June 14, 2025 • 41 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I hope none of you had reservations for lunch at 12 o'clock because you're probably going to be out of here a lot earlier than that today.
It's good to be with you.
I'm glad that I have this opportunity.
Most of our members are up at camp meeting or they decided that I'm just going to stay home today and enjoy a second cup of ice, second cup of tea or whatever.
(00:30):
But I'm glad that you're here.
I want to welcome the Brown family.
It was nice to see all of you last Sunday night or Sunday afternoon as we celebrated Joanne and Omar's 70th wedding anniversary.
What a milestone that is. I think we need to give them a wonderful round of applause.
(00:51):
So thank you for bringing your family here today. I want to welcome those of you who are watching
on live stream. I'm glad that you have decided to join us at this time. I know that many of our
members are up at camp meeting getting a blessing up there, and so I'm glad that they are enjoying
the cooler temperatures up at Camp Yabba Fines.
(01:13):
I know that that's the only reason they go up there.
It's not because of the message that they hear up there.
It's because it's a lot cooler up there.
I'm glad that you guys are here
surviving the heat of Mesa, Arizona
and being here on this Sabbath day.
As my practice is, I'm going to bow
and ask the Lord to send his spirit to be with me.
(01:38):
My gracious, loving Heavenly Father,
I thank you for this message that you've given me
over these past couple weeks
as I've been preparing for this day.
I pray that your spirit will speak through me,
that you will touch the ears of the people
that are listening, either
them
(01:59):
that are here
or those that are watching on livestream.
We would ask that you would touch their hearts.
we're so thankful for the gift that you have given us in John 3 16
that you so love the world that you gave thank you for that gift
(02:23):
may we accept that and live our lives in a way that will bring honor and glory to you
is my prayer in Jesus name amen
(02:50):
John 3.16
For God so loved the world
that he gave
his only begotten son
that whosoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
(03:15):
For God did not send his son into the world
to condemn the world
but the world through him might be saved.
Who did God send his son to save?
each and every one of you.
The world matters to God, obviously,
(03:37):
because he created it.
But why did he create the world in the first place?
He just, was he bored?
Didn't decide, well, let's say I haven't done anything
creative in a long time.
Let's go ahead and sharpen up my creative skill, and let's go ahead and create a new planet.
(04:03):
That sounds like fun.
You know, and I love the month of June this year because it starts, the first day of June was on a Sunday, the first day of the week.
So June, in my mind, is creation month.
And every month it starts on Sunday with a month with Sunday as the first day.
(04:30):
It reminds me of God as our creator.
And God, God's an awesome God.
God created this world.
Why?
(04:51):
He created it for us.
That was his whole purpose.
And everything that God did on the first day, he created light.
The second day, he created the air and the waters.
On the third day, dry land appeared.
On the fourth day, the sun, moon, and stars.
(05:14):
Now, God is really very special because he created light before he created the sun.
Now, we take the sun for granted, but that's where we get our light.
But God didn't need the sun for light because he is light, obviously.
And so he created that.
(05:34):
Everything that God created had a purpose.
He created the earth.
Before he could create plants and trees and animals, he had to have a place to put them.
So he created the earth on the third day.
Fourth day, like I said, the sun, moon, and stars.
(05:55):
Now, why are the sun and moon up there?
What is their purpose?
Their purpose is to tell time.
And it says the evening and the morning were the first day.
God is a designer God who created everything good.
(06:21):
Then he created the land animals.
Created the trees and the grass.
And all the beauty of this wonderful earth that we have destroyed basically because of our sin.
(06:41):
But God created it for us.
The last thing, the next to the last thing that God created was man.
He knelt down and created Adam out of the dust of the earth.
(07:02):
He formed us with his own two hands.
Now, in Genesis chapter 2, it also says that God formed the animals.
Genesis chapter 1, it just says the animals were there.
But God actually formed the animals.
And I like that because I'm an animal lover.
(07:25):
I love almost all animals.
Snakes I can do without, but that's all right.
But I love my little puppy dog.
And I know there are many of you out there who are cat people.
And you love your furry little pussy cat.
(07:49):
And some of you may have fish in a bowl that you talk to, that you feed.
But God formed them.
He took time.
And he took time with humanity.
(08:11):
He took time with Adam and Eve.
And he loved them.
God loves you.
God wants you to spend eternity with him.
(08:33):
He created Adam and Eve to spend eternity with him.
He didn't want them to fall in sin.
