Participants: Terry Shelton
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000329
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00:31 Hello and welcome to another edition of Faith
00:33 Chapel. My name is Terry Shelton. I like to bring to 00:36 you a message today that I have simply entitled Signs. 00:40 What do you think of when I say the word signs, you 00:44 probably have some ideas about it, before we get into 00:47 the study today. Let us bow for a moment and ask God 00:50 to be with us. Heavenly Father, as we study into 00:55 your word just now, as we open your word we pray 00:58 that you would open our hearts and our minds and 01:01 help us Father to receive your word with gladness. 01:04 For we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen. 01:09 What do you think of when I say signs, if you're like most 01:12 people you're probably thinking of the signs of the 01:14 second coming, isn't that right. And that is a very 01:17 important topic that we could discuss, possibly may 01:20 be you might even be thinking of road signs or 01:23 advertising signs. And those are different types 01:26 of signs but today, I would like to look at 01:29 signs from God's word, signs that God has a plan 01:34 for you and for me. Have you ever prayed and 01:37 asked God, Lord I wanna do your will, just give me 01:41 a sign have you ever prayed that prayer. There 01:44 are others in scripture who have prayed that 01:47 prayer as well, I would like to look at one 01:49 individual by the name of Moses, you know Moses 01:52 don't you. Moses asked God for some signs and 01:56 he received those signs because God was so good 01:58 to give those signs. Let's look at Exodus chapter 3, 02:05 we're gonna begin with verse number 1, Exodus 3 02:06 and verse 1. Now Moses was tending the flock of 02:08 Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. 02:12 And he led the flock to the back of the desert 02:14 and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And 02:17 the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a 02:19 flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he 02:22 looked, and behold the bush was burning with 02:23 fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses 02:28 said, "I will now turn aside and see this great 02:30 sight, why the bush does not burn." So when the 02:33 Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called 02:36 to him from the midst of the bush and said, 02:38 "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he 02:44 said, Do not draw near this place. Take your 02:46 sandals off your feet, for the place where you 02:49 stand is holy ground. " Moreover he said, " I 02:52 am the God of the your father, the God of 02:53 Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 02:56 Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was 02:59 afraid to look upon God. Now let's think 03:03 about this happening here for a moment. 03:06 Here is Moses and he is out tending the flocks 03:08 one day and he looks off in the distance and 03:11 he sees this mountain and he sees this light 03:14 coming from there. And as he looks a little 03:17 closer he notices that there is a bush and it's 03:21 on fire. But the bush is not being consumed. 03:24 You can imagine what maybe Moses might 03:27 have been thinking. Hmm! It's a nice bright 03:29 sunny day, I haven't seen any storm clouds, 03:32 there's not been any lightening why would 03:33 there be a bush on fire. And as he, as he looked 03:37 a little closer, he said, the bush is on fire but is 03:40 not being consumed. You can imagine I've 03:44 got to get closer, he probably thought, I've 03:46 got to go check this out. So as he continued to 03:50 get a littler closer, all of a sudden something 03:52 drastic happened, something, I'm sure he 03:54 never expected in a million years. The bush 03:58 spoke to him Moses, Moses what would be 04:04 your response, if you are in that situation. For 04:09 those of you who have seen the movie Cecil B. 04:11 DeMille's Ten Commandments. If you remember that 04:14 scene where God calls from the bush and you 04:17 hear this voice, "Moses," I don't know if it was 04:21 like that it may have been or it may 04:23 have been a quite and still voice, but yet a 04:26 voice came from the bush, Moses response 04:31 was here I'm, I am right here what do you want? 04:35 So, God begins to identify himself to Moses. 04:40 He says I'm the God of Abraham, the God of 04:43 Isaac and the God of Jacob. And he begins to, 04:47 as we continue to read on, we see that he asked 04:50 something of Moses. Moses had an encounter 04:54 with God in that burning bush. Have you 04:57 had an encounter with God in your life? So, as 05:01 we continue on let's skip on a little bit to the 05:03 same chapter, chapter 3 and let's go to verse 11. 