Participants: Jim Gilley (Host), Jack Blanco
Series Code: 10HC
Program Code: 10HC000013
00:45 Sometimes people hear Illinois and they think of Chicago.
00:48 We sometimes have people that think they're coming 00:51 here and they'll buy a ticket to Chicago 00:54 and get off the plane in Chicago 00:57 and realize that they are 300+ miles north of where we are. 01:03 We are in the far southern part of Illinois. 01:07 We're just about equal with northern Alabama 01:09 if you look at it. Not quite, but that's... 01:11 that's kind of a joke around here. 01:14 But we... It's a beautiful place. 01:19 Wonderful place... particularly in the summer and the spring 01:22 and the fall. And if you love winter, 01:24 you'll love it here in the winter as well. 01:27 And... And we're getting... You know, I'm getting to where 01:29 I kind of like winter. 01:30 Some of those warm days this year I was actually wanting 01:33 to wear a sweater 'cause it was so warm it seemed like. 01:38 But we just welcome you. We're glad you're here. 01:40 We've had such a wonderful time this weekend 01:43 with those that were able to attend. 01:45 And we're hearing from some of you that have been watching 01:48 around the country, and you have been blessed 01:52 by the music, by the messages of Dr. Jack Blanco. 01:58 And this is a man who God has greatly blessed. 02:02 And when I think of the discipline it took 02:05 for him to do the translation of the Clear Word Bible 02:09 from Genesis all the way through to Revelation... 02:12 You know, you think of that - translating it, 02:15 not just reading it but translating it - 02:17 that's quite a job. 02:19 A job not done by very many individuals 02:22 in the history of the world. 02:24 So I really am impressed. Tonight his subject 02:29 is going to be The Listening Ones. 02:31 But before he comes, we're going to have 02:34 Dr. Yvonne Lewis sing for us 02:37 I'm Amazed. 02:43 I'm amazed 02:46 each time I think 02:51 that You could love me 02:59 and You made Yourself a willing 03:06 such a willing sacrifice. 03:10 Yes. 03:14 When all I've ever done 03:21 is cause You pain 03:25 and so much sorrow... 03:31 When I think of what You've done 03:36 well, I'm amazed. 03:44 Oo-oo-oo, I'm amazed 03:49 to know that soon 03:55 my Jesus is coming back for me 04:01 with a robe of light 04:07 and a life that never, never, 04:12 never, never, never ends... 04:16 will never end. 04:19 'Cause all I've ever 04:25 done is go astray 04:29 when You said "follow. " 04:35 When I think of what's to come 04:41 yes, yes, yes 04:46 I'm amazed. 04:51 Now I've often asked 04:53 "What kind of love is this? " 04:59 'cause I just... 05:01 I just don't understand 05:06 why my Savior left 05:11 His glory 05:15 to die for sinful man. 05:23 When all... 05:26 all I've ever done 05:31 is go astray, oh, 05:35 when You said "follow. " 05:40 When I think of what You've done 05:46 well, I'm amazed. 05:56 When I think of what's to come 06:02 yes, I'm amazed. 06:06 I'm so amazed... 06:12 How could You? 06:14 How could You show us 06:16 such love? 06:31 Well, I'm amazed. 06:36 I'm so amazed. 06:46 Oh my, my my... 06:50 my, my, my... 06:53 I'm so amazed. 07:12 After that special, what do we say? 07:15 Amen. Amen; praise the Lord, right? 07:19 I can't believe that, you know, this is the last meeting 07:22 of Camp Meeting. I mean, where did it go? 07:24 I mean, just... 07:28 After the meeting this morning there were some people 07:32 that asked me a couple of questions, 07:36 so let me give a quick response 07:38 and then we'll have prayer 07:40 and go into the subject for this evening. 07:43 By the way, do you know? Do you know how many people? 07:46 We talked about the working of the Holy Spirit, 07:49 quietly in the hearts, right, of others 07:53 and also through evangelism? 07:56 Do you know how many people are being baptized 07:59 into this church every day? 08:02 Three thousand a day. 08:07 That sounds like what? Pentecost, right? 08:10 Quiet Pentecost, yes, before it gets even bigger. 08:14 But anyway, the two questions. Yeah. Someone said: 08:18 "Are you sure that the Holy Spirit is a person? " 08:23 And I said: "Well, I mean, we talked about 08:26 you know, what Jesus said: 'When He comes 08:29 He will do this and He will do that... ' " 08:31 I said: "Well, if you want another example 08:37 it's Acts the 5th chapter verses 1 to 5. " 08:40 You know that story of Ananias and Sapphira. 08:43 The church needed money, right? 08:45 And they said: "OK, Lord. Yes, we'll sell this piece of 08:49 property. " And they got a good price for the property. 