By John Thiel, The Pearl of Great Price in the Hour of Temptation Conference, Study 5, mp3

We are spending time in contemplation of the Word of God.

Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

In our contemplation we came to appreciate that this parable applies not merely to us selling all we have to purchase the pearl of great price, but it represents this great wonderful merchantman who came to purchase us.

This parable has a double significance, and applies not only to man seeking the kingdom of heaven, but to Christ seeking His lost inheritance. … The heavenly Merchantman lays aside His royal robe and crown. Though the Prince and Commander of all heaven, He takes upon Him the garb of humanity, and comes to a world that is marred and seared with the curse, to seek for the one lost pearl, to seek for man fallen through disobedience. . . . {TMK 84.3}

He came to purchase the one lost pearl. What was that? It was man. It is His pearl of people as a corporate body that He came to purchase as well as each individual that makes up that corporate body but it is one pearl.

He finds His pearl buried in rubbish. Selfishness encrusts the human heart, and it is bound by the tyranny of Satan. {TMK 84.4} Read the rest of this entry →

By John Thiel, The Pearl of Great Price in the Hour of Temptation Conference, Study 4, mp3

We must remember why we are here. It is good after a day of hard work that we recall why we are doing it. That we appreciate why we are engaging the way that we do and the efforts we make to press together when it sometimes appears as though it can’t be done. It can be done, but only as we keep on reflecting upon the pearl that we have been pondering upon. In our meditations regarding the church the pearl for which Jesus has sacrificed all for, we reflect upon this statement:

The Lord God of heaven collected all the riches of the universe, and laid them down in order to purchase the pearl of lost humanity. {OHC 13.3}

Do you remember who we are? We are lost humanity. Jesus came to purchase us and what did He do? The Lord God collected all the riches of the universe and laid them down in order to purchase the pearl of lost humanity. Keep remembering this when we have to lay down certain things that sometimes we find hard to do. Read the rest of this entry →

By John Thiel, The Pearl of Great Price in the Hour of Temptation Conference, Study 1, mp3

Jesus the pearl of great price is connected with the hour of temptation. Jesus became a pearl of great price because He came down and suffered temptation. The literal pearl comes into existence in the mollusk because an irritant of a little grain of dirt has gone in there and the flesh became irritated and it placed chemical mucous around that grain which crystallized and smoothed and grew. As the element of the mineral enlarged the grain it made it more irritating so more and more until it became a beautiful big pearl. So it is that under temptation and the stresses of life we suffer irritation. Through that irritation, through that temptation, the purity of character is to be developed. Jesus came and suffered with us in that irritation.

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By John Thiel, The Pearl of Great Price in the Hour of Temptation Conference, Introduction, mp3

The pearl of great price in the hour of temptation. Why is there a link between the pearl of great price and the hour of temptation? What is temptation? Why is it connected with the pearl? Is temptation of value? What does temptation provide?

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Many people have said, I wish it was over.

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: Read the rest of this entry →