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, Edwin M. Cotto. All right, grab your Bibles. We're gonna go deep into the scriptures this morning. I'm gonna pray in just a few moments, give you a quick introduction of who I am, what I'm about, and what we're gonna do today and for the rest of this week. My name is Edwin M Cotto. Thank you so much for inviting us here, the Advent Defense League, myself and Jason Thomas, to be able to share the word here throughout the week. Anybody ever heard of the Advent Defense League, raise your hand. All right, very good. Well, if you haven't, I'm sorry. But if you stick around long enough, I think you'll appreciate the work that we do. What do you say? Amen. Amen. Let me have a quick word of prayer with you, and then we'll begin our presentation for this morning. I invite you to bow your heads with me, Father in heaven. Now, as we opened up thy sacred word, we ask that all things that distract us may be dispelled from our minds. All our worries, our debts, our pains, our trials. Anything that would distract us from understanding the message you have for us this morning. Clear our minds now. And that your Holy Spirit, who is the author of this book, may guide us to understand what he inspired these authors to write. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Hopefully you're able to join us for the week. We do have an exciting week we're going to be going through. If you haven't seen on our agenda some of the doctrines of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, as we seek to equip you on how to be able to teach and defend those beliefs so that when you go out there to give Bible studies to try to win souls, you're able to answer those difficult questions. What do you say? Sometimes those hard questions create doubts in people's minds. That doesn't allow them to move forward in their decisions to give their lives to Jesus. And so God wants us to be fully equipped and ever ready to give an answer to anyone who asks reasons for your faith. What do you say? That's what the Bible says. Amen. This morning I'm going to share with you a presentation that is very dear to my heart. And I'd like to tell you that when I share this sermon, it's an appeal not just to you, but to myself. And those are the types of sermons that I believe have the most impact in people's lives. Because it's coming from a person who can relate and who also needs the kind of help that God has inspired in this message. And so, as I share this sermon, I ask that you please pray for me so that I can deliver it in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. What do you say? Amen. I've been practicing a little bit of how to speak Ozzy. You know, I have a dog named Ozzie. Seriously, I didn't realize that I was dog named. In fact, it didn't occur to me that Ozzy is another way of saying Australian. Right? Yes. Am I correct? I'm like, here, Ozzy. And I had no idea, you know, my dog's Australian. I didn't know, you know. And so if I say, you know, terms or phrases you may not be familiar with, being an American, you'll forgive me. Yes. But I know I got to say mate sometimes. But I was told that this church is very diverse, and I can see that. But I've been practicing a little bit, so. But I appreciate that you're able to work with me in my way of speaking. Now, I want to ask you an important question. Anybody ever been to court? Raise your hand. Now, you don't got to tell me why. I don't want to know. I don't think they want to know. Anybody else ever been to court? You were hesitant right there. A little bit. Does it feel good? Now, let me ask you this. Have you been to court because you've gotten in some sort of trouble? You don't got to raise your hand there. Let the pastor see you. I'll tell you a story. When I was young, I went to court. Or rather, nobody really goes to court, Right? Or at least nobody wants to go to court. I was taken to court. So I'll explain a little bit of what happened. I was very young, and I was in my innocence. So you'll have to forgive me ahead of time. Okay? Can you do that? Yes. All right. Try to still like me after the story. Okay. So I'm in the bathroom in my apartment back in New Jersey. Anybody ever gone to New Jersey? New York? Got a few. Got just one, two. Okay. Three, four, five. Okay. So you understand a little bit of how it might look over there. So I'm there. I'm in the bathroom. I'm washing my hands. And all of a sudden, as I'm standing in the bathroom, I Look to my right and I see a bunch of ceiling falling down to the ground. So my family member. I'll say my family member comes into the bathroom and sees what happened and says, wait right there one moment. So she goes and she gets her camera. Now, back in those days, we didn't have these iPhones and androids, right? Who has iPhones? Raise your hand. I'm sorry for you. Who has androids? The majority. Yes. All right. They didn't have any of those there. Okay. But they did have those that when you take the picture, the piece of