precious Heavenly Father as we come into your presence this morning we come with the realization that we are inviting your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts today to expand our understanding in our knowledge but to give us something even more than intellectual stimulation may your Holy Spirit come now and manifest in a very surgical way the work that he will do in the hearts and minds of each of us we give you the message I give you my heart and hand for you to use it may you use my voice and may you continue to develop my life in Jesus name I pray amen if you have your Bibles with you this morning I'd like you to turn with me to the scripture reading and is found in first Kings chapter 18 first Kings chapter 18 and we're going to read together verses seven and eight verses seven and eight now as Obadiah was on his way suddenly Elijah met him how did Elijah meet him suddenly you know there is no suddenly with God it was a planned rendezvous but the Bible says suddenly and he recognized him and fell on his face and said is that you my lord Elijah and he answered him it is I let's read the last part together go tell your master Elijah is here when you read the story of the children of Israel the kings of Israel you discover there is a cadence in the lives of the kings of Israel that affected not only how service to God began but how service to God continued there was a cadence established in the Garden of Eden that affected the decisions that they have made there was a cadence established by David and Samuel and Saul that affected decisions that a have made and we can best describe these decisions as an erosion that manifested itself continually breaking down all that God had established for the strengths of the children of Israel and so come with me this morning as we consider the devastating impact of erosion on March 12 1928 at 11:56 p.m. the residents of a small town located where the present sent to Clarita California now exists thank you Mike appreciate the head they had no idea that in just one more minute the entire town would be swept into eternity at 11:57 p.m. the 205 foot wall of the st. Francis dam exploded sending millions of gallons of water on a vicious ten-mile death march during the time when the residents of this town was sleeping mothers and fathers and cousins and aunts and uncles all nestled safely in their beds one of the stories that really shook my mind isn't when I read the newspaper article about some of the victims there was in that small town of father and mother whose child had just been delivered two weeks old and they were swept off into eternity by that vicious wall marching toward that town taking away lives indiscriminately when the tragedy was investigated to build a William Mulholland admitted and this is what he said listen carefully he said he saw the cracks developing in the wall of the dam and there's a picture of him looking at it he said he saw water seeping through the walls he saw the evidence of the erosion he saw the water seeping through the cracks but in his testimony William Mulholland along with the assistant chief engineer and general manager Harvey van Norman they said inspected the cracks and leaks and here's an amazing statement and judged them to be within expectation for a concrete dam the size of the st. Francis they saw water coming through the wall and they said for that kind of dam water coming through it is acceptable they made no attempt feeble attempts they made but when you continue examining the record there were certain procedures that they overlooked believing that they wouldn't need them they called them they call them stress reducers they said that when the concrete begins to stress if you put these stress reduces between concrete wall it'll bend a little creak but it will not give way they chose not to build in the walls of this 205 foot dam stress reducers the wall came down less than two years after the wall was built the st. Francis dam failed it took less than two years for the erosion to claim 431 lives but the question that came to my mind if the residents of that town had only known what would they have done differently if they had only known that from the time the dam was constructed they only had two years left to live what would they have done differently not to ask myself the question because we live in a downstream society the walls that were built for our spiritual security are developing cracks we've got to ask ourselves the questions what should we do differently if we only knew the hour of our visitation if we only knew when eternity would come and sweep us off into oblivion what would we have done differently the infrastructure designed for our safety spiritual safety spiritual growth mission vision the work of the kingdom this infrastructure is being eroded and the question is what are we going to do differently defining erosion it's an amazing definition but it's it's so apropos to our setting when environmental forces eat away at the foundation that was designed to sustain us erosion has set in when the environmental forces one the things around us in the world the things around us in our community the things around us in our family when they begin to eat away at the foundation that is developed to sustain us the study of the word the prayer life the witnessing life living for the glory of God when all those things to be eaten away erosion is taking its roots and when you look at our world today never before has the effect of erosion been evident on so many levels as they are today the Apostle Paul describes a scene that applies with exclusive force of how erosion is manifesting itself in the last days listen to his words second Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 to 5 if you can turn there with me wonderfully if you don't have your Bibles it will be on the screen 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 to 5 Paul is given a glimpse of the erosive effects of sin over an extended period of time and when you understand erosion it takes time for the effects of erosion to be seen 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 to 5 the picture of erosion applying specifically exclusively to the last days the Apostle says but know this that in the what days in the last days perilous times will come my brethren have perilous times come for men will be lovers of themselves in other words for this to be a condition of the last days the Bible is saying there was a time that love had a more genuine context but in the last days the environment around us eroding the very foundation that is intended to keep us safe is turning