Participants: Mark Finley (Host), Shelley Quinn & C. A. Murray
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY015094A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:07 And welcome to 3ABN today. 01:10 You will be-- may be surprised 01:11 to see me hosting this program. 01:13 I'm Mark Finley and usually I'm a guest 01:16 and answer some questions. 01:18 But today we have a couple new comers to 3ABN. 01:21 C.A. Murray and Shelley Quinn and I have the opportunity 01:25 of asking the questions as your host today 01:28 and you have the opportunity of answering them. 01:30 And something about this is really backwards. 01:34 We are gonna be talking today 01:35 about the second coming of Christ 01:38 and Christians down through the centuries 01:41 have looked forward to the second coming of Jesus. 01:45 When you look at the Bible 01:46 for example you have the promise of John Chapter 14 01:49 that marvelous promise that Jesus gave 01:51 where He said, "Let not your heart be troubled, 01:53 you believe in God, believe also in me. 01:56 My Father's house are many mansions, 01:57 if it were not so, I would have told you. 01:59 I go to prepare a place for you. 02:01 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." 02:03 Yes. 02:04 Well, most amazing thing C.A., and Shelley, to me 02:07 is that when you look at the Bible 02:09 in more than 1,500 places 02:11 it describes the second coming of Jesus. 02:14 Once in every 25 verses in the New Testament 02:18 talk about the coming of Jesus. 02:20 For every promise in the Old Testament 02:22 on the coming of Jesus there are-- 02:24 on the first coming of Jesus 02:25 there are eight on the second coming. 02:27 But there are lot of questions. 02:29 Questions like, is there any evidence today 02:32 that Christ is coming soon 02:35 having Christians believe 02:37 that Christ was going to come soon 02:38 down through the centuries? 02:40 Questions like, what the way is Christ coming? 02:43 Why hasn't He come if the Christian churches 02:45 believe that for 2,000 years? 02:47 And may be more practical question and that is, 02:49 how can people prepare 02:51 for the second coming of Christ? 02:53 We're gonna probe those questions. 02:54 But let's go to a song. 02:56 There's a song that I heard today 02:57 first time about hallelujah 02:59 and the coming of our God Jesus Christ. 03:01 It is an amazing song, 03:03 moved my heart when I listen to it. 03:05 I really wanted out viewers to be able to hear this song 03:08 on "Hallelujah." 03:21 Hallelujah to the Lamb! 03:26 Hallelujah to the Great I AM! 03:30 Hallelujah, all pain is past! 03:34 Hallelujah, we're home at last! 03:39 There's excitement in Heaven 03:42 Like there's never been before 03:48 Jesus stands up Heaven is changed 03:51 Forevermore and more 03:56 The angels surround the Savior 03:59 To escort the Son of Man 04:03 He returns to earth victorious 04:07 To fulfill salvation's plan 04:15 Hallelujah to the Lamb! 04:19 Hallelujah to the Great I AM! 04:23 Hallelujah, all pain is past! 04:27 Hallelujah, we're home at last! 04:39 At the sound of the last trump 04:42 The dead in Christ will rise 04:47 We're going home at last 04:50 We'll surround the sea of glass 04:55 No more empty mansions 04:58 No vacant seats around the throne 05:03 Heaven is finally Heaven 05:07 When God's children are home 05:14 Hallelujah to the Lamb! 05:18 Hallelujah to the Great I AM! 05:23 Hallelujah, all pain is past! 05:27 Hallelujah, we're home at last! 05:35 Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 05:39 Hallelujah to the Lamb! 05:46 Hallelujah to the Lamb! 05:52 Hallelujah to the Great I AM! 05:56 Hallelujah, all pain is past! 06:00 Hallelujah, we're home at last! 06:04 Hallelujah, we're home at last! 06:12 Hallelujah, we're home 06:19 We're home at last 06:25 Home at last! 06:29 Hallelujah, we're home at last. Amen. 06:31 I can't wait to sing in the angels' chorus. 06:36 And if have ever heard me sing 06:38 you would recognize why I said that statement 06:41 but in heaven we're gonna have perfect pitch 06:43 like Reggie and Layde Love Smith on that last out song, 06:46 "Hallelujah, we're home at last." 06:48 We are looking at the second coming of Christ 06:50 and we are gonna begin C.A. and Shelley, 06:53 by focusing particularly on this question, 06:56 "Haven't Christians for 2,000 years 06:59 anticipated the second coming of Christ?" 07:02 Are there any signs that you see in the world today 07:07 that indicate in any way 07:09 that we are closer to the second coming of Christ 07:10 than we were years ago. 07:13 C.A., you been in ministry how many years now? 07:15 Oh, 41. Forty one years. 07:17 Forty one. 07:18 And you've been preaching about the second coming of Christ. 07:21 Why do you believe that Christ coming is sooner today? 07:26 You know, the Bible tells us 07:28 that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 07:31 At the baptism of Jesus the Lord spoke 07:34 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 07:36 Everyone didn't understand that or hear that message. 07:40 A Christian can look at an event 07:42 and a non-Christian look at the same event 07:44 and come away with two totally different opinions. 07:48 The Christian is filtering that event through his faith, 07:52 through his knowledge of the word, 07:54 through his love of God. 07:56 So he sees a war or a ruler rise up and fall 08:01 and sees a prophetic statement in that rising and falling. 08:04 Well, as an other person just sees a world event. 08:07 So as we look at the world that we now face it 08:11 that now faces us. 08:13 We see things that we know the Bible says, 08:17 when you see these things begin to prepare your mind. 08:22 Certain kinds of things, atmospheric things, 08:24 things in nature, wars and rumors of war 08:28 so Matthew have always happened but there is, 08:31 Shelley and Mark, a frequency, 08:33 there is an urgency, 08:35 there is a resonance that I think has never happened before 08:40 and of course our fathers believe that 08:42 and our father's father's believe that 08:45 but there is something happening now 08:46 and one of the things I want to go to John Chapter,10 08:50 just very quickly. 