Sermons

We live in a time when the faith we embrace is under assault–the truth of God has been corrupted. In spite of this, we must endure these times that will grow even more difficult. According to what Jesus Christ taught, the true worshipers of God must worship Him in spirit and truth. The Bible reveals just who are the true worshipers of God.

After giving a brief update on Feast preparations for 2007, this sermon will discuss the dangers related to requesting or seeking signs; focusing on dreams; or analyzing “circumstances,” when confronted with having to make difficult decisions. We must be aware that there could be wrong signs and false dreamers of dreams–even in God’s Church. And, as Biblical examples prove, “circumstances” could be easily misinterpreted or misjudged, if we are not very close to God, so as to be able to really know His Word and His Will for us.

Part-I: Story of Noah: 1)Billion people, 2)An Age of Evil, 3)Noah found grace, 4)120-year Ark preparation/capacity, 5)The Great Flood, 6)A curse on Canaan, Part-II: Additional material: 7)Lamech–Man of Violence, 8)Noah’s life threatened–forced to flee, 9)Noah’s day compared to ours, 10)Criminals who lived for centuries, 11)Mankind could have been better, 12)Noah and the Work of God, 13)The Deluged, 14)Conclusion: a)3-worlds b)Noah’s Future c)9 lessons from Noah.

Are we watching world conditions? Why? So that we just know more than others? Or is there a deeper purpose involved? Why do we study Biblical prophecy? Just so that we gain intellectual knowledge? Why do we keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths; and why do we attend the Feast of Tabernacles–if we do? Just because of social reasons, or because of feelings of guilt if we don’t? Are we watching our own spiritual condition? Do we understand that the time of Jesus Christ’s return is drawing near? Are we getting ready for His return? Are we involved in the Work of the Church to preach the gospel? Or have we become deceived to think that the Work is over and all we need to do is to “make it into the kingdom”? Do we approach our call to salvation in just a selfish manner? Are we willing to make sacrifices for the good of others? Are we watching?

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Scripture admonishes us to hold fast but we can’t hold fast if we compromise.   Those who compromise will fall short of what is required and compromising with God’s Law and His way of life will ensure that we will not inherit the promises for the future.   Those promises, amongst other places, are spelled out in Revelation 3:12.

The Scripture tells us that one who is “in Christ” is a “new creation.” Such a person has the potential of becoming “…as God is”! But this progression requires “God’s Spirit in us” and our continually striving to live our lives according to the Way of God. We must not limit God’s Power in us in achieving this wonderful calling of the Eternal God!

Christians must continue to repent of their sins–it is a life-long challenge. The function and purpose of repentance sometimes gets neglected in our lives, and that is dangerous ground to stand in! The warning for us is that we never take for granted the calling of God or the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We must not allow sins to sear our conscience.

Did Paul believe that he would go to heaven? Is this what he meant when he said that he wanted to depart and be with Christ? Did Christ promise Peter heaven when He told him that he would follow Him later, even though He said that he could not come where He would go? What did Christ mean when He said: “Where I am you cannot come?” Did Christ promise His disciples a place in heaven when He told them that there were many mansions in His Father’s house, and that He would go to prepare a place for them? If you believe that heaven is the reward of the saints, then the answers in this sermon will shock and surprise you.
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Do we live our lives in accordance with God’s Will? Do we live according to the faith God has allowed in us? Or do we live our lives based upon our own will, in accordance with the standards of this world?
When we vary our approach according to the world’s standards, we effectively condemn ourselves in what we have approved (Romans 14:22). When we do this, we have placed this world’s ways above the ways of our God, an action the Scripture refers to as idolatry.
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Jesus Christ taught about the Kingdom of Heaven, and he spoke of the time of harvest of the righteous. Eventually, the good must be separated from the bad–that is the final step taken in the process of harvesting. Will we be among the wheat or the tares?

When God created a physical garden for man–the Garden of
Eden or Paradise–, He made special trees and placed them in the midst of the
garden. These trees had special symbolic meaning. They were called the Tree of
Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. While God allowed man to
eat freely from the Tree of Life, He commanded man not to eat from the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man disobeyed God, and disaster was the
consequence. What is the symbolic meaning of these two trees, and how do they
affect us today?

Satan, the deceiver of mankind, continues in his practice of using deception to trick mankind into following his ways. Ways which are contrary to God and all that God stands for. Through his deceptive ways, Satan has caused mankind to turn from the laws, the statutes, and the judgments of God to live in total rebellion to God’s Way; and to organize his life such that he appears to be doing good, while he continues to move further from the perfect Way of God.

The life of Isaac has important parallels for Christians, because our life, our calling and our future fall along similar lines. Importantly, God’s promise to Abraham that Sarah would bear Isaac centers on the role of faith. The Bible reveals that Christians are, by faith, the true children of promise–just as Isaac is.

God IS a Family–presently consisting of the Father and
the Son. God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, created physical,
mortal man, “in His image and according to His likeness,” with the ultimate goal
of enlarging the God Family through man. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and
to reject the gift of His Holy Spirit, which would have made possible the
transformation from mortal to immortal and from human to divine. As a
consequence, God cut man off from Him and His knowledge, except for those
preordained select few whom He would call and draw to His way of life in this
day and age. Those who have received His Holy Spirit are His begotten
children–the sons and daughters of God. They will be born again in the first
resurrection–when they inherit the Kingdom of God as spirit beings and
immortal members of the God Family. But in order to become God, they must
qualify in this life –by keeping God’s commandments, including the Sabbath day,
which God created for man, when He created man. Those who refuse to obey God
will NOT enter His kingdom!

God established the standards whereby He desires
for all men to live their lives. Satan, the enemy of God and man, has for his
main purpose to persuade mankind not to live their lives by God’s standards.
Thus, he has fostered off onto mankind his own ways, whereby he has beguiled man
to live by them. Most of the world has been tricked by these devices of
Satan.

Knowing what has happened to the Church of God in recent
years–as well as historically, we must be all the more careful to follow the
pattern established for us in God’s Word: we are to finish the work God has
given to us; to overcome the problems that we face; to endure everything through
the love of God. We are to be a perfect example of the faith we hold–as was
Jesus Christ!

Correctly understood, only the Bible tells us how it all
began; why we live today in a world cut off from God; and what is going to
happen in the future. In order to find the answers to these questions, we must
go back to the very beginning. The first few chapters of the book of Genesis
tell us why we exist, and what is man’s ultimate potential. We are also taught
why man sins and comes short of the glory of God.

Christ tells us in John 18:37 that “Everyone who is of the truth
hears My voice.” That statement from the mouth of our Savior implies
that those who hear His voice respond to Christ’s words in a positive
manner.One who does not respond, positively, to Christ’s words is still of this world, which is Satan’s world.Every person called of God has been called to become converted from
the ways of this world to the ways of truth! The key to this conversion
is one’s response to the truths Jesus Christ proclaimed!

God’s greatest challenge is that of creating His own sons and daughters. It is His crowning work! Indeed, nothing is too hard for God, but God is doing difficult things–His work involves disappointment and sacrifice. In fulfilling His great master plan, God is calling some to be firstfruits and He has made available the gift of His Holy Spirit to those He is calling in this age.

One of the requirements of the Christian life – at its very core – is that of love.   The day of Pentecost is a day that commemorates the giving of God’s Holy Spirit at the inception of the New Testament Church.   The Holy Spirit has given us the unique knowledge and understanding of God’s way of life.   With this vital and tremendous help, we can love God, our families, fellow church members and all other human beings.

Love of God – and fellow man – is a requirement of every true Christian and is – a most excellent gift.