Participants: Pr. Mike Tucker
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000916
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01:00 Hello and welcome once again to spring camp meeting 2008 from 01:05 the beautiful worship center here on the 3ABN campus in 01:08 beautiful downtown Thompsonville Illinois. It is the afternoon 01:13 and we've all come back from lunch. We've dined sufficiently 01:17 and we pray that no one is sleepy because we have a 01:20 power packed message this afternoon from a power packed 01:22 preacher and we need you to be awake and alert and ready to 01:26 receive the word of God because the word will be brought to us 01:30 with power. Now can you not say that we've had a good time thus 01:33 far into our camp meeting. I believe we have. And when we 01:39 were sitting down to put this together speakers make their 01:43 appointments and arrangements sometimes years in advance. And 01:47 we selected a number of people that we wanted to come and bring 01:50 the message of truth to God's people here in the local 01:54 audience and worldwide and God blessed because everybody that 01:58 we sort of pegged as wanting to come was available and willing 02:02 to come. We know that they have schedules and they have things 02:05 to do, but they were willing to come and spend the time with us 02:07 not only through camp meeting but as you know 10 commandments 02:11 weekend is going to follow so we'll hear them again. 02:14 The seminars thus far have been really, really good. They've 02:18 been anointed, they've been God blessed, the information has 02:21 been good. We've invited men and women who are students of the 02:25 word and they've brought to us from the word of God. Of course, 02:28 this afternoon is no exception to that. So we want to get 02:32 started. We want to start with prayer. I'm going to ask you to 02:34 bow your heads with me as we look to the Lord in prayer. 02:37 Heavenly Father: We praise and thank you for a wonderful day 02:41 thus far and we are truly thankful Lord for the power of 02:45 your word, for what it does to energize us, to quicken us, to 02:49 lift us up into heavenly places and give us strength to meet the 02:57 trials that we face every day. We know that Jesus is coming 03:02 soon and more than anything we want to be ready for the coming 03:06 of the Lord. So we ask Lord that again you would be an honored 03:10 guest in this meeting. Accept our worship, our prayer and our 03:14 praise and in exchange for these give us your power and your 03:19 blessing and we thank you, in Jesus' name, Amen. Again if 03:22 you've looked at your program you know that Shelley Quinn is 03:25 supposed to be standing here. But Shelley is a little under 03:29 the weather. Do keep her in your prayers because we want Shelley 03:32 to recover very, very quickly and we miss her so very much. 03:36 We're going to call now on Melody Firestone to come and 03:40 bring us music. Beautiful young lady, beautiful spirit, with a 03:43 beautiful song - Give Them Up. 03:45 ¤ ¤ Give Them Up ¤ ¤ 04:02 ¤We go through the motions for trading someone else's¤ 04:09 ¤notions of what you'd like to be. It seems there's no way¤ 04:17 ¤you can make it, and you think you just can't take it. The¤ 04:27 ¤answer is such a mystery. Well you can hand it over to Him. ¤ 04:36 ¤and start all over again. Give up all your worries¤ 04:47 ¤Give up all the pain, give up all the guilt and the shame. ¤ 04:56 ¤to the one who gave His life, with love He made the sacrifice¤ 05:08 ¤Give them all in Jesus' name. There are just no words to¤ 05:18 ¤say how I feel¤ 05:20 ¤and wishful thinking just won't heal this hurt inside of me¤ 05:28 ¤Only He knows what I'm all about, all my fears and all my¤ 05:38 ¤and all my doubts. I haven't been all that I could be¤ 05:46 ¤and I don't want to wait another day. I know in my heart¤ 05:56 ¤He is the way. I'll give up all my worries, give up all the¤ 06:06 ¤pain, give up all the guilt and the shame. To the one who gave¤ 06:15 ¤His life. With love He made the sacrifice. I'll give them up in¤ 06:23 ¤Jesus' name. Jesus died to set us free. It's up to us to¤ 06:36 ¤believe and give up all the worries, give up all the pain,¤ 06:48 ¤give up all the guilt and the shame to the one who gave his¤ 06:59 ¤life, with love He made the sacrifice. Give them up in¤ 07:11 ¤Jesus' name¤ ¤ 07:32 Well done The Lord has given her quite a gift that she uses to 07:37 His glory. Several years ago I was invited to speak at the 07:42 Arlington Seventh-day Adventist church. A friend of mine who was 07:47 a member of my Ephesus Church in New York City had moved to 07:50 Texas and they were having an international day and they asked 07:55 me to come and speak. And I met there for the first time Pastor 07:59 Mike Tucker. The church had about 1500 or 1600 members at 08:03 that time and has now grown, I am told, to 1900 members. I know 08:08 the kind of work it takes to pastor a church of that size 08:11 because my church was a little over 2000 when I left the 08:13 Ephesus church. It takes a special kind of tact and a 08:18 special kind of love for Christ to pastor these large churches. 08:22 And I would say to you now as we come down to the end of time 08:25 it's getting harder to get large groups of people to work 08:29 together. It's getting a little tougher. It takes a special kind 08:33 tact, a special kind of love for Christ to get large groups of 08:37 people to function as one and to function under the banner of 08:42 Prince Emmanuel. So Mike and Gayle Tucker, his wife, both 08:47 work for the Lord in pastoring that large church in Arlington, 08:51 Texas. God has blessed their ministry. We also know him as 08:55 the speaker/director for Faith for Today. Now when we think of 08:59 Faith for Today we think of one of the longest running 09:02 ministries, television ministries, in the church. 