Christian Life

The Lesson of Thanksgiving

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On October 3, 1863, less than two years before he was assassinated, President Abraham Lincoln sent a proclamation to the people of the United States. In part, this proclamation said:

“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. …

“No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience … [they] fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

Some of us, it seems, still need to learn more of the lesson of thanksgiving to the Lord. As I perform the responsibilities of a pastor, I visit many people whose lives are so filled with difficulty and discouragement that there is nothing for which they are thankful. But God says His mercies and blessings toward each one of us are more than the hairs of our head. And though we today, like America in 1863, are in terrible trouble, it does not mean that we should not, cannot, be thankful.

On October 20, 1906, Ellen White gave a lengthy sermon to the Oakland Adventist church in California. The sermon was based on Romans 15 and she gave a specific counsel 22 times, in a number of different ways. Do you think if you said something to someone that many times that they might get the point? When you first look at this sermon, one might think that it really doesn’t have much to do with thankfulness or thanksgiving. But sometimes the best way to learn what something is, is to start from the opposite direction. Let’s read Romans 15:1–3:

“We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’ ”

We find a tremendous amount of instruction in these three verses. We are not to live simply to please ourselves, but should ask how we can please someone else. We are not to live to make ourselves happy; instead we are to live to bring happiness to others. How you live your life makes all the difference in your outlook on life. Jesus didn’t live to please Himself. He came, with a determined commitment, to do something for us that we could not do for ourselves.

Romans 15:5–7 says, “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.” Notice Paul says, “be like-minded toward one another.” If we are following God, we should not be of half-a-dozen different or a great variety of minds. To better explain these verses Mrs. White asks a question and provides the answer:

“What does this injunction entail? It places us under obligation to God. It leaves us where we must understand that we are amenable to Him alone. It leads us to realize that when the Holy Spirit is abiding in our hearts and working through us, we shall love one another, in the place of manifesting animosity toward one another.” The Review and Herald, December 13, 1906

Animosity toward others seems to be a natural trait of our fallen human nature. But when we receive the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we begin to love other people rather than harbor feelings of animosity toward them. “My dear brethren and sisters, God is not pleased with a spirit of criticism and faultfinding.” Ibid. Having a spirit of criticism and faultfinding is the opposite of thanksgiving.

There are many people who have a lot to eat on Thanksgiving Day, but they do not have a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude because they have a completely opposite spirit. We need to ask ourselves if we truly have a spirit of thanksgiving or a spirit of criticism and faultfinding. We cannot have both and if we have the spirit of thanksgiving, there will be no dissension among God’s children.

The strongest evidence of the truth of the three angels’ messages is a people in harmony and unity with Christ and with each other. This would demonstrate that God does have a people in the world because at present, there is only a thin veneer over harmony and unity. There is no real spirit of harmony or unity; the hearts of the people are not knit together. Underneath that veneer there is only dissension and bickering, even among those who claim to be God’s elect.

Jesus prayed in John 17:20–23, pleading with the Father that His followers might be one as He and the Father are one. But so many, while attempting to give the impression of harmony and unity, are filled with dissension. If this describes us, then we must have a new life. We must become dead to self and by the power of the Holy Spirit be made new.

“… keep the mind fixed on Jesus. Keep the heart uplifted in prayer to God. Behold Jesus and what He endured and suffered for us in order that we might have that life which measures with the life of God. How can any of us wear our nerves on the outside, ready to break forth into disaffection if every movement made by someone else is not in exact accordance with our ideas? All this super-sensitiveness is to be put away.” Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, 363

“… it is time now that we were looking unto Jesus to see whether we are reflecting His image. It is time now that we put away everything that will grieve the Holy Spirit of God–divisions, dissensions, faultfinding, incriminations. God wants us to come to the light, that our light may shine forth in good works. Let the praise of God be in heart and voice.” Ibid., 365

It isn’t enough to just feel thankful; you have to express thankfulness. Thanksgiving and praise will be a large part of the tremendous bliss and joy that the people of God will experience in heaven, because they will be praising the Lord and will be thankful to Him all the time.

“Let us cherish a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving. We want our faces shining, reflecting the glory of God.” Ibid. Then you will speak about God’s goodness and praise His holy name. We will not spend our time dwelling on negative things and the imperfections of others.

Do you know what happens to the person who dwells on the negative or the imperfections of other people? They actually take on the imperfections they dwell upon. It is astonishing that in the process of studying the defects of character in someone else, we will become like those defects as well.

“We may make mistakes, and we may have to ‘admonish one another.’ But there has come into the churches at Oakland and the surrounding community a spirit of backbiting, of faultfinding and evil-speaking, which demonstrates that you are not converted. Words are uttered that never should pass the lips of a Christian. My brethren and sisters, when you have nothing better to speak of than something about the faults of others, remember that ‘silence is eloquence.’ Cease to dwell upon the shortcomings of others. Keep the tongue sanctified unto God. Refrain from saying anything that might detract from the influence of another; for by indulging in these words of criticism, you blaspheme God’s holy name as verily as you would were you to swear. I am instructed to present these things before you, that you may see how you dishonor the name of Christ Jesus.” Ibid., 367

“When I feel oppressed, and hardly know how to relate myself toward the work that God has given me to do, I just call upon the three great Worthies, and say; You know I cannot do this work in my own strength. You must work in me, and by me and through me, sanctifying my tongue, sanctifying my spirit, sanctifying my words, and bringing me into a position where my spirit shall be susceptible to the movings of the Holy Spirit of God upon my mind and character.

“And this is the prayer that every one of us may offer.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 267, 268

This cannot happen as long as we retain a spirit of criticism and backbiting. If we want to be receptive to the influence of the Holy Spirit, we must develop a spirit of thanksgiving so that the Holy Spirit can change our minds and enable us to speak differently than the people of the world speak. The time we have been given is to be used to glorify God.

Paul describes in Romans 15:14–16 how we are to strive together. We need to learn to work together, strive together in prayers to God and not be looking for faults in one another. He says that instead of entering into conversation that tends to tear down, speak a word of encouragement. Our talent of speech is to be sanctified by God and cleansed from every form of negativity and faultfinding.

Do you know someone with the disposition to quarrel and find fault? This is very serious.

“I feel an intense interest regarding every faultfinder; for I know that a quarrelsome disposition will never find entrance into the city of God. Quarrel with yourself, but with no one else; and then be converted. Confess your sins right here where you are, before you return to your homes. With words of confession, humble your hearts before God.

“When you are tempted to speak unadvisedly, be on guard. If someone else approaches you with words of criticism regarding one of God’s children, turn a deaf ear to every such word. If you are spoken to harshly, never retaliate. Utter not a word. When under provocation, remember that ‘silence is eloquence.’ Silence is the greatest rebuke that you can possibly give a faultfinder or one whose temper is irritated. Keep your eye fixed on Jesus. Keep your eye on the One who never finds fault with you, only to lay before you perils from which He would deliver you.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 271

“The Lord is anxious to save us. He is anxious that everything separating us from Him should be put away, that our hearts may beat in unison with heaven. It is time to be in harmony with God. Let us spend a little while in clearing the King’s highway. If we have been indulging in the sin of telling others’ faults, let us confess it before the Lord and before our brethren.” Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, 378

Brothers and sisters, the time is coming when probation will close and if we haven’t overcome this kind of character, we will be lost. “When probation ends, it will come suddenly, unexpectedly—at a time when we are least expecting it.” Last Day Events, 230. It won’t matter if we are Sabbathkeepers. The people who crucified Jesus were Sabbathkeepers. We need to be right with God today, because if we delay, it will be too late.

At the end of her sermon to the Oakland church, Mrs. White offered a long prayer. I will not share the entire prayer, but here are a few lines from it:

“Our heavenly Father, we come to Thee this evening, as our only Refuge, as our only Helper, as the only One who can save us from ourselves. Thou alone can break the iron bands of the heart. Thou alone can cause the blind eyes to discern what sin is.

“Oh, my Father, my Father, the blindness, the terrible blindness, that comes over the people, that they do not discern what manner of character Thou can accept and what Thou wilt be compelled to reject! Oh, that Thou would impress upon all the terrible nature of sin, and how Thou dost regard sin.

“Yet, there are hearts that are becoming more and still more hardened, less and still less sensitive. By familiarity with sin, we lose our sensitiveness as to how awful it is. I pray Thee Lord that they may not go on hardening their hearts any longer.

“I pray Thee that this awful manifestation of self may be broken up. I pray Thee that self may be crucified, and that self may die, in order that there may be a reconversion in the midst of us, and that souls may be brought to humble themselves before Thee, and be reconverted. Break up this hardness of heart! I pray Thee, to melt and subdue the soul. Help them to remove the stumbling blocks out of the way, and to take themselves out of the way. Wilt Thou, Lord, break up this coldness, this iciness, this frozen-heartedness!

“Oh, give them no rest, day or night, until they see the necessity of transformation of character; until they see the necessity of clearing the King’s highway. Oh, help us to be converted. Thou hast a whole heaven of blessings that Thou art waiting to pour out upon a people who are ready to receive it, and use it.” [See Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, 379–382.]

We must learn to have a spirit of thanksgiving, a spirit of praising the Lord and not one of finding fault with everything and everyone. We can spend our entire lives studying and talking about all the many things that are wrong in this world, but we will spiritually destroy ourselves if we do, and we won’t be ready for heaven.

“To praise God in fullness and sincerity of heart is as much a duty as is prayer. We are to show to the world and to all the heavenly intelligences that we appreciate the wonderful love of God for fallen humanity and that we are expecting larger and yet larger blessings from His infinite fullness. … After a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, our joy in the Lord and our efficiency in His service would be greatly increased by recounting His goodness and His wonderful works in behalf of His children.

“These exercises drive back the power of Satan. They expel the spirit of murmuring and complaint, and the tempter loses ground. They cultivate those attributes of character which will fit the dwellers on earth for the heavenly mansions.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 299, 300

This is the experience that will fit us for heaven because part of getting ready for heaven is praising the Lord in a spirit of thankfulness, appreciating the love of God and what He has done to save the human race. We should have regular praise meetings in our homes, just as Jesus did when He worked in the carpenter shop each day. “His praises seemed to drive away the evil angels, and fill the place with sweet fragrance. He carried the minds of His hearers away from their earthly exile to their future, eternal home.

“All this has its lesson for us. We also may commune with God in words of holy song. Our house of worship may be very humble, but it is none the less acknowledged by God. If we worship in spirit, and in truth, and in the beauty of holiness, it will be to us the very gate of heaven. As lessons of the wondrous works of God are repeated, and as the heart’s gratitude is expressed in prayer and song, angels from heaven take up the strain, and unite in praise and thanksgiving to God.” The Review and Herald, October 24, 1899

What is heaven like?

“Heaven is full of joy. It resounds with the praises of Him who made so wonderful a sacrifice for the redemption of the human race.” Heaven, 63

The angels of heaven understand, in a way we do not, the condescension Christ made to come down to this world as a human being. They know what He went through. They know all about the cross and when they see what God has done to save us, night and day, they praise the Lord for His wonderful love. Don’t you think we, too, should be praising the Lord for what He has done for us?

“Should not the church on earth be full of praise? Should not Christians publish throughout the world the joy of serving Christ? Those who in heaven join with the angelic choir in their anthem of praise must learn on earth the song of heaven, the keynote of which is thanksgiving.” My Life Today, 359

Friends, I want to be praising the Lord. I want to be involved in the song of heaven, do you? It won’t matter whether you can carry a tune in this world or not if you know how to praise the Lord and give Him thanks for what He has done for you. If it is worthwhile for the angels to praise the Lord for what He has done, shouldn’t we do the same?

Remember, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross was not something that He was required to do; it was not something that He had to do. He could have left us here and we all would have perished. He didn’t have to save us, but He chose to do it because He was willing to do anything so that we would not have to die.

“Jesus will receive you, all polluted as you are, and will wash you in His blood, and cleanse you from all pollution, and make you fit for the society of heavenly angels, in a pure, harmonious heaven. There is no jar, no discord, there. All is health, happiness, and joy.” Heaven, 63

Do you want to live a life that never ends in a place where you will always feel the freshness of the morning? It is difficult for us to understand God’s love, but we can ask Him to put within our hearts a spirit of praise so that we can sing the song of thanksgiving to our Saviour.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Best and Worst Example

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I’ve heard it said that a Christian is the best and worst example of Christianity. The best when he or she does the will of God, obeys His commandments and loves his or her neighbor. The worst when he or she claims to be a Christian, but does not live or act according to Christian principles.

It seems a lot of people wear a Christian coat, but have had no change of heart or mind. Instead of following God’s way to be a Christian, they make up their own way, taking that coat off and putting it back on as it suits them.

Mahatma Gandhi had this to say about Christians:

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

“Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians—you are not like Him.”

This opens the door for Satan’s critical accusation, “Such are Christ’s people.”

“Christ is grieved today at the manifestation of unchristlike spirit and unchristlike actions among His professed followers. Many who bear His name are bringing reproach upon His cause by their unchristian words and deportment.” The Review and Herald, September 30, 1909.

“Let everyone attend most critically to himself. ‘Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.’ Body and mind must be carefully and strictly dealt with, that unchristlike traits of character and tendencies to wrong may not bear sway. … Every departure from righteousness becomes a force that works against the Lord Jesus.” The Southern Watchman, January 19, 1904.

