New Perceptions

The Last Letter: Home Alone 19

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: NP

Program Code: NP190302A


00:00 ♪♪
00:09 [ Organ begins "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" ]
03:08 >> Amen. You may be seated.
03:13 [ "Lord of All Creation" begins ]
06:18 [ "All Who Are Thirsty" begins ]
08:39 >> Amen. In a world that is constantly
08:43 changing from peaceful to turbulent, sometimes the same
08:47 thing is reflected in our lives, where we're going through many, many different changes.
08:52 And it's hard to grasp on to something that remains constant, but there is a God who is there,
08:58 who is always constant. From age to age, He has given us His promises, and He calls us to
09:04 come to Him, to rely on Him. So at this time, I just invite you to stand, and if you feel
09:11 like He is calling you, I just invite you to also come forward and give those burdens or those
09:17 praises to Him. So, join us as we sing "El Shaddai."
09:21 [ "El Shaddai" begins ]
12:51 >> Well, good morning, boys and girls. Nice to see you.
12:53 I can't believe this. What month is this already?
12:55 >> March. >> [ Laughs ] March.
12:57 Is this the first Sabbath of March already?
13:00 Oh, my. Where is this year going? And just a few more days, and
13:04 spring will be here. Yay! I got a story about winter,
13:08 though. And I don't remember which one of my story scouts sent it to
13:11 me. I just know it's the right story.
13:13 I've been saving it. Happened just five weeks ago. In North Carolina...
13:15 Anybody here from North Carolina? Happened in North Carolina.
13:19 Casey Hathaway, 3 years old. Look at -- who's 3 here? Anybody here 3?
13:24 >> Me! >> Okay, so he's just your height right there.
13:28 Casey -- you're 3. I got that. Casey Ha--
13:31 Another 3-year-old. Hey, let's just put a picture of Casey Hathaway on the screen
13:35 just so that we can picture him. There. There he is.
13:38 That's Casey Hathaway. He's with a couple friends of his.
13:42 Ooh, it's cold in North Carolina. But he's over at his grandma's
13:46 place, and things are warmer at Grandma's place, but they're playing outside.
13:49 He's just playing in his shirt, you know, because he's going to go in the house.
13:52 But when their playing came to an end, guess what! The two friends of his went into
13:58 Grandma's house. But Casey didn't go in. The friends were in there for a
14:02 while, and Grandma says, "Yo, kids, where's Casey?" "Well, I thought he had already
14:06 come in." "No. Where... Did you leave...
14:09 Is Casey still outside?" "Well, I guess he must not have come in with us."
14:13 Grandma said, "What is that?" She's drying her hands off on her kitchen apron.
14:16 She sticks her head out the door. "Yo, Casey!
14:18 Ca-sey! Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo!" No answer.
14:23 Come on! Where would Casey go? There's just some woods in the back.
14:26 Ahh. "I hope he didn't go exploring again."
14:30 After an hour, Grandma's getting worried. After two hours, she's really
14:34 worried, and when it's two hours and somebody's missing, who do you call?
14:38 What three numbers do you dial? >> 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1.
14:41 You call the police. So that's what Grandma did. She says, "Listen.
14:44 I have a little 3-year-old boy. He's 2 feet 2 inches tall. His name is Casey.
14:48 And he hasn't come home. He was just playing in my backyard.
14:51 I feel terrible." Soon the police are joining in the search.
14:53 Grandma calls some friends. "Hey, listen. We can't find Casey.
14:56 Can you come over here?" So her friends come over, and soon the neighborhood is over.
14:59 They're going everywhere looking for Casey. Nobody can find him.
15:02 Then they get a helicopter... [ Imitates rotors ] ...shining a light down.
15:06 No Casey. Then they send up some drones. [ Imitates drones ]
15:08 No Casey. They have K-9... their K-9 unit.
15:12 Those are special German shepherds. [ Imitates dogs sniffing ]
15:16 And they can't find Casey. Wednesday morning, no Casey. Wednesday afternoon, no Casey.
15:20 Wednesday night, no Casey. He's gone! Thursday morning, oh, no!
15:24 Thursday morning, the temperature has dropped down to the low 20s, and in
15:29 North Carolina, that's a state of emergency. And so they call the rescue off.
15:33 They say, "We can't... It's too cold for you to be out, guys.
15:37 Go home." Everybody's given up. They even hired some divers to
15:41 go into the river. Can they find Casey there? And then it was late Thursday
15:45 night. The divers are in the river. They're up to their waist.
