Participants: Kenny and Chris Shelton (Host), C. A. Murray & Jill Morikone
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW016021A
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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 01:06 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN's family worship, 01:10 and happy Sabbath. 01:12 I m Chris Shelton along with my husband 01:14 Pastor Kenny Shelton 01:16 and we have some of your most favorite I am sure, 01:20 family members of the 3ABN 01:21 that are gonna be worshipping with all of us tonight. 01:23 I am so excited. 01:24 Yeah, they are some of our favorite, 01:25 they are some of our favorite. 01:27 Oh, absolutely, absolutely. 01:28 You know what years ago, 01:30 this is my brother, my own flesh and blood brother, 01:32 he finally immediate he is little bit jealous 01:35 because I get so close to my Church family. 01:38 But you know when you're in this Spirit of the Lord, 01:40 there's just a bond there. 01:42 And you can't help but love. 01:43 Sometimes we share things with one another 01:46 that we can't share 01:48 with our own biological you know family. 01:50 So it's always good. 01:52 But over to my right is pastor CA Murray. 01:57 CA Murray, and I don't know all of his accolade, 02:00 and I don't even have time to list all of them 02:02 everything that he's done.. 02:04 Just a very short sentence. 02:05 He loves Jesus. 02:07 That's the most important thing is that he loves Jesus. 02:10 And then to my left is a wonderful sister, 02:13 Sister Jill Morikone, 02:15 and station's general manager is to her left, 02:19 so we all have to behave ourselves 02:20 because Sister Mollie Steenson is here. 02:24 And with her distinguished manner 02:26 she will let us know 02:27 if we get out of line, I'm so sure. 02:30 I am not the boss, I am just bossy, 02:32 I don't have that all the time. 02:35 I tell you what, if we all had bossy bosses like you 02:38 we would all think we're already in heaven, 02:40 so that's a beautiful thing. 02:42 She has been a blessing 02:43 and she's is a tremendous miracle. 02:45 I just have to say it 02:46 because God has just worked miracles in her life 02:49 and she's still here with us. 02:51 And I am sure you told this many times. 02:53 Many times. 02:54 How wonderful our savior is to keep her here. 02:57 Amen. 02:58 You know as a erring human beings 03:00 we're all walking that walk, that process of sanctification. 03:04 And often we have noble aspirations 03:07 that we're gonna walk the walk of a Christian, 03:09 we're gonna talk the talk of a Christian. 03:12 And our today's topic is What Fruit? 03:15 What fruit are we really sharing with other people 03:18 when we're walking, we we're talking? 03:20 I want to share just a little sentence 03:22 from Conflicting Encourage, 03:24 page, well, page 10, and it's verse 3. 03:28 It says, "No truth does the Bible more clearly teach 03:32 than what we do is the result of what we are. 03:38 To a great degree, the experiences of life 03:41 is the fruition of our own thoughts and deeds." 03:44 So we're gonna kind of get into that 03:46 and see how that deals with the fruit of the spirit. 03:50 And you know, Jesus, he wants us to come as we are. 03:54 He wants us to come. 03:56 And in this world when we come as we are, 03:58 Sister Molly, Sister Jill, Brother CA, 04:00 my husband Pastor Kenny, we gather so much baggage. 04:04 Yes, we do. 04:05 You know, I think the pilgrim's progress, 04:06 when he can barely walk, 04:08 he's got all this things that he's carrying. 04:09 Yes. 04:11 And often people think, 04:12 well, I can't come to the Lord 04:14 until I get rid of this baggage. 04:15 So we're gonna talk 04:17 a little bit about all these things. 04:18 But I praise God, Jesus says, 04:20 you know, he wants us to come as we are. 04:23 And I, we're gonna start up by singing a couple of songs. 04:27 Yes. 04:28 And on the piano we have Sister Marilyn Hawk, 04:32 and she's gonna be playing for us. 04:34 And the first song that we're gonna sing is that, 04:36 I've Got A River Of Life. 04:37 So I want to hear you sing really loud at home, 04:40 you need to drown yourself. 04:41 I've Got A River Of Life. 04:54 I've got a river of life 04:56 Flowing out of me 05:00 Makes the lame to walk, and the blind to see 05:05 Opens prison doors, sets the captives free 05:10 I've got a river of life flowing out of me 05:14 Spring up, O well, within my soul 05:19 Spring up, O well, 05:22 And make me whole 05:24 Spring up, O well, 05:27 And give to me 05:30 That life abundantly 05:35 One more time 05:36 I've got a river of life flowing out of me! 05:41 Makes the lame to walk, and the blind to see. 05:46 Opens prison doors, sets the captives free! 05:51 I've got a river of life flowing out of me! 05:55 Spring up, O well, 05:58 Within my soul! 06:00 Spring up, O well, 06:03 And make me whole! 06:05 Spring up, O well, 06:08 And give to me. 06:11 That life abundantly 06:17 Praise the Lord. 06:18 That river of life flowing, it should be flowing out of us. 06:21 Our cups need to be so filled with all these spirit, 06:24 that when we meet people, when we are at Walmart, 06:27 wherever we night be that it's just flowing out. 06:30 You know, we were at the lake, 06:31 you mentioned, we were at the lake, 06:33 and is it Jacob? 06:36 I think it was Jacob, is that Peter's son, 06:38 Jacob in My Sin... 06:40 Caleb. Caleb. 06:42 And it was so sweet. 06:44 We were under a shelter, and another family came up 06:46 and they have a lot of stuff in their van. 06:48 And he's just a young, what, 16 years old, 06:50 I think now. 06:52 And Caleb spoke up in the man would just bringing some stuff, 06:55 and said, "May I help you?" 06:57 I mean, how often do you hear a teenager asking a stranger, 07:00 "May I help you?" 07:01 And the man let him helped him. 07:03 But that's flowing out of us. Amen. 07:05 This next song that we're gonna sing 07:06 is Blessings Are Refreshing. 07:08 And Sister Marilyn, that is on the piano 07:11 also is the author of this song. 07:13 We have taken it all over the world, haven't we? 07:15 Yes. 07:16 It's been in Africa's, in Salvador, Philippines. 07:21 I know it's been translated into other languages 07:23 and we just had the request to take it back to Arizona. 07:27 So we're looking forward to that. 07:29 BLESSINGS ARE REFRESHING. 07:31 Amen. 07:41 Blessings are refreshing 07:45 Along this pilgrim way 07:49 Blessings are refreshing 07:53 they help us day by day 07:57 God is our joy and comfort 08:00 such a mighty God is He 08:04 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 08:08 the three all live in me 08:14 As we look back through our lives 08:18 We can plainly see 08:22 How that God has helped us 08:25 through times of tragedies 08:30 How he works is a mystery 08:34 His wonders to perform 08:38 Day by day He leads the way 08:42 From evening until mom 08:48 Blessings are refreshing 08:51 Along this pilgrim way 08:55 Blessings are refreshing 08:59 They help us day by day 09:03 God is our joy and comfort 09:07 Such a mighty God is He 09:11 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 09:15 The three all live in me 09:21 Whatsoever things are lovely 09:25 Whatsoever things are true 09:29 Think on these, the Lord has said 09:33 This is right for you and me 09:37 The Bible tells us how to live 09:42 our lives for Him each day 09:45 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 09:49 Will bless us on our way 09:55 We need to count our blessings 09:59 each and every day 10:03 We'll find there are so many. 10:07 He sends along the way 10:11 Friends and loved ones play a part 10:15 to make out lives complete 10:20 Oh, bless the tie that binds us 10:24 in one big family 10:30 Blessings are refreshing 10:34 Along this pilgrim way 10:38 Blessings are refreshing; 10:42 They help us day by day 10:46 God is our joy and comfort 10:50 Such a mighty God is He 10:54 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 10:58 the three all live in me 11:04 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 11:08 The three all live in me 11:20 Amen. 11:21 I mean, that is a sermon within itself 11:23 as you go through those verses. 