Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW210021S
|
00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:13 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:41 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:52 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello and happy Sabbath. 01:11 We are so glad you are joining us 01:14 for 3ABN Family Worship. 01:16 I'm Shelley Quinn. I'm JD Quinn. 01:18 We want just to thank you for tuning in. 01:22 We have a great topic tonight. 01:24 Want to hold on to the title for just a second. 01:27 But, you know, we find our spiritual rest 01:30 in Christ Jesus. 01:32 But He still set aside a day for us to have a physical rest, 01:38 a day that we could fully devote our attention to Him, 01:42 and to our family and our loved ones. 01:44 And I'm very thankful for the Sabbath 01:47 because without it, 01:48 we'd work ourselves to death around here. 01:50 You want to introduce our family at the table. 01:54 This is some of my favorite people. 01:56 I call these my spiritual giants. 02:01 Pastor John Lomacang, he is our pastor, 02:03 you know, at the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, 02:06 his lovely, lovely wife, who's always by his side. 02:09 This is Angie. Good to be here. 02:11 And then I have my good buddy Ryan over here. 02:15 I have to go to Ryan every day 02:17 and say what does this mean, Ryan? 02:20 I love Ryan. 02:22 So anyway and, of course, 02:23 this is my little precious darling Shelley. 02:25 So what are we going to talk about tonight, Shelley? 02:28 Have you ever played hide and seek? 02:31 What do you do when you fin... 02:34 If you're the one that's counting down 02:36 and everybody else is hiding 02:38 and you get to 50 or 100 02:40 or whatever you're counting to? 02:42 What do you holler when you're through counting? 02:45 When the countdown is over? Ready or not, here I come. 02:48 Ready or not, here I come. 02:52 And you know what? 02:53 The Lord is going to be saying that soon. 02:56 We see the countdown. 03:00 We see that prophecies being fulfilled around us. 03:04 So tonight, we want to kind of define 03:07 what readiness means in general. 03:10 And then we're going to look at, 03:13 the Bible has a lot to say about being ready, 03:15 be ready to share the gospel, be ready for good works, 03:19 be ready for Christ's return. 03:21 How do we get ready? 03:24 And then finally, and most importantly, 03:27 how do we know we are ready? 03:29 So, Honey, you want to open with prayer? 03:31 Most certainly. 03:33 Father, we come together on a Sabbath. 03:35 We just want to thank You, Lord, 03:36 that we can take that 03:38 deep breath of relaxation, Lord. 03:40 Father, we just turn it all over to You 03:42 as we do every day. 03:43 But, Father, especially on Sabbath 03:45 because this is a time Lord of refreshing. 03:49 So, Father, we just ask that You be with us 03:51 as we go through this. 03:52 I'm anxious to see what it means to be ready. 03:55 And, Father, that we just dedicate this time to You. 03:58 We just ask, Lord, that You be with each one of us 04:00 and that the Holy Spirit reigns. 04:02 Get us out of the way. Lord. 04:04 We love You and we thank You in the name of Jesus. 04:07 Amen. Amen. 04:08 Amen. Okay, 04:09 just I'm gonna pop it out there. 04:11 What does it mean to be ready? 04:14 What is readiness all about? 04:17 Well, I know you like to get the house ready 04:21 when people are coming over. 04:22 Yeah. 04:23 Yeah, just get things ready, prepare, vacuum, 04:27 do whatever I need to do, mop, cook. 04:29 You know, we're coming to your house. 04:31 I remember, one thing that impressed me 04:33 is you ask what foods do we like to eat? 04:36 What, you know, I'm allergic to soy. 04:38 So she's saying what can you eat? Yeah. 04:40 So part of readiness is what can we say 04:44 that we're trying to please someone by being ready. 04:47 What? 04:48 Yeah, knowing what to do. 04:50 I think that's the biggest list. 04:52 A lot of times people say, "We're going on vacation. 04:54 Okay, what do we need to do?" Yeah. 04:55 What we need to remember? 04:57 What do we need to take with us? 04:58 You make a list. You make a list. 05:00 And I think that take inventory 05:02 I think is another way of saying get ready. 05:04 Take inventory, examine what do you need 05:06 and what you don't need. 05:07 And when we think about the coming of the Lord, 05:09 take inventory, what is He asking us 05:11 to do in light of the fact that He is returning? 05:14 That's good. That's right. 05:15 It means to prepare. It's a preparation. 05:18 We get ready to go to church. Yeah. 05:21 We get ready to go to work. 05:22 We get ready to go out and shop or, you know, 05:26 go to the store or wherever it is we're going. 05:28 You know, I love to cook. 05:30 I'm the one that cooks in our family. 05:32 And so I have a very meticulous, 05:35 very methodical way that when I'm... 05:37 When I'm ready to cook something, 05:39 I don't just go on there and just, 05:40 you know, just start throwing. 05:41 There's a very tactful way that I go into it. 05:43 I prepare, I do a preparation 05:46 before I actually do the cooking. 05:48 And so, it's just, it's a preparation 05:50 when we're getting ready for Christ coming. 05:53 We're preparing ourselves for His return. 05:56 Yeah. Honey? 05:57 I think there's also an eagerness, 06:00 you know, you're eager, 06:01 because I want to be fully prepared, 06:02 I want... 06:04 So you have that inclination for whatever, 06:07 whatever, you're going to focus on. 06:08 I learn more about everybody, 06:10 every time we have a family worship. 06:11 I would have never guessed that you 06:12 were the chef of the family. 06:14 But now, when you said that you were very meticulous 06:17 and all that, I knew that, 06:18 I would have got that one right. 06:21 You know, because you do prepare, 06:22 you know, it's important to you 06:25 to have all your ducks lined up in a row. 06:27 To me, I'm just the opposite, 06:30 you know, Shelley, where's the pots, 06:31 where are the pans, you know? 06:32 And I could have just done it a week before. 06:35 More likely six months before, you know? 06:38 Try once a year? No. 06:39 Well. 06:41 But anyway, being fully prepared. 06:43 Yeah. 06:45 And I like what you said there is that when Paul said, 06:47 "Hey, don't wait for me, I'm ready to be bound up. 06:50 I want to do the Lord's will." 06:52 So readiness can be 06:54 a predisposition of willingness. 06:56 But it means, you know, when you think about soldiers 07:00 getting ready to go into battle, 07:02 they're fully equipped. 07:04 They've got on all their armor, their gear, 07:06 and they are intentional. 07:09 Would you not say that they're intentional? 07:12 So sometimes getting ready. 07:15 There's an urgency, you know, 07:17 if you're the kind of hostess I am, 07:21 I like to have everything done before people come, 07:24 so that I don't have any kind of stress. 07:27 But if I find out that somebody is coming from out of town, 07:30 and they're going to spend the night 07:31 and I've only got a few hours, 07:33 I'd like to chi-chi, Charlie Chaplin. 07:36 Exactly. 07:38 So it is being equipped 07:41 waiting for event being fully prepared. 07:44 I'm gonna tell the story right quick. Sure. 07:48 This goes back before most of you. 07:51 I want to talk between 1949 and 1957, 07:54 Texas had a major drought. 07:57 And it's called seven year drought. 07:59 And I mean, the farmers, they were just starving. 