"Raising the Right Arm" Prophecy & Medical Ministry Camp Meeting

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Uchee Pines Institute

Plenaries with Norman McNulty

Norman McNulty

Revelation’s Sanctuary Theme

The Third Angel for Our Time

The Straight Testimony from the Most Holy Place

Adventism and the Vindication of God

The Sealing of the 144,000

Abraham - Father of the Three Angels’ Messages

The Mystery of God Finished

The Song of Moses and the Song Of the Lamb

Jesus and the Third Angel’s Message

Sleeping At Midnight

The title for our message this evening is Sleeping at Midnight, which ordinarily would be a good thing to be doing.

As a neurologist, I can tell you that your best sleep, and you don't have to be a neurologist to know this, but the science behind it is that you get your deepest sleep in the hours before midnight.

You have 4 stages of sleep and then REM sleep, which stands for rapid eye movement, and stages 3 and 4 of sleep happen the most before midnight, which is the most restorative form of sleep.

So generally speaking, if you're asleep at midnight, that's a good thing.

But in relation to the church, with respect to the coming of Jesus, it's not a good thing.

And we're going to see that in the message tonight.

We're going to be studying the parable of the 10 virgins this evening, and I'm going to read a couple of statements and then we're going to get into this passage.

This is Review and Herald of August 19, 1890.

When the third angel's message is preached as it should be, power attends its proclamation and it becomes an abiding influence.

I know we've talked about this all week, but friends we should be preaching the third angel's message the way God designed for it to be preached.

It must be attended with divine power or it will accomplish nothing.

I am often referred to the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 of whom were wise and 5 foolish.

Now if the servant of the Lord was often referred to this parable it must be important.

Continuing, this parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter for it has a special application to this time and like the third angel's message has been fulfilled and will continue to be present truth until the close of time.

It was fulfilled to the very letter through the Millerite movement in the 1840s and it's been continued to be fulfilled through the Second Advent Movement since 1844 and it is present truth for our time till the close of time.

It's connected to the third angel's message.

Now a brief statement on present truth, early writings, page 63, there are many precious truths contained in the word of God, but it is present truth that the flock needs now.

I have seen the danger of the messengers running off from the important points of present truth to dwell upon subjects that are not calculated to unite the flock and sanctify the soul.

Satan will here take every possible advantage to injure the cause.

Friends, in Seventh-day Adventist churches, we should be hearing Seventh-day Adventist messages.

You can go to lots of other churches that have well-meaning people that are actually preaching Bible-based messages, and in some cases some of our brothers and sisters in the other churches are taking clearer stands on some of the social issues of the day than some of our Adventist brothers and sisters are willing to take a stand on, but at the end of the day we should be preaching Adventist messages in Adventist churches.

Now we're told what present truth is, but such subjects as the sanctuary in connection with the 2300 days, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are perfectly calculated to explain the past advent movement and show what our present position is, establish the faith of the doubting and give certainty to the glorious future.

These, I have frequently seen, were the principal subjects on which the messengers should dwell, so I ask the question, what are we doing as Seventh-day Adventists?

Do we think we can do better than the prescription that God has given to us?

Now, if the parable of the 10 virgins is present truth, this is something that is worth our time and study.

What is the setting of this parable of the 10 virgins?

It immediately follows Matthew chapter 24 where the disciples come to Jesus and as they're walking out of Jerusalem and they see the temple, they're remarking on the glory and the beauty of the temple, and Jesus just happens to say, I tell you that there will not be 1 stone left upon another.

And in the minds of the disciples, that clearly meant the end of the world.

So Jesus in His mercy mixes the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world.

And He goes through a variety of signs of wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines and plagues in various places.

He says these are the beginning of sorrows, but the end is not yet.

And he goes through a variety of signs, that the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.

All of these signs that he goes through, and then he gets to another parable which leads into the parable of the 10 virgins.

And this is the parable of the wise and the evil servants, which is the perfect segue into the parable of the 10 virgins.

And in this parable we discover that there are actually 3 classes in the church.

For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

We don't know the hour that Jesus is coming, so you better be ready.

That's on the authority of Jesus himself.

And then he gets into a description of what his church will be like before he comes back.

In verse 45 he says, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season." So, scripture says here, Jesus says that while you are waiting for Jesus to come, I will have faithful and wise servants whom I have made ruler in my house or in my church to give my people meat in due season." Which means spiritual food that is appropriate for the time that we are living in.

