Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO210066S
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00:28 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Worship Hour.
00:31 We're so glad you decided to join us today. 00:34 I believe by the grace of God, there's going to be a message 00:36 that will touch hearts and lives 00:38 because the Holy Spirit has promised 00:39 through the Word of God 00:41 that His Word would not return void. 00:43 So we're glad you joined us today. 00:45 We're going to be talking about a subject, 00:47 warning messages. 00:48 And I think we live in an hour 00:49 where there needs to be warning messages. 00:51 Things that not only apply back before Christ, 00:54 but after Christ and the hour that we're living in right now. 00:58 I'm going to be talking about a subject here 00:59 that I will make Shiloh, 01:01 notice this, this house like Shiloh. 01:04 I will make this house like Shiloh. 01:06 What does that mean? 01:07 Well, I pray by the grace of God 01:09 as we study the Word, you're going to find out. 01:11 You may say, "Well, I've heard the story before." 01:13 We pray that God will put in some things 01:14 through the power of the Holy Spirit 01:16 that will enlighten us that God means what He says. 01:20 God means what He said, He's not joking around. 01:23 We're living too close to the end of time 01:26 and certainly we need the direction 01:27 of the Holy Spirit. 01:28 I'm going to pray right now. 01:30 I'm going to kneel and I'll ask you where you can, 01:32 if you can kneel with me, please do so. 01:33 If not, please be in the attitude of prayer. 01:36 Let's pray together, shall we? 01:40 Our kind, loving heavenly Father, 01:41 we thank You for the privilege of prayer once again, 01:44 thankful that we can call You our Father. 01:47 Lord, I come before thee asking right now 01:49 forgiveness of sin, anything in my heart or life 01:52 that needs not be there, 01:54 I just ask that You would cover with your blood. 01:56 Lord, we need forgiveness, 01:58 we need clean hands and clean heart, 01:59 we need to hear from heaven. 02:01 We don't need to hear from man, 02:02 what man thinks, what his ideas are, 02:04 but we need to hear from heaven. 02:06 So we pray that You would bless us now 02:07 with thy Holy Spirit. 02:09 Come near to each and every heart and every mind 02:12 and may the things of earth now go strangely dim 02:14 as we spend this valuable time with You, 02:16 and we thank You in Jesus' name. 02:18 Amen. 02:21 Again, the message is, 02:23 I will make this house like Shiloh. 02:25 Interesting title, 02:27 we've all heard I'm sure about Shiloh. 02:30 And it's very interesting 02:31 because we'll touch on just a little bit as we go, 02:33 but, you know, toward the end, 02:35 I want to look at this toward the end of the period 02:37 of the judges. 02:39 You know, Eli, certainly was the high priest 02:42 and he was working, 02:43 God was working with him and through him. 02:45 And then here comes Samuel, 02:47 and so he was educating and training Samuel 02:49 for his work that would take Eli's place. 02:52 And notice, it's very interesting, 02:54 something happened. 02:56 Shiloh was a place that where the law of God 02:58 was there for at least 300 years. 03:01 Three hundred years 03:03 the Ark of the Covenant was there. 03:05 But all of a sudden now, the Philistines come in 03:08 and they take the Ark of the Covenant 03:11 and now, all of a sudden, then Shiloh is destroyed. 03:15 Why? 03:16 Well, simply just like today because of sin, 03:19 because of the issue, open sin. 03:21 It was with the high priest. 03:22 It was with the priest's son, it was with the people. 03:25 And so sin was rampant and watch how God operates, 03:29 we pray through the study. 03:30 You'll see it because we can see it 03:32 may be happening in the church, 03:33 it may be with our local group, it may be with, 03:35 wherever it might be, but remember, 03:37 God is the same today, yesterday, right? 03:39 And forever. 03:40 Praise God for that, I'm very grateful and thankful. 03:42 You know, I want you to take your Bible 03:44 if you will and we're going to read 03:46 a couple of passage of scripture. 03:47 There'll be some, by the way, that I'll go through quickly. 03:50 I'll try to mention, 03:51 they're not going to be on the screen, 03:52 so that means you jot them down 03:54 'cause if we put everything on the screen, 03:55 probably wouldn't have time for anything else. 03:57 But we'll jot them down, 03:59 that way you can read them yourself. 04:01 We're going to be going and reading 2 Kings Chapter 2. 04:03 2 Kings 2:23-24. 04:08 2 Kings, if you've got your Bible, 04:09 I hope you do, you're going to miss something if you don't. 04:12 2 Kings 2:23-24, 04:15 and I always like to say, "The Bible says." 04:17 The Bible says this, 04:19 "And he went up from thence unto Bethel." 04:21 Now, who is that? 04:22 That's Elisha. 04:24 Notice this, "And as he was going up, 04:26 out the way there came forth little children out of the city 04:28 and they mocked him and said unto him, 04:31 'Go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head.' 04:35 And he turned back and he looked on them," 04:37 and notice what the Bible says, 04:39 "he cursed them in the name of the Lord. 04:41 And there came forth two she bears out of the wood 04:44 and tare forty and two children of them." 04:48 My, powerful, powerful example given here 04:52 of how God views those who labor and work for Him. 04:57 Kind of interesting what took place here. 04:59 You had those who laugh, 05:01 you have those who mock, those who, 05:03 you know, just maybe have a different point of view 05:05 and they're always going out after the people of God 05:08 or having something to say about to try to criticize 05:11 or condemn or tear down 05:13 or they just simply don't agree. 05:15 And notice, God's saying here, "I want you to have respect 05:18 for those who I have called or which I have chosen." 05:21 God says, "Have respect for them 05:24 and the work that I've called them to do." 05:26 Now, again, we have to look at, 05:28 are they following the Word of God? 05:29 I'm not going to have respect personally 05:31 for somebody who's not following the Word of God, 05:33 just can't do that. 05:34 But they're following the Word of God, absolutely. 05:37 Sounds like a harsh punishment when I read this right here 05:41 about these young children 05:42 because some people who read this 05:44 and I've talked to several, 05:45 maybe not students of the Word of God, 05:47 maybe not even a Christian. 05:49 They get a little bit upset about this passage and say, 05:51 "Well, how could God do that? 05:53 Why would He allow something like that to take place?" 05:56 Interesting. 05:57 So it sounds like a harsh punishment, 05:59 does it not? 06:01 Here are these young people, you know, out there, 06:02 maybe playing in the woods and they see Elisha, 06:04 he's going along here and all of a sudden 06:07 they want to make a little bit of fun of him. 06:09 I don't know, that's not an easy thing to go 06:12 through as you will know if somebody 06:13 maybe's poking a little bit of fun at you 06:15 or laughing at you. 06:17 But anyway they decide 06:18 they were going to have a little bit of fun with him 06:20 and they decided, you know, whatever. 06:22 Remember, this was a solemn event 06:24 that had just taken place. 06:26 Elijah had just been translated by a miracle of God 06:30 into heaven and now, 06:31 we realize that Elisha was to take over. 06:34 He was God's appointed man to do a specific work. 06:39 He was directed by God. 06:41 I like to think in terms of heaven came down. 06:45 I love that song, Heaven Came Down 06:47 and Glory Filled My Soul, 06:50 I hope it does yours today. 06:52 But, you know, as you look at this, 06:53 there's the man of God, 06:54 miracles associate as to what's going on. 06:57 And now, these young people come by and they say, 06:59 well, let's paraphrase it a little bit. 07:02 I want to call them the ungodly youth. 