3ABN On the Road

The Magnificent God

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C.A. Murray (Host), Jim Gilley (Host), Dan Jackson

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000998


01:13 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
01:24 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
01:34 With all the cause we lived Jesus name
01:44 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
01:55 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
02:05 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
02:16 With all the cause we lived Jesus name
02:26 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
02:37 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
02:47 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
02:58 With all the cause we lived Jesus name
03:08 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
03:19 With all the cause we lived Jesus name
03:29 Oh, Lord, how marvelous Oh, Lord, how marvelous
03:39 Oh, Lord, how marvelous is your name
03:55 Amen, Amen, wasn't that wonderful Pastor Murray?
04:01 Amen, what a perfect way to begin a worship service,
04:04 that's right, by praising the name of Jesus.
04:07 And this is one of the first times that the
04:09 Thompsonville Adventist Church Choir has sung,
04:13 and oh it was first time on television and one of
04:16 their first times period, they've only sang
04:17 a few times together and they already are sounding
04:20 very good aren't they? Praise the Lord,
04:22 we love them Thompsonville Adventist Church
04:25 meets here at the 3ABN Worship Center.
04:28 This is the place where we have our camp
04:30 meetings where we do a lot of our taping,
04:33 we have studios even in the back where Kids Time
04:37 is done and some of the other programs are
04:40 done there. And so this is the multipurpose building.
04:44 It's a building that was built by your donations
04:48 and by your faithfulness to 3ABN and we thank
04:52 you that we have such a tremendous place,
04:54 to have these camp meetings and other events
04:58 as well as the Sabbath Church service meeting
05:01 here each week. Well, listen we've got some
05:04 tremendous things today and we're looking forward
05:07 to this morning. It is not a common event for the
05:11 division President to spend some time with us,
05:13 but we're fortunate that he took time from his
05:15 schedule to join us today. And this is a man who
05:18 is very experienced. He came immediately he was
05:22 elected at the General Conference Session
05:25 in Atlanta and before that he was the President
05:30 of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Canada
05:34 and now the Canadian Union we call it is also
05:37 apart of the North American Division which
05:40 encompasses all of the 50 states of the
05:43 United States plus Canada and Bermuda.
05:48 And so now this territory is served by Pastor
05:52 Dan Jackson, they've only been four Presidents
05:56 of the actual division. The first President of
06:01 the division was Elder Bradford and the second
06:03 was Elder McClure, Don Schneider was the third
06:09 President and he is the one that serves up
06:11 until this past General Conference,
06:13 and now Elder Dan Jackson, before that the
06:17 North American Division was operated by a
06:21 Vice President of the General Conference,
06:24 the one in the 70's who was looking after this
06:29 assignment was Elder Neal Wilson,
06:32 the father of our current President Elder Ted Wilson.
06:36 He was later elected to be General Conference
06:39 President in 1980s. So in the 80's he served as
06:43 President of the General Conference.
06:44 Just this week he lay down his life on this earth,
06:51 went to sleep in Jesus waiting
06:53 for the resurrection. And so our condolences
06:56 go to the Wilson family. He is survived of course
07:00 by his son Elder Ted Wilson who is the current
07:03 General Conference President.
07:06 There will be a memorial service on the 19th of
07:12 January and if you wanna go online you can get
07:16 more information about the time it will be at the
07:18 General Conference office in Silver Spring, Maryland.
07:23 Well, today we are happy to have the
07:27 Elder Dan Jackson as we mention the man have
07:29 with experience and I want to introduce his wife
07:34 to you at this time, Donna would you stand and
07:37 you've been with Dan Jackson from the very
07:40 beginning. He told me one time that you're
07:43 the one that actually brought him into this
07:45 church and so the Lord, alright,
07:50 but Lord used you and so we're just thank you
07:54 for being with us today. And they have served
07:57 overseas in mission to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
08:01 I will pronounce it right here in a minute
08:03 and some other places. In addition he was
08:06 President of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba
08:08 Conference, British Columbian Conference,
08:12 and before he was President of the Canadian
08:15 Union. He's been Pastor, been a teacher,
08:19 he's a man of a lot of varied experience.
08:22 So we're gonna look forward to having him
08:26 be our speaker today. Before he comes
08:30 I'm gonna ask Elder Murray to lead us in a prayer.
08:35 Bow your heads with us if you will.
08:39 Gracious Father again we do thank you
08:40 so very much for the occasion that calls us
08:43 to the house of prayer and praise this day.
08:46 We thank you for the Sabbath day and for
08:50 those blessings that are held in reserve for
08:55 the sacred Sabbath hours. We know there is
08:59 a very special blessing as we follow the command
09:02 to not forsake the assembling of ourselves
09:04 together, but to come together in prayer and
09:08 praise with you as our honored guest.
09:11 Oh! Father we thank you for Jesus, the author,
09:15 the finisher of our faith, in him we live and move
09:20 and have our being and we would want you
09:23 to know and the world to know that we love
09:27 you dear Jesus. And we are here because we
09:30 want to spend a little time with you.
