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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP190119A
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00:10 >> Will you stand with me and sing "Moving Forward"? 00:14 [ "Moving Forward" begins ] 03:46 Now, I want to challenge you all this morning as we sing "Lord Most High." 03:50 Ladies, we want you to sing first with us, and then gentlemen, you echo, and I want 03:55 to hear the gentlemen strong, okay? So, I know you know this song. 03:58 Sing it out because our God is most high, is he not? Okay, ladies, let me hear you 04:04 when we sing it, okay? Join us. 04:09 Here we go. 04:23 Together. 05:11 Let's try it one more time. 05:33 Yes! 06:13 Here we go -- throughout. 06:27 Throughout. 06:40 Exalted. 06:53 Magnify him. Sing, "Be magnified." 06:58 Be magnified. 07:02 Oh, Lord, we magnify. 07:10 [ "Your Grace is Enough" begins ] 08:44 So remember. 09:30 So remember. 09:44 Why? Because, sing! 10:33 You know, every year that I get older, I recognize how wonderful God is even more so, and even in 10:41 the little things. And I recognize that while I'm busy trying to figure out 10:47 everything on my own, He's already made a plan. He already has a way. 10:52 And it's such a simple thing, and I think that's the hard part for us. 10:55 It's too simple that we want to figure out the more complex aspects of it. 11:01 But all you really have to do is come to the altar. If you go to the altar and you 11:06 ask God to "give me the path, give me the way, show me what it is that I need to do," He'll 11:11 show you. And so this morning, with you, I want to sing 11:15 "Come to the Altar," because that's where the arms of the Father are waiting for you. 11:20 He wants to enfold you and He wants you to hear the whispers of His love. 11:27 [ "Come to the Altar" begins ] 12:27 Leave behind. 13:41 And I love that you're all already here, down here where 13:44 the altar is, so I just want to encourage you to take a friend 13:49 and pray with them. Turn to your neighbor as we sing 13:53 this next part. Oh, what a savior. 14:40 He's our savior. 14:45 He is! 14:49 So let's sing! 14:58 Bow down. 17:00 [ Organ plays ] 17:03 ♪♪ 17:11 >> Together: ♪ O Love, that wilt not let me go ♪ ♪ I rest my weary soul in Thee ♪ 17:28 ♪ I give Thee back the life I owe ♪ ♪ That in Thine ocean depths its 17:42 flow ♪ ♪ May richer, fuller be ♪ ♪ O Love, that wilt not let me 17:58 go ♪ ♪ O Joy, that seekest me through pain ♪ 18:08 ♪ I will not close my heart to Thee ♪ ♪ I trace the rainbow through 18:21 the rain ♪ ♪ And feel the promise is not vain ♪ 18:32 ♪ That morn shall tearless be ♪ ♪ Morn shall tearless be ♪ ♪ O Love, that wilt not let me 18:46 go ♪ ♪ O Cross, that liftest up my head ♪ 18:57 ♪ I dare not ask to fly from Thee ♪ ♪ I lay in dust life's glory 19:11 dead ♪ ♪ And from the ground there blossoms red ♪ 19:24 ♪ Life that shall endless ♪ 19:34 ♪ Be ♪ ♪ O Love, that wilt not let me go ♪ 19:44 ♪ O Love, that wilt not let me ♪ 20:00 ♪ Go ♪ 20:09 >> Amen. 20:18 >> I don't know about you, but this may fit into the TMI category -- too much 20:25 information. 'Cause I get home and Karen will let me know if it was TMI or 20:30 not. 20:32 But for me, I must tell you, so I can only speak for me that of 20:36 all the human biological functions -- diarrhea, fever, 20:44 shivers -- hands down, the worst of all is vomiting. 20:51 Puking. Barfing. 20:55 Or as the people in the medical community call it, emesis. 21:02 Do you remember when you had a tummy ache and you called out 21:06 for your mother to help? 21:08 Sure, you do. I remember. "Mommy, my tummy is hurting." 21:16 Footsteps down the hallway to the kitchen here, cupboard door open, slammed shut, she's 21:20 running back, and she places right beside your head a Tupperware bowl. 21:26 [ Laughter ] When mother puts the Tupperware bowl there, you know the awful 21:30 drill. There's no getting out now. I don't know what there is about 21:36 vomiting. When every single muscle in your upper torso synchronizes 21:44 together autonomically in a desperate, simultaneous, subterranean choke hold. 21:52 And I'm telling you, when I'm vomiting, I think I'm dying. "I am dying, I am dying. 