Participants: Pr. Brian McMahon
Series Code: RSH
Program Code: RSH000020
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00:09 The escalation of global terrorism, crime, immorality
00:12 and natural disasters, seems to indicate our world 00:15 is spiraling towards its ultimate hour with destiny. 00:18 Who, if anyone, will survive Earth's final events? 00:21 Discover what Bible prophecy reveals about the rapture, 00:24 the mark of the beast, and Armageddon. 00:26 Though shrouded in mystery for centuries, 00:28 the book of Revelation can be understood today. 00:32 Peer into the future, and see what wonderful things 00:35 God has planned for His people. 00:38 And now, Pastor Brian McMahon presents the powerful 00:41 Bible seminar "Revelation Speaks Hope". 00:48 Our subject for this evening is entitled: [text on screen] 00:53 Today more and more people are becoming interesting 00:56 in prophecy, and as they become interested in prophecy, 00:59 the question is being asked: would God raise up the true gift 01:03 of prophecy again? In other words, not only would 01:07 we see counterfeit prophets, or false prophets, as the Bible 01:10 says, but would we actually see the true gift manifested 01:14 once again? Well, to show you that there's 01:17 such an interest in it, all you have to do is look at the covers 01:19 of many of these magazines that are popping up all over 01:22 the place, and prophecy is taking a focus on the front 01:25 page of many of the most important magazines of 01:27 the country, and not just the main news ones, but even 01:30 the tabloids, every time they want to sell something they put 01:33 "Prophecy" right there at the front and center because they 01:36 know there's a great interest, and even though it's trash 01:39 what they talk about, still people buy it. 01:41 But more than just tabloids and more than just magazines, 01:44 people are buying books on prophecy, and books on 01:47 the occult, trying to get a look into the future, trying to get 01:50 some kind of an idea as to what is coming on the earth. 01:54 So it is books in the past, such as Edgar Cayce have sold over 01:57 a million copies, books such as this one "A gift of prophecy" 02:00 by the now deceased Jeane Dixon, sold over a million 02:03 copies, so people do have a genuine interest in it. 02:07 Jesus warned us about these kinds of things, false prophets 02:10 aren't always easy to spot, they don't hang a placard around 02:14 their neck saying "I'm a false prophet, don't follow me" 02:16 "or I'll deceive you", but Jesus definitely tells us there's 02:19 going to be deception in this area. 02:21 In Matthew 24:5 here's what we read: [text on screen] 02:32 So He warns us right away that there is going to be deception, 02:36 and then in verse 11 of that same chapter, here's what 02:39 we read, it says: [text on screen] 02:46 Now many means "multitudes" here, and in verse 24 it says: 02:49 [text on screen] 03:01 So as we put these various verses of the Bible together, 03:04 notice how many times Scripture warns us against being deceived. 03:08 In Matthew 24 we're told that there's going to be great signs 03:11 and wonders, and there's going to be deception. 03:13 In 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10 we're told that Satan works with 03:16 powers signs and lying wonders, and then Revelation 13:13, 03:20 which we looked at our last Sabbath morning, also showed 03:23 us this second beast, or as it's often referred to as 03:26 the false prophet, which showed great wonders with which he 03:28 deceived. Are miracles the definite 03:31 evidence of a true prophet? Friends, when you see something 03:34 supernatural going on, don't always think it's of God. 03:38 In Revelation 16:14 we read this, it says: [text on screen] 03:48 So yes, there is definitely going to be supernatural 03:52 miracles worked even by the evil one. 03:55 Matthew 7:21 here's what we read, Jesus says: 04:02 "Not everyone that sayeth unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter" 04:05 "into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will" 04:07 "of My Father, which is in heaven." Verse 22: 04:10 "Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not" 04:14 "prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out" 04:18 "devils, and in Thy name have done many wonderful works?" 04:21 Who's name were they doing all these things in? 04:25 Jesus' name. Who's name were they casting 04:27 out devils in? Jesus' name. 04:30 Who's name were they doing many wonderful works in? 04:33 Jesus' name, so because they were doing it in Jesus' name, 04:35 does that automatically mean it's alright? No. 04:38 What does Jesus say in verse 23, it says: "And then I will" 04:41 "profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me" 04:45 "ye that work iniquity." That word "iniquity" there 04:49 literally means "lawlessness", so Jesus' saying "you who are" 04:53 "practicing lawlessness, depart from Me", 04:55 that's why we spent some time in the seminar talking about 04:58 God's law. Think about it with me, 05:01 wouldn't it be just like Satan to raise up a false gift 05:04 and deceive people by; he's called "The Great Deceiver", 05:07 so we shouldn't be surprised by that, but think about this 05:10 also: why would Satan try so hard to raise up a false thing, 05:15 or a counterfeit thing unless there was a genuine? 05:19 Some time ago my sister trained to be a bank teller 05:23 and as she trained to be a bank teller they actually 05:25 took her, and others with her, to a certain place where they 05:28 would study about how to identify counterfeit money. 05:32 She told me about the instance, and I don't know exactly how 05:34 many days they spent on this, but as they were studying 05:36 about counterfeit money, how many counterfeits do you think 05:39 they placed in front of them and made them study? 05:42 Friends, it wasn't 100, and it wasn't 20, they didn't put 05:45 any in front of them. What they did was they put 05:48 the genuine bills in front of these people training to 05:51 identify counterfeits, and they made them study the genuine 05:54 so well over and over, looking at every tiny detail and aspect 05:58 of it that if anything other than a genuine came along 06:01 their path, they would instantly recognize it. 06:04 Friends, that's what God wants us to do, God wants us to look 06:07 at the genuine in His word, and by looking at the genuine, 06:11 if anything other than what we read here comes along, 06:13 we'll know that it's a falsehood. 