08:53 And then they talked about it and said: "You know, 08:55 nobody will really know. Why don't we keep a little bit 08:58 for ourselves and just tell the apostles 09:03 that that's how much we sold it for? " 09:06 And so that's what happened. They came to Peter. 09:09 "How much did you sell the property for? " and so on. 09:12 That little discussion going on. 09:14 And then Peter said: 09:18 "How come you held some of it back? " 09:23 "How come you lied to the Holy Spirit? " 09:29 Now if the Holy Spirit is not a person and just an influence 09:34 how can you "lie" to an "influence? " 09:39 The Holy Spirit's a person. 09:41 And as you go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 09:46 those few verses there in the beginning 09:49 it says: "If you make a vow to God 09:56 be sure to keep it. " 09:59 Don't say to Him: "Well, I think it was a mistake, Lord. " 10:06 The Lord has no pleasure in fools. 10:10 In other words, what is that telling us? 10:12 Take the Holy Spirit seriously. 10:19 Don't play games with the Holy Spirit. 10:23 If you have to think about a decision, fine. 10:26 But once you make a decision, yes, try to keep it. 10:31 Now that doesn't mean the Holy Spirit doesn't forgive. 10:33 He does, right? 10:35 He doesn't like us to, you know, play around. 10:39 He wants us to take Him seriously. 10:42 The other question that was asked 10:45 is about feeling. 10:48 'Cause I said something about, you know, we can't depend 10:51 on feeling. 10:54 And so they said: "What do you mean? " 10:55 And so I explained it this way: 10:57 In Luke the 24th chapter 11:01 and you are acquainted with that experience. 11:05 Luke the 24th chapter beginning with verse 13. 11:09 You have two disciples going on the road to Emmaus, right? 11:12 Remember that? 11:14 And they were concerned as, of course, the promised Messiah 11:18 had been put to death... crucified. 11:22 And all of a sudden a third person joined them 11:28 and caught up with them. 11:31 And He said: "What were you talking about? 11:33 How come you're so serious? " 11:35 "Well haven't you heard? Where have you been? " 11:38 "Haven't you heard what happened in Jerusalem? 11:41 There was another crucifixion... three of them... 11:44 and one of them was the promised Messiah who we thought 11:48 was the Messiah. 11:51 And then to make it worse, the ladies went to the sepulcher, 11:55 went to the tomb and found the tomb empty. 11:58 We don't even know where His body is. " 12:02 And how did Jesus respond? 12:08 Why didn't Jesus say: "Well fellows, here I am! " 12:15 No. He said... He started with 12:18 scripture and pointed out to them all the prophecies 12:24 that pointed to the Messiah and what we going to happen, 12:27 right? 12:33 And then they walked along and He, you know, 12:36 acted like He was going to go ahead. And they said: 12:38 "No, you know, it's getting dark. 12:40 No, it's not a good idea for you to go ahead. 12:43 Why don't you come and stay with us? " 12:46 And so He agreed. 12:47 And as they sat down to eat they asked Him to offer 12:51 the blessing. And as He offered the blessing what? 12:55 They recognized Him, right? 12:58 And He disappeared. 13:00 They ran back to Jerusalem 13:04 about seven miles that night stumbling along. 13:08 The Lord sure is risen. 13:11 Now the point I was trying to make with the person 13:14 who asked me that question was this: 13:19 The Lord knew that their faith 13:23 ought to rest in scripture and not in feeling. 13:29 He could have revealed Himself to them 13:32 and they would have been happy 13:33 and they would have had an experience and it's wonderful 13:36 and it's great and oh, yes... 13:40 But He started with scripture 13:43 and we're told in Desire of Ages - 13:47 the book Desire of Ages - He did so because 13:52 He knew they would be facing troubles and persecutions 13:57 soon and their faith would have to be based on scripture 14:02 and not on feeling. 14:05 Now there's nothing wrong with feeling. 14:08 But that is not THE measure. 14:13 Unfortunately, today the culture in which we live 14:16 is talking about feeling. 14:21 Follow? No we have this experience. 14:24 This feeling. Well how can you counter someone's "experience 14:30 and feeling? " 14:33 What do you do? 14:35 I don't know if some of you have read Foxe's Book of Martyrs 14:39 and some of the experiences there of the early Christians? 14:43 You know, taken to the arena 14:48 and then let the lions out. 14:52 How do you think they felt? 14:54 They had a wonderful little feeling, didn't they? 14:58 Their faith was rooted in scripture. 15:04 Father in heaven, 15:09 we want to say that we love You very much. 15:13 Thank you for 3ABN. 15:15 Thank you for our church. 