Foundation of Our Faith

Back to the Present

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: CA Murray, Pr. Edward Bryan

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Series Code: FDOF

Program Code: FDOF000040A


00:19 Hello and we welcome you once again
00:20 to Foundation of our Faith.
00:22 I'm CA Murray.
00:24 And we do welcome you to the Thomson Wilson,
00:26 the Adventist Church.
00:28 The 3ABN worship center as together
00:30 we listen to the man of God preaching the word of God.
00:34 We welcome you to sadly the last,
00:38 the fourth in a wonderful series of sermons
00:40 by our pastor, our speaker Edward Bryan.
00:45 The first message
00:46 and I love these topics and the titles,
00:50 'Burn baby burn.'
00:51 And if you did not hear that message,
00:53 you want to make sure to get that
00:54 because it's a wonderful sermon followed by
00:57 'The Golden Touch' then 'Old Brother',
01:00 and our presentation for this particular sitting
01:03 back to the present.
01:05 We cannot wait to hear
01:07 what God has brought to pastor to give to us this very day.
01:11 As it has been mentioned,
01:13 he is pastoring in the Northern New England Conference.
01:16 He comes from a part of the country
01:18 that gets very cold in the winter,
01:20 but is very beautiful in the summer.
01:21 He's pastor in few churches there.
01:23 He's the husband of one wife
01:25 and the father of two lovely daughters,
01:27 and together they seek to encourage
01:29 the youth of our church,
01:32 to encourage young people
01:34 to be all that they can be for Jesus Christ to serve Him
01:37 faithfully and consistently, and it is his job,
01:42 his desire as still a young man
01:45 to see his fellow young people do great things for the Lord,
01:48 even as he preaches the word of God
01:50 each week and each day and wherever he can,
01:53 and whenever he can.
01:54 We are so happy to have him here
01:56 and we know that
01:57 God has a very special blessing for you from him this day.
02:02 So I ask you to give him your prayerful
02:04 and undivided attention.
02:05 Our music ministry is coming from a friend of long standing
02:10 when you get my age, I never say an old friend
02:13 because I just don't want to say that anymore.
02:15 So I will say a friend of long standing
02:17 and I've known his family for many, many years.
02:19 He is a New Yorker from Queens, New York,
02:23 and just a wonderful singer,
02:25 Mark Prentice is a gifted minister of the word.
02:29 He plays, he sings, he writes music
02:31 and God has given him an unusual talent,
02:34 very beautiful smooth voice,
02:37 but more than that he's a Christian young man.
02:40 I know his family comes from a Christian family.
02:43 He is a person who loves the Lord,
02:46 who cares about the things of God,
02:48 who has committed himself to full time music ministry
02:52 which means he's trusting in the Lord
02:54 and leaning on the Lord
02:56 to provide for him all that he needs
02:59 and he's given his considerable talent
03:02 back to the Lord,
03:03 and God is given him His presence and His power
03:06 in exchange for that surrender of his talent.
03:09 So we're going to pray
03:10 then we'll have Mark Prentice come forward.
03:13 He'll be followed by Pastor Bryan
03:16 and the Word of God
03:18 will be preached with power on this very day.
03:20 Pray with me, if you will.
03:21 Father God,
03:23 it is our privilege to call upon you.
03:27 And we know and understand that when we call,
03:30 you're sure to answer.
03:32 So we do call, dear Lord.
03:33 We ask you to answer the prayer of faith
03:37 as we ask from you
03:39 for your manservant and anointing
03:42 from the throne rule of God.
03:43 Bless his lips, bless his hand, bless his heart,
03:46 bless his head,
03:47 bless the words that You're going to say to him
03:51 so that those words will be transmitted through him
03:55 to our thirsty souls this day.
03:57 And then bless Mark as he lives up Christ in song.
04:01 May we sit even for a little while in heavenly places,
04:06 may we be blessed to see again the face of Jesus,
04:10 and hear the words of Christ.
04:13 And we thank you, dear father,
04:15 for the privilege we have of listening to you
04:21 and being blessed by you, in Jesus name, Amen.
04:42 I'm pressing on
04:46 The upward way
04:50 New heights I'm gaining every day
04:57 Still praying as I onward bound
05:05 Lord, plant my feet
05:09 On higher ground
05:14 My heart has no
05:18 Desire to stay
05:22 Where doubts arise and fears dismay
05:29 Though some may dwell
05:33 Where these abound
05:37 My prayer, my aim, is higher ground
05:44 Lord, lift me up
05:49 And I shall stand
05:53 By faith on heavens tableland
05:59 A higher plane
06:03 Than I have found
06:07 Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
06:22 I want to live above the world
06:30 Though Satan's darts at me are hurled
06:36 For faith has caught the joyful sound
06:44 The song of saints on higher ground
06:51 Lord, lift me up
06:55 And I shall stand
06:58 By faith on heavens tableland
07:05 A higher plane
07:08 Than I have found
07:16 Please, Lord
07:20 Plant my feet
07:25 Like only you can Lord
07:28 Plant my feet you're lovely
07:32 Yes, plant my feet
07:39 Oh, Lord
07:45 As I up look this Christian journey alive
07:51 He said I'll never, I'll never walk alone
07:57 Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
08:02 Please, plant my feet on higher ground
08:13 By faith, on Heaven's tableland
08:20 A higher plane, than I have found
08:28 Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
08:35 Please, plant my feet
08:38 On higher ground.
08:52 Praise the Lord and once again,
08:55 I count it a privilege to be able to lay before the Lord
08:59 alongside Brother Mark Prentice,
09:01 it's been an honor.
09:04 And before starting today's message,
09:08 I wanted to share,
09:10 maybe a little bit about my story,
09:13 maybe get you acquainted a little bit with who I am,
09:19 and maybe a little bit with who I was.
