Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers.
And here is today's presenter, Liz Branster. So, my sermon is entitled, as you can see, True Blue. And as you— obviously from my accent, you can tell that I am a true blue Aussie. And there's our Australian flag, and I have to say I'm a very proud Australian. But for those of you that aren't Australian, I hope by the end of this sermon that you will understand the true meaning of true blue. So what is the true meaning of true blue to an Australian? It's an unwavering in one's commitment to be extremely loyal, and I know that's something that I hold dear to myself as an Australian, to my friends, to my church family, and ultimately to God. I'm going to explore a few blues this morning, and the first blue that I'm going to explore with you is the Blue Zones. Dan Buettner is a National Geographic explorer of and founder of the Blue Zones, a project focused on identifying and studying regions around the world where people live the longest and the healthiest lives. Wouldn't you like to be one of those people? Can I have an amen? Amen. The research has revealed the presence of these longevity hotspots where people consistently live to be 100 or older and enjoy high-quality lives. Now, I know there's a lot of people that may be getting up to that age, but they don't necessarily live a high-quality life. But in these studies, Dan Buettner was able to recognize certain areas that these people focused on to give them these great results. Let's go through them. These are some of the Blue Zones. Okinawa, Japan, that looks pretty good. You may actually remember I took a sermon called Just One More, and it did actually talk about Okinawa, Japan, because it was talking about the escarpment there where Desmond Doss had performed an absolute miracle to rescue so many people that were in the line of fire and had been injured. But that's not what the sermon's here today, but we have had— we have heard of Okinawa, Japan before. So they're one of the hotspots, one of the original 5 Blue Zones. Then we have Sardinia, Italy. What a beautiful place. It looks lovely, doesn't it? I wouldn't mind going there. It looks nice. I'm sure they'll serve up some lovely healthy food for me. Costa Rica. Well, I've been to Costa Rica myself. It's a beautiful place, and it's one of the hotspots as well, where people have a beautiful diet, they have a different way of life that gives them that edge on other people in the world. In Greece. Now, I'm probably not pronouncing these names correctly, excuse me, but Greece is another one. Loma Linda. Loma Linda. Who here has heard of Loma Linda? I praise God that one of our own institutions was recognized in one of these hotspots. I say amen to that because the whole world can be looking around at these different areas, but I want to focus just a little moment here on Loma Linda and why it was recognized as one of the hotspots. One of the reasons is— well, before that, I'll just give a little bit of history about Loma Linda. Loma Linda was purchased in 1905 at the price of $40,000, but it was originally on the market for a lot more. Ellen White had seen this in a vision in 1902, and she knew that it was going to be one of the 3 essential, um, places that were going to be used by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, particularly in the line of the medical missionary work, which we know is the right arm of the gospel. So after it was purchased in 1905, it then went on to become an institution where people would be learning how to be medical missionaries. Amen. It then went on to become a university where people have studied and been blessed, and many people that have learned in this institution have gone worldwide, around the world, to share the the right arm of our message. So, what do these people do that makes them live to maybe 100 and really have a beautiful lifestyle? One is movement. Who here likes exercise? Amen. Well, that's one of the things that significantly helps lift their mood and keep active. So, that's just a fantastic way of keeping some— keeping ourselves young and healthy, especially especially for those that are getting older, including myself. Another thing, stress reduction. Well, not all the areas focus on this particular area, but one thing Seventh-day Adventists do that separates them is they love to pray and study their Bible. Who here loves to pray and study their Bible? Amen. Amen. Well, that's another way that you can significantly increase your lifespan, but not just increase it, but have longevity in a really healthy and positive way. They all have a plant-based diet, and that's something I have to say, I enjoy having a plant-based diet. I love to be able to be creative. I love looking at the beautiful seeds and grains and nuts, the colors. And we know in the children's story we saw, um, blue. I didn't see blueberries though, because we know blueberries are great for the mind. They've got all antioxidants and all other wonderful things. So Blue is definitely included in a plant-based diet. And so this is the, the, um, a little chart there, um, which shows why Loma Linda is so successful in health. They have social connections. Who here likes being involved in catching up with people, sharing? Yes. Caring, absolutely social connections, family and community. I know one thing about the Seventh-day Adventist Church. When I first became an Adventist, I couldn't believe all the beautiful families that I engaged with that invite me over to church on the Sabbath, and we'd enjoy a meal together. And I just thought how beautiful it is that you can come together. Together over a meal. Many people don't even have that. Spirituality— where are we today? We are in the house of God on the holy