09:34 We ask that you would bless this service that
09:37 you would bless it so that those who need
09:40 to hear a word from the Lord will indeed hear
09:44 that word this day. And those of us who need
09:48 a little encouragement as we walk this road
09:50 that leads to glory, we will receive information
09:56 and the inspiration and the sacred touch
09:59 of the Holy Spirit to encourage us as we walk
10:03 with you. Bless this service, bless those of us
10:07 who sit here and in the special way the thousands
10:11 ye millions around the world who sit and look
10:15 and listen, may they receive encouragement
10:19 and inspiration, bless the music,
10:22 bless in a special way the speaker of the hour
10:25 we praise you, we love you and we thank you
10:28 dear Father in Jesus name Amen. Amen
10:33 We're so privileged today to be able to bring
10:36 Elder Jackson to you, and this first opportunity
10:40 that he has had to address the entire
10:44 North American Division as well as the World Church
10:47 from this particular position here in
10:52 Thompsonville, Illinois. And before he comes
10:57 to speak to us one of my favorite singers
11:00 John Lomacang is going to sing for us
11:04 "There is a Savior", Amen, Amen.
11:17 There is a Savior what joys express
11:32 His eyes are mercy His word is rest
11:44 For each tomorrow For yesterday
11:59 There is a Savior Who lights our way!
12:14 Are there burdens in your heart,
12:18 Is you past a memory that binds you,
12:26 Is there pain inside that that you've carried
12:32 far too long, Oh there's strengt
12:41 in your heart with His good news,
12:51 There is a Savior and He's forgiven you
13:04 There is a Savior what joys express
13:18 His eyes are mercy His word is rest
13:31 For each tomorrow For yesterday
13:44 There is a Savior Who lights our way!
13:58 There is a Savior what joys express
14:12 His eyes are mercy His word is rest
14:24 For each tomorrow For yesterday
14:39 There is a Savior Who lights our way!
14:53 There is a Savior Who lights our way!
15:31 Well, good morning. Good morning!
15:33 And happy Sabbath and praise God for our
15:38 savior. Who loves us more than he loved
15:43 his own self and his own convenience,
15:47 but who send his son Jesus so that you
15:50 and I could have hope and have quality
15:53 of life here and now and for all eternity.
15:56 We praise his name today. You know as my wife
16:01 and drove out here, it reminded me of the well
16:06 it is the prayer hearings, it reminded me of
16:10 so much where I came from in the province
16:13 of Alberta in Canada and just a lot of
16:17 memories of wheat fields and the beauty
16:19 of those wheat fields came back to my mind.
16:23 I want to invite you to bow your
16:25 head with me as we pray.
16:28 Our Heavenly Father we want to thank you
16:30 today for the gift of Jesus Christ,
16:34 your son our savior and heavenly father
16:38 we want to acknowledge prior to opening up
16:41 your word that we are in need of your
16:44 Holy Spirit, to guide us and to direct us,
16:49 so we don't want to see human beings.
16:52 We want to see Jesus that's only possible
16:56 through the gifting of your Holy Spirit
16:58 and we now want to submit ourselves
17:01 to that same Spirit in Jesus name Amen.
17:06 Magnificent! The word carries an awesome
17:12 quality to it. Now we don't use it to describe
17:16 anything that is common or mundane when
17:19 Webster defines it in the dictionary he uses
17:22 these words splendid, lavish, beautiful,
17:26 etcetera so as to arouse admiration and wonder.
17:31 You know when you walkout on a crisp,
17:35 cool, evening and you look up at the stars,
17:39 the handy work of God, you say that's magnificent.
17:45 When you wander different places across
17:48 North America you see so many sites.
17:52 I used to relish seeing the Northern Light
17:55 that's rippled away across the sky
17:58 and it's magnificent. When you see from the air,
18:03 the canola fields next to flax fields then you see
18:07 that purple and gold patch work. It is magnificent.
18:11 If you see the water smashing against
18:13 the rocks at big stir, you got to say it's
18:16 magnificent. And yet to know I looked back
18:19 to a moment in our time when the very British
18:25 nurse looked at me and holding our first child
18:31 in her hands said, well touch her she's yours.
18:37 I was not very much able because I looked at
18:40 her in the condition wasn't all that good,
18:42 I touched the heel but I do want to tell you
18:44 I praised God that day. And I thank my dear
18:48 wife Donna for what it happened,
18:50 the deep sense of gratitude to God
18:54 over found me it was a magnificent moment.
18:59 It was awesome. Amen! However as greatest
19:04 the experience that I've talked about are there
19:07 is an even greater opportunity and more
19:10 magnificent experience that all of us can share
19:13 in and that is living daily in the presence of
19:17 a magnificent God. Amen! Our understanding
19:20 of God has very often been twisted and perverted
19:25 to such a place that we're not sure at all
19:28 at times whether or not we would want to
19:30 live in the presence of God. That the ponderings
19:34 of theologians, of philosophers,
19:37 and common man have more often to not
19:39 produced faulty portrayals of God and how he is.
