Participants: Frank Fournier
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000102
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN worship Center.
00:17 Get Ready, Get Ready, Get Ready, with Frank Fournier. 00:22 Good evening and welcome to night number two of our 00:25 Anchors of Truth series. 00:27 We are pleased beyond measure that you have joined us. 00:31 We are aware that there is a, what they call, 00:34 an arctic blast going through the nation. 00:37 And so I suspect that many of you where you're watching 00:40 or listening from may be in the grips of this cold weather. 00:43 Which is stretching really across the northeast, the south, 00:47 the Midwest, the west, the upper northwest. 00:50 Much of the country is suffering from cold. 00:52 In fact, out in Denver, the Loveland, Colorado area 00:56 where our speaker hails from, the weather is much, much 00:59 worse than here. 01:00 And so I was telling him and we were talking that 01:03 it is a blessing to be here in southern Illinois. 01:05 Well we've got just a little ice and snow and not that 01:08 horrendous weather that they're having in Colorado at this time. 01:11 Our speaker is Frank Fournier. 01:13 He is the president of Eden Valley, 01:15 and also the president of ASI. 01:18 Some, oh 5, 6, 7 years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer, 01:24 we talked about a number of ways and means that we would take 01:27 to deal with that. 01:29 And really at my wife's insistence, we went out to 01:32 Eden Valley Lifestyle Center to try to deal with 01:36 natural remedies to deal with that cancer. 01:38 When I got there, I met a number of really wonderful 01:41 God blessed dedicated individuals; 01:44 from the cook, to the person who greeted us, 01:47 to the exercise individual. 01:48 All of them very focused on lifestyle changes that would 01:52 make for a healthier life. 01:53 One of the chief practitioners of that was the then president, 01:58 who is still the president; that is Frank Fournier. 02:00 He ministered to us each evening with the Word. 02:03 Preached and spoke in such a loving and kind and godly way 02:08 that we were impressed that this is a man of God. 02:10 And so a long and continuing friendship was built between 02:15 Eden Valley, Frank Fournier, and 3ABN. 02:18 And we have come to love, know, and accept him 02:20 as one of our own. 02:21 And so we were pleased when he accepted the call 02:24 to come and be with us for this last Anchors of Truth for 2013. 02:32 He is on the way to Africa. 02:34 He and his wife do great work there. 02:37 And so he flies the skies, as were, between the 02:40 United States and Africa. 02:42 He wears so many, many hats. 02:44 And God has blessed him. 02:46 He's the kind of person that we believe. 02:47 We listened to his message last night. 02:51 Practical, plain, godly, God fearing, 02:54 good food spiritually for our souls today. 02:58 And so we are very, very pleased that he found time 03:01 in what is an incredibly busy schedule with Eden Valley 03:04 there in Loveland, Colorado, with ASI, and the many hats 03:07 he wears with Outpost Centers International, 03:10 moving back and forth from Africa to the United States, 03:12 to Loveland, to Denver, back and forth, 03:14 that he could squeeze us into his schedule. 03:16 So we are very, very pleased to have Frank Fournier here 03:20 and to have him speak to us on this very 03:24 pertinent and timely topic; Get Ready, Get Ready, Get Ready. 03:28 In particular, his message for tonight is going to be, 03:30 Marred in our Hands. 03:33 An intriguing title. 03:35 One drawn from the Word of God, and one that I'm sure 03:38 he has much to say through the unction of the Holy Spirit 03:41 to us this very night. 03:43 Our music is coming to us from Dr. Yvonne Lewis. 03:46 And we're going to have prayer and then ask her to come forward 03:50 and be with us and sing. 03:52 After she shall have sung, the next voice you'll hear 03:56 will be that of our friend, our pastor, our preacher 04:00 for the evening, Frank Fournier. 04:02 Shall we pray; Father God, we praise You 04:04 and thank You for this, another opportunity 04:08 to sit at Your feet. 04:10 To hear words that are meat in due season, 04:13 that will inspire us, encourage us, 04:17 and help us to take one more step along that road 04:21 that leads to glory and to faith. 04:24 The weather is frightful outside. 04:28 But it will not distract us, discourage us, 04:30 dissuade us, deter us in any way from serving You. 04:35 And so we sit at Your feet tonight, Lord, 04:38 and we want to hear from You. 04:40 We don't want to hear the words of man, but we are quite sure 04:43 that we will hear Your words spoken through 04:46 Your man this night. 04:47 And so bless now the music that shall be sung, 04:50 the words that shall be spoken. 04:53 May Christ be seen and experienced in a 04:56 brand new way this night. 04:58 May we draw closer to You and indeed take one more giant step 05:03 on that road that leads to glory. 05:06 We thank You, Father, and we praise You. 05:09 In Jesus' name, amen and amen. 05:24 Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; 05:32 there is no shadow of turning with Thee. 05:40 Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; 05:48 as Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. 05:56 Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 06:04 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 06:12 All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. 06:21 Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 06:35 Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, 06:43 sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, 06:51 join with all nature in manifold witness 06:59 to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. 07:08 Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 07:16 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 07:24 All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. 07:32 Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 07:47 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth; 07:54 Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. 08:03 Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow; 08:11 blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside. 08:19 Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 08:27 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 08:36 All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. 08:44 Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 08:52 All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. 09:00 Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 09:35 Good evening, everyone. 09:37 I'm glad you were able to make it. 09:40 It's a blessing that I am able to make it; 09:42 the weather the way it is. 09:44 Nevertheless, it's a huge honor, it's a tremendous blessing. 09:47 I'm happy to see you, and I'm happy to be here as well. 09:51 As you know, we're speaking about the three angels messages 09:56 in light of righteousness by faith. 