11:25 But where would we be 11:26 without those Blessings Are Refreshing. 11:29 Let's bow our heads 11:30 and let's ask the Lord to be with us 11:32 as we begin this study together. 11:36 Merciful Father in heaven, 11:37 we truly thank you for the privilege of prayer. 11:39 Thank you that we can call you our father. 11:41 Amen 11:42 What a privilege opened the pages of this beautiful, 11:44 wonderful, perfect book, 11:46 that we can read that the words that are there, 11:49 we can drink them, and take them, 11:51 and they will change us and mould us into your image. 11:54 How desperately we need the power of the Holy Spirit. 11:57 Lord, we just can't understand 11:59 spiritual things without the Spirit. 12:01 So I pray you'd will shower that precious, lovely, 12:04 Holy Spirit upon each one. 12:06 Not just around this table, but around the world, 12:09 those who are tuning in, those who are viewing, 12:11 those who are at home. 12:12 There's some right now 12:13 hungering and thirsting after righteousness. 12:15 They been pointed to the well, 12:17 but they have not the courage in which to go to the well. 12:19 They know they need to drink, but some have that cup, 12:23 spiritual cup in their hand 12:24 but they're afraid to take that drink. 12:26 And so I pray 12:27 that your Holy Spirit will anoint the words 12:29 that will be spoken today, 12:31 that will be no longer be I, 12:32 but the Christ that lives in us and it will go to that water, 12:35 that free water, will drink it. 12:37 Oh, Father, I pray that each one will be fill today. 12:39 Bless now. 12:40 We pray, not our will but thine be done. 12:43 Oh, we need to hear your voice, please speak to us. 12:46 And everyone that's at home may decisions be made now, 12:48 not just for today but for eternity, 12:51 and how we long to meet these sweet individuals, 12:53 help us to be faithful till the end. 12:56 And then the study will see there's some choices 12:58 that need to be made. 13:00 And I thank you for the power you give us to make that choice 13:02 and to keep that. 13:03 We pray in Jesus' holy precious name. 13:05 Amen. Amen. 13:07 Thank Lord. Amen. 13:10 You know, honey, when you was talking about this subject, 13:13 you said What Fruit? 13:15 That it start out with a question, 13:17 Brother CA, what fruit? 13:18 And I thought, Oh, well, 13:19 this is just kind of what fruit. 13:21 We've talked about the fruits of the spirit. 13:22 But the moment I looked at the deeper it got. 13:26 The more I began to study and read 13:28 it began to get so deep. 13:29 And I thought you know, this will touch 13:31 every individual that will stay by their set right now. 13:35 It touched me as I read, 13:37 it gave me hope and it gave me encouragement. 13:40 Our prayer that will give you hope and encouragement 13:42 today because it's deeper than just fruit. 13:44 You can say it real quick, what are the fruits, 13:46 boom, and go home. 13:47 Right. This is deep. 13:48 No. 13:50 And God wants us to dig deep in the word, 13:51 so I pray that each one of us will discuss this, 13:53 we'll see some things. 13:54 May be we've seen but we have acted on it, 13:55 we're gonna act on those today. 13:57 Well, we actually have several questions 13:58 that we're gonna go through. 14:00 Okay. And we might get one or two. 14:02 If we get to that second line of the of the impress. 14:05 All right. 14:06 But you know, as we're on those walk 14:07 of sanctification and as people, 14:10 you know, as we're changing inside 14:12 and they're looking and they are saying, 14:13 you know, really what's different about 14:15 Sister Jill since she's been a Christian 14:16 versus when she wasn't? 14:18 Is there really any different fruit? 14:19 You know a lot of times people throw up their hands 14:21 and they just say, "Is there any hope? 14:23 Is there any hope?" 14:24 Because we get discouraged in ourselves. 14:26 But we're going to start out with the question. 14:28 And question number one, 14:30 and we were even talking a little bit 14:32 before we started here, 14:33 and I think everybody's been blessed 14:34 to come from a little different angles. 14:36 I think it's going to be really good. 14:38 Because I know even within our own church 14:40 we have had people stumble over these things. 14:44 And unfortunately, fall away from the truth. 14:47 So let's look at number one, it says, 14:49 "Is it true, 14:51 God made us who we are, is it true? 14:55 Therefore, what choice do we really have? 14:58 Some people appear to be made "good" 15:01 while others seem to have no choice, 15:03 they are just been bent evil." 15:06 So did God make people who they are? 15:08 In other words, did he make some good, 15:10 did he make some bad, may be some in between? 15:14 You've heard the song, The Good Old Boys. 15:17 I know President Kennedy said years ago 15:18 The Good Old Boys are not going to make it to heaven. 15:21 You may be a good old boy in this earth. 15:23 I get myself in trouble sometimes. 15:24 It's all right, it's all right. 15:26 But you may not make it the kingdom. 15:27 It's all right, stir the pot little bit. 15:29 But in other words, 15:30 are we, basically are we predestined? 15:31 Oh, mercy. 15:33 You know, what do you guys think. 15:35 We, there is predestination, we have been predestined 15:38 to be conformed to the image of Christ. 15:40 That's the only area I can find in the word 15:43 for that word is used concerning us. 15:46 And that being conformed to the image of Christ, 15:50 that's your personal choice, 15:53 and that comes from your free will, 15:56 and it has nothing to do 15:58 with what anybody else says or does about you. 16:00 That is something that only you can do. 16:03 You hear what you said, you kind of mix the two. 16:05 You said, predestined, but it's your personal choice. 16:07 Absolutely. 16:08 See, there's some people that believe if you're predestined 16:11 you have no personal choice. 16:12 And I've actually talked to a dear, dear lady 16:15 and she says, "I had no choice. 16:18 God called me, that's it, I'm saying. 16:20 Others have had no choice. 16:22 God didn't call them 16:24 and if it weren't for those bad people 16:27 we would really..." these her words, 16:28 "We wouldn't really understand 16:29 you know, what the devil is all about." 16:31 I find that, I don't know, it's not difficult, 16:34 I don't know if someone else can relate that, 16:36 when you say in my experience, I have no choice. 16:40 I find it different, certainly foreign to scripture. 16:43 But I like what you said because very few people, 16:45 even an Adventism will say, predestination is scriptural, 16:49 it is scriptural as long... 16:50 If you only look at what that word say, 16:53 "to be conformed to the image of Christ." 16:55 Yes. 16:56 And God gave us free choice, so you can't, 17:00 you know, how can you compare the two and come out saying, 17:04 "No, I don't have free choice." 17:05 You do have free choice. 