“Many professing Christians are so engrossed with earthly cares that they have no time for the cultivation of piety. … Unsanctified inclinations and desires must be cut away as a hindrance to growth in grace.” Pacific Union Recorder, December 22, 1904.

Being like Christ, being a Christian, means that a person has had a complete change of heart, a heart that specifically and consistently chooses to do the will of God every moment of the day.

“To everyone who offers himself to the Lord for service, withholding nothing, is given power for the attainment of measureless results.” Christian Service, 257.

“Our only safety is in living in hourly communion with the high and holy principles of the Word. As we read and study the Scriptures, Christ will commune with us. …

“The Word of the eternal God is our guide. Through this Word we are made wise unto salvation. Its principles are to be ever in our hearts and on our lips. ‘It is written’ is to be our anchor. Those who make the Word of God the man of their counsel realize the weakness of the human heart and the power of divine grace to subdue every unsanctified, unholy impulse. They are almost constantly in prayer, and they have the guardianship of the holy angels. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God lifts up a standard for them. There is harmony in the heart; for the principles of heaven bear sway.” Pacific Union Recorder, December 22, 1904.

We must never give the devil the opportunity to say of us, “Such are Christ’s people.” Daily we need to ask the Lord to live in our hearts, to make us more than just a coat-wearer, claiming Christianity, but not living the life of a Christian. We must become more and more like Him every day until that glorious morning when we will look upon His face and declare in one loud and joyous voice, “Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:9).

The Unrecognized Christian

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The most important thing for a Christian is to be recognized by the Lord when He returns. In Matthew 25:12, 13, we read that there will be many people who call themselves Christians, but they will be unrecognized by the Lord when He returns. This is one of the most terrible things that could happen to an individual. If you are a Christian, you expect and say that the Lord is coming to save you and to take you out of this evil world. He will take you to a place where there will be no more suffering, death nor sorrow, and all the problems we have to deal with will be gone. But, what if He returns and does not recognize you? Jesus says this will happen to some people and what the Lord says always turns out to be true.

A literal translation of Matthew 7:21, 22 says: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name we performed many powerful works [or miracles]?’ …”

My brother Marshall believed Jesus gave this prophecy especially to Christians living in the last days, those people who called Him Lord, but argued with Him regarding their fitness for heaven. But Jesus says to them, “No, not at any time did I know you. You were filled with a spirit, but it was the wrong spirit. You did supernatural things, but you practiced lawlessness.” The same word is used in the literal translation of 1 John 3:4: “He that commits sin transgresses also the law, and sin is the transgression of the law.”

Transgression and lawlessness are the same. Both mean the breaking of God’s law. Every human being needs to understand this because in the final judgment the Lord will ask only one question: Did you keep My law?

When we explain this to our Protestant and Roman Catholic friends, they call us legalists and say that we believe we are saved by keeping the law. But we believe we receive no merit by keeping the law. Instead, we are saved by grace alone through faith. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a person is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5, literal translation).

The Desire of Ages, 19, says, “Our little world is the lesson book of the universe.” How can we know if someone has been born of the Spirit or not? Paul says, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusts against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17, first part). These are contrary to one another. He also says, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are these …” (verses 18, 19, first part) and then he lists approximately 17 things (verses 18, 19–21, first part). “… I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (verse 21, last part). Those who do these things are breaking the law, but those who are born of the Spirit are not.

Paul explains the same thing in more detail in Romans 8. He shows that through the Holy Spirit you will receive power to put to death the works of the flesh. He says the person that is unconverted (carnal) is not subject to the law of God and cannot be (verse 7). But then he says, “If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (verse 13). So through the power of the Spirit the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who believe (verse 4). Only those who receive the Holy Spirit will be given the power to obey.

Maybe you are discouraged because there is some sin in your life that you have tried to overcome, but can’t seem to gain the victory over. The only way you will overcome that besetting sin is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you. The Lord has promised to give you the Holy Spirit to work a miracle to enable you to overcome if you will only ask.

We read in The Review and Herald, June 21, 1898: “Christ’s subjects are those who keep His commandments. These only are counted as His subjects. If, after the light has come, the disobedient continue in transgression, they are subjects of the kingdom of the prince of this world.

“But the heavenly principles that distinguish those who are one with Christ from those who are one with the world have become almost indistinguishable. The professed people of Christ are no longer a separate and peculiar people. The line of demarcation is indistinct. People are subordinating themselves to the world, to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law, when the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the law. Daily the church is becoming converted to the world. Professing Christians are slaves of mammon [Greek: real estate, property, gold, silver, material possessions]. Their indulgence of appetite and extravagant expenditure of money for selfish gratification, greatly dishonor God.

“Contrary to worldly kingdoms, Christ does not find His subjects—He makes them. Those who stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel are the subjects of a kingdom not recognized by worldly kingdoms, whose subjects have wandered from their allegiance to God, from their obedience to the law of His kingdom. These are accounted as dead in trespasses and sins. They are destitute of the Spirit of God, which worketh in the children of obedience.” So, this is the most important question a person must ask themselves: Will the Lord recognize me as a Christian, as one of His children when He returns? In the final analysis that is all that matters. No matter how you are recognized in this world, if Jesus does not recognize you, it will be the most terrible thing to ever happen to you. “Christ’s subjects are those who keep His commandments. These only are counted as His subjects.” Ibid.

Jesus was not recognized by the world as the Redeemer; He wasn’t even recognized by the church or by His own family, and if you are really a Christian, you also will be unrecognized by the world.

The Signs of the Times, July 11, 1895, says: “The world knows not the followers of Christ. They do not recognize their holy origin, and they will not be in harmony with them any more than they were in harmony with Jesus, their Lord.” Then Ellen White lists five reasons why the world did not recognize Jesus:
His righteous zeal for the honor of God,

  1. He unsparingly denounced sin,
  2. He unmasked the hypocrisy and pretense to piety,
  3. The loveliness of His own unblemished character, and
  4. He contended against lust and hypocrisy.

If we are truly Christians, these characteristics will be manifest in our lives and the result will be: “Those who become the sons of God cannot avoid coming into conflict with the hosts of apostasy. ‘The world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not’ (1 John 3:1, last part).” Ibid.

We already know that a true Christian will not be recognized by the world, but what is harder still is when a Christian is not recognized by his own church. In the early part of the fourth century the leaders of the church of Rome and other bishops made an arrangement with the Roman Empire, and in A.D. 313 an edict was passed ending the persecution of the Christians so that Christianity could become the state religion of the pagan Roman Empire. It adopted the name the Holy Roman Empire and they called themselves “Catholic” from the Greek meaning according to the whole.

A group of Christians known as the Donatists were much closer to apostolic Christianity than the Catholic church of the fourth century. The Catholic church went to the Roman government and the Donatists were told that because only Catholics were Christian, they could not call themselves Christians. The Donatists, mainly in North Africa, were unrecognized as Christians. They believed it was wrong to enforce the Christian religion by the will of the state, that the state did not have the right to tell them what they should believe. Consequently, the Donatists were disfellowshipped.

I was reminded years ago of the Donatist controversy when we here at Steps to Life were told we could not call ourselves Seventh-day Adventists. For 1,700 years, many forceful ways have been developed to disfellowship people. The most forceful way was to burn them at the stake. The Roman Catholic church did this during the Dark Ages and called it an “act of faith.” One such individual being led to the place of execution was told, “We are going to cut you off [disfellowship] from the church militant.” This person replied, “But not from the church triumphant.”

The Signs of the Times, December 4, 1893: “Many have been cast out of the church whose names were registered upon the Book of Life. Wolves in sheep’s clothing [John 9] were ready to cast out of the fold and devour one who was entitled to the Lord’s pasture; but Jesus, the True Shepherd, sought him, and gave him a place within the fold [the church].”

John 9 explains the process of disfellowshipping. In the story of the man, blind from birth and healed by Jesus, we see that if a person confessed that Jesus was the Christ, they would be cut off from the church. This was such a frightful consequence that this man’s parents lied for fear of being disfellowshipped. But the man said, “Lord, I believe!” and they “cast him out” (John 9:34).

There are Christians who clearly follow the will of God and obey His commandments, who, by so doing, will have their names inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life, yet, they are disfellowshipped by the church. Why? Because the professed people of God do not recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit and listen instead to another voice. The Holy Spirit will never lead a church to disfellowship someone whose name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, but it happens many times. As we approach the end of the world, almost everyone will feel that they are filled with the Holy Spirit, but for some it will be the wrong spirit. So it is very important to be able to distinguish the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit from every other voice.

“Only those who are living up to the light they have, will receive greater light. Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.” The Faith I Live By, 333. If we are not living up to the light that we have, when the latter rain [of the Holy Spirit] falls, we will not recognize it. So we must ask ourselves, are we living up to all the light that we have?

“We should improve every opportunity of placing ourselves in the channel of blessing. … The convocations of the church, as in camp meetings, the assemblies of the home church, and all occasions where there is personal labor for souls, are God’s appointed opportunities for giving the early and the latter rain.” Ibid., 246. Christ has said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst” (Matthew 18:20).

“At every meeting we attend our prayers should ascend, that at this very time God will impart warmth and moisture to our souls.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 509. Are you taking advantage of the spiritual opportunities that you have? The convocations of the church, like camp meetings and the regular church services, are God’s appointed means where He plans to pour out His Holy Spirit. Take advantage of the opportunity to attend these meetings so, when the Holy Spirit is poured out, you will be there to receive the blessing.

“Unless those who can help in _____ are aroused [awaken] to a sense of their duty, they will not recognize the work of God when the loud cry of the third angel shall be heard. When light goes forth to lighten the earth, instead of coming up to the help of the Lord, they will want to bind about His work to meet their narrow ideas. … the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning.” Ibid., 300.

We are asleep and must pray for an open mind and receptive heart, willing that whatever God’s chosen way is for our lives, even if it is contrary to our human planning, we will choose it and not our own way.

If you want to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit, you need to be studying your Bible. Second Peter 1:19–21 says that holy men of God spoke as they were moved [carried] by the Holy Spirit. The Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit. “This Holy Book has withstood the assaults of Satan, who has united with evil men to make everything of divine character shrouded in clouds and darkness. But the Lord has preserved this Holy Book by His own miraculous power in its present shape—a chart or guidebook to the human family to show them the way to heaven. … the guidebook to the inhabitants of a fallen world, bequeathed to them, that by studying and obeying the directions, not one soul would lose its way.” Sons and Daughters of God, 190.

In this day and age, people in all walks of life are busy and we must make a choice, by the grace of God, in spite of all the things that are in our lives, to study God’s word and pray. We cannot rely on the people who preach to us to teach us all we need to know. We need to be studying the Bible on our own.

“We cannot render to God supreme love and honor if we do not recognize the Holy Spirit which the Lord sends.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 38. If I do not recognize the Holy Spirit, I cannot be a Christian; I cannot render to the Lord supreme love and honor. “The Holy Spirit represents Jesus Christ. He is our refuge unto whom we can run and be safe. …

When truth takes possession of the heart, the Christian will be brought into conflict, and in this conflict he will need the whole armor of God; for he has to fight the good fight of faith. There are opposing elements in his own household, even in his own heart, and nothing but the free Spirit of God can ensure for him the victory.” Ibid.

Even if you are not recognized by anyone in this world, you must make a covenant with the Lord to receive the Holy Spirit in your life so that Jesus will recognize you as His when He comes.

God reads the heart. He knows what is in your mind. He knows when you make a decision. Now is a wonderful opportunity, while the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, to tell the Lord you want to be born of the Holy Spirit every day, to have victory in your life through His power, so that Jesus will not look on you at the end and say, “I don’t recognize you.”

[All emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

To Know and To Love Jesus

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Many of us today claim the name of Jesus Christ and proclaim that we know Him personally. We become “Christians,” which means that we are followers of Christ. But are we really following Jesus? Do we truly know Him intimately, or do we just have a passive love for Him?

John writes, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love for Him must come from our knowledge of Jesus if we are to love Him. We declare our love for the Father and Jesus because of what They have done for us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God’s love is one of infinite love and sacrifice. However, the love we return is initially a passive love, one brought on by the action of another. If it remains passive, it runs the danger of growing stagnant or even fading.

If we are to keep this love alive and growing, we must change it into an active love. An active love is one that is based on interaction and intimacy with each other. We can think of it in terms of a marriage, where both parties are daily interacting with one another and getting to know each other’s habits and growing together to become one person with two identities. But what happens if we start to become distant from one another? Does the love grow or become passive? We may have genuinely been attracted to the other person. We may have loved their company and desired to be with them early on, but as life goes on, something changes, and we do not have the same relationship as before.

If this can happen with a man and woman, it can also happen between man and God. In every relationship there is usually one person constantly reaching out and trying to make the relationship better. This is the way it is with Jesus. He is always reaching out to us to bring us closer to Him. Yet, unless we reach out to Him, our “marriage” to Jesus will become one sided. One of my favorite scriptures is Ephesians 5:25, 26: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.”

This scripture shows the relationship that must exist between God and man, “just as Christ loved the church [or us].” What is that love? It is an intimate, interactive, daily interchange between us and God. If we love God, we will want to know him better than anyone else on this earth. So back to the question, do we truly know Jesus? We can’t just love Him so we can have eternal life, or out of fear of the retribution we face because of our sins. We must love Jesus because of who He is and the love that He has for us. Let’s study a little bit about the One we say we love. There is so much about Jesus in the Bible, we can just briefly look at an overview of it, but that is a good place to start.
Jesus wants to know us, too, so He starts off by reminding us to find our first love again. “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4).