09:58 And you might say it the other way; 10:00 we're speaking about righteousness by faith 10:02 in the light of the three angels messages. 10:05 And in order to get started, I would like to invite you to 10:07 bow your heads and we're going to pray together. 10:10 Heavenly Father, Lord, we need You every moment of every day. 10:14 You are God and You are the One who can touch our hearts. 10:19 It doesn't matter what I say. 10:20 What matters is what You do with what I say. 10:23 And I would like to ask You to take every word and 10:25 drive it home to the heart that needs to hear it. 10:28 And this is our prayer. 10:29 This is our desire. 10:31 We love You for hearing that prayer and we thank You for it. 10:34 In Jesus' name, amen. 10:37 I'm going to start with a question that was asked of me. 10:41 We were having a convention at Eden Valley 10:46 and my vice-president, which happens to be a lady, 10:49 was working in the kitchen in our cafeteria; 10:52 just to feed all these numbers of people. 10:54 She loves to cook and that's where she is 10:56 when she has a chance to be there. 10:58 In any case, I was walking through the cafeteria kitchen 11:01 and she stopped me. 11:03 And she says, "I have a question for you." 11:06 She says, "Isn't it true that Ellen White says 11:10 that the third angel's message is righteousness 11:13 by faith in verity?" 11:15 I said, "Yes, that's true. That's what she says." 11:19 "Well," she says, "if that is so, why is it that 11:23 when, as a people, we preach on the third angel's message, 11:26 we talk about the mark of the beast and we talk about 11:29 the wrath of God? 11:30 Where is the righteousness by faith in that?" 11:37 Had you been there, what would you have said? 11:40 Now obviously, I didn't have much time to think about it. 11:44 But it seems to me that the Lord inspired my mind, I don't know. 11:48 I still think that the thing that I said was true. 11:51 I said, "Righteousness by faith is not explicit in the text. 11:55 It is there implied. 11:58 It is there by contrast." 12:01 That's what I said. 12:02 Now friends, I still believe that is true. 12:04 In the beast, you will not find righteousness by faith. 12:08 As a matter of fact, you're not going to find any kind of 12:10 righteousness in the beast at all. 12:12 Oh, you'll find religion. 12:13 You'll find religion of works, you'll find religion 12:16 that is enforced, you'll find religion by legislation, 12:20 religion by bribery and flattery. 12:23 Or else, if all else fails then you might even find 12:25 religion by torture with the beast. 12:28 But all said and done, you will not find righteousness there. 12:33 In essence, the beast doesn't care a hoot about righteousness. 12:36 All that he cares about, of course, is control. 12:40 Theologically, you can't find righteousness by faith 12:43 with the beast. 12:44 Because the "faith" in righteousness by faith 12:48 implies that we are self-distrusting. 12:51 And therefore if we don't trust ourselves 12:53 we need to put our faith in something outside of ourselves. 12:56 Which happens to be God. 12:59 But with the beast, all that's expected of us is that 13:02 we will put faith in the traditions of men, 13:05 in church decrees, in ecclesiastical pronouncements. 13:08 And friends, there is no righteousness there either, 13:11 because it is all self works. 13:14 It is all human religion. 13:17 She heard me out. 13:19 She didn't say anything. 13:21 I walked away. 13:23 But the first thing I understood after I left is that she made 13:26 her way to the office and she called ASI. 13:29 And she said, "I hear that you're looking for someone 13:31 to do the three devotionals at ASI during the convention. 13:36 And I would like to suggest that you ask Frank and have him 13:39 talk on righteousness by faith in relation 13:42 to the three angels messages." 13:44 And so they called me up. 13:46 Just to show how much power this woman has. 13:49 They called me up and they asked me if I would do that. 13:51 Now usually, when they ask someone to come to a convention 13:55 to preach on something, it's because this someone 13:59 has preached on something before. 14:01 They've noticed what he has, he has something to say, 14:03 and they ask him to come and do it over here. 14:05 Well in this case, they didn't know if I had 14:08 anything to say or not. 14:09 And as a matter of fact, I didn't have anything to say. 14:12 And they asked me to come. 14:13 And then I had to come up with what they asked me to say. 14:16 Which is far more difficult, I can tell you that. 14:19 As a matter of fact, I went on to research on 14:22 righteousness by faith in relation to the 14:24 three angels messages as much as I could. 14:27 And I researched, and I researched, and I researched 14:29 until I became very sympathetic with our poor evangelists. 14:33 I was putting myself in their shoes, you understand. 14:36 I was trying to see how I would preach the three angels 14:40 messages differently. 14:41 I was trying to work righteousness by faith 14:44 into the three angels messages. 14:46 By the way, you don't have to work righteousness by faith 14:49 into the three angels messages. 14:50 It's already there. 14:52 What you have to do is mine it out. 14:54 But friends, I tried to do that. 14:56 I tried to mine righteousness by faith out of the 14:58 three angels messages. 15:00 And it came to the place that I got discouraged 15:02 with the whole thing. 15:03 As a matter of fact, I began to prepare a sermon 15:06 to prove that it couldn't be done. 15:11 Now, God is really good. 15:12 And I want to praise God for that with all my heart. 15:15 He is really, really good. 15:17 I just happened to have at this time, just at the point 15:20 when I was discouraged with the whole thing, 15:22 I had an individual who had come to Eden Valley. 15:26 We had asked him to come to do a week of prayer for us. 15:28 And as far as I'm concerned, he's the best researcher 15:32 of theology and history that I know. 15:35 One of the best, in any case, in Adventism. 15:37 And he was at Eden Valley. 15:39 And I invited him for breakfast one day. 15:40 I didn't think anything about it. 15:42 But as we're having breakfast, all of a sudden it came to 15:45 my mind, why don't I ask him that question? 15:49 And so I said to him, "Ellen White says that justification 15:54 by faith and the three angels messages are the same thing. 15:58 The third angel's message is justification 16:01 by faith in verity. 16:03 How is it then that our evangelists, when they preach, 16:06 they preach on the mark of the beast and the wrath of God. 16:08 Where is the righteousness by faith in that?" 16:12 And do you know what he said? 16:13 Without even thinking, I mean without a moment's hesitation, 16:17 he says, "The message is marred in our hands." 16:20 That's what he said. 16:21 And I'm like, "Well, what is that suppose to mean?" 16:24 You know, I don't know what he's talking about. 