 yes or no? 26:53 No, the urgency continues in verse 25. 26:56 "So Joshua," after the people said we will serve God. 26:59 Fascinatingly Joshua said that you can't serve God. 27:03 The people said no, no, no we will serve God. 27:04 He said you can't serve God and they said we will serve 27:07 God, that he said okay but you testify against yourself. 27:10 Look what it says in verse 25. 27:12 "So Joshua made a covenant and an agreement with the 27:14 people," when did he do it, next week? 27:16 Look at that, "that day and made them a statue and an 27:20 "ordinance in Shechem." 27:22 Choose today and they made their choice, and he made a 27:24 covenant that day and look what happens in verse 29. 27:27 "So it came to pass after these things the Joshua, the 27:29 "son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, 27:32 being 110 years old." Joshua was urgent. 27:35 Choose today, they made decision that day, they made a 27:38 covenant that day and from all appearances in the text 27:41 he died that day. 27:46 Open your Bibles to Psalms 95:6 we ended there last 27:48 night, "come let us kneel before the Lord our maker". 27:51 Let's look at another passage in Psalms 95:7, 8. 28:03 "For He is our God, and we are the people of His "pasture, 28:07 and the sheep of His hand. Today," 28:09 what is the word everyone? Audience: today! 28:13 "Today if you hear His voice: do not harden your 28:15 hearts," I want you to do me a favor, take that word, 28:18 that phrase 'harden your hearts' and put it on a shelf 28:21 in your mind, what is the phrase everyone? 28:24 Audience: Harden your hearts! 28:25 We are going to come back to that. 28:26 Okay, what is the phrase? Audience: Harden your hearts! 28:28 "Today if you will hear His voice do not harden your 28:30 "hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial, 28:32 "in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me. 28:35 "They tried to Me, etc." 28:36 So notice the urgency, is the psalmist urgent here? 28:39 Yes or no? Yes he said today if you can hear the voice 28:42 of God don't, what is our phrase? 28:44 Harden your heart, when we come to the New Testament 28:46 and let's go there very quickly. 28:47 2 Corinthians 6:1, 2, many passages could be marshaled 28:49 but let's just look at this one more to this affect. 28:53 2 Corinthians 6:1, 2, here we find the apostle Paul 28:57 then you notice what he says in verse 1 and 2. 28:59 "We've then as workers together with Him also plead with 29:03 "you to not receive the grace of God in vain, for He 29:06 "says in an acceptable time I have heard you, and the 29:09 "day of salvation I helped you." 29:10 Quoting here from Isaiah, and then he says, "behold now 29:14 "is the accepted time," say this with me if you would. 29:17 "Behold now is the day of salvation." 29:23 Literally there's dozens of passages similar to this 29:26 could be marshaled. 29:27 The point is this, the Bible is saturated with a sense 29:30 of urgency, was Joshua urgent yes or no? 29:33 Audience: yes! Was the psalmist urgent, yes or no? 29:35 Audience: yes! Was Paul urgent, yes or no? 29:38 Audience: yeah! And another one that just quickly comes 29:40 to my mind, you have Elijah there on top of Mount 29:43 Caramel, the 31/2 years of no rain had transpired and 29:46 Elijah, looks the children of Israel in the eyes, so to speak, 29:48 and he says, why are you hesitating? 29:53 Some translations say why are you faltering? 29:57 Other translations, why are you delaying? 30:02 If God is God served Him, but if Baal is God then serve 30:05 him, did Elisha have a sense of urgency? Yes or no? 30:08 Audience: no! Now here's the point don't miss it. 30:10 Joshua, urgent! The psalmist, urgent! 30:15 Elijah, urgent! Paul, urgent! 30:18 Now let's just take a look at the timeline. 30:19 Let's take a look at the timeline, I'm looking for mic 30:22 stands, no mic stands around. 30:25 We will use the pulpit, the pulpit presents the cross. 30:29 This is the past and that is going forward into the 30:33 future, so Joshua was living some 1400 years before 30:37 the time of the cross. 30:38 That is the first advent of Jesus. 30:40 1400 years before Bethlehem, so was Joshua urgent? 30:45 Yes he was, then we move forward to Elijah. 30:48 Was the Elijah urgent? Yes! Still centuries away 30:51 from the first advent. 