20210109 | The Cold War | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

this morning as we go before god's throne of understanding let's first begin by going before his throne of grace gracious father loving lord it is futile to think that our understanding and our knowledge is all that is needed to transform human hearts and so lord because words are not the source of transformation but in fact your holy spirit i pray right now lord that you'll send your holy spirit into this place into the hearts and minds of those who are watching into the hearts of minds of those who are gathered here we pray that we will hear what the spirit is saying to the church and in these fragile times we would be careful to turn our eyes upon you so speak to us now lord in the preparation of the battle of the ages and may the end result be someone is saved in your kingdom and someone else is ready for your soon return in jesus name we pray amen revelations picture is a reliable picture daniel's picture is a reliable picture throughout the course of human history not just the last four years or not just what happened this week but i have been careful and intentional whenever i've seen anything happening in the world i've been careful and intentional to go back to god's word and find out what god's word says like the little boy and you've heard the story before but maybe you didn't a little boy that was supposed to be in his bed sleeping and his father heard him in his room saying if he only knew what i knew and knowing that his son should have been sleeping by then he knocked on the door and he said son it's long past your bedtime why are you saying who are you talking to if you only knew what i knew and he said dad i was reading this book and he showed the father the book as he was reading it under his cover with his flashlight i know what that's like i did that when i was a little boy you should be in bed but you have your little flashlight reading under the blanket and he said well tell me the story and he said dad there was this horrible horrible criminal going from town to town pillaging and then robbing and breaking into banks and beating up the sheriffs of the town and dad i got so discouraged i just decided i'm going to go to the back of the book and i went to the back of the book and i saw that there was a sheriff that earlier this very same outlaw had beat up and put in jail but he got out and he got ready and this time he beat up the bad guy and put him in jail he says what about that if you own who are you talking to he said dad i went to that bad guy and i said to him if you only knew what i knew if you only knew what i knew brethren when we think that the world in all of its might is able to undo the prophetic accuracy of god's word it is time to say to the devil if you only knew what i knew so while i may be frazzled i am by no means losing heart while i may be upset by what is transpiring around our world politically religiously economically socially and every other way i am by no means deterred because i know that god's word can be trusted god's word is true i will do all of my pleasure he declared the end from the beginning and what god's word says when you see the news and you think that wow this is it go back to god's word when some political leader whether one side or the other says that he has the answer for the future go back to god's word i said to somebody this week there have been 45 presidents there's an indication we're gonna have a number 46 i've not seen any one of them guarantee that they can take away my sin and restore my faith not a single politician has been able to say i will supply all of your need according to my riches and glory and we know that as citizens we all have the right to participate in the political process but when politics supersedes our commitment to the proclamation of the three angels messages we are in trouble and god warned his people all throughout the old testament you find rehoboam and jeroboam and i'm going to include some of them in the sermon today when jeroboam created an alliance with a nation that did not know god when rehoboam did the same thing and you find solomon and david all through the old testament there were indicators of how dangerous it is for god's people to create alliances with political fractions and whenever they did god withdrew his blessings and they were always defeated in battle today the safest thing that we can do is create an indelible unbreakable alliance with the powers of heaven what do you say and we know that we'll never come to a battle and ever be defeated but we are living in a time of fragile security why do i say fragile because god's word has told us what is to come and we are seeing things happening in america ever since the 2011 ever since 2001 september 11 2001 we learned then that our nation is a fragile nation you know we're used to watching wars happen overseas in the middle east many years ago in vietnam and parts of europe and in the in different places around the world we often see wars happening on on television we see embassies being invaded like in iran we see overseas leaders being overthrown with an attempted coup within their countries but my brethren what we saw a couple of days ago tells us that when we think that we are impregnable only the kingdom of god is impregnable it's amazing the spirit of war that is stirring the hearts of men in america over what over one individual christians what what troubled me more than anything else is i saw in that mob and i'm not asking about political persuasion this is not the point of this this statement i'm making i saw so many flags with the name jesus on it and i said to myself jesus has no part in what is happening here today and all through the year we've been seeing one protest after the other we've seen looting and we've seen pillaging we've seen such behavior but it's very sad when jesus is being aligned and somehow we think that it's okay because jesus is on our tags or jesus is on our poster or jesus is on our flags no no no jesus is not the author of confusion but of peace but we are living in a time of fragile security very fragile security i'm going to begin with a question and then i'm going to unwrap today a picture that i'm i'm sure many of you have not yet seen does february 5 2021 mean anything to you and i know the answer is no but listen to me today the message don't forget it's entitled the cold war following world war ii a cold war began world war one and world war ii were two of the bloodiest conflicts that the united states of america was involved in millions and millions and millions of people you remember the the auschwitz and and the the senseless taking of jewish lives and polish individuals not only did that happen in the portions of the world that we now look at as dark stains on our world's history but to secure the fact and to try to prevent such mayhem from occurring again between 1947 and 1991 a cold war environment existed between the soviet union and the united states and although there was no exchange of fire between the two superpowers there were many occasions when the soviet union and the united states were on the brink of another world war some commentators