06:15 Jesus never said "Beware of all prophets in the last days", 06:20 if He wanted us to be aware of everything, well, He would 06:23 have said so, but Jesus never said "Beware of all prophets", 06:26 He said "Beware of false prophets". 06:28 In the book of Amos 3:7 here's what we read in Scripture 06:34 [text on screen] 06:40 So the Lord is telling us before He does anything 06:43 of great significance in the earth, He's first going 06:45 to reveal it ahead of time through the prophetic gift, 06:48 that's good news, I'm glad God tells us about things before 06:51 it happens, aren't you? [Audience] Amen. 06:54 Of course, we have to pay attention in His word in order 06:56 to get the benefit of that, but here's our question: 07:00 what about modern prophets anyway? 07:03 Is there really such a thing as modern prophets? 07:06 Turn with me to the book of Ephesians, and we're going 07:08 to go and get some insight into this, Ephesians 4:8. 07:12 The Bible says: [text on screen] 07:15 "up on high", that's referring to Jesus ascending back 07:18 to heaven, it says: [text on screen] 07:33 Let's stop here for a moment, do we still need teachers 07:36 in God's church who can faithfully teach the Word of God 07:38 and instruct people in the right way? Amen. 07:41 Do we still need pastors who faithfully watch over 07:44 God's flock? Amen. Do we still need evangelists... 07:48 say amen! [Audience] Amen. 07:50 Okay! [Audience laughs] 07:52 Just checking on that one. Now let's think about it, 07:56 we willingly recognize and very readily recognize 08:00 that yes, pastors are necessary, and teachers are necessary, 08:06 and evangelists have their purpose, but what about 08:09 prophets? It means prophets right 08:11 along with the rest of them. Sometimes people think 08:13 "Well, we've got all these other gifts, but prophets is just" 08:16 "for the Old Testament, that's Old Testament stuff." 08:19 Well, if that's Old Testament stuff, then all these other 08:22 things are Old Testament stuff too, right? 08:24 Let's continue our study by going to 1 Corinthians 1. 08:28 [text on screen] 08:35 "You" - being the church, is what He's talking about, 08:39 [text on screen] 08:45 So here in 1 Corinthians 1:6,7 we're told that the church 08:49 that's waiting for the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ, is to 08:53 come behind in no gifts. That means they have 08:57 all the gifts, they're not to lack in any of the gifts. 09:00 If we want to find God's last day church as we studied 09:03 our last night together, then we want to find 09:05 a church that has the gift of prophecy as well, because 09:08 the Bible tells us that that last day church is to come 09:12 behind in no gift, which means it has all of the gifts, 09:15 including the gift of prophecy. Revelation shows us God's last 09:18 day church, and it shows us the woman fleeing into 09:23 the wilderness, that's God's church going into obscurity, 09:26 or hiding during the time of the Dark Ages, and then after 09:29 the Dark Ages there's going to be an open manifestation of 09:31 the church once again before Jesus comes back, because they 09:34 are raised up to give a particular message. 09:37 Speaking of that raising up of the church, here we find in 09:39 Revelation 12:17, it says: [text on screen] 10:02 Well, what is, exactly, the testimony of Jesus Christ? 10:05 Let's let the Bible define it for us a little more carefully, 10:08 let's go to Revelation 19. 10:13 Just like 2 coordinates will pinpoint a certain area 10:17 on a grid, a certain specific location on a grid, so God 10:22 gives 2 specific coordinates for His remnant church, His last day 10:26 people: they lovingly keep God's commandments out of faithfulness 10:29 to Jesus, and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10:34 As far as what the testimony of Jesus Christ is, we're going 10:36 to let the Bible define it for us, Revelation 19:10, 10:41 it says: [text on screen] 10:59 So the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, 11:01 and who is it that has the testimony of Jesus? 11:04 If you go back to that verse it says "...thy brethren that have" 11:07 "the testimony of Jesus", so it's the brethren that have it. 11:10 Well, who are the brethren? Well, the Bible actually answers 11:13 that for us as well, just turn ahead a little bit 11:16 to Revelation 22:8,9. 11:25 Here it says: [text on screen] 11:36 So here the Bible tells us who the brethren are, it says 11:39 "thy brethren are the prophets", so what we're finding 11:43 is that the remnant church has the testimony of Jesus, 11:46 which is the spirit of prophecy, which is found in the prophets. 11:50 People will often say: "Well, we've seen these other gifts" 11:54 "in various churches, pastors, and teachers, and evangelists," 11:57 "and so on, why don't we see the gift of prophecy" 12:01 "manifested very much, why is it that that gift seems" 12:03 "to be lacking"? I'm going to take you 12:06 the book of Jeremiah 26:4,5, it says here in God's word: 12:12 [text on screen] 12:28 "but you have not hearkened", that means 12:31 "you have not obeyed". 12:33 Notice folks that here God puts 2 very important things together 12:36 in this passage, He speaks about the fact that they did not 12:39 obey His law, and they did not obey the prophets. 12:42 The 2 things, the law and the prophets, go together 12:45 in Scripture. In fact, sometimes the Old 12:48 Testament is just condensed into say it's the law 12:50 and the prophets. Let's look ahead a little bit 12:53 more, go to the book of Ezekiel this time if you would. 12:55 Ezekiel 20:2: [text on screen] 13:06 Let me pause there, how did the people come to enquire 13:10 of God? Well, they came through 13:13 the prophets, if they wanted a word from God, 13:15 they'd go to the prophet, male or female, and they'd say 13:18 "Is there any word from the Lord?", and the prophet, 13:20 if there was a word, would receive it from God and pass it 13:23 on to the people. So then let's keep reading, 13:26 it says: [text on screen] 13:30 Let me pause there again, what the Lord is saying here 13:33 is He's saying "I'm not speaking to you." 13:36 "I'm not going to speak to you", why not? 13:39 Obviously there's a problem, let's keep reading, He says: 13:42 [text on screen] 13:47 So obviously they weren't being obedient, He says: 13:50 [text on screen] 14:17 Notice what it goes on to say: [text on screen] 14:27 "...them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them," 14:32 "that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them". 