Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP190302A
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00:09 [ Organ begins "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" ] 03:08 >> Amen. You may be seated. 03:13 [ "Lord of All Creation" begins ] 06:18 [ "All Who Are Thirsty" begins ] 08:39 >> Amen. In a world that is constantly 08:43 changing from peaceful to turbulent, sometimes the same 08:47 thing is reflected in our lives, where we're going through many, many different changes. 08:52 And it's hard to grasp on to something that remains constant, but there is a God who is there, 08:58 who is always constant. From age to age, He has given us His promises, and He calls us to 09:04 come to Him, to rely on Him. So at this time, I just invite you to stand, and if you feel 09:11 like He is calling you, I just invite you to also come forward and give those burdens or those 09:17 praises to Him. So, join us as we sing "El Shaddai." 09:21 [ "El Shaddai" begins ] 12:51 >> Well, good morning, boys and girls. Nice to see you. 12:53 I can't believe this. What month is this already? 12:55 >> March. >> [ Laughs ] March. 12:57 Is this the first Sabbath of March already? 13:00 Oh, my. Where is this year going? And just a few more days, and 13:04 spring will be here. Yay! I got a story about winter, 13:08 though. And I don't remember which one of my story scouts sent it to 13:11 me. I just know it's the right story. 13:13 I've been saving it. Happened just five weeks ago. In North Carolina... 13:15 Anybody here from North Carolina? Happened in North Carolina. 13:19 Casey Hathaway, 3 years old. Look at -- who's 3 here? Anybody here 3? 13:24 >> Me! >> Okay, so he's just your height right there. 13:28 Casey -- you're 3. I got that. Casey Ha-- 13:31 Another 3-year-old. Hey, let's just put a picture of Casey Hathaway on the screen 13:35 just so that we can picture him. There. There he is. 13:38 That's Casey Hathaway. He's with a couple friends of his. 13:42 Ooh, it's cold in North Carolina. But he's over at his grandma's 13:46 place, and things are warmer at Grandma's place, but they're playing outside. 13:49 He's just playing in his shirt, you know, because he's going to go in the house. 13:52 But when their playing came to an end, guess what! The two friends of his went into 13:58 Grandma's house. But Casey didn't go in. The friends were in there for a 14:02 while, and Grandma says, "Yo, kids, where's Casey?" "Well, I thought he had already 14:06 come in." "No. Where... Did you leave... 14:09 Is Casey still outside?" "Well, I guess he must not have come in with us." 14:13 Grandma said, "What is that?" She's drying her hands off on her kitchen apron. 14:16 She sticks her head out the door. "Yo, Casey! 14:18 Ca-sey! Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo!" No answer. 14:23 Come on! Where would Casey go? There's just some woods in the back. 14:26 Ahh. "I hope he didn't go exploring again." 14:30 After an hour, Grandma's getting worried. After two hours, she's really 14:34 worried, and when it's two hours and somebody's missing, who do you call? 14:38 What three numbers do you dial? >> 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1. 14:41 You call the police. So that's what Grandma did. She says, "Listen. 14:44 I have a little 3-year-old boy. He's 2 feet 2 inches tall. His name is Casey. 14:48 And he hasn't come home. He was just playing in my backyard. 14:51 I feel terrible." Soon the police are joining in the search. 14:53 Grandma calls some friends. "Hey, listen. We can't find Casey. 14:56 Can you come over here?" So her friends come over, and soon the neighborhood is over. 14:59 They're going everywhere looking for Casey. Nobody can find him. 15:02 Then they get a helicopter... [ Imitates rotors ] ...shining a light down. 15:06 No Casey. Then they send up some drones. [ Imitates drones ] 15:08 No Casey. They have K-9... their K-9 unit. 15:12 Those are special German shepherds. [ Imitates dogs sniffing ] 15:16 And they can't find Casey. Wednesday morning, no Casey. Wednesday afternoon, no Casey. 15:20 Wednesday night, no Casey. He's gone! Thursday morning, oh, no! 15:24 Thursday morning, the temperature has dropped down to the low 20s, and in 15:29 North Carolina, that's a state of emergency. And so they call the rescue off. 15:33 They say, "We can't... It's too cold for you to be out, guys. 15:37 Go home." Everybody's given up. They even hired some divers to 15:41 go into the river. Can they find Casey there? And then it was late Thursday 15:45 night. The divers are in the river. They're up to their waist. 