09:22 I had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home
09:27 with a very godly mother,
09:29 first in Miami, Florida, and then Atlanta, Georgia.
09:33 She worked tirelessly multiple jobs
09:37 to provide perks for us that those around me
09:40 didn't get to have such as a Christian education
09:44 for my brother and I.
09:45 Unfortunately, very early on in life,
09:47 I made a series of mistakes.
09:49 I got into selling drugs and used licensed drugs
09:54 at around the age of 12,
09:57 got into heavy alcoholism shortly
10:00 after stealing, breaking into homes,
10:05 running around with the wrong crowds,
10:07 doing everything that I could do to derail my life.
10:11 And waste all of
10:14 the opportunities and privileges
10:15 that I had been given.
10:18 I could say by the age of 13 or 14,
10:22 I was a full blown addict
10:25 and I chose to surround myself to remove myself from people
10:29 who are good influences and from the church environment
10:32 that I had grown up in as a kid,
10:34 and to surround myself
10:36 with the violence types of individuals
10:40 that I could find and just get into trouble.
10:45 And it didn't take long
10:46 before consequences started piling up,
10:49 you know, having run ins with the law
10:51 or having constant spouts of violence,
10:54 and fights and things of that nature.
10:56 My life was just going downhill quickly
10:59 and this was my life
11:00 for probably about 12 or 13 years at which point,
11:07 I met a young lady
11:09 who herself had a troubled past and had a young daughter.
11:16 At that time probably eight or nine years old
11:20 and me and her got together and before I knew it,
11:23 we had a daughter.
11:25 And now I was a father,
11:29 soon I would be a husband,
11:35 but my life was spiraling out of control
11:38 as I had been for so many years
11:40 and I didn't know what to do to fix it.
11:44 I still had all the addictions, the drugs,
11:47 the drug addictions escalating
11:48 the heart of alcoholism got worse,
11:52 the consequences escalated and got worse
11:56 and now I had a family.
11:59 Well, by God's grace, my mother
12:01 who was a praying mother and never ceased to be,
12:06 relentlessly, pursued us or the Lord did through her.
12:10 And one day she took my..
12:15 Soon to be wife who was a...
12:18 I was living with and had a daughter with,
12:20 took her and her older daughter to an evangelistic campaign
12:25 where the older daughter 10 years old at the time
12:28 decided to give her life to the Lord.
12:32 My wife fought her decision to give her life to the Lord
12:35 and her, my mother pretty much got into it
12:40 about how she did not have the right to keep this child
12:43 from giving her life to the Lord.
12:45 So my wife's older daughter
12:48 who is now my step daughter
12:53 at 10 years old decided to give her life to Jesus.
12:57 And despite her crazy upbringing,
12:59 despite how chaotic our life was
13:02 and everybody around us was, she would go to church,
13:06 she would get herself ready on the Sabbath.
13:09 She lived a Christian life and set such an example for us
13:11 that a year later,
13:13 my wife went to an Evangelistic campaign
13:14 with my mother and she decided to give her life to the Lord.
13:18 And then I was a final hold out.
13:20 And our marriage was so toxic,
13:25 mostly as a result of me
13:27 and the influences that I would bring
13:28 and the habits that I still had
13:32 that my wife said, "I can't do this anymore.
13:35 Lord, I don't know what to do?"
13:36 And she decided to pray and to fast for 40 days,
13:40 do a half-day fast,
13:45 to see if God could do something to fix the problem.
13:49 And unbeknownst to me on that 40th day,
13:53 I felt this overwhelming feeling a conviction
13:57 that I needed to surrender my life to Jesus,
14:00 that I had been running from him all this time
14:02 at a positive change
14:03 that I've been seeking in my life
14:04 to get out of the gutter
14:06 could only be found through him.
14:10 And I decided to stop running.
14:11 And that day, I decided give Jesus my life.
14:16 And that day,
14:17 the Lord took all of my drug addiction,
14:21 all of my alcoholism, my smoking habit,
14:23 the violence,
14:25 my desire for sexual misconduct,
14:30 and all the rest.
14:31 The Lord took it that day.
14:35 When I couldn't do in 10 or 11 years of trying,
14:39 the Lord took in an instant,
14:41 and he proved himself powerfully in my life
14:44 and I prayed.
14:45 And then I found out after the fact
14:47 that my wife had gone this 40 day prayer and fast
14:49 and it was the 40th day.
14:54 Now I can't say it's been an easy road,
14:58 since then back and tell you,
15:00 it's been a better road
15:01 and the God has been there all along.
15:04 And I praised his name for what he's done in my life
15:06 and for how he's changed my family's life,
15:07 and how he's gotten me to this point.
15:09 Now here, I stand 10 years later
15:12 as a minister,
15:14 10 years later,
15:16 privileged enough to stand on a stage
15:18 that great man of God
15:20 who I have listened to preach have stood on
15:22 knowing that I'm not worthy,
15:23 knowing that I'm not an experienced
15:25 enough preacher to occupy such a position,
15:28 but thanking the Lord
15:29 because he has gotten me to this point.
15:33 The danger though is to look back
15:36 at what happened 10 years ago,
15:39 with the Lord did in my life, and in the life of my family,
15:41 and to linger there, as though the work is finished,
15:45 as though he does not have more for us,
15:50 as though the work
15:53 that he's going to do to us is completed.
15:55 I'll tell you, it would be a depressing reality,
15:57 if he was done working in us
15:59 because I have so much further to go.
16:03 Friends, I've talked to you a little bit about my past,
16:05 but now I want to come back to the present,
16:09 back to the present
16:11 because God has something
16:12 that he wants to say to us today
16:14 and I pray that it would be a message of inspiration
16:16 and a message of encouragement to each and every one of you.