14:35 Let's go to another one, go to the book of Lamentations. 14:41 The book of Lamentations 2:9, it says "Her gates are" 14:46 "sunk into the ground" - gates were used to keep the enemy out, 14:50 [text on screen] 15:00 Was Israel keeping the law at this time, yes or no? 15:03 No. Were the prophets finding 15:05 vision from the Lord at this time? No. 15:08 You see, when Israel was especially rebellious 15:11 and defiant, they would not get the kind of communication from 15:14 God as God desired for them. Even King Saul, when King Saul 15:17 was being disobedient towards God, the Bible specifically says 15:23 that God would not speak to him through the prophets. 15:27 So there's something about disobedience to God's law 15:30 that is so severe that God says "No, I'm not going to use" 15:34 "this gift as I normally did", because for God to speak to us, 15:38 for the Almighty Creator to condescend to speak to us 15:40 who are of dust, that is a privilege that we have, that God 15:44 would speak to us; and in the Old Testament the prophet 15:47 was called "The Seer", in other words the prophet was like 15:50 the eyes of the church, and as the prophet was given 15:54 instruction from God and could then pass it on the church, 15:58 the church received guidance they had insight, they had eye 16:01 sight to be able to go where they needed to go, that's why 16:04 the Bible tells us "Where there is no vision, the people perish" 16:07 it's like having a blind church. Here's the answer to our 16:10 original question friends: why is it that so many churches 16:14 today lack the gift of prophecy, it's because they have thrown 16:18 out God's law, and because they have thrown out God's law, 16:22 God will not speak to them through that gift anymore, 16:25 and specifically, they have cast aside God's Sabbath day, 16:31 God's special sign of allegiance to Him, which we've looked 16:34 at on more than 1 night, as God saying "That was My sign" 16:37 "between Myself and My people that they might know that I'm" 16:40 "the Lord their God". Friends, when you cast away 16:42 the Sabbath, you cast away God's special sign. 16:45 You see, some people will say "But I don't know if I want" 16:48 "that gift, we have the Bible, we have the Bible writers," 16:51 "why should we have an additional gift?" 16:53 Friends, in the book of Acts we're told, and it's really 16:56 quoting from the book of Joel, that God will pour out His 16:59 Spirit on the church in the last days and that His sons 17:01 and daughters will prophesy. It is predicted that the church 17:04 would have that gift. But in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 17:07 Paul says: [text on screen] 17:14 So Paul is saying "Don't despise the gift, but test the gift." 17:18 "If the gift is truly Biblical, if it's along the lines" 17:21 "of what God said His gift would be, then don't despise" 17:23 "it, hold fast because that is a good thing." 17:28 It is a good thing! Well, how in the world 17:29 are we to tell the true from the false? 17:32 There's a lot of people that say that they have that gift, 17:35 just because you say it it doesn't necessarily make it so 17:38 at all, it's got to be along the lines of the Biblical gift, 17:40 it has got to pass the test of a true prophet, male or female. 17:44 Well, the Bible gives specific tests that we can know the true 17:47 from the false, and aren't you glad that God gives us those 17:50 things, so we can understand, so we don't just have to take 17:53 anything what someone might call the gift. 17:55 Turn with me to the first text that we're going to look at, 17:58 it's found in Jeremiah 28. 18:04 When someone says "Well, I don't need any additional gift" 18:07 "because I accept the Bible and the Bible only", 18:10 listen carefully friends, if we accept the Bible and the Bible 18:13 only as our final rule of faith, then that means that we will 18:16 accept what the Bible says about the gift of prophecy, 18:19 does that make sense to you? 18:21 If the Bible is our authority, and it's the Bible that says 18:24 God will have that gift in the church, then we accept what 18:27 the Bible says about that gift. In Jeremiah 28:9 here's what 18:32 we read, it says: [text on screen] 18:42 How many times is it that people have published these tabloids. 18:47 and as they published tabloids they say "this is going" 18:49 "to happen in 1998, and this is going to happen in 1999", 18:52 and it just never happens. Friends, it's false prophecy. 18:57 You see these kinds of things appearing in tabloid covers, 19:02 this one says the second coming is going to happen in 1998, 19:06 another one talking about how Christmas 1999 is going 19:09 to change the world, well it never happened. 19:12 Let's go on in our testing of prophets if you would, 19:15 go to Deuteronomy 13. As you're turning there 19:20 let me share something with you that a lot of people wonder 19:23 about, they'll ask me and they'll say "Hang on" 19:25 "pastor Brian", they'll say, "didn't Jonah predict that" 19:28 "Nineveh was going to be overthrown in 40 days and it" 19:31 "wasn't overthrown in 40 days, so does that make Jonah" 19:33 "a false prophet?" Well no, it doesn't make Jonah 19:36 a false prophet because there's what we call "conditional" 19:39 "prophecy", it was implied, although not explicitly stated, 19:42 that if Nineveh would repent they would not be overthrown, 19:45 otherwise why bother even preaching to them. 19:47 But if they did not repent, they would be overthrown, and of 19:52 course Nineveh repented, at least for a time, and the city 19:55 was spared, and there is what we call "conditional prophecy" 19:58 that is conditional upon the response of the people. 20:01 So no, Jonah wasn't a false prophet at all. 20:04 And secondarily we go to Deuteronomy 13:1. 20:14 It says: [text on screen] 20:40 "proveth you", which means "tests you", [continues to read] 20:47 So what the Bible is telling us here is that a prophet can make 20:51 a prediction, and that prediction just might come true, 20:55 but if that prediction leads people away from the Bible, 20:58 we are not to go after that prophet, we are not to follow 21:01 what that prophet says because all true prophecy leads us 21:05 back to Scripture, never away from Scripture. 