20210717 | Sleeping With The Enemy | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

these are amazing times in which we live that's why the message today is entitled sleeping with the enemy i don't know how the world can't be awake i don't know what else god is going to allow to happen to cause men and women to become aware that we are living in a crumbling world just recently even as of today the news bulletin went out that the water is drying up in utah not enough water it's a crisis level but they don't know where the water is going to come from to provide for the inhabitants for the residents of the cities that are affected by their water supply you may also remember the colorado dam the water levels are dangerously low in california the water levels are dangerously low lower than it's ever been i was looking at a report by one of the park services in california they said if you were standing here a year and a half ago you would be 100 feet below the water and they were able to walk on that ground dry and unearthed under the waterway was a town that once existed they said this town this church this store this district you would not have been able to see it a year and a half ago but now the water is now a hundred feet lower than it was and you could drive all through that area fast the desert is opening up in many of our western states couple that with fires and then you see the raging floods in europe washing away homes and towns mountains breaking apart from the saturation of rain has one case in germany they had a year's worth of rain in one day and it could not the the town could not find a way to saturate or to even absorb that water what has to happen in our world for people to recognize that we're living in a crisis hour and that jesus is soon to come as the apostle paul says all of creation is groaning creation is crying out for deliverance and that is why the lord is saying this is such a crisis hour that the people of god should not be sleeping with the enemy and so pray for me this morning as the lord has put this message on my heart let me get my uh my tonic honey would you like some ginger tea you've been coughing you okay all right my wife makes such great ginger tea i contribute a lot of that to why i'm able to get through my sermons and this will help significantly thank you right now let's go to the lord in prayer and ask for god to guide us this morning loving father in heaven creation knows it your word has predicted it and those who are sober and those who are awake can see and understand that we are on the verge of a stupendous crisis world leaders are seeking ways to patch up our society coming up with financial plans and trying to figure out how to stabilize a world economy a society a social stigma that has now being racked again by a resurgence of this delta variance on one side there is a hesitancy to even believe it's true but on the other the numbers of lost lives are mounting by the moment and we pray lord that as a people of urgency that we can hear your voice and we can be awakened by what we see if not only by what we read and may your purpose and your will be accomplished i ask in jesus holy and precious name amen honey would you please ricky come here for a moment that's okay give my wife this ginger tea i'll be just fine she needs it love you honey it's for you no sense not benefiting from what you make she gave it to me for my voice and she needs it for hers i'm going to talk about five things today that i want you to pay particular attention to you may want to write them down or jot them down or store them in your memory these five words that are going to shape the entirety of this message the five words that i'm going to cover today are as follows opportunity obligation opposition omnipotence and outcome let me see that one more time and i'll come back to them in the sermon opportunity obligation opposition omnipotence and outcome each one of these play a role in our lives as christians and i believe that many people come to the end of their lives while they're laying on their sick bed or their deathbed or they're wishing that things could have been different in many cases they rewind the videotape of their choices and they look at the opportunities presented to them that they did not take advantage of and then they say almost in a lamenting way if only i had taken advantage of that opportunity my life and my wife's life are along that same line because when we just got married we were not married a year yet when the invitation came to join the heritage singers and we asked her mom what should we do and her words were opportunity knocks once if we didn't take that opportunity our lives would have been vastly different because god opened through the heritage singers a door and another door it was through that door that the passion for being a pastor was awakened it was in the heritage singers that i met doug batchelor pastor doug batchelor and then we eventually worked together i got my start in ministry with him and then the doors in northern california conference were opened and the door to being ordained was opened and now 34 35 years later it all began when her mother said opportunity knocks once as the people of god we are confronted with the very same thing opportunity obligation opposition omnipotence and outcome and today in the context of the title sleeping with the enemy i want you to pay particular attention to how all five of these will be in our resume of success or in our resume of failure if we overlook any one of them thinking that they are irrelevant or need not be a part of our experience as christians but let's begin by going to nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 18 the scripture reading for today we're going to look at what i believe a story that has all five components in it and you may have heard the story before but today you're going to see it in the framework of these five words and in the context of the fact that we're living in a day where each one of these is being presented to us and the outcome will be determined by what we do with the four words that come before that nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 18 and the bible reads and i told them of the hand of my god which had been good upon me and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me so they said let us rise up and build then they set their hands to this good work there's so many stories in my brain right now i got to pray for my head to slow down i feel like a superhighway heat shield is just as these thoughts are just flooding my mind i'm thinking what would have happened if danny shelton did not take the opportunity that god challenged him with in that darkened room of wondering where god's people are and how the message would get around the world we wouldn't be here this building if you reversed the videotape 36 or 37 years you would see illinois southern illinois this area the way that it was would have been had danny bypassed that opportunity just the modern understanding of men and women who grab on to god's reign and ride the horse of possibilities throughout but our world today let me begin by shaping what i see and what god has shown me i want you today to stand with me and observe a world transformed into a satanic laboratory all around us satan is experimenting on the minds of young men and young women boys and girls husband and husbands and wives political and financial and religious leaders behind this satanic laboratory the agencies of darkness are conducting what i call a sleep study what can i do to the mind of these individuals while they sleep in such a crisis hour what can i do and what can i perpetrate in the lives of those who if they were only awake their story would be quite different their possibilities would be far more advanced but here they are behind the walls of my laboratory in my agency of darkness and i am privileged satan says to conduct on these sleeping individuals a sleep study you see satan's unnumbered subjects are sedated and confined in a suspended state that's the only thing i can come up with when i see the world