Participants: Doug Batchelor
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000400
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01:02 Pastor Batchelor, I want to invite you come to the pulpit.
01:05 I want to say, thank you, 01:07 for coming to Michigan Conference. 01:10 It's just been a joy to have you here 01:12 and have your wife here and your family here. 01:17 And he'll be leaving with his family, of course. 01:19 He'll be here, there, everywhere. 01:21 We will be seeing you on 3ABN 01:23 in other methods such as video. 01:25 We'll be hearing you on the radio. 01:27 We'll be seeing materials. 01:28 We'll be using materials that Amazing Facts produces. 01:31 We'll be using those materials to win souls. 01:34 And we're grateful for that soul winning fire 01:37 that burns in your heart and drives your ministry. 01:40 Amen, thank you so much. 01:41 And so when you go, you're gonna go with all our prayers 01:44 and I wanna pray right now 01:46 and thank the Lord for sending you. 01:48 "Father in Heaven, 01:49 you're so good as our dear brother, 01:51 Pastor Batchelor, leaves us, 01:54 he gives us his last sermon tonight. 01:56 I know your Holy Spirit will be here. 01:58 You've already blessed us, blessed us 02:00 as we went down the road with the Good Samaritan 02:02 and saw the parallels between bad and the plan of salvation. 02:06 Talk to us about our pride, 02:08 how we want to walk with humility, 02:10 true humility before you? 02:13 Bless him as he speaks tonight and as he goes his journey, 02:18 please Heavenly Father, 02:19 continue to send the angels with him, be with his family. 02:22 Build little hedge about them. 02:24 May they sense your leadership ever 02:27 and use the ministry that you have given into their hands 02:31 to have a greater impact than they can even imagine. 02:34 We look forward to all being together in the Sea of Glass. 02:37 Keep our dear Pastor and his family 02:39 now in your hands, in Jesus name, amen. Amen. 02:53 Please turn with me in your Bibles 02:56 to Philippians 4:8. Philippians 4:8. 03:10 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, 03:13 whatever is noble, whatever is right, 03:16 whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, 03:19 whatever is admirable, 03:20 if anything is excellent or praiseworthy 03:23 think about such things." 03:35 Some of the praiseworthy things that we've gotten to, 03:37 some of the praiseworthy things that we've enjoyed this week 03:40 have been the beautiful music. 03:42 Dr. Eric Umali accompanied by Kathy Price, 03:45 brings us a special number. 04:02 In letters of crimson, God wrote His love 04:12 On the hillside so long, long ago 04:21 For you and for me Jesus died, 04:31 And love's greatest story was told 04:43 I love you, I love you 04:53 That's what Calvary said 05:02 I love you, I love you 05:14 I love you written in red 05:33 Down through the ages, God wrote His love 05:41 With the same hands that suffered and bled 05:52 Giving all he had to give 06:01 A message so easily read 06:12 I love you, I love you 06:22 That's what Calvary said 06:31 I love you, I love you 06:43 I love you written in red 06:54 Oh, precious is the flow 07:03 That makes me white as snow 07:12 No other fount I know, 07:22 nothing but the blood, the blood of Jesus 07:31 I love you, I love you 07:41 That's what Calvary said 07:50 I love you, I love you 08:03 I love you written in Red 08:29 Amen. 08:35 Thank you. That was a beautiful song. 08:38 I've appreciated your music here. 08:41 Thank you so much for inviting us 08:43 to be part of your camp meeting. 08:45 I'm really been impressed with the spirit here. 08:48 I'm not just trying to be patronizing, 08:50 I really mean that. 08:51 It's, you sense something different. 08:55 But I won't compare you with any other camp meetings. 09:03 Keep, keep Amazing Facts in your prayers, God is blessing. 09:09 We're doing everything 09:10 we know how to do to win souls 09:13 and even more important than 09:14 that to equip the saints to win the souls. 09:19 That's really what our ministry is all about. 09:23 And we're not only using the radio 09:25 and the TV, we're publishing. 09:26 Oh, I'll be at the ABC after the program tonight. 09:29 I hope to meet some of you there. 09:30 That means I won't be visiting with you until I get there. 09:32 So please understand I'm gonna run over there 09:34 so I can greet you. 09:36 And we're doing-- using the internet. 09:38 Any of you ever used a POP CD, the Panorama Prophecy CDs? 09:42 Have you given some of those out? 09:43 You'll be excited about something new we're developing. 09:46 It's gonna have all the final events of prophecy 09:49 with animation that will take someone 09:51 through the final scenario. 09:53 I get so frustrated when I hear people 09:55 talking about this left behind idea 09:57 that we're all gonna get zapped out of here 09:59 before the tribulation and, you know, 10:02 the same thing the devil did 10:03 when Jesus came the first time. 10:05 Mixing up the church about how it was gonna happen. 