07:04 They're laughing at him and they call him out 07:06 and they said, you know what telling him, 07:07 just go on up. 07:09 Basically, get on out of the way, 07:10 we don't want you here, 07:11 we never called you here, why are you here? 07:14 Sometime you might hear that from people 07:15 you're trying to study with, maybe hold meetings with. 07:18 And, you know, we realize here 07:21 that Elisha was God's appointed messenger and somebody, 07:25 these youths were messing with God's man. 07:28 And so what happens? 07:29 Well, we realize here that Satan, 07:30 all of a sudden, what does he do? 07:32 Anytime he has an opportunity to come in, he comes in. 07:35 Remember, just make sure 07:37 we don't open up any kind of doors 07:38 because any kind of door that's opened up 07:39 where Satan can stick his nose in, 07:41 he will cause division and separation 07:43 among God's people. 07:45 We think about the work, 07:48 the hurt that was even involved here 07:50 in what was going on, 07:51 the mockery of these young men. 07:56 What if God had just let it go? 07:58 What would it done? 07:59 I think there was more people around, 08:02 there's more witnesses to this than just 08:04 what the Bible is giving an account to, 08:07 because there would have been many people 08:08 who would have looked at this thing 08:09 if nothing had taken place 08:11 and they would just walked on and say, 08:12 "Hey, we can treat God's appointed man 08:14 the way we want to treat him. 08:16 Look what happened here and they got away with it." 08:18 Was God overlooking things? 08:19 I think, He was no, He wasn't overlooking a thing, 08:21 but He was looking at things 08:23 and a change was about to take place. 08:26 Now remember, if nothing had been done, 08:30 Elisha's work would have been retarded. 08:33 Did you get it? 08:34 It would have been held back, it have been closed, 08:35 people maybe not have accepted 08:37 that the way God wanted them to. 08:39 And here, if nothing had been done 08:40 the enemy would have won a victory. 08:42 We need to think about every time 08:44 that the enemy sticks his nose, his mind, his head, 08:47 whatever it is in the work, 08:48 we need to take a stand on the issues. 08:52 Have you been doing that? 08:53 Have I been doing that? 08:55 Only by the grace of God we want to, for sure. 08:57 I want to give you just a food for thought, 08:59 this is not be on your screen. 09:01 But I found this in Patriarchs 09:02 and Prophets and Kings, page 236. 09:05 Notice this, it just gives a little encouragement, 09:07 why did God allow this to happen 09:09 to these youths? 09:10 Well, this what it says, "The so-called tenderness, 09:15 the coaxing and the indulgence used toward youth 09:18 by parents and guardians 09:21 is one of the worst evils which can come upon them." 09:26 Now, that's pretty heavy duty, 09:28 most parents don't want to hear it. 09:29 We all think we've done a good job 09:31 or, you know, some of us who have raised ours already, 09:33 we say, "Oh, you know, by the grace of God 09:35 I liked to have done a lot better. 09:37 I didn't do so well." 09:38 But sometime when in the middle of raising them, 09:40 we're thinking we're doing an awful good job. 09:42 And we do it by babying them and not correcting them 09:46 and evidently these youths had not been corrected. 09:49 Again, I'm going to read that 09:51 because some of you didn't get that I'm sure. 09:53 The so-called tenderness, 09:54 well, I'm going to take care of it, 09:56 I was treated rough 09:57 when I was growing up and so therefore, 09:59 I'm going to let them have a lot of freedom. 10:00 The coaxing and the indulgences, 10:03 "Oh honey, if you would do this, 10:04 we'll get you an ice-cream." 10:06 "If you'll do this, we'll..." You follow my thinking here? 10:08 Does that always work? 10:09 Well, notice, if it's used toward the youth 10:12 by their parents or a guardian, notice what it says. 10:14 Here's the key, "It is one of the worst evils 10:17 which can come upon them." 10:20 In every family notice that. 10:22 Here's what's needed in every family, 10:23 firmness, decision, positiveness, 10:27 positive requirements are essential. 10:31 You know, that's something we need to consider 10:34 as we're raising our children 10:35 for the honor and glory of God. 10:37 They must be taught to respect those in leadership, 10:41 respect one another, 10:42 respect your neighbors and your friends. 10:44 We lived in town as we grew up. 10:46 We were taught to respect our neighbor's property. 10:49 You know, we didn't be, 10:50 you know, jumping over their hedges 10:52 and taking things and doing, 10:53 you know, just living right close by. 10:55 We were taught to respect our neighbors and be careful 10:57 what we would say to them. 10:59 That's the way that it should be, 11:00 respect and reverence 11:02 and it should be shown for God's representatives too, 11:05 don't you believe that? 11:06 I believe that, there's no doubt about it. 11:08 You know, if we would do this, 11:09 my, what a different world we would live in today. 11:12 Maybe you can trace some of these things back 11:14 to what is taking place in the world right now 11:17 is because maybe we as parents 11:18 didn't do the best job we could have done 11:20 with our children in raising them 11:22 and teaching them and training them 11:24 in the admonition of the world. 11:26 Now, think about what happened? 11:29 Because of what happened to these youths, 11:31 these two she bears came out of the wood 11:33 and they killed them. 11:34 But for the next 50 years 11:36 that Elisha worked all around the community 11:40 in the cities and round about nations, 11:42 not one person, it's recorded in scripture, 11:45 not one person ever laughed at him again, 11:47 no one ever mocked him again. 11:50 Isn't that interesting? 11:52 Or made light of his qualifications 11:54 as a prophet of God. 11:57 One lesson and then he had the freedom 12:00 to go about and the people knew that he was chosen of God. 12:05 And let me tell you talking about chosen of God. 12:07 The Holy Spirit does the choosing, isn't that right? 12:09 And equipping of God's people today. 12:11 Not necessarily men or a group of men 12:13 or somebody vows that we should do this 12:15 or we should do that. 12:17 You're qualified by the unction 12:18 of the Holy Spirit of the living God. 12:21 Turn with me if you will to Jeremiah Chapter 26. 12:24 Jeremiah Chapter 26, there's something here 12:28 I think would be good for us to read right now. 12:31 Jeremiah Chapter 26, 12:32 I'm going to read verses 4 through 6. 12:34 Jeremiah 26:4-6, 12:40 "And thou shall say unto them, thus saith the Lord, 12:44 If ye will not harken and to walk in my law, 12:48 which I have set before you." 12:49 Notice verse 5, 12:52 "To harken to the words of my servants, 12:54 the prophets, whom I have sent to you, 12:57 both rising up early and sending them, 12:58 but ye have not harkened." 13:01 Verse 6 says, 13:02 "Then I will make the house like Shiloh, 13:05 and will make this city a curse 13:07 to all of the nations of the earth." 13:12 To me, it's pretty heavy duty when we look at it. 13:14 The prophet's responsibility or a prophet's duty 13:19 is to warn the people, to teach the people 13:22 the demands of the law of God. 13:25 There's something that God has called them to do 13:28 and they must do that in order to be effectual, 13:32 in order to be that which God has called them to do 13:34 to make it clear, to make it plain. 13:36 Today we have people that get up 13:37 and they talk about this and that perceiving, 13:39 you still don't know what all they've talked about here. 13:41 It needs to be clear and plain in these last days, 13:44 that the people might understand it 13:47 and then be by the grace of God to change. 13:49 In Jeremiah 7:13, notice what it says. 13:53 Jeremiah 7:13, just a line or so here, 13:57 but I think it's very, very interesting. 13:58 Jeremiah 7:13 is saying, "Rising up early," and do what? 14:03 "And speaking." 14:04 Just part of, what does that mean? 14:05 "Rise up early and speaking." 