We are acquainted with God and we want to believe him. I discovered my sinfulness when I was young and it made me think the Lord had forsaken me but He showed me He hadn’t, He said I’m still here. I saw my mistakes and said, now I’m up to my neck in my overwhelming senses of my sin. In this condition the Lord drew near to me and said look up, I am still here. We want to gather together often to remember how personal God is with us. Jesus makes us free through His Word, not magic. The centurion said to the Lord, speak only and my servant shall be healed. It was an overwhelming experience the power of the Word.

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

A book of remembrance was written for those who spake often one to another.

Malachi 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

These words are pertinent to our time as we are living in the time of the separation of the wheat and tares and the gathering of the jewels. During that time there is a danger of being overwhelmed by the generation in which we live which is so corrupt. People come together and talk of the Lord very much in the other churches but the kind of talking of the Lord has to do with the subject of the gathering of the jewels in the time in which we live. There is much we have studied so it is important for us to spend time together to try and understand and speak of the things that pertain to our time in the Lords amazing work for us. We need to bring together the power of the Lord and all the revelations with the end times. The gospel is in the Old Testament. The prophets had the spirit of Christ.

1 Peter 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come] unto you: 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

We can see that the Old Testament is actually as Jesus himself said, they are they which testify of me. In the Old Testament Jesus was revealed as He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world and that was revealed through the Old Testament and Isaiah and Psalms reveal the Savior. Wasn’t the whole sanctuary the gospel? Every item of the sanctuary was the gospel. The gifts Jesus was given at His birth were all in the sanctuary – gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. God doesn’t make something come into existence and leave it. All things He makes He sustains and He assumes His moral duty. If we have dedicated our lives to the Lord then why would He leave us?

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

He ordains every person’s life. He knows the people that will give themself to the Lord. The whole universe was placed in jeopardy when Christ came to the earth in human form to redeem mankind. Just that thought gives appreciation of the value of a soul. The beings of the perfect universe had not sinned were willing to pay that price and place themselves into jeopardy. It could have gone awry to put themselves in Satan’s power. The universe would have imploded had Jesus not succeeded.

God’s Ability to Recreate

God will manage your life if you let Him.

Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

We can talk about it and its lovely but when must it be lovely? When you are home alone going through stress. The prodigal son came home and the elder brother was jealous at him coming back and his father said all I have is yours and he didn’t know it. All God has is ours. The attitude of the older brother doesn’t come into the equation. In life, don’t worry about the peripherals as God will take care of that. Focus on Him and He will take care of the rest. If you are with the Lord in your heart there is a depth in there and unless occasions lure it into expression, it’s just deep underground. Only trust Him the hymn said. The power of God is always there.

The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel

One was wicked and one was righteous. There are two lines, Cain and Abel right through to the end. Both were worshipping God and sacrificing to Him but God only accepted one sacrifice and the other He said no to. In the last days there will be two classes of worshippers bringing their sacrifices to God. The treasure was in the field and God found it and gave everything for it. Jewels – special treasure. God can make something out of nothing. If you are, or feel you are nothing, then God can make something out of you. If any man thinks he is somebody he is a nobody.

Galatians 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

God can turn the hopelessness into hope out of absolute darkness. If there is darkness in your heart, what will the Lord do through the gospel? Darkness was on the face of the earth and He who can bring light out of darkness can shine in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

If you want to see the glory of God where must you look? To Jesus. When? When he was in darkness. Look at His face on the cross. Look at His face in Gethsemane. I was once in absolute darkness. It was a life threatening sensation. My brain was ready to disintegrate and the Lord said to me, when you see others in the state you are now, what would you have taught them? Jesus in Gethsemane. There was light out of darkness. Jesus was in the darkness that overwhelms us. You will find your way out of your darkness as there He turned darkness into light. The hopelessness of every man’s condition was dealt with there. We are to look for that gospel at creation. He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. God can do it no matter how hopeless a situation is. A lot of us have not been in the most hopeless situation where nothing is left anymore. Nothing but hopelessness. When you are in that state, you can be saved. You never want to forget that.

The Water

Israel was stressed as they came upon a mass of water and the Egyptians were behind them and the mountains around them and God sent a great wind and saved them. We are made up of 75% water.

Isaiah 56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I [am] a dry tree. 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose [the things] that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 56:5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;

The scripture talks a lot about moisture in the Word, moisture in the soul. The dew of the Holy Spirit is the dew from heaven. Let us not say we are a dry tree because the Lord can bring light out of darkness and bring moisture out of dryness and the desert will bloom as a flower. We want to exonerate the Lord not merely just saying praise the Lord for no particular reason, we want to look at the works of the Lord.

Bush Turkeys

In Queensland you get bush turkeys and they used to annoy me. They looked really ugly and they scratched the urban area up and they make a mess. I didn’t realise how amazing the bush turkey is. They are a little bird of 1.8 kilos. They lay an egg just smaller than an ostrich egg. One every three days for two months. The males build a huge nest and it can be 3 or 4 meters wide and high. The female bush turkey looks at the huge nest and she will look and say no. He won’t complain. He will make another pile. She will come and inspect it and will say okay. She will go right into the center and will lay 17 eggs in the middle of the mulch and the eggs need to be 32.7 degree Celsius. The male bird has to make sure it is and it can tell a degree change by .1 of a degree.

If it’s getting too cold it checks the humidity which must be 98% humidity. He has to open up the center to get the temperature. If it’s too hot he puts sand on top to reflect the sun. he is incubating the eggs in the middle of the bush. These birds are doing it with a mound of mulch and when born they have a huge mound of mulch on it. it kicks the mulch with its legs and scratches and falls on its chest until he builds his way out of his nest and then at maturity he will build one for his female. These little birds are the ugliest creatures but prove you don’t need to look nice to give God the glory. These bush turkeys have astounded scientists and caused some to become creationists. They are doing something incredible that is such a fine tuned machine. The design is odd yet great. You get to know a bit about God’s mind after seeing that. Don’t let circumstances overwhelm your mind. Has he not come inside of us? He wants to have full control within us so that we will persevere.