Who is this Jesus with whom we say we want to be associated? “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). According to Isaiah, Jesus was called our “Mighty God, Everlasting Father.” He was not some second-rate person of the Godhead. No, He was the embodiment of the Godhead with full authority. When He came to this earth to lay down His life for us, the government of God came with Him. His gift was so great that heaven was imperiled because of His sacrifice. He became human to show how humanity can be joined with divinity. He was the Majesty of heaven, the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of heaven, the Prince of heaven who brings peace to everyone who will come to Him. He is the gospel embodied.

“The value of a gift is proportionate to its adaptability to the needs of perishing souls. When Christ gave Himself, He opened up a spiritual fountain of divine influence, that by faith in Him, man might partake of the divine nature. In Christ is gathered all the glory of the Father. In Him is all the fullness of the Godhead. He is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. The glory of the attributes of God are expressed in His character. Every page of the New Testament Scriptures shines with His light. Every text is a diamond, touched and irradiated by the divine rays. The Gospel is Christ unfolded, and Christ is the Gospel embodied. We are not to worship the Gospel, but Christ, the Lord of the Gospel. The Gospel is glorious because it is made up of Christ’s righteousness. Our Saviour is a perfect representation of God on the one hand, and a perfect representation of humanity on the other. Thus He has combined divinity and humanity.” The Signs of the Times, November 24, 1898.

Jesus was not only our sacrifice, but our Counselor, Instructor and Comforter. As we spend time with Him, He is there to guide and teach us by His example, to comfort us in trials and to rejoice with us in triumph. He can do this because He is also the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. (See Revelation 22:13.) He knows all about us, so He, and only He, is qualified to teach us infinite love. He knows the end from the beginning, so He is ready to guide us along our journey.

“I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts” (Revelation 21:6, last part). To receive this life-saving water, we must drink of it. Jesus told the woman at the well that the water He gives is a fountain of water. “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’ ” (John 4:13, 14). This fountain of water springing up is the ever-increasing love for Him that grows within us. As we learn of Him, the knowledge will create a deeper desire for Him. Jesus is the living water of life. He does not just give us a drink from a river or a fountain to quench our thirst, but quenches it with every moment we spend learning of Him.

Jesus also calls Himself the “bread of life.” John 6:35 says, “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’ ” And in John 7:38 He says, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Each day we must eat food to sustain our lives. So it is with our spiritual lives as well. The love that we feel toward Jesus grows as we make Him part of our daily walk. We must “eat” the word of God. Just as food digests to nourish our bodies, our daily study of God’s word is digested into our minds and hearts. By making the word of God part of our daily routine, we learn not only what we believe in, but also in Whom we believe.

“Oh, it makes every difference with those who study the Scriptures as to what and how they shall understand the word, whether they eat it or not. The word of God, if eaten, will give spiritual sinew and muscle. Those who eat and digest this word will practice it.” The Review and Herald, August 13, 1959.

“We should eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God; that is, carefully study the Word, eat it, digest it, make it a part of our being. We are to live the Word, not keep it apart from our lives. The character of Christ is to be our character. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our hearts. Here is our only safety. Nothing can separate a living Christian from God.” Ibid., November 27, 1900.

We can have confidence in Jesus. David and Moses proclaimed Him to be the Rock of salvation and righteousness. David said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). And Moses said, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Jesus said that we must build our relations with Him to have a strong foundation. He is the Rock that cannot be moved. Our love for Jesus will become as immovable as a rock when He is at the center of our lives. “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock” (Luke 6:46–48). When we know Jesus and build on His word, following all that He says, we become grounded in His love.

Have you ever seen the love that a dog gives his master? It is unconditional. Even when the master does not give the dog everything it wants, that dog will still look at his master with love and affection. This is because to the dog his master is the center of its life. The master becomes the dog’s trainer, feeder, and protector. The dog loves his master because it knows that the master is looking out for it.

Jesus is called our Mediator and Advocate. He is there to protect us, stand up for us, feed us, and give us the things that are good for us. By loving and obeying the Master we can have confidence, knowing Jesus has only our good in mind. A human may mistreat his dog, but Jesus never does anything that will harm us. We may be called on to sacrifice for Him, yet that sacrifice is for our good. In return, Jesus promises to be our Advocate to the Father. Even though our sins may be many, Jesus will only present His righteousness before the Father in our behalf. “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

Jesus is called the Good Shepherd who gently moves His sheep on the path they should follow. If they listen to His voice, they will never get lost. As they fix their eyes on Him, He guides them to the green pastures of life in Him. Jesus said, “ ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. … I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own’ ” (John 10:11, 14). Jesus laid down His life for us and paid an extremely high price, one that we cannot even fathom. It will be a subject we will contemplate for eternity.
Those who know Jesus will hear His voice as He daily leads them. His sheep will not follow another voice. They will hear the melody of His sweet speech and be drawn closer and closer to Him. There will be other voices that will try to wile them away from their true Beloved, but God’s people will always have their eyes and ears fixed on the Good Shepherd. By spending time to get to know Jesus, they will not be enticed to follow a different love. True Christians will reject the enticements of the world that separate them from Jesus.

In Jesus is the truth. He proclaimed it of Himself. “Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ ” (John 14:6). Jesus not only gives us life, but shows us the way to live it. He imparts to us the truth that only He can give. He not only frees us from sin, but also deception. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ ” (John 8:31, 32). However, notice the condition. We must abide in His word, or another way of saying it is to obey His commandments. We cannot abide in Jesus if we break His law.

The law of God shows us His love for mankind. It is the very foundation of that love. Without it, we could have no confidence in Jesus. The law sets forth the way for us to love Jesus, and by obeying it, we show our love for Him. “For Christ is the end [or fullness] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). We obtain the perfect gift of grace that is given freely to all, but our obedience to God’s law shows the love we feel for Jesus. “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:21). “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).

Jesus also knows what we are going through. He is our High Priest in heaven. His angels are always busy sending their reports to Him. He sympathizes with us as we go through each trial, each struggle, and each temptation. He understands because He also went through these same struggles while on earth. Jesus was a boy like any other boy, except His mind was fixed on the workings of God. As He grew, He was harassed and teased like many other children. When He reached adulthood, He was taunted because of His birth, but Jesus never let the evil gossip distract Him from His mission to do His Father’s work. Through each struggle, He prayed to His Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit was sent to comfort Him. Because of this faithfulness, He fulfilled His mission on earth so that He could sit at the right hand of God the Father and be our High Priest to minister for us. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). There is not one temptation that we go through that He cannot understand. He knows our hereditary tendencies that Satan uses against us. Jesus is faithful, and as our High Priest and Elder Brother, He is ready to help us at a moment’s notice. He desires for us to pray to Him for help so He may send the Holy Spirit to comfort us.

“Jesus says, ‘Take My yoke upon you’ (Matthew 11:29, first part). If we were bearing His yoke, we would not be wearing yokes of our own manufacturing. We would not be impatient, full of fault-finding, and hatred toward one another. If we wear the yoke of Christ, we will be patient, loving, and unrevengeful under injury; for we shall be learning of Him who is meek and lowly of heart. If we are indeed the followers of Christ, we shall be called upon to bear reproach, but if we are not understood, if we are falsely accused, we must not be discouraged, but remember that our Lord suffered mockery and scorn, and even the chief priests and rulers hedged up His way, and falsely accused Him of evil. Whatever may befall us, we should look to Jesus, knowing that He is our best Friend, or Elder Brother.” The Signs of the Times, January 26, 1891.

Many times, we might feel discouraged because of others or because we see our own faults, but Jesus does not want us to feel that way. In Matthew 11:28, 29, He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” He enjoins us to take upon ourselves His part of the yoke. It is much lighter and gives comfort when in despair. When we follow His example and become meek and humble, He takes on our troubles and bears them for us. By being yoked up with Jesus, He promises to lighten our load. He will help us bear the burden as we work with Him.
When thinking about this yoke, we might contemplate Jesus’ willingness to get in the yoke with us. He is willing to take on the struggle that we are dealing with. If we are to be like Jesus, how much more should we help others in their time of need? When we realize that we are no better than the poorest, most destitute person on the earth, it is then that we can love others better than ourselves. Jesus loves all these people. If we are following in His footsteps, if we have the love of Jesus in our hearts, our care and understanding will go before us to gently help them to find the hope we have in Jesus.

Isaiah 53:3 states of Jesus: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Jesus has been despised by the world because they did not know Him. They never took the time to get to know the God they say they follow. He has been rejected by the majority of mankind, yet He still loves them all. He is not a man of sorrows because He was tortured and crucified, but because His people, whom He created, do not reciprocate the love He has for them.
Many may have experienced loving someone who did not return that love. Jesus experiences this every day. He gave all He could to make a way for us to be with Him, yet many times, we “esteem Him not.” Many say, “I love Jesus and obey Him in all things.” Yet as we look deeper into the love of Jesus, His goodness, His lovingkindness, we will see that we are lacking. We can always do better, always do more, and always have more love for His people, those who profess Him and even those who do not.

Jesus told the chief priest of Israel that He is the great “I AM” (John 8:58). This was significant because He was proclaiming to be the God that brought them out of Egypt and the One who gave Moses the ten commandments on Mt. Sinai. But He is also called by other names. “And the Lord passed before him [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth’ ” (Exodus 34:6). Jesus is also identified by John as the Creator. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1–3).

Jesus is the fullness of goodness and longsuffering. He is always gracious and merciful. We should thank Him daily for His mercy and longsuffering with us. We are erring humans that need His divine Holy Spirit to change us. If we are going to be like Jesus, and He says we must become like Him and have His mind and His character, then we must learn more about Him. We must make Him part of our diet. We must feast on every word that proceeds from His mouth, and we must pray without ceasing that He will change us into His perfect image.

The love of Jesus is something we can never repay. He sacrificed His life in heaven as well as His life on earth so that we could know Him better. He poured Himself out for mankind so that we might see His goodness. His love is a perfect love, and if we behold Him daily and fervently pray for His Holy Spirit, He has promised to show Himself to us and perfect our character to be like His. To know and to love Jesus is to have confidence in Whom we have believed. So do not be discouraged, for we have a great and powerful God that is reaching out to each of us today. All we have to do is to accept the offer and daily walk with Him.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Mike Wells is director of Anointing Oil Ministries.

From High School Failure to Successful Career

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Without a doubt, everyone has a story to tell of how the Lord turns failures into success.

I was born in Calcutta, India, to Armenian parents. My earliest memories of home were of my loving mother, aunt, grandparents and my brother, the nucleus of our family. My father, who I only saw on occasion, was a business owner. When I was six years old, my father enrolled me in the Davidian girls’ school, an Armenian primary boarding school. We were allowed home one weekend every three months, and I was terribly homesick. I still recall begging my father not to take me back to school after the weekends I went home, however my pleas came to naught. A few hours later, after the tears were over, all the girls would gather together telling stories of all the fun that was had.

My scholastic achievements were negligible due to the fact that I was sick often and missed days of schooling. I was never given homework to catch up what I had missed, so as a consequence, my grades were pitiful. My father was never informed of my lack of school attendance because of high fevers, stomach complaints and lack of nutrition. He thought that I was not very bright and hired tutors to give me special tutoring.

Years later when I was in my teens, my mother, who had remarried and was living in Sydney, Australia, wrote and asked me to join her. After several discussions with my father, he relented and saw me off to the “land down under.”

My stepfather was the principal of the Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist church school and we lived across from the church. We had morning and evening worship and my mother was very gentle in her ways of encouraging me to read my Bible and pray. The church pastor, who had a daughter my age, often visited with us. The atmosphere of the church was friendly and happy.

I attended Bible studies for several months and when a large group of young people decided to be baptized, I joined them. At that time in my life I was not fully committed, but I did believe in Jesus and I was willing to make a lot of necessary changes. The hardest change for me was my outward appearance. Picking clothes for this “baby Christian” was a great challenge. The other challenge was trying to fit into the school system with a completely different curriculum, so my parents decided to return to India for me to complete years 11 and 12.

We returned to Calcutta, India, where my stepfather opened a primary school. It started with only five children enrolled, but within a few months the school grew and flourished. These little children who came from non-Christian homes learned about Jesus. They sang songs, learned Bible stories and influenced their families who would also enquire about Jesus.

In the meantime, my challenge was attending the same school I had left, the Armenian College, to complete my last two years of high school. I had left the school as an Armenian Orthodox and returned a Seventh-day Adventist. One of the classes was Religious Knowledge and the teacher was the same Armenian priest I had before. He was intrigued that I was not in church on Sundays and when I explained that I went to church on Saturday, he was infuriated and tried in every way to humiliate me in front of 40 teenagers. He said I should feel ashamed that I had abandoned my Armenian heritage. He would make fun of the Adventist faith and the students would laugh. The friends that I once had did not want to associate with me for I was now considered the laughing-stock of the class. The priest took great delight in making me stand through the whole class period every week for several months. I would tell my mother the events that occurred and we would pray together. She always encouraged me and would tell me that Jesus sees and would take care of things.

I praise Jesus, for He gave me the strength and courage to bear the insults, the laughter and remarks instigated by a so-called man of God. Then, something strange started to happen that took me by surprise. My friends were curious and started asking me questions: “What has changed you?” “You are not the same.” One by one a small group who were interested enough to talk and spend time during the breaks would tell me private information because they knew I would not break their trust. Another strange occurrence took place shortly after. While standing in the priest’s class as he made fun of me and laughed, no one laughed with him. The students no longer saw the humor. The priest’s game was over, at least for the time being.