21:09 Sometimes God raises up prophets, either male or female, 21:14 to lead His church through a specific period of time, often 21:18 a crisis period of time, and it's very important that we 21:21 listen to the messenger that God sends. 21:25 For example, in the book of Luke 7:28-30, Jesus said: 21:30 [text on screen] 21:52 What we're learning here is that it says the words of John 21:55 the Baptist were the counsel of God, that sounds like a very 22:00 serious thing, doesn't it? It was when they rejected 22:02 what John had to say, it says they rejected the counsel 22:06 of God, so is it a serious thing to listen to God's 22:08 prophets? Amen, we don't want to reject 22:11 any of the counsel of God, we want all the counsel that God 22:15 sends us. The first test then is: 22:20 [text on screen] 22:31 1 John 4:1,2 is where we want to read, John says: 22:36 [text on screen] 22:47 But what are the true prophets going to talk about? 22:50 Here in 1 John 4:2 it says [text on screen] 23:00 So the true gift is going to exalt the ministry of Jesus, 23:04 exalt the life of Jesus, talk about the death of Jesus, 23:08 the teachings of Jesus, the High Priestly ministry of Jesus, 23:11 it's going to talk about every aspect of Jesus, why? 23:14 Because we want all that God has to give us through His Son. 23:18 Have you noticed what some of these world famous psychics 23:21 even talk about, here's one, Star Magazine. 23:24 It says "Jeane Dixon, Summer Predictions By World's" 23:27 "Top Psychic", so what is the world's top psychic supposedly 23:32 talking about? Well, here's some of her 23:34 predictions: there's going to be a new baby for Demi, 23:37 that's a Hollywood personality, a new love for Dolly, 23:41 fed up Oprah's going to dump her fiance, Goldie's going to be 23:43 in a love triangle, Liz's lucky summer and Queen Di fights 23:45 for her kids. Not very spiritual in terms 23:49 of its content, amen? There's another one I want 23:52 to share with you, another test of the true gift. 23:54 Go with me to the book of Isaiah 8. 23:56 The Bible says the true gift is high, and holy, and noble, 24:05 it is accurate, it leads people back to the Bible, it leads 24:09 them to Jesus, it recognizes Him as the Son of God, 24:13 these Hollywood personalities, and these Hollywood psychics, 24:16 many of them don't even claim to be Christians, let alone 24:18 lifting up Jesus. Okay, Isaiah 8:20, 24:25 the Bible says: [text on screen] 24:34 It doesn't matter how rich that church may be, how big 24:36 that church may be, how popular that church may be, 24:39 the Bible says "to the law and the testimony", if they don't 24:42 speak according to that there is no light, and we need light 24:46 in a spiritually dark world, don't we? 24:49 In the book of Numbers we're told in chapter 24:4 that 24:54 [text on screen] 25:01 These are the kinds of things that only a Bible student 25:04 recognizes, but you don't often hear when you talk about 25:07 people, or you listen to people who say that they get 25:09 dreams and visions. The dreams and visions 25:12 that God gives His servants come only in a specific way. 25:16 Now, there is another one in the book of Daniel 10, and it tells 25:19 us that in prophetic vision the prophets lose 25:22 their own physical strength and God supernaturally 25:25 strengthens them. Just in case that wasn't enough, 25:28 also in Daniel 10, the prophets do not breathe in vision, 25:34 it's not just for Daniel 10, it's talking about in general. 25:36 When people are given a specific vision of the Lord, 25:41 as true prophets, they do not breathe. 25:44 That means something supernatural has taken place, 25:47 God is supernaturally sustaining them for the period of time 25:50 in which they're given this vision. 25:53 So there's physical tests then that are involved in God's true 25:57 prophets, but there's another one that we're going to look at, 25:59 turn to Matthew 7 where we were earlier tonight. 26:02 Matthew 7:15, this test is that a genuine prophet is going 26:07 to have spiritual fruitage. What do we mean we say 26:10 "spiritual fruitage", that means that the prophet's main 26:13 concern, the prophet's counsels, the prophets focus in life 26:18 is going to be about spiritual matters. 26:20 Now, the prophet's not going to write book after book after book 26:24 to try to make millions of dollars and get rich, 26:27 the prophet is going to write in such a way that people are 26:30 saved into God's kingdom, that just makes sense. 26:33 So Matthew 7:15, and here the Bible says: [text on screen] 26:47 How are we going to know who truly is the true from 26:50 the false, look what Jesus has to say here in verse 16, 26:53 Jesus says: [text on screen] 27:01 And then in verse 20 Jesus reiterates that and He says 27:04 in verse 20: [text on screen] 27:07 So that is to say: "what is the spiritual fruitage of this" 27:11 "person's life? Were they Godly people?" 27:14 "Did they live in such a way and conduct them self in such a way" 27:17 "as a true prophet of God would, or were they immoral?" 27:22 "Were they evil", and that's one way of knowing it wasn't 27:25 a true prophet of God. So it's very important that 27:28 true prophets show that they are by their fruits, by that which 27:32 their life reveals. There's another insight that 27:36 goes along with that in 1 Corinthians 12:28, 27:39 here in the Lord's word it says this: [text on screen] 27:55 So where does God put the true gift? 27:58 God puts the true gifts in His church, that His church may 28:02 receive the benefit, that His church may receive edifying, 28:05 that His church may be ready for the soon coming of Jesus. 28:08 The true gift is found in God's church. 28:13 So we find that it's very important that the gift is: 28:17 [text on screen] 28:31 The work of a prophet is often thought by people just for 28:34 telling the future, but that is really only 1 part, 28:36 and sometimes a small part of a prophet's mission. 28:40 For example, the true gift of the prophet involves: 28:43 [text on screen] 28:59 So all of this is involved in the true work of a prophet. 29:04 Let's go back to our text in Revelation 12. 