suggested that an all-out military engagement between the ussr and the united states could be the beginning of world war three and the phrase limited nuclear exchange is the most ridiculous phrase i've ever heard we'll just shoot 15 nuclear weapons at you and you can shoot five at us when any nuclear weapon that we possess today is thousands of times more powerful than that which was dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki it was known as the cold war because each of these superpowers had allies under the soviet union was the eastern bloc known as the communist bloc the socialist bloc and the soviet bloc the soviet bloc was a group of communist states from central and eastern europe east asia and southeast asia that's why when the vietnam war ensued once again it was fighting against a communist power the united states had allies in the western bloc of nations that was the purpose of nato the north atlantic treaty organization it was made up of more than 30 european countries and a host of other north american allies so you had the eastern bloc and you had the western bloc they comprised the coalition that in the event that a war broke out i'm going to be on this side and we're going to be on that side russia had its nations lined up in the event that america incited war and america had its nations lined up in the event that the soviet union incited war it was a cold war but at any moment an all-out nuclear exchange and a possible annihilation of humanity could have occurred you may remember if you're old enough bob the cuban missile crisis it was a missile scare that lasted one month and four days from october 16 to november 20th 1962. it was a confrontation between the united states and the soviet union and the issue was it happened during the time of former president john fitzgerald kennedy it was the most fragile time in recent memories it was a very scary time because if the wrong thing was done with cuba only being 90 miles away having nuclear weapons america could have become a casualty of unimaginable proportions but to minimize the possibility of these superpowers annihilating each other a proposal called the salt treaty was drafted you may remember the strategic arms limitation talks the salt treaty its purpose was to reduce the number of nuclear weapons between the united states and the ussr also known at that time as the soviet union when you follow the pages of history you may remember jimmy carter the peanut president a christian man still alive today a gentle giant he is when president jimmy carter and leonard brezhnev signed the salt treaty june 1979 but then when they discovered that there was unaccounted for nuclear weapons hiding in cuba the senate and the congress chose not to ratify that treaty and it was withdrawn in 1980. but the cold war continued the cold war continued with a fragile nature still existing between the soviet union and the united states president reagan and pope john paul ii got together in an environment called the millennial end game follow me carefully this is powerful a competition started in 1976 called the millennial end game between three super powers two political and one religio political ronald reagan got together with pope john paul ii after both of them went through a near-death experience both of them were shot and they both survived they forged an alliance and under the guise of political expediency and disruption of the soviet union these two leaders got together and brought down the walls of eastern europe the commentators said the foreign policies of ronald reagan's administration was the foreign policies of the united states from 1981 to 1989 and the main goal was winning the cold war and the roll back of communism so when the walls of eastern europe came down the walls there that split east germany from west germany when when he says mr gorbachev what tear down those walls we all applauded because no one wanted to see communism continue to be proliferated we did not want to see communism continue on so we all applauded but what we did not know is that was a testing of the powers getting the stage ready for the end times scenario of revelation chapter 13. well right now you see the competition was between three powers and two of those powers coalesced together to get rid of one of those powers today the soviet union no longer exists but russia still does and so now the question is if this competition was to determine who was going to be the number one world leader by the new millennium one of us has to get rid of the other the united states either has to get rid of the vatican or the vatican has to get rid of the capitalist west including the head of those capitalists the united states how do we do it so there was an attempt to strengthen our economy thus the gulf war to try to take over the oil fields in the middle east to strengthen our economic base because we are economists we are capitalists and that failed under father bush and then when september 11 2001 happened another attempt was made to once again take over the oil fields of the middle east and that failed under sun bush but the purpose of it was to strengthen our resources as the capitalist west and behind the other curtain was pope john paul ii pulling all the courts he can to strengthen his agenda he believed that he was a part of something he called the grand design he said he believes that his birth was instituted by god and that god was giving him the authority and the push and the and the agenda for lack of a better word god was setting him up he believed to be the voice of the world religiously and politically and when he told those who gathered in new york city in 1979 there in yankee stadium that the competition for the control of everyone on the planet had begun commentators in life magazine said very few understand what he really meant but the cold war continued and under ronald reagan the cold war in the revolution of 1989 it was called in eastern europe between 1989 and 1991 the dissolution of the soviet union occurred but here's the problem what do you do with the nuclear weapons with the concern of too many nuclear weapons still existing in russia in november 2009 i want you to follow carefully former president barack obama and former president of russia dmitry medved drafted what's called the sort treaty strategic offensive reduction treaty it was drafted in april 2010 it went into effect february 5 2011. and i ask you the question does february 5 2021 mean anything to you i'm going to answer the question now why should it mean something to you why should that date even mean anything at all to the world because under the prior administration the outgoing administration and the incoming administration the outgoing administration was assigned the responsibility to strengthen nato to strengthen the united nations to strengthen the possibility of preventing any kind of future nuclear exchange but it failed to do so pulling out of the united nations pulling out of the nato treaty and leaving america wide open for the proliferation of nuclear exchange why is february 5 2021 significant because on february 5 2021 the treaty that limits nuclear weapons for any country expires and if america