Participants: Ron Halvorsen
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000861
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01:00 In just a moment Brothe Ron's gonna come and
01:03 speak to us again, but before he does we would 01:06 like to welcome back Steve Darmody tonight. 01:08 Steve, we enjoyed your concert, may the 01:10 Lord bless tonight as you minister to us again. 01:28 Tonight, you've come from all over the conference, 01:31 somebody from out of state and some of the 01:33 suburb states around. And you know, 01:37 as I look out among I know that you're 01:39 my brother and you're my sister, but 01:41 I really don't know you. I don't know your heart; 01:45 I don't know what the struggles you've 01:46 been faced with, but I do know this, 01:50 you're part of a wonderful grand movement 01:52 of God's remnant people. You've been called with a 01:56 destiny to fulfill in your life and in your world, 02:00 may take sacrifice, it may take earnest effort, 02:04 but I promise you this, 02:06 it will be worth it all when we see him. 02:16 Through many dangers, toils, and snares, 02:27 I have already come; 'tis grace has 02:38 brought me safe thus far, and its 02:47 His grace that will lead me home. 03:06 Of times road seems dark our trials hard to bear, 03:15 We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair; 03:23 But Christ will soon appear to catch His Bride 03:30 away, All tears forever over in God's eternal day. 03:42 It will be worth it all when we see Jesus, 03:52 Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ; 04:00 One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase, 04:10 So bravely run the race till we see Christ. 04:24 Only faintly now I see Him, 04:32 With the darkening veil between, 04:39 But a blessed day is coming, 04:46 When His glory shall be seen. 04:55 Face to face shall I behold Him, 05:03 Far beyond the starry sky; 05:10 Face to face in all His glory 05:24 I shall see Him by and by! 05:35 One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase, 05:53 So bravely run the race till we see Christ. 06:34 It's great. Beautiful, tonight I'm gonna do 06:49 something different to what it says in 06:50 your bulletin. And I hope to get back on 06:54 schedule tomorrow night, but tonight I got to 06:56 talk to you about the serious thing, 06:58 the remnant. I think you're very problem 07:01 in the world today and the very problem even 07:04 in the church today is, the idea that 07:05 everybody is going in different direction, 07:07 but we're gonna finally get there. And so, 07:11 I want you to look at this with me tonight. 07:13 Let's bow our heads in a word of pray, 07:14 lets seek the presence of Christ. 07:16 Listen carefully to what the spirit says 07:19 to His church. Father God, which art in heaven, 07:23 we humbly bow in your presence. 07:26 We pray for the outpouring of your Holy Spirit. 07:30 We're not satisfied that we're still here. 07:34 We want to be in the Kingdom. 07:38 We pray Father that you're reveal to us 07:40 to wonderful truth to the word of God 07:41 that we'll be faithful to the Bible. 07:44 And we know you're gonna be faithful to us. 07:48 And so speak through your word 07:51 and we'll give you honor and praise 07:54 and glory in the name of Christ, amen, amen. 08:00 He looked old and haggard, deep lines drawn 08:07 by the pen of pain ached his face. 08:11 His back was bent over from years of hardship 08:14 and you could tell by meeting Him that 08:16 he was a man that had felt the bad side of life. 08:20 The life had gone out in his eyes 08:25 I mean when I first met him he was 08:28 living in Manhattan, New York City. 08:30 And he wasn't poor by any means he had 08:34 New York real estate, oh! New York, real-estate 08:36 and let me tell you, he knew how to turn a buck. 08:41 Beautiful apartment, Central Park West, 08:45 over looking the Park, drove a limo, 08:49 or he didn't drive it, the limo driver drove it, 08:53 he just rode in it. A large bank account, 08:57 but he was poverty-stricken in soul. 09:01 He was a lonely man, he was a rejected man, 09:03 he was a hopeless man, he reluctantly 09:06 told me his story. He was born in Poland, 09:11 in a fine Jewish family, if it had been any other 09:15 time in history, anyother time in periodic history, 09:18 he would have known the best side of life, 09:21 he would have, I mean he would have enjoyed 09:24 the comforts of a rich home and a rich heritage. 