16:18 So I want to invite you
16:20 just bow your head for one moment as I kneel
16:23 and then we'll jump into God's word.
16:25 Dear heavenly father, Lord, I come to you
16:28 because they didn't come to hear about me,
16:29 they came to hear about you.
16:31 And your Holy Spirit can do something powerful
16:33 at this moment
16:35 and I just pray that you would Lord.
16:36 I'm trusting that you're going to do just that,
16:39 speak to our hearts father, in Jesus' name, amen.
16:46 Among the most powerful events
16:48 they're described in all of the Bible,
16:51 and the most notable in the Old Testament
16:53 is the deliverance of the Israelites
16:56 from out of Egypt to a series of prophecies,
17:00 plagues, and miracles, the Lord God,
17:03 defined conventional wisdom,
17:05 as well as the very laws of nature
17:08 which he established in order to deliver
17:10 his children out of the state of the bondage of slavery.
17:16 By doing this, God distinguish himself
17:17 from all the false gods.
17:19 He distinguished his children
17:20 from all other peoples on the earth
17:22 and he proved that He,
17:24 the Almighty God was not only willing,
17:26 but anxious to work powerfully on his people's behalf.
17:31 This event was one
17:33 which God intended for them to remember
17:36 as evidence by his call for the Israelites
17:38 to commemorate it annually.
17:40 That's found in Exodus chapter 13:3.
17:42 I'm gonna read just the first part of it, it says,
17:44 and Moses said to the people,
17:46 "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt,
17:49 out of the house of bondage,
17:51 for by strength of hand the Lord brought you
17:55 out of this place."
17:57 The important thing to know for the purpose of this study
18:00 is that God called for them to remember this,
18:02 Him delivering them out of Egypt.
18:05 He calls them to remember it,
18:07 he wants us to remember the things which he's done,
18:09 that's what we stand here
18:11 and open up his word, and listen to sermons.
18:16 You know, memory as it relates to history,
18:19 is a beautiful thing
18:20 when it's utilized for the right purpose.
18:22 It can spare us a whole lot of hardship and negativity
18:26 if we're willing to learn the lessons
18:29 which God is trying to teach us by our past experience
18:32 and those experiences of others.
18:36 And at the same time,
18:37 it can be encouraging to us and a boost to our faith,
18:42 renew our confidence in God
18:44 when we remember the things that he's done in the past.
18:49 One inspired writer once said,
18:50 "We have nothing to fear for the future lest,
18:52 we forget the way the Lord has led us
18:54 and His teaching in our past history."
18:57 If you read the story of the Israelites in the Bible,
18:59 the author had very short term memory.
19:02 And they seemed to forget the marvelous things
19:04 which God had done no sooner
19:06 than they had to reap the benefits of them.
19:09 Yet and still, the story of the miraculous deliverance
19:12 from slavery in Egypt
19:15 was told and retold among them in the surrounding region
19:18 and from generation to generation for a long time.
19:22 Actually, he never stopped being retold.
19:26 Now, to fill you in what happened after that,
19:28 when the Israelites left Egypt,
19:30 they would eventually wind up in the Promised Land of Canaan.
19:33 It took them 40 years to get there,
19:34 not because God intended it to take so long,
19:37 but because they were stubborn and stiff necked people.
19:41 After they got into Canaan,
19:42 they began to conquer territories with God's help,
19:44 one after the other.
19:46 Before he knew it,
19:47 all 12 of the tribes of Israel had its own territory.
19:52 However, to a series of bad decisions
19:54 and infidelities to God,
19:56 they winded up being relegate to only two territories,
20:00 Israel to the North, and Judah to the South.
20:02 Israel being
20:05 basically absorbed 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel,
20:10 Judah to the South
20:12 was comprised of the tribe of Judah
20:14 and the tribe of Benjamin.
20:16 Both of these kingdoms had their own kings,
20:19 both of these kingdoms had their own prophets,
20:21 and they both had their own spiritual as well
20:24 as physical warfare going on.
20:27 Eventually, the Northern Kingdom of Israel
20:30 would be taken over by the Assyrians.
20:33 And over a century later,
20:35 the Southern kingdom of Judah
20:37 would also meet the same faith
20:39 at the hands of the greatest empire
20:41 that the world had ever known up until that point, Babylon.
20:45 Now, this is where I need to pump the brakes
20:47 for just a moment.
20:48 I'm going to back up about 40 years
20:50 to the time of a prophet by the name of Jeremiah
20:55 and maybe you've heard of him.
20:57 Jeremiah was a young man
20:58 when he was called to be a prophet.
21:00 Just to give you a taste of his life
21:02 of how good his life was,
21:03 God told him to not even marry and to especially not have kids
21:08 because the future of Judah only contains suffering.
21:13 Jeremiah himself had to suffer to humiliations,
21:15 and public beatings.
21:18 He had to contend with the word of false prophets
21:20 whose job was a lot easier than his was
21:22 because all he did was tell the people
21:23 what they wanted to hear.
21:25 Jeremiah lived under a king
21:30 that hated the message that God sent to him
21:32 so much that he thought to kill him.
21:34 The following King
21:35 actually sucked the messages that God sent to him,
21:38 only he refused to apply them in his own life.
21:45 Jeremiah prophesied in Judah during the last 40 years
21:47 before they went into exile in Babylon,
21:50 while there, there were some minor moments of spiritual,
21:54 revival, renewal during his time as a prophet
21:57 before the most part the people
21:59 just carried out their empty religious rituals
22:01 while believing that God would somehow bless them
22:04 regardless to how they chose to live their lives.
22:07 Jeremiah's messages went completely unheeded.
22:11 He told them,
22:12 "Hey, if you guys don't turn from your wicked ways,
22:15 you're going to fall prey to the nations around you."
