Participants: Wintley Phipps (Host), Adly Campos, Dr E. T. Stoddart, Ruthie Jacobson
Series Code: PFM
Program Code: PFM000001A
|
00:27 Hi, I'm Wintley Phipps, and welcome to our program
00:30 Perfecting Me, Becoming More Like Jesus. 00:35 I'm so glad you joined us. 00:37 My guests today on our program are Ruthie Jacobson, 00:41 Head of Prayer Ministry 00:43 of the North American division of Seventh-day Adventist, 00:46 Pastor Errol Stoddart, 00:48 Senior Pastor of The Church of the Oranges 00:50 of Seventh-day Adventist in Orange, New Jersey, 00:53 and Adly Campos, Speaker and President 00:57 of Family Well-Being International. 01:00 They'll be joining me on our discussion later 01:02 in the program. 01:04 This program is dedicated to the belief 01:06 that there is nothing more important 01:09 or more exciting you can do with your life 01:12 than to become, every day, more like Jesus. 01:16 Every program is a celebration 01:18 of how God's power is at work in our lives. 01:22 We trust you'll find joy in being able to say, 01:25 "Everyday Jesus is molding me, shaping me, 01:30 and every day, He is perfecting me. 01:35 Now let's get started. 01:40 I have been blessed to get to know 01:43 a dear brother in the Lord. 01:45 His name is Dave Blakeslee, and Dave is a potter, 01:50 a potter who loves the Lord. 01:53 Let's go into his shop and see Dave at work. 01:57 God says in the process of creation, He says, 02:01 "Let us make man in our image." 02:04 And I think, as an artist, there is this process 02:08 where we visualize something that comes up out of us, 02:14 and we either speak it into existence 02:17 or form it into existence 02:20 and that's the act of creativity. 02:24 The creative expression that I come to enjoy 02:27 over the last 40 years is making pottery out of clay. 02:31 Delighted in being part of a long string of humanity 02:36 that has made pottery for thousands of years. 02:38 I love the idea of pottery being used 02:41 that I've made with my own hands. 02:43 I love the firing of pottery. I love working with clay. 02:46 Every aspect of it fascinates me. 02:52 Clay is wonderfully soft and formable. 02:57 It responds to whatever impression 03:00 it receives, 03:03 and I just love that fact that I can make anything 03:08 I want out of it. 03:10 It yields to my hands, to the things 03:12 that I see, I head for it. 03:16 And I believe that we have the same opportunity with God, 03:21 who is a creative God, who desires to form 03:25 and fashion beauty and challenge 03:29 and opportunities into our lives. 03:32 And as we, like clay, yield to Him, 03:37 yield to His hands in a sense. 03:40 He makes beautiful people, beautiful lives 03:44 out of what we might originally say, 03:47 "How could this happen, how could this be?" 03:55 Before I turn this clay into a vessel, 03:58 to a piece of pottery, 03:59 I need to go through a process called wedging. 04:02 And in that, I'm going to cut the clay in half, 04:06 slam it together a few times, then go ahead and knead it, 04:09 much like you would with dough. 04:17 This is a fairly forceful process 04:20 in order to push out any air bubbles in the clay 04:23 and to homogenize it. 04:25 And this is my first encounter with this piece of clay, 04:31 and the clay is probably feeling that 04:33 this potter's got a fair amount of strength in his hands. 04:38 There is a certain amount of searching going on, on my part 04:40 to check out the quality of the clay, 04:44 is it going to be useful for what I want to make out of it, 04:48 and I'm preparing it for that purpose. 04:53 This clay by in and of itself is never going to become 04:56 a pot, a vessel, a pitcher, a platter, whatever. 05:01 It's going to require a potter. 05:02 It's going to require surrendering, 05:04 in a sense submitting to the potter's hand. 05:08 And we have to at some point in our life agree with God, 05:13 commit ourselves to God, surrender to Him. 05:17 What that means for me, as a person, is that 05:19 there was a day in which actually at this wheel 05:23 I decided that it was time to follow Him 05:25 for the rest of the days of my life. 05:27 And I submitted to Him in that, and connected, 05:32 in a sense, to His Kingdom, and to His authority, 05:36 and climbed up on the wheel, if you will. 05:40 At which point, God began to work in my life, 05:44 and I discovered so many things about God 05:46 that I never knew before. 05:48 I discovered an incredible loving Father, 05:54 discovered the wonder of His Word, 05:59 discovered the presence of His Spirit in our lives. 