3ABN On the Road

Camp Kulaqua-the Finisher Part 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: James Rafferty

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000675


01:01 Welcome back to North Florida camp meeting
01:03 at Camp Kulaqua. We are so glad
01:05 that you are with us.
01:07 Psalm 13:6 says "I will sing unto the Lord,
01:11 because he is dealt bountifully with me".
01:13 Do you feel He has dealt bountifully with you today?
01:16 Amen. Let's sing a new song to Him today.
01:22 Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
01:26 Thru eternal ages let His praises ring,
01:30 Glory in the highest I will shout and sing,
01:34 Standing on the promises of God.
01:38 Standing, standing,
01:42 Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior,
01:46 Standing, standing,
01:52 I'm standing on the promises of God.
01:56 Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
02:00 Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord,
02:05 Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,
02:09 Standing on the promises of God.
02:13 Standing, standing,
02:17 Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior,
02:21 Standing, standing,
02:26 I'm standing on the promises of God.
02:31 Standing, standing,
02:35 Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior,
02:39 Standing, standing,
02:45 I'm standing on the promises of God. Amen.
03:06 You are my strength when I am weak
03:09 You are the treasure that I seek
03:12 You are my all in all
03:18 Seeking You as a precious jewel
03:22 Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
03:25 You are my all in all
03:30 Jesus, Lamb of God
03:37 Worthy is Your name
03:43 Jesus, Lamb of God
03:49 Worthy is Your name
03:56 Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
03:59 Rising again I bless Your name
04:02 You are my all in all
04:08 When I fall down You pick me up
04:11 When I am dry You fill my cup
04:14 You are my all in all
04:20 Jesus, Lamb of God
04:26 Worthy is Your name
04:32 Jesus, Lamb of God
04:38 Worthy is Your name
04:44 Jesus, Lamb of God
04:50 Worthy is Your name
04:56 Jesus, Lamb of God
05:02 Worthy is Your name
05:08 Amen. Amen.
05:09 Our theme here this evening has been focused
05:12 on the kingdom bound by the spirit.
05:14 How many of you want to see Jesus come?
05:16 Amen. Amen.
05:18 This is an old familiar hymn, O when shall I see Jesus,
05:22 enjoy and sing along.
05:30 O, when shall I see Jesus and reign with him above
05:36 And shall hear the trumpet sound in that morning?
05:41 And from the flowing fountains
05:44 drink everlasting love
05:46 And shall hear the trumpet sound in that morning?
05:51 O, shout, glory! For I shall mount above the skies,
05:57 When I hear the trumpet sound in that morning.
06:02 O, shout, glory! For I shall mount above the skies,
06:07 When I hear the trumpet sound in that morning.
06:12 Ours ears shall hear with transport
06:15 the host of heaven sing
06:18 And shall hear the trumpet sound in that morning?
06:23 Our tongues shall chant the glories of our immortal King
06:28 And shall hear the trumpet sound in that morning?
06:33 O, shout, glory! For I shall mount above the skies,
06:39 When I hear the trumpet sound in that morning.
06:44 O, shout, glory! For I shall mount above the skies,
06:49 When I hear the trumpet sound in that morning.
07:00 Amen. Praise the Lord.
07:04 I am desperate for Jesus, the longer I'm in this world
07:08 the less everything in it means.
07:12 Let's sing "Desperate for You".
07:33 This is the air I breathe
07:41 This is the air I breathe
07:47 Your holy presence living in me
08:03 This is my daily bread
08:10 This is my daily bread
08:16 Your very word spoken to me
08:30 And I - I'm desperate for You
08:44 And I - I'm lost without You
09:02 This is the air I breathe
09:09 This is the air I breathe
09:15 Your holy presence living in me
09:30 This is my daily bread
09:38 This is my daily bread
09:44 Your very word spoken to me
09:57 And I - I'm desperate for You
10:10 And I - I'm lost without You
10:25 And I - I'm desperate for You
10:39 And I - I'm lost without You
10:53 I'm lost without You
11:00 I'm lost without You
11:07 I'm lost without You
11:15 I'm lost without You
11:22 I'm desperate for You
11:29 Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.
11:32 Let's stand the final time for our theme song,
11:35 "Open our eyes Lord we want to see Jesus".
11:50 Open our eyes, Lord,
11:55 we want to see Jesus.
12:01 to reach out and touch Him,
12:07 and say that we love Him.
12:14 Open our ears, Lord,
12:20 and help us to listen,
12:26 Open our eyes, Lord,
12:32 we want to see Jesus.
12:38 Open our eyes, Lord,
12:44 we want to see Jesus.
12:51 to reach out and touch Him,
12:57 and say that we love Him.