15:49 If Casey's in this river, he's over his head. They're up to their waist, and 15:52 they stop. Shh, shh. Shh, shh, shh. 15:55 They thought they heard the sound of a little baby crying. Baby crying out here? 16:00 They follow the sound. They get to a clump of thorn bushes, and inside the thorn 16:06 bushes, guess who was there. Casey! Oh, his face just broke into 16:11 this glorious smile! He said, "I want to see my mommy! 16:14 I want some water!" And they rushed him, and the whole neighborhood cheered! 16:18 And everybody's whistling! Exactly like that. Then Casey told a story. 16:25 He says, "Listen. While I was out there"... little 3-year-old... 16:28 "While I was out there, I had a friend the whole time." "What?! 16:33 You had a friend? But if you had a friend, that friend should have brought you 16:36 home!" "No, I had a friend the whole time. 16:38 He stayed with me night and day." "No, you didn't have a friend." 16:42 "I had a friend." And here's the friend that Casey was describing. 16:46 Put it on the screen, please. >> Oh! >> Yep. North Carolina. 16:53 Lot of black bears in North Carolina. Casey said, "That friend stayed 17:00 with me the whole time." Oh, my. Isn't there a verse in the Bible 17:05 that says, "And the bear of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him and deliver them"? 17:10 [ Laughter ] No, it says "angel," doesn't it? But could it be that an angel 17:14 showed up as a bear and the angel just said, "Yo, Casey. Stay with me. 17:19 Come on, boy. I'll keep you warm at night. Come on. 17:21 Cuddle up right here. I'll stay with you till they find you." 17:27 Oh, my. You know what that bear said to Casey? 17:29 That bear said to Casey, "Let's be friends. Let's be friends. 17:33 Let me be your friend." Why, that bear reminds me of Jesus. 17:37 Jesus looks at you and me, and He says, "Let me be your friend. Let me take care of you. 17:41 I'll keep you warm at night. I'll be the best friend you have ever had. 17:45 Let me be your friend." Oh, my. A bear or Jesus? 17:51 I'll take Jesus every time, although I thank Jesus for sending the bear to save Casey. 17:57 What do you say? Oh, my, Who wants to thank Jesus for 18:00 being that kind of a friend? Sister, come on down. I saw your hand. 18:03 Who wants to thank Jesus for being that kind of a friend? You go, girl. 18:07 Come on. Okay, ladies, if you can watch out -- somebody's coming right 18:10 behind you. There she comes. We'll get a microphone over 18:13 here. Let's thank Jesus. What's your name, honey? 18:15 >> Gaby. >> Gaby. Let's close our eyes and fold 18:19 our hands as Gaby thanks Jesus for being our saving friend. >> Thank You, Lord. 18:26 Thank You what you've given. Bless all of the people that come to praise Jesus. 18:34 Let the ones that doesn't know Jesus. In Jesus' name. Amen. 18:40 >> Amen. That was a beautiful prayer, Gaby. 18:42 You can say that in your heart as you go back to your seats. Thank you, Jesus. 18:46 Bless those who don't know You yet. Beautiful prayer, Gaby. 18:50 Happy Sabbath, everybody. 22:31 [ Applause ] >> Oh, that was beautiful. Thank you, Andrews University 22:39 Festival Band. Byron Graves. Beautiful, beautiful. 22:44 These are teenagers from all over the Great Lakes states and Canada. 22:49 We've got Kingsway and Crawford here. Nice to have all of you. 22:54 Thanks for coming. Come again when you can stay longer. 22:59 "Simple Gifts." That's what they played for us, and that's what we need. 23:05 Let's pray. O God, the simplest gift of all -- turns out, it's the 23:10 greatest gift of all. And for it we humbly pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. 23:19 So, is it okay with you if we kind of cut to the chase right 23:22 now? Come on. 23:23 Let's go. When you're talking about the 23:25 entity called the church, 23:26 there are three options. Option number one -- "I wouldn't take it." 23:29 Option number two -- "It's a mistake." 23:33 Option number three -- "I'm putting my money on that 23:35 one." Let me share what these three 23:37 options are. Option number one goes like 23:39 this. "You know what? 23:40 The church is in such a mess these days, I'm quitting. 23:43 I'm out of here Adiós. 23:44 Arrivederci. 23:46 Sayonara. Gone." That is an option. 23:51 But in my humble opinion, it is both illogical and misguided. Let me tell you why. 23:57 Because anybody going to church believes in this Book, and this Book says that God -- this is a 24:01 direct quote, Acts 20:28 -- that God purchased the church with His own blood. 24:05 Come on! He's huge on the church. You want to bail out on it? 24:11 You want to walk away? Of course, you may. That's your option. 24:15 One of the most touching moments, in my humble opinion, again, in the life of Jesus, bar 24:22 none, four Gospels, is that day -- maybe it was an afternoon -- when Jesus, who, 24:28 by the way, knows how to count, and He can tell that the crowd count is getting lower and lower 24:36 and lower as His teaching grows stronger and stronger and stronger. 