I made a special effort to study hard and by God’s grace my grades improved a great deal. In year twelve, we were ready to take our school final exams which were before we could take the state exam. In order to graduate to take the state tests, we had to pass the second language test. So I prayed and asked the Lord to please help me pass the Armenian language exam. After the tests were completed, the priest gave us our grades. I had passed and was so thankful to the Lord because now I would be able to take the Senior Cambridge exam. But the priest accused me of cheating and motioned for me to stand and stay standing until I confessed. After a while, from the back of the class came a voice saying, “Excuse me sir.” All turned to see the most brilliant student in our class stand and say, “I know Revella, if she says she did not cheat, I believe her.” Again, the priest was silenced.

A few days later it was graduation day. All the students sat at the back of the huge auditorium and the guests sat towards the front. The prizes for various subjects were distributed and I was just so glad that I would not have to face the priest again. The last prize to be distributed was the prize for English Literature. It was given to the student with the highest grade in that subject for years 10, 11 and 12. No one ever knew who the student was until the name was revealed. All of a sudden one of my friends called to me: “Revella, Revella, get up, you won!” I rose to my feet in disbelief and walked to the front. The roar in that auditorium was so loud it was almost deafening, and I felt certain in my heart that angels were present. All glory and honor go to our Lord. As I walked the stairs to the platform, I knew the Lord had a sense of humor when I saw the person chosen to give me my prize. It was none other than the priest.

Finally, the day came to take the Senior Cambridge exam in our English subjects and in the Armenian language. The Armenian language test papers were given to the priest to correct. In this final exam, we were not given our tests back to see why we were given a particular grade. So, whatever the results were, we had to accept them. I did not feel good about not seeing the Armenian paper, but I had done my best and felt I should get a reasonable grade.

In the meantime, my parents and I had moved to London, United Kingdom, and after about four months, a large envelope containing my exam results arrived in the mail. My initial excitement fell to despair and my brain could not compute the large letter I was staring at – F. All my hard work was for nothing. Then it dawned on me that the priest knew I would not have access to my paper, so he had his final revenge. He knew that in India, if you fail your second language, you fail the whole exam. Although I had taken six subjects, a failure on the Armenian language paper caused a failure in all six subjects. My hope for enrolling in Pacific Union College was dashed.

With nothing to show for all of my effort, we prayed in earnest and my parents asked the Lord to lead in whatever direction He wanted. I am ashamed to say that at that moment, filled with self-pity and hopelessness, I had no faith, even though I had seen the leading of the Lord just a few months before. Waiting on the Lord is difficult when your faith is weak and courage is gone.

In the chapter, “God Will Provide” in The Ministry of Healing, 480–482, Ellen White wrote, “Let us be hopeful and courageous. Despondency in God’s service is sinful and unreasonable. He knows our every necessity. To the omnipotence of the King of kings our covenant-keeping God unites the gentleness and care of the tender shepherd. His power is absolute, and it is the pledge of the sure fulfillment of His promises to all who trust in Him. He has means for the removal of every difficulty, that those who serve Him and respect the means He employs may be sustained. His love is as far above all other love as the heavens are above the earth. He watches over His children with a love that is measureless and everlasting.

“In the darkest days, when appearances seem most forbidding, have faith in God. He is working out His will, doing all things well in behalf of His people. The strength of those who love and serve Him will be renewed day by day.”

After several months of asking the Lord to direct us, my parents decided to relocate to Perth, Western Australia. My aunt had married an Australian and was living there and my brother was still living in Sydney. In 1975 we arrived in Perth and found an apartment overlooking the Swan River. My parents encouraged me to visit the nurses board to make inquiries as to the programs available at that time, so I made an appointment with the secretary to see the director.

A week later I met with the director of nursing, taking with me my high school final exam papers of which I was not proud. Mrs. Chamberlain had a kind, gentle face, and was very professional. After explaining the reason for no diploma and adding my grades, she informed me that with a couple of subjects added I could get a grade that would be accepted before applying for the nursing program. My fears of rejection turned to hope as she instructed me on what two subjects I needed. I could take evening classes as an external student at the University of Perth. It seemed as though she had taken on the responsibility to get me where I wanted to be and I knew the Lord was opening a door. At the university, I was encouraged along the way by my instructor who wrote kind notes along with the lessons he sent.

Six months later I again saw Mrs. Chamberlain, and she was just as excited as I was to be in a position to apply for nursing school and recommended what she believed to be the best school. The application process for nursing was in several stages with questions, interviews, paperwork to fill out and psychological tests. After the principal’s interview I was told, “We will contact you.” Months passed with no word, but strangely I did not lose hope this time thinking of Mrs. Chamberlain and how excited she was to launch me into my career.

Finally, a letter arrived, and I was overjoyed to be accepted into the second intake for the year of 1976. I praise God for leading, directing and placing in my pathway the people who helped me on my journey.

After three years of study and working in the various units in the Royal Perth Hospital, we were ready to take the final nursing school exam. We were informed that the hospital exam would be more difficult than the state exam, because the school had a reputation of very few failures. The school exams were on two days, each took four hours. I thanked God that He had led me thus far and I did not want to fail Him. Out of my class of 75, I stood with the 69 students who graduated that day and proudly repeated the Florence Nightingale Pledge:

“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”

One by one our names were called. I was so excited and even more so when I noticed that it was Mrs. Chamberlain who was handing out the certificates. She was so happy that I had finally become a nurse.

Forty-one years have passed since graduation and I can say with confidence that only God can turn a high school failure into a successful career. We do serve an AMAZING GOD. He can take our nothingness, which we are, and turn it into something, which we are not, for His glory. Therefore, there is no room in our lives for pride, envy, jealousy and strife. It does not matter your culture, your background, your past, your heritage or any other human experience, Jesus has the final say and He will win in the end. Let us cling to Jesus and to one another and live to praise God and bless others.

God has a plan for our lives, and we will be happiest when we choose the path where He leads us. He can open and close doors for us and when at times we feel abandoned, know that He is already working on a better path of which we know nothing. Looking back, I can truly say that His way is the safest and best. He led my life in a direction I never thought possible, and I am so grateful to Him.

“Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His Providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.” Steps to Christ, 70.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20, 21 NKJV).

Revella Knight continues to serve others working as a nurse and writes from her home in North West Arkansas.

No Fear in Love

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Do you believe that God’s work is soon to close? When God’s work is finished, everything in this world is coming to an end. The Bible gives us a lot of instruction about being ready for the end. As Adventists, we believe that we must help others get ready as well as being ready for the end ourselves.

A spirit of unity and harmony is needed among God’s professed people that has not yet been experienced. This is only possible if we are united on Bible truth. There is a true and a false unity. True unity is based on the word of God, but a false unity is based on negotiating. We see a movement to unite the Catholic and Protestant faiths, including Adventism, to be in harmony with one another. This movement also seeks a way to unite with Buddhists and the Muslims. However, Revelation 16 says it will not work and all such supposed unity will crumble.

The Upward Look, 149, tells us, “The great apostasy … began in a denial of the love of God, as it is plainly revealed in the Word.” The person who first made this denial was one of the highest angels in heaven. We know him by his Latin name, the name given to him by the translators of the King James Bible – Lucifer. Before the translation of the King James Bible, people thought Lucifer was a wonderful word. The Hebrew word with the closest translation means a shining one or a brilliant one or a star. Before he fell, Lucifer was also called a morning star. He is not a morning star anymore. Jesus Christ is the true morning star. But with this one angel (Satan as we know him today), the greatest apostasy began because he denied the love of God.

Denying the love of God has resulted in discouragement, despair and depression. It is such a great problem that suicide has become a leading cause of death among young people. Denying the love of God has led people to fear the future and, as a result, there is great discouragement and despair in our society today. The fear of not knowing how things will work out brings darkness in the life.

Would you like to have light instead of darkness? 1 John 1:5–7 says, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Jesus spoke about this with His disciples just a few days before His crucifixion in John 12:35: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.’ ” Walking in darkness without Jesus, the Light, produces a feeling of great hopelessness, which is the reason for so much sorrow, discouragement and despair in the world today.

Many people turn to other things – drugs, alcohol, gambling, adultery – all in an effort to replace the negative feelings, the depression and darkness in their lives, when what they need is to experience the love of God. Doubting the love of God can result in a number of mental or psychological issues. We all have to meet difficulties, trials, troubles and uncertainty. So, what do we do?

First of all, know that darkness and distress are not caused by our heavenly Father. These things are caused by demons, supernatural powers that have rebelled against and denied the love of God for thousands of years. These demons do not want you to know it, but faith enables you to pierce the darkness so that you can know that there is Someone who loves and cares for you, Someone close who wants to help you to work things out.

If you know and understand the love of God, then when trouble comes and you see no way out, you can know that God is with you. You may not know how things will turn out, but you will have a chart book that tells you. When David was in this situation, he said, “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember You. … All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me. … I will say to God my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’ As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance” (Psalm 42:5–11). With praise and thanksgiving David had faith that God would bring him out right.

Praising the Lord is one of the most powerful weapons against discouragement and depression. (See The Ministry of Healing, the chapter titled, “Mind Cure.”) Thanksgiving and praise are the very keynotes of heaven. If you are going to sing with the angels someday, you have to learn to sing the songs that they sing. The angels’ songs are of praise and thanksgiving and when people experience the love of God, they begin to praise and sing to the Lord.

When Adam and Eve sinned as a result of the devil’s deceptive arts, they and all of their descendants were doomed to death. And the Bible says, “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). Reading further in The Upward Look, 149, we find, “Provision was then made whereby fallen man might have a powerful revelation of the love of God, and be given an opportunity to return to his allegiance to Jehovah.” This revelation of the love of God was so powerful that throughout all eternity there will never again be the need for another.

The apostle James wrote in James 1:13–15, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire [lust, a strong or overwhelming desire] has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” So all of mankind is doomed to die and this is the reason why. “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). Psalm 89:14, first part, further describes it as: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.”

Because righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne, Lucifer said God could not forgive what the people had done. How could God be just, upholding the requirements of His law and forgive those who break it? How could a single member of the human race be saved from eternal death? There was a way that God could devise so that He could be both just and forgiving. The plan of salvation was the only way.

The plan of salvation was conceived before the earth was created, before Lucifer fell and before Adam and Eve sinned (see The Desire of Ages, chapter 1). The Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, knew that man would sin and that a plan would be needed to save mankind. Jesus told the angels that He would become a man and go down to earth Himself. He would teach man about the love of God and show them that Satan was wrong. He told them that He ultimately would be condemned to die, to hang between heaven and earth. It would be a terrible thing for the angels to see, but after He had died as a man, on the third day He would rise up from the dead and by His sacrifice and resurrection He would save every one of the human race who would come back to allegiance to the law of God. And in dying to save man, He would also destroy the destroyer (Hebrews 2:14).

As the angels listened, they could not rejoice because they realized what the plan of salvation would cost Him. There were among the angels some who suggested that one of them would take His place, but Jesus told them it could not be a created being subject to the law. As the Son of God, one with His Father and Creator of the law and the world, He would have to be the One to save mankind.

Contrary to what Satan might tell us, the use of force is against the principles of God’s government. People are saved when they see and comprehend the love of God and what He is really like.  The majority of the people in the world are serving the devil. 1 John 3:8 says, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” If you are living in sin, the devil claims you as his child, and you will eventually go where the devil is going because sin brings people into bondage. But, if you don’t want to serve the devil anymore, you can choose to be God’s child and be free from his bondage.

Jesus says, “ ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ ” (John 8:31, 32). The way to be free is to know Jesus Christ, to know and experience His love, and to surrender to His divine power. The way to learn about the love of Christ is to study the record of His life on earth. Christ’s life on earth is so important that it was recorded in all of the first four books of the New Testament.

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts though faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think … ” (Ephesians 3:14–21).

In recent years, the human race seems to have become more fearful than ever before. This leads to depression, hopelessness and discouragement. They are tormented with fear. But the solution for fear is found in 1 John 4:16–18: “We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” This Scripture tells us that if we experience the love of God, there is no fear because perfect love casts out fear.

Ellen White, writing about Jesus’ thoughts while on the way to Calvary, says He did not even have a murmuring thought and as He hung on the cross He did not curse, but instead He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). He wasn’t trying to think of a way out of the situation. He wasn’t wondering why He had to go through this. His heart was breaking as He looked around Him and saw so many who did not believe in Him, yet weeping from human sympathy for Him, but He knew that in a few short years they and their children would perish in the destruction of Jerusalem.  With His attention focused on them, He said, “Do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28).

Few realized at that time that Jesus was dying for the sins of the world. Peter later said, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18). Imagine the thief on the cross, first ridiculing Jesus with the other thief, but then realizing the truth about himself and even more, the truth about who Jesus was. Knowing he was a sinner and going to die soon, he said to the other thief, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40, last part, 41). Then realizing that Jesus was dying for the sins of the world, for his sins, he asked, “ ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom’ ” (Luke 23:42). Quickly the reply came. In modern English it would be: “Most assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise” (verse 43).

Friends, the same One who saved the thief on the cross, Peter and Mary Magdalene can save any sinner who is willing to come to Him. You must experience His love so that you can escape the darkness that is all around us in this world. We might not always be able to see how, but we can know where we are going.