06:04 That's a wonderful idea that we could be fulfilled 06:09 to the utmost in our lives by yielding to God's invitation 06:15 of, "Let me make you into this." 06:18 We may not know from the beginning 06:20 what this is, 06:22 but we're just simply saying yes, yes, yes. 06:27 And in the end we can look back 06:31 and see all that He has formed. 06:36 And what I'm doing right now, this is called centering. 06:40 I think of the centering process 06:42 as the process of becoming still in God. 06:46 So the centering process for me represents that time 06:50 that I'm gonna spend with God. 06:53 Now that may sound rather strange. 06:56 Does God enter the room, do I see Him? 06:58 No. 07:00 Sometimes I feel a sense of His Spirit. 07:04 Sometimes I feel a new peace, a new joy, 07:08 sometimes I'm inspired by a new thought, 07:11 sometimes I'll read something in scripture or a book 07:16 that's inspirational about God. 07:21 I believe that God desires to communicate to us. 07:25 This is not a very exciting process right now, 07:28 when it's the pot going to be formed, 07:30 but this is foundational for a good pot. 07:34 It needs to be centered, the clay has to be uniform 07:37 and still in my hands. 07:40 It's important for us to become still in the hands 07:44 of an incredibly wise, powerful, and loving God. 07:53 This clay is beginning to trust me, 07:57 beginning to recognize that I have a lot of strength, 08:01 but that I'm gentle in my approach to it. 08:04 I don't want to destroy it, I want to form it, 08:08 I want to form it into something 08:09 that it never dreamt it could become. 08:16 In the Book of Genesis 2:7, the Word of God says, 08:20 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 08:24 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 08:28 and man became a living soul." 08:32 For just a moment, I would like you 08:34 to imagine yourselves 08:36 as an eyewitness to God creating the world. 08:40 I found that thinking about God's 08:42 unlimited capacity for creativity 08:45 will stretch your imagination to its limits. 08:49 Men build houses and skyscrapers 08:52 out of brick and motor. 08:54 God built the sky and all the billions of planets 08:58 out of nothing but His word and power. 09:02 There is no limit to God's competence 09:05 and creative thoughts. 09:08 You know when man creates anything, 09:10 he need a starter kit. 09:13 The cook in the kitchen has to start 09:15 with certain ingredients to make her creation. 09:18 And think about it, every billionaire genius 09:21 who has ever lived on the earth 09:23 needed a starter kit. 09:25 Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Alexander Graham Bell, 09:29 the Wright Brothers, 09:31 they didn't build something out of nothing, 09:34 they all started with something, 09:38 but not so with God. 09:40 God didn't need a starter kit. 09:43 He is the only one who can create 09:45 something out of nothing. 09:49 When the angels looked at what God had made, 09:52 they marveled at His artistry and vision, 09:56 and then to top it all off, 10:00 God made man. 10:04 God made us. 10:06 Man was the crowning act of the creation of God. 10:12 Just think, mankind was made by a master artist. 10:16 And to help us to understand the process 10:19 He used to create us, God in His word, 10:22 likened Himself to a potter. 10:26 Isaiah 64:8 says, 10:29 "But now, O Lord, Thou art our father, 10:32 we are the clay, and Thou our potter, 10:37 and we all are the work of Thy hand." 10:41 Jeremiah 18:6 says, 10:43 "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, 10:48 so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel." 10:52 And then in Genesis 1:27, the Word of God says, 10:55 "So God created man in His own image, 11:00 in the image of God created He him, 11:04 male and female created He them." 11:08 Friends when God created man, He created us to resemble, 11:13 reflect, and reveal His image. 11:16 And not only His image, but His character. 11:20 And if there's one thing in the world Satan hates most, 11:23 it is the image and character of God. 11:26 Wherever the character of God is manifested, 11:29 Satan is determined to obliterate and destroy it. 11:33 And he wants from wipe from the character of man, 11:36 any traces of the image and character of God. 11:41 His war is not so much with us, 11:44 as it is with the character of God. 11:47 The great controversy is all about the distortion 11:51 and misrepresentation of character of God. 11:55 The servant of the Lord says, "He who rejects the life 12:00 and character of Jesus, refusing to be like Him, 12:06 declares himself 12:08 to be in controversy with God." 12:13 God made us in His image. 