24:43 He knows what's up. And in a poignant moment, He turns to His closest friends, 24:51 and He says, "Hey, guys. Are you wanting to leave, too?" Silence. 25:00 Nobody speaks. And then Peter -- God bless Peter -- Peter speaks up. 25:08 "Lord, to whom shall we go? Who has the words of eternal life? 25:15 We have nowhere else to go. Why would we leave You? You're our last great hope." 25:24 There are hearts today who say the same. "I know we're in a storm right 25:31 now, and I know that this is choppy weather, but I'm not jumping ship. 25:37 That's option number one, jump ship. Option number two goes like 25:42 this. "When it comes to the church, rather than leaving it, 25:45 we settle into it -- oh, but with a cultural tie, so to speak. 25:50 We stay in the church. I mean, this is the church our parents grew up in. 25:55 This is the church our grandparents grew up in. We grew up in it. 25:58 Why would I leave this church? I mean, please, what would people think if I left the 26:01 church? This is where all my friends are." 26:04 Do you know what? There are millions of Jews, Protestants, and Catholics who 26:09 have used that flimsy argument for remaining with their religion. 26:13 You can make that option. It's your choice. "No intellectual commitment, no 26:18 financial support, not even an existential bond with the church, some little mystical 26:23 tie that binds me to its tenets and its practices. No, we stay, but we stay 26:28 physically. We do not stay mentally. We do not stay spiritually." 26:33 But how honest is that sort of two-timing business? I mean, come on. 26:39 Why don't you just go for option number one and drop the charades? 26:42 Now, I'm not recommending option number one or option number two. I'd like to challenge you with 26:48 option number three. You say, "Come on, Dwight. What's option three?" 26:52 What if we opted to engage in brutally honest soul searching and submit ourselves to the 27:00 possibility that the problem isn't with the church -- the problem is with me and you? 27:09 What if we said, "All right, I'm going to be honest, playing no games with my mind. 27:16 Could it be that the church I belong to... Could it be it turns out I'm the 27:21 one needing spiritual reformation, spiritual transformation?" 27:26 Option number three. I'd like to challenge you to embrace it with me. 27:29 Right? What do you say we go for it? Let's just try it. 27:32 Let's see how it works. Here's how it works. The moment you say yes to option 27:36 number three, brutal soul searching, in that very instant, an ancient letter long, long ago 27:43 will suddenly be in our faces [ Chuckles ] because you can't duck this 27:49 letter. You can't get away from it. And besides, why would you even 27:53 try? It's the last letter. It's the last letter of the 27:56 Bible. It's the last letter of the Apocalypse. 27:58 It's the last word. As scholars say, seven generations of history, seven 28:04 epochs of history, seven chapters from the Cross of Christ to the coming of Christ. 28:09 The last letter is directed to those living just before the coming of Christ. 28:14 I want to go to that last letter with you today once again. Five times we've read that 28:20 letter. It's a short letter. I wish people who wrote their 28:23 e-mails would keep it this short. It's a short letter. Come on. 28:26 Take a look at it. Revelation chapter 3, the last letter, come on. 28:30 You got your Bible here? You got a phone here. It's in your phone. 28:33 Pull it out. Take a look at this with me. Revelation 3:14. 28:37 Red letters -- that means Jesus speaking. He dictated the letter. 28:41 Here it is. 28:51 "I was in the beginning, and I'm the Amen at the end, and I'm everything in between. 28:56 Listen up. I'm writing to you." 29:16 Thanks a lot! 29:37 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. 29:40 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in" 29:42 to her, I will come in to him, I will come in to them, "and I 29:45 will eat with them, and they with me." 29:59 The end. And by the way, did you catch verse 19? 30:01 Let me put verse 19 on the screen. Look at 19 again, please. 30:10 Does that feel like a little bit of cognitive dissonance going on? 30:13 I mean, you're talking about love and discipline at the same time. 30:16 Did you ever get spanked? You probably never got spanked in your life. 30:20 Come on. I'm looking at you, and I can tell you've never been spanked. 