the way it is when i see the fires in the west and the floods and the rising temperatures and the depleting water supplies and people racked wondering what tomorrow is going to bring when i see an economy on an uncertain foundation and a government's still pouring millions into our pockets and i'm asking where is it coming from i see that men are trying to do all they can to fix a world that is irreversibly broken and satan has them sedated and confined almost to a degree beyond their ability to even perceive they are in a satanically sedated state their hearts are beating yet they are oblivious to their darkened surroundings reduced to shells are the minds of a people that withdrew from faithfulness when you think about christians that once walked in the avenues of truth and light and and the certainty of god's prophecies and they walk away from that and somehow declaring i used to be an adventist as as though that is something to boast about oh i used to be a member of that church but i i'm free now as a train off the tracks where is it going i'm free now as tires that have finally disconnected itself from the car i'm free now unaware of their depleted condition their voices are silenced their hands abound and their choices are non-existent because they are sedated in this laboratory of darkness as satan conducts a sleep study they have suspended their freedoms by a departure from spiritual devotion if i could just tell you how vitally important it is to be devoted spiritually if i could only give you a nickel for every time that god did something in my life you would be far better financially than you are right now god is amazing but so many times we don't call on god and i'm going to tell you there days during the week i'm driving i'm pulling over pulling into a campus pulling into a building pulling into a store pulling into a restaurant and say father what do i do next and boom out of the clear blue on this massive campus like siu god says here they are they got all the answers you need the president his office is down there god directs the bible says and i i was filled with tears this week when my wife and i saw what god did as he drove from one location to the other in southern illinois and as i was bowing my head in the car with tears coming out of my eyes god said to me the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the lord and i said oh lord give me no reason to glorify in what is happening i want all the glory to go to you but father show me show me and i will give you all the praise you see friends when we depart from spiritual devotion we are operating on our owns and our voices become silence our hands become bound and our choices are non-existent because the only choices that will matter in the end of the video is the choices that god put before us the opportunities the obligations that we took advantage of you see it's a strange scene hovering over the world and the reason why is this world has turned its back on god hoping to find answers in places that god will not be found in a lethargic state this world is inhaling and exhaling the anesthesia of lamentation they remain breathing but they cannot move and satan exults as he chuckles to see who's in his satanic laboratory unbeknownst to satanic captivity the world is sleeping with the enemy but i want you to know this morning this is not a sleep that binds the world in an activity this sleep for those who are studying god's word it shocks the sensibility how can millions have their eyes open and not see the path of destruction i often ask that question how can they not see how the story is going to end by the choice they make how can they see a crumbling world and deny its inevitable fall how can we look at the news evening after evening and say the next politician will have the answer we're 46 down and not a single one of them have been able to resolve the problem of sin how can they not see that raging floods and vicious fires and out-of-control weather are predecessors of a world on the brink of collapse how can they not see it you know how they're sleeping with the enemy the prophet isaiah writes in isaiah chapter 24 these sobering words verses four and five he said the earth mourns and fades away look at that word the earth mourns the earth is in mourning the earth is saying how did i get this way who is going to resolve the problems of my centuries and my millennia the earth is mourning is fading away the world languishes and fades away the hearty people of the earth languish the earth the bible says is also defiled under its inhabitants why because they have transgressed the laws changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant men are receiving as it were a delivery from the company that they ordered their pleasure loving products but when the box is open it's nothing but disappointment and sadness and a lack of satisfaction and is a desire to get something more because so far as i have sought to satisfy my own desires i've found no satisfaction the world is not turning to god as it should and i believe that god is giving us as a people time to and this is my word to calibrate our minds to do what friends to to line up our thoughts with his word and say it's a time it's an hour to be awake this is the hour to be urgent when you study what's happening in the world the apostle john diagnoses this scene and he says it is the consequence of a people that deliberately resisted the sobering influence of jesus what we're seeing today when people say i don't need god in my life it's amazing how on a plane that's going through turbulence there are no atheists somebody inadvertently yells god young man because they know that in that fleeting moment when life is just a razor's edge away their beliefs are disabled and they turn instinctively to the vacuum in their lives and say god fill it now hear my voice i'm calling on you i need you now and praise god in those moments when my wife and i have been on those plane rides and we've called on god he said to us just buckle your seat belts the captain is in charge praise the lord god has not lost confidence in his plan and god's plans will come to fruition but we are in the midst of a world friends injecting darkness into its veins and it's in this hour that god is calling the church to put on their work clothes and get out the gospel tools and put new batteries in their lives and intensify the gospel message in the midst of a crumbling world in the midst of a world falling apart god is saying it is time for the church to wake up and rise up because somebody is yet to see the light somebody is yet to hear the gospel somebody will respond to the voice of a loving savior who says come the dinner is ready your mansion is built your roads have been sown and i have the gates open i'm waiting for you to come in and see what i plan for you i've given my life to save you that's why friends the darker it gets the brighter the people of god are to be in these hours the message to the church today the message to the church today is one where we introduce the word opportunity what is it friends here's the opportunity text ephesians chapter 5 and verse 14 the opportunity the lord says the opportunity let me read that let me read the diagnosis first because i talked about john's diagnosis his diagnosis is clearly defined in john chapter 3 and verse 19. let me read the diagnosis of what john has shown this world is described in john 3 and verse 19. he says and this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love what darkness rather than light because their deeds were what their deeds were evil when you prefer darkness over light and a godless life over a prosperous god-filled life you got to be dark there's no way to have a satisfied life on this side of the coin when god is only on that side of the coin you remember the disciples when they were fishing in their own labor they couldn't find the answers but the lord says you're on the wrong side of the boat cast the net on the other side but in a world that's injecting darkness into its veins god is saying this is an hour of opportunity for the church the