09:27 But the year was 1940; it wasn't a good year 09:31 for Jews in Poland. In fact, he told me the 09:35 story how that one night they came and, 09:37 and cattle cars and the Squala and the death, 09:40 he arrived at Auschwitz. He arrived in hell, 09:48 he wept as he told me the story and as 09:51 he showed me the mark of Auschwitz. 09:57 He talked of the starvation and he 09:58 talked about the stench of death. 10:02 And now I read about the holocaust, to think 10:04 between 1939-1945, six million Jews were killed. 10:11 The holocaust was much more than an 10:12 attack on Jewish people, the holocaust was 10:15 more than a decision to kill every last Jew 10:18 in the world for the crime of being a Jew. 10:20 The holocaust was more than mass murder, 10:23 it was an assault on the values as people, of the 10:26 people of God. The holocaust degraded them, 10:33 it turned them into an anonymous massive people, 10:36 holocaust killed the spark in them, the 10:38 picture showed faceless presence emaciated 10:41 head dropped, shoulder stooped, 10:43 the Nazi's concluded death by firing squad 10:46 was too much money. So, they used 10:49 insecticide which caused them a half a 10:52 penny for a person that was the holocaust. 10:58 Some people say there was no such 10:59 thing as the holocaust; well they're probably 11:02 the same people who don't believe 11:03 in such a place as hell. And then my friend 11:09 with tears streaming down his face 11:12 told how one night he was freed, 11:15 miraculously by the allied forces, 11:18 and then he came to America and, 11:20 and he, he then said something 11:22 I'll never forget, he looked at me 11:23 and he said, I'm going home soon. 11:27 Where is your home Poland? He said, no Israel. 11:31 I'm going back to the land of my fathers, 11:33 the land of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. 11:36 Now, he's somewhere now in Israel. 11:41 But this evening I want you to focus 11:43 your attention on a different remnant. 11:46 The remnant of God, you see God has 11:49 always had a remnant, I mean he's prosecuted 11:53 at times, impoverished at times, faithful at 11:57 times, backsliding at times, pagan at times, 12:00 but always a remnant of the people of God. 12:03 You cannot reach scripture without 12:05 coming face-to-face and discovering 12:07 one glorious truth, basic truth that 12:10 God is leading, God is guiding through 12:13 the centuries. Amen. That's why the 12:16 gifted woman said; lest we forget the 12:18 way that God has led us in the past. 12:22 Now, it's not popular today to talk 12:24 about the remnant, I mean higher and 12:26 lower criticism has tried to erase the truth 12:29 of the remnant, it matters little to me 12:32 what is written, it matters little to 12:33 me what is said against the church today. 12:36 I believe and I'm certain that church is the 12:39 defective as it is, we'll compromise 12:41 the remnant of God when Jesus Christ 12:43 comes back the second time. 12:47 A redeemed remnant, now this remnant we 12:51 must consider this evening, the times demand 12:54 it. Let's take a close look at this great 12:57 Biblical truth the remnant. My text is taken 13:00 from the Old Testament, I mean it's an 13:01 ancient world written by a Holy Man, 13:03 a Holy Man of God, it was written in 13:06 ancient time, it is applicable to day 13:08 to the people of God, it's applicable to 13:11 every generation, for God is the 13:13 same yesterday, He is the same today 13:15 and He is the same forever. Amen. 13:19 It was first written between 750 BC and 700 BC. 13:26 The man who wrote it and the words was a 13:29 City Preacher, so I right away attracted to him. 13:33 I'm an Urban Evangelist; I'm really attracted 13:37 to him. He was the son of Amos, 13:41 his name was Isaiah. He is the one who 13:44 defends the idea of the remnant; 13:46 he is the one who writes about the remnant. 13:49 Isaiah is the spokesman for God, 13:51 he is gifted of speech, but more he 13:53 is gifted of Spirit. Now, it's interesting 13:58 to me personally, how little 14:01 we actually know about Isaiah? 