15:49 If Casey's in this river, he's over his head. They're up to their waist, and
15:52 they stop. Shh, shh. Shh, shh, shh.
15:55 They thought they heard the sound of a little baby crying. Baby crying out here?
16:00 They follow the sound. They get to a clump of thorn bushes, and inside the thorn
16:06 bushes, guess who was there. Casey! Oh, his face just broke into
16:11 this glorious smile! He said, "I want to see my mommy!
16:14 I want some water!" And they rushed him, and the whole neighborhood cheered!
16:18 And everybody's whistling! Exactly like that. Then Casey told a story.
16:25 He says, "Listen. While I was out there"... little 3-year-old...
16:28 "While I was out there, I had a friend the whole time." "What?!
16:33 You had a friend? But if you had a friend, that friend should have brought you
16:36 home!" "No, I had a friend the whole time.
16:38 He stayed with me night and day." "No, you didn't have a friend."
16:42 "I had a friend." And here's the friend that Casey was describing.
16:46 Put it on the screen, please. >> Oh! >> Yep. North Carolina.
16:53 Lot of black bears in North Carolina. Casey said, "That friend stayed
17:00 with me the whole time." Oh, my. Isn't there a verse in the Bible
17:05 that says, "And the bear of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him and deliver them"?
17:10 [ Laughter ] No, it says "angel," doesn't it? But could it be that an angel
17:14 showed up as a bear and the angel just said, "Yo, Casey. Stay with me.
17:19 Come on, boy. I'll keep you warm at night. Come on.
17:21 Cuddle up right here. I'll stay with you till they find you."
17:27 Oh, my. You know what that bear said to Casey?
17:29 That bear said to Casey, "Let's be friends. Let's be friends.
17:33 Let me be your friend." Why, that bear reminds me of Jesus.
17:37 Jesus looks at you and me, and He says, "Let me be your friend. Let me take care of you.
17:41 I'll keep you warm at night. I'll be the best friend you have ever had.
17:45 Let me be your friend." Oh, my. A bear or Jesus?
17:51 I'll take Jesus every time, although I thank Jesus for sending the bear to save Casey.
17:57 What do you say? Oh, my, Who wants to thank Jesus for
18:00 being that kind of a friend? Sister, come on down. I saw your hand.
18:03 Who wants to thank Jesus for being that kind of a friend? You go, girl.
18:07 Come on. Okay, ladies, if you can watch out -- somebody's coming right
18:10 behind you. There she comes. We'll get a microphone over
18:13 here. Let's thank Jesus. What's your name, honey?
18:15 >> Gaby. >> Gaby. Let's close our eyes and fold
18:19 our hands as Gaby thanks Jesus for being our saving friend. >> Thank You, Lord.
18:26 Thank You what you've given. Bless all of the people that come to praise Jesus.
18:34 Let the ones that doesn't know Jesus. In Jesus' name. Amen.
18:40 >> Amen. That was a beautiful prayer, Gaby.
18:42 You can say that in your heart as you go back to your seats. Thank you, Jesus.
18:46 Bless those who don't know You yet. Beautiful prayer, Gaby.
18:50 Happy Sabbath, everybody.
22:31 [ Applause ] >> Oh, that was beautiful. Thank you, Andrews University
22:39 Festival Band. Byron Graves. Beautiful, beautiful.
22:44 These are teenagers from all over the Great Lakes states and Canada.
22:49 We've got Kingsway and Crawford here. Nice to have all of you.
22:54 Thanks for coming. Come again when you can stay longer.
22:59 "Simple Gifts." That's what they played for us, and that's what we need.
23:05 Let's pray. O God, the simplest gift of all -- turns out, it's the
23:10 greatest gift of all. And for it we humbly pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.
23:19 So, is it okay with you if we kind of cut to the chase right
23:22 now? Come on.
23:23 Let's go. When you're talking about the
23:25 entity called the church,
23:26 there are three options. Option number one -- "I wouldn't take it."
23:29 Option number two -- "It's a mistake."
23:33 Option number three -- "I'm putting my money on that
23:35 one." Let me share what these three
23:37 options are. Option number one goes like
23:39 this. "You know what?
23:40 The church is in such a mess these days, I'm quitting.
23:43 I'm out of here Adiós.
23:44 Arrivederci.
23:46 Sayonara. Gone." That is an option.
23:51 But in my humble opinion, it is both illogical and misguided. Let me tell you why.
23:57 Because anybody going to church believes in this Book, and this Book says that God -- this is a
24:01 direct quote, Acts 20:28 -- that God purchased the church with His own blood.