He wanted to have a daily relationship with them each and every day.
And I don't know how long it was from the time that Adam and Eve had, that God had created them before the devil came and deceived them.
(09:00):
I don't know how much time that they had to spend with God.
But that must have been a wonderful time for God.
to spend time with these two special people that he created.
God wants to spend that same time with you right now today.
(09:22):
God's not a God that we need to be afraid of.
God is a God who loves us.
In Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, it says,
come. Let us reason together, says the Lord. God wants to have a relationship with us.
(09:50):
We're too busy for God, though. I mean, you know, we got jobs we got to go to. We got things we
got to do that we don't have time to spend with God. When Adam and Eve sinned, it broke God's heart.
(10:11):
But it didn't stop him from loving them. Remember the story? Adam and Eve took the fruit,
and all of a sudden they heard God walking in the cool of the evening like he'd always done,
however long always was before that time.
And they ran.
(10:38):
Trying to remember the first time that my son ran away from me.
I'm sure it was a time where I was scolding him for something.
But most of the other time, whenever I came home from work,
my son would come running to me with his arms open and say,
(10:59):
Daddy, Daddy, you're home, and so happy to see me.
I believe that's the way Adam and Eve were until, until.
Until.
the saddest words, until.
(11:23):
Until they rejected his love,
and they went and they hid from him.
Now, if I was God, I would have said,
all right, no problem.
I created you.
I can make lots more, so forget you guys.
(11:48):
but God didn't do that.
God loved Adam and Eve so much
that he came looking for them.
He said, Adam, where are you?
Now, I believe God already knew where they were
(12:09):
but he needed to have Adam recognize
the fact that Adam had made a mistake.
we cannot run away from God.
God will pursue you because he loves you.
(12:35):
He wants to save everybody.
Our scripture says that whosoever believes
can have eternal life.
He wants to save everyone.
(12:56):
He doesn't want anyone to reject his love
and his care and his grace
and his forgiveness.
God has been pursuing humanity
ever since Adam and Eve
broke the relationship with him.
(13:16):
we break the relationship with God. God never breaks his relationship with us.
God allows us to have free choice. We're free to choose either to accept him or reject him.
I think we're foolish to reject him, but we still have that choice.
(13:38):
But he still loves us.
It says, while we were yet sinners, somebody died for us.
Who was that?
Christ.
Jesus died for us.
While we were estranged from God, while we had turned our back on him, he is awesome.
(14:07):
And we need to realize each and every day how thankful we are to have a God who will pursue us.
Who won't stop chasing after us.
(14:36):
He has shown the old man what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To do justly.
To love mercy.
And to walk humbly with your God.
(14:56):
Let's break that down.
Do justly.
What does that mean?
Be kind to one another.
Be fair with one another.
Don't try and cheat your neighbor in whatever games that you like to play, Monopoly or whatever.
You know, get together in fellowship.
(15:18):
God wants us to have fellowship with each other.
That's why God wants to have parties.
He's preparing the biggest party for us all.
He's preparing the wedding ceremony.
I mean, Joanne and Omar, 70 years.
(15:46):
God wants 70 million years with us
and more and more and more.
So he wants us to come.
And Jesus told a story about the king prepared a wedding feast,
and he sent invitations out to everybody.
(16:12):
And some people, oh, I just bought some land that I've got to go check out.
Or I just bought some new oxen that I need to go see.
Everybody had an excuse, and God says, fine, I'll call in other people.
(16:37):
God wants everyone to come to this ceremony, to come to the knowledge of what he is.
Satan's been telling us lies about God from the very beginning.
I mean, he told lies to Eve.
(17:00):
First one, you won't surely die.
But God knows that the day that you read of this fruit,
your eyes are going to be open.
You are going to be like God.
Now, is that a bad thing to be like God?
(17:22):
We all want to strive to be like Jesus Christ, don't we?
And Jesus Christ is God.
We want to follow in our Lord and Savior's footsteps.
We want to treat people the way that he treated people.
And he treated people with so much love and so much compassion.
(17:49):
Every town that he went to, Jesus said that he had compassion on the people
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
God wants to spend eternity with you.
You are precious in his sight.
(18:12):
Heaven would not be the same if you're not there as far as God is concerned.
heaven wouldn't be the place if you're not there as far as I'm concerned
I appreciate you guys coming today
God wants us in his house each and every Sabbath
(18:37):
the Sabbath day was the next thing that God created
and he created it for Adam and Eve
a time to spend with him.