16:26 But in ten seconds, he had his computer open and he... 16:30 I don't know what he did. 16:31 He pressed some buttons. 16:32 He pressed some buttons and up came 16:35 a spirit of prophecy quotation. 16:36 And notice what it says. 16:37 This is from 1888 Materials, page 367. 16:41 Watch what it says. 16:43 "The message that was given to the people in these meetings..." 16:46 Now it's talking about the Indianapolis meetings of 1888, 16:50 the General Conference, where God had sent 16:52 two young men with messages on righteousness by faith. 16:55 "The message that was given to the people in these meetings 16:59 presented in clear lines not alone the commandments of God, 17:05 which is a part of the third angel's message, 17:07 but also the faith of Jesus, which comprehends more 17:15 than is generally supposed. 17:17 And it will be well for the third angel's message to be 17:20 proclaimed in all its parts..." 17:22 Now why do you think she said it needs to be proclaimed 17:26 in all its parts? 17:27 It's because, as a people, we were not proclaiming it 17:30 in all its parts. 17:31 As a people, we had gone to the place where we were 17:34 preaching the law and our distinctive doctrines, 17:36 and preaching them so much that we had become as 17:39 dry as the hills of Gilboa. 17:41 And I go on to read, "...for the people need 17:44 every jot and tittle of it. 17:46 If we proclaim the commandments of God and leave the other half 17:50 scarcely touched, the message is marred in our hands." 17:56 That's where he got it. 17:57 And I could see it. 17:59 Well now, if the third angel's message is righteousness 18:02 by faith in verity, is it right for us to proclaim, 18:06 "The hour of His judgment is come," 18:08 "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen," 18:09 and "Beware of the mark of the beast," 18:12 and leave righteousness by faith out of the question? 18:15 Why, no. It's not right. 18:17 Do you know why it's not right? 18:18 Let me show it to you. 18:20 This is the same quotation, it goes on. 18:22 Actually, it's page 375. 18:25 "The Lord has a work for every one of His loyal people..." 18:29 Are you one of His loyal people? 18:30 Oh, I hope so. 18:32 Ah friends, but if you are; to every man, to every woman, 18:36 He give His work; Mark chapter 13 verse 34. 18:39 "The Lord has a work for every one of His loyal people..." 18:42 Do you know what that work is? Watch. 18:45 "The Lord has a work for every one of His loyal people to do 18:49 to bring the faith of Jesus into the right place 18:53 where it belongs; in the third angel's message." 18:55 What's your work? 18:58 To bring faith, righteousness by faith. 19:01 Righteousness represents the law, by the way. 19:03 Did you know that? It's right doing, by faith. 19:06 And we've been preaching the law, and the Lord is saying, 19:09 "Everyone's work is to bring faith into the message." 19:13 So that people are able to do what God is asking us to do. 19:17 We've got to have power. 19:19 And the power is in God, and the power is received by faith. 19:23 You understand. So this is our work. 19:25 Everyone in this church ought to be bringing faith 19:29 into the third angel's message. 19:31 What a work to do. Yeah. 19:34 "The law has it's important position but is powerless..." 19:37 Did you know that the law was powerless? 19:40 Ah friends, the law cannot change you. 19:42 Just like a mirror cannot change you. 19:43 You can look in the mirror and see you have a dirty face, 19:46 but the mirror can't do anything about it. 19:48 All that the mirror can do is tell you 19:50 that you have a dirty face. 19:51 All that the law can tell us is that we are sinners. 19:55 And it does that very well. 19:57 But it can't cleanse us of our sins. 19:58 It can't help us with our sins. 20:00 Something else is going to have to save us from our sins. 20:04 "The law has its important position but is powerless 20:08 unless the righteousness of Christ is placed beside the law 20:12 to give its glory to the whole royal standard of righteousness. 20:16 A thorough and complete trust in Jesus," that is faith now, 20:21 "a thorough and complete faith in Jesus 20:23 will give the right quality to religious experience. 20:26 Aside from this the experience is nothing. 20:30 The service is like the offering of Cain; Christless." 20:34 Do you know what's wrong with the offering of Cain? 20:37 It's Christless. 20:39 There's no Christ in it. 20:41 That's what's wrong with it. 20:42 It's a system of religion without a Savior. 20:45 Do you know that the world is full of religious systems 20:48 without a Savior? 20:50 Yeah. 20:51 I was going to take the time to name some of them, 20:53 but I guess it's pointless. 20:54 You know that it is so. 20:56 There's only one religion that has a Savior. 20:59 There's only one religion that points to Jesus Christ 21:01 who has gone to the cross with our sins, 21:03 paid the full penalty, offers us the gift of righteousness. 21:06 All other religions are based on what? 21:10 Works. 21:11 All you have to do is to become better, and better, 21:13 and better, and better. 21:15 Or improve that which is inside. 21:17 God is you, you understand. 21:18 Only you've got to develop the God that is in you. 21:21 And then you become your own Savior. 21:23 It's amazing. 21:25 Do you suppose that Adam and Eve never taught Cain, 21:28 with the other children, about the plan of salvation? 21:31 Well there's no doubt in my mind that Adam and Eve 21:33 taught Cain and taught Abel, and taught everybody else 21:36 in their family about Jesus. 21:38 That God would accept no sacrifice but His own. 21:43 That God would accept no atonement but that which 21:45 He Himself would do in His Son, Jesus Christ. 21:49 And yet, Cain was determined that he was going to 21:53 make his own sacrifice. 21:55 And his sacrifice had to be good enough, 21:58 had to be as good as anybody else's sacrifice. 22:01 Now Ellen White says that his sacrifice would have been 22:06 acceptable to God if it had been a thank offering. 22:09 But it wasn't a thank offering. 22:11 He was offering it as an atonement for his sin. 22:15 As a matter of fact, he literally was inventing 22:19 a new religion. 22:20 And he was his own Savior in this new religion. 22:23 And this new religion that he was inventing, of course, 22:26 was symbolic of all the future pagan religion, 22:29 and all the religion of the Jewish people 22:31 during the days of Jesus. 22:33 Not all the Jewish people. 22:34 But it had deteriorated into a religion of works, 22:37 you understand. 22:38 And perhaps, also, we are in danger of participating 22:42 in this kind of religion also. 22:44 If we are legalistic. 22:47 If we are trying to work our way into heaven. 22:50 If health reform is our god. 22:52 Whatever you want to say. 22:53 Yeah. 22:55 So God turned around and He put a mark on Cain. 23:00 Symbolic of what? 23:02 Symbolic of the mark of the beast. 