29:09 Remember that in God's last day remnant church, God was going 29:14 to place this gift. In our last study, 29:18 just in the previous night, we found a very detailed 29:23 description of God's last day church in Revelation 14, 29:28 and in that description we found that many characteristics 29:33 putting together, only identify 1 specific church, 29:37 that God's last day church would rise up after 1978, they would 29:41 preach the everlasting gospel, they would preach loyalty 29:43 to all of God's commandments, they would be keeping God's 29:46 7th day Sabbath, because that's one of His 10 commandments, 29:49 they would preach the hour of God's message has come... 29:52 all of this has come from Revelation 12, and especially 29:55 Revelation 14...they would give glory to God through 29:58 a health message, they would speak of the mark of the beast 30:00 and the image of the beast, which is Revelation 14:9-11, 30:03 they would have the gift of prophecy, which is what we're 30:06 looking at tonight, they would teach about death being a sleep 30:09 to the resurrection day, they would teach the truth about 30:11 the second coming of Jesus, that's Revelation 14:14, 30:14 and they would call people out of Babylon, Revelation 14:8, 30:17 and they would be a worldwide church with a worldwide message. 30:20 All of that described God's last day remnant church, 30:23 all of that came right from the Bible itself, and then we can be 30:26 objective about it and say "what is the only church" 30:30 "that fulfills all of that criteria?" 30:33 Friends, I shared with you last time that there is only 1 church 30:36 and may I say it ever so humbly, without pretense, 30:39 that is the Seventh Day Adventist church, the church 30:42 that is bringing you this very seminar on Bible prophecy. 30:44 Friends, having said that, you could very well be asked: 30:48 has God placed this gift inside that church to show that it's 30:53 His last day church? Sometimes people will say 30:55 "Oh, I hear you have that gift in your church," 30:58 "why is that?" Friends, if the Bible says 31:01 the gift is going to be in God's last day church, 31:04 then the better question would be, if a person doesn't have 31:07 that gift in their church, you might well ask: 31:10 why don't you have that gift in the church? 31:12 It shouldn't be surprising to us that God has the gift 31:15 if the Bible says the gift will be there. 31:18 So again, we would ask the question: why is it that so many 31:20 churches don't have it? But that's not what I want 31:23 to be concerned with right now. How is it that God restored 31:26 that gift to His remnant church? I want to tell you the thrilling 31:29 story of that right now. After that long period that we 31:32 call the Dark Ages, God again was going to have an open 31:36 manifestation of His last day message, of His people, 31:39 they were in obscurity during the time of the Dark Ages, 31:42 but after the Dark Ages, God wanted a visible church 31:45 preaching a special message. So at the end of the Dark Ages 31:51 Bible societies started to spring up everywhere, millions 31:53 of Bibles were published, and there was a tremendous spiritual 31:57 revival, called "The Great Awakening" in America. 32:00 People were focused on the second coming of Jesus, 32:03 they thought that Jesus was going to come very, very soon, 32:05 even in the 1840s. Now, what was happening was 32:08 people were being rejected by their churches for wanting 32:12 to step out and preach that Jesus was coming soon, they 32:15 were students of the Word, and there were Baptists, 32:18 and Methodists, and Presbyterians and Christians 32:21 from other churches, and they were coming out and they were 32:24 giving all their heart to the fact that they believed that 32:26 they should get their lives ready for the coming 32:29 of the Lord. Of course, Jesus didn't come and 32:32 they were bitterly disappointed, but what was God going to do 32:36 with this group of people who were saying to them self 32:39 "We want nothing in our Christianity, but that which" 32:42 "the Bible says", now that's a worthy goal, amen? 32:46 "We want nothing except a 'Thus sayeth the Lord...' " 32:49 "for our faith"; they were tired of the traditions of the church 32:52 they were tired of the words of man and the philosophies of man, 32:56 they wanted only what the Bible said, in other words, 32:59 they wanted the truth as it is in Jesus. 33:01 What was God going to do to put His stamp of approval 33:05 on a group of people that would be a movement of destiny 33:08 and take His last day message to the world? 33:12 Well, again, I want to go back to an earlier text, 33:14 in Amos 3:7 it says: [text on screen] 33:23 God would use the gift of prophecy once again 33:26 to show that He had an end time people with an end time message. 33:30 So yes, faithful to His word, God is going to raise up 33:33 that gift of prophecy to guide His people, and unify them, 33:37 not just here in America, but all over the world. 33:40 So God laid His Spirit upon a certain individual. 33:46 You might very well ask me the question up here and say 33:50 "Have you ever seen a case where all the prophetic tests" 33:54 "that we've gone over fit the ministry of any" 33:57 "particular individual?" I'm going to share with you now, 34:00 a few moments, about 1 particular person that I 34:03 believe had that true gift of prophecy in their life and in 34:06 their ministry. I don't ask you, dear friends, 34:09 to believe it simply because I'm telling you, we learned 34:12 opening night in this seminar that we are to prove all things 34:15 and hold fast that which is good, and that you don't have 34:17 to believe anything that I say because I'm saying it, but we 34:20 should all take the time to prove it, and now that we've 34:25 shared with you the tests of a prophet, now you can take 34:30 those tests and you could apply them to any particular person, 34:33 including the one that I'm about to tell you about. 34:36 If God is going to put His Spirit upon someone, how does 34:39 He do that? Would you look with me 34:41 to the book of Numbers 12. I don't think we've been there 34:46 in the entire prophecy seminar, but that's the 4th book 34:49 of the Bible, Numbers 12:6. 