24:05 Come on! He's huge on the church. You want to bail out on it?
24:11 You want to walk away? Of course, you may. That's your option.
24:15 One of the most touching moments, in my humble opinion, again, in the life of Jesus, bar
24:22 none, four Gospels, is that day -- maybe it was an afternoon -- when Jesus, who,
24:28 by the way, knows how to count, and He can tell that the crowd count is getting lower and lower
24:36 and lower as His teaching grows stronger and stronger and stronger.
24:43 He knows what's up. And in a poignant moment, He turns to His closest friends,
24:51 and He says, "Hey, guys. Are you wanting to leave, too?" Silence.
25:00 Nobody speaks. And then Peter -- God bless Peter -- Peter speaks up.
25:08 "Lord, to whom shall we go? Who has the words of eternal life?
25:15 We have nowhere else to go. Why would we leave You? You're our last great hope."
25:24 There are hearts today who say the same. "I know we're in a storm right
25:31 now, and I know that this is choppy weather, but I'm not jumping ship.
25:37 That's option number one, jump ship. Option number two goes like
25:42 this. "When it comes to the church, rather than leaving it,
25:45 we settle into it -- oh, but with a cultural tie, so to speak.
25:50 We stay in the church. I mean, this is the church our parents grew up in.
25:55 This is the church our grandparents grew up in. We grew up in it.
25:58 Why would I leave this church? I mean, please, what would people think if I left the
26:01 church? This is where all my friends are."
26:04 Do you know what? There are millions of Jews, Protestants, and Catholics who
26:09 have used that flimsy argument for remaining with their religion.
26:13 You can make that option. It's your choice. "No intellectual commitment, no
26:18 financial support, not even an existential bond with the church, some little mystical
26:23 tie that binds me to its tenets and its practices. No, we stay, but we stay
26:28 physically. We do not stay mentally. We do not stay spiritually."
26:33 But how honest is that sort of two-timing business? I mean, come on.
26:39 Why don't you just go for option number one and drop the charades?
26:42 Now, I'm not recommending option number one or option number two. I'd like to challenge you with
26:48 option number three. You say, "Come on, Dwight. What's option three?"
26:52 What if we opted to engage in brutally honest soul searching and submit ourselves to the
27:00 possibility that the problem isn't with the church -- the problem is with me and you?
27:09 What if we said, "All right, I'm going to be honest, playing no games with my mind.
27:16 Could it be that the church I belong to... Could it be it turns out I'm the
27:21 one needing spiritual reformation, spiritual transformation?"
27:26 Option number three. I'd like to challenge you to embrace it with me.
27:29 Right? What do you say we go for it? Let's just try it.
27:32 Let's see how it works. Here's how it works. The moment you say yes to option
27:36 number three, brutal soul searching, in that very instant, an ancient letter long, long ago
27:43 will suddenly be in our faces [ Chuckles ] because you can't duck this
27:49 letter. You can't get away from it. And besides, why would you even
27:53 try? It's the last letter. It's the last letter of the
27:56 Bible. It's the last letter of the Apocalypse.
27:58 It's the last word. As scholars say, seven generations of history, seven
28:04 epochs of history, seven chapters from the Cross of Christ to the coming of Christ.
28:09 The last letter is directed to those living just before the coming of Christ.
28:14 I want to go to that last letter with you today once again. Five times we've read that
28:20 letter. It's a short letter. I wish people who wrote their
28:23 e-mails would keep it this short. It's a short letter. Come on.
28:26 Take a look at it. Revelation chapter 3, the last letter, come on.
28:30 You got your Bible here? You got a phone here. It's in your phone.
28:33 Pull it out. Take a look at this with me. Revelation 3:14.
28:37 Red letters -- that means Jesus speaking. He dictated the letter.
28:41 Here it is.
28:51 "I was in the beginning, and I'm the Amen at the end, and I'm everything in between.
28:56 Listen up. I'm writing to you."
29:16 Thanks a lot!
29:37 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
29:40 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in"
29:42 to her, I will come in to him, I will come in to them, "and I
29:45 will eat with them, and they with me."
29:59 The end. And by the way, did you catch verse 19?
30:01 Let me put verse 19 on the screen. Look at 19 again, please.
30:10 Does that feel like a little bit of cognitive dissonance going on?
30:13 I mean, you're talking about love and discipline at the same time.
30:16 Did you ever get spanked? You probably never got spanked in your life.
30:20 Come on. I'm looking at you, and I can tell you've never been spanked.