10:08 He's doing it again. 10:10 The church is very mixed up about how He's coming. 10:13 And the devil is paving the way for a major deception. 10:17 And so we're doing that. We've got our college. 10:19 I've met several of our graduates here. 10:21 And it's good to see the way they're using their gifts. 10:24 And so just keep us in your prayers. 10:26 God has opened some wonderful doors. 10:32 I'd like to conclude tonight 10:36 by directing our attention to a theme 10:39 that you've been focusing on this week, Holiness. 10:44 And, in summary, my message would be tonight, 10:47 there is power in purity. 10:51 And just please pray with me one more time. 10:55 Father in Heaven, now as we long to hear 11:00 what you have to say to us, I pray Lord, 11:02 that you would remove any distraction. 11:05 Give us ears to hear and even more than 11:07 that I pray that we'll not be hearers only 11:09 but doers of the word. 11:11 We ask in the name of your son Jesus, amen. 11:17 I like Amazing Facts. 11:19 And I remember reading, 11:21 I think this one is in that book, 11:22 Amazing Facts Book about the water spider. 11:26 You know they've got this curious little water spider 11:29 that lives in parts of South and Central America, 11:31 some parts of Asia. 11:33 That builds its nest under water 11:36 usually by the shore of a river or a lake bed. 11:41 And it weaves a web inside the little grasses 11:44 and things that grow there by the edge. 11:46 And then it brings down bubbles, 11:48 a few at a time on its legs, it brushes them off. 11:51 And it slowly builds a big bubble 11:55 that is a diving bell basically and its, its home. 11:59 Now can you, imagine anything in evolution 12:04 that would require the need for a spider 12:06 start living under water in a bubble. 12:12 In any event, it lives under there, 12:15 catches its food under there, eats under there, 12:18 multiplies under there. 12:22 Every now and then, it has to go up 12:23 and get fresh bubbles, bring it back down again. 12:25 So it can keep the air supply refreshed. 12:29 It lives below by surviving on a resource from above. 12:36 This is I think the key for Christians to live 12:39 a Holy life in a world that is extremely wicked. 12:44 You know, that is one of our greatest challenges. 12:46 And I think that especially in the last days 12:50 where sin is multiplying, 12:52 Jesus said the condition of the world 12:54 would be a combination of the condition 12:57 of Sodom and Gomorrah and the days 13:00 before the flood all at one time before Jesus comes back. 13:03 Jesus draws on the two worse scenarios for human decadence. 13:09 And he said the whole world 13:10 would be like that before Jesus comes back. 13:12 Well, I think we've arrived. 13:16 And once again the thoughts of men's hearts 13:18 are only evil continually. 13:21 Selfishness and wickedness 13:23 and things that not even the world would think about 13:26 a few years ago, are being embraced by the church. 13:33 Would you like me to mention some of those? 13:36 Not yet, you're not ready for it. 13:39 You know, I remember hearing 13:40 Floyd Brezig give an illustration 13:41 that really made an impression on me at a camp meeting. 13:45 And when he is talking about the church 13:47 has a desire to be better than the world. 13:50 And instead of using the Lord as our gauge, 13:54 we often say as long as we're better than the world, 13:56 we must be doing our job. 13:57 We have the illusion of Holiness 13:59 as long as we can say we're better than the world. 14:02 But what has happened is the standards 14:04 of the world keeps cycling down. 14:07 And if the church is using the world as its standard, 14:09 just stay better than the world. 14:11 What happens is as the world slowly gets worse and worse, 14:16 how many would agree that's happening? 14:19 Okay, we're together still. 14:20 As the world gets worse and worse, 14:22 eventually the standards for the church are lower 14:26 than the standards of the world used to be. 14:32 I remember when I went to public school 14:33 in New York City, a friend of mine, 14:37 Vickie Ornstein was sent home 14:40 from P.S. 87 for immodest clothing, 14:45 public school in New York City. 14:49 Those same clothes would probably 14:51 now be accepted in many Adventist schools. 14:56 So what does that tell you, is happening? 14:58 That is one of the thousand examples I could use. 15:03 I remember a day when it was considered scandalous, 15:07 when I don't remember was it Dick Van Dyke Show 15:09 or the I love Lucy Show, 15:11 but one of those the first time 15:12 they showed a bedroom on TV, 15:17 you know, what I'm talking about? 15:18 You don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. 15:22 I don't know, I've never heard of I love Lucy. 15:28 But now, just the stuff that comes lilting over the radio 15:36 and the TV is just, it is so decadent. 