14:08 God's basically telling us there is no excuse for us. 14:12 See no excuse for us to go down the wrong path. 14:14 He said, "Because I'm sending you prophets, 14:16 I'm doing it early as it were." 14:18 Early what? While there's still time. 14:20 Early while there's still time to make changes 14:23 and then I'm going to do it late at night. 14:25 God's saying, I'm going to give you time, 14:26 sometime, plenty of time to make the right choices 14:29 and the right decision and yet you still won't listen, 14:32 what more can He do? 14:34 The word "speaking" is an interesting word 14:36 as far as I'm concerned. 14:38 When you're speaking, 14:40 we should be speaking with conviction. 14:42 When we speak, we should speak earnestly 14:45 and that word actually means we need to speak continuously. 14:49 Now, how many of us really are speaking continuously 14:51 about the coming of Jesus? 14:53 The good news? 14:54 Getting the gospel to the world? 14:56 Warning the world of what's coming upon it 14:57 as an overwhelming surprise? 14:59 How many of us really doing that continuously? 15:02 Kind of interesting 15:04 because I hear people say sometime, 15:06 "Well, we get tired of warning messages." 15:08 We get tired, you know, we want to hear something else, 15:11 you know, maybe something sweet, 15:12 something nice somewhat. 15:14 We are living in a time 15:15 where God's people need to be warned. 15:18 Warned of what's taking place, 15:20 those things that are taking place 15:21 where they could lead and are we ready for that? 15:26 We need to be speaking continuously, 15:28 we need to be rising early, we need to be speaking late, 15:30 we need to be speaking constantly 15:33 about the coming of Jesus 15:34 and the necessary preparation to be ready. 15:37 Oh yeah, we can tell story 15:39 after story and things are exciting, 15:41 but how about being prepared? 15:43 It's interesting, most people say, 15:44 "Well, I'm prepared to meet the Lord." 15:46 And the first little thing that happens, 15:47 they fall apart. 15:49 Do you ever had that to happen? 15:50 "Oh, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready." 15:52 And pretty soon a piece of mail is lost 15:53 or something like that and they fell to pieces 15:55 and have to ask, no, I'll let that go. 15:57 You know what I'm talking about here, 15:59 are we really ready? 16:00 Some self examination here. 16:02 Jeremiah 7:25 tells us this. 16:05 Jeremiah 7:25 tells us, 16:08 "Since the day that your fathers came forth 16:11 out of the land of Egypt unto this day, 16:15 I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets." 16:19 You talk about exciting, at least to me it's exciting. 16:24 When you look at these verses here, 16:26 rising up early and sending them. 16:28 What does God say to you right now? 16:29 He said ever since you came out of the land of Egypt, 16:31 I've been leading and guiding and directing. 16:33 Ever since you came out of Babylon as it were, 16:35 since you came out of the world, 16:37 you have a God that is leading and guiding 16:39 and directing in your life. 16:40 He's guiding your footsteps. 16:42 He's wanting to guide your thoughts 16:43 and your actions and your deeds. 16:45 This is the kind of God that's keeping a watchful eye on you 16:47 'cause He's not trying to condemn you, 16:49 He's trying to help you and to try to help me. 16:53 He said I've sent. 16:55 I wonder how often 16:57 that maybe God has sent someone to you? 16:59 Maybe to your door, maybe someone at work, 17:02 maybe someone you know, they might be you bump into 17:05 and they're really there 17:06 because God has set the meeting up 17:09 and that we should be listening to what they have to say. 17:13 But many times we just think, "Oh, it's just coincidence." 17:16 No, not, is it? 17:18 Or is God really leading the way like He says He is? 17:20 He says that I'm going to send you people, 17:21 I'm going to send the prophets. 17:23 He said, I'm daily arising up early and sending them. 17:29 I see a call here was made 17:31 for the people simply just to listen. 17:33 And I wonder if we might do that today? 17:35 There's just a call. 17:37 The Holy Spirit is making a call right now 17:39 on those who say, 17:41 "Oh, I belong to God's last day church, 17:42 the remnant church." 17:43 Well, wonderful. 17:45 I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, how wonderful. 17:46 But He's making a call for you and me right now 17:49 for them to listen 17:52 and then to react. 17:56 And God said, if you don't, He said, 17:57 I'll do the same to you as I've done to Shiloh. 18:02 Sometime we think that the, 18:03 you know, certain buildings 18:04 or certain this or that's blessed, 18:06 nothing can happen to them. 18:07 Listen, unless we follow God's plan, be very careful. 18:11 You know, as Adventists, 18:12 we're weight in the balances of the sanctuary, 18:15 so we need to match up, do we not with the Word of God? 18:18 Or God may do to us 18:20 what He did to Shiloh individually, 18:23 could be corporately, could be. 18:24 God only knows, but here, 18:26 the warning is, when I'm rising up early, 18:28 I'm sending you prophets, I'm sending you warning 18:30 after warning, will you listen? 18:32 So we too must be very careful 18:34 then how we react though, shouldn't we? 18:37 Let me just throw a something out to you 18:38 and you can throw it back if you want to, 18:40 I always say that 18:41 because I think it's interesting. 18:42 You know, Shiloh here, if we look in some definitions 18:44 in what's going on there. 18:46 Shiloh, the word means, I think it was peace giver. 18:49 Peace giver, Shiloh, you say, "Oh". 18:52 Listen carefully, 18:53 Shiloh was the headquarters 18:57 of Israel. 19:00 Somebody chew just a little bit, 19:01 chew just a little bit. 19:03 Shiloh was the headquarters of Israel. 19:05 You say, "Well, I'm not sure about that." 19:06 Well, read Patriarchs and Prophets, 19:08 page 514 on that and see. 19:10 Remember the Ark of God, we mentioned what? 19:12 Was located at the headquarters, 19:14 do you get that? 19:15 At the headquarters there, 19:16 for over 300 years until sin became so bad in there, 19:21 the high priest so corrupt 19:23 because he wasn't training up his children the right way. 19:25 He wouldn't make them do what they should have done. 19:27 He didn't want to do it 19:28 because if he was forced to go ahead and make them do 19:30 what they should do as priests in there, 19:32 he would had to take them out and stone them and kill them. 19:36 He didn't have the backbone to make them do anything, 19:38 let alone kill them. 19:40 He ended up dying, of course, 19:41 his sons dying as you well know, 19:44 and the Ark was taken. 19:46 And as you study all of that's interesting, 19:48 it wasn't necessarily the death, 19:50 you see, Eli's two sons. 19:52 You know why? 19:53 Because Eli was warned over and over 19:56 before this took place with his sons. 19:59 God told him previous to this through Samuel, 20:03 this is what's going to happen 20:05 to you and your sons if you don't, right? 20:07 Follow what God has said in His Word. 20:10 Do you think God reacts the same way today with us? 20:13 What could happen to us 20:15 if we're not following God's plan? 20:17 Well, I want to be ready to meet Jesus 20:18 and I know you do too. 20:20 Because of sin, 20:22 the Ark fell into the hands of the Philistines 20:24 and then what a mess as will know 20:26 that goes through there. 20:27 We need to be careful 20:29 that we don't reject any warnings 20:30 that God has given us in His Word, 20:33 even though you don't like to hear them. 20:34 I hear about people, well, we don't want to hear that, 20:36 well, it's all we're going to hear. 20:38 You need to be warned, I need to be warned. 20:41 You know, you don't put up a... 20:42 You got a vicious dog in the neighborhood, 20:44 you don't put a sign up there for one week and say, 20:46 "Vicious dog. 20:48 If you get close to it, 20:49 he's going to rip your arm off." 20:50 do you? 20:52 And then next week the guy takes the sign down. 20:53 Leave the sign up, leave it up. 20:57 See that's it, the warnings continue to come 20:59 because the same dog is there. 