08:52 And so it approaches from another standpoint 08:54 something that jumped out at me. 08:56 John 10:10. 09:01 And John 9 and John 10. 09:07 You have Christ giving certain assurances, 09:10 He is the good shepherd 09:11 and then He moves into something 09:12 which we had not given those insurances 09:15 would be a little bit daunting. 09:16 He says, "The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, 09:20 and to destroy. 09:22 I have come that they may have life, 09:24 and that they may have it more abundantly." 09:26 What jumps out at me during these last days 09:30 is this rampant disrespect for life 09:36 and I see that more now than perhaps ever before. 09:40 And I mean, you have the Holocaust in World War II, 09:42 you had programs in New Europe, 09:45 you had the Stalin's regime in Russia 09:48 those kinds of things but there is now this, 09:50 this rampant disrespect for life. 09:54 I mean, someone has problem with his girlfriend, 09:57 so let me get a gun and just go in 10:00 and spray a theater full of people. 10:03 Christ came that we may have life 10:06 but I think one of the salient signs 10:08 of the coming of Christ is this rampant disrespect for lives 10:12 for whom Christ has died. 10:13 We don't value life as we once did 10:16 and I think when you see this kind of thing 10:18 it's got to be one of those signs, 10:20 one of many that says to me "Jesus is coming soon" 10:24 and if He doesn't come we are gonna destroy ourselves 10:27 because we just don't respect life like we once did. 10:29 Shelley, what were you thinking on that same topic 10:32 of the signs of Christ coming? 10:35 What do we see today that we haven't been seeing? 10:36 Is there a different dynamic in the world today? 10:39 I think there's a completely different dynamic 10:40 and I think that as you said that people, 10:43 there is this disrespect for life, 10:45 there is a disrespect for the law of God. 10:47 We have seen the homosexuals movement 10:51 and now we see the gay marriage, 10:53 we see things that I know that my parents would not 10:59 have been able to even imagine happening 11:03 but we see that people have become boasters, lovers, self, 11:08 everything that the Bible says will be happening 11:11 before Christ return is happening. 11:13 We are seeing prophecy fulfilled. 11:15 But one thing that is not in the Bible 11:18 but something that really has resonated with me 11:22 is what's happening in the Muslim world. 11:25 I had a friend, dear friend whom I've never met 11:28 but I consider her mine very dear sister in the Lord 11:32 and she converted from Islam to Christianity 11:37 by watching 3ABN. 11:39 And she is-- I mean, she has been persecuted 11:43 for righteousness say, to say at least. 11:45 But her family is still Muslim and they came home from a-- 11:51 I would say this is may be eight months ago. 11:53 They came home from a very large conference 11:56 and her mother approached her and said, 11:59 "Isn't your church the one that's always preaching 12:02 the second return of Jesus Christ?" 12:04 And she said, "Yes." 12:06 And she said, 12:07 "That's what this whole world conference was about." 12:09 Even Muslims are preaching Christ soon return. 12:15 I think that anyone who reads their Bibles 12:19 and of all the things that we are told 12:21 will happen before Christ comes 12:24 they are happening with great speed 12:29 things are being fulfilled 12:30 but the fact that to me-- I mean, 12:33 I thought it was interesting 12:34 I don't know how you feel but the fact 12:36 that even the Muslims are saying, 12:39 "Christ second return is soon." 12:42 Things are just lining up around the world 12:45 and it's going to happen. 12:46 We've had some experiences as well 12:49 with leadership in the General Conference 12:51 of Seventh-day Adventist meeting 12:53 at times with Muslim leaders 12:56 who have asked our leadership, 12:58 "Do you believe that Christ is coming?" 13:00 And we "Yes, we do." 13:02 And they have responded, "How soon?" 13:04 And we said, "Soon." 13:06 And our leaders and they said, "How soon is soon?" 13:09 And we said, "Very soon." 13:10 And they said, 13:11 "We believe Christ is coming very, very soon as well." 13:13 So there is this advent awareness 13:18 that's taking place around the world 13:20 that something great and decisive 13:23 is about ready to happen. 13:25 You know, there is a couple of passages in scripture 13:27 that come to my mind 13:30 that I always ask myself the question, 13:33 "Are there conditions in the world today 13:36 that we are not being fulfilled 50 years ago, 75 years ago?" 13:42 And I think there were a few and I would like to discuss 13:45 one or two of them with you. 13:47 In Revelation 11:18 the Bible describes 13:52 a condition of things 13:54 that at least for my reading of the text 13:57 could not be substantiated 100 years ago. 14:02 But when I read it today 14:04 the text almost leaps off the page. 14:06 It's like reading modern newspaper. 14:08 It says, "The nations were angry," 14:11 "and Your wrath has come, 14:14 and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, 14:16 " obviously the second coming of Christ. 14:19 "That You should reward Your servants the prophets 14:21 and the saints, 14:23 and those who fear Your name, small and great, 14:25 " obviously Christ is coming to give out His rewards, 14:27 second coming. 14:29 "And should destroy those who destroy the earth." 14:33 There are two or three aspects of that passage. 14:37 Never before in history has the human race 14:39 have the capacity to destroy itself. 14:42 In 1945 Charles Uray one of the inventors 14:46 of the splitter-- one of the men that worked, 14:49 scientists worked on the splitting of the atom 14:51 said "I'm standing on a place 14:55 where the end of the world began." 14:57 When he looked over the situation that happened 15:00 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 15:02 when the Americans dropped the bomb there 15:03 and he said "I write this to frighten you. 15:05 All scientist I know are frightened men. 15:07 Frighten for their lives, frighten for your lives." 15:09 So never before in history have we had the capacity 15:13 for nuclear weaponry to destroy the world. 