19:45 Experience with less than loving fathers has
19:48 produced and unwillingness in many individuals to
19:52 call anyone their father. Yet understanding God
19:58 is key to serving God, a key to living in his
20:02 presence but this subject of reaching up to God
20:08 and embracing him as our personal Lord,
20:10 master, friend and lover is a crucial one for
20:14 a significant reason. If I understand
20:17 things correctly, if I understand the scripture
20:20 correctly, the message of God's people in the
20:26 final days that message which is to encircle
20:30 the globe with a loud cry, is that of the glory
20:34 of God as seen both in the words and in
20:37 the lives of his people. Now there is real
20:41 sense in which this privilege places, a heavy
20:46 responsibility on each one of us to know,
20:49 to understand and to experience God.
20:52 Listen to how God describes himself
20:54 as he talks to Moses at Mount Sinai from
20:58 Exodus chapter 34 verses 6 & 7: "The Lord,
21:01 the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
21:05 longsuffering, and abounding in goodness
21:07 and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
21:09 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
21:13 by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the
21:16 iniquity of the fathers upon the children and
21:18 the children's children to the third and the
21:21 fourth generation." And then after that,
21:23 after Jesus, the God man lived his life on earth
21:30 and then gave it up on Calvary, when he had
21:32 completed his mission to save fallen humanity
21:37 by demonstrating the true nature of the father,
21:40 the Apostle John wrote: Behold, what manner
21:43 of love the Father has bestowed on us,
21:46 that we should be called the sons and the
21:49 daughters of God. Amen! He is a magnificent God.
21:56 If the self Revelation of God at Sinai as recorded
22:00 in Exodus and the beautiful and descriptive
22:04 words of John are true and accurate
22:07 representations of what God is like and
22:10 I believe that they are, then a question
22:13 is begged and that is if those things are true
22:18 then why don't I live in constant connection
22:20 with God. Where am I lacking, where are we
22:23 lacking as human beings, as Christians.
22:28 From the book Desire of Ages page 668
22:31 I read this "All true obedience comes from
22:34 the heart". It was heart work with Christ.
22:37 And if we consent, He will so identify Himself
22:42 with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts
22:45 and minds into conformity with His will that
22:48 when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out
22:51 our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified,
22:56 will find highest delight in doing His service.
23:01 When we know God as it is our privilege to
23:04 know him, our life will be a life of continual
23:07 obedience, through an appreciation of the
23:10 character of God of Christ, through communion
23:14 with God, sin will become hateful to us.
23:21 What it emerges here is that we do not know
23:24 God as we might know him. There is something
23:29 that we can discover about God that will make
23:32 him irresistible to us. As he declares himself,
23:37 you will search for me and you will find me when
23:41 you search for me with all of your heart
23:43 and I will be found of you, declares the Lord.
23:48 I wanna bring this a little closer home now.
23:52 If the issues confronting the church in the world
23:56 and the issues confronting the church in
23:58 North America today are to be resolved in
24:02 a God honoring way, it will be because you
24:07 and I personally have resolved the issues
24:12 of who God is and what he is for us personally.
24:15 You and I need to know God more fully.
24:18 We need to experience him and sense him
24:22 more as a magnificent God in order to be drawn
24:25 by him into a love relationship that
24:28 will never end, drawn into a partnership where
24:32 we will be able to consistently share the
24:34 news of a wonderful father with men and women
24:38 all around us who need hope and peace,
24:42 those things that we often take for granted.
24:45 So how do we seeing God interacting with the
24:49 human family? How does God approach sinful
24:53 and alienated humans in order to redeem them?
24:57 How does God approach his own people or
24:59 those who call on him and whom he calls his own?
25:03 What kind of a God does the Bible portray?
25:08 There are many directions we could take in
25:09 attempting to partially answer those questions
25:12 and you know that no one period of time is
25:16 sufficient to describe everything that there is
25:18 about God. But what can we know about him
25:23 from the scripture, Jesus of course is the greatest
25:27 expression of God. He who came the God man,
25:30 God incarnate, God in human flesh,
25:33 the scripture says in him dwells all the fullness
25:36 of the Godhead bodily form, Jesus came
25:40 to show what the father is like.
25:43 He said himself if you have seen me,
25:46 you've seen the father. It's a wonderful,
25:48 the life of Jesus, is a wonderful expression of
25:52 what God is like. But I want to move in another
25:55 direction today Christ centered but another
25:57 direction. I want to take you to a book and
26:01 scripture that we sell them study,
26:04 I want to take you to the book of Amos,
26:07 and if you've got your Bible I want to
26:09 encourage you to open it up to the Book of Amos,
26:13 Amos the prophet, Amos the herdsmen of Deco
26:18 and he is described in all these ways in scripture,
26:21 the tender of sycamore fig trees,
26:25 in my opinion as I've studied the Old Testament
26:28 Major and Minor Prophets, Amos is the least
26:33 of the Prophets in terms of eloquence.