21:02 The same enemy we're dealing with day in and day out 21:04 and he's going to bite you. 21:06 He's going to rip you apart if he can. 21:09 We need to hang on because the judgments of God 21:12 are falling in the land as we well know. 21:14 I like to go to 2 Chronicles right now, 21:16 something I think is really interesting here. 21:18 2 Chronicles 36:15-16. 21:21 Now remember, we're talking about 21:22 leveling this town of Shiloh because, simply because why? 21:28 Open sin was going on and the Ark was taken 21:32 and it was devastating. 21:33 It was a special place. 21:35 Can special places maybe be, you know, annihilated? 21:39 Could it be destroyed? 21:40 When we said, "Oh, the temple, the temple." 21:43 It's good food for thought. 21:44 2 Chronicles 36:15-16, the Bible reads this way, 21:49 "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them 21:52 by His messengers," again what? 21:54 "Rising up early betimes," 21:57 that means continued and carefully, 21:59 "and sending, because He had compassion 22:02 on His people, and on His dwelling place." 22:05 Verse 16, 22:06 "But they mocked the messengers of God, 22:10 and despised His words, misused His prophets 22:14 until the wrath of the Lord arose Against his people, 22:17 till there was no remedy." 22:20 Interesting, no remedy, it means no healing. 22:23 God let it go to the point, do you notice this on it? 22:27 If you look at this, it says, "They mocked." 22:29 How many people really even in the faith 22:31 and really as Christians 22:32 were mocking the message of God? 22:34 "Well, he doesn't really mean what, he doesn't really that, 22:37 things have changed right now." 22:38 What has changed? 22:40 What really has changed in God's Word 22:41 that we can say God views things differently? 22:43 We can do things differently now? 22:46 He's judging us differently than He has before. 22:48 I see no indication of that in the Word of God. 22:52 God said, I make sure you understand 22:56 and I'm sending you, remember, 22:57 continuously and carefully 22:59 I'm sending you these messages and yet, 23:02 so what do other people do? 23:04 They rejected Him, 23:06 they mock the messengers of God. 23:08 They despised His words, they misused his prophets. 23:14 I don't know sometime if you preaching the truth 23:16 or you're going somewhere and giving Bible study, 23:18 sometime you're just kind of almost abused 23:21 by the people that maybe you're giving studies to. 23:24 I can remember very, very well 23:25 giving studies to a couple of individuals 23:28 several years ago in their home. 23:31 Their mother and dad were so mad 23:33 at their son and his wife 23:35 because they were taking Bible studies, 23:37 you know, from a Seventh-day Adventist person. 23:40 And so they happened to come in one night 23:43 and we were having a Bible study there 23:44 and they didn't know that I was there, 23:46 so when they came in they see me there with a Bible, 23:48 we're going through the lessons and so on. 23:50 And they just completely turned around 23:52 and they looked at their son and they said, 23:54 "What is he doing here?" 23:56 The son said, "Well, we asked him to come, 23:59 we're having Bible studies, you know it." 24:00 They said, "We don't want him here. 24:03 He doesn't need to be here. 24:04 It's like the devil's in the room with us." 24:07 And son says nicely, 24:08 "Why don't you go in the other room 24:10 and just wait till we're done 24:11 and we'll talk about this later?" 24:12 And so they said, "Well, 24:14 we can't stand to be in the same room." 24:15 So I'm standing about like I am right now, 24:18 they had to go between me 24:19 and the table and go to the kitchen. 24:21 So they made sure that they turned their back, 24:23 they turned their back on me and they walked like this. 24:28 Kind of interesting. 24:30 It is so interesting that their sons 24:32 were shedding tears. 24:34 He said, "I'm so sorry that they acted like that." 24:36 My response wasn't they make it good, better, 24:39 my response was, "They don't know. 24:41 They don't understand." 24:43 Meaning we have to be forgiving and we move on with that. 24:47 They may feel that way today and maybe tomorrow 24:49 it's going to be changed, but right now, 24:51 it's because they say they love you 24:53 and they're afraid of what might happen. 24:55 But you're not afraid, 24:56 you're studying the Word of God. 24:57 Let me just tell you quickly, wrap this around. 24:59 I had the privilege to baptize momma and dad, right? 25:03 I had the privilege to do that a little bit later on, 25:04 about six months down the road. 25:06 Not only the son and the daughter, 25:07 but mom and dad and so on and so forth. 25:09 See what a blessing, what a privilege it is, 25:11 it could have turned out differently. 25:13 But there are people today we realize 25:15 they despise the Word of God, they don't want to hear it. 25:18 They want to run down the prophet 25:20 or they want to run down the teacher 25:21 or the preacher or the pastor or somebody, 25:23 try to destroy his character so people won't listen. 25:26 "Oh, he's such and such. 25:27 Oh, I think he blah-blah." 25:29 Why do you want to do that? 25:31 Haven't we got enough work to do 25:33 in getting the gospel to the world? 25:34 Focus on what God has impressed you to do 25:36 and what He has impressed me to do. 25:38 Don't keep continue on until there is no remedy, 25:41 until there is no what? 25:43 That probation will be closed as it were 25:45 for each individual and circumstances. 25:48 Doesn't necessarily mean the end of the world, 25:49 but there comes a time in each of our lives 25:52 that time's going to run out, there's no healing. 25:56 So again, what simply 25:57 I'm encouraging today to listen. 25:59 As much esteem as you may put in certain things 26:03 and certain people and certain buildings 26:05 and certain this and certain that, 26:06 it's the only certain that God needs to be there. 26:09 It's the only certain 26:10 that the Holy Spirit of living God 26:12 is what makes that place special or holy, is it not? 26:15 It's His presence. 26:16 We need it there, we want it there. 26:20 He wants to give us the message and I always say, 26:24 you know, "We're getting respect and authority." 26:27 I've often said they must deserve that respect, 26:30 there's no doubt about it. 26:32 Now, let's talk a little bit about, 26:33 in some of the time, we have quite a bit of time left here 26:35 because we're talking about the, 26:37 you know, people say to me, 26:38 we need to see things a little bit quieter. 26:40 We need to be a little bit more merciful. 26:43 We need to watch what we say, you know? 26:46 I'm going to be honest with you, 26:47 a red flag goes up to me, 26:49 but that's just me, maybe not to you 26:51 and maybe they're right, I don't know. 26:52 I'm just saying, "Oh, let's be careful what we're." 26:54 I understand we need to be careful 26:56 and I understand why we're warning the world 26:58 because of what's soon to take place. 27:00 What is taking place right now? 27:02 The judgments are falling, 27:03 there's no doubt it in the land. 27:05 No one really wants to hear that. 27:07 But you've got to get it 27:08 and let out by the grace of God, 27:10 let out for the people, somebody will be stirred. 27:13 Somebody will do something. 27:16 You don't want the place destroyed like Shiloh. 27:19 You don't God to turn His back and withdraw His Holy Spirit, 27:22 which He did from Shiloh, which was once His place. 27:27 Oh, we don't want to do that. 27:28 But I want you to just notice with me, 27:30 you've been through this before, but just again. 27:33 I'm not trying to say we need to be too harsh with it, 27:35 I do it and you do it because you care, 27:38 because you care. 27:41 And you're risking losing friends, 27:42 you're risking being pushed aside, 27:45 but you still care. 27:47 Praise God, I'm glad you do? 27:49 Remember those who rejected prophets, 27:52 you know, and prophets were what? 27:53 God's mouthpieces, Bible's clear on that. 27:58 The Jews or Jesus talked to the Pharisees and so on 28:01 and so forth, the scribes and the Pharisees, 28:03 and He made this statement found in Matthew Chapter 23. 