Sabbath day, are we not? Coming together, singing and praising the Lord, lifting up our song in voice, praying, reading and opening the word of God together. Thank you, musicians, again. I can't wait to hear more. And a work-life balance. I know that there are so many people that overwork and forget that this— they need to have their time with family, their time to be able to reflect, their time to be able to just connect. So there's this work-life balance and juggling in this century. I'm telling you, it's crazy out there. And I really do not believe that this is what God wants for his people. And if you look at this and you think about this, if we get that balance, we can come into that category of living a long, healthy life, even to be 100. Not that that's very old compared to eternity, but on our life and on our world and the way we know it, that is a good age these days. They would call it a good innings. We're going to focus on something different now. This is a little bit more solemn. Blue Law. Has anybody here heard of the Blue Law? I love the fact that we were one of the 5 Blue Zones recognized for our health message. Our institution that has been established and gone throughout this world to share a proclamation of our health message. But there's something that has been taking place for a long time known as the Blue Law. What is a Blue Law? Well, Blue Laws are also known as Sunday laws, or they're laws that restrict or ban all activities especially— sorry, specified most often on Sundays in the Western world, particularly to promote the observance of a day of rest. Such laws may restrict shopping and ban of certain items on specific days. And I won't continue there, but specifically a blue law is known as a Sunday law. I want us to think about that for a moment. In 1988, a senator in the United States of America by the name of Senator Blair introduced the following bill. Which was the first blue law. In Congress, he went before, and this is this is very significant because the United States of America is the second beast of Revelation in Bible prophecy. So here we have a blue law that was going to be enforced, and I praise God that he raised up a man by the main. man by the name of A.T. Jones. He could see that this blue law that was just about to be passed in the United States of America was going to have a significant impact on Seventh-day Adventists because this law was going to be restrictive where you could only worship on Sundays. And by the way, they did have this law in place, and even some of our own pioneers were actually put in jail. And we don't hear about these things, but let me tell you, friends, they are true. A.T. Jones recognized that religious liberty was going to be impacted, and he went before the Senate on the 21st of May, 1888, in the United States of America. And in Congress, he pleaded and brought his case before Senator Blair and asked him to listen It took him a long time before they would listen, but I praise God the Spirit of God was moving upon Senator Blair, and he did not pass that Sunday law at that time. Had he have passed that law, you and I might not be here today to even for me to even take this sermon. You probably can recognize this man. He was assassinated on the tenth of December, two thousand and twenty-five. Prior to his assassination, he wrote a book called Stop in the Name of God. I'm not suggesting you buy it and read it, but in this book he was actually talking about coming back to God and worshipping on a particular day. He had actually started to keep the Sabbath, this man, and his life was cut short. In this book, it also does talk about the blue laws, so I'm not sure whether he was promoting blue laws or not. But I'm just bringing this point up because there has been an agitation of a religious revival in the United States of America since this man was assassinated last September. All comes under the blue law. We have these statements from Ellen White, Five Testimonies, page 716. We have been looking many years for Sunday law to be enacted in our land. She's talking about the United States of America. And now that the movement is right upon us, we ask, will our people do their duty in the matter? She's asking a question. Will the people do their duty in the matter? Can we not assist in uplifting the standard and calling to the front who have a regard for their religious rights and privileges? I believe that A.T. Jones absolutely understood what that meant. And when he went before Congress in front of Senator Blair, He was able to show from the Word of God that it would impede Seventh-day Adventists. The time is fast approaching when those who choose to obey God rather than man will be made to feel the hand of oppression. Shall we then dishonor God by keeping silent while his holy commandments are trodden underfoot? This is going to be a direct attack on the commandments of God. Including the seventh-day Sabbath. While the Protestant world is by her attitude making concessions to Rome, are we going to make concessions to Rome? Let us arouse to comprehend the situation and view the contest before us in its true bearings. Let the watchmen now lift up their voice and give the message which is present truth for this time. What's present truth for this time? Three Angels' Message. Three Angels' Message. To uplift the law of God again, to bring a standard to his people. Let us show people where we are in prophetic history. We are living in the toenails of Daniel chapter 2. Let us show the people where they are in prophetic history and seek What have we got to do? Seek to arouse the spirit of true Protestantism. And that's why I'm here today, to seek to arouse true Protestantism in our hearts. Because it is going out, awakening the world