09:05 Faith for Today goes back to New York City to the days of 09:08 William Fagal, you might remember that name from over 60 09:12 years ago. I've got a copy of one of their original Christmas 09:17 shows. I think it aired in 1951 or 1953 on ABC back in New York 09:22 City years and years ago. So Pastor Mike as speaker/director 09:25 for Faith for Today serves in that long line of distinguished 09:29 gentleman who have headed up that ministry, Faith for Today. 09:33 And it is still a powerful tool in the hands of God for the 09:36 salvation of the souls of men. We are so honored and blessed 09:40 and pleased that he consented to come and speak with us. He's 09:44 a man with a sense of humor and think he actually balled his 09:47 fist up at me back stage a moment ago, but someone 09:51 that we love and respect. Last October you may recall that he 09:56 and Gayle ran a very beautiful television meeting called Heart 10:00 Quest that 10:01 was very well done and brought many souls to the kingdom of God 10:04 So this is someone who is used of the Lord, who God has blessed 10:10 and is blessing today. So we are very, very pleased that he 10:12 chose to come and spend this time with us this afternoon. 10:16 So without 10:17 further ado I present to you the speaker/director for Faith 10:20 for Today and the pastor of the Arlington Church, Pastor Mike 10:22 Tucker. 10:24 He mentioned Faith for Today being one of the longest running 10:31 religious broad casts. Actually it is the oldest religious 10:35 broadcast in the world. This month we are celebrating 58 10:38 years. Something started by William and Virginia Fagal. 10:42 William, of course, is gone now but Virginia is alive and well. 10:45 She has had some health issues lately but she is doing much, 10:48 much better. She is a sweetheart I tell she is such a jewel. She 10:53 drives her car through L.A. traffic still. That frightens me 10:59 much less, but I'm impressed with her and she is doing much 11:03 better I am told. It's been awhile since I've been able to 11:06 chat with her. She is doing better. We praise God for the 11:09 ministry of Faith for Today. I stand on the shoulders of giants 11:13 for that ministry and so that is a joy to be a part of it. 11:16 I bring you greetings not just from Faith for Today but also 11:20 from the church that he mentioned, the Arlington 11:22 Seventh-day Adventist church in Arlington, Texas. They talk 11:26 about beautiful downtown Thompson ville. Is there a stop light 11:30 in the city. I haven't seen it. I hear there are 600 residents 11:33 of the city. I have 1900 members in my church. So it's a little 11:39 different scale there. I'm sure it's a lovely community. City, I 11:45 don't know, but it's great to be here. What a joy to be a part 11:49 of 3ABN campmeeting and to visit with you folks. I've been able 11:53 to sit and talk to some of you, eat lunch with some of you. God 11:57 has been so good. So tell me what is the essence of the 12:02 Christian life? And how is it that we know we're growing in 12:07 Jesus Christ? How do we know that we're growing in Him? How 12:11 do we know what it means to become a fully devoted follower 12:16 of Jesus Christ, a disciple of Jesus? What does it mean to grow 12:21 in Jesus Christ? What is that all about? A lot of people have 12:25 wondered about this particular question and they applied a lot 12:30 of different methods to understanding it. But let me 12:33 tell you the story of a couple who I think understand this, 12:36 a couple who I think get this. They are Kirsten and Lee 12:41 Hilderbrant. Now in 1996, I think it was, Kirsten and Lee 12:45 Hilderbrant moved to Milwaukee because Kirsten had just 12:50 finished her degree in law and so she started a practice there 12:54 with an established firm, while Lee continued his graduate 12:59 studies. He was getting a doctorate in counseling 13:02 psychology. They moved into a nice little suburban 13:04 neighborhood but they decided instead of attending a church 13:07 that was nearby they would attend a church that was 13:11 downtown, actually in the inner city, which was close to where 13:13 Lee was attending graduate school. Now this couple, 13:19 Hilderbrant, they're white, middle class and as a lot of 13:24 white middle class people would be their experience, they had 13:28 very little experience outside their own culture. So attending 13:32 an inner city church was quite a culture shock for them. But 13:36 they enjoyed it, they began to just fall in love with the church 13:39 and the people there. In fact, they also came to the point 13:42 where they felt that it was possible that they had moved 13:45 into the wrong neighborhood. They felt that God was calling 13:49 them to move into the inner city They didn't know why. But 13:52 eventually they started looking around. They found a house that 13:56 had been abandoned there, that was vacant and they sold their 14:00 house in that suburban neighborhood and much to the 14:03 protest of their family and friends they bought this house 14:07 in the inner city and moved in. They did a lot of remodeling on 14:12 it. They had to do a lot of work on it in order to make it 14:15 something that was usable for them, but they really enjoyed 14:18 living there. They noticed before long that there was a 14:22 foreclosure sign on a house in their neighborhood. So they went 14:27 to inspect it, to look at it, thinking well maybe we ought 14:31 to buy it and as they looked around they saw the thing was in 14:35 terrible, terrible repair. They thought how is that someone 14:39 could live in a place like this? And as they inquired they 14:42 realized that the landlord was an absentee landlord, did not 14:46 even live in the state, lived someplace else and allowed the 14:50 facility to fall into terrible disrepair. As Kirsten started 14:54 looking at that she said you know everyone deserves a nice 14:58 place to live. So they started looking around the community and 15:02 they realized that a lot of the houses were owned by absentee 15:06 landlords there in the inner city and they were in terrible 15:09 shape. So they tried to buy this house but their bid fell through 15:13 and they didn't bid enough. But then they felt committed to 15:17 doing something about this community. So they convinced two 15:20 other couples, friends of theirs to go into business with them. 15:24 The three couples together put a bid on another house that was in 15:29 just as bad repair and their bid won and they bought the place. 