15:40 How can we be pure in such a polluted world? 15:45 You know, Jesus did not ask to call us out of the world. 15:48 He doesn't want us all to run to a cave, does he? 15:51 He told Elijah, "What doest thou here?" 15:54 When He thought that the things were beyond hope in Israel. 15:59 You cannot bail a boat when you are in the water. 16:02 You've got to be in the boat. 16:03 You cannot clean a house from the outside. 16:05 And there are those in the church 16:06 that think because there is sin in the world 16:08 and in the church that we need to run off 16:11 and isolate ourselves and insulate ourselves. 16:13 And that's not what Jesus calls us to do. 16:14 The challenge for a Christian is to be pure 16:17 while living in an impure world. 16:21 Jesus says in Mark Chapter 15-- 16:24 no that's not the one I wanted. 16:27 John Chapter 17, verse 14 and 15. 16:31 He says, "I have given them your word 16:33 and the world has hated them, 16:34 because they are not of the world 16:36 just as I am not of the world. 16:37 I do not pray that you should take them out of the world 16:40 but that you should keep them from the evil one." 16:43 Christians in the church, 16:45 it's something like a ship in the water. 16:50 Matter of fact the ship looks out of place 16:51 when it's on dry land. 16:55 Ship belongs in the water, 16:57 but as soon as you get the water in the ship, 16:59 it goes down. 17:01 The church has this delicate balance 17:04 of really being in a foreign environment. 17:07 And as long as it can maintain separation, 17:10 it can move in the water. 17:12 It's like an airplane. 17:13 Airplanes don't look like they belong up in the air. 17:16 And when they start moving, 17:17 they don't stay in the air, do they? 17:21 And the church when it seizes to move, it falls. 17:25 One of the best ways for us to maintain this attitude 17:29 of Holiness to stay involved working for the Lord, amen. 17:33 Now how can we be pure in such an impure world? 17:40 Well, probably the most important thing to do 17:42 is as it says in Hebrews Chapter 12, 17:44 "Seeing then that we are surrounded 17:45 with such a great cloud of witnesses, 17:48 let us lay aside every sin 17:49 and the weight which doth so easily beset us," 17:52 looking on, "And let us run the race." 17:55 Looking unto Jesus, 17:57 the author and finisher of our faith. 17:59 Looking unto Jesus, you are transformed 18:02 by what you behold, 18:04 instead of calibrating our compass by the world and saying 18:07 as long as I'm better than the world, I'm okay. 18:09 Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, focus on Jesus, look at Jesus. 18:14 You become like what you look at. 18:17 We're transformed from glory to glory by what we behold. 18:21 But I know that so much of what is being beheld, 18:25 not only by the world but by the church, 18:28 is not the right thing. 18:32 We spend our times reading what the world reads, 18:35 watching what the world watches 18:37 and listening to what the world listens to. 18:39 And then we wonder why we have trouble 18:41 acting like angels when we live on the food of devils. 18:48 The Pastor who baptized me shared a very simple 18:50 illustration I've never forgotten. 18:53 We have two natures that are at war, 18:55 the spirit and the flesh. 18:58 We got that carnal lower nature 19:01 and we've got the yearning inside 19:03 to be Holy, to be like God. 19:04 Paul describes this in Romans Chapter 6, 19:06 Romans Chapter 7. 19:10 "Whatever nature you feed, 19:12 is the one that is going to be victorious 19:15 when temptations and battles come." 19:18 If you have two dogs from the same breed, 19:21 same size, about same age. 19:25 And you're going to fight them. 19:26 I don't recommend you do this. It's an illustration. 19:29 And for one week you feed one dog, 19:32 just the very best of food, 19:33 give it lots of water, exercise. 19:35 The other one you chain him up 19:36 with about an inch of chain by his neck. 19:38 Don't feed him. 19:39 Don't give him anything to drink. 19:40 No exercise. 19:42 And a week later, you fight them. 19:46 Which one's gonna win? 19:48 The one that's been taken care of. 19:51 You've got these two natures that are at war. 19:53 Peter says, there is a war-- there is a war in our members. 19:58 How many of you have felt that? 20:00 If you don't feel it, it's 'cause you're dead. 20:03 If you say, "I don't ever get tempted." 20:04 Well, that means, you're just going down stream. 20:05 You're not resisting at all. 20:08 But if you're trying to be a Christian, 20:09 you feel the war. 20:11 And the way that we win the war 20:14 and the battles get so much easier 20:15 is if we will feed on that which is good. 20:18 You heard that scripture reading, 20:20 what sort of things are just noble, holy, pure. 20:26 A doctor in this congregation came to a pastor offered him 20:29 two movie tickets that he had. 20:33 And he said, "I can't accept those." 