The Sabbath hours are precious.
The Sabbath hours are the time that we,
(18:57):
God has set up an appointment with us
from Friday night sunset
to Saturday night sunset
is a special time for God.
and of course we figure that's a 24-hour period, but if you look at the shape of the earth,
(19:22):
Sabbath is over in some part of the world already. We're just in the halfway part,
but for some part, Sabbath is over, but God was with them.
God is with us on each and every Sabbath day, and he wants to spend that time with us.
(19:44):
He wants us to come before him and pray.
That's why it says, come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, we will make them white as snow.
(20:08):
No, we can't do anything.
God does that.
But we have to allow him to do that for us.
We have to allow him to save us.
We can't be saved by our own actions.
(20:29):
I am not saved because I come to church on Sabbath.
I'm not saved because I eat the right diet.
I am not saved because of anything that I do.
(20:52):
Except for accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
That's what saves me.
then after I accept Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior
I allow him to change me
(21:13):
from the inside out
I allow him to take control of my mind
so that the thoughts that I think
are different than the thoughts
that I thought before Jesus saved me
(21:36):
Satan has told us lies about God.
That God wants to destroy us.
That God doesn't want us in heaven.
Satan's a liar.
(22:00):
Jesus told us that
Satan is a liar and the father of lies
don't believe him
the only thing
Satan can do now once Jesus Christ
defeated him at the cross
is to get to God's kids
(22:26):
and we are God's children.
If you're not in heaven, it hurts God.
Satan wants to hurt God.
(22:46):
Let's destroy Satan by accepting God and being in heaven.
What do you say?
How many of you want to be in heaven?
We've defeated the devil.
The devil doesn't want us to be there.
The devil has told us that God wants to destroy you.
(23:11):
The Bible tells us that the lake of fire was created for humanity.
No, the Bible tells us the lake of fire was created for the devil and his angels.
we are not part of that
God doesn't want us to be part of that lake of fire
(23:36):
God wants you in his kingdom
because he loves you
too many times we look at the judgment
and we think
God's up there
he's ready to condemn us
and only because of what Jesus did is God willing to overlook our sins.
(23:59):
Only because of what Jesus did is God willing to forgive.
God wants to forgive you.
Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross is important.
When Jesus died on the cross, he did away with the devil's power.
(24:27):
He did away with death.
We still have death, too much death.
I'll be glad when Jesus comes back.
I'm ready for him to come.
(24:48):
Revelation says, even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Now, we're going to have troubles in this world.
Jesus told us that.
He says, in this world you will have troubles, but be of good cheer.
Why?
(25:09):
Because he's overcome the world.
If we accept Jesus Christ, we have that same power to overcome this world.
We don't need to be afraid of the judgment.
God is for us.
(25:30):
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Satan says God's not for you.
God's against you.
Liar.
God only wants your good.
Even the Ten Commandments were made for our interest.
(25:59):
They're not rules that God arbitrarily set up.
They are a way of life.
If we follow them, our lives will be so much better.
If we follow even the fourth commandment, to rest.
(26:25):
Now, rest doesn't mean sleeping 24 hours a day.
You know, just curling up in your bed and pulling the covers over your head and saying,
Yeah, I've only got 11 hours and 59 more minutes and I can start living again.
The Sabbath is a wonderful blessing that God has given us.
(26:47):
A blessing of rest that we can put away the things of this world.
The things that give us anxiety.
We don't have to go to work.
A lot of us now, praise the Lord,
don't have nine to five jobs anymore.
(27:08):
A lot of us old people are now able to choose
what we're gonna do each and every day,
whether it's fun stuff or whether it's,
but the Sabbath is special.
And he created that for us.
Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man,
(27:37):
not man for the Sabbath.
He created this day for us as a day of relationship with him.
And not only relationship with him,
it's a relationship with our families,
for those of you who have families.
The Sabbath is a wonderful day.
(28:00):
Growing up, I admit, I grew up in an Adventist home.
I was born on the campus of Emanuel Missionary College.
I spent my whole life until I was 16 years old at Emanuel Missionary College.
(28:20):
In 1962, it became Andrews University.
I went to Emmanuel Missionary College Elementary School.
I went to the Andrews Academy,
since it became Andrews before I became an academy student.
So I've known the Sabbath all my life.
(28:46):
I haven't always appreciated the Sabbath like I do now.
And for that, I'm sorry, God, that I didn't recognize what a precious day that was.