17:07 But the only time I can find, 17:09 the only thing I can find that we are predestined to do 17:12 is to become into his image and his likeness. 17:16 Would you say, Pastor CA, when you there, as long... 17:19 predestined as long as we maintain 17:22 a certain relationship to God? 17:25 Does that make sense? 17:26 And it's, what's predestined is, 17:27 if I get on 149 and head west I am going to West Frankfurt. 17:30 You know, that's true, 17:32 and unless something disturbs me 17:35 or dissuade me or changes my direction, 17:37 that I keep going west, I'm going to West Frankfurt. 17:39 So there are certain courses of action 17:43 that result in certain results. 17:44 Yes. 17:45 That's pretty determine, 17:47 that if you do certain things, 17:49 certain things are going to happen 17:50 because of those things. 17:52 Now, unless God intervenes and changes 17:55 certain courses lead to certain ends. 17:57 But you decide which road, I can go east, 17:59 I go west on west, you know, on 149. 18:02 I make that determination. 18:03 But if I decide to go west, 18:05 I'm going to West Frankfurt, no other way. 18:07 If I go east I go someplace else, 18:09 but west is West Frankfurt. 18:10 And that's what we got to understand. 18:12 I could make that choice, 18:13 but once you make a certain set of choices 18:16 those choices lead you to certain ends. 18:18 And if you want to change the end, 18:20 change the choices, 18:21 and God has always left that up to us. 18:23 I think there's no confusion here. 18:25 Did you have something, go ahead, Sister Jill. 18:26 I was just going to share one of my favorite passages 18:29 because there are several that deal with choice, 18:32 but I like this one from Joshua. 18:33 Joshua 24:15. 18:35 Yes. Love it. 18:37 "And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose." 18:42 Choose, we have a choice. 18:44 You see, even though you're talking about we're predestined 18:46 you still had the choice in there. 18:48 So that's a balance, 18:50 and perhaps, it's even looking at a different 18:53 definition of the word 18:54 than what people are used to thinking of it as. 18:57 "Choose for this day whom ye will serve, 19:01 whether the Gods which your fathers served 19:04 that were on the other side of the flood 19:06 or the Gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. 19:10 But..." 19:11 I love this, "But as for me and my house, 19:16 we will serve the Lord." 19:18 As for me and my house, 19:20 that's what we want for everybody. 19:22 Sister Jill, does it make sense 19:24 that the way that we were raised 19:26 a lot of times makes a little difference 19:28 in sometimes choice that we make? 19:30 One, I want to give you quick illustration, you come... 19:32 My mother had a like a little plaque 19:35 and she did little needle work, 19:37 call it whatever, embroidery or crochet. 19:39 I don't know what it is, but in the letters 19:42 it's said, 'As for me and my house.' 19:44 I still have that, that we will serve the Lord. 19:47 And I've seen that as a little child, 19:49 on the wall always there, 19:52 and I thought, 'As for me and my house, 19:54 we will serve the Lord.' 19:56 And it always stuck. 19:57 Do you find things like that in, 19:58 like in your life and things that's big? 20:00 Oh, yes. Absolutely, I think so. 20:01 I think the Bible says train up a child 20:03 in the way he should go, 20:04 and when he is old he will not depart from it. 20:06 I, going back to what Pastor CA just mentioned, 20:09 if you go east on 149 or west on 149, 20:12 it reminds me of Galatians 6. 20:14 The Bible says, "Do not be deceived 20:16 God is not mock, 20:17 whenever man sows that shall he also reap." 20:20 We can reap the flash, corruption 20:23 or of the spirit life everlasting. 20:26 And I think those choices that are made in the home, 20:30 parents, the choices they have as for me and my house, 20:34 we will serve the Lord. 20:35 Those choices reap consequences. 20:38 Whether I choose to go east or west, 20:40 I'm going to eventually reap corruption 20:44 or life everlasting 20:46 based on what those choices are. 20:49 We make a choice for God. 20:51 But then, tomorrow morning 20:52 I got to make the same choice for God. 20:54 Thank you. 20:55 When we were home we had little help. 20:58 Yes. 20:59 Making choices. 21:00 We need it as young people. 21:02 Go ahead, I want to put that in because that's important, 21:04 because lot of time you are three or four 21:06 or five years old and you ask the child, 21:08 "What do you want to do?" 21:10 We had help with those choices, 21:11 and I was thankful with Godly parents. 21:13 And I think we need to have help in the right direction. 21:16 We were just at some meetings in Ohio. 21:19 Pastor Sizemore from Missouri, 21:21 he's got a couple churches, I think, in Missouri, 21:24 and he gave a testimony, 21:26 and I hope I relate this accurately. 21:28 But he was a call porters for many years. 21:31 And he had a card from a lady and he said that 21:33 you know, as a call porters, my mother was a call porters, 21:35 and I was so blessed to be able to go with her sometimes. 21:37 But he, we didn't do what he did, 21:39 he could actually look at the writing, 21:41 kind of tell if it was a woman, 21:42 and may be they might be able to get the books, 21:44 type of things you know. 21:46 And he looked at this and he said, 21:47 well, they had loopy handwriting. 21:49 So he could tell it was a woman's card. 21:51 So he went to this home and the lady was there, 21:54 she was so excited, "Oh, I'm so glad that you're here, 21:57 come on in." 21:58 And so he was there 22:00 and you know, he realized it was just him and her, 22:03 then pretty soon she heard her husband come, 22:06 she's like, "Oh, no my husband's here." 22:10 And he thought... 22:11 He thought, oh-oh. 22:13 You know, because it is just the man, 22:14 he doesn't know him from Adam 22:16 or that he's a Christian or what he's doing 22:17 or what he's presenting to this lady. 22:19 And for those of you that don't know, 22:22 those that are call porters, 22:24 they take bible story books and they go house to house 22:27 in order to try to sell them and to share those. 22:30 In fact, now I love it 22:32 because many times if a person can't afford it, 22:34 they have something to give them. 22:36 And years ago we didn't always have that, 22:38 and that was something that was hard to do 22:40 is to walk away and not leave something. 22:43 But anyway, 22:45 the man came in and he began to yell 22:48 and say expletives, 22:49 and he wanted him out of there. 22:52 And as he was leaving or getting up to leave, 22:55 she told him, she says, "Oh, I'm so sorry, 22:58 my husband was raised a Seventh-day Adventist." 23:00 Oh, wow. 23:01 Easy now. 23:03 Yeah. What fruit? 23:06 What fruit? 23:07 What choices, how are we giving our children these choices? 23:13 You know, and I was waiting for him to say, 23:15 oh, I was able to have an open door with this, 23:17 but it never happened. 23:19 You know, what fruit, as any Christian, 23:21 Seventh-day Adventists, any Christian, 23:23 you know, what type of example of heaven 23:26 are we giving to our children and those around us? 23:28 Our husbands, our wives, brothers, sisters. 23:32 As we look on and we read more, 23:34 we'll talk a little bit more about that. 23:36 But I thought that was heavy. 