love in a different direction rather than loving others we are lovers of ourselves lovers of money my wife and I went to Tiffany's don't go to Tiffany's if you're broke we went to Tiffany's took my sister and all there just to just to say we went to Tiffany's and I knew upon entering Tiffany's that I was broke now I don't admire jewelry I don't wear it but I was drawn in by the radiance of the stones reflecting their brilliance through the cases that were surrounding the entrance I don't wear it I wouldn't waste money on that but I was I was drawn in particular interest to this one as I was walking by this one blue stone just glimpsed in the court as the light of the counter just reflected in all its brilliance it caught my eye and I went back and I asked a dumb question how much is it worth and the lady immediately knowing that I was just on an excursion not on a buying excursion at that she said oh you picked a good one I said but how much is it she said let me take it out and show it to you lovers of money she said now this one in particular is just fifty thousand dollars she said that the word just should not have been included but she looked at me with my basket ball cap and my jeans and she knew that I was just on a looking excursion Ryan I was just looking and I had - brilliance and she said you want to try it on now I just said no but I had to take a picture of it just to say I saw it and I decided well let's go to another floor let's continue this excursion of torment lovers of money and so I went to another floor and I began to look around and there's some beautiful utensils there was this was a beautiful tea kettle and a nice matching set one was about this high and the other one was just about a hat and an inch higher and I said how much are those she said let me check beautiful tea cotta you know that'd be nice to have a little tea cup a little tea you know just when people come over and they want a spot of tea my wife is from England a spot of tea just go ahead and get a tea kettle and give them some tea beautiful brilliant just stainless steel beautiful she said it's what she said those two or $15,500 I said for both of those she says no each I recall the instance when my wife and I went there a number of years ago and I decided JD to just make the same mistake I saw a nice vase that looked like it could be something that you waterpots with that you water plants with it had a nice sprout it could be a jug for but it looked more like a headed long nozzle look like you'd use this to to just water your flowers and I I asked a dumb question how much is it well that one in particular that one is $50,000 to water your plants well I want you to know after that answer I made my way to the elevator and I asked to go to the ground floor and all my way out ozzie I asked another dumb question the doorman on the elevator everybody's manicured everything is in place they have so many security measures it looks like Fort Knox everybody everywhere it looks like they are ready for any event to take place and on my way out I just looked at another case and I saw this brilliant thing just bouncing off the ceiling and radiant light and I asked the question how much is it and that was a straw that broke the camel's back I exited as soon as I got the answer oh that one that's just one point two million dollars and I left I didn't ask any more questions I said to myself this store is gonna be mentioned in the judgement for all the money that people waste on decorating themselves this store alone probably in the entirety of its inventory could could leave in a great way our deficit Tiffany and you know what they were right next door to Trump Towers I thought he may have been here before chances are great present lovers of money and the more we walked on Fifth Avenue the more we realize that we were not in our neighborhood I said where is Walmart when you need it wouldn't buying anything I went back you know you know somehow sometimes you get into that vacuum where you want to feel wealthy come on anybody been there before you kind of want and so you walk in the store differently you're not walking like you don't have money you walk in good afternoon use different terms you say it you make sure that you don't split your verbs you don't say sup when you go into Gucci you don't use those terms because you want to act like you might buy something and you go to the clothing slowly so I went into another store not too far away yeah dolce gabbana went to DG d I've seen a DG before so I walked into DG Yvonne walked into DG and I felt there were two other young men in there not too far from my agent was another man walking out with a bag and I thought well this is not Tiffany so surely I'd be able to afford something in here an officer hunt I walked over and I saw a beautiful shirt I thought now surely they have my size the first time I saw a shirt that actually was the length of my sleeves was the length of my arms and I thought I need to buy that shirt and I asked dumb question how much is it and the lady was ever so kind she said it's just $1,295 a shirt and I couldn't help but ask myself the question if I walk down the street with this shirt what somebody say I like your $1,295 shirt and Jason the answer is nobody cares and Dolce and Gabbana's another store that's gonna be mentioned in the judgement and all around us Fifth Avenue just echoed with well to drift with luxury lovers of money and I saw people walking down Fifth Avenue with bags and just the names on the bags reeked money lovers of money boat and they walk boasters proud but the Bible continues in the erosive effects at the end blasphemers they even spoke on the phones their cell phones they spoke in a way that I don't speak you can tell they spoke money and I made another mistake honey that I have to admit publicly I decided well we're round the corner of Fifth Avenue it's Sunday I'm not going to put my car in the street officer to get a total way not on Sunday couldn't find a parking space so I decided let me go ahead and put the car and we're gonna be out here maybe just an hour I mean how much could it cost for an hour and I put my car in there and we went back maybe an hour and 10 minutes later and when I went to get my car asked a dumb question how much is it $44 forgive me honey I have sinned and I paid it like I belonged there and I've drove away with a lesson well learned do what your sister said don't drive your car to Manhattan can I get an amen that will never happen again unthankful unholy unloving unforgiving slanderers without self-control the erosive effects of the last day's brutal despisers