28:06 To me, this is interesting, 28:08 this is Jesus speaking for those that say, 28:09 "Well, we need to speak more like that." 28:11 Absolutely, we do. 28:13 But notice how Jesus spoke here, 28:15 you'll remember in Matthew 23:33, 34 and 37. 28:20 He starts out this way, "Ye serpents," well, 28:24 that sounds like trouble right there, doesn't it? 28:27 Any pastor would get up right now and say, 28:29 "Well, you bunch of serpents, you pit vipers, you snakes." 28:34 Well, you may be in trouble, 28:35 you may look around and there would be 28:37 no one in the congregation. 28:38 Jesus talked about here, he said, 28:39 talking to scribes and Pharisees, 28:41 "You serpents here." 28:42 Notice this, "Ye generations of vipers." 28:46 Look at those words, serpents here, 28:47 serpents here, ye serpents is a snake, 28:51 translation is a snake. 28:52 It's something that is sly, 28:54 hmm, the devil is sly, you know that. 28:56 Something that is malicious and you could just say what? 28:59 It's the enemy. 29:01 Generation of vipers 29:02 and I thought, vipers are what? 29:04 Vipers is adders, they're poisonous snakes. 29:08 Jesus calling it the way He saw it here. 29:11 He said, "How can you escape," he put it on the bottom line, 29:14 "How can you escape the damnation of hell?" 29:18 Man, that's powerful, isn't it? 29:21 Get up there and using all this stuff, 29:23 serpents and vipers and damnation, 29:26 that's condemnation surely of hell. 29:29 And that translation was Gehenna 29:32 and that's certainly the place, 29:33 you know, in Jerusalem place of, 29:35 you know, where they burnt stuff, 29:37 punishment. 29:39 Verse 34 says, "Therefore, 29:40 behold I send unto you prophets." 29:42 Here we go again. 29:44 Jesus says, "I send to you prophets. 29:46 I send wise men and scribes." 29:49 Notice this, "And some of them ye shall kill and crucify." 29:53 See when we read that, a lot of Christians say, 29:55 "Well, yeah, they sure did, man, 29:56 they killed a lot of prophets of old." 29:59 This is New Testament time. 30:00 Jesus was speaking here and He's saying 30:03 even in the future, come on somebody. 30:06 He said in the future, notice this, 30:08 "And some of them ye shall kill and crucify." 30:13 Could that possibly take place 30:14 as it were in good old United States of America, 30:17 in this world? 30:19 Evidently it just wasn't the Old Testament 30:21 prophets here, something in the future. 30:23 He says, "Some of them you shall scourge," and notice, 30:26 "in your synagogues 30:27 and persecute them from city to city." 30:30 Some of you may be persecuted as it were from city to city. 30:33 People may be trying to drive you out. 30:35 They may not be doing it physically, 30:36 but they're doing it verbally. 30:38 Shame on anybody 30:39 that was trying to do that verbally. 30:41 Those of us who should be shoulder to shoulder, 30:43 working together, 30:44 believe in this message with our whole heart, 30:46 we may do it a little differently 30:47 than somebody else would do it, 30:48 but man, I'm telling you, listen to what's being said. 30:51 Is it truth based upon God's Word? 30:53 Please keep that in mind. 30:54 Jesus had to say that, 30:55 with all this business going on, 30:57 the so-called Christian, those who are right with God, 31:00 as were they scribes and the Pharisees, everybody. 31:02 They simply said, God looked upon 31:04 and Jesus looked on and he said, "Oh Jerusalem." 31:06 Verse 37. 31:08 "Oh, Jerusalem, 31:10 then that killest the prophets and stonest them 31:12 which are sent unto thee." 31:15 He wept over Jerusalem because they would not listen, 31:18 He's done everything He could possibly do 31:21 and my concern comes back, 31:23 are we doing everything that we know to do 31:25 warn our brothers and our sisters 31:26 or are we just playing around 31:28 one holiday after next? 31:30 Just messing around, having fun, going to party, 31:33 going to picnic, going to this. 31:34 I'm not saying some of those things are wrong, 31:36 I'm just simply saying are we spending... Okay, 31:38 I hear someone, they say, oh, no, no. 31:40 Are we spending too much time doing that 31:41 when we should be warning the world? 31:44 Sin has to go. 31:46 There has to be time spent alone with God, 31:49 that we may have the mind of Christ. 31:52 Christ will say the same thing just 31:54 as He said to the scribes and the Pharisees, 31:56 "Man, I've sent them over and over and over." 31:59 He might say, "I'll send them through 3ABN, 32:01 going worldwide here's messages, 32:03 going, going, going, going." 32:05 The gospel, the good news 32:06 and doom is coming upon this earth 32:08 and, oh, we won't listen. 32:10 Sunday law is coming upon this earth. 32:12 Oh, we don't want to listen. 32:14 Persecution coming. 32:15 Oh we don't want to hear it. 32:17 Please think, it's coming. 32:20 Jesus said that it's coming, and should we not weep? 32:24 Oh, this world, this world, oh, man. 32:29 They're killing the prophets, 32:30 they're killing the preachers and the teachers, 32:32 and trying to get rid of those 32:34 who have a message for the hour. 32:38 I want to look at another passage quickly, 32:40 scripture in Luke 16:16. 32:42 This is one that's misunderstood 32:45 by a lot of people 32:47 and maybe just a few words on it will help us 32:49 maybe to bring it into focus. 32:51 I think it needs to be in the focus right now. 32:52 Luke 16:16, it's talking about the law and the prophets. 32:57 Luke 16:16, 32:59 the law and the prophets, it says, 33:01 "Were written until John: 33:03 since that time, the kingdom of God is preached, 33:07 and every man pressed into it." 33:11 What does that really mean? 33:13 Again the passage, it kind of is confusing 33:15 and I'm going to put this way. 33:16 If you're a surface reader, that way some will say, 33:21 "Well, now you're offending me" 33:23 I don't know if you are or you aren't, 33:24 I'm just bringing it out and say, 33:26 if a surface reader will misunderstand 33:27 this passage of scripture. 33:29 They'll say, see, it's just the law and the prophets 33:30 and that's way back in the Old Testament. 33:32 We don't have to worry about that anymore, 33:34 is that really what that's saying? 33:37 When it says the law and the prophets, 33:39 it's simply relating to the writings 33:41 of the Old Testament, 33:43 to the law and the prophets. 33:44 It says, "Until the time of John," 33:46 so what could that possibly mean? 33:48 We're talking about John the Baptist, 33:49 there's no doubt about it. 33:50 "Until the preaching of the kingdom of God," 33:54 notice this, "by John." 33:56 The sacred writings of the Old Testament 33:59 was man's guide to salvation. 34:01 Did you get it? Man was saved. 34:03 Man was saved by what? 34:04 The writings of the Old Testament 34:06 because there was nothing to see 34:08 at the beginning of the New Testament. 34:09 Are you still with me? 34:11 That's all they had was the Old Testament. 34:13 I mean, read it when you have the opportunity, 34:15 not on the screen, but Romans, Chapter 3 34:17 and read verses at least 1 and 2. 34:18 Maybe you go down to 3, but read 1 and 2, 34:21 where it talks about the Jews 34:22 were being a little bit different, why? 34:23 Because they were given the oracles of God. 34:27 Are you relating that to the world, 34:29 the oracles of God? 34:31 That He's, you know, miraculously right, 34:33 so that I want you to give this to the world. 34:36 I want to hear you talk about the Ten Commandments. 34:40 When he talks about here's the word until, 34:42 notice that word, 34:44 the word until in no way implies 34:46 that the Old Testament scripture 34:48 lost any kind of force or any kind of power 34:52 when John, you know, we're talking about 34:54 John getting to preach. 