Now, my dad worked at plant services at the Emmanuel Missionary College.
(29:08):
So every once in a while, something would break down that he had to go in and fix for.
But praise God, that didn't happen very often on Sabbath.
Sabbath was a time for family.
we were able to spend time together.
(29:29):
I had three brothers and my mom and my dad.
There were six of us.
And my parents tried to make Sabbath special for me.
Unfortunately, I was a stubborn little brat,
and so I didn't always take.
And when I get to heaven, I'm going to apologize to my parents
(29:51):
because I believe they're going to be there,
and I look forward to a day where I can tell my mom and dad
how sorry I am that I was such a rotten kid.
That I didn't appreciate all the sacrifices that they made for me,
providing food and clothing and a roof over my head
(30:14):
and all the animals that I could ever want in my life.
All the joy and happiness that they could give me,
They gave me, and I didn't appreciate it.
So when I get to heaven, I'm going to thank them.
But God wants us to be there, folks.
(30:38):
God loves each and every one of you,
and heaven will not be the same if you're not there.
Now, what does it take to get to heaven?
Do I have to follow all the rules?
(31:03):
Yes, I do.
But the rules are not burdensome.
The rules are life.
They give us pleasure.
They give us joy.
They give us peace.
The Sabbath is a day of peace, of rest, of coming before our Father and thanking Him
(31:32):
for the many blessings that we take advantage of, that we don't recognize during the rest of the week.
Just the breath I took is a gift from God.
The sunshine, even though I complain because it gets a little cold here during the winter,
(31:52):
I never complain when it's hot.
Because I'm sorry, I like the heat.
My golf ball travels a lot farther when it's hot.
I love the heat.
I do not like the cold.
(32:13):
When I have a frost delay on my golf course, I hate it.
So I never complain that it gets too hot here in Arizona.
I know a lot of you think that 120 is a little outrageous.
And I agree.
(32:36):
But when it's 120, where am I usually?
Sitting in my house usually with the air conditioning on,
and right now since I live alone, I have it set at 90
because I can't afford it if I set it lower than that.
But 90 is comfortable for me.
(32:57):
I don't know how my dog feels about it.
He doesn't tell me so.
Until God gives him the gift of speech and he says,
I need you to turn it down to 81.
I must keep it at 90.
more economic than it is anything else.
But I'm comfortable at that degree.
I'm sorry for all you other people that think that I'm crazy.
(33:21):
And I probably am.
There's a lot of things that I like that you guys would think I'm crazy,
like the Raiders.
So crazy is as crazy does or whatever.
(33:43):
but God is a God who loves you guys
and he wants only the best for you
and he's given you
everything that you need
to survive
he may not give you everything that you want
(34:07):
but your needs are always met
because of his love
and he gave us
a savior
not to take away
(34:28):
not to take a punishment away from us
our breaking God's law does not bring punishment from God.
It brings consequences of our own actions.
(34:50):
And God has provided us a way, even when we do mess up.
1 John 1.9
If we confess our sins,
God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(35:11):
God knows that we're going to make mistakes,
but he loves us anyway.
I mean, we look at the history of the children of Israel.
How many times they said,
yes, God, we choose you, we choose you.
And then a little while longer, they're worshiping Baal and Asherah and all the other gods.
(35:37):
And consequences of that bring them back and they suffer and they say, oh God, we're so sorry, we're so sorry.
And God takes them back and everything's hunky-dory for a while.
And then they get complacent and they do the same thing over and over again.
(35:57):
God wants us to accept him as the loving father that he is.
Tomorrow's Father's Day.
I appreciate all the dads that are here today.
Most of our kids are grown and doing their own thing,
(36:19):
and hopefully they're following the Lord because that's what we want.
And it's so good to see the Brown family here supporting Omar and Joanne.
I'm just touched that you guys are here today.
I'm glad that you have that much love for your grandma and your grandpa
(36:44):
and your great-grandma and your dad, that you're willing to spend that time with them.
This time is precious.
The time we have is very precious.
God hasn't promised us tomorrow, but he's given us today.
(37:11):
Accept today as a gift that God has given you and use it to bring honor and glory to him.
Now, you guys know that my favorite closing song is
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
Randy's is Jesus Loves Me.
(37:32):
But mine is Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
So I invite you to stand as we sing the two verses of that song.
It's hymn number 290 if you want to grab your hymnal.
I'm sure the words will be up on the screen.
(37:55):
God has done everything he can to save us.