opportunity text i go now to ephesians 5 and verse 14 the opportunity passage here's what the bible says speaking to the church therefore he says let's read it together are you ready here we go what is he saying awake you who sleep arise from the dead and christ will give you light now this is not a resurrection from death this is a resurrection from inactivity you see the israelites the bible says in first corinthians chapter 10 the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play they had video games too they had the internet they found some way of getting connected they sat down to eat and drink they they got involved in in socializing nothing wrong with those things but if all your life is consumed by a socializing internet having fun and no work i've heard a phrase years ago it says all work and no play makes jack a dull boy let me reverse that all play and no work makes jack a dull christian young people sit there in the video arcades and in japan for days i read the article they wear diapers these teenagers they wear diapers because they connect around the world and they they go into their mock war simulation games they're in japan but they're fighting with somebody in missouri and somebody in london and somebody in the caribbean they're connected so they cannot move because they're on a team of soldiers and their presence is needed and i thought to myself if those in japan and china and the caribbean and in europe and different parts of the world need each other to win a battle that is digitized how will the people of god not know that we need each other in a battle that is not digitized but is literal and spiritual and they sit there i told you the story but it fits right here they found a young japanese he was 19 years old he had died more than 18 hours ago but because they were used to having them sit at their stations where they bring their food and their drinks and they stay there and play war games for hours and days on end without moving they thought he was just sleeping they found them 18 hours later after this 19 year old had died at his play station sleeping with the enemy so when paul says to the christian awake he is saying this is the hour of opportunity i'm going to say that again the opportunity that you have today the opportunity that you have right now that god has given you this very moment that god is going to give you this week if that opportunity passes you by it reminds me of a ride in new york city there at coney island by by the beach i remember years ago being on a merry-go-round and they had a they had a piece of board that extended out from the wall and it was the desire the desire of all the riders if you paid a little extra you got an outside horsey on the merry-go-round and those that got an outside horsey that horse went up and down and when it went up and down you had to reach out beyond the horsey and grab a ring as it went around and if the ring was gold you got a next another free ride but if you missed the opportunity to get that seat you had no opportunity to get the gold ring see all those on the inside didn't even have the opportunity god has put his church on the outside on the horse that rises and falls we've got to put our own effort reach out and grab the gold ring and get on god's ride because when we look back at our records and i've been by the bedside of those who told me it didn't have to be this way it didn't have to be this way if i'd only done this when i was that age or that age or that age my life would have been quite different but the opportunity came and the opportunity went never return again this is why we should not think of ourselves as unique in the sense that because of who we are the opportunity will come back let me make a statement that i want you to grab and hold on to don't ever think of yourself as irreplaceable or dispensable some people say i can't i i can't go home if i don't do it who will let me make a point when you get sick and are laid up in the hospital somebody else would do it you think you all that the moment you leave town somebody else is sitting in your seat that's right guy one day called into work he just went to take a day off he called and said to the supervisor i'm not feeling well i need a day off supervisor said that's okay we have bob from account temps he's sitting in your seat he's doing an excellent job as a matter of fact bob is fitting in really well matter of fact bob is really excelling he's doing your job very well and the guy said well i think my throat is clearing up i'm feeling a lot better now maybe i could be in oh that's okay take as many days as you need bob is doing a great job brother none of us are irreplaceable don't think of yourself as unique the only way that you are unique is there not a there's not a second person like you on the planet your dna god has made you to be special god has a special purpose for your life but if you ignore the opportunities that god presents to you they will pass you by and bob well sit in your seat behave yourself bob bob doesn't miss an opportunity when he's flying back and forth to the airport he's got his arsenal of magazines and he's not ashamed to say here's a magazine read it opportunities people that walk past you in walmart and in the store and in the malls in the airport so sit next to you on the plane i used to say don't sit next to me on the plane when i'm by myself you're going to get a bible study and it does happen i find a way i open my bible and lay it before me and and the inquisitive passenger sitting next to me starts going and almost inevitable they said what are you reading the bible oh what is you a preacher yeah a preacher what are you reading like lady i was sitting on american airlines and i was reading my bible this is when i was working on the three angels messages booklet and there was one seat between us and she said she said i'm a christian too i said have you heard about the three angels messages get to the point dilly dally meander in the maze of mediocrity get to the point she says no what is it and i explained to her what the three angels messages is and she said my husband is a baptist pastor i never heard that i can't wait till i get home to tell him about that and i gave her one of the early versions of the booklet and i said if you need any more information here's how you get in touch i don't know what god is going to do with that but all you got to do is plant the seed right rest it one plants another waters but what god gives the increase god will never bless a bible study you never gave god cannot plant cause a plant to grow when you never put a seed in the ground and some folk think that somewhere along the way they're going to be a harvest of souls and you ain't did diddly to even start the process didn't mean to say it like a new yorker but you didn't do diddly but i'm amazed through the portal of 3abn i know that others of you i know shelley gets the calls and all of you that are on 3abn radio and television i know you get the messages people either like what you said or don't like what you said but we get the messages right we get the messages greg we get them and then humbly sometimes you respond back and say well i'm sorry i didn't mean to say that i'm sorry i offended you sometimes we have to send them a beautiful rebuke and say that this is this is not my hail to die on i want you to reconsider your position but there are people that are out there that are hearing what god is saying and so when paul says awake you who sleep he is saying this is not the hour for the people of god to be asleep you see the christian is not only affected by spiritual corrosion but we are witnessing in our world and in our church the slow corrosive demolition of our foundation now i don't want to be insensitive but i cannot help but to refer back to the recent collapse of that condo and surf side in fort lauderdale florida the message that came to my mind was while people slept they were unaware of the crisis developing beneath them servant of the lord says and the bible says it be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil walketh