does not with world leaders [Music] re-establish a treaty that says to all these superpowers china north korea russia the united states some of the arab nations if there is no establishment of a treaty to limit the build up and the and the stocking of nuclear weapons one commentator said the world at this present hour is more fragile than it has ever been in the 20th or 21st century so right now as i sit here we've got just a few days or a few weeks before february 5 2021 comes when the strategic offenses offensive reduction treaty expires and looming in the minds of world superpowers right now is the question how will the cold war end now the only thing that gives me courage is i know that the lord is not going to end humanity by nuclear exchange but we got some crazy folk in the world vis-a-vis a couple of days ago we got some insane folk in the world i don't care what position they occupy if their minds are not if their minds are misguided we can see what can happen so you may understand this quotation and how forward-looking the servant of the lord is ellen white i praise god folk may say well she's out of date let me tell you something i praise god for the insights that he gave to his servant that humble servant not exalting herself above the word of god by any means but god like the prophets of old has given her insights into the things that if we pay attention to them we will understand where this world is headed thus with that in mind the fragile security under which we exist this quotation looms large in the book education page 179 and paragraph five listen carefully she says the present the what the present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living rulers and statesmen a forward-looking statement rulers and statesmen men who occupy positions of trust and authority thinking men and women of all classes watch this have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us they are watching the strained restless relations that exist among the nations how is the cold war going to end they are watching they observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis we are living in a time of fragile security the only thing that is sure is god's word what do you say ryan the only thing that we can count on is the word of god the only thing that when i wake up tomorrow morning and i'm looking at this fragile planet this unstable society a world that is going to be dumbed down by the by the legalization of marijuana dumbing down the minds of american citizens homosexuality has already become a legal practice in america pornography lord have mercy let's not go there talking about moral moral majority why don't you do something to get rid of that let me not get started on that one so this world as much as entertainment next likes to inoculate us and pat us and make us think that as long as you can go to the internet and find your drug that everything is just fine brothers and sisters we live in a time of fragile security that's why today we're going to walk through what should the people of god be doing in a time of fragile security what should the people of god be doing between the war that broke out in heaven and the battle of armageddon between the war that broke out in heaven and the battle of armageddon we have been living in the cold war that war that began is going to be superseded by a war of greater proportions that war between light and darkness truth and error in the kingdom of god that satan did not win praise the lord i love it i was backstage when elder bradley jason said but they did not prevail and i raised my hand by myself praise god the devil did not prevail and he's not going to prevail in the end so we are living between the war that began in heaven and the war that is going to happen sooner or later and all the forces of darkness that are standing against the government of god are putting their weapons together social weapons economic weapons spiritual weapons financial weapons the kings of the earth and the whole world are being seduced by these unclean spirits that satan is sending out to the entire world getting them ready for the battle of armageddon and the question is what should the people of god be doing in the cold war excuse me if i sound like i'm excited what should the people of god be doing young folk what should you be doing leaders what should you be doing husbands and wives what should you be doing in the time of the cold war because we ain't seen nothing yet i appeal to you to go with me to second chronicles and we're going to look at the unfolding to answer the question what should the people of god be doing between the battle that's coming and the battle that passed the cold war i'll let the political leaders answer the question about the nuclear proliferation but i need to answer the question because my concern is not the next nuclear war my concern is where am i going to stand when jesus comes will i be able to stand in the day of wrath or will i be running to the rocks in the mountains let me tell you something i'm going to be able to stand by god's grace what do you say i cannot be preaching this message and believing this message and teaching this message and end up on the wrong side of the camp oh no you better pray for me because i tell you the bible knows the lord said it if the if the devil can strike the shepherd the sheep will be scattered we ought to pray for our ministers and our world leaders pray for people in positions of authority because the devil he knows if he can strike the shepherd the sheep are going to scatter lord keep us humble and keep us safe and keep us clear thinking we find in the book of first chronicles and first and second kings i want to tell you if you want to yeah if you want to read about war you don't need to play call of duty you just need to read the bible right dakota you want call of duty read the bible first and second kings and first and second chronicles you will see the outlying display of god in the battle god on the front lines god in the hearts of his leaders and god pulling back from those leaders who decided that god will not be in their hearts and we read second chronicles chapter 13 verse 18 and by the way this passage follows the defeat of 500 000 choice fighting men of israel they were led to apostasize under a wicked leader by the name of jeroboam fought against rehoboam and rehoboam would have experienced success if he allowed his heart to be right before god but he also stumbling over his frail humanity did not accomplish what god intended so rehoboam died and his son ebisha took his place and abigail did what god had called him to do and abijah fought and abasha valiantly under god's leadership led israel to led judah to defeat the 500 000 men of israel that had been in apostasy and we read the words in second chronicles chapter 13 and beginning with verse 18 the bible says thus the children of israel were subdued at that time and the children of judah what's the next word prevailed why because they relied on the lord god of their fathers can i say something today when you rely on the lord god you will be victorious in every battle when god is the source of your strength and the source of your spiritual arsenal