Participants:
Series Code: GYC
Program Code: GYC180007A
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00:33 Please stand and join us in singing our theme song.
00:53 Have you heard the story told 00:57 Of the Man whose heart was sold 01:01 To save my dying soul? 01:05 Oh, what love untold 01:09 To the end He's always sought me 01:12 To the end He's always loved me 01:16 To the end I long to follow 01:20 For He bore my cross of sorrow 01:24 I will stay here in the hollow of His care 01:29 And I will go anywhere, to the end 01:36 This witness I will bear To the end 01:47 In the grove I heard Him say 01:51 "Oh my Father please just stay." 01:54 Through broken hearted pain 01:58 He did pave the way 02:02 To the end His heart is faithful 02:05 To the end His hand is able 02:09 To the end I can now follow 02:13 For He bore my cross of sorrow 02:17 I will stay here in the hollow of His care 02:22 And I will go anywhere, to the end 02:28 This witness I will bear To the end 02:39 As they took Him off to die 02:43 There His friendship I denied 02:47 Forgiveness in His eyes 02:51 He did not despise. 02:54 To the end His love constrains me 02:58 To the end He has restored me 03:02 To the end I will still follow 03:05 For He bore my cross of sorrow 03:09 I will stay here in the hollow of His care 03:14 And I will go anywhere, to the end 03:20 This witness I will bear 03:30 To the end 03:38 Good morning. 03:41 How many of you are awake? 03:44 All right. 03:45 We're about to hear an amazing message, 03:51 two amazing messages. 03:52 One through song 03:53 and one through the breaking of the Word. 03:58 Our scripture reading for this morning, 04:00 if you turn there with me, 04:03 it's found in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7. 04:09 2 Corinthians 4:6-7. 04:14 I'll be reading from the New King James Version? 04:16 And it says, 04:19 "For it is the God who commanded light 04:21 to shine out of darkness, 04:24 who has shown in our hearts 04:26 to give the light of the knowledge 04:29 of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 04:33 But we have this treasure in the earthen vessels, 04:37 that the excellence of the power 04:40 may be of God and not of us." 04:59 I have fixed my mind on another time 05:06 On another time 05:12 And here I mean to stand 05:17 until God gives me more light 05:25 And that is today, today 05:31 Today until He comes 05:37 I have fixed my mind on another time 05:44 On another time 05:53 I have set my course on the narrow way 05:59 On the narrow way 06:04 For I know the time is close at hand 06:10 For which I watch and pray 06:15 And that is today, today 06:21 Today until He comes 06:26 I have set my course on the narrow way 06:32 On the narrow way 06:38 Even so Lord come quickly 06:44 This is my fervent prayer 06:50 For I've caught a Glimpse of glory 06:56 And I'm longing to be there 07:12 When shall the Son of Man appear 07:18 The trumpet sound its blast 07:23 And Christ descend in glorious fire 07:29 With all the saints amassed 07:34 We'll rise with those Who sleep no more 07:40 To meet Him in the air 07:45 When shall the Son of Man appear 07:54 The Son of Man appear 08:02 Even so Lord come quickly 08:08 This is my fervent prayer 08:13 For I've caught a Glimpse of glory 08:19 And I'm longing to be there 08:24 For I've caught a Glimpse of glory 08:33 And I'm longing to be there 08:46 I have fixed my mind on another time 08:57 On another time 09:19 Thank you. 09:20 After 66 books, 09:23 thousands of years of narrative, 09:27 God ends the sacred cannon of scripture 09:30 with the cogent, unequivocal, 09:34 surely I come quickly. 09:39 Amen. 09:41 So let it be, Oh Father, 09:44 that in light of the words we've just heard through music 09:47 and reflection of that final statement of scripture. 09:52 May it be that today our hearts are energized 09:56 through Your Word. 09:58 That we birth within us is a confidence 10:01 and of boldness of the gospel. 10:06 Let it be, oh God, you speak to us 10:09 when we live changed having met with you, 10:13 in the name of Jesus, amen. 10:20 I'm going to take a bit of a guess, 10:24 a leap that the vast majority of us 10:29 in this room this morning 10:30 have not recently picked up 10:36 a cigarette pack. 10:40 If you have, 10:45 God strength to you, 10:47 your journey, no judgment here, 10:49 but I'm just going to guess, you haven't. 10:51 However, I'm also going to guess 10:55 that the vast majority of us 10:57 even having not picked up a cigarette pack recently. 