Three Areas to Examine in Preparing for Passover

[Music] well good afternoon brethren and happy sabbath to all of you i hope that you are have had a very pleasant sabbath up to now it's really a privilege to be back with you once again and to share the sabbath with you i must add however that this is not exactly what i had in mind when i was anticipating getting a chance to have to be with you at services again but even though we have to do it spread across the this part of north carolina and go through the technology available to us it's still a privilege to share the sabbath with all of you well passover is now but three days away we've heard about preparing for the passover for the last two months or so and maybe longer that means we've had 10 or 11 sermonettes and sermons related to passover encouraging us to examine ourselves carefully to see or to be sure that we are properly prepared for passover and perhaps now that it's imminent again somewhat upon us three days away we may still be asking ourselves what more can we do in order to be prepared properly for passover for this particular passover because we want to be careful that we are ready for that let's turn over to second corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 and you may know this and not need to turn to it but in sec corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 we get this admonition from paul which was at this particular time he was talking about was around the passover time when he was writing corinthians he tells us in verse 5 of chapter 13 examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith test yourselves it is try yourselves ask yourself some hard questions some difficult questions about your life and about how you're obeying god he says do you not know yourselves that jesus christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified so he is telling us that we need to be able to see that christ is living his life in us that we are what we profess to be that we are christians but in doing so and recognizing that yes we should be we are living a life that defines us as a christian we're also in that examination we are going to see things that need to be changed that we're still falling somewhat short of jesus christ's example that we as sin is defined the word sin is defined as missing the mark we are still missing the mark and the example that jesus christ set for us and he gives us then a serious and sobering admonition that if christ is not in us we are disqualified and we want to be sure when we see ourselves that we can see christ in us and recognize that there are things that still need to change and we are going to work on those and make changes so this afternoon i would like to discuss three areas of our spiritual lives that each of us should consider and examine as we approach passover so the first point and i want to make this a question is how seriously do you and i take the admonition to watch and we hear the word watch most of us i'm sure relate that to watching for the signs of the end of the age but how seriously do we take this now you may think this point or this question is a bit odd since we are in the midst of the worst and most dramatic crisis that the vast majority of us have ever experienced there may be some few of us as brethren i don't know here even that maybe has some recollection of world war ii or the immediately aftermath but most of us uh were not cognizant of what was going on in world war ii we've heard about it we've seen it we've watched the movies we watch the accounts but none of us the vast majority of us again have not experienced this kind of crisis in our lifetime so but i would like for us to note what the bible tells us about our future let's turn over to matthew chapter 24. matthew chapter 24 and we'll read just a few of the verses here in matthew 24 beginning in verse 3 he says now as he said on the mount of olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age christ answers then and says take heed that no one deceives you for many will come in my name saying i am the christ and will deceive many and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars and see that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines pestilences and earthquakes in various places these are the beginning of sorrows they would then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake so the bible tells us there are going to be all kinds of problems we know right now wars and rumors of wars there have been it seems more recently there's been a a growing number of earthquakes and certainly now we're in the midst of this coronavirus or uh covet 19 crisis that again is something that's affecting the entire world and many of our nations have been brought to their knees seems economically and socially in order to fight this particular problem mr weston in his sermon last week mate and i will paraphrase his comment that is bad as this is this isn't the end it's just a warm up to what is yet coming now i'm pretty sure that by now all of us would agree that this cry correct this crisis with calvin 19 is quite the warm-up it has dramatically affected our lives we are not assembling together at the high school we are meeting online as we say and our activities at headquarters are limited we're all working from home many of you are working from home some few of you apparently have lost jobs so it's dramatically affected our lives and the lives of our fellow citizens the country and the world but it's just a warm up so i'll ask you again how seriously have we taken the admonition to watch i began hearing this admonition back in 1965 66 when i first began attending church in columbus ohio now in reality i have to admit that didn't mean a great deal to me at the time i still had uh what was to be unrealized aspirations of becoming an engineer and the end seemed a long way off even though it still might happen in my lifetime but when i was 18 19 and 20 that still seem like