Perfecting Me

Character and Watchfulness

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Wintley Phipps (Host), Adly Campos, Dr E.T. Stoddart, Ruthie Jacobson

Home

Series Code: PFM

Program Code: PFM000007A


00:27 Hi, I'm Wintley Phipps,
00:28 and welcome to our program Perfecting Me,
00:32 Becoming More Like Jesus.
00:35 I'm so glad you've joined us.
00:37 My guests today on our program are Ruthie Jacobsen,
00:39 Head of Prime Ministry of the North American division
00:42 of Seventh-day Adventist.
00:43 Pastor Georges Fleurimond,
00:45 pastor of the West Park Seventh-day Adventist Church.
00:48 And Mrs. Adly Campos, Speaker and President
00:51 of Family Well-being International.
00:54 You'll hear from them a little later.
00:57 Come with me to the garden of Gethsemane
00:58 and place...
01:00 I have been privileged to visit myself.
01:02 I want you to see the night the Christ was betrayed.
01:05 Christ was in the garden
01:06 and He lowered His head bowed over,
01:08 His spirit in agony,
01:09 His anguish so intense
01:11 that His body was pushing not sweat from His pores
01:14 but drops of blood.
01:16 All around Him was the horror of a great spiritual darkness,
01:20 every sin committed since the dawn of creation
01:23 was by His own choice weighing upon his shoulders.
01:27 The light of the Father's presence
01:29 seem to have been removed from His life
01:32 because of your sin and mine,
01:34 Jesus was experiencing
01:35 the eclipse of His Father's smile and favor.
01:39 At one point,
01:40 Jesus stretched Himself out on the earth
01:42 crying out for our salvation,
01:44 never before had He been in such distress and sorrow.
01:48 He said to his disciples,
01:50 "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful
01:52 even unto death,
01:53 tarry ye here, and watch with me."
01:57 Then Jesus went a little further
01:58 from where they were and prayed,
02:00 He prayed a prayer
02:01 that was wrenched from His soul,
02:03 "O my Father, if it be possible,
02:06 let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will,
02:11 but as thou wilt."
02:13 Then Jesus got up from His prayer,
02:14 He went to His disciples only to find them fast asleep.
02:18 "Wake up!" He said.
02:20 And then turning to Peter, Jesus said,
02:22 "Could you not watch with me one hour?"
02:25 and then Jesus spoke a word to Peter
02:27 but not only to Peter was these words spoken,
02:30 it was spoken to all mankind.
02:32 It is one of the greatest admonitions
02:35 ever spoken by our Lord.
02:37 A timeless strategy for all heaven-bound souls
02:41 in search of a life of victory over sin.
02:44 It is the only approach to victorious living
02:48 for those seeking protection from the devil
02:50 and emancipation from sin.
02:52 Jesus said, "Watch and pray."
03:00 In Mathew 26:41, Jesus said,
03:04 "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,
03:09 the spirit indeed is willing
03:12 but the flesh is weak."
03:16 What Jesus said to His disciples
03:17 that night in Gethsemane
03:20 was about so much more than
03:22 staying awake in the middle of church
03:25 or in the middle of a spiritual outpouring.
03:29 That night in Gethsemane,
03:32 Jesus gave to all of us
03:35 a formula He wanted all His followers to live by
03:40 for the rest of their lives.
03:43 Jesus was saying, "Be vigilant, and always in prayer,
03:49 or you will fall into temptation and into sin.
03:53 And remember, your spirit is willing,
03:56 but your flesh is weak."
04:00 For those who want to avoid
04:01 falling into sin and temptation,
04:04 Jesus says, remember this for as long as you live,
04:09 the only way to be victorious
04:13 is to learn how to never tire in watching and praying.
04:19 Watch meaning be alert and observant
04:23 for the tricks of the enemy,
04:25 watch meaning live in a conscious state
04:29 or a spiritual surveillance,
04:31 always watching out for the next temptation
04:35 coming your way,
04:36 the next temptation in your environment
04:38 even in your thoughts and in your thinking
04:41 and in your reflexes, and even what you do naturally.
