Participants: Michael Kontes
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000411
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00:01 Please stay with us
00:09 3ABN presents 00:16 this closed captioned program. 00:30 Hello friends. 00:31 My name is Michael Kontes 00:32 and I want to welcome you 00:34 to Faith Chapel. 00:35 Today we're going 00:36 to look at "Last Words. " 00:38 Before we do that 00:39 let us pray. 00:40 Father we come to You now and we thank Thee once again 00:43 for the life that you've given us. 00:44 Help us as we go through this study 00:47 to come closer to You. 00:48 Help us to understand You. 00:50 In Jesus name, Amen. 00:55 Words mean something, sentences mean something. 00:58 Communication means something. 01:01 In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 15:18, we read: 01:16 Those things that proceed from the mouth 01:18 come from the heart. 01:21 In 1996 my wife and I were leaving to go to Greece 01:27 for fourteen days to visit my two grandmothers. 01:31 One was 92 years old and the other was 85 years old. 01:33 The Lord opened up an opportunity 01:35 for us to go to Greece, paid for! 01:39 I just want to tell you, I'm the only Adventist in my family 01:44 and my wife Reagan is the only Adventist in her family. 01:48 Our faith is very important to us. 01:53 Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I will anyway. 01:57 I can't stand flying. I don't like to fly. 02:01 I'm getting used to it a little bit better now 02:04 but I didn't like it back then. 02:05 And everyone told me, 02:07 "You're more apt to die in a car accident. " 02:10 Yes, I understand. 02:12 And I know when it's my time to go, it's my time to go. 02:15 I understand that. 02:16 But when it's the pilot's turn, it's everyone's turn to go. 02:19 So for me, flying in an airplane 02:22 made me a bit paranoid. 02:24 So as we're readying to leave out of SFO 02:27 and my mother-in-law is going to watch 02:29 the kids for the next 14 days or so 02:31 as we're walking out I turn to her and make eye contact 02:35 and I told her, "Carol, if something happens to us " 02:40 "please, I want Lucas and Arianna " 02:45 "to be put in a Seventh Day Adventist School " 02:48 "and go to Seventh Day Adventist Church. " 02:51 And she looked up at me and said, 02:52 "Michael, nothing is going to happen " 02:53 "to you and Reagan, don't worry. " 02:56 "And besides that, you aren't flying on the same airplane " 02:59 "because of your fear, so if something does happen " 03:01 "it'll only happen to one of you. " 03:02 That made me feel a lot better. 03:05 I was so concerned that if something was to happen to me 03:10 that I wanted to make sure the future of my children 03:14 in school as well as their faith would be preserved. 03:17 Usually, many times when people come down 03:21 to the closing scenes of their lives 03:23 They say some very profound things. 03:29 I'd like to share a couple of quotes this morning 03:32 from some people at the end of their lives 03:34 the things they have said. 03:38 Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian spokesman said, 03:42 "I desire to go to hell and not heaven " 03:46 "In the former place I shall enjoy the company of popes " 03:51 "kings and princes. While in the latter " 03:55 "are only beggars, monks and apostles. " 04:00 Mr. Machiavelli was pretty frank and candid wasn't he. 04:03 He knew where he wanted to go. 04:07 Blackjack Ketchum was a bank robber and killer. 04:12 And just before he was hung he said, 04:18 "I'll be in hell before you finish breakfast boys. " 04:22 "Let 'er rip. " 04:24 Notice he had a hardness of heart. 04:25 A hardness of heart was revealed with his last words. 04:32 Leonardo da Vinci said, 04:34 "I have offended God and mankind " 04:37 "because my work didn't reach the quality it should have. " 04:43 Notice the perfectionism that Leonardo da Vinci had. 04:50 The Greek, Socrates in his last words said, 04:56 "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. " 05:03 "Pay it, and do not forget. " 05:06 Socrates wanted to make sure his debts were taken care of. 05:16 Agrippina, Nero's mother said something very profound. 