a long way off and for that matter it might not even come in my lifetime well as has turned out it has been a long time it's been about 54 or 55 years since i first heard the admonition to watch and the end is still not here we're still here anticipating what the future might hold to us however i want to draw your attention to something let's turn over to mark 13. and we realize mark 13 is a parallel account to matthew 24 and luke 21 and i'll just summarize here again in mark 13 verses 1 through 27 that here christ once again in an account is given where he gives a concise report if you will or as a concise account of what is much more detailed in the book of revelations about what can be expected as a sign of the end of the age and mark as did matthew he talks about false teachings he talks about wars he talks about earthquakes famines pessimises and persecution and again in verse 8 he does point out these are the beginnings of sorrows just the beginnings of course they've asked the question well when is this going to come about when how will we know this is happening and so he says in verse 28 mark 13 verse 28 says now learn this parable from the fig tree when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves you know the summer is near so you also when you see these things happening these earthquakes these these pestilences the wars and rumors of wars and the false teachings when you see these things happening know that it is near at the doors and then he adds in verse 32 but of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels in heaven nor the son christ was saying i don't know exactly when it will happen but only the father they wanted to know when these things would happen and christ just gave them signs they would indicate when this was going to happen but he could not definitely tell them exactly when it was going to happen and then in verse 33 he adds take heed watch and pray for you do not know when the time is is like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants into each his work and commanded the doorkeeper to watch watch therefore for you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight at the crowing of the rooster or in the morning lest coming suddenly he finds you sleeping so he gives a warning here to watch and pray pray that we can discern the signs of the time we can discern when these signs clearly indicate we are approaching the end of the age now let's turn over to luke 21 again to the parallel account that luke composed in luke 21 we'll pick it up in verse in verse 31. yeah luke 21 verse 31 and again christ is being quoted here he says so you also when you see these things happening know that the kingdom of god is near assuredly i say to you this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place heaven and earth will pass away but my words will by no means pass away but take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come on you unexpectedly for will come on it will come as a snare on all those who dwell in the face of the whole earth watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the son of man so i think it's noteworthy that as he mentions this when you see all these things happening that you'll know that the kingdom of god is near but then he adds to verse 34 but take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and cares of this life indicating that even in the midst of this kind of turmoil of wars and rumors of wars and and earthquakes and famines and pestilences even in the midst of all that turmoil people could still be weighed down and giving into the cares of this life and somehow be distracted from the reality that christ is about to return and again it may seem odd right now in the midst of all this that we would let this distract the distract us from watching probably we are watching more intently right now than many of us ever have but how seriously have we taken that before perhaps you've never noted the timing of these three accounts and it's the same account the same record perhaps you never know the timing of this account because we refer to these scriptures often in our writings and in our sermons without always specifically noting their setting and their timing let's turn back if you will again to mark chapter 14. mark chapter 14 and verse 1. and mark's account points out that after two days it was the passover in the feast of unleavened bread and the chief priests and scribes sought how they might take him by trickery or by deception and put him to death how many of us have ever noted that this warning about the end of the age was given just before christ's last observance of passover and he's giving them these messages saying here you need to be watching and knowing that in a couple of three days he was not going to be with them he was going to be crucified and buried and this warning was given at passover and at least to me it seems a little bit beyond coincidence that the target dates or the general dates of two to three weeks from now is when this particular problem for the united states is supposed to peak they will happen right in that that peak period will come right in the middle of the days of unleavened bread so we should be watching and we should be careful that we do that we are the ones brethren who have been given a better understanding of prophecy back in second peter chapter one i just want to note that in second peter chapter one [Music] in verses 16 through 21 16-21 of second peter chapter one peter's writing and he wants to confirm his testimony that he knows what he's talking about he was a personal witness of jesus christ and he says here in verse 16 for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our lord jesus christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from god the father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain and so we have the prophetic word confirmed which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts and the margin on this uh