22:17 But Israel refused to believe that God would actually allow
22:23 His people to fall prey
22:27 and be judged by the surrounding nations.
22:30 While the annals of history have shown us
22:32 that everything that Jeremiah predicted
22:34 was absolutely correct.
22:36 They did wind up being seized by Babylon.
22:43 But how could this happen?
22:45 After all,
22:47 they were the descendants of the very Israelites
22:49 that God had brought out of Egypt.
22:52 Why is he now allowing them
22:53 to go into captivity in Babylon?
22:58 They have recounted time and time again,
23:00 the marvelous things that God had done for their ancestors.
23:03 Weren't they blessed and highly favored too?
23:05 Why did it seem that
23:07 they were going backwards instead of forwards?
23:11 Maybe you can relate,
23:13 maybe you find yourself in life right now,
23:17 in a place where you don't want to be.
23:19 Maybe you're in a spiritual slump
23:21 that you can't manage to get out of,
23:23 no matter how many sermons you listen to,
23:25 no matter how much you read your Bible.
23:28 Maybe you feel like a prisoner to your life right now
23:30 and you're looking for some kind of a breakthrough
23:34 and despite hearing testimonies of others
23:37 who have had great things happened,
23:39 despite everything that you read in the Bible,
23:42 you cannot figure out,
23:43 why you can't seem to catch a break?
23:47 Why doesn't God manifest himself in your life
23:51 the same way he manifested Himself
23:53 in the written word?
23:54 Why don't you see
23:56 the miraculous things happening to you
23:58 that you hear others so frequently talking about?
24:02 Why can't it just be like these days?
24:04 Why can't it be like the good old days?
24:07 Well, let's talk about the good old days, shall we?
24:10 God counseled his children
24:12 then like he does not remember the good old days.
24:15 We're gonna jump to the book of Jeremiah
24:17 and that's where we're gonna spend the rest of our time.
24:18 We're gonna let Jeremiah,
24:20 the prophet that lived during the time of Judah
24:23 tell us what God informed His people.
24:26 Jeremiah 6:16,
24:28 God actually instructed us to recall the good old days.
24:31 I'll read the first part of it, it says,
24:33 "Thus says the Lord,
24:34 stand in the ways and see
24:36 and ask for the old paths where the good way is."
24:40 So God absolutely wants us to reminisce
24:43 and look back at the good way
24:45 in which he led his people, but look what he says.
24:48 He says, "And walk in it,
24:50 then you will find rest for your souls."
24:54 But they said, God predicted what Judah's response will be.
24:58 He says, "But they said, we will not walk in it."
25:03 You see they like to talk about the good old days,
25:06 but they didn't like to walk in the good old ways.
25:11 They like to sit around, listening to studies,
25:15 talking about what God had done in the past,
25:17 but they themselves
25:18 weren't willing to live in those experience.
25:20 Friends, is that much different than us.
25:22 We congregate sometimes that churches we preach,
25:25 we teach, we listen to sermons,
25:29 and we share how God had manifested Himself powerfully
25:33 on behalf of his people in the past,
25:35 but then sometimes
25:36 we experience very little results ourselves,
25:40 but could it be that the Lord doesn't want to people
25:42 that merely talk about experiences in the past,
25:45 but the people that are actually willing to walk
25:48 through fresh experiences with him in the present.
25:53 Now I know that sounds very simple,
25:55 that sounds very cliché(C), but think about it.
25:59 The people in the Bible, the stories that we read,
26:01 and we hear so often,
26:02 they didn't experience success in a vacuum,
26:05 they too dealt with hardships,
26:07 they too dealt with frustrations,
26:09 well, let downs,
26:10 but we're often faithful to the Lord,
26:12 in route to those miraculous victories and experiences
26:17 that we so often retell time and time again.
26:21 You know what?
26:22 I can imagine those Jewish captives
26:24 on their way to Babylon saying, Where is God?
26:29 Where is God now?
26:31 Where is the God of Abraham, the founding father?
26:37 Where is the God of Moses
26:39 who led our ancestors out of slavery in Egypt?
26:43 Where is the God of Joshua and Caleb
26:47 who helped lead us into the Promised Land?
26:51 Where is the God of Elijah
26:52 who God manifested himself so powerfully
26:55 for on Mount Carmel?
26:57 Where is the God of David,
26:59 who put our city on the map, who made us a great people?
27:03 Where is this God now when we need him?
27:07 Maybe we asked similar questions
27:09 when we were looking for a spiritual breakthrough
27:11 or a miraculous intervention.
27:16 Maybe we ask, yes, where is this God?
27:19 I'm reading great stories,
27:20 but where is the God of the Bible?
27:22 Where is the God of these individuals?
27:26 Churches long to see
27:29 the Holy Spirit work in their communities
27:32 like he did for the disciples.
27:33 Where is the God of the disciples?
27:37 I often wonder, what will happen
27:39 if God is simply put the question back on us?
27:42 You ask where the God of Abraham is.
27:45 Let me ask you something.
27:47 Where is the modern day Abraham?
27:52 You ask where the God of Abraham is,
27:53 where is the modern day Abraham?
27:55 Where are my servants
27:57 that are willing to step out of the comfort zone,
28:00 leave behind everything they know,
28:02 and venture into uncharted territory trusting in me?
28:07 You ask where the God of Moses is.
28:09 No. Where is the millennial Moses?
28:13 Where are my servants
28:14 that are willing to rather than follow, lead,
28:18 even if they're leading a stiff-necked people?
28:21 Where are my servants,
28:22 that are willing to spend time on their knees,
28:24 pleading, interceding
28:27 for those unfaithful folks around them?
28:30 You ask where the god of Joshua and Caleb are.
28:32 No. Where is Joshua and Caleb?