21:56 This is it." Don't you -- Do you feel that way, too? 22:01 Oh, and whatever it is that is down there begins that hurried journey to the only exit it has. 22:09 And those projectiles go everywhere over that bowl. Tupperware bowl, toilet bowl, it 22:18 doesn't matter. It's bad. Can you believe it? 22:23 This is really one of those believe it or not realities. In the last letter written by 22:29 the last disciple for the last church on Earth in the last book of the Bible, the Apocalypse, 22:35 the last of seven letters. John boy, turned old man John, dictates. 22:42 He sees, from Jesus, a dictated letter to the last church on Earth, and it has vomit embedded 22:49 in it. Open your Bible with me, please, to that letter once again. 22:53 Turn to Revelations 3:14. If you weren't here last week, that's a critical piece. 22:57 We can't make up for last week. It's just there online. But today, Vomit -- Last Letter 23:04 for Adventists. Revelation 3:14. I'm in the New King James 23:11 version. Whatever you have on this snowy, snowy day. 23:15 By the way, a bunch of you at home right now, pull out your Bible, as well. 23:19 Don't skip that part. Pull your Bible out. Revelation 3:14. 23:23 Red letters in my Bible, "And to the angel of the church of 23:26 the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the 23:29 Faithful and True Witness, the beginning'" -- or the origin or 23:33 the source -- "'of the creation of God.'" 23:36 Verse 15 -- "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor 23:40 hot. I could wish you were cold or 23:42 hot. So then, because you are 23:45 lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My 23:50 mouth." 23:51 There it is -- vomit. Greek word is "emesi," from whence comes that medical term 23:57 "emesis." By the way, when he speaks that word into this dictated letter 24:04 and the Laodiceans read it, there's not a ripple in the congregation. 24:08 Everybody gets it -- immediately gets it. You know why? 24:11 Because they're living in a city whose natural wonder is this waterfall over which the stream 24:18 from Hierapolis, about six miles away -- the hot springs of Hierapolis. 24:24 The waters from those hot springs flow over that stream and plunge into Laodicea. 24:31 Ever gone to Yellowstone? Me, too. You know one thing about hot 24:37 springs -- bubbling, bubbling, bubbling to the surface. Two realities. 24:41 Number one -- the water's very hot. And number two -- the smell of 24:45 sulfur is very bad. [ Scoffs ] Smells like rotten eggs. 24:51 Guess what -- Laodicea has no natural water supply. That is their drinking water. 24:58 Ah! Once very hot, but now tepid, now sulfurous, and nauseatingly 25:04 lukewarm. Lukewarm -- so when the risen and ascended, and for us, 25:08 soon-coming Christ speaks the words "You're lukewarm," [snaps fingers] they get it 25:14 immediately. 25:15 Read them again. Verse 15. 25:27 They got it loud and clear, because you can't be red hot and ice cold at the same time. 25:33 Not physically, not morally, not spiritually. You can't serve, as Jesus -- the 25:39 same Jesus, also in red letters in the Sermon on the Mount, but no one, no man can serve two 25:45 masters, and neither can a woman. You either love the one and hate 25:47 the other or hate the one and love the other. No man can serve god and mammon. 25:50 You cannot do it, because everybody is a slave to somebody. 25:56 Every one of us is a slave. It's just that you can't be a slave to both. 26:01 You can't be a slave to purity and impurity. You can't be a slave to honesty 26:05 and dishonesty. You can't be a slave to Jesus and say -- It's impossible. 26:09 You cannot do it. The glaring problem with Laodicea, however, is that they 26:14 are attempting to be a slave to both. Red hot with Jesus, ice cold 26:18 with Satan, and their half and half attempt is nauseating to the savior of the world. 26:23 Vomit! When you remember that there's not only Jesus in these seven 26:32 letters, there's his nemesis, the enemy, and not surprisingly, if you take a look at the seven 26:42 letters -- and by the way, Ranko Stefanovic, I hope you read this week's lesson on the 26:48 seven churches. Anyway, here's a church in Smyrna -- second letter. 26:54 He cries out to there, "Hey, look out, guys. You must contend with," as he 26:58 puts it, "the Synagogue of Satan." And to the church in Pergamon, 27:02 he warns, "You are facing the throne of Satan." And to Thyatira, "Be careful, 27:07 church. You are battling the deep things of Satan." 