A Famine is Coming | Sermon by Ryan Day

[Music] hello friends and welcome to 3abn worship hour and we are indeed going to take this hour and dedicate it to the lord in worship worship him as the bible says in spirit and in truth and we're going to worship him just like that in song and in word today we have a powerful message in which i'm going to be declaring kind of a warning it's a famine warning the title of this message is a famine is coming but before we get right into the message we have our brother tim pardon who is going to sing for us the beautiful song turn your eyes upon jesus [Music] oh soul are you weary and dry no light in the darkness you see [Music] there's light for a look at the savior and life more abundant and free [Music] his word will not fail you he promised believe it and all will be well then go to a world that is dying his perfect salvation to tell turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely in the light of his glory and grace if you'll turn your eyes upon [Music] jesus [Music] praise the lord turn your eyes upon jesus one of my favorite songs and that's exactly kind of the theme the motto of this message is as we're declaring a warning a coming famine we're going to be talking about what kind of famine in just a moment but the answer to it of course is simple a sermon in and of itself turn your eyes upon jesus and everything will be okay let us pray before we get into our message right now father in heaven lord i just want to thank you and praise you lord at this moment as you have bestowed upon all of us the wonderful privilege of representing you preaching the word of god for you lord for the redemption of man and so lord as i break open the bread of life as we attempt to rightly divide the word of truth lord not do not let it be a man-made effort to do so what i'm praying right now in jesus name that you will bestow upon me and in me the holy spirit to lead and guide me to speak your word that this message will not only penetrate the hearts and minds of every person around the world listening but also mine as well we thank you for all that you have done and for who you are is our god and we pray this in confidence and in the name of jesus christ amen a famine is coming a famine is on its way perhaps one of the greatest phenomenons at least from my perspective one of the most interesting occurrences in the history of our nation and the history of this world happened back in march of 2020 exactly not so far distant away from where we are now just march of 2020 you can read all the historical occurrences of this nation and of this world and one of the strangest most interesting occurrences that happened in march of 2020 of course was the very sudden the very swift shutdown of the world due to the pandemic covet 19. of course it will forever mark the year 2020 as probably one of the worst years that perhaps we've ever experienced in our country in in recent times at least it was almost as if everyone was living in peace for the most part living as if everything was okay everyone was safe nothing was gonna happen and then boom it was upon us a pandemic that would forever change our society and rock the known world that we happen to live in you know the bible gives us a couple of passages that provide some insight and somewhat of a prophetic uh imagery toward this event and of course many others that will soon take place i believe as the bible plainly tells us that it will i want to start by going to first thessalonians chapter 5 verses 1 through 3. notice what the bible says and of course this is paul writing he says but concerning the times and seasons brethren you have no need that i should write to you for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so comes as a thief in the night for when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape the words found right here of course that really stand out to me is the concept of living in a state of peace and safety similar to what perhaps maybe society somewhat felt uh prior to march 2020 while the world of course we know is horrible and there's horrible things that happen in the world for the most part most americans and most other citizens from other countries all around the world we're living in somewhat of a state of peace and safety but then it's almost as if the pandemic that happened and occurred as it began to spread across the world begin to cause a state of shock it launched people into a state of fear and within just a week and a half to two weeks our world was changed probably permanently i don't know that we'll ever see uh or see a world that we once lived in this probably has forever marked uh this this historical event will for sure be marked in history uh as a life-changing scenario but nearly 2 000 years ago paul wrote as he was given inspiration by the holy spirit that when they say peace and safety everything's okay life's going on just fine and dandy then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall and the greek says no not escape of course it begs to mention that we also i believe have been living in a state of peace and safety and while some people consider the pandemic to be a disruption to our way of life into society and to the world as we knew it my friends i'm here to tell you that i believe that was a very small miniscule occurrence compared to what is coming in the near future notice also in luke chapter 17 this is another passage luke 17 verses 26 and 27 uh and also verses 28 and 29 in luke chapter 17. it maps out for us also in a similar uh scenario exactly what we've been talking about so far uh people living in a state of what maybe the bible as the bible clearly says peace and safety a state of of of never-ending bliss i guess you could say everything's okay we're just going to live out our life and then all of a sudden destruction comes that of course would disrupt their known reality notice luke chapter 17 we've all read the passage many times beginning in verse 26 and 27 the bible says and as it was in the days of noah so it will also be in the days of the son of man they ate they drank they married wives they were given in marriage until the day that noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all now i'm going to continue on reading verse 28 and 29 and we're