28:36 Where are the Christians
28:37 who are willing to hold on to their faith
28:39 even while everybody else seems to be dying off
28:41 in the wilderness, seems to be abandoning the ship
28:43 that will hold on
28:45 until they make it to the Promised Land.
28:48 You ask for the God of Elijah's?
28:50 Where is Elijah?
28:53 Where are the servants
28:55 that are willing to stand up for Christ
28:57 even when they think they're standing up alone,
28:59 even when they think everybody else's bow,
29:01 they need a bell or want to hang in there.
29:05 Where is the God of David?
29:07 No, no, no, no, no, where are the Davids?
29:09 Where are the young men and the young women?
29:11 That are willing to utilize their gifts and their talents
29:14 to glorify the Lord rather then to bring applauds for self.
29:20 Where are the young men and young women,
29:22 who are willing to leave evangels in God's hand
29:26 rather than retaliate and go tit for tat
29:28 when somebody comes for their neck?
29:31 Where are the servants that are willing to
29:33 when they fall on their face and sin
29:38 or willing to repent
29:40 and face the consequences that come with it
29:44 and continue to glorify the Lord's name and get back,
29:47 when they get back on their feet?
29:51 We talk about the disciples,
29:52 you know, we want the success of disciples experience,
29:55 but think about it, how did their story end?
29:58 They didn't just get success out of nowhere.
30:00 No, they spent days and days in prayer and nights.
30:05 And when it was all set and done,
30:07 practically all of them
30:09 with the exception of John died as martyrs.
30:12 We're not going to ask where the God of Job is, right?
30:14 'Cause we don't want to repeat Job's experience,
30:19 we're not going to ask where the god of John,
30:21 the Baptist is, right?
30:22 'Cause we don't want to meet John's end,
30:25 we want to talk just about the benefits
30:30 and that's the thing.
30:31 You look at this faithful servants,
30:34 they weren't just looking for the happy ending,
30:37 they were seeking to be faithful to the Lord
30:38 no matter what they had to go through.
30:42 Sometimes we just look for the benefits,
30:44 we just want to claim the promises, right?
30:46 That's what we say. Name it and claim.
30:48 If you can name the promise, you can claim it.
30:50 Well, here's the problem. There are conditions.
30:55 I realize that conditional is almost a dirty word
30:59 in Christianity nowadays.
31:01 We accept it in a rest and every other area of life.
31:05 We don't even read the fine print
31:06 and we are signing
31:07 'cause we know that conditions apply,
31:09 there's no need to get into particulars.
31:10 But then when it comes to God,
31:12 we just want to name it and claim it,
31:13 but no, brothers,
31:14 there are conditions to claiming God's promises.
31:18 His love is unconditional.
31:20 There is absolutely nothing that you can do
31:22 to make God love you any less.
31:26 But claiming the promises in this book, no,
31:27 there are conditions for that.
31:30 Now, you look a little skeptical.
31:32 So we're going to jump into the world,
31:34 we're going to look at Chapter 18,
31:36 we're still in Jeremiah chapter 18.
31:39 And there's a plethora of verses
31:41 but I'll just read a couple here.
31:44 Jeremiah 18, we'll start with verse 7 and 8.
31:49 "The instant I speak,
31:51 concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom,
31:54 to pluck up, or to pull down, and destroy it."
31:57 Now, let me pause there.
31:59 Do you realize that that's actually a promise?
32:03 You say, "That sounds like a threat."
32:05 No, it's not a threat, it's a promise.
32:07 The soul that thinks shall die,
32:09 when you turn your back on the Lord,
32:12 you have to deal with the enemy.
32:16 You do wrong judgment comes, that's a promise.
32:19 Who would want to claim that promise,
32:22 the day we pluck down and destroy?
32:23 Nobody, but look at verse 8, if...
32:26 that's a conditional clause,
32:27 "If that nation against
32:29 whom I have spoken turns from its evil,
32:32 I will relent of the disaster
32:33 that I thought to bring upon it."
32:36 Praise the Lord that His promises are conditional.
32:39 That's all we get to escape many of the judgments
32:43 that would naturally come upon us.
32:44 I praise the Lord, at the day I gave my life to the Lord,
32:47 I felt like He was telling me, "Well, it's now or never.
32:49 I didn't understand that.
32:51 But you know what,
32:52 within about two or three months of me
32:53 giving my life to the Lord,
32:55 the grand majority of my friends,
32:57 in my close circle of friends
32:58 that I would love to make money with,
33:00 wind up getting rounded up and incarcerating,
33:03 getting 10, 15, and 20 year sentences.
33:08 I should have fallen victim to the same thing,
33:11 to the same faith,
33:12 but praise the Lord
33:14 that His promises are conditional
33:15 and being willing to relent,
33:17 He was willing to pull me out of that situation.
33:22 Let's continue to read, let's read verse 9, it says,
33:24 "And the instant, I speak,
33:26 concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom
33:29 to build and to plant it.
33:32 If it is evil in my sight so that does not obey my voice
33:38 then I will relent concerning the good
33:40 with which I said I would benefit it."
33:43 So this works both ways.
33:44 God said, "You know what, I want nothing but good.
33:46 I want to prosper you, but it is conditional
33:51 and then if you decide to turn your back on me,
33:53 then I can't do for you what I wish to do."
33:57 As you can see, God does not mince words here,
34:00 his promises have conditions,
34:02 this works as much in our favor as it does to our detriment.
34:08 My wife and I have a couple of daughters
34:10 as I mentioned which I love with all my heart
34:13 and there is nothing they can do
34:14 to change that reality.
34:15 As long as they're in our home, their clothing, their food,
34:20 their shelter is guaranteed,
34:21 they have no reason to question whether the provision is sure.
34:24 However,
34:26 "Oh, no, he's about to
34:28 put a condition on his daughter's love?"