34:55 So what did Jesus mean then? 34:59 Until the ministry of John, the law and the prophets 35:03 the Bible talks about here, 35:05 they were all that men had, isn't that true? 35:09 What did Jesus preach and teach out of? 35:12 What did New Testament Bible writers 35:13 preach and teach out of? 35:15 We had to be very careful 35:16 that we distain and roll up 35:18 and turn our back on Old Testament, 35:20 the Word of God until the gospel came. 35:24 Remember the gospel came, 35:26 but it wasn't to replace and it wasn't to annul Moses 35:30 and the prophets had written, 35:31 but just written to re-enforce, 35:34 to confirm their writings. 35:38 Not on the screen, but it makes my mind go back 35:40 to Matthew Chapter 5:17, 18 and 19. 35:44 Jesus said, don't think that I came to do what? 35:47 I didn't come to destroy, yeah, the law of the prophets, 35:50 but he came to fulfill what it's made up of. 35:55 Oh, we really need to be studying the Word of God 35:57 like never before. 35:59 See the gospel message does not stand 36:01 in the place of the Old Testament, 36:03 but it's an addition to. 36:06 If we can put it together the way the Bible wants us to, 36:08 it begins to make sense. 36:11 It was the Old Testament scriptures 36:14 that the New Testament believers used. 36:18 It was the only Bible that they had. 36:21 It must have been good, isn't it right? 36:24 The first generation, we talk about New Testament Church, 36:27 this is all they had to present. 36:30 And Jesus says what? 36:31 That's what He preached out of. 36:33 So maybe it's good enough, 36:34 just the food, word for thought there. 36:36 Today it seems there's little respect 36:37 for the office of a prophet. 36:39 There seems there's very little respect for the office of a, 36:43 maybe an elder, pastor in the church, 36:46 leader, some kind of leader, some cases. 36:49 In some cases, you know what? 36:50 There's less respect. 36:51 There's more respect 36:53 and I want to be nice about this, 36:54 there's probably more respect out there 36:57 for a good used car salesman 36:59 than there is for a pastor, 37:01 did you get it? 37:05 Some of you will get it. 37:06 It may take a little bit, but you'll get it. 37:08 Sometime more respect is shown 37:10 I'm saying for a used car salesman, 37:12 nothing against that at all 37:13 than there is for a pastor, an elder, a prophet of God. 37:19 Maybe we need to change our priorities around, 37:24 for some of the same sins 37:27 that resulted in the fall of Judah, remember. 37:30 We have to look, these are for example, 37:31 these things are written for the examples. 37:34 And so we look at these examples and say what? 37:35 We're going to find them coming right over to today, 37:39 that we need to look and say this, 37:41 it'd be hitting God's last day people, 37:43 it could be hitting His church, His people, 37:46 all these abominations that are coming in. 37:48 We let abominations 37:49 come over the threshold of our church many times 37:53 and I wonder why? 37:54 Is it to get what, more people in the pews? 37:56 To get more names that we can send here 37:58 or there or whatever? 37:59 I'm just talking about it. 38:02 I wonder sometime my poor little mind is, 38:05 you know, why we used to have, 38:06 you know, such a nice, big baptismal vows, 38:09 you know, this is what we vow to do 38:10 by the grace of God, 38:11 which are truths in the Word of God. 38:13 And they've been so condensed down 38:14 that they're very little right now, 38:16 they don't go into specifics even. 38:21 I want you to think about that. 38:22 Oh, some will argue that, but there's no use to argue it, 38:24 I've got all the proof, there's no use. 38:26 I'm just asking why. 38:30 Seem like we ought to be ready to coming of Jesus, 38:32 we ought to be beholding Him and want to be more like Him 38:35 and be able to study the Word of God and say 38:37 I want to be more like Jesus 38:39 rather than less like instead 38:40 of bringing in the abominations. 38:43 You know that in Ezekiel, they're in vision, 38:46 you know, and judgments of God falling in the land 38:48 and so on and so forth. 38:49 Some of those things are being repeated today 38:51 and sometime we say nothing. 38:55 We can be sure that this world is doomed, 38:58 we can be sure. 39:00 You can call it doom and gloom all you want. 39:03 All the prophets of Old Testament time 39:05 and New Testament time told of things 39:07 that were about to come to pass. 39:10 There would be doom if they came to pass. 39:14 We have that message to give to the world. 39:17 We can follow historically right now 39:19 in the stream of time, we can see where we're at, 39:21 God is warning us again. 39:23 He said some of those things will be repeated again. 39:27 Ezekiel 8:16, 39:28 let me just bring this to your attention once again, 39:31 because I think it's so very important. 39:33 Tells that the great abomination, 39:34 do you remember? 39:36 Done in the Lord's house. 39:38 Now, surely there's no abominations 39:40 that's done in the Lord's house now. 39:42 Surely there's not. 39:44 We read these things here and we realize 39:46 what the abominations were, 39:47 so surely we wouldn't allow them 39:49 or bring them in right now 39:50 because they might upset somebody in the church 39:53 and we don't want to upset somebody. 39:55 I'm telling you if we don't deal with them 39:56 we're going to upset God. 39:58 Hope that makes sense? 40:00 You don't want God upset. 40:01 We don't want the judgments to fall. 40:03 We don't want God saying, "Well, 40:04 I'm going to have to get their attention 40:06 because of this abomination." 40:07 He talks about those who, notice this, 40:08 abominations in the Lord's house, 40:10 that the elders, they're the ones who what? 40:12 They were weeping on the porch and the altar, 40:15 isn't that right? 40:16 They had their backs to the temple. 40:18 What were they doing? 40:19 Their focus was toward the east, 40:22 they were worshipping the sun toward the east. 40:25 Surely not. 40:27 Surely that would go on. 40:28 There's a lot of different ways we can do 40:29 just exactly what's going on here and not do it 40:32 like they were doing it. 40:33 But we turn our back on God and many people do 40:36 because they don't know what the Word says 40:38 and then they go do something else. 40:40 It's almost like Israel, all of them said, 40:42 "Well, God doesn't see any more." 40:43 Don't kid yourself, God sees everything, 40:45 everything's recorded in. 40:47 He does see and He does hear and He doesn't want to help you 40:49 and He doesn't want to help me. 40:53 Sun worship is, I tell you, one of the abominations 40:57 Ezekiel talked about here. 40:59 Again, we're talking about this 41:00 because we allow these kind of things 41:02 to take place in the church. 41:04 The church will become, 41:05 God's house will become like Shiloh. 41:08 His presence will leave it. 41:09 The Ark will be taken from it. 41:12 He did it before, don't say He won't do it again. 41:14 Please just think a little bit with me. 41:17 Is it possible, sun worshipers, 41:22 you know, it came in by the Canaanites 41:23 as you well know and found its way into the worship 41:26 service of the kings in Judah. 41:31 It's not on the screen, but it's in 2 Kings, 41:33 just write it down quick, it's 2 Kings 23:5. 41:38 It includes more thing, Baal worship. 41:41 We're talking about in the church now, 41:43 sun worship, moon worship, star worship, 41:49 all the hosts of heaven. 41:50 Everything was being worshiped except our Creator, 41:53 our Redeemer, the Creator of the world, 41:55 the real true, only God. 41:57 Everything was being worshiped. 41:59 How is it that God's people could be so blind spiritually 42:03 that these things would become a part of it 42:05 and they would all vouch and all say, 42:07 "Oh, it is good. 42:09 There's nothing wrong with it"? 42:12 I pray you haven't gone that far, 42:13 I don't want to have gone that far to see something 42:15 so obviously and try to justify that it's okay. 42:19 I don't want the presence, 42:21 the Holy Spirit's presence to leave. 42:23 I need the Holy Spirit of living God. 42:25 God's movement needs the Holy Spirit in such a way. 42:28 The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, right? 