27:10 Even to the good church in Philadelphia, Brotherly Love, Christ warns of attacks by the 27:15 Synagogue of Satan. And yet not a word, not a hint about Satan in the last letter 27:23 at all. 27:25 Sigve Tonstad, the New Testament scholar from 27:28 Loma Linda University wrote a blog very recently, and thanks 27:31 to my friend Melchi Ponniah, I've read that blog. 27:34 I want to put the words on the screen for you. 27:36 Sigve Tonstad. "Just as the believing 27:38 communities" -- the seven churches -- "are commissioned to 27:41 carry out heaven's business on earth" -- he calls them seven 27:44 points of light in a dark world. I love that. 27:47 Seven churches, seven points of light in a dark world. 27:49 Just as they are called to carry out heaven's business on earth, 27:52 "'the Synagogue of Satan' represents the opposing side in 27:56 the cosmic conflict. Fiercely competing interests are 27:59 in view. This cosmic and theological 28:01 element has not received the attention it deserves in the 28:04 messages to the seven communities. 28:07 Awareness of conflict changes the way we construe victory and 28:11 defeat. While Jesus makes promises" -- 28:13 and every letter ends with this little formula -- "to everyone 28:16 who conquers'" -- Tonstad goes on -- "...the tenor of conflict 28:20 is better preserved if we translate it 'to everyone who 28:24 overcomes in the war.'" End quote. 28:26 What war are you talking about? I'm talking about the great war 28:29 in Revelations 12:7 on the screen. 28:32 What's Revelation talking about? "And war broke out in heaven. 28:35 Michael and His angels fought against the dragon and his 28:38 angels, and the dragon and his angels fought back." 28:40 And that great war in heaven spilled out to become the great 28:43 war on Earth. What's that all about? 28:44 Look at the last verse of that same chapter. 28:46 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman..." 28:49 By the way, the woman is all seven churches, including 28:52 Laodicea. "The dragon was enraged with the 28:55 woman [the seven churches], and he went to make war with the 28:58 rest of her offspring..." That would have to be the last 29:00 church. And what is this last church 29:02 like? These are they "who keep the 29:04 commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." 29:06 The last war. 29:09 The great war. Or in nomenclature you may be familiar with, the great 29:14 controversy between Christ and Satan. That's the war, and every one of 29:19 these seven letters, including the letter to Laodicea, assumes you know the great war is in 29:25 progress. Laodicea's desperate downfall -- get this -- is that she's trying 29:35 to fight on both sides. Go figure. It is more than clear from the 29:42 last letter that one of the enemy's most insidious and destructive tactics for the last 29:47 generation on Earth is the deadly temptation to compromise, to blend, to go half and half -- 29:56 half in, half out, half up, half down, half yes, half no, half for, half against, half hot, 30:06 half cold, half heaven, half hell. Half and half. 30:13 The generation of half and half, lukewarm, hot and cold, vomit, war. 30:22 But whose side are we on? Good question. Apparently, Laodicea doesn't 30:29 have a clue, and it makes you wonder, doesn't it? Do we? 30:34 Come on, do we? One of the challenges of stepping out of the confines of 30:41 generalities when it comes to lifestyle and morality and spirituality is risking coming 30:47 across as condemning when you want to challenge the status quo. 30:54 And by the way, a highly convictional faith community like this one, most behavioral 31:01 challenges are immediately dismissed as, "Ah, judgmental. Holy moly. 31:06 Trying to be my conscience for me. Don't need you. 31:10 Bye-bye." But it all depends, doesn't it, on the heart of the one who asks 31:19 the questions. A few days ago, I received a letter from a young coed who's 31:25 begging me in e-mail to do something about what she perceives, along with her 31:31 friends, she says, as an epidemic of pornography in this generation. 31:40 I could feel her tears. In fact, she said -- she described them, and I got it. 31:46 And through those tears, I read her heart of deep concern for her peers. 