08:01 You had cracks in the earth that were just, 08:03 you know, that you could lose your puppy on. 08:06 And so anyway, Ben Dunn, 08:09 Ben Dunn was my grandfather's best friend. 08:12 And they were both farmers. 08:13 And, so Ben Dunn, he was an optimist. 08:16 He was the major optimist in that little community. 08:21 Ben Garvin Dunn, wow, thank you, Jesus. 08:25 So Ben went into his barn 08:28 and he stayed in his barn for a couple of days. 08:30 I'm exaggerating there, 08:31 but it'll make sense in a minute. 08:33 Went in his barn because he had a project, 08:35 he came out and say 1950. 08:38 I mean, everybody was just starving, 08:40 no, there was nothing. 08:42 And in 1950, he came out with this sign, 08:45 it was three foot tall and six foot wide. 08:48 "Get ready, the rains are coming." 08:53 And so the sign was up. 08:55 And, of course, it didn't take long 08:57 for around the county to know that there's a sign up. 08:59 And I mean, everybody thought he was crazy, 09:01 because we're in the middle of a drought. 09:03 Well, we weren't even in the middle of the drought. 09:04 It was at the first of the drought, 09:05 a year gone by, no rain. 09:07 But anyway, whenever Shelley was telling about, 09:09 well, I think a good title would be get ready, 09:12 the rain is coming. 09:14 And that is true. 09:15 And most, he was the optimist of optimist. 09:21 And sure enough, it did start raining, 09:22 it was a couple of years later, but it did start raining. 09:27 And then all of a sudden, you know, 09:28 it was made the front newspapers. 09:30 You know, the rains are coming, you know, 09:33 as we got that shower, 09:35 and then had a picture of old Ben, 09:36 old Ben, good guy, you know. 09:39 Anyway, good story. Get ready, the rain is coming. 09:43 He was prepared. Yeah. 09:45 He had his paints and everything ready. 09:46 He was prepared to paint it just exactly right. 09:49 And it all just was perfect. And the rain did come. 09:53 He was ready. Amen. Amen. 09:55 And, you know, the Bible talks about readiness quite a bit. 09:59 I mean, it talks about being ready to share 10:01 the gospel having being ready to have a word in season 10:07 and out of season 10:08 where you've got a word to explain to someone, 10:10 why you have the hope in your heart, 10:12 talks about being ready for service. 10:15 But let's focus on what the Bible has to say 10:20 about being ready for the Lord's return. 10:23 Ryan, you want to kick in? 10:24 Yeah, let's kick it off here. 10:26 You know, we're thinking about preparing, being ready. 10:30 Obviously, this is within the context of being ready 10:32 for the second coming of Jesus or the return 10:34 of our Lord and Savior. 10:36 And a text that popped in my mind as we were, 10:39 as I was preparing for this was Amos 4:12-13. 10:43 And I'm not gonna read it all, but just the latter part 10:45 of verse 12 there. 10:46 Again, this is Amos Chapter 4. 10:48 It says, "Prepare to meet your God, O, Israel." 10:51 And then it describes who they're preparing to meet. 10:54 It describes our God. 10:55 And it says there in verse 13, "For behold, 10:57 He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, 10:59 who declares to man what his thoughts is, 11:02 and what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, 11:05 who treads the high places of the earth, 11:07 the Lord God of hosts is His name." 11:10 When we're talking about preparation, 11:12 we're preparing ourselves, not so much for the event, 11:16 of course, we're preparing for the event. 11:17 But we're preparing for something 11:19 even greater than that. 11:20 And that is to dwell in the presence of our maker. 11:23 Amen. 11:24 Right now, you know, that's the whole purpose 11:25 of why God told Moses to build a sanctuary. 11:28 He said, "Let them make Me a sanctuary 11:29 that I may dwell among them." 11:31 When sin was introduced into this world, 11:33 there was a separation. 11:34 And ever since then, 11:35 the whole Bible story is a story filled, 11:38 I heard it, somebody summoned up one time, 11:39 if you could just sum this whole story, 11:42 this narrative of Scripture up just a sentence or two, 11:45 it's literally about a loving God, 11:47 who desires to be reconciled with His people. 11:50 And so that's what this preparation is all about, 11:53 being ready for the second coming of Jesus. 11:55 Of course, the text that comes to my mind, 11:56 as we're talking about, you know, 11:58 being prepared and being ready for the return of the Lord. 12:01 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5, 12:03 Paul writes these beautiful, beautiful words. 12:05 He says, "But concerning 12:07 the times and seasons, brethren." 12:08 Again, speaking to the church, 12:10 because he's writing this letter 12:11 to the Church of Thessalonica. 12:13 So he's speaking to the brothers 12:14 and sisters in the church. 12:16 "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, 12:18 you have no need that I should write to you. 12:20 For you yourselves know perfectly 12:22 that the day of the Lord 12:24 so comes as a thief in the night. 12:27 For when they," notice there's you 12:30 and then there's they, 12:31 there's two groups of people mentioned in this. 12:33 There's you the brothers and sisters, 12:35 and then there's they, the people of the world, 12:37 and it says here, "For when they say, 12:39 'Peace and safety!' 12:40 Then sudden destruction comes upon them, 12:42 as labor pains upon a pregnant woman." 12:44 And they shall, 12:45 and there's a double negative here in the Greek. 12:47 Paul wanted to add extra emphasis 12:49 who may in the Greek, he said, they shall no, not escape. 12:53 But then I love the following verses 12:55 talking about preparation. 12:57 How do we prepare? 12:58 This is an aspect of how Paul counsels us 13:00 to prepare for that soon return. 13:03 Verse 4, "But you, brethren, 13:05 are not in darkness, 13:07 so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 13:10 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. 13:14 We are not of the night nor of darkness." 13:17 Therefore, it comes his counsel. 13:19 "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, 13:22 but let us watch and be sober. 13:25 For those who sleep, sleep at night, 13:27 and those who get drunk are drunk at night." 13:30 And then I love verse 8, 13:31 "But let us who are of the day be sober, 13:34 putting on the breastplate of faith and love, 13:37 and as a helmet the hope of salvation." 13:40 So preparing for, there's a lot that is entailed 13:44 that has to come into conversation 13:46 when you're talking about preparation 13:48 for our reconciliation with our Creator. 13:51 But Paul makes it clear that we have to be watchful, 13:54 we have to be spiritually and mentally sober. 13:57 And we have to put on the breastplate of faith 14:00 and love and the helmet of salvation, 14:02 we must have the mind of Christ. 14:04 So I'm going to leave it there 14:05 and kick it off to someone else. 14:07 Amen. All right. 14:08 So let's talk a little more about what the Bible says 14:11 about not so much how we get ready but just, 14:15 it's warning us that we need to be ready. 14:18 Well, you know, Paul in Romans continues that whole idea. 14:21 Yes. He says in Romans 13:11-14, 14:24 he says, and do this, knowing the time, 14:27 he starts pointing to the reality of you 14:30 should understand the time. 14:32 As Paul says, as you just read in 1 Thessalonians 5 14:36 concerning the times and seasons. 