04:46 Jesus was saying to us,
04:48 if we don't want to fall into temptation,
04:51 we have to be constantly watching
04:54 for the next deception of the devil.
04:59 Brothers and sisters,
05:00 all of us have terrible temptations
05:03 that are ahead of us.
05:05 And we need strength and protection to endure them.
05:10 And that day in the garden, Jesus gave to us
05:13 a vital key to strengthen character
05:17 and yes, protect the purity of Christian character,
05:20 He said watch and pray.
05:24 And both activities, surveillance and communion,
05:30 communion with God, they need to be constant,
05:33 surveillance and communion need to be constant
05:36 to be effective.
05:39 Here Jesus says,
05:40 a prerequisite for all spiritual victories
05:45 is to watch.
05:47 1 Peter 5:8 says,
05:49 "Be sober, be vigilant
05:52 because your adversary the devil
05:54 as a roaring lion walketh about seeking
05:58 whom he may devour."
06:00 So watch, to tell the truth,
06:04 watching out for and living in anticipation of temptations
06:08 that are sure to come
06:10 was not something I was ever taught to do
06:12 in my Christian life
06:14 but with God's help,
06:16 I've learned to watch and sometimes,
06:19 I've had to learn to watch the hard way.
06:23 In learning how to watch,
06:25 the first thing I had to understand was
06:27 there is no end to watching because the devil never lets up
06:33 with his bombardment of temptations.
06:35 Watching is an all day, everyday,
06:40 if you are up all day, 24/7 activity.
06:44 From the time you open your eyes in the morning
06:46 to the moment you close them at night,
06:49 you can be sure of one thing
06:52 that moment by moment, hour by hour, every day, 24/7
06:57 the devil is on his job
07:00 bringing another temptation your way.
07:04 He does it on your job, in your home,
07:08 through your phone, your computer,
07:11 he even tempts you in church.
07:14 And you have to recognize that for you,
07:17 there will be no let up,
07:19 no break from the temptations
07:21 the devil will constantly throw at you.
07:25 That's why Jesus said,
07:27 you better become excellent at watching
07:31 and know that until the day you die
07:34 or until Jesus appears in the clouds
07:36 whichever comes first,
07:38 there will be in your life a relentless barrage
07:42 and onslaught of urges and desires and temptations
07:45 and there'll be no let up
07:48 in the offers of pleasure from the devil.
07:51 So watch, watch and pray.
07:57 I want you to see this video from my friends at the 700 club
08:03 that will help strengthen you as you watch and pray,
08:09 watch and pray.
08:21 Traffic was stopped,
08:22 and I actually go right up to
08:24 the remains of this green Mercedes
08:26 and it was on its side
08:29 with the roof facing me as I pulled up.
08:33 On August 4, 2013,
08:35 Deputy Richard Adair
08:37 of the Ralls County sheriff's department
08:38 in Missouri responded to an accident
08:41 involving two cars in a head on collision.
08:46 It was obvious as this was a really bad accident.
08:50 It wouldn't be surprising if it wasn't fatal.
08:53 The girl is the driver, Katie.
08:55 All you can see was the top of her head
08:57 and one hand that was sticking out.
09:01 I actually held her hand and talked to her
09:03 and tried to calm her.
09:05 But none of his training or 30 years of experience
09:08 prepared him for what came next.
09:11 She said she wanted to pray out loud
09:14 and then I became mortified.
09:18 Richard had grown up in church
09:20 but to him prayer was just an empty ritual
09:23 to a far away uncaring God.
09:27 I didn't know how to pray out loud.
09:29 I knew Him, God Father and knew Hail Mary,
09:35 I didn't know how to pray out loud.
09:36 That for me personally was mortifying.
09:40 Curtis White the gentlemen there I asked,
09:42 "Can you pray with her?"
