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Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201634A
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01:27 ♪♪ >> It has stood the test of 01:34 time -- God's Book, the Bible -- still relevant in today's 01:40 complex world. ♪♪ 01:43 "It Is Written," sharing messages of hope around the 01:48 world. 01:55 ♪♪ 02:01 >> You know, holidays are welcomed by most with joy. There are many holidays that 02:06 give a day off of school or a day off of work, yet holidays are more than just getting those 02:12 days off. But most often, they're set aside to remember something of 02:17 importance -- days like Labor Day. Now, while Labor Day has 02:21 unofficially marked the end of summer for many and often demarks the last weekend to get 02:26 away to the cottage or go camping or maybe it's a day that has a festival schedule -- then, 02:32 for many, it's a day to bring out the barbecue -- it was originally a day set aside as a 02:38 time to campaign for or celebrate workers' rights. And then there's 02:43 Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day is a day celebrated throughout the 02:47 Commonwealth. It has been celebrated since the end of the First World War, and 02:52 it is to remember to the members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. 02:58 For many places, the remembrance includes the red poppies that have become synonymous with 03:06 Remembrance Day. And then there's Canada Day, which celebrates the anniversary 03:12 of the Constitution Act, which united the three colonies of Canada into one dominion. 03:18 And while each of these are importance secular holidays, could it be that each of them 03:24 contain a lesson for us as Christians, that we, too, need time to take to remember, to 03:31 remember and reflect upon God's goodness in our life? I'd like to go back in time, go 03:41 back in time to the patriarch Moses. Moses was the son of Amram and 03:46 Jochebed. He was a direct descendant of Levi by both of his parents. 03:52 Now, Moses was born in a troublous time in Egypt. Now, you'll remember that the 03:57 children of Israel had taken refuge in the land of Goshen, in Egypt. 04:02 Now, this happened under Joseph's leadership as second in command in Egypt. 04:08 He had been divinely ordained at an appointed time to be in that leadership to help save his 04:14 people. Now, the children of Israel prospered in their Goshen home, 04:19 and they multiplied greatly as a people, so much so that Exodus 1:7 says this... 04:41 Now, in this abundance, a new king, a new pharaoh, came to power over Egypt. 04:46 He represented a new dynasty, likely, and a new rulership there for the country of Egypt. 04:53 He did not have an appreciation for the Hebrew people that the previous pharaoh had had, and he 04:58 did not appreciate their history in Egypt. 05:02 In fact, Exodus 1:9 reveals the pharaoh's distaste for the 05:06 Hebrews... 05:33 And so Israel came under terrible circumstances. They were enslaved by the 05:38 Egyptians, and they were called upon to do the most challenging of tasks. 05:43 I'm sure you know this story well. But in the midst of this slavery 05:48 and troubled time is when Moses came on the scene. You see, it had grown so 05:54 tumultuous for the Hebrews in Egypt that a decree was given by pharaoh to kill all male newborn 06:01 children. Exodus 1:15-16 states... 06:35 Now, in verse 22, the pharaoh upped the ante, so to speak, and said this... 06:54 It was at this appointed time that Moses was born because God had an appointed way in which He 07:01 would save His people. Moses, in fact, was cast in the river, just as pharaoh had said. 07:09 However, his casting in the river was in a basket made of bulrushes. 07:14 Moses was saved from the river by the daughter of pharaoh, and this Hebrew boy was brought up 07:21 in the courts and palaces of Egypt. It is here, my friends, that I 07:27 must say we may not always understand God's ways, but God always has a plan. 07:34 He always has a way. And He's working to save us through His appointed times and 07:40 to prepare us through His appointed times, that we would be part of His master plan of 07:46 saving the world. So, Moses trained in the courts of Egypt. 07:51 Never did he forget his people, and you know the rest of his story. 07:55 After almost 400 years of slavery, the people of God were wondering if God would ever 08:02 deliver them, and God brought their deliverer on the scene in a most unexpected way. 08:08 Yet God still needed to form Moses' character in His likeness so God could use Moses. 08:15 And so, although Moses thought that he would use his military prowess and experience and his 08:21 princely skills to deliver the people, God had to take him to the wilderness, that he might 08:27 learn the humble ways of a shepherd and, in so doing, understand more clearly the 08:31 character of God. And in dramatic and miraculous fashion, God delivered His 08:38 people out of Egypt, from the land of slavery, and He led them to a better place. 08:43 Now, as God led them out of Egypt, God needed to refine His people. 08:48 He needed to teach and, in fact, reteach them His ways. While in Egypt, the plagues that 08:54 fell upon the Egyptians taught God's people about the sovereignty of God, that He is 09:00 all-powerful, or omnipotent. Before leaving Egypt, God wanted to teach them a key in 09:07 remembering Him. What was that key? Do you remember what it was that 09:12 the children of Israel were asked to do before their exodus out of Egypt? 09:17 The Feast of Unleavened Bread, along with the Passover. God taught them that they would 09:24 understand that they needed to be completely dependent upon Him for deliverance. 