30:24 I got whupped all the time. You know, my folks would say before the whipping, 30:30 "Now, Dwight, we want you to know, boy, that we love you." 30:37 This doesn't feel like love at all. "And by the way," and did your 30:42 folks ever say this? Did your folks ever say, "And by the way, this is going to 30:46 hurt me more than it hurts you"? [ Laughter ] Did your folks say that? 30:52 Oh, you heard it from your folks, too, huh? Man, you can be young and hear 30:57 that stuff. Must be in some parenting book somewhere... 31:01 You..."This hurts you more than me? Ah. 31:05 Let's trade places, then, so you won't be hurt as much." [ Laughter ] 31:10 Verse 19 again, come on. Cognitive dissonance. "Those whom I love" -- Jesus 31:15 speaking -- "I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent." 31:18 Now, the problem is we're reading this in the English because if we could read it in 31:21 the Greek, it goes like this. "Those whom I feel an affection for, those whom I feel close to, 31:27 those whom I love," phileo, Philadelphia, city of brotherly love. 31:32 This is the only church in the seven that gets this warmth expressed to it. 31:39 "I have the warmth of friendship for you. I love you." 31:43 This is the only church, the one at the end. And by the way, did you notice 31:49 this? He's not declaring His love before the discipline 31:52 as your parent did. He's affirming his love after the discipline, and that's 31:57 the only time when your mind is open to comprehend love. Pretty smart move. 32:02 What kind of discipline you talking about? Well, what did He just call you? 32:07 Miserable. Naked. What was this? Wretched. 32:13 Poor. Blind. Mm! 32:15 Not -- the last letter is not about name calling, folks. By the way, you remember. 32:19 We've already found this out. Those five epithets -- Jesus embraced them all at the 32:24 Cross. He became all five. No, this isn't about name 32:27 calling. This is about life changing. This is about soul saving. 32:30 "And by the way, I'm standing at the door, and I'm knocking. I'm the only friend you have 32:34 that loves you this deeply. Do you understand that? I am your very best friend, and 32:38 I'm the only one who can save you, and I'm standing at your door, and I'm knocking right 32:41 now, girl. I'm knocking right now, boy." That's what he's saying here, 32:47 verse 20. Read it again. 32:59 It's an amazing, amazing line. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." 33:05 And wouldn't you know it? That one line can be understood in three very different ways. 33:11 And all three very different ways are correct. They're three invitations. 33:19 And you gotta get this. There's a study guide tucked away in your worship bulletin. 33:23 Will you pull that study guide out right now, please? I want you to jot these three 33:26 invitations down. Yeah. We got ushers who will come your 33:28 way. You didn't get a study guide? Put your hand up. 33:30 In the balcony, here, in the band as well. We'll get a study guide to you. 33:37 You know, we're putting it on the screen here. 33:40 This is the series, "The Last Letter." 33:42 "Home Alone" 19. You know, this "Home Alone" 33:44 franchise -- these are the Christmas children videos that 33:47 come out. I went on... 33:48 The whole world knows "Home Alone," by the way, 33:51 so I go on Google to find out how many have you had. I get up to five -- 33:55 "Home Alone 5." I went ahead, just to be safe, put 19 there so that we're not 33:59 stepping on anybody's toes. Home Alone. Okay, so you click on 34:04 "Home Alone," and you'll get this study guide. All right? 34:07 Okay, let's go. Invitation number one, jot it down, please. 34:09 Invitation number one, Jesus' gospel invitation. Yeah, this is a gospel 34:14 invitation. This is the invitation, by the way, that was captured for an 34:17 entire generation by the composer Ralph Carmichael. You ever heard this song? 34:21 ♪ The Savior is waiting to enter your heart ♪ ♪ Why don't you let Him 34:29 come in? ♪ ♪ There's nothing in this world to keep you apart ♪ 34:38 ♪ What is your answer to Him? ♪ 34:42 Let's do the chorus together, on the screen. 34:44 [ Congregation sings ] 35:04 There's the word door, door, door. 35:06 ♪♪ 35:14 "Here I am. I stand at the door and knock." It's Jesus' gospel invitation. 35:21 By the way, it's not just here in Revelation. It's all the way through the 35:23 Bible. Grab your pen now. Jot this down. 35:25 Proverbs 23:26, God speaking. "My child, give Me your" what? "Give Me your heart." 35:30 "I'm standing at the door. Give Me your heart." Or go to the New Testament. 35:35 Jesus, on the eve of His execution, John 14:23 -- jot 35:39 this down. 35:42 "My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make 35:44 Our" -- what's the word there? "We'll make our home. 35:47 We'll make our home with you." So it's not just Jesus who comes. 35:50 Jesus says, "The Father will come with Me." And a little bit earlier in the 35:54 same upper room, in verse 17 of chapter 14, Jesus has already spoken these words. 