09:44 "Yes, no problem."
09:45 And he took her hand and I made the excuse
09:47 to go check the other driver in the other vehicle.
09:51 The other driver suffered minor injuries
09:53 but had been drinking and charged with a DUI.
09:57 As for Katie, it took fire crews two hours
10:00 to safely cut her out of the tangled wreckage,
10:02 put her on a chopper to the nearest trauma unit.
10:07 Meanwhile, Richard couldn't stop thinking
10:10 about the young woman
10:11 who despite being in an excruciating pain
10:14 and holding on to life,
10:15 continued asking people to pray.
10:18 Katie never screamed, she never cried out loud,
10:22 she never cursed, she never was angry,
10:25 what she did was pray out loud.
10:28 And I just couldn't believe that as a 50-some year old man
10:33 how that young girl had that much faith in God,
10:36 and I didn't.
10:39 That's because over the past year,
10:41 Richard had being trying to come to terms
10:43 with the disappointments and failures in his own life
10:46 and was searching for meaning and purpose.
10:49 You know, I wanted to go to church.
10:52 I guess I was looking for something I was missing.
10:56 Then later, Richard and his wife Debbie
10:58 visited Katie and her family
10:59 at Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Illinois.
11:05 I looked at my wife and I said,
11:07 "I can't believe how happy everybody is
11:09 like it's almost like we are at a birthday party."
11:13 And her mother looked at me, she said,
11:14 "We could be planning a funeral right now,
11:16 and Katie is alive and because of God's grace,
11:20 Katie is alive."
11:22 Finally, Richard understood what he'd been struggling with.
11:26 I was missing a relationship with God.
11:28 I had no relationship with God.
11:32 Soon afterwards, Richard and Debbie
11:34 went to a local church service.
11:36 I knew that the first time I was there,
11:38 when we were talking about God and Jesus and just it clicked.
11:45 I don't know how to explain it. It just...
11:47 I knew that moment,
11:49 it was like someone opening rice for the first time.
11:54 In the coming months,
11:56 Richard started reading the bible and praying,
11:58 as he did, he came to understand
12:01 and accept God's love and forgiveness.
12:03 During that time,
12:05 he committed his life to Jesus Christ.
12:07 I realized that I had to become right with God
12:12 and correct things.
12:14 I had to click over anger that I held against others,
12:18 just let it go, it's not that for me to judge,
12:22 it's over, release that, let it go.
12:26 As he grew in his relationship with God,
12:28 the people he felt he needed to share his new face
12:31 with the most were his children.
12:34 I've never even talked to my own children about God.
12:39 I mean, they went to parochial schools,
12:42 they did all the sacraments that a religion had to do,
12:46 things I failed to teach them, and that was hard,
12:51 it's not easy going to your children,
12:56 you're growing children and saying, "Hey, I messed up.
12:59 I didn't know God and didn't know how to show you
13:02 who God was."
13:06 As Richard lived out his faith, Debbie and his children
13:09 also made a commitment to Jesus Christ.
13:13 I'm a 53-year old man with 30 years as a cop
13:16 and I'm filling up
13:17 because it's emotional and it's hard to explain,
13:24 it sometimes is hard to put into words.
13:26 God used Katie that day in her suffering.
13:31 And it's all because of a young woman, a stranger,
13:34 who had the faith to pray.
13:37 It's a simple prayer.
13:39 It's just talking to God
13:41 and having a relationship that you'll be able to that.
13:49 Joining us again, and my guests Ruthie Jacobsen, Adly Campos,
13:53 and Pastor George Fleurimond.
13:56 We're talking about Christ giving us the blessing
14:02 and the gift of His righteous character.
14:06 When we surrender our lives to Jesus,
14:08 He gives us the greatest gift
14:11 that any human being can ever have,
14:13 and that is His character.
14:16 And as He gives us His character,
14:18 we now then have a responsibility
14:21 to protect it from being stained.