05:07 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should 05:12 go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the 05:14 children of Israel out of Egypt?" So he said, "I 05:18 will certainly be with you. And this shall be a 05:20 sign to you that I have sent you: When you 05:23 have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall 05:26 serve God on this mountain. Then Moses 05:30 said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the 05:33 children of Israel and say to them, the God of 05:36 your fathers has sent me to you, they say to me, 05:39 what is his name, what shall I say to them?" 05:43 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." 05:47 "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I 05:51 AM has sent me to you." Moreover God 05:55 said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the 05:59 children of Israel, The Lord God of your 06:01 fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of 06:02 Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' 06:05 This is My name forever, and this is My 06:07 memorial to all generations." 06:12 Moses asked God for a sign, some sign of identification 06:18 and God did identify himself to Moses two 06:22 times in fact he identified himself to 06:24 Moses. Now can you think about; let's think 06:29 about this situation and put yourself in this 06:31 situation. Here is Moses talking to a burning 06:37 bush. And the bush is not being consumed. 06:40 And Moses says, he asked God can you give 06:45 me some proof maybe let's look at chapter 4 06:48 verse 1. Then Moses answered and said, "But 06:53 suppose they will not believe me or listen to 06:55 my voice; suppose they say, the Lord has not 06:57 appeared So the Lord said to him, what is that 07:00 in your hand?" and he said, "A rod." And he 07:03 said, "Cast it to the ground." So he cast it to 07:05 the ground, and it became a serpent; 07:06 and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to 07:09 Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the 07:12 tail" and he reached out his hand and caught it, 07:15 and it became a rod in his hand, "that they may 07:18 believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the 07:20 God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 07:22 God of Jacob, has appeared to you." 07:24 Furthermore the Lord said to him, "Now put 07:27 your hand in your bosom." And when he 07:31 put his hand in his bosom, and when he 07:35 took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like 07:37 snow. And He said, "put your hand in your 07:40 bosom again." And he put his hand in his 07:42 bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and 07:45 behold, it was restored like his other flesh. 07:49 "Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor 07:51 heed the message of the first sign, that they may 07:54 believe the message of the latter sign. And it 07:56 shall be, if they do not believe even these two 07:59 signs or listen to your voice, that you shall 08:02 take water from the river and pour it on the 08:03 dry land. And the water which you take from 08:05 the river will become blood on the dry land." 08:08 Now I want you to think, I want you to 08:10 think about how ironic this situation is, here is 08:13 Moses standing on the middle of a hill and he 08:16 is talking to this bush that is on fire but not 08:21 being consumed. And the bush is talking back 08:24 to him and Moses says give me a sign. I kind of 08:30 believe that God must have looked to those 08:32 around him and said bless his heart. He just 08:36 don't get it, he just don't get it, I mean how many 08:39 of you, I ask you watching today, have 08:41 you ever spoken to a bush, that was on fire 08:46 and not consumed. And they have the bush speak 08:48 back to you, has that ever happened to you. 08:52 Have you ever had an experience like that and 08:55 then turn around and ask God for a sign? God 08:58 must have said bless his heart. He just don't get 09:02 it. That's okay, we'll go ahead and give him the 09:05 signs, so they had the thing about the snake, 09:08 threw down the rod it became a snake. God 09:11 says pick it up by the tail. Have you ever, 09:14 have you ever worked with snakes. People will 09:16 tell you that you do not pick up a snake by the 09:18 tail. You just don't do it, why? Because it will 09:21 come back and bite you that's why. However 09:24 Moses obeyed, reached down, picked up that 09:27 snake it became a rod again. Supernatural 09:30 power, this thing with putting his hand inside 09:35 his coat here bringing it out it was leprous, 09:38 white as snow, put it back in again and it was 09:42 made whole. These were signs that God 09:44 was willing to give Moses. Moses needed a 09:48 little help in just believing this 09:50 commission that God had given him to take 09:53 on. Well what happened, we can read 09:56 the story of how Moses did go to Pharaoh, he 10:00 did go to Egypt and he did say let my people 10:04 go, the Lord God of Israel says. And as we 10:08 continue on, let's look at Exodus chapter 7, 10:13 Exodus chapter 7 beginning with verse 8. 10:17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 10:20 saying, "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 10:23 show a miracle for yourselves, then you 10:26 shall say to Aaron, take your rod and cast it 10:28 before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent." 10:31 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they 10:34 did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron 10:36 cast down his rod before Pharaoh and 10:37 before his servants, and it became a serpent. 