26:35 He is not like an Isaiah. He's not like Jeremiah.
26:42 But yet in his messages and prophecies addressed
26:46 to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the middle
26:48 part of the 8th century BC, we find a
26:52 demonstration, a deep understanding of the way
26:56 in which God operates as he relates to the
26:59 human family that is as he relates to you and
27:02 to me. Through Amos are the experiences of
27:07 Amos we are brought face to face with a
27:10 God of compassion who through diverse methods
27:13 and circumstances attempts to bring
27:16 his people into relationship with him.
27:19 It is God's constant and consistent attempt.
27:23 I wanna read you this little statement,
27:25 my wife actually shared this with me,
27:27 it reads like this talking about God,
27:31 he watches for some return of gratitude
27:33 from us as the mother watches for the smile
27:37 of recognition from her beloved child.
27:41 He would have us understand how earnestly
27:44 and tenderly his heart yearns over us.
27:49 It's amazing he is a magnificent God.
27:53 Now it is poem. The Hound of Heaven,
27:58 English poet Sir Francis Thompson penned
28:01 the following lines that so aptly describe the
28:04 persistence of God. I fled him the poet says:
28:09 "I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
28:13 I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
28:15 I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my
28:18 own mind; and in the midst of tears,
28:21 I hid from Him, and under running laughter,
28:25 up visted hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated,
28:29 Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
28:33 From those strong Feet that followed,
28:35 followed after. But with unhurrying chase,
28:39 and unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed,
28:43 majestic instancy, They beat
28:46 and a Voice beat More instant than the Feet
28:50 All things betray thee, who betrayest Me".
28:56 I turned with you to the book of Amos
28:57 chapter 7 from the very beginning of this
29:00 chapter we are drawn into the experience
29:03 of God. As he attempts to bring his people
29:08 to renewed life, to revival and reformation,
29:11 if you will to a life of restored connections
29:14 with him, he has been attempting to bring
29:17 about a change of direction, a reformation
29:21 in the individual, collective experience
29:24 of his people. But nothing seems to have worked
29:28 so far. And so God presents the Prophet with
29:32 three visions and I look at scripture with you
29:36 this morning and I do so hoping that you will
29:39 follow along don't make prejudged conclusions,
29:43 but follow along. Amos chapter 7 verses 1
29:47 through 3. "This is what the Sovereign Lord
29:50 showed me: He was preparing swarms
29:53 of locusts after the king's share had been
29:55 harvested and just as the second crop was
29:59 coming up. When they had stripped the land
30:02 clean, I cried out, 'Sovereign Lord,
30:05 forgive! How can Jacob survive?
30:08 He is so small!" So, the Lord relented this will
30:13 not happen. Second vision, this is what the
30:19 Sovereign Lord showed me. The Sovereign Lord
30:23 was calling for judgment by fire, it dried up
30:26 the great deep and devour the land then
30:29 I cried out Sovereign Lord, I beg you stop.
30:35 How can Jacob survive? He is so small.
30:39 So, the Lord relented this will not happen either
30:43 the Sovereign Lord said. You know there are
30:46 some common elements in those two visions
30:48 and you began to think about them and the
30:50 significance of those two visions,
30:52 what God was talking about here was the
30:55 sustenance of His people. In the first vision,
30:59 the first crop came along and the first crop
31:02 according to ancient custom all was came
31:04 to the king. The second crop came to the common
31:08 people like you and like me.
31:10 And yet as Amos has transported in vision,
31:14 in the words of God he sees the first vision
31:17 or rather the first crop goes to the king,
31:19 but then the locus come and destroy,
31:22 the sustenance of his people, people living in
31:26 an agrarian lifestyle, people living on the land
31:31 and reliant upon the land. You know,
31:35 God was threatening here not only the well
31:37 being of the people, but their very existence.
31:40 You know, I have often said, and I say with
31:45 tongue and cheek you understand that
31:47 I can never understand why the church
31:50 doesn't allow gambling when it allows farmers.
31:56 Because farmers take it, don't they, I mean,
31:59 they take their lives savings, they take their
32:02 money, they invest in the lamb and if something
32:05 happens that is negative they are whipped out,
32:08 they can be whipped out. It's a terrible thing.
32:11 It's a gamble being a farmer, it's risk at least
32:14 you understand I'm only being a little factitious,
32:17 but the fact of the matter is this that these two
32:22 first visions were armadas visions.
32:26 On the one hand you have got the bread
32:28 removed and on the second hand you see
32:31 what happens. God says, under the take away
32:33 the water. You know, you don't survive
32:35 very long without water; we lived in Sri Lanka
32:38 for a while, and there were great power outages
32:40 it just the government finally informed us living
32:43 in the city of Colombo, feel your freezers
32:46 with water because there is going to be a water
32:47 shortage. Water is so vital. It is so important
32:52 and yet this portrayal is horrific in terms
32:57 of what it implies. But in both circumstances
33:02 when the prophet appeals, God says,
33:05 okay this won't happen, I won't do.