35:03 It says: [text on screen] 35:20 So God says "If there's going to be a prophet, I am going" 35:23 "to speak to that person in visions and dreams", and that's 35:26 exactly how God does speak to them. 35:29 God doesn't speak through crystal balls, and Ouija boards, 35:34 and seances, and tea leaf reading, and any one 35:37 of a hundred things that the false prophets use, God has 35:40 a specific way, He says I will give visions in the day 35:43 and dreams at night. Friends, God laid His 35:46 Holy Spirit upon a young 17 year old girl, her name at 35:51 the time was Ellen Harmon, she later married a minister 35:54 named James White, so her married name was Ellen White. 35:57 She was only 17 years of age when this happened. 36:01 She first became a spokes person for Him in the year 1844, 36:04 I hope that year rings familiar in your ears, she was born 36:09 in 1827, she died in the state of California in the year 1915. 36:14 She had a ministry of some...oh my, it was over 60 years I guess 36:21 it was. Friends, this lady, 17 years 36:26 of age at the time, was inspired by God to write out what 36:31 she had seen in her visions and in her dreams. 36:34 During her lifetime it is estimated that she wrote out 36:38 more than 100,000 manuscript pages, because the had over 36:43 2,000 visions and dreams, it is said that she wrote out 36:46 some 25 million words, and she's been quoted by some 36:51 as being so translated, so widely translated that she was 36:57 the most translated American author in all of human history, 37:03 the most translated American author of either male or female, 37:08 the 4th most translated author in all of history, most in 37:14 American history, but 4th most in all of history, and the most 37:18 female translated author in all of history. 37:21 I'm going to have pastor Mike bring out just a couple things 37:23 that I'm going to refer to as I go through this next part. 37:26 Thank you pastor, I appreciate that. 37:29 God called her to be a spokes person for Him, she wrote 37:32 on many, many subjects that she had never before studied, 37:35 she wrote on health, she wrote on science, she wrote on 37:38 theology, she wrote on marriage, she wrote on the family, 37:41 she wrote on history, she wrote on, especially, the great 37:45 controversy between good and evil, that was her favorite 37:48 topic, she wrote about how to have victory in Jesus, 37:51 she wrote about how to be a Christian, she wrote about 37:53 all kinds of subjects, and yet she had very little formal 37:56 education. There is a depth and there 38:00 is a power to her writings that can't simply be explained 38:03 through human influence. The Bible says it would be 38:07 the testimony of Jesus. The gift is not the person, 38:12 but the gift is the prophetic influence that works through 38:15 the person to bless the church; Jesus says there's a gift 38:18 of evangelism, a gift of teaching, a gift of pastoring, 38:23 so there is a gift of prophecy that God uses in order to bless 38:26 His people. In spite of the fact that she 38:30 was initially quite shy, God strengthened her to be able 38:33 to speak before large crowds without the use of a microphone, 38:35 she spoke before 20,000 people without the aid of a microphone. 38:39 I have a hard time speaking to you with a microphone, and yet 38:43 she had no problem because she was supernaturally strengthened. 38:47 Now let me share with you just a few things about 38:51 Ellen White. This was one of the smallest 38:53 books she ever wrote, called "Steps to Christ", a fantastic 38:57 book about how to become a Christian, this book was 38:59 published by so many millions of copies that they lost count 39:03 of it, it's inestimable how many millions of copies have been 39:07 printed of the book, "Steps to Christ"; 39:09 translated in over 120 languages of the world, we're going 39:12 to give you this copy, not this copy, but a soft cover, 39:17 when you go out tonight, just so you can get a little glimpse 39:19 into how beautiful her writing is. 39:21 This book about how to become a Christian is such a beautiful, 39:25 profound book, it doesn't matter if you've been 39:28 a Christian for 1 week or 50 years, you can come back to this 39:31 book and be blessed by it, some of you already know 39:34 what I'm talking about. Let me just turn this table 39:38 if I could. There we go. 39:43 1 particular book she wrote, oh, I love this book, 39:45 this is called "Christ Object Lessons", this book, 39:48 "Christ Object Lessons" is all on the parables of Jesus. 39:51 Have you ever read the parables of Jesus and some of them are 39:54 quite short and you wonder "Am I getting all the information" 39:57 "that this parable really has for me?" 40:00 "Am I getting everything that God intended for me to have" 40:02 "through this parable", well, you read this book, 40:05 "Christ Object Lessons" all on the parables of Jesus and 40:07 there'll be 1 parable and there'll be page, after page, 40:10 after page, not leading away from the Bible, 40:14 but it's like a magnifying glass on the Bible that just shows 40:18 the beauty of it. Absolutely astounding truth 40:23 coming out of the words of Jesus through the gift of prophecy. 40:27 Another book that she wrote called "Education", 40:33 this book, "Education", is an absolute masterpiece on 40:37 Christian education, and this book has become the blueprint 40:41 for a Christian educational system that has gone around 40:44 the world, so much so that people have tried to plagiarize 40:46 it and make it their own, simply because they knew that nothing 40:49 better could be found. This book is all about how 40:53 to raise children in Godly schools, and what the true 40:57 purpose of Christian education is all about, 41:00 making us more into the image of Jesus. 