The Word Firstborn

Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, [even] the forgiveness of sins: 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Often when we hear the word firstborn we think of production line. Number 1, 2, 3. It doesn’t mean that. The first lady, is she the first lady? No, she is the most important lady. That is the idea behind the word first. The first born is also the word beginning. The beginning is the word first or before. If I am before you, I am first. The word before and word born is the word of source, produce or bring forth. Looking at the interpretation it is evident by the next verse as it says by Him were all things created. If we put that interpretation of the word first born, it is proven right.

Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

He is the beginning of the creation of God. Verse 18. He started it. There was nothing that was not started by Him and He is the chief number 1 which termed, first born, but without our finite thinking He must have come out of the womb first. The Bible says Ephraim was my first born but he wasn’t. The first born in the bible isn’t always born first. He created everything, He is the first born. When you think about that, everything that exists in the universe visible or invisible came from Christ, Jesus Christ the second person of the Godhead, the Father has Christ. He delighted all the daylong in Christ. All that the Father has is what? Is Christ. Everything came from Christ. If it wasn’t from Christ there was nothing. The only thing the Father has is Christ and He gave him up.

If He gave up Jesus He gave up everything else that exists as everything came from the Son. He had him in the bosom, the express image of His person. That was a gift. It wasn’t like He has a big repertoire of stuff and he said you have Jesus. The treasury was bone dry by giving Jesus even His own throne. Shouldn’t that motivate us to give all to him? If we find Jesus who is a root of a dry ground, we give everything to him. What would have happened to the universe if Jesus sinned? There would have been an implosion of the universe. The whole universe would have imploded. Satan was going against God’s government. That is a lot to risk. Did the Godhead say should we go to war and kill these people?

Stress and Anxiety

Are you stressed over guilt, hope for the future in your life whether it be financial or whatever it is? Eternal life? Does it make any sense that we would become anxious about anything when we look at it by the above way? To take away the stress out of people’s lives, Jesus came to take away peoples anxiety. What is anxiety? Absence from Jesus. If it is of anxiety it is not of God. Adam was anxious and ran for his life. What is coming upon us? The heavens are going to fall. We are going to drink the same cup of Christ. Let it sink in because if you don’t you won’t survive. You need to know what happens to you in the sense of abject hopelessness that you are already equipped with the ability survive that. There was a Seventh Day Adventist lady that my parents knew. She with her Husband and children used to visit us and when I got older, and I got to the age of colporteuring I came across her house.

I gave her my canvass speech and the message I was carrying and she said, I have long given that up for when you are in pain and suffering as I’ve been through and you pray to God and he doesn’t answer you, you know you have been on a wrong understanding. I said, have you given up on faith? She said, wait till you get to my age. How many people lose their child like faith – why? The older you get the more loss of energy and pain you suffer under an ailment, everything looks like it is coming to an end and there is no light out of darkness and even as you pray nothing happens. How do you feel when that happens? What happened to Job? Did he give up his faith? His wife told him to. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Is that easy said when you are going through a situation of abject hopelessness? What is the end of the world to you?

Mark 4:40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Psalms 119:8 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

Why do people continue in darkness? They don’t choose to look to Him. We will not choose. Some think it’s easier to put confidence in man. In the light of everything, to dwell on the abilities of God releases of all stress. The mind must be stayed on Him. Once you appreciate these things like we are and we tell of each other’s experience, when it comes to your meditation upon God, what is the real essence of worship? Adoring, admiring and submitting to God because you admire Him. How can you bring your children to obey you? Get them to admire you. If they admire you, they will obey you. Abrahams household admired him as he had an admirable character. If you watch a child closer, the little baby looks up at its parent’s and is studying them. The way the parent comes toward that child it either admires or becomes fed up with the parent. Parents are in the place of God to children. The true worship of God is the admiration of God which makes us admirable to our children as we are not fretful and we are not overbearing but patient, kind and when the child is having trouble we give the child to sense, not by words but by communication of admirable mentality, the child will feel it. That’s how my children obeyed me. The onlookers used to say you are under your fathers thumb but my daughter said, no, he leaves us be. That is what children need to grow up with.

In the Process of Time

At the end of days – the Sabbath was when Cain and Abel came to worship. There is an attitude of Sabbath keeping that differentiates Seventh Day Adventist’s from true sabbath keepers. The name Seventh Day Adventist was given because it was a message communicated and true Seventh-Day Adventism is what was contained in that message. The word ath in Hebrew means a portent sign that it means what? A wonderful child or omen. We are Gods wonderful child. He is anxious that we appreciate what he has done for us. He is anxious for it. Stop to think about God instead of me. He loves me so much, He wants me. He is anxious that I would be his wonderful child.

The Sabbath is a day of re-consecrating our life to Him everything anew. We seek to become one with God as Christ is one with His Father. That can’t be done without repentance. That is before the sun goes down on Friday. We are relinquishing our pastime and work to admire God. To admire Him we have to look at Him. Keep this in our hearts and minds as the children will learn true Sabbath keeping if we keep it as a special time. Satan is at work to destroy that and when we have lost it the only way we can get it back is by faith. Faith generated by not shutting God out of the equation. God doesn’t force. We can’t twist the arm of God to force Him into what we want to do. God is a God who is so fair minded and lets everybody make their own choice. We are living in a time when neither Noah Job nor Daniel could save son or daughter.

Amen.