paper comes out. You gotta go like this a little. You remember those? Yes. Those of us from those times, okay, Younger folks may not remember that. So my family member came in and got some of the sealing and started rubbing it on my shoulder and on the other shoulder right here, a little bit on my face. I sprinkled a bunch of powder on my shirt. You understand? Kind of what's gonna happen? Start snapping some pictures. Two or three pictures coming out of the camera, right? And as time went by, I don't know, I found myself in court one day, and I'm just sitting here and there's a judge in the middle and there's people in front of me, and I'm there on the witness stand right now. Prior to getting there, this family member had told me, make sure you don't say the wrong thing. Nothing happened in the bathroom except that the stuff fell on top of you. Okay? I gotta say it fell on top of me. I gotta say it fell on top of me. I gotta say, if it. I'm a little kid, you know, I'm young, right? That's what I have to repeat. I gotta say, who's gonna fall on top of me? Finally, the lawyer comes up to me, so what happened? It fell on top of me. What fell on top of you? The ceiling fell on top of me, okay. And I remember when my family member had said, make sure you don't say anything except that. And at one point, when the lawyer went back to where he was, I'm sitting there, all of a sudden, you know, in my innocence, I'm just like, up. And everybody just looked at me. What's he gonna say? Cause anything you say can't be hold against you, right? And I just don't say anything. You forgive me for that? Is that okay? Yeah. Sometimes I hesitate sharing that story. You know, I was very young, okay? I was young. I was innocent. I didn't understand. I must have been maybe 7 or 8 years old. I don't know, I was very young, but when they started doing the investigation about what happened, guess what kind of result they came to at the end. Now they're looking at the pictures, they see all this stuff about me. I'm the one who went through it. And I'm telling them that this is actually what happened. And the witness. Right. My family members saw it happen. Supposedly. Right. And finally they draw a conclusion. Guess what conclusion they draw. Take a guess. Come on, don't be shy. I can't tell you. What do you think? Innocent or not? How you say it? No. Guilty or not guilty? Guilty that I was lying or not guilty that it actually happened? Because remember, things are at stake here. If I win this case or if my family member wins this case, they will sue the landlord and get a lot of money, guilty or not. Well, sadly, the results came back that I was not guilty of lying, ended up suing the landlord. He lost a lot of money. My family member went away with lots of his money. Very sad story. Right. When that investigation took place, there was obviously a fault in the system. True or false? They made a mistake. Yes. As they did their investigation, they didn't realize the truth of the matter. I was hiding something. My family member was hiding something. And we did everything we could to not allow anybody to find out what that is. And no matter how many judges or lawyers or witnesses or anything, any sort of investigation, any expertise that might have gone into the whole thing, nobody was ever to find out the secret. Nobody found the sin. But the Bible says your sin will find you out. Got your Bibles? Yes. Open up to Revelation, chapter two. Revelation, Book of Revelation, chapter two. The very end. Revelation, chapter two. There are seven churches involved in Revelation chapter two and three. How many churches? Seven churches. Within each one of those churches, Jesus does an investigation. What word did I use? An investigation. Now, we don't like that term because we think of the word investigation as somewhat negative. Don't we not? Yes. Be honest. Yes. It's not a good thing. Doesn't feel good to be investigated. I didn't feel good when I was being investigated because I was worried I was going to get caught. Right. It doesn't feel good. But as you read the story of each one of the churches, Jesus is investigating each one. What do you think he's going to find as he investigates each one of these churches? Let's go through some of them. Revelation, chapter two, beginning in verse one. Let me know when you're there by saying Amen to the angel of the church at Ephesus writes these things, says, he who holds the seven stars in his hands, who walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And so Jesus obviously is looking in and seeing these things, true or false. He knows their works. He's examining. He's looking into. He's investigating. Is that okay? Can I say that? It says, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. And. And you have preserved and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. All good things. What do you say? Wonderful. Everything is good. We're happy. Jesus is looking and he's seeing great things in our lives. Church is just doing wonderful. We're having seminars and people are getting baptized. Everything is great. Until. Nevertheless, I have this against you. That you have. What's the word? Come on, join me. That you have what? Left. Now, if you left, you were there previously. True or false? Okay, let's keep reading. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Now, if you've fallen, you were standing. True or false? True or false? True. Then what's the next word? Repent. Now, what does repent mean? Somebody tell me. Say it out loud. Come on. Anybody. Be sorry. What else? Turn around. What else? Ask for forgiveness. Don't do it again. Remember what he told. What Jesus told the woman caught in the middle and committing adultery. What did he tell her? Go in. Sin no more. Repent, is what he's telling him. Repent and do the first works. Or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstands from its place unless you do what. All right, Pause right there. I want you to know something. When Jesus does this investigation in the church, do you think he's looking for something to try to hurt and condemn you? What did he just do there? So he looks in and does this search through the church, starts finding some good things. But then he finds some things he's not very excited about. And he tells them to do what to. It seems to me that the purpose of the investigation is not to condemn you, but to see if there's any wicked way within you and lead you in the way. You don't know the verse. Go to Psalms, Psalms 139. We're going to come back here to Revelation, chapter two. We'll go to Psalms 139. Let me know when you're there by saying Amen. Psalms 139. Are we there? Amen Go to verse 23. Search me, O God. And do what? Now, the word in the Hebrew where it says search literally means to examine, to look into, to scrutinize, which can also be translated as to investigate or look into. Search me, O God, he says, and know my heart. Does God know your heart before he searches? So why is he searching? Why is he searching if he knows already? Because you know. Who doesn't know? You don't know. You may not know, or you may know and you pretending like you don't. Come on, let's be honest. Am I the only one for all have fallen short of the glory of God? Am I the only one that's fallen short of the glory of God? All right, now watch this. Try me or test me. Some translations say, and know my thoughts, know my thinking. Lord, go into my mind, into my heart, into my brain. See. See. Notice what it says. See if there be any wicked way in me. Now do what? Lead me in the way. What's the way? Everlasting. So what's the purpose of God searching then? He's trying to do what to you? He's trying to save you. What do you say? Let's go back to Revelation, chapter 20 now. Sorry, chapter 2. Revelation, chapter 2. So Jesus starts looking through this church, right? And he's finding all these things, good and bad. But when he finds the bad, he tells them to repent. And in other words, turn around and go back. Do the first works. Go back to your first love from whence thou has fallen. Repent. In other words, he's finding in there something that needs to be removed to fix the relationship that has been severed between them and Christ. Some of us have in our hearts things. I call them the elephants. The elephant in the room. You guys know what that means, right? That one sin, that thing that we're dealing with that we still have not given to Christ. There are people in the church here and all over the world that are still dealing with sins and haven't given all to Christ. And Jesus is saying, I know thy works. I am searching and finding. And I'm asking you that it's time to repent. Revelation, chapter two. Go to verse eight. Now, this is the Church of Smyrna. Something interesting happens with Smyrna. Notice what it says. And the angel of the Church of Smyrna aright to the angel of the Church of Smyrna. Write these things, says he, the first and the last, who was and came to life. I know thy works, tribulation and poverty. But you are Rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Remember that key. I'm going to return to that. Do not fear any of those things which will come upon you. Indeed, the devil is about to take some of you to prison and test you. You will have tribulation. For how many days? 10 days. Be faithful until death. And I will give you a crown of life. He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. The reason why I read that whole one, I'm not going to read all of the other ones, is because there's a word missing from this one that we saw in the last one. You know what that word is? Repent. The word Smyrna. Smyrna. Think of the word smyrn. You ever heard of what the word myrrh is? You know what that is? Myrrh. Which is what Smyrna means. That word myrrh in those days was a very expensive commodity. What's one of the most expensive things in Australia? Somebody tell me yet another reason why not to buy one. IPhones. Are you an iPhone guy or an Android guy? Okay, now I like you. I