14:03 Do you ever consider that? I mean Isaiah 14:07 seems to be shrouded in mystery and 14:11 I guess that's the ligament of so many, 14:13 world's great men and great women, 14:15 poets and writers who have impacted 14:17 our minds with words that personally 14:19 they remain a mystery. I think of Shakespeare. 14:24 We know so little about the man by the way, 14:26 in fact there is a question of how to spell 14:28 his name, not only that some say that 14:32 was no such person, it was either Christopher 14:34 Marlowe or Francis Baker. I think of Dante, 14:39 that great Italian poet. I mean we know 14:42 less about him than we do about Shakespeare, 14:44 I think of Homer, he was another world's 14:47 great writers and yet we know little 14:48 as if nothing about him. Where was he born, 14:51 what was the university attended? I mean, 14:53 how did his writings evolve, the method 14:55 and the madness of the man, we 14:57 know little, the great patriarchs 14:58 and prophets we can understand, 15:00 we can get our minds around, 15:01 we could put our arms around. 15:02 Abraham, we know a lot about him, 15:04 we know about Jacob and 15:06 we know about Moses, 15:07 the great deliver of his people. 15:09 We can read the story of Joseph 15:11 and put his life together and say, Ah! 15:13 What a man? What a man of integrity. 15:19 But not Isaiah, 15:21 now I grappled with that point. 15:24 As a, a Bible student I struggled with 15:26 that point, as an expositor of the Bible 15:30 I've, I've, I've wrestled with that 15:31 point to explain it and I came up with this, 15:36 perhaps in the providence of almighty God 15:40 that God hide the man in the mist, 15:44 shrouded his form, shrouded his figure. 15:49 So, that the voice of God could be heard, 15:52 the man is not important, 15:53 it matters little of the man, 15:55 but it matters lot the truth 15:57 that he speaks. Amen. 16:00 A man comes from the seed of woman, 16:02 the message from the seed of Almighty God. 16:09 Perhaps that's an explanation, 16:12 but what we do know 16:16 about this man, he was a City Preacher, 16:20 we know that much, he was born in the city, 16:22 he was labored in the city, 16:24 he was a prophet to the City of Jerusalem, 16:26 his ministry lasted fifty years, 16:28 which he spent City Preaching, 16:31 praying for the multitudes, 16:32 Isaiah was a court preacher, 16:33 how do we know that? The figures of 16:35 speech he uses, I mean the references, 16:38 the poetic speech of the man. 16:40 He was one of the little, great of the thing, 16:43 little, great preachers or great preachers 16:46 of the City of the past. 16:47 He was like Jeremiah was to Jerusalem, 16:50 he was like Paul was to Ephesus, 16:52 he was like Christendom was to Constantinople. 16:55 He was like Savonarola was to Florence 16:57 and Calvin was to Geneva, 16:59 and Spurgeon was to London. 17:00 He was the first and foremost a preacher 17:03 and so he spoke the word of God. 17:05 We need more preaches from the pulpit 17:07 and don't give us suggestions 17:12 or some kind of pop-spiritual psychology. 17:17 We don't need sermons about bubbling brooks 17:20 and how nice we are. 17:21 We need sermons to convict us 17:23 of our need for God, could convict us 17:26 that we're here for one purpose alone 17:28 and that's to share Jesus and to 17:30 uphold him before the multitude. 17:32 We need conviction in our church again. Amen. 17:37 Little pansy type preachers. 17:46 He was a man of culture Isaiah. 17:49 In fact, he's an aristocrat in birth, 17:51 he was an aristocrat in his bury, 17:53 the little bit we know about him, 17:55 he was a man of poetry, 17:56 he was an artist, painting words, 17:59 word pictures, he was a master of the language, 18:01 he was known to be 18:02 beyond that of Demosthenes, 18:03 he employs every form of speech, 18:05 of iteration and parable and dialogue 18:08 and interrogation and metaphor and simile. 18:12 He rises to the heights of poetry 18:14 beyond what we could even imagine, 18:16 that's the man hidden in the mist. Amen. 18:22 His words are God breathe 18:24 and that does some thing to a word. 18:28 God, he is a poet and a preacher, 18:33 but say most he is a prophet. 