30:24 I got whupped all the time. You know, my folks would say before the whipping,
30:30 "Now, Dwight, we want you to know, boy, that we love you."
30:37 This doesn't feel like love at all. "And by the way," and did your
30:42 folks ever say this? Did your folks ever say, "And by the way, this is going to
30:46 hurt me more than it hurts you"? [ Laughter ] Did your folks say that?
30:52 Oh, you heard it from your folks, too, huh? Man, you can be young and hear
30:57 that stuff. Must be in some parenting book somewhere...
31:01 You..."This hurts you more than me? Ah.
31:05 Let's trade places, then, so you won't be hurt as much." [ Laughter ]
31:10 Verse 19 again, come on. Cognitive dissonance. "Those whom I love" -- Jesus
31:15 speaking -- "I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent."
31:18 Now, the problem is we're reading this in the English because if we could read it in
31:21 the Greek, it goes like this. "Those whom I feel an affection for, those whom I feel close to,
31:27 those whom I love," phileo, Philadelphia, city of brotherly love.
31:32 This is the only church in the seven that gets this warmth expressed to it.
31:39 "I have the warmth of friendship for you. I love you."
31:43 This is the only church, the one at the end. And by the way, did you notice
31:49 this? He's not declaring His love before the discipline
31:52 as your parent did. He's affirming his love after the discipline, and that's
31:57 the only time when your mind is open to comprehend love. Pretty smart move.
32:02 What kind of discipline you talking about? Well, what did He just call you?
32:07 Miserable. Naked. What was this? Wretched.
32:13 Poor. Blind. Mm!
32:15 Not -- the last letter is not about name calling, folks. By the way, you remember.
32:19 We've already found this out. Those five epithets -- Jesus embraced them all at the
32:24 Cross. He became all five. No, this isn't about name
32:27 calling. This is about life changing. This is about soul saving.
32:30 "And by the way, I'm standing at the door, and I'm knocking. I'm the only friend you have
32:34 that loves you this deeply. Do you understand that? I am your very best friend, and
32:38 I'm the only one who can save you, and I'm standing at your door, and I'm knocking right
32:41 now, girl. I'm knocking right now, boy." That's what he's saying here,
32:47 verse 20. Read it again.
32:59 It's an amazing, amazing line. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."
33:05 And wouldn't you know it? That one line can be understood in three very different ways.
33:11 And all three very different ways are correct. They're three invitations.
33:19 And you gotta get this. There's a study guide tucked away in your worship bulletin.
33:23 Will you pull that study guide out right now, please? I want you to jot these three
33:26 invitations down. Yeah. We got ushers who will come your
33:28 way. You didn't get a study guide? Put your hand up.
33:30 In the balcony, here, in the band as well. We'll get a study guide to you.
33:37 You know, we're putting it on the screen here.
33:40 This is the series, "The Last Letter."
33:42 "Home Alone" 19. You know, this "Home Alone"
33:44 franchise -- these are the Christmas children videos that
33:47 come out. I went on...
33:48 The whole world knows "Home Alone," by the way,
33:51 so I go on Google to find out how many have you had. I get up to five --
33:55 "Home Alone 5." I went ahead, just to be safe, put 19 there so that we're not
33:59 stepping on anybody's toes. Home Alone. Okay, so you click on
34:04 "Home Alone," and you'll get this study guide. All right?
34:07 Okay, let's go. Invitation number one, jot it down, please.
34:09 Invitation number one, Jesus' gospel invitation. Yeah, this is a gospel
34:14 invitation. This is the invitation, by the way, that was captured for an
34:17 entire generation by the composer Ralph Carmichael. You ever heard this song?
34:21 ♪ The Savior is waiting to enter your heart ♪ ♪ Why don't you let Him
34:29 come in? ♪ ♪ There's nothing in this world to keep you apart ♪
34:38 ♪ What is your answer to Him? ♪
34:42 Let's do the chorus together, on the screen.
34:44 [ Congregation sings ]
35:04 There's the word door, door, door.
35:06 ♪♪
35:14 "Here I am. I stand at the door and knock." It's Jesus' gospel invitation.
35:21 By the way, it's not just here in Revelation. It's all the way through the
35:23 Bible. Grab your pen now. Jot this down.
35:25 Proverbs 23:26, God speaking. "My child, give Me your" what? "Give Me your heart."
35:30 "I'm standing at the door. Give Me your heart." Or go to the New Testament.
35:35 Jesus, on the eve of His execution, John 14:23 -- jot
35:39 this down.