31:51 There was -- I didn't sense any judgmentalness. I didn't sense harsh or critical 31:56 spirit in her because it all depends on the heart of the one who asks the questions and 32:04 raises the concerns. And if I might share with you my own for the next few moments. 32:13 I must be honest. As your pastor, and as one who has served the people of God all 32:24 his life, deeply loves them, I fear that Laodicea, the last church, the last generation, is 32:40 being seduced by the enemy's neutralizing temptation to live a compromised life -- half in, 32:49 half out, half hot, half cold, half heaven, half hell. Because it's the pathology of 33:01 compromise to lull us into a deadly lethargy that masquerades as neutrality but manifests 33:10 itself in the ensuing death of the heart and the soul. Let me explain. 33:19 Let me explain by asking a series of lifestyle questions that begin with the words 33:23 "what's so wrong with," all right? What's so wrong with -- I mean, 33:28 after all, everybody's doing it, right? What was once taught to us by 33:33 this person whose spiritual gifts clearly evidenced her divine calling to bring the 33:38 light of heaven into our lives and faith community. Look, we don't feel that way 33:42 anymore. That was our great-grandparents' standard. 33:46 It's not ours. So, what's so wrong? Everybody's doing it. 33:54 So why can't we? Well, first of all, let me disabuse you of the notion that 34:00 everybody's doing it. They are not. They are not. 34:06 That's a flimsy piece of logic that won't hold up trying to slip out of this. 34:15 Now, let me go on. Go ahead and ask a few "what's so wrong with it" questions, if 34:22 it's okay with you. What's so wrong with drinking coffee? 34:30 I mean, it's kind of cool to have a Starbucks in your hand. It's kind of like the culture's 34:35 supreme I.D. And this [scoffs] -- this fussiness about caffeine and 34:44 caffeine addiction. Nobody cares. So, what's so wrong with it? 34:52 Oh, I know my grandma and grandpa. I know the stand they took, and 34:55 I know my parents and the stand they took. But I'm me. 35:01 What's so wrong with it? What's so wrong with sipping a little wine now and then? 35:06 I know it has alcohol in it. You got a problem with alcohol or something? 35:10 A little alcohol is good for the soul. What's so wrong for drinking 35:16 that, whatever the "that" is? Yo, and Dwight, what's so wrong about over-indulging appetite? 35:23 I mean, come on, give me a break. A woman has to have some sort of 35:27 comfort. Eating when I don't need to be eating, eating what I don't need 35:32 to be eating. What's so wrong with that? And oh, by the way, what's so 35:38 wrong with watching soft porn? So it's rated R. So there's nudity in it. 35:42 This is entertainment, buddy. What are you thinking of? You got a problem with that? 35:48 No, are you serious? What's so wrong with hard porn? I only do it by myself. 35:57 I'm not bugging anybody else. 36:01 And by the way, if you're struggling with hard porn or 36:03 you'd like to help somebody who is struggling with hard porn, 36:06 4:00 this afternoon in Buller Hall -- Conquer Series. 36:11 Listen up. Yo, Dwight, what's so wrong with 36:16 gambling? I mean, I'm not spending my 36:18 life's savings. Just a little bit here and a 36:20 little bit there, but it's just a release. 36:23 And while we're at it, talking about finances, what's so wrong 36:27 with not tithing? Is that a big deal or something? 36:30 I worked hard for this money. This is my money. 36:34 I'm good to God. He's good to go. Got a problem with that? 36:41 And by the way, what's so wrong with becoming a fashionista and looking like Lady Gaga every 36:48 time you step out of your room? What's so wrong with that, huh? You got a problem with that? 36:55 [ Scoffs ] And what's so wrong with "Dancing with the Stars"? 36:59 I mean, they're stars. And they're all dancing. [ Snaps fingers ] 37:04 Yo! So, what's so wrong? You got a problem with that? 37:10 And what's so wrong with copulating with your friends? That means having sex with your 37:18 friends. She's okay, I'm okay. Aren't you okay? 37:25 And what's so wrong with amusing ourselves to death, being Netflix junkies? 