14:26 It's, you know, when the Bible talks about washing our robes
14:30 and making sure our robes are white,
14:33 it's really saying,
14:35 make sure that the righteous character
14:37 that God gives us is not stained.
14:40 And we all know that temptation
14:43 and falling into sin stains our character.
14:49 And we want to talk about that a little bit.
14:51 And, Sister Campos, I want to ask you,
14:54 this how do you think falling into sin
14:58 stains character?
15:00 Because, you know, when Jesus said,
15:02 "Watch and pray",
15:04 He didn't just say watch and pray, He said,
15:06 "Watch and pray that you don't enter
15:09 or that you don't fall into temptation."
15:12 He was trying to protect us from staining that character.
15:15 What are your thoughts about that?
15:19 My thought is that
15:20 if He's telling us to watch because it can happen.
15:25 Yes.
15:27 And we must do something to avoid for it to happen.
15:32 Do something, take certain measures
15:35 that it will not happen,
15:37 and that's when he says, "That we need to watch,
15:40 that we might not fall into temptation."
15:43 Temptation will always come
15:45 but we don't have to fall into it.
15:47 Yes. And the only way to avoid it
15:49 is by a constant communion and watch and pray
15:55 on our behalf, on our part,
15:57 in order to avoid falling into temptation.
16:01 Pastor Fleurimond,
16:02 what are your thoughts about that?
16:05 Well, similarly, I believe that watching is us being vigilant,
16:10 I think that would be a good word to describe
16:14 watching to be vigilant
16:16 because the enemy is going to, as you said,
16:20 tempt us but that to be vigilant means
16:23 that we take the proper necessary precautions
16:27 so that we are ready for
16:30 when the enemy does show up,
16:32 we have a way of escaping
16:34 or not staining the character of Jesus Christ.
16:37 Yeah.
16:38 And it's not a question of will he try to do it,
16:44 it's how soon, you know, how soon.
16:46 How soon.
16:48 Because it's going to happen, that is his goal.
16:51 Can you imagine that since heaven,
16:56 since he was thrown out of heaven,
16:58 the one thing the devil has been trying to do
17:00 is searching the earth
17:02 for wherever he can find the character of God
17:05 being manifest in the life of a human being or any place,
17:09 and he just wants to go after that
17:11 to destroy it and to deface it.
17:16 And so, Sister Ruthie, how do you see
17:19 and what do you think we can do and must do
17:22 to avoid staining the character
17:25 that is given to us?
17:29 Well, I think this is something so vitally important
17:35 and I believe that the enemy is strong
17:39 and he's stronger than we are.
17:40 Yes.
17:42 And someone has said,
17:43 "Until you know you are in a war,
17:45 you don't know what prayer is for."
17:47 But prayer makes the devil tremble.
17:51 And so even though we're weaker than the enemy,
17:54 our great God is so much stronger,
17:57 and I think that being watchful and vigilant
17:59 is keeping our eyes on Jesus
18:01 and realizing that
18:02 we have someone much stronger than we are
18:06 that we can call on any time, any movement.
18:08 And this is why I think it's so vitally important
18:11 that we pray every hour.
18:14 We just stop and say, "Lord, I need you, I thank you,
18:19 and I thank you for fighting my battles."
18:22 Yes.
18:23 Sister Campos, how do you think watching and praying
18:27 helps you to develop character?
18:31 Develop Christ character. The more I...
18:34 Okay, the more I pray,
18:36 the closer I am in communion with God,
18:39 and the more He is able to protect me
18:43 from committing sin,
18:45 staying away from that that is so awful to Him,
18:49 so awful that made His son go to the cross and suffer
18:53 what He suffered in agony in that Golgotha,
18:57 so it is so important
18:59 that we maintain that constant watchfulness.
19:05 What do I mean?
19:06 Are we going to be on our knees whole day long
19:09 and not do anything else?
19:10 No, it's the attitude of prayer.