10:40 But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the 10:42 sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, 10:44 they also did in like manner with their 10:47 enchantments. For every man threw down 10:50 his rod, and they became serpents. But 10:55 Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And 11:00 Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not 11:03 heed them, as the Lord had said. God was 11:07 willing to show his power to the mighty 11:09 Pharaoh, the King of Egypt at that time. God 11:12 was willing to demonstrate who he 11:14 was to mighty Pharaoh. But it is a very 11:17 important point that I want you to get out of 11:19 this small story. What happened when the 11:25 magicians and sorcerers cast down their rods, 11:28 did they not become serpents as well. They 11:33 became serpents I want you to get this point, 11:35 when we asked for a sign it is possible that 11:39 the sign could be falsely given. Is that something 11:43 that could happen in every day life? If I were 11:45 to go and get a rod and throw it down. Do you 11:47 think it would become a serpent, well I'm gonna 11:49 say no, if God had not commanded me to do 11:51 so. This is not something that they 11:54 were used to seeing in everyday life. Yet these 11:57 magicians threw this thing down and it 11:59 became serpents as well. A sign asked can 12:04 be falsely given. Do you believe that it was 12:08 God of heaven behind this power that turned 12:11 their rods into serpents? Of course not, yet it did 12:14 happen, any sign that you or I ask for could 12:19 possibly be falsely given. It has to line up 12:23 with God's word. It would have to line up 12:24 with what God has already said. Well what 12:29 about, what about today, have you ever 12:33 asked God for a sign, let's go backwards, well 12:37 I mean Oh! I mean let's forward from where we 12:38 were just now to the New Testament and ask 12:41 and take a look at those who ask Jesus for a 12:45 sign. Let's look at Mathew chapter 16 12:49 beginning with verse 1, Mathew 16 beginning 12:53 with verse 1. Then the Pharisees and 12:56 Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that 13:00 He would show them a sign from heaven. He 13:03 answered and said to them, "When it is 13:05 evening you say, it will be fair weather, for the 13:08 sky is red, and in the morning, it will be foul 13:10 weather today, for the sky is red and 13:12 threatening. Hypocrites! You know how to 13:16 discern the face of the sky, but you cannot 13:19 discern the signs of the times. A wicked and 13:22 adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and 13:26 no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the 13:29 prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed. 13:32 You see the leaders of the church at that day, 13:35 they asked Jesus for a sign, think about it they 13:38 had him in their midst, they had the 13:41 opportunity to see the miracles that he 13:45 performed. They could have examined the life 13:48 that he lived. They could have watched 13:52 with intense interest on how he lived and what 13:57 he did, and they said we seek a sign. Jesus must 14:02 have said bless their heart. How can they ask 14:06 for a sign. In fact he said there will be no 14:10 sign. That same, that same little story is 14:13 repeated in Mark 8:11 and 12. And it's also 14:16 repeated in Luke 11:29 and 30. And in fact in 14:21 the book of Mark it says that Jesus sighed 14:25 deeply. He must have thought how can they 14:31 ask me for a sign. Everything is right here 14:36 in front of them to examine for themselves, 14:40 how can they ask for a sign. Let's look at 14:44 another passage of scripture here, the 14:45 scripture of John chapter 4, John chapter 14:49 4 and verse 48, John chapter 4 and verse 48. 14:54 Then Jesus said unto him, "Unless you 15:01 people see signs and wonders, you will by no 15:05 means believe." Jesus is here saying you are not 15:09 going to believe me unless you see me 15:11 some, do some fantastic work. Some marvelous 15:15 miracle that you can go home and tell your 15:17 friends and family about; you want to see 15:19 something big, some fantastic thing, when 15:24 you have all the opportunity that you 15:26 need, you will not believe on me unless 15:29 you see these signs. Let's go back to 15:34 Matthew chapter 23, Matthew 23 and verse 15:40 29. Jesus talking here and says, "Woe to you, 15:44 scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because 15:47 you build the tombs of the prophets and 15:49 adorning the monuments of the righteous, 15:50 and say, if we had lived in the days of our 15:54 fathers, we would not have been partakers 15:56 with them in the blood of the prophets. 