37:33 Please. You got a problem with that, boy? 37:36 And what's so wrong, by the way, with my Sabbath days that are two hours long at the most? 37:46 That's how long my Sabbath is. But he got it. You ought to be thankful. 37:51 You got two hours of my busy life. Yeah, what's so wrong? 37:56 I mean, can you believe that? Look what's happened to the Sabbath in the Laodicean 38:01 community today. Here we are, supposed to be telling the world about getting 38:06 to know the Lord of the Sabbath, but for us, it's just another one-in-seven 'cause we go out to 38:12 eat and we fill up with gas and we play and we work, and hey, I gave you two hours. 38:17 You want more than that? What's so wrong with video gaming through the long night? 38:23 I'm working with somebody on the other side of the world. But I got to have this caffeine 38:27 fix just to keep awake to do what I got to do. What's so wrong with that? 38:34 What's so wrong with a shop till you drop because I can't stop addiction and I keep just 38:39 ordering and ordering and ordering? Please, you got a problem? 38:43 Got to have a release. And what's so wrong with the Super Bowl coming up? 38:49 Being a sports fan 24/7 for my hero, for my team. Go, team! 38:56 Yeah! What's so wrong with that? Well, you know what they do? 39:01 They call you a fan in the sports world when you go overboard. 39:06 But if you get excited about God and faith and eternity, the same world calls you a fanatic. 39:14 Go figure. Guys, forget the list. Here's the concern. 39:22 The pathology of compromise -- listen, please -- is such that there are -- that one violation 39:30 of the conscience, one seemingly insignificant disobedience to what I have known for a long 39:36 time might be God's will for me, just one precipitates an eventual cascade of small 39:42 disobedience until they end up in a total moral meltdown. That's what's wrong. 39:49 Just ask Eve. "Hey, Adam, stay right there. I'll be back. 39:52 Don't you worry about me. I know my way around this garden." 39:56 Just one. David. "Yo, David, how do you like 40:00 walking on the roof?" "I love walking on the roof." Ooh, wow. 40:04 Just one leads to another and another. By the way, you can flip this 40:11 coin over. You can be Daniel and his four buddies, who when the word comes 40:17 down "You will drink the king's wine and you will eat the king's rich fare," they say, "No, we 40:24 won't." If you pass a little test, you do a lot better when the tests 40:31 get big. Fail the little tests, when the big test comes, adios. 40:39 That's the deal. The point is not the specificity of the list. 40:45 This point is the compromise that we have enculturated into our very DNA as a generation in 40:53 the church. Ah. 40:56 Verse 14, Revelation 3. 41:17 Listen, when you're in a war, compromise with the enemy is absolutely fatal. 41:26 Do you ask that? "Yeah, but are you sure it's the enemy?" 41:31 [ Chuckles ] Did you ask that of yourself, or did someone else ask that for 41:35 you? 41:36 Are you sure it's the enemy? You already know. 41:41 1 John 2:15-17 on the screen. Let's read it. 41:45 "Do not love the world" -- this anti-kingdom force that is 41:51 exclusively designed to destroy the kingdom on Earth. 41:54 "Do not love the world or the things in the world. 41:56 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in 41:59 her." Keep reading. 42:00 "For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust 42:03 of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but 42:06 is of the world. And the world is passing away, 42:09 and the lust of it; but he/she who does the will of God abides 42:13 forever." 42:14 That's the deal. Jesus is coming soon. So, whose side am I on? 42:20 Yo, Dwight, whose side are you on? Half cold and half hot, hot that 42:26 you are. 42:30 Paul had a dear friend named Demas, who was one of his close 42:32 disciples. Put it on the screen, please. 42:34 2 Timothy 4:10. 42:41 Adios, Señor Paul. I'm out of here. Can you believe that? 42:48 Disciple of the greatest Christian after Christ. And the world took him. 42:57 [ Scoffs ] In 1903, that little American lady writer Ellen White penned 43:01 these words in a letter referring to Laodicea. 43:04 Put them on the screen, please. 43:30 What an honor. What a privilege. I'm talking to some of you who 43:36 are a little bit older here than a college-age student, because these college-aged eyes, trust 43:44 me, watch you like a hawk. They listen to everything you say in your classroom. 