15:15 And when you look at the nations today 15:17 that are getting nuclear weaponry, 15:18 some of the rogue states and we think of terrorism. 15:21 And what if terrorist 15:24 were able to in someway get nuclear secrets 15:28 which are so much more easy to get and the material today-- 15:31 Absolutely. 15:32 I mean, very-- I think we are in a very scary situation 15:35 if we didn't know Christ, if we didn't know 15:36 the end game of the second coming of Jesus. 15:38 So I think this is a new dynamic. 15:40 This text also that says 15:42 "Should destroy those who destroy the earth." 15:44 Some translations say "Corrupt the earth." 15:46 And as we are taping this program 15:50 there is a conference in Paris on climate change 15:53 and I know there is argument 15:55 scientifically either way on that question. 15:57 But there is no doubt about the fact 15:59 that we are polluting our earth, 16:00 that we are corrupting our earth, 16:02 the atmospheric pollution 16:03 so forth is global warming is taking place. 16:06 So comment on some of those things 16:09 this whole idea of mankind and nuclear destruction 16:12 and the whole idea of the corruption of the earth, 16:14 the pollution. 16:16 What do you see going on there? 16:17 I think we tend to think 16:18 of cataclysmic destruction like a bomb 16:21 but there is this slow and in serious destruction 16:24 that is happening. 16:25 Also I was looking at something just the other day in China 16:29 they were talking about-- they had temperature inversion 16:31 and the air was at level red. 16:34 You really couldn't see across the street 16:36 and they were saying, 16:37 "If you are sick, if you are infirmed, 16:39 if you are very young, very old just stay home and stay still 16:41 and stay quiet and do not move. 16:42 So even the air that is supposed to keep you alive 16:45 it can kill you given certain atmospheric conditions. 16:49 You've got fracking in this country. 16:51 I'll tell you something, on my street 16:53 a house is not there now that was there last week. 16:58 If you come to my house now there was a dip in the street 17:01 that is precipitous that I say, the street just goes down. 17:05 Well, they are mining under the street 17:07 and street is cracking and it's very, very dangerous. 17:11 You got to drive very, very slowly. 17:12 So we are doing some things 17:14 whether you believe in global warming or not 17:16 I know there are strong signs on both sides. 17:18 The fact is that earth is not as clean, it's not as pristine, 17:21 it's not as pure as it once was. 17:24 And it is through mankind's activity. 17:26 The streams, the water, 17:28 even the ocean is not like it should be. 17:31 So we are indeed destroying the earth. 17:32 And I f God doesn't come back 17:34 and rest us we will destroy ourselves. 17:36 Well, and then when you look in South America 17:38 where they are deforesting such large areas 17:42 and that has a lot to-- 17:44 attributes a lot to the climate change. 17:47 And then even for farming we see how depleted 17:53 the minerals and the things from the earth had become 17:56 because we haven't been stewards of the earth. 18:00 And I just think that, you know, 18:02 the Bible says the earth will wax old 18:06 and it is waxing old. 18:08 It's just at that point where it is not going to be 18:11 with population growth 18:13 and with the way we handle our resources 18:15 there is gonna come that time 18:17 when it's no longer sustainable to us. 18:19 We see in our world the nuclear capacity, 18:23 we see environmental pollution, we see global warming, 18:26 we see widespread hunger and famine, 18:29 we see as we look out over the world 18:32 unprecedented natural disasters 18:34 and we see the human population of greed actually 18:39 and we see population growth. 18:42 I was attending a meeting in Dublin, Ireland 18:45 and I left the meeting 18:46 and there were two scientists that attended my meeting. 18:48 They had just come from a meeting 18:50 on the sustainability of life on planet earth. 18:54 And a meeting of scientists and they said to me 18:57 that more, more scientists are coming to the conclusion 19:00 that to sustain life 50 years from now, 19:03 75 years from now on planet earth 19:05 is becoming more fragile thing. 19:07 Because of the acts of man we are doing to the planet. 19:12 And then you look at that 19:13 and you reference that earlier C.A., 19:15 with the moral decline that's taking place in our world. 19:18 And so we are living in a world that is increasingly insecure, 19:22 a world that is increasingly a fragmented peoples 19:26 or barriers between peoples, 19:28 a world that is 19:29 and you look at the economy of the world, 19:31 the national debt, 19:33 the national debt of American what, 19:34 $19 trillion now in approaching. 19:38 So these are concerning things 19:39 but what hopeful signs do you see. 19:42 Suppose could be little depressing 19:44 but what hopeful signs do you see? 19:47 You know, if you look, approach it from another angle, 19:52 if you look at the words of Ellen White in "Desire of Ages" 19:55 when Christ came as a baby in Bethlehem 19:58 there was an aligning of certain events. 20:02 The earth was positioned for that coming 20:05 speaking one language generally. 20:07 You had the Roman pieces across that part of the world. 20:11 Those kinds of things are in place right now. 20:15 Fifty years ago a 3ABN a hope channel, LLBN could not exist. 20:20 So technology has opened the way 20:23 as much as technology has destroyed. 20:25 I was watching something on CNN the other night, 13-year-olds 20:30 and the internet and social media 20:34 and the kinds of ways they talk to each other 20:36 and the kinds of things they send to each other 20:37 and the kinds of pictures they send to each other 20:39 just really disturbing for 13-year-olds 20:42 to talk that way, to use that kind of language 20:44 to involve themselves in that kind of nudity and vulgarity. 20:47 And yet on the other side that same media 20:51 can be used for the gospel. 20:53 We can get the gospel out further 20:54 faster than ever before. 