15:33 They bought the house. Then they decided it was time to remodel 15:37 it because it was in terrible shape. They did most of the work 15:40 themselves. They became accustomed to doing things like 15:44 drywall work and plumbing and things that they had never done 15:48 before but they learned rather quickly. They worked very hard 15:51 in order to keep the cost down and when they had completed the 15:55 remodeling they rented it out as cheaply as they could because 15:58 they wanted someone from the inner city to have a nice place 16:03 to live. And it went well. So they did that thing again and 16:07 again and again and again and after seven years they had 16:11 purchased and remodeled 70 buildings in that community. 16:15 Seventy buildings, some of them multifamily dwellings, others of 16:19 them single family dwellings but they worked very hard. Now they 16:23 had some interesting experiences because they would 16:25 work very hard putting together a remodeling job and they'd come 16:28 back the next day to find someone had painted graffiti all 16:31 over. So they would have to redo things. Lee in particular once 16:37 was meeting with a very dissatisfied tenant who held a 16:41 gun on him and he had to use all of his counseling skills in 16:44 order to gently be able to back out of the room, you know, and 16:47 to leave. But you know that they said that they felt like it was 16:50 the right thing to do. As they looked around that entire 16:53 community began to change because other people realized 16:57 what they were doing in their community and they started to 17:00 fix their places up. Grass started getting mowed more often 17:03 and people started planting flowers and putting new shutters 17:06 on the windows and painting their places and all sorts of 17:10 things changed in that community because of Kirsten and Lee who 17:15 decided they needed to make a difference in the community. You 17:18 see I think that this couple gets Christianity. I think that 17:25 they understand the basic premise here, what it means to 17:29 live and to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Now Jesus was 17:33 asking questions about this once and we find this question in 17:38 Matthew chapter 22. You see a lot of the Pharisees and 17:41 Sadducees were out to get Jesus. They wanted to embarrass Him. 17:44 They wanted to trip Him up one way or another and so they would 17:48 ask Him these rather tough questions and they had just 17:50 finished asking Him a question about divorce and remarriage and 17:53 Jesus was able to navigate those waters rather successfully. 17:58 So we find here in Matthew 22 starting with verse 34. It says 18:02 this:... 18:10 Teacher which is the greatest commandment of the law. Jesus 18:15 replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all 18:19 your soul and with all your mind This is the first and greatest 18:24 commandment... 18:34 So he asked what is the greatest commandment. You understand that 18:39 in that day for an expert of the law to ask that question he was 18:43 asking this: What does it take to grow spiritually? What is the 18:49 essence of spiritual growth? How do I know when I'm growing 18:54 spiritually? He of course believed that that was all 18:57 wrapped up with the law; not just the 10 commandment law 19:01 although that was the basis of it, but then it went on out 19:05 beyond that. Because if indeed the law was God's last word on 19:08 everything and if indeed spiritual growth could be 19:11 measured by one's ability to keep the commandments then they 19:13 had to understand the basis of the commandments. So they 19:16 they studied the law. He was an expert in the law. He studied 19:19 the law. He understood the broader applications of the law. 19:22 But then once you understand the broader applications, you had to 19:26 understand the details of how does that apply today. So they 19:30 would make a list of things the forbade and they had 100s of 19:33 lists. In facts, there are 1000s of pages that have been written 19:37 with this particular study in mind and for them keeping the 19:43 law, as much as anything else, meant avoiding certain 19:46 activities under certain circumstances. The Sabbath laws 19:50 were an example of this. There were 100s even 1000s of laws 19:54 regarding the Sabbath, what one could and one could not do on 19:57 the Sabbath and spiritual growth meant understanding what those 20:02 restrictions were and avoiding the negative. I had to avoid 20:06 doing certain things on that day and if I could avoid doing those 20:10 things then that meant that I was growing spiritually. That 20:16 was their idea of spiritual growth; what does the law 20:20 prohibit, can I avoid those things which the law prohibits. 20:25 So Jesus answered him in a way that may have shocked him just a 20:29 little bit, because He said, as we read there, Love the Lord 20:32 your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all 20:35 your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second 20:37 is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. Now those two ideas 20:41 were a little bit, they were familiar concepts to him but he 20:44 hadn't probably heard it in quite that context. Now let me 20:48 share with you what the Jewish prayer was. This is the first 20:50 prayer that was taught every Jew as a child. It was the prayer 20:57 said every morning and the prayer they said every evening 21:00 and this expressed for them the essence of general spirituality. 