13:03 Open our ears, Lord,
13:09 and help us to listen,
13:16 Open our eyes, Lord,
13:22 we want to see Jesus.
13:29 Open our eyes, Lord,
13:34 we want to see Jesus.
13:48 And the people said, amen. Amen.
13:51 You may be seated.
13:54 Tonight, I'd like to welcome you out again
13:56 to Camp Kulaqua's, North Florida camp meeting.
14:00 And I want to ask you a question.
14:01 Has it been a blessing this weekend?
14:03 Amen. Did I hear an amen? amen.
14:06 Think I heard those people watching TV
14:09 a little bit louder than you.
14:10 Did somebody say amen? Amen. Amen.
14:14 You know, it is part of God's special plan
14:17 to bless His people, when they come together
14:19 in these type of convocations. Amen.
14:22 And I believe that God is pouring His spirit out
14:25 on us tonight in this weekend.
14:28 And to get things started,
14:29 we just would like to have a word of prayer at this time.
14:32 Shall we pray? Our loving heavenly Father,
14:39 we praise you, we praise your name.
14:43 And Lord, we wish that our eyes would be open,
14:47 that we might see you clearly,
14:50 that we can behold your love and your goodness.
14:53 We pray Lord tonight that You pour Your power out
14:57 on the speaker and musicians, Lord.
15:00 We feel your presence,
15:01 even now as we've come to this place.
15:05 Thank you, Jesus, be with us, in Jesus name, amen.
15:28 This song is for my hero, the ultimate hero.
15:43 Must have been cold there in my shadow,
15:53 To never have sunlight on your face.
16:02 You were content to let me shine,
16:12 You always walked a step behind.
16:21 I was the one with all the glory,
16:30 While you were the one with all the strength.
16:40 A beautiful face without a name
16:50 I never once heard you complain.
16:59 Did you ever know that you're my hero,
17:09 And everything I would like to be?
17:19 I can fly higher than an eagle,
17:28 You are the wind beneath my wings.
17:42 Might have appeared to go unnoticed,
17:52 But I've got it all here in my heart.
18:01 I want you to know I know the truth,
18:11 Lord, I would be nothing without you.
18:21 Did you ever know that you're my hero,
18:30 And everything I would like to be
18:40 I can fly higher than an eagle,
18:49 You are the wind beneath my wings.
18:59 Did you ever know that you're my hero,
19:09 And everything I would like to be?
19:19 I can fly higher than an eagle,
19:36 You are the wind beneath my wings.
19:45 Lord, you are the wind beneath my wings. Amen.
20:16 Well, I certainly felt like I was flying there
20:18 for a few seconds, praise the Lord.
20:22 Several of you've asked, what was the outcome
20:25 of my lip experience and I forgot to finish that story.
20:29 What happened was I went to the doctor
20:31 and he informed me that I probably ended up eating
20:35 something that my mouth reacted to, something hot.
20:40 And sure enough just a few days before I left
20:43 for South Carolina I had eaten some very hot food.
20:46 It was the kind of food where you eat it and you think oh,
20:48 this is okay.
20:49 And then after you eat it,
20:50 it gets hotter and hotter and hotter.
20:52 It was Indian food,
20:54 and I think that was the situation,
20:57 so everything is okay now though.
20:59 Let's open our Bibles again,
21:00 this evening to Hebrew's Chapter 12.
21:04 I would like to share with you this evening,
21:08 what I believe is one of the greatest dangers
21:10 facing us today as Christians and Adventists.
21:15 It's revealed to us in Revelation 3.
21:17 We don't need to open there.
21:19 But it is the feeling of satisfaction.
21:25 We're blessed in the evening,
21:27 we're blessed in the morning,
21:29 and we're blessed in the afternoon.
21:30 Have you've been blessed? Amen.
21:32 And we can come to the place,
21:34 where we feel spiritually satisfied
21:38 and that is dangerous,
21:42 because God often wants to give us much more
21:47 and we feel like, we have enough.
21:49 You can see it in the Old Testament,
21:50 there was a king there with Elijah,
21:51 who was told to smite the arrows on the grounds.
21:57 And he smote the arrows three times and the prophet said,
22:00 you should have smitten them seven times and more.
22:04 You have limited, you have limited,
22:07 God's ability to bless you, to empower you,
22:10 to strengthen you.
22:11 Do you believe we can limit God?
22:13 The Laodicean Church does that.
22:15 The Laodicean Church says I feel rich.
22:19 Do you feel rich tonight? And increased with knowledge.
22:26 But friends, the reality is we are blind,
22:29 and wretched, and miserable, and poor.