23:37 You know, before we leave this subject, 23:40 even in our desire to be like the Lord, 23:44 it's very difficult sometimes to divorce 23:46 yourself from who you are. 23:49 Which is why, that and all things 23:50 we must be surround to the Lord. 23:52 You know because your question ask, 23:54 did God make us who we are? 23:57 God made a perfect man 23:59 and when God finishes his creation he said, 24:01 everything was good, 24:02 it was suited for the intent that it was created. 24:06 But the first chapter of Romans 24:10 takes pains to say that we've kind of messed that up. 24:13 You know, we can didn't remember God, 24:15 we certainly didn't glorify God, 24:17 and we change the truth of God into a lie. 24:20 So if you go back to Psalms 51, 24:22 David be moans the fact, 24:23 I am bored in sing and shape and iniquity. 24:25 So I'm not what God made, there's a lot of chances. 24:28 You look at Adam, look at me. 24:30 Very little resemblance, he's taller, better looking, 24:32 you know, just go down the list. 24:34 So I'm not what God, 24:35 I've deteriorated unless I make a decision. 24:39 It's what Mollie was talking about. 24:40 A choice to turn to what's God, 24:42 the default setting is corruption. 24:43 I think Jill said that's so beautifully 24:45 that if I do nothing, I've bent myself to hell, 24:48 I have. 24:50 God is a positive decision. 24:51 I've got to say to the Lord, I accept you, 24:53 and then we begin to work together. 24:55 But if I do nothing, 24:56 I remain in my corrupt state. 24:58 And the wages of sin is death. 25:00 Now that is, that's determined, 25:02 that the wages of sin is death. 25:03 If Christ would have got around that, he would have, 25:07 but he couldn't because the wages of sin is death, 25:08 Christ had to die. 25:10 So now the gift of God is eternal life. 25:12 But if I stay at the wages of sin, 25:14 the equal sign says dead, 25:16 and there's no way to get around that, 25:18 unless I positively accept Christ. 25:19 And that's what we preach so hard and teach so hard, 25:22 and that's why 3ABN exists, 25:23 and that's why we come together to do worship 25:25 because we got to let the people know 25:27 if you do nothing, 25:28 you've already decided for Satan. 25:29 You have to make a positive decision, 25:31 you got to choose, as you just stated. 25:33 Is there other, I mean is there other words, 25:36 what I find in scripture when people tries to deny 25:39 that there's choices to be made. 25:40 You know, I read scripture, I see we have to be willing, 25:45 we need to be obedient, work, watch, pray, struggle, fight. 25:51 You know you see all these words, commit. 25:53 Then I ran across this little thing 25:56 in Spirit of Prophecy 5T345. 25:58 I just have to read this, 25:59 this is very interesting. 26:01 When it said this, 26:02 I got little like hair on the back of my neck stood up 26:05 because to me, when I read the Bible 26:07 there's nothing impossible with God. 26:09 I mean, I was brought up that way, 26:10 I believe it with my whole heart. 26:12 That's not big, it's not, it's just... 26:13 That's the way it is in a Christian's life. 26:16 And I read this right here 26:18 dealing with the subject matter, 26:19 it says, "No one, 26:22 not even God, 26:25 can carry us to heaven 26:28 unless we make 26:29 the necessary effort on our part." 26:33 Just what you were saying. 26:35 I'm getting goosebumps right now, 26:36 until we make that commitment, 26:39 that effort, fight that good fight of faith 26:43 God can't overrule what he set up, 26:46 the conditions of salvation. 26:48 And that's going on for what Pastor CA just said. 26:51 And I believe we have to be, 26:53 make a cognizant no effort to do that. 26:56 You know, I think when we feel hopeless many time 26:59 is because we've made that decision 27:01 and all of a sudden it's Sabbath morning 27:04 and you go down and everything is in disarray, 27:06 nobody's ready. 27:09 You're laughing. 27:10 Hello, has anybody ever lost it? 27:14 That's right. Has anybody ever lost it? 27:16 You see, and I believe with that, that man 27:19 that told Pastor Sizemore, the wife, she told him, 27:22 that he was raised an Adventist, 27:24 you know, it could be that you know, on Sabbath morning, 27:26 "You get there, blah, blah, blah," 27:28 and then you go to church 27:29 and "Hello, brothers and sisters, how are you? 27:32 Oh, want a blessed day." 27:33 And it's just been horrible all morning. 27:36 You know, you may have lost it over somebody 27:38 rolling the toothpaste separate, 27:39 I don't know. 27:40 So what happens there, what about our fruits? 27:43 We know we were determined but we fall. 27:45 Something turned that child's heart in the other way, 27:49 that man's heart. 27:51 You know the question, 27:54 "If we're created this why, is there anything, 27:57 what can we do about it? 27:58 Do we have any choice?" 28:00 And I just wanted to look at Satan, can we do that? 28:03 Yes. 28:04 So tell me how he was created. 28:07 Perfect. 28:08 In all ways. 28:10 Okay, what was his end? 28:12 He's the great adversary, is he not? 28:14 Yes, he is. Yes, he is. 28:15 So who made that choice for him? 28:18 He did. 28:20 He had to have made that choice. 28:22 And if you know, 28:25 he made the choice in the wrong direction. 28:28 But we, thank God, born in sin and inequity, 28:32 where we not? 28:34 Make the right choice. 28:35 Amen. 28:37 And what is our eternal destiny then? 28:39 Again, we've been predestined, 28:43 our destiny has been that we would be 28:45 in the image and likeness of God 28:47 because of what Christ brought out for us at Calvary. 28:50 Amen. 28:51 Same thing you were talking about in the Garden of Eden. 28:53 Yes. 28:54 You know, I try to explain to someone 28:56 who believes in predestination, not scripturally so. 28:59 And I said, "Well is that, was that not a choice? 29:04 You know what's offered, and didn't you had to the..." 29:07 Oh, no, God know, he predestined, 29:09 he knew it was going to happen so it just happened. 29:10 She had no choice. 29:11 I said, I just can not believe that. 29:13 She did have a choice. 29:14 You know, and I've said a few times, 29:16 when I get to heaven I want to have a talk with her. 29:19 She messed things up pretty bad, didn't' she. 29:21 And you know what, 29:23 and then I want to talk to Adam then. 29:25 Because if he had chosen, 29:27 if he had chosen to stay there and choose God, 29:31 this mess wouldn't be here. 29:32 I believe that. They weren't. 29:33 There just one remain faithful 29:35 everything would have continued on. 29:37 Oh, I am getting goosebumps. 29:38 So we need to have, we'd be so happy when we get there. 29:41 He'd be talking to us, "I wonder why you're here." 29:43 Yes. 29:45 This is why we can never get past the first question, 29:46 but I want to do just... 29:50 Romans 7:18, 29:52 Paul is saying that, "I know that in me, 29:54 that in my flesh dweleth no good today." 29:56 So there's nothing good in there. 29:58 And I think it goes back to Molly's point. 30:01 What's predestined is the way, 30:06 the way to salvation is pre-determined, 30:09 it's pretty done, 30:10 you just got to choose to walk in it. 30:12 But in your flesh there's nothing good. 30:14 But it doesn't end there, 30:15 because once you make that turn to Christ, 30:17 Christ works his way in you, with you, for you, to you, 30:20 through you to what he's asking you to do. 30:23 Amen. What hope. 30:24 There is hope, there is hope, because if he does say, 30:27 dwells no good thing in this, that's just, you know, just... 30:30 And when God looks at us 30:31 what does he look at us through? 30:33 He looks at us through that mercy, CA, doe she not? 30:36 And what us, who, there is no good thing, 30:38 our hearts are wicked, exceedingly wicked. 