20:56 You began it when you began your nets, you know, 20:59 brand new way to get the gospel to the world. 21:00 So there is this aligning of things that enables us 21:04 to get the gospel from this studio to Australia 21:07 in a matter of seconds. 21:09 To Russia in a matter of seconds. 21:11 So there is this setting up of things 21:14 to move the gospel further and faster 21:16 than ever before and that's a God thing 21:17 and I think it's part of God's desire, 21:20 His angst dare I say to get the gospel to every men, 21:23 women, boy and girl. 21:24 So what's the most hopeful sign you see of the coming of Jesus? 21:28 The most hopeful sign I see of the coming of Jesus, 21:33 I think that people-- you know, 21:36 very much like Solomon. 21:38 Solomon tried everything he could 21:41 to fill the emptiness of his soul with philosophies, 21:47 with art, with anything that he could 21:50 and he had that emptiness. 21:52 And I see that there are a lot of people 21:55 who have tried everything and they have that emptiness 21:59 and it seems to me that more than ever before 22:03 people are seeking something that is real, 22:09 something that for satisfaction beyond themselves 22:14 and it almost sounds like I'm saying something 22:17 just opposite of what you are saying but it's true. 22:20 I see some of what we would consider 22:22 some of the worst of the worst of individuals 22:24 who have fallen so far down the line 22:28 but I believe that God is, what's making me feel hopeful 22:34 is that God is waking up His church. 22:37 We have been Laodicean Church. 22:39 We have sat back and left evangelism 22:43 to people like you, Mark Finley, 22:46 rather than making evangelism a lifestyle personal witness 22:52 and I see that people are beginning to wake up 22:56 and we see young people like the GYC, 23:01 we see people who are eager to do missions. 23:05 And I believe that as God wakes up His people 23:10 to understand that the law of life demands reproduction, 23:15 if we can understand that the way in which 23:19 we will grow personally is as we share Christ 23:22 then we can be reaching some of these very hungry people. 23:26 And I see that happening. 23:28 It's something that, you know, 23:31 when you said that you feel it here and it's different. 23:34 I see that God is waking up His people 23:37 and that makes me feel very hopeful. 23:39 Mark, I wanting to say, it's very difficult to talk 23:42 about the second coming without eluding to Matthew 24 23:46 but when the Bible says in 14, 23:48 "This gospel of the kingdom 23:49 shall be preached to all the world" 23:50 it's a prophecy but it's also a promise. 23:52 The gospel is gonna be and so if you believe in God, 23:55 if you see in God-- our mutual friend Dedrick Blue 23:58 I heard him say something like 24:00 "I've seen God do so much with so little for so long, 24:02 I can believe He can do anything with nothing." 24:05 When you tested God and tried God 24:08 and you know God is true to His word 24:10 and when you read a promise like that it says, 24:13 "God is gonna do whatever is necessary 24:15 to get the gospel out." 24:17 And if we would just assist Him, 24:19 just stay out of the way 24:20 not oppose Him on a system is gonna be done. 24:23 There are so many people 24:25 and people are taking risk for the gospel. 24:26 Again I'll tell you real quick and I got to be very careful. 24:29 I have a friend, actually he's my wife's friend. 24:33 His sister-in-law is in a Middle Eastern country 24:39 and married to a diplomat. 24:42 They are-- they are getting Bibles into the country. 24:46 They are getting into the palace. 24:49 They are watching 3ABN on their computers. 24:54 The maid staff, the butlers, the attendants 24:57 and since this person has a diplomatic passport 25:01 his luggage is not searched. 25:02 So when he comes west he fills his luggage with Bibles 25:06 and he goes back home and he distributes-- 25:08 well, he is taking a risk. 25:09 He is taking risk for the Lord. 25:11 But one of the signs I think of the last days 25:14 and this resonancy that the earth is going through 25:17 is that people are beginning 25:18 to take a risk for their faith again. 25:20 It's not just a leisure sport and never has been. 25:24 It's something they are putting their lives on it. 25:26 Your friend and I almost called and I don't want to do that 25:28 but she is taking a risk. 25:30 So people again are saying, 25:31 "Lord, I trust you enough you to risk something for You. 25:34 I'm not gonna just sit on the couch 25:35 and play passive anymore. 25:38 I'm gonna get in the game and I'm gonna take." 25:40 I think that is the sign that something is about to happen. 25:43 Something is germinating, something is moving 25:45 and Christ is coming very, very soon. 25:47 You know, these are really hopeful signs. 25:49 When you look at technology and the fact that television, 25:54 radio, internet, tweets, Facebook pages, 26:01 you begin to look at these things live streaming. 26:05 The gospel is leaping geographical barriers. 26:08 It can't be blocked 26:11 by dysphonic authoritarian regimes. 26:13 Yes. 26:15 I would tell you an interesting story. 26:16 In 1954 Nikita Khrushchev 26:20 walked on to the stage in Kiev, Ukraine 26:24 of the Cultural Palace 26:26 that was dedicated to communism. 26:28 And as he stood on that stage 26:29 he gave a speech on dialectic materialism and humanism. 26:33 It was in the hide of the Soviet empire 26:34 during the industrial, military machine. 26:37 And Khrushchev said, 26:39 "Within 50 years there will be no Christians 26:44 within the Soviet Union." 26:45 Then he smiled and he said, "There will be one left. 26:50 And when that one left dies 26:52 we will stuff them like an animal 26:54 and we want to know 26:57 and we will put them in a museum 26:58 because future generations will want to know 27:01 what the extinct species of Christians looked like." 27:05 So he said, "When the last Christian dies 27:07 we just stuff him like an animal, 27:08 put him in a museum, we will mark extinct species." 27:11 It's 1954. 27:14 About 50 years later in 2004 27:19 I walked on to that same stage opened the Bible-- 27:24 now this is interesting. 