there is no power that will successfully stand against you god is our ever-present help in time of need and i'm gonna tell you something else god's army only needs one more person that's you you don't need a multitude me plus god equals the majority come on say amen so you don't have to worry about surrounding yourself with all these men you'll see that some of the greatest battles won in the bible were when god weeded down great armies such as gideon get rid of those 32 000 shady advents give me 300. go on somebody give me 300 that really like to study their bible give me 300 that really want to come to prayer meeting come on listen to me today give me 300 that take advantage of spiritual moments of opportunity i don't need 32 000 adventists i need just 300 that really want to be an adventist who knows the time calls for urgency god knows how to win battles he can win them by himself don't even need our help but god is looking as the bible said under the reign of a former king the bible says the lord his eyes are going to and fro throughout the earth to show himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him and i'm going to begin by saying you want victory make sure that your heart is loyal to god what do you say because it ain't about what's happening in politics and i'm not even worried about the new world order i'm not worried about what the pope does my eyes are on the lord and jeremiah said i am the god of all flesh is there anything too hard for me amen god said what hard for god he said you need help i'll send one angel how many people you need me to get rid of i'll begin with 185 000. god that's god's army god's army he sends one angel and 185 000 men meet their final breath that's the god on whose side i want to stand what about you after abijah led judah to victory he made a mistake and lavished himself in a life of excess look at verse 21 what did he do what did he do the bible says but ebisha grew mighty married 14 wives bob prayed and begot 22 sons and 16 daughters have mercy rot he said things are going so well i need to get me another wife and another wife and another wife and another wife and another wife and another wife 14 women i would sure love to see his night out dinner bill where do you want to go honey oh i meant to where do you want to go honey but the very next verse that's right no man can serve two masters try serving 14. ricky come on to jasmine say honey i just got four more wives do we have nothing now you ain't coming in that house i know that's right amen jasmine not in that house not to a jamaican woman oh no not on this earth but the very next verse pray for me today the very next verse the very next verse is a caution to those that try to live their lives without restraint look at verse 22. i had to smile when i read this now the rest of the acts of abijah his ways and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet's idiot with 14 wives how else do you expect your story to end now the rest of the acts the brother died that's what he's saying he died how else do you expect your life to end with 14 wives how many sons 22 sons and 16 daughters brethren a life of excess is the first step in self-destruction ebola was laid to rest but god was not done with judah yet why was judah so significant let me give you a picture as to why you might say what's the judah have to do with anything let me tell you why judah was significant because judah was the tribe through which jesus would come satan sought to pollute all of israel but god pulled benjamin and judah out god ripped ten kingdoms out because of their apostasy and rebellion but the plan of heaven would not be thwarted jesus is the lion of the tribe of judah the offspring of david amen so judah had to be judah had to be preserved because if satan could wipe out judah jesus would not come you see this cold war is an opportunity for that fallen angel to work behind the scenes to try to prevent and delay and cancel the plans of heaven but heaven's plans will not be canceled and god's purpose will not be denied so we look back on what god knew and what asa did the reason i said that judah existed under fragile security is only god knew how long their peace will last can i say something we are seeing displays of what could happen but only god knows how long this country america can hold back the rain before anarchy ensues on a grand uncontrollable scale only god knows when the angels are going to let the winds loose only god knows when it's going to be havoc and if we didn't see anything happening under covert 19 the closing of movies here in schools and stadiums that are empty and and people can't do this and can't do that those are just indicators of how quickly how quickly how rapidly the world can fall into a tremendous uncontrollable spiral but we look back on what god knew and what asa did and so i'm going to answer the question what happened let's look at second chronicles 14 verse 1. the bible says so abijah rested with his fathers and they buried him in the city of david then asa his son reigned in his place in his days the land was quiet for how long 10 years only god knew god never sent asa an email saying you'll have peace for 10 years only god knew how long that peace would last asa did not know but while judah was in a cold war the existence of peace was borrowed and it was going to be soon revoked because god knew that while judah was enjoying the peace of their past victories he knew that just on the horizon were other earthly powers that were getting their forces ready to attack the kingdom of judah when one battle ended another one was in the making judah defeated israel but a vicious army of one million soldiers how many did i say one million soldiers were preparing to go against the kingdom of judah but they didn't know it they had no idea when that battle is going was going to ensue but here's the point i want to make we don't need to know when the world is going to fall apart we don't need to know when all the things that we trust in are going to be taken away from us all we need to know is what we need to do to get ready for those times we don't need to know there's some people that said i got to get a garden let me tell you something when the world falls apart you ain't gonna be in your garden picking vegetarian fruits if there's any other kind i don't know nobody's gonna be going in their cabinet pulling out preserves you're gonna be running to the rocks in the mountains some people think well you know i'm going to get me a big garden well that'll only exist as long as there's peace but when the world falls apart you're not going to be saying to the people in your community come and have vegetables in my garden no look what happened in the days of israel that's the reason why gideon was hiding because the midianites would come and take away everything that they planted learn from the past elijah was sustained by a raven god sent a raven a federal express bird from heaven to feed elisha and god has said to us when the world falls apart and you can't find water and toilet paper and necessities in the store he said your bread and your water shall be sure not your hostess twinkies not your donuts but your bread and