30:41 But when God looks at us, 30:43 if we've made Jesus Christ the Lord of our life, 30:45 Pastor Kenny, he looks at us 30:47 through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 30:49 And the blood speaks better things than the blood of... 30:52 That's right. 30:53 It cries out mercy, have mercy on us. 30:57 And we stand before God 30:59 with that, with mercy applied... 31:01 Don't you want to feel like 31:03 that you're more than an odds, 31:08 this one makes it, that will doesn't, 31:09 there's no choice, you're predestined, 31:11 you're nothing more than a chance? 31:13 Right. 31:14 I don't believe that and the Bible does not, 31:16 so you're born with a price, the king of the universe, 31:20 so you're special. 31:21 Who so ever will. 31:23 Because doctor don't push you around for good or for ill, 31:25 you know, he's not going to going to push you around. 31:28 And I think that's why this, 31:29 that statement is so powerful and arresting, 31:33 that if you don't choose as mighty as God is, 31:36 he can't, you know, he can't do for you 31:39 what you don't want done for you. 31:41 Because you just don't want to go to heaven, 31:43 well, he's won't take you. 31:44 Well, with this thought in this platform, 31:46 and hold your thought, 31:47 because I'm sure they will still play a part. 31:49 Let's look at question number two, 31:51 because this throws people, 31:53 this throws people who are grounded, 31:55 who feel like they understand that we do have a choice, 31:59 but when they begin to read some of these verses in Exodus, 32:03 it's a little confusing. 32:06 So let's look at the second question. 32:07 It says, "Doesn't the Bible say 32:10 that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? 32:13 Doesn't that prove that some are born to be lost?" 32:18 So let's continue on, what do you think? 32:20 Does it say that. 32:21 Oh, go ahead, read, somebody read Exodus 7:3. 32:24 But you know, think about it when you do this, 32:25 because we've been talking about, 32:28 when you have predestination, and election, 32:30 lot of people say, well, this is a election. 32:33 And I like to think in terms of this, 32:35 don't turn to hog the time 32:37 but I'm just, it's so interesting, 32:38 you say election, 32:40 make sure you're calling election is sure. 32:42 And one man explained it one time, even I got it, 32:45 I finally got it. 32:47 He said, it's just simple, 32:49 you may have read this somewhere. 32:50 He said, "It's God votes for you, 32:55 and the devil votes against you, 32:58 and when you cast your vote, 33:00 that's the way it's going to be." 33:01 Amen. Oh, that' good. 33:03 I just jumped and shout. 33:05 See, how that make sense? 33:07 I make the deciding determination 33:09 of where I'm going to spend eternity, 33:11 I am the deciding vote. 33:13 Isn't that simple. I really like it. 33:15 Well, I tell you, I get goosebumps again. 33:19 People think it's so exci... 33:20 That is so simple, and so sweet, 33:23 and so wonderful. 33:24 I said, God ho I've kind of missed that 33:26 because I know I had a vote. 33:27 Yeah, you're the tiebreaker. 33:29 Tiebreaker. 33:30 Okay, I just had to get that out. 33:32 I like that. 33:33 You know this whole concept of choice, 33:36 just being honest with you, is actually painful for me, 33:39 not for me personally 33:41 but because I have family members. 33:43 Oh, yes. 33:44 That say, "God made me this way." 33:47 I hear that. 33:49 "God made me this way, and my sin, 33:52 and what's going on in my life, I can't change it. 33:56 God would have made me different 33:57 if he hadn't wanted this. 33:59 I don't have any choice." 34:01 It's grieving. 34:02 But I love what you said, because God cast the vote, 34:05 and yes, Satan wants our soul too. 34:09 But we have to make a choice. Amen. 34:11 Say, God, I know I can't change myself, 34:14 but I want to cast my vote on your side, 34:16 I want to make that choice. 34:18 Because you think about Pharaoh, 34:19 you asked about Pharaoh. 34:21 If we say no to God 34:23 and we cast out vote on Satan's side, 34:25 that hardens my heart. 34:28 And the next time God calls for my heart 34:30 and I cast my vote on Satan's side again 34:33 my heart becomes hard again, 34:36 and again, and again. 34:38 But if I don't do that 34:39 and if every time God calls for my vote. 34:41 I cast it on God's side, it become soft and pliable. 34:46 And he says what, Ezekiel 36, 34:48 "A new heart also will I give you, 34:51 and the new spirit will I put within you, 34:53 and I'm going to take away that harden soul." 34:55 That hard heart, those dispositions, 34:58 predispositions whatever to sin, 35:00 and I'm going to give you a heart of flesh. 35:03 Praise God. 35:05 So you hear what she's saying, don't you? 35:07 She's already explaining it. 35:08 It does say, and I'll just read it, 35:10 I would add somebody. 35:11 But it say, there are several verses there, 35:13 it says, "And I will harden..." this is Exodus 7:3, 35:16 "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, 35:18 and multiply my signs and wonders 35:21 in the land of Egypt." 35:22 So but what Jill is saying 35:24 is because of the choices that Pharaoh made, 35:28 Pharaoh's heart was harder. 35:30 Now how do we know that to be true? 35:32 Is there a verse? 35:33 I just have to go because, and jump in, 35:36 even though we always say, well, and this says, 35:38 his heart was hard, God hardened his heart. 35:40 But if we just read the next chapter, Chapter 8:32, 35:44 it says, Pharoah hardened his own heart. 35:47 And 15. That makes it clear. 35:49 In case people say, well, now it's the God did, 35:50 he harden his heart so he could never... 35:52 He hardened his own heart. 35:54 Again, you said, by the choices that he made. 35:57 You know two things, 35:59 and you can get a clue long before that 36:01 in the very first chapter of the Book of Exodus. 36:05 God only has one way of dealing with, 36:08 "He that loveth not, not in our God for God is love." 36:11 Come on. That's God, period. 36:13 He does nothing else, he can do no more, 36:14 he can do no less. 36:16 That's what he does. 36:17 Now depending on the material that, that love shining on, 36:20 determine what's going to happen, 36:22 and there's an old adage. 36:23 If it's ice, that love will melt it. 36:26 If it's like mud brick, it will harden it. 36:29 So it's the material. 36:30 If you look at, there's a thing in Bible study 36:34 called the Law First Mention. 36:36 Basically, how the Bible introduces a person 36:38 kind of gives you an idea how God sees that person. 36:41 So you look at the first time a person is mentioned. 36:43 Well, the first in the very first chapter, 36:46 in verse 15, 36:48 Pharaoh is giving an order to Hebrew midwives, 36:52 if it's a boy kill him, if it's a girl let them live. 36:56 Now what kind of heart make that kind of order? 36:59 That's pretty clear. 37:01 So we know what we're dealing with, 37:02 this is before we even talk about God and Pharaoh. 37:04 We're dealing with a person 37:05 who has no problem snuffing out loud. 37:08 So you got a heart that's damage, that is flawed. 37:11 Yeah, so this heart is already hard, 37:13 this is he person who's got evil intent. 37:16 So now you add God to it, 37:19 you add the love of God to it. 37:20 You ever, you know, we'll do it real quick. 37:21 You ever get mad, and want to be mad for a while? 37:23 Oh, yeah. 37:25 You know, sometimes you just want to be mad. 37:26 Okay. 37:27 I just want to stew in this for a while. 37:29 I just want to just you know. 37:30 Someone's like, you know, give me a second, 37:31 I just want to kind of be mad for a little while. 