09:29 Both the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover commemorated that deliverance 09:35 out of Egypt. And in those feasts and through the exodus and the parting of 09:41 the Red Sea, it was demonstrated to the people of God the saving power of God. 09:47 Once they had come out of Egypt and were in a new and different land, in that land that God had 09:54 promised them, He needed to teach the children of Israel of entire dependence upon him. 10:00 And so God made the bitter water sweet. God brought water from the dry 10:05 rocks. He had manna fall upon the earth. 10:08 And in a multitude of other instances, God also taught Israel His sustaining power. 10:15 As the children of Israel had encountered the omnipotent, all-powerful, sustaining, and 10:21 saving power of God, He would lead them to Sinai, where they would then learn obedience to 10:28 Him through a right relationship with Him. After God had given the children 10:33 of Israel the Ten Commandments there at Sinai -- and He had given some other items -- God 10:37 said something that is of great interest to us as we understand His appointed time. 10:44 In Exodus 23:14-16, God said these words... 11:24 Did you hear that? God had times appointed to remember. 11:29 These appointed times were to remember how He interacted with His people. 11:34 The passage mentions three specific times, three specific appointed times, that the 11:40 Hebrews were to remember. It is interesting to note that each of these remembrances, each 11:47 of these feasts, were connected with the course of seasons of the harvest but also coincided 11:54 with the great history of the nation of Israel. The first of these was the 11:59 Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now, the Feast of Unleavened Bread came in the early spring, 12:05 which was at the beginning of the barley harvest. The feast began with the 12:10 Passover and lasted seven days. The Passover was a time where a sacrifice was offered. 12:17 All leaven was removed from the home -- leaven being yeast -- and, for seven days, they would 12:23 eat unleavened bread. This unleavened bread looked back and hearkened back to the 12:29 quick nature of the Hebrews' departure from Egypt. Now, additionally, in this 12:35 feast, the leaven symbolized sin and error in a person's life. And just like leaven or yeast, 12:42 if it is left, it will bubble and fester and rise. So the symbolism of leaven would 12:50 continue on into the New Testament. The Passover ultimately 12:54 symbolized and represented the deliverance of sinners from certain condemnation by the 13:01 death of an innocent lamb. It looked forward to the innocent Lamb of God, 13:06 Jesus Christ -- the Passover, that time in Egypt when they put blood on the doorposts and the 13:12 lintel, that let the angel of the Lord know that this family was under the blood of an 13:18 innocent lamb -- the unleavened bread symbolizing the removal of sin from the life. 13:25 Now, the second time of remembrance was called the feast of the harvest. 13:29 Now, 50 days after the barley sheaf was offered and waved in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 13:37 the feast of the harvest began. Now, in other places of the Old Testament, this feast is 13:43 also referred to as the Feast of Weeks because it was seven weeks after the 13:48 Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now, later in the New Testament, this feast became 13:53 known as Pentecost, which is literally translated "fiftieth." Now, as an expression of thanks 14:00 to God for his work in the grain harvest, two loaves with yeast were baked and presented as an 14:07 offering. This feast was a time of great joy, as it also came to 14:12 commemorate the giving of the law at Sinai. This feast literally celebrated 14:18 the firstfruits while looking yet toward the fall, where there would be a full harvest. 14:24 Now, the third time of remembrance, the appointed time that God had for the children of 14:29 Israel, was called the Feast of Ingathering. Now, again, throughout the 14:33 Old Testament, this is also referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles. 14:38 This feast was interesting because it presented both a time of somber realities while 14:45 celebrating the harvest. During this feast, the people would make booths or tents or 14:50 tabernacles for themselves, where they would dwell for eight days. 14:55 Now, the Day of Atonement would have been observed just a few days prior to the 15:00 Feast of Ingathering, or the Feast of Tabernacles. The Day of Atonement was a time 15:05 of great solemnity, great humility before the Lord. But now came a season of 15:11 thanksgiving for the final harvest while recognizing the safety that God provided during 15:17 the wilderness time in which they dwelt in tents. This feast recognized, 15:22 everything that we have, it is a gift from God and that He provides for our daily needs. 15:29 All of these appointed times were to remember the God of salvation, the God of 15:36 sustenance, and the God who is all-powerful. But the question we must ask 15:44 today is, "How does any of this apply to us?" Now, am I saying that we should 15:49 keep these feasts? Absolutely not. In fact, when Jesus died on the 15:54 Cross, the symbolism of these feasts was fulfilled. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says this -- 16:03 1 Corinthians 5:7... 