11:01 No, exactly what is stated in black and white 11:06 on every cigarette pack in advertisement 11:10 in this country. 11:13 How does it start? 11:14 Surgeon general warning. 11:20 Smoking 11:23 causes lung cancer, 11:27 heart disease, and emphysema. 11:32 It's an absolute. 11:36 I don't know that it is possible 11:38 to smoke in this country and not to know 11:44 whether it is a good or bad idea. 11:48 I don't know that it's possible. 11:50 There's nobody. 11:53 With all due respect 11:54 to those who have struggled with this addiction, 11:56 there is no one out on the corner going, 12:00 "This actually may be good for me." 12:05 It's known, it is an absolute fact. 12:11 There is no uncertainty. 12:14 There is absolute confidence we know. 12:18 In fact, we know that we know, that we know, it's not good. 12:27 So grab your Bibles. 12:34 Turn to the Book of Acts. 12:38 But this time we're going all the way to the back. 12:41 Acts Chapter 28. 12:47 Acts Chapter 28 is the final chapter of this. 12:52 Sometimes refer to fifth gospel, 12:54 the Acts of the Holy Spirit. 12:56 The church has mobilized this divine appointment. 13:02 The church, early Christians are sent out. 13:06 Acts Chapter 28 and the final verses. 13:12 Verse 30, "Then Paul dwelt two whole years 13:15 in his own rented house, 13:17 and received all who came to him, 13:20 preaching the kingdom of God, 13:22 and teaching the things 13:23 which concern the Lord Jesus Christ 13:25 with all confidence, no one forbidding him." 13:29 If you're reading in a NIV version, 13:34 it'll read that verse 31, 13:36 "He proclaimed the kingdom of God 13:38 and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ 13:40 with all boldness and without hindrance!" 13:46 Boldness and without hindrance, 13:48 Paul knew that he knew that he knew 13:53 that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was absolute, 13:58 life giving, saving. 14:02 It wasn't a question for Paul with all confidence, 14:05 there wasn't a line of doubt, 14:08 there wasn't a single question in his mind, he knew. 14:15 And so without a doubt, here today, 14:21 we can reflect back and know 14:23 that Satan on the other hand did not leave Paul alone. 14:26 This wasn't as if... 14:28 Satan had said, "Well, Paul is just such an apostle. 14:30 He's untouchable to me." 14:32 Satan never gives up. 14:34 He's going to fight this thing to the end. 14:36 And so Paul must have been assailed, 14:40 yet the Bible records 14:42 that he delivered without a doubt, 14:46 with absolute, with all confidence. 14:49 So wasn't that Satan had given up. 14:52 It's that Paul knew that he knew that he knew. 14:59 But it shouldn't surprise us. 15:02 This is the story of Acts. 15:10 When I look back to the beginning, 15:11 Acts Chapter 4, 15:14 first few chapters introduces to that Holy Spirit, 15:17 but now Acts 4:13, 15:26 they, the leaders 15:30 who had previously seen the disciples 15:35 in their fear and their trepidation. 15:38 "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, 15:42 and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained, 15:46 they marveled." 15:49 Love it. 15:51 I've no problem with education or training. 15:56 We ought to be mobilized and trained 15:58 to the best of our abilities. 16:00 But I love the fact that God uses the unexpected, 16:07 the underdog. 16:12 So was though, 16:13 when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, 16:15 that's how this thing began. 16:18 It began Peter and John, and a boldness for Jesus, 16:22 they knew that they knew, 16:25 that they knew He was resurrected 16:26 and now at the right hand of the throne of God. 16:29 Desire or Ages says that they knew they had a friend 16:31 that now stood beside the throne of God, 16:33 and so they reached their hand higher and higher 16:36 by faith, take hold of His. 16:37 They knew that they knew that they knew. 16:41 It started this way. 16:43 That's what the Holy Spirit does. 16:47 It births within our hearts 16:50 a know that we know that we know. 16:55 Let me take Paul as an example. 16:57 Peter and John obviously would be good examples, 16:59 but Paul, let's take Paul as an example. 17:03 I got four exhibits. 17:05 Exhibit A. 17:07 If you look the back of your Bible 17:10 and many of our Bibles at least, 17:13 you'll find maps. 17:14 All right. 