going to come back and just mark something interesting here verse 28 continues to say likewise as it was also in the days of lot they ate they drank they bought they sold they planted they built but on the day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all now i find this passage interesting because again it communicates that same theme that we're talking about living in that state of peace and safety everything's okay everything's gonna be all right almost in some cases it's living on as if there is no god and and that bible prophecy is of no avail that it's not really that important because everything is just going to be okay but it's interesting right here that the language and the communication the the literary devices that are used from the author in this case luke as he uses some language to clearly communicate this uh and emphasize it very clearly for instance if you go back to verse 27 where it says that they ate and they drank and they noticed and they married wives and of course they were also given in marriage well in the original greek the words they're used actually communicates a sense of almost like nyonya words like a passive like oh they were doing this and they were doing that for instance if you listen to the words they were estio and they were pio and they were escamadiso and so it's kind of like this and then boom sun destruction came and the flood came and it washed them all away right it destroyed them all same thing same language used same concept communicated in verses 28 and 29 where it says likewise it was also in the days of lot they did they ate they drank they bought they sold they planted they built the greek they ethizo they peel they are they agordazzo they the two i know these are greek words but still it's notice the common theme it's kind of this nyanya kind of like oh they were doing this and they were doing that life was just going on as just so blissfully peaceful and everything's okay and then all of a sudden there came up on lot in his family and of course we know they were saved with the exception of course of his wife but they were taken out of the city in which upon that city fell fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all you see in the last days bible prophecy tells us that if there will come a time very soon where destruction will come up on this earth and many of us have been told this we've been warned about it we've heard about it we preach about it we teach about it but of course some of us are not as prepared as others because we're living in a state of peace and safety but the bible says that then [Music] sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall no not escape you see paul continues on in 2 thessalonians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 and he talks about how not only the world will be affected by this coming destruction or this this this uh this horrible work that will be going on in society that will bring about the end time events he talks about how it would directly affect the church and how people within the church will respond to this not in a positive way but in a very negative way notice again second thessalonians chapter two and i'm gonna read verses one through three part of verse three because there's a point that i want to emphasize here for the message paul starts by saying now brethren again we got to keep we got we got to memorize and be be reminded that he's writing this to the church at thessalonica so his audience is not non-believers it's church members so second thessalonians chapter two verses one through three he says now brethren concerning the coming of our lord jesus christ and our gathering unto him we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled okay so paul's there for a moment and let's get this in our mind he just said not to be soon shaken that doesn't mean that the church is not going to experience a shaking that doesn't mean that there's not going to come some type of trouble upon the world that will soon obviously bring some type of discomfort to those perhaps in the church but he says for these particular brothers and sisters do not be soon shaken in mind or troubled of course either by spirit or by word or by letter as if it's coming from us right as though the day of christ has come or had come he's saying look you don't have to worry about that just yet he says why i'm going to tell you why paul says i'm going to tell you how you will know when the day of the lord is near or when the coming of the son of man is coming he tells us in verse 3. notice what the bible says it says let no one deceive you by any means for that day speaking of the second coming of jesus that day will not come unless the falling away comes first did you catch that that day the second coming of jesus the return of christ will not come upon this world until a great falling away occurs now again not trying to be over theological here but just a kind of a surface blanket interpretation and understanding of this text does not provide the fullest understanding of what paul is talking about sometimes you gotta as the bible says study to show yourself approve rightly dividing the word of truth sometimes you gotta go below the surface and dig a little deeper and that's why sometimes we have to do a little bit of a word search some deeper word study when i looked up this falling away what is the great falling away that he's talking about what does it mean that before christ come there's going to be a great falling away well the word that he uses here is the greek word apostasia the greek word apostasia it's where we get of course our english word apostasy and of course many people have a different understanding of what apostasy is or some people may have this particular definition of what apostasy is and someone else may somewhat have a their own personal uh perspective of what apostasy is but yet right here in the original greek the word apostasia the meaning of it means to defect from truth to divorce now keep in mind paul is writing this to the church why is he writing this warning to the church because paul has already reminded us as we just read there in 1st thessalonians and we also saw the imagery there in luke 17 similar to the days of noah similar to the days of lot so shall it be at the end