16:19 Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper as a memorial of His sacrifice and remembrance of 16:25 what He has and is doing on our behalf. We should celebrate the 16:30 Lord's Supper. We should celebrate it with joy, recognizing the saving power of 16:35 God in our life. The Lord's Supper is a time that reflects back on God's work in 16:41 our life, and the Lord's Supper, in reality, renews our baptism experience, which is outlined in 16:48 Romans 6:1-11, that experience that we have where, through being immersed in the watery 16:56 grave, the old man and the old woman die there in the water, and we come up out of the water, 17:02 just as Christ was raised from the dead, to walk in the newness of life. 17:07 The Lord's Supper serves as a time, an appointed time, where we remember the power of God in 17:14 saving us from our sins. God has called us to have appointed times to remember. 17:20 And just as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for God's people in the 17:24 Old Testament served as an appointed time of remembrance of God's deliverance, so now we, 17:30 who live in this day, have an appointed time at the Lord's Supper where we, too, can 17:35 remember God's deliverance. Now, the feast of the harvest and the Feast of Weeks 17:42 celebrated the firstfruits. It's very interesting to note that, in 1 Corinthians 15:20, it 17:49 says this... 18:09 We must continually remember that the power of God is seen in the resurrected Christ. 18:15 It is not the Cross that is foremost in our hope of salvation but rather the empty 18:21 tomb. Now, don't misunderstand me. To get to the empty tomb, we 18:24 need the Cross, but in order to see a resurrection at the last day, where Christ will take us 18:32 all home, there must be the empty tomb where Christ was raised from the dead. 18:38 The reality is that, because Jesus lives, that I may also live. 18:44 And Jesus has commissioned each of us, as the people of His church, to go into all the world 18:51 with that message. But I want you to think about this now. 18:57 How is it possible that we can go to all of the world, 7 billion people? 19:01 How is it possible to reach them all? The reality is that Jesus gave 19:06 the power to go and announce the message of salvation and God's deliverance to all 7 billion 19:13 people on the Earth. How is it possible? Jesus told us exactly how it 19:17 would be possible. He gave us the power to go, and that power is through the power 19:23 of the Holy Spirit. It is no coincidence, my friends, that this promise that 19:29 Jesus gave was fulfilled at Pentecost. Pentecost is the same as the 19:34 Feast of Weeks, the feast of the harvest, and the Pentecost experience of receiving the 19:40 Holy Spirit is still available for His people today, for His church. 19:46 It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are to tell of Christ, who is the 19:51 firstfruits, and tell of His promise, His promise of deliverance to all people. 19:56 The power of the Holy Spirit, that is how we can go and tell. It is no accident that it is by 20:02 the power of the Holy Spirit that we can go and tell. Romans 8:11 says this... 20:20 You see, the Holy Spirit, working in conjunction with God the Father, is the power by 20:25 which Jesus was raised from the dead. That same power that raised 20:29 Jesus from the dead is available to you to go and tell the world. We must remember to daily ask 20:36 for the power of the Holy Spirit to be in our lives. Just like there was an appointed 20:42 time for the feast of the harvest, so it is in New Testament times. 20:47 There is an appointed time in which we can call upon God to give us the power of the 20:53 Holy Spirit. But then there was the third feast that God called upon His 20:58 people to remember. That third appointed time -- the Feast of Tabernacles. 21:03 Now, the Feast of Tabernacles not only pointed back to the time of wilderness wandering, 21:09 but it also looked forward to the full harvest. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles 21:14 has not yet been fulfilled. It will be fulfilled, and it will be fulfilled soon, when 21:19 Jesus comes again in glory. And that is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:23-24... 21:48 My dear friends, there is an appointed time where we need to remember the coming harvest. 21:55 In challenging times, we are to remember that Jesus is coming again at the appointed time. 22:01 He has an appointed time in which He will come. He has appointed times for us to 22:06 remember. He has appointed times for us to remember that He is in fact 22:11 coming again. He has appointed times for us to remember our deliverance, when 22:16 Jesus delivered us from sin. He has appointed times when we are to remember to call upon 22:21 God, that we would receive the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 22:25 We have appointed times in which we are to remember the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 22:30 Each of these appointed times are set aside that we might remember the significance of the 22:36 life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And at each of these appointed 22:41 times, they exist to help us to realize that God is all-powerful, that God is the 22:48 sustainer of all life, and that God is the Saviour of all of our lives. 22:53 Each of these appointed times helps us to remember that we are always dependant upon Him. 22:58 But as we remember Him, as we remember those appointed times of our deliverance through the 23:04 power of the Holy Spirit and remember the time of His soon coming, as we remember each of 23:10 those appointed times, it prepares us for the ultimate appointed time, when 23:14 Jesus Christ will burst through the clouds in glory and burst through them with power and 23:20 majesty and come to take His people home. And as we remember and as we 23:24 understand our dependance upon Him, it will draw us nearer to Him, that we would be obedient 23:30 to Him, and we would be prepared for the final harvest. No fewer than 10 times in the 23:35 Old Testament does God remind Israel of the importance of these times of remembrance. 