19:14 I can be talking with my God, with my Lord Jesus,
19:18 with my Holy Spirit all the time
19:20 no matter what I'm doing
19:21 because my thought can be connected to Him
19:24 constantly if I choose to do so.
19:27 Sister Ruthie, you had a thought.
19:30 Well, I was just going to say
19:31 the beautiful thing about our God
19:34 is that even if you don't feel like praying,
19:39 even if you don't even realize your need,
19:41 even if you don't have the desire
19:45 for prayer or Bible study,
19:47 you can go to the Lord and say,
19:48 "Lord, give me that hunger, give me that thirst for you,
19:52 for your presence, for your Holy Spirit.
19:54 And teach me how to pray with the authority
19:58 in the name of Jesus."
20:00 And I just believe he's waiting to hear those prayers
20:03 and answer them.
20:05 Yes. And, Pastor Fleurimond, when you watch and pray,
20:08 really it's also an opportunity for you
20:13 to behold Jesus.
20:17 Amen. It is.
20:18 Really, it's always not just watching again for...
20:23 I call it sin detection, you know,
20:25 you're in sin detection mode, you know, you're vigilant.
20:29 And you really have to be, hey, in the world we live in today,
20:32 you have to have all your antenna out,
20:35 you have to be very mindful
20:38 because the encroachments are so subtle,
20:41 the devil is so slick, so smart,
20:44 sometimes he can do it with your eyes closed,
20:48 you know, he can get to you with your eyes closed,
20:51 you don't have to have your eyes open,
20:53 He'll bring memories back, you know.
20:55 But when you watch and you pray,
20:58 you are communing with God and beholding
21:00 and of course, you know, the word of God says,
21:03 "By beholding, we are changed."
21:05 I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.
21:06 Yes.
21:07 Oh, that's exactly I was going to go next.
21:10 Sister Campos I believe her name is.
21:12 Campos, yes I was saying that...
21:13 Yeah, Campos...
21:15 speaking about prayer and I think it's so vital
21:17 because when we pray, we are drawn closer to God,
21:20 we are in proximity of God,
21:23 and that allows us to behold him, right?
21:26 And so it's kind of like
21:28 the more we spend time with God,
21:30 the more we spend time in prayer to Jesus,
21:32 the more His character rubs off on us, right?
21:36 Right.
21:37 So that when the enemy attacks us
21:40 or when temptations comes our way,
21:42 we're able to exhibit some of the things
21:45 that Jesus would do
21:46 because as a result of us
21:48 having spent that time with him.
21:51 Amen. Now I must tell you...
21:53 Go ahead, Ruthie, you have a thought?
21:56 Well, I was just going to say
21:57 scripture prepares you for prayer.
21:59 Yes. It's...
22:01 we can't really read the Word of God
22:04 with an open heart, without being drawn to prayer
22:08 because God is there in His Living Word.
22:10 Yes.
22:12 I've got to tell you honestly,
22:16 out of all my 40 years of pastoring
22:18 and preaching and teaching,
22:21 I don't know of any other way
22:24 to break a bad habit.
22:28 I don't know of any other way to get victory.
22:33 So what Jesus was giving us there in Gethsemane
22:38 was a formula for victory.
22:42 It was really the only formula,
22:45 I mean, you can go to the psychiatrist
22:47 if you want to and try to get victory
22:49 or you can go to the psychologist
22:52 to get victory, you might get a pill
22:54 or you might get some strategies to unlearn,
22:57 learn behavior,
22:59 but the only way I know to finally
23:03 get the victory over anything
23:06 that the devil uses to chain you
23:09 is watching and praying.
23:13 So watching and praying is key
23:16 to protecting the integrity of the character God gives us.
23:21 Sister Campos, can you think of an instance in your own life
23:26 perhaps or another person's life
23:29 where watching and praying got them the victory?
23:34 Yes.
23:36 I can think of so many couples
23:38 that have being in deep problems,
23:42 marital problems,
23:44 and when they finally go to their knees,
23:47 they fall on their knees,
23:49 humble themselves before the Lord
23:52 and allow the Lord to work in their lives,
23:56 surprised at the change,
23:58 the transformation that comes as a result of prayer.