12:21 Now joining us again are my guests Ruthie Jacobson, 12:25 Adly Campos, and Errol Stoddart. 12:28 I want to begin by asking them about what they believe 12:31 they know about the character of God. 12:34 Sister Adly, tell me, what do you know 12:37 and what do you believe about the character of God? 12:42 First of all, I know that He is loved. 12:46 He has shown us in a very specific 12:50 and wonderful marvelous way how much He loves us 12:54 by sending His only Son to this earth 12:58 so that we could have salvation. 13:00 A profound deep love 13:04 that is what characterizes His character, 13:08 a person as holy as it is God. 13:12 Wonderful, and love is the zenith of His character, 13:16 it is the pinnacle. 13:18 Of all the attributes of God's character, 13:21 love is the highest. 13:23 Pastor Stoddart, what do you believe 13:25 and what do you know about the character of God? 13:28 Well, I always reference the Book of Exodus 13:32 when God came down to the mountain 13:34 to speak with Moses. 13:35 Moses went up on Mount Sinai to commune with God. 13:37 God revealed Himself as a God of mercy, 13:41 a God of goodness, a God who is righteous. 13:44 I think about God in terms of Him 13:47 being the good shepherd. 13:48 When I think of His character, He is a nurturer, He cares, 13:54 He looks out for the sheep. 13:56 And of course, as was so eloquently said 13:59 by Sister Campos, He is a God of love. 14:01 All of these things are really a demonstration of God 14:06 being a loving and caring God. 14:08 And it's interesting when Moses said, 14:11 "Show me Your glory." 14:14 God didn't show him lightning in the sky or fireworks. 14:18 God began to tell him about His character. 14:22 And there's a wonderful statement, 14:24 "The glory of God is His character." 14:28 So wherever I look in the Bible and I see the character of God, 14:33 I know it's talking about the glory of God. 14:35 And wherever I see the glory of God, 14:38 I know it's talking about the character of God. 14:42 Ruthie, what do you want people to know 14:44 about the character of God? 14:48 Well, Wintley, my husband and I have a favorite hymn. 14:53 It's number 100 in our hymnal, 14:56 Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father 15:00 There is no shadow of turning with Thee 15:04 Thou changest not, Thy compassions, 15:06 they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be 15:11 And you know, His word doesn't return unto Him void. 15:15 He cannot lie, He is faithful, He is trustworthy. 15:20 He is a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of power, 15:25 and we can depend on Him 15:28 because His Word is true, and He is faithful. 15:32 And I love that last hymn, the last verse, and of course, 15:36 the whole song is a prayer. 15:39 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth 15:43 Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide 15:48 Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow 15:52 Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside 15:56 Yes, absolutely. 15:57 You know that to me, that's the character of God. 16:01 Yes, is it necessary to become like the character of God 16:07 to be saved? 16:09 Pastor Stoddart, what do you think? 16:10 Is it necessary? 16:13 Well, I was reading a book earlier this week, 16:19 and a pastor had a conversation with a member of his church. 16:23 The member of his church basically said, 16:25 "You know pastor, I really don't want to be a disciple, 16:27 I just want to be a regular member 16:29 of the church." 16:31 You know, this thing of discipleship and all of that, 16:33 I don't want to get into all that. 16:36 I'm already saved as a Christian. 16:38 I don't need the rest of that. 16:40 And I think that a lot of people, 16:44 who are Christians, often have the mindset 16:48 that all I need to do is to believe a set of doctrines, 16:53 to have a certain theology, to ascribe to a certain, 16:59 you know, code of ethics, 17:01 and I don't need the rest of it. 17:02 Character of God and all that, eh, 17:05 I could take it or leave it. 17:06 And really, I think people miss it 17:11 because the character of God, having the character of God, 17:16 demonstrating the character of God. 17:18 And here is really is 17:20 reflecting the character of God, 17:22 that's the word, that's the important word, 17:25 reflecting the character of God because reflecting suggests 17:29 that something is shining on me and it's bouncing from me, 17:34 emanating from me back out. 17:35 When we say a mirror reflects a sun, 17:38 the sun is shining on the mirror 17:39 and the mirror is reflecting back 17:41 what it takes in. 17:44 And so reflecting the character of God says, 17:47 I'm taking God in 17:49 and is bouncing off of me back out. 17:53 So I don't think there's an option. 