points up which says we have the prophetic word confirmed an alternate translation is we also have the more sure prophetic word we understand prophecy better than most but what he's also saying here is we have the word of prophecy confirmed pointing out that we saw all the prophecies given in the old testament we saw all of these prophecies about a messiah fulfilled in jesus christ we have no doubt that he was the son of god he was the messiah and that he is going to return he's going to come again and we understand the prophecies that god has given to us are going to come to pass we have a better understanding about prophecy than almost anyone so all the prophecies concerning christ were fulfilled and he says then again in verse 19 which you do well to heed we should be paying close attention to what we know as prophesied in the near future and we should be watching and the warning to be to be watching came at passover i think it's also worthy of noting that the expanded account we find in matthew 24 and 25 two chapters that are almost entirely what we would call red letter uh verses where christ is quoted things he said you know from my my study and my review of the scriptures that this is the third most uh detailed record of christ's words and third behind the accounts given in matthew five six and seven in what is called the the olivet sermons or the sermon on the mount and then of course what christ is where christ is quoted in john 13 14 15 16 and 17. and in matthew 24 and 25 it includes all this prophecy in the parables and a reminder that we should be watching and always praying again in closing this particular point let's turn back to mark 13 and we'll read one scripture that i passed over earlier mark chapter 13 and he says in verse 35 he says what's therefore and then he adds something very emphatic in verse 37 and what i say to you i say to all watch so christ is very emphatically telling us that you and i should be very diligent in watching the signs at the end of the age and at passover time and especially with what we're going through right now at passover time the passover season this should be a stern reminder that you and i must keep our spiritual eyes wide open trying to discern the times in which we live and and what is happening in the world knowing that when these things come to pass we are in fact looking forward to the return of jesus christ this pandemic in this coming passover season should should remind us to be ever watchful at the fulfillment of prophecy that will lead up to the return of jesus christ you and i must do all we can to stay close to god so that we can in fact recognize the signs when they're there and as they come to pass in the course that you and i can be counted worthy to escape the things that are going to happen right our second point this is pretty pretty basic and straightforward but i think nonetheless it is a simple recipe or a simple outline that will help us examine ourselves thoroughly and i could say somewhat quickly between now and and the passover in three days but it's also mentioned by dr douglas winnell and his comments for the week in the world ahead but i'd already prepared this this point and so i want to share it with you anyway but that is to review each of the ten commandments to go through them one by one to read them the account there in exodus chapter 20 verses 1-17 these commandments help us define sin it tells us what we are to do and what we are not to do and we are told that if we transgress these commandments we're sending we're missing the mark so it is worth taking the time to go through those commandments one at a time and ask ourselves again the hard questions of how am i doing in regard to this particular commandment that god has laid down and expects all of us to obey in the first commandment he swore he tells us you shall have no other gods before me that we should not let anything or anyone come between us and god not have any separation from him anything that's more important not a relative not a child not a mate not a job not anything we are be should be told in luke we're told that we make out the cost that we are to love god more than anything else more than anyone else and so we ask ourselves are we allowing anything any activity any pursuit any person to interfere with our relationship with god and again knowing ourselves things we still need to work on we can be honest with ourselves hopefully we are asking god to help us see ourselves as he sees us and so we want to ask ourselves hard questions and be honest with ourselves how are we doing in relation to this first commandment is there anything that's coming between me and our father in heaven second commandment you shall not make for yourself any carved image and bow down to them nor serve them now for us today this may seem a little far-fetched we don't have idols we don't have carvings uh we don't have pictures of christ in our homes as many of the churches almost all of the traditional christian churches have they have the stained glass windows they actually have statues and in some cases they pray to those to the beings they think are in heaven that those statues represent and yet god tells us we are not to do any such thing and for us this may i think the spiritual application much er er is a it goes in tandem with the first commandment that are we allowing anything to come between us and god that if that thing is physical it becomes the idol it becomes a carved image if it's someone or something whether it be a job again or whether it be some physical asset that we might want we'll get to that with the 10th commandment but i think the the second commandment goes in tandem with the first then the third commandment so you shall not take the name of the lord your god in vain that's so common in our society so common so you can hear it anywhere you go you can hear it in your grocery stores you can hear someone take god's name in vain even on the streets when you're