33:09 What are these interchanges tell us
33:10 about God? Is God fickle? The scriptures talks
33:16 about Jesus in these words, Jesus Christ the
33:19 same yesterday, today, and forever.
33:22 And yet in these two circumstances all of a
33:25 sudden you have God relenting,
33:28 the scripture says. Is God fickle? I don't think so.
33:32 I think not, but what kind of process was God
33:36 taking His people through? I want to go further
33:39 with you into this prophecy,
33:40 into the third vision of Amos chapter 7.
33:44 This is what He showed me picking up with the
33:47 seventh verse. This is what He showed me,
33:49 the Lord was standing by a wall that had been
33:53 built through the plumb with a plumb line
33:56 in His hand. And the Lord asked me,
33:59 what do you see Amos? A plumb line I replied.
34:03 Then the Lord said, I'm setting a plumb line
34:06 among my people Israel, I will spare them no longer,
34:10 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
34:12 and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
34:15 with my sword I will rise against the house
34:20 of Jeroboam." Having introduce the subject
34:23 of Israel's impending calamity with the vision
34:26 of the locust and the fire, God now goes onto
34:30 show Amos the third vision that will indicate
34:33 the fact that the time for judgment has come.
34:36 He will now use a plumb line to evaluate the
34:39 spiritual health of His people. And in His
34:43 evaluation of Israel, He identifies the fact that
34:47 something has gone tragically wrong with the
34:50 life and the experience of the very people that
34:53 He has chosen to represent Him
34:55 on planet earth. So, He is about to check it out
35:00 more thoroughly, so as to identify the problem.
35:04 I hope that you all know what a plumb line is?
35:06 If you don't, let me tell you, the carpenters call
35:09 it up plumb bob or plumb line.
35:12 Today they are using laser beams and blinding
35:14 themselves, but they use to call it up a plumb bob
35:17 and all it was, was a wait on the end of a string,
35:20 if you tie it, nailed it to the top of a wall and
35:23 then hung it, you could see it,
35:24 if the wall was true, if it was square,
35:27 if it was a very square wall.
35:29 I built a house one time, I only built one and
35:34 even that one I didn't frame myself,
35:36 but it was pre-fabricate package.
35:39 And you know, if we had someone wisely enough
35:42 had someone put in the foundation,
35:43 but then we put on the floors, the sub floors
35:45 and with the walls and so on. And one day just
35:48 before the dry wall, or before we started
35:50 to dry wall, I stood back and looked at a wall
35:53 in the entry to the home and I looked at it
35:57 and I put on plumbing barb on it and discovered
36:00 that it's not almost wise to nail a floor down
36:03 before you have plumb it up because what
36:05 I did discover about that wall was that,
36:07 there is about three inches difference,
36:10 it was about three inches out of plumb, and
36:11 I will tell you however that as sledgehammer
36:14 is a very useful tool, and I was able to move it
36:17 over and that was wonderful. The word
36:21 of God is your plumb line and mine spiritually.
36:26 Amen. May we never get to the place where
36:29 we consider ourselves so sophisticated or so
36:32 scientifically astute or intuit that we believe
36:36 we can lay God's word a side. It is the eternal
36:40 word of God designed to guide you and me
36:44 through all of the circumstances that we face
36:48 in life. So, we here we have a picture.
36:52 God says, look "I'm setting a plumb line among
36:56 my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
36:59 The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and
37:01 the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
37:04 with my sword I will rise against the house
37:06 of Jeroboam." And having said all of this the
37:10 prophet doesn't plead and the Lord doesn't
37:12 change His mind. What has happened in Israel?
37:18 Why is God so persistent in His determination to
37:22 bring judgment on His people? Amos presents
37:26 several reasons. The first of this is found
37:29 in Amos 5 verses 21 through 24,
37:33 Amos 5 verses 21 through 24,
37:36 and I want to encourage you to study this book
37:39 and to study the other prophecies of the
37:41 Old Testament because they are rich in terms
37:45 of understanding who God is and what He is like?
37:48 You know, we need to be named again the people
37:52 of the word. The people of the book,
37:55 but here we are in Amos chapter 5 verses 21
37:58 through 24. And this is what we find there,
38:03 some strong language. "I hate, I despise your
38:10 religious feasts. I cannot stand your assemblies.
38:14 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and
38:16 grain offerings, I will not accept them,
38:19 though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
38:21 I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise
38:23 of your songs! I will not listen to the music
38:26 of your harps. But let justice roll on like river,
38:29 righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
38:36 God spoke directly. These people were not unfamiliar
38:41 with God's ideals. They had been instructed
38:44 clearly. They were without defends here.
