3ABN On the Road

The Jesus Creed

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Mike Tucker

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000916


00:02 ¤ ¤
01:00 Hello and welcome once again to spring camp meeting 2008 from
01:05 the beautiful worship center here on the 3ABN campus in
01:08 beautiful downtown Thompsonville Illinois. It is the afternoon
01:13 and we've all come back from lunch. We've dined sufficiently
01:17 and we pray that no one is sleepy because we have a
01:20 power packed message this afternoon from a power packed
01:22 preacher and we need you to be awake and alert and ready to
01:26 receive the word of God because the word will be brought to us
01:30 with power. Now can you not say that we've had a good time thus
01:33 far into our camp meeting. I believe we have. And when we
01:39 were sitting down to put this together speakers make their
01:43 appointments and arrangements sometimes years in advance. And
01:47 we selected a number of people that we wanted to come and bring
01:50 the message of truth to God's people here in the local
01:54 audience and worldwide and God blessed because everybody that
01:58 we sort of pegged as wanting to come was available and willing
02:02 to come. We know that they have schedules and they have things
02:05 to do, but they were willing to come and spend the time with us
02:07 not only through camp meeting but as you know 10 commandments
02:11 weekend is going to follow so we'll hear them again.
02:14 The seminars thus far have been really, really good. They've
02:18 been anointed, they've been God blessed, the information has
02:21 been good. We've invited men and women who are students of the
02:25 word and they've brought to us from the word of God. Of course,
02:28 this afternoon is no exception to that. So we want to get
02:32 started. We want to start with prayer. I'm going to ask you to
02:34 bow your heads with me as we look to the Lord in prayer.
02:37 Heavenly Father: We praise and thank you for a wonderful day
02:41 thus far and we are truly thankful Lord for the power of
02:45 your word, for what it does to energize us, to quicken us, to
02:49 lift us up into heavenly places and give us strength to meet the
02:57 trials that we face every day. We know that Jesus is coming
03:02 soon and more than anything we want to be ready for the coming
03:06 of the Lord. So we ask Lord that again you would be an honored
03:10 guest in this meeting. Accept our worship, our prayer and our
03:14 praise and in exchange for these give us your power and your
03:19 blessing and we thank you, in Jesus' name, Amen. Again if
03:22 you've looked at your program you know that Shelley Quinn is
03:25 supposed to be standing here. But Shelley is a little under
03:29 the weather. Do keep her in your prayers because we want Shelley
03:32 to recover very, very quickly and we miss her so very much.
03:36 We're going to call now on Melody Firestone to come and
03:40 bring us music. Beautiful young lady, beautiful spirit, with a
03:43 beautiful song - Give Them Up.
03:45 ¤ ¤ Give Them Up ¤ ¤
04:02 ¤We go through the motions for trading someone else's¤
04:09 ¤notions of what you'd like to be. It seems there's no way¤
04:17 ¤you can make it, and you think you just can't take it. The¤
04:27 ¤answer is such a mystery. Well you can hand it over to Him. ¤
04:36 ¤and start all over again. Give up all your worries¤
04:47 ¤Give up all the pain, give up all the guilt and the shame. ¤
04:56 ¤to the one who gave His life, with love He made the sacrifice¤
05:08 ¤Give them all in Jesus' name. There are just no words to¤
05:18 ¤say how I feel¤
05:20 ¤and wishful thinking just won't heal this hurt inside of me¤
05:28 ¤Only He knows what I'm all about, all my fears and all my¤
05:38 ¤and all my doubts. I haven't been all that I could be¤
05:46 ¤and I don't want to wait another day. I know in my heart¤
05:56 ¤He is the way. I'll give up all my worries, give up all the¤
06:06 ¤pain, give up all the guilt and the shame. To the one who gave¤
06:15 ¤His life. With love He made the sacrifice. I'll give them up in¤
06:23 ¤Jesus' name. Jesus died to set us free. It's up to us to¤
06:36 ¤believe and give up all the worries, give up all the pain,¤
06:48 ¤give up all the guilt and the shame to the one who gave his¤
06:59 ¤life, with love He made the sacrifice. Give them up in¤
07:11 ¤Jesus' name¤ ¤
07:32 Well done The Lord has given her quite a gift that she uses to
07:37 His glory. Several years ago I was invited to speak at the
07:42 Arlington Seventh-day Adventist church. A friend of mine who was
07:47 a member of my Ephesus Church in New York City had moved to
07:50 Texas and they were having an international day and they asked
07:55 me to come and speak. And I met there for the first time Pastor
07:59 Mike Tucker. The church had about 1500 or 1600 members at
08:03 that time and has now grown, I am told, to 1900 members. I know
08:08 the kind of work it takes to pastor a church of that size
08:11 because my church was a little over 2000 when I left the
08:13 Ephesus church. It takes a special kind of tact and a
08:18 special kind of love for Christ to pastor these large churches.