24:03 That is all we need to do, just surrender ourselves
24:07 and fall on our knees, and say, "Lord, I can't," but you can,
24:11 "And I am giving myself to you that you will transform me."
24:15 Many marriages at the border of divorce
24:19 have had the victory in Jesus
24:22 because they started to pray together.
24:25 Right.
24:27 Morning, noon, evening together in prayer, prayer,
24:32 that's the only thing that can help us to be changed,
24:35 to be transformed.
24:37 Beautiful. Sister Ruthie, we just have a few seconds,
24:40 do you have a thought on that?
24:43 Well, I do, and that is from 2 Chronicles 16:9.
24:47 Yes.
24:49 "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro
24:50 throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong
24:56 behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him."
24:59 So no matter what the need is, no matter what the need,
25:03 if we look to him in faith,
25:05 he's going to show himself strong,
25:08 that's an exciting impossibility.
25:10 Nothing is impossible. Yes.
25:12 Pastor Fleurimond, last word, just a quick word.
25:16 Definitely.
25:18 When it comes out down to prayer,
25:19 I believe wholeheartedly in a powerful prayer
25:21 and sometimes, you know,
25:23 God would allow the delay to His response
25:27 to become for us our spiritual conditioning mechanism right.
25:31 Oh, yeah.
25:32 That forces us to continue and to strive into prayer.
25:37 And at the end of the day, the Bible's clear,
25:39 Jesus said to His disciples, when we pray,
25:41 if you have faith you can even command mountains to be moved.
25:44 Absolutely, that's right. And to be cast into the sea...
25:46 So prayer is the efficacious,
25:49 but we have to be fervent in our prayer life.
25:53 Thank you so much for being with us today.
26:00 The reason that we must watch
26:02 is because the enemy is deceitful.
26:05 A man got a job as a night watchman
26:07 at a factory one day
26:08 and there have been a lot of thefts by workers
26:10 on the night shift.
26:12 And so every morning when the night shift workers
26:14 passed through his gate,
26:16 it was his job to check their bags and pockets
26:19 to make sure that nothing was being stolen.
26:21 Things were going really well the first night on the job
26:25 until a man pushing a wheel barrel of newspaper
26:28 came through his gate.
26:29 "Uh-huh!" he thought, that man thinks
26:31 he can cover up what he's stealing
26:32 with that newspaper.
26:34 So he removed the newspaper
26:35 only to find there was nothing there.
26:38 Still he felt the man was acting strangely,
26:40 so he questioned him about the paper, the man said,
26:43 "I get a little extra money from newspapers, I recycle,
26:46 so I go into the lunch room, pick up all the ones
26:48 people have thrown away."
26:50 And so the guard said, "Okay," and he let him pass.
26:53 But he decided to keep a close eye on him.
26:55 The next night it was the same thing,
26:57 night after night, week after week,
26:59 it went on, month after month,
27:00 the same guy would push the wheel barrel of newspapers,
27:03 pass the guard's checkpoint.
27:05 The guard would always check the newspapers
27:07 and find nothing.
27:09 Then one night about a year later,
27:10 the guard reported for work only to find a message
27:14 that had been left for him, telling him
27:15 to report to his supervisor.
27:17 He walked into the supervisor's office
27:19 before he could say a word, the boss said, "You're fired."
27:21 He said, "Fired?
27:23 Why am I fired?
27:24 What did I do?
27:26 I've checked and nothing has been stolen."
27:29 And the boss said,
27:31 "But what about those 365 wheel barrels
27:35 that have gone missing?"
27:37 Our enemy is deceitful,
27:41 and so we have to watch and pray.
27:45 I'm Wintley Phipps, and remember to be a Christian
27:52 means to be Christ-like
27:55 all day, every day.
27:59 No excuses.


Home

Revised 2018-02-07