22:32 And we need more of the spirit of God,
22:35 tonight that we've been having all through the day
22:38 and last night, don't we.
22:40 We need more of the spirit of God to fill us
22:43 to over flowing, because we don't want it
22:45 enough not just for us.
22:46 We got to take some home with us.
22:49 We need to share it with others.
22:52 Hebrews Chapter 11,
22:53 Lets continue our theme on the finisher.
22:57 It is actually a two part series.
22:59 I was thinking that it was going to take me
23:01 a little longer than 30 minutes to share
23:03 the thoughts here, but we left off in verse 4.
23:06 "You have not yet resisted unto blood,
23:11 striving against sin;"
23:13 I believe that we looked at this
23:16 not literally but symbolically.
23:19 We looked at the experience, the only experience
23:22 in the Bible of a man who resisted unto blood
23:24 and we try to understand from the experience of Christ,
23:28 how would is it that we can be strengthened
23:31 to resist unto bloods.
23:33 Wouldn't you in your own experience
23:36 want to be able to resist unto blood.
23:39 We looked in Matthew Chapter 26.
23:43 Let's turn there this evening Matthew Chapter 26
23:48 and we found an outline.
23:50 I'm just going to review them quickly
23:51 of seven basic principles, that Christ experienced
23:56 that prepared Him to resist unto blood.
23:58 Number one, we found in verse 30.
24:02 And by the way I believe that one of the reasons
24:05 why we are so strengthened by these gatherings,
24:08 camp meeting, church, worship, praise,
24:11 fellowship is because they hold for us
24:16 many of the experiences that we are going to be reading
24:18 about here in relation to Christ.
24:21 Number one, for example verse 30,
24:24 "And when he had sung an hymn,"
24:27 a song he "went out into the Mount of Olives."
24:29 As Jesus was on his way to the cross,
24:31 on his way to the Gethsemane, He sang.
24:33 We talked about how important music is,
24:35 how powerful music is.
24:37 And when we come to camp meeting, we engage in music,
24:41 perhaps more than we normally do,
24:42 when are in the world doing our work
24:44 or busy with our choice at home.
24:46 And so here we have an opportunity to experience
24:49 parts of what Jesus did in order to resist unto blood.
24:53 And we come away from here and we're strengthened, amen.
24:57 Well, why don't we surround ourselves with spiritual music
25:01 and hymns and songs with tapes and CDs?
25:06 I know today I go into grocery stores and I listen
25:08 to the rock and roll music,
25:09 that my mom didn't want me listen to
25:10 when I was a teenager, right there in the grocery stores.
25:13 And I go out of those stores humming those tunes
25:16 that I used to hum when I was a little kid.
25:19 And the only way I can get those tunes out
25:20 is to put something good and godly in, amen.
25:25 God wants us to take advantage
25:28 of the media technology that we have today,
25:32 use it for our advantage.
25:33 That's why I have an iPod.
25:36 It took me a while, it took me a while to be convinced.
25:38 In fact, it was Ty, my associate, my partner,
25:41 my friend who sold me his old one because
25:44 he wanted to get a new one and I bought it from him
25:47 for a hundred bucks, fifteen gig of storage.
25:51 And once I got it and started experiencing it with the Bible
25:54 and song and books, taking that with me on planes
25:58 and in the car, and listening to it.
26:00 Oh, I regret having not done it sooner.
26:04 Yeah, we can say oh, iPods, those are for kids,
26:06 no, they are not. They are for anyone
26:07 who wants to fortify their minds
26:08 with God's words. Wants to fortify their minds
26:11 with godly music and keep your minds and your spirit
26:15 uplifted and strengthened and prepared
26:16 to resist unto blood, amen.
26:20 Number two, amen. Amen.
26:22 Okay, number two. Number two, you know,
26:25 the reason why I believe we don't always say amen,
26:27 is because I don't think pastor
26:29 is expected to respond sometimes.
26:31 But, I do, I want to encourage you,
26:33 because as you do of course it will reinforce,
26:37 it will reinforce what you are hearing from God's word,
26:40 it will strengthen you personally.
26:41 Number two, we look at this principle on verse 32,
26:44 it was the principle of hope.
26:47 Jesus said after I am crucified,
26:51 I will rise again and go before you into Galilee, amen.
26:55 He knew, He is going to the cross, He knew,
26:57 He is going to Gethsemane, but He had hope
26:59 that He would rise again. Friends,
27:01 we need to have hope. Have you received some hope,
27:04 this weekend, the Sabbath,
27:05 in this worship, in this fellowship?
27:07 We need hope and we need to hold on
27:11 to the promises of God that give us so much hope.