17:16 You go out of Revelation 17:17 and out of the Concordance you go, 17:18 you get to your maps. 17:20 Several of your maps inevitably will be titled Paul's first, 17:26 or second, or third, or fourth. 17:28 Paul's missionary journeys. 17:31 You look, it's just arrows all, and he's a frequent flier 17:36 on whatever ship line was available. 17:42 He went around his little world. 17:48 Either he was restless and he couldn't sit still 17:51 or he had something that the world needed to know. 17:55 I think it's beautiful, 17:57 I think it's something that we should be proud of 17:59 that the Adventist Church, 18:01 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 18:03 is mobilized around our globe. 18:07 It speaks to the fact that we have something to say. 18:11 Amen. 18:14 So does Paul's missionary journeys. 18:16 Exhibit A. 18:18 He went, he spent every cell 18:21 in his body travelling the world. 18:25 Exhibit B. 18:29 They couldn't beat it out of him. 18:33 2 Corinthians Chapter 11. 18:41 2 Corinthians Chapter 11. 18:43 You read this, no doubt, 18:44 but let's read it again, verse 24. 18:56 1 Corinthians won't exactly say the same thing. 19:00 2 Corinthians 11:24, 19:06 "From the Jews," this is his testimony, 19:10 "five times I received forty stripes minus one. 19:13 Three times I was beaten with rods, 19:14 once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, 19:17 a night and a day I have been in the deep, 19:19 in journeys often, in perils of waters, 19:22 in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, 19:24 in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, 19:26 in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, 19:28 in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, 19:31 in sleeplessness often, 19:32 in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, 19:34 in cold and nakedness." 19:40 That was Paul's experience. 19:42 They couldn't beat it out of him. 19:45 Exhibit A, 19:47 he travelled the world with his message. 19:49 Exhibit B, you couldn't beat... 19:52 There were enough hardships for Paul to give up on this. 19:58 He might have lost his job 19:59 for Sabbath observance, 20:02 lost his friends for his radical devotion 20:04 to his Christ. 20:07 He was beaten physically. He lost his financial packages, 20:13 but he would not give up. 20:17 Paul knew that he knew that he knew 20:22 the gospel was so important. 20:28 Exhibit C, 20:32 back in Acts, now 25:11. 20:42 He's now an arrested man. 20:47 He says to those committed 20:54 to his keeping, 20:56 for if I'm an offender 20:57 or if I've committed anything deserving of death, 20:59 I do not object to dying. 21:03 I appeal to Caesar. 21:09 You only take it that far. 21:12 You only take it to that high 21:15 when you know that you know that you know. 21:21 You take your case to the Supreme Court 21:26 when you believe with all of your heart 21:29 that you know that you know that you know 21:31 that you have a right. 21:34 You take it all the way up. 21:38 Paul, as a Roman citizen knew, 21:42 you don't show up before Caesar with a little bit of a game. 21:48 You don't show up without your stuff together. 21:52 You don't show up without knowing 21:54 that you know that you know. 21:55 You don't show up without confidence, 21:58 Caesar wouldn't have time for it. 22:01 But Paul says, 22:02 "I know that I know, take me to Caesar." 22:07 Exhibit C, 22:09 it's going to go all the way up. 22:13 Exhibit D, worth and final. 22:19 Paul as he stated in Acts 25:11, 22:23 I'm willing to die for this. 22:25 You can't beat it out of me, you can't starve it out of me, 22:28 you cannot even kill it out of me. 22:32 Acts of the Apostles now, 22:35 let me just reflect with you 22:37 on what she, Ellen White says about his death. 22:43 Paul was taken in a private manner 22:45 to the place of execution. 22:47 Few spectators were allowed to be present, 22:50 for his persecutors, 22:51 alarmed at the extent of his influence, 22:53 feared that converts might be won to Christianity 22:56 by the scenes of his death. 23:00 But even the hardened soldiers who attended him 23:03 listened to his words with amazement 23:05 saw him cheerful and even joyous 23:09 in the prospect of death. 23:11 The apostles were looking into the great beyond, 23:15 not with uncertainty or dread, 23:18 but with joyous hope and longing expectation. 23:23 As he, Paul, stands at the place of martyrdom, 23:25 he sees not the sword of the executioner 23:28 or the earth so soon to receive his blood. 