14:37 And Paul, once again, in knowing the time, 14:40 he was a very time focused apostle, 14:44 knowing the time that now it is high time 14:47 to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation 14:50 is nearer than when we first believe. 14:52 He's making it immediate. He's saying don't wait. 14:56 Now, this is the time, now is the time 14:58 to wait because now our salvation 15:00 is nearer than when we first believe. 15:02 And then, so he tells us what to do. 15:04 I'm gonna have my wife read verse 12 here, 15:06 we have it written down. 15:07 He says here... 15:09 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand. 15:12 Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, 15:16 and let us put on the armor of light." 15:20 Notice the change, 15:21 get rid of one, put on the other one. 15:23 Yes, yes. 15:24 And then he said, look verse 13, look at that. 15:26 "Let us walk properly, as in the day, 15:28 not in revelry or and drunkenness, 15:31 not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy." 15:36 Verse 14, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 15:39 and make no provision for the flesh, 15:41 to fulfill its lust." 15:43 So he's talking about guys, you know what time it is. 15:47 Yeah. 15:48 And people that go on vacation, which we like to do. 15:52 We believe we work hard, we also play hard. 15:55 But when it's time to play hard, 15:56 we make as much preparation 15:57 as we do when it's time to work hard. 15:59 That's right. 16:00 And you all know about work hard here. 16:02 I don't brag about Shelley's schedule 16:04 of not taking enough vacation, but we plan. 16:09 And my wife has a good plan for vacation. 16:11 I just leave it all. I call her my travel agent. 16:14 But she gives me choices. 16:15 She said, "What do we want to do? 16:17 What do we want to pay? Where do we want to go?" 16:19 And so this is a whole retinue of Paul saying, okay, 16:22 it's getting close to time to go on vacation. 16:25 What do we want to do? Let us, let us the instruction. 16:29 So, when we know what the time is, 16:31 we've got to do something about it. 16:32 You just can't know it and not make preparations. 16:34 That's right. 16:35 And we know that in Luke, 16:38 Jesus said that there are certain signs 16:41 of things that are going to be happening. 16:43 And when we see these signs, we should look up 16:45 for redemption draws near. 16:47 But I just want to add this thought. 16:50 As we are getting ready, 16:52 God is getting ready. 16:54 He is preparing us mansions in heaven, Jesus said. 16:58 He's gonna come back for us. 17:00 And He did say in Matthew 24:44, 17:04 "Be ready for the Son of man is coming 17:06 when you at an hour you did not expect." 17:09 But I want to read Revelation 19:7-9, 17:13 to show what God is doing for us. 17:18 He says in Revelation 19, "Let us be glad 17:23 and rejoice and give Him glory, 17:27 for the marriage of the Lord has come." 17:30 This is when it's talking about Christ has come back 17:33 the first resurrection. 17:35 He's taking us to heaven. 17:37 That's what we're getting ready for is the resurrection. 17:41 But he says his wife, that's the church, that's us. 17:46 We are the bride of Christ 17:49 has made herself ready. 17:53 And you know what? 17:55 He ain't come to get us till we're ready. 17:58 But it says, "To her it was granted to be arrayed 18:00 in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen 18:04 is the righteous acts of the saints. 18:06 Then he said to me, 'Write: 18:09 'Blessed are those 18:11 who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" 18:14 We just went to a wedding this past weekend 18:19 was a beautiful covenant wedding. 18:23 After the ceremony, the couple had communion. 18:27 Then they prayed with the mother and father, 18:31 the parents of the bride and they prayed 18:34 with the parents of the groom. 18:36 We sang a worship song after the ceremony. 18:39 It was all about God. 18:41 But, boy, I'll tell you, you walked in there 18:44 and you knew they were ready. 18:47 Everything was perfect in the reception room. 18:51 Everything was beautiful. 18:53 And the bride, this is our neighbor's daughter. 18:58 The bride was so excited. 19:00 They've been dating for six years. 19:03 They dated through high school, 19:05 they went to separate colleges. 19:07 And they were true 19:09 to one another through that whole time. 19:10 We always knew these two were going to get married. 19:13 And she was so ready, 19:17 that she was nearly galloping down the aisle. 19:21 It was... 19:22 Her father was leading her out 19:23 and she was just dragging the father. 19:25 Oh, my. It was fun. 19:28 And she was all dressed out in a beautiful gown 19:30 and everything and it was really... 19:32 That's great, Shelley. It was precious. 19:35 She was ready. She was ready as was her groom. 19:40 So that's what we're talking about getting ready 19:44 for the resurrection and the coming of the Lord 19:48 in the marriage supper. 19:51 Hallelujah. Amen. 19:53 It also tells us in Matthew 24:44, 19:57 I mean, this is short, "But therefore you 19:59 also be ready," this just fits in what you're saying, 20:02 "also be ready for the Son of man is coming in an hour 20:04 that you do not expect." 20:06 And this particular situation should be looking forward 20:08 to this as we're looking forward to Christ coming. 20:12 But then he tells us in 1 Corinthians 16:13, 20:16 yes, be ready. 20:19 But he's saying, "Watch and stand fast in the faith, 20:22 be strong, be brave." 20:25 As we are ready in ourselves for this wonderful occasion 20:29 is right in front of us, I believe. 20:32 So would you agree with me? 20:34 I'm gonna put something forth that, 20:36 let's just kind of like you've started us off 20:39 what we need to do to be ready. 20:41 I would say the number one thing 20:43 to being ready 20:45 is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 20:47 Amen. Amen. 20:48 Romans 8:14, 20:50 "Those who are led by the Holy Spirit 20:53 are the children of God." 20:56 How are some other ways that we can get ready? 21:02 What do we need to do? 21:06 Ryan? Go ahead, Ryan. Okay. 21:08 Well, I mean, to me, you first, 21:11 you first have to recognize that if you're, you first 21:14 have to be able to recognize if you're not ready. 21:16 That's the problem with Laodicea. 21:18 Yeah. 21:19 And we're living in that last church age Laodicea 21:21 cannot see her condition. 21:23 Because she's wretched, miserable, poor, blind, 21:24 and naked, because she thinks she's rich, 21:26 and abundant, and has everything 21:28 and is in need of nothing. 21:29 But Christ gives that counsel. 21:31 And when we know that there's a lot that goes 21:34 into that counsel, but in my mind I'm thinking of, 21:36 we have to be able to take as pastor said earlier, 21:39 we have to take inventory. 21:40 We have to do some self examination. 21:42 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul makes it very clear. 21:46 He says, "Examine yourself 21:47 as to whether you are in the faith. 21:50 Test yourselves. 21:51 Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? 21:54 Unless indeed you are disqualified." 