time before christ comes back we see this paul jesus the apostles all of the bible writers they warn us they they're telling us they're shouting they're raising the banner high and saying look there's coming a time and it will affect the church in this case this great apostasia this great defection from truth this great divorcing that's right divorcing he's telling and warning the people of the church because my friends before christ comes back the state of the church the condition of the church in many people's understanding and many people's eyes will not look so great because it's not called just a falling away it's called the great falling away it's great it's it's it's huge and so the great falling away this apostasia this great apostasy it simply means that people deceived into believing that they know jesus will actually fall away from jesus while they are convinced that they are bound to and married to the truth they're actually going to abandon the truth and of course the word here that really sticks out to me is divorce to divorce and it's interesting that we know that he's writing this to the church and not just of course this message goes to everyone but specifically the church because you cannot divorce yourself from someone whom you weren't married to and so this is somewhat of a prophecy of course very clearly a prophecy where paul is saying that there will be people prior to the second coming of jesus that believe that they are 100 devoted and married to jesus christ but yet they have divorced themselves from him what a condition what a condition in fact we don't even have to worry wonder as to what kind of condition or what this condition looks like because by the time you get over to revelation chapter 3 jesus himself spells it out he tells us very clearly in revelation chapter 3 speaking to the very last church age laodicea he says these words i know your works that you neither are hot or cold i wish that you were cold or hot so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot i will and this is a strong word i will vomit you as the new king james version says king james verse and says spew you but again the same word here in the greek could mean spew or vomit or regurgitate i will vomit you out of my mouth because you say i am rich have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched miserable poor blind and naked of course that passage is found in revelation 3 verses 14 through 17. you are wretched miserable poor blind and naked jesus says yes to that last church age you think that you know me but you don't you think that you have accepted and are living according to the truth but you're not of course you believe that you're married to me but yet you don't realize because of your deception because of your self-denial uh in the sense of uh your your your deceiving denial you have divorced yourself from me that's what jesus is saying right here you are neither cold nor hot i wish you were one of the other but you are lukewarm now i found a rather interesting and eye-opening commentary on these verses in reference of being cold and you know cold or hot lukewarm the condition of the church lukewarmness this laodicean state this comes from uh looking in here since july 26 1874 written by charles spurgeon notice how he describes this this is quite lengthy but i want you to when you hear the words the detailed words that he describes which i think is spot on as to what jesus is talking about in reference to this lukewarm condition of the church prior to the second coming of jesus and this is what charles spurgeon says the condition described in our text is secondly one of mournful indifference and carelessness they were not cold but they were not hot they were not infidels yet they were not earnest believers that they did not oppose notice that they did not oppose the gospel neither did they defend it they were not working mischief neither were they doing any great good they were not disreputable in moral character but they were not distinguished for holiness he says they were not irreligious but they were not enthusiastic in piety nor imminent for zeal they were what the world calls moderates they were of the broad church school they were neither bigots nor puritans they were prudent and avoided fanaticism respectable and adverse to excitement good things were maintained among them but they did not make too much of them they had prayer meetings but there were few and present for they liked quiet evenings at home when moore attended the meetings they were still very dull for they did not notice for they did they're praying very deliberately and were afraid of being too excited they were content to have all things done decently and in order but vigor and zeal they consider to be vulgar notice how he continues such churches have schools bible classes preaching rooms and all sorts of agencies but they might as well be without them for no energy is displayed and no good comes of them they have deacons and elders who are excellent pillars of the church that's if the chief quality of pillars is to stand still and exhibit no emotion or motion they have their ministers who may be the angels of the churches but if so they have their wings closely clipped for they do not fly very far in preaching the everlasting gospel and they certainly are not flames of fire they may be shining lights of eloquence but they are certainly not burning lights of grace setting men's hearts on fire last paragraph listen to these words in such communities everything is done in a half-hearted listless dead and alive way as if it did not matter much whether it was done or not it makes one's flesh creep to see how sluggishly they move and he says these words he says i long for a knife to cut their red tape to pieces and for a whip to lay about their shoulders to make them bester themselves things are respectably done the rich families are not offended the skeptical party is conciliated and the good people are not quite alienated things are made pleasant all around the right things are done but as to doing them with all your might soul and strength a laodicean church has no notion of what that means they are not so called as to abandon their work or to give up their meetings for prayer or to reject the gospel if they did so he