18:36 And he speaks to the church 18:39 in every age. He delivers from his pen 18:44 dipped in the ink of inspiration 18:46 the eternal truth of the remnant. 18:48 And listen carefully, if have your Bibles 18:50 turn with me to the Book of Isaiah, 18:52 and let's look carefully at the first chapter, 18:54 the introduction to this man's message. 18:57 And I want you to notice he starts out 19:00 with the message itself in verse 9, 19:02 that's Isaiah chapter 1 19:06 verse 9, it's amazing medical science. 19:11 I can see a fly at 5000 paces on the wall, 19:15 but I have to use magnifying glasses 19:17 to read my Bible. Anyway amazing, 19:23 verse 9 "Except the Lord of hosts 19:29 have left unto us a very small remnant, 19:34 we should have been a Sodom, 19:37 and we should have been like unto 19:40 Gomorrah." Like Sodom and like Gomorrah. 19:45 Now, the Greek Septuagint, 19:48 translation of this world by the way, 19:50 remnant is sperma, from the word sperma 19:55 we get the word sperm or seed, 19:57 if the Lord had not left sperma, 20:00 if the Lord had not left a seed, 20:01 a band of faithful followers, 20:03 we would have been a Sodom and Gomorrah, 20:05 we would be no more, if God 20:07 had not preserved the seed. Amen. Wow! Wow! 20:17 I wrote a book called Prayer Warriors. 20:20 How many have read it, 20:21 any of you? Wow! There is quite a few 20:24 intelligent people here in this audience 20:26 this evening, but I, I 20:29 I was struggling with the armor. 20:32 For years I preached only armor. 20:35 What is the first piece of armor 20:36 that he tells you to put on? 20:39 No, not the helmet of salvation, 20:40 not the breast plate of righteousness, 20:42 they like to talk about that, but it's not that. 20:44 First thing he tells you to 20:45 put on is the loincloth, 20:48 why? Because it protects the reproductive 20:51 organ and what the church is about, 20:53 it is to be reproduce itself, 20:54 that is what this church is about, 20:56 it's not to entertain you, it's to make you, 20:59 so that you might reproduce Jesus on the Earth, 21:02 that you might be able to reproduce 21:04 the truth on the Earth that. 21:05 And so, the devil when he attacks you, 21:07 he attacks you not in your theology, 21:09 he attacks you at your 21:11 reproduction and your discipleship 21:16 Think about it for a few months. 21:20 And get the book 21:23 that's the commercial let's get back. 21:28 I mean the doctor of the remnant is found 21:30 everywhere in the Book of Isaiah. 21:32 Isaiah 11:11, Isaiah 11:16, 21:37 Isaiah 36, check upon me, Isaiah 37:1 and 3. 21:41 We could see it again in Isaiah 37 verse 31 21:44 and 32, Isaiah 46 verse 3 and 4. 21:47 Centuries later Paul picks up the carrion call, 21:50 the remnant Romans 9:27 and 28, 21:54 and years later the old man of Patmos 21:56 writes his pen, his pen dipped in 21:58 the red blood ink of Calvary drops 22:00 his new found faith like golden pollen 22:02 from stems of shaken lilies 22:04 and they sweep the lives of men in every age. 22:07 Old John writes, they couldn't 22:09 prison his hands and his legs and he could 22:11 chain his legs, but they 22:13 could not chain his heart. Amen. 22:19 And he writes let's look at it. 22:24 Old man at Patmos, 22:26 by the way he got the vision on Patmos 22:28 and he finishes the book at Ephesus 22:30 in that wonderful church we talked about. 22:33 Let's look at this Revelation 12 and verse 22:41 17, "And the dragon was angry 22:48 with the woman, and went to make war 22:52 with the remnant of her seed, sperma, 22:57 which keep the commandments of God, 23:01 and have the testimony 23:06 of Jesus Christ." The doctor of remnant, 23:10 the little band of believers, 23:15 who are left on the earth a tiny torn 23:17 scattered remnant, they've come through the 23:19 great prosecution, they've come through the great 23:21 tribulation, they've come through the 23:23 shaking time, they've come washed and clean 23:26 through the blood of Christ. 23:28 Isaiah deals with two great things, 23:30 the book deals with two great things. 