The Christian religion is the most spiritual religion in the world. It is not based on some ceremony or rite, but rather on the decision you make regarding who your Lord is going to be and if you are determined to follow and obey Him. If you make the right decision, you will have light in your mind, the love of God in your heart and songs of praise to the Lord on your lips. With thanksgiving and praise you will talk about the love of God. The devil will no longer have control of your life because now you are following a different leader. No one can make the decision for another. Your husband or your wife cannot make the decision for you. Your father or your mother or your son or your daughter cannot make the decision for you. You must decide for yourself if you are going to be saved.

Peter said, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Only Jesus can save you, if you commit to Him. It is absolutely vital for you to know what it means to make that decision. This is not an intellectual decision where you just believe something. The decision to follow Jesus involves commitment.

Jean Francois Gravelet, a Frenchman known professionally as Charles Blondin, had a tightrope stretched across Niagara Falls. After pushing a wheelbarrow blindfolded across the tightrope, he asked the crowd below if they believed that he could carry a person across on the tightrope. “Yes,” was the answer, they believed he could do it. But then he said, “Okay, if you believe, get in the wheelbarrow!” Getting in the wheelbarrow involved commitment, and it is commitment you must have if you are going to be saved. You must say, “Lord, I am committing my life to You and I am going to follow You regardless of the consequences, whether I live or die, whether I can understand or not. I am committing to You because I trust You. You have demonstrated to me that You are trustworthy.”

Dear friend, if you haven’t made that commitment, you are not saved and you never will be saved until you make that commitment. But here is the good news – Jesus Christ has never ever lost one case that has been committed to Him. In the final day of judgment, not one will be able to say, “Lord, I committed everything to You and now I’m lost.” There are millions of half-hearted Christians that will not be in the kingdom of heaven. Be serious, friend. Time is short, choose today to commit your life to His sovereignty as your Lord and Saviour.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Endowment of the Holy Spirit

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“Christ, the Great Teacher, had an infinite variety of subjects from which to choose, but the one upon which He dwelt most largely was the endowment of the Holy Spirit.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 156. [Emphasis supplied.] While we cannot prove it, it seems from this sentence that the endowment of the Holy Spirit was Christ’s favorite subject, and we know that He dwelt on the subject more than any other. Continuing in Selected Messages, Ellen White says, “What great things He predicted for the church because of this endowment.” Ibid.

When the Holy Spirit is given to the church which then exhibits the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, wonderful things will happen in the church. At a personal level, every person who receives the Holy Spirit will be saved. No exceptions. But without the Holy Spirit, the church will not experience the wonderful things that come with the presence of the Holy Spirit and not one person will be saved.

Consider these questions: Do Seventh-day Adventists have the truth? Yes, it’s just a fact; we do. So, if I know the truth, will I be in heaven? Is the truth all I need? The devil knows the truth. Will he be in heaven? No. Why? The devil doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. He is possessed of a different spirit. So, if just having the truth isn’t enough, what is it that will make it possible to be in heaven? The apostle Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 9:24–27. He said, “I keep my body under subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself might be rejected” (verse 27, literal translation). If the apostle Paul could be rejected, unsaved, could it happen to us? Yes, because one must have the Holy Spirit to be in the kingdom of heaven.

For as long as I can remember, there has been a tremendous amount of theological debate and controversy within Adventism regarding who is saved and how, and who is not and why. Some say you cannot be saved unless you profess faith in Christ; others state that there will be heathens who never knew the name of Christ who will be in heaven and they support it from The Desire of Ages. But there will be millions of people who profess faith in Christ, who talk the talk, but who have not received the Holy Spirit and they will go down into the lake of fire. And there will be people who have never heard the name of Christ who will be saved, because they will accept the leading of the Holy Spirit as He reveals the truth to them in other ways.

A Seventh-day Adventist physician went to a heathen country as a missionary with his family. Before he had an opportunity to unpack, he was called to an emergency medical situation. He hired a heathen man, explaining that he had to be away for an emergency and his wife would be left with the unpacking. He wanted the man to help her unpack, so he made all the arrangements with the man, paid him and set off. It was after nightfall before the missionary returned home. When he arrived home, the man was standing outside the gate waiting for him. He said, “I was not able to help your wife unpack; she did not want my help, so here is your money back.”

The physician was astonished; he could not comprehend a heathen man not just taking the money. So he asked him, “How can this be?” The heathen man said, “I studied, I looked at the sun, I looked at nature, I realized there was a Great Spirit that made this and so I gave my life to the Great Spirit. And the Great Spirit came into my heart, into my mind, and made me all white and clean inside.” He said, “I don’t chew betel nut like other men do; I don’t sleep around with women like other men do, and I don’t lie and I don’t steal.” He didn’t know who Jesus was by name, but he received the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:31–46 that He will separate everyone into two groups—sheep and goats. The sheep are the people who have received the Holy Spirit. The goats are the people who have not received the Holy Spirit. It’s just that simple. One group will have eternal life, the other group will have eternal death.

I am not condemning anyone; I want to tell you the best news ever. Now is the time, right now, that you can receive the Holy Spirit. It does not matter what you have done, what your past has been; all that matters is have you, will you, receive the Holy Spirit? The offer of eternal life is the gospel message to be given to everyone, even to the most sinful people in the world. Let’s look at some examples from the Bible.

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs [miracles] that You do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ ” (John 3:1–3). As a leader of God’s chosen people, Jesus told Nicodemus that he would have to be converted or he would not be in heaven.

Nicodemus did not like hearing that. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. And Jesus tells him he won’t be going to heaven unless he’s born again. Nicodemus’ response was, “ ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born’ ” (verse 4)? Nicodemus was irritated. He probably wondered if Jesus knew who he was. The problem for Nicodemus was he knew what was written in the Torah and he believed his life was in harmony with the law, but at that moment, he had not received the Holy Spirit and until he did, he could not understand what Jesus was trying to tell him.

Luke 18:10, 11 KJV tells us, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican [tax collector]. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.’ ” Among the Jews, if you were a tax collector, you were considered the lowest of the low because you were cooperating with the Romans. (The Romans were not a righteous people. A secular historian described Rome as, “the sewer of the nations.”) If a woman was a prostitute, they felt that she was the lowest of the low. So when Jesus said, “The prostitutes and the tax collectors are going to go into the kingdom of heaven before you” (Matthew 21:31), the Jewish leaders were ready to kill Him.

Were prostitutes sinners? Were tax collectors sinners? Yes. Is God going to take any sinners into the kingdom of heaven? No. Then how could Jesus say that the prostitutes and the tax collectors would be in the kingdom of heaven before the religious leaders? Matthew 21:31, 32, first part, explains: “Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him.’ ” When John the Baptist came and showed them their sins, the tax collectors and the harlots repented. They realized they were sinners, but they didn’t want to be that way anymore. They wanted to be changed, but were helpless to help themselves. They knew they were in bondage and wanted to be free.

So Jesus said, “I’ve come to set at liberty the people that are in bondage” (Galatians 5:1). This irritated the Jews, especially the Pharisees. They said to Jesus, “We are Abraham’s descendants [seed], and we have never been in bondage to anyone” (John 8:33). They were, when they made this statement, in bondage to the Romans, so that was not true. But Jesus pointed out to them that He wasn’t talking about physical bondage. In verse 32 He said, “ ‘And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ ” Notice that the Jews said they were already free and didn’t need to be made free. Jesus answered them, “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin’ ” (verse 34). Sin brings a person into bondage; a bondage from which they cannot free themselves.

There are millions of people in the world that have decided that they will be good people, but they found out that they can’t be good people. From the outside, many appear to be good people, but these “good people” know that on the inside they are not righteous. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

The fact is that no human being can know their own heart. The Bible says, “Who can know it?” and the answer is, nobody. Moses was one of the wisest men that ever lived and he said to the Lord, “Please don’t let me know my own wretchedness” (Numbers 11:15). You and I do not know what evil we are capable of doing. If you do not receive the Holy Spirit, you cannot know where the devil might lead you. The heart is deceitful above all things. The Hebrew word translated desperately wicked is something that is incurable. You cannot make it better. It is impossible. That is why Jesus says we must be born again. The Holy Spirit has to create a new heart in you because the one you have is no good. Paul said that the old man has to die (Romans 6). And you must be born again.

Paul wrote to the Christians that in the flesh you are dead, but in the Spirit you are alive (see Romans, Colossians, Galatians). He used this language because man’s natural way of thinking and feeling has to die and he must receive from the Holy Spirit a new mind, a new heart, a new spirit. If that doesn’t happen, a man will be lost.

In the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, “ ‘The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess” ’ ” (Luke 18:11, 12). This prayer was a speech to God of all the good things that he did daily.

However, the tax collector knew that he was wicked. “ ‘The tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted’ ” (verses 13, 14). Do you want to be saved? The Lord can save you. Here is how:

First, we have to recognize our sinful condition and that we need to be saved from our sins. God does not save people in sin; He saves people from sin (Matthew 1:21). The Bible exposes “the lie” that is still believed by the majority of the Christian world today, the idea that a person can continue to sin and everything will be fine as long as he confesses those sins. That is not Bible religion, but the lie of the antichrist. As long as a person is living in sin, they are not born of the Holy Spirit. Once born of the Holy Spirit, a man will repent and turn away from sinning.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector and a very rich man. But when he heard John the Baptist preach, he repented and told Jesus, “ ‘Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold’ ” (Luke 19:8). As soon as the Holy Spirit comes into a person’s life, he stops sinning. A man is changed inside and doesn’t live the way he used to live.  Everything is changed and sin becomes a thing of the past.

Around 1907, a group of Adventists planned a six-month series of evangelistic meetings. They rented a big auditorium and on the first night the people came and the evangelist began his sermon. He covered how to become a Christian, how to be born again and how to be converted. But he didn’t stop there. He also covered the state of the dead, the Sabbath, the Mark of the Beast; in fact, he covered everything in one night. At the close of the meeting, he made a call for people to make a decision that night and a whole group of people came forward. His workers questioned him as to why he had preached everything in one sermon, but he didn’t know why; he had been impressed to do it. A terrible earthquake occurred later that night and some of the people who had come forward died in the earthquake; but they had been saved that night from their sins.

I read a book written by a lady involved in the New Age Movement. She didn’t know the Lord, knew nothing of the Bible or Christianity. She had met a man and they were living together. An acquaintance persuaded them to come to a Christian meeting. The speaker was an evangelist.

The couple decided to attend the meeting. It wasn’t a Seventh-day Adventist meeting, but this evangelist understood about a one-night evangelistic series. This was like Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus and Paul’s talk with Felix. The couple decided to become Christians that night when the altar call was made. The evangelist hadn’t had the time to explain to them everything about the Christian religion, but he explained how they could give their lives to Jesus and choose to follow Him. He told them that Jesus loved them so much that he died on the cross for them, that He would forgive their sins and that they could have eternal life.

Everyone who came forward on the altar call received a Bible. This lady had never read the Bible. Later that night before she went to sleep, she decided to read a little bit in this new book. She opened the Bible to one of the Gospels where Jesus was talking about the sin of adultery. She slammed the book shut and thought, “I can’t read this book!” A few days later her curiosity got the better of her and she opened the Bible again at random. There it was again, talking about the sin of adultery and fornication. Once again, she slammed it shut. Every few days she would wonder what else was in the Bible, but anywhere she opened to, it condemned her.

The man she was living with was having his own experiences, but they each were reacting quite differently to their individual experiences. One day they talked and she told the man that her conscience was bothering her day and night and that she couldn’t continue with their relationship as it was. The man asked what she thought they should do. Her conclusion was that they either would have to marry or split up and after some consideration, it was decided that they would split up. She wrote in her book that was a turning point in her life.

In John 3:4 after Nicodemus asked Jesus, “ ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ ” Jesus said, “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ ” (verse 5). You are born of water when you are baptized.

1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” Notice, Paul says, “By one Spirit [that is, the Holy Spirit] we have all been baptized into one body.” Baptism by water is a symbol of being baptized by the Holy Spirit. If you are baptized by the Holy Spirit, you will be in the kingdom of heaven.

Paul in Acts 19 and Peter in Acts 2 both speak about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 19:2–7, we find the account of the two men who had been baptized “into John’s baptism,” but had never heard of the Holy Spirit. He told them that “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus” (verse 4). When the men heard this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus and when Paul “laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them” (verse 6).

In Acts 2:38, Peter was speaking to people guilty of crucifying Jesus Christ. They were pricked in their hearts and didn’t know what to do. Peter said to them, “Repent [that is, sorrow enough for your sins to quit] and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Without the Holy Spirit, you are lost, and you will remain lost until you do receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus called this the new birth. When the Holy Spirit comes into a person’s life, that person will be born again and the spiritual image of Jesus Christ will be formed within. But before the birth can take place Paul says, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again [labor pains] until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). I labor with people that have been involved in every kind of sin that you can imagine. I preach the gospel to them because the gospel can save them, if they are willing to receive the Holy Spirit.

Are you tired of the person you have become on the inside? Do you want to be changed? Have you realized that you are helpless and hopeless in your present state? Are you willing to be born again? If you will receive the Holy Spirit in your life, you will be changed.

You cannot change yourself, but it doesn’t matter how dark your past is or what you’ve done. All you need to do is turn to Jesus, surrender your life to Him and say, “Lord, I want to have a new heart, a new mind. I want to be born again. I want to receive the Holy Spirit.” There is no other way. If you choose to surrender your life to Christ, He will hear and a miraculous work will be done in your life.