What is your response to him today?
I hope none of you had reservations for lunch at 12 o'clock because you're probably going to be out of here a lot earlier than that today.
It's good to be with you.
I'm glad that I have this opportunity.
Most of our members are up at camp meeting or they decided that I'm just going to stay home today and enjoy a second cup of ice, second cup of tea or whatever.
(00:30):
But I'm glad that you're here.
I want to welcome the Brown family.
It was nice to see all of you last Sunday night or Sunday afternoon as we celebrated Joanne and Omar's 70th wedding anniversary.
What a milestone that is. I think we need to give them a wonderful round of applause.
(00:51):
So thank you for bringing your family here today. I want to welcome those of you who are watching
on live stream. I'm glad that you have decided to join us at this time. I know that many of our
members are up at camp meeting getting a blessing up there, and so I'm glad that they are enjoying
the cooler temperatures up at Camp Yabba Fines.
(01:13):
I know that that's the only reason they go up there.
It's not because of the message that they hear up there.
It's because it's a lot cooler up there.
I'm glad that you guys are here
surviving the heat of Mesa, Arizona
and being here on this Sabbath day.
As my practice is, I'm going to bow
and ask the Lord to send his spirit to be with me.
(01:38):
My gracious, loving Heavenly Father,
I thank you for this message that you've given me
over these past couple weeks
as I've been preparing for this day.
I pray that your spirit will speak through me,
that you will touch the ears of the people
that are listening, either
them
(01:59):
that are here
or those that are watching on livestream.
We would ask that you would touch their hearts.
we're so thankful for the gift that you have given us in John 3 16
that you so love the world that you gave thank you for that gift
(02:23):
may we accept that and live our lives in a way that will bring honor and glory to you
is my prayer in Jesus name amen
(02:50):
John 3.16
For God so loved the world
that he gave
his only begotten son
that whosoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
(03:15):
For God did not send his son into the world
to condemn the world
but the world through him might be saved.
Who did God send his son to save?
each and every one of you.
The world matters to God, obviously,
(03:37):
because he created it.
But why did he create the world in the first place?
He just, was he bored?
Didn't decide, well, let's say I haven't done anything
creative in a long time.
Let's go ahead and sharpen up my creative skill, and let's go ahead and create a new planet.
(04:03):
That sounds like fun.
You know, and I love the month of June this year because it starts, the first day of June was on a Sunday, the first day of the week.
So June, in my mind, is creation month.
And every month it starts on Sunday with a month with Sunday as the first day.
(04:30):
It reminds me of God as our creator.
And God, God's an awesome God.
God created this world.
Why?
(04:51):
He created it for us.
That was his whole purpose.
And everything that God did on the first day, he created light.
The second day, he created the air and the waters.
On the third day, dry land appeared.
On the fourth day, the sun, moon, and stars.
(05:14):
Now, God is really very special because he created light before he created the sun.
Now, we take the sun for granted, but that's where we get our light.
But God didn't need the sun for light because he is light, obviously.
And so he created that.
(05:34):
Everything that God created had a purpose.
He created the earth.
Before he could create plants and trees and animals, he had to have a place to put them.
So he created the earth on the third day.
Fourth day, like I said, the sun, moon, and stars.
(05:55):
Now, why are the sun and moon up there?
What is their purpose?
Their purpose is to tell time.
And it says the evening and the morning were the first day.
God is a designer God who created everything good.
(06:21):
Then he created the land animals.
Created the trees and the grass.
And all the beauty of this wonderful earth that we have destroyed basically because of our sin.
(06:41):
But God created it for us.
The last thing, the next to the last thing that God created was man.
He knelt down and created Adam out of the dust of the earth.
(07:02):
He formed us with his own two hands.
Now, in Genesis chapter 2, it also says that God formed the animals.
Genesis chapter 1, it just says the animals were there.
But God actually formed the animals.
And I like that because I'm an animal lover.
(07:25):
I love almost all animals.
Snakes I can do without, but that's all right.
But I love my little puppy dog.
And I know there are many of you out there who are cat people.
And you love your furry little pussy cat.
(07:49):
And some of you may have fish in a bowl that you talk to, that you feed.
But God formed them.
He took time.
And he took time with humanity.
(08:11):
He took time with Adam and Eve.
And he loved them.
God loves you.
God wants you to spend eternity with him.
(08:33):
He created Adam and Eve to spend eternity with him.
He didn't want them to fall in sin.