23:32 One is the inevitable judgment, 23:33 listen to me payday someday Adventist, 23:37 you hear me? Payday someday, 23:40 you can't play with the devil 23:41 and get away with him, 23:43 you can't play with sin and get away from it, 23:46 payday someday, the inevitable judgment 23:49 and secondly, the incomprehensible 23:52 salvation. Amen. 23:54 In fact, Isaiah is called the Gospel Writer 23:57 of the Old Testament he deals with grace, 24:00 but he deals with judgment. 24:03 Grace, the unmerited favor. 24:05 I remember the first time I saw a grace, 24:09 no not the girl grace I mean grace grace. 24:13 I was a little kid in Brooklyn, 24:15 I threw a rock through a window boom, 24:18 I was giggling and took another rock 24:21 and boom, and I turned around and run, 24:24 and I ran right into the Irish cop, 24:29 into his arms. Boom, he picked me up 24:32 by the scuff of my neck, picked me up 24:34 my feet was still going. 24:38 He said, young man you threw a rock 24:39 through the window. I said, no I didn't, 24:41 I said, I saw you threw a rock through the window. 24:45 You're going to jail, going to jail, 24:49 little feet still going. He said, I'm taking you 24:54 to jail 68th Precinct was jail, that building. 25:00 So, we started towards the 68th Precinct. 25:03 Young man you can't throw rocks 25:05 through windows and get away with it. 25:07 And then I'm thinking, 25:10 he is going to call dad, 25:14 he'll dress me up in a white 25:17 and black stripe suit and I don't look 25:19 good in it, white and black stripes. 25:25 I'm thinking, I'm behind bars, 25:27 dad's gonna come and kill me, 25:29 but then I thought I said, oh! No, 25:32 maybe mom will come, that's worse. 25:43 He said, young man you can't go do that, 25:46 got up the stairs just ready to book, 25:49 he set my feet down. He said, 25:53 will you do it again? Oh! I never do it again. 25:57 What a liar? I'll never do it again. 26:01 He said, don't you ever do it again. 26:04 Boom! I ran straight for home, that was grace. 26:08 I saw it for the first time; you asked me, 26:11 did I break other windows? 26:14 I gotta confess, I blamed a lot of it 26:18 on my brother, but it was me, 26:26 the incomprehensible salvation, 26:31 inevitable judgment. 26:33 You see, what he is saying here 26:35 is the earth maybe destroyed it will, 26:36 but the remnant will be saved, 26:38 the saving of the remnant is the miracle 26:40 when you consider they have been preserved 26:42 from the Holocaust of Armageddon, 26:44 they've been preserved from 26:46 the Holocaust of economic boycott, 26:47 they've been saved from the 26:49 constitutional changes and the death degree, 26:51 a remnant that called out winds of God 26:54 from every church, from every synagogue, 26:56 from every mosque, a remnant of God, 27:02 Isaiah is the prophet, 27:05 preacher and the prince 27:09 leaps is it were from despair, 27:13 to hope, from threat to promise, 27:19 from earth to heaven, 27:24 from the destruction to the restoration. 27:30 We see this illustrating the doctrine 27:32 of the remnant, I mean several things 27:33 are obvious about this remnant; 27:35 the world cannot be destroyed as long 27:36 as the remnant are here. 27:41 God is not causing a delay because 27:43 you haven't done your thing. 27:45 He'll do your thing if you don't do your thing. Amen. 27:52 But He can't. As long as there's someone 27:58 As long as there's someone 27:59 that loves God. He said, 28:01 he, it would be Sodom and Gomorrah, 28:02 you would remember the story 28:03 of Sodom and Gomorrah, God came right down, 28:05 I mean he had to lift them up and take, 28:07 He send angels to get them, out of the city, 28:09 I mean God had the literally lifted them up 28:12 to take them out, 28:13 but Sodom could not be destroyed 28:16 as long as lot was in the city. Amen. 28:23 By the way that's why the close of probation, 28:27 God is coming for His, his people 28:32 and then He's going to bring 28:34 judgment on this world. 28:37 I mean Genesis 19:22 tells us that, 28:40 as long as the righteous remained in 28:42 the city God could not, God would not destroy it. 28:44 And there is still hope for our world 28:45 because God knows there's people 28:48 here who love God and there are people in 28:50 the church who love God. 28:51 And as long as they are here, 28:53 and as long as he knows that, 28:54 he will not destroy them. Amen. 29:02 Men and women of a perverse culture 29:04 that still love God, 29:07 remain faithful to God, 29:08 are you faithful to God? Come on. 29:13 Well, that's your name on the books 29:16 just good and regular standing 29:17 whenever that means. 