41:03 Fantastic material there, such as I've never seen 41:06 anywhere else. There is another book that 41:10 Ellen White wrote and it's called the "The Desire of Ages", 41:14 let me just share with you a little bit about this book, 41:16 "The Desire of Ages". Ellen White, as she wrote about 41:20 the life of Jesus, again, I'm telling you: [text on screen] 41:34 She was widely travelled, spoke in many different ways and means 41:43 and churches, and so on, but it's very important that 41:45 Ellen White, along with anyone else, fits the prophetic tests 41:49 of a true prophet if that's indeed what she was. 41:53 She was prophetically accurate. In other words, all of her 41:58 writings, the things she said, have come true. 42:01 One of the things that she wrote about was about 42:03 the fact that tobacco was an insidious poison in the body. 42:08 Let me just put this up here, in the book of "The Ministry" 42:11 "of Healing", which I'm going to talk to you about 42:14 in just a moment, she said [text on screen] 42:17 Now she wrote that at a time when doctors were actually 42:21 prescribing tobacco for lung ailments, in other words, 42:24 she went directly against the medical advice of her time, 42:28 she wasn't one to fall in line with anyone, she wrote what 42:31 God showed her to write, and she didn't write what God 42:33 didn't show her to write. In other words, she was 42:36 absolutely accurate, and of course, modern day science 42:39 has revealed that that was true. She wrote about how 42:44 the influence of the mother, even the mental condition 42:49 of the mother can affect the unborn child in the womb, 42:52 that's just coming out in recent years, she wrote about 42:54 how the diet of the mother can affect the unborn child. 42:58 In other words, modern day science, one after another 43:02 after another is confirming what she wrote over 100 years ago. 43:06 Now, what about a Biblical faithfulness, that was another 43:09 test that we wanted to talk to you about. 43:11 I'm going to give you a couple quotes from her books, 43:14 this one from the book "Great Controversy", what was 43:17 her relationship to the Bible? She said this: [text on screen] 43:34 Then she went on and she says [text on screen] 43:44 She did not say "listen to me because of my wisdom," 43:47 or "listen to me because I'm something special", she said 43:50 "No, the Bible is the authoritative standard in" 43:54 "the Christian life", this is very different from what some 43:56 other churches have for their spokes people. 44:00 For example, the Mormon faith, they claim that Joseph Smith 44:03 was a prophet. Now, Joseph Smith claimed that 44:06 his information was superior to the Bible, Joseph Smith said 44:08 "if there's a conflict between what I say and what" 44:11 "the Bible says, take what I say because I'm more recent", 44:14 and he would have his own reasons, friends we would have 44:17 to reject that because the Bible says the spirit of the prophets 44:19 is subject to the prophets, that means that any prophet 44:22 that comes after the time of the closing of the canon 44:25 of Scripture, is always going to agree with what the former 44:28 prophet said, they're going to come into harmony with 44:31 the Bible. No person that calls them self 44:34 a prophet is every going...or no true prophet, I should say, 44:39 is ever going to speak against what has already been confirmed 44:43 as spiritually inspired of God. Now there's another quote 44:49 from the book "Great Controversy", one of my 44:52 absolute favorites, here she said: [text on screen] 45:07 So you can see, all through her life she was constantly lifting 45:10 up the Bible and saying "Friends, follow the Bible". 45:14 This reminds me also that no person is a self appointed 45:20 prophet. In other words, if a person 45:23 comes along, and they, all of a sudden get up in front 45:25 of you, or any kind of congregation, and they start 45:28 saying "I'm now going to have that gift", you're going to know 45:31 right away that that's not a true prophet because God always 45:34 calls the prophet. Do you realize that the church 45:37 has been given authority to ordain a teacher, the church 45:44 has been given authority to ordain the pastor, 45:47 and the church has been given authority to ordain 45:50 the evangelist, but only God ordains the prophet. 45:53 The church can't call the prophet, and no one can self 45:56 appoint them self as a prophet, so we realize that God has 46:00 to call that person in a specific way. 46:03 So yes, she was Biblically faithful. 46:06 What about exalting Jesus? Here's what she had to say, 46:09 this is just 1 of thousands we could quote. 46:11 In the book "Gospel Workers" she said: [text on screen] 46:25 Friends, that was her life work in order to try to show people 46:29 truly the ministry of Jesus, beautiful, beautiful work that 46:34 it is. I'm going to share with you 46:38 from one of her books, let's see if we have it here, 46:42 I hope we do. 46:58 No, we don't, I don't have that book up here, it's okay. 47:03 I am going to share with you about one of her books 47:06 called "The Desire of Ages". In the book "The Desire of Ages" 47:10 there have been literally thousands of books written 47:14 on the life of Jesus throughout time, and one particular 47:21 Library of Congress librarian was asked this question: 47:25 "Of all the books on the life of Jesus, what one book" 47:29 "would you pick? If you could pick 1 book," 47:31 "which one would it be?" And this is what this librarian 47:34 had to say, he said: [text on screen] 47:56 When she wrote the book "The Desire of Ages", you feel 47:59 you were right there with Jesus as He was preaching, 48:02 you feel you were right there with the disciples by the sea 48:05 of Galilee, you feel you were right there at the Mount 48:08 of Beatitudes when Jesus gave the blessings there, it is just 48:11 amazing how you are transported into that very time, 48:15 and a blessing, as you listen to the words that are written. 48:17 Again, we don't exalt any human being, we want to only exalt 48:22 Jesus, but the gift is meant to exalt Jesus, absolutely. 48:28 Now, what about commandment keeping? 48:31 She, throughout her life, always directed people to God's 48:34 commandments, that was her desire to lead people back 48:38 to commandment keeping, just as all of the prophets of old did, 48:41 and what about physical tests? It's important that I share 48:43 this little bit with you too. The Bible says that the true 48:47 prophet will be supernaturally sustained, was she? 48:49 Absolutely friends. In fact, not only was she 48:53 supernaturally strengthened during the time of her visions, 48:56 but she did not breath during the time of her visions, 48:59 she had over 2,000 visions and dreams and people who were 49:02 critics would often be invited in to actually be able 49:05 to observe this taking place, so that they also could see 49:08 that God was moving in her life and in her ministry. 