He wanted to have a daily relationship with them each and every day.
And I don't know how long it was from the time that Adam and Eve had, that God had created them before the devil came and deceived them.
(09:00):
I don't know how much time that they had to spend with God.
But that must have been a wonderful time for God.
to spend time with these two special people that he created.
God wants to spend that same time with you right now today.
(09:22):
God's not a God that we need to be afraid of.
God is a God who loves us.
In Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, it says,
come. Let us reason together, says the Lord. God wants to have a relationship with us.
(09:50):
We're too busy for God, though. I mean, you know, we got jobs we got to go to. We got things we
got to do that we don't have time to spend with God. When Adam and Eve sinned, it broke God's heart.
(10:11):
But it didn't stop him from loving them. Remember the story? Adam and Eve took the fruit,
and all of a sudden they heard God walking in the cool of the evening like he'd always done,
however long always was before that time.
And they ran.
(10:38):
Trying to remember the first time that my son ran away from me.
I'm sure it was a time where I was scolding him for something.
But most of the other time, whenever I came home from work,
my son would come running to me with his arms open and say,
(10:59):
Daddy, Daddy, you're home, and so happy to see me.
I believe that's the way Adam and Eve were until, until.
Until.
the saddest words, until.
(11:23):
Until they rejected his love,
and they went and they hid from him.
Now, if I was God, I would have said,
all right, no problem.
I created you.
I can make lots more, so forget you guys.
(11:48):
but God didn't do that.
God loved Adam and Eve so much
that he came looking for them.
He said, Adam, where are you?
Now, I believe God already knew where they were
(12:09):
but he needed to have Adam recognize
the fact that Adam had made a mistake.
we cannot run away from God.
God will pursue you because he loves you.
(12:35):
He wants to save everybody.
Our scripture says that whosoever believes
can have eternal life.
He wants to save everyone.
(12:56):
He doesn't want anyone to reject his love
and his care and his grace
and his forgiveness.
God has been pursuing humanity
ever since Adam and Eve
broke the relationship with him.
(13:16):
we break the relationship with God. God never breaks his relationship with us.
God allows us to have free choice. We're free to choose either to accept him or reject him.
I think we're foolish to reject him, but we still have that choice.
(13:38):
But he still loves us.
It says, while we were yet sinners, somebody died for us.
Who was that?
Christ.
Jesus died for us.
While we were estranged from God, while we had turned our back on him, he is awesome.
(14:07):
And we need to realize each and every day how thankful we are to have a God who will pursue us.
Who won't stop chasing after us.
(14:36):
He has shown the old man what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To do justly.
To love mercy.
And to walk humbly with your God.
(14:56):
Let's break that down.
Do justly.
What does that mean?
Be kind to one another.
Be fair with one another.
Don't try and cheat your neighbor in whatever games that you like to play, Monopoly or whatever.
You know, get together in fellowship.
(15:18):
God wants us to have fellowship with each other.
That's why God wants to have parties.
He's preparing the biggest party for us all.
He's preparing the wedding ceremony.
I mean, Joanne and Omar, 70 years.
(15:46):
God wants 70 million years with us
and more and more and more.
So he wants us to come.
And Jesus told a story about the king prepared a wedding feast,
and he sent invitations out to everybody.
(16:12):
And some people, oh, I just bought some land that I've got to go check out.
Or I just bought some new oxen that I need to go see.
Everybody had an excuse, and God says, fine, I'll call in other people.
(16:37):
God wants everyone to come to this ceremony, to come to the knowledge of what he is.
Satan's been telling us lies about God from the very beginning.
I mean, he told lies to Eve.
(17:00):
First one, you won't surely die.
But God knows that the day that you read of this fruit,
your eyes are going to be open.
You are going to be like God.
Now, is that a bad thing to be like God?
(17:22):
We all want to strive to be like Jesus Christ, don't we?
And Jesus Christ is God.
We want to follow in our Lord and Savior's footsteps.
We want to treat people the way that he treated people.
And he treated people with so much love and so much compassion.
(17:49):
Every town that he went to, Jesus said that he had compassion on the people
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
God wants to spend eternity with you.
You are precious in his sight.
(18:12):
Heaven would not be the same if you're not there as far as God is concerned.
heaven wouldn't be the place if you're not there as far as I'm concerned
I appreciate you guys coming today
God wants us in his house each and every Sabbath
(18:37):
the Sabbath day was the next thing that God created
and he created it for Adam and Eve
a time to spend with him.