35:42 "My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make
35:44 Our" -- what's the word there? "We'll make our home.
35:47 We'll make our home with you." So it's not just Jesus who comes.
35:50 Jesus says, "The Father will come with Me." And a little bit earlier in the
35:54 same upper room, in verse 17 of chapter 14, Jesus has already spoken these words.
35:57 Jot this down.
36:04 The gospel invitation is the whole Trinity saying, "Hey, We're knocking
36:09 together. Can We come into your life?" Oh, what a profound invitation.
36:14 It's no wonder Ellen White has claimed -- I love this
36:16 one-liner. How come I've never seen this
36:17 before? On the screen...
36:19 "That heart is the happiest that has Christ as an abiding guest."
36:24 You see, He's not a member of the family.
36:26 He's a guest. You invite Him in.
36:28 He only comes by invitation. "Let us," she goes on,
36:32 "acknowledge Him as our Friend and Saviour."
36:35 "Behold, I stand..." [ Knocking ] "...at the door and knock."
36:40 Three invitations. Invitation number one -- Jesus' gospel invitation.
36:43 Jot it down. Invitation number two -- Jesus' endtime invitation.
36:48 Because as it turns out, Jesus has already used this metaphor about the door when He
36:52 was here with us. In fact, put it on the screen.
36:58 He's giving a recital of what it's going to be like on the planet before He returns.
37:03 The words on the screen. "Then they" -- that's the world -- "will see the Son of
37:07 Man" -- that would be Me, He says -- "coming in the clouds with great power and glory."
37:11 Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right
37:17 at the" -- What's the word? He's at the door! "Behold, I stand at the door and
37:23 knock" means "I'm almost here! I'm almost here. Anybody waiting for Me?"
37:31 Revelation is replete with this idea of imminence, you know, this almost, this soon business.
37:37 On the screen, jot this down. Quoting Jesus, "'Look! I am coming...'" what's the
37:41 word? "'...soon!'...He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am
37:45 coming soon.'" "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" means "I'm almost here!"
37:50 Do you understand that? "I am almost here for you." Yeah. Yeah.
37:58 "I think I'm on... Come on, Dwight. Give me a break.
38:00 Don't you think I can figure this out? That was 1,900 years ago!"
38:04 So your point is? What's your point? Go ahead and make it.
38:10 You have a problem with this imminence business?
38:14 The New Testament is replete with it.
38:16 You know why? I'll tell you why.
38:19 I have a friend who has a... had a friend.
38:22 37 years old, fit as a fiddle. One young wife and two young children.
38:28 And in one instance a few weeks ago, [ Snaps ] gone! Nothing wrong with him.
38:33 [ Snaps ] Gone!
38:37 That's why the Bible never backs off of imminence.
38:41 It never backs off "soon." Because it might not be "I'm at
38:45 the door for all of you," but, "Sir, I am at the door for
38:49 you.
38:51 I'm coming for you." Knock-knock. [ Snaps ]
38:55 Over. Yeah, it's somber. That's why it's there --
39:02 to shake us up, to wake us up and say, "Can't play this waiting game.
39:07 What are you waiting for?" And by the way, it's going to happen the same way for the
39:15 entire civilization. [ Snaps ] That's it.
39:20 "Are you serious?" That's it. Look at this.
39:23 Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. Jot this down.
39:32 Look at -- have you ever heard of a thief who sends you a postcard and says, "I'm going to
39:35 be in your neighborhood next week. Hope to see you then"?
39:37 What? There's no thief in the world that does that.
39:39 Why doesn't he do that? Because it's the element of surprise.
39:43 If you know that the thief is coming tonight to your dorm room or to your house, you're going
39:47 to be sitting there with a 40-gauge shotgun, right? "I got a surprise for you!"
39:53 No, you never know. That's the whole metaphor of a thief.
39:56 That's what it'll be with the human race. "The day of the Lord will come
39:59 like a thief in the night.
40:00 While people are saying, 'Peace,'"...High-five, man,
40:03 "'Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly..."
40:06 Write that word down. "...suddenly, as labor pains on
40:08 a pregnant woman, and they will not..."
40:10 And in the Greek, it's a double negative.
40:12 "...they will will no not escape."
40:14 Impossible. [ Snaps ]
40:16 Finished! That was it.
40:18 That was it! "I thought there was more
40:20 supposed to happen." Nope, that was it.
40:21 It's over.
40:23 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" therefore must not only mean "I am returning to you
40:29 soon." It means "I am returning to this civilization soon."