water shall be sure the record of judah's time of peace serves as a blueprint for the church of the last days and when we go through the story i must say this ministers ought to take a page out of aces book and begin to get the people of god ready for what's on the horizon asa not only enjoyed the peace of victory but he took the time of peace to prepare judah for when the next battle would arise he knew that complacency in a time of peace is a formula for certain defeat let me say that again complacency in a time of peace is the formula for defeat meaning you can sit around and say well you know everything is fine still have internet still have cable i can still go to walmart i can still go to macy's i'm all right i have a lot of food in the cabinet i'm just fine i don't care about what's happening in politics brethren that's not the point these times of peace relative peace should not be a time of complacency in our spiritual lives and i'm as your pastor i'm just i'm up here if i had a sledgehammer i'd like to bang it on the floor or if i had a horn or or a trumpet or some of those ear horns i'd like to just press them because i don't know what else to say to get our people urgent don't know i know we can't come to church as we'd like to but when spiritual opportunities are granted and we can't find time for those things i'm wondering are they so steeped in bible study that their homes are lit up with the presence of god or is the world loving lulling our members into a deeper sense of complacency and spiritual stagnation during judas cold war asa called judah to a time of sweeping spiritual revival and reformation he not only did what pleased god but he led judah to do the same judah's dedication became the reason for their survival when the battle came look at second chronicles chapter 14 verse two to five the blueprint the blueprint that every one of us ought to follow if we think that we're going to have success when the battle comes because i tell you it's coming the bible says in verse 2 of second chronicles 14 asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the lord his god are you doing what's right in the eyes of the lord your god are you doing what's right in the eyes of the lord not in the eyes of the church but the eyes of the lord what did he do he removed the altars and the foreign gods and the high places these are the things that jeroboam established these are the allian these are the symbol of the alliance with false gods that jeroboam had displayed all over israel and judah are affected by them rehoboam did not completely remove them rehoboam did not go get to the standard that god intended but abide to his son defeated israel and asa abbasi's son said daddy what you didn't complete by god's grace i will the bible says he broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images in the days of jeroboam servant of the lord says you can walk through the camp of israel and smell the flesh of animals being burned to false gods you can see the temples that were being prostituted by false priests and priests that worship gods of stone and wood and and that worship the sun the moon and the stars you can see children being sacrificed on altars of false gods israel had sunk so low that god ripped away ten of their kingdoms i can't even use them anymore and he preserved judah he preserved judah so when jesus came in the time of the new testament the the pharisees and scribes that you saw were of the lineage of judah they should have been faithful what happened the devil was successful even getting them to betray the very christ that preserved them for that time so that's why i'm saying let's not take religion for granted if your religion doesn't become christianity it's dangerous because they were very religious but they lost their connection with god it goes on to say in verse four what else he did not only did he remove the pillars and the foreign gods and break down the sacred altars and cut down the wooden images the bible says in verse four he commanded judah to seek the lord god of their fathers and to observe the law of the commandment he also removed the high places and the incense altars from how many of the cities all the cities of judah and when he did that the bible says and the kingdom was what quiet the kingdom was quiet unto asa the wise man solomon says when a man's ways please the lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with them you want peace let your ways please god you all say they don't ever talk to me but they're talking to me now they were real nice to me i wonder why when your ways please the lord god will make your enemies at peace with you god will make people that don't like you like you god will make people that wish you the worst to do you the best when your ways please the lord even your enemies will be at peace with you so ac used the time of peace to establish a defense and all these reforms were to slowly but surely affect a change you got to keep in mind for decades for decades all that they were accustomed to was a false image there a false image there false images there polluted priests that did not honor god there all these false sacrifices so asa comes and tears down everything that could possibly represent what they used to be and he says this is what we're going to do this is what we're going to do from now on and it took some time it took some time but praise god he led them in spiritual reform and the bible says in verse 6 asa also of second chronicles 14 and he built fortified cities in judah for the land had rest he had no war in those days those years why because the lord had given him rest you want rest god will give you rest that's why it's useless to try to find rest in a distracted and pleasure-consumed world it's useless to find try to find rest being distracted being consumed by the pleasures of the world you will not find rest i read an article about in japan they had these video arcades and with the speeding internet that we have nowadays there were some arcades that were set up throughout you know they have online gaming people from america will be warring against people from the united states you know online battles and online car racing and all this type of thing and they connect all over the globe the addiction became so great that they said in this particular uh arcade that stayed open 24 hours a day seven days a week the giant the japanese young men these are these are young men they would wear diapers so they don't have to leave their station in the midst of a battle because they're on the team of somebody in st louis or somebody in the caribbean they're all a part of the same battle team so they're all together in internet gaming and they said they would sit there and defecate in their un and their in their diapers young men teenagers and young men in their 20s just so they don't have to get up from that video game but that's not even the worst i read the article was online i was talking about the addiction of internet they found a young man who had been dead for 17 hours he died at the station where he was playing his video games huge you know what they said he died of they said he died his prognosis was he died of over he was too mentally