21:56 You know, there comes a time in our life every single day, 21:59 we have to, as Jesus said, if you desire to come after Me, 22:02 I'm thinking of Luke 9:23, 22:04 "If you desire to come after Me, 22:05 you know, take up your cross daily, 22:07 deny yourself, take up your cross daily, 22:09 and follow Me. 22:10 That process of denying yourself means 22:12 that every single day, you're taking inventory 22:15 and you're praying the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24, 22:19 "Search me, O God, and know my heart, 22:22 try me, and know my anxieties, 22:24 and see if there is any wicked way in me, 22:27 and lead me in the way of everlasting." 22:29 So we have to get up each day and say, 22:31 Lord, if there's anything in me that needs to be changed, 22:34 that needs to be taken out, 22:35 if there's any pruning that needs to be done 22:37 to this branch, Lord, please do what is necessary. 22:41 Lamentations 3:40, 22:43 "Let us search out and examine our ways 22:46 and turn back to the Lord." 22:49 So I would say one of the number one first steps 22:51 in the preparation process is we have to take inventory, 22:55 we have to take spiritual inventory. 22:57 And that means getting in that mental, 23:00 antitypical day of atonement mentality, 23:03 where we put ourselves in our, 23:05 you know, for lack of a better concept or idea, 23:07 well, we put ourselves in that sackcloth and ashes. 23:09 And we're humbling ourselves before the Lord and saying, 23:12 Lord, if there's anything that I can't see in me, 23:15 that needs to be cleansed to prepare me 23:17 for Your soon return. 23:19 Please do that work in my heart now. 23:21 Amen. Amen. And JD? 23:23 Give me permission to, to put it on my mind. 23:27 And then give me the boldness to actually do it, 23:28 not just think about it. 23:30 Yes, I was thinking of the parable of the wise 23:32 and the foolish in Matthew 25, ten virgins, 23:36 five were wise, five were foolish, 23:38 give us your oil. 23:39 There's going to be two classes in these last days, 23:42 the wise and the foolish, 23:44 and those are classes of watchers, 23:46 they are watching for the Lord to come. 23:48 But what did the foolish say? 23:50 Give us some of your oil. 23:52 I don't want to be in that class begging for the oil. 23:55 I want the Holy Spirit to dwell in me. 23:59 And that's what we're told here, don't be foolish. 24:03 We want the Holy Spirit to be in us at all times. 24:07 And how do we know that the Holy Spirit is in us? 24:10 Okay, here we go. 24:11 The way that we do that is we ask daily. 24:17 This is not something, when you think about, 24:20 when you think about fuel in your tank 24:22 or gas in the tank. 24:24 I say fuel, my wife says gas. 24:26 We have fun with that. 24:27 She's gonna get some gas, and I'm gonna get some fuel. 24:28 He always says that. 24:30 You will know, 24:31 he'll do the same thing, fuel and the gas. 24:35 Gas and fuel. Yeah, fuel and the gas. 24:36 So when you look at the needle, 24:39 this is where the examine yourself comes in. 24:41 You should know personally your spiritual stance. 24:44 That's right. Sure. 24:46 You could sense the lackadaisical spirit, 24:48 you could sense the ebb 24:50 and flow of your spiritual life. 24:52 That's right. 24:54 And I don't think and we all know that 24:55 you could tell when you're at a spiritual low, 24:57 you can tell when you're at spiritual norm. 24:59 I don't look for spiritual highs 25:01 because spiritual highs 25:02 can be deceptive, because you don't live on the mountain, 25:05 you live in the valley. 25:06 Yeah, Elisha was a moment, but it was in the valley. 25:09 We are called to live in the valley. 25:11 The valley is where no one is looking but God. 25:14 So if you spend that time daily preparing yourself 25:18 going before the Lord in prayer and studying the Word of God, 25:21 He promises as I'm going to read here in 1 Peter 3:15, 25:26 "But sanctify the Lord your God in your hearts, 25:30 and always be ready." 25:32 And I like that. 25:34 You know, we go to the next part 25:35 to give an answer. 25:36 But I want to focus on the first part, 25:38 but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. 25:40 Now, normally the Lord sanctifies us. 25:43 But Peter is saying, 25:45 but you sanctify the Lord your God in your heart. 25:47 That means, while God sets us aside, 25:50 he's saying, I want you to set God aside. 25:53 You're not setting God aside in the corner, 25:55 say, God, I need You to be with me. 25:57 God is saying, I want you to be with Me. 25:59 But when he says, that's one of the few times 26:01 in the Bible where we are told to sanctify the Lord. 26:03 That's right. Amen. 26:05 But the Lord is often sanctifying us. 26:07 I love that he says, but sanctify the Lord 26:10 in your hearts, and always be ready. 26:12 If God is with me, am I always ready? 26:14 Of course, to give a defense to everyone 26:17 who asked for the hope, the reason for the hope 26:19 that is within you. 26:21 So when God is with us, 26:23 when I've set God aside with me, 26:26 I don't have to wake up in the morning 26:27 trying to figure out now how am I going to do that? 26:29 And one of my favorite devotional writers, 26:30 Oswald Chambers, he said, 26:32 "Whenever you are overwhelmed by the task that is before you, 26:36 you are trusting in human ability." 26:38 But when you trust those tasks to the Lord, 26:40 is there, I'm the God of all flesh. 26:42 Is there anything hard for me? 26:43 So I would say, how do you know you're ready 26:45 for the Holy Spirit or ready with the Holy Spirit? 26:47 That's a daily preparation. 26:49 It is not something that you need to get ready. 26:52 But it's a daily preparation in your life. 26:55 Now I might throw this out real quick, 26:56 because some people would might ask this question. 27:00 Well, how do I know that, that I'm ready? 27:04 Sometimes you don't know that you're ready, 27:05 but you have to step out in faith. 27:07 You have to determine ahead of time, 27:10 there's nothing wrong with rehearsing to yourself. 27:14 I've learned a valuable lesson in talking with people. 27:18 Everybody wants to be heard as well as yourself. 27:22 And there's nothing wrong as I'm finding out, 27:24 people may think you're crazy 27:25 if you're driving down the road talking, 27:27 but you're rehearsing, 27:29 what would I do if this certain thing happened? 27:32 Yeah. 27:33 Sometimes today, 27:35 because everything is so complicated, 27:38 that we may need to rehearse 27:40 how we're going to handle that situation. 27:42 Right. 27:43 And, of course, 27:47 the secret, the secret loudest voice that you can have 27:52 is by inviting the Holy Spirit in, 27:55 because the Holy Spirit says, 27:57 you don't have to know a whole lot, 28:00 but you do have to have the legs to move. 28:02 And if you will take that step of action, 28:05 I'll guarantee I will be there. 28:08 I'm not going to just let you fall in the hole. 28:10 So anyway, there's just a lot of people that ask questions. 28:16 Let God be God. 28:18 That's right. Amen. 28:19 I want to piggyback on what you just said. 28:21 How, some people may think they already, 28:24 like the Pharisees they thought they were ready, right? 28:27 But they're not. 28:28 How do you know if you're ready for the Lord to come? 28:32 You know, 28:34 I think that... 28:39 First we need to know that the Holy Spirit is in it. 28:41 Some people ask me, 28:43 "How do you know the Holy Spirit?" 28:44 Well, Romans 5:5 says that God pours His love 28:47 into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. 