27:26 The Soviet-- we had camera people, 27:30 we sent the message up the Soviet satellites 27:34 across the time zones of the former Soviet Union. 27:38 If you are a totalitarian state 27:41 you have to control by mass communication. 27:47 So the Soviet government in the days of communism 27:49 had the most sophisticated mass communication system. 27:53 You subsidize televisions, you subsidize radios 27:57 and that system was used to communicate the gospel 28:00 to tens of thousands. 28:02 To me one of the greatest signs of the coming of Christ 28:06 is the ability to so quickly get the gospel out. 28:10 I can take out my cell phone, 28:12 my iPhone any place in the world 28:14 and I can watch Christian television. 28:17 I can get Christian messages. 28:18 I can log in and get Bible studies 28:21 and anybody in the world can do that. 28:24 People can sit on their computer. 28:26 We are living in an information age 28:28 where people can no longer be restricted, enclosed. 28:32 I think this is God's doing. 28:34 All right. God's doing. 28:35 God has opened up amazing doors and I think at the same time 28:39 there is a hunger in the hearts of people. 28:42 There is this God shaped vacuum in the hearts. 28:46 One of my favorite text is Ecclesiastes 3:11. 28:52 He is pretty talking. 28:53 And then it is just an amazing passage 28:57 because it tells me that in every, in every individual, 29:05 Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, 29:06 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. 29:09 Also He has put eternity in their hearts." 29:12 So every human being has this longing, 29:15 this longing for eternity. 29:17 So do we see things today that we didn't see before? 29:19 We sure do. Yes, we do. 29:21 We see the threat of nuclear disaster, 29:23 we see the capacity for the world destroy itself, 29:27 we see wide spread hunger and famines, 29:30 we see moral depravity in the world and insecurity 29:33 but we see technology spreading the gospel. 29:36 We see God's people rising to the challenge. 29:39 We see this emptiness of heart. 29:41 If all this is true 29:42 why didn't Christ come a thousand years ago? 29:44 Is Jesus waiting for more earthquakes, more famines, 29:46 more wars, what's Jesus waiting for? 29:49 You know, one of my favorite promises is 2 Peter 3:9 29:53 and what Peter says is 29:57 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, 29:59 as some count slackness, 30:03 but is longsuffering toward us, 30:06 not willing that any should perish 30:08 but that all should come to repentance." 30:11 And I believe what is the Lord waiting for? 30:15 He could finish this work? 30:17 But I believe that He is waiting for a people 30:22 who are willing to open their hearts 30:25 and be filled with His divine love. 30:28 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 13 30:30 is one of my favorite passages that says, 30:33 when Paul says, may the Lord 30:35 cause you to increase and abound love 30:39 so that He may perfect you 30:42 in holiness of the coming of our Lord 30:44 and Savior Jesus Christ. 30:46 So I believe what God has been waiting for is for a people 30:51 that will open their hearts 30:54 except that divine essence His love 30:57 and have that concern to understand. 31:03 God wants all men to be saved 31:05 and it is only as we grow in His love 31:08 that He is giving us the opportunity 31:13 not to perfect ourselves 31:17 but to be perfected by Him the divine perfection 31:23 so that we will become involved 31:26 and we develop the character of Christ 31:29 as we reach out for others. 31:31 And I think that that's what, you know, 31:33 He wants all men to come to repentance 31:36 and He wants us to have that same heart 31:41 where we are looking out saying, 31:43 we want all men to come to repentance. 31:46 That leads to really two questions, C.A. 31:48 First question is the Christian church 31:50 has been going out 2,000 years, 31:51 hasn't God had a people like that before? 31:54 God has always had a people. 31:57 Sometimes they were in the rocks and the mountains, 31:59 sometimes they have been persecuted by the church, 32:02 sometimes they were very much scattered 32:04 but there's always been a people. 32:06 And I think to harmonize some things that you both said, 32:08 I see this parallel with the first coming of Christ. 32:11 There is this mechanism or these mechanisms 32:15 that God has put in place to get the gospel out 32:18 but there is also a hunger for Christ. 32:22 You know, if you have a beautiful banquet 32:24 but everybody is already eaten their food sits there 32:27 but there is this hunger and there is this food 32:31 and God has put in the mechanism 32:33 so get the food from the table to the mouths of those 32:36 who are hungering for righteousness sake. 32:39 So more than ever before, we have the ability, 32:44 if we have the willingness, we have the ability, 32:46 technologically to get the gospel 32:48 where it needs to go 32:49 and we are finding as the gospel got 32:51 that there are millions and millions of people 32:53 who are looking for the gospel or looking for Jesus Christ. 32:56 And if we as Shelley has-- we could develop that, 33:00 you know, you get me kind of excited in this kind of thing. 33:03 You get to Book of Isaiah which is one of my favorite books. 33:05 I see in Isaiah almost a schizophrenic God 33:09 because He wants so badly for His people to be saved. 33:12 He wants so badly for them to listen and to hear. 33:15 You have God saying things like, 33:17 okay, I'm done with you. 33:20 When you call I'm not gonna hear. 33:22 When you call in your pan I'm gonna laugh. 33:24 Find another god, I just can't. 33:26 I've tried to bless you. I've tried to curse you. 33:28 I've tried to spank you. I've tried to praise you. 33:30 I patted you on your back. 33:31 I have done everything I can, 33:32 I don't know what else to do, so I quit. 33:35 Oh, by the way, I love you. 33:37 You know, so He just want and I see that in God today 33:40 that He just wants so badly that He will use anybody, 33:44 at anytime, at any place 33:46 who will say I'm willing to be used. 33:47 He took a Danny Shelton. 