30:53 Was the psalmist urgent? Yes! Still centuries away 30:56 from the first advent and then we come to the first 30:58 advent the time of Jesus. 31:00 Just after that Paul said behold now is the excepted 31:02 time, behold today is a day of what? 31:05 Audience: salvation! 31:06 And Paul is centuries away from January 2, 2010. 31:11 Don't miss this, Joshua's urgency, Elijah's urgency, 31:14 the psalmist urgency, Paul's urgency, none of it was 31:18 tied to the second coming. 31:23 Can you say Amen? Audience: Amen! 31:25 None of it was tied to the second coming, they are 31:28 living centuries, even millennia before the second 31:30 coming so doesn't make sense to you that it might be 31:33 foolhardy of us to wrap our sense of urgency up with the 31:36 second coming when the Bible is filled with urgency and 31:40 it is not tied to the second coming? 31:42 Well then the question is, what is it tied to? 31:45 What is it tied to? 31:48 It is no mystery to you, no secret that the ground is 31:53 littered with the bodies of people who were absolutely 31:58 certain that Jesus was coming in their day. 32:01 Yes or no? Audience: yes! 32:03 Beloved I do not want to be in delicate here, but there 32:07 are people in this room, gray-haired, baldheaded people. 32:13 I guess like me, who were certain they would never see 32:18 what they see in the mirror. 32:20 Any old people here want to say Amen to that? 32:24 Audience: Amen! - Like all three of you. 32:28 - Squeaky Amen! Audience laughing. 32:34 I don't want to be in delicate, but statistically it's a 32:41 guarantee that people in this room, many of you are 32:45 going to die before the second coming. 32:47 I hope I'm not the first person to tell you you're 32:49 going to die. 32:51 I do not want to unnecessarily traumatize you. 32:57 Beloved the point is this, many people are dead today 32:59 that were sure Jesus would come in their lifetime. 33:02 Do you see the danger then, of somehow tying my sense of 33:05 urgency with Jesus, to His soon second coming. 33:08 Do I believe that Jesus is coming soon, yes or no? 33:11 Audience: yeah! Absolutely I believe that. 33:13 But I have found an even greater source of urgency. 33:19 What is that greater source of urgency? 33:21 How could Joshua say choose you today? 33:24 How could the psalmist say today? 33:28 How could Paul say today? 33:30 How could Elijah say what are you hesitating about? 33:34 The second and better reason to be urgent in January 33:38 2010 has to do with character development. 33:43 What are the two words I said everyone? 33:47 Audience: character development! 33:49 Oh, here he goes, character development. 33:53 Beloved, character development. 33:57 Education page 225, "character development is the most 34:02 "important work ever entrusted to human beings and 34:07 "never before was it's diligent study so important as now." 34:12 Character development, I would like to talk to you about 34:16 how character development works. 34:21 There has been an ongoing debate and I am not a 34:23 psychologist here, but I have read enough books to know 34:26 that this is broadly how the debate has gone. 34:28 Because of the hole of evolutionism and materialism and 34:34 secularism and a rejection of theism, 34:37 every academic discipline has undergone radical changes 34:42 and even metamorphosis. 34:44 Nothing has laid outside of the scope and influence of 34:49 the ubiquity of this rampant secularism. 34:53 Psychology has been affected and the birth of so-called 34:58 evolutionary psychology has given rise to a kind of 35:03 determinism, now I don't have time to go into all the 35:07 philosophical problems with materialism and determinism. 35:10 But the debate and psychology has centered over the last 35:14 many decades around two polls. 35:18 Two areas, and the first is nature, and the other is, 35:25 does anyone know? Nurture! 35:27 The nature-nurture debate, and other are people in this 35:30 room that are far more qualified to communicate this, 35:32 but it just need to set this up. 35:34 The debate went something like this. 35:37 What is it that makes you, you? 35:40 What is it that makes me, me? 35:43 Is it only one thing, or is it only another thing, or is 35:47 it a composite of two things, and if it is a composite 35:50 which is more important? Nature or nurture? 