28:51 And if God is love and the Holy Spirit is God, 28:56 that's a spirit of love that's in us. 28:58 I believe that, you know, when the Bible says 29:02 God is a consuming fire. 29:05 Love consumes sin. Yes. 29:09 And when we look at the Ten Commandments, 29:11 the first tablet is all about our love for God. 29:14 And the second is about our love for humanity. 29:18 So I believe, you know, I hear people say, 29:21 oh, let's don't talk about love. 29:24 Yeah, we need to talk about it. 29:26 We need to talk about self-sacrificing love. 29:30 We need to talk about being ready to serve others. 29:34 And to me, I have seen Christians 29:37 that know a lot about the Bible. 29:40 They may lead the prayer service, 29:42 but they got no love. 29:44 It was like the Pharisees. 29:45 They had the Bible memorized, 29:47 but there was no love in their hearts. 29:52 So, Honey, touch on prayer because I know 29:55 if we're going to be ready, 29:59 we've got to be praying 30:02 and seeking the Lord. 30:06 In Matthew 26:41, 30:09 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. 30:14 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 30:18 Yes. 30:20 But then it comes back and says in 1 Peter 4:7-8, 30:23 "But the end of all things is at hand, 30:29 therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 30:32 And above all things have fervent love 30:37 for one another, for love will cover 30:40 a multitude of sins." 30:42 Yes, that speaks it. 30:43 John, what's on your mind? I know, say it. 30:45 And also watch and pray. 30:47 I like that one in Matthew, 30:48 but Luke 21:36 say, 30:52 "Pray always that you may be counted worthy 30:56 to escape all these things that will come to pass, 30:59 and to stand before the Son of Man." 31:01 Psalm Chapter 1 is it opens the Book 31:04 of Psalm with this contrast. 31:07 And let's look at that very quickly. 31:08 It opens this book, and I wanna have us walk. 31:10 I want to have the contrast work itself out here, 31:13 because this picture is so beautiful. 31:17 As Psalms opens up, it's only six verses, 31:21 but it contrasts the righteous with the unrighteous. 31:24 Honey, start from verse 1 to 3. 31:26 And I'm gonna pick up 4 to 6. 31:27 "Blessed is the man who walks 31:29 not in the counsel of the ungodly, 31:32 nor stands in the path of sinners, 31:34 nor sits in the seat of the scornful. 31:38 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, 31:41 and in His law he meditates day and night. 31:45 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 31:49 that brings forth its fruit in its season, 31:52 whose leaf also shall not wither, 31:55 and whatever he does shall prosper." 31:58 That's the good side but now, there's no gray area 32:00 because we go right to the other side. 32:03 Verse 4, "The ungodly are not so, 32:06 but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 32:09 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, 32:13 nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." 32:15 And here's the contrasting verse, one, 32:18 it summarizes the whole thing. 32:20 "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, 32:22 but the way of the ungodly shall perish." 32:25 So the very first question that he's asking 32:27 is who's going to stand? 32:29 And then in Revelation 6:17, 32:31 "The great day of His wrath has come, 32:33 who shall be able to stand." 32:35 If you're standing daily, 32:37 you don't have to worry about standing 32:38 when the moment comes. 32:40 Amen. 32:41 People that take a stand for Christ today 32:42 are not concerned about the moment. 32:44 They're not trying to figure it out, 32:45 if I'm ever asked that question, 32:47 what's my position on it? 32:49 If I'm asked the question on, what do I think about this, 32:51 or what do I think about that, 32:52 or what would I do in this situation? 32:54 When I rehearse that, 32:55 and know that I'm going to stand. 32:57 Now, I'm just waiting for the question to be asked, 32:59 because I've made that decision already. 33:01 Be ready to give an answer 33:02 with the hope that is within you. 33:04 And so, that daily preparation is going 33:07 to make a big difference. 33:08 You got to watch and pray 33:10 and make those decisions daily. 33:11 So we know we need to be filled with the Spirit, 33:13 Holy Spirit daily, we need to be praying. 33:17 Ryan? 33:18 Well, I'm thinking in terms of going back 33:22 to that parable of the 10 virgins. 33:27 All 10 virgins went out to meet Christ. 33:30 They all went out. 33:31 But five of them were wise, five of them were foolish. 33:33 They all had their lamps. 33:34 In other words, they put all, 33:36 all of them had to profess their faith in Christ 33:39 and His Word, right? 33:40 So they all went out there. 33:41 But what separated the wise from the foolish was the oil. 33:44 And we know that oil represents the Holy Spirit, 33:46 which we clearly communicated here. 33:48 But to me, it's like, how do you truly prepare? 33:51 I think it really truly does come down to making sure 33:54 that not only that you have your lamp, 33:56 but do you have enough oil? 33:57 Here's the catch here. 34:00 The Scripture doesn't say 34:01 that they didn't have oil in their lamp. 34:05 Because they had oil in their lamp 34:06 when they went out. 34:08 That's right. 34:09 But when they slumbered and slept, 34:11 that lamp, the oil in that lamp went out. 34:13 And so how are they going to put more oil in that lamp? 34:15 They went to their vessels. 34:18 The Scripture says they did not have enough oil 34:20 in their vessels. 34:21 In other words, many of us, 34:24 we profess our faith in God's Word, 34:26 you know, kind of like the seed sown on the stony rocks. 34:28 You know, for a moment we're joyous 34:30 and to live a life as a Christian, 34:31 to profess Christ. 34:33 But are you in it for the long haul? 34:35 Do you have enough oil in your vessel? 34:37 And so, Shelley was asking the question, 34:39 how can I truly know that I have that oil 34:42 and my vessel is full, that my reserves are full? 34:45 And I believe that goes right back to the, 34:47 you know, my good friend Ian was showing me his, 34:50 he has, he just planted his new trees the other day. 34:53 He said, "You've to come and see my apple trees." 34:54 Well, they're small right now, but they're going to grow. 34:57 Now when they become fully mature, 34:58 I don't know how long it's going to be, 34:59 two, three years, I don't know. 35:01 But when I go back out there in a few years and it's, 35:03 I see a fully mature tree, but I look at that tree 35:05 and there's no apples on it. 35:07 I'm going to be questioning, is this really an apple tree, 35:09 right? How do we know that we're full of the Holy Spirit? 35:11 How do we know that our oil reserves are full? 35:14 You will produce the fruits of the Spirit. 35:16 When the Holy Spirit is working in you, 35:18 there's evidence of that. 35:19 And my good friend Ivor Myers would say, 35:21 "When you're full of the Holy Spirit, 35:22 you'll have heartburn." 35:24 Just like the guys, just like the disciples 35:26 on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, 35:28 did not our hearts burn within us? 35:30 When you have that daily relationship with Jesus, 35:33 you're on fire for the Lord, you can't help it. 35:35 And that fire leads you to want to go tell people about Christ. 35:39 Acts 1:8, "When you have received the Holy Spirit, 35:42 you shall receive power to be a witness unto Me." 35:45 And so there's many different texts in Scripture, 35:47 many different passages that give us clear indication 35:50 of how we can know. 35:51 But some of us the problem is, we assume we have enough oil, 35:54 we assume we're led by the Holy Spirit. 