walking it no one or very few people it seems have any compunction or a second thought about taking god's name in vain it's all around us the other problem with that is when it is so common it sometimes can easily creep into our own language in moments of frustration or in moments of anger we say things that we ought not say and the god the bible tells us and with that account in exodus that he will not hold us blameless if we do that we have to repent of that but such language as pervasive as is we have to be very careful to not allow that ubiquitous misuse of god's name to become part of our language in our manners because it seems that no one is really that very careful about taking god's name in vain or does it bother them the fourth commandment is just to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy something we do every week something we're doing right now we're doing today as god commanded we're having an assembly albeit spread out we have an assembly coming together to worship him on his sabbath we are to have a commanded convocation we are doing that and we began keeping the sabbath last night at sunset and we'll maintain keeping it until sunset this evening we do it every week and perhaps it can become so common to us that we are not as careful again as we ought to be in keeping it holy it is holy time that is it is set aside for a special particular specific purpose when we are to worship god when we are to remember who he is who we are we are his servants we are his bond servants like being bond servant of jesus christ we are god's people and how we keep the sabbath how we observe this how carefully we observe it is a testimony that we are in fact the people of god it's a sign between our father and us so we must remember to keep the sabbath day we ask ourselves are we careful do we ever fudge on sunset friday evening do we let other interests distract us during the sabbath and keep taking our minds away from this particular meaning of the day do we spend time with our own thoughts that are really not relevant to the christian life not that we have to be quoting verses all the time or singing hymns all day long but that we don't let the cares of this life encroach upon our time to commune with god to think the right kinds of thoughts to fellowship properly with our brethren albeit right now we we do that by phone or by text uh or by email uh we stay in touch with one another that uh but when we we're services together we have a chance to fellowship we have a chance to be with one another to share a meal to share refreshments and enjoy being around people like mind but do we ever take these things too casually because we shouldn't do that we must remember that it is holy time and we must observe it properly in order to be sure that it stays holy time the fifth commandment is about honoring your father and mother some of us uh don't have living parents anymore they're deceased but many of us still have our parents maybe only one parent living but how careful are we to show honor and respect to them whether it be mother's day father's day or both or simply taking the time to make sure we stay in touch because in many cases our parents live away from us they're miles away they're hundreds of or thousands of miles away they may be in a different country do we make sure we take the time to stay in touch and check on them and show honor to them and show them that we love them and of course if we're younger for young people and we're living at home still under the the the control if you will or under the responsibility of our parents are we as young people showing honor to them are we obedient are we cooperative are we trustworthy do we show that we honor them by our example the things we do when they're not around do we show honor to them by being their offspring so when someone sees us they see our parents in us i know that as a boy that you know someone would say well and my father was nicknamed red he had red hair uh reddish deep reddish hair and he would say are you red strains boy well if i was in a compromising situation of some sort uh i'd have to remit admit reluctantly well yes i am knowing that my father would find out about that but hopefully in a good circumstance i was happy to say yes i'm red strained son because that would let them know that i was happy to be his son and that what i was doing hopefully would honor him so as you know holding up if you will the family name if our young people are honoring their parents they are holding up the family name sixth commandment he says you shall not murder and we know that it's not right to kill the christ of course expanded on this and all of these commandments spiritually in matthew chapter 5 6-7 that it's not right to hate that to hate someone is the spirit of murder and allowing a spiteful a vengeful attitude of of hate is in god's eyes equivalent to murder so do we control our emotions in that regard to where we don't let our discomforts our disappointments our problems ever induce us to think that kind of ill will towards some other individual in the seventh commandment you shall not commit adultery he tells us that in matthew he also tells us that beyond just a physical issue of committing adultery that we should not allow our minds to be lustful we should not look on some other human being but male or female if we're married we don't look on or even as if we're single we don't look on someone of the opposite sex and with a lustful thought that's the spirit of fornication or the spirit of adultery and again because this particular kind of sin is so pervasive it's easy to fall into that trap the world at large is trying its best to be nothing but alluring to pull us away from the right kind of images the advertising world the entertainment world makes it sound like illicit sex of all flavors doesn't really have any consequence there's always assuming there's almost always a good ending that somehow in spite of the fornication or the