23:05 That's what it is. 23:06 And all that the mark of the beast is all about, 23:08 you understand. 23:09 The mark of the beast is only God putting a mark on people 23:13 who intend to be saved any other way but the way He prescribed. 23:17 He's putting a mark on people who have invented a 23:21 religion of self works. 23:23 Who then want to force other people to follow them. 23:27 It'll come to the place, we all know it, it'll come to the place 23:30 where even governments will buy into it. 23:32 Being forced by religions. 23:34 This has happened plenty in the past. 23:35 It's going to happen in the future. 23:37 Somebody is going to have enough power to tell the government 23:40 they ought to enforce certain religious righteous decrees. 23:44 Which are not righteous at all when they're done by force. 23:46 Because God always does it by love. 23:49 And if it's not done through love and perfect liberty 23:52 and freedom of choice, then it isn't from God. 23:55 And these are the people who are going to receive 23:58 the mark of the beast. 24:00 So question, is it important for the world to know 24:04 who the beast is? 24:05 Oh yes. 24:07 Is it important for the world to know his history 24:09 and the prophecies concerning him and all the political 24:12 implications that follow? 24:14 Oh yes. 24:15 Is it important to know that the law of God is still binding, 24:19 especially the Sabbath truth? 24:20 Oh yes. 24:21 Is it important to know the role that apostate Protestantism 24:25 plays in this world and the role that America 24:27 will play in prophecy? 24:29 Oh, it's important to know, but let me tell you something. 24:31 You can know all of that, and it's practically useless 24:35 if you are not empowered to meet the crisis 24:38 when the crisis comes, when these entities 24:41 bring the crisis upon us. 24:43 As a matter of fact, it's useless to know anything 24:46 if we do not have the power of the righteousness 24:49 of Christ in us. 24:50 The power is in Christ's righteousness. 24:54 Oh, I would hope that people would understand that. 24:56 Only Christ's righteousness will give a right quality 25:00 to our religion. 25:01 And if we would have had the right quality to our religious 25:04 experience, then Jesus would have come long ere this. 25:09 This is the purpose of the three angels of Revelation chapter 14. 25:14 In Early Writings, page 259, it says... 25:16 And this is speaking about the third angel's message now. 25:19 It says, "The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which 25:24 they are received." 25:25 But friends, how can they be received 25:28 if they are only half given? 25:30 How can they be received if all we talk about 25:33 is the law, and the doctrines, and the prophecies, 25:35 and the histories, and we forget to include 25:38 righteousness by faith in the three angels messages? 25:41 If we only give half a message, they can only 25:43 receive half a message. 25:45 And it won't cut it. 25:46 It won't cut it. 25:48 Do you know what I think the problem is? 25:51 It's the same problem today as was in the days of Ellen White. 25:54 We assume that all the churches around us 25:57 understand the gospel as we understand the gospel. 26:00 We assume that we understand the gospel just like the other 26:04 churches around us. 26:05 Therefore, if we all understand the gospel the same way, 26:09 then what's the point of preaching the gospel 26:12 to each other when it's always the same gospel? 26:14 Therefore, we concluded that what they needed to hear 26:17 was our distinctive doctrines, history as we understand 26:21 sacred history, and prophecy of course, and all the 26:24 political ramifications that come from that. 26:27 But I've got a question for you now. 26:29 Who, of all the churches, understand what Jesus 26:33 is doing in the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary? 26:36 Do you know? 26:38 Who understands the issues of living in the antitypical 26:42 Day of Atonement as we understand it? 26:44 Well let me tell you. 26:45 There isn't anyone else that understands it. 26:47 And what I'm afraid of, of course, is that 26:49 it is possible that we ourselves don't understand it 26:52 as we should understand it also. 26:56 Do you know that even among us there is a movement 26:59 to make of none effect the spirit of prophecy? 27:02 And even among us, there is a movement to make of none effect 27:06 the Sanctuary message. 27:09 Well, if you take the spirit of prophecy, the testimony 27:12 of Jesus Christ, and you take the Sanctuary doctrine as 27:16 we know it out of the picture, what are we going to know? 27:18 We're not going to know anything more than 27:20 the other churches know. 27:21 We can't go any farther than they're going. 27:23 Therefore, it's all over for us as well. 27:26 We need to understand these things. 27:29 And I have a huge fear. 27:31 I fear that as a people we want enough righteousness 27:34 to get us to heaven and to keep us out of hell. 27:37 If I can say it that way. 27:39 That's as much righteousness as we want. 27:41 But we don't want so much righteousness 27:44 that it interferes with what we eat. 27:47 We don't want so much righteousness 27:49 that it interferes with what we wear. 27:51 We don't want a righteousness that's going to determine 27:53 for us what it is that we're going to read, 27:55 what we're going to view, what we're going to think, 27:57 what we're going to do. 27:58 This is not the amount of righteousness we want. 28:01 We just want to get to heaven. 28:03 But it isn't enough, friends. 28:05 When we put ourselves into the hands of God, 28:09 He has to be able to do what He wants with us. 28:13 And everything He asks us to do is the best thing for us. 28:17 Don't we realize it? 28:20 Sure. 28:21 So that's what we want. 28:23 In any case, how is it with you? 28:25 How do you relate to God? 28:28 How do you relate to the three angels messages? 28:30 How do you relate to the gospel as it is 28:33 in righteousness by faith? 28:35 Do you understand? 28:36 Do you understand enough so that the righteousness of God 28:40 takes possession of your soul and you take 28:42 possession of it by faith? 28:44 And it changes your life in the fullest sense of the word. 28:47 This is what we want. 28:51 Now if we were perfect, if everyone was perfect 28:57 in this room, would we be safe to bring to heaven? 29:02 Would heaven be secure if you and I were there 29:05 and we were perfect? 29:07 Isn't that a strange question? 29:09 And it's almost, seems like it's obvious, that if I am perfect 29:13 and you are perfect, and we are all perfect, 29:16 and we go to heaven, then obviously heaven will be secure. 29:19 Not so fast. It isn't true. 29:21 As a matter of fact, we're going to see that in a minute. 29:23 In volume five Bible Commentary, page 1132, notice what it says. 29:28 "Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss." 29:33 What is it that failed in the paradise of bliss? 29:35 Human perfection? Really? 