of those that are good can you imagine someone getting to the place where they despise somebody because that person is good traitors heady haughty lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying its power and the Bible says from such what should we do friends turn away you see moral decline as the evil that has led to the erosion of family values think about that for a moment the family is not how it used to be you know the biblical family revolves around the husband and the wife God first marriage second child third but if you look at the erosive effects of what the modern family has done to the biblical family it has changed the structure of the family the modern family is child first marriage next and God last amazed as I see how many people worship their children how many children are really in charge of the direction of the family but that was not the case when I was being raised I'll be honest with you that was not the case you see I learned in a very real way there's certain Bible texts I learned in a very well real way at certain special occasions when I disobeyed I knew that I was going to learn a Bible verse I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that text train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will what not depart from it but I also tell you there's another text I heard foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of Correction will do what drive it far from him when I was growing up the phrase bottom line had a different meaning for the problem today is this corrupt society has taken the authority of the family away and children today go to Walmart you could see some of those instances you could see some of those exchanges between mom and child I look at them sometimes as I'm in Walmart or whatever store and I'm thinking of myself as the parent is trying to reason with this child that couldn't be more than three years old and he's yelling I hate you and he's swinging at her I'm thinking oh no mom would have been in the cast 15 seconds ago but that's the kind of society in society says if you discipline your child you will come up on charges tell me that erosion hasn't done that to the family you can't even discipline your own child I'm not talking about I'm not talking about abuse I'm talk about grabbing him by the ear like I had when I was younger you remember that come on sometime you remember that boy what's wrong with you that's how I was raised and in church anybody had the permission the deacon when I was down in the basement in Bethel rummaging through the Sabbath school supplies the Deacon locked the door of the church basement turned the light off to teach me a lesson and under the muffled sound of the organ playing above my head where 1,200 people were sitting in the car you could just hear a muffled sound of a kid screaming in the basement banging on the doors and when he unlocked the door he had my mama right next to him and I got tell you what I was never in that basement again and when I said I had to go to the bathroom she said you should have done it before the sermon began kids nowadays can't even tell where their kids are till the church service is over the erosive effects moral decline is the evil that has eroded family values something else has happened in the course of erosion corrupt entertainment has led to the erosion of ethical values erosion occurs when we expose our children to entertainment that support practices that conflict with Scripture you can't put your children in front of the television to watch just anything nowadays the modern family is destroying the biblical family promiscuity is unraveling modesty we live in a world where little girls don't dress like little girls anymore and the problem is not how the child is dressing but the parent ain't saying nothing and they say they'll learn I've never heard anybody find morality coincidentally you don't let a child grow into morality because the nature that we possess grows into immorality unless guided like a plant unless molded like a vine unless of water like a garden it will not find morality it will naturally cleave to immorality we've got to make sure our children are dressing as those getting ready for the kingdom can somebody say Amen homosexuality today is laughing its way into our hearts my wife and I were in Macy's you know we went to New York this is what I wore in New York that's what exactly what I had on hunt family saw the suit two Sabbath's in a row but I went to Macy's because I knew that in New York you know you don't go to church on sabbath dressed anyhow in New York you got to take it up a few notches but I want to be clean just bought a tie that's it but I cannot forget seeing two tall people walking away from me one tall individual and another one and I thought wow that's a tall woman because you know guys that at all kind of gets sometimes threatened JD when a whoopsy JD's comfortable because his wife and here you know or they from Texas everybody from Texas is big just understand that it's the thing it comes with the territory tall people come from Texas that's just where they come from sure people come from Mississippi that's not a law I just think that way but I thought tall men don't like it when tall women look to my two eye is kind of like a back down because I'm right where you are but when they turned around and the one began to talk to the other and said you know it's really expensive in here I felt and then I saw what was on his shirt the phrase gender is out and then I went on the internet to look this up and do you know that according to one very distorted website we now as of 2018 we have 112 genders come on somebody help me out 112 genders that's right Ozzie you do look confused because anybody here and that is confused anybody to say that there's a hundred and twelve genders but I couldn't help but go through the post because people started commenting on this very statement the website allowed you to comment and somebody said and I must say this the way they said it no apologies was will follow they said if you check the organs you'll discover the only two genders Amen Somali and just yesterday on the news matter of fact I think it was the news where there was an argument of debate over whether or not there was a guy that he was born a guy but he he became a girl and he entered into an Olympic trial he was running against girls that were legitimately girls and he beat them so the argument was should guys that had sex change operations now be allowed to run against girls and somebody said no somebody else said yes if he thinks it's a girl he can run against women somebody