20:35 Oh, you need to relax. Take your wife out. 20:38 You take things too seriously. Enjoy yourself. 20:43 And the Pastor said to the physician, 20:44 he said, "You're a brain surgeon." 20:47 Is that right? He said, "Yes." 20:48 He said would you enter into the operating theater 20:51 and start working on somebody's brain 20:54 without washing your hands? 20:55 He said, "No." 20:57 He said, well, with my work, 20:58 I can't do it with a dirty heart. 21:02 And so many of us are trying to live a Holy life 21:06 while we're feeding on the wrong food. 21:10 I understand there's this beautiful 21:11 dainty little butterfly about half an inch across. 21:14 It's got blue wings with little jewels on the wings. 21:18 And you would think 21:19 it's one of the most beautiful creatures 21:21 until you find out that it doesn't live on nectar. 21:23 It feeds on dung. 21:27 And we've got some folks in the church 21:30 that look like butterflies on the outside. 21:33 But if you watch them long enough, 21:35 they're feeding on the wrong thing. 21:38 You cannot be holy 21:40 if we're feeding on the food of the world. 21:44 You cannot resist the temptations that come. 21:49 What's the solution? 21:50 Well, there is power and purity. 21:54 You know, you read in the Bible 21:56 as long as there was an Achan in the camp, 21:59 they couldn't win any battles with the enemy. 22:04 Now I'm gonna take this in two directions. 22:08 First of all, as a Pastor, 22:11 a constant battle that I fight 22:13 is whenever you bring up to the church board 22:16 and then to the church business meeting, 22:17 people whose names need dropping, 22:21 everybody rises up and they say, 22:23 well, who are we to judge 22:24 and we need to love them and we need to be patient. 22:26 Folks don't know what they're talking about. 22:30 If someone is taking the name Christian, 22:33 don't take his name in vain. 22:36 If someone says they're Seventh Day Adventists, 22:38 then they're going to the bar and they're smoking cigars 22:40 and they're running around on their family, drop their name. 22:45 You know, when you end up doing this, 22:46 we continue to lower the standards of the church 22:49 under the pretence of love 22:51 and it really isn't love for God, 22:52 its love for the world. 22:56 And I believe God could do more to bless the church 22:58 if we deal with some of the Achans in the camp 23:00 and that is the loving thing to do for them. 23:05 We got some cases, 23:07 50 percent of the members in the church don't even come. 23:10 Some one don't even know they're on the books. 23:13 I baptized this man in California 23:16 and as we got ready to vote him into membership, 23:18 the pastor said, well, he's already on the books. 23:21 He said, you're kidding me. 23:23 He said, you know, back in World War II, 23:26 I think, I got baptized. 23:29 I haven't been to Church since then. 23:32 They never dealt with him and he'd been just completely 23:34 submerged in the world. 23:37 So that's one thing 23:39 when I talk about Achans in the camp, 23:40 they couldn't win any battles. 23:41 The other thing is our lives personally. 23:46 If we're fraternizing with the enemy, 23:49 we lose our power. 23:51 How did Samson lose his strength? 23:54 He was sleeping with the enemy, right? 23:57 And then he went to fight and one day 23:58 there was no strength there. 24:00 Gideon, before God could use Gideon, 24:02 God said to him, 24:03 now before I lead you against the Midianites, 24:06 you need to knock down those offers of bail 24:08 that you've got in your triumph. 24:12 And God could do so much more to work with the church, 24:15 if we recognize that there is power in purity. 24:22 If we fix our eyes on Jesus, if you look at the cross 24:25 and the more we understand how our sins have hurt Him, 24:29 the easier it is to live a new life. 24:32 Think about it, friends, be honest. 24:34 If, if right now somehow 24:35 you could be transported back in time 24:37 and you could be given a vision of Jesus, 24:40 right here before you on His cross, bleeding. 24:45 Have you ever watched anyone die? 24:49 Dying, suffering, and then you know 24:52 that he is on your cross you are Barabbas. 24:54 He took your place for your sins. 24:57 How can you walk away from the cross 24:59 and be indifferent about sin. 25:02 The more time we spend at the foot of the cross, 25:04 the easier it is for us to recognize, 25:08 how much sin hurts Him and the easier it is for us 25:10 to turn away from it. 25:12 We realize that it's deadly. 25:15 The devil does everything he can with his clever 25:17 advertising campaign to make sin look attractive. 25:22 This old bachelor on his way to work everyday, 25:24 walked by this antique shop 25:26 and there on the window of his antique shop 25:28 was this beautiful, it wasn't a vase, it was a vase. 25:33 I say that with the little finger out. 25:37 And he knows there's just something about it. 25:39 It was a multi-colored ceramic thing that was just beautiful. 