33:49 High school educated guy, 33:51 knows nothing about television, 33:53 certainly is not 33:54 an electronically sophisticated God 33:56 but just has a willingness. 33:57 So God says, "I'll use him." 33:59 Takes Mark Finley, "I'll use him." 34:01 Or Shelley Quinn, I'll take anybody 34:03 because I want the world to be warned, 34:05 I want the world to be safe. 34:06 So you not to be educated, 34:07 you are not to be totally smart, 34:09 you are not to be particularly eloquent, 34:10 you just got to want to do His will. 34:12 And if you want to do His will He will use you 34:14 and He will do marvelous and wonderful things 34:16 through you, to you, for you, and with you 34:18 that you could not do by yourself. 34:20 Let me interpret what you just said. 34:23 Oh, yeah, that was a mouthful. 34:25 Still in for His mark. 34:27 If I understand what you are saying is this, 34:29 that down through the centuries God has always had a people. 34:32 Yes. 34:33 He's always had a people they have been committed to Him, 34:35 that have served Him, 34:37 that have been all out for God 34:39 but He is longing for a-- 34:42 for His church as a corporate whole to a number 34:46 known only to God to have a group of people 34:50 that will demonstrate His love before waiting world 34:52 that are watching universe 34:54 who are totally sold out for God. 34:55 Yes. 34:57 So in the final generation of this earth's history 35:00 the living Christ will be manifest 35:02 in the heart's of people 35:04 who has come to the cross 35:06 not some legalistic type of perfectionism 35:10 but their hearts will be broken over Calvary 35:13 and God would demonstrate not through one or two 35:17 but through a group of people 35:19 that number is only known to God. 35:20 Yes. 35:22 And through a group of people before the whole universe 35:24 of His love on earth 35:26 and it kind of leads me, Shelley, to something you said, 35:28 I wish you would unpack that for us a little bit. 35:30 Wish you define that a little bit more. 35:33 You talked about being perfected in holiness 35:36 and that can be misunderstood by a lot of people. 35:41 You know, I-- What do you mean by that? 35:43 All right. 35:44 Well, the wonderful thing is, here's what I believe again, 35:48 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 13 it is God is doing the action, 35:54 Paul says, "And the Lord make you 35:57 to increase and abound in love" 36:00 so that he may perfect you in holiness of the coming 36:04 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 36:07 Romans 5:5 says that God pours His love into our heart 36:11 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 36:13 God is love. 36:15 The essence of His spirit, 36:16 the essence of His being is love. 36:19 I believe that God is waiting for us to surrender to consent 36:24 to allow Him to have His way with us 36:27 but as He pours His love into our hearts 36:32 divine love consumes sin. 36:36 I believe this is why no one can stand 36:38 in the presence of the Lord 36:39 seeing face to face is because this divine love 36:44 totally separates God from sin. 36:48 It establishes His holiness. 36:51 Divine love establishes His holiness. 36:54 And the way the Bible says, you know, I mean, 36:57 throughout the Bible the promises in Thessalonians 37:01 and in Hebrews it says that, God is faithful. 37:04 He is the one that's going to establish us, you know, 37:09 body, soul and spirit 37:10 but as this love is poured into our hearts 37:13 then two things happen 37:15 Number one, we-- Jesus said, 37:19 if you love me obey my commandments. 37:21 We out of love our obedience flows in a natural way. 37:28 And so this perfects us in holiness 37:31 because it's separating us, 37:33 the sanctification process separates us from sin. 37:37 But then we by His power 37:40 can love Him with all of our heart, 37:42 soul, mind and strength 37:43 and love one another as we love ourselves 37:46 only by the power of God's love within us. 37:50 So it's just divine love consumed sin 37:55 and when we are filled with His essence of His being 38:00 that's how we establish as Christ character in us, 38:03 it's this divine love. 38:04 It's not some, you know, sappy little thing 38:07 it's something that makes us stand up and become like God. 38:13 And, Mark, as you pick up that mind of Christ, 38:16 that character of Christ 38:18 you also pick up the burdens of Christ. 38:20 And of course the burden of Christ 38:21 is to see men and women saved. 38:23 So it's no longer work to go to your next on neighbor and say, 38:26 "Listen, I see you having some trouble. 38:28 Let me pray with you." Amen. 38:30 "You know, let's study the Word of God. 38:31 There is something in here, doesn't answer in here for you. 38:34 It's not worth to do that anymore. 38:35 It's something you want to do that. 38:37 Your law-- you almost have to be kept from doing it 38:39 because it's part of your nature. 38:40 It's part of who you are 38:42 because it's part of who Christ is." 38:43 You know, when I thought about this whole topic of Christ 38:49 and the return of Jesus in the last generation 38:52 so forth I wrestled with it. 38:54 There are some things that really made sense to me 38:57 and let me try them out to you. 38:59 You know, when you look at Jesus, John 8:29, 39:01 "I do always those things that please him." 39:04 Hebrews 10:7 "Lo, I come in the volume of the book 39:07 it is written of me, to do thy will, O God." 39:10 Matthew 26:39, "Not my will, but thy will be done." 39:15 So what is the essence of Christian 39:17 if want to use the word perfection or maturity? 39:21 What is the essence of Christian maturity? 39:23 It's an undivided heart. 39:25 A heart that says "God, I'm totally Yours." 39:28 So what God is looking for 39:30 is people with an undivided heart. 39:33 So as our hearts are undivided. 39:36 When our hearts are undivided 39:38 the living Christ through His love 39:40 as Shelley has mentioned enters into our life 39:42 and that love begins to transform us. 39:45 So there we come to Christ 39:48 and through the course of Calvary 39:50 His spirit leads us to Calvary. 39:52 His spirit breaks our hearts. 