35:54 Now the nature idea is basically genetics, it is a kind 35:57 of genetic determinism and it says that what you get 36:00 from your parents and from your grandparents, your 36:02 heritage of DNA that is going to determine more or less. 36:07 Some schools of radical determinism would say it 36:10 absolutely determines, but it is going to basically 36:12 determine who you are going to be. 36:15 This is the nature school of thought, what you get from 36:19 your parents inexorably, inalterably determines who 36:24 you are going to be. 36:25 On the other side of the spectrum, and their people 36:28 all along the continuum, but on this site you have the 36:31 nurture school that would say yes, of course genetics 36:34 is important and we would want to deny that. 36:36 You're heredity from your parents is important, 36:38 but there is something even more important. 36:41 Some would say supremely important, and that is 36:44 this idea of nurture. 36:47 What is the homelike, what is the school environment 36:51 like, especially in those formative years. 36:54 Like 5, 4, up to 7 and 8, the formative years. 36:57 This is when you are becoming the person you will be. 37:00 It has been an ongoing debate, an ongoing debate over 37:03 many decades, which is it is the nature or nurture? 37:06 Is that determinism, or can we alter genetic inheritance 37:09 from our parents? 37:11 But in recent times studies are increasingly 37:17 demonstrating that the adult brain, what two words 37:20 that I say everyone? Audience: the adult brain. 37:24 The adult brain is very plastic. 37:29 Now some young people are sitting here thinking, whew, 37:32 I'm glad I'm not an adult yet, 37:34 I don't want plastic brain. 37:39 What do we mean when we say the adult brain is very 37:42 plastic, let me just read to you here from a book that 37:45 I read, which I highly recommend by the way. 37:48 Written by Dr. Mario Beauregard, you would want 37:51 to read this book. 37:53 It's titled 'The Spiritual Brain'. 37:55 A Neuro scientist case for the existence of the soul. 38:00 It is a fantastic representation of neurological 38:04 materialism, you will love it. 38:06 Listen to what Dr. Beauregard says, "in recent years," 38:12 what are the words everyone? 38:14 "In recent years however, Neuro scientist have discovered 38:18 "that the adult brain is actually very plastic. 38:22 "As we will see if Neuro circuits receive a great 38:27 "deal of traffic they will grow." 38:30 They will what everyone? Audience: grow! 38:32 "If they receive little traffic they will remain 38:35 "the same or shrink. 38:39 "The amount of traffic that our Neuro circuits receive 38:42 "depends for the most part on what we choose to pay 38:45 "attention to," it continues. 38:50 "Not only can we make decisions by focusing on one idea 38:53 "rather than another, but we can change the patterns of 38:57 "Neuron's in our brains by doing so consistently." 39:00 This is been done repeatedly by experiments. 39:03 Your brain consists of billions of neuron's, billions 39:08 of brain cells, in fact there are an estimated 10 to 39:13 the 80th power atoms the universe. 39:17 That is the total number of estimated atoms in the 39:19 universe, 10 with 80 zeros behind it. 39:22 The number of potential connections and independent 39:26 roots in your brain, the billions of neurons connected 39:30 together in these dendritic neuronal connections, 39:32 now listen to this, a number of potential theoretical 39:36 connections in your brain is 10 to the 127th power. 39:40 That is 10 with 127 zeros behind it. 39:44 They are only 10 to the 80th power atoms in the 39:48 universe, translation your brain is by far the 39:51 most complex thing known to science and nothing 39:55 else even comes close. 39:57 Now here's how the brain works, you have the cells 40:01 called neurons and they connect the axon and the 40:04 dendrites and they form pathways. 40:07 As you do a certain activity a pathway will develop 40:13 in your brain, are we together everyone? 40:16 Now the way I like to illustrate this is very simple. 40:19 Imagine here we have a large field. 40:21 What is it everyone? Audience: large field. 40:23 It's called a grassy field, has grass and leaves and 40:26 rambles and blackberry bushes, and they are 2 to 3 40:29 feet high, it is a tall field. 40:31 I want to get from where I am here to the other side 40:33 and there is no path. 40:35 Now can I get to the other side of a grassy field? 