08:22 And I would say to you now as we come down to the end of time
08:25 it's getting harder to get large groups of people to work
08:29 together. It's getting a little tougher. It takes a special kind
08:33 tact, a special kind of love for Christ to get large groups of
08:37 people to function as one and to function under the banner of
08:42 Prince Emmanuel. So Mike and Gayle Tucker, his wife, both
08:47 work for the Lord in pastoring that large church in Arlington,
08:51 Texas. God has blessed their ministry. We also know him as
08:55 the speaker/director for Faith for Today. Now when we think of
08:59 Faith for Today we think of one of the longest running
09:02 ministries, television ministries, in the church.
09:05 Faith for Today goes back to New York City to the days of
09:08 William Fagal, you might remember that name from over 60
09:12 years ago. I've got a copy of one of their original Christmas
09:17 shows. I think it aired in 1951 or 1953 on ABC back in New York
09:22 City years and years ago. So Pastor Mike as speaker/director
09:25 for Faith for Today serves in that long line of distinguished
09:29 gentleman who have headed up that ministry, Faith for Today.
09:33 And it is still a powerful tool in the hands of God for the
09:36 salvation of the souls of men. We are so honored and blessed
09:40 and pleased that he consented to come and speak with us. He's
09:44 a man with a sense of humor and think he actually balled his
09:47 fist up at me back stage a moment ago, but someone
09:51 that we love and respect. Last October you may recall that he
09:56 and Gayle ran a very beautiful television meeting called Heart
10:00 Quest that
10:01 was very well done and brought many souls to the kingdom of God
10:04 So this is someone who is used of the Lord, who God has blessed
10:10 and is blessing today. So we are very, very pleased that he
10:12 chose to come and spend this time with us this afternoon.
10:16 So without
10:17 further ado I present to you the speaker/director for Faith
10:20 for Today and the pastor of the Arlington Church, Pastor Mike
10:22 Tucker.
10:24 He mentioned Faith for Today being one of the longest running
10:31 religious broad casts. Actually it is the oldest religious
10:35 broadcast in the world. This month we are celebrating 58
10:38 years. Something started by William and Virginia Fagal.
10:42 William, of course, is gone now but Virginia is alive and well.
10:45 She has had some health issues lately but she is doing much,
10:48 much better. She is a sweetheart I tell she is such a jewel. She
10:53 drives her car through L.A. traffic still. That frightens me
10:59 much less, but I'm impressed with her and she is doing much
11:03 better I am told. It's been awhile since I've been able to
11:06 chat with her. She is doing better. We praise God for the
11:09 ministry of Faith for Today. I stand on the shoulders of giants
11:13 for that ministry and so that is a joy to be a part of it.
11:16 I bring you greetings not just from Faith for Today but also
11:20 from the church that he mentioned, the Arlington
11:22 Seventh-day Adventist church in Arlington, Texas. They talk
11:26 about beautiful downtown Thompson ville. Is there a stop light
11:30 in the city. I haven't seen it. I hear there are 600 residents
11:33 of the city. I have 1900 members in my church. So it's a little
11:39 different scale there. I'm sure it's a lovely community. City, I
11:45 don't know, but it's great to be here. What a joy to be a part
11:49 of 3ABN campmeeting and to visit with you folks. I've been able
11:53 to sit and talk to some of you, eat lunch with some of you. God
11:57 has been so good. So tell me what is the essence of the
12:02 Christian life? And how is it that we know we're growing in
12:07 Jesus Christ? How do we know that we're growing in Him? How
12:11 do we know what it means to become a fully devoted follower
12:16 of Jesus Christ, a disciple of Jesus? What does it mean to grow
12:21 in Jesus Christ? What is that all about? A lot of people have
12:25 wondered about this particular question and they applied a lot
12:30 of different methods to understanding it. But let me
12:33 tell you the story of a couple who I think understand this,
12:36 a couple who I think get this. They are Kirsten and Lee
12:41 Hilderbrant. Now in 1996, I think it was, Kirsten and Lee
12:45 Hilderbrant moved to Milwaukee because Kirsten had just
12:50 finished her degree in law and so she started a practice there
12:54 with an established firm, while Lee continued his graduate
12:59 studies. He was getting a doctorate in counseling
13:02 psychology. They moved into a nice little suburban
13:04 neighborhood but they decided instead of attending a church
13:07 that was nearby they would attend a church that was
13:11 downtown, actually in the inner city, which was close to where
13:13 Lee was attending graduate school. Now this couple,
13:19 Hilderbrant, they're white, middle class and as a lot of
13:24 white middle class people would be their experience, they had
13:28 very little experience outside their own culture. So attending
13:32 an inner city church was quite a culture shock for them. But
13:36 they enjoyed it, they began to just fall in love with the church
13:39 and the people there. In fact, they also came to the point
13:42 where they felt that it was possible that they had moved
13:45 into the wrong neighborhood. They felt that God was calling
13:49 them to move into the inner city They didn't know why. But
13:52 eventually they started looking around. They found a house that
13:56 had been abandoned there, that was vacant and they sold their
14:00 house in that suburban neighborhood and much to the
14:03 protest of their family and friends they bought this house
14:07 in the inner city and moved in. They did a lot of remodeling on
14:12 it. They had to do a lot of work on it in order to make it
14:15 something that was usable for them, but they really enjoyed
14:18 living there. They noticed before long that there was a
14:22 foreclosure sign on a house in their neighborhood. So they went
14:27 to inspect it, to look at it, thinking well maybe we ought
14:31 to buy it and as they looked around they saw the thing was in
14:35 terrible, terrible repair. They thought how is that someone
14:39 could live in a place like this? And as they inquired they
14:42 realized that the landlord was an absentee landlord, did not
14:46 even live in the state, lived someplace else and allowed the
14:50 facility to fall into terrible disrepair. As Kirsten started
14:54 looking at that she said you know everyone deserves a nice
14:58 place to live. So they started looking around the community and
15:02 they realized that a lot of the houses were owned by absentee
15:06 landlords there in the inner city and they were in terrible
15:09 shape. So they tried to buy this house but their bid fell through
15:13 and they didn't bid enough. But then they felt committed to
15:17 doing something about this community. So they convinced two
15:20 other couples, friends of theirs to go into business with them.