37:34 Yeah, you know, you just want to, 37:35 I want to kind of just process this. 37:36 Okay. 37:38 Well, we've got a guy here who, 37:42 even when he, when God is introduced to him, 37:44 he says, "Okay, well, first of all, who is this God? 37:47 That I, I am the king of this place, 37:49 I am running the show, who is God 37:51 that I should change anything I'm doing?" 37:54 So you got a hard heart already. 37:56 Is that same-- 37:58 Right. 37:59 Exact same mindset. 38:00 So now the love of God is not going to soften that, 38:04 it's going to tick him off because he wants to be mad, 38:07 he wants to be evil. 38:08 And the more you, the more love you put on it 38:10 just gonna aggravate, don't love me, 38:12 I don't want to, I want to be what I am. 38:14 And that's what we're looking at, 38:15 we got a guy who will give an order, 38:17 kill male babies, kill them. 38:19 You dealing with a hard heart 38:21 long before God come in the picture. 38:22 So the very same message 38:25 that hardens someone's heart 38:27 softens someone else's. 38:29 Precisely. That's it. 38:30 Because of the heart. Because of the heart. 38:32 Because the message is the same, 38:33 it's the heart. 38:34 As you talked about, what was it, 38:38 the sun melts, 38:40 talk about the wax. 38:42 Yeah. But what does it do? 38:43 It hardens the clay. 38:44 Same stuff, 38:46 it's what it does on the difference of heart. 38:48 That's why you say, 38:49 "One of your children is really good, 38:50 the other one is really bad." 38:52 That was part of what we're talking, 38:53 you talking here about 38:54 it seems like one is more receptive 38:56 to the spirit and the other is not. 38:58 How did one turn out this way 38:59 and how did the other turn that way 39:01 when they had the same parent parents, 39:03 they had the same Holy Spirit speaking to them? 39:07 It's always come back to the heart, wouldn't it? 39:09 The choices. 39:10 Okay, somebody... 39:12 You know, I was speaking with a friend of mine 39:13 who's a teacher as well. 39:15 We were in college together and she's still working. 39:17 And she was sharing about 39:19 the principle that they have at a local junior high. 39:22 And she was talking about that if the students 39:26 do not do well on the grades 39:29 that the principal is responsible. 39:32 Oh, wow. 39:33 And the principal's response 39:34 because the principal has to be sure that those teachers 39:37 know what they're teaching and how they teach 39:40 and they're getting the message across. 39:41 Okay? 39:43 So that is her job, she's responsible. 39:45 So in view of this, 39:47 do you ever feel that the prophets themselves 39:49 say things the way that they do, 39:50 because they realize ultimately 39:52 the responsibility goes back to God, 39:55 the sovereignty goes back to God? 39:58 Interesting. 39:59 In this situation 40:02 God did set up the circumstances 40:05 for Pharaoh to say no. 40:08 He sent Moses 40:10 to tell Pharaoh to set the children of Israel free. 40:14 Now had God not sent Moses to do that, 40:17 Pharaoh wouldn't have hardened his heart and said, "No." 40:20 So God, so we did set up those circumstances 40:23 and the situation 40:25 where Pharaoh would stand up and say, "No." 40:27 But God didn't hardness heart, he just set of circumstances. 40:31 Yeah. What God will do? 40:32 God will put you in a corner, make you decide. 40:34 That decision... Yeah, test of faith. 40:36 Oh, yeah, he make you decide. 40:38 Praise God for that. 40:39 Some will accept, some will harden. 40:41 Yeah, that's the thing. 40:42 The heart is the issue. It is the issue. 40:44 My sister has four boys 40:46 and they are as different as night and day. 40:48 And one of them, I just remember, 40:49 being at her house, and he was probably four. 40:52 And she corrected him 40:54 and said, "No, you can't..." whatever, 40:55 "get down from the table unless this is..." whatever. 40:58 And so he got upset, 41:00 and so she said, "Go to your room." 41:02 And so he had a little tantrum 41:04 and started going to go into his room. 41:06 And then all of a sudden I heard this, 41:08 "Jesus," tears running down his face, 41:11 "Jesus, help me be happy. Jesus, help me." 41:14 And I thought that was a heart that was reaching out, 41:18 that was asking, right? 41:21 And then on the flipside 41:22 you know, you see others who says, 41:24 "I don't care. I don't want God. 41:25 I want..." what did you say Pastor CA, 41:26 "hold on to it a while. 41:28 I just want to hang on to my stuff," you know. 41:30 So the heart is different. 41:32 Absolutely. Yeah. 41:33 And people are definitely looking at the fruits. 41:36 You know as you're talking, 41:37 I was thinking about a situation you had told me 41:40 about of someone coming in, 41:42 they were talking about a set of children, 41:44 and they had the same parents, 41:45 and the same type of upbringing, 41:47 but they were not all the same. 41:49 And so as an outsider looking in they are like, 41:51 you know, why are they so different, 41:53 why are they different then you. 41:55 You see, because the parents, they were Christians, 41:57 they were trying to live and dress and do, 42:00 you know, the will of God 42:01 and yet, the children didn't seem to care. 42:05 And so they're looking and saying, 42:07 you know, why are they so different? 42:09 So it's interesting, it's the heart. 42:12 I know even in our own family. 42:14 He's reminded because sometimes I will grieve thinking, 42:17 oh, may be I could have done this different, 42:19 I could have done that different, 42:20 I could have spent more time here. 42:22 And he said, well, what about Cain and Abel. 42:26 Somebody think about that one. 42:28 Same parents. 42:30 Absolutely. That helps. 42:31 All the glory, all the you know... 42:33 I have a legion of stories where you have two children, 42:36 same parents, same upbringing, and I don't want to pastor now, 42:40 he's going to retire this year. 42:42 Pastered all his life and just a couple weeks ago 42:44 I found out from someone else 42:46 that his brother is the leading drug king in a certain city. 42:50 I mean, you know you've got one 42:51 who's been Adventist Pastor his whole life, 42:52 now there is a leading drug dealer in there. 42:55 Same parent, you know, same parents. 42:58 And you wonder how. 42:59 And you know, you do your best but ultimately, 43:02 to come to God it's an individual thing. 43:05 And you can't say, my mother, my father, 43:06 my grandparents, you know. 43:08 It's on you. It's on you. 43:10 And going back to that choice, 43:12 going back to where I am looking, Job 4:8, 43:15 just real quickly, Job 4:8. 43:17 It says, "They that plow iniquity 43:20 and sow wickedness reap the same." 43:24 So therefore, what we are sowing, 43:27 we going to reap. 43:28 So if in our homes, 43:30 where it should be a place of heaven, 43:32 and we are sowing seeds of strive, 43:35 and anger, and yelling, and... in the name of Jesus, 43:40 we're going to reap wild fruit. 43:42 Yes. 43:43 You know, no matter how hard we try. 43:45 And now I think with Pharaoh, 43:48 as you explained, our Pastor CA, 43:49 may be he was the one that was explaining, 43:51 very early on he was sowing seeds of wickedness, 43:56 seeds of iniquity. 43:57 How may, I can't even imagine telling anybody to kill a baby. 44:02 I know. A baby. 44:04 I know. 44:05 Even the animal kingdom, if they see a human baby, 44:09 they are tender hearted, and we think of them 44:11 as not having the intelligence that we have. 44:13 But they were just showing 44:15 not too long ago were a gorilla, 44:16 they were replaying a tape where a baby had fallen in, 44:19 and this gorilla picks up 44:21 to try to comfort and hold the baby, 44:23 because it had fallen in at a zoo. 44:26 Amazing. 