17:55 I think if we are saved, 17:58 reflecting the character of God is a must. 18:01 Because it says, I have Him shining on me, 18:04 He's inside of me, and then He is bouncing back off of me 18:08 in my relationship to the world, 18:10 in my relationship to the family, 18:12 in my relationship in dealing with people. 18:15 That's beautiful. 18:16 Let me say, you know, 18:17 my three R's are resemble, reflect, and reveal 18:24 the character of God. 18:26 We are called to resemble, to reflect, and reveal 18:32 the character of God. 18:34 Sister Adly, is it... Yes, now, Pastor Phipps... 18:36 Yes, go ahead. 18:39 The one and only thing that we will be taking to heaven 18:44 will be our characters. 18:48 If we plan to be in heaven, 18:51 we must begin to reflect His character here 18:55 and make it a must in our lives to reflect His character 19:00 in everything we do and say. 19:02 Yes, as a mater of fact, some people really believe 19:07 that you can live anyway you want to live, 19:11 but you're going to come up with the character of God. 19:15 Some people really believe, I don't have to worry about it, 19:19 but God has called us because He wants us 19:22 to grow every day to become more like Him. 19:26 Sister Ruthie, why do you think... 19:27 I don't think it's an option. Yes, go ahead. 19:30 I don't think it's an option, is it? 19:32 No, no, it is not an option. 19:34 And I jokingly tell people that nobody's going to be in heaven 19:40 walking up to an angel and saying, 19:42 "What did you say to me?" 19:48 You're going to have your character fixed now, 19:53 you're not going to heaven with an attitude, 19:55 you know what I mean? 19:56 That's right. 19:58 Why do you think the enemy has been so successful 20:03 in not focusing or in keeping us, 20:07 as people of God, from focusing on 20:11 becoming more like the character of God? 20:13 Why has he been so successful do you think? 20:16 Sister Ruthie, why do you think he's been so successful? 20:19 Well, I think one of the things that he uses, Wently, is fear. 20:25 I think he doesn't want us to understand what a loving 20:29 and tender God we have, compassionate. 20:33 And I like something that Pastor Blakeslee said, 20:38 he said, "God is standing at the foot of your bed 20:40 when you wake up in the morning, 20:42 anxious for you to wake up 20:44 so that He can spend some time with you." 20:46 I think one of the ways that the enemy, 20:50 one of the things he uses is fear. 20:53 He doesn't want us to know that we are forgiven, 20:56 that we can be cleansed, 20:58 that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us. 21:00 He lies about this. Yeah. 21:03 Pastor Stoddart, why do you think 21:04 the enemy has been so successful? 21:07 I believe one of the reasons he's so successful 21:10 is because that is his primary focus. 21:14 That's the thing he wants to do more than anything else 21:18 is to efface the character of God in us 21:23 because he is angry that God made us in His image. 21:27 And so throughout history 21:30 that's what his focus has been, how can I obliterate? 21:35 How can I destroy? 21:37 How can I deface the character of God in Wintley, in Adly, 21:44 in Ruthie, in Errol 21:46 'cause that the main thing he's about. 21:51 So tell me what you think about that, Pastor? 21:54 Well, I think that, when we look at history, 21:58 and I love history, I try to be a student of history. 22:03 When you look at the, even the early church, 22:06 when you look at the message to the seven churches, 22:09 we see this business of compromise, 22:13 the breakdown of what Christ was all about. 22:18 There was this gradualization into secularization, 22:22 there was this shifting. 22:25 And seemingly, the church wanted to be more 22:31 like the world 22:33 in order to attract the world, seemingly. 22:37 Or people who came into the church 22:40 were not truly converted to the principles of the church, 22:43 and the standards began to be lowered. 