35:57 Jot this down. 36:04 The gospel invitation is the whole Trinity saying, "Hey, We're knocking 36:09 together. Can We come into your life?" Oh, what a profound invitation. 36:14 It's no wonder Ellen White has claimed -- I love this 36:16 one-liner. How come I've never seen this 36:17 before? On the screen... 36:19 "That heart is the happiest that has Christ as an abiding guest." 36:24 You see, He's not a member of the family. 36:26 He's a guest. You invite Him in. 36:28 He only comes by invitation. "Let us," she goes on, 36:32 "acknowledge Him as our Friend and Saviour." 36:35 "Behold, I stand..." [ Knocking ] "...at the door and knock." 36:40 Three invitations. Invitation number one -- Jesus' gospel invitation. 36:43 Jot it down. Invitation number two -- Jesus' endtime invitation. 36:48 Because as it turns out, Jesus has already used this metaphor about the door when He 36:52 was here with us. In fact, put it on the screen. 36:58 He's giving a recital of what it's going to be like on the planet before He returns. 37:03 The words on the screen. "Then they" -- that's the world -- "will see the Son of 37:07 Man" -- that would be Me, He says -- "coming in the clouds with great power and glory." 37:11 Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right 37:17 at the" -- What's the word? He's at the door! "Behold, I stand at the door and 37:23 knock" means "I'm almost here! I'm almost here. Anybody waiting for Me?" 37:31 Revelation is replete with this idea of imminence, you know, this almost, this soon business. 37:37 On the screen, jot this down. Quoting Jesus, "'Look! I am coming...'" what's the 37:41 word? "'...soon!'...He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am 37:45 coming soon.'" "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" means "I'm almost here!" 37:50 Do you understand that? "I am almost here for you." Yeah. Yeah. 37:58 "I think I'm on... Come on, Dwight. Give me a break. 38:00 Don't you think I can figure this out? That was 1,900 years ago!" 38:04 So your point is? What's your point? Go ahead and make it. 38:10 You have a problem with this imminence business? 38:14 The New Testament is replete with it. 38:16 You know why? I'll tell you why. 38:19 I have a friend who has a... had a friend. 38:22 37 years old, fit as a fiddle. One young wife and two young children. 38:28 And in one instance a few weeks ago, [ Snaps ] gone! Nothing wrong with him. 38:33 [ Snaps ] Gone! 38:37 That's why the Bible never backs off of imminence. 38:41 It never backs off "soon." Because it might not be "I'm at 38:45 the door for all of you," but, "Sir, I am at the door for 38:49 you. 38:51 I'm coming for you." Knock-knock. [ Snaps ] 38:55 Over. Yeah, it's somber. That's why it's there -- 39:02 to shake us up, to wake us up and say, "Can't play this waiting game. 39:07 What are you waiting for?" And by the way, it's going to happen the same way for the 39:15 entire civilization. [ Snaps ] That's it. 39:20 "Are you serious?" That's it. Look at this. 39:23 Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. Jot this down. 39:32 Look at -- have you ever heard of a thief who sends you a postcard and says, "I'm going to 39:35 be in your neighborhood next week. Hope to see you then"? 39:37 What? There's no thief in the world that does that. 39:39 Why doesn't he do that? Because it's the element of surprise. 39:43 If you know that the thief is coming tonight to your dorm room or to your house, you're going 39:47 to be sitting there with a 40-gauge shotgun, right? "I got a surprise for you!" 39:53 No, you never know. That's the whole metaphor of a thief. 39:56 That's what it'll be with the human race. "The day of the Lord will come 39:59 like a thief in the night. 40:00 While people are saying, 'Peace,'"...High-five, man, 40:03 "'Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly..." 40:06 Write that word down. "...suddenly, as labor pains on 40:08 a pregnant woman, and they will not..." 40:10 And in the Greek, it's a double negative. 40:12 "...they will will no not escape." 40:14 Impossible. [ Snaps ] 40:16 Finished! That was it. 40:18 That was it! "I thought there was more 40:20 supposed to happen." Nope, that was it. 40:21 It's over. 40:23 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" therefore must not only mean "I am returning to you 40:29 soon." It means "I am returning to this civilization soon." 40:37 Look at -- we're not dealing with rocket science. Now, I talk with bright people. 40:39 When I fly, I get to sit by bright people. I talk with bright people on 40:43 this campus, where I live. Guess what. There's this numinous uneasiness 40:48 among thinking human beings today that senses there's some approaching dread that we do not 40:56 know of. There's some shoe that's going to fall next, and we have no 41:00 clue what this shoe is. We just know it's coming. That's what the Bible is saying. 