about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows he has but a short time so while you are reclining in the comfort of complacency you can feel the demons speeding past you to tear your family apart and to burn up all the things you acquired in the next west coast fire that's why david the psalmist makes a statement about the importance of us understanding the security and the foundation of what god has given to us there is a security in the foundation of the everlasting gospel can you say amen there is a security and faithfulness and an honesty and being diligent i would rather somebody once said it this way by the way let me just give the credit she's now resting in jesus but we had this old african-american lady that was in our church in california in fairfield and sister travis she said pastor when they interviewed me to come to that church she said we're not looking for a pastor to tell us what to do we already we're already a working church we just want somebody to keep us together and she said pastor our motto is we rather wear out than rust out and i thought that's a good thing that's why that passage is so vital and important god is looking for those who rather wear out i'ma have a vacation one day and my first vacation is going to be a thousand years long but vacation hasn't come yet there's no such if you find it show it to me i have never found the word retired in the bible can you imagine elijah elijah saying you know i'm taking a year off lord i understand what's happening on mount carmel but i got other plans no my brethren as long as god gives you breath that's why pastors that retire can't retire they may get off the church's payroll but they still have to find something to do why because when there's a passion down in your soul when there's a passion burning in your heart you understand the need to preserve the foundation for those who come behind you that they may find you faithful that's why david the psalmist says in psalm 11 and verse 3 if the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do it is in this generation that the mission and the message of nehemiah is imperative and when we go through it you're going to see that nehemiah has the only prescription for a sleeping christian in an eroding world let's look at it together open your bibles to nehemiah the rest of the sermon is going to be in this book nehemiah nehemiah is serving nehemiah is the cup bearer to the king his responsibility is to be pleasant when he comes before the king to be nice and cheerful but he comes before the king he's not cheerful he's not happy he's just sullen and sad and the reasons are outlined in nehemiah chapter one and verse three and this is in the king james version and i read nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3. okay let me see if i have it there i left that out but i'm going to read it for you you have your bibles and they said unto me the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach the wall of jerusalem is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire the reason i use the king james version in this passage is because it says the remnant do we believe that god has given us the remnant message now that's an but the devil is working on his plan is that you may have the remnant message but he's determined that you don't end up to become a member of the remnant people because when the shaking is done the question is will you still be here when the winds are no longer blowing and the thunder is no longer rumbling and the lightning is no longer flashing in the great controversy will you be a part of that final army that will stand as a people into whose life god has blown the breath of power and strength when god surrounds you with that impregnable armor of the final gospel call will you be in that number the test is going on now and you'll only understand that if you partake and take advantage of the opportunities and i look at people that i know i'm looking at them out here i know moses is a man who understands opportunity and shelley and jill and so many of you here understand opportunity because 24 hours a day seven days a week you're thinking and breathing what next and there's so many capacities in our church we have people that are thinking that way thinking that way opportunity what can i do next what can i do to preserve the integrity of the foundation that god has given me well nehemiah shows the distress of the jews and the city indeed is in ruin and can i say at this point as i look at the framework of the seventh-day adventist church i want to say that the church in all of its forms are not exempt from the crumblings of society because there are those in these closing hours beginning to question and re-question things that have been confirmed by god's word and they are now going off in tangents little veins of activity pulling them to the left and to the right as i said as i said to one person this week that i had a very intense phone call with they called me about how they were upset about this vaccine and that vaccine and they're going to hold a symposium to address issues that they're passionate about and i said stop first it was the red states versus the blue states then it was black lives matter or it doesn't matter then it was covered or a hoax now it's vaccine or not and i said to them you know what i'm seeing happening in our church the urgency of the proclamation of the three angels messages is getting pushed further and further down in the laundry basket and when all those clothing of issues that mean nothing to salvation or finally address somebody might say okay yeah here we have a little uh the three angels messages what do we do with that and they couldn't help but say you're right pastor i said let people make their own choices but god has called you to take advantage of the opportunity to rise up and build this kingdom and none of these issues will be relevant in the final analysis of the proclamation of the everlasting gospel so nehemiah sees the city he sees the condition and nehemiah 2 and verse 5 god moves on nehemiah to get involved in the project and the bible says in nehemiah 2 and verse 5 and i said to the king as the king saw his displeasure if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight i ask that you send me to judah to the city of my father's tombs that i may rebuild it let me say something i love the fact that nehemiah didn't say that i may get some other folk to help me to rebuild it right ricky he says i am going to do what i need to do and if god wants to put people with me fine let me translate that i am so thankful that when i share this project people in our church people in 3abn says i'm on board i was in the same place that nehemiah is if they don't i will do what god has called me to do you see because whether they stand with you or not god's mission never fails because numbers are on your side come on gideon's army is a reminder of that god narrowed that 32 000 army down to 300 and told gideon who was hiding in a wine vat coward it's not up to you to win the battle i'll fight the battle for you and so whether people join with you or not the question and the final analysis is what did you do for the kingdom what advantage did you take of the opportunities presented before you nehemiah said that i may rebuild it now i could see one man with a bucket of of of clay and and concrete and all these things and stone and i could see him out there mixing the basket and pouring the water and getting all the rock and getting the steel out of the back of his pickup truck and people say what are you doing and he says i'm rebuilding jerusalem by yourself but that was not the case and here's the point when nehemiah revealed his findings on the heels of his assessment because god sent him on a on on an incognito mission to see if in fact what he had heard by letter is in fact the truth and god sent him and the nehemiah stood and told those who were willing to listen what he saw and look what the bible says look what the bible says nehemiah 2 verse 17 and 18 then i said to them now he's speaking to the audience as i'm speaking to you