Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 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, pastor Wayne Humphries. Friends, why don't we just spend a few moments in prayer as we invite God to be with us before we open his word this morning? Heavenly Father, it is such a pleasure that we can come back together online and in church to worship you. And I pray this morning as we open your word that your Holy Spirit will be amongst us, to come upon us, to tell us, to teach us the truth.
And Lord, I also pray that the words that I speak this morning will be your words and not my own. In Jesus name I ask it. Amen.
I always like to start off by talking about something that I'm really interested in. And I do have a little hobby or I don't know if you'd call it a hobby or not. One of the things that I enjoy is modern history.
So where's Bret? He's the one that would be enjoying that as well. But particularly the Apollo missions that blasted off to the moon during the 60s, in particular in the early seventy s. The bravery of those men never ceases to amaze me.
That they would be willing to strap themselves into this little tiny capsule at the top of some of the most powerful rockets still that man has ever devised and blast themselves off away from planet Earth to blast themselves out into open space and to go and set foot on another planet. It is just amazing. And I love to watch Meticulously and I particularly like to see all the little details of the things that they did and the navigation that they used and some of the technologies that they used in those days.
The average Commodore car these days, if we had Commodores still, the average motor vehicle has more computing power than those rockets that took those spaceship to the moon, those men to the moon. So they truly were pioneers and they truly were very brave. But one of the things that used to interest me was the fact that of this gigantic rocket with all the different stages on it, right at the very top, there was a tiny little capsule.
And that little capsule was so small that they could hardly move around inside it. And they would seal themselves inside that tiny little capsule for about five days. And that was the only part of this entire rocket that would actually make it back to Earth.
But this little capsule, when they closed that door and they pulled that iron bar shut, it sealed all around the edges. And inside that capsule was an environment that would keep those men alive even though they were hurtling at 27,000 miles an hour, the fastest that man has ever traveled through a space that had high and low temperatures that we can't imagine. If you put your finger outside the door, it would freeze and break off immediately.
That's how cold it gets in deep space. There's no air. It's a complete vacuum.
And also there's no gravity. So everything that we need as humans to keep us alive does not exist in outer space. And therefore, these men were risking their lives against everything that was deadly to their lives, to the human body.
But these astronauts don't just get in this little capsule and blast off for nothing. There's a long period of preparation that they need to go through. Physical tests, psychological tests, preparing themselves for the day when they have to get in that lift and go up that gantry and walk out onto that capsule and get into that seat and have their seatbelts put on and have their helmets snapped shut and the oxygen turned on.
They shake their hands for the last time, that door shuts. And once that door shuts, there's no going back. There is no going back.
And they need to be preparing themselves for years for the rigors that they have to endure in order to be able to have this adventure. And any fault, any lack in learning, any mechanical failure, anything that could happen that could go wrong if it did go wrong, could result in instant destruction of them. But they are not afraid to go.
And there are men that are putting up their hands to go behind them. Friends, I have to wonder the service that I've got for you this morning is entitled The Seal of God or The Seals of God. And I can see a parallel between what we're going to be talking about this morning and these men, these brave men who would do this thing to experience the ultimate adventure.
Now, I'll say that any person with eyes to see and ears to hear cannot but come to the conclusion that we are fast approaching the last days by virtue of the fact that this is the first time that we have had church in this church for over six months. I can't imagine that ever since this church first commenced having worship services, there's ever been anything happen like this. We've had droughts, we've had fires, some of the worst droughts and the worst fires that we've had since records were being kept.
Now we have this pandemic, which is, again, one of the worst that we've ever had in history. And yet we see anyone that is watching these things that are going on and what's going on in the world today can't help but come to the conclusion. And I was having a discussion with someone this morning.
When is Jesus coming again? Is it very far away? I don't think it's very far away at all, do you? And we need to be prepared. So as these astronauts were sealed in their capsule from the extremes of space, the Bible tells us that we must be sealed with the seal of God so that we may remain faithful to Him and to stand firm during the time of trouble until the day when he appears again in the clouds of glory. There will be danger around about us and any failure for us could result in destruction.
And so we need to make sure that we understand what this seal or these seals are, if there are multiples. So that we can be going through a process right now of preparation for this day when we are going to look up and see Jesus in the flesh, in the sky. As much as you are looking at me right now, you are going to be looking at Him as well, only at his second coming.