to a sense of the value of the privileges of religious liberty so long enjoyed. And friends, we are so blessed that we live in a country where we can still worship freely. We can come to church this Sabbath and we can worship together because it is going to be taken from us. I just want to play a little clip now and just recognize that this clip that's been put together, this has all been taking place just in the last year or so. Okay, so what they're actually essentially telling us These are people, religious leaders and people in Congress, talking about the blue laws and how they need to be reinstated in the United States of America. So they are proclaiming to Protestants in America and— sorry— and people in Parliament that we need to bring back the blue laws because of the morality that's declining in the American country and also throughout the world. And at the moment, have we not got a war raging? Can we not see Matthew 24 is being fulfilled? Now I'm going to go to another section of blue. So what have we learned this morning so far? What true blue means. As an Aussie, I like to think I'm true blue and that I'm loyal. And then we talked about blue zones and how the— Loma Linda was one of the 5 Blue Zones and why they lived significantly longer to an older age. Now we've talked about blue laws that have been in the books waiting to be reignited and to be enforced. But for us to be able to get through and be able to understand the truth of the blue law, I want us to understand from God's perspective where we are in this time in this earth's history. So, I wanna be set in stone, do you? Yes. I wanna be set on the rock. As we sung Rock of Ages, I wanna be founded on the rock. So something that is set in stone is used to emphasize something that is fixed and unchangeable, amen? Who wants to be set in stone with something that's never gonna move no matter how the earth shakes? with the things that are coming upon us. Let's confirm and let's have 2 witnesses that God is unchangeable. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Our Lord will never change. His word will never change. It is sure. Another witness, James 1:17, every good and every perfect gift Every gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights. Amen. A Father that loves us and cares, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow nor turning. There is no change in our God. There is no change in his law. And don't be fooled when people tell you it is, or that it doesn't even matter anymore. Thank you, Elizabeth, for taking our scripture reading. When Moses was on this earth, and I know he's happy not to be on here now, he was with his brother and his brother's sons, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 elders. And they were told to go up to the mount, and there they were gonna see something. Yes. If you read Exodus 24 and you put it in context, you'll understand when I've read this what it's actually speaking about. But for lack of time— And they— who's they? That was Moses and Nadab and Abihu, Aaron and the 70 elders. And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet as it were a paved work of what? Sapphire. Sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness. Do you think that's significant? If you see something under something, what do you— would you call that? Would you call that a foundation? If we don't have a foundation, we will fall. This is a foundation. Let's go on to see who else saw something similar. Ezekiel, in his vision in Ezekiel 1:26, and it says, And above the firmament, there was above their heads was a likeness of a throne, an appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man who was upon it. I wonder who that man was. That man is none other than Jesus Christ. So we have here, we have a foundation in heaven that is blue, and we have above it, we see this blue. We can see this blue sapphire stone is now appearing in heaven. How often we just don't think about how beautiful heaven is and blue, as in the children's story. It's good for our mental health. Yes. I want to have more blue. Do you want more blue? I want more blue. Ellen White made this statement in Prophets and Kings. She said, heavenly beings sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim were impelling those wheels. Those wheels of what? The throne in heaven. The throne's not sitting there stationary, friends. This throne in heaven is on the move, and it's on the move to save you and me. Upon the sapphire throne was the Eternal One. Amen. Remember the one that never changes, the one that is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the one that does not move or change. And above the throne was a rainbow, the emblem of what? Divine peace. Mercy. Isn't that beautiful? Our God is a God of mercy and love. Psalm 119, verse 172 says this: My tongue shall speak of thy word. So David's saying here, and Psalm 119 is beautiful, it's about the law of God, but this particular verse he says, for all thy commandments are what? 9. How many commandments? 9. 9? How many? 10. 