22:46 And throughout history, 22:49 one of the great challenges we see is 22:53 people who call themselves Christian 22:56 badly reflecting the character of God... 23:00 Absolutely. 23:01 And the character of God becoming effaced 23:03 throughout history as these great people, 23:08 who were to be bastions of Christianity, 23:11 who were the leaders of Christianity, 23:15 who in essence did everything they could 23:18 that was apposed to the example of the Christ. 23:21 When we think of the popes, we think of the whole reason 23:25 for the reformation. 23:26 And I was reading recently again about, 23:28 I did a series recently on Islam. 23:31 And the fact that the Prophet Muhammad, 23:33 one of the things that drove him 23:35 away from Christianity because in his early years 23:39 he was raised with tremendous exposure 23:41 to Christian values, to Christian principles. 23:45 He had read his Bible as a young person, as a child. 23:48 But one of the things that drove him away 23:50 from Christianity was the example of the people 23:53 who called themselves Christian. 23:55 And so whether it's secularization, 24:01 whether it's the need to make people feel 24:04 more comfortable coming into the church, 24:06 whether it's lowering the standards, 24:09 whether it's people feeling like, 24:11 "I don't need to be bothered with all that. 24:13 I just need to claim Jesus and that's enough for me." 24:16 All of these things, I believe impacted 24:19 the breakdown of Christianity 24:21 and what we could technically call 24:22 the secularization of Christianity. 24:25 Right, before we leave, tell, each of you, 24:27 just give me one thing, you think churches can do 24:31 to help grow people to become more like 24:34 the character of Christ. 24:35 What's the one thing you would like churches to do? 24:37 And we just have a few seconds. Sister Adly? 24:41 Well, we need to teach more, 24:45 and speak more on this subject of reflecting Jesus... 24:51 The importance that has not... 24:55 time now, us as Christians... teach not to be distracted 25:02 with so many other topics and subjects 25:05 that we are not spending time with Jesus, 25:10 beholding His glory, beholding His character 25:13 so that we can become like Him. 25:16 Unless we do that, we will not be successful 25:21 in our efforts to behold, to contemplate Christ, 25:25 and imitate Him, and reflect His character to the world. 25:30 So well said, we've run out of time. 25:32 Thank you so much for being with us today. 25:39 The Lord has made it possible for us 25:42 to have a righteous character in this life, 25:45 so that we may reflect the image of Christ 25:48 to the world and bring hope and joy to others. 25:52 By the power of the Holy Spirit, 25:55 the moral image of God is to be perfected 25:59 in our character. 26:01 Every day we are kept by the power of God 26:05 and Jesus wants to live His life in us, 26:09 perfecting our character, 26:11 and He wants us to work to the utmost of our knowledge 26:15 and power to carry out the purpose for which He came, 26:19 and lived, and died, and that is to restore us 26:23 into the image and character of God. 26:25 And the molding hand of God will bring out in us 26:29 God's character and God's divine image. 26:33 Everyone who wants to enter the kingdom of God 26:36 will develop a character that is the counterpart 26:39 of the character of God. 26:42 And because no one can dwell with God in heaven 26:46 except those who bear His likeness, 26:49 Jesus came to earth 26:51 that He might transform the character 26:54 and develop in us the moral image of God. 26:58 Higher than the highest human thought can reach 27:01 is God's ideal for His children. 27:03 Godliness, God-likeness, and yes Christ-likeness 27:07 is the goal to be reached. 27:10 Because of God's love and power, we all can say, 27:13 "As I become more like Jesus, He is perfecting me." 27:18 Hebrews 13:20 says, "Now may the God of peace, 27:21 that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, 27:24 that great shepherd of the sheep, 27:26 through the blood of the everlasting covenant 27:28 make you perfect in every good work 27:31 to do his will, 27:32 working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, 27:36 through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. 27:40 Amen." 27:42 There is nothing more important 27:44 or more exciting you can do with your life 27:46 than to become more like Jesus everyday. 27:50 I'm Wintley Phipps, and until next time, remember, 27:53 to be a Christian is to be Christ like. |
Revised 2018-01-18