40:37 A brambly field, can I do that? 40:39 Well how am I going to do it? 40:41 I'm going to walk, is it going to be easier or hard? 40:43 It's going to be difficult, so I'm going to start 40:45 walking, all you got to be kidding, Oww, stinging 40:47 nettle, whatever is right? 40:48 I am making my way across, because I am forming a path 40:53 where there isn't a path. 40:55 As I work my way laboriously with effort and 40:58 difficulties I get to the other side. 41:01 Question, as I look back over that field, can I see 41:05 where I just walked? Audience: absolutely. 41:07 Absolutely, anyone who has done this knows, you can see 41:10 the breaking, you can discern there is a path there. 41:14 If I had to walk across that field again, where would I 41:17 walk, if the field were uniformly the same? 41:20 Where would I walk? Audience: the same path. 41:22 I'd walk the same path, why would I walk the same path? 41:24 Because it will be at least slightly, easier. 41:25 Right! So here I am going back across it, Awh you got to 41:30 be kidding, opps, I'll remember that one. 41:32 Walking across, going and making my way back across. 41:35 Now I've gone back pass this path a second time. 41:38 Now I look back, can I now discern the path? 41:41 I can discern it more or less clearly been the first 41:44 time I walked across. 41:45 More clearly, now see what is happening is that I am 41:48 developing a path of less resistance relative to the 41:51 other potential paths across the field. 41:53 Does this make sense? 41:55 Now if I walk across this path over and over again, 42:01 if I walk across this path 100 times and now I look 42:08 back over, what am I going to see? 42:10 I'm good to see a very clear path, in fact the path that 42:14 requires no particular effort. Like if I'm ever asked walk 42:17 across this field you will not see me clamoring over the 42:21 blackberry bush you're going to see me moon walking, 42:24 as it were, across the path. 42:26 Right, is not going to take any energy, it's not going 42:29 to take any effort. 42:30 It's the default condition, that is basically exactly how 42:34 your brain works. 42:35 There is a young lady somewhere in here I saw her 42:39 earlier, her name is Sari, she's so small I could see 42:44 her anyway, Sari forgive me. 42:48 She came to arise a few years ago, the school had the 42:52 privilege of running, and she had a unicycle. 42:55 Do you know what a unicycle is? 42:59 It's weird, just weird and stupid. 43:05 There is one wheel on it. 43:07 So anyway Sari shows up with her Bible and her unicycle. 43:11 Right, great combination. 43:12 One day was out in the parking lot at Arise and I see 43:17 her, she's likely cruising around, going between cars, 43:20 and just foo, foo, she's like cruising around and I'm 43:23 looking at this little girl. 43:30 And I'm like Sari come here give me that thing. 43:35 I'm a skateboarder, a surfer and I have spent most of 43:38 my life standing on things that probably I should have. 43:42 So I say could I try that? Yeah let me raise the seat. 43:47 Okay, so I set on the thing and I got between my legs 43:51 and 1 foot up on the pedal and my other foot 43:54 is on the ground. 43:55 (Pretending to get on a unicycle) 43:58 then I say to my left leg, I say get on the pedal. 44:10 Total disobedience. 44:13 Like it on the pedal dude. 44:15 Total rebellion, it's not moving, it's like the spy sent 44:23 to the promised land, we are not going. 44:25 So I grab two other Arise students and they come over. 44:29 Okay, now we will do this the other way. 44:31 Two brawny shoulders. 44:34 Ah ha, the other foot is willing now and it is up. 44:37 It is not looking positive at this point. 44:43 So okay you guys you ready? Yeah! 44:55 A quarter turn, crash. Just like that, crash. 45:00 I was over it, I was instantly over it. 45:04 How many people in this room can ride a unicycle? 45:10 One, two, okay there is 10 of you. 45:16 Listen, I have great respect for you, 45:22 tremendous respect. 45:23 I'm going to hazard a guess, perhaps I'm incorrect here, 45:26 but I'm going to hazard a guess that no one in this room 45:28 took the unicycle and went to the boop, boop, boop, boop, 45:31 it didn't happen, it took, what word am I going to say, 45:34 it took practice. 