27:14 Number three this one is found in verse 34,
27:17 "Jesus saith unto him" this is Peter,
27:19 "Verily I say unto thee, That this night,
27:21 before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me three times"
27:24 We need the truth, we need to be honest,
27:27 sometimes without others, sometimes with ourselves.
27:30 If we are going to be prepared for temptation,
27:33 we need to be honest with ourselves,
27:34 we need to be honest with others.
27:36 When we are honest with God,
27:38 because He can read our hearts,
27:40 He can give us the strength and the grace and the power
27:42 that we need. Let's not,
27:44 let's not walk in this facade anymore.
27:46 Let's not pretend that we're Christians.
27:48 Let's be open and let's be honest with God
27:50 and allow Him to empower us to be Christians,
27:54 to be followers of Jesus Christ.
27:56 Sometimes we're afraid to be honest,
27:57 because we don't want to be humiliated,
27:59 we don't want to have others see what we're really like.
28:03 I am sure Peter felt this way.
28:04 Jesus said to Peter, and the others you all gonna deny me.
28:07 Peter said not me, no way, I am not going to do it.
28:11 Sometimes we feel uncomfortable,
28:13 when God reveals ourselves to ourselves.
28:15 We're not sure what others will think.
28:17 Friends, it doesn't matter what others think.
28:19 What matters only is what God thinks.
28:22 And God knows your heart, so allow yourself
28:25 to open up and be honest with God.
28:28 Number four, this one is found,
28:31 right here in verse 36.
28:33 Jesus says here to His disciples,
28:36 I want you to come with Me and I want you to sit here,
28:40 I'm going to over there and pray
28:41 and I want you to pray for Me.
28:43 He took James, and John, and Peter
28:45 and He asked them to pray with Him, and for Him.
28:48 Prayer is so important, amen.
28:52 I know when I spend that time in prayer,
28:55 how does the song go, that hymn go.
28:57 Oh, what needless pain we bare,
28:59 all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
29:05 When I spend that time in prayer,
29:07 the burdens are released.
29:09 The burdens are released,
29:10 and peace comes back into the hearts.
29:12 Strength comes back into the hearts,
29:15 direction, God's presence, prayer.
29:19 Number five, verse 37, "Again he took with him Peter
29:24 and the two sons of Zebedee,
29:25 and began to be sorrowful and very heavy."
29:27 We need not only to pray ourselves,
29:30 but we need to seek the help of others.
29:33 And that's another thing that I like about camp meeting.
29:35 We spend time here getting into God's word
29:38 into the truth. We spend time here singing.
29:40 We spend time here in prayer.
29:42 And we spend time encouraging one and another, amen.
29:47 We are coming together as brothers and sisters
29:49 to uplift and encourage and bear one another's burdens
29:53 and Jesus needed that. He needed the disciples to bare,
29:59 or help bare His burdens.
30:02 Where they there for Him? No, they weren't.
30:06 But God was there for Him.
30:07 And God sent Jesus, an angel from heaven.
30:11 Do you think God will do that for us?
30:13 You may not have anyone, that is there for you,
30:17 but that does not mean that
30:19 you are forsaken of heaven, amen.
30:22 God will always be there for you.
30:25 The Bible says in Jeremiah Chapter 23 and verse 2
30:28 that there are pastors, who have not visited the flock,
30:32 they have not fed and visited the flock of God.
30:35 But God says, I'll raise pastors,
30:37 I'll raise pastors who visit you, in fact,
30:40 all through the New Testament we find Jesus Christ
30:43 modeling the essence of ministry.
30:45 You know what He did?
30:47 He walked and He visited a lot more than He preached.
30:51 You know that don't you? In fact in Luke,
30:54 if you look here in the Book of Luke, Chapter 8,
30:57 I think its verse 2. Luke, Chapter 8 and verse 2,
31:00 this is powerful really when you look
31:01 at the life of Christ. Luke 8 and verse 1
31:07 "And it came to pass afterwards that He went
31:09 throughout every city and village preaching
31:13 and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of Gods."
31:17 Jesus Christ went everywhere, He visited everyone.
31:23 John Chapter 1, bares this out "Jesus Christ"
31:27 in John Chapter 1 "went out of His ways," excuse me,
31:31 John Chapter 4 "went out of His way
31:34 to visit a woman in Samaria."
31:38 It says here Verse 3, "He left Judah,"
31:41 John 4 Verse 3, "He departed again into Galilee
31:44 Verse 4 here it is, "and He must needs
31:47 go through Samaria." His disciple said to Him,
31:52 Jesus you've got a big crowd of people here in Capernaum
31:55 and they really like You and they are ready to support
31:58 Your kingdom and to get behind You.