21:06 This is what it means to grow spiritually. We find this in 21:11 Deuteronomy chapter 6, starting with verse 4. This is called the 21:14 Shamah. It is the prayer, the Jewish prayer that every Jewish 21:17 child learned and every Jew repeats every morning and every 21:22 evening. This is kind of like the motto or the mantra of 21:25 Judaism. This is what it means to grow spiritually as a Jew. 21:30 And again, Deuteronomy chapter 6 starting with verse 4; it says: 21:35 Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one. Love the Lord 21:39 your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all 21:42 your strength. These commandments that I 21:45 give you today are to be upon your hearts, impress them on 21:49 your children, talk about them when you sit at home, when you 21:52 walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 21:56 Tie them as symbols on your hand and bind them on their 22:00 foreheads, write them on the door frames of your houses and 22:04 on your gates. That was their morning prayer, their evening 22:08 prayer. This was the essence of Judaism. Judaism, you see, 22:13 spiritual growth for a Jew was this: Love God by following God 22:18 and keeping the commandments. That's what it meant to grow 22:21 spiritually. But to love God and I'm going to follow God by 22:25 keeping the commandments. Spiritual growth. And so this 22:30 expert of the law asked Jesus what is the essence of 22:35 spirituality? What does it mean to grow spiritually? How do I 22:39 find spiritual formation? How do I know when I am growing? Jesus 22:43 borrowed from the Shamah. Here he is not putting this prayer 22:47 down, he's not disagreeing with it in any way. He's expanding 22:51 upon it. Does He here do away with the law of God in Jesus's 22:55 answer in Matthew 22. He doesn't do away with the law of God, but 22:58 He puts it in a different perspective. He cast it in a 23:02 little different light. The law of God is still valid but 23:07 Jesus's answer was very different than that which the 23:11 Jew thought was spiritual growth Spiritual growth was to them 23:15 was we're going to love God and we're going to do that by 23:19 following Him and by keeping the commandments of God. But Jesus's 23:23 answer was something different. We'll call this the Jesus Creed, 23:29 His creed for life and His creed is this: Love God by following 23:37 Jesus and loving people. That's the Jesus Creed. Love God by 23:44 following Jesus and loving people. It doesn't do away with 23:49 the 10 commandments, it finds them in a different light 23:55 because as you well know the 10 commandments have two sections. 23:59 The first four have to do with our love for God. The last six 24:05 have to do with our love for mankind. Love God by following 24:12 Jesus and loving others. That is the Jesus Creed. You see in 24:17 doing this Jesus also borrowed from a passage in Leviticus, 24:23 Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18. So this is not news to this man, 24:30 he should have been aware of it. Leviticus 19:18. Have I got that 24:38 right?. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge but love your 24:43 neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So this idea of loving 24:46 your neighbor as yourself was not unique to Jesus. This had 24:50 had been around for centuries. Jesus borrowed that from 24:53 Leviticus 19:18, put it together with the Shamah in Deuteronomy 24:58 and He said this is the test of discipleship. This is how you 25:03 will know that you are a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ 25:07 growing in me every day. This is how you will know that you are 25:11 becoming more and more of a spiritual person. Love God and 25:17 follow Jesus by loving others. That's it. That is the essence of 25:24 Christianity, it is the essence of spirituality. I grew up in 25:29 the church that viewed truth as a concept, a group of teachings 25:34 a concept and I was very good at all the proof texts. I still 25:39 can do that. I can prove truth because I viewed truth as a 25:48 himself said I am the truth, the life the way and here He's 25:56 talking in relationship terms with the Jesus Creed and He 26:01 saying that if you want to know truth, truth is a relationship, 26:05 it is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Creator God of the 26:09 universe, the one who spoke the worlds into existence. It is a 26:13 love relationship with Him. You want to now truth, you know 26:18 Jesus. You want to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ? 26:22 I believe there are only two measurements, two true 26:26 measurements of your daily spiritual growth. If you want to 26:30 know if you're growing spiritually, you simply ask 26:33 yourself the two questions that Jesus referred to in this 26:35 passage here in Matthew 22. Question number one: Do I love 26:42 God more today than I did yesterday? Question number two: 26:47 Do I love others more today than I did yesterday. If the answer 26:53 is yes, you are growing as a fully devoted follower of Jesus 26:59 Christ. That's what it means to become a mature Christian. Jesus 27:03 could have said a lot of things about what it means to grow in 27:07 Christ. He could have said a lot of things about spiritual 27:11 formation or what it means to grow as a person who is a 27:15 spiritual person and some of the things that He could have said 27:18 may be good things but they're not the real measure of our 27:22 growth. They may be tools to grow, they may be tools to grow 27:25 but they're not the measurement of your growth. He could have 27:28 said you'll know you're a real Christian and you're growing in 27:31 Christ if you will spend a thoughtful hour each day 27:34 contemplating my life. He could have said that, but he didn't 27:39 because that's not the measurement of spirituality. 