He won't be standing on the earth. He will be surrounded in glory with multiple angels filling the entire sky around the globe. What a wonderful day that's going to be.
Traditional Adventism has told us many times, especially in many evangelistic series, that the seal of God is the acceptance of the Sabbath day and all that it stands for. And this is absolutely true. But this is also only a part of the story, because when we look at the seal of God, when we look at it in the context of the Mark of the Beast, we only see the two contrasting together.
But there is a bigger world that we're going to have a look at today in terms of this seal, because the Bible also reveals a multi phased seal, an object and a multi phased sealing, which is an event. So there is a seal that must be applied and also that seal must be received. So it is not just about the seal itself.
There is also a multi phased event, a sealing event that we need to be looking at. Now let's go to the Bible because I want to show you where it says that. Revelation, chapter seven, verses two to three.
Open your Bibles with me. You might think I'm preaching heresy, but I always like to back up everything I say with Scripture, everything that I say. The Bible is our standard for behavior and doctrine.
Revelation, chapter seven, verses two and three. And I read these words. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.
There is the seal. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth, the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. So this angel is having a great seal, which is an object, and he's telling the four angels that are allowing the winds to blow on the earth to hold back those winds.
Don't let the earth become to too much trouble until we have applied this seal to the saints of God, which is called the sealing. That's quite clear in this scripture, isn't it? The Bible also reveals that the seal has existed for a long, long time and that the event of this sealing is not strictly limited to the end of time. Even though it is very, very important at the end of time.
It becomes more so important because it leads up to the close of probation. But the ceiling time does not only apply to the end of time, it applies to all through time. And this is very important to understand, especially for us.
How can this be? John chapter six and verse 27. Please turn with me to John chapter six and verse 27. We're going to see an instance of a seal or a sealing that has occurred before the end of time.
In fact, it occurred back in the days of Jesus. John chapter six and verse 27. And I read these words do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.
The words of John himself, God the Father has set the seal, has sealed, has applied the sealed, and it has been received by the Son. So the Bible clearly reveals that this sealing of the saints of God is a process rather than an event. And it's a process that's been happening since the days of Jesus, according to the Bible.
So it is something that is very, very important. And the Bible also tells us by this angel in Revelation that it is something that needs to be applied to every single child of God before the angels release the winds of trouble and the time of probation comes upon us. So it is important for us, do you think it's important for us to understand what this is all about? It's absolutely crucial that we understand what this is all about.
Now, what I want to do is I want to present it to you in a different sort of way. If you're standing next to a nice still pond and you throw a rock in the middle of that pond, I know the ladies probably don't do that because they like the stillness, but the guys just can't wait to pick up that rock and throw it in that water. When you throw it in the middle of the pond, what happens? You have these ripples that all spread out from the inside.
So the event happened in the middle, but the rings around the outside are a result of that event. And I want you to think of a rock that's been thrown into a pond and there are three ripples that are rippling out from the middle to the outside. Each of these three ripples represents the sealing process of god moving from the general, which is on the outside, to the specific as we get closer to the inside.
The first ring or the outer ring is the seal of the Holy Spirit. Did you know the Bible talks about the sealing of the Holy Spirit? As we have already seen, the Bible tells us that Jesus spoke of having his father set his seal on him. We read that in John, chapter six, verse 27.
Let me just read that to you again. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of man will give you because God the Father has set his seal on him. That's an interesting passage, isn't it? Could it possibly be that the sealing that Jesus received in his day is the same sealing that we will be needing in the last days? Very possible, isn't it? So let's have a look and see what it was.
How did this happen? How did Jesus receive this seal and when did it happen? If we look at the example of the sanctuary services and that's what we always do when we're looking at salvation, isn't it? We go and we have a look and see what the sanctuary did. You might remember when there was a Penitent sinner in Israel that wanted his sins forgiven in the sanctuary before Christ had actually lived his life on the earth, he had to take a lamb to the temple. Do you remember? And he would pray.
He put his hands on the lamb and then pass that lamb to the priest. The priest would then do something. What would he do? Sorry, no, before that.
Before that. Thank you. He would check the lamb to make sure that it was spotless, that it was suitable, because the Lord had said, don't bring any if they've got a spot or a stain or any such thing, it's not going to be good enough.