35:56 But some of us need to do an oil check. 35:58 Some of us need to take that little dipstick out 35:59 and take that oil and see, 36:01 do I have enough in it 'cause that's where that 36:03 self-examination comes in. 36:05 Lord, search me, O God, and see if there's any ways 36:08 in me that's not right. 36:10 And so I think it also goes back 36:12 to Christ's counsel to Laodicea, 36:15 because he said to them, 36:17 right there in Revelation Chapter 3. 36:20 He said, "I counsel you to buy for me gold refined 36:22 in the fire." 36:23 What is he telling them? 36:24 We know that's symbolic. 36:26 If you compare that to 1 Peter 1:7, 36:28 it's talking about a faith of gold. 36:30 What kind of faith? 36:31 Third angel's message, the faith of Jesus, 36:34 not just any old kind of faith, the faith of Jesus. 36:36 And then he says, "And that you may clothe 36:39 yourself with the white garments." 36:41 What does white garments represent? 36:43 Isaiah 61:10, 36:45 "The righteous, not our righteousness, 36:47 but Christ's righteousness." 36:49 And then last but not least, anoint your eyes with eyesalve. 36:52 We got a bunch of blind Christians 36:54 walking around and Jesus says, "You're blind. 36:56 You can't even see." 36:57 So anoint your eyes with eyesalve. 36:59 1 Corinthians 2:14, then I'll be quiet. 37:01 It says, "But the natural man does 37:02 not receive the things of the Spirit of God." 37:05 Why, Lord, why? 37:06 Why am I not being led by the Spirit? 37:08 Well, I can't, my dipstick shows that I'm low. 37:11 I can't perceive that I'm being led by the Spirit of God. 37:13 Here it is. 37:15 "But the natural man does not receive the things 37:16 of the Spirit of God, 37:17 for they are foolishness to him, 37:19 nor can he know them," why? 37:21 "Because they are spiritually discerned." 37:24 You have to have that spiritual eyesight, 37:26 and how do we have that spiritual eyesight? 37:28 A daily faithful walk with Christ. 37:32 You put oil and water in the same container, 37:34 the oil is going to dominate that water, 37:36 but many of us we have our jars filled with water 37:39 rather than the oil. 37:40 Jesus said, or John the Baptist said, 37:42 "He must increase and I must decrease." 37:45 It's safe to say we're leaky vessels. 37:49 Right. 37:50 That's what to your point while ago is that... 37:52 Jeremiah. Yeah, we are leaky vessels. 37:55 And it's something that we can... 38:00 Somebody told me once, 38:02 "What do you mean you repent daily. 38:03 I don't sin." 38:05 I said, "Really?" 38:06 "Yes, well, I can't think of anything." 38:08 I said, "Have you grieved the Holy Spirit lately? 38:10 Have you resisted the Holy Spirit, 38:12 maybe even quenched the Holy Spirit?" 38:15 Those are the three things I pray about every night, 38:17 said, oh, Lord, please. 38:19 It's something that Jesus said 38:24 in Luke 11:9-13. 38:27 He said, "Ask, seek, knock." 38:31 And then He said, it's in linear verbs. 38:35 It's what he was really saying and a better translation 38:38 would be ask and keep on asking, 38:40 seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking. 38:44 And then he gets down to verse 13. 38:47 And he tells us, 38:49 "If you being evil know 38:50 how to give your children good gifts, 38:53 how much more will the heavenly Father 38:55 with the Holy Spirit? 38:57 But I want to hit 38:59 on if we are getting ready. 39:03 It's not... 39:05 Well, okay, we're filled with the spirit. 39:08 We're praying because communication 39:11 -is the relationship. 39:12 But let's touch on obedience. 39:14 Let me read you 1 Peter 1:13-16. 39:18 Peter writes, 39:21 "Gird up the loins of your mind, 39:25 be sober, and rest your hope 39:29 fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you 39:32 at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 39:35 And that word hope means eager expectation, 39:40 so eagerly expect the grace that's coming to us 39:44 when Jesus returns. 39:46 But look at what he says in verse 14, 39:50 which is a continuation of that sentence, 39:53 "As obedient children, 39:58 not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, 40:01 as in your ignorance, 40:03 but as He who called you is holy, 40:07 you also be holy in all your conduct, 40:12 as it is written, 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" 40:15 Being holy is a synonym 40:19 with being sanctified. 40:21 God says, He's in the sanctification business. 40:25 Both of them mean to be set apart from sin. 40:29 So let's touch on obedience, John. 40:31 Okay. 40:33 Well, Hebrews 12:1-2, 40:34 I'm gonna have Angie read verse 1, 40:37 and then I'm gonna read verse 2 because they both 40:40 while they're in harmony with each other, 40:42 they give two directives. 40:44 All right. Okay. Start with verse 1. 40:46 Okay. This is about our sins that ensnares us. 40:50 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded 40:53 by so great a cloud of witnesses, 40:57 let us lay aside every weight, 41:00 and the sin which so easily ensnares us, 41:04 and let us run with endurance 41:07 the race that is set before us." 41:10 You notice, what is it saying, 41:11 lay something aside. 41:13 Let it go. If you don't let it go, 41:14 you can't run. 41:16 So this whole preparation has to do with obedience. 41:19 So people may say, "Well, I'm ready." 41:21 But then have you laid aside everything 41:23 that's hindering your run? 41:25 Because Paul says, "I finished the race." 41:28 Now you find mostly in the Bible, 41:30 the Christian life is referred to as a walk. 41:32 Walk as he walked where Paul said, 41:34 "I finished the race." 41:36 There's a time you have to stop walking 41:38 and start running. 41:39 And that's what I was focusing on here, 41:41 you got to get, your walking is so fit. 41:43 Now you're at the point where you could run, 41:45 you're no longer a child drinking milk, 41:46 you're an adult handling the meat of the Word, 41:49 you're getting stronger. 41:50 And when you get stronger, you're able to run into, 41:54 run into God and be saved. 41:57 And that's the picture, Shelley, you know, 42:00 what's the picture that's drawn so beautifully 42:03 in the City of Refuge. 42:07 When you are going to the City of Refuge, 42:09 and you'd walk to the City of Refuge? 42:11 No. 42:12 You're running for your life to be saved. 42:15 The City of Refuge was so necessary, 42:17 so essential to the person that was going, 42:20 that they will give an instruction, 42:22 make sure the path is clear, 42:24 and no stones that are there and nothing they could trip on. 42:26 And therefore it starts developing the picture 42:28 now that's given in the New Testament. 42:30 I make straight paths for your feet, 42:32 so that the lame won't be turned out of the way. 42:35 So here's the point. 42:36 When you start making those decisions 42:37 to lay aside those simple habits, 42:39 then you are able to run with endurance, 42:42 the race that is set before you. 42:43 You're able to run the race and say one day, 42:45 I finished the race. 42:47 But when you run, 42:49 that's just the beginning part of it. 42:51 Were you looking when you run... 42:53 To Jesus. Read verse 2. Okay. 42:55 You know, this is my favorite passage. 42:57 I almost end all my prayers with this one. 42:59 Look at it. "Looking unto Jesus, 43:00 the author and finisher of our faith, 43:03 who for the joy that was set before him, 43:06 endured the cross, despising the shame, 43:10 and has sat down at the right hand 43:13 of the throne of God." 43:14 Right. So where is he looking? 