27:41 It is tool toward spirituality but the measurement is this: 27:45 Do I love God more today than I did yesterday? Do I love people 27:50 more today than I did yesterday? That's the measurement. Jesus 27:55 points us at every stage and every place we see to 27:59 relationship. Relationship is the essence. Why did God create 28:04 the world? Because His loving heart demanded someone else to 28:08 love. So He is a creating God. He wanted to find intimacy 28:12 and relationship with His creations and so He created us 28:15 and when Adam and Eve sinned why didn't He just discard them 28:19 and start again and say well that was a bad batch. I'll try 28:23 again and maybe I can find a better batch this time. He could 28:25 have done it and no one could have blamed Him. These were the 28:28 works of His hand, He could have done that. But He did not do it. 28:33 Why? Because this is a God of relationship this is God of love 28:38 and this God of relationship asks two things of you: Love me 28:43 love each other. And by the way when we see each other we're not 28:48 just talking about the nice people that are sitting next to 28:51 you here, and He's not just talking about those of you who 28:54 are at home watching this on television, the people you know 28:57 and you love and the people you worship with, the people in your 29:00 family who you care deeply for. He's not just talking about them 29:03 He's talking about the most difficult people on the planet 29:07 to get along with. He's talking about the bums on skid row, He's 29:11 talking about the prostitutes and the drug dealers. He's 29:14 talking about the people you see in the newspaper who are 29:18 murderers. He says love these people. Love these people. 29:24 Care for them. View them the same way I view them. You know 29:30 if you really do that it changes everything. It changes how you 29:36 see people. Gentlemen you see that cute little thing walk by 29:41 in that skirt that she must have outgrown years ago. If you're 29:46 going to follow the Jesus Creed, you will see her with the same 29:51 eyes that Jesus say Mary, the prostitute. You will see her 29:56 with those eyes which will be a different expression, a 30:02 different experience because to grow in Christ, to love God, to 30:10 follow Jesus by loving others. It will change your life. You've 30:18 seen people who've gone to church for a very long time who 30:24 have all the proof texts memorized and who may have a 30:29 good diet, you know, they don't eat cheese, they stay away from 30:32 caffeine, they wouldn't touch caffeine with a 10-foot pole, 30:36 and they're at church every time the doors open and yet some of 30:40 these people are the meanest people on the planet. You've 30:43 seen them. You would think going to church that long would change 30:46 them. I'm telling you that according to Jesus these may be 30:52 what Mark Twain referred to as a good man in the worst sense of 30:56 the word. You understand that don't you; a good man in the 31:00 worst sense of the word. A lot of good people I don't want to 31:04 hang out with, I don't want to spend time with. But when you're 31:08 a good person in the way Jesus identified by living the Jesus 31:13 Creed and that's a person you want to hang out with. That's a 31:18 person you want to be with. Jesus was of such a personality 31:23 that children were drawn to Him. I've never seen children go to 31:28 a grouch, but boy they were drawn to Jesus weren't they? 31:33 So much so that the disciples said get these kids out of here. 31:36 And Jesus said, you leave them alone. This is the kingdom of 31:40 kingdom of heaven right here. You bring them back to me and 31:44 He put His hands on the children He gathered them in His arms and 31:47 He blessed them. Because when you live according to the Jesus 31:52 Creed it changes you and it changes the people around you. 31:57 No one's going to notice it quicker than children. I've 32:02 learned to trust the children's instincts, I've learned to trust 32:06 their instincts. I remember once we had a person who wanted 32:09 to work with children in the church but the kids didn't like 32:14 him. We'll find something else for him to do. And then I saw 32:17 his interactions with his own children and I understood why 32:22 the children did not like this man. He was not a likeable 32:27 person, he was mean, he was angry. And the children sensed 32:30 that and they 32:32 stayed away from him. No one felt that way about Jesus. They 32:38 saw the Son of God and they were drawn to Him. They saw Jesus and 32:42 they wanted to spend time with Him. They saw Jesus and they 32:45 listened to Him preach and when He left they said please don't 32:50 leave, we want to hear more. He got in a boat and they got in 32:56 boats and followed Him. They wanted to be with Jesus. Living 33:01 the Jesus Creed changes everything. It changes how you 33:06 interact with your family. That is the first place the Jesus 33:10 Creed should be seen is in your home. It should be seen in your 33:14 home. In my church, we have a children's story and I always go 33:18 up and I sit with the children on the floor during the 33:20 children's story and I listen to the story, whoever's telling 33:24 the story. I visit all their Sabbath School classes every 33:28 week when I'm in town and I'm at my church during that time I go 33:32 to each of the children's divisions and I visit with each 33:35 of the children there every week so they know their senior pastor 33:39 I want them to know me and to feel comfortable with me and to 33:42 now that I'm their pastor too not just moms' and dads'. So I 33:45 I will sit on the floor with the kids during children's story and 33:51 you would be amazed at what the kids tell me. One child sat down 33:56 with me and said mommy and daddy were yelling on the way to 34:00 church. I said, it's all right. Mommy's and daddies do that 34:06 sometime but they'll be okay. I hope so. Children know what's 34:11 going on. They're a judge of character. They have this 34:15 innate sense of whether or not Jesus Christ has touched your 34:19 life, whether or not He's changed you. Folks there is no 34:24 such thing as a good church fight. The Jesus Creed won't 34:29 permit it will it? You can't do that and call yourself a fully 34:33 devoted follower of Jesus Christ I've seen churches split over 34:37 the color of carpet. Lord forgive us. What are we doing? 