15:24 The three couples together put a bid on another house that was in
15:29 just as bad repair and their bid won and they bought the place.
15:33 They bought the house. Then they decided it was time to remodel
15:37 it because it was in terrible shape. They did most of the work
15:40 themselves. They became accustomed to doing things like
15:44 drywall work and plumbing and things that they had never done
15:48 before but they learned rather quickly. They worked very hard
15:51 in order to keep the cost down and when they had completed the
15:55 remodeling they rented it out as cheaply as they could because
15:58 they wanted someone from the inner city to have a nice place
16:03 to live. And it went well. So they did that thing again and
16:07 again and again and again and after seven years they had
16:11 purchased and remodeled 70 buildings in that community.
16:15 Seventy buildings, some of them multifamily dwellings, others of
16:19 them single family dwellings but they worked very hard. Now they
16:23 had some interesting experiences because they would
16:25 work very hard putting together a remodeling job and they'd come
16:28 back the next day to find someone had painted graffiti all
16:31 over. So they would have to redo things. Lee in particular once
16:37 was meeting with a very dissatisfied tenant who held a
16:41 gun on him and he had to use all of his counseling skills in
16:44 order to gently be able to back out of the room, you know, and
16:47 to leave. But you know that they said that they felt like it was
16:50 the right thing to do. As they looked around that entire
16:53 community began to change because other people realized
16:57 what they were doing in their community and they started to
17:00 fix their places up. Grass started getting mowed more often
17:03 and people started planting flowers and putting new shutters
17:06 on the windows and painting their places and all sorts of
17:10 things changed in that community because of Kirsten and Lee who
17:15 decided they needed to make a difference in the community. You
17:18 see I think that this couple gets Christianity. I think that
17:25 they understand the basic premise here, what it means to
17:29 live and to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Now Jesus was
17:33 asking questions about this once and we find this question in
17:38 Matthew chapter 22. You see a lot of the Pharisees and
17:41 Sadducees were out to get Jesus. They wanted to embarrass Him.
17:44 They wanted to trip Him up one way or another and so they would
17:48 ask Him these rather tough questions and they had just
17:50 finished asking Him a question about divorce and remarriage and
17:53 Jesus was able to navigate those waters rather successfully.
17:58 So we find here in Matthew 22 starting with verse 34. It says
18:02 this:...
18:10 Teacher which is the greatest commandment of the law. Jesus
18:15 replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
18:19 your soul and with all your mind This is the first and greatest
18:24 commandment...
18:34 So he asked what is the greatest commandment. You understand that
18:39 in that day for an expert of the law to ask that question he was
18:43 asking this: What does it take to grow spiritually? What is the
18:49 essence of spiritual growth? How do I know when I'm growing
18:54 spiritually? He of course believed that that was all
18:57 wrapped up with the law; not just the 10 commandment law
19:01 although that was the basis of it, but then it went on out
19:05 beyond that. Because if indeed the law was God's last word on
19:08 everything and if indeed spiritual growth could be
19:11 measured by one's ability to keep the commandments then they
19:13 had to understand the basis of the commandments. So they
19:16 they studied the law. He was an expert in the law. He studied
19:19 the law. He understood the broader applications of the law.
19:22 But then once you understand the broader applications, you had to
19:26 understand the details of how does that apply today. So they
19:30 would make a list of things the forbade and they had 100s of
19:33 lists. In facts, there are 1000s of pages that have been written
19:37 with this particular study in mind and for them keeping the
19:43 law, as much as anything else, meant avoiding certain
19:46 activities under certain circumstances. The Sabbath laws
19:50 were an example of this. There were 100s even 1000s of laws
19:54 regarding the Sabbath, what one could and one could not do on
19:57 the Sabbath and spiritual growth meant understanding what those
20:02 restrictions were and avoiding the negative. I had to avoid
20:06 doing certain things on that day and if I could avoid doing those
20:10 things then that meant that I was growing spiritually. That
20:16 was their idea of spiritual growth; what does the law
20:20 prohibit, can I avoid those things which the law prohibits.
20:25 So Jesus answered him in a way that may have shocked him just a
20:29 little bit, because He said, as we read there, Love the Lord
20:32 your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
20:35 your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second
20:37 is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. Now those two ideas
20:41 were a little bit, they were familiar concepts to him but he
20:44 hadn't probably heard it in quite that context. Now let me
20:48 share with you what the Jewish prayer was. This is the first
20:50 prayer that was taught every Jew as a child. It was the prayer
20:57 said every morning and the prayer they said every evening
21:00 and this expressed for them the essence of general spirituality.