25:42 He thought it was beautiful. 25:43 And he'd slow down everyday and he'd stare at it. 25:45 And then finally one day he thought, 25:46 "What's wrong with me?" He says, "I've got the money. 25:48 I enjoy it so much. 25:49 I stand there in the rain and look 25:50 at the window, and I look at it. 25:52 Why didn't I buy it?" 25:54 So he finally broke down, he bought the vase. 25:56 He brought it in to his musty dusty bachelor pad 25:58 and he set it down in a prominent place 26:00 in the middle of the apartment. 26:02 And then he looked at it. 26:03 All of a sudden, he realized that next to that vase, 26:05 his curtains were torn and faded. 26:07 He thought, "You know, I really need 26:09 to get some new curtains and fix up the curtains." 26:13 Then he noticed that the springs 26:14 and stuffing were coming out of his favorite chair. 26:16 It just didn't look right there with the vase in the room. 26:18 And he fixed up the chair. 26:19 And then, the carpet was stained and musty 26:23 and he changed out the carpet. 26:25 Little by little, the whole room was transformed 26:28 because he introduced something pure. 26:30 He didn't realize all those years 26:31 he was living in that apartment 26:33 that it was slowly deteriorating around him. 26:37 Don't point any fingers. 26:39 But have you ever met old people 26:40 that decorate their house and they do it once, 26:42 50 years later, they haven't noticed that things have aged. 26:52 And you might think it's 'cause they're being frugal. 26:55 They just have not noticed and that's the way sin is. 26:59 Little by little, it creeps into our lives 27:01 and it begins to deteriorate things. 27:03 Things begin to rust, and to rotten, to mold. 27:06 But it happened so slowly. 27:07 We don't know what's going on around us 27:08 until something pure is introduced. 27:12 The Bible says that when Isaiah got a glimpse of God's glory, 27:16 and the angels calling, "The holy, holy, holy." 27:18 He said, "Woe is me." 27:20 Up until that point, he probably felt fine. 27:24 But then, he saw himself through God's eyes. 27:28 In contrast, with the holiness of God, 27:31 he got a picture of himself. 27:35 You know, the word of God 27:37 which is Christ is what we're to use 27:39 to calibrate what is truth. 27:43 A man went to visit a friend of his 27:44 that was an artist in his studio. 27:47 And there by the canvas, on a small table, 27:51 was a basket of gems. 27:56 They may not have been valuable gems 27:58 like diamonds and rubies, 27:59 but they were beautiful colored rocks. 28:03 Many of them brightly colored. 28:05 And someone said, "What's with the basket of rocks?" 28:09 He said, "Well, when I'm working with my palette 28:10 with all these pigments and hues, 28:12 it's easy for my sensitivity to color to become corrupted. 28:19 And so as I'm mixing my colors, 28:21 I hold my palette by the basket of rocks 28:23 because they are constant." 28:26 What a tuning fork is to the musician, 28:31 that's what this basket was to the artist. 28:36 And it's easy for us for our vision to fade. 28:40 You know, Karen and I have a piano 28:42 at our home up in Covelo. 28:44 And I don't know that it's been tuned 28:46 by a professional in 20 years. 28:49 Now I can tune the piano, 28:50 but I don't have any instruments. 28:51 And so what I do is I tune each string 28:54 with the other strings around it. 28:58 Right now I suppose 28:59 it's about an octave off a normal piano. 29:02 And it's gotten there little by little by little 29:06 by comparing one string with another. 29:10 That's what's been happening with the church. 29:12 We're off key, friends. 29:14 It's because we're making that mistake 29:15 that Paul refers to where we compare 29:18 ourselves among ourselves 29:19 and measure ourselves by ourselves. 29:22 And as we do this, the standard of the church 29:24 as long as we're better than each other in the world, 29:26 we feel like we're okay. 29:28 But if we get a glimpse of God and His glory, 29:30 we say, "Woe is me, I am undone." 29:33 "Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God." 29:38 God is calling us to purity. He's calling us to holiness. 29:42 It's a standard that is so far high and above 29:45 even what the church advertises as acceptable. 29:49 Jesus said there are things 29:50 that are highly esteemed among men 29:52 that are an abomination to God. 29:54 And you know who He said that to was the church. 29:57 He was talking about church traditions 29:58 and church rules and our own kind of manufactured dogmas. 30:03 And there are things that we think are just fine 30:06 and they're accepted and we'll even joke about. 30:08 And God says, "They're an abomination." 30:11 How are we gonna know what's right, what's wrong? 30:15 We've got to go by His word. 30:18 We have to keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus. 30:20 He is our example in all of these things. 30:24 There is power and purity. 