15:17 Thank you for the outreach and evangelism everywhere: 15:23 whether it is evangelistic meetings, 15:26 quiet witnessing, whatever. 15:29 Lord, we know that You are eager to come. 15:36 You want to come quickly. 15:39 And we give ourselves to You 15:41 to use us as You see fit to hasten Your coming. 15:47 We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 15:53 My subject tonight is The Listening Ones. 15:59 We talked about the Father. 16:01 How much He loves us. 16:04 We talked about the Son of God who died for us. 16:08 We talked about the Holy Spirit who guides us. 16:15 I should add a footnote here. 16:18 When you and I pray to the Holy Spirit 16:21 to help us to understand scripture 16:24 which we should do, right? 16:26 Shouldn't we pray before we study scripture? 16:30 There's a statement that I have in the margin of my Bible 16:36 which opened my eyes 16:39 and it goes something like this: 16:42 Those who bring to the study of the Word 16:47 a spirit that it does not approve 16:52 will take away from the study 16:55 a spirit that it has not imparted. 17:03 So when we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us 17:06 understand the Bible, that is not the main point. 17:10 That is the point that follows. 17:13 The main point is: Dear Holy Spirit, 17:16 give me the right attitude 17:21 as I study the Bible - 17:24 Hmmm? - so I can take away from my study 17:28 the right attitude. 17:32 It's not knowledge only. 17:36 When you and I study the Bible 17:39 unless we have the right attitude 17:41 Satan can come along and make suggestions 17:46 of interpretations that are not correct. 17:56 So the Holy Spirit guides us, yes. 18:00 The Father loves us; the Son of God died for us. 18:04 The Holy Spirit guides us. 18:06 But there's one other thing that we miss. 18:11 You know, we think about the gospel as we said Thursday 18:15 evening and think about it in relationship to us 18:18 and don't think about it in relationship... 18:22 the gospel in relationship to the Father, to the Son, 18:25 to the Holy Spirit... three persons. 18:30 But there's another area that we tend to forget, 18:33 and so I'm going to ask you the question. Are you listening? 18:39 I want you to listen. 18:44 What else does the Bible say about you 18:48 and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? 18:55 We were missionaries in Africa, and from Africa we went to 18:59 the Philippines. And while we were there, 19:04 uh, my wife came down with cancer. 19:07 They had to fly us to Loma Linda for treatments. 19:12 And while she was going through her treatments 19:15 I had the privilege of sitting in on some of the classes 19:20 taught at the School of Health. 19:23 Dr. Baldwin, who is now at Wildwood, was teaching there 19:27 at that time. And he taught a course in 19:30 physiological psychology. 19:34 In other words, how the mind affects the body 19:39 and the relationship. 19:43 And we got, of course, on the subject of drugs: 19:47 what that does to the mind, to the body, and so on. 19:51 And I still remember. One young woman raised her hand. 19:55 She was probably in her late 30's 19:59 and she raised her hand and Dr. Baldwin called on her. 20:03 and he says: "Yes? " She says: I never had any problem 20:08 with drugs. " "OK. " 20:12 She says: "Let me tell you my story. 20:18 I was raised by my grandmother 20:23 and even before I had started school... lived with her. 20:29 And she would pray with me every day. 20:32 And she would say something like this: 20:36 'Now child, I want you to remember 20:42 who your Father is. ' " 20:49 Prayed with the little girl. 20:51 "Another time: 'Child, I want you to remember 20:58 that you are a little princess 21:02 because you are the daughter of the King. ' " 21:10 Prayed with her. 21:15 "Child remember... " Yes! 21:20 "who you belong to. When you go to school today 21:26 you will find a lot of children not acting like they should, 21:33 but remember who you are. " 21:37 "Child, you are royalty. " 21:46 Prayed with the little girl. 21:50 She said: "Yes, that kept me from drugs because 21:55 I knew who I was. " 22:05 Brothers and sisters, we need to be careful 22:08 that we don't forget who we are. 22:13 We need to conduct ourselves accordingly. 22:17 Your Father 22:24 is up in heaven. 22:27 God is your Father. Do you understand that? 22:32 Are you listening to me? 22:37 I never had a father. 22:41 Before the wedding, all of a sudden my father disappeared. 22:45 I never knew him. 22:47 When I gave my heart to Jesus Christ 22:50 I had a Brother and a Father. 22:56 There was a song years ago that was written 23:00 "He has His Father's eyes. " 23:04 Talking about Jesus. 23:11 We are sons and daughters of the King. 23:15 We are royalty. 