32:01 And Jesus said I can't stay here.
32:03 But you are popular here. Doesn't matter.
32:06 Jesus didn't come to this earth to be popular
32:10 and accepted and supported.
32:11 He came to this earth, to go to every village,
32:13 every city and the remotest places
32:17 and to tell people about Gods.
32:19 And so He went this Samaritan village,
32:22 where there was a woman, who was living in adultery
32:24 had been married five times, a Samaritan woman.
32:28 And He sat down and He began to talk to this woman
32:30 about Kingdom of Gods. Friends,
32:33 God knows who you are and where you are?
32:36 And even if there is another person on the earth,
32:38 you have Jesus and He will visit you personally.
32:42 He will minister to you personally.
32:45 Paul, the author of the New Testaments
32:49 began to visit the churches on a consistent basis.
32:52 And when He got done visiting all the churches
32:54 that he had raised up, he started all over again.
32:57 He went back and he started visiting the churches again.
32:59 And when they put him in jail, he continued visiting
33:02 the churches through letters, didn't he?
33:04 He wrote letters to all the churches and that's why
33:06 we have, most of the New Testament,
33:08 because Pa l believed in visitation.
33:11 And I guess this is a message to the pastors tonight
33:15 as well as to each one of us as members
33:17 we need to visit people. We need to visit people.
33:22 We need to show them that we care about them,
33:25 by going to see them where they are? Visit people.
33:30 So Jesus Christ in Matthew 26 was prepared to resist
33:35 unto bloods. As He reached out for help
33:37 from others and got their help because
33:39 they went there for Him from heaven itself.
33:41 Number six, verse 39. "And He went a little further
33:45 and He fell on His face, and He prayed,
33:47 and He said Oh, Father if it be possible
33:51 let this cup pass from me,
33:56 nevertheless not as I will,
34:01 but as thou wilt." Jesus Christ was human.
34:06 Jesus Christ took upon Himself our fallen human nature.
34:12 How do I know that? Because He says right here that,
34:16 he didn't want to do His will,
34:18 He wanted to do whose will?
34:19 Gods will, and you and I are in the same predicament.
34:23 Jesus came right where we are.
34:25 No He didn't have propensities to sin.
34:27 He didn't had inclinations to sin.
34:29 Jesus Christ hated sin it was opponent to Him.
34:34 But He did have the fallen will.
34:36 He did have a will that was not naturally inclined
34:40 to do what God wanted Him to do.
34:41 If Jesus would have done His will,
34:43 He wouldn't have gone to the cross.
34:45 He wouldn't have gone to Gethsemane.
34:47 He wouldn't even gone to the wilderness
34:48 to fast for 40 days. His human nature shrank
34:51 from all of this as decidedly as ours does, amen. Amen.
34:56 See, Jesus Christ came to fight our battles
34:59 and the greatest battle that was ever fought
35:02 is the surrender of the will. Friends,
35:06 it's really important for us to understand this.
35:08 Jesus Christ was prepared to resist unto blood
35:12 by saying to the Father openly, simply,
35:14 and frankly, I am weak.
35:17 I have a will that is weak.
35:19 My will does not incline to do your will, amen.
35:23 And God is telling us tonight confess it.
35:27 Don't come in here and try to say that you are seeking
35:29 after God, that you're righteous
35:30 and that you're good.
35:31 There is no one that's good not one
35:33 and don't be discouraged, because you see
35:35 your real self, because you realize that you are sinful
35:39 and evil don't be discouraged.
35:40 There is none good, no not one.
35:42 No one is seeking after God, but praise Him,
35:45 He can deliver this wretched man, amen.
35:48 As we cry out to Jesus,
35:50 Jesus Christ has promised to deliver us.
35:54 And to bring us to number seven,
35:55 and what was number seven?
35:57 Christ submitted His will to God.
36:01 Not my will He says, but thy will be done.
36:07 Praise the Lord. Praise God. Hebrews Chapter 12,
36:12 there is a beautiful picture that we have here.
36:15 A picture that's in a very real sense gets our focus
36:19 on heaven, the theme and bonds us in the spirits.
36:23 The spirit that has been working and developing faith
36:27 in God's people down through time.
36:30 We looked at it Friday night, Hebrews Chapter 12,
36:33 where for seen that we are surrounded
36:36 with so great accord of witnesses, let us lay aside
36:40 every weight and that sin that's so easily entangle us
36:44 and run with patience to race that is set before us.
36:48 That word race is actually battle,
36:50 it's actually the contest that is taking place.
36:53 Martin Luther put it this way when he said,
36:55 I fear self more than I fear the Pope and all his bishops.