42:29 It gives us victory over sin, 42:31 leads us and guides us and directs us. 42:34 But it's not the ways of the world, 42:35 it's not getting along with the world, 42:37 it's not doing things that the world wants us to do, 42:39 it's not feeling pressure from people high up 42:41 or whatever it might be, 42:43 even in the world where it might be 42:44 or in the church trying to convict 42:46 and convert you in a different channel. 42:49 This is simply having your mind stay up on Christ. 42:52 I mean, how could it get worse if you look at it here, 42:55 I say surely it couldn't any worse 42:56 if worshiping the sun and the moon 42:58 and the stars and all that? 42:59 It got worse. 43:00 God's people were burning their own children, you know that. 43:05 And again, what puts us so above and beyond? 43:09 Not that we do this thing or we wouldn't burn them today, 43:11 but maybe there's different ways 43:13 that we can burn them. 43:16 God's people, don't forget they claim to be 43:19 and they probably saw a whole lot 43:20 more than you seen in your life. 43:23 They saw some manifestations of God. 43:25 They saw miracle worked, God spoke to them, 43:30 the prophets came, they knew they were prophets of God, 43:32 they knew they spoke the word of truth 43:34 and yet they sacrificed their children, 43:37 they burnt them. 43:38 Lord have mercy, 43:39 their minds must have been so dull, 43:41 the devil had full control, no doubt about it. 43:46 God's Word forbid that, as you well know. 43:49 Look somewhere around Leviticus 18, 43:51 read that chapter and you'll see 43:52 where God forbids that, 43:54 you know, offering the children to Moloch, 43:55 you remember that? 43:56 Sure, go ahead and take time to read that. 43:59 Human sacrifices. 44:01 Is it possible we're sacrificing our children, 44:03 we're sacrificing our church, 44:05 we're sacrificing the people of God, 44:06 our brothers and sisters, 44:08 the ones that we're working with, today 44:09 we're sacrificing them to Moloch 44:11 because we won't take a stand for what is truth. 44:13 We will not stand for the duty, God said this is duty, 44:16 this is what I've called you to do, 44:18 this is how I want you to say it. 44:20 He may not say it that way, she may not say it that way, 44:22 but I want you to say it that way, 44:24 I want somebody to hear me. 44:26 It's important 'cause we're not all the same. 44:30 God doesn't expect us to be, 44:31 but He expects the same message to come out. 44:35 You can only tell the truth one way, 44:37 you know that. 44:39 To me this is a warning and I say 44:41 it nicely to moms and dads today, 44:43 those who still have that opportunity 44:45 to do it today. 44:47 I say that there's many who are sacrificing 44:49 their children to Moloch today. 44:52 Oh, you say, "Well, how could that be? 44:53 How could?" 44:55 Oh, very simple, just name a couple of things 44:57 we're talking about. 44:59 You know, to allow our children to become 45:01 so absorbed in the customs of the world, 45:04 sending them to places to get educated, 45:06 you know, you send the kids into Babylon, 45:09 they're going to be Babylonians, 45:11 is that okay to say that? 45:13 There's no doubt about it. 45:14 If you send them to Babylon, they will become Babylonians 45:17 and then you're going to turn around and say, 45:18 "I can't understand 45:20 how they became little Babylonians." 45:23 Isn't time to lay things out, at least think about it. 45:27 Maybe I'm all wrong. 45:29 Why don't you study and see what you come up with. 45:33 We allow our children to be absorbed 45:34 in the customs of the world, 45:36 participating in what the world is doing, 45:38 you're offering them. 45:45 As God's moms and dads talking about our children, 45:50 we offer them to Moloch, how do you it? 45:52 Oh, by letting them to maybe attend parties 45:55 that they shouldn't be going to. 45:56 Well, you don't want to upset them, 45:58 they'll get mad at you. 46:00 You let them go to... Ooh, even dances. 46:04 You let them go to the movies, 46:05 you're a Seventh-day Adventist boy, 46:07 my momma, several years ago that was... 46:09 Remember I watch my language. 46:11 Several years ago that was a nightmare, you did, 46:14 we grew up there. 46:15 No, that was a den of inequity, movie going. 46:20 And now, we come up and say yes, 46:21 but you know what? 46:23 We watch the same things at home. 46:29 I'm calming down just a little bit because I'm... 46:34 Think about that kind of justification, 46:36 think about how that's going to stand with God. 46:39 I don't go to the movies anymore 46:41 and watch all that junk, 46:42 people say, "Well, PG's not bad." 46:44 That says parental guidance as far as I understand it. 46:48 And some have the nerve to say, "Well, 46:50 they don't use very many cuss words." 46:55 Well, how many does it take? 46:58 And then there again, 46:59 we had to look at that situation 47:00 and then to justify bringing it in to the home and saying, 47:05 "It's better for them to watch, ooh, junk." 47:08 See I have to watch myself, it's about to come out. 47:11 Watching junk in the house and say 47:13 that's better to watch it there. 47:15 One man said, "I don't allow my son to drink beer outside, 47:20 I tell him if he's going to drink it, 47:21 drink it in here in the house." 47:22 Oh come on. Man, what's wrong with us? 47:24 We're offering our children to Moloch, 47:26 I'm just talking about a few things here. 47:28 We allow them to run the street and play cards 47:30 and again going to dances and all kind of evil things 47:33 and spend a lot of time your 12, 13, 14 year old. 47:36 We love you too, but hey, 47:38 we're spending too much with the opposite sex. 47:40 You spend too much time familiarity, 47:41 12, 13, 14 years of age. 47:44 Nothing good can come from that. 47:48 Now, I know some of you are going to justify 47:50 and carry on, uh-uh. 47:51 Look at the odds. 47:53 We need to be very careful with these things. 47:55 We're offering our children to run around with those 47:58 who don't even know God. 47:59 They have to go and visit and spend time 48:01 and stay all night with people who are not godly people. 48:04 You let your children do that? 48:06 You know what goes on in that home? 48:07 It would probably scare you as an adult. 48:09 Okay, maybe I should go on. 48:15 What if Jeremiah was alive today? 48:18 What if Ellen White was alive today? 48:21 What if Isaiah was alive today? 48:24 What kind of message do you think you'd hear? 48:25 A brutal message back then, 48:27 what do you think it would be today? 48:29 Jeremiah was called into the prophetic office, 48:32 notice, and this was 600 years before Christ 48:36 and look at all the information that He gave to us? 48:39 He came in by the 13th year of Josiah's reign 48:43 and God called Him to preach. 48:46 He called Him to preach in Jerusalem, 48:48 but He preached certainly in other cities of Judah. 48:52 Interesting, may I just say, 48:54 many people didn't like Jeremiah's message. 48:57 Well, just join the crowd. 49:00 Many people didn't like what he had to say. 49:05 You know what one of the messages he said? 49:06 He warned the people and said, 49:08 if we don't straighten it up where? 49:09 It was in a sanctuary service, high priests, the priests, 49:12 Eli, his sons and all this stuff was going on, then what? 49:15 How Eli was running his house, is how thousands, 49:19 you can read in the Spirit of Prophecy, 49:20 how thousands began to run their house, pitiful. 49:26 Jeremiah, one of his message was what? 49:27 He said we need to be careful, he said about the temple, 49:31 he said the temple now will become like Shiloh 49:35 if we're not careful. 49:41 Could that possibly be today? 49:47 When you present the message, people become angry. 49:52 When Jeremiah preached the message, 49:53 we all agreed Jeremiah was a prophet of God, 49:55 is that all right, right? 49:57 That's right, he was the prophet of God 49:58 and he gave the message, 49:59 but the people didn't want to hear the message, 50:01 so what did they do? 50:02 Poor Jeremiah, they beat him with a whip 50:04 and threw him in prison. 50:08 Don't expect that's not taking place 50:09 in maybe different ways today. 