else says no his muscular structure is different when he's born as a man he's has a natural advantage and somebody else said no but don't offend him not that to myself I'm glad they didn't ask me erosion has come to the place where we can't even tell a person that is going long that God could deliver them from any thing that sin has done to them and I know what I'm talking about I got I got two nephews that are gay but they know Uncle John loves him and they know that he don't modify I don't modify my religion I talked to them about Jesus and I'm of the opinion that there's no level to which you can sink that God cannot pull you back up but we've lived we live now in a society so eroded morally and what amazes me we're so bent out of shape by homosexuality today why we not bent out of shape with pornography why did we not stand up as a church and speak against that were so bent out of shape with same-sex marriage now but where was our voice when pornography where was our voice when Playboy and all these nasty magazines are being sold in our local stores but now that it's come to roost on a foundation that God established for a husband and wife now the church is beginning to speak out the Bible makes it very clear what the problem was Romans 1:28 Romans 1:28 they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a debase mind to do those things which are not sitting erosion has said into our society and the church is becoming a victim to erosion brothers and sisters don't allow the conditions of the world around us to modify our commitment to God within us erosion on another level the unquenchable thirst for technology has resulted in the erosion of privacy I saw a little boy walking around in the mall with a shirt on a night how clever how clever this is the boy couldn't be more than five years old but the caption on his shirt told a story of our modern society on the front it said Wi-Fi has accomplished its purpose and on the back it says because the family is no longer connected powerful statement clever Wi-Fi you know what that is Wireless the family is no longer connected Wi-Fi has accomplished its purpose when you tend when you tell a child to go to their room or there they go ahead yep ground me for a month I don't need to talk to you anyhow and we ground them with it with a phone and a computer connection and the television they don't care if they don't see you for the next six months as long as they could snap chat and Facebook and Twitter and all that other stuff when I was growing up receiving a text meant somebody gave you a Bible verse Amen Samadhi but today Millennials are so socially saturated that they are relationally disconnected don't communicate anymore that's why this generation is called to get back to the book second Timothy chapter four verse two listen to the words of the Apostle Paul to this generation this generation that has forgotten about the things that matter second Timothy chapter two verse two to four second Timothy chapter four verse two to four notice what he says to the Facebook generation he says preach the word what does he say Church preach the word be ready be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and teaching or doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires of their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and will be turned away from the truth and be turned aside to fables that's the generation we're living in that's why what amazes me is this generation erosion has done so much to us that when you mention Bible study where the Wednesday night or Thursday night it's like an event that Christians say I could miss it I don't have to be there erosion has done that to us Church erosion has said to us I don't need to be at Wednesday night Bible study because it's on the air it's a production a hundred and thirty nine videos on sharper focus website how many have you been here when the gospel was being preached how many topics have you heard forty one studies how many have you missed and we're getting ready for eternity don't fool yourself erosion makes you think that by missing the time the study God's word that I'm safe and secure from all alarm remember great controversy says only those whose minds are fortified by the Word of God will stand through the last great conflict and some of us could not even defend our faith by one single scripture we don't know where it is so we're content here to tell the world production after production we will tell the world of how to find Jesus how to be saved how to understand this doctrine how to understand that doctrine but we are absent when it's going forward to the world and how are we going to get ready how are we going to get ready I don't need to go to Wednesday night Bible so is just Pastor John he's always on a trip that's what they said about Moses that's what they said about Noah when he built the ark hundred and twenty years and the only one that got him was his family because he was tripping like I'm tripping don't let erosion take you down the path of ignorance then there's economic instability that has given birth to the erosion of financial security I've been troubled lately with the economy you know one person says the president is good for the economy the other one says well he's not I don't really care what the opinions are but all I know is my little piddly retirement that is given to me by the church that I put small investments in monthly I am by no means wealthy don't even come away with that understanding based on what I'm gonna say I say well honey have we hit a certain amount yet and I've been looking at my retirement because I'm not a whole lot I'm not a decade or so away from her time and I'm wondering well how I'm not gonna have money to live when I retire and I'm looking at that thing and it's moving like a snail that's handcuffed and when I get the letter in the mail from the retirement and they say your initial profits for this year is zero I said that's not what they said on the news they said the economy is strong and my initial profits are zero and so when I see the S&P going up and down I'm thinking yeah they'll go is going up seven hundred point twelve two thousand then it explodes the next week down fifteen hundred and they say to me on the news if you had any investments today we lost a collective twenty two billion dollars today that's why brethren let me tell you something my security is not in the economy my security is in Jesus your future will be secure if you invest in Jesus and my god come on say it with me and my God shall supply how much all your need according to his riches and glory Philippians 