37:01 That battle is the battle against self and the only way
37:04 that we can have the victory over self
37:06 is by looking unto, who? Jesus.
37:10 But we can also find help. Friends,
37:13 I believe that Hebrews Chapter 12,
37:17 lay's out for us parts of the way that we can be prepared
37:22 to resist unto bloods. Hebrews Chapter 12,
37:27 points us back to Hebrews Chapter 11
37:30 and Hebrews Chapter 11 gives us the help
37:35 not just of angels, not just of brethren here today,
37:37 but the help of all the faithful
37:40 that have gone before us. Hebrews 12,
37:43 and the victory that God wants us to have today
37:45 is based upon Hebrews Chapter 11.
37:48 Wherefore because of this, you can't go forth, amen.
37:53 Do you believe that it is difficult,
37:57 or perhaps you come to the conclusion
37:58 that it is impossible to overcome sin?
38:00 It's impossible to walk so closely with God
38:03 that we can be translated from this earth.
38:05 We'll go back to Hebrews Chapter 11
38:07 and look at verse 5.
38:08 "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death,
38:13 and was not found because God had translated him,
38:16 for before His translation he had this testimony
38:19 that He,' What? 'Pleased Gods.'"
38:22 Enoch was walking with Gods and everyday in his walk,
38:28 it would get little bit longer, a little bit longer,
38:31 they get a little bit closer to heaven and look further
38:33 from Enoch's place. And finally one day
38:35 God said Enoch, you know, we are closer to My place
38:40 today then we are to your place.
38:41 Why don't you just come home with me?
38:44 If you have been discouraged, if you have been fed
38:47 the lie that you cannot overcome,
38:49 that you cannot please God, then you need to look back
38:52 right here at the experience of Enoch.
38:55 Enoch pleased God or maybe you feel
38:59 that you have doubted for too long.
39:02 Maybe you feel that you have doubted for too long,
39:04 that you are too weak that it's no good
39:05 that you just can't do it any longer.
39:08 Well look at Abraham, look at Sarah.
39:11 How many years where they doubting the promise of God?
39:14 How many years, five, ten, fifteen, twenty?
39:18 Twenty five years, they doubted the promise of God.
39:23 But Enoch excuse me, but Abraham,
39:25 stands with the faithful.
39:27 He stands within it Enoch he stands right here
39:30 in the Chapter of faith. Abraham and Sarah,
39:36 overcame 25 years of doubt.
39:39 Friends, these are given for us to encourage us that
39:43 we too struggling with doubt. We too feeling overcome.
39:48 We too feeling like its no use.
39:50 We too can get the victory by faith.
39:54 We can get that victory.
39:55 How about Isaac? Other times when you feel
40:00 like the sacrifice is too great
40:02 look at the experience of Isaac.
40:04 He was willing to give His life to allow His father
40:10 to sacrifice Him to God, or how about the Moses?
40:14 Do you struggle with the worlds,
40:16 the influence of the worlds,
40:18 all of the pleasures of the world?
40:20 Yes, the pleasures of sin,
40:21 that's what it says right here in Chapter,
40:25 excuse me in verse 23, of Chapter 11.
40:27 It says by faith, verse 24,
40:31 "When Moses was come to years,
40:33 he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter,
40:36 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
40:40 of God then to enjoy' what?'
40:43 The pleasure's of sin for a season."
40:48 Now friends, that is the problem with sin,
40:52 did you know that? It's only for a season.
40:56 God never intended that we would have pleasure
41:00 for a season. The Bible says that
41:03 at God's right hand there are pleasures.
41:08 Can you finish that?
41:10 Forever. Forever more.
41:12 Sin only offers us pleasure for a season.
41:16 And Moses saw this, he got his focus on heaven and said,
41:19 you know what? I think I am going to trade in my pleasure
41:24 of sin for a season for pleasures for evermore.
41:28 And so Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh.
41:31 He turned away from everything in the world
41:34 and he accepted the offer of eternal pleasure and salvation
41:41 that God was giving to Him as a gift.
41:44 Where would Moses be today,
41:46 if he had not made that decision?
41:49 Where would he be? Well, most likely,
41:52 Moses would be in a museum with all of his entourage
41:56 of stuff that he gave up heaven to hold onto
42:00 and we be paying big bucks to go and see Moses
42:03 and all of his stuff, isn't that right.
42:06 He would have been a Pharaoh.
42:08 He would have been in a tomb,
42:09 we would have unearthed him and put him in a museum
42:11 and say oooh, aahh, wow. Where is Moses today,
42:19 yeah, he is in heaven. He is at God's right hand.