adultery things work out for the good guys or the the stars of the entertainment that is going on but in reality that's not the case giving in to that kind of conduct only brings misery and suffering broken homes damaged children damaged adults husbands and wives god says we should be careful not to allow that to enter our lives even on a spiritual plane to closely guard our minds to bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of jesus christ and that's a big challenge in the world around us because the world flaunts this particular commandment much as it does the commandment about taking god's name in vain he just flaunts this particular commandment of not committing adultery the eighth commandment says you shall not steal so we don't rob banks we don't take other people's belongings hopefully but we can fudge if you will on expense reports do we do that do we uh if someone gives us an excess amount of change when we pay a bill which we used cash we get too much money back we know it's too much do we honestly return the money back to the proper owner we certainly should do that we probably don't have a huge problem with being theft being thieves and but nonetheless we need to think about it are there ways in which we are being deceitful and maybe not giving a full day's work we want a full day's pay but are we earning our keep are we earning our wage are we giving our employer a fair return on his the salary that he gives us or that she gives us are we in fact maybe giving more we give a little more time we want to be careful to more than pay back in effort what we're paid for we get to work a little bit early we work a little bit late we don't expect a penny for every second that we work and certainly we don't want to shortchange our employer by not working in maintaining a fair performance for our wage commandment is you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor and more in terms of the common uses we don't lie we find in proverbs that god says lying is an abomination he hates lying he hates for anyone to be deceitful and not be honest even to the point that if what we have to admit on occasion is to our own hurt if we've done something wrong and we're asked about it we don't want to to lie about that and try to hide our guilt we want to be honest and apologize you make mistakes sometimes they're not deliberate not on purpose we make mistakes and we have to own up to our mistakes we do not want to lie it's a uh years ago i took an aptitude test well actually it was more like a uh one of these personality profile tests and the question uh you can't you can't beat the systems they put into these uh these profile exams the kwa one question was have you ever lied well the answer to that is yes because anybody that says no is lying because all of us have lied at some point in our lives and maybe you lied many many times and then later in the in this profile another question came up says are you a liar and i stopped and thought well i admitted being a lie that i told a lie does that make me a liar now other words someone that is given to lying what is the definition of being a liar and just gave me uh gave me pause to think that yes if i've lied to some degree or another no matter how infrequently that may have happened i am at least again to some degree or another i am a liar and if you say yes to that of course when you're looking at the people are going to review this profile it's like well how big a liar is he is he an inveterate liar or does he only lie in the worst of circumstances uh or is it just something he does on a rare occasion but god says we should not lie we should not be deceitful we should not misrepresent we should not unduly exaggerate in order to to shade a point or whatever or to uh under under say under exaggerate in order to belittle something and finally the tenth commandment says you shall not covet which going through the examples that are there in in in exodus talks about coveting a house or someone else's possession it comes right down to we should not have an inordinate desire for something that is wrong nor something that we can't afford to have and or something that's kind of it's wrong we shouldn't have it there's nothing wrong in having the desires for let's say certain things that we want we're willing to work for it that we're going to work toward this goal but it doesn't become goes back to divert to the second commandment it doesn't become an idol we don't seek this thing to the detriment of our spiritual lives we don't have such an inordinate desire for some physical thing that we don't pray as much as we should we don't study as much as we should that we maybe once in a while we would work on the sabbath in order to not lose our job because we want certain things beyond just physical security either we should not have it because it's wrong or it's something that we can't afford right now and so we lust after it we think about it far too much beginning and having certain wanting certain things certain comforts of life creature comforts of this life you can work for it you can plan for it and if they're affordable then it's sort of within balance these things are okay to have but god tells us that it becomes an inordinate desire it's sin and it's his tenth commandment as paul points out that if he didn't had didn't had not been made to understand the spiritual implications of coveting he would not have known sin that the tenth commandment and it helps embody the other nine helps these things bring those things into focus so we can ask ourselves some hard questions about these ten commandments as well part of our examination leading up to passover the third point and i want to call this point are we listening are we listening that might sound again a bit odd for a title of a point but this has to do specifically with those whom god has chosen to lead his work now what we'll go through here could apply to anyone and in particular i want to focus on this