The Sabbath hours are precious.
The Sabbath hours are the time that we,
(18:57):
God has set up an appointment with us
from Friday night sunset
to Saturday night sunset
is a special time for God.
and of course we figure that's a 24-hour period, but if you look at the shape of the earth,
(19:22):
Sabbath is over in some part of the world already. We're just in the halfway part,
but for some part, Sabbath is over, but God was with them.
God is with us on each and every Sabbath day, and he wants to spend that time with us.
(19:44):
He wants us to come before him and pray.
That's why it says, come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, we will make them white as snow.
(20:08):
No, we can't do anything.
God does that.
But we have to allow him to do that for us.
We have to allow him to save us.
We can't be saved by our own actions.
(20:29):
I am not saved because I come to church on Sabbath.
I'm not saved because I eat the right diet.
I am not saved because of anything that I do.
(20:52):
Except for accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
That's what saves me.
then after I accept Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior
I allow him to change me
(21:13):
from the inside out
I allow him to take control of my mind
so that the thoughts that I think
are different than the thoughts
that I thought before Jesus saved me
(21:36):
Satan has told us lies about God.
That God wants to destroy us.
That God doesn't want us in heaven.
Satan's a liar.
(22:00):
Jesus told us that
Satan is a liar and the father of lies
don't believe him
the only thing
Satan can do now once Jesus Christ
defeated him at the cross
is to get to God's kids
(22:26):
and we are God's children.
If you're not in heaven, it hurts God.
Satan wants to hurt God.
(22:46):
Let's destroy Satan by accepting God and being in heaven.
What do you say?
How many of you want to be in heaven?
We've defeated the devil.
The devil doesn't want us to be there.
The devil has told us that God wants to destroy you.
(23:11):
The Bible tells us that the lake of fire was created for humanity.
No, the Bible tells us the lake of fire was created for the devil and his angels.
we are not part of that
God doesn't want us to be part of that lake of fire
(23:36):
God wants you in his kingdom
because he loves you
too many times we look at the judgment
and we think
God's up there
he's ready to condemn us
and only because of what Jesus did is God willing to overlook our sins.
(23:59):
Only because of what Jesus did is God willing to forgive.
God wants to forgive you.
Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross is important.
When Jesus died on the cross, he did away with the devil's power.
(24:27):
He did away with death.
We still have death, too much death.
I'll be glad when Jesus comes back.
I'm ready for him to come.
(24:48):
Revelation says, even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Now, we're going to have troubles in this world.
Jesus told us that.
He says, in this world you will have troubles, but be of good cheer.
Why?
(25:09):
Because he's overcome the world.
If we accept Jesus Christ, we have that same power to overcome this world.
We don't need to be afraid of the judgment.
God is for us.
(25:30):
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Satan says God's not for you.
God's against you.
Liar.
God only wants your good.
Even the Ten Commandments were made for our interest.
(25:59):
They're not rules that God arbitrarily set up.
They are a way of life.
If we follow them, our lives will be so much better.
If we follow even the fourth commandment, to rest.
(26:25):
Now, rest doesn't mean sleeping 24 hours a day.
You know, just curling up in your bed and pulling the covers over your head and saying,
Yeah, I've only got 11 hours and 59 more minutes and I can start living again.
The Sabbath is a wonderful blessing that God has given us.
(26:47):
A blessing of rest that we can put away the things of this world.
The things that give us anxiety.
We don't have to go to work.
A lot of us now, praise the Lord,
don't have nine to five jobs anymore.
(27:08):
A lot of us old people are now able to choose
what we're gonna do each and every day,
whether it's fun stuff or whether it's,
but the Sabbath is special.
And he created that for us.
Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man,
(27:37):
not man for the Sabbath.
He created this day for us as a day of relationship with him.
And not only relationship with him,
it's a relationship with our families,
for those of you who have families.
The Sabbath is a wonderful day.
(28:00):
Growing up, I admit, I grew up in an Adventist home.
I was born on the campus of Emanuel Missionary College.
I spent my whole life until I was 16 years old at Emanuel Missionary College.
(28:20):
In 1962, it became Andrews University.
I went to Emmanuel Missionary College Elementary School.
I went to the Andrews Academy,
since it became Andrews before I became an academy student.
So I've known the Sabbath all my life.
(28:46):
I haven't always appreciated the Sabbath like I do now.
And for that, I'm sorry, God, that I didn't recognize what a precious day that was.