10. I think the apostate Protestant world has forgotten that it includes 10, not 9, because God's the same yesterday, today, and forever, and he does not change. His throne, his foundation, that blue foundation does not change. I want to see another aspect of blue, and in Leah's story, she talked about how blue stars were the hottest. Well, here we see this in Deuteronomy 4:24. It says, for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. So the hottest part of a flame, it's not orange, it's not red, it's blue. Hmm. It's interesting that when Moses was at the burning bush, there was a flame. And I can assure you, if we go and we study the Word of God, it would have been a blue flame because he was in the presence of God who is a consuming God and he's a jealous God because he wants our worship, he wants our love, he wants our devotion. That's why he's jealous. He's not jealous in an evil sense that our hearts are. No. He wants our worship. He wants our fellowship. He wants our friendship. When Moses was told to give the 10 Commandments, he was also instructed to do something else for the children of Israel. When they were given the 10 Commandments, Moses was instructed to do something to make the people stand out. Let's go through what he was instructed to do. Moses was told to speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make fringes in their borders of their garments throughout their generations. And they that put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of what? Blue. Blue, a ribbon of blue. And it shall be for you a fringe that you may what? You may look upon it. And what would that do if you were looking upon it? And you would what? Remember. Remember all the— how many commandments? Some? That you would remember all the commandments of the Lord and what? Do them. Do them. And that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to go a-whoring. So we are told in the Word of God— these aren't my words— that they were to place a ribbon of blue around the bottom of their garments, and that every time they looked on that ribbon of blue, it was to remind them that they were a special people, that they were to keep the commandments of God. How many? Including the 7th-day Sabbath. Ellen White makes this statement regarding this. She says, the children of Israel, after they were brought out of Egypt, were commanded to, to have a simple ribbon. There was nothing extravagant about it. It was just a simple blue ribbon to put on the border of their garment. And this is why they would put it on: to distinguish them from the nations around them. Do you think when they passed through other countries People might look at their border and, what's that you have on the border of your garment? What would they tell them? It was to distinguish them as God's people that keep the commandments of God. I just want to fast forward now to A lady in the book of Matthew, a lady that I believe understood what this blue ribbon on the bottom of garments was. You may be familiar with the story. In Matthew chapter 9 and verse 20, the word of God says this: And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years, came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. I don't know anybody in here, but I had a daughter with a serious disease that nearly took her life. And one of the reasons it nearly took her life was that she had nearly run out of blood. And when you don't have blood in your system, you are lifeless. You are nearly dead. When you bleed, you become so weak, so almost breathless, because obviously you have oxygen in your blood. And the— this woman, I believe, represents the Church of God, because 12 is a number significant in the Word of God. We have the 12 tribes of Israel, we have the 12 apostles, This is the church of God that's bled out, that's bleeding. Ellen White makes this statement in Desire of Ages. She says, she had spent all her means upon physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable. Friends, today I don't want to be incurable. And you know, we have a disease called sin, and if it wasn't for the blood of Jesus, it would be incurable. Amen. But I praise God that through his blood, the shedding of his blood on Calvary, that we can be cured. Amen. In weakness and suffering, she came to the seaside where he was teaching and tried to press through the crowd, but in vain. Imagine her desperation. She's trying to get to the only one that she knew that could heal her, because remember, all her money had gone, all the physicians had told her she was incurable. She was in a helpless state. This is our church. We're in a helpless state without the blood of Jesus. Again, she followed him from house to house, and she went to Levi Matthew's house but was still unable to reach him. She had begun to despair when, in making his way through the multitude, he came near where she was. The golden opportunity had come. She was in the presence of the Great Physician. Amen. Amen. But amid the confusion, she could not speak to him nor catch more than a passing glimpse of his figure. Fearful of losing her last one chance of relief, she pressed forward, saying to herself, if I just can touch the border of his garment, I will be made whole. I believe. Just before I say that. Jesus turned. She reached down. She touched the border of his garment. Her loving Savior looked at her. He turned, and when he saw, he said, Daughter, be of good cheer. Be of good comfort. Thy faith has made thee whole. What made her whole? Faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Righteousness by faith. She understood if she just reached out in faith and touched the border of his garment— remember that blue ribbon that the Israelites would wear on the bottom of their garment? Just that simple ribbon that distinguished them from the rest of the world. Friends, the next blue I'm going to talk about is probably the hardest blue for me to talk about because I realize that I did this to my Savior. Proverbs 20:30, the blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, so do the stripes of the inward parts of the belly. In one of the most beautiful accounts that Isaiah wrote on the life of Jesus Christ, In Isaiah chapter 53, it says this. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. Remember that blue bruise? You know when you get a blue bruise, it's no oxygen to the blood cell. We crushed his life out, friends, by making Jesus Christ blue. Amen. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Amen. The righteousness by faith message, friends, is the one that's to go out to the world. It's to go out to a world that is bruised and broken and hurting. But only if we have that own— our own experience in reaching out by faith will we be able to share the gospel message. Amen. I love this from Desire of Ages, page 762. It's on the chapter, It Is Finished. Through Jesus, God's mercy was manifested to men, but mercy did not set aside justice. The law— what does the law do? It reveals the attributes of God's character, and not a jot or a tittle is going to change. Remember, our law doesn't change. Not one jot, not one tittle could be changed to meet man in his fallen condition. God did not change his law, but he sacrificed himself in Christ for man's redemption. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Amen. Don't you want to be reconciled to God? Sin has separated us from God, but we want to be reconciled. Amen. By his life and his death, Christ proved that God's justice did not destroy his mercy, because justice and mercy go together, but that sin could be forgiven and And the law is righteous and can be perfectly obeyed. Satan's charges were refuted. God had given man unmistakable evidence of his love. And where was that love? It was on the cross of Calvary. That's where God's love was manifested. That's where his glory is. That's what will shine throughout eternity when we see those wounds. Amen. That are in his hands and his feet and his side where we pierced him, where we made him bleed, where we bruised him, that blue bruise. I love our message, Righteousness by Faith. There's a foundation in heaven, friends, and it's called the law of God. There's a foundation in heaven that will not change. There's a foundation in heaven that has been there for eternity past to eternity future, and it is present right now. We are going to come upon very soon, I believe, a time of trouble. The Sunday laws are making their way in darkness, but not so much anymore. They are coming to the forefront. There are restrictions being put around the world right now as we speak on God's people. I am asking you today as a church in this last statement, listen to it, take it to heart, be reconverted. If you're not converted today, surrender everything to Jesus. Time is running out. Only those will receive the refreshing that have confessed their sins, as Peter says. I love this statement. Christ in his Sanctuary, page 177, paragraph 2. All who have repented of sin and by faith— what do they have to do it by? By faith. Claim the what? Blood. The blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice have had pardon entered against their names. Hallelujah! In the books of heaven. And as they become partakers of the what? The righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with what? What do our characters have to be in harmony? With the law of God. With the law of God, because the law of God is the law of liberty. It's the law of love. Their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy. of eternal life. Friends, today I want everyone here to be accounted worthy of eternal life, but I can't have your relationship with Jesus, neither can you have yours with me— mine. I'm asking you to be like that woman, the woman that was bleeding out, that was nearly dead. You know when you don't have blood, you are lifeless, but the blood of Jesus Christ can heal you. Amen. The commandments are sure, friends. They will stand for— they've stood the test of time already, and they will stand it through eternity. So when you and I get to heaven, we, from one moon to another, from one Sabbath to another, will be rejoicing and praising in our Lord Jesus Christ for what he's done for us. What a good God we serve. He became a human, he became flesh, and he dwelt among us. What a God we serve. He could have left us here to go without, but he didn't. He shed his blood. And as we sing this song, this last song, The Law of the Lord Is Perfect, I pray in my heart that you will be inspired to dissect those commandments and go through every one and ask yourself, am I keeping the law of God in spirit and in truth? I don't often do this, but if there's something separating between you and God, I'm asking that— I'm not asking you to stand up, but in your heart, I'm asking us to repent as a church And to get back on our knees in prayer and supplication because Jesus is coming soon. And we're a church that can at times be lifeless and our blood is fading, but the blood of Jesus will save us. So please, if you have it in your heart, confess your sins to God because he's the only one that can restore you. He's the Great Physician. And in my prayer, my prayer is for each one of us here To be reconverted today, Father in heaven. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your law. It's perfect converting the soul. The testimony of your word is sure. We know, Lord, that you won't change. We know that you're the same today, yesterday, and forever. We thank you for the cross of Calvary, where we can lay all our burdens at your feet and be restored. As your word says, God. was reconciling us back to you. May we be reconciled, Lord, and may you cleanse us from all sin that we can serve you faithfully until you come in those clouds of glory, is my prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. This message was made available by the Dora Creek Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit doracreek.church. Thank you for listening to Go Teach All Nations here on 3ABN Australia Radio. To listen to our Australian programs on demand, visit both of our YouTube channels, 3ABN Australia Radio and Creation Conversations, or search for us on your favorite podcast directory.