41:09 "Hey, Earth. Hey, America. Hey, Andrews. 41:16 Hey, Laodicea. Guess what. I'm almost there." 41:23 Ooh. Three invitations. Invitation number one -- Jesus' gospel invitation. 41:27 Invitation number two -- Jesus' endtime or end game invitation. 41:33 That little American lady writer that we quoted a moment ago -- let me put her 41:37 on the screen again. 41:48 "Remember" -- there's an enemy in this game. 41:51 The enemy..."Satan has come down with great power, to work with 41:54 all deceivableness," all craftiness, all trickery -- why? 42:00 Because he knows he's lost, but he's taking every soul with him 42:06 that he can. 42:07 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice..." 42:13 Oh, by the way, yeah, it's not just this. [ Knocking ] There's a voice going along with 42:17 this. I don't know if it's a plea. I don't know if it's begging. 42:20 I don't know if He's shouting. "Anybody in there? Anybody in there, 42:26 would you open the door?" The voice accompanies the knocking. 42:31 Three invitations. Here's invitation number three, the last one. 42:38 Jot that down, please. Jesus' embarrassing invitation. 42:42 And it took a retired German businessman turned pastor, who taught me this. 42:48 And it is embarrassing, but it's true. And I said, "Why have I never 42:52 seen this before?" But I'm passing it on to you. Check it out. 42:56 It's embarrassing because what's going on in that Laodicean church of Christ in the seventh 43:01 and final period before He returns is that it's conducting its business as if the Lord is 43:07 not in their midst. Or could it be the other way around? 43:10 As if the Lord is in their midst. But surprise, surprise, 43:15 surprise. He's not in their midst. He's outside. 43:19 Will you jot that down? It appears that Jesus is not even in the church. 43:24 He's standing on the outside. Here's this church -- can you believe it? 43:29 This church going through their great debates, this church going through their grand feats. 43:34 Here's Laodicea through its glorious "We have need of nothing" motions and 43:38 countermotions, and all the while, the Lord of Laodicea is outside the church. 43:43 Go figure! And by the way, what's interesting about this Laodicean 43:46 church -- they're the ones that the Apocalypse calls the remnant. 43:49 The remnant. This is the final generation, and what are they thinking? 43:53 And I ask myself, "Dwight, what are you thinking? What are we thinking?" 43:57 Apparently, we can't hear Him. Maybe that's it. We just can't hear Him. 44:01 I can't imagine you and I... in our great deliberations and our mighty discussions, I can't 44:07 imagine that if we were hearing... if we could hear the knocking, 44:10 we wouldn't all join together and run to the front door of the Pioneer Memorial Church and 44:13 throw the door open. "Jesus, come on in!" I can't imagine one person 44:16 intentionally turning Him away and saying, "Nah, I don't want to hear that. 44:19 I don't want to hear it. I can't hear it. I can't hear it." 44:21 No. We... Apparently, it's so noisy in the Laodicean church before the end, 44:28 there's so much distraction, that nobody hears the knocking. So the knocking now has to be 44:35 accompanied with a voice. Wow. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? 44:43 How long have we been home alone as a church? How long have we been home 44:54 alone? Hmm. How embarrassing. 44:58 Or as this writer puts it, what a loss. 45:00 Put this on the screen, please. 45:17 "What a terrible thing it is to exclude Christ from His own 45:20 temple," His own church! "What a loss" -- write that 45:23 down -- "What a loss for the church!" 45:26 So here's the question. 45:27 What are we supposed to do now? As humbling as it's going to feel -- and trust me, 45:32 it will feel that way -- we need to cry what the people cried out when they were listening to 45:37 Peter on the day of Pentecost. You remember the story, don't you, of Pentecost? 45:40 I mean, it went like wildfire, electricity, through the city. There are a bunch of fishermen 45:45 who were speaking the languages of the empire, and all of the representative strangers are 45:50 hearing it in their own mother tongue. What's going on? 45:53 And Peter stands up and says, "Yo! Stop! Shh. Quiet. Time out. 45:56 Hey, listen, guys. These men are not drunk. This is the outpouring of the 46:03 mighty Spirit of God." And Peter pivots on that point, and he begins to unfold the life 46:08 and the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 46:12 When he's through, the crowd is so moved, do you know what they cry out? 46:15 "What are we supposed to do?" And Peter answers, and I want you to see his answer. 