wasn't like you before. No, I'm kidding. Well, back in those days, myrrh was one of the most expensive commodities or items in those days. Right next to gold. Actually. If you do a little research with myrrh you can do many things. You know, with myrrh it wasn't just for perfume or fragrance or ointments. Myrrh was also used in a medicinal way. Did you know that? It was a variety of things that you can do with myrrh. And because of that it was an expensive item in those days. It was a great item to have. This church was a church who was expensive, you might say fragrant, medicinal. It was a church that Christ was using in a beautiful way and warning them to stay faithful to him even when persecution comes. But at no point he tells them to do what? Hold on to that thought. Let's go to the next church. Verse 12. And the angel of the church of Pergamos writes these things. Says he who has the sharp two edged sword. What does that represent? For the word of God is quick and sharp and powerful. And powerful and sharper. Excuse me. Than any two edged sword. Now notice what it says. Skip to verse 14. But I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold to the doctrine of Balaam. Wow. In this church, there was false doctrines. So it may not just be a particular sin that is representative of your elephant. It could be that you are believing in something that's false. Does that please the Lord? Notice what it says. Go to verse 15. Thus, you also have those who hold to the doctrine of the Nicolasians, which think I hate. Now, what's the next word? Repent. Let's go to verse 18. Now, this is called the corrupt church. It says, and the angel of the Lord came to Thyatira and said these things. Says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass. What are eyes for? What are feet for? Previously, before the speaking of these seven churches, it says that he was walking among the seven branch candlesticks. In other words, Jesus is walking among the churches. And he's explicitly telling them here that not only is he walking among them, he's looking eyes like a flame of fire. And then it says, as you keep reading, it says, I know your works. Love, service and faith, patience. And as for those works, the last are more than the first. Great. They're progressing in their relationship. They're growing in Christ. But nevertheless, I have a few things against you. Because you allow that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet or prophetess, to teach and to do my servants, to commit sexual immorality and to eat sacrifices, things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time. To do what? To repent of her sexual sins. And she did not repent. Now, I want you to see something in verse 23. In verse 23, in case maybe somebody was doubting that Jesus is actually investigating the churches. Notice what it says in verse 23. I will kill her children with death. And some of the churches, all of the churches, shall know that I am he who does what? The word search in the Greek eruneo, that actually means to investigate. Jesus investigates the churches. Does the Bible not say that judgment begins in the house of God? Now, I want you to notice that Jesus is not investigating here to condemn you. But again, why is he investigating? He's trying to find something that is severing your relationship with him. You know how many of us wake up in the morning, first thing you do is pray. Oh, raise your hand. First thing in the morning, you study the word of God, spend some time with Jesus, open the book and just start reading. Five minutes. Something. Do you know why a lot of us don't overcome our sins? You want to know why? Because the one person who can help you to overcome. We're not spending enough time with him. We busy ourselves all the time. We got our iPhones and our androids. We're following the next latest. Football. What kind of games you guys play here again? Cricket? Is it Rugby. Okay, Rugby over there in the United States we play football. I don't play football. I'm terrible at sports. But they play football over there. And it's not soccer like you're kicking it. It's actually a sort of egg, weird egg shaped ball. I don't know, but people just fanatic with that stuff now. I'm not saying anything wrong with liking sports, right? However, anything that goes before Christ is an idol. And if we don't put Christ first in our lives, how are you going to overcome that elephant in the room? Everywhere you go, you got that big fat elephant just following you. You go home, you fall into that sin again. Your eyes are just everywhere, looking in all the wrong directions. You eat what you should not be eating and listening to the things you shouldn't be listening. You can't overcome because you're not spending time with the one who overcame. We've got to give all to Christ. Really we do. You know what's happening in our church with all these attacks taking place of our doctrines and our beliefs coming from the outside also happens on the inside. All these