45:37 Now here's what was happening in your brain when you 45:39 learn to ride a unicycle or any activity that you have 45:41 engaged in, whether it's reading Scripture or learning 45:43 to play the piano. 45:44 What ever, learning to be kind, any activity basically 45:47 here is what happens. 45:48 The first time your brain has to do something, 45:49 if it is hard mentally or physically, the brain has 45:53 a whole battery of choices and chances that you will 45:57 make the right choices are slim. 45:59 So it will probably make the wrong choice, too much 46:01 balance to the right, and then you fall and scrape 46:04 your knee in the body says whoa, the brain says, 46:06 it's not good. 46:07 But it eliminates the option so you fall and scrape 46:09 the other knee and it eliminates that option. 46:11 Then you fall and scrape your elbow, 46:12 well it eliminates that. 46:13 Particularly your brain builds up a battery of how not 46:16 to ride the unicycle, and as you given increasing battery 46:19 of how not to do something you begin to narrow the field 46:22 and you finally figure it out. 46:24 What was initially very difficult, actually becomes 46:28 downright easy with time and practice. 46:31 Are you with me, yes or no? 46:32 It is the case with almost anything, 46:34 that is the way your brain works. 46:36 Now these are in lay terms, but I think it's helpful. 46:39 It's like that field, the first time it is difficult. 46:42 Some tasks are easy and some tasks are harder. 46:46 Now what was believed for time was that this plasticity 46:51 of the brain, and incidentally, maybe we should 46:53 comment on that. 46:54 When we talk about the brain being plastic, it doesn't 46:57 mean that it is made some urethane type material. 47:01 The work plastic comes from the Latin word which means 47:04 changeable or malleable. 47:05 I used to think that plastic surgeons shoved plastic 47:08 into people's faces when I was a little boy. 47:11 I thought I don't want plastic shoved into my nose. 47:13 No plastic just means to change, to mold, to manipulate. 47:18 When we talk about the plasticity of the brain, 47:20 we mean you than it can change. 47:22 It can what everyone? Audience: change. 47:25 You can actually change, not when the debate between 47:28 nature and nurture us going on, but plasticity of the 47:30 brain was not well understood and that is why 47:33 Dr. Beauregard says in recent times research has 47:36 shown us that the adult brain is actually much more 47:39 plastic than ever thought. 47:41 Translation, you can make actual changes in your life, 47:45 in your mental life as well as in your holistic life, 47:49 even into old age. 47:51 To be very simple, you can teach an old dog new tricks. 47:55 Audience: Yeah! 47:57 God has wired your brain for moral growth. 48:01 God has worried your brain for moral choice. 48:05 Now here is something that happens, your character 48:09 is developed you start thinking about something. 48:12 This is not just Scripture, as a man thinketh in his 48:15 heart so is he, this is what the latest 48:16 neuroscientists this telling us. 48:18 If you think about something enough, your brain will 48:21 conform to that thing, right? 48:23 The neuro circuits that are used lots become strong, 48:26 similar perhaps to muscles, and those that are not used 48:29 either stay the same or shrink. 48:31 Are we together everyone? 48:33 So if you think about something enough times that 48:35 thought will eventually give way to an action. 48:39 If you commit an action enough times, that action, 48:42 repeated action, will eventually become a habit. 48:46 A habit definitionally is an action repeated. 48:49 If you got a number of habits around you, you have a 48:53 number of habits that you do, consistent lifestyle 48:57 practices, you now have a lifestyle. 49:00 And you're lifestyle invariably will determine your 49:04 character, and your character determines your destiny. 49:09 It is very simple, you have a thought, a thought gives 49:13 way to an action, and action gives way to a habit, 49:16 I habit gives way to lifestyle, a lifestyle 49:19 gives way to a destiny. 49:23 CS Lewis speaking on this very issue said this. 49:27 "Every time you make a choice you are turning the 49:31 "central part of you, but part of you that chooses 49:34 "into something a little different than it was before." 