Now, my dad worked at plant services at the Emmanuel Missionary College.
(29:08):
So every once in a while, something would break down that he had to go in and fix for.
But praise God, that didn't happen very often on Sabbath.
Sabbath was a time for family.
we were able to spend time together.
(29:29):
I had three brothers and my mom and my dad.
There were six of us.
And my parents tried to make Sabbath special for me.
Unfortunately, I was a stubborn little brat,
and so I didn't always take.
And when I get to heaven, I'm going to apologize to my parents
(29:51):
because I believe they're going to be there,
and I look forward to a day where I can tell my mom and dad
how sorry I am that I was such a rotten kid.
That I didn't appreciate all the sacrifices that they made for me,
providing food and clothing and a roof over my head
(30:14):
and all the animals that I could ever want in my life.
All the joy and happiness that they could give me,
They gave me, and I didn't appreciate it.
So when I get to heaven, I'm going to thank them.
But God wants us to be there, folks.
(30:38):
God loves each and every one of you,
and heaven will not be the same if you're not there.
Now, what does it take to get to heaven?
Do I have to follow all the rules?
(31:03):
Yes, I do.
But the rules are not burdensome.
The rules are life.
They give us pleasure.
They give us joy.
They give us peace.
The Sabbath is a day of peace, of rest, of coming before our Father and thanking Him
(31:32):
for the many blessings that we take advantage of, that we don't recognize during the rest of the week.
Just the breath I took is a gift from God.
The sunshine, even though I complain because it gets a little cold here during the winter,
(31:52):
I never complain when it's hot.
Because I'm sorry, I like the heat.
My golf ball travels a lot farther when it's hot.
I love the heat.
I do not like the cold.
(32:13):
When I have a frost delay on my golf course, I hate it.
So I never complain that it gets too hot here in Arizona.
I know a lot of you think that 120 is a little outrageous.
And I agree.
(32:36):
But when it's 120, where am I usually?
Sitting in my house usually with the air conditioning on,
and right now since I live alone, I have it set at 90
because I can't afford it if I set it lower than that.
But 90 is comfortable for me.
(32:57):
I don't know how my dog feels about it.
He doesn't tell me so.
Until God gives him the gift of speech and he says,
I need you to turn it down to 81.
I must keep it at 90.
more economic than it is anything else.
But I'm comfortable at that degree.
I'm sorry for all you other people that think that I'm crazy.
(33:21):
And I probably am.
There's a lot of things that I like that you guys would think I'm crazy,
like the Raiders.
So crazy is as crazy does or whatever.
(33:43):
but God is a God who loves you guys
and he wants only the best for you
and he's given you
everything that you need
to survive
he may not give you everything that you want
(34:07):
but your needs are always met
because of his love
and he gave us
a savior
not to take away
(34:28):
not to take a punishment away from us
our breaking God's law does not bring punishment from God.
It brings consequences of our own actions.
(34:50):
And God has provided us a way, even when we do mess up.
1 John 1.9
If we confess our sins,
God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(35:11):
God knows that we're going to make mistakes,
but he loves us anyway.
I mean, we look at the history of the children of Israel.
How many times they said,
yes, God, we choose you, we choose you.
And then a little while longer, they're worshiping Baal and Asherah and all the other gods.
(35:37):
And consequences of that bring them back and they suffer and they say, oh God, we're so sorry, we're so sorry.
And God takes them back and everything's hunky-dory for a while.
And then they get complacent and they do the same thing over and over again.
(35:57):
God wants us to accept him as the loving father that he is.
Tomorrow's Father's Day.
I appreciate all the dads that are here today.
Most of our kids are grown and doing their own thing,
(36:19):
and hopefully they're following the Lord because that's what we want.
And it's so good to see the Brown family here supporting Omar and Joanne.
I'm just touched that you guys are here today.
I'm glad that you have that much love for your grandma and your grandpa
(36:44):
and your great-grandma and your dad, that you're willing to spend that time with them.
This time is precious.
The time we have is very precious.
God hasn't promised us tomorrow, but he's given us today.
(37:11):
Accept today as a gift that God has given you and use it to bring honor and glory to him.
Now, you guys know that my favorite closing song is
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
Randy's is Jesus Loves Me.
(37:32):
But mine is Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
So I invite you to stand as we sing the two verses of that song.
It's hymn number 290 if you want to grab your hymnal.
I'm sure the words will be up on the screen.
(37:55):
God has done everything he can to save us.
What is your response to him today?
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