40:37 Look at -- we're not dealing with rocket science. Now, I talk with bright people.
40:39 When I fly, I get to sit by bright people. I talk with bright people on
40:43 this campus, where I live. Guess what. There's this numinous uneasiness
40:48 among thinking human beings today that senses there's some approaching dread that we do not
40:56 know of. There's some shoe that's going to fall next, and we have no
41:00 clue what this shoe is. We just know it's coming. That's what the Bible is saying.
41:09 "Hey, Earth. Hey, America. Hey, Andrews.
41:16 Hey, Laodicea. Guess what. I'm almost there."
41:23 Ooh. Three invitations. Invitation number one -- Jesus' gospel invitation.
41:27 Invitation number two -- Jesus' endtime or end game invitation.
41:33 That little American lady writer that we quoted a moment ago -- let me put her
41:37 on the screen again.
41:48 "Remember" -- there's an enemy in this game.
41:51 The enemy..."Satan has come down with great power, to work with
41:54 all deceivableness," all craftiness, all trickery -- why?
42:00 Because he knows he's lost, but he's taking every soul with him
42:06 that he can.
42:07 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice..."
42:13 Oh, by the way, yeah, it's not just this. [ Knocking ] There's a voice going along with
42:17 this. I don't know if it's a plea. I don't know if it's begging.
42:20 I don't know if He's shouting. "Anybody in there? Anybody in there,
42:26 would you open the door?" The voice accompanies the knocking.
42:31 Three invitations. Here's invitation number three, the last one.
42:38 Jot that down, please. Jesus' embarrassing invitation.
42:42 And it took a retired German businessman turned pastor, who taught me this.
42:48 And it is embarrassing, but it's true. And I said, "Why have I never
42:52 seen this before?" But I'm passing it on to you. Check it out.
42:56 It's embarrassing because what's going on in that Laodicean church of Christ in the seventh
43:01 and final period before He returns is that it's conducting its business as if the Lord is
43:07 not in their midst. Or could it be the other way around?
43:10 As if the Lord is in their midst. But surprise, surprise,
43:15 surprise. He's not in their midst. He's outside.
43:19 Will you jot that down? It appears that Jesus is not even in the church.
43:24 He's standing on the outside. Here's this church -- can you believe it?
43:29 This church going through their great debates, this church going through their grand feats.
43:34 Here's Laodicea through its glorious "We have need of nothing" motions and
43:38 countermotions, and all the while, the Lord of Laodicea is outside the church.
43:43 Go figure! And by the way, what's interesting about this Laodicean
43:46 church -- they're the ones that the Apocalypse calls the remnant.
43:49 The remnant. This is the final generation, and what are they thinking?
43:53 And I ask myself, "Dwight, what are you thinking? What are we thinking?"
43:57 Apparently, we can't hear Him. Maybe that's it. We just can't hear Him.
44:01 I can't imagine you and I... in our great deliberations and our mighty discussions, I can't
44:07 imagine that if we were hearing... if we could hear the knocking,
44:10 we wouldn't all join together and run to the front door of the Pioneer Memorial Church and
44:13 throw the door open. "Jesus, come on in!" I can't imagine one person
44:16 intentionally turning Him away and saying, "Nah, I don't want to hear that.
44:19 I don't want to hear it. I can't hear it. I can't hear it."
44:21 No. We... Apparently, it's so noisy in the Laodicean church before the end,
44:28 there's so much distraction, that nobody hears the knocking. So the knocking now has to be
44:35 accompanied with a voice. Wow. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
44:43 How long have we been home alone as a church? How long have we been home
44:54 alone? Hmm. How embarrassing.
44:58 Or as this writer puts it, what a loss.
45:00 Put this on the screen, please.
45:17 "What a terrible thing it is to exclude Christ from His own
45:20 temple," His own church! "What a loss" -- write that
45:23 down -- "What a loss for the church!"
45:26 So here's the question.
45:27 What are we supposed to do now? As humbling as it's going to feel -- and trust me,
45:32 it will feel that way -- we need to cry what the people cried out when they were listening to
45:37 Peter on the day of Pentecost. You remember the story, don't you, of Pentecost?
45:40 I mean, it went like wildfire, electricity, through the city. There are a bunch of fishermen
45:45 who were speaking the languages of the empire, and all of the representative strangers are
45:50 hearing it in their own mother tongue. What's going on?
45:53 And Peter stands up and says, "Yo! Stop! Shh. Quiet. Time out.