34:43 What are we thinking? How does this represent the body of 34:48 Christ. How does this represent God himself. We're going to 34:54 split over the order of service, over the music, over the color 34:59 of carpet. God forgive us. It's no wonder some churches never 35:04 grow. You wouldn't want to be there either if you were an 35:08 outsider. You know, you want to fight you can go anyplace and do 35:13 that, you don't have to go to church. Church ought to make you 35:19 a nicer person and church ought to be a place of joy, a refuge, 35:24 a place where you know you are safe. Here's the way to tell 35:28 whether or not you're the church If your pastor cannot stand in 35:33 pulpit of your church and confess to his congregation what 35:38 he's struggling with temptation wise that week and know 35:40 that number one 35:44 no one outside that church will ever hear of it because you 35:46 won't carry the tale out and number two you won't ask for him 35:52 to be removed, but you'll support his tenure there. 35:57 Until your pastor can do that you are not the church. Until he 36:04 can feel safe doing that you are not the church, because Paul 36:10 described the church as a place where we share our burdens and 36:16 and where we bear our burdens, where we care for one another 36:19 But you know what there's not going to be any sharing or 36:24 caring or bearing if I'm not safe in that place to tell you 36:28 what's going on in my life. If I'm not safe I'm going to know 36:32 that and I'm not going to share anything with you, and therefore 36:35 you will not be able to care and you will not be able to help me 36:38 bear because we're not the church. We're not the church. 36:43 I grew up going to 36:47 evangelists crusades and some of these guys were so good at 36:52 painting a picture of the end of time that it scared me to death. 36:57 And driving home I'd be watching the sky for the cloud, sure it 37:02 going to happen then and it scared me to death. And they 37:05 would always tell me so get ready, so get ready. And I never 37:08 knew exactly what that meant. All right I'm going to get ready 37:12 but I'm not going to pack a bag. What does that mean? Get ready. 37:16 Because they never really told me what it meant to get ready 37:20 for the coming of Jesus. Now they seemed to imply that it 37:23 might have something to do with Sabbath keeping and that's a 37:26 good thing. And it might have something to do with the 10 37:30 commandments or my diet or something of that nature. But I 37:34 always wondered what on earth it meant to get ready. And then 37:38 I found the Jesus Creed and I realized as I studied this 37:43 passage and I studied other passages by Jesus, I studied the 37:47 writings of Paul and I'd even go to that wonderful book of 37:50 Revelation and I'd see the beautiful picture of the 37:53 relationship of God's people to each other and to their Lord, I 37:57 realized that the way to truly get ready for the coming of 38:03 Christ is to follow the Jesus Creed. Because God's not coming 38:12 to get decaffeinated vegetarians He's not, He's really not. Now 38:18 hopefully we'll be decaffeinated vegetarians then, that's good. 38:24 That's not who He's coming to get. He's coming to get those 38:29 who reflect the character of His Son Jesus Christ; that's who 38:33 He's coming to get. And you want to know what that person looks 38:37 like you examine the Jesus Creed Read it again with me would you? 39:04 You want to get ready for the coming of Jesus. You want to 39:09 prepare a world for His coming. This is where it starts. This is 39:14 where it begins because the world is not interested in how 39:19 much you know. They are interested in how much you care. 39:25 You don't care unless you're living this. People tell me I 39:30 don't know how to love God. You know, my picture of Him maybe is 39:34 inaccurate but I don't know how to do that. Well here's a clue 39:39 for you. You find people who need help and you learn to view 39:44 them as Jesus views them and you help them and you will find 39:49 yourself falling helplessly in love with Jesus Christ as your 39:53 Lord and Savior. You will love God by loving others. That's how 40:00 you learn to love Jesus. I used to teach at a boarding school 40:06 We had a young man there who was very shy. He was a young man who 40:11 would scarcely speak two words. In fact, he was only with us one 40:16 semester and I can only remember about six words that this kid 40:19 ever spoke. I would try to talk to him and he would answer in 40:23 one syllable words and that's about it. He was so shy, 40:27 painfully shy, that he would not hardly talk to anyone. In fact, 40:30 the second semester he didn't come back to school and it was 40:33 two weeks before I knew he was gone is how quiet this kid had 40:37 been. So we checked around and found out he just decided not to 40:41 come back, he'd gone some place else so we went on with school. 