Blog Archives

The Foolishness of Preaching

By John Thiel, mp3, pdf

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Are you puzzled by these words and by the title of this message? The foolishness of preaching? Why has the apostle Paul coined this expression “foolishness of preaching”? To try and understand that, may God’s Holy Spirit guide us as it impressed him, by reading the context. He commences with what is foolishness to humanity:

Foolishness?

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Read the rest of this entry

7. Motive of Love

By John Thiel, Seeking to Please God Series, mp3,

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

A Tribute – Soldier, We Honour Thee

Our beloved sister, Rose Thiel, has passed away this Monday 12th of November, 2018. At such a time, we would want to commemorate her, and let no hands mar the record of such a loving and unselfish life. She has been a mother, a sister, and a friend, but also, and for many years, an untiring companion in labour for the cause of Christ to her beloved and now surviving husband. A pillar in the house of God, a stay to many a wavering soul, she ever stood as a rock to principle, and her kindness often reminded us of the Saviour’s love; she gave to the church a shining, unforgettable example of what it means to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few and many turn traitors to the cause of truth. Heaven shall remember. No effort was lost, and no tear wasted.

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Assimilating God’s Creative Word

By John Thiel, mp3, pdf

Scripture reading: Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. … 9 For he spake, and it was [done]; he commanded, and it stood fast.

The understanding of assimilating God’s creative word is paramount to the doctrine that is taught and embraced within Seventh-day Adventism. Indeed, Seventh-day Adventism is distinguished among Christendom by the doctrine of law-keeping that it teaches– the keeping of the Ten Commandments, among which is the Sabbath. This is why they were given the name “Seventh-day Adventists”; because they taught the importance of the keeping of the law of God, including the Sabbath. The three angels’ messages; which distinguish Seventh-day Adventism, climax in the words of Revelation 14:12. Read the rest of this entry

How to Enter into Peace

By John Thiel, mp3, pdf

Scripture reading: John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We know that there is a region of peace, but how to enter it is a subject that should capture our attention. We live today in the last days of this earth’s history and these are the conditions that surround us: Read the rest of this entry

4. Affection-Related Restoration

By John Thiel, Godly Affections That Motivate Series, mp3

Scripture reading: Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

We want to delve upon the restoration that is generated by our affections upon God. We live in a world today where atheism and Catholicism have affected the great majority around us; and the circulation in the schools of the theory of evolution especially demeans the human race. It lowers the nobility of the human race to the animal, to a miserable appreciation of the honour that humanity has. But of course, this honour has also been lowered because of sin. Yet in the study of the Bible there is revealed to us the true honour and nobility that man has been imbued with. Read the rest of this entry

The Path of the Cross

By John Thiel, mp3

Scripture reading: Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 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.

Modern Christianity lives in a poetic fancy and delusions. They believe that upon entering into the faith your path is going to be glorious and wonderful. Everybody starts to celebrate. There is honourability in being part of a denominational greatness. You are regarded with honour and ecstatic joy. And people shun the idea of conflict. They don’t want war; they want peace. They want everything to go smoothly and happily. This is to them what Christianity is to represent, therefore they run away from anything that is different to that. They want to glory all the time, to always smile, with nothing negative or unhappy. That is what they want in Christianity. Read the rest of this entry

Unquestioning Obedience

By John Thiel, mp3

Scripture reading: Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].

God’s word is the force, the power, that brings about obedience to all His laws. It is actually the creative word that produces the fulfilment of those laws in our lives. It was the creative word that brought the world into existence; God spoke and it was done. That is because this planet, in its empty state, was not rejecting God’s word. And for us to receive the benefit of the word, we need to be like that non-resistant clay, that empty space that was there, the water that needed to be brought under control. We need to place ourselves in the same position of absolute resignation. The word abandonment describes this perfectly. We need to be totally abandoned as Jesus was. He was our example. This subject that we have been pursuing is extremely important for us to grasp in the time in which we are living now. We need now to understand how imperative it is that we surrender, because God has to do a very quick work with us. We know that Jesus is coming very soon, and we need to engage in this preparation for the close of probation, which is actually the preparation for the coming of Jesus. Read the rest of this entry

Healing of the Mind

By John Thiel, mp3

Scripture reading: Psalm 147:1 Praise ye the LORD: for [it is] good to sing praises unto our God; for [it is] pleasant; [and] praise is comely. 2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

There is a call for praising God. It is good to sing praises unto our God. Why? Because He gathers the outcasts of Israel. Don’t we feel that way? He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. We want to understand what God is prepared to do for the outcasts of Israel. Small in number that we may find ourselves in as outcasts, we may still have precious answers from the Lord to bind up our wounds and heal our minds. The description of the time in which we live is often not taken note of. Jesus describes it: Read the rest of this entry

Faith, Grace, Works – The Just Shall Live by Faith

Hebrews 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if [any man] draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Read the rest of this entry

The Faith Once Delivered to the Saints

By John Thiel

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. 

 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. 

 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.  Read the rest of this entry

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