45:56 Hey, listen, guys. These men are not drunk. This is the outpouring of the
46:03 mighty Spirit of God." And Peter pivots on that point, and he begins to unfold the life
46:08 and the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
46:12 When he's through, the crowd is so moved, do you know what they cry out?
46:15 "What are we supposed to do?" And Peter answers, and I want you to see his answer.
46:21 Put it on the screen. Acts 2:38.
46:36 Do you know what we just read? That's the identical word in the letter to the Laodiceans.
46:42 Didn't Jesus just use this word "repent" in verse 19? Yeah, "Repent," He says in verse
46:47 19. "Be baptized." That means hit the reset button.
46:51 Start over again. And open the door. Because if you open the door,
46:56 you'll receive, Peter says, the gift of the Holy Spirit. "I will come into you."
47:00 "Yeah, but, Dwight, that's Jesus coming in, not the Holy Spirit coming in."
47:04 Wrong. Look at the last line of this letter.
47:09 "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the" -- what the what? -- "what the Spirit says to the
47:15 churches." It's the Spirit who's been talking this whole time.
47:19 Jesus said, "I'm knocking, but when I come in, boom, you have what the Spirit has
47:25 promised." And what is the Spirit saying to the Seventh-Day Adventist
47:29 Church today? "I know you think you don't have need of anything, Laodicea,
47:37 I know you think you can pull off the healing of this church, but there aren't enough
47:44 parliamentary rules and procedures to vote yourselves into healing the fracture and
47:49 reviving the church. You just can't take action. You can't vote Me in.
47:55 You can't vote Me out. I stand at the door and knock if you'll repent.
48:04 Admit to Me and to each other that I'm the only hope, the only solution left for your Church.
48:10 Ask Me to come into your midst. Call upon Me. Cry out for Me.
48:14 I will come in. And I will deliver the Church. I will heal the Church.
48:24 I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And you'll be healed."
48:33 That's a hard Word for Laodicea to swallow because we're so used to
48:38 quid pro quo. I mean, you go through these steps, you're going to get this
48:42 result. We've been going through all kinds of revised and re--
48:46 steps and procedures, and we're still not getting the result. What's up with that?
48:51 Because we can't program Him into our midst. We have to actually invite Him,
48:57 and He says, "When I come in, would you repent? Would you turn your back on
49:01 what you've tried? Would you come to Me just as you are?"
49:06 I'm going to have to put my arm around you. You put your arm around me.
49:09 That's what repent means. We reject what we've tried. We now turn to the only
49:15 supernatural solution left to us, and O God, that would be You.
49:20 That would be You. Come into our midst. We've done it all, and we're
49:26 still hurting and fractured. And we're getting absolutely nowhere.
49:34 That's what's going on. And that's why it's so embarrassing.
49:38 Because He's in the Church -- not. He's out there.
49:48 "Let me in. Open that door. Repent. Hit the reset button.
49:54 I'll give you the Holy Spirit." The one gift, by the way, that brings every other gift with it.
50:02 Can you imagine that? I mean, just try to picture what God is offering us here.
50:08 He says, "Look, I'll start with one person at a time. That one person -- he, she will
50:11 ask Me for the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I will come in every day," because the
50:16 Holy Spirit is speaking -- Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both there -- "I will come into
50:20 her today, I will come into him today, with just one person. That's all I need is one
50:25 person." Because in the divine mathematics of God, it takes
50:30 only one until suddenly two. Ooh, two are there. Two people prayed for the daily
50:37 baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then before you know it, boom, four.
50:41 Let's put the Holy Spirit's geometric progression on the screen.
50:44 Read these numbers for me. This is how fast it can happen. Watch this.
50:48 Let's start out with... Let's read one. Okay, one, you're the one, so He
50:51 starts with you. One, okay, read it out loud with me.
50:54 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128,
51:02 256, 512, 1,024, 2,048,
51:08 4,096, and up. Mathematicians call it geometric progression.
51:13 It just takes the one to start, and somewhere on the planet, oh, I wish it would be
51:18 here, but it may not be. It may be far across the seas in Africa, in Asia, somewhere,
51:24 poof, there is an explosion. Somewhere 500 miles away, poof, there's another explosion.
51:30 And suddenly from east to west, north to south, the Earth is literally being set ablaze.
51:35 Revelation 18:1, just before the return of Jesus, a mighty angel comes down and sets the entire
51:41 planet on fire with the glory of God. And it started with just one.
51:46 One teenager says, "I'm not quitting. I'll keep praying that prayer
51:52 every day." Just one. That's all it takes.