44:28 And you know what's amazing to me 44:29 is God in His sovereignty. 44:31 He looks down on all of us 44:33 and whether we have chosen to follow God, 44:35 like you said the Adventist pastor, 44:36 his whole life serve to God, 44:38 or whether, or the drug Lord, right. 44:42 God still, even while there is breath in our body, 44:47 he reaches out and he says, "Return, come back to me. 44:52 I think Ezekiel 18 is one of my favorite scriptures." 44:55 He says, "Repent and turn from your transgressions 44:57 for why should you die, oh, house of Israel." 45:01 And I just want to appeal to you today, 45:03 we're asking make a choice for Jesus. 45:05 Yes. 45:07 No matter what you've done in your life, 45:09 no matter how far you've traveled down 45:11 that path to hell, 45:13 no matter what you've done, 45:14 God says, you can still make a choice, 45:17 come back to me. 45:19 Don't die, don't linger, come back to God. 45:22 And there are some things 45:24 that bite down on you pretty hard. 45:25 Well... 45:26 You know, you pick them up along the way 45:28 or you're predispose or it's in the genes, 45:30 you don't know how. 45:31 That you're going to have to... 45:33 I mean, the kingdom of God, something's violence, 45:34 something you got to fight your way through. 45:36 It's just is not going to be easy. 45:38 You just have something that's a little tougher 45:40 than what some people have, but you can be successful, 45:44 you can fight your way through. 45:45 And you get heaven fighting alongside. 45:47 That's right. 45:49 Isn't that beautiful. 45:50 You know the thing, sometime we don't realize 45:52 it's easy to look at someone else. 45:54 I've heard this said and people said there some time 45:57 some of us are working on patients, 46:00 as people who's working on temper. 46:03 They're trying to gain the victory over temper. 46:05 And I remember reading the Spirit of Prophecy one time 46:07 because I've always been kind of quick myself 46:08 and I'll always tried to commit those aspects to God, 46:11 and he's been working you know, been still working 46:14 and still working about... 46:15 But those, sometime we're just not understanding 46:18 because you mention the word here, 46:19 erring human beings, 46:21 we're working on sanctification, 46:22 preparation for heaven. 46:23 We do not realize how difficult it is for some people 46:27 what they are tested with. 46:28 You talk about baggage, you talk about born with 46:30 or what they have, 46:32 you know, developed over the years such as temper. 46:36 And I know as reading the Spirit of Prophecy 46:37 one time, it says, we will never, 46:39 if our characters are not, 46:41 other words, we're kind of laid back and easy, 46:43 kind of come and go and we can take. 46:45 We have no idea what that person 46:48 who's trying to fight this thing of the enemy, 46:51 goes through every day. 46:52 If we did, we'd have a little bit more mercy 46:54 on the erring individual who wants to get it right, 46:58 who's striving to get it right. 47:00 And sometimes we take our eyes off of Christ, so. 47:03 I've read this, I thought how interesting it is 47:05 because this is our Christian duty. 47:07 I found this is my Christian duty, 47:09 and I found that in fact Testimonies 345, 47:13 and it's talking about this about our model. 47:15 "It does not become one 47:16 to pronounce sentence upon others 47:19 and look to himself as a model man." 47:21 And since you do that sometime, we should never do it, 47:24 but sometime Christ is our model, imitate him. 47:28 Notice, we are not to condemn others, 47:31 we should love one another. 47:32 This is simple, and pray for one another, notice. 47:35 When we see one err from the truth 47:38 then we, notice, then we may weep 47:41 over him as Christ wept over Jerusalem. 47:45 And of course, Galatians 6 and James 5, 47:47 we can look at it. 47:48 And I weep over this situation, 47:52 the real life situation. 47:55 I had a good friend in the ministry 48:00 and he made a wrong choice, he made a wrong choice. 48:05 But he was heavy duty, 48:06 there's books out in the market with this man's name on it, 48:09 and there are some good books, and I knew him personally. 48:13 And he made a wrong choice and a lot of his friends, 48:18 especially those in the ministry 48:21 want to separate from him 48:22 because they didn't want to be caught, 48:24 as it were may be association with a sinner. 48:26 And how wrong that is. 48:28 And I thought about this man several different times 48:30 and try to call and get a number 48:32 and I never did do it, and just say, 48:34 we love you, appreciate you. 48:36 anything we can do to help? 48:38 Not to let him warn what is wrong, we understand, 48:40 that's not the issue. 48:41 We're here, that's what, that's what you do to erring, 48:43 and sometimes we don't do that. 48:45 And so, but I never did. 48:46 And about a year later I found out 48:49 that because of the condemnation 48:51 of those who supposed to love him, 48:53 no one came to his side, no one say, we're here for you, 48:55 bro, you know, we'll pray for you. 48:57 He took a gun and he blew his brains out in the closet. 49:01 That's it, that's putting it bluntly, 49:02 but that's exactly... I wept over that 49:04 because I said, I had an opportunity, 49:07 I felt that I needed to call 49:09 and to say, "Can I pray with you 49:11 or is there something I can do for you as a brother?" 49:14 And I fail to do that and I've never forgotten that, 49:18 that's all in my mind constantly, 49:20 when those who... 49:22 It gets to be too heavy some time 49:24 and when you err, you need somebody. 49:27 Lord have mercy, you need somebody. 49:29 Not to try to justify it but just to say, 49:31 we love you, what can we do for you. 49:33 We're going to be praying for you. 49:34 To restore them. He killed himself. 49:37 That's the right fruit, that's the fruit of the spirit. 49:40 Bit Pastor Kenny, 49:41 I bet you don't do that if there's a next time. 49:43 No. No. 49:44 And all you can do is say, "God, we're sorry for that." 49:47 You know, I did talk to his wife and so on later, 49:49 but that was after the fact. 49:51 And it's just, but what he said was 49:54 all the people who I stood with and I did meetings with 49:57 and I did, everyone left me. 50:01 So I'm going encourage just don't leave. 50:02 Not to do that, yeah. 50:03 The opposite of what Christ did, 50:05 we left him. 50:07 And he emptied heaven for us, he came and got us. 50:10 He's pulling us out of the fire, 50:12 he's pulling us out of the mud. 50:14 And I'm going to, 50:15 we just running out of time so quickly. 50:18 But I'm going to combine 50:19 question three and question four 50:21 because we need to touch on this. 50:22 Sister Jill touched on it a little bit. 50:25 But putting all of this back together. 50:28 The question three is talking about 50:30 Jesus wants us to come as we are 50:32 and yet, we come, as you mention, 50:34 with worldly baggage. 50:36 Look at question four, it says, 50:37 "How can coming to Christ help a hurting soul?" 50:42 You know as I listening to Pastor Doug one night 50:44 and a young man called in and he said, 50:47 "You know my family and friends, 50:49 they keep saying I need to accept Jesus. 50:50 Who is he?" 50:53 How can coming to Christ help a hurting soul? 50:57 I forget that sometimes, I forget that there's people. 