4 verse 19 the problem with erosion is this after the fact everybody knows what they should have done differently when the Ark's doors were closed everybody realized at that moment that what Noah was saying was true when fire fell down on Sodom and Gomorrah they understood the morning from the angels to flee the city when the gates of Jerusalem were being burned with fire they understand the words of Jeremiah the Prophet when the image of Daniel came down they understood Nebuchadnezzar finally understood that the god of shadrach meshach sorry that hen and I am ischial and Azariah we always remember their Babylonian names but given to the Babylonian names and honor them for who God made them Hananiah Mishael and Azariah those were the names that were Legion to God we all would remember Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that image came down because these three men went into a furnace of affliction and they went in there knowing that no matter where I am if I'm with God he will be with me but the problem with erosion is everybody knows what to do differently after the fact you know when you trust the Lord you don't have to worry about the consequences you stand firm in God and let the consequences be handled by God the Greek poet Homer says after the event even a fool is wise the devastating effect of erosion becomes obvious in hindsight and the problem with erosion it begins ever-so-slightly that it leads us to dismiss its presence a drop of water it's just a drip we live on new lake road and many of you know where we live I remember having Dave turn in his guise come over because we noticed once that in our basement there was water in a room and I came in one day and I went to get my shoes and I went what is it the carpet was saturated and I said what happened and they traced it to erosion just outside the wall between the wall and the grass that had been elevated they said that the rainwater came from the gutter just dripping over the course of time right out of the soil that began to erode away the found datian and when it rained it just came under the wall and when the rain came down the erosion came up and I said well when did that happen and Dave Turner said it was probably going on for a long time but you just never noticed it the devastating of effects of erosion always made clear in hindsight ever-so-slightly it leads us to dismiss that it even exists the footsteps of erosion are muted but its results are always catastrophic and when I think about what's happening in our world today and in our church nothing is more absurd than making supporting and participating in a decision that will eventually lead to your own destruction and I'm going to tell you in 31 years of ministry God had to pull me up a couple of times more times and I want to even admit God had to calibrate me on many occasions to help me understand that where I'm headed and the things that I'm doing are not in harmony with his will he showed me the erosion in my own life and by His grace I stand here today God continuing the work that he began and me come on say Amen somebody he doesn't leave us to our own demise his love is too great to allow his children to be lost without an attempt to pull them through but as I transition the more sobering focus of the message is not the erosion of the world but the erosion of God's remnant Church you see working beneath the surface erosion is an unrelenting force erosion is threatening the foundation of our educational institutions I fell to my knees and prayed when I heard that even in our own institutions that evolution was challenging creation in our own schools and it's a world you got to teach them evolution you don't got to teach somebody darkness to appreciate light they don't do that in the banks don't have a sitting around studying fake money they said study the real dollar bill so carefully that when the fake surfaces you can notice it in Stanly kind of teach darkness to appreciate light erosion is weakening the foundation of our about truths on Facebook you get people argument it seems as though on Facebook people start religious controversies on Friday everybody starts arguing on Friday about stuff that is eroding our foundation in Australia this big argument about the divinity of the Holy Spirit let me tell you something if the Holy Spirit was not divine we would be in trouble very much divine then the relevance of the sanctuary is being discounted the preaching of the three angels messages is vanishing and the sanctity of the Sabbath is being dismissed with impunity that means people don't honor the Sabbath as it should be anymore and they're dismissing it saying it doesn't really matter it matters like a silent predator erosion is patient and stealthy erosion prefers methods over spirituality very important point you know no method will be sanctified by God if it is devoid of the truth of God's Word methods can't save people the Lord didn't say to the devil let me try another method he said it is written come on somebody say man it is written if the Word of God is not being stored in your heart you will not have power to resist sin when it comes I could trace the moments in my life when I fell back to the point where I've disconnected myself I was spending time feeding you but I was not spending time feeding me and I saw the devastating effect erosion takes its time it breaks us down at the points where we should be strong it weakens us of the connections of our lives that should be strong because one action leads to another and another and you know what when you when you when you stand in front of a furnace that's hot every step you take away from that furnace the temperature decreases until you're so far away that you freeze to death that's erosion that's erosion the furnace hasn't changed it's just you walked in the wrong direction you walked away from the very thing established for your warmth I heard the story about a man who died in the sight of his own safety in a snowstorm caught up in the in the veracity of the falling rain and the falling snow it blinded him just a few feet away he knew that was the direction of his home he was on the path that he had driven so many times his car broke down three miles away from his home and he decided if I just stay on this path this is the path that I've driven home time and time again and the results showed the morning after when his frozen body was found that said he died within 10 feet of his house because he stopped walking in the direction of deliverance and how many of us know of the direction but we stopped walking how many of us know where safety is but we refused