23:31 He looks up through the calm blue heaven 23:33 of that summer day to the throne of the eternal. 23:38 Paul, 23:41 as the sword draws near, 23:46 is almost indifferent 23:49 because of the ace up his sleeve as it were, 23:52 because of the hope, because of the know, 23:54 that he knows, that he knows. 23:56 Jesus is resurrected 23:58 and that means there is eternity just beyond. 24:09 That's the narrative of Acts. 24:14 Mosaic of men and women came together 24:20 and then operated by the Holy Spirit 24:24 became bold and confident 24:28 that what they had was life saving, 24:34 and they had to share it. 24:37 There is no question. 24:40 There is no question in their minds. 24:48 But beloved, 24:51 where do you find yourself this morning? 24:54 In the darkness of the night, 24:57 as you kneel beside your bed, 25:01 do you wonder? 25:05 Could it be, 25:07 could it be that we're just not sure? 25:14 The world isn't sure, that's for sure. 25:16 The world doesn't know what to do. 25:23 Grab my Time Magazine. 25:25 Yes, I still get magazines 25:29 and a newspaper through the mail in driveway. 25:35 Lets you know what the world is doing, 25:38 all your local events and news 25:41 is a web Time Magazine. 25:45 I want you to listen to this, GYC. 25:50 The date on the magazine, 25:56 October 22. 26:00 What date was that? 26:03 I'm sorry, what date was that? 26:06 October 22. 26:10 Of course, 2018 was the date of the magazine, 26:12 it just came this last fall. 26:15 It's an editorial 26:17 about the catastrophe of the climate. 26:21 We're all concerned about where is our planet going? 26:25 Is it gonna just self-destruct. 26:30 The subtitle on the editorial was climate catastrophe, 26:35 climate catastrophe seen just 12 years away. 26:42 These thinking minds have come together and said, 26:46 "There is a catastrophe coming to this planet 26:50 and we believe it's in the next 12 years." 26:53 What day was it published? 26:56 October 22. 27:02 Just not sure that everybody's got 27:03 the significance of that, Seventh-day Adventist. 27:10 In the editorial, Mary Robinson, 27:12 former UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, 27:14 also the previous President of the Country of Ireland, 27:18 states. 27:20 In an editorial, on October 22, 27:26 she states, 27:28 "We need a plan to save us. 27:33 We have a short window of time and a huge responsibility. 27:38 We need a plan." 27:41 She's, of course, talking about climate. 27:46 But on October 22, 27:50 I think it means a whole lot more. 27:56 2 Corinthians Chapter 4. 27:58 And we just read it for us minutes ago. 27:59 "We have this treasure in earthen vessels 28:02 that the excellence of the power of God, 28:06 may be of God and not of us." 28:09 We have this treasure, beloved. 28:15 On October 22, 28:18 Time Magazine says, "We need a plan, 28:20 we need somebody to stand up and tell us what we can do." 28:28 The world is asking. 28:31 What can we do? 28:32 We have a short time left. 28:37 And if there is anyone on this globe, 28:42 that has something to say on October 22, 28:46 it's the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 28:51 We can tell them. 28:53 We're not going to throw out 12 years. 28:57 We know our Bibles better now. 29:00 We're not going to tell them, it's 12 years. 29:02 They're telling us, it's 12 years. 29:08 But what we do know 29:09 that we know that we know is we have a plan 29:13 that will in fact save the world. 29:18 Climate change, we've got the ultimate answer. 29:22 I, John saw 29:26 a new heavens and a new earth. 29:30 We know that we know, that we know. 29:41 There's anyone that should respond, 29:45 it should be us. 29:48 Paul, the same one, 29:50 you couldn't travel it out of him, 29:51 you couldn't beat it out of him, 29:53 you couldn't starve it out of him. 29:54 He appealed to Caesar 29:55 and you couldn't kill it out of him. 29:57 Paul, that same Paul speaks up in Romans 1:16. 30:03 Just a page away from Acts 28, those final verses. 30:10 Romans 1:16, 30:13 we've memorized this verse, beloved. 30:15 "For I am not ashamed, 30:21 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, 30:25 for it is the power of God 30:27 to salvation for everyone who believes." 30:32 We have an answer Mrs. Robinson, 30:38 UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, 30:44 we've got an answer. 30:45 We've got an answer for your heart, 30:48 we've also got answer for our climate. 