15:58 Therefore you are witnesses against 16:01 yourselves that you are sons of those who 16:03 murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the 16:06 measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of 16:09 vipers! How can you escape the condemnation 16:12 of hell? Therefore, indeed I send you prophets, 16:16 wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill 16:20 and crucify, and some of them you will 16:22 scourge in your synagogues and 16:24 persecute from city to city, that on you may 16:26 come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, 16:29 from the blood of righteous Abel to the 16:31 blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom 16:34 you murdered between the temple and the altar. 16:36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will 16:39 come upon this generation." Jesus says 16:42 I've sent you signs, I have sent you all kinds 16:45 of things that you need, I've sent you prophets, 16:47 I've sent you scribes, I've sent you seers, I 16:50 have sent you the word of God and you 16:51 wouldn't heed them, you wouldn't listen. In 16:54 fact you murdered my prophets. You murdered 16:57 those who brought the word to you. This is 17:00 how you treated me, this you how you have 17:03 heeded my signs, the leaders of God's chosen 17:07 people in that day did not heed the signs. 17:11 Were the signs given? Of course, they had 17:14 Jesus himself he was right there in their 17:18 midst. In fact Jesus said in Luke 16:31, if they 17:24 hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 17:27 they be persuaded though one rose from 17:29 the dead. Jesus says you are not going to believe, 17:33 no matter what, it doesn't matter if 17:35 someone that you saw buried last month 17:37 comes out of the tomb and walks and brings 17:39 you the word of God you will not hear it 17:42 why? Because you don't wanna hear it. That's 17:45 what he is telling the people of that day. They 17:49 didn't want to believe him, why because it 17:52 went against everything that they had been 17:54 taught, all these things that they had believed 17:56 all these years they didn't understand, they 17:59 didn't want to heed the signs, what about 18:02 today? Has God given us signs of who he is, of 18:08 who we are, and how he wants us to obey. In 18:14 Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 21 it says this, 18:19 Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 21. Your ears 18:24 shall hear a word behind you, saying, 18:26 "This is the way, walk in it." Whenever you 18:30 turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to 18:33 the left. We refer to this possibly today as 18:38 something that we call the conscience, I refer 18:41 to it as God's Holy Spirit speaking to your 18:45 heart and to my heart, helping us to make the 18:49 right decisions, telling us when should go this 18:52 way or go that way. Helping us to discern 18:56 the good from the evil. That small voice in the 19:01 back of your mind that says this is the way, 19:03 walk ye in it. These are some of the signs that 19:08 God has given, what about in Psalm 119:105, 19:12 Psalm 119 and verse 105. Your word is a 19:20 lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Have 19:25 you received a word today from God? It's 19:28 right here in this Bible. Pick it up everyday and 19:32 read it. You will receive something from God, I 19:34 have no doubt about that, you will receive a 19:37 sign that you need that God is in charge of your 19:42 life. What about this one is Exodus chapter 19:44 31, I'm wondering today is there possibly a 19:49 sign that we are God's people today. What is 19:54 the sign that we are his people. Exodus 31 and 19:57 beginning with verse 12. And the Lord spoke 20:01 to Moses, saying, "Speak also to the 20:04 children of Israel, saying: surely my 20:06 Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a, a what? 20:09 A sign between Me and you throughout your 20:13 generations, that you may know that I am the 20:16 Lord who sanctifies you." And if we 20:21 continue on a little bit further in verse 16 it 20:24 says, Therefore the children of Israel shall 20:25 keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath 20:29 throughout their generations as a 20:30 perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and 20:33 the children of Israel forever; what is the sign 20:36 that we are God's people today. Holy 20:40 Scripture says it is the seventh day Sabbath, 20:43 it's a sign that we are following God, that we 20:47 are obeying his commandments and 20:50 that we wish to be saved in the Kingdom 20:53 of God. I found some very interesting articles 20:57 as I was studying this subject. There is a little 21:03 paragraph I wish to share with you from the 21:05 book called Desire of Ages, page 458 and it 21:10 says this, God does not compel men to give up 21:13 their unbelief. Before them are light and 21:18 darkness, truth and error. It is for them to 21:23 decide which they will accept. The human 21:26 mind is endowed with power to discriminate 21:30 between right and wrong. God designs 21:34 that men shall not decide from impulse, 21:36 but weight of evidence, carefully comparing 21:41 scripture with scripture. You see this, this is 21:45 telling us that God just he doesn't just remove 