he said you see the distress that we are in how jerusalem lies waste and as gates are burned with fire come and let us build the wall of jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach and then he said let me tell you what god showed me and i told them of the hand of my god which had been good upon me and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me and when they saw the fire in nehemiah's eyes when they heard the passion in his voice when they they understood that he's going whether they go or not they said let us rise up and build and the bible says they set their hands to this good work opportunity transition to obligation they said this is not just your opportunity this is our obligation do you feel obligated to the person who lives next to you that doesn't know the truth does it even bother you when you walk down the aisles in the store that you shop that you're passing someone that may die tomorrow and you were inches away and they didn't even know that you didn't pray this morning to make a difference in their lives i'm convinced that god will send us to whomever he wants us to go to if we say father your obligation is my opportunity and my opportunity will become my obligation see i don't want you to be comfortable being church members that's a privilege but the opportunity of church membership is that god didn't save you by works god saved you for works and when he comes he says in revelation 22 and verse 12 behold i come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be they said this is our obligation god is calling us as god called nehemiah god is calling us to unite with the nehemiahs of today if you see there's a work to be done at 3abn stand with the administration if there's a work to be done here stand with the administration here wherever god puts you wherever god sends you when you see the work of god needs to be done saying let us rise up and build together can i get an amen but there's an interesting passage that really came to my request it came to me that this interesting question that was asked in the context of the building project look at nehemiah 2 and verse 6. this interesting question then the king said to me this is him speaking to nehemiah the queen also sitting beside him he's looking at nehemiah and he's asking this question how long will your journey be and when will you return so it pleased the king to send me and i set him a time in other words nehemiah said well i should be done by such and such a time this is how much time i need but this is what i got out of that passage it is not important to know how long your journey is going to be it is not important to know how long god is going to take what is important is to make a decision that you will join god in that journey regardless of how long the journey is going to be because some people say and i've heard this well i could give you 15 minutes what am i going to do with 15 minutes the saddest phrase that i hear and i'm sure this is i'm not unique and i'm maybe you've been in the same situation the saddest thing that you hear when you need help i don't have the time let me make this clear there's no intent to give you guilt but i want you to examine what your week is used for i want you to examine the quadrants of your life your social mental spiritual and physical life and ask yourself is there any time in there that i could dedicate to the work of god can i go out in 15 minutes or a half an hour can i take 35 minutes or one hour and just go around my community get my own plastic bags and hang them on the door or put them on the fences of my neighbors if i could just do that for 15 or 20 minutes and come back home there's a 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 minutes of seeds just planted that are going to germinate they're going to make a difference in somebody's life and i've seen that so we don't have to ask the question how long and that's why it's perturbing i remember when pastor dwight nelson he was so passionate he had just come from a trip over in india he said i just came from india where the name of jesus is just becoming known by some of the people that are there and he was so angry he said and you arrogant adventists are asking when will jesus come it's not up to you to know when it's up to you to get ready for jesus to come it's up to you to work that you may hasten his coming can you say amen you see why do we want jesus to come so badly oh there are many reasons we want suffering to end can i get an amen we want crime and violence and all the sadnesses that we beared to finally go away but brethren we have the privilege and opportunity to hasten the coming of the lord because he says and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations and then the end will come so if you're preaching the gospel in your locality you're god doesn't say go to 50 mile radius but work in the vineyard that's around your house the people that pass you by the people that smile at you in your neighborhood the neighbors that you know i remember knocking on the door of one of our neighbors and i was giving out a little booklet and i was giving out a cd and he opened the door this wide and he said to me i'm a pentecostal i don't need anything i don't want anything i said i'm not asking you for anything and he reiterated the statement he said like one eye i said i'm just giving you a cd i'm just giving you a booklet i'm just saying hello neighbor i'm right next door and he took it and but it was on the inside what do you do with it it's not my obligation because see i pray when if you let that material get in your house i'm gonna say lord turn the flashlight on let him trip over that magazine and don't let him throw it away you heard the story about somebody who threw away an evangelistic flyer got sick of it and threw it out of their window or the car at a bus stop somebody at the bus stop picked it up and got baptized five months later so god says my word will never return to me void what do you say you cannot do anything against the truth only for the truth the apostle paul says that and i believe that but if you take advantage of the opportunities god's obligation will become your obligation that's why matthew says it so wonderfully and thank you luis for this text from last week i couldn't shake it when he read it matthew 24 46 blessed is that servant blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing as the negroes would say down in the south the negro spiritual i keep so busy working for my jesus ain't got time to die that's when we were negros different now african americans as my good friend elder cleveland says we've been given so many names don't know where we're going to be next but the work is up to us the duration is up to god can you say amen but there's a there's a there's a disgusting passage in the story and i use the word disgusting because that disgusted me when i read it let me let me build it up in nehemiah chapter 3 you know for those of you that like to do bible trivia shelly and jill you'll appreciate this the word rebuild is mentioned 40 times coincidentally no 40 is a generational number 40 times the word rebuild is mentioned in chapter 3 but there's one disgusting passage in the midst of all of that look at nehemiah chapter 3 and verse 5. this really bothered me and it talked about the fact that not everybody gets on board when you get excited next to them the the the kawhites made repairs but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the lord watch this the workers down the ladder were busy but those up the ladder said i ain't doing anything let them do it you read the story it's a startling story the nobles you know the word noble mean the upper class those guys who they call the shots you do this you do that i've learned that when you labor with your people you have more influence than them laboring for you did you know what i said don't just tell me what to do do it with me leaders that are on the field getting their hands dirty getting their lives involved in the process have far greater influence than just sending people to work while you sit in your ivory