It's another way to describe present truth.

Jesus says that my wise servants who I have appointed as rulers over my household are to be giving me in due season." Now there are some in the church that say Christ is the only head of the church.

Well if Christ is the only head of the church, why did he appoint rulers over his household?

And he says that my rulers, my wise servants, will be giving me or present truth in due season.

They will look at the times in which we are living in and they will be giving the trumpet a certain sound to sound the alarm to the world and to point to the church the righteousness of Christ that we need to be ready for the coming of Jesus.

Messages that are designed to prepare God's church and the world for the coming of Jesus.

That is what God's servants should be doing.

Jesus says in verse 46, blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing, verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

But this is not the only class in the church at the time of the coming of Jesus.

You would think that all Seventh-day Adventists would be eagerly looking for the coming of Jesus and would be encouraging the preaching of the coming of Jesus and would be working toward the coming of Jesus, but There are other servants in the church who say in verse 48, but and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming.

Now these are Adventists because they acknowledge that Jesus is coming, they just say that his coming is delayed.

So they're not going to go so far as to say, I don't think Jesus is coming at all.

They're just saying, I don't see him coming any time soon.

Now what would cause these evil servants to say that the coming of Jesus is delayed?

Verse 49, And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with a drink.

When the evil servant says in his heart, my Lord delays his coming, he begins to smite his fellow servant, the wise servant, who is giving meat in due season, saying, therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of man cometh.

And the evil servant says, Put down the trumpet, and don't let it sound.

I'm tired of hearing messages about the coming of Jesus in our church." Because they are under the influence of the wine of Babylon.

They are eating and drinking with the drunken.

You better be careful if you are imbibing the theology of Babylonians.

Because Babylonians aren't interested in the end of the world.

They are generally not interested in the coming of Jesus.

When you drink the wine of Babylon, you start to develop a distaste for present truth.

And you persecute the servants who give present truth.

And you say in your heart, my Lord delays his coming.

The wise servant is looking for the coming of Jesus.

The evil servant doesn't want Jesus to come.

And we see what happens, verses 50 and 51.

The Lord of that servant shall come in a day, when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Now you may be saying, praise the Lord, I'm not an evil servant, and that's good.

You may be saying, I want Jesus to come, I appreciate good messages, I like to hear when the preacher talks about the soon coming of Jesus.

Well, notice there are wise servants in the church, but we're going to move on to the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins.

Not only are there wise servants and virgins, there's also the evil servants who are drunk with the wine of Babylon, but that's not the only class left.

So as I see it, there are actually 3 classes in Adventism before Jesus comes back.

There are wise servants that are also wise virgins, but just because you believe in the coming of Jesus does not necessarily mean that you are wise.

You might be a foolish virgin, and I'm going to show you that.

And then there are the evil servants in the church.

So what we can see visibly are wise servants and evil servants, but you can't necessarily tell the difference between the wise and the foolish.

So what is obvious in the church today is that there are those who are preaching the message of the coming of Jesus, and that gives you the potential to be wise.

There are others in the church who are writing on magazines and websites and other things saying we need to stop preaching about the coming of Jesus.

We need to do cultural friendly messages that will bring people into the church that don't talk about the spirit of prophecy and our end time prophetic message.

And you can say, okay, these are those who don't like the coming of Jesus, they could be evil servants.

But just because you believe in the coming of Jesus, Just because you appreciate the preaching of truth does not automatically mean that you are ready to meet Jesus when he comes.

That's why we have the parable of the 10 virgins.

And I might add, the reason why this parable carries so much weight is because this is Jesus giving this parable to describe the condition of his church at the time of his coming.

If you have a Bible with red letter edition of the words of Jesus, these words are all in red.

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Series

Plenaries with Norman McNulty

Sleeping At Midnight

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Asleep

46m

How YOU Can Bring Closure for Jesus

1h 4m

A Beginning With No End

Come On In

50m

Back to the Mission

The Battle Cry of the Remnant

1h 1m

The Two Revelations

1h 24m

WYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

Repentance and the Latter Rain

1h 19m

The Final Call

4- What will it Take?

1h

Everything Depends On

1h

Walk Humbly

49m

Plenary Sessions

God Invented Sex

1h 34m

How to Overcome the Devil- Part 2

55m

Steve Wohlberg Weekend

04 Ten Horns at War with the Lamb

44m

Sound Doctrine