50:15 If people don't like what's being said, 50:16 they find ways to get rid of you. 50:19 They thought they'd beat him up 50:20 and throw him in prison 50:22 and then finally, they ended up letting him go. 50:26 Remember, in the days of Jeremiah, 50:28 there was a struggle and power struggle going on for 50:30 in Assyria and Egypt and Babylon and so. 50:34 And Jeremiah during that time, 50:37 during the last 40 years of Judah's existence 50:41 as a kingdom gave the message. 50:43 Remember, 40 years he gave a message 50:45 of reform and revival and he gave it to five kings. 50:49 Why would he give a message if it wasn't needed? 50:54 Why would we be talking about things today 50:57 if it wasn't needed? 50:59 Just please, think about maybe it's needed. 51:02 Consider that it's needed today. 51:06 All the prophets of old did the same thing, 51:09 God gave them a message to give and they did, 51:11 it was 120 years or 30 years or 40 years here like Jeremiah. 51:17 Here this poor man, bless his heart. 51:19 I'd love to by the grace of God 51:20 be able to meet Jeremiah in the new earth. 51:22 Of course, all of them but here today... 51:25 He preached for 40 years 51:26 and the majority rejected what he had to say. 51:29 He called them to repentance, they didn't want to repent. 51:33 The message he gave fell on sleepy and deaf ears. 51:36 I've often said sometime, by preaching up here, 51:38 a message that God has called is preach right now, 51:40 somebody is sleeping out there, 51:42 I'll just walk out there and wake them up. 51:44 There ought to be somebody in the back, 51:46 all right, back of the room like they used to, 51:48 I think it was in the Catholic Roman Church, 51:50 they'd tap them on the head. 51:52 We need a tap on the head 51:53 maybe to wake us up to what's going on. 51:58 But the efforts, all these messages, 51:59 God given message, 52:01 come near by the Holy Spirit of the living God, 52:02 couldn't wake up these sleepy, deaf people, dead people. 52:06 They mocked the messengers of God. 52:08 Shiloh is going to be... 52:09 It's going to be leveled 52:11 even though the message is that he gave was interesting? 52:16 Jeremiah gave it, he sad bad things, 52:19 bad things has its source and it begins in the heart, 52:23 is this not a true message that he was giving? 52:27 It's not on the screen, but read it Jeremiah 17, 52:29 he said it all begins in the heart, 52:31 the heart needs to be changed. 52:34 He preached without a new heart, 52:37 without new motives and new, you know, interest. 52:41 We would never make it to heaven, 52:43 we need that today, do we not? 52:48 This kind of a change he preached about 52:50 can only come by a recreation of the heart 52:54 and an act of God. 52:57 Is that not what we need to hear? 52:59 See we can hear that and we can put those things together 53:01 by the grace of God and yet a warning message 53:04 that if we don't, here's what's going to happen. 53:08 Idolatry just like today uprooted the people from God 53:14 and sometime we'll, you know, there's no idolatry. 53:17 Man, look at idolatry, anything that takes up, 53:20 you know, undue amount of our mind and time 53:22 away from doing what God would have us to do right now. 53:25 Think of the time we spend on TV, 53:26 think of the time we spend on the computer, 53:28 think of the time we spend unnecessarily 53:31 fooling around. 53:34 We're going to have to pay for that time, 53:36 you do know that. 53:37 It's not trying to scare you in that. 53:38 Just wanting you to think that God values time. 53:43 We have very little time that's left. 53:47 When King Josiah read, defines it what we need to say, 53:51 maybe in the church today, what I need in my life, 53:53 you can call it whatever you want, may what you need. 53:55 Josiah, he saw there was problems 53:57 in the house of the Lord 53:58 and he went about to change it. 54:00 How many people will do that today? 54:01 Somebody higher up will say, 54:02 don't do that and so you don't it. 54:04 Well, if you want your job. 54:05 Come on. 54:07 You want your job you won't do that. 54:08 How many value their job more than they do 54:11 the job that God has given you to do in 2 Kings 23:2? 54:15 He said, he made a covenant with God. 54:17 We're not going to go into all this. 54:19 He made a covenant before the Lord 54:20 to keep His commandments and His testimonies. 54:23 Have you made a covenant with God? 54:25 By God's grace and strength, you'll keep His law, 54:28 you'll keep His commandments, 54:30 you'll keep His testimonies, His statutes. 54:33 And he said I'll deal with all my heart, 54:38 I want to perform, he said, 54:39 the words that are written in the book. 54:41 And he got the book, the Bible, 54:43 the Ten Commandment law and he read it 54:44 before the people of God. 54:46 Here's how it went, 54:47 here's how I'm thinking maybe it ought to go today. 54:50 Get up time and read the Bible and say this is what God says, 54:52 anyone want to do what God says? 54:55 If you don't, maybe you're at the wrong, 54:56 okay, the wrong place. 54:58 Nobody wants to hear that, it's true. 54:59 Somebody gets up and says, 55:01 "I don't want to do what the Bible says." 55:02 Well, what do you need in there, 55:03 that's the devil coming in. 55:06 Here's how it went for him, notice that about idolatry. 55:10 You know what he did? 55:12 He went out and he slayed all the priests 55:15 in the high places 55:18 and not only did he slay all the priests, 55:20 you know, the old enemy and all of their workers, 55:24 those that had familiar spirits, the wizards 55:27 and all the images and all the idols, 55:30 all the abominations, even taking the bones of those 55:33 who were dedicated to pagan altars and what? 55:36 He burnt them. 55:38 But it fulfilled the prophecy there of 1 Kings 13:2, 55:42 God said it would happen. 55:43 Other words, when this man of God 55:44 made a commitment to the Lord, right? 55:46 He said, "Listen here, 55:47 all these things that are going on right now, 55:49 the only way I can stop them 55:50 is to get down to the root of this issue." 55:52 Is somebody still with me? 55:53 Get down to the root of it, so he had to go out and slay, 55:56 slay all of those evil priests and all of those evil workers 56:00 and all of those that had familiar spirits. 56:03 We don't even want to fire somebody. 56:06 We don't want to even get rid of somebody. 56:07 Somebody does something wrong, 56:09 best thing we can do is pack them up 56:10 and send them to somebody else's location. 56:12 Pray for me. 56:16 We live in an hour of earth's history 56:20 where people are mocking the Word of God. 56:23 I believe that we're asleep and I want us to wake up. 56:25 I want to wake up, I need these messages myself. 56:28 You may not, but I know I need them 56:31 and I need the message 56:33 when it goes back to Jeremiah 3:22. 56:36 We're going to be closing this, our time is running out. 56:38 It says, "To return ye backsliding children, 56:41 and I will heal your backslidings." 56:44 Oh, this is my plea today. 56:48 3ABN Worship Hour. 56:49 His God says return and see problem is we realize 56:52 that we need to return, please we need to return, 56:55 we need to re-change, we need a reformation, 56:58 we need some changes right now. 57:00 And God says what? 57:01 I'll heal your backslidings. 57:03 Are you willing to do that today? 57:04 I want to pray for you. 57:05 I want to pray for you right now 57:07 and I want you to know in much prayer 57:08 because I know people are making decisions right now, 57:11 because Jesus is coming and we want to be ready. 57:12 I'm going to kneel, let's pray, shall we together? 57:15 Merciful God in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. 57:17 Thank You for Your warning. 57:18 Thank You for your prophets, 57:19 thank You that you're waking us up right now 57:21 in the need to be ready for Your soon coming. 57:23 Oh Lord, help us we pray. 57:24 Thank You, Lord, we love You today in Jesus' name. 57:26 Amen. 57:28 We've enjoyed this time with you 57:29 and we look forward to seeing you next time. |
Revised 2021-10-14