49:38 Do you hear that? 49:40 Every time you make a choice you are changing that part 49:42 of you that chooses. 49:43 By the way, what do we call that? What is called? 49:45 What is the part of you that chooses? 49:47 It's called the will. 49:49 Can anyone finish this statement for me? 49:51 Steps to Christ, "everything depends on the right 49:54 "action of the will." 49:57 So Lewis says, every time you make a choice you are 49:59 training the center part of you, but part of you that 50:01 chooses into something a little different than what it was 50:05 before, and taking your life as a whole with all your 50:08 innumerable choices, all lifelong, you are slowly 50:11 turning that central thing inside of you either into 50:14 a heavenly creature, or a hellish creature. 50:20 Put very simply, you are today a composite of the 50:24 choices that you have made over the course of your life. 50:26 I stand before you today is the 37-year-old who has made 50:29 lots of bad decisions, by the grace of God I am starting 50:32 to make some right ones. 50:33 The David Asscherick you see before you today is 50:35 a composite of the decisions I have made for 50:37 the last 37 years. 50:38 You young men are a composite of the decisions you have 50:41 made for the last, how old are you, 19 years. 50:44 JR, how old are you buddy? 26, JR you are composite 50:48 of the choices you have made over the last 26 years. 50:51 Every person in this room is a composite of the choices 50:54 you have made, let me put it to you this way. 50:56 Character is not developed in a day, but it is developed 51:00 day by day. 51:02 Character not developed in a day, but it is developed 51:05 day by day. 51:09 This is not simply good theology and good psychology, 51:12 increasingly it is neurology and I would like to see 51:16 some young Adventist people study this. 51:17 God has wired our brain for plasticity, He has wired our 51:23 brain for change, God has wired us to be able to choose 51:28 paths other than the paths we have. 51:30 Let's go back to the field illustration, what if this path, 51:33 that I am accustomed to walking across over and over again, 51:36 what if that is a bad habit? 51:37 What about the bad path, what if it's an unhealthy path? 51:40 What if that is a half a path that is condemned by the 51:44 law of God, and now I am faced with that same field. 51:47 I've been walking this field for years and what is going 51:51 to be easier for me, to form a new path over here, 51:54 or to walk the same path? 51:55 Which is going to be easier? 51:56 To walk that same path, this is why habits are hard to 51:59 break because you have to intentionally, volitionally 52:03 energy effort to step over here and actually think of 52:06 this, it is even harder after you have developed that, 52:09 then it would have been initially because the 52:12 whole time your now struggling. 52:14 That path is in view, all it would take is one side 52:17 step and you are in the free and clear, 52:19 are you tracking with me? 52:20 So while you're struggling to establish a new path, 52:23 that is not easy but the good news is that your brain 52:26 can do it, and this is what neuroscientists 52:28 are telling us. 52:29 I'm telling you that with the power of the Spirit 52:31 you can change. Audience: Amen! 52:35 After time when this path has not been traveled and 52:38 this path has, that path begins to grow over and this 52:42 path becomes new and better can you say Amen? 52:45 Audience: Amen. 52:46 Beloved here it is, here it is, Jesus is coming soon. 52:51 God actually revealed to me yesterday that Jesus is 52:56 going to come in your lifetime. 53:01 I don't know if you're going to say pastor Asscherick 53:04 had a prophetic vision. 53:05 Nope, I read the Bible and it says the wages 53:08 of sin is death. 53:10 Jesus is going to come in every single person in this 53:15 room's lifetime, in one of two ways. 53:18 He'll either come before the resurrection, and your 53:21 experience without one, or have come after the 53:23 resurrection, but every single person, 53:26 every single person is going to have their 53:28 own personal second coming. 53:30 Are you tracking? Audience: Amen. 53:34 That should be your sense of urgency, the decisions 53:38 that you are making today are creating the person 53:43 you will be tomorrow. 