says then they could be convinced of their error and brought to repentance but on the other hand they are neither hot for the truth nor hot for conversions nor hot for holiness they are not fiery enough to burn the stubble of sin nor zealous enough to make satan angry nor fervent enough to make a living sacrifice of themselves upon the altar of their god he says they are neither cold nor hot probably the best description of what it means to be laodicean coming from charles spurgeon you know mrs ellen white actually echoes this very same concept in the first volume of the testimonies page 179 to 181 so you can go there first volume of the testimonies page 179 to 181 and i'm going to read a couple of quotes here just to kind of provide some some some backup some foundation again for what it is we're talking about here but notice on the same thing that spurgeon was speaking same theme as what jesus was speaking in laodicea this is what she says about the condition of the church in the last days prior to the second coming of jesus some i saw did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading of course she's referring to a great shaking that she saw that would occur among god's people the church in the last days she says and she saw that some of them were not participating in the prayerful agonizing and of course seeking after jesus on a daily basis so she goes on to say they speaking of those who are in the church but again are not seeking after and pleading for the holy spirit to work in them she says they seemed indifferent and careless they were not resisting the darkness around them and it shut them in like a thick cloud the angels of god left these and she of course this is a vision she saw so she says and i saw them she said the angel of god left these and i saw them hastening to the assistance of those who were struggling with all their energies to resist the evil angels and trying to help themselves by calling upon god with perseverance but the angels left those who made no effort to help themselves and i lost sight of them in this division she received which she recorded in the first volume of the testimonies she makes it very clear that she saw them they were indifferent and careless that's laodicean that's exactly what paul was talking about the great falling away people who believe they're married to jesus but they're not they believe they've accepted the truth and living by the truth but they're not this is the condition and of course it sets us up for a great coming famine and we're going to see about what this famine is in just a moment i want to read another quote here this is from early writings page 54 and 56. of course this is uh in reference to another vision that she had received about the heavenly throne room of god jesus and the father sitting on the throne and then they get up they leave the holy place and go into the most holy place but notice what she says she saw here she says before the throne i saw the advent people the church and the world i saw two companies one bowed down before the throne deeply interested while the other stood notice the words uninterested and careless then i saw an exceeding bright light come from the from the father to the sun and from the sun it waved over the people before the throne but few would receive this great light many came out from under it and immediately resisted it others were careless and did not cherish the light and it moved off from them then jesus rose up from the throne and the most of those who were bowed down arose with him i did not see one ray of light pass from jesus to the careless multitude after he rose and they were left in perfect darkness and i have to ask a question how does the how does the church get to that condition now i want to clarify something when i say the church of course we're not talking about everyone in the church right the church is a body and there just happens to be wheat and tares in that body but of course how do people in the church come to this condition how do they arrive at this condition of course there's multiple texts and multiple passages that i could reference about this but there's one particular text that comes to mind when answering that question how in the world do people reach this state of apostasy this state of defecting from truth divorcing themselves from jesus and which they will be caught up in this great famine that is coming luke chapter 9 verse 23 jesus gives us the solution but notice what the solution includes it says that he said to them all if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me so how does a person anyone in the church arrive to this careless indifferent complacent condition of laodicea lukewarmness how does it happen well it happens because people abandon their daily genuine christian walk with christ they abandoned their daily looking unto christ and having a genuine spirit-filled experience with him notice how i keep saying daily because what did christ say let him deny himself and take up his cross how often daily you see you got a lot of people my friends a lot of christians professed christians in the church who are not having that daily communion experience with christ they profess them as jesus says they honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me many of us find ourselves in that condition some of us can't see it because we're deceived deceived into believing that we know jesus when we do not deceived into believing that we're going to go to heaven when when in reality if we don't shape up examine ourselves and allow jesus to cleanse us from the inside out we won't be seeing the kingdom of god as jesus said paul wrote of this daily experience this great righteousness by faith experience he referred to it using the words from faith to faith day by day glory to glory you see the righteousness by faith experience is a daily ongoing experience with jesus and the condition of laodicea exists this falling away apostasy experience exists for many because they are not having a genuine step by step day by day faith to faith glory to glory moment with jesus you see what paul is describing in his letters when he writes about this righteousness by faith experience and and and coming to know christ and and and him washing you and cleansing you daily from