23:18 In Revelation the 1st chapter - 23:22 Revelation, first chapter - John has a vision of Jesus Christ. 23:27 The first chapter and verse 6. 23:35 And of course there from Jesus Christ 23:37 who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead. 23:40 "Unto Him who loved us and washed us 23:43 from our sins in His own blood 23:44 and hath made us kings 23:48 and priests unto God the Father. 23:53 To Him be glory, dominion, 23:56 power, forever and ever. Amen. " 23:59 He made us what? Kings. 24:02 Royalty. 24:04 Princes; princesses. 24:11 Let us never undervalue ourselves. 24:15 Are you with me? 24:17 Well that doesn't mean we don't make mistakes, we don't sin. 24:20 We come to Christ; we confess. God forgives us, right? 24:26 He doesn't reject us because we make mistakes. 24:35 The Father is displeased and hurt 24:39 when we undervalue ourselves. 24:43 Are you listening? 24:53 Then you come to Revelation the third chapter 24:56 and all the seven churches. And at the end of each church 24:59 it says what? "He that hath an ear 25:03 let him hear 25:05 what the Spirit is saying. " 25:08 And you come to the Laodicean church... 25:12 the last church. 25:14 And at the end of that Laodicean church 25:18 which thinks it's rich and increased with goods, OK? 25:24 And it says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. 25:28 To he that opens the door I will come in and sup with him 25:31 and he with Me. " 25:34 And then it says: "To him that overcometh 25:37 will I grant to sit with Me on My throne. " 25:46 Talking to what church? 25:51 Let's not so focus on Laodicea that we forget the promise! 25:58 The promise to the Laodiceans. 26:01 Yes. "I will have you sit with Me on My throne 26:05 even as I overcame and sat on My throne with the Father. " 26:09 "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says. " 26:16 Jesus Christ Himself will put crowns on our heads. 26:20 And I can give you scripture and scripture, right? 26:29 The Father is hurt when we undervalue ourselves. 26:37 And then we think, of course, what Jesus has done for us. 26:41 And what I want to share with you 26:44 is a story from Africa. 26:47 Now, of course, I was the head of the Bible Department there 26:52 and my job was to train these students for city evangelism. 26:58 They came in from the villages. 27:00 And some were older and some were younger. 27:03 Some had been in "the work, " you know, already. 27:08 Now they were coming to college to get a degree. 27:12 Learn how to work in the cities. 27:15 And so I would hold evangelistic meetings 27:19 and usually held the meetings for six weeks. 27:26 Three weeks preaching every night 27:29 and then three weeks of Bible marking follow-up 27:34 on the same subjects. 27:35 Because Ellen White in the book Evangelism says: 27:39 "It's not enough for them to hear it the first time. 27:41 They have to hear it a second time. " 27:47 And so I was preaching on the righteousness of Christ. 27:55 Because the first three weeks we focus in, you know, on... 27:58 on Christ, the second coming of Christ, 28:02 salvation, the second coming, keeping the commandments 28:04 and then we got into more details later. 28:08 And somehow I was not connecting with the group. 28:13 People had come in, you know, from the villages and so on 28:16 and we had been out there visiting and they had come. 28:21 And the students were the ushers 28:27 and the people would come in, they would seat them. 28:33 And so they had the girls sitting over on this side 28:36 then the women here then the men here 28:39 and then the boys there. 28:42 That's the custom, all right. 28:46 And I was preaching on righteousness by faith 28:48 and I just was not getting through. And as I visited 28:51 around, you know, one young lady said: 28:55 "Righteousness? Is that something you eat? " 29:01 I thought: "Oh boy, am I missing the boat! " 29:06 How in the world am I going to make it clear? 29:09 And so I prayed: "Lord, somehow let me make this clear. 29:13 If I can't preach righteousness by faith, 29:16 then where do I go from here? " 29:19 So I got the idea that, yes, 29:24 go and buy a nice clean white shirt 29:29 to offer one of the young lads 29:33 but don't tell anybody about it, not even your interpreter. 29:39 OK? 29:42 So I went and bought a white shirt 29:43 and hid it behind the pulpit. 29:45 When the time my sermon came I came to the point, 29:48 you know, of what righteousness means 29:52 I looked over at the boys and I said: 29:55 "If one of you come up here on the rostrum - 29:58 on the platform - and give me your dirty shirt, 30:04 I will give you a clean white shirt. " 30:10 And I paused and looked at the boys. 30:17 No response. 