It needs to be complete. It needs to be spotless. Now, when we look at John One, verse 29, john the Baptist publicly announced something about Jesus as he came to him to be baptized.
He said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. What was John saying? This was the spotless lamb of God, the sinless lamb of God, the perfect Lamb of God. And in Luke, chapter three and verse 22, we see at baptism, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus.
You know, it's one of the few times in the whole of Scripture where the Father, the Son and the Spirit are seen in the one place together. And one of those times was when Jesus was baptized, because as he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon him as an anointing. He was anointed for ministry.
He was set as a seal was set upon him for ministry. And it was at that point that Jesus was inspected, obviously by the Father or the Holy Spirit and would have seen that here he is, he's perfect. And as he comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit lays himself upon him and seals him for ministry.
And it is after that point that Jesus is begun to be addressed as the Messiah, because that was the beginning of his public ministry. So the process of sealing for Jesus when he received the seal of the Holy Spirit, which he talked about in John chapter six and verse 27. Now you might say, well, that sounds a bit far fetched, pastor, is there anywhere else in the Bible where it talks about the Holy Spirit being involved in the process of sealing? Does the Holy Spirit really do this sealing process? Friends, turn across with me to Ephesians, chapter four, and I want to read to you verse 30, ephesians, chapter four and verse 30.
We're going to see what the Bible says about this. Ephesians, chapter four and verse 30. And I read these words and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
So how were these people, these Ephesians, how were they sealed? They were sealed by the Holy Spirit. And also we go back to Ephesians chapter one and we read verse 13. There are many other examples of this in Scripture, but I just wanted to show you that the Bible is not silent regarding the work of the Holy Spirit in sealing those who are belonging to him.
Ephesians, chapter one and verse 13. In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Friends, it is clear the Holy Spirit does do a sealing process.
The Holy Spirit did seal the spotless Lamb of God at his baptism as he commenced his messianic task on the earth. But friends, what does this mean for the new believer? Why is this significant to us, this process of sealing, which culminates in the final seal begins at the point of believing in Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit? Did not the apostle Paul say, believe in Jesus Christ and you will receive the Holy Spirit? So there is a process there of beginning of sealing. The believer at this point is justified when he accepts Jesus as his personal Savior, the Holy Spirit comes upon him and gives him the gift of faith.
And yes, faith is a gift and he is then justified and fully saved as he is ever going to be. That's one of the wonderful points I love about the plan of salvation is that a sinner can come to Christ who has been a sinner his whole life, and he accepts Jesus as his personal Savior, and he is justified at that point and he is saved at that point. And he is never going to be more saved.
Do we see a biblical example of that? My favorite story, the thief on the cross. A man who was a criminal his whole life, never kept the Sabbath, never paid tithe, never went to church, but he expressed faith in Jesus, the last moments of his life. And Jesus said, you will be with me in paradise.
But friends, I don't want us to be tempted to stop there just believing. There's more to it than that. There are greater gifts to be given, and Jesus has more wonder to give to us.
Friends, I want to talk about that was the outside ring, the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Now we go to the second ring, the middle ring, the seal of the law. Let's turn to Isaiah, chapter eight, verses 15 to 17.
And I'm sure as we progress through this, you're going to see a wonderful similarity between this process of sealing and the process of salvation. Isaiah, chapter eight, verses 15 to 17. And these are the words I'm reading this morning.
And many among them shall stumble, they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken. Verse 16, chapter eight. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait on the Lord who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
Friends, now we all come to a seal that we recognize. This is the one that we have studied before. God's testimony to Isaiah was to seal the Law among his disciples.
He was to enforce or not enforce, but bring a love for the Law to those who were following him, to those who were his children, to those who were his disciples. Now, for the Law to be valid in the Old Testament times, it needed to contain three elements. If a king wrote a law, it needed to have three things in it.
It needed to have name, it needed to have title, and it needed to have dominion. I King Nebuchadnezzar, there's your name in your title. I'm just paraphrasing here.
I'm not King Nebuchadnezzar. I, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, decree this name, title, dominion. Now, when we look in the Ten Commandments, we see that there is a commandment there that has those three things a name, a title and a dominion.