stimulated and his brain couldn't handle it and it gave out distracted and consumed by a pleasure-loving world that's why it's futile to find peace when we are involved in things that distract us and the sad reality is sometimes the world gets in so deep and so ingrained in our in our psyche and in our veins and in our behavior that we cannot of ourselves even rescue ourselves it's futile to also also try to find rest on the promises of political leaders and that's all i'm going to say on that note it doesn't make sense it is also foolish to base our rest on the experience of anyone else i found that people that are home now people that can't go to church i've been watching in many places in different parts of the nation as we visit we see this complacent spirit taking hold of of people that don't go to church and when the sabbath comes it's just another day the devil is saying it's working it's working and i listened somebody called me from southern adventist university on the staff there they said the greatest fear that the pastors have right now is that when covert finally passes over the majority of the congregation will not return that's down in tennessee the shaking is going on persisting is taking place and god's people ought to be so fortified that it ain't about covet it's not about politics it's not about finance it's not about what's happening in the white house or in any other countries around the world it's not about what's taking place on the news and in media and entertainment it is about what's taking place between you and jesus that's why the lord says behold i stand at the door and knock somebody once said that the activities in the adventist church can continue if we kept the door shut and never invited jesus back in but the message of laodicea is jesus saying to his last day church you've got a whole lot of stuff going on but i wish you would let me in and even activity in and of itself we have to be careful because we have more activity down here in southern illinois than most other places we are busy 24 hours a day sometimes producing programming doing graphics and digital getting things edited and getting things ready for radio and television all that is our job but that cannot be substituted for a one-to-one relationship with christ that will never suffice you can't say i edited 500 programs or i designed 1500 sets or i was the one that fixed the graphics why did this beautiful open lord should you let me in he'll say many you have done many wonderful works in my name but i don't know you and what i've seen happening down here in this place where people can come to church if you can make it to work every day by god's grace take some time to do something that you don't have to do you don't have to come to church to produce graphics just sit down and let the lord speak to you get together and study the sabbath school lesson together get into a fellowship group together find something that is outside of your job description and just enjoy being in one accord in one place on the sabbath day as we go to verse 7 we find that ac used judas time of peace to prepare for judah's time of war the blueprint continues therefore he said to judah this is asa let us build these cities and make walls around them and tower gates and bars these are symbols of an impregnable city we don't know what's coming but we're going to get ready for it while the land is yet before us while we have time in other words because we have sought the lord our god and we have sought him and he has given us rest on every side and while they're resting in the middle of war the bible says so they built and prospered brethren these are the days we have to build walls around our family to keep the world out we've got to build walls around our devotional and prayer life to keep the media out we've got to build walls around our marriages to keep others out we have to build walls around our walk with jesus so that our feet won't be turned out of the way the writer of hebrews says make straight paths for your feet so that the lame will not be turned out of the way we were talking about the influence of one individual one person could cause thousands to be lost and the book was in the book of ecclesiastes go there with me very quick it's not a part of it it's not a part of my sermon out no outline but this fits right here let's go to the book of ecclesiastes very quickly okay ecclesia ecclesiastes chapter 10 right after proverbs listen to this when you live a life that is not in harmony with god's will you can cause so many to lose their way the bible says in ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 1 it says dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment and causes it to give off a foul odor so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor you know what that's not saying when you are called to be a spiritual individual don't turn yourself into a fool because you will injure those who are following your example when you allow the world to come in and you are a person that should be known for honor and integrity don't allow the devil to cause you to create an experience and an example that will make others stumble as they look at your life somebody bought you perfume ramona and there was a dead fly in it what would you say where'd you get that from there's a dead fly in this i'm not putting this on in the same way when a person who should be known for integrity and honor and wisdom becomes a person of folly and foolishness it's like giving somebody a bottle of perfume with a dead fly in it of no value whatsoever you see as we build the walls around our lives and our marriages and our devotional and prayer life and our family we are doing what the apostle peter said be sober first peter 5 8 be sober what else be vigilant why because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion what is he doing seeking whom he may devour he's serious you think he's serious i'm seeing things happening in america that i thought would never happen and i'm getting to the point where i'm saying i'm not shocked anymore we've been so desensitized by media and movies and every movie becomes more more drama filled and and and and more hyped than the last one but then all of a sudden it starts playing itself out in our society and it's no longer just another dvd but acer not only affected spiritual reforms i love this part in verse 8. he developed an army that would fear no one but the lord look at verse eight look at verse eight second chronicles 14 verse eight and asa had an army of thousand from judah who carried what shields and spears and from benjamin what two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows all these were mighty men of valor now you may not know what that means but valor means when you look it up in the in the hebrew there men of strength men who are spiritual men enabled by the presence and power of the spirit men who encountered danger with firmness and bravery that could not be turned aside they said to asa we're ready judah and benjamin they said whatever comes against our city we are ready and we are not backing down god our god is looking for those who are refusing to back down in the last days the devil