51:00 And I shouldn't. 51:01 I forget that there's people that don't know who he is, 51:05 living in this country, 51:06 with everything that's going on. 51:08 We have to approach every subject in my opinion 51:12 as though there's somebody who does not know 51:14 what you're talking about. 51:15 So you can't get, I never do, 51:18 but get so deep that the people just have never heard this, 51:22 can't understand it any more. 51:23 So how does it help a hurting soul to come to him? 51:26 That's a good question. 51:28 It occurs to me that even those 51:29 who once had a relationship with Jesus, 51:31 when they are hurt or hurting, 51:33 the on the vision is usually pretty cloudy. 51:36 I've done, throughout my ministry 51:37 when I think someone has fallen into grievous sin, 51:41 they've done something that's big, and public, 51:42 and embracing and you know, reputation destroying. 51:46 When I get them, 51:48 the first question I ask them is "Who is Jesus?" 51:51 Because we need to reestablish, 51:52 who is Jesus to you at this point. 51:54 Because they are usually under condemnation, 51:56 a lot of self condemnation. 51:58 So one of my first question is just who is God, 52:00 who is Jesus to you at this point? 52:03 And knew they got away through a lot of stuff, 52:05 you know, a lot of weight 52:07 before they can get to who Christ is for them. 52:11 But finding out who Jesus is 52:13 makes all the difference in the world, 52:14 you are healing, you know. 52:16 But you think He's condemning you, 52:18 you're not, you're going to kind of shy away. 52:20 But if you still think he's a loving Lord, 52:21 well, then we got some place to build on. 52:23 Because a hurting soul, they are way down, 52:27 their sin oppress, they realize they've done wrong, 52:32 and they need a savior. 52:34 That's right. 52:35 And they need a Lord, they need the blood of Jesus, 52:39 they need to have the peace. 52:41 They don't have any peace outside of Jesus. 52:44 So when we come to him and we get to know who he is, 52:47 he's saving us from ourselves, he's saying us from our sins, 52:52 he's pulling us out of the fire. 52:54 He knows the end of the story. 52:56 He understands that sin, 52:58 that the payment of sin is death. 53:02 And he loves us so much 53:05 that he wants to take that death for us. 53:07 Does he not encourage us, in Isaiah 1:18, 53:11 "Though your sins be the..." "Scarlet." 53:13 See, we need to hear it, someone slips and falls. 53:17 "Though your sins are like scarlet, 53:18 so I washed them whiter than snow." 53:20 Then I read the Spirit of Prophecy, 53:22 it say, there's no, 53:23 there is no sin that God cannot forgive. 53:26 Amen. 53:28 You can't get dirty enough, you can't get down far enough, 53:30 you can't get out of sight enough, you can't do... 53:33 He's proved that in scripture over and over, 53:35 when we look at the men and women of God 53:36 and how they slip so far, you just say, 53:38 how could he? 53:39 Because he loves us, because he has pity on us, 53:41 because he, you know he puts forth efforts 53:44 to win us and he will never... 53:46 Listen, now hear, 53:47 He will never cease to work on you, 53:49 even though you forgetting, you've grown cold, 53:53 unpardonable sin, He still working on you. 53:56 That's how much he care for you. 53:58 Prayer God will never ever not answer "Save me. 54:01 Oh, save me." 54:03 I've got a scripture in Psalms 38:4, 54:05 it says, "For my iniquities have gone over my head, 54:09 like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me." 54:12 Do you remember 54:14 when you asked Jesus Christ to be the Lord to your life 54:17 and the burden of your sins rolled off of you. 54:19 See, some people were so young and didn't have 54:22 that weightiness of sin, some of us weren't so young, 54:26 and we had that weightiness of sin, 54:28 and all the joy that flood your soul 54:32 to quote lines from Psalm but they are true lines. 54:35 And you stand before God then 54:38 with that burden rolled off of you 54:39 and it's all because of Christ. 54:43 You know usually, there are some people 54:45 who are so harden their sense, 54:46 they really don't see themselves. 54:48 But usually, when a person has messed up, 54:50 they know, you know, they know. 54:53 And they feel they would have continuation. 54:54 I'm looking at Isaiah 42:3, 54:57 a bruised reed and smoking flax. 54:59 You know when you come to the Lord broken, 55:01 and bruised, and under that weight of sin 55:03 that you were talking about, the Lord doesn't... 55:05 you know he's not, that's not, 55:07 you know, he's not doing that. 55:09 He's exact opposite. 55:10 Because you know, you know you've messed up 55:12 and you feel far away. 55:13 And the devil is saying, "See, I told you, I told you." 55:16 You can't go back. Right, you can't go back. 55:17 And again, you coming back again with that thing. 55:21 So you know, and so God is not going to break you, 55:23 he's not going to, you know, he's not there to crush you. 55:26 He's there to say, come my child, I love you. 55:28 You don't like that kind of treatment, 55:30 as you're going through these things. 55:32 I had a shop teacher in the seventh grade. 55:34 You took a test and you missed may be one or two, 55:37 everyone you missed below that you got a swat. 55:40 In front of the whole class you got a pat. 55:42 You know what, I hated that class. 55:45 You know what I was saying? 55:46 It was the way back, 55:48 it could be taught in different way 55:49 but that there was a, 55:51 I don't realize there's a penalty. 55:52 But it's the way that it was conducted. 55:54 You already was sad may be cause you didn't pass it anyway 55:57 and you needed some help to do the, 56:00 it was a shop class to build health, 56:02 but it wasn't, it was a punishment 56:03 and you get beat. 56:05 So Christ, he works out this different. 56:06 I am so proud of him. 56:08 How can't you love a Lord, 56:09 why won't you come to Lord that do that? 56:10 That's right. 56:12 Praise God. 56:13 And I'm so thankful that he does not treat us 56:16 the way we treat one another. 56:18 He is calling us in love. 56:20 And everything, everything needs to be shrouded in love, 56:24 without love it's a sounding symbol, 56:27 it's nothing, it's a tinkling buzz. 56:29 We have one minute left. Yes. 56:30 Parting thought, parting thought 56:32 that you might have, just something 56:33 just hitting your mind right now. 56:35 John 6:37. Okay. 56:37 I love that, "Whoever comes to me, 56:39 I will never cast them." 56:43 Anything at you? 56:44 Jesus loves you and he has died for you, 56:49 parting thought, come on to him, 56:51 he will change your life. 56:53 Amen. Pastor. 56:54 Joshua 1:9, same thing Hebrews 13:5-6, 56:56 "The Lord will never leave you, not forsake you, 56:58 so you can boldly say, 57:00 'God is your helper'" 57:02 Hallelujah. 57:03 We want to have a short prayer for the people. 57:05 I'll pray they've been blessed. Would you pray as we close now. 57:07 Okay, sure. 57:09 Most gracious Heavenly Father, 57:10 we thank you that we've seen a little bit more of you. 57:13 A little bit more of your love, 57:15 a little bit more of our part in this walk of salvation. 57:20 Thank you, Father, for your blood, 57:22 thank you for calling us as your children, 57:24 thank you for the second, third, fourth, fifth, 57:26 sixth, seventh, eighth, and so on chains 57:29 that are fruit of the spirit may brightly represent Jesus. 57:32 In Christ's name we pray. 57:34 Amen. Amen. |
Revised 2016-07-11