43:16 He's running but he's got his eyes 43:18 peeled at the finish line, 43:20 you know, on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. 43:22 Amen. 43:24 And that's what Peter had said, 43:25 you know, is to keep your hope in Him in the grace, 43:30 but we can't be obedient 43:34 to what we don't know. 43:35 So I mean, there's being filled with the Holy Spirit praying. 43:40 But it requires that we get in the Word. 43:44 Prayer's really supposed to be a two way communication. 43:47 We talk to God, we allow God to talk to us. 43:50 And He talks to us through His Word, 43:54 and He renews our mind. 43:55 JD? 43:57 You know, boy, this is really good stuff. 43:58 And it's just too bad that we don't have lots of times. 44:01 Every story that I'm hearing, 44:03 piggybacks me to another story. 44:05 Me too. I mean, this is amazing. 44:07 But the main thing is, 44:09 is because we are, we do have our eyes focused 44:11 on the prize we are running. 44:13 And if our side is hurting us or if we're out of breath, 44:16 but the City of Refuge we are running. 44:20 So that, but and I think that probably on our mind is, 44:23 JD, do not be conformed to this world. 44:27 What scripture is that? That is Romans 12:2. 44:30 Okay. 44:31 "Do not be conformed to this world, 44:33 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." 44:36 I want to reach the goal. 44:38 Help me, Jesus, that You may prove what is that good 44:41 and acceptable and perfect will of God. 44:43 That's the plan that He has for your life 44:47 to run toward the prize. 44:50 And it's inside. 44:51 And we'd run with endurance. 44:53 With endurance, most certainly. It's real. 44:56 It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, isn't it? 45:00 It isn't a sprint. 45:01 What would you say to obedience? 45:04 There's people who are watching 45:07 and we want to let them know, 45:08 we believe in salvation by grace through faith. 45:12 But why is obedience so important? 45:15 Well, obedience, it expresses our love for God. 45:19 And that's what we find Jesus saying in John 14:15, 45:22 that "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 45:25 We don't keep the commandments because it saves us. 45:27 We keep the commandments because we love Him 45:29 who has saved us. 45:30 And that's just a beautiful thing. 45:32 We are saved by grace through faith, 45:35 not of works, but yet also in Ephesians 2:10. 45:39 Right below those famous verses 8, 9, it says, 45:41 "We were created for good words." 45:44 That's right. I'm thinking of Romans 1:5, 45:46 that tells us that that we have been 45:49 given grace for obedience. 45:52 And so the natural response is, 45:55 it's kind of like doing a scientific experiment. 45:57 You just expect that when you throw some Mentos 45:59 in a Coca-Cola bottle or in a Diet Coke bottle 46:03 of some kind there's a chemical reaction. 46:05 When God pours His love and His grace out on us 46:08 and He says, I'm giving you my un... 46:11 Just the, my unconditional love 46:15 and He pours that grace out upon us. 46:16 The natural response from a person who is responding 46:20 positively and honestly 46:22 and responsibly to that grace and that love 46:25 is that now I want to serve this master. 46:28 He is my master. Amen. 46:29 You know, I find also that a lot of individuals, 46:32 they struggle in preparation for the coming of the Lord, 46:35 because they don't have 46:37 and we've talked about the leading, 46:38 guiding power of the Spirit, 46:40 but I'm gonna take it a step further. 46:41 They don't have the Spirit of Prophecy. 46:44 Talking about God's true church, 46:45 Revelation 12:17, says, 46:47 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman," 46:49 here's the obedience factor, 46:50 "and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring 46:53 who keep the commandments of God." 46:55 So these people are commandment keeping people. 46:57 Again, not because it saves them, 46:58 but because they love Him, 47:00 but because they're an obedient people. 47:02 Here it is. Here's another result of that. 47:05 It says, who they? 47:06 "Who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony 47:08 of Jesus Christ. 47:09 What is the testimony of Jesus Christ? 47:12 We don't have to wonder because Revelation 19:10 47:14 tells us that very clearly, 47:16 the testimony of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy. 47:20 How can a person perceive the signs? 47:23 How can they perceive that Christ is on His way? 47:26 How can they know that, as Pastor was beautiful, 47:29 explaining earlier, Paul, talking about 47:31 that sense of urgency 47:33 that we need to be ready now, not tomorrow, 47:35 not next week, now because today is the day of salvation. 47:38 How can you perceive that 47:39 if you're not being led by the Spirit, 47:41 who's given that prophecy, the Spirit of Prophecy, 47:44 God's true, last day remnant people 47:46 will have the Spirit of Prophecy, 47:48 and therefore 47:49 when they read these texts from Matthew 24, 47:52 Luke 17, Luke 21, you know, 47:55 all through the Book of Revelation, 47:56 those great prophetic chapters, 47:58 they see it because they have that spiritual discernment 48:01 that yes, these signs are very clear. 48:04 They have, God has taken the scales off 48:06 their eyes and they now can spiritually see 48:09 and discern the times that they're in to be prepared 48:11 for the soon coming of Jesus. 48:12 Amen. And you know, 48:16 the Spirit of Prophecy when we're talking about obedience, 48:20 obedience is we know 48:23 that Christ's obedience 48:25 has been imputed to us, has it not? 48:28 Wait, his record has been imputed to us. 48:31 But, you know, people ask me, 48:33 "Well, do you believe in righteousness by faith 48:36 you're always talking about." 48:38 You know, I mean, 48:39 I'm an ambassador for God's grace, 48:41 but, of course, I do. 48:43 Righteousness by faith is the only kind 48:45 of righteousness there is. 48:48 Because the best I can do, Isaiah says, 48:51 is like filthy rags for the Lord. 48:53 But I love what 1 John 2:28-29 says. 48:59 And, JD, would you read that for us because if we think, 49:03 "Oh, I'm righteous by faith, I don't need to do anything." 49:06 Let's look at 1 John 2:28-29. 49:10 "And now little children, abide in Him... 49:14 Whoo, boy, there's a key 49:15 that we've got to do to be ready is abiding. 49:18 Yes. Meaning what? 49:20 That means we are connected to the vine, 49:22 we stay in union and united to Him. 49:24 Amen. 49:26 "So now little children being in union with Him," 49:28 that's a capital H with Jesus, 49:31 "that when He appears, we may have confidence 49:34 and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." 49:38 Wow. 49:39 If you know that He is righteous, 49:42 in other words you know that Jesus is righteous. 49:45 "You know that everyone who practice 49:47 righteousness is born of Him." 49:49 Wait a minute. 49:51 Okay, if you know that He's righteous. 49:54 Yes. 49:55 How do you know that Jesus is righteous? 49:58 What does it say here? 50:00 That if we know Him, 50:03 everyone that's born of Him 50:06 is going to practice that same righteousness. 50:08 We're gonna all follow in His footsteps. 50:13 That's right. 50:15 And be happy to call him your brother 50:18 and not be embarrassed. 