30:19 So I made appeal again, right? 30:23 "Come up. Give me your shirt. I will... I promise 30:27 I will give you a white shirt. " 30:30 No response. I said: "Oh Lord, where do I go from here? " 30:36 Made a third appeal and finally a young lad stood up, 30:41 pressed through the seats, and started coming up. 30:46 And all his buddies snickered. 30:49 "Ha, ha, ha. You're going to be fooled. Ha, ha, ha, ha. " 30:53 He came up, stood there. 30:57 And I said: "Well, let me have your shirt 30:59 and I'll give you the shirt I have for you. " 31:02 And so my interpreter went over there and started unbuttoning 31:05 the boy's shirt. And I said: "No! 31:08 I want him to take it off and give it to me. " 31:15 So the young man took his shirt off and I have that shirt. 31:24 I've had it for 45 years. 31:34 This is exactly how it came off his back. 31:38 See this? 31:49 Holes everywhere. 31:53 Hole in the back. 31:59 Took the shirt off and gave it to me. 32:05 And of course, he didn't see... 32:08 he didn't see the clean white shirt. 32:10 It's only after he gave me this shirt 32:13 I said: "Thank you, " and I reached under the pulpit 32:17 and pulled out this clean white shirt. 32:26 And I said: "This shirt is now yours. " 32:29 You should have seen his eyes! 32:35 Then I said: "Here, let me help you put it on. " 32:39 And I put it on him. 32:42 And after he realized, you know, that it was on 32:48 and then, you know, he turned and looked at his buddies... 32:57 and their eyes went like this. 33:05 And then you know what happened? 33:08 He started to take the shirt off. 33:14 Well he said: "No. This is YOUR shirt. 33:18 This is MY shirt. " 33:24 I said: "No! This is YOUR shirt. 33:30 THIS is my shirt. " 33:40 Ah, yes. 33:44 Zechariah the third chapter, right? 33:47 Raiment. Remove the raiment and put a new raiment on him, 33:53 right? Yes. 33:55 Praise the Lord. OK? 33:58 What a gift! 34:00 What a gift... what an expensive gift. 34:08 You can't afford to buy this shirt. 34:11 That little boy could not afford to buy that shirt. 34:16 And so finally, of course, he went back 34:18 to his buddies and they were all looking, right? 34:22 'Cause all the other boys were wearing this kind of shirt, 34:24 right? And he's coming now in white. He has a different shirt. 34:28 And as he pressed back to his seat 34:30 and as he passed his friends 34:32 they all wanted to feel that shirt. 34:35 Is this real? Is it real? 34:38 Yeah. Wow! 34:42 Are you listening, brothers and sisters? 34:49 The Lord has given us His shirt. 35:00 We can be humble and grateful for what the Lord has done. 35:06 Are you listening? 35:10 Let's not depreciate ourselves. 35:14 We are royalty. 35:17 The Father is offended when we undervalue ourselves. 35:23 Jesus Christ is offended when we continually talk 35:28 about ourselves as sinners. 35:32 As I tell my students: "You need to take a quick look 35:37 at sin and a long, long, long, 35:40 long, long look at Jesus Christ. 35:46 That's how we need to do it. 35:49 Then we will go about our business with joy. 35:59 And then we come to the Holy Spirit. 36:01 The Holy Spirit, yes, also has given us 36:07 precious gifts. Matthew the 25th chapter. 36:11 You know that chapter very well. 36:13 And the Lord says, yes: "And then the kingdom of heaven 36:16 shall be likened unto 10 virgins which took their lamps 36:20 and went forth to meet the bridegroom. " 36:26 And the wise... the wise and the foolish. 36:33 "But the foolish took their lamps and no oil with them... 36:38 no extra oil... 36:41 But the wise took oil in their vessels. " 36:44 Now listen. 36:45 "The wise took oil in their vessels 36:50 with their lamps. " Oh. 36:54 Vessels and lamps. 36:57 What does the lamp represent? 37:00 "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet 37:04 and a light unto my path. " Right? 37:06 The lamp represents? The Bible and scripture. 37:09 How about the oil? 37:12 The Holy Spirit. You read that in Zechariah. 37:15 Yes. 37:17 Zechariah 3 and 4... the olive oil that goes from 37:23 the olive trees, right? 37:25 into golden pipes and brings the oil. 37:29 No? Zechariah the 4th chapter 37:35 particularly verses 11 and 12. 37:46 I have here a genuine 37:51 archaeological lamp. 38:04 And, of course, there's oil inside. 38:10 And then, of course, you light the wick. 38:30 And all the virgins had 38:34 lamps and oil in the lamp. 38:45 But the wise had a vessel 38:51 and this vessel came from the time of David that was undug. 39:02 And the wise had a vessel with the lamp. 39:08 Extra oil. 39:14 The Holy Spirit has given us extra oil, brothers and sisters. 