30:26 Why was it that David could bring down 30:28 Goliath and Saul could not? 30:32 Because Saul had turned his back on God. 30:35 David went against the giant trusting the Lord. 30:38 There is power in purity. 30:42 You know in our home, 30:43 I think I already told you that there's solar electric. 30:47 And up on our roof, we've got 30:48 about eight solar panels that power the whole house, 30:53 but every now and then, 30:54 you know, in the fall the leaves blow around 30:56 and you just get your natural sediment 30:57 in your dusty buildup. 30:59 And about once a year or so, I go up on the roof 31:02 and I just take some Windex 31:03 and I wipe off the solar panels. 31:05 And I can go downstairs and I've got an amp meter. 31:08 And all you gotta do is you clean off the panels 31:11 and you can see they start putting up more amps 31:14 'cause the light is getting through. 31:18 What is it that's gonna give us more power, more amperage? 31:22 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, 31:25 and a light unto my path." 31:27 If we would spend more time in God's word, 31:30 we'd find that power. 31:32 There's power in prayer. 31:36 You know, whenever I really pray earnestly for something, 31:40 God gives me miraculous answer. 31:42 I just have this epiphany and I think to myself, 31:45 "Why don't I do this more often? 31:48 This really works." 31:50 You're surprised, your pastor say that. 31:52 I think its part of my job description. 31:54 But we don't pray like this. 31:56 The founders and the fathers of the church used to pray. 31:59 They would pray for hours. 32:01 We sing that song 'Sweet Hour Of Prayer'. 32:02 Most of us are lying when we sing that, right? 32:06 Come on, fess up. 32:09 We sing that song 'O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing.' 32:11 We don't use the one tongue we do have. 32:16 There's power in prayer. There's power in God's word. 32:21 Some of you remember the story of King Arthur 32:23 and the Knights of the Round Table. 32:26 One of his knights was Sir Galahad. 32:29 And in Tennyson's poem, 32:33 he said, "I have the strength of 10 men 32:36 because my heart is pure." 32:39 God wants us to have that. 32:42 When was it that the Lord poured out 32:44 the Holy Spirit on the church? 32:47 You know it was after Passover what happens-- 32:52 it's a time of sacrifice and cleansing. 32:55 It was after the Passover, after they got on their knees, 32:59 after Jesus washed their feet. 33:02 After they were made pure, then they had power. 33:06 There is no limit to the usefulness of one 33:09 who by laying self aside makes room for the working of 33:12 the Holy Spirit in their hearts. 33:14 God wants to do so much for us and through us, 33:17 He wants to fill us but He cannot fill a vessel 33:20 that is already full of the world. 33:24 If we'd empty ourselves, He could fill us. 33:29 But we need to make our vessels available to Him. 33:31 Our hearts are just so full 33:32 and overcharged, you know, Jesus warned us. 33:34 He said, "Beware less for your hearts 33:36 be overcharged with eating and drinking 33:38 and the cares of this life." 33:40 Our hearts can even be overcharged with good things. 33:44 And then after that happened, 33:46 thousands were baptized in a day. 33:49 God is inviting us and calling us 33:52 to a standard of purity. 33:54 I think we need a revival in what 33:56 we decide to look at. 33:58 We need to spend more time reading God's word, friends. 34:01 Let me explain how important this is. 34:03 It's simple. 34:06 I just want you to know I do see the time. 34:12 And I'm just acknowledging I see it. 34:13 That's all I said. 34:17 You know, I know that-- I know that you have plans. 34:22 You cannot obey God if you don't love Him. 34:25 You cannot love somebody you do not know. 34:28 Eternal life is in knowing God. 34:31 The way that you get to know somebody 34:32 is they talk to you and you talk to them. 34:35 Most marriages where people marry the same day 34:38 that they meet each other in Las Vegas, they do no last. 34:41 They get to know each other their chances are better. 34:45 And I should add at this point for any young people 34:48 who might be listening that think you get to know 34:49 somebody by living with them, sharing the bed 34:53 so you get to know them. 34:56 You want to get to know someone shared checkbook, 34:57 you don't need to share bed. 35:03 We love somebody-- we love someone 35:09 'cause they communicate. 35:10 We talk to God when we pray. 35:13 He speaks to us primarily through His word. 35:16 The more we communicate with God, 35:18 the more we will know Him. 35:20 The more we know Him, the more we love Him. 35:21 The more we love Him, 35:22 the easier it will be to obey Him. 35:25 It's that simple, friends? 35:27 Now I know how desperately I need this. 35:32 I barely make it. 35:33 I barely make it as a Christian. 35:35 Sometimes I wonder if I'm making it. 35:37 I'm being honest with you. 35:38 It's a struggle to be holy in this wicked world. 