on a familiar road the road of our Church's teachings the roads of the righteousness of Christ how many of us know the way and then we stopped walking and we died within the sight of our own safety erosion places worship experience above truth and there is this false Christ centeredness coming into our church today this idea that we can preach Jesus and it omit the doctrines here those churches they call themselves are the non-denominational churches and I said what is that they said it's nondenominational because we don't teach doctrines and sometimes we get caught up in that foolishness let me tell you something the Apostle Paul made a statement to the Protege Timothy he says take heed to yourself enter the doctrines continue in them for in doing this you will both save yourself and those that hear you in the New Testament church they taught Jesus through the doctrines not Jesus instead of the doctrines in the church nowadays wants to Jesus Jesus jesus loves me this I know [Music] tells me so and we think if it all we just talk about Jesus well you know something the devil's believe in Jesus but they're not committed to him and Jesus didn't die just for the pablum of the gospel he died for the foundation when we lay foundations that are not laid on Christ we are being eroded and erosion will eventually claim the person who ignores it's continuous effects on their own lives erosion is sweeping away dedication to spiritual gatherings how many times have has Hebrews 10 and verse 25 been heard by you how many times have you read it how many times has it been trumpeted not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching how many people will see a storm coming and ignore it I cannot forget a few weeks ago my wife and I were in Carbondale but it was a tornado developing in Mary and they told me that a touchdown east of Marion we saw the blackened skies and we knew that in this very pivotal moment we had but seconds to decide our own safety we left the Verizon store the wind was howling with such intensity that I had to help my wife two of us had to push the door for her to get in and she said where can we find safety and I looked around in that moment realizing as the husband I got to find a place for my wife to be safe and for me to be safe and I said let's go to that place and I remember the the hardware store not too far away and I ran and parked the car under its metal verandah praying and I looked at my wife and I said honey we're about to experience our first tornado and everything on my phone said it's coming said seek shelter stay away from glass get to a safe place and there we were as that lightning begin to whip itself into a frenzy but God that delivered us from it how many of us see it approaching and are not seeking a shelter of safety we sing the song a shelter in the time of storm the Lord are rocking him we hide but how many of us are hiding in the Lord our rock in my intention this morning is to make you uncomfortable to make you uncomfortable to the place where you say I can no longer allow the erosive effects inoculate me to the point where I am becoming indifferent to the very things that God has called me to do because whatever we overlook as innocuous eventually reveals itself as dangerous whatever we dismiss is irrelevant we'll prove one day to be consequential people have traced the downfall of their family their their their finances their marriage their children they've traced it back over the course of time and they have said I've seen where I went wrong but at that very moment it seemed innocuous it seemed innocent it didn't seem dangerous but one habit continually repeated becomes a dangerous concoction for destruction the brethren we're standing on the precipice of the confrontation of the ages developing in the valley below us is a panorama of unimaginable unimaginable scale when you begin to look at the spiritual world I've been listening to the news lately I've been listening to the news with differently tuned ears I've been listening to what's happening in our nation what's happening in Rome what's happening in the evangelical world what's happening in the world of war I've been listening to the temperature of taking place around us and we are standing on the verge of a stupendous crisis do you realize it's going to take just one single act just one single act of Congress just one single decision of the Supreme Court can plunge our nation in one direction or the other and I get concerned when I hear our nation's leaders say that we must you against anti-catholic bias and I realize that we as a people is probably one of the unique bodies of believers in denominations that are preaching against the evils of Catholicism as outlined in Bible prophecy then our evangelical leaders are told to unite with Catholicism to unite to create a coalition of such great force that they can control anything in the political arena and whether you know it or not America is already speaking like a dragon we're not waiting for the dragon the speakers already speaking like a dragon and when the clouds dissipate the final episode begins to emerge and unfold revelation shows us this Scarlet beast and the apostate woman celebrating her accomplishments but the problem is our nation's leaders and political leaders and religious leaders deceived by the erosion of her seduction stand back with their eyes shielded and they admire her Rome is admired in a way that it's never been admired before when Pope Francis speaks leaders listen even in communist countries even in countries where Jesus is forbidden they listen but revelation tells us that's how it's supposed to be revelation 17 verse 3 or 5 so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast revelation 17 verse 3 to 5 this woman was the system of Rome which was full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns God is giving us a picture of the nations of the world that are about to coalesce under her rulership seven heads ten horns the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls the color that was missing in her garment bluh you know why because Rome has in her own abrogating Oh Lord give me the word in her own arrogance has trampled on God's law so the color blue which represents God's law is not in her garment she changed it she has on purple and scarlet she had the golden cup in her hand her seductive punch full of abominations of the filthiness of her fornication and on her forehead a name was written Mystery Babylon the Great the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth and I listened to evangelical leaders I'm pouring out today I listen to