Friends, I'm going to read to you Exodus, or wanted you to read with me. Exodus, chapter 20, verses eight to eleven. I know you know this and I want to read it so many times that you know it off by heart.
Exodus, chapter 20, verses eight to eleven, one of the most pivotal verses in Scripture. Do you know the wonderful thing about the Ten Commandments? When you think about it, the entire Bible is the story of Jesus. It's the story of God, isn't it? But why is it that there is only one place in Exodus where God wrote with his own finger.
It's written in stone. It's final. But everywhere else in Scripture, God inspired someone with ideas.
He said, I want you to write this out for me. And they sat down and they wrote it out. But God could not trust anyone with this.
And so he wrote it with his own finger in stone. And this is what he wrote. Exodus, chapter 20, verses eight through to eleven.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
In it you shall do no work. You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heavens and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and rested.
The 7th day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Do we see the name in verse ten? We see the Lord your God.
The Sabbath is not man's Sabbath. It is not the Jews Sabbath. It is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
So says the commandment. There is the name. Do we see the title in verse eleven? We look and we see.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. So he gives his name in verse ten, his title as being Creator in verse eleven. And then we also see his dominion.
For the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. The whole of our known existence is the Lord's dominion. So did God see that the Sabbath day was anything special? I mean, a lot of people will tell you these days the Ten Commandments don't apply anymore.
What would you say to that? Let's have a look. Let's have a look at Exodus chapter 31. Did God back up what he was saying in scripture? Did he see the Sabbath as being anything special? Exodus chapter 31.
And this was the instruction that God had given Moses to deliver to the Israelites. Exodus chapter 31, verses 16 and 17 therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generation as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between you and me and the children of Israel forever.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth. And on the 7th day he rested and was refreshed. A know if I wear a T shirt that's got Holden written on it? Do I love Ford? No, I love Holden because you can see the sign.
And the same could be said for anything. The way you think, the way you talk, the way you behave, is a sign of where you've come from, who you are, what you believe. And God has said, for those who keep the Sabbath it is a sign that they are keeping the covenant with.
Know the wonderful thing about the Sabbath, when you want to keep it, most other religions, in fact, almost all other religions in the world, usually have some sort of pilgrimage that they have to make. You might go to Mecca, you might go to Israel, you might go here, you might go there. But friends, it doesn't matter where you are, because every year, every week on the 7th day, you don't go to the Sabbath.
The Sabbath comes to you as soon as Friday night, that sun goes down. Until the sun goes down on Sabbath night, God comes to you, you're not going to Him. That's not unusual, isn't it? So this Sabbath is a sign.
And we're going to read in Isaiah chapter 58 something very interesting. I want you to notice a little detail that I found in Isaiah chapter 58, and we're going to read verses twelve to 14 regarding how God sees the Sabbath as being a special day, a special event, a special process, a special thing. Isaiah chapter 58, verses twelve to 14.
Those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundation of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Friends, don't ever let anyone tell you that going back to the old way of worship, that's no good. We need to do this new thing. We need to try this new way of doing it.
God wants us to go back to the ways of worshipping Him, as described in Scripture, verse 13. If you turn away your foot from the Sabath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, a holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor him not doing your own ways, nor seeking finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride on the high heels of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken those last few words there. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Friends, we are reading the very words out of God's own mouth as shared with the prophet Isaiah.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken. This. Does God think the Sabbath is special? Does he see it as a sign? Does he see it as a seal? Absolutely does.
In John chapter 14, verse 15, jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Why would he say that? And after he died, he'd change his mind. And we need to remember that.
In Revelation chapter 14, verse twelve, we see a description of the remnant people of the last days. And what does it say? Here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Friends, the commandments of God are as binding in the days of Christ as they are today.
I ask you the question. I want you to think about this. What would the world be like if all of a sudden today everyone decided to start keeping the Ten Commandments? What would the world be like? We would need no armies, because there'd be no wars.
We would need no lawyers. We would need no courtrooms because everyone tells the truth. Can you imagine what that would be like? There would be no police because there'd be no theft, no adulteries.
I can't imagine. You'd be able to leave a wallet with $100 bills sitting on the street and come back two days later and still be there. There'd be no lying.