is trying to get us to back down god is looking for some navy seals and some delta force god's looking for men that will stand bold will not flinch in the face of the adversary god is looking for men who will not sit up who will sit up and refuse to shut up for the cause of christ these men were those kinds of men they were men of valor firm and they had personal spiritual bravery that's why isaiah 41 10 gives the reason why they had this kind of bravery notice what the lord said they didn't have bravery but just because asa trained them but they had bravery because god was with them the bible says in isaiah 41 verse 10 fear not for i am with you together be not dismayed for i am your god make it personal i will strengthen you yes i will help you i will uphold you with my righteous right arm god is a personal god he's not saying i will uphold them but it's got to be about between you and in christ amen somebody it's got to be between me and the lord i cannot rely on anybody else this passage is as personal as you can get i will help you i will uphold you i will strengthen you i will help you i will be with you thank god that he has made that commitment let's go back to the second chronicles as we wind this up because this is powerful as to where we're headed while judah was making preparation the enemy was plotting while judah was going through their military exercises and making sure their weapon barrels were clear making sure that they had enough ammunition the enemy was planning and we find in second chronicles chapter 14 verse the bible says then zerah the ethio the ethiopian came out against them with an army of what a million men and three chariots and he came to mere shaw asap probably felt the ground rumbling beneath his feet or maybe he heard the tanks in the distance or maybe as it were is in iraq he just heard the jets coming but couldn't see him and what did he do he said let's run for our lives no he didn't no he didn't he didn't say guys every man for himself no he didn't asa did not do that asa did not know when the enemy would attack god did but it's not necessary to know when men will do what they do but it is imperative for us to do what we must do in preparation before i go to verse 11 i want to read this quotation this isn't a powerful quotation it is an appeal to mothers but i want to tell you the quotation fits to every one of us it's in one of those booklets entitled an appeal to mothers ellen white wrote this page 33 paragraph two listen to what she said and this applies to christians in general she says now is the time of preparation when now is the time of preparation none need to expect that god will do the work of preparing and fitting them up without their efforts you got to do your part it is for them to work the works of righteousness and crowd all the right doing they can into the little space of time allotted to them before probation closes that they may have a clean record in heaven god is saying you don't have a whole lot of time you better pack all the right living into the little time you have so when you stand before god your record is clean and by the way the lord will clean your record when you live a godly life so what did asa do look at verse 11 of second chronicles 14 in the battle that was just before us what are they to do asa bible says cried out to the lord his god and said lord i love this it is nothing for you to help brethren when the economy is going down cry out to the lord when your politician of preference fails you cry out to the lord lord it is nothing for you to help whether with many or with those who have no power help us o lord our god for we rest on you and in your name we go against this multitude oh lord i love this he is praising god you are our god do not let man prevail against you now once you get this he didn't say don't let man prevail against us he said father this is your battle we're just standing with you they're fighting you don't let them prevail against you here's the point when you are on god's side and he win we win amen you don't have to fight that's why moses said to israel stand still and see the salvation of the lord you don't have to fight when you are on god's side god says i got this oh thank lord thank you lord for getting a whole lot of my stuff fighting my battles i got this and asa did it right you are our god do not let them prevail against you god stepped in when asa called on him the god that aces served in times of peace became the god that that delivered asa in times of war look at verses 12 to 14 this is getting gooder this is getting gooder that's right grammatic mayhem look at verse 12 to 14. this is so sweet second chronicles 14 12 14 so the lord who friends the lord struck the ethiopians before asa and judah god will beat the enemy in your presence god will fight so that you can see the outcome of every enemy that comes against you he struck the atheist the ethiopians before asa and judah and the ethiopians did what they fled and asa and all the people who were with him pursued them together i like this god said get them there's some amazing stories in the bible so the east so the ethiopians were overthrown and they could not recover revelation 12 7 9 they did not prevail for they were broken before the lord and his army when you are in the lord's army the little children said i'm in the lord's army brethren we got to be in the lord's army with god on our side let me rephrase that was with us on god's side we'll never lose if god before us who can be against us praise the lord and they carried away very much spoil that means ethiopia dropped everything and judah and benjamin benefited god said i would bless you with the wealth of the heathens they took away very much spoil they defeated how many of the cities all the cities around era when god wins in our behalf he never leaves a nation to survive for the fear of the lord came upon them and they plundered all the cities and this is a praise of the lord for there was exceedingly much spoil in them what does that mean that means they had a whole lot and god said what they had is now yours like the four leprous men when the syrian army had besieged jerusalem in syria when they say in samaria besieged samaria said we go on there we're going to die if we stay out here we're going to die and these four leprous men got up and said we're going to die anyway let's just try let's just throw ourselves on the mercy of the enemy and when these four leprous men got up god sent sound effects horses and chariots and war weapons of war they heard all these bombs and guns and horses and chariots and the syrians got up and ran for their lives and when these four leprous men's skin falling apart skin they can't even feel that god said i will fight for the weakest one i will be your strength when you are weak that's the god that's why the people of god must be prepared for what's ahead of us you see it is not our strength it is not our strength but it's the strength of the lord that is going to carry us through the times that are ahead of us according to god's agenda my brethren these days are the calm before the storm like in the days of asa these times are the tranquil before the tempest just over the