30:53 I'm not ashamed. 30:54 I know that I know, that I know. 30:59 And with confidence and boldness, 31:01 Peter, and John, and Paul, 31:03 and the rest of those early radicals. 31:09 The devil's hijacked this terminology, 31:11 extremist, radicals. 31:15 Whenever those are on the headlines of news, 31:17 you know something bad has happened. 31:19 Satan has hijacked the words, 31:24 to mean something negative, 31:27 to be the pejorative, but no, to be a radical, 31:30 to be an extremist is to be in lined with the Book of Acts. 31:39 We know that, we know, we've got something. 31:42 Acts Chapter 2. 31:43 Do you remember what happened in Acts Chapter 2? 31:45 When they began to preach this message, 31:47 when they began to preach about this resurrected Christ 31:52 that could change and save our heart. 31:57 You remember what happened? 31:58 "The people were amazed," the Bible says, 32:04 "The people were amazed." 32:09 It's very much part of the conversation 32:11 of the different languages, 32:13 but the word "amazed" it goes way beyond that, 32:16 that's existemi in the Greek. 32:20 It doesn't mean a curious amazed, like a... 32:24 Well, that's a trick. Do it again. 32:28 It's so much more. 32:29 It means they were ecstatic, 32:31 that they were actually out of their minds. 32:37 Where they had been? 32:39 Like amaze where you're lost. 32:43 They became amazed. 32:46 Where they had been, they were now changed. 32:49 The Gospel of Jesus amazed them. 32:53 It changed who they were. 33:02 You know, we often hold these treasures 33:09 as Corinthians refers it to us, this power of God, we have it. 33:15 And then we fail to realize the value of what we have, 33:21 or like the farmer. 33:24 Edmore, Michigan. 33:25 Some of you know exactly where that's at. 33:29 It's right next to our academy, Great Lakes Adventist Academy. 33:34 News broke this, 33:35 may be you saw it pop on the news. 33:38 News broke. 33:40 Mount Pleasant, Michigan there in Ed, 33:42 right next to Edmore. 33:43 The 1930s, a farmer found 33:46 a strangely heavy metallic rock on his property. 33:49 He decided the object would be useful as a doorstop. 33:52 So then in 1988, now this is 50s, 8 years later, 33:55 he sells his farm, and says, 33:57 "Hey, just take everything including the doorstop rock." 34:01 Leaves everything there. 34:03 The new owner now, years, decades, 34:07 he bought the farm in 1988, 34:08 but now decades later, 34:10 he's had this doorstop sitting there 34:12 and he's watching this little feature 34:14 on television about meteoroids. 34:18 And he sees the picture and he says, 34:19 "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, 34:21 that look a lot like what's on my... 34:23 I've been using to keep my door of my barn open." 34:28 So he picks up scoops of that 23 pound rock, 34:31 takes it in, takes it into Central Michigan University. 34:36 He was informed that the object was in fact a meteoroid, 34:39 and could be worth a lot. 34:43 Chunk of iron and nickel was later valued 34:45 at over $100,000 34:49 after Smithsonian Institute verified what it was. 34:55 For decades, 34:59 this rock had been a doorstop at in a barn. 35:05 And it valued at 100,000. 35:08 Now just a mere fact 35:09 that most of your faces were unexpressive, 35:11 just totally flat line on that. 35:13 It means, you are in totally different class 35:15 economically than I am. 35:17 But 100,000 doorstop, beloved. 35:22 Wherever you come from is not where I come from. 35:24 We don't roar like that. 35:29 A $100,000 doorstop. 35:35 Could it be that we hold something 35:38 that we don't realize its value? 35:45 Could it be 35:48 that while we know it's the power of God? 35:52 We don't know that we know, that we know 35:55 because you can't really know it and not share, 36:00 pen to let them, the magician and atheist. 36:03 He says, he's an atheist, all right? 36:05 But he says, listen, let me just be honest with you. 36:07 How much do you have to hate somebody 36:09 to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them? 36:14 It doesn't make sense. 36:16 If we know that we know. 36:22 A story that has forever lodged itself in my mind. 36:26 I read it out of Reader's Digest. 36:27 I think, I was sitting and laundering out one day 36:29 my clothes. 36:31 Pick up a Reader's Digest, reading a story. 