39:54 We repent at anything that separates us from Him 39:57 and we say, "Lord, I don't want to do anything in my life 39:59 that separates me from You. 40:01 I want to have an undivided heart. 40:02 A heart of complete royalty." 40:04 When we come to Him with those undivided hearts 40:06 He counts us perfect through Jesus Christ. 40:08 Absolutely. Yeah. 40:10 Our perfection is always in Jesus, 40:11 it's never in ourselves. 40:12 Absolutely. Correct. 40:14 So He counts us as perfect through Christ 40:15 the one who live the perfect life for us. 40:17 Then He begins to work in us because our heart is undivided 40:21 and to reveal to us plagues, spots in our character 40:25 that have helped that develop within us 40:29 so that we are becoming more like Him. 40:31 And as God has that kind of people 40:33 with an undivided heart 40:35 His spirit is poured out on them in the last days 40:38 through later rain power 40:40 and the gospel goes to the ends of the rapidly and quickly. 40:44 Now if somebody said to you but personally, 40:49 "How do I prepare for the coming of Jesus 40:52 and how-- help me through a process 40:56 of total absolute commitment to Christ?" 41:00 There's a few who are watching that says, 41:02 "You know, I sense that we are living 41:04 in unique of earth's history. 41:06 I sense that Jesus is coming soon 41:07 and I really want to be used of Christ. 41:09 But, you know, sometimes I have this divided heart. 41:13 Sometimes I'm more of for God and sometimes I'm not. 41:16 Sometimes I'm on the mountain top of victory 41:19 but sometime I'm in the valley of defeat. 41:22 How can I move from the valley of defeat 41:24 to the mountain top of victory? 41:25 How can I move from the Christian 41:28 who is struggling, failing, falling down stumbling? 41:34 How can I live the life that God wants me to live? 41:38 I know I want to live that 41:39 but I'm afraid I'm not there yet?" 41:43 Let's see if I can get to where I want to get in a hurry. 41:47 There's a verse in Romans 6:16, 41:53 here's something that we don't always recognize. 41:57 We are Paul says, slaves to whom we obey. 42:01 In Romans 6:16 he says, "Do you not know that to whom 42:06 you present yourselves slaves to obey, 42:09 you are that one's slaves whom you obey, 42:11 whether of sin leading to death, 42:14 or of obedience leading to righteousness?" 42:18 For some reason there has been even within our own church 42:24 there have been times where it's been like, 42:27 okay, you've got to work out your own salvation 42:30 and they forget 42:31 but not without God's power to will and to do in you. 42:35 There are times when they are so much focused 42:37 on what we can do 42:39 then there's other people 42:40 who are focused so much on grace 42:43 and we don't have to do anything, 42:45 there has to be this blend and I believe that 42:48 and Ellen White has said this "That righteousness by faith 42:50 will be one of the last messages." 42:52 I see that we are coming to that righteousness 42:55 by faith message 42:57 where people are beginning to understand that 43:00 it is only as God imparts 43:03 and imputes Christ righteousness to us 43:07 that we can even stand before holy God 43:10 because the best we can do 43:12 is filthy rags before Him, right. 43:15 But when we would understand, if I could speak to anyone 43:18 that's watching today what I would say is, 43:20 if we can understand that the only way 43:24 we can even obey is by God's grace. 43:27 It is only as you open your heart to God 43:30 and let Him by His grace 43:33 give us the gift of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit 43:36 and the word that then we can 43:40 even though it's righteousness by faith 43:42 obedience leads to righteousness. 43:44 He puts the desire in us to obey 43:47 and I think that something that for me, 43:50 Mark, as I study the word 43:52 there's times when I'm reading 43:53 and I don't know how many times 43:55 I may have read this passage 43:56 but now I'm reading a passage again 43:58 and suddenly it's like, 43:59 "Ah, Lord, I'm doing something that totally displeases you 44:03 and I'm just now seeing this." 44:06 I rejoice in recognizing my sin. 44:09 Even though God gives me that godly sorrow 44:11 because that's that step of repentance 44:14 and then He leads me along 44:17 as He works in me to willing to do. 44:19 Am I making sense with my-- 44:20 Yeah. Yeah. 44:22 Okay, He leads me along 44:24 and it's all righteousness by faith 44:26 but it's God working in me to cause me to obey. 44:29 Yeah. 44:30 And I think obedience is a beautiful word 44:34 as long as we don't feel like this is something 44:37 that is going to save us. 44:39 It is we obey because we are saved. 44:43 So I would say that a relationship with the word, 44:47 in prayer 44:49 and I'm not talking about 10 minutes of prayer. 44:52 When God changed my life it's when He called me 44:54 to pray an hour a day. 44:56 When we spend significant time with the Lord, 44:59 learning to listen for His still small voice, 45:02 learning to follow the leading in the spirit 45:05 which always follows His word 45:08 that's how to me we prepare for His coming. 45:11 That's really helpful, Shelley. 45:13 C.A., if somebody comes to your office and says, 45:16 "Pastor, I'm struggling as a Christian. 45:18 I sense Jesus is coming soon. Pastor, help me." 45:22 Two things, one I want to go to Ephesians 2:8 45:28 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, 45:31 and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." 45:33 So there is a gift waiting for you. 45:35 There's a present there for you. 45:36 It's under the tree, there is a present for you. 45:39 You just got to get. 45:40 "Not of works, lest anyone should boast." 45:42 So you don't have to strive. 45:43 "For we are His workmanship, 45:46 created in Christ Jesus for good works, 45:49 which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." 45:52 Then I would add to that Romans 12:1 45:57 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, 45:59 by the mercies of God, 46:00 that you present your bodies" and I want to stop right there. 46:04 Present your bodies that means to put yourself in a position 46:08 where God will work with you for you to and through. 