horizon and unexpected terror is soon to be unleashed on humanity and we've got to be ready down through the ages god gave us servant a glimpse testimonies for the church volume 8 page 27 and 28 she says transgression has almost reached its limit confusion fills the world have you seen it and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings the end is very near we who know the truth let me say that again we who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise if i sound urgent forgive me but traveling beneath the sea of man's forgetfulness an angry tsunami is racing toward the complacent inhabitants of the earth they don't see it but it's coming the rich are hedging their bets on the instability of man's uncertainty those that ignore god are busy rebuilding their towers of babel and in the crumbling society politicians unite in the chorus of bill back better you can't build anything without jesus matthew 7 verse 26 and 27 how can you find security while building on sand jesus says matthew 20 matthew 7 verse 26 and 27 but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall my brothers and sisters in the days of noah the drugs of a self-satisfied society was injected into the veins of that world don't allow self-satisfaction to enter your veins and keep you unaware the world is poised to crumble and god is saying to us build your house on the rock what does that mean pick up your bibles what does that mean get serious between you and christ what does that mean pray as though you never have prayed before get your family before the altar husbands call your wives to a time of prayer parents sanctify your children do not allow their natural tendencies to claim their lives when god has given you the responsibility to get your children ready for eternity this self-satisfied nation is drug induced injecting themselves into this complacent and here they are while the world is about to fall apart as it seemed they're passing laws to make marijuana legal we are living in the cold war but the enemy is planning and thus my final text first thessalonians chapter five and we look at verse three what shall the people of god be doing and the times of the cold war be between the battle in heaven and the battle of armageddon what should the people of god be doing the apostle paul says in 1st thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 3 these words for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them we are seeing the harbingers of a nation that's going to crumble at its core as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape the vatican is calling its card on the political and financial leaders of the world people are looking to men frail men for answers but god is saying to his people this is a time that those who serve god in times of peace will have peace in times of war when we remove the gods that are cumbersome in our lives we'll be making room for the god that will give us victory in the end time it's time to remove those things that are cumbersome in your lives what do you say when we do what is right in god's sight we will see god working in our sight when we seek the lord while he may be found in times of peace we will know where to find him in times of conflict when we serve god doing prosperity he will deliver us during times of adversity when we live for the glory of god's in times of peace god will reveal himself in times of conflict and the fact of the matter is i end on this statement only god knows when the time of peace will end only god knows when the cold war will come to an end and i end with these two words my brethren prepare now what did i say prepare now say that with me prepare now the cold war is soon to come to a close let us prepare now now i want to end the sermon with an appeal and i want to ask the question is there somebody here today that wants to be ready that when these times come they don't want to be found without a god to stand with them you don't want to be found without the arsenal of heaven surrounding you and god doing his battle in your behalf if you want to be among those that are ready when the time comes why don't you stand with me our loving father we are living in the cold war and yet forces from beneath are going out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of armageddon but father his main focus is not just on politicians or economists or religionists or those that are part of the society of the complacent he's angry with that woman the one that keeps your commandments the one that has the testimony of jesus christ he wants to do to her what he did to israel so that they will become so degraded in god's sight that god would disavow his alliance with the majority of the very people that he chose to be a light to the world but father as you preserved judah and benjamin in these last days we know that there is a judah and the people that want to be in the tribe of benjamin that will refuse to bow to the pressures and the pleasures of the society there are those that know that they are seeing a nation that once appeared to be a beacon of hope and light and strength to the world the world leaders outside of this country are watching a nation crumble before their eyes a symbol of democracy become a symbol become a symbol of shame they're looking to the leaders of our nation men who should be as true to their oath as the needle is to the north begin to vacillate and abandon the very things that they have vowed to uphold the constitution of the united states and so father may we be a people allegiant to the constitution of your eternal kingdom the cold war is about to end and the million that are standing with the enemy of darkness is soon to come upon the people of god and the question is how will they find me how will they find husbands and wives how will they find your home when they come banging down your door breaking windows to find a way into your house sitting in the chamber where god should be honored how will they find you when they scale the walls of your residence trying to find a way in to bring mayhem and confusion and division will they find your home impregnable will they find you calling on the name of the lord and i pray heavenly father that your people will be a people that call on you in the days of peace and know where to find you in the days of adversity that they will call on you in a time of complacency and relative sanity that when all of the world falls apart they will know that the god whom they became familiar with is a god who they already know so bless our homes bless our lives and may we do the urgent thing as you did for asa may we do for our families as they did under the direction of asa may this church father i pray humbly do unthe under the direction of my pleadings and the leadership of this church me may we as leaders leave an indelible example for the church members to follow and may they find in us no excuse to lose their way and finally father when all that we have seen is finally done may we stand before you in that glorious day in jesus name we pray and all of god's people said amen you

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 76min 16sec (4576 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021