46:21 Put it on the screen. Acts 2:38. 46:36 Do you know what we just read? That's the identical word in the letter to the Laodiceans. 46:42 Didn't Jesus just use this word "repent" in verse 19? Yeah, "Repent," He says in verse 46:47 19. "Be baptized." That means hit the reset button. 46:51 Start over again. And open the door. Because if you open the door, 46:56 you'll receive, Peter says, the gift of the Holy Spirit. "I will come into you." 47:00 "Yeah, but, Dwight, that's Jesus coming in, not the Holy Spirit coming in." 47:04 Wrong. Look at the last line of this letter. 47:09 "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the" -- what the what? -- "what the Spirit says to the 47:15 churches." It's the Spirit who's been talking this whole time. 47:19 Jesus said, "I'm knocking, but when I come in, boom, you have what the Spirit has 47:25 promised." And what is the Spirit saying to the Seventh-Day Adventist 47:29 Church today? "I know you think you don't have need of anything, Laodicea, 47:37 I know you think you can pull off the healing of this church, but there aren't enough 47:44 parliamentary rules and procedures to vote yourselves into healing the fracture and 47:49 reviving the church. You just can't take action. You can't vote Me in. 47:55 You can't vote Me out. I stand at the door and knock if you'll repent. 48:04 Admit to Me and to each other that I'm the only hope, the only solution left for your Church. 48:10 Ask Me to come into your midst. Call upon Me. Cry out for Me. 48:14 I will come in. And I will deliver the Church. I will heal the Church. 48:24 I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And you'll be healed." 48:33 That's a hard Word for Laodicea to swallow because we're so used to 48:38 quid pro quo. I mean, you go through these steps, you're going to get this 48:42 result. We've been going through all kinds of revised and re-- 48:46 steps and procedures, and we're still not getting the result. What's up with that? 48:51 Because we can't program Him into our midst. We have to actually invite Him, 48:57 and He says, "When I come in, would you repent? Would you turn your back on 49:01 what you've tried? Would you come to Me just as you are?" 49:06 I'm going to have to put my arm around you. You put your arm around me. 49:09 That's what repent means. We reject what we've tried. We now turn to the only 49:15 supernatural solution left to us, and O God, that would be You. 49:20 That would be You. Come into our midst. We've done it all, and we're 49:26 still hurting and fractured. And we're getting absolutely nowhere. 49:34 That's what's going on. And that's why it's so embarrassing. 49:38 Because He's in the Church -- not. He's out there. 49:48 "Let me in. Open that door. Repent. Hit the reset button. 49:54 I'll give you the Holy Spirit." The one gift, by the way, that brings every other gift with it. 50:02 Can you imagine that? I mean, just try to picture what God is offering us here. 50:08 He says, "Look, I'll start with one person at a time. That one person -- he, she will 50:11 ask Me for the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I will come in every day," because the 50:16 Holy Spirit is speaking -- Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both there -- "I will come into 50:20 her today, I will come into him today, with just one person. That's all I need is one 50:25 person." Because in the divine mathematics of God, it takes 50:30 only one until suddenly two. Ooh, two are there. Two people prayed for the daily 50:37 baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then before you know it, boom, four. 50:41 Let's put the Holy Spirit's geometric progression on the screen. 50:44 Read these numbers for me. This is how fast it can happen. Watch this. 50:48 Let's start out with... Let's read one. Okay, one, you're the one, so He 50:51 starts with you. One, okay, read it out loud with me. 50:54 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 51:02 256, 512, 1,024, 2,048, 51:08 4,096, and up. Mathematicians call it geometric progression. 51:13 It just takes the one to start, and somewhere on the planet, oh, I wish it would be 51:18 here, but it may not be. It may be far across the seas in Africa, in Asia, somewhere, 51:24 poof, there is an explosion. Somewhere 500 miles away, poof, there's another explosion. 51:30 And suddenly from east to west, north to south, the Earth is literally being set ablaze. 51:35 Revelation 18:1, just before the return of Jesus, a mighty angel comes down and sets the entire 51:41 planet on fire with the glory of God. And it started with just one. 51:46 One teenager says, "I'm not quitting. I'll keep praying that prayer 51:52 every day." Just one. That's all it takes. 