39:22 If the lamps represent scripture 39:28 then the extra vessel represents also a container 39:33 of the Holy Spirit. Are you with me? 39:37 And that is what? 39:40 The Spirit of Prophecy. 39:44 God the Holy Spirit has given us, yes, 39:48 a lesser light - Ephesians the 4th chapter - 39:52 to lead us to the greater light 39:54 to give us the extra oil. Are you with me? 40:03 You can't buy this extra oil, this extra vessel. 40:12 Oh, Father dear. 40:17 thank you for making us Your children. 40:22 Royalty to the family. 40:29 Boy. 40:32 Dear Jesus, thank you for giving us Your righteousness... 40:38 that expensive shirt that we could never afford. 40:43 And dear Holy Spirit, thank you for the extra oil 40:49 that we need in these last days. 40:55 And that's why in Revelation the 19th chapter 41:02 you have the Hallelujah Chorus. 41:05 "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people 41:08 in heaven saying: 'Hallelujah! 41:11 Salvation and glory and honor and power 41:15 unto the Lord our God. ' " 41:20 "And again they said: 'Hallelujah! 41:23 True and righteous are His judgments. ' " 41:31 "And again they said: 'Hallelujah! 41:35 Amen! ' And the voice came out of the throne 41:40 saying: 'Praise our God all ye His servants 41:43 and ye that fear Him both small and great. ' " 41:47 "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude 41:50 and as the voice of many waters 41:52 and the voice of mighty thunderings 41:57 saying: 'Hallelujah 41:59 for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! ' " 42:03 Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 42:07 Hallelujah! Right? 42:09 Too bad I can't sing! 42:11 And I would sing that Hallelujah Chorus, right? 42:14 Hallelujah to our God forever and ever. Amen! 42:19 Father in heaven, we want to tell you we love You very much. 42:25 Help us, Lord, not to undervalue ourselves. 42:32 Help us, Lord, not to focus on the dirty shirt. 42:36 We've given it away. 42:39 Help us to focus on the clean shirt 42:44 that is ours. 42:49 Lord, we are not a perfect people 42:55 but we are a righteous people because of Your grace. 43:05 Thank you, dear Holy Spirit, for the extra oil 43:08 which we need in these last days so we be not tossed 43:14 to and fro with every wind of doctrine. 43:22 Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling 43:25 and to present you faultless 43:28 before the throne of His majesty 43:32 to Him be glory and honor and power 43:37 forever and ever. Amen. 44:03 Amen. Thank you. 44:05 God bless you. We want to thank you so much for... 44:08 Elder Jack, for what you're doing for the cause of God. 44:10 Thank you and God bless you. 44:12 We're going to have some of the crew come out. 44:14 And we've got a little bit of time, and we just wanted to 44:18 come out. And I think... Mollie Sue out here yet? 44:22 Here Mollie Sue. You were telling me some things while ago 44:26 and while the rest of them are coming out 44:28 you met some folk, and tell me some of the things 44:31 that you're hearing. Well, one little lady came up to me - 44:33 a very shy little lady - and she didn't want me to acknowledge 44:36 who she was. But she said last Camp Meeting when she was here 44:39 she had liver cancer. And she had our Pastoral Department 44:45 anoint her and pray for her. And I want you to know 44:47 this Camp Meeting she is totally cancer free. Amen! 44:56 Isn't that something? The miracles that we hear about 45:01 are just astounding, isn't that right? 45:03 They really are. Yeah. God is blessing. 45:06 Several people - several of you, maybe you want to 45:09 raise your hand - told me you came into the church 45:11 through watching 3ABN. Do we see any folk out here now? 45:14 Amen. All right. Yeah, sure. Praise the Lord! 45:18 And so I had some people while ago come and they were 45:21 telling me about groups of people meeting - yes - 45:23 from watching 3ABN. And I mean it's really amazing 45:26 what is happening. 45:28 And so we want to thank each and every one of you 45:31 for your love and your prayers and financial support 45:33 of this ministry. And we wanted to come out 45:36 and ask the group here... And afterwards we're going to be 45:40 in the foyer. A lot of these folk have CD's. 45:43 They don't ask for anything. Anybody that's here singing 45:46 haven't asked us to pay them. We call and they come. 45:50 Some of them have to fly from wherever. 