38:46 You know, several hundreds years before the time
38:48 of Amos God had clearly laded out when
38:51 the folks in Isaiah's day were tripping over
38:54 the same territory. Listen to the statement
38:58 that He makes to Isaiah, "Is this not kind
39:00 of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains
39:03 of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
39:06 to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.
39:10 Is it not to share your food with the hungry,
39:12 and to provide the poor wanderer over shelter,
39:15 when you see the naked, to clothe him,
39:17 and not to turn away from your own flesh and
39:20 blood"? Then your light will break forth
39:23 like the dawn and you're healing will quickly
39:26 appear; then your righteousness will go
39:29 before you, and the glory of the Lord will be
39:31 your rear guard. Then you will call,
39:33 and the Lord will answer; You will cry,
39:35 and He will say, here am I." Jesus who is our
39:40 model is describe it is the ultimate fulfillment
39:42 of God's words through Isaiah.
39:45 The scriptures record of Jesus in Matthew 14:14,
39:48 "When Jesus landed he went out and saw a
39:52 large crowd. He had compassion on them and
39:55 healed the sick." You see, here was the point
39:57 in the days of Amos that people had forgotten
40:00 what genuine religious faith was all about.
40:06 Genuine faith must be expressed. In other words,
40:13 we need to get real in the way we practice
40:17 our faith when we reflect back on the days
40:20 of Amos. We need to walk the talk.
40:26 As an example I say these over and over again
40:29 to people you know, if we don't intend to be
40:33 gracious then we shouldn't accept grace.
40:38 There is no point in accepting God's grace,
40:42 if it does not transform you and me into gracious,
40:46 gracious people. People burden for those
40:50 around us. The Poet George MacLeod wrote
40:54 these words, he said, "I simply argue that the
40:56 cross be raised again at the center of the
40:59 marketplace as well as on the steeple of the
41:01 church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus
41:06 was not crucified in a cathedral between two
41:08 candles, but on a cross between two thieves;
41:13 on the town garbage heap; at a crossroad
41:16 of politic so cosmopolitan that they had to
41:19 write his title in Hebrew and Latin and in Greek;
41:23 and the kind of place where cynics talk smut
41:26 and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble,
41:29 because that is where he died, and that is what
41:31 he died about. And that is where Christ men
41:34 and women ought to be, and where the church
41:36 ought to be or what the church ought to be about."
41:40 Amen. We think of the cities of our division.
41:44 The great metropolises throughout North America,
41:51 and with the exception of some few attempts,
41:55 the regional conferences are there and number
41:57 of other conferences are there,
41:59 people are working, they are trying
42:00 to do ministries, but you know,
42:01 we need to spend our whole lot more time
42:05 appealing to God on behalf of the cities.
42:08 There are multitudes of people living in the cities
42:12 of North America, who are lambs without any
42:16 guidance. Amen. Who have no hope,
42:20 who have no peace, who have no comfort
42:22 in this life. We have been gifted by God
42:25 with the message to reach out to the cities.
42:28 Amen, amen. These people in the days of Amos,
42:32 amen, had the truth, but they didn't have
42:35 that experimental form of faith which saw them
42:38 apply their faith into everyday circumstances.
42:41 They didn't have the kind of faith that moved
42:44 them into action for God. There was a second
42:50 problem in Amos's day, if you have got Amos
42:52 chapter 6 verses 1 and 4 and 6.
42:57 "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
43:02 and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
43:05 you notable men of the foremost nation."
43:08 And then over to verse to 6. "You lie on beds
43:10 adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches.
43:14 You dine on choice, on choice Vigilon Mexicali
43:19 and on fatted calves. You strum away on your
43:24 harps like David and improvise on musical
43:27 instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful
43:31 and the use the finest lotions, but you do not
43:35 grieve over the ruin of the house of Israel."
43:41 It is so easy for us when we think about
43:43 the problems that we have in the church today.
43:47 To want to rely upon our training or experience,
43:50 our finances, our great resources,
43:54 the latest technology, the finest programs
43:57 rather than on the empowerment of the
43:59 Holy Spirit and, and on connection with God
44:02 through prayer. It is the tendency of all of us
44:04 to do that. Somehow we feel that if we can just
44:09 get it right, if we can just do the right kind
44:12 of church, if we can just get people in the
44:16 right program that that will do it.
44:20 And yet we understand that when God impressed
44:24 the prophet Joel to say in those days
44:26 I will pour out my spirit and all flesh.
44:30 The young and old, male and female,
44:34 God promised that it's not happening and there
44:39 is a reason we need to plead for the Holy Spirit.
44:44 Rather than dibbing deeply prayerful holy
44:46 man and woman anointed by the spirit of God,
44:50 we depend upon our methods, and our thinking
44:53 and we fail or we establish ourselves within
44:56 the confines of the save complacency,
44:59 but we none the less fail, if you and I will
45:04 become bold for Jesus Christ people will begin
45:08 to follow Christ with us more closely.