29:38 Don't you know that Adam and Eve had a perfect nature? 29:41 And they were in a perfect environment. 29:43 And they visited with God and with angels every day. 29:47 And they what? 29:48 They failed. 29:49 Now how would you like to compare your righteousness, 29:52 your perfection, with the perfection of Adam and Eve 29:55 before they fell? 29:56 Well you better not do it. 29:57 You'd be in trouble, right? 30:00 Can I suggest this evening, brothers and sisters, 30:03 than we need something more than the perfection 30:05 that Adam and Eve had before the fall even? 30:09 Really? 30:10 I'm suggesting it. Yes. 30:12 And the quotation goes on. 30:14 Watch. 30:15 "Angelic perfection failed in heaven." 30:18 Oh, really? 30:19 What is it that failed in heaven? 30:21 Perfect angels failed in heaven. 30:24 They were sinless. 30:25 They were superior to human beings. 30:27 And that's the human beings in their perfection. 30:30 They were superior to them. 30:31 They had a perfect environment. 30:33 They were in the very presence of God. 30:35 And they, what? 30:37 They failed. 30:38 Would you like to compare your perfection 30:40 with their perfection? 30:42 Do you think your perfection would not fail? 30:45 Ahhh. 30:46 Do you what I'm getting at here? 30:47 Look at it carefully. 30:49 Perfection is not the key to securing heaven. 30:52 Perfection is not the ticket to gaining entrance 30:56 into the kingdom of God. 30:58 It's not. 30:59 It's not. We can see that. 31:02 So then the question is, who then is safe to save? 31:07 When will heaven ever be secure? 31:09 Is it even possible? 31:12 Well yes, it's possible. 31:13 As a matter of fact, you know that it's going to happen. 31:15 "Affliction shall not come the second time," 31:17 Nahum chapter 1 verse 9. 31:20 "Affliction shall not come the second time." 31:22 God promises that when He's through, 31:26 there will never be another failure. 31:30 And those who are in the kingdom are going to be secured. 31:33 But what is it that will secure them? 31:35 Obviously, it's not their perfection. 31:37 Perfection is not the thing that's going to secure us. 31:39 It's got to be something outside of them. 31:41 Outside of sinless angels, outside of perfect Adam and Eve. 31:44 Something has to affect their minds to the place where 31:49 they will not sin, and heaven will never be jeopardized again. 31:53 Well, the answer to that is quite simple. 31:58 As a matter of fact, it is so simple that you'll look at it 32:01 and say, "Oh yeah, that." 32:05 You see, we've been gospel hardened. 32:08 I'm sorry to say. 32:09 Yeah. 32:10 Let me read it to you and see what effect it has on you. 32:13 What affect it has on you. 32:15 This is the same quotation, by the way. 32:17 Volume 5 BC, 1132, paragraph 5. 32:22 "That which alone..." 32:23 Notice the word, "alone," there. 32:24 There's nothing else. 32:26 There's only one thing that can secure heaven forever. 32:29 "That which alone can effectually restrain from sin 32:33 in this world of darkness will prevent sin in heaven." 32:37 There's one thing that will prevent sin in heaven. 32:40 There's one thing that will prevent sin in this world. 32:42 What is it? 32:44 "It is through the efficacy of the cross 32:49 that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy." 32:52 And everyone says, "Oh yeah, I knew that." 32:57 I wish we knew that. 32:59 If we could see the cross as the apostle Paul saw the cross, 33:04 we would glory in nothing but the cross. 33:07 "I wish the world is crucified unto us and we are 33:10 crucified unto the world." 33:11 If we understood as Paul understood it, 33:14 there would be no attraction left in the world. 33:17 The cross would eclipse the whole thing. 33:19 And it's going to do so eternally. 33:21 We need to plead with God that He would show us 33:24 all that there is in the cross that could be unfolded to us. 33:27 Yes. 33:28 So then, how does the cross guarantee against future sin? 33:33 That's the question. 33:34 And I am tempted to plead with God that He would give me the 33:38 Holy Spirit so that I can explain what I don't understand. 33:42 Yes. 33:46 I'm going to try and show you God's righteousness. 33:49 Turn with me to Mark chapter 14. 33:51 Mark chapter 14. 33:56 And you can think of it this way. 33:58 How long were the Father and the Son together, 34:03 do you think? 34:06 A long time, wasn't it. 34:08 Eternally. How long is eternally? 34:11 Well apparently, there's no beginning to it. 34:13 And so you might say a million years, 34:15 a billion years, a gazillion years. 34:17 Ever, ever, ever. 34:19 Isn't that amazing? 34:20 Well now, if love grows with the passing of time, 34:25 and Jesus and the Father have been together for a 34:28 gazillion years, how strong do you think that love is today? 34:33 What do you think could come between them today? 34:35 Not very much, right? 34:36 Well actually, that's a wrong illustration 34:39 because perfection in its absolute sense, 34:42 the way that God is perfect, He can't grow, He can't improve. 34:45 The love cannot improve with the passing of time. 34:48 So that tells me that the love they have for one another 34:51 was at its zenith right from the beginning. 34:54 There was no beginning. 34:56 Anyway, it has always been the same. 34:58 And there's no way you can come between God the Father 35:02 and God the Son. 35:04 There love is such as we cannot explain. 35:06 We cannot describe. 35:07 We cannot qualify, we cannot quantify. 35:10 There's nothing we can do. 35:11 It's beyond our understanding. 35:14 Well with the passing of time, there was war in heaven. 35:19 Michael and His angels fought, and Lucifer, Satan, 35:22 and his angels fought. 35:23 That great dragon. 35:24 There was war in heaven. 35:26 And of course, Michael and His angels cast out the dragon 35:29 and his angels. 35:30 And they came down to the world. 35:32 Well with the passing of time, Adam and Eve fell as well. 35:36 And so Christ, God the Son, got together with God the Father. 35:41 And together they covenanted that they would rescue the race. 35:45 And it was fell upon Jesus. 35:47 He would come down here and He would pay the price. 35:50 He would rescue the human race. 35:51 So here we are, I've had you turn to Mark chapter 14. 35:57 Jesus is walking into the garden of Gethsemane. 36:00 And we're going to start with verse 33. 36:04 "And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, 36:07 and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy." 36:14 You wonder why. 36:15 You would think, as God He would have known 36:16 what He was getting Himself into. 36:19 But He didn't know. 36:20 See, He was a man. 36:21 And He didn't put Himself into position where He knew 36:25 everything that God knows. 36:27 Yeah. 36:28 And He had agreed to do it. 36:30 But this is one thing in the whole universe 36:31 He had never tasted. 36:33 So He walks into the garden of Gethsemane. 36:35 The sins of the world are placed upon Him. 36:37 And He is sore amazed. 