Dear Lord, send Your Holy Spirit to each of us. Show us the things that must be changed in our lives. Help us to surrender all of ourselves to You. Give us new hearts and minds and restore in us Your image.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Purpose and Pleasure

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If this Covid-19 pandemic has done anything good, it would be the opportunity to be together as a family. Too often, the cares and demands of the world: making a living, the care and upkeep of the physical dwelling, even participation in church activities and responsibilities, have made us unaware of the needs within our own home. As a minister of the gospel, I spend my time tending to the needs of others, so when our ability to freely move about was restricted and I had the opportunity to spend more time with my family, I was able to more clearly see the needs of my own house and my own life.

We hear so many things these days about the end of time, the mark of the beast, the slow erosion of religious liberty, forces in the background manipulating everything in the world; and they cause us concern. But as a Seventh-day Adventist parent, we often hear the words we never want to hear from a child. “Dad. Mom. I already know all this stuff. I’ve heard it my whole life. I get it about love, but this is all over my head and I just want to live my life, hang out with my friends, do and be what I want.”

The first thought is, what did I do wrong? Young people losing or leaving their faith and the church is happening throughout Adventism. God has a message for us. He has a purpose for your life, youth and adult. And we can find that message in one of the most familiar stories in the Bible. Beginning in Judges 13, we find the story of Samson, a young man for whom God had a purpose, but who had his own ideas about how he wanted to live his life. The story of Samson is one both of tragedy and redemption.

Judges 13:1–5 says, “Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.’ ”

Then we see that Manoah and his wife sought the messenger and asked God to send him again so that Manoah might hear the instructions that had earlier been given to his wife regarding their son. He returns and at first they believe He is a prophet, but as the conversation continues, Manoah and his wife realize that the Angel of the Lord who has delivered this message to them is actually the Son of God; that through Him, they have been speaking with God (Judges 13:22). Finally, in Judges 13:24 and 25 we read, “So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him … .”

As a Nazarite, an individual would be consecrated to God and a vow taken to commit himself for a holy purpose. Numbers 6:3, 4 gives us a clear understanding of the life of a Nazarite. It says, “… he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.” The Nazarite was held to a higher standard regarding diet much like Seventh-day Adventists today. Continuing in Numbers 6, “All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body … he shall be holy to the Lord” (verses 5, 6, 8).

Judges 13:5, 6 and Numbers 6:5 confirm,  that Samson’s hair was divided into seven locks and was not to be cut, as a Nazarite’s hair was a sign of his consecration to God. The seven locks is a parallel to the seventh-day Sabbath which is a sign of consecration of those who keep it. God’s purpose for Samson was that he would begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

So, we find that from the day Samson was born, he was consecrated to the Lord for a holy purpose. He took a vow of commitment to that purpose. He refrained from strong drink and ate according to a specific diet. Also, his hair was never to be cut as a sign of his consecration to God. It is likely that he was reminded daily of his holy purpose, not just by his parents, but by his diet, the length of his hair and by the fact that he could not partake in certain things. He knew he was to deliver his people from the Philistines. A weighty expectation to live with.

As Samson grew, he began to associate with the Philistines and friendships developed. When he became a young man, he was well aware of the Nazarite vow he had taken and the restrictions that accompanied that vow, but he began to look around and the world looked inviting. He began to socialize more with the Philistines when a young woman came to his attention in the city of Timnah whom he determined should become his wife.

Samson went to his parents and said, “ ‘I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife’ ” (Judges 14:2).

His parents’ response, found in verse 3, was, “ ‘Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ And Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me, for she pleases me well.’ ”

“Just as he was entering upon manhood, the time when he must execute his divine mission—the time above all others when he should have been true to God—Samson connected himself with the enemies of Israel. He did not ask whether he could better glorify God when united with the object of his choice, or whether he was placing himself in a position where he could not fulfill the purpose to be accomplished by his life.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 563.

Samson’s only interest was in pleasing himself. “To all who seek first to honor Him, God has promised wisdom; but there is no promise to those who are bent upon self-pleasing.” Ibid.

Though his parents tried to dissuade him, Samson was determined to go his own way, so Manoah and his wife yielded to his wishes and he married the woman from Timnah.

Friends, consider how Samson is an example of what is happening in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today, primarily with our young people. As children of God, we also are called to be separate, consecrated for a holy purpose. 1 John 3:1 tells us, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”

In addition, notice what we find in 1 Peter 1:15: “… but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” We have been called to be holy in our conversation and lifestyle. We read further, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Here is a picture of God calling Christians to be separate from the world like the Nazarites of the Old Testament.

Luke 4:18 and 19 tells us what our mission is. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” This is the same message Jesus gave to the apostles in Matthew 28:19 and 20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” This is a God-given commission for His people.

As God’s people, we have been instructed regarding our diet (see Revelation 22:2). We have been given the Sabbath day as a holy day, consecrated and set apart to commune with God (see Ezekiel 20:12). Samson was strong because he did not cut his hair, but his strength was not in his hair, rather in his relationship with and obedience to God. It is the same with the Sabbath. The power is not in the Sabbath, but in our relationship with God and that we obey His commandment to keep the seventh day holy. Our purpose is to love God and love man; and in loving and serving Him, we will desire to love and serve others (see Matthew 22:37–39). Once we know what God has done for us, we will want to share it with others. The more time we spend with Christ, the more feelings and affections we will have for other people.

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and spirit and when we do this, when He is in our hearts, then His purpose for our lives will become our pleasure. We will seek to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Without Him in our hearts, we will love the things that turn us from His purpose. There are so many things that can and will distract us from doing God’s purpose, if we allow it. This is particularly so for young people.

We preach the three angels’ messages found in Revelation 14:6–12 warning people of the coming judgment. We preach about Babylon and prophecy, the seal of God and the mark of the beast. We raise our children with the Bible. We have camp meetings, Revelation seminars, evangelistic meetings. We live a temperate lifestyle. We keep the Sabbath. We provide biblical instruction to our children and diligently work to raise them to follow and obey the Lord. But even with all of this, everything that is available to them, they do something that seems so contrary to what we would expect.

Let me give you an example. We have all heard the name J. P. Morgan. His father, Junius Spencer Morgan was a financial businessman who learned and trained under the house of Rothschild. His purpose and intention for his son was to make him a better financial investment businessman than he was himself. Did he succeed? Yes, he did. The father was responsible for how the son presented himself. This is a worldly example. How much more then, as Christians, are we responsible for how our children are raised?

We live in a broken world and because of that, there are broken homes, so this may not apply to everyone in the strictest sense. Not all homes have the privilege of having two parents in the household, but in those homes where both parents are present, we need to be diligent that we are taking advantage of the opportunity of being in touch with our children, of connecting with them.

There are Adventist parents who come to the pastor or Sabbath School teacher because they are having trouble with their child and expect the pastor or teacher to fix the problem. The question to be asked is, “What are you, the parents, doing?” Many fathers and mothers place the responsibility of seeing their child converted into the hands of others. Do not depend on others to do the work of training your children in the way that they should go. Follow the example of Manoah and his wife before and after the birth of Samson, be responsible for your own life and relationship with God and bear the responsibility toward your children, with prayer and searching for God’s guidance in their lives as well.

We must heed the guidance provided in The Adventist Home, page 190, “Some parents do not understand their children and are not really acquainted with them. There is often a great distance between parents and children. If the parents would enter more fully into the feelings of their children and draw out what is in their hearts, it would have a beneficial influence upon them.

“The father and the mother should work together in full sympathy with each other. They should make themselves companions to their children.

“Parents should study the best and most successful manner of winning the love and confidence of their children, that they may lead them in the right path. They should reflect the sunshine of love upon the household.”

We must encourage and commend our children. As Adventists, we tend to focus on all the don’ts and when a child does something right, our feeling is, that’s what they were supposed to do. We seem to feel that encouragement and commendation are bad, but notice what it says, “Young children love companionship and can seldom enjoy themselves alone. They yearn for sympathy and tenderness. That which they enjoy they think will please mother also, and it is natural for them to go to her with their little joys and sorrows. The mother should not wound their sensitive hearts by treating with indifference matters that, though trifling to her, are of great importance to them. Her sympathy and approval are precious. An approving glance, a word of encouragement or commendation, will be like sunshine in their hearts, often making the whole day happy.

“Parents should encourage their children to confide in them and unburden to them their heart griefs, their little daily annoyances and trials.

“Kindly instruct them and bind them to your hearts. It is a critical time for children. Influences will be thrown around them to wean them from you which you must counteract. Teach them to make you their confidant. Let them whisper in your ear their trials and joys.

“Children would be saved from many evils if they would be more familiar with their parents. Parents should encourage in their children a disposition to be open and frank with them, to come to them with their difficulties and, when they are perplexed as to what course is right, to lay the matter just as they view it before the parents and ask their advice.” The Adventist Home, 190, 191.

This also requires that the father and mother are connected, individually, with God, and by God’s grace, to each other. Without this, there will only be discord and strife. There are books and many other resources that can be of help. I strongly recommend The Adventist Home.

We must ask ourselves these questions: How much time do I spend praying for my spouse? How much time do I spend praying for my children? How often do I interact with them and ask them how they are feeling, how they are doing? If your response is, “Not enough,” then a change must be made. We must make ourselves available to our children, even be vulnerable. Let them see that you struggle with weakness just as they do.

Do not imagine that there is no help at all from your church family. Older individuals with more life experience and married couples can be guardians and a help to young people. Even the pastor and teacher can help, but the responsibility of the salvation of your children belongs to you.

Following are four reasons that I believe explain why young people are losing and leaving their faith.

  1. Compromise – Is there compromise in your home? If so, it is likely that as your children grow they will begin to do things they have observed rather than as they were taught. For example, have you violated the edges of the Sabbath by heading to an activity or event that is not acceptable for the Sabbath rest and before the Sabbath hours are completely passed?
  2. Legalism/Too much head knowledge – We have so much powerful information/doctrine that is stimulating to the mind. The Seventh-day Adventist teachings really grab the intellect. But the danger is that we can fill our young people with so much head knowledge, yet we leave out the Giver and the Teacher of the doctrine. There is nothing wrong with knowledge and doctrine, but if what you teach does not lead your children to a relationship with God that changes the heart and mind, then it is meaningless.
  3. Turned off by the Church – How often do we observe that God’s people are not perfect? Gossiping, backbiting, church politics, hypocrisy; all these things can simply wear out a person. These may be legitimate reasons to become disillusioned by your church, but they are not real reasons to leave.
  4. They Just Decide to Leave – This probably surprises us the most, mainly because the general feeling is that if our children do not stay in the faith, we must have done something wrong. Let me ask a question: Can you think of a single case in the history of the world, after sin entered, that there were perfect parents? No, not one. But here is another question: When Lucifer sinned, what did God do wrong? Parents do the best they can. They raise their children to love the Saviour. They encourage them to read the Bible and learn its promises. God gave us all a free will. You can train your children while you can, but when they reach a certain age, they choose for themselves. Too many parents carry the burden that because their children have left the faith, it must be their fault in some way when it is simply that many Adventist young people choose to do as they please.

Let’s look again at Samson. “And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, ‘I have seen a woman in Timnah … Get her for me, for she pleases me well.’ ” Samson was clear on the purpose God had for him. He had lived his whole life as a Nazarite, but he chose to follow his own desires. He was not considering what would bring glory to God or if he was placing himself in a position where he would be unable to fulfill that purpose.

Maybe you relate to the story of Samson. Maybe you are a parent watching your child potentially throwing his or her life away on frivolous pursuits. Maybe you are a child who is turned off by the church or is just tired of all the knowledge and strictness of the faith. You need to know that it was God’s pleasure to die for you. Hebrews 12:2 says, “… looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” His pleasure was to fulfill His purpose in saving you and me. You, too, can have pleasure in following His purpose for your life.

I am reminded of a song written years ago by Keith Green. He lived a life of rock and roll, but God changed his heart. Maybe this is you.

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is You
Your Spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your blood

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me

We must ask the Lord to help us see that doing what is outside His will, will hurt us. But when we do what pleases Him, we will never go wrong.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor Damien Jenkins was raised in a non-religious home, but at the age of 18 was introduced to the Gospel and his life was forever changed. Today he is pastor of the Water of Life Free Seventh-day Adventist church in Hohenwald, TN. He enjoys apologetics, Bible history, expounding on the topic of righteousness by faith and making the Bible simple and easy to understand.

Ask, and It Shall Be Given You

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Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Matthew 7:7, 8

Expanding on these verses, Ellen White in The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1901, wrote, “It seems so sad that we praise God so little. Gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving need now to be searched for, and cultivated as lost arts. They are more precious to the Lord Jesus than all the treasures of gold and silver which the earth contains. Every human being should appreciate the kindness and love wherewith God has loved us. When we were yet enemies, Christ gave His life that we might be saved. How much have we appreciated this gift?”

This passage should cause us to do some very serious thinking. Somehow, we forget to express audibly the praise and thanksgiving which the Lord’s servant tells us Jesus longs for and desires to hear from our lips.