05:25 "Smite my womb. " 05:30 Do you think she felt a little guilt? 05:32 Alexander the Great at his death said about his successor, 05:40 "The strongest. " 05:42 Alexander was a man of power. 05:46 Notice the words reveal power. 05:48 Phineas T. Barnum, the great businessman said, 05:53 "How were the circus receipts tonight " 05:57 "at Madison Square Garden? " 05:59 Notice the love of money. 06:02 William Tyndale the great Christian author said, 06:05 "Lord, open the King of England's eyes. " 06:12 Notice true love. 06:14 Malcolm X, black Muslim leader said, 06:16 "Let's cool it brothers. " 06:19 Said when the three assassins were about to kill him. 06:24 Many of you know of the Christian H. M. S. Richards Jr. 06:28 His last words to his daughter Mary were, 06:35 "I had to learn total relinquishment. " 06:45 And her reply was, "Oh Daddy that's wonderful. " 06:47 "We all need to be able to do that. " 06:49 And then he said, "Mary, I'll see you in the morning. " 06:55 Last words are very important. 06:59 We're going to go through our Bible this morning 07:02 and we're going to look at just a snippet, just a few 07:06 last words spoken by people in the Bible 07:11 and look at the importance that they carry. 07:13 First, some of the words that are very profound to me 07:18 comes from the book of Genesis. 07:20 Genesis 4:13-14 08:00 Notice Cain's words had no remorse 08:06 for the shed blood of his brother. 08:09 The only thing Cain cared about was Cain. 08:12 Here God came down to try to reason with him, 08:16 tried to talk to him, 08:18 tried to ask him, "Where's your brother? " 08:21 God tried to get him to humble his heart 08:25 and explain what he just did. 08:29 Yet Cain's last words recorded in the Bible 08:32 are about his self-absorbed worry about being a vagabond 08:36 on the face of the earth. 08:37 Cain didn't care about what he had done to Able. 08:41 All he cared about were the circumstances that he'd be in 08:45 because of his actions. 08:46 How many times do we fall into the same boat as Cain? 08:49 God comes and wants to reason with us. 08:53 And all we do is whine and cry about the circumstances we're in 08:57 In fact, it's the circumstances we've put ourselves in. 09:03 "Oh God, why did You allow me to " 09:08 "have my house go into foreclosure. " 09:10 And we were spending our money on the lottery. 09:14 Well, God's not going to stop things from taking place 09:18 in our lives friends that we are causing to ourselves. 09:23 A friend of mine had a very bad addiction to drugs 09:28 and wondered why God would not have him stop. 09:33 Friends, I can tell you, God wants him to stop. 09:36 But we always have a choice. 09:37 But until we exercise the resolve to say, 09:42 "God, I want the power. I know I've hurt you. " 09:45 "I will no longer do this. " 09:47 If we continue to like the sin, follow me: Numbers11:18-20. 09:51 God will allow us to eat 'so much of the quail, ' 09:58 that it 'comes out of our nostrils. ' 10:00 You follow me? 10:01 Let's go to the next story I want to look at 10:05 concerning last words. 10:06 Genesis 50:24 10:29 Notice, Joseph's last words were that, "God will bring " 10:37 "out of this land. " 10:38 And part of the context said, 10:42 "When you come out of this land " 10:44 "I want you to take my bones with you. " 10:48 Now notice that friends. 10:49 Joseph was second in command in Egypt. 10:52 Egypt had been very good to him yet 10:55 even in the midst of Egypt he viewed himself as an exile. 11:00 And his last words were, "Take my bones out from here " 11:04 "when God takes all of you out. " 11:07 Notice the champion, Joseph saw that some day 11:14 his kinsmen would be released. 11:19 He also saw that he'd give his own body 11:25 as a sign to his people, 11:27 a sign of hope. 11:28 In Joseph's last words we see 11:31 he not only viewed himself as an exile 11:34 in this foreign land, but he also saw that 11:38 his bones would be a sign to his people that they'd be released. 11:43 Through the centuries of toil that followed 11:46 Joseph's coffin would be a constant reminder 11:50 of his dying words. 