40:46 Years later, I'd left that school, I'm pastoring now in a 40:49 church that is 500 miles away from the school when I get a 40:53 phone call from a woman who identified herself as Billy's 40:57 mom. Well I'm thinking who on earth is Billy? And she said you 41:01 know Billy was there at school when you were a teacher. And I'm 41:04 going through my memory banks just trying to think of Billy 41:07 and I finally from something she said it clicks, I know who Billy 41:10 is he's the shy kid who never said anything. She said Pastor 41:15 Tucker you were his best friend when he was at school. Six words 41:20 I'm his best friend. She said Billy's got trouble. 41:25 He's married, he's got two daughters. His youngest daughter 41:27 is in the hospital, she's dying. Doctors don't think she's going 41:32 live. Billy's left the church. He's out of work and he's in 41:35 trouble. Would you go visit him? Sure I will. First I pulled out 41:40 the annual to see if I could figure out what the kid looked 41:42 like. I hoped he hadn't changed that much through the years. 41:47 Got to the hospital and found someone who kind of looked like 41:51 Billy in the waiting room for the ICU room where his daughter 41:56 was. His hands were covering his face. At times he would kind of 42:01 look up and then cry again. So I went down and I said Billy. 42:05 He looked up and he just nodded and I sat down next to him. 42:09 And I asked him how things were going on and he would just kind 42:14 of grunt. I'd ask him a question I'd get a single syllable word. 42:19 Some things had never changed you know. Billy still didn't 42:22 talk. I tried to get information from him but it was painful, it 42:25 was almost impossible. I didn't have any more information at 42:28 that point than I had when I came into the room. His wife 42:31 joined us then and she talked. Praised the Lord she talked. 42:35 She told me about how they met. How Billy ever found the nerve 42:39 to ask anyone to marry him I'll never know. That's a story I 42:43 didn't get a chance to hear. But they had these two kids and she 42:47 told me about Billy, how he'd lost his job and she told me how 42:50 the daughter was. So I went in and I prayed for the child and 42:55 we anointed her. Then I went back with Billy and Billy was 43:00 just a lost soul. I saw the eyes Billy's eyes. There was a look 43:06 of panic and fear in his eyes. So I put my arm around Billy. 43:12 I wanted to hold him close so he would know I was there. I told 43:16 Billy the story of the prodigal son. About how the son was with 43:20 the father and as long as he was with the father the father gave 43:24 him gifts. The gifts kept coming kept coming. But when he left 43:28 the father was when the gifts ran out because you only get 43:31 the gifts if you're with the father. When you leave the 43:34 father eventually the gifts run out. The prodigal son had left 43:39 the father and he realized he needed the gifts but he had 43:41 treated the father so poorly he didn't know if the father 43:44 would take him back. But he came back to the father. The father 43:47 received him with open arms and he ran to him and he embraced 43:51 him and the gifts came again. I told Billy that story because he 43:56 needed to know how the father loved him. No matter what would 44:01 happen he needed to know the Father loved him. Miracle of 44:06 miracles, Billy's daughter improved and she was able to 44:12 leave the hospital. And then I lost track of Billy. A few 44:18 months later I get a phone call. It was Billy's wife. She said 44:21 our daughter's doing great. Billy got a job in another city 44:25 and that's why you haven't seen us, we moved. And he's working. 44:28 In fact, we're back in church now. We're going to church. We 44:32 just wanted you to know that and Billy, he's really enjoying 44:36 church. And I'm leading out in the children's division and I'm 44:39 going all sorts of things. She's telling me the story, she's 44:42 thanking me for my visit, and she said oh by the say, Billy's 44:48 here. He wants to talk to you. This I got to hear. Put him on 44:54 now. Then I hear breathing on the phone. Billy, hey is that 44:58 you man. Come on buddy, talk to me, you can do it. I know you 45:02 can Billy, say something. Breathing more and more. He's 45:07 breathing's getting heavier. Come on Billy, I hear it coming. 45:09 Come on buddy, talk to me now. Finally Billy said well thanks, 45:24 click. But Billy has come home. And it wasn't that anyone did 45:32 anything spectacular other than visit him and love him and tell 45:39 him about the Father. That's it. That's all I did. I just visited 45:47 him and I loved him and I prayed with him and I told him about 45:52 the Father and how the Father loved Billy. It's a small way to 45:57 practice the Jesus Creed. To love God so much that you choose 46:02 to love the people he loves and you demonstrate it by the way 46:08 you treat them, by the way you're with them every day. 46:12 By your watch care of them. That's the Jesus Creed. That's 46:17 the essence of the commandments to love God by following Jesus 46:23 and by loving others. Would you pray with me? Father, today we 46:28 ask that you would give us the ability to live the Jesus Creed, 46:33 to see your law in this light, Lord, to understand its true 46:37 value for our lives Lord and for the world around us. Oh Lord 46:41 let us never be so selfish as to think that we can hold this to 46:46 ourselves or that we can hang on to this and not let anyone 46:49 else have it. Let us never be so foolish to think that we can 46:53 please you in any way other than following Jesus and loving 46:59 others. Father, grant us the love of Jesus and draw us closer 47:03 to yourself every day, for we pray in the name of Jesus our 47:09 Savior Amen. Remember this: The Jesus Creed - Love God by 47:14 following Jesus and by loving others. 