but could apply to any one of the evangelists that god has ordained to that position we have four evangelists in god's church right now and god has chosen them to be in that position and they are the leaders of the work however i want to illustrate this point even more specifically through some of the messages given recently by mr weston our presiding evangelist i'm sure i surely hope that all of us pray for mr weston every day asking god to guide him inspire him support him in the many responsibilities that he's been given to carry and and to fulfill whether it be writing articles giving sermons making decisions reviewing department operations how we're going to preach the gospel even again recently bringing these daily updates during this particular crisis where he staying in touch with the all the membership if we look at that each day we stay current on that but even people outside the church are following it we're asking god to inspire his speaking and inspire his writings the articles in the living church news or in the tomorrow's world and as we do so i'll ask another question besides praying for him do we do you ever wonder what is on christ's mind regarding the church which is his body what is christ thinking about if so if you think if you ever ask yourself that question then we all should be paying attention special attention to what god inspires through mr weston now what's the point i want to make here now and i want to draw our attention to the fact that recently mr weston has been as focused on a vital point that i think deserves examination and review as we lead into passover recently two of the last four sermons he's given two of those sermons and also then articles he's written for the living church news deal with satan's power and his methods to deceive and discusses specifically the risk of technology the sermons he talked about was the sermon the serpent's info info marshal given back on 11 13 or 11 23 and then on march 7th he gave a sermon he entitled the context in history and then they said i more or less i subtitled it don't let technology mislead you and he used one example as a picture is worth a thousand words but he reminded us that a picture is simply an instant in time it doesn't give you context of what happened before that picture or what happened after that picture was taken and that we as we read the bible and study it we need to understand the context of what is recorded there we know the before and the afternoon he talked about how many you know why do why the book of ruth in the book in the bible where it is that there's there are things to be learned about the context and we shouldn't let the fact that we have smartphones we have computers and tablets and what all that smartphones don't make us smart smartphones just give us a lot of data give us a lot of information but how we use that information can help with determine whether or not we're being wise and using good judgment and whether or not we're smart about the information and the knowledge that it may provide also in the fairly recent living church news in january and february he wrote the editorial uh was are you fooled by the devil's infomercial and then the personal was loving the world versus loving god both of them focusing in on the fact that satan is out to deceive you and me right he's out to distract us and the modern world in which we live can easily do that because of the technology that is all around us that all of us use to one degree or another and the point is that some of us play with this technology probably entirely too much now he pointed out that technology certainly has its place in our modern life after all we use the technology in order to preach the gospel to the world however it's one of those features of our world that can also have a downside we can watch too much tv or we can watch the wrong kinds of things on tv we can watch we can watch the wrong kinds of movies for that matter one the wrong kind of entertainment we can become hooked on social media to the point that it consumes much too much of our time during the day it can become sort of a an idol if you will and we spend too much time and as he's mentioned sometimes it's the first thing people do many of us do in the morning to find out what is what kind of messages or emails we may have received from our friends and not be the first thing we do is go talk to our our god and our father it can be distracting and of course we can also misuse social media we can transmit things that are not appropriate we can access things in our social media and so in the computers internet that certainly are not appropriate now i realize that many of our young people have grown up with the internet being a reality their entire lives they've never known any other way and many of them yearn for the time they can have their own phone or their own computer and in many cases for school purposes where many of our children are homeschooled certainly using that technology for that purpose a computer that's a good use of the technology but how young our children have have their own phones how much time they use it is up to up to up to us to manage technology is everywhere in the world and it's to be used and enjoyed in a proper way technology has been brought a lot of convenience and benefits to mankind but can also be abused if we again let the entertainment that's out there that is far from acceptable if we let that entertainment encroach upon our lives in fact some of the use of technology as i said talk about social media can become addictive and even some of the creators these were referred to as technology moguls or tech moguls they've admitted that the the offerings are the product that they engineered they designed and the software they wrote it was designed to pull people in to want to make them want to use that to get some sort of emotional reaction and some sort of emotional upper you know on it from it in order to get them to use that product use