things are designed by the enemy to discourage you and take you from the faith and ultimately sever you from a relationship with Christ. But before you can know how to defend your doctrine, you must know the ultimate defender of the doctrine. You must know Christ. You have to spend time, quality time with him. Put aside everything that distracts your mind. Why you can't overcome those sins because we're not doing that in our lives. When I preach sermons like this, I don't hear that many Amens. These are the type of sermons that tap into the more personal aspects of our lives. Because as I speak and I say these things, you're thinking in your mind that, hey, I know that sin that I'm dealing with. I know what that other thing is that I haven't overcome. I know what that one thing is that is severing my relationship with Christ. The Bible says your sins have separated you from me. Your iniquities have done this. What church are we at? Not Wekiva here. Which one is he? Thyatara Is he. Let's go to the next church. And the angel of the. This is chapter three. And the angel of the church of Sardis writes these things, says he who has the seven spirits and of God and. And the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive. But you are what? Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain. And be ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before the Lord. Remember therefore, how thou hast received and heard. Hold fast and do what? Do you see what's happening here? Every time Jesus investigates, he finds something and tells them, I want to. Basically, he says, I want to fix this relationship here. I want to get that thing that's standing in the way out of the way. I want to get back closer to you. And so when Jesus investigates and finds that thing is not to condemn you like our critics like to tell us when they attack our doctrine of the investigative judgment. Oh, Jesus, God is just investigating to find you something to condemn you. That's not what's happening. The purpose of the judgment is to help us to see where we have gone wrong. And. And lead us in the way everlasting is to save those who are falling. Amen. That's the dead church. Sardis. Look at what it says regarding the Philadelphian Church. Verse 7. And the angel of the church of Philadelphia says these things, says he who is who holy and who what true? Who has the key of who? David, who opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens. Interestingly, when you go to verse nine, it says, indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and am not. Where did we read that before? Smyrna. Out of all the churches, these are the two. Though God does not find anything for them to repent of, yet he says, you've got some of those among you that are not true. Brothers. Does not the Bible say that the wheat and the tare shall grow together until the harvest? Go on to the next church. Verse 14. And the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write these things. Says the Amen, the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God. I. I know thy works and that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. But then because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. I will do what you know to be like that, to be. You know when you're hot. To me, that represents being with Christ because you feel the warmth when you're cold, you're at a distance from Christ. At this point. Christ has gotten to the point where he's like, look, I'd rather you just be over there if you don't want to Be over here. Because if you're going to try to be here and over there at the same time, it gives me such indigestion that I want to just throw up. That's how much Christ hates hypocrisy. When Jesus was yelling at the Pharisees, telling them, calling them hypocrites and vipers, he didn't hate the people he was yelling at and telling them to. Eloife says that he did that with tears in his eyes. Hypocrites. He hated that because when you pretend to be something that you're not, you know, I come from a neighborhood where if you pretending to be something you're not, you get shot. I don't know how it is. I mean, that's how it is over there. But where I'm from, we call it the hood. Somebody told me yesterday. Yes, a different name for that here. Was it you, brother? What do you call it? What's something I don't know? That's another Aussie word I gotta learn. We call it the hood over there. You walk outside, you pretend something you're not. You wear the wrong colors, you get knocked in the face or punched or shot. That's just kind of how it is. So I was raised in an area where you couldn't pretend to be something you're not. You're in or out. So when I came to Christ, I decided I'm going to be in all the way. I tell God every day, I say, lord, make me fall in love so much with Jesus. I mean, let me see Jesus in every person I look at. I want to see Christ all the time, just Jesus. And if I could see Christ in everything I say and everything I do and every person that