45:13 Then there is a third problem that
45:15 we find in Amos. And if you turn to
45:17 Amos chapter 8 verses 4 through 6,
45:20 you find these words. This is the third problem,
45:25 problem was funny religion, second problem was
45:29 complacency, now here is the third problem,
45:34 "Hear this, you who trample the needy and
45:36 do away with the poor of the land."
45:38 Because he is talking to God's people.
45:41 He is not talking to the people on Wall Street.
45:45 He is talking about His chosen people,
45:47 trampling on the needy. When will the New Moon,
45:51 this is pardon me, this is verse 5. "Saying,
45:54 when will the New Moon be over that we
45:56 may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended
45:57 that we may market wheat, skimping the measure,
46:00 boosting the price and cheating with dishonest
46:03 scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy
46:05 for a pair of sandals, selling the sweepings
46:07 with the wheat." The Sabbath had become
46:13 a bother to them. They looked upon it as an
46:18 obstruction as an impedance to their own
46:21 ability to entrench them, their own fortunate
46:25 and their own well being. They are worship of god
46:28 and their ethical behavior was whopped by their
46:32 materialistic urge for success, but this was not
46:37 God's regional, original vision for the Sabbath.
46:40 Sometime ago I spoke with an individual,
46:43 a younger person and by the way it's not
46:45 just the young that have this attitude, but
46:48 I asked him what do you actually think about
46:49 the Sabbath. And the person looked at me
46:51 and this was the Seventh-day Adventist
46:53 young person. The person actually said,
46:55 well I think the Sabbath is basically a useless day.
46:59 The older people sleep and the rest of us
47:01 can't do what we really want to do.
47:05 I suspect that if we're having difficulty today
47:07 appreciating the Sabbath, then it is probable
47:11 that the root cause runs in the same direction
47:15 as it did in the days of Amos.
47:18 I also suspect that many of the problems that
47:21 we're confronted with today theologically
47:24 and otherwise are related to the fact that somehow
47:29 we have fail to appreciate an experience the joy
47:32 and the blessing that fully comes when we
47:35 acknowledge God's creative and redemptive nature.
47:41 We have come to a time where we need to
47:43 understand the Sabbath in a greater light from
47:47 the greater perspective and perhaps we have
47:50 come to a time where we are in need of a Sabbath
47:53 reform in the Seventh-day Adventist
47:55 Church. In His eternal statement of Exodus
48:00 chapter 31:12 through 18, specifically verses 12
48:03 and 17, God gave the reasons for institution
48:07 of the Sabbath. Verse 12 reads,
48:09 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my
48:12 Sabbaths, they will be a sign between me
48:14 and you for the generations to come,
48:16 so that you may know that I am the Lord
48:19 who makes you holy." And then secondly verse 17,
48:23 "It will be a sign between me and the Israelites
48:26 forever, for in six days the Lord made the
48:28 heavens and the earth, and on the
48:30 seventh day he abstained from work and rested."
48:34 Now, the reality is that correctly understood
48:40 the Sabbath doesn't make legalists;
48:43 the Sabbath brings people to an acknowledgment
48:46 that they are not responsible or in charge
48:49 of their own salvation. For God said,
48:53 I am giving it to you as the sign,
48:55 so that you will always know that I am the Lord
48:57 who sanctifies you that word simply means to
49:01 set aside for our holy purpose. Amen.
49:05 God calls you and me to correctly understand
49:07 the Sabbath, so that every single week
49:10 He waves a flag and says, remember I am
49:13 the one in charge of your salvation,
49:15 you can't do it yourself. Amen.
49:19 Secondly and of great importance in verse 17,
49:24 God gives us the experience of the
49:25 Sabbath not only, so that we can know something
49:27 about His creative and redemptive abilities,
49:31 but so that we will always worship Him
49:33 as the one who created the heavens and
49:35 the earth. I need to say it quickly,
49:37 but the reality is this, the question of creation
49:41 is not a question in scripture.
49:45 And it will never become questionable to the Church.
49:52 Amen. He was the Deputy Minister of Culture
49:55 Youth and Recreation, he called me to in the
49:57 providence of Albert, and he called me to his
50:00 office one day, so that I would give what he
50:03 called a special dispensation to one
50:05 of our members, so that they could work
50:07 on the Sabbath. Amen. And I remember saying
50:10 to him this lady worships God on the seventh day
50:14 because she loves him and because he has
50:16 called her into that relationship and
50:18 she kept her job and there was no problem there.
50:22 God's people in the days of Amos had a problem;
50:28 they had forgotten all of their relationship
50:33 or much of their relationship with God,
50:34 when it was based upon. They had developed a
50:37 superficial religion, they were complacent,
50:43 they really didn't care and thirdly they forgotten
50:48 what the true meanin of the Sabbath was.
50:52 I want to turn you now to the most dramatic part
50:55 of this scripture back to Amos chapter 4
50:58 and I will read this quickly, but this is a very
51:02 hard wrenching part of the scriptures.