53:45 The decisions that you are making today are creating 53:50 the person you will be tomorrow. 53:53 The good news is, is that you can change by the power 53:58 of the Spirit, and by the very nature of the brain if 54:02 you want to and if you cry out to God. 54:04 That is the good news, can you say Amen? 54:06 Audience: Amen! 54:07 Now follow this, the decisions that you make today 54:10 create the person you will be tomorrow. 54:12 But the reason that the Bible is filled with a sense 54:14 of urgency, the reason that Joshua and Elijah, 54:17 the psalmist, and Paul say choose today, choose today, 54:20 choose today, choose today, is because. 54:22 Now follow this, the decision should make today create 54:24 the person you will be tomorrow, but if you don't make 54:26 the moral choices that are facing you today, 54:28 you have no guarantee that the person you will be 54:30 tomorrow will be capable of recognizing the moral 54:33 choices that faced you today. 54:35 You didn't get it I will say it again. 54:37 If you don't make the morale choices that face you today, 54:41 you have no guarantee that the person you will be tomorrow 54:44 will be capable of recognizing or making the moral choices 54:48 that face you today. 54:50 Everyone of us in this room has seen this happen. 54:53 Someone who started with just a small diversion, a small 54:57 compromise, a small apostasy and never envisioned they 55:02 would become a heroine addict. 55:04 Don't tell me there aren't heroine addicts on the 55:06 streets right now in various cities they were raised 55:08 Seventh-day Adventist and never intended to become 55:10 heroine addicts, well what happened? 55:12 They changed ever so slightly, they thought well I'll 55:15 sort of do it in this and then I'll go back. 55:18 The problem is the person they were a year from the time 55:20 they made that first compromise was not the person they 55:23 were back then when their conscience was sensitive. 55:25 In other words they were no longer even able to make 55:27 that decision easily. 55:32 The decisions that you are making are creating the 55:34 person you are, and the reason Joshua is urgent, 55:37 the reason that Elijah is urgent, and the reason I'm so 55:40 urgent with you today is that if you continue to put off 55:42 today what you should do tomorrow you have no guarantee 55:45 that the person you be tomorrow will be even capable 55:47 of recognizing, much less making the moral choices 55:50 that face you today. 55:54 This is absolutely confirmed by the Bible and 55:56 absolutely confirmed by the Spirit of Prophecy, 55:58 absolutely confirmed by science, and absolutely 56:00 confirmed by experience. 56:03 I quote Ellen white, "it is by degrees that the 56:07 "character is formed." 56:09 It is by- Audience: degrees. 56:12 Another one, "a well-balanced character is formed by 56:14 "single acts well performed." Single acts. 56:18 Another quotation, "it is not through one act that the 56:22 "character is formed, but by a repetition of acts that 56:25 "habits are established and character is confirmed." 56:34 To further complicate matters, sin is not passive. 56:37 Sin is active, a 19 century theologian said, 56:42 sin is a principle out of which there grows an 56:46 increasing positive continuity. 56:50 Translation; every moment you are not getting out 56:52 of sin, sin is growing in you. 56:57 Sin is not passive, it's active, it's malignant, 57:00 it's cancerous, if you stay in sin, it is growing, 57:03 it is gaining ground on you. 57:06 You cannot be passive in character development, 57:09 because of your carnal nature it demands that you 57:13 are actively engaging yourself in a spiritual way 57:17 with Scripture and Ministry and prayer. 57:19 If you in are not actively changing for the better by 57:23 default you are being drug down to the ways the world. 57:26 The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 57:27 and the pride of life, are you hearing me yes or no? 57:30 Audience: yes. 57:31 This is not only psychological and neuroscientific, 57:33 this is absolutely 100% spiritual. 57:37 Many of us have formed habits and ways of thinking that 57:41 have created a person that we look in the mirror 57:44 and we don't like. 57:46 I have great good news for you today, 57:49 God can change you and will change you by the power 57:52 of the in dwelling Spirit. |
Revised 2014-12-17