towers or your plush officers calling the shots i'm one of those that know what what it means to put on jeans i got jeans got a recent pier from walmart sorry from rural king for 9.99 don't have to pay 50 bucks for jeans i learned the southern illinois secret and they work just as well they look good god is saying get out your southern illinois jeans and let's hit the field let's not be let's not be perturbed by the changing of the weather because the the summer is going to pass over and then the devil is going to pull back the curtain and say well now it's cool weather you don't want to go out now why don't you wait till spring and that vicious cycle will happen every year it's winter you don't want to go out now and then that'll be our excuse that we can well it's too cold to go out but look at this quote from prophets and kings i don't have a lot of them but this one is amazing prophets and kings page 639 in every religious movement there are some who while they cannot deny that the cause is god's still hold themselves aloof refusing to make any effort to help it were well for such ones to remember the record kept on high that book in which there is no omission no mistakes and out of which they will be judged summarizing it this way there are a lot of christians who are doing nothing but there are no christians that have nothing to do james says it this way in james 2 and verse 18 but someone will say i'm adventist i'm baptist he said you have faith i have works show me your faith without your works and i will show you my faith together by my works if you like baseball where's your baseball glove where's your baseball bat if you believe it's going to rain yes come on louise thank you pray for rain and all the people got together on the afternoon when they got back to church waiting for rain and the little girl came with her umbrella and they said why'd you bring an umbrella she said aren't you praying for rain just like the people praying and wrote his house peter knocking on the door they said we're praying for you to be free he's at the door prayer doesn't work that quick oh yes it does god knows when the prayer ought to be answered what do you say so don't ever don't have a doubt we are not saved by works let me make it very clear we are saved by grace through faith however works reveal something deeper than god's act of salvation works reveals something far deeper than god's singular act of salvation and james makes it clear in james 2 and verse 24 notice what he says you see then that a man is what is the next word justified by works and not by faith alone we're saved by grace through faith but we are justified meaning what that means is god is saying i did not impute and impart my righteousness to you without you realizing that this brings you to an obligation i am so glad i've imparted and imputed my righteousness to you because now you are on the field working with me doesn't make sense to hire somebody who doesn't want to work and waiting for a paycheck that's why nehemiah's record is so vitally important you see friends as i read nehemiah 4 and verse 1 what i want you to get is satan is not concerned about saved christians let me say that again i want you to hear that satan is not concerned about saved christians he's concerned about saved christians who work right he doesn't care where you go to church he doesn't care what you believe if what you believe keeps you shackled into inactivity he is not concerned he is only concerned when what you believe has so deeply rooted taken foundation deep down in your life that as one writer says it's so deeply shut up in my bone i can't keep silent got to do something about it if what you believe has not moved you to do something about it you'll never know what opportunity and obligation is all about but when you know about opportunity and obligation only then will you see the hand of opposition the third o opportunity nehemiah obligation though standing with him when they got busy satan got concerned about those who entered the work look at nehemiah 4 and verse 1. the third oh opposition nehemiah 4 and verse 1. but it so happened when saint balot heard that we were rebuilding the wall that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the jews oh you know what friends don't be concerned about those who laugh at progress and don't be put off by people saying now why why are you going to give out tracks we want to go do this it's okay to do either one but don't let the mocking and the jeering of those who want to prevent you from doing god's work cause you to back away from the passion of sharing your faith and be sure about it when you get busy satan will be furious and very indignant but who cares when god is on your side i don't care and believe me i've been through a lot of battles some of my own making but god is faithful and when god is not done with you he'll pull you out of the quagmire of your own foolishness and dust you up and say get to nineveh you smell like a fish but go and preach anyway some of us become fish smelling christians because we disobey god but god does not remove the sermon he had that sermon for he had that sermon for for jonah to preach and he said if you got to get an interval like smelling like a fish go it wouldn't have been that way if you didn't disobey and i had a lot of knee i had a lot of jonah times in my life come on say amen somebody if you know what i mean you've had some too the opposition satan will always become furious and indignation will fill his heart when he knows that he cannot get you to abandon the work but notice what happens when you don't abandon the work you transition from opportunity what's the next one obligation what is the next one opposition it's gonna happen don't expect the work of god to go forward without opposition it's gonna be opposition don't say the other don't say to the other football team stop hitting me i just want to get to the goal line i just want to get to the goal line why do you got to hit me just get your check give me the just lay down when i run towards you ain't going to happen you're gonna get hit that's a part of the game that's his job to hit you in your finances hit you in your family hit you in your marriage hit you in your relationships he wants to punch the lights out of you so that you can get up with a black eye and say i am done with this christian stuff the moment i came to 3abn everything fell apart that's what's supposed to happen but like the song by casting crowns your life is not falling apart it's falling into place i love that line your world is not falling apart it's falling into place but god's got to tear down your world and build up his now let's go from opposition to omnipotence are you ready for it nehemiah 4 69. look at omnipotence god loves showing up so we built the wall nehemiah 4 verse 6-9 so we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people said with me friends had a mind to work now what happened when sent ballot to by the arab the ammonites and the ashtodites heard that the walls of jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed what did they do that they became very angry and all of them conspired together to come and attack jerusalem and create confusion you wonder why there's confusion in the church that's the reason why but i love verse 9 nevertheless come on say nevertheless with me that means i don't care what the enemy does nevertheless what are what is our obligation we made our prayers to whom to our god and because of them we set a watch against them when day and night you got to be awake in the day you got to be awake at night what does that mean always the people of god are not safe for one hour from one moment without prayer in the study of god's word you got to put on the armor but you cannot fall asleep you got to be awake but notice opportunity obligation opposition but omnipotence god ain't worried he sent one angel to kill 185 000 of his opposition god has unlimited resources whosoever call upon the name of the lord shall be saved you call on god he does like he did for peter he'll reach down and pull you out so that your