36:40 I think it goes on to say, even unto death. 36:42 Verse 35, "And he went forward a little and fell on the ground, 36:46 and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour 36:48 might pass from him." 36:52 Well, death is in verse 34. 36:54 "And said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. 36:58 Tarry ye here, and watch." 37:00 Do you know that Jesus was dying right there? 37:03 Oh yes, He was dying. 37:04 And He would have died. 37:05 It would have crushed the life out of Him, 37:08 except that, of course, He had to drink the cup in its fullest. 37:12 And He couldn't die at that point. 37:14 And so He was strengthened not to die. 37:16 So He prayed, as we just read in verse 35. 37:19 He went forward and He prayed that the Lord would allow 37:22 this cup to pass from Him. 37:24 Notice his argument in verse 36. 37:27 "And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee." 37:35 That is to me the most powerful argument He could have 37:39 presented to His Father. 37:41 You know, I have a son. 37:42 And I have seen my son have more than one accident. 37:46 I think he's broken nearly every bone in his body. 37:49 Anyway, I've seen him at times when he was laid out 37:52 all bruised and cut and broken. 37:55 And he would look at me with, you know, sadness in his eyes 37:59 and say, "Dad." 38:01 And I hear my son say, "Dad." 38:04 It just reaches right into my heart, you understand. 38:07 That's what Jesus was doing. 38:09 And His argument was perfect. 38:11 "Dad, there isn't anything You can't do. 38:15 You are God. 38:17 You can do anything." 38:18 What did He say? 38:20 Verse 36, "All things are possible unto thee. 38:25 Take away this cup. 38:26 You can do it. 38:27 Nevertheless not what I will, but thy will be done." 38:31 Now we understand that He couldn't. 38:33 Oh He could do it, but He didn't. 38:35 Because He couldn't take it away and not save the human race. 38:39 You understand. 38:40 Now we need to understand what's happening here. 38:42 Jesus is being asked to choose between the affection that 38:47 He has given and the affection He has received. 38:49 He's being asked to choose between that 38:52 and something better, something enticing, 38:55 something tempting? 38:57 No, He's being asked to choose between the affection that 39:01 He has enjoyed for... 39:03 I don't even know how to quantify the thing. 39:06 ...forever and ever and ever between Him and His Father. 39:09 He's being asked to choose between that and the torture 39:13 of the cross; eternal separation from His Father. 39:17 Whoa, can you imagine what it was that was 39:20 being asked of Him there? 39:22 Let me try to illustrate it if I can. 39:25 When Eve handed the fruit to Adam, Adam took the fruit. 39:29 Now wait, Adam understood what was going on. 39:32 Eve did not understand fully. 39:34 She had been deceived by the deceiver. 39:36 Adam looked at the situation. 39:38 He knew exactly what was going on. 39:40 For him it was a choice between the one he loved, 39:43 with an all consuming passion, and his God. 39:46 Now, why did he choose Eve? 39:54 You see friends, it's not that hard to understand. 39:57 I believe he had bestowed more affection upon Eve 40:00 than upon God. 40:01 Well that's not hard to understand. 40:03 God is the creator, God is the Father figure, 40:07 God is a lawgiver, God is over there. 40:10 Eve is in his arms. 40:12 She's soft, she's warm, she's passionate, she's tender. 40:16 And she's in his arms; she's his lover. 40:20 And so because she was his lover, he would sacrifice 40:24 himself with her. 40:26 Well friends, what are you and I going to do 40:28 when, like Jesus in Gethsemane or Adam in the Garden of Eden, 40:32 we are asked to decide for God when our heart's 40:35 best affections are centered down here below 40:37 in the things of this world? 40:39 Our children and our wealth and our careers and our properties. 40:43 Do you remember Lot's life? 40:46 Do you remember the story? 40:48 God sends two angels to Lot and He says, 40:52 "Come out of Sodom because I'm going to destroy it 40:55 with fire and brimstone." 40:56 And Lot is wavering. 40:58 He doesn't know quite what to do. 40:59 Everything he owns is right there. 41:01 And so finally, and I'm making a long story short, 41:05 the angel grabs Lot's hand and a daughter's hand, and walks out. 41:09 The other angel grabs Mrs. Lot by the hand and another 41:12 daughter, and they walk out. 41:14 And as they're walking out, one of the angels says, 41:16 "Listen, don't look back." 41:20 Now, we know what happened, don't we? 41:22 Why did Mrs. Lot look back? 41:26 Because, friends, she had put all her affections 41:30 on the things that were back there. 41:32 She was leaving children behind. 41:34 She was leaving grandchildren behind. 41:37 She was leaving her home behind, her garden behind, 41:39 her hobbies behind, her friends behind. 41:42 Everything that meant anything to her, she was leaving behind. 41:45 It was bigger than she was. 41:47 Everything that she had not put her affection on was forward, 41:50 it felt dangerous and and it was awful, 41:52 and everything she loved was back there. 41:54 And so she naturally turned to face all that she was losing, 41:59 and became a pillar of salt. 42:02 Wow. 42:03 Well friends, where are we going to get the power 42:07 to deny our affections when it's our turn? 42:11 Can you see it? 42:12 There is only one righteousness in the whole universe 42:16 that has that kind of power. 42:20 There was enough power in the righteousness of Jesus Christ 42:24 that He was willing to deny Himself an eternity 42:27 of affection given and received. 42:32 There was enough righteousness. 42:33 And you'll not see it anywhere else except in Jesus Christ. 42:37 Why would we ever think, Pharisee-like, that we could 42:41 ever produce that kind of righteousness, 42:43 that kind of power, that kind of obedience. 42:47 Friends, it's insane. 42:48 We don't have it. We don't have it. 42:51 And I would like, if I could give you any kind of 42:54 anything that you can do to help yourself with this matter. 42:58 I'll have you turn to Colossians chapter 3. 43:00 Colossians chapter 3. 43:02 This is right after the book of Philippians. 43:05 Colossians chapter 3. 43:08 And we're going to look at verses 1 and 2. 43:11 "If ye then be risen with Christ..." 43:15 If you are born again. 43:18 If you are in Jesus, seated at the right hand of God; 43:21 risen with Christ. 43:22 "...seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth 43:25 on the right hand of God. 43:26 Set your affections on things above, and not on the things 43:30 of this world." 43:31 Can you see why? 43:33 Because one of these days, all that our affections are 43:38 centered upon are going to draw at our hearts. 43:42 We need to set our affections upon God. 43:46 That's what we need to do. 43:48 Ah friends, I would hope that we could understand this. 43:50 I hope that we could understand this. 43:53 May the Lord help us. 43:54 What do you say? What do you say? 43:57 You know... 44:01 We've come to the last days. 44:04 We're trying to understand the three angels messages. 