I meet. The Bible says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, that for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross and endured the shame, I want to see him on the cross and then victorious from off that cross. What are you saying? Every day, spending time with Christ will cause that in your life. But because we're distracted with the things of this world, we're unable to overcome that which severs that relationship with Christ. You know the Church of Smyrna Church of Philadelphia? We spoke about what Smyrna means. You know, what Philadelphia means, the word brotherly love. We got to be a nice, healthy mix of the Smyrnian Church and the Philadelphian Church. What are you saying? People need to look at you and they need to say they have walked with Jesus. Amen. I mean, they got to look at you. And they got to see, wow. I mean, you have to have the sense, like myrrh of Christ. Amen. You need to be expensive, because the most expensive gift ever given was the Son of God. Amen. And they need to see the love in you that they hear about, about Jesus and the word of God. What do you say? You know, there's two types of. There's two types of scent. I preached a sermon the other day, and I was researching the word grapes and the word grapes in the book of Isaiah. I can't recall the chapter, but God says, I planted a vineyard, speaking of Israel, because I planted a vineyard, and I expected from the vineyard to get grapes. Who likes grapes? Raise your hands. Who likes wild grapes? Raise your hand. Don't raise your hand. Because when I did that research and I looked up the word wild grapes in its Hebrew text, it actually means stinkberries. Anybody know what stinkberries are? Nobody knows what stink berries are. It's in the name. They stink. They're actually these forms of berries that are hardly ever cultivated because if they were to be cultivated and grown in certain areas, to try to market them as they fall onto the ground, when they start to open and just kind of mess up, they stink. And so to avoid people nauseating and getting sick walking by those areas, they are hardly ever cultivated, though they are in some countries, but not all the time. They're called stinkberries. And God is looking and saying, you know, I wanted to get some grapes, but I got stinkberries. Some of us are like, stinkberries. I mean, we just stink. Our attitude is stinky. People walking by and they see you got an attitude problem. This person's a Christian. Why they smell so bad. They're just walking by stinks. People look and say, is that a Christian? I remember one time somebody looked at me when I had come to Christ, looked at me and said, wow, you must be a Christian. I'm like, well, praise the Lord. I'm a Christian. And it was nice to have that conversation with that person because ultimately we ended up doing Bible studies with her. Amen. Yeah. So my example opened up an opportunity. But prior to that, before I became a Christian, I remember I was one day sitting in the steps outside my building back in New Jersey. Somebody came up to me, a friend of mine, actually, or an acquaintance, went up to me and said, why? You always got an attitude problem. You just mad all the time. I was a stinkberry. The worst thing you can do is, like, the Laodicean Church, is bring that stinkiness into the Church. Don't be a stinkberry. That's the message. Amen. Lukewarmness. God hates that. God don't want you to be lukewarm. He don't want you to be a stickberry. He wants you to be a grape. Amen. A delicious grape that God can take and make even drinks for people. Amen. That's what God is looking for. What are you saying? As we draw to a close, I want to share a few more thoughts that are really important that God has really, you know, God has really placed in my heart. You know, when you read about these seven churches, God is actually investigating each one of them because he wants to save each one of them. We've seen that. Yes, but at the end of the story. Now we Seven Day Adventists believe that these seven churches represent seven characters, characteristics, let's say, or time periods, all the way to the end of the world. When you reach the very end and you go to the book of Revelation, chapter 20 and 22, some beautiful things start to take place. At the end of the story, the stinkberries are no longer in the church. God has a purified people. Amen. Do you want to be a part of that church? He has a purified people. He's got these people in this church. But interestingly enough, when you read Revelation chapter 20, the city comes down from heaven, the Bible says, lands upon the earth. The enemy is resurrected after 1000 years and surrounds the city. What are they trying to do? Well, who knows it? Who's ready? What's the enemy trying to do to the city? He's trying to what? He's trying to get in there. He wants to destroy the city. Right. But he's not allowed in there. Revelation chapter 20 says, all of a sudden, what does God do? He rains fire down from heaven. And what happens to the enemy? Can you imagine being in that city and seeing something like that? You're in the city and you see God just take vengeance upon the wicked. We had just spent 1,000 years with Christ in heaven. The Bible says, do you not know that you shall judge angels? 