29:21 You see Matthew 24 verse 22 tells us that, 29:24 I mean it's the elect to being reprieve, 29:26 it's the elect who bring hope, 29:28 it's the elect of God. 29:30 Never forget it the church still the 29:32 apple of God's, of God's eye. Amen. 29:37 And He's not forsaken us. 29:39 Nor will he forsake us. 29:40 Look in Revelation chapter 11, 29:42 look at verse 3 God will not forsake us, 29:45 God is not a God of forsaking, 29:47 God is a God of forgiveness, 29:48 do you understand that? 29:50 Do please let your children know that, 29:53 let your children know about this grace. 29:57 Revelation 7 and verse 3, 30:02 notice what the word of God says, 30:11 "Saying, hurt not the earth, 30:13 neither the sea, nor the trees, 30:18 till we have sealed the servants of our God 30:21 in their foreheads." You see, it's they who 30:30 bring the message of hope to a world, 30:31 it's those who are been sealed in their forehead. 30:35 And I mean it's those, remember histories remnant 30:37 do you remeber how God took care 30:40 of them? Yeah. I mean Israel the children 30:43 of God picked up by a sovereign mind, 30:46 placed in this world by a sovereign hand, 30:49 protected by omnipotent power, the remnant, 30:52 the Israel of God, when the Midianites came 30:54 against them, the land of Israelites locust, 30:58 I mean God raises up Gideon, and he has 32000 31:01 that respond to go to war, 31:02 if I were to ask your church now in here 31:04 in Oklahoma would 32,000 say, 31:07 I'm ready to go to war for Jesus Christ, 31:09 most aren't even ready to go on a picnic, 31:13 no less war, 32,000 respond. God says, 31:19 that's too many. Judges 7:4, the faint heart, 31:27 hearted leave, those that wanted to leave, 31:29 they left. And by the way many of you 31:30 are gonna leave when you want to leave, 31:32 if you want to leave, you're gonna leave. 31:33 Then 10,000 remain, too many Judges 7:5 and 6. 31:41 And then comes down to what? Come on, 31:47 good, 300, when you say the shrinking time 31:53 coming listen to me, I travel around this nation, 31:55 it's already happening in North America, 31:57 the shaking time, he succeeded with the remnant, 32:01 history records it, there were 12 tribes and, 32:06 and ten were carried off and destroyed. 32:09 They were two tribes left and they remained 32:11 and they were carried off into slavery, 32:13 but they returned as a remnant, 32:15 Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, 32:17 Nehemiah the Governor, Ezra the scribe, 32:19 a remnant shall returned, history records it. 32:22 The remnant was there in the days of a flood, 32:24 a family locked in an Ark with stinking animal, 32:28 protected by God to the storm. 32:31 And the rain and the wind and the earthquakes, 32:33 they're protected by Almighty God. 32:36 The remnant was there in the days of Abraham, 32:38 I mean father of the faithful. 32:39 History records it, the remnant was there 32:41 in Egyptian captivity, history records it, 32:44 the remnant was there in the days of 32:45 Carmel's Apostasy, when Elijah the 32:48 prophet stood before his people. 32:50 And he said, "Choose ye this day whom 32:52 ye will serve, if the Lord be God serve him, 32:55 if Baal serve him." Amen. 33:01 It was there with the remnant in the upper 33:06 room, history records it. 33:10 The remnant was there in ecclesiastical days 33:14 in darkness, when, when one Roman catholic monk 33:21 thanked God for the Roman Catholics 33:23 in the Dark Ages because there was a remnant. 33:31 One monk, here I stand the remnant, 33:35 they traveled on foot through desert 33:37 the remnant, to serve a living God, 33:39 they traversed across the seas as pilgrims 33:42 of the faithful, the remnant of God, 33:45 the baptist sea captain and a Methodist teenage 33:48 and a few during the disappoint and 33:50 the remnant of God. 33:51 The remnant is here in this place, 33:53 this very night, amen. 34:00 Listen to the words of Isaiah, 34:02 Isaiah chapter 40, listen as he dips 34:07 his pen in the inspiration of, 34:10 inspiration and listen to what he says 34:15 in 40th chapter, "Comfort ye, comfort ye 34:23 My people, saith your God. 34:26 Speak ye comfortably to. Jerusalem, 34:29 cry unto her, and her warfare is accomplished, 34:33 that her iniquity is pardoned: 34:34 for she hath received the Lord 34:37 and double for all of her sins." 34:43 Did you know Isaiah named his first born 34:46 Shear-Jashub his son you know, 34:50 what it means? A remnant shall return. 