that software more and more but we've also had many of those or several of those tech moguls who readily admit that they don't allow their children much access to that technology steven jobs who was over apple and invented the apple computer one of the inventors mentioned that his children this is before he died that his children had never been on an ipad never and there are others who have at least one other one mentioned that their children were not allowed to have a smartphone until their middle teens and many of them talk about regulating how many hours of screen time they're allowed each day and they limit it to one hour or an hour and a half or two hours and then they also monitor what kind of screen time that is to make sure it's constructive because they realize that the wrong kind of screen time and too much screen time is simply not good for their children and they have the the stamina in order to oversee their children's behavior one example for that is is facebook now i'm not on facebook but here a while back a friend of mine showed me a few selfies that were out there on facebook uh face selfies of some of our young people or teenagers maybe young adults in the church and i would like you to please understand that this example i'm about to give is not necessarily representative of all of our young people i don't mean that and it's i'm not saying it's prevalent but however it does illustrate the point that this is one of the things that we need to manage we need to supervise with our young people even our older teens need supervision the selfie was of a young lady again a young lady in the church i don't know how old she was or is but she was she had this selfie and it was my first thought to say that this she was in a come hither pose and i was told that many of our young people might not even know what a young hither look is but in reality what it was was it was suggestive now that was my my reaction now i can't impute that it was deliberate on this young person's part to do that no nonetheless it was suggestive it wasn't hard to figure out that it was suggestive because of the likes that she received from other people who saw the picture one of which one one adult as a matter of fact one adult in the church responded you're hot now i think all of us know what that would imply now the image again was inappropriate i don't i can't impute motive on on on her part and it's not my point it was simply that was it turned out to be inappropriate and it was out there for her friends to see and the comment that's just one example and again what was surprising was the many or some of the likes i wouldn't say many but some of the likes were from adults members of the church parents that were complimenting her on the picture so why would she think it was wrong when there are baptized members adults who are complimentary complimenting her on on the on the selfie so it's just a thought i'm asking myself where where were the parents and why were you why was it not supervised uh where there was a uh why should she thinking why would she think it was not appropriate when other other adults or adults were giving her kudos if you will for the picture now personally i've had at least one occasion where one young person showed me that it doesn't matter whether it was here or somewhere else but one person a young person showed me some text that had been received on that person's phone they were clearly inappropriate they were clearly inappropriate coming from a baptized member a young baptized member indicating something that should not be indicated so it's out there why would why would someone misuse technology to that my point is it's easily done can fall when you fall prey to that because it's out there so much again i would like to think and like to hope that this is the rare exception again i'm not saying it's prevalent but it does illustrate the hazard that technology presents to us to our children that we need to be aware that i guess maybe the selfie phenomenon can be become inappropriate it can be a little bit of a popularity contest in order to create this please look at me look at me syndrome as opposed to the right kind of communication between parents between friends that uh it can just become excessive we don't want that to be the case certainly when used appropriately in a way for our families and our friends that technology is a good thing and we've as we with this ongoing crisis we've encouraged our members to stay in touch with one another to fellowship either by real phone calls or by text messaging or emails to stay in touch with one another and so that we feel a part of the church we are part of god's people but my point is this that for members of any agent it does this is not just against talking about young people falling prey to this because even adults can and do fall prey to the misuse of technology because it's satan's world and he anything that any invention or any product that has a good use such as does the internet satan can find a way to pollute it he can find a way to tear it down and put it into far worse use than it was intended by many or by the creators so when we ask ourselves yo are we really careful are we listening or or when we hear mr weston in multiple sermons at least two and he's mentioned this in other sermons in prior in last year that we say yes mr weston i hear you but i have this under control i'm i'm not addicted to the to the social media i'm not addicted to the internet i've got it under control and because just mentioned more than once and we just say well i've got it under control and they move on without taking the time to realize that if if christ is inspiring this message to be given to us more than once if there is an echo from jesus christ through his ministry through his the leader of his work in at this time then maybe just maybe this is something that all of us need to pay very close attention to that we need to be examining ourselves about how we use the