1000 years with Jesus in heaven and suddenly that fire comes down from heaven and destroys the wicked and we are safe inside the city. But you know what's awesome about the city? Go to Revelation chapter 22. Notice something interesting about the city. Revelation chapter 22. Let me know when you're there by saying Amen, not 22. I apologize. 21. Now we read Revelation 29, or we actually we mentioned it, didn't read it. But when you go to chapter 21. Notice what it says beginning in verse one. Now I saw. What did he see? And the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down. Out of where? From heaven. Prepared as a bride adorned for who? Notice what it says. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with man. And he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. And God shall. What's he going to do? Every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more, nor. Nor. We had just spent 1,000 years. You know what's going to be the hardest thing after spending a thousand years in heaven looking through the records. Can you imagine going through heaven one day and looking around and we can't find those that we've loved so much? Where's my wife? Where's my son? We got a job to do. As Christians. Amen. We need to make sure that not only do we share the gospel with those we love the most, but live the gospel first and foremost. We need to overcome these elephants in our lives because the elephant in the room will crush us if we don't. And when we overcome, we need to share that experience with those we love so they can overcome as well. Because I don't want to get to heaven and not see any of you there. What do you say? I want to see my wife, my son, my children. I want to see you, my family, in heaven. But when that moment comes and I see all those things and I'm crying and wondering, Lord, why, after everything that has been done and all the messages that have been given. When Evan was sent to the church in Sydney to preach the messages of repentance, but they did not repent why. And at some point God will wipe away all tears because by that time we had seen the record and we would know why. God had done everything possible to save each and every one of us, but we did not repent. The Bible says In Revelation chapter 22, speaking of the city, verse 11, having the glory of God, her light was like the most precious stone, like Jasper stone, clear as crystal. I remember when I was looking at the word Jasper, my son, he loves stones and crystals. And I'm asking him to do a little research. He goes on chatgpt and he types in Jasper did a little research on it. Found out that Jasper, back in the days and times of the Israelites, in these times, in the first Centuries is not as much as a Jasper of today, though you can probably still find it. I don't know the full history of it, but what the research was saying is that Jasper in those days was not like the ones you Google right now and find currently. No, it was actually clear as crystal. It was somewhat transparent. And then it says in verse. Look at verse 18, the walls. The construction of its walls of the city was like. What? What was it like? Verse 18. Like Jasper. And the city was like pure gold. Now that gold is not like the gold today because it says gold like clear. What's the word? Glass. Notice what it says in verse 21. The 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each individual gate was one of one pearl. And the streets of the city was of gold. Like what? Transparent glass. Go to chapter 22, verse 1. And he showed me a pure river of water. And how was that river of water? This city seems to me quite transparent. What God has in store for us is such wonderfulness that not even the walls of your residence will be able to block the view. What do you say? God has something prepared for us that we can't even imagine. But it starts with one simple word. Repent. I'll give you one last verse here in chapter 22. Go to verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent mine angels to testify to you of these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David the bright and the morning star. Now say it with me. And the spirit and the bride say. And let him who hears say. And let him who thirsts, whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. You know, when a preacher makes an appeal, it's not the preacher making an appeal. Who's the one speaking here? It is Jesus through the Spirit and through the. The spirit and the bride say one final story and we'll close. Anybody ever had Covid? Isn't that a wonderful experience? Did you enjoy that? Remember when I had Covid? I was, I was. Boy, that was terrible. They shut down everything. Of course. Did they shut down everything here in