plans will not overcome you or suck you in and drown you god will never give you a responsibility that's too great for you to handle when god sends it your way remember two-thirds of the angels did not leave the kingdom and he said it like elisha said to his servant they that be with us are more than they that be with them omnipotence is on your side but here's one of the problems we have opposition will be great and discouragement may set in but here's the reason why it may verse 10. nehemiah 4 verse 10 then judah said the strength of the laborers is failing i had to smile when i read this and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build a wall hold on shelly relax i'm coming at you high on the list of the reason why christians are inactive is there so much rubbish in their lives get some christian garbage bags get yourself a dumpster get rid of that rubbish in your life come on somebody say amen rubbish get off of the internet and get on the streets rubbish stop taking photos of yourself who cares what you look like i got six likes i got a thumb down don't mean squat in the context of eternal life stop putting your face on there and realize there's a role being sown for you get the rubbish out of your life high on the list when christ fills your life when the passion of the work for the kingdom fills your life there is less room for rubbish work for the night is coming can you say amen but the devil is still relentless he's still determined to destroy look at verse 13. he's looking for ways in he's trying to find out what he can do to bring you down he has strategies that god reveals to us and what is the strategy of destroying our worship the bible reveals that nehemiah 4 and verse 13 therefore i position men behind the what lower parts of the wall at the openings and i set the people according to their families with their swords their spears and their bows let me tell you what jumped out at me at this passage the devil came in not through the roof not through the doors but through the lower parts oh can i tell you brethren guard your lower thoughts guard your lower entertainment guard your lower desires guard your low attitudes about people stop putting people down stop chewing each other up as members of the same family stop chewing up fellow believers thinking that god could bless it guard the lower parts of your wall because you might think the devil is coming in on the top he will come in on the places that you least expect we've got to remain awake and guard the lower avenues of our soul and we also have to be committed look at verse 14. committed in spite of opposition because quite a bit is at stake nehemiah 4 14 and i looked and arose and said to the nobles who does he who is he speaking to who's he speaking to say it again and arose and said to the nobles who is he saying to come and say it the nobles say one more time who is nehemiah speaking to if you remember earlier the nobles didn't want to do anything now he's talking to the nobles to the leaders and to the rest of the people what is he saying to them and this is the message to us do not be afraid of them remember the lord great and awesome praise god for a great and awesome god and fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wives and your houses so you see a lot of that steak friends it's not just their families it's your family it's your house it's your children it's your sons it's your daughters and they may be complacent and may even decide to fall asleep in the middle of a battle but it's your responsibility to not be afraid of what you see coming and put a bavalian fight like the apostle paul he said i fought a good fight i finished my course i kept the faith this is not the hour to stand back this is the hour where the army of god must stand and fight for the salvation that was once delivered to us fight in your prayer life fight in your study life fight in your witnessing life get busy and work while there's time look at verse 17. what do you do how do you work verse 17 of nehemiah 4. those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves what do they do they were loaded so that with one hand they worked at construction and with the other held a weapon they were probably from southern illinois everybody out here has a weapon we're all ready to go to work the bible in one hand a nine millimeter in the other now that's not what the bible is saying but they had a weapon what does that mean the weapon is god's word the sword of the spirit they were ready for the battle work but don't keep god's word far away from you so that you can reach out to it and have it in time of need can you say amen they worked diligently but when they started working diligently the devil came in and tried to distract them let's wind this thing up look at nehemiah 6. we're going all all the way down nehemiah six verse one and two when satan cannot get through the lower walls when he can't stop you and delay and you become obligated and you see god working he tries another tactic and what is that nehemiah 6 verse 1 and 2. now it happened here he is again your enemies will come back over and over again and there he is our enemy sand ballot tobiah now they added somebody else geshem the arab and the rest of our enemies you know it's amazing to me that when the devil doesn't like you you get all the people together that don't like you isn't it amazing if you don't like you all you all of a sudden why they why is everybody treating me that way because the devil don't like you working for god and the rest of our enemies heard that i had rebuilt the wall and that there were no breaks left in it though at that time i had not hung the door in the gates he goes on that send ballot and geshem sent to me saying hey let's go to let's go to olive garden let's have a dinner together let's meet together among the villages in the plain of oh no let's go to the mall together watch out when the devil start inviting you to do things that you like to do you like chinese food let's have chinese food that's what that's what these that's what these satanists did in carbondale when i did the series on unclean spirits i got a letter from one of their grand wizards and he said let's have lunch at the vegetarian restaurant in carbondale let's have a talk you'll see how much we have in common you know what i did i deleted his email i didn't go give no place to the devil when he appeals to your appetite he found out that i like vegetarian food he even picked the restaurant richie ricky told me where to meet the time of day and he says and if we get together and have a conversation you'll find out how much we have in common i read that email and said circular ben empty it watch out when the enemy tries to bring you to his point of conversation in the areas of your life that he knows are delightful to you the enemy constantly seeks to gauge the work among god's people leave the enemy to god focus on the god of the work another quotation in prophets and kings that i really enjoyed and i'm gonna invite stephanie to come and i'm gonna invite dan to come and i'm gonna have dan play softly just as i close this message because this is so significant you see we went through opportunity obligation opposition omnipotence but we didn't get the outcome yet when nehemiah got that invitation he said but he said but they but they thought to do me harm at the end of verse 2. but they thought to do me harm just stand right by the piano and i'll join you there but go ahead go ahead and have a seat dan and stephanie wait right there he said they invited me but i know they thought to do me harm pray for godly wisdom can somebody say amen pray when your moments are fleeting and you're wondering i do i do need to take a break from some work i do need some lunch don't have lunch with your enemies because they will seek ways of doing you harm ellen white says in the service of god there need be no despondency no wavering no fear the lord will more than fulfill the highest expectation of those who put their trust in him when the devil calls you down from god's work respond by getting down on your knees what did