50:20 Yeah. John? 50:22 And the other thing as we're doing these things, 50:23 then you have to get to the point of commit. 50:26 I mean, this, I think, CA when he was here, 50:30 he talked about, 50:32 there are those who are convicted, 50:34 but they're not converted. 50:36 And he said, and I never forgot this. 50:37 He said, "Sometimes you have a church filled with convicts 50:41 and not converts." 50:43 And I never forget that, my hats, 50:44 my hat off to Pastor CA if you're watching. 50:46 And I never forgot that, because there's a point 50:49 you have to commit, because we can't keep anything. 50:52 But the Lord can keep everything we commit to Him. 50:56 And that's where 2 Timothy 1:12, 50:58 I'm gonna my wife read that here. 50:59 2 Timothy 1:12. 51:01 "For this reason I also suffer these things, 51:04 nevertheless I am not ashamed, 51:07 for I know whom I have believed 51:10 and am persuaded that He is able to keep 51:14 what I have committed to Him until that Day." 51:17 I can't hear that without wanting to burst out into song 51:20 because it's always one of my favorites. 51:22 So what is it? 51:23 What are you committing to the Lord? 51:25 So now we commit things to memory, 51:27 we commit things to lists, 51:28 we commit things to practices, 51:30 but what are you committing to the Lord? 51:33 Because we could lose that list, 51:35 we could forget our memory, 51:36 but the Lord would never forget what we commit to Him, 51:38 because He's able to keep what we commit to Him. 51:41 And so when I think about that, I thought, well, okay, now, 51:44 I want to keep the Sabbath. 51:46 Am I keeping the Sabbath? 51:48 I want to keep the commandments. 51:49 Am I keeping the commandments? 51:51 The Lord said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, 51:52 if you're committed to Me, I'll keep it through you." 51:56 I'm able to keep whatever you commit to me. 51:58 So if you're making preparation for the coming of the Lord, 52:01 start looking at what you need to commit to Him 52:03 because everything that you commit to Him, 52:04 He's able to keep, including us. 52:07 So I would say really commit and when you commit, 52:10 then you can say as Paul says in Romans 8, 52:12 "I am persuaded that neither death nor life, 52:14 nor angels, nor principalities, 52:16 nor things present or things to come, 52:18 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing 52:20 shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 52:23 which is in Christ Jesus." Why? 52:25 Jesus says in John 10, 52:27 "Whoever the Father has given to me, 52:28 no one is gonna snatch out of my hand." 52:30 Why? He's able to keep us. 52:32 And He's able to keep us from doing what? 52:34 From falling, Jude 24. 52:36 You know, I want to piggyback off of, 52:39 kind of, combining two comments, 52:42 one that you made about it's today 52:46 is the day of salvation. 52:47 Quit procrastinating. 52:49 You know, you don't know. 52:51 I just had a dear friend. 52:53 She's being buried tomorrow. You don't know. 52:58 She was young. 53:00 She's young, and you never know when you're gonna go. 53:04 And JD was talking about 53:08 been done in the sign that says get ready, 53:11 the rain is coming. 53:13 I meet people who say, well, 53:18 when the latter rain comes, we're all going to wake up 53:21 and we're going to do this and we're going to do that. 53:24 I want to go back to the Texas droughts. 53:26 When we first moved to Central Texas, 53:29 to the family farm. 53:31 This was decades after the drought 53:34 that he was talking about. 53:35 But Texas was in the middle of a five-year drought, 53:38 lot of suffering here. 53:40 And when he's talking about cracks 53:42 that your puppet could fall in, you had to be careful. 53:45 As you walked around the farm, there were six inch cracks. 53:48 I mean, you could break your ankle, 53:50 you could really hurt yourself if you weren't watching. 53:54 I prayed so hard for the rain. 53:58 I pray every night, 54:00 I was just joining my voice to the local chorus. 54:04 I'm sure that we're praying for rain. 54:06 One night I was laying in bed, JD was out of town. 54:10 And we had a tin roof on the farm. 54:13 And all of a sudden, it was 54:14 pit-pit, pat-pat, pit-pit, pat-pat, pit-pit 54:19 and then I got so excited, 54:20 I jumped up and I looked outside, 54:22 and the rain came down in what we call a gully washer. 54:26 You know what a gully washer is? 54:28 I mean, you couldn't even see outside. 54:32 I was just doing my little praise dance 54:36 and hallelujah in the bedroom. 54:39 Next morning, I went up and I got outside. 54:44 Nothing changed. 54:46 The ground was just as hard as it had ever been. 54:49 You know why? 54:51 The ground was so hardened 54:54 that rain came and it just ran off. 54:57 It just went on down. It was just as dry. 55:03 And all of a sudden, 55:05 the Lord impressed this thought upon my mind. 55:08 So it will be in the end Times. 55:12 Those who have not had their hearts 55:15 softened by the early rain, 55:18 those who have not been filled with the Holy Spirit 55:23 prior to the latter rain. 55:24 Listen, when that latter rain comes, 55:27 it's gonna run off their backs, 55:29 like water runs off the ducks back. 55:33 Isn't that a heavy thought? 55:35 It's one thing really quickly here. 55:36 It's one thing to be prepared and to learn how to prepare. 55:40 But it's a whole another thing to stay prepared. 55:42 That's right. And that's the thing, 55:43 we want to get ready. 55:45 But we need to learn how to stay ready. 55:47 And that's where we are right now. 55:48 We're living in that antitypical Day of Atonement, 55:50 where we need to be forsaking sin. 55:52 I hope that one day when Jesus comes back, 55:54 you know, you talk about being done. 55:56 No disrespect here, but I hope we all can say 55:58 like a Southerner would that, 55:59 Lord, I've been done with sin for a long time. 56:02 I've been done with this world, 56:03 I'm ready to go home because at this moment, 56:05 like we need to put ourselves at the foot of the cross, 56:08 and humble ourselves. 56:09 So that Holy Spirit can cleanse us 56:11 and change us from the inside. 56:12 Amen. I want to thank you all so much. 56:14 I do want to end with a particular scripture. 56:16 But thank you each and every one for your input, 56:21 and for those of you at home. 56:23 How do we know that we are ready? 56:27 You can have assurance of salvation 56:29 if you're in Christ, if you're abiding in Christ, 56:31 you're filled with the Holy Spirit. 56:34 Just read 1 John 5:10-12. 56:36 We can have assurance of salvation. 56:39 But Colossians 1:27 tells us 56:41 it is Christ in us that is our hope of glory. 56:46 And let me finish with this particular verse. 56:50 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 says, 56:53 "May the God of peace 56:55 sanctify you completely. 57:00 And may your whole spirit, 57:02 soul and body be preserved blameless 57:07 at the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 57:11 Hallelujah, I want that. That's right. 57:13 Then listen to verse 24, 57:16 "He who calls you is faithful and he will also do it. 57:20 He will complete this work that He's begun in you. 57:23 Thank you for joining us. 57:25 And our prayer for you at home 57:27 is that the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 57:30 the love of the Father, 57:31 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 57:33 is with you always. 57:35 Happy Sabbath. |
Revised 2021-07-01