43:49 They listen to every experience you relate. They hear what you didn't think 43:55 they could hear. And they draw their cue from you. 44:05 "I'll do what he does. He's a hero of mine. I'll do what she does. 44:11 She's a hero of mine. What matters to her matters to me. 44:15 What doesn't matter to him doesn't matter to me." 44:21 Half-hearted. You're not red hot, you're not 44:25 ice cold. You're lukewarm. 44:28 Man, this is pretty depressing stuff, this Laodicean penchant 44:32 for lukewarm, half in and half out kind of living, isn't it? 44:35 And it would be if it were not for the stunning portrayal of 44:39 Jesus right here, and I hope you'll never forget the picture 44:43 I want to share with you in closing. 44:44 This is the picture of Jesus in the last letter. 44:48 Watch this. He is the Lord who vomits. 44:53 Now, he hasn't vomited yet. You notice that? 44:56 He hasn't -- He said, "I will." He is the Lord who vomits. 45:00 You think about it. Why does a person vomit? When you vomit, why are you 45:04 vomiting? Because you're sick, you're nauseated. 45:07 Something got into you that is churning you up inside. You feel so bad you can't keep 45:11 it down. The vomit comes up. So, what could be in the heart 45:15 of Jesus when he is dictating this letter? It can't be some food he ate in 45:18 heaven. So, this is not a biological response. 45:22 There is something deeply emotional that's happening, and guess what. 45:26 Scientists now say, "Yep, that's exactly what happens," because scientists now tell us we have 45:31 two brains. Yep. We have this brain, and we have this brain. 45:37 This is called -- The gut is called the second brain. The neurons -- A thin sheath of 45:44 neurons strapped across the stomach connected instantly with the cognitive thinking process. 45:53 I was over at Village Church for the 10 Days of Prayer, saw some of you there. 45:56 Bless you for coming out. Had a wonderful time. Anyway, Evelyn Kissinger, one of 46:00 our own -- they had a little health nugget every night, a 15-minute whatever. 46:04 I heard Evelyn Kissinger point out that this field of study called microbiome -- studying 46:12 the second brain, the microbiome, studying what's in the gut -- is a runaway new 46:18 science. 46:19 I went to the Harvard website, Harvard Health, and I put it on 46:22 the screen for you. Harvard University. 46:25 These words, you see it there. "Have you ever had a 46:28 'gut-wrenching' experience?" We talk about gut wrenching. 46:33 What is that? It's deeply emotional, is it not? 46:38 "Have you ever had a 'gut-wrenching' experience? Do certain situations" -- and 46:41 they use the illustration just before a public presentation -- "make you feel nauseous?" 46:45 How many of us have been down that road? "Oh, let me out of here." 46:49 Keep reading. "Have you ever felt 46:51 'butterflies' in your stomach?" We all have. 46:54 "We use these expressions for a reason. 46:56 The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. 46:59 Anger, anxiety, sadness, elation -- all of these feelings 47:03 (and others) can trigger symptoms in the gut." 47:07 Including vomiting. 47:10 The last letter in it, Jesus' heart is being torn up to the place he is about to vomit. 47:19 What's going on with him? Something intensely emotional. The only time I've seen Jesus 47:28 like this before, besides the cross, is that day six days before his crucifixion in his 47:34 triumphal entry into Jerusalem when he pauses on the brow and stares upon the holy city. 47:42 You remember that moment. 47:44 Desire of Ages, with the most pathos, captures it, and I'm 47:48 gonna put Desire of Ages on the screen. 47:51 "Jesus gazes upon the scene, and the vast multitude hush their 47:55 shouts, spellbound by the sudden vision of beauty," of the 48:00 temple. "All eyes turn upon the Saviour, 48:02 and they are surprised and disappointed to see His eyes 48:06 fill with tears, and His body rock to and fro like a tree 48:12 before the tempest, while a wail of anguish bursts from His 48:16 quivering lips, as if from the depths of a broken heart. 48:20 What a sight was this for angels to behold! their loved Commander 48:23 in an agony of tears...tears and groans of insuppressible agony." 