Continuing in this same article, we discover the most precious gift that Jesus can give to us. “In His instruction to His disciples, Christ dwelt upon the great gift of the Spirit, declaring that nothing was too great to be expected from the coming of the divine Spirit. He longed to quicken and enlarge the conception of His disciples by communicating to them His own complete appreciation of God’s love, that they might be able to comprehend the value of the gift of all gifts, given by God with the giving of His beloved Son—the gift of the Holy Spirit. On all who love and serve God this gift has been bestowed. Christ has made provision for all to receive His Spirit; for He desires to see human nature released from the bondage of sin, and, by the power which God gives, renewed, restored, raised to a holy rivalry with the angels.” Ibid.

Notice that nothing is too great for the Holy Spirit to accomplish. Note as well that God compares the gift of the Holy Spirit to the gift of His Son. What is further impressive is that it is the gift of the Spirit, which alone can release us from the power of sin.

“To the woman at the well Christ said, ‘If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. … Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life’ (John 4:10, 14).” Ibid.

But note the following statement: “Yes; in giving the Holy Spirit, it was impossible for God to give more. To this gift nothing could be added.” Ibid. No wonder it tells us in Scripture that God can supply all of our needs. It is impossible for God to give us more. Philippians 4:19 tells us, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “The Holy Spirit is the vital presence of God.” The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1901. Think that through. The Holy Spirit is actually the presence of God with us “… and if appreciated will call forth praise and thanksgiving, and will ever be springing up unto everlasting life. The restoration of the Spirit is the covenant of grace. Yet how few appreciate this great gift, so costly, yet so free to all who will accept it. When faith takes hold of the blessing, there comes rich spiritual good. But too often the blessing is not appreciated. We need an enlarged conception in order to comprehend its value.” Ibid.

“Christ declared, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ ” “ ‘If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him’ (Matthew 7:7–11; Luke 11:11–13)?” Ibid. Why is it in our church services, home worship and daily prayers to God we ask so little for this Divine power?

“O what amazing love and condescension! The Lord Jesus encourages His believing ones to ask for the Holy Spirit. By presenting the parental tenderness of God, He seeks to encourage faith in the reception of the gift. The heavenly Parent is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children.” Ibid. All have seen many a parent sacrifice to give their children almost anything they desire. This is what God wants to do for us.

“What greater thing could be promised? What more is necessary to awaken a response in every soul, to inspire us with a longing for the great gift? Shall not our half-hearted supplications be turned into petitions of intense desire for this great blessing?” Ibid.

Perhaps we need to consider why so many in God’s true church are satisfied with their present experience, unconcerned that they lack the power from the Holy Spirit to overcome sin as Christ overcame.

Listen to God as He describes what He sees among His people in Revelation 3:17 and 18: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

Seldom do we hear prayers that plead with God for the precious gift that would change our condition. What can be said that will engender the need and desire for the Holy Spirit above everything else in this world?

Perhaps the following story of a small boy will help. The boy desired a trumpet and was inspired to play in the band like Kenneth, one of the big boys he had always admired. He pleaded with his father for a trumpet, but Father tried to explain to him that Kenneth was a big boy with lots of strength and he was so small that he might not have enough wind to blow a trumpet. Yet the boy still pleaded for a trumpet, poking out his chest and flexing his biceps to show his father his strength. Father’s argument was that if his boy was so strong, he would be able to keep the wood box filled without being asked and keep the kitchen water pot filled for his mother. But then came the excuses, the wood gave him splinters and the water pot spilled on his clothes. However, Father said he would watch him for the next few months, and if he could keep up with the wood box and water, he would know his son was big enough to blow a trumpet in the band and would get him one. Off ran the boy to the wood pile. He not only filled the wood box, but he piled the wood in every small nook and corner of the kitchen until Mother had to tell him to not bring more until she needed it. He filled the water pot to the brim till it leaked over the edge when the dipper was placed in the pot and then proceeded to fill all of mother’s pots and pans until she had to say, STOP! What made the difference? The boy wanted a trumpet.

Oh, if we could only realize that the greatest gift of all heaven is available to us if we would ask. If we would cast off the stupor that Satan is placing around us and comprehend the value of this gift, surely we would plead for this gift so intensely that God would hear and answer.

Did He not say, “Ask, and it shall be given you”? And the wonder of it all is that God urges us to plead for this precious gift. No wonder Ellen White continues: “We do not ask for enough of the good things God has promised. If we would reach up higher and expect more, our petitions would reveal the quickening influence that comes to every soul who asks with the full expectation of being heard and answered. The Lord is not glorified by the tame supplications which show that nothing is expected. He desires everyone who believes, to approach the throne of grace with earnestness and assurance. Do we realize the magnitude of the work in which we are engaged? If we did, there would be more fervency in our prayers. Our entreaties would rise before God with convincing earnestness. We would plead for power as a hungry child pleads for bread. If we realized the greatness of the gift, if we desired the attainment of the blessing, our petitions would ascend with earnestness, importunity, urgency. It would be as if we were at the gate of heaven, soliciting entrance.” The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1901.

As I read these startling thoughts, I was reminded of the pangs of hunger that I have seen in some countries. I have seen people and children so hungry that they have explored fresh cow dung with their bare hands searching for a grain or two that passed through the cow’s digestive system that they might relieve their hunger. And to think that the servant of the Lord says we should plead with God using such strong language, that we would plead for power as a hungry child pleads for bread.

She says, “I do not understand the tameness in the requests offered to God. We are to urge our way into the very presence of God, into the Holy Place of the Most High.” Ibid. That means into the sanctuary. “We are to plead for that which we most need—the bread of life, the leaf from the tree of life. As Jacob wrestled with the angel, saying, ‘I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me’ (Genesis 32:26), so we are to … ask with an urgency that will not be turned away, that expects God to bestow His blessings with a liberality that is an assurance to all fear.” Ibid.

Then she quotes from Isaiah 45:11 and 12: “ ‘Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and His Maker, Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me’ ” (verse 11). Ibid. [Emphasis supplied.] Are we approaching this subject like that? “ ‘I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded’ (verse 12). This is the word of the Lord, which is Yea and Amen. Then let your prayers be more fervent, more heavily weighted with faith and hope. Let the intensity of your desire be proportionate to the value of the object you wish to obtain.

“The greatness of the gift and our need of it should fill us with a hungering desire for it.

“Have we reason to believe that an earnest application to the Source of all power for the deep moving of the Holy Spirit upon hearts will be crowned with success? Certainly; but before we talk to others in regard to this, let us first talk with God. Plead with Him as if your life was depending upon the gift you desire. Remember that the blessing is promised unconditionally, absolutely, certainly. If you ask in faith, presenting the name of God’s Son as your endorsement, your prayer will be heard and answered. God’s goodness makes this promise unchangeable. The infallibility of the promise is to inspire faith in the one who asks, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’

“We should ask with an earnestness that will not be denied. The Lord has an intense desire that everyone should take advance steps in absolute certainty, relying upon God. He is the light and life of all who seek Him.” Ibid. Then notice carefully: “The measure which we receive of the holy influence of His Spirit is proportionate to the measure of our desire to receive, of our faith to grasp, and of our capacity to enjoy the great goodness of the blessing, and to impart it to others.” Ibid.

Ellen White, in the continued article in The Signs of the Times, August 14, 1901, shifts the emphasis from the sincere desire when asking for the gift, to pointing out the condition upon which we receive the gift from heaven. “ ‘Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth’ (Matthew 7:8). Christ is here presenting a law of the divine government. Asking for the Holy Spirit is connected with receiving this gift. The Lord reads the hearts of all men. He selects from His subjects those He can use, choosing material which can be worked. He selects the most unpromising subjects, and through them magnifies His own wisdom and power by causing them to sit among the princes.”

Imagine, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He can take an individual whose mind has been so filled with evil that it’s almost unable to comprehend the goodness of God and so develop him that they can sit among princes. “In all ages He has used human beings to carry out His purposes. He chooses subjects who will not be perverted, who in all righteousness and faith will honor His name. He passes by the men who have perverted the capabilities He has given them, and selects men of His own wisdom, who make Him their trust, their dependence, their efficiency. He hews and polishes the rough stones He has quarried out of the world. He works through men who realize that they must submit to the ax, the chisel, and the hammer, lying passive under the divine hand. Through those who voluntarily submit themselves to Him in all matters, who seek Him in faith and hope, He works out His plans.” Ibid.

The church of Rome, Satan’s masterpiece, demands blind obedience from its followers, and regardless what truth God may open to them, they are not allowed to investigate it with their own God-given intelligence. They must accept only that which has been taught by the so-called fathers of pagan tradition. In fact, before becoming a priest of Rome, a man must swear by an oath never to question any teaching of the church even if he discovers that such a doctrine is contrary to God’s eternal word.

On the other hand, God cannot use any man in His church who has become so worldly-wise that he feels safe to question God’s teachings. God does invite men to study and search for truth. When such a man is Spirit-filled, he will not because of his higher learning believe he can find a better way, but instead will come to the conscious decision never to question God’s declared truth.

Another condition for receiving the Holy Spirit is to impart it to others. “Those who ask because they wish to impart to others will not be disappointed. God will reward those who come to Him in earnest faith. He assures us that the thought of His majesty and sovereignty should not keep us in fear. He will do much more graciously than we suppose if we will come to the footstool of His mercy. He urges His sovereignty as a reason for His great and merciful bountifulness in supplying the demands upon Him. He pledges Himself to hear our prayers, declaring that He will hear them. He condescends to appeal from the instinct of parental tenderness to the infinite benevolence of Him whose we are by creation and redemption. He says, ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him’ (Matthew 7:11). The needy and soul-hungry never plead with God in vain.” Ibid. What a promise!

Then comes these enlightening words: “Humanity [that’s us] and divinity [that’s God] must be linked together in the experience of every overcomer. In our weakness we are to accept Christ’s power. He gives us the assurance, ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world’ (Matthew 28:18–20).” Ibid. Having received this precious gift, we should be the happiest people on this earth.

Now notice how she describes the Spirit-filled remnant. “In view of this tell me who should wear countenances more bright and cheerful, more full of sunshine, than those who live by faith in the Son of God. In Him the needy and hungry find all their wants supplied. But let us not forget that those whom God has blessed with the good things of this life are to be His helping hand, to supply the necessities of His needy ones. They are to be laborers together with Him. They are—His stewards in trust, and are to use their goods for the advancement of His work, that His name may be glorified. The Lord desires to employ the church as a channel through which to communicate His bounties. If His people would keep the channel open, receiving the spiritual and temporal gifts of His grace, and imparting them to the needy, there would be no sick ones neglected, no orphans crying for food. The hearts of the widow and the fatherless would sing for joy.

“God has given man the richest of His gifts. This He has done that man may dispense His bounties. Medical missionary work and the Gospel ministry are the channels through which God seeks to pour a constant supply of His goodness. They are to be as the river of life for the irrigation of His church.” Ibid.

In my travels, many times I have gone through the great places of California where the vegetables are grown, and you see those tremendous ditches of water, where the water goes down the row to every plant. Isn’t it interesting that God wants us to thus irrigate the church from the supply of the Holy Spirit that is within us. She says, “… rivers of life for the irrigation of His church.” Ibid. Oh what a different world this would be if every Seventh-day Adventist were filled with the Holy Spirit. Our churches would be filled to overflowing.

“There is not the semblance of an excuse for the lifeless condition of a people who know the plain, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ God calls their attention to the words, ‘Ye are the light of the world. … Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:14, 16). He reminds us that we have only to ask, and we shall receive; to seek, and we shall find; to knock, and it shall be opened unto us.” Ibid.

After we ask, we are told to: “Throw open the windows of the soul heavenward, and close them earthward.” Ibid. We must turn away from the earthly environment and the devil-made entertainments that take our thoughts earthward and instead lift our voices in praise and thanksgiving for God’s greatest gift. We should be often in prayer and in the study of the Godly counsels written to us. It is thus that we shall become mighty and powerful for God. The windows of our soul must be turned heavenward.

There is a responsibility in receiving this wonderful gift. “The Lord has made His church the repository of divine influence. The heavenly universe is waiting for the members to become channels through which the current of life shall flow to the world, that many may be converted, and in their turn become channels through which the grace of Christ shall flow to the desert portions of the Lord’s vineyard.

“The heavenly universe is burdened with the magnitude of the divine gifts which it has to impart.” Ibid. Think of it, “Angels are longing for the great joy of imparting the grace of God to men who will impart it to their fellow-men. The commission is, ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations’ (Matthew 28:19). All who belong to the church are commanded to shine. Every receiver of divine grace is held accountable for the souls of those within his reach who are in the darkness of unbelief, ignorant of the rich blessings God is waiting to bestow upon them.

“ ‘As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name’ (John 1:12). Those who take part in the solemn rite of baptism, in the name of the highest authorities of heaven, pledge themselves to come out from the world, to separate themselves from its idolatrous practises. God places His sign upon them, making them members of the royal family. And they on their part pledge themselves before angels and before men to live for Christ. They are buried with Him in baptism in the likeness of His death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection. ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on this earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory’ (Colossians 3:1–4).” Ibid.

Are you truly ready to be filled with the Spirit of God? “In the day of final accounts, what will the church give as a reason for her strange indifference to bring souls to a knowledge of the truth? My brethren and sisters, keep the temple of God pure and holy, that He may use it to the glory of His name. God will enlarge His faculties and multiply His gifts to you, as you make use of them to gather souls under the blood-stained banner of the Redeemer. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” Ibid.

Finally, we are told the startling truth of why so many today fail to overcome:

“By yielding to the temptations of the enemy, by losing sight of God, you have lost the sense of what a child of God ought to be. Your powers of perception are clouded. But the way is open for your spiritual life to be reinforced with new power.” Ibid.