your sins you see that is a process we know it's a lifelong process of sanctification but it's a never-ending ongoing process and some people well truth is they have hit the pause button on their righteousness by faith journey we reach a point that for whatever reason we become distracted we become complacent we become comfortable in our peace and safety environment and we stop seeking and looking and searching for the righteousness of jesus christ you see many of us hear this language righteousness by faith righteousness by faith experience and sometimes we really can't fully grasp what is that what is it what does that mean and ryan what do you mean by people have pressed the pause button on their righteousness by faith experience well i'm going to take you to matthew chapter 5 here i want to spell this out for you very clearly probably in no other passage of scripture is it more clear clearly mapped out i guess you could say as did christ make it more clear other than matthew chapter five here in the in the uh what we call the beatitudes now many people read the beatitudes and they see them as these kind of individual bullet point you know just kind of like you know blessed is this kind of person and blessed is this kind of person and oh these kind of people will be blessed but really what christ is doing in the beatitudes is he's mapping out he's showing you a step-by-step you know one level of christian character development to the next kind of experience uh that we call righteousness by faith so why don't we go there matthew chapter five i want to show you this very clearly in the bible we're going to read through these beatitudes and i'm going to show you how they're all interconnected jesus is spelling out he's he's illustrating out he's he's clearly putting it on display as to what this righteousness by faith experience must be if you're going to make sure that you're not caught up in the great falling away and find yourself in trouble during the coming famine the coming famine matthew chapter 5 we're going to start reading in verse three notice what the bible says of course jesus is speaking and he gives us that first great beatitude blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and you can go through and read these blessed are those who mourn blessed are the meek blessed are and so again we almost look at it almost in a poetic sense like jesus is like ah blessed are these kind of people and blessed are those kind of people over there oh these kind of people would be blessed but my friends notice jesus is actually taking us through the righteousness by faith experience so somebody has pressed the pause button along this journey you don't want to press that pause button you want to make sure that you continue on this journey because jesus wants you to have a genuine experience with him so what does jesus say right off the cuff blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven interesting what does jesus mean by this what does he mean blessed are the poor in spirit again when the pharisees heard this you could just imagine their their mouths flew open you know and what did he just say whoa you know because all they probably heard was blessed are the poor because back in their day if you were poor and you weren't rich you were cursed right you were cursed by god if you were rich and you were an abundance of worldly goods well then you must be blessed by god because he's given you all these wonderful things and he's prospered you and so i'm sure probably the pharisees off to the side they're hearing jesus you know say these words and they're just oh what he just said blessed are the poor but that's not what he said he didn't say blessed are the poor he said blessed are the poor in spirit what in the world does that mean you see jesus is giving us the very first step that we must experience in order to have a genuine experience with him when he says blessed are the poor in spirit what he's saying is blessed are you when you realize your spiritual poverty blessed are you when you come to the point in your life where you realize you have hit rock bottom and there's nothing else for you to give blessed are you when you come to the realization that you see your condition and you recognize that you are spiritually bankrupt and that only jesus christ the savior can get you out blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven but then notice the next beatitude he says in verse 4 blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted interesting so blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted so people who are mourning you know they're blessed right well some people would probably disagree with that well when they're mourning they probably don't feel very blessed but it's in connection to the previous beatitude you see the natural response when you realize once you realize your spiritual depravity you will mourn but yet you'll be comforted you see when you realize that your sins nailed jesus christ the son of god to a cross that because of your sins he had to die when that when you really comprehend that and that settles into your mind it brings about a natural response in fact it's talked about in zechariah chapter 12 i believe it is where he makes it very very clear that they will look upon me whom they have pierced and they will mourn that's the natural response jesus you died for me i deserved that death i deserve to die on a cross not you you're perfect you're wonderful you've never sinned you don't deserve my punishment but jesus did it out of love and when you comprehend that you will mourn but yet you'll be comforted notice the next beatitude verse 5 blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth you see this is in connection to the previous two you see after you're broken by the love of jesus you adopt an attitude of meekness that's right which brings us to our next beatitude blessed are those who do hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled notice how this is jesus taking you from one level of christian character development to the next so before you became meek because you were broken by the love of jesus and you adopted an attitude of meek to so when you adopt an attitude of meekness true genuine christ-like meekness you begin to hunger and