34:29 No, no, no the love is unconditional.
34:31 However, should they decide to leave
34:36 and choose paths for themselves,
34:38 independent of the influence of my wife and I,
34:42 independent of our involvement,
34:44 then we certainly cannot be held accountable
34:46 for the consequences that come as a result of the decisions.
34:51 So it is with God, He says,
34:53 "Oh, yeah, I've made a whole lot of promises
34:56 and I honor them as well as their conditions."
34:59 Don't get me wrong friends,
35:01 there are times when God is definitely unfair.
35:07 There are times when God is just outright, unfair
35:09 because oftentimes His mercy and His Grace
35:12 far exceed His fairness.
35:15 Therefore, we don't always get what we deserve.
35:18 We oftentimes get better.
35:20 However, when I don't get better than I deserve,
35:25 it's not God's fault,
35:26 but let me get back to Judah, being taken captive by Babylon.
35:32 Could this have been prevented?
35:34 Certainly right, this is what
35:36 the prophet Jeremiah has spent his life doing,
35:38 trying to prevent these circumstances.
35:42 "But while Judah had been unfaithful to God
35:45 in the present, believe it or not,
35:48 they actually relished the memories of
35:50 what God had done in the past to their ancestors,
35:53 the children of Israel.
35:55 They love to talk about it,
35:56 this was after all
35:58 what had carved out their legacy,
35:59 this was their greatest hit.
36:01 Have you ever heard somebody who is a broken record?
36:05 Who will talk about their heyday,
36:07 time and time again?
36:10 Maybe they played basketball in high school
36:12 and they scored 40 points
36:14 and you got to hear it at least twice a week.
36:19 Maybe they, I don't know, maybe they claim the fame is,
36:22 there are, their little Richard's,
36:25 cousins, nephew
36:30 and they're going to make sure you don't forget it.
36:34 Whatever that story is,
36:35 everybody's got a different story, right?
36:36 Maybe they got to serve breakfast
36:38 at the inauguration ball
36:41 and they bring it up time and time again,
36:43 this is their claim the fame.
36:45 This was Judah with Israel's deliverance from Egypt.
36:50 They said, "That's our claim the fame,
36:52 that was the heyday, that's when we were great."
36:54 So while they were not allowing God
36:56 to work in their life in the present,
36:58 they relished what God had done in the past.
37:01 But listen to what God tells Jeremiah
37:04 as recorded in Jeremiah 23:7.
37:08 "Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
37:11 says the Lord,
37:13 that they shall no longer say, as the Lord lives,
37:16 who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt."
37:22 He says, "There's actually a day coming
37:24 where you're going to stop talking,
37:25 you've never stop talking about that
37:27 but the day is coming
37:28 where you're going to stop talking about,
37:30 what God had done for the children of Israel
37:33 and bring them out of Egypt."
37:34 Why?
37:36 Why would they ever stop talking about
37:37 what God had done?
37:38 It was great, it was a miracle.
37:41 Is it because they would become too discouraged,
37:43 once they became, went into captivity in Babylon
37:47 because they would become too ashamed of
37:49 what they had been relegated to?
37:51 No.
37:52 Rather God was telling him that the day was coming
37:54 when they, when He would do
37:56 even greater things on their behalf,
37:58 the day was coming
37:59 when they could stop talking about
38:01 the testimony of their ancestors
38:02 'cause they could start talking about
38:03 the testimony of what God was doing to them personally.
38:06 Let's read, Jeremiah 23:7 again,
38:09 but this we're going to read it with verse 8.
38:12 It says, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
38:15 says the Lord, that they shall no longer say,
38:17 as the Lord lives,
38:18 who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt.
38:21 But, as the Lord lives, who brought up
38:24 and led to the centers of the house of Israel
38:25 from the North Country and from all the countries
38:28 where He had driven them
38:29 and they shall dwell in their own land."
38:33 See, they were a broken record
38:35 about how God had brought the children of Israel
38:37 out into the Promised Land,
38:38 but once they got there and they were established,
38:40 they were forgetting all about God.
38:43 They were taking it for granted.
38:45 God had to take them to an experience,
38:47 He had to bring deliverance into their lives
38:49 that they might appreciate
38:50 where they were and say,
38:52 "Praise the Lord, we're on our own land."
38:56 As we can see in this verse, God clearly was aware
38:58 that Judah was going to go captive
39:03 as a result of their own stubbornness.
39:06 But He tells them that one day
39:09 they will come back from captivity
39:10 and have their own story of deliverance.
39:15 God is the same God
39:16 who brought deliverance for Israel
39:19 and He would do the same on their behalf.
39:24 Friends, I hope you realize
39:25 that every time you hear a great testimony,
39:27 every time you hear great stories
39:29 something that God has done,
39:30 He's willing to do it also for you.
39:34 God's desire is not a people
39:37 who live reminiscing about the past,
39:40 His desire is the people
39:41 who allow Him to do great things for Him today.
39:45 Friends, never take for granted today,
39:48 the here and now, it's a gift,
39:50 that's why it's called the present.
39:54 The beautiful stories in the Bible
39:56 are not given to us
39:58 that we may marvel about what God once did,
40:00 they're given to us as examples of what God yearns to do,
40:03 time and time again.
40:05 The canon of scripture may be close, friends,
40:07 no more authors allowed here, the canon may be close,
40:10 but the God of the Bible is still open,
40:13 24/7, 365 from here to Eternity,
40:16 He's open to manifesting Himself powerfully
40:19 on behalf of those
40:20 who are willing to be led by Him.
40:22 The apostles, who are one time filled with the Holy Spirit,
40:26 when I turn the world upside down.
40:29 You know, where they are today?
40:30 Today, they rest in their graves.