34:54 Even when he named his son, 34:57 he was thinking of the remnant. 34:59 I mean Satan and others have tried 35:01 desperately to destroy the remnant in history. 35:03 I mean the waters of the Red Sea 35:05 could not drown out to remnant. 35:07 The gallows of Haman could not 35:10 hang out the remnant. 35:11 The great fish could not digest the remnant. 35:14 You see because God said, 35:16 I'm with you always. I mean the fires 35:19 of Babylon could not synch the remnant, 35:21 I'm with you, read this book from 35:23 cover to cover. And you will discover 35:25 it every word black and white. 35:27 The story of God's protection 35:29 and God's providence, let Egypt come against us, 35:32 let the Assyrians come against Israel 35:39 with that wets sword wet with Jewish blood. 35:41 That Babylon comes with clinking change 35:45 they fought for Jacob's sons. 35:47 And let them tell how and lonely exile 35:51 in dank prison and in pit of bondage that 35:55 they tried to crush the seed, they tried to 35:58 defeat the seed, but when you crush it, 36:00 it comes forth in the lily of the valley. Amen. 36:06 She survived, they stoned 36:12 Stephen yet she has survived. 36:17 Peter crucified upside down then his 36:22 will was right side up. Amen. 36:30 They dragged him through the streets 36:31 until their flesh came off their bone, 36:33 they stabbed them with spear, 36:34 and they beheaded them. Thomas runs 36:39 through with a sword, but she has survived. 36:42 I mean the church militant becomes the 36:44 church triumphant, why? Because I am with thee. 36:47 Why has she survived? 36:49 There is only one explanation, 36:51 not only because she was God created, 36:53 she was God loved, she was God call, 36:56 she was God elected, she was God protected, 36:59 a creation, the first Adam wounded in 37:01 the side that came forth Eve the bride. 37:03 The second Adam of the cross is crucified 37:06 and he's pierced in aside. 37:08 And there comes forth the new Eve 37:10 the church of Jesus Christ. Amen. 37:15 The remnant stands, the pin-headed theologians 37:20 with the Ph.Ds and a ThDs and a DDT's 37:26 cannot changed it. And the scholars 37:31 cannot change it. Nor our enemies; 37:40 they cannot change it, for the remnant stands 37:47 separated from all the powers of this world. 37:52 The seed is crushed by sword and by fire 37:56 and by water beneath, but it rises again. 38:00 There is no, did I in the church 38:01 has been whipped and stoned and robbed 38:04 and raped, and torched, and crucified, 38:08 but she lives on. Amen. 38:13 Hallelujah, amen. She lives on, amen, 38:19 let me say with Isaiah. Listen carefully; 38:24 Dark, and treasures is a night before us. 38:30 Things are not going to get better, 38:33 so you can be better; 38:34 Dark is the night before us. 38:37 Trials and tribulations are about to 38:41 break upon to us, time for the church to stop 38:44 fighting with itself. Amen. 38:47 Little pompous will be careful. Sitting on board, 38:54 exacting his stay on God. 38:56 I build this church, if he did, it's gonna burn, 39:01 but if Christ did it, it's gonna last forever. 39:04 Its time for the church. Amen, amen 39:09 Quit playing cheap politics, for dark is, 39:14 is treacherous is the night before us. 39:17 Trials and tribulations are breaking 39:20 around us, but we do not fear the future say, 39:25 we forget the way that God has let us 39:27 send them past. Amen. 39:29 His glory shines through upon the remnant. 39:32 I was traveling with my grand kids, 39:36 when they were young I was going 39:37 to camp meeting with Daine's children 39:39 where they stay with us in the summer. 