46:11 It may mean you have to turn off your television set. 46:13 It may mean you have to 46:15 may be separate yourselves from friends. 46:17 But if you want it God wants it more than you do. 46:21 So just present yourself to Him. 46:22 Spend the time in prayer. Spend the time in Bible study. 46:26 Present yourselves so that you are in a position 46:28 for God to do what He wants to do for you 46:31 with you, to you, and through you. 46:32 And I've got to add one thing that I left out 46:34 some most important thing. 46:36 Its Luke 9:23 Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given, 46:40 seek and you will find, 46:41 knock and the door will be opened." 46:43 Then He goes on to explain what we are asking for 46:47 and in the Greek these are present imperative, 46:49 there are linear verbs, it's keep on asking, 46:52 keep on seeking, keep on knocking and He says, 46:55 if you being evil know 46:56 how to give good gifts to you children 46:58 how much will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 47:02 to those who ask. 47:03 So to me I think that the most important activity of the day 47:08 is when you first wake up to pray, 47:11 to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit 47:13 because that is how God works in us to will 47:15 and to do His good pleasure. 47:17 And, you know, I think if you pray that every day 47:20 I know that when God had me praying a hour a day 47:23 it was and I'm ashamed to say 47:27 that I don't do that every day now 47:28 but I did it for 12 years every day at least an hour. 47:32 But you get to that point where you recognize 47:36 God's plan of salvation 47:38 is absolute total dependence upon Him. 47:41 And if we can recognize that 47:44 that's where we quit the striving. 47:45 Yes. 47:47 It's that idea and I used to tell my husband, 47:49 "Just surrender. Just surrender." 47:50 He was like, "What does that mean?" 47:52 Just give God consent to work in your life, to lead. 47:58 Present yourself before. And present yourself before. 48:01 Yeah. Yeah. 48:03 Really well said. 48:05 Preparation for the coming of Christ as you 48:08 so well put it simply means it's not complicated, 48:12 it's not rocket scientists, science, 48:14 it simply means "Lord I'm Yours." 48:17 Yes. Yes. "Lord, I'm Yours." 48:21 As I come to Christ even the desire to come to Christ 48:25 is prompted by the Holy Spirit. 48:27 Amen. 48:29 So there are people watching our program right now 48:33 that have that desire 48:36 and God is moving in your heart. 48:38 You sense that there may be something in your life 48:41 out of harmony with God's will 48:44 that very conviction, that very desire 48:48 that you have that something may not be right 48:51 in your life 48:52 that desire is given by Jesus. 48:54 Yes. Amen. 48:55 So we don't even come to Christ without the Holy Spirit. 48:58 The Bible says in Romans 2, 49:00 it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. 49:03 So the Holy Spirit leads us 49:05 and then we must make the choice. 49:08 We cannot do it without God 49:11 but God will not do it without us. 49:15 Amen. 49:16 We come to Jesus under the impulse of the Holy Spirit 49:20 and we say, Lord, I'm Yours. 49:23 You have pointed out this specific thing in my life 49:26 I surrender it to You now. 49:29 Once we make that choice to surrender that thing 49:33 that God points on it our life to God 49:35 He begins to work in us. 49:37 Amen. 49:39 He beings to transform our lives. 49:41 I love Philippians Chapter 2, Philippians the 2 Chapter 49:47 where the Bible talks about the fact 49:49 that as we come to Christ 49:51 as we give our lives to Him, 49:53 He works in us in amazing ways. 49:56 In Philippians 2:13, 50:01 "It is God who works in you both" 50:04 I love the word both. 50:05 "It is God who works in you both 50:07 to will and to do his good pleasure." 50:10 Yes. 50:11 So it's God that works in our hearts. 50:14 We come to Him. We surrender our life to Him. 50:17 He begins to work in us to transform us by His grace. 50:22 And you say, "But I'm not everything I want to be. 50:24 I want to be so much more for Christ." 50:27 Look at 1 John 2 and 3. 50:30 1 John Chapter 3, 50:33 here is one of I think the most encouraging passages 50:36 in all the Bible. 50:38 In 1 John Chapter 3 the Bible puts it this way. 50:42 1 John 3:1, 2, 50:44 "Behold what manner of love 50:47 the Father has bestowed upon us, 50:49 that we should be called children of God!" 50:52 When you come to Jesus Christ He accepts you as His child. 50:56 Amen. You are led by the Holy Spirit. 50:59 You surrender your life to Christ. 51:01 You may not be everything you want to be 51:03 but you are a child of God. 51:04 But look, "Behold what manner of love 51:06 the Father has bestowed on us, 51:07 that we might be called children of God! 51:09 Therefore the world does not know us, 51:12 because it did not know Him." 51:14 Now notice the next verse. 51:16 "Beloved, now we are children of God, 51:18 " what is the word there, "Beloved." 51:20 What? What is it? 51:21 "Beloved, now we are children of God." 51:24 So immediately when we come to Christ 51:27 we surrender our life to Him. 51:29 We say, "Lord, all I want my life is to please You. 51:32 "Beloved, now we are children of God, 51:34 and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, 51:39 but we know that when He is revealed, 51:41 we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 51:44 Glory to God. Amen. Amen. 51:47 Here is the incredible good news, coming to Jesus, 51:52 He accepts us as His children. 51:56 We are His children. We are justified by His grace. 52:00 We are surrounded by His righteousness 52:04 and He beings to work in us 52:06 revealing to us things that are not in harmony 52:08 with His character. 52:10 Revealing to us things 52:11 that are out of harmony with His will 52:14 and we say, Jesus, I surrender that thing to you. 52:18 He works in us by His power. 52:20 You may not be what you want to be right now 52:24 but in Christ and through Christ 52:26 and because of Christ 52:27 one day you will be like Him 52:30 filled with His love and grace. 52:33 We need to go to news break right now, so let's do that. |
Revised 2016-01-01