21:06 This is what it means to grow spiritually. We find this in
21:11 Deuteronomy chapter 6, starting with verse 4. This is called the
21:14 Shamah. It is the prayer, the Jewish prayer that every Jewish
21:17 child learned and every Jew repeats every morning and every
21:22 evening. This is kind of like the motto or the mantra of
21:25 Judaism. This is what it means to grow spiritually as a Jew.
21:30 And again, Deuteronomy chapter 6 starting with verse 4; it says:
21:35 Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one. Love the Lord
21:39 your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
21:42 your strength. These commandments that I
21:45 give you today are to be upon your hearts, impress them on
21:49 your children, talk about them when you sit at home, when you
21:52 walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
21:56 Tie them as symbols on your hand and bind them on their
22:00 foreheads, write them on the door frames of your houses and
22:04 on your gates. That was their morning prayer, their evening
22:08 prayer. This was the essence of Judaism. Judaism, you see,
22:13 spiritual growth for a Jew was this: Love God by following God
22:18 and keeping the commandments. That's what it meant to grow
22:21 spiritually. But to love God and I'm going to follow God by
22:25 keeping the commandments. Spiritual growth. And so this
22:30 expert of the law asked Jesus what is the essence of
22:35 spirituality? What does it mean to grow spiritually? How do I
22:39 find spiritual formation? How do I know when I am growing? Jesus
22:43 borrowed from the Shamah. Here he is not putting this prayer
22:47 down, he's not disagreeing with it in any way. He's expanding
22:51 upon it. Does He here do away with the law of God in Jesus's
22:55 answer in Matthew 22. He doesn't do away with the law of God, but
22:58 He puts it in a different perspective. He cast it in a
23:02 little different light. The law of God is still valid but
23:07 Jesus's answer was very different than that which the
23:11 Jew thought was spiritual growth Spiritual growth was to them
23:15 was we're going to love God and we're going to do that by
23:19 following Him and by keeping the commandments of God. But Jesus's
23:23 answer was something different. We'll call this the Jesus Creed,
23:29 His creed for life and His creed is this: Love God by following
23:37 Jesus and loving people. That's the Jesus Creed. Love God by
23:44 following Jesus and loving people. It doesn't do away with
23:49 the 10 commandments, it finds them in a different light
23:55 because as you well know the 10 commandments have two sections.
23:59 The first four have to do with our love for God. The last six
24:05 have to do with our love for mankind. Love God by following
24:12 Jesus and loving others. That is the Jesus Creed. You see in
24:17 doing this Jesus also borrowed from a passage in Leviticus,
24:23 Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18. So this is not news to this man,
24:30 he should have been aware of it. Leviticus 19:18. Have I got that
24:38 right?. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge but love your
24:43 neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So this idea of loving
24:46 your neighbor as yourself was not unique to Jesus. This had
24:50 had been around for centuries. Jesus borrowed that from
24:53 Leviticus 19:18, put it together with the Shamah in Deuteronomy
24:58 and He said this is the test of discipleship. This is how you
25:03 will know that you are a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ
25:07 growing in me every day. This is how you will know that you are
25:11 becoming more and more of a spiritual person. Love God and
25:17 follow Jesus by loving others. That's it. That is the essence of
25:24 Christianity, it is the essence of spirituality. I grew up in
25:29 the church that viewed truth as a concept, a group of teachings
25:34 a concept and I was very good at all the proof texts. I still
25:39 can do that. I can prove truth because I viewed truth as a
25:48 himself said I am the truth, the life the way and here He's
25:56 talking in relationship terms with the Jesus Creed and He
26:01 saying that if you want to know truth, truth is a relationship,
26:05 it is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Creator God of the
26:09 universe, the one who spoke the worlds into existence. It is a
26:13 love relationship with Him. You want to now truth, you know
26:18 Jesus. You want to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ?
26:22 I believe there are only two measurements, two true
26:26 measurements of your daily spiritual growth. If you want to
26:30 know if you're growing spiritually, you simply ask
26:33 yourself the two questions that Jesus referred to in this
26:35 passage here in Matthew 22. Question number one: Do I love
26:42 God more today than I did yesterday? Question number two:
26:47 Do I love others more today than I did yesterday. If the answer
26:53 is yes, you are growing as a fully devoted follower of Jesus
26:59 Christ. That's what it means to become a mature Christian. Jesus
27:03 could have said a lot of things about what it means to grow in
27:07 Christ. He could have said a lot of things about spiritual
27:11 formation or what it means to grow as a person who is a
27:15 spiritual person and some of the things that He could have said
27:18 may be good things but they're not the real measure of our
27:22 growth. They may be tools to grow, they may be tools to grow
27:25 but they're not the measurement of your growth. He could have
27:28 said you'll know you're a real Christian and you're growing in
27:31 Christ if you will spend a thoughtful hour each day
27:34 contemplating my life. He could have said that, but he didn't
27:39 because that's not the measurement of spirituality.