49:11 So that was also confirmed in her, and what about 49:14 spiritual fruitage, what was the result of her long life 49:19 called of God? Well, there were schools that 49:22 were raised up around the world, there were hospitals raised up 49:26 around the world because we're not just spiritual beings, 49:30 we're mental, and we're physical beings, and God wants 49:32 to minister in all of those areas, and of course, 49:35 missionaries were sent out in those days to brings the Word 49:39 all over the world. We have, today, ADRA, which is 49:44 basically the same as The Red Cross, and that's giving 49:49 ministry and aid to people all around the world. 49:53 So because of her work, because of her writings, the church has 49:57 been raised up to do all of these wonderful things which God 50:00 desired for us to do. 50:03 Remember, when someone says "Oh, I hear you have" 50:07 "an additional gift of prophecy, do you have another Bible then?" 50:09 Friends, I've only had 1 book up here all these nights, 50:12 and that is the Word of God. When you have the Word of God 50:15 that is all you need to be able to preach the Christian 50:18 faith from, but the true gift is going to lead us back 50:21 to the Word of God, and exalt the Word of God, in fact, 50:24 Ellen White herself said if everyone would study the Word 50:26 as we should, there'd be no need for an additional gift 50:29 of prophecy, but the true gift always leads us back 50:32 to Scripture. You might say "Well, you're" 50:36 "going to say nice things about her because the was part" 50:39 "of your church", well let me share with you what some 50:41 people said that were not of our church, just to give 50:44 this to you. When she died in 1915 in California, 50:47 the St. Helen's California Star Magazine said this: 50:51 [text on screen] 51:02 In other words, here was a secular paper that recognized 51:05 in her life and ministry, spiritual fruitage. 51:08 Now, another one, The New York City Independent newspaper 51:10 said this: [text on screen] 51:19 "filthy lucre" - means she did not write to get herself rich, 51:23 in fact, just the opposite, this newspaper said: [text on screen] 51:31 Isn't it amazing that a secular newspaper would look at her life 51:34 and say "This was truly the work of a prophet." 51:38 Now, you've heard of Paul Harvey perhaps, 51:40 Paul Harvey News, well Paul Harvey had this to say 51:43 not too many years ago: [text on screen] 52:28 Isn't interesting the way he ends that? He's saying there's 52:31 something to be a great blessing here. 52:34 Now you've heard of Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, 52:38 he was quoted as saying this: [text on screen] 52:50 I find that very interesting as well. 52:52 I haven't shared with you all that I have up here, 52:56 but God inspired her to write on a number of subjects 53:02 as I've said, and in a time of crisis God desires us to have 53:10 special insight to take us through that crisis. 53:13 Are we in a crisis with the family today? 53:17 Isn't it true that the Devil is especially trying to attack 53:20 the very foundation of society, which is the Christian family, 53:24 and tear it apart. Well, she wrote a book all about 53:27 how to have Godly, Christian families, beautiful, beautiful 53:32 book called "The Christian Home", she also wrote about how 53:38 to raise Godly children, are our children under special attack? 53:43 Are children especially being separated out by the Devil 53:46 to try to get them to walk away from the foundation of the home 53:50 and rebel against the parents, and rebel against here 53:53 and there? Friends, she wrote all about 53:55 how to raise Godly, Christian children. I share that with you 54:01 because God wants to prepare people for heaven, 54:08 and the Devil wants to get us to miss the blessing that we 54:14 could have through that gift of prophecy. 54:17 Tonight I know many of you are looking for God's church, 54:21 and as you're looking for God's church 54:27 you're saying "Lord, where do I go?" 54:32 As you're looking for God's church you're saying 54:35 "Lord, where is Your truth, and where is Your message?" 54:39 And the Bible answers it back and says "The Dragon was wroth" 54:44 "with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her" 54:47 "seed, which keep the commandments of God and have" 54:50 "the testimony of Jesus Christ." And the Bible says 54:52 the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. 54:57 God is going to have a remnant people preaching a special 55:02 end time message, and as our last verse tonight, I want you 55:06 to turn with me to 2 Chronicles 20. 55:12 2 Chronicles 20:20. 55:32 And here the Bible says: [text on screen] 55:53 The Devil doesn't want men and women to sense that God 55:55 has a special movement on the earth, the Devil doesn't want 55:59 Christian homes, the Devil doesn't want families together, 56:03 the Devil doesn't want Godly children, the Devil doesn't 56:07 want you to have insight into the Scriptures, the Devil 56:10 doesn't want us to have any of these, Jesus is always first, 56:15 the Bible is always first, but if God has a true gift then 56:20 that's what the gift of prophecy is, it's a gift. 56:24 If God has a true gift, the least we can do is open up 56:28 that gift and take a look at it. We look to no human leader, 56:33 we only look to Jesus, but I want what God has to give 56:36 me through that gift, and my prayer for all of us tonight 56:39 as we finish this subject is that the Lord, God, will 56:42 continue to lead us, to guide us in His word, and have 56:46 all the blessings of the gifts of the Spirit in our life. 56:49 I pray that for myself, and I pray that for you. 56:51 Would you stand with me as we close tonight in prayer. 56:58 Father in heaven, we stand here to our feet, and we thank You 57:01 that You have not left Your church to be blind in this last 57:05 day, but You have given a tremendous amount of information 57:10 inspired of heaven, that no matter where the Devil has 57:14 sought to attack, we can counterattack, Lord, 57:19 with inspired counsel. Lord, I thank You that You 57:23 are putting a hedge about Your last day people. 57:26 Again, Lord, You have counseled us to prove all things, 57:29 hold fast that which is good, and if You have given us 57:32 a wonderful gift in the gift of prophecy, help us to receive 57:36 that gift and to be blessed by that gift. 57:39 Dismiss us now, we pray, from this place, but not from Your 57:42 presence, for we ask it all in the lovely name of Jesus, 57:46 amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17