42:23 He is right now today enjoying pleasures
42:28 for evermore. Praise God.
42:31 So if the world is crowding in friends.
42:35 If the world is trying to take from you the salvation,
42:38 the gifts, the pleasure that God offers you look at Moses.
42:43 There may not be a pastor,
42:44 there may not be another person in your church
42:46 there may not be someone in your family,
42:48 there may not be anyone that can encourage you,
42:49 but Moses can encourage you, Enoch can encourage you,
42:52 Abraham and Sarah they want to encourage you.
42:56 You are surrounded by these people.
42:58 Just before this meeting I was back there in the corner
43:02 with the singers and pastor and a few other people
43:06 and they surrounded me, they put in the middle
43:08 and they surrounded me and they laid their hands
43:10 upon me and they prayed for me.
43:14 And I felt the support and the strength
43:18 not only of them but of Gods. Friends,
43:20 we are surrounded and these, these faithful of all
43:25 are placing their hands upon us not literally of course,
43:28 but spiritually and they want to encourage us,
43:32 they want to strengthen us, through their experiences
43:35 and through their words.
43:37 They want to tell us, you can do it if you look unto Jesus,
43:43 because He is the author and the finisher.
43:46 Well, maybe you feel like you're totally unworthy.
43:52 You're totally unworthy because of your life of sin.
43:56 You tried, you failed, you tried, you failed,
43:58 you tried, you failed.
43:59 You've just been out there, out there, out there.
44:03 Well, look at Rahab.
44:05 The Bible records are right here,
44:07 in the faith Chapter of Hebrew 11 verse 31.
44:11 She was a harlot, a prostitute.
44:15 She was out there, she was out there,
44:18 selling her body day after day, week after week,
44:21 month after month, year after year.
44:23 Selling her body for sin and sometimes
44:26 we've done things like her to our bodies.
44:29 Maybe not in the same way, maybe its been drugs
44:32 that we've been selling our bodies to,
44:35 maybe it's been the indulgence of appetite
44:37 that we have been selling our bodies to either way.
44:41 Many of us struggle with self worth.
44:45 Rahab wants to encourage us this evening.
44:48 Rahab wants to speak to us this evening
44:50 of her testimony, of here faith.
44:52 She wants to tell us don't give up.
44:55 Don't give up, don't give up, because I am here
44:59 not only in the Chapter of Faith,
45:01 but I am in the line of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
45:06 He came down through me as what she is saying to us.
45:10 So how about Samson?
45:12 Talk about a guy that had it all and gave it up.
45:15 Talk about someone who should have done better
45:18 and known better.
45:19 Are you that kind of a person raised in the church,
45:23 raised in the good Christian home,
45:25 threw it all out of the window, went out and did whatever,
45:28 thinking maybe that you can't come back to the Lord tonight.
45:33 Friends, whoever you are, wherever you are,
45:37 God wants to encourage you right now.
45:40 He is the author and the finisher of our faith
45:45 or maybe you have been like David,
45:47 maybe you are feeling a little overwhelms
45:50 with the mistakes you have made in your life,
45:53 maybe you feel like you have lost
45:54 the respect of family or friends.
45:56 David is there in the Chapter of Faith
46:00 and I am telling tonight if David is there
46:02 and if Samson is there and if Rahab is there
46:04 and if Abraham is there and Sarah is there,
46:06 I am telling you that each one of us can be there too.
46:10 We are surrounded, we are surrounded by these faithful
46:16 of past ages who are waiting for us.
46:20 Here's what it says right here in Verse 39 of Hebrews 11
46:23 "And all these having obtained a good reports
46:28 through faith, received not the promise." "God" verse 40,
46:36 "having provided some better things for us
46:40 that they without us should not be made."
46:45 What's the word? "Perfect or complete."
46:50 Do you know that there is something
46:52 about our understanding of the second death
46:57 and of sleep that brings a lot of meaning
47:01 to these two verses we just read.
47:04 These faithful of vows other than the couple of exceptions
47:08 like Enoch and Moses are waiting.
47:12 They haven't received the promise Hebrews 4:1,
47:15 of entering into His rest,
47:17 entering into that Heavenly Canaan.
47:20 There are not yet walking in the streets of Jerusalem
47:25 and if we have the opportunity to ask them,
47:29 Abraham, Sarah, would like to be in the heaven right now?
47:36 They might say hesitantly yes,
47:40 yes but not without them, not without them.
47:48 I don't want to be there without
47:51 the rest of God's people. And friends,
47:56 that is the message that God wants to leave
47:58 with us this evening.
48:01 Do you want to be in heaven?
48:03 Oh, I long for all of this to ends.