11:54 Now let's take a peek into the New Testament. 11:57 Now we aren't going to go over all the last words 11:59 that are here, I don't have enough time to do that. 12:01 I'd love for you to do your own private study in this area. 12:06 It's fascinating what you will find. 12:09 Let's open up to the Gospel of John. 12:12 Jesus was speaking to Pilate, 12:14 Let's look at the last words Jesus spoke to Pilate. 12:40 Notice here, Jesus is standing in front of a politician, 12:46 in front of a ruler who could probably orchestrate 12:49 events to have Jesus released. 12:53 And yet this politician tells Him how he has power 12:58 over Him to release Him. 13:01 And the words have to haunt Pilate continuously 13:07 were, "You have no power over Me. " 13:12 "You have no power over Me. " 13:14 Notice Jesus' last words to Pilate. 13:18 Can you imagine friends. 13:22 If your boss comes to you at work 13:25 and let's say he wants you to do some unethical thing. 13:29 and you say, "I don't want to do this. " 13:31 and he says, "Do you know who I am? " 13:32 "Do you know what power I have over you? " 13:34 "I can give you vacations " 13:36 "I can take away vacations. " 13:38 "I can give you a raise. " 13:39 "I can take away a raise. " 13:41 I can do whatever I want with your career. " 13:42 And you look your boss straight in the eyes and say, 13:45 "That may be true but ultimately you have " 13:52 "no authority in my life. " 13:54 "My authority is God, and to do His will. " 13:58 That's profound, isn't it? 14:03 Let us go into the Book of the Revelation. 14:06 One of the most profound last words we get in Revelation 22 14:45 Friends, through this text we're taught that there comes a time 14:50 where mercy will no longer be extended to sinners. 14:53 In fact we could share that this text can be translated, 14:58 "Let him who is unjust continue to be unjust " 15:02 "let him who is filthy continue to be filthy " 15:05 "let him who is righteous continue to be righteous " 15:08 "and let him who is holy continue to be holy. " 15:11 There is coming a time when the ministry of Jesus 15:15 in the Heavenly Sanctuary will come to an end. 15:18 There will come a time when Jesus will lay aside His robe 15:21 after He exclaims the words, 15:23 "Let him who is unjust be unjust. " 15:27 This is VERY profound and should be very 15:33 eye opening for us to realize 15:36 Mercy's door will not always be open. 15:40 In fact, it may be theologically correct 15:43 to say that there comes a place where the 15:47 Door of Mercy in our lives is slowly and gradually closing. 15:51 For some of us the Door of Mercy can close today, tomorrow, 15:57 next week, next year. 15:59 We don't know. 16:00 But that door is slowly closing. 16:04 In 1996 before I was a Christian 16:09 I was a terrible individual to be quite candid. 16:17 I was not a good husband or father, son or brother, 16:22 I was not a good anything. 16:23 I was just a decent bass fisherman. 16:25 And my wife started praying for me to find the Lord again. 16:34 And so as she was praying for me for 3 or 4 months 16:37 the Lord was working on my heart. 16:39 I began to see things on TV that I'd never noticed before. 16:44 You know, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 16:46 I watched TV as a girl went to her high school prom 16:52 gave birth to her baby and put the baby in a trash bin 16:57 and went out to finish her dance. 16:59 And I said, "Man, something is really wrong with this world. " 17:03 You see the Holy Spirit was beginning to touch me, 17:06 was beginning to take the dust off of my eyes, 17:10 was beginning to show me that the clock was winding down. 17:17 On another TV program 9 year old kids were taking guns to school. 17:21 When I was in high school, graduated in 1995, 17:24 I was just worried about my biology teacher 17:28 or my chemistry teacher, Mr. Carroll 17:30 busting me for chewing gum, 17:32 down the hall way or in class! 17:34 And now kids are taking guns to school. 