40:34 But, the god
40:37 who poured his spirit into disciples
40:38 is willing to pour His spirit of fresh
40:41 into His modern day disciples
40:43 and do through them
40:45 the same or more or better things
40:47 than He ever did to the original apostles.
40:50 Why? How can I say that?
40:52 Because the latter rain will be poured out in great imagine
40:55 in the early rain was.
40:56 God wants to continue the work that He started.
41:00 You know what?
41:01 Christian history has seen
41:03 its share of powerful revivals throughout history.
41:07 One of the most notable ones is the Reformation.
41:11 And yes, God did incredible things to individuals like
41:14 Martin Luther, Zwingli, John Huss, John Wycliffe.
41:20 God did incredible things to him,
41:22 but do you know that God is not done?
41:25 He desires to do the same thing to you,
41:27 the work of regenerating hearts
41:29 and bringing His children
41:30 to the soul dependence on his word
41:33 and soul dependence
41:34 on the merits of Jesus Christ for salvation,
41:36 that work actually continues.
41:40 You know, I'm proud to call myself
41:43 a Seventh Day Adventist Christian.
41:46 And I am grateful
41:48 for the faithful legacy of the pioneers,
41:51 they came a forth,
41:52 this is actually one of my favorite topics of study.
41:55 However, I must acknowledge,
41:57 that even our pioneers were not the height of Christianity.
42:01 They weren't the climax of the Christian experience,
42:03 otherwise the Lord Jesus Christ would have already returned.
42:09 We do well to acquaint ourselves
42:10 with their stories, with their history,
42:13 with how we got to where we are.
42:15 As long as we remember that the story continues with us.
42:19 When the character of Christ
42:20 is perfectly reproduced in His people,
42:22 then He will come to claim them as his own.
42:27 Friends, at the offset of our pioneers
42:31 there was doctrine that needed to get sorted out,
42:33 we needed to understand the Sabbath,
42:34 we needed to understand health,
42:36 we needed to understand
42:37 the true place in deity of Jesus Christ,
42:41 we needed to understand righteousness by faith.
42:44 There was legalism
42:45 that needed to be contended with.
42:47 God has brought us this far not to stop,
42:51 He has brought us this far to continue that great work
42:54 until the day of Christ Jesus
42:56 'cause when our characters already,
42:59 when our characters are like Christ,
43:00 then He will come and receive us.
43:03 The work of deliverance which got started so long ago,
43:07 getting back to Judah and as Judah,
43:09 the work of deliverance that God started so long ago
43:11 by delivering the Israelites out of Egypt
43:14 and delivering Judah out of Babylon
43:18 is the same work that He desires to do for us
43:21 in bringing us out of spiritual Egypt
43:24 and spiritual Babylon.
43:26 Egypt being symbolic of the world
43:28 and its trappings,
43:30 Babylon being symbolic of a false system of worship,
43:33 both of which can hold us captive,
43:36 but the Lord is working on a deliverance
43:38 that makes those others hale in comparison,
43:43 pale in comparison, sorry.
43:45 It is that which will take place
43:48 at the coming of Jesus Christ, which is very soon.
43:52 This is as much a reality for Judah as it is for us.
43:57 You may say, "Well, what are you talking about?
43:59 How can this be the same reality for Judah?"
44:02 Well, for us,
44:03 the great deliverance happens at the second coming
44:05 but for Judah,
44:07 it was to take place at the first coming.
44:09 You see, we just read Jeremiah 23:7 and 8
44:15 and that is called, that is what is called
44:17 a "Dual prophecy" meaning it has two applications.
44:20 What I talked about,
44:22 what was to be Judah's literal return from captivity
44:27 which the prophet Jeremiah predicted
44:29 would happen 70 years after the captivity.
44:32 It also refers to the ultimate deliverance
44:35 which would take place more than 500 years later
44:37 when Jesus Christ would come to set the captives free.
44:41 This is why the two verses that proceed Jeremiah 23:7 and 8
44:46 talk about the coming of the Messiah.
44:49 Let's read it.
44:50 It says,
44:54 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
44:57 that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness.
45:01 A King shall reign and prosper,
45:03 and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
45:06 In his days,
45:07 Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely.
45:11 Now this is his name by which he is to be called,
45:14 "The Lord Our Righteousness."
45:19 Clearly this is a reference to Jesus Christ
45:22 who is still to visit His people.
45:25 He was going to visit them
45:27 by taking on the form of humanity.
45:29 So while they thought
45:30 that their heyday had come and gone was back
45:34 when Israel was delivered out of Egypt,
45:36 God is trying to tell them, "No, no, no,
45:38 your heyday has not yet come,
45:39 your heyday is going to be
45:41 when Jesus Christ comes to this earth and God,
45:45 Emmanuel walks among you."
45:50 Just like us, think about it.
45:52 I'm here in America
45:53 and in America we spend at least a tithe,
45:57 easily 10% of the year
45:59 focusing, celebrating Christmas
46:02 or in the Christmas season
46:05 which for Christians means
46:07 supposedly reminiscing about Jesus coming.
46:12 He's coming to this earth, the first time.
46:14 However, very few Christians live their lives
46:18 in anticipation of the second coming
46:20 which will be so much more glorious.
46:22 Very few Christians who even are aware,
46:24 who are aware the Christ is coming to soon,
46:26 live their lives in that anticipation.
46:29 Rather, we focus on the past
46:31 when great days are right ahead of us
46:34 and God wants to do something now.
46:37 "Yes, sure enough,
46:38 Judah was going to go into captivity.
46:40 However, just as God had prophesied
46:43 that they would go into it,
46:45 He had prophesied that he would bring them out of it."
46:49 Look at proverbs, sorry Jeremiah 29:10-11.