Sydney like they did over there in the U.S. yeah. Okay. They shut down everything, right. And I'm just laying there and I got Covid and my wife. He doesn't want to get Covid. And she was pregnant with my. With my now three year old daughter. She has her lifestyle. She's cooking the food. She comes with the food to the door of the bedroom where I have locked myself in. And she knocks on the door, almost spraying on the food and everything. I go ahead and I open the Door. She's walking away like this. I'm like, what's wrong with you? She looked like an astronaut with all the coverings that she had on her, right? I get my food, I bring it inside. After I finish eating, I open the door, I put it out there. She comes back, just spraying, spraying her face, her feet, like everything, right? And, you know, to make a long story short, I had my own wilderness experience. You ever had a secluded spot where you like to go pray? I used to just climb out the window and go into this area where I live on two acres over there in Florida and kind of hide myself in this little area. It was very bushy. Lots of trees, lots of bushes. I would go in and I would pray, and I would ask God to reveal himself. You think I heard God's name, God's word, God speaking to me? Anybody heard God's voice? Literally, I did not hear a thing. And I'm wondering, where is God? And I did that multiple times. And I recall one day, as I came back from one of those lonely trips, go back on my bed, I called my wife because I couldn't breathe at this point. My lungs were just. I found out later that I had pneumonia. One of the doctors told me, that's infection or liquid in your lungs. I couldn't breathe. I'm just there on the bed now. When I was going through that, I wasn't really answering my phone. But somebody called me, and for some reason, I answered that call. My arms were weak, so I pushed the bind and dropped it on my chest. And I'm like, edwin, is that you? I said, I can't breathe. I'm sorry, I can't talk. I'm sorry, you can't. What's going on? And I told him, struggling as I could, that I had Covid. And I'm so sorry to hear that. Now, prior to that, I was just thinking, lord, please give me an opportunity to survive this ordeal so that I can preach the gospel one more time. Just let me share your word to whoever wants to hear. And at that very moment, I received that phone call. You know what he tells me? This is Pastor so. And so I just wanted to call you to invite you to preach at my church. At the very moment I needed an answer from God, God had come through for me. And when I thought he wasn't listening to me, in my wilderness experience, he was. That whole time, God had a special work for me to do. And after I overcame, I went to a church, preached the sermon. I had asked God to let Me preach. And multiple individuals made decisions for Jesus. Amen. The Bible says in this text, come. And the bride and the Spirit say, come. Would you like to make that decision today? Give all to Christ. The Bible says, Hebrews chapter 12, to let go of that one sin that so easily besets us. It's not in the plural, it's in the singular, the sin. It says In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1, that one elephant in your room today. God is calling you to repent. What do you say? If you'd like to make that decision, stand where you are and let's pray together. Go ahead and stand. Let's say all. Let's give all to Jesus this morning. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I'm so grateful that you, as promised, had given us the words of life this morning. And we see through this sermon that you are calling us to do what you've always called your church to do. To turn from our ways, to give up on that which so easily besets us, to give you all our lives and to help us to be victorious in Jesus. And I pray, Lord, as we go through our seminar this week, that anything that is in the way may be removed. Whatever doubts, whatever sins, whatever problems, so that we could commit our lives fully to you and give all to Christ so that one day when that city descends from heaven, we may be inside and not on the outside. Cause us, Lord, not to experience the flames that will destroy the wicked, but the flames of the righteousness of the presence of your son and you. As we live in the city where the sun is not needed. Because the light of your son and you will be the light of its city. Cause us, Lord, to dwell among the righteous and to live eternally with you. But it starts today to give all to you and to repent of that sin. Remind us of what it is. Bring it to our hearts and cause us to be victorious in Jesus. Bless us, Lord, as we partake of our meal as well. Cause that these words that are given to us this morning may so fully transform our hearts that we may walk from this place saying, I have heard the words of Christ and I have decided to repent in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit WaitaraChurch.org.au This program has been brought to you by 3 ABN Australia radio.