35:45 And I know that what the Lord really wants is purity here. 35:49 The last frontier, inner space. 35:52 Amen! Amen! 35:54 I mean it's easy for us to fabricate 35:55 this façade of holiness when you go to church 35:58 and you take your Bible-- 36:00 But God looks on the inside. 36:04 And I surround myself with the word of God. 36:08 You maybe heard me say this before but it bears repeating, 36:11 "I wake up in the morning, I read my Bible. 36:14 Through the day, I listen to Christian music." 36:17 And no such thing is Christian rap. 36:18 That's an oxymoron. I listen to Bible tapes. 36:26 I go to sleep at night listening to Bible tapes. 36:30 We have 3ABN. 36:32 Matter of fact, we got Sky Angel. 36:34 I even sample some of the other religions 36:36 so I keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening. 36:40 There're some good preachers out there. 36:42 You need to know how to eat the melon 36:43 and spit out the seeds, right? 36:46 But, you know, we're not the only ones 36:47 that God speaks through. 36:50 But I have to really surround myself with these influences 36:53 just to keep my compass calibrated, 36:56 to focus on the Lord. 36:58 You need it too. 37:00 What do you think, preachers have it easier? 37:01 We might have it tougher. 37:03 Smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. 37:07 Psalms 51, "Create in me a clean heart." 37:09 You'd been singing about that all week. 37:11 Renew a steadfast spirit within me. 37:16 This man was showing his friend his homing pigeons. 37:22 And up on the roof in New York City, 37:24 the while he was showing them the different pigeons, 37:26 you know, there are more breeds of pigeons 37:28 than any other bird in the world. 37:30 They have been crossbred 37:31 and there're some pigeons that looked like hippies. 37:33 They're all these different pigeons. 37:36 And while he was showing him all his pigeons, 37:40 a beautiful white dove, which is a pigeon, you know, 37:46 flew in and the man was happy to see it. 37:49 And he picked it up and he inspected and he said, 37:52 "Well, you look at this." 37:53 he said, "This dove just flew in from St Louis 37:56 and didn't even stop." 37:58 And his friend said, "Well, how do you know that? 38:00 Did it talk to you?" 38:02 He said, "No, it came in clean." 38:07 He said, "There is no pollen or maze on its feet. 38:10 No mud on its wings. 38:12 All it could think about was getting home 38:13 and so it came in clean." 38:18 Do you have your attention fixed on Jesus, friends? 38:22 If we stay focused on Him, that's the only way 38:25 we can live pure lives. 38:27 You become like what you look at, Christ is our example. 38:32 As we fix our eyes on Him, we will become like Him. 38:37 We can say like Paul, "It's not I that lived 38:39 but that Christ that lives in me." 38:41 And if everyday we are taking up our cross, 38:43 the Bible says, "Jesus declared, 38:45 'You cannot come after me, 38:47 unless you deny yourself daily and pray the Lord's Prayer, 38:52 give me this day my daily bread.'" That's this. 38:56 Most of you don't worry about bread from day-to-day. 38:59 Give us this day our daily bread. 39:00 Daily deny ourselves. 39:01 Daily take up our crosses and follow him. 39:04 And if we daily are crucified with Christ, 39:07 then daily born-again as new creatures 39:09 that's the only way we're gonna live a victorious life. 39:13 The Bible tells us in the last days 39:15 the attacks of the devil will be so affective. 39:19 That if it were possible, 39:20 even the very elect would be deceived. 39:26 I want to--I want to read you a statement. 39:30 I keep wanting to stop 'cause I respect your time 39:32 but I keep thinking of some things, 39:34 I just feel like I need to share. 39:36 Steps to Christ, page 29, Isaiah saw the Lord 39:39 and he said, "Woe is me." 39:40 Daniel saw the Lord and he fell down 39:41 as though he was dead. 39:43 John, the Apostle saw the Lord, 39:47 "One ray of the glory of God, 39:49 one gleam of the purity of Christ, 39:52 penetrating the soul, 39:54 makes every spot of defilement painfully distinct, 39:57 and lays bare the deformity 39:59 and the defects of the human character. 40:00 It makes apparent the unhallowed desires, 40:03 the infidelity of the heart, the impurity of the lips." 40:07 You know the Bible says we'll give an account 40:08 for every idle word that we speak. 40:10 For by your words you'll be justified 40:12 and by your words you'll be condemned. 40:14 How do we change our words? 40:16 Why are our mouths closed? 40:18 Is it some kind of Christian muzzle, 40:21 or does the Bible say out of the abundance of the heart, 40:23 the mouth speaks? 40:25 When our hearts are changed, our words will be changed. 40:28 "The impurity of the lips." 40:30 The sinner's acts of disloyalty 40:32 in making void the law of God are exposed to his sight, 40:34 and his spirit is stricken and afflicted 40:36 under the searching influence of the Spirit of God. 40:38 He loathes himself as he views the pure, 40:41 spotless character of Christ." 