51:56 Geometric progression.
51:58 Just one. And then this thing that we've
52:02 called the latter rain... What is the latter rain?
52:05 It's just a whole lot of people in the same space experiencing the daily baptism of the
52:09 Holy Spirit. That's all it is.
52:11 It's not like... [ Imitates explosion ]
52:13 ...the roof's off the church. Just one.
52:18 And I do believe you are that one.
52:22 I believe it. I believe it.
52:24 Wow. All because the leaders and the people of the church cried out
52:31 to God to do what is more than clear we are not able to do ourselves, pour out Your
52:36 Holy Spirit upon a... How does she put it? A languishing church.
52:41 It must...but it can only begin by obeying the Lord of Laodicea's command, His plea,
52:48 "I want you to repent." It's never comfortable to repent because I have to repent
52:53 to you, and you hear me, and it's very humbling. But that's the only way.
52:58 You talk to me. But the only way we can break the logjam is you repenting to
53:05 your husband, you repenting to your wife. Repentance starts with one.
53:14 Repent. For unless there is repentance, there'll be no healing.
53:23 There'll be no revival. There'll be no Holy Spirit until a new generation of leaders
53:27 and members is raised up. And I may be the first pastor... [ Snaps ] He's out.
53:34 "We're going to have to move. Get him out." The point is "I'm standing at
53:40 the door knocking. If you hear My voice," there'll be a band of men, there'll be a
53:48 band of women, there'll be a band of young adults at Andrews University and in the
53:52 Seventh-Day Adventist Church, who will cry out every day...
53:55 Let's put that prayer on the screen, please.
53:57 ...who will cry out every day...
54:05 Is that a hard prayer to pray? Doesn't look too hard.
54:09 Let's try reading it out loud together.
54:11 "O Jesus, please come in and pour Your Spirit upon us
54:17 now!" You know what I want to do? I want to kneel down right here.
54:21 I want to pray with you. Come on. Let's kneel down. Let's pray.
54:23 It's one thing to put it on the screen. It's another thing to pray the
54:27 words, you and I together. O God, O Lord of Laodicea, three invitations.
54:39 The gospel invitation -- we get it. The endgame invitation --
54:44 we understand that. The embarrassing one -- O Jesus, it is embarrassing.
54:50 Have You been out... Have we left You out there? Have we been home alone all
54:56 these years? It cannot be! It just cannot be.
55:02 So, we are in a position of abject humility before You. Our heads are down.
55:10 We're on our knees. And we're asking You, please, do whatever it takes to awaken the
55:17 repentance that needs to be in my heart. O God, forgive me for the times
55:25 too many when I have stepped in between You and others and I have eclipsed Your glory, I've
55:33 blocked the light from shining, trying to insert myself into the moment.
55:40 Forgive me. I have sinned. Forgive us, this church we all
55:49 love. We've opted to stay in. But we need You to do whatever
55:56 it takes to lead us into a deep repentance that turns us from ourselves to our Savior.
56:03 Oh, Jesus. Come in. We didn't...
56:18 We didn't know that was You knocking. We thought it was just...
56:23 some interference. We've blocked Your knocking and Your voice out.
56:31 Jesus, we hear You now. Please come in for all of us, and save
56:38 Laodicea. You're not going to lose the Church.
56:41 Save the people of Laodicea. I humbly pray. Do whatever it takes.
56:48 But may we never be the same again for having read Your letter to us.
56:55 In Your mighty name, let all the people say, "Amen." And Amen. Amen.
57:09 >> Think of the last time someone said, "I'm praying
57:12 for you." Didn't it give you a sense of
57:14 peace and reassurance that somebody cares for me?
57:16 I know how I feel when I get an e-mail from one of our viewers saying, "Yo, Dwight.
57:20 I've been praying for you lately." There's nothing like knowing
57:23 someone is praying for you. So I want to offer you an opportunity to partner -- let
57:27 me, let us partner with you in prayer.
57:29 If you have a special prayer request or a praise of
57:31 thanksgiving you'd like to share with us, I'm inviting you
57:34 to contact one of our friendly chaplains.
57:36 It's simple to do. You can call our toll-free
57:38 number -- 877 -- the two words "HIS WILL," 877-HIS-WILL.
57:43 That friendly voice that answers, you tell him, you tell
57:46 her what your prayer need is, we'll join with you in that
57:49 petition.
57:51 May the God who answers prayer journey with you these next few days until we're right back
57:55 here together again next time.
57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪
58:19 ♪♪


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Revised 2019-03-07