44:08 In the first angel's message, we find that the hour of 44:12 His judgment is come. 44:13 The judgment hour is come. 44:15 How do you think we're going to meet the judgment hour 44:18 if we do not have the righteousness of God in us? 44:23 We're not going to meet it. 44:24 So we can preach about, "the hour of His judgment is come." 44:27 We can preach about that until we're blue in the face. 44:30 It doesn't count for anything unless the righteousness 44:34 of God is in us, so that we can be ready at that moment 44:37 when our names are called and we stand before the bar of God. 44:42 In the second angel's message, we're pointed to, 44:47 "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." 44:49 Why? 44:50 Because it's a system of human righteousness. 44:54 A system of works in order to find favor with God. 45:00 It's a system by which the people have a system of religion 45:05 but have no Savior in it. 45:06 Oh, not because the name of the Savior is not there. 45:09 There's plenty of religions out there that 45:11 decry the name of Jesus, "The name of Jesus is everything." 45:14 But they don't receive from Jesus. 45:16 There's no power. 45:18 They have a form of godliness, but no power. 45:21 Because they have not internalized the Word of God. 45:24 And so God says, "Babylon the great, 45:28 all this religious confusion, is fallen, is fallen." 45:31 Well friends, the only way not to be part of that group 45:36 is to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 45:39 Is to live by faith in Him and to receive from Him 45:43 what He has to give to us. 45:46 In the third angel's message, it says, "If any man 45:49 would worship the beast..." 45:51 Well, he's going to suffer the wrath of God. 45:53 Yeah. 45:54 How can we ever even think that we can even begin 46:00 to not worship the beast? 46:03 How can we even think that we can resist 46:07 all of these temptations except by the righteousness 46:11 of Jesus Christ. 46:13 And there is only one righteousness in this 46:16 whole universe that can break the power of affection 46:21 in our hearts. 46:22 Do you have affection for anything? 46:24 Well friends, you should have affections for something. 46:27 For your children, for your spouse, for your grandchildren, 46:30 for your friends, for the people around you. 46:32 Even for your enemies, we're told to love. 46:34 And we're suppose to bestow affection. 46:37 We're suppose to receive affection. 46:38 All of this is wonderful. 46:40 Ah, but one of these days we're going to be asked 46:45 to choose between that and God. 46:48 What are we going to do about it then 46:49 if we don't have the righteousness of God? 46:53 Do you have the righteousness of God? 46:57 Do you? 46:58 Oh, I would hope so. 47:00 You know, I have ten minutes left. 47:03 And I need to speak to you about something. 47:06 I came to the end of this sermon, 47:08 but I want to tell you a story. 47:10 Maybe I can stretch it for ten minutes. 47:18 The Lord wants us to give our whole lives to Him. 47:24 There isn't anything in this world worth having, you know. 47:27 There isn't at all. 47:29 We don't know that because we are born here. 47:31 And the things we see are the only things that exist. 47:34 We can't get off this planet to see anything better, 47:37 to see anything more. 47:38 So we're asked to live by faith. 47:40 And we're asked to put all of who we are and all of 47:44 what we have into His hands. 47:47 And we're asked to live and to serve for Him. 47:50 Well, at one time, we had decided that we would 47:54 do 156 evangelistic campaigns in the country of Honduras. 48:00 That's a lot of campaigns. 48:01 All kinds of people we asked that came. 48:03 Now I had never done an evangelistic series 48:05 in my whole life. 48:06 I'd never done one. 48:09 And so, my wife was asked to organize all of that. 48:13 And I said to my wife, "You know, I really would 48:15 like to do that. 48:16 I really would like to do an evangelic... 48:17 I've never done one, but I'd like to do that. 48:19 So I'm going to start preparing." 48:21 And so I worked on the first sermon. 48:23 It took me three weeks to prepare the first sermon. 48:26 And I thought, "Oh my goodness. 48:27 This isn't going to happen. 48:28 I can't take three weeks to prepare every sermon 48:30 that is going to happen in that evangelistic series." 48:33 So finally, I came back to her and I said, "Forget it. 48:36 It's not going to happen. I'm too busy. 48:37 I don't have time to prepare sermons that fast, 48:40 and everything else." 48:41 Well, I went on a trip to Africa. 48:44 Because I was the executive vice president of OCI at the time. 48:46 I was the pastor of all these institutions in 35 countries. 48:50 And so I went to Africa and I did whatever I was going to do. 48:53 Flying back, I stopped in Switzerland and I stayed 48:57 overnight at a friend's place. 48:58 And this friend was suppose to do an evangelistic series 49:01 on the island of Roatan just off the cost of Honduras. 49:05 And so while we're there, he's telling me, 49:08 "Oh, I've got too much to do. I don't think... 49:09 Why don't you do it instead of me." 49:11 And I said, "Forget it. 49:12 You know, I've already thought about that. 49:14 And that's not going to work." 49:15 And he says... 49:17 "Well," I said, you know, to kind of assuage him 49:21 a little bit, I said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. 49:23 I'll go with you and I'll do the health messages 49:26 and you can do the preaching." 49:28 And he said, "Oh sure, that's great." 49:29 So then I left him, I went back to Americas. 49:32 And then it came to the place where we were only three weeks 49:35 left before the evangelistic series. 49:40 And the phone rings. 49:41 And it's him. 49:42 And he says, "I'm not going. I can't. 49:44 This and this and this has happened." 49:45 Now generally, I would go like, "Forget it, buddy. 49:48 This ain't going to happen. 49:49 You promised and I am not going in your place." 49:52 But you know something. 49:53 As he's telling me this, I can hear God's voice saying, 49:57 "I am organizing this for you. 50:00 I want you to do it." 50:02 So here now, I've got three weeks left. 50:04 I have one sermon. 50:05 And I've got to prepare a whole bunch more. 50:07 Like three weeks worth. 50:10 In three weeks. 50:12 So I do. 50:13 I had to go on another trip to British Columbia. 50:16 And while I was there, I rented a motel for two whole days. 50:19 And I sat in this motel and I prepared 16 sermons 50:24 in two days. 50:25 Well, you can imagine how they were prepared. 50:27 But any case, I had the outline for 16 sermons in two days. 50:32 And I decided, okay I'm going to Roatan. 50:34 I'm going to do it. 50:35 I flew to Honduras, I saw my wife for a couple of days, 50:38 I flew to the island of Roatan. 