48:29 What's going on? And here we thought that Jesus' crude expression of vomit was 48:39 simply his way of displaying his intense anger with Laodicea. Turns out it's not anger at all. 48:47 Insuppressible agony. "I feel like I might vomit." Have you ever known somebody 48:56 who's cried so hard, he vomited? She vomited? I have. 49:11 Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Oh, Laodicea, Laodicea. There's no anger. 49:24 This is a heart broken, because if you don't change, I've lost number seven. 49:38 "I die for you, but here you are, drifting from me." What's going on here? 49:47 Answer this question and you will immediately know it. Here's the question. 49:50 Why did the waters of Laodicea become lukewarm? You tell me. 49:55 Why did the waters of Laodicea become lukewarm? Answer -- they got too far from 50:03 the source. And that's the point. The cure for half in and half 50:10 out, half heaven and half hell. The cure is getting too far from the source. 50:20 It'll kill you. Too far from the source. Half yes, half no. 50:33 We just don't see it, do we? 50:37 And yet, every one of the seven letters ends, even as Laodicea 50:41 does, last line here, verse 22 of Revelation 3 on the screen. 50:54 What's the spirit saying to Laodicea right now? Here it is. 50:59 "Why don't you let it go?" I mean, come on. Why would you hang onto this? 51:04 It really is such a little thing. If you're too proud to let it 51:10 go, is it worth it cascading into eventual moral collapse? Give me the little thing. 51:21 Let me have it. I'm not taking this away from you because I'm a party pooper. 51:27 I'm asking you to be all me -- hot. I need you to be hot. 51:35 We're running out of time. I'm coming soon. Don't put off to tomorrow what 51:44 has to be done right now. Decide. You don't need the choir 51:51 singing. You don't need Dwight appealing to you. 51:55 You have all that you need already in your mind. Act on what I just told you. 52:04 Let it go. Let it go. I want to sing. 52:18 I want to sing what I want my response to be. And I want to sing what I pray 52:24 your response will be. And that is "All to Jesus." All to Jesus, I give it to Him. 52:35 [ "All to Jesus" begins ] 54:47 Now, let's sing that chorus again. 54:49 We're gonna sing it quieter now. This is our prayer. 54:51 We're praying this prayer together. 54:53 Sing that chorus again. "I surrender all." 55:29 Oh, Father, please know our hearts. We really mean that when we 55:33 sing. It's not just a closing hymn. It's an earnest prayer. 55:40 You may have all of me. That's what we're saying. Not half. 55:47 You may have all of me. All of us. All of this university. 55:57 All of this church. Oh, God, please. Let the spirit that speaks to 56:09 the churches give us the grace and the courage we need now to obey what he just told us a 56:19 moment ago. Through Christ, Jesus, whose grace is sufficient, to save us 56:26 all. And now, to Him who was able to keep you from stumbling, to 56:34 present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God, our 56:41 Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever. 56:50 Amen. >> All: Amen. [ Organ plays ] 57:08 >> Think of the last time someone said, "I'm praying for 57:11 you." Didn't it give you a sense of 57:13 peace and reassurance that somebody cares for me? 57:15 I know how I feel when I get an e-mail from one of our viewers 57:18 saying, "Yo, Dwight. I've been praying for you 57:20 lately." There's nothing like knowing 57:22 someone is praying for you. So I want to offer you an 57:24 opportunity to partner -- let me, let us partner with you in 57:27 prayer. If you have a special prayer 57:29 request or a praise of thanksgiving you'd like to share 57:32 with us, I'm inviting you to contact one of our friendly 57:34 chaplains. It's simple to do. 57:36 You can call our toll-free number -- 877 -- the two words, 57:39 HIS WILL. 877-HIS-WILL. 57:42 That friendly voice that answers, you tell him, you tell 57:45 her what your prayer need is, we'll join with you in that 57:48 petition. May the God who answers prayer 57:51 journey with you these next few days until we're right back here 57:54 together again next time. 58:00 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:19 ♪♪ |
Revised 2019-01-31