36:37 I've never been to Michigan, 36:38 but the story happened in Michigan 36:40 at the time I read this. 36:42 Later, I moved to Berrien Springs 36:43 and had the privilege of passing the exact spot 36:48 hundreds of times probably 36:51 where the story happened. 36:54 Story of Bill, he's a part-time paramedic. 36:57 But he drives the tour buses from Detroit to Chicago, 37:01 down around the bottom Lake Michigan back. 37:05 He's headed from Detroit down on Interstate 94 headed down, 37:10 passed Berrien Springs, 37:12 but just a little north now he's still, 37:14 and come across the CB, the radio comes a cry for help. 37:19 We need somebody, somebody that knows first-aid or CPR. 37:22 We need anybody, a doctor, a nurse, paramedic somebody. 37:24 Is somebody out there? 37:26 We've got a car accident. 37:29 Bill checks his watch and realizes 37:31 he's already a couple of minutes behind schedule. 37:33 So he doesn't want to pull the bus over 37:35 with his load of passengers expecting 37:37 to get to Chicago on time. 37:39 Said can't do it, can't do it. 37:41 I'm just going to go by. 37:42 But then he gets within about a mile 37:44 of the accident, the call comes out again. 37:47 Is there anybody out there? 37:50 Bill's just at the last minute, 37:52 says, I can't let this go. 37:55 And so as he sees the stop cars in the highway ahead of him, 37:59 he pulls the bus over to the shoulder and stops 38:01 and let the passengers know that he'll be right back 38:04 that there's just an emergency here, 38:05 and he jumps off the bus, runs up to the scene. 38:10 Standing on the shoulder now, 38:12 he's looking down on the embankment 38:13 where the car had rolled. 38:15 A man coming up the embankment. 38:17 As Bill identifies himself, "I'm a paramedic." 38:21 The man said, "Thanks for stopping. 38:23 I don't think we need you. 38:25 I can't find any pulse." 38:27 Bill looks down, 38:28 the car is overturned in a muddy, dirty, ditch, 38:32 and he sees the arm of the victim 38:37 sticking out from underneath the car. 38:41 Bill says, "Fair enough. 38:43 I'll head back to the bus." 38:45 As he turns around though, another motorist 38:47 has now stopped and standing behind him. 38:51 She says, "I recognize the car, 38:56 I recognize the car." 39:01 That's Melissa in, she gave her last name. 39:07 Bill took a second to just absorb 39:12 what she just said. 39:15 And then almost involuntarily 39:16 he shouted, 39:18 I need help, that's my sister. 39:23 Now he's running down the bank, yelling at people, 39:26 get down here, get down here. 39:28 We can't just let. 39:30 That's my sister. 39:34 So with help, they rolled the car over. 39:38 Bill pulled his sister out the car 39:41 without a pulse. 39:44 She had been pressed down into that muddy ditch water. 39:51 Bill, with the help of few others 39:53 pulls her up to the shore of the road, 39:55 and begins his first-aid and CPR. 40:06 He saved her. 40:09 He saved her. 40:20 That's my sister. 40:25 And as I consider the quandary of where we find ourselves, 40:31 is it that we don't realize what we have? 40:35 Do we not realize that this gospel 40:38 is eternal life to the dying and hopeless. 40:45 Even the Mary Robinsons at the United Nations, 40:49 presidents of countries are saying, 40:52 "We have a short time left. We need help." 40:58 Do we not realize that we have the answer? 41:03 Or on the other hand, is it possible 41:05 that we don't realize who these people are? 41:10 Do we not realize our brothers and sisters? 41:17 I have two sisters, 41:19 who live in the State of Oregon. 41:23 They walked away from God. 41:31 I plead, God, would you send their neighbor? 41:37 Would you send one of their coworkers? 41:40 Would you send somebody into their life? 41:42 You know, how it is with family, 41:44 you can say a lot but they don't hear a lot. 41:49 God, would you send somebody to be in their lives, please? 41:53 Somebody they'll listen to, 41:55 somebody that can reach them, a friend. 42:00 Would you send somebody? 42:03 You know what God said to me, "I'll do it. 42:07 But just so you know, 42:09 somebody in Oregon is praying for their sister in Colorado 42:12 and she lives right next to you. 42:16 Now go be the answer to their prayer. 42:19 And I'll send somebody 42:21 to be the answer to your prayer." 42:26 God did it. Beloved, God did it. 42:28 He hasn't answered the prayer completely yet, 42:31 my sisters are paramedic coincidentally. 42:33 She's working on the ambulance. 42:37 The department shifts up partners. 