27:41 It is tool toward spirituality but the measurement is this:
27:45 Do I love God more today than I did yesterday? Do I love people
27:50 more today than I did yesterday? That's the measurement. Jesus
27:55 points us at every stage and every place we see to
27:59 relationship. Relationship is the essence. Why did God create
28:04 the world? Because His loving heart demanded someone else to
28:08 love. So He is a creating God. He wanted to find intimacy
28:12 and relationship with His creations and so He created us
28:15 and when Adam and Eve sinned why didn't He just discard them
28:19 and start again and say well that was a bad batch. I'll try
28:23 again and maybe I can find a better batch this time. He could
28:25 have done it and no one could have blamed Him. These were the
28:28 works of His hand, He could have done that. But He did not do it.
28:33 Why? Because this is a God of relationship this is God of love
28:38 and this God of relationship asks two things of you: Love me
28:43 love each other. And by the way when we see each other we're not
28:48 just talking about the nice people that are sitting next to
28:51 you here, and He's not just talking about those of you who
28:54 are at home watching this on television, the people you know
28:57 and you love and the people you worship with, the people in your
29:00 family who you care deeply for. He's not just talking about them
29:03 He's talking about the most difficult people on the planet
29:07 to get along with. He's talking about the bums on skid row, He's
29:11 talking about the prostitutes and the drug dealers. He's
29:14 talking about the people you see in the newspaper who are
29:18 murderers. He says love these people. Love these people.
29:24 Care for them. View them the same way I view them. You know
29:30 if you really do that it changes everything. It changes how you
29:36 see people. Gentlemen you see that cute little thing walk by
29:41 in that skirt that she must have outgrown years ago. If you're
29:46 going to follow the Jesus Creed, you will see her with the same
29:51 eyes that Jesus say Mary, the prostitute. You will see her
29:56 with those eyes which will be a different expression, a
30:02 different experience because to grow in Christ, to love God, to
30:10 follow Jesus by loving others. It will change your life. You've
30:18 seen people who've gone to church for a very long time who
30:24 have all the proof texts memorized and who may have a
30:29 good diet, you know, they don't eat cheese, they stay away from
30:32 caffeine, they wouldn't touch caffeine with a 10-foot pole,
30:36 and they're at church every time the doors open and yet some of
30:40 these people are the meanest people on the planet. You've
30:43 seen them. You would think going to church that long would change
30:46 them. I'm telling you that according to Jesus these may be
30:52 what Mark Twain referred to as a good man in the worst sense of
30:56 the word. You understand that don't you; a good man in the
31:00 worst sense of the word. A lot of good people I don't want to
31:04 hang out with, I don't want to spend time with. But when you're
31:08 a good person in the way Jesus identified by living the Jesus
31:13 Creed and that's a person you want to hang out with. That's a
31:18 person you want to be with. Jesus was of such a personality
31:23 that children were drawn to Him. I've never seen children go to
31:28 a grouch, but boy they were drawn to Jesus weren't they?
31:33 So much so that the disciples said get these kids out of here.
31:36 And Jesus said, you leave them alone. This is the kingdom of
31:40 kingdom of heaven right here. You bring them back to me and
31:44 He put His hands on the children He gathered them in His arms and
31:47 He blessed them. Because when you live according to the Jesus
31:52 Creed it changes you and it changes the people around you.
31:57 No one's going to notice it quicker than children. I've
32:02 learned to trust the children's instincts, I've learned to trust
32:06 their instincts. I remember once we had a person who wanted
32:09 to work with children in the church but the kids didn't like
32:14 him. We'll find something else for him to do. And then I saw
32:17 his interactions with his own children and I understood why
32:22 the children did not like this man. He was not a likeable
32:27 person, he was mean, he was angry. And the children sensed
32:30 that and they
32:32 stayed away from him. No one felt that way about Jesus. They
32:38 saw the Son of God and they were drawn to Him. They saw Jesus and
32:42 they wanted to spend time with Him. They saw Jesus and they
32:45 listened to Him preach and when He left they said please don't
32:50 leave, we want to hear more. He got in a boat and they got in
32:56 boats and followed Him. They wanted to be with Jesus. Living
33:01 the Jesus Creed changes everything. It changes how you
33:06 interact with your family. That is the first place the Jesus
33:10 Creed should be seen is in your home. It should be seen in your
33:14 home. In my church, we have a children's story and I always go
33:18 up and I sit with the children on the floor during the
33:20 children's story and I listen to the story, whoever's telling
33:24 the story. I visit all their Sabbath School classes every
33:28 week when I'm in town and I'm at my church during that time I go
33:32 to each of the children's divisions and I visit with each
33:35 of the children there every week so they know their senior pastor
33:39 I want them to know me and to feel comfortable with me and to
33:42 now that I'm their pastor too not just moms' and dads'. So I
33:45 I will sit on the floor with the kids during children's story and
33:51 you would be amazed at what the kids tell me. One child sat down
33:56 with me and said mommy and daddy were yelling on the way to
34:00 church. I said, it's all right. Mommy's and daddies do that
34:06 sometime but they'll be okay. I hope so. Children know what's
34:11 going on. They're a judge of character. They have this
34:15 innate sense of whether or not Jesus Christ has touched your
34:19 life, whether or not He's changed you. Folks there is no
34:24 such thing as a good church fight. The Jesus Creed won't
34:29 permit it will it? You can't do that and call yourself a fully
34:33 devoted follower of Jesus Christ I've seen churches split over
34:37 the color of carpet. Lord forgive us. What are we doing?