thirst for his righteousness that's powerful jesus is taking it he's mapping it out and then of course verse 7 blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy you see there's a difference between human mercy and godly mercy you see once you accept the righteousness of christ in your life you become merciful that's just the natural response jesus is shaping and molding you into the person that he wants you to be that vessel of honor for his kingdom so when you hunger and thirst for righteousness you begin to receive his righteousness on your behalf and when you accept the righteousness of christ in your life you become merciful but it's not just any old kind of mercy we're going to see what that is in just a moment let's go to the next beatitude because it's in connection blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god pure in heart so how does that connect to the previous one very simple once you are merciful true godly mercy once you are merciful and here it is true godly mercy and begin to treat others the way god treats us then and only then you become pure in heart now will you ever feel that way i don't think any of us are gonna you know wake up one day and be like oh man i just i just feel so pure in heart today i just feel so perfect none of us are gonna feel that way because when you look at christ's righteousness and you see your own you kind of have that isaiah experience woe is me right for i am undone i am a sinful man oh woe is me right i'm the chief of sinners that's how that's how paul made it out he said i feel like the chief of sinners but yet god sees you he sees that when you begin to show true godly mercy you begin to treat others the way he treats us then through his eyes you are pure in heart but it doesn't stop there notice verse 9 blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god and what in the world does that have to do with the previous beatitudes again we're on a journey christ is changing us so here it is once you are pure in heart you begin to live and share the message of the prince of peace christ has taken you on a journey from one level of christian character development to the next you're pure in heart you've received the peace of god in your life you have accepted the prince of peace's righteousness and so now you begin to live out and share that message of peace the message of jesus with others you don't do it because you're prompted to you don't do it because you tell yourself well i'm i'm a christian and that's what i'm supposed to do you see it's a natural response it's kind of like when someone burns their finger or burns their hand in a hot fire they don't leave it there and go oh that burns that's hot there's a natural response to pull back into because you've been hurt i know that's probably not the greatest illustration but nonetheless in a in a positive sense when you have a relationship with jesus christ a true genuine daily experience with christ the natural response of living out and declaring the message of the prince of peace is that you just got to do it it's a part of your life it's a it's a lifestyle now because god has bestowed his love upon you you can't help to tell people about it and about him which leads us to the last beatitude of this section verse 10 blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven wait wait a second jesus hey you're supposed to end on a good note you're supposed to you're supposed to end with something positive jesus see we're kind of in that mind frame where everything kind of kind of kind of lead to this big happy ending and in reality this is a happy ending but the words don't necessarily resonate well with us blessed are those who are persecuted jesus you're telling me that that i'm going to be persecuted what that's what you're leading me to well it's not in god's plan for you to be persecuted but nonetheless there's an enemy and as long as that enemy exists the kingdom agenda of god flies in the face of the dark agenda of the enemy you see once you are living genuinely living and sharing the message of the prince of peace jesus christ you will receive persecution not you might you know not that you could you will that's why jesus says you shall those who those who receive him shall be persecuted for his name's sake now some of us we don't really know what it means to be persecuted and many of us of all of that that we just read through again let me read through these really quickly here so you get it you see blessed are you when you realize your spiritual poverty it starts there and then once you realize your spiritual depravity that you're bankrupt you see you're gonna mourn because you recognize that jesus has bestowed his love upon you he wants to change you he has taken your penalty and therefore you'll mourn but he's going to come sweep you up and he's going to comfort you after being broken by the love of god you adopt an attitude of meekness and of course when you adopt an attitude of meekness you hunger and thirst for righteousness the next one once you accept the righteousness of christ in your life you become merciful true godly mercy and of course once you are merciful and begin to to treat others the way god treats us then you become pure in heart and then once you are pure in heart you begin to live and share the message of the prince of peace and then of course once you are living and sharing the message of the prince and peace you will receive persecution why doesn't it seem like there's more persecution in the church today that's an interesting thought now you may be watching and saying well ryan i'm persecuted all the time only you and god truly know if that's the case but it just doesn't seem like there's much persecution today i want to read you a quote from great controversy page 48. listen to this quote so she asks a question she says why is it then that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber she says the only reason is that the church has conformed to the world's standard and therefore awakens no opposition the religion which is current in our day is not the pure and not of the pure and holy character that mark the christian faith in the days of christ and his apostles it is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin because the great truths of the