Oh, God help us to be more earnest and determined in our requests for the power of God in our lives to prepare us for Jesus’ coming. Let there be thanks and praise ascending from our lips, as if we were standing at the very gates of heaven.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the King James Version.)

For more than fifty years, Lawrence Nelson served the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a pastor, evangelist, and then in Conference, Union, and General Conference leadership. When God laid upon him the responsibility to “tell it like it is” to alert the people how the church was leading them into the worldwide ecumenical movement, he was forbidden to preach in any church within the Oregon Conference. Though nothing could be found in his preaching that was contrary to the doctrines of the church, he was considered divisive. As a result, Keep the Faith Audio Tape Ministry was born. Elder Nelson passed to his rest on April 18, 2012.

Are You Ready?

by

As a frequent traveler, I have missed my flight or ride on occasion and have also watched it happen to others. Once, I had a long time to fill as my flight was delayed almost two hours. While waiting, I observed a plane that was ready to leave. The ticket agent announced the last call for the flight several times. Finally the door was closed, and the plane pulled away from the jetway. A short time later, two young ladies came running from the other end of the concourse to the counter and asked if they could board, but the ticket agent said, “I’m sorry, it’s too late.” I thought of all the times that I had missed my plane. It is frustrating when you intend to be somewhere and something happens that you are delayed. You may be almost there, but do not quite make it. Pray that the Lord helps you that no matter what happens, you will not be too late for what is really important.

The Bible says that at the end of time many people will not be ready for the Lord’s return. It will be a terrible experience to realize they need to be ready now or risk not being ready at all. They will be almost saved, but totally lost. What good will it do for you or me to say on that day, “I was almost saved?” Do you think that will bring you any comfort on the day of judgment?

When I come to the end of my life in this world, whether by death or translation, I want to be ready, don’t you? The Scripture records the dying testimony of a man who, coming to the end of his life, was ready. A short time before his death, the apostle Paul wrote a letter to Timothy. He knew that very soon he would be martyred and sacrifice his life for the cause of the gospel, but he wasn’t sad because he was ready. He said, “For I am now ready to be offered” (2 Timothy 4:6, first part, KJV). Notice that Paul didn’t say, “I’m almost ready.” He was able to say, “I am ready.” How could he be so sure?

Acts 9:3, 4 says that Paul was on the Damascus road when, “As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’ … ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do’ ” (verses 5, 6). Some manuscripts also add the words, “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks,” plus the words, “Lord, what do You wish for me to do?” The Lord told him to go to Damascus and wait until Ananias came.

In Acts 9:17, it says, “Ananias … entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.’ ” Paul not only received his sight, but he received spiritual eyesight and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. “Immediately … he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized” and “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God” (verses 18, 20). Paul continually preached this same story about Jesus.

The Damascus Road experience was a turning point in Paul’s life. He was converted. The word in the New Testament that is translated conversion means to turn around. Paul’s life was completely turned in the opposite direction from where he had been headed before. He had set out to persecute Christians, but left Damascus preaching Jesus.

When Jesus said to him, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Paul saw himself in a new light and realized that by persecuting these men and women, he had hurt the heart of Jesus. He realized what a terrible, wretched person he was. And unless we realize how terrible and wretched we are, there is not much of a chance that we are going to be converted. There will be no change in our heart or our life as long as we think we’re pretty good. Do you know that if you or I hurt even one of the Lord’s children, including little children, we have hurt Jesus Himself and in the day of judgment we will have to give an account? In persecuting the Christians, Paul was persecuting Jesus. We need to talk and act toward other people in the same way we would with Jesus.

The Pharisees and Sadducees had a high opinion of themselves, but not too many of them were converted. One of the first steps to being converted is to realize that in the heart and spirit dwells no good thing, as Paul says in Romans 7:18. When he saw that he was a wretched sinner who had been hurting Jesus by persecuting His followers, then he realized his own need of Jesus.

The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Are you going to cling to your preconceived ideas about yourself or are you going to believe what the Bible says? As a Bible-believing Christian, I have to believe when the Bible says that there is no good thing in me, it is the truth. I have no righteousness except that which I receive from Someone outside of myself.

Upon Paul’s return to Jerusalem, he went to the temple to tell the Jews what happened to him on the Damascus road and to make confession to the people regarding the terrible things he had done. He was found in the temple by an angry crowd who ran to seize him and kill him. This effort was halted by the Roman commander of the garrison in Jerusalem and he took Paul from the crowd and arrested him. But Paul sought another chance to tell his fellow Jews what Jesus had done for him and on the steps of the garrison barracks, chained and on the way to prison, Paul asked if he could address the people.

He told them of the Damascus experience, how in his blindness he was finally able to see himself as he truly was. He was able to understand the Scriptures he had memorized as a Jewish scholar and that righteousness comes from the Lord. He now saw that in persecuting God’s people he had been hurting Jesus. He wanted them to know what Jesus had done to change his life and that He could do the same for them. Paul had repented and now wanted to confess to his countrymen; and he had many confessions to make. He was responsible for the imprisonment or death of many Christians and his participation in the stoning of Stephen. Imagine how difficult it was for Paul to confess to these Jewish Christians that he was the one responsible for the death of their wife or husband, their pastor, deacon or elder.

But the people would not listen to Paul and Jesus had said to him, “ ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me’ ” (Acts 22:18). Paul thought that if he confessed and told them about Jesus, they would turn around just as he had. But the Lord knew differently and sent him far away to the Gentiles (verse 21).

Later in Acts 26:12–19, we find the account of Paul before Agrippa. He shared his conversion experience with Agrippa and concluded by saying, “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (verse 19). Paul had made a decision in his life and was determined to follow it through.

Realizing his true condition and need of a Saviour, he repented and surrendered. He said, “Lord, what do You want me to do” (Acts 9:6)? There is no such thing as salvation without confession. Sins that are unconfessed are unforgiven. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But remember, the first word of the text is “If.” Sins that are unconfessed are written in the books of heaven against our name and if not confessed, they remain, and we will meet them at the end of the millennium. Paul confessed his sins and consecrated himself to Christ as a servant. He dedicated his life and everything that he had to Jesus. From then on, he had confidence in salvation. Because of these decisions, Paul was able later to say, I’m ready.

Paul says in Romans 1:15: “So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.” From the Damascus road and every day after, whatever God wanted him to do, he said, Lord, “I am ready. I’m Yours.”

Paul came to the end of his life with the wonderful experience of having no regrets; of knowing he had made the right decisions; that the time for his departure was at hand and he was ready. He recounts very briefly the experience of his life when he said, “I have fought the good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Paul had a good deal to say about this fight in his epistles. He mentioned the fight to gain absolute control over his body. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection [absolute slavery], lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified [that is, rejected]” (1 Corinthians 9:27). The fight involves bringing the body, appetite and passions into strict subjection to the higher powers of the mind. Paul also wrote, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:11–13).

In this fight, one of two things will happen to everyone in the world. There’s no truce. When the devil comes as a roaring lion, we will either conquer him in the strength of the Lord or be conquered. “In every soul two powers are struggling earnestly for the victory. Unbelief marshals its forces, led by Satan, to cut us off from the Source of our strength. Faith marshals its forces, led by Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Hour by hour, in the sight of the heavenly universe, the conflict goes forward. This is a hand-to-hand fight, and the great question is, Which shall obtain the mastery? This question each must decide for himself. In this warfare all must take a part, fighting on one side or the other. From the conflict there is no release.” Sons and Daughters of God, 328. There is a war going on, and there is only one winner.

Ellen White wrote to encourage a young man who was not winning the war to fight and to win the war. When you are in battle and you lose ground, if you’re going to win, you have to recover that ground again. And this young man had lost some ground. She wrote, “Pure religion has to do with the will. …

“Your promises are like ropes of sand, and you regard in the same unreal light the words and works of those in whom you should trust.

“You will be in constant peril until you understand the true force of the will. You may believe and promise all things, but your promises or your faith are of no value until you put your will on the side of faith and action. If you fight the fight of faith with all your will power, you will conquer.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 513.

Are you fighting with everything you’ve got? God has promised to help, but He doesn’t promise to help us unless we try with everything we have, with all our will power. “Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions, are not to be trusted, for they are not reliable. …

“But you need not despair. … It is for you to yield up your will to the will of Jesus Christ; and as you do this, God will immediately take possession and work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Your whole nature will then be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ, and even your thoughts will be subject to Him. You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire; but you can control the will, and you can make an entire change in your life.” Ibid., 513, 514.

There is no victory without a fight. You choose.

“Will you not say, ‘I will give my will to Jesus, and I will do it now,’ and from this moment be wholly on the Lord’s side? Disregard custom and the strong clamoring of appetite and passion. Give Satan no chance to say: ‘You are a wretched hypocrite.’ Close the door so that Satan will not thus accuse and dishearten you. Say, ‘I will believe, I do believe that God is my helper,’ and you will find that you are triumphant in God.” Ibid., 514.

Have you said, Lord, I choose to yield my will to You and fight the fight of faith with everything I have? I will give my will to Jesus and I will do it now. “By steadfastly keeping the will on the Lord’s side, every emotion will be brought into captivity to the will of Jesus. …

“Talk faith. Keep on God’s side of the line.” Ibid. If you do this, God will be your helper.

Someone may say, I am so weak that I cannot resist. What should we do if we feel this way? “Many a man cries in despair, ‘I cannot resist evil.’ Tell him that he can, that he must resist. He may have been overcome again and again, but it need not be always thus. He is weak in moral power, controlled by the habits of a life of sin. …

“Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency.” Temperance, 112. Imagine friends, though my past life with its habits of sin has had an effect on my character, God says there is deliverance in Jesus.

“The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man—the power of decision, of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires for goodness and purity are right, so far as they go; but if we stop here, they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping and desiring to overcome their evil propensities. They do not yield the will to God. They do not choose to serve Him.” Ibid.

We must fight if we want to have victory.

“You may believe and promise all things, but your promises and your faith are of no account until you put your will on the right side. If you will fight the fight of faith with your will power, there is no doubt that you will conquer.” Ibid., 113.

“The very feeblest prayer that we can offer, Jesus will hear. He pities the weakness of every soul. Help for everyone has been laid upon Him who is mighty to save.” Ibid., 114.

When Paul says, “I have fought the good fight” he is talking about the struggle for our will. If we yield our will to God and choose to follow and obey Him and exert all the effort we have, He has promised to help us to gain the victory. He has promised you victory.

Then Paul makes this exciting statement: “I have finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7). Many times in his writings, Paul likens the Christian life to running a race. He says, I have finished my race, I have finished the path marked out for me to run. The people who receive the prize are not those who begin the race but those who finish it. We must be running the race every day if we want to finish the course, for none of us knows how many more days we have left to run.

Paul says, “Therefore, also we having such a great cloud of witnesses set around us, let us lay aside every weight [hindrance], and the easily entangling sin” (Hebrews 12:1, literal translation). This weight is the easily entangling, or besetting, sins Paul speaks of. We all have besetting sins. What constitutes a besetting sin for one is not the same as for another, but be assured, we all have them. Paul says to take those sins which are easy for you to be entangled with and lay them aside; get them out of the way so that you can run the race.

Have you ever tried to run a race with weights on your legs? It’s all right for a practice run, but you never want to do that in a real race. Have you laid aside that besetting sin, keeping your eye on the mark and saying, I’m going to reach the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus; I’m going to reach the end of the course? If you don’t, you will not be able to say, I have finished the course.

“When tempted to murmur, censure, and indulge in fretfulness, wounding those around you, and in so doing wounding your own soul, oh! let the deep, earnest, anxious inquiry come from your soul, Shall I stand without fault before the throne of God? Only the faultless will be there. None will be translated to heaven while their hearts are filled with the rubbish of earth. Every defect in the moral character must first be remedied, every stain removed by the cleansing blood of Christ, and all the unlovely, unlovable traits of character overcome.” Maranatha, 58.

It is easy for us to look around and say, “Well, so and so is worse than I am.” Will it give you satisfaction at the end of your life to say, I didn’t finish the course, but they didn’t either? We must have compassion for those who realize they are not ready, but are waiting for a better opportunity, like Felix (Acts 24:25). They need to know that the very best opportunity is today. “Now [today] is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). We must have compassion for those who have lost their faith and are doing nothing to rid their lives of besetting sin, nor surrendering their will to God. Those who no longer fight nor run the race, who are going nowhere, or are sidetracked by spending more time with faithless things than with the word of God that would build up their faith, are allowing the devil to have the victory in their lives. The world offers an abundance of distractions that can weaken one’s faith in the word of God.

It is a fact that there will be Seventh-day Adventists who will go to heaven alone because those in their very own family are not fighting the fight of faith nor running the race. Jesus said in Matthew 10, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (verse 37).

Each of us has to decide if we will run the race or wait for family or friend. The best way to encourage others to run the race is to run it yourself. Do not wait. Exhibit an influence that will encourage others to cast aside their sins and run too.

When you come to the end, will you, like Paul, have kept the faith? Who is going to receive the crown of righteousness? Paul says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Timothy 4:8 KJV). The crown is laid up for the one who is ready, for the one who fights the good fight. It is laid up for the one who finishes the course and has kept the faith.

This world is full of people who are hoping and desiring to be saved, but they’ll be lost if they do not choose today to get ready. They are waiting for a better opportunity which never comes. The only way to be ready when you come to the end of life’s road is to decide to be ready today.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.