nehemiah say when he called look at verse 3 nehemiah said so i sent messengers to them i wouldn't even go myself saying i'm doing a great work so that i cannot come down why should the work cease while i leave it and come down to you and how does the story end we got to get to the outcome the outcome how does the story end when you endure when god's opportunity becomes your obligation and you see god working opposition will come in omnipotence will step up and god will see the work through and god will see you through to the outcome and you look back and say it was worth it working for god he brought me through it all look at verse 15 and 16 my last text so the wall was finished on the 25th day of elul in 52 days the king asked how long 52 days and it happened when our enemies all our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw these things that they were very that they were what they were very disheartened in their own eyes you know they said we couldn't even stop them for they perceived that this work was done by our god come on church say amen the outcome jill and gray keep going forward faithfully the outcome is in god's hands moses leaders elders shelley keep planting joe all of our elders deacons deaconesses keep working stay to the plow because god is in the work when the work is finally done church members brothers and sisters the enemy will say there's no way that nehemiah could have done this god did the work don and janelle god is working through you all of you that are working on the fields are greeters those who are behind the scenes are security we're all together in this god wants us all but the message cannot be proclaimed by those not living it the message cannot be shared by those not dedicated to it the message cannot be modeled by those not transformed by it you see mere religion may change the way you think but christ will change the way we live mere christianity may is man's attempt to be accepted by god but christ in the life is a divine act of making men acceptable to god mere religion gives us something to believe but christ-centered conversion gives us something to do mere religion invites us to follow a creed but true religion empowers us to follow christ mere religion is man's attempt to reach god but jesus is god's fail-safe plan to reach man and i praise him for that mere religion is centered on a relationship with teachings about god but only jesus can form transform religion into a relationship with god mere religion seeks to transform us through information but jesus can change us through transformation and finally mere religion cannot arouse those sleeping with the enemy but true christ-scented religion will awaken us to work with christ i love to twist for the end i talked about nehemiah all the time but the sermon was called sleeping with the enemy what's the twist here it is what does god want to do for us first kings 19 5 i i waited for elijah to give me the salutation you see when elijah had been running from the work and hid under a broom tree the bible says in first kings 19 5 then as he lay and slept under a broom tree suddenly an angel touched him and said to him what did he say arise and eat today my brothers and sisters god is saying to us it's time to wake up it's time for us to arise as stephanie and i sing this song [Music] if god is speaking to your heart and you want to arise [Music] and not just be a part of this september 11th but be a part of god's work whether it's at 3abn or here or collectively together because we are not separate entities somebody in the conference in northern illinois asked me so how do you split your hours between 3ab and the church i said i can't because they're all the same and when they came down here they said we got it we got it we're all one in christ can you say amen but i believe that what elijah received what nehemiah experienced is what we all are in need of and today as we sing this song if this is your desire [Music] if this is your desire today as we sing this song if this is what god is saying to you and if this is what you want we're going to ask you to do something different because we can now if we want if you want god to reach out and make a difference in your life to do for you what he did for elijah and nehemiah i want you to come on down here we're going to pray down front if this song and this message is what god is speaking to you come join me step up we need wisdom we need power true love for each other we have had so many big so we come before your face asking for your grace bring your people to a state of kingdom life restore your church again touch your people once again with your precious holy hand we pray let your kingdom shine upon his earth not for temporary [Applause] but to restore authority rushing away touch your people once again lord you see you're [Music] how much we need your precious healing hand we need the power of the cross as the only source for us when we stand up facing final battle cry restore your church again touch your people once again with your precious holy hand we pray let your kingdom shine upon [Music] but to restore authority [Music] touch your heel once again [Music] again our father and our god lord we're standing here today as your servants dan play softly for me as your service many of us are broken and wounded in places of our lives many of us need the healing hand and the touch of god to revive us and in some ways the walls of our lives are broken our families are injured and satan is coming in to create confusion so that the people won't even have the energy to think of dedicating any moments of their lives to the work of the kingdom the father we are asking today that you will touch your people once again with your precious holy hand we pray reach into our complacency and dust off that instrument that we once found great joy in using to carry the gospel forward give us a renewed dedication to our bibles to the prayer help us to bring our family before the altar as the patriarch of the family that they may know the mission that god has on their lives i pray for our leaders many of us are working we have so many hats but so was the case in nehemiah's day [Music] and we pray that we could put on one more hat father when you give us that oomph that push that drive prosper the work of the arabian television three abn radio prosper the work of our audio visual department our youtube channel our websites prosper the work of working saints our bible workers our personal ministries our women's ministries our men's ministries prosper our sabbath school classes and all the outreach of our church prosper the deacons the deaconess the elders and all those who feel the strain and the stresses of these last days but cause us to be a united army so that as we go out into the venues of this community there'll be someone who will hear the voice of god calling on them they will respond and they will no longer be complacent and they will say i'm done sleeping with the enemy i want to be awake in the work of christ i want to be covered by the armor of god i want to be ready for the kingdom to come lord activate a people give us a passion for that which heaven longs for to see in the church put aside the issues that divide us and help us to embrace the issues that unite us forget about the politics and help us to hold on to the prince of peace give us wisdom to see the god of victory rather than the devil that divides and may we be as passionate about the kingdom or even more than what the next agenda on the news will be and when we are standing before you in that glorious day may that servant who is doing hear the words well done thou good and faithful servant challenge us send us forth and may we unite together and perceive that the work will be done by god in willing and glorious hearts this we pray and we give you all the praise for what you will continue to do and what you will add to your kingdom's work in jesus name i pray and all of god's people said amen and amen you

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 86min 27sec (5187 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 20 2021