34:43 What are we thinking? How does this represent the body of
34:48 Christ. How does this represent God himself. We're going to
34:54 split over the order of service, over the music, over the color
34:59 of carpet. God forgive us. It's no wonder some churches never
35:04 grow. You wouldn't want to be there either if you were an
35:08 outsider. You know, you want to fight you can go anyplace and do
35:13 that, you don't have to go to church. Church ought to make you
35:19 a nicer person and church ought to be a place of joy, a refuge,
35:24 a place where you know you are safe. Here's the way to tell
35:28 whether or not you're the church If your pastor cannot stand in
35:33 pulpit of your church and confess to his congregation what
35:38 he's struggling with temptation wise that week and know
35:40 that number one
35:44 no one outside that church will ever hear of it because you
35:46 won't carry the tale out and number two you won't ask for him
35:52 to be removed, but you'll support his tenure there.
35:57 Until your pastor can do that you are not the church. Until he
36:04 can feel safe doing that you are not the church, because Paul
36:10 described the church as a place where we share our burdens and
36:16 and where we bear our burdens, where we care for one another
36:19 But you know what there's not going to be any sharing or
36:24 caring or bearing if I'm not safe in that place to tell you
36:28 what's going on in my life. If I'm not safe I'm going to know
36:32 that and I'm not going to share anything with you, and therefore
36:35 you will not be able to care and you will not be able to help me
36:38 bear because we're not the church. We're not the church.
36:43 I grew up going to
36:47 evangelists crusades and some of these guys were so good at
36:52 painting a picture of the end of time that it scared me to death.
36:57 And driving home I'd be watching the sky for the cloud, sure it
37:02 going to happen then and it scared me to death. And they
37:05 would always tell me so get ready, so get ready. And I never
37:08 knew exactly what that meant. All right I'm going to get ready
37:12 but I'm not going to pack a bag. What does that mean? Get ready.
37:16 Because they never really told me what it meant to get ready
37:20 for the coming of Jesus. Now they seemed to imply that it
37:23 might have something to do with Sabbath keeping and that's a
37:26 good thing. And it might have something to do with the 10
37:30 commandments or my diet or something of that nature. But I
37:34 always wondered what on earth it meant to get ready. And then
37:38 I found the Jesus Creed and I realized as I studied this
37:43 passage and I studied other passages by Jesus, I studied the
37:47 writings of Paul and I'd even go to that wonderful book of
37:50 Revelation and I'd see the beautiful picture of the
37:53 relationship of God's people to each other and to their Lord, I
37:57 realized that the way to truly get ready for the coming of
38:03 Christ is to follow the Jesus Creed. Because God's not coming
38:12 to get decaffeinated vegetarians He's not, He's really not. Now
38:18 hopefully we'll be decaffeinated vegetarians then, that's good.
38:24 That's not who He's coming to get. He's coming to get those
38:29 who reflect the character of His Son Jesus Christ; that's who
38:33 He's coming to get. And you want to know what that person looks
38:37 like you examine the Jesus Creed Read it again with me would you?
39:04 You want to get ready for the coming of Jesus. You want to
39:09 prepare a world for His coming. This is where it starts. This is
39:14 where it begins because the world is not interested in how
39:19 much you know. They are interested in how much you care.
39:25 You don't care unless you're living this. People tell me I
39:30 don't know how to love God. You know, my picture of Him maybe is
39:34 inaccurate but I don't know how to do that. Well here's a clue
39:39 for you. You find people who need help and you learn to view
39:44 them as Jesus views them and you help them and you will find
39:49 yourself falling helplessly in love with Jesus Christ as your
39:53 Lord and Savior. You will love God by loving others. That's how
40:00 you learn to love Jesus. I used to teach at a boarding school
40:06 We had a young man there who was very shy. He was a young man who
40:11 would scarcely speak two words. In fact, he was only with us one
40:16 semester and I can only remember about six words that this kid
40:19 ever spoke. I would try to talk to him and he would answer in
40:23 one syllable words and that's about it. He was so shy,
40:27 painfully shy, that he would not hardly talk to anyone. In fact,
40:30 the second semester he didn't come back to school and it was
40:33 two weeks before I knew he was gone is how quiet this kid had
40:37 been. So we checked around and found out he just decided not to
40:41 come back, he'd gone some place else so we went on with school.
40:46 Years later, I'd left that school, I'm pastoring now in a
40:49 church that is 500 miles away from the school when I get a
40:53 phone call from a woman who identified herself as Billy's
40:57 mom. Well I'm thinking who on earth is Billy? And she said you
41:01 know Billy was there at school when you were a teacher. And I'm
41:04 going through my memory banks just trying to think of Billy
41:07 and I finally from something she said it clicks, I know who Billy
41:10 is he's the shy kid who never said anything. She said Pastor
41:15 Tucker you were his best friend when he was at school. Six words
41:20 I'm his best friend. She said Billy's got trouble.