40:44 The more you look at Jesus, the more clear and accurate 40:49 your picture of your standing will be. 40:51 The Bible tells us, that's why 40:53 you're not supposed to go around judging each other. 40:57 If you're gonna do it, judge a righteous judgment. 41:01 But you're to examine yourself. 41:04 Paul says, "Examine yourself if you're in the faith. 41:06 Prove your own selves. Do you not know yourself? 41:10 Do you know that you're becoming like Christ." 41:13 How are you gonna know that? 41:14 By looking at the church? Don't do that. 41:18 You look at Jesus. 41:20 We compare ourselves with Christ. 41:23 Revelation Chapter 7, the angel says, 41:27 "You know who these are red and white robes? 41:30 And he says, These are the ones 41:31 who have washed their robes and made them white 41:33 in the blood of the Lamb." 41:35 How do we become pure in this sinful world? 41:38 It's the blood of Jesus that washes us, amen, friends. Amen. 41:46 I don't know how it works, but it works. 41:51 Someone asked, Billy Sunday about that, 41:53 he said I don't know how a black cow 41:55 can eat green grass and make 41:56 yellow butter and white milk, but it works. 42:01 And if you come to Jesus as you are and say, 42:04 "Lord, wash me from my sins, 42:07 cover me with your robe of righteousness." 42:09 Like the prodigal son you can--just like you are 42:13 He'll embrace you and He'll give you 42:15 that royal robe like the robe that Jacob gave to Joseph. 42:19 Like the robes that David's daughters wore. 42:22 He'll give you that royal robe 42:24 and you can be pure 42:25 through justification right now tonight. 42:27 Isn't that good news? Amen! 42:29 You can be pure tonight through the blood of Christ. 42:32 And then He can give you power to be pure 42:35 through sanctification and live a new life. 42:39 Would you like to have that, friends? Amen! 42:41 Not just to be putting on 42:44 the dramatic garments of Christianity 42:48 where we pray and fast 42:50 and give to be seen of men, but we're pure in hearts. 42:55 Father in Heaven, 42:57 Lord, I believe that this is the yearning of Your heart 43:02 that Your children might reflect 43:04 the character of Your Son. 43:07 This is the bull's-eye in the gospel 43:10 of the Great Controversy that God might have a people 43:14 that are pure in heart. 43:16 Lord, this is a wicked world and it's not getting better. 43:20 Evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, 43:23 but Lord, in the midst of this, 43:24 if Jesus could grow up in Nazareth 43:26 and be pure as a Lily comes up in a swamp, 43:29 then we can be pure too. 43:31 Lord, I pray that we will believe 43:33 that first of all cleanse us right now, 43:36 apply the blood of Your Son to wash us 43:39 from all unrighteousness. 43:41 And then we would ask Lord 43:43 that You give us the power to live new lives. 43:46 Help us to take advantage of the gifts 43:50 you've given us in Your word 43:51 and the privilege of prayer 43:53 to increase our knowledge in our love and then help us 43:56 to be witnesses for You in our family, 43:58 in our community and have that power 44:01 to bring souls into thee. 44:03 Thank You again for Your blessings here. 44:06 And we ask this in Jesus' name. 44:08 Amen. Amen. 44:10 Now, before you jump up 44:11 and do that last meeting shuffle, 44:13 we're gonna close with our theme song, thank you. 44:29 Change my heart oh God 44:35 Make it ever true 44:39 Change my heart oh God 44:43 May I be like You 44:49 You are the potter 44:53 I am the clay 44:58 Mold me and make me 45:03 This is what I pray 45:08 Change my heart oh God 45:13 Make it ever true 45:18 Change my heart oh God 45:23 May I be like You 45:31 As we close this evening, 45:33 I would just like to make this-- 45:35 these couple of statements. 45:36 These wonderful green plants if you would like one of those, 45:40 Linda Pellandini has the information for that. 45:43 And if you would just help us 45:44 by taking your chair with you out the side doors 45:47 to one of those crates, 45:48 we would be very appreciative. Let's pray. 45:53 Our gracious Father in Heaven, 45:55 how good and rich has been our experience this week. 46:00 We have felt the presence and the power of Your spirit. 46:04 We have opened our hearts to the preaching of the word. 46:08 We have seen Jesus here. 46:11 And we've felt the Father's love. 46:14 Lord, we know that on this earth 46:16 we cannot gather like this all the time. 46:21 You have called us to live among our families, 46:24 our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers 46:28 what would they do without us living this holiness. 46:34 Give us the power to take this experience with us 46:39 and to put it in place wherever we are for the coming year. 46:46 We thank You for the blood, in Jesus' name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17