I mean, I can't imagine. I want you to consider that. What would the world be like if everyone started living in harmony with the Ten Commandments? Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
When a Christian truly accepts the first ring in the pond and receives the Holy Spirit through conversion, they will want to follow God's word because they love Him. Jesus asks us to keep his commandments, and in the context of the ceiling, he asks us to show our love for Him by remembering His Sabbath day. He doesn't want us to keep the Sabbath because we feel like we have to.
He wants us to keep the Sabbath because we are sharing a love relationship with Him. And we know that through obedience, because we want to show our loyalty. We want to show our love for Him.
We keep the Sabbath because he's asked us to. We're not here because we have to be here. We're here because we want to show God that we love Him because of what he has done for us, caused us to have a debt that we can never repay.
Friends, we remember how we said that the first ring was a justification? Well, this second ring is the process of a sealing of our characters into the likeness of Jesus'own character through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit and by obedience to his law. This can be equated to the concept of the ongoing process of being sanctified, growing into the likeness of Christ. And friends, I want to share you just with you, just quickly.
We're running out of time. The third or the inner ripple in that ring, or the seal, the closest seal, the third seal, the seal of redemption, closely associated with the final judgment, which is described in some detail. Friends, let us read ezekiel, chapter nine, verses one to six.
Ezekiel, chapter nine, verses one to six. Then he called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. And suddenly, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle axe in his hand.
One. Man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer's inchon at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
Now the glory of God of Israel had gone up from the cherub where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. That's an interesting little passage there, because those of us who have been coming to the Monday night Bible study will recognize jesus repeated that because when he left the temple for the last time, he said, behold, your house is left unto you. Desolate.
And he called to the man clothed with linen who had the writer's inchon at his side. Verse four. And the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.
To the others. He said in my hearing, go after him through the city and kill. And do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity.
Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women, but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
I want you to notice the process. Number one, god requires an angel to go through the city marking on the foreheads of his people. Notice the people's attributes that receive this mark.
They are sighing and crying over the abominations that are done in Jerusalem. Why are they sighing and crying over the abominations that are done in Jerusalem? Because they have received a love of the Holy Spirit and they recognize the power of the law of God that has in their life. And when they see the abominations that are being done, it makes them feel terribly despondent and they sigh and they cry because of what Jerusalem once was and now what it is.
Are we seeing some prophetic parallels here? They couldn't without the Spirit and a love for God's law. They had to sigh and cry. God has left the place of the cherub, the most holy place, which means probation is closing.
Jesus is leaving the temple. As we saw in the book of Matthew, destroyers ordered to destroy completely everyone except those who have this seal of God on their forehead. But interestingly enough, I think it is only in this passage that is described as a mark.
God's seal is a mark, which is very, very significant in the language as well. And then he says, Begin at my sanctuary. God's professed people are the ones that are examined and marked first.
If we look in Revelation, chapter seven, verses two and three, and I'll get us to flip over to Revelation, we see this prophecy being revealed in the last days in different words. Revelation, chapter seven, verse two and three. I want you to continue to think about this process in ezekiel.
And it says in Revelation chapter two, then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth and the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads. It's the same story.
It's the same story. So friends, what does all this mean to us today? Earlier on, we differentiated between the seal of God and the sealing. The Bible describes the seal or its parts thereof, as being the Holy Spirit, the law of God, particularly the Sabbath and the plan of redemption.
And the reason that the seal of God is spoken of as being the Sabbath, because in our evangelistic seminars and in a large portion of our literature is because it is always being contrasted to the mark of the beast. Sabbath worship, Sunday worship, we all know about that. But this process of sealing is described in the Bible in a much larger context because we see the outer ring, which is the sealing of the Holy Spirit, is the acceptance of the love of God, the recognition of what Jesus has done on our behalf.
The fact that a debt has been paid that we can never repay being repaid on our behalf, we can never repay it. Justification. We also see the middle ring, which is the seal of the law.
It is when we recognize what Jesus has done for us, and we accept it with such gusto that we say, Lord, what can we know? Remember those that Paul was preaching to, and when he preached to them and said, you are the ones that crucified him. And they fell on their knees and they said, what must we do to be saved? There is nothing we can do to repay this debt. But Jesus still holds out his gift.