technology that has right uses but how are we using it is it excessive is it inappropriate because christ may be in these two sermons again leading up to the passover season to the holy day season these two sermons these articles are right in the time when we are preparing for this holy day season then maybe christ is telling us at this time we need to examine ourselves especially in this regard because the servant he has chosen to lead the work is telling us in a very sober tone we need to be in control of technology not vice versa we don't want the technology to control our lives into where we use it excessively or inappropriately why would any of us pray that god would inspire what is done what is the work is performed by mr weston again it could apply to any of the leaders that i've mentioned but in particular if we praying for mr weston and we ask god to inspire what he says and what he writes decisions he makes why would we then turn maybe not deliberately but casually turn a deaf ear to what he has to say again at least in my mind there's an echo going all the way back to that sermon that sermon back in earl in the latter part of 2019 right after the sermon he gave recently in the articles he's written in the living church news there's an echo where god jesus christ is trying to draw our attention to something that we need to manage we need to change we need to govern and we need to control are we listening to what christ is inspiring we're not just listening to a man we're listening to a man that is inspired by god to teach us about his way and give us the right kind of warnings about character and how we should manage to serve the example and step up to the example of jesus christ in closing let's turn to a couple of scriptures listen back in first timothy chapter one i'm sorry i think it's second timothy chapter one yes second timothy chapter one in just this one verse verse 13 paul writing to timothy and he's reminding timothy the responsibility as as a young evangelist to do his job but his words the word what he writes to timothy certainly applies to every one of us today he says in verse 13 hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in christ jesus so he's admonishing timothy to hold fast what he heard from paul what paul had taught him and we are admonished the same thing when we hear the words the sound words the sound doctrine the sound instruction coming from those that god has chosen to lead us we should hold them fast we should hold cling to them and do that in love in love for them in love for the right the privilege of knowing the truth and in faith that this is going to help us become like jesus christ and then in philippians chapter 4. philippians chapter four verse nine paul writing to the philippians which was a very stable church but he does remind them here in philippians chapter 4 verse 9 he says the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the god of peace will be with you we want god to be with us we want the god of peace to lead us give us peaceful lives but he we are admonished to take hold of the things that those that he's put in in positions of leadership what they teach us what we hear from take those as the words coming from god the father and jesus christ and inspired through the power of his holy spirit then in psalm 119 psalm 119 psalm 119 verse 66. psalm 119 verse 66 he says teach me good judgment and knowledge for i believe your commandments and what's recorded here for us is we are asking god to help us absorb his word the instruction we receive from his servants and we learn how to apply it in a right it says a judgment teacher good judgment and knowledge we have the information given to us we want to absorb the knowledge and be able to apply it in a righteous way to apply his commandments with good taste and with discernment and finally over in ephesians chapter four well known scripture for all of us ephesians chapter four just a reminder of exactly why we have leaders in god's church and why he put them in the places that he did god ordained them for those into those positions by his power and gives them the gifts and the support they need verse 11 of ephesians 4 and he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists and some pastors and teachers to do so put them in place for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the building up the strengthening of the body of christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the son of god to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that he has ordained the ministry and the leaders that he's placed over his work so that we you and i can reach a point that we are a perfect man what that means is a complete man and we're not lacking any major element of christianity that we are a perfect man we are a complete man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that when people see us certainly when the other christians that they can see christ in us and that kind of instruction that we pray for god to give and for christ to give to mr weston and the other the other leaders we need to be listening are we listening you and i need to be listening and any any answer to that question but yes would be unacceptable so let's watch more diligently more carefully than we ever have looking for the ends of the a so that we can discern these signs we'll look for them carefully let's review the ten commandments and ask ourselves the hard questions about how well we are doing in each each one of them in each aspect and finally let's listen and respond to jesus christ and those he has chosen and placed in positions to teach us especially in this area of technology i hope that all of you have a special passover in three days and a very profitable and enjoyable feast of unleavened bread good afternoon [Music] you

Channel: Living Church of God

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Length: 70min 41sec (4241 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021