21:49 all doubt, that would be too easy, it would be 21:53 too easy and then we wouldn't really have 21:55 control over things would we. We wouldn't 21:57 really have that free will. God gives us a 22:01 choice, he says here is this and here is this. 22:05 Which will you choose light or darkness, life or 22:09 death? Here is another one, remember Thomas, 22:14 remember Thomas and how there after Christ 22:18 had come from the grave and he said, I 22:21 won't believe unless I'm able to put my hands in 22:24 his side and feel the scars on his hands and 22:28 feet. Desire of Ages, page 807 says this, 22:32 Many who are given to doubt excuse 22:37 themselves by saying that if they had the 22:40 evidence which Thomas had from his 22:43 companions, they would believe. They do 22:47 not realize that they have not only that 22:50 evidence, but much more. Many who, like 22:54 Thomas, wait for all cause of doubt to be 22:58 removed, will never realize their desire. 23:02 They gradually become confirmed in unbelief. 23:06 Those who educate themselves to look on 23:10 the dark side, and murmur and complain, 23:13 know not what they do. They are sowing the 23:18 seeds of doubt, and they will harvest a doubt, 23:21 have a harvest of doubt to reap. At a time when 23:26 faith and confidence are most essential, many 23:30 will thus find themselves powerless to 23:32 hope and believe. Have you not ever heard of a 23:37 life, perhaps there is someone in your church 23:40 who lived a life of just horrible disobedience 23:44 for many, many years. And all of a sudden the 23:47 Lord got a hold of them and he brought them to 23:50 him and they had a marvelous transformation. 23:53 Is that not a sign that God is in control. 23:56 And some have said well if I could be 23:58 like Thomas, if I could just you know do put 24:01 my hands in his, if I could have some sort of 24:04 miraculous sign then I would believe. This 24:06 paragraph says that we have that sign and 24:08 much, much more. Some have said today I 24:15 will keep the Sabbath when God impresses 24:17 me to do it. Some have said I will quit eating 24:22 unclean foods when God impresses me to do 24:25 that. Some have said I will quit believing in 24:29 the spirits of the dead when God tells me. 24:33 Some have said I will pay tithe when God 24:38 impresses me to do so. Friend, I submit to you 24:42 today that God has already given us these 24:47 signs, it's right here in this book. If you will 24:50 read this book you will find that God still wants 24:55 us to keep his Seventh-Day-Sabbath. 24:57 If you will read this book you will find that 25:00 there are unclean foods that we should not be 25:02 eating. If you will read this book, 25:04 you will find that there is truth about the spirits 25:09 of dead. If you will read this book you will find 25:12 that God expects his children to pay tithe. 25:15 God may not come to you 25:22 personally and give you a message. Now he may, but it's 25:25 possible he may not. And remember what I said earlier, 25:27 that a sign can be falsely given. Have you ever 25:31 looked into heaven and prayed Lord 25:32 give me a sign. I would submit to you today that 25:36 if you will go to this word, if you will go to 25:39 this word with an honest heart and an 25:42 open mind, God will give you what you 25:45 need. God will give you the signs that you are 25:49 asking for. Don't expect some great and big and 25:51 marvelous thing. Don't expect you know I 25:54 remember someone, I remember someone 25:56 once said Lord if you want me to witness to 26:00 so and so today, would you please let me pass 26:03 five cars on the street. This is a true story. 26:05 Would you please let me pass five cars on the 26:09 street? Friend, God's word is already said 26:13 that we should witness of him, that we should 26:16 testify of his love, that we should tell what 26:20 God has done for us. Now there is a 26:25 possibility that God may come to you in a 26:27 dream or a vision or something I don't know 26:30 and that's not for me to judge. But be careful 26:34 with signs like that. Be careful because signs 26:37 can be falsely given. Our responsibility is to 26:41 read this word and to obey. Scripture says 26:46 fear God and keep his commandments, this is 26:50 the whole duty of man. That's all we have to do, 26:54 our responsibility is to read and obey. Friend, I 27:00 would invite you today to just open your heart 27:04 to God's word, get into this book read and 27:10 study this book for yourself, find out what 27:13 is in this book that can change and transform 27:16 your life today. God wants to do that for you 27:20 and for me. Don't ask for some big miraculous 27:24 sign, read the signs that God had already given 27:27 in his word. Read and obey, that's what he 27:32 wants us to do. And let's learn the lessons of 27:35 the prophets, I mean of the Pharisees. Let's 27:38 learn the prophets, of the Sadducees, those 27:41 who received the sign but did not heed the 27:44 warnings. Today let us read God's word, find 27:49 the signs and heed the signs and 27:52 he will bless you and I today. |
Revised 2014-12-17