51:56 Geometric progression. 51:58 Just one. And then this thing that we've 52:02 called the latter rain... What is the latter rain? 52:05 It's just a whole lot of people in the same space experiencing the daily baptism of the 52:09 Holy Spirit. That's all it is. 52:11 It's not like... [ Imitates explosion ] 52:13 ...the roof's off the church. Just one. 52:18 And I do believe you are that one. 52:22 I believe it. I believe it. 52:24 Wow. All because the leaders and the people of the church cried out 52:31 to God to do what is more than clear we are not able to do ourselves, pour out Your 52:36 Holy Spirit upon a... How does she put it? A languishing church. 52:41 It must...but it can only begin by obeying the Lord of Laodicea's command, His plea, 52:48 "I want you to repent." It's never comfortable to repent because I have to repent 52:53 to you, and you hear me, and it's very humbling. But that's the only way. 52:58 You talk to me. But the only way we can break the logjam is you repenting to 53:05 your husband, you repenting to your wife. Repentance starts with one. 53:14 Repent. For unless there is repentance, there'll be no healing. 53:23 There'll be no revival. There'll be no Holy Spirit until a new generation of leaders 53:27 and members is raised up. And I may be the first pastor... [ Snaps ] He's out. 53:34 "We're going to have to move. Get him out." The point is "I'm standing at 53:40 the door knocking. If you hear My voice," there'll be a band of men, there'll be a 53:48 band of women, there'll be a band of young adults at Andrews University and in the 53:52 Seventh-Day Adventist Church, who will cry out every day... 53:55 Let's put that prayer on the screen, please. 53:57 ...who will cry out every day... 54:05 Is that a hard prayer to pray? Doesn't look too hard. 54:09 Let's try reading it out loud together. 54:11 "O Jesus, please come in and pour Your Spirit upon us 54:17 now!" You know what I want to do? I want to kneel down right here. 54:21 I want to pray with you. Come on. Let's kneel down. Let's pray. 54:23 It's one thing to put it on the screen. It's another thing to pray the 54:27 words, you and I together. O God, O Lord of Laodicea, three invitations. 54:39 The gospel invitation -- we get it. The endgame invitation -- 54:44 we understand that. The embarrassing one -- O Jesus, it is embarrassing. 54:50 Have You been out... Have we left You out there? Have we been home alone all 54:56 these years? It cannot be! It just cannot be. 55:02 So, we are in a position of abject humility before You. Our heads are down. 55:10 We're on our knees. And we're asking You, please, do whatever it takes to awaken the 55:17 repentance that needs to be in my heart. O God, forgive me for the times 55:25 too many when I have stepped in between You and others and I have eclipsed Your glory, I've 55:33 blocked the light from shining, trying to insert myself into the moment. 55:40 Forgive me. I have sinned. Forgive us, this church we all 55:49 love. We've opted to stay in. But we need You to do whatever 55:56 it takes to lead us into a deep repentance that turns us from ourselves to our Savior. 56:03 Oh, Jesus. Come in. We didn't... 56:18 We didn't know that was You knocking. We thought it was just... 56:23 some interference. We've blocked Your knocking and Your voice out. 56:31 Jesus, we hear You now. Please come in for all of us, and save 56:38 Laodicea. You're not going to lose the Church. 56:41 Save the people of Laodicea. I humbly pray. Do whatever it takes. 56:48 But may we never be the same again for having read Your letter to us. 56:55 In Your mighty name, let all the people say, "Amen." And Amen. Amen. 57:09 >> Think of the last time someone said, "I'm praying 57:12 for you." Didn't it give you a sense of 57:14 peace and reassurance that somebody cares for me? 57:16 I know how I feel when I get an e-mail from one of our viewers saying, "Yo, Dwight. 57:20 I've been praying for you lately." There's nothing like knowing 57:23 someone is praying for you. So I want to offer you an opportunity to partner -- let 57:27 me, let us partner with you in prayer. 57:29 If you have a special prayer request or a praise of 57:31 thanksgiving you'd like to share with us, I'm inviting you 57:34 to contact one of our friendly chaplains. 57:36 It's simple to do. You can call our toll-free 57:38 number -- 877 -- the two words "HIS WILL," 877-HIS-WILL. 57:43 That friendly voice that answers, you tell him, you tell 57:46 her what your prayer need is, we'll join with you in that 57:49 petition. 57:51 May the God who answers prayer journey with you these next few days until we're right back 57:55 here together again next time. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:19 ♪♪ |
Revised 2019-03-07