51:05 To me it is one of the most dramatic
51:07 statements that God ever made to the
51:08 human family. If you go to Amos chapter 4,
51:17 beginning with verse 5 you read these words.
51:19 "Burn leavened bread and a thank offering
51:21 and brag about your freewill offerings boast
51:23 about them, you Israelites, for this is what you
51:26 love to do." And then God entrance,
51:30 "I gave you empty stomachs in every city
51:34 and lack of bread in every town,
51:35 yet you have not returned to me,
51:38 declares the Lord. I also withheld the rain from
51:42 you when the harvest was still three months away,
51:44 I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from
51:47 another on one, one field had rain and another
51:50 had none and dried up. People staggered from
51:52 town to town for water but did not get enough
51:55 to drink, yet you have not returned to me,"
51:58 declares the Lord. Many times I struck your
52:01 gardens and vineyards; I struck them with
52:03 blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig
52:06 and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,"
52:09 declares the Lord." I sent plagues among you
52:12 as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men
52:14 with the sword, along with your captured horses.
52:17 I filled your nostrils with the stench
52:18 of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,"
52:22 declares the Lord. I overthrew some of you
52:26 as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
52:28 You were like a burning stick snatched
52:30 from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,"
52:35 declares the Lord." I am heartbroken when I read
52:40 that passage, I am heartbroken for the God
52:43 because how many times has He intervened
52:47 in my life and in your life. And then the formula
52:50 didn't work, and at the end He says, I did this,
52:56 but you still didn't return to me.
52:59 What was God attempting to accomplish?
53:04 Whatever it was, it wasn't reaching it's full impact
53:06 in the Amos's time. Did he sings all acerb because
53:10 God was angry and a little slap now and then,
53:14 what a major calamity now and then would
53:15 whipped the crew into shape. Is that the picture
53:19 God is attempting to portray himself with?
53:23 A few dead Generals makes the Mural Great.
53:27 Think again about Thompson Pump;
53:29 think about the God who, the seeker who
53:31 reaches down to find us, think about the God
53:34 who has not content to remain aloof from the
53:37 human predicament. That is from your predicament
53:40 and mine. Think about the tender Father heart
53:43 of God that sent him to reach out in search
53:46 of you personally, you individually and think
53:50 about the Father who sees us coming and runs
53:54 to embrace us. So, what was God's grand scheme?
53:58 What motive becomes clear in Amos's writing?
54:01 I turn to Amos chapter 9 verses 11 and 12,
54:05 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent.
54:10 I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins
54:13 and build it up as it used to be,
54:15 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
54:19 and the nations that bear my name,
54:20 declares the Lord who will do these things."
54:23 And the prophecy we know finds partial fulfillment
54:26 in the day of Pentecost because when the spirit
54:29 was poured out, the Apostle said,
54:31 this was what the prophet was talking about.
54:33 When he said in those days,
54:35 I will restore David's fallen tents.
54:38 What was God trying to accomplish?
54:42 What does he attempt to accomplish with you
54:44 personally and with me over and over and
54:47 over again. You know, when we look at the church?
54:52 Are some of the failures that we're experiencing
54:55 the result of God speaking to the church?
54:59 We lose an academy and our hearts are breaking
55:02 and we said, man that was poor management.
55:05 Well, maybe it was something more than poor
55:06 management. A generation of young people
55:10 is walking out of the doors of the church.
55:15 Why is that happening? I can't identify these
55:18 things. I don't have direct connection with what
55:21 God is doing today, but when I look at the
55:24 scripture and when I look at the church today.
55:29 I say, we're in need of revival and reformation.
55:31 Amen. We're in need of a change that only God
55:36 can bring through His spirit.
55:39 Amos brings us into contact with that God.
55:44 I'm gonna conclude with the story.
55:47 A story that took place in my ministry many
55:49 years ago, we went to a place to Minister
55:53 for the brethren who had a big idea for land
55:56 and a big idea to use that land, but because
56:00 it was located in, an agriculture where you the
56:02 government would never permitted to be used.
56:05 When I went there probably the first several
56:07 Sabbaths we discovered that two of the officers
56:10 of the church were living together common law,
56:13 and the rest of the church had accepted it.
56:17 It's not because I was anybody's judge,
56:19 but I felt convicted that this wasn't right,
56:22 talk to the brethren and at the conference office,
56:23 they said, be very careful and then proceeded
56:25 to call a meeting of the elders of that church
56:29 and we sat in a very lovely home and ate,
56:31 and as they ate I said to them I want you to know
56:34 you are all guilty or fornication.
56:39 And after we study that and prayed about
56:40 that they were convinced and I went to the
56:42 home of the family, and told them that the man
56:47 out to move out and that I would give them
56:50 three weeks to be married and they did that
56:55 they were so happy, they were good people,
56:59 but they were living contrary to the word
57:01 of God. One month after, one month after,
57:08 out of the blue came a letter from the government
57:09 that allows that church to use
57:11 that land for a church. Amen!


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Revised 2014-12-17