17:37 And I looked at the TV and said, 17:39 "Something is really wrong with our world. " 17:42 "really wrong! " 17:44 As God was touching my heart 17:47 I stayed up one night in May, 17:50 May 26th 1996, I was watching a prophecy show. 17:54 The preacher of the prophecy show said, 17:57 "Are you ready if Jesus comes? " 18:02 He pointed at the TV and said, 18:05 "Be prepared. The closing events are rapidly taking place. " 18:10 "All kinds of things are happening around us. " 18:14 "If you die tonight do you know where you will go? " 18:18 And I sat there in my living room knowing 18:22 a battle was taking place because as I was watching 18:24 I wanted to click off that channel and go to another 18:26 and I would do it for a second and the Holy Spirit prompted 18:29 my heart to back to the prophecy show. 18:32 When someone has served Satan for their entire life 18:36 the voice of Jesus can't be understood very well. 18:41 But you can discern the voice of Satan. 18:45 I was his puppet and he was the puppet master. 18:48 And I could discern Satan's voice better than God's voice. 18:51 But God did not leave me hanging from a cliff. 18:55 You see, as I sat there I realized 19:02 that if I was to die that night 19:06 I would die without the hope of salvation. 19:11 That night, I'm sure there were demons but also good angels, 19:16 and ministering angels trying to help me understand my condition, 19:20 trying to help me see I wasn't as good as I thought I was, 19:23 but that I was bad and really bad, 19:29 in fact, the chief of sinners. 19:32 I remember clicking off the TV that night 19:34 and walking down the hallway and getting on my hands and knees 19:38 for the first time and praying Jesus into my life. 19:42 I asked Him to forgive me of all of my sins 19:45 and friends, the next day I woke up 19:46 and it was like 300 pounds was off of my back. 19:51 I was hoping and skipping and jumping and 19:54 the burdens of life were taken from me. 19:57 I can tell you today, I know that night 20:01 was the night of my probation. 20:03 The doors were closing. 20:05 Yet God opened them up 20:07 and reached out to me one other time. 20:09 My whole life He had been reaching out to me. 20:12 And my whole life I had been rejecting Him. 20:14 Do you reject Jesus? 20:18 How long has He been reaching out to you? 20:22 Has He been reaching out to you for years? 20:24 Are you neglecting His voice? 20:26 You are allowing yourself to become a puppet 20:29 of the puppet master, 20:32 the evil one, the dragon, that old serpent, 20:35 Satan, the devil himself. 20:37 Friends, if Jesus is reaching out to you, trying to call you, 20:43 if He's trying to give and extend mercy to you 20:45 today is the day of salvation. 20:48 Today is the day to accept His call, 20:51 His invitation, His knocking on your heart's door. 20:55 There will come a day 20:57 when the High Priest will say, 20:59 "It is done " 21:01 in the Heavenly Sanctuary. 21:02 And when that is said 21:04 there will be a chasm opened and no more reconciliation ministry 21:07 for the people of earth. 21:10 Now let's look at our last saying which once again comes 21:13 from the Book of the Revelation 21:14 which end the book itself. 21:17 Revelation 22 21:35 Notice that one of the last words 21:38 in this chapter that Jesus says is 21:40 "I come quickly and behold my reward is with Me. " 21:44 This shows the eminence of His coming 21:48 wanting each person to be prepared 21:50 for His soon return. 21:52 "I come quickly. " He could have said many things, friends. 21:55 He could have said, "I'm coming " 21:57 But why did He say, "I'm coming quickly? " 22:00 He said he was returning quickly to inspire us and to motivate us 22:06 to be His people, 22:09 to be confident and to be serving Him 22:13 out of a pure heart, out of the right motives, 22:17 not just because He's coming, 22:20 but he's coming quickly. 22:22 Now it goes on in this chapter 22:26 in Revelation 22:17, 22:29 "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come' " 22:32 "and let him that hears say, 'Come' " 22:36 "and let him that is thirsty come " 22:42 "and whosoever will let him take of the Water of Life freely. " 22:48 Notice the last words of Jesus is open mercy to everyone. 