And when we recognize what he has done, when we recognize who he is, when we recognize the sacrifice that has been made on our behalf, we fall on our knees and we say, lord, what can we do? To keep the Sabbath is a small thing. In order to repay him, which is a debt that we can never repay. And then we see the third or the inner ripple, the seal of redemption, which God places on our foreheads.
And when he sends the destroying angel, we are missed out because of what God has done. God has created that seal. God has created the process that he might apply it to our foreheads, and God applies it to the foreheads of those who sigh and cry over the abominations that are done in the land.
Friend, do we see abominations being done in the land today with social media and television? We see it all the time. Are we sighing and crying over these things, remembering better days, better times, wishing that people could come to Jesus and find the happiness and the health and the healing that we want. Friends, I want to explain this ceiling to you by using an illustration.
An illustration of two young people, a man and a woman, who meet one another and they fall in love. And after a period of time, they get married. And after getting married, in ideal world, they begin to have children.
And you can see that this relationship that started from two people meeting each other has slowly grown and grown and gotten deeper and more meaningful and more commitment. And as the years continue to roll by, there comes a time in their life where they are so committed to one another that there is no going back. There is no unloving.
There is no unsealing. And friends, I have seen this, sadly, in the lives of many older people. When they lose a partner, they are not interested in anything else because they are sealed in their relationship to that person, to the point where nothing or no one else can ever take their place.
And they sigh and they cry, looking forward to the day when they can be together again. Does that explain the ceiling? Because this is the relationship that Jesus wants to have with us, where we meet Him and he seals us with His Holy Spirit. And then as we continue to develop this relationship, we learn more of his love for us, we learn more of the sacrifice that he has given to us.
We learn more of his life on Earth, of his death on the Cross, of his resurrection, of his ministry in the heavenly sanctuary for the last 2000 years. All of these things directly aimed at the salvation of mankind on the earth. How can we but help fall in love with this man? And there comes the time as we continue to learn to study, to read, to pray, to experience the joy of God that we become sealed.
And there can never be a time when there is an unloving, where there is a removal from Jesus. So this ceiling that the Bible talks about friends, I pray for each one of you and for those who are watching online today that you can experience this healing, that you can experience this joy of a relationship with jesus that you can learn more of what he has done for you, which is going to grow into the fruitfulness of eternal life, which is a symbol gift that Jesus gives. We do nothing.
We don't go to him. He comes to us. He offers us his life as the substitute.
He offers us the death on the cross as our redemption. He offers us his own resurrection for his life in the future. He is constantly in the sanctuary, pleading with his own blood on your behalf before the Father, as we are constantly drawing closer to Him.
And there will come a time when we are sealed in his love and we cannot be removed. This is the place that we need to be when probation closes. Not only ourselves, but we need to be drawing other people towards it as well.
Francis, my prayer. Each one of you will be set on a path that will see yourself and all of your family and all of your friends and anyone that you come in contact with, sealed by the grace of God, waiting for his soon return. That's my prayer for each one of you.
In Jesus name, amen. Father, our trials are almost gone and our path is almost complete. And very soon we will be in the Father's home, not from anything that we have done or deserved, but through the gracious love of Jesus and what he has done on our behalf.
Heavenly Father, I pray that as we continue to learn to study, to read, we too will fall on our knees and say, what must we do to be saved? Bless, strengthen and guide each one of us today, those here in this church and those who are online that we might continue to search for the living Jesus and be ready, be sealed by God for that day when he comes again is my prayer. In Jesus name. I ask him.
Amen. This message was made available by Pastor Wayne Humphreys. For more resources like this, visit waynehumphries.org
SA you let the world see your reflection in everything I do don't let the things around me, Lord take you from my view for I want to follow in your will and live my life for you. I think about my hopes and dreams as I look ahead in life and wonder just what's in store for me. But I know that I am safe as long as I rest in you.
For I already know what the future holds for me I want to live my life for you let the world see your reflection in everything I do don't let the things around me, Lord take you from my view for I want to follow in Your will and live my life for you. Lord, help me live a kind of life that will reach out to the world and show them how your grace can set them free. But please don't allow me to forget where you brought me from but remind me, Lord, just where I could be I want to live my life for you let the world see your reflection in everything I do don't.