42:41 They ride too in ambulance obviously, 42:43 shifts up partners, 42:44 brings in a new guy from California. 42:47 This new guy from California 42:49 now is assigned to be my sister's partner. 42:51 They have to spend an entire shift together 42:53 riding around there, 42:54 they're just talking about everything. 42:58 This new partner, 43:01 this guy from California 43:02 randomly moves up to Southern Oregon, 43:07 Seventh-day Adventist. 43:10 On their Sabbath shifts, 43:12 his choice, he chose work on Sabbath. 43:15 They pull the ambulance into the parking lot 43:17 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 43:18 and stand in the back. 43:20 Amen. 43:24 You know how it works, he doesn't flip the switch 43:26 and answer all the prayers. 43:31 But, I know God can do it. 43:34 But then God's looking at me saying, 43:36 'What about that clerk, 43:38 what about that neighbor of yours, 43:40 what about, there's somebody's sister, 43:44 there's somebody's brother, 43:46 and you have what even the United Nations 43:49 can't figure out, you have hope for this planet, 43:53 and hope for their hearts. 43:56 Let's do this. 44:01 God will not give up on them, He will go to the nth degree, 44:07 He will not give up on you, 44:09 He's not given up on anyone yet. 44:11 He's going to take this to seek and save the lost. 44:15 God knows that He knows, 44:17 that He knows He has something 44:21 will save for eternity forever. 44:31 Philippians 1:6, 44:33 "Being confident of this very thing, 44:36 that he who has begun a good work in you 44:41 will complete it." 44:50 He's going to finish it. 44:51 He's not giving up on you, 44:53 and He hasn't given up on your family, 44:54 He hasn't given up on your neighbors, 44:56 but He needs you. 44:58 He needs you. 45:01 My father, early on, in my childhood 45:07 got cancer behind his eye. 45:11 Became part of the study for the government, 45:13 saying, "Hey, we got to figure out 45:15 how to deal with this particular cancer." 45:18 So they assigned him to a group of... 45:21 He volunteered to be part of the program, 45:22 they assigned him to a group that would remove the cancer, 45:26 they take the tumor out. 45:29 They wouldn't try to treat it, 45:30 they would just remove it, surgery. 45:32 So they took it out, 45:34 but slowly the cancer had eaten away. 45:36 He didn't even realize, 45:38 he couldn't see out of his left eye. 45:41 It had been so slow and his body had adjusted. 45:45 He had no vision out of his left eye. 45:47 So they took the eye, gave him a glass eye. 45:51 That's a whole strange world there. 45:56 Pop the eye out, put in the glass, 46:00 but he does that every once in a while, 46:01 he washes it, puts it in a solution. 46:05 My parents live in Southern Oregon, 46:08 live in an old farmhouse. 46:10 It's a beautiful, beautiful acreage, 46:11 but it's an old farmhouse. 46:13 My father is in the bathroom, 46:17 rinsing off his eye in the water. 46:21 The sink, it's an old sink, doesn't have a stopper. 46:27 You're jumping ahead, you're jumping ahead. 46:32 He drops the eye, 46:33 makes one circle around the bottom of the sink, 46:36 and it's gone. 46:38 Well, you can't go in public without that eye, 46:42 it's just empty socket. 46:44 So he said, 46:45 "All right. We're going to find the eye." 46:47 Did it get caught in the trap? 46:48 No, there is no trap, could you believe. 46:50 They weren't thinking of that back then. 46:52 So he then goes on to the house 46:54 and cuts apart the piping all the way into the house. 46:57 Where is the eye? Where is the eye? 46:59 And then the pipe goes under the ground, 47:00 out into the yard, but as we see, 47:02 there was no eye under the house. 47:04 He begins to dig up the piping 47:06 from the house all the way across the yard in sections 47:10 and sections until he gets to the sewer tank. 47:14 No eye. 47:15 He whispers a prayer, 47:17 please help it to be floating on the top, 47:18 opens the lid and it's not there. 47:22 He's got to have the eye. 47:24 Calls that company out with the truck, 47:27 they begin to siphon and suck that entire content 47:31 so that tank out. 47:35 And at the very bottom, there was his eye. 47:41 Now he really had something to wash, didn't he? 47:51 God's not given up on us. 47:54 He will chase that price possession. 47:57 He will go as far and as long 47:59 to the very bottom of the tank if He needs to 48:03 because He knows He has the answer. 