50:40 And when I got off in the airport in the island of 50:43 Roatan, the mission president of this mission there 50:48 met me at the airport and he says, "We've got a problem." 50:51 He said, "Normal, usual evangelism doesn't 50:57 work on this island. 50:59 A certain very famous evangelist was just here." 51:02 And you would know who he is if I told you his name. 51:05 "And he just preached in the biggest city. 51:07 And he only had four baptisms. 51:10 And he went away totally discouraged." 51:12 And he said, "That's not all. 51:14 We're giving you a little town with a little church. 51:17 And this little church only has one member. 51:20 And that member is sick. 51:21 He won't be coming. 51:24 And you can't preach a normal evangelistic series." 51:27 I'd never preached an evangelistic series in my life. 51:30 How was I going to preach anything, you know, 51:33 if it wasn't going to be the traditional evangelistic series? 51:37 So I went over there and I decided that I would do 51:41 seven nights on righteousness by faith. 51:43 And so I did the prodigal son, that's what I did, 51:46 for seven nights. 51:47 Do you know what happened? 51:49 There was a huge war in the Baptist church. 51:52 Over there, the Adventists call them the big bad Baptists. 51:55 They were over there in that church. 51:57 And there was a war in that church over celebration. 52:00 That kind of worship service. 52:03 And half of the church split. 52:04 And the half that split, the conservative ones, 52:07 decided to come to my meetings. 52:09 So I had half the Baptist church coming to my meetings. 52:12 And the reason I had to preach on righteousness by faith 52:15 is because Baptists don't think that Adventists 52:17 know anything about righteousness by faith. 52:20 And so, here comes the Baptists. 52:21 I preach seven meetings on righteousness by faith. 52:24 I preach seven meetings hardcore evangelism. 52:28 And seven people were baptized. 52:31 That means that we increased the population of the church 52:35 by 700 percent. 52:37 That's how I should have said it. 52:39 Seven people were baptized. 52:41 Ah, but friends, that wasn't the end of it. 52:44 That wasn't the end of it. 52:46 In one year, there were 30 people in that church. 52:50 Can God do stuff like that? 52:52 Yeah, yeah. 52:53 But who is it that does it? 52:55 It's God. 52:57 It isn't me. 52:59 It isn't me. 53:00 When I was working in the mines, 53:05 they came and they took my partner away from me. 53:07 My partner was my brother-in-law. 53:09 He was the best miner in the mine, as far as I was concerned. 53:11 We were making big money. 53:13 Everything was wonderful. 53:14 And they took him away. 53:16 And they said, "You can have any other partner 53:18 in this mine that you want. 53:19 You guys are so productive, we don't want the 53:21 production to stop. 53:22 You choose whoever you want and make it fly." 53:25 And so I began looking. 53:28 Well pretty soon they showed up and they said, 53:29 "Well, there's four guys here. 53:31 And you can choose one of these four guys." 53:33 Well that was not the whole mine. 53:34 But anyway, I looked at them and I said, "Oh, anyone... 53:38 And I was on my knees, you understand; God. 53:40 "Anyone of those three, but not that one. 53:43 Oh, that one is too bad. 53:44 He's a hockey player, he's a boxer, he's a womanizer. 53:47 He's on a honeymoon every weekend with a different girl. 53:51 He's incorrigible. 53:52 There's no way that I can reach him with the gospel. 53:54 Forget it." 53:56 Well, guess which one I had. 53:59 Isn't that weird? 54:00 They told me I could choose. 54:02 But in the end, he's the one I got. 54:04 And I thought, "Well, forget it. 54:06 I'm not going to tell him anything. 54:07 There's no point telling him anything. 54:08 I'm not going to witness to him." 54:10 So all that I did is we worked together. 54:12 We're working in the mines drilling with these jacklegs. 54:14 Bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh, you know. 54:16 And his machine would break down and he would pick it up. 54:20 It weighs more than a hundred pounds. 54:21 And he would throw it down the drift. 54:26 Then he'd sit down and smoke a cigarette 54:27 and curse the air blue. 54:29 And then when he got over his little rage, 54:32 he'd go and pick up his machine and bring it back to the face 54:34 and keep drilling. 54:35 I wouldn't tell him anything. 54:36 After about three weeks, he said, "Don't you ever get mad?" 54:40 I said, "Well, what's the point of that?" 54:42 And you know, he began to soften, and soften, and soften 54:47 until there was no temper tantrums anymore. 54:53 Yeah. 54:54 Then I said to myself, "I'm not telling him anything." 54:56 Well after a little while, he began to ask me questions. 55:00 And I would not answer the question any more than 55:03 that which he would ask. 55:05 Well, do you know what that does? 55:07 It increases your curiosity. 55:09 If you don't tell them everything they want to know, 55:11 they want to know more. 55:12 And so he kept asking questions. 55:14 And I kept answering his questions only as much 55:17 as he was asking. 55:20 This man, after I had quit the mines, two years later 55:26 he quit the mines with my brother. 55:28 They went into a dark area. 55:30 They raised a church for Jesus Christ. 55:33 He is the head elder of that church to this day. 55:41 Can God do that? 55:43 It's all through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 55:47 We do nothing of ourselves. 55:50 And if in anywise we depend on ourselves, 55:54 we're going to receive a mark in our foreheads. 55:57 Shall we pray. 55:59 Heavenly Father, Lord, we have such need of You. 56:04 You are God; what can we do. 56:07 We are fallen, we are sinful, we are weak, we are foolish, 56:11 we are ignorant. 56:12 All of these things are true about us. 56:14 We can only come to You in repentance. 56:16 We have such a need of what it is that You have to offer. 56:20 Dear heavenly Father, please help us. 56:25 This is what we ask. 56:26 Please help us. 56:28 Give us Your Holy spirit. 56:30 Fill us with Your righteousness. 56:31 Help us to understand what it is that Paul could see in the 56:35 cross of Calvary so that we can see also. 56:38 So that the world means nothing to us anymore. 56:41 We want to be like You. 56:43 We want to serve as You serve. 56:45 We want to be like Jesus. 56:47 Pour out Thy Holy Spirit upon us, we ask You. 56:50 And we thank You for it also. 56:52 In Jesus' name. 56:53 Now heavenly Father, You know the congregation that's here. 56:56 You know the viewing congregation as well. 56:59 Each heart, Father, touch. 57:03 Bring home. 57:04 Bless them and make them soul winners. 57:08 Make them like Jesus. 57:10 Thank You. In Jesus' name, amen. 57:15 Thank you, everyone, for being with us this evening. 57:18 And you know that this is going to continue even tomorrow 57:24 and on Sabbath morning. 57:25 We'll be looking for you. 57:26 God bless you all. |
Revised 2014-12-17