22:54 That is how He ends this book. 22:56 He ends the book of Revelation 22:58 by giving an invitation to mankind 23:01 that everyone who thirsts to know Jesus, 23:06 everyone who thirsts to have their sins covered 23:10 by the blood of the Lamb, 23:12 everyone who desires to not drink 23:14 of the spiritually impure water 23:18 but rather to drink the pure water, 23:21 we are to come to Jesus, 23:24 to desire, to embrace Jesus. 23:27 We are to desire Jesus and Jesus alone. 23:32 Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. " 23:37 Friends, as we're closing what are the last words 23:45 that you hear Jesus speaking to you today? 23:48 Is today the day where your probation line is drawn? 23:54 Or what are the last words you've spoken to someone else? 23:58 Have you spoken words of hope like Joseph? 24:00 where he said, "Take my bones when you leave this land? " 24:06 Or are you saying words like Cain? 24:09 "My punishment is too great. " 24:12 "I cannot bear it. " 24:17 What words are you hearing? 24:18 What words are you saying? 24:20 I remember a couple years back 24:27 some of the words that I used to use 24:31 prior to being a Christian, I regret it very much. 24:34 I used to hurt people with the words that I said. 24:37 And some of the words I said 24:38 to some of my high school friends 24:39 were very hurtful words. 24:41 Then when I became a Christian I asked Jesus Christ 24:45 to come into my life. 24:46 When He came into my life, He changed and transformed me. 24:49 I asked him to bring my high school friends back into my life 24:52 so the last words they heard from Mike Kontes would not be 24:55 disparaging hurtful words but be words of encouragement 25:01 and words of remorse. 25:02 And as I prayed for people to come into my life 25:05 the Lord brought 2 and 3 people back into my life yearly. 25:08 I meet one girl named Camy McMaster. 25:13 I used to hurt her with my words in high school. 25:16 She was tall, 6' - 2" 25:18 I used to feel like a midget around her. 25:22 I'm a 5' - 7" Greek so I felt inferior to her. 25:24 To make myself feel better I teased her about her height. 25:29 Years later after I became a Christian I saw her at 25:33 Sacramento State University 25:34 when I was going to pick up Reagan, my wife. 25:37 I saw her walking across the campus 25:39 and friends, I didn't strut 25:42 I didn't walk slow 25:45 I sprinted to her. 25:48 I said, "Hi Camy, how are you doing ", we started talking. 25:52 I said, "You know those words I said to you in high school " 25:56 "I'm really sorry. " 25:58 She looked up and said, 26:00 "Don't worry about it Mike, it happened so long ago. " 26:02 I said, "No Camy, I don't want those to be " 26:06 "the last words out of my mouth to you. " 26:08 "I am very sorry. " 26:09 And she looked at me and smiled. 26:11 Another girl, Christy Anderson 26:15 I used to tease her. 26:16 I remember I had correspondence with her. 26:19 I apologized about the things I said to her. 26:22 And I realized she was still carrying scars from those 26:25 last words I had shared with her. 26:27 I apologized to her and she forgave me. 26:32 Friends, what are the last words you are telling others? 26:36 What are the last words people will remember you by? 26:40 When it's your funeral and people come to pay last respects 26:47 what will they remember you by? 26:49 What words that you've shared will they remember? 26:52 Last words are important. 26:54 Will you be able to exclaim like Christ 26:57 to your co-worker or boss, 27:01 "You have no authority over me, " 27:06 as Jesus proclaimed to Pilate. 27:08 Will you be able to exclaim like Paul in his letters to Timothy 27:13 he said, "I have fought the good fight. " 27:16 His last words, "I have ran the race. " 27:19 Paul's last words were words of assurance of salvation. 27:25 What are your last words, the words that you say and hear? 27:31 Do you have the assurance of salvation? 27:34 Or are you going to embrace the call the Spirit says, 27:39 "To him who is thirsty, come. " 27:42 "And whoever will, let him take of the Water of Life " 27:48 "freely and come. " 27:50 I can share with you, please embrace the Water of Life 27:54 and come to Jesus. |
Revised 2014-12-17