41:25 He's married, he's got two daughters. His youngest daughter
41:27 is in the hospital, she's dying. Doctors don't think she's going
41:32 live. Billy's left the church. He's out of work and he's in
41:35 trouble. Would you go visit him? Sure I will. First I pulled out
41:40 the annual to see if I could figure out what the kid looked
41:42 like. I hoped he hadn't changed that much through the years.
41:47 Got to the hospital and found someone who kind of looked like
41:51 Billy in the waiting room for the ICU room where his daughter
41:56 was. His hands were covering his face. At times he would kind of
42:01 look up and then cry again. So I went down and I said Billy.
42:05 He looked up and he just nodded and I sat down next to him.
42:09 And I asked him how things were going on and he would just kind
42:14 of grunt. I'd ask him a question I'd get a single syllable word.
42:19 Some things had never changed you know. Billy still didn't
42:22 talk. I tried to get information from him but it was painful, it
42:25 was almost impossible. I didn't have any more information at
42:28 that point than I had when I came into the room. His wife
42:31 joined us then and she talked. Praised the Lord she talked.
42:35 She told me about how they met. How Billy ever found the nerve
42:39 to ask anyone to marry him I'll never know. That's a story I
42:43 didn't get a chance to hear. But they had these two kids and she
42:47 told me about Billy, how he'd lost his job and she told me how
42:50 the daughter was. So I went in and I prayed for the child and
42:55 we anointed her. Then I went back with Billy and Billy was
43:00 just a lost soul. I saw the eyes Billy's eyes. There was a look
43:06 of panic and fear in his eyes. So I put my arm around Billy.
43:12 I wanted to hold him close so he would know I was there. I told
43:16 Billy the story of the prodigal son. About how the son was with
43:20 the father and as long as he was with the father the father gave
43:24 him gifts. The gifts kept coming kept coming. But when he left
43:28 the father was when the gifts ran out because you only get
43:31 the gifts if you're with the father. When you leave the
43:34 father eventually the gifts run out. The prodigal son had left
43:39 the father and he realized he needed the gifts but he had
43:41 treated the father so poorly he didn't know if the father
43:44 would take him back. But he came back to the father. The father
43:47 received him with open arms and he ran to him and he embraced
43:51 him and the gifts came again. I told Billy that story because he
43:56 needed to know how the father loved him. No matter what would
44:01 happen he needed to know the Father loved him. Miracle of
44:06 miracles, Billy's daughter improved and she was able to
44:12 leave the hospital. And then I lost track of Billy. A few
44:18 months later I get a phone call. It was Billy's wife. She said
44:21 our daughter's doing great. Billy got a job in another city
44:25 and that's why you haven't seen us, we moved. And he's working.
44:28 In fact, we're back in church now. We're going to church. We
44:32 just wanted you to know that and Billy, he's really enjoying
44:36 church. And I'm leading out in the children's division and I'm
44:39 going all sorts of things. She's telling me the story, she's
44:42 thanking me for my visit, and she said oh by the say, Billy's
44:48 here. He wants to talk to you. This I got to hear. Put him on
44:54 now. Then I hear breathing on the phone. Billy, hey is that
44:58 you man. Come on buddy, talk to me, you can do it. I know you
45:02 can Billy, say something. Breathing more and more. He's
45:07 breathing's getting heavier. Come on Billy, I hear it coming.
45:09 Come on buddy, talk to me now. Finally Billy said well thanks,
45:24 click. But Billy has come home. And it wasn't that anyone did
45:32 anything spectacular other than visit him and love him and tell
45:39 him about the Father. That's it. That's all I did. I just visited
45:47 him and I loved him and I prayed with him and I told him about
45:52 the Father and how the Father loved Billy. It's a small way to
45:57 practice the Jesus Creed. To love God so much that you choose
46:02 to love the people he loves and you demonstrate it by the way
46:08 you treat them, by the way you're with them every day.
46:12 By your watch care of them. That's the Jesus Creed. That's
46:17 the essence of the commandments to love God by following Jesus
46:23 and by loving others. Would you pray with me? Father, today we
46:28 ask that you would give us the ability to live the Jesus Creed,
46:33 to see your law in this light, Lord, to understand its true
46:37 value for our lives Lord and for the world around us. Oh Lord
46:41 let us never be so selfish as to think that we can hold this to
46:46 ourselves or that we can hang on to this and not let anyone
46:49 else have it. Let us never be so foolish to think that we can
46:53 please you in any way other than following Jesus and loving
46:59 others. Father, grant us the love of Jesus and draw us closer
47:03 to yourself every day, for we pray in the name of Jesus our
47:09 Savior Amen. Remember this: The Jesus Creed - Love God by
47:14 following Jesus and by loving others.