45:52 Others drive here and they give their time. 45:54 So you can help them and help us, too, 45:57 with products they have: CDs or books or what have you. 46:01 You can get it, baby. CDs or books or what have you. 46:04 She had this thing full of about 6 kinds of grapes 46:06 and has eaten all of them. 46:08 So... helping the folks. So afterwards after this meeting 46:11 if you would go... And the books and there's lots of things 46:15 out here that you want to look at. 46:16 3ABN has our product line. Basically, all the stuff 46:19 that we have. Information, things that you might want. 46:22 And the ABC has their van here. 46:26 I understand they have about a dozen of the books 46:30 "Jack. " They brought every one they could find in the U.S. 46:33 They are backordered right now. 46:36 And they have about a dozen, so about the first 12 people 46:38 there'll get 'em. And don't leave yet, though. 46:42 OK. 46:45 Well, the other thing we wanted to do is maybe... 46:49 And we just want to sing a song, and I think maybe you all 46:52 if you want to sing this with us 46:54 because I have felt God's Holy Spirit. 46:56 I felt the anointing of His Holy Spirit upon these meetings. 47:00 And I feel like that I've been touched by the hand of Jesus. 47:04 And so we'd like for you to sing with all of us up here 47:08 He Touched Me. We'll just do the choruses, OK? 47:11 Lisa and Jim... Jim over there. OK, here we go. 47:14 He touched me. 47:18 O, He touched me. 47:23 And oh the joy 47:27 that floods my soul. 47:33 Something happened 47:38 and now I know 47:43 He touched me 47:45 and made me whole. 47:51 Well, since I met this 47:54 blessed Savior. 49:04 You can be seated for a few minutes if you want. 49:07 3ABN has been a ministry of faith from the beginning. 49:11 You talked about it a little bit earlier. 49:13 But it is a faith ministry, 49:16 and I never cease to marvel at the miracles 49:20 that God performs when we're willing to go forward. 49:23 Jesus says: "Go... Go ye into all the world. " 49:25 And so when we go forward God always honors that 49:29 and He blesses that. 49:30 And I've seen things time and time again. 49:32 And I may have told this story and I don't even know if it was 49:34 last Spring Camp Meeting, but I want to tell it again 49:37 because there's such an amazing thing that happened. 49:40 There was a lady from Puerto Rico who 49:42 felt like that she wanted to work with 3ABN Latino 49:46 with Johnny Dinzey. She wanted to meet Johnny 49:51 and talk to him. So finally she said - 49:53 'cause she said "I can't do much on my own 49:55 but maybe if 3ABN would work with me... " 49:57 And it was about the Spirit of Prophecy and teaching it 49:59 to our young people. 50:02 "If I can reach Johnny Dinzey then, you know, I'll know 50:05 that it's God's will. " Now here's the problem. 50:08 She chose to call 3ABN on Friday morning 50:11 and what happens Friday morning? 50:13 We're closed now because they do 10 hours 4 days a week. 50:17 So she said: 'Lord, if this is Your will, 50:19 then You put me in touch with Johnny Dinzey 50:22 this morning. " But she called and didn't get an answer. 50:24 So she says: "OK, I don't know what to do. " 50:28 Then she said: "I think I know Irma Murray. " 50:31 Is Irma? There's Irma. 50:32 Says: "I know Irma Murray 50:34 and I think I have her phone number. " 50:36 So she dialed the 618, then she dialed the first three prefixes 50:41 of Irma's number - 218- 50:43 but she confused that number and looked back at the 3ABN 50:48 number 4651 or whatever number it was. 50:51 Dialed that in. OK, so now who should she get? 50:55 Nobody, right? 50:57 I mean, you've got to... If you want to talk to somebody 50:59 you've got to call their number, right? 51:01 But she didn't call Irma's number. 51:03 And so 3ABN... she hadn't realized she got the numbers 51:06 confused. So someone answered and she said: "Is this Irma? " 51:10 "No, this is not Irma. " 51:12 'Cause the lady's saying: "You know, if it's the Lord's... 51:14 Your will for me to come and talk to Johnny, then 51:17 You've got to work out where I can talk to Johnny. " 51:19 She thought well maybe Irma would know. 51:21 So she said: "Is this Irma? " She said: "No, this is not Irma. 51:24 I'm Kim. " And she said: "Oh, Kim, well I was trying to call 51:28 Irma. " "Well Irma who? " 51:30 "Well Irma Murray. " Kim said: "I used to work at 3ABN. " 51:33 And she said: "Oh, " she said "well that's wonderful. " 51:37 She said: "But who I'm really trying to get ahold of 51:40 is Johnny Dinzey. " Now here's a lady... 51:43 she has no idea she dialed the wrong number. 51:45 Right? You all with me so far? 51:47 Wrong number. So she says: "Oh, if Johnny... " 51:50 So she says: "Lady, I really want to talk to Johnny Dinzey. " 51:53 She says: "Oh, if it's Johnny you want to talk to 51:56 just a second, I'll hand him the phone. " 52:00 Now. All right. Now think about that one. 52:04 All right. She's looking for Johnny Dinzey. 