48:07 I long for the sin to be done.
48:09 I long for the temptation to cease.
48:11 I long to be changed from this mortal
48:12 into this immortal that God has promised us
48:16 and to walk the street of gold where there is no more pain,
48:18 suffering, or death, where gold doesn't matter anymore,
48:22 its just pavement, but I don't want to go without them.
48:30 Are you with me tonight?
48:32 I don't want to go without them,
48:35 without the David's and the Job's,
48:41 without the Mary's and the Judes,
48:44 without the multitudes of people in every nation,
48:47 kindred, tongue and people for whom Jesus Christ
48:53 has given His life. I don't want to go without them.
48:56 Jesus didn't count heaven a place
48:59 to be desired without us.
49:03 And I don't want to go without them.
49:06 God longs for us not to love the worlds
49:13 in the sense of pleasure and sin,
49:16 but to love the world the way Jesus loved the world.
49:18 And when we love the world as Christ loved the world,
49:22 then for us His mission is accomplished.
49:25 We are fitted for heaven,
49:27 because we have heaven in our hearts.
49:30 And tonight God is calling us each one of us
49:33 get your focus of yourselves, get your focus of others,
49:37 and get your eyes on Jesus.
49:39 Verse 15 of Hebrews Chapter 12,
49:41 "Consider Him or look at Him diligently lest any man fail
49:46 of the grace of God and lest any root of bitterness
49:50 springing up trouble you and many be defiled."
49:53 Tonight there are people here right now
49:55 who are struggling with roots of bitterness.
49:58 Tonight there are people here who have through
50:00 terrible experiences with the church,
50:02 with their families in the worlds.
50:05 And the God is telling us
50:06 there is a remedy for your soul.
50:07 There is a bomb in Gilead and the bomb is
50:09 to get your eyes on Jesus,
50:11 to look diligently at Jesus Christ.
50:14 And when you focus on Him,
50:16 all of these roots of bitterness
50:18 will be yanked out, will be removed by the grace of God
50:24 and those around you will not be defiled.
50:27 God will work through you, God will move through you,
50:30 God will speak through you,
50:31 and you will say not without them, not without them.
50:37 I'm not ready to go, not without them.
50:40 And then will be fulfilled the words of Christ
50:44 in Matthew 24 in verse 14.
50:47 When this Gospel of the Kingdom is preached
50:51 in all the worlds as a witness,
50:58 then shall the end come.
51:02 God is going to have the people then
51:05 who will be so filled with His love.
51:08 That we'll be prepared to make this Gospel
51:13 so powerfully a part of our experience that people
51:17 will be impacted and drawn to Jesus Christ
51:21 and then we can go to heaven with them
51:27 and all the people say it, amen. Amen.
51:40 Are you ready to go home?
51:44 The sky shall unfold, preparing His entrance,
51:58 The stars shall applaud Him with thunders of praise.
52:11 The sweet light in His eyes shall enhance those awaiting,
52:26 And we shall behold Him, then face to face.
52:40 We shall behold Him. We shall behold Him,
52:55 Face to face in all of His glory.
53:05 We shall behold Him,
53:11 Yes, we shall behold Him,
53:19 Face to face, our Savior and Lord
53:32 The angels shall sound the shout of His coming,
53:46 And the sleeping will rise from their slumbering place.
53:59 And those who remain shall be changed in a moment,
54:14 And we shall behold Him then face to face.
54:25 I can't wait for that journey.
54:30 We shall behold Him.
54:36 Yes, we shall behold Him,
54:44 Face to face in all of His glory.
54:55 We shall behold Him.
55:01 Yes, we shall behold Him,
55:09 Face to face, our Savior and Lord.
55:28 Face to face, our Savior and Lord.
55:55 Amen, amen.
56:02 Tonight as we in this convocation here,
56:06 I believe that God is doing something special
56:09 in our midst. I believe that He wants us to enter
56:13 into that experience of righteousness by faith,
56:17 because Jesus is not just the author,
56:20 but He is the finisher of our faith.
56:23 Praise Him, praise Him. At this time,
56:26 we just want to close with a word of prayer
56:29 and so shall we pray together.
56:33 Our loving Lord, you have been here
56:38 and we've felt your presence and Lord
56:42 we believe Your promises with all of our hearts
56:45 we believe you. And Lord,
56:49 we know we can't fix much in our lives,
56:51 but we can fix our eyes on You.
56:54 Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for coming
56:58 and seeking after us even when we were straying away
57:04 from You. We praise You God for Your love.
57:09 Bless the people now as we go from this place,
57:12 go within, fill them with Your power in Jesus name, amen.


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Revised 2014-12-17