39:41 And it was one of those rainy days 39:43 and I was trying to make time 39:44 and quit making time and I, 39:46 I was getting late and I had the 39:47 preach opening night, Friday night and 39:49 come all the way from Florida on our way, 39:51 on our way to, all the way to Maryland 39:53 and or to Virginia and it was gloomy and windy 39:58 and rainy and I knew you were gonna be 40:00 attended you know, how it is. 40:02 I was complaining, I do that. 40:06 And I was complaining to my wife and my wife 40:11 was listening and just as we pulled 40:16 on to the camp, there was a rift in the cloud, 40:19 and the Sun came through on the tent 40:21 and my little Kelsey she was just four years old 40:23 or so she says, Papies, she calls me Papies. 40:27 She says, Papies, look glory, glory. 40:32 That shut me up the rest of the trip. 40:36 Out of the mouths of babes glory shines 40:42 upon his remnant. Amen. Skeptics thought 40:45 about it. I mean mockers scorn it, 40:48 crowds apathy towards it. I mean Pagan's 40:51 blasphemy and execution is sort, devil lies 40:55 have not diminished our hope fromour hearts. 40:57 I have faith in you Jesus says. Amen. 41:02 And I have my sperm, my seed, my remnant. 41:08 World War II broke out, for some of you, 41:13 you were back then, for some you just 41:15 read it in your history books. 41:17 It was a terrible war, every war is. 41:23 And the Nazi forces were slowly taking 41:28 Europe and controlling the conscious of men, 41:33 but the great tragedy was that many of 41:36 the churches surrendered their morals, 41:44 their ethics to the Nazi regime and tried 41:50 to justify and I have to say in some cases 41:53 even Adventist Church is in Europe, 41:57 God forgive us. But there was one man 42:01 by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 42:04 and he was a minister and he was 42:09 imprisoned for his faith. I mean he, 42:18 he, he, he stood for to, and when they came 42:19 and said, can you run your church and, 42:22 and yet believe in the Nazi philosophies, 42:27 said no I cannot. He said, it's against 42:30 everything we Christians believe. So, 42:32 they threw him in prison. He defied the gas 42:36 and the Gestapo, he said, 42:40 you are my impassible enemy, national socialism 42:45 and its totalitarian demands, told the citizen, 42:48 I will defy it with my last breath, 42:51 took courage. They not only threatened him, 42:57 they tortured him. They arrested his family, 43:01 his fiancee they two were imprisoned. 43:06 In 1944, when his friends made an attempt 43:11 to liberate him and to take him safely abroad, 43:15 he decided to remain in prison in order 43:18 not to endanger others. He said, 43:22 we can get you out. No, I will stay here, 43:24 I do no want to endanger anyone else 43:27 because if I escape they'll take a hundred 43:31 and kill them. The Christians in that prison 43:38 camp were moved by what he has said, 43:40 and what he did? The Catholics and Protestants 43:43 alike with his simple simplicity 43:46 and his great faith. Bonhoeffer was never tried, 43:53 he went stand steadfastly on his way to be 43:58 hanged. And with calmness and dignity as they 44:04 put the rope around his neck, 44:06 he heard the prayer. God, his love for God, 44:16 it was a costly grace and that is the privilege 44:24 of taking the cross for others and of affirming 44:32 his faith in martyrdom. Will we remain 44:36 that steadfast? Will we be that faithful? 44:42 When someone says something to us now 44:46 we're ready to leave the church, 44:47 but we will be faithful even unto death 44:49 if they saw it. Will we be that faithful 44:54 that we will be apart of that remnant, 44:56 that seed and in spite it of all, 45:02 faithful to the very end. That's my prayer 45:08 for you and for me. Amen. 45:10 That we will be faithful as His remnant. 45:14 Father, which art in heaven, 45:16 I thank you for that preach us to be obedient, 45:22 to be strong, to be militant and by our 45:30 faith. And though everyone forsakes us 45:35 we know you will never and though 45:39 they persecute us, we know that you 45:41 will persevere for us. And we know 45:45 that can never take our life because it's hidden 45:49 in you and like a seed buried in the earth 45:54 we will come forth in that glorious resurrection, 45:59 keep us in the name of Christ, amen, amen. 46:08 Remember you leave this place, 46:09 but you never leave the presence of God. |
Revised 2014-12-17