word of god are so indifferently regarded because there is so little vital godliness in the church that christianity is apparently so popular with the world let there be she says notice let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church and the spirit of persecution will be revived and the fires of persecution will be rekindled why is there no persecution because we have people that are not living out and declaring the message of the prince of peace we have people that have pressed the pause button somewhere along that journey perhaps maybe they've accepted jesus maybe they've had that mournful experience but somewhere along the way they failed to become meek they failed to become humble they failed to become merciful perhaps they're not hungering and thirsting for righteousness again that daily righteousness by faith experience my friends you see acts chapter 1 verse 8 gives us some insight of what the natural response is of a person who is genuinely led by the holy spirit of god if you are genuinely led by the holy spirit of god there's a natural response there's an automatic response notice what it says acts chapter 1 verse 8 i'm going to read a portion of it and here's what it says and then of course this message comes from jesus he says but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me you see when the holy spirit has come upon us my friends we we want we desire we need to become a witness for christ because you're being led by the true genuine spirit of god but many of us my friends have mercy we're quenching the holy spirit we're no longer listening to the work of the holy spirit in our life we're going our own way all we like sheep have gone astray the work cannot be finished and we cannot go home until the church wakes up but there's a famine coming and because of the current condition many of us are not ready for the famine have you heard the story about the four people named everybody somebody anybody and nobody let me tell you that story there was an important job to be done and everybody was sure that somebody would do it anybody could have done it but nobody did it somebody got angry about this because it was everybody's job everybody thought anybody could do it but nobody realized that everybody wouldn't do it it ended up that everybody blamed somebody when nobody did what anybody could have done that right there sums up the condition for most christians today we need the fire of the holy spirit in our lives to not only just wake us up but to give us the power to declare the truth of god's word to live it out among the world so that we can prepare for the coming famine i've talked about a famine you see what we need in our time what we need today is more josephs he did joseph experience a famine in his day now i told you there's a famine coming and i believe that there is and i'm going to tell you about that famine right now in our closing minutes everything we've been talking about leads up to this and is connected to this if you think 2020 was bad my friends if we're not rooted and grounded in jesus christ i don't know that we're prepared for what is coming you see we need some josephs you see there's a little something we can learn from joseph joseph experienced some things you see he had some brothers and of course joseph and his brothers had the same father but different mothers did you catch that joseph and his brothers had the same father but different mothers just like us right we all worshiped the same god but some of us well we're kind of we're on our own spiritual journey that may not necessarily be in connection with the father you see the 11 joseph had 11 brothers the 11 did not like joseph why because he kept the commandments of his father and had the gift of prophecy and of course he was persecuted for his faith just like many of us will be persecuted for our faith so he ends up in egypt right persecuted sent to egypt the mecca of false worship of his day and while he's there he's tempted get this he's tempted by a harlot and he's thrown into prison but because he had the spirit of prophecy he was able to interpret a dream by pharaoh what was pharaoh's dream listen to this my friends remember the seven cat the seven fat cattle and the seven scrawny you know sickly cattle and it ate up the fat cattle same thing with the ears of corn seven healthy ears of corn so that represented seven years of famine what did joseph tell he foretold there was a famine coming but how did he tell the people to prepare for that famine see many of us we need to receive this council we are told that there's a famine coming you see joseph told his people to prepare for the famine during that seven years of plenty to gather grain now what did they do with the grain they made bread you see we need to be gathering bread if we're going to make it through this coming famine in fact amos chapter 8 verse 11 reminds us of this famine behold the days are coming here it is says the lord god that i will send a famine upon the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but a hearing of the word of the lord my friends a famine is coming and laodicea ain't ready for it we've got to get our hearts right today my friends jesus isn't is coming soon and so i echo the words found in the first volume of the man or first manuscript from 1890 when ellen white screamed i could just hear her screaming in loving agony god of heaven wake us up that should be our prayer today and my final appeal to you today my friends is pray that prayer god of heaven wake me up wake me from my laodicean slumber help me to receive this time in which i'm living to prepare bread and to seek the lord in his word to prepare my heart for what is coming that should be our prayer in fact let's pray that in closing father in heaven wake us up lord give us your holy spirit prepare us for the famine that is coming that is what we ask in jesus holy name [Music] amen [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 220,538

Rating: 4.7975135 out of 5

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Worship Hour, Ryan Day, Sermon, bible, live church, christians, jesus, god, seventh day adventist, righteousness by faith, Laodicea

Id: b4Jfi4aZEzI

Length: 58min 4sec (3484 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 25 2020