48:06 And all He needs, beloved, 48:10 is men and women on this planet 48:15 will take Him at His word 48:17 and know that they know that they know. 48:20 And with boldness, and with confidence, 48:21 no hindrance, no doubting, 48:24 move out into the world to share the gospel. 48:27 How does it happen? 48:28 How can I know that I know that I know 48:30 that He's got the answer? 48:31 How can I know? 48:34 Acts 4:13, 48:36 we'll finish reading the verse we started. 48:38 This is how it began, 48:39 "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, 48:41 they perceived that they were uneducated, 48:43 untrained men, they marveled..." 48:46 And then what? 48:47 "They realized 48:49 that they had been with Jesus." 48:55 How can it happen? 48:56 How can I know that I know, that I know? 48:59 How can I have the confidence of Peter? 49:00 How can I have the confidence of Paul? 49:02 How can I have the know that I know, that I know, 49:06 how can I have it? 49:08 Go, go be with Jesus. 49:11 In the morning when you rise, 49:14 when you take your lunch break 49:17 and before you go to bed at night. 49:19 What if you call off work? 49:22 Not because you're sick, but because you want 49:25 to take a 24-hour retreat with Jesus. 49:31 You say, can it happen any other way, 49:34 can it just be kind of download? 49:36 I read one of those devotional scriptures 49:37 at the top two paragraphs, 49:39 little illustration, and I'm good... 49:40 No, no, no, no, no, no, no... 49:42 They had been with Jesus. 49:46 They had not referred to Jesus, they had not glanced to Jesus, 49:49 they had saturated their lives with Jesus. 49:52 And that's how birthed within them 49:55 was this confidence, 49:57 this know that they know that they knew, 50:00 that they had the answer 50:02 to their own hearts and to the world. 50:06 Acts is not only a history of past events, beloved, 50:10 but it is a prophecy of future. 50:14 Those looking forward to the second coming will note 50:18 with care that the characteristics 50:19 of the early Christian movement 50:22 are to mark the work of God at the end as well. 50:28 The Book of Acts is a narrative prophecy, 50:31 not just a record of the past, 50:33 but it is a prediction of the future. 50:36 There will be people like Peter, and John, and Paul 50:41 who know that they know that they know. 50:47 John start, let me just give you his words. 50:49 Paul's preaching with boldness and without hindrance, 50:52 symbolized a wide open door 50:54 through which we in our day are to pass. 50:57 The acts of the apostles have long ago finished, 51:01 but the acts of the followers of Jesus 51:04 will continue until the very end. 51:09 Come on, GYC. 51:10 Let's do it again. 51:15 Let's take up the invitation from Acts, 51:21 not as just a narrative of the past, 51:23 but a prediction of the future of a story of our lives. 51:27 God is still writing His story with men and women 51:34 that will move with confidence and with boldness. 51:37 The Book of Acts ends with the appeal, 51:40 "Will you join us with all boldness?" 51:45 The final verses of this book 51:51 on invitation, beloved. 51:55 So how can we not answer? 51:58 And say to the end, 52:00 we will be the final part of the story. 52:06 Is there one of you, 52:08 is there one of you this morning that'd say, 52:10 "That's me. 52:11 I'll stand, I'll stand, I'll stand." 52:22 Hallelujah. 52:24 Let's sing together. 52:26 This commitment to Him, 52:27 "Faith of our Fathers is still alive." 52:41 Faith of our fathers! living still 52:48 In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword 52:55 O how our hearts beat high with joy 53:03 Whene'er we hear that glorious word 53:10 Faith of our fathers holy faith! 53:17 We will be true to thee till death 53:25 Our fathers, chained in prisons dark 53:32 Were still in heart and conscience free 53:40 How sweet would be their children's fate 53:47 If they, like them, could die for thee! 54:40 Faith of our fathers! holy faith! 54:47 We will be true to thee till death 55:00 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, 55:04 I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, 55:06 your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 55:08 your young men shall see visions, 55:10 your old men shall dream dreams. 55:12 And on my menservants, and on my maidservants, 55:15 I will pour out My Spirit in those days." 55:20 So let it be, oh, God, in our generation. 55:24 Amen. |
Revised 2019-05-30