Let the things around me, Lord, take you from my view for I want to follow in your will and live my life for you if I want to follow in your will and live my life for you the Clark family sang I want to live for him. Coming up next, the Hamilton family will sing constantly. Abiding there's a peace in my heart that the world never gave a peace that cannot take away all the trials of life may surround like a cloud I've a peace that has come here to stay.
Constantly abiding jesus is mine. Constantly abiding raptured he never leaves me lonely whispers are so kind I will never leave me jesus is mine. All the world seemed to sing of a savior and king when peaceweetly came to my heart troubles all fled away my night turned today blessed Jesus, how glorious the world this treasure I have in a temple clay while here on his footstool I won't but he's coming to take me some glory over there to my heaven.
Constantly abiding jesus constantly abiding rapture he never leaves me lonely whispers also kind I will never leave me Jesus jesus is mine. Compiled by Remnant Publications the book Get Ready for a Miracle recounts true stories that prove that when we step out in faith, god displays his power in undeniable ways. Here is our reader, coval Smith.
This story is entitled Two New Mission Trucks. Psalm 68, verse 19 says blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits. The God of our salvation.
Sila as my wife Kathy and I were graduating from Andrews University, we received a call to go to Zambia to serve at Rusanga Secondary School. At that time, it was the largest Adventist boarding academy with about a thousand students. We were told that we needed to bring a pickup and that to get it in duty free, we needed to own it for six months before we left the United States.
We sent a communication back to the General Conference asking what kind of pickup we should buy. We waited and waited for reply, but we didn't hear back. Finally, I went out and bought a brand new 1973 Marone and white half ton GMC pickup.
Then I sent a message to the General Conference telling them that I had bought a truck. We drove the beautiful new truck for six weeks to South Dakota, all across Nebraska and back. Then we got a reply from the General Conference.
Nope, wrong kind of pickup. You cannot buy parts for it there. You need a Ford three quarter ton with a stick shift, a four speed transmission and a cover on the back.
Oh, no, we cannot afford this, I thought. I knew I couldn't resell the truck. For the price I had paid for it, I would probably lose at least $8,000.
So I prayed about it. I had gotten a little money for mileage from the conference, and when I deducted the amount I had spent for gas, I had a little cushion, but not much. We put an ad in the paper and I put the wrong price in a $1,000 less than what I had to have.
At 02:00 a.m. I got a call. I'll be there at 06:00 A.m.
To buy the truck, the man said. At six he showed up and started writing out the check. That's the wrong price.
I said, we need a thousand more. He showed me the ad and I said, I'm sorry, that's wrong. Okay, I'll take it anyway, he said.
So we sold the pickup, and when we took into account the money that the conference had paid for my mileage less gas, we hadn't lost any money. What a miracle. Can you imagine buying a vehicle and driving it for six weeks and not losing any money? We went out and bought another pickup truck, this time a green and white three quarter ton Ford with a four speed transmission.
We even found a used shell for the back of it that matched the truck exactly. We were so excited, we drove it for about a month. Then we got a call from the General Conference.
We're changing the location for where you're going. You are going to go to the Congo to work on a new project in the Kasai region. Your truck will not do any good there.
You need to sell it. Okay, Lord, what's going on here? My wife. And I said, we prayed about it and again put an ad in the paper.
On Sunday morning, we got a call from a farmer in western Nebraska. He said, I'll give you what you're asking for your truck. I'm out in the wheat fields now, so if you bring the truck out here, I'll give you a check.
I got in the truck and drove it out there. Kathy followed me in the car, and the man gave us a check. We were somewhat nervous about taking a check from someone we didn't know.
But we were both farm kids once, and we trust farmers. The check was good, and again, we had not lost any money. We got exactly what we paid for the truck.
Kathy and I were amazed at how God took care of us. A reflection associated with this story comes from Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, page 101. If you will seek the Lord and be converted every day, if you will, of your own spiritual choice, be free and joyous in God.
If with gladsome consent of heart to his gracious call, you come wearing the yoke of Christ, the yoke of obedience and service, all your murmurings will be stilled. All your difficulties will be removed. All the perplexing problems that now confront you will be solved.
Two new mission trucks was written by Elder Duane McKey, who is vice president for Evangelism and ministerial director for the Southwestern Union Conference of 7th day Adventists. Early in their career, he and his wife Kathy served as missionaries in Africa. This program has been brought to you by three ABN Australia Radio.