evangelical leaders and I understand the issues sensitive I understand there's a tentative fragility when it comes to politics in religion when it comes to the safety of our nation and the fragile balance of protecting our borders but brethren don't ever let it get to the place where the lives of children don't matter no Amen required but we are told that that day would come we will inform that erosion would seek to sweep us away into the nominal attitude of the world around us and what to God that we become Christians rather than conservatives and liberals I'll say that again would to God that we were seventh-day Adventists rather than conservatives and liberals because the word conservative and liberal does not appear in Genesis nor does it find itself in Revelation but God told us it would be that way and 1st Thessalonians 5 he says but concerning the times and seasons brethren you have no need that I should write to you you don't we don't need another book we've been given the light can somebody say Amen we have been given light under the inspiration of God's guiding Holy Spirit the servant of God this humble servant this three third-grade educated woman named Ellen White God in such humble ways gave her knowledge to point people back to Christ and to show us the path in which we should walk all in harmony with God's Word mind you and we as students of prophecy we as benefactors of inspiration we as stewards of light we as citizens of a higher understanding ought to understand our responsibility and the beauty of that is God said and I love the way he says this Amos 3 verse 7 surely the Lord God will do nothing except he reveal his secrets to his servants the prophets and when I see that I say thank you God for keeping your church informed we could write a book today and send it to Washington DC sent to every evangelical leader on the planet and predict on how this thing is going to unfold and we can say it by God's grace with startling accuracy but how many of us are doing that just recently I had the privilege of writing a little booklet the three angels messages I carry that in my backpack everywhere I go if I find a man in a wheelchair like yesterday or the man at the store or the doctor in his office or the person on the plane or the person I'm buying something in the store I carry that book everywhere I go because I know this person may never get a second chance to hear the three angels messages may never get a second chance to be introduced to it just Thursday night I was doing a program dr. Hans Diehl called us back he said how he said how perfect could your timing have been the guest he brought with him a lay pastor a man of great medical experience a man who's a pastor himself as we met in the after program we talked as we talked about how the program went in giving God the glory and this man prayed for me and prayed for my wife and then the four I gave him one of the three Abyan three angels messages booklets and he said how fitting this is because just recently I asked the Lord what does the three angels messages mean and you come up and give me this booklet then I find out that he read it all the way home on the plane dr. Hans Diehl says John I just want to call you and tell you I bring people there to 3abn that are not Adventist so they could be exposed to the most beautiful message I've ever heard but how many of us value what we have brethren God has given us the best message can somebody say Amen the best message if you are a car you would be more expensive than the most beautiful Lamborghini if you are building you'll be more ostentatious than the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai we've been given a message more potent than any weapon ever destroy any weapon ever created by men God has given that to us he's put in our hands and he says preach it teach it live it share it and it will result in the salvation of somebody but how many of us understand what it is and a switches clicking me somewhere I'm done preaching for popularity I got a kingdom that I want to be a part of I got a kingdom I could there's some gates I want to walk through but I don't want to walk through them by myself God has told us he's informed us the scene should not take us by storm concerning the times and seasons brethren you have no need that I should write to you we know amazingly perfect that we're living in the environment of the last days and God is telling the church that it's time to get back on the road the church has taken a detour that God never intended and this detour is disguising itself in something that Fredrik Nietzsche called creative destruction creative destruction is what Satan did to Eve he offered her limitless success by saying you will be like God he created an environment that will lead to her destruction by telling her that if you follow my suggestions you'll be better off before than you are now let me tell you something that's what Satan has done to the evangelical world that it was that's what he's done to Christianity on a large degree he telling us a bill of goods that look creative but when they are not mixed with truth they end up becoming creative destruction so many examples in the Bible of creative destruction it conceals the consequences by saying you'll not die you will not surely die but creative destruction is a slow erosion followed by sudden catastrophe it's a relentless force that ultimately consumes its hosts example creative destruction is what brought Haman down he created a gallows for his own personal aggrandizement his own success was in the present pleasure of building a gallows he built it to get rid of his enemy but it ended up being the very instrument that caused his death creative destruction Nebuchadnezzar an example of creative destruction he raised up a city that brought him down creative destruction and the brothers that sold Joseph into slavery ended up becoming subject to his authority and if Joseph was not converted he could have unleashed on his brothers a fierce judgment that they would never recover from but praise God that even in the difficulties of the experience of our lives the Lord never leaves us to be abandoned to the tenacity of evil can you say Amen so I got simply two points before I close two points it's too late to disguise our message can somebody say Amen Saul disguised himself and he was an apostasy King Ahab disguised himself and he was an apostasy Josiah disobeyed God and disguised himself when he was in apostasy and the false prophet that set a trap for God's prophet disguised himself by saying I'm a prophet also in a led to the demise of the man of God Satan has