Category Archives: Divine Service Sermons
Passive in God’s Hands
Scripture reading: Psalm 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 9 Be ye not as the horse, [or] as the mule, [which] have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mould me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
As we sing these beautiful words, it is essential that they become real in our lives, to be clay in the Potter’s hand. For a human being who has such a strong personality, such strong convictions of their own, to be totally clay in the hands of the Lord is a real challenge. To just let Him search us and try us until we become whiter than snow—that is the call. The realities of life, when we are in God’s school, are a challenge that calls for a willingness to submit, as this song expresses. Read the rest of this entry
10. A Heart of Forgiveness
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3, pdf
Scripture reading: Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We want to open our hearts to this grace that will pardon and cleanse within, this grace that is greater than all our sins. For without this grace of God,
Sin and despair, like the seawaves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss. Read the rest of this entry
The Dearest on Earth to Me
Scripture reading: Luke 8:20 And it was told him [by certain] which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. 21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
I have a Friend so precious,
So very dear to me,
He loves me with such tender love,
He loves so faithfully;
I could not live apart from Him,
I love to feel Him nigh,
And so we dwell together, My Lord and I. Read the rest of this entry
Keeping Sabbath Holy
Scripture reading: Exodus 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD:
O Jesus, let me ever hail
Thy presence with the day of rest.
Sabbath day is a holy day. And as we worship the Lord of the Sabbath, we want to dwell upon His holiness and the glory of the holy Sabbath day. We want a view of its sacredness, so that as we contemplate the Sabbath and its holiness we may better keep it than we have done in the past. This is our purpose now—to be so affected by the holiness of the Sabbath that we will keep it holy. Read the rest of this entry
8. What Is Your Fragrance?
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3 pdf
Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
We again continue our deep heart searching, because we are dwelling in the antitypical day of atonement, the day of judgment, a solemn truth that is being neglected in many Christians circles today. We are called upon to examine our lives because our great High Priest is in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, and our lives are being examined. We are researching where in our lives we are not pleasing God, and how He wants us to please Him—what pleases God and what displeases Him—so that what displeases Him can be put away. Read the rest of this entry
The Faith of Jesus for Obedience
Scripture reading: Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
We want to delve once more into the application of the distinctive description of God’s people in the words of Revelation: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Why should we spend time enlarging this faith of Jesus? Read the rest of this entry
7. Motive of Love
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3, pdf
Scripture reading: Revelation 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 4 Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
We are seeking to please God in this time of the hour of God’s judgment, the day of atonement. And we continue to pursue the understanding of the following quote in searching our hearts: Read the rest of this entry
The Faith of Jesus under Condemnation
Scripture reading: Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
This hymn carries with it a certain trembling note:
I watch to shun the miry way,
And staunch the springs of guilty thought;
But, watch and struggle as I may,
Pure I am not, pure I am not.
6. God of the Sabbath
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3, pdf
Scripture reading: John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
The time in which we are living is the time of the day of atonement; it is the time of Zechariah 3:1-7—Joshua and the Angel. As we saw previously, this scripture applies specifically to our time. Joshua is a representative of God’s people, and as we stand before Christ, our High Priest, in the judgment hour, we are receiving a change of garment as we examine ourselves closely. Read the rest of this entry
The Faith of Jesus
Scripture reading: Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
The apostle prays that he would be found in Christ, “not having mine own righteousness,” he says, “which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” We need righteousness; and it must be found only through one path—the faith, not in Christ, but of Christ. The language of the Bible in reference to the faith that we are to have is repeated time and time again. If you were to do a search in the Bible for “the faith of Christ”, or “the faith of Jesus”, you would find that it comes up several times. Of course, the text that is most relevant to us who are living in these last days is the following: Read the rest of this entry
5. Light on the Levitical Laws
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3, pdf
We are seeking to please God in reference to the light that shines on Levitical laws. Our meditation in this series continues as we search our hearts in relation to the following statement, which we have delved upon several times in the past:
We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In like manner, all who would have their names retained in the book of life should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. {GC 489.3} Read the rest of this entry
Christ in Our Sufferings
Scripture reading: Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
I wish to worship God with you by manifesting a comfort by which I am comforted. The work of a minister, of a true servant of God, is described in the following words: Read the rest of this entry
4. God’s Peculiar People
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3, pdf
Scripture reading: 1 Peter 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
We are seeking to please God as God’s peculiar people. This series we have been pursuing is to reinforce our appreciation of the judgment hour message, and to place before our minds that in the time of the judgment in which we are living, as in the Day of Atonement in the Hebrews’ era, we are to search our hearts. Read the rest of this entry
3. Stay Off the Judgement Seat
By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3, pdf
Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
In this series we are following the counsel that is given to us in the following quote:
We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In like manner, all who would have their names retained in the book of life should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful searching of heart. {GC 489.3} Read the rest of this entry