47:18 ¤ ¤ Melody Firestone I've Just Been with Jesus¤ ¤
47:35 ¤I've just been with Jesus, Oh I've just seen His glory¤
47:44 ¤I've just felt His presence. as I feel it now. ¤
47:56 ¤He is all I long for. There's no one I desire more. ¤
48:08 ¤For I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤
48:19 ¤Here in this place my soul is satisfied. ¤
48:28 ¤You have erased the roles I've tried so hard to hide¤
48:39 ¤I'm learning how to abandon all my fears.¤
48:49 ¤Each time I meet you here. ¤
48:54 ¤I've just been with Jesus. Oh I've just seen His glory. ¤
49:04 ¤I've just felt His presence As I feel it now. ¤
49:14 ¤He is all I long for, Oh There's no one I desire more. ¤
49:29 ¤For I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤
49:44 ¤Nothing but you, that's all my eyes can see. ¤
49:53 ¤Finally I've found the place my heart has longed to be. ¤
50:03 ¤My own desires, they don't matter anymore.¤
50:14 ¤My will, my life is yours. ¤
50:17 ¤I've just been with Jesus. I've just seen His glory. ¤
50:28 ¤I've just felt His presence as I feel it now. ¤
50:39 ¤He is all I long for, Oh There's no one I desire more. ¤
50:53 ¤For I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤
51:07 ¤Ooo, I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤ ¤
51:38 Thank you very, very much Melody. We want to thank Pastor
51:42 Tucker for those powerful and timely words. You know each
51:45 Tuesday here at 3ABN we have joint worship where all
51:47 the departments come together in studio B and someone is
51:53 assigned to give the worship talk and then we give our praise
51:57 reports and prayer requests. This past Tuesday they asked me
52:00 to do it and I talked to them about a phone call that I
52:04 received, a particular one. And the fellow on the other end of
52:09 was quite irate because he said that we... he said I don't like
52:14 you Adventists because you're bigots, he said you're bigots.
52:21 He said you guys think, that's the term he used, you're the
52:26 ones, you're the only
52:29 ones and I don't believe that. I think heaven will be open to
52:31 everybody. And I said, well I agree, I agree that heaven will
52:37 be open to everyone, but Jesus said I am the way. Did he? He
52:43 said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the
52:48 father but by me. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a
52:54 bigoted statement. It is. If Jesus is the way, that means
53:00 there is now other way. Amen? If there was another way then
53:05 Jesus would not had to have died. So when Jesus says I am
53:11 the way that means He is the way So I said to him there simply
53:18 is no other way. Now what we try to do is live out and follow
53:24 the dictates of Jesus. If you want to get to heaven, you got
53:30 to go through Jesus. And that's all we're trying to do.
53:34 But Christ is broad enough and loves the world enough that
53:38 anybody that comes to Him He will accept. I said, does that
53:43 sound good to you? He said Uh yeah. I said try it. I said
53:48 if you can find another way call me, we'll discuss it. The phone
53:55 went silent. Hello. If you can find another way, if you find
54:01 another way to get to glory, if you can find another way to get
54:06 to heaven, if you can find another way to please God, let
54:09 me know, because I'm banking my life on Jesus. And if you've got
54:14 something better let me know. Maybe I'll go with what you got.
54:19 But until you give me something better, I got to stick with
54:23 Jesus. Amen? I read something the other morning. I didn't
54:27 bring it with me because I didn't know I was going to have
54:30 to use it. But Ellen White in Volume 9 of the Testimonies
54:34 makes a number of statements and she concludes with this.
54:39 She says the most solemn warnings ever entrusted by God
54:46 to men have been given to us. The most solemn and fearful
54:52 warnings, she says, ever given to man to give to the world have
54:57 been given by God to us. That's very sobering that God has
55:04 called us to be laborers together with Him in these last
55:11 days. I'm a person who likes fun and Danny always says you know
55:16 Christians ought to be the happiest people in the world.
55:18 I believe that is true, I believe that is true and that's
55:21 why I liked joking with Pastor Mike just a little bit ago, but
55:25 fun aside there's a time to get real, real serious and when your
55:30 eternity is on the line that's time to get serious. These are
55:34 serious times and we have a warning message to give that
55:38 nobody else can give, that no one else can give. No one can do
55:42 what you can do. No one can say what you can say, no one can go
55:46 where you can go, no one can live the life that God has
55:50 called you to live and God will call each of us for an
55:54 accountability as far as out time, our talent, our treasure
56:00 is concerned. The calls for sacrifice will not get any less
56:04 as we come to the close of earth's history. They're going
56:07 to increase. I've got a whole 50-minute sermon on Elisha.
56:12 I wish I could preach it right now, but what it basically says
56:17 is that we are called to give all we have to Jesus, to lay it
56:22 all on the line for Him, come what may. Jesus says, you
56:27 stand up for me I will stand up for you before my Father which
56:32 is in heaven. I don't have a favorite anything. I have no
56:37 favorite text. I have no favorite foods, I have no
56:38 favorite colors, I have no favorite ties, no favorite suits
56:42 no favorite shoes. I just don't have favorite things. What I
56:46 have is hot things that are current. So my hot text right
56:51 now that is current is Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 and 6. And
56:56 basically it says that God will never leave us nor forsake us,
57:02 so we can boldly say God is our helper. Whatever you have,
57:08 whatever you lack, whatever you need, God is our helper. He will
57:13 never leave us, He will never forsake us. That promise is as
57:18 sure as the God who gave it.


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