47:18 ¤ ¤ Melody Firestone I've Just Been with Jesus¤ ¤ 47:35 ¤I've just been with Jesus, Oh I've just seen His glory¤ 47:44 ¤I've just felt His presence. as I feel it now. ¤ 47:56 ¤He is all I long for. There's no one I desire more. ¤ 48:08 ¤For I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤ 48:19 ¤Here in this place my soul is satisfied. ¤ 48:28 ¤You have erased the roles I've tried so hard to hide¤ 48:39 ¤I'm learning how to abandon all my fears.¤ 48:49 ¤Each time I meet you here. ¤ 48:54 ¤I've just been with Jesus. Oh I've just seen His glory. ¤ 49:04 ¤I've just felt His presence As I feel it now. ¤ 49:14 ¤He is all I long for, Oh There's no one I desire more. ¤ 49:29 ¤For I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤ 49:44 ¤Nothing but you, that's all my eyes can see. ¤ 49:53 ¤Finally I've found the place my heart has longed to be. ¤ 50:03 ¤My own desires, they don't matter anymore.¤ 50:14 ¤My will, my life is yours. ¤ 50:17 ¤I've just been with Jesus. I've just seen His glory. ¤ 50:28 ¤I've just felt His presence as I feel it now. ¤ 50:39 ¤He is all I long for, Oh There's no one I desire more. ¤ 50:53 ¤For I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤ 51:07 ¤Ooo, I've just been with Jesus and I am with Him now. ¤ ¤ 51:38 Thank you very, very much Melody. We want to thank Pastor 51:42 Tucker for those powerful and timely words. You know each 51:45 Tuesday here at 3ABN we have joint worship where all 51:47 the departments come together in studio B and someone is 51:53 assigned to give the worship talk and then we give our praise 51:57 reports and prayer requests. This past Tuesday they asked me 52:00 to do it and I talked to them about a phone call that I 52:04 received, a particular one. And the fellow on the other end of 52:09 was quite irate because he said that we... he said I don't like 52:14 you Adventists because you're bigots, he said you're bigots. 52:21 He said you guys think, that's the term he used, you're the 52:26 ones, you're the only 52:29 ones and I don't believe that. I think heaven will be open to 52:31 everybody. And I said, well I agree, I agree that heaven will 52:37 be open to everyone, but Jesus said I am the way. Did he? He 52:43 said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the 52:48 father but by me. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a 52:54 bigoted statement. It is. If Jesus is the way, that means 53:00 there is now other way. Amen? If there was another way then 53:05 Jesus would not had to have died. So when Jesus says I am 53:11 the way that means He is the way So I said to him there simply 53:18 is no other way. Now what we try to do is live out and follow 53:24 the dictates of Jesus. If you want to get to heaven, you got 53:30 to go through Jesus. And that's all we're trying to do. 53:34 But Christ is broad enough and loves the world enough that 53:38 anybody that comes to Him He will accept. I said, does that 53:43 sound good to you? He said Uh yeah. I said try it. I said 53:48 if you can find another way call me, we'll discuss it. The phone 53:55 went silent. Hello. If you can find another way, if you find 54:01 another way to get to glory, if you can find another way to get 54:06 to heaven, if you can find another way to please God, let 54:09 me know, because I'm banking my life on Jesus. And if you've got 54:14 something better let me know. Maybe I'll go with what you got. 54:19 But until you give me something better, I got to stick with 54:23 Jesus. Amen? I read something the other morning. I didn't 54:27 bring it with me because I didn't know I was going to have 54:30 to use it. But Ellen White in Volume 9 of the Testimonies 54:34 makes a number of statements and she concludes with this. 54:39 She says the most solemn warnings ever entrusted by God 54:46 to men have been given to us. The most solemn and fearful 54:52 warnings, she says, ever given to man to give to the world have 54:57 been given by God to us. That's very sobering that God has 55:04 called us to be laborers together with Him in these last 55:11 days. I'm a person who likes fun and Danny always says you know 55:16 Christians ought to be the happiest people in the world. 55:18 I believe that is true, I believe that is true and that's 55:21 why I liked joking with Pastor Mike just a little bit ago, but 55:25 fun aside there's a time to get real, real serious and when your 55:30 eternity is on the line that's time to get serious. These are 55:34 serious times and we have a warning message to give that 55:38 nobody else can give, that no one else can give. No one can do 55:42 what you can do. No one can say what you can say, no one can go 55:46 where you can go, no one can live the life that God has 55:50 called you to live and God will call each of us for an 55:54 accountability as far as out time, our talent, our treasure 56:00 is concerned. The calls for sacrifice will not get any less 56:04 as we come to the close of earth's history. They're going 56:07 to increase. I've got a whole 50-minute sermon on Elisha. 56:12 I wish I could preach it right now, but what it basically says 56:17 is that we are called to give all we have to Jesus, to lay it 56:22 all on the line for Him, come what may. Jesus says, you 56:27 stand up for me I will stand up for you before my Father which 56:32 is in heaven. I don't have a favorite anything. I have no 56:37 favorite text. I have no favorite foods, I have no 56:38 favorite colors, I have no favorite ties, no favorite suits 56:42 no favorite shoes. I just don't have favorite things. What I 56:46 have is hot things that are current. So my hot text right 56:51 now that is current is Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 and 6. And 56:56 basically it says that God will never leave us nor forsake us, 57:02 so we can boldly say God is our helper. Whatever you have, 57:08 whatever you lack, whatever you need, God is our helper. He will 57:13 never leave us, He will never forsake us. That promise is as 57:18 sure as the God who gave it. |
Revised 2018-04-23