52:06 Calls; gets her numbers confused. 52:09 Johnny Dinzey. A second later Johnny says: "Hello, 52:12 this is Johnny Dinzey. Can I help you? " 52:14 So they get together. I found out the story 52:16 'cause I was driving through our campground 52:18 apparently a week or two later, and the lady and her husband 52:21 and family were over here in a little camper 52:24 and so they told me this story. 52:26 Well, John and Idalia had already gone to San Juan, 52:29 Puerto Rico, and I was supposed to meet them there 52:31 for services. So I went down and I told Johnny. 52:35 I said: "Man, this is an amazing story. " 52:37 And he said: "Did you hear the rest of the story? " 52:39 I said: "Well no. " 52:40 I did have in mind what were you doing and where were you 52:43 doing, you know? "Where were you at some lady's house 52:46 at 9 o'clock in the morning? 52:47 Nothing bad. Don't let your minds wander. 52:49 But how would you be where somebody called a number 52:53 that shouldn't even be a right number you happen to be there? " 52:56 And he said: "I'll tell you the story. " 52:57 Kim lives only about a mile or two down the road. 53:00 Now she could have called anybody 618 area code 53:02 probably it's 100 mile radius... 53:04 but about a mile down the road. Two weeks before this 53:07 the postman had delivered mail for Kim. 53:10 And every morning I keep thinking "I need to take 53:12 that mail down to Kim. " 53:14 But he said: "I never did it 'cause I'm always trying 53:18 to get to work and I'm afraid I'll be late... " 53:20 So he says: "I haven't done it. " 53:21 But this Friday morning we weren't working. 53:23 I said: "Oh, that's Kim's mail. I think I'll take it 53:25 to her. " So he said: "I got into my car, drove down 53:28 to Kim's house. Knocked on the door. 53:30 As I knocked on the door she opened the door 53:32 and said: "Johnny, here... the phone's for you. " 53:38 Now, is that coincidence or is that divine providence? 53:43 You see, we serve a God that is a God of details. 53:46 There is nothing so big - problems that we have - 53:49 that God can't solve it. 53:51 There's nothing so small that He doesn't care about it. 53:53 So it encourages us that day after day, 53:56 week after week, month after month 53:58 that Jim and Mollie especially can tell you that 54:00 and Brian on the financial end. 54:02 It seems like that we've looked at payroll 54:05 in the last several weeks. Jim's saying: 54:06 "You know, it's going to take a miracle even to do payroll. " 54:10 But everybody's gotten paid so far, right? 54:11 That's right. And so we've all gotten paid. 54:14 Somehow God continues to bless. 54:17 But that's... we want to encourage each and every one 54:19 of you. Whatever God is calling you to do 54:21 go forward by faith. God will honor it. 54:24 We see miracles like this constantly 54:26 that let us know that the blessing is on the "Go. " 54:29 Jesus said: "Go ye into all the world. " 54:30 So when you step forward, God will honor that. 54:33 Amen. He does, and we see it. 54:35 Danny just testified that these last few weeks 54:39 have been one miracle after another. 54:43 And Brian... You know, he and I were talking 54:46 and Brian said to me: 54:48 "I'm just wanting to wait and see 54:51 how God's going to answer each one of these miracles. " 54:55 And Mollie, the other day somebody came into your office 54:59 and this was an extremely critical time for 3ABN. 55:05 Brian had already left and he was on his way to 55:09 an appointment. And a gentleman came in the office 55:12 and would you share that. 55:14 "Well, the gentleman has come by the office every year now. 55:19 This is the fourth year. 55:21 And each year that he comes by he comes to bless 3ABN. 55:25 And it was no different this time. 55:28 And he always has me to fill out the check 55:32 which I am honored to do that. 55:35 And when he told me the amount I almost fell out of my chair. 55:38 And I told him: "Only in eternity 55:42 will you know what a blessing you have been to this ministry 55:44 today. " And once again... 55:47 You know, we were looking - Jim, Brian, and myself 55:50 and Danny - looking. You know, how is God going to provide 55:55 this time? And He had a gentleman walk in off the street 55:59 and bless the ministry. God is our source 56:02 and He is our supplier. Once again, Danny, 56:04 it became so real to me 56:06 that if we could look into the spirit realm 56:10 we would be amazed at what God is doing behind the scenes. 56:13 Amen. Our little finite minds 56:16 can't figure out our great and mighty God. 56:18 But God supplies all of our needs 56:20 and we just praise Him here today. |
Revised 2014-12-17