been eroding our identity trying to cover us with the camouflage of nominal Christianity attempting to get us to blend in with our surroundings but let me tell you one of the reasons why the three angels messages is so vitally important the three angels messages is not a blend in message how many people do you hear preaching the judgment hour message how many people do you hear preaching that Babylon is fallen is fallen how many churches do you hear proclaiming the message about the warning of receiving the mark of the beast and worshiping his image it's not a blended message but God has given us the privilege God has given us the responsibility but it's not just to be preached on the air is to be preached in our community is to be preached to our neighbors and if you can't preach maybe your arm could work by going like this sister just go like that and give somebody something of a plant a seed that will give them some odd about eternal life in considering the greater weight and what lies ahead of them secondly don't create an alliance that weakens your mission which is the focus as I close this morning about the message of Ahab don't come to the piano yet it's the message of Ahab don't create alliances that weaken your mission second first kings 1 first Kings chapter 16 verse 30 and 31 look at what happened look at what happened my closing points in the message look at what happened now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that war before him and it came to pass as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of earth bail king of the sidonians and he went and served bailed and worshipped him a hab chose a prostitute not because of who she was but because of who he was a hab was captured by her admiration not because of how she walked but because of how he refused to walk and Israel became synchronized to the temple that Jezebel said brethren it is too late to allow our church to become synchronized to the temple of the world it was not the scent of Ahab's cologne that attracted Jezebel to him but the stench of his sin that attracted him to her a hab deserted his God for a woman that was dedicated to her God here is the connection our message should open within us and awaken within us a dedication to it in such a way that nothing can break our connection between God and the message nothing what message is there out there that's more vital than ours it's not an easy message but it's a vital message but what happened to a hab began in the Garden of Eden Adam chose a woman over God David chose a woman over God Samson chose a woman over God Solomon chose many women over God Abraham chose women over God in those pivotal moments of decision so by the time a have chosen Jezebel over God he was simply walking in an erosion that began thousands of years before him and we cannot allow the things that happen around us to have its erosive effects on our own lives a Habs departure from God was not sudden because erosion takes time the Avalanche that eventually crippled Israel began as a trickle and so today what's trickling in your life what's what's dripping in your life what's dripping in your entertainment what's dripping in your Bible study what's eroding away in your dedication to God what is the water of compromise washing away from you downstream but I've got some good news today the church may appear is though it's about to fall but it does not while sinners in Zion are sifted out and the chaff are separated from the precious wheat the wheat will remain but God's got a call on our lives time to get back to our distinctive truths time to get back to the foundation of our faith they that shall be of thee shall build up the old waste places we shall raise up the foundations of many generations we shall be called the repairers of the breach there are stores of paths to dwell in can somebody save and you see the three angels message reminds us that it's high time for this meaningless world to come to an end it's high time to stand up for truth all we will fall for tradition is high time to straighten up so that we can walk right it's high time to speak up for the cause of Christ because Elijah was not sent to the surrounding nations Elijah was sent to Israel and so my question today is as Malachi the Prophet says it's so wonderfully behold I will send Elijah the Prophet Malachi four verse five and six behold I will send Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the Great and dreadful day of the Lord and he will turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse but Elijah's message cannot be preached by those that are tired of it can I be proclaimed by those not living it can I be announced by those not connected to it cannot be stated by those not dedicated to it and cannot be molded by those that are not transformed by Lord I'm praying that the message not only is proclaimed by me but I'm transformed by it and so as Jenny comes to play softly thank you one day there's going to be a group of people standing firmly on the foundation of eternity and as I said last week that's God touched my heart somebody's going to be saved and it might as well be me can you say that with me somebody's going to be saved and it might as well be me people that cannot be bought compromised deterred lured away turned back diluted or delayed one day God is going to point to those who will not flinch who will not sacrifice who will not hesitate who will not negotiate they are standing firm on the on moveable principles of God and someone Elijah showed up to Ahab an armory came out and he said to Obadiah go tell a hab Elijah is here let me give you the connecting clothes Elijah was where he was supposed to be because he lived the life that he ought to live today my brothers and sisters are you gonna ask God are you gonna join me today by rededicating yourself to the commitment to get ready for God to put you where he wants you to be because you have determined by His grace and his strength to live the life that you ought to live if that's your determination today I'd like you to stand with me God's got a place that he's going to fit us in that critical hour but unless we are living the way we ought to be he will not put us where we are going to be we will not be able to say to somebody else I am here unless we are living where God wants us to live now be who he wants us to be now don't just sing it live it don't just talk it walk it don't wait for the coming of the law work for the coming of the Lord don't just be seven the Adventist be at Venice every day and don't just settle for being in the congregation settle for nothing less than being in Christ