46:56 "For thus says the Lord,
46:58 after 70 years are completed at Babylon,
47:01 I will visit you,
47:02 and perform my good of word toward you
47:06 and cause you to return to this place.
47:09 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
47:12 says the Lord,
47:13 thoughts of peace and not of evil,
47:15 to give you a future and hope."
47:20 Friends, Jesus is coming soon,
47:27 every trial that you experience in your life
47:30 is with the purpose of getting you ready
47:33 for his soon coming.
47:36 I know that there's times in life
47:37 when we go through hardships
47:38 and we go through trial oftentimes
47:40 as a result of our own decisions.
47:44 And it feels like that's the end of our story,
47:46 God has abandoned us, that's it.
47:48 But friends, let me assure you, it's not the end of your story.
47:50 God intends it for good.
47:52 It is the beginning of your comeback story.
47:56 God does not allow things to come up on us
47:58 that would harm us,
47:59 but rather He can use the adversities
48:01 that come upon us from our missteps for good
48:06 to get us ready for something better.
48:10 Friends, God does not want us to linger in the past,
48:13 God wants to work in our lives in the present.
48:16 You know, how sad it is, often times visiting churches,
48:20 they'll tell you, "Oh, we're dying now," why?
48:23 Phew, in the '70s, in the '60s,
48:26 in the '20s, in the '80s.
48:30 We were so full,
48:31 they'll talk about their heyday,
48:33 as though the God who got that church started
48:35 and guided on fire back then can't do it again today.
48:38 How sad that sometimes
48:40 we get caught up in the past talking about
48:44 what God once did in our lives.
48:47 You know, that's the reason, I'll tell you the truth,
48:48 I don't even like sharing my testimony
48:51 because easily, we're caught up in what God did a decade ago.
48:56 Yes, praise the Lord that He delivered me
48:58 from alcoholism and from smoking
49:00 and from drinking.
49:02 But, He's not done the good work which he started,
49:04 He wants to complete,
49:06 and I still have health habits
49:08 that need to get worked out as you can see by this guide.
49:13 I still have character flaws that need to be worked out.
49:16 Praise the Lord that I no longer start fistfights,
49:18 praise the Lord that I no longer cuss and swear.
49:22 But you know what,
49:23 that's not the only thing God wants to take, friends.
49:26 God wants to take our bad attitudes,
49:28 God want to take our critical spirits,
49:31 God wants to take our self-righteousness,
49:33 our willing to gossip and tear others down.
49:36 He has a work
49:37 that He wants to complete in you,
49:39 but sometimes we look at the past and we think,
49:41 "Oh, the good old days when we were sanctified.
49:44 Thank God, we're perfect Christians now."
49:45 No, the only reason you have breath in your lungs is
49:47 'cause God is still working on you.
49:55 You know, it's a beautiful thing
49:56 that God has done what He's done
49:59 through the reformation.
50:00 It's a beautiful thing
50:02 that God has done what He's done
50:03 to the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
50:05 But, He is not done yet.
50:08 He needs the people
50:10 who will perfectly reproduced
50:11 His character, He longs for that.
50:15 Friends, are we going to give him the opportunity
50:17 to do that in our lives?
50:25 I love this book, I will never stop to read it,
50:29 and I always stop to read it, I will never cease to read it
50:33 because there's so much wisdom in these pages.
50:39 But I need to realize
50:40 that these are just examples of what God is still doing
50:44 and willing to do in my life and in your life.
50:49 Friends, I challenge you
50:55 to stop listening to sermons, if you do as a history lesson.
51:00 Stop reading your bible almost as a textbook
51:05 and start pleading with the Lord
51:08 to give you fresh new experiences.
51:11 If you were converted 10 years ago, praise the Lord,
51:14 20 years ago, praise the lord, two weeks ago, praise the Lord.
51:18 But, pray to the Lord that he gave you that fire,
51:21 that first love that you had at the beginning
51:23 and that you never lose it.
51:25 If you haven't had it for years,
51:26 He can restore that in your life.
51:29 He will give you this, He will answer that prayer
51:31 'cause this is what he wants.
51:35 Friends, it was a pleasure to be with you this week.
51:39 I pray that you don't walk away
51:41 with a better understanding of the Bible,
51:43 I pray that you walk away
51:44 with a better understanding of Jesus
51:46 and His Holy Spirit and how He yearns
51:48 to work in your life.
51:50 May God be with you all.
52:11 All to Jesus
52:16 I surrender
52:21 All to Him
52:25 I freely give
52:31 I will ever love
52:37 And trust Him
52:40 In His presence
52:46 Daily live
52:50 I surrender all
52:59 Lord, I surrender all
53:06 All
53:11 To Thee my blessed
53:17 Savior
53:20 I surrender all
53:29 All to Jesus
53:35 I surrender
53:39 Humbly at His feet
53:45 I bow
53:49 Worldly pleasures
53:54 All forsaken
53:59 Take me, Jesus
54:04 Take me now
54:08 I surrender all
54:18 I surrender all
54:24 All
54:30 To Thee my blessed
54:35 Savior
54:38 I surrender
54:45 I surrender all
54:54 Lord I surrender all
55:05 I surrender
55:09 All Lord
55:15 I surrender
55:19 All
55:22 All
55:29 To Thee my blessed
55:34 Savior
55:37 I surrender all
55:49 Oh, Lord, all of me
55:52 I give to you dear Lord
55:58 My heart, my mind
56:02 My soul
56:06 Oh, Lord
56:09 My eyes, my hands
56:12 Dear Lord
56:17 Use me as you please
56:22 Lord, I'm yours
56:24 I'm yours, yours I'm yours
56:28 I'm yours all of me, all of me
56:34 Dear Lord
56:45 All to Thee my blessed
56:52 Savior
56:55 I surrender all


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Revised 2017-11-26