23:41 Even so, my dear friends, today God is reminding us to remember. God is calling upon us to 23:48 remember the power of Jesus Christ in saving us. He's calling us to remember the 23:53 sustaining power of Christ, who sent the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. 23:58 He's calling upon us to remember the Second Coming. As Second Peter chapter three 24:04 says in asking that question, "What manner of persons ought we to be in all holiness and 24:10 godliness?" The only way that we might be holy, the only way that we might 24:14 be godly, is to recognize the power of deliverance that Jesus has in our lives. 24:19 That is the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us and sanctify us. 24:24 But then He says that we ought to look for and hasten the coming day of God. 24:29 We are to remember Jesus, that He's coming soon at the appointed time, and our 24:34 remembering will lead us to anxiously anticipate that day but also hasten that day through 24:39 the advancement of the Gospel. Today, my dear friends, are you discouraged? 24:44 God says to remember His appointed times. Are you in despair over your 24:48 health, over your marriage, over the direction your children have taken in their lives? 24:53 God says to remember, remember His appointed times, because, friend, here it is. 25:00 As we remember, He increases our faith and prepares us for the appointed time. 25:08 Let us pray. Our dear heavenly Father, we are so thankful that You are 25:12 all-powerful, that You are the sustainer of all things, and You are the deliverer of people. 25:20 We come to You today, asking that You would deliver us, that You would sustain us in our 25:25 life, and You would demonstrate Your power by transforming our lives. 25:29 We submit ourselves to You today and ask for that transformation, that we might be ready for the 25:37 appointed time. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 25:43 My dear friends, there on Sinai, God gave instructions for His people to remember, to remember 25:51 specific feast days that they might recognize that He's all-powerful, He is the 25:58 sustainer of all life, and He is the deliverer. In the same way, He's calling 26:04 upon us to remember, to take those times to remember, to take time at the Lord's Supper to 26:10 remember that God is the deliverer, that He has saved you. 26:15 No matter where you've come from, no matter what your upbringing has been, God has 26:21 delivered you as a brand from the fire, saving you. And then He's also called upon 26:28 us to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, not only does the power 26:33 of the Holy Spirit give us the power to go to all the world, but the power of the 26:38 Holy Spirit, first and foremost, works in our life that we might be changed. 26:45 This power of the Holy Spirit transforms us and gives us the ability to overcome. 26:52 Are you struggling with sin? Are you struggling with some type of addiction? 26:57 Are you being challenged by something in your life and you just want to overcome? 27:03 The promise of God is that there is nothing too hard for Him, and, through the power of the 27:08 Holy Spirit, He will deliver you. But, friend, he also calls upon 27:14 us to remember His Second Coming. You know, the Second Coming of 27:19 Jesus will be the day that ushers in a perfect time, a harmonious time, where there'll 27:27 be no more crying, there'll be no death, there will be no more pain. 27:30 Are you looking forward to that day? You see, the feasts of the 27:34 Old Testament no longer need to be kept by Christians today. Those feasts were all, as the 27:41 Bible calls them, shadows. So, today, for the offer, I want to offer you a book. 27:47 The title of that little booklet is "Feast Days: Shadows of Our Faith." 27:52 This book will walk you through the power of looking at those feast days and seeing how they 27:59 call upon you to remember, remember God's appointed times. You see, God has appointed times 28:07 throughout history where He has done mighty works to save His people, to prepare His people 28:13 for the promised land. And He is calling upon you to have that same remembrance. 28:18 As we look at those feast days, we see them fulfilled in the life of Christ, and we see that 28:25 they will be fulfilled soon. My dear friends, to receive 28:30 today's offer, here is the information that you need. 28:35 >> To request today's offer, just log on to 28:38 www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca. If you prefer, you may call 28:44 toll-free at 1-888-CALL-IIW. >> My dear friends, God has 28:51 appointed times, appointed times in which he calls upon us to 28:55 remember that He's all-powerful, that He is the sustainer, that 29:00 He is the deliverer, and He is coming soon. 29:03 I hope you have found hope through today's program in all 29:07 of those realities. If you would like further 29:10 resources, you can go to our Web page, www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca. 29:16 There you'll find archives of our programs, an opportunity to 29:20 sign up for Bible studies, as well as other resources to grow 29:24 your spiritual life. Friend, thank you so much for joining us today. 29:28 I encourage you to join us again next week. Until then, remember, it is 29:33 written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of 29:41 God." ♪♪ 29:51 ♪♪ 29:58 ♪♪ 30:06 ♪♪ 30:14 ♪♪ |
Revised 2017-12-06